Held 1516.
Sir. 13, 1. 2.
No one does this except the one who fears the Lord, and the one who keeps God's word finds it (wisdom). And she will meet him like a mother, and will receive him like a young bride.
From the fear of God.
One man fears God for God's sake, and does good to the best of his ability, and shuns evil to the utmost. Another fears God for God's sake and for the sake of punishment.
*) Löscher I, 773; Erl. A. oxx. var. I, 162
D. Red.
and does less what is good and perfect. Still another fears God only for the sake of punishment, and does good only for appearance, from the outside. The first one is a son; the other one is an intermediate between son and servant; the third one is a servant. The first is perfect; the other
an increasing one; the third, a beginning one. The first fear is called a childlike, holy and eternal fear, Ps. 18; the other, a beginning and mixed fear; the third, a servile and forced fear. The first fear chastises the heart; the other chastises partly the heart, partly the body; the third chastises the body alone. The first fear leaves no sin; the second leaves some sin; the third leaves all sin. Since the third, according to the will, loves sin from within, but for fear of punishment refrains from it from without; but the other hates sin in part, and in part loves it, because it stands in the middle between the two; but the first loves righteousness and hates ungodliness.
(2) Therefore, as fear is, so are the works that follow. All fear comes from love, but childlike fear has one thing in common, if it loves and fears God. The other fear divides love and fear to some extent, since it fears God with some fear and loves Him with some love, just as it fears punishment with some fear and loves another good besides God with some love. The third fear, however, is completely shameful, because it loves something other than God, so it fears God by giving Him fear without love, and to the creature it gives love without fear. Just as an adulteress fears the man and loves the adulterer, and thus shares fear and love, both of which she owes to the man; as, on the contrary, a chaste wife gives her husband both [namely, love and fear]. Therefore it is said of Cain in Genesis 4:3, according to the old translation, that he sacrificed rightly, but divided badly, since he should not divide. The more one therefore deviates from the division of love and fear to the union of fear and love, the better the works will be. For fear and love, when they are united, make the new man; but when they are divided, they make the old man. But if they are still in the beginning of their union, they make an intermediate thing between the old and new man, that is, a
sylchen, who walks from bondage to freedom, from the letter to the spirit, from death to life, from Moses to Christ.
(3) Now this also is to be dealt with when it is said, "He who holds to righteousness. The word "keep," continens, is taken here in its own meaning, so that it indicates a continuing and undivided adherence and a constant continuation. Thus in geography terra continens is called a land that is not cut through by the sea, but where one part follows the other and is constantly attached to one another. For thus the word contineri, to hold, is used in the most proper sense of things that hold themselves under one another, or that hold at the same time, which the philosophers call partes communicantes in continuo, or quod continet se in tertio communi. So also here it is said, "He who holds to righteousness," that is, he who adheres to righteousness inseparably and constantly and has fellowship with it, that he is to some extent one with it, loves and embraces it with all his heart. This cannot happen without love, because to hold to righteousness is as much as to love righteousness and to hate unrighteousness. For so those who have embraced one another in love also hold together continually, and this is a sign of love among them. Thus no one grasps righteousness except a persistent, persevering, and steadfast lover of it. This holy firmness, however, comes from the love and fear of God. For the kingdom of God and his righteousness are sought first.
And she will meet him as an honored mother.
4th He saith, He shall take it, that is, he shall obtain it, and it shall be at last. He will not be deprived of her, if he has only loved her firmly. Moreover, she will meet him and love him again steadfastly, and will reach out her arms to embrace him; as it is said, "I love them that love me." She will grasp the one who grasps her; she will step to the one who steps to her; she will offer herself and present herself to him.
to the one who seeks it. In which words he shows how easy the attainment of righteousness is when the difficulty of the life begun is conquered. All beginnings are difficult, but if one continues and increases after the beginning, it comes willingly and readily, as it were of itself. Just as in all movement the beginning is more difficult, but the continuation comes by itself: so, he who begins to be justified has work in killing the passions; but only work bravely in the beginning, so at last everything will go easily in the increase. Thus the prophet says: "Turn to me, and I will turn to you"; as if he wanted to say: Seek me, and I will meet you. Just as the Father went to meet the Prodigal Son while he was still far away. Hence those sayings themselves are to be understood not of the first grace alone, but of both graces. The first grace is the one that makes a man turn to Him, of which it is said: "Turn to Me" (Zech. 1:3). The other grace is that which makes man perfect, of which it is said, "And I will make him perfect.
turn me to you". I say this for the sake of it, because that saying and similar ones trouble many, since they are said of the increasing life, but those understand them of the beginning.
5. "The honored mother," he says, "will receive him as her son." She is called an honored mother, because unrighteousness is also a mother of the children of unrighteousness, but a shameful mother. But this is a mother of honor and glory, because he who has obtained this mother is not put to shame. This mother is Christ, the hen who spreads her wings and protects her children who seek her and cling to her. Righteousness could not be more pleasantly and fiercely extolled than to be described under a maternal affect, about which affect nothing is found sweeter, especially when it is found in an honored mother. For all the confidence, security and pleasant comfort of children is with the mother. So also the tender and sinful conscience has all comfort and confidence in the righteousness of Christ.