NINTH SERMON
ON THE PREMATURE DEATH OF THE IDLE.
Subject.
The idle man is of no use in the world; therefore he deserves that God should take him out of it by a premature death. Preached on the eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost.
Text.
"They brought to him one sick of the palsy, lying in a bed." (Matt 9:2)
Introduction.
Truly pitiable is the state of one in a palsy! Afflicted in every member of his body, he can scarcely move a finger, much less can he walk or stand, or help himself in any way; all he can do is to lie in bed. He is of no use to any one, to himself or to others, but is rather a burden; and unless he is cured in some extraordinary way the only thing that he can hope for is a speedy death. My dear brethren, the paralytic man is a true picture of the idle man, who wastes his precious time doing nothing or squanders it in useless occupations; he is of no good to himself or to others, and if he does not amend his life what else can he expect from God but to be called away by a premature death ? So it is, as I now proceed to prove.
Plan of Discourse.
The idle man is of no use in the world; therefore he deserves that God should take him out of it by a premature death. Such is the whole subject. The end of it is to make that abominable idleness, the source of so many sins and vices, hateful to all.
Give us Your light and grace hereto, Lord, through the merits of Mary and of our holy guardian angels! Those who have their daily work to do, that they may not listen to me without profit for themselves, may apply what they hear either to the state of sin or to the neglect of the good intention in their daily actions; for, to work in the state of sin or without the good intention of turning what we do to some profit for our souls is the same before God as to be idle.
There is no creature in the whole world, no matter how vile it may be, that is not of some use or other. " No natural thing," says Aristotle, " is altogether useless." The various weeds that grow in our gardens and fields and on the public highways, and that are trodden under foot by the passers-by; the insects, flies, wasps, and vermin that torment us, have been created for a special object, and they are useful and helpful to men, although we can not always see how that is. Nothing can be utterly useless; and if it were possible for any creature to have no object for its existence that creature, according to philosophers, would at once be rejected and cast out by nature as superfluous. " Nature abhors the superfluous," is another axiom of philosophers.
Severianus asks a remarkable question: Why did not God create the sun, moon, and stars on the first day, since on that same day He made light? " Be light made. And light was made." But He waited till the fourth day before creating the heavenly bodies: " Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years: to shine in the firmament of heaven and to give light upon the earth." What was the reason of that? To teach us a very important lesson, says Severianus; for in the first three days the sun, moon, and stars would not have had anything to do, since there was nothing to which they could be useful. God made those heavenly bodies that by their continual movements, light, heat, and influence, they might help to increase and preserve earthly things. Now it was only on the third day that the plants, flowers, and trees were created out of the earth, while man was created on the sixth day; hence, before the fourth day there was nothing in which the planets could render any service, and for a time they would have been useless, a thing that the Author of nature could not approve of. That is the reason why those heavenly bodies were made on the fourth day, " because there was not yet on the earth any seed to be fructified and fostered by their heat. So far Severianus. The almighty God wished to show thereby that nothing useless should be tolerated in the world. And Our Lord Himself con firms this in the well-known parable in the Gospel of St. Luke: "A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. What! said he in anger to his gardener: " Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this tree, and I find none." Why should I allow it to stand any longer? " Cut it down, therefore; why cumbereth it the ground?" A good tree might be planted in the place of this useless one. Away with it, therefore, and throw it into the fire.
There you have a vivid picture of the man who leads an idle life, who spends the greater part of the day doing nothing; that is, in sleeping late in the morning, taking a long time to dress, eating and drinking, paying and receiving visits, gambling and amusing himself, walking, standing at the door and window, talking and chatting. In a word, he wastes the day in trifles of all kinds, has no order in important affairs, and no becoming occupation for head or hand. Why cumbereth he the ground? Why should a man of that kind remain on earth any longer? Come, death! so must the angry Creator say; cut him down! away with that useless tree! Let that idle man be no longer of the number of the living! For he is good for nothing; neither for himself, nor for others, nor for God!
He is useless for himself because he does nothing for the end of his creation. "Man is born to labor, and the bird to fly," are the words of the Holy Ghost by the Prophet Job; and God has commanded man to work constantly and diligently, that he may gain eternal rest. Yes, says St. John Chrysostom, " there is no creature on earth less adapted for rest and idleness than man." And no one is dispensed from this, no matter what his rank or condition may be; no one is exempted from the law of toil and labor. Not even the prince and first father of all men, Adam, could evade it. While. he was still innocent and just, and in the garden of paradise, where idleness was not so apt, as it now is, to lead to a wicked, reckless mode of life even there he was commanded by God to labor: " And the Lord God. . .put him in to the paradise of pleasure, to dress it and to keep it." But was Adam obliged to work in order to provide himself with food? No, answers St. Chrysostom, he had not to work for a livelihood, since he was master of the whole earth, and that earth would of itself, without cultivation, have produced fruits and means of livelihood in abundance. Why, then, had he to work? "For the sake of having a becoming occupation," that he might live as a reasonable being who must never be idle, but always have some suitable work to employ his time at. But when Adam transgressed the divine command, ate the forbidden fruit, lost his first justice, and was expelled from paradise, how was it with him then? Alas! then was another sentence pronounced on him; for he had to work then, not merely for the sake of having a becoming occupation, but to earn his bread with toil and labor and the sweat of his brow: a sentence which fell on all his descendants. " In the sweat of your face shalt thou eat bread," said God to him, " till you return to the earth out of which you wast taken; for dust thou art, and into dust shalt you return."
From this St. Bernard concludes that, as man is born to labor, if he avoids it he neglects that for which he was created. And during the time that he is not engaged in some becoming occupation he does not live as a rational being, according to the end for which he came into the world. Therefore the idle man was looked on by the holy Fathers, and by heathen philosophers as well, as a corpse, only fit to be buried in the earth. Paulinus once said to the philosopher Seneca, who used to inveigh with special severity against idlers: "But as far as I can see the man whom you condemn as an idler is always busy with some thing or other; he is either dressing, or visiting, or seeing company, or walking, playing, or dancing. He has always something of that kind on hand; can you, then, call him idle?" " True," replied Seneca, "the man should not be called idle, but sick, no, rather dead." For he does not live like a reasoning being. He alone deserves the name of a living, reasoning being who uses himself and his reason in becoming, useful, and virtuous occupations.
The emperor Tiberius had a minister to whom he was much indebted for past services, but who was now growing so old that it appeared high time for him to be relieved of the burden of office. The emperor intimated as much to him, and told him that he might retire, still retaining his former titles and income. How do you think, my dear brethren, that old man took this message? He had a funeral pyre erected in a large hall in his house, assembled all the members of his family, and said to them as he laid himself down on the pyre: "Weep for me, friends! Weep and let your tears flow freely; for I am now a dead man; I have become a living corpse." The emperor, hearing of this, sent for him, and asked the reason of his strange conduct. " Your majesty," was the answer, "once I am deprived of my usual occupations and duties I look on myself as condemned to death; for I am idle and have nothing to do." The emperor, amazed at this reply, restored him to his former office; and he ran oil home exulting and saying that he had now been recalled to life from death. This example deserves mature consideration, my dear brethren. A nobleman, very rich, and a heathen to boot, who expected no reward in the next life, hated idleness so much that he looked on himself as dead if he had not much work to do, even at an advanced old age, because his reason told him that a man must never be idle. What, then, shall we think of the Christian, who looks for eternal rest in heaven as the reward of his labor, and yet squanders away his precious time in idleness or in useless occupations? Cut him down! Away with the idle man ! He is of no use on earth to himself or to the end for which he was created and lives on earth. Nor is he of any use to others with whom he lives.
Mark this: a dead body is not only useless to itself, because it
can neither walk, nor stand, nor see, nor hear, nor move itself
in any way whatsoever, but it is also troublesome, injurious, and
intolerable to others who are in the house in which it is lying;
for once it begins to decay it fills the place with an abominable
stench; therefore it is put out of sight and buried as soon as
possible. This is, as we know, the custom in the world. It is also
the way in which God is wont to act with the idle man, as we
read in the parable of the barren fig-tree. " Why cumbereth it
the ground? " said the owner of the vineyard; as if to say: since
that tree is barren it ought to be cut down. But that is not
the only mischief it does. It cumbers the ground; it takes up
the place of a fruitful tree, and moreover deprives the trees and
plants in its neighborhood of the moisture and nourishment they
should have. Away with it, then; cut it down; I will no longer
have it in my vineyard.
So, too, does God say in His infinite justice: why does he cumber the ground ? Why should that idle man live any longer? He tolerated by bears no fruit for his soul, and takes up the place of others who would employ their time in a manner more pleasing to God and more useful to the world. The luxuries that he indulges in daily could feed many decent poor, who can hardly earn enough by hard labor to support themselves and their children. What he spends on dress for mere outward show could clothe many a poor person decently. What he squanders in gambling and amusing himself could support many a poor family. The duties he has undertaken to perform he neglects, because he dislikes work; thus he is the cause of injury to others. If another held the same office he would perform its duties more diligently, to the honor of God and the good of many. His children will be brought up to act like him and spend their time in paying and receiving useless visits, standing at the window, sleeping till late in the day, wasting their time in dressing, etc., and they will teach their children in turn; so that whole families will be thus brought to lead worthless lives. Cut it down, therefore! Away with the barren tree ! "Just as the tree deserves to be cut down, " says St. Peter Chrysologus, " so the idle man ought to be cut off from the number of the living."
Even heathens have acknowledged this truth, and therefore amongst all well-ordered nations and peoples idleness was always held in detestation, as hurtful not only to the individual, but to the community at large. Woo-te, emperor of China, published a severe law obliging all his subjects, especially women, under severe penalties, to have some work to do always, and never to be idle; nor was any one exempt from this, not even the wives of the mandarins or rulers of provinces, nor his own consort, the empress herself; but all according to their station had to occupy themselves with some work in silk, gold, or linen; so that the children might learn industry from the example of their parents; and it was looked on as a most wonderful thing to see one of the female sex in the public street or at a window. So writes Mendoza in his Annals of China. Cleomenes, the Spartan king, being asked why he did not destroy his enemy, as he could easily have done, answered: " No, that would not be good for my country; as long as we have an enemy to fight we have occupation, and that will keep us from idleness, which is the source of all disorder and misfortune in a country, and is most injurious to the common weal." Such, too, was the opinion of Scipio, a wise and experienced man amongst the ancient Romans. These people had subdued almost the whole world, and after they had conquered the Carthaginians and Greeks, who had resisted them longest, their exultation knew no bounds. " Now, " they said, " our republic is in safety." " And now, too, " said Scipio with a deep sigh, " our republic is in the greatest danger, greater than ever before; for now that we have no foreign enemy to fight idleness will show itself amongst us, and with it the vices that spring from it, and finally the ruin of our republic." And subsequent events proved the truth of these words.
Ah, Christians, if one of those heathens were to come to Europe, to this Christian city of ours, and see how children are brought up in idleness by idle parents, what would he say? Oh! he would exclaim in astonishment, is then your own happiness and prosperity of no account to you, that you thus waste your time? Or else he might say: has the God you serve no reward for those who are zealous in His service? Truly, we should answer, that is one of the articles of our faith; every thought, word, act, and momentary service that we do for our God will be rewarded by Him with an eternity of glory and happiness. But, he will continue, does not then your God admit all Christians into His service? Yes, we answer; all without exception; young and old, great and small, rich and poor, men and women all are invited by Him to use all their diligence in gaining this prize. This last answer would appear stranger to him than all the monsters and prodigies he ever saw in Africa or America.
And from this, my dear brethren, we see the third point in which the idler is useless; for if he is of no use to himself or to his neighbor, neither is he of any to his God, whom he should serve. There are many who imagine that to avoid idleness and fill up the time with some becoming occupation, thus turning it to profit for one's soul, is necessary only for those who cannot other wise find the means of livelihood, or as a salutary work of super-erogation for those who desire to gain greater glory in heaven; but that there is no law of God binding every one under pain of sin to work. But they are vastly mistaken. Nor will I refute them with St. Thomas of Aquin, who expressly teaches that man can not do a single work with full deliberation and attention with out either doing thereby a good and virtuous work or else commit ting a sin, and this latter is the case when the work is not directed to the proper end, the salvation of our souls and the fulfilment of the will of God. Let idlers see how they can direct their frivolous occupations to this end. It is certain that all adults who do not receive heaven as their reward will be punished for ever in hell; now the Lord has said that He will not give heaven unless to those who work diligently for it: "Call the laborers and pay them their hire, " He says in the Gospel. And it is also infallibly certain that the just God will demand a strict ac count of every idle word: " But I say to you that every idle word that men shall speak they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment, " and not one such word shall go unpunished. What must then be the result of all the useless thoughts, imaginations, vain conversations, idle staring, and other frivolous things in which the idle pass their time and squander it so shamefully?
It is to no purpose that they try to excuse themselves by saying: we do no harm; we do not commit a sin by seeking our comfort. What? You do no harm? You lead an idle life, and commit no sin? That is, humanly speaking, an impossibility. Even if no mortal sin is committed for some time, that very idleness itself is evil doing, as St. John Chrysostom says distinctly: "not to do good what is it, if not to do evil?" " Hand in hand the evil man shall not be innocent;" says the Holy Ghost; when the hands are folded together, doing nothing and having nothing to do, there is little use in looking for innocence and piety.
The Scripture says of Magdalene: " Behold a woman that was in the city a sinner -" In what did her wickedness consist, that she was called by such an odious name? Father Ambrose Cataneus of our Society writes that St. Mary Magdalene appeared to a pious person in Spain who was saying the office in her honor, and said to that person: " In my lifetime I was a notorious sinner in the city, yet not in the way in which people generally under stand the term; for the impure and unchaste actions imputed to me I never even dreamt of. I was of noble birth, and dwelt in a castle, and my only sin was idleness." In the morning (so continues the description of her life), after lying long in bed, her whole occupation was to stand before the looking-glass and con template her beauty, taking a vain pleasure therein, curling her hair, and dressing in costly array; she was not content with the natural comeliness given her by God, but sought to increase it by the use of all sorts of cosmetics. Thus splendidly dressed, after having taken her meals, she did nothing the whole day but walk about the city, showing herself off and trying to attract attention. There was no social gathering at which Magdalene was not present, no company in which she was not to be found. She laughed, joked, and amused herself till late at night, and thereby gave occasion for impure desires in some, for rash judgments, suspicions, and envy in others, and scandal in nearly all. This was the life that deserved to be described by the Holy Ghost in the words: "A woman that was in the city a sinner." And she was the woman from whom Our Lord drove out seven devils, that is, the seven deadly sins. And yet her life was only an idle, pleasure-seeking life.
My dear brethren how many Magdalenes are there not now-a-days in our Christian cities? How many young girls and married women who lead the same useless, luxurious life? How many are there not of the male sex who could with reason be classed amongst them in this respect, for they consume the precious time of their youth and manhood in walking about the streets, paying useless visits, gambling, eating, drinking, and doing nothing? And yet they maintain that they are doing no harm in all this, and are indignant with those who dare to describe them as sinners in the city! But when they appear before the judgment-seat of God they shall learn, when too late, what they were in life; namely, useless for themselves and their own souls, which they neglected; useless for their neighbor and their children, to whom they gave bad example; useless, finally, for their God and for His service, which they did not render Him.
Cut it down therefore; why cumbereth it the ground? It is no wonder then if the angry God should send forth the command to have those useless men taken away. And this is the threat that the Lord utters against all sinners: "The fear of the Lord shall prolong days: and the years of the wicked shall be shortened," as the Wise Man says in the Proverbs. Thus it often happens that one who has sinned much dies sooner than if he had lived piously. This we find to have been the case with Her, the son Juda: " And Her, the first-born of Juda, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and was slain by Him." Mark these words: God slew him because he was wicked. Baronius writes in his Annals that a person of gigantic stature and terrible countenance once appeared to the wicked emperor Anastasius, and said to him: " Behold, on account of your perversity in matters of faith, strike out of your life fourteen years that you would have lived had you not been given so much to consort with heretics and sinners." Death hastens with unwearied steps to meet all men; towards some he advances gradually; but sinners and the wicked he overtakes, so to speak, on horseback. " Now the sting of death is sin," says St. Paul; that is, sin is the sharp and pointed spur that compels death to hasten his movements, and makes him, as it were, a swift runner. If this is true for all sinners, it is certainly so for idlers; for idleness is said to tempt the devil, and it fosters all kinds of vice and wickedness. Cut it down therefore, says the Lord; why cumbereth it the ground ? Come, death! and cut down that barren tree. The idle man is not worthy of a long life. Away with him! Alas! and in what am I guilty? I have done no harm. You have done nothing; you have wasted the precious time I gave you to work out your salvation; and therefore away with you! I cannot tolerate your presence on the earth any longer. But I am still quite young. No matter. That tree was not old either. Cut him down! Come, death! and take him. But I have done some good at least; I have heard Mass on Sundays and holy-days, and sometimes on week-days too; I have visited the churches, said my prayers, fasted till late in the evening on Good Friday, etc. ? The same might have been said by that tree, if it could have spoken; it might have urged in its defence: at least I was some good; I brought forth beautiful leaves, that made an agreeable shade. But it produced no fruit, such as its owner expected to find on it; and therefore the order was given: cut it down! Truly, mortal! the Almighty God can reply: you do some apparent good here and there; but I know the amount of devotion and zeal you have in those visits to the church, in your prayers and other works of piety; all the remaining time of your life you have wasted in idleness; it is not enough for you to do merely some thing; the whole law has to be fulfilled. Cut it down therefore! Away with the barren tree!
O God of mercy! let me beg of You with the gardener in the Gospel for a respite. Have patience with me. Give me at least time to repent of my useless life, and to do penance for it, that I may not be condemned to the everlasting fire of hell! Now I
know how grossly I have erred! Truly the time given me during my past years was too precious to be wasted in such frivolous
occupations! Every moment of my life I might have gained, with small trouble, a,n eternity of glory and merit in Your service; but I have squandered that time so wretchedly doing nothing or neglecting the good intention! I am sorry, Lord! And I promise in future to use it better for my salvation, to heap up merit and to further Your honor and glory, for whatever time You wilt still in Your goodness and mercy grant me. Here on this earth, a place of penance and suffering, I am ready to fatigue myself with toil and labor, that in the evening, the end of my life, I may hear the words: " Call the laborers and pay them their hire," and so come to eternal rest. Amen.