Half-Hours With The Saints and Servants of God/Part 1: 5. On the Law of God
5.— On the Law of God.
"Do not think that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."—Matthew v. 17.
[St. Augustine, the perfect model of penitents, was born, a.d. 354, at Agaste, a small town of Numidia, in Africa. Patrick, his father, after having been for many years an idolater, embraced Christianity and received baptism. As to St. Monica, his mother, every one knows that she was a model to all Christian mothers. Through the prayers of his saintly mother, he was converted when he was thirty-two. At the age of forty-two, he was consecrated Bishop of Hippo.
St Augustine has ever been regarded, and justly, as the most learned of the bishops of his age, and the doctor of all the churches. He expired, tranquilly, on the 28th of August 430, aged seventy-six years, nigh forty of which had been spent in the labours of the apostolic ministry.]
The difference between the two Testaments may be explained in two words — love and fear. The one appertains to the old man, the other to the new.
This is the principal difference. For the new law is that which God promises to impress upon the mind, to engrave on the heart, and that which is written on in giving us the Holy Ghost, which diffuses the requisite charity to make us love truth and justice.
So that this new law induces us to love all that it commands, while the laws engraven on a stone, only show the obligations of creatures, and threats in default of obedience. It is this difference which the Apostle wished to point out in his Epistle to the Romans, where he says, " We have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but we have received the spirit of adoption of sons of God." The spirit of bondage is that which creates fear, the spirit of adoption is that of love; fear makes us slaves, love makes us as children. The Jews, who acted only through fear of punishment, were slaves; the Christians, who love, are the true children.
The new law, imprinted on the heart by the Holy Spirit, regulates the interior feelings; whilst the laws engraven on stone can only regulate exterior actions.
Fear is not capable of changing the interior feeling; it can only act outwardly, and thus forces the will to do what it would not do, or even what it might do. So that exteriorly it submits to force, interiorly, it resists. If deeds and words conform to the law, the heart is opposed to it. If the mouth and hands obey, the will is disobedient.
This is the reproach that God makes to the Jews when He says through His prophet, "This people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."
The two usual methods adopted to govern mankind are fear and hope. This is why the old law does not solely make use of threats to ensure obedience, but it adds to them promises; but these promises were for temporal welfare, for sensual and gross men who sought for fleeting prosperity.
Thus we read in the 23d chapter of Exodus that Moses, in order to induce them to observe the law he was about to promulgate, promises them every kind of prosperity — health, long life, a numerous progeny, abundance of everything necessary, and protection from enemies, so that they may enjoy in peace and quiet all these blessings.
Now, on the contrary, the Son of God begins by preaching penance, and speaks only of the kingdom of heaven and to make us understand that His wish was that Christians should despise earthly prosperity, not expecting a reward in this life, He begins His beautiful Sermon on the Mount by saying, " Blessed are the poor in spirit," " Blessed are the meek," " Blessed are they that mourn;" and in St. Luke He says, Woe to you that are rich! woe to you that now laugh! and to all who seek the esteem and approbation of men!
In this life, He leads us to expect sufferings, crosses, and persecution, and He wills that we should love what is unseen and supernatural.
[St. John Chrysostom.— This renowned saint and doctor of the Church, was born in Antioch in the year 344, and died A.D. 407, aged sixty-three.
The name of Chrysostom (which means golden-mouthed) was assigned to him after his death, to express the eloquence which he possessed in a much greater degree than the other fathers of the Church. He never repeats himself, and is always original.]
The apostles announced to mankind, a doctrine raised above human intellect; they spoke not of earthly things, but of heaven; they preached a kingdom and state which had never before been understood; they discovered other riches, another poverty, another liberty, another bondage, another life and death — in fact, a change and renewal of everything.
Their teachings are far beyond that of a Plato who had traced out an idea of an absurd republic, or that of a Zenon, or those of other philosophers who had formed projects of governments and republics, and those who wished to be lawgivers.
One need but read their books to see that the devil urged them on and diffused a profound darkness in their mind, upsetting by that means the order of things, and destroying the most inviolate laws of nature. And notwithstanding that these philosophers were at perfect liberty to publish their strange maxims, fearless of danger or persecution, they deemed it necessary to call to their aid the most elegant of phrases, the most pleasing eloquence, in order to impress their own ideas firmly in their minds.
The Gospel which, on the contrary, preached only for the poor and for all those persecuted sinners throughout the world who had been treated as slaves, and who were exposed to all kinds of danger — this Gospel, I say, has all at once been received with every mark of respect by the learned as well as by the ignorant, by warriors and princes, — in a word, by Greeks and Romans, and by every savage nation.
[St. Jerome, one of the most learned and prolific authors of the early Latin Church, was born in Dalmatia about the year 331. The learned epistles which he wrote to St. Marcella and St. Paula are celebrated for their learning and rare monastic piety.
St. Paula accompanied him to Palestine in 386, where he founded a convent at Bethlehem; near this he remained till his death in 420.
His biblical labours are highly valuable, his Latin version of the Old Testament from the original language is the foundation of the Vulgate, and his commentary gave a new impulse to the study of the Holy Scriptures.]
St. Jerome, in writing to the mother of Paula, says: Begin with the Psalter, and teach your daughter how to chant the Psalms. You can read with her the Proverbs, by which she will know the moral precepts.
This can be followed by Ecclesiasticus, a book so capable of inspiring her with a contempt of this world.
You can then proceed to the Gospels — these, your daughter ought ever to have in hand.
She can then read the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles. These finished, she will gladly learn by heart the Prophets and Historical books.
Lastly, she can read the Canticle of Canticles, for she will have been prepared to understand this in a spiritual sense.
The evangelical precepts are no other than divine lessons, they are the foundation of hope, the strengthening of faith, the food of charity; the Gospel is a rudder to steer our way through life, and helps us to reach the harbour of salvation.
The law commands but few things, but those few should be willingly and lovingly performed.