Chapter VII — The Choice of True Wisdom

74. God has his Wisdom; and she is the only true one that must be loved and sought as a great treasure. But the corrupt world also has its wisdom, and it must be condemned and detested as evil and pernicious. The philosophers also have their wisdom; and it must be scorned as useless, and often as dangerous to salvation.

We have thus far spoken of the Wisdom of God to perfect souls, as the Apostle says; but, lest they be deceived by the false glitter of worldly wisdom, let us expose its imposture and its malice.

1. Worldly Wisdom

75. Worldly wisdom is that of which it is said: Perdam sapientiam sapientium 1 Cor: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise according to the world. Sapientia carnis inimica est Deo, Rom 8: the wisdom of the flesh is the enemy of God. Non est ista sapientia desursum descendens, sed terrena, animalis, diabolica, James 3:13: this wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, sensual, and diabolical.

This worldly wisdom is a perfect conformity to the maxims and fashions of the world; it is a continual striving after greatness and esteem; it is a continual and secret pursuit of one's own pleasure and self-interest, not in a crude and obvious manner by committing some scandalous sin, but in a subtle, deceitful, and calculated way — otherwise it would not be wisdom according to the world, but libertinism.

76. A wise man of the world is a man who knows how to manage his affairs well and to make everything turn to his temporal advantage, almost without appearing to want to do so; who knows the art of disguising and deceiving skillfully without being detected; who says or does one thing while thinking another; who is ignorant of none of the airs and compliments of the world; who knows how to accommodate himself to everyone in order to achieve his ends, without much concern for the honor and interest of God; who makes a secret but fatal compromise between truth and falsehood, between the Gospel and the world, between virtue and sin, between Jesus Christ and Belial; who wishes to pass for an honest man, but not for a devout one; who easily despises, poisons, or condemns all practices of piety that do not agree with his own. In a word, a worldly wise man is a man who, guiding himself only by the light of his senses and human reason, seeks only to cover himself with the appearances of a Christian and an honest man, without much concern to please God or to expiate by penance the sins he has committed against his divine Majesty.

77. The conduct of this worldly wise man is founded on the point of honor, on "what will people say," on custom, on good living, on self-interest, on grandeur, on the jest. These are the seven innocent springs, as he believes, on which he rests to lead a tranquil life.

He has particular virtues that make the worldly canonize him, such as bravery, shrewdness, diplomacy, savoir-faire, gallantry, politeness, and cheerfulness. He considers as serious faults insensitivity, stupidity, poverty, boorishness, and bigotry.

78. He follows as faithfully as he can the commandments that the world has given him:

You shall know the world well;

You shall live as an honest man;

You shall manage your affairs well;

You shall keep what belongs to you;

You shall rise above the dust;

You shall make friends;

You shall frequent fine society;

You shall live well;

You shall not breed melancholy;

You shall avoid singularity, boorishness, and bigotry.

79. Never has the world been so corrupt as it is now, because never has it been so subtle, so wise in its own conceit, or so cunning. It makes such subtle use of truth to inspire falsehood, of virtue to authorize sin, and even of the very maxims of Jesus Christ to authorize its own, that even the wisest according to God are often deceived.

The number of these wise men according to the world, or these fools according to God, is infinite: Stultorum infinitus est numerus. [Eccles 1:13]

80. Earthly wisdom, of which St. James speaks, is the love of earthly goods. It is this wisdom that the wise of the world secretly profess when they attach their hearts to what they possess; when they strive to become rich; when they bring lawsuits and engage in pointless quarrels to acquire or to keep these goods; when they think, speak, and act most of the time solely with a view to having or keeping something temporal, applying themselves to their salvation and to the means of attaining it, such as confession, communion, prayer, etc., only superficially, perfunctorily, at intervals, and to keep up appearances.

81. Carnal wisdom is the love of pleasure. It is this wisdom that the worldly-wise profess when they seek only the pleasures of the senses; when they love good living; when they push away from themselves everything that can mortify or inconvenience the body, such as fasting, austerities, etc.; when they think most of the time only of eating, drinking, playing, laughing, amusing themselves, and passing the time pleasantly; when they seek soft beds, entertaining games, pleasant feasts, and fine company.

And, after they have without scruple taken all the pleasures they could without displeasing the world or harming their health, they seek out the least scrupulous confessor (this is the name they give to lax confessors who do not do their duty), in order to obtain from him, cheaply, peace in their soft and effeminate life and a plenary indulgence for all their sins. I say cheaply, because these wise men according to the flesh ordinarily want for penance only a few prayers or a few alms, hating everything that can afflict the body.

82. Diabolical wisdom is the love and pursuit of honors. It is this wisdom that the worldly-wise profess when they aspire, though secretly, to greatness, honors, dignities, and high offices; when they seek to be seen, esteemed, praised, and applauded by men; when they aim, in their studies, their labors, their battles, their words, and their actions, only at the esteem and praise of men, to be taken for devout persons, for learned men, for great captains, for learned jurists, for persons of infinite and distinguished merit or of great standing; when they cannot endure being despised or blamed; when they hide what is defective in them and display what is attractive.

83. We must, with Our Lord Jesus, Incarnate Wisdom, detest and condemn these three kinds of false wisdom in order to acquire the true: which does not seek its own interest, which is not found on the earth or in the hearts of those who live at their ease, and which holds in abomination all that is great and lofty before men.

2. Natural Wisdom

84. Besides this worldly wisdom, which is condemnable and pernicious, there is a natural wisdom among the philosophers.

It was this natural wisdom that the Egyptians and the Greeks formerly sought with such eagerness: Graeci sapientiam quaerunt. Those who had acquired this wisdom were called magi or wise men. This wisdom is an eminent knowledge of nature in its principles. It was communicated in its fullness to Adam in his innocence; it was given in abundance to Solomon; and in the course of time some great men received some portion of it, as history tells us.

85. The philosophers boast of their philosophical arguments as a means of acquiring this wisdom.

The alchemists boast of the secrets of their Cabala for finding the philosopher's stone, in which they imagine this wisdom is enclosed.

In truth, the philosophy of the Schools, studied in a truly Christian manner, opens the mind and makes it capable of higher sciences; but it will never give this supposed natural wisdom so boasted of in antiquity.

86. Alchemy, or the science of dissolving natural bodies and reducing them to their principles, is still more vain and more dangerous. This science, though true in itself, has duped and deceived an infinity of people with regard to the end they proposed to themselves; and I have no doubt, from my own experience, that the devil uses it today to make people lose their money and their time, their grace and even their soul, under the pretext of finding the philosopher's stone. There is no science that proposes the execution of greater things, and by more plausible means.

This science promises the philosopher's stone, or a powder they call the powder of projection, which, thrown upon any metal in a molten state, changes it into silver or gold, which restores health, cures diseases, even prolongs life, and which produces an infinity of marvels that pass among the ignorant for divine and miraculous.

There is a band of men who call themselves learned in this science, known as Cabalists, who keep the mysteries of this science so hidden that they would rather lose their lives than reveal their supposed secrets.

87. They support what they say:

1. By the history of Solomon, who they claim received the secret of the philosopher's stone, and of whose supposed secret book, false and pernicious, called the Key of Solomon, they boast.

2. By the history of Esdras, to whom God gave a heavenly liquor to drink which gave him Wisdom, as it is noted in the seventh book of Esdras.

3. By the histories of Raymond Lully and several other great philosophers who they claim found this philosopher's stone.

4. Finally, to better cloak their deceptions with the mantle of piety, they say that it is a gift of God, which he gives only to those who have long asked for it and who have merited it by their labors and their prayers.

88. I have reported to you the fantasies or the illusions of this vain science, so that you may not be deceived by them as so many others have been; for I know some who, after making many useless expenditures and losing much time searching for this secret, under the finest and most pious pretexts in the world and in the most devout manner, were finally obliged to repent, admitting their delusions and their mistakes. I do not deny that the philosopher's stone is possible. The learned Delrio asserts and proves it to be possible; others deny it. Be that as it may, it is not fitting and is even dangerous for a Christian to apply himself to seeking it. It is an insult to Jesus Christ, Incarnate Wisdom, in whom are all the treasures of the Wisdom and knowledge of God, all the goods of nature, of grace, and of glory. It is to disobey the Holy Spirit who says: "Altiora te ne quaesieris, Ecclus 3: Do not seek what is beyond your strength." [Sir 3:22]

3. Conclusion

89. Let us therefore hold fast to Jesus Christ, Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom, apart from whom there is nothing but error, falsehood, and death: Ego sum via, veritas et vita.

Let us see his effects in souls.