Chapter II. On the Power of Habit to produce Evil Dispositions and Hardness of Heart

Rely not too much on thy present disposition, for there is nothing in the soul so firmly established as that it cannot be removed by time and neglect. A wound grows callous when not attended to in time, and becomes incapable of cure in proportion as it loses sensibility. Furthermore, pain that is sharp and continuous cannot long endure : if not otherwise got rid of, it must speedily succumb to its own violence. I mean to say : either a remedy will soon be found to assuage it, or from its continuance a state of apathy will result. What disposition cannot be induced, or destroyed, or changed to its contrary by the force of habit and usage ? How many have come by use to find pleasure in the evil which before inspired only horror and disgust ? [Listen to a just man lamenting this misfortune : ' The things which before my soul would not touch," says holy Job, " now, through anguish, are my meats " (Job vi. 7). At first something will seem to thee insupportable. After a while, when thou hast become a little accustomed to it, it will not appear so very dreadful. Later on it will shock thee less ; later still it will have ceased to shock thee at all. Finally thou wilt begin to take delight in it. Thus, little by little, mayest thou proceed to hardness of heart and from that to a loathing for virtue. And in this way, as I have said, a continuous pain will soon find relief either in a complete cure or in utter insensibility.

„ Here, then, here is the reason why I have always feared for thee and do still fear : lest, postponing the application of a remedy, and unable meanwhile to endure the pain, thou shouldst at last grow reckless and abandon thyself irrevocably to evil. Yes, this is what I am most afraid of, that despairing of ever seeing the end of the multitudinous cares which distract thee, thou shouldst begin at last to stifle thy conscience, and thus little by little to deaden this sense of good and salutary discomfort. How much more prudent would it not be to withdraw thyself from thy occupations occasionally, even for a short time, instead of allowing them to overwhelm thee and to lead thee gradually " whither thou wouldst not " (John xxi. 18) ! Whither is that, dost thou inquire ? To hardness of heart. Ask me not what this means. For if thou art without fear for thyself, it is something which is already thine. It is only the heart which is hardened that abhors not itself, as not sensible of its evil. Why askest thou me what it is to have a hard heart ? Inquire of Pharao (Exod. vii.

• 3). There never yet has been a man with a hard heart who obtained salvation, unless he be one from whom

God in His mercy took away the stony heart, as the Prophet speaks (Ezech. xi. 19), and replaced it with a heart of flesh. What, then, is meant by a hard heart ? It is a heart which can neither bepierced by compunction, nor softened by piety, nor moved by prayer, which menaces cannot tame and which chastisement only renders more obdurate ; it is a heart which is ungrateful for benefits received, which is treacherous in its counsels, cruel in its judgments, shameless in its turpitude, reckless in danger, unfeeling in things human, audacious in things divine ; which is forgetful of the past, neglectful of the present, improvident of the future ; or rather I should say, it remembers nothing of the past except the injuries done it, makes no use at all of the present, nor any provision or preparation for the future, unless perchance it is planning to revenge itself. To comprehend all the evils of this most terrible evil in one short sentence, I say that a hard heart is a heart which neither fears God nor regards man (Luke xviii. 4). See now to what these accursed occupations are capable of dragging thee, if yet thou continuest, as thou hast begun, to give thyself up entirely to them, reserving nothing of thee for thyself. Besides, thou art only wasting thy time in acting thus. And if I may venture to address thee in the words of Jethro to Moses (Exod. xviii. 18), know that thou also " art spending thyself with foolish labour " in these secular occupations, the only result of which — so far as concerns thee — are affliction of spirit, vexation of mind, and the loss of the grace of devotion. For does not the fruit of thy toil resemble the worthless cobwebs which the poor spider exhausts itself in weaving ?