MORES CATHOLICI; OR AGES OF FAITH. THE THIRD BOOK. CHAPTER I. HAT the meek were blessed has already been seen incidentally in surveying the development of the mild and humble spirit in the reciprocal relations of political order, but in what manner they truly inherited the earth remains to be shown; and the attempt to explain this in reference to the history of the ages of faith, will constitute the subject of the present book. "Beati mites," has been hitherto our theme, but now we must attend to the conclusion of that sentence, "quoniam ipsi possidebunt terram," and mark well the saintly commentators' distinction, who add with St. Jerome, "not the land of Juda," nor the land of this world "whose base affection many a spirit soils;" not the cursed deceitful land which beareth thorns and briars, which the cruelest warrior rather may possess, but the land which the Psalmist desired, saying, "Credo videre bona domini in terra viventium :" "for no one can possess the former land by meekness, but by pride."* "Beati mites: quoniam ipsi hereditate possidebunt terram," "that earth I believe," continues St. Augustin, of which it is said in the Psalm, "Spes mea es tu, portio mea in terra viventium:" for it signifies a certain solidity and stability of perpetual inheritance where the soul by a good affection rests in its place as the body rests upon the earth; this is the rest and life of the saints; of the meek who yield to improbity and resist not evil, but overcome evil by good. "What then are the riches that the earth will offer to them? They shall be delighted in the multitude of peace. The proud are delighted in the multitude of gold, in the multitude of slaves, in the multitude of luxurious banquets; but what will be the riches and the delights of the meek? *St. Hieronym, Comment in Matth. v. + St. August. Lib. I. de Serm. Dom. in Monte. The multitude of peace. Their gold will be peace, their possessions peace, their life peace; they will love and desire it in their houses, in their business, in their wives, in their children, in their servants, in their friends, in their enemies : whatever they possess or desire will be peace to them; for God will be their peace for ever. Nevertheless, though it was promised that the meek should inherit the earth, yet the redeemed children of the holy discipline were not like the Jews to be always looking for a temporal reward and blessing which would often be interrupted by that necessary sword which Christ came to send, or by that more ancient trial imposed in the command "Egredere de terra tua et de cognatione tua.” They were not to possess the earth according to the conception of those who were immersed in matter and inextricably entangled in the net of the senses. The Israelites themselves were not to possess it like the Philistians, of whom we are told, that they had fat beeves and abundance of store, and of all that could gratify mere animal life. The first that sought to live on this earth like an inhabitant thereof, being indeed but a stranger and pilgrim, was Cain, and that the reprobate race may in a certain sense gain possession of the earth, is an evident fact, which must not be denied through that reckless love of antithesis in which some writers indulge according to the license of those associated with Nicole, who says, "It is the condition of man to have God or nothing:" on the contrary, we read that the devil would have given our blessed Lord all the kingdoms that he showed him from the pinnacle of the temple, if he would have worshipped him : and until God will arise to judgment that he may save all the meek upon the earth, that adversary has beyond all doubt permission to bestow gifts on such men as consent to serve him, of which power, without recurring to fable, the world has in different ages beheld wondrous and fearful examples. Yet, on the other hand, the lofty and inspiring doctrines of the bright school must not be forgotten, which affirm that the real possession of the earth, and of its genuine good, can never be obtained by any excepting by those to whom that possession is promised; for not to insist upon the explanation of St. Cyril of Jerusalam, who supposes that Satan lied when he said he would give all that to our Saviour, as if it had been at his disposal,† is it not clear to the dullest apprehension, that, in order to enjoy the fruits of a real possession, something more is required than the bare material and external gift, or the mere nominal right? for that these do not always of necessity confer the real personal good, may be witnessed in a thousand families and unquestionable instances; so that strictly speaking, not only according to the deepest conceptions of philosophical truth, but from the observation of the undeniable facts in human life, it may be said, that the proud or wicked can possess nothing, since every thing is evil to them, which is itself nothing. Sin and evil cannot have a substantial exist"There is no substance of evil," says St. Basil, "for malice is not any thing ence. * Id. Tractat. in Ps. xxxvi. et in Ps. cxlvii. + Cateches. VIII. |