De Conflictu Vitiorum Et Virtutum (Incertus) (Appendix VII)

APPENDIX VII. ON THE CONFLICT OF THE VICES AND THE VIRTUES. The apostolic voice cries out throughout the world, and says to those placed in the battle-line of the faith, lest they grow sluggish in their security: "All who wish to live piously in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Tim. 3:12). And behold, because Christianity, even in its princes, is now religious and now faithful, there are lacking to those living piously in Christ Jesus the chains, the scourges, the whips, the prisons, the racks, the crosses, and whatever other kinds of torments there may be; how then will it be true what resounded through the Apostle, that all living piously suffer persecution? Or perhaps in a time of peace no one wishes to live piously in Christ Jesus, and therefore these things are lacking? Who, even a fool, would say this? In this sentence of the Apostle, therefore, not a special persecution of some, but a general persecution of all ought to be understood. And indeed there are many placed within the bosom of Mother Church who, living piously in Christ, are afflicted with insults, are assailed with reproaches, injuries, and mockeries. Is this truly that general persecution which the Apostle described all living piously in Christ as suffering? I would not readily say so, since there are some religious persons whom none of the wicked dare to revile to their face. Therefore, another persecution is to be understood, one which is more savage and more harmful, which not mortal severity inflicts, but the adversity of the vices engenders.

For while pride fights against humility, pretense against true religion, contempt against subjection, vainglory against the fear of the Lord, envy against fraternal rejoicing, hatred against love, detraction against the freedom of just correction, anger against patience, insolence against gentleness, swelling against satisfaction, worldly sadness against spiritual joy, sloth or idleness against the exercise of virtue, dissolute wandering against firm stability, despair against the confidence of hope, cupidity against contempt for the world, obduracy against mercy, fraud or deceit against innocence, falsehood and lying against truth, gluttony of the belly against moderation in food, ill-timed merriment against moderate grief, loquacity against discreet silence, impurity and lust against integrity of the flesh, spiritual fornication against purity of heart, and the appetite for the present world against love of the heavenly fatherland—what else does it do, when it plunges itself in opposition, than wage a cruel persecution against the living, against the massed battle-lines of the virtues?

How harsh, how bitter is the assault of pride, which cast angels from heaven, drove men from paradise; whose army and whose conflict of arms are the vices which we have briefly touched upon! But let us see how the camps of heaven and hell do battle, how the arms of Christ and the devil clash in conflict. (Pride:) Certainly, you are better than many, indeed than almost all, in word, knowledge, wealth, honors, and all the charisms that avail either in carnal or spiritual matters; therefore despise all, show yourself superior to all. (Humility:) Remember that you are dust (Gen. 3:19), that you are ash, that you are rot and a worm, that even if you are something, unless you humble yourself as much as you are great, you will utterly lose what you are. Were you ever higher than the first angel? Were you ever more splendid on earth than Lucifer in heaven (Ecclus. 3:20)? For if he fell from such great height through pride, how will you, swelling with pride, ascend from the depths to heavenly heights, you who, as long as you live here, are bound by that condition of which it is said through a certain wise man: "The body, which is corrupted, weighs down the soul, and the earthly dwelling depresses the mind that thinks of many things" (Wis. 9:15)?

How thick do we think the darkness of pride envelops our earthly clay, if in heaven a star that rose in the morning (Isaiah 14:12) could lose its globes of light? Listen rather to the light of truth saying: He who follows me (he says) does not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8:12). In what way it itself should be followed, he forewarned elsewhere, saying: Learn from me, who am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:29). Hear, swelling of pride, hear the teacher of humility speaking to these things: Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Matthew 23:12); and this: Upon whom will my spirit rest, if not upon the humble, and the quiet, and those trembling at my words (Isaiah 66:2)? Hear also what the Apostle says about him who invites you to pursue humility. For he says: He who, though in the form of God, did not consider it a usurpation to be equal to God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men, and found in habit as a man; he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, and death on the cross (Philippians 2:6-8). If, therefore, divine majesty lowers itself with such great humility, how should human weakness be proud in anything?

(Vain Glory:) Do the good you are able; show everyone the good you do, so that you may be called good, so that you may be proclaimed holy and venerable by all, so that you may be known as one chosen by God, so that no one may scorn you, no one may despise you, but all may pay you the honor that is your due. (Fear of the Lord, Right Intention:) If you ever do something good, do it not for transient honors but for eternal ones; conceal what you do, as much as you are able; if you cannot entirely do so, let there be in your heart the will to conceal it, and there will be no rashness about display, nor will it be a crime ever to manifest what you always wish to keep hidden. Thus, finally, you will seem to have fulfilled two sayings of the Redeemer that are seemingly contrary to each other, in which it is said: "When you give alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand does, but let your alms be in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you" (Matthew 6:3). And: "Let your good works be seen, and glorify your Father, who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).

Beware utterly lest that saying of the Lord concerning hypocrites apply to you: "They do all their works that they may be blessed by men; but I say to you, they have received their reward" (Matt. 6). Attend to me in all that you do, lest, driven by the elation of vainglory, you hear with those who even boasted of the signs of miracles: "I saw Satan, like lightning, falling from heaven" (Luke 10:18); but fear, for it is written: "The fear of the Lord is glory, and boasting, and joy, and the crown of exultation" (Ecclus. 1:11, 17). The fear of the Lord will delight your heart, and will give joy, and gladness, and length of days. To him who fears the Lord, it will be well in the end, and on the day of his death he will be blessed. And further on: "The root of wisdom is to fear the Lord, and its branches are length of days." (Simulation:) Because you do nothing good in secret, lest, being known by all, you be detested, feign outwardly what you do not desire to be within.

(True Religion:) Do not do this at all, but rather strive to become good, which you are not; for to show men what you are not—what else is that but damnation? Remember, therefore, what is said: "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who clean the outside of the cup and the dish; but within you are full of plunder and filth" (Matt. 23:25). Blind Pharisee, first clean what is inside the cup and the dish, so that what is outside may become clean. And likewise that which is repeatedly emphasized in the Gospel: "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who are like whitened sepulchers, which appear beautiful to men on the outside, but within are full of dead men's bones and every foulness; so you indeed appear just to men on the outside, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity" (Ibid. 26-28); and also that which is written concerning such persons: "They will come to you in sheep's clothing, but within they are rapacious wolves" (Matt. 7:15).

(Elatio:) What sort of person are you, that you obey those worse than yourself, that you show servitude to those more base? It would have been more fitting for you to rule than for them, who cannot equal you in talent, or industry, or strength. Therefore, obey the command of God, and do not concern yourself any further about anyone. (Beata submissio:) If the command of God is to be obeyed, it is necessary to submit to human teaching; for He Himself says: “He who hears you, hears me; and he who scorns you, scorns me” (Luke 10:16). Thus (one says) it is fitting, but only if the one who commands were such, but he is not such a one through whom God commands. But the Apostle says to the contrary: “There is no power except from God; and those that exist are ordained by God; therefore, whoever resists authority resists God’s ordinance.” For what sort those who command ought to be is not for subjects to judge. And indeed to the first pastors of the Church the Lord says: “You know that the kings of the nations rule over them, and those who exercise power among them are called benefactors; but you are not so, but whoever wishes to be greater among you will be the servant of all; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life for many” (Matthew 20:25). But nevertheless, because He did not foresee that all would be such, assuming the persons of all subjects in the disciples, He warned in advance, saying: “On the chair of Moses sat the Scribes and Pharisees; whatever they say to you, do; what they do, do not do” (Matthew 23:2).

(Envy:) I? How am I lesser than that one or those? Why then are they not equal or superior to you? How much are you worth that they are not worth? Therefore they ought not to be either superior or even equal to you. (Fraternal congratulation:) If you surpass others in virtues, you keep yourself more safely in the low grove than on the height; for often a fall from a higher place is worse. But if, as you claim, some are superior or equal to you, what harm does it do you? What does it hurt you? Beware, lest while you envy others their place of eminence, you imitate him of whom the text holds: "Through the envy of the devil, death entered into the world"; moreover, those who are of his party imitate him (Wisdom 2:24). (Hatred:) Far be it that you love him whom you have as an adversary in all things, who disparages you, who insults you, who exasperates you with reproaches, who casts your sins in your teeth, who always hastens to outstrip you in words, deeds, and honors? For if he did not envy you, he would by no means prefer himself to you.

(Love:) Is it because these things you recount are to be hated in a person, that therefore the image of God in a person is not to be loved? As Christ, who placed on the cross loved his enemies, and before the torment of the cross admonished, saying: Love your enemies, and do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute and slander you, that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:44). And as it is said through Solomon and the apostles: If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink, for in doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head (Proverbs 25:21). To which sentence the Apostle added from his own, saying: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:20-21); which against those who are known to hate their brothers is said through John: He who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that every murderer does not have eternal life remaining in him (1 John 3:15). And again: He who hates his brother walks in darkness, and is in darkness still, and does not know where he goes, because darkness has blinded his eyes (1 John 2:11).

(You say:) "It is enough for me to love those who love me." But the Lord says the opposite: "If you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Do not even the publicans do this?" (Matthew 5:46-47?) What can you object to this? Certainly: "He who hates his brother remains in death; he who loves, abides in God, and God in him." Therefore, vomit out all the bitterness of gall, and in whatever way you can, take up the sweetness of charity; for nothing is more vile, nothing more blessed than it. "God," says John, "is charity" (1 John 4:16); and the eminent preacher: "The charity of God is diffused in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who is given to us" (Romans 5:5). Hence it is not undeservedly said to cover over the crimes of sinners, as it is written: "Charity covers all sins" (Proverbs 10:12). (Detraction:) Who will be able to endure, who will be able to conceal in silence how many wicked things this or that person commits, unless perhaps one who consents?

(Freedom of Just Correction:) The evils of one's neighbor are not to be passed over in silence, nor are they to be consented to, but the neighbor is to be rebuked with fraternal charity, not secretly slandered. But if it is objected: "I am unwilling to rebuke a brother openly, lest, exasperated, he not profit from the correction, but rather take scandal from it," divine Scripture meets this, declaring on the contrary that this is even more a scandal, saying: "You sat and slandered your brother, and you placed a scandal against the son of your nurse" (Psalm 49:20-21). (Discerning Correction:) For he who perceives himself being slandered takes greater scandal than he who endures being rebuked. And because sometimes the errors of the unwilling are to be covered by silence for a time, so that they may be corrected at a more suitable time, it is added: "You did this, and I was silent." But lest slanderers applaud themselves for this discreet silence—they who, always preferring to slander secretly, never break out into open rebuke—it is further subjoined: "You wrongly thought that I would be like you." As if it were said: It is unjust that, by being silent for a time, I should appear like a slanderer, when, by keeping silent for a while and not slandering, I await the opportunity for open correction. Hence it is immediately added: "I will rebuke you, and I will set it before your face." As if it were said: Not in secret, as is your custom, but openly, as is my concern, awaiting the suitable time for rebuke, I will rebuke the sinner and set his faults before his face.

(You say:) "I do not hate, but love, the one I thus judge in secret and reprove." On the contrary, you hate him, and do not love him; hence you slander, and do not correct. But how detestable slander of one's neighbor is, divine Scripture testifies in many places; whence it is said: "The slanderer against his neighbor in secret, I will pursue him" (Psalm 100); and: "He who slanders a brother, slanders the law" (James 4:11); and: "He who slanders a brother shall be rooted out"; and also that saying of the Apostle Paul: "See that you do not bite one another, lest you be consumed by one another" (Galatians 5). (Anger:) Those things that are done against you can be borne with equanimity; indeed, to tolerate sin patiently is itself a sin, because if they are not resisted with great exasperation, they will thereafter accumulate beyond measure. (Patience:) If the Passion of the Redeemer is called to mind, nothing is hard that is not borne with an even mind. Christ (as Peter says) suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we might follow in his footsteps (1 Peter 2:21). He himself says: "If they called the father of the house Beelzebub, how much more his household" (Matthew 10:25); "If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also" (John 15:20, 23). But how great are the things we suffer in comparison with his passions? For he endured insults, mockeries, reproaches, slaps, spittle, scourges, a crown of thorns, and the cross; and we wretches, to our shame, are wearied by a single word, cast down by a single word.

And what are we to do about what is said: "If we do not suffer together, we shall not reign together" (2 Timothy 2:12)? The goads of anger must be blunted, and its condemnation feared; whence we read in the Scripture: "He who is angry with his brother will be guilty in judgment; but he who says to his brother, 'Raca,' will be guilty before the council; but he who says, 'Fool,' will be guilty of the fire of Gehenna." Yet there a remedy is found from what is added: "If you bring your gift to the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to your brother, and then coming back, offer your gift" (Matthew 5:22, 23). As if it were openly said: Do not pour forth even a silent prayer in your heart, unless you first lead the offended neighbor to gentleness of mildness by making amends; for our gift is our prayer, and our altar is our heart. But he who has striven to do this, whenever anger has been stirred up between two without cause, will by no means incur the promised condemnation. But there are many who do not forgive offenses to one who asks pardon of them, against whom that saying of the Lord comes, which says: "If you do not forgive men their sins from your hearts, your heavenly Father will not forgive you your sins" (Matthew 6:14).

There are many (you say) which he has committed, and he has offended me more often. To this, not I, but the Lord responds. For when Peter said to him: "How many times shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" and he said to him: "I do not tell you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven" (Matthew 18:22). But how many are there who slowly relax their own injuries, yet more quickly forgive those of God? They never cease, on the occasion of the Lord, to avenge their own injuries, avenging them in anger. What also is to be said of those who, in the blindness of fury, proceed even to words of cursing, except what the Apostle says: "Nor shall those who curse possess the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 6:10)? Which James, detesting, exaggerates, saying: "No man can tame the tongue, a restless evil, full of deadly poison; in it we bless God and the Father, and in it we curse all men, who are made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing" (James 3:8). It is not fitting, my brothers, that these things be so; does a spring ever emit sweet and bitter water from the same opening? For this reason it is also said elsewhere: "Death and life are in the hands of the tongue" (Proverbs 18:21).

(Protervia:) Should not harsh words, and indeed the most severe (as befits such persons), be cast at fools, at the senseless, and at brute animals when they do wrong, rather than gentle words? (Mansuetudo:) In these matters, your persuasion is not to be followed, but rather the precept of the Apostle, who admonishes his beloved disciple concerning this sentiment, saying: Do not rebuke an elder, but entreat him as a father, youths as brothers, old women as mothers, young girls as sisters in all chastity (1 Tim. 5:1-2). And again: A servant of the Lord (he says) ought not to quarrel, but to be gentle to all, teachable, patient, rebuking with modesty those who resist the truth (2 Tim. 2:24-25). And again: Rebuke, entreat, reprove with all patience and teaching (2 Tim. 4:2); for the hand of Protervia harms subjects even more than it does prelates. For it often happens that they scorn a correction uttered gently and with the sweetness of charity, and against the words of humility they hurl the darts of contempt; whence it is written: He who rebukes a mocker does himself an injury (Prov. 9:7-8). On the contrary, of one who profits by rebuke it is said: Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.

(Pride:) You have God as a witness in heaven; I care not what men on earth may whisper about you. (Humble Satisfaction:) No opportunity for detraction should be given, nor any suspicion of whispering; but if there are things that can be corrected, they should be brought to light; or certainly, if they are absent, they should be denied with humble protestation, because the Apostle also warns us to give no occasion to the devil for the sake of cursing (1 Tim. 5:14); which he also condemned in those who, bearing the Christian name, reclined to eat in an idol's temple; and although they held the idol as nothing and consumed the sacrificial food as if it were harmless, they nevertheless, by this act, gave the weak consciences of the brethren over to the abominable rites of idols (1 Cor. 8:4). (Sadness:) What have you to rejoice about, when you bear so many evils from your neighbors? Consider with what grief all are to be regarded who are filled with such bitter gall against you. (Spiritual Joy:) I know that sadness is twofold, indeed I know there are two kinds of sadness: one that works for salvation, the other that works for ruin; one that leads to penance, the other that leads to perdition. You are indeed recognized as one of them, but entirely as the one that works death; therefore there is no cause for sadness in the things you urge, but rather for rejoicing in those things you do not yet understand, because the giver of eternal joy said: When men have persecuted you, and have done every evil against you, lying about my name, rejoice on that day.

and rejoice; for behold, your reward is plentiful in heaven (Matthew 15:11). Remember that the pinnacles of our religion: the Apostles went rejoicing from the sight of the council, because they were deemed worthy to suffer contumely for the name of Jesus (Acts 5:41); therefore there ought to be no place for sorrows where such great joy follows. (Sloth and Idleness:) If you always persist in continuous study of reading, you incur dimness of the eyes; if you pour forth tears unceasingly, you lose even the eyes themselves; if you pay the toll of psalms with long vigils for yourself, you acquire madness of the head; if you wear yourself out with daily labor, when will you rise up for spiritual work? (Exercise of the Virtues:) Why do you still promise yourself such long stretches of time to be brought forth? Do you not know whether you will live tomorrow? Or even whether you will live one more hour in this life? Or has it perhaps slipped your mind what the Savior says in the Gospel: Watch, for you know neither the day nor the hour (Matthew 25:13)? Therefore shake off the inertia of sloth, and always remember that the kingdom of heaven is seized not by the tepid, not by the soft, not by the idle, but by the violent and the fervent.

If you believe that God is everywhere, why do you guard a single place, where so many evils are perpetrated, and why do you not rather go to other altars? If it is as you claim, that you confess God to be everywhere, then neither is this place to be abandoned, which you seek to flee, because God is also in it. But, you say, I seek a better place, I find a better place; but I reply: Will you find a better place, or even one such as that which you know the devil and man have lost? Remember that the first angel fell from heaven, and the first man was expelled from paradise and came to the hardship of this age (Genesis 3:23). Consider that Lot, tested by the exercise of evils, was holy among the Sodomites, but on the mountain, torpid with security, he sinned while drunk with his daughters (Genesis 19); which, evidently, the weariness of wandering produces yet another kind, while it drags some, even those persevering in one place, away from spiritual things, and busies itself with entangling them in earthly affairs or the vilest matters, acting against the words of the Apostle, who says: No one serving as a soldier for God entangles himself in secular affairs, so that he may please the one to whom he has proved himself (2 Timothy 2:4). And again: Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all things (1 Thessalonians 5:16).

(Despair:) What and how many things have you committed? How grave the crimes, how countless the offenses? And yet you have not yet changed your life for the better, nor have you usefully corrected your conduct; for behold (as you see), you are held bound by evil habit, you try to rise, but weighed down by the burdens of your sins, you fall back. What then is to be done, when certain damnation threatens from the past, and no amendment from the present comes to your aid? Except that the pleasures of temporal things be admitted, since the delights of the future age cannot be attained. (Confidence of Hope:) If it is a question of crimes and offenses, behold David, guilty of adultery and at the same time of homicide, is described as having been freed from the jaws of hell by the mercy of the Lord (2 Kings 11). Behold Manasseh, the most unspeakable, most impure, most sordid, and also most seductive of all sinners, yet through penance returned from death to life (2 Chronicles 33:12). Behold Mary Magdalene, stained with countless filths of sin, running anxiously to the fountain of piety, and watering the Lord’s footsteps with tears, wiping them with her hair, also kissing and licking them, and anointing them with ointment, she merited to be cleansed (Luke 7:37).

Behold Peter, bound by the chains of his denial, loosed the knots of his faithlessness with the most bitter tears (Luke 22:62). Behold also the thief, guilty of sedition and the shedding of a brother’s blood, passed in a single moment of one hour and with one word of confession from the cross to paradise (Luke 23:42). Behold Saul, persecuting the Church of God, slaying many for the name of Christ, and, so to speak, staining himself entirely with the blood of martyrs, became an apostle and was changed into a vessel of election (Acts 9:1). Where, therefore, so many and such great examples precede, let the evil counsels of despair give way; since it is also written: “In whatever day the sinner, having turned, groans, he will be saved” (Ezekiel 18:21). And again: “I do not desire the death of the impious,” says the Lord (Ezekiel 53:11). Concerning a change for the better not yet made, what else shall I answer, except that what each one did not do yesterday, let him do today, while it is still permitted to live, and let him not put it off from day to day (Sirach 5:8), since he does not know if he has even one day for correction, and always, according to the strength received from above, resisting evil habit, let him say morning and evening: “Now I have begun; this is the change of the right hand of the Most High” (Psalm 86:?).

(Covetousness:) You are quite without fault, for you desire to have certain things not because you seek to multiply them, but because you dread being in need; and what another wrongly retains, you yourself would spend better. (Contempt for the World:) These things are not obtained even among worldly men without danger or offense, because the more one begins to have, the more one desires to have; and so it happens that he has no limit in his desiring, while he hastens to serve the countless cares of this world. For as Scripture says: The avaricious man will not be filled with money (Ecclesiastes 5:9). And how detestable this is, Paul indicates, saying: And avarice, which is the servitude of idols (Colossians 3:5); how harmful it is, the same explains, saying: Those who wish to become rich fall into temptation and into the snare of the devil, and into many and harmful desires, which plunge men into ruin and perdition (1 Timothy 6:9); how detestable it is, a certain wise man declares, when he says: To the avaricious man nothing is more wicked (Sirach 10:9); how harmful it is, James says through it, saying: Go now, you rich, weep, wailing in the miseries that come upon you; your riches have rotted; your garments have been eaten by moths; your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be a testimony against you, and will devour your flesh like fire (James 5:1).

But our Redeemer did not wish to pass over how harmful the evil of covetousness is, for He says: "It is difficult for those who have money to enter the kingdom of God" (Matt. 19:23). And again: "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven" (Mark 10:25). If, therefore, the pursuit of covetousness is so dangerous for worldly men, how much more dangerous is it for those who have already ceased to be worldly in habit and way of life, who have devoted their entire existence to God? To them especially do the Redeemer's words apply, by which the vice of avarice may be destroyed: "Do not be anxious about what you will eat or what you will drink or with what you will be clothed; the nations seek all these things; seek first the kingdom of God and its justice, and all these things will be added to you" (Matt. 6:31). How blessed, how secure, how embraceable a saying! No one in this life is as secure as he who desires to possess nothing but Christ; all that is necessary is proven to be his under this pledge, as Paul, that very rich pauper, used to say: "As having nothing, and yet possessing everything" (2 Cor. 6:10). Therefore, let us be content with all that is not superfluous, but only necessary, as He Himself confirms and says: "Having food and clothing, let us be content with these" (1 Tim. 6:8).

You may say: therefore, more things ought to be possessed by holy and religious men, so that they may be better distributed by them than by the common people to Christ's poor. And I agree, but for prelates, not for subjects, whom that example of Lot's wife especially deters, who, while looking back after departing from Sodom, was turned into a statue of salt and breathed out her spirit (Gen. 19:26). Whence Christ also announces that such a thing is to be guarded against, saying: "No one putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of heaven" (Luke 9:62). Hence Peter says: "It would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it to turn back from what was handed down to them by holy command" (2 Pet. 2:21-22). For that true proverb will befall them: The dog returning to its vomit, and the sow wallowing in the mire. 54. This disease of avarice, indeed, is never better restrained than when the day of death is meditated upon without forgetfulness, and when it is considered what a man will be like shortly in the tomb. This certainly remained fixed in the memory of him who said: "Man is putrefaction, and the son of man is a worm" (Job 25:6). These things had not departed from the heart of him who said: "In all your works, remember your last things, and you will never sin" (Ecclus. 7:40). What then, I ask, what will preserved riches profit then? Hear what Job says: "Naked I came out of my mother's womb, naked I shall return there" (Job

I, 21); and the Apostle: We brought nothing into this world, nor can we carry anything away (I Tim. VI, 7)? (Hardness of heart:) If you give to the needy the things you possess, how do you nourish your subjects without money? (Mercy:) If you hold to the Apostles' measure in this matter, you will be able to accomplish both; for the same Apostle says to the Corinthians (II Cor. VIII, 12): If the will is prompt, it is accepted from what one has, not from what one does not have; for it is not that others should have remission and you tribulation, but equality. In the present time, let your abundance supply their need, so that their abundance may be a supplement to your need, that equality may be achieved, as it is written: He who had much did not abound, and he who had little did not lack (Exod. XVI, 18). Hence a certain just man admonishes his beloved child, saying: If you have much, give abundantly; but if you have little, share even that willingly (Tob. IV, ). Likewise, the incarnate Truth says: Nevertheless, give what is left over as alms, and behold, all things are clean for you (Luke XI, 41). Hear, hardened hearts: Judgment without mercy for him who does not show mercy (Jas. II, 13). Against this, the Lord admonishes through the prophet, saying: Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the needy and the wanderers into your house; when you see the naked, cover him, and do not despise your own flesh (Isa. LVIII, 7).

Remember what happened to the rich man clad in purple, who was condemned not because he took what belonged to others, but because he did not give his own to the needy poor; whence, placed in hell, he came to beg for the smallest things, because here he denied the small (Luke XVI, 20). Remember also what the judge of heaven will say to those placed on his left: "Go, accursed ones, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. XXV, 41). And again: "I was hungry, and you did not give me anything to eat"; and the rest of what is there terribly enumerated. Theft and fraud, although they have different degrees of expression, yet say one and the same thing. (Theft:) If you do not take what belongs to others, you cannot be rich or self-sufficient from your own property. 61. (Fraud:) If you deliver up intact everything that your superior entrusted to your keeping, and do not consider even a little to be kept back, whereby you might either serve your own interests or please your friends and fellow soldiers, you will have nothing.

(Innocence:) It is better to be poor and lacking, and to please no one by giving, than to harm anyone by theft or fraud; for whoever unjustly seizes what belongs to another in any way closes for himself the entrance to the heavenly kingdom; whence the eminent preacher rebukes certain ones, saying: "It is altogether a crime in you, that you have lawsuits among yourselves; why do you not rather suffer injury? why do you not rather endure fraud? but you do injury and commit fraud, and this to your brothers. Do you not know that the unjust will not possess the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:7)?" And among other things he adds: "Neither thieves nor robbers will possess the kingdom of God." Deceit and falsehood themselves say the same thing: deceit, however, is done by cunning, falsehood by a simple word, when it seeks to harm someone by not giving. (Deceit:) Why do you spin delays in asking? I do not have what I can bestow upon you, hiding in my heart what I have, either to keep for myself, or to give to others (if the will is present).

(Lie:) I do not have at all what you ask; though not by a crafty device, as with deceit, but by a simple word of denial, it frustrates the petitioner. (Truth:) Neither by a crafty device nor by a simple word ought one to deceive anyone, because in whatever way one lies, the mouth that lies kills the soul (Wisdom 1:11), and the portion of all liars will be in the lake of burning sulphur (Revelation 21:8). (Gluttony of the Belly:) God created all things pure for eating, and he who refuses to be satisfied with food, what else does he do but contradict the gift granted? (Frugality in Food:) One of these things you say is true; for indeed, so that man would not die of hunger, God created all things pure for eating; but so that he would not exceed the measure of eating, he commanded abstinence; for among its other evils, by satiety, especially of bread, Sodom perished, with the Lord testifying, who speaks to Jerusalem through the prophet, saying: "This is the iniquity of your sister Sodom, satiety of bread" (Ezekiel 16:49). Therefore, just as a sick person approaches medicine, so should each one approach taking food, namely, by no means seeking pleasure in them, but succoring necessity.

Then the incarnate Truth says through the Gospel: “Take heed, lest your hearts be weighed down by gluttony and drunkenness” (Luke 21:34). Against the insatiable voracity of the Jews, the Apostle says: “Many are walking, whom I often told you about, and now I say weeping, enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in the confusion of those who savor earthly things” (Philippians 3:18-19). And again: “Food for the belly, and the belly for foods, but God will destroy both this and these” (1 Corinthians 6:13). But he fully overcomes this vice who, in taking meals, not only maintains frugality, so that he always commands refreshment by hunger, but also disdains more elaborate and younger dishes, except in cases of bodily infirmity and the reception of guests. (Inept Joy:) Why do you hide the joy of your mind within? Go out into public cheerful, say something outside, by which either you or your neighbors may laugh; make them joyful with your joy.

(Moderate Grief:) Whence comes such great joy to you? Have you already conquered the devil? Have you already conquered the penalties of the underworld? Have you already come from exile to your homeland? Have you already received security concerning your election? Or has it perhaps slipped your memory that the Lord says: “The world will rejoice, but you will be saddened, yet your sadness will be turned into joy” (John 16:20)? Or has it perhaps escaped your memory that the same Lord says elsewhere: “Woe to you who now laugh, because you will weep and lament” (Luke 6:23); and that which is said through Solomon: “Laughter will be mixed with grief, and the end of joy is taken over by mourning” (Proverbs 14:13); and on the contrary, through the Gospel: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they themselves will be comforted” (Matthew 5:5); and again through Solomon: “Man does not know whether he is worthy of love or hate, but all things are reserved uncertain for the future” (Ecclesiastes 9:1)? Therefore, restrain your empty joy, you who have not yet escaped penal misery. Is not he judged insane by all who tries to rejoice while confined in the darkness of a prison?

(Multiloquium:) That man will not be held guilty who speaks many things, indeed, but good things; but rather he who is proven to speak, even if rarely, evil things. (Discreta taciturnitas:) What you say is true; but while many seem to utter good things, it often happens that what is begun with a good intention is diverted to something depraved, as Holy Scripture itself declares, because "in much speaking, sin will not be absent" (Proverbs 10:19). And if, among countless words, criminal ones are perhaps avoided, can useless and idle ones be avoided, for which, after all, an account will have to be rendered in the future? Therefore, a measure must be maintained in speaking, and even from sometimes useful words one must refrain, just as the blessed Psalmist is read to have done; for he says: "I am humbled, and I was silent from good things" (Psalm 38:5). (Immunditia:) It is not a great crime without the intercourse of male and female, to be defiled by one's own hands or those of another.

(Integrity of the Flesh:) The Apostle does not speak thus. What then does he say? "Neither the impure" (he says) "shall possess the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 6:9). (Luxury:) Why do you not now indulge yourself in your pleasure, since you do not know what follows you? You ought not to waste the time granted in idleness, because you do not know how quickly it passes; for if God had not wished man to be mingled in the pleasure of coitus, He would not have made male and female at the very beginning of the human race. (Unblemished Chastity:) Do not pretend to be ignorant of what you will receive after this life; for if you live piously and chastely, you will rejoice without end; but if impiously and luxuriously, you will be subject to eternal fires. Moreover, you ought to live all the more chastely because you say you do not know how quickly the granted time passes. As for what you profess, that God created male and female at the beginning of the human race precisely so that they should engage in mutual embraces, you speak most truly; but you do not consider that the license to marry is granted to some—that is, to those who have by no means professed virginity or widowed chastity—while it is not granted to others, that is, to those who have decided to be virgins or continent; but fornication, because it is conceded to no one with impunity, you do not heed.

Do you think it is to be despised, what the Apostle says to the licentious: "Flee fornication: for every sin, whatever a man commits, is outside the body; but he who fornicates, sins against his own body"? But if you consider this of little account, hear what you will later lament and groan over forever: "Neither adulterers," he says, "nor fornicators, nor men who lie with males, shall possess the kingdom of God." O how brief is the hour of intercourse, by which eternal life is lost! What profit, then, does it bring to the body? What gain does it bestow, that it silently leads the soul to Tartarus? (Spiritual Fornication:) Does he who consents to lust in his heart, and does not proceed to the act of lust, do something that ought to be condemned? (Purity of Heart:) He sins altogether who does not guard the chastity of the soul; whence the author of purity says in the Gospel: "He who looks at a woman with a desire for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matt. 5:28). Whence also it is said through blessed Job: "I have made a pact with my eyes, that I would not even think of a virgin; for what part would God have in me above, and what inheritance would the Almighty have from on high" (Job 31:1, 2)?

For unless the thought of evil consent displeased our Author, He would by no means say through Isaiah: "Remove the evil of your thoughts from my eyes" (Isaiah 1:16); and in the Gospel to the Pharisees: "Why do you think evil in your hearts?" (Matthew 9:4); nor would the Apostle say: "Of thoughts accusing one another, or also defending one another, on the day when the Lord will judge the secrets of men, according to my Gospel, through Jesus Christ" (Romans 2:15). (Appetite for the present world:) What is more beautiful? what more honorable? what more lovely? what can be more delightful than what we daily behold in this present life? O how wonderful is the vault of heaven in the pleasant air, in the light of the sun, in the waxing and waning of the moon, in the variety and course of the stars! How delightful is the earth in the flowers of the groves, in the sweetness of fruits, in the pleasantness of meadows and streams, in the luxuriant stalks of grain, in the leaves of the vines and the branches full of grapes, in the shades of the forests and the...

in the outcomes of horses and dogs, in the leaps of stags and roe deer, in the flights of hawks, in the voices, feathers, and plumage of peacocks, doves, turtledoves, and all kinds of birds, and in the painted walls and ceilings of houses, in the tinkling songs of organs and all musical instruments, in the beautiful appearances of women, and in their eyebrows, hair, eyes, cheeks, throat, lips, and so on, hands, and externally applied necklaces adorned with gold and gems, finally in the countless varieties of heaven, earth, and sea, as well as in their utilities, and if there are any other things which the mind does not now recall! (Love of the Heavenly Homeland:) If these things which are under heaven delight you, why are not those things which are above heaven more delightful? If the prison is so beautiful, what is the homeland, the city, the house like? If such are the things which pilgrims cultivate, what are the things which the sons possess? If mortals and wretched ones in this life are so rewarded, how are the immortals and blessed ones to be enriched in that life? Therefore, let love of the present age depart, in which no one is born so as not to die; and let love of the future age succeed, in which all are so given life that they thereafter do not die, where no adversity disturbs, no necessity constricts, no trouble disquiets, but perennial joy reigns.

If you ask what is there, where such great and such happiness persists, it cannot be said otherwise than that whatever good is, is there, and whatever evil is, is nowhere there. "What is that good?" you ask. Why do you ask me? It has been defined by the prophet and the Apostle: "What the eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man," which God has prepared for those who love Him (Isaiah 64:4; 1 Corinthians 2:9). To this happiness David, crammed with the mute riches of the world, panted when he said: "For what is there for me in heaven? And what have I desired on earth from you?" (Psalm 72:25). Abounding in many royal feasts, he said: "I shall be sated when your glory is manifested; my soul has thirsted for God, the living fountain; when shall I come and appear before the face of God?" (Psalm 41:3). And again: "Woe is me! because my sojourn is prolonged" (Psalm 119:5). Hence Paul: "I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ; for it is much better" (Philippians 1:23).

Having thus run through these matters, although I have omitted many things, nevertheless, as it seems to me, I have shown the strong camp of our enemy, which those living piously in Christ Jesus do not cease to attack. But not yet content with these, the devil turns to his other arguments, while in certain dreams he very often pronounces true things, so that he may at some time draw them into falsehood; when he wakes the sleeping before the hour or the time, so that he may oppress them with the heaviest sleep at the time of vigils; when he disturbs those singing psalms or praying with hissing sounds, various barkings, and disordered voices, and even with thrown stones or filth, so that by any means he may draw them back from spiritual works and render them empty. But you, man of God, attend with vigilant zeal to what I say, with the help of him who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.