PROOEMIUM OF THE COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES
General Introduction.
1 . Blessed is the man whose hope is the name of the Lord, and who has not looked upon vanities and false madnesses . Since, as blessed Dionysius holds, the good is the first object of desire: but the good is twofold, namely temporal and eternal, according to that passage in Second Corinthians chapter four: The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal: it generates in us a twofold love or appetite, namely of charity and of concupiscence, so that charity is the love returning to eternal things, concupiscence to earthly things. And because agreement and disagreement of customs follows upon the agreement and difference of appetites: and according to agreement in laws and customs the unity of the city consists: from this twofold love arises a twofold city, namely the city of the heavenly Jerusalem and the city of Babylon . The foundation of the first is ordered charity, of the second, perverted concupiscence. The heavenly city, therefore, because it is founded in charity, which raises one to eternal things, rests in eternal things and places its beatitude in them. But the city of Babylon, which through concupiscence is pressed down to earthly things, places its beatitude in these earthly things.
And thus it follows from the foregoing that just as the good is twofold, so love is twofold, so the city is twofold, so also beatitude is twofold, namely true beatitude in eternal things, and false in temporal and passing things: the Psalm: They called the people blessed who have these things etc.
And just as the love of charity and of concupiscence so oppose each other that they cannot exist together: so also these two beatitudes: Matthew chapter six: No man can serve two masters. Therefore, if anyone wishes to be blessed, it is necessary that he love future goods and despise present ones. Therefore the Holy Spirit through the Psalmist describes the blessed man by this twofold act: by the love of heavenly things, which make one blessed, when he says: Blessed is the man whose hope is the name of the Lord: and by the contempt of earthly things, which make one vain, when he says: And he has not looked upon vanities and false madnesses. Truly blessed is the man whose hope is the name of the Lord.
2. But the Lord alone beatifies, nor is there any other name under heaven that beatifies. For the Lord alone is blessed by essence: First Timothy chapter six : Keep the commandment without spot, irreproachable, until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom in his own times the blessed and alone mighty King of kings and Lord of lords shall show. To him alone, therefore, belong beatitude and power by essence, but our beatitude is by participation: insofar as it is by participation, it has its origin from that which is by essence: therefore we are blessed by participating in the font of beatitude, who is God. Therefore Revelation chapter nineteen: Blessed are they who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. For God first communicates beatitude to the Lamb through espousal, and consequently to those who have been called by the Lamb.
3. He alone also has affluence: because of Wisdom, which is God, it is said uniquely in Proverbs three: She is more precious than all riches, and all things that are desired cannot be compared to her.
Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left
Are her riches and glory. But our beatitude is through the aggregation of all goods: therefore it is in him alone who has the affluence of all things. Therefore it is immediately inferred: She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her, and whoever holds her fast is blessed: Wisdom seven: All good things came to me together with her etc.
4. He alone has the repose of immutability, because all things change, but He himself does not change: James one: With whom there is no change nor shadow of alteration. But our beatitude is through the tranquil possession of gathered goods, because without peace there can be no beatitude. Since
therefore in nothing is there perfect tranquility except in God, we cannot therefore be made peaceful nor made blessed except in God: whence Revelation fourteen: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Henceforth now the Spirit says, that they may rest from their labors.
5. He alone also has the immortality of eternity, as is said in the last chapter of 1 Timothy: Who alone has immortality and dwells in inaccessible light. But our beatitude is through the interminable duration of possessed goods. For a state which can come to an end is not blessed, but is subject to misery. Since therefore no one can have interminability except from the font of immortality, one is made blessed in him alone: Therefore it is said in the Psalm: Blessed are those who dwell in your house, O Lord: they shall praise you forever and ever, because theirs shall be everlasting joy: Isaiah thirty-five: They shall come to Zion with praise, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness.
Blessed t herefore is the m an, whose hope is the name of the Lord.
6. But not blessed, indeed truly vain is the one who hopes in the world: for he looks upon vanities and
false madnesses: t herefore he vanishes, according to that saying in Jeremiah two: Your fathers went far from me and went after vanity, and became vain: after vanity, that is, after the world.
For the world with its things is vain, because it does not provide support to the one leaning upon it: whence Isaiah thirty: Egypt will help in vain and to no purpose, because it does not provide support to the one leaning upon it. For it is a reed staff, upon which if a man leans, it will pierce both his hands: because the world and all worldly things render all who trust in them weak and infirm and unfit for every good work: Therefore it is said to pierce the hands, t herefore the Prophet, despairing of the help of worldly things, asks from the Lord: Give us help from tribulation, for vain is the salvation of man.
Vain also, because it does not provide fullness to the one who possesses it: whence it is said in Ecclesiastes 5: The covetous man shall not be satisfied with money. And the reason for this is that all worldly things are vain, and vain things do not satisfy: whence it is said in Ecclesiasticus 34: Vain hope and falsehood to the senseless man, as one who grasps at a shadow and pursues the wind: so is he who attends to lying visions: whence just as the wind does not satisfy the stomach, nor does a shadow fill it, so neither do temporal things, which are the shadow of eternal things, for which the soul was created.
8. Vain also, because it does not give rest to the one who labors, and therefore he who labors for worldly things labors in vain: Ecclesiastes 2: What does it profit a man from all his labor, by which he labors under the sun? All his days are full of labors and sorrows, nor does his mind rest at night: and is this not vanity? because he labors in vain, because he does not rest. This world cannot give rest, because it itself does not endure, but rather always revolves: therefore those who cling to it must needs go around in circles. Therefore it is said in the Psalm: The wicked walk round about.
Vain also, because it does not yield fruit to the one who loves it: whence it is said in Ecclesiastes 5: He who loves riches shall not reap fruit from them: and this therefore is vanity. He reaps no fruit, but rather loss, because by gaining the world he loses God and loses himself: and according to what is said in Matthew 16: What does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, yet suffer the loss of his own soul?
10. Man by gaining the world suffers the loss of his soul.
For the world, by displaying loftiness, raises one up into pride, and through this causes man to become vain, according to that passage in Job 11: A vain man is puffed up into pride, and thinks himself free like the colt of a wild ass. For while he stretches toward vain things, he is lifted up into vain pride, according to what is said in Job 30: You have lifted me up and, as it were, setting me upon the wind, you have dashed me down mightily.
The world also, by displaying sweetness, in flames to lust, just as wine by its sweetness draws to gluttony and through this to lust: whence in 3 Esdras 3: Wine, which prevails over all who drink it, seduces the mind. Likewise of the king and of the orphan
it makes the mind vain, and this by inflaming to lust, according to that passage in Ephesians 5: Be not drunk with wine, wherein is lust. To this vanity the world drew Solomon; Ecclesiastes 2: I said: I will go and abound in delights and enjoy good things;
and I saw that this also was vanity. The world also, by holding out sufficiency, draws one to cupidity, and through this makes the heart of man vain, according to that passage of Proverbs twenty-one: He who gathers treasures by a lying tongue is vain and is senseless. Not only does avarice make a man vain, i ndeed even without heart: for it is said in Ecclesiasticus ten of the avaricious man who has cast away his inward parts: because, according to what the Truth says in Matthew six, where your treasure is, there is your heart also: but the treasure is outside:
therefore the heart also is outside.