Untitled - Saints' Books

258 Material for Instructions. [PART n.
eight years, and afterwards, in consequence of having
heard an immodest word, fell into such habits of impur
ity, that, says the saint, the devil himself, if clothed
with flesh, could not have been guilty of such filthy
abominations.
IV. To preserve chastity, it is also necessary to avoid
idleness. Idleness, says the Holy Ghost, hath taught
much evil. Ezechiel says that it was the cause of all
the wickedness of the inhabitants of Sodom, and of
their total destruction. Behold ! this was the iniquity of
Sodom . . . the idleness of her and of her daughters? This
was, as St. Bernard remarks, the cause of the fall of
Solomon. The concupiscence of the flesh is repressed
by labor, says St. Isidore. 3 Hence St. Jerome exhorted
Rusticus to be always occupied, so that the devil, when
ever he came to tempt him, should find him employed.
4
According to St. Bonaventure, the man who is
employed
shall be tempted by a single devil, but the idle shall be
frequently assailed by many devils. 6
2. MORTIFICATION.
We have seen, then, that for the preservation of chas
tity it is necessary to avoid idleness and the occasions
of impurity. Let us now examine what we must do in
order to preserve this great virtue.
First, it is necessary to practise the mortification of
the senses. If, says St. Jerome, any one wishes to live
in the midst of earthly delights, and expects at the same
time to be free from the vices that accompany pleasures,
" 1
9 "
3 "
4 "
49.
Mul tarn enim maiitiam docuit otiositas." Ecclus. xxxiii. 29.
Haec fuit iniquitas Sodomae . . otium ipsius."
Ezeck.xvi
Cedet libido laboribus, cedet operi."
De Cent, in, de Lab,
Facito aliquidoperis, ut te semper diabolus inveniat occupatum."
Ep, ad Rustic.
6
"Occupatus ab uno daemone impugnatur; otiosus ab innumeris
vasiauir. De Prof. rel. 1. i, c. 39.