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ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE
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by St Augustine of Hippo |
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Ch 27. The order of love |
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28. Now he is a man of just and holy life who forms an
unprejudiced estimate of things, and
keeps his affections also under strict control, so that he neither
loves what he ought not to love,
nor fails to love what he ought to love, nor loves that more which
ought to be loved less,
nor loves that equally which ought to be loved either less or
more, nor loves that less or more
which ought to be loved equally. No sinner is to be loved as a
sinner; and every man is to be loved
as a man for God's sake; but God is to be loved for His own sake.
And if God is to be loved
more than any man, each man ought to love God more than himself.
Likewise we ought to love
another man better than our own body, because all things are to be
loved in reference to God, and
another man can have fellowship with us in the enjoyment of God,
whereas our body cannot; for
the body only lives through the soul, and it is by the soul that
we enjoy God.
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Ch 28. How we are to decide whom to aid |
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29. Further, all men are to be loved equally. But since you cannot
do good to all, you are to pay
special regard to those who, by the accidents of time, or place,
or circumstance, are brought into
closer connection with you. For, suppose that you had a great deal
of some commodity, and
felt bound to give it away to somebody who had none, and that it
could not be given to more than
one person; if two persons presented themselves, neither of whom
had either from need or
relationship a greater claim upon you than the other, you could do
nothing fairer than choose by
lot to which you would give what could not be given to both. Just
so among men: since you
cannot consult for the good of them all, you must take the matter
as decided for you by a sort of
lot, according as each man happens for the time being to be more
closely connected with you.
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Ch 29. We are to desire and endeavour
that all men may love God |
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30. Now of all who can with us enjoy God, we love partly those to
whom we render services,
partly those who render services to us, partly those who both help
us in our need and in turn are
helped by us, partly those upon whom we confer no advantage and
from whom we look for none.
We ought to desire, however, that they should all join with us in
loving God, and all the assistance
that we either give them or accept from them should tend to that
one end. For in the theatres,
dens of iniquity though they be, if a man is fond of a particular
actor, and enjoys his art as a great
or even as the very greatest good, he is fond of all who join with
him in admiration of his
favourite, not for their own sakes, but for the sake of him whom
they admire in common; and the
more fervent he is in his admiration, the more he works in every
way he can to secure new
admirers for him, and the more anxious he becomes to show him to
others; and if he find any one
comparatively indifferent, he does all he can to excite his
interest by urging his favorite's merits: if,
however, he meet with any one who opposes him, he is exceedingly
displeased by such a man's
contempt of his favourite, and strives in every way he can to
remove it. Now, if this be so, what
does it become us to do who live in the fellowship of the love of
God, the enjoyment of whom is
true happiness of life, to whom all who love Him owe both their
own existence and the love
they bear Him, concerning whom we have no fear that any one who
comes to know Him will be
disappointed in Him, and who desires our love, not for any gain to
Himself, but that those who
love Him may obtain an eternal reward, even Himself whom they
love? And hence it is that we
love even our enemies. For we do not fear them, seeing they cannot
take away from us what we
love; but we pity them rather, because the more they hate us the
more are they separated from
Him whom we love. For if they would turn to Him, they must of
necessity love Him as the
supreme good, and love us too as partakers with them in so great a
blessing.
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Ch 30. Whether angels are to be reckoned
our neighbours |
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31. There arises further in this connection a question about
angels. For they are happy in the
enjoyment of Him whom we long to enjoy; and the more we enjoy Him
in this life as through a
glass darkly, the more easy do we find it to bear our pilgrimage,
and the more eagerly do we long
for its termination. But it is not irrational to ask whether in
those two commandments is included
the love of angels also. For that He who commanded us to love our
neighbour made no exception,
as far as men are concerned, is shown both by our Lord Himself in
the Gospel, and by the
Apostle Paul. For when the man to whom our Lord delivered those
two commandments, and to
whom He said that on these hang all the law and the prophets,
asked Him, "And who is my
neighbour?" He told him of a certain man who, going down from
Jerusalem to Jericho, fell among
thieves, and was severely wounded by them, and left naked and half
dead. And He showed
him that nobody was neighbour to this man except him who took pity
upon him and came forward
to relieve and care for him. And the man who had asked the
question admitted the truth of this
when he was himself interrogated in turn. To whom our Lord says,
"Go and do thou likewise;"
teaching us that he is our neighbour whom it is our duty to help
in his need, or whom it would be
our duty to help if he were in need. Whence it follows, that he
whose duty it would be in turn to
help us is our neighbour. For the name "neighbour" is a relative
one, and no one can be neighbour
except to a neighbour. And, again, who does not see that no
exception is made of any one as a
person to whom the offices of mercy may be denied when our Lord
extends the rule even to our
enemies? "Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you."32. And so also the Apostle Paul teaches when he says: "For this,
Thou shalt not commit
adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt
not bear false witness, Thou shalt
not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly
comprehended in this saying,
namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no
ill to his neighbour." Whoever then supposes that the apostle did
not embrace every man in this precept, is compelled to admit, what
is at once most absurd and most pernicious, that the apostle
thought it no sin, if a man were not a Christian or were an enemy,
to commit adultery with his wife, or to kill him, or to covet his
goods. And as nobody but a fool would say this, it is clear that
every man is to be considered our neighbour, because we are to
work no ill to any man.
33. But now, if every one to whom we ought to show, or who
ought to show to us, the of offices of mercy is by right called a
neighbour, it is manifest that the command to love our neighbour
embraces the holy angels also, seeing that so great offices of
mercy have been performed by them on our behalf, as may easily be
shown by turning the attention to many passages of Holy Scripture.
And on this ground even God Himself, our Lord, desired to be
called our neighbour. For our Lord Jesus Christ points to Himself
under the figure of the man who brought aid to him who was lying
half dead on the road, wounded and abandoned by the robbers. And
the Psalmist says in his prayer, "I behaved myself as though he
had been my friend or brother." But as the Divine nature is of
higher excellence than, and far removed above, our nature, the
command to love God is distinct from that to love our neighbour.
For He shows us pity on account of His own goodness, but we show
pity to one another on account of His;--that is, He pities us that
we may fully enjoy Himself; we pity one another that we may fully
enjoy Him.
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Ch 31. God uses rather than enjoys us |
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34. And on this ground, when we say that we enjoy only that which
we love for its own sake,
and that nothing is a true object of enjoyment except that which
makes us happy, and that all
other things are for use, there seems still to be something that
requires explanation. For God
loves us, and Holy Scripture frequently sets before us the love He
has towards us. In what way
then does He love us? As objects of use or as objects of
enjoyment? If He enjoys us, He must be
in need of good from us, and no sane man will say that; for all
the good we enjoy is either
Himself, or what comes from Himself. And no one can be ignorant or
in doubt as to the fact that
the light stands in no need of the glitter of the things it has
itself lit up. The Psalmist says most
plainly, "I said to the LORD, Thou art my God, for Thou neediest
not my goodness." He does
not enjoy us then, but makes use of us. For if He neither enjoys
nor uses us, I am at a loss to
discover in what way He can love us.
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