138 Motes on tlie oldest worh on Siiftsm. [No. 2. 



which you deceive yourself. The places where you are most private 

 are your cell &Mye* and the interior of your house, and in fact every 

 place where you attract no notice, and where disturbance cannot 

 reach you. 



The most precious favours of God are three : sufficient reason to 

 combat passion, sufficient knowledge to combat ignorance, and suffi- 

 cient wealth to combat the fear of poverty. The best religious war 

 is war against our own lusts, in order that the heart may become 

 more susceptible of truth ; and the most dangerous of our enemies 

 is the one who is nearest to us, who is most concealed and who 

 encourages all other enemies to attack us : it is the devil who 

 inspires evil thoughts into our hearts. The most pernicious of all 

 sins is obedience to God's commands in ignorance. What, asked 

 the disciple, it is more pernicious than disobedience in ignorance ? 

 Yes, replied the teacher. Do you not see that you expect no reward 

 for a sin, but you expect a reward for good works done in ignorance 

 ( dLe.sr'b oLclkJi JL^I) whereas you deserve punishment for them. 

 A sin which you never forget and of which you continually repent is 

 more useful for you than a good action which fills you with conceit. 

 On the knowledge of one's ownself and on contrition. 



He who does not know his ownself wanders in error, but he who 

 knows his ownself and the secrets of his heart will be in fear. 

 Indeed the want of fear and the want of shame is a sign that a man 

 does not know his ownself. Again, a want of fear produces a want 

 of contrition, and a want of contrition leads to the destruction of 

 the heart (conscience). A house which is not inhabited falls into 

 ruin, in like manner a heart which is not tenanted by fear and con- 

 trition rushes into its own destruction. It is security which 

 destroys the heart, and fear and contrition which build it up and 

 illuminate it. It is, however, not the fear and grief of this world 

 which quicken the heart — they are maladies and destructive to it — 

 but the fear and contrition about the world to come. The contri- 

 tion for the world to come has a sweetness and a pleasure which 

 increases as the contrition increases, but the grief for the sake of 

 this world is bitter, and its bitterness increases in proportion as the 

 grief increases, because the former leads to God and the latter from 

 * &x/Oj-*5 means hermitage but not monastery. 





