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31. There arises further in this connection a question about
angels. For they are happy in the enjoyment of Him whom we long to
enjoy; and the more we enjoy Him in this life as through a glass
darkly, the more easy do we find it to bear our pilgrimage, and the
more eagerly do we long for its termination. But it is not irrational
to ask whether in those two commandments is included the love of angels
also. For that He who commanded us to love our neighbor made no
exception, as far as men are concerned, is shown both by our Lord
Himself in the Gospel, and by the Apostle Paul. For when the man
to whom our Lord delivered those two commandments, and to whom He
said that on these hang all the law and the prophets, asked Him,
"And who is my neighbor?" He told him of a certain man who, going
down from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell among thieves, and was severely
wounded by them, and left naked and half dead. And He showed him
that nobody was neighbor to this man except him who took pity upon him
and came forward to relieve and care for him. And the man who had
asked the question admitted the truth of this when he was himself
interrogated in turn. To whom our Lord says, "Go and do thou
likewise;" teaching us that he is our neighbor whom it is our duty to
help in his need, or whom it would be our duty to help if he were in
need. Whence it follows, that he whose duty it would be in turn to
help us is our neighbor. For the name "neighbor" is a relative one,
and no one can be neighbor except to a neighbor. And, again, who
does not see that no exception is made of any one as a person to whom
the offices of mercy may be denied when our Lord extends the rule even
to our enemies? "Love your enemies, do good to them that hate
you."
32. And so also the Apostle Paul teaches when he says: "For
this, Thou shall not commit adultery, Thou shall not kill, Thou
shall not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shall not
covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly
comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shall love thy neighbor as
thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor." Whoever then
supposes that the apostle did not embrace every man in this precept, is
compelled to admit, what is at once most absurd and most pernicious,
that the apostle thought it no sin, if a man were not a Christian or
were an enemy, to commit adultery with his wife, or to kill him, or
to covet his goods. And as nobody but a fool would say this, it is
clear that every man is to be considered our neighbor, because we are
to work no ill to any man.
33. But now, if every one to whom we ought to show, or who ought
to show to us, the offices of mercy is by right called a neighbor, it
is manifest that the command to love our neighbor embraces the holy
angels also, seeing that so great offices of mercy have been performed
by them on our behalf, as may easily be shown by turning the attention
to many passages of Holy Scripture. And on this ground even God
Himself, our Lord, desired to be called our neighbor. For our
Lord Jesus Christ points to Himself under the figure of the man who
brought aid to him who was lying half dead on the road, wounded and
abandoned by the robbers. And the Psalmist says in his prayer, "I
behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother." But as
the Divine nature is of higher excellence than, and far removed
above, our nature, the command to love God is distinct from that to
love our neighbor. For He shows us pity on account of His own
goodness, but we show pity to one another on account of His; that
is, He pities us that we may fully enjoy Himself; we pity one
another that we may fully enjoy Him.
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