Objections: the patrimony of the crucified and the two swords

But against what has been said it is argued by appeal toarguitur per: it is argued by appeal to this, that all the goods of the world are the patrimony of the crucified; now he granted his whole patrimony to Peter and his vicars; therefore all the goods of the world are theirs; therefore it is lawful for them to exercise lordshipdominus; dominari: lord; to exercise lordship / to lord it over their patrimony.¹ 311To this the conclusionconclusio: conclusion is to be granted (as I have set out at length elsewhere), for to the just all things belong by the law of heavenius poli / ius fori: the law of heaven / the law of the court (as the Apostle teaches, Romans 8, and Augustine, Epistle 37 to Macedonius).² Hence clerics ought to follow their father by casting off civil lordshipdominacio: exercise of lordship, exercising lordship purely in the manner of the gospel by titletitulus: title of charitycaritas: charity. For this they have as exemplified by Christ, and the other they usurp from Caesar; and if they value imitating Caesar more than Christ, who doubts that by degeneracy they lose both? The clergyclerus; clericus: the clergy; cleric therefore can have any amount of goods by title of almselemosina: alms, to supply their office and to distribute to the poor, and in this they would imitate Christ and his apostles; but not in exercising civil lordship, since this would be a contradiction in the adjunct;³ and on this ground it would be for them the patrimony of the crucified.⁴ Hence we should take care lest we blasphemously give that name to the occupation of Christ’s goods while abusing them heretically (as was said at the end of the preceding chapter),⁵ or lest we call riches on that ground the patrimony of the crucified. If, I say, it is the patrimony of the crucified, let us so act that, using these things after the likeness of the crucified, we faithfully impart them to the poor membersmembrum: member of the crucified, so that at last we may share in the merit of the crucified; hence our abuse would be most readily recalled by considering attentively the name "patrimony of the crucified". Against this I argue, first, that all the goods of the churchecclesia: church, whether among the laity or among the clergy, are of the patrimony of the crucified; for he is the heir holding in chief all the goods of the world,⁶ and we by title of filial adoption share 312in them. For in Psalm 8:8 it is said of him: "Thou hast subjected all things under his feet"; and in Luke 10:22 this "Firstborn amongst many brethren" says: "All things are delivered to me by my Father"; and in Psalm 2 the Father addresses him: "Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession."⁷ From these I argue thus: no one truly possesses anything on earth except either Christ or his son; now whatever such a one has possessed is the patrimony of the crucified; therefore no one by right possesses anything except by title of the patrimony of the crucified;⁸ and consequently the superior sons, of which kind are clerics and especially his vicars, ought to possess of his patrimony earlier and more excellently than other secularsecclesia laycalis / secularis: the lay church / the secular church.

To this the answer isdicitur multipliciter: is said in many ways that each conclusion is to be granted. For by the highest rightius: right / law he has, according to his Godheaddeitas / divinitas: the Godhead / divinity as well as according to his humanity, all the goods of the world; and by derivation from him as the very fount of justice, others share in his goods according to the grades of their dignities; so much so that, if he had not become incarnate, there would not have been in the whole fallen human race any just possession without qualificationsimpliciter / secundum quid: without qualification / in a certain respect; so that all the fathers of the old testament to whom God appointed a kingdomregnum: kingdom, whether gentiles like Job, Nebuchadnezzar and the like, or Hebrews in the time of either law, all, I say, received their possessions by Christ’s right.⁹ For by his passion he set right the titles of all his members; indeed in a way he profited the whole world, since all the damned, all inanimate things, and in short the whole created universe receive a certain second perfection from the life of Christ, since the whole world in every part of it serves God more perfectly by reason of Christ’s merit; for otherwise the world would be maimed, and its parts, disordered, would be perpetually at odds with themselves.¹⁰

Therefore it is believed with probability that Christ was necessitated, the fall being supposed, to repair his workmanship. Therefore he says in the last [chapter] of Luke that "it behoved Christ to suffer".¹¹ All secular lords, therefore, and in short all the members of the church use the patrimony of the crucified by title of that lord; and therefore all his sons, clerics as well as laymen, must beware of abuse. And so it must be granted that clerics, and especially Christ’s vicars, have the patrimony of the crucified earlier and more perfectly; but then they must imitate his manner of having and using it, as far as they are able. For he had these things on the wayvia / patria: the way / the homeland by pure title of grace and of human alms, and precisely under that measure under which it was necessary, without property, for the building up of the church, and a means of supporting the spiritual ministry; and the same kind of manner of having he left as their own to the clerics of his lot, as is clear in [Decretum C.] 12 q. 1 [c.] Clericus.¹² And this is the more perfect manner of having, because it is further withdrawn from the worldly manner and more like the manner of having of the blessed. For when the triumphant shall possess eternal life, God has set them over all his goods,¹³ and then they will not have the use of eating, or an imperfect bodily use as now, but a spiritual use through attention in the Word;¹⁴ and the more a wayfarerviator: wayfarer, other things being equal, has approached such use, the more perfectly he proceeds; which those do who labour more for the building up of the church, and strictly, humbly and unworldly receive the favour that nature’s necessity needs, as much as is required for this end. But secondly it is objected, by appeal toobicitur per: it is objected, by appeal to this, that Christ was at once king and priest humanly; now every privilege that he had humanly he granted to Peter and his vicars; therefore they ought to be at once kings and priests, 314having both swords. For so we read that the apostles had two swords at the time of Christ’s arrest, and Christ commanded Peter to put his sword into its sheath.¹⁵ From which word it is hinted that the church of Christ and the bark of Peter ought to have both swords, as blessed Bernard notes, and any number of canon laws with the concordances of the doctors.¹⁶ And blessed Peter seems to hint this in 1 Peter 2:9, when he says: "You are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood," etc.¹⁷

To this I reply by granting the major, but I deny the minor as supremely heretical. For Christ had humanly the right of primogeniture, in the name of redeemer of the human race and in the name of headcaput: head of the universal church, with many other singular privilegesprivilegium / privilegiare / privilegiacio: privilege / to privilege / privileging, which, great as they were, he could not make to belong formally to Peter or to any vicar of Christvicarius Christi: vicar of Christ,¹⁸ as Augustine relates on John, Homily 6. Yet, as Augustine relates on John, Homily 5, Christ could have communicated to Peter, John or another the power that Christians should be baptized in their name, if he had so willed; but he neither willed it nor taught it, which implies that he could not have so willed.¹⁹

But further I grant (as often elsewhere) that not only the church but the clergy of Christ has both swords. The church indeed [has both], since it has two parts, namely clergy and laity, of which the former part has the spiritual sword formally in itself, and the lay part, in the princes of the world, has the bodily sword formally in itself.²⁰