Volume III, Treatise VIII, Chapter IV

Of How Great Importance It Is to Receive Correction Well

One of the best counsels that can be given upon this matter is that which Galen gives, who, not content with writing many prescriptions and aphorisms for the cure of the diseases of the body, has composed a book on the knowledge and cure of the diseases of the soul. He says that he who wishes to correct himself and make progress in virtue, ought to find out some prudent man that may admonish him of his faults; and that when he has found out such a one, he should earnestly conjure him to admonish him of ‘ whatsoever he shall observe to be amiss in him, promising him tc be thankful to him during his whole life for it, as for the greatest. mark of affection he can receive from him, and moreover assuring him, that inasmuch as the soul is more valuable than the body, by so much his obligation to him will be greater than if he had cured him of some very desperate sickness. But if he to whom you shall address yourself, adds he, and who has taken upon him to admonish you of your faults, should let pass some days without saying anything to you, go and make your complaint to him, and conjure him again more earnestly than you did the first time, that he would be mindful of his promise, and that he would admonish you of your faults as soon as you shall have committed any. If he answers that he remembers his promise, but that he has had no occasion of performing it, because either you have done nothing amiss, or not done anything that stood in need of admonition, beware of believing him, or of imagining that he wanted matter, but believe that his silence proceeds from one of three causes that I shall here set down: First, from negligence, and because he has not attended to your defects or to what he has promised, there being very few persons that will take pains in this manner to render others more wise. Secondly, because, if he has taken notice of any fault in you, he has not had the courage to tell it you, or because he would not put himself in danger of losing your friendship thereby, knowing very well that most commonly all that is gained by speaking truth is to procure hatred to one’s self. Or lastly, because he has perceived that sometimes it has happened you have not received in good part the admonitions given you, and therefore, whatsoever you shall be able to say to him, he gives more credit to your deeds than words, and cannot persuade himself that you desire in good earnest he should admonish you of your defects. Observe, moreover, says he, that though the faults they reprehend you for do not appear to you to be so great, yet you must by no means defend them nor excuse yourself. First, because another ordinarily sees our faults better than we ourselves, and therefore can judge better of them than we can. And in the second place, though they should be deceived, yet what they tell you may always serve to make you pay greater attention to your conduct, and also to avoid with all care for the future the giving any occasion to suspect anything of that kind in you.

Behold here all that Galen says upon this subject, and we have need to put all in practice if we can but find out any one that will willingly take upon him the care of admonishing us of our faults. For it is not an easy matter; and every man may judge of it, not only by the disquiet correction may give himself when he receives it, but also by what he feels when he is obliged to give it to another, and when the superior orders him to admonish any one of his faults. It is certainly one of the things that gives the greatest pain to a superior, to have to do with religious who have not the spirit of humility and docility to receive correction in good part. For as, on the one hand, he is obliged to give it, and on the other, apprehends they will not receive it well, gives it with that fear and trembling which those have who perform a difficult and dangerous operation, and often he is ignorant whether he should speak or not. Sometimes he thinks he ought to do it, but not without taking the best time for it, and seasoning the reprehension with something that makes it less bitter; and sometimes he finds those to whom he ought to give it so little disposed to receive it well, that he thinks it better to say nothing, though with the hazard of seeing them still persevere in their defects. And this because he fears that his admonitions will do them hurt instead of good, and will serve only to embitter their minds against him, and perhaps be the occasion that for the future they will perform their duty far worse. The sun softens wax, but hardens dirt; and when plants have taken deep root, water, air, and sun help very much to make them spring up; but’ when they are not well rooted, the same things make them either rot or else dry up. It is in this manner that correction softens the hearts of those who are truly humble from a knowledge of themselves, whereas in those whose humility is not deeply rooted

VOL. UI. 26 in the knowledge of their own baseness and nothingness, it produces only dryness and hardness of heart. Wherefore superiors often abstain from reprehending those in whom they perceive this bad disposition, because they perceive their distemper grows worse by these remedies; for, turning the best things into poison, they take that for an aversion’and cruelty, which is an effect of friendship and of zeal for their salvation, and certainly persons of this description deserve to be left to themselves,

If you desire therefore not to be abandoned as a person sick of an incurable disease, and as one of an incorrigible spirit, you must receive in good part whatsoever is said to you. “It is an excellent thing to be reprehended”, says the wise man, “and to manifest a sorrow for our fault”—cclus., xx. 4. But even though you should not have committed the fault of which you are admonished, or that it should not be so great as it was made, or that the thing were otherwise than it was represented, yet you ought not neglect receiving the reprehension with a great deal of good will towards him that gives it, and to tell him that you will in future take more care thereof, and that he has done you a very sensible pleasure, because hereby you will encourage him to do the like again. But if you should begin to excuse and defend yourself, all that you would gain hereby would be that, at another time, and perhaps in an occasion wherein you would have greater need of this admonition, he will say nothing to you. The first thing that some people do when you reprehend them for a fault, is presently to excuse themselves; and when they perceive that they cannot entirely defend themselves, they seek out reasons and colours to make their fault appear less, and this is the true way to hinder any one from giving them any admonition for the future. For when one perceives he can never make you acknowledge the faults he tells you of, and that you find out excuses for everything, he resolves never to admonish you any more; and so, besides your giving scandal, all you gain by your justifications and excuses is to hinder him from ever more taking upon him to give you profitable advice upon any occasion.

It is looked upon as a very great defect even in superiors, not to receive the advices and counsels that are given them; insomuch that it is ordinarily said that a man of limited talents, but who knows his own defects and will hearken to counsel, is far more fit for government than another who has more extensive talents, but who is so full of self-conceit, and thinks himself so versed in all things, that he takes it ill to be admonished, or to have counsel given him. The Holy Scripture abounds in passages confirming the truth of what I here say: ‘“Have you not seen”, says Solomon, “one who thinks himself a very able man? There is more to be hoped for from a fool than from him. The carriage of a fool appears very good in his own own eyes; but a wise man hearkens to counsel. I am wisdom that make my abode in counsel. Where there is a great deal of good counsel, there salvation is to be found” (Proverbs 11:14) St. James also takes notice, that to be tractable, and to let one’s self be persuaded, is one of the conditions and qualities of wisdom: “Wisdom that comes from on high”, says he, “is, in the first place, bashfulness; and afterwards it is a friend of peace—it is modest, tractable, and easily carried to God” (James 3:17) But if in superiors it is a laudable thing willingly to hear the advice and counsels that are given them; and if, on the contrary, it is so much to be blamed in them not to do so, with how far greater reason ought subjects to be blamed who cannot suffer with patience the reprehensions of their superiors! This alone should oblige us to receive correction with docility and sweetness. But that we may more willingly on our part be moved thereunto, it is good here to remark, that when we receive correction as we ought, and the superior is convinced thereof, he is not so much in pain for the faults we fall into, because, as he perceives the disease, so he perceives also the remedy. But when his correction is not well received, he feels great difficulty, because he finds the door shut against the only remedy; and this is one of the greatest troubles superiors meet. It is good then to testify in particular to our superior that we have a great desire to be reprehended for faults, and for this end to beg of him to watch our conduct with the eyes of a father, without taking notice of any impatience that we may at any time have shown, if while he corrected us we received not his reprehension with such submission as we ought. Moreover, it is not sufficient to have once made this petition to him, as a thing said out of custom, but often to reiterate the same even with great instance. For be assured that you cannot do too much to persuade and move him to acquit himself well upon your account of a thing that is so disagreeable and so hard in itself. And hence, though in all other occurrences we ought to be pleased when they believe us full of imperfections, yet herein we ought to take care ta give no occasion As our superior to believe us so untractable and immortified as not to receive his correction in good part, but ought to make it our chief endeavour to persuade him of the contrary, for fear he should not give himself the pain and trouble of reprehending us, and that hereby we come to be deprived of the chief means we have for our spiritual advancement.

As a sick person who has a great desire to be cured, says St. Basil, willingly. submits to the physician’s orders, and “how difficult and sharp soever the remedies are”, he takes it not ill, and suspects no bad intention therein; so a man who has a-great desire to correct himself must willingly receive such admonitions as are given him, and never permit himself to think that it is out of ill will and aversion that they find fault with him. If, then, the interest and love of our health, adds the same saint, makes us willingly take very bitter medicines—if for this reason we permit the physician and surgeon to cut and sear us as they think fit, and if we even thank them for it as for a special favour, is it not very just that for our own salvation, and for the good of our whole order, we should submit in the like manner to correction, how hard and harsh soever it may appear in itself, and what repugnance soever we have thereunto?

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