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| Chapter III. The definition of blessedness as drawn from the Scriptures is considered and proved. It cannot be enhanced by external good fortune, nor can it be weakened by misfortune.
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Chapter III.
The definition of blessedness as drawn from the
Scriptures is considered and proved. It cannot be enhanced by
external good fortune, nor can it be weakened by misfortune.
8. As, then,
knowledge, so far as it stands alone, is put aside either as worthless,
according to the superfluous discussions of the philosophers,387
| 387 See St.
Augustine, De Civit. Dei. XIX. 1. | or as but an imperfect idea, let us
now note how clearly the divine Scriptures explain a thing about which
we see the philosophers held so many involved and perplexing
ideas. For the Scriptures state that nothing is good but what is
virtuous, and declare that virtue is blessed in every circumstance, and
that it is never enhanced by either corporal or other external good
fortune, nor is it weakened by adversity. No state is so blessed
as that wherein one is free from sin, is filled with innocence, and is
fully supplied with the grace of God. For it is written:
“Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the
ungodly, and hath not stood in the way of sinners, and hath not sat in
the seat of pestilence, but in the law of the Lord was his
delight.”388
And
again: “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in
the law of the Lord.”389
9. Innocence, then, and knowledge make a man
blessed. We have also noted already that the blessedness of
eternal life is the reward for good works. It remains, then, to
show that when the patronage of pleasure or the fear of pain is
despised (and the first of these one abhors as poor and effeminate, and
the other as unmanly and weak), that then a blessed life can rise up in
the midst of pain. This can easily be shown when we read:
“Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and
shall say all manner of evil against you for righteousness’
sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in
heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before
you.”390
And
again: “He that will come after Me, let him take up his
cross and follow Me.”391
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