You have compelled me, handmaid of God and sister venerable in Christ, and by frequent petitions you have wrested rather than asked, that I should write for you some sort of exhortatory sermon; not that I can confer anything upon you toward knowledge or perfection, but one in which you may the more easily detect my forethought. This I long and much resisted and put off doing, fearing to incur at once the mark of boastfulness and of impudence; especially since I know that you are free for the divine volumes with assiduous meditation, and are utterly ignorant of nothing that pertains to your perfection. But what shall I do? I dare not refuse what I am unable to fulfill.
For so great is your faith and authority in asking and commanding, and your perseverance in wresting it forth, that to refuse you anything seems irreligious. Yet, if you give your pledge that you will read it to no one else, nor put it forth to be read, I will do, according as God gives strength, the things you exhort. Pardon must be granted me, if I am unable worthily to fulfill the task enjoined; it should rather be imputed to you, who commanded that I undertake this. Therefore, removed from rashness and free from arrogance, let us sweat over the proposed work; nor let us distrust the mediocrity of our talent, which we believe to be deservedly aided by your prayer. Yet this I wish to be known: that I have determined to write nothing but what may instruct you toward the rule of the perfect life and the amendment of morals;
that it may set the world beneath the feet of the blessedness of virginity here set forth. Let others study to write these things at the feet of those by whom they wish to be praised; for us the road is to be traveled by far another path. Therefore let this be your first study and first care: to know the will of your Lord, and diligently to inquire what pleases Him and what displeases Him; that you may render reasonable obedience to God according to God: for it can happen that one may offend by the very wish to obey, who has not first learned how he ought to obey. Among all God's precepts, the general commandment is concerning justice, because it is by no means lawful for anyone to transgress what is commanded to all. Concerning virginity, therefore, it is said: He that can take it, let him take it (Matthew 19:12).
But every tree that does not bring forth good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire (Matthew 3:10); which the Savior most fully indeed, but briefly, comprehended in the Gospel, saying: All things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them (Luke 6:31). Therefore, having followed the counsel of perfection, see that you do not look back; but in the mountain save your soul (Genesis 19). For because you desire to ascend to life, you must press on through the path of that narrow way, forsaking the spacious expanse of the world and the vast pomp of the age, so that you may present as an apostolic virgin in body the one whom, as your lamp kindled with the oil of good works, always thinking on the things that are the Lord's, you may prepare to meet the Bridegroom.
What ought the perfection to be, whose beginning was such? Every work is done more lightly, when its beginning is always kept in mind. Although any perfect person desires to be dissolved and to be with Christ, in this life it is necessary that he never cease to have conflict with the vices, if he wishes to bring back triumph over the enemy. For in the first place he must battle against the disease of pride; so that, the head of the vices being torn out by the roots, the other vices which proceed from it may be more easily uprooted. For there is no easier slip toward ruin, of which Scripture says: The beginning of all sin is pride (Sirach 10:15). Rightly indeed; for as it is the origin of all crimes, so it is the enemy of all virtues. For in sin it is itself the first, and in the conflict the last.
For this either at the outset prostrates the mind through sin, or at the last casts it down from the virtues. Whence it is also the greatest of all sins: because it exterminates the human mind as much through virtues as through vices. Very often from the fault of pride one goes into the abominable uncleanness of the flesh, because the one hangs upon the other. For as through pride of mind one goes into the prostitution of lust, so through humility of mind the chastity of the flesh is kept safe. But God sometimes casts down the hidden pride of the mind through a manifest ruin of the flesh. For principally by these two vices the devil lords it over the human race, that is, through pride of mind and lust of the flesh. Whence also the Lord speaks concerning the devil to Job, saying:
He sleepeth under the shadow, in the covert of the reed, and in moist places (Job 40:16). For by the reed vain pride is signified; but by moist places the luxury of the flesh is shown. For through these two vices, as we have said, the devil possesses the human race, whether while he raises up the mind through pride, or while he consumes the flesh through luxury. For with strong effort we must fight back against luxury, because the enemy is enclosed within. All the strength of the devil against men is in the loins, against women in the navel of her belly, of which it is written: His strength is in his loins, and his power in the navel of his belly (Job 40:11). For he who does not restrain the delight of the lustful suggestion quickly passes to the consent of lust.
For he easily resists the deed, who does not accommodate himself to the titillating delight. Although the intention of God's saints persists unshaken in the love of God, yet concerning the flesh which one bears outwardly, one endures many inner battles. But God, who permits these things for the sake of testing, does not desert His own, His grace protecting them. Therefore fornications are to be removed from the heart, that they may not break forth into deed. Hence it is said through the prophet: Gird your loins upon your breasts (Isaiah 32:12); that is, cut off lusts in the heart; when the mind of any just person is impeded by the harassment of demons, let the fear of the divine judgment and the eternal torments be set before the eyes, because assuredly the pain of all is overcome by the dread of a graver punishment.
For as a nail drives out a nail, so the recollection of the fire of hell shuts out the ardor of luxury. Hear what the Lord relates concerning the devil, saying: He draws in his tail like a cedar (Job 40:12); because his first suggestion, like a tender herb, is easily cut off; but if once it has fixed the tooth of delight, like a cedar it hardens. Especially, fleeing feigned humility, follow that which is true, which Christ taught, in which no pride is enclosed. Many follow the shadow of this virtue, but few the truth; for patience under injury shows the truly humble. Never let your soul be kindled in anger, because the anger of man works not the justice of God (James 1:20).
But if it inflame you a little, it is necessary that you hasten to expel it. Let envy find no grove in your soul. And this is a most evil malady, when anyone becomes worse from another's good, for whence the good man advances, thence the envious man wastes away. For with difficulty does anyone receive medicine from this disease, who is unwilling to lay bare his fault. For rare from this is confession, because often one thing is said for another, and therefore one never comes to salvation; concerning which blessed Cyprian wrote to the people. Set a sufficiently careful guard upon your mouth: nor does anyone more easily contract the stain of sin than through the tongue, as the apostle James testifies: The tongue no man can tame (James 3:8). Whence he piously admonishes, saying:
If any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man's religion is vain (James 1:26). According to the saying of the most wise Solomon: He who lets out water is the head of strifes (Proverbs 17:14); because he who does not bridle his tongue destroys concord. Whence also the Apostle asserts him to be perfect who does not offend in word. But many, while they keep silence indiscreetly, withdraw that which through a word could have profited their neighbors;
and while they overlook the vices of those whom they could have corrected through the reproof of a word, while they fortify the enclosures of the mouth, they abandon the neighbor in his depravity, so that they may be more strictly judged, and are guilty of the reproach of silence in proportion to how much they could have profited by a word. For in two ways is prayer impeded, so that it cannot obtain what is asked: if either one still commits evils, or if he does not forgive to one sinning against him the debts owed. Which twofold evil when anyone has wiped from himself, he immediately, secure, applies himself to the zeal of prayer, and freely lifts up his mind to those things which he desires to obtain by prayers. As much as you prevail, beware lest you recall the face of a man, except in pure prayer;
for you shall not make an idol in your soul in the foulness of desire. The king's woman does not turn aside to servants, and the bride of Christ does not look back to mortals: because she loves Him who suffered for her, and embraces Him with safe love. Look upon the countenance of priests and Levites with fear, that is, of those who are approved; knowing this, that the love of charity dwells in them. Let not your soul be delighted in desire by the sweet voice of a reader, lest your senses be corrupted, and depart from chastity. Perhaps you will say: Great is the labor; but consider what has been promised. Consider, I beseech you, the magnitude of your reward, if it can be considered, and paint before your eyes the future recompense of the present injury.
After the soul's departure and the death of the flesh, you are to be restored, O virgin, to a better state; your body, committed to the earth, is to be raised into heaven; after these things you are to be granted the fellowship of the angels, about to receive the kingdom of heaven, and to abide forever with Christ.