I.
DECEMBER 25. THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.
Men beloved, we told you erewhile how our Saviour Christ was on this day born in true human nature of the holy Virgin Mary. Nevertheless, we now desire, for the honour of this day, to stir up your minds by ghostly teaching for your happiness, by the grace of God. There were certain heretics beguiled by the devil, so that they said that Christ the Son of God was not eternally dwelling with the Holy Father, but there was a certain time (period) before He was born; but the holy Gospel hath full oft surpassed the understanding of such heretics. The Jews asked Christ who He was; then answered He them thus: Ego sum principium qui et loquor vobis: 'I who speak unto you am the beginning.' Now have ye heard how Jesus spake of Himself, that He is the Originator and Beginning of all things, together with His Heavenly Father and with the Holy Ghost. The Father is the Beginning, and the Son is the Beginning, and the Holy Ghost is the Beginning; they are not three Beginnings, but they all three are one Beginning, and One Almighty God, ever unbegun and unended. But the man is mad who wishes to have anything before a beginning; because the Holy Trinity is the Beginning and the One Creator of all creatures, and there never was nor now exists anything that the One Worker hath not created. If any heretic or frenzied man seek to enquire further and go beyond the beginning with foolish presumption, he is like unto a man who reareth a high ladder, and climbeth by the steps of the ladder until he be come to the end; and then, desiring to climb yet higher, he climbeth without the steps until that, having no standing-place, he falleth with so much the worse a fall as he further clomb.
There are three things on this earth: one is transitory, which hath both beginning and end; such are beasts and all soulless things which began when God created them, and afterward come to an end and turn to nothing. The second thing is eternal, so that it hath a beginning and hath no end; such are angels and souls of men, which began when God created them, but they never end. The third thing is eternal, so that it hath neither beginning nor end; such is the One Almighty God in Trinity and Unity, who continueth ever unsearchable and unspeakable. The Father is the Beginning, of none other; and the Son is the Beginning, eternally begotten of the Father; and the Holy Ghost is the Beginning, eternally of the Father and of the Son, not begotten, but proceeding; because the Son is the Father's Wisdom, of Him and with Him; and the Holy Ghost is the Will and the Love of Them both, of Them both and with Them both. In this One God we must believe, and honour Him with our works, because all the holy books, both in the Old Law and in the New, speak indeed concerning the Holy Trinity and Very Unity. This One Creator knoweth all things, and seeth both that which hath been, and that which now is, and that which is to come; neither forgetteth He anything, nor may anything escape Him. Neither is He afraid of anything, because He hath none more powerful than Himself, nor even any equal to Him. He is ever bestowing, yet never loseth any part of Himself, neither is anything needful to Him. He is ever Almighty God, because that He ever willeth good and never evil, but hateth the evil-doers and the unrighteous. The creatures whom this one Creator created are manifold, and of various form, and move diversely. Some are invisible spirits without body, as are the angels in Heaven; some creep on the earth with their whole body as worms do; some go on two feet, some on four feet, some fly with wings, some swim in the waters, and yet all these are bowed down earthward, and thither is their desire, either because it pleaseth them or because they needs must; but man alone goeth upright, which signifieth that his thoughts should be more upward than downward, lest the mind be lower than the body; and that he ought to seek after the eternal life for which he was created rather than after earthly things; even as his form showeth him. All these creatures have a beginning, and some also an end, as we before said, but the true Creator hath no beginning, because He is Himself the beginning, neither created nor made. He made all things and continueth from everlasting to everlasting; nothing could make Him, because nothing was before Him; and if He had been made, then could He never have been Almighty God. Again, if any witless man think that God made Himself, we ask him how He could have made Himself if He existed not before? He was ever unmade, and ever continueth unending; we may wonder at Him, but we may not, and must not, enquire further concerning this, if we would not lose ourselves. The sun which lighteth up the whole earth is God's creature, and we can understand that her light is from herself and not she from the light, and the heat proceedeth equally from the sun and from her light. So likewise the Son of Almighty God is eternally begotten of the Father, true light and true wisdom; and the Holy Ghost is eternally of Them both, not begotten, but proceeding; and the Son alone took human nature, and on this day was born as man, to the end that He might fetch us to His kingdom. There is nothing so needful to any man living in this mortal life as that he should know the Almighty God by faith, and afterwards [know] his own soul.
We have often spoken to you of your faith concerning the Holy Trinity; now will we, if we can, briefly tell you something about your own souls. All the orthodox fathers who wrote God's lore, spoke undoubtingly and unanimously agreed in this, that God createth each man's soul, and the soul is not of God's own nature. If it were taken from God's nature, evidently it could not sin. It is natural to man that he should love that which is good; who is good but God only, who is supreme goodness, without whom no man can have anything that is good ? This goodness, from which cometh to us every good thing, we must ever love, but the love of this goodness cannot exist except in the soul, and only that soul is nobly-born that loveth Him from whom it came, who created it such that it might have God's image and likeness in its understanding, and might be worthy of this thing, viz. that God should dwell in it. Philosophers say that the soul's nature is threefold : the first part in her is capable of desire, the second of anger, the third of reason. Two of these parts, beasts and cattle have in common with us, that is to say, desire and anger; man only hath reason and speech and intelligence. Desire is given to man to desire that which profiteth him, both in things needful and for everlasting salvation; but if the desire be perverted, it begetteth Gluttony, and Lechery, and Avarice. Anger is given to the soul to the end that it may be angry against vice, and be subject to no sins, because that Christ said, “Whosoever committeth sins is the servant of sins.' If anger be turned to evil, then cometh therefrom Wrath and Sloth. Reason is given to the soul to direct and govern its own life and all its deeds; from reason, if it be perverted, proceed Pride and Vainboasting [Envy]. Reason, not the soul, waxeth in children ; and the soul increaseth in virtues, yet is it no larger than it was at the beginning ; but becometh better, though it receiveth no bodily increase.
The soul hath (as we before said) in its nature a likeness to the Holy Trinity, in that it hath memory, understanding, and will. It is one soul, and one life, and one substance, which hath in itself these three things; and these three things are not three lives, but one; not three substances, but one. The soul, or the life, or the substance are considered by themselves separately; and the memory, or the understanding, or the will, are considered relatively to certain things, and these three have unity amongst themselves. I understand that which I will to understand and remember, and I will that which I understand and remember. Wherever memory is, there is understanding and will. Let us now consider the wonderful swiftness of the soul : it hath so great swiftness that at the same time, if it so will, it contemplateth heaven and flieth over sea, traverseth countries and cities, and in thought disposeth all these things in its vision ; and as soon as it heareth the name of the city that it knew before, so soon can it in thought create that city, whatsoever it be. So also, as to every other thing that it before knew or knew not, it can create them in the mind whenever it heareth them spoken of. So active is the soul, that even in sleep it resteth not; but when it thinketh of the city of Rome it cannot at the same time think of Jerusalem, neither when it is thinking about one thing can it at the same time think of another, but is busied with that one thing until that thought depart and another come. Verily God Almighty knoweth all things at the same time, and hath all things present to Him, and they are ever in His sight, and never unknown to Him, and this is that which is said, that God is, everywhere, all things ’; because that all things that ever were, or now are, or are to come, are all present to God's sight, not once but alway. The life of the body is the soul, and the life of the soul is God. If the soul leave the body, then the body dieth; and if God leave the soul because of very grievous sins, then dieth it in its better part, so that it is lost to the eternal life; but nevertheless it never cometh to an end in its eternal punishment.
This death betideth the soul if it allow desire and anger to reign in it, rather than reason, which should ever direct it to good deeds. Through reason alone are we better than the irrational beasts. With two dignities Almighty God adorned man's soul ; that is say, with immortality and happiness : but it lost happiness when it sinned; yet immortality it cannot lose, because it shall never end. The beauty of the soul is to have power, so that it may eschew evil; and it will be deformed through vices if it be subject unto them. The soul's powers are these four foremost and best ones ; Prudentia, that is Prudence, whereby it must understand its Creator and love Him, and discern good from evil. The second virtue is Justitia, that is, righteousness (Justice), whereby it must worship God and live uprightly. The third virtue is Temperantia, that is moderation [Temperance], whereby the soul must measure all things, that it sin not by excess or by defect, because it is written, Omnia nimia nocent : ‘All excesses [lit. things overdone] are hurtful. Verily moderation is the Mother of all virtues. The fourth virtue is Fortitudo [Fortitude], that is, strength or constancy, whereby the soul should, with steadfast mind, endure hardness for God's love, and never yield to the Devil to its own destruction. These four virtues have one crown, that is, the true love of God and Man, because the soul is blessed that loveth the God who created it and its fellow-pilgrims, and [desireth] to do good to them to its utmost power. The soul is a rational spirit, which liveth for ever, and is capable of following either a good or an evil desire according to its own choice. The benevolent Creator letteth it have the command over its own choice; then became it corrupt by its own free-will, through the Devil's teaching ; but it shall again be delivered through the grace of God, if it obey Him. It is invisible and incorporeal, without weight and without colour, clothed upon with the body, and dwelling in all the limbs. It cannot depart out of the body by its own power, nor return thither again except He who made it and sent it into the body should so will. It is called by various names in books, according to its offices. Its name is Anima, that is, Soul, and the name befitteth its life; and Spiritus, that is Spirit, which appertaineth to its contemplation. It is Sensus, that is, perception or sensation, when it perceiveth. It is Animus, that is, intellect, when it knoweth. It is Mens, that is, mind, when it understandeth. It is Memoria, that is, Memory, when it remembereth : It is Ratio, that is, Reason, when it reasoneth. It is Voluntas, that is Will, when it willeth anything ; nevertheless all these names are one soul. Every soul is a spirit, but nevertheless every spirit is not a soul. The Apostle Paul distinguished between these names of spirit and mind, thus saying—Psallam spiritu, psallam et mente. That is, in English, 'I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the mind.' He singeth with the spirit who uttereth the words with his mouth and understandeth not the signification of their meaning; and he sings with the mind who understandeth the signification of their meaning. The soul is the mistress of the body, and governeth the five senses of the body, as out of a royal throne. These senses are thus named : Visus, that is, Sight; Auditus, Hearing ; Gustus, Taste with the mouth ; Odoratus, Smelling with the nose; Tactus, Touching or feeling with all the limbs, but most usually with the hands.
The Soul directeth these five senses according to its will, and it behoveth it that, as à mistress, it should carefully consider what it will command each limb to do, or what it permitteth to each limb as regards its natural desire, that nothing unseemly should befal by means of any limb's service.
Like as God Almighty excelleth all creatures, so excelleth the soul all created bodies by the dignity of its nature, and no bodily creature may be compared with it. We said before that the soul was without colour, because it is incorporeal. A body hath colour, and the soul will be adorned according as it hath merited on earth ; of this spake Christ in His Gospel, Tunc justi fulgebunt sicut sol in regno patris eorum. That is, in English, Then shall the righteous shine as the sun in their Father's kingdom.' Verily the wicked shall be like their own evil deeds. It is not our breath [spiritus] or our soul that we blow out and draw in, but air, in which all bodily things live, except only fishes that live in the waters. The soul is often so busy about one thing or one thought, that it heedeth not who may be near at hand, though it may be looking at him; and though it hear a voice, it understandeth it not; though any touch it, it feeleth him not. Sometimes it sorroweth for its body's pains, sometimes it rejoiceth in good fortune ; sometimes it thinketh of things that it knew before; sometimes it desireth to know those things that it before knew not. Some things it willeth, some things it willeth not; and every form of corporeal things it can shape within itself, and so shaped retain them in its mind. The soul's beauty consists in loving wisdom; not that earthly wisdom of which it is thus written, Sapientia hujus mundi stultitia est apud deum: 'The wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.' But this wisdom it should learn - to love God, and ever honour Him in all its works; to learn those things which please God, and forsake those things which are displeasing to Him. This wisdom is written of in Holy Scripture; and it is said of it, Omnis sapientia a Domino Deo est: 'Every wisdom is of God. Wherefore every man is happy and blessed who is wise toward God, and if he order his deeds by the aid of wisdom. Concerning this spake blessed Job, 'Man's wisdom is righteousness, and his true knowledge is to depart from evil': Verily this is true wisdom, that a man desire the true life wherein he may live for ever with God in glory, if he merit it in this world. To this may our dear Lord Christ bring us, who is the true Wisdom, and the Life of souls, who with His Eternal Father and with the Holy Ghost liveth for ever and ever. Amen.