Here Begins the Fourth Book

Summary

On Humility

Your streets, Jerusalem, are covered with pure gold and translucent glass. Thus says John, the master of divine secrets, in his theology. Pure gold, tried in the furnace of poverty and patience, and the translucent glass of a pure mind illuminate the streets on which Humility, having traveled through Egypt and the desert and having vanquished her enemies, shall walk the way of the Lord’s commandments. Her heart will open wide as she ascends to the city of heavenly peace with its golden walls and jeweled turrets, rising from humble foundations but standing taller than the stars. There, my soul, my special one, I would like you to travel by the roads of humility. I know that you devoutly strive for ever greater humbleness; you say entreatingly: “My soul has cleaved to the pavement; quicken me, Lord, according to your word.” But I still want you to be cautious of human inconstancy, often our downfall. Because we are vessels made of dirt, we are impatient of God’s gifts; the more we lack in virtue, the more insolent we are in disparaging the good he gives us. It is theft if we arrogate God’s free gifts to ourselves. For as we do not exist of ourselves, thus we have nothing of ourselves besides sin. And yet it comes naturally to our ignoble flesh and our filthy, rotten indignity to rise up insolently at the prompting of the unclean spirit of pride, even as God visits us with his mercy. Against this arrogance, we read: “For if any man think himself to be something, whereas he is nothing, he deceives himself.” Therefore, presumption is the origin of every downfall. Hence David: “Let not the foot of pride come to me, and let not the hand of the sinner move me. There the workers of iniquity are fallen; they are cast out and could not stand.” And, “When they were lifted up you have cast them down.” Humility is the guard of virtues; if anyone loses it, he loses his virtues, and he gives up his vineyard unguarded to the plunderers. But godless Pharaoh, the worldly king of Egypt, will persecute anyone who starts out on a pious life and begins to make his way from his country to the promised land.