A man may love something more than his body,
but does not therefore hate his body
Man, therefore, ought to be taught the due measure of loving,
that is, in what measure he may love himself so as to be of service
to himself. For that he does love himself, and does desire to
do good to himself, nobody but a fool would doubt. He is to be
taught, too, in what measure to love his body, so as to care
for it wisely and within due limits. For it is equally manifest
that he loves his body also, and desires to keep it safe and
sound. And yet a man may have something that he loves better
than the safety and soundness of his body. For many have been
found voluntarily to suffer both pains and amputations of some
of their limbs that they might obtain other objects which they
valued more highly. But no one is to be told not to desire the
safety and health of his body because there is something he desires
more. For the miser, though he loves money, buys bread for himself,--that
is, he gives away money that he is very fond of and desires to
heap up,--but it is because he values more highly the bodily
health which the bread sustains. It is superfluous to argue longer
on a point so very plain, but this is just what the error of
wicked men often compels us to do.
The command to love God and our neighbour includes a command
to love ourselves
Seeing, then, that there is no need of a command that every man
should love himself and his own body,--seeing, that is, that
we love ourselves, and what is beneath us but connected with
us, through a law of nature which has never been violated, and
which is common to us with the beasts (for even the beasts love
themselves and their own bodies),--it only remained necessary
to lay injunctions upon us in regard to God above us, and our
neighbour beside us. "Thou shalt love," He says, "the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy mind; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On
these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Thus the end of the commandment is love, and that twofold, the
love of God and the love of our neighbour. Now, if you take yourself
in your entirety,--that is, soul and body together,--and your
neighbour in his entirety, soul and body together (for man is
made up of soul and body), you will find that none of the classes
of things that are to be loved is overlooked in these two commandments.
For though, when the love of God comes first, and the measure
of our love for Him is prescribed in such terms that it is evident
all other things are to find their centre in Him, nothing seems
to be said about our love for ourselves; yet when it is said,
"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," it at once
becomes evident that our love for ourselves has not been overlooked.
The order of love
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.
How we are to decide whom to aid
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.
We are to desire and endeavour that all men may love God
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.
Whether angels are to be reckoned our neighbours
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.
God uses rather than enjoys us
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.
In what way God uses man
But neither does He use after our fashion of using. For when
we use objects, we do so with a view to the full enjoyment of
the goodness of God. God, however, in His use of us, has reference
to His own goodness. For it is because He is good we exist; and
so far as we truly exist we are good. And, further, because He
is also just, we cannot with impunity be evil; and so far as
we are evil, so far is our existence less complete. Now He is
the first and supreme existence, who is altogether unchangeable,
and who could say in the fullest sense of the words, "I
AM THAT I AM," and "Thou shalt say to them, I AM has
sent me unto you;" So that all other things that exist,
both owe their existence entirely to Him, and are good only so
far as He has given it to them to be so. That use, then, which
God is said to make of us has no reference to His own advantage,
but to ours only; and, so far as He is concerned, has reference
only to His goodness. When we take pity upon a man and care for
him, it is for his advantage we do so; but somehow or other our
own advantage follows by a sort of natural consequence, for God
does not leave the mercy we show to him who needs it to go without
reward. Now this is our highest reward, that we should fully
enjoy Him, and that all who enjoy Him should enjoy one another
in Him.
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