All these things have already been said in the gate of the East and of the North, and it is not fitting that we should more often repeat those things which once and again in expounding we have said. Yet it is to be noted by us that in the spiritual edifice one entrance lies open to the East, another to the North, and yet another to the South. For as by the coldness of the North sinners are designated, so by the Southern way are designated those fervent in spirit, who, kindled by the warmth of the Holy Spirit, grow up in virtues as it were in the light of midday. Let the gate to the East therefore lie open, so that those who have well begun the sacraments of faith, and afterward have not been plunged into any depth of vices, may arrive at the hidden joys.
Let the gate lie open toward the North, that those who, after the beginning of warmth and light, have slipped back into the coldness and darkness of their own sins may, through the compunction of penance, come and return, and may know how true is the gladness of the inward recompense. Let the gate lie open toward the South, that those who glow with holy desires amid the virtues may, through spiritual understanding, daily penetrate the mysteries of inward joy. But amid these things it may be asked: since there are four regions of this world, why in this edifice are three gates of the outer court recorded, and not four? Which indeed would be rightly asked, had the Prophet beheld not a spiritual but a bodily edifice.
For holy Church, that is, the spiritual edifice, in order to attain to the hidden joys, has only three gates, namely faith, hope, and charity: one toward the East, another toward the North, a third toward the South. The gate toward the East is faith, because through it the true light is born in the mind. The gate toward the North is hope, because whoever is set in his sins, if he despairs of pardon, utterly loses mercy. Hence it is necessary that he who has been extinguished by his own iniquity should revive through the hope of mercy. The gate toward the South is charity, because it burns with the fire of love. For in the southern quarter the sun is drawn on high, because through charity the light of faith is lifted up into the love of God and neighbour.
By three gates, therefore, the way stretches to the inner court, because through faith, hope, and charity one arrives at the hidden joys. Another question also arises: why the gate of the inner court is said to be set over against the gate of the East and of the North, while it is passed over in silence that it lies open toward the Southern gate. But since we have said that by the East are signified those who are beginning, and by the North those who have fallen, it was fitting that either concerning the beginners, for whom the sun is still in its mildness, or concerning the fallen who yet return through conversion, it should be openly said that the gate of the inner court lies open to them, so that from these He might make us certain concerning those about whom there could have been doubt.
But concerning the Southern gate this need not have been said, because no one is ignorant that those attain to the inward joys who by fervour of spirit persevere in the virtues. For it is the custom of sacred speech to state openly the things about which there could be doubt, and to keep silence about the things that are established, as it is said through the Psalmist: They provoked Moses in the camp, and Aaron the holy one of the Lord (Ps. 105:16). For Aaron, at the demand of the people, had made the idol, and one might rightly have doubted about his life. Moses, therefore, is not called holy, because it is known by all that he is holy; and he names Aaron the holy one of the Lord, that he may take from us all doubt about his life. There follows: Verse 23. — And there were carved palm trees, one on this side and another on that, upon its front.
What is this, that formerly there was a painting of palm trees on the fronts, but now carved palm trees are recorded to be on the front? For in carving the works appear as if fashioned in the form of stones. But, as we have already said above, the painting of palms is the display of signs. Now, however, it is called a carving of palms, that the demonstration of good works may be signified; for to those very highest preachers it is said: Let them see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5:16). Those, therefore, who show holy works impressed upon their life, have palms carved upon their front, because how great a victory shall in time to come
will follow them, they now already show forth in their holy works. Or certainly, since we have said that faith is signified by the Eastern gate, hope by the Northern, and charity by the Southern, it must be noted by us that in the Eastern gate there is a painting of palms, but in the Northern and Southern a carving; because it often happens that those who are still beginners do not yet exercise themselves in solid and great works; whereas those who return to the virtues after their iniquities are for the most part exercised in great works, that they may be able to blot out their faults before the eyes of Almighty God. And those who have already grown in the virtues by fervour of spirit blaze forth in holy deeds like the Noon.
In the Eastern gate, then, there is a painting, but in the Northern and Southern a carving, because the sign of victory which is shown in the beginners is held more solidly and firmly in those who return and in those who are fervent. It must also be greatly noted what is said, On this side and on that. For all of us who are pressing toward the entrance of life ought to have a palm both on the right side and on the left. For in that it is said, on this side and on that, both sides are signified. On the right, therefore, he holds a palm whom prosperity does not exalt; on the left he holds a palm whom adversity does not cast down. As it were, from both sides Paul bore a palm when he said:
By the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, through glory and dishonour, through evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true (2 Cor. 6:7-8). For adversities did not break this man, nor did prosperity lift him up into swelling of mind. On this side and on that, therefore, he bore a palm, because he remained both brave in adversity and humble in prosperity. For whoever is exalted by prosperity knows not how to hold a palm on the right side. Whoever is broken in adversities is ignorant of how to bear a palm on the left side.
Therefore, that a palm may be borne on the front both on this side and on that, there ought always to be present in our minds both confidence in adversities and fear in prosperity, lest either adversities drag us into despair, or prosperity lift up the soul into confidence in itself. Hence it is that the same excellent preacher said: I know both how to be brought low, and I know how to abound; everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer want; I can do all things in Him who strengthens me (Phil. 4:12-13). Is it then, brethren, any art to be brought low and to abound, to be full and to be hungry, to abound and to suffer want, that so great a preacher should suggest that he knows these things as something great?
It is altogether an art, and a wondrous knowledge of discipline, which must be learned by us with the whole effort of the heart. For he whom his want does not break, does not draw back from thanksgiving, does not inflame with desire of temporal things, knows how to be brought low. For in this place the Apostle calls being brought low the suffering of want. For at once, on the contrary, he adds: I know also how to abound. For he who is not lifted up by the goods received, who does not twist them to the use of vainglory, who does not alone possess what he has received but mercifully divides it with the needy, knows how to abound. He who uses the food he receives not for the gorging of the belly but for the restoration of strength, nor grants to the flesh more than necessity requires, knows how to be full.
He who endures the lack of food without murmuring, and does nothing on account of the necessity of sustenance whereby his soul might fall into the snare of sin, knows how to be hungry. Him, therefore, whom neither pride lifts up in abundance, nor covetousness inflames in necessity, knows how to abound, knows how to suffer want. And that, when he immediately added, I can do all things, we might not believe these to be words of pride, he joined in whom, In Him who strengthens me. Behold, the branch went forth on high, but because it held itself in the root, it remained in verdure. For rising on high it would have withered, if it had divided itself from the root. For he attributed nothing to himself, because he confesses that he can do all things not in himself, but in Him who strengthens him.
On this side and on that, therefore, the excellent preacher holds a palm, whom neither abundance drags into pride, nor want into avarice. Let us therefore learn, brethren, to give thanks not only in prosperity, but also in adversity. For the Father out of His mercy has become our Maker, and nourishes us as adopted sons unto the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom. And He not only refreshes us with gifts, but also instructs us with scourges. Let us learn, then, to abound, so that we may share with the needy all that we have received from Him. And let not abundance lift up the mind, lest perchance it rejoice because it has for itself what another lacks, and rejoice no longer in the common good, but in its own.
From private joy the Truth recalls the disciples to the common good, when He admonishes them as they return from preaching and rejoice at the subjection of the demons, saying: Do not rejoice over this, but rather rejoice and exult that your names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20). For not all the elect cast out demons, yet the names of all the elect are held written in heaven. The disciples, therefore, are admonished to lay aside private gladness, but to rejoice in the common and everlasting felicity. Whoever, then, rejoices in that which another does not have, made worse by his very abundance, has a private joy. Against this our craving of abundance John admonishes us, saying:
Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world (1 John 2:15). And he soon added the reason, why: If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him (ibid.). For no man can serve two masters (Matt. 6:24), because he cannot at once love the transitory and the eternal. For if we love eternity, we possess all temporal things in their use, not in affection. And he at once subjoined the same reason, saying: Because all that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). For men desire to have something even beyond what is necessary, in order that by having they may be proud, and because another does not have this, they may exalt themselves in their thoughts.
Whoever, therefore, is such, has not yet been taught to bear abundance. But often what avarice suggests from craving, he reckons to be necessity; and though lesser things suffice, he grieves that greater ones are lacking, and the incautious soul suffers a kind of necessity, as it were, which itself brings forth. And though the things he desires are excessive, he in some way excuses his avarice to himself. Abundance, therefore, is neighbour to pride. And whenever covetousness has also intercepted it, this, so to speak, has invaded it like a foreign captivity. If, then, we wish to know the art of abounding, it is necessary that we flee not only the vices that are near, but also those that come from afar.
Let us learn to suffer want, lest we seek even with sin to have the things we do not have, nor reckon those happy whom we behold laden with riches. Excessive indeed are the things which they prepare for themselves as if for the expenses of the present life. They carry much, but on the short road great is our companion on this journey, poverty, which does not straiten the soul when earthly substance is lacking, of which we must render accounts to the eternal Judge. More freely we press toward the fatherland, because as if on the road we are free of burden. Let us learn to be full, lest in taking the food of the body we serve gluttony rather than necessity. For concupiscence craves more than necessity requires. And often, while we take care to satisfy the want of the flesh, pleasure creeps in and exceeds the measure of refreshment.
Whence it comes about that fault passes into fault, because for the most part another temptation of the flesh is born thence, while the flesh is served too immoderately in refreshment. For by the sin of the first man, our nature being infirm, we are born into this world with our temptations. And the flesh is to us sometimes a helper in a good work, but sometimes a seductress into evil. If, therefore, we grant to it more than we owe, we nourish an enemy. And if to its necessity we do not render what we owe, we slay a citizen. The flesh, therefore, is to be satisfied, but only to this extent, that it may suffice to serve us in a good work. For whoever grants to it so much that it grows proud, is utterly ignorant of how to be full.
It is therefore a great art to be full, lest anyone through the satiety of the flesh burst forth into the iniquity of vileness. Let us learn to be hungry, that on account of the abundance that follows, our present want here may please us; lest the necessity of the belly draw us to fault, lest indigence suggest sin to the mind itself; and while the flesh is afflicted by the throat, the soul be provoked to covetousness, and seek, with sin, to provide whereby the flesh may be satisfied in its necessity; lest the heart leap up into indignation, and kindle the tongue into the bitterness of murmuring. Whoever, therefore, in the want of his flesh looks about himself on this side and on that, and guards himself from the snare of sin, knows how to be hungry.
Let us, then, most beloved brethren, fleeing anger and avarice in adversity, and shunning elation and immoderate joys in prosperity — since through faith, hope, and charity we long to enter the court of the inner life by three gates — hold palms on this side and on that. It pleases me yet to bring back to mind another citizen of the heavenly fatherland, and to demonstrate how he holds a palm on this side and on that.
For blessed Job, when he was richer than the men of the East, and all prosperous things abounded for him — his sons flourishing, his household increasing, his flocks teeming — stood firm in so great a fear of Almighty God, that amid the keeping of discipline, amid the doing of justice, amid many services of humility, intent upon works of mercy, devoted to offering sacrifices, he offered holocausts to the Lord for each of his sons, lest any of them should have sinned even in his heart (Job 1:1ff.). Let us weigh, then, how great was his guard of good work, who by sacrifices expiated in his sons the faults of the heart. But how just he was had become known in prosperity; yet it was greatly unknown whether he could have persevered just even amid scourges.
He was therefore to be touched with the scourge, that that holy man, questioned in prosperity, might be questioned in adversities; that he who was known to the Almighty Lord might, through scourges, become known to us and to himself. And so, the Lord ordaining it, his flocks were consumed, his keepers slain, his house overthrown, his sons extinguished, his flesh smitten from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head. His wife remained unharmed, that she might increase his wounds with the darts of words. But the holy man, sick in the temptation, healthy in the wound, prudently teaches her and answers her, saying: If we have received good things from the hand of the Lord, why should we not receive evil (Job 2:10)? His friends, too, come to console, but burst forth into insults, and in the pain of his wounds add still further wounds of words.
They call him unmerciful, name him a plunderer, denounce him as violent, declare him an oppressor of the poor. What, then, would the soldier of God do, caught amid painful wounds and bitter words? Behold, the scourges of God and the words of men together press his afflicted soul toward despair; but, full of the strength of the spirit, lying with the wounds of the flesh, standing in the vigour of the mind, against the assault of despair he recalled to memory the good things he had done. Because he had been merciful, he says: I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame (Job 29:15). And again: I was a father to the poor (ibid. 16). Because he was both a keeper of discipline and kindly, he says: When I sat as a king, with the army standing about me, yet I was a comforter of them that mourned (ibid. 25).
Because he was humble, he says: If I have despised to undergo judgment with my manservant and my maidservant, when they contended against me (Job 31:13). Because he was hospitable, he confesses: If I have despised him that passed by, because he had no covering (ibid. 19). Because he was generous in gifts, he says: If his sides have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep (ibid. 20). That he was not violent, he testifies, saying: If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, even when I saw myself superior in the gate (ibid. 21). Because he never exulted at the peril of an enemy, he says: If I have rejoiced at the downfall of him that hated me (ibid. 29). Because he was patient, and bore even the malice of his own with equanimity, he says:
If the men of my tent have not said, Who will give us of his flesh that we may be filled (ibid. 31)? What, then, is it that the holy man enumerates so many of his virtues amid the scourges? What is it that with his own mouth he praises the works he had done, except that amid the wounds and words which could draw him to despair, they re-form his soul to hope? And he who had been humble in prosperity, having recalled his good deeds to memory, remained unbroken in adversity. For whose soul, amid so many scourges, would those words not have driven to despair, unless he had recalled to memory the good things he had done?
The holy man, therefore, saw his mind, on hearing so many evils, shaken toward despair, and wondrously strove to be made solid in sure hope out of his good deeds. Thus is fulfilled that which is written: In the day of good things be not unmindful of evils, and in the day of evils be not unmindful of goods (Sirach 11:27). For if, when we have good things, we call to mind the evils which either we have already suffered or can yet suffer, the good things received do not lift up the mind, because the fear of the memory of evils presses down the joy of them.
And if, when we have evils, we call to mind the goods which either we have already received, or hope that we can yet receive, it presses down the sorrow, because the memory of goods lifts one up to hope. If, therefore, most beloved brethren, we so walk by the Lord's precepts and by the examples of the saints, that neither prosperity lifts us up, nor adversity breaks us, we show that we have before the eyes of Almighty God palms on this side and on that — to whom be honour and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.