Volume II, Treatise III, Chapter XXVI

That We Must Beware of Saying Any Thing that May Tend to Our; Own Praise

St. BasIl, St. Gregory, St. Bernard, and many other teachers of a spiritual life, who have laid dowa rules, put us in mind of taking great heed, lest we say any thing which may turn to our own praise. And this counsel agrees with that which good old Tobias gave his son, when he said, “suffer not pride to reign either in your heart or words.” (Tobias 4:14) It is this which the apostle also has taught us by his example, when having said great things of himself, which were necessary for him to utter, for the glory of God, and edification of the faithful; because “he had been taken up to the third heaven,” he adds, “but I forbear, lest any man should think of me, above that which he sees in me, or hears of me.”—{2 Cor. xxxii. 6.) St. Bernard, examining these words, cries out, “how well was it said, I forbear to add any more. The presumptuous, the proud, and they who boast of their actions, are not sparing, for they puff up themselves vainly with what they have, or falsely glory in what they have not.”—(Epis. 87.) None but he who is truly humble, is sparing of his words; for, fearing that he should be believed to be what he is not, he endeavours always not to let it be known what he is. The same saint in another place descends to particulars, and admonishes us, ‘“‘to say nothing of ourselves, which may make us pass for men of profound knowledge, or eminent virtue.”—(In spec. Mon.) For as soon as ever a thing may turn to our praise, although it may be true and edify our neighbour, and though we may have ever so good an intention in telling it, it is always dangerous to speak of it. It suffices, that the good action is yours, without speaking thereof; and you ought always to be extremely reserved, lest by declaring the good you have done, you thereby lose all the merit thereof.

“A religious must not,” says St. Bonaventure, ‘ boast, either of his knowledge, or of what he was, when he lived in the world.” In fine, what is more unbecoming a religious man, than to shew vanity on account of his nobility, or the rank his relations hold in the world? For what is the lustre of birth, grandeur, and dignity, but a little wind and smoke? “And,” as a certain author said very well, “do you know what nobility in a religious man is good for? For nothing else, than to despise it, as he does riches.” For that which is esteemed in him, is virtue and humility. As to what he was or was not in the world, it is reckoned for nothing; and whoever makes account of these things in a religious life, and prides himself thereupon, shews very much his vanity, and the little relish he has for spiritual things; he discovers plainly, that he has not despised or truly renounced the world. ‘For he,” says St. Basil, “who by a new spiritual birth, has received the honour to become the child of God is ashamed of his relations according to the flesh.” —(In reg. brevoir 90.)

It is improper for any one to praise himself; nay, it is a very old and common saying, that praise sounds very ill in the mouth of him who commends himself; and the wise man teaches us the same, when he says; “let another praise thee, and not thy own mouth.” (Proverbs 27:2); Now, if this becomes every body so ill, it becomes far less a religious, who ought to profess humility; and that indeed which should make all mend this fault, is that when a, man thinks to have himself esteemed, he even, by so doing, renders himself contemptible.

St. Ambrose, upon these words of the prophet, “behold my humility, and deliver me,” (Serm. xx.), says, that let a man be ever so little in himself, and reduced to ever so miserable condition 5 provided he has no pride, nor prefers himself to others, he is always commendable by his humility. That makes him be beloved; that makes him esteemed; and that supplies him in the defect of all other qualities. On the contrary, whatever merit a proud man may have, however rich, noble, powerful, able, and-learned, he may be; pride ruins all, and makes him be hated and contemned.

In the life of St. Arsenius, who had been preceptor to Arcadius and Honorius, sons of the Emperor Theodosius, and emperors themselves after his death, we read, that whatever rank he had held in the world, and how much soever he had been esteemed for his learning, yet after he had made. himself a religious, he was: never heard to say any thing which seemed haughty, or shewed any learning he had. But on the contrary, he lived and conversed with all the other religious with such a spirit of simplicity and humility, as if he had never known any thing; and he addressed himself usually to the most simple, to learn of them a spiritual life; saying, that he deserved not to be their scholar in so elevated a science. It is observed also in the life of St. Jerom, that though he was of very great quality, yet nevertheless, there is not so much as one passage in all his works, where he has taken any notice of it.

To hinder us from speaking to our own advantage, St. Bonaventure lays down a very good motive. Be persuaded, says he, that it is very hard for you to have any good quality, but others will perceive it; if you take no notice of it yourself, you will be the better loved for it, and deserve a double praise; as well for being master of so good a quality, as for being willing to conceal it, But if you make a show of it, you will be laughed at, and instead of being esteemed, and giving edification, you will be despised, and give scandal. Virtue is like an excellent perfume, the more close you keep it, the greater is its odour; but if you expose it to the air, it quickly evaporates and loses its scent.

St. Gregory tells us, how a holy abbot called Eleutherius, being once on a journey, stopped at a nunnery, where he was lodged in a chamber, in which there was a youth, who was wont to be very much tormented by an evil spirit. When it was day the nuns asked the holy man, whether any thing had happened in the night to the said youth? He answered, that nothing at all had happened; then they told him how the case was with him, and so conjured him to take him along with him. The good old man kept him a good while in his.company, in all which time the devil durst not approach him. This at length excited a vain complacency. and satisfaction in him; and not being able to abstain from shewing it, one day as he was with his monks, he told them, that he believed the devil had tormented this boy at the nunnery, only to make sport with the’nuns; by reason he had not had the confidence to come near him, since he had been there, among the servants of God. Scarce were these words out of his mouth, when the devil began anew to torment the youth in presence of them all. The abbot, hereupon attributing the cause thereof to his own vainglory, wept very bitterly; and when his monks endeavoured to comfort him, he told them, that they should neither eat nor drink, till they had obtained of Almighty God to restore the youth to himself; whereupon going all to their prayers, they ceased not till he was quiet again. By this example may be seen the aversion which God has to all words, which tend in the least to the praise of him, who pronounces them; nay, even to those which are said-only in jest, as these of the holy abbot seem to have been.

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