|
The masters of husbandry admire the gracious
innocence and purity of little strawberries, because,
though they lie upon the ground and are continually
crept over by serpents, lizards, and other venomous
beasts, they yet receive no impression of poison, nor
are infected with any malign quality; a sign that
they have no affinity with poison.Such then are
human virtues, Theotimus; which, though they may be
in a heart that is low, earthly, and largely occupied
by sin, yet are not infected with its malice, being
of a nature so noble and innocent that it cannot be
corrupted by the society of iniquity, according to
what even Aristotle has said: - that virtue is a
habit which no one can make ill use of.
And though the virtues which are so good in
themselves are not rewarded with an eternal
recompense when they are practised by infidels or by
such as are not in the state of grace, this is not
surprising, because the sinful heart from whence they
proceed is not capable of an eternal good (being, as
it is, turned away from God), and because no one can
receive the celestial inheritance belonging to the
Son of God, but such as are in him, and are adoptive
brothers of his; to say nothing of this reason, that
the covenant by which God promises heaven refers to
such only as are in his grace, while the virtues of
sinners have no worth nor value save that of their
nature, which, consequently, cannot raise them to the
merit of supernatural rewards. Indeed these are for
this very cause called supernatural, that nature and
all that belongs thereto can neither give nor merit
them.
But the virtues which are found in the friends of
God, though they be only moral and natural in
themselves, are yet ennobled, and raised to the
dignity of being holy works, by reason of the
excellence of the heart which produces them. It is
one of the properties of friendship to make the
friend and all that is good and honest in him dear to
us: friendship pours out its grace upon all the
actions of him who is loved, however little ground of
favour there may be; the bitternesses of friends are
sweets, and the sweets of enemies are bitter.
All the virtuous actions of a heart at friends
with God are dedicated to God, for the heart that has
given itself, how has it not given all that depends
on itself? He that gives the tree without reserve,
gives he not also the leaves, flowers and fruit? The
just shall flourish like the palm-tree: he shall grow
up like the cedar of Libanus. They that are planted
in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts
of the house of our God.(1) Since the just man is
planted in the house of God, his leaves, his flowers
and his fruit grow therein, and are dedicated to the
service of His Majesty. He shall be like a tree which
is planted near the running waters, which shall bring
forth its fruit in due season. And his leaf shall not
fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall
prosper.(2)
Not only the fruits of charity, and the flowers of
the works which it ordains, but even its very leaves,
that is, the moral and natural virtues, draw a
special power and efficacy from the love of the heart
which produces them. If you are grafting a rose tree,
and put a grain of musk in the cleft of the stock,
all the roses that spring from it will smell of musk:
cleave then your heart by holy penitence, and put the
love of God in the cleft; then engraft on it what
virtue you please, and the works which spring from it
will be all perfumed with sanctity, without need of
any further attention.
When the Spartans had heard an excellent sentence
from the mouth of some wicked man, they never thought
it right to receive it till it was first pronounced
by the mouth of some good man: so that to make it
worthy of acceptance they did no more than get it
uttered again by a virtuous man. If you desire to
make the human and moral virtue of Epictetus,
Socrates or Demades become holy, cause them to be
practised by a truly Christian soul, that is, by one
which has the love of God.
So God first had respect to the good Abel, and
then to his offerings, these taking their favour and
worth in the sight of God from the goodness and piety
of him who offered them. Oh the sovereign goodness of
this great God, which so favours its lovers that it
cherishes their least little actions, so long as they
have the slightest degree of goodness, and
excellently ennobles them, giving them the title and
quality of holy!
Ah! this is in consideration of his beloved Son,
whose adopted children he would honour, sanctifying
all there is of good in them, their bones, the hairs
of their head, their garments, their graves, yea,
down to the very shadow(3) of their bodies; their
faith, hope, love, religion, yea even their social
life, their courtesy, the affability of their hearts.
Therefore my beloved brethren, saith the Apostle,
be ye steadfast and immovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not
in vain in the Lord.(4) And mark, Theotimus, that
every virtuous work is to be esteemed the "work of
the Lord," yea though it were even practised by an
infidel; for his divine Majesty said unto Ezechiel
that Nabuchodonosor and his army had laboured for
him,(5) because he had waged a lawful and just war
against the Tyrians: sufficiently showing thereby
that the justice of the unjust is God's, and tends
and belongs to him, though the unjust who work that
justice are neither his, nor tend nor belong to him:
for as the great prince and prophet Job, though of
pagan extraction and an inhabitant of the land of Hus,
did for all that belong to God, so moral virtues,
though they proceed from a sinful heart, do none the
less belong to God.
But when these same virtues are found in a truly
Christian heart, that is in a heart endowed with holy
love, then they not only belong to God, but they are
not "in vain in the Lord," being rendered fruitful
and precious in the eyes of his goodness. "Add
charity to a man," says S. Augustine, "and everything
profits; take charity from him, and what remains
profits him no longer." And: To them that love God
all things work together unto good,(6) says the
Apostle.
|