Chapter LVIII
On Those Who Live In The Neighbourhood Of God And Pass All Their Days In A Life Of Knowledge
Blessed is he that leads. a watchful life in this world. A certain Father had written on all the walls of his cell various things, and all kinds of thoughts, and admirable words on every context. He was asked: What are these, o Father? He answered: These are deliberations of justice that occur to me through the angel that is with me and through the right impulses of nature. I write them down when I am in these apartments, in order that I may be occupied with them in the time of darkness, and that they may save me from error. So a man ought to do all his days. A certain Father was called happy by his own thoughts which praised him thus: In stead of the world that passes, thou hast been deemed worthy of the indestructible hope. The Father said to them: Why do ye call me happy, while I am still alive? I do not know what will happen to me till my death. I am still on the way; happiness is not certain before. I have reached my home. Indeed, this is a just deliberation. It is becoming that we should appoint our day of death as the term of victory. Before death, he that triumphs is no real victor. For his enemies are living and the way is before him, and he does not know 4os where he may be entangled; for his way is not safe, and he has not yet reached the time of trust. Thus he that is entangled in evil things has not to be dejected; for it is possible for him to gain life, as he is still alive. There is hope for him as well as for the one that behaves well. Why doest thou rebuke the sinner, o man? The labours of thine own merchandise have not yet entered the harbour; the hope of him over whom thou art extolling thyself, has not been cut off by God. It is possible that within a short time he will surpass thee in excellence and come nearer to God than thou art. For death has not yet come and concluded his affair, nor thine. Many vicissitudes happen to a man during
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his life. But it is God who looks to the end and not to the things in the middle. There have been many righteous who fell from their righteousness, and sinners have come up and taken their place. Therefore the righteous should not extol himself, he is still alive; nor shall the sinner be dejected, for God is near to him if he seeks Him, and prepared to receive him when he changes his behaviour and turns towards Him. If thou hast wrought righteousness without perceiving the taste of its profit, then be not amazed. Until a man becomes humble, he does not receive the wages of his service. Remuneration is not given for service, but for humbleness. He that wrongs the latter, looses the former. He who has taken upon him the service of excellence is 409 inferior to him that has first taken upon him the excellence of service. Excellence is the mother of afflictions; from afflictions humbleness is born. The gift is given for humbleness. Consequently remuneration does not belong to excellence, nor to pains for its sake, but to humbleness which is born from it. Now if humbleness fails, the other ones are vain. The service of excellence is the observance of the commandments of our Lord. The excellence of service is steadiness of mind, which is established by humbleness and watchfulness. Where the power [necessary] for the performance of the former ones fails, the latter is received instead of them. So Christ does not seek the service of the commandments, but the steadiness of the soul, for the sake of which He also has laid commandments upon rational beings. The body works with the right and with the left part, equally. But the mind, as is becoming, is either justified or condemned. Some serve life by left-hand things, through wisdom from God; and some acquire sin under the appearance of acquiring divine things. Shortcomings in sundry things in which those who are watchful are entangled, are permitted by God in order to guard their righteousness, that their trespasses and failures may become to them a cause of humbleness. Humbleness protects many men for their service, not only withholding them from haughtiness, but by the recollection their [trespasses] they become humble and receive higher wages. Without blows a gift cannot be kept. A gift without temp-4w tations is found to cause the destruction of those who have received it.
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If thou hast served well before God, and He has given thee a gift for thy steadfastness regarding Him, in order to spur thee on the more and to give thee joy in thy service, then let Him give thee knowledge so as to know how it is necessary to humble thyself; otherwise he would appoint a prosecutor or take it again from thee, lest there should be a chance for its being lost. It is not given to every one to guard riches without damage. The soul that takes upon itself the trouble of excellence and lives in the veracious fear of God cannot be without daily afflictions. Virtues and afflictions are interwoven. He who abandons troubles also abandons excellence entirely. Who clings to excellency, clings to afflictions. If thou desirest excellence, thou givest thyself over to all afflictions. Excellence is the mother of afflictions; afflictions are the mother of humbleness. For God does not desire that the soul should be without care. And he that desires this, his mind is found to be without God's will. By care I do not mean care concerning bodily things, but concerning the oppression that persecutes virtues. For before we reach true knowledge, which is the revelation of hidden things, we have to come near to humbleness through temptations. He that is found to be without afflictions in his excellence, for him a door unto haughtiness is opened. How can he who desires this [excellence] be without affliction in his mind? It is not possible that the mind remain 4 1 1 in humbleness if there is no reason for blows. And it is not
possible that without humbleness it should remain in perpetual supplication unto God, in serenity. First man is removed from the thought of his duty in his mind, then the spirit of haughtiness approaches him. At first the angel of care suffers this, but afterwards it withdraws itself from him. As long as the angel is near him, he provides him solely with thoughts of righteousness. But when he has wronged the angel and it has withdrawn itself from him, then a foreign power approaches him, and no single just thought will furthermore be in him. Haughtiness comes before ruin, says the sage 1); so humbleness before a gift. By the quantity of haughtiness which is found in the soul, is judged the scale of ruin which is on the point of being sent to it by God.
I) Proverbs 1 6, 1 9
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For none of the sins does God withdraw from man, leaving him wholly because He dislikes him, until He fi n ds the mind seized with haughtiness or blasphemy. And the former [of these two] becomes the cause of the latter. Those who in their mind leave the way of humbleness and so become devoid of divine help, either fall into the impurity of lasciviousness, or into blasphemy, or into mental ruin. Those who extol themselves on account of excellent behaviour, usually fall into into evil lasciviousness; those who extol themselves on account of knowledge and mental discipline, into blasphemy or trouble of mind. Haughtiness is not the state in which such deliberations 4 1 2 pass through the mind, nor when the mind is sometimes overpowered by them, but when the mind clings to them. It is manifest that even for such a one there is repentance. But when he loves haughtiness, he does not know how the repent. If he does repent, he does not cling to haughtiness. Not that the evil man sins or commits a fault against God, but that he clings to his evil [is the great thing]. For the former denotes the weakness of nature, the latter audaciousness of the will. Also by praises on the part of his fellowmen is a man's mind struck with madness, when he desires to perform among them deeds which are above his measure, in order that the glory of his greatness may increase, and men may perceive that he is very near to God. Many have excelled in behaviour and were rich in gifts from God and have been honoured with the gift of [performing] signs. But afterwards they became changed and received a blow from God, the same men that were so honoured before. The cause of this was that they were not able to bear the many gifts which they had received and were drawn towards haughtiness and were rejected by God as dross and became foreign to the high rank in which they were. And many who were quiet and firm in mind, whose words were weighed, whose behaviour was chaste, whose knowledge was envied, have become an object of fear for those who know them and a lamentable aspect for those who see them. With loud weeping raise thy voice unto God and beg for 4 1 3 humbleness. Fill thy mouth with thy tears and stray ashes on thy head. Do not rise from the earth nor lift up thy head
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from the ground, before God has shown thee mercy and has made thee to pass away from this life, saved; or till He has compassion upon thee and gives thee humbleness. And do not desist from mourning before perceiving that thou hast received it, lest thou shouldst be found suddenly as one of these 1). And even when thou hast received [humbleness], do not lift up thy eyes, nor look towards the sky, nor satisfy thy eyes with the aspect of men nor let thy heart have rest from fear and prayer. Perhaps thou wilt be saved from the evils which are prepared by the demons, in this discipline full of darkness, narrow, with many stumbling-blocks, incomprehensible to human nature. Believe me, my brother and consider my words as true: thou art not able to understand all the power of the demons, and thy knowledge is not sufficient to remain standing before their artifices. Let now therefore be poured out within thee a stream of light, in which the love of Christ is found and by which thou art conducted within the wall of divine mercy, to the honour of the humbleness which thou hast found. When thou enterest into the darkness of temptations where the light withdraws itself and thou art given over to be tempted in that thick darkness of the soul into which those enter who are abandoned by God and given over to the demons, then thou wilt know that thou findest thyself face-4 ' 4 to-face with them as a child that does not know where to go. All thy knowledge will be confuse as a little child. Thy mind which was firm in God, thy veracious knowledge, and thy sound spirit will be in the midst of the ocean of doubts. By one thing canst thou vanquish them: by humbleness alone. As soon as thou takest hold of this, their whole power vanishes. Do not take it for [a sign] of the health of thy soul when thou goest thy course in serenity through thy 'joy in God, but when thy being bound up with [earthly] things does not turn thy mind away from the love of God or thy neighbour, nor thy connection with several persons from thinking of our Lord, to whom be the glory. May He keep us near to Him and in intercourse with Him. Amen.
1) who have been described in the above passage
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