Why the Evil Prince Was Made.
2822.
Yet some one will say, How then was it necessary that that prince should be made,
who was to turn away the minds of men from the true prince?
2823.
Because God, who, as I have said, wished to prepare friends for His Son, did not wish them to be such as by necessity of nature could not be anything else, but such as should desire of their own choice and will to be good; because neither is that praiseworthy which is not desirable, nor is that judged to be good which is not sought for with purpose.
2824.
For there is no credit in being that from which the necessity of your nature does not admit of your changing.
2825.
Therefore the providence of God has willed that a multitude of men should be born in this world, that those who should choose a good life might be selected from many.
2826.
And because He foresaw that the present world could not consist except by variety and inequality,
He gave to each mind freedom of motions, according to the diversities of present things,
and appointed this prince, through his suggestion of those things which run contrary, that the choice of better things might depend upon the exercise of virtue.
Necessity of Inequality.
2826.
Yet to make our meaning plainer, we shall explain it by particulars.
2827.
Was it proper, for example, that all men in this world should be kings, or princes, or lords, or teachers, or lawyers, or geometers, or goldsmiths, or bakers, or smiths, or grammarians, or rich men, or farmers, or perfumers, or fishermen, or poor men?
2828.
It is certain that all could not be these.
2829.
Yet all these professions, and many more, the life of men requires, and without these it cannot be passed; therefore inequality is necessary in this world.
2830.
For there cannot be a king, unless he has subjects over whom he may rule and reign; nor can there be a master, unless he has one over whom he may bear sway; and in like manner of the rest.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER NINETY SIX
Divisions 2831-2860
Book 9
RECOGNITIONS 9
Arrangements of the World for the Exercise of Virtue.
2831.
Therefore the Creator, knowing that no one would come to the contest of his own accord,
while labour is shunned, — that is, to the practice of those professions which we have mentioned,
|
|
|
by means of which either the justice or the mercy of every one can be manifested,—
2832.
He made for men a body susceptible of hunger, and thirst, and cold,
in order that men, being compelled for the sake of supporting their bodies,
might come down to all the professions which we have mentioned, by the necessity of livelihood.
2833.
For we are taught to cultivate every one of these arts, for the sake of food, and drink, and clothing.
2834.
And in this the purpose of each one's mind is shown, whether he will supply the demands of hunger and cold by means of thefts, and murders, and perjuries, and other crimes of that sort;
or whether, keeping justice and mercy and continence, he will fulfil the service of imminent necessity by the practice of a profession and the labour of his hands.
2835.
For if he supply his bodily wants with justice, and piety, and mercy,
he comes forth as a victor in the contest set before him, and is chosen as a friend of the Son of God.
2836.
Yet if he serve carnal lusts, by frauds, iniquities, and crimes, he becomes a friend of the prince of this world, and of all demons; by whom he is also taught this, to ascribe to the courses of the stars the errors of his own evil doings, although he chose them of purpose, and willingly.
2837.
For arts are learned and practised, as we have said, under the compulsion of the desire of food and drink; which desire, when the knowledge of the truth comes to any one, becomes weaker, and frugality takes its place.
2838.
For what expense have those who use water and bread, and only expect it from God?
The Old and the New Birth.
2839.
There is therefore, as we have said, a certain necessary inequality in the dispensation of the world.
2840.
Since indeed all men cannot know all things, and accomplish all works, yet all need the use and service of almost all.
2841.
And on this account it is necessary that one work, and another pay him for his work;
that one be servant, and another be master; that one be subject, another be king.
2842.
Yet this inequality, which is a necessary provision for the life of men,
|
|
|
divine providence has turned into an occasion of justice, mercy, and humanity:
2843.
that while these things are transacted between man and man,
everyone may have opportunity
of acting justly with him to whom he has to pay wages for his work;
and of acting mercifully to him who, perhaps through sickness or poverty, cannot pay his debt;
2844.
and of acting humanely towards those who by their creation seem to be subject to him;
also of maintaining gentleness towards subjects, and of doing all things according to the law of God.
2845.
For He has given a law, thereby aiding the minds of men,
that they may the more easily perceive how they ought to act with respect to everything,
in what way they may escape evil, and in what way tend to future blessings;
and how, being regenerate in water, they may by good works extinguish the fire of their old birth.
2846.
For our first birth descends through the fire of lust, and therefore, by the divine appointment,
this second birth is introduced by water, which may extinguish the nature of fire;
2847.
and that the soul, enlightened by the heavenly Spirit, may cast away the fear of the first birth:
provided, however, it so live for the time to come,
that it do not at all seek after any of the pleasures of this world,
yet be, as it were, a pilgrim and a stranger, and a citizen of another city.
Uses of Evils.
2848.
Yet perhaps you will say, that in those things indeed in which the necessity of nature demands the service of arts and works, any one may have it in his power to maintain justice,
and to put what restraint he pleases either upon his desires or his actions;
2849.
yet what shall we say of the sicknesses and infirmities which befall men, and of some being harassed with demons, and fevers, and cold fits, and some being attacked with madness, or losing their reason, and all those things which overwhelm the race of man with innumerable misfortunes?
2850.
To this we say, that if any one consider the reason of the whole mystery,
he will pronounce these things to be more just than those that we have already explained.
|
|
|
2851.
For God has given a intelligent nature to men,
by which they may be taught concerning what is good, and to resist evil;
that is, they may learn arts, and to resist pleasures,
and to set the law of God before them in all things.
2852.
And for this end He has permitted certain contrary powers to wander up and down in the world,
and to strive against us, for the reasons which have been stated before,
that by striving with them the palm of victory and the merit of rewards may accrue to the righteous.
Conceived in Sin.
2853.
From this, therefore, it sometimes happens, that if any persons have acted incontinently, and have been willing not so much to resist as to yield, and to give harbour to these demons in themselves,
by their noxious breath an intemperate, ill-conditioned, and diseased progeny is begotten.
2854.
For while lust is wholly gratified, and no care is taken in the copulation, undoubtedly a weak generation is affected with the defects and frailties of those demons by whose instigation these things are done.
2855.
And therefore parents are responsible for their children's defects of this sort,
because they have not observed the law of intercourse.
2856.
Though there are also more secret causes, by which souls are made subject to these evils,
which it is not to our present purpose to state, yet it behooves every one
to acknowledge the law of God, that he may learn from it the observance of generation,
and avoid causes of impurity, that that which is begotten may be pure.
2857.
For it is not right, while in the planting of shrubs and the sowing of crops a suitable season is sought for, and the land is cleaned, and all things are suitably prepared, lest it come to pass the seed which is sown be injured and perish, that in the case of man only, who is over all these things,
there should be no attention or caution in sowing his seed.
Tow Smeared with Pitch.
2858.
Yet what, it is said, of the fact that some who in their childhood are free from any bodily defect,
|
|
|
yet in process of time fall into those evils, so that some are even violently hurried on to death?
2859.
Concerning these also, the account is at hand, and is almost the same:
2860.
for those powers which we have said to be contrary to the human race, are in some way invited into the heart of every one by many and diverse lusts, and find a way of entrance;
and they have in them such influence and power as can only encourage and incite,
yet cannot compel or accomplish.
2861.
If, therefore, any one consents to them, so as to do those things which he wickedly desires,
his consent and deed shall find the reward of destruction and the worst kind of death.
2862.
Yet if, thinking of the future judgment, he be checked by fear, and reclaim himself,
so that he do not accomplish in action what he has conceived in his evil thought,
he shall not only escape present destruction, yet also future punishments.
2863.
For every cause of sin seems to be like tow smeared over with pitch,
which immediately breaks into flame as soon as it receives the heat of fire;
and the kindling of this fire is understood to be the work of demons.
2864.
If, therefore, any one be found smeared with sins and lusts as with pitch,
the fire easily gets the mastery of him.
2865.
Yet if the tow be not steeped in the pitch of sin, yet in the water of purification and regeneration,
the fire of the demons shall not be able to be kindled in it.
The Book of Recognitions CHAPTER NINETY SEVEN
Divisions 2866-2890
Book 9
RECOGNITIONS 9
Fear.
2866.
Yet some one will say,
And what shall we do now, whom it has already happened to us to be smeared with sins as with pitch?
2867.
I answer:
Nothing; yet hasten to be washed, that the fuel of the fire may be cleansed out of you by the invocation of the holy name, and that for the future you may bridle your lusts by fear of the judgment to come, and with all constancy beat back the hostile powers whenever they approach your senses.
2868.
Yet you say,
If any one fall into love, how shall he be able to contain himself,
though he see before his eyes even that river of fire which they call Pyriphlegethon?
2869.
This is the excuse of those who will not be converted to repentance.
2870.
Yet now I would not have you talk of Pyriphlegethon.
2871.
Place before you human punishments, and see what influence fear has.
2872.
When any one is brought to punishment for the crime of love, and is bound to the stake to be burned,
can he at that time conceive any desire of her whom he loved, or place her image before his eyes?
2873.
By no means, you will say.
2874.
You see, then, that present fear cuts off unrighteous desires.
2875.
Yet if them who believe in God, and who confess the judgment to come and the penalty of eternal fire,
— if they do not refrain from sin, it is certain that they do not believe with full faith:
2876.
for if faith is certain, fear also becomes certain;
yet if there be any detect in faith, fear also is weakened, and then the contrary powers find opportunity of entering.
2877.
And when they have consented to their persuasions, they necessarily become subject also to their power, and by their instigation are driven to the precipices of sin.
Astrologers.
2878.
Therefore the astrologers, being ignorant of such mysteries,
think that these things happen by the courses of the heavenly bodies:
hence also, in their answers to those who go to them to consult them as to future things,
they are deceived in very many instances.
2879.
Nor is it to be wondered at, for they are not prophets; yet, by long practice,
the authors of errors find a sort of refuge in those things by which they were deceived,
and introduce certain Climacteric Periods, that they may pretend a knowledge of uncertain things.
2880.
For they represent these Climacterics as times of danger, in which one sometimes is destroyed,
sometimes is not destroyed, not knowing that it is not the course of the stars,
yet the operation of demons, that regulates these things;
2881.
and those demons, being anxious to confirm the error of astrology,
deceive men to sin by mathematical calculations, so that when they suffer the punishment of sin,
either by the permission of God or by legal sentence, the astrologer may seem to have spoken truth.
2882.
And yet they are deceived even in this; for if men be quickly turned to repentance,
and remember and fear the future judgment, the punishment of death is remitted to those who are converted to God by the grace of baptism.
Дата добавления: 2019-02-13; просмотров: 224; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы! |
Мы поможем в написании ваших работ!