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LXXXII

HOW MUCH HONOUR HUMILITY POSSESSES AND HOW HIGH ITS RANK IS

 

I dessire to open my month, my brethren, to speak on the elevated place of humility; but I am filled with fear, as a man who is conscious of the fact, that he will speak concerning God .in a tale of his own speech. For humility is the garment of divinity; for the word which became man, put it on and spoke in it with us, through our body. And every one who puts it on in truth, by humility takes the likeness of Him that has descended from His height and concealed the splendour of His majesty and hidden His glory, lest the creation should perish by the sight of Him. For the creation was not able to see Him without His being united to a part of it which He should assume and speak with them through it; then the creation was able to hear the word of His mouth, –face to face.

The children of Israel were not able to listen to His voice, while He spoke with them from within the cloud; then should the creation be able to bear the sight of Him openly? For the children of Israel were so troubled that they said to’ Moses: Let us speak with thee, and listen thou to His words for us; {575} but let Him not speak with us, lest we die1. And so terrible was the sight, that even the intermediary said: I fear and tremble. For on mount Sinai the splendour of His glory revealed itself, and the whole mountain smoked and was shaken from| fear of His revelation that took place on it, so that even the beasts which approached the foot of the mountain, died. And all the children of Israel, on the order of Moses, prepared themselves, every one purifying himself for three days in order to be worthy of listening to the sound of God’s speech and of seeing His revelation. And when the moment came, they were not able to bear the sight of His light, and the vehemence of the sound of His thunder.

But now that He has poured out His grace on the world by His coming, not in earthquake nor in fire, nor with a terrible and vehement sound – but descending as the rain upon the lamb’s fleece, and as the soft dew drops which softly descend upon the earth – it has pleased Him to speak with us in a different way, concealing His majesty in the cover of flesh, speaking to us while being in us, in the garment which Providence had woven from the womb of the virgin, so that we, seeing Him speak with us as one of our race, should not be terrified by the sight of Him. Therefore, every one who puts on the garment in which our Creator appeared, by means of a body full of holiness, puts on Christ. For with the likeness in which He appeared to His creation and in which He dealt {576} with us, He desired to clad His inner man and in it He desired to appear to His fellow men, and with it [He desired] to be adorned in stead of with the garment of honour and outward glory. And therefore the creatures prostrate themselves as to a lord before every one whom they see being clad with this likeness, silent or speaking, on account of the honour of their Lord with which they saw Him clad and in which He wandered about.

Which of the creatures should not be intimidated by the sight of the humble? Yet before the glory of humility revealed itself to all, this sight full of holiness was despised by them. But now that He has caused its majesty to dawn before the eye of the worlds, every man honours this likeness, wheresoever it shows itself. For through the mediation of it, the creation became worthy of receiving the sight of its Creator. And therefore [humility] is not despised even by the enemies of truth. And though he that has acquired it, should be a beggar in comparison with all creatures, yet he that has learned it, is honoured on account of it as if he were clad with crown and purple. No one will ever hate the humble nor assail him| with a word, nor despise him. And because his Lord loves him, he is beloved by every one. Every one loves him, every one cherishes him. And wherever he comes, he is looked upon as an angel of light and distinguished by [signs of] honour. When the sage and the learned speak, they are ordered to be silent in order to give the humble an opportunity to speak. The eyes of everyone look on his mouth [in order to know] which word will come forth from it. Every one awaits his {577} words, as words from God. The sense of his few words is investigated as the words of a philosopher. Sweet are his words to the ear of the sages, more than honeycomb is to the palate of those who taste it. And by everyone he is reckoned as a God, though he be simple in his words and of mean aspect. He that speaks of the humble in a despising way, is not reckoned as one living, but as one who opens his mouth against God. And the more despicable he is in his own eyes, the more honour is shown to him on the part of the creatures.

The humble approaches the beasts of prey and as soon as their eye rests on him, their wildness is tamed and they come to him and accompany him as their master, wagging their tails and licking his hands and his feet. For they smell from him the smell which spread from Adam before his transgression, when the beasts gathered near him and he gave them names, in Paradise – the smell which was taken from us and given back to us anew by Christ through His advent, which made the smell of the human race sweet.

And when the humble approaches the deadly reptiles, as soon as the touch of his hands attains to their bodies, the virulence of their deadly poison is cooled and with his hands he crushes them as if they were locusts2.

And when he approaches the children of man they look upon him as upon their lord. Why do I mention the children {578} of man? Because, notwithstanding all the evil and stubbornness of the demons and all the pride of their own mind, as soon as they meet the humble, they become as dust: all their hardness becomes weak, their tricks become craftless, their cunnings idle.

Now that we have shown in how great honour humility| stands with God and how great a power is hidden in it, we will clearly show what humility is, and when a man will be deemed worthy of receiving it in its fulness, as it is. And we shall make a distinction between him who is humble in some respects and him that has been deemed worthy of veracious humility.

Humility is a mysterious power, which the perfect saints receive when they have reached accomplishment of behaviour. And this power is not granted except to those who, by the power of Grace, have personally accomplished the whole of excellence, in so far as nature in its domain is able to do this. For humility is all–comprehending excellence. And therefore we cannot deem every man humble, without discrimination, but only those who have been deemed worthy of the rank mentioned. Not every one who in his nature is peaceful or quiet or discrete or without blame, has reached the rank of humility.

But a humble one in truth is he that, possessing inwardly something worthy of being proud of, does not extol himself, but is as dust in his own thoughts. Nor do we call humble him that humbles himself on account of the recollection of his low characteristics or trespasses, which he remembers in order that his heart may become contrite and his mind {579} withdrawn from impulses of haughtiness, however praiseworthy this may be. For he still possesses deliberations of haughtiness. Humility however he does not possess, but, by various means, he seeks to draw it towards himself. And however praiseworthy this may be, as I have said, he does not yet possess humility; he asks for it, but it is not his.

A perfectly humble one is he that does not need to find out a cause which should make his mind humble. But he has fulfilled all these, and possesses humility as something natural, without bestowing any labour upon it; so that, even though he has received within him the great gift of which all creatures are not worthy – namely his [humble] nature – yet he is deemed a sinner and a simple man in his own eyes. And though he has penetrated into the mysteries of all spiritual kinds [of beings], and possesses great wisdom concerning all the creatures, he knows with perfect certainty that he knows nothing. And this he is not by any intermediary; but without compulsion he is so in his heart.|

Can it be possible that man should be so, that nature can thus change him? No. But do not doubt for this reason. For this mysterious strength which he has received, which makes him perfect in all excellence, without labour, is the strength which the blessed Apostles received under the aspect of fire. And on account of it our Saviour ordered them that they should not leave Jerusalem before having received the strength from on high, namely the Comforter which is the Spirit.

And this is the spirit of visions. And this is what is said concerning them in the Scripture: To the humble the mysteries are revealed3. This means that the humble are deemed worthy {580} of receiving within them this spirit of revelations which explains the mysteries. And therefore it has been said by holy men, that humbleness makes the soul perfect by divine revelations. Therefore, no one should venture to think concerning him self that he has personally reached the rank of humility, on account of a single thought of contrition which has once risen [in his heart], or on account of a few tears which he has shed, or on account of one beautiful attribute which he possesses by nature or which he has acquired by compulsion; for he would in that case have acquired that which is the summit of all mysteries and the sum of all excellence in the domain of small labours and reckon these as the whole gift. But if a man has vanquished all contrary spirits, and if none of all the works of excellence fails him, for which he has not laboured in order to possess them, and if he has vanquished and subdued all forteresses of resistance, and if he then perceives with his spirit that his soul has received the gift, while the Spirit witnesses to his spirit according to the word of the Apostle, then this is the summit of humility. Blessed is he that has acquired it, for he at all times embraces Jesus’ bosom.

But if a man asks: What shall I do? How can I acquire it? By what means shall I become worthy of receiving it? For, if I compel myself and think that I have acquired it, I see that unperceived contrary impulses err through my mind, and, consequently, I fall into despair.

{581} He that asks this, is to be answered thus: It is expedient for the disciple to be as his master, and for the slave as his lord. Look at Him who has commanded this and who grants| the gift, how He acquired it; and strive thou to become like Him; then thou canst do it. For He has said: The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me4. Doest thou see how humility is to be acquired by the accomplishment of all excellence? So that we have to imitate Him that has commanded it. ,The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not where to lay his head5. To whom be glory from all those who have become perfect and have been sanctified and become accomplished, in all generations, with the Father who sent Him and the Holy Ghost, now and always and for ever and ever. Amen.

1 Exodus 20, 29

2 With this passage is to be compared the Book of the Dove, p. 80

3 Cf. Ps. 25, 9

4 John 14, 30

5 Matt. 8, 20