Keeping The Spies

Haec quae prius idolis prostituta fuit meretrix impia, suscipens exploratores Jesu, facta est fidelis et casta: quos custodiens a persequentibus inimicis, non in inferioribus depositos obruit, sed in solario domus suae levatos latenter abscondit. Solarium vere propterea dicitur, eo quod solis lumine perfundatur. Quis est autem sol humani cordis, nisi ille de quo dictum est per prophetam: Timentibus autem nomen meum orietur sol justitiae, et sanitas in pennis ejus . De ispo sole oriente Zacharias in Evangelio sic prophetat: Quia visitavit nos oriens ex alto, illuminare his qui in tenebris et in umbra mortis sedent. Nam et Abacuc prophet Christi ascensionem et ordinis ecclesiastici firmitatem sub nomine solis lunaeque sic praedicat: Elevatus est sol, et luna stetit in ordine suo.  Cor ego uniuscujusque fidelis non incongrue spiritale solarium dicitur, quod solis illius superni radiis salubriter illustratur. Raab itaque meretrix quos exploratores Jesu in solario suae domus abscondit, utique in superioribus, hoc est spiritali scientia illuminati cordis intima dilectione continuit, ut propheticum illud eloquium operis veritate cantaret: In corde meo abscondi eloquia tua, ut non peccem tibi. Vera itaque fides, quae divinis eloquiis intimatur, tunc persequentibis non traditur, tunc in corde fidelium inviolata et incolumis custoditur, si non terrenis, et caducis, atque carnalibus, sed coelestibus et spiritalibus promissis animus perserveret affixus, nec contempletur quae videntur, sed quae non videntur: Quae enim videntur temporalia sunt, sicut ait Apostolus: quae autem non videntur, aeterna sunt. Caeterum quisquis propterea Christianam fidem tenet, ut res terrenas et transitorias acquirat, iste exploratores Jesu, non in superioribus domus suae, sed in inferioribus collocat; ubi cum fuerint positi, facilius et inveriri possunt ab inimicis et perimi. Omnis enim persecutor et inimicus Ecclesiae illos spiritaliter interimit, et ipsis ingerit aeternae mortis interitum, quorum cor invenerit terrenis et caducis rebus innexum. Sanctus Fulgentius Ruspensis, De Remissione Peccatorum, Lib I, Cap XXI Source: Migne 65 544d-545b

This woman who was an impious prostitute among idols, taking in the spies of Joshua, was made faithful and chaste, guarding them from the enemy who sought them, not driving them down into a room below, but sending them up to a high chamber of her house to hide them there. 1And indeed such a place is named a solarium because it is lit by the light of the sun. And what is the sun of the human heart, unless that concerning which it is said through the Prophet: 'On those who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise and healing is in its wings.'  2 And concerning the same rising sun Zachariah makes prophecy in the Gospel: 'For he has visited us rising from the height, to illuminate those who are sat in darkness and in the shadow of death.' 3 And the prophet Habakkuk speaks of the Ascension of Christ and the firmness of the ecclesiastical order under the name of the sun and moon: 'Elevated is the sun and the moon stands in its circuit.' 4 Thus it is not unreasonable to speak of the heart of one faithful as being spiritually lit by the sun, enlightened with the wholesome rays of the supernal sun. The whore Rahab thus hid the spies of Joshua in the sun room of her house, that is, in the high place, that is, the chambers of her heart were with spiritual illumination continually lit, that she might in truth have sung that prophetical verse: 'In my heart I have hidden your words, that I might not sin against you.' 5 Thus true faith, which the inspired speech intimates, is not then given over to persecutors, but is guarded in the heart of the faithful inviolate and unharmed, if the soul is firmly fastened not to worldly things, to fallen things, to flesh, but to heavenly and spiritual promises, not contemplating what is seen, but what is not seen, for what is seen is transient, says the Apostle, and what is not is eternal. 6 Whoever therefore holding the Christian faith, would acquire things worldly and transient, he sends the spies of Joshua not into the heights of his house but into the depths, where being placed, they are easily found by the enemy and seized. For every persecutor of the Church seeks to kill them spiritually, and to bring them into eternal death, which is found in the heart bound to worldly and fallen things. Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe, On the Forgiveness of Sins, Book 1, Chap 21 1 Joshua 2. 1-6 2 Malac 4.2 3 Luc 1.78-79 4 Habac 3.11 LXX 5 Ps 118.11 6 2 Cor 4.18