Institutos Livro IX – Contra a tristeza

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Institutes (Book IX)

Chapter 1.
How our fifth combat is against the spirit of dejection, and of the harm which it
inflicts upon the soul.

In our fifth combat we have to resist the pangs of gnawing dejection: for if this, through
separate attacks made at random, and by haphazard and casual changes, has secured an
opportunity of gaining possession of our mind it keeps us back at all times from all insight in
divine contemplation, and utterly ruins and depresses the mind that has fallen away from its
complete state of purity. It does not allow it to say its prayers with its usual gladness of heart,
nor permit it to rely on the comfort of reading the sacred writings, nor suffer it to be quiet
and gentle with the brethren; it makes it impatient and rough in all the duties of work and
devotion: and, as all wholesome counsel is lost, and steadfastness of heart destroyed, it
makes the feelings almost mad and drunk, and crushes and overwhelms them with penal
despair.

Chapter 2.
Of the care with which the malady of dejection must be healed.

Wherefore if we are anxious to exert ourselves lawfully in the struggle of our spiritual
combat we ought with no less care to set about healing this malady also. For as the moth
injures the garment, and the worm the wood, so dejection the heart of man. With sufficient
clearness and appropriateness has the Divine Spirit expressed the force of this dangerous
and most injurious fault.

Chapter 3.
To what the soul may be compared which is a prey to the attacks of dejection.

For the garment that is moth-eaten has no longer any commercial value or good use to
which it can be put; and in the same way the wood that is worm-eaten is no longer worth
anything for ornamenting even an ordinary building, but is destined to be burnt in the fire.
So therefore the soul also which is a prey to the attacks of gnawing dejection will be useless
for that priestly garment which, according to the prophecy of the holy David, the ointment of
the Holy Spirit coming down from heaven, first on Aaron's beard, then on his skirts, is wont
to assume: as it is said, It is like the ointment upon the head which ran down upon Aaron's
beard, which ran down to the skirts of his clothing. Nor can it have anything to do with the
building or ornamentation of that spiritual temple of which Paul as a wise master builder laid
the foundations, saying, You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you: and
what the beams of this are like the bride tells us in the Song of Songs: Our rafters are of
cypress: the beams of our houses are of cedar. And therefore those sorts of wood are
chosen for the temple of God which are fragrant and not liable to rot, and which are not
subject to decay from age nor to be worm-eaten.

Chapter 4.
Whence and in what way dejection arises.

But sometimes it is found to result from the fault of previous anger, or to spring from the
desire of some gain which has not been realized, when a man has found that he has failed
in his hope of securing those things which he had planned. But sometimes without any
apparent reason for our being driven to fall into this misfortune, we are by the instigation of
our crafty enemy suddenly depressed with so great a gloom that we cannot receive with
ordinary civility the visits of those who are near and dear to us; and whatever subject of
conversation is started by them, we regard it as ill-timed and out of place; and we can give
them no civil answer, as the gall of bitterness is in possession of every corner of our heart.

Chapter 5.
That disturbances are caused in us not by the faults of other people, but by our own.

Whence it is clearly proved that the pains of disturbances are not always caused in us by
other people's faults, but rather by our own, as we have stored up in ourselves the causes
of offense, and the seeds of faults, which, as soon as a shower of temptation waters our
soul, at once burst forth into shoots and fruits.

Chapter 6.
That no one comes to grief by a sudden fall, but is destroyed by falling through a
long course of carelessness.

For no one is ever driven to sin by being provoked through another's fault, unless he has
the fuel of evil stored up in his own heart. Nor should we imagine that a man has been
deceived suddenly when he has looked on a woman and fallen into the abyss of shameful
lust: but rather that, owing to the opportunity of looking on her, the symptoms of disease
which were hidden and concealed in his inmost soul have been brought to the surface.

Chapter 7.
That we ought not to give up intercourse with our brethren in order to seek after
perfection, but should rather constantly cultivate the virtue of patience.

And so God, the creator of all things, having regard above everything to the amendment of
His own work, and because the roots and causes of our falls are found not in others, but in
ourselves, commands that we should not give up intercourse with our brethren, nor avoid
those who we think have been hurt by us, or by whom we have been offended, but bids us
pacify them, knowing that perfection of heart is not secured by separating from men so
much as by the virtue of patience. Which when it is securely held, as it can keep us at
peace even with those who hate peace, so, if it has not been acquired, it makes us
perpetually differ from those who are perfect and better than we are: for opportunities for
disturbance, on account of which we are eager to get away from those with whom we are
connected, will not be wanting so long as we are living among men; and therefore we shall
not escape altogether, but only change the causes of dejection on account of which we
separated from our former friends.

Chapter 8.
That if we have improved our character it is possible for us to get on with everybody.
We must then do our best to endeavour to amend our faults and correct our manners. And
if we succeed in correcting them we shall certainly be at peace, I will not say with men, but
even with beasts and the brute creation, according to what is said in the book of the
blessed Job: For the beasts of the field will be at peace with you; Job 5:23 for we shall not
fear offenses coming from without, nor will any occasion of falling trouble us from outside, if
the roots of such are not admitted and implanted within in our own selves: for they have
great peace who love your law, O God; and they have no occasion of falling.

Chapter 9.
Of another sort of dejection which produces despair of salvation.

There is, too, another still more objectionable sort of dejection, which produces in the guilty
soul no amendment of life or correction of faults, but the most destructive despair: which did
not make Cain repent after the murder of his brother, or Judas, after the betrayal, hasten to
relieve himself by making amends, but drove him to hang himself in despair.

Chapter 10.
Of the only thing in which dejection is useful to us.

And so we must see that dejection is only useful to us in one case, when we yield to it
either in penitence for sin, or through being inflamed with the desire of perfection, or the
contemplation of future blessedness. And of this the blessed Apostle says: The sorrow
which is according to God works repentance steadfast unto salvation: but the sorrow of the
world works death. 2 Corinthians 7:10

Chapter 11.
How we can decide what is useful and the sorrow according to God, and what is
devilish and deadly.

But that dejection and sorrow which works repentance steadfast unto salvation is obedient,
civil, humble, kindly, gentle, and patient, as it springs from the love of God, and unweariedly
extends itself from desire of perfection to every bodily grief and sorrow of spirit; and
somehow or other rejoicing and feeding on hope of its own profit preserves all the
gentleness of courtesy and forbearance, as it has in itself all the fruits of the Holy Spirit of
which the same Apostle gives the list: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
forbearance, goodness, benignity, faith, mildness, modesty. Galatians 5:22-23 But the other
kind is rough, impatient, hard, full of rancour and useless grief and penal despair, and
breaks down the man on whom it has fastened, and hinders him from energy and
wholesome sorrow, as it is unreasonable, and not only hampers the efficacy of his prayers,
but actually destroys all those fruits of the Spirit of which we spoke, which that other sorrow
knows how to produce.

Chapter 12.
That except that wholesome sorrow, which springs up in three ways, all sorrow and
dejection should be resisted as hurtful.

Wherefore except that sorrow which is endured either for the sake of saving penitence, or
for the sake of aiming at perfection, or for the desire of the future, all sorrow and dejection
must equally be resisted, as belonging to this world, and being that which works death, and
must be entirely expelled from our hearts like the spirit of fornication and covetousness and
anger.

Chapter 13.
The means by which we can root out dejection from our hearts.

We should then be able to expel this most injurious passion from our hearts, so that by
spiritual meditation we may keep our mind constantly occupied with hope of the future and
contemplation of the promised blessedness. For in this way we shall be able to get the better
of all those sorts of dejection, whether those which flow from previous anger or those which
come to us from disappointment of gain, or from some loss, or those which spring from a
wrong done to us, or those which arise from an unreasonable disturbance of mind, or those
which bring on us a deadly despair, if, ever joyful with an insight into things eternal and
future, and continuing immovable, we are not depressed by present accidents, or over-
elated by prosperity, but look on each condition as uncertain and likely soon to pass away.
About this page
Source. Translated by C.S. Gibson. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second
Series, Vol. 11. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature
Publishing Co., 1894.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight.
<http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/350709.htm>.

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