Verse 9. And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him, Where are you?¹

VERS. 9. Vocavitque Dominus Deus Adam, & dixit ei, Ubi es?

'...he seeks, who knew the secret; for God did not have his eyes closed, so as not to see him hiding. Finally, therefore, he said, Adam is become as one of us, because he opened his eyes. And here indeed he opened his eyes, to see his own fault, which he could not avoid; for after we have sinned, somehow we recognize our offenses the more, and then we understand that to be a sin which, before we sinned, we did not think to be a sin. Certainly we did not think it, as it were, a sin to be condemned; for if we condemned it, we would not commit it. But God sees the faults of all, and knows the offenses of all: over every soul, over the hidden things of all, he has his eyes. What, then, is, Adam, where are you? That is: not in what place, but in what things are you? It is therefore not a question, but a rebuke. From what goods, he says, from what beatitude, from what grace, into what misery have you fallen? You have forsaken eternal life, and are heaped up for death, buried with error. Where is that confidence of yours, so well conscious of itself? That fear confesses the fault; the hiding-place, the transgression. Where, then, are you? that is, I ask not in what place, but in what state. Whither have your sins led you, that you flee your God, whom before you sought?' Thus Ambrose.⁷

quaerit, qui novit arcanum, neque enim Deus clausos oculos habebat, ut non videret latentem. Denique ideo dixit, Factus est Adam tanquam unus ex nobis, quia aperuit oculos. Et hic quidem aperuit oculos, ut culpam suam videret, quam vitare non potuit, Magis enim postquam peccavimus, nescio quomodo nostra delicta cognoscimus: & tunc peccatum esse intelligimus, quod antequam peccaremus, non putabamus esse peccatum. Certe non quasi peccatum putabamus esse damnandum, nam si damnaremus, non admitteremus. Deus autem omnium videt culpas, & omnium delicta cognoscit: super omnem animam super omnium occulta oculos habet. Quid est ergo Adam ubi es? id est, non in quo: sed in quibus es? Non ergo interrogatio est, sed increpatio. De quibus, inquit, bonis, de qua beatitudine, de qua gratia, in quam miseriam incidisti? Dereliquisti vitam aeternam: & attumulatus es morti, consepultus errori. Ubi est illa tua bene sibi conscia confidentia? Timor iste culpam fatetur: latebra praevaricationem. Ubi ergo es? hoc est, non in quo loco quaero, sed in quo statu. Quo te deduxerunt peccata tua, ut fugias Deum tuum: quem ante quaerebas? Haec Ambrosius.

In the eleventh volume of that work, chapter 33, he writes in this manner: 'And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in paradise at evening. For at that hour it had now suited him to visit them, who had fallen from the light of truth. For perhaps in other inward or ineffable ways God spoke with them before, as he also speaks with the Angels, illustrating their minds by that very immutable truth, where there is an understanding to know at once whatever things, even through times, do not happen at once. Perhaps, I say, he spoke with them thus, though not with so great a participation of divine wisdom as the Angels receive; yet according to the human measure, however much less, but by that very kind of visitation and speech — perhaps even by that which is made through a creature, whether in an ecstasy of the spirit by bodily images, or by some appearance presented to the bodily senses themselves, either for seeing or for hearing, as God is wont to be seen in his Angels, or to sound through a cloud. Now, however, that they heard the voice of God walking in paradise at evening was done only through a creature, visibly, lest that invisible substance, wholly everywhere, which is of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, be believed to have appeared to their bodily senses with local and temporal motion.' Thus Augustine.⁹

In cuius operis undecimo volumine cap. trigesimotertio, ad hunc modum scribit: Et audierunt vocem domini Dei ambulantis in paradiso ad vesperam. Ea quippe hora eos iam convenerat visitare, qui defecerant a luce veritatis. Fortassis enim in aliis intrinsecus vel ineffabilibus modis Deus cum illis antea loquebatur, sicut etiam cum Angelis loquitur ipsa incommutabili veritate illustrans mentes eorum, ubi est, intellectus nosse simul quaecumque etiam per tempora non fiunt simul. Forte, inquam, sic cum eis loquebatur, etsi non tanta participatione divinae sapientiae quantum capiunt Angeli: tamen pro humano modulo quantumlibet minus sed ipso genere visitationis & locutionis, fortassis etiam illo qui fit per creaturam, sive in ecstasi spiritus corporalibus imaginibus: sive ipsis sensibus corporis aliqua specie praesentata vel ad videndum, vel audiendum, sicut in Angelis suis solet videri Deus, vel sonare per nubem. Nunc tamen, quod audierunt vocem Dei ambulantis in paradiso ad vesperam, non nisi per creaturam visibiliter factum est: ne substantia illa invisibilis, & ubique tota, quae est Patris & Filij & Spiritus sancti, corporalibus eorum sensibus, locali & temporali motu apparuisse credatur. Sic Augustinus.

Explaining, therefore, those words of Job which are in chapter 38, 'But the Lord, answering Job from the whirlwind, said,' Gregory disputes upon these words in this manner: 'It must be known that divine speech is distinguished in two modes: for either the Lord speaks through himself, or his words are formed to us through an angelic creature. But when he speaks through himself, the internal force of inspiration alone is opened to us. When he speaks through himself, the heart is taught of his word without words and syllables, because his power is known by a certain inward lifting-up — to which the full mind is suspended, the empty is weighed down. For there is a certain weight which lifts up every soul that it fills. It is an incorporeal light, which both fills the inner parts and, having filled them, circumscribes them without. It is speech without noise, which both opens the hearing and knows not how to hear a sound.'¹²

Explanans igitur Gregorius verba illa Iob quae sunt in cap. 38. Respondens autem Dominus Iob de turbine dixit, super his verbis ad hunc modum disputat: Sciendum est, quia duobus modis locutio divina distinguitur; Aut per semetipsum namque Dominus loquitur, aut per creaturam angelicam eius ad nos verba formantur. Sed cum per semetipsum loquitur, sola nobis vis interna inspirationis aperitur. Cum per semetipsum loquitur, de verbo eius sine verbis ac syllabis cor docetur: quia virtus eius, intima quadam sublevatione cognoscitur: ad quam mens plena suspenditur, vacua gravatur. Pondus enim quoddam est quod omnem animam, quam replet, levet. Incorporeum lumen est, quod & interiora repleat, & repleta exterius circumscribat. Sine strepitu sermo est, qui & auditum aperit, & audire sonitum nescit.

After these things, Gregory, weighing that in the Acts of the Apostles, chapters 8 and 10, the Spirit said certain things to Philip and to Peter, adds: 'For the Spirit of God, as it were saying certain words to us, is to intimate by a hidden power the things that are to be done, and to render the ignorant heart of man suddenly expert about hidden things, without the due noise and slowness of speech. For since the hearing does not comprehend at once all the things that are said to it — inasmuch as it perceives both the causes through words, and words piecemeal through syllables — whereas our sight, in that to which it directs itself, apprehends the whole suddenly and at once. God's speech to us seems rather to be made inwardly than to be heard, because, while he insinuates himself without delay of speech, he illuminates the darkness of our ignorance with a sudden light. Whence Baruch the son of Neriah, when, being asked, he explained how he had heard the words of Jeremiah prophesying, said, From his mouth he spoke as if reading, and I wrote. But he who speaks while reading attends to one thing, yet makes a word of another, because what he sees, he says. The prophets of God, therefore, because they see his words in the heart rather than hear them, speak as if reading.'¹³

Post haec expendens Gregorius in Actis Apostolorum capite octavo, & decimo, spiritum dixisse quaedam Philippo & Petro, subiungit: Spiritum enim Dei quasi quaedam nobis verba dicere, est occulta vi ea quae agenda sunt intimare, & cor hominis ignarum, non debito strepitu & tarditate sermonis, peritum repente de absconditis reddere. Nam quia auditus ea quae ad se fiunt, non simul omnia dicta comprehendit, quippe qui & causas per verba, & particulatim verba per syllabas percipit, visus autem noster in eo, quod se dirigit, totum subito & simul apprehendit. Dei locutio ad nos intrinsecus facta videtur potius quam audiatur, quia dum semetipsum sine mora sermonis insinuat, repentina luce nostrae ignorantiae tenebras illustrat. Unde & Baruch Neriae filius cum requisitus exponeret: quemadmodum verba Hieremiae prophetantis audisset, ait, Ex ore suo loquebatur quasi legens, & ego scribebam. Qui vero legens loquitur, alio intendit, sed alio verbum facit, quia quod videt dicit. Prophetae ergo Dei quia eius verba vident potius in corde, quam audiunt: quasi legentes loquuntur.

'But when the Lord indicates his will through an Angel, sometimes he shows it by words, sometimes by things; sometimes by words and things at once; sometimes by images shown to the eyes of the heart; sometimes by images assumed for a time from the air before the bodily eyes; sometimes by heavenly substances, sometimes by earthly, sometimes by earthly and heavenly at once. But sometimes God even speaks to human hearts through an Angel, when...'¹⁴

Cum vero per Angelum voluntatem suam Dominus indicat, aliquando eam verbis, aliquando rebus demonstrat: aliquando simul verbis & rebus: aliquando imaginibus cordis oculis ostensis, aliquando imaginibus, & ante corporeos oculos ad tempus ex aere assumptis, aliquando caelestibus substantijs, aliquando terrenis, aliquando simul terrenis & caelestibus. Nonnunquam vero etiam per Angelum humanis cordibus ita loquitur Deus, cum...

'...when nothing is shown in an image, but the supernal words of the speech are heard, as when the Lord said, Father, glorify your name, it is at once answered, And I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. For God, who without time cries in the innermost parts by the force of impulse, did not in time by his own substance utter that voice which, circumscribed by time, he distinguished through human words; but, doubtless speaking of heavenly things, he formed his words, which he wished to be heard by men, with a rational creature administering. Sometimes God speaks by things through Angels, when nothing is said by word, but the things which are to come are announced by an image assumed from the elements: as Ezekiel, hearing nothing of words, saw the appearance of electrum in the midst of the fire, so that, namely, while he looked at the appearance alone, he might perceive what things would come in the last days. For electrum is mixed from the metal of gold and silver, in which mixture the silver is indeed made brighter, yet the brightness of the gold is tempered. What, then, in the electrum, but the Mediator of God and men is shown? who, when he composed himself for us of divine and human nature, both made the human brighter through the deity, and tempered the divine to our sight through the humanity. For because by the power of his divinity the humanity shone with so many miracles, from the gold grew the silver; and because God could be known through the flesh, and through the flesh endured so many adversities, the gold was as it were tempered from silver. Which is also well shown in the midst of the fire, because the flame of the following judgment accompanies the mystery of his incarnation. For it is written, The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.'¹⁵

cum nil in imagine ostenditur, sed superna verba locutionis audiuntur, sicut dicente Domino: Pater clarifica nomen tuum protinus respondetur, Et clarificavi, & iterum clarificabo. Neque enim Deus, qui sine tempore vi impulsionis intima clamat, in tempore per suam substantiam illam vocem edidit, quam circumscriptam tempore per humana verba distinxit: sed nimirum de coelestibus loquens, verba sua, quae ab hominibus audiri voluit, rationali creatura administrante formavit. Aliquando rebus per Angelos loquitur Deus, cum nil verbo dicitur: sed ea quae futura sunt, assumpta de elementis imagine nunciantur: sicut Ezechiel nil verborum audiens, electri speciem in medio ignis vidit, ut videlicet dum solam speciem aspiceret, quae essent in novissimis ventura sentiret. Electrum quippe ex auri argentique metallo miscetur, in qua permixtione argentum quidem clarius redditur, sed tamen fulgor auri temperatur. Quid ergo in electro, nisi mediator Dei & hominum demonstratur? qui dum semetipsum nobis ex divina atque humana natura composuit: & humanam per deitatem clariorem reddidit, & divinam per humanitatem nostris aspectibus temperavit. Quia enim virtute divinitatis eius tot miraculis humanitas fulsit, ex auro crevit argentum, & quod per carnem Deus cognosci potuit, quodque per carnem tot adversa toleravit, quasi ex argento temperatum est aurum. Quod bene, & in medio ignis ostenditur: quia incarnationis eius mysterium subsequentis iudicij flamma comitatur. Scriptum quippe est, Pater non iudicat quenquam, sed omne iudicium dedit filio.

Sometimes God speaks through Angels by words and things at once, when by certain motions he insinuates that which he narrates by words. For Adam, after the fault, could not see the Lord in the substance of divinity, but heard the words of rebuke through an Angel, of which it is written: When he heard the voice of the Lord God walking in Paradise at the breeze after midday, he hid himself among the trees of Paradise. Sometimes God speaks through Angels by images shown to the eyes of the heart: as Jacob, sleeping, saw a ladder leaning against heaven; as Peter, caught up in ecstasy, beheld a sheet full of reptiles and quadrupeds — who, unless he perceived these with bodily eyes, would not have been in ecstasy; as to Paul in a vision of the night a Macedonian man appeared, who asked him to cross over into Macedonia.¹⁶

Aliquando per Angelos verbis simul & rebus loquitur Deus, cum quibusdam motibus insinuat hoc quod sermonibus narrat. Neque enim Adam post culpam in divinitatis substantia videre Dominum potuit, sed increpationis verba per Angelum audivit, de quo scriptum est. Cum audisset vocem domini Dei deambulantis in Paradiso ad auram post meridiem, abscondit se inter ligna Paradisi. Aliquando imaginibus, cordis oculis ostensis per Angelos loquitur Deus: sicut Iacob subnixam coelo scalam dormiens vidit: sicut Petrus linteum reptilibus & quadrupedibus plenum in ecstasi raptus aspexit, qui nisi in corporeis oculis haec cerneret, in ecstasi non fuisset: sicut Paulo in visione noctis vir Macedo apparuit, qui transire eum in Macedoniam rogavit.

Sometimes God speaks through Angels by images assumed for a time from the air before the bodily eyes: as Abraham could not only see three men, but also receive them in an earthly dwelling; and not only receive them, but even apply food to their use. For unless the Angels, announcing certain inward things to us, took bodies for a time from the air, they would certainly not appear to our outward gazes, nor would they take food with Abraham — unless, for our sake, they carried something solid from the heavenly nourishment. Nor is it a wonder that those very ones who were received are called now Lord, now Angels: because they are expressed by the name of Angels, who ministered externally, and by the appellation of Lord is shown he who presided over them internally — so that by the former the command of the one presiding, and by the latter the office of the ministers, might shine forth.¹⁷

Aliquando imaginibus & ante corporeos oculos ad tempus ex aere assumptis per Angelos loquitur Deus: sicut Abraham non solum tres viros videre potuit, sed etiam habitaculo terreno suscipere: & non solum suscipere, sed eorum usibus etiam cibos adhibere. Nisi enim, Angeli quaedam nobis interna nunciantes, ad tempus ex aere corpora sumerent, exterioribus profecto nostris obtutibus non apparerent: nec cibos cum Abraham caperent: nisi propter nos solidum aliquid ex coelesti alimento gestarent: Nec mirum: quod illi ipsi qui suscepti sunt, modo Dominus, modo Angeli vocantur: quia Angelorum vocabulo exprimuntur, qui exterius ministrabant, & appellatione Domini ostenditur, qui eis interius praeerat: ut per hoc praesidentis imperium, & per illud claresceret officium ministrantium.

Sometimes God speaks by heavenly substances through Angels: as, when the Lord was baptized, it is written that a voice sounded from the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Sometimes God speaks by earthly substances through Angels: as when he rebuked Balaam, in the mouth [of the ass]...¹⁸

Aliquando coelestibus substantijs per Angelos loquitur Deus: sicut baptizato Domino scriptum est, quia de nube vox sonuit dicens, Hic est Filius meus dilectus in quo mihi bene complacui. Aliquando terrenis substantijs per Angelos loquitur Deus: sicut cum Balaam corripuit, in ore...

...in the mouth of the ass he formed human words. Sometimes God speaks through Angels by earthly and heavenly substances at once: as to Moses on the mountain, when he uttered the words of his command, he joined fire and bush, and linked the one above, the other below. Which, however, is only then done, when something is signified by that very conjunction: for by speaking to Moses through the kindled bush, what else is shown, but that he would become the leader of that people, who would both receive the flame of the law, and yet by no means avoid the thorn of sin? or that from that people would come forth he who, in the fire of the deity, would take up the pains of our flesh like the thorns of the bush, and would preserve the unconsumed substance of our humanity even in that very flame of divinity?¹⁹

ore asinae humana verba formavit. Aliquando simul & terrenis & coelestibus substantiis per Angelos loquitur Deus: sicut ad Mosen in monte, cum iussionis suae verba edidit, ignem rubumque sociavit, atque aliud superius, aliud inferius iunxit. Quod tamen tunc solum agitur, cum ex ipsa aliquid coniunctione signatur: nam per succensum rubum Mosen alloquens quid aliud ostenditur, nisi quod eius populi ductor fieret, qui & legis flammam perciperet, & tamen peccati spinam nequaquam vitaret? vel quod ex illo populo exiret, qui in igne deitatis carnis nostrae dolores quasi rubi spinas susciperet, & inconsumptam humanitatis nostrae substantiam, etiam in ipsa divinitatis flamma servaret?

But sometimes God, even through Angels, by their secret presence, infuses into human hearts the power of his inspiration. Whence Zechariah says, And the Angel who spoke in me said to me. While he says the Angel spoke indeed to him, but yet in him, he plainly shows that he who made the words to him was not outside through a bodily appearance. Whence a little after he added, And behold, the Angel who spoke in me went forth. For often they do not appear externally, but, as they are angelic spirits, they make known the will of God to the senses of the Prophets, and so lift them up to sublime things, and demonstrate the things that are to come in things, as present in their original causes. For the human heart, weighed down by the very weight of corruptible flesh, sustaining this its own corpulence as it were an obstacle, does not penetrate inner things, and lies heavy externally, because it has not within a hand lifting it up. Whence it comes about, as was said, that to the senses of the Prophets the angelic power itself, as it is a subtlety, appears, and their mind is lifted up by the subtle spirit by which it is touched, and no longer lies sluggish and torpid in the depths, but, filled with inmost inspirations, ascends to the heavenly things, and thence, as from a certain summit of things, sees what is to come below it.²⁰

Nonnunquam vero humanis cordibus etiam per Angelos Deus, secreta eorum praesentia, virtutem suae adspirationis infundit. Unde & Zacharias ait, Et dixit ad me Angelus qui loquebatur in me. Dum ad se quidem, sed in se tamen loqui Angelum dicit, liquido ostendit, quod is qui ad ipsum verba faceret, per corpoream speciem extra non esset. Unde & paulo post subdidit, Et ecce Angelus qui loquebatur in me egrediebatur. Saepe enim non exterius apparent, sed sicut sunt angelici spiritus, voluntatem Dei Prophetarum sensibus innotescunt, atque eos ita ad sublimia sublevant, & quaeque in rebus futura sunt, in causis originalibus praesentia demonstrant. Humanum namque cor ipso carnis corruptibilis pondere gravatum, hanc ipsam corpulentiam suam quasi obicem sustinens, interna non penetrat: & grave exterius iacet, quia levantem manum interius non habet. Unde fit, sicut dictum est, ut Prophetarum sensibus ipsa, ut est subtilitas, angelica virtutis appareat, eorumque mens quo subtili spiritu tangitur levetur: & non iam pigra torpensque in imis iaceat, sed repleta intimis afflatibus ad superna conscendat, atque inde quasi de quodam rerum vertice, quae infra se ventura sunt videat.

But lest anyone, in the aforesaid words of Zechariah, should think the Father or the Son or the Holy Spirit designated by the name of Angel: if he considers the text of sacred Scripture, it quickly corrects what he thinks — for it never calls the Father, never the Holy Spirit, and only through the preaching of his Incarnation calls the Son an Angel. Whence in those same words of Zechariah it is openly shown that in that prophet truly an Angel — that is, a creature — spoke, when he said, And behold, the Angel who spoke in me went forth. And at once it is added, And another Angel went forth to meet him, and said to him: Speak to this boy, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited without a wall. And so the Angel who is sent, to whom the words that he must say are commanded by an Angel, is not God. But because in the sight of the Creator the angelic ministries are ordered, distinguished by the disposition of grades — so that both, for the common felicity of blessedness, seeing their Maker at once they may rejoice, and yet, according to the disposition of dignity, some may serve others — an Angel sends an Angel to a Prophet; and him whom it beholds rejoicing in common with itself about God, it both teaches and directs, because it exceeds him both by superior knowledge in the power of cognition, and by more excellent grace in the height of power. These things, therefore, have been said, that it might be demonstrated by what modes God speaks to men. And thus far, indeed, have been the words of St. Gregory.²¹

Sed ne quis in praedictis Zachariae verbis, Angeli designatum nomine vel Patrem vel Filium, vel Spiritum sanctum putet, si textum Scripturae sacrae considerat, quod sentit velociter emendat, quae nunquam Patrem, nunquam Spiritum sanctum, & non nisi per incarnationis suae praedicationem, Filium Angelum vocat. Unde & in eiusdem Zachariae verbis aperte ostenditur, quod in illo vere Angelus, id est, creatura loqueretur, cum diceret, Et ecce Angelus qui loquebatur in me egrediebatur. Statimque subiungitur, Et alius Angelus egrediebatur in occursum eius, & dixit ad eum: Loquere ad puerum istum dicens, Absque muro habitabitur Hierusalem. Non est itaque Deus Angelus qui mittitur, cui verba ab Angelo, quae dicere debeat, iubentur. Sed quia in conspectu conditoris angelica ministeria ordinata, graduum positione distincta sunt, ut & pro communi felicitate beatitudinis opificem suum simul videntes gaudeant, & tamen pro dispositione dignitatis aliis alij subministrent, ad Prophetam Angelus Angelum mittit: & quem secum de Deo gaudere communiter conspicit, & docet & dirigit: quia eum & per superiorem scientiam virtute cognitionis, & per praestantiorem gratiam culmine potestatis excedit. Haec igitur dicta sunt, ut quibus modis loquatur Deus hominibus, demonstraretur. Et hactenus quidem fuere S. Gregorij verba.