Prooemium in Libros de Simplicitate Christianae Vitae

Prooemium in Libros de Simplicitate Christianae Vitae

Feel the goodness of the Lord, and seek Him with a simple heart, for He is found by those who do not test Him. However, He is revealed to those who have faith in Him. The beginning of our salvation is to know God and to feel good about Him. Just as the tongue of a feverish person, infected, can in no way give a correct judgment about wine, so neither can the spiritual sense of a sinner rightly feel about God. Therefore, at the beginning of His discourse, the uncreated Wisdom encourages us, saying: Feel the goodness of the Lord. And because it is not enough to feel good about God unless He is also sought with the steps of a simple and sincere love, it is rightly added: And seek Him with a simple heart. For love cannot remain hidden in the heart, but just as vapor in a cloud seeks an exit, drifting here and there, murmuring for a long time until it finally bursts forth with a sound from the cloud, so the love of God strives to express itself through actions, working tirelessly until its purpose is fulfilled. Whoever believes they can find God without works is truly testing Him and is consumed by foolish labor, for it is said: He is found by those who do not test Him. But since to find God is to see His face, which He has promised to those who love Him, let us strive toward Him without any doubt about His promise, for we truly see Him as He is. Therefore, it is rightly inferred by Wisdom: It is evident to those who have faith in Him. We say that it is natural for a sheep to be gentle, because we see this quality in all sheep at all times. Moreover, we say that intelligible things, which are approved by all people at any time, are naturally implanted in the human intellect, because when they are heard through the light of understanding, they are immediately affirmed by everyone without any doubt as true. From this, philosophers call the common conceptions of the mind and the first principles of the sciences those things which they say contain such a manifest truth that nothing truer or more certain can be found in the sciences. It is clear to all people that at any time it is approved that a good will makes good men, and that this is the root of all human goodness; without it, no one can be called a good man simply, so much so that if anyone were to do all good works, whether bad or not done with good will, he would not be called good by anyone. However, if someone were to do some evil out of ignorance with good will, he would not be called evil by people simply because of that.