|
I remember writing a letter to the holy Carthusian
brethren, wherein I discussed these degrees of love,
and spoke of charity in other words, although not in
another sense, than here. It may be well to repeat a
portion of that letter, since it is easier to copy
than to dictate anew.To love our neighbor's
welfare as much as our own: that is true and sincere
charity out of a pure heart, and of a good
conscience, and of faith unfeigned (I Tim. 1.5).
Whosoever loves his own prosperity only is proved
thereby not to love good for its own sake, since he
loves it on his own account. And so he cannot sing
with the psalmist, 'O give thanks unto the Lord, for
He is gracious' (Ps. 118.1). Such a man would praise
God, not because He is goodness, but because He has
been good to him: he could take to himself the
reproach of the same writer, 'So long as Thou doest
well unto him, he will speak good of Thee' (Ps.
49.18, Vulg.).
One praises God because He is mighty, another
because He is gracious, yet another solely because
He is essential goodness. The first is a slave and
fears for himself; the second is greedy, desiring
further benefits; but the third is a son who honors
his Father. He who fears, he who profits, are both
concerned about self-interest. Only in the son is
that charity which seeketh not her own (I Cor.
13.5). Wherefore I take this saying, 'The law of the
Lord is an undefiled law, converting the soul' (Ps.
19.7) to be of charity; because charity alone is
able to turn the soul away from love of self and of
the world to pure love of God. Neither fear nor
self-interest can convert the soul. They may change
the appearance, perhaps even the conduct, but never
the object of supreme desire.
Sometimes a slave may do God's work; but because
he does not toil voluntarily, he remains in bondage.
So a mercenary may serve God, but because he puts a
price on his service, he is enchained by his own
greediness. For where there is self-interest there
is isolation; and such isolation is like the dark
corner of a room where dust and rust befoul. Fear is
the motive which constrains the slave; greed binds
the selfish man, by which he is tempted when he is
drawn away by his own lust and enticed (James 1.14).
But neither fear nor self-interest is undefiled, nor
can they convert the soul. Only charity can convert
the soul, freeing it from unworthy motives.
Next, I call it undefined because it never keeps
back anything of its own for itself. When a man
boasts of nothing as his very own, surely all that
he has is God's; and what is God's cannot be
unclean. The undefiled law of the Lord is that love
which bids men seek not their own, but every man
another's wealth. It is called the law of the Lord
as much because He lives in accordance with it as
because no man has it except by gift from Him. Nor
is it improper to say that even God lives by law,
when that law is the law of love. For what preserves
the glorious and ineffable Unity of the blessed
Trinity, except love?
Charity, the law of the Lord, joins the Three
Persons into the unity of the Godhead and unites the
holy Trinity in the bond of peace. Do not suppose me
to imply that charity exists as an accidental
quality of Deity; for whatever could be conceived of
as wanting in the divine Nature is not God. No, it
is the very substance of the Godhead; and my
assertion is neither novel nor extraordinary, since
St. John says, 'God is love' (I John 4.8). One may
therefore say with truth that love is at once God
and the gift of God, essential love imparting the
quality of love. Where the word refers to the Giver,
it is the name of His very being; where the gift is
meant, it is the name of a quality.
Love is the eternal law whereby the universe was
created and is ruled. Since all things are ordered
in measure and number and weight, and nothing is
left outside the realm of law, that universal law
cannot itself be without a law, which is itself. So
love though it did not create itself, does surely
govern itself by its own decree. |