ged way and the narrow gate that lead to heaven, into which a few elect shall enter; it tells us that we must use violence in order to get there, and warns us against the broad road that leads to eternal damnation, which nevertheless the greater number of men choose to follow. It gives laws and rules to parents, showing them how carefully they should bring up their children for heaven; to children, telling them how to obey and honor their parents; to masters and mistresses, instructing them as to the manner in which they should lead those under their care to the service of God; to servants, showing how they should be faithful to their masters as to Christ Himself; to wives, warning them that they should seek to please their husbands alone with humility and obedience; to husbands, telling them to love their wives; to all Christians of both sexes, advising them to be modest and humble in dress and demeanor, and so on.
But they who live according to it are ridiculed by the vain world. Now, we are all Catholic Christians; we cannot deny the Gospel of Christ; we cannot convict the word of God of falsehood or deceit; but how many are there who are fully persuaded that they are bound to live according to those laws and truths, and to regulate their actions most exactly in conformity with them? Pious servants of God, who are really desirous of salvation, show a ready obedience to those laws and try their best to observe them. But what do the vain children of the world say to them? Oh, they have a far different idea of things! “The sensual man,” says St. Paul with reason, “perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God, for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand.”[1] The proud ridicule those laws and truths; dissolute and sensual men disregard them, and try to fashion a Gospel to suit themselves; they who live according to the corrupt world look on the pious who follow Christ and His law, and despise the world and its customs, as fanatics; they have a secret pity for what they imagine to be simplicity, for humility and modesty: “The simplicity of the just man i? laughed to scorn,”[2] says holy Job to his false friends. St. Gregory, commenting on this text, uses the following beautiful words: “The wisdom of this world is to hide by deceit the sentiments of the heart; to speak otherwise than one thinks; to prove true what is false, and false what is true; to turn the mantle with the wind; to agree with every one; to seek one’s own in-
