|
Charity is then the bond of perfection,(1) since in
it all the perfections of the soul are contained and
assembled, and since without it, not only can one not
have the whole array of virtues, but one cannot even
have the perfection of any virtue.
Without the cement and mortar which fasten the
stones and walls, the whole edifice goes to rack;
were it not for the nerves, muscles and sinews, the
whole body would be undone; and without charity the
virtues can never sustain one another.
Our Saviour ever joins the fulfilling of the
commandments to charity. He that hath my
commandments, says he, and keepeth them, he it is
that loveth me; he that loveth me not keepeth not my
words; If any one love me, he will keep my word:(2)
which the disciple whom our Saviour loved repeating,
says: He that keepeth his word, in him, in very deed,
the charity of God is perfected;(3) and this is the
charity of God, that we keep his commandments.(4)
Now he who should have all virtues, would keep all
the commandments: for he that had the virtue of
religion would keep the first three commandments; he
that had piety would observe the fourth; he that had
the virtue of mildness and gentleness would observe
the fifth; by the virtue of chastity one would
observe the sixth; by liberality one would avoid the
breach of the seventh; by truth one would effect the
eighth; by frugality and purity one would observe the
ninth and tenth. And if without charity we cannot
keep the commandments, much less can we without it
have all the virtues.
True it is, one may have some virtue, and live
some small time without offending God, though wanting
in divine love: but even as we sometimes see uprooted
trees produce something, but imperfectly, and only
for a short time, so a heart separated from charity,
may indeed bring forth some acts of virtue but not
for long.
All virtues separated from charity are very
imperfect, since they are not able without it to
arrive at their end, which is to make us happy. Bees
in their birth are little grubs and worms, without
feet, without wings, and without shape; but in course
of time they change, and become little flies;
afterwards waxing strong, and being come to their
growth, they are said to be formed, finished and
perfect bees, because they have all that is wanted
for flying and for making honey.
The virtues have their beginning, their progress,
and their perfection; and I do not deny that without
charity they may be born and even grow; but that they
should come to their perfection, and bear the name of
formed, fashioned, and accomplished virtues, that
depends on charity, which gives them the strength to
fly in God, and to collect from his mercy the honey
of true merit, and of the sanctification of the heart
in which they are found.
Charity is amongst the virtues, as the sun amongst
the stars; she distributes to all their lustre and
beauty. Faith, hope, fear and penitence ordinarily go
before her into the soul to prepare her lodging; and,
upon her arrival, they with all the train of virtues
obey and wait upon her, and she with her presence
animates, adorns and quickens them all.
The other virtues can in turn aid and stimulate
one another in their works and exercises: for who
knows not that chastity requires and excites
sobriety, and that obedience moves us to liberality,
prayer, and humility? Now by this communication which
they have amongst themselves they participate in one
another's perfections: for chastity kept by obedience
has a double dignity, its own and that of obedience;
yea, it has even more of the dignity of obedience
than of its own: for, as Aristotle says that he who
stole for the sake of sensuality sinned rather
against purity than against honesty, because all his
affections tended to impurity, and he only used theft
as a passage to it; even so he who keeps chastity
through obedience is more obedient than chaste, since
he makes chastity serve obedience.
Nevertheless, from the mixture of chastity and
obedience a perfect and accomplished virtue cannot
issue, since they both want the last perfection,
which is love; so that if it were possible that all
the virtues were put in one man, and that he wanted
only charity, this union of virtues would indeed be a
most perfect and complete body in all: its parts,
such as Adam's was when God with his omnipotent hand
formed it of the slime of the earth: yet would it be
a body wanting motion, life and grace, till God
should breathe into it the breath of life,5 that is,
holy charity, without which nothing profits us.
For the rest, the perfection of divine love is so
sovereign that it perfects all the virtues, and can
receive no perfection from them, no not from
obedience itself, which is the one most able to give
perfection to the rest: for although love be
commanded, and although in loving we exercise
obedience, yet still love draws not its perfection
from obedience, but from the goodness of him whom it
loves; love not being excellent because it is
obedient, but because it loves an excellent good.
Truly in loving we obey, as also in obeying we
love; but if this obedience be so excellently
loveable, it is because it tends to the excellence of
love; nor does its excellence consist in this, that
loving we obey, but in this, that obeying we love. So
that even as God is as much the last end as the first
beginning of all that is good, so love, which is the
source of every good affection, is likewise its last
end and perfection.
|