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← The Imitation of Christ/Book 3 · On Inward Consolation
Chapter 46Imit.3.46

De confidentia in Deo habenda, quando insurgunt verborum jacula.

Words Cannot Hurt the Soul

Christ urges the disciple to stand firm in hope, reminding him that mere words are empty and cannot truly harm the soul.

My child, stand firm and put your hope in me. What are words, after all, but words? They fly through the air, but they can't hurt a stone.

The Heart Behind the Hurt

Whether guilty or innocent, the disciple should accept reproach willingly for God's sake, recognizing that sensitivity to words reveals a heart still attached to human opinion.

If you are guilty, consider this: you should want to make amends willingly. If your conscience is clear, weigh this carefully: consider that you should willingly endure this for God's sake.1 It's already no small thing if you can even endure words at times, when you're not yet strong enough to bear severe blows.2 And why do such small things cut so deeply into your heart, unless it's because you're still driven by the flesh and pay more attention to people than you should?3 Because you fear being looked down on, you don't want to be called out for your failures, and you go looking for excuses to hide behind.4

The World Still Lives in You

The disciple is urged to see that the world and its desire to please people still dwell within, proving he is neither truly humble nor truly dead to the world.

But look more carefully at yourself, and you'll see that the world still lives in you, along with its empty desire to please people. Since you shrink from being held close and even from being put to shame for your failings, it's clear enough that you're neither truly humble nor truly dead to the world, nor is the world crucified to you.5

Let It Pass Like a Straw

Christ promises that attending to His words frees the disciple from caring about countless human accusations, since even the most malicious words cannot pluck a single hair.

But listen to my words, and you won't care about ten thousand words from people. Look — even if everything were said against you that could be most maliciously invented, what would it hurt you if you simply let it pass by and didn't weigh it as more than a straw? Surely they couldn't even pull a single hair from you?

The One Who Trusts in Me

Those who lack God before their eyes are easily shaken by reproach, but the one who trusts in Christ and does not rely on his own judgment is free from human fear.

But those who don't carry their heart within them, and don't keep God before their eyes, are easily — very easily — shaken by a word of reproach. But the one who trusts in me, and doesn't seek to stand on his own judgment, will be free from human fear.

I Am the Judge of All Secrets

Christ declares Himself the sovereign judge who permits trials to reveal hearts, testing each person beforehand through hidden judgment.

For I am the judge and the knower of all secrets. I know how the matter was done. I know the one who inflicted the wrong and the one who endured it. This word went forth from me; it happened with my permission, so that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed.✦6 I will judge the guilty and the innocent alike, but I've chosen to test each one beforehand by a hidden judgment.

True Judgment Belongs to God

Human testimony deceives, but Christ's hidden judgment never errs; therefore the disciple must turn to God in every circumstance and trust that the just person is untroubled by what God allows.

The testimony of men often deceives; my judgment is true, it will stand and not be overthrown. It lies hidden for the most part, and is open to few in particular matters; yet it never errs, nor can it err, even if to the eyes of the foolish it does not seem right. To me, then, one must turn in every judgment, nor rely on one's own assessment; for the just person will not be troubled by whatever God allows to happen to them.✦7

He Searches Hearts and Minds

The just person neither exults in human excuse nor is troubled by unjust accusation, knowing that God searches hearts and often sees praise where humans see blame.

And if something has been brought against him unjustly, he won't care much; nor will he exult vainly if through others he is reasonably excused. For he considers that I am the one who searches hearts and minds, and that I do not judge by outward appearance or human show.✦8 For often what is found blameworthy even in my own eyes is believed praiseworthy by the judgment of men.

Mercy, Not My Own Justice

The disciple prays for God's strength and mercy, confessing that his own conscience is insufficient and that no one is justified apart from divine mercy.

Lord God, just Judge, strong and patient, you who know the frailty and depravity of human beings, be my strength and my whole confidence; for my own conscience is not enough for me.9 You have known what I have not known, and so in every reproach I ought to humble myself and bear it gently. Forgive me, then, in your kindness, as often as I have failed in this way; and grant me again the grace of greater endurance.10 For your abundant mercy is better for me in obtaining pardon than my supposed justice is in defending a hidden conscience.11 "And if I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I cannot by this justify myself; because" apart from your mercy "no living creature shall be justified in your sight."✦1213

Read the original Latin

Fili, sta firmiter et spera in me. Quid enim sunt verba, nisi verba? per aerem volant, sed lapidem non lædunt. Si reus es, cogita, quod libenter velis emendare. Si nihil tibi conscius es, pensa: pensa quod velis libenter pro Deo hoc sustinere. Parum satis est ut vel verba interdum sustineas, qui necdum fortia verbera tolerare vales. Et quare tam parva tibi ad cor transeunt: nisi quia adhuc carnalis es, et homines magis, quam oportet, attendis? Nam quia despici metuis, reprehendi pro excessibus non vis, et excusationum quæris umbracula.

Sed inspice te melius, et cognosces quia vivit adhuc in te mundus, et vanus amor placendi hominibus. Cum enim bassari refugis, et confundi etiam pro defectibus, constat utique, quod nec verus humilis sis, nec vere mundo mortuus, nec tibi mundus crucifixus. Sed audi verba mea, et non curabis decem millia hominum verba. Ecce, si cuncta contra te dicerentur quæ fingi malitiosissime possunt, quid tibi noceret, si omnino transire permitteres, nec plus, quam festucam perpenderes? Numquid vel unum capillum tibi extrahere possent?

Sed qui cor intus non habent, nec Deum præ oculis, facile faciliterque verbo moventur vituperationis. Qui autem in me confidit, nec proprio judicio stare appetit, absque humano terrore erit. Ego sum enim judex, et cognitor omnium secretorum; Ego scio, qualiter res acta est; Ego injuriantem novi, et sustinentem. A me exiit verbum istud; me permittente hoc accidit, ut revelentur ex multis cordibus cogitationes. Ego reum et innocentem judicabo; sed utrumque occulto judicio volui probare ante.

Testimonium hominum sæpe fallit; meum judicium verum est, stabit et non subvertetur. Latet plerumque, et paucis ad singula patet; numquam tamen errat, nec errare potest, etiamsi oculis insipientium non rectum videatur. Ad me ergo recurrendum est in omni judicio, nec proprio innitendum arbitrio; justus enim non conturbabitur, quidquid a Deo ei acciderit. Et si injuste aliquid contra eum prolatum fuerit, non multum curabit; sed nec vane exultabit, si per alios rationabiliter excusetur. Pensat namque quia ego sum scrutans corda et renes; qui non judico secundum faciem et humanam apparentiam. Nam sæpe etiam oculis meis reperitur culpabile, quod hominum judicio creditur laudabile.

Domine Deus, judex juste, fortis et patiens, qui hominum nosti fragilitatem et pravitatem, esto robur meum, et tota fiducia mea; non enim mihi sufficit conscientia mea. Tu nosti, quod ego non novi, et ideo in omni reprehensione me humiliare debui, et mansuete sustinere. Ignosce ergo mihi propitius, quoties sic non egi; et dona iterum gratiam amplioris sufferentiæ. Melior est enim mihi tua copiosa misericordia ad consecutionem indulgentiæ, quam mea opinata justitia pro defensione latentis conscientiæ. Et si mihi nihil conscius sum, tamen in hoc justificare me non possum: quia remota misericordia tua non justificabitur in conspectu tuo omnis vivens.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Luke.2.35 — and a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
  2. ↩Ps.111.7 — The works of his hands are truth and justice; all his precepts are trustworthy.
  3. ↩Jer.17.10;Ps.7.10 — I, the LORD, search the heart, test the kidneys, and give to each person according to their ways, according to the fruit of their deeds. Ps.7.10 — Let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and establish the righteous one — the One who tests hearts and kidneys, O righteous God.
  4. ↩Ps.143.2 — And do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩conscius rendered as 'conscience is clear' to capture the predicative sense of tibi conscius es — being conscious of nothing against oneself.
  2. 2 ↩ut vel rendered as 'if you can even' to capture the result clause with emphatic vel.
  3. 3 ↩ad cor transeunt rendered idiomatically as 'cut so deeply into your heart' to capture the emotional force of the Latin.
  4. 4 ↩umbracula (lit. 'shades/shelters') rendered as 'excuses to hide behind' to capture the metaphorical sense of seeking cover.
  5. 5 ↩bassari is a rare/dialectal form (possibly bassiare, 'to embrace'); the sense 'to be held close' is inferred from context and the parallel with confundi.
  6. 6 ↩The clause 'ut revelentur ex multis cordibus cogitationes' echoes Luke 2:35 (Vulgate: 'ut revelentur ex multis cordibus cogitationes'). Candidate allusion pending tx-08 Moses resolution.
  7. 7 ↩The quoted clause 'justus enim non conturbabitur, quidquid a Deo ei acciderit' echoes Psalm 111:7 (Vulgate) / Psalm 112:7. The speaker is God, continuing the divine first person from section 3.
  8. 8 ↩'Scrutans corda et renes' (searching hearts and kidneys/minds) echoes Jeremiah 17:10 and Psalm 7:10 (Vulgate). The divine speaker identifies God as the searcher of inner life.
  9. 9 ↩conscientia rendered as conscience, preserving its moral/accountability force.
  10. 10 ↩gratia rendered as grace, preserving its sense as divine gift.
  11. 11 ↩misericordia rendered as mercy; conscientia rendered as conscience.
  12. 12 ↩The quoted spans echo Psalm 142:2 (Vulgate): 'Et non intres in judicium cum servo tuo, quia non justificabitur in conspectu tuo omnis vivens.' Final resolution deferred to Moses stage.
  13. 13 ↩misericordia rendered as mercy.