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The fair Rachel had children by Jacob in two ways.
She counted as hers the children of her handmaid Bala,
and afterwards she had children of her own - namely,
Joseph and the beloved Benjamin.
Now I say to you, my dear Theotimus, that charity
and sacred love, a hundred times more fair than
Rachel, ceaselessly desires to produce holy
operations. She calls the operations of the other
virtues her offspring because they are produced by
her order, love being the master of the heart, and
consequently of all the works of the other virtues
done by its consent.
But, further, this divine love has two acts which
are her own proper issue and of her extraction. Of
these the one is effective love, which, as another
Joseph, using the plenitude of royal authority,
subjects and reduces all the people - her faculties,
powers, passions and affections - to God's will, that
it may be loved, obeyed and served above all things,
by this means putting the great celestial commandment
in execution: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind,
and with all thy strength.
The other is affective or affectionate love,
which, as a little Benjamin, is exceedingly delicate,
tender, pleasing and amiable, but in this more happy
than Benjamin, that charity its mother dies not in
its bringing forth, but, so to say, gains a new life,
by the sweetness she feels in it.
Thus then, Theotimus, the virtuous actions of the
children of God all belong to charity; some of them
because she produces them of her own nature; others
because she sanctifies them by her quickening
presence; and finally others, by the authority and
command which she exercises over the other virtues,
whence she makes them spring. And these last, as
indeed they are not so eminent in dignity as the
actions which properly and immediately issue from
charity, yet incomparably surpass those which take
their whole sanctity from the mere presence and
society of charity.
A great general of an army having won some
important battle, will without doubt have all the
honour of the victory, and not unreasonably; for he
himself will have fought in the very front of the
army, doing many great feats of arms, and for the
rest he will have arrayed his troops, and ordained
and commanded all that was done: so that he is
considered to have done all, either by himself,
fighting with his own hand, or by his direction,
commanding others.
And even if some friendly troops come unexpectedly
and fall in with the army, yet the general is not
deprived of the honour of their work, for though they
have not received his commands, yet they have served
him and followed his intentions. Nevertheless,
although we attribute the glory as a whole to him, we
do not fail to give each part of his army due credit
for its own share; we say that the vanguard did this,
the main body that, the rearguard the other; the
French behaved thus, the Italians thus, the Germans
and the Spaniards thus: yea we praise the private
individuals who have distinguished themselves in the
battle.
So, my dear Theotimus, amongst all the virtues,
the glory of our salvation and victory over hell is
ascribed to divine love, which, as prince and general
of the whole army of virtues, does all the exploits
by which we gain the triumph.
For sacred love has his proper actions which issue
and proceed from himself, by which he does wonders of
arms against our enemy, and withal he ranges,
commands and orders the actions of other virtues,
which are therefore, termed acts commanded or
ordained by love. And if, at last, some virtues
perform their operations without his order, yet if
they assist his intention, which is God's honour, he
will still acknowledge them to be his own.
Nevertheless, though we say in general, after the
divine Apostle, that Charity beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all
things,(1) in a word, that it does all, yet we
distribute in particular the praise of the salvation
of the Blessed to other virtues, according as they
excelled in each one; for we say some were saved by
faith, others by alms-deeds, others by temperance,
prayer, humility, hope, chastity, - because the acts
of these virtues have appeared with lustre in these
saints.
Yet again after we have extolled these particular
virtues we must reciprocally refer all their honour
to divine love, which to every one gives all the
sanctity which they have. For what else does the
glorious Apostle mean when he teaches that charity is
kind, is patient, that it believes all, hopes all,
bears all, save that charity ordains and commands
patience to be patient, hope to hope, faith to
believe. And truly, Theotimus, at the same time the
Apostle intimates that love is the soul and life of
all the virtues, as though he would say: patience is
not patient enough, nor faith faithful enough, nor
hope confident enough, nor mildness sweet enough,
unless love animate and quicken them.
The same thing this same vessel of election gives
us to understand when he says, that nothing profits
him and he is nothing without charity; for it is as
though he had said, that without love a man is not
patient, nor mild, nor constant, nor faithful, nor
hopeful, in the way a servant of God should be, which
is the true and desirable being of man.
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