of men whose external
manners are so pure as to confound the manners of the heathen. If there are
hypocrites among them, but so well disguised that she does not discover
their venom, she tolerates them; for, though they are not accepted of God,
whom they cannot deceive, they are of men, whom they do deceive. And thus
she is not dishonoured by their conduct, which appears holy. But you want
the Church to judge neither of the inward, because that belongs to God
alone, nor of the outward, because God dwells only upon the inward; and
thus, taking away from her all choice of men, you retain in the Church the
most dissolute and those who dishonour her so greatly that the synagogues of
the Jews and sects of philosophers would have banished them as unworthy and
have abhorred them as impious.

906. The easiest conditions to live in according to the world are the most
difficult to live in according to God, and vice versa. Nothing is so
difficult according to the world as the religious life; nothing is easier
than to live it according to God. Nothing is easier, according to the world,
than to live in high office and great wealth; nothing is more difficult than
to live in them according to God, and without acquiring an interest in them
and a liking for them.

907. The casuists submit the decision to the corrupt reason, and the choice
of decisions to the corrupt will, in order that all that is corrupt in the
nature of man may contribute to his conduct.

908. But is it probable that probability gives assurance?

Difference between rest and security of conscience. Nothing gives certainty
but truth; nothing gives rest but the sincere search for truth.

909. The whole society itself of their casuists cannot give assurance to a
conscience in error, and that is why it is important to choose good guides.

Thus they will be doubly culpable, both in having followed ways which they
should not have followed, and in having liste