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On the Horse |
Excerpted from Revelationes l.4 |
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And so baptism is understood spiritually through [the metaphor of] a horse. For just as a horse, having four feet, carries a man towards completing some path, so baptism, because it is understood through a horse, carries man before the sight of God, having four spiritual effects. The first is that the baptized are freed from the Devil and are obliged to the commands and services of God. The second is that they are purged of original sin. The third is that the sons of God are also made co-heirs of God. The fourth is that Heaven is open to them. Et sic aqua baptismi per verbum Dei facta est reconciliatio hominis et Dei, porta misericordie, expulsio demonum, via caeli, venia peccatorum. Primo orare debet taliter: 'O, Domine Deus omnipotens, benedictus sis tu, quia me creasti et redemisti. Et cum damnatione dignus essem, in peccatis tolerasti et ad poenitentiam reservasti. Et omnia dilexi plus quam te, creatorem et redemptorem, nutritorem et conservatorem meum. Et ideo misericordiam tuam peto, quia miser sum ex me et quia non agnovi benignam patientiam tuam in me. Non timui horrendam equitatem tuam, non attendebam, quid tibi pro innumerabilibus bonis tuis responderem, sed contra de die in diem te malis meis provocabam. Propterea non habeo nisi unicum verbum ad te, scilicet: Miserere me, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam!' Item secunda oratio sit talis: 'O, Domine Deus omnipotens, scio me omnia habere a te et sine te nihil esse nec posse nisi solummodo hoc, quod ego ipsemet feci, scilicet peccatum. Quibus dictis statim apparvit quasi unus equus paratus cum ornamentis deauratis. |