Volume III, Treatise II, Chapter VI

The Great Advantages of Religion—the Obligation We Have to Giod for Having Called Us to Tt

“Gop is faithful”, says the apostle, bless him for ever, ‘ because it is by him you have been called to the society of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord”—I. Cor., i. 9. When God led the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt, he so expressly recommended to them to remember the day upon which he did them this favour, that, the better to preserve the remembrance of it, he ordered them to celebrate it as a feast for eight days together, and on the seventh day to offer and eat a lamb, with the same ceremonies as they did upon the day of their deliverance. Now, if he would have them keep with so great solemnity the memory of the day upon which he led them out of the captivity of Egypt to bring them into the land of promise, which was only a temporal favour, the effects of which had no influence upon their souls, what ought we not do to celebrate the memory of a day upon which an all-powerful hand has delivered our souls from the bondage of the Devil, to lead them into the way of Heaven? It is related of St. Arsenius, that he was wont every year to celebrate and solemnize the day upon which God did him the grace to bring him out of the world, and his manner of celebrating it was to communicate, to give alms to the poor, to eat a few boiled herbs, and to leave his cell open, that all hermits who pleased might come to visit him.

St. Austin applies to the subject of retiring from the world the answer that Moses made to Pharao, who refused to let the children of Israel go into the desert to offer there a sacrifice, but would oblige them to offer it in Egypt itself. “That cannot be” answered God’s holy lawgiver, “because thereby we shall offer the abominations of the Egyptians to our God”, that is to say, those very creatures which they adore as gods. ‘Now, if we kill in their presence what they adore, they will stone us: wherefore we will go three days’ journey into the desert, there to sacri-. fice to the Lord our God, as he has commanded us”—£(Exodus 8:26,27) Those whom God calls to the perfection of evangelical counsels feel themselves in the same situation. They must sacrifice the abominations of the world, that is to say, the things which the world adores—riches, honours, pleasures, love of themselves and of their own will; and because they should be exposed to the obloquies and mockeries of worldly people if they made this sacrifice in the world, therefore they ought to go out of it, and retire to the solitude of religion, there to sacrifice to God in peace. We are in this state, and God, by his infinite mercy, has brought us out of the servitude of the world, — and has led us into the solitude of religion, that by means of our three vows we may sacrifice to him the gods of the world, and that we may do it with fewer obstacles; because, in religion, glory and honour consist in sacrificing them, and he who makes a more perfect sacrifice of them is of greatest esteem in religion. But to show more clearly what thanksgiving we ought to make for this favour, I shall here set down what the saints say of the excellency and advantages of this great benefit. St. Jerom, explaining these words of the Royal Prophet, “going out of Egypt, he heard a language he knew not, and cast off his shoulders the burden he was wont to bear”’ (Psalms 80:6,7),— enlarges on the mercy God has done us in bringing us out of the world, and representing to us the miserable servitude we lived in under the tyranny of the Devil, and the liberty to which the children of God are called, God, says he, has delivered us from a great yoke and a burden that was very heavy. We were slaves of Pharao, “and the Lord by his all-powerful hand has brought us out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of servitude’—Hod., xiii. 14. ‘When we _ were in Egypt, we wrought in Pharao’s buildings—we carried brick and mortar, and all our care was to seek straw, and gather it together—we had then no corn, we had not the celestial bread which was given us from on high, and manna had not yet fallen down from Heaven upon us. How heavy were the burdens we carried?” In effect how heavy are the burdens of worldly people? What care, what pain, even to subsist, or at most to obtain some honourable employment? What difficulty afterwards in maintaining themselves and in advancing themselves? What intrigues, what hardships, what attentions, what constraints? In fine, how hard and how many subjections are to be undergone, the misery of which is not known until it is experienced? Certainly the yoke which worldly people carry is a yoke of iron, a very heavy and insupportable yoke, “but God has removed our backs from it”, and has imposed his own yoke upon us, which is “easy and light”, and has called us to a state wherein we have nothing else to do but to love and serve him.

The apostle, speaking of the difference between those that are engaged in the state of marriage and those that are not, says, ‘“‘He who has no wife is employed in the affairs of our Lord, and is solicitous to please God; but he who has a wife is taken up with the things of the world and with the care how to please his wife, and is divided between God and the world. A woman who is not married and a virgin, thinks always of what belongs to our Lord, and of the means how to become holy, both in body and mind; but she who is married thinks of the things of the world, and of the means how to please her husband”—I. Cor., vii. 32, etc. Now if, as the apostle says, all the care of those that live in the world in the state of chastity ought to be to please God and to sanctify themselves in body and mind, what ought to be the obligation of religious persons, whom God has freed from all the cares of the world, and even from that of getting themselves a livelihood, that they might have no other care but daily to render themselves more pleasing in his sight, and daily to increase in sanctity? St. Austin says, that the difference of these two states is figured by what Abraham did when sacrificing the victims that God had commanded him, which were a cow, a goat, a ram, a turtle, and a pigeon. For the Scripture takes notice that having cut the three first victims in two, “he divided not the birds”, but offered them whole and entire. By the terrestrial beasts, says this father, are to be understood carnal men and the people of the world, whose mind and heart are continually divided by divers cares; and by the birds are to be understood spiritual men, who, whether they remain in retirement, as the turtle, or live in commerce and conversation with men, as the pigeon, are never divided, but offer themselves entirely to God, and employ themselves in his service only. Now this is one of the advantages of religious, to be able to sacrifice themselves entirely to God, without any division, and to‘have nothing to do but to please him. It is for this reason we make the vow of chastity, that being disengaged from the care of pleasing a wife, and of governing a family, we may apply ourselves to nothing else than to render ourselves more holy and more perfect. It is for this end that we make the vow of poverty and renounce riches, that being also freed from the disquiets they occasion, which are thorns that choke the good seed, we may endeavour to cause it to bring forth an abundant increase in our hearts, and there gather together the treasures of grace. And lastly, it is for this purpose we make the vow of obedience, and renounce ourselves and our own will, in order that, having nothing-more to put ourselves in pain concerning our own conduct, and having entirely put the care thereof: into the hands of our superior, who is charged with it, we may think of nothing else than what regards our spiritual advancement. St. Jerom, writing upon these words of the Psalmist, “Bless ye the Lord, ye his servants, who dwell in his house, in the courts of our God” (Psalms 133:1,2),—says, that as a great lord has many servants, of whom some are near his person, and others look after his lands in the country, “‘so God has many servants, of whom some”, as I may say, “are bound to wait upon his person, and others are employed abroad”. Religious are like household and menial servants, who never leave their master, but are always speaking and conversing with him; and worldly persons are like the servants who are sent abroad to take care of their master’s lands and to cultivate them. Now, just as, continues the holy doctor, when those who serve abroad wish to obtain some favour of their master, employ the others that are commonly with him to obtain it, so when there happens any particular affair to worldly persons, and when they would wish to obtain any favour of God, they ordinarily address themselves to religious, who have more easy access to God than themselves, and are more favoured by him. Nay more, as the servants who are employed in taking care of cultivating his lands, have all the trouble and pain, whilst the others enjoy a quiet and easy life at home with their master; so people of the world are those who have the pain and care of all, whilst religious have nothing else to do but to live in quiet and repose, and to entertain themselves with God. St. Gregory says, that the difference of these two states is also figured to us by the different kinds of life which Jacob and Esau embraced. ‘Esau was a hunter, who loved the country; Jacob was a plain, honest man, who loved to remain at home” (Genesis 25:27) By Esau, who was given to hunting, are to be understood, says this father, the people of the world, who continually employ themselves in the cares of earth] things; and by Jacob, a plain, honest, countryman who lived at home, are to be understood, religious, who live in a continual recollection of mind and a constant application to what regards the advancement of their souls, and who are for this reason the favourites and beloved children of God, as Jacob was the beloved child and favourite of his mother. Now, let us here consider little how great 4 favour our Sovereign Master has done us in raising us so far above the people of the world, who are like servants employed in mean and painful offices in the country, whilst we are like the servants who never quit his person. Certainly, we can justly say to him what the queen of Saba said to Solomon, after she had seen the magnificence and excellent order which was kept in his palace: “Happy are thy people, and happy are thy servants, who are always in thy presence, and who hear thy wisdom”—III. Kings, x. 8. Happy are the religious whom God has made choice of to remain in his house, there always to enjoy his presence and the treasures of his infinite wisdom.

By all that I have said it is easy to judge how great the blindness is of those who think they have done much for God by quitting the world, and who imagine that God is very much. indebted to them for it. You deceive yourselves; it is God, on the contrary, that has bestowed upon you a very great favour in bringing you out of the world, to place you in religion, and to elevate you to so high a state—it is you that are beholden to him, and are obliged anew to render him great service and a more thankful acknowledgment for so great a benefit. Ifa king should cause a gentleman to come to him to give him one of the chief employments at court, this gentleman would be far from believing that he had done a great deal in quitting his house, and that the king was indebted to him for it; on the contrary, he would believe that the king, in calling him to be near his person in this employment, had added a new favour to those he had already bestowed upon him, and would endeavour to merit and thankfully acknowledge it by new services. Behold here what we ought to do. For we have not chosen God, but it is God who has made choice of us, and has done us the favour to call us, not only without having merited it, but even after having rendered ourselves unworthy of it.

Alas! O Lord, what could you perceive in me, to choose me, rather than my brethren, whom you have left in the world; and what was there in me that could be pleasing to you, that you have chosen me in preference to them? But take heed, some may say, you go not too far, because all divines hold that there is nothing in us which can contribute to the cause of our predestination. St. Austin explains this very well by a fit comparison. A carver, he says, passes through a wood, he beholds the trunk of a tree, he stops, he considers it, he likes it, and resolves to make something of it. But what was in it could please him? ‘“‘ He saw in it what he could work on by means of his art, and he liked it, not for what it was then, but for what he proposed to make of it afterwards; he liked in it that piece he designed to make out of it. Behold here the manner wherein God has loved us, even when we were sinners. He did not love the state in which we were, he did not love us in order that he might leave us in it, and that we might remain like the trunk of the tree, but he looked upon us as an excellent workman looks upon a piece of wood cut down in a forest, and thought only of the piece of work he would make it”—Aug., tract. viii. sup. 1, Ep. Joan. Behold here what has pleased God in us, not what we were then, for then we were shapeless and unprofitable pieces of wood, but what he had a design to make of us. It was the wish of this admirable workman, who made Heaven and Earth, and who “predestinated to be conformable to the image of his Son those whom he foreknew” (Romans 8:29),—it was his’ wish to make of you an image, which should be perfect, and should resemble himself; and this is what moved him to make choice of you. ‘For it is not you”, says our Saviour, “who have chosen me; but it is I that have chosen you, and established you, that you might go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit might last for ever” (John 15:16) Consider what image God would make of you, and how like he would make you to his only Son, whereas he has chosen you for the same employment for which he sent his Son into the world—viz., the salvation of souls..

The same saint, explaining this verse of the hundred and thirty-sixth Psalm, “On the banks of the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept at the remembrance of thee, O Sion” (Psalms 136:1),—gives it a sense which is suitable to our purpose. The rivers of Babylon are, says he, the transitory things of this world, and there is this difference, says he, between the children of Babylon and the children of Jerusalem, that those remain in the midst of the rivers of Babylon, where they are continually exposed to tempests, that is, they plunge themselves in pleasures, where they are continually afraid of being surprised by death; whereas these, “who perceive the misfortune of the others, keep themselves upon the banks of the rivers, and bathe themselves in tears”. But why do they weep, and why do they sit upon the banks of the rivers? First, says this father, they lament their banishment. The sight of these storms that continually rise upon the rivers of Babylon, and the remembrance of their Heavenly country, which is at so great a distance, draws these tears from them, and makes them cry out with sighs: ‘‘O holy Sion, where all things are permanent, and where nothing passes, who has cast us headlong into this misery? Why are we separated from him who has built thee, and from the company of the inhabitants?” When shall we be delivered from these dangers that encompass us? When shall we be recalled from our banishment? When shall we have nothing to fear, and when shall we behold you within your walls? In the second place, they lament those who let themselves be carried away with the torrent of the rivers of Babylon; they bemoan their brethren whom glory, ambition, love, hatred, and envy have dragged to the precipice, into which they daily fall by thousands. A great saint one day in a vision saw souls fall as thick into Hell as flakes of snow fall in winter on the earth, Who would not lament this loss? And who can behold these miserable souls without feeling his bowels torn in pieces with tender compassion? Finally, they sat upon the banks of the rivers of Babylon to help their brethren, who were - in danger of being lost—to stretch out their hands to them, and to see if they could save some of them. Behold here what-ought to be the employment of all religious, who are here described as children of J orugaems and what ought chiefly to be ours: “For God has particularly called us to make us become fishers of men”—Mat., iv. 19. And he has placed us as it were upon the rivers of Babylon, that we may do our duty to save those who are daily shipwrecked, and that we may stretch out our hands to the souls which are on the point of being lost. Let us now consider, on the one hand, how great a favour God has bestowed upon us above those who are in the world, in having, placed us upon the bank, whilst he leaves them in the middle of the water, where they are every moment in danger of being lost; and, on the other, how great strength, skill, and ability is required to help those that are drowning, without exposing ourselves to the danger of being drowned with them—it being very common that he who is drowning takes hold and drags in with himself the person who wishes to save him. We must, therefore, be very skilful in the art of gaining souls to God. Great virtue and sanctity is required to bring others out of danger, without being exposed to it ourselves

It is related of St. Anselm, that being one day in an ecstasy, he saw a great river, into which were cast all the dirt and filth of the world. The waters became in consequence so muddy and stinking, that nothing could be imagined like it, and the torrent was also so rapid and violent, that it carried away whatsoever.it met, men and women, rich and poor, now plunging them to the bottom, then casting them up, and then casting them down again, without letting them rest one moment. The saint, astonished at this vision, and surprised to see that those who were in the river were still alive, asked how it was possible they could live there, and how they were nourished. He received for answer, that ‘they were nourished by the filth of those muddy waters, into which they were plunged, and after all, that they were contented to live m them. Afterwards this vision, was explained to him, and he was informed that this rapid river was the world, where men, plunged in vice and hurried along by their passions, live in so strange a blindness, that though the continual agitation they are in permits them not to feel the least repose, yet still they believe themselves happy. After this he was again wrapt in spirit into a very spacious park, encompassed by walls covered with plates of silver which reflected a shining light. In the midst of this there was a great meadow, the grass whereof was all gold, but so soft and fresh that it easily yielded when persons wished.to sit on it, and that without the least appearance of withering, it returned to its first state as soon as as they stood

up. The air of that place was sweet and pure, and in 4 word, all things in it were so pleasant and delightful, that it seemed a terrestrial paradise, and that it possessed everything which constitutes sovereign felicity. The saint was told that this was a lively representation of the state of a religious life.

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