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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. |