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CHAPTER IV.

What are the instruments of good works.

First of all, to love the Lord God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength.3636Deut. vi. 5.

2. Then our neighbour as ourself.3737Luc. x. 27.

3. Then not to kill.3838Luc. xviii. 20.

4. Not to commit adultery.3939Matth. xix. 18.

5. Not to steal.4040Exod. xx. 15.

6. Not to covet.4141Deut. vi. 21.

7. Not to bear false witness.4242Marc. x. 19.

8. To honour all men.4343I. Petr. ii. 17.

9. Not to do to another what we would not have done to ourselves.4444Tob. iv. 16.

10. To deny ourselves, in order to follow Christ.4545Luc. ix. 23.

11. To chastise the body.4646I Cor. ix. 27.

12. Not seek after delights.4747II. Petr. ii. 13.

13. To love fasting.4848Joel i. 14; ii, 12, 15.

14. To relieve the poor.4949Tob. iv. 7..

15. To clothe the naked.5050Is. lviii. 7.

16. To visit the sick.5151Matth. xxv. 36.

17. To bury the dead.5252Tob. i. 21, ii. 4, 7–9.

18. To help those that are in tribulation.5353Is. i. 17.

19. To comfort the sad.5454I. Thes. v. 14.

20. To withdraw ourselves from worldly ways.5555Jac. i. 27.

21. To prefer nothing to the love of Christ.5656Matth. x. 37, 38.

22. Not to give way to anger.5757Matth. v. 22.

23. Not to harbour revenge in our mind.5858Ephes. iv. 26.

24. Not to foster guile or deceit in our heart.5959Ps. xiv. 3.

25. Not to make a feigned peace.6060Rom. xii. 18.

26. Not to forsake charity.6161I. Petr. iv. 8.

27. Not to swear at all, lest we forswear ourselves.6262Matth. v. 33–37.

28. To speak the truth with heart and mouth.6363Ps. xiv. 3.

29. Not to render evil for evil.6464I. Thes. v. 15.

30. Not to do any injury; yea, and patiently to bear an injury done to us.6565I. Cor. vi. 7.

31. To love our enemies.6666Luc. vi. 27–35.

32. Not to speak ill of such as speak ill of us, but rather to speak well of them.6767I. Petr. iii. 9.

33. To suffer persecution for justice sake.6868Matth. v. 10.

34. Not to be proud.6969Tob. iv. 14.

35. Not given to wine.7070I. Tim. iii. 3.

36. Not a great eater.7171Eccli. xxxi. 17.

37. Not drowsy.7272Prov. xx. 13.

38. Not slothful.7373Rom. xii. 11.

39. Not a murmurer.7474I Cor. x. 10.

40. Not a detractor.7575Sap. i. 11.

41. To put our trust in God.7676Ps. lxxii. 28.

42. When we see any good in ourselves let us attribute it to God and not to ourselves.7777I Cor. iv. 7.

43. But let us always know that evil is done by ourselves, therefore let us attribute it to ourselves.7878Ose. xii. 9.

44. To fear the day of judgment.7979Job. xxxi. 14.

45. To be afraid of hell.8080Matth. x. 28.

46. To desire life everlasting with spiritual thirst.8181Phil. i. 23.

47. To have death always before our eyes.8282Matth. xxiv. 42 et seq..

48. To observe at every hour the actions of our life.8383Deut. iv. 9.

49. To know for certain that God beholdeth us in every place.8484Prov. v. 21.

50. To dash at once against Christ the evil thoughts that rise in the mind.8585Ps. cxxxvi. 9.

51. To reveal all such to our spiritual Father.8686Eccli. viii. ii.

52. To keep our mouth from evil and wicked words.8787Ps. xxxiii. 13, 14.

53. Not to love much talking.8888Prov. x. 19.

54. Not to speak vain words, nor such as move to laughter.8989Matth. xii. 35.

55. Not to love much and boisterous laughter.9090Eccli. xxi. 23.

56. Willingly to hear holy readings.9191Luc. xi. 28.

57. To pray often devoutly.9292Col. iv. 2.

58. With tears and sighs, daily to confess our past evils to God in prayer and to amend them for the time to come.9393Ps. vi. 7.

59. Not to fulfil the desires of the flesh, and to hate self-will.9494Gal. v. 16.

60. To obey in all things the commands of the Abbot, though he himself (which God forbid) should do otherwise, being mindful of that precept of our Lord: “What they say, do ye; but what they do, do ye not.”9595Eccli. xviii. 30.

61. Not to desire to be called holy, before we be so, and first to be holy, that we may truly be called so.9696Matth. xxiii. 3.

62. Daily to fulfil in deeds the commandments of God.9797Matth. vi. i.

63. To love chastity.9898Eccli. vi. 37.

64. To hate no man.9999I. Tim. v. 22.

65. To flee envy and emulation.100100Levit. xix. 17.

66. Not to love contention.101101Jacob. iii. 14, 16.

67. To flee Haughtiness.102102II. Tim. ii. 24.

68. To reverence the Elders.103103Ps. cxxx. 1.

69. To love inferiors.104104Levit. xix. 32.

70. For Christ’s sake to pray for our enemies.105105I Tim. v. i..

71. To make peace with adversaries before the setting of the sun.106106Matth. v. 44.

72. Never to despair of God’s mercy.107107Ephes. iv. 26.

Behold these are the tools or instruments of our spiritual profession: if we constantly employ them day and night, and have them signed with approval in the day of judgment, that reward shall be given us by our Lord as a recompense “Which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for those that love Him.”108108Ps. li. 10. The workshop where all these things are to be done is the cloister of the monastery, and steadfast abiding in the Congregation.


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