Quomodo frondescat arbor sapientiae per circumspectionem.
The Two Directions of Wisdom
Wisdom grows either upward in contemplation or outward in action, but those who rise in contemplation risk falling into pride and judgment of others.
In the tenth place, it is added that through circumspection the tree of wisdom becomes leafy and spreads out its branches. There are some in whom wisdom grows to great height, and others in whom it spreads outward into breadth. Among contemplative people it rises upward, since through the keenness of their mind they penetrate even to the hidden heavenly realities they are meant to contemplate. Among active people it spreads outward, because they scatter the focus of their mind in many ways to handle earthly responsibilities. Indeed, there are some who, through the rest divinely granted to them, at first grow deeply in contemplation, but when they see other, simpler brothers occupied with earthly activities, they look down on them by comparison with themselves; and though they themselves are barren of good work, they still do not shrink from judging the good works of others. Those who therefore neglect standing in humility, once shaken by the wind of elation, fall from the summit of contemplation. Cast down, they lie open to various errors and are distracted in many ways from that inner peace. The beginning of these errors, clearly, is this: they refuse to humbly acknowledge their own weakness, but extol themselves recklessly about the gift of God they have received.
The Spiral of Judgment and Contempt
Pride in one's own gifts leads to judging others, which spreads through the soul like poison and ends in contempt rather than compassion.
For it is inevitable that the deeds of others become cheap in the eyes of those who think so excessively highly of their own merits. And it could not happen that they would presume to judge another's life, unless they had first kept quiet about themselves. Once this error has slipped into the mind, it pours out its poisons far and wide, and secretly creeping in and mixing itself with every movement of the soul, it changes wills, scatters plans, twists thoughts, and corrupts desires, while bringing in superfluous cares. And because a mind that has once been inflated has learned to think great things of itself, it scorns to bring its own deeds before the examination of reason, and the more it believes there is nothing in itself worthy of blame, the more freely it pursues another's life. Yet this pride first cloaks itself under the appearance of good zeal, and it persuades the deceived mind that someone who consents to another's fault is no perfect lover of justice. But the one who neglects another's fault entirely cannot consent to it — cannot accuse the offender. So this mind, badly provident and deceived by error, gave itself over entirely to curiosity, and as the disease gradually grew, at first it became accustomed to pursuing others' mistakes without restraint, until finally it was brought to the point where it tries either to slander openly whatever it sees, or to interpret it maliciously; and from there, if it happens to see some people concerned even slightly for the common good, it calls them greedy. And those they perceive to be provident, they call avaricious. Those who present themselves as affable and cheerful to everyone, they say are enslaved to the vice of flattery. Those who rather often display sadness in their expression, they believe are wasting away from envy. And those they have observed to be lively and devoted in ministering, they assert to be fickle and restless. Those they have found weak or serious, they accuse as if they were sluggish and inactive. The abstemious, they think, are afflicted with the disease of hypocrisy, and those who indulge more than necessity requires, they consider enslaved to luxury. And this error is indeed followed by manifold confusion. For a bad and pestilential curiosity, which wickedly strives to scrutinize another's secret, often — although it finds nothing it can justly reprehend — nevertheless, perverse, it does not stop suspecting. But if it has indeed found something worthy of reprehension, immediately it draws the swollen mind not toward compassion, but toward contempt.
The Collapse of the Fallen Mind
Contempt breeds anger, indignation, hatred, and envy until the soul, once lifted to heaven, becomes a burden to itself and seeks escape in worldly distraction.
Contempt, however, provokes anger, because a mind inflated by the pattern of pride considers anything it endures from someone it despises to be unbearable. Then anger grows into indignation, indignation advances into insult, insult produces hatred, and hatred grown old passes into envy; envy indeed breeds weariness in the mind, and when weariness has settled in the heart, it demolishes it like a moth, and with inner joy stifled, conscience wastes away within itself. The mind becomes a burden to itself and, like motionless lead, cannot be raised upward. And the mind that once was accustomed to penetrate the heavens on the wings of contemplation now falls, weighed down and pressed beneath its own weight. It shudders at the darkness it suffers within, and if it were possible, it would flee from itself. Therefore, abandoning conscience, it immerses itself completely in outward earthly activities, so that, kept busy, it may forget its own evils. And because it judges every evil to be lighter by the very fact that it endures it within, the wretched mind now even loves the pains of its outward preoccupation. And because the palate of the heart has lost the taste for true sweetness through long weariness, the soul, thirsting for the vinegar of carnal desire, drinks it with longing.✦
Grace Restores Through Humbling
Divine grace not only heals the fallen but makes them stronger, using the discipline of outward responsibility to teach humility to those who once looked down on others.
So when the devil finds a soul caught up in outward concerns, he corrupts it, and now it resists no judgment of reason at all, dragging it headlong into whatever precipices of error lie ahead. But because we have now spoken of the great evils pride plunges us into, it is also worth considering what the remedy is by which divine grace restores us. For this is that kind of antidote: it not only restores our former health but also adds even greater strength. It does not just repair what was lost — it even supplies what was missing. So through everything God is praiseworthy and glorious — alone merciful and gracious — who freely bestows his gift and freely restores what was lost, and who, though we were unworthy even to receive what we had lost, restored it in such a way that we seem to have fallen not to our ruin but to the increase of those who had fallen. Therefore, the one who had grown tall through wisdom became proud of his height, and so it is good for him to be cut back and learn to spread his branches outward, broadly. It is good for him to be compelled, once the contemplative life has been set aside for a time, to go out and take on the management of outward things — so that he may learn from experience how difficult it is to serve outward duties through his office, and yet not, through desire, abandon the interior life. And when he has recognized that he is unequal to the care of the governance he has undertaken, then let him know what he ought to have felt about those whom he previously, placed in the same position, had thoughtlessly looked down on.
The School of Circumspection
Through the anxieties of governance the soul learns prudence, detachment, and charity, and the tree of wisdom, once cut back, rises again clothed in circumspection.
And because greater power usually brings greater anxiety, let that very care sharpen him, so that he can call himself provident and circumspect, and not slip into idleness — so that he strengthens his mind before danger comes, so that he pays attention not only to what is happening, but to what could happen. When fortune smiles, he should not trust it too much; in adversity he should not lose confidence, and whatever outcome is coming, whether good or bad, he should regard it with equal contempt. Let him anticipate every outcome with his own counsel, let him strive to gather friends before necessity arises, let him not trust his own judgment more than is right, let him love all, but not trust all equally. To those above him let him give the obedience due, to those equal to him let him give love, to those under him let him show fatherly care. And so, through the diverse pursuits of the virtues, let wisdom spread the branches of her own tree, and then at last that tree of wisdom — which before had grown badly on its bare trunk, bending like a pliable reed — now strengthened by the pursuit of the virtues and clothed on all sides with the leaves of circumspection, let it raise itself again to the heights: so much better as it is stronger, so much stronger as it is more sturdy, so much more sturdy as it is more practiced, so much more practiced as it is more adorned by circumspection, so that even its own cutting seems to have profited it.
The Four Forces That Train the Soul
Fear, care, necessity, and desire are the four forces that spread wisdom's branches, each compared to a gardener's technique for training a tree.
But since wisdom itself spreads its branches through circumspection, let us now lay out some general ways circumspection is exercised. There are four. Fear, care, necessity, desire. Fear is anxiety about facing danger. Care is the anxious effort to avoid a disadvantage or to gain an advantage. Necessity is the obligation to give, or the need to receive. Desire is the longing to enjoy. Fear weighs down, care pulls, necessity binds, desire wounds. In the same way, when farmers want to spread out the branches of trees, they are used to placing weights on top of them that press downward, or tying things below that pull them down, or driving stakes nearby and binding the branches to them, so they do not shoot upward but spread outward instead — or they insert shoots into the bare trunk itself, so that where they take root and grow together, they clothe the tree. Fear, then, is like a weight placed on top. Care is like a weight hung below. Necessity is like a stake that binds fast. Passion is like a shoot that, once fixed in, wounds. These four arise from the four kinds of evil that a person endures in this world. They are the anger of God, the vanity of the world, the weakness of the human condition, and the envy of the devil. The anger of God is when we are worn down by scourges.
The Four Evils Behind the Four Forces
God's anger, the world's vanity, human weakness, and the devil's envy correspond to the four forces, and even these evils serve to exercise and test the servant of God.
The vanity of the world is that we go beyond what necessity requires and chase after pleasure. The weakness of our human condition is that adversity easily harms us, and we recover the strength to do good only with great difficulty. Envy is this: when the devil himself incites us to vice, we catch fire. Therefore the wrath of God presses down through fear, while the vanity of the world drags us down by casting superfluous cares beneath us. The weakness of our condition binds us with terrible necessities. The envy of the devil wounds us by inflaming us with forbidden desires. But in all these things God's servant is trained for a reward, and even the evils that beset him end up serving him, since by afflicting him they test him and do not overthrow him. All these passions — namely fear, care, and unlawful desire — are evil, and even the very necessity of this present life is called by the Lord a military service.
Why God Permits Temptation
God allows his chosen ones to be exercised by temptation so that they learn their own weakness, grow in humility, and turn even the enemy's attacks into armor.
But God allows these things to dominate the minds of his chosen ones for a time, so that when they have learned through experience how great the misery is in those false delights, they may seek more ardently those eternal and true joys, which no sorrow corrupts. And it is salutary that they are sometimes abandoned for a time to serve the passions of their own flesh, so that they may recognize their own weakness, and not presume on themselves, and afterward submit themselves to divine grace all the more devoutly, the more clearly they have learned from their own prior fall that their own strength is not what keeps them standing. There is yet another reason why it is sometimes useful for God's servants to be tempted, so that the temptations themselves may exercise them and make them more cautious, because the conflict of vices are the training grounds of virtues. And just as someone who often falls learns by falling how to fix their step and walk cautiously, and in the heat of battle someone who has been struck often receives the next blow more cautiously, so someone who is often deceived by the devil afterward detects his cunning more subtly and overturns his schemes. And this is why we see many rise to the summit of the, and with such great virtue wear down all the devil's efforts raised against them, so that where the enemy once rejoiced to have conquered him, he now seems not to have spoiled him, but rather to have armed him against himself. This indeed is the deep and secret counsel of God, that what the enemy boasted had fallen to his own ruin may also advance his chosen ones toward the crown. It pleases me now, therefore, to consider how the exercises of the passions are born from those very passions we mentioned above, and then how through those exercises circumspection is increased. For there are four: fear, care, necessity, and affection; and from three of them — that is, fear, necessity, and affection — the fourth is born, which is care.
From Passion to Prudence
Fear, necessity, and desire give birth to anxious care, which in turn produces effort and circumspection, even when the soul learns watchfulness through disordered fears.
What we are afraid of falling into, we anxiously try to avoid; what we are grieved by having, we anxiously try to remove from our lives; and what we long to obtain, we anxiously try to secure. And so, after the pull of passion comes anxious care; after anxious care follows effort in the practice of action; and through the practice of action grows the watchfulness of circumspection. And because from the vice of our corruption this is ingrained in us — that we are more anxious in pursuing what we wrongly desire, or in avoiding what we needlessly fear — it happens that we easily acquire through wrong pursuits the watchfulness of circumspection, which we neglected to acquire through right ones. Often, someone who does not fear the death of the soul is terrified of dying in the flesh; and someone who gives no thought to the everlasting torments of Gehenna dreads suffering temporal punishments. Often, someone who has not yet learned to fear the shame that is coming upon sinners before the eyes of God and of the holy angels still blushes to be seen as worthless in the eyes of men. And people labor to avoid those things which, for God's servants, are not merely to be fled from — indeed, they are sometimes even to be sought after with profit, once their fruit is recognized. Similarly, there are many who ignore the fasting of their own soul, and sweat intensely to provide food for the belly. And often people gladly endure many grievous and bitter labors to fulfill their carnal desires — labors they refuse to undergo even briefly for the love of eternal life — whereas, on the contrary, the chosen ones labor without interruption and afflict themselves, lest they carry the desires of the flesh to completion. They also serve their own necessities not without fear, watchful lest the pleasure of desire overflow into delight — something that the weakness of our condition demands.
Worldly Wisdom Turned to Good
The sons of this age are wiser than the sons of light, but when converted they bring their hard-won prudence into the service of good.
Carnal people, then, who willingly endure hardships to fulfill their own desires, wander outside themselves not only in their actions but also in their minds. And while they learn many things through their experiments with the world, they become, as it were, wiser from the very occupation of managing themselves. About these the Lord says in the Gospel: The sons of this age are wiser than the sons of light in their own generation.✦ But such people, when by divine mercy they are turned back from their own error, abandon their crooked pursuits; yet the prudence they learned in crooked pursuits they do not lose, and in doing good things they become all the more cautious, the more zealous they previously were in perpetrating evil. Whence it is clearly shown that this also profited them: that for a time they seemed to be abandoned. On account of this it was said above that there are four things that exercise circumspection: namely, fear, care, necessity, and affection.
The Taxes of Caesar and the Belly
Necessity takes the form of giving and receiving, and the constant demands of the belly prove more oppressive than the tribute of Caesar.
There are three worldly or carnal fears: fear of worthlessness, fear of punishment, and fear of death, and each of these generates its own cares. Necessity is twofold: one arises from giving what is not owed, the other from the neediness of receiving. For it is spoken of in another way. It is necessary to pay tribute to Caesar, and it is spoken of in another way. It is necessary to give food to the belly. Rather, it is necessary that you pay tribute to Caesar, because you owe it; rather, it is necessary that you give food to the belly, because it needs to receive. Yet both are exactors — both Caesar and the belly. Both are tributes — both food and money. But if we look more closely, Caesar does less harm by taking our money away than the belly does by taking food in. For Caesar, by taking money once, removes our anxiety; but the belly, by constantly demanding food, never lets us be free of anxiety. Caesar lifts a weight off us by taking our money away; the belly, by receiving food, inflames us through abundance toward what is base. And to sum up: I see that in every way the one who serves the belly is more wretched than the one who serves Caesar. So there is one necessity that lies in the obligation to give, and another in the need to receive. And the one that lies in the obligation to give can be met in many ways. For prelates owe their subjects oversight, subjects owe prelates obedience, equals owe one another brotherly love, the wise owe the foolish teaching, and the rich owe the poor support.1 But since without prudence and circumspection we can neither justly pay what we owe nor obtain by asking what we need, while we are subjected to these necessities, what else are we being taught but to seek prudence and circumspection?
The Wound of Carnal Desire
Desire is the longing to enjoy, and carnal desire wounds the mind like a foreign shoot, yet even this wound can make the idle soul watchful and cautious.
And just as was said about fears, so too each kind of necessity produces its own particular anxieties. Affection is the desire to fully enjoy. Of desires, some are good, and others are bad. And good desires are spiritual; bad desires are carnal. Spiritual desire, like sweet wine, gently intoxicates; carnal desire, like sour and poisoned wine, drives those who drink it either to madness or to death. Of that wine it is said that the cup in the hand of the Lord, full of pure wine mixed — namely, what gladdens the heart of man.2 And elsewhere: The intoxicating cup of the Lord — how glorious it is! Many things are said about that wine in Scripture. But of this wine it has been said: Their wine is the gall of dragons, and the incurable venom of asps, pressed out from the most bitter cluster — what Babylon serves from her golden cup of fornications, from which all the nations are made drunk.3 About this wine it is also said in the Gospel: Everyone puts the good wine out first, and only when people have had too much to drink does he bring out what's worse.✦ About that other wine it is said: You have kept the good wine until now.✦ This carnal desire, like a foreign shoot driven into the mind, wounds it grievously. And this is the stranger about whom it is said through Nathan to David — the one who had come to a rich man, and to feed that stranger the rich man left his own hundred sheep and took away the one little lamb of a poor man.✦ For the desire of carnal lust came to David like a foreign guest, when he was walking on the roof of his house and caught sight of Bathsheba, Uriah's wife, bathing — and he wanted her.✦ Then, in feeding that stranger, he left his hundred sheep and killed the poor man's one little lamb — just as, leaving his many wives, he took away Uriah's only wife to satisfy his own desire.✦ Foreign shoots are grafted onto the bare trunk so they may clothe it — because often almighty God, when he sees those who are lukewarm in their idleness and as if stripped bare of good works, allows them to be wounded by unlawful desires, so that they may become cautious and watchful. How these affections, evil as they are, train a person — it is hard to recognize, and even harder to describe. But the one who does it knows.
Read the original Latin
Decimo loco adjunctum est quod per circumspectionem frondescit, et expandit ramos suos. Quidam sunt, in quibus sapientia in altum crescit, quidam vero, in quibus in latum se expandit. In comtemplativis in altum surgit, qui per acumen mentis penetrant usque ad contemplanda secreta coelestia. In activis in latum se expandit, quia illi intentionem mentis suae multipliciter foras spargunt ad dispensanda terrena. Sunt vero nonnulli, qui per quietem divinitus sibi concessam, primo multum in contemplatione excrescunt, sed dum vident alios simpliciores fratres terrenis actionibus occupari, eos in comparatione sui despiciunt, et cum ipsi steriles sint a bono opere, bona tamen opera in aliis non pertimescunt judicare. Qui ergo in humilitate stare negligunt, vento elationis conquassati, a fastigio contemplationis cadunt. Dejectique variis patent erroribus et multipliciter ab illa interna pace distrahuntur. Quorum videlicet errorum principium hoc est, quod infirmitatem suam humiliter nolunt agnoscere, sed de Dei munere, quod acceperunt, incaute se extollunt.
Necesse enim est ut in oculis eorum vilescant facta aliena, qui de suis meritis sentiunt tam immoderata. Nec fieri posset, ut vitam alienam judicare praesumerent, nisi prius in se tomuissent. Hic igitur error semel illapsus animo late venena sua diffundit, et occulte serpens, et immiscens se cunctis motibus animae, voluntates immutat, consilia dissipat, cogitationes intorquet, et corrumpit desideria, curasque inducit superfluas. Et quia semel inflatus animus magna de se existimare didicit, facta sua ad examen rationis revocare contemnit, et eo liberius vitam persequitur alienam, quo minus in se quidquam reprehensione dignum esse credit. Quae tamen superbia primum se palliat sub specie boni zeli, et persuadet deceptae menti non esse perfectum amatorem justitiae, qui consensum praebet culpae alienae. Eum autem delicto alieno omnimodo consentire, qui negligit, non potest, delinquentem arguere. Hoc igitur male provida mens errore decepta, totam se curiositati dedit, et paulatim crescente morbo, dum primum errata aliorum immoderate persequi assuescit, postremo ad hoc deducitur, ut quidquid viderit vel aperte calumniari, vel sinistre interpretari conetur; unde, si forte aliquos pro communi utilitate aliquantulum sollicitari viderint, hos cupidos vocant. Quos providos esse perspexerint, avaros nominant.
Eos autem qui se affabiles et hilares omnibus praebent, vitio adulationis inservire dicunt. Illos vero qui saepius tristitiam vultu praeferunt, invidia tabescere credunt. Et quos alacres et devotos in ministrando perspexerint, leves et inquietos esse asserunt. Quos debiles aut graves invenerint, quasi pigros et inertes accusant. Abstemios, morbo hypocrisis laborare, et eos qui plus necessitati indulgent, luxui deservire existimant. Et hunc quidem errorem multiplex confusio sequitur. Mala siquidem et pestilens curiositas, quae secretum alienum improbe scrutari contendit, saepe, quamvis nihil inveniat quod juste reprehendere possit, perversa tamen suspicari non desistit. Si vero aliquid dignum reprehensione invenerit, statim tumidam mentem non ad compassionem, sed ad contemptum trahit.
Contemptus autem iram excitat, quia typo superbiae inflatus animus intolerabile esse credit, quidquid ab eo sustinet, quam despicit. Deinde ira in indignationem crescit, indignatio in contumeliam procedit, contumelia odium parit, odium autem inveteratum in invidiam transit, invidia vero animo taedium gignit, taedium autem cum insederit cordi, quasi tinea demolitur illud, et suffocato gaudio interno in semetipsa conscientia tabescit. Fit sibi ipsi gravis animus et quasi plumbum immobilis permanens sursum erigi non valet. Et qui prius pennis contemplationis coelos penetrare consueverat, nunc gravis pressus pondere sub se cadit. Perhorrescit tenebras suas, quas intus patitur, et si possibile esset, vellet aufugere semetipsum. Igitur relicta conscientia foras funditus terrenis se immiscet actionibus, ut vel occupatus oblivisci possit malorum suorum. Et quia levius esse judicat omne malum eo ipso quod intus tolerat, jam miser etiam dolores suae occupationis foris amat. Et quia veram dulcedinem longo taedio palatum cordis gustare dedidicit, carnalis concupiscentiae acetum sitiens anima cum desiderio bibit.
Inventam igitur in curis exterioribus diabolus corrumpit, et jam nullo sibi judicio rationis renitentem, ad quaelibet erroris praecipitia trahit. Sed quia nunc diximus ad quanta nos mala superbia praecipitat, dignum est ut etiam consideremus quid sit medicamentum, per quod nos gratia divina restaurat. Tale est enim antidotum hoc ut non solum pristinam reformet sanitatem, sed et majorem addat fortitudinem. Non solum reparet quod periit, verum etiam superaddat quod defuit. Unde per omnia laudabilis et gloriosus Deus, solus misericors et pius, qui gratis largitur donum, et gratis restaurat amissum, et qui indigni eramus etiam id recipere, quod perdidimus, sic restituit ut non ad interitum, sed ad incrementum cecidisse videamur. Igitur iste, qui per sapientiam excreverat, de altitudine sua superbivit, et ideo bonum est ei ut praecidatur, et assuescat in latum expandere ramos suos. Bonum est ei, ut intermisso studio contemplationis ad tempus foras exire compellatur, et exteriora dispensanda suscipiat, ut discat experimento, quam difficile fit per officium exterioribus inservire, et tamen per desiderium interiora non deserere. Et cum se ad curam suscepti regiminis imparem esse agnoverit, tunc sciat quid de iis sensisse debuerat, quos prius in eodem loco positos inconsiderate despiciebat.
Et quia majorem potestatem major solet sollicitudo comitari, ipsa eum cura exerceat, ut dicat esse providus et circumspectus, et non torpescat otio, ut ante periculum animum firmet, ut non solum quid eveniat, sed quid evenire possit, attendat. Arridenti fortunae non nimium credat, in adversis fiduciam non amittat, et quidquid finem habiturum est, sive bonum sit sive malum, aeque despiciat. Omnem eventum consilio suo praeveniat, amicos ante necessitatem comparare studeat, in proprio sensu non plusquam oportet confidat, omnes diligere, non omnibus aeque credere. Majoribus obedientiam debitam, aequalibus dilectionem subjectis paternam sollicitudinem impendat. Et sic per diversa virtutum studia sapientiae suae ramos diffundat, et tunc demum arbor illa sapientiae, quae prius in modum flexibilis arundinis nudo stipite male excreverat, jugi jam studio virtutum roborata, et frondibus circumspectionis undique vestita, rursum ad alta cacumen elevet, tanto tunc melior quanto fortior, quanto robustior, quanto exercitatior, quanto circumspectione ornatior, ita ut etiam ipsa praecisio sua ei profuisse videatur.
Sed quia ipsa sapientia per circumspectionem ramos suos expandit, diffiniamus nunc quosdam generales modos, quibus circumspectio exercetur. Sunt autem quatuor. Timor, cura, necessitas, affectus. Timor est anxietas periclitandi. Cura est sollicitudo evadendi incommodi aut commodi adipiscendi. Necessita est debitum dandi, aut indigentia accipiendi. Affectus est desiderium perfruendi. Timor premit, cura trahit, necessitas ligat, affectus vulnerat.
Sic solent agricolae quando volunt expandere ramos arborum, aut supernonere eis pondera quae deorsum premant, aut subtus alligare quae deorsum trahant, aut juxta affigere stipites et alligare ramos, ne sursum eleventur, sed in latum se diffundant, aut ipsi nudo trunco infigere surculos, ut ubi concrescentes arborem vestiant. Timor igitur est quasi pondus superpositum. Cura quasi pondus subtus appensum. Necessitas est similis stipiti qui ligat. Affectus est quasi surculus, qui infixus vulnerat. Ista quatuor nascuntur ex quatuor generibus malorum, quae homo sustinet in hoc mundo. Quae sunt ira Dei, vanitas mundi, infirmitas humanae conditionis, invidia diaboli. Ira Dei est dum flagellis atterimur.
Vanitas mundi est eum modum necessitatis excedendo in voluptatem abimus. Infirmitas humanae conditionis est quod facile laedimur adversis, et difficile ad bona agenda convalescimus. Invidia est dum ipso instigante ad vitia inflammamur. Igitur ira Dei timore premit, vanitas mundi curas superfluas mittendo deorsum trahit. Infirmitas nostrae conditionis diris nos necessitatibus ligat. Invidia diaboli illicitis desideriis nos inflammando vulnerat. Sed in his omnibus Dei servus exercetur an praemium, et tunc ei quoque mala subjecta serviunt, cum eum affligendo probant, non subvertunt. Istae siquidem passiones omnes, videlicet timor, cura et desiderium illicitum malae sunt, et ipsa quoque necessitas vitae praesentis a Domino militia appellatur.
Sed Deus idcirco haec ad tempus electorum suorum mentibus dominari permittit ut cum per experimentum didicerint quanta miseria falsis illis delectationibus insit, ardentius aeterna illa et vera gaudia requirant, quae nulla tristitia corrumpit. Et salubriter, aliquando derelicti permittuntur ad tempus servire passionibus carnis suae, ut agnoscant infirmitatem suam, et de se non praesumant, et tanto devotius postmodum divinae gratiae se subjiciant, quanto manifestius ex praecedenti casu didicerint ex sua virtute non esse quod stant. Est etiam adhuc aliud, pro quo nonnunquam servis Dei utile est, ut tententur, ut videlicet ipsae tentationes eos exerceant, et cautiores reddant; quia conflictus vitiorum exercitia sunt virtutum. Et sicut saepe cadendo discit homo qualiter gressum figere, et caute ambulare debeat, et in conflictu belli qui frequenter plagatus est, cautius venientem ictum excipit, sic qui a diabolo saepe decipitur, subtilius post modum versutias ejus deprehendit, et machinationes subvertit. Et hoc est quod multos videmus post multa scelera ad virtutum summam ascendere, et tanta virtute omnes diaboli conatus contra se erectos atterere, ut in quo saepius vicisse gaudebat, jam non spoliasse, sed contra se armasse potius videatur. Hoc quippe altum, hoc secretum Dei consilium est, ut illud etiam electis suis proficiat ad coronam, quod inimicus sibi gloriabatur cecidisse ad victoriam. Libet itaque nunc considerare qualiter ex ipsis, quas supra memoravimus, passionibus exercitia nascantur, ac deinde qualiter per ipsa exercitia circumspectio augeatur. Quatuor enim sunt timor, cura, necessitas, affectus; et ex tribus, id est timore, necessitate, affectu, nascitur quartum, id est cura.
Quod enim timemus incidere sollicite studemus evitare, et quod dolemus adesse sollicite studemus a nobis removere, et quod desideramus adipisci, sollicite studemus obtinere; et sic post affectionem passionis requiritur cura sollicitudinis et post curam sollicitudinis sequitur conatus in exercitio operationis, et per exercitium operationis crescit cautela circumspectionis. Et quia ex vitio nostrae corruptionis hoc nobis inest ut magis solliciti simus pro eo adipiscendo, quod perverse cupimus, vel eo evitando, quod superflue formidamus, fit ut cautelam circumspectionis, quam in bonis studiis comparare negleximus per mala studia facile acquiramus. Saepe etenim qui animae mortem non metuit, mori in carne pertimescit, et qui perpetuos gehennae cruciatus non considerat, poenas temporales pati reformidat. Saepe qui illam confusionem, quae ante Dei oculos et sanctorum angelorum peccatoribus ventura est, timere adhuc non didicit, vilis esse in oculis hominum erubescit. Et pro his evitandis laborant homines, quae servis Dei non solum fugienda non sunt, imo etiam nonnunquam cum fructu eorum agnoscuntur appetenda. Similiter sunt multi, qui animae suae jejunium ignorant, et pro cibo ventris comparando vehementer insudant. Et saepe homines pro carnalibus desideriis adimplendis plurimos labores graves et amaros libenter, tolerant, quos pro amore aeternae vitae, vel ad modicum subire recusant, cum e contrario electi sine intermissione laborent, et affligant semetipsos, ne desideria carnis perficiant. Qui etiam necessitatibus suis non sine timore deserviunt, timentes ne usque ad delectationem effluat voluptatis, quod exigit infirmitas conditionis.
Carnales autem quique, qui pro adimplendis desideriis suis libenter labores tolerant, foris non tantum opere, sed et mente vagantur. Et dum per experimenta rerum multa discunt, quasi ex ipsa occupatione sui prudentiores fiunt. De quibus Dominus in Evangelio dicit: Filii hujus saeculi prudentiores sunt filiis lucis in generatione sua. Sed hi tales alioquin miseratione divina ab errore suo conversi, prava studia deserunt, sed prudentia quam in pravis studiis didicerunt, non amittunt, et in bonis agendis tanto cautiores fiunt, quanto in malis perpetrandis prius studiosiores exstiterint. Unde manifeste ostenditur etiam hoc eis profuisse, quod ad tempus derelicti videbantur. Propter hoc superius dictum est quatuor esse quae exercent circum spectionem, timorem videlicet, curam, necessitatem, affectum.
Tres autem sunt timores mundani vel carnales, timor vilitatis, timor poenae, timor mortis, quorum singuli suas curas generant. Necessitas autem duplex, alia indebito dandi, alia indigentia accipiendi. Aliter enim dicitur. Necesse est tributum dare Caesari, et aliter dicitur. Necesse est escas dare ventri. Imo enim necesse est ut tributum des Caesari, quia tu dare debes, imo necesse est, ut escas des ventri, quia indiget accipere. Uterque tamen exactor est, et Caesar, et venter. Utrumque tributum est et esca et pecunia.
Sed si propius considerare volumus, minus nocet Caesar tollendo pecuniam, quam venter accipiendo escam. Caesar enim semel auferendo pecuniam sollicitudinem tollit, venter autem sine intermissione escam exigendo nunquam nos sine sollicitudine esse permittit. Caesar auferendo pecuniam magis nos allevat, venter accipiendo escam per abundantiam ad vilia nos inflammat. Et ut breviter concludam ego per omnia miserabiliorem video eum qui servit ventri, quam illum qui servit Caesari. Necessitas ergo alia est in debito dandi, alia in indigentia accipiendi. Et illa quidem, quae in debito dandi est, multis modis accipitur. Debent enim praelati subjectis providentiam, debent subjecti praelatis obedientiam, debent aequales aequalibus charitatem fraternam, debent sapientes insipientibus doctrinam, debent divites pauperibus alimoniam. Sed quia sine prudentia et circumspectione, nec juste persolvere possumus quod debemus, nec petendo impetrare id quo indigemus, dum istis necessitatibus subjicimur, quid aliud quam ad prudentiam, et ad circumspectionem erudimur?
Et sicut de timoribus dictum est, etiam singulae necessitates generant curas suas.
Affectus est desiderium perfruendi. Desideriorum alia sunt bona, alia sunt mala. Et bona desideria sunt spiritulia, mala desideria carnalia. Spiritale desiderium quasi vinum dulce suaviter inebriat, carnale desiderium quasi vinum acidum, et intoxicatum bibentes aut in furorem vertit, aut necat. De illo vino dicitur, quod calix in manu Domini vini meri plenus misto, videlicet quod laetificat cor hominis. Et alibi: Calix Domini inebrians quam praeclarus est! Multa de illo vino in Scriptura dicuntur. De hoc autem vino dictum est: Fel draconum vinum eorum, et venenum aspidum insanabile, quod exprimitur de botro amarissimo, quod propinat Babylon de calice aureo fornicationum suarum, de quo inebriantur omnes gentes.
De hoc etiam vino dictum est in Evangelio: Omnis homo primum bonum vinum ponit, et cum inebriati fuerint, tunc id quod deterius est. De illo autem vino dictum est: Tu servasti vinum bonum usque adhuc. Hoc carnale desiderium quasi peregrinus surculus infixus menti graviter eam vulnerat. Et hic est peregrinus, de quo per Nathan ad David dicitur qui ad divitem venerat, pro quo peregrino pascendo dives relictis centum propriis ovibus unam oviculam pauperis auferebat. Desiderium enim carnalis concupiscentiae quasi hospes peregrinus ad David venerat, quando deambulans in solario domus suae Bersabee uxorem Uriae se lavantem conspexit, et adamavit. Tunc autem in pastu peregrini relictis centum ovibus suis unam oviculam pauperis occidit, quando relictis multis uxoribus suis ad implendam voluptatem suam unicam Uriae uxorem abstulit. Peregrini igitur surculi nudo trunco infiguntur, ut eum vestiant, quia saepe omnipotens Deus quos in otio suo tepidos, et quasi nudos a bonis operibus esse conspicit, illicitis desideriis ad tempus vulnerari permittit, ut timorati et circumspecti fiant. Qualiter autem isti affectus cum sint mali hominem exerceant, difficile est agnoscere, difficilius enarrare, ille autem novit qui facit.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.69.21 — Reproach has broken my heart, and I am sick with grief; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found no one.
- ↩Luke.16.8 — And the master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the people of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the people of light.
- ↩John.2.10 — and says to him, 'Every man serves the good wine first, and when they have drunk freely, then the lesser. You have kept the good wine until now.'
- ↩John.2.10 — and says to him, 'Every man serves the good wine first, and when they have drunk freely, then the lesser. You have kept the good wine until now.'
- ↩2Sam.12.1-2Sam.12.4 — And the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said, "There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. 2Sam.12.2 — The rich man had very many flocks and herds. 2Sam.12.3 — But the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb, which he had bought. He kept it alive, and it grew up with him and with his children together. It ate from his bread, drank from his cup, and lay in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. 2Sam.12.4 — And a traveler came to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take from his own flock or from his own herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him; and he took the poor man's lamb, and prepared it for the man who had come to him.
- ↩2Sam.11.2-2Sam.11.4 — And it came to pass at evening time that David rose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house, and he saw a woman bathing on the roof, and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. 2Sam.11.3 — David sent and inquired about the woman, and said, "Is this not Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, wife of Uriah the Hittite?" 2Sam.11.4 — David sent messengers and took her. She came to him, and he lay with her, while she was purifying herself from her uncleanness. Then she returned to her house.
- ↩2Sam.11.2-2Sam.11.4;2Sam.12.1-2Sam.12.4 — And it came to pass at evening time that David rose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house, and he saw a woman bathing on the roof, and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. 2Sam.11.3 — David sent and inquired about the woman, and said, "Is this not Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, wife of Uriah the Hittite?" 2Sam.11.4 — David sent messengers and took her. She came to him, and he lay with her, while she was purifying herself from her uncleanness. Then she returned to her house. 2Sam.12.1 — And the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said, "There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. 2Sam.12.2 — The rich man had very many flocks and herds. 2Sam.12.3 — But the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb, which he had bought. He kept it alive, and it grew up with him and with his children together. It ate from his bread, drank from his cup, and lay in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. 2Sam.12.4 — And a traveler came to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take from his own flock or from his own herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him; and he took the poor man's lamb, and prepared it for the man who had come to him.
Notes
- 1 ↩The term charitas fraterna is rendered as 'brotherly love' to preserve the theological sense of charity as a bond within the community.
- 2 ↩The clause echoes language associated with the Psalms; final scriptural resolution belongs to a later stage.
- 3 ↩The clause echoes prophetic language against Babylon; final scriptural resolution belongs to a later stage.
De Arca Noe Morali et Mystica (On the Moral and Mystical Ark of Noah) companion
Keep the ark under construction
Hugh's method only works with daily practice — the Chosen Portion app gives you a short, structured devotional every morning, free.
Hugh's daily discipline of ordered meditation continues in Chosen Portion, which serves one structured devotional portion each day so the mind returns to the same interior work Hugh prescribed.
- A 10-minute structured meditation delivered each morning
- Progress through classic texts like Hugh's in small daily portions
- Build a 30-day streak of ordered prayer instead of improvised moments