For it is written, where the angel says to men, 'I offered up the memorial of your prayer'—not that God then came to know what we wish or what we need (for 'your Father,' says the Lord, 'knows what is necessary for you before you ask him')—but because the rational creature, obeying God, has need to refer temporal causes to the eternal truth, whether by asking what should be done concerning itself, or by consulting what it should do; which is a pious affection of the mind, that it itself may be built up, not that God may be informed. For this too is a certain testimony of the rational creature, that it is not itself the good by which it is made blessed, but that unchangeable good, by participation in which it is also made wise. Or it is said thus:
'To the Lord shall be announced a generation to come,' as if it were said, 'They shall please the Lord who announce not to themselves,' so that 'to announce to the Lord' is like 'to live to the Lord.' Thus it is said: 'He who eats, eats to the Lord, and he who does not eat, to the Lord does not eat.' To this indeed he added, 'And gives thanks to God,' that it might be shown what it is to do a thing to the Lord—that is, to do it to his praise. For then rightly, then justly, then piously is a thing done, when a good work is done to the praise of him by whose grace it is granted that it be done. And through this, even if anyone should wish to understand these words in such a way that their order is this:
'To the Lord shall be announced a generation to come'—that is, that generation shall be announced which is to come to the Lord, namely the generation of the pious and the holy, because the generation of the impious and the wicked comes not to the Lord but to itself—even so one does not depart from that same meaning, by which is understood the soul's participation in the Selfsame. That is, the rational creature, since it is changeable, is not made blessed except when, turned from its own changeable good to the unchangeable and common good which is God—from whom in proud impiety it stood apart—it subsists in humble piety. And whatever good it does, progressing in this affection, it does to the Lord—that is, to the praise of him whose grace it has received, that it may do it;
whence comes the giving of thanks, which is celebrated in the inmost mystery of the faithful. But that which follows, 'And they shall announce his righteousness to a people that shall be born, whom the Lord has made,' is a confirmation of the earlier sense. For what was said there, 'To the Lord shall be announced a generation to come,' this is said here, 'They shall announce his righteousness.' For that very generation which was prophesied as to come is the righteousness of God belonging to the pious and the holy—it is God's, not their own, lest they be of those who, being ignorant of God's righteousness and wishing to establish their own, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For that righteousness of God is commended in what is said:
'Being ignorant of God's righteousness'—by which we are righteous out of his grace, so that his very righteousness we may be, when we live justly, believing in him who justifies the ungodly—not that righteousness by which he himself is just, his own eternal and unchangeable righteousness. This righteousness, therefore, by which we are just by God's gift, is signified in that psalm where it is written, 'Your righteousness is like the mountains of God.' For the mountains of God are his holy ones, of whom it is said elsewhere, 'Let the mountains receive peace for your people.' And many things are written about these mountains in figurative speech, which it would be long to recount now. But because this very thing, that God justifies men,
he does by an exceedingly hidden judgment, since he does it by free grace—but if by grace, then not out of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace; for good works begin from that point at which we are justified: we are not justified because they preceded—and this is the deep, of which we have already said much above—immediately in the same psalm, when he had said, 'Your righteousness is like the mountains of God,' he subjoined, 'Your judgments are like a great abyss.' Thence he comes to the salvation common to men and to beasts, because it too is of God's mercy, and he says: 'Men and beasts you will save, O Lord, as your mercy is multiplied, O God'—that from this we may understand also that everlasting and immortal salvation, of which the Apostle says:
'For by hope we have been saved'—likewise as that salvation which is common to men and beasts, we receive freely, not out of works, lest perhaps anyone should be exalted, because we work good works out of his justification. For 'we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared that we should walk in them.' That salvation too, therefore, is free, of which it is said in another psalm, 'Salvation is the Lord's, and your blessing is upon your people.' As, therefore, what is read, 'Salvation is the Lord's,' is not understood as that salvation by which the Lord is safe, but that by which these are safe whom he himself saves—so, when the righteousness of God is read in that which is written:
'Being ignorant of God's righteousness and wishing to establish their own'—it is not to be understood as that by which God is just, but that by which men are just, whom his grace justifies. For thence they are saved, whence they are just, since what he says, 'The healthy have no need of a physician, but those who are ill,' he consequently expounded by saying, 'I came not to call the righteous but sinners.' Not, therefore, according to works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration, in which grace we have been saved by hope. Whence in that psalm it is subjoined: 'But the sons of men shall hope under the covering of your wings.'
'They shall be inebriated by the abundance of your house, and you will give them to drink of the torrent of your delight, for with you is the fountain of life, and in your light we shall see light. Extend your mercy to those who know you, and your righteousness to those who are upright in heart.' To this righteousness of God, therefore, pride is contrary, by which one trusts as if in his own works, and therefore there follows: 'Let not the foot of pride come to me.' This righteousness, by which his faithful are just, meanwhile living by faith until by perfect righteousness they are led through to sight—as by perfect salvation even to the immortality of the body itself—is the grace of the new covenant. Whence in another place the Apostle says: 'For Christ we are ambassadors, as though God were exhorting through us;'
'we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God'; and then he subjoins: 'Him who knew no sin he made to be sin for us'—that is, a sacrifice for sins; for in the Law those very things which were offered for sins were called sins—'that we might be the righteousness of God in him,' that is, in his body, which is the Church, of which he is the Head, that we might be the righteousness of God—which those, being ignorant of it and wishing to establish their own, that is, glorying as it were in their own works, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. Hence also in this psalm, when he had said, 'They shall announce his righteousness,' there follows and he adds: 'To a people that shall be born, whom the Lord has made.'
For what people is there whom the Lord has not made, according to that whereby they are men, seeing that he created even the beasts, from whom is all life and all nature made and created? But it is to be understood thus, 'whom the Lord has made,' so that they be understood to be made by him not only in that they are men, but also in that they are just—according to that which I have now more than once recalled as said by the Apostle: 'We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared that we should walk in them.' Thus the changeableness of the rational soul is admonished, so that it may know that it cannot be just, saved, wise, and blessed except by participation in the unchangeable good, and that this good cannot be for it a good by its own will, but rather an evil.
For by its own will the soul turns away from the unchangeable Good, and by that turning it is corrupted; nor can it heal itself by its own power, but only by the free mercy of its Creator, who in this life establishes it, living by faith, in the hope of eternal salvation. Therefore let it not be high-minded, but fear; and by that chaste fear let it cling to God, who has cleansed it from its own uncleanness — that uncleanness by which it inordinately loved lesser goods — as though from a kind of spiritual fornication.
Nor let it be lifted up by human praises, lest it be found among the foolish virgins who delight in the praise of others — for this is the last of your questions that remains — and who do good works for the sake of that empty praise, not for the sake of their own conscience, where God is their witness; but let it rather be among the wise virgins, where it may say what the Apostle says: 'For this is our glory, the testimony of our conscience.' This indeed is to carry oil with oneself, and not to buy it from sellers, that is, from flatterers; for flatterers peddle their praise to fools as though it were oil. Of this oil it is said in the psalm:
'Let the righteous man correct me in mercy, and reprove me; but let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head.' He chose rather to be mercifully rebuked by a righteous man, and in a manner to be buffeted, than to be praised by a sinner's flattery so that his head should swell into pride. For the answer given to them seems to me one of mockery, when it is said to them by the wise virgins: 'Go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves,' just as it is written in a certain book of Wisdom, where to the scornful He says: 'I also will laugh at your destruction.' But that reply, in which it was said to those seeking oil, 'Lest perhaps there be not enough for us,' was spoken not in despair but in humility.
For who would so presume upon his own conscience as to be certain that it could suffice for him in the judgment of God, unless He who is merciful judges the merciful mercifully? For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. But the lamps themselves are the kindled good works, of which the Lord says: 'Let your works shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven.' To this the intention of the wise virgins extends: that they wish their good works to be seen by men, not that they themselves may be praised by them, but that God may be glorified, from whom comes to them whatever they do well.
And by this they rejoice in the inner good which is before God, where the alms are given in secret, so that the Father, who sees in secret, may reward them. And therefore their lamps do not fail, because they are nourished by inner oil, that is, by the intention of a good conscience, whereby whatever shines before men in good works is done before God, unto His glory.
But the lamps of the foolish virgins, who do not carry this oil with them, fail; that is, their good works do not shine perseveringly, once human praise — for the sake of which they did them — has been withdrawn, since they had carried their intention only this far: to be seen by men, not that the Father who is in heaven might be glorified. That latter is the intention of the everlasting glory whereby the soul knows that it owes to God the fact that it has been justified to do good works, and therefore loves to be praised in Him, not in itself. Hence elsewhere the man of God sings: 'In the Lord shall my soul be praised,' so that he who glories may glory in the Lord.
But what does it mean that in the same Gospel reading it is written that, while the bridegroom tarried, all slumbered? If we understand this slumber to mean that, as though the judgment were delayed — the judgment which Christ will come to execute — love grows cold amid abounding iniquity, how then shall we place the wise virgins there, since they are rather among those of whom it is said: 'He who perseveres to the end, the same shall be saved'? It is said, therefore, 'They all slept,' because not only the foolish, who do good before men for the sake of human praise, but also the wise, who do it for this end, that God may be praised, experience this death; for from each class they die.
And this death is often called in the Scriptures a sleeping, on account of the future resurrection as though it were an awakening. Hence the Apostle says: 'But concerning those who sleep I would not have you ignorant, brethren'; and in another place: 'Of whom the greater part remain until now, but some have fallen asleep'; and countless other testimonies to this are found openly throughout the Scriptures of both Testaments. Hence too that writer said: 'Sleep, the kinsman of death'; and, if you attend, you will find many passages even in secular literature where death is compared to sleep.
The Lord therefore signified that there would be a time when, amid the tribulations and temptations of this world, His coming would be awaited and hoped for as now at hand, as near and imminent, so that those who seem to be of His household might prepare themselves for it. For this is what it means that they went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride: the bridegroom being the Son of God, and the bride either because He will come in that body which He took from the Virgin, or because the Church herself will then appear more resplendent, so that the members may run together to the assembling of the whole body, and in their running together its greatness will be shown.
He called them virgins on account of their continence; ten, that is five and five, on account of the number by which the bodily senses are reckoned, in which continence dwells when one abstains from base and unlawful pleasures. The lamps, as has been said, are good works, and especially those pertaining to mercy, and that praiseworthy manner of life which also shines before men. But it makes a great difference with what intention of mind it is done; therefore He calls some wise and others foolish, and distinguishes them by this: that the foolish did not take oil with them, but the wise received oil in their vessels, that is, in their hearts, where takes place that very participation in the inmost and supernal Good. Hence in a certain psalm, when it had been said:
'Offer the sacrifice of righteousness, and hope in the Lord,' it goes on: 'Many say, Who will show us good things?' Then, that He might make manifest by the love of what good we ought to work righteousness — that is, to offer the sacrifice of righteousness — it is added: 'The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us; Thou hast given gladness in my heart.' He who works well out of some participation in this good, and out of the intention of participating in it more fully and perfectly, and who conducts himself commendably even in the sight of men, has oil with him, by which his good works, shining even before men, are not extinguished; because in his heart love does not grow cold amid abounding iniquity, but perseveres to the end.
This oil the foolish virgins do not have with them, since, by attributing to themselves whatever good work they do, they are necessarily puffed up with pride, and because of this vice they so delight in human praise that, if they do any good, they seem to glow and shine with the joy of it. 'But while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered.' For He will not come when He is expected, but at midnight, when it will be exceedingly dark — that is, hidden — whether He is coming. Hence He says that at midnight a cry was made: 'Behold, the bridegroom comes; go out to meet him.' Doubtless this cry is that very trumpet which the Apostle recalls when he says: 'For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise incorruptible.'
By the name of the trumpet He wishes to be understood some most evident and most illustrious sign, which in another place He calls the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God. This voice is also said in the Gospel to be that of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, which those who are in the tombs shall hear, and shall come forth. All those virgins therefore rise, both wise and foolish, and trim their lamps — that is, they prepare to render an account of their works. But then, through the evidence of that cry and the resurrection of the dead, since there will be no doubt of the now-impending and present judgment, all the solace of human praise will be withdrawn.
For there will be no leisure to dispute about another, or to judge concerning another, or to curry favor with and support another, when each one shall bear his own burden and shall be occupied with rendering an account of his own deeds. And through this the mind of the foolish virgins will indeed be borne along by its own habit, but, finding no human praises, it will fail. For they had not sincerely said, 'With Thee is my praise,' or 'In the Lord shall my soul be praised,' nor had they gloried in the Lord, since, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, they sought to establish their own righteousness. And through this let them ask oil of the wise, that is, some consolation:
But they neither find nor receive it, since those reply that they do not know whether even their own conscience suffices for themselves, that conscience whereby they await mercy under that Judge who, when He shall sit upon His throne — who then shall boast that he has a chaste heart, or who shall boast that he is clean from sin? — unless mercy rejoices over judgment, that mercy which will be upon those who did works of mercy with this intention: that He might have mercy on them, from whom they knew they had received whatever they had; and they did not boast as though they had not received it, but had possessed it of themselves, so as to please by it, like the fools who both please themselves as though from a good prepared by themselves for themselves, and are praised by flatterers or by the deceived as if they themselves were something.
But he who thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, as the Apostle says, deceives himself. But let each one prove his own work, and then he shall have glory in himself alone, and not in another. This is to carry oil with oneself, not to depend on the praise of another. But what glory shall he have in himself except Him of whom it is said, 'My glory, and the lifter up of my head,' so that — as must often be said — he who glories may glory in the Lord? Accordingly the wisdom that dwells in the wise virgins, according to that which He foretold when He said to the scornful who refuse to receive sound doctrine, 'I also will laugh at your destruction,' says to the foolish virgins, 'Go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves,' as though it said:
'Where are they who deceived you with most lying praises, when you were also deceived by yourselves, because you gloried in yourselves and not in the Lord?' And as for what He says, 'And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him,' this seems to me to be understood thus: that with a vicious affection of heart they will gape after empty glory, which they pursued through the vanity of an exalted mind. And this very craving is signified in what is said, 'While they went to buy.'
'But the bridegroom came, and they went in with him to the marriage' — those who had been prepared, that is, who bore in their hearts true faith and true piety, whereby they might be attuned to the number and fellowship of the saints who glory not in themselves but in the Lord, so that they might enter with them into that joy of which it is said: 'Enter into the joy of thy Lord,' where there will be perfect participation in the unchangeable Good, of which now, as a kind of pledge, we hold something through faith, that we may live according to this grace, insofar as we live to God and not to ourselves. Accordingly, what follows — 'At last the other virgins also come, saying:'
'Lord, Lord, open to us' — it is not said that they had bought oil and so come, for there was no longer any means of doing so; but that they sought mercy too late, when it was already the time of judging and of separating the good from the reprobate. And rightly is it answered them: 'Amen I say to you, I know you not.' For He indeed says this, from whom nothing is hidden. But 'I know you not' is nothing other than 'You do not know me,' since you choose to trust in yourselves rather than in me. For when it is said that God knows us, He bestows on us the knowledge of Himself, so that by this we may understand that not even our knowing God is to be attributed to ourselves, but that we should attribute that knowledge too to His mercy. Hence, when in a certain place the Apostle had said:
'But now, knowing God' — he corrected himself and said, 'Nay rather, being known by God' — wishing nothing else to be understood than that He Himself has made them knowers of Him. But no one knows God except him who understands that He is the supreme and unchangeable Good, by participation in whom he becomes good; as is set down in the conclusion of this psalm: 'They shall declare His righteousness to a people that shall be born, whom the Lord has made.' Hence too is that which is in another psalm: 'He made us, and not we ourselves.' For this is to be referred not to that nature by which we are men — of which nature the same One is Creator who is Creator of heaven and earth and the stars and all living things — but rather to that which the Apostle says:
'For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has prepared, that we should walk in them.' I judge that your five questions have been sufficiently resolved for you, while I lingered in this, as it were, sixth question, which I set before myself concerning the grace of the New Testament, on account of which the Word was made flesh — that is, He who was the Son of God was made man, taking up our nature without losing His own — through which power might be given also to us who receive Him, that we, who were men, might become sons of God by participation in the unchangeable Good, changed for the better, not unto temporal felicity but unto the adoption of eternal life, which alone is blessed.
Hence it pleased me also to run through the prophetic psalm, the first verse of which He recalled in His Passion, showing in what way God forsakes us and in what other way He does not depart from us, gathering us to eternal goods, while granting temporal goods sometimes profitably and sometimes profitably withdrawing them, that we may learn not to cling to them, lest, despising the inner light which pertains to the new life — whence too this same psalm received its name, 'For the morning reception,' as it were for the new light — lest we should willingly dwell in the outer darkness; whither are cast forth into the outer places those who from these outer things do not turn themselves to the inner, lest, allied with the devil and his angels, we be punished with the utmost damnation.
Understanding therefore our pilgrimage in this life, let us be crucified to the world, stretching out our hands in the breadth of good works, and persevering with longsuffering to the end, and having our heart on high, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; and attributing all this not to ourselves but to His mercy, whose deep judgments weary every searcher. For this is that breadth, length, height, and depth — not idly fabulous but profitably true — whereby we may attain even to the surpassing knowledge of the love of Christ, and be filled unto all the fullness of God.
But I know with how not-superfluous a solicitude, through this occasion of the questions proposed to me by you, I have wished to commend to you more copiously the grace of the New Testament. For it has adversaries who, troubled by its profundity, are unwilling to attribute to God, but rather to arrogate to themselves, the fact that they are good. Nor are they such as you might easily despise, but men who live continently and are praiseworthy in good works, and who believe not a false Christ, as the Manichaeans and very many other heretics do, but this same true Christ, equal to the Father and coeternal, and truly made man, and who came, and who look for Him to come again — yet nevertheless being ignorant of the righteousness of God and wishing to establish their own.
For not in vain did the Lord — when He mentioned both those who entered with Him to the marriage, and those against whom He shut the door and to whom He answered, 'I know you not' — call both groups virgins, on account of their continence; and five, on account of the concupiscence of the flesh being subdued, endowed with the fivefold sense; and both adorned with lamps, on account of the most brilliant praise of good works and of a good manner of life in the sight of men; and both going out to meet the bridegroom, on account of the expectation whereby Christ's coming is hoped for; and yet some wise and others foolish, in that the wise received oil in their vessels, but the foolish did not carry this with them.
In so many respects equal, He shows them unequal in this one thing alone; by this one thing alone He imposes on them diverse and contrary names. For what is so joined together as virgins and virgins, five and five, adorned with lamps, going out to meet the bridegroom, both these and those? And what is so contrary as wise and foolish? Namely this: that the former carry oil in their vessels — that is, the understanding of the grace of God — in their hearts, knowing that no one can be continent unless God grants it, and reckoning this very thing to wisdom, to know whose gift it is; but the latter, giving no thanks to the Giver of all good things, became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened; professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.
Concerning such persons, however, we must by no means now despair, before we fall asleep; but if they have so fallen asleep, that, when that cry has been raised by which the bridegroom's arrival is announced as now present, and when they awake — that is, rise again — they remain outside: not because they are not virgins, but because, not knowing whence they have that which they are, they are foolish virgins, and deservedly will be outside, since they do not carry with them the affection of inward grace. When therefore you find such persons, let them not persuade you of the emptiness of their vessels, but do you rather persuade them of the fullness. Hence the Apostle says: 'Whoever thinks he knows anything, does not yet know as he ought to know'; and presently, showing what he meant: 'But whoever,' he says, 'loves God, the same is known by Him.'
Nor did he wish to say, 'He has known Him,' but by saying 'is known by Him' he wished more expressly to commend that even this is from Him to us — that we love Him. For the love of God is poured out in our hearts, not through ourselves, but through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. But it is necessary that he love God too little who thinks himself to have been made good, not by Him, but by himself. And whence can it come about that such a one should glory not in himself but in the Lord? For he who glories that he is good ought to glory in Him by whom he was made good; and through this, he who thinks himself made good by his own self, it follows, glories in himself and not in the Lord.
But the whole intention of the grace of the New Testament, by which we have our heart on high — since every good gift and every perfect gift is from above — has this effect: that we be not ungrateful; and in that very giving of thanks nothing else is done than that he who glories may glory in the Lord. You have a book which, though lengthy, is yet, as I judge, not superfluous. But love also to read the ecclesiastical writings, and you will not find many things which you need to ask of me; but by reading and pondering, if you also purely entreat God, the Giver of all good things, you will learn thoroughly all things that are worthy of knowledge — or at least very many — with Him rather inspiring you than any man admonishing you.