Complete Works, Vol. XX

of the laws are signified, Joel 1:4: That which the locust hath left, the bruchus hath eaten: and that which the bruchus hath left, the eruca hath eaten: and that which the eruca hath left, the rust hath eaten. The eruca caterpillar/cankerworm in vigor [signifies] the precept of discipline or experience consumed by disobedience; the locusta locust, jumping in the vigor of nature, [signifies] the transgression of the law or precept of nature; the bruchus beetle/cankerworm, cutting and devouring everything, [signifies] the transgression of the written law: because, having taken occasion, sin wrought in me all manner of concupiscence Romans 7:8. But the ærugo rust/canker, as if the rust of bronze, signifies the prevarication of the law and the precept of grace: for this is burned in itself, as Psalm 78:17 original: "79:17" says: Burnt with fire and dug up, they shall perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. Or, four signifies the quadrangles in the cardinal virtues through which fitness for redemption is made. Prudence has the correct mean of things eligible for life; temperance, the mean in innate passions; fortitude, in inflicted passions; and justice, in things exchanged with or distributed to a neighbor, has the equal mean of loss and gain. Wisdom 8:7: She teacheth temperance, and prudence, and justice, and fortitude, which are such things as men can have nothing more profitable in life.

Ten, however, refers to the decalogue of precepts.

He satisfies "the time," however, by distinguishing the time of the pilgrimage of the Fathers, which was terminated at the fatherland; of the Kings, to captivity; and of the captivity, to redemption. Regarding the first, Genesis 15:13: Know thou beforehand that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land not their own. And it follows, v. 16: In the fourth generation they shall return hither. Regarding the second, Lamentations 4:20: The spirit of our mouth, Christ the Lord, was taken in our sins, to whom we said: Under thy shadow we shall live among the Gentiles. Regarding the third, Ezekiel 39:25:

Now will I bring back the captivity of Jacob, etc.

And he might show what he was, and showing the work of God in himself, even in those whose lineage he placed, he would not deny the testimony of Christ working from the beginning.

The third thing is that in which the end is touched upon. A fourfold end is touched upon: namely, the end of the Evangelist, the end of the Gospel, the end of those reading the Gospel, and the end of Jerome writing this Prologue.

The end of the Evangelist is threefold. First: "That he might show what he was," that is, in what figure of the Evangelists: for he turns the face of a man toward us. Second: "And the work of God in himself," by which he made an Apostle and Evangelist out of a publican referring to Matthew. Romans 5:20: Where sin abounded, grace did more abound. Isaiah 41:27: The first shall say to Sion: Behold, they are here, and I will give a Jerusalem an evangelist. Ephesians 4:11 and following: He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and other some evangelists, and other some pastors and doctors: for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ, etc. Thirdly, he touches upon the work of Christ in the fathers, when he says: "Even in those whose lineage, etc."

In the Fathers, however, Christ performed a threefold work: namely, by presignifying salvation through figures. Hebrews 10:1: The law having a shadow of the good things to come. 1 Corinthians 10:11: All things happened to them in figure. By propagating the medicine of sin: for although through all generations up to Christ exclusively, the propagation occurred both through the law of concupiscence and of corporeal substance, nevertheless, by faith and devotion, they intended nothing but to propagate corporeal substance into Christ: and this was the work of Christ.