CHAPTER XII.

ON PATIENCE AND THE STRUGGLE AGAINST

CONCUPISCENCE.

LORD GOD, I find that patience is very necessary for me; for many adverse circumstances befall a man in this life.1 For, however I have contrived my peace, my life cannot

pass without warfare and grief."

2. "It is so, My son. But I do not wish thee to be eager after such peace as consists in the absence of temptation, or in never feeling trouble, but rather would I have thee think that then thou hast found peace when thou hast been exercised by various troubles, and proved in many trials.

"If thou hast said to thyself that thou art not able to bear much, how wilt thou endure the fires of purgatory? Of two evils, the less is always to be chosen. Therefore, that thou mayest be able to escape the eternal punishments that are to come, study to bear with patience, for God's sake, the evils of the present life.

"Dost thou think that the men of this world suffer naught or but little? Thou wilt not find it so even if thou search

out the most prosperous.

Heb. x. 36. 2 Job vii. 4. of the day."

"For ye have need of patience."

"I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning

3. "But they have,' thou wilt say, 'many pleasures, and they follow their own inclinations, and therefore think little of their troubles.'

4. "And if it be so, that they have whatever they desire, how long dost thou suppose this will last?

"Behold! like smoke shall the rich in this world vanish, and no recollection of their past pleasures shall remain.1 And even whilst they are yet alive they do not enjoy their pleasures without bitterness, tedium, and fear; for from the very same thing from which they derive pleasure, they frequently derive the punishment of fear.

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Justly doth it befall them that as they seek and pursue their pleasures to an inordinate extent, they cannot enjoy them without confusion and bitterness. O how short, how false, how inordinate, how wicked, are all their pleasures!

“Yet, because of their intemperance and blindness, they do not understand, but like dumb cattle, for the sake of the paltry pleasures of a corruptible life, risk the death of the soul. Therefore, My son, go not after thy lusts, and turn thyself away from thy inclination.3 "Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thy heart."

Ps. xxxvii. 20. "They shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away." Ps. lxxiii. 12. "Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches."

2 Jude 10. "But these speak evil of those things which they know not but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves." 2 Maccabees vi. 25. "And so they, through mine hypocrisy, and desire to live a little time, and a moment longer should be deceived by me, and I get a stain to mine old age, and make it abominable."

3 Ecclesiasticus xviii. 30. "Go not after thy lusts, but refrain thyself from thine appetites.”

4 Ps. xxxvii. 4.

5. "For if thou truly desire to find joy and to be abundantly consoled by Me, behold thy blessing shall be found in the contempt of all worldly things and in the avoidance of all weakening pleasures, and abundant consolation shall be given thee.

"And the more thou withdraw thyself from all human solace, the more shalt thou find in Me consolation, more soothing and more powerful.

“But thou shalt not attain to these consolations at first, without some sorrow and laborious contest.

"Custom will oppose, but shall be conquered by better

custom.

"The flesh will murmur, but shall be restrained by the fervour of the spirit.

"The old serpent will urge thee and worry thee, but shall be put to flight by prayer; moreover his entrance must be obstructed by useful labour."1

1 Rev. xii. 9. "And the great Dragon was serpent, called the Devil." S. Matth. xvii. 20.

cast out, that old "If ye have faith

as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove."

CHAPTER XIII.

ON HUMBLE OBEDIENCE AFTER THE EXAMPLE OF

M

JESUS CHRIST.

Y son, he who striveth to withdraw himself from obedience, withdraweth himself from grace; and he who seeketh to have private advantages, loseth those which are common.

"If a man doth not cheerfully and spontaneously yield to his superior, it is a sign that his body is not yet perfectly subdued, that it struggles and murmurs at restraint. Learn therefore, quickly, to submit to thy superior, if thou desire to bring thine own body under subjection; for an external enemy is more quickly conquered if the inner man have not been injured.

"There is no more dangerous or more injurious enemy to the soul than thou art to thyself, when thou art not obedient to the Spirit.1

"Above all must thou conceive a contempt for thyself, if thou desire to prevail against flesh and blood. For, in proportion as thou lovest thyself beyond all bounds, wilt thou dread giving up thy will to that of others.

2. "But what so great thing is it if thou, who art dust, who art naught, yield to man for God's sake, when I, the

1 Tobit xii. 10. "But they that sin are enemies to their own life."