Chapter V. Of the mistake of many, who hold Timidity for a Virtue

MANY persons fall into this error. These consider the fearfulness and restlessness which follow upon sin a virtuous feeling, (for it is accompanied by a certain dissatisfaction with one's self,) and do not see that it springs from a secret pride and from presumption, which are based on self-trust and self-reliance. Thinking themselves to be something, they have placed too much trust in their own strength. Their fall has obliged them to make the discovery that they do not possess this strength, and thus they are cast down and are full of wonder, as if something extraordinary had happened; and they become timid, because that trust in themselves, upon which they had foolishly leant, had given way.

The humble man knows no such experience, for his sole trust is in God. He places no reliance on his own powers. When he falls into any fault he is indeed sorry, but he is neither disquieted nor surprised, for he knows, as the light of truth has clearly manifested to him, that the fall is the result of his own weakness and misery.