Opinions of S. Chrysostom upon several moral Principles. Of the Love of God.
MOST Men have taken up a false Notion of the Love of God, looking upon it as an Act of the mind, which thinks it has a Love for God, and expresses it with words. S. Chrysostom to undeceive them of this Error, proves by a comparison with the love men have for the Creature, that the love which they ought to have for God, is a strong cleaving of the Heart to God, which is the Rule, Principle, and Motive of all their Actions, and which begets in them a contempt of all that is not God.
If those (saith he in his Comment upon Psalm 91.) that are in love with Corporeal Beauties, have no Sense for all other things in the World, and follow no business, but that of beholding continually an Object which is so dear and so acceptable to them; Can a man that loveth God, as God ought to be loved, have any Sense afterwards of the good and evil, of the Pleasures and Afflictions of this Life? No truly, for he is above all these things, and his delight is only in good things that are Immortal, and of the same Nature with him whom he loveth; those that love the Creatures do quickly change, 'tho unwillingly, their Affection, for Oblivion; because the things which they love decay and corrupt; but this spiritual love hath neither end nor bounds, but contains in it self more Pleasure and Profit than any thing else, and nothing is able to extinguish it.
He compareth the love that we ought to have for God, with that which covetou sMen have for riches? in the Sixth Homily upon the Second Epistle to Timothy.
It is a shameful thing, saith he, that Men possessed with a violent Passion for riches, should shew nothing of that love which they ought to have for God; and that, we have less Consideration for God, than covetous Men have for wealth. For to get Money they watch much, undertake long Journeys, expose themselves to Dangers, Hatred and Ambushes, and undergo all Extremities, but we refuse to bear with the least word for God, or to expose our selves to the least hatred for his Service, &c.
In the Third Homily upon 1 Cor. he tells Christians, That they love Jesus Christ less than their Friends.
Many, saith he, have endured the loss of their Goods, for the Service of their Friends; but none are willing, I will not say, to be deprived of their Goods for Jesus Christ, but even to be reduced to mere Necessaries for his sake, or to content them∣selves with what they have at present. We often bear with Affronts, and make our selves Enemies for our Friends; but none will incurr the Hatred of any for the Service of Jesus Christ, and both this Hatred and Love are looked upon as unprofitable things; we never despise a Friend when we see him hungry, but would not give a Morsel of bread to Jesus Christ who cometh to us daily..... if our Friend be sick we visit him immediately; but tho' Christ is often detained in Prison in the Persons of his Members, we come not at him. When a Friend is going a Journey we melt into tears, but tho' Christ daily departeth from us, or rather we daily put him away by our sins, yet we are not affected with Grief upon that Account.
Last of all, S. Chrysostom observeth Hom. 52. upon the Acts, That,
Whosoever loveth God truly, will despise all the things of this World, even those that are the most precious and il∣lustrious. Glory and Shame are indifferent things to him; he is no more Sollicitous than if he were left alone in the World: He despiseth Temptations, Scourgings, Dungeons, with as much Courage, as if all these were endured by another, or as if his Body were a Dia∣mond; he laughs at the Pleasures of this Life, and is not in the least susceptible of Passions.
See the Twentieth Homily upon S. Matthew, where he shews that God is to be loved not in Words but in Deeds. Hom. 30. upon 2 Cor. Hom. 3. upon 1 Tim. Hom. 52. upon the Acts.