De arte praedicatoria

If the preacher wishes to fortify a man against sloth, let him use these authorities. The sluggard will be stoned with the dung of oxen.¹ Likewise: Rise, you who sleep, and Christ will enlighten you.² Likewise: "You who lie in tombs, rise up and meet the judgment of the Savior." Seneca also says: "The greatest loss is that which comes about through negligence." From these the preacher should proceed thus: Dearest brothers, see how Scripture fortifies us against sloth or laziness; this is the sloth that draws back the Christian's hand from the plow, that looks back toward Sodom along with the wife of Lot, that fears to climb the mountain along with Lot, that does not wish to return to the land of Bethlehem along with Ruth. This is the sloth that causes a monk's vow to grow lukewarm, through which he grows weary of the strictness of the cloistered life; which wishes to use more delicate foods, to recline on softer beds; to attend fewer vigils, to keep little or no silence. This is the sloth that fears to undertake great things, grows weary of what it has begun, for which anything is burdensome, anything is difficult, nothing is light. This is what keeps the cleric from study, excludes the cloistered monk from the cloister, nourishes vices, shuts out virtues. For it gives birth to lust, nourishes gluttony, sows detractions, breeds quarrels. Whence the poet:

Why did Aegisthus become an adulterer? The reason is at hand: he was idle.³

To such a sluggard it is said: Rise, you who sleep. The sluggard sleeps, I say, with the eyes of his mind closed, for he directs his gaze neither toward good things, nor opens the eye of his mind to see what is necessary. But while he bends himself toward desiring earthly things, placed in the sleep of the mind, he dreams as it were of phantoms. There are, however, three kinds of sleep. The first and chief is that of contemplation, through which a man is caught up to see the things of heaven. The second is that of imagination, through which one imagines visible things. The third is that of laziness, through which one dreams foolish things. Of the first it is said: The Lord sent a deep sleep upon Adam.⁴ Of the second it is said: That God gave wisdom to Solomon in his dreams.⁵ Of the third it is said against the sluggard: Rise up, you who sleep, etc.⁶ Through the first sleep a man becomes a god, through the second he becomes a spirit, through the third he becomes a beast. In the first, God appears, in the second, a spirit, in the third, the devil: with this sleep Ishbosheth was numbed at midday, when, while the doorkeeper slept, the captains of the robbers entered and cut off his sleeping head. Ishbosheth sleeping is the soul lulled by the sleep of sloth; to kill this soul, the captains of the robbers enter, that is, the demons, because while the circumspection of reason keeps the door of the mind less carefully, the devil cunningly enters through this door to kill the soul. Now this sleep of numbness is brought on by a whisper, or a light breeze, a shadow, or excessive weariness. For just as bodily sleep is brought on by the light whisper of a fountain or a gentle breeze, or the sweetness of a song, so, by the instinct of prosperity, as though by the breath of a gentle breeze, or by the whisper of carnal delight, the mind is led into the sleep of sluggishness. The shadow of ignorance also gives birth to this sleep; the weariness of honest labor also produces this sleep. To him who sleeps thus, Scripture cries out: Rise, you who sleep.⁷ Rise, I say, through the circumspection of reason, rise through the rejection of evil, rise through the working of good; and Christ will enlighten you.⁸ For the night has passed, and the day is drawing near. You, then, who lie in the tombs of negligence, whitened on the outside as to the outward surface of righteousness, but foul within through the numbness of the mind, and dissolved into worms through the multitude of wicked thoughts; rise from earth to heaven, from idleness to exertion, from ruinous numbness to the business of virtue, and meet the judgment of the Savior. Hear what Scripture says: The sluggard will be stoned with the dung of oxen.⁹ The ox is the one who labors in the threshing-floor of the Lord, who grinds sacred Scripture with the teeth, as it were, of spiritual understanding, and draws out spiritual meaning from sacred Scripture, and passes it into the delight of the mind as though into the stomach. From this spiritual food the literal surface is cast off like dung, which sometimes savors of heresy, which kills through numbness the man who grows lazy in understanding the Scriptures. O man, how is it that the other creatures are diligent in the tasks assigned to them; the sun completes its yearly course, the moon runs through its monthly changes, and the other stars carry out the tasks assigned to them, dumb animals are not sluggish in the exercises of their own nature, and yet you alone, lulled by sloth, stray from your duty, deform in yourself the image of God, and, though living, will die, and, though dying, live? Let at least the industry of the smallest and lowliest animal move you to shame, that is, the caution of the ant, which in summer, with great care, gathers grain so that it may live when the harshness of winter comes upon it. So in the present life you ought to acquire the fruit of good works, so that, when the wintry day arrives, that is, the day of judgment, you may have the fruit of good works, which will refresh you for eternity.

See, then, how ruinous laziness is! As long as David kept himself occupied in warfare, lust did not assail him, but after he sat idle in the palace, he fell into adultery. As long as Samson had battle with the Philistines, so long he was not captured by his enemies, but sleeping in the lap of Delilah, he was blinded by the enemy. Solomon, while laboring in the building of the temple, did not feel the ruin of lust, but once idle from his labor, he experienced the assault of wantonness. This is the cowardice that offers a man to the devil unarmed, exposes him naked to temptation, weak to attack. This deprives a man of the spiritual goods that are the garments of virtues. This calls the devil to battle, the flesh to wantonness, the mouth to gluttony, the mind to negligence. Be occupied, then, in honorable business, so that what you have lost through the past you may redeem through the future. Embrace every hour, make every moment serve your own benefit, so that you may at least offer to God the dregs of old age, you who offered to the devil the flower of youth; so that at least in old age you may become a soldier of Christ, you who in youth were a servant of the devil.