What shall we say concerning the mystical senses of the prophet Ezekiel, we who scarcely grasp the very words of his narrative? For behold he says: Verses 39-41. 'And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, that the burnt-offering might be immolated upon them, and the sacrifice for sin and for trespass. And on the outer side, which goes up to the door of the gate that leads toward the North, were two tables; and on the other side, before the porch of the gate, were two tables. Four tables on this side, and four tables on that side, along the sides of the gate. There were eight tables, upon which they immolated.' In which words, indeed, a great fog of doubt arises, whether these things are said of any one gate whatsoever, or of two, or of the several gates.
But since fourfold tables are described along the sides, and afterward in the sum of the conclusion it is said: 'There were eight tables upon which they immolated,' it is plain that the Spirit does not say this of the several gates which He had described above; for if the six gates enumerated above had four tables along their sides, all together they would be called not eight, but forty-eight. Again, if this is said of one gate, our understanding is beaten back by a great obstacle: that after the porch of the gate has been described, where two tables on this side and two tables on that side are said to be, there are further mentioned, on the outer side which goes up to the door of the gate that leads toward the North, two tables, and there is added:
'And on the other side, before the porch of the gate, were two tables.' For if within the porch of the gate there were tables two by two along the sides, when it is added: 'And on the outer side were two tables,' and 'on the other side before the porch were two tables,' between which also the gate that looks toward the way of the North is mentioned—surely it is plain that there was one porch within and another without, because first the inner gate is described, and afterward, in this place, the outer gate of the North. For when he had described three gates above, he also mentioned three others of the inner court, of which the outermost he had called the gate of the North, but, as was said before, of the inner court.
Now therefore, when two tables on this side in the porch of the gate and two tables on that side are described, the discourse is still woven concerning the same inner gate, since immediately it is subjoined that on the outer side, which goes up to the door of the gate that leads toward the North, were two tables; and on the other side, before the porch of the gate, were two tables. The inner gate, then, is described as having two tables along its sides in the porch, and the outer gate likewise two. But four on this side and four on that side come to be equally, when along each of the sides two are described in the porch of the inner gate, and two on this side and that outside in the gate of the North, which all together are eight, upon which sacrifice is offered.
These matters of the outward narrative being thus discussed, let the discourse return to the spiritual understanding, which ought now to be so much the easier, the Lord granting it, as the ignorance of the outward description does not straiten us. 2. For, as was said above, by the name of the gates the holy preachers can be understood, so that the porch of the gate is the people. When the people, with humble mind, receives the words of preaching, then within it the tables are built up for sacrifice out of virtues. Again, nothing hinders if we take as the gate this: that through the mouths of preachers the understanding of sacred eloquence is opened to us, so that the porch of that gate for us are the words of preaching which we first receive humbly, that afterward we may come to the understanding of sacred eloquence.
Let the inner gate, then, be for us the New Testament, and the outer gate the Old Testament, because the one opens the spiritual understanding, and the other guarded the letter in the history of sacred eloquence for minds as yet untrained. Now the inner gate, among the now great multitude of faithful peoples, has two sides, namely the love of God and the love of neighbor. And there are two tables on this side and on that, because in the love of God faith and life must of necessity be held, while in the love of neighbor patience and kindness must above all be preserved. For in the love of God faith and life are necessary, since indeed it is written: 'Without faith it is impossible to please God' (Heb. 11:6). And again it is written:
'Faith without works is dead' (James 2:20, 26). But in the love of neighbor, patience and kindness must be kept by us, because concerning that same love it is written: 'Charity is patient, is kind' (1 Cor. 13:4)—patient, namely, that it may bear with equanimity the evils inflicted by neighbors, but kind, that it may lovingly bestow its own goods upon neighbors. The outer gate also, namely the Law, has two sides: the spiritual fathers and the carnal people. In each of these there are two tables, because in the spiritual fathers it has teaching and prophecy, and in the carnal people it has circumcision and sacrifice.
Upon these eight tables, then, sacrifice is offered, because whatsoever faith believes, whatsoever life shows forth in the example of good work, whatsoever patience humbly endures, whatsoever kindness bountifully ministers, whatsoever teaching wholesomely leads, whatsoever prophecy forewarns for the future, whatsoever circumcision has helped toward the outward commandment, whatsoever sacrifice devotion has performed—all this it shows to be a victim in the eyes of Almighty God. For in the Law, even by carnal sacrifice, what else did the people immolate but the devotion of their own heart?
But it must be noted that only four tables are mentioned as being for the burnt-offering—those, namely, which we take to be of the porch of the inner gate—so that concerning the remaining four we understand that they were built for sacrifice, not for burnt-offering. For the burnt-offering, as I already professed in the preceding discourse (Homily above), is called wholly consumed by fire. And the Law indeed commands that God and neighbor be loved, that the divine commandments be kept, and restrains from the coveting of others' goods; yet it does not bid all things to be forsaken. But in the New Testament the Truth attests to us, saying: 'Unless a man renounce all that he possesses, he cannot be my disciple' (Luke 14:33). And again He says:
'Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself' (Luke 9:23). The tables of the inner gate, then, have the burnt-offering, because in the virtues of the New Testament we, as it were by a burnt-offering, set all things afire, when we renounce all things that are of this world. But the tables of the outer gate have sacrifice, yet do not have burnt-offering, because the precepts of the Law command that tithes be offered, but do not command that all things be forsaken. 3. But concerning the four tables of the inner porch it is said: 'That the burnt-offering may be immolated upon them, and for sin, and for trespass.' For this is the difference between sin and trespass: that sin is to do evil, whereas trespass is to abandon good things which ought most earnestly to be held.
Or certainly sin is in deed, trespass in thought. Rightly, then, upon the four tables of the inner gate the burnt-offering is immolated, and for sin, and for trespass; because whosoever has been able fully to despise this present world, and, forsaking all things, to give himself as a burnt-offering to the Lord, he now perfectly knows both to bewail the sins of deed and the trespasses of thought—either what evil he has done, or what good he ought to have done and did not. For he who has forsaken all now more freely beholds his own faults in weeping. And when earthly care no longer hinders his mind, by lamenting at once for deed and for thought, what else did he give to the Almighty Lord than a burnt-offering of his mind? 4.
Nor does this seem foreign to reason, that the prophet, when he spoke of the outer side and named the door of the gate, added: 'Which goes toward the North.' For in the outer keeping of the letter the Law was held. But the door of the gate is the very historical understanding of the Law, which leads to the fear of the Lord. This gate is said to go toward the North, because that same light, under the fear of death, bound the cold hearts of the Jewish people. For that people would, as it were, have run through warmth, if it had kept the Lord's precepts out of love. But because it kept the letter under the fear of the death set before it, it remained, as it were, in the torpor of cold. Whence to the new peoples, who love the eternal rewards and do not fear the temporal torments, and who are already warm, it is said:
'You have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father' (Rom. 8:15). But let it be said: 'Four tables on this side, and four tables on that side, along the sides of the gate.' For when faith and life, teaching and prophecy are kept in the minds of the good, our gate—that is, the understanding of sacred eloquence—has four tables on its side. And when, among peoples making progress, holy preaching preserves patience and kindness—which formerly among the carnal preserved circumcision and sacrifice—four tables also are shown, as it were, on the other side.
Which all together, eight, come to be for immolation—four inner, namely, for the burnt-offering, and four outer for sacrifice—because both those who in the holy Church keep faith, life, patience, and kindness now without doubt abound in the highest virtues; and those who in the synagogue knew teaching and prophecy, circumcision and sacrifice, offering some things and retaining others for themselves, gave to the Almighty Lord the victim of their devotion. But because it was said above that the four tables of the inner porch were built for this, that the burnt-offering might be immolated upon them, and for sin, and for trespass, whence those very tables were built is disclosed below, when it is subjoined: Verse 42.
'But the four tables for the burnt-offering were built of squared stones.' 5. For what do we here take the squared stones to be, but any holy persons whatsoever, whose life knows how to stand firmly both in prosperity and in adversity? For a squared stone stands equally, on whatever side it is turned. Whosoever, then, is not lifted up in prosperity, is not broken in adversity, is not drawn to evil by persuasions, is not called back from good work by revilings—he is a squared stone. And, as it were, he has a standing on every side, because he has no fall in any change whatsoever.
Surely, when the prophet knew that the people of the Jews was perishing from the faith, and foresaw that the holy Apostles would rise up in the Church, through whom many from among the Gentiles would be established in the fortitude of faith and life, he spoke in great consolation, saying: 'The stones have fallen, but we will build with squared stones' (Isa. 9:10). For the Apostle, seeing in the holy Church the martyrs and doctors rising up, grieved less over the fall of the stones—that is, over the perdition of the Jews—because he beheld the edifice of Almighty God, that is, the holy Church, being built of squared stones.
The four tables, then, are built of squared stones, because faith and life, patience and kindness were given from the life of the saints as an example to the peoples who follow, so that now the porch may have tables—that is, that the people may hold the virtues of life—in which it may kindle to Almighty God the sacrifice of prayer upon the altar of its own heart. For whatever good the minds of the peoples of the holy Church either have done or do, this they received as an example from the life of their preachers. For whence would this porch have tables, unless it had found squared stones? For, that we may briefly bring forward one of the squared stones into the midst, do you wish, most beloved brethren, to see faith? 'To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain' (Phil. 1:21).
Do you wish to know life? 'The world is crucified to me, and I to the world' (Gal. 6:14). Do you wish to hear patience? 'Even unto this hour we both hunger, and are buffeted, and are unstable, and labor, working with our own hands; we are reviled, and we bless; we suffer persecution, and we endure; we are blasphemed, and we entreat' (1 Cor. 4:11-13). Do you wish to know kindness? 'But I will most gladly spend and be spent myself for your souls' (2 Cor. 12:15). And lest perchance we believe that he was a debtor to the love of those for whom he desired to be spent, presently to those same disciples he subjoins, saying: 'Though loving you more, I be loved less' (ibid.).
When, therefore, by a faithful people the life of the holy preachers is known for the imitation of their virtues, then surely these tables are built. The synagogue also had spiritual fathers, and in the porch, of squared stones, three tables in teaching and prophecy, from which it might draw an example of life in virtues. But its untrained people, serving more through fear than following through love, was unwilling to imitate the life of the fathers which it saw; and therefore the outer gate, which goes toward the North, has no tables for the burnt-offering. But since we have said these things morally, it yet remains that we scrutinize these same tables by the typical understanding. 6.
For our gate in the inner porch has four tables, because the holy Church has been instructed by the preaching of the four Evangelists, through whose teaching it has learned to ascend in heart into the love of Almighty God, and to immolate to Him its thoughts in sacrifice. Of these, two are said to be on this side and two on that, because two Evangelists both attested the things which they saw concerning the Lord, and two related those things which they learned by the hearing of those going before. Or certainly there are four tables of the inner porch—this which we plainly perceive—because the holy Church, for the instruction of the faithful peoples, receives four orders of rulers, which Paul enumerates from the gift of Almighty God, saying:
1444:21
Ipsededitquosdamquidemapostolos, quosdamautemprophetas, aliosveroevangelistas, aliosautempastoresetdoctores (ICor. xii, 28; Ephes. IV, I 1). Pastoresveroetdoctoresunumregentiumordinemnominat, quiagregemDeiipseveraciterpascitquidocet. Habuitquoqueetiportaexteriormensasquatuor, quiavidelicetSynagogaobsequiiexteriorisobservantiamperprincipessacerdotumetseniorespopuli, perScribasatquePharisaeostenuiLQuiscilicetPharisaeietiamlegisdoctoresvocatisum. Siveautemexterioriseuinterioriportaeduæmensaehincsunt, etduaeinde, quiainexordiissuissanctaEcclesiaapostolosetprophetashabuit.
'He himself gave some indeed to be apostles, and some prophets, and others evangelists, and others pastors and teachers' (1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11). Pastors and teachers, indeed, he names as one order of rulers, because he truly feeds the flock of God who teaches. The outer gate also had four tables, because the Synagogue held the observance of outward service through the chief priests and the elders of the people, through the Scribes and the Pharisees. Which Pharisees, indeed, were also called doctors of the Law. But whether of the outer or the inner gate, there are two tables on this side and two on that, because in its beginnings the holy Church had apostles and prophets.
But by prophets we do not mean those who were among the ancient people, but those who arose in the holy Church after the apostles. In the later time also, which now is, she has evangelists and teachers. And because the Gospel is called good tidings, we of course call those evangelists who announce the good things of the heavenly homeland to untrained peoples. These evangelists and teachers existed indeed in the earlier time, but even until now, the Lord granting it, they remain; because we perceive that still daily both unbelieving peoples are drawn to the faith, and the faithful are each instructed in good morals through teachers.
But the apostles and prophets have been taken away from this present time, and therefore we say that these tables of our gate—that is, of the holy Church—were, as it were, on the other side. 7. The gate also which goes toward the North has two tables on this side and two on that: those same, whom we have spoken of, the chief priests and elders of the people in the greater authority of government, the Scribes also and the Pharisees, who presided over that untrained people in a lesser place. But these tables are beside the gate which goes toward the North, because when those four orders presided over the people, the Synagogue, raging in the persecution of our Redeemer, burst forth into the torpor of faithlessness. These tables, however, had sacrifice, which they held according to the letter alone;
whence also they slipped into the torpor of cold, because they were not kindled by the flame of the Spirit. But the inner tables have the burnt-offering, because whether in the hearts of the apostles and prophets, or in the mind of the evangelists and teachers, the fire of the Spirit both burned and burns. Which, in that it consumes all their kinship [with the flesh] in good work, as a burnt-offering the flame of the love of God sets afire wholly and all at once whatever it finds. For they offer a burnt-offering who, whether in good work or in holy thought, are kindled to the very marrow. 8. But these tables were made of squared stones, because while daily in their hearts they meditate on the words of sacred eloquence, they are built, as it were, of squared stones, for the offering to the Lord of the burnt-offering of prayer.
For the words of Holy Scripture are squared stones, because everywhere they stand, because on no side are they found reprehensible. For in all that they narrate as past, in all that they announce as to come, in all that they preach morally, in all that they sound forth spiritually, they have, as it were, a standing on every side, because they have no ground for reproach. And so the hearts of the saints are the tables of God for the burnt-offering, built of squared stones, because those who always meditate on the words of God slay themselves to the Lord, in thought, from the carnal life. Whence it is written: 'The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be supplanted' (Ps. 37:31). And whence again it is said:
'In my heart have I hidden thy words, that I might not sin against thee' (Ps. 119:11). But since we have learned whence these tables are built, let us also hear of what measure they are. There follows: Verse 42. 'In length one cubit and a half, and in breadth one cubit and a half, and in height one cubit.' 9. A certain man expounded this place, saying: In length and breadth the tables have one cubit and a half, that is, foursquare, which joined together make three cubits. These three cubits have in height one cubit, that the mysteries of the Trinity may preserve the measure of one cubit—that is, of the divine majesty.
But this sense of the exposition cannot stand, because in that supreme Trinity which created all things and contains all things, one is nothing [divided], nor is anything one made out of two halves. For that substance has nothing of diminution or of division, which, remaining ever unchangeable, receives neither loss nor increase. But we have often said that length pertains to the long-suffering of hope, and breadth to the amplitude of charity.
The tables, then, which were built for the burnt-offering, are measured in length of one cubit and a half, because the holy fathers and teachers, who long-sufferingly extend themselves to the secrets of inmost hope, in that they live in virtues, as far indeed as pertains to the human measure, are exceedingly perfect; but as far as pertains to those divine mysteries which cannot be fully grasped by man so long as they subsist in this mortal flesh, they are not perfect. In themselves, then, they now have the cubit, but in God they do not yet have the cubit, because they now indeed make full progress in virtues, yet still they know something of God only in part. Behold, again in the measure of the table Paul comes forward as a witness.
Let us see whether his life is measured by a whole cubit. For he says: 'As many as are perfect, let us be thus minded' (Phil. 3:15). Yet as to grasping the mysteries to be perceived, that he had not perfectly reached: 'I count not myself to have apprehended' (ibid. 13). Who again says: 'We know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away' (1 Cor. 13:9-10). Who again says: 'Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known' (ibid. 12). If, then, he is perfect and yet knows in part, he has the cubit as regards himself, but nevertheless the half above himself. Let the hearts of the saints, then, be stretched out in the long-suffering of hope; let them be stretched out in the perfection which they have, by one cubit.
But because they cannot yet see fully, where they cast the eye of hope, let this which they have above one cubit be cut back to a half cubit, so that in this life they may always see themselves imperfect, and may run the more ardently toward perfection. 10. The tables also have a breadth of one cubit and a half, because the hearts of the saints, enlarged in the amplitude of charity, have the cubit as regards the neighbor whom they love and see. For they can perfectly love those whom they are able to know in some measure. But the Almighty God they love to the very marrow, they follow to the very marrow, yet they cannot love Him as much as they ought, because as yet they are not able to see Him whom they love;
and the measure of love is less where the measure of knowledge is still less. Above one cubit, then, they have also a half, because this is now whole for them in mind—that which is far less, namely charity toward the neighbor; while that which in them is far greater, namely the love of God whom they do not see, is not yet whole. Of this love, which is here begun, that it may be perfected out of the vision of the Lord in the eternal homeland, Isaiah rightly speaks, saying: 'The Lord liveth, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem' (Isa. 31:9). But it is more to be a furnace than a fire, because a fire can be even small, but in a furnace a vaster flame is kindled. Zion, indeed, is called 'watching' [speculation], and Jerusalem 'the vision of peace.'
Now our peace we here for the meanwhile behold [as watchmen], that there afterward we may see it fully. From the love of the Lord, then, there is fire in Zion, a furnace in Jerusalem, because here we burn to some degree with the flames of His love, where we contemplate something of Him; but there we shall burn fully, where we shall fully see Him whom we love. 11. The height, however, of the tables is of one cubit. For what is the height of the saints, but the faith of things invisible? For by faith is believed what is not seen, and therefore by this the mind of the just is led to the height, that it may despise all visible things on earth, and follow those invisible things which it hears of in heaven. But the height of the tables has one cubit, because there is a unity of faith in the heart of all the saints.
That the one God is a Trinity, both the fathers of the Old Testament and the preachers of the New Testament professed. And so the height of the tables has nothing more than one cubit, nothing less, because in great unity the faith of all the fathers agrees with itself. But those who, now making progress by the highest virtues in the long-suffering of hope, have one cubit and a half, and in the breadth of charity are measured by one cubit and a half, but in the height of faith grow up by one cubit—these are great, and to be venerated with the utmost admiration. They ought, then, to receive the souls of little ones into the bosom of their manner of life, and to offer them in the sight of the Lord as a kind of burnt-offering and sacrifice. Whence there openly follows: Same verse.
'Upon which they place the vessels in which the burnt-offering and the victim are immolated.' 12. For what are the souls of the faithful, but holy vessels which receive the words of godliness, that from their minds the burnt-offering of life and of prayer may be immolated? For hence it is that Paul, when he was still untrained in the calling of God—because he had already received the words of the Lord and was full of heavenly grace—is called a vessel, when it is said: 'He is to me a vessel of election' (Acts 9:15). Hence the prophet admonishes pastors and teachers, saying: 'Be ye clean, ye that bear the vessels of the Lord' (Isa. 52:11). For they themselves, as tables, bear the vessels of the Lord, who by instructing bear with the life of the faithful, that at some time they may lead it to the Lord for a burnt-offering and sacrifice.
But neither is this to be regarded carelessly, that in these same vessels both a burnt-offering and a victim are said to be immolated. For the burnt-offering, as we said above also (in the preceding Homily), is a victim, yet the victim is not always a burnt-offering, because when something is offered in part and retained in part, it is indeed a sacrifice, but it is not a burnt-offering. But there are, in the great multitude of the faithful, others who relinquish all things that are clean, distribute all that they possess, reserve nothing for themselves, pant to the very marrow after the eternal homeland, and slay themselves wholly with their whole heart in tears. These, namely, are the vessels upon the table, in which the burnt-offering is immolated.
And there are others who take care of their own household, who are concerned for their children and keep an inheritance for them, yet who, mindful of the eternal judgment, bestow mercy upon the poor and grant them food and clothing out of that portion which they have determined. These indeed are the vessels upon the table, in which a victim has been immolated, but not a holocaust.
For since the patience and teaching of the saints, by admonishing and enduring, by persuading and by inspiring fear, instruct the hearts of some even to this point, that they forsake all things and kindle their whole selves in the love of the Lord; while they teach others only to this point, that since these cannot relinquish everything, they may at least become merciful in that part wherein they prevail, and may divide their care for the flesh with their care for the soul—therefore they bear the vessels of the Lord's table built of squared stones, in which are immolated both a holocaust and a victim. For the perfect, as has been said, when they forsake all things, kindle their whole heart in the love of the Lord; and the imperfect offer that sacrifice which they have vowed in part. There follows: VERSE 43. And their brim was of one palm, turned back inward round about.
13. What does this mean, that the brims of the tables are measured by a palm, except that in a palm the hand is stretched out, and the holy fathers and doctors preach those things in which the works of their hearers are extended? For it is as though we stretch out our hand when we enlarge our works. Let every doctor therefore speak so as to exercise the heart of the hearer and shake off the sluggishness of the idle. And when he has stretched these toward good works, let him show that he possesses a palm in his brims. It must also be weighed that in the palm both the greatest and the least finger are extended. And what is designated by the greatest and the least finger, except a great and a very small deed? Let them therefore have a palm in the brims of the table, so that by the preaching of their doctors they may perform great works, in such a way that they do not omit even the least.