Rule, Penitential & Letters 13

On the Mortification of Vices and the Acquisition of Virtues. I. The greatness of the divine depth, having been traversed in our discourse, has, as it were, been tasted by way of a foretaste, and with due reverence has been knocked at rather than expounded, because that ineffable thing of God is to be meditated upon rather than spoken of; and, except for those things which either the Law, or the prophets, or the Gospel, or the apostles utter, there ought to be a great silence on the part of others concerning the Trinity. For only the testimony of God concerning God—that is, concerning Himself—is to be believed, which He has borne, whether in the Law, or in a prophet, or in the Gospel, or in an Apostle, or specially to anyone concerning Himself, through Himself or through an angel.

For the rest, disputation, or human ingenuity, or any proud wisdom—which is even deceived in the reckoning of the world—cannot be a teacher concerning God, but is to be reckoned sacrilegious and impious toward God. For whence indeed, I ask, brethren, could those vain men, and those exceedingly evil and impious ones, who are ignorant even of themselves, or who have no understanding that they live—so that I should not speak of the rest of their works (the smallest reason of which they cannot attain)—have been able to know the invisible one God, the co-eternal Trinity, embracing all things below, above, within, without, even up to the measure of a discussion, not to say up to the limit of a definition concerning God?

These things, then, being passed over in silence with due reverence as inexpressible, let us begin to speak of the manifest matter and of the things pleasing to the ineffable God—not presuming, as do others of whom one must be ashamed, to inquire about higher things, according to that word of the Wise Man:

Seek not the things that are too high for you (Ecclus. 3:22), but rather, as we discourse upon the edification of our souls, we do not presume to lay first the foundations of our own littleness, but seek the authority of some greater teacher, namely the most lucid and most elegant teaching of holy Faustus, from whose sayings we have quite fittingly chosen a few to imitate in our work, inasmuch as it was he who instructed even us, base though we are, who were committed to him, concerning those very admonitions of which we wish to speak; and as one prior to me in time and in merit and in knowledge, let him as it were speak first on my behalf, as one about to assail all the ignorant and the slothful. II. He says:

If the tiller of the field and the husbandman of the soil—because he prepares his field for the casting of seed—does not think it enough for himself to have broken up the earth itself with the strong ploughshare and to have subdued the hard clods with frequent ploughing, but moreover takes pains to cleanse that field of barren grasses, to empty it of harmful rubble, to tear out by the root the kindling of thorns and stumps once they are shaken loose, in no way believing that his soil will bear good seed unless it be free of evil grass—thinking that prophetic word spoken to himself: Break up anew your fallow ground, and sow not upon thorns (Jer. 4:3);

how much more does it behoove us to cleanse the field of our heart from the passions of vices, and let us not believe it enough for us to subdue the earth of our body by the labor of fastings and vigils, unless we first take pains to correct our vices and to compose our manners—we who trust that the hope of our fruits is laid up not in earth but in heaven? Let us therefore strive first to root out vices and to implant virtues; let us root out pride and plant humility; let us pluck up anger and pour in patience; let us cut down envy and instill benevolence. But if the flesh be worn down and the soul bear no fruit, it is just as if a field should not cease to be ploughed and yet no harvest ever appear; or as if one should build a statue golden on the outside but of clay within.

For what does it profit if war be waged outside the city, while the inmost part suffers destruction? as if one should dig outside the vineyard and round about it, while within it is left untilled, full of thorns and briars. What then does the religion of the outer man profit, unless the amendment of the inner man also be applied? Whoever shows one thing in his dress and another in his manners can be a feigned man and a thief, a hypocrite. Let us therefore not be like whitewashed sepulchres: let us strive to appear comely and adorned from within, not from without; for true religion consists not in the humility of the body but of the heart. For in what else does the Lord dwell, save in the heart of the truly humble, according to that word of Isaiah:

But to whom shall I look, or with whom shall I find rest, save upon the humble and the quiet, and him who trembles at my words (Isa. 66:2)? Whoever then desires to be made a dwelling-place of God, let him strive to make himself humble and quiet, so that he may be known to be a worshipper of God not by greediness of words and pliability of body, but by the truth of humility; for the goodness of the heart needs no feigned forms of words. Vain therefore is a bodily religion colored with the noddings of the body; vain likewise is bodily affliction alone, and empty is the diligence of the outer man, unless a fruitful temperance of mind accompany it. What does it profit that the passions be assailed by the servant, when they are found to have peace with the master?

Therefore, lest perchance we labor without fruit, let us with God's help give our effort to be freed from vices, that afterward we may be adorned with virtues. Let us then cleanse ourselves as much as we are able from every stain of vices: first from pride, from envy, from wrath, from blasphemy, from iniquity, from malice, from sadness, from vainglory, from cupidity, from malignity, from all bitterness; that we may be possessed by humility and gentleness, by kindness, meekness, temperance, mercy, justice, gladness, and charity. III. But what are we doing? We recite these things as it were as something alike, and we leave them as it were alike untouched, uncultivated, and undiscerned. We delight in reading them; in driving them out we grow slack.

Will it save us to hear those things which we are found within ourselves not to possess? If they be always read to us and never amended by us, will the frequent reading of those things that are slow to be driven out by us avail us? Will anyone cleanse his house of any squalor by word alone, or remove the dusty heaps of filthy rubbish by speech alone? Or can anyone, without sweat, accomplish even those things that pertain to daily life? Patience therefore, and diligence, and labor, and untiring zeal are necessary for us as we cleanse the house of the inner man, that we may show patience in injuries, diligence in religion, labor in works, and zeal in our advances.

Though it be often preached to us, we are slow to amend; often offended, we are seldom patient; often conquered, we are seldom conquerors; often seduced, we are seldom understanding. What then will come to the aid of us who are like weak and untaught fighters, whose very weapons are turned into wounds, since the praise lies not in hearing these things but in fulfilling them? For the law sanctifies not by hearing, but without doubt by doing; let each one honor the Lord not with words alone and bodily labor, but with maturity of manners and purity of heart. And let it not be said of us: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me (Isa. 29:13; Matt. 15:8; Mark 7:6): and when you hear of battle, believe that wounds and routs are present;

and while each one cannot possess peace from the seven hostile nations that assail him, so long he ceases not to fight, girded for battle, until by God's gift, fighting manfully, he stand forth as king and ruler of the seven nations. For no one is crowned except him who has striven lawfully (2 Tim. 2:5), and no one strives lawfully in his first contest. First then he must contend, then he must stand, and in the war he must apply himself, that afterward he may contend lawfully. Would that we too might contend lawfully, that we might also deserve to be crowned;

and as we are in the same array and under the same arms, so let us daily fight with our enemies, that our darts may be hurled not against ourselves but against our adversaries. This the long practice of warfare, together with the grace of God, will grant, through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honor and glory and power unto the ages of ages. Amen.