Knowledge, Law, and the Soul

Regarding what is said in the Gospel, 'even from him who does not have, that which he seems to have will be taken away' (Matt 25:29). This signifies, in my opinion, the intellectual remnants of virtues and the knowledge of God, which are taken from men who have used them badly.

'He who plants a fig tree shall eat its fruits' (Prov 24:13): Our Lord is the fig tree, for its fruit heals leprosy. 'If one dishonors a fool in the midst of a sitting, you will not take away his foolishness from him' (Prov 26:4-5): Not dishonoring the fool will not remove him from foolishness, but rather teaching him what kind of dishonor foolishness becomes to a stranger.

'Knowingly shepherd your souls' (Heb 13:17): Attend to yourself and direct your virtues, for men do not always remain equally strong in them; nor do they transition healthily from virtue to virtue or from knowledge to knowledge, those not easily receiving the human condition...; for he says 'generations' regarding virtues and knowledges, according to which the saints are born, and he shows this through what he writes: 'A generation of wisdom: the fear of the Lord, and riches, and glory, and life' (Prov 24:13-14).

This proverb should also be used toward the shepherds of the churches, to whom it is necessary to attend not to faces but to hearts, and to shepherd the sheep intellectually. 'Tend the green things in the field and shear the wool' (Song of Sol 2:16/4:16): He calls the mind a field, and the green things are the virtues existing within it by potentiality; the one tending them shears the wool, which is a symbol of the knowledge of God, which he also again calls a mountain pasture; for a mountain pasture is the knowledge of the holy powers, fitting the more irrational state of souls. It is the custom of Scripture to call the saints 'mountains.' Thus also David lifts his soul up to the mountains, whence his help shall come (Ps 121:1); and again, 'the mountains like rams, and the bulls like lambs of the flock, for the salvation of Israel' (Ps 98:7); for if angels rejoice over one repentant person, how much more over a multitude traveling from evil toward virtue. Therefore also...

Only the knowledge of the holy angels nourishes the virtues within us, from which the soul's organs of compassion are clothed: kindness, patience, humility, faith, self-control, love, and the good things born from these. For since the fields are also metaphorical, and David speaks of rational souls, it is to be learned from here. For they say, 'Your fields shall indeed be filled with plenty' (Psalm 65:13); and again shortly after, 'And the barns shall be full of corn' (Psalm 65:14); they shall cry out, for they shall indeed sing (Psalm 96:11). For hymn and cry alone are suited to belong to rational nature.

A man who slanders the poor in impieties: If he is brave in impieties, he is brave also in virtues; and if the brave man slanders the poor in impieties, the brave man in virtues exhorts the poor; surely everyone who exhorts the poor is brave in pieties. But those who love the law surround themselves with a wall: Everyone who loves the law practices the law, and everyone who practices the law acquires apathy and knowledge of God; if then those who love the law surround themselves with a wall, now the wall signifies apathy and the knowledge of God, which alone is suited to guard the rational nature.

He who shepherds profligacy dishonors his father: He calls the mind a shepherd, and the passions within it are sheep, which he nourishes within himself through the transgression of the law, thereby dishonoring God; for profligacy is a sickness of the soul, consisting of passionate thoughts carried out through the body; but profligacy of the mind is the assumption of false dogmas and theories.

He who increases his wealth through usury and abundance brings it to the one who shows mercy to the poor: If the wealth of the impious is wickedness, and wise men will destroy it, it is evident that the righteous and wise are destroying wickedness by leading the impure toward virtue through spiritual teaching. He who turns his ear not to hear the law, he himself has detested his prayer: It is not the law that is detested by anyone.