7. Man, if he hath an altar, a table, a candlestick, and an ark, he is the temple of God. He must have an altar, whereon rightly to offer and rightly to distribute. The altar is our heart, on which we ought to offer. [{37}] Whence the Lord commandeth in Exodus: 'Thou shalt offer burnt offerings on mine altar.' [Footnote 211] Since from the heart words, set on fire of charity, ought to proceed. Holocaust is derived from holos, whole, and cauma, a burning: therein signifying a thing wholly burnt. On this altar we must rightly offer, and we must rightly divide. We offer rightly when we bring any good thought to perfection. But we do not rightly divide if we do it not discreetly. For a man often thinketh to do good, and doeth ill: and sometimes with one hand he doeth good and with the other ill; and thus himself buildeth, and himself knocketh down. But we then rightly divide when the good which we do we attribute, not to ourselves, but to God alone.
[Footnote 211: Exodus ix, 2.]
8. It behoveth also man to have a table, whence he may take the bread of the Word of God. By the table we understand Holy Scripture, concerning which the Psalm, 'Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.' [Footnote 212] That is, Thou hast given me Scripture against the temptations of the devil. This table then we must have, that is, must lay up in our minds, that thence we may take the Word of God. Of the deficiency of this bread saith Jeremiah: 'The little ones sought bread, and there was none to break it unto them. [Footnote 213] It behoveth man likewise to have a candlestick, that he may shine with good works.
[Footnote 212: Psalm xxiii (Dominus regit me), 5.]
[Footnote 213: Jeremiah xvi, 7.]
9. A candlestick that giveth light without is a good work, which by its good example inflameth others. Of which it is said, 'No man lighteth a candle and putteth it under a bushel, but in a candlestick.' [Footnote 214] This candle, according to the Word of the Lord, is a good intention: of which He saith Himself: 'Thine eye is a light.' [Footnote 215] But the eye is the intention. [{38}] Therefore we ought not to put the candle under a bushel, but in a candlestick. Because, if we have a good intention, we ought not to hide it: but to manifest our good deeds to others, for a light and an example.
[Footnote 214: S. Matthew v, 15.]
[Footnote 215: S. Matthew vi, 22.]
10. Man must also have an ark. Now area is derived from arcendo: discipline, therefore, and regular life may be called the ark; by which crimes are driven away (arcentur) from us. Now in the ark were the rod, the tables, and the manna: because in the regular life there must be the rod of correction, that the flesh may be chastised; and the table of love, that God may be loved. For in the tables of the law were written the commands which pertain to the love of God. Therein must also be the manna of divine sweetness: that we may 'taste and see how gracious the Lord is: for it is good to have to do with Him.' [Footnote 216] According to that proverb of the prudent woman, 'She tasted and saw that it was good.' [Footnote 217] Therefore, that we may be the temple of God, let us have in ourselves an altar of oblation, lest we appear empty in His presence, according to that saying, 'Thou shalt not appear empty before the presence of thy God': [Footnote 218] let us have a table for refection lest we faint, through hunger, in the way: as saith the Evangelist, 'If I send them away empty, they will faint in the way,' [Footnote 219] a candlestick by good works that we be not idle, as he saith in Ecclesiasticus, 'Idleness hath taught much mischief,' [Footnote 220] let us have an ark, that we be not as sons of Belial, that is, undisciplined, and without the yoke: for discipline is necessary, as the Psalmist teacheth, saying, 'Be instructed, lest He be angry.' [Footnote 221] Concerning which, and other ornaments, we shall speak in the following chapter.
[Footnote 216: Psalm xxxiv (Benedicam Dominum), 8.]
[Footnote 217: Prov. xxxi, 18. Marg. reading.]
[Footnote 218: Exodus xxiii, 15.]
[Footnote 219: S. Mark viii, 3.]
[Footnote 220: Ecclesiasticus xxii, 2.]
[Footnote 221: Psalm ii (Quare fremuerunt), 12.]
11. He buildeth this altar who adorneth his heart with true humility and other virtues. Whence Gregory: He who gathereth together virtues without humility, is as he who scattereth dust to the wind. For by the altar he understandeth our heart, as it shall be said when we treat of the dedication of the altar: it is in the middle of the body, as the altar is in the middle of the church. [Footnote 222]