In the day of good things be not unmindful of evil. Pride is the beginning of all sin. Every idle man is full of desires. In much talking sin shall not be lacking. In every place the eyes of the Lord behold the good and the evil. In all things let us show ourselves as ministers of God. In this very thing a man sins, that he would wish to sin if he could do so unpunished. Earnest supplication forbids a clean heart to sleep. God must be invoked continually, that he may deign to grant us both the will and the ability to act well. We are permitted to suffer all the troubles of diabolical temptation for this reason, that we may know how to have compassion and to grieve with all who endure the same troubles.
Those making a long journey need greater foresight than those setting out a short way. So also monks, continually serving God, need more to be provided for than the rest who live freely. A finite labour, however great it may be, cannot be compared to an infinite one. The invisible things of God are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the strong. The beginning of good things is the confession of the evil ones. In vain is the flesh afflicted, if the mind does not struggle against pleasures. True innocence is that which harms neither itself nor others. The angry man, when he has ceased to be angry, is then most angry with himself. The angry man, even though he should raise the dead, pleases no one.
The wicked are more unhappy when they have accomplished what they desired than if they could not fulfil what they desire. More unhappy are those who do an injury than those who suffer it. The fire of carnal concupiscence, the longer it is allowed to burn, the more difficultly is it extinguished. One ungrateful man harms many wretched ones. He gives a benefit twice to the needy who gives it quickly. To need few things are lacking; to avarice all things. To love enemies is indeed a heavy precept, but a great reward. The improvident soldier boasts himself strong in peace. The least sins are forgiven to those who have strictly wept for the greater ones. To hope for good things amid evils none is wont but the innocent.
He labours in vain in many things who strives to offer God his own goods rather than himself. He labours in vain who honours the blind. He does a great injury to the Creator who loves any creature more than him. Money gathered either commands or serves each man. The envious man wastes away at another's rich possessions. Anger hinders the mind so that it cannot discern the truth. He who pursues impious things cannot be prudent in Christ. The needy man is found full of envy above all. For God to harden is nothing else than not to have mercy. Fattened flesh rarely tastes heavenly things. Amid feasts chastity is preserved with difficulty.
Almost all the weak indeed wish to be borne with by others, but they themselves refuse to bear with others. The infirmity of the flesh, if it is patiently endured, is like a purifying fire. Glory awaits those who wage laborious contests. I. The Lord is near to those who are of a troubled heart, and he will save the humble of spirit. Cast your care upon the Lord, and he will sustain you. The judgements of the Lord are true, justified in themselves. The just shall flourish like the palm tree; like a cedar of Lebanon he shall be multiplied. You are just, O Lord, and your judgement is right. The path of the just goes forward like a shining light, and grows even to perfect day. The harshest judgement shall be made upon those who are in charge.
The just man lives by faith. He does not lose the name of just who through penance always rises again. Fasting is not a perfect virtue, but the foundation of many virtues. Human righteousness is so frail that it stands rather upon the remission of sins than upon the perfection of virtues. We must continually consider how great is the grace of God that is with us. L. Let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice. The law of the Lord is unspotted, converting souls. The just man shall be glad in the Lord, and shall hope in him, and all the upright of heart shall be praised. Light is risen to the just, and joy to the right of heart. The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner.
Because you shall eat the labours of your hands, blessed are you, and it shall be well with you. Wide and spacious is the way that leads to death. Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. The law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to God. A roaring lion and a hungry bear is a wicked prince over the poor people. The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge. A lamp despised in the thoughts of the rich is prepared for the appointed time. A peaceable tongue is a tree of life. The letter kills, but the spirit gives life.
Let another praise you, and not your own mouth. Speak the truth every man with his neighbour, for we are members one of another. If the tongue is not restrained, it by no means lies still where it has fallen, but ever slips toward worse things. The wolf coming in reveals with what spirit each shepherd stood over the keeping of the flock. The lamp of the body is the eye, but the light of the mind is spiritual wisdom. Tears do not demand pardon, but earn it. He who is greedy of human praise rejects the gift of divine reward. Persistent labour conquers all things. Glad things rather than sad ones corrupt certain men. Steady labour suppresses the heats of the flesh. He is to be called free in whom no vice reigns.
By long practice one must learn what it befits each man to speak or to keep silent about. Flee base gain as you would loss. A fickle and inconstant man differs nothing from the birds. Although your life may please many, it ought not to please yourself. Gain cannot be made without another's loss. The virtue of abstinence drives out the onset of lust. Nothing checks hidden pride more than open fault. A wanton youth has need to be admonished often. Do not undo the ancient laws by transgressing them. He duly praises God who truly loves him. He remains worthy of praise who strives to be kind. He girds his loins who restrains the desires of the flesh.
An unusual sickness seeks also an unusual kind of medicine. M. Great is our Lord, and great is his power, and of his wisdom there is no number. God is wonderful in his saints. Great is the Lord, and exceedingly to be praised, and of his greatness there is no end. The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord. Great are the works of the Lord, sought out according to all his wills. The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting and even to everlasting upon them that fear him. The sinner shall borrow and not pay again, but the just shows mercy and gives. God loves mercy and truth. Many are the tribulations of the just, and out of them all will the Lord deliver them.
Many are the scourges of the sinner, but mercy shall encompass him that hopes in the Lord. The Lord is compassionate and merciful, patient and plenteous in mercy. The death of sinners is most wicked, and they that hate the just shall offend. Better is a little to the just than the great riches of sinners. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. The hireling sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. Obedience is better than victims. Better are the wounds of one that loves than the deceitful kisses of one that hates. The patient man is better than the valiant, and he that rules his spirit than he that takes cities.
Better is a dry morsel with joy than a house full of victims with strife. Music in mourning is an unseasonable tale. Better is the iniquity of a man than a woman doing good. It is better to be humbled with the meek than to divide spoils with the proud. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting. It is better to be rebuked by a wise man than to be deceived by the flattery of fools. The memory of the just is with praises, but the name of the wicked shall rot. Remember your Creator in the days of your youth. The life of man upon earth is a warfare, and his days are like the days of a hireling. Death and life are in the hands of the tongue. The constant prayer of a just man avails much.
A little leaven corrupts the whole lump. The world passes away, and its concupiscence; but he that does the will of God abides for ever. It is better not to have what you may give than shamelessly to ask what you may bestow. It is better to be well conquered than to conquer ill. It is better to do beforehand what is to come than afterward to repent of an ill deed done. It is no lie when of insensible things we speak mystically as of sensible ones. It is to be wondered at and lamented that many, as though religious, abstaining from certain foods, soon, as though wicked, strive in every way to do the very worst things.
No less to be wondered at and lamented is this also: that very many, pretending to visit holy and far-off places for the pardon of their sins, when they have returned become much worse than before. The morals and pursuits of rulers are perceived by the character of their subjects also. Greater crimes ought to be slowly believed when they are heard, and more swiftly punished when they are truly proved. It is better to have holy rusticity than sinful eloquence. The soft and dissolute man is to be called not a man but a woman. A woman giving herself to virtue may be called a man. It is better to make a divorce with man than with God. The hand of the poor man is the treasury of Christ.
He keeps the Sabbath badly who rests from good works. A great part of understanding is to know what you do not know. It is a great security of heart not to covet what belongs to another. The bravery of any soldier is not recognized except in war. That death is not to be reckoned evil which a good life has preceded. When the wicked man feigns himself good, then is he the worst. By ruling badly the highest rule is lost. An evil conscience nowhere rests secure. He who is dead to this world knows nothing save to live to Christ. It is a great struggle to conquer the youthful flesh. The greatest plague arises when the shepherd is childish. A light and frail mind quickly suffers the scandals of the flesh.
A mind accustomed to evils is scarcely rescued from them. Blind lust is to be called death and destruction. That is most to be sought which is always to be kept. N. The Lord knows the way of the just, and the way of the wicked shall perish. Be not emulous of him who prospers in his way, of the man who does injustices. Do not become like the horse and the mule, who have no understanding. Trust not in iniquity, and covet not robberies. Unless the Lord keep the city, in vain does he watch that keeps it. A king is not saved by much strength. Put not your trust in princes, in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation. None is good but God alone.
Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. Unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. No man can serve two masters. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. It must needs be that scandals come, but woe to that man by whom the scandal comes. The disciple is not above his master. There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, nor hidden that shall not be known. No man putting his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. Do not delay to be converted to the Lord.
Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner. Do not neglect the discipline of the Lord, neither be wearied when you are rebuked by him. Do not rebuke a scorner, lest he hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you. There is no just man upon earth that does good and sins not. The just man knows the souls of his beasts, but the bowels of the wicked are cruel. A friend is not recognized in good times, nor is an enemy hidden in bad. Put not a stumbling-block before the blind. God does not will the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live. Nothing is done on earth without a cause. The Lord knows who are his. Not only are they guilty who do evil, but those who consent to the doers.
No man is crowned except he who has lawfully striven. Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil in good. Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world. Wonder not if the world hates you. Let no man seek his own, but only that which is another's. Let us not love in word nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth. God is not a respecter of persons, but in every nation he that fears God and works justice is acceptable to him. Nothing is more unhappy than the happiness of those who sin. A glistening skin betrays a filthy soul. There is no secure gladness in knowing many things in the divine pages, but in keeping what is known.
To know and to be able to do good things, before unknown and impossible, shows the gifts of heavenly grace. Nothing is so easy that it does not become difficult if you do it unwillingly. No one sins against another before he sins against himself. God never forsakes a mind that truly acknowledges its sins. He scarcely knows what toil is who has never striven to contend against spiritual wickednesses. Negligence and idleness draw a man to ruin. Unless a man be founded in faith and hope, he does not ascend to the worship of true charity. To no one does evil or good befall for his own sake alone, but that others may at the same time be corrected or consoled through him.
Such malice of the devil as is read to have been in Job will be against all men, if only it be permitted. No one in the Church does more harm than he who, acting perversely, holds rule. Not the multitude of sins, but impiety leads a man to despair. The life of a man is not in his own power. It will profit no one to be esteemed holy when he is not. Ask nothing that you will deny. Greatly to be lamented is the presumption that Christians presume to do those evils which the pagans abhor. For Christians destroy the monasteries of their God and his saints, while pagans venerate their own idols. Do not live one way in solitude and another in the marketplace.
To know or care for nothing, this is to live dead. He denies himself the thing who asks for what is difficult. Lay on no one what you yourself cannot bear. No one sins more dangerously than he who defends his sins. No one is noble save him whom virtue ennobles. Unless a man continually sets before himself the fear and love of God, he quickly slips into some sin. No one is able to measure himself sufficiently unless he considers another. Nothing is great among human affairs save a mind that despises great things. Neither man nor gold can give whatever makes one blessed, but the life of the blessed consists in the virtue of God. The eyes sin in nothing if the mind is willing to rule over them. It cannot be told how manifold is the craft of the enemy.
Believe nothing accomplished while anything remains to be done. It profits nothing to have learned good if you do not do it. Do not be willing to delay if you can convert someone. He is not to be praised who knows much, but he who lives well. The striving of fools always loves the company of fellows like themselves. O. The eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears unto their prayers. The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom, and his tongue shall speak judgment. The sinner shall watch the just man, and shall gnash upon him with his teeth. Whatever the Lord willed he has done, in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in all the deeps. Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate. Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up.
Whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin. Everyone that asks receives, and he that seeks finds, and to him that knocks it shall be opened. Everyone that exalts himself shall be humbled, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted. Every tree that does not bring forth good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire. To everyone that has shall be given, but from him that has not, even that which he has shall be taken away. Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men, but the blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven. Pray that your flight be not in the winter or on the Sabbath. All things are possible to him that believes. At all times bless God, and ask of him to direct your ways. With all watchfulness keep your heart, for out of it life proceeds.
For every business there is a time and an opportunity. Do all things with counsel, and after the deed you will not repent. All wisdom is from the Lord God, and has been ever with him. Hatred stirs up strifes, and charity covers all sins. One and the same Spirit works all things, dividing to everyone according as he wills. Whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father through him. Be all of one mind in prayer, compassionate, lovers of brotherhood, merciful, modest, humble. Esteem it all joy when you fall into divers temptations. Everyone that hates his brother is a murderer.
We ought to obey God rather than men. Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for them that love him. To the clean all things are clean, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is clean. All things are lawful, but not all things are expedient. The whole life of unbelievers is sin. Idleness is the enemy of the soul. Every day is to be treated as if it were the last. An idle word is one that lacks either the reason of just necessity or the intention of usefulness. Compliance begets friends, truth begets hatred. Occasions cannot be lacking to those who are to perish.
He wholly errs who thinks to attain triumph through peace and ease. Every divine chastisement is either a purging of the present life or the beginning of the punishment to follow. By continual prayer vices are overcome. God is better praised and proclaimed by deed than by words. Wanton eyes are the betrayers of a lustful heart. Hidden faults, continually perpetrated, deserve that perverse kings and shepherds be set up. All proofs of faith are to be taken from things past. Everything that is just may rightly be called one. We must always pray that we be not seduced by the enemy. Be subject to every superior as to Christ. With how many cares does the mind have need at every hour!
The mouth that lies is said to slay the soul. P. The Lord is near to all that call upon him in truth. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Keep your tongue from evil, and let not your lips speak deceit. The patience of the poor shall not perish unto the end. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. Everyone shall be perfect if he be as his master. God is able of stones to raise up children to Abraham. Strike your son with the rod, and you shall deliver his soul from death. Reproof profits more with a prudent man than a hundred stripes with a fool. The perverse are corrected with difficulty.
A prince that gladly hears words of lying has all his ministers wicked. By what things a man sins, by these also he is tormented. A double weight and a double measure, both are abominable before God. Tried virtue rebukes the foolish. For the sins of the people God makes a hypocrite to reign. The sinner, even a child of a hundred years, shall be accursed. The whole world shall fight against the senseless. Go not after your concupiscences. Try the spirits, whether they be of God. The prudence of the flesh is death, but the prudence of the spirit is life and peace. You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss. The fullness of the law is love.
Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God. Let those who sin be rebuked before all, that the rest may have fear. Those set in delights cannot consider how great is everlasting punishment. True peace is to be spoken of when the spirit and the flesh agree in every way. The peaceable man deserves to be called a son of God. Parents are to be loved and honoured insofar as they are subject to the supreme Father. He who is disobedient to his superiors and elders deserves, if he himself be set over any, to suffer the same from them. Any shepherd flees when he withdraws comfort from his subjects, or, seeing injustice, does not contradict it. They shall undergo equal punishment who have equally sinned.
True penance is to bewail the evils committed and not to commit the things to be bewailed. A public fault needs also a public penance. They shall sometime suffer the gravest punishments who refuse to bear small scourges for their crimes. A full belly easily disputes about fasts. Perfect hatred is that which lacks neither justice nor reason. Sin is added to sin when that which has been wickedly done is also wickedly defended. The proof of a good will is to be unwilling to sin when you are able. Care must be taken for all who for the love of God forsake lawful things, lest, living lukewarmly, they fall into unlawful ones. According to the quality of the hearers the sermon of teachers ought to be shaped.
To depraved morals the life of the good is always grievous. Certain sins pollute the soul, but certain ones extinguish it. Before you promise, deliberate, lest after promises in no way fulfilled you be called a liar. Danger is never overcome without danger. Prudence measures the issues of things. Those who do good are more to be praised than those who speak well. Money then becomes precious when, for the love of God, it is transferred to others and ceases to be possessed. Very many fear infamy, but few the guilt of conscience. Have peace with men, war with vices. One ought to command money, not to serve it. The poverty of the soul is greater than that of the body.
Let him who sins daily strive at once to repair himself. The perfect soldier very often weighs his strength. To a perverse mind its own fault is the greatest punishment. He who is quick to laughter is also borne quickly to anger. Be not prompt or ready for the figures of laughter. He who is intent on many things has the less sense for each one. The present life is brief, but the life to come is everlasting. Q. How good is the God of Israel to those who are of a right heart! Seek the Lord, and be strengthened; seek his face evermore. Seek the Lord, and your soul shall live. You that fear the Lord, praise him. You that love the Lord, hate evil.
As a father has compassion on his children, so has the Lord compassion on them that fear him, for he knows our frame. He who has not taken his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour, he shall receive a blessing from the Lord. Who is like the Lord our God, who dwells on high and looks down on the lowly things in heaven and on earth? They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things shall be added to you. He that perseveres unto the end, he shall be saved. The things that are impossible with men are possible with God. He that is of God hears the words of God.
What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world but suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul? He that shall say to his brother, You fool, shall be guilty of the fire of hell. He that hates his soul in this world keeps it unto life eternal. What God has joined together, let no man put asunder. He that is unfaithful in a little, is unfaithful also in much. It is like the crime of idolatry not to be willing to yield to God. Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near. He that follows justice is loved by the Lord. He that hides his crimes shall not be directed; but he that confesses and forsakes them shall obtain mercy.