SOME POINTS IN THE BEATITUDES.
Our holy Saviour applied poverty and riches, and the like, both to
spiritual things and objects of sense. For when He said, “Blessed are
they that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,”[502] He clearly
taught us in every circumstance to seek for the martyr who, if poor
for righteousness’ sake, witnesses that the righteousness which he
loves is a good thing; and if he “hunger and thirst for righteousness’
sake,” testifies that righteousness is the best thing. Likewise he,
that weeps and mourns for righteousness’ sake, testifies to the best
law that it is beautiful. As, then, “those that are persecuted,” so
also “those that hunger and thirst” for righteousness’ sake, are called
“blessed” by Him who approves of the true desire, which not even famine
can put a stop to. And if “they hunger after righteousness itself,”
they are blessed. “And blessed are the poor,” whether “in spirit” or in
circumstances--that is, if for righteousness’ sake. It is not the poor
simply, but those that have wished to become poor for righteousness’
sake, that He pronounces blessed--those who have despised the honours
of this world in order to attain “the good;” likewise also those who,
through chastity, have become comely in person and character, and those
who are of noble birth, and honourable, having through righteousness
attained to adoption, and therefore “have received power to become the
sons of God,”[503] and “to tread on serpents and scorpions,” and to
rule over demons and “the host of the adversary.”[504] And, in fine,
the Lord’s discipline draws the soul away gladly from the body, even
if it wrench itself away in its removal. “For he that loveth his life
shall lose it, and he that loseth his life shall find it,” if we only
join that which is mortal of us with the immortality of God. It is the
will of God [that we should attain] the knowledge of God, which is the
communication of immortality. He therefore, who, in accordance with the
word of repentance, knows his life to be sinful will lose it--losing
it from sin, from which it is wrenched; but losing it, will find it,
according to the obedience which lives again to faith, but dies to sin.
This, then, is what it is “to find one’s life,” “to know one’s self.”
The conversion, however, which leads to divine things, the Stoics
say, is effected by a change, the soul being changed to wisdom. And
Plato: “On the soul taking a turn to what is better, and a change from
a kind of nocturnal day.” Now the philosophers also allow the good
man an exit from life in accordance with reason, in the case of one
depriving him of active exertion, so that the hope of action is no
longer left him. And the judge who compels us to deny Him whom we love,
I regard as showing who is and who is not the friend of God. In that
case there is not left ground for even examining what one prefers--the
menaces of man or the love of God. And abstinence from vicious acts
is found, somehow, [to result in] the diminution and extinction of
vicious propensities, their energy being destroyed by inaction. And
this is the import of “Sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and
come, follow me”[505]--that is, follow what is said by the Lord. Some
say that by what “thou hast” He designated the things in the soul,
of a nature not akin to it, though how these are bestowed on the
poor they are not able to say. For God dispenses to all according to
desert, His distribution being righteous. Despising, therefore, the
possessions which God apportions to thee in thy magnificence, comply
with what is spoken by me; haste to the ascent of the Spirit, being
not only justified by abstinence from what is evil, but in addition
also perfected, by Christlike beneficence.[506] In this instance He
convicted the man, who boasted that he had fulfilled the injunctions
of the law, of not loving his neighbour; and it is by beneficence that
the love which, according to the gnostic ascending scale, is lord of
the Sabbath, proclaims itself. We must then, according to my view,
have recourse to the word of salvation neither from fear of punishment
nor promise of a gift, but on account of the good itself. Such, as do
so, stand on the right hand of the sanctuary; but those who think that
by the gift of what is perishable they shall receive in exchange what
belongs to immortality are in the parable of the two brothers called
“hirelings.” And is there not some light thrown here on the expression
“in the likeness and image,” in the fact that some live according to
the likeness of Christ, while those who stand on the left hand live
according to their image? There are then two things proceeding from
the truth, one root lying beneath both,--the choice being, however,
not equal, or rather the difference that is in the choice not being
equal. To choose by way of imitation differs, as appears to me, from
the choice of him who chooses according to knowledge, as that which
is set on fire differs from that which is illuminated. Israel, then,
is the light of the likeness which is according to the Scripture.
But the image is another thing. What means the parable of Lazarus,
by showing the image of the rich and poor? And what the saying, “No
man can serve two masters, God and Mammon?”--the Lord so terming the
love of money. For instance, the covetous, who were invited, responded
not to the invitation to the supper, not because of their possessing
property, but of their inordinate affection to what they possessed.
“The foxes,” then, have holes. He called those evil and earthly men who
are occupied about the wealth which is mined and dug from the ground,
foxes. Thus also, in reference to Herod: “Go, tell that fox, Behold,
I cast out devils, and perform cures to-day and to-morrow, and the
third day I shall be perfected.”[507] For He applied the name “fowls
of the air” to those who were distinct from the other birds--those
really pure, those that have the power of flying to the knowledge of
the heavenly Word. For not riches only, but also honour, and marriage,
and poverty, have ten thousand cares for him who is unfit for them.
And those cares He indicated in the parable of the fourfold seed,
when He said that “the seed of the word which fell unto the thorns”
and hedges was choked by them, and could not bring forth fruit. It is
therefore necessary to learn how to make use of every occurrence, so
as by a good life, according to knowledge, to be trained for the state
of eternal life. For it said, “I saw the wicked exalted and towering
as the cedars of Lebanon; and I passed,” says the Scripture, “and,
lo, he was not; and I sought him, and his place was not found. Keep
innocence, and look on uprightness: for there is a remnant to the man
of peace.”[508] Such will he be who believes unfeignedly with his whole
heart, and is tranquil in his whole soul. “For the different people
honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from the Lord.”[509]
“They bless with their mouth, but they curse in their heart.”[510]
“They loved Him with their mouth, and lied to Him with their tongue;
but their heart was not right with Him, and they were not faithful
to His covenant.” Wherefore “let the false lips become speechless,
and let the Lord destroy the boastful tongue: those who say, We shall
magnify our tongue, and our lips are our own; who is Lord over us? For
the affliction of the poor and the groaning of the needy now will I
arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety; I will speak out in
his case.”[511] For it is to the humble that Christ belongs, who do
not exalt themselves against His flock. “Lay not up for yourselves,
therefore, treasures on the earth, where moth and rust destroy, and
thieves break through and steal,”[512] says the Lord, in reproach
perchance of the covetous, and perchance also of those who are simply
anxious and full of cares, and those too who indulge their bodies. For
amours, and diseases, and evil thoughts “break through” the mind and
the whole man. But our true “treasure” is where what is allied to our
mind is, since it bestows the communicative power of righteousness,
showing that we must assign to the habit of our old conversation what
we have acquired by it, and have recourse to God, beseeching mercy. He
is, in truth, “the bag that waxeth not old,” the provisions of eternal
life, “the treasure that faileth not in heaven.”[513] “For I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy,”[514] saith the Lord. And they say
those things to those who wish to be poor for righteousness’ sake. For
they have heard in the commandment that “the broad and wide way leadeth
to destruction, and many there are who go in by it.”[515] It is not of
anything else that the assertion is made, but of profligacy, and love
of women, and love of glory, and ambition, and similar passions. For
so He says, “Fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee; and
whose shall those things be which thou hast prepared?”[516] And the
commandment is expressed in these very words, “Take heed, therefore,
of covetousness. For a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of
those things which he possesses. For what shall it profit a man, if
he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall
a man give in exchange for his soul?”[517] “Wherefore I say, Take no
thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for your body, what
ye shall put on. For your life is more than meat, and your body than
raiment.”[518] And again, “For your Father knoweth that ye have need
of all these things.” “But seek first the kingdom of heaven, and its
righteousness,” for these are the great things, and the things which
are small and appertain to this life “shall be added to you.”[519] Does
He not plainly then exhort us to follow the gnostic life, and enjoin
us to seek the truth in word and deed? Therefore Christ, who trains
the soul, reckons one rich, not by his gifts, but by his choice. It
is said, therefore, that Zaccheus, or, according to some, Matthew,
the chief of the publicans, on hearing that the Lord had deigned
to come to him, said, “Lord, and if I have taken anything by false
accusation, I restore him fourfold;” on which the Saviour said, “The
Son of man, on coming to-day, has found that which was lost.”[520]
Again, on seeing the rich cast into the treasury according to their
wealth, and the widow two mites, He said “that the widow had cast in
more than they all,” for “they had contributed of their abundance, but
she of her destitution.” And because He brought all things to bear on
the discipline of the soul, He said, “Blessed are the meek: for they
shall inherit the earth.”[521] And the meek are those who have quelled
the battle of unbelief in the soul, the battle of wrath, and lust,
and the other forms that are subject to them. And He praises those
meek by choice, not by necessity. For there are with the Lord both
rewards and “many mansions,” corresponding to men’s lives. “Whosoever
shall receive,” says He, “a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall
receive a prophet’s reward; and whosoever shall receive a righteous
man in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man’s
reward; and whoso shall receive one of the least of these my disciples,
shall not lose his reward.”[522] And again, the differences of virtue
according to merit, and the noble rewards, He indicated by the hours
unequal in number; and in addition, by the equal reward given to each
of the labourers--that is, salvation, which is meant by the penny--He
indicated the equality of justice; and the difference of those called
He intimated, by those who worked for unequal portions of time. They
shall work, therefore, in accordance with the appropriate mansions of
which they have been deemed worthy as rewards, being fellow-workers
in the ineffable administration and service.[523] “Those, then,” says
Plato, “who seem called to a holy life, are those who, freed and
released from those earthly localities as from prisons, have reached
the pure dwelling-place on high.” In clearer terms again he expresses
the same thing: “Those who by philosophy have been sufficiently purged
from those things, live without bodies entirely for all time. Although
they are enveloped in certain shapes; in the case of some, of air,
and others, of fire.” He adds further: “And they reach abodes fairer
than those, which it is not easy, nor is there sufficient time now to
describe.” Whence with reason, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they
shall be comforted;”[524] for they who have repented of their former
evil life shall attain to “the calling” (κλῆσιν), for this is the
meaning of being comforted (παρακληθῆναι). And there are two styles
of penitents. That which is more common is fear on account of what is
done; and what is more special, the shame which the spirit feels in
itself arising from conscience. Whether then, here or elsewhere (for
no place is devoid of the beneficence of God), He again says, “Blessed
are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” And mercy is not, as
some of the philosophers have imagined, pain on account of others’
calamities, but rather something good, as the prophets say. For it
is said, “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.”[525] And He means
by the merciful, not only those who do acts of mercy, but those who
wish to do them, though they be not able; who do as far as purpose is
concerned. For sometimes we wish by the gift of money or by personal
effort to do mercy, as to assist one in want, or help one who is sick,
or stand by one who is in any emergency; and are not able either from
poverty, or disease, or old age (for this also is natural disease),
to carry out our purpose, in reference to the things to which we are
impelled, being unable to conduct them to the end we wished. Those,
who have entertained the wish whose purpose is equal, share in the
same honour with those who have the ability, although others have the
advantage in point of resources. And since there are two paths of
reaching the perfection of salvation, works and knowledge, He called
the “pure in heart blessed, for they shall see God.” And if we really
look to the truth of the matter, knowledge is the purification of
the leading faculty of the soul, and is a good activity. Some things
accordingly are good in themselves, and others by participation in
what is good, as we say good actions are good. But without things
intermediate which hold the place of material, neither good nor bad
actions are constituted, such I mean as life, and health, and other
necessary things or circumstantials. Pure then as respects corporeal
lusts, and pure in respect of holy thoughts, he means those are, who
attain to the knowledge of God, when the chief faculty of the soul has
nothing spurious to stand in the way of its power. When, therefore,
he who partakes gnostically of this holy quality devotes himself to
contemplation, communing in purity with the divine, he enters more
nearly into the state of impassible identity, so as no longer to have
science and possess knowledge, but to be science and knowledge.
“Blessed, then, are the peacemakers,” who have subdued and tamed the
law which wars against the disposition of the mind, the menaces of
anger, and the baits of lust, and the other passions which war against
the reason; who, having lived in the knowledge both of good works and
true reason, shall be reinstated in adoption, which is dearer. It
follows that the perfect peacemaking is that which keeps unchanged in
all circumstances what is peaceful; calls Providence holy and good; and
has its being in the knowledge of divine and human affairs, by which it
deems the opposites that are in the world to be the fairest harmony of
creation. They also are peacemakers, who teach those who war against
the stratagems of sin to have recourse to faith and peace. And it is
the sum of all virtue, in my opinion, when the Lord teaches us that
for love to God we must gnostically despise death. “Blessed are they,”
says He, “who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for they shall be
called the sons of God;”[526] or, as some of those who transpose the
Gospels say, “Blessed are they who are persecuted by righteousness,
for they shall be perfect.” And, “Blessed are they who are persecuted
for my sake; for they shall have a place where they shall not be
persecuted.” And, “Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, when they
shall separate you, when they shall cast out your name as evil, for
the Son of man’s sake;”[527] if we do not detest our persecutors, and
undergo punishments at their hands, not hating them under the idea that
we have been put to trial more tardily than we looked for; but knowing
this also, that every instance of trial is an occasion for testifying.