82 THE WAY OUR GRIEFS ARE SOOTHED

upon the sand,"1 by loving a dying man, as if he were not subject to death? But chiefly the consolations of other friends revived and refreshed me, with whom I loved, what I loved instead of Thee; and this was a great fable, and elaborate lie, by whose adulterous titillation our mind, itching in our ears, was being corrupted. But that fable did not die to me, so oft as my friends died. They had other and greater attractions to talk and laugh together; to do each other kindnesses; to read together books which accorded with our taste; to be playful together, and to be dignified in turn; to differ at times without discord, as if a man differed with himself, and by the very rare instances of differing to give a flavour to our habitual harmony of thought; to teach one another and to learn, by turns; to long impatiently for those absent, and to welcome joyfully their return:these, and similar expressions of natural love, escaping from the heart through the features, the tongue, the eyes, and a thousand pleasing ways, were as so much fuel melting our souls, and out of many making one.

CHAPTER IX.

Concerning human Friendship. Blessed is he who loves in God.

THIS

HIS is what is loved between friends; and so loved, that a man's conscience would condemn him, were he not to love the one who loves in return, or not return the love of one who first offered it to him, seeking nothing from him personally but indi

GOD ALOne abideTH

83

And who is this but

cations of his goodwill. Hence that grief, when one dies, and that dark cloud of sorrow, and the heart steeped in tears, all sweetness turned into bitterness; and from the loss of the life of the dying, the death of the living. Blessed is he who loves Thee, and his friend in Thee, and his enemy for Thee. For he alone loses no one dear to him, to whom all are dear in Him Who can never be lost. our God, the God Who "made heaven and earth' and filleth them," ,"2 for by filling them, He made them? No one loses Thee, but he who forsakes Thee; and he who forsakes Thee, whither can he go, or whither can he fly, unless from Thee, favourable, to Thee, offended? For where will he not find Thy Law in his own punishment? And "Thy Law is truth,"3 and "Thou art truth."4

CHAPTER X.

Creatures are perishable, and the Soul cannot find rest in them.

"TUR

URN Thou us, O God of Hosts, and show us Thy Countenance, and we shall be whole.”5 For whichever way the soul of man turns itself, unless towards Thee, it cleaves to sorrows, even though it fastens itself on things which are beautiful, apart from Thee and apart from itself. Which things could not exist, except they came from Thy Hand; things which rise and set, and by rising, begin as it were to be, and increase until they reach their perI Gen. ii. 4. 2 Jer. xxiii. 24. 3 Ps. cxix. 142. John xiv. 6 5 Ps. lxxx. 19.

4

84

CREATURES PASS AWAY

fection, and then, when perfect, begin to wane and die; for do not all things wax old, and fade away? Thus when they rise and tend to be, the more quickly they advance towards what they are to be, so much the more do they hasten to their end; this is the way of them. Thou hast given them their measure, because they are parts of things, the whole of which does not exist at once; but by their departure, and by others taking their places, they together make up that universe of which they are the parts. For thus it is when we speak, we use a succession of significant sounds; for the sentence could not be completed unless each word, when its syllables have been uttered, give place to the word which is to follow it. Out of these things let my soul, O Lord, Creator of all, take occasion to praise Thee; but let it not by the glue of love stick fast to these things through the bodily senses. For they go whither they were to go, and so cease to be; and they rend the soul with pestilent desires, because it longs for them to be, and loves to rest in the things it loves. But it cannot rest in them, because they do not abide, but are transitory; for who can follow them with his bodily senses? or who can lay hold of them, when they are quite near? For the sense of the flesh is slow, because it is the sense of the flesh, and itself is its limit. It is sufficient for the purpose for which it was made; but it does not suffice to stay things, which are pursuing their course from their appointed beginning to their appointed end. For in Thy word, by which they were created, there they hear, "Hence, and thus far."

THE CREATOR, THE SOUL's rest

785

CHAPTER XI.

All created Things are unstable, God alone abiding.

ВЕ

E not vain, O my soul, and deafen not the ear of thine heart by the tumult of thy vanity. Hearken too, the Word itself calls thee to return; and there you shall find a place of undisturbed rest, where love is never forsaken, if it does not forsake. Behold these things pass away, that others may take their place, and this lower universe is thus completed in all its parts. But do I pass away? saith the Word of God. There fix thy dwelling then; there commit all thou hast, O my soul, at least now when thou art wearied out by deceptions. Commit to the Truth whatever the Truth hath given thee, and thou shalt lose nothing; and what has been decayed in thee shall bloom again, and "all thy diseases shall be healed," and thy frail members shall be re-formed and renewed, and knit together to thee again: nor shall they, as they hang down, bring Thee low with them, but with thee shall stand, and for ever abide before that God "Who remaineth and abideth for ever."

"2

" I

Why then be perverted and follow the flesh? Let the flesh rather be converted and follow thee. Whatever thou perceivest through it, is in part; and thou knowest not the whole of which these are parts, and yet the parts give Thee delight. But if the whole could at once be brought within the range of the sense of thy flesh, and that sense had not itself been restricted for thy punishment to only a part, thou wouldest I Pet. i. 23.

1 Ps. ciii.

2

86

ALL THINGS ARE TO BE LOVED IN GOD

that all that existed in the present should pass away, that thou mightest have the greater delight which the whole would afford thee. For what we speak too, by the same sense of the flesh you hear; and yet you would not wish the syllables to stand still, but fly on, that others may come, and the whole might be heard. And so it is with all things, which are composed of parts, all of which do not exist together: all collectively must bring greater delight than could arise from their individual enjoyment, could all be perceived together; but far better than all is He Who made all; and that is God Himself, and He does not pass away, for nothing can come after Him.

CHAPTER XII.

Love is not condemned; only in the Things which please us let God be loved.

IF bodies please thee, take from them an occasion

of pleasing God, and turn thy love from them to Him Who made them; lest in the things which please thee you displease Him. If souls please Thee, let them be loved in God: because they too are mutable, and find all their stability in Him; otherwise they would pass, and pass away. In Him therefore let them be loved; and draw with thee to Him what souls you can, and say to them," Him let us love, Him let us love; He made these things, and He is not far off. For He did not make them, and then leave them, but from Him, and in Him, they have their being. Behold, there He is, where truth is relished. He is in the centre of the heart, yet the heart hath wandered from