I Why we should love God, and the measure of that love
II How much God deserves love from man in recognition of His gifts, both
material and spiritual; and how these gifts should be cherished without
neglect of the Giver
III What greater incentives Christians have, more than the heathen, to love
God
IV Of those who find comfort in the recollection of God, or are fittest for
His love
V Of the Christian's debt of love, how great it is
VI A brief summary
VII Of love toward God not without reward; and how the hunger of man's
heart cannot be satisfied with earthly things
VIII Of the first degree of love, wherein man loves God for self's sake
IX Of the second and third degrees of love
X Of the fourth degree of love, wherein man does not even love self, save
for God's sake
XI Of the attainment of this perfection of love only at the resurrection 50
XII Of love: out of a letter to the Carthusians
XIII Of the law of self-will and desire, of slaves and hirelings
XIV Of the law of the love of sons
XV Of the four degrees of love, and of the blessed state of the heavenly
fatherland
DEDICATION
To the illustrious Lord Haimeric, Cardinal Deacon of the Roman Church, and
Chancellor: Bernard, called Abbot of Clairvaux, wisheth long life in the
Lord and death in the Lord.
Hitherto you have been wont to seek prayers from me, not the solving of
problems; although I count myself sufficient for neither. My profession
shows that, if not my conversation; and to speak truth, I lack the
diligence and the ability that are most essential. Yet I am glad that you
turn again for spiritual counsel, instead of busying yourself about carnal
matters: I only wish you had gone to some one better equipped than I am.
Still, learned and simple give the same excuse and one can hardly tell
whether it comes from modesty or from ignorance, unless obedience to the
task assigned shall reveal. So, take from my poverty what I can give you,
lest I should seem to play the philosopher, by reason of my silence. Only,
I do not promise to answer other questions you may raise. This one, as to
loving God, I will deal with as He shall teach me; for it is sweetest, it
can be handled most safely, and it will be most profitable. Keep the others
for wiser men.
CHAPTER I. WHY WE SHOULD LOVE GOD AND THE MEASURE OF THAT LOVE
You want me to tell you why God is to be loved and how much. I answer, the
reason for loving God is God Himself; and the measure of love due to Him is
immeasurable love. Is this plain? Doubtless, to a thoughtful man; but I am
debtor to the unwise also. A word to the wise is sufficient; but I must
consider simple folk too. Therefore I set myself joyfully to explain more
in detail what is meant above.
We are to love God for Himself, because of a twofold reason; nothing is
more reasonable, nothing more profitable. When one asks, Why should I love
God? he may mean, What is lovely in God? or What shall I gain by loving
God? In either case, the same sufficient cause of love exists, namely, God
Himself.
And first, of His title to our love. Could any title be greater than this,
that He gave Himself for us unworthy wretches? And being God, what better
gift could He offer than Himself? Hence, if one seeks for God's claim upon
our love here is the chiefest: Because He first loved us (I John 4.19).
Ought He not to be loved in return, when we think who loved, whom He loved,
and how much He loved? For who is He that loved? The same of whom every
spirit testifies: 'Thou art my God: my goods are nothing unto Thee' (Ps.
16.2, Vulg.). And is not His love that wonderful charity which 'seeketh not
her own'?
(I Cor.13.5). But for whom was such unutterable love made manifest? The
apostle tells us: 'When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the
death of His Son' (Rom. 5.10). So it was God who loved us, loved us freely,
and loved us while yet we were enemies. And how great was this love of His?
St John answers: 'God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life' (John 3.16). St Paul adds: 'He spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all' (Rom. 8.32); and the son says of Himself,
'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends' (John 15.13).
This is the claim which God the holy, the supreme, the omnipotent, has upon
men, defiled and base and weak. Some one may urge that this is true of
mankind, but not of angels. True, since for angels it was not needful. He
who succored men in their time of need, preserved angels from such need;
and even as His love for sinful men wrought wondrously in them so that they
should not remain sinful, so that same love which in equal measure He
poured out upon angels kept them altogether free from sin.
CHAPTER II. ON LOVING GOD HOW MUCH GOD DESERVES LOVE FROM MAN IN
RECOGNITION OF HIS GIFTS, BOTH MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL: AND HOW THESE GIFTS
SHOULD BE CHERISHED WITHOUT NEGLECT OF THE GIVER
Those who admit the truth of what I have said know, I am sure, why we are
bound to love God. But if unbelievers will not grant it, their ingratitude
is at once confounded by His innumerable benefits, lavished on our race,
and plainly discerned by the senses. Who is it that gives food to all
flesh, light to every eye, air to all that breathe? It would be foolish to
begin a catalogue, since I have just called them innumerable: but I name,
as notable instances, food, sunlight and air; not because they are God's
best gifts, but because they are essential to bodily life. Man must seek in
his own higher nature for the highest gifts; and these are dignity, wisdom
and virtue. By dignity I mean free-will, whereby he not only excels all
other earthly creatures, but has dominion over them. Wisdom is the power
whereby he recognizes this dignity, and perceives also that it is no
accomplishment of his own. And virtue impels man to seek eagerly for Him
who is man's Source, and to lay fast hold on Him when He has been found.
Now, these three best gifts have each a twofold character. Dignity appears
not only as the prerogative of human nature, but also as the cause of that
fear and dread of man which is upon every beast of the earth. Wisdom
perceives this distinction, but owns that though in us, it is, like all
good qualities, not of us. And lastly, virtue moves us to search eagerly
for an Author, and, when we have found Him, teaches us to cling to Him yet
more eagerly. Consider too that dignity without wisdom is nothing worth;
and wisdom is harmful without virtue, as this argument following shows:
There is no glory in having a gift without knowing it. But to know only
that you have it, without knowing that it is not of yourself that you have
it, means self-glorying, but no true glory in God. And so the apostle says
to men in such cases, 'What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if
thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received
it? (I Cor. 4.7). He asks, Why dost thou glory? but goes on, as if thou
hadst not received it, showing that the guilt is not in glorying over a
possession, but in glorying as though it had not been received. And rightly
such glorying is called vain-glory, since it has not the solid foundation
of truth. The apostle shows how to discern the true glory from the false,
when he says, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord, that is, in the
Truth, since our Lord is Truth (I Cor. 1.31; John 14.6).
We must know, then, what we are, and that it is not of ourselves that we
are what we are. Unless we know this thoroughly, either we shall not glory
at all, or our glorying will be vain. Finally, it is written, 'If thou know
not, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock' (Cant. 1.8). And this
is right. For man, being in honor, if he know not his own honor, may fitly
be compared, because of such ignorance, to the beasts that perish. Not
knowing himself as the creature that is distinguished from the irrational
brutes by the possession of reason, he commences to be confounded with them
because, ignorant of his own true glory which is within, he is led captive
by his curiosity, and concerns himself with external, sensual things. So he
is made to resemble the lower orders by not knowing that he has been more
highly endowed than they.
We must be on our guard against this ignorance. We must not rank ourselves
too low; and with still greater care we must see that we do not think of
ourselves more highly than we ought to think, as happens when we foolishly
impute to ourselves whatever good may be in us. But far more than either of
these kinds of ignorance, we must hate and shun that presumption which
would lead us to glory in goods not our own, knowing that they are not of
ourselves but of God, and yet not fearing to rob God of the honor due unto
Him. For mere ignorance, as in the first instance, does not glory at all;
and mere wisdom, as in the second, while it has a kind of glory, yet does
not glory in the Lord. In the third evil case, however, man sins not in
ignorance but deliberately, usurping the glory which belongs to God. And
this arrogance is a more grievous and deadly fault than the ignorance of
the second, since it contemns God, while the other knows Him not. Ignorance
is brutal, arrogance is devilish. Pride only, the chief of all iniquities,
can make us treat gifts as if they were rightful attributes of our nature,
and, while receiving benefits, rob our Benefactor of His due glory.
Wherefore to dignity and wisdom we must add virtue, the proper fruit of
them both. Virtue seeks and finds Him who is the Author and Giver of all
good, and who must be in all things glorified; otherwise, one who knows
what is right yet fails to perform it, will be beaten with many stripes
(Luke 12.47). Why? you may ask. Because he has failed to put his knowledge
to good effect, but rather has imagined mischief upon his bed (PS. 36.4);
like a wicked servant, he has turned aside to seize the glory which, his
own knowledge assured him, belonged only to his good Lord and Master. It is
plain, therefore, that dignity without wisdom is useless and that wisdom
without virtue is accursed. But when one possesses virtue, then wisdom and
dignity are not dangerous but blessed. Such a man calls on God and lauds
Him, confessing from a full heart, 'Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but
unto Thy name give glory' (PS. 115.1). Which is to say, 'O Lord, we claim
no knowledge, no distinction for ourselves; all is Thine, since from Thee
all things do come.'
But we have digressed too far in the wish to prove that even those who know
not Christ are sufficiently admonished by the natural law, and by their own
endowments of soul and body, to love God for God's own sake. To sum up:
what infidel does not know that he has received light, air, food--all
things necessary for his own body's life--from Him alone who giveth food to
all flesh (Ps. 136.25), who maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the
good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt. 5.45). Who is
so impious as to attribute the peculiar eminence of humanity to any other
except to Him who saith, in Genesis, 'Let us make man in Our image, after
Our likeness'? (Gen. 1.26). Who else could be the Bestower of wisdom, but
He that teacheth man knowledge? (Ps. 94.10). Who else could bestow virtue
except the Lord of virtue? Therefore even the infidel who knows not Christ
but does at least know himself, is bound to love God for God's own sake. He
is unpardonable if he does not love the Lord his God with all his heart,
and with all his soul, and with all his mind; for his own innate justice
and common sense cry out from within that he is bound wholly to love God,
from whom he has received all things. But it is hard nay rather,
impossible, for a man by his own strength or in the power of free-will to
render all things to God from whom they came, without rather turning them
aside, each to his own account, even as it is written, 'For all seek their
own' (Phil. 2.21); and again, 'The imagination of man's heart is evil from
his youth' (Gen. 8.21 ).
CHAPTER III. WHAT GREATER INCENTIVES CHRISTIANS HAVE, MORE THAN THE
HEATHEN, TO LOVE GOD
The faithful know how much need they have of Jesus and Him crucified; but
though they wonder and rejoice at the ineffable love made manifest in Him,
they are not daunted at having no more than their own poor souls to give in
return for such great and condescending charity. They love all the more,
because they know themselves to be loved so exceedingly; but to whom little
is given the same loveth little (Luke 7.47). Neither Jew nor pagan feels
the pangs of love as doth the Church, which saith, 'Stay me with flagons,
comfort me with apples; for I am sick of love' (Cant. 2.5). She beholds
King Solomon, with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of
his espousals; she sees the Sole-begotten of the Father bearing the heavy
burden of His Cross; she sees the Lord of all power and might bruised and
spat upon, the Author of life and glory transfixed with nails, smitten by
the lance, overwhelmed with mockery, and at last laying down His precious
life for His friends. Contemplating this the sword of love pierces through
her own soul also and she cried aloud, 'Stay me with flagons, comfort me
with apples; for I am sick of love.' The fruits which the Spouse gathers
from the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden of her Beloved, are
pomegranates (Cant. 4.13), borrowing their taste from the Bread of heaven.
and their color from the Blood of Christ. She sees death dying and its
author overthrown: she beholds captivity led captive from hell to earth,
from earth to heaven, so 'that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth' (Phil.
2.10). The earth under the ancient curse brought forth thorns and thistles;
but now the Church beholds it laughing with flowers and restored by the
grace of a new benediction. Mindful of the verse, 'My heart danceth for
joy, and in my song will I praise Him', she refreshes herself with the
fruits of His Passion which she gathers from the Tree of the Cross, and
with the flowers of His Resurrection whose fragrance invites the frequent
visits of her Spouse.
Then it is that He exclaims, 'Behold thou art fair, My beloved, yea
pleasant: also our bed is green' (Cant. 1. 16). She shows her desire for
His coming and whence she hopes to obtain it; not because of her own merits
but because of the flowers of that field which God hath blessed. Christ who
willed to be conceived and brought up in Nazareth, that is, the town of
branches, delights in such blossoms. Pleased by such heavenly fragrance the
bridegroom rejoices to revisit the heart's chamber when He finds it adorned
with fruits and decked with flowers--that is, meditating on the mystery of
His Passion or on the glory of His Resurrection.
The tokens of the Passion we recognize as the fruitage of the ages of the
past, appearing in the fullness of time during the reign of sin and death
(Gal. 4.4). But it is the glory of the Resurrection, in the new springtime
of regenerating grace, that the fresh flowers of the later age come forth,
whose fruit shall be given without measure at the general resurrection,
when time shall be no more. And so it is written, 'The winter is past the
rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth' (Cant. 2.11 f);
signifying that summer has come back with Him who dissolves icy death into
the spring of a new life and says, 'Behold, I make all things new (Rev.
21.5). His Body sown in the grave has blossomed in the Resurrection (I Cor.
15.42); and in like manner our valleys and fields which were barren or
frozen, as if dead, glow with reviving life and warmth.
The Father of Christ who makes all things new, is well pleased with the
freshness of those flowers and fruits, and the beauty of the field which
breathes forth such heavenly fragrance; and He says in benediction, 'See.
the smell of My Son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed'
(Gen. 27.27). Blessed to overflowing, indeed, since of His fullness have
all we received (John 1 16). But the Bride may come when she pleases and
gather flowers and fruits therewith to adorn the inmost recesses of her
conscience; that the Bridegroom when He cometh may find the chamber of her
heart redolent with perfume.
So it behoves us, if we would have Christ for a frequent guest, to fill our
hearts with faithful meditations on the mercy He showed in dying for us,
and on His mighty power in rising again from the dead. To this David
testified when he sang, 'God spake once, and twice I have also heard the
same; that power belongeth unto God; and that Thou, Lord, art merciful (Ps.
62.11f). And surely there is proof enough and to spare in that Christ died
for our sins and rose again for our justification, and ascended into heaven
that He might protect us from on high, and sent the Holy Spirit for our
comfort. Hereafter He will come again for the consummation of our bliss. In
His Death He displayed His mercy, in His Resurrection His power; both
combine to manifest His glory.
The Bride desires to be stayed with flagons and comforted with apples,
because she knows how easily the warmth of love can languish and grow cold;
but such helps are only until she has entered into the bride chamber. There
she will receive His long-desired caresses even as she sighs, 'His left
hand is under my head and His right hand doth embrace me' (Cant. 2.6). Then
she will perceive how far the embrace of the right hand excels all
sweetness, and that the left hand with which He at first caressed her
cannot be compared to it. She will understand what she has heard: 'It is
the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing' (John 6.63). She
will prove what she hath read: 'My memorial is sweeter than honey, and mine
inheritance than the honey-comb' (Ecclus. 24.20). What is written
elsewhere, 'The memorial of Thine abundant kindness shall be showed' (Ps.
145.7), refers doubtless to those of whom the Psalmist had said just
before: 'One generation shall praise Thy works unto another and declare Thy
power' (Ps. 145.4). Among us on the earth there is His memory; but in the
Kingdom of heaven His very Presence. That Presence is the joy of those who
have already attained to beatitude; the memory is the comfort of us who are
still wayfarers, journeying towards the Fatherland.
CHAPTER IV. OF THOSE WHO FIND COMFORT IN THE RECOLLECTION OF GOD, OR ARE
FITTEST FOR HIS LOVE
But it will be well to note what class of people takes comfort in the
thought of God. Surely not that perverse and crooked generation to whom it
was said, 'Woe unto you that are rich; for ye have received your
consolation' (Luke 6.24). Rather, those who can say with truth, 'My soul
refuseth comfort' (Ps. 77.2). For it is meet that those who are not
satisfied by the present should be sustained by the thought of the future,
and that the contemplation of eternal happiness should solace those who
scorn to drink from the river of transitory joys. That is the generation of
them that seek the Lord, even of them that seek, not their own, but the
face of the God of Jacob. To them that long for the presence of the living
God, the thought of Him is sweetest itself: but there is no satiety, rather
an ever-increasing appetite, even as the Scripture bears witness, 'they
that eat me shall yet be hungry' (Ecclus. 24.21); and if the one an-hungred
spake, 'When I awake up after Thy likeness, I shall be satisfied with it.'
Yea, blessed even now are they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness, for they, and they only, shall be filled. Woe to you, wicked
and perverse generation; woe to you, foolish and abandoned people, who hate
Christ's memory, and dread His second Advent! Well may you fear, who will
not now seek deliverance from the snare of the hunter; because 'they that
will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and
hurtful lusts' (I Tim. 6.9). In that day we shall not escape the dreadful
sentence of condemnation, 'Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire' (Matt. 25.41). O dreadful sentence indeed, O hard saying! How much
harder to bear than that other saying which we repeat daily in church, in
memory of the Passion: 'Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath
eternal life' (John 6.54). That signifies, whoso honors My death and after
My example mortifies his members which are upon the earth (Col. 3.5) shall
have eternal life, even as the apostle says, 'If we suffer, we shall also
reign with Him' (II Tim. 2.12). And yet many even today recoil from these
words and go away, saying by their action if not with their lips, 'This is
a hard saying; who can hear it?' (John 6.60). 'A generation that set not
their heart aright, and whose spirit cleaveth not steadfastly unto God'
(Ps. 78.8), but chooseth rather to trust in uncertain riches, it is
disturbed at the very name of the Cross, and counts the memory of the
Passion intolerable. How can such sustain the burden of that fearful
sentence, 'Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for
the devil and his angels'? 'On whomsoever that stone shall fall it will
grind him to powder' (Luke 20.18); but 'the generation of the faithful
shall be blessed' (Ps. 112.2), since, like the apostle, they labor that
whether present or absent they may be accepted of the Lord (II Cor. 5.9).
At the last day they too shall hear the Judge pronounce their award, 'Come,
ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world' (Matt. 25.34).
In that day those who set not their hearts aright will feel, too late, how
easy is Christ's yoke, to which they would not bend their necks and how
light His burden, in comparison with the pains they must then endure. O
wretched slaves of Mammon, you cannot glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ while you trust in treasures laid up on earth: you cannot taste and
see how gracious the Lord is, while you are hungering for gold. If you have
not rejoiced at the thought of His coming, that day will be indeed a day of
wrath to you.
But the believing soul longs and faints for God; she rests sweetly in the
contemplation of Him. She glories in the reproach of the Cross, until the
glory of His face shall be revealed. Like the Bride, the dove of Christ,
that is covered with silver wings (Ps. 68.13), white with innocence and
purity, she reposes in the thought of Thine abundant kindness, Lord Jesus;
and above all she longs for that day when in the joyful splendor of Thy
saints, gleaming with the radiance of the Beatific Vision, her feathers
shall be like gold, resplendent with the joy of Thy countenance.
Rightly then may she exult, 'His left hand is under my head and His right
hand doth embrace me.' The left hand signifies the memory of that matchless
love, which moved Him to lay down His life for His friends; and the right
hand is the Beatific Vision which He hath promised to His own, and the
delight they have in His presence. The Psalmist sings rapturously, 'At Thy
right hand there is pleasure for evermore' (Ps. 16.11): so we are warranted
in explaining the right hand as that divine and deifying joy of His
presence.
Rightly too is that wondrous and ever-memorable love symbolized as His left
hand, upon which the Bride rests her head until iniquity be done away: for
He sustains the purpose of her mind, lest it should be turned aside to
earthly, carnal desires. For the flesh wars against the spirit: 'The
corruptible body presseth down the soul and the earthly tabernacle weigheth
down the mind that museth upon many things' (Wisdom 9.15). What could
result from the contemplation of compassion so marvelous and so undeserved,
favor so free and so well attested, kindness so unexpected, clemency so
unconquerable, grace so amazing except that the soul should withdraw from
all sinful affections, reject all that is inconsistent with God's love, and
yield herself wholly to heavenly things? No wonder is it that the Bride,
moved by the perfume of these unctions, runs swiftly, all on fire with
love, yet reckons herself as loving all too little in return for the
Bridegroom's love. And rightly, since it is no great matter that a little
dust should be all consumed with love of that Majesty which loved her first
and which revealed itself as wholly bent on saving her. For 'God so loved
the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life' (John 3.16). This sets
forth the Father's love. But 'He hath poured out His soul unto death,' was
written of the Son (Isa. 53.12). And of the Holy Spirit it is said, 'The
Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in My name, He
shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you' (John 14.26). It is plain, therefore, that
God loves us, and loves us with all His heart; for the Holy Trinity
altogether loves us, if we may venture so to speak of the infinite and
incomprehensible Godhead who is essentially one.
CHAPTER V. OF THE CHRISTIANS DEBT OF LOVE, HOW GREAT IT IS
From the contemplation of what has been said, we see plainly that God is to
be loved, and that He has a just claim upon our love. But the infidel does
not acknowledge the Son of God, and so he can know neither the Father nor
the Holy Spirit; for he that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the
Father which sent Him, nor the Spirit whom He hath sent (John 5.23). He
knows less of God than we; no wonder that he loves God less. This much he
understands at least--that he owes all he is to his Creator. But how will
it be with me? For I know that my God is not merely the bounteous Bestower
of my life, the generous Provider for all my needs, the pitiful Consoler of
all my sorrows, the wise Guide of my course: but that He is far more than
all that. He saves me with an abundant deliverance: He is my eternal
Preserver, the portion of my inheritance, my glory. Even so it is written,
'With Him is plenteous redemption' (Ps. 130.7); and again, 'He entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us' (Heb.
9.12). Of His salvation it is written, 'He forsaketh not His that be godly;
but they are preserved for ever' (Ps. 37.28); and of His bounty, 'Good
measure, pressed down and shaken together, and running over, shall men give
into your bosom' (Luke 6.38); and in another place, 'Eye hath not seen nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, those things which
God hath prepared for them that love Him' (I Cor. 2.9). He will glorify us,
even as the apostle beareth witness, saying, 'We look for the Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned
like unto His glorious body' (Phil. 3.20f); and again, 'I reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us' (Rom. 8.18); and once more, 'Our light
affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are
seen, but at the things which are not seen (II Cor. 4.17f).
'What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits towards me?' (Ps.
116.12). Reason and natural justice alike move me to give up myself wholly
to loving Him to whom I owe all that I have and am. But faith shows me that
I should love Him far more than I love myself, as I come to realize that He
hath given me not my own life only, but even Himself. Yet, before the time
of full revelation had come, before the Word was made flesh, died on the
Cross, came forth from the grave, and returned to His Father; before God
had shown us how much He loved us by all this plenitude of grace, the
commandment had been uttered, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thine heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy might' (Deut. 6.5),
that is, with all thy being, all thy knowledge, all thy powers. And it was
not unjust for God to claim this from His own work and gifts. Why should
not the creature love his Creator, who gave him the power to love? Why
should he not love Him with all his being, since it is by His gift alone
that he can do anything that is good? It was God's creative grace that out
of nothingness raised us to the dignity of manhood; and from this appears
our duty to love Him, and the justice of His claim to that love. But how
infinitely is the benefit increased when we bethink ourselves of His
fulfillment of the promise, 'thou, Lord, shalt save both man and beast: how
excellent is Thy mercy, O Lord! ' (Ps. 36.6f.). For we, who 'turned our
glory into the similitude of a calf that eateth hay' (Ps. 106.20), by our
evil deeds debased ourselves so that we might be compared unto the beasts
that perish. I owe all that I am to Him who made me: but how can I pay my
debt to Him who redeemed me, and in such wondrous wise? Creation was not so
vast a work as redemption; for it is written of man and of all things that
were made, 'He spake the word, and they were made' (Ps. 148.5). But to
redeem that creation which sprang into being at His word, how much He
spake, what wonders He wrought, what hardships He endured, what shames He
suffered! Therefore what reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the
benefits which He hath done unto me? In the first creation He gave me
myself; but in His new creation He gave me Himself, and by that gift
restored to me the self that I had lost. Created first and then restored, I
owe Him myself twice over in return for myself. But what have I to offer
Him for the gift of Himself? Could I multiply myself a thousand-fold and
then give Him all, what would that be in comparison with God?
CHAPTER VI. A BRIEF SUMMARY
Admit that God deserves to be loved very much, yea, boundlessly, because He
loved us first, He infinite and we nothing, loved us, miserable sinners,
with a love so great and so free. This is why I said at the beginning that
the measure of our love to God is to love immeasurably. For since our love
is toward God, who is infinite and immeasurable, how can we bound or limit
the love we owe Him? Besides, our love is not a gift but a debt. And since
it is the Godhead who loves us, Himself boundless, eternal, supreme love,
of whose greatness there is no end, yea, and His wisdom is infinite, whose
peace passeth all understanding; since it is He who loves us, I say, can we
think of repaying Him grudgingly? 'I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength,
in whom I will trust' (Ps. 18.1f). He is all that I need, all that I long
for. My God and my help, I will love Thee for Thy great goodness; not so
much as I might, surely, but as much as I can. I cannot love Thee as Thou
deservest to be loved, for I cannot love Thee more than my own feebleness
permits. I will love Thee more when Thou deemest me worthy to receive
greater capacity for loving; yet never so perfectly as Thou hast deserved
of me. 'Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy
book all my members were written' (PS. 139.16). Yet Thou recordest in that
book all who do what they can, even though they cannot do what they ought.
Surely I have said enough to show how God should be loved and why. But who
has felt, who can know, who express, how much we should love him.
CHAPTER VII OF LOVE TOWARD GOD NOT WITHOUT REWARD: AND HOW THE HUNGER OF
MAN'S HEART CANNOT BE SATISFIED WITH EARTHLY THINGS
And now let us consider what profit we shall have from loving God. Even
though our knowledge of this is imperfect, still that is better than to
ignore it altogether. I have already said (when it was a question of
wherefore and in what manner God should be loved) that there was a double
reason constraining us: His right and our advantage. Having written as best
I can, though unworthily, of God's right to be loved. I have still to treat
of the recompense which that love brings. For although God would be loved
without respect of reward, yet He wills not to leave love unrewarded. True
charity cannot be left destitute, even though she is unselfish and seeketh
not her own (I Cor. 13.5). Love is an affection of the soul, not a
contract: it cannot rise from a mere agreement, nor is it so to be gained.
It is spontaneous in its origin and impulse; and true love is its own
satisfaction. It has its reward; but that reward is the object beloved. For
whatever you seem to love, if it is on account of something else, what you
do really love is that something else, not the apparent object of desire.
St Paul did not preach the Gospel that he might earn his bread; he ate that
he might be strengthened for his ministry. What he loved was not bread, but
the Gospel. True love does not demand a reward, but it deserves one. Surely
no one offers to pay for love; yet some recompense is due to one who loves,
and if his love endures he will doubtless receive it.
On a lower plane of action, it is the reluctant, not the eager, whom we
urge by promises of reward. Who would think of paying a man to do what he
was yearning to do already? For instance no one would hire a hungry man to
eat, or a thirsty man to drink, or a mother to nurse her own child. Who
would think of bribing a farmer to dress his own vineyard, or to dig about
his orchard, or to rebuild his house? So, all the more, one who loves God
truly asks no other recompense than God Himself; for if he should demand
anything else it would be the prize that he loved and not God.
It is natural for a man to desire what he reckons better than that which he
has already, and be satisfied with nothing which lacks that special quality
which he misses. Thus, if it is for her beauty that he loves his wife, he
will cast longing eyes after a fairer woman. If he is clad in a rich
garment, he will covet a costlier one; and no matter how rich he may be he
will envy a man richer than himself. Do we not see people every day,
endowed with vast estates, who keep on joining field to field, dreaming of
wider boundaries for their lands? Those who dwell in palaces are ever
adding house to house, continually building up and tearing down, remodeling
and changing. Men in high places are driven by insatiable ambition to
clutch at still greater prizes. And nowhere is there any final
satisfaction, because nothing there can be defined as absolutely the best
or highest. But it is natural that nothing should content a man's desires
but the very best, as he reckons it. Is it not, then, mad folly always to
be craving for things which can never quiet our longings, much less satisfy
them? No matter how many such things one has, he is always lusting after
what he has not; never at peace, he sighs for new possessions.
Discontented, he spends himself in fruitless toil, and finds only weariness
in the evanescent and unreal pleasures of the world. In his greediness, he
counts all that he has clutched as nothing in comparison with what is
beyond his grasp, and loses all pleasure in his actual possessions by
longing after what he has not, yet covets. No man can ever hope to own all
things. Even the little one does possess is got only with toil and is held
in fear; since each is certain to lose what he hath when God's day,
appointed though unrevealed. shall come. But the perverted will struggles
towards the ultimate good by devious ways, yearning after satisfaction, yet
led astray by vanity and deceived by wickedness. Ah, if you wish to attain
to the consummation of all desire, so that nothing unfulfilled will be
left, why weary yourself with fruitless efforts, running hither and
thither, only to die long before the goal is reached?
It is so that these impious ones wander in a circle, longing after
something to gratify their yearnings, yet madly rejecting that which alone
can bring them to their desired end, not by exhaustion but by attainment.
They wear themselves out in vain travail, without reaching their blessed
consummation, because they delight in creatures, not in the Creator. They
want to traverse creation, trying all things one by one, rather than think
of coming to Him who is Lord of all. And if their utmost longing were
realized, so that they should have all the world for their own, yet without
possessing Him who is the Author of all being, then the same law of their
desires would make them contemn what they had and restlessly seek Him whom
they still lacked, that is, God Himself. Rest is in Him alone. Man knows no
peace in the world; but he has no disturbance when he is with God. And so
the soul says with confidence, 'Whom have I in heaven but Thee; and there
is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of Thee. God is the strength
of my heart, and my portion for ever. It is good for me to hold me fast by
God, to put my trust in the Lord God' (Ps. 73.25ff). Even by this way one
would eventually come to God, if only he might have time to test all lesser
goods in turn.
But life is too short, strength too feeble, and competitors too many, for
that course to be practicable. One could never reach the end, though he
were to weary himself with the long effort and fruitless toil of testing
everything that might seem desirable. It would be far easier and better to
make the assay in imagination rather than in experiment. For the mind is
swifter in operation and keener in discrimination than the bodily senses,
to this very purpose that it may go before the sensuous affections so that
they may cleave to nothing which the mind has found worthless. And so it is
written, 'Prove all things: hold fast that which is good' (I Thess. 5.21).
Which is to say that right judgment should prepare the way for the heart.
Otherwise we may not ascend into the hill of the Lord nor rise up in His
holy place (Ps. 24.3). We should have no profit in possessing a rational
mind if we were to follow the impulse of the senses, like brute beasts,
with no regard at all to reason. Those whom reason does not guide in their
course may indeed run, but not in the appointed race-track, neglecting the
apostolic counsel, 'So run that ye may obtain'. For how could they obtain
the prize who put that last of all in their endeavor and run round after
everything else first?
But as for the righteous man, it is not so with him. He remembers the
condemnation pronounced on the multitude who wander after vanity, who
travel the broad way that leads to death (Matt. 7.13); and he chooses the
King's highway, turning aside neither to the right hand nor to the left
(Num. 20.17), even as the prophet saith, 'The way of the just is
uprightness (Isa. 26.7). Warned by wholesome counsel he shuns the perilous
road, and heeds the direction that shortens the search, forbidding
covetousness and commanding that he sell all that he hath and give to the
poor (Matt. 19.2 1). Blessed, truly, are the poor, for theirs is the
Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 5.3). They which run in a race, run all, but
distinction is made among the racers. 'The Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous: and the way of the ungodly shall perish' (Ps. 1.6). 'A small
thing that the righteous hath is better than great riches of the ungodly'
(Ps. 37.16). Even as the Preacher saith, and the fool discovereth, 'He that
loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver' (Eccles. 5.10). But
Christ saith, 'Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness, for they shall be filled' (Matt. 5.6). Righteousness is the
natural and essential food of the soul, which can no more be satisfied by
earthly treasures than the hunger of the body can be satisfied by air. If
you should see a starving man standing with mouth open to the wind,
inhaling draughts of air as if in hope of gratifying his hunger, you would
think him lunatic. But it is no less foolish to imagine that the soul can
be satisfied with worldly things which only inflate it without feeding it.
What have spiritual gifts to do with carnal appetites, or carnal with
spiritual? Praise the Lord, O my soul: who satisfieth thy mouth with good
things (Ps. 103.1ff). He bestows bounty immeasurable; He provokes thee to
good, He preserves thee in goodness; He prevents, He sustains, He fills
thee. He moves thee to longing, and it is He for whom thou longest.
I have said already that the motive for loving God is God Himself. And I
spoke truly, for He is as well the efficient cause as the final object of
our love. He gives the occasion for love, He creates the affection, He
brings the desire to good effect. He is such that love to Him is a natural
due; and so hope in Him is natural, since our present love would be vain
did we not hope to love Him perfectly some day. Our love is prepared and
rewarded by His. He loves us first, out of His great tenderness; then we
are bound to repay Him with love; and we are permitted to cherish exultant
hopes in Him. 'He is rich unto all that call upon Him' (Rom. 10.12), yet He
has no gift for them better than Himself. He gives Himself as prize and
reward: He is the refreshment of holy soul, the ransom of those in
captivity. 'The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him' (Lam. 3.25). What
will He be then to those who gain His presence? But here is a paradox, that
no one can seek the Lord who has not already found Him. It is Thy will, O
God, to be found that Thou mayest be sought, to be sought that Thou mayest
the more truly be found. But though Thou canst be sought and found, Thou
canst not be forestalled. For if we say, 'Early shall my prayer come before
Thee' (Ps. 88.13), yet doubtless all prayer would be lukewarm unless it was
animated by Thine inspiration.
We have spoken of the consummation of love towards God: now to consider
whence such love begins.
CHAPTER VIII. OF THE FIRST DEGREE OF LOVE: WHEREIN MAN LOVES GOD FOR SELF'S
SAKE
Love is one of the four natural affections, which it is needless to name
since everyone knows them. And because love is natural, it is only right to
love the Author of nature first of all. Hence comes the first and great
commandment, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.' But nature is so frail and
weak that necessity compels her to love herself first; and this is carnal
love, wherewith man loves himself first and selfishly, as it is written,
'That was not first which is spiritual but that which is natural; and
afterward that which is spiritual' (I Cor. 15.46). This is not as the
precept ordains but as nature directs: 'No man ever yet hated his own
flesh' (Eph. 5.29). But if, as is likely, this same love should grow
excessive and, refusing to be contained within the restraining banks of
necessity, should overflow into the fields of voluptuousness, then a
command checks the flood, as if by a dike: 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself'. And this is right: for he who shares our nature should share our
love, itself the fruit of nature. Wherefore if a man find it a burden, I
will not say only to relieve his brother's needs, but to minister to his
brother's pleasures, let him mortify those same affections in himself, lest
he become a transgressor. He may cherish himself as tenderly as he chooses,
if only he remembers to show the same indulgence to his neighbor. This is
the curb of temperance imposed on thee, O man, by the law of life and
conscience, lest thou shouldest follow thine own lusts to destruction, or
become enslaved by those passions which are the enemies of thy true
welfare. Far better divide thine enjoyments with thy neighbor than with
these enemies. And if, after the counsel of the son of Sirach, thou goest
not after thy desires but refrainest thyself from thine appetites (Ecclus.
18.30); if according to the apostolic precept having food and raiment thou
art therewith content (I Tim. 6.8), then thou wilt find it easy to abstain
from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, and to divide with thy
neighbors what thou hast refused to thine own desires. That is a temperate
and righteous love which practices self-denial in order to minister to a
brother's necessity. So our selfish love grows truly social, when it
includes our neighbors in its circle.
But if thou art reduced to want by such benevolence, what then? What
indeed, except to pray with all confidence unto Him who giveth to all men
liberally and upbraideth not (James 1.5), who openeth His hand and filleth
all things living with plenteousness (Ps. 145.16). For doubtless He that
giveth to most men more than they need will not fail thee as to the
necessaries of life, even as He hath promised: 'Seek ye the Kingdom of God,
and all those things shall be added unto you' (Luke 12.31). God freely
promises all things needful to those who deny themselves for love of their
neighbors; and to bear the yoke of modesty and sobriety, rather than to let
sin reign in our mortal body (Rom. 6.12), that is indeed to seek the
Kingdom of God and to implore His aid against the tyranny of sin. It is
surely justice to share our natural gifts with those who share our nature.
But if we are to love our neighbors as we ought, we must have regard to God
also: for it is only in God that we can pay that debt of love aright. Now a
man cannot love his neighbor in God, except he love God Himself; wherefore
we must love God first, in order to love our neighbors in Him. This too,
like all good things, is the Lord's doing, that we should love Him, for He
hath endowed us with the possibility of love. He who created nature
sustains it; nature is so constituted that its Maker is its protector for
ever. Without Him nature could not have begun to be; without Him it could
not subsist at all. That we might not be ignorant of this, or vainly
attribute to ourselves the beneficence of our Creator, God has determined
in the depths of His wise counsel that we should be subject to
tribulations. So when man's strength fails and God comes to his aid, it is
meet and right that man, rescued by God's hand, should glorify Him, as it
is written, 'Call upon Me in the time of trouble; so will I hear thee, and
thou shalt praise Me' (Ps. 50.15). In such wise man, animal and carnal by
nature, and loving only himself, begins to love God by reason of that very
self-love; since he learns that in God he can accomplish all things that
are good, and that without God he can do nothing.
CHAPTER IX. OF THE SECOND AND THIRD DEGREES OF LOVE
So then in the beginning man loves God, not for God's sake, but for his
own. It is something for him to know how little he can do by himself and
how much by God's help, and in that knowledge to order himself rightly
towards God, his sure support. But when tribulations, recurring again and
again, constrain him to turn to God for unfailing help, would not even a
heart as hard as iron, as cold as marble, be softened by the goodness of
such a Savior, so that he would love God not altogether selfishly, but
because He is God? Let frequent troubles drive us to frequent
supplications; and surely, tasting, we must see how gracious the Lord is
(Ps. 34.8). Thereupon His goodness once realized draws us to love Him
unselfishly, yet more than our own needs impel us to love Him selfishly:
even as the Samaritans told the woman who announced that it was Christ who
was at the well: 'Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have
heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the savior of
the world' (John 4.42). We likewise bear the same witness to our own
fleshly nature, saying, 'No longer do we love God because of our necessity,
but because we have tasted and seen how gracious the Lord is'. Our temporal
wants have a speech of their own, proclaiming the benefits they have
received from God's favor. Once this is recognized it will not be hard to
fulfill the commandment touching love to our neighbors; for whosoever loves
God aright loves all God's creatures. Such love is pure, and finds no
burden in the precept bidding us purify our souls, in obeying the truth
through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren (I Peter 1.22).
Loving as he ought, he counts that command only just. Such love is
thankworthy, since it is spontaneous; pure, since it is shown not in word
nor tongue, but in deed and truth (I John 3.18); just, since it repays what
it has received. Whoso loves in this fashion, loves even as he is loved,
and seeks no more his own but the things which are Christ's, even as Jesus
sought not His own welfare, but ours, or rather ourselves. Such was the
psalmist's love when he sang: 'O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is
gracious' (PS. 118.1). Whosoever praises God for His essential goodness,
and not merely because of the benefits He has bestowed, does really love
God for God's sake, and not selfishly. The psalmist was not speaking of
such love when he said: 'So long as thou doest well unto thyself, men will
speak good of thee'(Ps. 49.18). The third degree of love, we have now seen,
is to love God on His own account, solely because He is God.
CHAPTER X. OF THE FOURTH DEGREE OF LOVE: WHEREIN MAN DOES NOT EVEN LOVE
SELF SAVE FOR GOD S SAKE
How blessed is he who reaches the fourth degree of love, wherein one loves
himself only in God! Thy righteousness standeth like the strong mountains,
O God. Such love as this is God's hill, in the which it pleaseth Him to
dwell. 'Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?' 'O that I had wings
like a dove; for then would I flee away and be at rest.' 'At Salem is His
tabernacle; and His dwelling in Sion.' 'Woe is me, that I am constrained to
dwell with Mesech! ' (Ps. 24.3; 55.6; 76.2; 120.5). When shall this flesh
and blood, this earthen vessel which is my soul's tabernacle, attain
thereto? When shall my soul, rapt with divine love and altogether self-
forgetting, yea, become like a broken vessel, yearn wholly for God, and,
joined unto the Lord, be one spirit with Him? When shall she exclaim, 'My
flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart and my
portion for ever' (Ps. 73.26).I would count him blessed and holy to whom
such rapture has been vouchsafed in this mortal life, for even an instant
to lose thyself, as if thou wert emptied and lost and swallowed up in God,
is no human love; it is celestial. But if sometimes a poor mortal feels
that heavenly joy for a rapturous moment, then this wretched life envies
his happiness, the malice of daily trifles disturbs him, this body of death
weighs him down, the needs of the flesh are imperative, the weakness of
corruption fails him, and above all brotherly love calls him back to duty.
Alas! that voice summons him to re-enter his own round of existence; and he
must ever cry out lamentably, 'O Lord, I am oppressed: undertake for me'
(Isa. 38.14); and again, 'O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me
from the body of this death?' (Rom. 7.24).
Seeing that the Scripture saith, God has made all for His own glory (Isa.
43.7), surely His creatures ought to conform themselves, as much as they
can, to His will. In Him should all our affections center, so that in all
things we should seek only to do His will, not to please ourselves. And
real happiness will come, not in gratifying our desires or in gaining
transient pleasures, but in accomplishing God's will for us: even as we
pray every day: 'Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven' (Matt.
6.10). O chaste and holy love! O sweet and gracious affection! O pure and
cleansed purpose, thoroughly washed and purged from any admixture of
selfishness, and sweetened by contact with the divine will! To reach this
state is to become godlike. As a drop of water poured into wine loses
itself, and takes the color and savor of wine; or as a bar of iron, heated
red-hot, becomes like fire itself, forgetting its own nature; or as the
air, radiant with sun-beams, seems not so much to be illuminated as to be
light itself; so in the saints all human affections melt away by some
unspeakable transmutation into the will of God. For how could God be all in
all, if anything merely human remained in man? The substance will endure,
but in another beauty, a higher power, a greater glory. When will that be?
Who will see, who possess it? 'When shall I come to appear before the
presence of God?' (Ps. 42.2). 'My heart hath talked of Thee, Seek ye My
face: Thy face, Lord, will I seek' (Ps. 27.8). Lord, thinkest Thou that I
even I shall see Thy holy temple?
In this life, I think, we cannot fully and perfectly obey that precept,
'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind' (Luke 10.27). For
here the heart must take thought for the body; and the soul must energize
the flesh; and the strength must guard itself from impairment. And by God's
favor, must seek to increase. It is therefore impossible to offer up all
our being to God, to yearn altogether for His face, so long as we must
accommodate our purposes and aspirations to these fragile, sickly bodies of
ours. Wherefore the soul may hope to possess the fourth degree of love, or
rather to be possessed by it, only when it has been clothed upon with that
spiritual and immortal body, which will be perfect, peaceful, lovely, and
in everything wholly subjected to the spirit. And to this degree no human
effort can attain: it is in God's power to give it to whom He wills. Then
the soul will easily reach that highest stage, because no lusts of the
flesh will retard its eager entrance into the joy of its Lord, and no
troubles will disturb its peace. May we not think that the holy martyrs
enjoyed this grace, in some degree at least, before they laid down their
victorious bodies? Surely that was immeasurable strength of love which
enraptured their souls, enabling them to laugh at fleshly torments and to
yield their lives gladly. But even though the frightful pain could not
destroy their peace of mind, it must have impaired somewhat its perfection.
CHAPTER XI. OF THE ATTAINMENT OF THIS PERFECTION OF LOVE ONLY AT THE
RESURRECTION
What of the souls already released from their bodies? We believe that they
are overwhelmed in that vast sea of eternal light and of luminous eternity.
But no one denies that they still hope and desire to receive their bodies
again: whence it is plain that they are not yet wholly transformed, and
that something of self remains yet unsurrendered. Not until death is
swallowed up in victory, and perennial light overflows the uttermost bounds
of darkness, not until celestial glory clothes our bodies, can our souls be
freed entirely from self and give themselves up to God. For until then
souls are bound to bodies, if not by a vital connection of sense, still by
natural affection; so that without their bodies they cannot attain to their
perfect consummation, nor would they if they could. And although there is
no defect in the soul itself before the restoration of its body, since it
has already attained to the highest state of which it is by itself capable,
yet the spirit would not yearn for reunion with the flesh if without the
flesh it could be consummated.
And finally, 'Right dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of His
saints' (Ps. 116.15). But if their death is precious, what must such a life
as theirs be! No wonder that the body shall seem to add fresh glory to the
spirit; for though it is weak and mortal, it has availed not a little for
mutual help. How truly he spake who said, 'All things work together for
good to them that love God' (Rom. 8.28). The body is a help to the soul
that loves God, even when it is ill, even when it is dead, and all the more
when it is raised again from the dead: for illness is an aid to penitence;
death is the gate of rest; and the resurrection will bring consummation.
So, rightly, the soul would not be perfected without the body, since she
recognizes that in every condition it has been needful to her good.
The flesh then is a good and faithful comrade for a good soul: since even
when it is a burden it assists; when the help ceases, the burden ceases
too; and when once more the assistance begins, there is no longer a burden.
The first state is toilsome, but fruitful; the second is idle, but not
monotonous: the third is glorious. Hear how the Bridegroom in Canticles
bids us to this threefold progress: 'Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink
abundantly, O beloved' (Cant. 5.1). He offers food to those who are
laboring with bodily toil; then He calls the resting souls whose bodies are
laid aside, to drink; and finally He urges those who have resumed their
bodies to drink abundantly. Surely those He styles 'beloved' must overflow
with charity; and that is the difference between them and the others, whom
He calls not 'beloved' but 'friends'. Those who yet groan in the body are
dear to Him, according to the love that they have; those released from the
bonds of flesh are dearer because they have become readier and abler to
love than hitherto. But beyond either of these classes are those whom He
calls 'beloved': for they have received the second garment, that is, their
glorified bodies, so that now nothing of self remains to hinder or disturb
them, and they yield themselves eagerly and entirely to loving God. This
cannot be so with the others; for the first have the weight of the body to
bear, and the second desires the body again with something of selfish
expectation.
At first then the faithful soul eats her bread, but alas! in the sweat of
her face. Dwelling in the flesh, she walks as yet by faith, which must work
through love. As faith without words is dead, so work itself is food for
her; even as our Lord saith, 'My meat is to do the will of Him that sent
Me' (John 4.34). When the flesh is laid aside, she eats no more the bread
of carefulness, but is allowed to drink deeply of the wine of love, as if
after a repast. But the wine is not yet unmingled; even as the Bridegroom
saith in another place, 'I have drunk My wine with My milk' (Cant. 5.1).
For the soul mixes with the wine of God's love the milk of natural
affection, that is, the desire for her body and its glorification. She
glows with the wine of holy love which she has drunk; but she is not yet
all on fire, for she has tempered the potency of that wine with milk. The
unmingled wine would enrapture the soul and make her wholly unconscious of
self; but here is no such transport for she is still desirous of her body.
When that desire is appeased, when the one lack is supplied, what should
hinder her then from yielding herself utterly to God, losing her own
likeness and being made like unto Him? At last she attains to that chalice
of the heavenly wisdom, of which it is written, 'My cup shall be full.' Now
indeed she is refreshed with the abundance of the house of God, where all
selfish, carking care is done away, and where, for ever safe, she drinks
the fruit of the vine, new and pure, with Christ in the Kingdom of His
Father (Matt. 26.29).
It is Wisdom who spreads this threefold supper where all the repast is
love; Wisdom who feeds the toilers, who gives drink to those who rest, who
floods with rapture those that reign with Christ. Even as at an earthly
banquet custom and nature serve meat first and then wine, so here. Before
death, while we are still in mortal flesh, we eat the labors of our hands,
we swallow with an effort the food so gained; but after death, we shall
begin eagerly to drink in the spiritual life and finally, reunited to our
bodies, and rejoicing in fullness of delight, we shall be refreshed with
immortality. This is what the Bridegroom means when He saith: 'Eat, O
friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.' Eat before death; begin
to drink after death; drink abundantly after the resurrection. Rightly are
they called beloved who have drunk abundantly of love; rightly do they
drink abundantly who are worthy to be brought to the marriage supper of the
Lamb, eating and drinking at His table in His Kingdom (Rev. 19.9; Luke
22.30). At that supper, He shall present to Himself a glorious Church, not
having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing (Eph. 5.27). Then truly shall He
refresh His beloved; then He shall give them drink of His pleasures, as out
of the river (Ps. 36.8). While the Bridegroom clasps the Bride in tender,
pure embrace, then the rivers of the flood thereof shall make glad the city
of God (PS. 46.4). And this refers to the Son of God Himself, who will come
forth and serve them, even as He hath promised; so that in that day the
righteous shall be glad and rejoice before God: they shall also be merry
and joyful (Ps. 68.3). Here indeed is appeasement without weariness: here
never-quenched thirst for knowledge, without distress; here eternal and
infinite desire which knows no want; here, finally, is that sober
inebriation which comes not from drinking new wine but from enjoying God
(Acts 2.13). The fourth degree of love is attained for ever when we love
God only and supremely, when we do not even love ourselves except for God's
sake; so that He Himself is the reward of them that love Him, the
everlasting reward of an everlasting love.
CHAPTER XII. OF LOVE: OUT OF A LETTER TO THE CARTHUSIANS
I remember writing a letter to the holy Carthusian brethren, wherein I
discussed these degrees of love, and spoke of charity in other words,
although not in another sense, than here. It may be well to repeat a
portion of that letter, since it is easier to copy than to dictate anew.
To love our neighbor's welfare as much as our own: that is true and sincere
charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith
unfeigned (I Tim. 1.5). Whosoever loves his own prosperity only is proved
thereby not to love good for its own sake, since he loves it on his own
account. And so he cannot sing with the psalmist, 'O give thanks unto the
Lord, for He is gracious' (Ps. 118.1). Such a man would praise God, not
because He is goodness, but because He has been good to him: he could take
to himself the reproach of the same writer, 'So long as Thou doest well
unto him, he will speak good of Thee' (Ps. 49.18, Vulg.). One praises God
because He is mighty, another because He is gracious, yet another solely
because He is essential goodness. The first is a slave and fears for
himself; the second is greedy, desiring further benefits; but the third is
a son who honors his Father. He who fears, he who profits, are both
concerned about self-interest. Only in the son is that charity which
seeketh not her own (I Cor. 13.5). Wherefore I take this saying, 'The law
of the Lord is an undefiled law, converting the soul' (Ps. 19.7) to be of
charity; because charity alone is able to turn the soul away from love of
self and of the world to pure love of God. Neither fear nor self-interest
can convert the soul. They may change the appearance, perhaps even the
conduct, but never the object of supreme desire. Sometimes a slave may do
God's work; but because he does not toil voluntarily, he remains in
bondage. So a mercenary may serve God, but because he puts a price on his
service, he is enchained by his own greediness. For where there is self-
interest there is isolation; and such isolation is like the dark corner of
a room where dust and rust befoul. Fear is the motive which constrains the
slave; greed binds the selfish man, by which he is tempted when he is drawn
away by his own lust and enticed (James 1.14). But neither fear nor self-
interest is undefiled, nor can they convert the soul. Only charity can
convert the soul freeing it from unworthy motives.
Next, I call it undefined because it never keeps back anything of its own
for itself. When a man boasts of nothing as his very own, surely all that
he has is God's; and what is God's cannot be unclean. The undefiled law of
the Lord is that love which bids men seek not their own, but every man
another's wealth. It is called the law of the Lord as much because He lives
in accordance with it as because no man has it except by gift from Him. Nor
is it improper to say that even God lives by law, when that law is the law
of love. For what preserves the glorious and ineffable Unity of the blessed
Trinity, except love? Charity, the law of the Lord, joins the Three Persons
into the unity of the Godhead and unites the holy Trinity in the bond of
peace. Do not suppose me to imply that charity exists as an accidental
quality of Deity; for whatever could be conceived of as wanting in the
divine Nature is not God. No, it is the very substance of the Godhead; and
my assertion is neither novel nor extraordinary, since St John says, 'God
is love' (I John 4.8). One may therefore say with truth that love is at
once God and the gift of God, essential love imparting the quality of love.
Where the word refers to the Giver, it is the name of His very being; where
the gift is meant, it is the name of a quality. Love is the eternal law
whereby the universe was created and is ruled. Since all things are ordered
in measure and number and weight, and nothing is left outside the realm of
law, that universal law cannot itself be without a law, which is itself. So
love though it did not create itself, does surely govern itself by its own
decree.
CHAPTER XIII. OF THE LAW OF SELF-WILL AND DESIRE, OF SLAVES AND HIRELINGS
Furthermore, the slave and the hireling have a law, not from the Lord, but
of their own contriving; the one does not love God, the other loves
something else more than God. They have a law of their own, not of God, I
say; yet it is subject to the law of the Lord. For though they can make
laws for themselves, they cannot supplant the changeless order of the
eternal law. Each man is a law unto himself, when he sets up his will
against the universal law, perversely striving to rival his Creator, to be
wholly independent, making his will his only law. What a heavy and
burdensome yoke upon all the sons of Adam, bowing down our necks, so that
our life draweth nigh unto hell. 'O wretched man that I am! Who shall
deliver me from the body of this death?' (Rom. 7.24). I am weighed down, I
am almost overwhelmed, so that 'If the Lord had not helped me, it had not
failed but my soul had been put to silence' (Ps. 94.17). Job was groaning
under this load when he lamented: 'Why hast Thou set me as a mark against
Thee, so that I am a burden to myself?' (Job 7.20). He was a burden to
himself through the law which was of his own devising: yet he could not
escape God's law, for he was set as a mark against God. The eternal law of
righteousness ordains that he who will not submit to God's sweet rule shall
suffer the bitter tyranny of self: but he who wears the easy yoke and light
burden of love (Matt. 11.30) Will escape the intolerable weight of his own
self-will. Wondrously and justly does that eternal law retain rebels in
subjection, so that they are unable to escape. They are subject to God's
power, yet deprived of happiness with Him, unable to dwell with God in
light and rest and glory everlasting. O Lord my God, 'why dost Thou not
pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquity?' (Job 7.21). Then
freed from the weight of my own will, I can breathe easily under the light
burden of love. I shall not be coerced by fear, nor allured by mercenary
desires; for I shall be led by the Spirit of God, that free Spirit whereby
Thy sons are led, which beareth witness with my spirit that I am among the
children of God (Rom. 8.16). So shall I be under that law which is Thine;
and as Thou art, so shall I be in the world. Whosoever do what the apostle
bids, 'Owe no man anything, but to love one another' (Rom. 13.8), are
doubtless even in this life conformed to God's likeness: they are neither
slaves nor hirelings but sons.
CHAPTER XIV. OF THE LAW OF THE LOVE OF SONS
Now the children have their law, even though it is written, 'The law is not
made for a righteous man' (I Tim. 1.9). For it must be remembered that
there is one law having to do with the spirit of servitude, given to fear,
and another with the spirit of liberty, given in tenderness. The children
are not constrained by the first, yet they could not exist without the
second: even as St Paul writes, 'Ye have not received the spirit of bondage
again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry,
Abba, Father' (Rom. 8.15). And again to show that that same righteous man
was not under the law, he says: 'To them that are under the law, I became
as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them
that are without law, as without law (being not without law to God, but
under the law to Christ)' (I Cor. 9.20f). So it is rightly said, not that
the righteous do not have a law, but, 'The law is not made for a righteous
man', that is, it is not imposed on rebels but freely given to those
willingly obedient, by Him whose goodness established it. Wherefore the
Lord saith meekly: 'Take My yoke upon you', which may be paraphrased thus:
'I do not force it on you, if you are reluctant; but if you will you may
bear it. Otherwise it will be weariness, not rest, that you shall find for
your souls.'
Love is a good and pleasant law; it is not only easy to bear, but it makes
the laws of slaves and hirelings tolerable; not destroying but completing
them; as the Lord saith: 'I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill'
(Matt. 5.17). It tempers the fear of the slave, it regulates the desires of
the hireling, it mitigates the severity of each. Love is never without
fear, but it is godly fear. Love is never without desire, but it is lawful
desire. So love perfects the law of service by infusing devotion; it
perfects the law of wages by restraining covetousness. Devotion mixed with
fear does not destroy it, but purges it. Then the burden of fear which was
intolerable while it was only servile, becomes tolerable; and the fear
itself remains ever pure and filial. For though we read: 'Perfect love
casteth out fear' (I John 4.18), we understand by that the suffering which
is never absent from servile fear, the cause being put for the effect, as
often elsewhere. So, too, self-interest is restrained within due bounds
when love supervenes; for then it rejects evil things altogether, prefers
better things to those merely good, and cares for the good only on account
of the better. In like manner, by God's grace, it will come about that man
will love his body and all things pertaining to his body, for the sake of
his soul. He will love his soul for God's sake; and he will love God for
Himself alone.
CHAPTER XV. OF THE FOUR DEGREES OF LOVE, AND OF THE BLESSED STATE OF THE
HEAVENLY FATHERLAND
Nevertheless, since we are carnal and are born of the lust of the flesh, it
must be that our desire and our love shall have its beginning in the flesh.
But rightly guided by the grace of God through these degrees, it will have
its consummation in the spirit: for that was not first which is spiritual
but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual (I Cor.
15.46). And we must bear the image of the earthy first, before we can bear
the image of the heavenly. At first, man loves himself for his own sake.
That is the flesh, which can appreciate nothing beyond itself. Next, he
perceives that he cannot exist by himself, and so begins by faith to seek
after God, and to love Him as something necessary to his own welfare. That
is the second degree, to love God, not for God's sake, but selfishly. But
when he has learned to worship God and to seek Him aright, meditating on
God, reading God's Word, praying and obeying His commandments, he comes
gradually to know what God is, and finds Him altogether lovely. So, having
tasted and seen how gracious the Lord is (PS. 34.8), he advances to the
third degree, when he loves God, not merely as his benefactor but as God.
Surely he must remain long in this state; and I know not whether it would
be possible to make further progress in this life to that fourth degree and
perfect condition wherein man loves himself solely for God's sake. Let any
who have attained so far bear record; I confess it seems beyond my powers.
Doubtless it will be reached when the good and faithful servant shall have
entered into the joy of his Lord (Matt. 25.21), and been satisfied with the
plenteousness of God's house (Ps. 36.8). For then in wondrous wise he will
forget himself and as if delivered from self, he will grow wholly God's.
Joined unto the Lord, he will then be one spirit with Him (I Cor. 6.17).
This was what the prophet meant, I think, when he said: ' I will go forth
in the strength of the Lord God: and will make mention of Thy righteousness
only' (PS. 71.16). Surely he knew that when he should go forth in the
spiritual strength of the Lord, he would have been freed from the
infirmities of the flesh, and would have nothing carnal to think of, but
would be wholly filled in his spirit with the righteousness of the Lord.
In that day the members of Christ can say of themselves what St Paul
testified concerning their Head: 'Yea, though we have known Christ after
the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more' (II Cor. 5.16). None
shall thereafter know himself after the flesh; for 'flesh and blood cannot
inherit the Kingdom of God' (I Cor. 15.50). Not that there will be no true
substance of the flesh, but all carnal needs will be taken away, and the
love of the flesh will be swallowed up in the love of the spirit, so that
our weak human affections will be made divinely strong. Then the net of
charity which as it is drawn through the great and wide sea doth not cease
to gather every kind of fish, will be drawn to the shore; and the bad will
be cast away, while only the good will be kept (Matt. 13.48). In this life
the net of all-including love gathers every kind of fish into its wide
folds, becoming all things to all men, sharing adversity or prosperity,
rejoicing with them that do rejoice, and weeping with them that weep (Rom.
12.15). But when the net is drawn to shore, whatever causes pain will be
rejected, like the bad fish, while only what is pleasant and joyous will be
kept. Do you not recall how St Paul said: 'Who is weak and I am not weak?
Who is offended and I burn not?' And yet weakness and offense were far from
him. So too he bewailed many which had sinned already and had not repented,
though he was neither the sinner nor the penitent. But there is a city made
glad by the rivers of the flood of grace (Ps. 46.4), and whose gates the
Lord loveth more than all the dwellings of Jacob (Ps. 87.2). In it is no
place for lamentation over those condemned to everlasting fire, prepared
for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25.41). In these earthly dwellings,
though men may rejoice, yet they have still other battles to fight, other
mortal perils to undergo. But in the heavenly Fatherland no sorrow nor
sadness can enter: as it is written, 'The habitation of all rejoicing ones
is in Thee' (Ps. 87. 7, Vulg.); and again, 'Everlasting joy shall be unto
them' (Isa. 61.7). Nor could they recall things piteous, for then they will
make mention of God's righteousness only. Accordingly, there will be no
need for the exercise of compassion, for no misery will be there to inspire
pity.
