Miscellanies 6.14.108–6.14.114

Such people, according to David, will rest on the holy mountain of God, the highest church, in which the philosophers of God are gathered, the true Israelites, the pure in heart, in whom there is no guile; who did not remain in the seventh day of rest, but by the good work of the divine likeness rose up to the inheritance of the eighth-day beneficence, devoting themselves to the pure vision of insatiable contemplation. “And there are other sheep,” says the Lord, “which are not of this fold,” deemed worthy of another fold and dwelling place in proportion to their faith. “But my sheep hear my voice,” understanding the commandments as knowers; that is, receiving them magnanimously and worthily, together with the recompense and consequence of works. So when we hear, “Your faith has saved you,” we do not understand him to say that those who have believed in any way whatever will be saved, unless works also follow. For instance, he spoke this word only to Jews who had lived according to the law and blamelessly, who lacked only faith in the Lord.

One could not, then, be faithful and at the same time lack self-control; but even if he does not depart the flesh, he must put away the passions, so as to be able to go to his own dwelling place. To know is more than to believe, just as, indeed, to be deemed worthy of the highest honor after being saved is more than being saved. So through much discipline the believer among us, having stripped off the passions, passes to the dwelling place that is better than the former one, bearing the greatest punishment, the characteristic mark of repentance for the sins he committed after baptism. For he is pained still more at not yet, or not at all, obtaining what he sees others have received. Besides, he is ashamed of his transgressions; and these are indeed the greatest punishments for the believer. For God's righteousness is good, and his goodness is righteous. And even if the punishments come to an end somewhere, with the completion of the payment and the purification of each, those found worthy of the other fold have the greatest abiding grief, that of not being with those glorified through righteousness.

For instance, Solomon, calling the one who knows wise, says this about those who marvel at the dignity of his dwelling place: “For they will see the end of the wise man and will not understand what the Lord planned for him and for what he kept him safe.” And of his glory they will say: “This was the one whom we once held in derision and as a byword of reproach, we fools; we counted his life madness and his end without honor. How was he numbered among the sons of God, and his lot is among the saints?” Not only the believer, then, but also the Gentile is judged most justly. For since God, being foreknowing, knew that he would not believe, he nevertheless, so that he might receive the perfection possible to him, gave him philosophy, but before faith; and he gave the sun, the moon, and the stars for worship, “which God made for the nations,” says the law, so that they might not become entirely godless and so perish utterly. But those who have been ungrateful even regarding this commandment, devoting themselves to carved images, are judged unless they repent: some because, though able, they did not wish to believe God; others because, though willing, they did not take pains to become believers.

So too are judged those who did not run back from the worship of the stars to their maker. For this was a way given to the nations, to rise up to God through the worship of the stars. But those who were not willing to abide by the stars given to them, but fell away from these too to stones and wood, “were counted as dust,” it says, “and as a drop from a jar,” superfluous for salvation, cast off from the body. As, then, simply saving belongs to the intermediate things, but saving rightly and fittingly is a right action, so too every action of the one who knows may be called a right action, but that of the simple believer an intermediate action, not yet performed according to reason nor done rightly with understanding; while every action of the Gentile, conversely, is sinful. For the Scriptures present as proper not simply doing well, but doing one's actions toward some goal and acting according to reason.

Just as those unskilled in playing the lyre should not touch lyres, nor those unskilled in playing the pipe touch pipes, so neither should those take matters in hand who have not received knowledge and do not know how to use them throughout their whole life. The contest for freedom, at any rate, is fought not only in wars by the athletes of war, but also at banquets, in bed, and in the law courts by those anointed by the Word, who are ashamed to become captives of pleasure: “Never will I exchange virtue for unjust gain.” And unjust gain, plainly, is pleasure and pain, longing and fear, and, in a word, the passions of the soul, whose delight for the moment is painful afterward. “For what is the profit,” it says, “if you gain the world but lose your soul?” It is clear, then, that those who do not perform good actions do not know what is profitable for themselves either. And if so, they are not able to pray rightly to receive good things from God, not knowing what is truly good; nor, if they received them, would they perceive the gift or enjoy worthily what they did not know, both through inexperience in using well what is given and through excessive lack of learning, not yet knowing how divine gifts are to be used. And lack of learning is the cause of ignorance.

And it seems to me the boast of a soul that is proud, but has a good conscience, to exclaim at what happens in times of difficulty: “Against this let them contrive whatever they must; for the good is with me, and justice will be my ally, and I will never be caught while doing what is right.” This good conscience preserves holiness toward God and justice toward men, keeping the soul pure with solemn thoughts, chaste words, and righteous deeds. So the soul, receiving the Lord's power, practices being God, considering nothing evil except ignorance and activity not in accordance with right reason, and always giving thanks to God for all things, through righteous hearing and divine reading, through true inquiry, through holy offering, through blessed prayer, praising, hymning, blessing, singing psalms. Such a soul is never separated from God at any time. Fittingly, then, it has been said: “And those who trust in him will understand truth, and the faithful will abide with him in love.” You see what Wisdom says about those who know.

In proportion, then, the dwelling places too are various, according to the worth of those who have believed. For instance, Solomon: “For there will be given to him the chosen grace of faith and a more delightful lot in the temple of the Lord.” The comparative shows the lower places in the temple of God, which is the whole church, and leaves us to think also of the superlative, where the Lord is. These chosen dwelling places, three in number, are hinted at by the numbers in the Gospel, the thirty, the sixty, and the hundred. And the perfect inheritance belongs to those who arrive at the perfect man according to the image of the Lord. The likeness is not, as some think, that of the human shape (for this inference is godless), nor that which is by virtue in relation to the first cause (for this interpretation too is impious, of those who have supposed that the virtue of man and of God Almighty is the same): “You supposed lawlessly,” it says, “that I will be like you.” But “it is enough for the disciple to become like the teacher,” says the Teacher. According to the likeness of God, then, the one enrolled into adoption and friendship with God comes to be, in the joint inheritance of the lords and gods, if he is perfected according to the gospel, as the Lord himself taught.