Among these peoples, precious stones are no more respected. We have seen recently in Rome with what contempt they treat them. Our noblest ladies were ashamed to see to what use these barbarian peoples turned their best adornments. The emeralds that dotted the curves of their belts, and the diamonds set into the scabbards of their swords, were carelessly hidden under the simplest clothes; and the pearls that covered their shoes were often covered with mud themselves. They wear jewels only in places where they are not to be seen, as if they wanted to teach the ladies of Rome that they were ashamed to exalt themselves with them. They are not content with dressing their servants in costly cloths of many colors, but usually cover the walls of their houses with them, considering them as unworthy of human use. They prefer clothes of a simple natural color to scarlet.

I do not think that such a general contempt for these things can be blamed and considered barbarous.

Thus, these things, which do not come from God, do not constitute good, but are the invention of His adversary, that is, the devil, who perverts all that is natural. What is not of God comes from the rival of His glory; and this rival is none other than the devil with his angels.

But, you will object, all these fabrics were not actually produced by the hands of God. "So be it. However, you do not use them in accordance with the will of God. It is as if you wanted to assure me that the heathen spectacles, against which I have written before, and the idolatry itself, are in accord with the will of God, because God created the things used by men for these abominations. Therefore, if a Christian is not allowed to be present at pagan spectacles, then he should not uniformly arrogate to himself the right to turn to his advantage gold and precious stones, created by God solely for His glory.

But how far removed this criminal and vain age is from the fulfillment of the will of God! While God has distributed all things differently in different lands, so that they are mutually rare and alien where they are not born, instead of being content with the works which God has provided to us in their own way, we are overwhelmed with a blind lust for novelty, and unhappily strive in heart and soul to possess such things as God has determined for the benefit of other nations.

Lust becomes the more insatiable the more extensive the possession of things is. We see the ruin of the noblest families from the acquisition of some boxes and caskets; we see veils worth up to twenty-five thousand gold coins; we see the value of whole forests and islands adorning a delicate head; we see untold incomes hanging on the ears of an ambitious beauty; We see on our fingers the cost of several bags of gold. Can it be said, then, that ambition does not triumph when such incredible expenses are spent on women?

Book Two

I. Famous servants of the living God, my most beloved sisters in Christ! Allow me, as your brother, though I consider myself unworthy of this laudable name, to present to you this brief instruction, moved not by a sense of vanity, but by the mere motive of love for the cause of your salvation; and this matter, about which we must all be equally concerned, consists chiefly in the irreproachable proofs of our purity. As we all constitute the temple of God through the sanctification of us by the Holy Spirit at baptism, so this purity must be, so to speak, the gatekeeper and guardian of this temple, so that no unclean, worldly things may enter into it, and so that the Lord, who dwells in it, seeing His dwelling place defiled, may not depart from it with indignation. But I have no intention now to show you the necessity of purity: the divine commandments are quite positive in this regard. I will confine myself to explaining to you one important duty, which you must observe in judging your appearance. Many of you (allow me to reproach you, though no one is so worthy of reproach as I am), many of you, under the guise of pretended ignorance or bold pretense, behave outwardly rather intemperately, as if purity consisted only in avoiding the coarse pleasures of the flesh, and as if the outward appearance, that is, the finery and adornment of the body, meant absolutely nothing.

These persons do not neglect anything to maintain their beauty and their imaginary decency, so that there is almost no difference between them pagan wives, to whom true chastity is unfortunately unknown. I say that these unbelievers do not know true chastity, because whoever does not know the true God, the author and keeper of all truth, cannot follow any other path than the path of error and falsehood. Indeed, even if it were possible to believe that there is chastity among pagan women, yet this virtue of theirs is so imperfect and insufficient, that, however chaste they may be in their souls, the luxury of their dress reveals in them a tendency to debauchery. Their vanity is such that if it is impossible to have complete pleasure, then they are glad to use a part of it. How many of them are there who, pretending to please only their husbands, use a special effort to adorn and adorn their bodies in order to attract the eyes of strange men, no matter how much it may seem from their outward appearance that they have no evil intention? Let's say even more. It usually happens to them, chaste pagans, that even if they do not dare to commit a crime, they have a desire to do so, or if they do not want it now, then at least they do not care to eradicate such a desire in themselves. Should we be surprised at this? Everything that does not come from God cannot but be immoral. These pagan women, not being able to attain to the perfect good, spoil even the small good that they possess, mixing evil with it.

II. Вам, любезнейшие сестры, надлежит отличаться от них в одеянии столько же, как и от них отличаетесь во всем прочем, да будете совершенны, якоже Отец ваш небесный совершен есть (Мф. 5:48). Сие совершенство, я хочу сказать, христианская чистота, должно не только отнять у вас желание быть любимыми, но заставить вас ненавидеть и отвергать все то, что может воспламенять опасную любовь в других. Во–первых, желание нравиться посредством искусственных прикрас может происходить единственно от испорченного и развращенного сердца. Известно, какою приманкою сии прикрасы служат к вовлечению людей в запрещенные удовольствия. За чем вам возжигать преступное пламя? За чем привлекать к такому удовольствию, которое долг ваш велит считать непозволенным? Во вторых нам отнюдь не должно пролагать пути искушениям, которые и без того часто торжествуют, непрестанно на нас нападая, или по крайней мере сильно нарушают спокойствие души. О Боже! сохрани нас от сего пагубного камня претыкания. Мы должны иметь наружность такую скромную, степенную, Христианскую, чтобы совесть ни в чем не могла нас упрекнуть. Желая пребывать всегда в сем счастливом положении, мы не должны слишком полагаться на себя; ибо полагаясь на собственные силы, мы будем менее остерегаться, сделаемся более отважны.

Страх есть основание спасения: надменность противоположна страху. Гораздо лучше не доверять своей добродетели: недоверие вселит в нас страх, страх сделать нас осторожнее, осторожность поставит нас в состояние избегать опасности. Напротив того если мы положимся на себя: то не боясь ничего и не уважая довольно опасностей, мы почти не можем не подвергнуться опасению. Кто ходит в безопасности и ни от чего не остерегается, тот никогда не станет на твердой ноге. Но кто внемлет ко всему, опасается всего, тот приобретет покой и уверенность в себе. Дал бы Бог, чтобы служители Его удостоены были во всяком случае Его покровительства, и могли всегда хвалиться милостями, от Него изливаемыми!

Он уже в душе своей совершил то, чего преступнически пожелал, и вы становитесь для него так сказать мечем, его убивающим. Тут хотя бы с вашей стороны и не было никакого положительного проступка: но не менее того вы не извинительны. Подобно сему, когда случится убийство в доме: то хозяин дома, хотя бы и не участвовал в преступлении, но за небрежение подвергается строгости правосудия.

И так украшайте себя, если угодно, убирайте тщательно тело свое, дабы братия ваши, смотря на вас, погибали. Но что тогда последует с Божественною заповедью: возлюбивши искреннего твоего яко сам себе (Мф. 22:39)? Увы! Если вы мало печетесь о собственном спасении: то по крайней мере не разрушайте спасение других. Не думайте, чтобы Дух Святый изъяснился таким образом в отношении только к исполнению некоторых дел милосердия. Нет! Он тут говорит о всех вообще случаях, где только мы можем быть полезны ближнему.

Сим способом вы пресечете опасные следствия, обыкновенно производимые глазами. Хотя конечно не составляет преимущество тела, и будучи украшением дела рук Божиих, служит так сказать почетною завесою души нашей; но вред, какой можем мы причинить смотрящим на нас, должен возбуждать в нас те же опасения, каким подвергся Авраам от красоты Сарры (Быт. 12:15; 20:2). Сей отец верующих должен был выдать жену свою за сестру, чтоб освободить ее от поругания Египтян и царя Герарскаго.