Volume I, Treatise I, Chapter X

Another Weighty Reason Which Shews How Extremely Requisite Tt Ts to Attach Importance to Small Things

ANOTHER very cogent reason, why we should apply ourselves with great care and attention to the smallest thing conducive to our perfection, is, that if we neglect to perform it, it is to be feared that God will refuse us these special graces, which we stand in need of, both to preserve us from sin, and to assist us in attaining the perfection we aim at, and for want of which graces we shall be exposed to great danger. In order to comprehend this better, we must premise the doctrine of St. Paul, who teaches, that God never refuses that supernatural assistance, which is necessary and sufficient for every one to overcome, if he wishes, the strongest temptation. ‘‘ God is faithful,’ says the apostle, ‘“‘who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able: but will wake also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) Besides this general assistance, the apostle here speaks of, there is another more particular one; and though we could have resisted and overcome the temptation, without this particular grace, if we make the good use we ought of the general, yet it often happens, that we do not overcome the temptation, unless God adds this special grace. It is not but we could resist the temptation, if we wished, because, according to the apostle, the first general grace is sufficient; so that we fall through our own fault, because we fall wilfully; yet we would not have fallen, had we been at the time assisted by the special grace. But as this special and efficacious grace is the pure gift of God’s great mercy and liberality, he is not pleased to give it to all men, nor upon all occasions, but only to whom he pleases, and to such as act generously and liberally towards him, according to these words of the prophet: “With the holy, you will be holy; with the innocent you will be innocent; with the elect you will be elect; and with the perverse you will be perverted.” (Psalms 17:26,27) Another version has it, “With the meek, you will be meek: with the liberal, you will be liberal: with those who deal sincerely and candidly, you are sincere and candid: and with those who are perverse, you are also perverse.” St. Ignatius in| his Constitutions declares the same, where he says: “The stricter union we make with God, and the more liberal we shew ourselves to the Divine Majesty, the more bountiful shall we find him to us, and we shall dispose ourselves to receive daily more and more graces from him.” (Ign. reg. 19.) St.Gregory Nazianzen, and many other fathers of the Church, maintain the same doctrine. (Greg. Naz. hom. 19.

In order to understand what it is to be liberal towards Almighty God, we‘need but consider what it is to be liberal towards man. “To be liberal is to give to another more than we owe him, and more than we are obliged to give him:” for to give him barely what is his right, is not called liberality but justice. Whosoever then makes it his chief care to please God, not only in matters of duty and obligation, but also in those things which are of supererogation, and which tend to a more eminent perfection, and this not only in great matters, but even in the smallest, is said to be truly liberal towards God, and in return God will recompense him liberally. For God is always pleased to make those, who are thus faithful to him, his chief favourites, and pours his blessings on them in greater abundance; nor does he confine himself to that general assistance which is sufficient to resist temptations, but he bestows on them special and efficacious graces, whereby they always triumph over the assaults of the devil. But if you are not liberal towards God, how can you expect he should be so towards you, and if you offer your gifts to him with a parsimonious hand, must you not expect that he will treat you im the same manner? If you are afraid of doing too much for him, if you hold always the compass in hand to measure what you are obliged to under pain of sin, and examine whether the omission be mortal or only venial; if, in fine, you iotend to give God no more, than what you think to de precisely his right, you plainly shew you are a miser, and oblige him to be more sparing of his blessings towards you. For he will give you only what he is bound to by his promise, to wit, he will give you the general aid which he grants to every one, t. €., such aid as is necessary and sufficient to overcome temptations; but you have reason to apprehend, that he will not bestow on you that special and efficacious grace, which he usually gives to those who deal more liberally with him, and it is to be feared, that for want of it,. you will at last yield to the assaults of the enemy, and fall into some grievous crime.

It is in this sense we are to understand the opinion of divines, and holy men in general, when they say that a subsequent sin is usually the punishment of a former, because by our first sin we render ourselves unworthy of God’s particular grace, and thereby easily fall into a second sin. They also say the same of venial sins, and extend it even to very slight faults; they even maintain that a certain negligence, into which we suffer ourselves to fall, is alone sufficient to render a man unworthy of this special and efficacious grace, by aid of which, he would have overcome the temptation, and through want of which he miserably falls. Some of them explain in the same manner the words of the Wise Man, “He that contemneth small things, shall fall by little and little” (Ecclesiasticus 19:1); and say, that in consequence of this neglect and contempt, we deserve to be deprived of the extraordinary assistance of God’s grace, through want of which these cold and tepid Christians. afterwards run into great disorders. Divines give the same interpretation of this passage of the Apocalypse: “‘ Because thou art neither cold nor hot I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.” (Apocalypse 3:16) God has not as yet entirely rejected the lukewarm inan, but he begins to spew him out, in consequence of his inattention, and of the faults he commits with deliberation, which, though they seem to him but small, still cause God to withhold his efficacious grace, without which, a sinner will certainly fall into greater crimes, and will be spewed out, and at last be absolutely rejected.

Let us then consider what great reason we have to fear, lest, by our negligence and indifference, we render ourselves unworthy of God’s special favour and assistance. How often do we behold ourselves tempted, and in great danger of falling; how often do we behold ourselves reduced to so great extremities, that we doubt whether or not we have dwelt with complacency on the sinful object—whether or not we have given consent to an evil thought, and whether; by this consent, we have: not defiled our souls with the guilt of mortal sin? In this doleful situation, what an advantage would it be for us, if, having been more liberal towards God, we deserved at his hands that special favour and assistance, which is the pure gift of his bounty, and with which we would have infallibly supported ourselves against the violence of the temptation; but without which grace, we will be not only in great danger of falling, but in all probability, we will be actually overcome.

Speaking of our spiritual enemy the devil, and of the continual war he wages against us, St. Chrysostom observes, that the means here described is very proper and efficacious for resisting and overcoming temptations. “You know,” says he, “that we have an irreconcileable enemy, from whom we must expect neither peace nor truce; so that if we wished not to be overcome, we must stand continually upon our guard. But what shall we do, not only to prevent ourselves from being overcome, but even to defeat the. enemy? Would you know it?” says the saint: ‘‘The only means we have to vanquish him, is to merit the assistance of Heaven, by the purity and innocence of our lives; it is thus we shall be always victorious.” (Cor. hom. 60. sup. Gen.) We must remark that the saint does not say, itis the best, but that it is the only means whereby we shall be victorious. St. Basil tells us the same, when he says, ‘‘ That he who expects assistance from God, must never be deficient in performing his duty in the best manner he is capable of, and if he acts in this manner, divine grace will never be wanting to him; wherefore, we must be extremely cautious, that our conscience may not accuse us of anything whatsoever” (Bas. in const, mon. cap. ii.) From these words of St. Basil, it is evident we should resolve to perform all our spiritual exercises and our other actions, with so much attention and exactness, that our con- _ 8science may have nothing to reproach us with, and that thereby we may obtain that special grace, which is so requisite for our salvation. It is therefore plain, that we ought to set a great value upon small things, if those things can be called ‘small, which are capable either of procuring us so much happiness, or of drawing down upon us so much misery. Hence, “He that feareth God,” says the Wise Man, “neglecteth nothing.” (Ec. vii. 19.) Because he knows that, from the slightest faults, we fall by little and little into great crimes; and is afraid that if he deals not liberally with God, his Divine Majesty will cease to deal liberally with him.

To conclude—I say that this point is so essential and so necessary to be observed by every good Christian that we ought to hold it for a general maxim, that-as long as we consider the smallest things in devotion, as matters of great importance, all will go well with us, and we shall attract the blessings and assistance of Heaven. But, on the contrary, if we neglect them, we shall expose ourselves to great danger; for it is only by this carelessness and indifference that sin can find entrance into the soul of a religious. This is what our blessed Saviour intimated to us when he said, ‘ He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in that which is greater:—And he that is unjust in that which is little, is unjust also in that which is greater.” (Luke 16:10) When, therefore, you desire to know whether you advance in virtue, upon which you should often reflect with attention, examine carefully whether you are faithful in small things, or whether you despise and neglect them; if you perceive that you make no account of them, and yet that your conscience feels not the remorse she had used to feel on similar occasions, be sure speedily to remedy this evil with all possible care. For St. Basil says, “That the devil, when he cannot prevail on us totally to abandon religion, strains every nerve to dissuade us from aiming at perfection, and to excite in us an indifference for small things; hoping at least to deceive us, by instilling into us a vain confidence that God, in consequence of ‘such neglect, will not deprive us of his holy grace.” (Bas. ser. de renun, &c. spir. perfec.) But we, on our part, should always endeavour to act in such a manner that it may be as impossible for him to divert us from perfection, as tu persuade us to forsake religion; for this purpose we must always aspire to perfection, and-set a great value upon the smallest things conducive to it.

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