CHAPTER II. ON THE ADVANTAGES OF THE RELIGIOUS STATE.

WELLMAY THE WORDS of theCanticle of Moses and of the children of Israel, after their delivery from the tyranny of Pharaoh and the bondage of Egypt, be applied to religious: “In thy mercy thou hast been a leader to the people which thou hast redeemed, and in thy strength thou hast carried them to thy holy habitation”—Exod. xv. 13. As the Hebrews, compared with the Egyptians, were in the Old Law the beloved people of God, so religious, contrasted with seculars, are, in the New Law, the chosen spouses of the Saviour. As the Hebrews went forth from Egypt, a land of labour and of slavery, where God was not known, so religious retire from the world, which gives to its servants no other recompense than pains and bitterness, and in which God is but little known. Finally, as the Hebrews in the desert were guided by a pillar of fire to the land of promise, so the spouses of Jesus Christ are conducted by the light of the Holy Ghost into the sanctuary of religion—the bright image of the promised land of heaven. In heaven there is no self-will; no thirst for earthly riches or for sensual pleasures; and from the cloister, these pernicious desires, by means of the holy vows of obedience, poverty, and chastity, are effectually excluded. In heaven, to praise God is the constant occupation of the saints, and in religion, every action of the community is referred to the glory of his name. “You praise God,” says St. Augustine, “by the discharge of ever