EXPOSITIO IN REGULAM S. AUGUSTINI

• 881A

These precepts which are written below are called a rule for this reason, namely because in them the norm of living rightly is set forth for us. And it is called a rule because it rules rightly, or because it teaches rightly. And what we call a rule, the Greeks call a canon. Whence also by a Greek name those have been called canons, that is, regulars, who, established in monasteries, live canonically and apostolically according to the regular precepts of the holy Fathers; and to them it is said.

These are the things which we command you, who are established in the monastery, to observe.

To this end the divine precepts are read to us, that 881Bonce read they may be understood and fulfilled. That sentence is to be feared in which it is said: The servant who knows the will of his lord and does it not shall be beaten with many stripes (Luc. XII). Hence Paul says: For not the hearers of the law, but the doers shall be justified (Rom. II). Let us therefore hear the sacred precepts of our loving Lord, and let us be mindful of his commandments so as to do them. For as blessed James says: If any man hath looked into the law of perfect liberty, and hath continued therein, not becoming a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed (Jacob. I). And the Lord in the Gospel: Blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it (Luc. XI). Therefore let us humbly attend to the things which are commanded us who are established in the monastery.

First, the reason for which you are gathered into one is that 881Cyou may dwell of one mind in the house, and that there be for you one soul and one heart in God.

First an admonition is made to us concerning unity and concord; 882Aand concerning such concord as is made in God. For concord for the doing of sin is evil; but concord for the doing of good, and for the pursuit of justice, and for the service of God, is good. This is the reason for which we are gathered into one, namely that in the divine service, one spirit and one soul, all of us hain domo, and that there be for us one soul and one heart in God. For it behooves that, if we are gathered into one bodily, we should dwell together spiritually as well. For it profits nothing if one house contains us and a differing will divides us. For God attends more to unity of mind than of place. Behold, in one house we are many men, of different characters, different hearts, different souls. All these one intention and one love toward God ought to join into one. We ought 882Btherefore to be of one mind and one will in this, that we may serve God and love God with our whole heart and with our whole soul, and our neighbor as ourselves. And so the virtue of concord is necessary for us, which can be had thus: if a brother, when he comes to the monastery, begins to strip himself of his own will, and to imitate him who says: I came not to do my own will (Joan. VI). And again: Father, not as I will, but as thou (Matth. XXVI). For this is what most of all brings in concord, if each man strives to do not his own but another's veluntatem in what is good. And this is the judgment of great humility. Thence obedience is born, charity grows, and peace and justice, and the virtues of the Church; whereas if I wish to do my own will, and that man his, divisions arise, quarrels spring up, angers too 882Cand brawls, which are the works of the flesh. And as the Apostle says: They who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God (Galat. V). There are some in the congregation 883Abeamus. And therefore he commands that we dwell of one mind, obstinate in their own opinion, wise in their own eyes; for what they have conceived in their mind, this they defend as though from reason; and they contend not that they be joined to others, but that others be joined to themselves. And if they see that they are not complied with, they are at once stirred up and thrown into confusion. Such men are wont to be rebels against the commands of their elders; and in them the passion of disobedience and of impatience reigns most of all. These are not fit for concord. For, according to the Apostle's word, they became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened; for professing themselves to be wise, they became fools (Rom. I). Pride indeed is a great darkness of the heart, and it is a very foolish wisdom to wish to prefer oneself to others. Against which the same Apostle says: If any man among 883Byou seem to be wise, let him become a fool, that he may be wise (I Cor. III). For the fool is wise, and according to God it is great wisdom to judge oneself inferior to all. Whence it is written: The greater thou art, the more humble thyself in all things (Eccli. III). Hence the Lord at once recalls his disciples, among whom there was a contention which of them should seem to be the greater, to the concord of humility, saying: He that is the greater among you, he shall be your servant. And the Son of man himself came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a redemption for many (Matth. XX). Therefore let us dwell of one mind in the house. For it is good and pleasant to God for brethren to dwell in unity (Psal. CXXXII). Nor do our fastings, our prayers, please him so much as concord does. Therefore he says in the Gospel: Go 883Cfirst to be reconciled to thy brother, and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift (Matth. V). From which words it is plain that he who has not concord is not able to offer sacrifice to almighty God. We ought therefore to weigh how great is the virtue of concord in God's sight, without which not even those sacrifices are pleasing by which sins are blotted out. And it is to be known that when we come to conversion we take up a contest against the devil. But there is nothing that he fears so much as the unity of charity. For if we distribute all that we have for God's sake, the devil does not fear this, because he himself possesses nothing. If we fast, he does not dread this, because he takes no food. If we keep vigil, he is not terrified by it, because he uses no sleep. But if we are joined 883Din charity, at that he is vehemently afraid, because we hold on earth what he scorned to keep in heaven. Hence it is that holy Church is described as though she were terrible as an army of camps set in array, because just as enemies are afraid when they see the battle line of a camp well ordered and joined together for war, so without doubt the devil takes fright when he beholds spiritual men, girded with the arms of the virtues, living in the unity of concord; and being conquered he grieves vehemently, since he is not able to divide them through discord and to penetrate them. Hence it is written of the Lord: His place was made in peace (Psal. LXXV). There he broke the powers, the bow, the shield, the sword, and war. From which words it is plain that concord breaks all the arms of the devil.

884AAnd let there be for you one soul and one heart in God.

These are the firstfruits of the spirit, which from the beginning of our conversion we ought to offer to almighty God, as Wisdom herself commanded, saying: Son, give me thy heart (Prov. XXIII). For first we are drawn to God by heart and by will. Therefore if we are separated in body from the world, let us be joined to God in heart and soul, that we may be able to say truly: But for me it is good to cleave to God. For he who cleaves to God is one spirit with him (Psal. LXXII; I Cor. VI). Let us therefore cleave to him, that we may be strong through him, that we may be one in him, and blessed with him may say to him: My soul hath cleaved after thee (Psal. LXII). Charity separates us from the world, and it is she who joins us to God. So there will be for us one soul, and one heart in God, if with our whole 884Bheart and with our whole soul we love God. For God indeed is charity, and he who abides in charity abides in God, and God in him (I Joan. IV). And because charity seeks not the things that are her own, it is rightly subjoined:

And say not that anything is your own, but let all things be common to you.

For we ought not to have anything as our own, nor to call anything "mine," but "ours," so that it is said our cope, our tunic, our house, and likewise in the rest. For we ought to have all things in common, and to call all things by a common name.

But in this it is to be weighed how great a difference there is between carnal brothers and spiritual ones. For those divide what 884Cis common to them; these put into common what had been divided. There each man seeks what is his own; these seek not the things that are their own, but the things that are Jesus Christ's. This kinship therefore is worth more than that; because that one fails, this one grows. That has division, this unity. That passes away with the present world, this abides with the world to come. For to this end we now live together in this house, that afterward we may abide in the heavenly kingdom. We are the sons of God, says the Apostle, but it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. But we shall know, when he shall have appeared, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is (I Joan. III); and Paul: We have not here a lasting city, but we seek one to come (Hebr. XIII). Therefore we ought not to have things of our own, but let all things be 884Dcommon to us. Men make portions for themselves in this world: one silver and gold; others houses and households: one a great name, power and glory; this man this, another another, different men in a different way. But the portion of the godly is God himself. And if we wish to have such a portion, such an inheritance as the Lord is, we must show ourselves such that we may be worthy to possess him and to be possessed by him. Therefore if we wish to possess God as our inheritance, we ought to have nothing outside God. For he is exceedingly greedy for whom God does not suffice. For if we seek anything whatever — gold, for example, silver, possessions — the Lord disdains to be made a portion along with such portions. The words are Jerome's: I, he says, do not receive an inheritance among the other tribes; but as a priest and a levite live 885Aby tithes; and serving the altar, I am sustained by the offering of the altar: having food and clothing, with these I shall be content.--For blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matth. V). And because, as long as we live here, we stand in need of bodily necessity, it is rightly subjoined.

And let food and clothing be distributed to each of you by your prior.

For thus the Lord willed his Churches to be ordered, that some should have leisure for spiritual things, and others should minister temporal things to them. And therefore he willed some to be priors, others subjects. It is the office of priors to minister bodily things to their subjects. It is the ministry of subjects to devote themselves to spiritual studies: to be free for reading, for prayer, for contemplation, to serve the heavenly Lord in psalms, hymns and spiritual 885Bsongs. There is therefore all the more need that they live the more carefully with regard to themselves, inasmuch as the care of others' affairs does not entangle them. It has been established by the Lord that they who serve the altar should live by the altar: The laborer is worthy, as he himself says, of his hire (Luc. X). And therefore, if we live on the provision of Christ, it is also just that we should labor in the service of Christ: and then we worthily receive our hire, if we have first been good laborers. For the apostle Paul says: He who will not work, let him not eat (II Thess. V). Because if we do not labor and yet eat, we are made guilty of the greater crime the more we receive God's benefits unworthily. It behooves us therefore to serve him by whom we are fed, if without peril to the soul we wish to take what is distributed; and we ought to be the more careful 885Cin good work, the more we receive these things without great labor. For what wonder is it if those who are occupied with temporal affairs live less studiously and religiously, if they frequently offend in their thoughts and words and actions? For the use of the world draws a man to sin even sometimes against his will. But those to whom both the care of the world and the occasion of sinning are lacking, the less religiously they live, the more they offend the judge on high: nor do they offend, even in the smallest negligences, without grave peril to the soul. Let us therefore weigh to what end food and covering are bestowed on us: that our whole desire may be first to seek the kingdom of God and his justice, for the sake of which all these things are added unto us (Matth. VI). But in what manner it is to be distributed is shown when it is 885Dadded below.

Let it not be distributed equally to all, because you are not all equally strong, but rather to each one according as each shall have need.

And this he strengthens by apostolic authority, saying:

For so you read in the Acts of the Apostles, that they had all things common, and it was distributed to each one as each had need (Act. IV).

This is not to be understood as though what was needful to each were distributed so abundantly that they should have no want. For although it is written that among them there was none in want (Act. IV), we also read it written of the apostles themselves that they served God in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness (II Cor. XI). 886AFrom which words it is to be gathered that many are in want in body, not in mind. But they who deny themselves for Christ's sake overcome nature itself by strength of mind. For the love of God, which is strong as death, extinguishes not only unlawful desires but even those bodily and natural affections themselves. In the primitive Church indeed there was so great an abundance of spiritual grace, that they were not only content with little but reckoned this very thing, that they had nothing, as the highest delights. Whence the Apostle says: Having nothing and possessing all things (II Cor. VI). Hence also a certain holy man says: Our poverty sufficed us, that it should be reckoned riches (Tob. V). Again the Apostle says: Great, he says, is the gain of godliness with sufficiency; having, he says, food and clothing, with these let us be 886Bcontent (I Tim. VI). In matters of this kind, therefore, we ought not to attend to the will of the flesh, but to the strength of nature. For the carnal will craves more than necessity does. Wherefore, in that which is said, that to each be given what he has need of, this measure is to be kept: that the flesh be so nourished that it may serve, and again so restrained that it may not grow proud; that the necessity of nature be so preserved that the superfluity of concupiscence be cut away.

But let those who had anything in the world, when they have entered the monastery, willingly wish it to be common.

This the brethren of the primitive Church did. For it seemed worthy to them that they who had a common grace should have a common substance also; and that they 886Cwhose spirit was one should have one expense also. And the word willingly is well added, because God loves a cheerful giver (II Cor. IX). Willingly ought we to give earthly things, that we may be able to purchase heavenly ones. For the kingdom of heaven is worth as much as you have. Nothing is cheaper when it is bought, nothing dearer when it is possessed. There are two things which must be left for God's sake, namely the means of possessing and the will of having. Hence it is that the Lord says in the Gospel: He who renounces not all that he possesses cannot be my disciple (Luc. XIV). And again: He who will come after me, let him deny himself (Luc. IX). The former pertains to substance, the latter to the will. For it is not enough to leave outward substance, unless we cut away inward concupiscence. 886DWhence it is also added:

But let those who had nothing not seek in the monastery those things which they could not have outside either.

Even those who had nothing outside have within them something which they can leave for God's sake, namely the will of having. Whence it is written: Thou shalt not covet (Exod. XX). For God attends more to the affection than to the assessment. Hence it is said by the Wise Man: Son, give me thy heart (Prov. XXIII). Which cannot be done unless carnal appetite be first cut back. First, then, we are bidden to forsake what we have; then not to seek earthly things, that afterward we may be able the more freely to pant after heavenly ones. And lest it should seem that to the poor of the world who are converted the necessities ought not to be ministered, 887Abecause they are commanded to seek nothing in the monastery, it is subjoined:

But nevertheless let what is needful be given to their weakness, even if their poverty, when they were outside, could not find even the necessities themselves.

For whether they be rich or poor, whether noble or ignoble, whoever come to the service of Christ, it is just that they live on the provision of Christ. For the laborer is worthy of his hire (I Tim. V).

Yet let them not on that account think themselves happy, because they have found food and covering such as they could not find outside.

For many come to conversion not so much for the soul's salvation as for the body's necessity; 887Bwho worship not God but their own belly, of whom the Apostle says. Whose God is their belly (Philipp. III). To such the Lord says in the Gospel: Amen I say to you, you seek me not because you have seen signs, but because you have eaten of my loaves (Joan. VI). The whole intention and happiness of such men is that they may be well fed, well clothed, and that it may go well with them in temporal things. And because they crave earthly things, they are deprived of heavenly ones. For they have received, as the Lord says, their reward (Matth. VI). Wherefore it is above all to be guarded against, that we cleave not to temporal goods. Therefore the Psalmist admonishes us, saying: If riches abound, set not your heart upon them (Psal. LXI). Earthly things indeed ought to be in our use, but heavenly things in our desire. For there is a certain wonderful and great multitude 887Cof the sweetness of God which he has in himself, of which it is said: That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what God hath prepared for them that love him (I Cor. II). Whence it is written: I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear (Psal. XVI). That satisfying, therefore, ought to be our happiness.

Nor let them lift up the neck, because they are made companions of those whom they did not dare to approach outside; but let them have the heart on high and not seek vain earthly things, lest monasteries begin to be useful to the rich and not to the poor, if the rich are humbled there and the poor are puffed up.

To lift up the neck is a sign of pride. If heaven was not useful to the proud 887Dangels, it is certain that the monastery will not be useful to proud men. And though the place be holy, though the habit be holy, though the works appear holy, the whole will be held useless by reason of the vice of pride. For pride has a fall. Therefore holy David prays to the Lord that the foot of pride come not to him, because there they fell who work iniquity: they were cast out, and could not stand (Psal. XXXV). On the contrary, monasteries are useful to the humble. For they are the teachable of God, as it is written: He will teach the meek his ways (Psal. XXIV). And likewise: Who sends forth springs in the valleys (Psal. CIII); that is, he bestows his grace on the humble. These indeed do not lose the good things they do, because they do not forsake humility, the guardian of the virtues. And because, according to the evangelical precept, 888Athey recline in the lowest place, and according to the prophet choose to be abject in the house of the Lord, they therefore deserve to be heard by him, as it is written: Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled; and he who humbles himself shall be exalted (Luc. XVIII). And again: God resists the proud; but to the humble he gives grace (I Petr. V).

Again also let those who seemed to be something in the world not hold their brethren in disdain, who came to that holy society out of poverty. But rather let them study to glory not in the dignity of rich parents, but in the fellowship of poor brethren.

Above all must the brethren guard, who have come to a holy society and a common life, that the one hold not the other in disdain, however much richer he be than him, 888Bor nobler, or wiser. Since, as the Apostle says: God hath chosen the weak things of the world and the ignoble and the contemptible, that no flesh should glory in his sight (I Cor. I), namely neither the powerful in his power; nor the wise in his wisdom, nor the rich in his riches. For there is no respect of persons with God (Colos. III). For the same Lord is rich unto all who call upon him. And we are well bidden to glory not in the dignity of rich parents but in the fellowship of poor brethren, since he who is rich in his glory was made poor for us. He deigned to be made a companion not of the rich but of the poor; that we too may be poor for his sake, since to the poor the kingdom of heaven has been promised. To glory in riches indeed pertains to the vanity 888Cof the world; but to glory in poverty pertains to blessedness.

Nor let them be exalted if they have contributed something of their means to the common life; nor let them be prouder of their riches because they share them with the monastery, than if they will enjoy them in the saecuto.

From the preceding sentence and from those which follow, two kinds of pride are marked out for us. One carnal, the other spiritual. For to disdain the poor and to glory in nobility pertains to that pride which is wont frequently to occur among worldly men. To exalt oneself over works of mercy is spiritual pride, which is wont to corrupt even spiritual men. And spiritual pride is more to be feared than carnal, 888Dbecause to exalt oneself over a good work or over a virtue is to fall from a height. And the higher the ascent, the more perilous the fall. The Lord says in the Gospel: When thou dost alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thy alms may be in secret; and he who seeth in secret will repay thee (Matth. VI). By the right hand is signified right working; by the left, the world's favor and self-exaltation; from these words we are admonished to be zealous to hide the right things we do from self-exaltation, otherwise we shall not have our reward with our Father. Then he shows how great is the vice of pride, when he subjoins.

For any other iniquity whatsoever is exercised in evil works, that they may be done; but pride lies in wait even for good works, that they may perish.

889AFrom this it appears that pride is greater than the other vices. For through vices and virtues it drives out the human mind; pride is hateful to God and to men, of which it is written: Pride is the beginning of every sin (Eccli. X). It is first in sinning; it remains last in the struggle. For when the servant of God has overcome the other vices, and has already climbed to the heights of the virtues, he still has a fight against pride, and unless he has vanquished her, he has labored in vain in the rest. When therefore we do good things outwardly, let us guard the heart within from self-exaltation; because no work with pride is pleasing to God. Whence Scripture admonishes us, saying: With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because death and life proceed from it (Prov. IV).

And what does it profit to scatter and give to the poor and 889Bto become poor, when the wretched soul is made prouder by despising riches than it had been by possessing them?

It profits us nothing to leave our own things, unless we leave ourselves also. For the Lord does not say: Blessed are the poor in goods, but in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matth. V). From the contempt of things each man ought to be more humble, not prouder; and it would be better that he keep them in the world than so to leave them that he grow proud of it in the monastery. Just as, therefore, that soul is blessed which divides its own goods among the poor for the Lord's sake, that it may be humbled, so is that one wretched which is exalted thereby. Unhappy indeed is he who by the way of the virtues makes for the vices, and from that whence he ought to have had a reward, from that he incurs a torment. For every proud man is as much in 889Cthe depth as he raises himself on high, and slips the more deeply the more loftily he is lifted up. Certain vices having been cut away, he returns to that oneness of mind which he commended first, saying.

All of you therefore live of one mind and in concord, and honor God in one another, whose temples you have been made.

We live of one mind if we have one mind in God, just as the primitive Church, whose heart was one and soul one. That he says of one mind pertains to the will. But that he adds in concord pertains to good manners. This is the right order of living: first that the will be one, then that the life be concordant. The brother who wishes to live in concord ought first to lay aside depraved manners, lest he be perverse, disordered, 889Dundisciplined, lest by his anxiety he oppress the rest; then he ought so to balance his acts and his whole life that he may be able to be in concord, according to God, with those among whom he lives. There are therefore not a few who, after they leave the world, wish to follow their own wills. And again there are very many who in their acts desire to appear as worldly men. Therefore it is said: All of you therefore live of one mind and in concord. And we honor God in one another if we love one another for his sake, if we carefully keep his precepts and are made his holy temple by the indwelling of his Spirit in us. It is ours to honor God; it is God's to dwell in us and to enlighten us by grace

890ANor let them be exalted if they have contributed something of their means to the common life, etc., as far as they were enjoying them.

It is better to keep one's goods in the world than so to distribute them in the monastery as to wish to be exalted thereby. For if they are exalted, they are cast down. For whoever swells up in that which he does well, by that very path by which he advances he falls. For a good action with self-exaltation does not lift up but weighs down. Blessed therefore is that soul which can say with the Prophet: Lord, my heart is not exalted, neither are my eyes lifted up, neither have I walked in great matters, nor in wonderful things above me (Psal. CXXX). Plainly happy is he who has no hidden pride in the heart, nor open pride in the body, nor in the countenance, nor in the habit, nor in speech, nor in work, nor in the rest of his motions. And if he does not 890Bwalk in great matters, that is, if he does not reckon himself among the great, on the ground that he was noble or powerful, or that he contributed his riches to the common life, or that he is useful in some office. And if he does not walk in wonderful things above himself, so as not to wish to appear as one admirable and praiseworthy on account of the religion and sanctity conferred upon him from above by God. Yet rarely is anyone found who has not some stirring from these things. But that the servant of God may be able to overcome all these kinds of pride, he ought always to think humbly of himself and not to exalt his soul, but to hold it down in humility, according to what is written: The greater thou art, the more humble thyself in all things (Eccli. III). For the words that follow are greatly to be feared: For any other 890Ciniquity whatsoever, etc. For avarice is not exercised except in evil works. Luxury is not exercised except in evil works, and likewise the other vices. Pride alone lies in wait even for good works, that they may perish. Therefore the Pharisee lost his good deeds, because he boastfully declared that he had done them. Augustine: There are some who glory the more vainly over the contempt of vain glory. Likewise there are very many who are the more vainly exalted over the contempt of riches, concerning whom it is subjoined:

And what does it profit to scatter and give to the poor and to become poor, when the wretched soul is made prouder by despising riches than it had been by possessing them?

As if he were openly saying. What does poverty profit with pride? Better is a humble rich man than a proud poor man. Better is a humble sinner than a just man 890Dpuffed up. In all things, therefore, the servant of God ought to be provident and circumspect: first, that he do no evil; then, that he neglect no good; afterward, that he swell not up in us over what he does; because those things which we do are truly good if we always guard them in humility And then we are truly the poor of Christ, if we are humble for the love of Christ. And: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matth. V). Whence it is openly subjoined:

All of you therefore live of one mind and in concord, and honor God in one another, whose temples you have been made.

Poverty indeed and humility beget charity. And charity nourishes unity; and unity and 891Aconcord make us the temple of God. And then we truly honor God, when we live of one mind and in concord. For then we show that we are the disciples of Christ, if we hold the unity of the charity of Christ. Hence it is that the Lord says: In this all men shall know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another (Joan. XIII).

Be instant in prayers at the appointed hours and times.

To pray before the time is foresight. To pray at the appointed time is obedience. To let the time of praying pass by is negligence. Prayer ought to be the more frequent, the more useful it is. We ought to pray instantly and ardently. For great are the good things which God promises us. 891BFor eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what God hath prepared for them that love him (I Cor. II). He does not wish his good things to grow cheap through ease in seeking and finding them. Precious and desirabilis merchandise seeks out an eager trader. Therefore the Lord exhorts us in the Gospel, saying: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you (Matth. VII). For the kingdom of God is not promised to the idle, the lukewarm and the negligent, but, as Scripture says: The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent bear it away (Matth. XI). God loves instancy and importunity in prayer. If the good things are great, the desires ought not to be small. With the greatness of the rewards the greatness of the desires ought to agree. But if at the first tears the Lord does not hear, not even so 891Cis one to desist from seeking and knocking; but rather one must persevere with such instancy, and the Saviour must be besought with so obstinate a cry, until he fulfils the desire of him who prays. But if any of us feels that his conscience or his thought or his action is defiled with the filth of vices, he ought to implore the mercy of the Redeemer with continual laments, and to ask the intercessions and help of the saints; and if after the example of the woman of Canaan we persist in praying and remain fixed, the grace of our Redeemer will be at hand, to correct all our errors in us, to sanctify unclean things, to calm troubled ones. For he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, to cleanse us from all iniquity, if we cry to him with the assiduous voice of the mountain. And that the brethren may be able to pray secretly and 891Dquietly, it is therefore subjoined:

Let no one do anything in the oratory except that for which it was made, whence also it received its name, so that if perhaps some wish to pray outside the appointed hours (if they have leisure for it), those who think something is to be done there may not be a hindrance to them.

Therefore our Lord cast the sellers and buyers out of the temple, saying: My house shall be called the house of prayer (Matth. XXI); to teach that in the Lord's house nothing else is to be done but to pray. For to this end every church is established, that in it prayer be made. For it is the house of God and the gate of heaven. There sinners are reconciled, and the just are sanctified; there the divine mysteries are accomplished and the heavenly sacraments are handled. 892AWhence Solomon says: Lord, if thy people shall be converted and shall pray toward thy sanctuary, thou wilt hear them and wilt forgive their sins (III Reg. VIII). And therefore it is above all to be guarded against, that nothing be done in the sanctuary which either offends the eyes of the divine majesty or hinders those who wish to pray there. But in what manner we ought to pray is shown when it is added below.

When you pray God with psalms and hymns: let that be turned over in the heart which is uttered in the voice.

The mind of those who sing psalms in church ought to agree with the voice, that the word of the Apostle may be fulfilled: I will sing with the spirit; I will sing also with the mind (I Cor. XIV). Perseverance in praying only then deserves to be fruitful, if what we pray with the mouth we meditate with the mind. For often we pray and yet direct the heart elsewhere, nor do we recall the very thing which 892Bwe are saying. But God does not hear that prayer to which he who prays does not attend; which is often wont to happen at the devil's prompting. For knowing the usefulness of praying, and envying us the grace of obtaining, he sends upon those who pray tumults of thoughts, that he may divide the mind from prayer and take away the fruit of prayer. Against his malice we ought to have constancy of mind, so that the more the crowd of thoughts assails us, the more sturdily our mind may remain fixed in the uprightness of its own state. For it greatly helps toward purity of prayer if in every place and time we restrain ourselves from unlawful acts; if we always chasten hearing and tongue alike from idle words; if we accustom ourselves to walk in the law of God and to search his testimonies with the whole heart. Whatever things we are more often wont to do, 892Cto speak, to hear, these same things must needs run back to the mind as to their accustomed and proper seat.

And sing nothing except what you read is to be sung. But what is so written as not to be sung, let it not be sung.

For it is not fitting that ecclesiastical chant should be made according to the judgment of various men, but it is firmly to be kept according to the writings and institutions of our elders. Likewise the other customs of the monastery are to be ordered with authority and discretion. But if anything must be changed or established, this ought not to be done quickly or lightly; nor by the judgment of only two or three, but with the brethren called together it is to be ordered as the sounder part of the canonical congregation shall have decreed. 892DAnd it is to be known that ecclesiastical authority is in all things more to be imitated than reason, since authority is always of obedience and of humility; but reason is sometimes of presumption. And this is to be kept in the order, that maturity and gravity be always held. Did I use lightness, says the Apostle, that with me there should be yea and nay? (II Cor. I.) It is indeed honorable and religious not to vary anything easily or lightly.

Tame your flesh by fastings and by abstinence from food and drink, as far as health permits.

The flesh indeed lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; but, lest the flesh be able to prevail, spiritual men ought by the strength of the spirit to restrain that same concupiscence; because, 893Awhen the flesh is tamed, the spirit is strengthened. But when there is added as far as health permits, the virtue of discretion is commended. For good things themselves perish unless they are done with discretion. So much, then, ought each man quisquae to tame his flesh by abstinence, as far as the health of nature permits. He who afflicts his flesh beyond measure kills his own fellow-citizen. If he refreshes it with more food than is fitting, he feeds an enemy. So then it is to be nourished that it may serve; so tamed that it may not grow proud. In all abstinence this is always to be attended to, that the vices be extinguished, not the flesh.

But when someone cannot fast, let him nevertheless not take any food outside the hour of the meal, unless he is sick.

The first vice of the seven principal vices is 893Bgluttony. The temptation of this vice sometimes comes from small and cheap things. For the first man was tempted not by a pig, but by an apple; Esau not by a hen, but by a lentil dish. Our Saviour himself not by flesh, but by bread. And there are three kinds of this vice. One kind is when a man uses food or drink immoderately. Another kind is when a man desires food or drink that is too dainty. The third kind, when a man wishes to take food or drink outside the hour. We believe "outside the hour" to be up to the third hour. For up to that hour it is not fitting for a brother to eat or drink unless he be sick. To the sick man it is lawful at every hour. For to the infirm no law is set. For those not fasting, and yet not sick either, we understand the right [time] for taking refreshment to be from the third hour to the sixth; but for those fasting, from 893Cthe ninth hour to evening. Since the Apostle commands that all things be done honorably and according to order (I Cor. XIV). Nor is it only in food and drink that one must be temperate; but the appointed hours also must be observed, lest we give anyone a stumbling-block from our life. It is exceedingly unseemly if we live reprehensibly, we who ought to show others the pattern of living rightly.

When you come to table, until you rise from it, hear without tumult and contention what is read to you according to custom, lest your jaws alone take food, but let your ears also hunger for the word of God.

893DThat man hunger for the word of God who desire to hear. Many hear the sacred reading who nevertheless withdraw empty from that very reading; where they have no affection, they feel no savor: whatever they hear they easily lose. It is a judgment for them to hear what they hear. On the contrary it is written: Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall be filled (Matth. V). Therefore they shall be filled because they first hungered. For by hungering a man is made worthy to be filled afterward. First, therefore, we ought to prepare our heart to hunger for and to desire the word of God; the divine grace will be at hand to flood us within and to refresh us with spiritual sweetness and savor, and to delight us to sing, How sweet are thy words to my jaws, 894AO Lord, above honey to my mouth, and Good for me is the law of thy mouth above thousands of gold and silver (Psal. CXVIII). We ought to be partakers not only of the bodily table but of the spiritual, nor to take only the food of the body but of the soul. And by how much the soul is better than the body, by so much the more ought the foods of the soul to delight us than those of the body. As often as divine Scripture is read or expounded to us, we ought to think that it is spiritual food, which is sent to us by God to refresh our hearts lest we fail on the way, and to strengthen us against the temptations of the devil and the perils of this world. Such food we must hunger for unceasingly and hold continually in mind, that we may be able to say with the Prophet: In my heart have I hidden thy words that I may not sin against thee (ibid.). He who hides the sacred 894Bword in his heart, to him it is the life-giving food of the soul, which defends from death, that is, from sin, and moreover leads through to eternal life. Now let us hear what he subjoins concerning the infirm.

Those who are infirm from their former manner of life, if they are treated otherwise in their diet, this ought not to be troublesome to others, nor seem unjust to those whom some custom has made stronger.

As if he were openly saying, the stronger ought not to be saddened if they see the infirm treated more mercifully; nay rather, because they are stronger, they ought to keep the rigor of abstinence in themselves, and to bear the weakness of others with an even mind through compassion.

Nor let them think those richer, because they take what 894Cthey themselves do not take, but let them rather congratulate themselves, because they are strong for what those are not strong for.

For it is better to abstain than to take more. For the one is of strength, the other of infirmity. Each man ought to congratulate himself who by the house of divine grace is so sound and vigorous that the common food and drink of the others can suffice him, who seeks nothing dainty, it superfluous. For by how much the less each man craves, by how much the more straitly he lives, by so much the more blessed does he stand. For strait and narrow is the way which leads to life. Let him rejoice, therefore, who is able to live sparingly for Christ's sake. For a sparing life kills the vices, extinguishes lust, nourishes the virtues, strengthens the mind, lifts the mind to heavenly things.

And if to those who have come from more delicate ways of living to 894Dthe monastery something of food, of clothing, of coverings is given, which is not given to others who are stronger and therefore happier; those to whom it is not given ought to consider how far those men have come down from their worldly life to this life, although they have not been able to attain to the frugality of the others who are firmer in body.

Why ought they to consider these things? Namely, that they may recognize from reason that it is just that those who have come down further should receive more. And when they have recognized this to be just, let them not wish all to receive what they have seen a few receive. For those who can do less are to be borne with. And this is what he subjoins.

Nor ought all to wish to receive what they see a few receive 895Amore abundantly, not because they are honored, but because they are borne with; lest a detestable perversity befall, that in monasteries, where as far as they can the rich become laborious, the poor become dainty.

It is exceedingly detestable that a poor man should there become dainty, where a rich man craves to become laborious, that is, abstinent. Which nevertheless we often see done or happening in many. For the more noble and the more delicate many have been in the world, the more abjectly and strictly do they afterward live in the monastery. And very many, the more abjectores and of poorer condition they were, the more do they afterward seek self-exaltation and dainties in the monastery. But, as we have said, it is exceedingly detestable and perverse that a poor man should there seek delicacies, where a rich man for the love of God strives by abstaining 895Bto labor. The one serves the belly, the other the spirit; the one by the broad and spacious way makes for punishment, site by the strait and narrow way makes for glory.

Indeed, just as the sick must needs take less lest they be burdened, so also after sickness they are to be so treated that they may be restored the sooner, even if they have come from the lowliest poverty of the world, as though the more recent sickness had conferred on them what an earlier custom conferred on the rich.

But there are certain sicknesses in which, if food is taken, it does not help but burdens, and then the sick must needs 895Ctake less lest they be burdened. But when the sickness has been laid aside, they are so to be treated that they may be restored the sooner. And in this restoring of the brethren there ought to be no respect of persons; the lowliest poverty ought not to be despised in those things which human necessity demands, since a recent sickness bestows on them what an earlier custom bestows on the rich. For he who is merciful toward another, God is merciful toward him. Whence he himself says: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (Matth. V). Blessed John also says: He that shall see his brother in need and shall shut up his bowels from him, how doth the charity of God abide in him? (I Joan. III.) If therefore we wish to have the charity of God, we ought to exercise the works of mercy toward our brethren. And when we do this, without doubt we serve 895Dhim who will say to his elect in the judgment: I was sick and you visited me; I was hungry and you gave me to eat (Matth. XXV), etc., and things like these. To whom the reward is then paid out, when it is said: Receive the kingdom which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world (ibid.). When therefore we serve our brethren for God's sake, we are seeking the very kingdom of heaven; and though the works are transitory, yet the reward abides eternal.

But when they have repaired their former strength, let them return to their happier custom.

It is a happy custom to cut away the carnal desires which war against the soul; it is a happy custom to abstain; it is a happy custom to chastise one's body and bring it into servitude.

896AWhich so much the more becomes the servants of God, the less they are in need, lest the pleasure of food hold them now that they are strengthened, whom necessity had relieved when they were infirm.

For the relieving of infirmity it is necessary to take care of the flesh, which flesh, after it has been strengthened, that same care of the flesh must be cut back, lest the pleasure of food hold the servants of God, lest those serve gluttony who ought to serve the soul. By how much therefore they are less in need, by so much the more does it become them that the pleasure of food not hold them, lest the vice of gluttony take away the virtues of the soul. No one lays hold of the palm of the spiritual contest who has not first, by afflicting the concupiscence of the belly, overcome in himself the incitements of the flesh. For neither does one rise to the conflict of the spiritual contest, unless first the enemy set within ourselves — namely the appetite of gluttony — 896Bbe tamed, because if we do not first lay low those things which are nearer to us, we pass in vain to the assaulting of those which are far off. Many, ignorant of the order of the contest, neglect to tame gluttony and rise up to spiritual wars, who even sometimes do much that is of great fortitude. But when the vice of gluttony holds mastery through the enticement of the flesh, they lose all that they have bravely done; and while the belly is not restrained, through the concupiscence of the flesh all the virtues together are overwhelmed. This is signified by the fact that the prince of the cooks destroyed the walls of Jerusalem, because, while the belly is not restrained, it loses the virtues of the soul. The people led out of Egypt fell in the desert, because, having despised the manna, they asked for the food of flesh. Esau lost the glory 896Cof the firstborn, because by a great craft of desire he coveted a cheap food, that is, a lentil dish. For it is not the food but the appetite that is in fault. Whence we often take richer foods without guilt, and taste meaner ones not without a charge upon the conscience. Those things therefore are to be taken which the necessity of nature seeks, and not those which the lust of eating suggests.

Let them esteem those richer who shall have been stronger in bearing sparingness.

By the strength of sparingness the vices of the flesh are put down; from the mortification of the vices proceeds the sprouting of the virtues. These are the true divine ones with which the souls of the continent are enriched. Whence it is also added:

It is better to need less than to have more.

It is better to endure something of want for the Lord's sake., 896Dthan to superabound. For the want which is for the Lord's sake begets humility, which is the beginning of all honors; but abundance brings forth pride, which is the beginning of all evils. The servant of God, therefore, that he may be able to restrain the will and appetite of the flesh, ought always to tend toward the less, so that he may wish to have less even of those very foods and garments than is necessary. For we have as a helper of our inward intention this man whom we bear outwardly, and though wantonnesses are in him, yet in him affections for good working are at hand. Whence it is necessary that our inner man preside as an equitable arbiter between himself and him whom he has borne outwardly, so that his outer man may both always suffice to serve him for the due 897Aministry, and may never proudly contradict him with unbowed neck.

Let not your habit be conspicuous, and do not seek to please by garments but by manners.

That holy man did what he taught: for it is written that his garments and his shoes were neither too shining nor for the most part abject, but of a moderate and fitting fashion. He himself too is read to have said of himself. "I confess that I blush over a precious garment. It does not become this profession, nor does it become this admonition; it does not become these limbs, it does not become these grey hairs." Hence the Lord in the Gospel: Behold, they who are clothed in soft garments 897Bare in the houses of kings (Matth. XI). Garments are called soft because they make the mind soft. In soft garments the royal house takes delight; in rough and humble ones the Church of Christ takes delight. Such ought to be the garments of clerics, in which nothing of novelty can be noted, nothing that pertains to pride and empty glory. It is not a delicate garment that adorns a priest, but cleanness of mind that adorns a cleric. Let us therefore adorn ourselves with spiritual ornaments, namely with chastity, humility, meekness, obedience, patience, charity. These are the garments by which the soul can please the heavenly emperor; for the invisible bridegroom seeks not outward but inward beauty. As it is written: All the glory of her, the king's daughter, is from within (Psal. XLIV). Our riches therefore, 897Cour beauty, are good manners. And blessed is that soul to which it is said in the Song of Songs: How beautiful art thou, my love, and there is no spot in thee! (Cant. IV.) Let us therefore be zealous to please the invisible Lord not by garments but by manners, that there may be fulfilled in us what is commanded through the Apostle: Be not conformed to this world, but be reformed in the newness of your understanding (Rom. XII). For although our outward man is corrupted, the inward one is nevertheless renewed from day to day (II Cor. IV). Then he subjoins concerning gait, bearing and the rest of the motions, saying:

When you go forth, walk together; when you have come where you are going, stand together. In your gait, your bearing and all your motions let nothing be done that would offend anyone's sight, but what befits your holiness.

897DThe holy Church of the perfect, therefore, not only flowers with the honor of religion, but is also strong in the comeliness of honorableness, as it is written: My flowers are the fruits of honor and honorableness (Eccl. XXIV); for it is religious and honorable that, just as the brethren dwell together, so also they should walk together and stand together. And the Apostle commanded that all things be done with honorableness and according to order (I Cor. XIV). Something spiritual too can be understood in this bodily joining together. The society of the saints also is described as terrible as an army set in array. For when the battle line of a camp prepares itself for war, it hastens first to join and order itself, lest it be broken through or penetrated by the enemy. So without doubt our spiritual battle line, 898Awhich, well joined and ordered, is commanded to stand together and to walk together, is daily fortified for war against the devil, so that by its very joining together it may terrify the ancient enemy, who fears nothing in the servants of God so much as the unity of concord. But it is greatly to be noted what is said

In all your motions let nothing be done that would offend anyone's sight, but what befits your holiness,

Canons ought so to live that they can be justly reproved by no one. For it is exceedingly unfitting that those should live reprehensibly whose order requires that they show to others the pattern of holiness. For to them belongs that sentence in which it is said: Be holy as I also am holy, says the Lord (Lev. XIX.) 898BTruly holy we ought to be, who have taken up the name and the habit of religion and holiness, who are made over to the divine worship, and consecrated to the sacred altars of Christ, and ordained to the divine mysteries. Therefore let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and the dispensers of the ministries of God (I Cor. IV). Yet the Apostle does not command that we be so, but so let us be accounted, he says, by a man. For a holy life does not suffice us, unless there be also a good report. For a good life is necessary to us for our own sake, but a good report for the sake of others. Whence again the Apostle says: We must have a good testimony from those who are outside (I Tim. III). So then we ought to live that our life may agree with our name, and our profession be held to in our work; so that if the order is holy, our manner of life may be holy, and just as well is 898Csaid of us, it may be proved by the testimony of good action. For then do we live religiously, if we curb unlawful motions under discipline, if we are zealous to restrain our members and our senses, that they may not be able to serve wantonness and levity; that our gaze may be simple and humble, lest the eye look fixedly on what the mind unlawfully covets; that our hearing may be pure and discerning, rejecting the things that are superfluous and vain, gladly receiving the things that are of God; that our speech may be seasoned with salt, detesting idle and harmful things, commending good and lowly ones; that there may be cleanness in the heart, modesty in the countenance, gravity in the gait, bearing with reverence, motion with maturity, habit with religion, so that everywhere holiness may shine out, honorableness stand forth, humility be preserved, and in 898Dall your motions nothing be done that would offend anyone's sight, but what befits your holiness.

Your eyes, even if they are cast upon some one of the women, let them be fixed upon none. For neither are you forbidden to see women when you go forth, but to desire them or to wish to be desired by them is criminal.

Whence the Lord in the Gospel: He who shall look upon a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery in his heart (Matth. V). And because through an unlawful look concupiscence arises, by which the integrity of the mind is violated, it is necessary that the servant of God always restrain his sight, lest through concupiscence and through uncleanness of heart he offend God. Holy David, 899Abecause he cast and fixed his eyes upon a woman, being overcome by unlawful appetite committed adultery and homicide. If therefore so great a man fell through carelessness of the eyes, we who stand far off from his holiness ought above all to fear so deadly a precipice. Let us therefore hold to the sentence of blessed Job in which it is said: I made a covenant with my eyes that I would not so much as think upon a virgin (Job. XXXI). For because the holy man perceived that through the outward sight the inward mind is corrupted, he made a pact with his eyes that they should not incautiously look upon what he would unlawfully covet. For a vice is not truly conquered unless the cause and occasion of the vice be carefully guarded against. Hence it is that Lot, fleeing from Sodom, is commanded not to look back, nor to remain in all the country round about, but to save himself 899Bon the mountain. For whoever perfectly desires to flee the incitements of the vices ought to make himself a stranger to the sight and the neighborhood of them, and to climb up to the heights of the virtues, so that he may remain a stranger to the vices in proportion as he is removed from them in strength and in body. And that sight is the cause of concupiscence is shown when it is added.

Not by silent affection only, but by affection and by gaze also, the concupiscence of women is desired and desires.

As if he were openly saying: Not only by a silent will does concupiscence arise within, but it is also generated through the outward gaze. For unless holy David had gazed fixedly upon a woman, he would in no way have fallen into so great a temptation of the flesh. 899CHence it is said through the prophet: Death has ascended through the windows of ours (Jer. IX). Death of the soul is concupiscence; the inner house is our mind; the windows of this house are the five senses of the body. Death therefore ascends through the window and enters the houses, when the vice of concupiscence breaks through the senses to the inner parts of the mind. Wherefore, lest the vital sense perish within through outward appetite, it is needful that we guard the windows of our house with such diligence that we may be able to check that appetite the more easily, the more we allow no entrance to lie open to the vices. For the sentence which is added is greatly to be feared.

Nor say that you have chaste minds if you have unchaste eyes, because an unchaste eye is the messenger of an unchaste 899Dheart.

For often the outward members announce what lies hidden within, and frequently by the habit of the body the habit of the mind is known. But the fault is less while it lies in secret, and it is already made greater when it begins to appear in public.

And it is to be known that one unchastity is carnal, another spiritual. The spiritual is that which is carried on only within, through the delight of thoughts. But the carnal is that which is completed bodily. And it comes about in many ways. For now by sight, now by hearing, now by touch, now by thought, now by speech, now by work, lust is nourished and exercised by such fuels, and the soul is separated from 900AGod, and chastity flees from the manners, and luxury is exercised in the minds. Whence also it is added:

And when, even with the tongue silent, they announce to one another by mutual gaze that their hearts are unchaste, and according to the concupiscence of the flesh take delight in one another with ardor, even though the bodies be untouched by unclean violation, chastity herself flees from the manners.

Chastity indeed flees from the manners while a lustful will burns more and more with mutual gazes. And although the body is not touched by unclean violation, yet that same unclean violation is perpetrated by sight, by affection, by thought, by delight, and by these very fuels, as by certain steps, the sin grows. A small thought begets delight, delight begets consent, consent begets work, work begets custom, 900Bcustom begets necessity. For the Apostle says that the law of sin is in the members (Rom. VII), which law is the custom which we conceive by sinning, and from which we do not depart when we will, because we are held by the bond of necessity through custom. It is good therefore to correct a fault when it begins to appear, because if it has begun to linger, it makes the enormity of a crime; and what does the Psalmist say of such men? They have prolonged their iniquity; the just Lord will cut in pieces the cer vices of sinners (Psal. CXXVIII).

Nor ought he who fixes his eye upon a woman, and loves hers fixed upon himself, to think that he is not seen by others when he does this; he is seen altogether, and by those by whom he does not judge himself to be seen.

This we frequently see in those who wish to hide their faults: 900Cthat while they suppose themselves to be doing their vices cautiously and secretly, they themselves display themselves while they know it not, and the fault which is believed to be hidden is manifestly known by others.

But suppose it lies hidden and is seen by no man: what will he do about that beholder from above, from whom nothing can lie hidden? Or is he to be thought not to see, because he sees the more patiently the more wisely he sees?

In all things, therefore, in which we offend either by doing or by speaking or by thinking, we ought vehemently to dread the gaze of the judge on high, because, though sometimes our vices do not appear to men, yet to his eyes all things are naked and open. And this ought to restrain us from fault, because in his judgment nothing 900Dwill be able to remain unavenged. Against the incitements of the vices we ought to set the torments of hell, and against transitory delight the pain of everlasting fire. Exceedingly foolish is he who, for the sake of serving lust for a little time, and feeding his wretched desire with little delights, both loses the heavenly loveliness and incurs eternal damnation.

Let that holy man therefore fear to displease him, lest he wish to please an evil woman. Let him consider that he sees all things, lest he wish to be ill seen by a woman. For his fear is commended in this cause too, where it is written. He that fixes the eye is an abomination to the Lord.

From which words it is plain that, if we fix the eye upon a woman, we are abominable to our God, whom we ought to have pleased. And from him from whom we ought to have received glory, 901Awe shall receive punishment. Wherefore it is necessary that, if divine love does not separate us from our vices, at least fear may restrain us; and if the joys on high do not delight us, at least the eternal punishments may terrify us. So does a man begin to withdraw from sin, if he fears to displease his Maker.

If someone says: How shall I fear God? If thou wilt fear God, consider that he sees all things. An evil conscience tickles thee: consider that God sees thee. Whatever evil there shall be in thee, weigh it that God beholds it all. Whatever we do, or say, or turn over in the mind, let us always attend to the eyes of God above us; let us always fear to displease him. This is the way of justice, these are the first beginnings of wisdom, as it is written: The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Eccli. I). 901BThere follows: When therefore you are together in church, or wherever women are, guard your chastity toward one another.

Great is the virtue of chastity, and much commended in the divine Scriptures. This virtue is heavenly and spiritual. For it lifts a man from the earth, makes him the companion of angels, joins him to God, makes him heavenly from earthly, spiritual from carnal. This virtue transcends even human nature. For that a man is chaste, that he is pure, no human virtue so much brings about as divine. Through this the invisible bridegroom loves us. For a soul does not please God if it is not pure, if it is not chaste. For if it serves uncleanness and lust, it is abominable to him and reprobate. The virtue of chastity is acceptable to God and to men. This the ancient enemy of the human race envies us, 901Cthis he ceases not to assail. For he himself is the persuader of uncleanness and lust; he corrupts very many, he spares not clerics, he indulges not monks, and — what is the more to be groaned over — he lays low even the religious themselves.

It is necessary therefore with the highest vigilance to guard our chastity toward one another. For if we lose it, we lose totuin, even our very selves. He who loses chastity loses his soul, loses God, loses himself also. But to this end we dwell together in one, that we may guard one another, correct one another, be instructed by one another, so that what each cannot do through himself he may be able to do through another. And because our guarding is not from ourselves but from God, it is well added.

901DFor God, who dwells in you, will in this way also guard you from among yourselves.

For our own guarding is not sufficient for us unless the divine guarding be present also. Whence it is written: Unless the Lord shall guard (Psal. CXXVI), etc. There is no one who can guard chastity, either in himself or in another, save through God. But if he himself shall dwell in us, we shall be able through him what we cannot through ourselves. So then let us be zealous to live in such a way that he may deign to dwell — we in him and he in us — that we may be able to be just and chaste through him, who lives and reigns God through all ages of ages. Amen.

And if you notice this wantonness of the eye of which I speak in any 902Aof you, admonish him at once, that what has been begun may not go further, but be corrected at the nearest opportunity. But if, even after the admonition, you see him do the same thing again, whether on another day or on any other whatever, then let whoever has been able to discover this bring him forward as one wounded and to be healed. Yet first it must be shown to a second or a third, so that he may be convicted by the mouth of two or three, and restrained with fitting severity.

This sentence agrees with the words of the Apostle and of the Gospel. For the blessed Paul says: If a man be overtaken in any fault, you who are spiritual, instruct such a one in the spirit of gentleness (Gal. VI). And the Lord in the Gospel: If thy brother shall offend against thee, rebuke him between thee and him alone; if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. If he will not hear thee, 902Btake with thee two or three, that in the mouth of two or three every word may stand (Matth. XVIII), With the utmost diligence indeed must a fault be searched out and corrected. For if we do not amend it in this world, we shall be damned in the world to come. Whence the Apostle: It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebr. X). It is better, therefore, to amend one's life here than to perish then. He who loves to be rebuked is wise. Whence it is written: Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. But a fool, if he is rebuked, grows angry. But what does the Apostle say to his disciple? Be instant, he says, in season, out of season (II Tim. IV). In season he said on account of those who gladly heard the word of preaching. Out of season on account of those who heard unwillingly. In like manner those who reprove faults must sometimes be importunate; but that importunity 902Cis not from anger but from charity; and often he who is troubled because he is rebuked, when he has begun to consider with how great love his brother has reproved him, rejoices at the reproof, and is eager to amend what he has done amiss.

And do not judge yourselves to be ill-willed when you make this known. Rather indeed you are not innocent if, when by disclosing it you are able to correct your brothers, you allow them to perish by keeping silent. For if your brother has a wound in his body which he wishes to be hidden, since he fears to be cut, would it not be cruelly kept silent by you, and mercifully disclosed? How much more, then, ought you to make it known, lest it rot worse in the heart

If he is cruel who conceals a wound in his brother's body, much more cruel is he who does not disclose the wound of sin in his brother's 902Dsoul, and he stands guilty of the death of that man whom by keeping silent he allows to perish. For as the one is condemned by his deed, so this one by his silence. For if he is cruel who does not uncover a fault, on the contrary he is merciful who does not hide it. Nor can he show a greater mercy toward a wretched man than to grant life to one who is perishing. A great reward too is owed him by the Almighty, by whom it was said: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (Matth. V). And James says: He who shall cause a sinner to be converted from the error of his way shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins (Jacob. V). But in what order a fault ought to be disclosed, he shows when he adds:

But before it is shown to the others by whom he must be convicted 903Aif he denies it, it ought first to be shown to the prior, if after admonition he has neglected to be corrected, lest perhaps, being corrected more secretly, he be able not to become known to the rest.

When a fault is committed in secret, the brother who has offended ought to be corrected secretly by the other brothers who are aware of that fault; and if he neglects to hear them, it ought to be made known to the father of the monastery, that he too may correct the brother in secret, so that the fault, which is still hidden, if perhaps it can be corrected more secretly, may not become known to all. But if he denies it, then let witnesses be brought in, so that, being convicted, he may be judged more strictly. And this is what is added.

But if he denies it, then others are to be brought to him as he denies it, even before all, so that he may not be accused by one witness but convicted by two or three. And when convicted, 903Baccording to the judgment of the prior, or even of the priest to whose management the decision belongs, he ought to undergo corrective punishment.

He who, gently chastised, is not corrected, must needs be corrected more sharply. For with pain must those things be cut away which cannot be gently healed. But he who, admonished in secret concerning his sin, neglects to be corrected, must be accused publicly, so that the wound which does not know how to be healed in secret may be able to be amended openly. But manifest sins are not to be purged in a hidden manner. For those who sin openly are to be accused openly, so that, while they are healed by open rebuke, those who have gone astray by imitating them may be corrected. This man, therefore, who was unwilling to be corrected in secret, when publicly convicted ought to undergo corrective punishment.

903CAnd if he refuses to bear it, even if he has not departed thence of himself, let him be cast out of your fellowship. For this too is done not cruelly but mercifully, lest by a pestilent contagion he destroy very many.

For it is better that one be condemned for the salvation of many than that very many be endangered by the example of one. Hence the Lord says in the Gospel: If thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into hell. And if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off and cast it from thee (Matth. V). By the right eye or the right hand we may understand some friend necessary to us. He who provides 903Din our affairs is our eye; he who ministers in things necessary is our hand; and he who provides also in spiritual things is our right eye or right hand. Such a one, and so necessary, if he scandalize the rest in the service of God, is to be cut off from the body, that is, from the fellowship. For it is better to lose the comfort of one than that through one the whole body perish.

And this which I have said about not fixing the eye, let it be observed diligently and faithfully in the other sins also — in discovering, forbidding, disclosing, convicting, and judging them — with love of men and hatred of vices.

Hence the same blessed doctor says elsewhere: Men are to be loved in such a way that their errors are not loved. For it is one thing to have loved what they were made, another 904Ato hate what they do. There are some who reprove the faults of others not so much out of charity as out of the bitterness of hatred — not so much because they wish them to be corrected, as that they may be able to exercise the hatred they carry in their heart. And this is not according to God. Rather, or, it pertains to vengeance than to discipline. Let them therefore take care to reprove no one with anger and indignation, but rather with sweetness and charity. And if sometimes, as the fault requires, harshness sounds in the voice, yet let gentleness always remain in the mind. According to what the Apostle enjoins, saying: You who are spiritual, instruct such a one in the spirit of gentleness (Galat. VI). And well does he add: Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted (ibid.). For attend to yourself, you who reprove another, since you are a sinner and frail, lest you be grievously 904Btempted if you attempt to reprove someone by growing indignant rather than by having compassion. Let it be done, therefore, with love of men and hatred of vices, so that love be kept in the heart toward the man, and hatred against the vice; for severity is owed to vices, but compassion to nature. There follows:

But whoever shall have advanced so far into evil as to receive secretly letters from anyone, or any gift whatever, if he confesses this of his own accord, let him be spared and let prayer be made for him.

He says that the brother who receives anything secretly has advanced into a great evil, because to conceal anything is to break the order. He incurs a great evil who becomes a transgressor of his own order. Unless the holy prophet 904Chad known it to be a great evil that Gehazi his disciple had received a hidden gift from Naaman the Syrian (IV. Reg. V), he would by no means have struck him so terribly with the affliction of leprosy. And so by his example he taught us that whoever should commit a like sin is worthy of grave correction. Yet if he confesses this of his own accord, he is to be spared, and prayer is to be made for him. For a fault becomes lighter which is humbly laid open by voluntary confession. Whence David says: I said, I will confess; and thou hast forgiven the iniquity of my sin (Psal. XXXI).

But if he is caught and convicted, let him be more grievously corrected according to the judgment of the priest or of the prior.

Because if the fault is graver, a graver discipline is fitting. 904DFor he offends gravely and mortally who also hides the evil that he does. Concerning secret letters and little gifts the blessed Jerome writes thus: Holy love, he says, does not have secret letters and handkerchiefs and frequent little gifts. Whoever takes delight in such things is seduced by a great vanity. And the more he delights in the lowest things, the further he is cast out from the things above. But from things of this sort grave evils are wont to be generated. But he who desires perfectly to guard against vices is eager not only to guard against those things which are evil in themselves, but also flees those things from which either a depraved act or an evil report might proceed. But for us, who ought to live well and to show a good example to others, it is not fitting to do such things, from which anyone might even conceive an evil suspicion.

• 905A

Have your clothes in one place under one keeper, or two, or as many as may suffice to shake them out lest they be damaged by the moth. And as you are fed from one storeroom, so let you be clothed from one clothes-room.

That he commands the clothes to be laid up under one keeper or several, there seem to be two reasons. The first, namely, lest, neglected through carelessness, they be ruined by moths. The second, lest a brother should believe that he has as his own this very garment which he has, if it were permitted him to lay it up for himself in a place of his own. And with this sentence the words that follow seem to agree; for he says:

And if it can be done, let it not concern you what clothing is brought out to you according to the fitness of the seasons: 905Bwhether each one receive that which he had laid aside, or another which another had had; provided only that to each one what he needs be not denied.

He says, if it can be done, for this reason: that if it seem hard to anyone, he may be allowed to take back the very garment which he had laid aside. For it would belong to a greater perfection if anyone had come to so great a contempt of himself as to be content with that alone which the body needs, according to what the Apostle says: Having food and clothing, we ought to be content with these (I Tim. VI). He does not determine how much or of what kind, but only marks out those things which suffice for nature. For in the imperfect, pleasure always seeks more than necessity does. And as the blessed Augustine says, Human nature is content with little, but custom has added many things; will and 905Cpleasure have joined on more. If anyone loved God perfectly, if he wholly renounced carnal desires, he would cut away many superfluous things which he now holds as though necessary. Let us learn, therefore, to love God with the whole heart, so that through love of him we may be eager both to be content with what is necessary and to cut away what is superfluous, so that, while what is needed is denied to no one, nothing beyond what is needed be sought by anyone. Charity seeks not the things that are her own; charity sets common things first; charity makes a man to be abject in the house of God. If anyone has perfectly possessed her, he will cut away from himself even out of what will be needful.

But if from this contentions and murmurings arise among you, when someone complains that he has received worse than he had before, and that he is unworthy to be clothed 905Das another brother of his was clothed, then from this test yourselves — how much you lack in that inward holy habit of the heart, you who quarrel over the habit of the body.

The habit of your heart is sanctified by the grace of God, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, when there is within peace, charity, goodness, humility, patience, concord, meekness, and other things of this kind. These are our inward riches, namely good character and the virtues. But if we begin to contend, to murmur and to quarrel among ourselves, at once we are left empty of these spiritual goods. For virtues cannot remain together with vices. For a little leaven corrupts the whole lump (I Cor. V). From this each one ought to test himself, and carefully to weigh how much he lacks within, 906Aand how great a loss he incurs who, for the sake of passing things, loses that whereby he ought to be blessed. Quarrels and contentions, therefore, are greatly to be guarded against by us, because these are works of the flesh; and, as the Apostle says, They who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God (Galat. V). Therefore he admonishes us in another place, saying: Nothing through contention or vainglory; esteeming one another as superiors, each one considering not the things that are his own, but the things that are another's (Philipp. II). For these two things avail very much to remove quarrels and to beget concord: when one judges himself lower than all, and weighs the things that are another's more than his own. For in these two, humility and charity are commended; and these are wont not only not to fall into discord, but even to bring those who are in discord back to concord 906B. And because the things that have been said pertain to the more perfect, he tempers the sentence for the sake of the less perfect when he adds:

Yet if your weakness is borne with, so that you receive what you have laid aside, still keep in one place, under common keepers, what you put away.

Namely that, while the very thing which is taken for one's own use is laid up in a common place, we may believe it to be not our own but common.

In such wise, indeed, that no one work anything for himself, but that all your works be done in common with greater zeal and more frequent eagerness than if you were making your own things for yourselves singly.

And thereupon he sets down the apostolic sentence and expounds it, saying:

For charity, of which it is written, That it « does not 906Cseek the things that are its own, » is thus understood: that it sets common things before its own, not its own before the common.

This is the reason why no one should work for himself, but that things be done in common with greater zeal and more frequent eagerness than if they were his own. This is the reason, I say, because charity seeks not the things that are its own, but sets common things before its own. If the charity of Christ seeks not the things that are its own, none of us ought to work for himself And if the charity of Christ sets common things before its own, then with greater zeal and more frequent eagerness we ought to do the common things than if they were our own. For the fruit of charity is greater than that of ownership. For what eye has not seen nor ear heard, this God has prepared for them that love him (I Cor. II).

And therefore, the more you care for the common thing than for your own 906D, the more you may know that you are advancing, so that in all the things which passing necessity uses, that charity which abides may stand out above them.

For passing necessity uses temporal things and temporal pursuits, in which charity ought always to stand out, because no one can please God without charity. In all things, therefore, that we do, charity must always stand out, because she is the mother of the virtues, she is the root of all good things. This is the loftier way by which men press toward heaven, of which the apostle Paul says: I show unto you yet a more excellent way (I Cor. XII). He advances much in this charity who for the love of God despises all things that are of this world, seeks to retain nothing for himself, 907Aand divides in common whatever he has. Truly he walks by the lofty way who, treading earthly things underfoot, is raised in mind and desire to the heavenly. Charity consists in the love of God and of neighbor. But the love of God is expressed in three ways, so that nothing may remain in man which is not made subject to divine love. For we are commanded to love God with the whole heart, namely that we refer all our thoughts to God; with the whole mind (Deut. VI), that we hold toward him all the reason by which we understand and discern; with the whole soul (ibid.), that we direct all the affections of the soul to God. In the love of neighbor two things are to be kept. That what you do not wish to be done to you, you should not do to others (Tob. IV). And what you wish men to do to you, do you also to them (Matth. VII). From this twofold power of love toward 907Bthe neighbor all the virtues arise, by which we both usefully desire the things that are to be sought and avoid the things that are to be avoided. By these two articles the neighbor is fittingly loved, while he is both cherished with benefits and injured by no malice. In all things, therefore, that passing necessity uses, charity ought always to stand out. Because whatever we do or speak ought to look to the charity of God or of neighbor, so that in all our manner of life the sum of our intention may always turn upon charity. And on these moreover two commandments hangeth the whole law and the prophets (Matth. XXII).

It follows therefore that also, when someone has bestowed some garment, or anything else to be reckoned among necessaries, upon his own sons or upon any who belong to him by some necessity and are established in the monastery, it be not received secretly, 907Cbut be in the power of the prior, so that, being brought into the common stock, it may be supplied to him who has need of it.

For in the whole of life it is lawful to receive nothing secretly, nor for anything to be so received, nor for anything to be retained as one's own; but if anything is given to anyone, it must be handed over to the prior, so that it may be supplied to him who has need of it. Thus is avarice extinguished, thus is superfluity cut away. Thus is charity nourished and holy poverty kept, because, while it is not lawful to retain earthly things, the mind is compelled to think on heavenly ones. But there are some who are gravely troubled when the things they receive from others are not permitted to be retained by them. They love little gifts; they take delight in things of their own. And often over small and worthless things they burn with so great a desire that, on occasion of them, they are wont to disturb the concord of the brethren. And that this happens by diabolical persuasion there is no 907Ddoubt. For the crafty enemy knows the characters and qualities of all, and discerns their affections, and tempts each one in that in which he knows himself to prevail the more. Nor does he care whether he deceives by a great thing or a small, so long as he may be able to corrupt the charity of a brother. We ought to be cautious and watchful against the crafty enemy, and to guard beforehand against his snares in every matter of things, and to tread down by strength of mind all earthly things by which he is able to deceive, that we may be able to sing with the Prophet: The snare is broken, and we are delivered (Psal. CXXIII). But because some are caught in this, therefore it is added:

But if anyone conceals a thing bestowed upon him, let him be condemned by the judgment for theft.

908AThe Apostle says: Thieves and robbers shall not possess the kingdom of God (I Cor. VI). For theft is a criminal sin, as it is written: Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, etc. (Exod. XX.) Since therefore it is reckoned among criminal evils according to the sentence of the canons, everyone ought so to judge concerning theft as concerning adultery, as concerning homicide, as concerning false witness. The brother who conceals a thing bestowed upon him holds in the holy Church the place of Judas the traitor, who was a thief and a robber and had the purse, and carried off and hid the things that were sent to the Lord. He blazed with so great a vice of cupidity and avarice that he sold and betrayed his own Lord, as the devil had put it into his heart. But in seeking gain he found death, as it is written: While 908Bhe thirsts for gain he comes to the loqueum. Such are the fruits of avarice. Let the brethren therefore take care not to seek gains, not to hide anything whatever, lest, while at the devil's prompting they perpetrate so detestable a fault, they incur by the just judgment of almighty God the penalty of death and everlasting damnation.

Let your garments be washed according to the judgment of the prior, whether by yourselves or by fullers, lest too great an appetite for clean clothing contract an inward filth of soul.

Why he has ordered the garments to be washed according to the judgment of the prior, he himself sets out the reason: namely, lest 908Ca brother contract filth in his mind if he desires beyond measure to have clean clothes; for each one is polluted within in the same measure as he is cleansed without for vainglory. Prelates ought therefore to take care that their subjects do not go astray through the sheen of clothing. For it is not the sheen of clothes but uprightness of character that adorns a cleric. Whence the Apostle admonishes us, saying: Be not conformed to this world, but be reformed in the newness of your mind (Rom. XII). For those who seek the form of this world do not seek the form of the inner man. And the more outward beauty is loved, the less is the inward cared for. But this is the true and spiritual cleanness which God requires in us, saying: Wash yourselves, be clean; take away the evil of your thoughts from my eyes (Isa. I). For he does not say: Blessed are the clean 908Din body, but: Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God (Matth. V). And lest anyone should think that care of the flesh must likewise be cut away, he adds:

Let the bathing of the body also by no means be denied when the necessity of sickness compels it. But let it be done without murmuring, on the counsel of medicine; so that even if he be unwilling, he do at the prior's command what must be done for health. But if he wishes it and perhaps it is not expedient, let his own desire not be obeyed.

This sentence seems to agree with the words of the Apostle, which forbid care of the flesh to be taken in its desires, not in necessity. For there is a great difference between necessity and desire. For what is from necessity is useful; but what is from desire is a vice. 909ABut there are some who say that bodily medicine does not befit religion. But if they attended diligently, they would themselves recognize that this — that we eat and drink, that we cover ourselves with clothes and use earthly things for necessity — is medicine of the body.

Let it be done, therefore, without murmuring, on the counsel of medicine.

And well does he say: Let the unwilling be compelled in necessity, let the willing be restrained from desire, because necessity, not desire, is to be obeyed. For sometimes, even if it harms, what pleases is believed to profit. See why a man ought not to obey his own desire: because he is often so deceived by his own desire that he believes that to profit him which harms him. So does evil desire deceive men; so does it pretend that to be good which is evil and 909Bpernicious. See why the Holy Scriptures so condemn desire and carnal delight: because they draw men to death while the men themselves know it not.

Sometimes, even if it harms, what pleases is believed to profit.

But according to the Apostle's word we must abstain from carnal desires, which war against the soul, because the flesh indeed lusts against the spirit. But by the discipline of the spirit the concupiscence of the flesh must be restrained. But there are some who pursue beyond measure the rigor of the spirit; others, the softness of the flesh. The former, while they seek to live spiritually, sometimes extinguish the flesh along with the vices. But 909Cit must be known that virtue, if it has no measure, is turned into vice. But those who wish to live carnally are eager, together with care of the flesh, to nourish their own desires also. A measure must therefore be set for both, and the former must be compelled to do what must be done for health. But these latter must be restrained, lest they do what they carnally desire. The health of the body indeed is to be preserved for serving God; but the desire of the flesh is to be extinguished. And because he has spoken of manifest sickness, he adds concerning hidden pain, saying:

Finally, if the pain is hidden, let the servant of God who tells what pains him be believed without hesitation.

For rightly is he to be believed whom good character and a holy manner of life commend as a servant of God. 909DFor truth or falsehood is not known from the mouth of those who speak, but by their fruits you shall know them, says the Lord. They are not deceitful, they are not double; they are not of those who in heart and mouth have spoken false things. The servants of God are in mouth such as they are in heart. A good life gives credit to words. An evil life makes even truth itself to be doubtful. Let those, therefore, be believed without hesitation who without hesitation are good. In another way: If the pain is hidden, let him be believed without hesitation. For the servant of God fears to offend God not only in deed but also in speech. We ought to show ourselves such that whatever we say may be believed without hesitation. Life ought to commend speech, and good works to bear witness to the truth, 910Aas our Saviour says of himself: If you do not believe me; believe the works. The works, he says, which I do, they bear witness of me (Joan. X). For there are many who are not believed even if they speak the truth, because they are evil, or are held under suspicion of being evil. But if our life has begun to be good without suspicion, presently our words will be believed without hesitation to be true. The less good anyone is, the less is he believed; the more religious he has begun to be, the greater credit is granted to his words. But because the necessity of sickness sometimes seeks the things that are contrary to itself, therefore he adds:

But yet, whether what pleases be expedient for the healing of that pain, if it is not certain, let a physician be consulted.

910BTheir words are to be believed, yet their desires are not at once to be complied with; for unlawful desires tempt even the servants of God; therefore, if it is not certain, let a physician be consulted. Let him be sought who may make certain out of the uncertain. Nor is it a wonder if we seek the counsels of physicians, since we read that the apostle Paul made use of the counsel of medicine. For through his Epistle he enjoins his disciple Timothy, saying: Use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thy frequent infirmities (I Tim. V). The discerning master therefore tempers his disciple away from the rigor of abstinence — namely, lest, broken by frequent sufferings, he grow faint from the good of preaching. For it was good that the disciple should render the fruit of patience out of his infirmity; but the Apostle foresaw it to be more useful if, growing somewhat stronger 910Cby the use of medicine, he should gain souls for God. But out of diverse goods the more useful are to be chosen. Supported by this authority, we ought to seek bodily medicine to this end, that from it we may render a greater fruit to the Lord.

And let them not go to the baths, or wherever it shall be necessary to go, fewer than two or three.

Let us provide good things, says the Apostle, not only before God, but also before all men (II Cor. VIII). For our own sake a good conscience suffices us; for the sake of others our reputation ought not to be polluted, but to prevail in us. He who, trusting in his own conscience, neglects his reputation is cruel — most of all one set in this place, of which the Apostle says, writing to his disciple: In all things show thyself an example of good works 910D(Tit. II). Again elsewhere he says: We are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men. Those who love us seek what they may praise in us; but those who hate us disparage us. And we, set in the midst between the two, with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, ought so to guard both our life and our reputation that we may not blush to be praised by our detractors. Two or three, therefore, ought to go together, both for comfort and for the testimony of good repute. Whence Solomon says: Woe to him that is alone; if he fall, he has none to lift him up; if there be two, they shall keep each other warm. (Eccle. IV). And well does he say, he ought to go with those whom the prior shall have commanded — namely, that by the prelate the safety of the person may be provided for, and by the subject the virtue of obedience be kept.

911AThe care of the sick, whether of those to be restored after sickness, or of those laboring under some weakness or even under fevers, ought to be laid upon someone, so that he himself may ask from the storeroom what he has foreseen to be needful for each one.

A brother fearing God is to be chosen, who may bear the greatest care about the sick, and be eager to minister to them what shall be needful for them, and serve them with such zeal and affection as if he were serving the Lord Jesus Christ himself. For he himself will say at the judgment. I was sick, and you visited me (Matth. XXV). And again: What you have done to one of the least of mine, you have done to me (ibid.). The stronger, therefore, ought to bear the weakness of the infirm. For thus is divine charity fulfilled, the Apostle bearing witness, who says: Bear ye one another's burdens, and so you shall fulfil the law of Christ (Galat. VI). The law of Christ is love. 911BThe office of love is to bear one another's burdens. And diverse times and diverse infirmities bring it about that we bear one another's burdens. But nothing so proves a friend as the bearing of a friend's burden. But the sick man himself, who is served for the love of God, ought to weigh it and to take the utmost care lest by his own excess or impatience he grieve the one who serves him. But let him be eager to give thanks to God, lest the infirmity which was given him for the purging of the soul be turned, by fault, to an increase

And whether those who are set over the clothes or those who are set over the books, let them serve their brethren without murmuring.

Let them show themselves such, and serve their brethren with such charity, that they may not themselves sin by murmuring in the ministry committed to them, nor by their negligence make others 911Cmurmur. Murmuring is a grave sin, Gregory bearing witness, who says: No one who murmurs receives the kingdom of heaven; no one who receives it will be able to murmur. And Solomon: The heart of a fool is like a cart wheel (Eccli. XXXIII), it carries hay and murmurs. Such, then, are those in the congregation who, being subject in the flesh, do not cease from murmuring. The Apostle: Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured, and by serpents perished (I Cor. X). Why by serpents, unless because the serpent is venomous, and everyone who murmurs has the venom of the devil on his tongue. James.: The tongue is a restless evil, full of deadly venom (Jac. III). We must beware, therefore, of murmuring, lest we perish by the deadly and diabolical 911Dvenom.

Let the books be asked for at a fixed hour; whoever shall ask outside the hour, let him not receive.

Above he enjoins that they be instant in prayers at the appointed times. Times therefore must be distinguished in which we ought to pray, and in which we ought to read. Concerning work also he admonishes elsewhere that no one work anything for himself, but that all your works be done in common. These three things the rule commends to us, which are greatly necessary for our soul: namely prayer, reading, work. For by prayer we are cleansed, by reading we are instructed, by work we are made blessed, as the Holy Spirit says in the Psalm: For thou shalt eat the labors of thy hands; blessed art thou, and it shall be well with thee (Psal. CXXVII). But because he says that the books are to be asked for on each several day, 912Afrequency of reading is commended. The servant of God ought to read often. For divine reading is greatly useful. For through reading we learn what we ought to guard against, what to do, whither to press. Hence the Psalmist says: Thy word is a lamp to my feet (Psal. CXVIII). Perfection, sense and understanding are increased. Reading instructs us for prayer and for work, and forms us for the contemplative life and the active. Therefore in the Psalm: Blessed is the man, it is written, who in the law of the Lord meditates day and night (Psal. I). These are the arms — namely prayer, reading and work — by which the devil is beaten off. These are the instruments by which eternal blessedness is acquired. By these arms vices are suppressed; by these nourishments virtues are fed. But even if there is a pause from reading, the work of the hands ought to follow, because 912Bidleness is the enemy of the soul, and the ancient enemy easily snatches into vices the man whom he shall have found free from reading or from prayer. For by the practice of reading you will learn both how you yourselves are to live and how you are to teach others; by the work of the hands and the mortification of the body you will both deny nourishment to vices and relieve your own necessities, and will have wherewith to hold out something to those suffering want.

But when garments and shoes are necessary for the needy, let those under whose keeping the things that are asked for lie not delay to give them.

This is what was said above, that they serve their brethren without murmuring. Lest at any time, by delaying to give what is necessary, they make the brethren murmur and be an occasion of sin. Let them therefore be eager to serve their brethren 912Cfor God's sake, and to minister necessaries at fitting times. And let them do this without murmuring, without sadness, without delay, with joy and cheerfulness, because God loves a cheerful giver (II Cor. IX) — so that they may have everything that is needful for them according to the manner of the congregation and the possibility of the place, and that for those who serve there may be a greater reward thence from the Lord. But in the clothing and the shoes of clerics a fitting measure must be kept, that they be not costly or glossy beyond measure, nor too abject and mean; having neither more trimness than is seemly, nor more untrimness than is right. Let them be such, then, as to commend at once religion and decency. Let the brethren, therefore, to whom necessaries are ministered, take care that they seek nothing 912Dimportunately, nor anything that does not befit their religion. For whatever superfluous thing they have is deadly to them. Let them therefore weigh that the things they spend are the offerings of the faithful for the redemption of sins. And therefore let them not glory in using such things, but rather fear what was said of the priests in the Old Testament, that they must bear the iniquity of the people. And therefore let them with great fear be solicitous over those whose gifts they share, because the danger is great. But it is more wholesome, as has already been said above, that the poor of Christ should always be in need of less than have more. For whence shall we be poor unless we bear penury for God's sake with an even mind? As much, therefore, as we remember that we have committed unlawful things, so much ought we to abstain from lawful ones. For through the narrow 913Agate we must enter, that we may be able to attain to the breadth of heavenly joys. For the straiter the life we lead here, the greater the glory we shall possess in heaven.

But have no quarrels, or end them as quickly as possible, lest anger grow into hatred and make a beam out of a mote, and make the soul a murderer. For so you read: He who hates his brother is a murderer (I Joan III).

Thus do vices often grow little by little. Indeed, when we are unwilling to restrain the tongue from an idle word, we slip away into harmful ones; thence we sometimes fall into murmurings and detractions; very often even as far as quarrels and contentions; thence to anger and hatred; and, according to Solomon's word, while we neglect to correct the least things, we slide down to greater (Eccli. XIX). While therefore 913Bvice arises out of vice, iniquity is drawn out at length. Hence the prophet says: Woe to you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity! (Isa. V.) And the Psalmist: They have lengthened out their iniquity: the just Lord will cut the necks of sinners (Psal. CXXVIII). First of all, then, sin must utterly be guarded against. For it is better to guard beforehand than to amend. Because if it happens that one sins through frailty, that fault is easily corrected which is quickly recognized. Hence it is that the Lord says of the woman to the serpent: She shall crush thy head (Gen. III); the serpent's head is crushed when sin is corrected there where it is born. Each one, therefore, ought to be solicitous to be eager to amend himself at once there where he has known himself to have gone astray. As great as is the difference between a mote 913Cand a beam, so great is the difference between anger and hatred. For hatred is inveterate anger, which has taken on so much, as it were from age, that it might deservedly be called old. For it can happen that, if you are angry with a man, you may also wish him to be corrected; but if you hate him, you cannot wish him to be corrected. By anger the eye of the mind is troubled; by hatred it is even extinguished. Whence the Apostle: He who hates his brother is in darkness (I Joan. II). To no angry man does his own anger seem unjust. Whence from all indignation one must quickly return to the gentleness of meekness. For a persistent impulse easily passes into hatred of him who is not quickly forgiven. Whence it is added:

913DWhoever shall have injured anyone by reviling, or by cursing, or even by the charge of a crime, let him remember to heal by satisfaction, as soon as possible, what he has done; and let him who has been injured forgive without dispute.

He offends gravely who injures anyone by reviling or by cursing. The Apostle says: Revilers shall not possess the kingdom of God (I Cor. VI). And the Lord in the Gospel: He who shall say to his brother, Thou fool, shall be guilty of the hell of fire (Matth. V). He ought therefore, as he has gravely offended, gravely to repent, and to ask pardon of him whom he injured with his whole heart and with all humility; and he who has been injured, to forgive without dispute. Isidore: He who reconciles his brother too slowly, too slowly appeases God toward himself. 914AFor in vain does he seek that God be reconciled and made favorable to him, who neglects quickly to appease his neighbor. But there are some who, trusting in their own merits, grant pardon sluggishly to those who offend against them; but it profits nothing to be unhurt if one is not ready to pardon, since this is rather a great fault, when brotherly offenses are released too slowly. Truth bearing witness, we have learned that the servant who owed ten thousand talents, when he did penance, received from his lord the release of the debt; but because he did not forgive his fellow servant, who owed him a hundred pence, the debt, it was ordered that there be exacted from him too what had already been forgiven him (Matth. XVIII). From which words it is established that, if we do not from the heart forgive that which is offended against us, that too is exacted again which we rejoiced had already, through penance, 914Bbeen forgiven us.

But if they have injured one another; they will have to release to one another their debts, for the sake of your prayers, which surely, the more frequent you have them, so much the sounder you ought to have them.

Daily we say to God: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors (Matth. VI); and if we ourselves forgive our debtors, that is, those who sin against us, when we say to God: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive, we are accused by our very prayer, and we stir up God to wrath against us, and we bring down upon ourselves a curse rather than a blessing. And so it comes about that the prayer which ought to have been wholesome for us is harmful, and that by praying we increase the sins which we ought to have diminished. 914CBut for daily, light and brief sins, without which this life is not led, the daily prayer of the faithful will make satisfaction. For it belongs to those to say: Our Father who art in heaven (ibid.), who have now been regenerated to such a Father out of water and the Holy Spirit. This prayer wholly blots out the least and daily sins. It blots out also those from which the life of the faithful departs — a life even wickedly led, but changed for the better by repentance. But as it is truly said: Forgive us our debts (since there is no lack of things to be forgiven), so let it be truly said, as we also forgive our debtors. Let the same be done as is said; because this too is an alms, to pardon the man who asks forgiveness. There are indeed many kinds of alms, and when we do them we are helped so that our sins 914Dmay be forgiven us. But than that one there is nothing greater, by which we forgive from the heart what anyone has sinned against us. It is a lesser thing to be well-wishing, or even beneficent, toward him who has done you no evil; that other is far greater and of a most magnificent goodness — that you love your enemy also, and always wish good to him who wishes you evil, and do also what you can, hearing Jesus say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute you (Matth. V). But since these things belong to the perfect sons of God, toward which every faithful man ought to stretch himself, and to lead the human mind to this affection by praying to God and by dealing and wrestling with himself — yet because this great good is not of so great a multitude 915Aas we create to be heard when it is said in prayer: Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors, without doubt the words of this promise are fulfilled if a man who does not yet so advance as even to love his enemy nevertheless, when he is asked by the man who sinned against him to forgive him, does forgive, from the heart — because he too, when he asks, certainly wishes to be forgiven, when he prays and says: Forgive us as we also forgive our debtors, that is: so forgive us, who ask, our debts, as we forgive our debtors who ask. But now, he who asks the man against whom he sinned, if he is moved by his own sin to ask, is not to be reckoned an enemy to such a degree that to love him is as difficult as it was difficult when he was practicing enmities. But whoever does not forgive from the heart one who asks 915Band repents of his sins, let him by no means suppose that his own sins are forgiven by the Lord, since Truth cannot lie, who says: If you forgive men their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your offenses (Matth. VI).

But better is he who, although he is often tempted by anger, yet hastens to obtain that he to whom he acknowledges he has done an injury forgive him, than he who is more slowly angered and is more slowly inclined to ask pardon.

Anger mounts more quickly in some and leaves them more easily; but others it stirs slowly, yet holds longer. But another (which is worse) both takes on the flames of wrath more quickly and lays them down more slowly. But some both take these on more slowly and lose them more quickly. In which 915Cthe reader assuredly recognizes clearly that the last comes nearer to the good of tranquillity than the first, and that in evil the third surpasses the second. Let us weigh, then, how great is the fault of wrath, through which, while meekness is lost, the likeness of the heavenly image is marred. Through anger justice is abandoned, as it is written: The anger of man worketh not justice (Jac. I). Through anger the grace of social life is lost, as it is written: Be not assiduous with an angry man, lest perhaps thou learn his paths and take a scandal to thy soul (Prov. XXII). For he who does not temper himself by human reason must needs live alone, after the manner of a beast. But sometimes anger does not put forth the hand, but turns the tongue into darts of cursing. Sometimes indeed, 915Dwhile the kindled mind is restrained from its accustomed speech, with the passing of time it is utterly separated from the love of neighbor, and sharper goads come to the mind, and causes arise which exasperate more grievously, and in the eye of the angry man the mote is turned into a beam, while anger is changed into hatred. We fear to be despised by our neighbors, we disdain to bear the injuries of a word; if perhaps a quarrel happens with a neighbor, we blush to make satisfaction first. The carnal heart indeed, while it seeks the glory of this life, spurns humility; and very often the very man who is angry desires to be reconciled to the one at variance with him, but blushes to go first to make satisfaction. Let us weigh, then, the deeds of our Head, that we may see how low the errors of our depravity lie. Behold, by sinning we made discord between ourselves and God, 916Aand yet God first sent to us his denied ones, that we ourselves who have sinned might be recalled to the peace of God. Let human pride, then, blush, and let each be confounded if he does not make satisfaction to his neighbor, since, after our fault, that we might be reconciled to him, God himself, who is the one offended, entreats us through the intervening of legates.

But he who is unwilling to ask pardon, or does not ask it from the heart, is in the monastery without cause, even if he be not cast out thence.

Since the Lord has so great a care for our reconciliation that he suffers his own gifts to be left before the altar and his own ministries to remain unfinished and be broken off, until you go and dissolve your wrath and break off enmities with your brother, we do not even blush before him 916B, but suffer enmities to remain many days, and drag out discord like a long rope. God punishes not only the wrathful and those who remember malice, but also those who offend men who are angry, or who neglect and despise to appease them. Since indeed those who have suffered and seem to suffer injuries necessarily grieve and are angry; but those who have done them carry neither any grief nor any wrath. For this reason, then, he leads the man who is free from wrath to him who is in grief and is not free, showing that the guilt of this crime rests rather with the one who gave the cause of the sin. But not even so are we amended. For we persist in grieving our brethren over nothing at all, and, as though we had done no evil, we are negligent about satisfaction, and hand the fault over to forgetfulness and suffer it to be drawn out over 916Ca long time, not knowing that our punishment will be the more ample the more ample the discord. For where friendship endures, nothing is easily received, nothing is easily believed, that could work a breach. But if once enmities have taken hold, all things that are done, that are said, that are heard, are so received and so understood that they advance to greater and longer enmities. But if there is anything evil, this alone is believed and confirmed. The Lord therefore commands the gift to be left before the altar and the brother to be reconciled first, that from this we may learn that, if not even at that time when we are commanded to approach the ministry of God does God suffer reconciliation to be dissembled and deferred, how much more must this be cared for at other times. 916DIf it perhaps happens that we grow angry, it is commanded that within the day we end either our wrath or our enmities. We are bound by this precept in which he says: Let not the sun go down upon your wrath (Ephes. IV). We, on the contrary, are not content even with this, that we draw out our wrath beyond the sun's limit, but we even lay traps for one another, desiring to trip up our neighbors either by deeds or by words, biting and devouring one another — which surely is open madness. For what else do madmen and those filled with a demon do, but tear their own limbs with bites? In vain, therefore, is he in the monastery who is at variance with his brother, because he neither appeases God with sacrifices nor is able to advance by good works.

Therefore spare yourselves from harsher words.

Solomon: A soft answer breaketh anger; a harsh 917Aword stirreth up fury (Prov. XV). And likewise: A sweet word softens enemies and multiplies friends (Eccli. VI). And Paul: You who are spiritual, instruct such a one in the spirit of gentleness (Galat. VI). Let holy men, therefore, beware of hard words.

And if these have gone forth from your mouth, let it not irk you to bring forth from the mouth the remedies whence the wounds were made.

First indeed let us take the utmost care not to trouble anyone with hard words; and if sometimes we sin through frailty, we must come at once to satisfaction, and against a harsh speech bring forth a sweet and appeasing one, so that the medicine of humble confession may heal the wound of the disturbance. But as we have said before: It is better to guard against a vice beforehand than afterwards to amend what has been committed. Therefore the servant of God ought 917Balways to set a guard upon his mouth, that he may not offend with his tongue — and then most of all when a sinner stands against him, namely someone slanderous and injurious, as it is written: There are many proud and envious who do not cease to provoke the servants of God (Eccli. V). Therefore, if you have understanding, answer your neighbor: But if not, let thy hand be upon thy mouth, lest thou be caught by an undisciplined word and be confounded (Eccli. V).

But when the necessity of discipline, for the restraining of morals, compels you to speak hard words, even if you yourselves feel that you have exceeded the measure, it is not required of you that you ask pardon of those subject to you, lest among those who ought to be subject, while humility is kept too much, the authority of ruling be broken.

Very often this befalls great teachers: that, 917Cwhile they grow hot in a correction forced upon them, they overdo the measure of the correction, and the tongue says something which it ought not, because love does not kindle the mind as much as it ought. Whence the Lord well commanded through Moses, saying: If anyone shall have gone with his friend in simplicity into the wood to cut wood, and in the cutting down of the wood the axe shall have slipped from his hand, and the iron, having fallen from the handle, shall have struck his friend and killed him, let him flee to one of the aforesaid cities, and he shall live — lest perhaps the kinsman of him whose blood is shed, under the goad of grief, pursue and seize him and strike his soul (Deut. IX). For we go into the wood with a friend as often as we turn with any neighbor to look upon our offenses; and we cut down the wood 917Din simplicity when with pious intention we cut away the vices of those who offend. But the axe slips from the hand when the rebuke draws itself out into harshness more than is necessary; and the iron leaps from the handle when a speech too hard passes beyond correction; and it strikes the friend and kills him, because the insult uttered slays its hearer from the spirit of love. For the mind of the corrected man rushes into hatred if an immoderate rebuke condemns him more than it ought. But he who incautiously strikes the wood and extinguishes his neighbor must needs flee to three cities, that, defended in one of them, he may live. Because if, turned to the laments of penance, he is hidden in the unity of the sacrament under hope, faith and charity, he is not held guilty of the homicide committed, and the kinsman of the slain man, when he finds him, does not kill him. Because 918Athat just judge also, who joined himself to us through the fellowship of his own nature, without doubt does not demand vengeance for the guilt of the fault from the man whom faith, hope and charity hide under his pardon. Therefore it is added:

But yet pardon must be asked of the Lord of all, who knows with how great good will you love those whom you perhaps rebuke more than is just.

Sometimes the measure is exceeded by a zeal of malice, sometimes by a zeal of justice; very often out of eagerness, through deliberate speech; very often through an excess of speech. But the Lord attends not so much to the speech as to the intention. More quickly, therefore, is that fault forgiven which is by no means perpetrated out of eagerness for malice.

But among you love ought 918Bto be not carnal but spiritual.

There are some who love their neighbors, but through the affection of kinship and of flesh; yet the sacred words do not contradict them in this love. But one thing is that which is spent spontaneously upon nature, another that which is owed to obedience out of charity by the Lord's precepts. These indeed both love their neighbor and yet do not attain those sublime rewards of love, because they spend their love not spiritually but carnally. The keeping of charity alone proves men to be disciples of almighty God. Whence he himself says: In this shall all know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another (Joan. XIII). And if this love truly fills our heart, it is wont to be shown in two ways: if we love friends in God, and enemies for 918CGod's sake. Often the mind is deceived under an image of love toward an enemy, and falsely judges that it loves him. But then is love of an enemy truly kept, when we are neither condemned over his advancement nor rejoice over his ruin. Charity indeed begins from two precepts, but extends itself to things innumerable. For its beginning is the love of God and of neighbor; but the love of God is distinguished by three things, because the Creator is commanded to be loved with the whole heart and with the whole soul and with the whole strength.

In which matter it is to be noted that the divine word, when it enjoins the loving of God, not only relates but also instructs out of how much, when it adds: With the whole strength — namely, that he who desires perfectly to please God should leave nothing of himself to himself. But the love of neighbor 918Dis drawn out into two precepts. Whence it is said: What thou wouldst not have done to thee, see that thou do not to another (Tob. IV). And Truth says through herself: What you wish men to do to you, do you also to them (Matth. VII). By which two commandments, namely of both Testaments, through the one malice is checked, through the other kindness is put forth: so that the evil which each is unwilling to suffer, by not doing it he ceases from the work of harming; and again, the good which he desires to be done to himself, by spending it he may practise out of kindness for his neighbor's benefit. But while these two are pondered with anxious intent, the heart is stretched toward innumerable ministries of the virtues, so that the restless mind may neither boil up in desires to inflict what it ought not, nor, loosened in idleness, 919Agrow torpid regarding the things which it ought to show forth. For when it takes care not to do to another what it by no means wishes to bear from another, it looks about itself with anxious intent, lest pride lift it up and, casting the mind down, exalt it even to contempt of neighbor. Lest ambition tear its thoughts, and, while it widens the mind to covet the things of others, straiten it; nor let luxury pollute it and, made subject to desires, corrupt it through unlawful things. Lest anger exasperate it and inflame it even to the uttering of insult. Lest envy bite it, and, jealous at the happiness of others, consume itself with its own torch. Lest talkativeness drag the tongue immoderately and stretch it to the wantonness of disparagement. Lest malice stir up hatred, and provoke the mouth even to the dart of cursing. And again, when it considers to do to another those things which it expects to be done to itself by another — namely, that it repay good for evil, and 919Bbetter for good; that it show the meekness of long-suffering toward the insolent; that it spend the grace of kindness upon those languishing with the plague of malice; that it fortify the discordant with peace; that it kindle the concordant to a longing for true peace; that it grant necessaries to the needy; that it show the way of rectitude to those who err; that it soothe the afflicted with word and compassion; that it restrain with rebuke those inflamed with desires of this kind; that it mitigate the threats of the powerful by reasoning; that it lighten the straits of the oppressed with as much help as it can; and that it set patience against those who resist without; that it show discipline with patience to those who grow proud within; that toward its subjects meekness so temper zeal as not to turn aside from the pursuit of justice; that, if zeal grow hot for vengeance, it may not yet in its heat overstep the limit 919Cof piety; that it draw the ungrateful into love by services; that it be silent about the evils of neighbors when it is not able to correct them; that it dread, in whatever things can be corrected, lest silence be consent; that it so bear the things about which it keeps silence as not to hide in the mind the poison of grief; that it so show the gift of kindness to the ill-willed as not, through favor, to fall away from the law of rectitude; that it spend upon its neighbors all that it can, yet in spending be not puffed up; that it so guard, in the goods it shows forth, against the precipice of swelling as not thereby to grow torpid in the exercise of the good; that it so bestow the things it possesses as to attend to how great is the bounty of the one who rewards; and that, when it bestows earthly things, it think not of its own want more than is necessary, and that sadness darken not the light of brightness in the offering of the gift. Well, therefore, is the law of God called manifold 919D, because assuredly one and the same charity, if it has fully taken hold of the mind, kindles it in manifold ways to innumerable works. Manifold, therefore, is this law of God, which here fits each several article of things unchanged, and joins itself to varying cases unvaried. And the manifoldness of this law Paul well shows, saying: Charity is patient, is kind, etc. (I Cor. XIII).

Let the prior be obeyed as a Father, much more the priest who bears the care of you all.

Obedience is the one virtue that engrafts the other virtues in the mind and guards them once engrafted. Samuel: Better 920Ais obedience than a victim (I Reg. XV); because by victims another's flesh, but by obedience one's own will, is bound. Solomon: An obedient man shall speak of victories (Prov. XXI), because while we humbly submit to another's voice we overcome ourselves in the heart. For obedience is enjoined upon us to be kept even unto death. Through obedience evil is never to be done; but sometimes even the good that is being done ought to be broken off through obedience. But because sometimes adverse things are not even commanded, it must most especially be known that obedience is sometimes nothing if it has anything of its own, and sometimes is least if it has not something of its own. For when success in this world is enjoined, when a higher place is commanded, he who pants out of his own desire to obtain these things empties for himself the virtue of obedience 920B. Again, when contempt of the world is enjoined, when reproaches and insults are commanded to be sought, unless the mind desires these of itself it lessens for itself the merit of obedience, because it descends unwilling and reluctant to the things that are despised in this life. Obedience, therefore, ought both in adversity to have something of its own, and again in prosperity to have nothing at all of its own: so that in adversity it may be the more glorious the more it is joined to the divine ordinance even by desire, and in prosperity the more lowly the more it is utterly separated in mind from the present glory which it receives from God. But to harmless minds the ornament of obedience is always joined, the Lord bearing witness, who says: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me (Joan. X). 920CAssuredly he who is harmless obeys the Redeemer; and he cannot be harmless who scorns to obey.

That all these things, therefore, may be kept, and that, if anything shall have been less kept, it be not negligently passed over but cared for as a thing to be amended and corrected, this will pertain chiefly to the prior: that he refer to the priest, whose authority among you is the greater, what exceeds his own measure or his strength.

For to this end have these precepts of the rule been given, that all things be kept; and if anything has been less kept, it must be quickly amended. For we cannot negligently pass over anything without peril to our soul. For indeed we have vowed to hold them especially, and we have sworn to live according to them. And the Psalmist says: Thou hast commanded thy commandments to be kept exceedingly (Psal. CXVIII). And 920Dthe apostle James: But if anyone shall keep the whole law, yet offend in one point, he is become guilty of all (Jac. II). It will pertain, therefore, to the prior, and to him who is keeper of the order, that he refer to the priest whose authority is the greater — that is, to the abbot — whatever he cannot determine by himself according to the canonical rule. But if in a congregation where there is the canonical order there is no abbot but a bishop, that bishop himself is designated by the name of priest. For to this end have prelates been appointed in the Church: that they keep what is well ordered, correct what has gone wrong, and by word and example compose the life and morals of their subjects, following the pattern of the Apostle, who says: Reprove, entreat, rebuke (I Tim. IV). Mingling times with times, blandishments with terrors, 921Athey ought to reprove the undisciplined and the restless more harshly, and to entreat the obedient, the mild and the patient, that they may advance to better things. The negligent, the contemptuous and the proud let them either rebuke or punish. Nor let them dissemble the sins of offenders, but as soon as these have begun to arise let them cut them off by the roots, so far as they prevail, mindful of the peril of Heli the priest concerning his sons. Let them rebuke the more honorable and the more intelligent by a first and a second admonition; let them restrain the wicked and hard of heart, the proud and disobedient, with the lash and with chastisement, calling this back to memory: A fool is not corrected by a word; strike thy son with a rod, and thou shalt deliver his soul from death (Prov. XXIII).

But let him who presides over you not think himself happy in a lordly power, but in a serving charity.

921BFor those who so preside as to rejoice in the power of lordship are not true shepherds but hirelings; these seek rather to be over others than to profit them; they seek not the fruit of souls but temporal gain, not heavenly glory but earthly honor. Of such the Lord says in the Gospel: Amen I say to you, they have received their reward (Matth. VI). But those who so preside as to rejoice in the servitude of charity — these hold the example of the true shepherd, who came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give his life a redemption for many. Those truly are prelates and exercise the care of rule according to God who labor for this only, to draw many with themselves to God — men whom the burden delights and not the honor, charity and not power, service spent upon others and not service received from others. 921CAccording to what the Apostle says: Whereas I was free in all things, I made myself the servant of all, that I might gain all (I Cor. IX). Yet he must be honored by his subjects on account of the authority of his rule. Whence it is also added:

In honor before you let him be set over you.

For this reason, namely, he ought to be honored: because he holds the voice of Christ in the monastery. Whence the Lord himself also says to shepherds: He who hears you hears me, and he who spurns you spurns me (Luc. X). The servants of God, therefore, ought to honor their master, whose mastery over themselves they have taken up for the love of God. Yet the more he is honored outwardly, the more he must fear, and, despising himself, set before himself in thought those by whom the honor is paid him. Whence it is subjoined:

921DIn fear before God let him be laid beneath your feet.

Hence it is written: The greater thou art, humble thyself in all things (Eccli. III). And again: Son, they have made thee a leader, be not lifted up, but be among them as one of them (Eccli. XXXII). And the Lord in the Gospel: Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted (Luc. XVIII). For each one is the greater with God the humbler he has been with himself. But let us hear what he ought to be in his character.

In all things let him show himself an example of good works.

For as he excels in honor and in dignity and in rank, so he ought to go before them in holiness, that by his example his subjects may learn how they ought to live.

922ALet him rebuke the restless, console the fainthearted, receive the weak, be patient toward all.

He who holds the place of rule ought not to inflict evils but to bear them, that out of his own meekness he may be able to soften the wrathful. Because the physician of souls ought to set the medicines of the virtues against the passions of the vices — namely so that he first diligently inquire into the characters of all, that he may recognize what he ought to apply to each.

Let him hold discipline willingly, and, being one to be feared, impose it. And although both are necessary, yet let him seek rather to be loved by you than to be feared, always thinking that he will render an account to God for you.

The ecclesiastical teacher must be wise and disciplined, because he then rightly imposes discipline upon others when he himself lives in discipline, when he draws from himself 922Bthe mastery which he exercises upon another. These are the words of the Apostle saying to the Hebrews: Persevere in discipline; God offers himself to you as to sons. And what son is there whom his father does not correct? (Hebr. XII.) But these two are necessary for the ruler to show to his subjects: namely fear and love. Fear to those who are proud, by this rebellious, and of hard mind. But love to those who willingly, humbly and devoutly serve the Lord God.

And although both are necessary, yet let him seek rather to be loved by you than to be feared.

Because the more a prelate is loved, the more he is heard. And that service pleases God more which is done out of will and love than that which is done out of fear. Therefore the sweet master says to his disciples: Now 922CI will not call you servants, but friends (Joan. XV). For the Lord does not wish that we fear him as a Lord, but wishes that we love him as sons love a father, and that we do his precepts not from fear of punishment but from love of justice. But he who is judge of souls ought always to think on this, that he has God as judge over himself, so that he may exercise the care of rule the more solicitously the more strictly he weighs that he will render an account for those committed to him before the strict Judge. For each one ought to be greatly solicitous in good work, so that in all that he does he may always think of the last end. Whence it is written: In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin (Eccli. VII).

Wherefore, by obeying the more, have mercy not only on yourselves but also 922Don him, who among you is engaged in the greater peril in proportion as he is in the higher place.

In great peril is he engaged, whoever is raised up to the place of rule. For the higher the step, the more perilous the fall; and from him to whom more is committed, more is required. It is a great peril to live for oneself and for others at once, to provide for temporal and for spiritual things together. He ought so to take care of himself as not to neglect others; so to think of others as not, by forgetting, to abandon himself; so to see to temporal things as not to grow cold toward the spiritual. So to burn toward spiritual things as to be solicitous about the temporal. Subjects, therefore, ought to obey their prelate the more from that wherein they see him labor the more for them. And when they do this, by obeying the more they show mercy not on themselves, but also 923Aon him. On themselves, namely, because they save their own souls. For it is written: Have mercy on thy own soul, pleasing God (Eccli. XXX). They show mercy also on him who presides, because by obeying they lighten his burden. For since it is written: A wise son maketh a father glad (Prov. X), spiritual Fathers rejoice the more and labor the more freely for their sons, the more they see them comply with spiritual disciplines.

May the Lord grant that you observe all these things as lovers of spiritual beauty, and fragrant with the good odor of Christ from a good manner of life, not as servants under the law, but as sons established under grace.

Fittingly is prayer added after the reading. For to read and to preach is as it were to sow a field; 923Bto pray, as it were to cover the seed. As those who sow in a field, if they neglect to cover it, the birds come and snatch away all that seemed to have been sown, so indeed do those who shall have scattered in the field of their own heart the seeds of the word. Of God, by psalming, by reading, by preaching, unless afterwards by praying they have shut them up in the heart and in a manner buried them, the birds come — that is, the flighty, empty and vain thoughts of this world — and they snatch away what has been sown in the heart. Therefore after reading and preaching one must always pray, that the power of the word of God may remain in the heart, and spiritual fruit grow in work. And well does he say:

As lovers of spiritual beauty.

For they cannot fulfil all these precepts of the rule except through the love of justice, which is the spiritual 923Cbeauty of the soul. For no one acts well unwillingly, even if what he does is good. But as to what he adds:

And fragrant with the good odor of Christ from a good manner of life.

This pertains to a good life and a good reputation. Whence the Apostle: We are the good odor of Christ unto God in every place (II Cor. II). They are servants under the law who serve the Lord out of fear; free men under grace, who fulfil the divine commandments out of love. The grace of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us (Rom. V): it fulfils the law: The law is not laid down for the just man (I Tim. I); for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (II Cor. III). And thus shall we run freely the way of the commandments of God, if we have our heart enlarged in the charity 923Dof God.

And that you may be able to look into this little book as into a mirror, 924Alest through forgetfulness you neglect anything, let it be read to you once in the week.

Therefore it is commanded to be read, that it may be held often by memory. For the blessed James said: He who has looked into the law of perfect liberty and has remained in it, not become a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, he shall be blessed in his deed (Jac. I). And well does he call this little book a mirror; because in it, as in a mirror, we can look upon what sort we are — whether fair or foul, whether just or unjust; whether any one of us lives according to rule; whether he advances or falls short; whether he pleases God or displeases him. For Holy Scripture represents to us our inward image; it shows what is shapely, what is misshapen in the soul, and how the beauty of justice ought to be kept, how 924Bthe comeliness of the virtues ought to be composed, how the stain of vices ought to be wiped away. It is the practice of the depraved always to cover their evils, and never to review what they have done. Whatever they do, they pass over with a blind mind. But on the contrary holy men do not cease daily to look upon their life in the Holy Scriptures, and to weigh their own conduct watchfully. And if they find anything misshapen or uncomposed or disordered, at once, according to what they see written, they are eager to reform and compose themselves, that they may be found holy and unspotted before God as much in body as in soul. Therefore the Psalmist says: Then shall I not be confounded, when I shall have looked into all thy commandments (Psal. CXVIII). And the Apostle admonishes, saying: Be renewed in the spirit of your mind (Ephes IV). And again: Our inward man is renewed from day to 924Cday (II Cor. IV). Whence it is openly subjoined:

And where you find yourselves doing the things that are written, give thanks to God, the bestower of all good things.

Thanksgivings are always owed by us to the Father of lights, from whom every best giving and every perfect gift (Jac. I). Scripture being witness, comes down. For no one is blessed by the gifts of God who stands ungrateful toward the giver. And the Apostle: What hast thou that thou hast not received? (I Cor. IV.) Deservedly, therefore, are we admonished to give thanks to the Lord our God, so that a man may acknowledge, if anyone lives well, that he has it by the grace of God, and that, for progress to be made in the love of justice, he will obtain it from nowhere else. Which thought makes a man pious. For this is the wisdom which is called piety, by which the Father of lights is worshipped. And he is worshipped with the sacrifice of praise and with thanksgivings, so that 924Dhis worshipper may glory not in himself but in the Lord.

But where any one of you sees that something is lacking to him, let him grieve for the past, beware for the future, praying that his debt be forgiven him, and that he be not led into temptation.