731the repetition of old wickedness is destruction to the communion [of him who has been] transformed. If you live according to the flesh, he says, you will die (Rom. 8:13). But what is the symbol of the seven days? He says, "For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread." It happens that seven days are the entire time. For after the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, there is a return to the first day, and this cycle of time revolves through seven days. Through the whole time, certainly, it is necessary to live in simplicity and sincerity, and this is truly salutary. In Spirit, he says, mortify the deeds of the body, and you will live (ibid.). Simple, moreover, are the ways of him who does not seek after carnal things, who is alien to evil habits and guile, thinking nothing evil, nothing bitter. Why, then, does he call the first and seventh day holy, saying: "The first day shall be called holy, and the seventh day shall be holy to us" (Exod. 12:16)? Because the first day denotes the beginning, in which we are sanctified by receiving the Holy Spirit; the seventh, however, signifies the end, when, migrating from this B body, we are with Christ and depart to the Lord, leaving behind this earthly pilgrimage, and are transferred wholly to holiness. When we are, he says, in the body, we are pilgrims away from the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6). The law wishes these holy days to be void of works. For it says: "You shall do no work in them" (Exod. 20:10). This implies that the soul should not be plunged into earthly business, nor ought it to be subject to a servitude not congruent with the service of God; but that those things alone should be diligently attended to, and one should strive for those things, which are useful to the soul. And of this matter, too, that is a symbol: "However, whatever is to be done for every soul, this alone shall be done by you." Wherefore the Lord, that he might bring forward the interpretation of legal rest—namely, that rest was to be sought solely from vain works, but not from those which look to the utility of the soul—rebuked the Pharisees: "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save a soul or to destroy it?" (Mark 3:4). But if you wish to keep the Sabbath and the festive rest rightly and according to Christ, withdraw that care from worldly cares and works and perform those things which are of God and are done for the utility of the soul; and thus you will keep the Sabbath holy and truly good, and you will celebrate a holy solemnity, an image of that which is with Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
CONCERNING THE SAME SUBJECT. IV.
Pascha, indeed, the Jews celebrate in commemoration of the liberation from Egypt, at which time the firstborn were snatched from death. Therefore it is called Pascha, because it is a passing over death: for the Hebrew word signifies this. We, however, celebrate Pascha, not a part only of the snatching from death, as they did, nor liberation from temporary servitude; but perfect redemption from death, and perfect release from the servitude of the devil. The death of the firstborn passed over those who had sacrificed the typical lamb and had anointed the doorposts of their houses with blood: but we, the death brought by the first-formed man has passed past, nor can it grasp those who have received the sacrifice of the divine Lamb and have been signed with the faith of the saving blood. For them the lamb was taken from the earth; for us, from heaven, according to the type of Abraham, when he had a ram sent by God to offer for his son; but now, in truth, the Lamb has been sent from heaven, who was offered for us, that we might no longer be held by death, on account of Christ, who cannot be held by death. For, he says, "God sent the Son, the Savior of the world" (1 John 4:10); and "I came down from heaven" (ibid. 6:42). And the Baptist testifies concerning him: "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (ibid. 1:29). For a senseless lamb would not take away sin, and therefore neither the death brought by sin: but the most rational Lamb, with sin dissolved, destroyed death with it. Moreover, he leads us out, not from Egyptian captivity into Judea, but from a corrupt world into an eternal possession. He is at once the Lamb and the Shepherd leading the sheep. "I will go before them," he says, "leading them into eternal life." The beginning of months C to the Jews is the sacrifice of the lamb and the departure from Egypt: to us, however, the beginning of life is the Lord's passion and the translation with Christ out of this world: for then we live when we die to the world; then we are regenerated into God when we put off our earthly generation. The lamb is indivisible, which is eaten in one house of the spiritual Church. It is not found elsewhere: just as it was forbidden the corporeal Jews to carry the flesh of the lamb outside the house. Christ is the lamb by reason of his meekness. According to a higher way, however, a kid was then sacrificed in his likeness. The bread was unleavened for those who ate the Pascha: for us, however, it is communion with Christ, with a new and most simple mind; just as the unleavened bread is a new and simple lump. The bitter herbs which were eaten with the Pascha then signified our tribulations, through which we share in the passions of Christ. For bitter is the thing that is tribulation, although the fruit it brings forth is sweet. The bone of the lamb was not broken, and the law commanded this, prefiguring Christ, as the Gospel explains, because no one broke the sacred legs of the Lord: "That the Scripture might be fulfilled: A bone of him shall not be broken" (John 19:33, 36). The flesh was eaten by night, and nothing was left until the following day, because the death of Christ is commemorated in the present age, while in the future life appears. The habit of those who ate the Pascha was the girding of loins, shoes on their feet, staffs in their hands; the attire of travelers, who are ready to make a journey with haste: to us, however, the proposition of the soul is our equipment for departure from this world. And therefore, prepared and girded souls flee worldly solicitations to hasten on the journey, that they may run to heaven. For "our conversation," he says, "is in heaven" (Phil. 3:20). Faith in Christ is hope. A lamp is lit for our souls, just as the lamp for them was corporeal. The lamp of souls for us is the law of Christ: for, "Thy law is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths" (Ps. 118:105). The Lord himself says concerning these: "Let your loins be girded, and your lamps burning; and you yourselves like men expecting their lord" (Luke 12:35). It remains to see who these are who eat the Pascha. No uncircumcised person eats the Pascha; but even if a stranger, or a bought slave, he is circumcised. For no one can be a partaker of Christ if he does not circumcise human superfluities and unless he is purged from carnal filth, which we have received from our birth from our fathers. For of this matter the corporeal circumcision was a type. Therefore the prophet Jeremiah said (Jer. 4:4), that the hardness of your heart must be circumcised. Let us hasten, therefore, to the blessed communion of Christ and be made D pure from the evils of the world, that we may be sanctified by spiritual goods. Let no one be turned toward the world, but let us all hasten (to heaven), lest we remain under the servitude of the prince of this world: but let us be transferred to the liberty by Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. IN THE SAME ARGUMENT. V.
For the law, he says, had a shadow of future good things (Heb. 10:1), but grace came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17). For neither are the Jewish things alien from Christ; but through figure and shadow they were referred to Christ. But of his personal