Meditations On The Mysteries Of Our Holy Faith/Volume 1/On Sin
MEDITATION II.
ON THE GRIEVOUSNESS Of SIN, BY THE EXAMPLES OF THE SIN OF THE ANGELS, OF ADAM, AND OF SOME OTHERS IN PARTICULAR.
1. The end of this meditation is, to know by examples the grievousness of sin, by which to abhor it, the terribleness of God's justice in chastising it, by which to fear Him, and to appease Him by penance; and the instability of man in good, by which to know his weakness and not to trust to himself, but to humble himself in the presence of God. And all this I am to beg of our Lord, at my entrance to meditation, beseeching Him to illustrate with His divine light my understanding to know it; and to move my will to have a feeling of it with great affections of contrition, and to aid me that I may be warned by others' miseries, before the chastisement light upon my own head.
2. And that this meditation, and those which follow, may make the deeper impression in the soul, I am to form first in my imagination a figure of Christ Jesus our Lord, as of a judge seated upon his tribunal to give judgment — with a severe countenance [1] — from whose throne issues forth a river of fire to burn sinners; and I will imagine myself before Him like a deep and heinous offender, bound with the fetters and chains of innumerable sins, fearing and trembling like one that deserves to be condemned and burnt with that terrible fire.
POINT I.
The first point is to call to mind the sin of the angels who were created by God in the empyreal heaven, replenished with wisdom and grace; but, abusing their free will, they grew proud against their Creator, for which they were thrown out of heaven and cast into hell; losing for ever the end and blessedness for which they were created. [2] In this truth of the Catholic faith there are three things.
1. First, I will reason considering how liberal Almighty God was to the angels, creating them according to His own image and likeness, and communicating to them, without any merit of theirs, most excellent gifts of nature and grace. By reason of which we may say of all, as was said of one, that they were adorned with nine stones very precious — that is, with nine excellences, which Lucifer and the rest received in their creation. [3] For Almighty God made them; i. pure spirits without admixture of body; ii. immortal, without fear of corruption; iii. intellectual with great delicacy of wit; iv. free, that nothing could force their will; v. wise, with fulness of all natural sciences; vi. powerful, above all inferior creatures; vii. holy, with the gifts of grace, charity, and the rest of the virtues; viii. inhabitants of the paradise of delights, which is the empyreal heaven; ix. and, finally, capable of seeing Almighty God clearly, with promise of this glory, if they persevere in His service, which they might easily do, and were obliged thereunto by the law of gratitude for these nine titles.
2. Secondly, I will consider how ungrateful some of them were against Almighty God, growing arrogant with these gifts, and arming themselves with them against Him of whom they had received them, not giving Him that reverence and obedience which they ought with humility to have given Him, but employing their liberty and powers to offend Him whom, on so many accounts, they ought to have served.
3. Thirdly, I will consider how terrible Almighty God showed Himself in chastising them instantly, without giving them respite or time of repentance, depriving them, for that only sin, of those gifts of grace which He had given them, and throwing them, like lightning from heaven, [4] into the everlasting flames and fires of hell, without respect either to the beauty of their nature or to the greatness of their state, or that they were His creatures made according to His image and likeness, or that they were exceeding wise, or that they had been once His friends; for one mortal sin is alone sufficient to obscure all this, and is Worthy of so terrible punishment which (as St. Peter says) God's justice permitted, and ordained for our example. "For if He spared not the angels that sinned, but delivered them drawn down by infernal ropes to the lower hell unto torments," [5] although they were so noble, how much less will He omit to punish men obstinate in their transgressions, being as they are so vile and so base? And if the angels, " fortitudine et virtute majores non portant adversum se execrabile judicium," " who are greater than men in strength and power, bear not the execrable judgment against them," [6] but with great raging and impatience; how much less shall feeble and wretched men be able to endure it? Oh, how " fearful" " a thing is it to fall into the hands of the living God," [7] hands so heavy that the angels themselves cannot suffer them!
4. These three things I am to apply to myself, pondering how liberal Almighty God has been towards me, doing me innumerable benefits; and how ungrateful I have been to Him, committing innumerable sins against Him; and how I have deserved that God should punish me as He did the angels, and even much more, for their sin was but one, mine many; theirs was but a sin of thought only in matter of pride; mine both of thought, word, and deed, in matter of pride, of luxury, of wrath, and of other vices; theirs was not injurious to the blood of Jesus Christ, for it was not shed for them; mine are injurious against this blood of the Son of God, which was shed for me upon the cross. Then this being so, how just a thing were it that God should have sunk me into hell in the company of the devils, making me partaker of their pains, seeing I would needs be so of their sins!
Colloquy. — O God of vengeance, how is it that Thou hast not revenged thyself on a man so wicked as I? How hast Thou suffered me so long a time? Who has withheld the rigour of Thy justice that it should not punish him that has deserved so terrible punishment? O my soul, how is it that thou dost not fear and tremble, considering the dreadful judgment of God against His angels? If with so great severity He punished creatures so noble, why should not so vile and miserable a creature as thou fear the like punishment? O most powerful Creator, seeing Thou hast showed Thyself to me not a God of vengeance but a Father of mercy, continue towards me this Thy mercy, pardoning my sins and delivering me from hell, which most justly for them I have deserved.
POINT II.
The second point shall be to call to memory the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, who, having been created in Paradise, and in original justice, broke the commandment of Almighty God, eating the fruit of the tree which, upon pain of death, He had prohibited them, for which they were cast forth of paradise, [8] and incurred the sentence of death, and other innumerable miseries, as well for themselves as for all their offspring.
1. Upon this verity of faith, I may reason as upon the former, considering how liberal Almighty God was to our first parents, creating them of His mere goodness according to His own image and likeness, and placing them in a paradise of delights, giving them His grace and original justice; subjecting their appetites to reason and the flesh to the spirit; freeing them from mortality and penalties to which by nature they were subject, and granting them a happy and most contented state. And all this He did of His pure grace and mercy, granting it them not only for themselves but also for their successors, if they had persevered in His service.
2. Secondly, I must consider how ungrateful they were to Almighty God, and what motive they had for that; for the serpent coming to tempt Eve, and promising her guilefully that if she ate of the forbidden fruit they should not die, but should rather be as God Himself, having knowledge of good and evil; she suffered herself to be beguiled, ate of the fruit, and invited Adam to do so; who, to please her, ate also of it, treading under foot the pleasure of God for the pleasure of his wife, without making account either of the benefits that God had done him or of the punishments that He had menaced and threatened him with.
3. Then will I consider how terrible Almighty God showed Himself in chastising them, casting them out of paradise, depriving them for ever of original justice, subjecting them to death and to all the miseries of a corruptible body, which miseries all we his children incur; because we all sin in him, and for his cause we are born the children of wrath, [9] enemies of God, and adjudged and condemned to the self-same death. And that which more affrights is, that from this original sin that we inherit of him, proceed as from their root those innumerable sins that are in the world, and the inundations of miseries that overflow it, [10] by which I may perceive how terrible, dreadful, and hideous an evil mortal sin is, seeing one alone deprives of so much good, brings so much evil, and so highly provokes the wrath of Almighty God, though He be much more inclined to mercy than to the rigour of justice.
Colloquy. —Who shall not fear Thee, [11] O King of worlds? Who shall not abhor so great a mischief as to offend Thee? O my soul, if thou knowest what thou dost when thou sinnest like Adam, doubtless thou wouldst tremble at the heavy burden with which thou loadest thyself! [12] O sin, how heavy art thou to me! Thou deprivest me of grace, robbest me of virtues, chasest me out of Paradise, condemnest me to eternal death, subjectest me to temporal death, takest away the life of my children (which are my works) depriving them of the merit of glory, disquietest the kingdom of my soul, and fillest it with innumerable miseries. O my God, deliver me from so great an evil! O my soul, fly from sin (as the Wise man counsels thee) more than from snakes and serpents, [13] since one alone is more cruel and venomous than they are all being put together!
4. Besides this, I must make comparison of my sin with that of Adam, like as in the preceding point; for I (wretch that I am!) being tempted by the devil, suffered myself to be deluded by him, not once, but often. My flesh has been like to seduced Eve, that has provoked me to sin, and my spirit, effeminated like Adam, to please it, has a thousand times displeased God by breaking His commandments; my pride and ingratitude have arrived to that height that I have often desired to be as God, usurping to myself that which is proper to His deity. Then, if God inflicted such punishment on my first parents for one sin of disobedience and pride, founded upon no more than eating one apple contrary to the precept of Almighty God, how great punishments have I deserved for so many acts of disobedience and pride, and for so innumerable offences as I have committed against Him? Oh, how just had it been that, at my first sin, death should have swallowed me or all the miseries of the world showered down upon me!
5. Lastly, I will consider what a long penance Adam and Eve did for this sin of theirs, how bitter that morsel was to them, and how dear it cost them; for Adam having lived more than nine hundred years, spent them all in weeping and mourning, and suffering a thousand incommodities which the state of his corruption attracted to it, but in the end, (as says the Divine Wisdom,) through penance he obtained pardon; [14] and with this example I must animate myself to lament my miseries and to do penance for my sins, that Almighty God may deliver me from them, imitating in penance him whom I imitated in sin, and beseeching our Lord to chastise me as much as He will in this life, so that He pardon me and deliver me from the torments of the other.
POINT III.
The third point shall be to call to memory some mortal sin, as perjury, carnality, or such other like; for which many souls are burning in hell, and that very justly, for injury done to the infinite majesty of Almighty God.
1. I must, then, descend with my consideration into hell, which is full of souls, among which I shall find many that are there burning for one only sin; some for one perjury, others for a lustful thought consented to, and others for some other sin of word or of deed. And then I will consider how all these condemned persons were men as well as I, and many of them Christians as well as I, who enjoyed the same sacraments and sacrifices, and those sermons and sacred books, that I enjoy, and were perhaps some time very holy and highly in favour with Almighty God; but by little and little they grew careless and came to fall into that mortal sin, and, by the just judgments of God, death attacked and fell upon them in it, and they were most justly condemned for the same. For (as the Apostle St. James says) whosoever shall " offend in one point," breaking a commandment, "becomes guilty of all," [15] the same as he who breaks many; for he offends the God of infinite majesty, who commands them all to be observed.
2. Then must I make comparison of this sin with many of mine, pondering with how much more reason I have deserved to be in hell, as those souls are, for having offended Almighty God, not once, but often, in other kinds of sins than theirs, and that without number.
Colloquy. — Oh, how justly have I deserved that death should have attacked me in committing my first offence and crime, and that God should have given me no time of repentance! What moved Thee, O my God! to bear with me more than with these? I confess that I deserve to be in their company, but seeing Thy majesty hath with so much mercy borne with me, I resolve, with Thy grace, to be very truly and entirely penitent.
3. I may also consider that it is no less a mercy of Almighty God to have preserved me from hell, withholding me from descending to everlasting torments, than if, after I had descended, He had delivered me from them; for which I may say with David, " I will praise Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Thy name for ever," [16] for Thy mercy has been very great towards me, delivering my soul from the deepest hell. And to know how to esteem aright of this heavenly favour, and how to repay it as I ought, I may speak to myself, saying,
Colloquy. — If God should deliver one of these souls out of hell, and give it a time of repentance, what rigorous penance would it perform? how thankful would it be to Almighty God? and with what fervour would it serve Him? Thou, therefore, art to do the like, considering that God has done to thee so singular a favour as to deliver thee from the danger before thou didst fall into it.
POINT IV.
ON THE GREATNESS Of OUR SINS, UNDERSTOOD BY THE PAINS THAT CHRIST OUR LORD SUFFERED FOR THEM.
1. The fourth point shall be both matter of a sweet colloquy and of a most devout consideration, to see the greatness of sin and the dreadfulness of God's justice by another example, very different but no less effectual than the former; that is/ by the chastisements which the divine justice inflicted upon Christ Jesus our Lord, not for His own sins, but for mine, and for the sins of the whole world; that I may understand how He will chastise man laden with his own sins that so chastised Him that bore the burden of other men's sins, and how the guilty slave shall be handled when the innocent Son was so terribly punished, calling to mind that dreadful sentence which our Redeemer spake to the daughters of Jerusalem, "If in the green wood they do these things, what shall be done in the dry?" [17] As if He should say to me, " If I be treated with such rigour being a green tree and full of fruit, with what rigour wilt thou be treated that art a dry tree and without any manner of fruit at all?"
2. Then I must set before my eyes Christ Jesus crucified, beholding His head crowned with thorns, His face spit upon, His eyes obscured, His arms disjointed, His tongue embittered with gall and vinegar, His hands and feet pierced with nails, His back and shoulders torn with whips, and His side opened with a lance; and then pondering that He suffers all this for my sins, I will draw various affections from the inwardest part of my heart, sometimes trembling at the rigour of God's justice, who (as the prophet Zacharias said) unsheathed his "sword" against the man that " cleaved with him" in person; [18] sometimes bewailing my sins which were the cause of these sorrows, and sometimes animating myself to suffer somewhat in satisfaction of my offences, seeing Christ our Lord suffered so much to redeem them. [19] And, finally, I will beg pardon of Him for them, alleging to Him for a reason all His troubles and afflictions, saying to Him in amorous colloquy: —
Colloquy. — O my most sweet Redeemer, who descendedst from heaven and ascendedst this cross to redeem men, redeeming their sins with Thy sufferings, I present myself before Thy Majesty, grieved that my grievous sins have been the cause of Thy terrible pains. Upon me, O Lord, these chastisements had been justly employed, (for I am he that sinned,) and not upon Thee that never sinned. Let that love that moved Thee to put Thyself upon the cross for me move Thee to pardon me what I have committed against Thee. By Thy thorns I beseech Thee, draw out of my soul the thorns of my sins; by Thy scourging, pardon my thefts; by Thy gall and vinegar, pardon my evil works; and by the wounds of v Thy feet, pardon my evil steps. O Eternal Father, " look upon the face of Thy Son," [20] and seeing in Him Thou didst chastise my sins, let Thy wrath be appeased by these chastisements, and use towards me Thy mercies, " casting all" our " sins into the bottom of the sea," [21] in virtue of that blood that was shed for them. Amen.
(This point we shall dwell upon largely in the fourth part:)
MEDITATION III.
ON THE MULTITUDE Of SINS, AND ON THE GRIEVOUSNESS OF THEM, BY SEASON Of THEIR MULTITUDE AND REPUGNANCE TO REASON.
POINT I.
1. The first point is to call to mind the multitude of sins that I have committed in all my former life, to which end I must run through all the stages of it, and through all the places where I lived, and through the offices, occupations, and employments that I have had, observing how often and in what manner I have offended in respect of each of the seven sins which we commonly call deadly, and of each of the commandments of the law of Almighty God and of His Church, and in respect of each of the laws and rules of my state and office: to which end it will help me to know the kinds of sins that may be committed in these matters, as they shall be put in the first points of the 18th meditation and nine following meditations.
And this remembrance of sins must not be dry, but moistened with tears full of shame and confusion, as was that of the holy king who said, " I will recount to Thee all my years in the bitterness of my soul." [22]
2. Having called these sins to remembrance, I will make in prayer an humble confession of them before God, like Daniel, [23] accusing myself of them all, at least of the principal of them, striking my breast as the publican, [24] and saying, " I accuse myself, O Lord, that I have sinned before Thee in pride, presuming vainly of myself, speaking boasting words, despising my neighbours, and rebelling against Thee." And in this manner will I prosecute the accusation in all the seven deadly sins, and throughout all the Ten Commandments.
3. After I have confessed those sins which I know, I am to believe that there are very many other that I know not, which David calls "secret sins/' [25] but they are not hidden from God who is to judge me, [26] and chastise me for them. And this must keep me careful and sorrowful. These sins are hidden from me for one of these three causes: — either because I have already forgotten them or because they were very subtle, as interior pride, rash judgments, sinister intentions, negligences and omissions; — or because I committed them with some ignorance and error, or by the illusion of the devil, thinking that I did God service in them. And thus joining the sins that I know with the sins that I know not, I may believe that they amount to an innumerable multitude, and that they are (as David said) "more in number than the hairs of my head" [27] and (as King Manasses said) " many more than the sands of the sea." [28] Hence I will draw great admiration at God's patience in suffering me. For one injury, or two, anyone may bear; but so many, so often repeated, so divers, and done with so great perverseness, who can suffer but Almighty God?
Colloquy. — Truly, O my God, there was need of such an infinite patience as Thine to bear with such an infinity of wrongs and injuries as mine; but seeing Thou hast not been wearied to bear with me, let it stand with Thy good pleasure to pardon me. Amen.
POINT II.
1. Hence I will ascend to consider the grievousness of these sins, by reason of their multitude, profiting from some similitudes used in the Divine Scripture. For if sin be like " a millstone hanged about the neck," with which man is thrown into the " depth" [29] of hell, my sins being as many as the sands of the sea or the hairs of my head, what an immense burden will they be! with what a furious violence shall I fall with them into the abyss of hell! If God of His goodness hold me not back, who shall be able to hold me? And what are so many sins but an iron chain of innumerable links [30] with which I am linked, bound, and chained, which is so long that it reaches to hell, and at which Satan stands pulling to drag me to him. And if the sins of the angels (as says St Peter) were "ropes" that drew them from heaven to the lower hell [31] how much stronger ropes shall my sins be, being twisted with so innumerable cords? My soul is also encompassed with this multitude of sins as with an army of "dogs" "lions," "bulls," [32] "serpents," and other savage beasts that terrify it with their roarings, tear it in pieces with their mouths, and rend it with their claws; like bees they sting, and like serpents they bite and gnaw the conscience. Finally, I am that "wicked servant" that " owed" his lord " ten thousand talents," which is so great a debt that, although they should sell " all that he hath," " both his wife, his children" and himself, yet all would not suffice to pay the least part of it [33]
Colloquy. — Then what dost thou, O my soul, with so great a burden of sins? If this army of savage beasts made Christ sweat blood with anguish, how comes it that thou dost not weep tears of blood, of sorrow and pain? O most merciful Saviour, by that sorrow and feeling that Thou hadst of my sins in the garden of Gethsemane, I beseech Thee, assist me to have such a feeling of them, that I may be acquitted and delivered of them. Amen.
2. To this I must add another circumstance that may much aggravate my sins, which is my relapse and repeated falls into the same sins, after Almighty God had pardoned me once and many times, striving, as it were, with God, I to sin, He to pardon me, and I to return again to sin as if I had never been pardoned; imitating (as says the Apostle St Peter) " the dog" that " returned to his vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." [34] For which I deserved that God should vomit me for ever from Himself, and overwhelm me in the filth of hell, leaving me bound hand and foot in the power of those infernal executioners, as He did with the unthankful servant that owed Him ten thousand talents, and after he was pardoned returned again to offend Him. But yet for all this, trusting in the infinite patience and mercy of Almighty God, I must again return to Him unfeignedly, and, prostrate at His feet, must say to Him, " Have patience with me, O Lord, and with Thine assistance I will pay Thee the total debt of my offences; and if Thou pardonest me this once I will never more return to them ."
POINT III.
1. Thirdly, I must consider the deformity and vileness of these sins, inasmuch as, though there were no hell for them, yet they are contrary to natural reason; for man being created to the likeness of God, by sin he is transformed into a beast, and with their multitude engenders within himself bestial manners and vicious habits. His appetites prevail against reason, the flesh against the spirit, and the slave commands him that by right is the lord; for the wretched spirit is made a slave to the flesh and to her appetites, and is basely enthralled to many other creatures. For (as Christ our Saviour said) " whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin;" [35] "by whom a man is overcome, (says St. Peter,) of the same also he is the slave," [36] and (as a slave) is subject to the conqueror. If I am ambitious, I am the slave of honour, and of all them that can give it me or take it away. If I am covetous, I am the slave of wealth; if a glutton, I am the slave of delicate food; if luxurious, I am the slave of sensuality, and of those persons that have robbed me of my heart and of my liberty. And what greater baseness can be than this? What more heavy slavery than that of sin made inveterate by vicious custom?
2. This should move me to great detestation of my sins, to cast off from me this servitude, and to restore my spirit to liberty, bringing myself back to the service of my Creator and Redeemer, of whom I am to ask that, seeing He bought me with His blood, [37] He would vouchsafe to free me from the slavery of sin, that with this new title I might be His slave, that He permit not that I be any more the slave of my flesh, of my vices, nor of the devil His deadly enemy.
MEDITATION IV.
ON THE GRIEVOUSNESS OF SIN, UNDERSTOOD BY THE BASENESS OF MAN THAT OFFENDS GOD, AND BY THE NOTHING THAT HE HAS OF HIS OWN.
The end of this meditation is, to know the grievousness of doing injury to Almighty God, and the baseness of him that offends Him; for the more vile the offender is, so much the greater is his audacity and shamelessness in offending the supreme Emperor both of heaven and of earth.
POINT I.
1. First, I must consider what I am with regard to the body, pondering that my original is dirt, and my end is dust; [38] my "flesh" is "a flower," and soon "withers like grass;" [39] my life is a breath of wind, and as " a vapour" that soon passes; and it is " short* ' and " filled" (as Job says) with many " miseries," [40] and necessities of hunger, cold, grief, infirmity, poverty, and dangers of death. It has no security of one day of life, nor of rest, nor of health; so that by my own strength it is impossible to free myself from these miseries, unless Almighty God our Lord, with His protection and providence, defend and deliver me from them.
2. Now what greater madness can there be than for a man so needy and miserable to dare to offend his only Helper and Protector? And what greater madness can there be than for the flesh, being but dust and ashes, a filthy dunghill, a swarm of worms and rottenness itself, to presume to injure the supreme Spirit of immense majesty, before whom the powers and all the other blessed spirits tremble?
Colloquy. — O "earth and ashes," why art Thou so "proud" [41] against Almighty God? O vessel of clay, how dost' thou gainsay thy Maker? [42] O miserable flesh, if thou so much fearest man that can deprive thee of thy temporal life, without doing thee any greater harm, how dost thou not tremble at God, who can deprive thee of eternal life, and cast thee into the fire of hell? Return into thyself, and, if it were but for thine own interest, cease to offend Him who can free thee from so many evils.
3. With these considerations I must greatly confound and terrify myself that have fallen into such madness, and have been so exceedingly fool-hardy; and beseech Christ Jesus our Lord that by His most holy flesh He will pardon this audaciousness of mine, and reduce it hereafter to reason.
POINT II.
1. Secondly, I will consider what I am with regard to the soul, pondering that I was created of nothing, and that of myself I am " nothing [43] that I merit nothing, and that presently I shall be turned into nothing if God do not continually preserve me; neither should I be able to do anything if God did not continually aid me. [44] Besides this, " I was conceived in iniquities," [45] and with an inclination to sin through the disorder of my appetites and passions; I live subject to infinite miseries of ignorance and error, environed with innumerable temptations within me and without me, by visible and invisible enemies that on all sides encompass me; and through the imbecility of my free-will I have consented and do consent to them, committing many sins, by which I come to be less than nothing; for it is a less evil not to be than to sin, and " it were better for " me "not to have been" [46] than to be damned.
2. And if this be that which I am, much worse is that which I may he, through my great mutability and weakness; for in the thread I have the clue of the whole ball, and by the interior motions that I feel to innumerable sins of infidelity, blasphemy, anger and carnality, I gather and conclude that I am subject to all these sins, and should fall into them if God should take from me His holy hand; and by what all the sinners of the world do and have done, I may gather what I should have done if I had been left at my own liberty. For (as St Augustine says) " there is no sin that one man does but another man may do the same." [47] And therefore I must imagine myself as a fountain of all the sins that are in the world, and as a dead and stinking dog which it is loathsome to behold; or as a body buried in the grave and full of worms, which lies consuming and turning into dust. For all which I should contemn myself, and judge myself worthy to be despised of all.
Colloquy. — This, then, being so, to what further point can my folly reach, than with my own will to offend the majesty of Almighty God? If I be nothing of myself, how dare I offend Him that is being itself} And wherefore do I abase myself so much as to make myself less than nothing — unworthy of the being I have? If I am subject to so many calamities as may come to my soul, why do I not appease Him that may deliver me from them? O God of my soul, have regard to that which Thou createdst out of nothing; draw it from this nothing, which is sin, and join it to Thee; that by Thee it may have the essence and life of grace, and may obtain the blessed being of glory. Amen.
POINT III.
1. Thirdly, I will consider the littleness of my being, and of all the good that I have in comparison of God, proceeding by degrees, and beholding, i. What I am in comparison of all men joined together; ii. What I am in comparison of men and angels; iii. What all creatures are in comparison of God, before whom, as Isaias says, " the nations are" " as if they had no being at all, and are counted to Him as nothing and vanity;" [48] they areas "a drop" of water, or "as the morning dew that falls down upon the earth," [49] and can hardly be seen. Then what shall I alone be before Almighty God? As the stars appear not in the presence of the sun, and are as if they were not, so I, how great good soever I have, am as if I were not at all in the presence of God, and much less than a little worm in comparison of the whole world.
2. My knowledge, my virtue, my power, my discretion, my fortitude, my beauty, and all whatsoever good' I have or can have, is as nothing in comparison with that which God has; for which our Saviour said with great reason, " None is good but God alone;" [50] none is potent, nor strong, nor beautiful but God: for He only is goodness, wisdom, and omnipotence itself, in comparison of which that which creatures have deserves not the name.
Colloquy. — Then what intelligence can understand how a man of so little being dares to despise Almighty God, and to offend Him by so many sins? O fool, what hast thou done? O wretched I, that have been so audacious! O immense God, in comparison of whom I am as if I were not, by the infinite excellence of Thy being, I beseech Thee to pardon my sins and illuminate me to know the vileness into which I am fallen through them. Grant me that I may abhor and despise myself, and esteem myself less than nothing; and that, like Job, I may " do penance in dust and ashes," [51] accounting myself for such a one in Thy divine presence.
MEDITATION V.
ON THE GRIEVOUSNESS OF SINS UNDERSTOOD BY THE GREATNESS OF ALMIGHTY GOD'S INFINITE MAJESTY, AGAINST WHOM THEY ARE COMMITTED.
This meditation has most efficacy to move to perfect contrition and sorrow for sin, which proceeds from the love of Almighty God above all things, considering the grievousness of sin, not only by the baseness of the offender, but by the highness of the offended; for by how much greater the injured is, so much greater is the injury; and as Almighty God is infinite in His essence and perfection, so sin in this behalf (as St Thomas says) is likewise, as it were, an infinite injury. [52]
POINT I.
First, I consider the infinite perfections Almighty God has in Himself, especially those against which sin directly fights, and from whence it receives greatest deformity and heinousness.
1. And first of all I will consider the infinite goodness of Almighty God, for which He is highly to be beloved of all His creatures; and if another infinite love were possible, it were all due to Him. And this goodness is so great, that it is impossible to see it clearly and not highly to love it, as the blessed do. Now what greater mischief can there be, than to abhor and despise so infinite a goodness? and what greater injustice than to injure Him by hatred that is worthy of so infinite love?
Colloquy. — O infinite Goodness, how have I abhorred and despised Thee! Oh that I never had offended Thee! My grief, O my God, is greater for sin than for all else whatsoever! For I desire to love Thee above all, whatsoever else may be beloved.
2. Secondly, I will consider the immensity of Almighty God, together with His infinite wisdom, by which He is really and truly present in every place, seeing and contemplating all that is done; and I should behold myself within this all-seeing immensity, within which I committed all my sins past and do commit those present, provoking Him by them to indignation, loathing and vomiting; for His "eyes (as the Scripture says) are too pure to behold evil " [53] without loathing, and His heart is so pure that wickedness makes Him " vomit" [54] Now, what greater blindness can there be than for me to live within the immenseness of Almighty God and in view of the wisdom of God, and yet for all this to injure Him by my offences? To what greater height can the impudence of the slave reach than to tread under foot the will and honour of his Lord being in His presence? And what greater audacity than to do all this, our Lord being powerful to chastise him as his ingratitude deserves?
Colloquy. — O Lord, how hast Thou suffered me to be near Thee and in Thy presence? How is it that Thou hast not annihilated this disorderly and disloyal slave? How is it that Thou hast not turned Thine eyes from me, and vomited, and cast me out of Thy mouth for ever? I am grieved to the heart for my impudence and audaciousness, and I purpose, with Thy grace, never more hereafter to do anything unworthy of Thy presence.
3. Thirdly, I will consider the sovereign omnipotence of Almighty God, by which He is in all creatures, giving them the being they have and concurring with them in all their works; for without this concurrence of God's omnipotence, I can neither see, nor hear, nor speak, nor move hand nor foot nor understand, nor will, nor do any other thing whatsoever. And consequently, when I sin, I aid myself with His divine omnipotence to think, speak, or do the thing that disgusts Him; and such is His goodness and mercy that to preserve my liberty He denies me not this concurrence, nor denies it to the creatures of which I make use to offend Him; He concurs with my meat that it may be savoury to my taste, even when I sin in eating it, and with the beauty of the creature that it may recreate my sight, although I did sin in beholding it. Then what rashness is this for me to make war against God with the very power of the same God! And what does His aid avail me when I convert it to His injury?
Colloquy. — O omnipotent Goodness, how dost Thou so liberally give Thy concurrence to him that so evilly abuseth it? Why dost Thou not employ this omnipotence to chastise him that makes no better of it? Pardon, O Lord, this boldness, which hath been greater than I can imagine, for I am grieved at it more than I can express, and yet I would that it grieved me much more. O infinite God, that showest Thine omnipotence principally in pardoning and having mercy on a sinner, [55] pardon me and have mercy on me, and aid me that I may never more use Thine infinite power unless it be to serve Thee!
And in this manner may be considered the attributes of the mercy, justice, and charity of Almighty God, and others that shall be touched in the following point.
POINT II.
Secondly, I must consider the infinite benefits of our Lord and what Almighty God has been to me, comparing it with what I have been to Him, and what exceeding great injury it is to offend an infinite benefactor. [56]
1. First, I will consider the benefits of my creation, preservation, and government, which include innumerable benefits belonging to the natural essence and being both of body and soul, and aiding the supernatural being of grace. And with this consideration I will endeavour to be exceedingly sorrowful for having offended my Creator, without whom I had had no being; my Preserver, without whom I could not have continued; and my Governor, without whose providence I could not live. To this end it will help much to consider all that which Moses said to his people in the canticle which he made reproaching them with their sins, especially in these words, "Is this the return thou makest to the Lord, O foolish and senseless people? Is not He thy Father that hath possessed thee, made thee," and created thee? [57] " Thou hast forsaken the God that begot thee, and hast forgotten the Lord that created thee " [58] and redeemed thee.
2. Secondly, I will consider the benefits of my redemption, into which enter the incarnation of the Eternal Word, and all the labours and fatigues of the life, passion, and death of our Lord Christ, beholding Him as our Father, pastor, physician, master, and Saviour: so that with my sins I have injured Him who holds all these titles in my regard And (as the Apostle says) I have crucified Jesus Christ within me, I have trodden under foot the Son of Almighty God, I have trampled upon His blood, [59] I have despised His examples, I have contemned His laws and His precepts, and I have lived as if no such redemption for me had ever passed in the world.
Colloquy. — Then how is it, O my soul, that thou meltest not into tears, having offended such a Father, such a master, such a pastor and Redeemer? How is it that thy heart doth not break asunder with grief for having offended with thy sins Him that died to deliver thee from them? O my Redeemer, how much grieveth it me to have offended Thee! Pardon, O Lord, my offences! Wash out with Thy blood the spots of my transgressions, by virtue of which I purpose, with Thy grace, no more to return to pollute myself with them. Amen.
3. In this manner I may consider the benefits of my sanctification, into which enter baptism and the rest of the sacraments, especially that of penance and the Eucharist, and the inspirations of the Holy Ghost, and other innumerable both manifest and secret benefits, as also the promise of future benefits in the glorification and resurrection; with all which I am to charge myself, and with great astonishment to wonder at myself, that I have answered so many benefits with so evil services; holding competition with God, He by doing me favours and giving me great gifts, and I by doing Him injuries and committing against Him grievous sins, considering that every sin is, as it were, an infinite ingratitude, as being against an infinite benefactor, and against infinite benefits that I have received from His hand, given with infinite love and without any merits at all of mine.
4. To exaggerate the more the grievousness of my sins in this respect, it will be good to make use of some histories that make to this purpose: as of that of Joseph, to whom it seemed impossible to sin with the wife of his lord, of whom he had received so many benefits. [60] And that of Saul, who, though he were a cruel persecutor of David, yet grew meek [61] when he heard tell the great services that he had done him. And when he saw that David killed him not when he had power to kill him, he had compunction, and said, " Thou art more just than I, for thou hast done good to me and I have rewarded thee with evil." [62]
Colloquy. — O my soul, how canst thou sin against thy God and Lord, from whom thou hast received all the good thou hast? O God of my heart, how much more just art Thou than I, for thou ceasest not to show me mercies, and I cease not to return Thee offences! Thou having power to take away my life and my being, yet dost it not; and I having no power to take away Thine, yet as much as it lieth in me I attempt to do it. Thou didst cut off the head of the giant and didst break the head of the serpent to deliver me from death; and I subject myself unto them by offending Thee! Who is it that, having power to kill his enemy, killeth him not? And yet Thou wilt die that he may not die. Pardon, O Lord, my inhuman unthankfulness, and aid me with Thy abundant grace, that I may no more return to fall into so horrible a misery! Amen.
POINT III.
1. Thirdly, I must consider what motive I had to sin; for doubtless it increases the greatness of the injury when it is done upon a very light cause and occasion. For why did I offend Almighty God? For a little wantonness of the flesh, for a punctilio of honour, for a small interest of wealth, for a slight pleasing of my own will; finally, for things most vile, that pass like smoke, and are as if they were not in comparison of God. And yet, being such, for them I "denied by my works" [63] the living God, and made of them to myself an idol and false God, esteeming them more than the true God, crucifying Christ within me to give life to Barabbas, that is, sin.
Colloquy. — O my Lord, with great reason say est Thou to the " heavens" that they should be " astonished," and to " the gates" of heaven that they should " be very desolate" and burst with amazement, for "two evils" which Thy "people" committed! And yet I, wretched sinner! have committed them infinite times, leaving Thee that art " the fountain of living water" to draw with labour out of " broken cisterns that can hold no water." [64] O labour ill-employed! O inconsiderate change! I left the infinite God, and the perpetual fountain of infinite and eternal good, for a thing of nothing, of temporal and perishing good, which, like a broken cistern, loses imperceptibly the water that it held, and remains dry. O my soul, if the deed of Esau seem so vile to thee, that sold his birthright for a small dish of pottage, [65] how much more vile shall thine be that sellest thy birthright of heaven for a little interest of earth! He sold it to redeem his life, and thou to sell it incurrest death. And if he " found no place of repentance" to revoke the sale, it were very just that thou also shouldst not find it, seeing thy sin was greater than his; but yet, seeing that God's mercy is greater, approach to it with humility, that He may undo by His grace the evil sale that thou madest by thy sin.
2. Finally, in this and the following meditation I must lay fast hold of this truth; for it is an incredible folly to believe by faith what I believe and yet to live in the way I live; that is, to believe that sin is so great an evil as we have described it, and yet for all this to commit it: to believe that Almighty God is sq good and so right a doer of justice, and yet notwithstanding to offend Him; and so of the rest.
POINT IV.
1. The fourth point shall be to break out with these considerations into an exclamation, with an affection vehement and full of amazement, that creatures have borne with me whilst I have so grievously offended their Creator and Benefactor; that the angels, who are the ministers of God's justice, have not unsheathed their fiery swords against me; [66] that they have guarded me and been the advocates of so wicked a man as I; that the sun, moon, and stars have illuminated me with their light and preserved me with their influences. That the elements, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, the beasts and plants of the earth, have helped to sustain me. I confess that I deserve not the bread I eat, nor the water I drink, nor the air I breathe; neither am I worthy to lift up my eyes to heaven. I have rather deserved that flashes of fire should descend from thence to burn me like Sodom and Gomorrha, or that the earth should open and swallow me alive like Dathan and Abiron, and that new hells should be found and new torments invented to chastise my grievous sins.
2. And seeing that the goodness, wisdom, immensity, omnipotence, liberality, beneficence, and charity of Almighty God have not been sufficient to bridle me, it had been just that His justice should have appeared to revenge the injuries done to these divine perfections and sovereign benefits, and should have given licence to all creatures (as shall be given at the day of judgment) to take vengeance on me for the injuries that I did to the Creator and to them in using them to offend Him. [67]
Colloquy. — But, O my God and my Creator, seeing that of Thy mercy Thou hast thought it good to bear with me, add this benefit to the former: think it good likewise to forgive and pardon me! Amen.
MEDITATION VI.
ON THE GRIEVOUSNESS OF SIN, BY COMPARING IT WITH THE TEMPORAL AND ETERNAL PAINS WITH WHICH IT IS CHASTISED.
POINT I.
First I must consider the grievousness of mortal sin by comparison with all the pains and miseries that are in this life, considering that it is the came of these temporal evils, Almighty God chastising it most justly by their means. For proof of which I may run over the exterior goods which we call of fortune and those which belong to the body, of all which sin is the destruction.
1. First, sin destroys riches, God depriving sinners of them because they abused them; as He spoiled the Egyptians of their jewels and the Jebusites and Canaanites of their countries. Sin likewise destroys honour; for whoever takes (as much as lies in him) honour from God and his neighbour deserves to lose his own honour. For this the high-priest Eli and his sons lost the honour of priesthood with their life, Almighty God saying unto them " Qui contemnunt me, erunt ignobiles [68] " They that despise me shall be despised." Sin destroys sceptres and kingdoms. For disobedience God took from Saul the kingdom that He had given him. [69] And Nabuchodonosor, with vain-glorious boasting, lost his also, living seven years like a beast; [70] God cutting down that sightly tree because his sins deserved not that it should stand upright. And it is a just chastisement that he should neither have dignity nor command on earth that subjects not himself to the King of earth and of heaven, and that he should have no pre-eminence over men who by sin makes himself like to beasts.
2. Besides this, sin destroys the health; Almighty God chastising sinners with manifold and various infirmities and sores from " head" to " foot." [71] For he deserves not to have health that employs it to offend Him that gave it him; and whosoever keeps his soul sick, being able to heal it, is worthy to have his body sick, and not to be able to cure it; as the lame man that in eight and thirty years could not be healed in the Probatio pond, where, notwithstanding, others were healed. [72]
3. Sin takes away content and cheerfulness, causing a mortal sadness, which dries the bones, gives a life worse than death itself. Like to the city that said, " God has filled me with bitterness and inebriated me with wormwood;" [73] or, as the miserable Antiochus, that said, " In how much tribulation am I come, and into what floods of sorrow wherein now I am: I that was pleasant and beloved in my power!" [74]
4. Sin takes away life, procuring death by a thousand disastrous means. For the sins of Pharoah and his kingdom an angel killed in one night all the first-begotten, and another day drowned his army of innumerable men. [75] And another angel, in the camp of Sennacherib, killed one hundred and eighty-five thousand men; [76] and many Israelites perished in the desert with divers strange kinds of deaths. [77]
5. Finally, sin causes those three terrible evils that were offered to David, to choose one of them in punishment of his offence, famine, war, and pestilence, [78] with the which innumerable men perish with exceeding great misery and rage. For sin likewise come earthquakes, tempests at sea, deluges, fires, lightnings, hail, storms, and other such chastisements; for, as sin is the injury of the universal Creator, all the creatures are instruments of His vengeance.
6. Then I will apply all this to myself, beholding my evils and miseries, which have all come upon me justly for my sins, that I may "know and see" by experience (as Jeremiah says) that it is an evil and a bitter thing for me " to have left the Lord my God, and that His fear is not with me." [79] And so, from the horror which I have of these punishments, I will extract a horror of my sins, saying to myself,
Colloquy. — Seeing thou art so much afraid of temporal misery, why art thou not afraid of sin, which is the cause of it? If thou tremblest at poverty and dishonour, why tremblest thou not at sin, from which they both proceed? And if thou fliest the sickness of the body, why fliest thou not the sickness of the soul? — that ends with a temporal death, but this hath a death everlasting. O eternal God, illuminate me with Thy sovereign light, that through the fear I conceive of the evils of the body I may learn to feel the evils of the soul! Amen.
POINT II.
Secondly, I must consider that sin is an evil incomparably greater than all the temporal evils that have been spoken of, and that with them we cannot pay the least part of the penalty that only one mortal sin deserves; considering some manifest reasons of this truth alleged by the saints.
1. The first is, that all the evils that have been spoken of deprive us of goods created, which are very much limited; but sin deprives of an infinite good, which is Almighty God. [80] And as God only is for excellence called good, [81] because the other things created, though they have some goodness, yet being compared with that of Almighty God it is as it were nothing, so sin alone may be called absolutely evil, and the malice of other miseries is as if it were not in comparison of it; nor are altogether sufficient to impose upon me the title of evil, if I be without sin; for by sin alone shall I be evil, though I be exempt from all other miseries. [82]
Hence it is, that if all the pains of this life were joined together in me, as poverty, dishonour, sickness, pain, grief and persecution, with all the torments that the martyrs have endured, yet they equal not the evil of one mortal sin, and I ought willingly to offer myself to suffer them all rather than to commit one; in imitation of that renowned Maccabean martyr, who answered those that threatened him with grievous torments if he would not break one commandment of God's law, " Praemitti se velle in infernum," " that he would rather be Bent into the other world," [83] that is, that he would rather suffer himself to be killed and cut in pieces, and to sink a thousand degrees under ground with terrible pains and ignominies, than to commit such a sin.
Colloquy. — O most glorious martyrs, that offered yourselves to sustain such horrible torments rather than to commit only one sin, willing rather to lose your lives than to admit any offence, though but for an instant, beseech your Eternal and Sovereign King to grant me such charity and fortitude, that to fly from sin I may little esteem any pain whatsoever. Amen.
3. Id confirmation of which, I will consider that the evil of sin so far exceeds the evil of pain, that God our Lord, though He be infinitely good, may be the author and cause of any pain whatsoever; nay rather, as the prophet Amos said, " Shall there be evil in the. city which the Lord hath not done?" [84] for this does not make Him evil, neither is it contrary to His goodness; but it is impossible that He should be the author or cause of the least sin whatsoever, for that would be contrary to His goodness, which, as the prophet Habbakuk says, [85] cannot " look upon iniquity" as approving or delighting in it.
4. And by the same reason, Almighty God becoming man, might take upon Himself all the evils whatsoever of pain only that were in the world; [86] but it is impossible that in Him should be found any evil of sin, and Christ our Lord would have offered Himself to suffer all the torments and dishonours that He endured, and others much greater if it were necessary, to prevent but one sin; in imitation of whom I am to do the like, being exceedingly sorry for the sin in which I have hitherto lived. Colloquy. — O most pure God, who, being free from sin and from pains, taking our nature upon Thee, didst charge Thyself with pains to discover the detestation Thou hast of sin, load me here with torments so Thou for ever free me from sin!
5. From hence proceeds a third reason, which manifestly declares the grievousness of sin. For God our Lord, of His infinite wisdom, ordained the evils of this life for the medicine of sin. [87] And seeing no wise physician does any very great evil to cure another that is small, it is a sign that all these miseries are less evils than sin. And therefore with great reason our most merciful Saviour and physician Christ Jesus would suffer such terrible pains in His passion and death, to deliver us from our sins; and yet, had they been much greater than they were, they would not have been equal to our sins, nor would they serve to redeem them nor to cure them had not the Person that suffered them been of infinite dignity and sanctity. Whence I will draw a great horror of so terrible an infirmity, for whose cure are ordained such bitter draughts and drugs and purges, and, moreover, great patience in my afflictions, considering that however great they be, they are incomparably less than are my sins, saying, as it is written in Job,
Colloquy. — " Peccavi, et vere deliqui, et ut eram dignus non recepi " I have sinned, and indeed I have offended, and I have not received what I have deserved." [88] O Heavenly physician, that well knowest the grievousness of my sores, burn and cut me here, and spare me not so Thou cure me of them!
POINT III.
1. Thirdly, I must consider the grievousness of sin by comparison with the pains eternal, pondering first, that mortal sin is so great an evil, that having caused (as has been said) all the evils of this life, yet, as if it had done nothing, causes also the eternal evils of the other life; Almighty God chastising with them the sinner that remains in his sin, as if in this life he had received no chastisement at all. So that neither the ten plagues of Egypt, nor the fire of Sodom, nor the tribulations of unhappy Jerusalem, nor the pains that sinners (rebels against Almighty God) suffer here — are put in account to lighten the chastisements of hell, which shall be as great as if here they had suffered no others at all. And so, as making no reckoning of them, (says the Prophet Nahum,) that Almighty God punishes not one thing twice, [89] because the punishment of this life is as if it were not, or is (as St. Gregory [90] says) the beginning of the eternal.
2. Secondly, I will consider the reason of this most just rigour. For as sin is an infinite injury, (as has been said,) and all the pains of this life are finite, it is not sufficiently punished with them if there succeed not others that have some infinity, as those of hell have in two respects: i. Being eternal and having no end in their continuance; ii. Because they deprive of an infinite benefit, which is the sight of Almighty God for ever: whereupon says St. Augustine, " Although there should be no day of general judgment for sinners, and though throughout all eternity they should live with abundance of delights, without fear of punishment, yet only for this — that they should for ever want the happy beholding of Almighty God — they should bitterly lament; for it is not possible for a man who has a lively faith of what God is to imagine any pain that is equal to this." " Quia haec amantibus paena est,non contemnentibus "This pain they feel who love, not they who despise it." [91] And as few feel it in this life, therefore another of most terrible fire is threatened, which is felt intolerably; in comparison of which the pains here are so light as if they were no pains at all. Then why shall not I tremble to continue a rebel in sin who deserve that God should punish me with double tribulation, and should break me " with a double destruction," [92] this temporal punishment being but a scratch, and a beginning of the eternal?
Colloquy. — O infinite God, deliver me from this rebellion, that I fall not into so great a misery and affliction!
POINT IV.
1. Lastly, I will consider the utmost that may with truth be said of sin, which is, that though the evils of pain only which are suffered in hell are so terrible, yet it is incomparably a greater evil than all of them. Insomuch, that if one man should suffer the pains of hell without sin, and another should have but one mortal sin only, this last would be more evil and miserable than the other. And if all the pains of hell without sin were put on one side, and on the other one mortal sin only, and that I must of necessity choose one of the two, "I" (says St. Anselm) "would choose rather to throw myself into hell than to commit only one mortal sin. " [93] And with holy Eleazar I would say, "Praemitti velle in infernum" — that I would rather enter into hell itself without sin than remain with sin in the world; [94] for the death of sin (says the Wise man) is most wicked, and the worst that may be, " Et utilis potius inferus quam ilia; [95] the grave, "and even hell" itself, as touching pain, is preferable to it.
Colloquy. — O infinite God, fix this truth in my heart, that I may fear sin much more than hell, seeing in truth there is no worse hell than to be in sin! O my soul, bewail bitterly thy sins, not only on account of hell, which thou hast deserved, but much more for the great evil thou hast committed against Almighty God! Cease forthwith to sin, that God may not strike thee "with a cruel chastisement," and "with the wound of an enemy," [96] permitting thee to grow obdurate in thy sins until He chastise thee with neverending pains.
2. Concerning this last consideration, it is to be recollected that it is set down, not as if it were necessary to make this comparison, for hell is neither without sin, neither can there be any case in which hell may be chosen as an alternative rather than to commit a sin, but only that hereby we may see how great an evil sin is, and how worthy it is to be much more absolutely abhorred than hell, even though there were no hell at all. Upon which St. Ambrose [97] says, that there is no pain more grievous than the wound of conscience, nor any judgment more rigorous than the interior, with which every one judges himself guilty. And though the just man (says he) had Gyges' ring with which he might do what he would invisibly, yet would he not sin; for he departs not from sin for fear of punishment, but for the horror of wickedness and love of virtue.
3. That which has been declared in this meditation in general will more manifestly be seen by that which will be declared particularly in the ensuing on the last things of man, and in the special punishments that correspond to the seven deadly sins.
- ↑ Dan. vii. 9.
- ↑ S. Th. i. p. q. lxiii.; Isa. xiv. 12; Luc. x. 18; 1 Pet. ii. 4; Apoc. xii. 9.
- ↑ Ezech. xxviii. 13.
- ↑ Luc. x. 18.
- ↑ 2 Pet. ii. 4.
- ↑ 2 Pet. ii. 11.
- ↑ Heb. x. 81.
- ↑ Gen. iii. 1; S. Th. 2, q. clxiii., clxiv.
- ↑ Eph. ii. 8.
- ↑ Rom. 7. 12.
- ↑ Apoc. xv. 3, 4.
- ↑ Ps. xxxvii.
- ↑ Ecclus. xxi. 2.
- ↑ Sap.x.2.
- ↑ Jac. ii. 10.
- ↑ Ps. lxxxv. 12.
- ↑ Luc. xxiii. 31.
- ↑ Zachar.xiii. 7.
- ↑ Isa. liii.
- ↑ Ps. lxxxiii. 10.
- ↑ Mich. vii. 19.
- ↑ Isa. mviii. 16.
- ↑ "Dan. ix. 6.
- ↑ Luc xviii. 13.
- ↑ Ps. xviii. 13.
- ↑ 1 Cor. iv. 14.
- ↑ Ps. xxxix. 13.
- ↑ In oratione ejus.
- ↑ Matt, xviii. 6; Apoc. xviii. 21.
- ↑ Isa.lviii.6.
- ↑ 2 Pet.ii.4.
- ↑ Ps. xxi. 13, 14, 17, 21, and 22.
- ↑ Matt, xviii. 23.
- ↑ Prov. xxvi. 11; 2 Pet. ii. 22.
- ↑ Joan. viii. 34.
- ↑ 2 Pet. ii. 19.
- ↑ 1 Pet. i. 19; 1 Cor. vii. 23.
- ↑ Gen. ii. 7, and iii. 19.
- ↑ Isa. xl. 6; Jac. iv. 14.
- ↑ Job xiv. 1.
- ↑ Eccles. x. 9.
- ↑ Isa. xlv.9.
- ↑ Ps. xxxviii. 6.
- ↑ Joan. xv. 5.
- ↑ Ps. 1. 7.
- ↑ Matt. xxvi. 24.
- ↑ S. Aug. in soliloq. c. 15.
- ↑ Isa. xl. 17.
- ↑ Sap. xi. 23.
- ↑ Luc. XYiii. 19.
- ↑ Job xlii. 6.
- ↑ 1, 2, q. kxviii.; art. 4 et 3, p. q. i., art. 2 ad 2.
- ↑ Hab. i. 13.
- ↑ Apoc iii. 16.
- ↑ Eccles. in Collect.
- ↑ S. Bernard, serin. 16 in Cant.
- ↑ Deut. xxxii. 6.
- ↑ Deut. xxxii. 18.
- ↑ Heb. vi. 6, and x. 29.
- ↑ Gen. xxxix. 9.
- ↑ 1 Reg. xix. 6.
- ↑ 1 Reg. xxiv. 18.
- ↑ Tit. i. 16.
- ↑ Jer. ii. 12.
- ↑ Gen. xxv. 34; Heb. xii. 16.
- ↑ Gen. iii. 24.
- ↑ Sap. v. 18.
- ↑ 1 Reg. ii. 30.
- ↑ 1 Reg. xiii. 14; xv. 23.
- ↑ Dan. iv. 22.
- ↑ Isa. i. 6.
- ↑ Joan. v. 2.
- ↑ Thren. iii. 15.
- ↑ 1 Mac. vi. 11, et 2 Mac. ix. 11.
- ↑ Exod. xii. 29, et xiv. 27.
- ↑ 4 Reg.xix. 35.
- ↑ Exod. xxxii. 28; Levit. x. 2; Num. xi. S3.
- ↑ 2 Reg. xxiv. 16.
- ↑ Jer. ii. 19.
- ↑ S. Th. 1, p. q. xhiii., art. 6.
- ↑ Luc xviii. 19.
- ↑ S. Dionys c. 4, de divinis nominibas.
- ↑ 2 Mac. vi. 28.
- ↑ Amos iii. 6.
- ↑ Hab. i. 13.
- ↑ St. Th. 3, p. q. xiv & xv.
- ↑ St. Th. 1, p. q. xlviii. art. 6, in Sed contra.
- ↑ Job xxxiii. 27
- ↑ Nahum.
- ↑ lib. xiii. moral, c. xiii.
- ↑ In id Ps. xlix. ignis in conspectu ejus exardescet.
- ↑ Jer. xvii. 18.
- ↑ lib. de similitudinitras c. 190.
- ↑ Bern, sermo. 35 in Cant.
- ↑ Ecclus. xxviii. 25.
- ↑ Jer. xxx. 14.
- ↑ lib. 3. de offic. c. 4 and 5.