resight, man
avoids the dangers which threaten him, while he seizes on and creates
opportunities favorable to him: he thereby provides for his present and
future safety in a certain and secure manner, whereas the imprudent
man, who calculates neither his steps nor his conduct, nor efforts, nor
resistance, falls every instant into difficulties and dangers, which
sooner or later impair his faculties and destroy his existence.

Q. When the Gospel says, "Happy are the poor of spirit," does it mean
the ignorant and imprudent?

A. No; for, at the same time that it recommends the simplicity of doves,
it adds the prudent cunning of serpents. By simplicity of mind is meant
uprightness, and the precept of the Gospel is that of nature.

CHAPTER VI.

ON TEMPERANCE.

Q. What is temperance?

A. It is a regular use of our faculties, which makes us never exceed in
our sensations the end of nature to preserve us; it is the moderation of
the passions.

Q. Which is the vice contrary to temperance?

A. The disorder of the passions, the avidity of all kind of enjoyments,
in a word, cupidity.

Q. Which are the principal branches of temperance?

A. Sobriety, and continence or chastity.

Q. How does the law of nature prescribe sobriety?

A. By its powerful influence over our health. The sober man digests with
comfort; he is not overpowered by the weight of aliments; his ideas are
clear and easy; he fulfills all his functions properly; he conducts his
business with intelligence; his old age is exempt from infirmity;
he does not spend his money in remedies, and he enjoys, in mirth and
gladness, the wealth which chance and his own prudence have procured
him. Thus, from one virtue alone, generous nature derives innumerable
recompenses.

Q. How does it prohibit gluttony?

A. By the numerous evils that are attached to it. The glutton, oppressed
with aliments, digests with anxiety; his head, troubled by the fumes
of indigestion, is incapable of conceiving clear and distinct ideas;
he abandons himself with violence to the disorderly impulse of lust and
anger, which impair his health; his body becomes bloated, heavy, and
unfit for labor; he endures painful and expensive distempers; he seldom
lives to be old; and his age is replete with infirmities and sorrow.

Q. Should abstinence and fasting be considered as virtuous actions?

A. Yes, when one has eaten too much; for then abstinence and fasting
are simple and efficacious rem