ON LOVING GOD
by St. Bernard of Clairvaux
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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Chapter IV.
Of those who find comfort in there collection 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.
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Chapter V.
Of the Christian's 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?
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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.
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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. 19.21). 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 works 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.
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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 undefiled 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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