Book II, Part 1, Chapter 6. Remedies against Gluttony

1. Gluttony is an inordinate love of eating and drinking. Our Saviour gave us a charge against this, when he said, " Have a care of yourselves, for fear your hearts should be overcharged with excess of eating and drinking, and with the care of your life ;" Luke xxi. 34.

2. Whenever, therefore, you find yourself tempted by this vice, make use of the following considerations, in order to overcome the temptation. Consider, in the first place, that death came into the world by the sin of gluttony (Gen. iii.), and, therefore, this is to be the first battle you are to win. For the less you oppose this vice, the more powerful the rest will grow, and you at the same time the less able to encounter them. If, therefore, you would come off with victory, subdue gluttony first, for, unless you overcome this vice, you will labor against the others to no purpose. Do but destroy the enemies that are within, and you will find it no hard matter to overcome those that are without. It avails little to fight against enemies abroad, whilst there are others more dangerous at home. For this reason the devil tempted our Saviour first with gluttony, to make himself master of the gate which all other vices enter in at.

3. Cast your eyes on the extraordinary abstinence of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who dealt very severely with Lis most sacred

39 °B2 flesh, not only during his fast in the desert, but at several other times, suffering hunger for our example, as well as for our benefit ; Matt. iv. Now if he who maintains the angels by his presence, and feeds the birds of the air, suffered hunger for you, it is much more reasonable that you should endure it for yourself. What pretence have you to value yourself on being Christ's servant, if, whilst he is fasting, you spend your whole life in eating and drinking? if, whilst he is undergoing all kind of hardships for you, you will surfer nothing at all for yourself? John xix. If you imagine this cross of abstinence is too heavy, reflect on the vinegar and gall which our Saviour tasted on the cross (Matt, xxvii.); because, as St. Bernard says, " There is no meat so unsavory but which may be made palatable, if mixed with the gall and vinegar of Jesus Christ."

4. Consider the abstinence of all the holy fathers of the desert, who, retiring themselves far from any human conversation, crucified the flesh with all its inordinate appetites, in imitation of Christ, and were able, by the favor of this same Lord, to live several years on nothing but roots, and observed such rigorous abstinence as seems incredible to us. If these men followed Christ so close, and got to heaven this way, how can you expect to go where they are, if you follow no other path but that of delight and pleasures ?

5. Consider how many poor souls there are that would be glad of a little bread and water, to satisfy their hunger, and by this you will perceive how merciful and liberal God has been to you, in providing so much better for you than he has done for them ; and how unreasonable it is to make his liberality and favors the instruments of your gluttony. Consider, again, how often you have received the sacred Host in your mouth, and never consent that death should enter in at the same gate which life comes in at. Consider that the pleasure of eating is confined to a very narrow space, and a short time. What, then, can be more unreasonable than that the whole earth, air and sea should not suffice to satisfy so small a part of man, and so short a pleasure ? Yet for this very often the poor are robbed, for this many outrages are committed, that so the hunger of the little ones may become the delight of great ones. It is a miserable case, that the satisfying of so small a part should cast man headlong into hell, and that all his members and senses should suffer everlasting torments for the greediness of one of them. Do not you perceive how grossly you err in pampering that flesh which will soon be food for the worms, and neglect the soul, which shall at the same time be brought before the tribunal of God, wThere, if it be found empty of virtues, though the belly be ever so full of its dainties, it shall be condemned to everlasting tortures? Nor shall the body escape when the soul is punished, because it was created for the soul, so it shall be tormented with it. So that, despising that which is the best part of you, and making much of that which is the worst, you unhappily lose both, and destroy yourself with your own food ; because you make the flesh, which was given for your help and assistance, the very snare to catch your soul in, which shall one day be the companion of your torments, as it was here of your sins.

6. Remember how poor and hungry Lazarus was, who desired to feed on the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table, and could not get them (Luke xvi.) ; yet he wras carried after his death, by the hands of angels into Abraham's bosom ; whereas the rich glutton, who wTas clothed in purple, was buried in hell. For it is impossible that hunger and gluttony, pleasure and temperance, should meet with the same success in the end ; when ones death comes, pleasures will be punished with miseries, and miseriee rewarded with pleasures. What advantage have you reaped by all your former excesses in eating and drinking ? All you have got is the remorse of conscience, which will perhaps sting and gall you for all eternity. So that you have quite lost all you have devoured with so much lavishness, and all you have kept for yourself is what you have given away to the poor ; this is laid up securely for you in heaven.

7. But to prevent your falling into this vice, you must consider, in the first place, that when necessity requires to be satisfied, the pleasure which lies hid under this cloak, designs to obtain its end, and the more it covers its inordinate appetite, under the pretence of a lawful necessity, the more easily men are deceived by it. For this reason you are to use a great deal of caution and prudence in restraining the desires of pleasure, and in putting sensuality under the government of reason. If, then, you have a mind that your flesh should be subject to and serve the soul, make your soul submit itself to God ; for it is requisite the soul should be governed by God, that it may by that means rule and tame the flesh. By the observance of this order wTe shall be very securely conducted, that is, when God shall govern reason, reason direct the soul, and the soul command the body, and thus the whole man will be entirely reformed and changed. Whilst, on the contrary, if the soul be not governed by reason, and if reason does not conform in all things to the will of God, the body wTill be always rising up against the soul.

8. When you are tempted by gluttony, fancy you have already enjoyed that short delight, and that it is already over ; for the delight of the taste is like a past dream, with this difference, that the conscience is disturbed after the pleasure is over. Whereas, if you overcome the pleasure, your conscience continues quiet and easy. There is an excellent sentence of one of the learned ancients, which comes home to our present purpose. It is this : " If you have had any trouble in the performance of a virtuous action, the trouble soon passes away, and the virtue remains ; but if you have taken any pleasure in committing an evil action, the pleasure is soon over, and then there is nothing left but the filth of it ;" Aul. Gel. Noct. Attic.