Of deeper matters, and God’s hidden judgments which are not to be
inquired into
“My Son, beware thou dispute not of high matters and of the hidden
judgments of God; why this man is thus left, and that man is taken into
so great favour; why also this man is so greatly afflicted, and that so
highly exalted. These things pass all man’s power of judging, neither
may any reasoning or disputation have power to search out the divine
judgments. When therefore the enemy suggesteth these things to thee, or
when any curious people ask such questions, answer with that word of
the Prophet, _Just art Thou, O Lord, and true is Thy judgment_,(1) and
with this, _The judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous
altogether_.(2) My judgments are to be feared, not to be disputed on,
because they are incomprehensible to human understanding.
2. “And be not given to inquire or dispute about the merits of the
Saints, which is holier than another, or which is the greater in the
Kingdom of Heaven. Such questions often beget useless strifes and
contentions: they also nourish pride and vain glory, whence envyings
and dissensions arise, while one man arrogantly endeavoureth to exalt
one Saint and another another. But to wish to know and search out such
things bringeth no fruit, but it rather displeaseth the Saints; for I
am not _the God of confusion but of peace;_(3) which peace consisteth
more in true humility than in self-exaltation.
3. “Some are drawn by zeal of love to greater affection to these Saints
or those; but this is human affection rather than divine. I am He Who
made all the Saints: I gave them grace, I brought them glory; I know
the merits of every one; _I prevented them with the blessings of My
goodness_.(4) I foreknew my beloved ones from everlasting, _I chose
them out of the world;_(5) they did not choose Me. I called them by My
grace, drew them by My mercy, led them on through sundry temptations. I
poured mighty consolations upon them, I gave them perseverance, I
crowned their patience.
4. “I acknowledge the first and the last; I embrace all with
inestimable love. I am to be praised in all My Saints; I am to be
blessed above all things, and to be honoured in every one whom I have
so gloriously exalted and predestined, without any preceding merits of
their own. He therefore that shall despise one of the least of these My
people, honoureth not the great; because I made both small and
great.(6) And he who speaketh against any of My Saints speaketh against
Me, and against all others in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
They are all one through the bond of charity; they think the same
thing, will the same thing, and all are united in love one to another.
5. “But yet (which is far better) they love Me above themselves and
their own merits. For being caught up above themselves, and drawn
beyond self-love, they go all straightforward to the love of Me, and
they rest in Me in perfect enjoyment. There is nothing which can turn
them away or press them down; for being full of Eternal Truth, they
burn with the fire of inextinguishable charity. Therefore let all
carnal and natural men hold their peace concerning the state of the
Saints, for they know nothing save to love their own personal
enjoyment. They take away and add according to their own inclination,
not as it pleaseth the Eternal Truth.
6. “In many men this is ignorance, chiefly is it so in those who, being
little enlightened, rarely learn to love any one with perfect spiritual
love. They are still much drawn by natural affection and human
friendship to these or to those: and as they reckon of themselves in
lower matters, so also do they frame imaginations of things heavenly.
But there is an immeasurable difference between those things which they
imperfectly imagine, and these things which enlightened men behold
through supernatural revelation.
7. “Take heed, therefore, My son, that thou treat not curiously those
things which surpass thy knowledge, but rather make this thy business
and give attention to it, namely, that thou seek to be found, even
though it be the least, in the Kingdom of God. And even if any one
should know who were holier than others, or who were held greatest in
the Kingdom of Heaven; what should that knowledge profit him, unless
through this knowledge he should humble himself before Me, and should
rise up to give greater praise unto My name? He who considereth how
great are his own sins, how small his virtues, and how far he is
removed from the perfection of the Saints, doeth far more acceptably in
the sight of God, than he who disputeth about their greatness or
littleness.
8. “They are altogether well content, if men would learn to be content,
and to refrain from vain babbling. They glory not of their own merits,
seeing they ascribe no good unto themselves, but all unto Me, seeing
that I of my infinite charity have given them all things. They are
filled with so great love of the Divinity, and with such overflowing
joy, that no glory is lacking to them, neither can any felicity be
lacking. All the Saints, the higher they are exalted in glory, the
humbler are they in themselves, and the nearer and dearer are they unto
Me. And so thou hast it written that they cast their crowns before God
and fell on their faces before the Lamb, and worshipped Him that liveth
for ever and ever.(7)
9. “Many ask who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, who know not
whether they shall be worthy to be counted among the least. It is a
great thing to be even the least in Heaven, where all are great,
because all shall be called, and shall be, the sons of God. _A little
one shall become a thousand, but the sinner being an hundred years old
shall be accursed_. For when the disciples asked _who should be the
greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven_, they received no other answer than
this, _Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall
not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. But whosoever shall humble
himself as this little child, the same shall be greatest in the Kingdom
of Heaven_.”(8)
10. Woe unto them who disdain to humble themselves willingly with the
little children; for the low gate of the kingdom of Heaven will not
suffer them to enter in. Woe also to them who are rich, who have their
consolation here;(9) because whilst the poor enter into the kingdom of
God, they shall stand lamenting without. Rejoice ye humble, and exult
ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God if only ye walk in the truth.
(1) Psalm cxix. 137. (2) Psalm xix. 9. (3) 1 Corinthians xiv. 33. (4)
Psalm xxi. 3. (5) John xv. 19. (6) Wisd. vi. 8. (7) Revelation iv. 10;
v. 14. (8) Matthew xviii. 3. (9) Luke vi. 24.