[Sermones "Dormi secure" de tempore]

going from the darkness of sins to the light of the sun of justice. And the golden apple falls, that is, divine grace into her, and from that the soul of that man receiving the grace of God is made an eagle. Because just as the eagle flies high to the sun, so such a soul flies high to contemplate divine things. Also, such a soul is made the morning star. Whence it was said of the just prince Judas Maccabeus: Like the morning star in the midst of a cloud, so this one shone in the temple of God, i.e., in the holy Church. Likewise, such a soul is made strong like a lion, which will fear no one's encounter. Therefore David commended those two princes, namely Saul and Jonathan: stronger than lions, and swifter than eagles. And thus the third prince is clear. The fourth is prudence, and this is the fourth prince in the kingdom of the soul. For prudence is the virtue that has to rule men regarding future things. Whence Alanus: Remember the past, dispose of the present, foresee the future; the wise man stands fixed on three columns. Whence the wise man warns us in Proverbs 6: O lazy one, go to the ant and learn prudence from her. For she gathers in summer where she may live in winter. If indeed this small animal thinks of the coming winter, how much more ought a man in this life think so that he may labor in good works where he may live in winter, that is, in the future life. The Lord warns of this in the Gospel: Pray that your flight may not be in winter, i.e., in the future life. This virtue of prudence we ought to learn from the second small animal which is the serpent, as Christ says: Be prudent as serpents. For the serpent is of great prudence. For Isidorus says that when the serpent which is called the adder feels itself

burdened by poison, and wants to shed its skin, then first for several days it abstains. Second, it eats a certain bitter herb. Third, it bathes itself in water. Fourth, it enters the hole of a rock violently, and there it sheds the old skin. Fifth, it places itself to the heat of the sun, so that it may fortify and harden the new skin. The sinner who has felt himself burdened in sins and desires to renew his foresight must keep this method. According to that of the Apostle to the Ephesians 4: Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. First, he ought to tame his body with fasts and disciplines, as that holy lady Judith did, of whom we read in Judith 8: Judith was having haircloth on her flesh and fasting. Second, like the serpent, he ought to take a bitter herb, that is, contrition. Whence Lamentations 2: Your contrition is like the sea. Third, he ought to cast out the poison of sins through confession. Whence Psalm 31: I will confess my iniquity against myself to the Lord, and You have remitted the impiety of my sin. Fourth, he ought to bathe his soul in the waters of tears. Whence Psalm: I will wash my bed through every night, etc. Fifth, to enter the hole of a rock. But the rock was Christ, who has five holes in His body, of His five wounds, and those the penitent sinner ought to enter, i.e., have in mind, and there leave the old skin of his sins. To Ephesians 4: Strip off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new who is created according to God in justice and truth and holiness. And then the sinner ought to place himself to the true sun of justice so that he may harden in that new skin, and become accustomed to good works. Thus it is clear