and invincible is the kingdom of Christ; but by the word he indicated the power, and with a short saying he fortified the promise: B *Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.* Two words—not bare or empty words, but the words of God. For he who established the heaven by a word, and founded the earth by a word, also built the Church; and he walled it in, and established the inhabited world, which shall not be shaken. Let us therefore, beloved, fall before him who established the inhabited world, and let us weep and implore him, that through his philanthropy and unspeakable power, having remained steadfast and immovable upon the excellent and unbreakable foundation, we may send up glory and thanksgiving to him always, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
NOTICE
We would not even have thought to bring light to a work worthy of eternal darkness, had Savile not already made it public. But I marvel that he, who with excellent judgment had left many other trifles of the lowest quality in neglect and dust, did not deem this insipid oration to be of a similar condition. He published this assessment of it in his notes: "An oration full of ineptitudes, full of solecisms and wounds, which it is not my place to heal, nor perhaps worth the effort: nevertheless, in not a few places we have attempted something; with what success, I know not." Moreover, the oration has three parts: first, an encomium of fasting; second, a brief interpretation of the first three chapters of Genesis; third, an invective, sufficiently cold, with insults and common abuses against wicked women. We have tried to repair the speech somewhat with the aid of two manuscripts. One of them presented many additions here and there; for the librarian, having observed the trifles, repeatedly added other trifles besides. This insipid work we translate into Latin.
ON THE BEGINNING OF THE FAST, ON THE EXILE OF ADAM, AND A CONCOURSE ON WICKED WOMEN
1. There is set before us, beloved, a spiritual table, filled from the divine Scriptures; full of good things, not of perishable foods, but a feast pouring forth the doctrines of truth; bringing not temporary bread, but nourishing souls with a panoply of spiritual thoughts; not offering wine that produces drunkenness, but inflaming the heart with the fervor of the Spirit; not dripping with perishable juices, but letting drop heavenly pleasure; not sending forth the sound of the cithara or the flute, but chanting psalms and hymns pleasing to God; not exhausting the sight of the physical eyes with harlot-like dances, but rousing the eyes of the heart toward the desire of the kingdom of heaven; not exhibiting the tumult of mimes and wicked men, but leading the ears of our mind toward soul-benefiting instruction through prophetic trumpets; not casting the outer man into distractions and laughter and into the abysses of licentiousness, but igniting within him the love for the knowledge of God, and renouncing the composition and mixture of all worldly things, it elevates us toward the only path of the ever-living kingdom.
And concerning the physical table, if one partakes of foods excessively, he pains his belly, and causes no small harm to his churning internal organs; but at the spiritual table, the opposite occurs: if you feast on it greedily, you will be able both to succeed in your way of life and to practice conduct pleasing to God; and the more you feast, the more you rouse yourself to greater desire. Again, at the first table, if you partake of wine to satiety, you both hinder the walking of your feet, and see things not becoming with your eyes, and speak things you did not intend with your tongue, and bring up frequent belches from the depths of your chest, and show yourself laughable to your friends, and contemptible to your servants, as having lost your wits in wine. But at this second table, if you draw greedily from its thoughts, you will walk the paths straight toward the commandments which you have received from the Lord; and with the eyes of your mind you will contemplate other things, and from the depth of your heart you will belch forth good words, according to the prophet saying: *My heart has belched forth a good word* (Ps. 44:2), and you will appear adorned to your friends, and toward your servants you will be shown to be useful and affable and gentle.
Let us see, therefore, the gains of the spiritual table; let us unfold the elegance of its thoughts; let us spice it to satiety with the unclouded must dripping from it. Let us hear its hymns and its odes, whose hymn turns back demons and whose odes turn away the prince of darkness. *Blow the trumpet at the new moon, in the marked day of our feast* (Ps. 80:4). Fasting was introduced, the friend of the apostles; fasting was introduced, the ornament of the martyrs; fasting was introduced, the companion of monks; fasting was introduced, which the Lord himself, while walking in the flesh, kept within its bounds. And if you wish, beloved, hear its triumphs. Not having guarded the fast, Adam became an exile from paradise, and was ordered to till the thorn-bearing earth. Not having guarded the fast, the people of the time of Noah experienced the divine indignation and underwent the punishment of a universal flood. Noah, having abandoned the fast for a little while, lay exposed and naked before his sons. Not having guarded the fast, Esau lost the honor of the birthright and became a stranger to the paternal blessing. Not having guarded the fast, the sons of Israel fell from the heavenly feast and the divine grace. You have learned what those who did not honor it suffered; recognize also those who guarded it, how much [grace they attained, if indeed they kept the fast].