道德文集 第 5 章

AN EXHORTATION TO HUMILITY. I. Whosoever by the nod of God shines forth in the dignity of any office, here by the usefulness of provident governance you go before other men: I beg you, receive this little exhortation of mine diligently, and seek not in it the pompous froths of orators; because the virtue of humility is required not by the elevation of words, but by purity of mind. And if perchance I seem to speak something rather harshly, this is the fault of truth, not mine. For some things are therefore hard, others soft; but although all men owe one another the truth either way, yet I will speak freely: that to no one ought anything be told more truly than to him who presides over many.

To whom, even if something harsh from the truth be sometimes offered, as is wont, like a certain antidote, although it be perchance bitter, yet because it is health-bearing, even if it embitter, it is to be drunk. II. This therefore I exhort above all, that you greatly dread those too-delightful blandishments of men. For in this matter not so great an industry of vigilance is to be applied, as in repelling those speeches which, by a certain delight of pretences, weaken the firmness of the mind, which seeks the approach to favour to be earned not by the merit of labours, but by the sharpness of flatteries. You will therefore accept words useful rather than obsequious, and you will catch at words right rather than affable and pleasant. For to take delight in a flatterer is a kingly vice;

but to flatter is servile. Yet although to take delight in a flatterer be kingly, nevertheless this vice is, by usage, native and as it were a proper duty: notably to follow up the words of the powerful, and to fashion one's speech from their wishes. For if they should perchance praise anything, and have foreseen that it is not gladly heard, immediately they accuse what a little before they praised. But if they should censure anything, again, if it has so seemed good to the patron, they praise it. And so among such men the flattered mind is borne like a ship amid the varied blasts of the breezes, because it has nowhere whence to issue forth, and we are tossed. Among these therefore, whose richest gain is this above all — to live by others' desires — bind your mind fast by the supreme measure of discretion;

so that, when many flatterers from here and there insinuate nothing else save only what may delight, offering certain words of glory in which that is told you which is told also to God, you may acknowledge that nothing else out of these is properly your own, except only that which both with you, and when you have departed from this life, is to remain. III. In all things therefore in which the excess of flatteries has exceeded even the bounds befitting a man, you will recall that Davidic lesson, in which he, avoiding the venoms of flatteries, says: 'The just man shall correct me in mercy, and shall reprove me; but let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head' (Ps. 141:5).

Now the oil of the sinner is flattery, which by a certain light and sweet anointing fattens the head of the inner man — which is the heart — as though anointing it. The prophet David therefore said it was better for him to be reproved or admonished by a just man, than to be praised by any flatterer whatever. And rightly he marked the flatterer by the name of sinner, whose greatest and most detestable sin before the eyes of God is this: to hold one thing in the heart, and to bring forth another by the mouth. For of such he says also in another Psalm: 'His words are softer than oil, and they themselves are darts' (Ps. 55:22). But of the just man he says: 'He speaks the truth in his heart, and has not wrought deceit in his tongue' (Ps. 15:3).

But that in these matters no human subtlety whatever may ever, by any titillation of praise, draw the credulity of your mind into consent, turn yourself to those evangelical deeds of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself; and you will find that He, the Lord of those who rule (Rev. 19:16), gave us, amid human praises, a great example of humility. Cultivate this, then; have this as your mistress; set this for yourself as arbiter amid the allurements of praises. How great a portion out of those things which men bestow by praising may be yours, or for how long it may be yours — these things do not permit yourself to hear with placid ears, because they are feigned. IV.

Finally, this holy humility, once the enticements of all pretences have been withdrawn from you, will then open heaven to you, when it has whispered in your ear: 'For you are earth' (Gen. III). Then it leads you into that true fellowship of God's inheritance, when it has warned you in all things: 'For you are a man and a sinner.' And when you have weighed all your reckonings concerning the things that pertain to you in the balance of this humility, you will find (a wondrous thing I shall say) that men diminish you by adding to the heap of your honour, but this one thing alone, by diminishing, adds the more. Therefore, as Solomon says, the greater you are, so much the more humble yourself (Eccli. III, 20).

For even though you may have governed many, it is yet no perfection if you alone remain unsubdued in that which is the greater task, you whom you cannot govern. For then will you truly go before others, when you have first gone before yourself. Nor do I now speak these things to the wicked, but most especially to the good. For if you look to the teaching of God, precepts were given not only to the sinner but also to the saints. The word of truth is spoken even to them, yet not that they may become good, which they already are, but lest they become evil, which they are not. And I believe that to good men what is pure, what is sincere, is the more pleasing. For our God is appeased not so much by the sweet prayers of those who adore Him as by innocence and simplicity.

He is more inclined toward those who offer Him a sincere and pure mind than toward those who bring sweet flatteries of prayers. For it seemed good to me to speak of vainglory or pride not to anyone else but to you, whoever you are who are set above others; for even if you should not accept it, yet all heap such things upon you, all flatter you, all exalt you; none of them offering that which is so sweet that it is nevertheless far from danger. Nor do I wonder that it is ready at hand for all, since to praise a powerful man is, as it is no labour, so also no peril. V. To you, therefore, it behoved me to hold out these instruments of humility; to add to you, for the steering of your rule—though you yourself already possess it—even this further means of governance, superfluous though it be.

For there the wind of self-exaltation is the stronger, where the loftiness of honour is the greater. I desire, therefore, that before the eyes of God—to whom the abyss of the human conscience lies bare—you should always walk with a humble heart, for it is written: 'Upon whom,' says the Lord, 'shall my spirit rest, but upon the humble man who trembles at my words?' (Isa. LXVI, 2). I desire that you keep all the commandments of Christ; and when you fulfil them with good works, that you remember what was said even to the apostles themselves. For He said to them: 'When you shall have done all these things which I command you, say: We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which we ought to do' (Luke XVII, 10)—that is, not as free men out of a gift, but as servants out of a debt.

For no man, however perfect in all things, has ever so anticipated those things that are pleasing to God that, by first lending Him something, he became not a debtor but a creditor. For who has anything that was not given by Him? Or who, as the Apostle says, has first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed to him? Since all things are from Him, and through Him, and in Him: to Him be glory for ever. Amen (Rom. XI, 35, 36). VI. Behold, this is that true and Christian humility. In it you will best govern those over whom you preside. In it you will be able to earn victory over every vice, by ascribing to God this—that you have conquered—and not to yourself.

For that the vices, when patience is overcome, sometimes take up strength again, is nothing else, believe me, but that we do not say to God what that warrior David, fighting the battles of the Lord, said: 'In thee,' he says, 'we have scattered our enemies, and in thy name we despise those who rise up against us' (Ps. XLIII, 6). And again: 'For a man is not mighty by his own strength; the Lord makes his adversary weak.' But perhaps it will be answered me: Do we then not give thanks to God, do we not render Him praises? I believe that we do give thanks; it may be so, but only in word, only in our breast. To God we give thanks privately, to ourselves publicly; to God we render praise with our lips, to ourselves both with our lips and in our heart.

Behold, this is what so often raises up the enemy that had been bowed down. For the sin of our self-exaltation is his strength. Therefore the humility of heart alone, by calling itself weak, can do all things; it obtains all that is of good, by always applying this to God and not to itself; and if anyone ascends in it, he has no place from which to fall. All the other virtues can summon us to their perfection through certain lofty and steep paths; this one alone is upon level ground; and though it may seem more lowly than the others, yet it is higher than heaven, for in His kingdom it leads man not by ascending but by descending. By this the saints obtained the rewards of future blessedness, keeping that word of the Lord:

'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven' (Matt. V, 3). He, namely, is humble who is full in spirit; whereas the man puffed up, abounding with a certain blast of self-exaltation, is exalted like a wineskin. VII. But now let your charity attend for a little while to how this very virtue is to be obtained. First of all, if you wish to begin any good work, you will begin it not with the purpose of acquiring praise, but with zeal for undertaking the doing of goodness. Then, when the work has been completed—whatever work it is—guard your heart with all watchfulness, lest perchance, acquiescing in human favours and thence esteeming yourself, you become well-pleased with yourself; or seek any glory from any deed, since the nature of glory is such as the shadow of the body: if you pursue it, it flees;

if you flee from it, it follows you. But always esteem yourself the least of all, and remember: Whatever good has befallen you in all your life, write it all down to God who gave it, not to yourself who received it, convicting yourself by that testimony of Paul: 'And what hast thou that thou hast not received? But if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received?' (1 Cor. IV, 7). And likewise that apostolic saying: 'For every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights' (James I, 17). And when from these most precious stones of holy humility you have adorned in your heart a temple for the Holy Spirit, then, praying in it, taking up the canticle of David the prophet, you will sing it forth not in word only but also in deed:

'Lord, my heart is not exalted, nor are my eyes lofty; neither have I walked in great matters, nor in wonderful things above me' (Ps. CXXX, 1). This song you will then be able truly to offer to God, whom you praise by humbling yourself; to whom truly, with all the faithful, you also say daily: 'Praise is due to thee' (Ps. LXIV, 2), glorifying Him.