Greco-Christian stream·The Imitation of Christ·Book III — On Inward Consolation·Chapter XIV. Of Meditation Upon The Hidden Judgments Of God, That We May Not Be Lifted Up Because Of Our Well-Doing
XIV. Hidden judgments of God; not lifted up by well-doing
On the occulta judicia Dei — God's hidden judgments — and how meditation upon them keeps the soul from being lifted up by its own well-doing. Many who seemed great are humbled in God's reckoning; many who seemed small are exalted.
Source context
- Theme
- humble reverence before the inscrutable divine judgments as antidote to spiritual pride
- Soul-faculty
- Consciousness Soul
Steiner
not engaged in the GA corpus
Cross-tradition
- Pauline theology (Romans 11:33)Paul's exclamation over the depth and unsearchability of God's judgments provides the scriptural archetype for the chapter's insistence that human reason cannot penetrate divine decrees.
- Jewish mysticism / KabbalahThe Kabbalistic concept of Tzimtzum and the hiddenness of Ein Sof establishes cross-tradition congruence with the chapter's assertion that divine judgments exceed creaturely comprehension.
- Sufi anthropology (al-Ghazali)Al-Ghazali's treatment of the heart's liability to self-delusion through apparent virtuous achievement offers structural parallel to the chapter's warning against complacency arising from good works.
Chapter XIV. Of Meditation Upon The Hidden Judgments Of God, That We May Not Be Lifted Up Because Of Our Well-Doing
OF MEDITATION UPON THE HIDDEN JUDGMENTS OF GOD, THAT WE MAY NOT BE LIFTED UP BECAUSE OF OUR WELL-DOING
Thou sendest forth Thy judgments against me, O Lord, and shakest all my bones with fear and trembling, and my soul trembleth exceedingly. I stand astonished, and remember that the heavens are not clean in thy sight.(1) If Thou chargest Thine angels with folly, and didst spare them not, how shall it be unto me? Stars have fallen from heaven, and what shall I dare who am but dust? They whose works seemed to be praiseworthy, fell into the lowest depths, and they who did eat Angels' food, them have I seen delighted with the husks that the swine do eat.
2There is therefore no holiness, if Thou O Lord, withdraw Thine hand. No wisdom profiteth, if Thou leave off to guide the helm. No strength availeth, if Thou cease to preserve. No purity is secure, if Thou protect it not. No self-keeping availeth, if Thy holy watching be not there. For when we are left alone we are swallowed up and perish, but when we are visited, we are raised up, and we live. For indeed we are unstable, but are made strong through Thee; we grow cold, but are rekindled by Thee.
3Oh, how humbly and abjectly must I reckon of myself, how must I weigh it as nothing, if I seem to have nothing good! Oh, how profoundly ought I to submit myself to Thy unfathomable judgments, O Lord, when I find myself nothing else save nothing, and again nothing! Oh weight unmeasurable, oh ocean which cannot be crossed over, where I find nothing of myself save nothing altogether! Where, then, is the hiding-place of glory, where the confidence begotten of virtue? All vain-glory is swallowed up in the depths of Thy judgments against me.
4What is all flesh in Thy sight? For how shall the clay boast against Him that fashioned it?(2) How can he be lifted up in vain speech whose heart is subjected in truth to God? The whole world shall not lift him up whom Truth hath subdued; nor shall he be moved by the mouth of all who praise him, who hath placed all his hope in God. For they themselves who speak, behold, they are all nothing; for they shall cease with the sound of their words, but the truth of the Lord endureth for ever.(3)
(1) Job xv. 15. (2) Psalm xxix. 16. (3) Psalm cxvii. 2.