Part 29
I would advise those of such a timid disposition to read Saint Cyprian's book entitled On Mortality, were it not that they deserve to be sent instead to the philosophers, among whom they will find a contempt for death that ought to make them ashamed.
Nevertheless, we must hold firmly to this principle: no one has made proper progress in the school of Christ except the person who awaits with joy and gladness the day of death and the final resurrection. For Saint Paul describes all believers by this mark, and Scripture customarily directs us there whenever it wishes to present us with a reason for rejoicing:
"Rejoice and lift up your heads, for your redemption draws near."
—Luke 21:28
What sense is there, I ask, that what Jesus Christ considered a proper cause of rejoicing should produce in us nothing but sorrow and terror? If this is so, why do we boast of being his disciples?
Let us therefore return to a sounder judgment. Although the desire of our blind and senseless flesh resists, let us not hesitate to long for the coming of the Lord as a most blessed event—not merely with a simple desire, but with groaning and sighing after it.
For he will come to us as Redeemer, to deliver us from this abyss of every evil and misery and bring us into the inheritance of his glory.
While believers dwell upon the earth, they must be like sheep appointed for slaughter, so that they may be conformed to their
Head, Jesus Christ. They would therefore be desperately miserable if they did not lift their minds upward, so as to rise above everything in this world and look beyond the things presently before them.
But once they have raised their thoughts above earthly things, it will be easy for them to comfort themselves amid their sufferings. They may see the ungodly flourishing in riches and honors, enjoying peace and possessing everything they desire, living in pleasure and splendor. They may even be treated inhumanely by them, endure their insults, be plundered, or suffer every kind of outrage. Nevertheless, they will always keep before their eyes that final day when they know the Lord will gather his believers into the rest of his kingdom, wipe every tear from their eyes, crown them with glory, clothe them with gladness, satisfy them with the infinite sweetness of his delights, exalt them to his own height, and, in sum, make them participants in his blessedness.
On the other hand, he will cast into extreme disgrace the ungodly who exalted themselves upon the earth. He will exchange their pleasures for horrible torments, their laughter and joy for weeping and gnashing of teeth, and their ease for dreadful anguish of conscience. In sum, he will plunge them into eternal fire and subject them to the believers whom they wickedly mistreated.
This, indeed, is our only consolation. If it is taken away, we must either lose heart or flatter and beguile ourselves with vain and frivolous comforts that will end in our ruin.
For the Prophet himself confesses that he faltered and that his feet had almost slipped while he dwelt too intently upon the present prosperity of the ungodly. He could not stand firm until he turned
his thoughts to contemplate the sanctuary of God—that is, until he considered what the final end of the righteous and the ungodly would be.
—Psalm 73:2–17
To conclude in a word, I say that the cross of Christ finally triumphs within the hearts of believers over the devil, the flesh, sin, death, and the ungodly when they likewise turn their eyes to behold the power of his resurrection.
By this same lesson Scripture also instructs us in the proper use of earthly goods, a matter that must not be neglected when considering how to order our lives rightly. For if we are to live, we must also use the aids necessary for life. Indeed, we cannot entirely abstain even from things that seem to serve pleasure more than necessity.
We must therefore observe a proper measure, so that we may use these things with a pure and sound conscience, both for our necessity and for our enjoyment. God shows us this measure when he teaches that the present life is for his servants like a pilgrimage by which they journey toward the heavenly kingdom.
If we are merely passing through the earth, there is no doubt that we should use its goods in such a way that they advance rather than hinder our course. But because this matter is difficult, and because there is danger of falling into either extreme, let us endeavor to establish a sure rule by which we may safely govern ourselves.
There have been certain good and holy men who, seeing the intemperance of mankind daily breaking forth with unbridled license
unless severely restrained, sought to correct so great an evil by permitting man to use bodily goods only insofar as they were necessary. They did this because they saw no other remedy.
Their counsel indeed proceeded from a good intention, but they carried it to excessive rigor. For they did something very dangerous: they bound consciences more strictly than they were bound by the Word of God.
On the other hand, there are many today who seek a pretext for excusing every kind of intemperance in the use of external things and for giving free rein to the flesh, which is already far too ready to exceed all bounds. They take for granted a principle that I do not concede: that this liberty should not be restrained by any moderation, but that every person's conscience should be permitted to use it however it judges lawful.
I readily acknowledge that we neither should nor can bind consciences in this matter to fixed formulas and precepts. But since Scripture gives us general rules for lawful use, why should that use not be regulated according to them?
First, we must hold that the use of God's gifts is not disordered when it is directed toward the purpose for which God created and appointed them, since he created them for our good and not for our harm. Therefore, no one will follow a more upright course than the person who carefully considers that purpose.
If we consider why God created food, we will find that he intended not only to provide for our necessity but also for our pleasure and
refreshment. Likewise, in clothing, besides necessity, he considered what was fitting and becoming.
In herbs, trees, and fruits, besides the various benefits they provide, he intended to delight our sight by their beauty and to give us further pleasure through their fragrance. For if this were not true, the Prophet would not number among God's benefits that wine gladdens the heart of man and oil makes his face shine.
—Psalm 104:15
Nor would Scripture repeatedly mention, in commendation of God's kindness, that he has given all these good things to man. Indeed, the good qualities that things possess by nature show us how, for what purpose, and to what extent we ought to enjoy them.
Do we think that our Lord would have given flowers such beauty to present to our eyes if it were unlawful to receive any pleasure from seeing them? Do we think he would have given them so pleasant a fragrance if he had not intended man to delight in smelling them?
Moreover, has he not so distinguished colors that some possess greater beauty than others? Has he not given a particular splendor to gold, silver, ivory, and marble, making them more precious and noble than other metals and stones? Finally, has he not given us many things that we ought to value even though they are not necessary to us?
Let us therefore reject that inhuman philosophy which, by allowing man no use of God's creatures beyond bare necessity, not only deprives us without reason of the lawful enjoyment of divine
generosity, but cannot be practiced unless it strips man of every feeling and reduces him to a block of wood.
Yet, on the other hand, we must no less diligently guard against the desires of our flesh, which break forth without measure unless held under restraint. Moreover, as I have said, there are some who, under the pretext of liberty, permit the flesh everything.
It must therefore first be restrained by this rule: all the good things we possess were created for us so that we might acknowledge their Author and magnify his kindness with thanksgiving.
But where will thanksgiving be if, through gluttony, you load yourself with so much food and wine that you become senseless and useless for serving God and fulfilling the duties of your calling?
Where is the acknowledgment of God if the flesh, stirred up by excessive abundance to shameful desires, infects the understanding with its impurity until it blinds it and deprives it of the ability to distinguish good from evil?
How shall we thank God for the clothing he gives us if its extravagance makes us proud and causes us to despise others? If its display serves as an instrument of sexual immorality, how, I ask, shall we acknowledge our God if our eyes are fixed upon admiring the splendor of our garments?
The same may be said of every other kind of possession. It is therefore evident that this consideration already places some restraint upon the license to abuse God's gifts.
But there is no surer or shorter way than to bring man to despise the present life and meditate upon heavenly immortality, for from this follow two rules.
The first is that those who use this world should be as little attached to it as though they did not use it; those who marry, as though they were not married; and those who buy, as though they possessed nothing, according to Saint Paul's command.
—1 Corinthians 7:29–31
The second is that we should learn to bear poverty as patiently and peacefully as we use abundance moderately.
When Saint Paul commands us to use this world as though we did not use it, he not only cuts off all intemperance in eating and drinking, every form of luxury, excessive ambition, pride, and extravagant concern over buildings, clothing, and manner of life; he also corrects every care and affection that distracts or hinders us from contemplating the heavenly life and adorning our souls with their true ornaments.
It was truly said long ago by Cato that where there is great concern for outward display, there is great neglect of virtue. Likewise, an ancient proverb says that those who devote much attention to pampering and adorning their bodies care very little for their souls.
Therefore, although the liberty of believers in external things should not be confined to fixed formulas, it is nevertheless subject to this law: they should indulge themselves as little as possible. On the contrary, they should be vigilant in cutting off every superfluity and
every vain display of abundance, far from abandoning themselves to intemperance. They should diligently guard against turning into hindrances those things that ought to serve as aids.
The other rule is that those who live in poverty should learn patiently to do without the things they lack, lest they be tormented by excessive anxiety. Those who can maintain this moderation have made no small progress in the Lord's school. On the other hand, the person who has made no progress in this respect will scarcely possess anything by which he may prove himself a disciple of Christ.
Besides the many other vices that accompany the desire for earthly things, it almost always happens that the person who bears poverty impatiently displays the opposite vice when surrounded by abundance.
By this I mean that the person who is ashamed of a poor garment will glory in an expensive one. The person who, dissatisfied with a meager meal, torments himself with the desire for something better will be unable to remain temperate when he finds himself at a wellfurnished table. The person who cannot endure a lowly and private condition without becoming troubled and discontented will be unable to guard himself against pride and arrogance if he attains some position of honor.
Therefore, all who desire to serve God without hypocrisy must endeavor, following the Apostle's example, to know how to bear both abundance and need—that is, to remain moderate amid abundance and patiently content amid poverty.
—Philippians 4:12
Scripture gives us yet a third rule for regulating the use of earthly things, which we briefly touched upon when treating the commandments of love. It teaches that although all things are given to us by God's kindness and appointed for our benefit, they are nevertheless entrusted to us as a deposit for which we must one day give an account.
We must therefore administer them in such a way that we always remember this sentence: we must give an account of everything our Lord has committed to our care.
Moreover, we must consider who it is that calls us to account: God himself. Just as he has strongly commended abstinence, sobriety, temperance, and modesty, so he abhors every form of intemperance, pride, ostentation, and vanity. He approves no stewardship except that which is regulated by love, and by his own mouth he has condemned every pleasure that turns the human heart away from chastity and purity or renders the understanding dull.
We must also observe diligently that God commands each of us to regard his calling in all the actions of his life. For he knows how the human mind burns with restlessness, how lightly it is carried here and there, and how ambition and desire urge it to embrace many different things at once.
Therefore, lest we throw everything into confusion through our folly and rashness, he has distinguished the various conditions and ways of life and appointed to each person what he ought to do. And lest anyone should carelessly overstep his limits, he has called these ways of life vocations.
Each person, therefore, should regard his own condition as a station assigned to him by God, so that he does not thoughtlessly flit and wander here and there throughout the whole course of his life.
This distinction is so necessary that all our works are judged before God according to it—and often quite differently from the judgment of human or philosophical reason. Not only ordinary people but even the philosophers consider delivering one's country from tyranny the noblest and most excellent deed imaginable. Yet the private individual who kills a tyrant is plainly condemned by the voice of God.
I do not intend, however, to linger over all the examples that might be given. It is enough for us to recognize that God's calling is the principle and foundation by which we must govern ourselves rightly in everything, and that whoever does not direct himself according to it will never keep to the right path in faithfully discharging his duty.
He may sometimes perform an act that appears outwardly praiseworthy, but whatever esteem it may receive among men, it will not be accepted before the throne of God.
Moreover, unless we hold our calling as a perpetual rule, there will be no settled order or consistency among the various parts of our lives. Therefore, whoever has directed his life toward this end has ordered it exceedingly well.
From this we receive a singular consolation: there is no work so lowly or menial that it will not shine before God and be exceedingly precious in his sight, provided that in doing it we serve our calling.
THE END.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Note on this Edition
Argument of the Present Book
A Dedication to Francis I
CHAPTER ONE: The Knowledge of God
CHAPTER TWO: The Knowledge of Man and Free Will
CHAPTER THREE: The Revelation of God's Law
CHAPTER FOUR: Of Faith, In Which the Apostles' Creed Is Explained
CHAPTER FIVE: Repentance
CHAPTER SIX: Of Justification by Faith and by the Merits of Works
CHAPTER SEVEN: Of the Similarities and Differences between the Old and New Covenants
CHAPTER EIGHT: Of the Predestination and Providence of God
CHAPTER NINE: Of Prayer, The Prayer of Our Lord Is Explained
CHAPTER TEN: Of the Sacraments
CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Significance of Baptism
CHAPTER TWELVE: The Significance of the Lord's Supper
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Regarding the Five Other Ceremonies Falsely Called Sacraments: Confirmation, Penance, Extreme Unction, Ecclesiastical Orders, and Marriage
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: On Christian Liberty
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: The Authority of the Church
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Of Civil Government
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Of the Christian Life