Volume I, Treatise I, Chapter V

That the Desire a Man Has of Becoming Perfect in Virtue, Ts a Great Mark that He Is in a State of Grace

Waar ought urge us to wish still more ardently for our advancement in perfection, and to renew our efforts to please God daily still more and more, and what ought, at the same time, to be of very great consolation to us, is that there can be no mark more certain than this of God’s dwelling in a soul, and of the good state it isin. St. Bernard says, that there is no more certain mark of God being present in a man’s heart, than the desire of still increasing in grace, and he proves it by the saying of the Wise Man, already quoted, “‘ Those that eat me shall still hunger, and those that drink me shall still thirst.” If then you hunger and thirst for heavenly things, rejoice, since it is an evident sign that God dwells in your soul. It is he who excites in you this hunger and thirst; and you have certainly found the true vein of this precious mine, because you constantly adhere so closely to it. As the terrier, whilst he meets nothing, beats the field without spirit, but on finding the scent, pursues eagerly, and - stops not till he runs down the game; in like manner whoever tastes the sweetness of the divine odour runs after it without ‘ceasing, and cries out with the spouse in the Canticles, ‘“‘ Draw me after thee, we will run in the odour of thy divine perfumes.” (Canticle of Canticles 1:3) It is God who is within you that draws you thus after him. But if you feel not this kind of hunger and thirst, you may justly fear that God dwells not in your heart; for, as we have already said after St. Gregory, it is peculiar to spiritual things, that when we do not possess them, we love them not, and are no ways concerned about them.

St. Bernard said he trembled, and his hair stood of an end, as often as he reflected on these words of the Holy Ghost, uttered by the mouth of the Wise Man, “Man knows not whether he deserves love or hatred.” (Ecclesiastes 9:1) This passageisterrible, says this great saint, and I shook with horror as often as I thought on it; never without trembling repeating that sentence, “Who knows whether he deserves love or hatred?” (Serm. 23 on the Cant.) If then this reflection made a great saint tremble, who was, as it were, a living pillar of the Church, what effect ought it to have on us, who, on account of our sins, have so many causes of tear, “who carry within us the answer of death”? (2 Corinthians 1:9) I am certain I have offended God, but am ignorant whether or. not he has forgiven me; who would not tremble on making this reflection? But if we could possibly be assured that our sins were remitted, and that we are in God’s grace; if we could find a certainty of this, what value ought we not seton it? For though without a particular revelation from God, we cannot have in this life an infallible certainty that we are in the state of grace, yet there are signs that give a moral probability of it, and the surest mark we can have is to feel in our hearts an ardent desire of daily perfecting ourselves more and more in virtue. So that there can be no need of any motive but this to urge us to cherish this desire, since it gives us, in some measure, an assurance that we are in the state of grace, than which nothing in this life can be of greater consolation.

This may be easily confirmed by what the Holy Ghost says in the Proverbs: “The ways of the just are like the sun that rises, and increases both in light and heat till mid-day.” (Proverbs 4:18) The farther they proceed, the more they increase in virtue, and to use the words of St. Bernard, the just man never believes that he has fully performed his duty; he never says it is enough, but always hungers and thirsts after justice; so that if he were to live here always, he would perpetually strive to become more just and more perfect, and to advance always from good to better. (Ep. 253 to Ab. Gaurin.) Again it is written of the just, “they shall proceed from virtue to virtue” (Psalms 83:8); #4. ¢, they shall continually increase in fervour, and advance in virtue without stopping till they ascend the height of perfection. But the way of the tepid, the imperfect, and the wicked, is like unto the light of the evening, which, decreasing every moment, at length disappears, and leaves us in the darkness of night. ‘ The way of the wicked,” says the Wise Man, “is full of darkness, so that they cannot see the precipices into which they fall.” (Proverbs 4:19) They stumble every step they take. Their confusion is so great, and their blindness so deplorable, that they see not their faults and feel no remorse for them. On the contrary, judging of sins according to their fancy, they will not believe that to be a sin | which is so in reality, and will often think that to be but venial which is mortal; nay, will consider it to be nothing more than a trivial imperfection.

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