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| Chapter IX. How valuable to the perfect is the forgetfulness of sin.
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Chapter IX.
How valuable to the perfect is the forgetfulness of
sin.
But with regard to this
that you said a little way back; viz., that you of set purpose go over
the recollections of past sins, this ought certainly not to be done,
nay, if it forcibly surprises you, it must be at once expelled. For it
greatly hinders the soul from the contemplation of purity, and
especially in the case of one who is living in solitude, as it
entangles him in the stains of this world and swamps him in foul sins.
For while you are recalling those things which you did through
ignorance or wantonness in accordance with the prince of this world,
though I grant you that while you are engaged in these thoughts no
delight in them steals in, yet at least the mere taint of the ancient
filthiness is sure to corrupt your soul with its foul stink, and to
shut out the spiritual fragrance of goodness, i.e., the odour of a
sweet savour. When then the recollection of past sins comes over your
mind, you must recoil from it just as an honest and upright man runs
away if he is sought out in public by an immodest and wanton woman
either by words or by embraces. And certainly unless he at once
withdraws himself from contact with her, and if he allows himself to
linger the very least in impure talk, even if he refuses his consent to
the shameful pleasures, yet he cannot avoid the brand of infamy and
scorn in the judgment of all the passers by. So then we also, if by
noxious recollections we are led to thoughts of this kind, ought at
once to desist from dwelling upon them and to fulfil what we are
commanded by Solomon: “But go forth,” says he, “do
not linger in her place, nor fix thine eye on her;”2148
lest if the angels see us taken up with
unclean and foul thoughts, they may not be able to say to us in passing
by: “The blessing of the Lord be upon you.”2149
For it is impossible for the soul to
continue in good thoughts, when the main part of the heart is taken up
with foul and earthly considerations. For this saying of
Solomon’s is true: “When thine eyes look on a strange
woman, then shall thy mouth speak wickedly, and thou shalt lie as it
were in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot in a great storm. But thou
shalt say: They have beaten me, but I felt no pain; and they mocked me,
but I felt not.”2150
So then we should
forsake not only all foul but even all earthly thoughts and ever raise
the desires of our soul to heavenly things, in accordance with this
saying of our Saviour: “For where I am,” He says,
“there also shall My servant be.”2151
For it often happens that when anyone out of pity is in thought going
over his own falls or those of other faulty persons, he is affected by
the delight and assent to this most subtle attack, and that which was
undertaken and started with a show of goodness ends with a filthy and
damaging termination, for “there are ways which appear to men to
be right, but the ends thereof will come to the depths of
hell.”2152
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