Errors Of Speech

Ne dederis os tuum ut peccare facias carnem tuam... Hic tertio prohibet locutionem erroneam, et dehortatur locutionis errorem, et deinde subdit rationem, et post manifestat erroris radicem. Locutionis errorem dehoratatur dicens: Ne dederis os tuum, ut peccare facias carnem tuam, id est, non loquaris erroneam locutionem, ex qua praecipiteris in peccatis. Et exprimit, de qua locutione intelligit, subdicens: Neque dicas coram Angelo: non est providentia, id est, non dicas, neque in secreto neque in occulto, quia in occulto audiunt Angeli, qui sunt ad custodiam deputati, unde infra decimo: In cogatione tua regi ne detrahas, et in secreto cubili tuo ne malexdixeris diviti, quia aves caeli portabunt vocem tuam. Et subditur ratio exhortationis: Ne forte iratus Dominus dissipet opera tua, id est, reddat inutilia; iratus, non per animi commotionem, sed per culpae rigidam punitionem. Sic iratus est super sermones Rabascis et omnia opera regum Assyriorum per Angelum nocte destruxit; Isaiae trigesimo septimo: Si quo modo audiat Domnis Deus verba Rabascis, quem misit rex Assyriorum ad blasphemandum Deum viventem; Proverbiorum vigesimo: Dissipat impios rex sapiens etc. Et subditur huius locutionis origo: quia non oritur a recta ratione, sed a somniorum illusione; propter quod dicit: Ubi multa sunt somnia , plurimae sunt vanitates, quia somnium vantias; Isaiae vigesimo nono: Somniat esuriens et comedit, et postea, cum expergefactus fuerit, vacua est anima eius. Et sermones innumeri, hi sequuntur ad somnia, quia nihil certum ex eis potest sciri; quia Ecclesiastici trigesimo quarto: Divinatio erroris et auguria mendacia et somnia malefacinetium vanitas est. Et ideo de talibus non est curandum, sed de Deo, unde subdit: Tu vero time Deum, quia ipse solus est, qui potest nos perdere et salvare, non somnia, non auguria; Lucae duodecimo: Ostendam vobis, quem timeatis: timete eum qui postquam occiderit, habet potestatem mittere in gehennam. Sanctus Boneventura, Commentarius In Ecclesiasten, Caput V Source: Here, p43

'Do not give your mouth over that you make your flesh sin...' 1 Here he gives a threefold warning against erroneous speech; he dissuades from the errors of speech, and then he gives the reason, and after that reveals the root of the error. He dissuades from the errors of speech saying: 'Do not give your mouth over that you make your flesh sin.' That is, do not speak erroneous speech by which you rush into sin. And he expresses what he understands concerning this speech, saying: 'Lest you say before an angel: It was not foreseen.' That is, do not speak so, even as a secret or unobserved, because angels hear in secret, they who are appointed to guard, whence it says below in the tenth chapter: 'In your thoughts do not abuse the king, and in the seclusion of your room do not curse the Divine, because the birds of heaven will carry off your voice.' 2 And after that he gives the reason: 'Lest perhaps the Lord be angered and scatter all your works.' That is, He render them useless. And this angering is not a troubling of the soul, but a needful punishment of fault. So He was angered by the words of Rabshakeh, and by an angel in the night He destroyed all the works of the king of Assyria. Chapter thirty seven of Isaiah says: 'If somehow the Lord God hears the words of Rabshakeh whom the king of Assyria sent to blaspheme the living God.' 3 The twentieth chapter of Proverbs says: 'The wise king scatters the impious.' 4 And after he gives the cause of such speech: because it does not arise from right reason but from the illusion of dreams. On account of which he says: 'Where there are many dreams they are many vanities,' 5 because a dream is a vanity. In the twenty ninth chapter of Isaiah it reads: 'Hungry he dreams that he eats and afterward, when he has woken, his soul is empty.' 6 And innumerable words lead to dreams, because nothing certain is able to be known from them, as Ecclesiasticus says in the thirty fourth chapter: 'Divination is error, and augury a lie, and the dreams of evildoers a vanity.' 7 And therefore one must not care for such things, but only for God, whence it is said below: 'You, however, fear God.' 8 Because He alone is able to destroy and save, not dreams, not augury. In the twelfth chapter of Luke it says: 'I shall show you whom you should fear: fear Him who after He was killed, has the power to place you in hell.' 9 Saint Bonaventura, Commentary On Ecclesiastes, Chapter 5 1 Eccles 5.5 2 Eccles 10.20 3 Isaiah 37.4 4 Prov 20.26 5 Eccles 5.6 6 Isaiah 29.8 7 Sirach 34.5 8 Eccles 29.8 9 Lk 12.5

Doubting Dreams

Denique in puero adhuc refulsit divina gratia. Siquidem somniavit quod cum alligasset, ut sibi videbatur per visum, manipulos cum fratribus suis, surrexerit manipulus ejus, et steterit erectus: conversi autem fratrum manipuli, adoraverint manipulum summ. In quo utique futura resurrectio Domini Jesu revelata est, quem et Hierosolymis cum vidissent, undecim adoravere discipuli, et omnes sancti cum resurrexerint, adorabunt, fructus bonorum operum praeferentes, sicut scriptum est: Venientes autem venient cum exsultatione, tollentes manipulos suos. Unde fratres, licet somnii fidem per invidiam derogarent, interpretationem tamen ejus propriis sermonibus exprimentes, responderunt ei: Numquid regnando regnaturus es nobis, aut dominando dominaturus es nobis? Regem enim venturum visio illa significabat, quem omnis caro generis humani inflexo adoraret genu.Vidit autem aliud somnium, et narravit illud patri suo et fratribus suis, eo quod sol et luna et undecim stellae adorarent eum. Unde objurgavit illum pater ejus dicens: Quid ergo erit hoc visum quod somniasti? Numquid venientes ego et mater tua et fratres tui adorabimus te super terram? Quis est ille quem parentes et fratres adoraverunt super terram, nisi Christus Jesus, quando eum Joseph et mater cum discipulis adorabant, Deum verum in illo corpore confitentes, de quo solo dictum est: Laudate eum, sol et luna; laudate eum, omnes stellae et lumen? Objurgatio autem partris quid significat, nisi duritiam populi Israel, ex quibus Christus secundum carnem, quem hodieque Deum esse non credunt, nec volunt aodrare quasi Dominum, quia ex se natum cognoscunt? Audiunt itaque responsa ejus, sed non intelligunt: legunt ipsi quod eum sol et luna laudant, et nolunt credere de Christo Jesu dictum esse. Itaque Jacob typo fallitur alieno: sed suo amore non fallitur. Pietas in eo paterna non errat: sed erraturae plebis affectus exprimitur. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Jospeph Partiarcha, Caput II Source: Migne PL 14.643c-644b

Then in boyhood he shone with Divine grace. He had a dream that he was bound, so that it seemed to him in his vision that he was a sheaf with his brothers, and his sheaf rose up, and it stood erect, and the sheaves of his brothers turned to his and they adored his sheaf. 1 In which is the future resurrection of the Lord Jesus revealed, which seeing in Jerusalem the eleven disciples adored, and all the saints shall adore when they have risen, bringing before them the fruit of good works, as it is written, 'Coming in exultation, bearing their sheaves ' 2 Whence the brothers, on account of envy refusing to have faith in the dream, giving their own interpretation of the matter, responded to him, 'Shall you rule over us, and shall you have dominion over us?' 3 For the vision of the coming king signified Him whom all flesh on bended knee shall adore. And he saw another dream, and he told it to his father and his brothers, in which the sun and the moon and the eleven stars adored him. Whence his father rebuked him, saying, 'What, then, is the dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers come and adore you upon the earth? 4Who is this whom parents and brothers shall adore on the earth, unless Jesus Christ, when Joseph and his Mother adored Him along with the disciples, confessing the true God in the flesh, concerning which, to mention one thing alone, it is said, ' Praise him, sun and moon, praise him all you stars and light'? 5 And what does the rebuke of the father signify unless the hardness of the people of Israel, from whom Christ was according to the flesh, and whom even today do not believe Him to be God, nor are willing to adore him as Lord, whom they know as born from them? So they hear his reply, but they do not understand. They read that the sun and the moon praise him and they cannot credit it is spoken about Jesus Christ. Thus Jacob is a deceived by an incorrect type, but his love is not deceived. His paternal piety does not err, but the erring thought of a people is here expressed. Saint Ambrose, On The Patriarch Joseph, Chap 2 1 Gen 37.7 2 Ps 125.6 3 Gen 37.8 4 Gen 37.10 5 Ps 148.3

Dreams And Prayers

Et iterum post paucos annos in Britanniis eram cum parentibus meis, qui me ut filium susceperunt: et ex fide rogaverunt me, ut vel modo ego, post tantas tribulationes quas pertuli, nunquam ab illis discederem. Et ibi scilict vidi in visu nocte virum venientem quasi de Hiberione cui nomen Victoricius, cum epistolis innumerabilibus: et dedit mihi unam ex illis, et legi principium epistolae continentem: Vox Hiberioneacum. Et dum recitabam principium epistolae, putabam ipso momento, audire vocem ipsorum qui erant juxta silvam Focluti, quae et prope mare Occidentale. Et sic exclamaverunt quasi ex uno ore: Rogamus te, sancte puer, ut venias et adhuc ambules inter nos. Et valde compunctus sum corde, et amplius non potui legere, et sic expergefactus sum. Deo gratias, quia post annos plurimos praestitit illis Dominus secundum clamorem eorum. Et alia nocte, nescio, Deus scit, utrum in me, an juxta me, verbis peritissimis quae ego audivi et non potui intelligere, nisi ad postremum orationis sic affatus est: qui pro te animam suam posuit. Et sic expergefactus sum gaudibundus. Et iterum vidi in me ipsum orantem, et eram quasi intra corpus meum: et audivi super me, hoc est, super interiorem hominem; et ibi foriter orabat gemitibus. Et inter haec stupebam, et admirabar, et cogitabam quis esset qui in me orabat. Sed ad postremum orationis sic effatus est, ut sit spiritus. Et sic experrectus sum, et recordatus sum, Apostolo dicente: Spiritus adjuvat infirmitatem nostrae orationis. Nam quid oremus sicut oportet, nescimus; sed ipse Spiritus postulat pro nobis gemitibus inenarrabilibus, quae verbis exprimi non possunt. Et iterum: Dominus advocatus noster postulat pro nobis. Sanctus Patricius Hibernorum Apostolus, Confessio Source: Migne PL 53.53.806a-807a

A few years later I was again among the Britons with my parents. They welcomed me as a son, and begged me to vow that, after all the tribulations I had endured, I should never leave them again. It was while I was there that I saw, in a vision in the night, a man whose name was Victoricus, coming as from Ireland, with innumerable letters. He gave me one of them, and I read the beginning of the letter: 'The voice of the Irish people.' And while I was reciting the beginning of the letter, I thought I heard at that moment the voice of those who were beside the wood of Voclut, which is near the western sea. And they called out as it were with one voice: 'We beseech you, holy boy, that you come and walk among us again.' I was touched deeply in my heart, and I could read no further, and so I woke. Thanks be to God, after many years the Lord gave them according to their cry. Another night, I do not know, God knows, whether it was within me or beside me, I heard most eloquent words which I did not understand, until at the end of the speech it was said: 'The one who gave His life for you, He it is who speaks in you.' And having awakened, I was joyful. Another time, I saw in myself one who was praying. Indeed it was as if I were inside my body, and I heard it above me, that is, above my inner man, and he prayed strongly, with sighs. I was astonished and amazed, and thought who it could be who prayed in me. But at the end of the prayer was spoken, it was the Spirit. So I awoke, and I remembered the Apostle saying: 'The Spirit helps the weaknesses of our prayer. For we do know what it is we should pray, but the very Spirit pleads for us with unspeakable sighs, which cannot be expressed in words.' 1 And again: 'The Lord is our advocate, and pleads for us.' 2 Saint Patrick Apostle of the Irish, The Confession 1 Rom 8.26 2 cf 1 Jn 2.1

The Seeing Of Dreams

Quid est quod Nabochodonsor tanti mysterii meruerit cernere somnium? Nunquid credere possumus hominis pessimi hoc meritum obtinuisse? Non merito vidit; sed ut interpretante sancto quod viderat, Deus glorificaretur. Sic nec Pharao videre meruit, sed ut Joseph cunctis esset praepositus. Petrus Archidiaconus  Liber De Diversis Quaestiunculis Source: Migne 96.1348c

Why is it that Nebuchadnezzar merited to see such mysteries in a dream? Can we believe that some merit of this wretched man obtained this? 1 He did not see on account of merit, but that God be glorified by the holy interpretation of what he saw. So neither did Pharoah see by merit, but in order that Joseph might be set above all. 2 Peter of Pisa, The Book of Diverse Questions 1 Dan 2.1- 2 Genes 41.1-43

Dreams And Knowledge

Mihi quoque non in sapientia, quae est in me plusquam in cunctis viventibus, sacramentum hoc revelatum est: sed ut interpretatio regi  manifesta fieret, et cogitationes mentis tuae scires. Putaverat rex notitiam futurorum solertia mentis humanae posse comprehendi; et ideo sapientes Babylonis interfici jusserat. Ergo Daniel eos excusat qui dicere non potuerant, et ipse invidiam fugit, ne quis aestimet, eum quae dicturus est propria dixisse sapientia. Causa autem revelationis propheticae, regis est desiderium, qui voluit ventura cognoscere. Ergo honorat regem, quando propter illius scientiam sibi dicit a Deo mysteria revelata. Et hoc considerandum, quod somnia in quibus aliqua ventura signantur, et quasi per nubilum veritas demonstratur, non pateant conjectoribus et humanae mentis arbitrio, sed Dei solius scientiae. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentaria in Daniel, Caput II Source:  Migne PL 25.503b-c

It is not by the wisdom in me, that I know more than anyone living, that this mystery has been revealed, but that the understanding of it be made manifest to the king, and you know the thoughts of your mind. 1 The king thought that the knowlege of the future was capable of being grasped by the cleverness of the human mind and therefore he commanded that the wise men of Babylon be killed. 2 But Daniel excused them who were not able to speak of the future, and distanced himself from envy, lest someone judge that what he was going to speak was spoken from his own wisdom. For the cause of the prophetic revelation is the desire of the king, who wishes to know the things that are to come. Therefore Daniel honours the king when he says that is on account of his knowledge that God reveals these mysteries to him. And this also must be considered, that dreams in which things to come are signified, are as truth shown through a cloud, not openly for the interpretation and judgement of men, but only by the knowledge of God. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, Chapter 2 1 Dan 2.30 2 Dan 2.10-12

A Wife's Vision

Sedente autem eo pro tribunali, misit ad eum uxor ejus dicens: Nihil sit tibi, et justo illi. Multa enim passa sum hodie per visum propter eum.  Et Jesus quidem per invidiam traditus erat, et ita per invidiam manifestam, ut etiam Pilatus eam non ignoraret. Volunt autem evangelistae non praeterire rem divinae providentiae laudem Dei continentem, qui voluit per visum convertere Pilati uxorem, ut, quantum ad se, vetaret virum suum ut ne audeat contra Jesum proferre sententiam. Et visum quidem non exposuit Mattheus, tantum autem dixit quia multa passa erat per visum propter Jesum. Et ideo per visum passa est ne amplius pateretur: ut beatam fuisse dicamus Pilati uxorem, quae per visum passa est multa propter Jesum, et recepit per visum quod erat passura. Ex quo audebit quis dicere quoniam melius est recipere aliquem mala in visu quam recipere in vita. Quis enim non eligat per visum mala sua recipere in vita sua, nisi forte talia mereatur ut expediat ei acriora recipere in vita sua potius quam recipere leviora in visu? Consolatur enim et requiescit in sinibus Abrahae qui recepit mala in vita sua, et non haec mala quae recepit in visu suo; secundum quod et consolationem habebit. Utrum autem et initium habet conversionis ad Deum ex eo quod multa propter Jesum tuerat passa per visum, Deus scit: tamen continentur etiam hoc in Scripturis quibusdam non publicis. Et vide quia justum appelavit Jesum uxor Pilati, ne forte mysterium sit haec uxor Pilati Ecclesiae ex gentibus, quae aliquando quidem regebatur a Pilato, nunc autem jam non est sub eo propter fidem suam in Christo. Origenes, In Matthaeum, Tomus XVII,

Sitting on the tribunal his wife sent to him, saying, 'Do nothing to this righteous man. For much I have suffered today through a vision of him.' 1 And certainly Jesus was handed over on account of envy and through such manifest envy that even Pilate was not ignorant of it. The Gospel writers did not wish to pass over anything of the providence of God, who wished to convert the wife of Pilate through a vision, that through her, insofar as she was able, the husband be influenced not to dare give sentence against Jesus. Matthew does not expound the vision, only saying that she suffered much through her vision of Jesus. And therefore having suffered through a vision, and not anything more, as one blessed we shall call the wife of Pilate, she who through a vision suffered much on account of Christ, and received through a vision what she suffered. For one may say that it is better to receive something evil in a vision than in life. For who would not choose to receive evils in life through a dream, unless perhaps such things were merited and it benefit to receive them more bitterly in life rather than to receive them lightly in a vision? For he was consoled and rested in the lap of Abraham who received evils in his life and did not receive evil in a vision, according to which there shall be consolation. 2 Whether she had an immediate conversation to God on account of the many things of Jesus she suffered through her vision, God only knows; contained in the Scriptures are things which are not made public. And yet see that the wife of Pilate named Jesus righteous, lest perhaps it be a mystery why this wife of Pilate is of the church of the Gentiles, which for a time was ruled by Pilate, but already it is not beneath him on account of her faith in Christ. Origen, Commentary On Matthew, Book 17 1 Mt 27.19 2 Lk 16.22-23

A Wife's Dream

Καθημένου δὲ αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ βὴματος, ἔπεμψε πρὸς αὐτόν λέγουσα· Μηδέν σοι καὶ τῷ δικαίῳ τούτῳ· πολλὰ γὰρ ἔπαθον σήμερον κατ' ὄναρ δι' αὐτον. Ὅρα οἷον γίνεται πάλιν, ἰκανον πάνατς αὐτοὺς ἀνακαλέσασθαι. Μετὰ γὰρ τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν πραγμάτων ἀποδείξεως, καὶ τὸ ὄναρ οὐ μικρὸν ἧν. Καὶ τίνος ἔνεκεν οὐκ αὐτὸς ὁρᾷ; Ἥ ὅτι ἐκεινη ἀξία ἥν μᾶλλον· ἢ ὅτι αὐτὸς εἰ εἶδεν, οὐκ ἂν ἐπιστεύθη ὁμοίως, ἢ οὐδ' ἂν ἐξεῖπε. Διὰ τοῦτο οἰκονομεῖται τὴν γυναῖκα ἰδεῖν, ὥστε κατάδηλον γενέσθαι πᾶσι. Καὶ οὐκ ἁπλῶς ὁρᾷ, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάσχει πολλὰ, ἵνα  καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς συμπαθείας τῆς πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα ὀκνηρότερος γένηται ὁ ἀνὴρ περὶ τὸν φόνον. Καὶ ὁ καιρὸς δὲ οὐ μικρὸν συνετέλει· κατὰ γὰρ αὐτὴν τὴν νύκτα εἴδεν. Ἅγιος Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος, Ὁμῖλία ΠϚ' ,Ὑπόμνημα Εἰς την προς Ἁγιον Ματθαίον

And sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, have nothing to do with this righteous man, for I have suffered many things today because of a dream of Him. 1 See what a thing takes place again, enough to recall them all. For with the proof of things done, even the dream was no small thing. And why does he not see it? Either because she was more worthy, or because if he had seen it, it would not have been equally believed, or he would not  have told it. Therefore it was arranged that his wife see it, so that it might be revealed to all. And she does not only see but she also suffers much, so that on account of care for his wife, the man may be made more reluctant to kill. And the time too contributed not a little, for on the very night she saw. Saint John Chyrsostom, Eighty Sixth Homily On Matthew 1 Mt 27.19