SR
← The Imitation of Christ/Book 2 · Counsels on the Inner Life
Chapter 6Imit.2.6

De lætitia bonæ conscientiæ

The Joy of a Good Conscience

A good conscience is the source of true joy and peace, while the wicked can never rest, no matter how boldly they boast.

The glory of good people is the testimony of a good conscience. Keep a good conscience and you'll always have joy. A good conscience can bear a great deal, and stays deeply joyful even in hard times. A bad conscience is always anxious and restless. You'll rest in peace if your own heart doesn't reproach you. Don't rejoice unless it's because you've done good. The wicked never have true joy, nor do they feel inner peace, <quote>because there is no peace for the impious, says the Lord</quote>.✦ And if they say, 'We are at peace, no evil will come upon us, and who will dare to harm us?'✦ don't believe them, because suddenly the wrath of God will rise up, and their deeds will be reduced to nothing, and their thoughts will perish.

True Glory and False

Worldly glory is fleeting and shadowed by sorrow, but the one who loves God finds joy in the cross and rests indifferent to praise or blame.

To glory in hardships is no burden to the one who loves; for to glory this way is to glory in the cross of the Lord.✦ The glory that is given and received from people is short-lived. Worldly glory is always accompanied by sorrow. The glory of good people lies in their own consciences, not in the mouths of others. The joy of the righteous is from God and in God, and their delight is in the truth. Whoever desires true and eternal glory doesn't care about worldly glory. And whoever seeks worldly glory — or does not despise it from the heart — is shown to love heavenly glory less. Great is the peace of heart that belongs to one who cares neither for praise nor for blame.

Knowing Yourself Before God

A clean conscience brings contentment; true humility means knowing what you are before God, not being moved by human opinion, and seeking consolation in Him alone.

It's easy to be content and at peace when your conscience is clean. You're not holier if you're praised, nor more worthless if you're blamed. What you are, you are, and you can't claim to be better than what you are with God as your witness. If you pay attention to what you are within yourself, you won't care what people say about you on the outside.1 Man sees the face; God sees the heart. Man trusts the deed; God weighs the intention. To always act well and to think little of yourself is the mark of a humble soul. To refuse to seek consolation from any creature is a sign of great purity and inner trust.

Entrusting Yourself Wholly to God

The one who seeks no outward testimony has given themselves entirely to God, walking with Him within and free from every outward attachment.

When someone seeks no testimony from outside themselves, it's clear they've entrusted themselves wholly to God. "It's not the one who commends himself who is approved," says blessed Paul, "but the one God commends."✦ To walk with God within, and not to be held by any affection outside — that is the state of the inner person.

Read the original Latin

Gloria bonis hominibus testimonium bonæ conscientiæ. Habe bonam conscientiam et semper habebis lætitiam. Bona conscientia valde multa potest portare, et valde læta est inter adversa. Mala conscientia semper timida, et inquieta. Suaviter requiesces, si te cor tuum non reprehenderit. Noli lætari, nisi cum benefeceris. Mali nunquam habent veram lætitiam, nec internam sentiunt pacem, quia non est pax impiis, dicit Dominus. Et si dixerint: in pace sumus, non venient super nos mala; et quis nobis nocere audebit? non credas eis, quoniam repente exsurget ira Dei, et in nihilum redigentur actus eorum, et cogitationes eorum peribunt.

Gloriari in tribulationibus non est grave amanti, Sic enim gloriari est in cruce Domini gloriari. Brevis gloria quæ ab hominibus datur et accipitur. Mundi gloriam semper comitatur tristitia. Bonorum gloria in conscientiis eorum, et non in ore hominum. Justorum lætitia de Deo et in Deo est, et gaudium eorum de veritate. Qui veram et æternam gloriam desiderat, temporalem non curat. Et qui temporalem quærit gloriam, aut non ex animo contemnit, minus amare convincitur cælestem. Magnam habet cordis tranquillitatem, qui nec laudes curat, nec vituperia.

Facile erit contentus et pacatus, cuius conscientia munda est. Non es sanctior, si laudaris, nec vilior, si vituperaris. Quod es hoc es, nec melior dici vales, quam Deo teste sis, si attendis quid apud te sis intus, non curabis quid de te loquantur homines foris. Homo videt in facie, Deus autem in corde. Homo confiderat actus, Deus pensat intentionem. Bene semper agere, et modicum de se tenere humilis animæ indicium est. Nolle consolari ab aliqua creatura magnæ puritatis, et internæ fiduciæ indicium est.

Qui nullum extrinsecus pro se testimonium quærit, liquet quod Deo se totaliter commisit. Non enim, qui se ipsum commendat, ille probatus est, ait beatus Paulus, sed quem Deus commendat. Ambulare cum Deo intus, nec aliqua affectione teneri foris, status est interni hominis.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Isa.48.22 — There is no peace, says the LORD, for the wicked.
  2. ↩Ps.139.11;Jer.17.5-Jer.17.6 — And I say, surely darkness shall cover me, and night is light around me. Jer.17.5 — Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in man, who makes flesh his arm, and whose heart turns away from the LORD. Jer.17.6 — He shall be like a tamarisk in the Arabah, and he shall not see when good comes, but shall dwell in the scorched places of the wilderness, in a salt land that is uninhabited.
  3. ↩Gal.6.14 — But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
  4. ↩2Cor.10.18 — For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩nec rendered as 'and' to carry the negative-additive force into natural English ('and you cannot claim').