Expositio super orationem Dominicam

Our Father who art in heaven.

This gathering of words is indeed part of the body of this whole prayer, but not part of the number of the seven petitions, rather it is a certain winning of goodwill. For the heavenly Master renders his hearers well disposed when he says Father; teachable when he says our; attentive when he says who art in heaven.

There are three fathers: the first begets man, the second seizes him unto the punishment of death, the third summons him unto the joy of eternity. Under the first we exist, under the second we exist wickedly, under the third we live blessedly. Under the first we live carnally, under the second we sin mortally, under the third we reign happily. The first father is man, the second is the devil, the third is God. The first is noted here: increase and multiply¹. Since this could not come about without the union of man and woman, it is certain that God instituted marriage. By this certain heretics are refuted who say that intercourse cannot occur without sin. The second father is noted here: you are of your father the devil², the third in this place: our Father, etc.

When Father is said, let us think upon our adoption, so that we may render affection back to the Father. And since adoption is common to all, no one ought to say "my own." This properly belongs to the Son, since he is Father by nature. This passage admonishes us not to be proud against our inferiors. For we are all brothers, and there is one Father of us from whom are all things³. We are all, then, from God the Father as from an efficient cause. The Son, however, is of the substance of the Father, as from a Father who begets.

Note the difference between human and divine generation. In human generation two things are weighed: namely a cutting off, and the withdrawal of what is cut off into another person. For example, something was cut off from the loins of Adam which withdrew into the person of Abel. Nor did the whole substance of the begetter become the substance of the begotten. But it is far otherwise in divine generation. For since the substance of the Father is altogether simple, necessarily either the whole of it, or none of it, is the substance of the Father. Human generation, therefore, is speakable and defective. Divine generation, however, is ineffable and eternal.

Whence the Father says to the Son: today I have begotten you⁴, that is, eternally. Lest, then, the generation of the Son from the Father be thought to have been and not to be, or to be and not to have been, he therefore set down the past tense I have begotten and the present today. The Son, then, is begotten of the substance of the Father, so that this preposition "of" signifies not a cutting off but a fullness. We, however, are sons not by the nature of generation but by the grace of adoption. God, then, is Father of the Son alone in a special way, because he begot him, but of us in common, because he created us.

Our first generation, or condition, was from the earth, the second from the side of a man, the third from man and woman, the fourth from woman without man. In the first and second we fell, in the third we are born from the ruin, in the fourth we are raised up from the ruin.

In four ways are sons and likewise fathers spoken of in divine Scripture: by imitation, by adoption, by nature, by teaching. By imitation, all the good are sons of Abraham, but the wicked are sons of the devil. Whence it is said: you are of your father the devil⁵. By adoption, all the peacemakers shall be called sons of God⁶. By nature are fathers and sons, as James and John. By teaching, however, are fathers and sons, according to that word of Paul: in Christ Jesus, through the gospel, I have begotten you⁷.

Likewise brothers are spoken of in four ways: by nature, as Jacob and Esau; by race, as all Jews are called brothers among themselves. Whence Moses says: if you buy your Hebrew brother, he shall serve you six years⁸, etc. By kinship all are called brothers who are of the same family. Whence James the Less is called the brother of the Lord, because he was born of Mary of Cleophas, sister of the Lord's mother. Likewise brothers are called so by affection, which is twofold: namely common, according to which all men are called brothers because they are born of one father, and spiritual, according to which all Christians are called brothers. Whence it is written: behold how good and how pleasant, etc.⁹. Such brothers, then, of whom there is one spirit, one faith (one, I say, not in number but in kind), boldly dare to say: our Father who art in heaven.

Observe, prudent reader, that everywhere there is something that exists from God, for no place is empty, as John Scotus says, but wherever there is an effect of a cause, the cause which makes the thing exist is present. Since, then, God is the universal cause of things, it is necessarily concluded that God is essentially everywhere. For just as the soul is essentially whole through all the parts of the body, neither lesser in the lesser parts nor greater in the greater, yet operates more slackly in some and more intensely in others, so too God, although he is essentially in every thing, is nevertheless more fully in the heavens, that is, in the saints, in whom he dwells. For wherever God dwells, there he is, but not the reverse. Since, then, God is everywhere essentially, potentially, presentially, yet he is in Christ excellently, in the saints mercifully, everywhere ineffably. It must be presumed, then, not on the basis of our merits but of Christ's grace, and it must be said: Our Father who art in heaven.

Hallowed be thy name.

What is meant by hallowed? Does any increase of holiness come to God from our proclaiming it? By no means, but we pray that it be hallowed in us, so that his holiness may be able to reach us. Or otherwise: the just and merciful potter works, from the muddy mass of just condemnation, his vessels, some unto honor, some unto reproach, some vessels of wrath, some vessels of mercy.

For God mercifully bestows grace upon some. Whence some who are at first wicked afterward become good, as Paul did. From others, however, he withdraws grace justly. Whence some who are at first good afterward become, and remain, wicked, as Saul and Judas. For God has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills he hardens¹.

Thus, then, let the text be read: let it be hallowed, that is, let it be confirmed in us, thy name, in this life, since the name of the Father is transferable onto the sons. For Judas was at one time a son, and at another time not. Because of this possibility of being moved, the Apostle says: lest I too should be found reprobate². In the homeland, however, all will be sons of God, and God will be all in all³. Whence with the whole desire of the mind, with the whole affection of the heart, must be said what follows:

Thy kingdom come.

He easily falls into false reasoning who does not know the meanings of the words. It must be known that this word kingdom has a manifold acceptation in theology. For sometimes it is called the kingdom, this worldly machine; sometimes the supercelestial region in which Christ is in the flesh, and the blessed Virgin; sometimes the present Church; sometimes the faithful soul. The first kingdom, then, is material, the second and third spiritual, the fourth moral.

Let us expound the text thus: let it come, that is, let it come to the seeing of you, thy kingdom, that is, the present Church, or any faithful soul, inflamed with the desire of seeing what eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man¹. There follows:

Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.

The will of God is spoken of in two ways: either that by which he wills, which in God is God himself, and which is the principal and first cause of things, and is called the essential will; or that which he wills, which is called the material will, which is thus divided: the material will disposing, another approving, another effecting, another commanding. Of the first it is said: whatever he willed, he has done¹. Of the second it is said: God wills his elect to work well. Of the third, however, it is said: God willed the world to be saved². Of the fourth it is said, thy will be done.

Likewise the human will is spoken of in two ways: namely the will of affection and the will of effecting. The will of affection is that by which someone desires something but does not bring it about, as far as is in himself, that he should have it. The will of effecting is when someone brings it about that he obtains what he desires.

Note that the divine will was in Christ insofar as Christ was God. Likewise the human will was in him insofar as he himself was man. I speak of the human will not as vice and fault makes it, but as the nature of man requires. This will is considered in a threefold way: according to reason, according to compassion, according to the flesh.

In Christ, then, there was the will of divinity, the will of reason, the will of compassion, the will of the flesh. Of the powerful will of divinity it was said to the leper: I will, be thou clean³. Of the will of reason: the spirit is willing⁴. Of the will of the flesh: but the flesh is weak⁵. The Lord showed the will of compassion when he wept over the city, whose destruction he did not will, that is, by the will of compassion⁶. Each will, then, worked in Christ what was its own and what pertained to it. The will of divinity followed justice, the will of reason followed obedience, the will of compassion followed mercy, the will of the flesh followed nature.

The will of divinity willed justice, the will of reason approved obedience, the will of compassion sighed over another's evil, the will of the flesh refused suffering and punishment. Let it be said, then: thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Which is to say: just as thy will, the commanding will, is fulfilled in heaven, that is, in the angels, so let it be fulfilled on earth, that is, in men.

Or: as it is done in heaven, that is, in the soul, so let it be done on earth, that is, in the flesh. Or as it is done in heaven, that is, in the just, so let it be done on earth, that is, in sinners. Or as it is done in heaven, that is, in Christ, so let it be done on earth, that is, in the Church. As if he should say: just as the heavenly Church can will nothing except what it knows you to will, so let the present Church be wholly given over to your will.

Give us this day our daily bread, etc.

It must be known that this adverbial expression today is sometimes a mark of eternity, sometimes of temporality. Of eternity, as in that passage: today I have begotten you, that is, eternally. Of temporality, as in this place: our daily bread, etc. Luke says daily¹, which can be expounded only of the viaticum. Matthew, however, says supersubstantial², that is, Christ, who is supersubstantial, that is, above all substances, and is our bread upon the altar. Or it can be read as divided into two words, so that it is said super substantialem, and then the sense is this: give us the bread, that is, Christ, the preter-substantial bread, that is, necessary for sustenance. As if it were said: give us both breads, of the soul and of the body.

And it must be noted that where we say daily or supersubstantial, the Greek says epiousion, which is the same thing, while the Hebrew says segullah, which is interpreted as excellent or particular. But a plurality of words does not establish a plurality of things, for the sense is the same in both. The daily bread, then, is said to be Christ himself, whom we need daily. This is the living bread which came down from heaven³, whose sublimity of nature is above all substances.

We say our because Christ was made ours, and God the Father, together with Christ, has given us all things. It is called daily in this life, but in the other life it will not be daily, where day does not succeed day by any turning of time. We pray, then, that what is ours through the gift of grace may be given to us in effect daily. Bread is also said to be the body of Christ, which is daily received under the appearance of bread.

And note three things which must be considered in the sacrament of the altar. The first is sacrament only, the second is sacrament and reality, the third is reality and not sacrament, that is, the appearance of bread, the truth of the flesh, the power of spiritual grace. As far as the appearance of bread, the outer sight reaches; as far as the truth of the flesh, the inner faith reaches; as far as the power of spiritual grace, the higher charity reaches. The appearance of bread even the smallest mouse sometimes gnaws; the flesh even the worst man receives; the power of spiritual grace only the predestined perceives.

What is seen there, then, is the appearance of bread and wine. What is believed to be there is the body of Christ, which hung upon the cross, and the blood which he poured out for us. Whence Augustine says: Under the appearance of bread and wine which we see, we honor the invisible realities, that is, the flesh and blood. For just as the appearances are seen there, whose realities or substances are not believed to be there, so truly and substantially do we believe Christ to be present there, whose appearance nevertheless we do not see.

Note: our Savior poured out his blood for us five times. The first shedding of blood was in the circumcision, the second in the sweat, the third in the scourging, the fourth in the crucifixion, the fifth in the piercing of his dead body with the lance. The first was done as an example, that we should circumcise our members; the second as a sign, that he might irrigate and make fruitful the earth with his blood; the third and fourth for remedy, the fifth for sacrament. Let us not, then, say that only his hands and feet and side were sprinkled with blood, but that with his whole garment stained he came up from Bosra⁴. There follows:

And forgive us our debts.

Whoever has perfect faith can, by praying or even by commanding, remove bodily and even spiritual mountains¹, as Paul did concerning Elymas the magician, whom he deprived both of his eyes and of his wicked art², and concerning the Pythoness at Philippi. But those who cannot ascend to the summit of so great a perfection should ask that their sins be forgiven them, so that they may merit to enter into everlasting life, and without doubt they will obtain this, provided that they first forgive those who sin against them. Whence it can safely be said: forgive us our debts, etc.

We say that debts signifies sins in this place. But a distinction must be made between one sin and another. For there is original sin and there is actual sin. Likewise of actual sins, one is criminal, another venial. Original sin is the concupiscence of the flesh with which man is born, which makes the infant capable of desiring, but the adult one who actually desires.

This sin, then, is remitted in baptism, not so that it does not exist, but so that it is not imputed as sin. For the guilt passes away, but the punishment remains. It passes away in its accountability but remains in its act. For there remains in the members the tyrant of our flesh, which moves illicit desires, of which the first movement is called passion, the second delight, the third consent. The first movement is not in our power to prevent from arising. But it can be repressed by grace, so that a man may not delight in it or consent to the wicked and perverse suggestion.

There is, then, in all who are begotten through concupiscence, a carnal concupiscence which is not to be allowed to reign, which can be diminished daily but cannot be ended. For there is always a struggle in us as long as we are in this body of death³. By actual sin, however, we mean an evil act, both interior and exterior, that is, in thought, speech, and deed. In these three we sin sometimes criminally, sometimes venially. Criminal sin is that to which eternal damnation is owed. Venial sin, however, is that to which eternal damnation is not owed. Sin, nevertheless, consists chiefly in the will, from which, as from an evil tree, evil works proceed as evil fruit. An evil will, then, robs the soul of the penetrating force and the piercing savor of the heavenly kernel.

Consider the walnut. A walnut indeed has three coverings. The first is green and bitter, the second hard and shell-like, the third fine and adjoining the kernel. The first cannot be eaten with the nut. The second encloses the kernel within itself. The third is eaten with the nut, but its taste is less delightful. The first signifies original sins, with which we are born. The second signifies criminal sins, with which there cannot be a wholesome knowledge of God. The third signifies venial sins, with which the knowledge of God is less delightful. The first is to be cast away, the second to be broken, the third to be cleansed. And thus there will be a sweet refreshment from the heavenly nut.

Note that our Lord Jesus Christ, when he healed the sick man⁴ who was let down before him through the tiles, first forgave him his sins, which had been the cause of his sickness, so that, the cause ceasing, that which had been made on account of the cause might also cease. Since it is agreed, then, that a man is sick on account of sins, the physician visiting the sick man ought to urge him toward humble and pure confession and satisfaction, lest, the sin remaining like iron in the wound, it be in vain to apply the ointment. Criminal sin is divided in three ways: namely into shameful vice, into wickedness, into contempt. Shameful vice is when someone corrupts himself viciously. Wickedness is when someone harms his brother maliciously, or proudly despises God. Venial sins, however, are certain light sins, for which we say daily: forgive us our debts. There follows:

As we also forgive our debtors.

This adverbial expression as is a mark of various things. For it is a mark of truth, a mark of imitation, a mark of mere conjunction, a mark of hypothetical causation. A mark of truth, as when it is said: blessed Peter lived as a just man. Of imitation, as when it is said: the hypocrite lives as a just man. Of mere conjunction, as when it is said: this man limps as that one does, when both limp. Of hypothetical causation, as in this place: as we also, etc., which is to say:

Forgive us, because we forgive others, or in the manner that we forgive others. Whence the Lord in the Gospel: if you shall forgive, it shall be forgiven you, but if you shall not forgive, neither will your Father, etc.¹. Behold with what caution the Master of truth binds us, whose authority compels us to forgive our debtors not partially but wholly, every transgression, from the whole heart. Whence it was said to Peter: I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven times, that is, seventy and seven times².

By this number we ought to understand every transgression. For this number is composed of eleven and seven. For seven times eleven, or eleven times seven, make seventy-seven. The number eleven signifies transgression, because it exceeds ten by one, by which the Decalogue is understood. The number seven, however, signifies universality, because it embraces the whole of time, just as the gifts of the Holy Spirit are said to be seven, not because they are only seven, but because by seven all the gifts of the Holy Spirit are understood.

Whoever, then, forgive their brothers who sin against them seventy times seven times, that is, every transgression, from the whole heart, can safely say: forgive us our debts, either by wholly releasing the penalty or at least by punishing it while we are in this life, lest we be punished after death either in the fire of purgatory or in the flame of hell. For God scourges man in three ways: he scourges with a rod, he scourges with a staff, he scourges with a hammer; with a rod the son, with a staff the servant, with a hammer the enemy. The rod is bodily distress, the staff is purgatorial fire, the hammer is the flame of hell.

Note there are five causes for which we are scourged in this life: either to increase our merits, as Job and Tobias were scourged; or to guard our virtues, as Paul; or to correct our sins, as Mary the sister of Moses and Aaron; or for the glory of God who saves, as the man born blind and Lazarus, whose infirmity was not unto death; or as the beginning of eternal damnation, as Herod and Antiochus and many others who become worse amid the scourges of the present life, whose punishment begins here and continues forever.

But observe: those are called our debtors who owe us some money, or who inflict upon us some injury. If someone owes you money and you are perfect, you ought to forgive it; but if not, you may lawfully demand it back. Everyone is bound to lay aside rancor of mind for whatever injury, even if the one who wounded him does not seek pardon. But if he does seek it, I am bound to forgive him, or to say "hail" to him, and to come to his aid if he is in need, which I am not bound to do if he does not seek pardon, unless I am perfect.

And it must be known that the perfection of the faithful is fourfold. For there is the perfection of prelates, whose sign is to lay down one's life for the sheep³. And there is the perfection of contemplatives, whose sign is to leave all things. And there is the perfection of those who do not fear punishment, who are conscious of no wrong in themselves, but hold death in desire and life in patience. And there is the perfection of clerics of sacred orders, whose sign is continence. There follows:

And lead us not into temptation.

We read in the epistle of James: blessed is the man who endures temptation, etc.¹, and elsewhere: the life of man upon earth is temptation². Likewise: the furnace tests the vessels of the potter, and the trial of temptation tests just men³. We, therefore, do not ask not to be tempted, but, as athletes of Christ, we wish for such temptation as the human condition can bear.

There are two kinds of temptation: one which deceives, the other which tests. According to that which deceives, God tempts no one. According to that which tests, God tempted Abraham, of whom the prophet says: test me, O God, and try me⁴. God tempts, then, the devil tempts, man tempts, but God in one way, the devil in another, man in another. God, that he may crown; the devil, that he may punish; man, that he may deceive.

And it must be noted that there are six kinds of temptation, according to the six dimensions of the human body. For there is temptation from above, temptation from below, temptation from in front, temptation from behind, temptation from the right, temptation from the left. Temptation from above is from reason, from below from the flesh, from in front from the devil, from behind from the recollection of sins with delight, from the right from prosperity, from the left from adversity. The first is contemptible, the second wondrous, the third horrible, the fourth deformed, the fifth fleeting, the sixth grave.

Now let us look at the order of temptations. First there occurs suggestion, which is either exterior, from the devil, or interior, from the very frailty of the flesh, neither of which is sin, but rather the material for struggle and victory. After suggestion follows propassion, which is a sudden movement. It is indeed a fault, as some hold, but a venial one, without any deliberation of good or evil. Then follows passion, when one not only has the movement but also deliberates how to act on it. And this is death in the house. And this passion is twofold.

For one man delights in that thought, and it is pleasing to him to dwell there, and yet he would not wish to carry it out even if he had the opportunity. Another, however, not only does not fail to seek the opportunity, which sometimes is lacking, but it happens to him not merely by wishing it. And this is little removed from the act itself. The first passion is called delight, the second is called consent. Then follows the act, which is death at the gate. Finally follows habit, which is the death of the four-days-dead.

But this threefold death of the soul had no place in Christ. For his death was not in the soul but in the flesh alone. Our death, however, is not in the flesh alone but in the soul. It is in the soul on account of sin, in the flesh on account of the punishment of sin. Christ, however, because he had no sin, died only in the flesh, and on account of the likeness of sinful flesh which he drew from Adam.

Note the difference between the prepositions, namely "ex" and "de." For they are taken in a different sense of cause. "De" signifies matter, while "ex" gives the sense of authority and efficient cause. For if I say the ring is de gold, I signify that gold is the matter. But if I say this son is ex this father, I signify the efficient cause.

It is found, nevertheless, the other way about, as in that passage: born ex the Virgin Mary. For "ex" does not there note authority but is put for "de," and notes a cutting off, not a fullness. For the whole substance of the mother is not the son's. He is, then, of the substance of the mother, not of the father, according to what he is as man. Yet it is not by the mother's authority but by the father's that he was born, drawing his flesh from the mother alone. Whence he is called the son of man in the singular. But each of us is a son of men, since we draw our flesh from the loins of both parents. There follows:

But deliver us from evil.

By evil we mean in this place the misery of the present life. But note that freedom is threefold. For there is freedom from necessity, freedom from sin, freedom from misery. The first is that by which free choice is always free, since indeed it lies in the will, which cannot be compelled. Free choice is the faculty of reason and will by which the good is chosen, with grace assisting, or evil is chosen, with grace withdrawing.

And it is called free with respect to the will, which can be bent to either side. It is called choice, however, with respect to reason, whose faculty, or the will's, is to discern between good and evil. And sometimes, having the discernment of good and evil, it chooses what is evil, sometimes what is good. But it does not choose what is good except with the help of grace. Evil, however, it chooses of itself.

Whence Augustine says: The will in us is always free, but it is not always good. For either it is free from justice, when it serves sin, and then it is evil; or it is free from sin, when it serves justice, and then it is good. The second freedom is that by which we are made servants of justice. Whence the Apostle says: having been freed from sin, you have been made servants of justice¹. The third is that of which it is said: and the creature itself shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption, coming into the freedom, etc.². Free choice had these three before sin and in the first state. But through the sin of Adam the natural goods in man were corrupted, and the gratuitous goods, that is, faith, hope, charity, were taken away.

For this is that man who was wounded by robbers and stripped. Wounded indeed in his natural goods, of which he was not deprived, otherwise no repair could be made. Stripped, however, of the gratuitous goods which had been added to the natural ones through grace. These are the best gifts and the perfect gifts, of which some are corrupted, that is, the natural ones, such as talent, memory, understanding; others are withdrawn, that is, the gratuitous ones, although the natural ones too are from grace, for they belong to the general grace of God.

The freedom of choice, then, was corrupted by sin and lost in part. Whence Augustine says that man lost free choice, not because after sin he did not have it, but because he lost the freedom of choice, not indeed all of it, but the freedom from misery and sin. For just as it could not then be compelled, so neither can it now. Therefore the will is rightly judged before God, which is always free from necessity and can never be compelled.

This freedom of choice is in all, both in the good and in the evil. The first freedom of choice was that in which man was able to sin and not to sin. The last will be that in which he will be able not to sin and will not be able to sin. The middle, however, is that in which he is able and not able not to sin: before the repair, even mortally; after the repair, at least venially.

And it must be known that the state of human nature is fourfold, and that Christ received something from each of them. The first state was before sin, the second after sin and before grace, the third under grace, the fourth in glory. From the first he received immunity from sin. Whence Augustine says on that passage, he who comes from above is above all³: Christ, he says, comes from above, that is, from the height of human nature before sin.

From the second he took human nature without fault, of which nevertheless he took on the punishment and all the other defects of the human body. From the third, however, he received the fullness of grace. From the fourth, the inability to sin and the perfect contemplation of God. Christ, therefore, had in himself the goods of the homeland and the evils of the way. Or otherwise: Deliver us from evil, that is, from the world.

But note that the world is spoken of in many ways in sacred Scripture. For there is called the sensible world and the intelligible world. The sensible world is called this structure built from the four elements. The intelligible world is called the empyrean heaven. To understand, then, what is meant by the sensible world or the intelligible world, let us look at the disposition of created things. Observe that in an egg the arrangement is fourfold. The yolk, or the middle part (which is the same thing), is placed as it were at the center in the middle. The white surrounds it. Then a certain fine membrane is placed. And last of all, the shell.

According to this pattern, then, the opinion of the theologians teaches the disposition of this sensible world. For the earth is placed in the middle, as it were the center. The water itself, as it were the white, surrounds the middle part. For in the beginning water was spread over the face of the earth. Whence it says: and darkness was over the face of the deep⁴. Air holds the third place, fire the fourth. Above the fire, however, are the frozen waters, which are the firmament, as the theologian says⁵. Or, as some say, God placed those waters above the firmament to temper the brightness of the planets, since they are of a hot and moist nature.

But perhaps heat abounds there more than moisture, and by continuous motion heat is increased and accumulated. Lest, then, they should be dried up and fail through excessive heat, God placed waters above the firmament to temper their heat. Whence Saturn is naturally cold and moist, because it is nearer to the firmament. In the highest place, however, is the empyrean heaven, that is, fiery, so called not from heat but from splendor, in which, namely, absolute and perfect tranquility and beatitude flourish. For there is no clashing of winds there.

In that region, then, are the souls of the saints and the angels, and Christ in the flesh, and the blessed Virgin. That region, then, is called the world on account of its cleanness. The sublunary region is also called the world, according to that saying: the prince of this world shall be cast out⁶. Man too is called a world, whom the Greek calls microcosm, that is, a lesser world, because he represents in himself the image of the whole world. Whence he is called by the Lord every creature⁷, by a certain likeness.

For just as this sensible world is formed from the four elements, so likewise man consists of four humors. Moreover, just as this sensible world has a twofold motion, namely the rational motion in the firmament and the wandering motion in the planets, so likewise there is a twofold motion in man: namely the motion of reason, which is compared to the motion of the firmament, and the motion of sensuality, which is likened to the motion of the planets.

The world is also called the archetype of divine wisdom, as it were the principal figure. For archos means prince, typus figure. And rightly the principal figure. For just as this world contains the forms of all things, both animate and inanimate, so likewise God through his wisdom had all the ideas in his mind before things came forth into bodies. The world is also called the love of this world, from which we ask to be delivered.

And note that love is manifold: worldly love, carnal love, rational love, spiritual love. The first is that by which the world is loved, and the things that are in the world. The second is that by which carnal people love one another carnally. The third is that by which wives and children are loved. This love is good, but it is not unto life. The fourth is in the saints and religious men, who love God for his own sake and their neighbor for God's sake, without which the labor of those in the cloister is empty and vain.

Otherwise: deliver us from evil, that is, from the love of riches. For the rich man, when he has gain in his coffer, keeps loss in his conscience. For no one can serve two masters, namely God and mammon⁸. For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven⁹.

Note. Easier here signifies less in the positive degree of its contrary, that is, it is less difficult because it is less impossible. For God can make it so that a camel passes through the eye of a needle, with nothing hindering; but to place a covetous rich man in glory, if he can by power, he cannot by justice, but he can justify him and thus save him. Do not marvel at the degree of comparison, for it is more impossible for a horse to be turned into a stone than into a donkey, to which it is naturally better suited than to a stone. Otherwise: deliver us from evil, that is, from the tinder of sin. This tinder, remaining in us, works the desires of the flesh, against which the faithful fight.

And note: although this sin is not imputed to the regenerate, yet whatever offspring is born is bound by original sin, although it is contracted from parents made clean, just as the foreskin is removed by circumcision, yet it remains in the one whom the circumcised have begotten. Just as also the chaff, which is separated by diligence, remains in the fruit which is born from the purged wheat, so the sin which is cleansed in the parents through baptism remains in the children whom they have begotten.

This tinder, however, is diminished daily in those who make progress and practice continence, until it is destroyed, or perhaps entirely extinguished, unless it revives through unlawful consent. From which may our king, our leader, our forerunner, Jesus Christ our Lord, deliver us, who is God above all things, blessed forever¹⁰. Amen.