Preparation for Justification

The first movement in the path which leads to our justification and supernatural life and salvation is simply and entirely from God. Even the consciousness of our misery and the oppressive effects of our sins will not lead us to take the first step of calling upon God for relief. The first actual step is God's call to us and a motion impressed on us. We cannot merit this by any natural actions of our own, however good they may be. We cannot repent of our sins, begin to resist temptation, or change the tenor of our lives on our own initiative. Still less can we apprehend God, appreciate Him, desire and love Him, but by the grace of God calling us to do these things. We cannot call upon His name until He has suggested the idea and moved us to accept it. Even the first conscious motion of the soul towards God is not of ourselves but inspired by Him. "No man can come to Me unless it be given him by My Father" (John vi. 66). "What hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received?" (1 Cor. iv. 7). Beware lest you take credit to yourself for having approached to God in the first instance, or for any subsequent fidelity. Remember also that those who approach to the consideration of divine truths in a spirit of self-sufficiency, relying on their own attainments, and scorning to humble themselves and pray for guidance, will remain for ever in the obscurity of the natural order, and will never attain to God or His truths.

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The Necessity of Actual Grace

The natural endowments of fallen man are very extensive. He has a love of truth, great powers of investigation, and he is able to recognize the Author of nature as God and ascertain some of His perfections. Still this natural knowledge is limited. It is true to say now, no less than formerly: "Man can find no reason of all those works of God that are done under the sun: and the more he shall labour to seek so much the less shall he find; yea, though the wise man should say that he knoweth it, he shall not be able to find" (Eccle. viii. 17). The natural intelligence falls still further short of the great system of truths that belong to the higher state which God calls man to enter. Those truths are the basis on which our supernatural life must be built up. We cannot arrive at them by our power of natural penetration; and even when they are propounded to us by God through human teaching, we are still unable to assimilate them without an infusion of grace and the faculty of faith from God. Every one is capable of hearing of Our Lord and knowing Him historically; yet " no man can say, The Lord Jesus, but by the Holy Ghost" (1 Cor. xii. 3). We may have natural knowledge, but it is not sufficient; for all that, "No man can come to Me except the Father who hath sent Me draw him" (John vi. 44). You stand in absolute need of actual graces to enable your intelligence and will to grasp the truths of the supernatural order. Prayer is necessary rather than critical analysis. Those who fall from the state of grace are very likely to lose their intellectual grasp of certain higher truths which previously seemed incontrovertible.

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Actual Grace

God gives us many external aids to help us in our spiritual life — parents, teachers, education, books, sermons and even the ordinary incidents of life. These are some times in a broad sense called graces. But besides these we need an inward aid from God to accompany the outward one and make it profitable. This is Grace, strictly so called, and this is the efficient power in our lives. St. Paul therefore says: "I have planted, Apollo watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he that planted is anything, nor he that watered, but God who giveth the increase " (1 Cor. iii. 6, 7). Actual grace, or the grace that accompanies our good actions, is a transient movement of supernatural influence, which enlightens the understanding and strengthens the will, directing us towards some good action and helping us in its performance. It includes an anticipating or "prevenient" grace, which precedes our demand and is not dependent on our will, and a subsequent assistance which enables us to give effect to the previous one after we have entertained it and corresponded to it. Grace is not an exercise of omnipotence breaking down all opposition and forcing the will; it is the breathing of a gentle wind of persuasion, which we can act upon or reject as pleases us. Watch for the movements of the Spirit of God, and be careful never to thrust them aside. Do not expect them to compel you and save you the pangs of self-sacrifice. You have to act and do violence to yourself before the strength of grace is revealed in you.

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GRACES "GRATIS DATÆ"

It is the duty of all to work with Jesus Christ in the establishment of His kingdom, the communication of knowledge, the gaining and elevation of souls. The duty of imitating Him includes the carrying on of His functions in our own imperfect way, enlightening, interceding, suffering. In these works Our Lord exercised more than ordinary human powers. His Divine Personality was the source of countless activities which transcended nature; and He grants some participation in these graces and powers to such as labour with Him, and thereby He makes them still more to resemble Him. The work is high and difficult, and requires special endowments, which are accorded in a notable degree to the great saints, the Apostles and other ministers of Christ, and in a lesser degree to His humbler coadjutors. Every one may labour for Christ in the spiritual vineyard. This work is not for a class of men only, but for all. If any wish to labour thus, God will open a way to them and show them opportunities in abundance lying ready to their hands. He provides useful employment for everyone who sincerely desires it. There is so much in the world to be done and so few who care to inconvenience themselves for the love of God and their sorrowing brethren! These words are said to you also: "Labour in all things, do the work of an Evangelist, fulfil thy ministry" (2 Tim. iv. 5). Do not plead that you have no opening or that you are incapable. The graces "gratis datǽ" are graces given to remedy such deficiencies.

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The Nature of Divine Grace

The first man had been raised by God above the level of the rest of the universe, and even above the level that was proper to him. Besides human nature and all its powers, he received a further and higher endowment, viz. the state of integrity and original justice, a gratuitous gift superadded to what was natural. With this double endowment he was to work out his destiny. Original sin was the rejection of the supernatural endowments, and descent to the natural but now fallen level. The faculties of human nature remained substantially intact, but with a tendency towards evil. Man thenceforth was dead as regards the supernatural life and state; of his own strength he cannot regain it; he can do nothing of supernatural value deserving a supernatural reward; he can in no way place himself in communication with the Infinite; only the action of Jesus Christ, God and Man, can do this for him. This restitution or re-elevation to the higher state comes from Our Lord as a purely gratuitous gift, or as Grace, Consider how lowly, with all its excellence, is your natural state; how valueless its great endowments, efficient only in this life and before the eyes of men, but worthless for any use in the kingdom of glory. You need a totally different set of qualities for the divine life. Seek these. If you attain them, all else is of but small account.

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The Qualifications of The Church

God has committed to His Church a high duty which is far superior to what the individual members are capable of in their private capacity. Her officials can speak with an authority, and advance claims therefore, which would be preposterous in any who had not received the same divine commission. It has been said to them, "The Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops to rule the Church of God which He hath purchased with His own blood" (Acts xx. 28). No plenitude of power could be greater than that which the Founder of the Church conveyed to it in the person of its chief pastor. "To thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, it shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven" (Matt. xvi. 19). This authority, conveyed by God Himself, justifies the claim of the Church that she should be believed and obeyed by all in spiritual matters; it justifies the faithful in trusting implicitly to such a guide, for such a trustfulness is trust in Christ Himself. No man or body of men could claim such a position; no gifts of talent or virtue, no commission from earthly rulers, no degree of personal influence and popular appreciation would justify any man in assuming to speak as the Church speaks, or would justify others in submitting their liberty to his control. You are able to say, applying the words at once to Christ and to His Church, "I know whom I have believed, and I am certain that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him" (2 Tim. i. 12). Rejoice in this security.

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The Depository of the Christian Law

A code of laws duly promulgated and active involves two things. 

1. There must be an authority to guard its integrity, administer it, explain it, enforce its observance; else it is a dead letter. 

2. The wide prevalence of one code of laws tends to produce uniformity of action and unity of organization. Christianity proposes to us one God, one destination for all men, one set of truths, one law of conduct; naturally these objects should be sought for on one system. Further there are "diversities of ministries,'' good works to be done, sins and miseries to be grappled with, by a widely scattered multitude. Some centralization is necessary lest efforts clash, energies be frittered away, and disunion lead to the defeat of the cause of good. Multiplicity must be welded into unity. If God had not provided the machinery for this, men would certainly have tried to bring it about by themselves, led by the dictates of ordinary intelligence. But because God has provided for it, the Spirit of Evil in men has induced them very largely to ignore in religion the natural impulse to combination which guides them in every other social action. How blessed you are in being able to see this truth, and in belonging to that great union which is the accredited guardian of the Christian Law.

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The Christian Law

The highest stage of human development on earth was inaugurated by Jesus Christ in the New Law. Mankind was not ripe for this perfect law at an earlier date. The manifestation of God in religion has proceeded by evolution from the simplest to the most perfect form, and was accommodated at each stage to the actual possibilities of humanity. The world had to exhaust its original energies for advancement before the new energies were infused to complete the imperfect work; it had to be taught by experience and failure that its rehabilitation and perfection could come from God alone. The great gift, like all the exceptional gifts of God, had to be earned by desires, prayers, and patient waiting. Now that this law has been given, there is no other to be expected; the work of God so far is complete. None greater than Jesus Christ can come; no other Spirit more efficient than the Holy Ghost can be poured out. Jesus will be with His Church all days even to the consummation of the world, the Paraclete will teach her all truth; there can be no further needs and no further advance. How blessed is the lot of those who live under the present dispensation, and who have eyes to see and ears to hear those things which so many prophets and kings desired vainly! Take care to profit by your privileges; let your life correspond to them in elevation, and not fall to the level of the Jews of old or of the Pagans.

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The Mosaic Law

In addition to the natural law implanted in the minds of men, the Almighty was pleased to give a certain positive law consisting of statutes. He has given us this additional law by means of direct revelation, because of the super natural end proposed to us, which requires further instructions and a better organization than the natural forces of our reason can provide us with. Further, for his full development even in the natural order man would require some thing more than natural light, for this is incomplete in each individual, and liable to variation and to obscurity. The goodness of God has bestowed on us something more precise and definite, more visible and tangible, something that brings us into closer relations with God, and remedies the miseries and insufficiencies of our fallen condition. From the beginning, accordingly, additional laws were given, as to Adam in Paradise, to Noah after the deluge, to the patriarchs, Abraham, and Moses. Behold the goodness of God which has not left human nature to itself, but gives evidence of constant watchfulness and concern about it. In addition to the law which guides us to a natural perfection, He has given us the law of a much higher and happier life. If we bear this light burden, we shall be rewarded with abundant advantages.

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The Civil Law

Men naturally and necessarily form themselves into a society, a body with common life and common action, constituting a unity out of the multitude of its members. In every unit, whether it be individual or corporate, there is a primary divine duty of existence and self-preservation. The first necessity for the corporate life of a multitude is organization, the specialization of functions, and the appointment of some to be a center of force for the ruling and direction of all the others. Sovereignty in the first instance resides in the community generally, and is held and exercised variously according to the character of the community and the conditions of time and place. The chief exercise of sovereignty is the making of laws, and thus the civil legislative power is in accordance with natural law and the eternal law in God. It is an imitation of the divine action, a participation in the rights and authority of God. That power, whether exercised remotely by the community, or immediately by those who actually make the laws, should be used by them as agents of God entrusted with the carrying out of His will. The divine will in this connection is the maintenance of the life of the society by means that are morally good, generally beneficial, and just towards all without infringing on the private rights of any. Even in secular matters men should trace the creating and guiding hand of God, and consider what is His intention. Civil government must so far take account of God in order to its authority, stability, and efficiency in carrying out its first duty of maintaining social life.

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The Natural Law

"Who showeth us good things? The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us: Thou hast given gladness in my heart " (Ps. iv. 6, 7). The Eternal Law which exists in God is in the first instance promulgated to men, not by outward revelation and the imposing of formal statutes, but inwardly in their consciousness. Every rational creature has a certain light from God that is totally deficient in the lower animals, a certain apprehension of good and evil in the intellect, and a certain impulsion towards moral goodness and aversion from evil. This apprehension is spontaneous, and is antecedent to the knowledge that comes from special revelation, or instruction, or human law and custom, although concurrent with them. It comes to us in the course of nature ; its object is to guide us in our natural course, so that we may lead a higher life than the animals, who are guided solely by sense; it is therefore known as the natural moral law. Conscience is clearly allied with the natural law; it takes cognizance, however, of more than the natural law; it forms its conclusions from every form of divine law that is manifested to it, and it reduces this law to practice, and makes the application of it to particular cases as they arise. St. Paul describes the universality of the natural law. "The Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature those things which are of the law . . . who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness to them, and their thoughts within themselves accusing them or else defending them" (Rom. ii. 14, 15). Thank the good Providence of God for thus making spiritual provision for all mankind.

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The Eternal Law

By the Eternal Law is meant, not any code that has been promulgated by God in the form of positive or statute law, but the supreme exemplar of all created life, existing eternally in the mind of God. These rules of life are not decrees, but are the ideas of God, or the knowledge which His infinite wisdom has of all creatures and of the mode of life suitable for each one of them. In other words the Eternal Law is God Himself in one particular aspect: for all that is in God is God. Each creature reproduces some one of the innumerable facets of the Infinity of God; so that all the beauty, utility and harmonious adaptation of things arise from the fact that they are conformable to the divine idea, or to the law of their being which is in God, or that they resemble God. In a more special sense, the Eternal Law means God as the model of the moral perfection of rational creatures. This law of divine right reason has always existed, it has a necessary existence, it is immutable, it cannot cease or change, it is independent of promulgation as a positive law. Be grateful for the wonderful advantage you enjoy in having this supreme law so fully promulgated to you. You are in no darkness or uncertainty as to your rule of life, the nature of human perfection, and the means and the time when it will be fully accomplished. This benefit you receive from your religion.

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Law in General

It is of the province of theology to consider God in all His manifestations, and among these as Supreme Legislator. He is the first law-giver, is Himself the law, and is the source whence all other laws, and their sanctity, and their binding force proceed. God is Law as being the exemplar to which all our life must be conformed. The ideas and decrees of God, which are to rule our existence, are revealed in the different laws given to us — in the natural law, the moral law, the religious law, the civil law, and in the unwritten laws of progress, health, economics, commerce, and so on. Human actions and their principles, which are man's steps of progress towards his ultimate goal, are closely connected with Law. Conscience, which is our internal guide, must go hand in hand with Law, our external guide, and must be in great measure moulded by it. Our obligations, our rule of right and wrong, the accomplishment of our destiny as citizens of this world and of God's kingdom, are associated at every step with Law. We need to understand its origin, its basis, its obligatory force, its sanctions. Ask God to enlighten you to understand and to respect all law. Let the law of God in all its different forms be your delight and your meditation night and day; so that you may not be misled into following that law of the members which fights against the law of the mind, and which is a law of death.

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Venial Sin

By the grace of God and the power of the Sacraments, we have it in our power to avoid all mortal sins, to keep ourselves continually in the state of grace, and to allow nothing to separate us from the charity of Christ. Yet we must not take pride in ourselves and believe that we are perfect; "if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John i. 8). Even the highest and the holiest of the friends of God are not perfect; with the one exception of the most blessed of women, to whom the special prerogative of sinlessness was accorded in order that the breath of evil should not approach to the Holy One of God. The saints are allowed to fall into lesser sins or imperfections, so that they may enjoy that claim to God's special tenderness which belongs to the condition of sinners. "In many things we all offend" (Jas. iii. 2). We fail in perfect vigilance, we are surprised through weakness, we are carried away by sudden impetuosity, we overlook or forget things, we grow insensible to certain small infidelities. In all this there is no serious command violated, there is no deliberate rejection of God, no worship of the creature in His place, no serious malice. Such are the things referred to by the wise man, "A just man shall fall seven times and shall rise again" (Prov. xxiv. 16). Humble yourself when you see the multitude of your sins, the imperfection in every act, the unworthiness of your service. "My iniquities have overtaken me, and I was not able to see. They are multiplied above the hairs of my head" (Ps. xxxix. 13).

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The Penalty of Mortal Sin

"Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil " (Rom. ii. 9). Punishment necessarily accompanies sin. Sin and punishment are, outside human laws, only different aspects of the same thing. The physical law of nature is law only because its observance has good effects and its transgression evil ones. The same is the case with the moral law and also with the higher supernatural law. The divine law is not a set of arbitrary commands with arbitrary and heterogeneous penalties attached, as in human legislation; but it arises from the nature of things, it is grounded on nature — the divine nature and human nature — and it is given because it makes for our perfection and happiness, and is a preservative against evils. God, like the maker of a machine, knows the purpose of each creature, and its capabilities, and the conditions of its well-being. That knowledge of God communicated to us becomes the natural law, the moral law, the supernatural law, as the case may be. It cannot be other than it is. If we set aside the law, we necessarily lose the advantages inherent in the law; so the law itself avenges its violation. There is no greater folly than for man to think that he can know, better than God, the law of his construction and the right means of working out his destiny, and that he can be a law to himself. No advantage, except something utterly unreal, can follow the breaking of those rules which God declares necessary for our well-being. "Who hath resisted Him and hath had peace?" (Job ix. 4). The one secret of prosperity and remedy for all evils is the observance of the law of God." This do and thou shalt live " (Luke x. 28).

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The Deformity of Mortal Sin

Mary, Mother, meek and mild-Blessed was she in her Child.  

The first deformity in mortal sin has relation to God. A thing is deformed and repellent so far as it departs fron its law of existence either in time, place, action, or qualities, or if something that belongs to its nature is deficient, it's harmony with other things is destroyed. Sin destroys in us, not some superficial or temporal harmony of colour, form, sound, of organs or of health, but the most fundamental one of all, the moral and spiritual harmony of our soul with God. Sin deprives us of a necessary of life; not of some created requirement, such as food, light, repose, companionship, occupation, possessions, liberty, but of God, the sum of all goodness, the supreme uncreated perfection, the most absolute necessary of life, and actually our life. All the beauty and excellence of the soul consist in its harmony with God and participation in His perfections. Sin is opposed to all this good, and annihilates it in the soul. It is the antithesis of God's goodness and wisdom, of joy and beauty, of peace and glory, of power and authority, of His very being and infinite life. Thus it establishes in the soul a supreme deformity, disorder, irregularity, which affects the whole nature and impairs its utility for its proper purposes, its beauty, goodness, happiness. Ask God to illuminate you with His grace, so that you may be thoroughly convinced of these truths by faith, and so escape hereafter the miserable conviction which is from experience. In one or other of these ways, in time or in eternity, the deformity of sin will be brought home to all; it will come to some as a salutary truth, to others too late.

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Original Sin

Mary, Mother, meek and mild-Blessed was she in her Child.  

"Behold I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my mother conceive me" (Ps. I. 7). We are sinners from the beginning; we have forfeited our supernatural principality; we have lost a complete system of graces and superadded faculties which God designed to supplement and perfect our natural powers. We are absolutely incapable of attaining to the supernatural level of life here or hereafter; and practically the human race has precluded itself from fulfilling a suitable natural destiny of intellectual and social evolution without special assistance from a superhuman source. The facts of life, no less than revelation, witness to this. Observe the harmonious adaptations of inferior nature, the continual progress, the regular adhesion to law. Plants do not turn obstinately from the sun; animals do not delight in poison for food; the planets, the seasons, the elements keep their appointed course. How different is man! He is prone to evil from his youth; he must be artificially trained and sternly coerced by law lest he destroy both himself and his species, and with all this he is too often a failure. He is out of harmony with his surroundings, his fellow-men, and with the law of his being. His progress is through mistakes, he learns the laws of nature by the penalties of their infraction, his well-meant efforts are often fatal errors, side by side with his improvements new agencies of destruction spring up. All this points to something fundamentally wrong, to some original evil that cannot be from the benevolent hand of God. Recognize your misery. See that you are nothing without God. Ask Him for the remedy.

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The Sources of Sin

Mary, Mother, meek and mild-Blessed was she in her Child.  

As light cannot be a fountain of darkness, so God cannot be in any way the author or source of the state of sin or of the action that leads to it. Sin is the very opposite of God. Therefore say not, "He hath made me to err" for He hath no need of wicked men. The Lord hateth all abomination of error (Eccli. xv. 12, 13). God is the source of our energy and freedom, and supplies us with the means of action; but He does not determine for us how we shall use these powers. If we choose to act aright, then indeed " it is God who worketh in you both to will and accomplish" (Phil. ii. 13); but when we sin, although the concurrence of God still underlies our existence and physical action, yet the direction of that energy into a sinful channel is entirely our own doing. It is not that God consents to our sin; He consents to and permits our liberty of sinning, which is essential for our virtues. God does not abandon us to sin. Through the operation of external and internal influences independent of our will, we are exposed to opportunities of sin. God does not derange the whole order of the universe to prevent forces from working out their proper effects; but He intervenes in the inner sanctuary of our will with secret aid sufficient to keep us from mortal sin. The influence of God is forever working adversely to sin, either deterring the sinner or calling him to repentance. Never think that you are coerced by superior force to sin, or that God has abandoned you to your enemies. You have always Omnipotence on your side, provided that you take the appointed means to bring it into action.

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The Seat of Sin

Mary, Mother, meek and mild-Blessed was she in her Child.  

"From the sole of the foot to the top of the head there is no soundness therein: wounds, and bruises, and swelling sores; they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil" (Isa. i. 6). Every faculty and sense and department of human life is affected by a propension to its misuse, arising from the disturbance of equilibrium by the Original Sin. There is now a double impulse in man drawing him different ways, upwards to the supernatural, and downwards to the merely natural level of life. The eyes, the tongue, the limbs, the nutritive, procreative, and nervous systems all tend towards excessive activity. The desires and fears, the impulses and acquisitions for self-preservation tend towards what is false and flattering and gratifying to sense, rather than to that which is noblest, purest, highest, and most beneficial to the larger number. How corrupt is human nature! How miserable is the state of man, so different from that of all other creatures, who maintain the due order of nature and accomplish their functions without failure! What a burden we carry about with us! Aspire to that time of purification, happiness and freedom, when you will be delivered from this servitude of corruption, when you will no longer be obliged to watch every movement for the symptoms of disease, when you will no more be in danger of offending God and losing your soul.

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The Differences of Sins

Mary, Mother, meek and mild-Blessed was she in her Child.  

Consider the great multitude of evil actions which cast the soul into the state of sin. The most universal, as affecting all mankind, was the sin of our first father, who forfeited the state of grace and the power of transmitting it, by choosing the natural plane of existence instead of the supernatural. Our sinful deeds are like physical diseases. Every sense and faculty and operation of mind and body is liable to its own irregular action or excess, which casts the whole organism out of order. Every duty we have to perform, every grace we receive, may be an occasion for the exhibition of human perversity. Some of our sins are directly opposed to God, like blasphemy or incredulity; others are an inordinate seeking after temporal goods or a misuse of them — of wealth, food, position, for example— in opposition to the Spirit of God. Certain things are sins because God has forbidden them, such as the violation of the Sabbath or of the laws of fasting on a fixed day; others are forbidden because they are evil in themselves, as being opposed to the eternal fitness of things which depends on God's own nature; such are falsehood, intemperance, lust. We are further liable for sins not our own, for sins that others have committed through our negligence or bad example. How numerous are the perils that beset our path on the right hand and on the left! Who can be on the watch against all, who can know the sum of his daily, or his yearly, or his total responsibilities! " Who can understand sins? From my secret ones cleanse me, O Lord ; and from those of others spare Thy servant" (Ps. xviii. 13).

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The Nature of Sin

Mary, Mother, meek and mild-Blessed was she in her Child.  

It is important to know exactly the nature of sin and in what its malice consists, on account of the numerous doctrines that are involved with it. Sin is a most important object of consideration, as being the supreme evil, and as having so terrible an influence in this world and in the eternity that follows. Unfortunately there are many obstacles to our understanding it, and some of its phenomena mislead us as to its real nature. 

1. We are in the midst of it, overwhelmed by it, and, like men lost in a dense forest, we cannot perceive its magnitude or its bearings. 

2. We know it only in the transitory act, and not in the permanent state set up by it, nor in its remoter consequences. 

3. We are conscious of it, as a rule, not in its essence as an attack on God's being, but as the desire for some sensible advantage without any reference to God. 

4. It generally presents itself to us in some plausible form, as an amiable weakness, a natural and excusable appetite, or even as an act of virtue. The science of disease is necessary if you would maintain your health. You should be able to say of sin in general : "I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me" (Ps. 1. 5). You must gain this knowledge not from earthly wisdom or current opinions, nor from degrading experience, but from revelation and faith. Ask God to give you a knowledge of good and evil such as will aid you to understand the deep mysteries of His nature and His Providence.

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Motives of Action

Mary, Mother, meek and mild-Blessed was she in her Child.  

Our actions derive a great deal of their character and merit from the motive or intention with which they are performed. The lowest of supernatural motives in the service of God is the fear of hell. It is a servile motive, it looks to self, it does not savour of spiritual intelligence or of the generosity which God deserves from us; yet it is not a bad or even an unworthy motive. If indeed this fear were the same as natural fear in slavish minds, if it led to service under compulsion, to service which would not be exhibited except for the mere dread of punishment without any thought of God, then our fear would be absolutely servile and worthless. But hell, properly considered, is chiefly the loss of God; and the fear of hell involves a desire for the possession of God as the essential perfection of our nature and the sum of all good to us; it is a fear of the evils involved in the loss of God. This is not a bad motive, for it is put before us in Holy Scripture. The wise man tells us that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Prov. i. 7); and Jesus Himself says: " Fear Him that can destroy both body and soul in hell" (Matt. x. 28). The thought of the terrors of eternal punishment is certainly one of great power in helping the well-disposed to withstand temptation. Any motive wrhich has that effect has done much good; it may be an inferior one, yet our nature is not so lofty and generous that it can afford to dispense with even lowly motives as an assistance to a fervent life. Think often of the terrors of judgment; learn thence the odiousness of sin, and serve God better. Take care, however, that this be not your sole or chief motive. The lower one by no means excludes the higher.

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The Infirmities of Conscience

Mary, Mother, meek and mild-Blessed was she in her Child.  

The conscience is subject to two special infirmities which warp its judgment, and mislead us in action, and may be productive of great evils. One of these is scrupulousness. The word scruple connotes a petty and continual annoyance. A scruple is an exaggeration of conscientiousness; not that this can go too far; but it is the conscientious temper acting on a false judgment and an insufficient grasp of truth. It is the habit of timidity which thinks there is sin where there is no sin. It gives rise to hesitation before action and unprofitable self-searchings after it. It may proceed from a fervour which has not yet arrived at ripeness of experience, or from a secret pride, or from imprudence in following views that are accounted safer because they are more narrow and more rigorous. Scruples may be a result of our personal character, or may be permitted by God as a temptation to be resisted, or as a trial for our humiliation. They may injure us by causing discouragement and weariness of religious living; but judiciously treated they will conduce to our advantage. Remember that there is no sin except by a conscious act of the will, that God does not lay traps for you or rejoice in your destruction, that He does not expect absolute perfection from you in this life, that He is generous beyond possible conception in making allowance for your natural infirmities, and that the more miserable you are, the more His tenderness abounds. Thank your Lord for all this, and cast yourself upon Him with complete abandonment.

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The Deficiencies of Conscience

Mary, Mother, meek and mild-Blessed was she in her Child.  

In consequence of the Fall, Conscience is by no means perfect; it is liable to the influences of ignorance, prejudice, malice, and to those of heredity and surroundings; it has not the universality and rigidity of instinct in animals; it is often wanting in accuracy, in certainty, sometimes it fails entirely in its functions. Under the most favourable circumstances conscience sometimes fails to give a clear definite answer on an intricate question. We may find duties conflicting with one another. We may doubt about the law, its application, its modifications. Our course may be embarrassing, we may doubt which side is right, or suspect there is sin on both. Conscience is not useless even then. We must not indeed act upon its uncertain verdict, and run the risk of committing sin. True, it fails to enlighten us, but it has fulfilled its function in making us doubtful, and so impressing on us the duty of seeking counsel from God and men. Like the star which led the Magi, it sometimes sheds its light upon us directly and again partially fails us, so that we may use the other aids which God provides, and learn to mistrust our own faculties. The very uncertainty of conscience secures us a further degree of certainty from the other organs of God's speech to us. Beware of being too reliant on what you consider to be the supreme verdict of your conscience. It is difficult to discern the voice of human desire from the voice of God. Mistrust the influence of self, and be not too arrogant to seek advice from others.

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The Nature of Conscience

Mary, Mother, meek and mild-Blessed was she in her Child.  

God is the rule of perfect human life. Our goodness is conformity to God in inward and outward action. The principles that will guide us aright towards God are made known to us by the external aid of God's laws and the internal light which flows from Him upon the faculties of our soul. We have a misleading influence within us in the form of our animal emotions and inordinate passions. This is to be counterbalanced by the influence of our supersensible endowments. The intellect guides us in the apprehension of God as truth; the affections in the apprehension of Him as good; and these are supplemented by the conscience, which is a perception of the moral rectitude in God that should be reproduced in our actions. Conscience is an illumination superadded to the intellect for the guidance of the will; its object is all justice. This light is communicated to all mankind in a more or less perfect degree. In every action, the man who reflects is conscious of its relation not only to utility, or to pleasure and pain, but to honour or shamefulness, to moral goodness or evil. Unless we deliberately close our eyes, this sentiment will enlighten us before action; and afterwards, if we have done well, "Our glory is this, the testimony of our conscience" (2 Cor. i. 12); and if ill, it will sting us with remorse. Thank God for this gift, which is a further participation with Him, a manifestation of Himself to you under the form of sanctity, as well as truth and goodness. Endeavour to apprehend Him fully and reflect Him perfectly in a pure and upright conscience.

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