Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| Chapter IV. How vainglory attacks a monk on the right had and on the left.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Chapter IV.
How vainglory attacks a monk on the right had and on the
left.
And so one who wishes to
go along the King’s highway by means of the “arms of
righteousness which are on the right hand and on the left,” ought
by the teaching of the Apostle to pass through “honour and
dishonour, evil report and good report,”1004
and
with such care to direct his virtuous course amid the swelling waves of
temptation, with discretion at the helm, and the Spirit of the Lord
breathing on us, since we know that if we deviate ever so little to the
right hand or to the left, we shall presently be dashed against most
dangerous crags. And so we are warned by Solomon, the wisest of men:
“Turn not aside to the right hand or to the left;”1005
i.e., do not flatter yourself on your virtues
and be puffed up by your spiritual achievements on the right hand; nor,
swerving to the path of vices on the left hand, seek from them for
yourself (to use the words of the Apostle) “glory in your
shame.”1006
For where the devil
cannot create vainglory in a man by means of his well-fitting and neat
dress, he tries to introduce it by means of a dirty, cheap, and
uncared-for style. If he cannot drag a man down by honour, he
overthrows him by humility. If he cannot make him puffed up by the
grace of knowledge and eloquence, he pulls him down by the weight of
silence. If a man fasts openly, he is attacked by the pride of vanity.
If he conceals it for the sake of despising the glory of it, he is
assailed by the same sin of pride. In order that he may not be defiled
by the stains of vainglory he avoids making long prayers in the sight
of the brethren; and yet because he offers them secretly and has no one
who is conscious of it, he does not escape the pride of
vanity.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
