De arte praedicatoria

The following authorities inform us about peace: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.¹ Likewise: Have peace among yourselves.² Likewise: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.³

Of peace it is also said: The peace which surpasses all understanding.⁴ And: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.⁵ And Gregory says: "If we show how great the virtue of peace is, we shall know with what zeal it ought to be cultivated by us, etc.;" we recognize the dignity of this virtue well enough from the fact that our Lord and Redeemer deigned to leave it to his disciples as a great gift, so that through it they might make peace with him as partners in peacemaking. This, therefore, the law of nature dictates, and the elements, the planets, and other insensible things embrace it peacefully in their arms.

There are three kinds of peace: the peace of time, the peace of the heart, and the peace of eternity. The first is the shadow of peace; the second, the circumstance of peace; the third, the substance of peace. In the first are the torches of peace; in the second, the remnants of peace; in the third, the delicate feasts. The first is imaginary, the second inviting, the third substantive. The first peace consists in the prosperity of temporal things, the second arises from tranquility of mind, the third exists in the delight of heavenly life.

The first peace is not to be sought, because it is deceptive and slippery and transitory, which when thought to be held, flees. This is a womanly storm, a prosperous adversity, delicious bitternesses, bitter sweetnesses. This peace, in serenity, gives birth to clouds; in tranquility, to tumult; it flatters in the likeness of a worldly breeze, then rages in the likeness of the sea, now is calm, then is suddenly overturned, and, as Seneca says, on the same day the ships that sailed are swallowed up. Princes have experienced these pleasures of peace, the middling have experienced them, and the poor too have experienced them. Whoever hopes in this places his foot on slippery ground, docks his ship in a shipwreck, stands on a precipice, sows in sand.

The second peace is far more excellent than this, which does not fear the slipperiness of exterior peace, which does not dread the cloud of fortune, which purges the mind of vices; which the worm of conscience does not destroy. This the thunderbolts of princes cannot destroy, nor the assaults of enemies exclude. With this alone as companion a man is rich, with this alone the wise man is content, with this as companion he is safe in adversities, secure in dangers. This makes a man a son of God. This is born of the assembly of virtues, the departure of vices. Of this it is said: In peace I will sleep and rest in the very same.⁶

In this peace of mind there is tranquil sleep, peaceful rest, true vision. He whose mind depends on exterior goods does not have this peace. He who is not content with himself lacks such peace. He who holds peace within himself retains the same with his neighbor. He cannot keep it shut within who does not exercise it without.

But the peace of eternity is that which surpasses every peace, where God is all in all, where all wish one thing and one thing alone, and refuse one thing and one thing alone. Where the flesh does not clamor against reason, where all will submits itself to God's will, where man has peace with God, peace with himself. Where Simon Magus does not deceive, where the Pharisee does not enlarge his phylacteries, where the Jew does not murmur, where Linus rejoices as much in Peter's good as in his own, where love is mutual, where affection is shared; where discord does not break peace, where fraud does not cause divorces in peace, where all things succeed according to desire, where nothing opposes affection, where effect accompanies will, where effect does not precede affection. To this peace no one comes, except one who has first ordered peace in his soul, who has first calmed the tumults within himself, who has first excluded from himself the strife of carnal thoughts, who has first become ruler of himself.

This threefold peace mentioned above was once signified by various figures. By the rest which the children of Israel had in the land of promise was signified the peace of time, because just as that rest was sprinkled with various adversities, so the peace of time is disturbed by many adversities. By the solemn Sabbath in the old law is signified the peace of our conscience; because just as men rested from servile work on the Sabbath, so in the peace of the heart one rests from the servitude of sin. By that rest by which God rested from his work on the seventh day⁷ is signified eternal peace, in which one must rest from all labor. The first peace is to be trodden underfoot, the second to be held, the third to be sought.

If Cain had had peace in his heart, he would not have rushed upon his brother.⁸ If Absalom had kept peace of mind, he would not have rushed upon his father.⁹ If the tranquility of conscience had calmed Judas' soul, he would not have fled to the noose.¹⁰ O how safely he is seated on his throne whom tranquility of mind flatters, how elegantly he has made his bed who orders his soul in peace of heart, how securely he lies in bed who disposes peace in his soul! In this alone must man remain until he passes on. In this, tending toward it, let him sleep and rest.