Many say, "I believe so, because the pope so believes; if the pope errs, I must err with him; if he were to call virtue vice, and vice virtue, I must be his echo, and in all and through all follow him." Such is the language of the Jesuits, from Bellarmine to Father Perrone. "O ye foolish ones, who hath bewitched you?"
As my creed changed, so did my conversation. Lenient to the laity, I was severe towards ecclesiastics; for the former I was full of compassion, for the latter I had only reproof: their vices were become insufferable to me; with their example continually before me, I endeavoured to be as opposite to them as possible. They for the most part were unoccupied and idle; I made it a rule to keep myself constantly employed: they were generally given to gluttony; I was habitually temperate: they were heedless, imprudent, dissipated; inquisitive after other people's affairs, and intriguers in private houses: I never interfered in what did not concern me, and was an enemy to the intrigues and cabals in which they took so much satisfaction.
"Why do you scarcely ever go to hear confessions?" asked one of those friars who delight in hearing them continually.
"Because you and your fraternity, not knowing how to employ your time better, pass the whole day in listening to the business of others," answered I. "There is no reason that I should follow your example; on the contrary, I do what you do not; I study to learn, that I may be able to teach others: in short, I endeavour to be useful to my fellow-creatures, in every way I can."
"Why do you so seldom attend choir?" was the inquiry of one of those Epicurean friars, who had he not had the exercise of chanting psalms, and singing at the top of his voice, would probably have had no means of digesting his dinner, and preparing his stomach for supper.
"Because," I replied, "I have so many other corporeal employments, that I am in no need of this."
"But prayer? that is a duty we all owe to the Almighty?"
"No doubt prayer pleases me when made in spirit and in truth. But to be in spirit it should be free; not attached of necessity to the Psalms of David. What have you said or done, by reciting three, six, nine, or a dozen psalms in Latin? What have you achieved? I am sure you do not know yourself. If you go to ask something from the superior of a convent, your first care is that your petition should be at any rate intelligible, and have a meaning. When you were in your own family, and had any favour to request of your father, I presume you asked simply for what you wanted. You certainly did not begin by reciting poetry, or singing in Latin. And is not God, our first, our true, real, and heavenly Father? Why then do we pray to Him in psalms? The most we can do is to sing them in his honour and praise; but prayer, real prayer, should be in our mother tongue; clear, expressive, and simple. My good brother, he who doth otherwise, erreth; following false traditions, and transgressing the commandments of the Lord. Remember what Christ says, 'But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.'[43] And observe the preceding verses. 'And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets; that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.'
"These are the reasons why I come to choir so seldom. I prefer offering my prayers unto the Lord, in the seclusion of my chamber. I fear that reproof of Jesus Christ: