§ 2. And of Austerity.

Although thou mayest read or hear of many holy men who have led very severe lives, and although thou mayest perchance be impelled by the first fervour of thy conversion to embrace unusual austerities; thou shouldst not inconsiderately follow the dictates of 137this fervour, but take counsel of the wise. For what has been clone by holy and perfect men, they did by the evident guidance and attraction of the Holy Spirit. Evil passions must be mortified, but the weak body must not be oppressed, nor must nature be destroyed. The crosses and afflictions which God lays upon a man are much more safely borne, than those which a man takes upon himself by his own will.