Book II, Chapter II

He that judgeth of all things as they are, and not as they are said, or esteemed to be, is truly wise, and taught rather of God than men

(On these words) — a He that judgeth of all things as they are, and not as they are said, or esteemed to be, is truly wise, and taught rather of God than men.” B. ii. c. 1.

Question. — What is that wisdom which we need to make a good use of the things of this life?

Answer. — That which leads us to consider them as they are, not as men esteem them.

To comprehend this rightly, it must be understood that all things have two faces, and may be viewed from two different sides; 1st, as they are in themselves, and in the sight of God; 2nd, according to the common opinions of men, and the misrepresentations

HOW WE MAY JUDGE OF THINGS

I of self-love. It is then true wisdom to regard them only with relation to God’s judgment, and to the end for which they were created. For, in moral conduct, it is extreme folly to follow the opinions of men, whose minds are too frequently occupied by some criminal inclination.

What is it to be a bishop, for instance? It is to be a shepherd of souls, to be appointed by God to lead the faithful in the way of salvation, as the Apostles did by our Lord’s command. This charge must, then, in- dispensably bind those who are invested with it to i consecrate themselves to the service of their flock, and to labour to the utmost of their power for the sanctification of the numerous souls of which they must render an account to Him Who ransomed them with the price of His own Blood. Such is the episcopate in the sight of God. In the eyes of the world it is quite otherwise. It is a station of grandeur, power, and authority, become an object of ambition and f avarice to many who desire only the honours and great wealth which they see to be attached to it. The Saints, who were not guided by the opinions of men, but by the standard of Truth, regarded bishoprics with different eyes. Far from seeking, they avoided them, and it was with difficulty that they were induced to accept them.

What is it to be a King? It is to be God’s Vicegerent on earth; for men, made for society, require a Head to govern them, to maintain peace and justice, and preserve true religion among them; and this Head must render an account to the Lord of the whole earth. Such is royalty according to the decrees I of God and the judgment of the wise. But the mass ’ of men represent it to themselves as a lofty station, 1 whose occupiers are independent of all, give laws to;

nations, and are enabled to do whatever pleases them.

I A monarch who, in his seat of power, desires and seeks,

AS GOD SEES THEM. 59

1 only to do God’s will, conducts himself prudently and i modestly, as the Saints have done; but one who desires only to reign, to enjoy the pleasures and; i other advantages of his dignity, according to his sinful nature, and the common error of the world, such an i one walks in the way of perdition, following an infi- nite number who have perished in those great honours.

I The same may be said of all important offices, i What is it to be president of a supreme court? It is to be the deputy of God, and of the Sovereign; to i administer justice to the people, and to confirm them in the obedience they owe to both. But what is the 1 general opinion of it? It is thought a means of acquiring wealth and of living honourably; of gaining friends, and of sharing many of those privileges which are enjoyed by the magnates of a republic. It is acting wisely and in accordance with God’s will, to I undertake these offices with a determination to ex- ercise them worthily; above all, to satisfy their most essential obligation, that of rightly administering justice, and keeping good order but, on the contrary, how common is the folly of seeking these sort of employments for mere worldly considerations, for rank or wealth j

Thus, as I have asserted, all things have two ap- ■ pearances. On the one hand, faith places them i before our eyes, as they exist in truth, and as God i would have us see them. By faith we perceive that; the Three Persons of the All-Holy Trinity created this visible world for man, and man for Themselves;

gifted his spiritual nature with all needful faculties to know, love, and serve Them, appointed the high to govern the low with prudence and kindness, and formed living creatures, and all the fruits of the earth,;. to supply the wants of men; designing that the rich ■ should impart of their wealth to the poor; that thus all the children of God, provided with the things!,

60 HOW WE MAY JUDGE OF THINGS necessary for this life, may dwell in peace, may bless their Heavenly Father, and serve Him with all their heart, with all their mind, and with all their strength.

On the other hand, a worldly spirit leads a man to make use of creatures in a way that the Creator has not ordained, to gratify his own avarice and ambition; his mind being thus darkened, and accustomed to follow its natural tendency to evil, he neglects the duty of charity, thinks only of enriching himself, refuses the guidance of reason, abandons himself to vice and sin, speaks of perishing things according to the false ideas which he forms, and to the deceitful colouring of the passion which blinds him; a strange but common folly, which has been fatal to very many. None then are truly wise, but those who judge soundly, following the rule which we have laid down; and these are in truth taught by a light from above, which, showing them the straight path of perfect holiness, makes them walk in truth*, m the Apostle St. John speaks; and this is the meaning of our Author’s words. Assuredly our faults are almost all occasioned by the perverseness of our judgments, and by our failing to consider all created things with regard to their original, as the children of God should do. Thence arise all the errors and illusions into which men fall, when they consider things with an unpurged eye. There are three means by which a spiritual-minded man may guard himself against them.

1. The first is, that in all his occupations and all his affairs, he regards things in their origin, which is God, not resting in outside and appearances, but going to the centre, and examining what is their principal object, according to the rule of Faith. If he is a married man, and God has given him children, be considers God’s design in instituting matrimony, I which is, that the man should live in peace with his wife, ever joined with her in the bands of true charity, and that he should so bring up his children as to make them true Christians, without being too anxious to establish them in the world, and to leave them great wealth. If he is an ecclesiastic, he fixes it firmly in his mind, that he did not become a priest to be more at liberty, or to be indolent, or to make a kind of traffic in holy things, but to serve God with greater purity and fervour, and to labour with all his strength for the salvation of souls. He regulates his life accordingly, never failing to consider the nature of things and the design of God, and always on his guard lest he should be carried away by the torrent of the false opinions and evil customs of this world.

2. The second means of which the righteous make use, to keep themselves in the way of salvation, is, that they often withdraw into themselves, and thereby become capable of Divine Illumination, God being averse to tumult, and communicating Himself only in I silence and solitude. This withdrawal should be practised two or three times a day; for otherwise the soul becomes accustomed to dwell in darkness, and to set little value on that inward light which the Holy Ghost sheds abundantly on the purified spirit.

3. The third means is, often to ask of our Lord the grace to judge of things as He truly judges of them Himself, and not by appearances which can but deceive. The wise man says, that the bewitching of naughtiness doth obscure things that are honest, i and the wandering of concupiscence doth undermine the simple mind. Wisd. iv. 12. In fact, the world I and the devil so bewitch most men, and so fill their mind with false ideas, that the wisest find it difficult to free themselves from common errors. People seek a benefice as a means of living comfortably,

HOLY VIOLENCE AGAINST SELF

, without thinking of the obligations inseparable from, it. They aspire to an office as a thing necessary to distinguish themselves or to support their family, without a thought of the debt incurred to God, to ’ the sovereign, and to the public. Let each indivi- dual, then, beseech the Lord to enlighten his mind,

I and to strengthen his will. Let him hearken to the I whisper of the Holy Spirit in the depth of his heart, i without regarding the voice of the world. This espe- dally regards preachers, prelates, superiors, and all others whose employment is to serve their fellowcreatures. For they must often seek from God the, gift of discernment and knowledge, that they may; know the true value of created things, and be saved; from those delusions to which such as regulate their I conduct only by opinion or example are subject.; And, in fact, one who is not enlightened from above i does infallibly fall into the snares of the devil, the father of lies, who employs all manner of stratagems to turn him from his duty, to lead him into evil, and to induce him to prefer his own will to that of God. j