Caput IV
The Bitterness and Fruit of Discipline
Drawing on Hebrews, the author contrasts the grief of present discipline with the peaceable fruit it yields, and warns of the terror of falling into God's hands.
Lamentations — that is, distresses — are hard to endure; because, as the Apostle says, all discipline in the present doesn't seem to bring joy, but grief.✦ The song — that is, the joy — that follows is something to desire, just as the secure one adds there; because it yields the most peaceful fruit of training through justice.✦ But woe — it is deeply fearful, since, as Paul says: 'It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of God' (Hebr.✦ 10, 31).
Submitting to a Just and Merciful Striker
Since God strikes justly and mercifully, the faithful must accept correction without murmuring under penalty of woe.
But if what we suffer troubles us, let us think of the one who strikes us as just and merciful. For because He is just, He does not strike except justly — as in that saying: 'Is God unjust, who brings wrath?'✦ It is therefore deeply unjust to complain about a just blow. Let us not murmur, then, lest perhaps we incur that woe which is threatened.
God Is Near the Troubled Heart
God draws near to the brokenhearted and transforms deserved suffering into spiritual benefit by His kindness.
Let us also consider that he is merciful, so that we don't believe we've been abandoned by him, as fools do, about whom it is said: In miseries they will not stand firm (Psal.✦ CXXXIX, 11). For indeed the Lord is near to those who are troubled in heart.✦ And let us consider this as well: that what we suffer as our just desert, he turns back to our benefit by wonderful kindness.
Suffering as Medicine for the Soul
Like a patient trusting a surgeon, believers should welcome God's painful corrections as healing remedies for hidden vice.
Keeping this in mind, then, let us not flee from his blows, but rather let us desire them as certain medicines for the soul. For a sick man willingly places himself in the hands of the physician to be cut, and drinks the cups, though they are bitter, with eager hope, since he believes he will recover the benefit of health from it. Let us not, then, resist the hands of our physician, God. For even though he prolongs the burning of tribulation, the sick man ought not to cry out, since he himself sees how deep the rot lies hidden in the wounds of his vices, waiting to be cut away.
Suffering from Abel to the Last Chosen
Tribulation has been the universal condition of the righteous from Abel onward, so the faithful should not be astonished by it.
And let us not be stunned, as if this were something wild or unheard of, since from the first righteous man, Abel, all the way to the last of the chosen, everyone must be held by this condition.1 The chief of the apostles warned the faithful not to be amazed at the heat of temptation, as if something new had happened to them.✦2
Read the original Latin
Lamentationes, id est angustiae, ad tolerandum graves sunt; quia, juxta Apostolum, omnis disciplina in praesenti quidem non videtur esse gaudii, sed moeroris. Carmen vero, id est, gaudium, quod succedit, desiderabile est, sicut ibi securus adjungit; quia fructum pacatissimum reddit exercitatis per justitiam. Vae autem nimis formidabile est, quoniam, ut Paulus ait: horrendum est incidere in manus Dei (Hebr. X, 31). Si autem displicet quod patimur, percussorem nostrum justum et misericordem cogitemus. Nam quia justus est, non nisi juste percutit, ut est illud: Nunquid iniquus Deus, qui infert iram? Valde igitur injustum est, de justa percussione murmurare. Non itaque murmuremus, ne forte illud vae quod comminatur incurramus.
Cogitemus quoque quia misericors est, ne nos derelictos ab eo credamus, ut stulti faciunt, de quibus dicitur: In miseriis non subsistent (Psal. CXXXIX, 11). Etenim juxta est Dominus his qui tribulato sunt corde. Cogitemus et hoc, quia quod ex nostro merito patimur, ad nostram utilitatem mira benignitate reflectit. Hoc itaque attendentes flagella non refugiamus, sed ea velut quaedam medicamenta animae magis optemus. Nam et aeger tunc se ad secandum manibus medici libenter submittit, et pocula quamvis amara votive bibit, cum exinde beneficium incolumitatis recuperare se credit. Non ergo resultemus manibus medici nostri Dei. Nam etsi tribulationis adustionem prolongat, non tamen aeger debet vociferari; quoniam ipse videt quam profunda ad resecandum putredo lateat in vulneribus vitiorum.
Nec velut indomiti tanquam ad inusitatum quiddam aut novum obstupescamus, quoniam a primo justo Abel usque ad ultimum electum necesse est omnes hac conditione teneri. Hinc princeps apostolorum fideles monuit, ne mirarentur in fervore tentationis tanquam novi aliquid contigisset.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Heb.12.11 — Now all discipline for the present does not seem to be joyful but grievous, yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
- ↩Heb.12.11 — Now all discipline for the present does not seem to be joyful but grievous, yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
- ↩Heb.10.31 — It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
- ↩Rom.3.5 — But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous who inflicts wrath? (I speak in human terms.)
- ↩Ps.139.11 — And I say, surely darkness shall cover me, and night is light around me.
- ↩Ps.33.19;Ps.35.18 — to deliver their souls from death, and to keep them alive in famine Ps.35.18 — I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among a mighty people I will praise you.
- ↩1Pet.4.12 — Beloved, do not be surprised by the fiery ordeal that is happening among you for your testing, as though something strange were happening to you.
Notes
- 1 ↩hac conditione — 'this condition' refers back to the preceding discussion of suffering and divine discipline as medicinal for the soul.
- 2 ↩princeps apostolorum — Peter; the warning likely echoes 1 Peter 4:12 ('Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that comes upon you'), but the exact source anchor is unresolved pending Moses resolution.
Collationes (Conferences / Collations) companion
Day 11 and onward, delivered every morning
All 140 conferences — and the rest of the Sub Rosa library — in daily portions in the free Chosen Portion iOS app
Odo urged a daily return to sacred reading as the cure for the soul's slow decline; Chosen Portion makes that daily return a scheduled habit on your phone.
- Continue through all three books of the Conferences at 5 minutes a day
- Daily examination-style readings drawn from 78+ historic works
- One morning notification to keep the practice going past day 10