27. Therefore go on, Saints of God, boys and girls, males and females, unmarried men, and women; go on and persevere unto the end. Praise more sweetly the Lord, Whom ye think on more richly: hope more happily in Him, Whom ye serve more instantly: love more ardently Him, whom ye please more attentively. With loins girded, and lamps burning, wait for the Lord, when He cometh from the marriage.51    Luke xii. 35, 36 Ye shall bring unto the marriage of the Lamb a new song, which ye shall sing on your harps. Not surely such as the whole earth singeth, unto which it is said, “Sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord, the whole earth”52    Ps. xcvi. 1: but such as no one shall be able to utter but you. For thus there saw you in the Apocalypse a certain one53    Rev. xiv. 1–5 beloved above others by the Lamb, who had been wont to lie on His breast, and who used to drink in, and burst54    “Eructuabat.” cf. Ps. xlv. 1. Vulg. forth, the Word of God above wonders of heaven. He saw you twelve times twelve thousand of holy harpers, of undefiled virginity in body, of inviolate truth in heart; and he wrote of you, that ye follow the Lamb whithersoever He shall go. Where think we that This Lamb goeth, where no one either dares or is able to follow save you? Where think we that He goeth? Into what glades and meadows? Where, I think, the grass are joys; not vain joys of this world, lying madnesses; nor joys such as shall be in the kingdom of God itself, for the rest that are not virgins; but distinct from the portion of joys of all the rest. Joy of the virgins of Christ, of Christ, in Christ, with Christ, after Christ, through Christ, for Christ. The joys peculiar to the virgins of Christ, are not the same as of such as are not virgins, although of Christ. For there are to different persons different joys, but to none such. Go (enter) into these, follow the Lamb, because the Flesh of the Lamb also is assuredly virgin. For this He retained in Himself when grown up, which He took not away from His Mother by His conception and birth. Follow Him, as ye deserve,55    Merito in virginity of heart and flesh, wheresoever He shall have gone. For what is it to follow, but to imitate? Because “Christ hath suffered for us,”56    1 Peter ii. 21 leaving us an example, as saith the Apostle Peter, “that we should follow His steps.” Him each one follows in that, wherein he imitates Him: not so far forth as He is the only Son of God, by Whom all things were made; but so far forth as, the Son of Man, He set forth in Himself, what behoved for us to imitate. And many things in Him are set forth for all to imitate: but virginity of the flesh not for all; for they have not what to do in order to be virgins, in whom it hath been already brought to pass that they be not virgins.

CAPUT XXVII.

27. Virginum gloria futura major et propria quaedam in coelis gaudia. Sequi Agnum quocumque ierit proprium est virginum. Pergite itaque, sancti Dei, pueri ac puellae, mares ac feminae, caelibes et innuptae ; pergite perseveranter in finem. Laudate Dominum dulcius, quem cogitatis uberius; sperate felicius, cui servitis instantius; amate ardentius, cui placetis attentius. Lumbis accinctis et lucernis ardentibus exspectate Dominum, quando veniat a nuptiis (Luc. XII, 35, 36). Vos afferetis ad nuptias Agni canticum novum, quod cantabitis in citharis vestris . Non utique tale quale cantat universa terra, cui dicitur, Cantate Domino canticum novum; cantate Domino, universa terra (Psal. XCV, 1); sed tale quale nemo poterit dicere nisi vos. Sic enim vos vidit in Apocalypsi quidam prae caeteris dilectus ab Agno qui discumbere super pectus ejus solitus erat, et bibebat et eructuabat mirabilia super coelestia Verbum Dei. Ipse vos vidit duodecies duodena millia sanctorum citharoedorum illibatae virginitatis in corpore, inviolatae veritatis in corde: et quia sequimini 0411 Agnum quocumque ierit, scripsit ille de vobis (Apoc. XIV, 2-4). Quo ire putamus hunc Agnum, quo nemo eum sequi vel audeat vel valeat nisi vos? Quo putamus eum ire? in quos saltus et prata? Ubi credo sunt gramina gaudia ; non gaudia saeculi hujus vana, et insaniae mendaces, nec gaudia qualia in ipso regno Dei caeteris non virginibus erunt, sed a caeterorum omnium gaudiorum sorte distincta. Gaudium virginum Christi, de Christo, in Christo, cum Christo, post Christum, per Christum, propter Christum. Gaudia propria virginum Christi, non sunt eadem non virginum, quamvis Christi. Nam sunt aliis alia, sed nullis talia. Ite in haec, sequimini Agnum, quia et agni caro utique virgo. Hoc enim in se retinuit auctus, quod matri non abstulit conceptus et natus. Merito eum sequimini virginitate cordis et carnis, quocumque ierit. Quid est enim sequi, nisi imitari? Quia Christus pro nobis passus est, relinquens nobis exemplum, sicut ait apostolus Petrus, ut sequamur vestigia ejus (I Petr. II, 21). Hunc in eo quisque sequitur, in quo imitatur: non in quantum ille Filius Dei est unus, per quem facta sunt omnia; sed in quantum filius hominis, quae oportebat, in se praebuit imitanda: et multa in illo ad imitandum omnibus proponuntur; virginitas autem carnis non omnibus; non enim habent quid faciant ut virgines sint, in quibus jam factum est ut virgines non sint.