Volume III, Treatise V, Chapter IX

Whence Proceeds that Opposition We Find in Our Judgment to the Orders of Obedience

THE arguments we oppose to obedience spring in general from our want of mortification; but it will be advanced by some one that this is saying nothing; for every one knows that the greater our mortification is, the greater is our simplicity in obeying: and it is the same as if a man should tell another, who inquired into the cause of pride, that it proceeded from a want of humility. To explain myself, then, I say, my meaning is, that our unmortified passions, our desire of conveniencies, our attachment to our own will, and a want of resignation to all the orders of obedience, is what urges us to search for arguments against obeying whenever the thing commanded does not please us. Hence let any one seriously reflect on himself—let him examine on what occasion there occur to him arguments and feelings contrary to religious obedience, and he will find that they come in crowds to him whenever he has repugnance to what is commanded; whenever he cannot attain the object of his desires; whenever he is touched in any sensible part: but when the command is easy and agreeable, then no argument occurs to us to prove it unreasonable: nay, we judge it to be a thing most fitting, and applaud the wisdom and prudence of those who issued it.

St. Jerom, writing upon these words—“Ephraim i is become as a dove that is taken and that had no courage” (Osee 7:11),— asks himself the question, why Ephraim should be compared to a dove, rather than to any other bird. And answers, that all other birds expose their life to defend their young ones: when they see, for example, a bird of prey or a snake make towards their nest, they flutter about it and make the best defence they can; and when they are not able to prevent the ruin of their young ‘ones, they mourn for them in plaintive notes. It is only the dove that uses no endeavours at all to save her young ones; “she shows no concern at them being taken away, nor does she endeavour to find them again”. This is the reason why Ephraim is compared to a dove. Likewise, when our Saviour bade us imitate a dove, it was partly to teach us to show no resistance, to suffer without complaining, and to give no sign of grief, when we are deprived of our little ones; that is, of such things as we have the most attachment to. Thus you see how this opposition of our judgment to the orders of obedience proceeds from a want of mortifi- _ cation in’us, and from the repugnance we find, when we are com-

manded what is not according to our will; and consequently the best remedy against this temptation, is to mortify our passions, to deny our will, and to be so’far resigned as to be really indifferent to whatsoever obedience shall command.

Hence you may learn why the fathers of the desert, those excellent spiritual men, exercised their scholars so much in obedience, by commanding them things in appearance unreasonable, to try their submission and habituate them to deny their own will, and never to interpose their own judgment in what related to obedience. Their commands, though they seemed strange and odd, were by them esteemed most rational, because the mortifying our passions and the annihilating our own will and judgment by such holy practices, is of far greater importance than all we can gain by adopting other methods. It is for your own gain and your advancement in virtue that your superior wishes you to annihilate your will and judgment; and, in doing so, instead of losing, you will gain most considerably. When one wishes to break a horse, he sometimes makes him walk, sometimes puts him in a gallop; now he drives him around a wide circle; again around a narrow one, in the midst of which he makes him turn on a sudden; sometimes he runs him full speed, and stops him in the middle of his career; and all this is done to accustom him to obey, and to break him of vicious tricks. It was for-this reason that spiritual directors did the same to those that were under their tuition. St. Anthony made his disciple Paul first sew his habit, and afterwards rip up the seams—to make baskets of willows or palms, and then pull them in pieces. Others made their scholars draw water out of a well, and to throw it in again. And we read, that St. Francis commanded Brother Mac, his companion, to turn round in the highway, till he fell down through dizziness. He made all those that asked the habit of his order plant cabbage and lettuce with their roots upwards, and did all this for no other end than to try their obedience, and even to deprive them of their own will and judgment so far as that no trace of either should remain. I wish to God these practices were in use at this day more than they are; for if once inferiors could suffer without murmur to be commanded to undo what they had done well, they would not take it ill when reprehended for what they had done amiss. But, since the mortification and resignation we speak of suppose a very rare and extraordinary perfection, which is not attained on a sudden, in waiting to attain it, we should endeavour to‘turn our want of mortification to our advantage by having a deep sense of it, and by attributing thereunto all the motions of our own will and judgment which are opposite to obedience. Thus we shall prevent its doing us any harm at all; for being once persuaded that the opposition we find comes from thence, we shall take little or no notice of it, and give no credit at all to it. One that knows himself to be really sick is satisfied that he must not have everything he desires; for example, that he must not drink as often as he is thirsty, and though bleeding be painful, and physic unpleasant, yet, for all that, he admits of both as good for him, because he does not listen at all to his own inclination or aversion, but wisely submits to the doctor, complies with all his prescriptions, and believes that everything he ordains tends to his good. His being convinced of his indisposition makes him diffide in himself, and give himself totally up to one that he knows can cure him. We are sick of self-love, and a thousand disordered passions; we desire what is bad for us; and nothing will relish or go down that is good for our distemper. This being the case, let us imitate a sick man who wishes to recover; let us distrust ourselves in everything, and rely on our superior, who is careful, when we are sick, to find out means for our recovery. Let us be persuaded that all his orders are discreet and rational, and that all our suggestions to the contrary are no other than the ravings of a distempered brain. By this means we shall not only receive no damage from the thoughts and arguments that occur to us against obedience, but even make our advantage of them, by conforming ourselves so much more to the practice of obedience. For then we will immediately reflect that we are indisposed, and have lost our taste, and that this is the reason why we have an aversion to what may be most useful to us, and that thus we need no other proof of a thing being to our advantage than the aversion you feel to it, and the difficulties which arise in your mind thereupon.

Nor is this an admirable remedy for the judgments only which regard obedience, but likewise for such as regard the neighbour. So that when your brother’s temper or manner shocks you, you cannot do better than turn your thoughts against yourself, and lay your brother’s fault at your own door, saying, certainly I deceive myself; it is my own vanity that urges me to judge thus rashly of others, and to desire that others should square their actions according to my judgment; this blindness to my failings, and this evil disposition of mine, makes me interpret good for evil, and take everything in the worst sense. The fault is not my brother’s, but my own. In fine, it is an excellent remedy for any temptation whatsoever to know that it is a temptation. Hence, as when a sportsman set his nets, he does it as secretly as possible, and lets them scarce be seen; otherwise he would take neither bird nor beast in them: even so the Devil, when he tempts us, endeavours not to show the temptation as it is, but to give it the appearance of something reasonable. “He transforms himself sometimes into an angel of light”—II. Cor., ii, 14,—and casts a mist before our eyes to make us believe his dark illusions to be God’s inspirations. God deliver us from those temptations which are thus disguised under a colour of good. When you have a bad opinion of your brother, and at the same time are persuaded that it does not proceed from passion or any other temptation, and that it is the love of truth, not any private interest, that makes you

speak, and that all the world, had they been in your place, would be of the same sentiments with you, it is then, I say, that the temptation is dangerous, and the remedy difficult to be found; for there is nothing more to be feared than evil when it is to be disguised under the appearance of good. When you are tempted openly you may adopt sufficient means to overcome it; but when you are set upon in the dark, and do not know that it is a temptation, but on the contrary, think it an effect of justice and reason, how will you be able to banish it? Or how will you defend yourself against an enemy you do not know, nay, whom you suppose to be your friend? A great servant of God used to say, that he was not afraid of the faults which he knew and detested in himself, but of those which he did not know, or at least excused, or made very little or no account of.

But to return to our subject: I say that as often as we find our judgment clash with obedience, we cannot have a better remedy than to turn this opposition against ourselves, and attribute it all to pride and an unmortified disposition of mind. We have but too much reason to do this, since we know that our flesh and sensual appetite never want a plausible excuse for what they like, and on the contrary, find a thousand inconveniences in what they dislike. We are not ignorant that passion and self-love make things appear to us otherwise than they are. For as one that is extremely thirsty fancies water to be the best thing in the world, because the circumstance he is in biasses his judgment; so those things which flatter a violent passion in a ‘man, appear to him otherwise than what in reality they are, because he judges of them only by his present disposition of mind. Since then we know for certain that we are not quite disengaged from terrene affections, and that we are as yet much subject to our passions, the surest way is not to rely upon our own judgment, but to look upon it either as distempered and full of troubled notions, or else as an enemy against whom we ought to stand upon our defence.

Moreover we must not rest content when we do not give way to this opposition of our judgment to obedience, but endeavour to derive advantage from it by making it the occasion of our greater humiliation, and say, how can I be so proud or presume to prefer my own judgment to my superior’s? Did I not come to religion to be every one’s foot-stool? how dare I then lift up myself above him who is the head and superior of us all? I did not come hither to command, but I came to obey; not to govern, but to be governed; it is above my sphere to be judge of my superior, it belongs to him to be judge of me. This remedy may be very serviceable to us in all sorts of temptations, and there is no better way than this to turn them to our advantage; so that when pride or vanity fills their minds, we are to make the best use can be made of them, which is to humble ourselves in the sight of God. And as the Devil endeavours to poison our best actions with vain-glory, and make us proud even of an act of. humility, so we must endeavour to turn his poison into an antidote, by making our pride the subject of our greater humination and debasement, saying, how can I, who am nothing but frailty and corruption, be proud? Is it possible that these things which ought to create shame and confusion in me, should puff me up and make me vain? How can I think of gaining men’s esteem and praise, since I deserve nothing but their contempt? To know how to turn the Devil’s arts, whereby he intends to ruin us, to our advantage, is an admirable counter-battery against all his attacks. It is then that with David we shall, “derive safety from our enemies, and from the hands of all those that hate us”.. There are also several other ways to prevent us from listening to our own judgment, and to make us diffide in it upon all occasions. First, we must consider, that if it be apart of prudence not to trust our vwn judgment too far in anything we do, much more ought it to be so when our own interest is in question; it being a maxim in morality, that no man is a proper judge in his own cause. Self-love and passion, which blind us, usually affect our judgment in the things which immediately regard ourselves, and therefore it is neither convenient nor good to refer these matters to our own, but to our superior’s judgment, and to believe his to be the best standard of reason and equity. Secondly, we must suppose that a subject sees no farther than what his private reason suggests, and that the superior sees this as well as he, and sees much farther than the subject’s sight can reach to. So that if we take into consideration particular reasons, perhaps it would be better to act as you think; but if we cast our eyes upon the general motives and the common good, which the superior is guided by, then we shall find it much more expedient to obey his command. This great truth does not only hold in spiritual matters, but in all the rules 18 B of human prudence. For, certainly it is not only indiscretion, but even presumption, to judge positively of your superior’s orders from one or two reasons which present themselves to your mind, without reflecting that he has examined the business as well as you, and that several reasons of great importance obliged him to overlook those very inconveniencies you boggle at. St. Austin, discoursing upon this subject, makes use of this very apposite comparison. He says that the soul animates the whole body, yet its chief functions are seated principally in the head, where the five senses are lodged; and that there is only the touch, which is common to the rest of the body. It is for this reason the head is elevated above the rest of the body, and that the rest of the body is subject to it, as to a superior, whose duty it is to direct it. Now, what the head is, in respect of the body, a superior is, in respect of his subjects. For he being the head, has all the five senses; but you being only part of the body which he is the head of, have only the sense of touching. You touch only one reason, and the superior touches them all. He sees, hears, and knows all that ought to be considered in the matter, and therefore it is very just that you should submit to the care and management of this your head. It is an ordinary saying, that an ignoramus is clearer-sighted in his own affairs, than a wise man in another’s business. How much more insight, then, will a wise man have in his own concerns, than he that meddles with, and judges of them without knowing what they are? ‘Do not judge your judge”, says Solomon, “because he judges aright” (Ecclesiastes 8:17) Consider how great a folly it is to judge of any matter when you are ignorant of all its motives, circumstances, and dependencies, which you can never come to a knowledge of, nor is it perhaps fit that you should. What should still urge us to the submission of our judgment to that of our superior, is to consider that he has in view the general good of his house, whereas, you being only a private person, look no farther than yourself and your own particular conveniencies; and who is it that does not know that the public good is to be preferred to the private? We see even in the order of nature things which cease to act according to their particular inclination, and even use violence to themselves, “for the good of the whole”, that is, as philosophers say, “for the perfection of the universe”, Thus, water, in order to prevent a vacuum, which, it is said, nature abhors, when on a sudden you turn a bottle upside down, does not fall for some time, and even ascends till a sufficient quantity of air is entered. Individuals ought to copy the example set them by nature. They ought to divest themselves of particular inclinations, and where there is question of the public good, of which the superior is guardian, they ought to sacrifice to it their private interest. In fine, the experience we have, or at least ought to have, of ourselves, is a very proper means to prevent our giving credit to our own judgment. How many things have we believed, how many things have we given out for certain and infallible, which, when afterwards being disabused, we have found to be otherwise, and we. have met with the confusion which rashness and too much credulity bring along with them. If another person should deceive us twice or thrice, we should never trust him more; why then do we still trust our own judgment, that has so frequently imposed upon us? This experience of man’s ignorance, and his being too easily deceived by himself, is the reason why old men are slow and wary in deciding these very things which young men determine without the least hesitation.

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