Chapter IX.
Of the second and third degrees of love
So then in the beginning man loves God, not for God's sake, but for his own. It
is something for him to know how little he can do by himself and how much by
God's help, and in that knowledge to order himself rightly towards God, his sure
support. But when tribulations, recurring again and again, constrain him to turn
to God for unfailing help, would not even a heart as hard as iron, as cold as
marble, be softened by the goodness of such a Savior, so that he would love God
not altogether selfishly, but because He is God? Let frequent troubles drive us
to frequent supplications; and surely, tasting, we must see how gracious the
Lord is (Ps. 34:8). Thereupon His goodness once realized draws us to love Him
unselfishly, yet more than our own needs impel us to love Him selfishly: even as
the Samaritans told the woman who announced that it was Christ who was at the
well: 'Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard Him
ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the savior of the world'
(John 4:42). We likewise bear the same witness to our own fleshly nature,
saying, 'No longer do we love God because of our necessity, but because we have
tasted and seen how gracious the Lord is'. Our temporal wants have a speech of
their own, proclaiming the benefits they have received from God's favor. Once
this is recognized it will not be hard to fulfill the commandment touching love
to our neighbors; for whosoever loves God aright loves all God's creatures. Such
love is pure, and finds no burden in the precept bidding us purify our souls, in
obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren (I
Peter 1:22). Loving as he ought, he counts that command only just. Such love is
thankworthy, since it is spontaneous; pure, since it is shown not in word nor
tongue, but in deed and truth (I John 3:18); just, since it repays what it has
received. Whoso loves in this fashion, loves even as he is loved, and seeks no
more his own but the things which are Christ's, even as Jesus sought not His own
welfare, but ours, or rather ourselves. Such was the psalmist's love when he
sang: 'O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious' (Ps. 118:1). Whosoever
praises God for His essential goodness, and not merely because of the benefits
He has bestowed, does really love God for God's sake, and not selfishly. The
psalmist was not speaking of such love when he said: 'So long as thou doest well
unto thyself, men will speak good of thee'(Ps. 49:18). The third degree of love,
we have now seen, is to love God on His own account, solely because He is God.
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