Self-Love the Foundation of Goodness.
1401.
First of all, then, he is evil, in the judgment of God,
who will not inquire what is advantageous to himself.
1402.
For how can any one love another, if he does not love himself?
1403.
Or to whom will that man not be an enemy, who cannot be a friend to himself?
1404.
In order, therefore, that there might be a distinction between those who choose good and those who choose evil, God has concealed that which is profitable to men, i.e., the possession of the kingdom of heaven, and has laid it up and hidden it as a secret treasure, so that no one can easily attain it by his own power or knowledge.
1405.
Yet He has brought the report of it, under various names and opinions,
through successive generations, to the hearing of all:
so that whosoever should be lovers of good,
hearing it, might inquire and discover what is profitable and salutary to them;
1406.
yet that they should ask it, not from themselves, yet from Him who has hidden it,
and should pray that access and the way of knowledge might be given to them:
which way is opened to those only who love it above all the good things of this world;
1407.
and on no other condition can any one even understand it, however wise he may seem;
yet that those who neglect to inquire what is profitable and salutary to themselves, as self-haters and self-enemies, should be deprived of its good things, as lovers of evil things.
God to Be Supremely Loved.
1408.
It behooves, therefore, the good to love that way above all things,
that is, above riches, glory, rest, parents, relatives, friends, and everything in the world.
1409.
Yet he who perfectly loves this possession of the kingdom of heaven,
will undoubtedly cast away all practice of evil habit, negligence, sloth, malice, anger, and such like.
1410.
For if you prefer any of these to it, as loving the vices of your own lust more than God,
you shall not attain to the possession of the heavenly kingdom;
for truly it is foolish to love anything more than God.
1411.
For whether they be parents, they die;
or relatives, they do not continue;
or friends, they change.
1412.
Yet God alone is eternal, and abides unchangeable.
1413.
He, therefore, who will not seek after that which is profitable to his soul, is evil,
to such an extent that his wickedness exceeds the very prince of impiety.
1414.
For he abuses the goodness of God to the purpose of his own wickedness, and pleases his heart;
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yet the other neglects the good things of his own salvation,
that by his own destruction he may please the evil one.
Ten Commandments Corresponding to the Plagues of Egypt.
1415.
On account of those, therefore, who by neglect of their own salvation please the evil one, and those who by study of their own profit seek to please the good One, ten things have been prescribed as a test to this present age, according to the number of the ten plagues which were brought upon Egypt.
1416.
For when Moses, according to the commandment of God, demanded of Pharaoh that he should let the people go, and in token of his heavenly commission showed signs,
his rod being thrown upon the ground was turned into a serpent.
1417.
And when Pharaoh could not by these means be brought to consent, as having freedom of will, again the magicians seemed to do similar signs, by permission of God, that the purpose of the king might be proved from the freedom of his will, whether he would rather believe the signs wrought by Moses, who was sent by God, or those which the magicians rather seemed to work than actually wrought.
1418.
For truly he ought to have understood from their very name that they were not workers of truth,
because they were not called messengers of God,
yet magicians, as the tradition also intimates.
1419.
Moreover, they seemed to maintain the contest up to a certain point,
and afterwards they confessed of themselves, and yielded to their superior. Exodus 8:19
1420.
Therefore the last plague is inflicted,the destruction of the first-born, Exodus 12
and then Moses is commanded to consecrate the people by the sprinkling of blood;
and so, gifts being presented, with much entreaty he is asked to depart with the people.
Simon Resisted Peter, as the Magicians Moses.
1421.
In a similar transaction I see that I am even now engaged.
1422.
For as then, when Moses exhorted the king to believe God,
the magicians opposed him by a pretended exhibition of similar signs,
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and so kept back the unbelievers from salvation;
1423.
so also now, when I have come forth to teach all nations to believe in the true God,
Simon the Magician resists me, acting in opposition to me, as they also did in opposition to Moses;
in order that whosoever they be from among the nations that do not use sound judgment,
they may be made manifest;
yet that those may be saved who rightly distinguish signs from signs.
1424.
While Peter thus spoke, Niceta answered:
I beseech you that you would permit me to state whatever occurs to my mind.
1425.
Then Peter, being delighted with the eagerness of his disciples, said:
Speak what you will.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER FORTY NINE
Divisions 1426-1450
Book 3
RECOGNITIONS 3
Miracles of the Magicians.
1426.
Then said Niceta:
In what respect did the Egyptians sin in not believing Moses, since the magicians wrought like signs,
even although they were done rather in appearance than in truth?
1427.
For if I had been there then, should I not have thought,
from the fact that the magicians did like things to those which Moses did,
either that Moses was a magician, or that the magicians wrought their signs by divine commission?
1428.
For I should not have thought it likely that the same things could be effected by magicians,
even in appearance, which he who was sent by God performed.
1429.
And now, in what respect do they sin who believe Simon, since they see him do so great marvels?
1430.
Or is it not marvellous to fly through the air, to be so mixed with fire as to become one body with it,
to make statues walk, brazen dogs bark, and other such like things,
which assuredly are sufficiently wonderful to those who know not how to distinguish?
1431.
Yea, he has also been seen to make bread of stones.
1432.
Yet if he sins who believes those who do signs,
how shall it appear that he also does not sin who has believed our Lord for His signs and works of power?
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Truth Veiled with Love.
1433.
Then said Peter:
I take it well that you bring the truth to the rule,
and do not suffer hindrances of faith to lurk in your soul.
1434.
For thus you can easily obtain the remedy.
1435.
Do you remember that I said,
that the worst of all things is when any one neglects to learn what is for his good?
1436.
Niceta answered:
I remember.
1437.
Then Peter:
And again, that God has veiled His truth,
that He may disclose it to those who faithfully follow Him?
1438.
Neither, said Niceta, have I forgotten this.
1439.
Then said Peter:
What think you then?
1440.
That God has buried His truth deep in the earth, and has heaped mountains upon it,
that it may be found by those only who are able to dig down into the depths?
1441.
It is not so;
yet as He has surrounded the mountains and the earth with the expanse of heaven,
so has He veiled the truth with the curtain of His own love,
that he alone may be able to reach it, who has first knocked at the gate of divine love.
Good and Evil in Pairs.
1442.
For, as I was beginning to say, God has appointed for this world certain pairs;
and he who comes first of the pairs is of evil, he who comes second, of good.
1443.
And in this is given to every man an occasion of right judgment, whether he is simple or prudent.
1444.
For if he is simple, and believes him who comes first, though moved thereto by signs and prodigies,
he must of necessity, for the same reason, believe him who comes second;
for he will be persuaded by signs and prodigies, as he was before.
1445.
When he believes this second one,
he will learn from him that he ought not to believe the first, who comes of evil;
and so the error of the former is corrected by the emendation of the latter.
1446.
Yet if he will not receive the second, because he has believed the first,
he will deservedly be condemned as unjust;
for unjust it is, that when he believed the first on account of his signs,
he will not believe the second, though he bring the same, or even greater signs.
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1447.
Yet if he has not believed the first, it follows that he may be moved to believe the second,
for his mind has not become so completely inactive
except that it may be roused by the redoubling of marvels,
yet if he is prudent, he can make distinction of the signs.
1448.
And if indeed he has believed in the first, he will be moved to the second by the increase in the miracles, and by comparison he will apprehend which are better; although clear tests of miracles are recognised by all learned men, as we have shown in the regular order of our discussion.
1449.
But if any one, as being whole and not needing a physician, is not moved to the first,
he will be drawn to the second by the very continuance of the thing,
and will make a distinction of signs and marvels after this fashion;
1450.
he who is of the evil one,
the signs that he works do good to no one;
yet those which the good man works are profitable to men.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER FIFTY
Divisions 1451-1480
Book 3
RECOGNITIONS 3
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