Exhortatio Humilitatis (Incertus) (Appendix X)

APPENDIX X. EXHORTATION TO HUMILITY. FROM THE EDITION OF FLOREZ. i. Whoever you are who, by the will of God, shine forth in the dignity of any office, and by the utility of your provident governance precede other men, receive, I pray, this little exhortation of mine diligently, and do not seek in it the pompous froth of rhetoricians, because the virtue of humility is required not by the elation of words, but by the purity of the mind. And if perhaps I seem to speak somewhat harshly, this is the fault of truth, not mine. For certain things are harsh, certain things are soft, but although all men owe truth to each other reciprocally, I will speak freely, and no one is owed the speaking of truth more truly than he who presides over many. To him, even if something harsh from truth is sometimes offered, as is customary, like a certain antidote, although it may be bitter, yet because it is healthful, even if it is bitter, it must be drunk (See Isidoriana, c. 84, n. 19). Therefore I exhort this first of all, that you always greatly fear those too delightful flatteries of men. For in this matter, so much industry of vigilance is not to be applied as in repelling those speeches which, if they undermine the rigidity of the mind with a certain delight of pretenses, which pry into the access of favor to be earned, not by the merit of labors, but by the sharpness of flatteries. Therefore you will receive useful words rather than compliant ones, and you will seek what is right more than what is affable and pleasant.

Indeed, it is a royal thing to rejoice in a flatterer, but to flatter is servile. Yet although it is royal to rejoice in a flatterer, nevertheless this is a common and almost proper function of the vice [or, of the vices] in vernacular usage: to follow up the words of the powerful with distinction, and to shape one’s speech according to their wishes. For if they have happened to praise something, and they perceive that it is not heard willingly, they immediately accuse what they praised a little while before. If, on the other hand, they have censured something, they praise it again, if it has so seemed to the patron. And thus, among such men, the flattered mind is carried about like a ship among various gusts of wind, because it has no way out, and is tossed about. Therefore, among these men, whose most abundant profit lies especially in living according to the desires of others, restrain your mind with the full measure of discretion, so that when many flatterers on this side and that suggest nothing else but what pleases, offering certain words of glory in which this is said to you which is also said to God, you recognize that nothing else is properly your own except this alone which will remain with you and when you have departed from this life. In all things, therefore, in which the excess of flatteries has even surpassed the fitting limits of a man, you will recall that Davidic teaching in which he, avoiding the poisons of flatteries, says: “The just man will correct me in mercy and will rebuke me, but the oil of the sinner does not anoint my head.

For the oil of the sinner is flattery, which, with a certain light and smooth anointing, as if by smearing, relaxes the head of the inner man, which is the heart. Therefore the prophet David said that it is better for him to be rebuked or admonished by a just man than to be praised by any flatterer. But he designated the flatterer by the name of sinner, whose sin is greatest before the eyes of God and detestable: to hold one thing in the heart, to utter another with the mouth. For concerning such men, he also says in another psalm: His words have been softened more than oil, and they are themselves darts. But concerning the just man he says: He speaks the truth in his heart; and he did not practice deceit with his tongue. But so that in these matters any subtlety of the lights may never draw the credulity of your mind into consent by any title of praise, turn to those evangelical deeds of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and you will find that the Lord of lords has given us a great example of humility amid human praises. Therefore cultivate this. Have this as your mistress, set this for yourself as an arbiter in the allurements of praises. Whatever portion of those things which men bestow by praising, or for whatever time it is yours, do not allow this to be heard with placid ears, because it is feigned.

Finally, this holy humility, when all the allurements of pretense have been withdrawn from you, will open heaven for you precisely when it whispers in your ear: "Because you are earth." It will introduce you into that true fellowship of God's inheritance when it admonishes you in all things: "Because you are a human being and a sinner." And when you have surveyed all the considerations pertaining to you in the reckoning of this humility, I will say something remarkable: you will find that other things increase your honor by adding to it, but this alone adds more by diminishing. Therefore, however great you are (if you wish to be like Solomon), humble yourself accordingly. For even if you have governed many, it is still not perfection if you alone—whom you cannot govern—remain ungoverned. For you will truly lead others only when you have first anticipated yourself. Nor do I now speak to the wicked, but as much as possible to the good. For if you look to the teaching of God, precepts have been given not only to sinners but also to the saints. The word of Truth is also spoken to them, not that they may become good, which they already are, but that they may not become evil, which they are not. I believe, however, that what is pure and sincere pleases the good more. For our God is appeased not so much by the sweet prayers of those who adore him as by innocence and simplicity, inclining his ear more to those who offer him a sincere and pure mind than to those who bring the flattering charms of prayers.

For I did not think it fitting to speak to anyone else about vainglory or pride, except to you, whoever you are who are first among others; who, even if you do not accept it, yet all thrust these things upon you, all flatter you, all exalt you, none among them offering you anything so sweet that it is, nevertheless, far from danger. Nor do I wonder that it is easy for all to praise the powerful; just as there is no labor, so there is no fear. To you, therefore, it was necessary for me to extend these instruments of humility, to you, the helmsman, who, even if you yourself possess them, I must add this superfluous restraint. For the stronger wind of elation always blows where the height of goodness is stronger. I desire, therefore, that you always walk with a humble heart before the eyes of God, to whom the abyss of the human conscience is laid bare, because it is written: "Upon whom," says the Lord, "will my Spirit rest, if not upon the humble one who trembles at my words?" I desire you to keep all things with an open hand for Christ, and to fill those vessels with good works, remembering what was said to the apostles themselves. For He said to them: "And when you have done all these things that I command you, say that we were useless servants, that we did what we ought to do"; that is, not as a free man from a gift, but as a servant from a debt. For no man, however perfect in all things, has ever so anticipated what is pleasing to God that, by lending something to Him beforehand, he was not a debtor but a creditor. For who has anything that was not given by Him?

Or who, as the Apostle says, first gave to him, and will it be repaid to him? Since all things are from him, and through him, and in him, he himself is glory in the ages. Amen. Behold, this is that true and Christian humility. In this you will govern best those over whom you preside. In this you will be able to merit victory over every vice, by attributing to God what you conquer, not to yourself. For that sometimes patience, when vices are conquered, again regain strength, is nothing else, believe me, than that we do not say to God what that warrior David, waging the Lord’s wars, said: “In you,” he says, “we have dashed our enemies,” and “in your name we despise those rising against us.” And again: “Because a man is not powerful by his own strength, the Lord weakens his adversary.” But perhaps it is answered to me: Therefore, do we not give thanks to God, do we not render praises? I believe it can happen that we give thanks, but in word only, but in the heart; we give thanks to God in private, to ourselves in public; we attribute praise to God on our lips, to ourselves both on our lips and in our heart. Behold, this is what often raises up the bent enemy again. For the sin of our pride is the strength of that enemy. Therefore, only humility of heart is what, by calling itself weak, can do all things, which obtains everything that is good; always applying this to God, not to itself; in which if anyone has ascended, he has no place from which to fall.

All other virtues can summon us to their perfection through certain lofty and arduous heights; this one alone lies on level ground. And although it may appear more lowly than others, it is yet higher than heaven, because in its kingdom it leads a man not by ascending, but by descending. Through this virtue the saints obtained the rewards of future blessedness, preserving that Dominical saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." That man, indeed, is humble who is rich in spirit. The one who is puffed up with a certain breath of elation abounds like a bladder. But now, how this virtue itself is to be obtained, let your charity attend for a little while. First, if you wish to begin any good work, begin it not with the purpose of acquiring praise, but with the zeal of undertaking to do good. Then, when that good work, whatever it is, has been completed, you will guard your heart with all care, lest, acquiescing in human favors, you esteem yourself on that account, please yourself, or seek any glory from any act whatsoever, because the nature of glory is like the shadow of a body: if you pursue it, it flees; if you flee, it follows. But always esteem yourself the least of all, and remember: whatever good has come to you in your whole life, ascribe it all to God, who gave it, not to yourself, who received it, convicting yourself by that testimony of Paul: "What do you have that you did not receive? But if you received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

Similarly, that Apostolic saying: that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, descending from the Father of lights. When you have adorned in your heart a temple for the Holy Spirit with these most precious stones of holy humility, then, praying in it, taking up the canticle of the prophet David, you will chant not only in word but also in deed: “Lord, my heart has not been exalted, nor have my eyes been lifted up. I have not walked in great things, nor in wonders above me.” Which canticle you can then truly offer to God, when, by humbling yourself, you praise Him alone to whom you, along with all the faithful, daily say truly: “Praise is due to You,” glorifying Him alone.