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But if we want also to establish the force of this opinion by still clearer
proofs, is it not the case that while we read of many things as called good
in the gospel, as a good tree, and good treasure, and a good man, and a
good servant, for He says: "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit;"
and: "a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good
things;" and: "Well done, good and faithful servant;" and certainly
there can be no doubt that none of these are good in themselves, yet if we
take into consideration the goodness of God, none of them will be called
good, as the Lord says: "None is good save God alone"? In whose sight
even the apostles themselves, who in the excellence of their calling in
many ways went beyond the goodness of mankind, are said to be evil, as the
Lord thus speaks to them: "If ye then being evil know how to give good
gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven
give good things to them that ask Him." Finally as our goodness turns to
badness in the eyes of the Highest so also our righteousness when set
against the Divine righteousness is considered like a menstruous cloth, as
Isaiah the prophet says: "All your righteousness is like a menstruous
cloth." And to produce something still plainer, even the vital precepts
of the law itself, which are said to have been "given by angels by the hand
of a mediator," and of which the same Apostle says: "So the law indeed is
holy and the commandment is holy and just and good," when they are
compared with the perfection of the gospel are pronounced anything but good
by the Divine oracle: for He says: "And I gave them precepts that were not
good, and ordinances whereby they should not live in them." The Apostle
also affirms that the glory of the law is so dimmed by the light of the New
Testament that he declares that in comparison with the splendour of the
gospel it is not to be considered glorious, saying: "For even that which
was glorious was not glorified by reason of the glory that excelleth."
And Scripture keeps up this comparison on the other side also, i.e., in
weighing the merits of sinners, so that in comparison with the wicked it
justifies those who have sinned less, saying: "Sodom is justified above
thee;" and again: "For what hath thy sister Sodom sinned?" and: "The
rebellious Israel hath justified her soul in comparison of the treacherous
Judah." So then the merits of all the virtues, which I enumerated
above, though in themselves they are good and precious, yet become dim in
comparison of the brightness of contemplation. For they greatly hinder and
retard the saints who are taken up with earthly aims even at good works,
from the contemplation of that sublime good.
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