Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-05-10
GREAT THOUGHTS.
Drawn From the "Golden Ladder" Of
St, Bonaventura.

Drawn From the "GoIden Ladder" Of
st. Bonaventura.
There must once have been a time
in the world when sadness was less
dangerous matter than 1t is to-day,
or the great teachers would hardly
have dared inculcate 1t as necessary
practice. st. Bonaventura, in his
Golden Ladder Of Virtues" admon-
ishes men climbing toward perfection
to aff1ict themselves profoundly over
the outrages offered to the glory Of
God; to suffer with those who in
health undergo affliction, and those
who in malady ldergo affiiction, and
those who, being dead, still undergo
affliction; to suffer with those who
suffer from their own weakness and
with those who, being brave, are yet
killed upon the high mountains, and
what things make for their peace; to
suffer over all corporal ills, all spirit
itual weaknesses, all temporal and
transient pains, all prolonged pains,
and all eternal pains, and then, as II
that were not enough, higher up on
the ladder Of virtues he begins again
warning us to repent and to afflict
ourselves over all mortal sins, all
grave venial sins, all slight venial sins,
for all sins of act, Of word, Of deed;
all sins of evil committed, Of good
omitted; all sins of lassitude, ennui,
and lukewarmth; for personal sins,
for sins one has occasioned, knowing
ly, and sins one has unknowingly
caused others to commit to regret;
and bitterly manifest sins, hidden
sins, and the very sins Of being hu-
man and unjustified in the light Of
supreme perfection; the wrongs one
has done to oneself, the wrongs one
has done the community, the wrongs
one has done to God; and then he
adds, reveal the pain of the soul by
the avowal Of the lips, by tears in the
eyes and by the modification OF the
flesh. Indeed, when one reaches the
last rung Of the ladder but one, one
still meets fifteen modes of pain to
be borne before one reaches the high
est round Of virtue and can afford to
be joyful
Even the most strenuous exhorters
to-day would hardly dare lead the
sheep through so dark a valley. 1t
is all too easy to realize the sadness
and the imperfection of life, the i'm
possibility of wholly adapting oneself
to environment, of wholly meeting the
demands Of other people. Life in a
world where conditions are ever fleet
ing, where no relation is permanent,
where struggle for individual salts
faction is fruitlcss and defeat certain,
where love Of beauty and Of goodness
merely lays US open to quicker and
deeper wounds, and where even pur-
suit Of knowledge itself is battling and
thwarting, since the more we learn
the wider becomes the field Of the
unknown, offers enough involuntary
sadness.
But there are two points to note In
the ladder Of st. Bonaventura, one Is
that he bids men to deplore not the
inevitable imperfections of circum-
stance, which is the fundamental note
Of the modern pessimist, but their own
shortcomings; and second, that a care
free and joyous existence can only be
granted to those who have scaled the
topmost rung Of the ladder Of virtue.
It is not the feeling that one has
a share in the worlds imperfection
which generates despair, for with one
self one can always do something. If
one allows oneself to believe that the
tragedy Of existence Is inherent in life,
and that life Is not malleable, that do
what we will, strain every nerve and
put forth every effort, life is still not
plastic to endeavor, that 1t will no
more respond to our calls than the
stars did to the hallooing of Will O. the
Mill and the fat young man, then
we have a sadness which is dangerous
But aff1iction over our own shortcom-
ings and complete list Of them to re-
fer to, make for the sadness which
lies at the root Of effort. Character,
after all, is never founded upon cush-
ions; it is built upon rock hard re-
nunciations and difficulties; "the
sharpened life commands its course"
such character learns to bear not only
inevitable ills, but finally, from time
to time, to give itself a little gratui-
tous suffering on some one else's ac-
count.
True happiness, what little we know
of it, is not Of the nature Of merri-
ment or gayety or ease-these give
nothing better than pleasure-but true
happiness is the outgrowth Of peace,
and peace has a firmer foundation
than these can give. Peace is the re-
suit of reflection. grief, and accept
ance, and none begin to understand,
once realizing it, how the great Bona
ventura dared so to emphasize sorrow
q Ii A,b1