Chapter VIII.
Of the first degree of love: wherein man loves God for self's sake
Love is one of the four natural affections, which it is needless to name since
everyone knows them. And because love is natural, it is only right to love the
Author of nature first of all. Hence comes the first and great commandment,
'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.' But nature is so frail and weak that
necessity compels her to love herself first; and this is carnal love, wherewith
man loves himself first and selfishly, as it is written, 'That was not first
which is spiritual but that which is natural; and afterward that which is
spiritual' (I Cor. 15:46). This is not as the precept ordains but as nature
directs: 'No man ever yet hated his own flesh' (Eph. 5:29). But if, as is
likely, this same love should grow excessive and, refusing to be contained
within the restraining banks of necessity, should overflow into the fields of
voluptuousness, then a command checks the flood, as if by a dike: 'Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself'. And this is right: for he who shares our nature
should share our love, itself the fruit of nature. Wherefore if a man find it a
burden, I will not say only to relieve his brother's needs, but to minister to
his brother's pleasures, let him mortify those same affections in himself, lest
he become a transgressor. He may cherish himself as tenderly as he chooses, if
only he remembers to show the same indulgence to his neighbor. This is the curb
of temperance imposed on thee, O man, by the law of life and conscience, lest
thou shouldest follow thine own lusts to destruction, or become enslaved by
those passions which are the enemies of thy true welfare. Far better divide
thine enjoyments with thy neighbor than with these enemies. And if, after the
counsel of the son of Sirach, thou goest not after thy desires but refrainest
thyself from thine appetites (Ecclus. 18:30); if according to the apostolic
precept having food and raiment thou art therewith content (I Tim. 6:8), then
thou wilt find it easy to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,
and to divide with thy neighbors what thou hast refused to thine own desires.
That is a temperate and righteous love which practices self-denial in order to
minister to a brother's necessity. So our selfish love grows truly social, when
it includes our neighbors in its circle.
But if thou art reduced to want by such benevolence, what then? What indeed,
except to pray with all confidence unto Him who giveth to all men liberally and
upbraideth not (James 1:5), who openeth His hand and filleth all things living
with plenteousness (Ps. 145:16). For doubtless He that giveth to most men more
than they need will not fail thee as to the necessaries of life, even as He hath
promised: 'Seek ye the Kingdom of God, and all those things shall be added unto
you' (Luke 12:31). God freely promises all things needful to those who deny
themselves for love of their neighbors; and to bear the yoke of modesty and
sobriety, rather than to let sin reign in our mortal body (Rom. 6:12), that is
indeed to seek the Kingdom of God and to implore His aid against the tyranny of
sin. It is surely justice to share our natural gifts with those who share our
nature.
But if we are to love our neighbors as we ought, we must have regard to God
also: for it is only in God that we can pay that debt of love aright. Now a man
cannot love his neighbor in God, except he love God Himself; wherefore we must
love God first, in order to love our neighbors in Him. This too, like all good
things, is the Lord's doing, that we should love Him, for He hath endowed us
with the possibility of love. He who created nature sustains it; nature is so
constituted that its Maker is its protector for ever. Without Him nature could
not have begun to be; without Him it could not subsist at all. That we might not
be ignorant of this, or vainly attribute to ourselves the beneficence of our
Creator, God has determined in the depths of His wise counsel that we should be
subject to tribulations. So when man's strength fails and God comes to his aid,
it is meet and right that man, rescued by God's hand, should glorify Him, as it
is written, 'Call upon Me in the time of trouble; so will I hear thee, and thou
shalt praise Me' (Ps. 50:15). In such wise man, animal and carnal by nature, and
loving only himself, begins to love God by reason of that very self-love; since
he learns that in God he can accomplish all things that are good, and that
without God he can do nothing.
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