^ He seems to mean two disiinct things: (i) The objection is cliildish and needs no answering ; (2) The whole question is beyond the reach of our understanding.
2 This unskilled athlete is not vrry convincing. I'resumably D. could not box !
The Divine Names 159
uiiconfusccl and distinct from one another, and <^ivcs
to all thini^s that which is suited to each accordinj^^ to
the worth which each possesses.^ And if this is true,
then all those who blame the Divine Rii^hteousness
stand (unwittingly) self-condemned of flagrant un-
righteousness ; for they say that immortality should
belong to mortal things and perfection to the im-
perfect, and necessary or mechanical motion to those
which possess free spiritual motion, and immutability
to those which change, and the power of accomplish-
ment to the weak, and that temporal things should be
eternal, and that things which naturally move should be
unchangeable, and that pleasures which are but for a
season should last for ever ; and, in short, they would
interchange the properties of all things. But they
should know that the Divine Righteousness is found
in this to be true Righteousness, that it gives to all
the qualities which befit them, according to the worth
of each, and that it preserves the nature of each in its
proper order and power.-
8. But some one may say : " It is not right to
leave holy men unaided to be oppressed by the
wicked." We must reply, that if those whom you
call holy love the earthly things which are the objects
of material ambition, they have utterly fallen from
the Desire for God. And I know not how they can
be called holy where they do this wrong to the things
which are truly Lovely and Divine, wickedly rejecting
them for things unworthy of their ambition and their
love. But if they long for the things that are real,
then they who desire aught should rejoice when the
^ Vide supra on Exemplars.
^ D. is least satisfactory when he becomes an apologist, and when (like other apologists) he iries to explain away the obvious fact of evil and imperfection. Within certain limits what he says will hold. A rose fulfils its true function by being a rose, and not by trying to be an elephant. But to hold that whatever is, is best, is quietism. The variety of the world is good, but not its imperfections.
i6o DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE
object of their desire is obtained. Now are they not
nearer to the angeHc virtues when they strive, in their
desire for Divine Things, to abandon their affection
towards material things, and manfully to train them-
selves unto this object in their struggles for the
Beautiful ? Thus, 'tis true to say that it is more in
accordance with Divine Righteousness not to lull into
its destruction the manliness of the noblest characters
through bestowing material goods upon them, nor to
leave them without the aid of Divine corrections if
any one attempt so to corrupt them. It is true Justice
to strengthen them in their noble and loyal stability,
and to bestow on them the things which befit their
high condition.^
9. This Divine Righteousness is also called the
Salvation or Preservation of the world, because It
preserves and keeps the particular being and place of
each thing inviolate from the rest, and is the inviolate
Cause of all the particular activity in the world. And
if any one speaks of Salvation as the saving Power
v/hich plucks the world out of the influence of evil,
we will also certainly accept this account of Salvation
since Salvation hath so many forms. We shall only
ask him to add, that the primary Salvation of the
world is that which preserves all things in their
proper places without change, conflict, or deteriora-
tion, and keeps them all severally without strife or
struggle obeying their proper laws, and banishes all
inequality and interference from the world, and
establishes the due capacities of each so that they
fall not into their opposites nor suffer any trans-
ferences.^ Indeed, it would be quite in keeping with
^ True again within certain limits. The Saints are made perfect through suffering. ]5ut what of the innocent child victims of war atrocities ?
^ Salvation is that which, when persons or things are in a right state, keeps them therein ; when they are in a wrong state, transfers them thence. The first meaning is positive and essential, the second negative
THE DiVLNE NAMES i6i
the teaching of the Divine Science to say that this
Salvation, working- in that beneficence which pre-
serves the world, redeems all things (according as
each can receive this saving power) so that they fall
not from their natural virtues. Hence the Sacred
Writers call It Redemption, both because It allows
not the things which truly exist ^ " to fall away into
nothingness," ^ and also because, should anything
stumble into error or disorder and suffer a diminu-
tion of the perfection of its proper virtues, It redeems
even this thing from the weakness and the loss it
suffers : filling up that which it lacks and supporting
its feebleness with Fatherly Love ; raising it from its
evil state, or rather setting it firmly in its right state ;
completing once more the virtue it had lost, and
ordering and arraying its disorder and disarray ;
making it perfect and releasing it from all its defects.
So much for this matter and for the Righteousness
whereby the equality or proportion of all things is
measured and given its bounds, and all inequality or
disproportion (which arises from the loss of proportion
in the individual things) is kept far away. For if one
considers the inequality shown in the mutual differ-
ences of all things in the world, this also is preserved
by Righteousness which will not permit a complete
mutual confusion and disturbance of all things, but
keeps all things within the several forms naturally
belonging to each.^
and incidental. The Scriptural view includes both sides, with the emphasis on the first. Protestantism (being in this as in other matters of a negative tendency) ignores the positive side to the great detriment of Religion. ^ i. e. All good things.
^ Nothingness inchides (i) mere non-entity ; (2) evil. (Perhaps both meanings are intended.) Salvation maintains all good things both in their being and in their excellence. If they fell away towards nothingness the result is first corruption and then destruction.
^ The wordiVoTTjs implies that a thing is identical in size, etc. (i) with other things; (2) with its own true nature. It thus =(i) "equality" ; (2) " Tightness." D. maintains that all things possess tiie latter though not the former.
i62 DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE
Chapter Ix
Coiiceniino; ''Great:' '' Small r '' Same^' "- Different r "Like: ''U?ilike:' '' Sta?idi?ig:' ''Motion:' "Equality:'
1. Now, since Greatness and Smallness are
ascribed to the Universal Cause, and Sameness and
Difference, and Similarity and Dissimilarity, and
Rest and Motion, let us also consider these Titles of
the Divine Glory so far as our minds can grasp them.
Now Greatness is attributed in the Scriptures unto
God, both in the great firmament and also in the thin
air whose subtlety reveals tlie Divine Smallness.^
And Sameness is ascribed to Him when the Scripture
saith, " Thou art the same," and Difference when He
is depicted by the same Scriptures as having many
forms and qualities. And He is spoken of as Similar
to the creatures, in so far as He is the Creator of
things similar to Himself and of their similarity ; and
as Dissimilar from them in so far as there is not His
like. And He is spoken of as Standing and Immov-
able and as Seated for ever, and yet as Moving and
going forth into all things.^ These and many similar
Titles are given by the Scriptures unto God.
2. Now God is called Great in His peculiar Great-
ness which giveth of Itself to all things that are great
and is poured upon all Magnitude from outside and
stretches far beyond it ; embracing all Space, exceed-
ing all Number, penetrating beyond all Infinity^ both
^ Boundless space cannot contain God, yet He is wholly contained in a single point of that apparent nothingness which we call air. Cf. Section 3.
2 Cf. St. Augustine, Confessions, i, Section i.
The great paradox is that God combines perfect Rest and perfect Motion. Idealism has seized the first aspect, I'ragmatism and Vitalism the second. A sense of both is present in the highest Mystical expe- rience and in the restful activity or strenuous repose of Love.
3 Cf. 155, n. 3.
The Divine Nam1-:S 163
in Its exceeding fullness and creative magnificence,
and also in the bounties that well forth from It, inas-
much as these, bein;^ shared by all in that lavish
outpouring, yet are totally undiminished and possess
the same exceeding Fullness, nor are they lessened
through their distribution, but rather overflow the
more. This Greatness is Infinite, without Quantity
and without Number.^ And the excess of Greatness
reaches to this pitch through the Absolute Transcen-
dent outpouring of the Incomprehensible Grandeur.
3. And Smallncss, or Rarit}^ is ascribed to God's
Nature because He is outside all solidity and distance
and penetrates all things without let or hindrance.
Indeed, Smallness is the elementary Cause of all
things ; for you will never find any part of the world
but participates in that quality of Smallness. This,
then, is the sense in which we must apply this quality
to God. It is that which penetrates unhindered unto
all things and through all things, energizing in them
and reaching to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of
joints and marrow ; and being a Discerner of the
desires and the thoughts of the heart, or rather of all
things, for there is no creature hid before God. ^ This
Smallness is wdthout Quantity or Quality;^ It is
Irrepressible, Infinite, Unlimited, and, while com-
prehending all things, is Itself Incomprehensible.
^ It is a Quality, not a quantity. Vulgarity consists in mistaking quantity for quality. This has been the mistake of the modern world.
^ Heb. iv. 12. We can conceive of the mind's search for God in two ways : as a journey, (i) outwards, to seek Him beyond the sky, (2) inwards, to seek Him in the heart. Psalm xix. combines both ways. So does \.\\Q. Faradiso. Dante passes outwards through the concentric spheres of space to the Empyrean which is beyond space and encloses it. There he sees the Empyrean as a point and his whole journey from sphere to sphere as a journey inwards instead of outwards. (Canto xxviii. 16.) The Mystics often speak of " seeing God in a Point." God is in all things as the source of their existence and natural life ; and in us as the Source of our existence and spiritual life.
^ The Potentiality of all quality is without /a;Y/r/^/«;' quality. Cf p. 155, n. 2.
1 64 Dionysius the Areopagite
4. And Sameness is attributed to God as a super-
essentially Eternal and Unchangeable Quality,
resting in Itself, always existing in the same condition,
present to all things alike, firmly and inviolably fixed
on Its own basis in the fair limits of the Super-
Essential Sameness ; not subject to change, declension,
deterioration or variation, but remaining Unalloyed,
Immaterial, utterly Simple, Self-Sufficing, Incapable
of growth or diminition, and without Birth, not in
the sense of being as yet unborn or imperfect, nor
in the sense of not having received birth from this
source or that, nor yet in the sense of utter non-
existence ; but in the sense of being wholly or utterly
Birthless and Eternal and Perfect in Itself and always
the Same, being self-defined in Its Singleness and
Sameness, and causing a similar quality of Identity
to shine forth from Itself upon all things that are
capable of participating therein and yoking different
things in harmony together. ^ For It is the boundless
Richness and Cause of Identity, and contains before-
hand in Itself all opposites under the form of Identity
in that one unique Causation which transcends all
identity.^
5. And Difference is ascribed to God because He
is, in His providence, present to all things and
becomes all things in all for the preservation of them
all,^ while yet remaining in Himself nor ever going
forth from His own proper Identity in that one
ceaseless act wherein His life consists ; and thus with
undeviating power He gives Himself for the Deifica-
^ It causes each thing (i) to be a thing, (2) to co-exist harmoniously witli other things.
- It contains the potential existence of all things, however difTerent from each other, as the air contains the potential life of all the various plants and animals.