Page:PracticeOfChristianAndReligiousPerfectionV1.djvu/51

 merchant never  finds  in  one  country  all  he  wants,  but  often travels into  different  countries  to  find  many  things;  even  so  a religious  ought  to  seek  for  his  spiritual  advancement  not  only in prayer,  meditation,  and  interior  consolations,  but  also  in resisting  temptations,  in  mortifying  his  senses,  in  suffering injuries, pain,  and  labour,  and  in  discharging  his  duty  on  all occasions that  present  themselves.

If we  seek,  in  this  manner,  after  virtue,  we  shall  be  rich  in a  short  time. " If  you  seek  for  wisdom,"  says  Solomon,  "  as men  seek  for  riches;  and  if  you  dig  for  it,  as  you  would  to  find a  treasure,  you  shall  then  know  what  is  the  fear  of  the  Lord, and  you  shall  learn  the  true  science  of  God." (Prov. ii.  4,  5.) What God  demands  of  us  here,  says  St.  Bernard,  is  not  much; since for  gaining  the  treasure  of  true  wisdom,  which  is  God himself, he  requires  no  more  exertion  on  our  part  than  is  usually made to  gain  earthly  riches  which  are  subject  to  a  thousand accidents, and  whereof  the  enjoyment  is  so  short  and  so  troublesome. To keep,  then,  a  proportion  in  things,  were  it  not proper, that  as  there  is  an  infinite  difference  between  spiritual and temporal  goods,  so  there  should  also  be  as  great  a  difference between our  manner  of  seeking  the  one  and  that  of  our  seeking the other. It is  also  a  great  shame  and  confusion  to  us,  that worldly men  desire  those  things  that  are  pernicious  to  them with more  earnestness  than  we  desire  those  things  that  are of the  greatest  advantage,  and  that  they  run  faster  to  death,  than we do  to  life.

It is  set  down  in  Ecclesiastical  History  (Part  II.  B.  VI.  c.  i.) that the  holy  Abbot  Pambo  going  one  day  to  Alexandria,  and meeting with  a  courtezan  very  finely  dressed,  began  to  weep bitterly, crying  out  several  times:  Alas! what a  wretched  man I am! And his  disciples  having  asked  him,  why  he  wept  so bitterly? he answered:  Would  you  not  have  me  weep  to  see  this unfortunate woman  take  more  care  and  diligence  to  please  men, than I  do  to  please  God;  and  to  see  her  take  more  pains  to  lay snares for  men,  in  order  to  drag  them  into  hell,  than  I  use  endeavours to  gain  them  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  conduct  them  to heaven? We read  also  of  St.  Francis  Xaverius  that  he  was ashamed and  extremely  troubled  on  seeing  that  merchants  had arrived before  him  in  Japan,  and  that  they  had  been  more diligent to  sail  thither  to  sell  their  merchandise,  than  he  had been to  carry  thither  the  treasures  of  the  gospel,  to  propagate the faith,  and  to  increase  the  kingdom  of  God. Let us  adopt