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WHAT then is that one thing which is so incomparably above those great
and innumerable good things, that, while they are all scorned and rejected,
it alone should be acquired? Doubtless it is that truly good part, the
grand and lasting character of which is thus described by the Lord, when
Mary disregarded the duties of hospitality and courtesy and chose it:
"Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but there
is but need of but few things or even of one only. Mary hath chosen the
good part which shall not be taken away from her." Contemplation then,
i.e., meditation on God, is the one thing, the value of which all the
merits of our righteous acts, all our aims at virtue, come short of. And
all those things which we said existed in the Apostle Paul, were not only
good and useful, but even great and splendid. But as, for example, the
metal of alloy which is considered of some use and worth, becomes worthless
when silver is taken into account, and again the value of silver disappears
in comparison with gold, and gold itself is disregarded when compared with
precious stones, and yet a quantity of precious stones however splendid are
outdone by the brightness of a single pearl, so all those merits of
holiness, although they are not merely good and useful for the present
life, but also secure the gift of eternity, yet if they are compared with
the merit of Divine contemplation, will be considered trifling and so to
speak, fit to be sold. And to support this illustration by the authority of
Scripture, does not Scripture declare of all things in general which were
created by God, and say: "And behold everything that God had made was very
good;" and again: "And things that God hath made are all good in their
season"? These things then which in the present time are termed not
simply and solely good, but emphatically "very good" (for they are really
convenient for us while living in this world, either for purposes of life,
or for remedies for the body, or by reason of some unknown usefulness, or
else they are indeed "very good," because they enable us "to see the
invisible things of God from the creatures of the world, being understood
by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead," from
this great and orderly arrangement of the fabric of the world; and to
contemplate them from the existence of everything in it), yet none of
these things will keep the name of good if they are regarded in the light
of that world to come, where no variation of good things, and no loss of
true blessedness need be feared. The bliss of which world is thus
described: "The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the
light of the sun shall be sevenfold as the light of seven days." These
things then which are great and wondrous to be gazed on, and marvellous,
will at once appear as vanity if they are compared with the future promises
from faith; as David says: "They all shall wax old as a garment, and as a
vesture shall Thou change them, and they shall be changed. But Thou art
the same, and Thy years shall not fail." Because then there is nothing
of itself enduring, nothing unchangeable, nothing good but Deity alone,
while every creature, to obtain the blessing of eternity and immutability,
aims at this not by its own nature but by participation of its Creator,
and His grace, they cannot maintain their character for goodness when
compared with their Creator.
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