i/-- 
 
 ^ .-^ 
 
 -/ 
 
 Qm^^iXzM^ 
 
 Book 
 
 
 FRKSENTh']) l^Y 
 
^^XH/. 
 
 ^^" 
 
 / 
 
 % 
 
 iO 
 
CHOICE OF A STATE OF LIFE. 
 
CHOICE 
 
 OP 
 
 A STATE OF LIFE. 
 
 By Father C. G. Ro^ignoli, S. J. 
 
 Translated from the French. 
 
 PUBLISHED WITH THE APPROBATION OF 
 
 THE MOST REV. THE ARCHBISHOP OF BALTIMORE. 
 
 .& 
 
 BALTIMORE: 
 
 Published by John Murphy & Co. 
 
 182 Baltimobe Street. 
 
 1868. 
 

 Ee-Imprimatur, 
 
 
 MARTIN JOHN, 
 
 January, 1868. 
 
 ArcJibisJwp of Baltimore. 
 
 
 Gift 
 
 B 
 
 Smith 
 
 ivi:r- 
 
 1 nr^ ' 
 
 Entered according to the Act of Oon^^^ress, in the year 1850, by 
 
 JOHN MUlU»HY, 
 
 in the Clerk's OflRce of the District Court of Maryland. 
 
 IV 
 
3 UNDER THE AUSPICES OF 
 
 THIS LITTLE WORK 
 
 IS HUBIBLY DEDICATED TO 
 
 The translator has felt the need of a work 
 like this, to guide him in choosing a State of 
 Life ; and his affection for you has induced him 
 to publish what, at first, was intended only for 
 those young friends by whom he is surrounded. 
 Accept it, then, as a tribute of affection from a 
 friend, who, being one of your number, has your 
 spiritual welfare at heart: and should it guide 
 even one of you to the state of life to which God 
 invites him, he is content, and well rewarded for 
 his labor. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PART I. 
 
 OF A WISE CHOICE IN GENERAL. 
 
 Chapter page 
 
 I. Sec. 1. To make a wise choice of a state of 
 life, you must first know the end for which 
 you are created ... . . 17 
 
 Sec. 2. The end of our creation should be the 
 first rule of a choice . . . .21 
 
 II. Sec. 1. The choice of a state is the most im- 
 portant of all affairs . . . . .25 
 
 Sec. 2. A good choice gives a great hope of 
 salvation ....... 28 
 
 Sec. 3. He who refuses to choose well ex- 
 poses himself greatly to the danger of 
 being damned ...... 30 
 
 III. Sec. 1. He who has the greater talents has 
 
 the greater obligation to choose well . 35 
 
 Sec. 2. He who wishes to make the most of 
 his talents ought to make his choice well . 38 
 
 IV. Sec. 1. Extreme youth is not an obstacle to 
 
 making a good choice . . . .45 
 
 Sec. 2. Abundant fruits destined for those 
 
 who choose in time . . . . .49 
 Sec. 3. The great dangers of those who de- 
 lay their choice . . . . .52 
 V. Sec. 1. What are the good and the bad dis- 
 positions for making a choice . . .64 
 
 vii 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter page 
 
 Sec. 2. Inconstancy is a great obstacle to 
 making a good choice . . . .56 
 
 VI. Sec. 1. He deceives himself who believes, 
 that, to make his choice, and to leave the 
 world, are one and the same thing . . 60 
 
 Sec. 2. We always follow the invitation of 
 God with pleasure, and never refuse with- 
 out committing a fault . . . .64 
 VII. Sec. 1. When is a person to follow his in- 
 clination, and when not . . . .68 
 
 Sec. 2. A bad inclination can be rectified 
 and reformed by virtue . . . .72 
 VIII. Sec. 1. Of a bad choice founded on human 
 
 motives ....... 77 
 
 Sec. 2. Family interest ought not to influ- 
 ence us in choosing . . . . .79 
 
 Sec. 3. Worldly hopes ought not to direct a 
 choice ....... 83 
 
 IX. Sec. 1. To choose well, you must compare 
 the perishable present with the eternal 
 future 87 
 
 Sec. 2. Other maxims which should direct a 
 choice ....... 90 
 
 X. Sec. 1. No person can choose well with a 
 
 bad adviser . . . . . .95 
 
 Sec. 2.. One cannot choose badly, when well 
 advised 99 
 
 XI. Sec. 1. Practices useful for making a good 
 
 choice ....... 102 
 
 Sec. 2. Prayer is the key that opens the 
 treasury of divine wisdom . . . 106 
 
 Sec. 3. It is useful to read the lives of those 
 who have chosen well .... 109 
 
 Sec. 4. Power of the example of others ; good 
 inspirations resulting therefrom . . 110 
 XII. Sec. 1. Those ungrateful persons who obsti- 
 nately resist the call of God, are in the end 
 deprived of his graces .... 113 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 Chapter page 
 
 Sec. 2. Terrible punishments inflicted on 
 those who do not obey God . . . 115 
 
 XIII. Sec. 1. An exact idea of the secular state . 119 
 Sec. 2. Other remarks on the secular state . 123 
 
 XIV. Sec. 1. An accurate view of the clerical 
 
 state 129 
 
 Sec. 2. Other reflections on the ecclesiasti- 
 cal state 132 
 
 XV. Sec. 1. True picture of the religious state . 138 
 Sec. 2. Other privileges of the religious state 144 
 XVI. Sec. 1. Which of the three states is the most 
 
 perfect 149 
 
 Sec. 2. Greater advantages of the most per- 
 fect state 154 
 
 PART II. 
 
 OF A WISE choice IN PAKTICULAK. 
 
 I. Sec. 1. Of the different kinds of religious 
 
 life . 160 
 
 Sec. 2. One ought to choose the order most 
 suited to his own dispositions . . . 163 
 IL Sec. 1. Rules for ascertaining whether a vo- 
 cation comes from God or not . . . 166 
 Sec. 2. Human motives of a vocation . . 170 
 Sec. 3. Examples of extraordinary vocations 174 
 
 III. Sec. 1. Bad habits do not free us from em- 
 
 bracing a perfect state of life . . . 177 
 Sec. 2. St. Augustine victorious over bad 
 habit» . 181 
 
 IV. Sec. 1. Ought we to obey the divine call, 
 
 notwithstanding the opposition of parents 184 
 
 Sec. 2. The love of Jesus triumphs over the 
 
 love of parents 187 
 
 V. Sec. 1. To defer the execution of a choice 
 
 is almost the same as to abandon it . . 192 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter page 
 
 Sec. 2. Motives for hastening the execution 
 
 of a choice 196 
 
 VL Sec. 1. If, for strong reasons, one cannot obey 
 his vocation immediately, he ought to be 
 very careful to avoid all danger of losing it 200 
 Sec. 2. Virtuous practices useful for pre- 
 serving the desire of obeying a vocation . 205 
 VII. Sec. 1. How are we to resist those who at- 
 tack the most perfect choice . . . 208 
 Sec. 2. Falsity of the accusations brought 
 against the religious state . . . 214 
 
 VIII. Sec. 1. Unhappy end of those who are deaf 
 
 to the divine call 219 
 
 Sec. 2. Those who fly from God's invitations 
 
 soon receive their chastisement . . 222 
 
 Sec. 3. Misfortunes which have happened to 
 females who have despised their vocation 223 
 IX. Sec. 1. Constancy is always crowned with 
 
 success 226 
 
 Sec. 2. He who perseveres gains the victory 230 
 Sec. 3. Heroic courage of females in the 
 affair of their vocation .... 232 
 X. Sec. 1. Letters addressed by various holy 
 Doctors to young men to induce them to 
 
 make a good choice 238 
 
 Sec. 2. Other letters on the same subject . 242 
 Sec. 3. Comparison between those who bibor 
 for the world, and those who serve God . 246 
 Subjects for reflection ..... 250 
 
INTRODUCTION, 
 
 I HAVE been induced, my dear Eeader, to 
 prepare this little work on the Choice of a 
 State of Life, by an earnest desire to give you a 
 faithful guide through the darkness that sur- 
 rounds you in this world. And this desire is 
 the more ardent, because those that choose well 
 are often led to heaven, whilst such as make a 
 bad choice, are generally lost for all eternity. 
 
 For a time I hesitated to present you with this 
 little volume, lest you might imagine that I 
 wished to draw you to the religious state. But 
 the extreme need in which young persons stand 
 of help and advice, and their inclination to de- 
 cide without reflection, have caused me to dis- 
 regard that objection : and I declare, my dear 
 child, that it is the same to me, whether you be- 
 come a religious, or lead a life in the world. 
 My only desire is, that you should lead a holy 
 life, and die a happy death. Since, however, it 
 
 XI 
 
Xll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 is impossible to do this unless you embrace the 
 state of life to which God calls you, I beg you to 
 listen to whatever He may whisper to your heart. 
 Perhaps he calls you to some oflBce or profession, 
 which suits your inclination. If you find it so, 
 obey with joy the heavenly call ; for even courts 
 and battle-fields have alike produced saints. 
 
 What does the Eternal Wisdom wish to teach 
 us by the vision of Ezechiel, in which four mys- 
 terious animals draw the chariot of the divine 
 glory? A man drawing beside a lion; an ox 
 yoked with an eagle ! What a strange combi- 
 nation! However, these four animals equally 
 serve God. See the mystery ; it is this : people 
 of the world by their piety, and religious by 
 faithfully practising Christian perfection, — mer- 
 chants by their labors, and sages by their stud- 
 ies, — all contribute to the glory of God. Hear 
 St. Augustine on this point : " The humble and 
 the exalted come, the poor and the rich, the 
 learned and the unlearned." Yes, heaven is 
 open, not only to those who forsake the world, to 
 the poor and the ignorant, but also to the rich 
 and the learned, to princes, magistrates, and 
 courtiers, — soldiers open the gates of heaven 
 with the sword, bankers with gold. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XIU 
 
 Behold, on Mount Tabor, at the Transfigura- 
 tion of Jesus, two persons very dififerent, yet 
 equally renowned and glorious ; one Moses, the 
 other Elias ; Moses a courtier, Elias a hermit ; 
 Moses as gentle, as meek as a lamb, Elias rough 
 and repulsive ; Moses married and living amid 
 luxury, Elias single and worn down by fasting ; 
 Moses wealthy and clad in rich robes, Elias poor 
 and covered with a hair shirt ; Moses is of a dis- 
 position so kind, that through love for his people, 
 he causes water to gush from a rock, whilst Elias 
 shows a threatening zeal, and to frighten a nation, 
 hinders the clouds from sending down their show- 
 ers. However, in states of life so different, and 
 with conduct so opposite, these two men lived 
 according to God's heart, enjoyed the same glory, 
 and had the same privilege of assisting at the 
 Transfiguration of Jesus; and th^ Evangelist 
 does not even say, which was on the right, and 
 which on the left. 
 
 Perhaps it may be thought that I am showing 
 the inutility of my undertaking, because I pre- 
 tend that the gates of heaven are open to all 
 states of life. It is not true, however, that all 
 roads, without distinction, conduct the pilgrim 
 thither ; but it is generally very true, that those 
 
XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 do not reach heaven who wander from the path 
 to which God has assigned them. St. Augustine 
 and St. Ambrose remark that, of the four animals 
 that drew the divine chariot, not one made a 
 single step according to his own pleasure, but 
 only as he was directed by the Holy Ghost. Mo- 
 ses and Elias by different roads reached the same 
 glory; but observe, each quickly entered the 
 way into which God called him : when they re- 
 ceived the least sign, they replied in these admi- 
 rable words : " Here I am." (Ex. iii. 4.) They 
 generously placed themselves in his hands, that 
 he might do with them whatever he pleased. If 
 therefore, God calls you into the world, go with- 
 out any uneasiness. But if he distinctly calls 
 you to religion, why shut your eyes to this kind 
 light, and run the risk of devoting them after- 
 wards to eternal tears ? I have no other object 
 in view, than to hinder you from acting at hazard 
 in this most important affair; so that, having 
 weighed well all the reasons on either side, you 
 can say with confidence : " I will enter this pro- 
 fession, because God desires me to do so ; I will 
 become a priest, because it is my vocation; I 
 will join a religious order, because the Holy 
 Ghost urges me in that direction ; I will betake 
 
INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 myself to commerce, because God has given me 
 to understand that the riches of the world will 
 not make me lose eternal riches/' My desire is, 
 to assist you in finding out the state to which God 
 calls you, and I am very far from endeavoring 
 by an indiscreet zeal to drag you into a cloister. 
 I ma;y present you with some reasons, which 
 would seem to call you to a religious life, but 
 only through necessity ; because it is at once the 
 most perfect state, and has the greatest number 
 of diflîculties. Young persons, therefore, have 
 great need of help, that they may conquer them. 
 But there will be this advantage ; those who feel 
 themselves led thither by the Holy Ghost, will 
 be encouraged in their undertaking ; whilst those 
 who do not feel themselves thus called, and do 
 not think these same motives sufficient to deter- 
 mine them to a religious life, w^ill act wisely in 
 avoiding it, and will live in peace, because they 
 will not have shut their hearts against Divine 
 inspirations. Thus, my work will be useful to 
 both. Read then with attention, and be perfectly 
 indifferent to all states of life. If you have a 
 fancy for any particular state, remove it, and 
 listen to the voice of God. When you hear this 
 voice, say with Moses, " Lord, here I am," do with 
 
XVI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 me as you please. Call me hither or thither ; to 
 the world, or to the cloister, and I obey the call. 
 Do not seek novelty in this little work, nor 
 elegance of thought ; I am content to write, with 
 the greatest simplicity possible, the sentiments 
 of the holy doctors, philosophers, and pious au- 
 thors ; sentiments, scattered through many vol- 
 umes, upon the munner of choosing a state of 
 life. If pearls could be gathered from a little 
 stream they would enrich many men ; but, being 
 buried in vast seas, very few find them. I hope 
 it will not be so with this collection of truths ; 
 though small, it will furnish an abundance of 
 precious treasures to youth. 
 
ON THE 
 
 CHOICE OF A STATE OF LIFE. 
 
 PAET FIRST. 
 
 OP A WISE CHOICE IN GENERAL. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Section 1. To make a wise choice of a state of 
 life, you must first know the end for which 
 you are created* 
 
 10 GENE S Laertius'tells us, that Xeno- 
 phon, from his earliest youth, was en- 
 dowed with a disposition so amiable, 
 and a mind so sublime, that he seemed 
 rather heavenly than human. But 
 there being no one to direct and instruct him, 
 his precious talents w^ere hidden, and all his 
 views were limited to the desire of amassing 
 wealth as a merchant, or of acquiring fame by 
 the noble profession of arms. Socrates once 
 2-^ 17 
 
18 CHOICE OP A 
 
 met him, and perceiving in his countenance the 
 marks of a great soul, stopped him and asked : 
 *' Whither are you going?'' 
 
 Xenophon was much surprised and knew not 
 what to reply. Socrates then asked: "Where 
 do they sell the necessaries of life ?" "At the 
 market," replied the youth. "But," added the 
 philosopher, "where do they sell those things 
 that are necessary for living well ? " Xenophon, 
 much embarrassed, replied: "I know nothing 
 about that." "Come," said Socrates, "I will 
 show you." He took him by the hand, led him 
 to his school, and developed in him those talents 
 which posterity will never cease to admire. 
 
 Dear young friends, who have received from 
 God, a soul — priceless, on account of its excel- 
 lent dispositions, "Whither are you going?" 
 Whither do your desires tend ? What state of 
 life will you embrace, in order to employ your 
 talents ? Ah ! how many are there among you 
 who remain silent, or bashfully reply : "I do 
 not know."' I hope there is none, who, aban- 
 doned to a brutal passion, will reply in the words 
 of a certain youth, cited by Lucian. This reck- 
 less lad, mounted on a wild and unmanageable 
 horse, hardly less reasonable than his rider, gave 
 him the reins, and allowed himself to be borne 
 into the midst of frightful precipices. A passer- 
 by called out to him, "Whither are you going?" 
 He replied, — 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 19 
 
 "Whithersoever this beast wishes to carry 
 
 me.'' 
 
 Why then so much negligence in seeking the 
 road to virtue and glory, and so much ardor in 
 the pursuit of sensual pleasure and riches ? 
 Why refuse to be governed by reason, when you 
 so easily yield to the fary of passion ? Ah ! 
 allow yourself to be taken by the hand, and led 
 to the school of true wisdom, there to learn the 
 manner of choosing that state of life which 
 corresponds to your talents, and to the graces 
 you have received from Almighty God. To 
 choose well, says St. Augustine, is to decide 
 according to the light of reason, and especially 
 of faith, in what state of life we can best secure 
 the end for which we are created. We must, 
 therefore, first learn what this end is, for which 
 the Uncreated Wisdom has placed us in this 
 world. Is it to become great men ; celebrated 
 scholars ; wise magistrates ; wealthy merchants, 
 and nothing more ? Natural reason and divine 
 faith loudly proclaim, that He had quite another 
 end in view. A mortal object cannot be the end 
 of an immortal soul ; and it can never consti- 
 tute the happiness of a creature that bears the 
 image of its Creator stamped on its mind. We 
 must therefore say, that God created the world 
 for the use of man, but made man to serve Him 
 in this life, and to share His happiness in the 
 life to come. 
 
20 CHOICE OP A 
 
 Behold then all that man is to do in this 
 world ; to merit the happiness of heaven, that 
 he may pass from this short life of afflictions, 
 to an eternal life of bliss. Oh! what a noble 
 destiny ! This glory was not your due ; but 
 God, through his infinite mercy, has created you 
 to enjoy it. He could have created you for no 
 other than natural happiness; but he has been 
 pleased to destine 3^ou to a happiness that is 
 supernatural. He has made other creatures for 
 you, but has created you for himself alone. 
 
 No other creature has a nobler end ; not even 
 the angels, archangels, cherubim and seraphim, 
 who are like yourself in having been created to 
 enjoy eternal felicity in God. 
 
 This infallible truth presents two evident con- 
 sequences ; one, that the present life and its dif- 
 ferent states are but the means for obtaining our 
 end — eternal happiness; the other, that the 
 means are good and estimable, only so far as 
 they assist us in attaining this end: temporal 
 objects and the various states of life are good, 
 only so far as they help us to gain eternal happi- 
 ness by serving God. St. Ignatius established 
 this first truth as the foundation of a good choice. 
 These are his remarkable words : *' Man is 
 created to praise and honor the Lord his God, 
 and by serving him to save himself. All crea- 
 tures on earth have been created on account of 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 21 
 
 marif to assist him in obtaining the end of his 
 creation. It therefore follows, that we ought to 
 use them or abstain from their use, only inas- 
 much as they do really lead us to our end, or 
 turn us from it.^^ 
 
 Section 2. The end of our creation should be 
 the first rule of a choice. 
 
 Every thing in nature tends to its end by the 
 straightesi path. We see it in the tendency of 
 heavy bodies towards the centre of the earth. 
 We too should choose that state which seems to 
 conduct us most directly and most surely to our 
 end, which is to serve God and afterwards enjoy 
 him, to tend towards him incessantly with all 
 the powers of our soul, with all the affections 
 of our heart. 
 
 If a stone, on its way towards the centre of 
 attraction, falls into water or fire, or is broken in 
 pieces, it matters but little, because its tendency 
 is still the same : provided, therefore, we obtain 
 our end, it matters little whether it be by a path 
 easy and strewn with flowers, or by one painful 
 and bristling with thorns. We are travellers on 
 earth ; and when a traveller has decided upon 
 the place he wishes to reach, if he finds many 
 tracks to the right and to the left, he follows 
 only the one that leads to his destination, and 
 troubles himself but little if it turns this way or 
 
22 CHOICE OP A 
 
 that, if it rises or descends, or is more or less 
 agreeable than others ; easy or difficult, it is the 
 only road for him. Behold then, how we should 
 choose a state of life: we should seek only that 
 state which leads us to our end, and avoid those 
 that may draw us from it. If the ecclesiastical 
 state conducts you best to your end, hasten to 
 enter it. If riches and greatness lead you away 
 from it, shrink from them as you would from 
 poison. If the bar insures your cause for the 
 last judgment, this is the state that suits you 
 best. If mercantile pursuits endanger your 
 salvation, your real interest calls upon you to 
 give them up. If you find more assistance for 
 obtaining the end for which God has created 
 you, in a cell than in a palace, in hatred of the 
 world than in its slavery, in the sweet yoke of 
 Jesus than in gratifying your own will, you will 
 act wisely in choosing the way wherein the safer 
 means are found. In a word, it is always an 
 imprudence and a folly, to select a state without 
 having perfectly foreseen how you will obtain 
 your last end therein. Your choice can be wise, 
 only so far as it facilitates your salvation. Let 
 us conclude with the words of St. Augustine : 
 *' He is the best off who has his way and walks 
 well therein." The only good state is that 
 which sets us forward on our way, and in which 
 we employ present time to acquire a happy 
 eternity. 
 
STATE or LIFE. 23 
 
 It is then a great error, if, in contempt of this 
 truth, you permit chance, or worldly interest, or 
 the heat of imagination, to determine your choice. 
 You then act blindly, forget the future, and think 
 only of the present ; you yield to caprice, and 
 enter a road which may lead to precipices, and 
 in which you have not always the possibility of 
 turning back. I am deeply afflicted when I see 
 souls, capable of great enterprises, shamefully 
 pursuing contemptible objects, because they 
 thoughtlessly embraced a state of life without 
 knowing how to discover the good route. Un- 
 fortunate youths ! they have gone astray at the 
 first step without perceiving it. Now they are 
 involved, without knowing how or why, in very 
 dangerous affairs, and have no hope of ever 
 getting rid of them. Had they chosen wisely 
 at first, they would now be happy, and God 
 would have revived in them a Charles Borromeo 
 and a Leopold of Austria ; whilst, on the con- 
 trary, we behold them in the world prostituting 
 their talents to the vilest undertakings. 
 
 In order to preserve you from these misfortunes, 
 I call upon you to pause in the beginning of your 
 career, and hear the words of Cicero : In primis 
 constituendum est, quos nos, et quales esse veil- 
 mus, et in quo genere vitœ; before advancing in 
 age and plunging into business, see what char- 
 acter you ought to act on the theatre of this 
 
24 CHOICE OP A STATE OP LIFE. 
 
 world. You have many roads before you : you 
 must follow one of them, and in order to decide 
 which, consider beforehand whither these roads 
 lead, and which will take you most directly to 
 your destination. ** Choose the way before you 
 ruriy^^ says St. Ambrose : consider rather the end 
 than the route. If you desire a way that pre- 
 sents pleasures, amusements and ornaments; a 
 way beautifully paved (EccL xxi. 11,) take care 
 that it leads not to darkness and suffering. If 
 you fear to enter the road of virtue because it is 
 narrow and difficult, be encouraged by the happy 
 life to which it brings you. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Section 1. The choice of a state is the most im- 
 portant of all affairs, 
 
 OUIS of Grenada speaks like a wise 
 and prudent man, (as he really was,) 
 when he called the choice of a state, 
 the master-ivheel of the whole life : for 
 if in a clock we remove the principal 
 wheel, all the other wheels are stopped, and the 
 clock no longer shows the time. In like manner, 
 when a person chooses badly, he strays from his 
 last end, abandons himself to disorderly affec- 
 tions, and renders his whole life a series of sins 
 and misfortunes. 
 
 We must, therefore, carefully regulate this 
 prime mover of life, whence all our actions pro- 
 ceed ; otherwise, all our labors will be as hurtful 
 as we believe them useful. A state of life that 
 suits one person, may not suit another. A choice 
 then, is a rule which serves us for measuring the 
 lines of our actions, and for discovering whether 
 they run directly to the end for which God cre- 
 ated us, or diverge from it. 
 
 Listen to St. Gregory Nazianzen : The choice 
 3 25 
 
26 CHOICE OF A 
 
 of a state is the only foundation on which we can 
 raise the edifice of a good or bad life. This is 
 what faith taught St. Gregory. Seneca, guided 
 by the light of reason alone, says: Look to the 
 whole tenor of your future life, for whatever 
 you do must bear upon it : you will not manage 
 well your particular affair s j unless you have in 
 view your end. 
 
 You see, that as soon as you choose your state, 
 it serves to direct all your actions : they cannot 
 be very prudent if they are not the offspring of 
 the general choice which you may have made. 
 ^' What think you," continues Seneca, '' of a 
 sailor, who puts to sea with sails unfurled, with- 
 out having previously decided for what place he 
 wishes to steer? You may say with reason, 
 that he is foolish, and that probably his vessel 
 will perish, since he does not even know which 
 wind to desire, nor which is favorable, nor which 
 opposed to reaching an end he knows not : in- 
 deed, since he knows not for what port to steer, 
 no wind is favorable. But have you not just 
 pronounced your own condemnation, if, without 
 having made a good choice, you spread the sails 
 of your hopes, permit every wind to drive, every 
 current to hurry you away, without examining 
 whether the course you pursue will lead you to 
 bury your fortune in a gulf, or conduct you hap- 
 pily to a port ? " 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 2Ï 
 
 Let us add, that an error committed in the 
 choice of a state is often without remedy, and it 
 is therefore very important not to be deceived in 
 it. A Spartan senator being asked, why he pro- 
 ceeded with so many precautions in capital sen- 
 tences, replied ; Quia non est correctio errorV^ 
 *^ Because an error would be without remedy." 
 When a very important affair cannot be recom- 
 menced, it should be attempted only after the 
 greatest deliberation. The wise man says : 
 Adolescens juxta viam suam ambulanSj eiiam 
 cum senuerit non recedet ah ea: ''A young man 
 according to his way, even when he is old, he 
 will not depart from it." For instance, if a per- 
 son undertakes commerce in his youth, he will 
 continue it all his life, and will not even know 
 how to leave it off. If he marries, death alone 
 can break the bond ; if to a bad woman, how 
 much vexation will he not experience? A 
 scanty fortune, and many children to provide for I 
 What afflictions and troubles ! If he embraces 
 the ecclesiastical or religious state, once enlisted, 
 he cannot recede ; he must remain in it all his 
 life. If it becomes displeasing, he may bewail 
 his lot, but to change it is impossible. In fine, 
 a man out of his state, is like a fish out of water, 
 a bone out of joint ; he lives in tribulation, in 
 anguish, in continual solicitude ; his labors, 
 thoughts, and affections are filled with bitter- 
 
28 CHOICE OP A 
 
 ness ; and one bad action is the cause of another 
 still worse. 
 
 Section 2. A good choice gives a great hope of 
 salvation. 
 
 The choice of a fit state not only influences 
 the whole life, but also furnishes the chief means 
 for obtaining eternal salvation. 
 
 St. Augustine and St. Thomas say, that the 
 predestination of the elect is only the foreknowl- 
 edge of God, and the disposal of the means by 
 which He wishes to conduct the predestined to 
 bliss. Now, the choice of a state is the chief 
 means and the original source, whence are suc- 
 cessively derived the other means for securing 
 salvation. Divine wisdom having thus resolved 
 from all eternity to give you existence and life, 
 has at the same time decreed to plant in your 
 heart from your earliest years that holy call. If 
 it falls on a good soil, if you receive it with a 
 ready will and correspond to it by choosing the 
 state to which God calls you, you are happy, and 
 your name is inscribed on the catalogue of the 
 elect : you have found the first thread, and the 
 first link in the chain of your predestination ; 
 the other means, like other links, will come in 
 time, and join the first. 
 
 But if the heavenly seed does not find in you 
 a good soil, if you are one of those who open 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 29 
 
 the ear and not the heart to the voice of God, 
 and who permit worldly ideas and sensual plea- 
 sures to stifle the thought of choosing the best, 
 fear lest such conduct may cause your ruin, 
 since you lose the chief and perhaps the only 
 means of predestination. You derange the order 
 of heavenly help and heavenly grace, which you 
 need in order to save yourself ; you run the risk 
 of not reaching the true country, because you 
 stray from the road. In running a swift race 
 through the world, you make not a single step 
 towards Heaven. St. Augustine will tell you, 
 that, ''you run well, but out of the way. He 
 who does little, but in the state to which God 
 calls him, does more than he who labors much, 
 but in a state he has thoughtlessly chosen. A 
 cripple limping in the right way, is better than 
 a racer out of it." 
 
 Since the consequence of the choice will be 
 either an eternal good or an eternal evil, is it 
 prudent to delay repentance for having wandered, 
 until repentance will be useless ? The Holy 
 Ghost warns us to do nothing without prudence: 
 *' My son, do nothing unadvisedly y How much 
 then of this prudence should we not use in the 
 choice of a state of life, since this choice is the 
 master-rule of all other actions ! How deliberately 
 ought we to proceed, that we may avoid an error 
 without remedy, an evil in this life and in the 
 3* 
 
30 CHOICE OP A 
 
 next. If there was ever an occasion on which 
 might be said : *' On one moment depends eter- 
 nity," it is surely in choosing a state of life. If 
 you are one of those who — like brutes — allow 
 themselves to be carried away by passion, or — 
 like slaves — are forced by the orders of a tyrant 
 to embrace a state, apply to yourself the follow- 
 ing advice : '* Audiy homo es^ liber es, tuus es, de 
 te agis. Elige ut homo, ut liber, ut tuus de te 
 ipso benè age. You are a man, free, and your 
 own master. Show, by a wise choice, that you 
 know well how to use the empire of reason and 
 the dominion of liberty, in order to determine 
 your life." The point is, to dispose of yourself 
 wisely, in order to live happily, to die with con- 
 fidence, and to save your soul 5 for such is the 
 consequence of a good choice. 
 
 Section 3. He who refuses to choose well ex- 
 poses himself greatly to the danger of being 
 damned. 
 
 The. present subject is so important, that it 
 must be presented in new and different lights. 
 We read in Deuteronomy two remarkable pro- 
 mises : the one, in favor of those who obey God 
 promptly: ^^ If you listen to the voice of your 
 God, all blessings will come upon you.^^ The 
 other, against those who stubbornly refuse to 
 receive heavenly inspirations : ^^ If you will not 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 31 
 
 hear the voice of the Lord, all curses will come 
 upon you ; you will he cursed in the city^ cursed 
 in the country, &c.^^ You will also receive at 
 the last judgment this terrible sentence : '' De- 
 part, ye cursed, into everlasting fireP What 
 say you to this consequence ? It is drawn from 
 the threats of a God, infinitely true. 
 
 That you may understand how a bad choice 
 produces a bad life, this life an unhappy death, 
 and this death reprobation, I will clearly expose 
 to you a theological truth. As divine Provi- 
 dence has given to men different characters and 
 different qualities of mind and body, he has also 
 established different states and different profes- 
 sions suited to these various dispositions. More- 
 over, He has from all eternity prepared graces 
 suited to each state and to each man, in order 
 to conduct him to salvation. So that all states 
 are not adapted to every man, nor every state to 
 all men : and God has not destined to all states 
 the fulness of special and extraordinary graces, 
 but reserves this for the state to which he calls 
 a person. 
 
 If, therefore, you embrace a state of life, other 
 than that to which God has inseparably attached 
 these particular graces, you will receive only 
 those which may, but which probably will not 
 secure your salvation. In one moment- you 
 forfeit a most precious treasure of innumerable 
 
32 CHOICE OP A 
 
 graces, which would have made you victorious 
 in temptations. You lose, for the most part, the 
 three kinds of graces, which theologians call 
 protection y encouragement^ and direction, of 
 which we have so great a need, that, were God 
 for one instant to turn away his eyes, and not 
 help us, we would be lost ; like a little child that 
 walks because the nurse supports it, and would 
 fall, if for one moment left alone. By the first 
 of these graces, God defends us in our battles 
 against temptations, removes us from dangers, 
 and assists us after our falls. By the second, he 
 excites us to virtuous actions, pre-engages the 
 mind by his light, and moves the will by sweet 
 impulses. By the third, he directs us in the 
 midst of darkness and error, to the end that, 
 discerning good from evil, we may be able to flee 
 the one and practise the other. But he has been 
 pleased to attach to the state to which he calls 
 us, the abundance of these three graces. St. 
 Paul tells us, there are differences of graces, and 
 that God has destined to each man graces accord- 
 ing to his vocation. " Every one hath his proper 
 gift from God, one after this manner, and 
 another after that,'*^ (1 Cor. vii. Ï;) and inter- 
 preters say, that this passage is applied to the 
 grace of vocation which a person has for one 
 state and not for another: for we cannot make 
 divine favors pass at our will from state to state. 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 33 
 
 ''The virtue of the Holy Ghost, is given accord- 
 ing to his order, not according to our will.'' (St. 
 Cyprian,) 
 
 Behold how, in not embracing the state to 
 which God calls you, you render yourself un- 
 worthy of the most precious blessings. Deprived 
 of the particular protection of Heaven, your 
 temptations will end in sins, your dangers in 
 falls, and your falls in eternal ruin. Deprived 
 of the lively impulse of exciting grace, you 
 will not desire to embrace Christian virtues. 
 -Abandoned, and without the special direction of 
 heaven, whither can you go in safety ? How 
 can you reach the haven of salvation? You 
 will run the risk of yielding to your passions 
 without remorse, of contracting bad habits with- 
 out the hope of quitting them, of plunging into 
 vice and continuing therein until death. God 
 will abandon to you the reins, because you will 
 not have obeyed his voice. '^ But my people 
 heard not my voice, and Israel hearkened not to 
 me, so I let them go according to the desires of 
 their heart. They shall walk in their own in- 
 ventions.'^^ (Ps. Ixxx. 12.) Thus, man being 
 rendered unworthy of divine favors, generally 
 leads a life sullied with great and numerous sins, 
 dies in horrible anguish of mind, and enters an 
 unhappy eternity. 
 
 I will speak elsewhere of the punishment due 
 
34 CHOICE OF A STATE OF LIFE. 
 
 to those who resist God ; and will only add 
 here, that after the grace of baptism, which 
 begins our life, and that of dying well, which 
 ends it, the grace of choosing a state wisely is 
 the most important and the most necessary of 
 all graces ; for it is the link or bridge which 
 joins the grace of baptism to final grace, and 
 over which we pass from a happy death to 
 eternal life. It is like the keystone of an arch, 
 because it sustains all the stones of the building, 
 and the elect are living stones built up into the 
 temple of God, 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 i 
 
 M 
 
 Section 1. He who has the greater talents has 
 the greater obligation to choose well 
 
 YERY man is obliged to make a good 
 choice ; but this obligation is the 
 greater for him who has received from 
 God greater gifts of nature and of 
 grace. The greater the means which 
 God grants to man, for obtaining his end, the 
 greater the obligation to employ his efforts 
 thereto. The servant who has received five 
 talents, ought to gain far more than he to whom 
 only one has been given; for the Evangelist 
 says : *' To whom much is given^ much shall he 
 required of him.^^ 
 
 The more a land is favored by the sun, the 
 more fruits and flowers it should bring, forth. 
 The shell that receives the more abundant dew, 
 ought to afford the finer and more precious pearl. 
 Thus, says St. Thomas, riches, nobility, and 
 honors, are all motives exciting us to thankful- 
 ness ; but a penetrating mind, a happy memory, 
 eloquence, intelligence, and sound judgment are 
 
 35 
 
36 CHOICE OF A 
 
 SO many spurs, urging us to gratitude to him 
 from whom we have received them. But above 
 all, we should correspond very faithfully to cer- 
 tain extraordinary favors of supernatural grace, 
 when we are so fortunate as to receive them: 
 for if we neglect to do this, we deserve, like the 
 rebel angels, to be lost. Theologians think, that 
 the chief reason which induced God to redeem 
 fallen man, and not the fallen angels, was, that 
 the angels, enriched by greater gifts of nature 
 and of grace, all spiritual as they were, and 
 living images of the Divinity, purposely wan- 
 dered from their end, as if in contempt of the 
 sovereign Benevolence. 
 
 Let us therefore bear in mind how great an 
 evil it is, to employ in vain the talents God has 
 so liberally bestowed upon us. He commits the 
 most guilty theft, who takes what is most pre- 
 cious of the divine treasures, uses it for his plea- 
 sure, and pays no tribute from it to the Creator. 
 St. Augustine says (Solil. 12): '' He who seeks 
 his own, not thy glory, O Lord, is a thief and a 
 robber. He seeks to strip thee of thy glory, but 
 deprives himself of an eternal reward." See 
 then the great injury you offer God by abusing 
 his favors, by misapplying the mind, which is a 
 ray reflected from his divine countenance, and 
 which ought to perform actions worthy of eternal 
 glory ! This is an affront that strikes his divine 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 31 
 
 liberality to the heart; he resents it and com- 
 plains sorrowfully of it by his holy Prophets : 
 The children of Zion (Jer. Lam. iv.), enriched 
 with gifts, adorned with the finest gold, with 
 grace, destined to be vessels of honor, have 
 become worldly vessels and vessels of shame. 
 And elsewhere : " Children of men, how^ long 
 will your hearts grow heavy? how long will 
 you love vanity?" That is, how long shall I 
 grieve to see those whom I have crowned with 
 favors, abandon me to run after the false goods 
 of the world ? God condemns this ingratitude 
 in a still more frightful manner (Ezek. xvi.): 
 '^ Thoii tookest thy beautiful vessels of my gold 
 and my silver, which I gave thee, and thou 
 madest thee images of men.^^ Thou hast usurped 
 my gold, with which I adorned thee, and hast 
 made of it idols to thy vanities. Thou hast pro- 
 faned my gifts by sacrilegious abuses. Thou 
 hast changed the treasures of my kindness into 
 instruments which serve to insult me. Can you 
 imagine a greater ingratitude ? 
 
 The chastisements, with which God threatens 
 the abuser of his gifts, are proportioned to his 
 complaints. He even says, by his prophets, that 
 there shall be a hell of special torments, which 
 will correspond to the favors one may have 
 despised. The greatest punishments are re- 
 served for the ungrateful; the more favors a 
 4 
 
38 CHOICE OF A 
 
 person has received, the more guilty he is when 
 he repays them with ingratitude ? 
 
 Judge now, ye favored souls of heaven, if 
 such a motive deserves to be seriously weighed 
 in choosing a state. Hell is filled with brilliant 
 minds, which, in this world, were instruments 
 of vanity, and are now the prey of flames. God 
 will demand of you a very strict account of his 
 favors, of the talents, the learning, and the good 
 dispositions with which he has adorned you in 
 preference to others. He has given you an eagle- 
 like, greatness of soul, that you may soar towards 
 heaven: then do not burrow in the earth like 
 moles. God has impressed on your brow the 
 luminous rays of his wisdom : do not trample 
 them under foot, merely to raise yourself to vain 
 honors. By perverting the use of so many good 
 qualities, you derange the designs of divine 
 Providence, and I leave you to conclude what 
 your ingratitude will bring upon you, and what 
 you must expect. 
 
 Section 2. He who wishes to make the most of 
 his talents, ought to make his choice well. 
 
 Do not imagine, that in speaking of a choice, 
 I wish to exact from you the highest degree of 
 perfection. I will, however, show you that your 
 temporal interests are also attached to a good 
 choice ; and that, without this choice, the greatest 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 39 
 
 gifts of nature and of grace can bring you no 
 great success even in the world. The mind is 
 undoubtedly of great value ; but to misapply it, 
 is to bury in the dust a precious gem which was 
 designed to glitter in a royal crown. Wisdom 
 produces great advantages ; but to obtain them 
 it must shine forth, and not be hidden under a 
 bushel. *' To bury a talent under ground," says 
 St. Gregory, '^ is to employ in earthly concerns 
 the mind you received from God." (Hom. 9.) 
 How many youths, born for great undertakings, 
 lose their time in trifles, and give themselves up 
 to the torrent of vanity ; whilst, if they labored 
 equally for things worthy of praise, they would 
 immortalize themselves, even in the estimation 
 of men! 
 
 Is this not doing much to little purpose ? -^ 
 permitting the most precious talents to evapo- 
 rate in the smoke of ambition ? Is it not imi- 
 tating the folly of Nero, who tilled the earth 
 with a golden plough, and drove oxen with a 
 jewelled sceptre ! A youth does far worse when 
 he employs a noble genius in vile pursuits. It 
 is heaping up riches for heirs, obtaining a title 
 — honorable but fruitless; growing lean over 
 books, to the neglect of more important affairs. 
 He may for a time abuse God's gifts, but will 
 soon be deprived of them. 
 
 God ordinarily takes his gifts from those who 
 
40 CHOICE or A 
 
 abuse them. Constantine passed this law : " If 
 any one transfer his statues, columns, marble, 
 &e., to the country, thus stripping the city of its 
 ornaments, he shall be deprived of them." Ah ! 
 your soul is that city, adorned with gifts so 
 beautiful, enriched with jewels so precious ; and 
 you have applied them to the convenience of 
 your body. Soon, however, you will forfeit 
 them, for it is not my word but our Saviour^s, 
 take the talent from him which he has received 
 from my liberality. For such abuses the fair 
 daughter of Sion, that is, the soul beautified 
 with graces, was deprived of her most admirable 
 gifts ; and the Prophet Jeremiah weeps over her, 
 saying: ''All the beauty has departed from the 
 daughter of Sion." (Lament, of Jer. i.) But 
 this is not all ; God often permits great talents 
 to effect the ruin of those who abuse them. 
 
 Let us now consider those who have made a 
 good use of their talents, and have gathered the 
 fruit thereof. Two brothers, born in poverty, 
 had received from God very distinguished talents, 
 and among other qualities, a soul-stirring elo- 
 quence : but there was a vast difference in the 
 use they made of it. One, having become a re- 
 ligious, preached in the most celebrated pulpits 
 of Italy, spread the divine word, and was lis- 
 tened to with the greatest eagerness as a living 
 oracle of the Holy Ghost. The other, I know 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 41 
 
 not by what whim, became a mountebank, and 
 passed his life in acting comedies for a support. 
 When he became incapable of this, he finished 
 his unfortunate career in a hospital ; represent- 
 ing really and in truth a most miserable tragedy. 
 What a misfortune, to have employed so badly 
 a gift which he might have used so well! ** He 
 was qualified by nature to do better things than 
 he performed," as Quintilian said of Seneca. 
 How did it happen that there was so great a 
 difference between the twin brothers, who, in 
 other respects, were so much alike ? It was only 
 the choice of a state, which conducted one to 
 the temple of honor, and the other to an abode 
 of misery. 
 
 St. Thomas of Yillanova, of noble parentage, 
 passed from the cloister to one of the chief 
 Episcopal Sees of Spain ; whilst his cousin re- 
 mained in the world, at the plough, driving a 
 yoke of oxen. Such was, for one and the other, 
 the result of a choice. 
 
 Peter Faber, illustrious in the company of 
 Jesus, was highly esteemed, not only by princes, 
 cardinals and kings, who entrusted to him the 
 care of their souls, but by the greatest saints ; 
 such as St. Francis Xavier and St. Francis of 
 Sales. Faber was born a poor countryman, in 
 a hamlet of Savoy. He was the shepherd of a 
 small flock, until the very moment he began his 
 4^ 
 
42 CHOICE or A 
 
 studies. His talents were crowned with suc- 
 cess. He repaired to the University of Paris, 
 became a companion of St. Ignatius, chose wisely 
 a life of perfection, and made such admirable 
 progress in the road of wisdom and holiness, 
 that the holy Bishop of Geneva, in his writ- 
 ings, honors him with the titles Blessed, great 
 Director of Souls, and first Theologian of the 
 Company of Jesus. 
 
 It is not only the wisdom of the saints which 
 produces such wonderful effects ; a single ray of 
 judgment has directed a choice, and afterwards 
 led to great virtues and great honors. Aulus 
 Gellius relates of Protagoras, that in his youth 
 he carried burdens to gain his living. One day, 
 he returned from the woods with a burden which 
 he could not have carried, had it not been so 
 well arranged. The philosopher Democritus 
 saw him, and considering the arrangement of 
 the wood, and the ease with which he carried it, 
 stopped him, and bade him undo the bundle, and 
 make it over again in his presence. Protagoras 
 obeyed. Democritus admired him, and con- 
 cluded, that he had received from nature a mind 
 capable of occupations very different from those 
 of wood-carrier: consequently, he took him to 
 his school, and made of him a celebrated phi- 
 losopher. It is therefore true, that a good choice 
 of a state has been of great assistance to many 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 43 
 
 men endowed with talents, who, coming from a 
 cabin, hav^e been admired bj the universe. It 
 has been with them as with vapors raised from 
 a marsh, and transformed into brilliant clouds. 
 This change is owing to the readiness with 
 which thej permit themselves to be attracted by 
 the sun, which lifts them on high, even against 
 their nature. A bad choice, on the contrary, 
 causes many noble souls born for fortune to fall 
 into obscurity, like diamonds buried in the earth ; 
 which, if withdrawn from it, and polished, would 
 dazzle us with their admirable splendor. 
 
 Although the grace of God often works won- 
 ders by men of obscure birth, still, when it 
 endows certain noble souls, it seems to double 
 its strength — raising extraordinary minds for 
 extraordinary undertakings. Distinguished men 
 are generally more suited to great enterprises in 
 the service of God, provided they are docile and 
 have subdued their passions ; for then their heart 
 is a suitable temple for receiving the Holy Ghost. 
 Listen then to the words of the Prophet Eze- 
 kiel, addressed to those who have received from 
 God these precious qualities: ''Every precious 
 stone was thy covering ; the sardius, the topaz, 
 and the jasper, the chrysolite, and the onyx, and 
 the beryl, the sapphire, and the carbuncle, and 
 the emerald ; gold the work of thy beauty,'' 
 
44 
 
 CHOICE OP A STATE OF LIFE. 
 
 (xxviii. 13.) God has been very liberal towards 
 you, and requires in return a faithful corre- 
 spondence on your part. Then make a choice 
 worthy of your talents, which you are obliged 
 to employ for the greater glory of him who has 
 bestowed them upon you. 
 
CHAPTER lY. 
 
 Section 1. Extreme youth is not an obstacle to 
 making a good choice. 
 
 OME persons pretend, that the choice 
 of a state is a step so important, that 
 we ought to resolve upon it, only at 
 an advanced age, when the judgment 
 is perfectly ripe, and we have learned 
 by experience all that takes place in the world. 
 St. Thomas proves, however, that an affair so 
 important ought surely to be decided before all 
 others, and become the foundation-stone of all 
 the projects you may form. If you have ac- 
 quired the use of reason before the ordinary age, 
 and are capable of discerning the end for which 
 you are created, and the different roads that 
 may conduct you to, or remove you from it, the 
 holy Doctor advises you (op. 17, cii.) to antici- 
 pate the choice of your state. But as this case 
 is rare, the holy church, enlightened by the Holy 
 Ghost, has determined that at the age of four- 
 teen a person is competent to judge for himself, 
 
 45 
 
46 CHOICE OP A 
 
 and may embrace a state without awaiting the 
 consent of his parents. 
 
 It is therefore very wrong, when any one, in 
 contempt of Councils, (Trent Sess. 25,) blames 
 a youth, (sixteen or eighteen years of age,) for 
 having made his choice before his judgment was 
 matured. Parents are gnilty of injustice, when, 
 by authority, cunning, threats, or flattery, they 
 deprive children who have reached the prescribed 
 age, of the liberty of choosing a state. Although 
 they allege pretexts to justify their conduct, they 
 are none the less guilty before God, of mortal 
 sins, as the holy Doctors declare. St. Raymond 
 experienced so great a remorse for having kept 
 one of his relatives from entering religion, for 
 having induced a soldier of the army of Jesus 
 Christ to follow the standard of his enemy, that 
 he did not believe himself able to atone for the 
 injury done to God, except by entering the order 
 himself, in the place of him whom he had kept 
 away from it. 
 
 Youth is the most suitable age for making an 
 excellent choice. It is the time most pleasing 
 to God ; and he promises particular graces to 
 those who choose well in the opening of life. 
 Read the eighth chapter of Wisdom — where 
 God expressly says: ''I, Wisdom, dwell in 
 
 council, and they that watch for me 
 
 early in the morning, shall find me." I am 
 
STATE OP LIFE. iï 
 
 Wisdom, I conduct those who walk with reflec- 
 tion. They who seek me in the morning of life, 
 shall find me. God is not content with inviting: 
 he orders : My soUj from thy youth up^ receive 
 instructioTiy and even to thy gray hairs thou 
 shalt find wisdom. (Eccl. vi. 18.) Then do not 
 neglect it whilst heaven favors you with its light 
 and blessings, for a little later this precious boon 
 may elude your grasp. God also instructs youth 
 by the example of a young man, who, because 
 he took the road to perfection when very young, 
 was so dearly beloved by our Saviour, as to 
 cause the Apostles some jealousy. If the flower 
 of age is not sullied by worldly pleasures, it is 
 an object of special blessing and delight to God. 
 A pure young heart, free from the roots of evil, 
 offers the celestial Gardener a soil ready for re- 
 ceiving the dews of good thoughts which pro- 
 duce great actions. A mind, not darkened by 
 the clouds of passion, is best prepared for re- 
 ceiving the rays of the divine Sun, which enable 
 it to distinguish what is truly good from what 
 is so in appearance only. 
 
 This light and truth have caused the most 
 celebrated men to choose their states in tender 
 youth; and they did it with more than the 
 maturity of age. St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Aloy- 
 sius, St. Bennet, and St. Anthony, (names ever 
 glorious,) resolved before the age of fifteen to 
 
48 CHOICE OF A 
 
 abandon the world, and enlist under the standard 
 of Jesus. Other heroes of the Church, St. 
 Charles Borromeo, St. Philip ISTeri, and St. 
 Francis of Sales, from their earliest youth, de- 
 spised the great hopes the world offered, and 
 consecrated the flower of life to God in the 
 ecclesiastical state. But one of the most re- 
 markable was St. Antoninus, bishop of Florence, 
 who, hardly thirteen years of age, resolved to 
 give himself to God in the order of St. Dominic. 
 God showed by a prodigy how pleasing this 
 youthful offering was to him. Antoninus, on 
 the one side, was impatient to assume the re- 
 ligious habit ; and the Prior, on the other, fear- 
 ing too much precipitation, deferred his admis- 
 sion, and asked what he was studying. '' The 
 canon law," replied Antoninus. ''Well," said 
 the Prior, " when you know all the Canons and 
 Decrees by heart, return, and I will receive you." 
 He felt sure that several years would roll by 
 before Antoninus could succeed. The high- 
 minded youth joyfully accepted the condition, 
 and at the end of the first year called on the 
 Prior for the fulfilment of his promise. He 
 answered a very severe examination so well as 
 to astonish all the assistants, and was received 
 into the order as a treasure sent from heaven. 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 49 
 
 Section 2. Abundant fruits destined for those 
 who choose in time. 
 
 To the ingenuous youth Fulco ; Brother Ber* 
 nard, greeting : That only will cheer him in youth, 
 which he will not repent of in old age. Such 
 was the address of a letter from St. Bernard, to 
 a youth who inquired how he should employ his 
 early years. Spend your youth in such a man- 
 ner, that when you become an old man, you will 
 not regret the use you may have made of it. It 
 would be an irreparable loss, if you should await 
 the experience of many years before making a 
 choice. You would be foolishly losing the pre- 
 cious time given you to begin what you must 
 follow during your whole life. Does a laborer 
 spend half the day in examining whether he 
 shall work in the fields or in the vineyard? 
 Does a banker keep his treasures locked up for 
 years, reflecting how he shall use them to ad- 
 vantage ? Ought we, therefore, delay putting 
 to a good use the talents which the divine bounty 
 has bestowed upon us ? We would only deserve 
 the sentence pronounced against the slothful 
 servant who hid the money his master gave him 
 to use : " Take the talent from him, and cast this 
 useless servant into outer darkness.'' He who 
 opens not his eyes to the light of the Holy 
 Spirit, deserves to be deprived of it, and to be 
 5 
 
50 CHOICE OF A 
 
 cast into darkness, never again to receive that 
 light so necessary for finding the true road to 
 salvation. 
 
 Jesus wept over Jerusalem, because this un- 
 fortunate city did not know the time of its visi- 
 tation ; as if not to profit in time of divine 
 favors, and to plunge into utter ruin, were one 
 and the same thing : The day will come when 
 thou shalt be desolate, and they shall not leave 
 in thee a stone upon a stone. (St. Luke xix. 44.) 
 The Wise man tells us, that as flowers and fruits 
 appear in the season assigned to them, so every 
 enterprise should be carried out in its suitable 
 time. St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and St. Thomas, 
 all say, that the proper time for choosing a state 
 is the earliest youth. 
 
 Listen to a philosopher blaming those who 
 waste the morning of life, and reserve manhood 
 as the best time for making a choice. '^ Can 
 one imagine," says Seneca, ''in the self-same 
 being, a lavishness and an avarice more out of 
 place and more hurtful, than when a person 
 spends his youth in wickedness, and reserves the 
 worst years for a better life? It is the most 
 precious and the strongest liquor, that comes 
 first from a vessel, whilst the dregs remain at 
 the bottom : thus it is with the life of man ; the 
 first years are years of more sprightliness and 
 ardor ; and shall we spend them without any 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 51 
 
 profit, and give to perfection the miserable dregs 
 of old age ? This would be imitating the cun- 
 ning actor, who, in his youth, when he could 
 please spectators, declaimed in public, but in his 
 old age, when he could not please them, with- 
 drew to the capitol, and acted his comedies before 
 the gods, saying : " Xow all shall be done for 
 the gods, and nothing for men." Then, weigh 
 well in your mind this sentence : Optima qitœque 
 dies miseris mortalihua sevi prima fugit. Why 
 is youth the best time ? Because it is then easier 
 to form a docile and tractable mind to virtue and 
 perfection. Happy he, who in his tender years, 
 has learned to bear the yoke of virtue. He 
 walks better in his path, when early accustomed 
 to it. Grace seems changed into nature, and 
 nature into grace, St. Thomas says, that in 
 tender years, one is more flexible, more capable 
 of receiving the impressions of the Holy Spirit; 
 and having received them, is more capable of 
 always preserving them. Aristotle says : '' It 
 is very important that one habit or another be 
 taken in early years ; all the rest depends on 
 this. It is with men, as with plants: when 
 young, they easily take any direction, but when 
 they grow hard, they cannot be straightened." 
 
52 CHOICE OP A 
 
 Section 3. The great dangers of those who 
 delay their choice. 
 
 When a person defers his choice until an ad- 
 vanced age, if unfortunately a vice takes root in 
 his tender heart, how difficult to destroy it ! A 
 young man too easily forms a bad habit: the 
 weakness of his age, the scandals he sees, the 
 example of his young companions, the ardor of 
 his blood, all give grounds for fear; and God 
 only knows when he will correct himself. It is 
 still more frightful, if he is exposed to sensual 
 pleasure, which, once tasted, gives so terrible a 
 craving for it, that, like poison drunk in milk, it 
 quickly spreads through all the veins, and causes 
 evils often incurable. This is the sin into which 
 young persons so easily fall, and of which they 
 can rid themselves, in after-life, only by great 
 struggles. The mind becomes blind when seek- 
 ing remedies, the will feeble in adopting them : 
 they learn, but too late, that this vice is a narrow 
 well, into which thev easilv fall, but from which 
 they escape only with struggles and great help. 
 
 We cannot conquer this sin, without extraor- 
 dinary favors from heaven. The Apostles re- 
 ceived power over all those possessed by devils, 
 except such as were possessed from their infancy, 
 to let us know that particular grace is necessary 
 to uproot a vice contracted in youth. St. Angus- 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 53 
 
 tine says, that paths of vice are inclined and 
 covered with ice. It is easy for children to start 
 along them, but having once started, it is no 
 longer in their power to stop or return. '' Their 
 way becomes dark and slippery.''^ (Ps. xxxiv. 
 6.) A bad habit causes a sort of necessity, and 
 w^hen it is requisite to get clear of it, there is a 
 lack of will very like a want of strength. By 
 the first faults, a youth willingly sells himself as 
 a slave to sensuality ; little by little he becomes 
 ensnared, and finds himself forever bound by 
 heavy chains, a galley-slave to vice. 
 
 But even if by a singular privilege you shall 
 be preserved from iniquity, as you advance in 
 years you will find yourselves burdened with a 
 thousand affairs, with the care^ of a family, with 
 the administration of wealth, perhaps with civil 
 affairs, and will no longer even think of choos- 
 ing a state. Imagine yourself standing before 
 a vast labyrinth, with thousands of winding 
 pathways, and before entering, reflect and choose: 
 Hie starts délibéra. 
 6* 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Section 1. What are the good and the had dis- 
 positions for making a choice ? 
 
 NE of the most necessary dispositions 
 for choosing well, is, without doubt, a 
 perfect indifference. He who begs of 
 God to know his will regarding any 
 thing, ought beforehand to break his 
 attachments and strip himself of all inclinations 
 to this side or that; afterwards generously to 
 place himself in the hands of his Divine Majesty, 
 and be ready to do whatever may please Him. 
 Many persons have not this indifference, because 
 they do not understand what God would do 
 with him who should place himself entirely in 
 his hands, and be ready to go whithersoever his 
 grace might call him. A shapeless mass of 
 marble would never believe itself capable of be- 
 coming a wonder of sculpture ; and if it could, 
 it would never give itself up to the workman's 
 chisel. And so it is with those who wish to 
 impede the hand of God ; they permit him to 
 dispose of them up to a certain point, but not 
 
 54 
 
STATE OE LIFE. 55 
 
 entirely ; and sometimes they are already de- 
 cided not to embrace this or that state They 
 would wish to lay down laws to the Holy Ghost, 
 as if a pilot should command the wind to blow 
 alwavs aft, and refuse to receive it from anv 
 other quarter. Others, still more senseless, un- 
 dertake their choice, but are already inclined to 
 embrace some particular state ; like a seaman 
 who would spread his sails to the wind, having 
 previously cast anchor to fix his vessel. Such 
 persons have double work to do ; first, to put 
 out of their mind what has been planted in it by 
 caprice, and afterwards to introduce what is con- 
 formable to reason. 
 
 It is therefore necessary before "making a 
 choice, to acquire this indifference, which, says 
 St. Thomas, consists in having the affections 
 well balanced, so that you may have neither dis- 
 like nor inclination to any particular state of 
 life, and may await the slightest touch from the 
 finger of God, to start you in your proper path. 
 It would be still better to present your mind to 
 God, as a sheet of white paper, upon which he 
 may write whatever is his pleasure. That is, 
 you should have in your mind, neither whim nor 
 determination. Prejudices have great incon- 
 veniences ; for they ingraft themselves on the 
 affections and resolutions of the will. There- 
 fore, make your mind and heart perfectly calm, 
 
66 CHOICE OP A 
 
 and say : " my heart is ready, Lord, to execute 
 thy adorable will." But say it with all sin- 
 cerity, and do not be like the young man who 
 asked Jesus: "Master, what shall I do to be 
 saved ? " What indifference ! What readiness I 
 The Lord kindly replied to him : " If you wish 
 to enter into life, keep the commandments." But 
 the young man added : " I have always kept 
 them; what still remains?" The Saviour re- 
 plied : '' If you will be perfect, sell your goods, 
 give the price thereof to the poor, come and 
 follow me." These words were like a thunder- 
 bolt to him, and he retired full of sadness. 
 Where now is his .indifference ! He was wedded 
 to his riches ; said one thing, and thought 
 another. How many young persons pretend to 
 seek the will of God, and are already determined 
 to follow their own fancy! How many say, 
 *' Lord ! what shall I do ? " and wish Christ to 
 reply: '^What do you wish I should tell you to 
 do ? to what state of life do you wish that I 
 should call you? " This is not the way to serve 
 God on earth, and obtain a great reward in 
 Heaven. 
 
 Section 2. Liconstancy is a great obstacle to 
 making a good choice. 
 
 It is a great obstacle, in choosing a state, to 
 be inconstant. An inconstant soul turns to 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 57 
 
 every breeze, is incapable of great undertakings, 
 wishes all things, but embraces nothing. To 
 acquire great virtue, it is necessary to aim con- 
 tinually at a single object. An inconstant soul 
 is not capable of this ; he thinks about every 
 thing, and decides upon nothing: *' They wander 
 without any purpose, seeking for business, and 
 they do not what they have purposed." Im- 
 portant affairs demand reflection and constancy. 
 A student, who flutters over all sciences, learns 
 none. An oft removed tree produces few flowers 
 and but little fruit. The Wise man says to us: 
 Wi7inow not with every windj and go not into 
 every way ; but abhor fickleness, and be constant 
 in all your actions, so that you may say : Pes 
 meus stetit in directo. 
 
 Inconstancy in the young, is a fever, peculiar 
 to their age ; passions continually agitate them, 
 and their mind is always turned topsy-turvy by 
 new desires and consequent restlessness: they 
 wish to rest whilst at work, and work when at 
 rest. Like quicksilver, they are continually 
 moving. If engaged with the choice of a state, 
 they glance at all states and stop at none. If 
 we wish to settle them, that they may receive 
 the rays of heavenly light, they are seen to 
 change like the plumage of a dove in the sun- 
 beams, whose color we cannot tell because it 
 shows all colors. They consider all states and 
 
58 CHOICE OF A 
 
 embrace none. Speak to" them of the study of 
 law, they ai:e all readiness ; but, the next minute, 
 they will think of the religious or ecclesiastical 
 state, and will have a great desire to embrace it, 
 which will vanish as soon as they think of an- 
 other state. They resemble the chameleon's 
 skin, which takes the color of all surrounding 
 objects. The Wise man says of inconstancy : 
 '^ The heart of a fool is as the wheel of a cart, 
 and his thoughts are like a rolling axle-tree.'' 
 (Ecc. xxxiii. 5.) How is it possible to make a 
 wise choice with such a disposition? 
 
 St. Ambrose, exhorting young persons to 
 constancy, says: "Accustom yourselves to be 
 always the same, that your conduct may seem 
 like a painting, which presents always the same 
 appearance." Seneca had before said, that, uni- 
 formity of conduct is a great virtue ; it can only 
 be found in a wise man : he who has it not, 
 often changes, and it is this that hinders him 
 from doing anything truly great. 
 
 You will say that I know your disease very 
 well, and will ask me the cure for this giddiness. 
 I give you that which naturalists prescribe for 
 stopping quicksilver, which is always in motion 
 until it meets gold, with which it unites, a.nd 
 from which it receives solidity. I will tell you 
 to fix your heart on God, because St. Augustine 
 says : ^' He who fixes his heart on an immovable 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 59 
 
 object becomes immovable." But how will you 
 succeed in this! The following practices will 
 contribute to it. 
 
 1. Enter seriously into yourself, seek the source 
 whence this uneasiness proceeds, and remove the 
 cause to hinder the effect. 
 
 2. Select some acts of virtue to. practice, and 
 let them be always the same ; for by choosing 
 sometimes one and sometimes another, you do 
 not cure, but aggravate inconstancy. It weakens 
 a sick person to be continually changing the 
 remedy 
 
 3. Choose a prudent confessor who knows 
 your infirmity, and follow his treatment. The 
 woman of the Gospel, who was ailing for many 
 years had had many physicians and different 
 remedies, yet she went from bad to worse. 
 
 4. Arrange with your confessor the order of 
 all the actions of the day, and make a good reso- 
 lution of observing it as exactly as possible. 
 
 5. If, after your resolutions, you still commit 
 faults, do not be impatient; do not think you 
 will never obtain constancy because you do not 
 succeed at first, but correct your faults manfully, 
 put the present in order, and provide for the 
 future. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 Section 1. He deceives himself who believes, 
 thatj to make his choice ^ and to leave the world, 
 are one and the same thing, 
 
 S soon as you perceive the end you 
 ought to have in view in making your 
 choice, you are seized with a frightful 
 panic, like a child at the sight of a 
 ghost. If I ought, say you, to choose 
 a state only with the light of eternal truths and 
 the maxims of the Gospel, farewell my home, 
 farewell my parents ; riches, places, all fare- 
 well I I must, whether I will or not, turn my 
 back upon the world, and hasten into a cloister. 
 I am not ready for it ; my mind directed by pru- 
 dence will lead me towards employments suitable 
 to my birth : after all, my family is not so per 
 verse that I cannot find God in remaining with 
 it. Honors are not so dangerous that they 
 necessarily tend to my ruin. Therefore, Avhy 
 should I crack my skull in thinking of a choice ? 
 I would draw from it no other fruit, than to 
 
 60 
 
CHOICE OP A STATE OP LIPE. 61 
 
 raise in my mind a tempest of scruples and 
 uneasiness ! Moreover, I might conclude that I 
 ought to be a religious, and perhaps I would not 
 have the resolution to become one ; I have too 
 great a repugnance to it; I cannot even think of 
 it without becoming sad. Moths, in fluttering 
 around the light, are sure to singe their wings. 
 I prefer then to remain in my simplicity : for 
 when one wishes to know too much, it sometimes 
 happens that he learns what he would wish never 
 to have known. 
 
 Have you nothing more to say? Have at 
 least the patience to listen to my reply. In the 
 first place, I would say, that you resemble Mar- 
 cian, who refused to read the Holy Scriptures, 
 for fear of finding a refutation of his errors. 
 Now, I will reply with St. Bernard : all that 
 hinders you from seeking the will of God is, 
 that you imagine you will find nothing but rigor 
 there, where all is love. Know then, that if 
 your desire is upright and favorable to your sal- 
 vation, Grod is so good that he will conform 
 himself to what will please you. This is why 
 the prophet calls divine grace a voluntary rain, 
 that is, according to the interpreters, a rain that 
 accommodates itself to the will. St. Cyril re- 
 marks on this subject, that grace acts on our 
 wills like a gentle rain on gardens ; it conforms 
 to the good dispositions of the ground, whitens 
 6 
 
Ç2 CHOICE OP A 
 
 on the lily and reddens on the rose. In the 
 same manner, the grace of God bends itself to 
 the good inclinations of men, and seconds their 
 good wishes. But if your desire is hurtful to 
 you, why cling to what may cause your per- 
 dition ? God does not invite you to any state 
 for the good he may receive from it, but only 
 with a view to your own interest. If you do 
 not listen to him, it is to yourself you do the 
 injury. Moreover, you deceive yourself, when 
 you think, that making a good choice is the 
 same thing as quitting the world. God has ex- 
 pressly ordained that some should remain there 
 for his glory. He has from all eternity decreed, 
 that his Church should be composed of all kinds 
 of saints, like a garden which becomes more 
 agreeable by the variety of the flowers it con- 
 tains. Providence establishes various states, 
 and conducts different men to the same end by 
 different roads. 
 
 If you read the Holy Court of Father Caus- 
 sin, you will see that the Holy Ghost has been 
 pleased that some should enter armies to defend 
 the interests of their country, that others should 
 apply themselves to the study of law to keep the 
 balance of justice aright, that all should present 
 great models of virtue, whether in the army or 
 at the bar. 
 
 I will cite you one example out of a thousand. 
 
STATE OF LIFE. fô 
 
 Count Elzear having been brought up in the 
 peaceful retreat of a monastery, experienced a 
 lively grief when he was afterwards exposed to 
 the turmoils of a court ; and he was afflicted the 
 more, because, in an ecstasy, he had clearly seen 
 the excellence of eternal goods, and the baseness 
 of temporal things. Once, prostrate at the foot 
 of his crucifix, he poured forth this touching 
 lament; ^' My God, I have received great favors 
 from thy infinite goodness : I acknowledge that 
 it is to this I owe the happiness of having pre- 
 served my chastity. But these treasures of 
 grace are exposed to great dangers, for I carry 
 them in a vessel of clay amid the tumults of the 
 world. At the court I must continually live in 
 battles, where struggles are common and vic- 
 tories rare ; where vice finds a welcome home, 
 and virtue is found only by miracle. I care 
 little for having lost my repose, but am pained 
 for always placing thy honor in danger ; grant 
 me, Lord, the light and strength I need, to with- 
 draw myself to a hermitage, where I will be re- 
 moved from the world and the danger of offend- 
 ing thee : there, I would serve thee with all my 
 heart, I would enjoy thy graces, I would thank 
 thee for thy gifts." Thus he prayed, when God 
 clearly replied to him : " I do not wish you to 
 abandon the court : I am pleased that you should 
 dwell there: I have never wished you to re- 
 
64 CHOICE OP A 
 
 nounce your riches, but to make a good use of 
 them at your pleasure." The Count, astonished 
 at this reply, added with renewed ardor : *' My 
 God, I see so many precipices before me that I 
 dare not make a single step. How can I always 
 preserve myself amid them? Thou knowest 
 how very weak I am." God replied to him, 
 that by His powerful grace. He would supply 
 the deficiency of his strength, and thus enable 
 him to preserve the treasure of chastity. After 
 this heavenly vision, as if his soul had been 
 created an^w, he began to live in the world, as 
 though he were not of the world ; and all that 
 did not lead towards God, was as nothing to 
 him. 
 
 He passed all his life, so occupied with his 
 own and the public good, that he was at once a 
 Count and a Keligious. God does not therefore 
 call all men to the cloister : there are some whom 
 he calls to the world ; and to these he grants 
 powerful helps to conduct themselves well therein. 
 
 Section 2. We always follow the invitation of 
 God with pleasure, and never refuse loithout 
 committing a fault, 
 
 I WILL suppose for a moment, that God calls 
 upon you to leave the world. You fear that 
 thereby he opposes your inclinations, and only 
 grieves you. "Do not deceive yourself," says 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 65 
 
 St. Augustine ; "do not believe tLat God will 
 draw you against your will ; the heart is drawn 
 by love. God will enlighten your mind and 
 touch your heart with sweetness, in such a man- 
 ner that you will be led, not only willingly, but 
 also with pleasure : " Pleasure leads every one," 
 says the Lord. You will hasten to God will- 
 ingly and with joy. As a lamb follows you, 
 when you show it a green branch, so, when God 
 gives you sufficient light, your heart will ex- 
 perience more contentment in flying from the 
 world, than it now finds in indulging the hope 
 of honors and riches. It will be with you as 
 with the three Wise Kings, who followed with 
 great joy the star that guided them to Jesus. 
 ^' In fact," says St. Thomas, ^* when God enlight- 
 ens the mind of man, and makes him know the 
 good an object contains, he at the same time 
 sweetly inclines the will to love it, and to seek 
 it with hope, or at least with desire. From the 
 time you are willing to know and think of it, 
 you find your delight in loving it ; for God, in 
 the operations of his grace, always mingles 
 sweetness with strength. By his gifts, he raises 
 nature to esteem even difficult things ; but he 
 never does violence, to make you practise by 
 force, what you regard as hateful. 
 
 If God dispels the darkness and permits you 
 to see the beauty of virtue, if he changes the 
 6* 
 
66 CHOICE OF A 
 
 longing of your heart so that you will have 
 more relish for a great good than for a small 
 one, will you not cherish the greater ? If what 
 you seek after as gold, were proved not to be 
 genuine, would you not renounce it to acquire 
 the true virgin gold ? If you would not, you 
 resemble a leper who refused to be cured because 
 it was agreeable to him to be able to beg by the 
 aid of his disease, which excited compassion. 
 You are one of those foolish persons who prefer 
 darkness to light. I say more : if you refuse the 
 light necessary to a wise choice, your ignorance 
 is very culpable : you say to God, nearly in the 
 words of the impious man cited in Job, '' Re- 
 move from us your rays, Father of light, we 
 are resolved to shut our eyes to the light ivhich 
 shows us the good way^ Expect then the chas- 
 tisements which these impious men received ; 
 calamities of every kind in this life as a prelude 
 to the eternal misery of the next. '' It can never 
 go well with a man who, having left God's 
 guidance, prefers listening to his own counsels.'^ 
 Your ignorance is gross — as theologians call 
 it. — It springs not from a natural defect, but 
 from voluntary negligence, which makes your 
 errors wilful, and proves your loss to be your 
 own work. You are obliged to seek the will of 
 God, for a servant is bound to inform himself of 
 his master's will, as well as to execute it when 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 67 
 
 known. If you fail to do this you are guilty, 
 and it must be said of you as of the impious 
 Belthazzar: ''He would not understand that he 
 might do well." 
 
 This ignorance is not only gross but pretended, 
 and expressly affected. You are always on your 
 guard lest a good thought may enter your mind ; 
 you act the sentinel to keep the will of God from 
 the door of your heart. If a spark of truth un- 
 expectedly appears, you divert yourself with 
 amusements. You would wish to steal away 
 from the penetrating eye of God and boldly 
 reply to him in the day of judgment : '' I have 
 not known thy ways.^^ ''What! did you not 
 know my ways,'' God will reply ; and why have 
 you not sought them? Why have you shut 
 your eyes that you might not see ? ' I know you 
 not : depart into the darkness you have so eagerly 
 sought. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Section 1. When is a person to follow his in- 
 clination, and when not ? 
 
 HY, you will ask, employ so much care 
 in the choice of a state, if each one 
 should yield to the sweet violence of 
 his inclinations ? Every man is born 
 with a natural propensity which urges 
 his will to one state or to another. Whoever 
 does not follow his inclination, acts by con- 
 straint, and can never succeed. No one is suited 
 to a state opposed to his natural liking ; this 
 liking therefore is the only rule we ought to 
 follow. 
 
 I admit that a person ought to follow his in- 
 clination, but would you not wish at least to 
 look thoroughly into yourself, and learn for what 
 state your dispositions best suit you? The 
 Wise man counsels this. (Eccl. xxxvii.) When 
 you make a choice, examine — with care — for 
 what you are best suited, and to what inclined ; 
 for all states do not suit every man. The Athe- 
 
 68 
 
CHOICE OF A STATE OF LIFE. 69 
 
 nians, when the time came for teaching an art 
 to young men, made them examine the instru- 
 ments used in the different professions, explained 
 to them their advantages and difficulties, and 
 believed those youths best suited to that, profes- 
 sion or trade whose tools they handled with the 
 greatest pleasure and skill. Do the same with 
 your thoughts, in order to ascertain for v/hat 
 state you are best adapted ; and afterwards, with 
 the help of God, embrace the state in which you 
 hope to succeed best. But, beforehand, listen to 
 two important counsels which St. Gregory the 
 Great gives you: 
 
 First ; you ought not to follow your inclina- 
 tion, when it leads you to certain states that are 
 dangerous, and much exposed to vice. 
 
 These professions are sufficiently numerous — 
 sunt pier aque negotïa^quœ sine peccatis eoohiberi, 
 aut vix aut nullatenus possunt. I will not name 
 them, continues the saint, but will only say in 
 general, that there are states, in which ambition 
 leads to flattery, falsehood, envy, and under- 
 valuing your rivals ; in which avarice excites to 
 perjury, violence, and robbery ; in which you 
 may have to sustain a false point of honor by 
 crimes, or continually attend feasts and plays ; 
 professions, which you know perhaps better 
 than I. When you feel drawn to such states, 
 you ought not to follow your inclination, but 
 
70 CHOICE OF A 
 
 should replace it by a wise choice ; otherwise 
 you evidently risk your salvation. It is better 
 to move with oars, and reach a place of safety, 
 than with all sails set, to be carried to ship- 
 wreck. 
 
 Secondly ; when your inclination leads you to 
 a state morally honest, it is not enough to con- 
 sider that willing delight, and sweet bent of 
 nature towards it ; it is still necessarv to examine 
 seriously what accompanies this state, to com- 
 pare the good with the evil you may expect to 
 find, the safeguards or dangers it offers to sal- 
 vation, the hardships and pleasures, the suc- 
 cesses and reverses, generally met with therein. 
 Your desires will sometimes lead you, with 
 natural impetuosity, to a state somewhat danger- 
 ous ; and again, with less force, but by more 
 reasonable motives, to another state less peril- 
 ous. Then, concludes the Saint, embrace that 
 state in which there is less risk. Be persuaded 
 that in this state, your inclination will help you 
 the more, as plants removed to a more favorable 
 soil, produce more fruit. It is certainly neces- 
 sary to seek good trees, but it is still more 
 essential to place them in good soil, where those 
 that are common will become excellent. *^ It is 
 the soil, not the vine, that tempers the grape ; — 
 for the same vine brings forth different grapes 
 in a different ground." It is certain, that the 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 71 
 
 kind of life does a great deal towards turning 
 natural dispositions to good or to evil. 
 
 St. Gregory, the theologian, in his admirable 
 epistle to Eudoxius, the rhetorician, shows that 
 the manner of choosing a state amongst Pagans, 
 is very different from that amongst Christians. 
 The Pagans embraced at will the state they be- 
 lieved most suitable to their talents and birth ; 
 but Ave cannot content ourselves with so little, 
 because, enlightened by faith, we know better 
 what are the virtues to be practised in this life, 
 in order to be eternally happy in the next. We 
 must follow our inclination, so long as it leads 
 towards heaven, but when it does not, we must 
 oppose it: for '' The kingdom of heaven suffer.eih 
 violence, and the violent hear it away,^^ (Matt. 
 xi. 12.) The Saints purchased heaven by their 
 toil and their blood ; shall we hope to obtain it 
 without any suffering, and by doing only what 
 pleases us ? Besides, we ought to rely, not only 
 upon the helps of nature, but also upon those 
 that are supernatural, which often give us grace 
 so efficacious, that we succeed in things for which 
 we thought ourselves unfit; for Divine Provi- 
 dence sometimes performs wonderful actions by 
 means of men without talent. 
 
 But since it is useful to know and follow this 
 genuine natural inclination, let us preserve it as 
 far as possible ; changing, however, its matter, 
 
T2 CHOICE OP A 
 
 or at least its intention. I will explain myself. 
 St. Ignatius had inclinations wholly warlike ; he 
 made use of his generous dispositions to estab- 
 lish a new company of soldiers, and to compose 
 that famous meditation of the " Two Standards ;" 
 the one raised by Jesus Christ, the other by 
 Lucifer. He therefore preserved his inclination, 
 but applied it to another warfare. Alexander of 
 Ales was naturally fond of study, but he em- 
 ployed his talent in the continual study of the 
 Holy Scriptures and mystic theology; he pre- 
 served the inclination, but changed its matter. 
 St. Chrysostom abandoned the eloquence of the 
 bar, to embrace that of the pulpit. St. Komuald 
 was given to the chase. In his very hunting- 
 grounds he led a hermit's life, and '' there did 
 he seek his God." You will find many examples 
 of it in all states. Then carefully consider by 
 what means you can follow your inclination, 
 and, at the same time, embrace an honest state, 
 which will lead you to virtue. 
 
 Section 2. A bad inclination can he rectified 
 and reformed by virtue. 
 
 We see men by nature so perverse, and so far 
 removed from good, that they seem unfit for any 
 state in which the least virtue is required. Must 
 we abandon them, and give them no remedy? 
 One would sometimes be tempted to do this, for 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 73 
 
 it is very difficult to conqaer a harsh nature. 
 Often, however, it is easier to cure than is gen- 
 erally believed, provided, we undertake it with 
 courage, and are confident of success. St. Ber- 
 nard, the great physician of souls, assures us, 
 that he has seen persons who were obstinate and 
 reckless, become, with the help of reason and 
 religion, truly obedient and mild. Demosthenes, 
 born a stammerer, and awkward in whatever he 
 did, seemed more suited, like his father, to the 
 trade of a blacksmith than to the exercises of 
 the forum. How^ever, he took so much care in 
 correcting his extraordinary natural defect, that 
 we see in him quite another man. He became 
 the first of orators ; so that Valerius Maximus 
 wittily observes : '' The mother brought forth 
 one Demosthenes, and industry another." 
 
 But since natural diligence is so powerful, 
 what will it not be when aided by supernatural 
 grace ? St. Ignatius was naturally passionate 
 and impetuous ; the physicians believed he was 
 of a cold and melancholy disposition, because 
 they attributed the deadness of his passions to a 
 natural coldness, which was only the effect of a 
 continued effort to subdue the fire of his anger. 
 It is for this he warns us, that he who is natu- 
 rally reckless and can endure no restraint, ought 
 not to lose hope, nor believe himself unfit for 
 any virtuous state, but should correct himself 
 7 
 
74 CHOICE OF A 
 
 with energy. If he succeeds in conquering his 
 evil dispositions, he will be very suitable for 
 great undertakings in the service of God. His 
 ambition, directed towards spiritual things, will 
 not be content with ordinary labors, but will be 
 like a tamed lion, which preserves its courage, 
 after having lost its ferocity. Yice more easily 
 abides in a soul that seems dead and immovable. 
 Aristotle says, that the passions ought not to 
 be absolutely destroyed, but only disarmed and 
 corrected; because, when reduced to obedience, 
 they admirably assist us in the practice of the 
 most heroic virtues. He proves that passions 
 assist us in undertaking great things, and there- 
 fore does not wish them to be exterminated, but 
 to be treated as a wild horse, that is, to be tamed 
 and broken to the bit. These passions, once sub- 
 jected to reason, will be very useful to him who 
 knows well how to command them. Let us 
 imitate the gardener, w^ho takes a wild and 
 thorny shrub, joins to it a small graft, and thus 
 makes it bear delicious fruit. The root does not 
 change its nature, but the fruits of the tree are 
 improved, because it makes a better use of the 
 sap: Miraturque novas frondes, et non sua 
 poma. It will be the same with a perverse 
 nature, whose productions are vicious ; if you 
 cultivate it with care, and ingraft virtues on it, 
 you will see good and virtuous actions spring 
 
STATE OF LIFE. T5 
 
 into life. St. Paul expresses the same under this 
 allegory: Cut out of the wild olive tree, and, 
 contrary to nature, grafted into the good olive 
 tree. (Rom. xi. 24.) St. Augustine compares 
 the nature of men to that of plants, and con- 
 cludes, that, by means of a graft, we can produce 
 delicious fruit from a bad root. To him, whose 
 inclinations are directly opposed to virtue, I do 
 not say : '^ Embrace at once a state which exacts 
 tranquillity and obedience," with a hope that he 
 will soon correct himself. For example, I do 
 not advise a man of a violent temper: ^'To 
 clothe himself with an ecclesiastical habit with- 
 out delay ; " supposing him from that time to 
 approach the altar, and there offer a holocaust 
 of all his disordered passions. No ; I wish only 
 to warn you, that, if you aspire to a good choice, 
 you must, beforehand, and without awaiting an 
 advanced age, correct your bad inclinations, and 
 reduce to the empire of reason whatever rebels 
 against it. I only encourage you to seize the 
 remedy, and use it with patience, so that, little 
 by little, it may cure you. You will doubtless 
 wish and hope for success, if you consider the 
 happiness of a heart that is obedient to reason, 
 free from the agitation of passion, and always 
 enjoying a perfect calm. How pleasing is that 
 heavenly peace of mind, which is never disturbed 
 by harrowing thoughts, that gentleness of man- 
 
76 CHOICE OF A STATE OP LIFE. 
 
 ners which conciliates love, that perfect harmony 
 which produces serene joys ! These will be the 
 fruits of the victory you will have won over 
 yourself ; for, to conquer corrupt nature is to up- 
 root disordered passions, which are ever the 
 parent of sadness, and to replace them by vir- 
 tuous habits, the only sources of the spiritual 
 delights which God bestows on those who fight 
 the good fight : '' To him that overcometh, I will 
 give the hidden manna.'^ (Apoc. ii. 17.) If 
 you are pleased with this result, take yourself 
 in hand, and boldly enter upon the reform of 
 whatever one your nature contains. 
 
CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 Section 1. Of a had cJioice founded on human 
 motives. 
 
 NE of the greatest mistakes a youth 
 can make is to embrace a state with- 
 out making a prudent choice ; that is, 
 to be guided by natural impulse, by 
 the desire of riches, or by the force of 
 passion. In the first place, St. Ambrose ob- 
 serves, that many young persons adopt a state, 
 only because it is that of their father, of which 
 we see frequent examples in all conditions of 
 life. And relatives often go so far as to per- 
 suade, and even force, children to do this. When 
 one is an only son, the sentence is passed ; he 
 must marry, in order to keep up the family. If 
 God calls elsewhere, heavenly laws must yield 
 to worldly interests. If there are several chil- 
 dren, they are irrevocably divided between God 
 and the world, but, of course, the w^orld has the 
 preference. The eldest must marry a rich wife ; 
 another study law ; another devote himself to 
 medicine. Finally, another must try his fortune 
 7* '77 
 
T8 CHOICE OF A 
 
 in war, and he may escape its perils as best he 
 can. The daughters are disposed of in the same 
 manner. Behold the plans of a wise father of a 
 family, or, rather, of a perfidious murderer of 
 his offspring ; not of their bodies, but, what is 
 worse, of their souls ! 
 
 But young persons, who have a little good 
 sense and nobleness of heart, ought not to per- 
 mit their parents to exercise such a despotism 
 over their choice of a state, as if they were the 
 sovereign judges of vocations, and the oracles 
 of the Holy Spirit. There are often considerable 
 differences between the natural dispositions of 
 the father, and those of his children : why, then, 
 ought they to have the same state ? When the 
 son falls sick, why do they call a physician who 
 examines his case ? Would it not be better to 
 give him simply the remedies which once en- 
 tirely cured the father ? You will say that this 
 would be a folly, because their constitutions are 
 different. But is it not the greatest of follies, 
 to wish to lead to eternal salvation, by the same 
 road, both father and son, whose natural dispo- 
 sitions are more opposed than fire and water? 
 The father of St. Francis was a wealthy mer- 
 chant ; the son was, however, chosen by God to 
 give the world an example of the greatest pov- 
 erty. Gonzaga was a courtier, but Aloysius, 
 his eldest son, was called by heaven to the 
 
STATE OF LITE. 79 
 
 humility of a religious order. Charles II. — 
 king of Naples — was a warlike prince ; but God 
 inspired St. Louis, his son, the heir of three 
 crowns, to refuse the sceptre, and enlist under 
 the standard of the cross. The father of St. 
 Francis of Sales was a soldier, but the son was 
 chosen by the Hply Ghost to wear the mitre, 
 and be an example to all ecclesiastics. If these 
 heroes in sanctity had followed in the footsteps 
 of their fathers, perhaps they would not now be 
 in heaven, and their names w^ould not have 
 acquired that celebrity on earth which they 
 now enjoy. God, wishing to make a great hero 
 of Abraham, said to him : Go forth out of thy 
 country and from thy kindred, and out of thy 
 father'' 8 houiie, and I will bless thee^ and I will 
 magnify thy name. 
 
 Section 2. Family interest ought not to influence 
 us in choosing. 
 
 Worldly wisdom employs still another argu- 
 ment, more reasonable in appearance, but equally 
 false. An only son ought to be the prop of his 
 family. A poor argument this ! A young Nea- 
 politan, an only son, had resolved to leave the 
 world ; his father, by a cruel tenderness, left no 
 means untried to change his mind, and offered 
 him the most advantageous alliance, in order 
 thereby to prevent the extinction of his family. 
 
80 CHOICE OF A 
 
 The poor young man yielded, but, after a month's 
 marriage, an illness of several days carried him 
 off without his leaving any successor to his 
 name. See what results from embracing a state 
 against the will of God. *' There is no wisdom, 
 there is no prudence, there is no counsel, against 
 the Lord." (Prov. xxi. 30.) When God calls, 
 all other considerations must be set aside ; and, 
 if a person wishes to reason, he should say: 
 " This is an only son, but, since he cannot be 
 divided between God and the world, it is but 
 just that he should be entirely God's.'' This is 
 an only son: it is then to be feared, that, seeing 
 himself an heir to a considerable fortune, he may 
 employ it in offending God, and thereby lose an 
 eternal inheritance. 
 
 St. John the Baptist, of the princely house of 
 Zachary, wished, from his infancy, to flee into 
 the desert, in order to preserve in its purity the 
 lily of his virginity, and was not deterred by the 
 thought that this step terminated a family of the 
 chosen people of God, as ancient as illustrious. 
 St. Alexis, the only son of a Roman prince, 
 crowned with honors and riches, left all, the very 
 night of his wedding, without allowing the dis- 
 pleasure of his parents, or the extinction of his 
 family, to hold him back. Fabius, a Roman 
 knight, the last descendant of the renowned 
 Fabii of ancient Rome, buried their glory in a 
 
STATE OF LIFE. ' 81 
 
 religious life. To those who proposed to obtain 
 for him a dispensation from his vows that he 
 might continue a family so glorious to Rome for 
 more than two thousand years, he replied, that 
 he thought nothing more honorable to his family 
 than to end in a man entirely consecrated to 
 the glory of God. 
 
 Your family is, perhaps, not more distinguished 
 than those just named : why fear so much to give 
 so honorable an end to your ancestral line, which 
 will perpetuate their glory in a happy eternity? 
 A youth, the only son of parents far advanced in 
 years, ardently desired to embrace a religious 
 life, but his parents wished absolutely that he 
 should keep up their name. To obtain his 
 liberty, he addressed the Queen of Angels with 
 so many and such fervent prayers, that his 
 parents were blessed with a second son. He 
 then renewed his entreaties, which were crowned 
 with success, and became a most distinguished 
 religious. An only child receives from God 
 signal favors when he forms noble resolutions 
 and despises worldly hopes. The Holy Scrip- 
 tures teach us that God showered abundant 
 blessings on Abraham's family, because this 
 Patriarch consented to sacrifice his only son: 
 " Because thou hast not spared thy only-begotten 
 son for my sake, I will bless thee, and I will 
 multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven ; and 
 
82 CHOICE OF A 
 
 in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be 
 blessed J because thou hast obeyed my voiced 
 (Gen. xxii.) 
 
 Even when a father has more children than 
 St. Leopold, who was blessed with eighteen, he 
 has not on that account the right to bargain 
 with God, and distribute them in such a manner 
 that one shall sustain the family, others become 
 soldiers, ecclesiastics, religious, etc. ; but he 
 should say to them with that wise Prince, 
 '* Choose what you please ; see whom you 
 ought to serve, in order to save your souls." 
 The Machabees w^ere seven brothers, and they 
 were all called to the army. In the house of 
 St. Basil there were four brothers ; all became 
 religious, very celebrated Bishops, and, what is 
 more, great Saints. St. Bernard, the scion of a 
 most distinguished family, had six brothers ; all 
 of them left the world, to enter a monastery. 
 When several of them were on their way, they 
 met their youngest brother — Nivardo — who 
 was playing in the street with his school- 
 fellows. ''Brother,'' said Guido, the eldest, 
 " good-bye ; we are going to the monastery ; 
 we have left you all our property." At these 
 words the child cried out, "What! you take 
 heaven for yourselves, and leave me the earth ! 
 No ; that is not fair. I, too, have sufficient 
 courage to despise so worthless an inheritance." 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 83 
 
 He immediately followed his brothers, and all 
 had the happiness of forming a new brotherhood 
 in the same monastery. Therefore, when heaven 
 gives a father several children, he ought not to 
 dispose of them in different states, merely ac- 
 cording to his interest or his caprice. This de- 
 priving others of their liberty is an act of de- 
 liberate injustice. Men ought not to make such 
 bargains with God, but each one should say — 
 ^' My lot is in thy hands." 
 
 Section 3. Worldly, hopes ought not to direct a 
 
 choice. 
 
 Another error, no less dangerous, is to choose 
 a state with a view to self-interest only. This is 
 the sole object of those who are called "promis- 
 ing youths," who build castles in the air, and 
 imagine that they will soon possess a fortune 
 and preferments, which they will never obtain. 
 *' Credulous youth," says Louis the Just, " im- 
 agines itself in the centre of the city — when it 
 can barely hear its distant bells." How deceit- 
 ful are your hopes ! You imitate JEsop's dog, 
 which, in endeavoring to seize the shadow of the 
 meat in the water, dropped the piece from his 
 mouth. Your only solicitude is to attain great 
 riches and honors. If you believe that your in- 
 terest requires you to study law or medicine, or 
 to engage in commerce, you plunge into it at 
 
84 CHOICE OF A 
 
 once, without ever reflecting whether God called 
 you to it, or whether you can, at the same time, 
 attend to it and save your soul. Such scruples 
 as these do not even enter your head ; or, if they 
 do, you hasten to turn to your own view the in- 
 spirations of the Holy Ghost, just as sailors 
 make a contrary wind serve their purpose. I 
 will give a specimen of the course of reasoning 
 generally pursued. If I become a doctor, say 
 you, I will get such or such a situation ; when 
 I shall have amassed sufficient wealth, my emi- 
 nence will open the way to the highest prefer- 
 ment. If I take the ecclesiastical habit, says 
 another, after my theological studies, I will de- 
 vote myself to the service of such a prelate ; he 
 cannot but give me a good parish. Merchandis- 
 ing, says another, has often made princely for- 
 tunes ; if I devote my resources to this, my in- 
 dustry will soon have doubled them ; and, after 
 that, what may I not hope for ? Such are com- 
 mon reasons, and would to God that those who 
 determine on a state of life had none worse. Is 
 there, in this, even the least sign of a thought 
 of the glory of God, the salvation of the soul, 
 Paradise, eternity ? Where is faith ? Would an 
 atheist, who believes neither in God nor in 
 eternity, reason otherwise ? 
 
 But at least those who choose a religious state 
 have no such motives. Would to God that this 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 85 
 
 were true, for many have embraced that state, 
 only with a hope of living more at ease. Their 
 family is in straitened circumstances, the times 
 are bad, they promise themselves in the cloister 
 a more agreeable life, or an honorable office. 
 These persons have neither vocation nor zeal : 
 their only object is to escape misery, and live on 
 good cheer, at the expense of Jesus Christ. A 
 lazy tradesman, fully convinced that angels 
 would bring his victuals to him regularly, wished 
 on that account to become a hermit. He left 
 his wife and little children, and retired into the 
 woods near where another hermit dwelt, to whom 
 he related his designs. The hour for dinner ap- 
 proached, came, and passed, but no angels ap- 
 peared; and the man began to lose patience. 
 *^ However," said he to himself, ^^ perhaps the 
 heavenly bread has not yet been taken from the 
 oven.'' After a while he met the old hermit, 
 and asked, "At what hour do they dino in 
 heaven ? " " What do you say," replied he, " are 
 you crazy ? " *' Oh ! no," said the new-comer, '* I 
 only asked, because the angel has not yet come 
 to bring me anything to eat." "Oh! foolish 
 man ! " said the hermit, " because you have been 
 here two hours, do you think you deserve to 
 have angels bring you bread, as if you were one 
 of the holy fathers of the desert ? I have been 
 living here these twenty years on raw herbs, and 
 8 
 
86 CHOICE OF A STATE OF LIFE. 
 
 I am not yet sure of having obtained the grace 
 of God. You must, my brother, in order to 
 please God, work, suffer, and eat little." *' If I 
 had wished," replied the tradesman, ''to labor 
 and eat little, I would not have left my house : " 
 saying this, and being pressed by hunger, and 
 in quite a bad humor, he left the forest and re- 
 turned home grumbling. 
 
 Those who enter religion through temporal 
 motives, do not generally find what they expect; 
 and make neither good religious, nor good lay- 
 men. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 Section 1. To choose well, you must compare 
 the perishable present with the eternal future. 
 
 E who is susceptible of elevation of 
 soul, of truly noble sentiments, ought 
 not to act from base motives. Let 
 him adopt those sentiments which 
 have controlled the greatest men in 
 the world. St. Ignatius wished to win to God 
 the great soul of St. Francis Xavier, which was 
 entirely absorbed in the pursuit of the honors 
 which his talents promised him. ''Francis,'' 
 said St. Ignatius to him, '^ what will all you may 
 gain in this life profit you, if you make no pro- 
 vision for the next? If your soul is lost for all 
 eternity, what advantage will it be to you to 
 have left great riches to your heirs, to have 
 gained a celebrated name, to have led a luxuri- 
 ous life ? would it be wise to purchase the fleet- 
 ing joys of the present, at the price of eternal 
 sufferings in the future ? Do you hope to live 
 fifty years longer ? You can never be sure of 
 that, — but let us suppose that you are certain 
 
 87 
 
88 CHOICE OP A 
 
 of it ; — let us even add that you will not be 
 exposed to the many reverses so common to 
 other men, that you will reach the very pinnacle 
 of honor^ that you will possess immense riches 
 and be blessed with accomplished children, and 
 finally, suppose that nothing will be wanting to 
 your temporal happiness. But what is half a 
 century in comparison with the endless ages of 
 eternity, with the punishment of hell, the happi- 
 ness of heaven ? Would it not be foolish to 
 employ a great part of life in heaping up things 
 which you must abandon when you die, whether 
 you will or not ? If you employ in the service 
 of God, in acquiring heaven, the same, and 
 even less labor than the world requires, (for 
 which it grants a small and pitiful portion of its 
 despicable goods,) you will obtain fortune, honor, 
 and happiness, eternal and infinite.'' Make the 
 same reflections for yourself, when you choose 
 a state. Often recall these words, ^' What will 
 it profit me ? " and thus avoid the misfortune of 
 crying eternally in hell with the damned, '' What 
 hath pride profited us ? or what advantage hath 
 the boasting of riches brought us ? " (Wisdom.) 
 St. Philip Neri met a young knight who had 
 just come to Rome, to seek his fortune. The 
 young nobleman told him the successive grada- 
 tions of his hopes. At each step by which he 
 pretended to ascend, the Saint asked, " And after 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 89 
 
 that?" until finally the young man said, ''And 
 after that I will die." The Saint added, ''And 
 after death," and spoke to the young man's heart, 
 and made all those chimeras of the false gran- 
 deurs of the world in which he indulged, vanish 
 in a moment. He then spread before him the 
 infinite and eternal goods, which became from 
 that time the only object of his pursuit. Would 
 to God, we could say as much of all youths who 
 think of a state of life, but who are absorbed 
 in speculations about the great success which 
 awaits them. You will complete your studies 
 with credit, you will be honored with collegiate 
 degrees, elevated to posts of distinction, contract 
 an excellent marriage ; be it so ? " But after 
 that ? " You will have your family around you; 
 you will acquire a considerable fortune, you will 
 enjoy the favor of the great, you will become a 
 statesman. "But after that?" Your name 
 will be respected in every country, the renown 
 of your family will continue to increase, your 
 children will be in high stations ; grant this 
 also. " But what next ? " You will have every 
 pleasure at your command, your health will be 
 perfect, your old age very agreeable, your life 
 long, very long, and very happy; I grant all. 
 " But after that ? " Alas ! after that vou must 
 die. And after that you will have lost all, all 
 things temporal, all things eternal. You will 
 8* 
 
90 CHOICE OF A 
 
 have done all for time, nothing for eternity. 
 You will have bestowed all your cares upon 
 your welfare in this fleeting world, where, willing 
 or unwilling, you are resting only for a moment 
 as you pass, and you will have done little or 
 nothing for the land in which you must dwell 
 for all eternity. 
 
 St. Paul presents the same motive to assist us 
 in making a good choice (Heb. xiii. 14) : '' We 
 have not here a lasting city, but we seek one 
 that is to come," we are wanderers on earth ; 
 w^e are journeying towards heaven. The royal 
 prophet says, I am a stranger in the world, and 
 on a pilgrimage to the other life ; I go then as a 
 traveller, journeying slowly, always bearing in 
 mind the end I desire. 1 ought not to take the 
 way which seems most agreeable to me, if it 
 leads me astray, but that one which will conduct 
 me most directly and most surely to my country. 
 
 Section 2. Other maxims which should direct 
 a choice. 
 
 St. Augustine has left us the maxim that 
 directed him in the choice of a state. It is this: 
 Thou hast made us for thyself, Lord, and 
 our heart is uneasy until it rests in thee. In 
 God alone we find calm and repose, out of Him 
 we experience grief and vexation. If you do 
 not embrace the state in which you ought to 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 91 
 
 serve God, how many tribulations await youl 
 You hope to enjoy riches, but reverses will over- 
 whelm you. You think you will contract a dis- 
 tinguished and agreeable union, but you will 
 find only discord. You aspire to honors, and it 
 will only procure you thorns. How many things 
 have persons desired, which they wished to get 
 rid of almost as soon as they possessed them. 
 
 Every temporal good has its mixture of evil, 
 and it is a kind disposition of Providence, in- 
 tended to detach us from temporal things. If 
 you choose a way through caprice, God warns 
 you that he will hedge it with thorns (Osee ii.), 
 and they shall surround you at every step. 
 
 If, on the contrary, you had taken the road to 
 which God called you, you would have found 
 peace therein. ''If thou hadst lualked in the 
 ways of God, thou hadst surely dwelt in peace 
 forever.'''' (Baruch iii. 13.) 
 
 Listen' to a very interesting fact, which St. 
 Augustine feelingly relates. John, the emperor, 
 was once attending the public plays at Treves, 
 when two of his courtiers, leaving the tumult 
 of the court, walked into the country, and came 
 across a hermit's cabin. They saw how much 
 this abode of peace differed from the Babylon of 
 the court. They found the life of St. Anthony 
 there, from which one of them read several 
 passages ; but soon, transported by the love of 
 
92 CHOICE OF A 
 
 God, he cried out, ^' What do we think of gain- 
 ing by so much labor and uneasiness ? Can we 
 hope for more than to become the emperor's 
 favorites ? But how many dangers must we 
 brave, to enjoy this frail happiness ? What can 
 the emperor give us that does not cost us more 
 than it is worth ? and whatever we get we will 
 perhaps keep not even during our life. But I 
 can be God's friend at. once by simply w^ishing 
 it." He concluded by saying to his friend : " It 
 is done. I abandon all worldly hopes. I wish 
 to serve God. I will remain here. If you do 
 not wish to follow me, at least do not disturb 
 me ; so good-bye." " No," replied the other, "I 
 will not leave you, nor let you enjoy alone the 
 hope of so great a reward." And both began 
 at once to build their spiritual edifice. St. 
 Augustine, singularly touched by this example, 
 said to one of his friends, '^ What are we doing ? 
 The ignorant seize the kingdom of heaven, and 
 we, with all our lea^ning, risk our salvation." 
 
 Another principle equally solid and true, is to 
 take the state you will wish to have taken when 
 on your death-bed. Imagine yourself to have 
 reached this awful moment, when, assured that 
 you can live no longer, a Confessor will raise 
 the Crucifix, and repeat an act of contrition for 
 you. With the glimmering taper generally 
 placed near a dying person, how much better 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 93 
 
 will you see things, than in a fall blaze of light 
 from the sun of buoyant youth? Whenever 
 St. Thomas was in doubt, he said to himself; 
 *^ Thomas, what will you wish to have done at 
 the hour of death." Imagine yourself to have 
 been brought before the divine tribunal, there to 
 be judged with the greatest exactness on all 
 your life, and to render an account of your talents, 
 graces, works done or neglected, inspirations, 
 affections, and thoughts : see what state you will 
 wish to have chosen : embrace it now, and you 
 have chosen well. St. Augustine assures us that 
 the best way of guiding ourselves is to turn to 
 the moment of death; because, being between 
 the present and the future life, we clearly see, 
 that temporal things there end, and eternal ones 
 begin. If you have not entirely lost your reason, 
 you will not hesitate to abandon a way which 
 affords but fleeting and deceitful goods, and to 
 take one which will lead you safely to the pos- 
 session of those infinite treasures which God has 
 prepared for you. 
 
 Suppose, says St. Ignatius, that one of your 
 most intimate friends, consults you in these 
 terms : " I have a great desire to save my soul, 
 but I do not know what state I ought to choose 
 in order to insure success. If I remain in the 
 world, I will find it filled with dangers and bad 
 example ; in it everything invites to sensual 
 
94 CHOICE OF A STATE OF LIFE. 
 
 pleasure, avarice, ambition, and, in a word, to 
 sin. On the other hand, my health is good ; I 
 do not lack talents ; I have a handsome fortune ; 
 I can succeed in an employment which pleases 
 me ; I wish to know by what road I would most 
 surely reach a happy eternity. Tell me, as a 
 good friend, what state I ought to choose in 
 order to attain my end with safety." Adopt the 
 same course for yourself which Christian wisdom 
 would suggest to you for this friend, and your 
 choice will be excellent. 
 
 St. Thomas exhorts you to take Jesus Christ 
 as your adviser. Suppose then that you had 
 had the happiness of being born when our 
 Saviour lived in Judea, and gave men this sweet 
 invitation : *' Come to me, all ye who labor and 
 are heavy burdened in this world, and I will 
 give you rest." Beg of him, that, after having 
 suffered so much for your salvation, he may be 
 pleased to let you know the state to which he 
 calls you. Say to him with St. Thomas : '' Grant 
 me, Lord, the grace to know clearly what 
 pleases thee, to desire it ardently, and accom- 
 plish it perfect!}^, for the glory of thy holy name. 
 Fix my state of life, enlighten my mind, inflame 
 my heart that I may embrace the one in which 
 I will save myself." Then, listen to what the 
 Lord will advise you, and perform it promptly, 
 for it is the advice of infinite wisdom. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 Section 1. No person can choose well with a 
 had adviser, 
 
 T is the will of God that men should 
 be guided by other men ; even when 
 the Holy Ghost grants us extraordi- 
 nary light, he wishes us to under- 
 stand that we are exposed to error, 
 and that we should ask the advice of others, in 
 order not to be deceived. 
 
 Solomon, the wisest of mortals, begged of 
 God a docile heart. It was God^s will that the 
 Israelites should consult Moses. He sent Paul 
 to Ananias, although he himself could have 
 given his orders more promptly, having ap- 
 peared to him on his way to Damascus. God 
 often conversed with his Saints most familiarly; 
 but in matters regarding their souls, he sent 
 them to their Confessor. Even philosophy 
 teaches that a man who thinks he knows and 
 can do all things without needing any advice, is 
 necessarily, either a God among mortals, or a 
 
 95 
 
96 CHOICE OP A 
 
 beast among men. True prudence requires 
 every one to take advice, especially in his own 
 affairs, where passion or inclination interferes 
 with soundness of judgment. Agamemnon, 
 whilst very young, was called the Wise King, 
 because he undertook nothing without asking, 
 and following the advice of Nestor. 
 
 With truth, therefore, did Isocrates say to a 
 young man : ^' When any one offers you advice 
 for the direction of your affairs, examine in the 
 first place how he takes care of his own. If he 
 acquits himself badly, his advice will scarcely be 
 advantageous to you. You cannot expect advice 
 with regard to your situation, from him who evi- 
 dently neglects his own. Who then can give you 
 Avise counsel for making a good choice ? Your 
 parents ? friends who love you dearly ? St. Thomas 
 says, that generally we must not ask their advice, 
 because they are often our enemies, and wish to 
 seduce us ; Inimici hominis domestici ejus : no- 
 body asks advice of his enemies, and many of 
 them conceal their enmity. 
 
 Whilst under the cloak of friendship, they 
 picture good to us as evil ; they wish to per- 
 suade us that the most favorable road to salva- 
 tion is precisely that which is most advanta- 
 geous to them. If by retaining us in the world, 
 they rob us of eternal happiness : could the 
 sworn enemy of mankind bring a greater evil 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 9T 
 
 upon us ? They love us, but what sort of love 
 is that which may prove our ruin ? They love 
 us, but with an interested love, on account of 
 the temporal advantage they expect from us, 
 such as relief in their labors, the renown of the 
 family, increase of riches. They regard us as a 
 part of themselves ; and, therefore, since a per- 
 son cannot be his own adviser, they cannot be 
 the advisers of their children. They are in- 
 terested in them, and will advise them, as if 
 children had no other end or aim than the profit 
 and pleasure of their parents. 
 
 The example of Jesus Christ proves what I 
 have advanced. He carried to the highest 
 degree his love for Mary and Joseph, and his 
 obedience for them ; however, at the age of 
 twelve years, when the service of his eternal 
 Father was to be considered, he withdrew into 
 the Temple without saying a w^ord to them 
 about it ; and w^hen Mary, overwhelmed with 
 grief because his foster-father and she ^'had 
 sought him sorrowing," complained tenderly to 
 him, he replied : '' How is it that you sought 
 me? did you not know, that I must be about 
 my Father's business ? " (Luke ii. 49.) By this 
 he teaches us, that in such a case it is not neces- 
 sary to ask advice of our parents, but that we 
 may hide from them our divine inspirations, and 
 reply to them in the words of our divine Re- 
 9 
 
98 CHOICE OF A 
 
 deemer, should thej wish to turn us aside from 
 them. 
 
 It would be a still greater error, to ask the 
 advice of friends and companions. This would 
 be to imitate him who should place himself 
 under the guidance of a blind man to be led over 
 a dangerous pathway, at the great risk of losing 
 his life. These worldlings are the blind ones, 
 buried in a profound ignorance of what regards 
 salvation, and delivered by their passion to a 
 perverse will. They know not the simplest ele- 
 ments of true wisdom or virtue. '' The sensual 
 man perceiveth not the things that are of the 
 Spirit of God:' (1 Cor. ii. 14.) It would, 
 therefore, be foolish to consult him upon a choice 
 of the state of life. How many young persons 
 would have chosen the way of salvation, had they 
 not been led astray by friends and would-be sages ? 
 As soon as they believe that one thinks of serv- 
 ing God, they make a grand display of the most 
 plausible maxims : '' Take care of yourself, it is 
 a weighty and momentous affair you are about : 
 remember, do nothing rashly, be advised ; do not 
 undertake what you cannot carry out; you must 
 reflect a long time, unless you wish to have 
 cause of repentance." 
 
 Behold, says St. Bernard, a discretion that is 
 carnal, sensual, diabolical, and inimical to salva- 
 tion. St. Bernard, usually so mild, speaks here 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 99 
 
 in a severe tone, because he had himself felt how 
 powerful such advisers were, and how easily 
 they overthrow every spiritual edifice. He had 
 made known his vocation to his relations and 
 friends, who made so many representations to 
 him, that his constancy was shaken. They 
 spoke of the good he would do in the world ; 
 assured him that his talents and amiability would 
 lead him to the greatest honors and riches, that 
 his constitution was too weak to endure the 
 austerity of the cloister ; that he could serve 
 God more at his ease without flvino; from his 
 acquaintances ; that he would be the glory of 
 his house and country. Young Bernard hesi- 
 tated, but at last by a special grace he burst his 
 chains, and gained the victory. He, therefore, 
 well understands with what care we ought to 
 conceal such inspirations ; like the merchant in 
 the Gospel, who, having found a treasure in a 
 field, hid it, and sold all he had to buy the field, 
 and gain that treasure. Great undertakings 
 ought always to be kept secret to insure success. 
 
 Section 2. One cannot choose hadly^ when well 
 advised. 
 
 In order to make your choice, ask the advice 
 of a wise man, who loves what is truly good, 
 and knows how to discriminate the different 
 states, and the nature of the person who desires 
 
100 CHOICE OF A 
 
 to make his selection. Seneca says : *' All wish 
 to be happy, but many are deceived with regard 
 to the means of becoming so. One must, first 
 of all, take the true road, and be led to it by a 
 Director who knows well the end to which he 
 should aspire." Tobias said to his son: "Con- 
 sult a wise man, that is, one who is upright, 
 prudent, and pious ; " such a one is like him of 
 whom the Evangelist says : *' He is a prudent 
 and faithful servant ; " being zealous for the sal- 
 vation of others, he will not deceive them, and 
 being enlightened by the Holy Ghost, cannot 
 be deceived ; and as carefully as you should con- 
 ceal your design from others, just so carefully, 
 says St. Lawrence Justinian, should you expose 
 it to your spiritual father. Let him know sin- 
 cerely your whole interior, your sentiments, your 
 inclinations, your affections, your passions, your 
 physical strength, every thing in favor of your 
 design, and every thing against it ; for if you 
 conceal any thing from him, it will be impossible 
 for him to guide you well. 
 
 There are some young people, who find great 
 difficulty in conversing with their Confessor, 
 and it is perhaps, because they fear that this 
 intercourse may bring their faults to his mind. 
 Unreasonable shame! says Gerson: how can 
 you believe that your Confessor loses esteem 
 and affection for you ? It is very easy to see that 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 101 
 
 you have seldom made your confession, for if 
 you had you would be convinced, that the greater 
 the faults you disclosed to him, the more he was 
 attached to you. Aristotle says, that to gain 
 the love of any one, it is only necessary to 
 reveal to him one of your most hidden secrets : 
 and we find it true even with regard to entire 
 strangers. — This confidence creates a truly pa- 
 ternal love in him in whom it is reposed. The 
 remembrance of the fault, continues Gerson, I 
 know not how, is entirely blotted from my mind, 
 and I feel nothing but a tender love for the guilty 
 one whom I have restored to innocence by re- 
 generating him in grace ; as the Apostle said, 
 they are dear children born to grace. 
 
 St. Augustine wishes us to look upon our Con- 
 fessor, not only as the judge and physician of 
 our soul, but also as a most faithful friend, of 
 whom the wise man says: '*A faithful friend is 
 our medicine of life," because he consoles us in 
 our troubles, rejoices at our prosperity, and sym- 
 pathizes in our adversity. He who has found 
 such a friend, such a Confessor, has found a 
 treasure. Let him profit by the treasure ; let 
 him go from time to time, out of confession to 
 ask his advice, and he will always be instructed 
 and consoled. 
 9* 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Section 1. Practices useful for, making a good 
 
 choice. 
 
 ERE God to place all men where he 
 is pleased thej should be, as he once 
 did with Ezekiel, any solicitude on 
 our part would be useless. But gen- 
 erally he invites us by a light which 
 he infuses into our minds, and by affections which 
 he excites in our breasts. We must, therefore, 
 beg the Holy Ghost, the source of all knowledge, 
 to impart to us this light and these affections, 
 and we must also employ a pious industry in 
 pursuit of them, for God will never draw us by 
 force. ■ One of the most useful means is, to with- 
 draw for eight or ten days from all business, and 
 retire into solitude, there to make a wise choice, 
 regulated by the infallible maxims of the Gospel, 
 and under the guidance of a good spiritual father. 
 After having spent at your pleasure, and perhaps 
 lost so many months and years, is it too much 
 to give a few days of retreat to the making of a 
 
 102 
 
CHOICE OF A STATE OF LIFE. 103 
 
 good choice ? You will see all things in a truer 
 light ; you will see that up to this time you have 
 walked like a blind man, and have thus made 
 many false steps. 
 
 Consider to what state you are inclined. 
 Afterwards reflect on the end for which God 
 created you. Be careful to have a perfect in- 
 difference for all things, and esteem them, only 
 so far as they help you to attain your end. Beg 
 of God to enlighten you, and to prevent your 
 wandering from his Holy Will. Seek all the 
 reasons for and against the state you are con- 
 sidering ; examine their true force, and how far 
 this state will assist you in serving God in this 
 life, that you may enjoy him in the life to come. 
 Take, with firmness, the way which seems most 
 advantageous under this point of view. If you 
 are doubtful, choose that which you will wish to 
 have taken at the hour of death. If it is abso- 
 lutely impossible to separate yourself in retreat 
 from the world, take the advice, which St. Ber- 
 nard gave to a young man. If you wish to lend 
 the ear of your heart to the voice of God, sweeter 
 than honey, retire a little while from the cares 
 of the world, so that you may confidently say, 
 with Samuel: '^ Speak, Lord, Thy servant hear- 
 eth." And as the tumult of worldly things does 
 not permit his low sweet voice to reach your 
 ears, I advise you, whilst you, are in the bloom 
 
104 CHOICE OF A 
 
 of life, to take a little time every day for retiring 
 into a lonely church, or at least into a room where 
 you will not be disturbed, and where you may 
 withdraw your wandering thoughts from worldly 
 things, enter into yourself, and in the presence 
 of God alone, beg him to place you in the road 
 of salvation. You must also purify your soul 
 by a good confession, for the divine Wisdom will 
 not enter a soul sullied by sin. Sin forms be- 
 tween God and the sinner a cloud, which not 
 only intercepts the rays of the divine sun, but 
 also impairs the efficiency of your prayers. 
 Thou hast set a cloud before thee, that our 
 prayer may not pass through. (Lam. Jer. iii.) 
 It is requisite, also, that the soul be free from all 
 excess of passion, which, says Aristotle, may 
 disturb, and even overthrow the judgment. It 
 is dangerous to eat when one has a fever, be- 
 cause all food then serves to increase the fever, 
 and not the vital heart. In the same manner, it 
 is dangerous to deliberate during the fever of a 
 disordered affection, because then all arguments 
 tend to strengthen passion, and not reason. It 
 will be very useful to occupy yourself a little 
 while every morning, with thoughts on the 
 eternal truths, which ought to direct your con 
 duct, and to converse with your Confessor. St. 
 Aloysius often visited an Altar of the Blessed 
 Virgin, fasted on Saturday in her honor, and 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 105 
 
 frequently and devoutly received Holy Com- 
 munion, even at the court of Madrid. On the 
 Feast of the Assumption, after receiving the 
 Bread of Angels, he prayed that the ever blessed 
 Mary v^ould obtain the assistance of the Holy 
 Ghost for him, and she showed him, in a most 
 dear and positive manner, to what state he was 
 called. 
 
 St. Lawrence Justinian, at the age of nineteen, 
 thought of making his choice, and these are his 
 beautiful words on this subject : '' I was in the 
 same situation with many other young persons ; 
 I earnestly sought peace of heart, and did not 
 find it in the vanity of earthly objects. One 
 day this desire of happiness deluged my heart. 
 A lady whose exterior was full of modesty and 
 goodness, appeared and said to me, 'Why, my 
 child, do you disturb yourself by seeking peace 
 in things which drive it from you ? What you 
 desire depends on me, and I promise to give it 
 to you, if you will take me for your guide./ 
 Astonished, I asked this Lady who she was : I 
 am, replied she, the Wisdom of God, and em- 
 bracing me, she filled my soul with spiritual con- 
 solation, and immediately vanished." Lawrence 
 felt strongly inclined to a perfect life, but, not 
 daring to trust his own judgment, he consulted 
 a friend very celebrated for his virtue. He 
 examined on one side the temporal goods which 
 
106 CHOICE OF A 
 
 he was in possession of, and those he hoped for, 
 — nobility, riches, honors, pleasures, preferments, 
 the prospect of a distinguished alliance by mar- 
 riage, the renown of his family; on the other 
 hand he fixed his mind on abstinence, watchings, 
 hardships, giving up his own will, and upon all 
 the difficulties met with in the service of God. 
 Then, seated as a judge between these two kinds 
 of objects, he said to himself, ''Consider well 
 what you are doing. Do you hope to be able to 
 endure all these austerities ? '' At last turning 
 his eyes to his crucified Kedeemer, he said: 
 ^' Thou art my hope, my strength, my refuge.'' 
 Afterwards he obeyed the divine call without 
 hesitation. Pie cast aside all worldly vanities, 
 and sought true happiness in the service of God, 
 and he found it so plentifully, that he regarded 
 as unhappy the lot of his ancestors, who had, 
 however, lived in splendor and luxury. 
 
 Section 2. Prayer is the key that opens the 
 treasury of divine wisdom. 
 
 Imitate the examples which I have just pre- 
 sented to you, and beg God to remove your 
 doubts. Say with the holy king Josaphat, 
 ^' Since I know not what I ought to do, I have 
 no other resource than to lift my eyes to thee, 
 0! Father of light;" for we should be guided 
 in this affair by heavenly wisdom, far more than 
 
STATE OF LIFE. lOT 
 
 worldly wisdom; and we ought, like those who 
 cross the sandy deserts of Arabia, to direct our 
 course rather by the stars of heaven than by 
 the faint footprints made by man in the sand, 
 which every wind fills up. To obtain this wis- 
 dom, ask it humbly of God. All the Psalms 
 are filled with suitable and fervent prayers ; but 
 especially the seven penitential Psalms, dictated 
 more particularly by the Holy Ghost for the 
 object which now engages us. Recite them often 
 in your anxieties ; say with the Royal Prophet : 
 " I stretched forth my hand to thee ; my soul is 
 as earth without water; hear me speedily, 
 Lord ; (Ps. cxlii. 6.) deign in the morning of my 
 life to sow in my heart thy holy inspirations, for 
 thou art my only hope. Make the way know^n 
 to me wherein I should walk : (verse 8.) make 
 me conquer the enemies of my salvation ; show 
 me thy divine will, and grant me the strength 
 to accomplish it. I am confident that thou wilt 
 deliver my soul from its troubles, and place me 
 in the way to a happy eternity. 
 
 Prayer ought to precede, accompany, and fol- 
 low every step you take in an affair so important. 
 When you ask of God any thing conducive to 
 salvation, ask it well, you are sure of obtaining 
 it, for He has pledged his word, '' ask and you 
 shall receive J seek and you shall find.^^ Prayer 
 is not only a sure, but also a necessary means. 
 
108 CHOICE OF A 
 
 St. Augustine teaches that after the first grace, 
 man obtains other helps only so far as he asks 
 them. Prayer is the key which opens the trea^ 
 sury of heavenly graces. I will repeat to you 
 a prayer which St. Bernard addresses to the 
 Blessed Virgin ; its sentiments may inspire you 
 to seek the aid of that powerful advocate in your 
 perplexities and troubles. ^'Behold me at thy 
 feet, Yirgin full of goodness, to obtain from 
 thee, who art the dispenser of divine graces, that 
 of making a good choice. No request can be 
 more agreeable to thee than that of my knowing 
 the will of thy divine Son ; and I cannot receive 
 a greater favor than that of being placed in the 
 road to salvation. — Mother of good counsel, 
 speak so clearly to my heart that all my doubts 
 may be removed. Beautiful morning star! de- 
 liver my soul from the shades of ignorance, and 
 in the dawn of my youth teach me the surest 
 way of reaching heaven. It is for thee, mother 
 of my Saviour, to be also the mother of my sal- 
 vation. From whom, if not from thee, can I 
 receive the light of the divine Sun? who will 
 instruct me, but thou, Mother of the uncreated 
 Wisdom? Hear then, 0! Mary, my humble 
 prayer : direct my wandering steps into the road 
 that leads to eternal life, thou w^ho always 
 leadest to the good way, and from whom I can 
 hope for true life." '' In me is all grace of the 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 109 
 
 way y and of the truth, in me is all hope of life 
 and virtue.''^ (Eccl. xxiv.) 
 
 Section 3. It is useful to read the lives of those 
 who have chosen well. 
 
 It has often occurred that excellent fruits have 
 been produced by reading the lives of the Saints, 
 even when taken up, only to relieve some tedious 
 moment, and for the want of amusing books. — 
 When you consider the actions of the Saints, 
 grace moves you to ask : What hinders me from 
 imitating them, at least in part ? They had the 
 same nature that I have, the same inclinations, 
 the same temptations ; still, they became chaste 
 and humble, despised greatness and riches. 
 Worldlings suffer for the world, Saints for God. 
 What hinders me from walking in their foot- 
 steps ? Such reflections give birth to the noblest 
 resolutions. 
 
 St. Theresa, when a child, frequently read the 
 lives of the Saints. The examples of an Agnes 
 of thirteen years, rejoicing in the flames of mar- 
 tyrdom, — an Euphrasina, entering a cloister in 
 the bloom of youth, — a Catharine, hardly more 
 than a prattling child, practising the most difâ- 
 cult virtues, inflamed her so strongly with divine 
 love that she resolv^ed to imitate them, and 
 actually left home to seek martyrdom among the 
 Infidels in Africa : but, being brought back, she 
 10 
 
110 . CHOICE OF A 
 
 tried to imitate the holy Anchorets, by building 
 a cell in her garden, where she frequently retired 
 to pray and do penance. Thus, she made up for 
 her disappointment by living retired from the 
 world, and by devoting all her time to the culti- 
 vation of those virtues which afterwards exalted 
 her to so high a degree of perfection. This 
 reading offers the sweetest attractions, and 
 singularly urges us to follow the examples we 
 most admire. 
 
 Section 4. Power of the example of others : 
 good inspirations resulting therefrom. 
 
 There are some very interesting events con- 
 nected with the vocation of Father Angelus of 
 Joyeuse, a French Duke, who acquired consider- 
 able distinction in the history of his country. — 
 Being, from his youth, especially inspired to quit 
 the world, he found no repose until he joined 
 the order of Capuchins, in which he made rapid 
 strides towards religious perfection. 
 
 The public good afterwards required that, hav- 
 ing a dispensation from the Sovereign Pontiff, 
 he should resume the command of armies, and 
 he thus found himself in situations as difficult 
 as perilous. He soon lost his love for purity, 
 and became so enamored of arms that he cared 
 to read only of feats of chivalry. But Provi- 
 dence gave him an opportunity to read the life 
 
STATE OF LIFE. Ill 
 
 of St. Francis Borgia, then newly published — 
 and it made such an impression upon his mind 
 that he immediately abandoned all, and returned 
 to the Capuchins. 
 
 If, after having employed all these means, you 
 are still in doubt; if you are one of those of 
 whom the Prophet says (Ps. ii. 6), '^ They say; 
 Avho sheweth us good things," you will find a 
 reply in the following verse : " The light of thy 
 countenance^ Lord! is signed upon us.^^ Our 
 minds are illumined with the light of God's 
 countenance, — the light of reason as men, and 
 that of Faith as Christians. These lights shine 
 brilliantly before our eyes, and we surely shut 
 them with obstinacy if we do not see. No 
 subtle speculations are necessary, no long studies, 
 or intense application of the mind, to find your 
 vocation. It is a favor infallibly promised to 
 him, who seeks it with attention, and with a 
 pure and upright heart. 
 
 It must, however, be remarked, that you ought 
 not to expect of the Holy Ghost, a light of in- 
 contestable evidence ; nor affections so strong as 
 to draw the will almost by force. For, gen- 
 erally, it is enough, if you judge from reasonable 
 motives, and with convincing proof, that this or 
 that state is the best for you, and the only one 
 that will insure your eternal w^elfare. This kind 
 of choice is even more sure, and more approved 
 
112 CHOICE OP A STATE OP LIFE. 
 
 by masters of a spiritual life, than that which 
 proceeds only from the sensible motion of the 
 will. Therefore, examine the pro and the con, 
 with regard to the end for which you are created, 
 and conclude by choosing that one which will be 
 the surest to lead you to salvation. 
 
 As for my part, I do not fear that God will 
 not speak to your heart ; but I do fear, that you 
 will not hear his voice. îsTo pains are necessary, 
 says St. Bernard, in order to hear the voice of 
 God; but some are necessary, if you wish to 
 shut your heart lest it may enter. This divine 
 voice presents itself to us, asks to be admitted, 
 and never ceases knocking at the door of our 
 hearts. You yourself will have perceived, in 
 reading these reflections, some ray of light ; you 
 will have felt one or another invitation, and per- 
 haps you have closed the book, because you were 
 afraid some divine inspiration might take root in 
 your heart. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 Section 1. Those ungrateful persons who obsti- 
 nately resist the call of God, are in the end 
 deprived of his graces. 
 
 HE Lord never refuses his light, but 
 how many shut their eyes that they 
 may not see it ! They resemble a 
 man who closed his windows to keep 
 the light out, so that he would have 
 no reason to thank God for making the sun 
 shine. — Do such persons think that God will call 
 them to a less strict account for the light he had 
 offered them, because they close the windows of 
 their hearts to avoid receiving it? God calls 
 them by the most tender words of the best of 
 fathers ; but they have not been moved, because 
 they are firmly fixed to the earth. God gives 
 them inspirations, but they fall on a rock : He 
 sends them chastisements, but they do not startle 
 them: He pours his graces on them, but they 
 harden like clay beneath the sun: He shows 
 them an eternity of happiness, or of misery, but 
 10^ 113 
 
114 CHOICE OF A 
 
 the former does not attract, nor the latter frighten 
 them. — What then will happen to these obsti- 
 nate hearts ? God will withdraw his help from 
 them ; that is, he will not, for the future, offer 
 them certain gifts which we have not deserved, 
 and which he has not promised us, but with ^ 
 which He enriches, through pure liberality, 
 whomsoever he pleases. — Although God offers 
 every person sufficient aid to enable him to save 
 himself; still, he does not give every person 
 that abundant aid which would enable him to 
 easily conquer all difficulties, and he generally 
 refuses extraordinary helps to the obstinate. 
 
 God grants graces, says the Scripture, " with 
 weight and measure." On our correspondence 
 to a certain number of graces, or our refusal of 
 them, depends our salvation, or our loss. '' Jeru- 
 salem ! Jerusalem ! how many times have I 
 wished, by my graces, to convert thy inhabitants, 
 and gather them in my arms as the hen gathereth 
 her little ones under her wings, and thou wouldst 
 not ! — In punishment of thy obstinacy, I will 
 abandon thee to thy enemies ; thou shalt be the 
 victim of my indignation." ^' How many times ? " 
 behold the graces are counted, which have been 
 granted to save you ! *' But thou wouldst not : " 
 behold the refusal the soul makes ! *' I will 
 abandon thee : " behold thy reprobation and loss. 
 Jericho refused to open her gates to the people 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 115 
 
 of God ; Joshua, according to the order he had 
 received, marched around the city seven times, 
 sounding the trumpet. The inhabitants did not 
 surrender at the first six notices ; at the seventh? 
 the walls fell, and all perished by fire and sword. 
 Such is the picture of an obstinate soul which 
 God has decreed to call a certain number of 
 times, and no more. If the soul does not make 
 use of these graces whilst she can, when she is 
 deprived of all, whom ought she to blame but 
 herself? It is with justice that God withdraws 
 his blessings from those who abuse his good- 
 ness. Weigh well these reflections, and say to 
 Yourself: who knows if this call is not the last 
 I am to receive from heaven. 
 
 Section 2. Terrible punishments inflicted on 
 those who do not obey God. 
 
 Let us consider the connection which God has 
 established between the punishment and the fault 
 of those who do not obey. When a ray of in- 
 spiration appears, they shut their eyes. The 
 punishment in this case, is a blindness with 
 regard to Heaven and the importance of sal- 
 vation. They have been rebels to light, says 
 Job ; they have not wished to take the road 
 which God showed them ; they vfill be in dark- 
 ness, and think themselves in the midst of bright- 
 
116 CHOICE OF A 
 
 ness. Hear what Moses says to those unhappy 
 wanderers. The Lord will strike you with 
 blindness and madness, and you will grope in 
 the midst of heavenly light, as the blind man is 
 wont to grope in the dark, and you will no 
 longer know how to take the good way. Behold 
 what such a soul comes to! The punishment is 
 proportioned to the fault, says St. Augustine ; 
 she loses the help of which she did not make a 
 good use when it was in her power to do so. 
 Inspiration is the voice of God. When a person 
 closes his ears to avoid hearing it, he is punished 
 with hardness of heart ; he no longer cares for 
 divine promises, or divine threats, and says with 
 the impious Pharaoh, — ^' Who is he, whose 
 voice, you say, I ought to hear and whose orders 
 execute ? I know no other gods than the idols 
 of my thoughts and affections." He concludes 
 by imitating the asp, which places one ear 
 against the ground, and stops the other with its 
 tail, to avoid hearing the songs of those who 
 would calm its ferocity. In the same manner a 
 soul has no longer any thoughts of heaven: 
 glued to the earth, she no longer hears the 
 thunders of divine justice ; she falls asleep in 
 the midst of God's threats. (Ps. iv. t.) What 
 a misfortune, says St. Augustine, to be lulled to 
 sleep by the same sounds that awaken others. 
 This is the frightful punishment of those who 
 
STATE OF LIFE. HT 
 
 are accustomed to neglect the warnings of God 
 Inspiration is a movement of the heart, which 
 excites the will. The punishment of those who 
 neglect it, is often a hardness of heart, which 
 makes the soul so insensible, that she is no 
 longer susceptible of any good impression. If 
 God wishes to purify her by afilictions, and 
 assaults her with his chastisements, she shuts 
 herself up in the fortress of her obstinacy, and 
 no longer feels her misfortunes, as she confesses 
 by the mouth of the wise man, " They have 
 struck me, but I have not even perceived it." 
 If, on the contrary, God wishes to gain such a 
 soul by favors, nothing affects her ; she becomes 
 even more hardened. ^* At thy rebuke, God 
 of Jacob, they have all slumbered." Her state 
 is deplorable: neither promises of Heaven, nor 
 calamities of earth, nor instructions, nor examples 
 are capable of raising her thoughts above the 
 world. She becomes, says the prophet, like a 
 carcass, feeling a cut with a knife no more than 
 the touch of a straw, and seeing no better by 
 the light of the sun than by the glimmer of a 
 spark. 
 
 God says by his prophet Osee, Woe to them, 
 for they have departed from me : behold the 
 fault. Woe to them, when I shall be far from 
 them : behold the consequence. Woe to them 
 when I shall have abandoned them to their 
 
118 
 
 CHOICE OF A STATE OF LIFE. 
 
 blindness, to their deafness, to the hardness of 
 their hearts. At the close of this work, I will 
 mention some examples of these hardened souls. 
 I will now present the different states which may- 
 be the object of a choice. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Section 1. An exact idea of the Secular State. 
 
 T is evident that cloisters, where so 
 many examples of virtue are found, 
 are the beaten path to heaven. It is 
 also very true, as St. Jerome says (Ep. 
 15), that in all states there is a way 
 to heaven, marked by the footsteps of some great 
 Servants of God. I will only present you with 
 some short reflections on the different states, 
 without leading you towards any one, so that 
 having considered all, you may choose the one 
 best calculated to insure the salvation of your 
 soul. 
 
 I begin with the secular state. Who will 
 deny that w^e find in it great opportunities of 
 laying up treasures for eternal life ? why may 
 we not enjoy our property, and relieve the poor? 
 live independently, and observe the command- 
 ments of God? acquire riches, honors, friends, 
 and be strictly just ? What treasures of merit 
 cannot those seculars acquire, who, like Tobias, 
 teach their children to fear God, and abstain 
 
 119 
 
120 CHOICE OP A 
 
 from all sin ! A zealous Christian can maintain 
 pietj in his family, assist the poor by alms, and 
 incite his fellow-creatures to virtue by his good 
 example. There are some in all states who prac- 
 tise heroic virtues, and merit an immense reward 
 in heaven. 
 
 We certainly see some merchants, not only 
 faithful to the laws of justice, but also eager, by 
 their liberal alms, to lay up treasures in heaven 
 There are lawyers and magistrates, who, like St. 
 Ivo, perfectly fulfil their duties, and support the 
 rights of the poor ; courtiers in the midst of 
 honors, who, like St. Eleazar, only set their 
 hearts on the great things of heaven. Is there 
 a religious with a purer heart than St. Louis, 
 king of France ? a Priest with more lively faith 
 than St. Maurice, commander of a legion ? St. 
 Anthony of Padua was very much surprised 
 when he learned from God, that a certain city 
 clerk would be higher in heaven than he. In a 
 word, then, every state may lead us to heaven. 
 
 But let us turn the picture, and we will see 
 that in the secular state there is great danger 
 of losing the soul. Philosophers enumerate 
 eleven evil passions born with man, and which, 
 even without exterior causes, keep up a continual 
 warfare within. Ambition, Luxury, Envy, Anger, 
 and their evil consequences, excite such furious 
 tempests within us, as to expose us to constant 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 121 
 
 danger of destruction. But when to our bad 
 interior inclinations, the world adds occasions 
 and stimulants, everywhere to be met with, — 
 when it offers insult to anger, ease to idleness, 
 threats to fear, persecutions to envy, incitements 
 to pride, delicate dishes to gluttony, riches to 
 avarice, disasters to despair, reproach to shame, 
 and to luxury, indelicate conversations, parties, 
 plays, and friendships full of danger, — and when 
 it does all it can do for each passion and each 
 vice, by supplying everything that can nourish 
 and excite it, — what will be the result? Keflect 
 upon the snares, the evil company, licentious 
 conversation, and perverting maxims of the 
 world, and you will say with the Prophet Osee, 
 '* I see a deluge of wickedness, of slander, of 
 falsehood, of murder, of robbery, of impurities : '' 
 and with St. John, '' The whole world swims in 
 iniquity.'^ Is it then easy to escape ? seeing 
 that wherever you plant your foot there are 
 thorns, and that by escaping one trap you fall 
 into another. You walk in the midst of snares, 
 says the Wise man, in the midst of ambushes 
 in riches, in pleasures, and in intercourse with 
 the world. 
 
 St. Anthony saw the whole world covered 
 with snares, set by pride, avarice, luxury, and 
 more than all, by the Devil who is eagerly seek- 
 ing to destroy our souls. Who will not be 
 11 
 
122 CHOICE OF A 
 
 caught sooner or later ? St. Ambrose, who knew 
 all the states of the world by experience, says, 
 in his admirable book, De Fugâ Sseculi, that its 
 ways are like the streets of Babylon, and 
 seculars walk in the midst of a perverse nation. 
 Who can save himself in roads beset by assas- 
 sins ? St. Jerome, retiring from the world into 
 the solitude of Bethlehem, cries out to youth : 
 Take great care of yourselves, for in the world, 
 the Devil in his fury turns to all sides, lies in 
 ambush to take souls, and all hell is armed 
 against you. See, above all, the pleasures which 
 decoy you into danger ; avarice contriving fraud, 
 ambition lying in wait, and bad companions like 
 syrens enticing you. The sovereign remedy, 
 therefore, is flight. 
 
 It is however true, that God is pleased to show 
 examples of virtue in the world, that are more 
 wonderful than those amongst religious; but 
 these are very rare favors ; it would often be 
 rashness to hope for them ; for generally, he who 
 lives in danger perishes therein. It is a con- 
 tinual Avonder, says Plato, for a man to have 
 vice in his power, and virtue in his will ; that a 
 man in the midst of a thousand dangers could 
 do all he wishes, and never wish what is unlaw- 
 ful. It is also a great wonder to be amid licen- 
 tious entertainments without sinning, to deal 
 continually in money without contracting ava- 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 123 
 
 rice, to suffer insults without resenting them, to 
 live amid honors without ambition, except through 
 Him by whose power Daniel remained untouched 
 amongst lions, and Agnes in the midst of flames 
 without a single hair being burned. 
 
 • 
 Section 2. Other remarks on the Secular State. 
 
 A PARTISAN of the world will perhaps say, 
 that there are preservatives against falling, and 
 remedies in case one does fall ; that he can fre- 
 quent the sacraments ; that he does not lack 
 spiritual aid ; masses, offices, sermons, festivals, 
 which foster piety. Why cannot a good secular 
 go to communion every month? occasionally 
 read books on eternal truths ? converse w^ith his 
 spiritual Father on the interests of his soul? 
 why can he not imitate Isaac who went to medi- 
 tate in the fields ? w^hat will hinder his following 
 also the example of holy King David, who, 
 though governing a kingdom, found time to raise 
 his mind to God seven times a day ? A person 
 must not necessarily be too eager of gain, or 
 burden himself with the affairs of the w^orld 
 until his mind is overpow^ered by them. It is 
 sufficient, according to the advice of the Wise 
 man, to be economical of time, to divide it be- 
 tween temporal affairs and heavenly interests. 
 
 It would be difficult to prove that the world is 
 less dangerous now than in former times. Mer- 
 
124 CHOICE OF A 
 
 * 
 
 chants will tell you, that commerce is now so 
 intricate, that none can succeed in it but the art- 
 ful and crafty. Lawyers will tell you, that vir- 
 tue and science have almost no influence, for 
 offices are given to the highest bidder, and con- 
 sequently it is very difficult for those who fill 
 them to hold the scales of justice aright. It is 
 true that in the world there are many spiritual 
 aids ; and it is likewise very true, that seculars 
 make very little use of them. Meditation is a 
 word of w^hich very few know the meaning. It 
 is a great deal if young gentlemen, just out of 
 their studies, approach the sacraments three or 
 four times a 3^ear. They do listen to sermons, it 
 is true ; but is it to profit by them ? Do they 
 not sneer at those who are virtuous and pious, 
 and call them the would-be reformers of the 
 world ? Temporal misfortunes deprive a man 
 of every spiritual thought ; he loses some of his 
 property, is stripped of some paltry dignity, or 
 is impoverished by law-suits ; a wife seldom 
 fails to cause great vexation ; vicious children, 
 gamesters, and libertines, impose continual care 
 and anxiety upon him; his property is wasted 
 by faithless servants. What sighs ! What dis- 
 appointments ! Is it in the midst of such tur- 
 moils and troubles as these that he hopes to find 
 time for thinking of his soul ? 
 
 But, lest you should imagine that I wish ,to 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 125 
 
 entice you out of the world, I will cite a very 
 interesting example for seculars. St. Paphnucius, 
 after having lived in great perfection in the 
 desert for fifty 3^ears, had the curiosity to ask 
 God, if any one served Him as he did. God 
 pointed out%to him a drummer, in Alexandria, 
 whose perfection resembled that of Paphnucius. 
 The latter hastened to seek the drummer, and 
 having found him, urged him to relate his course 
 of conduct. The drummer frankly confessed 
 that he had been an assassin, but had saved the 
 honor of some ladies, that he divided amongst 
 the poor the small salary which he received as 
 drummer, and finally, said he, " I love God and 
 the poor; this is what I do." Paphnucius, 
 astonished that a secular was so perfect, returned 
 in confusion to the desert, and applied himself 
 more earnestly to perfection. But soon he was 
 so curious as to ask again of God, whom he 
 resembled. The angel replied that in a neigh- 
 boring village there was a Count whose virtue 
 w^as of the same degree as his. The solitary, 
 not understanding how a courtier could equal a 
 hermit in virtue, immediately repaired to the 
 village. As soon as he appeared at the castle, 
 the Count wished to wash his feet, and seat him 
 at table. But Paphnucius declared that, having 
 learned from an angel that many monks were 
 inferior to him in virtue, he would accept of 
 11* 
 
126 CHOICE OF A 
 
 nothing uni il the Count had told his manner of 
 life. The latter, much confused, felt obliged to 
 say : ^' 1st. I entertain all travellers who go this 
 way. 2d. I give alms to the poor. 3d. I believe 
 I possess nothing that belongs to others. 4th. 
 I always give my first thoughts to God, and am 
 not attached to any object of this world." The 
 saint, bursting into tears, embraced the Count 
 affectionately, and said to him: I have lived 
 fifty years in the desert, to purify my heart, and 
 my soul is not yet so pure, nor my heart so 
 full of God as your's. Would you believe it? 
 Paphnucius, having exercised himself in religious 
 virtues more earnestly for a while, asked a third 
 time of God, whom he resembled. The angel 
 replied to him : you resemble a jeweller who is 
 passing by your door. How ! said Paphnucius, 
 will I always be sent to drummers, courtiers, 
 merchants : to these people who are deluged 
 with temporal occupations, and rarely have time 
 to think of God ? However, having found the 
 merchant, he so pressed him as to draw from 
 him this reply : '' I firmly believe, that I have 
 nothing to do in this world, but to gain heaven. 
 I travel over land and sea, firmly persuaded that 
 all my labors should tend towards heaven. 
 With what I gain I help the poor, in order that 
 they may be my advocates. I desire only eternal 
 life." Great God! exclaimed the anchoret, who 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 12T 
 
 would ever have believed that there was so much 
 puritj in the heart of a merchant ? He returned 
 to the desert, and was very much humbled to 
 find so much holiness among seculars. I have 
 shown you the advantages of a secular life ; but 
 I ought in conscience to warn you, that such 
 examples as I have just related, are very rare in 
 the world. Divine Providence has given, in 
 every state, some great model, in order that 
 those of the same state may not despair ; but 
 these are very few, and we therefore have no 
 right to presume. We must apply to this sub- 
 ject, the reflection of St. Augustine upon the 
 good thief; it is this: Unus ne desperes, solus 
 ne prœsumas. There is one, do not despair; 
 there is only one, do not presume. We meet in 
 the world a hundred times more occasions of 
 losing our souls than of saving them. It is 
 Jesus Christ himself, who says, that it is very 
 difficult for the rich to be saved ; that it is easier 
 for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, 
 than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of 
 Heaven. St. Chrysostom, addressing from the 
 pulpit a crowd of five thousand, exclaimed : 
 *' Think you that out of this great number, one 
 hundred will be saved ? '' 
 
 Oh ! how many people of the world, in all 
 states of life, cry out at the hour of death : 
 " Would to God I had never been burdened with 
 
128 CHOICE OF A STATE OF LIFE. 
 
 temporal affairs." Leo XL said, when at the 
 point of death, *^ How much better it would 
 have been for me to have held the keys of my 
 monastery gate, than those of Heaven ! " 
 
 Remember, lastly, that the wise and virtuous 
 Sir Thomas More used to say, ^' This world is 
 so void of gratitude^ that it will not reward good 
 actions ; and is so poor^ that even if it wished it 
 could not.^^ 
 
 &^ 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Section 1. An accurate view of the Clerical 
 
 State, 
 
 HE life of a secular Priest enjoys 
 neither the solitude of the cloister 
 nor the liberty of the world. It 
 seems to hold a middle place be- 
 tween them, and is consequently better 
 adapted to the nature of man. Its duties are 
 directed to God, and consist in studying the 
 Scriptures, teaching Christian doctrine, reciting 
 the divine office — which contains the most pious 
 sentiments, and celebrating Mass — from which 
 so much fruit is drawn. In fine, the Apostle 
 defines the Secular Priest, when he says : '' Free 
 from worldly ties, he thinks of the things of 
 God.'^ But these words cannot be applied to all 
 ecclesiastics. They do not suit such as are 
 engrossed with temporal affairs, whether of their 
 family or of the public, who give themselves up 
 to the management of property, or distracting 
 business of any kind, the care of their nephews, 
 and a thousand other engagements which over- 
 
 129 
 
130 CHOICE OP A 
 
 power the mind, and consume the time that 
 should be spent in spiritual exercises. St. 
 Gregory, after having quoted the text of Jere- 
 miah on this subject : ^' How is the gold become 
 dim, the finest color is changed, the stones of 
 the sanctuary are scattered in the top of every 
 street," adds in addressing Priests: ''We are 
 the stones of the sanctuary, who should never 
 be seen employed in works foreign to our high 
 calling, — but now, there is hardly any secular 
 affair that is not administered bv Priests." 
 
 This deplorable evil is often followed by 
 another still greater. Instead of employing the 
 ecclesiastical revenues to the advantage of the 
 Church, they employ them in enriching their 
 family. They are not good pastors, but bad 
 merchants. How many young people take the 
 tonsure, only because they have a rich and 
 honored uncle among the Clergy. 
 
 ''There are some amongst the Clergy," says 
 St. Jerome, "who, whilst serving our poor 
 Christ, possess riches which they would not 
 have obtained by remaining in the world : so 
 that the Church sighs over these rich men, 
 whom the world once regarded as beggars." 
 (Ep. 2.) Perhaps these persons had not inten- 
 tions quite so bad when they received Holy 
 Orders, but by degrees, as they obtained pro- 
 perty, they yielded to these sentiments, and are 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 131 
 
 now more engaged with temporal affairs than 
 seculars. 
 
 The Holy Canons teach, that ecclesiastics 
 have no right to employ at their caprice, the 
 goods which are the patrimony of Jesus Christ, 
 the Church, and the poor. The Priest can use 
 them for his honest support, but not to con- 
 tribute to luxury and vanity, nor to benefit or 
 gratify his relations. 
 
 The common sentiment of the Doctors of the 
 Church is, that having what suits his state, the 
 remainder must go to the poor, and to ornament 
 churches. He will have to render an exact ac- 
 count of it on the day of judgment. 
 
 When persons enter Holy Orders through 
 motives so base, what terror should not strike 
 them as they read this positive sentence of St. 
 Bernard : ''If persons, through a desire of 
 worldly gain, make piety a matter of money, 
 their damnation is certain." 
 
 St. Charles Borromeo, at the age of fifteen, 
 when a large Church income fell to him by the 
 demise of his uncle, declared to his father, that 
 the revenues of this benefice could not be ap- 
 plied to the benefit of his family, because they 
 were the patrimony of Jesus Christ, and he was 
 not the owner, but the administrator : he wished, 
 therefore, that the revenues of the patrimonial 
 goods should be accounted for, and that the poor 
 
132 CHOICE OP A 
 
 should receive their portion. St. Charles did 
 not think this use of goods to be only a simple 
 act of perfection, but a strict obligation ; and he 
 often declared it to his clergy. St. Exuperius, 
 Bishop of Toulouse, says : '* There is the same 
 difference between a layman robbing the church, 
 and an ecclesiastic squandering church revenues, 
 as between a highway robber, and a servant 
 robbing his master of goods entrusted to his 
 care. The one uses force, the other fraud.'' 
 
 This Saint stripped his palace to adorn the 
 Church, and in time of need stripped the Church 
 to relieve the poor. Those persons, then, com- 
 mit a great crime who expend the patrimony of 
 Jesus Christ for the benefit of their relations, 
 and not for that of the poor. 
 
 Section 2. Other reflections on the Ecclesias- 
 tical State. 
 
 We ought to say the same of the Ecclesias- 
 tical state, as of the voyage to the Indies: 
 magna merces, sed majus periculum: Great 
 profit, hut greater peril. No doubt, by daily 
 offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we can 
 lay up great treasures in Heaven, and acquire 
 strength to live free from mortal sin ; for the 
 Holy Council of Trent says, that this Sacra- 
 ment is an antidote which frees us from venial 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 13 
 
 Q 
 
 faults, and preserves us from those that are 
 mortal. 
 
 St. Philip Neri assures us, that if a Priest 
 celebrates mass well, it is sufficient to enable 
 him to preserve his holv affections the rest of 
 the day : and Orsini declares, that nothing is 
 more powerful in aiding him to resist tempta- 
 tions ; for if he meets them in the morning, he 
 chases them away with the thought that he is 
 soon to receive Jesus Christ ; if in the evening, 
 by reflecting that he is to communicate next 
 morning. All this is very true ; still I repeat, 
 ''great profit, but greater peril." The Holy 
 Sacrifice is a rich mine of graces, but, to draw 
 them out, a person must have a large capital of 
 virtue : he must lead a very pure life, but it is 
 difficult to do this amid the dangers which the 
 world presents. St. Francis of Assisium having 
 learned from an Angel what should be the purity 
 of a Priest, never dared to become one. St. 
 Chrysostom says, that ''a Priest should be purer 
 than the sun." As the sun's rays fall in the 
 mire and amongst poisonous herbs, without 
 being soiled by the one or poisoned by the 
 other, so should a Priest walk amid the innumer- 
 able vices that deluge the world, and not be 
 tainted. His mind should be as incorruptible as 
 the bodies of the three youths in the Babylonian 
 furnace. As they stood untouched amid flames, 
 12 
 
134 CHOICE OF A 
 
 SO should a Priest preserve every virtue amid 
 the flames of worldly vices, luxury, ambition, 
 and interest. 
 
 Finally, a Priest is often obliged to see danger- 
 ous objects, to hear in confession revolting accu- 
 sations, and still, like Lot, he must preserve the 
 purity of his sight and hearing. But where is 
 the man that can do this ? 
 
 It is hard, very hard, to live in the midst of 
 so many risks of every kind, the attacks of so 
 many enemies, snares so multiplied, without 
 losing that integrity of conscience to which he 
 is obliged who consecrates and administers the 
 sacraments. Hear St. Chrysostom. ^' I do not 
 speak lightly," says he, "but as I think; I 
 really believe there are not many in the Priest- 
 hood who save their souls, but very many who 
 are lost : '' and their damnation is so much the 
 more certain, as they have committed greater 
 faults by abusing invaluable blessings. It is 
 true, that Priests in a religious order are exposed 
 to many inconveniences ; but it is evident, that 
 in their cloisters they have fewer dangers and 
 more helps than secular Priests, of whom it may 
 be said, that they have almost the same obliga- 
 tions that regular clergy have, and are beset by 
 the same dangers as worldlings. 
 
 Consider now, another great privilege granted 
 to Priests, that of helping to save souls: ''We 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 135 
 
 are helpers of God." They co-operate with God 
 for the salvation of souls ; is there a greater 
 dignity ? They are the dispensers of divine 
 favors in the sacraments ; can a person procure 
 a greater glory for God? Is there a treasury 
 from which we can draw more merits? St. 
 Dennis says: ''Among divine things, the most 
 divine is to co-operate with God, for the sal- 
 vation of man." And St. Chrysostom : " Though 
 you should distribute immense wealth to the 
 poor, you do more by converting a single soul." 
 A good Priest can therefore lay up incalculable 
 merits, by nourishing souls with the word of 
 God, by absolving their sins in the tribunal of 
 penance, and by dispensing grace in the sacra- 
 ment of the Eucharist. ''But," says St. Ber- 
 nard, " since the office of saving souls is entirely 
 divine, it ought to frighten those who are 
 obliged to it, such as parish Priests." It is a 
 burden to be dreaded even by angels. SS. Gre- 
 gory, Ambrose, and Chrysostom, understood 
 this so well, that they fled when the Church 
 wished- to impose upon them the care of souls ; 
 and St. Nilamon died through fear of it. It is 
 very difficult to answer for our own souls ; how 
 much more so to account for those of others! 
 The Scripture says : ^^A most severe judgment 
 shall be for them that bear rule.^^ Priests 
 administer the sacraments ; but this may be for 
 
136 CHOICE OP A 
 
 them an occasion of sacrilege. In becoming 
 useful to those whose confessions they hear, 
 they often hurt themselves ; like the file, which, 
 in cleansing iron, soils and injures itself. Priests 
 glorify God in saving souls ; but if they lose 
 their own souls by negligence, they waste a 
 treasure purchased with the life of God. Obliged 
 to prevent scandal when they can, it may happen 
 that the fear of irritating a great man, or of 
 displeasing a friend, will prevent their condemn- 
 ing it. They are the light of the world ; but if 
 they have worldly ways, they dishonor the 
 Church. God receives no greater insult, says 
 St. Gregory, than from Priests, when he sees 
 that those whom he has put to save others, are 
 an example of wickedness to them. Or if they 
 be dumb when they should speak, silent where 
 they should raise their voices, they are like the 
 Heathen Idols, and woe to them! ''Woe to the 
 pastors of Israel, who feed themselves and starve 
 their flocks." 
 
 Such is the state of a secular Priest; there 
 is none that requires a life so pure, and which 
 at the same time offers more occasions of sin. 
 I do not seek to withdraw you from it, if God 
 calls you to it, but I show you its dangers, in 
 order that you may undertake it only from 
 supernatural motives. Its dignity surpasses all 
 the grandeur of earth, even that of Mfenarchs ; 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 13T 
 
 it is, indeed, above that of Angels, both on 
 account of the power of consecrating the Body 
 of our Lord, and that of remitting sins, — priv- 
 ileges so sublime, that if the Mother of God 
 were here on earth, she could not exercise them. 
 A Priest's life must therefore correspond to his 
 dignity; his heart must be entirely united to 
 God, his exterior entirely different from that of 
 other people, giving a just idea of his holiness : 
 '^ Let thy priests be clothed injustice," says the 
 royal Psalmist. If a Priest thinks of evil, it is 
 a sin; if he commits it, a sacrilege, and if he 
 carries it to the Altar, it is an enormous crime. 
 How pure must those lips be, which receive the 
 Son of God ! How clean those hands, chosen 
 to loose souls from the bonds of sin! How 
 chaste the heart, watered with the blood of the 
 Word made flesh 1 If God calls you, obey his 
 voice, but strive to increase the number of those 
 who have honored this state by their great holi- 
 ness and admirable learning 
 12* 
 
CHAPTER XY. 
 
 Section 1. True picture of the Eeligious State. 
 
 WILL borrow the words of St. Ber- 
 nard, who has given an excellent de- 
 scription of the religious state. In a 
 sermon on the text : The kingdom of 
 heaven is like unto a merchant who 
 seeks pearls, and having found a precious one, 
 he sells all he has to buy it. The Saint says, 
 that the precious pearl is the religious life, 
 where man lives more purely, falls more rarely, 
 rises more quickly, advances moi^e securely in 
 the path to perfection, is refreshed more fre- 
 quently with heavenly grace, reposes more tran- 
 quilly, dies with more confidence, is purified 
 more quickly, and rewarded moi^e abundantly. 
 Let us examine these advantages. 
 
 The Keligious ''lives more purely, and falls 
 more rarely," because he is far away from the 
 snares met in the world at every step. The 
 sources of sin, says St. John, comprise all that 
 is in the world, ''.concupiscence of the flesh, 
 concupiscence of the eyes, and pride of life." 
 
 138 
 
CHOICE OF A STATE OF LIFE. 139 
 
 The love of sensual pleasure generally de; 
 praves youth. The desire of wealth, says the 
 Apostle, is the root of all evil ; ambition is the 
 source of a crowd of vices ; and the desire of 
 liberty engages us to satisfy passions, which, 
 once let loose, know no bounds. Bad example, 
 human respect, and corrupt manners are terrible 
 occasions of falls, and it is easily seen that these 
 dangers are entirely escaped, or at least very 
 much diminished in a religious life. By the 
 vow of chastity, a religious renounces the love 
 of sensual pleasures ; by that of poverty, the 
 desire of property ; by that of obedience, his 
 own will. The Wise man says on the subject 
 of sensuality, that it is incomparably easier to 
 abstain entirely from unwholesome fruits, than 
 to eat temperately of them, when we have once 
 tried their sweetness. Moreover, he who does 
 not dwell in an abode of pleasures, riches, and 
 honors, is less moved to desire them. The very 
 retii'ement of the cloister forbids loose discourse 
 and scandalous manners. Add to this advantage 
 the twelve helps which Lessius enumerates in a 
 religious life : the rules of the institute, the 
 light of prayer, meditation on eternal things, 
 reading the Holy Scriptures, examinations of 
 conscience, the direction of superiors, good ex- 
 ample, frequenting the Sacraments, mortification 
 of the appetite, good distribution of time, ex- 
 
140 CHOICE OF A 
 
 ercises of every virtue and the particular care 
 of the Holy angels. With such helps it is evi- 
 dent, that the religious *' lives more purely and 
 falls more rarely." This is why St. Mary Mag- 
 dalen, of Pazzi, would often in a rapture cling 
 to the walls of the monastery and kiss them, 
 exclaiming : ''Oh ! lovely walls, from how many 
 dangers ye preserve me." At other times she 
 said: '' If persons knew what safety and happi- 
 ness are found in the service of God, they would 
 scale the walls of monasteries to obtain a place 
 in them." 
 
 If through weakness a religious sometimes 
 falls, he rises more quickly, for the same reasons 
 that he falls more rarely. St. Thomas adds, 
 that a fallen religious is helped by his brothers 
 to rise immediately, as the Holy Ghost teaches : 
 '' he will be helped by another," by his compan- 
 ions, whose good example he will have, or by 
 the advice of his superior. It is often enough 
 for him to disclose his temptation to his spirit- 
 ual father — who is always at hand — and it 
 immediately vanishes ; either on account of the 
 humiliation of declaring his miseries and sub- 
 mitting to another, or because the Devil, seeing 
 his snares exposed, loses the boldness he as- 
 sumed when fighting in secret. Moreover, the 
 abundant graces of religion effectually deliver 
 him from the abyss of sin, or, as Origen explains 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 141 
 
 it, " When the religious falls, his fall is not fol- 
 lowed by his ruin ; because the Lord places his 
 merciful hand under him to lift him up." Jesus 
 Christ himself declared to St. Catharine, that 
 religion is not a steep but a level road ; and he 
 who falls therein does not fall down a precipice, 
 but remains where he has fallen, and receives 
 strength to rise. 
 
 Another privilege is that of advancing more 
 securely in the path to perfection ; because he 
 obtains more light to know his dangers, or that 
 his superiors guard him, or finally, the remem- 
 brance of his vows brings to mind the obliga- 
 tion he has contracted. But one of the greatest 
 helps he has in religion for avoiding even 
 little falls, is to arrest the first movement to- 
 wards great ones; for in combating small de- 
 fects, he either conquers or falls ; if he falls, it 
 is but a small hurt ; if he conquers, he acquires 
 the art of conquering, and becomes more capa- 
 ble of defeating the Devil in more serious 
 contests. 
 
 The fifth privilege consists in being oftener 
 refreshed with heavenly grace. The religious 
 receives more frequently the dew of Heaven, 
 the light of the divine Sun, and the consolations 
 of the Holy Ghost. These advantages are less 
 common in the world. The secular, tossed to 
 and fro by passions, does not even understand 
 
142 CHOICE OF A 
 
 what the peace of a good conscience is ; his 
 palate, depraved by sensual delights, knows not 
 the taste of the honey of heavenly consolations. 
 If now and then worldlings experience these 
 joys after a good confession, we hear them say, 
 that their contentment surpasses all the pleas- 
 ures of the world. When they worthily ap- 
 proach the Sacraments, and give some time to 
 jDrayer, they avow, that they find therein a 
 peace, a happiness, which they would seek in 
 vain in any thing else. Keligious who have 
 renounced the pleasures of the world, obtain 
 delights in the greatest abundance, and would 
 not exchange a single day of their felicity, for 
 an age of those pleasures which those happy 
 ones of the world so much extol. It is the same 
 with them as with St. Francis Xavier, and St. 
 Ephraim, who begged God to moderate the 
 consolations He poured into their bosoms, for 
 their hearts were too feeble to endure that 
 excess of joy. 
 
 The religious enjoys more tranquillity, because 
 his repose is beyond the reach of disturbance, 
 and he is removed from the storms and dangers 
 of the world. St. Bernard says, explaining the 
 words of the canticle of Solomon, '' Our bed is 
 flourishing;" ^'I think that the beds of the 
 beloved in our Church are the monasteries, in 
 which the religious live quietly, and are free 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 143 
 
 from the solicitudes of the world.'' But whence 
 is this tranquillity? The affections being moder- 
 ate, the religious feels lightly, what would wound 
 a secular severely : besides, his hope of eternal 
 happiness is a never-failing fountain of joy. To 
 understand the peace of a religious, it is only 
 necessary to cast a glance at the troubles that 
 disturb seculars. But as people nearer the pole 
 do not well understand the disadvantages of 
 their cold climate until they enjoy for a while 
 our more temperate region, so you cannot justly 
 estimate the enormous burden which the world 
 imposes upon its followers, till you have ex- 
 perienced the lightness of the yoke of Jesus 
 Christ. The Emperor Theodosius left the Court 
 one day, alone and disguised, to visit the cell of 
 a hermit, and rest a little while from the anxieties 
 attached to the throne. He perceived in a bag 
 a little piece of bread, and asked the religious 
 for some of it. They sat down and ate together ; 
 but with what relish! v/hat tranquillity! The- 
 odosius said to the religious: ''My father, do 
 you know who I am?" '' How can I know, for 
 I never leave this place ? " *' Know that I am 
 the Emperor Theodosius." The religious hast- 
 ened to pay him some mark of respect. *' Sit 
 down," said the Emperor, '' and remember, that 
 if there is any happiness on earth, it is for re- 
 ligious, far away from the vexations of the 
 
144 , CHOICE OP A 
 
 world. I assure you from experience, that 
 amidst the delights of my court, I never take 
 food without finding in it more wormwood than 
 honey." Thus this wise Prince considered 
 happy, not the great of the world, but the poor 
 servants of God, occupied only with gaining 
 Paradise, of which they receive a foretaste even 
 in this valley of tears. 
 
 Section 2. Other privileges of the Religious 
 
 State, 
 
 Although the advantages already spoken of 
 would be valued as nothing, there is another 
 that is inestimable. The religious dies luith 
 more confidence. He is not subjected to the 
 grief of leaving his possessions, to uneasiness 
 for sins committed, to the fear of possessing ill- 
 gotten wealth, to the trouble of making a good 
 will. He recalls his faults, but has every reason 
 to hope for pardon. St. Chrysostom says on this 
 subject: ''Religious also die, but what is their 
 death? It offers nothing frightful. They ac- 
 company it with holy canticles, and it seems to 
 spectators rather a triumph than a struggle. 
 The religious who witnessed the last moments 
 of the departed, rejoice at his happiness, envy 
 his lot, and earnestly desire to enter with him 
 into eternal rest. The religious sees no wife 
 bathed in tears, no lonely children uneasy about 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 145 
 
 their future conditions. He only thinks that his 
 death ought to be worthy of a man who has 
 lived but to please God, and is now going to 
 enjoy him for all eternity. He seems to hear 
 Jesus say : ' Come, ye blessed of my Father, 
 possess the Kingdom prepared for you. You 
 have observed obedience ; it is then for your 
 Superior, rather than for yourself, to render an 
 account of your life ; for it is not the soldier, 
 who is accountable for his deeds, but the general 
 who commands him.' '' 
 
 The pious and learned Suarez said, in his last 
 moments: ^'My God, how lovely is death! how 
 sweet it is ! Ah ! since it is so sweet to die 
 united to God, what will it not be to live with 
 him eternally. I would never have believed 
 that one could taste so much pleasure in death, 
 although I had often called the death of a re- 
 ligious, a sleep to which succeeds eternal glory." 
 When he shall give sleep to his beloved, behold 
 the inheritance of the Lord. Gerard, the brother 
 of St. Bernard, had spent at Clairvaux a perfectly 
 religious life. When he was told of his ap- 
 proaching end, he was filled with so great a con- 
 solation, that he chanted the Psalm Laudate 
 Dominum de cœlis. St. Bernard, who was pre- 
 sent with the other religious, pictures to us the 
 feelings he experienced at this kind of a miracle. 
 **What a wonder to see a man overwhelmed 
 13 
 
146 CHOICE OF A 
 
 with joy at the moment of death. death! 
 where is thy victory ? the dying man sings ! 
 Death, elsewhere a source of sadness, is here a 
 source of joy ! Gerard goes to meet it, not only 
 with confidence, but with gladness! Happy 
 those who, already dead to the world, die in the 
 Lord ; the Holy Ghost invites them to rest from 
 their labors, for their good works will follow 
 them." 
 
 The religious is purified more quickly in 
 Purgatory, either because the guilt and punish- 
 ment of sins committed in the world are remitted 
 when he embraces a religious life, says St. 
 Thomas, or because he has satisfied in great part 
 during his life, or finally, because his brothers 
 offer masses and good works for him. 
 
 The religious is reivarded more ahundantlyj 
 for he practises in his cloister a multitude 
 of virtues ; such as charity, patience, poverty, 
 mortification, humility, and temperance, and he 
 makes acts of these virtues almost every mo- 
 ment; but these acts are more meritorious, be- 
 cause they are commanded by the rules ; more 
 precious, because he is obliged thereto by vows 
 so agreeable to God, and are therefore more 
 precious than the same virtues practised in the 
 world through a person's own free choice. Add 
 to these interior acts the many holy exterior 
 occupations ; such as preaching, hearing con- 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 14T 
 
 fessions, catechizing, giving good advice, visit- 
 ing the sick, converting sinners, — occupations so 
 common to religious. It is by these that they 
 merit the reward promised in the Gospel of St. 
 Matthew : He that shall do and teach, he shall 
 be called great in the kingdom of heaven, (v. 19.) 
 You may read on this subject the admirable 
 little work of Father Nieremberg, in which he 
 proves, that by obedience alone a religious 
 sanctifies the lowest and most indifferent actions, 
 such as eating, working, and sleeping, when in 
 performing them he submits to the will of the 
 superior ; because it is by him that God speaks. 
 
 It is therefore true that the religious life pos- 
 sesses an inexhaustible store of merits ; and this 
 is what our Saviour meant when he said to a 
 young man: If you wish to be perfect, follow 
 me, and you will have treasures in Heaven. 
 The reward of him who keeps the command- 
 ments in the world is Heaven ; but the reward 
 of him who follows the counsels in a religious 
 life, is treasure in Heaven. 
 
 Some one asked St. Eugidius, if seculars could 
 acquire perfection. He replied: " They can, but 
 I prefer one degree of grace in religion, where 
 it is easy to increase, and difficult to lose it, to 
 ten degrees in the world, where it is difficult to 
 increase, and easy to lose it." St. Lawrence 
 Justinian said, that if God would clearly show 
 
148 CHOICE OJF A STATE OF LIFE. 
 
 seculars the advantages of a religious life, all 
 would fly to it with a haste which would depopu- 
 late the world. Happy ye who are called to so 
 great a felicity ! Give God eternal praise and 
 thanks. Bless ye the Lord, 01 all his chosen 
 ones J keep days of joy and give him praise. If 
 you feel inclined to the religious state, my dear 
 reader, before fixing your choice, examine the 
 difficulties which I shall place before you in the 
 following chapter, so as not to imitate him who 
 buys land without reflecting whether it will con- 
 duce to his pleasure, or without thinking of the 
 money and labor he must expend thereon. 
 
CHAPTER XYL 
 
 i^"" 
 
 Section 1. Which of the three states is the most 
 perfect. 
 
 MAGINE that God says to you, as he 
 said to King David : '' I give thee the 
 choice of three things : choose one 
 which thou wilt." It is certain that 
 the religious state, where a person ob- 
 serves the Evangelical Counsels, is the most per- 
 fect state, the surest road to heaven, and the 
 means of giving the greatest glory to God. In 
 the other states, he cannot reach so sublime a 
 degree of perfection, except by difficult routes. 
 To prove to you that I do not wish to engage 
 you in a religious life, having already cited what 
 St. Bernard says of its advantages, I will now 
 tell you what he says of its rigors and difficulties. 
 St. Bernard says, that a religious life is a 
 daily martyrdom, less hard than that suffered 
 from the executioner, but more painful by 
 the duration of its mortifications. From the 
 first day a person enters a monastery, he is not 
 master of himself nor of his will, even in the 
 13 ^ 149 
 
150 CHOICE OP A 
 
 smallest things. He must submit to persons 
 whose characters are opposed to his own, labor 
 when fatigued, be still against his inclination, 
 interrupt the sweets of sleep. He must often 
 engage in menial occupations, and receive con- 
 tempt for a reward. On every side there is one 
 cross or another awaiting a religious. Poverty 
 with its consequences is a continual martyrdom. 
 He must forsake riches with which he lived at 
 ease, wear a coarse habit instead of costly gar- 
 ments, renounce his liberty to confine himself to 
 a cell; leave a sumptuous table for simple and 
 insipid dishes that barely suffice to appease 
 hunger. Another combat, more violent still, is 
 to observe chastity. "Whoever knows how vio- 
 lent the passions of youth are, will say with 
 St. Jerome: ^' Chastity also has its martyrdom.^^ 
 To preserve it, a person must always keep a 
 guard on his eyes, mortify his appetite, and 
 check his passions. Obedience, not content 
 with tormenting the inferior man, goes so far 
 as almost to martyr the heart, the soul, and the 
 will. It commands man to act according to the 
 will of others, and live as they please. There 
 is no one to Avhom he less belongs than to him- 
 self In fine, it requires him to exercise all 
 virtues, to fly whatever the senses desire, to 
 seek whatever displeases them ; generally, to 
 have nothing according to his liking, to be de- 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 151 
 
 prived of all that nature desires, and in a word, 
 to bear continually the cross of Jesus Christ. 
 See what you may expect in such a state. It 
 is true, that good religious submit with joy ou 
 account of the love they have for God, and the 
 hope of reward ; but it is no less certain, that 
 such a life offers many difficulties. I have not 
 yet mentioned all. The wise man tells us, that 
 when we enlist in the service of God we must 
 prepare the soul for temptation. God will per- 
 haps permit you to experience severe temp- 
 tations, and to conquer them, you will be 
 obliged to use severe penances. He will per- 
 haps permit you to fall into so great a des- 
 olation, that you will be a burden to yourself, 
 and will seem abandoned by God and man. It 
 appears that the Prophet intended to refer to a 
 religious life when he said (Ps. Ixv.) : ^' Thou, 
 God, hast proved us : thou hast tried us by fire, 
 as silver is tried. Thou hast brought us into 
 a net, thou hast laid afflictions on our back; 
 Thou hast set men over our heads. We have 
 passed through fire and water." 
 
 What do you think of it ? Do you think I 
 have concealed some difficulty which is to be 
 met with in a religious life ? Do not, however, 
 throw down your 3,rms, if God calls you to this 
 sort of warfare ; for the Father of mercies, the 
 God of all consolation^ does not fail, in the midst 
 
152 CHOICE OF A 
 
 of these trials to impart strength, consolation, 
 and contentment to Religious which cause them 
 to love these sufferings more thaa the luxuries 
 they enjoyed in the world. St. Francis of As- 
 sisium often said to his Religious : ^^ We have 
 promised great things to God, but God has 
 promised greater things to us." Rely, there- 
 fore, on the tender care of his providence. God- 
 frey, in the flower of his age, and amid the most 
 flattering hopes, left the world to repair with 
 some of his friends to the monastery at Clair- 
 vaux. Being one day afflicted with an over- 
 whelming sadness, he called to mind the rela- 
 tives, friends, and riches he had abandoned. 
 The temptation appeared exteriorly, and was 
 perceived by one of his friends, who said to him 
 with sweetness : " What's the matter, Godfrey ?" 
 He sighed and replied : " Alas ! brother, I will 
 never more be happy in this life." His friend 
 mentioned this to St. Bernard, who begged God 
 to console the afflicted. Godfrey, very much 
 dejected, went to sleep, and aw^oke w^ith a coun- 
 tenance so cheerful that his friend reproved him 
 for what he had said a moment before. Godfrey 
 replied to him: ^'I told you that I would never 
 more be happy ; but I sincerely hope I will never 
 be sad again." He was really at peace after this 
 struggle, and tasted delights in his austerities 
 which worldlings never find in the most brilliant 
 conditions. 
 
STATE or LIFE. 153 
 
 Worldlings deceive themselves when they be- 
 lieve that the religious life is sad ; for although 
 it may have the appearance of sadness, it really 
 procures the most solid joy. The crosses of re- 
 ligious, which worldlings believe to be so intol- 
 erable, are sweet and agreeable to those who 
 bear them. St. Paul says, that the religious, 
 apparently most afflicted, is in reality the most 
 consoled. ^' Seemingly sad but always rejoic- 
 ing." Observe that before the word sad^ he 
 places seemingly ; and before the word rejoicing, 
 always. His joy is not apparent, but solid, and 
 often a foretaste of heavenly happiness. If 
 sometimes he experiences extraordinary hard- 
 ships in religion, the Lord proportions his grace 
 and consolation thereto. '' According to the 
 multitude of my sorrows in my heart,, thy com- 
 forts have given joy to my soul." (Ps. xciii.) 
 God does not cause his consolations merely to 
 equal the afflictions, but to surpass them, and 
 St. Paul said: '* I am filled with comfort, I 
 exceedingly abound with joy in all our tribu- 
 lation." (2 Cor. vii, 4.) 
 
 Charles of Lorraine, of an imperial family, in 
 possession of a rich see, and on the point of 
 becoming cardinal, preferred the humility of a 
 religious life to all these dignities ; and declared, 
 that he would willingly have made the journey 
 to India on foot to obtain it. He there tasted 
 
154 CHOICE OP A 
 
 delights so pure, that the shortest of these agree- 
 able moments repaid him a hundred-fold for all 
 he left in the world. Urban VIII. asked him, 
 how he succeeded in his new state. *' Most holy 
 father," replied he, '^ I blush to confess it : I am 
 transported by so great a joy, that I cannot 
 refrain from expressing it by singing canticles in 
 my cell: How lovely are thy tabernacles, 
 God of virtues! my soul panteth and fainteth 
 after the courts of the Lord ; my heart and my 
 body leap with joy in thinking of the living 
 God.'' 
 
 Section 2. Greater advantages of the most 
 perfect state. 
 
 A RELIGIOUS life, says St. Augustine, is not a 
 sad life, as worldlings think ; but according to 
 the words of Jesus Christ, it procures for those 
 who have left all for it, a hundred-fold in this 
 world, and eternal happiness in the next. Peace 
 of heart and the tranquillity of a good conscience, 
 are worth- a hundred times all the consolations 
 of the world. Seculars themselves often say, 
 when they visit a monastery : How happy these 
 religious are! they enjoy in their cloister a pro- 
 found calm, which is the image of that in 
 heaven, and which forms a striking contrast 
 with the tempests that continually agitate us in 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 155 
 
 the world. " happy they, if they but knew 
 their bliss!" 
 
 The hope alone of eternal rewards, when there 
 is no temporal advantage, gives the poor of 
 Jesus Christ far more contentment, than the 
 possession of all perishable goods can procure 
 for the rich. The dignity, the honor, the sover- 
 eignty, bestowed upon the poor in spirit, is worth 
 more than all the treasures of the world. As it 
 is a disgrace to the rich to become the slaves of 
 worldly wealth, so also is it a great honor for 
 these poor in spirit, to be exempted from such a 
 tyranny, and acquire, in abandoning these goods, 
 that dominion which others strive in vain to 
 gain whilst possessing them. Arnulf of Citeaux, 
 who left the immense riches and honors of a 
 court to retire into a poor monastery, often ex- 
 claimed: *'What thou hast said, sweet Jesus, is 
 true; thou wilt accomplish thy promises." He 
 was asked, what he meant by this exclamation. 
 '' I speak," said he, '' of the hundred-fold prom- 
 ised to those who have abandoned all for the 
 love of God, and I experience its unquestion- 
 able effects, in abandoning all I possess." 
 
 Do you fear that you will shorten your days 
 by the rigors of penance ? St. Romuald lived a 
 hundred years amidst the greatest austerities; 
 and in his countenance was always seen the 
 expression of that joy which replenished his 
 
156 CHOICE OP A 
 
 heart. Urban V. thought to mitigate the pen- 
 ances of the Cistercians ; John of Yillanova 
 presented to him eighty of them who, after their 
 profession, had lived eighty years in good health. 
 If it is hard to leave the delights of the world, 
 and embrace the cross of Jesus, it is, however, 
 true of all religious, as St. Bernard says of his, 
 that they taste so many consolations in their 
 mortifications, as to make them fear lest God, 
 having rewarded them in this life by a sort of 
 Paradise, may deprive them of its enjoyments 
 in the life to come. But this fear is void of 
 foundation, for one of the greatest consolations 
 of religion is the certain hope it gives of eternal 
 salvation. St. Chrysostom says : " God cannot 
 deceive : he has promised eternal life to those 
 who leave all ; you have abandoned all, there- 
 fore he will give you eternal life. How can 
 you fear the result of his promises ? " St. Ber- 
 nard speaks as clearly: ^^ From the cell to heaven, 
 the way is easy ; it will seldom happen that a 
 religious will pass from the cell to hell ; for, he 
 alone will end his life in a cell, who is destined 
 to enter heaven." ^' One begins to enter heaven," 
 says St. Lawrence Justinian, *' when he con- 
 secrates himself to a religious life ; for this is a 
 manifest sign of predestination. Some saints to 
 w^hom God has revealed that they would be 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 157 
 
 sa^ed, have been inebriated with joy: why 
 would it not be so with religious to whom 
 Jesus Christ himself has promised eternal 
 glory?" 
 
 ■ The assurance of salvation is also founded on 
 this: the religious life is the preservation from 
 future sins and the baptism for sins committed. 
 St. Jerome, St. Anselm, and St. Bernard, assure 
 us, that when one enters religion, he receives 
 the same graces as when baptized. St. Anselm, 
 in an ecstasy, saw himself led to the gates of 
 heaven ; the devils tried to prevent his entering, 
 by accusing him of sins committed in the world, 
 but the angel replied: ^^ Accuse him, if you can, 
 of faults committed in religion ! for when he 
 made his vows, all he had committed in the 
 world were pardoned." It is a great consola- 
 tion to a soul defiled by sin, to know that entrance 
 into religion will be a second baptism, with the 
 aid of which she will cancel all her debts to God, 
 great as they may be. 
 
 The holy doctors have therefore had great 
 reasons for bestowing eulogies upon the religious 
 state, and for calling it the life of angels, the 
 theatre of virtues, the paradise of joys, the 
 pledge of eternal happiness. It is then with 
 great wisdom that millions of persons, — princes, 
 
 great men of the world, kings, heirs of thrones, 
 14 
 
158 CHOICE OP A STATE OF LIFE. 
 
 — to gain all by the rich nothing of religious 
 poverty, have cast aside the royal mantles, 
 placed their crowns and sceptres at the foot of 
 the crucifix, and have found their glory and 
 delight in the ignominy and bitterness of the 
 cross. 
 
PAET SECOND. 
 
 OF A WISE CHOICE IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 J 
 
 HAVE thus far treated of a wise 
 choice in general ; I will now treat 
 of the means of conquering the diffi- 
 culties which generally oppose such a 
 choice. It would be too tedious to 
 write in detail on every state, and I will there- 
 fore confine myself especially to the religious 
 state ; not that I wish to draw to it the person 
 who is choosing, but because this state being 
 the most difficult to embrace, its difficulties being 
 removed, the obstacles to embracing any other 
 state will, for a still greater reason, be also 
 removed. Solve the more difficult, and the more 
 easy solve themselves. It is for you to apply 
 to other states, what I may say of the religious 
 life. 
 
 159 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Section 1. Of the different kinds of religious 
 
 life. 
 
 HERB are persons whom the Holy 
 Ghost calls to an Order, especially 
 designed for them ; as St. Nicholas 
 Tolentino was called to the Institute 
 of St. Augustine, St. Hyacinth to that 
 of St. Dominic, St. Bonaventure to that of St. 
 Francis, and St. Stanislaus to the Society of 
 Jesus. However, it often happens, that a per- 
 son, having resolved to embrace the religious 
 state, does not know what Order to join, nor 
 whether to consecrate himself to a solitary and 
 contemplative life, or to one that is mixed. 
 When the Devil sees that any one aspires to 
 perfection, he endeavors to seduce him, either 
 by leading him into situations w^here perfection 
 is not found, or by exciting him to undertake a 
 burden so heavy that he will be unable to bear 
 it. To avoid these snares, two things must be 
 considered : first, the temperament or disposition 
 
 160 
 
CHOICE OF A STATE OP LIFE. 161 
 
 of the person choosing ; secondly, the constitu- 
 tion of the religious Order he desires to embrace. 
 In fact, grace adapts itself to nature : those in 
 whom a melancholy disposition prevails, who 
 love repose and retirement, feel drawn to soli- 
 tude and to the desert. As soon as St. Jerome 
 had left the abodes of men, and found himself 
 alone, he cried out: ''Let no one speak to me 
 again of the dissipation of cities, or of the 
 troubles of the world. I am here delivered 
 from a thousand snares, from many occasions of 
 sin. I converse alone, and when I wish with 
 God. Relatives and friends no longer entertain 
 me with their prosperity, nor speak to, me of 
 their adversity. No more of reverses of for- 
 tune, or changes of state, or threats of war, or 
 visits of ceremony. I have to think only of 
 God and myself. I find here my delight and a 
 foretaste of Paradise. Oh ! happy solitude I 
 Oh ! singular blessedness ! '' 
 
 Others of a sterner nature, though not so fond 
 of solitude, are very desirous of mortifying them- 
 selves by bodily penances, and are called to the 
 Order of Capuchins^ or the barefooted Carmelites. 
 St. Bonaventure, knowing that wisdom does not 
 exist amongst those who live at their ease, found 
 his consolation in conquering his body by aus- 
 terities. Some seem born to shed blessings 
 around them, and desire the mixed life, such as 
 14* 
 
162 CHOICE OF A 
 
 is found in the Order of St. Dominic, or in that 
 of St. Francis, or in others newly instituted. 
 Such was the inclination of St. Augustine. He 
 compared to the Angels, those who contemplate 
 God, and at the same time labor for the sal- 
 vation of their neighbor. 
 
 You will perhaps ask me which of these Orders 
 is the most perfect ? St. Thomas says, it is that 
 which most resembles the life of Jesus Christ 
 and his Apostles, who joined contemplation with 
 the care of souls. '' Those religious orders pos- 
 sess the highest degree of perfection which are 
 instituted both to teach and preach ; for it is 
 more meritorious to impart light to others, than 
 merely to glitter." So that the Order he most 
 esteemed, was that which joined to the observ- 
 ance of the evangelical counsels, labors of great 
 merit: such as preaching, administering the 
 sacraments, instructing the ignorant, reclaiming 
 wanderers, converting heretics and infidels at 
 the cost of the severest labors. St. Thomas 
 says, moreover, that it is a work of great per- 
 fection to teach the sciences — as the Dominicans 
 and Francispans do — in order to promote faith 
 and piety amongst seculars, by forming to virtue 
 the young persons whose studies they direct. 
 The saint even adds, that the occupation of 
 teaching and leading others to virtue is more 
 estimable than martyrdom, secundum propriam 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 163 
 
 speciem actus, Jesus Christ has revealed, that 
 those who, by writing or by teaching, labor for 
 the salvation of souls and the glory of God, do 
 good which may last through all ages, and the 
 whole of which will contribute to their own sal- 
 vation. Those who teach others the road to 
 salvation, shall shine as stars for all eternity 
 (Daniel xii. 3). St. Chrysostom gives as a 
 reason for it, that we procure God more pleasure 
 and glory by gaining a single soul, than by 
 abandoning an entire world of wealth. It is 
 on this account that monks, especially the 
 Benedictines, give their lives to the education 
 of youth, and to a thousand other means of 
 helping their neighbor. 
 
 Section 2. One ought to choose the Order most 
 suited to his own dispositions. 
 
 The most perfect states do not suit all men. 
 The arms of Saul only embarrassed the young 
 David. St. Ambrose says : '' Let every one 
 study his natural disposition and learn what 
 good and what evil it contains, and also his 
 inclination for practising virtue and avoiding 
 vice ; for a person generally acquits himself best 
 of those employments for which he has a natural 
 disposition, and is more contented with them. 
 The occupation pleases him, and the pleasure he 
 takes in it helps him to succeed." Examine 
 
164 CHOICE OF A 
 
 then your dispositions of mind and body. Per- 
 haps 3^our strength would fail you in one Order, 
 whilst it would suffice for another. Perfection 
 does not consist in austerity — which is only a 
 means and not an end — but in a denial of self- 
 will. '^ It is far more meritorious," says St. 
 Gregory, " to submit our vnll to another^ s than 
 to chastise the body with severe austerities.'^^ If 
 you are inclined to bodily penances, you can 
 practise them every where with discretion. In 
 Orders regarded as less austere, there are many 
 Religious who practise the most rigid austerities. 
 To make a wise choice of a religious Order you 
 must avoid two stumbling-blocks: the first is 
 that of entering an Order because you have a 
 relative or a friend there who promises to protect, 
 promote, and help you. These motives are 
 unworthy of a courageous youth who wishes to 
 leave the world. If 3^ou seek riches and case, 
 enjoy them at home. The second stumbling- 
 block is that of entering a degenerate Order, to 
 live there in liberty. Rather preserve your 
 liberty in the world, than bind yourself by 
 vows, the violation of which would be a sacri- 
 lege. If you ask me which are the degenerate 
 Orders, I will in reply only remind you of the 
 words of the great Constantine : " If I should 
 see a Priest commit a fault, I would endeavor 
 to cover it with my imperial mantle." You 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 165 
 
 would inform yourself on this subject, by eon- 
 versing with different Religious, by examining 
 their discourse, and their conduct, and by seeing 
 whether they have fraternal charity, are obedi- 
 ent, and possessed of delicate consciences. See 
 whether they are ambitious or humble, circum- 
 spect or careless in their intercourse with the 
 world, and whether they speak of spiritual or 
 worldly things. Their language will let you 
 know them. 
 
 Finally, it would be wrong for you to avoid 
 an Order which has produced many great men, 
 through fear of not being esteemed in it. This 
 would be an ambition unworthy of a step which 
 ought to be founded on humility. St. Anselm 
 was sometimes tormented with this temptation ; 
 but one day at prayer, God suggested this 
 thought to him : " What ! when one has become 
 a Religious, ought he desire to be superior to 
 others and seek honors ? I ought, on the con- 
 trary, to choose precisely the place in which I 
 will be most humbled, and regarded as the last 
 of all." He immediately repaired to a monastery. 
 But to reward his humility, God gave him learn- 
 ing, and he shone amongst Doctors as a sun 
 amid stars. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Section 1. Rules for ascertaining whether a 
 vocation comes from Gody or not, 
 
 OUXG people are sometimes at a loss 
 to know, whether it is God or the 
 devil that urges them to a particular 
 state. I will give you three rules by 
 which you may recognize the voice 
 of God; 
 
 First, when God excites the soul by such an 
 abundance of graces, that there no longer re- 
 mains any doubt as to whether it is his voice or 
 not. It happened thus with St. Matthew and 
 St. Paul. 
 
 The second is, when the impression is not so 
 strong, nor the certainty so positive, but still 
 the interior movement of the heart is so power- 
 ful that you can have almost a perfect cer- 
 tainty. 
 
 ^nd, thirdly, when, the mind being clear of 
 every bias, and exempt from the troubles that 
 might deceive or disturb the judgment, you 
 decide tranquilly by the light of eternal truths, 
 
 166 
 
CHOICE OF A STATE OF LIFE. 16T 
 
 upon a state which you clearly see to be the best 
 for you. 
 
 But to obtain a more perfect certainty, you 
 must reflect chiefly on your motives for em- 
 bracing the state you are considering. In fact, 
 the religious state is not the last end, but a 
 means which may serve different ends. If, then, 
 your motive for entering the religious state is 
 to promote your spiritual welfare therein ; for 
 example, to be delivered from the dangers of the 
 world, to reform your conduct, to observe the 
 evangelical counsels, to enjoy the peace of a 
 good conscience, or to insure your salvation ; 
 then it is certain that the vocation comes from 
 God. The reason is, that no carnal affection is 
 mingled with these motives ; all is founded on 
 the love of spiritual things. This love cannot 
 come from nature, nor from the devil ; it must 
 therefore come from God. It cannot be the 
 effect of our corrupt nature, for this nature in- 
 cites us to the gratification of our senses, to the 
 desire of riches and pleasure, and flies from all 
 mortification and submission to the orders of 
 another. It cannot come from the devil, because 
 he never acts against himself; he never seeks to 
 destroy the sway which he wishes to exercise 
 over, souls. If the devil could possibly inspire 
 us to quit the world, and give ourselves to God ; 
 to renounce sensual pleasures, and embrace the 
 
168 CHOICE OP A 
 
 rigors of penance, he would be against himself; 
 he would be destroying his empire which con- 
 sists in insinuating into our hearts a love for 
 pleasures and honors. Therefore, it is not 
 credible that the devil can be the author of these 
 holy thoughts. 
 
 But perhaps you will say, that the devil often 
 transforms himself into an angel of light, the 
 better to deceive us ; that he wishes to lead us 
 into religion in order afterwards to make us 
 leave it, with a disgust for holy things; that 
 many, having entered religion, have lived scan- 
 dalously in it, and have left it with disgrace; 
 and you will, finally, conclude not to embrace 
 the religious state. No conclusion more errone- 
 ous than this. Bankers pursue their business, 
 although many have been made bankrupt by it ; 
 soldiers enter the army, although many have 
 lost their lives in it, some have deserted, and 
 others have left it in disgrace; young persons 
 study, although some have lost their health 
 by doing so; the nobility frequent the court, 
 although many have there met with disappoint- 
 ment. The same may be said of all other states. 
 Why then should we not embrace the Religious 
 state, although some persons conduct themselves 
 improperly in it, or leave it ? Soldiers without 
 the least hesitation expose their lives for a few 
 dollars per month ; bankers risk their fortune, 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 169 
 
 and students their health. Shall we, then, 
 expose our lives for a temporal advantage, and 
 risk nothing — if indeed there is any risk — in 
 the surest road to heaven and eternal happiness ? 
 Why not rather consider the far greater number 
 of persons who persevere in religion, and live 
 there holily? Why should not their perse- 
 verance inspire more confidence than the fall of 
 others causes fear? 
 
 Some persons judge by the issue, whether 
 vocations are true or false. When a person 
 remains in the religious state until death, they 
 regard it as certain that he has been called to it 
 by the Holy Ghost. If another casts down his 
 arms, they declare that he was not called by 
 divine inspiration. '' Beautiful reasoning, this ! " 
 says St. Thomas, ''the failure to persevere does 
 not prove that one has not been called by God ; 
 for then it would be necessary to maintain that 
 all divine favors are permanent and perpetual, 
 and that when a person has once received grace, 
 he can never lose it ; now this would be to main- 
 tain a downright heresy." 
 
 If it could be said, that the devil invites souls 
 to a religious life in order to destroy them, it 
 might also be said, that he calls Pagans to the 
 faith in order to plunge them afterwards into 
 heresy. But who would believe that conversion 
 to the faith comes from the devil ? The Holy 
 15 
 
lïO CHOICE OF A 
 
 Scriptures, the Councils, and history teach us., 
 that many have at first obeyed the vocation of 
 God, and have afterwards ended badly through 
 their own fault. Our Saviour, whilst preaching 
 in .Judea, invited all men, saying : Come and 
 follow me ; yet, how many of those that obej^ed 
 so evident a vocation did not persevere ; for 
 ** many of his disciples went hack, and walked 
 no more with hinV^ And whom do we find 
 among them? Judas — an apostle — afterwards 
 an apostate and traitor! Would you, on this 
 account, have declined following Christ if you 
 had lived in those times? The devil is not so 
 false to his own cause as to bring a soul into 
 religion, where he is sure of losing it, or, at 
 least, of winning it w^ith great difficulty, whilst 
 it is so easy for him to conquer in the world, 
 where it is exposed without protection. He 
 very cunningly makes use of the inconstancy of 
 a few to supply others with false reasons for 
 declining to enter the religious state. 
 
 Section 2. Human motives of a vocation, 
 
 I HAVE shown, according to St. Thomas, that 
 the inspiration which is accompanied with virtu- 
 ous motives can come only from God. But Les- 
 sius goes farther, and says, that even when one 
 of the motives for* entering religion is a tem- 
 poral object, — for instance, to flee worldly occupa- 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 171 
 
 tions ana enjoy a pious repose, to escape from 
 domestic calamities, to avoid the reproach which 
 for some cause we meet with when we appear 
 in public, and other motives of a similar nature, 
 it must be held that such a vocation comes from 
 the Holy Ghost; for the influence of some human 
 motive does not destroy the merit of a work 
 done for God, as may be seen by the earthly 
 rewards He so often promised and gave in the 
 Old Testament. . We see proofs of it in many 
 persons. St. Arsenius became a religious to 
 escape the snares which his disciple, the Empe- 
 ror Arcadius, laid for him. The two Pauls, the 
 glory of the desert, retired thither, the one to 
 avoid the persecution of a relative who coveted 
 his inheritance, the other to avoid the shame 
 of living with a faithless wife. St. Romuald, 
 founder of the Camaldolenses, repaired to the 
 cloister, because, having been witness to a 
 murder committed in a duel by Sergius, his 
 father, he wished to escape the rigor of the law. 
 He withdrew to the monastery as a place of 
 safety, was touched by the sweet conversation 
 and happy life of the religious, and gave him- 
 self entirely to God. These persons made a 
 virtue of necessity, became great saints, and 
 could say with St. Augustine, " Happy fault, 
 which has brought us to better things." St. 
 Thomas adds, that even when we suppose the 
 
112 CHOICE OP A 
 
 thought of quitting the world to be inspired by 
 the devil, it would be well to follow the counsel ; 
 as no one would refuse a large sum of money, 
 because it is paid by an enemy, nor a beautiful 
 picture, because it is executed by an immoral 
 painter ; for we do not then regard the giver, 
 but the gift. If the devil were the author of 
 the vocation, you could, like David, boast of 
 having killed Goliath with his own sword. 
 
 We may have a sufficient certainty that the 
 vocation comes from God. It is not necessary 
 that an angel should come down from heaven to 
 intimate to you the will of God. You ought 
 not to desire such revelations, especially when 
 there is question of consecrating yourself to 
 God. There is not so much danger in closely 
 following Jesus Christ that you must needs have 
 positive orders, direct from heaven, to avoid 
 being deceived. It is, on the contrary, very 
 true, that if you ought to ask God for revela- 
 tions on either side of the question, you should 
 rather ask, whether you can safely remain in 
 the world, than whether you can safely leave it. 
 Indeed, Jesus Christ exhorts us to embrace pov- 
 erty ; he has wished to give us a dread of riches 
 and of the world. Therefore St. Thomas says, 
 one must have special reasons for staying in the 
 world. How then can those be deceived who 
 wish to leave it ? When a person is to begin a 
 
STATE OP LIFE. lïS 
 
 voyage, he does not deliberate as to whether he 
 shall trust his life to a vessel that is unsea- 
 worthy, or to one that is entirely safe — why, 
 therefore, when he embarks for eternity, are so 
 many reasons necessary to lead him into the 
 surest state of life? 
 
 They who desire particular motives may con- 
 sider those I have advanced, especially when 
 the vocation rests on spiritual and eternal mo- 
 tives. As for the rest, the ways of Divine 
 Providence are admirable : at one time he calls 
 us by the voice of a preacher who touches our 
 hearts ; at another time by pious reading, or by 
 the advice of a confessor, or by the interior 
 emotions we experience after Holy Communion. 
 
 A person's vocation may arise from his being 
 scoffed at by his companions, which fills him 
 with disgust for the world ; that of another from 
 having a difficulty or from meeting w^ith an in- 
 jury, escaping a danger, or being afflicted with 
 a disease. God, says St. Augustine, acts like a 
 nurse who rubs her breasts with wormwood 
 when she wishes to wean her infant, in order 
 that the child may find only bitterness where it 
 expected only sweetness. It often happens, says 
 St. Macarius, that God sends tribulations and 
 reverses, that you may conclude from them; 
 ''Since the deceitful world do'es not give me 
 what I wish, I abandon it; I cast myself upon 
 15* 
 
174 CHOICE OP A 
 
 the bosom of God, who will never deceive 
 
 Section 3. Examples of extraordinary voca- 
 tions. 
 
 St. Anthony, assisting at Mass, heard these 
 words read from the Gospel i^^ If thou wilt beper^- 
 feet, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, ^^ 
 (Matt. xix. 21) ; he immediately took the advice 
 to himself, and followed it. 
 
 St. Francis Borgia, after the death of the Em- 
 press, saw her face, which, though in life so 
 beautiful, had become so hideous that he could 
 scarce recognize it. This sight made him sensi- 
 ble of the nothingness of human things; and he 
 resolved, no longer to serve a master subject to 
 death, but to give himself at once to God. 
 
 Thomas Pond — an English nobleman — pos- 
 sessed of all the qualities that render a youth 
 amiable, repaired at the age of twenty to the 
 court of Queen Elizabeth, of England, who loaded 
 him with favors. One day, at a ball, he danced 
 with such ease and elegance as to charm all the 
 noble assembly ; and the queen herself, as a sign 
 of her satisfaction, took him by the hand and 
 bade him rest a while. Elizabeth invited Pond 
 again to show his talent at another ball, but, 
 whilst dancing, he was seized with a dizziness 
 and fell. The spectators burst into laughter, 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 1T5 
 
 and the queen, indignant at seeing the feat fail, 
 said contemptuously in Latin, '' Surge, Domine 
 Bos.^^ '' Get up, my lord Bull.'' He answered: 
 *' Sic transit gloria mundV^ '' Thus passes the 
 glory of the world. See how it repays the 
 trouble one takes for it." He left the court, 
 retired to his palace, devoted himself to prayer, 
 penance, and good works, and finally embraced 
 the religious state. He practised great virtues 
 there, and showed such a constancy in the faith 
 that he very willingly suffered for it in ten dif- 
 ferent prisons. 
 
 The eldest son of a baron of the empire, af- 
 fected by the death of one of his young friends, 
 retired to Clairvaux, without saying anything 
 to his parents about it. His father — a very 
 distinguished officer — who designed that this 
 son should take a high post in the army, as 
 soon as he heard this news, ran in fury to the 
 monastery, and threatened to destroy the house 
 and community. The youth was obliged to 
 appear before his father, but excused his con- 
 duct by saying, that he had fled because he 
 could not endure a bad custum that prevailed 
 in his country ; but that if his father, by his 
 authority as marquis, would abolish this ter- 
 rible custom, he would very willingly return to 
 enjoy the delights of his paternal roof. The 
 father replied, that his son had only to speak, 
 
1T6 CHOICE OF A STATE OF LIFE. 
 
 and whatever displeased him should be instantly 
 suppressed. " This custom," replied the youth, 
 '' which offends me is, that young people die as 
 well as old men; if you remedy this, I will 
 return with you." The father, surprised, saw 
 that his power did not extend so far: at the 
 same time God touched his heart ; he dismissed 
 his servants and remained himself at Clairvaux. 
 Peter Gonzales, the nephew of the Archbishop 
 of Palenzo, was much addicted to the fashionable 
 follies of youth. On a certain day when he w^as 
 to enter into a high office, he appeared in public 
 with an extraordinary pageant. As he was rid- 
 ing through the principal street, his horse fell 
 and threw him in the mud. His companions 
 and the passers-by could not suppress their 
 laughter at the ridiculous figure he made, whilst 
 he, confused and humbled, hastily concealed 
 himself from the public gaze. This accident 
 affected him so deeply, that he was never seen 
 in public afterwards. By the grace of God, he 
 was enabled to see the vanities of the world in 
 their proper light. Disgusted with them, he 
 entered the order of St. Dominic, and became a 
 saint. Like St. Paul, he was first prostrated to 
 the earth, that he might afterwards be raised to 
 heaven. ^' God is wonderful in his saints ; " his 
 wisdom supplies him with an infinite variety of 
 means for procuring the salvation of men. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Section 1. Bad habits do not free us from 
 embracing a perfect state of life. 
 
 E see men scv faint-hearted, or rather 
 so disposed to give way to tempta- 
 tions, that, after examining the great 
 advantages of the religious state, in- 
 stead of feeling incited to embrace it, they flee 
 from it through a false humility. It seems to 
 them, that they could* never conquer the bad 
 habits formed in the world, and they remain in 
 it through a fear of having to return to it, in 
 case they should enter religion. To these I 
 say : if you wish to save your soul, you surely 
 know that you must conquer these bad habits. 
 Pray tell me then, where do you hope to succeed 
 more easily? Is it in the world, where these 
 very habits were contracted, and where you 
 have seen by experience that licentious manners 
 and dangerous occasions have so often caused 
 you to offend God, and perhaps so grievously 
 that you no longer feel any remorse ? Or is it 
 
 177 
 
ITS CHOICE OF A 
 
 in the religious state, where, by acts of virtue, 
 and the help of good example, you can remove 
 all bad habits and acquire those that are good ? 
 How numerous are the means religion affords 
 for subduing your passions, whilst the world 
 does not furnish one ! 
 
 St. Thomas inquires, whether persons not yet 
 exercised in the practice of the precepts, should 
 enter religion. After adducing the remedies 
 which religion offers for impurity, ambition, and 
 intemperance, he concludes with reason, that 
 immediately after the conversion of a vicious 
 person, he can enter the cloister, even though 
 he still have bad habits which follow and cling 
 to him, and which, as St. Augustine says of his 
 own vices, cry after him: "Ah! leave us not, 
 forsake not your old friends ; you will not be 
 able to live without us." Despise their clam- 
 ors ; you will find in the monastery a good 
 school for learning to fight and subdue them. 
 Do not doubt, therefore, that you are called by 
 God ; on the contrary, be assured that divine 
 goodness wishes to rid your soul, in the cloister, 
 of its vices, which perhaps would always in- 
 crease if you should be exposed to the dangers 
 of the world. But if you fear that you are risk- 
 ing too much, consult your spiritual father. 
 
 A manly heart can easily conquer bad habits 
 in the cloister, where they lose half their vio- 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 179 
 
 lence, and where religion provides her follow- 
 ers with powerful weapons. As bad habits 
 acquire strength by frequent acts, so by leaving 
 ofif those acts, they dwindle away little by little. 
 Now, by the very act of leaving the world, a 
 person renounces these vicious habits, and, in 
 consequence, begins to exercise the contrary 
 virtues ; by opposing mortification to incon- 
 tinency, sobriety to intemperance, and pov- 
 erty to the love of riches. It will therefore be 
 easy to banish bad inclinations, and adopt the 
 contrary virtues. 
 
 The sole advantage of conversing and asso- 
 ciating with good people produces a love for 
 virtue ; and love begets a desire of practising 
 it ; and thus, you will advance in virtue without 
 perceiving it ; just as the lion taken from the 
 forest and kept for some time amongst men, 
 gradually loses his ferocity, and insensibly 
 assumes almost another nature. 
 
 If the nature and industry of man can of 
 themselves effect much, what will they not 
 accomplish when reinforced by the grace of 
 God! If you had to reform your habits by 
 your own strength alone, you would surely 
 have reason to fear ; but God with his almighty 
 power will assist you, and will give you grace 
 to renounce your vices. He knows how to 
 straighten what is crooked, and to smooth what 
 
180 CHOICE OP A 
 
 is rough. Confide in Him, for his word is 
 pledged to help you. Fear not, says he, for 
 I am with you; I have strengthened you; I 
 have aided you; all those who fight against 
 you shall be confounded, they shall be as if 
 they were not. ! how admirably the grace 
 of God reforms the will and the other powers 
 of the souls of those on whom it descends! 
 These sudden changes in the servants of God 
 would hardly be credible, if we did not see 
 them in others and experience them in our- 
 selves. A person often thinks he could not 
 live, if deprived of this or that pleasure; yet, 
 after a little while he renounces it, and cannot 
 even think of it again without horror. Who 
 does not admire the power of the Lord, when 
 he sees men once cruel, intemperate, avaricious, 
 and ambitious, now mild, temperate, poor in 
 spirit, and humble of heart? Come and see 
 the works of the Lord and the wonders he 
 performs on earth. What do you fear, says 
 St. Bernard, you whose feeble hearts are filled 
 with despondency? Is it that the Lord is 
 unwilling to pardon your sins? but he has 
 nailed them to the cross with his hands. Do 
 you fear that you will not succeed because 
 you are composed of frail clay? but God who 
 made you, knows your weakness. Do you 
 fear that your bad habits have bound you 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 181 
 
 hand and foot? but Almighty God can break 
 your chains. Do you fear that God will re- 
 fuse you his grace on account of your past 
 sins? he did not come to call the just, but sin- 
 ners ; whom he loves most tenderly, not because 
 they are sinners, but because he sees what they 
 will become with his help ; just as a great sculp- 
 tor cherishes in a rough piece of marble the 
 beautiful statue his chisel will shape from it. 
 
 Section 2. St. Augustine victorious over had 
 
 habits. 
 
 From among a thousand examples I would 
 cite to prove the possibility of correcting bad 
 habits, I select that of St. Augustine, whose 
 conversion is known by his own writings. He 
 for a long time delayed giving himself to God, 
 and a little boat in the tempest-lashed sea could 
 not be more agitated than his heart was, in the 
 continual struggle between the flesh and the 
 spirit. He desired to withdraw himself from 
 sensual pleasures, and sometimes had recourse 
 to God, but without wishing to be heard. He 
 desired continence, provided God would not 
 give it to him too soon, and would let him 
 have a few more days to indulge in his disor- 
 derly pleasures. Now and then, he nobly ran 
 to embrace the Cross of Jesus Christ ; but as 
 soon as he beheld it, his resolution failed him. 
 16 
 
182 CHOICE OF A 
 
 He wished to escape from his shameful vices, 
 but it seemed to him impossible to live without 
 them. I was bound, says he, by trifles and 
 vanities, those dear old associates who would 
 whisper to me : Do you then wish to leave us ? 
 Can it be that from this moment we will never 
 more be with you? Do you then think your- 
 self able to live, not for years, but even one 
 single instant without these carnal pleasures, 
 to which you are so accustomed that they are 
 almost identified with your nature ? Augustine 
 sighed ; he was bound, not by an iron chain, 
 but by an iron will. He did not even under- 
 stand how he could bo chaste and continent.^ 
 
 Fatigued by these long and violent agitations, 
 he one day said to himself; Why can you not do 
 what so many other men and women have done 
 in positions like yours? They have not con- 
 quered by their own strength, but by the help 
 they have received from God. Do as they did. 
 Confide in God. Cast yourself into his arms ; 
 for this tender father will not withdraw his 
 hands and let you fall, but will press you to 
 his bosom, and heal you. Finally, Augustine 
 boldly renounced his vices, and gave himself 
 without reserve to God, who expelled these false 
 pleasures from his heart, and took their place. 
 In transports of joy, he tasted all the sweetness 
 of this new life, understood how vain, how ruin- 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 183 
 
 ous to his soul, and how abominable were the 
 objects to which he was before attached, and 
 exclaimed with a lively gratitude : Lord, thou 
 hast broken my bonds, I will eternally praise 
 thy power and thy mercy. 
 
 Imitate this great model, and be persuaded, 
 that the greater your repugnance to leaving vice, 
 the greater will be your joy for having left it. 
 
 Consider the admirable example of so many 
 others, who with the aid of grace have tri- 
 umphed over the pleasures of sense. Why may 
 you not hope for the same favors from God ? 
 
 Although you have not been able to gain the 
 victory in the midst of the world and its danger- 
 ous occasions, be assured, that, in disengaging 
 yourself from these snares by a religious pro- 
 fession, you will succeed. It will be with you 
 as with St. Félicitas, who groaned in prison 
 under the pains of childbirth, and yet rejoiced 
 whilst enduring the torments of martyrdom. 
 Being asked the reason, she replied: when I 
 was giving birth to my child, nature acted in 
 me, but at the torture the grace of God was my 
 support. What nature believes impossible, grace 
 makes easy and sweet. Say then with confi- 
 dence : I can do all things in him who strength- 
 eneth me, (Phil. iv. 13.) 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Section 1. Ought we to obey the divine call, not- 
 withstanding the opposition of parents ? 
 
 ANY authors have shown how great 
 a sin it is for parents to oppose the 
 vocation of their children, to shut the 
 way of salvation against them, and to 
 destroy not only their offspring, but themselves 
 also. I will here consider only those youths 
 v/ho, through a false respect for their parents, 
 do not obey the call of God. To these I say: 
 you have too tender an attachment to your 
 parents ; you wish to obey them to the prejudice 
 of the divine mandates. In the Gospel, Jesus 
 Christ says, he who loves father or mother more 
 than me, is not worthy of me. St. Bernard de- 
 clares that a person is in this situation, when 
 through respect for his parents, he does not 
 follow the invitation of Jesus Christ. Just 
 imagine that you are called at the same time 
 by Jesus Christ on the one side, and by your 
 parents on the other: both tell you how ten- 
 derly they love you, what they deserve from 
 
 184 
 
CHOICE OF A STATE OF LIFE. 185 
 
 you, and the rewards prepared for you. But 
 how vast a difference ! The love of Jesus, his 
 merits and 'rewards are heavenly, immense, and 
 eternal ; those of your parents are earthly, weak, 
 and inconstant The apostle says: Children, 
 obey your parents in the Lord, but not against 
 the Lord. They ought to be obeyed, so far as 
 their commands are not opposed to those of 
 God ; for if they go beyond this, they are not 
 fathers, but murderers of their own offspring. 
 
 Let us see what the holy fathers think on this 
 point. St. Jerome in w^riting to young Heliodo- 
 rus, who, through attachment to his family, had 
 left the service of God, says : What, delicate sol- 
 dier, are you doing in your father's house? 
 Should your little nephew cling to your neck, 
 your tender mother present herself with di- 
 shevelled hair and torn garments, and show you 
 the breast which nourished you; should your 
 father, to stop you, stretch himself upon the 
 threshold, flee to the standard of the cross, and 
 fear not that, by this, you are wanting in the 
 duty you owe your parents ; for it is an act — 
 not of cruelty — but of affection. The same 
 saint says elsewhere : Your father will be af- 
 flicted, but Jesus will be rejoiced ; your family 
 w^ill weep, but the angels will congratulate you. 
 Let your father do as he pleases with his prop- 
 erty ; your parents seek not your interest, but 
 
 16^ 
 
186 CHOICE OF A 
 
 their own. Indeed, their tears often flow, not 
 from the love they bear their children, but from 
 the grief of being deprived of the' advantages 
 and honors they hoped to obtain through them. 
 St. Augustine writes to Lœtus, a wealthy 
 young man, who, through love for his parents, 
 was wanting in resolution : The heavenly trum- 
 pet calls you to a spiritual warfare ; but you are 
 delayed by an irregular attachment to your 
 mother. What is the cause of this attachment? 
 Has she pressed you to her bosom in your help- 
 less infancy? bestowed unceasing care upon 
 your education? Do not permit these tender 
 thoughts to lead you astray, but leave your 
 mother for a little while, that you may eternally 
 enjoy her company in heaven. St. Bernard 
 exhorts the young Walter to leave the world. 
 He was distinguished as well by his talents, as 
 by his birth, but was too much attached to his 
 mother. I give you the words of the saint: 
 What shall I reply to you ? Shall I tell you to 
 leave your mother? but this would seem inhu- 
 man. To remain with her ? but it will not be 
 to her interest to cause the loss of your soul. 
 Shall I advise you to serve the world and 
 Jesus Christ at the same time ? but it is a 
 declaration of eternal truth, that no man can 
 serve two masters. Choose then, either to 
 gratify your mother's will, or to procure her 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 187 
 
 salvation and your own. It may be said, that 
 although it is sinful in a person to despise his 
 mother, yet it is meritorious to do so for the 
 love of God ; since he who said : Honor thy 
 father and thy mother ; says also : He who loves 
 father or mother more than me, is not worthy 
 of me. 
 
 Section 2. The love of Jesus triumphs over 
 the love of parents. 
 
 The sentiments of the holy doctors have been 
 followed by many. St. Fulgentius, the only 
 son of a distinguished lady, secretly fled to a 
 convent. When his mother learned it, she 
 hastened to the convent and there repeatedly 
 called aloud for her beloved son, but no one 
 replied to her. She seated herself at the door, 
 and continually repeated his name, exclaiming : 
 ** Come, ! darling of my soul ! return, thou 
 only hope of my family." His constancy was 
 shaken by the affliction of his mother, but by 
 praying to God, he obtained His help, and 
 triumphed over flesh and blood. 
 
 St. Thomas of Aquin, in the flower of youth, 
 retired to a monastery of St Dominie, without 
 even taking leave of the countess his mother, or 
 of his brothers. His mother went to Naples to 
 see him, but he fearing his inability to resist 
 the tender violence of a mother's love, asked 
 
188 CHOICE OP A 
 
 the prior to send him immediately to Paris. 
 When his mother heard that he was gone, she 
 sent his brothers in pursuit of him. On his 
 return, she tempted him in every possible 
 manner, mingling threats with caresses, and 
 tears with reproaches. The holy young man 
 listened with respect, because she was his 
 mother, but replied with a modest firmness, 
 that he was obliged to obey God rather than 
 her. The mother, seeing how useless were 
 all her efforts, sent his two sisters to employ 
 the most tender entreaties to overcome his 
 constancy. They having failed, she delivered 
 him to two of his brothers, who imprisoned 
 him for two years in a tower, and there tormented 
 him with every species of cruelty. But the 
 tears of a mother, the cruelty of his brothers, 
 and the tenderness of his sisters, only confirmed 
 him in his resolution, and he finally escaped by 
 a window and fled to the Dominican convent. 
 
 St. Aloysius, marquis of Chatillon, said, that 
 there was nothing in this world that he loved 
 more affectionately than he did his parents ; he, 
 however, had the courage to leave them. He 
 begged them for three years to give their con- 
 sent, and shed many tears to obtain it. The 
 love of Jesus Christ is far more powerful than' 
 the love of parents. 
 
 Observe, however, that when parents oppose 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 189 
 
 a choice, I do not in general praise those youths 
 who, by an indiscreet fervor, fly to a convent 
 without asking their consent ; this must be done 
 only by an evident inspiration. But obstacles 
 must be conquered by prayer, by entreaty, and 
 by patience. 
 
 To him who desires the religious state, his 
 home is a prison, and the opposition of parents 
 only tends to strengthen his resolution ; and 
 God at last crowns his patience with the favor 
 desired. Indeed, if your parents see, that at 
 home you have pious habits, that you are 
 recollected, and speak only of spiritual things, 
 that you dispise vanities, and delight in pious 
 reading, devotion to prayer and penance, and 
 frequent the sacraments, that you have patience 
 and constancy under reproaches and contra- 
 diction, they will give you the permission 
 you desire, and will say, with the parents of 
 St. Aloysius : Go, my child ; you are born to 
 serve, not the world, but God. This is the 
 surest course, and by pursuing it, if your vo- 
 cation is well founded, you will resist all 
 attacks. If, after all your mild and respectful 
 exertions, you cannot soften the hearts of your 
 parents, ask your spiritual father if it would 
 be well to imitate the young Elias who retired 
 to the monastery at Clairvaux without men- 
 tioning it to his parents, and caused St. Ber- 
 nard to write to them the following letter: 
 
190 CHOICE OP A 
 
 The only reason for not obeying one's father 
 is God ; for he says : BLe who loves father or 
 mother more than me, is not worthy of me. 
 If you love me like good parents, why disturb 
 me, when I do all I can to obey God, my 
 eternal Father ! why do you wish» to withdraw 
 me from the service of him, to serve whom is 
 to reign ? when it is evident that one's enemies 
 are those of his own household, he cannot obey 
 them, even though they be parents. All I have 
 received from you, is my being born in sin, and 
 brought forth in affliction. If you love me, you 
 will rejoice that I fly to my heavenly Father. 
 Why do you wish to make me a child of Satan? 
 Is it not cruel to desire my ruin, when I desire 
 my salvation? to draw me into the flames of 
 the world, when I have but barely escaped 
 their violence ? ! how strange I the house 
 burns, and you wish to have me within its 
 blazing walls, — to persuade me who am safe, 
 to. return to you who do not trouble yourselves 
 with vour salvation, but who wish to involve 
 me in your ruin. What shall I then do ? shall 
 I go to console my mother, so that we may 
 weep together without consolation for all 
 eternity? shall I go to appease the wrath of 
 my father, and afterwards share his eternal 
 grief? The only wise course I can take, is to 
 serve God, to renounce worldly pleasures for 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 191 
 
 those that are heavenly. Then cease, dear 
 parents, cease your afflictions and cease to re- 
 call me. Your importunities remove me further 
 from you. The cloister will always be the 
 place of my repose. I will dwell there, because 
 I have chosen it. I will pray for the pardon of 
 my sins and yours; and I hope to obtain of 
 God, that after a short separation for the love 
 of him, we will be eternally reunited and happy 
 in heaven." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Section 1. To defer the execution of a choice 
 is almost the same as to abandon it, 
 
 NE of the most dangerous tempta- 
 tions — and which is not thought to 
 be one — is to delay the execution of a 
 choice, for reasons which are only the 
 promptings of self-love in disguise ; 
 for example, great undertakings must be matured, 
 lest by being hastily done they may not suc- 
 ceed, — you must first see things put in order, 
 and a thousand other matters attended to. 
 These are so many tricks of the devil, who 
 wishes to interpose these delays, hoping that 
 by disobedience to your vocation, 3^ou may 
 finally lose the way to Heaven. Therefore, 
 when you have not a strong reason for delay, 
 and one which is approved of by your spiritual 
 Father, carry out your good design as soon as 
 possible ; for experience teaches, that youths 
 rarely maintain the fervor of vocation for a long 
 time. A witticism from a companion, or a few 
 words from a relativ^e are sometimes sufficient 
 
 192 
 
CHOICE or A STATE OP LIFE. 193 
 
 to stifle the good thought. Good desires easily 
 vanish during the time of vacation; for in the 
 world it is easy to lose grace, and very easy 
 for the fervor of charity to subside ; and, con- 
 sequently, it is not difficult to lose therein the 
 impulse given by' the Holy Ghost, who is 
 grieved by even slight faults. 
 
 St. Thomas asks, if it is allowable to defer 
 one's entrance into religion? He replies, and 
 proves, that a person should enter as soon as 
 possible. But we see it clearly enough in the 
 Gospel. When Peter and Andrew were called 
 by our Saviour, immediately they left their nets 
 and their father and followed Jesus. Observe 
 the word immediately; what promptness! they 
 left ; what detachment ! 
 
 A person in the world is continually exposed 
 to the danger of losing the grace of God, and 
 with it his vocation. Alas ! what folly ! cries 
 St. Bernard. The question is, shall I escape 
 the frightful depth of an infernal pit, and I take 
 time to reflect and ask advice before deciding. 
 Temptations are violent, continual, and innu- 
 merable ; youth is very feeble, and already 
 tempted enough by corrupt nature ; does not 
 prudence therefore exact, that we should retire 
 for a while into a place where there are fewer 
 temptations and more helps? St. Jerome said 
 to Paulinus; Hasten; instead of untying the 
 17 
 
194 CHOICE OF A 
 
 cord which holds your little boat in the storm, 
 cut it. The sea has its dangers even when 
 calm ; but when you meet with a tempest, and 
 find yourself near a harbor, can you be so fool- 
 ish as not to take refuge in it ? A young man 
 in the world is like a frail boat, badly rigged, 
 and placed in the middle of the ocean; a 
 prudent choice will rescue him from this im- 
 minent danger. How is it, that none of his 
 decisions, in an affair so important and pressing, 
 are executed? Excessive fear of being de- 
 ceived often makes us do nothing. A youth 
 when making a choice is perplexed ; he wishes 
 and does not wish. To-day he says that he 
 will act, to-morrow he wishes a month, and 
 then a year, and at last does nothing. He 
 would wish to have — like the Angel of the 
 Apocalypse — one foot on land, the other on 
 the sea, to be at the same time in the world 
 and in the house of God. Such was the 
 situation of St. Augustine, of which he says: 
 I had nothing to reply, O Lord, when thou 
 saidst 4o me : awake, thou that sleepest. . I 
 had nothing to reply, for I was convinced of 
 the truth. I would utter some words like a 
 man half asleep. I will come presently ; wait 
 a moment : but this ^presently never came, and 
 this momeM did not end. I always resolved 
 to give myself to God on the morrow, and 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 195 
 
 never immediately." Finally, Augustine took 
 a firm resolution, and at once embraced the 
 cross of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The devil is never better pleased than when 
 a person delays his entrance into religion ; for 
 then he is almost sure that he will never enter. 
 Whatever is strong, weakens and dies with 
 the lapse of time : now, the desire of a religious 
 life is a strong movement against nature : 
 therefore, he who delays to put it into execu- 
 tion will lose his good intentions. St. Chrysos- 
 tom, preaching one day on the advantages of 
 a religious life, concluded with these words: 
 *' Perhaps you experience a desire of this holy 
 state ; but what fruit will you draw from it, if, 
 after having been all inflamed with this desire, 
 you extinguish the heavenly spark by delays? 
 Then, do not delay, otherwise it will be with 
 you as with a traveller, who came to a stream 
 near its source, but, frightened by its width, 
 said : I will cross it lower down ; but the torrent 
 became wider and deeper, and it was in the end 
 impossible for him to cross at all. The Saviour 
 refused a young man time to bury his father. 
 This was a pious work and required but little 
 time. Why this refusal ? continues the saint, 
 the devil only seeks to insinuate himself into 
 the soul. If he obtains a little delay, he will 
 produce great carelessness. Then do not defer 
 
196 CHOICE OP A 
 
 the execution of your choice. A soul is highly 
 honored when God calls her to his service ; and, 
 to delay obedience to the call is to despise either 
 his wisdom, as if he were mistaken, and had 
 called unseasonably; or his goodness, as if he 
 offered a favor not worth accepting. It is, 
 indeed, saying to him : " Lord, I will not follow 
 you now. I am not ready; have patience, — I 
 will attend to it presently." Would you speak 
 thus to the Pope, if he should call you to a 
 bishopric ; or to a King, if he should appoint 
 you to a high office? And is God less than 
 the Pope, or a King? Can you reply to him 
 so impudently, without fearing that he will 
 abandon you? Do you reflect that he is offer- 
 ing you an eternal crown in his heavenly court ? 
 
 Section 2. Motives for hastening the execution 
 of a choice. 
 
 Delay deprives a person of invaluable merits 
 which he Avould daily acquire in the religious 
 state, and exposes him to the danger of dying 
 before embracing it. The greatest obstacle to a 
 good life, says Seneca, is to appoint the next 
 day for beginning it. You lose the present 
 which is in your power, for the future which 
 you cannot command. St. Bernard wrote to 
 Roman, who deferred giving himself to God: 
 Why do you put off the accomplishment of 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 19T 
 
 your salutary design ? Nothing is more certain 
 than death, nothing 'more uncertain than the 
 hour of its coming. Hasten to quit the world, 
 and come to die the death of the just. Do not 
 stop among sinners. How can you live where 
 you would not wish to die ? The same saint 
 wrote to a youth, named Thomas, who delayed 
 entering the monastery : Alas ! I fear lest you 
 may imitate a young man, your namesake, who, 
 after having resolved to enter our monastery, 
 began to delay, and grew cold and negligent 
 about his vocation, and was overtaken by the 
 most sudden and frightful death. 
 
 St. Paul says : " Whosoever are led by the 
 spirit of God they are the sons of God ; '' and 
 St. Augustine says of this passage, that it 
 belongs to the children of God, to be urged 
 to good by a certain impetuosity of the Divine 
 Spirit, w^hich cannot be said of those who delay. 
 The promptness with which a gift is offered, 
 pleases God more than the gift itself. This 
 Abraham and Jephtha experienced when they 
 went to sacrifice their children. Each of these 
 fathers tenderly loved his child, and both acted 
 from the same motive — of pleasing God. Still, 
 God was content with the good will of Abra- 
 ham, but not with that of Jephtha. Why so ? 
 Abraham did not delay for an instant, but set 
 out at once, and walked three days and nights 
 17* 
 
198 CHOICE OF A 
 
 to reach the mountain appointed for the sacrifice. 
 Jephtha, on the contrary, delayed two months, 
 through a love for his daughter. Abraham's 
 promptness pleased God, but Jephtha's delay 
 offended him. It is not enough to do good; 
 it must be done promptly. Still, we find 
 youths, who are anxious to consecrate them- 
 selves to God, but who wish to delay, as if 
 they were the dispensers of divine favors, and 
 could have their vocation at pleasure. 
 
 God gives inspirations in the same manner that 
 our Saviour bestowed his favors : he went about 
 doing good. 
 
 He does good while going about, and we 
 must receive it then or not at all. Seek the 
 Lordy says Isaiah, whilst he can he found* 
 If you neglect it then, you cannot succeed 
 when you wish. St. Augustine, in speaking 
 of the wedding-feast and of the workmen called 
 to the vineyard, says, that the master invites 
 people of every state, and country, and at 
 different hours. But, among so many different 
 vocations, he calls no one twice. When they 
 refuse, he does not send other servants to them. 
 We do not find that any one of the Apostles 
 was called more than once to follow Jesus 
 Christ constantly. If they had not obeyed 
 instantly, tKey would always have remained 
 in their miserable state. If it were as we 
 
r 
 
 STATE OP LIFE. 199 
 
 imagine, that what is not done to-day could 
 be done to-morrow, Jesus Christ would not 
 urge us so strongly to profit by the present 
 occasion. Inspirations of God, says St. Bona- 
 venture, are embassies which He sends us. 
 And are there many Princes, who, when their 
 ambassadors are refused with contempt, would 
 send them a second time ? Would they not 
 rather dispatch armies, to avenge such an 
 insult ? God does as much ; he punishes those 
 who reject his invitations and refuse to hear his 
 ambassadors. 
 
 SC^ 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Section 1. If for strong reasons , one cannot 
 obey his vocation immediatelyy he ought to 
 he very careful to avoid all danger of 
 losing it, 
 
 OMETIMES a person meets obstacles 
 so great that he is obliged to delay 
 the execution of his good resolutions. 
 St. Bernard occupied the time which 
 preceded his entrance into religion, 
 by preparing many of his companions for enter- 
 ing with him. He was very amiable, and spoke 
 so as to touch their hearts, and, consequently, 
 he soon made many conquests. The rumor 
 spread, and the alarm was so great, that 
 mothers hid their children, wives their hus- 
 bands, and friends their friends, for fear they 
 would be irresistibly torn from them by the 
 torrent of heavenly grace. But notwithstand- 
 ing their precautions, as- a word from a young 
 man has more weight than hundreds of reasons 
 from an older person, he soon repaired to 
 
 200 
 
CHOICE OE A STATE OP LIFE. 201 
 
 Citeaux with thirty followers, as distinguished 
 by their virtue, as by their talents, birth, and 
 riches. I advise you in the words of the Royal 
 Prophet, io fiee from evil and do good. 
 
 Flee from evil, and first of all — from mortal 
 sin ; for it deprives us of grace, deserves eternal 
 punishment, and very soon destroys the light 
 and affections with which the Holy Ghost had 
 designed to favor the soul. Good dispositions 
 and' holy desires are fruits that spring from 
 sanctifying grace, as trees from the root, or as 
 rivers from their source. If you cut the root or 
 dry up the source, how can you expect fruits of 
 grace, or streams of heavenly blessings ? Now, 
 to avoid mortal sin, and not to lose your voca- 
 tion, you must keep far away from the paths 
 that lead to this precipice. One of the best 
 precautions is, to avoid the company of disso- 
 lute persons whose bad example, licentious 
 discourse, and diabolical lessons will make you 
 lose the grace of God. And remember, that 
 sometimes these masked devils do not openly 
 advise a virtuous youth to engage in evil ; but 
 they conceal the poison of their tongues, lead 
 him gradually into their snares, and propose 
 occasions where inexperience sees no evil, but 
 finds hidden dangers which bring it to ruin. 
 
 These companions, says St. Ambrose, are like 
 rocks hidden under water ; we are on them and 
 
202 CHOICE OF A 
 
 shipwrecked before we perceive them. They 
 poison us with their very caresses. We must 
 avoid them as we would the devil. There is no 
 safety but in flying from them as from a plague. 
 If our friend was infected with the plague, we 
 would not take our recreation in his company — 
 and still you are not afraid to spend whole days 
 with him ? Do not say, that from your experi- 
 ence you find these indelicate conversations, and 
 dangerous places to be harmless. If you have 
 not been hurt to-day, you will be to-morrow. 
 Would you freely converse with one infected 
 with leprosy ? Suppose you are proof now 
 against disease, will you always be so ? By 
 degrees you will be corrupted, and entirely 
 changed ; and will finally regard neither vo- 
 cation, nor remorse, nor God. Your actual 
 virtue, says St. Bernard, will no more insure 
 you against evil, than health will against a 
 snake with which you are trifling. Then, who- 
 ever wishes to serve God must absolutely flee 
 from the wicked. 
 
 The second means of preserving yourself is to 
 avoid the reading of bad books, that soil the 
 imagination and corrupt the heart. The poison 
 quickly enters by the eyes. But, you say, I 
 read these authors, solely to learn to converse 
 w^ell, not to act badly. But soon you will be 
 ruined without perceiving it. If you seek only 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 203 
 
 beauties of. style, you will find them in many 
 excellent works. Why will you seek in the 
 midst of dangers what you can find elsewhere 
 with perfect safety? Then, flee from them, as 
 from a plague. Once decided to consecrate 
 yourself to God, you ought to avoid even the 
 risk of a fall. 
 
 The third means is, to guard your eyes with 
 the greatest care. Imprudent youths easily 
 look at certain objects, without wishing to do 
 so : the heart follows the eye, a bad impression 
 is left on the mind, which is thus subjected to 
 a terrible warfare. The Royal Prophet is a 
 sad example of a dangerous look. It is for this 
 reason that some young persons, gifted with 
 angelic purity, such as St. Thomas and St. 
 Aloysius, did not venture to look even their own 
 mothers in the face. 
 
 But the beaten track to mortal sin is venial 
 sin committed frequently and willingly. Venial 
 sin leads to mortal sin in three ways, says St. 
 Thomas : First, as disease disposes to death ; 
 thus, from an unguarded recreation one passes 
 to an impure delight. Secondly, as a conse- 
 quence, a person passes from one to another, 
 so that he who does not avoid venial sin will 
 soon commit mortal sin. He who is unfaithful 
 in little things will soon be so in great things. 
 Thirdly, by destroying the obstacles which 
 
204 CHOICE OF A 
 
 prevent mortal sin. Thus, venial sin weakens 
 virtuous habits, and renders a person unworthy 
 of special graces. A delicate conscience and a 
 holy fear of God are gradually destroyed by too 
 much readiness in sinning venially. 
 
 But you will say that venial sin is light. I 
 answer, that it is light only when compared 
 with mortal sin. You ought not on that ac- 
 count fear it the less. It is always very serious 
 of itself, since it offends a God infinitely good, 
 and so grievously, that if you had the choice of 
 committing a venial sin, or of suffering a very 
 severe death, you ought to say with St. 
 Edmund of Canterbury: I would rather be 
 burned alive, than commit one of these faults 
 which are called light. 
 
 God has often chastised venial sin by fright- 
 ful punishments. Moses, cherished by God, 
 was for a venial sin deprived of the happiness 
 of entering the promised land. In like manner 
 venial sin often hinders a person from entering 
 the religious state. A small fault, says St. 
 Chrysostom, brings on a great-one: one laughs 
 to excess, and sees no evil in it; to laughter 
 succeeds jesting ; to jesting, scurrility ; to scur- 
 rility, free words; and then come bad actions. 
 
 A mighty conflagration arises from a little 
 spark. A simple complaisance sometimes urges 
 an innocent heart to commit a serious fault. 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 205 
 
 The acts are repeated and at length the virtue 
 of purity is lost. Thus, small faults lead us 
 on to great ones ; first, because we are per- 
 verted little by little, and without at first per- 
 ceiving the enormity of the evil we are ap- 
 proaching: secondly, because, although venial 
 sin does not destroy charity, nor the friendship 
 of God, still it cools it so far that often only a 
 slight temptation will destroy it; and then it 
 generally happens, that by losing the grace of 
 God, we also lose our vocation. 
 
 Section 2. Virtuous practices useful for pre- 
 serving the desire of obeying a vocation. 
 
 We have explained how to shun evil; let us 
 now see how to do good. He who aspires to 
 the religious state ought, besides avoiding evil, 
 to practise virtue. Above all, approach the 
 Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist every 
 week, if practicable ; for in these you will find all 
 the strength necessary for fighting valiantly. 
 Frequent communion keeps alive, and greatly 
 increases the desire of consecrating one's self to 
 God. 
 
 It is very essential to set aside some time in 
 the morning of each day for meditation and 
 prayer; and often, even in the midst of your 
 amusements, you should repeat this prayer with 
 your heart and your lips : '* Confirm, Lord, 
 18 
 
206 CHOICE OF A 
 
 what thou hast wrought within me." Prayer 
 is a heavenly dew, which refreshes the soul, and 
 strengthens its good resolution ; when armed 
 with meditation, a youth has but little to fear 
 from the devil; but if he neglects it, he runs 
 into battle without arms. How do you treat 
 your flowers? You refresh them with pure 
 water every day ; and your soul, that beautiful 
 lily, shall she lack her dew? 
 
 Prayer is to the soul what water is to flowers ; 
 deprive them of water, and the flowers wither. 
 Join good reading to prayer; choose the best 
 and most solid books, suited to your vocation. 
 Seek above all, those that lead to contempt of 
 the world, and esteem of eternal things. God, 
 by means of good books, often excites holy 
 thoughts, and nourishes them with good ex- 
 amples. 
 
 Converse often with your Spiritual Father ^ 
 and learn from him how to conquer the temp- 
 tations with which the devil molests you: for 
 the devil will make the best use of the little 
 time that remains to him, to gain your soul. 
 If you speak openly and candidly of your temp- 
 tations and difficulties, you will find great helps 
 for your guidance amid the perplexities which 
 disturb you. St. John Climachus fears the ruin 
 of him who embarks in this aftair without a 
 pilot, but promises a happy passage to him, 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 20Ï 
 
 who allows a skilful navigator to conduct 
 him. If you have a good friend on whom you 
 can rely, and who would not for the world 
 oppose your good desires, converse with him 
 on the happiness of serving God, and the 
 dangers of the world, and you will find in his 
 discourse food for your fervor. 
 
 You may also practise some penances and 
 mortifications, like those used in the order you 
 propose entering. Vocation is not a flower that 
 grows among soft and tender plants, but like 
 the rose, it buds and blooms among thorns. 
 Luxury and pleasure make it droop in your 
 heart, but mortification always gives it new 
 vigor. Practise especially self-denial, modesty, 
 and obedience, for these are common to all re- 
 ligious orders. Thus have many done, who 
 aspired to a Religious life. Imitate them, for 
 they were successful ; and be confident, that 
 having begun the good work, you will bring it 
 to a happy conclusion. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Section 1. How are we to resist those who attack 
 the most perfect choice. 
 
 E who wishes to live piously, says St. 
 Paul, must suffer persecution from 
 the wicked who wish to seduce him, 
 and from the good who wish to prove 
 his virtue. How will you speak to both of 
 these ? A young Roman desired to consecrate 
 himself to God in religion, and his parents en- 
 gaged a Religious to turn him from it. The 
 Religious asked him, why he wished to leave 
 the world? To save my soul, replied the youth. 
 '^But I have never heard, '^ said the Religious, 
 " that one must needs enter a convent to save 
 his soul. All states lead to Heaven. Read the 
 Bible ; there you find that the heavenly spouse 
 seeks her beloved in the streets and in the broad- 
 ways. It is therefore very evident that one can 
 find God and secure salvation in the highways 
 of the world, as well as in the religious clois- 
 ter." The youth remained for a while silent and 
 perplexed. '* Observe," said he at length, " that 
 
 208 
 
CHOICE OP A STATE OF LIFE, 209 
 
 He is sought there, but not found, I pity you 
 very much, Rev. Father, added the youth smil- 
 ing, for you have been greatly deceived in re- 
 tiring into a monastery, when you could easily 
 have reached Heaven by the broad road of the 
 world.'^ 
 
 Kelatives and friends generally make the first 
 difSculties. They are impelled by a false love 
 which is even worse than hatred. They say 
 that inexperienced youths ought not to resolve 
 on so important a step, because they will open 
 their eyes when it may be too late, and will see 
 that they have left what they did not know; 
 and, consequently, will either give way to 
 despair or leave in disgrace the life of their own 
 choosing. Finally, what harm can there be in 
 reflecting long on so important a step? Did 
 not Jesus say : "' Which of you having a mind 
 to build a tower doth not first sit down and 
 reckon the charges that are necessary, whether 
 he have wherewithal to finish it." So, having 
 to raise the tower of perfection, ought not the 
 youth weigh well his accounts in the first place, 
 and see whether he will be able to carry out his 
 undertakings or not? A choice which cannot 
 be changed ought to be maturely considered 
 during a great portion of life. A person reflects 
 well before changing his residence for a single 
 year. Ought he not, in the same way, reflect 
 18* 
 
210 CHOICE OF A 
 
 for several years before he resolves to change 
 residence, state of life, and society, for ever ? 
 Every day, and every year, furnish youths 
 with new pleas for mature deliberation. 
 
 The reply is easy : Either these relatives 
 deceive themselves, or the Council of Trent 
 and other Councils were wrong, when they 
 decided, that the age of sixteen is sufficient 
 for making a profession, which is to be preceded 
 by a year or more of probation. Who would 
 dare to say, *^I am right, the Councils are 
 wrong ? " The fear of leaving religion, through 
 a want of sufficient reflection before entering, is 
 void of foundation. Lancicius shows, in his 
 work, — ''De adolescentia recte traducenda'^ — 
 that the greater part of those who do not per- 
 severe in religion are those who enter at an 
 advanced age; when, according to you, they 
 were more capable of making a good choice. 
 Perseverance is not the fruit of our reflections, 
 but a free gift of God. The more worthy we 
 are of it, the more certain we are of obtaining it. 
 But the more innocent one is, the more worthy 
 he is ; therefore, the question is this : Will a 
 few more years of intercourse with ,a sinful 
 world find you more or less innocent than you 
 are at present. If less, then you are surer of 
 perseverance by entering now than if you delay 
 it. But, you will say, on the other hand, I 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 211 
 
 must delay until I have corrected my evil 
 habits. It would never do to enter religion 
 because you are perfect, but because you wish 
 to he so. Then you must ask yourself: Can I 
 correct my faults more easily in the world than 
 in religion ? 
 
 It is true that Jesus has declared that a man 
 must reflect before he builds the tower. I reply 
 that he has also said, '' Suffer little children to 
 come unto me, and forbid them not ; " and the 
 person to whom he said, " If thou wilt be per- 
 fect, come, follow me," was very young. 
 
 Is it not the greatest of follies to seek no ad- 
 vice, to take no time for reflection before estab- 
 lishing yourself in the world — the beaten path 
 to Hell — and, at the same time, to desire much 
 advice, long deliberations and protracted delays 
 before entering religion, the road to salvation 
 by which multitudes of faithful souls have 
 easily reached Heaven. 
 
 Ilelatives and friends say: ''It is very true 
 that when* God calls, neither advice nor time 
 for reflection is required; bui the child is in- 
 fluenced by man, by his confessor, and, there- 
 fore, what confidence can be placed in his voca- 
 tion. After four days novitiate he will return 
 home, a disgrace to himself and his family." 
 
 This is not true reasoning ; for it is one thing 
 for a man to prj^t good reasons for taking a 
 
212 CHOICE OF A 
 
 wise course, and another thing for him to be the 
 cause on account of which this course is taken. 
 If, when a person is induced by men to perform 
 a praiseworthy action, it follows that he does it 
 on account of men, the same objection must be 
 brought against the conversion of a sinner who 
 is moved to it by the words of a preacher ; and 
 really there would be no such thing in the world 
 as divine faith, for faith comes by instruction : 
 fides ex auditu. Generally, a person can believe 
 nothing unless some man first tells him what he 
 is to believe, and the motives and proofs that 
 lead to it? What would you say of the proud 
 and impertinent servant who would do only 
 those things which he heard from his own 
 master's lips ? Is God then the only master 
 whom you will not permit to send a man as 
 his ambassador ? Is God alone not to be obeyed 
 unless he speaks in person? The Holy Ghost 
 generally withholds his inspiration until the 
 tongue of man opens an entrance: just as the 
 golden thread does not enter the cloth until 
 the needle has, opened the way. You disap- 
 prove of these invitations, but St. Augustine 
 applauds them, and exhorts those who are in 
 the port, by the charity they owe their brethren 
 in danger of drowning in the sea, to help them 
 with good advice, to which thay can cling as to 
 a plank, and be saved from shipwreck. If your 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 213 
 
 advice is prudent, St. Augustine's came from 
 ignorance, or from a wish to deceive us. When 
 youths of great hope leave the world, some 
 people urge the advantage and the honor of 
 their families and country. But either no evil 
 consequences will result, or if any should, they 
 ought to be endured in obedience to God. 
 Have confidence in God, for he is a good 
 Father, and will provide for the welfare of 
 families and countries. It is a very estimable 
 gain for a father or a country to give a servant 
 to God who always returns an hundred-fold. 
 Even suppose that you do experience some 
 loss, does not God deserve that you should 
 endure it in obedience to him? When a king 
 calls any one to his court, he thinks only of 
 obeying, and feels honored by the privilege of 
 serving his prince. But you will say that the 
 family and the country receive great glory and 
 benefit from such a sacrifice. In reply let me 
 ask, may you not expect the like advantages 
 from the King of kings ? ! my God, thou 
 art indeed poor, if poverty and disgrace are 
 the only rewards of those who are so liberal to 
 thee. How many in religion have acquired 
 for their families and their country a celebrity 
 which will endure forever, whilst if they had 
 remained in the world they would have been 
 utterly forgotte^^ 
 
214 CHOICE OF A 
 
 Section 2. Falsity of the accusations brought 
 against the religious state. 
 
 There are parents who say to their children : 
 *' Beware of dishonoring your family by muf- 
 fling yourself in a habit and begging bread ; rely 
 upon it, in such a ease I will never speak to you 
 again." St. Augustine replies to these parents: 
 ** The profession of Christian humility is either 
 vile or honorable. If honorable, why are you 
 ashamed of yourself and your children ? If vile, 
 why do you respect it, even upon the altar ? " 
 Do you not reverence voluntary poverty in St. 
 Francis of Assissium? Why then call it base? 
 Do you not venerate religious humility in St. 
 Aloysius ? Why then regard it as a disgrace ? 
 Do you believe that these and many other 
 saints would even be spoken of, if instead of 
 humbling themselves before God they had 
 bowed to the proud notions of worldlings? 
 Miratury says St. Jerome, orhis paujjerem 
 quern divitem nesciebat. The world admires 
 the youth in poverty, whom it disregarded 
 when rich. Among all the princes of Gonzaga, 
 none has made the family so illustrious as St. 
 Aloysius by his humiliations. When St. Louis, 
 son of Charles II, king of Naples, and nephew 
 to St. Louis, king of France, took the habit of 
 St. Francis, some one said to him : What honor 
 this garb receives from being worn by your 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 215 
 
 royal person! On the contrary, replied he, 
 weeping, I am honored by wearing- it ; and, 
 poor as it is, I prefer it to all the royal mantles 
 in the world. Henry II. having received from 
 Pope Benedict YIII. a globe of gold as a token 
 of imperial dignity, immediately presented it to 
 the inmates of the monastery of Cluny, saying, 
 *' This symbol of the world belongs more to 
 them than to me, since they nobly tread the 
 world under foot by despising its vanities." 
 
 There are ^Dersons who declaim against re- 
 ligious orders ; even employ the tongue of scan- 
 dal in defaming them. When they cannot find 
 a single fault in individuals, they defame the 
 whole body of which they are members. If 
 they know nothing bad, they leisurely create 
 falsehoods, so as to disgust those who aspire 
 to religious perfection. They say now, as they 
 did in the time of St. Augustine, that Religious 
 frequent courts too much, lay snares for their 
 neighbor, mingle in affairs which their rules 
 forbid ; that they are dissolute, proud, quarrel- 
 some, and relate other calumnies regarding 
 them. 
 
 Ask these advocates of the world if they 
 would advise you to remain in it in order to 
 avoid these dangers. If they say " Yes," reply 
 to them, that beforehand they must erase from 
 the Gospel the many passages in which Jesus 
 
216 CHOICE OP A 
 
 Christ declares that the world, in all places, and 
 all times, is filled with a thousand dangers 
 But suppose what they say to be true of some 
 order ; would you find as much wickedness in 
 it as in the world ? If there should be a small 
 number of unruly religious, ought we therefore 
 accuse the whole body? For two bad apples 
 will you condemn the good, and cut the tree 
 down? Do not some physicians ruin the health 
 of their -patients ? Some soldiers turn traitors? 
 Some worldlings become thieves and murderers ? 
 Shall we therefore condemn all these states ? 
 To judge of a state by exacting an infallible 
 and unalterable rule, or a perfection incompat- 
 ible with the liberty left to man, is only to de- 
 ceive ourselves. All we can ask is, that the 
 generality be good. A man once declaimed 
 against the order of St. Augustine, because a 
 youth had committed a fault. '' Ah, well ! " 
 said the Saint, '' I grant that there are some in 
 the cloister, tainted with luxury, avarice, or 
 pride ; but for that ought you to condemn all 
 the religious? How many adulterers among 
 married persons ! swindlers among merchants ! 
 and flatterers among courtiers! However, you 
 do not blame these states. Why act differently 
 when you consider the religious state ? If one 
 commits a fault, is he necessarily led on to it 
 by all the others? If a little cheat is found 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 21T 
 
 amongst the good grain, you do not conclude 
 that all this is cheat. Then, to justify you in 
 calling the good wicked, is it enough that some 
 few wicked should be found amongst the good ? 
 But what do you require ? Is it that monas- 
 teries be composed of persons confirmed in 
 grace ? " 
 
 There is not a single individual in the whole 
 world who is confirmed, in grace. All are weak, 
 nay, very weak ; and monasteries are composed 
 of these weak creatures. But even suppose, 
 then, all angels, — would it be astonishing that 
 there should be a mixture of good and bad, as 
 happened in Heaven ? Let them be Apostles, — 
 might there not be a Judas among them ? 
 
 If you count the good and the bad, you will 
 find the bad few, and their faults outweighed an 
 hundred-fold by the labors and virtues of those 
 who live regularly, as St. Chrysostom wisely 
 observes. (L. 3.) The difference is, that w^hat- 
 ever is bad is very soon spread abroad, is lis- 
 tened to with much attention, sought with great 
 avidity, related with uncommon pleasure, and 
 believed most readily ; whilst whatever is good 
 is often done in secret, and most men do not 
 care to hear it, and believe it only with diffi- 
 culty, because it stirs up remorse of conscience. 
 You are well instructed in all the shameful 
 falls of religious ; but alas ! you are ignorant 
 19 
 
218 CHOICE OF A STATE OP lilFE. 
 
 of the glorious victories of so many over temp- 
 tations ; tiie joy with which they endure con- 
 tempt, poverty, sufferings and martyrdom ; and 
 their absolute command over all their passions. 
 You know not their acts of humility, so painful 
 to human nature, — nor their mortifications and 
 penances, by which they strive to conquer their 
 delicacy of body. The numberless examples of 
 virtuous religious ought therefore to be more 
 powerful in attracting you to a religious order 
 than the rare falls of a few in removing you 
 from a community noted for the faithful observ- 
 ance of the rule. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Section 1. Unhappy end of those who are deaf 
 to the divine call. 
 
 COULD relate many deplorable mis- 
 fortunes which have befallen those 
 who, through delay or negligence^ 
 have not obeyed the divine call, and 
 after a long train of calamities, have ended their 
 lives by a miserable death. I will give two or 
 three of the most authentic. St. Antoninus re- 
 lates the sad history of a young man of rare 
 talents, who was called by God to the Order of 
 St. Francis, and who resolved to enter it, but 
 deferred his entrance from day to day. To 
 increase the delay, he accepted the care of a 
 parish. After a few days he w^as seized by a 
 violent fever, and, that the world might know 
 the cause of this punishment, he exclaimed in 
 a frightful tone : '^ Ah ! unhappy me ; I have 
 despised the voice of God: Alas! I am lost." 
 They begged him to make his confession, but 
 he refused, saying: ''I am damned." They 
 at first thought he was out of his senses, but in 
 
 219 
 
220 CHOICE OF A 
 
 the end saw that he was perfectly sensible. 
 They spoke of the mercy of God, and urged 
 him to promise obedience to his vocation, to 
 kiss the crucifix and make a good confession. 
 He replied : " I will not confess. I have seen 
 Almighty God in wrath against me. I haVe 
 heard from his mouth this irrevocable sentence : 
 *I have called thee, thou hast refused me : there- 
 fore, depart into helV " After these words, the 
 young man expired. Are you astonished at 
 this ? It is not at all strange, for St. Anselm 
 says : '* How many have I known to promise 
 and delay, who have been so surprised by death 
 that they have neither been able to enjoy what 
 induced them to delay, nor fulfil what they had 
 promised ! " But here is another example which 
 compels us to say : '^Thou art just, 0, Lord! and 
 thy judgment is equitable. ^^ At Turin, a young 
 man gifted with fine qualities had resolved to 
 leave the w^orld, but he was turned from his 
 resolution by a friend, or rather by an enemy 
 whose affectionate letters promised such great 
 enjoyments in the world that he gave up the 
 thought of entering the house of God. The 
 Spiritual Faljier of this deluded young man 
 heard of the perfidy of his friend, and wrote to 
 him to leave off his diabolical occupation, and 
 if he desired the salvation of his companion, to 
 advise him to fulfil his good resolution. "If 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 221 
 
 you do not," says he, " you will experience what 
 recently happened to a young man who left the 
 service of God by the persuasion of another. 
 He lived an abandoned life, was implicated in a 
 robbery, and died on the gallows." All this was 
 useless ; the seducer persisted and the young 
 man obeyed him. After some days he was 
 arrested with a band of robbers, that had just 
 assassinated some travellers. From his dungeon 
 he wrote to the Priest, that his threat had been 
 a prophecy, for he was then in irons as an as- 
 sassin. To the great dishonor of his family he 
 was at once condemned to death. Thus the 
 word of the wise man was fulfilled : ^^ Because they 
 have not consented to my counsel, hut despised 
 all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit 
 of their own way, and shall he filled with their 
 own devices.''^ — (Frov. i. 30-'31.) 
 
 Section 2. Those who flee from God^s invita- 
 tions soon receive their chastisement. 
 
 What I am about to relate has been pub- 
 lished by Father Lancicius, an eye-witness. 
 A boarder of the Roman College had received 
 from nature great talents, was wealthy, and the 
 nephew of a Patriarch. When old enough to 
 choose a state of life, he asked to make a retreat, 
 and began it with edifying sentiments. Having 
 made a general confession with great care and 
 19^ 
 
222 CHOICE OP A 
 
 delicacy of conscience, he asked if it was a sia 
 not to obey an inspiration to become a religious. 
 I understood what he was aiming at, says 
 Father Lancicius, and cautiously replied that 
 it was no sin ; for the religious life is not com- 
 manded but only counselled. I added, however, 
 that it was very dangerous to reject such invita- 
 tions ; for many were damned, not because they 
 would not become religious, but for sins which 
 they would easily have avoided by being in the 
 cloister. The unhappy man, instead of believ- 
 ing me, wished to make the experiment. He 
 left Rome and went to the Academy of Macerata 
 to study law. His piety diminished, he neg- 
 lected the sacraments, associated with young 
 libertines, spent his time in reading bad books, 
 and became enamored of a certain lady of the 
 city. One night, whilst going to her house, 
 he met a rival who gave him several mortal 
 stabs with a dagger. This misfortune happened 
 under the windows of the college. The poor 
 man cried out, ''Confession! confession!'^ A 
 father heard him and ran in all haste, but alas ! 
 too late ! God grant that the life of the soul 
 was not lost with that of the body. 
 
 How terrible is the sentence passed by a God 
 infinitely just: I called and you refused; you 
 have despised my counsel and neglected my 
 reprehensions. I also ivill laugh in your 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 223 
 
 destructiorij and wfll mock when that shall 
 come to you which you feared. When sudden 
 calamity shall fall upon you^ you shall call 
 upon me, and I will not hear because you have 
 not consented to my counsel. (Prov. i. 24-80.) 
 This voung man considered only the present, 
 to know if it was a sin not to embrace the 
 religious staie. God, who foresaw his disaster, 
 "•gave him the means of saving himself, but he 
 would not use them To relate all the examples 
 of these rebellious souls who have died miserably, 
 would be a task as endless and as useless as 
 counting the dead to convince ourselves that we 
 must all die. 
 
 Section 3. Misfortunes which have happened 
 to females who have despised their vocation. 
 
 A VERY distinguished lady received many 
 favors from God, as long as she remained at 
 home passing her time in exercises of piety : 
 and as the grace of vocation was among these 
 favors, she resolved to consecrate her virginity 
 to God. But by degrees she left her retreat, 
 gave herself more liberty, and finally became 
 very fond of a young gentleman, who, in his 
 turn, conceived an affection for her. She forgot 
 her vocation, and thought only of hastening her 
 marriage. To celebrate the day with great 
 pomp, a numerous train followed her to the 
 
224 CHOICE OP A 
 
 house of her betrothed. " But in descending 
 from her carriage she slipped and fell so vio- 
 lently, that her neck was broken. Thus, she 
 expired before the door of the house which her 
 own will had chosen, instead of the cloister to 
 which God called her. 
 
 When the Countess Blanche retired to a 
 "monastery, it was feared that she w^ould aban- 
 don it on account of the four enemies which 
 beset her : these were her noble birth, her 
 remarkable beauty, her youth, and the remem- 
 brance of her riches. Cardinal Peter Damian 
 wrote to the Countess, and, to encourage her to 
 persevere, related the tragical history of a great 
 princess who had disregarded her vocation. It 
 is as follows : Dominica of Gielva, a princess of 
 dazzling beauty, married a Doge of Venice, and 
 passed her life in pleasure and luxury, without 
 troubling herself with the service of God. The 
 purest dews of Heaven w^ere collected for her 
 baths, food was nicely minced at table by ser- 
 vants to save her trouble, and her chamber was 
 filled with the most precious perfumes. You 
 can form no idea of the luxury that surrounded 
 her. Every day she spent several hours before 
 her mirror in painting herself, and would not 
 allow a single hair to be out of place. Divine 
 justice did not fail to overtake her. In a hor- 
 rible sickness her flesh putrefied, and the smell 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 225 
 
 which came from her sores was so insupportable 
 that she resembled carrion devoured by worms. 
 Her maids and servants fled from her. A single 
 attendant ventured from time to time to carry 
 her some food in a silver bowl, but provided 
 herself with perfumes, and retired quickly to 
 avoid fainting. AVhat a sight! to see this prin- 
 cess — lately so nicely perfumed, now nothing 
 but corruption ! the body that wore such costly 
 attire, now nothing but ulcers ! her w^ho received 
 the homage of all the great, now left to her ser- 
 vants ! She to whose pleasure, nature, and art 
 could not contribute enough, now lay eaten up 
 by cancers, plunged in filth, a burden to herself, 
 and insupportable to others. A little while ago 
 she would not allow one to speak to her of 
 death ; now, death is the object of her most 
 ardent desires. Let us finish this article by a 
 sentence of St. Gregory: ''There are many who y 
 unless they quit all, absolutely cannot he saved.^^ 
 St. Theresa, after a horrible vision, often thought 
 that she saw a bed of fire in hell which would 
 have been hers, if she had not embraced the 
 religious state. I wish that every one who 
 feels himself called to forsake the world, would 
 often ask himself: " Who knows if this he not 
 the only means left me for escaping temporal 
 and eternal evils ? " 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Section 1. Constancy is always crowned loith 
 success. 
 
 WILL now present you with a few 
 examples of a heroic constancy in 
 youths remarkable for a love of their 
 vocation. Those who desire to em^ 
 3race the religious state will thereby see how 
 necessary it is to resist the wiles of the devib 
 without retreating a single step ; and cowards, 
 who fall from their vocation at the least difiS- 
 culty, will have reason to blush. 
 
 Albert, who was born in Flanders of a family 
 related to the King of France, was sent to the 
 Court of Paris to be brought up with the King's 
 children. His heart was taken up only with 
 the heavenly court, and he conceived a lively 
 desire of consecrating himself to God in the 
 Order of St. Dominic. As soon as the Count, 
 his father, discovered the first symptom of his 
 inclination, although far advanced in years, he 
 started post-haste for Paris with several rela- 
 
 226 
 
CHOICE OP A STATE OF LIFE. 22Ï 
 
 tives and friends. On his arrival he set his 
 imagination to work, to devise schemes for 
 changing the mind of his only son and the sole 
 heir of his house. But in vain did he try, for 
 the love of God had steeled the child's heart 
 against carnal love. All his father's com- 
 panions prayed him to relinquish his design, 
 but he resisted all their assaults, even their 
 jeers and their mockeries, which are often more 
 successful in overcoming a youth than threats 
 and torments. He perfectly followed the advice 
 of St. Augustine : '^ Oppose to these railleries a 
 holy resolution, and have a forehead of brass to 
 blunt the points of their tongues." Theodoric, 
 Albert's cousin, being much grieved at losing 
 him, employed every argunient, resorted to 
 prayers and tears, to turn him from his resolu- 
 tion, and finally said : '' Your mother is perhaps 
 dead or dying with grief caused by your de- 
 sign.'^ There was a picture of the crucifixion 
 in the room, with Mary at the right of the 
 Cross, and St. John at the left. Albert gazed 
 at it for a moment, and pointing to it, said: 
 *' Behold the Son of God who sees his own 
 mother and his beloved cousin, both so dear 
 to him and both pierced with a sword of grief, 
 and, notwithstanding his torment and theirs, 
 he remains on the Cross until death. Shall I 
 then dare to abandon the cross of a religious 
 
228 CHOICE OP A 
 
 life, only from motives of human love ? No, I 
 can never do it, not even if my dear mother 
 were expiring before my eyes. Rather come 
 with me, dear cousin, and embrace this holy 
 cross ; break through the dangerous snares 
 which environ you ; come and enjoy the liberty 
 of the children of God." Albert's words sunk 
 so deeply into Theodore's heart that he joined 
 him, and they went to the monastery together, 
 much to the surprise of all, because Theodore 
 had, until then, been much addicted to vanity. 
 Lelius Ubaldini, a nephew of Cardinal Alexan- 
 der de Medicis, resolved when very young to 
 join the Order of bare-footed Carmelites. He 
 mentioned it to his uncle, the cardinal, who, 
 knowing the weakness of his constitution, told 
 him that what he desired was above his strength, 
 that he must reflect well, and, finally, all that 
 seems inspired by the Holy Ghost ought not to 
 be at once decided as coming from him. The 
 resolute youth, wishing to try his strength, 
 abstained from all comforts, slept on a plank, 
 gave up the use of meat, fasted often, ate the 
 food for which he had the greatest repugnance, 
 and devoted his time to prayer and penance. 
 After some time he was stronger than before, 
 and his relatives therefore concluded, that aus- 
 terity had given him new vigor, as was the case 
 with the three young Babylonians who, after 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 229 
 
 long fasts, looked better than those who lived 
 on princely food; ''their faces appeared fairer 
 and fatter than all the children that eat of the 
 king's meat." (Dan.) The uncle being con- 
 vinced by this wonder, told the mother that he 
 could no longer in conscience hinder him from 
 going to the monastery. In the meantime Cle- 
 ment yil. died, and the uncle having to repair 
 to the conclave for the election, forbade Lelius 
 to execute his design before it was over. He 
 himself was elected ; and when his holiness 
 received the token of resJDect from the general 
 of the Carmelites, he said ; '' Now I consent 
 to my nephew's entering your Order." When 
 the general withdrew, he met the nephew in the 
 street — with a great train of Knights — going 
 to kiss his uncle's feet, and told him the per- 
 mission his uncle had just given. The youth 
 hesitated whether he should offer his homage 
 to his uncle, or give up this honor and leave 
 the world instantly. The love of God tri- 
 umphed ; he left the Knights, and, to their 
 astonishment, hastened to the monastery, and 
 put on the religious habit. In this robe of 
 penance he went to the Holy Father, and all 
 who saw him were bathed in tears. His uncle, 
 weeping, embraced him affectionately, and gave 
 him his own name, Alexander, saying : " Behold 
 the first genuine promotion I make ; this is my 
 20 
 
230 CHOICE OF A 
 
 Cardinal of Jesus crucified. Persevere, my son, 
 in this holy state ; you will be happier than I 
 on earth and in heaven." What say you of a 
 heart so magnanimous? The sequel of his life 
 corresponded to its beginning, and he was num- 
 bered amongst the illustrious of his Order. 
 
 Section 2. He who perseveres gains the victory, 
 
 Desiderius Palotta, nephew of the Cardinal 
 Archbishop of Cozenza, after a virtuous child- 
 hood, was called, at the age of fifteen, to the 
 religious state. He prepared for it by so many 
 exercises of piety that the Cardinal suspected 
 his design, and, to prevent its execution, re- 
 moved him from Rome. But this change of 
 place made no change in the heart of Desiderius^ 
 for he lived in retirement, frequented the sacra- 
 ments, and by means of a secret correspondence 
 received advice as to the course he should pur- 
 sue. He at length resolved to ask the Cardi- 
 nal's consent, without which it would be difficult 
 to obtain the desire of his heart. He however 
 made the attempt, and accompanied it with the 
 most ardent prayers. The Cardinal had based 
 his greatest hopes upon the excellent mind 
 of his nephew, and the blow was, therefore, 
 severe. The resolution of Desiderius was known 
 at Court, and relatives, friends, and all the great 
 opposed it with their weighty influence. He 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 231 
 
 was not moved, but always rested upon the 
 obligation of obeying a divine inspiration. The 
 Cardinal took him back to Rome, and declared 
 his difficulties to the Pope, begging him to in- 
 terpose his authority. The next morning the 
 young man unfolded the desire of his heart to 
 the Yicar of Jesus Christ, and begged him — as 
 the common Father of the faithful — to assist 
 him in an affair so deeply affecting the interest 
 of his soul. The uncle, being very much dis- 
 pleased with Desiderius, for speaking with the 
 Pope, immediately stripped him of considerable 
 gifts which he had bestowed upon him, and for- 
 bade his appearing in his presence. Desiderius, 
 reduced to misfortune, without his usual pomp 
 and retinue, repulsed by the lowest servants 
 and exposed to those insults which young per- 
 sons find so hard to bear, found the greatest 
 consolation in saying, like St. Francis, Pater 
 noster, qui es in cœlis. 
 
 The Pope, through regard for the Cardinal, 
 wished the youth to continue his studies at Pisa. 
 In the midst of licentiousness, he preserved his 
 angelic morals, lived in holy retirement, and 
 continued his practices of piety, such as penance 
 and the fréquentation of the sacraments. He 
 was afterwards recalled home, w^here he had 
 much to suffer for his vocation. To make him- 
 self worthy of the guidance of Heaven, he col- 
 
232 CHOICE OP A 
 
 lected the poor children, to whom he taught 
 catechism, established a confraternity of youths, 
 and did many other good works. He continually 
 sighed after the happy moment of his entrance 
 into the House of the Lord ; but perceiving no 
 limit to the opposition he met with, he fled from 
 home, and, after travelling all night and the 
 half of the next day, arrived in Rome in the 
 evening. He immediately repaired to the feet 
 of His Holiness, and begged, that, since he was 
 unable, after so many proofs of his vocation, to 
 obtain permission to follow it, he would deign 
 to act in the affair as the Vicar of God on earth. 
 He prayed with so many entreaties and so much 
 earnestness, that the Pope immediately ordered, 
 that he should be received into the monastery. 
 He entered it overwhelmed with joy, and said, 
 that he was very thankful to his uncle, because 
 the severity of the battles made him enjoy the 
 victory the more. 
 
 Section 3. Heroic courage of Females in the 
 affair of their vocation. 
 
 The young princess Frideburg, although pro- 
 mised, in marriage to the King of France, re- 
 solved to give her life to God. The king had 
 assembled the chief men of the kingdom of 
 Metz, and finding the princess at church, he 
 invited her to the palace where he wished to 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 233 
 
 celebrate the nuptials. She fainted, and begf^ed 
 some days from the king that she might recover 
 her strength. The king consenting, withdrew. 
 When the time had elapsed, the princess went 
 to the Church of St. Stephen with two attend- 
 ants and two maids of honor. To the astonish- 
 ment of those around her, she soon appeared 
 in a religious habit, which she had secretly 
 carried with her. She approached the sanctu- 
 ary, prostrated herself, and, rising, stood close 
 to the corner of the altar, where she pronounced 
 the following prayer: ''Blessed St. Stephen, 
 who, first of all, shed your blood for Jesus 
 Christ, I beg you to recommend to him the 
 important alTair which now engages my 
 thoughts ; so that by your intercession he may 
 bend the heart of the king ; and that I may not 
 be stripped of the veil with wiiich I am adorned 
 through a love of virginity." The attendants 
 hastened to inform the king of what had just 
 occurred ; who, as soon as he heard it, assembled 
 the Bishops and Princes and asked their advice. 
 The Archbishop of Aries replied, that he ought 
 not to be the rival of Jesus Christ, and that he 
 could not marry a virgin who sought heavenly 
 nuptials. . The king, filled with a fear of God, 
 triumphed over the passion of love, and sent 
 the robes and crown of the queen to the church. 
 As he advanced towards her, she looked ten- 
 20* 
 
234 CHOICE OF A 
 
 derly at the altar and exclaimed : '^ Alas ! my 
 God, all is lost unless thou aid me quickly.'' 
 Fear not, my child, said the king with good- 
 ness, I have come to preserve and crown your 
 virginity. Your pious desires will this day be 
 accomplished. The princess reclined her head 
 upon the altar, saying: '^ Behold the handmaid 
 of the Lord, be it done unto me according to 
 thy word." 
 
 The king ordered the ladies to clothe the 
 princess with the royal robes, gird her forehead 
 with the diadem, and, without awaiting new 
 solicitations, he said to her in a broken voice : 
 *' I intended that you should become my spouse, 
 but it is just that I should yield you to our 
 Lord Jesus Christ." Then, taking her right 
 hand, he placed it on the altar to signify that 
 he gave it to a more worthy spouse. All the 
 courtiers were much affected. The king alone 
 preserved his firmness, but, in leaving the 
 church, he could not conceal the violent struggle 
 within his breast between love and grief. His 
 tears and sighs revealed the sentiments thus far 
 hidden in his heart. He sent for the princess, 
 seated her on the throne, loaded her with 
 presents, and then permitted her to retire to the 
 House of God. ! inexpressible power of di- 
 vine love ! One knows not which to admire 
 most; the constancy of a princess who prefers 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 235 
 
 a veil to a royal diadem, or the piety of a king 
 who prefers the service of God to his own tender 
 affections. 
 
 I will mention a no less admirable example in 
 the person of Sister Angelica of the Trinity, 
 and the daughter of the celebrated Marshal 
 Brissac. To a very distinguished birth she 
 joined rare qualities of mind and heart, an 
 exquisite beauty, and an amiability so perfect 
 that many distinguished persons sought her 
 hand. Their marks of attention only afflicted 
 her, for she sighed to become the spouse of 
 Jesus Christ. She employed all imaginable 
 industry to succeed, begged the permission of 
 her parents, addressed fervent prayers to the 
 Saints, appeared badly clothed, feigned silli- 
 ness, and in a word, no one has, perhaps, em- 
 ployed more means to gain hearts, than An- 
 gelica to estrange them. She disfigured herself 
 by penances, washed her face in corrosive water 
 and afterwards exposed it to the sun in order to 
 change her complexion. She said, like St. Ag- 
 nes, ** Let the body perish which can be loved 
 to the prejudice of God ! '^ She spoke a little 
 incoherently in company to make persons think 
 her wanting in sense ; and she did this so suc- 
 cessfully that it seemed more from nature than 
 virtue. With her the love of God, as St. Ber- 
 nard says, was a holy folly. Finally she gained 
 
236 CHOICE OP A 
 
 the victory and hastened to the monastery of 
 the Carmelites with a joy far greater than that 
 with w^hich some young persons contract the 
 most advantageous marriages. 
 
 Behold now, w^at youths of every age and 
 sex can do with the help of grace when they are 
 faithful to it. It remains for you to imitate 
 them. If you are not frightened by the least 
 noise, if vou do not cast down vour arms in the 
 midst of the battle, if you stand firmly at your 
 post, you will surely conquer. A high office in 
 the army was vacant and belonged by right to 
 a certain Marin, a soldier and good Christian. 
 But his rivals tried to deprive him of it on 
 account of the faith he professed. Being sum- 
 moned before the tribunal, he appeared with 
 composure, and was allowed three hours to 
 decide whether he would leave the service of 
 Jesus Christ or that of the tyrant. Teotecne, 
 Bishop of Caesarea; hearing of it, started for the 
 court-room, and meeting Marin just as he was 
 leaving the judges, led him to a church and ad- 
 vanced to the altar. He took the Gospel in 
 one hand, and Marin's sword in the other, and 
 Baid in a majestic tone : '' You cannot possess 
 these two objects at the same time. Choose 
 the one or the other. Take either temporal 
 glory with the sword, or eternal glory with the 
 Gospel." Marin turned from the sword, seized 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 23T 
 
 the Gospel, kissed it, and pressed it to his heart, 
 until the Bishop, who was much affected, said 
 to him : '' Keep well, my child, what you have 
 chosen, and since you despise the honors of the 
 present life, hope for those of life eternal." 
 
 I say the same to you. Keep well what you 
 have chosen. You have received from God a 
 signal blessing, a vocation to the standard of 
 Jesus Christ. Take care lest yon lose it by 
 cowardice ; for then, the means you once had 
 of reaching Heaven, now that you have neg- 
 lected them, will only serve to cast you deeper 
 into hell. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 
 ^ Section 1. Letters addressed by various holy 
 Doctors to young men, to induce them to make 
 a gpod choice, 
 
 T. FULGENTIUS, a nobleman of 
 distinguished family, and whose tal- 
 ents and riches gave him every hope 
 of success in the world, conceived a 
 disgust for its vanities and a strong 
 inclination to a religious life. See how he ex- 
 presses his desires : ^' How unhappy are we who 
 live in the world I Why do we undergo such 
 labors without the hope of an eternal reward ? 
 What can the world give us which does not 
 cost us far more than it is worth ? If we wish 
 to live in joy, why do we not reflect that the 
 servants of God, whose conscience is tranquil 
 and who fear only sin, taste a joy far purer than 
 we ? They are not burdened with secular 
 affairs ; they are not afraid of losing their 
 riches, nor do they covet those of others. In 
 the religious life they breathe the pure air of 
 Heaven and find tranquillity of soul, security 
 of conscience, union of wills, true friendship, 
 
 happiness of heart, and all this amid persons 
 
 238 
 
CHOICE OF A STATE OF LIFE. 239 
 
 entirely devoted to God. Those who are in 
 this state of life invite us to join them, to enter 
 the port and be sheltered from tempests. They 
 exert themselves to help us in reaching this 
 happy land where we will be free from the 
 afflictions of the world, where the body is on 
 earth and the soul in Heaven. Ah ! let us 
 hasten to embrace a state so estimable ; let us 
 not abuse the light Heaven has so profusely 
 given us. Thus far we vied with our friends 
 in gaining the honors of the world, let us now 
 strive to imitate the humility of the servants 
 of God." St. Fulgentius set out for the mon- 
 astery to the great admiration of all Carthage, 
 and was imitated by many persons distinguished 
 by their birth, their talents, and their riches. 
 
 St. Augustine received an excellent poem from 
 the young Licentius. He admired its elegance 
 and conceived a desire of withdrawing so ele- 
 vated a soul from- the vanities of the world. In 
 his reply to the young man, he said, amongst 
 other things : '' If your verses were irregular 
 and little conformable to the rules of poetry, 
 you would not rest until you had corrected 
 them. Great God ! your affections are not con- 
 formable to the law of God, you yourself are all 
 in disorder and you do not perceive it, nor blush, 
 nor seek to re-establish order in your heart! 
 Will you do less for your soul than for a 
 miserable verse ? You have a tongue of gold, 
 
240 CHOICE OF A 
 
 but a heart of iron. Oh I that I could persuade 
 you to seek true peace of heart! Hear at least 
 the incarnate wisdom, Jesus Christ, who ad- 
 dresses to you this affectionate invitation: 
 ** Come to me ye who are weary and heavily 
 laden, and I will refresh you; take and carry 
 my yoke, learn of me humility and meekness ; 
 then you will find peace of heart, for my yoke 
 is easy and my burden light. Consider the 
 example of Paulinus, who, from a great orator, 
 became one of the poor of Jesus Christ. How 
 long will you continue to be the sport of your 
 ever-varying thoughts ? Why will you listen 
 to pleasures which reproach 3^ou whenever you 
 enjoy them? Then turn your mind towards 
 eternal things. I am sorry that I am unable 
 to convert a young man endowed with talents 
 so rare, which, if well employed, would con- 
 tribute so greatly to the glory of God. Oh Î 
 how I long to offer him the sacrifice of such a 
 soul I If you should find a golden chalice, you 
 would quickly give it to a church. You have 
 received from God a golden mind and you use 
 it only to please the devil ! " 
 
 St. Bernard endeavors to describe the happi- 
 ness of those who sincerely give themselves to 
 God and renounce the service of creatures. The 
 God of consolation infuses the peace of Heaven 
 into their hearts and makes them incomparably 
 happier in poverty, than monarchs amid their 
 
STATE OP LIFE. 241 
 
 abundance. *' Would to God/' says he, in 
 writing to a young man, ''that you would 
 attentively consider what are the objects which 
 deprive you of so great a blessing. Alas 1 you 
 would see that you renounce it for a vapor that 
 will vanish in a moment. If you are wise, 
 courageous, and clear-sighted, cease to seek 
 things, the possession of which will be your 
 misfortune. Is it not better to despise them 
 now with glory, than to lose them later with 
 grief? Is it not better to yield them now to 
 the love of Jesus, than a little later to the power 
 of death? I cannot, my dear Walter, restrain 
 my tears, when I reflect that you give your 
 youth and talents to sheer vanities. God will 
 demand of you an account of his blessings^ 
 which he intended you should consecrate to his 
 glory, but which you devote to the service of a 
 world that gives nothing in return. A youth 
 delights in his birth, his health, his pleasing 
 exterior, his talents, and the society to which 
 he is admitted, but all the glory should be re- 
 ferred to God. If by usurpation you make his 
 gifts subserve your own pleasure and honor, 
 the Sovereign Judge will soon come to demand 
 the profit you may have gained from the talents 
 committed to your care. What will you reply 
 when he will reproach you with having received 
 your precious soul in vain ? Will you point to 
 21 
 
242 CHOICE OF A 
 
 your studies, your projects, your labors, your 
 riches, your honors ? Rely not upon these, for 
 death regards them not." 
 
 Section 2. Other letters on the same subject. 
 
 Young Heliodorus having spent some time 
 with St. Jerome, in Palestine, returned home to 
 live in ease. The saint wrote to him as follows : 
 *' Listen, Heliodorus, to an edict issued by your 
 Sovereign : ' He who is not for me is against me. 
 He who is engaged in any thing except my ser- 
 vice throws away his toil.' Remember the 
 promise of fidelity you have so often repeated 
 to Jesus Christ. Will you let the devil snatch 
 the Saviour from your heart ? Will you permit 
 him to bear away the palm you could so easily 
 have gained by fighting ? What folly ! When 
 even your nearest relatives stretch themselves 
 on the threshold of your house, pass boldly over 
 their bodies. Even when all the world sheds 
 torrents of tears, fly intrepidly to the standard 
 of the cross. AVho can blame you for leaving 
 man for God, earth for Heaven? It will come, 
 yes, that happy day will come, when you will 
 be called to your country, when you will enter 
 with the crown of triumph into the heavenly 
 Jerusalem. Then you will beg the same bless- 
 ing for your relatives, and for me who cheered 
 you on to the combat. I am sensible how heavy 
 are the chains that retain you. I too have a 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 243 
 
 heart of flesh and human feelings, and have 
 experienced the same difficulties that you now 
 experience, but I have passed through them all. 
 A sister begs, implores vou, not to abandon her; 
 an affectionate mother recalls the pains of child- 
 birth, and the care she has bestowed upon your 
 education ; you are regarded as the only support 
 of your family ; but if you have a spark of love 
 for God, or the least fear of hell, you will nobly 
 despise all these obstacles. What ! the enemy 
 comes to destroy you, and you stop to consider 
 the tears of your mother ! Will you desert the 
 heavenly band of soldiers, to hear the lamenta- 
 tions of a father whom you are not even obliged 
 to bury when God calls you? See how the 
 Apostles left all! The Son of God hath not 
 ^ whereon to lay his head, and you wish for 
 palaces? I speak with full knowledge of all 
 these dangers. My poor bark, like so many 
 others, struck the rocks, and I saw myself 
 obliged to cast overboard all I possessed in 
 order to save myself. Like an experienced 
 sailor, tossed by the tempest, I cry to all whom 
 I see exposed to danger : Be on your guard ; in 
 this gulf the Charybdis of pleasure opens to 
 swallow you ; there, Scylla allures you to pre- 
 tended pleasures. Open, then, your eyes ; do 
 not be cruel to yourself; do not believe that 
 you are safe because the sea is calm. The 
 danger lies in its bosom; the enemy is in 
 
244 CHOICE OF A 
 
 ambush under your feet. Hasten your flight; 
 this tranquillity is the most terrible tempest you 
 have ever seen. 
 
 ** On the other hand, consider how safe one is 
 when retired from the world, in this solitude 
 abounding in those precious stones with which 
 the city of God is built ; in this hermitage sepa- 
 rated from men, where one enjoys the sweet 
 conversation of God! What are you doing in 
 the world, my brother? you who are more 
 noble than the world ? Believe me ; this desert 
 is watered with the holy dews of Heaven ; the 
 less one seeks therein the satisfaction of the 
 body, the more he finds that of the soul. Do 
 you fear poverty ? but Jesus Christ calls the 
 poor ' Blessed.' Fatigue ? but without it can 
 a soldier gain his crown? The hardness of 
 your bed ? but see Jesus extended on the cross. 
 Solitude ? but direct your thoughts to Paradise 
 where there is no weariness. 
 
 *' The Apostle replies to every difficulty in 
 the eighth chapter of Bomans, where he tells us, 
 that all we can suffer in this life is small when 
 compared with the glory of Heaven. You can- 
 not enjoy yourself both in this life and in the 
 life to come. Take courage, then: your aus- 
 terities will be rewarded by a happy eternity. 
 The Divine Judge will be an object of terror to 
 worldlings, but his poor disciples will behold 
 him with extreme consolation." 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 245 
 
 A certain youth named Andrew having re- 
 solved to consecrate himself to God, was on the 
 point of giving up his resolution and plunging 
 into the tumult of the world. St. Gregory the 
 Great wrote to him in these terms : 
 
 '' How deeply I am grieved to learn that you 
 aspire to the court; you whose happy dispo- 
 sitions gave me far different hopes ! How 
 many have I known amid the turmoils of the 
 court to complain of having lost their peace of 
 heart! Then, reflect that you must soon give 
 an account to the Sovereign Judge. What will 
 it then avail you, to have been great at court 
 and dear to your emperor ? Will you on that 
 account, be great in Heaven and dear to God? 
 Perhaps on that very account you will be neither 
 great nor dear. The fortune you expect at court 
 is very uncertain ; that in the House of God is 
 perfectly sure. Earthly goods do not satisfy 
 the desires, they last only for a moment ; but 
 those of infinite happiness are eternal. Can a 
 man of sense, a Christian, make such an ex- 
 change ? If you desire riches, let them be eter- 
 nal. If you fear misfortunes, let them be such 
 as never end. Would you have at the court all 
 you desire? What weariness in procuring the 
 favor of the prince ! w^hat fear of losing it ! But 
 in the House of God a good life brings so much 
 consolation, that it may be compared to the joy 
 21* 
 
246 CHOICE OF A 
 
 of Paradise. I speak to you thus, my child, 
 because I love you dearly, and seeing you 
 carried away by the tempest, I throw you a 
 rope to draw you safe to the shore." 
 
 Section 3. Comparison between those who labor 
 for the world f and those who serve God. 
 
 We find in the letter of St. Eucherius to the 
 noble Yalerian, on " Contempt of the World," 
 that the difference between the slaves of the 
 world and the servants of God is this: the 
 former have a cruel and inhuman master whose 
 laws are barbarous, the latter, one who is all 
 goodness and is continually occupied with the 
 happiness of his vassals ; the hearts of the for- 
 mer are filled with torments produced by the 
 remorse which rends them, the latter enjoy a 
 profound peace which the Holy Scriptures call 
 a continual feast: the former can expect, as a 
 reward for their labors, only a frightful punish- 
 ment in eternity, the latter hope only for an 
 immortal crown which the God of mercies pre- 
 pares for them. 
 
 St. Cyprian wrote to Donatus to induce him 
 tt) leave the world. These are the motives he 
 presents : ^'Ascend with me, my dear Donatus, 
 to the top of a mountain, where we can gaze 
 together on the picture the world presents to 
 our eyes. Behold how its highways are beset 
 with assassins, how it is infested with armies 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 24T 
 
 which contend to death under pretext of valor. 
 A private murder is a crime, a public duel 
 heroism. Cities are filled with imposture and 
 fraud. People run in crowds to obscene plays, 
 where, by foul jests and impure actions, they 
 praise vice and blame virtue; tender children 
 learn to do what they have so often heard of. 
 Custom persuades men that certain actions are 
 not criminal, public sentiment induces them to 
 crime, and, admiring the vicious, they seldom 
 fail to imitate them. The poison of lascivious- 
 ness enters by the eyes and ears and reaches 
 the heart ; and he who came to the play with 
 an angelic mind, leaves it with one filled with 
 abominations. What ravages among souls! 
 what incentives to sensuality I But this is 
 only a little. If from the height of this moun- 
 tain the eye could penetrate into the secret 
 recesses of families, we would see crimes so 
 great that barely to look at them would be to 
 commit a horrible sin. The greatest crimes 
 are committed in obscurity to cover the perpe- 
 trators from infamy. One condemns in public 
 what he himself does in secret. Fraud is called 
 address, and one is a great man only in pro- 
 portion to his wickedness. Let us glance at the 
 tribunals of justice. Let us see if we do not- 
 find virtue, at least, in the ministers of the law. 
 Alas ! here is still another refuge and another 
 mask for vice. Laws are disregarded, abuses- 
 
248 CHOICE OF A 
 
 allowed, and crime stalks boldlv throu^îi the 
 world. Innocence is driven forth defViircless, 
 and who will protect her? The advoc.i / he 
 seeks but to deceive. The judge? he Sv his 
 conscience to hiin who will be guilty oi the 
 greatest number of perjuries and calumnies. 
 The balance turns not beneath the weight of 
 reason, but under that of gold ; property is taken 
 from one and given to another. Thus, it is a 
 glory to be guilty, a crime to be innocent. 
 
 '' But perhaps you will say that I speak only 
 of the evils and say nothing of the good in the 
 world. Let us, therefore, enter palaces and 
 there contemplate the happy ones of the earth,, 
 those who enjoy in abundance all that man can 
 desire of honors, authority, riches, and sensual 
 pleasure. Solomon, who was better provided 
 with all these pretended advantages than any 
 other human being, tells us that all is vanity ; 
 either because the pleasure of the body is no- 
 thing when compared with that of the mind, or 
 because nothing remains in the evening of all 
 we have tasted during the day. These plea- 
 sures, moreover, carry with them a deadly 
 poison to the heart. See a courtier in the 
 highest offices of trust — with what servility 
 must he not labor, how basely must he not act, 
 what contempts and rebuffs must he not endure ! 
 What watchings and labors are the share of the 
 ambitious, who are, moreover, continually agi- 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 249 
 
 tated by envy and hatred ! What anxieties 
 rend the heart of the merchant, who thinks 
 only of gaining much and losing nothing ! 
 What is still more astonishing, in the midst 
 of all his affliction, in his vessel exposed to 
 shipwreck and so badly rigged, he is only a 
 slave, and not the less abject because his chains 
 are of his own choosing. But, at least, princes 
 live in peace? Xot at all: they fear others 
 more than others fear them. Their greatness 
 brings them only troubles, and, generally, the 
 higher they are elevated, the more danger they 
 are in of falling. Therefore, let him who seeks 
 peace on earth depart from earth's uncertain 
 goods, and retire into the harbor of a perfect 
 life : let him raise his eyes towards Heaven 
 whence he expects his consolation ; and despise 
 all else : let him rest all his hopes on God, desire 
 only his favor, and fear only his displeasure." 
 
 Let us learn from St. Francis Xavier what is 
 the happiness of a soul consecrated to God with- 
 out reserve. He says : 
 
 ^' In reviewing the fruit of my poor labors, my 
 heart is filled with so great a consolation, that I 
 forget all I have to suffer, and shed tears of joy 
 and consolation. Would to God that I could 
 make the youths of the academies of Europe, 
 who devote their talents to the acquisition of 
 perishable goods, not only know, but also ex- 
 perience the contentment I experience in the 
 
250 CHOICE OF A 
 
 miclst of my labors. I am certain that great 
 numbers of them would come to employ their 
 talents and strength in saving souls. God! 
 only repose of those who seek thee, grant us 
 such a disgust for creatures, that love may force 
 us to come to thee. Render our hearts sensible 
 of their past errors, that henceforth we may seek 
 thee alone, be all thine, and live in the happy 
 repose which thy faithful friends enjoy." 
 
 Now, dear reader, see what the desire of being 
 useful to you has induced me to do. If any one 
 thinks I am too fond of a religious life and too 
 averse to the world, I beg him to examine if the 
 fault is not on his side ; if he is not too fond of 
 the world and too averse to a religious life ; for 
 self-love loathes the good which is opposed to it, 
 and delights in the evil that suits its inclination. 
 
 It would be a great misfortune if you are mis- 
 led in the very important affair of the choice of 
 a state of life. You would have to repent of it 
 continually. Your regrets would be unmingled 
 with consolation, and you would deserve so 
 much the less pity, because, after having read 
 these reflections, you could no longer plead ig- 
 norance, for your error would be but the result 
 of your bad will. 
 
 SUBJECfTs FOR REFLECTION. 
 
 God has given me this life to serve him : it is 
 very short : if I lose it, he will not give me a 
 
STATE OF LIFE. 251 
 
 moment longer. Oh ! if a damned soul could 
 obtain one moment! 
 
 I must soon die, leave my relatives, friends, 
 riches, and pleasures, and appear alone before 
 the judgment-seat of God: Oh! what a mis- 
 fortune if I should there be placed among the 
 reprobate ! 
 
 What will be the joy of those who serve God 
 faithfully in this life, and who say of the world : 
 Vanity of vanities and all is vanity , except to 
 love God and serve hivi alone. 
 
 What will remain of worldly pleasures ? Re- 
 morse of conscience, God's wrath and eternal 
 perdition. The body so much flattered will 
 become first the food of worms and afterwards 
 of eternal flames. 
 
 Regard the passion of Jesus Christ as an 
 abyss of love, a treasure of infinite goodness. 
 This is the school in which so many saints have 
 learned to suffer and conquer. They were weak 
 like you : why not imitate them ? 
 
 There is no pure joy except in the service of 
 God and in purity of conscience. 
 
 During life often descend into hell, to avoid 
 being condemned to it after death. Would you 
 wish to spend forty years of your life in a dun- 
 geon ? Will you, then, be so foolish as to ex- 
 pose yourself to eternal fire, rather than employ 
 your time well in this life? 
 
 What will it profit a man to gain the whole 
 
252 CHOICE OF A STATE OF LIFE. 
 
 world if his soul suffer for all eternity ? What 
 will he give in exchange for his soul? 
 
 Oh ! foolish man ! this night your soul may be 
 called, and of what avail will all these riches be ? 
 
 Examine, 1st, What is the end of the state you 
 
 desire. 
 2d, What means vou will have of 
 
 living well therein, 
 3d, What occasions of sin you will 
 
 be exposed to. 
 4th, In what you will imitate Jesus 
 
 Christ therein. 
 5th, What good works you will do 
 
 therein. 
 6th, What are your talents and 
 
 strength of body. 
 Tth, In what you may be useful to 
 
 your neighbor. 
 
 Be assured that nobody needs your services. 
 Magistrates, officials, soldiers, &c., &c., will al- 
 ways be found without you. Candidates are 
 not wanting. God takes care to provide the 
 Church with Priests without your help. The 
 religious have their particular state for them- 
 selves : your presence or absence will change 
 nothing in it. If you die now, the world will 
 go on the same as if you were living. There 
 are indeed some useful men, but none are 
 indispensable. Nobody has need of you, but 
 you have need of knowing the will of God and 
 of performing it. (Fenelon.) 
 

f I 
 
 n 
 
 Deacidified using the Bookkeeper procès 
 Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
 Treatment Date: Feb. 2006 
 
 PreservationTechnologie 
 
 A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATIC 
 
 1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
 Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
 (724) 779-21 1 1