{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/106/1060010.htm","path":"chr/ecf/106/1060010.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/106/1060010.htm","text":"11. Hence also the sevenfold operation of the Holy Ghost, of which Isaiah speaks, 32 seems to me to correspond to these stages and sentences. But there is a difference of order: for there the enumeration begins with the more excellent, but here with the inferior. For there it begins with wisdom, and closes with the fear of God: but \u201cthe fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.\u201d And therefore, if we reckon as it were in a gradually ascending series, there the fear of God is first, piety second, knowledge third, fortitude fourth, counsel fifth, understanding sixth, wisdom seventh. The fear of God corresponds to the humble, of whom it is here said, \u201cBlessed are the poor in spirit,\u201d i.e. those not puffed up, not proud: to whom the apostle says, \u201cBe not high-minded, but fear;\u201d 33 i.e. be not lifted up. Piety 34 corresponds to the meek: for he who inquires piously honours Holy Scripture, and does not censure what he does not yet understand, and on this account does not offer resistance; and this is to be meek: whence it is here said, \u201cBlessed are the meek.\u201d Knowledge corresponds to those that mourn who already have found out in the Scriptures by what evils they are held chained which they ignorantly have coveted as though they were good and useful. Fortitude corresponds to those hungering and thirsting: for they labour in earnestly desiring joy from things that are truly good, and in eagerly seeking to turn away their love from earthly and corporeal things: and of them it is here said, \u201cBlessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.\u201d Counsel corresponds to the merciful: for this is the one remedy for escaping from so great evils, that we forgive, as we wish to be p. 7 ourselves forgiven; and that we assist others so far as we are able, as we ourselves desire to be assisted where we are not able: and of them it is here said, \u201cBlessed are the merciful.\u201d Understanding corresponds to the pure in heart, the eye being as it were purged, by which that may be beheld which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, and what hath not entered into the heart of man: 35 and of them it is here said, \u201cBlessed are the pure in heart.\u201d Wisdom corresponds to the peacemakers, in whom all things are now brought into order, and no passion is in a state of rebellion against reason, but all things together obey the spirit of man, while he himself also obeys God: and of them it is here said, \u201cBlessed are the peacemakers.\u201d 36\n12. Moreover, the one reward, which is the kingdom of heaven, is variously named according to these stages. In the first, just as ought to be the case, is placed the kingdom of heaven, which is the perfect and highest wisdom of the rational soul. Thus, therefore, it is said, \u201cBlessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven:\u201d as if it were said, \u201cThe fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.\u201d To the meek an inheritance is given, as it were the testament of a father to those dutifully seeking it: \u201cBlessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.\u201d To the mourners comfort, as to those who know what they have lost, and in what evils they are sunk: \u201cBlessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.\u201d To those hungering and thirsting, a full supply, as it were a refreshment to those labouring and bravely contending for salvation: \u201cBlessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.\u201d To the merciful mercy, as to those following a true and excellent counsel, so that this same treatment is extended toward them by one who is stronger, which they extend toward the weaker: \u201cBlessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.\u201d To the pure in heart is given the power of seeing God, as to those bearing about with them a pure eye for discerning eternal things: \u201cBlessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.\u201d To the peacemakers the likeness of God is given, as being perfectly wise, and formed after the image of God by means of the regeneration of the renewed man: \u201cBlessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.\u201d And those promises can indeed be fulfilled in this life, as we believe them to have been fulfilled in the case of the apostles. For that all-embracing change into the angelic form, which is promised after this life, cannot be explained in any words. \u201cBlessed,\u201d therefore, \u201care they which are persecuted for righteousness\u2019 sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.\u201d This eighth sentence, which goes back to the starting-point, and makes manifest the perfect man, is perhaps set forth in its meaning both by the circumcision on the eighth day in the Old Testament, and by the resurrection of the Lord after the Sabbath, the day which is certainly the eighth, and at the same time the first day; and by the celebration of the eight festival days which we celebrate in the case of the regeneration of the new man; and by the very number of Pentecost. For to the number seven, seven times multiplied, by which we make forty-nine, as it were an eighth is added, so that fifty may be made up, and we, as it were, return to the starting-point: on which day the Holy Spirit was sent, by whom we are led into the kingdom of heaven, and receive the inheritance, and are comforted; and are fed, and obtain mercy, and are purified, and are made peacemakers; and being thus perfect, we bear all troubles brought upon us from without for the sake of truth and righteousness.\nAugustin follows the Septuagint, which has \u201cpiety\u201d instead of \u201cthe fear of the Lord\u201d in the last clause of Isa. xi. 2.\n7:35 7:36\nThis is guarded against misconstruction in the Retract. I. xix. 1.","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VI: Our Lord\u2019s ...","type":"page"}