Ezek. 40:1.—'In the five and twentieth year of our transmigration, in the beginning of the year, the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was smitten, in that same day the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me thither.' 1. About to speak of mystical things, he prefaces a historical narration, so that he may bind by time what he brings forth by revelation. It is to be noted, moreover, that in the beginning of this book he indicated in what year the prophet began to prophesy; but at the end he inserted in what year he saw the last vision, so that it might be able to be recognized in how many years he carried on the book of his prophecy. For the time when he began to prophesy he set at the beginning of his discourse, saying: 'The heavens were opened, and I saw the visions of God, on the fifth of the month;'
'that is the fifth year of the transmigration of king Joachin' (Ezek. 1:1-2). But now he speaks, saying: 'In the five and twentieth year of our transmigration.' For the same prophet had in the first captivity been led across into Babylonia with king Joachin (2 Kings 24:15). For concerning the second captivity of Jerusalem he subjoins: 'In the fourteenth year after the city was smitten.' For Zedekiah had reigned eleven years in the city of Jerusalem after the first captivity, in which the prophet Ezekiel was led with king Joachin into Babylon. But after the captivity of that same Zedekiah, which was now the second captivity of the city, in the fourteenth year the prophet was seeing the last vision.
Eleven and fourteen joined together therefore make twenty-five. If, then, he spoke his first vision in the fifth year of the earlier captivity, and he records that this last one took place in the twenty-fifth year, it is surely plain that through twenty years he extended the intervals of his utterance right up to the words of his last vision. Nor ought it to disturb anyone that in the middle volume of his prophecy, when he was speaking of the king of Babylon, he makes mention of the twenty-seventh year. For since in that passage he inserted nothing concerning the time of his own captivity, he clearly shows that he was reckoning by the time of that king, concerning whom he had received a commission to prophesy. But as to what he says:
'In the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month,' he expresses the time simply, so that from the very time itself he may fix in the hearts of his hearers, according to the letter, the root of the word, from which he may afterwards bring forth spiritual fruits. 2. But it is to be noted that he says: 'In the fourteenth year after the city was smitten, on this very day.' For what is the meaning of the fact that through this last vision Almighty God deigned on that very day to work the mercy of His promise—the same day on which He had fulfilled the measure of justice in the smitten city—unless it be this: that the power of the Godhead, which is not drawn into any movement or mutability of change, by that very light of justice quickens the afflicted and the penitent, by which He smites the proud and the hard-hearted? Having therefore set down beforehand the time of his vision, he adds: Verses 1, 2.
'The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me thither in the visions of God; He brought me into the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain, upon which there was as it were the building of a city facing toward the south.' 3. Now the building of this city can by no means be taken according to the letter. For a little later he adds that this very building was measured with a reed of six cubits and a palm, but the gate of the same building was measured at fourteen cubits, and he states that the fronts of that gate were sixty cubits. All of which can in no way stand according to the letter.
For how is the whole building at once measured with a reed, that is with six cubits and a palm, while the gate of the building is at fourteen cubits, and the fronts of the gates extend to sixty cubits? For the gate is within the city, and the fronts are within the gates. And no reason allows it to be received that that which contains should be less than that which is contained. But in Holy Scripture even those things which can be taken according to history are for the most part to be understood spiritually, so that both faith may be kept in the truth of the history, and spiritual understanding may be gathered from the mysteries of allegory. Just as we also know that which the Psalmist says: 'For I shall behold Thy heavens, the works of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast founded' (Ps. 8:4).
Behold, in the outward description the word of reason stands, for both the heavens are the works of God, and the moon and the stars were created and founded by Him. But if the Psalmist asserts this according to the outward works alone, and not also according to the mystical sense, why, when he professed the heavens to be the works of God, and was about to name the moon and the stars, did he not likewise enumerate the sun, which we know to be His work (Gen. 1:16)? For if he was speaking according to the letter alone, being about to name the lesser light, he ought first to have named the greater light, so as to declare that the sun was founded before, and the moon and stars after.
But because he was speaking according to the mystical understanding—so that we should take the moon as the holy Church, and the stars as all the saints—he was unwilling to name the sun, because clearly he was speaking to that eternal Sun Himself, of whom it is written: 'But unto you that fear the Lord shall the Sun of righteousness arise' (Mal. 4:2). Concerning whom the reprobate shall say at the end: 'The Sun of righteousness hath not risen upon us.' Therefore by saying, 'The moon and the stars which Thou hast founded' (Ps. 8:3), and yet keeping silence about the sun which was made, he indicated that he was speaking to that Sun who made not only the sun and moon and stars bodily, but also the moon which is the Church and the stars which are all the saints, spiritually.
If therefore, when something is lacking to the history, we are led by open reason to the understanding of allegory, how much more are those things to be taken spiritually in which, according to the reason of the letter, nothing historical sounds? 'The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me thither in the visions of God; He brought me into the land of Israel.' What he had said, 'He brought me thither,' repeating this he added: 'He brought me into the land of Israel.' For he says: 'The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me thither in the visions of the Lord.' Now the hand signifies the strength of power, but the visions signify the very revelation which he had received. For the hand in the vision is strength in contemplation.
By which words what does he plainly indicate, except that he says nothing according to the letter concerning the city which he had seen? For he speaks spiritually of that which he spiritually contemplates. 4. 'And He set me down upon a very high mountain.' Whom then does the very high mountain signify but the Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus? Who is indeed of the earth, yet beyond the earth, because the flesh of our same Redeemer has its material from the lowest, but towers above in the highest by His power. Whom it were too little to call high, unless he had added 'very'; because He is not only man, but from the conception of that humanity which was assumed by Him, God-man—not only a man beyond men, but a man made even above the angels.
For hence it is said of Him through Isaiah: 'In that day shall the fruit of the earth be exalted' (Isa. 4:2). For our Creator, because He was incarnate for us, was made for us the fruit of the earth. But now the fruit of the earth is exalted, because the man born on earth reigns above the angels in heaven, because according to the voice of David and Paul, 'He hath subjected all things under His feet' (Ps. 8:8; Heb. 2:8). For in that He subjected all things to Him, He left nothing not subjected to Him. This mountain therefore is both high and very high, because although by the substance of humanity it is of the earth, yet by the loftiness of the Godhead it is incomprehensible.
Hence it is that, when the prophet Isaiah foresaw the same Lord as about to come in the flesh, being lifted up by the spirit of prophecy, he said: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of the mountains' (Isa. 2:2). For the house of the Lord was the people of Israel. That therefore was called the mountain of the house of the Lord, which deigned to be incarnate from the people of Israel. But there were in that same people holy men who might rightly be called mountains, because through the merit of their life they drew near to heavenly things. But the incarnate Only-begotten was not equal to those mountains, because by His Godhead He transcended the nature, life, and merits of all.
Whence He is rightly called the mountain above the top of the mountains, because He was found high by His Godhead even above the summits of the saints, so that those who had greatly advanced in God could scarcely touch His traces from the top of their thought. He therefore who is there called the mountain above the top of the mountains, is here declared to be the mountain exceeding high. There follows: 5. 'Upon which there was as it were the building of a city facing toward the south.' It is to be noted that it is not said, 'Upon which there was a building,' but 'as it were a building,' so that it might clearly be shown that all these things were spoken not of the fabric of a bodily city, but of a spiritual one.
For he who declares that he saw not a building, but as it were a building, sends the heart of his hearers to the spiritual fabric, as it is said through the Psalmist: 'Jerusalem, which is built as a city' (Ps. 121:3). For because that vision of inward peace is constructed from the congregation of the holy citizens, the heavenly Jerusalem is built as a city. Which nevertheless, while in this land of pilgrimage it is smitten with scourges and battered with tribulations, its stones are daily squared. And this very thing is the city, namely holy Church, which, destined to reign in heaven, still labors on earth. To whose citizens Peter says: 'And you also, as living stones, are built up' (1 Pet. 2:5). And Paul says: 'You are God's husbandry, God's building' (1 Cor.
3:9). Which city has here already, in the morals of the saints, its great building. For in a building stone bears stone, because stone is placed upon stone; and he who bears the other is borne by the other. So therefore, so in holy Church each one both bears the other and is borne by the other. For neighbors mutually support one another, that through them the building of charity may rise. Hence Paul admonishes, saying: 'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so you shall fulfil the law of Christ' (Gal. 6:2). And declaring the strength of that law, he says: 'The fulness of the law is charity' (Rom. 13:10).
For if I neglect to bear you in your ways, and you disdain to endure me in my ways, whence rises the building of charity between us, whom mutual love does not join through patience? But in a building, as we said before, the stone which bears is borne, because just as I already endure the ways of those who are as yet unpracticed in the conduct of good work, so I too have been borne by those who went before me in the fear of the Lord and bore me, that being borne I might learn to bear. But these themselves also were borne by those greater than they.
But the stones which are placed at the summit and the extremity of the fabric are indeed borne by others, but bear no others, because those also who are to be born at the end of the Church—that is, at the extremity of the world—are indeed endured by their elders, that their manners may be composed to good works; but since none follow them who might advance through them, they bear upon themselves no stones of the faithful fabric. Now therefore some are borne by us, but we ourselves were borne by others. But the whole weight of the fabric the foundation bears, because our Redeemer alone endures the manners of all together. Of whom Paul says: 'For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus' (1 Cor. 3:11).
The foundation bears the stones, and is not borne by the stones, because our Redeemer endures all our faults, but in Him there was no evil which ought to have been endured. Whence it is well now said: 'He set me down upon a very high mountain, upon which there was as it were the building of a city,' because He alone sustains our manners and faults, who bears the whole fabric of holy Church. Who through the voice of the prophet says concerning those still living perversely: 'I am weary with sustaining' (Jer. 6:11). Now the Lord does not labor in sustaining, whose power of Godhead no weariness touches; but, speaking in human words, He calls His very patience toward us a labor. 6.
And it is to be noted that he saw the same city, which the prophet beheld, facing toward the south. For that the south wind is wont to be set as a type of the Holy Spirit, those who are studious in the sacred word recognize; just as, on the contrary, by the north the devil is often designated, because the one relaxes in warmth, and the other constricts in cold. And the Truth says: 'Iniquity shall abound, and the charity of many shall grow cold' (Matt. 24:12). The prophet also asserts concerning Judea, saying: 'As a cistern maketh its water cold, so hath she made her wickedness cold' (Jer. 6:7). Hence indeed the devil, the same prophet testifying, is declared to have said: 'I will sit in the mount of the covenant, in the sides of the north' (Isa. 14:13).
But on the contrary this city faces toward the southern quarter, because the grace of the Holy Spirit relaxes the torpor of the mind. Hence the Psalmist says: 'Turn again, O Lord, our captivity, as a stream in the south' (Ps. 125:4). For our captivity, which by the cold of torpor had grown sluggish to following God, is relaxed through the warmth of the Holy Spirit, that it may run into the love of God. Whence it is now also said that the city which is set on the mountain faces toward the south, because the Church of the elect opens its thoughts in the breathing of the Holy Spirit, and, descending from every height of its own pride, in God, in whom it believes,
conceives the warmth of love, so that nothing may please it except to be submitted to His grace, to be warmed by His love, to be always filled with the gift of His breathing. Whence too, kindled with mighty love, the contemplative said: 'My soul shall rejoice in the Lord, and shall delight in His salvation' (Ps. 34:9). For he who in Latin is called 'saving' is himself in Hebrew called Jesus. The prophet therefore, because he was contemplating His ways and the mystery of our redemption also through the spirit of prophecy, declares that he rejoices in the Lord and delights in Jesus, because thence he had conceived joy in his mind whence he burned the more through love.
Let us therefore weigh: if the minds of the spiritual fathers delighted in Him who had not yet come but was foreseen, whose fault is it not to love His ways, His examples, His admonitions, after He came and displayed redemption? This city therefore is said to face toward the south, as if it were plainly said that that former city, namely the Synagogue, stood toward the north in its unbelievers, which hardened in the cold of perfidy. But holy Church, which conceived the charity of faith, faces toward the south through warmth, and, as it were, leans upon a warm wind, because it rejoices not in its own confidence, but in the gift of spiritual grace. There follows: Verse 3. 'And He led me in thither.' 7.
He enters the building of the heavenly city who, in holy Church, by imitating considers the ways of the good. For to enter is to consider the building upon the mountain, namely the elect of holy Church set upon the height of virtues, in what manner by loving they may advance in the Lord. For one leads a life bound in marriage, is content with his own possessions, does not seize what is another's, bestows on the needy whatever he can of his own, and does not neglect to weep over the sins without which daily life cannot be led by the married. For because that domestic care disturbs his mind, he lifts himself up to tears.
But another has already forsaken all the things that are of the world, desires to possess nothing of it, is fed by the exercise of contemplation alone, rejoices with weeping in the hope of heavenly rewards, transcends even those things which have been permitted to be possessed, seeks to have daily secret converse with the Lord; no defilement of the passing world troubles his mind, he ever enlarges his mind in the expectation of heavenly joys. But yet another has already forsaken all the things of this world, and his mind is lifted up into the contemplation of heavenly things; yet nevertheless, for the edification of many, holding a place of governance, he who from desire does not succumb to passing things, sometimes turns back to them for the compassion of his neighbors, that from the care of them he may have mercy on the needy;
he preaches the word of life to his hearers, and ministers things necessary to both souls and bodies alike. And he who for his own part already flies out to heavenly desire through contemplation, nevertheless still toils in temporal things for the advancement and profit of his neighbors. Whosoever therefore in holy Church studies carefully to consider, that he may advance either in the life of good married folk, or in the citadel of the continent who forsake all the things that are of this world, or even in the height of the preachers, already enters the building of the city set upon the mountain. For he who neglects to consider the life of the better, that he may advance, still stands outside the fabric.
And if he admires the honor which holy Church already has in the world, he as it were beholds the building from without and is astounded. And because he is intent on outward things alone, he has not entered within. There follows: Ibid. 'And behold a man, whose appearance was as the appearance of brass.' 8. He is signified in the man, who is figured in the mountain. But this man is said to measure the building. And rightly is the Lord signified by both the man and the mountain, because He both disposes all things within holy Church by judging, and He bears the same holy Church, and by bearing lifts it up to heavenly things. So too in the holy Gospel our same Redeemer speaks, saying: 'He that entereth by the door is the shepherd of the sheep' (John 10:2). And a little after: 'I am the door' (ibid. 7).
And again after a little he adds: 'I am the good shepherd' (ibid. 11). If therefore He Himself is the shepherd, and He Himself the door, and the shepherd enters by the door, why is not in this place both the mountain and the man understood to be Himself, who measures the building upon the mountain? 9. But now it must be asked why it is said of this man: 'Whose appearance was as the appearance of brass.' Now we all know, brethren, that the metal of brass is very durable, and in every way sonorous. What is it then that the aspect of the Mediator of God and men is compared to the appearance of brass, unless this which we plainly know, that the Only-begotten Son, taking the form of a servant, turned the frailty of human flesh, through the glory of His resurrection, into eternity, because in Him is now made without hope of an end that which is durable?
For 'rising from the dead, He now dieth no more, death shall no more have dominion over Him' (Rom. 6:9). But what is it that His very incarnation is compared to sonorous metal, unless that through the same assumption of our humanity the glory of His majesty resounded to all? And He as it were has the aspect of brass in His body, because God became known to the world from the flesh. Whence too it is said through John: 'He had written upon His garment and upon His thigh: King of kings, and Lord of lords' (Rev. 19:16). For what is His garment but the body which He assumed from the Virgin? Nor yet is His garment one thing, and He Himself another. For our flesh too is called a garment, yet we ourselves are the flesh with which we are clothed.
But this garment of His, Isaiah beholding long before, stained red with the blood of His passion through the cross, said: 'Why is Thy garment red, and Thy raiment like theirs that tread in the winepress?' (Isa. 63:2). To whom He Himself answered: 'I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the nations there is no man with me' (ibid. 3). For He alone trod the winepress in which He was trodden, who by His own power conquered the passion which He endured. For He who suffered even unto the death of the cross, rose from death with glory. But it is well said: 'And of the nations
there is no man with me' (ibid.), because those for whom He had come to suffer ought to have been partakers of His passion, who, because at that time they had not yet believed, He complains of them in the passion, whose life was sought in that passion. But by the thigh is signified the propagation of the flesh. Because therefore through the propagation of the human race—as the orders of the generations are described, Matthew (Matt. 1:1ff.) or Luke (Luke 3:7, 23ff.) narrating them—He came into this world from the Virgin, and through the mystery of His incarnation made known to all nations everywhere that He was King and Lord, He had written upon His garment and upon His thigh: King of kings, and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16).
For whence He became known in the world, there He fixed the knowledge of Himself. His preaching therefore, from the flesh, is as it were a certain sound from brass. Let it therefore be rightly said: 'Whose appearance was as the appearance of brass.' There follows: Ibid. 'And a line of flax in His hand.' 10. In the Septuagint translators it is not held to be a line of flax, but a builder's line. If in this verse we hold to their translation for exposition, whom else do we take the builders to be but the holy teachers, who, by speaking spiritual things, compose living stones—that is, the souls of the elect—for the heavenly building?
For whatever the ancient fathers, whatever the prophets, whatever the apostles, whatever the successors of the apostles have spoken, what else was it but the composing of stones in this fabric of the saints which is daily being constructed? Now with the builders' line this is wont to be done, that the evenness or straightness of the rising wall may be discerned; and if a stone be within, it may be cast out; if it project outwardly, it may be called back within. And certainly daily the preaching of the teachers does this, that each soul, for which perhaps it is not expedient to undertake the burdens of governance, even though it seek to appear outwardly, may be called back within;
and again, that which wishes to lie hidden and to bear the care of itself alone, if it can be useful to itself and to many, even when it desires to lie hidden, may be brought forth outwardly that it may appear. And so it comes to pass that the order of the holy stones is kept, while often both he who wishes to come to honor is repelled, and he who flees honor is lifted up into the citadel of the sacred order. But because, as we have learned through our interpreter, the history of the Hebrews has not 'builders,' but 'a line of flax in His hand,' we ought to expound this which is more surely held among us. Now we know that a line of flax is finer than if the lines were made from something else. And what ought we to take in the line of flax, but a finer—that is, a spiritual—preaching?
For the strictness of the law was a line, but it was not of flax, because it restrained a rude people by no subtle preaching, in which by the sentence of penalty it cut away not the sins of thought, but of deed. But after the Lord through Himself, by preaching, bound even the thoughts of men, and made known that sin is perfected even in the heart, He held a line of flax in His hand. For He says: 'You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not commit adultery; but I say unto you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart' (Matt. 5:27; Exod. 20:14). The line of flax therefore is a subtle preaching, which binds the mind of the hearer, lest it dissolve itself even in wretched thought.
And it is to be noted that it is said that the line is in His hand, that is, the preaching is in operation. For in Himself He showed all that He taught, as it is written: 'Which Jesus began to do and to teach' (Acts 1:1). And because He committed the very things which He said also to writing, that they might be handed down to posterity, it is rightly added: Ibid. 'And a reed of measure in His hand.' 11. Concerning holy Church the Lord promises through another prophet, saying: 'There shall spring up in her the greenness of the reed and the rush' (Isa. 35:7). Which I remember to have expounded in another place (Book 13 of the Morals, n. 51), so that by the reed writers, and by the rush hearers, ought to be understood.
But because both the rush and the reed are wont to grow at the moisture of water, and both thrive from one and the same water, and the reed indeed is taken for writing, while with the rush one cannot write, what ought we to take in the rush and the reed, but that there is one doctrine of truth, which waters many hearers? But of those watered, some advance thus far in the word of God that they even become writers, namely as it were reeds; but others hear the word of life, hold the green vigor of good hope and of upright works, yet can by no means advance to writing. What are these in the water of God but a certain kind, so to speak, of rushes? Who indeed advance by growing green, but can in no wise express letters.
Our Redeemer therefore, because He granted that the words which He spoke should also be written through the diligence of teachers, held a reed in His hand. Which reed is called a reed of measure, because in the very studies of the teachers they are held under a certain dispensation of hidden judgment, so that they may profit some who read, and cannot profit others who read. Whence the holy apostles, when they asked the Master of truth speaking more openly to them why He spoke to the crowds in parables, heard: 'Because to you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not' (Matt. 13:11). Or certainly it is a reed of measure, because in His very sacred word, which is written down for us, we recognize that His dispensations are hidden.
For through His incomprehensible judgment one is sent within the measure of the elect, and another is left without, so that in no way may he deserve to belong to the number of the elect. He has therefore a line, He has in His hand a reed of measure. For he who measures a place with a line draws the line in one direction, draws it back from another, and leads hither him whom he withdraws from another quarter. So indeed, so does our Redeemer act in the gathering of men, while He leads some out from their iniquities, and leaves others in their iniquity. In those whom He deigned to gather He drew the line of hidden measure, and from those whom He judged to be forsaken, what else did He do but draw back the line?