Book I, Part 3, Chapter 4. Of those Persons who excuse themselves from following Virtue by saying the Way to it is rough and uneasy

1. There is another excuse worldly men make use of for not following virtue, which is, that she is difficult and uneasy, though ■ they know this does not proceed from virtue itself, because, being a friend to reason, she is suitable to the nature of a rational creature, but from the evil inclination of our flesh and appetite, derived from sin. This it was that made the apostle say, The flesh covets in opposition to the spirit, and the spirit in opposition to the flesh ; for these two resist one another ; Galat. v. 17. And in another place he says, J am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man ; but I see another law in my mem hers, that resists the law of my spirit, and captivates me to the love of sin ; Rom. vii. 22, 23. The apostle by these words gives us to understand, that virtue and the law of God agree well with and are comformable to the superior part, or the soul, which is all spiritual, as being the place where the understanding and the will reside ; but we are hindered from observing this law by the law of our members, that is, by the evil inclination and corruption of our appetite, with all its passions, which rebelled against the superior part, or the soul, at the same time that it rebelled against God, which rebellion is the cause of all this difficulty. Therefore it is that so many persons reject virtue, though they have a great esteem for it, like sick men, who, though they desire to recover their health, yet hate the medicines because they are unpleasant. If we could disabuse men of this mistake, it would be a great work ; for it is this that chiefly drives them from virtue, in which every thing is to be esteemed and valued.

§ I. That the Grace, which is given us through Jesus Christ, makes the Way of Virtue smooth and easy. — 2. You must understand that the chief cause of this mistake is, men considering nothing but the difficulty that is in virtue, without so much as ever reflecting on the assistance God gives us for the overcoming of it. It was such an error as this the prophet Eliseus's servant was in : for seeing his master's house beset with the Syrian army, but not perceiving the forces which God had prepared to succor the prophet, he was quite dismayed till such time as God, at the prophet's intercession, opened his eyes, and let him see there were more forces on his side than on the enemy's. Those we here treat of are deceived after the same manner ; for finding in themselves the difficulty there is in virtue, without having had any proof of the favors and assistance they may receive from God, in order to acquire the same, they look on the enterprise as very hard, and, therefore, lay it quite aside.

3. But if the way of virtue be so difficult, what can the prophet mean when he says, " I have taken as much delight in the way of thy commandments as in all riches ;" Ps. cxviii. 14. And in another place: " Thy commandments, O Lord, are more desirable than gold and precious stones, and sweeter than honey and honey-comb ;" Ps. xviii. 11. So that he not only allows virtue what we all grant it, that is, extraordinary worth and excellence, but that which almost all the world denies it, pleasure and sweetness; whence you may conclude, that they who represent this as a heavy load, though they be Christians, and live under the law of grace, have not so much as tasted of this mystery. Unhappy creature that you are, who talk so much of being a Christian ! For what did Christ come into the world ? What was the end of the shedding of his blood ? What did he design by instituting the sacraments ? Why did he send down the Holy Ghost ? What signifies the gospel? What signifies the word grace?

What means the name of Jesus ? What can this most holy name of that Lord whom you adore signify ? If you are ignorant of this, ask the evangelist, who says, " You shall call his name Jesus ; for he shall deliver his people from their sins ;" Matt. i. 21. What is it, then, to deliver us from our sins, but to deserve pardon for us for past sins and to obtain grace for us, whereby we may be able to avoid sin for the future ? What, therefore, was the end of our Saviour's coming into the world, but to help us in the work of our salvation ? For what reason did he die on the cross, but that he might thereby destroy sin ? Why did he rise again afterwards from the dead, but only to make you rise again to this new kind of life ? What did he pour out his blood for, but to make a medicine of the same, for the healing of your wounds ? Why did he ordain the sacraments ? It was for a remedy and assistance against your sins. What is one of the chief advantages of his passion and of his coming, but the making that way, which before was rough and difficult, smooth and easy for us ? Isaias told us as much when he said, " That at the coming of the Messias the crooked ways shall be made straight, and the rugged ways shall be made even ;" Isa. xl. 4. For what reason, in fine, did he send down the Holy Ghost, but to change you from flesh into spirit ; and why did he come in the form of fire, but to kindle, enlighten and enliven you, to transform you into himself, and to make you mount up towards heaven from this earth of ours ? What is the use of grace, with the infused virtues that proceed from it, but to make the yoke of Christ sweet and delightful, to make the practice of virtue easy, to make you joyful in your afflictions, to make you hope in your dangers, and to give you a victory over all your temptations? This is the whole design of the gospel, viz: that as an earthly and sinful man, to wit, Adam, made us earthly and sinners, so another man, that was heavenly and just, to wit, Christ Jesus, has made us become so too. What else do the evangelists treat of? What else have the prophets promised us ? What else have the apostles preached to us ? This is the sum of all Christian divinity ; this is the word which God spoke on earth ; this is the accomplishment and abridgement, which the prophet Isaias says, " he had from the mouth of God" (Isa. xx. 2, 3); from whence such vast treasures, so many virtues, and so much justice immediately flowed into the world.

4. To make this the plainer I ask you, What is the cause of that difficulty which we meet with in virtue ? You will tell me, the evil inclinations of our hearts, and the flesh that is conceived in sin: because the flesh resists the spirit, and the spirit the flesh, as things contrary to one another ; Gal. v. 17 ; Rom. vii. Let us put the case that God says to you, Come higher, O man ! I will take away this wicked heart of yours, and will give you another 31 V new heart, and with all strength to mortify your evil inclinations and appetites. Should God make you that promise, would the way of virtue be then difficult to you ? It is certain it would not. What is it less than this, that God has so often promised in his Holy Scripture ? Hear what he says by the prophet Ezechiel, addressing himself particularly to those who live under the law of grace: "I will give you," says he, "a new heart, and I will put a new spirit into your bowels; and I will take away your heart of stone, and I will give you a heart of flesh ; that you may walk in my precepts, and observe my laws, and comply with them ; and that you may be my people, and that I may be your God ;" Ezec. xxi. 19, 20. These are the words of the prophet. What can you doubt of after such a promise ? Can you be afraid that God will not be as good as his word ? or can you doubt of your being able to observe his law, if he stands to his promise of assisting you ? If you affirm the first, you make God a liar, which is one of the greatest blasphemies you can be guilty of. If you say you cannot observe his law, even with his assistance, you make him unable to provide for us as our necessities require, because, having intended to cure man, he has applied such a remedy as was not fit to do it.

5. Besides all this, God will give you power to mortify these evil inclinations which rise up against you, and make this way so hard. This is one of the chief effects of the tree of life, which our Saviour has sanctified by his blood, according to the apostle's confession, wThen he says, " Our old man has been crucified with Jesus Christ, that the body of sin may be destroyed, and that we may be slaves to sin no longer ;" Rom. vi. 6. The apostle calls here the old man, and the body of sin, our sensual appetite, with all the vicious inclinations that proceed from it. He says that he was crucified on the cross with Jesus Christ, because our Saviour has, by this most august sacrifice, obtained for us such grace and strength as may enable us to overcome this tyrant, and free ourselves from the oppression of our own evil inclinations, and from the slavery of sin, as we have said elsewhere. This is the victory and the extraordinary favor w7hich the same Lord promised us by Isaias, saying, " Fear not, because I am writh you; retire not from me, because I am your God. I will strengthen and assist yo<i, and the right hand of my just one (which is the Son of God himself) shall support you. Behold, they shall be all confounded and put to shame that fight against you ; they that contend wTith you shall be as nothing, and shall perish. You shall seek after those who have rebelled against you, and you shall not find them; they shall be as if they never had been And those who are at war with you shall be consumed. Because I am the Lord your God, I will take you by the hand, and will say to you, Fear not; I wTill stand by you." Isa. xli, 10, 11, 12, 13. These are God's words by the prophet Isaias. Will any man, therefore, be discouraged when he is so strong ? Will any man now sink under the fear of his own vicious inclinations, when grace gets such a glorious victory over them ?

§ II. Some Objections answered. — 6. You will tell me, perhaps, that after all this, the just are never without their private failings, " which are the wrinkles, that (as Job says) accuse and bear witness against them ;" Job xvi. 9. The same prophet whose authority we have just cited, answers this in short, saying, " that they shall be as if they never had been ;" Isa. xli. 12. Because, if they remain, it is only to keep us in continual exercise, and to prove us, not to hinder or to shock us ; they remain to excite and rouse us, not to lord it over us ; they remain to give us perpetual occasions of merit, not to draw us into the snares of sin ; they remain for us to triumph over them, not that they may overcome us ; they remain, in fine, for those ends that are most proper and convenient for our trial, for our humiliation, for the knowledge of our own weakness, for God's glory and the honor of his grace, so that their continuing thus turns to our interest. For as wild beasts, let them be ever so fierce, and of their nature so great enemies to man, when once they have been tamed, are serviceable to him ; so our passions, after having been moderated and subdued, assist us very much in our improvement in virtue.

7. Tell me now, if God supports, who will be able to overturn you ? " If God is for you, who will be against you !" Rom. viii. 31. " The Lord (says David) is my light, and my salvation, whom shall I fear ? The Lord is the defender of my life, whom shall I be afraid of? Should my enemies encamp themselves against me, my heart shall not dread. If an army should rise up against me, I will place my hopes in him." Ps. xxvi. 13. You must needs be a great coward if such promises do not encourage you to serve God ; if you will not rely on those words, it is a sign you are very faithless. It is God that says, he will give a new being ; " that he will change your heart of stone, and give you another of flesh for it" (Ezec. xi. 19) ; that he will mortify your passions, and bring you to such a pass that you shall not know yourself; that you shall look for your evil inclinations and shall not find them, because he will weaken all their forces. What can you desire more ? What do you want but a lively faith and hope, that you may place your confidence in God, and cast yourself entirely into his arms ?

8. All the objection I imagine you can make to this is, that your sins are very great, and, therefore, it is likely they will be the occasion of God's refusing you this grace. To which I answer, that this is one of the greatest affronts you can offer to God ; because, by this, you persuade yourself either that God cannot or will not assist his creatures, when they return to him and beg his help. I do not desire you should believe me in this particular ; do but believe the holy prophet, who seems to have thought on you, and, as it were, to have prevented you, when he wrote these words : " If," says he, " all these curses which I have reckoned up should light upon you for your sins, and you should he afterwards touched with a sorrow for them, and should return to him with your whole heart and with all your soul, the Lord your God will bring you out of your captivity, and will have compassion on you ; and though you should be carried away to the farthest parts of the world, he will bring you back again, and will lead you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall inherit the same." He adds further, " The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your posterity, to the end that you may love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul ;" Deut. xxx. 1,6. O that this Lord would at present circumcise your eyes, and remove the mist that is before them, that you might see plainly what kind of a circumcision this is ! You cannot be so dull as to take it for a circumcision of the body, because the heart is not capable of it ; what sort of circumcision is it, then, that the Lord promises in this place ? It is, without doubt, the retrenching of that superfluity of passions and evil inclinations which flows from the heart, and which hinders it from placing its love where it ought. These are the superfluous and hurtful branches which he promises to lop off with the knife of his grace, that the heart, being thus pruned and circumcised, may shoot forth all its virtue by this only branch of the love of God ; John i. 47. Then it is that you will be an Israelite indeed ; it is then you will be truly circumcised, when he shall see the love of the world cut off from your soul, and no other love remaining in it but the love of him.

9. I could wish you would consider with attention how God, in another place, commands you to do that yourself which he promises here he will do for you, if you will but return to him. His words are these : " Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hearts;" Jerem. iv. 4. Why, O Lord, do you command me to do what you yourself promise to do for me ? If I must do it, why do you promise that you will ? The glorious Augustine clears this difficulty by these words : " Give me grace (says he), O Lord, to do whatever you command me, and command me to do whatever you please ;" Conf. L. 10. c. 31. So that it is he who commands me all that I am obliged to do, and assists me with his grace to do it. Thus the command and the promise meet here both together, and God and man produce the same effect ; God as the principal cause, and man as the less principal. Thus it is that God deals with men as a painter that should guide the pencil in his scholar's hand, and he, by this means, comes to draw a fine piece : that ihey both made, it is clear ; but it would not, therefore, follow that they both deserve the same honor, or the one had as good a hand as the other. It is just so God does in our present case, and that without prejudice to the liberty of free-will, that man may have nothing to take a pride in when the work is done, but may give all the glory of it to the Lord, and say, with the prophet, " Thou, O Lord, hast wrought in us all the works that we have done ;" Isa. xxvi. 12.

10. Reflect, therefore, on this sentence, and by the means of it you will come to have a perfect understanding of the commandments of God, because he promises to be with you in doing all he commands you. And thus, as he says, when he bids you circumcise your heart, that he will circumcise it for you ; so, when he bids you love him above all things, he will give you grace to do it. This is the reason why it is said that " God's yoke is sweet" (Matt. xi. 30) ; because there are two to carry it, that is, God and man ; so that, by this means, God's grace makes that easy which nature by itself made very difficult. And, therefore, Moses, immediately after the words above cited, goes on thus : " The command, which I lay upon you this day, is not above you, nor at any great distance from you ; nor is it placed in heaven, that you should say, Is there any one of us that can go to heaven, and bring it from thence to us, that we may obey it and comply with it ? Neither is it placed beyond the sea, that you should have any reason to say, Who is there amongst us that can go over the sea and bring it away to us, that we may obey and do all that is commanded ? On the contrary, it is just by you, in your mouth and in your heart, to the end that you may observe it." Deut. xxx. 11, 12, 13, 14. By which words the holy prophet designed to remove those difficulties and impediments which sensual men find in the law of God ; because, considering the law barely, without the gospel, that is to say, looking on what is commanded without regarding the grace which is given to enable them to perform it, they reflect on the law of God as hard and unpleasant, without considering they flatly contradict St. John in this point, who says, " True charity consists in our keeping of God's commandments, and his commandments are not burthensome ; because all that is born of God overcomes the world" (John v. 3, 4) ; meaning that they who have received the spirit of God in their souls, by the means of which they have been regenerated, and made the children of him whose spirit they have received, have God within them, who dwells in them by grace, and enables them to do much more than all the world could besides ; so that neither the world, nor the devil, nor all the powers of hell, can prevail against them. Whence follows that, though God's commandments were very heavy, the new force, furnished by grace, would make them light.

§ III. That the Love of God makes the way to Heaven easy and 'pleasant. — 11. If, to all that has been said, we add the assistance we receive from charity, how light and easy will virtue be then ! For it is evident that one of the chief qualities of charity is to make the yoke of God!s laws very delightful ; because, as St. Augustine says, " They who love think no labors painful ; nay, they delight in them, as men that love fishing, hunting or hawking do in the toils and fatigues of those sports ;" St. Aug. Trae, 48. in Joan. What is it that makes a mother not regard the pains she takes in bringing up her children, but love ? Wh?t is it that makes a virtuous wife attend her sick husband day and night, without any intermission ? What is it that makes rven beasts and birds take so much pains for the nourishing of the young ones, so as almost to starve themselves to feed them to labor hard, that they may take their rest, and to expose thf mselves to danger, with a great deal of courage to defend ard secure them ? It is nothing else but love. What else was it that made the apostle St. Paul speak these generous words, which we read in his epistle to the Romans : " Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or persecution, or the sword ? I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God." Rom. viii. 35, &c. What was it else, but the force of this love, that made the holy father St. Dominick thirst so ardently after martyrdom ? What was it that made St. Laurence so cheerful, whilst he was broiling upon the gridiron, as to cry out that the very flames refreshed him, but the excessive desire he had of martyrdom, kindled in him by this love ? " For the true love of God," as St. Chrysologus says, " thinks nothing hard, nothing bitter, nothing heavy. What iron, what wounds, what pains, what death is there, which true love cannot overcome? Love is an armor of proof ; it turns the arrows, repels the darts, despises dangers, and laughs at death. In fine, love carries all before it." St. Chrysologus's Serm. 147. de Incarnat.

12. Nor is perfect love satisfied with overcoming such labors and difficulties as occur, but desires to meet with more, for his sake that is beloved. Hence proceeds that eager thirst of perfect men after martyrdom ; that is, to shed their blood for him who first shed his for them. And because they martyr their bodies, and torment them with hunger, they cannot obtain their desires, they are enraged against themselves, and become their own executioners. Therefore they martyr their bodies, and torment them with hunger, thirst, cold, heat, and with many other mortifications, and thus they find a great deal of comfort in their sufferings, because they, in some measure, obtain what they desired.

13. This language they that love the world do not understand, nor can they conceive how any man can love what they so much abhor, or have a horror for what they so passionately love. We read in the Holy Scriptures that the Egyptians had beasts for their gods, and as such adored and worshipped them : but the children of Israel called these things abominations which the Egyptians called gods, and sacrificed such creatures as they adored for gods, the sinner's guide. 24?

in honor of the true God ; Exod. vii. 26, 28. The just, in the same manner, like true Israelites, call those abominations which the world worships as its gods ; such are honors, pleasures and riches, which it adores and offers sacrifice to ; they despise and make a sacrifice of those false gods, as of so many abominations, to the glory of the true God. So let him, who would offer an acceptable sacrifice to God, observe what the world adores, and offer that ; on the contrary, let him embrace, for the love of God, whatsoever he sees the wTorld detest and abhor. Did not they do so, who, after receiving the first fruits of the Holy Ghost, were glad to have been carried before the council, and to have suffered injuries for the name of Christ ? Acts v. Is it possible, then, that what made prisons, scourges, gridirons and flames delightful, shall not be able to make the keeping of God's commandments sweet and pleasant to you ? Can that, which is every day powerful enough to make the just bear, not only the burden of the law, but the additional weight of their fasts, their watchings, their hair-shirts, their nakedness and their poverty, want force to make you carry the bare burden of the law of God and of his church? Alas! how much are you deluded ! How ignorant you are of the force of charity and of the grace of God !

§ IV. Of some other Things which make the Way of Virtue 'pleasant to us. — 14. What h&s been said might suffice to remove this objection so many make use of. But, supposing there were nothing of what wTe have urged, supposing there were many hardships in this road, what wonder were it you should, for the salvation of your soul, do some part of what you do for the health of your body ? What mighty matter would it be to do something to escape eternal torments? What do you think the covetous rich man, who is now burning in hell-fire, would not do, if he were to have the liberty of returning to the world, to do penance for his sins? There is no reason but you should do as much now as he would do, were it in his power : because, if you are wicked, the same torment is prepared for you, and, therefore, you ought to have the same desire.

15. Besides, if you did seriously consider how much God has done for you, and how much more he promises you; if you did reflect on the many crimes you have committed against him ; upon the toils and hardships which the saints have undergone, and particularly upon those which the Saint of saints has endured for your sake ; you could not but be ashamed and blush, not to suffer something for the love of God ; nay, you would even be afraid and jealous of every thing that pleased you.

This it was that made St. Bernard say, " that all the tribulations and torments wre can possibly suffer in this life bear no proportion with either the glory we hope for, or the torments we fear, or the sins we have committed, or the benefits God has bestowed on us." Any one of these considerations ought to suffice to make us undertake this life, though ever so laborious and troublesome.

16. But to deal ingenuously with you, though there be troubles and difficulties in all places, and in all sorts of lives, yet the hardships that occur in the way of the wicked are incomparably more than in the way of the just. For though it is troublesome to go a long journey afoot, pick your way out as well as you can, because you will be tired before you get at your journey's end ; yet it is certain that a blind man, who stumbles every step he takes, will find it much more troublesome than he that walks with his eyes open, and minds where he treads. Since, therefore, this life of ours is but a journey, it is impossible to avoid all those troubles that are in it, till we arrive at our resting-place. But the wicked man, not guiding himself by the rules of reason, but according to the impulse and bent of his passions, it is a plain case that he walks on as if he were blind, since there is nothing in nature so blind as passion. On the contrary, the good and virtuous man, following in all things the dictates of reason, discovers these precipices at a distance, and avoids the same, continuing on his journey, by this means, with less trouble, and much more security. Solomon the wise was sensible of this, and acknowledges it to be so, when he says, " The path of the just, like a bright light, goes on and increases till it come to full day. But the way of the wicked is dark ; so that they do not know where the precipices are, that they may fall down." Prov. iv. 18, 19. It is not only dark, as Solomon says, but slippery too, according to David (Ps. xxxiv. 6) ; so that by this you may see how often that man must, of necessity, fall, who walks in such a way as this is, in the dark, and himself quite blind ; and by these comparisons you may perceive what vast difference there is between the two ways of the wicked and the just, and between the difficulties both parties meet with.

17. And what is yet more, the just have a thousand helps that lessen and ease this little trouble they are at, as has been observed before. For, first, they have the assistance of God's fatherly providence, which directs and guides them : they have the grace of the Holy Ghost, that strengthens and encourages them ; they have the virtue o£ the sacraments, which sanctifies them ; they have the divine consolations, which refresh them ; they have the examples of good men to excite them ; they have the writings of the saints to instruct them ; they have the joy of a good conscience to comfort them ; they have the hope of everlasting glory to nourish them ; with a thousand other favors and assistances which the Almighty gives them : by means of which, this way becomes so pleasant to them that they come at last to cry out, with the prophet, " How sweet are thy words, O Lord, to my mouth! they are sweeter than honey."

18. Whosoever will but reflect on this, will immediately see

THE SINNER S GUIDE.

now several passages of the Holy Scriptures, some of which make the way of virtue rough and troublesome, and others again smooth and easy, are to be reconciled together. For the royal prophet says in one place, " For the love of the words of thy lips I have walked through hard ways ;" Ps. xvi. 4. And in another," I have been delighted in the way of thy testimonies, as in all riches ;" Ps. cxviii. 14. For it is true to say that both these things, to wit, difficulty and ease, are in this way ; the first comes from nature, and the other from the virtue of grace ; and thus what was difficult on account of one, becomes easy by means of the other. Our Saviour himself signified as much to us, by these words : " My yoke is sweet and my burden is light ;" Matt. xi. 30. For by giving it the name of a yoke, he expressed the heavy weight, and by calling it sweet, he showed us with how much ease we might carry it by the help of grace.

19. But if you should ask me, how is it possible this can be a yoke, and at the same time sweet, it being the nature of a yoke to be heavy : I answer, it is because God makes it light, according to his promise by the prophet Osee ; " I will be to them as one that supports their burden, and takes it from their shoulders;" Osee xi. 5. What wonder is it, then, that this yoke should be easy when God makes it so, and when he himself helps us to carry it ? If the bush was a fire without being burnt, because God was in it, why should we be astonished at a burden's being light, when God himself is under it ? Exod. iii. 2. Would you see them both in the same person, hear what St. Paul says : " We suffer tribulation in all things, and are not troubled ; we are in distress, but not despair ; we suffer persecution, but are not forsaken ; we are cast down, but are not confounded ;" 2 Cor. iv. 8, 9. Consider here, on the one side, the weight of these labors, and on the other, how light God used to make them.

20. Isaias signified this more expressly to us, when he said, " They that hope in the Lord shall change their strength ; they shall take wings like eagles ; they shall run, and shall take no pains ; they shall walk, and shall not faint ;" Isa. xli. 13. You see here the yoke flung off by the virtue of grace; you see the strength of the flesh changed into that of the spirit, or rather the strength of man turned into that of God ; you see the holy prophet did not pass over in silence either the labor, the rest, or the advantage which one has over the other, when he said, " They shall run, and shall take no pains ; they shall walk, and shall not faint." So that you ought not to go out of this road, because it is rugged and troublesome, since there are so many things in it which make it smooth and easy.

§ V. Some Examples to prove what has been said. — 21. If all these reasons cannnot convince you, and your incredulity remains, like that of St. Thomas, who would not believe any thing but what he saw with his own eyes, I will comply with you in this point too, not fearing that such a good cause- as this is can want a defence. Let us, for example, take a man that has run through all the courses of this life, that has been for some time very vicious and worldly, and has afterwards, through the pure mercy of God, changed these evil practices, and become quite another thing ; such a man as this is a proper judge, because he has not only heard, but seen and had the experience of both these conditions. You may desire this man to tell you, which of tfrese two he found to' be the sweeter? Several of those, whose business it is to examine into the consciences of others, will give you good testimonies of this truth ; " because they are the men who descend in ships into the sea, and see the wonderful works of the Lord in the deep ;" which are nothing else but the effects of his grace, and those extraordinary changes which are wrought every day by virtue thereof, and wThich are, without doubt, subjects of more than common wTonder. For it is certain there is nothing in the world which better deserves our admiration, if we would but consider it well, than to see the effects which grace produces in the soul of a just man ; to see how it transforms him, how it bears him up, how it strengthens him, how it comforts him, how it composes him all over, both within and without, how it makes him change the customs of the old man, how it alters all his affections and pleasures, how it makes him love that which he hated before, and hate that which he had before a love for, how it makes him relish that which before he looked on as unsavory, whilst at the same time he loathes that which he sought so much after before. Who can conceive what strength it gives him for fighting, what joy, what peace, wThat light for the knowing of the will of God, the vanity of the world, and the true value of spiritual things which he used to despise? But what is yet more wonderful than all the rest is, to see in how short a time all these things are performed ; for there is no necessity of spending several years in the schools of philosophy, nor of staying till we are old men, that age may help us to recover our senses and the mortifying our passions ; a man may be changed in the very heat and vigor of his youth, and in the space of a very few days, so as to be scarce able to know himself. Therefore it was St. Cyprian said, " That this is a thing which may sooner be felt than learned ; and that it is not to be gained by many years' study, but by a turn of grace wThich produces it all in a very little time ;" St. Cypr. ad Donat. We may, therefore, call grace a kind of spiritual charm by which God changes men's hearts, to make them have a passionate love for those things which before they had a horror of, as, for example, the practice of the several virtues, and the greatest aversion imaginable to those things they desired so eagerly before, to wit, the delights and pleasures that are in sin.

22. This is one of the most considerable advantages those confessors gain by their function, who discharge it with -true spirit and devotion ; for they daily see several of these miracles, by which God seems to requite the trouble they undergo in rendering him that service. And this return, which God makes them, is so generous that we have known several confessors changed themselves by seeing such changes in others ; and these frequent examples have been the occasions of their advancing in the way of virtue. So that these persons, whilst they are silent like another Jacob, hear Joseph's mysterious words, and value the same at their just rate, whilst the simple infant that relates, does not know what price to set upon them.

23. But for the greater confirmation of what I have said, I will here add the example of two great saints, who lived in this same error for some time, but afterwards discovered the deceit. God has thought fit, that they should both of them leave us in writing an act ount of the same, for our instruction and example. The glorious martyr, St. Cyprian, writing to his dear friend Donatus, to acquaint him with the beginning and manner of his conversion, delivers himself thus : —

24. " During the time in which I walked in darkness and in an obscure night, when I was tossed up and down, like one in a storm by the inconstant waves of this world, and was sunk very deep into the mire, knowing nothing at all of my own course of life, and deprived of the light of truth, I looked on all that as very hard to be effected, which God had promised me, in order to my salvation, which is, * That a man could be born again, and by the virtue of baptism receive a new life, so as to be changed from what he was before, and he made a new man within, though the substance without remained still the same ;' John hi. 5. How, said I, is it possible, that such a conversion should happen, as that we should immediately and on a sudden shake off that which has been a long time rooted in us, either by the corruption of our nature, or by long use and custom? How can he live sparingly, who has been used to keep a great table? When will he wear a plain dress, who has been always clothed in silks and scarlet? He that has always carried a great retinue with him, and has been attended by a train of servants, will never endure to go by himself. He that has placed all his delight in great employments, can never live like a private man. He cannot but be always wrought on by those things he used to be charmed with ; intemperance will solicit him, pride will puff him up, anger will inflame him, covetousness torment him, cruelty press him, ambition please him, and lust hurry him blindly away. I frequently reflected on these things with myself, for being engaged in so many different sins of my past life, which I thought I should never be freed from; I myself encouraged the vices which stuck fast to me, and, despairing of ever growing better, I favored my crimes as if they had been of my own house and family. But as soon as the stains and filth of my former life were washed off by the water of baptism, a heavenly light shone down upon my soul, now cleansed and purged from all its sins. As soon as I had received the Holy Ghost, I was, by the means of a second birth, so changed into a new man, that what I before doubted of, I immediately looked on as most certain ; what was shut up against me before, was immediately opened ; that which was dark became light ; I thought those things easy which before seemed to be so hard, and what used to seem impossible I looked on as quite contrary ; I saw clearly, that what was born of the flesh and liable to frequent failings, was earthly, and that what the Holy Ghost had animated, came from God, and not from man. You know very well, my dear Donatus, what this holy spirit has taken from me, and what he has bestowed on me ; he who is the death of sin and the life of all kinds of virtues. You know all this, nor do I boast of any thing now ; it is odious to boast of such things for to get praise and commendation ; though for a man to talk of what he has received from the pure mercy of God, and what he cannot by any means ascribe to himself, is so far from boasting, that, on the contrary, it is but justice and gratitude ; for it is plain, that the forsaking of sin is no less the effect of divine grace, than the committing of it is the effect of human frailty." S. Cypr. Ep. 2. L. 2.

25. These are the words of St. Cyprian, which plainly discover the mistake that you and many are under, who, measuring the difficulty of virtue by their own strength, look on the acquiring of it as not only difficult, but impossible, and never so much as consider, that if they will but cast themselves into the arms of God, and resolve fully to forsake their sins, he will receive them into his grace, which makes this way so smooth, as appears by this example. For it is certain there is no falsehood in all this, nor will that grace be denied you, which was granted to this saint, if you will return to God as sincerely as he did.

26. Hear another example, no less wonderful than the former. St. Augustine, in the eighth book of his Confessions, tells us, that he had no sooner began to think seriously with himself of leaving the world, but a great many difficulties offered themselves to him in this change ; whilst at the same time he thought, on the one side, that all his former pleasures came and stood before him, and said to him, " What, will you part with us, and shall we from this moment never see you again for all eternity ?" Conf. L. 8. c 11. On the other side, he said, that virtue appeared to him with a serene and cheerful countenance, accompanied with a great many good examples of virgins and widows, and of other persons who had lived chastely in all kinds of states and ages, and that they said to him, " Cannot you do as much as these men and women have done ? Have they done any thing of themselves ?

Is it not God that has done all in them? Whilst you rely on yourself, you must of necessity fall. Cast yourself on him, be not afraid, he will not go away from you, and let you fall ; cast yourself on him with confidence, he will receive and cure you." Ibid.

27. This great saint says, that as he was in the heat of this combat, he began to weep bitterly, and going a little aside, laid himself down under a fig-tree, and there giving way to his tears, cried out from the bottom of his heart, saying, "And thou, O Lord, how long? How long, O Lord, wilt thou be angry at me? Be not mindful of our past iniquities. How long, O Lord, how long will this to-morrow, to-morrow last ? Why not now ? Why shall there not be an end of my disorders this very hour ?" Ibid, c. 12 ; Ps. lxiv. ; xii. 1 ; Ps. Ixxviii. 8 ; Isa. lxiv. 9.

28. As soon as the saint had made an end of these and such complaints, he says, his heart was so changed on a sudden, that from that very moment he never had any further affection for the sins of the flesh, nor for the delights and pleasures of the world. On the contrary, he perceived his heart entirely freed from all its former irregular desires. And having recovered his liberty, he begins in his following book to thank his Deliverer, saying, " O Lord, I am thy servant ; I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid. Thou hast broken my bones asunder ; I will offer up to thee a sacrifice of praise. Let my heart and my tongue praise thee, and let all my bones say, Who is like unto thee, O Lord ?" Ps. lxxxi. v. 2. Where has my free-will been for so many years, O Jesus Christ, my Helper and my Redeemer, since it has not returned to thee? From what deep abyss hast thou drawn it in a moment, that I might put my neck under an easy yoke, and my shoulders under thy light burden? How am I on a sudden delighted with being deprived of the trifling pleasures I have so long run after, and what a satisfaction is it to me to part wdth those follies I was afraid of losing before ! Thou, O solid and chief delight, hast driven all those other false ones from me ; thou hast driven them away, and hast taken up their places ; thou art more delightful than all other delights, and more beautiful than all other beauties together." L. 9. c. 1 ; Ps. cxv. 16, 17. Thus far St. Augustine.

29. Tell me now, since the case stands thus, and since the power and efficacy of God's grace is so great, what is there can still enslave and keep you from doing as much as this glorious saint has done ? If you believe that wdiat I relate is true, that it is in the power of grace to work such a change as this of St. Augustine's, and that this grace is denied to no man that shall seek after it with his whole heart, God being the same now that he was then, without any respect of persons, wThat hinders you from getting out of this miserable slavery, and from embracing this sovereign good, which is so freely offered you ? Why had you '•ather gain one paradise by another? Be not dejected nor discouraged. Try, once at least, whether this be true or not, ana put your confidence in God, that as soon as ever you will begin, he will come and meet you, to receive you with open arms, as he did the prodigal son ; Luke xv. It is a strange thing that if a notorious cheat should teach you the art of finding out the philosopher's stone, or of turning brass into gold, you should endeavor to learn it, whatsoever it cost you ; and yet Almighty God here gives you his word, that he will teach you how you may change yourself from earth into heaven, from flesh into spirit, from a man into an angel, and you will not so much as try the experiment.

30. In fine, since you must of necessity, either sooner or later, either in this life or in the next, acknowledge this truth, I beg of you that you would consider seriously how you will find yourself deceived at the making up of your accounts, when you shall see yourself damned for all eternity, for leaving the path of virtue, because you falsely imagined that it was uneven and difficult ; you will then, but alas ! too late, perceive that it was a much more pleasant way than that of sin, and the only road that led to everlasting delight.