I
COLL CHRIST! REGIS SJ.
BIB. MAJOR
TORONTO
GOD THE TEACHER
MANKIND:
A PLAIN, COMPREHENSIVE EXPLANATION OF CHRISTIAN
DOCTRINE.
THE GREATEST and the FIRST COMMANDMENT.
BY
MICHAEL MtiLLER, 0. SS. R
NEW YORK : 52 Barclay St. CINCINNATI : 204 Vine St.
FK. PUSTET & CO.,
PRINTERS TO THE HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE.
1881. flOLLCHWSn REGIS S.J.
BIB. MAJOR
TufiONIO
ARCHBISHOP or NEW YOKE.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1881, by
MICHAEL MULLER,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
STEREOTYPED AND FEINTED AT
THE NEW YORK CATHOLIC PROTECTORY,
West Chester, N. Y.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Introduction to the Commandments of God - ... 1
Faith alone will not save us--..... 8
The greatest commandment -----.-11
What charity is -----.... 13
What is to love God above all things ..... 22
Why we must love God ....... 25
Perfect and imperfect love of God --..._ 39
Love of our neighbor ---.-... 48
Who is our neighbor ? ..... ...58
Are we obliged to love sinners ?--.... 61
Love of our enemies .......... g2
Love of the poor, orphans, widows, etc. 86
How to help the needy --....__ 88
THE CORPORAL WORKS OF MERCT : 89
To feed the hungry ---.....93
To give drink to the thirsty - - - . - . . 97
To clothe the naked ---.....98
To harbor the harborless ---..._ 98
To visit the sick ....99
To visit the imprisoned 108
To bury the dead 114
THE SPIRITUAL WORKS OF MERCT :
To convert sinners - - . . . . -122
To instruct the ignorant - 150
To counsel the doubtful 153
iv CONTENTS.
PAGE.
To comfort the sorrowful 154
To bear wrongs patiently ------- 164
To forgive injuries - - - 169
To pray for the living and the dead - - - - - 169
Reward of the charitable - 182
Punishment of the uncharitable ------ 211
Who truly loves God, and his neighbor? - - - - - 213
Law what it is ._..---.. 215
Eternal, Natural, and Moral Law 217
PEECEPTS OF THE OLD LAW :
1. Moral Precepts of the Old Litwr 226
2. Ceremonial Precepts 227
A. Sacrifices 229
B. Holy Things 230
C. Particular Observances ------- 233
D. Sacraments of the Old Law 233
Circumcision 234
Reasons of the Ceremonial Laws - 237
3. Judicial and Juridical Precepts 238
The reason and propriety of the Judicial Precepts - - 240
The New Law, or the Law of grace - 240
Human Law 254
CONSCIENCE WHAT IT is : 258
1. The right and true conscience .... 265
2. The erroneous or false conscience 26">
3. The perplexed conscience -_.... 268
4. The certain conscience 269
5. The timorous or tender conscience ----- 2G9
6. The lax conscience ------- 269
7. The doubtful conscience ------- 270
8. The scrupulous conscience 276
9. The conscience of our modern infidels, and its perversity 294
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS :
When, where, and to whom the Ten Commandments were
given 298
CONTENTS. V
PAOE.
What the Commandments teach 303
The first commandment what it commands .... 306
Adoration of God what it is
Sins against the adoration of God Superstition and irreligion - 316
Satan, the author of superstition ------
What superstition is - - - 325
What idolatry is - 325
What attendance at false worship is, and who are guilty of this -
sin 33
Divination What it is 333
Necromancy, or spiritualism, ------
Animal magnetism or mesmerism 3 &>
Astrology 372
Witchcraft 373
Sorcery 376
Fortune-telling
Other superstitious practices -------
Sin of irreligion 393
Tempting God
Sacrilege 39 ^
Simony 406
Worship of God by faith 410
THE FOUR GREAT TRUTHS WHICH EVERY MAN MUST KNOW IN ORDER
TO BE SAVED :
The existence of God 411
The Holy Trinity - 414
The Incarnation 420
Immortality of the soul 426
God rewards the good and punishes the wicked - - 431
Other truths necessary to know
Why we must believe the Catholic Doctrine .... 437
Objections of non-Catholics refuted 452
Sins against faith - - - - - - - - - 4;>5
Infidelity, negative what it is 4f>9
Infidelity, positive 4GO
vi CONTENTS.
PAGE,
The man without religion what he is -
The faith of the infidel
The causes of infidelity -
Heresy what it is --------
The grievousness and evils of the sin of heresy
Apostasy what it is - - - 521
Beligious indifference - 523
Liberalism what it is- - - 532
How we worship God by hope ...... 538
The primary and secondary object of hope .... r>44
The motives of hope 544
How the virtue of hope is nourished and increased - - - 550
Sins against hope despair 555
Presumption those guilty of 561
How to worship God by charity ------ 564
Sins against charity Indifference to God 561
Hatred of God ... - 5G5
ON THE HONOE AND INVOCATION OP THE SAINTS I
Why we honor the holy Angels - - - - - 567
Why we honor the saints of God 569
The gift of miracles --._.-._ 606
The gift of prophecy 621
Why we invoke the saints - - - -- - - - 034
ON THE HONOR AND INVOCATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MAKY 639
Why the prayers of the Saints are so powerful - ... 666
What the angels and saints know and see _ . . 697
On the honor given to the cross and holy images ... 701
God does not forbid the making, but the adoring of images - 721
Why we honor the relics of the saints - - - - . ... 723
Conclusion ---..-..-_ 730
THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
MANY centuries ago, there lived in the far Orient, in
Asia, a great king named Solomon. In his search for hap
piness, he sought to gratify every desire of his heart.
"1 said in my heart : I will go, and abound with delights
and enjoy good things. I made me great works, I built
me houses, and planted vineyards. I made gardens, and
orchards, and set them with trees of all kinds, and I
made me ponds of water, to water therewith the wood of
the young trees. I got me men-servants, and maid-ser
vants, and had a great family ; and herds of oxen, and great
flocks of sheep, above all that were before me in Jeru
salem : I heaped together for myself silver and gold, and
the wealth of kings and provinces : I sought out singing
men, and singing women, and the delights of the sons of
men : cups and vessels for wine : and I surpassed in
riches all that were before me in Jerusalem : my wisdom
also remained with me. And whatsoever my eyes de
sired, I refused them not : and I withheld not my heart
from enjoying every pleasure, and delighting itself in the
things which I had prepared : and esteemed this my por
tion, to make use of my own labor."
After so ample an enjoyment of all earthly pleasures,
may we not think that this king was happy indeed ?
Nevertheless, he tells us that his heart was not satisfied.
" And when I turned myself," he says, " to all the works
2 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
which my hands had wrought, and to the labors wherein
I had labored in vain, I saw in all things vanity, and vex
ation of mind, and that nothing was lasting under the
sun." (Eccles. ii.)
What happened to Solomon happens still to every man
on earth. Well has the poet written :
" Oh ! what is all earth s round,
Brief scene of man s proud strife and vain endeavor,
Weighed with that deep profound, that tideless ocean river,
That onward bears time s fleeting forms for ever? "
Give to that man whose dream, whose waking thought,
day and night, is to grow rich ; to live in splendor and
luxury j whose life is spent in planning, and thinking, and
toiling give him all the kingdoms of the earth, all the
gold of the mountains, all the pearls of the ocean : give
him the desire of his heart, will he be happy ? Will his
heart be at rest ? Ah ! no. He will find that riches are
like thorns ; they only wound and burn. They seem
sweet when beheld at a distance ; but indulge in them, and
at once you taste their bitterness.
Dim twilight broods o er land and sea,
The birds have hushed their melody :
I sadly gaze on yon bright star
My soul s true home is far, so far !
My restless heart s a stranger here !
Where e er I wander far or near
I seek in vain for joy and peace,
My homesick soul longs for release.
Earth s sweetest joys last but a while,
Dark tears soon quench the brightest smile.
The sparkling eye is dimmed by death,
And beauty pales at his chill breath !
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 3
Earth s pleasures tempt but to defile,
Earth s beauty lures but to beguile;
Wealth, like the thorn, with stinging smart,
Can only burn and wound the heart !
Where have the joys of childhood gone ?
Where have youth s golden visions Hown ?
Where shall my yearning hopes be bleat ?
Where shall my weary heart find rest ?
The stream e er seeks the sounding sea,
The flow ret lures the honey-bee,
The wild bird flies to its fond nest
In heaven alone my soul can rest !
All the goods and pleasures of this world are like the
fisher s baited hook. The fish eagerly swallows the bait,
it sees not the hook ; but no sooner does the fisherman
draw up his line than it is tormented and soon after comes
to destruction. So it is with all those who esteem them
selves happy in their temporal possessions. In their
comforts and honors they have swallowed a hook. The
time will come when they shall feel the cruel hook which
they have swallowed in their greediness.
Now, why is it that the riches and pleasures of this world
cannot make us happy ? It is because the soul was not
created by them and for them, but by God and for God.
The enjoyment of God alone can make the soul happy.
A thing is made better only by that which is better than
itself. Inferior beings can never make superior beings
better. The soul, being immortal, is superior to all earthly
things. Earthly things, then, cannot make the soul
better. Hence it is that here on earth we are never satis
fied. We always crave for something more, something
higher, something better. Whence comes this continual
restlessness that haunts us through life and pursues us even
4 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
to the grave ? It is the home-sickness of the soul; its crav-
in"- after a Good that is better and more excellent than the
soul herself is. God alone is this Good, He is Supreme
Goodness itself. He who possesses God, possesses the
goodness of all other things ; for whatever goodness they
possess they have from God.
Where, then, are we to seek true happiness ? In God
alone. God has certainly reserved to himself far more
beauty and goodness than he has bestowed upon his crea
tures. This truth admitted, it necessarily follows that he
who enjoys God possesses, in him, all things ; and conse
quently, the very same delight that he would have taken
in other things, had he enjoyed them separately, he enjoys
in God, in a far greater measure and in a more elevated
manner. For this reason, St. Francis of Assisi used to
exclaim, " My God and my All" a saying to which he
was so accustomed that he could scarcely think of any
thing else, and often spent whole nights in meditating on
this truth. So also St. Teresa would exclaim, " God alone
is sufficient ! "
True contentment is found in the Creator, and not in
.the creature. It is a contentment which no man can take
from the soul, and in comparison with which all other joy
is sadness, all pleasure sorrow, all sweetness bitter, all
beauty ugliness, all delight affliction. It is most certain
that when "face to face, we shall see God as He is, " we
shall have perfect joy and happiness. The more closely,
then, we are united with God in this life, the greater
contentment of mind and the greater happiness of soul
shall we enjoy ; and this contentment and joy are of the
self-same nature as that which we shall have in heaven.
The only difference consists in this : that here our happi-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
ness is in an incipient state, whilst in heaven it will be
brought to perfection. The very essence of all happiness
consists in being intimately united with God. Hence
it is that St. Augustine, who had tasted all pleasures, ex
claimed : "Thou hast made me, O God! for Thyself;
and my heart was uneasy within me until it found its rest
in Thee l
Tell me why forever flowing
Hastes the streamlet to the sea;
Tell me why forever blowing
Speeds the wind o er hill and lea.
Why the stream fore er doth flow,
Why the wind fore er doth blow
This deep secret I would know.
Tell me why the stars e er wander
Through the darkling waste of space ;
Why the bright sun and the pale moon
Restless march from place to place ;
Why they wander to and fro ;
, Tell me for I long to know
This deep secret I would know.
Tell me why the winds are moaning
Like a banished soul in pain ;
Why the waves are ever sobbing
On the restless stormy main;
Why the ocean s bosom heaves,
Like one who though sleeping grieves
O er the loved and lost he leaves !
Tell me why the birds are flying
Far away from their fond nest,
Why the roses bright are d\ ing,
And the dear ones we love best
They whose love our life hath blessed
Why can they not with us rest ?
Why can they not with us rest ?
6 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Why is my sad heart so restless ?
Why still longs mj soul fur bliss ?
Why are all earth s honied pleasures
Like the Judas traitor kiss ?
Riches bring but care and pain,
Beauty blooms to fade again,
Nought that s fair can here remain !
Restless heart so sad and weary,
Wouldst thou then the secret know ?
All thou seest above, beneath thee,
Stars that shine and streams that flow
All things yearn and seek for rest ;
And thy soul shall ne er be blest
Till with God in heav n thou rest !
Now, when is it that we possess God, are closely united
with him, and find our rest in him ? It is only when we
do his holy will.
This God has given us clearly to understand in the
words he addressed to Adam : " And of the tree of know
ledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what
day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death. 7
(Gen. ii., 17.)
By this commandment man was clearly given to under
stand that the continuation of his happiness, for time and
eternity, depended upon his obedience to the will of God.
To be free from irregular affections and disorderly passions,
and to transmit his happiness to his posterity, was entirely
in man s power. If he made a right use of his liberty by
always following the law of God, if he preserved unsullied
the image and likeness of his Creator and heavenly
Father, if, in fine, he made a proper use of the creatures
confided to his care, he was to receive the crown of life
everlasting as reward for his fidelity. But if he swerved
even for a moment, from this loving will of God, he was
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 7
to subject himself to the law of God s justice, who would
not fail to execute the threatened punishment.
JBut did God, perhaps, afterwards, when man was re
deemed, lay down other and easier conditions for his hap
piness and salvation ? No j God did not change these
conditions in the least. Man s happiness still depends on
his obedience to the divine will. " Now if thou wilt hear
the voice of the Lord thy God, to do and keep all His
commandments, the Lord thy God will make thee higher
than all the nations of the earth, and all these blessings
shall come unto thee and overtake thee : yet so if thou
hear His precepts." (Deut. xxviii., 1, 2.) And our divine
Saviour says : " You are my friends, if you do the things
that I command you." (John xv., 15.) And again : "Not
every one that saith unto me, l Lord, Lord, shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven : but he that doth the will of
my Father who is in heaven, shall enter the kingdom of
heaven." (Matt, vii., 21.) Our Lord himself gave the ex
am pie of obedience to the divine will, since he was obedient
even unto the death of the cross. He thereby taught all
men that their happiness and salvation depend on their un
swerving obedience to the will of their heavenly Father.
All men without exception were made by God to be happy
with him for ever in heaven ; but only on this condition :
" He that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven,
he shall enter the kingdom of heaven." Now the will
of God is expressed in his commandments and in the
precepts of his Church. Hence the answer to the ques
tion
8 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
1. Will faith alone save us ?
No ; Christ says : " If thou tvilt enter life, keep the com
mandments. 77 (Matt, xix., 17.) u Therefore, Faith without
ivories is dead. 7 - (James ii., 26.)
To be saved it is not enough to believe that there is
a God, who is the Creator and Lord of heaven and earth,
the judge of the living and the dead, the just rewarder
of the good and punisher of the wicked ; it is not enough
to believe that the Son of God became man and died for
us on the cross ; that he founded the Roman Catholic
Church, that it might, in his name and by his authority,
teach all nations what they must believe in order to be
saved ; in a word, it is not enough that our understanding
be united to God by faith. We must also be united to him by
the affections of our heart and will ; that is, we must really
love God and show this love by keeping faithfully all
his commandments. " Though I have all faith so that
I could remove mountains, 77 says St. Paul, " and have
not charity, I am nothing. 77 (1. Cor. xiii., 2.) " What will
it profit, my brethren, 77 says the Apostle St. James, " if
a man says he hath faith, but no w r orks ? Shall faith
be able to save him? 77 (Ch. ii., 14.) u Every tree
that doth not yield good fruit shall be cut down and
cast into the fire. 7 (Matt, iii., 10.)
From these passages of Holy Writ it is evident that
good works are required, that the keeping of the command
ments is necessary, and that faith alone will not save us.
Indeed, a Christian, without good works, is like a tree
without fruit, a field without produce, a lamp without oil.
His faith is barren and this barrenness is a kind of iniquity
which renders a Christian very culpable. The fig-tree,
which produced no fruit, was cursed. The talent was
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 9
taken from him who had hidden it in the earth. Those
who do not practise what they believe will soon cease to
believe. Faith does not long exist in the soul when the
fruitful life of charity is destroyed. Those who believe
and do not practise what they believe, will be more severely
punished than those who are ignorant of the true faith.
Our delight and occupation in this world, then, should
be to do the holy will of God. It was for his obedience to
the will of God that Abel obtained from the Lord the testi
mony that he was just. It was for his obedience that
Enoch was translated by God. On account of his obedi
ence to the will of God, Noe with his family was saved
from the deluge. It was for his obedience that Abraham
became the father of many nations. It was for his obedi
ence that Joseph was raised to the highest dignity at the
court of Pharaoh. It was on account of his obedience that
Moses was chosen to be the great prophet and law-giver
of the people of God. As long as the Jews were obed
ient to the law of God, they were protected against all
their enemies as by an impregnable rampart. Obedience
to the will of God changed Saul from a persecutor
of the Church into the Apostle of the Gentiles. The
martyrs merited their glorious crown, not so much
because they shed their blood, but because they died in
obedience to the holy will of God. In fine, Jesus Christ
has declared : " Whosoever shall do the will of my Father
who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and
mother." (Matt, xii., 50.)
He who leads a life contrary to God s will, is altogether
out of place. A tool which is useless is cast away. A
wheel which hinders other wheels from working is taken
out and replaced by another. A limb which is out of
10 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
joint and endangers the health of the other members
of the body is cut off. A servant who does no longer
his master s will is discharged. A rebellious citizen who
violates the laws of the state is put into prison or
banished. A child who is stubbornly and sinfully dis
obedient to his parents, is disinherited.
Thus men naturally hate and reject whatever is un
reasonable, or useless, or destructive of good order.
What wonder, then, that the Lord of heaven and earth,
the author of good sense and good order, should bear an
implacable hatred towards those who disobey his holy will?
He who lives in opposition to God s will suffers as
many pangs as a limb which has been dislocated. He is
continually tormented by evil spirits, who have power over
a soul that is in enmity with God. He is no longer
under the special protection of God, since he has vol
untarily withdrawn from his holy will. God sent Jonas,
the prophet, to Nineve, but the prophet, instead of
going there, set out for Tarsus. What was the
consequence f The disobedient prophet was buffeted
by the tempest, cast into the sea, and swallowed by a
monster of the deep. Behold the just punishment of
all those who abandon God s will to follow their own pas
sions and evil inclinations. They will be tossed like
Jonas, by continual tempests. They will remain asleep
in their sins, heedless of their danger, until they, finally,
perish in the stormy sea, and are swallowed up in the
abyss of hell! " Know thou and see that it is a bitter
and fearful thing for thee to have left the Lord thy God,
when he desired to lead thee in the way of salvation, saith
the Lord God of hosts. (Jeremiah ii., 19.)
God grants to the devil great power over the disobedient.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 1 1
As in Juda the Lord permitted a lion to kill a prophet
in punishment for his disobedience, so he permits the in
fernal lion to assail the proud and the disobedient with the
most filthy temptations ; and as they are too weak to re
sist, they easily fall a prey to the rage of the hellish
monster.
Disobedience to God s will was the cause that the rebel
lious angels were cast out of heaven, and our first parents
expelled from paradise ; it made Cain a vagabond on the
face of the earth ; it was the cause that the human race
was drowned in the w r aters of the deluge ; it brought des
truction upon the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Disobedience to the will of God was the cause that the
Jews were often led into captivity j it was the cause that
Pharaoh and all his host were drowned in the Red Sea.
Disobedience turned Nabuchodonosor into a wild beast ;
it laid the city of Jerusalem in ashes ; it has ruined, and
will still ruin nations, empires, and kingdoms ; it will finally
put an end to the world, when all those who have obstin
ately rebelled against the will of God, will be hurled into
the everlasting flames of hell by the irresistible words of
the Almighty : " Depart from me, ye cursed, into ever
lasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his
angels," there to obey the laws of God s justice for ever.
2, Which is the greatest commandment of God?
The greatest commandment is, to love God above all things,
with our ivhole heart, and our neighbor as ourselves.
We read in the Gospel that the Jews often put questions
to our dear Saviour. Some questioned him through
malice, to tempt and to ensnare him in his speech ; others
questioned him through curiosity ; and others through a
12 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
sincere desire to know what they must believe and do, in^
order to be saved. Jesus answered all of them with ad
mirable sweetness and charity. Thus one day, the Phar
isees came to him, and one of them, a doctor of the la\v ?
tempted him, saying : u Master, which is the great com
mandment in the law ! " Jesus said to him : " Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with
thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy
whole strength. This is the greatest and the first com
mandment. And the second is like to this : Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself." (Matt, xxii., 35.)
Our Lord gave this answer, because he knew that there
were many who observed the commandments only exter
nally, without loving God above all things.
Even the great Apostle St. Paul acknowledges that?
though before his conversion he observed the law exter
nally, without blame (Phil, iii., 6.), yet he did not observe
it internally, by loving God above all things. u We our
selves, 77 he says, "were some time unwise, incredulous?
erring slaves to divers desires and pleasures, living in
malice and envy, hating one another. 7 (Tit. iii., 3.) In
deed a person may not curse or break the Sabbath, or dis
obey lawful authority, or commit adultery or steal, thus
keeping the second, third, fourth, sixth and seventh com
mandments, and yet, for all that, he may not observe the
precept of loving God above all things. u All these
things," said the young man in the Gospel, " I have ob
served from my youth." But when he was told to leave
his wealth and follow Jesus, he refused, and, therefore, our
Lord silently reproved him by saying : " How hardly
shall they who have riches enter into the kingdom of God."
(Mark x./23.)
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 13
One, therefore, may keep the commandments externally
without keeping them internally. Now the mere external
observance of the commandments is not sufficient to merit
heaven. Hence, when our Saviour was asked: " Which
is the greatest commandment in the law ? " he answered :
" The greatest and first commandment is : Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy
whole soul ; with thy whole mind, and with thy whole
strength ; and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 7
From these words of our Lord it is clear that the keeping
of the commandments must be accompanied by divine
charity in order to merit heaven.
A good father is not satisfied with his children if they
merely do what he commands them ; he also wishes that
they should obey him out of love. In like manner, our
heavenly Father is not satisfied with us if we merely ob
serve his commandments externally. He also wishes that
we should keep them out of real love for ,him. " Salva
tion," says St. Thomas u is shown to faith, and prepared
for hope ; but it is given only to charity. 7
But what is charity ?
" Charity" says St. Thomas, " is that special kind of
friendship which is based on the interchange of goods and
affections." Jesus Christ said to his disciples that, as he
had made them his friends, he had communicated to them
all his secrets. (John, xv., 15.)
True love naturally tends to union with the object
beloved. It is like a golden chain which binds together
the hearts of those that love. Hence, he who loves,
always desires the presence of the object of his love.
Divine charity, also, establishes, between God and man,
14 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
a communication of goods and a union of sentiments. A
loving father yearns intensely to communicate himself
and all his goods to his children. Now, since God is our
Father, he has an unbounded yearning to communicate
himself to us. This infinite desire of communicating
himself is essential to God s nature, for God is infinite
love, and love is always communicative.
We see clearly the effects of this love of God, in the
mystery of the Incarnation. We see these effects in the
preaching of Christ, in his miracles, in his passion and
death. We see them in the mission of the Holy Ghost.
We see these effects in the holy sacraments, especially in
that of the Holy Eucharist, in which God may be said to
have exhausted his omnipotence, his wisdom and his love
for man. Finally, we see them in God s most wonderful
care for his Church as well as for each individual soul.
In the act of justification by which God frees the soul
from sin and sanctifies her, he communicates himself to
the soul, not only by grace, charity and other virtues, but
he also communicates himself substantially in giving the
Holy Ghost.
There is in God the Father, as I have said, an infinite
desire of communicating himself and all his goods. In this
love he generates from all eternity, his only-begotten son.
This is, undoubtedly, the greatest act of his infinite Charity.
But this heavenly Father still continues to beget, in
time, children who are by grace what the Son of God is
by nature, so that our sonship bears the greatest resem
blance to the divine sonship. Hence, St. Paul writes :
" Whom He foreknew He also predestined to be made
conformable to the Image of His Son, that He might be
the first-born amongst many brethren." (Rom. viii., 29.)
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 15
Behold, the great things which Divine love effects !
We are the sons of God, as the Holy Scripture says :
" Ye are the sons of the living God." (Osee i., 107.)
In this divine adoption there are infused into the soul
not only the grace, the charity and other gifts of the
Holy Ghost, but the Holy Ghost Himself, who is the
first, the uncreated Gift that God bestows on us.
In justifying and sanctifying us, God might infuse into
our souls His grace and charity to such a degree only as
would render us simply just and holy, without adopting
us as His children. This grace of simple justification
would, no doubt, be, in itself, a very great gift, it being
a participation in the Divine Nature in a very high de
gree ; so that in all truth, we could exclaim with the
Blessed Virgin: "Fecit mild magna, qui potens est He
that is mighty has done great tilings to me." (Luke i., 49.)
But to give us only such a degree of grace and partici
pation in his Divine Nature, is not enough for the love
of God. The grace of adoption is bestowed upon us in
so high a degree as to make us really children of God.
But even this measure of the grace of adoption might
be bestowed upon us by God in such a manner only as
to give, thereby, no more than His charity, grace and
created gifts. This latter grace of adoption would, cer
tainly, surpass the former of simple justification, so that,
in all truth, we might again exclaim with the Mother of
God: " Fecit potentiam in brachio suo He hath showed
might in His arm." (Luke i., 51.)
1 ut neither is this gift, great though it be, great enough
for the charity which God bears us. God, in His immense
charity for us, wishes to bestow greater things upon us,
in order to raise us still higher in grace and in the parti-
16 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
cipation in his Divine Nature. Hence He goes so far as
to give Himself to us, in order to sanctify and adopt us in
person.
The Holy Ghost unites Himself to His gifts, His grace,
and His charity, so that, while infusing these gifts into
our souls, He infuses with them Himself in person.
On this account St. Paul writes : " The charity of God is
poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, Who is
given to ws."(Rom. v., 5.) On this very account, the same
Apostle calls the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of adoption.
" For you have not received," says he, "the spirit of
bondage again in fear j but you have received the Spirit
of adoption of children, whereby we cry : Abba, Father ;
for the Spirit Himself giveth testimony to our spirit,
that we are the children of God ; and if children, heirs also :
heirs indeedof God, and joint -heirs of Christ. 7 (Rom. viii.,
15.) And : " Whoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are
the children of God." (Galat. iv., 6.)
This Divine charity and grace is, no doubt, the height
of God s charity for us, and is at the same time, the
height of our dignity and exaltation, because, on receiv
ing these Divine gifts, we receive, at the same time, the
Person of the Holy Ghost, who unites Himself to these
gifts, as I have said, and by them lives in us, adopts us,
deities us, and urges us on to the performance of every
good work.
Truly, the love of God effects great things ! But even
this is not all we receive still greater favors. In coming
personally into the soul, the Holy Ghost is accompanied
by the other Divine Persons also, the Father and the Son,
from whom He cannot be separated. Therefore, in the
act of justification, the three Divine Persons come person-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 17
ally and really into the soul, as into their Temple, living
and dwelling therein as long as the soul perseveres in
the grace of God. For this reason, St. John writes : " He
that abideth in charity, abideth in God and God in him"
(I John iv., 16.) St. Paul writes the same thing: "He
who is joined to God is one spirit. 7 (I Cor. vi., 17.)
Jesus Christ obtained for us this grace, when he pray
ed on the eve of his passion : " Holy Father, keep them
in Thy name, that they all may be one, as Thou, Father,
in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us."
(John, xii., 11,29.) Jesus Christ asks of His Fatherthat all
His followers may participate in the one and same Holy
Ghost, so that, in Him and through Him, they may be
united to the other Divine persons. St. Bonaventure says
that the just not only receive the gifts, but also the person
of the Holy Ghost. (1 Sent, d. 14, a. 2, 9, 1.) The same
is taught by the renowned Master of Sentences (Lib. i. ?
dist. 14 & 15.) who quotes St. Augustine and others in
support of this doctrine. St. Thomas Aquinas asserts
the same thing. (I p. 9. 43, a. 3, and 6 & 9. 38 art. 8.)
" Grace," says Suarez, " establishes a most perfect
friendship between God and man. Now such a friendship
requires the presence of the friend, that is the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Ghost, therefore, abides in the soul of his friend,
in order to unite himself most intimately with him ; he
resides in the soul of his friend as in his Temple in order
to be honored, worshipped, and loved."
From what has been said it is easy to see why charity
is called the queen of all virtues. " God is charity,"
says St. John (1. iv., 8.), "He who abides in charity, abides
in God, and God in him." The Holy Ghost, the Spirit
of charity, who lives in the just, urges them on to the
J 8 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
practice of virtue and the performance of good works.
Hence, as St. Paul says, " Charity is patient, is kind-,
charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely, is not puffed
up ; is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not pro
voked to anger, thinketh not evil, rejoiceth not in ini
quity, but rejoiceth with the truth, beareth all things,
belie veth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 7
(1. Cor. xiii., 4-7.) ; that is, Charity, or the Spirit of
God, makes the just believe all things revealed by God
and taught by his Church, hope for all things, and do all
things commanded by the Lord ; it makes them God
fearing, it makes them generous ; they are full of confi
dence in God, and have courage to undertake every thing
for his glory.
Charity makes the just strong ; it makes them triumph
over their passions, over the most violent temptations and
the greatest trials ; it makes them obedient ; they promptly
follow the voice of God ; it makes them pure : they love
God only and love him because he deserves to be loved
on account of his most amiable, infinite perfections. Char
ity makes the just ardent they wish to inflame all hearts
and to see them consumed with divine love.
Charity ravishes the souls of the just, so that they seem
to be no longer occupied with earthly things, but with
loving God alone. Charity makes the just sigh unceas
ingly ; it fills their souls with an evident desire to quit
the earth in order to be united to God in heaven, and
there to love him with all their strength.
Since Charity is unitive, it unites the will of the just
to that of their Creator ; it makes them love all that God
loves and hate all that he* hates. Charity thus is the
queen of all virtues : it produces them, and brings them
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 19
to perfection ; it embraces them all, directs them all to
God, gives chem all their supernatural dignity and value,
and makes them truly deserving of an eternal reward.
Hence it is that the commandment to love God with
our whole heart, and our whole soul, and with our whole
mind and with our whole strength, is the greatest and first
commandment. It is the greatest and first in obligation,
because it must be preferred to all other commandments ;
it is the greatest and the first in authority because it re
fers immediately to God, and is intimately associated with
him j it is the greatest and first in dignity, because it is
the foundation of all the others and leads to the height of
perfection ; it is the greatest and the first in merit, be
cause without charity no good work can merit heaven ; it
is the greatest and the first in sweetness, because charity
renders the yoke of Jesus infinitely sweet and agreeable,
filling the soul with joy, and with the peace and unction
of the Holy Ghost ; and finally, this commandment is the
greatest and the first in efficacy, because it includes and
fulfils all the other commandments, for he who truly loves
God can do nothing to displease him.
As charity is the parent and queen of all virtues, it is
evident that where this gift of the Holy Ghost is wanting
there cannot be any virtue sufficient to merit eternal life.
" If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have
not charity, " says St. Paul, " I am become as sounding brass
or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy, and
should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I
should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains,
and have not charity,! am nothing. And if I should distri
bute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver
my body to be burned and have not charity, it profiteth
20 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
me nothing." Indeed all mere natural gifts, however
precious and sublime, cannot put us in communication with
God, for an effect can never surpass its cause. A natural
cause cannot produce a supernatural effect, that is, nothing
merely natural can produce divine charity. Charity is pro
duced by the Holy Ghost. " The charity of God is poured
forth into our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us. ?7
(Rom. v., 5.) When God bestows his grace or charity upon
us, it is the same as if he gave himself to us. Now God is an
infinite good. It is, therefore, self-evident, that no natural
gift, or good work proceeding from mere natural virtue,
can put us in possession of an infinite good.
One mortal sin is enough to destroy charity. The soul
has a twofold life: the one natural, the other supernatural.
The natural life of the soul cannot be lost cannot be lost
even in hell. But the supernatural life of the soul, which
is called the life of grace or charity, is destroyed even by
one mortal sin. The Holy Ghost himself is this life. Now
mortal sin is directly opposed to the Holy Ghost, for
mortal sin consists in turning away from God. Sin and
charity are as much opposed to each other as life and death.
" The wages of sin is death. " (Rom. vi., 23.) As death
is the destruction of life, so is sin the destruction of
charity. If charity were a merely natural virtue, one
sinful act would not destroy it ; for a natural habit can
subsist notwithstanding a contrary act. But charity is a
supernatural virtue, it is the Holy Ghost himself. Hence,
as soon as we commit but one mortal sin, charity, that is
the Holy Ghost, the true life of the soul, leaves us. " Man, "
says St. Agustine, u is in light and grace when God is present;
and he is in darkness and error as soon as God is absent,
not on account of the distance that separates him from us ;
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 21
but in consequence of the depravity and corruption of our
will. "
To accustom ourselves to make acts of charity, we
should often meditate on our dear Lord, especially on his
goodness, mercy and love. We should meditate on the
mystery of the Incarnation, on our Lord in his Passion,
on the Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
We cannot love a person unless we know him ; how,
then, can we love God unless we often think upon what
he is, what he has done, and what he still does for us?
God says in Holy writ: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and
and with thy whole strength; these words shall be in thy
heart ; thou shalt meditate upon them, sitting in thy house,
and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising. And
thou shalt bind them as a sign on thy hand, and write
them in the entry and on the doors of thy house. " (Deut.
vi., 69.) In these words, our Lord tells us that we should
often make acts of love of God, for he who does not fre
quently make such acts, will scarcely be able to keep the
law. Acts of love are the fuel which keeps the holy
ardor of divine love burning in our hearts.
Now we are particularly obliged to make acts of charity:
1. When we are in danger of death, especially if we
are in mortal sin, and no priest is at hand to absolve us.
In this case we are bound to make an act of perfect con
trition, which necessarily includes an act of charity.
2. When we are sorely tempted.
3. It is probable that a child is bound to make an act
of charity as soon as it comes to the age of reason and is
able to appreciate the goodness of God.
4. We are also bound to make an act of charity at the
hour of death.
22 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
5. St. Alphonsus says that those who neglect to make
an act of charity for a whole month are guilty of a grie
vous sin.
In fine, if we wish to preserve, in our hearts, the pre
cious virtue of divine charity without which we are noth
ing in the sight of God, we must never let a day pass
without making frequent acts of love for God.
It is not necessary to use a particular form of words.
Whenever we say the Lord s Prayer, and sincerely desire
that God s holy name should be hallowed, that his king
dom should come into our hearts, we make thereby an
act of perfect charity. Acts of love may be made with
out using any words at all. It is an act of charity to
give alms, to hear mass, to receive holy communion, to
confess our sins, and in fact, to perform any good work
with the intention of pleasing God.
8. What does it mean to love God above all things ?
It means to be willing to lose all things, even life itself
rather than displease him by sin.
Our love for an object must be in proportion to its
value. The more valuable a thing is, the more we ought
to praise and love it. If an object is of immense value,
our love for it should also be immense.
Now God is an infinite good. Whatever good is found
in created things, is found in him in an infinite degree.
All creatures, however great and excellent they may be,
are as nothing compared with God. Whatever good they
possess, is entirely from God.
Our love for God, therefore, must be greater than the
love we bear to any thing else. We must love God above
all things, that is we must love him more than all our
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 23
wealth. All the goods of this world are perishable. God
alone is unchangeable and immortal. The rich man in
the Gospel loved his wealth more than God. Conse
quently he died in sin, and was buried in hell.
We must love God more than our parents, more than
any one in the world. u He that loveth father or mother
more than me," says our Lord, " is not worthy of me.
And he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not
worthy of me." (Matt, x., 37.)
There is a young woman. She is not a Catholic. She
is, however, convinced of the truth of the Catholic reli
gion. She knows that she cannot be saved unless she be
comes a practical Catholic. Her parents are wealthy.
They are bitter enemies of the Catholic Church. She
knows that, if she becomes a Catholic, she will be dis
inherited, and even expelled from her home. Now, if she
wishes to be saved, her love for God must surpass the
love she bears to her parents, to her home, and to all
earthly enjoyments. She must, as she hopes for heaven,
embrace the true faith, no matter what may be the
consequences.
There is a mother of a family. She has an amiable
and affectionate daughter to whom she is greatly attached.
Her daughter is called by Almighty God to leave the
world and serve him in religion. Now, this mother must
)ove God more than her daughter. She must be willing
to give up her daughter and suffer her to follow her
vocation.
We must love God, more than ourselves, more than our
very lives. We must be willing even to suffer death
rather than renounce Jesus Christ or deny a single article
of our holy faith. Now, it is not necessary that we
24 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
should feel this love of preference for God ; for such love
is not a matter of feeling. Neither is this love a mere
act of the understanding by which we know that God is
the sovereign good, worthy of all our love. No one, who
is in his right senses and believes in God, can doubt that
the sovereign good is worthy of all our love. This love of
preference lies in the will which deliberately chooses God
in preference to all things, and is determined to sacrifice
every thing rather than offend him grievously.
A certain person once heard a sermon on the love of
God. Amongst other things, she heard the priest say
that we must love God more than every thing else, more
than our parents, more than our dearest friends. After
the sermon, she went to confession and accused herself of
being guilty of not loving God more than her parents ;
" for," said she, " whatever pleases my parents, also
pleases me, and whatever displeases them, displeases me
also. I feel that I love them most tenderly, and nothing
gives me more pain than to see them in trouble. Now, I
do not feel thus towards God. It seems to me I am quite
cold and indifferent towards him." The priest said :
" Tell me ; would you commit a mortal sin in order to
please your parents 1 " " Oh, no ! Father," answered
the penitent; "I would rather die than commit a mortal
sin." " Then be quite easy," said the priest, " for you
love God more than your parents." Indeed, we may feel
more intense love for our parents than for God, and yet
not sin against charity ; for, as long as we are ready
even to give them up, were God to require this of us,
we would not really prefer them to him.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 25
4. Why are we bound to IOTC God I
Because lie is our Creator, our Redeemer, and our su
preme happiness for time and eternity.
All sanctity as well as all perfection consists in loving
Jesus Christ, our God, our Creator, our Redeemer, our
Sovereign Good and happiness. Whoever loves me, says
Jesus Christ, shall be loved by my Father. " My Father
loves you, because you have loved me." (John xvi., 27.)
" Some/ 7 says St. Francis de Sales, " make perfection
consist in austerity, others in prayer, others in the fre-
quentation of the sacraments, and others in alms-giving.
Hut they are all mistaken. Perfection consists in loving
God with our whole heart." u Charity," says the Apostle,
" is the bond of perfection." (Colos. iii., 14.) It unites and
preserves all the other virtues. Love God, says St. Au
gustine, and do what you please ; for love will teach you to
do nothing that could offend God, but, on the contrary, to
do every thing that will please him.
And does not God deserve all our love? He has loved
us from all eternity. (Jer. li., 5.) Children of men, says
the Lord, remember that I have loved you first. You were
not yet in the world the world itself did not yet exist,
and even then I loved you. As long as I am God I love
you, and I have loved you as long as I have loved myself.
St. Agnes was then right in saying to the young noble
man who asked her hand in marriage : " My heart already
belongs to another. No creature can henceforth have
any claim upon it all my affections belong to my God,
who has loved me first, and from all eternity."
God wishing to gain man by kindness, was pleased to
load him with favors, in order to win his love. I will bind
him, says God, with chains of love. (Osee xi. 7 4.) These
26 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
chains are tlie gifts which God has bestowed on man.
He has given him a soul, created after his own image,
gifted with memory, understanding, and will, and a body
endowed with senses. It was for the love of man that
God created the heavens, the earth, the sea, the moun
tains, the valleys, the plains, minerals, vegetables, animals
of so many species j in a word all nature j and in return
for so many benefits, God requires only from man his
love. "0 Lord, my God/ 7 says St. Augustine, "every thing
that I behold on earth, and above the earth, speaks to me
and exhorts me to love thee, because every thing tells me
that it was created by thee and created for my benefit. n
The Abbot de Ranee, the reformer of La Trappe, never
looked at the hills, the fountains, the birds, the flowers,
or the heavens, without feeling his soul inflamed with the
love of God.
Whenever St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi beheld a flower,
the love of God was enkindled in her heart and she cried
out : "It was for love of me that God resolved from all
eternity to create this flower ! 7? This thought was a dart
of love which penetrated her heart, and united it every
day more intimately with God. St. Teresa, at the sight
of a tree, a rivulet, a meadow, or fountain, reproached
herself for loving God so little, though he had created all
those beautiful objects to gain her love. A pious solitary,
imagining that he heard the same reproaches from the
herbs and flowers which he met on his walks, was wont to
say to them : " You call me an ungrateful creature you
tell me that it was through love of me God created you, and
that, nevertheless, I do not love him. I understand you
be silent, and do not reproach me any more."
God, not content with having created for us so many
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 27
wonderful things, has done still more j in order to gain
our love, he has given us himself. The eternal Father
has given us his only -begotten Son. (John iii., 1G.) We
were all dead in sin. An excess of love, as the apostle
says, induced God to send us his dearly-beloved Son to
discharge our debts, and to restore us the life of grace
(Ephes. ii., 4, 5.) by giving us his Son. In order to spare
us, he did not spare his dearly-beloved Son. With his
divine Son he has given us all things (Rom. viii., 32.) ;
his grace, his love, his kingdom 5 for all these things are
incomparably less than his only-begotten Son.
The Son of God was also entirely given us through
love (Gal. ii., 2.) ; and, in order to redeem us from eternal
death, and to restore to us the grace and heaven which
we had forfeited, He was made man. (John i., 1 4.) He
humbled himself. (Philipp. ii., 7.) The Sovereign of the
Universe humbled himself, so as to take the form of a
servant, and to subject himself to all human miseries.
But what is most astonishing is, that though he could
have saved us without suffering and dying he ? neverthe
less, chose torments, death, contempt, and a cruel igno
minious death, the death of the cross. (Philipp. ii., 8.)
And why did Jesus, without necessity, deliver himself up
to these torments ? It was, because he loved us, and
wished to show us the entire extent of his love, by suffer
ing for us what no one has ever yet endured.
St. Paul inflamed with the love of Jesus said : The
charity of Christ presses us. (2 Cor. v., 14.) He means to
say that it is not so much what Jesus Christ has suffered
for us, as the love which he has displayed in his sufferings,
that should oblige and almost force us to love him. " To
know that Jesus Christ has died on the cross for love of
28 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
us" says St. Francis de Sales, "is sufficient to press our
hearts with a love, whose violence is as sweet as it is
powerful."
The love which Jesus Christ had for us was so great
that it made him long for the hour of his death, in order
to make it known to all men. I have to be baptized in
my own blood, he said, and how I long for the hour
when I can show to men the great love I have for them.
(Luke xii., 50.)
St. John, speaking of our Saviour s Passion, says that
our Lord called this hour, his own hour (John xiii., 1.),
because he desired nothing so much as the moment of his
death; for it was then that he wished to give men the
last proof of his love by dying for them on the cross.
But what could have induced God to die, between two
thieves, on an infamous gibbet? It was love, infinite love.
No wonder that St. Francis of Paula cried out so often
on beholding a crucifix: " O Love! Love! Love! "
Animated by the same spirit, we, too, should cry out
when we behold Jesus on the cross: " Love! infinite
Love! "
Who would believe, if faith did not assure us, that an all-
powerful God, the Master of all things, and supremely
happy in himself that such a God could love man so
much that he seems to act as if he were beside himself.
" We have seen wisdom itself, " says St. Lawrence
Justinian ; " we have seen the Eternal Word become
foolish with the excessive love which he bears to men." St.
Mary Magdalen de Pazzi said the same thing one day,
while in an ecstacy. Taking a crucifix in her hands she
cried out : lt my Jesus, thy love for me has even made
thee foolish. Yes, I say it, and always will say it, love
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 29
has made thee foolish. " " But no, " replies St.Denis the
Areopagite, " no, it is not foolishness ; it is the property
of divine love to induce him who loves to give himself up
entirely to the object of his love. "
No one can conceive how ardently this fire of love
burns in the heart of Jesus Christ. If, instead of dying
once, he had been required to die a thousand times, his
great love would have made the sacrifice. If, instead of
dying for all men, he had been required to die for the
salvation of only one, he would have cheerfully submit
ted. In fine, if, instead of remaining three hours upon the
cross, he had been required to remain there until the day
of judgment, he would have willingly consented, for the
love of Jesus Christ was far greater than his sufferings.
divine love ! how much more ardent you are than you
seem to be exteriorly ! It is true indeed, my Jesus !
that thy blood and thy wounds give proof of a great love
but they do not show us its entire extent. These ex
terior signs are slight indeed, when compared with the
immense fire of love that inwardly consumes thee. The
greatest mark of love is to give one s life for his friends ;
but even this mark of love was not sufficient to express
all the love of Jesus Christ.
"Grod is love." This is the language in which every
thing speaks to us in heaven and on earth. But nothing
in heaven or on earth speaks this in such burning words
as the Mystery of Love the Blessed Eucharist, the last
legacy of love.
True love knows no bounds, feels no burden, cares for
no hardship. It believes that it may and can do all things.
Such is true love ; such is the love of Jesus Christ. To
gain our love he thinks that he may and can do all
30 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
things. Hence those strange abasements, those mysterious
humiliations of the God- Man, in presence of which reason
is astounded, the senses revolt, the heart is terrified, and
unbelief repeats its ceaseless question :"How is this pos
sible? 77 But a voice proceeds from the altar, and that
voice answers us: "It is thus that God has loved the
world. 77
The pretended impossibilities of faith are nothing else
than the ineffable condescensions of a God who loves us
as God; the height, the breadth, the depth of all the mys
teries of our holy faith, are but the height, the breadth, and
the depth of the charity of Jesus Christ. His blood,
which was shed to the last drop, is His title to the most
beautiful of all royalties, the royalty of love. His crown
of thorns is the diadem of love. His crib, and cross, and
altar, are the thrones of love, and the holy reception of
his body and blood is the banquet of love.
We read in Holy Scripture that King Assuerus, to
manifest the riches and glory of his kingdom, made a
solemn feast which lasted a hundred and forescore days.
Jesus Christ, the king of kings, has also vouchsafed to
manifest the riches of his treasures, and the majesty of
his glory in a feast worthy of his greatness 5 it is the
heavenly banquet of Holy Communion in which he gives
himself entirely to us. This heavenly feast is not con
fined to the short space of a few days like that of King
Assuerus. It has already lasted more than eighteen hun
dred years. We partake of it every day, and it will
continue even to the end of the world. " Come/ 7 ex
claims the royal prophet, " come and behold the works
of God, the prodigious things he has wrought upon earth."
(Ps. xlv. ; 9.)
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 31
How admirable are the wisdom and deptli of his
counsels ! How wonderful are the means which God s
love uses for the salvation of men !
The Incarnation was a miracle of divine love and wis
dom so vast and so deep that the human mind can never
fathom it. The passion and death of our Lord gives us
an awful and unspeakable illustration of divine love. The
last legacy of the love of Jesus combines both those mys
teries in one mystery so stupendous that the very con
ception of it overwhelms the soul. " Having loved his
own, he loved them to the end ; " and, in the fullness of
that love, the end was the grandest illustration of his un
utterable love.
Let us seat ourselves in spirit at the Last Supper in
the midst of our Lord s disciples. The shadow of parting
is on the festivity, and the words of our dear Lord are
words of tenderness, but also of farewell. " I will not leave
you orphans, " he says, " I will come to you. " (John xiv.,
18.) " And now, Father, I am not in the world, and
these are in the world, and I come to thee. Preserve
them in thy name, whom thou hast given to me, that
like us, they may be one." And then turning to his disci
ples with all the love of a fond father, he says: " By this
shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you
love one another. Love one another as I have loved you. "
Now, at the last hour, the last time that he was to be
hold his beloved apostles assembled, the last time that he
was to exhort and encourage them before going through
the dark realm of death, he thought of the perfect gift
and blessing, the richest and most precious inheritance, the
most inestimable of all things that love ever conceived or
bestowed.
32 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Jesus, our Father, in leaving us, wished to combine,
in one institution so much love and charity, that man, on
beholding it, could no longer withhold his affection. Our
dear Lord said: U I will unlock the barred gates of Paradise,
I will place again in the midst of it the Tree of Life,
" that he who eateth of it may not die. " And the
angels shall minister to the being with whom I become
onej and he shall shine with a brilliancy that even the Father
will admire, a brilliancy that will attract him and the Holy
Ghost to come thither and abide. And thus I shall
make the soul of my beloved a temple, and a throne;
and a heaven, and I will dwell there for evermore.
Ponder well, my soul, this awful privilege union with
Christ. The Lord of heaven is your guest ; he is made
one with you, as two pieces of wax are melted into each
other. We become one with God ! One with the eter
nal ! One with the most Holy ! Oh, how little and
vain are all the honors and treasures of this world when
compared with the overwhelming dignity of being one
with God ! How can we ever lose sight of the sublime
thought. " This is life eternal to know thee, the true
God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." It is " life
eternal " to know Jesus " in the breaking of bread, 7 in
the Blessed Sacrament.
As soon as we are one with him, we share in what he
possesses : we enjoy his happiness, we live his own
immortal life ! " He who eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood abideth in me and I in him, and I will raise him
up on the last day." (St. John.)
" So dearly has God loved the world that he has given
his only-begotten Son to be the life of the world."
" God is love," and this sweet Sacrament is the mystery
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 33
of his love. It was on the eve of his Passion, the very
night when men were plotting his ruin, when they decid
ed to condemn him to a most shameful death, that Jesus
left us this living pledge of his love. He did not leave a
memorial of bronze or marble, as the great ones of this
world leave behind them $ no, he left his own living, life-
giving Body and Blood he left himself. Did not God
tell us long ago by the mouth of his prophet, that
his delight was to be with the children of men ? Did he
not assure us with his own blessed lips, "That he would
not leave us orphans, but that he would be with us always,
even to the end of the world"? "God is love." He
loves us with an infinite love. He has given us this earth,
he has given us heaven ; but all this does not satisfy his
love. He gives us himself, his body and blood, his soul
and divinity. No wonder that God complains : " What
more could I do for thee, beloved soul, than I have done ? "
Yes, in this Sacrament, God has exhausted his Omnip
otence ; for, though he is all-powerful, he cannot do
more for us than he has done. He has exhausted his
infinite wisdom j for though he is all- wise, he cannot
invent a more wonderful proof of his love. He has
exhausted his infinite wealth for in this Sacrament he
has poured out all the treasures of his unfathomable love.
God is love, arid he gives himself to us in the disguise
of love. What an act of charity to a poor weak-sighted
mortal to hide the dazzling light from his eyes ! and
what loving kindness in our dear Lord to hide his daz
zling splendor from our weak, sinful souls ! Were he to
appear in his glory, who is there that could look upon
him and live ? If we look into the sun but for a moment,
we are blinded by its brightness j how then could we gaze
34 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
upon the unveiled splendors of the Eternal Sun of Jus
tice ? The prophet Daniel saw only an angel, and he
fainted away ; how then could we bear the sight of the
King of angels ? When Moses came down from Mount
Sinai, where he had been conversing with God, his face
shone with such unearthly lustre that the people could
not look upon him. He had to veil his face so that all
might see him and speak to him. Now, if men were un
able to look upon the face of a man, how shall we be able
to look upon the face of God ? The Apostles beheld
on Mount Thabor but a faint glimpse of the glory of Jesus,
and they fell prostrate on the ground. St. John, while in
Patmos, beheld only in a vision the glory of Jesus, and
he fell to the ground as if dead. How then can we, poor,
weak sinners, bear to gaze on the entire fullness of the
splendors of God s infinite Majesty ? Oh, what loving
goodness then in Jesus, our Lord, to hide his glory be
hind the veils of the Sacrament, that we may approach
him and speak to him without fear, as a child to its father,
as a friend to a friend ! Our divine Redeemer took many
forms to attract the love of man. That God, who is un
changeable, appeared at one time as a little babe in a
crib j at another as an exile in Egypt ; now he appears
as a docile child among the Doctors of the Law, and again
as an apprentice in the workshop of St. Joseph : now he
appears as a servant in the house of Nazareth, and again
as a good shepherd, seeking the lost sheep of Israel ; now
he is the physican of body and soul, curing diseases, and
forgiving sins, and again he appears as a malefactor,
bleeding to death on the cross ; now he is the conqueror
of death and hell, the glorious king of heaven and earth,
and finally he shows himself as bread upon the altar.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 35
Jesus chose to exhibit himself to us in these various
guises j but whatever character he assumed, it was always
that of a lover. Is it not strange that God who is so
good, so amiable, should be forced to have recourse to
so many stratagems to win our love ? He commands
us to love him, he promises heaven if we obey, and he
threatens with the flames of hell if we refuse.
To win our love he has, as it were, annihilated him
self. He annihilated himself in the Incarnation, but
he has gone even still farther in the mystery of the
Holy Eucharist. Ah ! my Lord, canst thou devise any
thing else to make thyself loved ? " Make known his
inventions," exclaims the prophet Isaias. (Xii., 4.) Go,
O redeemed souls ! go and publish everywhere the loving
devices of this loving God the devices which he has
planned and executed to win our love. After lavishing
so many of his gifts upon us, he has been pleased to
bestow himself, and to bestow himself in so wonderful
a manner.
If a king speaks a confidential word to one of his vas
sals, if he smiles upon him, how honored and happy does
that vassal consider himself! How much more honored
and happy would he be were the king to seek his friend
ship, were he to request his company every day at table,
were he to assign to him an abode in his own palace !
Ah ! my King, my beloved Jesus, thou hast come down
from heaven, and still daily comest down upon earth to
be with men as thy brothers, and to give thyself wholly
to them from the excess of the love thou bearest them !
" He loved us, and delivered himself up for us." " Yes,"
exclaims St. Augustine, " this most loving and most
merciful God, through his love to man, chose to give him
36 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
not only his goods, but even his very self." The affection
which this sovereign Lord entertains towards us sinful
creatures, is so immense that it induced him to give
himself wholly to us. He was born for us, he lived for us,
he died for us, he even offers up his life and all his blood
for us every day in the Mass.
O power of divine love! The greatest of all has made
himself the lowest of all ! Love triumphs even over God.
God, who can never be conquered by any one, has been
conquered by love !
What breast so savage as not to soften before such a
God of love on the altar ; what hardness will such love not
subdue, what love does it not claim ? Thus he would
appear and stay with us, who wished to be loved and not
feared. Even the very brutes, if we do them a kindness,
if we give them some trifle, are grateful for it. They
come near us, they do our bidding after their own fashion,
and show signs of gladness at our approach. How comes
it, then, that we are so ungrateful towards God the
same God who has bestowed his whole self upon us, who
descends every day upon our altars to become the food of
our souls !
Love is the loadstone of love. If you wish to be
loved, you must love. There is no more effectual means
to secure the affections of another than to love him and
to show him that you love him. Ah ! my Jesus, this rule
holds good for others, holds good for all,but not for thee !
Men are grateful to all, but not to thee. Thou art at a
loss what more to do, to show men the love thou bearest
them. Thou hast positively nothing more left to do to
allure the affections of men, and yet how many are there
among men who really love thee 1 Ah ! God has not de
served such treatment from us !
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 37
man, whoever thou art, thou hast witnessed the
love which God has borne thee in becoming man, in
suffering and dying for thee, and in giving himself to
thee as food. How long will it be before God shall
know, by experience and by deeds, the love thou bear-
est him ! Indeed, every man at the sight of God clothed
in flesh, and choosing a life of such durance, and a death
of such ignominy, choosing to dwell a loving prisoner
in our churches, every one, I say, ought to be enkin
dled with love towards so loving a God. " Oh ! that
thou wouldst rend the heavens, and wouldst come down j
the mountains would melt away at thy presence, the
waters would burn with fire." (Isai. Ixiv. 1-2.) It was
thus the prophet cried out before the arrival of the
Divine Word upon earth. Oh ! that thou wouldst deign
to leave the heavens and to descend upon earth and
become man amongst us ! On beholding thee like one
of themselves the mountains would melt away : that is,
men would surmount all obstacles, all difficulties in the way
of observing thy laws and thy counsels) the waters would
burn with fire ! Surely, thou wouldst enkindle such a
furnace of love in the human heart, that even the most
frozen souls would catch the flame of thy blessed love !
And, in truth, after the Incarnation of the Son of God,
how brilliantly has the fire of divine love shone in
many souls ! It may be asserted without fear of con
tradiction that God was more loved in one century after
the coming of Jesus Christ than in the entire four
centuries preceding. How many youths, how many
nobles, how many monarchs have abandoned wealth, honor
and power, and sought the desert and the cloister, in
order to give themselves up unreservedly to the love of
38 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
their Saviour ? How many martyrs have gone rejoicing
to torments and to death ! How many tender virgins
have refused the proffered hand of the great ones of
this world, in order to live and die for Jesus Christ, and
thus repay, in some measure, the affection of a God who
loved them to such excess !
It is said that when the Gospel was announced to the
Japanese, while they were being instructed on the sub
limity, the beauty and the infinite amiability of God, on
the great mysteries of religion, on all that God has done
for man how God was born in poverty, how God suf
fered and died for their salvation, they exclaimed in a
transport of joy and admiration: "Oh! how great, how
good, how amiable, is the God of the christians ! " When
they heard that there was an express command to love
God, and a threatened punishment for not loving Him,
they were surprised. "What!" said they, "a command
given to reasonable men to love that God who has loved
us so much? Why, is it not the greatest happiness to
love Him, and the greatest of misfortunes not to love
Him? What! are not the christians always at the foot
of the altars of their God, penetrated with a deep sense
of His goodness, and inflamed with His holy love?" And
when they were told that there were christians who not
only did not love God, but even offended and outraged
Him, "0 unworthy people! O ungrateful hearts!" ex
claimed they with indignation : "Is it possible? In what
accursed land dwell those men devoid of hearts and feel-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 39
5, How many kinds of love of God are there ?
Tivo kinds : 1, perfect love, which is to love God for his
own sake ; and 2, imperfect love, tvhich is to love God
for the sake of his gifts.
The manner of doing a thing may be perfect or im
perfect. It is perfect when the end proposed is fully at
tained ; it is imperfect when, though we do not attain the
end, we endeavor to do all in our power to succeed.
Now, the end and object of the precept of charity are
to love God with all the powers of our soul and body,
and to be united to him in such a manner as to find it
impossible to wish, to seek, or to love any thing but him,
so that God is all our joy, all our honor, all our wisdom,
all our riches, all our happiness. Such perfect love, how
ever, is found only in heaven.
The moment a soul enters heaven, God communicates
and unites himself to it as far as it is capable, and ac
cording to its merits. He unites himself to the soul, not
only by means of his gifts, his lights and his loving
attractions, as he does in this life, but he also unites
himself to the soul, by his own essence. As fire pene
trates iron, and seems to transform it entirely into fire,
so does God penetrate the soul, and fill it with him
self, in such a manner that, though it does not lose
its own essence, yet, it is so replenished by God and
buried in the immense ocean of the divine essence, that
it finds itself, as it were, absorbed and transformed into
God.
This spiritual union with God causes the soul to lan
guish with love. It remains immersed in the infinite good
ness of God ; it then forgets itself, and, being inebriated
with divine love, thinks of nothing but God. (Ps. xxxv. 7 9.)
40 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
As one who is intoxicated forgets himself, so does the
soul in heaven think only of loving and pleasing God.
It desires to possess him entirely, and it really possesses
him without the fear of ever losing him ; it desires to give
itself entirely to God ; it really does so, every moment and
without reserve. God shows the soul his love, and will
continue to do so for all eternity ; and the soul loves God
infinitely more than it loves itself. Its heaven consists in
the knowledge that God is infinitely happy and that his
happiness is eternal.
Here it may be objected that love united to the desire
of reward is not the love of true friendship, but rather the
love of self. " I answer," says St. Alphonsus, " that we
must distinguish between temporal rewards promised by
man, and the reward of heaven which God has promised to
those that love him. The rewards of men are distinct
from their own persons, for they never bestow themselves,
but only their goods j whereas the chief recompense which
God bestows upon the blessed is himself." (Gen. xv., 1.)
To desire heaven is to desire God who is our last end.
St. Francis de Sales says that supposing there were an
infinite goodness, that is, a God to whom we did not in
any manner belong and with whom we could have no
union, no communication, we would undoubtedly esteem
such a God more than ourselves j we might have even the
desire of loving him j but we could not love him in reality
because love looks to union with the object beloved.
Our soul will never be entirely at peace until it is per
fectly united to God in heaven. It is true that those
who love God enjoy peace in conforming to the divine
will ; but they cannot enjoy perfect rest in this life, be
cause such rest is obtained only in heaven where we will
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 41
see God face to face, and where we shall be consumed
with divine love. As long as the soul is not in full poss
ession of God, it is restless, it sighs and mourns. (Isai.
xxxviii., 17.) The good which I expect is so great, says
St. Francis of Assisium, that every pain is to me pleasure.
These ardent sighs and desires to be united with God and
possess him in heaven, are so many acts of perfect charity.
St. Thomas teaches that true charity does not exclude the
desire of those rewards which God has prepared for us in
heaven ; because the principle object of our desire is God,
who constitutes the essential happiness of the blessed, for
true friendship desires the full possession of the friend.
Such is the reciprocal communication expressed by the
Spouse in the Canticles. (Cant, ii., 16.) In heaven God
bestows himself upon the soul, to the extent of its cap
acity and according to the measure of its merits.
The soul, on the other hand, gives itself entirely to
God 5 it acknowledges its own nothingness in comparison
with the infinite loveliness of God. It sees that God deserves
to be loved infinitely more than it can love God. Hence
the soul is more desirous to please God than to please
itself. It rejoices at the glory it receives from God;
but rejoices because God is thereby glorified. At the
sight of God the soul feels sweetly constrained to love
him with all its strength. The soul loves God so much that,
were it possible, it would rather suffer all the pains of hell,
with the privilege of loving God, than enjoy all the delights
of heaven without God s love. The soul knows that God is
infinitely more deserving of love than itself, and there
fore it has a much greater desire to love God than to
be loved by him. Hence the desire of going to heaven
to enjoy and to please God, by loving him is a pure
42 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
and perfect love. The pleasure which the blessed ex
perience in loving God, does not affect the purity of
their love; for they are much more pleased with the love
which they have for God, than with the satisfaction which
they find in being loved.
In this life, such perfect love is impossible. We can
only sigh and aspire after it. The cares, and wants, and
trials of this life are an obstacle to such perfect charity ;
they prevent our hearts and souls from being lifted up to
God in perfect love. In this world, says St. Thomas
Aquinas, man cannot perfectly fulfill the precept of loving
God. None but Jesus Christ, who was the Man-God,
and Mary who was full of grace and free from original
sin, observed this law perfectly. As for us, unhappy
children of Adam, our love for God is always mingled
with some imperfection.
The love that God requires of us in this life consists in
being determined to renounce health, wealth, honors, all
the goods and pleasures of this world, and even life itself
rather than forfeit even for an instant the friendship of
God. This kind of love God requires of us when he says :
" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart,
with thy whole mind, with thy whole soul, and with thy
whole strength," and this command is binding under
pain of mortal sin.
By this same commandment God also requires, at least
under pain ot venial sin, that we should consecrate to him
all our affection. He does indeed not command us to love
nothing but him, but he does command us to love nothing
apart from him, to have no affection for any thing except
for his sake. It is in this manner that many just and
holy persons love God. It was this divine love that urged
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 43
the Apostles to go even to the extremities of the earth to
announce the Gospel. "lam sure," exclaims St. Paul, "that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities. . . .
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from
the love of God." (Rom. viii., 38, 39.) It was this divine
love that encouraged the holy confessors to enter the
dungeons, and suffer there for their holy faith. It was
this love that encouraged the martyrs to ascend the scaf
fold and shed their blood for Jesus Christ. It was this di
vine love that filled the deserts with anchorites ; it induced
kings and queens to renounce the crown and sceptre and
submit to the holy yoke of obedience in the monastery.
It was this love that induced thousands of tender vir
gins to give up all that this world holds dear in order to
become the spouses of Jesus Christ, and they cheerfully
endured every torment rather than to prove faithless to
their heavenly Bridegroom.
There lived in the thirteenth century, in a certain town
of Brabant, a pious maiden, named Mary. From her
earliest infancy she consecrated her heart to God. Her
good parents encouraged her in her virtuous life, and ex
horted her to be very devoted to the Blessed Mother of
God. When Mary grew older she renewed the vow of
virginity which she had made in her childhood, and added
the vow of poverty, in order to resemble more closely her
divine spouse, who was so poor that he had not even
where to lay his head. She renounced all claim to her
lawful inheritance, and vowed to beg her bread from door
to door. She even shared with the poor whatever alms
she received. She thus led, for many years, a life of great
hardships, a life of great virtue. At last God rewarded
her, as he always rewards those whom he loves: he allowed
great sufferings to come upon her.
44 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Mary was virtuous and modest ; she was beautiful and
she was virtuous. It happens too often unhappily that
great beauty leads to sin. Beauty and virtue do not
always dwell together. Beauty is too cften ; alas ! but the
shining veil that hides a frail and simple heart. However
this was not the case with the pious maiden. She was
beautiful and she was virtuous. Mary was admired by
all on account of her great virtue and her great beauty.
There was especially one who not only a J mired, but also
loved her with passionate love. But his love was not
pure j it was not from Grod. His love was base, animal
passion. The demon of impurity took entire passion of
his heart. This demon urged him on, and gave him no
rest. One day this unhappy man met the pious maiden
and disclosed to her the guilty passion that burned in his
heart. He offered her gold and silver and costly gar
ments; he offered her honors and wealth in abundance.
But Mary was not one of these frail creatures who sell their
innocence for a gay dress, or a pretty ring. She shrank
in horror from the guilty proposal. She told the wicked
man that from her infancy, she had consecrated her heart
to God, that she could never love any other bridegroom
than Jesus. She exhorted him earnestly to think of death
and to beware of the just vengeance of heaven. But the
wretched man was blinded by passion ; he was deaf to every
warning. The thought of gratifying his unholy desires
alone occupied his mind. Day and night, waking and
sleeping, this one thought, this one desire possessed him.
He did not pray for strength ; he did not approach the
sacraments. He gave himself up entirely to the power
of the demon.
In order to effect his guilty purpose, he hid one day a
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 45
silver goblet in the sack of the pious maiden. He then
went to her, boldly accused her of the theft, and threat
ened her with imprisonment and death, if she still con
tinued to refuse him. Mary protested that she was innocent.
She declared in a resolute tone that she would die the most
cruel death rather than to offend God by mortal sin.
Then the wicked man, in a rage, snatched the sack from
her and drew forth the silver goblet which he himself had
placed therein. Then, in malicious triumph, he cried
out : u Behold here the proof of your guilt. Now if you
still continue to refuse me, you shall suffer imprisonment
and death. " The poor, helpless maiden grew pale ; she
trembled in every limb. She wept, and prayed to God
for strength j and God, the comforter of the poor and the
fatherless, strengthened her, and she answered boldly :
"No 5 never will I consent to sin. I will rather die inno
cent than become the victim of your guilty passions."
Wild with rage at seeing himself thus baffled, this
wicked wretch swore that he would be revenged. His
passionate love was now turned into deadly hate. This
is always the case with sinful love. Sensual love turns
sooner or later into deadly hatred. This we often see
even in this life. This is especially the case with the
damned in hell. Ah ! how those unhappy souls that once
loved one another during life with sinful love, ah ! how
they curse and hate one another in hell !
Holding the goblet in his hand, this wicked wretch ran
in haste to the judge, accused the innocent maiden of
theft, and, in proof of his accusation, he showed the gob-
let which he had taken from her sack. He accused her,
moreover, of the fearful crime of witchcraft. He said
that by her magic spells she inflamed the hearts of men
46 COMMANDMENTS OB GOD.
with sinful love; that she had even bewitched himself,
so that he could neither rest nor eat nor sleep. At first,
the judge would not believe his words, knowing the un
blemished reputation which Mary always enjoyed. He
tried to defend her against the accusations of this wicked
man. But this monster would not desist till Mary was
taken prisoner.
One day, this pious maiden was at the house of her
parents, praying and weeping in her great affliction.
Suddenly the officers of justice entered, seized her, drag
ged her away with them and cast her into prison. In
order to force her to confess the crimes of which she was
accused, they put her to the torture. The innocent maiden
was stretched on a rack, she was tormented in the most
inhuman manner ; but she continued to protest her
innocence. "It is true/ 7 she said " the goblet was found
in my wallet, but I did not put it there, and I know not
who did." " Do you not hear what she says," shrieked
the accuser triumphantly ; " she acknowledges herself
that the goblet was found in her sack. What more proof
do you need f " " Yes," he cried in a rage, " she is a
thief, she is a sorceress. Let her be put to death ! "
Mary was poor, and the poor have but few friends on
earth. She had no one to plead her cause, no one to defend
her. Her accuser, on the contrary, was wealthy, and
wealth has more power in this world than innocence and
justice. Without further examination she was condem
ned to death. As she was being led to the place of exe
cution, she passed a statue of our Lady that stood by the
way-side. She begged permission to pray for a moment
before our Lady s shrine. Her request was granted.
And now she implored the Blessed Mother of God to as-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 47
sist her in her agony. She prayed for those who were
the cause of her death, and begged God especially to
forgive her accuser. She prayed, moreover, that all those
who should visit her grave, might obtain relief in all their
sorrows. She then arose from her knees and with a firm
step walked on to the place of execution. All who saw
her, wept. Even the heart of the executioner was touched.
His hands trembled, his face grew pale, and the tears
carne unbidden to his eyes. u Holy maiden, " he cried
sobbing aloud, " forgive me before I perform my sad task ;
pray for me when you appear before your bridegroom,
Jesus." " I forgive you from my heart," answered the
innocent victim ; lt I forgive all those who have injured
me, and pray that God may forgive them their sins."
Then Mary was bound hand and foot with heavy iron
chains. A large deep grave was dug for her, and she like
an innocent lamb was cast into the grave. The grave
was then filled up with earth, and Mary was buried alive !
The executioner then took a long sharp stake, and, by
means of a heavy sledge, he drove it with repeated blows
through her tender body. O, what a frightful death !
This was, in those days, the punishment of all who were
found guilty of witchcraft. The by-standers wept and
trembled with horror, on witnessing the cruel death of the
innocent maiden. Her accuser alone that wretched
monster remained unmoved. Like an incarnate demon,
he gloated in malicious triumph over her sufferings. But
the justice of God overtook him. Scarcely had this wick
ed man left the place of execution, when, by God s per
mission, the devil entered into him and took full posses
sion of him. He now began to rave and howl like a wild
beast. He became so furious that he had to be chained
48 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
to prevent him from doing harm. His hands and feet
were bound fast with hea\y iron chains j and, as all were
afraid of him, he was cast into a dark, deep dungeon. In
this frightful state he remained for seven years. At last,
his friends carried him to various shrines of our Blessed
Lady, where many miracles had been wrought ; but the
demon declared, in a rage, that he would never leave this
wicked man till he had been brought to the grave of the
murdered maiden.
Mary, the heroic martyr of virginity, was not long dead
when God made her innocence known. Many miracles
were wrought at her grave. The Blessed Virgin Mary
herself was seen one night coming down from heaven, ac
companied by a band of beautiful virgins. Thrice they
went around her grave in solemn procession, and then dis
appeared. In consequence of this a chapel was built over
Mary s grave 5 and there many a sad heart came and
found relief. Thither too this wicked man was brought by
his friends, and instantly the devil departed from him. He
was cured, and finally he repented of his enormous crimes.
6. What is it to love our neighbor as ourselves 1
It is to do as Jesus Christ has said : " All things, there
fore, whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do
you also to them. " (Matt, vii., 12.)
God has given us two precepts of charity, one to love
him above all things, and the other, to love our neighbor
as ourselves. Is not the first sufficient ? It seems rea
sonable that, if we love God, we should also love those
upon whom he has bestowed his gifts. Hence St. John
says : " This commandment we have from God, that he
who loveth God, loveth also his brother. " (1 John, iv., 21.)
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 49
But all men do not see how the love of God necessarily
includes the love of our neighbor. Even in the natural
sciences, a man may have correct principles, and yet be
unable to draw correct conclusions. Hence God has
given us a special and distinct command to love our
neighbor : " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. "
God has made the love which we have for ourselves, the
rule and measure of the love which we are to bear to our
neighbor. To love, then, our neighbor properly, we must
first love ourselves properly. Inordinate self-love is al
ways bad. Every sin springs from inordinate self-love,
that is, from a wilful, disorderly and obstinate attachment
to one s self or to some other creature. This inordin
ate self-love built the ill-fated city of Babylon ; its walls
arose in contempt and hatred of God. We must love
ourselves in God, and for God s sake.
This love of ourselves is either natural or supernatural.
It is natural when its object is the goods of nature. In
this sense St. Paul says : " No man ever hated his own
flesh." (Eph., v., 29.) Such love, when properly directed,
is not condemned by God j for God is the author of nature
as well as of grace.
Love of ourselves is supernatural when its object is the
goods of grace and glory. As we are composed of body
and soul, it is our duty to take care of both. The same
commandment which obliges us to show charity to our
neighbor in his temporal wants, obliges us also, as St.
Augustine and St. Thomas teach, to show charity to
wards our own body.
Now, as Christians we love our body, because it comes
from God, and is capable of contributing to his glory.
"Present your members as instruments of justice unto
50 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
God/ 7 says St. Paul. We also love and respect our body
because it was consecrated in baptism and became a tem
ple of the Holy Ghost. " Know you not/ says St. Paul,
" that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God
dwelleth in you ? But if any man violate the temple of
God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy,
which you are." (1 Cor., iii., 16.) Again, we love our
body because it is destined to rise bright and glorious on
the last day, and to live reunited with the soul, and re
joice with it in heaven for all eternity. " The hour
cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the
voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good
things shall come forth unto the resurrection of life ; but
they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judg
ment." (John, v., 28, 29.)
Finally, we love and respect our body, because it as
sists us in performing our duties towards God, towards
our neighbor, and towards ourselves. We are, therefore,
obliged to take proper care of our bodily health.
In taking care of the health of the body, we may be
guilty of two excesses : one in taking too much, and the
other in taking too little care of the body. There are
some who take as much care of the body as if the preser
vation of their health or rather the gratification of the sen
ses were the sole or at least the principal object of our life
on earth. Such love for the body is sinful and leads to
the destruction of both soul and body. There are others,
who take too little care of their health. They are indis
creet in the practice of corporal penances ; indiscreet in
fasting, in night-watching, in excessive labor. These in
discreet penitents commit four thefts, says St. Bernard :
they rob the body of its strength and the mind of its
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 51
vigor, and, thus, by degrees render both unfit for the
practice of virtue.
Moreover, they rob their neighbor of the good example
they owe him, and finally they rob God of his honor.
Such indiscreet mortifications are, therefore, displeasing
to God. Discretion must guide us in all our actions, affec
tions, in all our conduct ; it must assign to each virtue, its
proper time, and its proper place ; without discretion virtue
becomes really a vice.
The care of our bodily health, then, should be moderate,
and such care, says St. Alphonsus, is a virtue. " It is in
the order of divine Providence," says St. Francis de Sales,
" that we should treat our bodies according to their na
tural weakness, treating them as we treat poor people,
with patience and charity, and this exercise is not one of
the least meritorious, because it mortifies our pride. If,
in the exercise of our duties, we contract a sickness, or
shorten our life, we must bless the Lord for it, and suffer
with a joyful heart. Love and respect for Divine Provi
dence and charity towards ourselves oblige us to abstain
from such practices of penance as would undermine our
health 5 for, as it would betray effeminacy on our part to
have too much care for our health, so, on the other hand,
it would be cruel pride to neglect such care altogether. As
the soul cannot carry the body when fed too well, so, on
the other hand, the body when fed too little cannot carry
the soul. Let the body be treated like a child ; let it be
chastised, but not killed. 7 It is related in the life of this
saint that he used to abstain from such mortifications as
were likely to endanger his health. Now, if it is our duty
to take care of our body, it is far more our duty to take care
of our soul. It is especially by caring for our soul that
we show true love towards ourselves.
52 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
But what does it mean to take care of our soul ? It is
to use every means in our power to save and sanctify our
soul. The usual means are prayer, meditation, the frequent
reception of the sacraments of Penance and the Blessed
Eucharist, the mortification of the senses, exterior and in
terior recollection, the control of our passions , the perform
ance of good works, especially of such as are prescribed
by the commandments of God and his holy Church.
In laboring for our sanctification, our chief object should
be to glorify God in this world and in the next. u For,"
says St. Thomas, " the ultimate and chief end for which
God created heaven is that we may glorify God in heaven.
The glory which we are to receive should be only the
secondary object which we have in view in laboring for
our salvation and sanctification. It is but the means to
reach the principle end. No one can glorify God in
heaven but he whom God glorifies. It is, therefore, self-
deception, and self-interest to labor for our salvation only
for the sake of the glory which we are to receive."
The object of our Saviour s life on earth was to glorify
his heavenly Father, in order that the Father in turn,
might glorify his Son. " Father, the hour is come j glorify
thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee. I have glorified
thee on earth; I have finished the work which thougavest
me to do. And now glorify thou me, Father, with the
glory which I had, before the world was, with thee."
(John, xvii., 1, 4, 5.) If we in imitation of our dear Saviour,
pass our life in glorifying God, that God may also glorify
us, we have indeed true supernatural love of ourselves
the love of hope which prompts us to love God as our su
preme good and reward, and the love of charity which
makes us love God and ourselves in him and for him, and
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 53
causes us to refer all things to his glory. As the true love
of ourselves consists in loving ourselves in God and for God,
so the true love of our neighbor consists in loving him in
God and for God. When we recommend a dear friend to
any one we usually say : "The kindness you show him I
will consider as a favor conferred on myself." In like man
ner, when our Saviour declared that " the second command
ment is like to the first," he wished to give us to understand
that the love which we bear him should induce us to love
our neighbor also. " If thou lovest me/ 7 said Jesus to
St. Peter, "feed my sheep" (John, xxi., 17) ; that is to
say : If you really love me, you will show your love
by taking good care of my sheep ? Our Saviour
has substituted our neighbor for himself. He wishes
us to bestow on our neighbor the charity and gratitude
which we owe to God himself. He has transferred
to our neighbor all the claims that he has on us and
he desires us to pay to our neighbor all that we owe
to himself. " As long as you did it to one of these my
least brethren, you did it to me." (Matt,, xxv., 40.)
Our dear Lord calls this precept of charity especially
his own commandment. " This is my commandment, that
you love one another." He calls it his commandment, to
teach us that this precept of charity is the foundation of
all his heavenly doctrines, the sole object of his coming
into this world, the sole aim of all his labors and suffer
ings. " I have come," he says, " to cast fire upon the
earth (the fire of charity), and what will I but that it be
enkindled. " (Luke, xii., 49.)
Not satisfied with calling the precept of charity his own
commandment, our dear Saviour calls it also a new com
mandment. " I give you," he says, " a new command-
54 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
rnent." (John, xiii., 34.) But how is it new ? Is not the
precept of charity as old as the world ? True ; the precept
of charity, in general, and in a certain sense, is as ancient
as the world. The law of charity is a law of nature. It
is a law engraven on the heart of every man, that he must
act towards others as he would wish that they should act
towards him. But this law of nature was more or less
obscured by the passions of men. Hence Christian charity,
or that kind of charity which Jesus Christ commands, is
a new commandment. It is new as to the spirit and per
fection with which it is to be observed. We are to love
one another as Jesus Christ has loved us. " I give you
a new commandment, that you love one another, as I
have loved you. 7 (John, xiii., 34.) I have given you my
entire self, all that I am and all that I have. I am now
going to sacrifice my life on the cross for you and all men.
I wish you to follow my example and to love one another
with true, with divine, that is with a universal, love.
My love is not limited by sympathies and aversions,
by natural inclinations and antipathies, by ingratitude and
hatred. My heart embraces all mankind. As I am in
finite goodness itself,, it is my. pleasure to do good to every
man who is my image, my subject, my work, and my
child. There is no one whom this love of mine does not
overshadow ; there is no one to whom I have not given
all that is necessary for his temporal welfare ; no one
whom I have not enlightened by my inspirations, assisted
by my grace. I have given to every one an angel to watch
over him. I desire the salvation of all. I have given to
each one the means of salvation. I have given to each
one the sacraments of my Church. I have created each
one for heaven. I gave you an example of this charity
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 55
in the parable of the good Samaritan. The Samaritan
did not ask the wounded man what country he was from
whether he was a Greek or a barbarian. He did not
wait for others to perform the duties of charity towards
the poor stranger. He did not say : " It is the duty of
priests andLevites to take care of this man ; I can do noth
ing for him." He did not offer his ignorance of medicine
as an excuse for abandoning the wounded man. He did
not excuse himself on account of the danger he would
incur of falling into the hands of the robbers if he delayed.
He did not spare his wine and oil. He placed the sick
man on his horse, and walked himself. He took the
wounded man to an inn and defrayed all his expenses
there. It is thus you must love all men, without excep
tion. You must exclude no one from your love. You
must do good to the most wretched and forsaken.
" If you love one another," says Jesus, " all men will
know that you are my disciples, and that I was sent by
my heavenly Father." (John, xiii., 35.) u And not for them
(the apostles) alone do I pray, but for them also who,
through their word, shall believe in me, that they all may
be one, as thou, Father, in me and I in thee, that they also
may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast
sent me." (John, xvii., 20, 21.)
When St. Pachomius was yet a heathen soldier and
noticed the cheerfulness with which the inhabitants of a
certain place assisted the soldiers in their distress, he asked
who those persons were who so cheerfully assisted others.
He was answered that they were Christians whose religion
obliged them to assist every one to the best of their
power. This answer made a deep impression upon Pa
chomius. He felt convinced that a religion which inspired
56 COMMANDMENTS OP GOD.
so universal and so disinterested a charity, must be
divine, and he immediately became a Christian.
If we wish, then, to comply with the precept of charitv,
we must behold our neighbor in the heart of Jesus Christ.
There we will find our neighbor, and Jesus loves him so
much that he died for him. He, therefore, who fixes his
eyes upon the heart of Jesus, cannot help loving his
neighbor truly. He, on the contrary, who looks at his
neighbor out of the heart of Jesus, runs the risk of loving
him with neither pure nor constant love. If we love our
neighbor in God, our love becomes only the more intense
and more perfect. This motive ennobles our affections
and transforms them from natural into supernatural, from
human into divine, from temporal into eternal. Mere
natural friendship does not last long, because its foundation
is unsteady. At the first misunderstanding the mere
natural cools and dies. But this does not happen in
friendship which is founded in God, because its foundation
is firm and solid. The bond of divine charity alone can
keep our hearts united.
You will find men, void of divine charity, slaves of
their passions, who affect, when it suits their purpose,
great religious zeal and purity. They talk of "Philan
thropy," and "Humanity," show great compassion for
a lame horse, and give the cold shoulder to the houseless
orphan. The hearts of such men are cold and insincere.
They are often addicted to shameful secret crimes. By
their bad example and their impious principles, they
cause the ruin of thousands of souls.
See what secret societies do to entice unwary Catholics
into the lodges. They promise them assistance in all their
temporal necessities j they promise them work; promotion
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 57
to government offices, lucrative employment, and so on
but it is false, poisonous charity ; it is but a bait thrown
out to ensnare them to rob them of their faith, of God,
of heaven, and draw them into everlasting perdition : it
is but a hellish malice under the cloak of charity. These
secret societies are a device of satan who wishes to bring men
to kneel down and worship him. "All these kingdoms and
their glory will I give thee," said the devil to our Saviour,
" if falling down thou wilt adore me."(Matt., iv., 8, 9.)
Now, though we are obliged to love all men as our
selves, yet we are not bound to love our neighbor more
than ourselves ; we are not obliged to prefer his welfare
to our own. The only exception to this is when our
neighbor is in extreme want and the good he possesses is
of a higher order than ours. Now, the order of our spiri
tual and temporal goods is 1st the spiritual life of the
soul the life of grace j 2, the temporal life of the body j
3, our good name j 4, our wealth and temporal posses
sions. If our neighbor, then, is in extreme want, we are
obliged to prefer our neighbor s spiritual salvation to our
temporal life : his temporal life to our reputation, and
his reputation to our wealth and temporal possessions.
But we must bear in mind that we are thus bound
only when our neighbor is in extreme want. If he is
not in such necessity, we are not bound to prefer his wel
fare to our own, even though his good should be of a
higher order than ours.
Should my neighbor, for instance, unjustly attempt to
take my life, it is no sin for me to kill him, if I have no
other way of saving my life ; for, in such a case, I am
allowed to prefer my temporal life to the spiritual life of
my neighbor, for he is not obliged to kill me.
58 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
7, Who is our neighbor I
All men are our neighbors.
By our neighbor we are not to understand merely our
parents, our friends, our benefactors, our fellow-citizens,
or those who profess the same faith with us ; our neighbor
means all men, without exception of persons, or distinction
of creed ; strangers as well as fellow-country-men; heretics,
Jews, and idolaters as well as Catholics, our enemies as
well as our friends. If the love of God the Holy Ghost
is in us, it will make us love all men Jews, Greeks, bar
barians, Christians, pagans, infidels, heretics ; the just and
sinners ; parents and strangers ; friends and enemies ;
benefactors and malefactors. He who excludes but one
man from his love shows that he loves no one with true
Christian charity, for the motives of charity are always
the same. If, for God s sake I love him who pleases me,
I must also, for God s sake, love him who displeases me ;
for both are the creatures of God, made in his image ;
both are bought with his blood, both are called to his
eternal glory.
Our dear Lord, therefore, will despise us, if we despise
our fellow-men. He will hate us, if we hate them. He
will afflict us, if we afflict them. On the contrary, he
will excuse us, if we excuse our fellow-men. He will
support us, if we support them. He will pardon us, if
we pardon them. In a word, he will treat us, as we treat
them. We shall be judged by the charity which we have
shown to our neighbor. " He that loveth not, abideth in
death," that is in a state of damnation. (1 John, iii., 14.)
" But he in whom charity abides, abideth in God, and
God in him." (1 John, iv., 16.) " Charity is the fulfil
ment of the law." (Rom., xiii. ? 10.) Ought we, then, to
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 59
have the same charity for all men without distinction ?
I answer, we should love our neighbor as God loves
him. Now God loves all men far more than we can
understand j but he does not love all with the same degree
of love. As he is a Being of infinite perfection, he loves
himself with infinite love. Next to himself he loves most
those who most resemble him and who are most intimately
united to him. Out of a thousand likenesses every one
prefers that which is the most correct. In like manner
out of a thousand souls God loves that one most, which is
nearest to him in perfection. God s love for men, then,
is in proportion to their merit and their virtue. Now this
love of God for our neighbor should be our model.
Although he has commanded us to love all men, yet he
does not require us to love all alike. The holier a man
is, the more we should love him.
We ought to have a love of preference for those in the
highest degree of sanctity. We also owe a special love to our
parents. In every act a just proportion must be observed
between the object and the agent. The nature of the act,
whether good or bad, proceeds from the object,and its in
tensity from the agent. Now those who are more ad
vanced in virtue than our parents, and consequently par
take more abundantly of the gifts of God, have according to
the principles of perfect charity a greater claim on our love
than even our parents. But we naturally love our parents
more intensely, for both grace and nature inspire us with
more affection and sympathy for them. The ties uniting
us to them are not only closer but also more indissoluble j
in fact death alone can dissolve them. It is, therefore,
not contrary to true charity to be more strongly attached to
our parents than to others who may be even more perfect.
80 COMMANDMENTS OP GOD.
Ought we to love our relatives more than those who are
united to us by the ties of friendship, of society, profession,
and temporal affairs ? There is no union more lasting and
indissoluble than that of blood-relationship. All who are
united by such ties derive their existence from the same
source. All other ties and associations are but accidental
and transitory : such, for instance, are the relations of citi
zens with regard to their habitation, their temporal and civil
affairs j the relations of merchants in business and com
merce; and the friendship of soldiers who live in the same
camp and the same barracks. The ties of blood-relation
ship on the contrary are the foundation of society. They
hold together families, generations, and the entire nation.
They survive the dissolution of all other associations, and
are well-nigh imperishable.
If we owe a love of preference to our parents and rela
tives on account of the ties of nature, we owe also a special
love to our country. The love of our native country is
paramount to all other natural affections. The prosperity
and independence of our native land are to be preferred
even to the welfare of parents or kindred, says St. Thom
as Aquinas. There are other degrees of charity betw een
parents and children, husband and wife. St. Ambrose
says that man should love God first, then his parents,
then his children, and finally his relatives.
As to our love for father and mother, St. Jerome says
that after God, who is our common and eternal Father,
we ought to love our father more than our mother. As
to the husband he ought to have more affection for his
wife than for his parents : for the Apostle says that the
husband should love his wife as his own flesh. " They
are not now two, but one flesh." (Matt., xix., 6.) Never-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 61
theless according to the supernatural order and principle
of charity, he ought to have more veneration for his
parents than even for his wife. The same principle
applies to* the duties and sentiments of the wife.
Are we also obliged to love sinners 1
We have already remarked that the love of God for
all men must be the model of our love for them. Now,
God not only loves the just but also sinners. It is true,
he hates and detests their sins, because he is offended, by
them 5 but he loves the sinner, because he created him,
redeemed him, and has the greatest desire to see himself
united to him by grace here below and by glory in heaven.
This love of God for sinners, we say, must be the model
of our love for them. We must hate and detest the sins
of our neighbor, because they make him an enemy of God ;
but we must love that sinful neighbor, because, as long as
he is a pilgrim on earth, he is capable of meriting eternal
happiness. How many saints are now in heaven who, for
several years, were great sinners, but are now glorifying
God in heaven throughout all eternity for his goodness and
mercy to them? Witness St. Augustine, St. Mary of Egypt,
St. Margaret of Cortona, and so many others, who from
great sinners became very great saints in the Church of
God. If we read that the prophets and saints wished for
the punishment of the wicked ("Let the wicked be thrown
into hell, all the nations that forget God : " Ps., ix., 18.)
it was rather through a desire of seeing divine justice tri
umph over impiety and iniquity j but they did not wish the
eternal damnation of sinners ; for we should always have
compassion for sinners, says St. Thomas, unless they pub
licly renounce or reject the true faith, and wish to die in
the state of impenitence.
62 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Should we have charity for the demons or evil spirits ?
God speaks through the prophet Isaias (Xxviii., 18) :
u Your league with death shall be abolished, and your
covenant with hell shall not subsist. 77 The demons or evil
spirits are the inhabitants of hell and the instruments of
eternal death. Now, as charity is the perfection of peace
and the seal of the divine covenant, we can have no
charity for the demons, as such charity would be contrary
to divine justice. However, in the same way that we
have compassion for irrational creatures, because their
preservation tends to the glory of God and the general
utility of man ; so we may have the same sentiments with
regard to the evil spirits as being a portion of the univer
sal creation and wish that these evil spirits should be pre
served in their natural state for the glory of the divine
Majesty.
8. Are we also obliged to love our enemies 1
Yes; for Jesus Christ says : u I say to you, love your en
emies, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them
that persecute and calumniate you. " (Matt., v., 44. )
To love those who love us and are kind to us, is the
love of heathens. " If you love them that love you, "
says our Saviour, " what reward shall you have ? Do not
even the publicans the same ? And if you salute your
brethren only, what do you more ? Do not also the
heathens the same f " ( Matt., v., 46. ) But to love those
who hate us, calumniate and persecute us, is the love of
true Christians. Now this love is strictly commanded by
our Lord. " You have heard, " said he, " that it has
been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine
enemy ; but I say to you, love your enemies, do good to
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 63
them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute
and calumniate you. " (Matt., v., 43.)
The law of Jesus Christ is a law of love. He wishes that all,
even our enemies, should love us. In like manner he com
mands us to love even those who hate us and wish us evil.
The spirit of enmity is in itself something bad and de
testable. Hence we are not commanded to love that spirit.
We are obliged to love human nature and the supernatural
gifts that may be in our enemies. This love is of strict
obligation, and not to have this love is not to have perfect
charity. Though our neighbor may be our enemy, yet
he is a child of God, and perhaps the object of his tender
mercy and compassion. If we truly love a person, we
also love his children and friends, though they may be
our enemies.
Now the precept of loving our enemies, obliges us to
love them with internal as well as with external love, that
is, we must love them with sincere love of the heart, by
formal acts of love, and show them all the ordinary signs
of benevolence and compassion which we show to a friend,
especially when we see them in distress, or their life and
property in danger. " If thine enemy be hungry, give
him something to eat 5 if thirsty, give him to drink. "
(Prov., xxv., 21.) We are obliged to salute him when he
salutes us. If he is a person whose rank is higher than
ours, it is our duty to salute him before he salutes us ;
and if, without a grievous inconvenience, we can salute
first even an equal, and thereby free him from the hatred
which he bears us, we are obliged to salute him first.
However, we are not obliged to have such sentiments
of affection for an enemy as we have for parents 5 for
sentiments of affection are a voluntary and absolute per-
64 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
fection, but not a precept of charity. Hence charity
does not oblige us to give any signs of particular esteem
and affection to our enemies 5 it obliges us merely to prac
tise benevolence and compassion towards them, especially
when we see them in spiritual or temporal distress. The
precept of charity requires no more, says St. Thomas.
Now, the love of enemies is difficult to human nature.
Hence our dear Saviour has taught us by his example
the love of enemies. When hanging on the cross, Jesus
Christ was exposed to the gaze of a blasphemous multi
tude. No complaint, however, escaped his lips. He ut
tered not a word until, moved with tender compassion
for his enemies, he cried out : - Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do." The blood of Abel demand
ed vengeance. The blood of Jesus cried only for mercy
and grace for those who shed it. His enemies had ac
cused him falsely, judged him through passion, condemned
him through malice, and crucified him between two thieves :
they insulted his mercy, and in spite of all this, Jesus
excuses their sin, diminishes their malice, and assumes the
office of advocate for them. He forgets his own bitter anguish
to think of those who persecuted him unto death. Their
guilt afflicted him more than all the torments he endured.
Now, he wishes us to imitate his example. "I have
given you an example, that as I have done, so you do
also." (John, xiii,. 15.) He promises us the forgiveness
of our sins, if we imitate his example. "Forgive," he says,
"and you shall be forgiven." (Luke, vi., 37.) In these
words, our Lord has made a sort of contract or agreement
with us. If you forgive, he says, I pledge you my divine
word that I will show you mercy: I will receive you
into my heavenly kingdom.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 65
Now this agreement between God and ourselves is very
consoling. We have the absolute certainty that, if we
forgive others, God will forgive us. God himself has said
this, and he cannot break his word : " Forgive, and you
shall be forgiven. 7 We can then say confidently when
we appear before the judgement-seat of God : " O Lord,
I have kept my part of the agreement ; I have forgiven
all my enemies, do thou also now forgive me." If we,
therefore, truly forgive our enemies, we may be perfectly
certain of forgiveness.
This certainty of pardon is beyond all doubt. Hence a
great saint used to say, that we ought to desire, nay, that
we even ought to buy, insults and injuries with silver and
gold, because if we forgive our enemies God will certainly
forgive us. Most touching is what Father Avila relates
of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. One day this saint prayed
to God to give great graces to all those who had in any
way injured her j nay, to give the greatest graces to those
who had injured her most. After this prayer, our Lord
Jesus Christ said to her: "My daughter, never in your
life did you make a prayer more pleasing to me than the
one which you have just said for your enemies. On ac
count of this prayer, I forgive not only all your sins but
even all temporal punishments due to them."
To love our enemies, to pray for them, to do good to
them, is, no doubt, an act of heroic charity an act which
is free from all self-love and self-interest. The insults,
calumnies, and persecutions of our enemies relate directly
to our own person. Now, to forgive them, nay even to
ask God to forgive them also, is to renounce our claim
to our right and honor, and thus to raise ourselves to the
great dignity of the true children of God, to an unspeak-
66 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
ably sublime resemblance to his Divinity. Jesus Christ
assures us of this great truth in these words: "If you
pray for those who hate, calumniate, and persecute you,
you will be the children of your heavenly Father who
maketh his sun to rise upon the good and bad, and rain-
eth upon the just and unjust." (Matt., v., 45.) There is
nothing more peculiar, nothing more honorable to our
heavenly Father, than to have mercy and to spare, to do
good to all his enemies, especially by giving them the
grace of conversion that they may become his friends, his
children and the heirs of his everlasting kingdom.
Now, by imitating his goodness in a point so much
averse to human nature, we give him the greatest glory,
and we do, at the same time, such violence to his tender
and meek heart as to cause him, not only to forgive the
sins of our enemies, but even to constrain him to grant all
our prayers, because he wishes to be far more indulgent,
far more merciful, and far more liberal than it is possible
for us ever to be. Holy Scripture and the lives of the
saints furnish us with most striking examples as a proof
of this great and most consoling truth.
The greatest persecutor of St. Stephen was St. Paul the
Apostle, before his conversion; for, according to St.
Augustine, he threw stones at him by the hands of all
those whose clothes he was guarding. What made him,
from being a persecutor of the Church, become her great
est Apostle and Doctor ? It was the prayer of St. Stephen,
"for, had he not prayed," says St. Augustine, "the
Church would not have gained this Apostle." St. Mary
Oigni, whilst in a rapture, saw how our Lord presented St.
Stephen with the soul of St. Paul, before his death, on
account of the prayer which the former had offered for
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 67
him : she saw how St. Stephen received the soul of this
Apostle, at the moment of his death, and how he presented
it to our Lord saying : " Here, Lord, I have the immense
and most precious gift which Thou gavest me ; now I re
turn it to Thee with great interest." * (Ecomenis of opinion
that on account of St. Stephen s prayer, not only St. Paul
but many others most probably received the forgiveness
of their sins and life everlasting.
Not long ago, quite an innocent person received a
letter of twelve pages, containing the vilest, the most in
famous, and most devilish calumnies. When she had read
them she prayed : " Father, forgive them." A few days
after, the writer of the calumnies, who had not been to
confession for several years, became suddenly so danger
ously sick that she could not help acknowledging that her
sickness was a punishment for her calumnies. So she
had another letter written in which she begged pardon
of the person whom she had so maliciously calumniated,
promising that, should she recover, she would come in
person to ask her pardon. She sent for the priest and
made a good confession. Two other persons, who had not
been to confession for several years, and were instrumen
tal in the invention of the calumnies, also entered into
themselves, when they witnessed the excruciating pains
of the writer of the calumnies. They, too, made a good
confession and promised to ask pardon in person of the
one whom they had calumniated with such devilish malice.
No doubt it requires an extraordinary grace to convert
an obstinate sinner, one who resembles the devil in wick
edness. Now, if God grants such a grace to the prayer
of him who prays for his enemy, what great graces will
* Her Life, by Cardinal Vitriaco, lib. 2, chap. xi.
GS COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
he not grant to him who, for his sake, forgives his enemy
and even begs God to forgive him also and to bless him ?
We read in the life of St. John Gualbertus, that he one
day met the murderer of his only brother in a very narrow
street. The murderer greatly feared that John would take
revenge on him, and, as he saw no possibility of escape,
he fell on his knees and asked forgiveness for the sake of
Jesus Christ, who, when hanging on the cross, forgave
his murderers and prayed for them. John forgave him at
once and embraced him as one of his best friends. After
wards he went to a church, and prayed there before a
crucifix. Oh ! how powerful was his prayer now with
our Lord ! Whilst praying he saw how our Lord bowed
his head towards him, thanking him, as it were, for hav
ing forgiven so great an offence. At the same time he
felt a most extraordinary change in his soul. He renoun
ced the world and became the founder of a religious Order.
Let us rest assured that Almighty God will be just as
generous towards us as he was towards this saint, if we
are as generous as he was in forgiving our neighbor.
An extraordinary grace, such as the thorough change of
the heart, is attached to the performance of an heroic, vir
tuous act. Now, when God furnishes us with the occasion
of practising such an act, we either neglect the opportunity
altogether, or profit by it only in a very imperfect manner.
Hence such an extraordinary grace as changes us into
saints, is withheld from us ; our want of generosity makes
us unworthy of it. You have been treated very unjustly
and uncharitably by one of your neighbors. Now, you
forgive your neighbor; but no sooner is the name of that
neighbor mentioned in conversation than you relate all
the wrong you have suffered from him. You thus show
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 69
that your forgiveness is not a complete, heartfelt forgive
ness ; it is not such a one, to which God has attached the
extraordinary grace of a full remission of all your sins and
the temporal punishment due to them the extraordinary
grace of a thorough change of your heart. You thus re
main imperfect, and will perhaps for your whole life.
Generous souls act very differently. St. Ambrose pro-
cured for an assassin, who had made an attempt on his
life, a pension sufficient for a comfortable maintenance.
St. Catharine of Sienna performed the office of servant
for a woman who had endeavored to destroy her good
name. A relative of St. John the Almoner, who had been
grossly insulted by an innkeeper in Alexandria, laid his
complaint before the saint. St John said to him : " As
this publican has been so very insolent, I will teach
him his duties. I will treat him so as to excite the won
der of the whole city." Now what did the saint do ? He
ordered his steward never afterwards to exact the yearly
rent which the innkeeper had to pay him. Such was
the revenge which the saint took, and which truly excited
the wonder of the whole city. It is thus that the saints
sought revenge, and it is thus that they became saints.
But here some one might say : u I have no opportunity
to practise acts of heroic charity towards enemies, for
the simple reason that I have no enemies. How can I
then make myself worthy of graces so extraordinary as
to change one into a saint. " In this case say to God :
" Had I, Lord, a thousand enemies, I would, for thy
sake, forgive them all, love them and pray for them."
Thus you will practise, at least in desire, the highest de
gree of charity, and our Lord will take the will for the
deed.
70 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
But remember also that if you have no opportunity to
practise this degree of charity in reality, you will always find
plenty of opportunities to practise the degree of charity
next to the highest, which consists in bearing with your
neighbor s whims, weaknesses, faults of character, disagree
able manners, and all the little annoyances which he may
cause you. The practice of this kind of charity will also
move our Lord to grant you extraordinary graces. * I
know, " says St. Francis de Sales, " that frequent little
vexations and annoyances are often more disagreeable
than great ones, and that it often seems harder to bear
with the inmates of the house than with strangers ; but I
know also that our victory in these little annoyances, is
often more pleasing to God than many apparently bril
liant victories, which are more glorious in the eyes of
worldings. For this reason, I admire the meekness with
which the great St. Charles Borromeo suffered, for a long
time, the fault-finding attacks which a great preacher ut
tered against him from the pulpit, far more than all his
patience under the assaults which he received from others.
Lord, when shall we be so far advanced in perfection
as to bear with our fellow-men, with a truly strong love
and affection.
We read in Holy Scripture that Moses was always
the same kind and meek father to the Jewish people in
the desert in spite of their frequent murmurs, reproaches,
rebellion, and apostasy. His revenge was to pour forth
fervent prayers to God for their spiritual and temporal
welfare. Now, when such meek and forbearing charity
is praying, God is forced, as it were, to listen to such a
prayer and to hear it, Hence he could not punish the
Jewish people for their sins, so long as Moses interceded
for them arid asked him to pardon them.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 71
Now, if on the one hand, it is certain that God, if we
forgive our enemies and do good to them, forgives us, also
graciously listens to our prayers, and grants extraordinary
graces, both for the conversion of our enemies and for our
own spiritual advancement, it is, on the other hand, just as
certain that God will neither forgive us, nor listen to
our prayers, nor accept our gifts, if we do not forgive our
enemies. "And when you shall stand to pray, forgive,
if you have aught against any man." (Mark, xi., 25.)
a Leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to
be reconciled to thy brother, and then coming, thou shalt
offer thy gift." (Matt., v., 23.)
In these words, our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us that
our prayers will not be heard by his heavenly father as
long as we entertain in our hearts feelings of hatred to
wards any of our fellow- men. If you have recourse to
prayer, he says, and at the same time have aught against
any man, go first and be reconciled to your brother, or at
least forgive him from the bottom of your heart, and then
come and offer up your prayers or any other good work,
otherwise I will not listen to you. Our dear Lord has
made every man his representative on earth, by creating
him according to his own image and likeness ; he has re
deemed all men with his most precious blood ; he has,
therefore, declared that whatever we do to the least of our
fellow-men for his sake, we do it to him. Now, by com
manding us to love our enemies, to do good to those that
hate us, and to pray for those that persecute and cal
umniate us (Matt, v., 44.), he asks of us to give to him,
in the person of his representatives, that which we can
give so easily. It is great presumption to ask for his
gifts and favors, without being willing, on our part ; to
72 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD,
give him what he requires of us in all justice. To refuse
this request of our Lord is, indeed, on our part, great
injustice. We ask of him the greatest gifts : such as the
pardon of innumerable and most grevious offences, final
perseverance, deliverance from hell, everlasting glory,
and so many other countless favors for body and soul.
What he asks of us is little or nothing compared with his
graces. I will give you, then he says, what I can, if you
give me what you can. But if you do not give me what
you can, neither will I give you anything. " If you will
not forgive, neither will your father who is in heaven for
give your sins." (Mark, xi., 26.) It is but just that God
should have no compassion on him who has no compassion
on his neighbor. " Judgment without mercy to him that
hath not done mercy," says St. James. (Chap., ii., 13.)
" With what face," says St. Augustine, " can he ask for
giveness, who refuses to obey God s command to forgive
others."
Sapricius and Nicephorus were intimate friends ; the
former was a priest, the latter a layman. Their
holy friendship lasted many years, till unfortunately
it was at last broken by a foolish quarrel. Ni
cephorus soon repented, went to the friends of Sapricius
and begged them to intercede for him. But in vain ;
Sapricius would not forgive him. Nicephorus then went
himself, fell on his knees before Sapricius, and conjured
him to pardon him. But the priest was .obstinate ; he re
fused to forgive. This occurred during the persecution
of the Emperor Valerian. Sapricius was accused of being
a Christian, arrested and brought before the judge. He
was put to the torture ; he bore his sufferings with heroic
constancy; he was finally condemned to be beheaded.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 73
On his way to the place of execution, Nicephorus meets
him, casts himself at his feet, and cries out with tears,
"0 martyr of Jesus Christ, forgive me, I am sorry for hav
ing offended thee ! " He continued thus to implore
Sapricius till they came to the place of execution : but all
in vain, Sapricius will not forgive ! Finally, the priest
mounted the scaffold the head-man orders him to kneel
down, to receive the fatal blow ; at this awful moment his
courage fails, the terror of death seizes him. He turns
traitor, renounces his holy faith and sacrifices to the false
gods ! Nicephorus grieved by this cowardly apostasy
and inspired by the Holy Ghost, proclaims aloud, that he
is a Christian, he is beheaded on the spot and thus received
the glorious crown that Sapricius lost by his unforgiving
hatred. (Acta Mart., A. D. 300.)
There is one who has been greatly insulted by his
neighbor. On being required to forgive him, he replies :
" I will indeed forgive the insult, but I think it is well
that evil-doers should be punished." St. Alphonsus an
swers : " The precept of loving our enemies forbids us to
entertain sentiments of revenge against our enemies. We
are bound to overcome evil by good. l Seek not revenge,
nor be mindful of the injury of thy citizens. (LevL, xix.)
He who seeks revenge for an insult received, is in the
state of mortal sin. Now, if a person says, i I will indeed
forgive the injury, but I think it is well that evil-doers
should be punished, 7 I can hardly see how such a person
is free from the desire of revenge, and, therefore, I would
hesitate to absolve him, unless there are other just causes
to excuse him."
However, to rejoice at the temporal misfortune of an
enemy is no violation of the precept of charity, if we be-
74 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
lieve that such a misfortune will contribute towards the
salvation of others j nor is it wrong to be sorry for the
temporal prosperity of an enemy if we have good reason
to believe that he will use "his prosperity to oppress the
poor, and lead many into perdition. How strange is it
not, to see sometimes pious persons overcome by the hell
ish demon of hatred and revenge. There is a woman,
who was once a model of piety. She went regularly to
the sacraments, even gave alms to the poor, was liberal
to the Church, a,nd an object of joy to angels and men 5
but unfortunately she took offence at some trifle. The
demon of hatred entered her heart. She no longer re
ceives the sacraments, or if she does it is only to profane
the sacraments, to eat arid drink damnation, for she will not
forgive her neighbor ; she still bears hatred in her heart.
A few years ago there was a poor man lying sick
in one of the public hospitals of a certain city. He
was good and pious, received communion every month,
and spent the greater part of his time in reading
the lives of the saints and other good books. Now, un
fortunately for him, it happened that, from some slight
provocation, he received a great dislike to a fellow-patient
in the same ward. As the unhappy man did not banish
this temptation, his dislike soon became a devilish hatred.
Sometimes, in his fury, he allowed himself to be so over
come by the demon of hatred that he would make use of
the vilest language and throw at his companion whatever
came to hand. One day the priest told him publicly that
he would be obliged to refuse him the sacraments, even
on his death-bed, if he did not give up his hatred. Not
long after this unhappy man roused the ward at midnight
by the most pitiful moans. All hastened to his bedside.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 10
There he was struggling desperately with smothered
cries, as if he wished to rid himself of one who was chok
ing him. He was unable to speak, and in a few moments
he was a corpse. He died without the sacraments, with
out being reconciled to his neighbor he -died with the
devil of hatred still lurking in his heart. But one will
say perhaps : " I will forgive that person ; I do not wish
him any harm, but I do not want to see him or speak to
him any more. I do not wish to have any thing to do with
him any longer."
You say that you forgive that person who has injured
you, that you do not wish him any harm 5 but that you
do not wish to see him or speak to him any more ! And
with that of course, you are satisfied: you go confidently
to confession and communion. You consider yourself a
good Christian. You do not even think of accusing your
self in confession of any want of charity ; and should the
confessor, through love for your soul, make any inquiries
about the matter, you answer perhaps with a righteous
air, that you have done your duty, that you cannot do
more than forgive him.
Now I must say to you that you have not forgiven that
person. You hate him still, and therefore, you are still
living in sin, still an enemy of God.
Do you shun the society of those whom you love ?
Now if you really loved that person who has injured you,
would you be so very careful to avoid his company ?
But you will say : " indeed I forgive him and love
him, but I avoid him for peace sake, I do not wish to
quarrel with him. The very sight of him makes my
heart s blood boil. " What ! You say that you forgive
that person and love him ! Does then the sight of one
76 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
whom you love make your heart s blood boil ? You say that
you forgive him. You mean to say, no doubt, that you do
not wish him any harm. But mark well, that is not enough ;
you must love him and love him truly. You must do good
to your enemy. You must prove by your actions as well
as by your words that you really forgive him. Unless you
truly forgive and are forbearing with your neighbor, our
dear Saviour will say to you in the hour of death: " I
have loved you with an eternal charity, and I still love you,
because you are my work 5 but I can neither see nor speak
to you. A separation must take place. Depart from me."
There is another ; he says : " If I offer to make friends
with that woman, she will think me mean-spirited, and
only despise me the more for it. r
Well suppose she does despise you, will that harm you ?
Whose esteem should you value most. God s or hers ?
But is it really true that she will think you mean spirit
ed, if you offer to make friends with her ? I do not be
lieve it. It is a suggestion of the devil. No 5 the Holy
Ghost himself assures us that a A mild answer turneth
away wrath. " (Prov., xv., 1.) There is something good
in the heart of every one yet living on earth. It may
indeed be buried far down in the soul, but a meek forgiv
ing spirit will surely bring it to the surface, just as the
warm sunshine brings up the flowers from beneath the
frozen ground. This is, as St. Paul tells us, the only re
venge which it is lawful for a Christian to take. "If, " he
says, " thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give
him to drink ; for in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire
on his head. " (Rom., xii., 20.) If you treat your enemy
with kindness, if you return good for evil, you will gain
him gradually, and at last you will win his heart.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 77
The brave Hungarian, Count Peter Szapary, was
taken prisoner by the Turks, brought to Ofen, and dragged
before Hamsa Bey. The cruel Turk rejoiced to see his
dreaded enemy at length in his power ; he loaded him
with insult, condemned him to receive 100 blows on the
soles of his feet, then to be chained hand and foot, and
cast into prison. It was a dark, loathsome, subterranean
dungeon. The prisoner s bed was only mouldy straw;
his food was so wretched that he was soon reduced to
the point of death. But the cruel Pasha did not wish him
to die. He desired first to torture his prisoner, and then
receive a heavy ransom for him. He ordered the pris
oner to be cared for until he was restored to health; then,
condemned him to work in the kitchen. One day Hamsa
Bey asked him in mockery, how he felt. Szapary an
swered not a word, but turned his back upon the tyrant.
At this the Pasha was so enraged that he ordered the
brave nobleman to be harnessed to a plough and to till
a neighboring field, with another unhappy Christian, ex
posed to the strokes of the lash and the jeers of the popu
lace. Finally after three long years of cruel martyrdom,
Szapary was exchanged for a wealthy Aga, who had been
taken prisoner by the Hungarians.
Szapary returned home in a most pitiable condition.
He was worn to a skeleton and scarcely able to stand.
It was a long time before he was again restored to health.
Some years after, .Sept. 2, 1686, Ofen was captured by
the christians and Hamsa Bey taken prisoner. The
Duke of Lorraine gave him over into the hands of Szap
ary, to do with him whatever he thought proper. A ser
vant of Szapary went in haste to the Turk to announce
to him the fact. Some time after Szapary went to the
78 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
prison to visit his cruel enemy. "Dost thou know me?
he asked ; "I am Szapary. Thou art now in my power. ? >
"I know it," answered the Turk sullenly ; "now is your
time for vengence.""Very well, I shall take the revenge
of a Christian. I now restore you to freedom, uncondi
tionally, and even without ransom. 7 The Turk smiles con
temptuously. He did not believe such noble conduct pos
sible.
"I am a Christian," continued Szapary ; "my religion
commands me to forgive my enemies, and to return good
for evil." He then ordered the chains of his enemy to be
struck, off and restored him to liberty for "the sake of Him
who was nailed to the cross." The hardened Turk was
completely overcome by this extraordinary generosity.
He fell writhing at the feet of Szapary. "Your kindness
comes too late/ 7 he shrieked; "I have taken poison to es
cape the tortures which I expected. I now curse myself
and my cruelty towards you. I crave your forgiveness. I
wish at least to die a Christian, since the Christian re
ligion teaches so sublime a virtue !" Skilful physicians
were speedily called, but it was too late. Hamsa Bey
was baptized, and Szapary stood as his godfather. (Hun-
gari.)
There is another. He says : " I cannot forgive that
person. It is too much to expect from human nature.
How can I love a person who has belied me, and calum
niated me to all my neighbors ? ;?
You say that you cannot love that person. Tell me,
then, does the gospel make any exception ? Does it say
that you need not love those that belie you ? On the
contrary, our Lord says : " Pray for those who calum
niate you."
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 79
You say, it is too hard to forgive that person. But
supposing it is very hard, is that any reason why you
should not do it ? Are you not a Christian ? Is not the
way to heaven, a way of suffering and self-denial? "If
any one wishes to be my disciple," says Jesus Christ,
" let him deny himself." It may be expecting too much
from poor human nature to love your enemies, but it is
not expecting too much from the grace of God j for, with
the assistance of his grace, you can do all things, as St.
Paul assures us.
St. Francis de Sales relates that, when he was studying
in Padua, some of the students were in the bad habit of
going about in the city at night, challenging the people,
and firing upon them if no reply was made. One night
it happened that a student was challenged and killed for
refusing to answer. The murderer took refuge with a good
widow, whose son was one of his most intimate friends.
She harbored and concealed him very carefully. A few
moments after, she received the harrowing news that her
son had just been killed. The truth flashed at once upon
her mind, and going forthwith to the closet wherein she
hid the murderer of her son, she thus addressed him :
" Alas ! what had my son done to you that you should
kill him so cruelly ? " The culprit, overwhelmed by the
atrocity of his crime and the remembrance of the former
friendship, burst into tears and tore the hair from his
head. Instead of begging pardon of the desolate mother,
he threw himself on his knees before her, entreating her
to deliver him up that he might publicly atone for so
atrocious a crime. The heroic woman was satisfied with
these feelings of true repentance, and instead of wishing
for revenge, she desired onlv that the murderer of her son
80 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
might live and secure God s pardon. Accordingly she
had him taken to a place of security. Some time after,
the soul of the murdered youth appeared to his merciful
mother and told her that God had shortened his time of
punishment in purgatory because she had so generously
forgiven his murderer.
" But everybody tells me that I shall be a fool, if I
forgive that person after the way that he has treated me ! 7
Well, do you then intend to be guided by the maxims
of the world f Remember you cannot serve two masters.
You cannot serve Jesus Christ and the world. The
world, of course, will tell you : " Fight for your right.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If you cannot
punish him by law, then take the law into your own
hands. Revenge is sweet." Tell me, then, is this your
standard of morality ? This may do very well for hea
thens, but it will not do for Christians. No ; Jesus Christ
says : " If a man smite thee on the one cheek, turn to him
the other." (Matt, v., 39.) The motive of your action
must be in your own soul, and not in the conduct of others.
Men misrepresent you ! What matters it 1 God is your
law-giver and your judge.
" But there are so many wicked people in the world ! "
Well, act so that they may become useful to you. If
there were no wicked people how could you grow -in the
virtues of charity and patience.
" But men are so thankless ! " Then imitate nature
which gives to man bountifully and hopes for nothing in
return.
" But they insult you." Remember that an insult de
grades only him who gives it.
" But they slander you ! " Thank God that your ene-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 81
mies, to blacken your character, must have recourse to
lies.
" But the shame of being treated thus ! " Has then a
just man any thing to be ashamed of?
" But I will lose my character, every one will think me
guilty, I will be disgraced forever, if I speak to that man,
that woman ! " What ! Look then at Jesus Christ, praying
for his enemies ? Tfyen he is the most degraded of men ;
for he forgives thousands of men every day !
Jesus Christ forgives his enemies. Now, do you not
think it is an honor to resemble your God and your Re
deemer ? Is it not true nobility, is it not heroic, to raise
yourself above all vulgar prejudices, and to forgive your
enemies ? Is it not God-like ? The heathens were aston
ished at the charity with which the first christians for
gave their enemies. Nay even at the present day the
most selfish and degraded hearts cannot help admiring
that man who forgives his enemies who returns good for
evil.
Not long ago it happened, during a certain mission, that
some prominent members of the community, who had been
at enmity, were reconciled. The two enemies passing on
opposite sides of the street crossed at the same moment
and embraced each other in the middle of the street.
Each one was eager to make the first advance ; and so
marked was the fact, that every one in town spoke of it.
It was a source of general edification. It revived in the
place the old heathen cry about the early christians : "Ah !
see how these christians love one another ! "
" But ftiat man, that woman is an ungrateful creature !
No one can live with him." Well, look again at our
Lord. Were not his enemies ungrateful ? Were they
82 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
not full of hatred and malice ? And yet he forgave
them and prayed for them.
" But he has done me too great an injury. I cannot
forgive him." What ! Have you suffered more than our
Lord has suffered. He is God, and you are after all but a
weak, sinful man. Again, is the injury done to you greater
than any of those you have offered to God ? Why, then
should you not be willing to remit a small debt in order that
God may remit your large debt ? " Thou wicked servant,
I forgave thee all the debt because thou besoughtest me,
Shouldst not thou, then, have had compassion also on thy
fellow-servant, even as I had compassion on thee ? "
(Matt, xviii., 32.)
Now, who are those Catholics who make such objections
to the love of enemies and to the practice of doing good
to them ? Generally speaking, they are those who are
not in the habit of making frequent acts of the love of
their neighbor. We grow in virtue by practising it.
Those, therefore, who but seldom make special acts of the
love of their enemies, find it very difficult to practise it
when the occasion for its practice is presented to them.
They easily give way to their feelings of hatred, and are
apt to die with them.
Two friends had the misfortune to quarrel about some
trifle and from that moment became deadly enemies.
This hatred lasted for several years. At last one of them
fell sick. As the illness became serious, the priest was
sent for. He came and told the dying man that God would
not forgive him until he would first forgive his enemy.
The dying man offered to forgive, and the priest, at his
request, heard his confession. His enemy was sent for.
He came : the two were reconciled, at least to all appear-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 88
ances. Unfortunately, as the one sent for was leaving
the sick man s room, he said : " Ah, the coward ! he sent
for me, because he is afraid ! " When the dying man heard
the remark, all his old hatred revived. " No," cried he in a
rage j "I am not afraid, and to show you now that I
am not, I tell you I hate you as much as ever ! Begone !
May I never see your face again " Scarcely had he ut
tered these words when he fell back and died ! Think of
the meeting of these two enemies in hell.
In order that we may escape a similar misfortune, let
us adopt the following means :
1. When saying the Lord s Prayer, let us say, with
great fervor and with true sincerity, the words : u And
forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass
against us," earnestly wishing that God may forgive our
enemies and bless them with spiritual and temporal goods.
2. Let us accustom ourselves to banish all wilful feel
ings of hatred and rancor as soon as they arise in our
hearts, by saying some short but fervent prayer for those
against whom those uncharitable feelings arise in our soul.
3. Let us do good to our enemies whenever we cam
4. Let us never speak against those who have hurt or
ill-treated us.
5. As St. Stephen has, in many instances, proved to
be a powerful intercessor and patron for all those who
wish to convert not only their enemies but also other ob
stinate sinners, let us often invoke him, that he may ob
tain for us the grace .to love our enemies as truly and
sincerely as he loved and prayed for his.
In a certain city of Spain, two of the principal inhabi
tants bore a mortal hatred to each other, and thereby
divided the whole into two hostile parties. The streets
84 COMMANDMENTS OP GOD.
were often the scene of bloody encounters and ruthless
murders. The bishop of the place and even the king
himself had tried to put an end to these disgraceful feuds ;
but in vain. At last it was resolved to give a mission in
the place. The missionaries came. When they heard
of the two hostile parties, they resolved to erect in the
church an altar in honor of the great martyr St. Stephen,
in order to obtain, through his intercession, the grace of
reconciliation of the two hostile parties.
So in the opening sermon, one of the missionaries told
the people that he had looked in vain in their city for
an altar erected to the great martyr St. Stephen. "Now
my brethren," continued he, " we wish to supply the
defect. We wish to erect in this church an altar to
the first Christian martyr. You must aid us in this good
work. You must especially procure us a beautiful pic
ture of St. Stephen, for we do not know where to find one.
Whoever will get this picture for us will have a special
share in the graces and indulgences of the mission. " The
missionary then spoke of the importance of saving their
immortal souls.
Scarcely had the missionary finished his sermon, when
one of the ring-leaders who had been greatly affected by
his words came to him and said : " Reverend Father, there
is a very beautiful picture of St. Stephen in town ; but it
belongs to my enemy. If you send somebody to him, per
haps he will lend it to you for the altar." " Excellent," said
the missionary ; " I shall call on him immediately, but I
want you to accompany me. " ^ I ? " said the man sur
prised ; " why, this is impossible ! He is a bitter enemy.
He will not only insult me, but your reverence also. "
" Do not fear, " said the priest ; " come with me, you
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 85
shall be welcome. This is clearly the work of God. "
They went together to the house of the other ring
leader. They were kindly received. " We intend/
said the priest, addressing him, " to erect an altar in honor
of St. Stephen. I have heard, that you have a beauti
ful picture of the Saint, and I have come to request you
to lend it to us during the mission." " Most willingly," ans
wered the ring-leader. li I will not only lend it to you, I
will bring it to the church myself, and this gentleman,"
pointing to his old enemy, " will have the kindness to help
me to carry it." He immediately took down the picture
and the two enemies bore it triumphantly through the streets
to the church. The people, who beheld this miracle of
grace, could hardly believe their eyes. The two factions,
inspired by the good example of their leaders, now vied
with each other in erecting and adorning the altar. In a
few days every trace of ill-feeling had disappeared ; the
most perfect harmony reigned everywhere.
When the holy patriarch Jacob was on his death-bed,
he sent a last message to his son Joseph. ll Tell him,"
he said, " to forgive and forget, for my sake, the great
malice of his brethren."
Our dear Saviour sends to you this message from the
hard bed of the cross on which he died for us all : "I beg
of you," he says, u to forgive and forget, for my sake, all
the evil that your brother, that your enemy, has done you."
Oh ! go in spirit and kneel at the foot of the cross. Look
upon the out-stretched arms of Jesus. Look upon his
pale face. Look upon his sacred head crowned with
thorns. Say to him like Saul : " Lord, what wilt thou
that I should do ? " Ah ! listen to his voice. " my
child," he says, u my dying request is that you forgive
86 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
from your whole heart, that person who has injured you.
But if you will be revenged, then come, here is my heart,
glut your rage upon me, for I have become his surety j I
have taken his sins upon myself."
9. For which class of persons should we always show a
particular love ?
For the poor, orphans, widows, and in general for all
those who are in temporal or spiritual need.
The precept of charity obliges us to love our neighbor
internally and externally. We must love our neighbor
internally, that is, our love for him must come from our
heart. Hence Pope Innocent XL has condemned the pro
position : u We are not bound to love our neighbor by an
internal and formal act." It is, therefore, a sin to take
pleasure in the misfortune of a neighbor, or to be grieved
at his welfare. However, it is not wrong to take pleasure
in the temporal misfortune of an obstinate sinner, if we
have reason to believe that such a misfortune will induce
him to amend his life and to oppress no longer the in
nocent. But it is a sin to delight in the death, or in any
kind of misfortune of our neighbor on account of some
temporal advantage that we derive from it. However, to
delight in the cause of some temporal advantage, is one
thing, and to delight in the advantage itself the effect
of the cause is another. There are particular cases in
which delight in the effect of a certain cause is no sin,
whilst delight in the cause of the effect is a sin. It is, for
instance, no sin to be delighted in the acquisition of prop
erty which comes to us after the de^ih of a parent ; but
it is sinful to rejoice at his death. Hence Pope Innocent
XL has condemned the proposition (15 Prop.) which
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 87
asserts " that it is lawful for a son to rejoice at the death
of his father, on account of the inheritance which will
come to him."
We should nourish and increase the love of our heart
for our neighbor, by making frequent acts of love. u With
out such frequent acts of love," says St. Alphonsus, " we
shall scarcely be able to practise the charity which we
owe to our neighbor. We should make such an act of
love at least once a month."
Another means to practise the love of our heart for our
neighbor is to show compassion for those who are afflicted
in soul and body. True compassion makes us feel the
misfortunes of our neighbor as if they were our own.
We must also love our neighbor externally. Our life
on earth is full of bodily and spiritual miseries. We are
liable to meet with different reverses of fortune. How
many have not been thrown from the summit of wealth
into an abyss of poverty ? Hence the precept of charity
obliges us to be always willing to help all without ex
ception, and assist them according to our ability. li Give
to the good," says Holy Scripture, " and receive not a
sinner" (Ecclus. xii., 5) ; that is : give nothing to the sin
ner to foster his iniquity, but relieve human nature, be
cause it is the work of God. It may not always be in
our power to assist every body in his wants ; but charity
does not oblige us to do what is beyond our means. If
we cannot give to every one that is in distress, charity
obliges us at least to be charitably disposed towards all
our fellow-men, to show sincere compassion for them in
their afflictions and misfortunes, and to say, at least, some
prayers for them, True charity of the heart, says St.
Paul, makes us " rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep
with them that weep." (Kom. xii., 15.)
88 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
10. How should we help the needy?
By corporal, as ivell as by spiritual, works of mercy.
Our neighbor may be in bodily or spiritual want, or in
both at the same time. To relieve him in the wants of
the body is a corporal work of mercy, and to relieve him
in his. wants of the soul, is a spiritual work of mercy.
Now, as the soul is far superior to the body, a benefit
conferred on the soul is, also, generally speaking, far
superior to a benefit conferred on the body.
In some particular cases,, however, a corporal work of
mercy, may be better than a spiritual work of mercy,
because it may be more necessary. For a man dying of
hunger, a loaf of bread is better than an eloquent discourse
or a salutary counsel.
In the practice of charity a certain order must be ob
served. This order is determined by the ties of kindred,
of country, and of religion. Hence, when our nearest
relations are in distress, nature and charity require us to
relieve them in preference to others, because they are
more closely united to us by the ties of kindred and friend
ship. If, however, one of our nearest relatives is only in
ordinary want, and a stranger is in extreme want, we are
bound by the precept of charity to relieve the stranger
in preference to our nearest relative.
If a poor person is in extreme want and in danger of
death by starvation we are obliged to relieve him with
those means of ours which are not necessary for the
preservation of our own life. If our neighbor is in great
want, we are obliged to assist him with those means which
we do not need for our condition of life.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 89
11. Which are the corporal works of mercy ?
1, To feed the hungry ; 2, to give drink to the thirsty ; 3,
to clothe the naked ; 4, to harbor the harborless ; 5, to visit
the sick ; 6, to visit the imprisoned ; 7, to bury the dead.
God has made the rich depend on the poor, and the poor
on the rich. The rich should take care of the poor, in
order that the poor may take care of the rich. The misery
of the poor is corporal. The misery of the rich is gene
rally spiritual. The rich, therefore, should give corporal
relief to the poor, in order to receive from them spiritual
aid in turn. Without the assistance of the rich, the
poor would die corporally. Without the prayers and bless
ings of the poor, the rich would die spiritually. Graces
and chastisements are in the hands of the poor. When
they implore mercy for him who aids them, God grants
their prayers. When they demand justice against those
who send them away empty, God also grants their
prayers. " Son, defraud not the poor of alms, and turn not
away thy eyes from the poor. For the prayer of him
that curseth thee in the bitterness of his soul shall be heard:
for he that made him will hear him." (Ecclus. iv., 1., 6.)
A rich man is in danger of losing his soul when he has
not the prayers and blessings of the poor. In this world,
the rich are the judges of the poor. In the world to come,
the poor will be the judges of the rich. Those who have not
the poor for their advocates, will not find grace with their
judge. He who has the poor to plead for him, need not
fear, but may rejoice. Those, therefore, who are able to
give alms, are strictly obliged by the precept of charity,
to relieve the needy, especially those who are ashamed to
beg. "He that hath the substance of this world, and shall
see his brother in want, and shut up his heart from him, how
90 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
doth the charity of God abide in him?" (1 John iii.,17.)
"Be you, therefore, perfect," says our Lord, "as your
heavenly Father is perfect." (IMatt v., 48.) In these words,
Jesus Christ points out to us his heavenly Father as the
model of our charity.
We cannot imitate the omnipotence of God by perform
ing miracles. We cannot multiply bread, change water
into wine, give sight to the blind, speech to the dumb,
hearing to the deaf, raise the dead to life, as Christ did.
But no one has an excuse, if he does not imitate the
charity of God. In his charity, God has created the
heavens to give us light and rain ; the fire to give us
warmth ; the air to preserve our life ; the earth to give us
various kinds of fruit ; the sea to give us fish ; the animals
to give us food and clothing ! In his charity, God the
Father has given us his only-begotten Son, and his Son
gave himself to us in the manger of Bethlehem, and upon
the cross, and he gives himself still every day upon our
altars, at each holy Mass, and in each holy Communion.
God is almighty ; but his omnipotence is not able to give
us any thing greater as a proof of his unspeakable charity
towards us. He has given heaven ; he has given earth ;
he has given his kingdom, he has given himself; what
more has he to give ! Ah ! how prodigal is he of himself!
Now, this charity of God is most wonderful for five
reasons :
1. On account of the greatness and majesty of the lover
and giver; for who can be greater and more exalted
than the Lord of heaven and earth ?
2. On account of the condition of those to whom he
communicates Himself with all his gifts. By nature, they
are but men, the lowest of rational beings ; they are proud,
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 91
ungrateful, carnal sinners, prone to every evil ; they are
mortal, corrupt, vile creatures, doomed to become one
day the food of worms. u What is man," exclaims the
Psalmist, "that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of
man, that Thou visitest him ? " (Ps. viii., 5.)
3. This charity of God is wonderful on account of the
manifold and extraordinary gifts which he partly confers
on men, and partly offers them. These are a rational
soul, created in God s own Image and Likeness ; His
grace ; the promise of glory ; the protection of his Angels ;
the whole visible world ; and finally, his own well-beloved
Son. u For God so loved the world as to give his
only-begotten Son ; that whosoever belie veth in him,
might not perish, but might have life everlasting. 77 (John
iii., 16.)
4. This charity of God is wonderful on account of the
end for which he confers all these benefits, that is, for
the happiness of man, and not for his own happiness ; for
God does not expect to receive any advantage from man.
5. On account of the manner in which he communi
cates himself to men.
It is peculiar to God s infinite love to lower himself
to what is vile and despicable, to heal what is ailing,
to seek what is rejected, to exalt what is humble, and
to pour out his riches where they are most needed. He
often communicates himself even before he is asked,
as he does in all the so-called preventing graces, by
which he moves the soul to pray for subsequent ones.
He even gives more than is asked. The good thief
on the cross asked of our dear Saviour to remember him
in his kingdom. But our Lord did more than that ; he
promised him paradise. " Amen ; I say to you ; this day
92 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
thou shalt be with me in Paradise." (Luke xxiii,, 42.)
God often lavishes his blessings upon those who abuse
them, and are ungrateful for them; nay, he lavishes them
even upon the worst of his enemies upon infidels, atheists,
heretics, blasphemers. u Be you the children of your
Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise
upon the good and the bad, and raineth upon the just and
the unjust." (Matt, v., 45.) This charity of our Lord
must be our model. u Be, therefore, followers of God as
most dear children, and walk in charity," says St. Paul.
(Eph. v., 1, 2.)
We need no money to buy charity, nor is it necessary
for us to cross seas and travel into far-distant countries to
find it. Charity is natural to man. He who is destitute
of it, is said to have no heart, and, therefore, nothing is
more detestable in the eyes of men than want of charity.
Every one should be able to say with Job : "I was an
eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame. I was the father
of the poor." (Xxix. 15.) The goods of this world were
made for man s benefit. If they had eyes, feet, and un
derstanding, they would go where they are most needed.
Now, if a man has charity, he will lend to them his feet
to go, his eyes to see, and his tongue to enquire, where
they are needed.
Indeed, what are the goods of this world ? Are they
not the alms which men have received from the Lord 1
u The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine," saith the
Lord of Hosts by the Prophet Aggaeus. (Chap, ii., 9.)
Men are all beggars before God. " What hast thou," says
St. Paul, " that thou hast not received ? " (II. Cor. iv., 7.)
The Lord bestows these goods upon men in order that by
means of them they may be enabled to imitate His mercy,
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 93
charity and liberality. God wishes that men, His child
ren, should resemble Him as much as possible. The more
they endeavor to become like unto Him, the more He is
delighted with them. u The Lord values a perfect soul
more highly than a thousand imperfect ones," says St.
Alphonsus. The reason of this is, because u there is
nothing more like unto God," says Plato, " than a holy man."
Out of a thousand likenesses of himself, an emperor will
value that one most highly which represents him most
perfectly. In like manner, God values a soul in which
His Image and Likeness shine forth most perfectly, more
than a thousand others which resemble Him less perfectly.
Hence, all good Christians apply themselves constantly to
their spiritual progress ; they try to enrich their souls
every day with greater merits ; they endeavor to embellish
them more and more by acts of charity and liberality to
wards their fellow-men. They know that they cannot
become like unto God, by any thing better than by the
practice of the virtue of mercy. This truth is declared
in Holy Scripture by the Holy Ghost Himself. " In judg
ing be merciful to the fatherless as a father, and as a
husband to their mother, and thou shalt be as the obedient
Son of the Most High, and He will have mercy on thee
more than a mother." (Ecclus iv., 10.)
. To suffer with hunger, is so great a pain that many, to
satisfy the cravings of hunger, have eaten most disgusting
things. During the siege of Jerusalem (A. D. 68.), the famine
had become so fearful in this doomed city that the inhab
itants had recourse to the most horrible expedients to
procure a single morsel of food. They dragged the dead
from their graves, in the wild hope of finding food. A
woman, a mother, murdered her own infant, roasted it
94 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
and ate one half of its body, and presented the remainder
to the famished soldiers, whom the odor of this execrable
meal had attracted to the spot. " It is my son," she
said ; " be not more tender than a woman, nor more
compassionate than a mother."
Many of the readers of these lines will still remember
the terrible time of famine in Ireland. There were
thousands and thousands wasting away and dying of hun
ger. They were falling and dying as the leaves fall in
autumn. To supply, then, with food the poor and the
hungry is a work of charity most pleasing to God.
Among the many thousands of Israelites who were led
away by Salmanazar into Assyria, there was one, by
the name of Tobias, who, for his charity, was distin
guished from all the rest. As he had full leave from the
king to go where he pleased, he went freely from one
part of the country to another, to give all the comfort
and assistance in his power to his fellow-captives.
" He fed the hungry, and gave clothes to the naked."
(Tob. i.) In going about he met a man named Gabelus, who
was in great distress. Now, as he had money at his dis
posal, he loaned to Gabelus ten talents of silver. " From
my infancy, " says Job, " mercy grew up with me. I
have not denied to the poor what they desired. I have not
made the eyes of the widow wait. I have not eaten my
morsel alone,the fatherless have eaten thereof." (Job,xxxi.)
The saints rejoice in having an opportunity of practis
ing charity, and they feel sad if such an opportunity is
wanting. In order to have always such an opportunity,
many of the saints fed a certain number of poor people
every day j others sold every thing they had, and even
contracted debts, to relieve the poor and needy.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 95
St. Louis, King of France, used to feed some poor peo
ple at his table, and he himself waited upon them : it was
his firm belief that, in the person of the poor, he had
Jesus Christ Himself for his guest. He gave money to
them with his own hands, because they are, said he, my
soldiers to defend my kingdom j I myself ; then ? must pay
their salary.
St. Charles Borromeo sold one of his estates for forty
thousand dollars to relieve the poor.
St. Serapion gave away even part of his clothing.
Upon being asked why he did so, he pointed to the
Gospel and said : u Behold what has robbed me of
every thing ! " He gave in alms even the Gospel book
itself. (Life.)
St. Camillus de Lellis contracted a debt of thirty
thousand dollars for the relief of the poor.
Our Lord preserved the right arm of St. Oswald, king
of England, uncorrupt, because He wished thus to honor
him for having given with hi,s right hand so many alms to
the poor. (Butler s Lives of the Saints.)
St. John the Almoner, Patriarch of Alexandria, was,
as it were, an ocean of aims , the more he bestowed, the
more he received. The saint tells us what especially in
duced him to practise this virtue. " When I was fifteen
years old," he says, "and lived in Cyprus, I saw in a
dream a virgin of charming beauty, with a splendid crown
on her head. She drew near me, and gently struck me
with her hand. I was frightened, and awoke from my sleep-
When I asked her who she was, and whence she had come,
and how she could dare come near me whilst asleep,
she smiled, cast upon me a most gracious look, and said
in joyful accents : i I am the first among the king s
96 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
daughters. If you have me for your friend, you will also
have the king for your most intimate friend. No one
enjoys more his confidence, and stands in higher favor
with him than I. It was I who persuaded him to leave
heaven for earth, there to become man. After having
reflected on this vison for some time, I thought that it
meant mercy and charity. I rose at once and went to
church. On my way thither, I met a poor man who was
almost naked, and shivering with cold. I took off my
coat and gave it to him, saying to myself: Now let me
see whether the vision I had was true. Before I reached
the church, a certain man came and gave me one hundred
dollars in gold, and then disappeared suddenly. Now I
felt persuaded that the vision was no illusion, but a true
vision from God." (Life by Leontius.)
From that time the saint devoted himself so much to
works of charity that he became the example and admir
ation of the whole world. a It is not right for us," he
used to say, " to attend to the affairs of others sooner than
to those of Jesus Christ. Go, then, about in the town, and
take up the names of all my masters." And on being
asked who they were whom he called his masters, he an
swered : " They are those whom you call the poor and
needy. They are my masters and my helpers. For they
alone are able to assist me, that I may not be excluded
from life everlasting. And no sooner have I given away
something, than I receive it back a hundred-fold." This
saint, while admiring the great goodness of God who sent
him so many good things, was often heard to exclaim :
" So ! so ! my Lord ! Let us see whether Thou art more
liberal in sending means than I in bestowing them ! " One
day Sophronius saw this saint much cast down. He asked
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 97
him the cause of his sadness. "I feel unhappy to-day,"
he answered, " because I had no opportunity to offer
to God something in expiation of my sins by assisting
the poor."
2. To give drink to the thirsty.
The pain of thirst is a greater pain than that of hunger.
Those who are sick and dying, generally complain of great
thirst. Our dear Saviour himself, when hanging on the
cross, could not help manifesting the pain which was
caused by thirst. Plutarch relates that Lysimachus, king
of Thrazia, surrendered, after a battle, his kingdom to
his enemy, in order to obtain water to quench his thirst.
How happy must not this enemy of Lysimachus have felt
when he bought a whole kingdom at so cheap a price.
But our dear Lord has promised to give more than an
earthly kingdom to him who gives drink to those who
cannot help themselves, to prisoners, to the sick and the
poor. " Whoever," he says, " shall give to drink to one of
those little ones a cup of cold water, amen I say to you
he shall not lose his reward." (Matt, x., 42.)
Leo Majoran met one day in the wilderness, a poor,
blind beggar, who had lost his way, and suffered exceed
ingly with thirst. Leo went immediately in search of
water, gave it to the poor man, and led him back to the
right road. Almighty God was so much pleased with
this act of charity that he made Leo hear a voice
assuring him that he would become emperor as a reward
for his charity. (Baron, ad An. 457., Num. 6.)
Whilst St. Anastasia suffered the torments of martyr
dom, she experienced an excruciating thirst. She asked
for a drink of water. A certain man, a heathen, named
Cyrillus, felt compassion on her, and went immediately
98 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
for water and gave it to her. Almighty God rewarded
him for this act of charity by giving him the grace to
become a Christian and die a martyr.
3. To clothe the naked.
u When thou shalt see one naked/ 7 says the prophet
Isaias, " cover him." (Lviii., 7.) To clothe the poor for the
sake of Jesus Christ, is to clothe Christ himself: " I was
naked and you covered me." (Matt, xxv., 36.)
St. Sulpicius relates the following beautiful example of
the compassion and charity of St. Martin, bishop of Tours.
One day in the midst of a very hard winter and severe
frost, when many perished with cold, as he was marching
with other officers and soldiers, he met at the gate of the
City of Amiens, a poor man, almost naked, trembling and
shaking with cold, and begging alms of those that passed
by. When Martin saw that those who went before him,
took no notice of the poor man, he felt great compassion
for him. As he had nothing left but his arms and clothes
upon his back, he drew his sword and cut his cloak into
two pieces, gave one to the beggar, and wrapped himself
in the other. Some of the by-standers laughed at the
figure he made in that dress, whilst others were ashamed
not to have relieved the poor man. The following night,
St. Martin saw, in his sleep, Jesus Christ dressed in that
half of the garment which he had given away, and was
bidden to look at it well, and asked whether he knew it.
He then heard Jesus Christ say to the angels that sur
rounded him : " Martin, yet a catechumen, has clothed
me with this garment."
4. To harbor the harborless.
Those who, for the sake of Jesus Christ, harbor the
poor and friendless, give such pleasure to our Lord, that,
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 99
on the day of judgment, he will say to them: "I was a
stranger and you took me in" (Matt, xxv., 35.), and then,
for having given him, in the person of the poor, a little
room in their dwelling, he will give them his immense,
everlasting kingdom. If it is not in your power to har
bor the poor, give them something to pay towards a night s
lodging, help to support orphan asylums, hospitals, and
other charitable institutions, and you will largely share in
the corporal works of mercy, that are performed there.
Csesarius relates (L. iii. ? c. 68.) that a certain family was
always very kind and hospitable to the poor, and was, on
this account, blessed by God, spiritually and temporally.
They never suffered from want, and all the members were
very religious. Now, it happened that two members of the
family died, and with them all temporal and spiritual
prosperity and happiness seemed to have left the family.
One day a venerable old man came and asked for a night s
lodging. He obtained it with great difficulty. One of the
inmates of the house told him that they had been well off,
and lived in great peace and happiness, but that since
the death of two members of the family, all spiritual and
temporal welfare had gradually vanished. To this the
stranger replied: "My friend, those deceased members
are Date, give/ and Dabitur, < it shall be given to you. 7
(Luke vi. 7 38.) Let these two members come back, and you
will be again as happy and prosperous as before." These
words made a deep impression upon the family. They
understood that the blessing of God was withdrawn because
they had ceased to practise hospitality to the poor. So
they returned to the practice of their former charity, and
with it returned the blessing of God.
5. To visit the sick.
During his life, our dear Saviour was the comforter of
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BIB. MAJOR
100 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
the sick. For them he showed more than a mother s
compassion. For them he wrought most of his miracles.
"I will come," he said to the centurion, "and heal thy
servant." (Matt, viii., 7.) "He went about," says the Evan
gelist, "doing good, and healing all that were suffering."
(Matt, xi., 5.) Let the sick, especially if poor and abandoned,
be as dear to you as the apple of your eye. If your
charity is to shine forth towards all, it should shine forth
especially towards the poor when they are sick. Procure
for them all the relief and comfort you can ; and if it is
not in your power to assist them, ask others to do some
thing for them. Show at least, compassion for them.
" As long as I know," wrote St. Francis de Sales to a
sick person, "that you are confined to your bed of sick
ness, I will always bear you a great love and affection as to
a person visited by the Lord. I am sincere in what I say."
Bear also patiently and charitably with the weak
nesses of the sick, and pretend not to notice them. Do
not require of them the perfect practice of virtue at a time
when they are depressed by pains and miseries.
To be harsh and hard to the sick is to become account
able to God for their pains and sufferings. Gen erally speak
ing, those who were often sick themselves, are most charit
able to the sick. "It is by my own pains, sufferings and in
firmities," says St. Frances deChantal, "that the Lord was
pleased to make me sympathize with the sick, and practise
patience and charity towards them. The Lord made me
understand that there is nothing equal to perfect charity."
You cannot go easily to excess in charity and affection
for the sick, when there is question about procuring relief
for them, not only when they are dangerously ill, but
also when they complain of light indispositions. These
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 101
indispositions, it is true, may sometimes be nothing but
over great anxiety for their health, or may be only imag
inary, or exaggerated ; yet, generally speaking, you
should believe what they tell you, r for a slight indisposi
tion may prove serious if neglected in the beginning.
Even in imaginary evils there is some reality at the bot
tom on account of the uneasiness and anxiety which they
produce. Besides, should you not believe them, they
will be afraid to tell you again when they are really suf
fering, thinking within themselves that it is useless to
speak to you about their sufferings, because you would not
believe them anyhow ; and this might be followed by evil
consequences. Hence, it is better to be deceived than
not to apply remedies to evils which may really exist.
Conceal then your hesitation to believe them, even if you
have the best of reasons not to believe them. It is better
to show yourself rather ready to believe them, than to ex
pose yourself to the danger of violating charity.
There lived in Alexandria a pious and wealthy lady
who, wishing to make rapid progress in virtue, went to
the bishop, St. Athanasius, and begged him to permit her
to take home with her one of the sick poor widows, who de
pended on the church for support. St. Athanasius, greatly
pleased with her charitable design, selected for her an old
lady who was very pious and sweet-tempered. The good
lady took her home and waited on her day and night with
the greatest attention, and the pious old woman thanked
and blessed her continually for her great kindness. Now
the charitable lady, fearing that she would not have much
reward in the other world for serving one who was so
sweet-tempered and thankful, went once more to the bis
hop and requested him to send her one who was ill-temp-
102 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
ered, who would try her patience, and thus afford her an
opportunity of meriting heaven. The bishop astonished
at the request, said : " Very well ! Your request shall be
granted !" The bishop then gave orders to send her one
of the sourest and most ill-tempered sick old women that
could be found in the city and as Cassian naively re
marks " such a one was easily found."
The old woman was brought to the rich lady s house.
She was every thing that could be desired cross-grained,
peevish, quarrelsome, never satisfied, and, what was worse
than all, her tongue had a very loose rein. The rich lady
tried her utmost to serve and please her, but all in vain ;
she received only abuse and curses for her charity. Some
times, even, the old woman struck her. To every one
that came in, she complained that the rich lady neglected
and starved her. The pious lady felt at times almost
discouraged, still she prayed and continued her offices of
charity till finally God called her to himself. (Cassian,
Confessions.)
One of the chief reasons why you should be very kind
to the sick is, that you may be better able to benefit their
souls LJ their pains and sufferings. A sick person will
listen the more willingly to your spiritual discourse, the
more he notices your charity and solicitude for him. Many
a soul, it is true, is brought to a sense of her duty and
enters into herself by means of bodily sickness ; but the
number of those who do not profit by their sufferings is
far greater, because there are but too many who at the
the time of sickness, especially when the disease has as
sumed a chronic form, and also at the time of convales
cence, do not combat their disorderly appetites, and, from
being servants of God, they soon become the slaves of cor
rupt nature.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 103
To guard the sick against this spiritual lethargy, it is
well to relate to them what Father Surin, S. J., writes in
one of his letters : " A young man," he says, " filled with
the Holy Ghost, and with whom I had the happiness to
travel for three days and from whom I learned more of
the spiritual life than ever before, told me among other
things, that one of our greatest evils is that we do not
profit well by our bodily infirmities." u The Lord," said
Father Surin, " inflicts them upon us for a wise purpose.
He unites Himself to the soul more perfectly by sufferings
than by consolations. Hence too great a care for preserv
ing our health is a great obstacle in the road to perfection."
Should a soul experience a great desire to advance in
the spiritual life and to give herself up to prayer, but feel
unable to do so on account of her bodily infirmities, let
her consider that God requires of her an angelic patience,
a constant resignation and calm submission to the dispo
sitions of His divine providence, a generous abandonment
of herself to His fatherly care, a perfect holy indifference
for life or death, and an utter contempt for all earthly
things. Then, if the Lord should wish to make use of her
for His glory, He will repair in an hour s time all the
harm that a sickness of several years may have caused
her to suffer in her body. Hence, sick people must be
repeatedly exhorted to .pray often and most fervently for
the grace to profit well by their sickness, and obtain the
wise end for which the Lord is accustomed to visit us with
different kinds of infirmities, in order that it may be said
of them in truth: " This sickness is not unto death, but
for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified
by it."
A great means to dispose sick people to submit to God s
104 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
holy will, and to holy indifference for life or death, is to
show them that, by accepting death with perfect resig
nation to the holy will of God, they die with a merit
similar to that of a martyr and go straight to heaven after
death.
Death is the last sacrifice that we can make to God.
It is a sacrifice most difficult to make, because death is
unnatural. Death is a punishment inflicted on all men, in
consequence of the sin of Adam ; it is revolting to our
nature, for man was not made to die. Now, to die perfectly
resigned to the just and holy will of God, is to die with a
merit similar to that of martyrdom. According to St. Aug
ustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, the merit of martyrdom
does not consist merely in suffering many horrible torments;
it consists rather in the conformity of the martyr s will to
the holy will of God. Now, if God, instead of employing
the hand of the executioner, makes use of some natural
means, such as sickness, or an accident, to take away my
life, and I accept death with as much resignation as a
martyr, God will give me the reward that he gives to a
martyr. Now, our faith teaches that a martyr, after death,
goes straight to heaven. If I die, then, with the disposi
tions and the merit of a martyr, my reward will be sim
ilar to his. Hence, not only those acquire the merit and
crown of martyrdom who die for the faith, but also all those
who cheerfully accept death for the love of God. Such
a death is an act of perfect love, because by it we aban
don and sacrifice ourselves without reserve to the holy
will of God. Consequently, such an act of love cancels
sin and the punishment due to it.
In order to be able to make this act of love at the hour
of death, we should accustom ourselves to make it often
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 105
during life* We should often make an offering of our life
to God, declaring ourselves ready to accept, at any time,
the kind of death which he has decreed for us from
all eternity. As soon as the holy martyrs knew that
they had to suffer martyrdom, they began to make
frequent offerings of their life to God. For every such
act they have obtained in heaven a special reward. We
should imitate their example, because we, too, shall re
ceive in heaven, as many crowns as we have made acts
of entire abandonment of ourselves into the hands of God.
We should daily beseech our Lord most earnestly to
grant us the grace to accept death at his hands with the
intention of pleasing him and doing his holy will.
Although this doctrine is very consoling for sick
persons and well calculated to dispose them to a perfect
resignation to God s holy will, yet let it be remembered
that if the Lord does not enlighten their mind to under
stand it, and inflame their will to embrace and to love
it, they will draw from it but little comfort and encour
agement. In the life of St. Lidwine, who was sick for
thirty-eight years, we read that in the beginning of her sick
ness she shrank from suffering. By a particular disposi
tion of Providence, however, a celebrated servant of God,
John Por, went to see her, and preceiving that she was
not quite resigned to the will of God, he exhorted her to
meditate frequently on the sufferings of Jesus Christ,
that by the remembrance of His Passion she might gain
courage to suffer more willingly. She promised to do so
and fulfilled her promise, but could not find any relief for
her soul. Every meditation was irksome and unpleasant,
and she began again to break out into her usual complaints.
Upon being asked by her director how she had succeeded
106 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
in her meditation upon our Lord s Passion, and what
profit she had derived from it, she replied, " my father,
your counsel was very good indeed, but the greatness of my
sufferings does not permit me to find any consolation in
meditating on my Saviour s sorrows. " Seeing at last
that Lidwine derived no benefit from his charitable exhor
tations, the Rev. Father Por thought of another means.
He gave her Holy Communion and, immediately after,
whispered into her ear : " Till now I have tried to
console you, but in vain j but now let Jesus Christ
Himself perform this office. " Behold ! no sooner had
she swallowed the Sacred Host than she felt so great a
love for Jesus Christ and so ardent a desire to become
like unto Him in His sufferings that she broke out into
sobs and sighs, and for two weeks she was hardly able to
stop her tears. From this moment she never complained
again, but desired to suffer still more for Jesus Christ.
Hence it is evident that the sick should be strengthened
by the frequent reception of the sacraments ; for they
will derive more benefit from one single communion than
from all the exhortations they may receive, no matter bow
pious or persuasive they may be.
I have dwelled so long on this point, from the convic
tion that there is scarcely any thing more apt to draw
the blessing of God upon one s self than the careful and
charitable attendance to the corporal and spiritual wants
of the sick, whilst, on the other hand, the neglect of this
duty is followed by many great evils.
How well the Lord is pleased with one who faithfully
complies with this duty, and how great a reward is await
ing him in the life to come, may be gathered from what
we read in the life and revelations of St. Gertrude. One day
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 107
after having recited the Office as far as the fifth lesson, St.
Gertrude saw a religious who was ill and who had no one
to say Matins with her. The Saint, moved by the charity
which always animated her, said to our Lord : " Thou
knowest, Lord, that I have almost exhausted the little
strength I have in reciting my Office so far ; nevertheless,
as I ardently desire Thee to abide with me during these
holy days and as I have not a fitting abode prepared for
Thee, I am willing, for Thy sake, and in satisfaction for
my faults, to commence Matins again. " As she began
the Office once more, our Lord verified the words u I
was sick and you visited Me ; and as you did it to one
of these My least brethren, you did it to Me," by appear
ing to her and overwhelming her with sweet consolations,
which could neither be explained nor understood.
It appeared to the Saint that our Lord was seated at a
table in the most sublime glory, and that He was distrib
uting ineffable gifts, graces, and joys to the souls in
heaven, on earth, and in purgatory, not only for each
word, but even for each letter which she had repeated
with the sick sister ; and she also received an intelligence
of the Psalms, Responses and Lessons, which filled her
with inexpressible delight. And when she besought our
Lord to pour forth an abundant grace and benediction on
the whole Church, u What do you desire that I should do,
My beloved ? " replied He, " for I give Myself up to you
with the same love and resignation as I abandoned my
self to My Father on the Cross ; for even as I would not
descend from the Cross, until He willed it, so now I
desire to do nothing but what you will. Distribute, then,
in virtue of my Divinity, all that you desire and as abun
dantly as you desire,"
108 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
After Matins, the Saint retired again to rest, and our
Lord said to her : u She who wearies herself in exercises
of charity, has a right to repose peacefully on the couch
of charity, 7 and as He said this, He soothed her soul so
tenderly that it appeared to her as if she did, indeed, re
pose on the bosom of this heavenly Bridegroom. Then
she beheld a tree of charity, very high and very fair,
covered with fruit and flowers and with leaves shining
like stars which sprang forth from the heart of Jesus,
extending and lowering its branches so as to surround
and cover the nuptial couch on which the soul of Gertrude
reposed. And she saw a spring of pure water gush
forth from its roots, which shot upwards and then returned
again to its source, and this refreshed her soul marvel
lously. By this she understood the Divinity of Jesus
Christ sweetly reposing in His humanity, which imparts
ineffable joys to the charitable elect. (Life and Revel
ations: chap, xxxvi.)
6. To visit the imprisoned f
To be deprived of liberty is one of the greatest afflic
tions. Those who suffer in prison for crimes which they
committed, are deprived of their liberty through their
own fault. However, Christian charity requires us to show
compassion for them as far as possible. We often hear
that many a prisoner committed suicide, or went to the
place of execution in complete despair. The reason of
this may be, because he saw himself abandoned by every
body. It is, therefore, an a^ct of great charity to relieve
these sufferers as far as we are able. Charity and kindness
towards them will soften their hearts, make them repent
of their crimes, and inspire them with the sincere desire
to be reconciled to God, and accept their punishment at
the hand of God in expiation of their sins.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 109
In 1851, a murder was committed near Paris, in France.
A captain of the carbineers, an excellent officer, beloved
by all, going, as usual, the rounds of the stables, had
reprimanded one of the troopers whose conduct had not
been very regular. The latter made no reply, but appar
ently turned away with a calm countenance, and went up
to the mess-room. There he loaded one of his horse-pistols,
and, going back to the stable, approached his captain, and
with a deadly aim, discharged it against the loins of the"
officer. The unfortunate man fell, weltering in his blood.
They took him up, carried him to his room, and the surgeons
pronounced the wound mortal. In fact, the poor captain
breathed his last, a few hours after, in the arms of his
old mother, in the midst of horrible sufferings, endured
heroically, and with sentiments of faith and charity truly
admirable. He had made his confession with great piety,
had received the Blessed Sacrament, and, in imitation of
his divine Master praying on the cross for his crucifiers
had pardoned his murderer, and begged for his pardon
with the most touching and pressing appeal.
The murderer had been arrested on the spot, and
transferred to the prison in Paris. There he was aban
doned by all, except the priest. Two or three days after
the deed had been committed, the priest went to see the
trooper, for the first time, in the cell of the military
prison. He encouraged him to hope in the mercy of God,
and to prepare himself for a good confession, and to ac
cept death in expiation of his crime. The poor criminal
was touched by the words of the priest, and said : "I
have been the victim of a moment of fury and insanity.
It was a punishment from God, whom I had abandoned.
Had I always prayed as I do now, I should not have come
1 1 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
to this pass. My father said to me often : Fear God,
and pray to him : he alone is good, all the rest is nothing ! J
But it is so hard to do so at the regiment ; we are always
surrounded by young men who say nothing but what is
bad." When he heard that he had been sentenced to
death, he exclaimed : " The sentence is just ; to appeal
would be to go against the goodness of God. They would
show me a mercy that I do not wish for, because the
punishment must be -undergone. I must atone for what
I have done. My hopes are no longer here below. I have
only God to look to. He is now every thing to me j in
him alone do I trust. I feel quite calm j I feel no rebellion
in my heart j I am perfectly resigned to the will of God."
Now, what brought about that calmness, that happi
ness, in this poor prisoner ? It was his sincere confession
which the priest was kind enough to hear. It was holy
communion, which the priest brought to him several
times. In a word, it was the charity of the priest, who
often went to see him in his prison, in order to console
him, and to inspire him with great confidence in the
mercy of God.
During the three hours and a half of the drive to the
place of execution, he never lost his calmness. God was
with him in the person of the priest, who accompanied
him to the Savory Plains, where he was to be shot. What
a touching spectacle : to behold, on a wagon, a tall man,
the culprit, followed by the priest of God ; to see how
the priest was even paler than the culprit ; and to see
them walking side by side, you would think that he was
the one to be shot !
The expression of the culprit s countenance evinced
great calmness and resignation ; his eyes betrayed, at
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. Ill
once, sorrow and hope. He seemed to pray with fervor.
There was no sadness in his looks ; there could even be
seen the reflections of a certain inward joy. He listened,
with love and deep attention, to the words addressed to
him by the minister of Jesus Christ. When the priest
said to him, " Our Lord is between us two : my poor
child, we are always well when the good Saviour is with
us," he replied : u Oh, yes, my heart is perfectly happy.
I did not think I should tell you, but I feel as if I was
going to a wedding. God has permitted all this for my
good, to save my soul. I feel so much consoled, thinking
that my poor captain died a good Christian ! I am going
to see him j he is praying for me now. My God has
saved me j I feel that he will have mercy on me. He
ascended Calvary, carrying his cross : I accompany him.
I shall not resist whatever they wish to do with rne tie
me, or bandage my eyes. Ah ! the poor soldiers are lost
because they do not listen to you priests. Without you,
without religion, the whole world would be lost ! "
When they drove by the barracks, where he had com
mitted the murder, he offered a prayer for his captain.
" I can t conceive how I could have done it ! I had no
ill-will against him ! Could the commission of a sin save
me from being shot, I would not commit it : I think so
now. I have nothing to keep me here ; I am going to
see God!"
When they had arrived at the place of execution, the
priest and the culprit alighted. An officer read the sentence.
The culprit replied : " I acknowledge the justice of my
punishment ; I am sorry for what I have done j I beg of
God to pardon me : I love him with all my heart ! n Then
he knelt ; the priest gave him the crucifix to kiss for the
112 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
last time. u My father," he said, with feeling expression
"my father, I place my soul within your hands; I
unite my death to that of my Saviour Jesus. Farewell J
farewell ! " The priest embraced him once more. Then
with his arms extended in the form of a cross, the culprit
inclined his head, and awaited his death. The priest
retired to pray at some distance. One minute after, hu
man justice had been satisfied, and the soul of the unfortun
ate soldier, purified and transformed by religion, had fled
to the bosom of him who pardons all those who repent.
The priest resumed his place by him, and, with tears in
his eyes, prayed, on his knees, for the departed soul of
the unfortunate carbineer.
There are others, who may lose their liberty in defense
of their country, as it generally happens in the time of
war. Others, again, may lose their liberty in defense of
the Catholic religion, as it happened in the time of the
crusades. Others, again, may be carried off by violence,
into the hands of idolaters, where they are cruelly treated
and have to live in barbarous slavery.
About eight centuries ago, the Moors were very power
ful. They often landed on the coast of southern Europe,
seized upon many defenseless christians, and sold them as
slaves. They also attacked Christian vessels, plundered
them, and sold the crew into bondage. There lived at
this time in Paris, a holy priest, named John de Matha.
During his first Mass he was honored by a heavenly vision.
He beheld a bright angel, clad in a robe of snowy white
ness. On his breast shimmered a cross of blue and crim
son. He held his hand extended over a Moor and a
Christian who stood beside him. The saint understood
from this vision that he was called by God to ransom
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 113
Christian captives. In order, then, to prepare himself
for this generous undertaking, he quitted Paris and
retired to the wilderness where he sought the company
of St. Felix, a holy hermit, who was heir to the crown
of France, but had quitted all to secure his salvation.
While these holy men were, one day, seated near a cool
spring that gushed forth beside their hermitage, and were
discoursing of heavenly things, they suddenly beheld a
snow-white stag. Between its antlers glittered a brilliant
cross of blue and crimson. St. John de Matha now told
his astonished companion the vision he had seen during
his first Mass. The two holy men then agreed to obey
the voice of heaven and to found an order for the redemp
tion of Christian captives. They set out for Rome to re
ceive the approbation of the Pope. On their arival they
were graciously received, and on the following morning
the Pope also, during Mass, had the same vision which
John de Matha beheld in Paris. The holy Father ap
proved the new order, and gave it the name of the Most
Holy Trinity.
Now from the fact that God called into existence a
religious order for the purpose of redeeming Christian
captives, we clearly see that to visit the imprisoned, or
contribute towards the ransom of Christians, is a work
most pleasing to the Lord. Those who, for Christ s sake,
have performed this corporal work of mercy, will, on the
day of doom hear the Eternal Judge say to them : " I
was in prison, and you came to me." (Matt, xxv., 36.)
One day, a poor widow came to St. Paulinus, bishop
of Nola, and begged him, with tears in her eyes, to procure
for her the means to redeem her son who had fallen into
the hands of a cruel idolater. So St. Paulinus went to
114 COMMANDMENTS OP GOD.
the master of the poor widow s son, and said to him : "Be
kind enough to let the son of this poor woman return
home, and keep me instead." The request of the holy
bishop was granted. He lived in slavery and worked as
a gardener for a long time, until at last he obtained his
liberty in a wonderful manner, and returned into his
diocese with many fellow-captives. (Life.)
7. To ~bury the dead.
After Adam had sinned, God said to him : " In the
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return
to the earth out of which thou wast taken : for dust thou
art, and into dust thou shalt return." (Gen. iii., 19.)
The grave, then, is our earthly home, as heaven is our
eternal one.
What is the meaning of the word " home I " Home is
the hallowed ground, where we are born. Now where
were we born ? Whence have we sprung ? We have
come from the ground. " God made the first man out of the
slime of the earth," says holy writ. The earth then is
our home, the earth blessed by the hand of God. But
where can we find that earth blessed by the hand of God I
In the churchyard in the grave. The Holy Ghost
admonishes us not to refuse this home to the dead. u Stretch
out thy hand to the poor, and restrain not grace from the
dead." (Ecclus. vii., 36-37.) To contribute, then, towards
defraying the expenses of Christian funerals of the poor,
or to help burying them, or to honor their dead bodies by
accompanying them to the graveyard, is to perform the
seventh corporal work of mercy.
We read in Holy Scripture that Sennacherib, king of As
syria, inflicted many kinds of cruelties upon the captive
Israelites. He put many of them to death, and left their
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 115
bodies unburied. Now it happened that, whilst Tobias
was at dinner, he was told that an Israelite had just been
slain in the street. He immediately rose from table, took
his corpse and concealed it in his house till night, and
then buried it. His friends reminded him of the great
danger he had but lately escaped, and said that his zeal
was indiscreet. Tobias, who had a greater regard for
God than for men, could not be talked out of his duty.
He would not suffer a dead body that came in his way to
remain unburied. Hence he deserved to hear the arch
angel Raphael say to him : " When thou didst pray with
tears, and didst bury the dead, and didst leave thy dinner,
and hide the dead by day in thy house, and bury them by
night, I offered thy prayer to the Lord." (Tob. xii., 12.)
Almighty God has often shown, in a wonderful manner,
how pleasing it is to him to bury the dead.
After St. Catharine had suffered the death of martyrdom
in Alexandria, in the year 806, her body was carried by
angels to Mount Sinai, and buried there.
One day, St. Anthony, the hermit, went to see St. Paul.
He found him kneeling in his cave and thought that he
was praying. Full of joy, and supposing him yet alive,
he knelt down to pray with him, but, by his silence, soon
perceived that he was dead. Having paid his last respects
to the holy body, he carried it out of the cave. Whilst
he was at a loss how to dig a grave, two lions came up
quietly, and, as if mourning. They tore up the ground
and made a hole large enough for the reception of a human
body. St. Anthony then buried the holy corpse, singing
hymns and psalms according to holy usages of the Church.
(Butlers Lives of the Saints, Jany. 15.)
St. Stanislas, bishop of Cracow, repeatedly admonished
116 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Boleslaus II. , the impious king of Poland, to give up his
scandalous conduct. At these fatherly admonitions, the
king became so infuriated, that he, with his own hand,
killed the holy bishop. Then his life-guards fell on the
martyr s body and cut it into pieces which they scattered
about the fields to be devoured by wild beasts and birds
of prey. But eagles came and defended them, till the
canons of the cathedral, three days after, gathered them
together and buried them before the door of the chapel
in which he was martyred. Wonderful to relate, when
they put the pieces together, in as natural an order as
possible, -they grew conjointly so as not to leave even
a scar. (Life, May 7.)
There are many who, when preparing for burying their
dead friends and relatives, show more honor to their
bodies than to their souls. There is a lavish expense for
the funeral. A hundred dollars are spent where the means
of the family hardly justify the half of it. Where there
is more wealth, sometimes live hundred or a thousand,
and even more, dollars are expended on the dead body.
But let me ask, what is done for the poor living soul !
Perhaps the poor soul is suffering the most frightful tor
tures in purgatory, whilst the lifeless body is laid out in
state, and borne pompously to the graveyard.
You must not misunderstand me. It is certainly right
and just to show all due respect even to the body of your
deceased friend, for that body was once the dwelling-
place of his soul. But tell me candidly, what joy has the
departed and, perhaps, suffering soul in the fine music of
the choir, even should the choir be composed of the best
(opera) singers in the country ? What consolation does the
suffering soul feel in the superb coffin, in the splendid
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 117
funeral ? What pleasure does the soul find in the costly
marble monument, in all the honors that are so freely
lavished on the body ? All this may satisfy, or at least
seem to satisfy, the living, but it is of no avail whatever
to the dead. Poor, unhappy souls ! how the diminution
of true Catholic faith and charity is visited upon you while
you suffer, and those that loved you in life might
help you, and do not, for want of knowledge or faith !
Poor, unhappy souls ! whilst your friends accompany
your bodies to the graveyard, how many prayers did
they recite for you ? How many masses had they offer
ed up for you ? After returning from your graves,
they go to their business, to their eating and drinking,
with the foolish assurance that the case cannot be hard
on one they know to be so good ! Oh ! how much, and
how long this false charity of your friends makes you
suffer ! If we, then, wish to please God by burying the
dead, if we desire to honor our deceased friends and re
latives by accompanying their bodies to the graveyard,
we must assist at their funerals with true, Christian senti
ments of piety ; we must pray for the repose of their souls,
and request the prayers of others for them. And, oh !
what impressive lessons does not the graveyard teach
us !
Again, what is home ? Home is that hallowed spot
where dwell our forefathers, friends, relatives, and
all those we hold dear. Now, where do they all dwell or
what is their last resting-place * It is the grave. Where
are those who loved and nursed you in early childhood,
who soothed you when lying on the bed of fever, who
watched you through the long dull nights, who cooled your
burning brow, who kissed away your tears ? Ah ! how
1 1 8 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
many of us miss them now ! Those who labored and
wept and suffered for us j those who always advised us
for our good ; who tried to keep us from harm and lead
us on to a life of virtue ; those who loving us with pure
unselfish love, would gladly have given their heart s blood
to save us ; those whose good name and blessing we inherit
where do they dwell, where do they sleep I Their home,
their resting-place, is the graveyard !
Hence it is that every pure and loving heart loves to
visit the graveyard; to deck with flowers the hallowed spot
where sleep their loved ones ; and to offer up heartfelt
prayers and tears for the repose of their souls departed.
Where will you find those with whom you were once
united in the bonds of pure and hallowed love : those who
loved you once and who love you still ? Death has torn
from your arms the dear husband and loved wife. You
were but one heart and one soul. You walked together
so long, side by side, through this vale of tears. The
icy hand of death snapped the sweet bonds of love in
twain j the grave now hides that faithful heart in which
you fondly trusted. You are left alone in the wide world ,
you must bear your cross alone. Your dear little one3
are fatherless now. A strange homesickness draws you
forth from the busy haunts of men to the silent graveyard.
Ah! it is there the broken-hearted feel that they have
found home.
See that poor mother. She has brough forth her child
amid pain and tears. She loves it as the apple of her eye,
as a portion of her very being. She breathes of its breath,
she lives of its life. But cruel death comes and breathes
on the sweet flower 5 it withers in the bud. Her dear
child is torn from her breast, from her loving arms ; her
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 119
tender heart bleeds. With ringing hands and broken
heart, and weeping eyes she totters behind the coffin that
bears her hope, her all on earth. Ah ! ask that heart
broken mother where is her home now ! She will lead
you to the silent churchyard and the grave where her
loved one is buried.
Who is there among us who has not a dear friend, or
beloved one resting in the graveyard ? Ah ! whoever
has a heart that is capable of thanking and loving will
feel drawn to weep and pray at the grave of the loved
one. And, therefore, the grave is not to us a place of
terror. It is the meeting-place of loved ones, the abode
of blessing and peace ; it is our home !
Woe to him who flies from the grave ! Woe to him whom
the sight of the grave fills only with hate and terror !
His conscience tortures him, because the grave reminds
him of some one he has hastened to an untimely death
some one whose life he has embittered, whose heart he
has broken by cruelty, by treachery, by the blackest in
gratitude.
The rich, sensual man hates the sight of the grave ;
because his soul is buried in wealth and luxury, and the
grave speaks to him of death, that death shall tear him
away from all he holds dear, that death which is followed
by judgment which shall decide his fate for weal or woe
for eternity. The graveyard is the school of true wisdom,
it speaks a language calm and stern. It shows us the
folly of human pride and human ambition. The path of
glory leads but to the grave. When tempted to vanity
to pride or ambition, go visit the graveyard ; saunter
among the abodes of the dead ; mark the inscriptions on
the tombs, and remember those who lie buried there,
120 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
whose memory perchance is 1 >ng forgotten ; once cherished
fond dreams of greatness like yourself, were once flattered
for their wit and beauty, or envied for their wealth.
Where is their wealth and beauty now ?
When the accursed thirst for gold torments you, when
you are tempted to defraud your neighbor, to forswear
your holy faith for the sake of some office, for a
membership in some secret society, go to the graveyard j
ask the dead how much of all their wealth they have taken
with them to the other world !
Are you dissatisfied with your lot ; do you complain that
God has been unkind to you? Go to the graveyard
and see how in death all are equal, how short is life, how
brief are all our joys and all our sorrows. The grave tells
you : u There is a joy, there is a woe : and both are
everlasting ! ?
Does, the devil tempt you to revenge f do you feel
the spirit of hatred glowing in your heart, and throbbing
in your brain? Go to the graveyard. See how the
most bitter enemies sleep there so peacefully side by side.
Are you one of those who enjoy life, who spend your
days in feasting and rioting, who watch so jealously over
the beauty of your face, the symmetry of your form ?
Go to the graveyard. The delicately-nurtured body,
the beautiful face, the graceful form, are all hideous and
loathesome ; they are become the prey of countless worms.
Indeed, the graveyard is the school of solid wisdom.
There the living may learn from the dead. There we
can learn to hate sin, to love God, and to save our eternal
soul.
Where is your true home, your last dwelling-place I
You rent or own a house or room which you call your
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 121
home ; but that home, you will have soon to leave. There
is one home, where your name is to be inscribed ; one
home where you shall dwell winter and summer, year after
year, and no landlord or lawsuit will be able to dispossess
you 5 and that is the grave. How poor soever you may
be, even though you have not one foot of land you can
call your own, there, in the grave, you will become land
owner, you will have at least one spot of earth that you
can call your own. Even if you lose your property,
even if deprived of all your rights, this property at least
you will retain, and this one right, the right to a grave.
You complain that your enemies give you no rest. Ah !
there, in the grave, they shall not disturb you any more ;
there your bones can rest in peace. Are you hated,
mocked, and persecuted? See, in the grave, your
enemies can no longer annoy you ; in the grave, you will
find a true home ; in the grave, you can sleep in undisturbed
peace. In the grave, you can rest from all your cares
and labors and sorrows j you can rest from your long
weary wanderings. When your long day s work is ended,
when you have fought the last dread fight, and yielded
to the angel of death, your friends bear you to your last
resting-place, the grave. Yes, it is the last resting-place
of us all. You may wander over the wide world, and
sigh because the world seems too small to satisfy the
desires of your heart j you may dwell in the healthiest
clime 5 you may have wealth and enjoyment, you may
live to a green old age ; at last, the end of all your travels,
and amusements, and honors, shall be the silent grave.
The grave is indeed our true home. Let us then visit
it often. It is a spot consecrated to prayer, and love and
holy fear. The sunken graves, the moss-grown tomb-
122 COMMANDMENTS OF GOO.
stones, the weather-stained crosses, the withered wreathes,
and mouldering bones of the dead, will then speak eloquently
to your heart. There you may learn betimes to die to
the world and its vanities, to the flesh and its sinful
desires. There you will grow more familiar day by day
with the earnest thoughts of death, judgment and eternity !
J Pray often, then, for the souls of the faithful departed,
and when you shall go to your last home, tears of love
and gratitude will bedew your tomb, and other lips and
hearts will breathe that prayer for you : " Eternal rest
give to them, Lord, and let perpetual light shine unto
them ! "
12. Which are the spiritual works of mercy ?
1 , To convert the sinner / 2, to instruct the ignorant ;
3, to counsel the doubtful ; 4, to comfort the sorrowful ; 5,
to bear wrongs patiently ; 6, to forgive injuries ; 7, to pray
for the living and the dead.
1. To convert the sinner.
It is an article of our holy faith that the Son of God
descended from heaven, became man, and died on the
infamous gibbet of the cross, for no other purpose than to
save mankind from perpetual destruction. His whole life
was devoted to this end. For this purpose alone he es
tablished his Church on earth. Every Christian, therefore,
ought to be inflamed with zeal for the salvation of souls.
Now, what is the meaning of zeal for the salvation of
souls I It is a desire to see God truly loved, and honored,
and served by all men. Those who are inflamed with
this beautiful fire endeavor to communicate it to the whole
world. If they perceive that God is offended, they weep
and lament : they feel interiorly devoured and consumed
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 123
by the fervor of their zeal. u Who should be looked
upon as a man consumed with the zeal for the house of
God ? " asked St. Augustine. u He who ardently desires
to prevent offences against God, and endeavors to induce
those who have sinned to weep, and weeps and groans
himself when he sees God dishonored." With such a zeal
the saints of the Old Law were inflamed. " I found my
heart and my bones," says Jeremiah (Xx., 9, 10.), " se
cretly inflamed as with a fire that even devoured me ;
and I fainted away, not being able to resist it ; because
I heard the blasphemies of many people." "I was in
flamed with zeal for the God of armies," says Elias,
" because the children of Israel have broken their coven
ant." (III. Kings xix., 10.) " A fainting has taken hold
of me," says the Royal Prophet, "because sinners have
forsaken thy law j and my zeal hath made me pine away,
because my enemies forgot thy commandments." (Psalm
cxviii., 53.) These holy men were thus afflicted at the
sight of the license with which the wicked violated the law
of God. The sorrow of their minds passed into the humors
of their body, and even into their very blood, as it were.
" I beheld the wicked," says David 5 " I pined away ;
because they kept not thy commandments." (Ps. cxviii.,
158.) u Mine eyes became fountains of water; because they
observed not thy law." (Ibid., 136.) It was the
violence of his zeal that made David melt into tears when
he beheld the infinite majesty of God offended. This zeal
made St. Paul write to the Eomans : U I speak the truth
in Christ j I lie not, my conscience bearing me witness in
the Holy Ghost, that I have great sadness and continual
sorrow in my heart ; for I wished myself to be an anathema
from Christ, for my brethren, who are my kinsmen ac
cording to the flesh." (Rom. ix., 1-3.)
124 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
How much have the saints not done for the salvation
of their neighbors ? Let us hear what the great Apostle
of the Gentiles says of his own labors, troubles and suf
ferings for the salvation of men. In his epistles to the
Corinthians he writes as follows : " Even unto this hour
we both hunger and thirst ; and are naked, and are buf
feted, and have no fixed abode ; and we labor with our
own hands ; we are reviled and we bless ; we are perse
cuted and we suffer it ; we are blasphemed and we en
treat ; we are made as the refuse of this world, the off-
scouring of all even until now." (I. Cor. iv., 11, 13.)
" Our flesh had no rest, but we suffered all tribulation :
combats without, fears within." (II. Cor. vii, 5.) "In
many more labors, in prisons more frequently, in stripes
above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times
did I receive forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten
with rods; once I was stoned; thrice I suffered ship
wreck ; a night and a day was I in the depth of the sea.
In journeying often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers,
in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles,
in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils
in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labor and
painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in
fastings often, in cold and nakedness." (II. Cor. xi. ?
23-27.)
Were a St. Francis Xavier to appear among us he could
tell us how, for the sake of the barbarians, he climbed moun
tains and exposed himself to innumerable dangers to find
those wretched beings in the caverns, where they dwelt like
wild beasts, and lead them to God.
A St. Francis de Sales could tell us how, in order to
convert the heretics of the province of Chablais, he risked
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 125
his life by crossing a river every day for a year, on his
hands and knees, upon a frozen beam, that he might preach
the truth to those stubborn men.
A St. Fidelis could tell us how, in order to bring back
the heretics of a certain place, he risked his life by going
to preach to them.
But here one may say : lt I am not a priest, and, there
fore, I cannot preach to sinners and convert them." To
convert sinners, it is not necessary that you should be a
priest. Your neighbor, for instance, has given up the
practice of his religion for many years. He is sick and
expected to die soon. Cannot you pay him a visit, speak
kindly to him, and induce him to send for the priest and
be reconciled to God? His salvation may depend on your
visit, on a few kind words of exhortation and encourage
ment.
A certain Catholic once went to see a dying sinner. The
unhappy man had led a long life of sin, and was now ob
stinate. He did not wish to hear of God or the priest.
The good, zealous Catholic tried every means tears
promises, threats, prayers j but all in vain. The dying
wretch was hardened. At last the zealous Catholic fell
on his knees and begged God to give him this soul, and
offered, for his sake, to endure any pain that he would
inflict on him. An interior voice then said to him :
"Your request shall be granted, but only on condition
that you are willing to fall back into your former illness."
He had formerly been subject to violent fits of colic.
The good Catholic offered himself generously. He then
once more spoke to the dying man, and found him quite
changed in the very best dispositions. He made his
confession with every sign of true sorrow, and offered up
126 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
. his life in atonement of his sins. He received all the
sacraments, and died in the arms of his true Catholic
friend. The prayers of the good Catholic were heard ;
but no sooner had he returned home than he was seized
with the most violent pains, which continued to increase
until at last he died, the victim of his Christian zeal for
the salvation of a soul.
To relieve the wants of the body is undoubtedly an act of
great charity ; but to heal the wounds of the soul is an
act of far greater charity. Now it is by admonition and
counsel that we contribute towards the healing of the
spiritual wounds of our neighbor. It is even a formal
precept of the Gospel to do what is in our power to heal
the wounds of our neighbor s soul, that is, to admonish
him when he is in mortal sin or in danger of falling into
it. " If thy brother transgress in thy presence," says
our Lord, " reprimand and correct him." (Matt, xviii., 15.)
If you neglect to correct the sinner, says St. Agustine, you
become thereby worse than himself. So all who have chris-
tian charity, whether superiors or inferiors, are bound to
admonish and correct those who follow evil ways, if they
have sufficient influence and authority over them, and have
good reason to hope that the correction will be useful.
Should the first admonition be fruitless, we are bound to re
peat it several times, when we have good reason to hope
that it will finally prove useful.
We are obliged to perform this act of charity : 1 , when
the sin of our neighbor is certain, but not when it is doubt
ful 5 2, when there is no other person capable of giving
the admonition, and when it is not expected that any one
else will give it ; 3, when there is no reason for a prudent
fear that, by correcting our neighbor, we shall suffer a
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 127
grievous loss or inconvenience. For, if we have a good
reason to fear that the correction will be attended with a
considerable loss or inconvenience to ourselves, we are
excused from the obligation of making it, because it is
only an act of charity which is not obligatory under those
circumstances. Parents, however, are obliged to correct
their children, even when the correction is attended with
great inconvenience.
Has an inferior a right to correct his superior f Every
act extends to all that is within the sphere of its power,
as the sight, for instance, embraces all that is visible.
Now as charity comprises all men without exception, it
orders us to exercise fraternal correction without distinc
tion of persons. The inferior, therefore, has a right to
correct his superior when he sees him in fault or in error.
But this must be done in a mild, prudent, respectful man
ner j for those who are above us in age or authority,
merit respect and veneration. " An ancient man rebuke
not, but entreat him as a father. 7 (1 Tim. v., 1.)
Has one, who himself is in fault or sin, a right to cor
rect another ? To exercise this right, no more than the
use of reason is needed. Now, sin does not destroy the
natural gift of man. But he who attempts to direct others
in the path of virtue and justice, must, first of all, begin
to correct himself, otherwise he cannot be supposed to
act with a charitable motive. If he, therefore, shows
signs of repentance and amendment, and acts with a spirit
of humility, he can exercise fraternal correction.
What is to be done if the correction does not avail
anything, but might, on the contrary, irritate the culprit
and make him more obstinate ? If his conduct is an
annoyance or a scandal to the public, his superior ought
128 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
to rebuke him and even take severe measures against
him if necessary. A judge feels no reluctance to condemn
a culprit in spite of his recriminations and the affliction of
his family. However, in all such cases, the means must
always be proportioned to the end.
Ought a private admonition precede a public denuncia
tion ? If the crime is public, there is no necessity of
making any mystery of the correction to be given to the
criminal, " Them that sin reprove before all, that the rest
also may fear." (1 Tim. v., 20.) If the crime or
transgression is private, no public denunciation or
revelation should be made, unless in case of something
detrimental to the public or of a conspiracy against the
state. In similar cases, we ought to imitate the skilful
physician, who first strives to heal the wound if pos
sible ; but if he cannot succeed, he has recourse to
amputation, in order to save the life of his patient. A
superior, therefore, should not have recourse to extreme
measures, when there is hope that a private admonition
will reclaim the sinner. Unless things transpire before the
eyes of the public, justice and charity require the superior
to keep all secret and leave all rest in the hands of God.
In what manner should correction be made I To cor
rect one is an act of charity. Therefore, correction should
be made in the spirit of charity. A reproof is a kind of
food which is always difficult to digest. Fraternal charity
should, then, so sweeten it as to destroy its bitterness, or
else it will be like those fruits which cause pain in the
stomach. Charity does not seek its own advantage, but
the honor of God. Bitterness and severity proceed only
from passion, vanity and pride. A good remedy used at
an improper time often becomes a deadly poison.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 129
Now, it is easy to know when the correction we make
proceeds from charity. Truth proceeds from charity when
we speak it only from the love of God and for the good
of him whom we reprove. It is better to be silent than to
speak a truth ungraciously ; for this is to present a good
dish badly cooked, or to give medicine unseasonably.
But is this not to keep back the truth unjustly ? By
no means ; to act otherwise is to bring it forth unjustly,
because the real justice of truth and the truth of justice
reside in charity. That truth which is not charitable pro
ceeds from a charity which is not true. A judicious
silence is always preferable to an uncharitable truth.
Hence, in correcting others, we should remember the
following advice given by the saints upon this subject :
1. Good example must precede the correction, otherwise
it may justly be said: u Physician, cure thyself."
2. Patience must defer it, because, reproof being a bitter
remedy, it should be applied, generally speaking, only
when every other means has proved useless.
3. It must be given with charity, lest, while striving
to heal one wound, we inflict several others.
4. Humility must accompany it by accusing ourselves
and assuming thus a part of the disgrace of him whose
weakness we have discovered.
5. We ought to be very careful to give a reproof in so
mild a manner as to lessen the bitterness of this remedy
to which nature is utterly averse. It thus becomes effi
cacious and strikes at the very root of the evil.
G. In reproving we should pay attention to the nature
of the fault, its consequences, and to the degree of virtue
in the delinquent.
7. It is sometimes advisable, before reproving a person,
130 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
to point out to him the nature and greatness of the fault,
and then request him to punish himself for it. The pen
ance of a contrite heart is great when it sees itself kindly
dealt with. We must blame the offence, but spare the
offender.
8. When any one has corrected a fault, forget the past
and treat him as if nothing had happened, according to
what holy Scripture says : " Despise not a man that
turneth away from sin, nor reproach him therewith :
remember that we are all worthy of reproof." (Ecclus.
viii., 6.) It is in this way that we heal wounds without
leaving a scar. We read in the life of St. Alphonsus,
that his firmness towards those who persevered in their
faults, was changed into mercy when he saw them con
trite. He loved with an exceedingly great love those
who amended their conduct after his admonitions. He
pressed them to his bosom, forgot their faults, and never
again alluded to the pain they had caused him. " I am
informed," writes the saint in his book Preparation
for Death, " that the celebrated Signore Pietro Metas-
tasio has published a little book in prose, in which
he expresses his detestation of his writings on profane
love and declares that, were it in his power, he would
retract them and make them disappear from the world?
even at the cost of his blood. I am told, that he
lives retired in his own house, leading a life of prayer.
This information has given me unspeakable consolation ;
because his public declaration and his most laudable
example will help to undeceive many young persons
who seek to acquire a great name by similar compositions
on profane love. It is certain, that by his retraction,
Signore Metastasio has deserved more encomiums than
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 131
he would deserve by the publication of a thousand poetic
works : for these he might be praised by men, but now
he is praised by God. Hence, as I formerly detested
his vanity in priding himself on such compositions (I do
not speak of his sacred pieces, which are excellent and
deserving of all praise), so now I shall never cease to praise
him; and were I permitted, I would kiss his feet, seeing
that he has voluntarily become the censor of his own
works, and that he now desires to see them banished
from the whole world at the expense, as he says, even of
his own blood."
9. In reproving our neighbor great regard should be
paid to his disposition. Sometimes a courteous little ad
monition, such as the reproving glance cast by our Lord
at St. Peter, may be sufficient. In many cases it may be
advisable to give the reproof in such a manner that it will
appear rather as praise than blame.
"If a word chastises, cast the rod away, j
If a look suffices, have no word to say."
10. Never reprove any one when you are excited. A
physician who is suffering from delirium or any other
violent disorder should be first cured himself before he at
tempts to prescribe for others.
11. The faults of those who sin more from weakness and
ignorance than from any other reason, should move us
to pity rather than to severity. We should kindly en
courage them to amend their faults and avoid relapsing
into them.
12. Whether we make corrections in public or in pri
vate, we should never use opprobrious expressions, such
as fool, simpleton, and the like. We should seem to ad
vise rather than to reprove, saying, for example : "Does
132 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
it not appear to you, that such and such a thing is an
abuse ? That whoever acts so, and so, exposes himself
to censure ? " This manner of acting is more convincing
and effective than any other. Prudence, then, requires
us to prefer it to a more arbitrary course.
13. We must not be astonished at seeing one troubled
at a reproof, or taking it badly. If the culprit is wanting
in humility, we must not, on this account, be wanting in
charity by forgetting our Christian dignity, and allowing
aversions and ill-feelings to take root in our heart.
14. If a correction is to be given to a person whose
dignity is to be respected, we should give it so as to re
prove ourselves at the same time, speaking in the first
person of the plural number, saying, for instance : "How
much do we all offend God. We all have our faults,
but we ought to be careful to avoid such and such faults. 7
15. There are certain persons who easily find fault
with others. They themselves are generally the most
guilty. It is one of their secret artifices to turn the eyes
of others upon the faults of their neighbor, in order to
keep them turned away from their own. You should
never pay particular attention to what these great talkers
say. Much less should you ever reprove any one with
out having given him a hearing. To believe what you hear
without further inquiry, and reprove instantly, is to ex
pose yourself to a thousand evils and agitations.
16* Generally speaking, it is not advisable to reprove
one on the spot for his faults. Medicine must not be
given to a person who is in high fever, except in ex
traordinary cases. You should take time to consider the
matter before God, and to reflect on the best and most
useful manner of making the correction, especially when
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 133
the fault is of a serio.us nature, and the offender is of a
hasty temperament. Then when a favorable moment pre
sents itself, ask with all humility and confidence, the guilty
person to be kind enough to allow you, though full of
faults yourself, to call his attention to something for his
own benefit.
In order to gain the affection and confidence of the
offender, you may first praise modestly his good qualities.
Then, place, with great delicacy, before him his fault,
reminding him of its unhappy consequences, and pro
pose to him the proper remedy. To this you may add,
that you yourself were obliged to use this remedy in or
der to correct your own faults.
17. Never reveal the name of the person who reported
the fault. Nay, if you have reason to fear that the guilty
person may easily suspect the one that spoke of him and
conceive a dislike for him, it is better to make no reproof,
because peace and union with our neighbor should be
preferred to every thing else.
18. Always conclude a reproof with some encouraging
words, saying, for instance, that God allows such faults,
in order to keep us humble and to increase our solicitude
in acquiring virtue.
19. Under certain circumstances, it is advisable to give
the admonition publicly without naming the guilty person.
This should be done,
a. When the evil is deeply rooted ; for in this case it is
not prudent to admonish individuals privately ;
5. When the offender has a good heart, but is too
weak in virtue to take a reproof in the proper spirit ;
c. When it is to be feared that others may commit the
same fault, if the warning is not given in public.
134 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD
20. Correct the aged by way of sweet entreaty ; for it
is not very easy to manage them ; they are not very flex
ible. The sinews of their soul as well as of their body
have grown stiff. Hence the way of entreaty is the best
manner of admonishing them.
21. Before giving a reprimand, recommend yourself to
the Lord. Humble yourself in his presence and acknow
ledge that you are more faulty and, consequently, more
blame- worthy than your neighbor.
St. Vincent de Paul says that those who are spiritually
sick, ought to be more tenderly treated than those who
are corporally sick. "I beg you," he wrote to a Su
perior who had notified him of the desire of a lay -brother
to leave the Congregation, "to assist and encourage him
to resist the temptation, but do it mildly and affection
ately, seeming rather to advise than to reprove him, as is
our custom." He also tells us, that although during his
whole life, he gave a sharp reproof three times only, yet.
each time he was forced to regret it, because, notwith
standing the apparent just reason for reproving sharply,
the correction proved fruitless, while on the contrary,
those reproofs which he had given mildly, were always
effective.
St. Juliana Veronica occupied the post of Mistress of
Novices for several years. During this time she had two
novices who were of a head-strong disposition. One of
them received her charitable admonitions in such ill part,
that they produced not the least amendment. She was
therefore expelled by the Chapter. However, St. Veron
ica obtained for her, from the Blessed Virgin, the grace
of being received into another convent, where she cor
rected her faults. The other novice forgot herself so far
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 135
as to strike her Mistress in the face, and with such vio
lence as to bruise her lips. The holy woman, grieved at
the scandal, and at the excommunication which the
novice drew upon herself by this act, implored of God so
earnestly her amendment that she shed tears of blood.
For a time, the rebellious Sister did better, but her
amendment was not permanent. One day, when she was
again kindly reproved by St. Veronica for not fulfilling
her duty, she felt so terribly provoked, and pushed the
saint so roughly that she would have fallen, had not
those standing near her come to her assistance. The
prudent Superior said nothing about the affair at the
time, as she knew that a reproof would be useless,
nay, even injurious, because the offender was under
the influence of passion. She merely remarked to
those who insisted upon the punishment of the novice,
that it was necessary to have patience, and that her only
grief was that God had been offended. At the next
Chapter, however, she calmly reproved and punished the
fault. The fruit of this moderation was, that the delin
quent entered into herself, arid blushing with confusion
at the sin she had committed, performed the penance im
posed upon her. From that time forward, she watched
so carefully over herself, that she lived and died a true
religious.
A short time after Father Lallemant had been ap
pointed Rector of the College of Bourges, the brother
baker came to him, one day, and rather rudely complained
of having too much to do 5 he told the Rector to see to
the matter and put some one else in his place. The
Father calmly listened to him, and promised to relieve
him. He then went himself quietly into the bake-house
136 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
and began kneading the dough with the greatest dili
gence. After the brother had become calm again, he
returned to the bake-house, and found, to his great sur
prise, the Father Rector doing his work for him. He
immediately threw himself at his feet and begged his
pardon, being filled with confusion at his fault, and
moved by the meekness and humility of so compassionate
a Superior.
Father Lallemant acted thus on all similar occasions,
so prudently using lenity that every one readily con
ceded to him whatsoever he desired. He used to say that
experience daily taught him more and more, that dis
cipline should be kept up in the Company with extreme
mildness ; that the Superiors ought to study to make
themselves obeyed rather from love than from fear ; that
the way to maintain regularity is not by rigor and
penances, but by the paternal kindness of the Superiors
and their diligence in attending to the wants of inferiors ;
and in preserving and increasing in them the spirit of
piety and prayer.
One day St. Vincent de Paul heard that one of his
priests was too inactive during the missions, and that
severity towards the people prevailed over charity in his
sermons. He wrote to him as follows : " I write to you,
dear Sir, to inquire your news and to communicate to
you ours. How do you feel after your great fatigue ?
How many missions have you given ? Do the people
seem disposed to profit by your labors ? Do these labors
produce the desired fruit ? It would be a great consola
tion for me to be informed in detail of all you have done.
From other houses of the Congregation I have received
good accounts, thanks be to God ! Their labors are to
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 137
their great content blessed with happy results. The
strength which God has given to Mr. N. is truly wonder
ful. For nine months he has been laboring in the
country, and his missions, according to the Vicar-general,
the religious of the place, and others, have done incalcul
able good. This result is ascribed solely, to the mildness
and charity with which this gentleman seeks to win the
hearts of these poor people. This induces me to recom
mend more earnestly than ever the practice of these
virtues. If God deigned to bless our first missions, it
was evidently on account of the kindness, humility arid
sincerity with which we treated every one. Yes, if God
deigned to make use of the most miserable among us,
that is of myself, to convert sinners and heretics, it was,
as they themselves unanimously admitted, in consequence
of th^ patience and benevolence with which I constantly
acted towards them. Even the galley-slaves were won
in this manner. When I dealt severely with them, all
my efforts were vain, whilst, on the contrary, when I
pitied them, praised their resignation, kissed their chains,
sympathized with them in their misfortune, or told them
that their sufferings were their purgatory in this life, they
listened to me and took the necessary means to save their
souls. I beg you, therefore, my dear Sir, to help me to
thank God earnestly for these favors and to beg of Him to
bestow the grace, upon all our Missioners, to act towards
every one, privately and publicly, even towards the most
hardened sinners. ; with meekness, charity and humility,
and never to make use of wounding words, or bitter re
proaches, or preach severe sermons. I doubt not, Sir,
that as far as you are concerned, you will carefully avoid
a manner of acting which is so exceedingly unbecoming
138 COMMANDMENTS OP GOD.
a Physician of souls, and which instead of winning hearts
and leading them to God, only estranges and embitters
them. Christ, our Lord, is the eternal delight of both
angels and men : we must also try to be the delight of our
fellow-creatures, so as to lead them to their eternal hap
piness."
Thus St. Vincent knew how to draw the attention of his
priests to their faults and imperfections, without wounding
their feelings. He excused them as far as he could,
manifested his love and esteem for them, and reproved so
modestly and humbly, that none ever felt abashed or dis
couraged, but, on the contrary, all were edified and encour
aged by his very reproofs.
To the Superior of one of his houses, who greatly ex
aggerated the difficulties of his office, Vincent gave the
following answer : " What you write to me is both true
and not true. It is true in respect to those who do not
like to be contradicted by any one ; who wish every
thing to be conducted according to their opinion and will;
who desire to be obeyed by all without opposition or de
lay, and who would like to see their every command ap
proved of. What you write is not true, however, in regard
to those who consider themselves as the servants of others,
and who, while they perform the duties of Superior, keep
constantly in mind their model, Jesus Christ, who bore
with the rudeness, jealousy, want of faith, and other
faults of His disciples, and who said that He had come
into the world not to be served, but to serve. You used
formerly to go through your duties patiently, humbly and
cheerfully, and I know well that your only design now in
using these exaggerated expressions, is to explain your
difficulties better and to induce me to remove you from
your post of Superior. 77
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 139
It was, however, by no means the opinion of St. Vin
cent, that Superiors should connive at every thing in
their subjects. He wished that the guilty should always
be reprimanded and even punished, insisting, neverthe
less upon the reproof being given in the spirit of meek
ness and in accordance with the above-quoted principles.
He was once told that one of his priests, a very zeal
ous man, who at that time was the Superior of a Semin
ary, treated the Seminarians too harshly. In a letter to
this priest, he reproves him in the following manner :
" I believe all that you have written, quite as readily as
if I had seen it with my own eyes, and I have too many
proofs of your zeal for the good of the Seminary to
doubt your words. For this very reason, I have with
held my judgment in regard to the complaints which
have reached me of your severe government, until I
should have learned from yourself the true state of things.
In the meanwhile, I beg of you to reflect seriously upon
the manner in which you act, and to resolve to correct,
with the help of God s grace, whatever may be displeasing
to Him in your conduct. Although your intention may
be good, yet the Divine Majesty is offended, and the fol
lowing are a few of the evil consequences of such conduct :
" First, the Seminarians leave the house dissatisfied ;
virtue becomes distasteful to them ; the consequence of
which is, that they may fall into sin and ruin their souls ;
and this, merely because they were, by your severity, too
soon forced out of the school of piety. Secondly, they
talk against the Seminary and are the cause of others
not going, who otherwise would have come to receive the
instructions and graces necessary for their vocation.
Thirdly, the bad reputation of one house easily reflects
140 COMMANDMENTS OF GOB.
upon all the others of the Society, paralyzing the mem
bers thereof in their ministry, so much so that the good
which the Lord, until now, has deigned to perform by
their instrumentality, immediately commences diminish
ing more and more. To say that, heretofore, you have
not noticed these faults in your own person, betrays, no
doubt, a want of humility on your part. For were you
possessed of that degree of humility which Jesus Christ
requires of Missionary Priests, you would not hesitate
for a moment to believe, that you were the most im
perfect of all and guilty of all these things. You would
attribute to a hidden blindness your not noticing in your
self those defects which are so easily discovered by
others, and for which you have already been repriman
ded. I have learned, that you do not like correction.
Should this be so, ! how much should you fear for
yourself! How far does your virtue fall short of that of
the Saints who annihilated themselves before the world
and were rejoiced at seeing their little failings made
known to others. Are we not to imitate Jesus Christ,
who, notwithstanding His innocence, suffered the bitter
est and most unjust reproaches, without even opening
His mouth to avert the disgrace from His sacred person ?
My dear Sir, let us learn from Him to be meek and
humble of heart. These are virtues which you and I
must continually ask of Him, and to which we must al
ways attend, in order not to be drawn away by the
opposite passions, which make us destroy with one hand
what we have built up with the other. May God en
lighten us with His holy Spirit to discover our blindness
and to submit to those whom He has given us for
guides."
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 141
To the Superior of a mission-house, he wrote as fol
lows : u God be praised that you went yourself to do what
Mr. N. refused to do. It was very good that you pre
ferred doing this, rather than insisting any longer upon
obedience to your command. There are some people,
who, although devout and pious, and having a great
horror for sin, will still from time to time commit some
faults through human frailty ; we must bear with them,
and not excite them still more. As God otherwise
blesses this gentleman in the confessional, I think we
ought to connive a little at his caprices, so much the
more as they are of no serious nature. With regard to
the other priest of whom you write, I hope that this word
has escaped him from want of reflection, rather than from
real malice. Even the most discreet when surprised by
passion, may say something of which they soon after re
pent. Finally, there are men who show aversion to per
sons as well as to offices, but who still do much good.
Alas ! it cannot be otherwise) live with whom you please,
you will still have something to suffer, as well as some
thing to merit. I hope, that he, of whom I speak, will
still be gained, if we use towards him charitable forbear
ance and kind corrections. Do pray for him, as I un
ceasingly do for your whole community."
To another Superior he wrote : " The priest of whom
you make this report, is a pious man ; he practises vir
tue, and before he entered our Congregation, he enjoyed
a great reputation in the world. If he now manifests a
restless spirit, meddling with temporal affairs and those
of his family, and thus becomes a subject of annoyance
to his brethren in religion, he must be borne with in
meekness. If he had not this fault, he would have an-
142 COMMANDMENTS OP GOD.
other ; and if you had nothing to suffer, you would have
no occasion to practise charity. Your Superiorship
would, moreover, bear little resemblance to that of our
Divine Redeemer who chose, for Himself, imperfect and
uneducated disciples, both to manifest His charity and
patience, and to give an example to those who have to
direct others. I beseech you, my dear Sir, to imitate
this Divine Model. From Him you will learn not only
how to bear with your brethren, but also how to treat
them, in order to free them more and more from their
defects. Certainly on the one hand, we must not allow,
through human interest, evils to increase or to take
deeper root, but on the other hand we must try to
remedy them by degrees and in a charitable manner."
To a priest who was in company with another on a
distant mission, he wrote thus : " I hope that the good
ness of God will bless your efforts, especially if charity
and patience reign between you and your assistant. I
beseech you, in the name of the Lord, to see that this be
your principal care, because you are the elder and con
sequently the Superior. Bear, therefore, in patience what
ever you may have to suffer on the part of your com
panion. Bear all, I say, so as interiorly to renounce
your authority, and to be guided only by the spirit of
charity. By this means Jesus Christ gained his Apos
tles and corrected them of their faults. You also will
gain this good Priest by this means only. Have then a
little regard for his character ; do not contradict him at
the first moment, though you believe you have reason
for so doing, but wait awhile and then give him a charit
able remonstrance. Above all, take great care not to
let any one perceive the least difficulty between him and
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 143
you, for you are exposed to the observation of all, and
one single unkind look on your part, if noticed by the
people, would make so bad an impression upon them as
to paralyze all your labors. I hope you will follow my
advice."
If all these admonitions and reproofs were, or seemed
to be, of no avail, still Vincent did not lose courage, but
continued to bear patiently, to pray, and to hope that
God would, in the end, show mercy to these strayed
sheep. This perseverance he also recommended to
others. When Superiors of the different houses re
quested him to send such and such a priest to another
house, he recommended patience to them, reminding
them of the common lot of all men to have faults. If
any of his subjects acted otherwise than he had told
him, he would say only : " Sir, had you followed my
advice, you would have succeeded better in your under
taking. 77 Sometimes he would not say anything at all.
Ht. Francis de Sales was one evening visited by a
nobleman. His servant forgot to put lights in the house
and in the room of the prelate, so that the bishop was
obliged to accompany the stranger to the gate, in the
dark. The only reproof which the Saint made to the
servant, consisted in this: " Do you know, my dear
friend, that two little pieces of candle would have been
of greater value to us to-day than ten dollars ? 7 Once
one of the servants of St. Francis de Sales returned home
rather late at night, being quite intoxicated. He knocked
at the door, but no one answered, all having gone to sleep.
The Saint, who alone was still awake, went to open the
door, and seeing that his servant was intoxicated to such
a degree as not to be able to walk, he took him by the
144: COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
arm and conducted him to his bed-room ; there, after hav
ing undressed him and taken off his shoes and stockings,
he laid him on his bed, covered him well and retired.
The Saint, on meeting him alone next morning, said to
him : tl 0, my dear friend, you were no doubt, very
sick last night !" On hearing this the servant fell on his
knees, and, bathed in tears, begged the prelate s pardon.
The holy bishop touched by his sorrow, gave him,
though a severe, yet a paternal reproof; he reminded
him of the danger to which he exposed himself of losing
his soul, and imposed upon him the penance of mixing
a certain quantity of water with his wine at table. The
culprit accepted the penance, and was, from that time,
so faithful that he never again committed a similar fault.
"One day," says the bishop of Belley, " I was to
preach at the Church of the Visitation. Being aware that
our Saint would be present, and that a large concourse of
people was expected, I felt a little personal anxiety on
the occasion, and I prepared in good earnest. When we
had retired to his house, and were alone together, Well,
he said, i you have given general satisfaction to-day ;
people went away exclaiming, mirabilia ! at your fine and
elegant panegyric. I only met with one individual who
was not satisfied. 7 l What can I have said/ I replied, to
displease this person ? Well I have no desire to know his
name. But I, for my part, said the Saint, have a
great desire to tell it to you. l Who is he then, that I
may endeavor to give him satisfaction ? i If I had not
great confidence in you, I should not name him ; but as I
know you well, I willingly do so. Do you see him here f
I looked around, and saw no one but himself. It is you,
then, I said. * Myself/ he replied. Certainly, I re-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 145
joined j i I should have valued your approbation alone,
more than that of the whole congregation. Thank God,
I have fallen into the hands of one who wounds only that
he may heal ! What, then, did you find fault with I For
I know that your indulgence will not excuse anything in
me ! I love you too much/ he resumed, to flatter you j
and if you had loved our Sisters after this fashion, you
would not have amused yourself in puffing up their minds,
instead of edifying them 5 in praising their state of life,
instead of teaching them some humiliating arid more salu
tary doctrine. It is with the food of the mind as with
that of the body. Flattery is windy ; and windy food,
like vegetables, is not nutritious. We ought, in preach
ing, to provide, not empty food, the memory of which
perishes with its utterance, but meat which will endure
to life everlasting. We must never, indeed, ascend the
pulpit, without the special object of building up some cor
ner or other of the walls of Jerusalem, by teaching the
practice of a certain virtue, or the means of avoiding a
certain vice ; for the whole fruit of preaching consists in
making the people do away with sin and practise virtue.
Lord ! exclaimed David, I will teach the unjust Thy
ways, and the wicked shall be converted unto Thee.*
What sort of conversion, 7 I retorted, could I preach to
souls delivered from the hands of their enemies, the devil,
the flesh, and the world, and serving Grod in holiness of
life *? You should have taught them, 7 he said, to take
heed, since they stand, not to fall to work out their sal
vation according to the counsel of the Holy Spirit, with
fear and trembling ; and not to be without fear, even with
respect to sin forgiven. You described them to us as so
many saints j it costs you nothing to canonize the living.
146 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
You must not place pillows under elbows in this way, nor
give milk to those who need bitter herbs and wormwood.
6 My object/ I said, was to encourage and fortify them in
their holy undertaking. 7 We must encourage/ he replied,
6 without running the risk of exciting presumption and
vanity. It is always safer to humble our hearers, than
to exalt them to high and admirable things above their
reach. I feel persuaded, that another time you will be
cautious in this respect. The next day he made me
preach at a Convent of the Nuns of St. Clare. He
was present, and the congregation was not less numer
ous than on the preceding day. I took care to avoid the
pit-fall he had pointed out to me ; my discourse was very
simple, both in words and ideas, aiming at nothing except
edification. I proceeded with much method, and pressed
home my subject. Our Saint, on our return, came to see
me in my apartment, which, in fact, was his own 5 for
when I was on a visit to him, he always gave me his,
room. After tenderly embracing me, he said, Truly, I
loved you dearly yesterday, but much more to-day. You
are, indeed, quite after my own heart ; and if I am not
much mistaken, you are also according to God s heart,
who, I believe, has been pleased with your sacrifice. I
could not have believed, you would have been so yielding
and condescending. It is a true saying, that the * obedi
ent man shall speak of victory. You have conquered
yourself to-day. Do you know that most of your hear
ers said, l To-day is very unlike yesterday/ and they
were not as much pleased this time as the last ; but the
individual, who was not satisfied yesterday, is wonderfully
pleased to-day. I grant you hereupon a plenary indul
gence for all your past faults. You have fulfilled all my
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 147
wishes to-day ; and if you persevere, you will do much
service for the Lord of the vineyard. Preaching must
not seek its strength in the words and the notions of hu
man wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and
of power. If you faithfully adhere to this method, God
will give to your labors a full and honorable increase 5 you
will become prudent in the words of mystical wisdom,
and will possess the science of the saints, the science that
makes saints. What, after all, do we desire to know,
save Jesus, and Jesus crucified. 7 r
One day Cardinal Cheverus learned that a parish
priest was at open warfare with his parish. He went to
the place with the view of re-establishing peace. The
pastor in question was a man of irreproachable life and
ardent zeal, but of an excitable disposition which some
times hurried him beyond all bounds. It was from this
defect that the dispute originated. A child had been
brought to him for baptism whose godmother had neglec
ted to make her Easter communion. Adhering rigidly
to ancient regulations, he would not permit her to stand
sponsor, which so exasperated the parents, that they
refused to seek a substitute, preferring to leave their
infant unbaptized: On his arrival, M. de Cheverus beg
ged the pastor to withdraw his opposition ; but in vain.
The Cardinal then directed one of the priests who ac
companied him to perform the ceremony, in order that
the poor child might no longer remain the victim of a
quarrel. Irritated at this beyond all self-control, the
pastor gave the most insulting language to his archbishop.
The meek prelate opposed nothing but silence and cairn-
ness to the storm. He repaired to the church, where
he ascended the pulpit and invited all the parishioners
148 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
to peace and union with their parish-priest, on whom he
pronounced an elaborate eulogium, detailing all the good
qualities of which he was possessed. " You have," he
said, " but one complaint to make of him j he has, you
say, a hasty and violent temper ; alas ! my friends, who
is without defects ? If I were to remain twenty-four
hours among you, you would perhaps discover so many
faults in me that you would not be able to tolerate me :
you see but one in your pastor j forgive then that single
fault in consideration of so many virtues." Having fin
ished his discourse, the Cardinal went to the sacristy,
where he found the priest, abashed and ashamed, and,
embracing him with the utmost kindness, he said : u My
dear friend, I love you with my whole heart ; how shall
we begin the service ? " Seeking by this means to do
away with the recollection of the offence which had been
committed, and prove his condescension in regard to
every thing which was not inimical to his duty. The
service over, the Cardinal called upon those of the
parishioners who were the most embittered against the
pastor, and, spoke to them so impressively that they de
clared themselves ready to do whatever he wished. The
reconciliation was forthwith accomplished ; the kiss of
peace was given, all sat down to the same table, and
every heart was united in that of the Archbishop. Thus
did he everywhere spread the dominion of charity, and
illustrate by his example the words of the Apostle :
" Charity is sweet and patient, not hasty to anger, but
pardoneth and suffereth much."
St. Alphonsus manner of correcting may be seen from
the following letter, which he addressed to a Superior, of
his Congregation : " To speak with all freedom, I re-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 149
mark above all, that I do not believe that your Rever
ence wishes me to treat you with too much consideration,
in regard to obedience, and as a subject, weak in virtue,
to whom nothing can be said for fear of giving offence.
I have a better opinion of your Reverence, and I believe
that you desire what is best and most pleasing to God.
Now let me tell what I desire to see in you. Your Rev
erence knows how much I have always esteemed you ; I
have given you proofs of this on several occasions. It
would pain me very much were I to be told, as some
time ago, that your Reverence is a holy man indeed,
but unfit for the rectorship for the following reasons :
first, because, when Superior, you would be seldom at
home ; secondly, that you would at the same time busy
yourself with too many affairs, write too many letters,
trouble yourself about so many things that would not con
cern you, and introduce so many devotions to which you
seem to be attached that the regular observance of the
rule would soon suffer. I know of course, and every
one acknowledges, that your Reverence does not go out
for the sake of pleasure, or for some other similar reason, but
from the motive of pleasing God in every thing ; but ne
quid nimis I Now that you are in the Congregation, and
especially now that you have been made rector, you
must be convinced, that you can do nothing more con
ducive to the glory of God, than to take good care of
the well-being and regular observance of your commun
ity which is one of the most fervent, nay, even the most
fervent of all we have. The number of your subjects
being small at present, this regularity cannot be so per
fect as yet ; however, you must endeavor to make it as
perfect as circumstances will allow. As regards going
150 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
out, your Reverence knows from your own experience,
that if the head be wanting, all the rest is in disorder
Nevertheless, I do not forbid you to go out on an impor
tant affair for the good of the house or the Congregation?
or when the greater glory of God is in question j but should
your Reverence wish to take part in all that contributes
to the glory of God in your diocese, you could never be
at home. The greatest glory you can render to God is
the accomplishment of his holy will. I repeat it there
fore, henceforth, your Reverence must mind only the
good of the house and the Church, Mater Domini ; and
the regular observance of the rule, that none of the things
may come true which some have predicted of your Rev
erence. I speak with all charity, because I esteem you.
and esteem you very much, and because I have a good
opinion of you, trusting that you belong to the number
of those who endeavor to sanctify themselves in the Con
gregation like Fathers Cafaro, Villani, Mazzini and
others, who have renounced their own will j and that you
do not resemble those who wish to be treated too delicately,
and whom I will treat thus, but of whom I foresee that
they will never sanctify themselves, because they do not
obey blindly."
2. To instruct the ignorant.
No doubt, there are many poor creatures around you,
who labor and suffer and weep, and, in their blindness
and despair, curse the loving God who created them ;
blaspheme the God who died for them ; and hate the holy
Church which he established in order to save them. And
among these restless, wandering souls, you often find noble,
generous hearts. Many are wavering between good and
evil, many of them struggle, at least at times, against their
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 151
passions. They are groping about in the dark. A kind
word, a friendly advice, might save them. Many of them
are like the poor paralytic at the pool of Bethsaida. They
are so near the source of life, they long to reach it j but
they find no one to take them by the hand and lead them
thither. And one soul brought thus to God will be the
means of leading others to God, and so the good will go on
till the day of judgment.
Kevelin Digby, author of the tl Ages of Faith," who
did so much to awaken what was afterwards called the
" Oxford Movement," was led to the Catholic faith by
means of the barber who used to shave him when he
was a member of the University. The barber began to
instruct him, in the broken conversations occurring from
day to day. Then he lent Mr. Digby books, and the
barber thus became the teacher of the University man.
Ah! rest assured that every one, no matter in what
state of life he is placed, will find opportunities to instruct
the ignorant if he is zealous enough to perform this spiri
tual work of mercy.
A child passes you on the road. Why pass it by as
coldly as if you did not see it ? Salute the child kindly ;
speak to it. Ask, for instance, if it goes to school and where ;
if it can read, can pray ; who is " Our Father" in heaven?
You can thus give the child a short instruction ! You
cast the seeds of eternal life into its heart seeds that
will one day ripen with God s grace and bear fruit a hun
dred-fold. And even should the seed choke and wither
in the child s heart, your eternal reward in heaven will
not be lost. Your guardian angel has written down the
good deed. If even a cup of cold water given in our
Lord s name shall be rewarded, how much more an act of
charity done to the soul.
152 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
A neighbor s child comes to your house perhaps to
play with your children. Of course, should the child teach
your little ones bad words or anything that is wrong, you
must send it away or correct it. But if the child is well
disposed, treat it kindly ; you have a good opportunity to
do an act of charity to that child s soul. Do not imagine
that the child comes there merely by accident. It is its
angel that sends it, that you may instruct it, that you
may teach it how to reach its heavenly home. Show the
little one some pious pictures. Tell it something about
our Saviour, about the Blessed Virgin, about the angels.
Teach it how God sees it every moment, in the darkest
night as well as in broad daylight.
You are living with a Protestant family. You edify
them by your conduct. They are in doubt about their
religion, or ridicule yours on certain occasions. Profit
by these occasions, and tell them the most important
truths of our religion. Be not afraid to do so. Our
Lord makes use of you to convert that family if they
are sincere before God.
Not long ago a poor but worthy Irishman came to the
door of a respectable Protestant family, and asked for any
employment that would secure his daily bread. He was
engaged for some service on the farm, and gave satisfac
tion. But being a Catholic he was held in contempt in
that part of this country. As he seemed utterly devoid
of even the first elements of education, it was thought
that an attack upon his religion would not only result in
amusement from his ridiculous answers, but in an easy
triumph over his evident ignorance. He was accordingly
questioned and bantered on the " objectionable " points
of his creed by the most intelligent member of the house-
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 153
hold. But the good man, though ignorant of most other
things, had been thoroughly instructed in his catechism ;
and this alone would have made him more than a match
for a score of divines from Princeton or Geneva. His
answers were so calm, so clear and correct, so logical, and,
finally, so impressive, that the tables were soon turned
and the laugh, or the defeat rather, proved to be on the
wrong side. The questioner was not only vanquished but
dismayed and terrified into the conviction that answers
so simple, yet so cogent and logical must rest on some
basis of truth. This brought about a serious examination
of Catholic doctrine, and the examination was followed by
submission to the Church. This conversion happily led
to that of the whole family and of many others. These
facts are well known throughout the county and State
where they happened. (American Cath. Quart. Review,
October, 1879, p. 723.)
3. To counsel the doubtful.
It often happens that a person is doubting as to
whether a thing is lawful or not, whether this or that ac
tion is forbidden or allowed. On both sides he sees plaus
ible reasons, which make an impression ; but amongst
these reasons there is none that draws down the weight,
none that is sufficient to ground a determination. Thus,
wavering between these different and opposite reasons, he
remains undetermined and dares not make a decision
for fear of being deceived and of falling into sin. Now
that person is not allowed to act with such a doubtful con
science. He must seek for light and instruction, if he can.
An heir, for example, has entered upon an estate which
was formerly unjustly acquired by his ancestors ; but, at
the time he accepted it, he had no knowledge, no doubt
154 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
concerning its unjust acquisition. Afterwards he discov
ers a flaw in his title, and for good reasons begins to
doubt as to whether he lawfully possesses the property.
There is another. He doubts as to the state of life to
which God calls him. There is a Protestant ; for good
reasons he has doubts as to the possibility of being saved
in the Protestant religion. Now to counsel aright such
persons, is to perform a spiritual work of mercy. For
want of knowledge, or discretion, or some other reason, it
may not be in your power to perform this kind of work of
mercy. But you know, perhaps, a learned and charitable
man who is competent to ad vise properly the doubtful. Now
by referring to such a man, a person who has doubts of
conscience, you share in the spiritual work of mercy the
good advice which is given.
4. To comfort the sorrowful.
Great, very great indeed, is the number of those who
feel desolate and sorrowful. Some are desolate on ac
count of the loss of temporal goods ; others, on account of
the loss of a dear parent, husband, wife, a darling child ;
a true, faithful friend j others, are desolate on account of
scrupulosity ; others, on account of spiritual dry ness and
so on.
It happened not long ago, that the parents, husband,
and several children of a good mother died in the time
of an epidemic. The good woman felt quite desolate,
and, as it were, forsaken by God and man. Her means
were all exhausted, and she saw no way of supporting
herself and two little children. She could neither eat
nor sleep. She wept day and night, and was reduced
to a mere skeleton. One day she went to see an old
friend, who, some years previous, had suffered in the
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 155
same way. To her she poured out her heart. After
she had communicated all her afflictions of body and soul,
her friend, a true servant of God, spoke to her in the
following manner : "I sympathize with you more than I
can tell you. I feel your crosses as if they were my
own. I have suffered in the same way some years ago.
At first, I found it very difficult to be resigned to the
holy will of God. I went to see my confessor, who is a
true, faithful father of the sorrowful and afflicted. I have
never forgotten his consoling words, and I have often
repeated them for the consolation of those who, in their
affliction, came to see me. They are as follows : My
dear child/ said he, the Lord treats you as one of his
best children. He has deprived you of what was most
near and dear to you 5 now you are poor and desolate.
But now it is that you can say in truth : Our Father,
who art in heaven.
" As long as you are poor, you feel more dependent
on God. You become thereby more closely united to
God. It is, then, really a clear mark of his love when
God takes away from you the goods of this world. He
loves you. He is a jealous God. He wishes to take
entire possession of your heart, of all your affections,
and, therefore, he weans you from all things in this
world, lest you should love them too much. God fore
sees that, if you were rich, and could enjoy the pleasures
of this world, you would perhaps soon forget him,
you would fall into grievous sins and be lost. He, there
fore, deprives you of the dangerous gift of riches, just
as you take away a sharp knife from the hands of your
child. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of divine Love and
He is called < The Father of the Popr, He is the Father
156 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
of the Poor, precisely because He is infinite Love.
How consoling is this thought ! Be not solicitous, there
fore, saying : What shall we eat, or what shall we drink,
wherewith shall we be clothed ? . . . For your Father
knoweth that you have need of all these things."
(Matt, vi., 31-32.)
"You say that you have to suffer. That is true ; but
who is there, in this world that does not suffer 1 There
is not one. There is no man on earth without some
trouble, whether he be beggar, Pope or king. You envy,
perhaps, that rich man who steps so grandly out of his
carriage, who is bowed into his splendid residence by a
retinue of servants ; but could you only look into his heart,
you would, perhaps, see there a load of care and misery,
compared to which, all your troubles are as nothing. Be
lieve me, the gorgeous palaces of the rich, are too often
but the gilded prisons of weary hearts. Remember that you
cannot cure a sick man by clothing him in a costly robe
of silk and diamonds, and neither can you cure a sick,
weary heart with all the wealth in the universe.
But you will ask perhaps why has God given one kind
of suffering to you, and another kind to another man ?
If you wish to know this, then look up to heaven. Re
member, your loving Father in heaven knows what is
best for you. He will explain it all to you on the last
day. And if you think you have to suffer more than
others, then remember that suffering is a sign of God s
love. " God loveth those whom He chastiseth. He
chastiseth every child that He adopteth." (Prov., iii., 12.)
God is also now your friend and protector. Holy Scrip
ture assures us that " God is the refuge of the Poor. 7
(Ps. ix. ; 10.) "The poor man cries to God," says the
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 157
Holy Ghost, "and God hears and delivers him." (Ps. xxxiii.,
7.) In this world, even your best friends grow tired, if
you appeal to their charity too often ; but God acts far
otherwise. He never grows tired. He is never annoyed, no
no matter how often you ask Him for help. His ear is
ever open to your prayers. He is ever ready to assist
you in your necessities. But you will say : "How can I
consider God as my friend ? He has treated me rather
like an enemy. I was once well off. I was happy.
Now I am poor ; sometimes I scarcely know where to find
bread for my poor hungry children." Ah ! why do you
not understand the ways of God? Were you then richer
than Job was ? Certainly not ; and yet God took away
from him, all that he had. God took away his health,
his property, his children. God afflicted him with a very
powerful and loathsome disease. Job was thrown out of
house and home ; he was cast upon a dunghill. His
friends, the very wife of his bosom, turned against him,
accused him unjustly, and loaded him with insult. Now
why did God afflict Job in this manner 1 Precisely be
cause God loved him. God wished to draw him more
closely to himself and to make him perfect. Job knew
this well, and, therefore, in the midst of his afflictions, he
said: " If we have received good things from the hand
of God, why not receive evil also." (Job, ii., 10.) "Eve a
though the Lord should kill me, I will trust in him."
(Job, xiii., 15.)
" St. Lidwine, the daughter of very poor parents,
was a great sufferer for many years. She was cover
ed from head to foot, with most painful ulcers. In
some of these ulcers, as many as two hundred little worms
could be counted. Her flesh came off in pieces. She
158 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
was lying, not on a soft bed, but on a rough board, and
stretched out there for thirty eight years. She could
move only her head and left arm. She suffered from,
dropsy, acute head-ache, tooth-ache, and most violent
fevers. For want of sufficient clothes, she was, in win
ter, quite benumbed with cold. Her tears froze on her
cheeks. In the last year of her life she had to endure
one of the most painful sufferings that can affect the hu
man frame. It caused her such violent pains that she
was forced to gnash her teeth, and often fainted away.
She slept no more than half an hour in the year.
" Besides these sufferings she had to endure the ill-
treatment of wicked people. One day an infuriated wo
man entered the room of the saintly virgin, and began to
abuse her in the most shameful manner. She heaped
uponlier the most disgraceful insults and reproaches. She
spat in her face, and raised such a loud out-cry that the
whole neighborhood was disturbed. Another time, four
brutal soldiers entered the chamber of the afflicted maiden
and began to speak to her in a most insulting manner.
They struck her repeatedly with the most barbarous
cruelty.
" Now, in all her bodily sufferings, Lid wine was patient
and resigned. In the midst of insults, she was like a
tender lamb before a ravenous wolf, bearing with a calm
countenance the insulting behavior of brutal men. Whence
did she derive this superhuman patience, calmness and
resignation in all her sufferings and trials ? It was from
the consideration that by patience she would at one for her
sins, satisfy God s justice, and gain an everlasting crown
in heaven. Indeed, by her heroic patience, she became
one of the most extraordinary saints of the Church of God.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 159
1 Lord ! 7 she exclaimed, i it is most pleasing to me that
thou dost not spare me, nor withhold thy hand in over
whelming me with suffering, for my greatest comfort is
to know that thy will be done in me. 7
" Our divine Savior says when you are invited to a
feast take the lowest place, so that when the master of
the house comes, he may say to thee : Friend, go up
higher ; 7 and you shall be honored in the eyes of all that
are present. (Luke xiv., 10.) Here in this world, you
have perhaps the lowest place. Be patient ; do not murmur ;
and when the Lord comes at the end of the world, he will
say to you in presence of the whole universe : * Friend
go up higher now j the first shall be the last ; and the
last shall be the first ; 7 and you shall he glorified before
the angels and saints of heaven. God assures us that he
is himself the defender of the poor, and he threatens the
oppressors of the poor with the severest chastisements.
Do no violence to the poor/ he says; and do not
oppress the needy 5 for the Lord will judge his cause and
he will afflict those that afflict his soul. 7 (Prov. xxii., 22.)
"Our Lord Jesus Christ is also now more than ever
your brother. Look at the life of our Lord. He is the
king of heaven and earth, and yet he has become the
poorest of the poor. He is born in a stable. Was there
ever a poorer place to be born in ? He lived on earth as
a poor carpenter s son. He had no home of his own, no
place to rest his weary head. The birds of the air
have their nests, 7 he says e ven the foxes have their
lairs, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. 7
He suffered hunger and thirst. Sometimes he was even
compelled to break off a few ears of wheat as he passed
through the field in order to satisfy the cravings of hun-
160 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
ger. Now that you are in want, do not lose confidence.
Look up to Jesus, and say to him : * Jesus, remember
that thou wert once as poor as I am now. Have pity on
me then and help me. But if thou wishest me to follow
thee yet longer on the road of poverty and suffering,
then give me grace to do so cheerfully !
"It is also now that you are of the number of those to
whom the Gospel is preached, that is, to the poor. Our
dear Saviour himself assures us of this : i The spirit of
the Lord is upon me, wherefore he hath anointed me, to
preach the Gospel to the poor. (Luke, iv., 18.) And it is
to the poor that he still preaches, through the ministry of
his holy Church. It is precisely the poor that crowd our
churches, and listen eagerly to the words of God. It is
especially the poor that crowd the churches during Holy
Mass. It is the poor that are found praying in the church,
during the long day, and in the silence of the night. It is
they, who come to adore our blessed Lord in the Sacrament
of his love. It is they who visit him in his little crib at
Christmas ; and who weep with compassion when they hear
the recital of his sufferings. It is especially the poor who
press forward to the altar, hungering for the bread of life.
It is they who are so proud to take part in a holy process
ion, whether in the church or in the street. Yes, the Cath
olic Church is proud of the poor ; and as our Lord Jesus
Christ himself declared, " the poor are always with her.
"The holy martyr St. Lawrence was commanded by the
tyrant to show him the treasures of the church. St.
Lawrence obeyed. He led the tyrant to the church, and
pointing to a large crowd of poor persons who were wait
ing for alms, he said : ( See, here are the treasures of
the Catholic Church. Yes, the poor are a mark of the true
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 161
Church of Christ. When our blessed Saviour went back
to heaven, he left the poor to take his place here on earth.
He says to every one of us : Whatever you do to one
of these poor persons, you do it to me/
u As you are now poor and desolate, God will also be
your sure re warder. He makes more account of the
little alms of the poor than he does of the grand contribu
tions of the rich. One day, Our Blessed Lord saw a
poor widow putting a few pence into the treasury of the
temple. He saw also the rich Pharisees offering their
gifts. Now what did Jesus Christ say of this poor
woman ?. Listen to his consoling words : * Amen, I
say to you, this poor widow hath cast in more than all
they who have cast into the treasury. J (Mark, xii., 43.)
0, what a consolation for the poor ! That poor widow
went away, little thinking who was watching her. Her s
was indeed a poor offering, a mere trifle ; but it was the best
she had, and she gave it with a cheerful heart. 0, how great
is her reward ! Wherever the Gospel is preached through
out the wide world, her praise is uttered ; and her praise
shall resound throughout all eternity in heaven. 0, what
a consoling example is this for you ! You give small
sum in alms, or for some other charitable object j or you
make a little sacrifice, some act of kindness to your
neighbor. Men do not esteem that deed of charity.
Perhaps the very one to whom you have done that favor,
does not notice it, or soon forgets it ; but God sees that
good deed, he sees the good will with which you give
that alms, and he remembers it : it is written down in the
book of life. He shall proclaim it before the whole world
on the last day, and he shall reward you for it through
out a long, endless eternity. l Amen, I declare to you/
162
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
he says, that even a cup of cold water given in my
name shall have its reward. And then the prayers of
the poor ! how powerful are they ! how pleasing to
God ! The prayers of the poor pierce the clouds ; they
ascend like a mighty voice to the ear of God, and they do
not depart until they are heard. Blessed is he for whom
the poor are continually praying ; he is almost certain of
his salvation.
" Now that you are poor and desolate, the gates of
heaven are open to you. l Blessed are the poor, says
Jesus Christ, l for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And
the Apostle St. James says : l Hath not God chosen the
poor to be heirs of the kingdom of heaven. (James, ii., 5.)
Yes, if you are poor and resigned to the will of God, you
can say in truth with Tobias of old : "Fear not, my child
ren ; you lead indeed a life of poverty, but you shall have
an abundance of good things, if you fear God, avoid
sin and do good. The state of poverty frees you from
many temptations, and makes it easy for you to gain
heaven. Bear, then, courageously all your privations.
When the hour of hardship comes, when you are tempted
to murmur against God, when you are tempted to despair,
then remember the consoling words of our Lord : l Blessed
are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.
" You are now in want. Remember that a throne awaits
you in heaven. You live in a poor miserable hut! Re
member that there are many mansions in the home of
your heavenly Father, and one of these mansions is pre
pared for you. Poverty compels you to live in an un
healthy neighborhood j cruel death has snatched away
several beloved members of your family. Even the worse
has come ; your heart has been crushed within you at see-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 163
ing a dear father and mother, darling brothers and sisters,
and children carried out in their coffin, one by one ; you
are alone and desolate in this wide world. Ah, look up ;
raise your eyes to heaven! See they are standing at the
gates of heaven to meet you with out-stretched arms :
father, mother, brother, sister, and the sweet little babies
whose death rent your heart in twain. See they are all
smiling upon you, they are waiting to welcome you home
to heaven. Your heart is heavy and sorrow-stricken here
below ; remember, in heaven you shall enter into eternal,
unbounded joy. There shall be no weeping, or sighing, or
sorrow any more, for God shall wipe away every tear and
heal every broken heart. Gaunt hunger sits every day
at your poor table ? 0, have courage ! In heaven you
shall sit at the eternal banquet of the Saints. You are
poorly clothed ; your tattered garments call forth the
heartless sneer of some unfeeling neighbor? Do not be
discouraged ; in heaven you shall be crowned with a kingly
diadem ; you shall be clothed with the costly robes
which the angels and saints of heaven wear. Your friends
have deserted you; you are a poor, homeless exile upon
the face of the earth ; see, God is your friend ; a true and
ever faithful friend, and a home of never-ending happiness
awaits you in heaven. Here your hands have grown
rough from hard labor; your whole body has been worn
out by sickness and suffering! Ah! have courage! in
heaven your body shall shine brighter and more glorious
than the noon-day sun. Here you are ignorant and suffer
much on account of it ; but have patience ; in heaven you
shall know every thing, you shall be filled with heavenly
wisdom ; you shall behold the Eternal God face to face,
and in Him you shall see all things. In all your joys or
164 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
sorrows then turn your eyes constantly towards your true
home; look up to heaven, to the mansion of your Father,
the palace of His glory, the temple of His holiness, and
the throne of His grandeur and magnificence, the land of
the living, the centre of your rest, the term of your move
ments, the end of your miseries, the place of the nuptials
of the Lamb, the feast of God and His holy angels. O
holy Sion, where all remains and nothing passes away:
where all is found, and nothing is wanting; where all is
sweet, and nothing bitter j where all is calm, and nothing
is agitated ! happy land whose roses are without
thorns ; where peace reigns without combats and where
health is found without sickness, and life without death !
O holy Thabor ! palace of the living God ! O heav
enly Jerusalem, where the poor sing eternally the beauti
ful canticles of Sion ! " It is thus the good priest spoke
to me, said the pious woman 5 I have felt happy ever
since. May his words also strengthen and comfort you in
all your trials.
5. To bear wrongs patiently.
We live in a w r orld of iniquity and injustice, in a world
where, from the beginning, the good have been wronged
and persecuted by the wicked. Lucifer and his angels
rebel against God, and fight against St. Michael and his
angels. In the family of Adam, Cain slays his brother
Abel. In the family of Abraham, Ismael persecutes Isaac.
In the family of Isaac, Esau persecutes Jacob. In the
family of Jacob, Joseph is sold into Egypt by his brethren
In the family of David, Absalom persecutes Solomon
Our Lord Jesus Christ is betrayed by one of his Apostles
In the Church of Christ, the Roman emperors persecute th<
Apostles and their successors for over three hundm
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 165
years. In the Franciscan Order, St. Francis of Assisiura
is persecuted by brother Elias. In the Cistercian Order,
St. Bernard is persecuted by his uncle Andrew. In the
Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, St. Alphonsus
is calumniated and reviled by Father Leggio. In the
kingdom of God on earth, heresy and infidelity constan
tly oppose orthodox faith. In all places, the wicked
wrong the good. Where is a country, a city, a village,
or a family, where injustice is not found in opposition to
justice? "Because I have loved justice," exclaimed St.
Gregory on his death bed, u I die in exile."
" There must be scandals," says our Lord. God per
mits the elect, for their greater perfection, to be persecu
ted by the wicked. u Good is set against evil, and life
against death : so also is the sinner against the just man.
And so look upon all the works of the Most High. Two
and two, and one against another." (Ecclus. xxxiii., 15.)
Now, it is by bearing patiently all kinds of wrong that
we become more and more like unto God, and belong to
that happy number of christians of whom our Lord says :
u Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt, v., 10.)
For over three hundred years the Irish people have
suffered, struggled, and died for the faith. They suffered
poverty with all its bitterness. They endured exile with
all its sorrows ; they suffered outrage, and even death itself,
rather than lose their God. The minions of hell enacted
the fiendish penal laws, and soon that country, so rich and
fruitful in colleges and convents, became one vast, dreary
wilderness. In tracts of country thirty, forty, fifty miles
in extent, the smoke from an inhabited house, as English
chroniclers themselves declare, was nowhere to be seen.
166 , COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
The people had disappeared and left only skeletons in the
land. The living were to be met only in the glens and
dark caves of the mountains. There they dragged out
a wretched existence, feeding on the weeds and garbage
of the earth. Like shadows they moved about, haggard
and wan, starving and wounded, and they endured the
cruel pangs of hunger, till God, in his mercy, took them
to a better world. Again and again were the harrowing
scenes repeated. Ireland became prosperous again in
spite of the most galling oppression 5 and the people of
Ireland were again starved and massacred for their faith,
and those that survived were shipped off to the British
West Indies, and sold there as slaves. The British fleet
was ordered around the coast. Over eighty thousand of
the most influential and most distinguished of the Irish
Catholics were packed on ship-board, and their bones have
long since rotted in the soil of the English sugar-planta
tions of Jamaica.
The last effort of tyranny is still fresh in the minds of
all I mean the late famine years. There are, no doubt,
some of my readers who have witnessed the appalling
scenes of that gloomy period, and, once witnessed, they
can never, never be forgotten. Ah! no. Like living
fire, these horrid scenes burn into the memory, and leave
there a horrid scar a mark that can never be effaced.
There were thousands and thousands wasting away and
dying of hunger. They were falling and dying, as the
leaves fall in autumn. The food that was sent to the
poor people from America, was kept in the harbors until it
rotted. And there, in sight of the famishing people, the
wealthy, Protestant, overfed wives and daughters of the
sleek, oily Protestant parsons, had plenty of food for their
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 167
cattle ; they had food in abundance for their pet birds or
their lap-dogs, whilst the poor starving Catholics wished
to eat even the husks of the swine, and it was not given
them.
A few years before that gloomy reign of terror, there
lived near a certain town in Ireland a poor, honest farmer,
with his wife and children. They were poor indeed, but
were contented and happy. Never did the poor or the
stranger pass their door without partaking of their hospi
tality ; and what they had they gave with a willing heart.
But the famine year came on. The good farmer was un
able to pay the tithes. His little property was distrained.
The police entered his farm j they seized his unreaped
corn; they took his crops; they drove his cattle to the
pound. The poor unhappy man himself was expelled from
that little spot of earth on which he was born, where he
had lived so long, and where he had hoped to die. He
was turned into the public road, with his wife and children.
No roof, no food, no clothing he was cast, in beggary and
nakedness, into the cold, heartless world. He sought for
a shelter for his little ones. He sought for employment,
but could find none. He was a Catholic. His neighbors
around were bitter Protestants, of the blackest dye.
They offered him shelter, food, and clothing, but on one
condition that he would apostatize.
God ! who shall tell the agony of that poor, heart
broken father ? No hope to cheer him, save the hope of
death ; no eye to pity him save the all- merciful eye of
God ! He saw his poor wife dying before his eyes. He
saw her wasting day by day slowly pining away, while
praying and weeping over her starving children. He heard
his famished children crying for food, and their piteous
168 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
cries rent his very soul. Oh ! he could help them, he
could provide them food, clothing, and a pleasant home
but then he must apostatize, he must renounce his holy
faith! Oh! what a sore trial, what a cruel martyrdom!
His loving wife died before his eyes died of hunger.
She died with words of patience, words of hope, upon her
lips. The poor husband wrung his hands in anguish.
He bent over the lifeless form of his wife. Dark night
was thickening around him thickening even within him ;
he felt the cruel pangs of hunger gnawing at his very
vitals. And were he not upheld by his holy faith, he
would have yielded to despair. But the cries of his chil
dren roused him. He forgot for a moment his own suffer
ings. He took his two weak, starving babes in his trem
bling arms, and hurried away with tottering steps. He
begged from house to house, from door to door ; he
begged for a crumb of bread for his poor, starving little
ones ; but not one gave him a morsel of food. They of
fered him food and clothing and shelter, if he would
only apostatize, if he would give his children to be brought
up in their false creed. " But, 7 cried the heart-broken
father, " oh ! how could I give my children to be brought
up in a false creed and deny their holy faith ? Oh ! how
could I sell their souls to the evil one for a mess of pot
tage? 7 After some time the unhappy man felt a heavy
load weighing like lead upon his trembling arm. He
looked. One of his poor babes had ceased moaning.
It was dead cold and stiff in death. The heart-broken
father sat down beneath a tree by the wayside and pray
ed, but he could not weep. Ah ! no ; his eyes were
dry, his heart was withered. In wild, passionate tones
he called on Heaven to witness his agony he called
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 169
God to witness that he did not wish the death of his children,
that he would gladly lay down his life to save his family,
but he could not oh ! no ! no ! he could not deny his holy
faith ; he could not sell their souls to the devil. He tried
once more to obtain some food for his remaining child, but in
vain, and at last the poor, innocent sufferer gasped and
died too in his arms. Ah ! whose heart can remain un
moved at the sufferings of this good father and his chil
dren ! And yet heaven was worth all this, and more too j
for St. Paul has said with truth : "I reckon that the suffer
ings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the
glory to come, that shall be revealed in us."
6. To forgive injuries. (See above Q. 8.)
7. To pray for the living and the dead.
It is from the Lord s Prayer,or the "Our Father," that we
learn how pleasing it is to God to pray for others. In
this prayer, Jesus Christ teaches us to pray not only for
ourselves, but also for all our fellow-men. He teaches us
in this prayer to ask for others the same graces which we
ask for ourselves. He has also taught us, by his example,
to pray for others. Indeed, we may say that his whole
life was a continual prayer both for the just and sinners.
"And not for them only [the Apostles] do I pray, but for
them also who, through their word, shall believe in Me,
that they all may be one, as thou Father in me and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the
world may believe that thou hast sent me. 7 (John, xvii.,
20, 11.)
"Pray one for another," says St. James the Apostle,
"that you may be saved." (Epist. St. James, v., 15.)
We are especially obliged to pray for the successor of St.
Peter, our Holy Father the Pope, for the bishops and
170 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
clergy of the holy Catholic Church, and for all those who
labor for the propagation of our holy faith. Jesus Christ
himself has given us the example. "And now I am no
more in the world ; and these [the Apostles] are in the
world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in
thy name, whom thou hast given me, that they may be
one, as we also are. ... I do not ask that thou shoulcLst
take them away out of the world, but that thou shouldst
preserve them from evil. Sanctify them in truth. . . .
Father, I will that where I am, they also, whom thou hast
given me, may be with me ; that they may see my glory,
which thou hast given me." (John xvii., 11, 15, 17, 24.)
If there is any one in the world, who needs your
prayers, it is especially the priest. What our Lord says
of St. Peter, applies to every priest, and to every just
man. " Simon, Simon," said he, "behold satan hath de
sired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. But I
have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." (Luke, xxii.,
31-32.) The priest is surrounded by all kinds of danger
ous temptations, contradictions, and crosses. His sacred
duty is to lead souls to God, and daily and hourly to dis
pense the sacred treasures of God s grace. Now, why
has the priest taken upon himself these fearful responsi
bilities ? It is out of love for his fellow-men j it is to
secure their eternal happiness. It is, then, your most
sacred duty to make at least some return to the priest by
offering for him your prayers.
But not only your gratitude to the priest should urge
you to pray for him ; your love for the holy Church also
requires it. It is the greatest honor for God to have
learned and virtuous priests ; priests full of zeal for the
glory of God and the salvation of souls ; and this un-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 171
speakable gift of God is obtained and maintained by the
fervent prayers of the faithful.
And not only your love for the holy Church, but also
your zeal for the salvation of souls should urge you to
pray for the priest. A good priest is indeed the light of
the world, the salt of the earth. He is the source of
peace and blessings to hundreds and thousands.
Moreover, we should often recommend to God all poor
sinners, schismatics, heretics and infidels. Our Lord
Jesus Christ, when hanging on the cross and suffering
the most excruciating pains, prayed for the greatest sin
ners, and his most bitter enemies : "Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do." (Luke, xxiii., 34.)
"He that knoweth his brother to sin a sin, which is not
unto death, let him ask, and life [life of grace] shall be
given to him that sinneth not to death." (1. John, v., 15.)
Remarkable instances of sinners leaving their evil
ways and returning to God, occur every day. No doubt
their conversion is owing to the prayers of the just. " For
God willingly hears the pcayers of a Christian," says St.
John Chrysostom, "not only when he prays for himself
but also when he prays for sinners. Necessity obliges us
to pray for ourselves, but charity must induce us to pray
for others. The prayer of fraternal charity is more ac
ceptable to God than that of necessity." (Chrysost. Horn.
xiv., Oper. Imper. in Matt.) The prayer for sinners,
says St. Alphonsus, is not only beneficial to them, but is,
moreover, most pleasing to God; and the Lord himself
complains of his servants who do not recommend sinnners
to him. He said one day to St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi :
" See, my daughter, how the Christians are in the devil s
hands ; if my elect did not deliver them by their prayers,
172 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
they would be devoured." Inflamed with holy zeal by
these words, this saint used to offer to God the blood of the
Eedeemer fifty times a day in behalf of sinners. "Ah!
she used to exclaim, " how great a pain it is, Lord, to
see how one could help thy creatures by dying for them,
and not be able to do so !" In every one of her spiritual
exercises she recommended sinners to God, and it is re
lated in her life that she scarcely spent an hour in the day
without praying for them ; she even frequently arose in the
middle of the night to go before the Blessed Sacrament,
to offer prayers for them. She went so far as to desire to
endure even the pains of hell for their conversion, provided
she could still love God in that place, and God granted her
wish by inflicting on her most violent pains and infir
mities for the salvation of sinners ; and yet after all this
she shed bitter tears, thinking she did nothing for their
conversion. " Ah, Lord, make me die," she often ex
claimed, " and return to life again as many times as is
necessary to satisfy thy justice for them ! " God, as is
related in her life, did not fail to give the grace of conver
sion to many sinners, on account of her fervent prayers.
" Souls," says St. Alphonsus, " that really love God, will
never neglect to pray for poor sinners."
How could it be possible for a person who really loves
God, and knows his ardent love for our souls, and how
much he wishes us to pray for sinners, and how much
Jesus Christ has done and suffered for their salvation ; how
could it be possible for such a one, I say, to behold with
indifference so many poor souls deprived of God s grace
without feeling moved frequently to ask God to give light
and strength to these wretched beings, in order that they
may come out of the miserable state of spiritual death
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 173
in which they are slumbering ? It is true, God has not pro
mised to grant our petitions in behalf of those who put
a positive obstacle in the way of their conversion ; yet
God, in his goodness, has often deigned, through the
prayers of his servants, to bring back the most blind and
obstinate sinners to the way of salvation, by means of
extraordinary graces. Therefore, we should never fail to
recommend poor sinners to God in all our spiritual exer
cises ; moreover, he who prays for others will experience
that his prayers for himself will be heard much sooner.
In the life of St. Margaret of Cortona, we read that she
prayed more than a hundred times a day for the conver
sion of sinners ; and, indeed, so numerous were their
conversions, that the Franciscan Fathers complained to
her of not being able to hear the confessions of all those
who were converted by her prayers.
The Cure of Ars, who died a few years ago in the odor
of sanctity, relates the following in one of his catechetical
instructions : " A great lady, of one of the first families
in France, was here, and she went away this morning.
She is rich, very rich, and scarcely twenty -three. She
has offered herself to God for the conversion of sinners
and the expiation of sin. She mortifies herself in a
thousand ways, wears a girdle all armed with iron points;
her parents know nothing of it ; she is as white as a sheet
of paper." (Spirit of Cure of Ars.)
The same saintly pastor said one day to a priest, who
complained of not being able to change the hearts of his
parishioners for the better : " You prayed, you wept, you
sighed j but did you fast also ? did you deprive yourself
of sleep ? did you sleep on the bare ground ? did you
scourge yourself? Do not think you have done all, if
you have not yet done these penances. "
174 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
If we do not love poor sinners that much, if we think
it above our strength to perform similar penitential works
for their conversion, let us at least do something ; let us
recommend them to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
or offer ourselves for a week or two as a holocaust to God,
to be disposed of according to his good pleasure let us
suffer some cold, some heat, some inconvenience, some
contradiction and contempt in silence 5 let us deny our
selves some agreeable visits, or other natural pleasures $
or let us make a novena, or hear Mass daily for a week,
and offer up our communions with this intention. We
may be assured that by such exercises we shall give great
pleasure to Jesus Christ, contribute much to the honor of
his heavenly father, win his heart over to ourselves, force
it sweetly to give the grace of conversion to many sin
ners, and obtain for ourselves a large share of divine
grace.
If it is an excellent spiritual work of mercy to pray for
the living, it is also a most praiseworthy spiritual work
of mercy to pray for the dead. Before the coming of
Christ, the Jews were the chosen people of God. They
looked upon prayer for the dead as a holy and laudable
work. They believed that, by offering up prayers for the
dead, they could free the souls of the departed from their
sins. We read, in the second book of the Machabees, a
striking example of their charity towards the departed souls.
About two hundred years before Christ, they gained a
brilliant victory over the enemies of their religion. Now,
as many of the Jews had been slain in the battle, Judas
Machabeus, their valiant general, took up a collection,
and sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem
for a sacrifice to be offered up in expiation of the sins of
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 175
the dead. The Holy Ghost praises the Jews for their
charity towards the departed, by saying : " It is a holy
and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they
may be loosed from sins. 7 (II Machab., xii., 43.)
The souls in purgatory, those holy prisoners, and debtors
to the divine justice are quite helpless. A sick man, af
flicted in all his limbs, and a beggar in the most painful
and destitute of conditions, has tongue left to ask relief.
At least they can implore heaven it is never deaf to
their prayer. But the souls in purgatory are so poor that
they cannot even do this. Those cases, in which some
of them were permitted to appear to their friends and ask
assistance, are but exceptions. To whom is it that they
should have recourse ? Is it perhaps to the mercy of
God f Alas ! they send forth their sighs in plaintive
voices : "As the hart panteth after the fountains of water,
so my soul panteth after thee, God. When shall I
come and appear before the face of God ? My .tears have
been my bread day and night, whilst it is said to me
daily: Where is thy God." (Ps., xli., 1.) "Lord, where
are thy ancient mercies." (Ps., Ixxxviii., 50.) "I cry to
thee, and thou hearest me not ; I stand up, and thou dost
not regard me. Thou art changed to be cruel toward
me." (Job, xxx., 20-21.) But the Lord does not re
gard their tears, nor heed their moans and cries, but
answers them that his justice must be satisfied to the last
farthing.
Are they to endeavor to acquire new merits, and there
by purify themselves more and more? Ah! they know
that their time for meriting is passed away, that their
earthly pilgrimage is over, and that upon them is come
that fatal niglit in which no one can tvorJc. (John, ix., 4.)
176 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
They know that by all their sufferings they can gain no
new merit, no higher glory in heaven they know, it is
through their own fault that they are condemned to this
state of suffering j they see clearly, how many admoni
tions, exhortations, inspirations and divine lights they have
rejected, how many prayers, opportunities to receive the
sacraments and to profit by the means of grace they have
neglected through mere caprice, carelessness and indolence ;
they see their ingratitude towards God, and the deep wounds
they made in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and their extreme
grief and sorrow for all this is a worm never ceasing to gnaw
at them. It is a heart-rending pain, it is a killing torment
for them, to know that they have put themselves
wilfully and wantonly into this state of the most cruel and
most lacerating pains ! "0 cruel comforts ! accursed
ease ! " they cry out, u it is on your account that we are
deprived of the enjoyment of God, our only happiness for
all eternity ! "
Shall they console themselves "By the thought that their
sufferings will soon be over ? But they are ignorant of
the duration of their sufferings unless it be revealed to
them by God. Hence it is that they sigh day and night,
that they weep constantly and cry unceasingly : " Wo is
to us, that our sojourn is prolonged ! "
Shall these poor, helpless souls seek relief from their
fellow-sufferers all utterly incapable of procuring mu
tual relief? Lamenting, sobbing and sighing, shedding
torrents of tears, and crying aloud, these poor souls stretch
out their hands for one to help, console and relieve them.
We are the only ones who have it in our power to assist
them in their sufferings.
The souls in purgatory are holy souls. They are
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 177
confirmed in grace and no longer in a condition to offend
God or to forfeit heaven. They love God above every
thing ; all their disorderly affections and passions have
died away, and as they love God, so are they loved by
him in an unutterable manner. For this reason, our
Lord wishes that they should be united to him as soon as
possible ; but as he is a God most holy and most just, his
holiness and justice forbid him to admit them into the city of
the heavenly Jerusalem before their indebtedness to his di
vine justice has been fully discharged, either by their own
sufferings or by the prayers and good works of their
brethren on earth. To remove, then, by our charity this
bar to the divine goodness, and to assist these souls in
being sooner united to the angelic choirs and the number
of the blessed in heaven/ there to love, praise and glorify
God in a most perfect manner, cannot but be a work
most pleasing and most acceptable to the Almighty. " I
was hungry," He will say to the elect on the day of judg
ment, u and you gave me to eat ; I was thirsty, and
you gave me a drink ; I was a stranger and you took me
in ; naked, and you clothed me : sick, and you visited
me ; I was in prison, and you came to me." And when
the just will ask the Lord upon what occasion they acted
thus toward him, he will answer : " Amen, I say to you :
so long as you did it to one of these, my least brethren,
you did it to me." (Matt., xxv., 34-40.) Truly, if our Lord
so highly values the least act of charity, what value will
he not set on that charity which freed from their expiatory
place such souls as were already espoused to him for all
eternity.
We read in the life and revelations of St. Gertrude,
that she one day inquired of our Lord why the recital of
178 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
the Psalter for the souls of the departed was so agreeable to
him, and why it obtained so great a relief for them, since
the immense number of psalms and the long prayers after
each, caused more weariness than devotion. Our Lord
replied : " The desire which I have for the deliverance
of the souls of the departed, makes it acceptable to me j
even as a prince who had been obliged to imprison one
of his nobles, to whom he was much attached, and was
compelled by his justice to refuse him pardon, would most
thankfully avail himself of the intercession and satisfaction
of others to release his friend. Thus do I act towards
those whom I have redeemed by my death and precious
blood, rejoicing in the opportunity of releasing them from
their pains and bringing them to eternal joy." " But,"
continued the Saint, " is the labor of those who recite
this Psalter acceptable to thee ? " He replied : " My love
makes it most agreeable to me ; and if a soul is released
thereby, I accept it as if I had been myself delivered from
captivity and I will assuredly reward at it a fitting time,
according to the abundance of my mercy." (Chap., xvi.)
St. Gertrude never felt happier than on the days on
which she had prayed much for the relief of the souls in
Purgatory. One day she asked our Saviour why it was
that she felt so happy on those days. " It is," he re
plied, " because it would not be right for me to refuse
the fervent prayers which you on these days pour out to
me for the relief of my suffering spouses in purgatory."
"It is not right for me," says Jesus Christ, " to refuse
the prayers which you address to me in behalf of my
captive spouses." How consoling, then, and at the same
time, how encouraging must it be to remember in our
prayers the poor sufferers of purgatory !
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 179
Dinocrates, the brother of St. Perpetua, died at the
age of seven years. Now, one day when St. Perpetua
was in prison for the sake of faith, she had the following
vision : " I saw Dinocrates," she says, " coming out of
a dark place, where there were many others exceedingly
hot and thirsty j his face was dirty, his complexion pale,
with the ulcer in his face of which he died j and it was
for him that I prayed. There seemed a great distance
between him and me, so that it was impossible for us to
meet each other. Near him stood a vessel full of water,
whose brim was higher than the stature of an infant. He
attempted to drink, but though he had water, he could
not reach it. This mightly grieved me, and I awoke.
By this I knew my brother was in pain, but I trusted I
could, by prayer, relieve him; so I began to pray for
him, beseeching God, with tears, day and night, that He
would grant me my request, as I continued to do till we
were removed to the camp-prison. The day we were in
the stocks, I had this vision : I saw the place, which I
had beheld dark before, now luminous ; and Dinocrates,
with his body very clean and well clad, refreshing him
self, and, instead of his wound, a scar only. I awoke
and I knew he was relieved from his pains." (Butler s
Lives of the Saints, March 7.)
After St. Ludgardis had offered up many fervent
prayers for the repose of the soul of her deceased friend,
Simeon, abbot of the monastery of Toniac, our Lord ap
peared to her saying : " Be consoled, My daughter, on
account of thy prayers I will soon release this soul from
purgatory." " Oh Jesus, Lord and Master of my heart,"
she rejoined ; " I cannot feel consoled so long as I know
that the soul of my friend is suffering so much in the
180 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
purgatorian fire ! Oh ! I cannot help shedding most bitter
tears until Thou hast released this soul from her suffer
ings." Touched and overcome by this tender prayer,
our Lord released the soul of Simeon, who appeared to
Ludgardis, all radiant with heavenly glory, and thanked
her for the many fervent prayers which she had offered
up for his delivery. He also told the saint that, had it
not been for her fervent prayers, he should have been
obliged to stay in purgatory for eleven years. (Life 1.
i., 4) "It is, therefore, a holy and wholesome thought, 7
says Holy Writ, " to pray for the dead that they may be
loosed from their sins." (II. Machabees, xii., 46.)
The relief, however, which the souls in purgatory re
ceive from our prayers, is in proportion to the fervor
with which we say them. This was one day expressly
declared by our Lord to St. Gertrude when asking Him
" How many souls were delivered from purgatory by hers
and her sisters 7 prayers?" " The number," replied our
Lord, " is proportioned to the zeal and fervor of those
who pray for them." He added : u My love urges me to
release a great number of souls for the prayers of each
religious, and at each verse of the psalms which they re
cite, I release many." Although the souls of the departed
are much benefited by these vigils and other prayers,
nevertheless a few words, said with affection and de
votion, are of far more value to them. And this may
be easily explained by a familiar comparison ; for it is
much easier to wash away the stains of mud or dirt from
the hands by rubbing them quickly in a little warm
water, than by pouring a quantity of cold water on them
without using any friction ; thus, a single word, said with
fervor and devotion, for the souls of the departed, is of
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 181
far more efficacy than many vigils and prayers offered
coldly and performed negligently.
What a soothing satisfaction to the heart is not prayer
for the dead ! It changes tears, heretofore barren, into
works of piety and mercy ; causes our sorrow to be a
succor to the object of our love, and makes it, therefore,
less bitter ; it establishes and maintains, between our
selves and those who leave us, the most pleasing and
salutary relations a continual exchange of services and
of precious help. Admirable relations between the living
son and the departed father, between the mother and
the daughter, the husband and the wife, between life and
death ! While I share what I have to spare with the
poor, God, to recompense me, will withdraw my father,
my mother, my friend, from a place of suffering. That
same penny which goes to give his daily bread to a poor
sufferer, will perhaps give to a delivered soul a place for
all eternity at the table of the Lord.
What heart does not thrill at such a thought ! Who
among us does not see one of those most near and dear
to us in life, appear to exhort us to the work of prayer
and the labors of virtue I Who does not exclaim, when
watering with his tears the tomb of a beloved one : " O
beloved soul, whom so many virtues and good works
have recommended to the clemency of the great Judge !
whom so many sufferings have so long tried and purified
before my eyes ! whom a death, so very bitter indeed,
but sanctified by religion and consoled by its hopes, has
so quickly withdrawn from my embraces ! I hope for
thy everlasting salvation, from the divine goodness and
merits of Jesus Christ : but I know not if it is yet con
summated by thy entrance into glory. In this uncer-
182 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
tainty I pray for thee, and I unite to ray prayers the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which I daily offer upon his
altar. My prayer made effectual by our Saviour s blood
relieves thee if thou art still suffering j it obtains for my
self the favors of heaven in greater abundance. The
remembrance of thee accompanies me everywhere ; the
desire of hastening thy happiness urges me on, and un
ceasingly stimulates my zeal. I feel thee present, as it
were, like a guardian angel, who at one time encourages
me to prayer and good works, at another assures me of
his prayers and assistance. Death has only brought our
souls nearer to each other. Formerly I surrounded thee
with my attentions, and was in turn the object of thy
tenderest solicitude 5 now I still love, and still am loved,
and more than ever is my love capable of helping thee,
and is itself repaid by thee."
What purity is there not in this love ! What holiness
in the works which it imposes ! What a charm in the
consolations it procures ! What a mysterious and holy
association is that which unites in a community of mutual
aid the visible and the invisible life, time and eternity :
the just man who is still engaged in the combat, with
him who is having his wounds healed in an exile that
must soon end, and him who is already enjoying the
glory and the triumph of heaven !
13. How does God reward the charitable 1
He rewards them for their charity, as if bestowed upon
himself.
Who do you think it is that asks alms of you ? It is
Jesus, your God, your Creator, your Lord, your Re
deemer, your Father. He it is who, in the disguise of
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 183
poverty, implores your assistance. " Amen I say to you,
as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren,
you did it to me." (Matt., xxv., 40.) How happy and
honored are those who give alms to Jesus Christ in the
person of the poor ! If you, like a father, shall give
protection and support to the fatherless, and be as a
husband to their mother, God also, to reward your
charity, will show himself to you as a father, and will
tske care of you as his child ; nay, he will be more kind,
and more indulgent to you, than a mother can be to her
children. You will be, then, a son of the Most High, be
cause you comply with his precept of charity to the
poor and fatherless. Thus to become and to be a son
of God, is something far greater than to be king, emperor,
or master of the whole universe j nay, it is even more
than to be an angel, an archangel, a cherub, a seraph j it
is, as it were, to be a god on earth. For, as the son of
a man is man himself, so, in like manner, a son of God
is a god himself, as it were 5 especially so, if he imitates
those divine attributes which are most peculiar to God,
and in which God himself glories most 5 that is, in charity
and in liberality.
St. Hilary, commenting on Psalm 51 writes thus:
"Gold given in alms, changes us from being earthly
into heavenly beings ; and from being mortals, into im
mortal creatures." And St. Clement of Alexandria says :
" A man who is charitable towards others, is the image
of God." (I. Strom.) "There is nothing," says St.
Gregory Nazianzen, "that makes man so godlike as
charity towards his neighbor. Be a god to the helpless
and needy, by imitating the charity of God." "If there
be nothing," says St. Gregory of Nyssa, " in which God
184 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
glories more than in his goodness, to what else, then,
does Christ exhort you when he says : i blessed are the
merciful/ than that you should become a god by imitating
that divine attribute, which is most peculiar to God."
(Lib. de Beatitud. Beati misericordes.) " No act of
devotion and piety of the faithful," says St. Leo, " de
lights the heart of God more than that which is performed
towards the poor j and wherever the Lord finds a man
engaged in the service of the poor, and exercising charity,
there he sees and recognizes his image and likeness."
(Serm. 10 de Quadrag.)
" And tlie Lord will have mercy on thee more than a
mother." the wonderful goodness of God ! by which
he vouchsafes to be to the charitable not only a father,
but also a mother ; nay, even more than a mother, accord
ing to what he himself declares by the Prophet Isaias :
" Thus saith the Lord that made and formed thee, thy
helper from the womb. Hearken unto me, O house of
Jacob, who are carried by my bowels, are borne up by
my womb, even to your old age I am the same, and to
your gray hairs I will carry you. I have made you,
and I will bear you, I will carry and I will save. Can a
woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the
son of her womb ? And if she could forget, yet will not
I forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee in my hands. 91
It was this charity of God which induced many philoso
phers and theologians of old to call the Lord "Patri-
matrem et matripatrem" a father and a mother, because
he unites in himself, with the omnipotence of the Fa
ther, the indulgence and kindness of a mother.
Again : "The Lord will have mercy on thee, more than a
mother." great truth ! too little reflected upon, too
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 185
little understood ! As a true parent is more careful to do
good to that one of his children who endeavors best to
imitate his example, so, in like manner, God is more
careful to bestow His mercy upon those of His children
who try to the best of their power to imitate the example
of His charity. He blesses them temporally and spiritu
ally, at every moment of their life and for all eternity.
If they pray to him, he grants their prayers most
willingly. The Lord says through the mouth of the Pro
phet Isaias : " Deal out thy bread to the hungry, and
bring the needy and harborless into thy house j when
thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thy
own flesh Seek judgment, relieve the oppressed,
judge for the fatherless, defend the widow. Then
shalt thou call, and the Lord shall hear 5 thou shalt cry,
and he shall say Here I am. ? " (Chapters Iviii. & i.)
Charity, then, towards our fellow-men, especially towards
the poor, render our prayers most powerful with God.
" And thy justice shall go before thee," says the Prophet
Isaias. (Chap. Iviii.) The prophet means to say that God will
hear those prayers which are accompanied by the works
of charity, but that those performed without charity are
powerless with him. The angel of the Lord declared this
to Tobias: " Prayer is good, with fasting and alms." (Tob.
xii., 8.) For this reason Tobias said on his death-bed to
his son : " Give alms out of thy substance, and turn not
away thy face from any poor person ; for it shall come to
pass that the face of the Lord shall not be turned from
thee." (Chap, iv., 7.)
The Bishop St. Julian used to distribute among the
poor and needy every thing he possessed. The Church
says of him that, on account of his extraordinary charity
186 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
towards his fellow-men, he obtained, through his prayers,
many wonderful favors from God. Once, when the
people were suffering very much from temporal want, he
commenced to pray to God with tears in his eyes. All
on a sudden, several wagons loaded with corn arrived,
and no sooner were they unloaded, than the men who
brought them disappeared.
Father Hunolt, S. J., (11 Serm. on the Following of
Christ.) relates that there was once a certain vicious young
man who often sincerely wished to change his life, but
who, on account of his deeply-rooted evil habits, believed
his conversion utterly impossible. He thought that
whatever he might do, would be of no avail to excite true
sorrow and contrition in his heart. One day, as he was
overwhelmed with melancholy, he left home in order to
seek some relief in the society of his companions. On
leaving the house, he met, at the door, a poor beggar. As
soon as he saw him, he remembered the words of our
Lord Jesus Christ: ll Whatsoever you have done to the
least of my brethren, you have done to Me." He then
went and took a loaf of bread, and throwing himself on his
knees before the beggar, he gave it to him, thus praying in
his heart : " My Lord Jesus Christ, I adore thee in the
person of this poor man ; most gladly would I give thee
my whole heart, but I cannot, because it is too harden
ed ; for the present at least, take, I beseech thee, this loaf
of bread, which I am still able to give ; do with my heart
whatever thou wilt." Oh, the wonderful power of pray
er when accompanied by works of charity ! No sooner had
he prayed thus, than he felt in his heart so bitter a sorrow
for all his sins, that he shed a torrent of tears. He made
a good confession, and ever afterwards received many
extraordinary graces.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 187
Henephon, a wealthy and powerful nobleman of Con
stantinople and his wife Mary led virtuous holy lives.
They had two sons, John and Arcadius, whom they sent
to Phoenicia to study jurisprudence. At first, the voyage
was prosperous, but soon a fierce storm arose. Th}
sails were torn to shreds ; the masts were broken into
splinters ; the ship was entirely at the mercy of the
storm. The two brothers prayed and embraced each
other j in the next moment they were parted by the
violence of the waves and the vessel sank into the boiling
sea ! John, the elder brother, seized a plank, was
driven about at the mercy of the winds and waves,
till finally he was cast on the shore of Phoenicia. Full
of gratitude for his escape and thoroughly convinced of
the nothingness of all earthly possessions, he fell on his
knees and vowed to consecrate himself to the service of
God in some monastery. Going farther inland, his good
angel led his steps to the gate of a monastery. He pre
sented himself to the Abbot and begged to be admitted
into his pious community. The Abbot hearing the
story of his shipwreck, was touched by his modesty and
innocence, embraced him tenderly and received him among
his religious.
Meanwhile, Arcadius, the younger brother, was also
cast ashore. He had not the heart to return to his pa
rents with the sad tidings of the shipwreck, and filled with
gratitude to God he resolved to make a pilgrimage to the
holy places in Palestine. He afterwards entered without
knowing it, the very monastery where his brother lived.
Here the two brothers lived for years without recognizing
each other, as all the religious of the monastery lived in
perpetual silence and solitude. The Abbot alone knew
188 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
who they were. You may imagine the grief of the pa
rents on learning no news of their sons ! They sent
messengers to Phoenicia, who enquired everywhere with
out finding the least tidings of the young men. Finally,
on their way homeward, they met one of the servants who
accompanied the two brothers. From him they learned
the sad news of the shipwreck. Ah! who can describe
the grief of the parents when they learned the sad fate of
their beloved children f They cast themselves on the
ground, and with heart-rending groans and tears they of
fered the great sacrifice of their children to God : " The
Lord hath given," they exclaimed with heroic resignation
" and the Lord hath taken away ! Blessed be the name of
God ! " They passed the whole night in prayers and tears
beseeching the Lord to make known to them if their
children were yet living. Towards morning they fell
into a gentle slumber and both dreamed, that they saw
their sons in Jerusalem. They appeared standing before
the throne of Jesus Chris.t and crowned with glory.
The good couple resolved, therefore, to set out for Jeru
salem in the hope of hearing some news of their dear
children. They took with them a large sum of money
to distribute to the poor and soon reached Jerusalem.
They first visited the holy places and then went from one
monastery to another, giving alms and requesting the
prayers of the good religious. One day when they came
to a certain monastery, the Abbot enlightened by God,
recognized them instantly and called them by name.
u Have confidence/ 7 he said; " continue your work of
mercy ; and when you have distributed your alms, return
to this convent, perhaps God will give you some tidings
of your long lost children."
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 189
The good parents were greatly astonished, and consoled
by this address, coming especially from a stranger. As
soon as they had bestowed alms on all the monasteries
they hastened back to the holy Abbot. The good man
received them kindly, and begged them to take a slight
repast. " I have two religious here," said he, u who
have passed through a rigorous fast and I wish to give
them a little recreation ! " The Abbot then went to the
young men and informed them that they were brothers.
No words can express the joy of the young men in meeting
each other again. It was indeed a foretaste of heaven !
The Abbot then said : u Two noble pilgrims are to dine
here to-day. I wish you to wait on them and edify them
by your good conduct. I therefore strictly forbid you
to gaze upon them or to express your feelings in any way
whatever, until I give you permission to speak."
The feast was soon ready. The pious couple were seated
at table. The two religious waited on them, but they were
so changed by hardships and penances, that the parents
did not recognize them. At last the pilgrims entreated
the Abbot to give them the promised tidings of their long
lost children. "Ah ! how happy would we be," they ex
claimed tl if our children had the good fortune to be holy
servants of God as are the good religious who have waited
on us to-day ! What an honor it would be to have such
children ! "
Thereupon the Abbot commanded Arcadius to relate
the adventures of his life. Arcadius began. He told
where he was born ; how he and his brother had been
sent to Phoenicia .; how they were shipwrecked ; how
they were saved, and finally, how they both met in
the same monastery. "What -are the names of your
190 COMMANDMENTS OP GOD.
parents ? " asked the aged couple eagerly. " My father s
name is Henophon and my mother s name is Mary/
answered Arcadius. At these words the parents were
transported with joy. They fell weeping upon the necks
of their children, those dear children, so long lost and at
length so happily found again. So great was the gratitude
of these good people to God that, on their return home,
they sold all they had, gave the proceeds to the poor, and
entered into separate monasteries, where they led a most
holy and edifying life. The Church honors them as
saints. (Bollandists, Acta Sanctorum.)
If you wish to multiply your temporal goods without
much trouble, you have but to give alms ; for it is written,
" Give and it shall be given to you." Alms-deeds are
like the seed sown by Isaac, which yielded a hundred-fold.
Christ has said of those who leave every thing for His sake,
and distribute their goods among the poor, that they will
receive a hundred-fold. St. Augustine justly remarks
(Serm. 25 De verbis Domini, c. 3.) that the field of the poor
is very fertile, yielding fruit instantly to those that culti
vate it. " He that giveth to the. poor, shall not want : he
that despiseth his entreaty, shall suffer indigence. " (Prov.
xxviii., 27.)
As a proof of this truth, let us remember the pot of
meal and the cruse of oil, from which Elias received
nourishment. "The pot of meal wasted not, and the cruse
of oil was not diminished." (III. Kings, chap, xvii., 16.)
"He that has mercy on the poor, lendeth to the Lord : and
he will repay them." (Prov., xix.,17.) "The Lord," says
St. Leo, "gives security for the poor, and returns every
thing with usury. If you, then, wish to carry on usury, do
so with God." "To give alms," says St. John Chrysos-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 191
torn (Horn, xxxiii.), "is of all arts the most lucrative;" for
the Lord is more liberal than nature. Put into the
earth one giain of wheat, and for it you will reap a hun
dred, perhaps three hundred grains. But God is much
more inclined to return for one act of charity, a hundred,
nay a thousand.
Again, one good work leads to a better one. Humble
yourself before God, and you will feel inclined to humble
yourself still more. Pray, and you will feel desirous to
pray still more. So in like manner, give alms, and you
will feel incited to give still more. Thus the words of
the Wise Man will be fulfilled in your regard : "Some dis
tribute their own goods, and grow richer. The soul which
blesseth shall be made fat: and he that inebriateth, shall
be inebriated also himself." (Prov., xi., 24.) " God has
prescribed," says St. John Chrysostom, " to give alms
not only to relieve the needy, but also that thereby the
goods of the giver should be increased, so that the giver
of alms should gain more than the receiver himself."
One day, the Bishop St. Germanus met on his jour
ney a poor man who asked an alms of him. The holy
bishop asked his deacon how much money he had still
left to defray the expenses of the journey. The dea
con replied that he had only three dollars. "Well,
give them to this poor man," said the bishop. The
deacon, however, did not obey, but gave only two
dollars to the beggar. At night a rich man came and
gave the bishop two hundred dollars. "See," said St.
Germanus to the deacon, "had you given the three dollars
to the poor man, as I told you, our Lord would have sent to
us one hundred dollars more. Learn from this, never more
to distrust the liberality of God." (Life by Ribadeneira.)
192 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Indeed, alms-giving forces God always to come to the
assistance of the giver. " Shut up alms in the heart of
the poor," says the Holy Ghost, " and it shall obtain help
for thee against all evil. Better than the shield of the
mighty, and than the spear, it shall fight for thee against
thy enemy." (Ecclus. xxix., 15.) And again : " God pro-
videth for him that showeth favor : He remembereth him
afterwards, and in the time of his fall he shall find a sure
stay." (Chap., iii., 34.) Just as if it were said : In the
time of adversity, the alms giver will stand firm under
the protection of God. Holy Scripture says : "The alms
of a man is as a signet with him, and shall preserve the
grace of a man as the apple of the eye " (Ecclus., xvii., 1 8.);
as if it were said : As a seal-ring is worn on the fin
ger, and is always before the eyes of man, so in like
manner alms are always before the eyes of God, and the
alms bestowed upon a poor person are preserved by God
as the apple of the eye, i. e., as a thing most precious in
his sight.
One night, St. Philip Neri carried bread to a bashful
poor man. On his way thither he fell into a deep ditch.
But the Lord preserved him from being hurt, and sent
his angel to extricate him from his dangerous position.
Those who are familiar with the lives of charitable souls
will remember many instances of this kind.
The love of God, however, is not satisfied with bestow
ing temporal blessings upon the charitable ; He also be
stows upon them His spiritual gifts and graces, which
surpass the temporal blessings as much as eternity sur
passes time. Now, the first and most necessary spiritual
gift that the Lord can bestow upon the soul of man, is
to deliver it from sin and eternal death. But charity
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 193
towards the needy induces the Lord to free the soul from
sin. Tobias says: "Alms deliver from all sin, and from
death, and will not suffer the soul to go into darkness."
(Chap, iv., 11.) "By charity towards the poor we shall
overcome and avoid all sin," says St. Leo. (Serm. 2., De
ascens.) " Let all those, then, who wish that Jesus
Christ should spare them, be merciful and charitable to
the poor," says the same holy Pope. (Serm. 4., De collect.)
" Redeem thy sins with alms, and thy iniquities with
works of mercy to the poor," said the holy prophet Dan
iel to King Nabuchodonosor. (Chap., iv., 24.)
Why is it that alms destroy sin ? (1) Because those who
are merciful to others, obtain mercy, according to the
words of Jesus Christ : " Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy." (Matt., v., 7.) Alms, of course
do not remit mortal sin directly (the remission of mortal
sin being obtained only by confession), but indirectly, be
cause they are a powerful prayer to obtain from God the
grace of sincere sorrow and amendment of life. We
read in the Acts of the Apostles (Chap., x., 4.) that at
Csesarea there lived a certain centurion, named Cornelius,
a religious man, giving much alms, and always praying to
God. As he was yet a heathen, the Lord sent him an
angel to tell him that he should send for Peter, and be
instructed by him in the true faith. What induced our
Lord to bestow this great grace upon this man ? It was
the great charity which this centurion always exhibited
to the poor, as the angel of the Lord himself declared :
" Thy prayers, and thy alms/ said he, " have ascended
for a memorial in the sight of God."
St. Eustace, also, when still a heathen, was very chari
table to the poor. Christ himself one day appeared to
194: COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
him and persuaded him to become a Christian. He and
his whole family were converted, and died as martyrs.
2. Alms-giving is said to destroy sin, because the poor
will offer up to God their prayers in behalf of their bene
factors, and their prayers cannot remain unheard.
" The Lord hears the sighs and prayers of the poor," says
Holy Scripture. (Ps., x., 17.)
3. To give alms is an act of charity, but " charity
covers a multitude of sins," says the Apostle St. James.
(Chap., v., 20.)
4. This act of charity will always remit temporal
punishment. On account of his great charity to the poor,
the Emperor Zeno escaped temporal punishment. John
Moschus, in his " Spiritual Meadow," tells us that this
Emperor had outraged the daughter of a certain lady.
This lady went to church every day, there to pray to
God that he might avenge her, and punish the emperor
for his wicked deed. Having prayed for this with tears
in her eyes during several days in succession, the Blessed
Virgin appeared to her, and said that the hands of God
were prevented from punishing the emperor on account
of his great charity towards the poor. (Chap, clxxv.)
" Water," says Holy Scripture, " quencheth a flaming
fire, and alms resisteth sins." (Eccles. iii., 3.) " Yes,"
says St. Augustine (Lib. xxi., Civit. xxxvii.), " there are
some who cannot be saved without alms, because they are
so deeply immersed in sin and irregular desires as not to
be able to free themselves from their evil habits by means
of the ordinary graces of God ; they need a more power
ful grace, which will be granted only through the prayers
of the poor and needy."
" Alms-giving is, then," says the same St. Augustine
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 195
(Horn. xxix., inter. 80.), "like a propitiatory sacrifice of-
iered to God to appease him." St. Paul writes : " Do not
forget to do good, and to impart : for by such sacrifices
God s favor is obtained." (Heb. xiii., 16.) For this
reason, St. Ambrose calls alms-giving a second baptism.
(Serm. xxxii.) Should any one have committed sin after
baptism, let him appease the Lord, and purify his soul by
alms-giving. For Christ has said: "Give alms, and, be
hold, all things are clean unto you." (Luke xi., 41.)
However, it must be remembered that, though alms
make us find mercy with God, that is, mercy for past
sins, yet alms are not a license to commit sin with im
punity. " For," says St. Augustine, " he who thinks he
can bribe, as it were, the divine justice by charity to the
poor, shall be damned and experience the divine justice
in spite of all his alms."
Lord Arpini and his wife made, in the year 1030, their
last will in the following manner : " When we commenced
to reflect that we were conceived and born in sin, and
have from our infancy committed many faults every day,
and that on the day of judgment we shall have to give a
strict account of all our thoughts, words and actions, and
that every one will receive from the Eternal Judge what
he has deserved ; and again, when we reflected that sinners
will be cast into fire everlasting for having neglected to
atone for their sins here below, and that the elect of God
will enter into everlasting bliss : then all on a sudden our
hearts felt deeply touched by the mercy of God, and we
were filled with great fear and trembling. - Whilst yet re
flecting about what we should do, we felt inspired to go
and ask the advice of holy priests and religious men on
the manner of redeeming our innumerable sins, of escap-
196 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
ing hell, and making sure of heaven. We were told, that
under our circumstances, we could do nothing better than
to give alms, and to build, of our own means, a church
and a monastery, in which monks might serve God in a
holy manner, and chant his praises, according to the rule
and constitutions of St. Benedict, and pray for us incess
antly. With the greatest pleasure we received this ad
vice, and went by it. We built a church in honor of our
Lord Jesus Christ and his Mother, the Blessed Virgin
Mary, and we made it over to the venerable Father
Dominic and his monks, that they might serve and praise
God therein." (Baronius.)
Alms-giving, however, is not only a propitiatory sacri
fice ; it is also a sacrifice of praise. 1. Alms are given
in honor and praise of God. 2. Because alms make the
poor and needy praise God for having inspired the giver
to relieve them in their necessities. 3. Because, when
others see this charity, they, too, will praise God for it,
and will feel induced to imitate it. 4. As the charitable
man bestows alms for the love of God, he often receives
great consolation even in this life, and, therefore, thanks
and praises God for the grace of being able to give alms.
It is, then, a great act of mercy on the part of God to
receive alms both as a sacrifice of praise and as a sacri
fice of propitation. But this mercy is particularly vis
ible at the hour of death. The hour of death, what an hour
of terror ! The past, the present, the future, fill the
dying man with horror j the world is receding from him j
the judgment of God is before him 5 a strict account is to
be given ; the temptations of the devil are most fierce,
all this makes the remembrance of death most frightful.
But holy David says : a Blessed is he that understandeth
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 197
concerning the needy and the poor. The Lord will de
liver him in the evil day" (Ps. xl., 2.) Now this evil day
is the day, the hour of death. But in this hour the alms-
giver will experience particular confidence in God. " Alms
shall be/ 7 says Holy Scripture, " a great confidence before
the Most High God to all those that give it." (Job. iv., 12.)
And again : " Alms delivereth from death, and maketh to
find mercy." (Chap, xii., 9.) u The goods of this world,"
says St. Ambrose, " will not follow us from death. Only
the works of charity will accompany the dying. They
will preserve them from hell." Tobias says : " According
to thy ability be merciful, for thus thou storest up to thy
self a good reward for the day of necessity." (Tobias, iv., 8.)
St. Cyprian says that Tabita was restored to life on ac
count of her charity towards the poor. " This woman,"
says Holy Scripture, " was full of good words and alms-
deeds which she did." (Acts ix., 36, 40.) " A death-bed
is a good one," says St. Francis de Sales, " if it has
charity for a mattress." (Spirit of Francis de Sales.) St.
Vincent de Paul was wont to say, u that those who have
been charitable in the course of their life towards the poor,
generally have no fear of death at the end of their life j
that he had witnessed this in many instances, and that
for this reason he recommended to all those who were
afraid of death to be charitable to the poor." It is rela
ted in his life, that a certain man, who was very chari
table to the poor, was always very much afraid of death.
But in the whole course of his last illness which prepared
him for death, he was calm and cheerful ; he died with a
joyous smile on his lips.
" Yes," says St. Jerome, t( I cannot remember ever
having read that a Catholic who was given to works of
198 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
charity died a bad death. He has too many intercessors
in heaven, and it is impossible that the prayers of many
should not be heard." " Works of charity alone," re
marks a certain author (Ad Fratres in eremo apud St.
Augustin.), "lead man to God and God to man. I never
saw a charitable person die a bad death."
This confidence is a fruit of their charity to the poor
for they know that whatever they have given to the poor,
they have given to our Lord Himself, as our Divine Sav
iour has declared: u Amen, I say to you, as long as you
did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to
me." (Matt, xxv., 40.) For this reason, the Fathers of the
Church say, that whatever is given in alms is put, as it
were, into the Savings Bank of heaven by the hands of
the poor. " Secure your riches," exclaims St. John
Chrysostom (VII. De Poenitent.), " they are fleeting. How
can you secure them ? By giving them in alms you will
make them stay with you ; but by keeping them, you
will make them leave you. Keep grain locked up, and
it will be eaten by worms and disappear j sow it, and it will
yield a rich harvest and remain. Thus, in like manner,
riches put under lock and key will disappear ; but given
in alms to the poor they will yield a hundred-fold." St.
Cyprian says the same. These are his words (Tract, de
Opere et eleemos.) : " A capital deposited in the hands of
Jesus Christ cannot be confiscated by any government,
nor can it become the prey of dishonest lawyers. That
inheritance is secure which is deposited with God."
Sophronius tells us, that Evagrius the philosopher
heard one day, in a sermon, that in the other
world a hundred-fold would be returned for every thing
given in alms. So he brought sixty pounds of gold to
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 199
Bishop Synesius, that he might distribute them among
the poor. He received, for this money, the bishop s
note stating he would receive a hundred-fold in heaven.
He told his children to put this note in his hands after
his death, and bury him with it. Three days after his
death he appeared to the bishop, and begged him to go
to his grave and take back his note, as he had already
received a hundred-fold from Christ, according to promise.
Next morning the bishop together with his clergy went
to the grave of Evagrius, and took from his hands the note,
which then read as follows : " Evagrius, the philosopher,
to his bishop I did not wish that you should remain ig
norant of the fact, that for all the money which I gave
you, I have been rewarded a hundred-fold. You owe
me nothing more."
The alms, then, which the charitable man has given,
will inspire him in the hour of death with great confi
dence in Jesus Christ, his Eternal Judge. Holy David
says : " Acceptable to God is the man that showeth
mercy, and lendeth. Glory and wealth shall be in his
house: he shall order his words with judgment." "In
these words, the royal Prophet gives us to understand,"
says St. John Chrysostom, lt that a man rich in works of
charity will not be afraid of his Eternal Judge. In vain
shall his sins rise to accuse him, if the poor excuse him."
He gave his alms to Jesus Christ Himself in the person
of the poor. " Opera tua sumus we are your works,"
they will cry out to him. " We are so many advocates
before the tribunal of Christ to defend your cause."
" We will gain for you the good graces of the Eternal
Judge," says St. John Chrysostom ; " we will prevail
upon Him to pronounce sentence in your favor."
200 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
St. James the Apostle, too, confirms us in this truth
when he says, " Mercy exalteth itself above judgment."
(Chap. ii., 32.) He means to say that charity will glo
riously prevail over divine justice; for on the Day of
Judgment Christ will say, u Come, ye blessed of My
Father, possess ye the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you
gave Me to eat," etc. (Matt., xxv., 34.)
St. Gregory relates that two martyrs appeared one
day to a certain religious person. Upon receiving from
her an alms, as usual, they said: u You visit us to day,
but we shall come to visit you on the Day ot Judgment
to do for you all we can."
Cornelius a Lapide, S. J., tens us that he himself heard
from truthful Englishmen, that Carthusian monks, who
had died as martyrs under Henry VIII. , King of England,
appeared to a certain lady, and promised to asssist her in
her last hour, for having received from her charitable aid
and relief when detained in prison. They really came in
her hour of death to assist her, and appeared with her
before the tribunal of Christ to defend her cause.
" Be not afraid of death and judgment," says St.
Peter Chrysologus, "if your charity towards the poor
and needy pleads for you. On tha-t day, mercy is hoped
for in vain by him who has not practised charity towards
the needy. Depart from me, ye cursed, into fire ever
lasting j for I was hungry, and you did not give me to
eat. " (Matt, xxv.)
"In truth/ exclaims St. John Chrysostom, " the
charitable soul will behold and find in Jesus Christ her
heavenly Treasurer rather than her Judge; she will
l.oldly approach him to receive with c;reat interest all that
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 201
she has deposited with him through the hands of the poor ;
she will arrive like a queen at the gates of heaven ; the
gates of pardise will be flung open immediately, and no
one will dare ask : " Who are you, and whence have you
come?" " Your business on earth," says the saint, "is
to negotiate for heaven. Give earthly things to the poor,
and for them you will receive heaven j give a trifle, and
for it you will receive a kingdom ; give a little crumb,
and you will receive every thing."
St. Gregory (Dial. 1. 4, c. 5., 37.) relates that a holy
shoemaker of Rome, named Deusdedit (God has given
it) would not work on Saturdays, but distributed among
the poor all he had gained in the course of the week.
Another holy man saw in a vision how the angels were
preparing a palace for this holy shoemaker 5 but they
worked at it only on Saturday.
How true, then, are the words of St. John Chrysostom:
" Whatever," he says ? a is given in alms, receives golden
wings, and with them flies up to heaven, where it causes
unspeakable joy to the angels. If you are given to
works of mercy, you have a moral certainty of being
predestined to life everlasting. u Put ye on," says St.
Paul, "as the elect of God, holy and beloved, the bowels
of mercy." (Coloss. iii : 12.) As soon, therefore, as you
begin to practise the works of charity, you lay the corner
stone of your future sanctity and glory.
It is related in the life of St. Francis Xavier that he
one day asked Peter Veglio to give him money enough
for a young lady to get married, and escape thus a great
danger to which she was exposed. Peter was just playing
chess and jocosely said to the saint : " How can you ex
pect that I should give you my own money when I am
202 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
trying to win the money of my neighbor 1 Well, here is
the key of my desk. Go and take as much as you want."
The saint took three hundred crowns, and then said to
his friend : u Peter, God has graciously accepted your
charity. I promise you on his part, that you shall always
be in comfortable circumstances, and die a happy death.
When one day the wine tastes bitter in your mouth, then
prepare for death, for this bitter taste of the wine is a
warning of the approach of your last hour." This prophecy
came true. One day as Peter was drinking wine, he felt
a bitter taste in his mouth. He began immediately to
prepare for death. Both his life and death were happy
and edifying.
We may then exclaim with St. John Chrysostom:
11 Truly, to be merciful and charitable towards the poor,
is a greater grace than to possess the gift of removing
mountains, of curing the sick, and of raising the dead to
life."
But some one may say : " I have to provide for my chil
dren; and, therefore, I cannot be so liberal as I would wish."
To those who make this objection, St. John Chrysostom
answers : u If you will give up all to your children, you
put your wealth in an unreliable bank ; but if you place your
wealth into the hands of God, he will become the guardian
of your children, and preserve it all for them. If you
wish the inheritance of your children to be well insured,
make God their debtor by placing your wealth in his
hands, and give them the following note : ( God will re
turn a hundred-fold for what is given to him in the person
of the poor. His promise faileth not. With him cai ry
on usury. 7 Another one might say: "I could wish,
indeed, to make myself worthy of the rich temporal and
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 203
spiritual blessings which the Lord is accustomed to bestow
upon the charitable, but I am not well off myself 5 I lack
the means of being liberal " Let him who makes this
objection remember that a small gift is also very ac
ceptable with God, provided it be made with love. u The
poor, too," says St. Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. de S.
Baptismo.), u can give valuable gifts to God ; because God
considers more the love of the giver than the gift itself."
u Before God you will never appear with empty hands,"
says St. Gregory (Horn. 5 in Evang.), "if you appear
with a heart replenished with a good will." On this ac
count Gerson used to say : " God seeks adverbs rather
than verbs; that is, he pays more attention to the manner
in which you do something in his honor, than to the action
itself." Our Lord Jesus Christ was more pleased with
the poor widow s mite, than with the rich gifts of the
wealthy.
" If it is not in your power to give even a little," says
St. Alphonus, "then recommend your neighbor to God, by
saying at least a Hail Mary for him." I remember a
charitable woman, who, when she had nothing to give to
the poor, made, in winter^ a large fire for them, that they
might be able to warm themselves. There are many
charitable persons, who, not having any means of their
own to assist the poor, or the priest, in building churches,
hospitals, asylums, and school-houses, beg the means from
others to assist them, and bear patiently, for the sake of
Christ and the poor, the insults they receive on many
occasions. " Be, therefore, merciful according to thy
ability," said Tobias to his son ; " if thou have much, give
abundantly ; if thou have little, take care even so to be
stow willingly a little " (Tob, 4; 8, 9.) but with the
204
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
generous will to give more if you are able ; thus the liber
ality of your heart will prevail upon the liberality of God
to give you more ; because the Lord will not suffer him
self to be outdone in liberality. "If any one/ said our
Lord to St. Gertrude, " desires, for the love of me, to
perform a good work, but, for the want of means, cannot
accomplish it, I will so esteem the purity of his intention
as to consider it as if it had really been carried into
effect j and even if he never commences what he wishes
to undertake, he will not fail to obtain the same reward
from ine as if he had accomplished the work, and had
never committed the least negligence in the matter."
(Life and Revelat.)
O the great goodness of God, who receives the good
will for the deed ! Who can, then, have a lawful excuse
if he be deprived of the abundant blessings which the
Lord has in store for the charitable, both in this world
and in the next ?
Now the Lord attaches all these blessings to the charity
which you show even to the least of his brethren on
earth. By saying " to the least of these my brethren,"
he gives us to understand that there is another class of
his brethren who are great in his sight, and whom he
loves most tenderly. Now, if God bestows such great
blessings upon those who are charitable to the least of
the brethren of Jesus Christ, how much more abundantly
will he not bestow his blessings upon those who are char
itable to his great friends ! Those who show themselves
very charitable to the friends of God, to the pastors of
souls, to missionary and religious priests, and in general
to all those who have consecrated themselves for ever to
the service of God and their neighbor, shall fye ^Jessed in a
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 205
still more extraordinary manner. The Holy Ghost calls
our particular attention to this great truth, when he says
in Holy Scripture (Ecclus. xii., 1, 2.) : " If thou do good,
know to whom thou doest it, and there shall be much
thanks for thy good deeds. Do good to the j-ust, and
thou shalt find great recompense; and if not of him,
assuredly of the Lord" To the just, especially to those
of them who are eminently so, may be applied what the
angel of the Lord said of John the Baptist, namely, that
"he was great before God" (Luke, i., 15.) The reason
of this is, because Jesus Christ lives in the just by his
grace. a l live, now not I," says Saint Paul, " but Christ
liveth in me." (Galat., ii., 20.) Hence, whatever is given
to a just man is given to Christ Himself in a more spe
cial manner. To show this in reality, Christ has often
appeared in the form and clothing of a poor man, and as
such begged and received alms. This happened to John
the Deacon, as is related in his life by St. Gregory. The
same saint relates also (Horn, xxxix., inEvang.), that Jesus
Christ, in the form of a leper, appeared to a certain
monk named Martyrius, who carried him on his shoulders.
The same happened to St. Christopher. Also to St. Mar
tin, bishop of Tours : when he was still a soldier, and
receiving instruction for admission into the Catholic
Church, he gave one half of his mantle to a poor man.
The following night, Jesus Christ appeared to him, wear
ing this mantle, and said to the angels who surrounded
him : u Behold, this is Martin, who gave me this mantle. 7
Once St. Catharine of Sienna gave to a poor beggar
the silver cross she wore, having nothing else about her
to give. During the night, Christ appeared to her and
said that on the Day of Judgment he would " show that
206 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
cross to the whole world in proof of her charity." " He
that receiveth a just man in the name of a just man
(that is, for the reason of being just), shall receive the
reward of a just man ; and he that receiveth you (i. e.,
the apostles, or their followers, religious, etc.), receiveth
me, and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent
me. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a pro
phet, shall receive the reward of a prophet." (Matt., x.,
41-42.) He who receives a prophet, says our Lord that
is, he who receives a true prophet, a true preacher of the
Gospel will receive the reward of a true preacher. The
reason of this is, because by his charitable aid he contri
butes towards the spreading of the gospel, and therefore,
as he thus shares in the labor and in the merits of the
gospel, he must also share in the reward promised to the
true ministers of God; and this reward is always in
proportion to the charitable aid he gives in spreading the
Gospel. u A willow tree," says St. Gregory, u bears no
fruit, but, supporting as it does the vine together with
its grapes, it makes these its own by sustaining what is
not its own." (Horn, xx., in Evang.) In like manner, he
who supports the just man makes his own those works
of righteousness which are performed by the righteous
man, thus doing through him what is righteous ; and he
who supports the true minister of the Gospel, the mis
sionary priest, preaches and prophesies through him,
hears confession through him, converts sinners through
him, consoles the sick through him, encourages the des
perate through him, confirms the just in their good reso
lutions through him ; in a word, he sanctifies the world
through him, and is, through him, the cause that the most
precious Blood of Jesus Christ is not shed in vain ; and
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 207
he gladdens, through him, the angels and saints in heaven,
and especially the sacred hearts of Jesus Christ and the
Blessed Virgin Mary.
On this account, St. Ignatius, in his epistle to the Smyr-
nians, rightly concludes from the above-mentioned sen
tence of Christ on the last day, that he who honors a
prisoner of Christ will receive the reward of the martyrs,
because by honoring such a prisoner he encourages him
to suffer martyrdon. For this reason, many Christians
formerly merited the grace of martydom, because they en
couraged, fed, served, and buried the martyrs. In like
manner we lawfully infer from the aforesaid sentence of
Christ, that those who receive and aid doctors, apostles
of the Church, pastors of souls, missionary priests, and
religious persons, will receive the reward of doctors, of
apostles, of the pastors of souls, of missionaries and re
ligious persons.
And here I must make a very important remark, to
which I call your special attention, namely ; that there
are degrees in this well-doing. The more just a man is
both for himself and others, the more souls he leads to
justice, to holiness of life ; the greater will be his reward,
and consequently the greater also will be the reward of
him who assists such a just man. il They that instruct many
to justice, shall shine as stars for all eternity." (Dan.,
xii., 3.) To whom can these words of Holy Scripture be
applied more truly than to fervent pastors of souls and
missionary priests ? They devote their whole life to the
salvation of souls. There is nothing more pleasing in the
sight of God than laboring for the salvation of souls.
" We cannot offer any sacrifice to God/ 7 says St. Greg
ory, " which is equal to that of the zeal for the salvation
208 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
of souls. 7 u This zeal and labor for the salvation of men/
says St. John Chrysostom, u is of so great a merit before
God, that to give up all our goods to the poor, or to spend
our whole life in the exercise of all sorts of austerities,
cannot equal the merit of this labor. This merit of lab
oring in the vineyard of the Lord is something far greater
than the gift of working miracles. To be employed in
this blessed labor is even more pleasing to the Divine
Majesty than to suffer martyrdom." It was, therefore,
with truth that Saint Alphonsus wrote to his brothers in
religion :
" My dearest Brothers in Jesus Christ : The principal
thing which I recommend to you, is the love of Jesus
Christ. Too much are we bound to love Him. He
has snatched us from the midst of the world, in order
that, during the pilgrimage of this life, we might think
of nothing but of pleasing Him, and of bringing those
crowds of people to love Him, who every year, by means
of our ministry, abandon sin, and put themselves into
the grace of God. It is generally the case that when
we begin a mission, the greater number of the people of
the place are in enmity with God, and deprived of His
love; but five or six days have scarcely elapsed, when
behold, numbers, as if roused from a deep sleep, begin to
listen to the exhortations, the instructions, and the ser
mons ; and when they see that God offers them His mercy,
they begin to weep over their sins, and conceive the de
sire of being reconciled to Him. The way of pardon is
opened before them, and seeing it, they begin to abhor
that manner of life which they had previously loved ; a
new light begins to shine upon them, and a peace hitherto
unknown touches their hearts. Then they think of going
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 209
to confession, to remove from their souls those vices
which kept them separated from God j and whereas be
fore, a Mass of a quarter of an hour appeared to them too
long, and iive decades of the Rosary too tedious, and a
sermon of half an hour unbearable, now, they gladly hear
a second arid a third Mass, and they are sorry when the
sermon, which has lasted an hour and a half, or perhaps
two hours, is over. And of whom does the Lord make
use of, if not of us, to work such wondrous changes, and
to bring the people to delight in those very things which
before they despised ? So that when the mission is over,
we leave in the place two or three thousand persons to
love God, who before were living in enmity with Him,
and were not even thinking of recovering His grace."
(Letters of St. Alphonsus, July 29, 1774.)
If, then, in the opinion of the Fathers of the Church and
all the saints, there can be no greater honor and no greater
merit than that of working for the salvation of souls, we
must also say that there can be no work of corporal mercy
more honorable and more meritorious than that of giving
charitable aid to the pastors of souls, to missionary priests,
and to persons consecrated to God. To such as give this
aid may be applied the words of the Prophet : " They
shall shine as stars for all eternity." " The charity which
you bestow," says Aristotle (Lib. I., Ethic., c. ii.), u will
be so much the more divine the more it tends to the com
mon welfare." But what, kind of charity is tending more
to the common welfare, than that which is bestowed upon
such apostolic laborers as spend their life exclusively in
laboring for the salvation of souls ? Now this chanty is
divine in a most eminent degree, and consequently it
makes all those divine who bestow it. They shall, with-
210 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
out doubt, shine as the stars, nay even as the sun,
throughout all eternity. " Then the just shall shine as the
sun in the kingdom of their Father " (Matt xiii., 43.); and
this glory and happiness of theirs in heaven will, as I have
said, be in proportion to the zeal and fervor with which
they have continued to furnish charitable aid to Jesus
Christ, in the person of the ministers of the holy Catholic
Church. " He that receiveth a prophet, shall have the
reward of a prophet."
TV hat a happiness to be able to give ! u It is a more bless
ed thing to give, than to receive !" (Acts xx., 35.) What a
happiness to have opportunities to imitate thecharity,mercy
and liberality of your Heavenly Father. Every little
charitable contribution will add to the beauty of your soul ;
it will render your prayers more powerful ; it will multiply
your temporal goods a hundred-fold ; it will cancel your
sins and temporal punishments due to them : every little
alms will avert from you God s anger ; the sacrifice of pro
pitiation and praise of your charitable donations will cause
great joy in heaven j it will be for you a subject of consola
tion in the hour of death ; it will inspire you with great
confidence in Jesus Christ, your Eternal Judge, and glo
riously prevail upon Him to pronounce sentence in your
favor; every little contribution will give you one more
claim on heaven ; it will be one more precious stone
wherewith to adorn your palace in paradise ; it will bring
you nearer to the delightful company of the great Saints,
the noble children of God in heaven; there, as reward for
your charity, you will shine like the sun, exclaiming with
all the saints in joyful accents : tl Benediction, and glory,
and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honor, and power, and
strength to our God for ever and ever."(Apocal. vii., 12.)
I COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 211
14, What must the uncharitable expect I
"Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done
mercy" (James ii., 13.)
Great, unutterably great indeed are the blessings that
God heaps, in this world and in the next, upon the char
itable. But great also are the chastisements that often
fall upon the uncharitable even in this world. "Whilst
Father Beschter, S. J., was building a beautiful church
at Lebanon, Pennsylvania, he went around collecting
alms of all those who were willing to help along a good
work. On his rounds he arrived at the residence of a
rich Protestant farmer, and asked him for a small donation
toward the erection of a church for the poor Catholics of
the district. The farmer refused on the ground that he al
ways paid himself for what he wanted, and never went to
others for help. Father Beschter asked him whether he
was in need of anyone. "No," replied the farmer quite
gruffly, " I never was." When the priest asked a second
time, an impatient "No, sir! get thee out," was sufficient
intimation that he had better leave. "All right," said
Father Beschter, without the least alteration in his man
ner or voice, and he left the premises.
In the course of the day, the farmer strolled to where
his men were working in the field, and highly elated over
his exploit, related to them how he had "fixed that
Romish priest." A week later, a heavy freshet, occasioned
by sudden rain, completely destroyed his mill and
flooded his fields, inflicting incalculable damage on the
now crest-fallen bigot, who did not enjoy it half so well
when the men recalled to his mind howh&fixed that Romish
priest, and hinted that, forsooth, he might be in need of
another man s help sooner than he expected. (Life of
Father Nerinckx.)
212 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
In October 1880, a good sister went to a wealthy far
mer of the state of Illinois to ask an alms of him. The
farmer refused to give it. Two days later, he found
twenty-six head of his best cattle lying dead in the stable.
He now understood that God had punished him for his
want of charity. He entered into himself and repaired
his fault by giving liberally to the poor.
Now, if God, in many instances, has inflicted great
chastisements even in this world upon the uncharitable,
the evils and chastisements which he will inflict upon
them in the world to come, are far greater.
"Judgment without mercy, 7 says St. James, "to him
that hath not done mercy. 77 We know from holy Scrip
ture what this judgment is. "When the Son of Man
shall come in his Majesty and all the angels with him,
then shall he sit on the seat of his Majesty 5 and all
nations shall be gathered together before him, and he
shall separate them from one another, even as the shepherd
separateth the sheep from the goats, and shall set the
sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then
shall the king say to them that shall be on his left hand :
Depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, which
was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was
hungry and you gave me not to eat : I was thirsty and
you gave me not to drink. I was a stranger and you
took me not in : naked and you covered me not: sick and
in prison and you did not visit me/ Then they also shall
answer him saying : Lord when did we see thee hungry or
thirsty, or a stranger or naked, or sick or in prison, and
did not minister to thee V Then shall he answer them
saying : Amen, I say to you as long as ye did it not to
one of these least, neither did ye do it to me. 7 And these
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 213
shall go into everlasting punishment." (Matt, xxv., 31,
32. 33, 41, 46.)
"There was a certain rich man, says our Lord in the
Gospel, "who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and
feasted sumptuously every day. And there was a cer
tain beggar, named Lazarus who lay at his gate full
of sores desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell
from the rich man s table and no one did give him.
Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it
came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by
the angels into Abraham s bosom. And the rich man
also died and he was buried in hell." (Luke, xvi., 19, 23.)
15, Who truly loves God and his neighbor?
He who keeps the commandments ; for Christ says : "If
you keep my commandments^ you shall abide in my love"
(John xv., 10.)
There are many persons, who have a false idea of the
true love of God. There is one who is given up to fast
ing. He thinks that he is a great lover of God, because
he fasts, and yet his heart is filled with rancor. He
scruples to moisten his tongue with wine, or even with
water, through sobriety ; yet he makes no difficulty to
drink deep of his neighbor s blood, by detraction and
calumny. Now, who will believe that such a person
truly loves God, because he fasts. True love of God,
then, does not consist in fasting and in performing similar
bodily mortifications.
There is another. He imagines that he loves God,
because he daily says many long prayers ; hears several
masses, and receives often holy communion 5 yet immedi
ately after he speaks very angrily and arrogantly to his
214 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
domestics and neighbors. Now, who would believe that
such a person really loves God, because he says long
prayers 1 True love of God, then, does not consist in
saying many prayers.
There is another. He thinks he truly loves God, because
he cheerfully draws rich alms out of his purse to relieve the
poor and the needy; yet he cannot draw meekness out of his
heart to forgive his enemies Now, no sensible man will
believe that such a person truly loves God, because he
gives many alms to the poor. True love of God, then,
does not consist in giving alms.
In what, then, does true love of God consist ? or who is
it that truly loves God I True love of God is nothing else
than a general inclination, promptitude and firmness of the
will in doing that which one knows is commanded by God ;
in other words, he truly loves God, who does the will of God,
as manifested to him by the commandments of God and of
his Church. These commandments teach us our duties to
wards God and our neighbor. Therefore, he who keeps
them faithfully, truly loves God and his neighbor. "Love,"
says St. Paul, "is the fulfilling of the law." (Rom. xiii., 10.)
Our Lord himself tells us that the keeping of the law is
the proof of true love for him. "If you love me," he
says, " keep my commandments." (John xiv., 15.) " He
who has my commandments and observes them, he it is
who loves me." Indeed, how can any one make himself
more agreeable to a person than by doing his will. Now,
what is the law of God and of his Church but the expres
sion of his will as to how our lives and actions are to be
regulated. We are taught in the first pages of the cate
chism that the reason why God created us, is to know
God, love him and serve him. How can we serve him
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 215
but by submitting our will to his that is, by observing
those commandments which he has given us ! -As true
love of God, then, is principally manifested by the keeping
of the laws of God, it is necessary, above all, to give a
precise explanation of what is meant by the Law of God,
and by the terms of eternal law, moral law, natural law,
and so on.
What Law is.
u Law," says St, Thomas, " is a dictate or command ot
reason, which tends to the general good of all, and is enacted
and promulgated by him who governs the community. "
1. Law is a comamnd of reason. Eeason alone has the
faculty and privilege to understand what is right and wrong.
It naturally loves what is right, and hates what is wrong.
Hence it commands what is right, and forbids what is
wrong. So that law is an ordinance of reason, and has its
power and authority from reason.
2. It tends to the general good of all. The law, says
St. Isidore, is established, not for the advantage or in
terest of individuals, but for the general utility of all.
Hence the civil relations, or moral obligations, which the
law establishes, must have, as their principal object the
general good of the whole community temporal good, it
the law has to direct a temporal community, and spiritual
good, if the law is for a spiritual community. Hence a
law, serving only private interest to the prejudice of the
public good, has not the real character of law ; but still,
that which regards individuals and private transactions,
can tend to the public good, and consequently be a part
and portion of the general law.
3. Enacted ~by him ivlio governs the community. He
only who has power to maintain public order and advance
216 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
the general good of the state or community, can establish
the law. He only who proposes to himself a certain end
or object, has the right of choosing the means to attain that
object. In like manner, the state or community, in pro
posing to itself the happiness of all, has alone the right of
enacting for all, the laws and regulations which it consi
ders the best and the safest. If it wishes, it can intrust
its power and authority to one of its members to represent
it, and act in the name of all. Then this chief, or repre
sentative, possesses the legislative power which the entire
community had before. He can then enact laws which
become obligatory for all his subjects, but not for those
who are under the legislative power and jurisdiction of
others. The law, says St. Isidore, is the civil and po
litical constitution of the people, according to which the
chief men of the state, in concert and co-operation with
the common people, have passed an ordinance or legisla
tive act.
4. Promulgated by him who governs the community.
No law is obligatory before its regular promulgation. So
a law, to have its full power and efficacy, must be duly
and regularly promulgated by the chief legislator, or in
his name. But to become obligatory as a law, is it neces
sary that all the members of the community must have
full knowledge of it ? No ; when the legislator employs
sufficient means for its general promulgation, then all are
supposed to know it, and bound to observe it. The word
law implies a moral obligation which binds by covenant and
enactments, and is the rule and measure of public and priv
ate acts. Every individual is a member of a community,
and must, therefore, direct a portion of his efforts towards
the general good. Now, as the law is the rule and rnea-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 217
sure of what he is morally bound to do for the public good,
he is obliged to obey the law.
Effects of the law. The principal effect of the law is to
make all classes of people good, loyal, faithful, and vir
tuous. The virtue and merit of one who lives in a sub
ordinate state consists in perfect obedience to him who has
a right to command him. Obedience puts all parts in
strict harmony with the whole : justice and reason are
comformable thereto. So the law, by inculcating the
principle of voluntary obedience and submission, stim
ulates us to loyalty, fidelity, and acts of virtue, which are
the characteristics of honest, peaceable people. The other
effects of the law are to command acts which are comfor
mable to reason j to prohibit those that are contrary to just
ice ; to punish those that violate it j and to permit those that
are tolerable.
ETERNAL, NATURAL, AND MORAL LAW, THE ORIGIN OF
OF ALL LAWS.
There is a ship-builder. He intends to build a large
vessel. Before building it, he has formed, in his
mind, not only a correct idea of the whole structure, but
also of every portion of it of the materials and har
mony necessary in the grand vessel. He now begins to
build the vessel and finishes it according to the plan or
idea which he has conceived of it in his mind. Thus
the building of the vessel is owing to the knowledge
which the ship builder had formed of it, and to his will
in building it according to his knowledge or plan.
In like manner, God, before creating the world, had
conceived, in his own mind, not only the idea of the work
of creation in general, but also of each creature in par-
218 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
ticular. The moment came for creating the world ; God
willed it, and the world was created according to the idea
he had conceived of it from all eternity. Thus the cre
ation of the world and of each particular creature, is
owing to the knowledge and will of God.
Now a wise man undertakes no work without having
a certain object in view, and without employing all the
means in his power to attain that object. In creating the
world and every being thereof, God, the wisest of all
rational creatures, proposed to himself a particular end
or object. All things made by him were good, not only
on account of their substance, but also on account of their
end, and principally on account of their last end. As he
created the substance of all things, so he, also, fixed for
them their special end and traced out for them the road
which they ought to follow to attain that end.
Now, as there existed, in the mind of God, from all
eternity, the idea of the work of creation in general, and
of each creature in particular, so also there existed in his
mind, at the same time, the idea or plan according to
which the world in general and each particular creature
should be directed towards the end for which everything
was created j there existed, in his mind, the idea of the
proper means, that is, of necessary practical, and immu
table rules or laws to be observed by his creatures to
reach their end.
When God willed the creation of the world, he will
ed, at the same time, that the world should be directed
according to his idea, by the means, or laws he pro
vided for each creature to reach its end. This divine
idea concerning the direction of the world and the rules
of that direction, and the divine will directing it according
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 219
to this idea, is called Eternal Law. It is called eternal,
because God s ideas are all eternal. What relates to men
is temporal, but what originates from God is eternal. In
him there is nothing temporal, nothing that indicates alter
ation, vicissitude or succession ; for he knows from all
eternity, what he does at all times, and the designs,
actions, and movements of his creatures. Hence, this
eternal law, that directs and governs all things, visible
and invisible, is the origin of all laws.
Eternal Law, says St. Thomas, is nothing else than
that perfect idea in the mind of God according to which
he directs all the actions and movements of his creatures
towards their end. When we see a vessel in open sea
running with all its sails unfurled before the wind and
making directly for the port, we say there is a skilful
pilot who holds the helm of that vessel according to the
laws of navigation. Now as a pilot steers a large vessel
across the ocean to a port of a foreign country, by means
of the laws and rules of navigation, so in like manner
does God direct and govern his creatures according to
certain laws or rules which he has laid down for them to
follow.
In order to govern the material world, and all irration
al creatures God placed in nature certain powers and
laws. All irrational creatures obey these laws of God s
wisdom and power, and it is thus that he governs them
and directs them toward their end. "God," says Holy
Scripture, "with a certain law and compass, enclosed the
depth ; he compassed the sea with its bounds and set a
law to the waters, that they should not pass their limits."
(Prov., viii., 27, 30.) Light and darkness separated ac
cording to his idea and will, and when he ordered this
220 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
separation he willed, at the same time, that night and day
should continue their constant, regular succession to the
end of time.
When God ordered the waters to gather together in
their allotted place, he willed at the same time that they
should stay there to the end of time. When he com
manded the earth to be clad with verdure, and the trees
to bring forth fruit, he willed at the same time that this
should be so to the end of the world j and every creature
forthwith acted in obedience to this divine will or law.
God commanded the sea not to overflow its bounds,
and it has ever since obeyed this law, keeping reverently
within the limits marked out by the Creator.
God commanded the sun, the moon, and the stars to
rise and set regularly and keep in their path, and they
have since followed this law.
God commanded the earth to produce every variety of
trees and plants, and every kind of fruit and grain, and
behold, the earth has ever since done so. As to rational
creatures angels and men God wishes to govern them
by the law of his goodness and justice.
The law of God s goodness for men is, that they shall
always glorify God by doing his holy will ; that all their
homage and adoration are due to him alone, and are
never to be given to any creature ; that they are to
honor, reverence, and love those who gave them birth
and brought them up ; that they are not to kill one an
other, nor live like brutes, nor rob one another, but that
every one is to treat his fellow-men, as he wishes to be
treated by them. . To this law of divine goodness, God
added for mankind the law of his justice ; that is, if any one
refuses to obey this law of divine goodness, he shall be
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 221
subjected to the torments which God s justice has decreed
for al) rebellious creatures.
This law of his goodness and justice God impressed
upon mankind from the very beginning. " See," says
St. Paul, "the goodness and severity of God : to wards
them, indeed, that are fallen, the severity ; but towards
thee, the goodness of God, if thou abide in goodness."
(Rom. xi., 22.)
This law of God s goodness and justice is also called
Natural Law Law of Nature, because it is naturally
impressed on the mind and heart of every rational being,
and makes him know the difference between good and
evil.
As man possesses the gift of reason, or, as it is some,
times called, lt the light of nature," no man is left in utter
ignorance of God and of his will of the Natural Law.
" God has not left himself without testimony" (Acts xiv.,
16.), even among the heathens, who, if they do not have
full light and knowledge, may yet, as St. Paul told the
Athenians, " feel after him, or find him." (Acts xvii., 27.)
"For when the Gentiles, >? he says, u who have not the law,
do by nature those things that are of the law, these, not
having the law, are a law unto themselves ; who show
the works of the law written in their hearts, their con
science bearing witness to them." (Rom. ii., 14, 15.)
This "light of nature is a participation of the eternal
law or wisdom of God. " The light of thy countenance,
Lord, is signed upon us," says the Royal Prophet
(Ps. iv.), thus indicating that the light of reason, which
makes us distinguish between good and evil, right and
wrong, is nothing else than the impression of divine light
on the soul of man.
222 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
As all men have this light of nature as a rule of right
and wrong, no one can plead utter ignorance of right and
wrong. Hence it is that we find, even in the heathen
nations, the obligations of the natural law respected. This
eternal, natural law of right and wrong is called moral
law, because natural law, or sound reason, is the rule and
standard of good morals : it is the rule to guide men in
all their actions 5 it tells them what is good and bad, what
they must do or avoid.
Are all virtuous acts enjoined by natural law ! Every
thing is inclined to act according to its natural properties;
fire for instance, by its natural property, produces heat
and light. As man is endowed with reason, it is natural
for him to perform acts conformable to reason. Now it
is in the performance of such acts that human virtue con
sists, Still nature does not extend her influence to all
virtuous acts, considered distinctively and separately j
for she alone does not inspire all the conclusions and con
siderations that result from the rational faculty.
Is natural law the same for all mankind ? All men,
without exception, know the light of nature, the first and
general principles of right and wrong. But all do not
know the necessary conclusions deduced from these prin
ciples. A geometrician in Paris comes to the same con
clusion as another in London, or in any other part of the
world, that, for instance, three angles of a triangle are
equal to two right angles, etc. Practical reason draws
similar conclusions, if we do not lose sight of general prin
ciples ; but by deviating from these principles, reason var
ies with circumstances. For instance, if a sum of money
was intrusted to you, reason commands you to give it
back to the owner. But if you knew he wanted it for the
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 223
purpose of committing some bad action, as vengeance
against his neighbor or country, then reason forbids you
to give it to him for such a wicked deed. Still, some
may think and act differently, and be, therefore, mistaken
in losing sight of general principles, as others fall into error
in overlooking the first principles. Natural law, there
fore, is invariable for all, as long as they do not lose sight
of the first principles of right and wrong.
Can natural law change ? Natural law comprises the
first principles of right and wrong. Now these principles
are unchangeable. It is self-evident that that which is
natural cannot but be. For instance, the law of nature
obliges us to worship God, and love him. God, then, after
having given us life and reason, never changes what is na
turally necessary for his creature, namely, to adore and
love his creator. Hence the natural law imperatively en
joins upon us the duties of gratitude and love towards God,
from which nothing can exempt us. However, a partic
ular case may occur, in which certain circumstances
change not a first principle, which is immutable. So
Abraham, in wishing to sacrifice his son, became not
guilty of murder, because he obeyed the Lord who is
master of life and death. Neither were the Hebrews
guilty of robbery in taking along with them the gold and
silver vessels of the Egyptians, because God, the Master
of all things, had given them the right to take these ar~
tides. They were, besides, but a trifling compensation
in comparsion to all that they had suffered from the en
emies of God.
The written law.
The laws of nature, and all principles of justice and
morality were almost effaced in the time which elapsed
224: COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
between Adam and Moses. At the time of Abraham, all
nations had fallen into idolatry. They were plunged into
all sorts of vices. Almost all shut their eyes to the lights
of reason. They were like one who is falling into an abyss.
The deeper he falls the less day -light he sees. God per
mitted the wicked to fall into this state of universal ignor
ance and impiety, in order to humble their pride and
arrogance. Always full of pride and perversity, they
pretend that their private reason alone is sufficient for
them, to know their duties and their natural powers to
practise them. So, after that sad experience of their
ignorance and impiety, God, in his mercy, came to their
assistance by giving them the written law in the person
of Moses,as a remedy for their blindness and obstinacy.
The natural law is imperfect. Hence a divine law is
absolutely necessary to direct us in the way of eternal
beatitude. We cannot attain to a supernatural end by
natural or human means. We need a divine law to
direct our thoughts and actions towards that end. The
judgment of men is inconstant and changeable. They
need an infallible law to direct and rectify their judgment,
in order to know with certainty what they must do and
avoid, in order to obtain everlasting happiness. So Al
mighty God added to the natural law, a higher law, re
lating to a higher end, in the form of the Mosaic and
evangelical law.
Some interpreters of the Scriptures say that God
himself gave the Mosaic law and others maintain that God
gave it through the ministry of angels. Still it is clear
from several passages of Holy Writ that the ancient law
was given by the ministry of the angels. " The Law,"
says St. Paul, u was given through the agency of an-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 225
gels by the hand of a Mediator." (Gal. iii., 19.) And St. Ste
phen said to the Jews: "Ye have received the law by
the ministry of angels. 7 (Acts vii., 53.) St. Dionysius,
the Areopagite, says that the angels are commissioned
to bring all messages from heaven to earth, that is from
God to man.
Why did God give his written law to the Jewish people
rather than to any other nation I St. Paul answers this
question when he writes to the Romans (chap. iii.l, 2):
u What advantage, then, have the Jews, or what is the
utility of circumcision ? Very much in every way.
First, indeed, because the words of God were committed
to them. 7 The Royal Prophet says also : " The Lord
hath not done the same to every nation, nor hath he made
his judgments manifest to them." (Ps. cxlviii.) Even
Moses himself declared to all the Hebrew people : " Know,
therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not poss
ession of this excellent land for thy justice, for thou
art a very stiff-necked people : but that the Lord might
accomplish the promise he made by oath to thy Fathers,
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." St. Paul says (Gal. iii., 16.)
that these promises were made to Abraham and to his
seed, that is, to one of his descendants, who is Jesus Christ.
It was, therefore, necessary that the Jews, to whom these
divine promises were made, should remain faithful to the
worship of the true God, whilst other nations worshipped
idols, and thereby rendered themselves unworthy of these
heavenly privileges ; for it is not right to give holy
things to dogs. All the divine privileges and favors were
not granted to the Jews, nor even to the patriarchs
and prophets for the sake of their own merits. They
were all gratuitous gifts of special grace and munificence
226 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
on the part of the Lord. God makes no exceptions of
individuals or nations as to their salvation ; but he can, in
his justice and mercy, gratuitously confer special gifts and
graces on some in preference to others. As to this
predilection of God for one in perference to another,
never ask the reason of this says, St. Augustine, if you do
not wish to fall into doubt and error.
PRECEPTS OF THE OLD LAW.
The Old Law contained moral, ceremonial, judicial and
juridical precepts.
1. Moral Precepts.
The principal object of divine law is to render man holy.
" Be ye holy, as I am holy," says the Lord. This
holiness consists in perfect love of God and man. This
charity is the accomplishment of the law. It is, then, by
the practice of virtue that we become holy and resemble
God. Hence it was necessary, that the Old Law should
contain different moral precepts, regarding the virtues
necessary for the perfect happiness of man. These
moral precepts are all contained in the ten command
ments. These commandments are a full explanation of
the natural law. They are of a divine institution. They
were communicated by the ministry of angels to Moses,
who proclaimed them all to the Hebrew people ; but he
added other precepts, ordinances, and ceremonies for the
punctual observance of the commandments.
The three first prescribe our duties towards God ; that
is, to worship him by faith, hope and charity ; and the
seven last prescribe our duties towards all our fellow-men.
Do the precepts of the Decalogue admit dispensation I
A dispensation can be granted in certain cases, when the
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 227
observance of the law would be contrary to the will or
desire of the chief legislator. But the object of every
good legislator is the general good of the community, and
to maintain order and justice among all his subjects.
He, therefore, cannot act to the contrary. He can then
grant dispensation only in such points as regard the ways
and means of observing, but not in the principal object of
the law. For instance, the governor of a populous city
or province orders all the inhabitants of the district to
unite in defense of the city when besieged by the enemy 5
but foreseeing that some of them would be less service
able in battle than in a council of war, he can, in this case,
exempt them from the obligation of the law. But such
cases are not admissable in regard to the precepts of the
Decalogue j for they contain the infallible will of the
divine and eternal Legislator. Therefore, in all cases,
and in all circumstances, the commandments of God ad
mit no dispensation : " For he continueth faithful and
cannot deny himself." (II. Tim., ii., 13.) But he would
deny himself, if he destroyed the order of his justice.
Now this is impossible, for justice is an attribute of his
divine and eternal essence.
2. Ceremonial precepts.
We are bound to worship God not only internally by
sentiments of faith, hope and charity, but we are also
bound to worship him externally by manifesting, by out
ward acts, our inward love and adoration of the Lord.
Now all that regards this external religious profession, is
called ceremonies, and the precepts regulating it, are cal
led ceremonial precepts. "And the Lord showed you
his covenant which he commanded you to do, and the
ten commandments he wrote on two tables of stone. And
228 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
he commanded me, at the same time, to teach you the
ceremonies and judgments you have to observe in the
land which you are to possess." (Deut. iv., 3. 4.)
These precepts of the Mosaic law, figurative of the
new law, regulated the public worship of the Hebrews in
honor and acknowledgment of God. This worship was
of an inward and outward character. As of an inward
character, it consisted in offering up the whole homage of
man s heart and soul to God. " My heart and my flesh
rejoiced in the living God" (Ps. Ixxxiii.}, and as of an out
ward character, it was in connection with the first, as the
body is in connection with the soul. It is true worship
that unites the soul to God. It varies according to the
manner and nature of that union. In heaven it shall be
but acts of thanksgiving and everlasting adoration. " Joy
and gladness shall be found there with thanksgiving
and the voice of praise." (Isaias li. 3.)
In this world, the rays of divine light shine before our
eyes only by means of sensible images. Under the an
cient law, the true vision of the heavenly kingdom was
not only invisible to the soul, but even the sure way,
which leads thereto, was not yet opened for it. Hence
the worship of the ancient law represented only in a
figurative form both the celestial country and the Messiah
who was to open the infallible way thereto for all mankind.
These divine mysteries were not spiritually known to
the Jewish people. They had only an implicit know
ledge of them by means of these figurative ceremonies,
which made them offer public homage to the true, living
God. Hence St. Paul says : " The law hath only a
shadow of the good things to come, but WQt the true im
age of these things." (Heb. x. ? 1.)
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 229
What were the ceremonies of the Old Law ? Divine
worship implies sacrifices, lioly things, certain observances,
and sacraments. These are the principal things to which
all the cermonies of the Mosaic law refer :
A. The sacrifices constituted the supreme worship of
adoration, and prefigured the great sacrifice of Mount
Calvary. Now why were there ceremonial precepts con
cerning the sacrifices ? The worship of the Old Law
had two principal objects : the one to manifest our duties
to God j the other, to prefigure the Redeemer of the
world; and by those sacrifices, this twofold object was
realized. By the immolation of victims and the offering
of the first fruits of the earth in honor of God, the Jews
manifested their gratitude to him, and acknowledged his
sovereign dominion over all things. Hence it was strictly
forbidden by the law to offer up sacrifices to any one else
than to God. "Whoever offers sacrifices to the other
gods, except to the one only God, shall be slain."
(Exod.) This prohibition was proclaimed to the Hebrew
people when they adored the golden calf in the desert,
whereby they showed their inclination to idolatry.
The law prescribed three kinds of sacrifices : 1. The
holocaust, whereby the victim was all burnt, in order to
manifest the sovereign, eternal dominion of God. 2. The
special sacrifice, of which one part was consumed, and the
other consecrated to the use and support of the priests.
This kind of sacrifice indicated that the remission of sins
comes from divine mercy by the ministry of God s repre
sentatives on earth. 3. The propitiatory sacrifice, or
pacificatory victim. One part of the victim was con
sumed in honor of God ; the second was given to the
priests, and the third to those who offered it, to show that
230 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
mercy and salvation come from the Lord by the ministry
of his priests, and the faithful co-operation of those who
receive them.
Of the four-footed animals to be immolated, the law
designated the ox, sheep, and goat j and of the birds, the
dove or pigeon, and sparrows for the healing of leprosy.
This kind of animals and birds was required chiefly to
make a distinction between the sacrifices of the Jews and
those of Pagan nations. Besides, these animals and birds
were very numerous in the Promised Land, and easily
procured to make frequent offerings to the Lord. All
these sacrifices prefigured the great sacrifice of Jesus
Christ on Mount Calvary, and were emblematic of the
sublime virtues that were one day to shine with splendor
and glory in the Universal Holocaust of the whole human
race.
B. Holy things.
The sacred or holy things comprised the tabernacle,
the vessels used in the sanctuary, etc. The reason and
utility of the ceremonial precepts regarding holy things,
are not less evident for public instruction and edification.
The object of external worship is to inspire us with pro
found respect for our merciful and omnipotent God.
Man is by nature or habit such, that what is common
and always before his eyes, makes less impression upon
him. Hence kings and princes, to enhance their person
al dignity and grandeur, are clad in costly robes, and live
in vast, magnificent palaces, Was it not then fit and
proper, that the Lord, to whom supreme honor is due,
should have certain times alloted to his worship, and a
tabernacle, holy vessels, priests; and as temple, the mag
nificent monument of Jerusalem?
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 231
What is more capable of exciting our adoration, res
pect, and admiration, than what we see and hear in the
temple of the Lord of mercy and glory ?
But it may be asked, why in the whole Land of Promise,
there was but the only temple of Jerusalem ? The Jews
had but one only temple to keep them from falling into
idolatry, to confirm them in their belief in the one only
Divinity, and to remind them of the truth, that, as they
had but one Temple, so they had but one only God.
This one only temple was also to foreshow the unity of
the militant and triumphant Church of Jesus Christ.
Although the Jews had but one temple where the sacri
fices were offered, yet they had their synagogues in all
their towns and villages, to pray in private and to teach
the law. So the Catholic churches, being all one in
faith, serve separately for offering up the holy sacrifice of
the Mass, and for the public instruction of the faithful.
They thus have succeeded the temple and the synagogues
of the Jews.
The Mosaic law prescribed seven principal festivals,
the reason and origin of which are as follows. The first
was perpetual, for a lamb was immolated every morning
and evening to represent the duration of eternal happiness.
The second was the festival of the Sabbath, which was
celebrated every week, in memory of God s rest on
the seventh day after the work of creation. The
third was that of the Neomenia, or new moon, in
opposition to that celebrated by the pagans at full moon.
It was solemnized every month to remind the Jews of the
benefits and protection of divine Providence.
The other festivals were celebrated but once a year.
They were the solemnities of the Paschal Lamb, in memory
232 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
of the escape of the Jews from their captivity in Egypt ; and
of the Pentecost during forty days, in commemoration of the
law given to Moses. Three other festivals took place
during the seventh month,the whole of which was employed
in constant solemnity, corresponding to that of the Sabbath.
The first day of that month was the festival of Trumpets,
in memory of Abraham s sacrifice, who immolated, instead
of his son Isaac, a ram with long horns, and hence is re
presented at this festival by trumpets. The sound of these
instruments apprised the Jews to prepare themselves for
the tenth day of the same month for the festival of Ex
piations, established in memory of the pardon that God
granted them by the intercession of Moses for having
adored the golden calf. r
Then followed the festival of the Tents or Tabernacles,
to commemorate the miraculous protection of the Hebrews
in their journey through the desert, where they dwelt in
tents. They had to offer, at this festival, the finest fruit
of the trees, and branches of the finest verdure and of the
most delicious odor All this was found in abundance in
the Promised Land, and was to signify that God had
brought them from a barren land to a country of delight
ful fertility. The last festival was that of the Collection.
During this day they had to contribute towards all that
was necessary for the divine worship.
These religious solemnities had a mystic or figurative
signification. The daily immolation of a lamb represented
the perpetual sacrifice of the Lamb of God on our altars.
The festival of the Sabbath represented the spiritual
rest brought into the world by the Saviour of mankind.
The festival of the new moon prefigured the light
and grace of the Catholic Church by the doctrine and
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 233
miracles of the Son of God. The festival of Pentecost
pre-announced the descent of the Holy Ghost on the
Apostles, and that of Trumpets their preaching the Gospel.
The festival of the Expiation prefigured the purity of
the Christian people, and the remission of their sins.
The festival of the Tabernacles represented our pilgrim
age and exile in this world of misery and desolation ;
and that of the Collection or assembly, the reunion of all
the saints in heaven.
These three last festivals came in immediate succession,
to denote that the Christian soul ought to advance inces
santly from virtue to virtue, till it conies into possession of
eternal happiness.
C. Particular Observances.
The Old Law contained particular observances, relating
to the general manner of living-, diet, dress, and many
other national usages which distinguished the Jews from
all heathen nations. The pontiffs and priests in the exer
cise of their respective functions wore peculiar robes to
distinguish them from the rest of the laity. There was
prescribed a strict abstinence from the flesh of impure
animals. The use of flesh was ordered as most salutary
for health and suitable to the climate. Idolaters used to
eat the blood and grease of their victims. Hence the
Mosaic law prohibited the use of them, and ordered to
burn the grease, spill the blood at the foot of the altar,
and cover it with ashes.
D. Sacraments of the Old Laiv.
The reception of those sacraments was but a kind of
consecration to the worship of the true God.
Divine worship related both to the people, and the
ministers, priests or levites, and so the sacraments were
234 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
necessary for all. Three conditions were required for
admision to fulfil and comply with the functions relative
to worship.
Circumcision was requisite for all, and Consecration
for the priests.
The law also enjoined upon the people the obligation
of eating the paschal lamb, and on the priests that of the obla
tion of victims and the eating of the breads of Proposition.
In order to avoid every thing incompatible with the
legal exercise of worship, the people had, besides, to un
dergo purifications and expiations; and the priests, the
ablution of hands and feet, and the tonsure. Each of
those religious ceremonies had a literal signification as
to what related to God, and a figurative one in reference
to the Messiah.
The sacraments of the Old Law prefigured those of the
New Law. Thus the Paschal Lamb was figurative of the
Eucharist ; Circumcision was figurative of Baptism,
Purification of Penance, and the Consecration of pontiffs
and priests, of Holy Orders. The sacrament of confir
mation, which is the fulness of grace and perfection for
christians, had nothing corresponding to it in the Old
Law ; for, as St. Paul says, it brought nothing to per
fection. Neither had Extreme Unction any thing in the
Old Law to prefigure it ; for this sacrament is an imme
diate preparation for eternal glory. But the redemption of
mankind had to be wrought as yet by the precious Blood
of the Son of God. As to marriage, it was only a simple
contract or a kind of religious ceremony ; but had not the
real character of a sacrament ; for the Mosaic law admit
ted divorce, which is contrary to the inviolable sanctity
of the sacrament of matrimony.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 235
The ceremonial precepts were introduced at the time
of Moses. Their chief object was the worship of the true
God, and the preparation of the Hebrew people for the
coming of the Messiah, whose divine mission was repre
sented by all those religious ceremonies. Circumcision
began at the time of Abraham, and Melchisedec was then
the high priest of the Sovereign Lord. So the Hebrew
people had both Circumcision and priesthood before the
time of Moses. Circumcision was a divine precept,
sanctioned and always maintained by the law j but the
priesthood, before the time of Moses, was but a human
institution, and conferred on the oldest of each family.
All these precepts and ceremonies were abolished by
the Saviour of the world. The New Law, being once
promulgated, its worship succeeded that of the Old Law j
the same as in heaven another worship shall succeed
that of the New Law, which is an eternal adoration.
" And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God
Almighty is the temple thereof, and the Lamb." (Apoc.
xxi., 22.)
During the life of Christ, the two laws existed to
gether j for when the Saviour healed the leprous man, he
ordered him to offer the sacrifice prescribed by the law.
After our Saviour s Passion the Old Law was abolished.
Reality put an end to figurative representation. The
veil of the temple was torn off, and all was finally con
summated.
After our Saviour s death it is strictly forbidden, under
pain of mortal sin, to receive circumcision or to observe
other ceremonies of the Old Law. " Behold, I tell you that
if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
(Gal. v., 2.) A thing can be attested by acts as well as by
236 COMMANDMENTS OP GOD.
words. Now, to attest by the acts pr ceremonies of the
Mosaic law that the Messiah is still expected, is an evi
dent outrage to his Divinity ; it is to deny him and to
destroy the divine fruits of his Passion. Hence the pious
and holy words of the patriarchs and prophets concerning
the future coming of the Messiah, would be blasphemies in
the mouth of christians, if expressed according to the
belief and doctrine of the Jews, However, it cannot be
supposed that the Apostles, after having received the
spiritual gifts of the Holy Ghost, committed sin by ob
serving, in certain points, the ceremonies of the Mosaic
Law. " Then Paul took the men, and the next day, be
ing purified with them, entered into the temple giving
notice of the days of purification, that an oblation should
be offered for each of them." (Acts xvi., 26.) In regard
to the observance of these Mosaic ceremonies and cus
toms, the Apostles deliberated together, and unanimously
passed a decree. (Acts xv., 28, 29.)
The Old Law existed at three distinct periods. It ex
isted during the time preceding the Passion of our Sav
iour. During that time, all the precepts were in full
force. It existed during the time which succeeded the
general promulgation of the Gospel, and during the time
between these two periods. . It was during this time that
the Apostles, through condescension to those of the Jews
converted to the Christian faith, allowed them the prac
tice of certain ceremonies, but explained to them that
they were not necessary for salvation, as faith in Jesus
Christ was sufficient to obtain life eternal. But the Apos
tles never allowed to the christians converted from
heathenism what they allowed to the converts from the
Jewish religion. So St. Paul permitted the circumcision
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 237
of Timothy, whose mother was a Jewess, whilst he re
fused it to Titus, who was born of idolatrous parents. It
was for the same reason that the Apostles enjoined on
their neophytes to abstain from the use of certain meats,
hoping thus to reconcile the converts from heathenism
and the Jewish religion.
Justification could not be obtained by the observance
of the ceremonial precepts of the Law. " Knowing
that man is not justified by the works of the law, but by
the faith of Jesus Christ, because by the works of the
law no flesh shall be justified." (Gal. ii., 16.) There
were two kinds of defilement : one of the body, and an
other of the soul. The one of the body was contracted
by touching a leprous person, or a dead body. This
defilement excluded the Jews from the right of public
worship. Certain ceremonies were established to efface
it. The effacing of this defilement is called by St. Paul
the justice of the flesh. The defilement of the soul was
that contracted by sin ; but no ceremonies had the power
or virtue to efface it. So, according to St. Paul, it was
not possible that sins could be effaced by the blood of
goats and oxen. These ceremonies, however, had a
certain virtue in prefiguring the expected Messiah, for
they excited faith and confidence in him, and nourished
piety and devotion in the hearts of the Jews.
Why were there so many ceremonial precepts f
In every state or nation directed and governed by laws,
there are two distinct classes of people ; the one, inclined by
natural and habitual propensity to evil j the other inclined
to virtue, either by nature, habit, or the effect of divine
grace. Now the great number of those precepts were good
and salutary to correct and intimidate those who had a
238 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
strong habitual inclination to evil, for they were efficacious
means to prevent the multitude from falling into idolatry,
to which the Hebrews were constantly inclined.
As to those who were inclined to virtue, the law en
couraged them to the practice of moral discipline and
virtue, by reminding them incessantly of the presence
of God, and of the coming of the great Messiah. So
those ceremonial precepts were very necessary, as they
gave the Jews a fore-knowledge of the immense spiritual
and temporal benefits which the Redeemer would confer
upon the world.
Did the precepts of the Old Law bind any other people
than the Jews ? The precepts of the natural law, con
tained in the Mosaic law, were binding on all nations and
generations. But the other precepts and religious cere
monies were binding on the Jews alone, for God gave them
to this people in consideration of the Messiah who was to
come from them according to the flesh. Hence these pre
cepts imposed upon the Jewish nation particular obliga
tions, redounding to their glory, of which other nations
were deprived.
These precepts may, in a certain manner, be compared
to the vows which the priests and the religious orders of
the Catholic Church make, and by which they contract
special obligations before God ; but from which all the
laity are exempt, and still can work out their salvation
without them. Thus the Gentiles could, by observing
the natural law, and by supernatural grace, obtain sal
vation without observing the Mosaic law.
3. Judicial and Juridical Precepts.
The Old Law contained also judicial precepts. These
precepts were to regulate and determine all obligations of
justice between man and man.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 239
The natural law gives us only general principles of jus
tice and morality. It is, for instance, a natural law that
we must worship God ; but this law does not determine
the mode and the time of worship. It is a natural law
that malefactors should be punished 5 but this law does
not determine the mode and kind of punishment.
Hence it is necessary that the obligations of the natu
ral law should be precisely determined by divine or
human law. The Mosaic law supplied, by moral pre
cepts, that insufficiency of the natural law ; it speci
fied, in a positive manner, the worship due to God, by
ceremonial precepts, and regulated all the obligations
of justice in civil and social relations. Hence St. Paul,
when speaking of the Old Law, says : " The command
ment is holy, just, and good" holy in the ceremonial
precepts, which relate to the divine worship, just in the
judicial precepts, and good in the moral precepts.
Besides these precepts, the Mosaic law contained reg
ulations about punishments to be inflicted, and rewards
to be granted for the maintenance of these precepts. " If
you willingly hearken to me, you shall eat the good things
of the land j but if you will not, and provoke me to wrath,
the sword shall devour you, for the Lord hath spoken so. 7
(Isaias i., 19.) The judicial precepts were not figurative
like the ceremonial precepts. Still the different wars,
triumphs, and defeats of the Jews had something figurative
and quite different from those of other nations that were
much more powerful, and are celebrated in history.
These precepts having been established to regulate the
civil and social rights of the Jews, are now abolished, but
can, without any violation of faith, be established by any
Christian sovereign in his dominion, provided, however, he
240 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
does not present them to his subjects as a divine institu
tion originating from the Jewish law.
The reason and propriety of tlie judicial precepts.
In regard to the government of a state or empire, two
things are to be considered ; namely, the legitimate power,
and the constitutional form of its government. Every
man in the state has a right to take part in the primitive
formation of a government, and concur in the establish
ment of a competent legitimate power. This is the best
means to maintain peace and order in the state, and ani
mate all with the spirit of loyalty, and patriotism, and at
tachment to a political institution of their own creation.
A state or nation can adopt different forms of govern
ment. The principal are : royalty, when there is but one
only sovereign ; aristocracy, when the grandees of the state
govern ; and democracy , when the chiefs are chosen from
all ranks, and elected by the people.
There are some who think that monarchy is the best
system of government, because it is the most in harmony
with the divine government ; but this system of government,
they add, is too apt to fall into vice, luxury, avarice and
cruelty, and these vices are generally the sources of op
pression, tyranny, and slavery mortal plagues of the hu
man race. Hence Artistole said : u It is virtue and wis
dom, alone, that can resist the temptations of power and
fortune." From this opinion, the enemies of the Catholic
Church draw a false argument against the Catholics in this
country. They say that the principles of the Catholic
Church are opposed to the existence of the Republican
form of goverment, because she favors monarchy, and,
therefore, Catholics cannot conscientiously be true suppor
ters of the Republic. This argument finds acceptance
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 241
with many people who are ignorant of the Catholic religion.
Our dear Saviour, the founder of the Catholic religion,
of the New Law, which is a law of grace, has wisely reg
ulated all our outward works and acts by moral precepts
and the sacraments. As to external acts which are not
contrary to faith and charity, the New Law of Christ gives
us full liberty in such things. Hence the New Law is also
called the law of liberty, not only because it delivers us
from the bondage of sin and the devil, but also because it
does not, like the Old Law, contain such a great number of
precepts, which were an obstacle to the exercise of free
will. As to our internal acts, they are prescribed and
contained in Christ s sermon on the Mount, which comprises
all that is necessary for Christian perfection.
But Christ has given us no positive precepts concerning
the system of government which followers should embrace j
for grace does not depend on any particular form of gov
ernment. Hence, one may be a good Christian and faith
ful citizen under any form of government. Hence it is
that the Catholic Church leaves to every state its own
independence j she ameliorates the political and social
order, only by infusing into the hearts of the people and
their rulers the principles of justice and love, and a sense
of accountability to Grod. The action of the Church in
political and social manners is indirect, not direct, and in
strict accordance with the free-will of individuals and the
autonomy of states. Servile fear does not rank very high
among Catholic theologians. The Church, when she can,
resorts to coercive measures only to repress disorders in
the public body. Hence her rulers are called shepherds,
not lords, and shepherds of their Master s flock, not of their
own, and are to feed, tend, and protect the flock, and take
242 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
care of its increase for him, with sole reference to his will,
and his honor and glory. The Catholic Church proffers
to all every assistance necessary for the attainment of the
most heroic sanctity, but she -forces no man to accept that
assistance. Catholics believe the doctrines of the Church,
because they believe the Catholic Church to be the Church
of God. They believe that Jesus Christ commissioned St.
Peter and the Apostles, and their lawful successors, to
teach all men in his name ; to teach them infallibly and
authoritatively his divine doctrine. They believe that this
Church is the medium through which God manifests his
will, and dispenses his grace to man, and through which
alone we can hope for heaven. They believe that nothing
can be more reasonable than to believe God at his word ;
and that, above all, they must seek the kingdom of God
and secure their eternal salvation.
Being governed by the Church, as freemen, in the spirit
of a republican government, and enjoying, as they do, the
freedom of the children of God, Catholics feel nowhere
more at home than under a republican form of government.
If a great pope could say in truth, that he was nowhere
more pope than in America, every Catholic can, and does,
also say in truth, u Nowhere can I be a better Christian
than in the United States. " Hence it is that Catholics are
very generally attached to the republican institutions of
the country no class of our citizens more so and would
defend them at the sacrifice of their lives. Catholics far
more readily adjust themselves to our institutions than
non-Catholics, and, among Catholics, it must be observed
that they succeed best who best understand and best prac
tise their religion. They who are least truly American,
and yield most to demagogues, are those who have very
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 243
little of Catholicity, except the accident of being born
of Catholic parents, who had them baptized in infancy.
Practical Catholics are the best Republicans ! If we
consult history, we find that they were always foremost
in establishing and maintaining the republican form of
government. Who originated all the free principles which
lie at the basis of our own noble Constitution ? Who gave
us trial by jury, habeas corpus, stationary courts, and the
principle for which we fought and conquered in our
revolutionary struggle against Protestant England that
taxes are not to be levied without the free consent of
those who pay them? All these cardinal elements of free
government date back to the good old Catholic times, in
the middle ages some three hundred years before the
dawn of the Reformation ! Our Catholic forefathers gave
them all to us.
Again, we are indebted to Catholics for all the republics
which ever existed in Christian times, down to the year
1776 : for those of Switzerland, Venice, Genoa, Andorra,
San Marino, and a host of minor free commonwealths,
which sprang up in the " dark ages." Some of these
republics still exist, proud monuments and unanswerable
evidences of Catholic devotion to freedom. They are ac
knowledged by Protestants, no less than by Catholics. I
subjoin the testimony of an able writer in the New York
Tribune, believed to be Bayard Taylor. This distin
guished traveler a staunch Protestant appeals to history,
and speaks from personal observation. He writes :
" Truth compels us to add that the oldest republic now
existing is that of San Marino, not only Catholic, but
wholly surrounded by the especial dominion of the popes,
who might have crushed it like an egg-shell at any time
244 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
these last thousand years but they didn t. The only
republic we ever traveled in, besides our own, is Switzer
land, half of its cantons or states entirely Catholic, yet
never, that we have heard of, unfaithful to the cause of
freedom. We never heard the Catholics of Hungary
accused of backwardness in the late glorious struggle of
their country for freedom, though its leaders were Protes
tants, fighting against a leading Catholic power, avowedly
in favor of religious as well as civil liberty. And
chivalric, unhappy Poland, almost wholly Catholic, has
made as gallant struggles for freedom as any other nation ;
while of the three despotisms that crushed her, but one
was Catholic."
Let us bring the subject home to our own times and
country. Who, I would ask, first reared in triumph the
broad banner of universal freedom on this North
American Continent ? Who first proclaimed in this new
world a truth too wide and expansive to enter into the
head of, or to be comprehended by, a narrow-minded
bigot a truth that every man should be free to worship
God according to the dictates of his conscience ? Who
first proclaimed, on this broad continent, the glorious
principles of universal freedom ? Read Bancroft, read
Goodrich, read Frost, read every Protestant historian of
our country, and you will see there inscribed, on the
historic page, a, fact which reflects immortal honor on our
American Catholic ancestry that Lord Baltimore and
his Catholic colonists of Maryland were the first to pro
claim universal liberty, civil and religious ; the first to
announce, as the basis of their legislation, the great and
noble principle that no man s faith and conscience should
be a bar to his holding any office, or enjoying any civil
privilege of the community.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 245
What American can forget the names of Rochambeau,
De Grasse, De Kalb, Pulaski, La Fayette, Kosciusko ?
Without the aid _of these noble Catholic heroes, and of
the brave troops whom they led on to victory, would we
have succeeded at all in our great revolutionary contest ?
Men of the clearest heads, and of the greatest political
forecast, living at that time, thought not 5 at least they
deemed the result exceedingly doubtful.
And during the whole war of the Revolution, who ever
heard of a Catholic coward, or of a Catholic traitor ?
When the Protestant General, Gates, fled from the battle
field of Camden with the Protestant militia of North Caro
lina and Virginia, who but Catholics stood firm at their
posts, and fought and died with the brave old Catholic
hero, De Kalb ? the veteran who, when others ingloriously
fled, seized his good sword, and cried out to the brave
old Maryland and Pennsylvania lines, " Stand firm, for I
am too old to fly !" Who ever heard of a Catholic Ar
nold ? And who has not heard of the brave Irish and
German soldiers who, at a somewhat later period, mainly
composed the invincible army of the impetuous "Mad
Anthony" Wayne, and constituted the great bulwark of
our defence against the savage invasions which threatened
our whole northwestern frontier with devastation and ruin ?
All these facts, and many more of a similar kind which
might be alleged, cannot have passed away, as yet, from
the memory of our American citizens. Americans can
not have forgotten, as yet, that the man who periled most
in signing the Declaration of Independence was a Roman
Catholic, and that when Charles Carroll, of Carrollton,
put his name to that instrument, Benjamin Franklin ob
served, "There goes a cool million in support of the cause P
246 COMMANDMENTS OF. GOD.
And when our energies were exhausted, and the stout
est heart entertained the most gloomy forebodings as to
the final issue, Catholic France stepped gallantly forth to
the rescue of our infant freedom, almost crushed by an
overwhelming English tyranny ! Catholic Spain also sub
sequently lent us her aid against England. Many of our
most sagacious statesmen have believed that, but for this
timely aid, our Declaration of Independence could scarcely
have been made good.
These facts, which are but a few of those which might
be adduced, prove conclusively that Catholicity is still
what she was in the middle ages the steadfast friend
and supporter of free institutions.
When the Jewish people, wished to have a king as
other nations had, God was displeased with their desire,
and manifested his disapproval thereof to Samuel in these
words : " They have not rejected thee but me, that I
should not reign over them." (I Kings, viii., 7.) Samuel
endeavored to dissuade them from their determination,
but could not succeed, and concluded, saying : " You,
then, wish to have a king, but you shall become his slaves."
However, God prescribed means to secure his people
from despotism. Before the election of a king, they
shall await the judgment of the Lord, and never put a
strange prince upon the throne, who might not be attached
to them. The king must not have immense wealth, nor
a great number of chariots, or horses, or wives : he shall
fear and obey the Lord ; read and practise his law ; he
shall never despise nor oppress his subjects, and always
observe strict justice towards them. (Deut. xvii.)
The Lord took all these precautions in favor of his
chosen people, for he knew that with most nations,
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 247
and also with the Hebrew people who were always in
clined to avarice and idolatry, absolute monarchy would
be the cause of numberless abuses, and would sooner or
later degenerate into tyranny and slavery.
The Old Law regulated with wisdom all the temporal
and judicial affairs of the Jews. A nation is a multitude
of people united to one another by common rights and
wants. The mutual relations existing between them, de
pend either upon the authority of the prince, or upon the will
of private individuals. It is the sovereign s duty to take
care that justice be impartially administered to all 5 that
the good be rewarded and the wicked punished. As to
private transactions in buying and selling, they regard in
dividuals, and the Old Law wisely regulated these affairs.
Hence it established tribunals at the gates of the city ; pro
hibited judges to receive presents; and required two wit
nesses in evidence of right, or wrong. (Deut. xvi., 18.)
The Old Law also regulated the rights of property
among the Jews. u I have given you possession of a land
which you shall divide by lots." (Numb, xxxiii., 52.) It
also prohibited the perpetual alienation of properties ; for
they were to return to the first owner after the lapse of
fifty years, that is, the year of the jubilee. Finally, in
order to avoid confusion and litigation with regard to the
right of property, the nearest relatives were to inherit it,
in the following manner : first, the son ; the daughter, the
father, the grandfather j and then the relatives with equal
proportion. The women were not allowed to marry except
men of their own tribes.
The law ordered to give hospitality to all strangers ;
but if they were inclined to fix their residence in the
country only for a certain time, the right of citizenship
248 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
was not granted to them, in order to avoid the danger of
treachery and idolatry.
The Egyptians, in whose part of the country of Egypt the
Hebrews first dwelt, and all the descendants of Esau,
brother to Jacob, were incorporated with the Jewish
people after the third generation. The Ammonites and
Moabites, who were in constant hostility with the Hebrews,
were always refused the right of citizenship. As to the
Amalekites, the mortal enemies of the Hebrews, the law
declared war against them from generation to generation.
The law never permitted unjust and unnecessary wars,
and ordered to offer peat3e before coming to battle 5 but,
if refused, to prosecute the war with all might and energy,
and depend on the powerful protection of the God of Ar
mies. In conquered countries, they were to treat the women
and children with the utmost humanity, and never to
destroy the corn fields and fruit-trees.
In fine, the law enjoined on the conqueror to abstain
from animosity and cruelty, and to use the victory with
moderation and clemency.
It also prescribed salutary regulations for masters and
servants. On the Sabbath day, the servants were allowed
to rest, as well as their masters 5 and, if they were Jewish
slaves, they recovered their liberty the seventh year.
They were allowed to take with them all they had when
first they entered into their master s service, and he was
obliged to supply them with all that was necessary for
their journey. If he treated any of them with too much
severity, he was obliged to grant him his liberty.
The parents were bound to bring up their children in
the fear of the Lord, and in the knowledge of the law,
which was the principal part of their religion, and to take
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 249
special care of their moral education 5 but if children
were guilty of disobedience to their parents, and would
not listen to their admonitions, the parents had to take
them before the ancients of the city, who sentenced them
to be stoned to death.
As to the regulations for marriage, the Jews were
obliged to marry only such women as were of their own
respective tribes ; but if any one of them falsely accused
his wife, he was punished for it, and she was thereby
entitled to obtain a bill of divorce ; and the husband had
the same right, if his wife had been criminal. And the
Pharisees said to Christ : " Why then did Moses command
to give a bill of divorce ? And Christ answered : Be
cause Moses, by reason of the hardness of your heart,
permitted you to put away your wives ; but it was not so
from the beginning." (Matt, xix., 7, 8.)
The Neiv Law or The Law of Grace.
The whole human race was destined to live successively
during three distinct periods, the first period was
that of the Old Law ; the second that of the New Law, and
the third and last that of the kingdom of eternal glory. St.
Paul says that the Old Law was abolished on account of
its weakness, and unprofitableness, for it brought nothing
to perfection ; but it brought unto us a better hope, by
which we draw nigh to God. (Heb. vii., 8.) He says
again : " That the law and commandent are indeed holy,
just and good." Now, we say that a doctrine is good
when it is conformable to truth, and we say that a law is
good when it is consistent with reason. Such was the
Old Law ; for it repressed concupiscence, which militates
against reason, and it forbade all transgressions contrary
to human reason and the divine law. It acted as a phy-
250 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
sician does, in restoring a patient to health by salutary
prescriptions. The chief end of man is eternal glory j
but it is by divine grace alone that we can merit it. The
Old Law could not confer it. u The Law was given by
Moses j grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (John i. ?
17.) But the Old Law was good because it was a prepar
ation for the law of grace, for the coming of the Messiah,
either by giving testimony of him, or by preserving among
the Jews the knowledge and worship of the true God.
" Before the true faith came, we were kept under the law
for that faith which was to be revealed." (Gal. iii., 23.)
However, notwithstanding the imperfection of the Old
Law, the Jews had sufficient means of salvation by faith
in the Redeemer to come. Jesus Christ, ardently expected,
was the Saviour of the patriarchs, of the prophets, and of
all the holy souls of the Old Testament ; as Jesus Christ
truly come, is the Saviour of the apostles, martyrs, and
all the holy souls of the New Testament.
The law of Christ, then, or the law of grace, was sub
stituted for the Old Law. This law is called new for
several reasons. It is new in its author. The Old Law
was given by the ministry of angels, but the New Law,
by the only-begotten Son of God. Hence, to prove the
pre-eminence of the New Law above the Old Law, St.
Paul says : u God had spoken in times past to our fore
fathers by the prophets, but has spoken to us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things." (Heb. i., 1, 2.)
The law of Christ is new in its efficacy. The Old Law
did not confer justification ; it only prefigured and prom
ised it in view of the New Law, which supplied this in
sufficiency by substituting reality for figures, and the gift of
grace for promises. Thus the law of Christ is the perfect
accomplishment and realization of the Mosaic Law.
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 251
The law of Christ is miv in its reivards. Moses, as we
read in the beginning of the book of Exodus, conveyed
the Hebrew people from Egypt, for the conquest of foreign
nations, and promised them a land flowing with milk and
honey.
The law of the Gospel proposes and promises, first
of all, celestial and eternal happiness and glory. Jesus
Christ began to preach the Gospel with these humble and
holy words ; " Do penance ; the kingdom of heaven is
approaching."
The law of Christ is new in the perfection it requires.
The law ought to direct all human acts for the observance
of justice and the punishment of all crimes. But the
Mosaic law punished only external acts, whilst the law
of the Gospel restrains even internal acts. The one re
pressed the actions of the hand, whilst the other re
presses even the sinful thoughts and passions of the heart.
The law of Christ is new in the motive of its operation.
The Old Law operated only by fear and punishment,
whilst the Law of Grace operates by perfect justice and
charity. u For the law of the spirit of life in Christ
Jesus hath delivered me from the law of sin and death,"
says St. Paul. (Rom. viii., 2.) In the Old Testament,
says St. Augustine, the law was given in an external
form to terrify the wicked, whilst in the New Testament,
it is given by the infusion of divine charity for our
justification. The Old Law of works was written on tables
of stone, whilst the Law of Grace is engraved on the living
tables of the hearts of the faithful. Hence the New Law
is a law of grace, infused into the soul of the just, and
proceeds from faith in Christ, who added counsels there
to for all who aspire to virtue and perfection.
252 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
By its divine authority, the New Law has power to pre
scribe outward works and prohibit certain others. As
it has made us children of light, we must perform works
of justice and charity, and avoid those of sin and dark
ness. "For you were heretofore darkness, but now
light in the Lord j walk then as children of light." (Eph
v., 8.) The new law is a law of grace and sanctity.
But in order to know that we possess this divine gift of
grace and sanctity, visible signs are necessary and the
sacraments are such signs of grace. He who has received
the gift of grace must manifest it in words and actions ;
for the law of Christ orders us to profess our faith, and
never to deny it on any occasion. (Matt. x., 32-33.)
The New Law, being a law of grace, charity and lib
erty, adds counsels to precepts, which are not absolutely
obligatory. The precepts of the New Law are of a moral,
indispensable obligation, whilst the counsels are of a
discretionary character, and left to our own choice.
6t Ointment and perfumes rejoice the heart, and the good
counsels of a friend are sweet to the soul." (Prov. xxvii.,
9.) Now Christ being the essence of all wisdom and
charity, his evangelical counsels are the most useful and
salutary to all Christians.
Man is placed in this world between heavenly beatitude
and temporal enjoyments ; so that the more he is at
tached to the one, the more he renounces the other.
However, it is not necessary to deprive himself of all the
goods of this world to attain eternal happiness; but by
depriving himself of the goods of this world, he places
himself in a safer way to work out his salvation. The
riches and enjoyments of this world seduce us -by the
attraction of three kinds of concupiscence. Hence, the
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 253
New Law, in order to bring us to evangelical perfection,
proposes poverty as an infallible remedy to overcome the
concupiscence of the eyes ; chastity, to resist that of the
flesh ; and obedience, to conquer the pride and vanity of
life. The counsels of the Grospel are thus a moral dis
cipline, which leads to sanctity and perfection. Hence
St. Paul, after having counselled virginity, adds :
" And this I speak for your profit, not to cast a snare
upon you, but for that which may give you power to at
tend upon the Lord without impediment."
How long is the New Law to last ? As the law of
grace is perfect in every manner, it cannot be succeeded
by any. other law. It will, therefore, last to the end of"
the world.
Would it not have been better, if the New Law had been
given at the beginning of the world f As it is only the
New Law that can confer grace on mankind, it would seem
well if it had been given from the beginning, to remove
the obstacle to grace, which was original sin. But we
should remember that the New Law is a law of perfection.
Now, according to the order of divine Providence things
are brought to perfection by degrees, as a child grows to
the age of maturity. The New Law was not given from
the beginning, because after the fall, it was necessary that
man should become sensible of the effects of his pride and
malice. Hence God left him to his own free-will and the
law of nature, and this being nearly effaced from his mind
and heart, he gave him his written law. When these laws
became insufficient for the enlightenment and moral direc
tion of mankind, reason and sound philosophy proclaimed
that the world could not be saved except by a divine me
diator.
254 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
The order of Providence is justice and perfection in
all things. To realize this, Providence gave first the law
of nature, then the written law, and, finally, the law of
grace. Had the law of grace been given from the begin
ning, what would have become of the Christian faith at
the end of ages ? " But when the Son of Man cometh, do
you think he shall find faith on earth ? " (Luke xviii., 8.)
So our Saviour came and gave his law at the most favor
able time for the redemption and perfection of mankind,
and prepared them for his coming by a long expectation.
Hence St. Augustine says : " Christ did not wish to appear
to men and preach his doctrine among them, but at the
time and place where he knew there would be people to
believe in him. 7 " In the midst of years, O Lord, thou
shalt manifest thy great work." (Habac. iii. ? 2.)
Human Laiv.
The natural law, or the first and general principles of
justice and morality, were engraven on mankind from the
beginning. From these principles, sound practical reason
draws certain precepts which thus become human law.
According to natural law, he who violates the laws ought
to be punished. From this principle is derived a human
law which prescribes and determines the mode and manner
of punishment, either by imprisonment, hard labor, or death.
Human law is indispensably necessary for the admin
istration of justice and the maintenance of public order.
Aristotle says that a virtuous man is the best of all animals j
but if not directed by virtue, he is of all brute beasts the
most wicked and ferocious. What, then, can restrain that
ferocious animal, regardless of the eternal and natural law,
except the fear of corporal punishment inflicted by human
law.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 255
Although it be true that the natural law is the original
principle of the human law, yet the conclusions, or precepts,
drawn from the natural law, are not applicable to all nations
in the same form and manner j and hence arises a diversity
of positive laws. From the principle, just established, it is
evident that the chief object of the positive law is the general
good of all. Hence it must be comformable to divine law,
otherwise it is not a good and just law, and consequently
cannot impose a moral obligation. On this account, no one
is bound to obey a law which is opposed to divine law.
The right of nations may be considered to have its
origin and foundation in the natural law j but the tacit
consent of all nations has made a positive law of it, for
all nations have reciprocal duties and rights to fulfil to
wards one another.
As the principal object of human laws is to procure the
general good of all, they must be established for the public
good, and not for the private interest of individuals. The
laws, therefore, in order to accomplish this object, must
direct all their power for the most general and ordinary
occurrences, and not for particular cases ; they must con
tain general prescriptions with regard to persons, times
and places.
The execution of law must in all things, be possible and
practicable. The law, therefore, must be conformable to
the nature, condition, and faculties of the people, and to
the general customs of the country.
The law, however, cannot give rules for all sort of
virtues and vices. The acts of a virtuous man are not
the same as those of a wicked, corrupt man j but the laws
are for all men, the greater part of whom are not perfect
in virtue. The laws, therefore, cannot possibly repress
25G COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
all sorts of vices, but only those crimes which are pre
judicial to public safety and the general welfare of society
such as robbery, murder, etc.
Human laws, if just and comformable to reason and
divine law, are binding in conscience ; for the legislators
of the people are the representatives of God, invested with
a sacred and inviolable power. " By me Kings reign,
and law-givers decree just things." (Prov. viii., 15.)
Now, we are bound in conscience to respect divine au
thority, the source and foundation of all laws. " Let every
soul be subject to higher powers ; for there is no power
but from God. He, therefore, that resisteth the powers
resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist, pur
chase to themselves damnation. Therefore be subject of
necessity, not only for fear of punishment, but also for
conscience sake." (Rom. xviii., 1, 2, 3.) Hence all are
bound in conscience to obey the laws established for the
welfare and protection of the community.
But should the legislator abuse his power by arbitrary
and illegal means, it is evident that the authority of his laws
is no longer binding, because it is not conformable to
common justice and divine authority. However, if one
could not disobey such laws without causing disturbance
or public scandal, it would be better to submit with pat
ience, according to what is said in the Gospel : " If a man
contend with you in judgment, and take away your coat,
let your cloak also with him." (Matt, v., 40.) But if
any human law should be manifestly contrary to divine
law, man ought never, on any consideration, give up his
right in such a case : " for it is better to obey God than
man." (Acts, iv.) Those only are bound to obey the
law who are under the jurisdiction of their lawful sovereign.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 257
The chief of the state can dispense one from the laws
passed by subaltern authorities, as the Pope can from the
laws or statutes of ecclesiastical discipline established by
bishops in any part of Christendom.
The legislator is bound to observe his own law, in
virtue of the divine power and authority of which he is
the minister. The divine and supreme Master of kings
and nations severely blames all in higher power, who do
not conform to their own laws and decrees. u Because
what they say, they do not do it j they bind heavy and
unsupportable burdens, and lay them on men s shoulders,
but with a finger of their own they will not move them."
(Matt, xxiii., 3 ? 4.)
Although the chief of the state is not exempt from the
law, yet, if absolute necessity or public utility requires
it, he has power to change the law ; but in any case, no
one has a right to pronounce sentence of condemnation
against him. In all cases it is necessary to comform to the
spirit and letter of the law ; but to conform to the spirit is
better than to conform to the letter.
If, in any extraordinary case, there arises an unforseen
difficulty, it is necessary to appeal to the chief legislator,
in order to obtain a satisfactory solution of the difficulty.
But, if in any imminent, inevitable danger, one has not
time to have recourse to the lawful authority, necessity
grants him full dispensation. Hence the common maxim:
" Necessity has no law."
Those laws which are given by the Sovereign Pontiffs
and the bishops for the government of the Church are
called Ecclesiastical Laws. It is a matter of faith that
the Church can establish laws, which cannot be violated
without sin. She received legislative power from Jesus
2f>8 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Christ, in these words : " Whatsoever you shall bind on
earth shall be bound also in heaven/ 7 and, (t If he will
not hear the Church, let him be unto thee as a heathen
and a publican." (Matt, xvii.)
The Church possesses also legislative power by virtue
of the natural right. As she is a perfect and indepen
dent society, she has the right of self-government and
that of prescribing what is necessary for its preservation
or conducive to its end. By virtue of this power, the
Church can establish laws, watch over their observance,
and punish the transgressors, by excommunication and
the refusal of the sacraments and Christian burial. The
universal legislative power for the whole of Christendom
belongs to the Pope, and to the bishops in their respective
dioceses, and to the councils of bishops for the entire
Church, or for that part of the Church which they represent.
The object of the Ecclesiastical Law is: 1, to maintain
order and peace throughout the body of the Church by a
stable and prudent administration ; 2, to prevent abuses j
3, to render the observance of the divine law and the
practice of all that Jesus has taught and prescribed more
easy to the faithful.
The laws of the Church are numerous : some regard
hierarchial superiors ; and others the clergy and religious
orders ; while others again, have reference to the sacra
ments, worship, and the benefits of worship ; and lastly,
some regard all the faithful. The principal of these last
are called the precepts of the Church.
Conscience.
A certain traveller was obliged to pass through a vast
forest in the darkness of the night. In order not to lose
the way to his country, he carried a lamp in his hand, in
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 259
the light of which he could always clearly see the way he
had to travel to reach his home in safety.
In this world, we all travel towards our true country
which is heaven. We have to travel through the vast
forest of this world, in the darkness of the night, that is
we have to travel through the darkness of the temptations
of the devil, of the flesh, and of wicked men.
Now in order that we may not lose our way to heaven
God has given to every one a lamp in the light of which
he can always see the way which he must go to enter
the kingdom of heaven. This lamp is the law of God.
" The commandment of God," says the Holy Scripture,
"is a lamp, and his law is a light." (Prov. vi., 23.)
The law of God is called a lamp, a light, because it shows
to every one the way to heaven ; it tells him what he
must do and what he must avoid in order to please God
and be saved. Keep my commandments and my law as
the apple of thine eye, and thou shalt live." (Prov. viii., 2.)
The law of God, therefore, is one of the greatest gifts
for every man. " I will give you," says the Lord, " a good
gift," the gift of my commandments, "forsake not my
law." (Prov. iv., 2.)
Now, God was not satisfied with showing to man the
way to heaven which is the keeping of his command
ments he, moreover, has given to every one an invisible
companion, who stays w r ith him day and night to the end of
his life. Some give to this companion the name of conscience J
others call him the oracle or voice of God in the nature
and heart of man, as distinct from the voice of revelation.
A certain poet says : "Whatever creed be taught, or land
be trod, Man s conscience is the oracle of God." Yes, the
voice of conscience comes of God, and not of man ; it
260 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
was planted in us, before we had any training, though
such training is necessary for its strength, growth, and
due formation j it is found even in the untutored savage.
When Columbus discovered America, the chieftain of
an Indian tribe one day said to him : "I am told that
thou hast lately come to these lands with a mighty force,
and subdued many countries, spreading great fear among
the people ; but be not, therefore, vain-glorious. Know
that according to our belief, the souls of men have two
journeys to perform after they have departed from the
body : one to a place dismal and foul, and covered with
darkness, prepared for those souls who have been unjust
and cruel to their fellow-men ; the other, pleasant and
full of light, for such as have promoted peace on earth.
If, then, thou art mortal and dost expect to die, and
dost believe that each one shall be rewarded according to
his deeds, beware that thou wrongfully hurt no man, nor
do harm to those who have done no harm to thee."
(Irving s "Columbus," chapt.v., p. 433.)
From this short oration of a heathen, it is evident that
there is a voice of conscience even in the savage, telling
him what is right and what is wrong.
This faithful companion knows how far every one is
acquainted with the law of God. He knows our desires,
our words, our actions, and the omission of our duties.
Now his office is to apply our knowledge of the law to
every thing we desire, say, and do, in order to see whether
our desires, words and actions are in conformity with the
law of God, or in opposition to it. Hence St. Thomas
says : u Conscience is not a power, but an act of the
soul by which we apply, to a particular action, the first
principles of right and wrong. If we apply these prin-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 261
ciples to the commission or omission of an act, our con
science is. witness of it. "For thy conscience knoweth that
thou hast also often spoken evil of others." (Eccles.vii., 23.)
If we apply those principles to what ought or ought not
to be done for the moment, our conscience excites us to
do it or dissuades us from doing it. If we apply those
principles to a past transaction, to know whether it was
good or bad, our conscience accuses or excuses us.
Conscience, then, is that faithful, inward monitor, that
warns every man when he is about to offend God and
leave the right road to heaven. Whenever we are on the
point of desiring, saying, or doing something that is against
God s law, conscience says to us on the part of God : "It
is not lawful for thee." (Matt, xiv., 4.) No, thou art not
allowed to perform that action, to speak that word, to
entertain that desire, to read that book, to frequent that
company, to go to that place of sin, to make that unlaw
ful bargain.
If in spite of these remonstrances of conscience we still
proceed, it rises up against us and cries out : " What
hast thou done ? " (Kings iii., 24.) Thou hast sinned;
thou hast offended God, by transgressing his law, and
going against his voice which warned thee not to do so j
thou art guilty in his sight, and deserving to be punished
according to the law of his justice. It was his conscience
that made David say : "My sin is always before me. 7
(Ps. Ixxx., 5.) It was his conscience that made Judas cry
out : " I have sinned in betraying innocent blood." (Matt,
xxvii., 4.)
Thus every sinner is accountable for his conduct, to his
conscience, which, as Menander says, is his God. It is
by means of conscience that God judges man. Conscience,
262 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
as the organ and instrument of God, pronounces, in his
name, the sentence of condemnation 5 it passes, under his
sovereign authority, the decree of his divine, justice.
In this sense it is said that we ourselves are our first
judges, and that the first tribunal to which we are cited is
our own conscience, without being able to escape from its
presence, or call in question its justice, or avoid its decree.
Yes, this judgment is just, it is dreadful, it is without
appeal. In pronouncing sentence, conscience is at the same
time witness against us, and its deposition is so much
the more dreadful as it is interior, clear, and personal to us.
Ah ! how unfortunate is it to be condemned by our
selves, and to have nothing to oppose to the condemna
tion! And what, indeed, can be opposed when our own
conscience is the accuser, witness and judge ? Therefore,
it only remains for conscience to assume the character of
executioner, and to exercise its vengeance upon us.
Dreadful charge ! which is more terrible than all the rest.
It punishes us. God intrusts the interest of his justice
and revenge in the hands of conscience ; and in how
many ways does it not discharge this dreadful office
against the sinner after his sin ? by those racking re
morses which tear him, as it were, to pieces ; by the
gnawing worm which eats him up ; by the constant re
membrance of his guilt, which follows him everywhere ;
by the fears, terrors, and continual alarms in which he
lives. If he is visited by illness, if the least infirmity attacks
him, death incessantly presents itself to his eyes. If
thunders roar, if the earth quakes, if any unexpected ac
cident happens, he believes that the hand of God is
lifted up against him, fearing every instant to be
swallowed up. Alas ! can there be any more dreadful tor-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 263
turer, any more cruel executioner, any more severe minis
ter of vengeance for the sinner, than his own conscience !
What more torturing for Cain than the bloody spectre of
his brother Abel which presented itself continually to him I
What more frightful for the impious Balthasar, than the
sight of the hand which appeared on the wall and wrote
the sentence of his condemnation upon it ! What more
horrifying for Antiochus than the picture of the temple
of Jerusalem which he had profaned ? What more alarm
ing and terrifying for Henry VIII., King of England, than
to behold, on his death bed, the legion of monks whom he
had so cruelly treated !
And why were these men thus tortured ? It was be
cause conscience, whose rights they had trampled upon,
sought atonement by setting the remembrance of their
crimes continually before them.
" Thus conscience pleads her cause within the breast:
Though long rebelled against, not yet suppressed.
No wonder, that men sometimes commit suicide. They
cannot bear the remorse of conscience, and so they try
to find rest in death.
The hell of the wicked begins even in this world, and
it continues throughout all eternity in the next. Hence
St. Paul says : " Tribulation and anguish upon every soul
of man that worketh evil." (Rom. ii., 9.) "By what
things," says Holy Scripture, " a man sinneth, by the
same he is also tormented." (Wisd. xi., 17.) "He who
speaks (against his conscience) whatever he pleases,
will hear in his heart what he does not like to hear," says
Comicus.
Now, such a remorse of conscience, though a punish-
264 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
merit, is at the same time a grace for the sinner. It
warns him to enter into himself, by sincere repentance,
to ask pardon of God, and promise amendment of life, and
be saved. But if a sinner does not experience such a re
morse he is, no doubt, in a most lamentable condition.
The want of this grace forebodes a certain reprobation for
all eternity. Now, this voice of conscience, which strikes
terror into the souls of the wicked, fills the just with
peace and happiness.
There is a great sinner : he is very sorry for all his
sins. He firmly purposes amendment of life ; he makes
a good confession. See him after confession. His coun
tenance is radiant with beauty. His step has become
again light. His soul reflects upon his features, the
holy joy with which it is inebriated. He smiles upon those
whom he meets, and every one sees that he is happy.
He trembles now no longer when he lifts his eyes
to heaven. He hopes, he loves. A supernatural strength
animates him. He feels himself burning with zeal to do
good. A new sun has risen upon his life, and every thing
in him puts on the freshness of youth. And why ? Be
cause his conscience has thrown off a load that bent him
to the earth. It tells him that now he is once more the
companion of angels ; that he has again entered that
sweet alliance with God, whom he can now justly call his
Father 5 that he is reinstated in his dignity of a child of
God. He is no longer afraid of God s justice, of death
and of hell.
We must, then, always follow the voice or dictates of
conscience, for " this is the keeping of the command
ments," says Holy Scripture ; but " whatever is con
trary to conscience, is sinful." (Rom. xiv., 23.)
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 265
" What rule," says St. Thomas Aquinas, " can a man
follow, unless reason which is the imperative voice of
conscience. He who does not appeal to his conscience
on all occasions can have no rule of conduct. He is al
ways in doubt and perplexity, wavering between vice
and virtue, not knowing to which side to turn. He is
like a vessel whose helm is lost in a violent storm."
DIFFERENT KINDS OF CONSCIENCE.
Conscience, or the sense of right and wrong, which is
the first element in religion, is so delicate, so fitful, so
easily puzzled, obscured, perverted ; so subtle in its argu
mentative methods, so impressible by education, so biassed
by pride and passion, so unsteady in its flight, that
this sense is at once the highest of all teachers, yet the
least clear and luminous. Hence it is that we meet with
different kinds of conscience.
1. The right or true conscience.
A right, or true conscience, is one which, according to
sound principles, dictates what is right or *wrong. For
instance: a child knows that parents must not be obey
ed if they command something that is sinful. Now, from
this principle the child draws the conclusion that it is
wrong for him to steal the sum of money which his father
told him to steal.
2. The erroneous or false conscience.
A conscience is erroneous or false when it represents
to us an action as good which is really bad. For instance :
every one knows that a wilful lie is a sin. Now, there is
one who sees his neighbor in danger of death, and knows
that by telling a lie he can save the life of his neighbor.
He feels certain that such a lie cannot be a sin, and that
he would sin against charity if he were not to tell it.
266 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
A conscience is also erroneous when it represents
what is really good as something really bad. For ex
ample : what can be better and holier than the Catholic
religion ? And yet there may be found a non-Catholic who,
from having been brought up in heresy, is fully persuaded
from boyhood that we, Catholics, impugn, and attack the
word of God, that we are idolaters, pestilent deceivers,
and, therefore, are to be shunned as pestilences. Now,
such errors of conscience are either culpable or inculpable.
They are culpable, if they spring from voluntary ignor
ance, and they are inculpable, if they spring from invol
untary ignorance.
Ignorance is voluntary, or vincible, when one in doing
something has certain doubts about the moral goodness
or badness of his action, and about the obligation of ex
amining whether his action is really good or bad, and
nevertheless does not take the necessary means to find
out whether what he is about to do is right or wrong. It
is a law to profess the true religion in order to be saved.
Now suppose, there is a non-Catholic. A sermon on the
true religion, which he heard, or a book which he read,
or a conversation which he had with a friend on this sub
ject, or the conversion of a wealthy or learned man from
Protestantism to the Catholic faith, or any other good
reason whatever makes him doubt about the truth of his
religion. If he does not make any inquiries about
the true religion, as well as he is able, he remains in
voluntary, culpable ignorance.
Ignorance is involuntary, or invincible, if one in doing
something has not the least reasonable doubt about the
goodness of the action. To illustrate : an heir enters upon
an estate which formerly was acquired unjustly by his
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 267
ancestors ; but at the time when he took possession of
it, he had not the least doubt about the just and lawful
acquisition of the estate. In this he is in error, but
the error is involuntary, and, therefore, not culpable
After some years, however, he discovers the flaw in
his title, and still continues in the possession of the estate.
From that time, his conscience becomes voluntarily and
criminally erroneous, contrary to good faith and the
dictates of a good conscience.
" If your error is voluntary," says St. Thomas Aquinas,
"and you do not do all you can to find out the truth, you
are answerable for your conduct in following a false
conscience. Such was the conscience of the persecutors
of the Church of whom Jesus Christ says : " Yea, the
hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you, will think that
he doth a service to God." (Jphn xvi., 2.) When, in
arguing about something, one of the premises is false, the
conclusion must necessarily be false. In like manner all
the acts of a conscience whose error is voluntary or vinci
ble, are bad and partake in the evil result of voluntary
ignorance. If you are wilfully ignorant of what you are
bound in conscience to know, you are responsible for all
your actions. Such is the conscience of many sinners,
who wish to be ignorant of their duties in ordei? to live
without restraint. u They say to God," says Job, " de
part from us, we do not desire the knowledge of thy ways."
(Xxi., 14.) A conscience continuing thus to act in a known
voluntary error, becomes quite criminal in the sight of God.
This is the most lamentable and most unhappy state into
which a soul can fall ; for this kind of conscience drives
the sinner into all kinds of crimes, disorders, and excesses,
and becomes to him the source of blindness of the under-
2G8 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
standing, of hardness of heart, and finally of eternal
reprobation, if he preseveres in this state to the end of
his life.
In order to avoid such great evils, we must rectify our
conscience when it is vincibly erroneous that is, when
we are confused with doubts and suspicions about the
lawfulness or unlawfulness of an action which we are about
to perform, we must try, by examination, consultation,
and employing the ordinary means, to find out whether
we are right or wrong in what we are about to undertake.
But as long as a man s conscience is invincibly erron
eous, he must follow it. " His will is then not in fault,
says St. Thomas ; " it can be good, and even produce
meritorious acts, notwithstanding such error. No doubt,
a person, who, from an invincibly erroneous conscience,
believes that charity obliges him to tell a lie, if thereby
he can save the life of his neighbor, performs a meritorious
act, and he would sin against charity if he did not tell the
lie. As long as a heretic judges his sect to be more or equally
deserving of belief, he has no obligation to believe in the
Catholic Church 5 and should he feel persuaded that we
Catholics are pestilent deceivers, idolaters, etc., he cannot
while this persuasion lasts, with a safe conscience, i ear
us."
3. The perplexed conscience.
A man s conscience is said to be perplexed, when he is
placed between two actions which appear bad. There is
a person. She is bound to wait upon a sick neighbor on
a Sunday : she thinks that it is a sin to leave that sick
person, in order to go and hear Mass, and, at the same
time, it appears to her that it is also a sin to stay away
from Mass, in order to wait upon her sick friend. Now,
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 269
if the conscience of a person is thus perplexed, he must,
as far as possible, take counsel of prudent men. If he
cannot consult such, and is still under necessity of acting,
he must choose what appears the lesser evil, and in so doing
he will not commit sin.
4. The certain conscience.
A certain conscience is one which is clear and absolute
in its dictates, so that, in obeying it, we feel morally certain
that we are right. By moral certainty, is meant such a
one as prudent and enlightened men think it reasonable
to act upon in matters of importance. It is the highest
kind of certainty we can ordinarily gain in matters of daily
conduct.
5. The timorous or tender conscience is one which fears
not only sin, but also whatever can have the least shadow,
and smallest appearance of sin. Happy the conscience
which is so disposed !
6. The lax conscience.
A lax conscience is one which, for a light reason, judges
to be lawful what is very unlawful, or considers a sin
which is grievous, only as a venial sin 5 in other words,
a lax conscience is one which without sufficient reason
favors liberty, either in order to escape the law, or to
diminish the gravity of guilt. A lax conscience is gener
ally the consequence of the neglect of prayer, of lukewarm-
ness of the soul, of too much care and anxiety about
temporal things, of familiar intercourse with the wicked,
of the habit of sinning which destroys horror of sin, of a
soft, tepid life which enervates the heart and makes it
quite worldly. Such a conscience is most dangerons, for
it leads the soul to the broad road of hell.
The remedies for such a conscience are : frequent re-
270 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
course to prayer, spiritual exercises, pious reading and
meditation, frequent confession, conversation with the
pious, and avoiding the company of the wicked,
7. The doubtful conscience.
A doubtful conscience is one which is, as it were, hang
ing in a balance, and being in suspense, uncertain whether
a thing is lawful or not, whether an action is forbidden or
allowed. On both sides it sees plausible reasons, which
make an impression, but amongst these reasons there is
none that draws down the weight, and is sufficient to
ground a determination. Thus wavering between these
different and opposite reasons, it remains undetermined,
and dares not make a decision for fear of being deceived,
and of falling into sin. Now, it is never allowed to act
with a doubtful conscience. When we do something, we
must be morally sure that what we are doing is lawful.
To do something, and have, at the same time, a reason
able doubt about the lawfulness of our action, is to commit
sin, because we expose ourselves to the danger of sin. If
we act in such a doubt about the lawfulness of our action,
we show ourselves indifferent as to whether we break a
law or not, and consequently make ourselves guilty of the
sin to the danger of which we expose ourselves. Hence
St. Paul says : " Anything that is not according to con
science, is a sin. "(Rom. xiv., 13.)
We must, then, seek for light and instruction, if we
can ; or, if it is necessary to act without delay, and we
have neither means nor time to consult and procure in
formation to clear the doubt and settle our conscience,
after begging God to enlighten us, we must consider and
examine what seems most expedient in his sight under
the present circumstances, then take our determination
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 271
and proceed ; yet always reserving the intention of pro
curing- information, and correcting the mistake afterwards
if any thing was not according to law. This is no longer
acting in doubt, as the prospect of doing what seems
most expedient takes away the doubt : we may, it is true,
be deceived, but we cannot sin.
Now, doubts may arise in our mind as to whether we
have complied with a certain law that must be complied
with. It is a law, for instance, to be validly baptized.
Now, if there arises a reasonable doubt about the validity
of a person s baptism, that person must be baptized again
to make sure of the compliance with the law. It is a
certain law that in order to be saved a man must profess
the true faith, live up to it, and die in it. Now, if a
non-Catholic for good reasons doubts the truth of his re
ligion, he is not allowed to continue to live and die in
this doubt. He must, to the best of his ability, inquire
about the true religion, and after having found it, he is
obliged to embrace it, in order to comply with the law
of professing the true divine faith and worship.
It is a law that we must confess all our mortal sins
which we do remember after a careful examination of
conscience. Now, if after confession we have a reason
able doubt as to whether we have confessed a certain
mortal sin, we are bound to confess that sin, in order to
make sure of having complied with the law of confessing
all our mortal sins. If we have borrowed money from
our neighbor and afterwards have a reasonable doubt as to
whether we have returned it, we are still bound to pay it.
In the time of war, an officer or a soldier, who doubts
as to whether the war is just, is bound to obey his general,
because it is a certain law that no one, much less a
272 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
superior, is to be accused of unjust commands and actions
as long as there are not quite evident reasons to prove the
contrary. There is a law which says, "Thou shalt not kill. >
Should a hunter, then, see something stir in a brush
wood, but doubts whether it is a man or an animal, he is
not allowed to fire before he is sure that it is not a
man. Or should a physican when prescribing medicine
reasonably doubt that the medicine might kill his
patient, he is not allowed to prescribe such a medicine.
Whenever, then, a law exists for certain, and we doubt
whether we have complied with it, we can remove the
doubt only by doing what is commanded ; and if the law
forbids something, and we reasonably doubt that what
we are about to do, might violate the law, we are bound
not to perform such an action 5 for every certain law
requires a positively certain obedience.
But there may also arise in our minds doubts about the
real existence of a law, that is, about its promulgation or
its obligation in a certain case. There is one : he doubts
whether a certain war is just. This doubt (called a specu
lative doubt) brings on another, whether it is lawful to take
part in such a war. This last doubt is called a practical
doubt, because there is question about doing something that
may be against a certain law. To act under such a practical
doubt is, as we have said above, to become guilty of sin.
In order not to expose ourselves to the danger of com
mitting sin, we must be morally certain that what we are
doing is lawful. This certainty, however, need not be
such as to exclude even every speculative doubt. For in
stance, one doubts whether the dish which is placed before
him on a Friday, is not flesh-meat. So far this doubt is but
a speculative doubt, suggesting the question as to whether
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 273
or not this particular case comes under the law of abstin
ence. But should he before whom the dish is placed, not
wish to order another dish, the practical doubt arises whether
it is lawful for him to eat a dish which may be forbidden
by the law of abstinence. It is evident that this person,
if he is conscientious, is not allowed to eat the dish before
he is morally sure that the eating of it is not forbidder
by the law of abstinence.
What, then, is he to do if he cannot find out whether
the dish is real flesh-meat or not? whether the law of
abstinence in this case is binding on him or not ? Many
such cases may occur, in which we entertain speculative
doubts whether a law exists for such a case, or such a
person, or under such a circumstance of time or place, and
we may not be able to decide whether the law exists or
not. But from the fact that such a speculative doubt con
tinues, it does not follow that we can leave the matter
alone and act as we please. Such conduct would, no
doubt, expose us to the danger of violating a law that may
really exist. To acquire moral certainty for the law
fulness of our action, we must see whether there are reasons
which prove that a law really exists or does not exist in
this or that case.
Now, in trying to find out such reasons, we may find
some that may seem to prove the real existence of the law
whilst others may seem to prove that the law does not
exist. It may happen that the reasons pro and con. are
equally or almost equally strong, and it may also happen
that the reasons pro are considerably stronger than the
reasons con., or vice versa. Those reasons which are con
siderably stronger may increase in strength and weight
(become so strong and weighty) so much as to make those
274 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
opposed to them, sink in weight and strength. Now the
question arises, how weighty these reasons must be to in
duce us to judge with moral certainty that the law is uncer
tain, and consequently is not binding. If the reasons
proving that the law does not exist, are as strong or nearly
as strong as those which prove the existence of the law,
then we have moral certainty, says St. Alphonsus, to be
lieve that the law does not exist 5 but, if the reasons,
proving the existence of the law, are considerably stronger
than those proving the contrary, then we ought to believe
that the law exists.
This teaching is undoubtedly quite reasonable. In
business matters, every sensible man adheres to that one
of two opinions which is best grounded. In scientific
matters, those opinions which are but little grounded are
also but little cared for.
From what has been said, it is easy to understand
what rigorism and laxism is. It is rigorism to pronounce
in favor of the existence of the law in spite of very
weighty reasons proving the contrary. This doctrine was
condemned by Alexander VIII. Those who teach such a
doctrine are called strict Tutiorists. It is still rigorism,
though not quite so bad, to maintain that we must pronounce
in favor of the existence of the law, even if the opinion
that the law does not exist, is better grounded. Those
adhering to this opinion, are called less strict Tutiorists.
Finally, it is still rigorism to maintain that the reasons
proving that the law does not exist, must be considerably
stronger than those proving the contrary, in order to pro
nounce in favor of liberty or the non-existence of the law.
Those adhering to this opinion are called Probabilionists.
But each of these three opinions must be rejected. No
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 275
sensible man adopts and goes by such opinions in his
daily business transactions, and social intercourse. No
man of learning rejects, in scientific questions, the best
grounded opinions and arguments. Why should we not
act in the same way in discussing and deciding moral
cases ? What more unreasonable than the contrary ?
Laxism is to maintain that the law does not exist, even
if the reasons to prove the contrary should be considerably
stronger and much weightier. It is self-evident that
such an opinion is very lax. as it favors liberty be
yond what is reasonable. It is true, those adhering to this
opinion say, that in theory they only teach that the law does
not exist, when there is a solid reason for its non-existence.
They forget, however, that a real solid reason is no longer
such, when considerably more solid reasons are opposed to
it. They only care for having a solid reason for the non-
existence of the law, and leave alone the more solid reasons
which prove its existence. It is clear that in discussing
the question of the existence or non-existence of the law,
the reasons pro and con. must be carefully weighed and
compared, and if the reasons, proving the existence of the
law, are considerably weightier than the reasons proving
its non-existence, the latter are no longer solid reasons.
Such is the doctrine of St. Alphonsus. " Those," he
says, u who defend and adhere to the contrary opinion are
called laxists. Their lax opinion is to be rejected in prac
tice. Auctores elapsi sseculi quasi communiter tenuere
opinionem : i Ut quis possit licite sequi opinionem etiam
minus probabilem pro libertate (stantem), licet opinio pro
lege sit certe probabilior. Hanc sententiam nos dicimus esse
laxam et licite amplecti non posse? " (In Apologia, 1769, et
Homo Apost. de consc. n. 31.) In a letter, dated July 8,
276 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
1768, St. Alphonsus writes : "Librorum censor D. Dele-
gatum adiit ipsique retulit, se opus Meum Morale legesis
ejusque sententias sanas invenisse, et quod attinet sys-
tema circa probabilem, me non sequi systema Jesuitarum,
sed ipsis adversari ; Jesuitae enim admittunt minus proba-
bilem, sed ego earn reprobo" And in another letter, dated
May 25, 1767, St. Alphonsus writes : "Formidarem con-
fessiones excipiendi licentiam concedere alicui exnostris,
qui sequi vellet opinion em certo cognitam ut minus pro-
babilem."
8. The SCRUPULOUS conscience.
What is a scruple ? " A scruple," says St. Alphonsus,
" is a vain fear of sinning, which arises from false, ground
less reasons." There is a person : for frivolous reasons
he imagines that something is forbidden which is not
forbidden, or that something is commanded which is not
commanded. So he is disturbed, and runs into doubts
without any just foundation and reasonable motives. He
sinks into the state of a scrupulous conscience, which is a
continual torment to the soul itself, but also often to those
who direct it.
A scrupulous conscience, then, gives an undue promin
ence to certain points of little or no consequence, while
it is not unfrequently lax and careless about things of
greater importance. It is generally found in persons of
a melancholy character, of weak judgment, and of great
nervousness. A scrupulous conscience is a diseased con
science.
Scruples may arise from different causes. They come
from God, or from the devil, or from ourselves. Scruples
which come from God, are sent as a trial to which the
soul must submit. " These scruples," says St. Alphonsus,
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 277
(t are useful in those who have begun to lead better lives.
For a soul which has but for a short time renounced sin,
stands in need of being repeatedly purified. Now scru
ples produce this effect. They cleanse the soul, and, at
the same time, make her careful to avoid real sins, and
they also render her humble. So that, distrusting her
own opinion, she places herself in the hands of her spiri
tual Director to be guided as he pleases. St. Francis
de Sales used to say that the fear which begets scruples
in those who have lately gone from the confines of sin, is
a certain presage of future purityo f conscience. But,
on the other hand, scruples are hurtful to those who seek
perfection and have for a long time given themselves to
God. In such persons, says St. Teresa, scruples produce
extravagant impressions which lead the soul to such a
state that she will not advance a single step towards per
fection. "Try always to do everything well," says St.
Francis de Sales, " but guard against inquietudes ; for there
is no greater obstacle to advancement in perfection ! "
Scruples which come from the devil, are temptations
which must be distrusted. "With regard to those," says
St. Alphonsus, " who walk in the way of perfection, the
devil ordinarily fills their minds with scruples and troubles,
in order to make them lose their mind, render the way of
perfection hateful, give up mental prayer, the frequenta-
tion of the sacraments, lose by degrees the aid and love
of God, abandon themselves to a tepid life, and finally
pass from scruples to real sins. How many scrupulous
persons have not, in order to get rid of their scruples,
given up the practice of virtue, abandoned themselves to
despair, and voluntarily took their lives. Father Scara-
melli relates that he himself knew two persons, one who on,
278 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
account of scruples, cut with a knife his breast in several
places, and another who shot himself dead. I know a person,
who, on account of similar anxieties of conscience, threw
himself from a window, but was not killed, and at another
time intended to cast himself into a well, but was prevented
by another person from carrying out his fatal intention.
We read of several scrupulous persons who have taken
their own lives.
For those scruples which arise from ourselves from a
melancholy temperament we must humble ourselves.
In the opinion of St. Francis de Sales, scruples originate
from a cunning self-esteem cunning, because it is so
subtle and crafty as to deceive even those who are troubled
by them. " For," said he, " those who suffer from this
malady will not acquiesce in the judgment of those who
are enlightened in the ways of God. They always insist
that their opinion should pervail over that of others ;
whereas, if they acquiesced and submitted their judgment
to discreet directors, they would at once be cured and
enjoy peace. It stands to reason that a sick man should
suffer who will not use the remedies which are offered to
him and are calculated to heal him, if he took them. Who
will pity the man who dies of hunger and thirst, having
placed within his reach all that can satisfy the one and
quench the other? Scrupulosity is indeed a malady of
difficult cure, and, like jealousy, it gathers fuel from every
object. God preserve you from this tedious disease
which I look upon as the quartan fever, or the jaundice of
the soul."
The marks of a scrupulous conscience are the following :
1. To be always afraid of not having, at confession,
true sorrow, or a sincere purpose of amendment.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 279
2. To be afraid, on frivolous grounds, of sinning in
every action ; of always consenting, for example, to rash
judgments, or to every bad thought which presents itself
to the mind.
3. To be in constant doubt, considering an action at
one time to be lawful, and at another unlawful, and to be
at the same time disturbed with great fears and perplex
ities.
4. Not to acquiesce in the decision of the confessor,
but obstinately to hold to one s own opinion.
5. To spend ever so much time in the examination of
conscience, even about the smallest imperfections.
6. To banish temptations by making ridiculous gestures,
such as closing the eyes suddenly, shaking the head,
muttering to one s self, "No, I will not; begone, devil! "
7. To be always uneasy about the confessions they
have made, and to wish to repeat them.
8. To insist always on confessing the same sin, or to
look upon something as sinful which has been repeatedly
declared by the confessor as not sinful.
9. To reflect continually about the circumstances which
may or may not have accompanied an action, and anxiously
to seek certainty in all things.
Whether a penitent is scrupulous or not, is not to be
decided by the penitent, but by the confessor; for all
scrupulous persons say that their scruples are not scruples,
but real doubts and sins. If they knew them to be scruples,
they would disregard them. They are in the dark, and
therefore they do not see the state of their conscience.
The confessor, who is free from the darkness in which
they are involved, understands the matter well. The
more a scrupulous person decides for himself, and the more
280 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
he labors to tranquilize his conscience by Ms own opinion,
the greater will be his confusion and agitation of mind.
Now the scruples of some persons are about the past,
and of others, about the present actions. As to scruples
about past actions, some are afraid of not having confessed
their sins as they ought. Hence they always wish to
make general confessions, hoping thus to remove their
fears and troubles. But what is the result ? Their
perplexities are increased, because new apprehensions
and scruples of having omitted, or of not having suffi
ciently explained, their sins, are continually excited.
Hence the more general confessions they make, the more
uneasy they become.
No doubt a general confession is most useful to those
who have never made one. It greatly contributes to
humble the soul by placing before her all the irregularities
of her past life. It also contributes to increase her sorrow
for her ingratitude towards God, and to make her adopt
holy resolutions for the future. A general confession, also,
gives the confessor a better knowledge of the state of
conscience of the soul, of the virtues she needs, and of the
passions and vices to which she is most inclined. Thus,
the confessor is better able to prescribe proper remedies
and give suitable advice. But for those who once made
a general confession, it is not useful to repeat it. Should
a doubt afterwards arise, a penitent, who cannot remem
ber having purposely omitted a grevious sin in confession,
is (generally speaking) not obliged to confess any past
sin, unless he is certain that it is a grevious sin and that
he never confessed it.
But you may say, if the sin be really a mortal sin, and
if I have not confessed it ? shall I be saved ? Yes j you
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 281
will be saved, says St. Thomas, St. Alphonsus, and all
theologians. They all teach, that if, after a careful ex
amination of conscience, a sin has not been confessed
through forgetfulness, it is indirectly forgiven with the
others by the absolution of the priest. It is true that
when the penitent remembers it, or has a good reason to
doubt "whether he ever confessed it, he is obliged to con
fess it. But if he prudently judge that the sin was told
in one of his past confessions, he is not obliged to confess
it again. I say, he is not obliged to confess it, and this
is true for all. But a penitent that is tortured by scru
ples is, according to all good theologians of the Church?
not obliged to confess a past sin, unless he can swear that
it was certainly a mortal sin, and that he never confessed
it. For such a repetition of past sins may do great harm
to the penitent, and drive him to despair. When a
penitent is greatly agitated and confused in trying to de
cide whether he can swear or not to the certainty of the
sin, the confessor can, in this case, exempt him from
confessing sins of his past life 5 for in a case of so much
danger and harm to the penitent, the obligation of pro
viding for the integrity of confession ceases, because, ac
cording to all divines, a less inconvenience excuses from
the integrity of confession.
Scrupulous persons, therefore, should believe that a
general confession is useful to others, but very injurious
to themselves. Hence, good spiritual directors do not
permit scrupulous persons to speak of past sins. The
remedy for them is, not to explain, but to be silent and
to obey.
As to ordinary confessions, it is not necessary for those
who seek perfection and communicate often, to receive
282 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
absolution before every communion. It is enough to
receive absolution once a week. In one of his letters St.
Francis de Sales says, that persons who walk in the way
of perfection, but happen to commit even a deliberate
venial sin, ought not, on this account, abstain from holy
communion, if they have not the opportunity of going to
confession. According to the teaching of the Church, we
can obtain the forgiveness of venial sins by making an
act of love and contrition.
As to scruples about the present, many persons are
afraid that they commit sin in every action. They re
semble certain horses that become shy at seeing something
lying on the road. They rear, go backwards, and will no
longer obey the bridle of the rider. So, too, a scrupulous
person becomes frightened, perplexed, and disturbed in
mind, fearing, without reason, that there is a grievous sin
in this or that action which in itself is lawful and praise
worthy, or that he has given consent to bad thoughts, etc.
Now, a scrupulous conscience is no rule by which
a person is to be guided in his moral actions. For a
rule of morals is a rule of prudence. But a scrupulous
conscience is destitute of prudence, since it goes by
most frivolous reasons which are despised by men of
prudence. Hence it is not only lawful, but even neces
sary to despise such reasons and act contrary to them.
Those, then, who are always afraid of committing sin, or
giving consent to every bad thought that presents itself to
their mind, should remember two things : First, to have
bad thoughts and to experience the sting of the flesh,
is one thing, and to give consent to them deliberately
is another. We cannot help birds flying over our heads,
but we can prevent them from making a nest on
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. !J83
them. In like manner, we cannot keep away all bad
thoughts and temptations, but we can refuse the consent
of our will to them. Some persons feel troubled because
they think they gave occasion to these thoughts and
temptations. They think, they ought to stay away from
this or that person or place, to give up this or that occu
pation and employment, etc., which causes bad thoughts
to arise in their mind. But let them remember that we
are not bound to give up an occupation, a place, etc., when
the end for which we are engaged in it is good, either for
our spiritual or temporal advantage, or for that of our
neighbor. Satan can cause such thoughts to arise in our
mind, even amidst the most holy occupations. It would
be great folly to give up, on account of such temptations
what we have a right to do. Such temptations must be
despised. If they are very harassing and continual, it
is sufficient resistance, says St. Alphonsus, to pay atten
tion to our will that it may not deliberately give con
sent to any thing of the kind.
There are some persons, who, when troubled with such
thoughts, make foolish gestures or signs, with the head,
eyes, etc 5 mutter certain words like these : tl No, I will not j
begone, Satan," etc. Now, when the devil notices such out
ward signs, he knows that his temptations make an un
pleasant impression, harass the mind, contract the heart,
and prevent that person from performing his duties in
a proper manner. So he feels encouraged to leave him
no rest. Let the devil and his temptations be despised ;
let him not see that they make you afraid. If a bee sits
down on your face, and you chase it, it will sting you. If
you leave it alone, it will fly off without having hurt you
in the least. In like manner, if scruples and fears, and
284 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
bad thoughts of every kind sit down on you, and you im
prudently fight them, they will sting you, that is, hurt
you by becoming worse and worse. Leave them alone,
despise them, and by and by they will leave you alone.
Secondly, it should be remembered, that, in order to com
mit a mortal sin, the full advertence of the understanding
as well as the full consent of the will are required. If
either be wanting, the sin is not grievous. Should a tim
orous, and especially a scrupulous person, doubt as to the
full consent of the will, he may rest assured that he has
not sinned grievously, unless he can affirm with certainty
that he gave consent to mortal sin.
It is also useful for certain very timid souls, who are
always in doubt about having consented to bad thoughts,
to remember that it is better sometimes not to accuse them
selves of certain temptations, such as temptations to hat
red, against faith, or purity 5 because, by examining as to
whether they have given a deliberate consent, and how
they shall explain their temptations, images of bad objects
are excited still more vividly in the mind, and their
agitation is increased by the fear of having given a new
consent. Such souls should be told to accuse themselves
of such thoughts in a general way, saying : " Laccuse my
self of all the negligences I have been guilty of in not
banishing bad thoughts."
There are two privileges, then, given to the scrupulous
soul, by the generality of divines by St. Antonine,
Navarre, Suares, and many others. The first is, that by
acting with a fear or scruple, she is not guilty of sin as long
as she acts through obedience. And it is not necessary
for her to form expressly at each act a practical judgment
of the lawfulness of her actions, by reflecting that she is
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 285
acting according to obedience. To exempt her from all
fault, it is enough for her to make a virtual judgment
that is, it is enough for her to act in virtue of a judgment
already formed, that such fears ought to be disregarded.
Nor can it be said that the soul then acts with a practical
doubt about the unlawfulness of the action : it is one thing
to act with a practical doubt, and another to act with a
fear of its sinfulness. Gerson justly teaches, that to act
with a doubt, which arises from a formed conscience, or
after a person has examined the circumstances, and come
to the conclusion that while the doubt remains he cannot
act without sin, would be to act with a practical doubt,
and would be sinful. But when the mind is perplexed,
vacillating amid doubts, and not knowing what opinion to
adopt, but, at the same time, resolved not to do any thing
displeasing to God, such a doubt is not, according to
Gerson, a practical doubt, but a vain fear and scruple
which should be as much as possible rejected and despised.
Behold his words : "A conscience is formed, when, after
inquiry and deliberation, a person judges by a definitive
sentence that an act is to be performed or omitted. And
to act against such a conscience is a sin. A fear or
scruple of conscience consists in a vacillation of the mind
between doubts ; the soul knows not whether she is bound to
do or to omit the act, but would not wish to omit what she
knows to be pleasing to the divine will j and such fear
should be as much as possible rejected and despised."
(Tract de Consc. et Scrup.) Hence, when a soul has a
firm purpose not to offend God, and acts according to
obedience in overcoming scruples, she is not guilty of sin,
though she acts with fear, and though she does not actually
advert to the command of her director.
286 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
The second privilege of the scrupulous is, that after
having acted they should believe that they have not given
consent to any temptation, unless they are certain of hav
ing fully adverted and consented to the malice of the sin.
Hence, when they are doubtful, their very doubt is a cer
tain sign that they either had not full advertence or that
they did not give a full consent. Hence, if the confessor
tells them not to confess such doubts, they ought to obey,
and should not think of leaving him if he persists in refus
ing to listen to the explanation of their doubts. I add,
that the spiritual father who is indulgent in hearing the
doubts of scrupulous souls, falls into a great error; for, by
scrutinizing their consciences, they generally become dis
quieted, and are rendered more incapable of advancing in
the way of God. What has just been said does not re
gard so much the direction of penitents, as of confessors
in the guidance of souls. Penitents have only to submit
their judgment to their spiritual father, and to obey him in
all things. However, it may be useful to certain peni
tents to know what has been just said for the direction of
confessors, that when their confessor tells them not to accuse
themselves of certain sins, nor to speak of them unless they
are certain of having committed a grievous fault ; or when,
after having heard them, he sends them to communion
without absolution, they may not begin to contend with
him, but may obey blindly, without even asking a
reason for the command which he has imposed upon them.
But some may say : I wish to act with a certainty of
not giving displeasure to God. I answer, that the great
est security which you (who have a troubled conscience)
can have is to obey your director, and to conquer scru
ples in spite of the actual fear which molests you. And
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 287
you know that though you were at the point of death, you
would be obliged to act in this manner in order to avoid
the delusions of the devil. And here I repeat what I have
already said that you ought to scruple not doing violence
to yourself in order to conquer scruples by acting against
them, in obedience to your spiritual father, even though
you may not be persuaded that your scruples are vain
fears. For if you omit an act on account of the scruple you
shall not be able to make any further progress in the way
of God, and (as has been said) you will expose yourself
to the danger of losing your soul or your mind 5 and to
expose yourself to such danger is a certain sin. Hence,
the devil excites so many fears in scrupulous persons that
they may either abandon themselves to a tepid life, or may
become fools j or at least that they may not advance in
perfection, and live always amid troubles and confusion,
in which hell always gains something. St. Louis Gonzaga
used to say, that in troubled water the devil always
finds fish to catch.
We have said that a scrupulous conscience is a diseased
conscience. How is a scrupulous person to be cured of
this disease ? All theologians and masters of the spirit
ual life unanimously say that the principal and only rem -
edy for a scrupulous person is to obey blindly his confessor
and to distrust entirely his own judgment. Assuredly,
a blind person needs a faithful guide to conduct him in
the way in which he has to walk. Now, a scrupulous
person is like a blind person j for on account of his
scruples he is in a state of darkness and confusion. On
this account he must allow himself to be guided by his
ordinary confessor and obey him blindly. For, as a
general rule, a scrupulous penitent should speak of his
288 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
doubts only to his ordinary confessor, because, any other
confessor, who is not acquainted with the state of his
conscience, may ask a question or say a word which is not
in accordance with the directions and sentiments of the
ordinary confessor. Thus it easily happens that such a
question or word of another confessor throws a scrupulous
penitent into a state of confusion and perplexity, makes
him lose his confidence in his ordinary confessor and places
him forever, or at least for a long time, in a state of
great disturbance and agitation of mind. The ordinary
confessor is for the scrupulous penitent the guide given
to him by God. To obey him is to obey Almighty God
himself, who has said of his priests : u He who heareth
you, heareth me." (Luke x., 16.) Hence the scrupulous
penitent who is not obedient to his confessor, is also dis
obedient to Christ. " He who despiseth you" that is, the
priest, " despiseth me," that is, Jesus Christ. On this
account St. John of the Cross used to say that, not to sub
mit to the judgment of the confessor is pride and want of
faith. A scrupulous person who does not obey his spirit
ual director is lost.
11 Holy writ," says St. Francis de Sales, " teaches us that
disobedience is a crime equal to idolatry and witchcraft 5
but what are we to think of the disobedience of scrupu
lous people who idolize their opinions so as to be enslaved
by them, and who remain, as it were, embedded in their own
ideas, against every kind of remonstrance, and against
all reasons by which it is shown to them that their fears
have no foundation. They will always defend themselves
by saying that we flatter them, that they are not under
stood, that they do not explain themselves clearly
enough."
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 289
God demands no account of what we have done
through obedience to our confessor, says St. Alphonsus.
St. Philip Neri says the same. " Let those who desire to
advance in the way of God, submit themselves to a learned
confessor and obey him in God s stead. Let him who
does so rest assured that he will not have to give an ac
count to God for his actions. The confessor of St. Vero
nica Juliana, appeared to her after his death and said : "Be
always very obedient to your spiritual Director j for the
obedient are not judged after their death/ The reason is
because, as they always are submissive to the will
of the confessor who holds the place of God, they always
live up to the will of God. Now the will of God is in
finitely holy. Therefore, he who follows the will of God
cannot be blamed or judged for what he has done to
please God. The sentence which Almighty God will
pronounce upon him is : " Well done, good and faithful
servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things,
I will place thee over many : enter thou into the joy of
thy Lord." (Matt, xxv, 23.)
" Obey, then, your confessor," says St. Alphonsus,
a and fear not that in obeying him you may be led astray. 7
This was the practice of the saints who often were
troubled with perplexities and fears of conscience. But
in all their troubles of conscience they found peace in
obedience to their confessor.
St. Catherine of Bologna was afflicted with scruples.
She was sometimes afraid to receive holy communion ;
but in spite of all her fears she obeyed her confessor and
received holy communion.
When St. Paulinus wrote to St. Augustine for advice
in his doubts of conscience, St. Augustine replied : u Com-
290 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
municate your doubts and troubles to a spiritual physician,
and let me know what the Lord will say to you through
him." St. Augustine held for certain that God makes
his will known to us through our spiritual director, if we
communicate our troubles of conscience to him.
St. Antonine relates that whilst a certain religious of
the Order of St. Dominic was greatly suffering from
scruples, a deceased religious appeared to him and gave
him the following advice : "Consult with the wise and ac
quiesce in their advice." The same holy archbishop
relates that a disciple of St. Bernard was so terribly tor
mented with scruples that he no longer could say Mass.
In this disturbed state of mind he asked advice of his
holy master. St. Bernard said to him, without giving any
reason for his counsel : " Go and say Mass j I take it on
my conscience." The monk obeyed and was thencefor
ward delivered from all his troubles of conscience.
But you will say: "Oh! had I St. Bernard for my
confessor, [, too, would willingly obey him, and obey
him blindly. But my confessor is not a St. Bernard."
Now this is a useless assertion. Your confessor is not
a St. Bernard ; he is more for you than a St. Bernard for
he holds God s place for you. " You greatly err," says
the learned Gerson, " when you speak thus ; for you
have placed yourself in the hands of a man not precisely
because he is a learned or holy man, but rather because
he holds God s place for you. Obey him then not as
man, but as God and you will never go astray." (Tract
de prsep. ad Miss.)
In the beginning of his conversion St. Ignatius of
Loyola was so violently assailed by scruples and so
terribly encompassed with darkness that he found no
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 291
peace. But as he had great faith in the words of our
Lord, " He that heareth you, heareth me/ 7 he said
with great confidence, " Lord show me the way in
which I must walk 5 and though you give me a dog
for my guide, I will faithfully follow him." Now, be
cause the saint was faithful in obeying his director he
was not only delivered from his scruples, but became
also an excellent guide for others.
But you will say : "I am not scrupulous ; my anxieties
are not vain, but well-grounded fears." I answer, no
fool believes that he is a fool. His folly consists in being
a fool without knowing it. So you, too, are scrupulous
without knowing it, and your scrupulosity consists pre
cisely in this that you do not see the groundlessness of
your scruples. Could you see that your scruples are all
but vain fears you would pay no attention to them, and
you would no longer be disturbed by them. Renounce
your fears, and obey your confessor, who understands
perfectly well the state of your conscience.
But you say : " The fault is not in my confessor, but in
me, because I am not able to explain myself, and there
fore he cannot understand the wretched condition of my
soul." I answer 5 strange, very strange, indeed, that you,
who have so many foolish scruples, do not scruple at all
to charge your confessor with ignorance and even with
impiety. You are like that religious who accused her con
fessor of heresy because he said that the faults which she
confessed, were no real sins. Ah ! tell me, in what uni
versity did you study theology that you know better than
your confessor how to decide in matters of conscience ?
Go and mind your own business, which is to obey Christ
in his priest, and to let your follies alone.
292 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
"But you say, if I am damned, in consequence of
obeying my confessor, who will rescue me from hell?"
What a folly to imagine that obedience can be the cause
of damnation. All the damned have been sentenced to
hell, not on account of their obedience, but on account of
their disobedience to God and his lawful ministers. Ah !
do not look upon God as a tyrant. Do not believe that
God is provoked to wrath by every little fault you may
commit. " My children," said St. Teresa, "be assured
that God does not, as you imagine, attend to so many
trifles ; do not suffer your heart to be contracted by such
childish fears ; if you do, you will be deprived of many
blessings." " Your excessive fears," said our Lord to St.
Margaret of Cortona, " are a great obstacle to my grace."
There is no safer way of escaping the snares and illusions
of the devil than obedience to the confessor, and there is
nothing more dangerous and hurtful than to follow one s
own private judgment and opinion.
But you say : " I must be in the state of damnation, for
I have no faith, no confidence in God, no charity, no sorrow
for my sins, no pleasure in any thing I do, not even in the
holiest things in hearing Mass, receiving holy commun
ion," etc. By this you mean to say that you do not feel
your faith, hope, charity, etc. Now, as we cannot feel
God, because he is a Spirit, so we cannot feel his grace
because it is something spiritual and the grace of faith,
of hope, of charity, of sorrow, etc., must not be sought in
our feeling, but in our will. God gives us the grace of faith
of hope, etc., not that we should feel it, but that by means
of it our will may be ready to believe and do what God
has commanded. If you, then, are ready to believe and
do all that God teaches you through his Church, you have
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 293
faith, hope, charity, and sorrow for sin enough to become
a saint.
Say, then, your prayers, hear Mass, receive holy com
munion, etc., not that you may experience sensible devotion,
but that God may increase the readiness of your will to
comply with all your duties. Do not feel discouraged
on account of experiencing disgust and reluctance in all
you do. What pleasure can there be for any one who has
to work hard in the heat of the sun, or in the bitter cold
of winter ? An employer does not pay less to his workmen
because they suffer, or feel bad whilst at work. And will
God be less just, less generous than man, if we have ex
perienced all kinds of aversions to every thing we did in
compliance with his will ? To do the will of God, is one thing
and to enjoy doing it, that is, to draw a sensible pleas
ure from doing it, is another. It is our duty to do the will
of God 5 but in order to please God, and gain merit for
heaven, it is not necesary that we should enjoy doing his
will. If we have done God s will on earth in spite of all
temptations to the contrary, we shall in heaven enjoy hav
ing done it.
And should you experience to the end of your life
nothing but irksomeness and reluctance in the service of
God, be not discouraged on account of it ; be not afraid
that you are less pleasing to God. Rest assured that, if
you remain faithful to God, in spite of yourself, as it were,
you have the grace of God in a high degree ; for this
firmness of your will is all owing to God s grace. Aban
don yourself blindly to his goodness and mercy, and then
rest assured that, after having sought in this life, not the
consolation of God, but the God of consolation, not your
own will and pleasure, but the good pleasure of Jesus
294: COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Christ, no father ever rewarded his child so liberally as
your heavenly Father will reward you in heaven.
We have said that conscience is the voice of God, and
that, to act against it is to commit sin. But in our day,
it has become fashionable with a large number of men to
get rid of religion. A man, who wishes to gratify his
evil desires, without shame, without remorse, says :
" There is no God ; there is no hell : there is no hereafter,
there is only this present life, and all in it is good." He
looks upon conscience as a creation of man. He calls
its dictate an imagination. He says that the notion of
guiltiness which that dictate enforces, is simply irrational.
When he advocates the rights of conscience, he, of
course, in no sense, means the rights of the Creator, nor
the duty to him, in thought and deed, of the creature ; he
means only the right of thinking, speaking, writing, and
eating according to his judgment or his humor, without
any thought of God at all. He does not even pretend to
go by any moral rule, but he demands what he thinks is
an American s prerogative, to be his own master in all
things, and to profess what he pleases, asking no one s
leave, and accounting any one unutterably impertinent,
who dares to say a word against his going to perdition,
if he like it, in his own way. With such a man the right
of conscience means the very right and freedom of con
science to dispense with conscience, to ignore a Law-giver
and Judge, to be independent of unseen obligations j to be
free to take up any or no religion, to take up this or
that, and let it go again ; to go or not to go to Church, to
boast of being above all religions, and to be an impartial
critic of each of them ; in a word, conscience is with that
man nothing else than the right of self-will. Such is the
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 295
idea which a very large number of men have of conscience,
Their rule and measure of right and wrong is utility,
or expedience, or the happiness of the greatest number,
or state, convenience or fitness, order, a long-sighted
selfishness, a desire to be consistent with one s self.
But all these false conceptions of conscience will be no
excuse before God for not having known better. The
idea that there is no law or rule over our thoughts, desire,
words, and actions, and that, without sin or error, we may
think, desire, say, and do what we please, especially in
matters of religion, is a downright absurdity. Our in
tellect is formed for truth and cannot help thinking accor
ding to truth. The intellect is not a faculty or power,
which is, in itself, free, as the will is. Wheresoever it
sees the truth it cannot help embracing it. It is not free
to accept or to reject it, except when ignorance puts the
mind in such a state as to render it unable to see the truth.
Whenever the mind sees the truth, it is forced to accept
it. When the mind does not see the truth it is inactive
it does nothing.. If, in this case, it asserts one proposition
rather than another, such assertion is merely an act of the
will, and not an act of the intellect. For instance, if I am
asked whether the moon is inhabited, I can assert that it
is, merely because I choose to do so. But I am not com
pelled to make this assertion by any evidence, for I do
not know. But if I am asked, to how much two and two
amount, I cannot choose my answer : I am forced to say
" four." The intellect, then, is bound to acknowledge
the truth when it sees the truth. But the will may deny
it. The intellect of any man cannot help acknowledging
the existence of God, and of the first principles of right
and wrong. But a perverse will may deny these truths.
296 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Of all things that are good for men, truth is, without
doubt, the greatest good.
Truth is the good thing for the intellect. As the eye
was made to receive light, and the ear to receive sounds,
and the hand to do all kinds of work, so the intellect was
made to see and embrace the truth, to unite itself with the
truth, and to find its repose in truth alone.
Truth is the good thing for the heart. The heart is
bound to love something. Now, when the intellect does
not show it a true, honest object of love, the heart is sure
to soil itself in a sordid love.
Truth is the good thing for society. If truth does not
guide its steps, society must fall into misery, and setting
itself against the divine laws of the universe, will speedily
be brought to utter ruin.
Truth is the good thing for men. They cannot attain
their ultimate end they cannot reach eternal goodness,
except by means of the truth. So necessary is truth for
men that the Son of God came down from heaven to teach
them the truth.
Truth, then, is above all good things ; it is a greater
good than wealth and honors ; it is above life and death,
above men and angels. God is the only fountain of
truth ; truth alone leads to him, as it comes from him who
is Truth itself. If this be so, what right can there be for
any one to obscure the truth, to rob men of the truth, to
proclaim errors under every attractive form, to proclaim
errors to every class of men ? No, there is no such right.
Keason and conscience condemn such impious license.
How impious, then, all those who deny or pervert
religious and moral truths f who sneer at what is good, in
the present, and in the future, for the intellect and will of
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 297
man ? How detestable are they who entangle men in the
subtle webs of sophisms,and expel religion and morality from
the hearts of men ? who instil doubts and disputes about
social truth which is the only stable foundation on which
nations and empires can tranquilly repose ? Most execra
ble men, those who assume the right to insult the Lord and
to destroy man. When God gave to man a free will, he
intended that man should freely choose what is good and
reject what is evil, in order thus to gain merit a privilege
which is denied to beasts, for they blindly follow their
instincts.
But who can be foolish enough to think that God, in
giving man a free will, dispensed him from the obser
vance of his laws ? God is infinite goodness, justice, wis
dom, mercy and purity, and he impressed on man the
notion of goodness, justice, mercy, purity, in order that,
as he himself hates all wickedness, injustice, error, and
impurity, so man also should do the same. Hence it is
impossible that God can concede to man a license to com
mit acts utterly repugnant to the divine nature, and also
repugnant to the nature of man, who is made in the like
ness and image of God.
Our use of liberty, therefore, must be consistent with
reason ; it must be based upon a hatred of all that is evil,
unjust, unkind, false, or impure j and upon a strong desire
to attain to all that is good, and true, and perfect.
What, then, are the worst enemies of the liberty of
man? First, that ignorance and error which prevent
him from distinguishing clearly that which is just and
right from that which is evil and false. Secondly, his
passions which keep him from embracing the good which
he knows and sees, and induce him to desire that which he
298 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
knows to be bad. Thirdly, any powers or authorities ex
ternal to man, which prevent him from doing that which
he knows to be good and which he desires to do ; or force
him to do that which he sees to be unlawful, and which he
shrinks from doing.
17. Who gave the ten commandments 1
God gave them to the Jews, through Moses, on Mount
Sinai, and Christ confirmed them in the New Law.
Three months after the Israelites had left Egypt, they
quitted their encampment in Raphidim, and came to the
wilderness of Mount Sinai. There they pitched their
tents over against the mountain from whence the com
mandments were to be proclaimed.
Moses was here called to go up the mountain into the
presence of God. And God said to him : " Speak to the
children of Israel, and say to them : Ye have seen what
I have done to the Egyptians, and how I have carried
you upon the wings of eagles, and have taken you to
myself. If, therefore, you will hear my voice, and keep
my covenant, you shall be my people ; for all the earth
is mine. And you shall be to me a priestly kingdom and
a holy nation."
Moses returned, called together all the elders of the
people, and declared to them the words which the Lord
had commanded him. The people all answered with one
voice : " All the Lord has spoken, we will do."
Upon that public profession of their willingness to obey
the divine precepts, Moses gave them notice to prepare
for the third day, when they should hear God himself
speaking to them from the summit of Mount Sinai. And
that they might be worthy to appear before the Lord?
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 299
Moses ordered them to sanctify themselves, and to wash
their garments . Around the foot of the holy mountain
he drew a boundary, which no man or beast was to pass
under pain of instantaneous death.
Now when the third day began to dawn, a bright light
spread over the earth. The sky was clear and serene.
All on a sudden, a dark and gloomy change came on, a
solemn scene unfolded itself to the spectators. Quick
lightnings flashed from the sullen cloud that hung over .
the top of Sinai, and dreadful thunders rolled on every
side of the holy mount. The Lord descended in fire
upon the steep summit, and called Moses to him.
The whole mountain was forthwith involved in thick
smoke and an incessant stream of flames arose as from a
glowing furnace. The shrill and swelling clangors of a
trumpet were also heard at the same time. The people
trembled and lay close within their tents.
Moses went down to them and with difficulty prevailed
upon them to move out and range themselves in order be
yond the boundary that he had set round the foot of the
mountain.
The Lord then spoke his commands, saying :
I. I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of
the Land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. Thou shalt
not make to thyself any graven thing, nor the likeness of
any thing that is in heaven above, nor in the earth beneath,
nor in the waters under the earth j thou shalt not adore
them nor serve them.
II. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God
in vain ; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that
shall take the name of the Lord his Gfod in vain.
300 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
III. Kemember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.
Six days shalt thou labor, and shalt do all thy works.
But on the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord
thy God : thou shalt do no work on it, thou nor thy
son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy
maid-servant, nor thy beast, nor the stranger that is
within thy gates f for in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth, the sea and all things that are in them,
and rested on the seventh day j therefore, the Lord
blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.
IV. Honor thy father and thy mother,, that thou
mayest be long-lived upon the land which the Lord
thy God will give thee.
V. Thou shalt not kill.
VI. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
VII. Thou shalt not steal.
VIII. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy
neighbor.
IX. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor s wife.
X. Thou shalt not desire his house, nor his servant,
nor his hand-maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any
thing that is his.
The people, terrified at the voice of God, and at the
flames, and the sound of trumpet, and the mount all in
smoke, said to Moses : u Speak thou to us, and we will
hear : let not the Lord speak to us lest we die." And
Moses said to the people : " Fear not, for God is come
tp prove you, and that the dread of him might be in you,
and you should not sin ! "
In compliance with the request of the people, it pleased
Almighty God to speak no inore in person to them, but
to deliver to them his, future comrnands through the
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 301
ministry of Moses. Hence he called him up again to the
mountain, where he gave him many new instructions, and
having fully explained himself to his great servant upon
every particular, handed to him two tables of stone, on both
sides of which he had, with his own finger, written u the
Ten Commandments," as the abridgement and ground
work of all his other precepts. Forty days and forty
nights were spent in secret interview between God and
Moses. During that time the people had forgotten, not
only Moses, but the very God whose appearance a few
weeks before on the very mountain on which they were,
still filled them with such dread and alarm. Not knowing
what had become of Moses, they collected around Aaron,
and insisted in a threatening manner that, like other nations,
they should have an idol that might go before them.
Aaron refused not their request, and gave orders that the
golden earrings of their wives, sons, and daughters should
be brought together. And when they were collected, he
melted them down together, and formed the image of a
golden calf, which was adored as the -god of Israel.
At the very hour that they were adoring the idol, Moses,
by the express command of God, came down from the
mountain with the two Tables of the Law, in his hand.
Amazed at the sounds he heard, he hastened to see what
was the cause of them, and as he approached the camp,
he found the people dancing and singing round the golden
calf. At this sight, grief and indignation filled his breast,
and in a transport of rage, he threw down the tables from
his hands and broke them in pieces at the foot of the
mount j for of what use could they be, he thought, to a
people who had blotted the law out of their hearts. He
seized the idol they had made, broke it down, and cast it
302 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
into the fire, and when it was reduced to powder, he mixed
it with water, and gave it to the Israelites to drink. He
then marshalled the whole tribe of Levi against the trans
gressors, and about three and twenty thousand men were
put to the sword.
With a heart ready to burst with grief, he returned to
the mount, and begged pardon of God for the sins of the
people. His fervent prayer was heard, and God was
again reconciled to his people. Moses was commanded
to hew out two other tables of stone, like those which he
had broken, and to go with them to the top of the moun
tain, where he should receive the same words engraven
on them, as had been engraven on the first. In obedience
to this order Moses provided himself with two new tablets,
and, for the second time, ascended the holy mountain to
converse with God. The Lord conversed familiarly with
his servant. The conversation lasted for forty days and
forty nights. During all this time, Moses neither ate nor
drank. After this long conversation with the Lord, Moses
took up the two tables of stone on which God had written
the ten commandments, and went down the mountain,
being ignorant of the change that his long conversation
with God had wrought in his countenance ; for when he
came near to the camp, Aaron and all the Israelites per
ceived on his face a bright blaze of glory, which made
them afraid of going near him. When Moses learned why
they were afraid of approaching him, he covered his face
with a veil, which he wore ever after, except when he
entered the tabernacle to converse with God.
Thus it was that God received his people again into
favor, and delivered to them his commandments, written
with his own hand, for the second time, on two new tables
of stone.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 303
The covenant entered into between God and the Israel
ites was, " that they should be his people, and he would
be their God," on condition that they should keep his
commandments.
A sign or seal, however, was wanting to the solemn
covenant that was entered into between God and his
people. This seal was to be the sprinkling of the people
with blood. Moses built an altar at the foot of the moun
tain and offered victims upon it. He took one half of the
blood and put it in bowls, and he poured the other half
upon the altar. After he had read the words of the
covenant to the people, and they had agreed to observe
it, he took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and
said : " This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord
hath made with you concerning all these words." Moses
placed the two tables of stone on which the commandments
were written, in the Ark of the Covenant, where they
were carefully preserved, and hence it is that the Ark of
the Covenant obtained its name.
Thus was the first covenant completed on Mount Sinai,
and solemnly sealed with blood, to remain good until the
new and better covenant, sealed in the blood of Jesus
Christ on Calvary, should take its place.
18, What do these commandments teach us?
The first three commandments teach us our duties towards
God; and the seven oilier commandments teach us our duties
towards our neighbor.
Although the commandments are contained in Holy
Writ (Exod. xxi.), yet Holy Writ does not distinctly
divide them. It is, indeed, not the division, but the keeping
of the commandments, that Holy Scripture inculcates upon
304 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
all. The Jews followed an arrangement which divided
the first commandment into two, but considered the ninth
and tenth commandments as but one. Some of the Fathers
of the Church have followed this arrangement. But the
present arrangement, as given above, is followed by St.
Augustine and other Fathers of the Church, as the most
natural ; for the latter part of the first commandment is
but an explanation of the former. The words, " Thou
shalt not make to thyself a graven thing," and " thou shalt
not adore them, nor serve them, for lam the Lord thy God"
these words, says St. Thomas, are but an explanation of
the great command given in these first words, " Thou
shalt have no other God but me."
The reason why God added this explanation especially
to this command is because the Israelites were greatly
inclined to idolatry, as is clear from their history j and
hence it is that God, in the above-mentioned explanation
appended to the command, gave to the Jews a special
remedy against their proneness to idolatry. As the whole
of the first commandment is contained in these words :
" Thou shalt have no other God but me," it is great ig
norance, or malicious calumny in those Protestants who
say that we strike out one of the commandments from the
Decalogue by teaching that the words, " Thou shalt not
make to thyself any graven thing to adore it," are not a
commandment distinct from the first.
Now, as to the ninth and tenth commandments, the one
is really distinct from the other. The command, " Thou
shalt not covet thy neighbor s wife," is evidently a com
mand quite distinct from, " Thou shalt not covet thy neigh
bor s goods." These are prohibitions of the internal sin
ful acts which are different in kind. The one is a sin
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 305
of lust, the other a sin of injustice. Now, as God has
forbidden, by two distinct commands (the sixth and the
seventh), the external distinct acts of lust and injustice
adultery and stealing, so also has he forbidden, by two
distinct commands (the ninth and tenth), the internal
distinct acts of lust and injustice.
The principal object of our life in this world is our
temporal and eternal happiness. This happiness consists
in being united to God and to our neighbor by the virtues
of justice and charity. Now, to establish and preserve
this union, Almighty God has given us formal precepts of
justice and charity. These precepts are contained in the
Decalogue. The first three commandments, as they pre
scribe our duties towards God, that is, adoration, respect,
and the sanctification of the Sabbath, were written on the
first tablet of stone. The principal obstacle to the union of
God with his people was idolatry and superstition. To
remove this obstacle, God gave the first commandment :
" I am the Lord thy God ; thou shalt not have strange
gods before me : thou shalt not make nor adore idols," etc.
A person, however, might avoid the worship of idols,
and still might not have due respect for God. Hence the
Lord added the second commandment : " Thou shalt not
take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." Then in
order to be worshipped in proper time, and in a proper
manner, he commanded public worship in these words :
" Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day." The
seven other commandments, as they prescribe our duties
of justice and charity towards all our fellow-men, were
written on the second tablet of stone. The ten command
ments are thus but a development or explanation of the
first and greatest law of charity : " Thou shalt love the
806 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and thy neighbor as
thyself."
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT.
" I am the Lord thy God ; thou shalt not have strange
gods before me ; thou shalt not make to thyself a graven
thing, to adore and serve it."
2. What are we commanded by the first commandment I
We are commanded: 1, to adore and serve only the one
true and living God; and, 2, to worship him by faith, hope,
and charity.
1. The God who created us that God on whom we
depend every moment of our existence is a God of in
finite majesty and glory.
Look around upon the heavens and the earth, how sub
lime an idea do they convey of their almighty Architect !
What a stupendous mass is the ponderous globe upon
which we stand ; yet God poises it with one finger ! How
vast the abyss of its waters ; yet he measures it, as Scrip
ture says, in the palm of his hand ! How awful is the
roar of thunder ; it is but the feeble echo of his voice !
How terrific the glare of lightning j it is only a faint
scintillation of his brightness ! All that we see around us,
the vast luminaries that roll above us, the earth which we
inhabit, with its endless diversity of animals and produc
tions, with man, the lord and master of the whole, once
were not. The Almighty spoke one word, and instantly
we leaped into being, and we are ! How must not the
soul and all her faculties sink into insignificance before
this idea of her Creator, God. How must not the soul
long to adore, and serve only the one true, living God,
who is the centre of glory, towards whom tend all the
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 307
works of the Creator. Yes, adoration, glory, and honor
essentially appertain to God. All that is in heaven, on
earth, and under the earth, according to St. John, sing
in concert the praises of one God, in three persons : and
every creature which is in heaven, on earth, and under
the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in
them he heard all saying : " To him that sitteth on the
throne, and to the Lamb, benediction and honor, and
glory, and power, forever and ever." (Apoc. v., 13.)
The eternal occupation of the Blessed is to chant the
sacred Canticle "Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord God of
hosts ! " (Isai. vi., 3.)
Their Alleluias, their hymns of gladness, are ascending
before the throne of God for ever and ever. In purgatory,
in a special m anner, are exemplified their profound esteem
and homage to Almighty God, from the intense desire of
the sufferers to enjoy him.
Even hell itself glorifies the Lord, for the reprobate are
constrained, in deploring their eternal loss of all the ben
efits of nature, grace and glory, to offer a reparation of
honor to the power of the Father, the author of nature ; to
the wisdom of the Son, whose grace they have despised,
and to the goodness of the Holy Ghost, whose saving in
spirations they have criminally rejected.
Amongst all creatures, man is under special obligations
to glorify and honor Almighty God. Man is the master
piece of the creation, a resplendent image of the three
divine Persons. God has redeemed man preferably to
the angels. In baptism man is consecrated to the Father,
to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, by an inviolable char
acter impressed on his soul. Man, therefore, is under
the strictest obligation to adore and serve God and to
308 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
practise the virtue of religion in the best manner possible.
The virtue of religion consists in worshipping God, in a
manner worthy of him, that is, to worship him by true,
faith, hope and charity.
3. What is it to adore God ?
It is to acknoivkdge him, ~by inward and outward acts
of worship, as our Creator and sovereign Lord.
The word adore, taken in its literal sense, means to
carry the hand to the mouth to kiss the hand through
respect. To raise the hand to the lips and to kiss it, is
considered, in all Eastern countries, as one of the greatest
marks of respect and submission, " Those who adore,
kiss the hand," says St. Jerome. And in the third
book of Kings it is said : " I will leave me seven thousand
men in Israel, whose knees have not bowed before Baal?
and every mouth that hath not worshipped him by kiss
ing the hands." (3. Kings xix.)
Adoration means also a prostration before some person,
or making a low respectful bow, either for the purpose of sal
uting him, or asking some favor of him, or thanking him
for some favor received. This mode of salutation was
generally practised by the people of the East towards
those for whom they entertained deep respect. It is in
this sense that the word " adore" is to be taken whenever,
in Holy Writ, there is mention made of adoration being
paid to men or angels ; as for example, in the book of
Genesis, where it is said that Abraham, on seeing the three
men, "adored down to the ground," that is, showed to them
thus honor, respect and esteem.
When the word " adore " is applied to God, it means
the supreme worship which is due to God alone. This
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 309
supreme worship consists in acknowledging God as the
sovereign, eternal, universal Lord and Creator of heaven
and earth, and in confessing our entire dependence on
him for every thing that we have and are, and in paying
him due homage and respect on account of his infinite
Greatness and Majesty. This homage and adoration be
long to God alone, and can never, under any circum
stances whatever, be rendered to any creature.
Now, we must adore God inwardly and outwardly.
It is true, God does not stand in need of us nor of our wor
ship, but we stand in need of God. We need his grace,
his assistance. All that we have, all that we hope for,
comes from him. Were he to withdraw from us his assis
tance for one single moment we would fall into nothingness.
How easy is it not for God to displace a portion of the
brain, and in a moment we are raving, madmen ! How
easy is it not for him to stop the throbbing heart, to strike
us with apoplexy, and lo ! the flickering taper of our life
is at once extinguished !
We are made for God. We can never be happy, we
can never be perfect, we can never attain the end of
our existence without his help. God is our Lord and
our Creator. He has an inalienable claim to our obedi
ence and our worship. Has not the artist a right to his
work ? Has not a father a right to the reverence and
obedience of his own son ? Has not the husband a right
to the love and fidelity of his wife ? And God, who is
more than a mere artist, more than a father, more than
a spouse, has ever so many rights that we are bound to
respect ; he has especially the inalienable right to our in
ward and outward adoration.
Now, we adore God inwardly when we bow down in
310 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
spirit before his infinite majesty ; when we protest to
him, from the bottom of our heart, that we believe in
him, hope in him, and submit ourselves altogether to
him as our first principle and last end. It is called
inward adoration, because we say nothing, do nothing, nor
give the least outward sign of the adoration that we are
paying to God. This way of adoring God is agreeable
to him, for he sees into our hearts ; and it has this great
advantage, that we can render it to him at all times and
in all places, and in the midst of our ordinary occu
pations and worldly actions. "To adore God" in spirit
by some pious ejaculation, now and then, gives no trouble,
nor does it require much time, or interrupt, in the least,
our external duties. It is a short and easy practice of
adoring God, and can be practised on all occasions, with
out exposing ourselves to the danger of vain-glory, which
often attends external adoration.
We adore God outwardly when, by some outward sign,
we manifest the inward respect we have for God ; as for
example, by bending the knee, inclining the head, falling
prostrate on the ground, signing ourselves with the sign of
the cross. These are so many acts of adoration, and are
very pleasing to God when they proceed from a heart fill
ed with respect and reverence for him. "Come, let us
adore and fall down before the Lord," says King David.
The obligation of paying to God outward worship has been
acknowledged at all times and in all places. There is no
nation without its sacrifices, its ceremonies, and its religi
ous feasts. All the saints have practised the external forms
of worship; the Church has always recommended the
observance of these forms, after the example of Jesus
Christ, who, in the garden of Olives, . " fell upon his face,
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 311
praying to his heavenly Father." Yes, outward worship has
always been considered as an indispensable duty which
man owes to God, because, in the first place, our bodies no
less than our souls belong to God, for we were created
body and soul on purpose to honor, serve, and adore him,
hence he has a full right and title to the homage both of
soul and body as both are equally his sole property.
In the second place, external adoration flows naturally
from internal worship ; for soul and body are so united that
whatever one feels, the other expresses. When, for in
stance, the soul is filled with terror, the face turns pale,
the body trembles. When the soul is filled with joy, the
face smiles, the body dances. When the soul is filled
with love and hatred, the face, the whole body betrays
the hidden emotion. In like manner when the soul is
filled with love and reverence of God, it must express its
sentiments by outward signs and ceremonies.
And even were it possible for man to hide his religion in
his heart it would not be lawful to do so. Why? Because
man is made for society. He must worship God not only
as a private individual, but as a member of society. God
is the* author not only of the individual, but also of society,
and consequently he has a right to our worship not only
individually but also collectively.
Outward worship, however, must be accompanied by
inward worship, otherwise it will be unprofitable. If our
hearts have no part in what we do or say, our forms of
worship, such as bending the knee, inclining the head,
falling on the face, making the sign of the cross, are so
many forms of deceit and falsehood. As a soulless body
is but a loathsome corpse, so, too, outward worship with
out inward worship is but a counterfeit worship of God.
312 " COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
If we testify outwardly a respect for God which does not
proceed from our heart, we are hypocrites, and deserve the
reproach which Jesus Christ made to the Jews: "This
people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far
from me." (Matt, xv.)
2. We adore God by acts of faith, hope, and charity,
by prayer, vows, oaths and sacrifice. We adore God by
an act of faith when we declare that we believe every
thing that has been revealed by him and is proposed for
our belief by his Church, no matter, how incomprehen
sible it may appear to us.
We adore God by an act of hope, when we place all
our confidence in him, rely on his power, goodness,
mercy, and promises, and expect all necessary favors
and blessings from him in this world and the eternal
enjoyment of him in the next.
We adore God by an act of charity when we protest
that we love him with our whole heart, because he is in
finitely good ; that we rejoice at all the glory and honor
which are given him by the blessed spirits in heaven,
and by his faithful servants on earth, that we are re
solved, with the assistance of his grace, to give up every
thing rather than forfeit his grace ; that we are willing to
submit to his holy will in everything, and that we resign
all that we have, property, reputation and health into his
hands to dispose of them as he pleases.
We also adore God by prayer. When we pray to God,
we acknowledge him to be our sovereign Lord and the
giver of all goods spiritual and temporal ; we acknow
ledge our own weakness, misery and unworthiness, our
entire dependence on him. We honor his power by be
lieving that he is able to help us ; we honor his goodness
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 313
by believing that he is willing to assist us j we honor his
faithfulness to his promises by believing that he will grant
us what he has promised to give us through the merits
of Jesus Christ.
Vows are also acts of divine worship, for a vow is a pro
mise made to God of something that is pleasing to him ;
and God is honored by such a promise if it is faithfully
fulfilled.
An oath taken in regard to what is true, lawful, and
important, is another act of worship by which God is
honored ; for to call on God to bear witness to truth, is
to honor his wisdom and sovereign faithfulness, which can
neither deceive nor be deceived.
The most excellent way of adoring God is that of offer
ing sacrifice to him ; for in sacrifice there is a particular
form and rite used, by which we express the homage
which we owe him, and which can^be given to God alone.
It is in this that sacrifice differs from all other outward ac
tions of respect and reverence, as for example, uncovering
the head, bowing, kneeling down, for they are used to
wards men as well as towards God. All nations, however
barbarous and savage, have always acknowledged the
obligation of offering sacrifice as a necessary worship due
to God. The voice of reason and of nature universally
proclaims the existence of a Supreme Being on whom all
mankind depend for support and preservation. Hence
man uses exterior means the offering of sacrifice to
acknowledge thereby the supreme power and dominion
of God over all creatures, and to testify to him, the senti
ments of gratitude and sovereign homage. The obligation
of offering sacrifice is, therefore, generally imposed by the
law of nature. It is only divine or human law that specifies
314 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
in a particular manner the things to be offered in sacrifice.
Hence it is that sacrifices and immolations were not every
where the same. It is of natural right that the wicked
should be punished, but it is only positive or human law
that determines the mode of punishment.
Now every man has three kinds of goods which he can
offer as sacrifices for the honor and glory of God. First,
the goods of the soul: these are inward acts of adoration,
devotion, humility, and other spiritual acts. Secondly,
the goods of the body : these are chastity, acts of
mortification of the senses, and the sacrifice of life by mar
tyrdom. Thirdly, temporal goods, which he can sacrifice
to the honor of God, for the relief and support of the
poor, or for the erection of churches, hospitals, orphan
asylums, schools, convents, and the like.
From the very beginning of the world, sacrifice has
always been used by the holy servants of God, as a
necessary part of religion and the best means of adoring
God. In the earliest times, God made known to his
people the manner in which they should worship him.
He expressly prescribed several kinds of sacrifices, as
the most sacred part of their religion, and so strictly
did he demand sacrifice- as the worship due to him
alone, that the one who should dare to give it to a creature
was ordered to be put to death !
But we, Catholics, have the most august sacrifice of
the Mass, which is of an infinite value, because it is Jesus
Christ, the Son of God himself, who is offered in Mass to
his heavenly Father, as a sacrifice of adoration and praise.
Hence it is that, by offering up this holy sacrifice, we
honor God as much as he deserves to be honored we honor
him in an infinite manner. {See Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,
chap, xxiii.)
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 315
Here two useful questions may be asked, viz. : where
should we worship God, and when should we worship
him?
As to the first question, St. Thomas says, " that a special
place for divine worship is not absolutely necessary for
God, as he is present everywhere, but it is necessary for
man, who is obliged to pay God the tribute of his homage
and gratitude." Hence churches are erected in honor of
the Most High, in order that, in them, we may honor and
worship God with more fervor and devotion. We know
from experience, that the sacred character of the church,
the grand celebration of the mysteries of our holy religion,
and the fervor and devotion of our fellow-Christians tend to
inspire us with greater fervor and devotion in worship
ping God and asking divine favors of him. The best
place for divine worship, therefore, is a church, in which
our Lord dwells in the Blessed Sacrament. There, indeed,
the Lord is in the midst of those who are assembled to
gether in his name, to receive their homage and to hear
their prayers. (See Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, chapter
xlvii.)
As to the second question, namely, when should we make
acts of adoration, I answer, that as we should always be
disposed to prefer God to every thing else, we are obliged
always to adore him.
Besides this general obligation, every good Christian
makes acts of adoration on awaking in the morning, and
at night before he retires to rest. In the morning, he gives
his first thought to God, offers his heart to him in prayer,
and consecrates to him the actions of the day. In the
evening, he thanks God for all his blessings and asks par
don for his sins. On Sundays and holidays of obligation,
316 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
he often adores God, because these days have been
set aside by the Church in order that God should be
worshipped in a more special manner.
But good and fervent Christians are not satisfied with
worshipping God only in the morning and at night, and on
Sundays and holidays ; they often think of him, and pray
to him during the day.
St. Teresa was accustomed to offer herself to God fifty
times in the day. St. Martha used to pray to God a hun
dred times every day, and a hundred times every night.
The Apostle St. Bartholomew used to offer to God two
hundred adorations every day. When St. Patrick was
guarding his master s flock, he prayed to God a hundred
times a day, and a hundred times every night. He also
made three hundred genuflections every day in honor of
the Blessed Trinity. The saints drew great spiritual profit
from these frequent acts of adoration. These acts were a
means by which they felt powerfully drawn towards God,
more closely united to him, and enabled to lead a holy
life on earth. Let us imitate their example, in order that,
we, too, may become saints.
4. Which are the sins against the adoration of God ?
The sins against the adoration of God are : Superstition
and irreligion.
From the beginning of the world, Satan has tried to in
duce men to pay him the supreme honor of adoration which
is due to God alone. He seduced the greater part of
mankind to commit the sins opposed to the virtue of reli
gion the sins of superstition and irreligion.
There are many who absurdly enough deny the personal
existence of Satan. They assert, with an air of profound
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 317
wisdom, that the word "devil," " Satan/ is simply the
imaginary personification of all the evil influences to which
we are subject in this life. But what can be more absurd
than to deny what all nations, without exception, have
always believed, and still believe the personal existence of
the devil. What can be more impious than to deny what
we find asserted in plain words, on almost every page of
Holy Writ the personal existence of the devil.
Holy Scripture tells us that Satan, in the form of a ser
pent, seduced Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit ; it declares
that all the gods of the Gentiles are devils ; it tells us that
the devil is the prince of this world ; that he goeth about
like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour ; it bids
us resist the devil, and he will flee from us; St. Paul
speaks of the prince and the powers of the air that besiege
us, and against whom we must put on the whole armor of
God, and do valiant battle.
Moreover, Holy Scripture speaks of demoniacs, or
persons possessed with devils ; and among the marvellous
works ascribed to Jesus Christ, is that of expelling demons,
or casting out devils.
The Catholic Church plainly and unequivocally recog
nizes the existence of Satan, as may be gathered from
the prayers and ceremonies of Baptism, as well as from the
significance of the Sacrament itself; and not only his
existence, but his power over the natural man, and even
material objects. The Catholic Church has also her exor
cists, and her precise forms and prayers for exorcising
evil spirits.
Besides, every Christian knows that the Son of God
became man and died upon the cross for no other purpose
than to destroy the works of the devil, and to redeem man
kind from his power.
318 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Now, to assert that there is no devil is to assert that
Jesus Christ suffered so much from no motive, that his
mission had no object 5 it is to deny the work of Redemp
tion. What can be more blasphemous than such an asser
tion f
Again, what can be more contrary to sound reason than
to deny the existence of the devil ? They who deny the
personal existence of the devil must either deny the ex
istence of evil altogether, which is absurd, or they must
admit the existence of an unbeginning eternal principle of
evil which is a palpable blasphemy.
God alone has existed from all eternity. By his word
he has created heaven and earth, and all things visible
and invisible. God, in his infinite wisdom, created beings
gifted with intelligence and free will, and consequently,
capable of acting wrong as well as right. All the works
of God, when they came forth from his hands were good,
very good. It was, then, by the abuse of their intelligence
and free-will, it was by refusing to observe the just laws
of God, that his creatures became wicked, and that evil
was introduced into the world.
Satan and his hosts were created by God as bright and
beautiful angels ; but of their own free will, they rebelled
against God. " Behold they that serve God are not stead
fast, and in his angels he found wickedness. 7 (Job, iv.,
18.) Considered in their nature the angels could sin just
as well as man, for the gift of impeccability is not a gift
of nature, but of grace alone.
It was natural for all the angels to love and glorify
God, the only source of their eternal glory ; but, in the
rebel angels, soon after their creation, that divine love
was extinguished by an abuse of free-will. They sinned
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 319
in wishing through pride and envy, their own partic
ular good, in opposition to the will of their Sovereign
Creator. By these two sins, the chief of the rebel angels
seduced vast multitudes of angels. " From pride all per
dition took its beginning." (Tob. iv., 14.) " Pride is the
source of all sins." (Ecclus. x., 15.) " Satan is the king of
all the children of pride." (Job. xli., 25.) " How art thou
fallen from heaven, Lucifer ? Thou saidst in thy heart,
I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God, I will be like the Most High." (Isai. xiv.,
12, 13.)
What the bad angels wished to obtain by their rebellion
was to be like unto God 5 they wished to be equal to him
in splendor and glory, but not in power, for they knew it
was impossible for any created being to be equal to God
in his infinite power. Their transgression consisted in
wishing to be like unto God without merit or supernatural
grace. Their pride and envy confounded them, and God
abandoned them in that state of perversity.
They also aspired after pre-eminence and domination
over all in the new creation, which was an additional
crime to their blasphemous culpability, by which they
forfeited eternal glory. " Thou (Lucifer) wast the seal of
resemblance, full of wisdom, and perfect m beauty. * * *
Thou wast in all the delight of God s Paradise ; thou wast
perfect in thy ways from the day of thy creation, until
iniquity was found in thee. Thou hast defiled the sanc
tuaries of heaven by the multitude of thy iniquities ; thou
hast lost thy wisdom in thy beauty. Therefore I will bring
forth a fire from the midst of thee to devour thoe. * * "
(Ezech. xxviii.)
The prevarication of the highest angel in the celestial
320 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
hierarchy was the cause of the defection of all the rest.
The pride of Lucifer, prince of the cherubim, and chief
of the rebel angels, was the first provocation to the dis
obedience of all the others. It cannot be supposed that
he constrained them, but seduced them to rebel ; for it
is said in the Gospel : " Depart from me, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil
and his angels." (Matt, xxv., 41.) "And the dragon s
tail drew away the third part of the stars of heaven. 77
(Apoc. xii.,4.)
Now, the order of divine justice requires that whoever
commits a crime at the instigation of another, must
undergo the same penalty as the author. St. Peter
says: u Man becomes the slave of him by whom he is
overcome. 7?
The rebel angels were not long in deliberating as to
whether they should follow Lucifer, nor was a long
discourse necessary to excite them to rebellion. Angels
are as quick as lightning in all their operations. They
instantaneously, though freely, consented to the senti
ments which were manifested in their spiritual language
by their powerful chief. The moment they rebelled,
they were changed into hideous demons, and cast out
of heaven. They are so obstinate in perversity that
they can never be free from their diabolical propensi
ties. Their crime has fixed them for ever in wickedness,
as death fixes man irrevocably either in glory or in
damnation.
An angel conceives all things instantaneously, by means
of his spiritual faculties, as man does conceive the first
principles of right and wrong by means of his intellectual
faculties. Man is changeable and inconstant in his
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 321
choice ; but the angel fixes his choice irrevocably by
the first act of his will. That act, in the choice of
divine love and obedience, was the cause of eternal
beatitude for the faithful angels, and that instantaneous
free act of the rebel angels, was the cause of their ever
lasting punishment and damnation. As the glorification
of the good angels increases more and more in heaven, so
the torments of the wicked angels increase proportion
ately in hell. " And there was a great battle in heaven ;
Michael and his angels fought with the Dragon and his
angels j and that great dragon, that old serpent, who is
called the Devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world,
was cast out of heaven with all his angels. And they were
thrown down with the beast and false prophets, into a
pool of fire and brimstone, where they shall be tormented
day and night during ages and ages." (Apoc. xii.)
The rebel angels have two places of torture : hell, where
they shall remain eternally, to undergo the punishment of
their crime j and the dark, gloomy air, where they shall
be till the day of general judgment.
As God makes use of the good angels to inspire us with
acts of virtue and keep us from vice, so he permits the
devil to lay snares for us and entice us to sin. St. Paul
tells us that numbers of those wicked spirits surround us
on all sides. u For our struggle is not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities and powers, against the
rulers of the world of darkness, and the spirits of wicked
ness in the high places." (Eph. vi., 12.) Hence it is that
they are called the Princes of darkness, of the air, and of
the world. They differ in order ; for though they never
enjoyed the order of heavenly glory, and forfeited, by
their disobedience, the order of grace and the supernatural
322 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
gifts with which they were endowed at their creation,
yet they have preserved the order of their nature, so
that those whose natural intellectual faculties were greater
are higher in rank and greater in power. Hence they
form a kind of hierarchy. Their prince and chief is
sometimes called Lucifer, who was the prince of the
cherubim; sometimes Belial (that is, the Rebel), also
Satan (i. e., the Enemy), or Beelzebub, from the chief
idol of the Accaronites.
The rage, malice, and envy of the devils against man,
and their enmity to all good, are implacable. Satan, the
chief of the fallen spirits, makes his attacks upon men by
putting on all shapes : sometimes by craft, or by snares
and stratagems, as the old serpent ; sometimes by dis
guises, transforming himself into an angel of light, and
assuming the air of piety ; sometimes by open assaults
and violence, as the roaring lion.
He studies and observes every one s character, natural
dispositions, inclinations, virtues and vices, to find out, and
make his attacks on every one s weak points.
The natural subtlety and strength of Satan are exceed
ingly great, as appears from the perfection of his being,
which is purely spiritual, and from examples, when God
has suffered him to exert his power in a more remarkable
manner. Holy Scripture tells us that the devils hurried
the swine into the lake ; that they killed the first seven
husbands of Sara; that they have slain armies in one night ;
have often disturbed nature, and stirred up tempests,
which struck whole provinces with terror, and ravaged
the whole world.
What did Satan not do against holy Job ?
He killed his cattle and his children. He covered Job
himself with ulcers from head to foot.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 323
And, in our own day, what did he not do against the
saintly Cure of Ars, in France, for the space of thirty
years ?
Moreover, by clear proofs, it is also manifest that
Satan can, by divine permission, enter our bodies, com
pel, as it were, the human being to stand aside, and
use our organs himself, and do whatever he pleases
with them. But he cannot annihilate the human being,
or take from the soul its free-will. It is always in the
power of the possessed to resist, morally and effectually,
the evil intentions of the devil. The possessed person re
tains his own consciousness, his own intellectual and moral
faculties unimpaired, and he never confounds himself with
the spirit that possesses him. He always retains the power
of internal protest and struggle. Whenever this power is
exercised, and there is clearly a struggle, there is no
reason to believe that he is responsible for the crimes which
the body, through the possession of the devil, is made to
commit. But unfortunately it very often happens that
this power to protest is not exercised, and the possessed
person yields his moral assent to the crimes committed by
the demon that possesses him.
Such diabolical possessions have been more or less fre
quent in different times and places. This is confirmed by
the testimony and experience of all ages, and of all nations,
even to the remotest Indies. Such facts both the Old and
New Testaments evince.
However, with regard to the effects of magic and
possession of devils, the Catholic Church says, in her Kit-
ual. that such extraordinary effects are not to be easily
supposed. That superstition, credulity, and imposture
are to be guarded against, and that natural distempers.
324 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
such as certain species of madness, extraordinary palsies,
epilepsies, or the like, are not to be construed into effects
of enchantments or possessions, which are not to be pre
sumed upon ridiculous compacts and signs, nor upon vul
gar prejudices and notions of the manner in which such
things are done, but must be made apparent by circum
stances.
The criteria of demoniac invasion or possession, as laid
down by the Catholic Church for the guidance of exor
cists, are the following :
1. Understanding of unknown languages.
2. Power of speaking unknown or foreign languages.
3. Knowledge of things passing in distant places.
4. Exhibition of superior physical strength.
5. Suspension of the body in the air during a consider
able time.
Although Satan, with implacable envy and malice,
studies to disturb our temporal happiness and to compass
our eternal ruin both by stratagems and open assaults, yet
it is certain that he can tempt and assail us only to a
certain degree j he can go only the length of his chain,
that is, as far as God permits him. This is evident from
the history of Job. Before Satan was bound, or his
power curbed by the triumph of Christ over him, and the
spreading of the happy light and influence of the Gospel
throughout the world, the empire which Satan exercised
on earth was much greater than since that time. How
ever, there can be no doubt that, in our own days, the
power and influence of Satan over an immense number of
men is great, very great j and it will increase in propor
tion as they approach heathenism and infidelity, and leave
the true, the Catholic religion.
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 325
After these remarks on the power and influence of
Satan over mankind, it will be more easy to understand
the grievousness of the sins of superstition and irreligion.
5. What is superstition ?
Superstition is to believe that some things or persons have
a certain power which they cannot have, either by nature,
or by the prayers of the Church, or from God.
Superstition, taken in its general sense, means the
turning away from the true and living God, and having
recourse to the devil for help, instead of seeking it from
the Lord j it is the withdrawal of one s self from the Prov
idence of God, and from the ordinary means appointed
by him to gain what we want, and the confiding in the
assistance of the devil, by using means appointed by him
to obtain what we desire. But superstition, as it is us
ually understood, means a false notion of religion which
fills us with a foolish and excessive confidence in certain
things, or which inspires us with a frivolous and excessive
fear of some other things, as being endowed with a super
natural virtue which they have not, or possessing it in a
higher degree than they do in reality. There are four
kinds of superstition, namely : idolatry, attendance at the
false worship of the true God, divination, and superstitious
practices.
6. What is idolatry ?
Idolatry is to pay divine honor to a creature.
When giving his commandments to the Israelites, God
commenced by telling them that he was their Lord and
their God ; that it was he that brought them out from the
land of Egypt, and released them from the slavery in
which they groaned under Pharaoh. " I am the Lord thy
326 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
God/ he says ; that is, I am he who created every thing
heaven, earth, sun, moon, stars j who rules every thing,
and on whom every thing depends ; I am your Creator,
your Master, your Sovereign Lord, your Judge, from
whose goodness you have every thing to hope, but from
whose justice you have, too, every thing to fear and I,
" the Lord thy God," command you " not to have any
strange gods before me."
What the strange gods are He goes on to tell them :
" Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the
likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the
earth beneath, nor of these things that are in the water
under the earth. Thou shalt not adore them nor serve
them." (Exodus, xx.) We here see that God prohibits all
persons from making " a graven thing," or engraving any
image or likeness in order to adore and serve it. He tells
every one of us, as well as the Israelites, that if we make
idols figures of stone, of wood, or of other matter as the
Pagans did, and if we adore them, and pay them homage,
he will punish us with the greatest severity, because as he
says : " I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children."
They are called " strange gods," because such gods
should be unknown to God s chosen people, who should
recognize but the one true God, whom Noah taught his
children to adore. St. Paul calls Noah a preacher of
justice, because he taught his sons the knowledge of the
one true God, and of a Messiah that was to come, and
gave them commandments by which they might know
what is right and what is wrong. However, it was the
misfortune of his descendants that they did not preserve
this knowledge. Instead of continuing to adore the God
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 327
of heaven, that pure Spirit who cannot be seen by mortal
eyes, they began to wish for objects of adoration, which
they might be able to see ; and so they were led to make
images, or a graven things," which they soon began to wor
ship as gods. This worship is called idolatry, which means
the worship of an idol or image of a false god. At the
time of the coming of Christ, this great sin prevailed
everywhere save in one single corner of the earth Judea.
There were several causes of idolatry. Most men,
from the beginning, lost gradually the knowledge of God,
and of the doctrine of creation. But man, wishing to have
some kind of divinity, strove to find it in material objects.
Astonished at the grandeur, beauty and splendor of cer
tain things, such as the sun, moon and the stars, they took
them for gods and worshipped them as such. Hence it
is said in Holy Writ : " But all men who have not the
knowledge of God are vain, and could not understand or
-acknowledge the Sovereign Creator of all these great
works, but have imagined that the fire, the wind, the
swift air, or the circle of the stars, or the great water, or
the sun, or the moon were the gods that rule the world."
(Wisd. xiii, 1, 2.)
Another cause of idolatry was the inordinate affections
of the heart. A father bitterly afflicted by the sudden
death of his son, had a likeness of him made, and then
began to worship it as a god, and appointed sacrifices to
be offered to him by his servants. Hence we read in
Holy Scripture : " A father being bitterly afflicted, made
to himself the image of his son who was quickly taken
away j and him who then had died as a man, he began
now to worship as a god, and appointed him rites and
sacrifices among his servants. 7 (Wisd. xiv., 15.)
328 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Again, man is full of vanity, curiosity, natural perver
sity, and, if ignorant, is easily influenced by beautiful
works of art. Thus it happened that the common people
took for gods, the images or statues of celebrated heroes, or
of kings who were powerful and liberal to their subjects,
and paid them divine honor. Hence Holy Scripture says :
" Then (man in his folly and ignorance) maketh prayer to
it, inquiring concerning his substance, his children, or his
marriage, and is not ashamed to speak to that which hath no
life." (Wisd. xiii., 17.)
Now, Satan, the arch-enemy of mankind, availed himself
of these abominable mistakes and errors, of that universal
ignorance and corruption, to make himself worshipped by
men. So when the idols were spoken to or consulted, he
answered from within them, or he performed a kind of
prodigies that struck men with astonishment and admira
tion. Hence the Royal Prophet says : " All the gods of
the Gentiles are devils." (Ps. xcv., 5.)
The idolatry of the heathens is, no doubt, a most abom
inable crime in the sight of God. But there is another
kind of idolatry which is committed by many Christians
an idolatry of the heart, which consists in loving a creature
so passionately as to be induced to renounce God and his
friendship, rather than that disorderly love for his creature.
It is in this sense that St. Paul calls all those idolaters
who are given up to the passion of impurity and covet-
ousness. (Eph. v., 5.)
One of the most celebrated martyrs of the Church is
St. Sebastian. Even before he had confessed the faith
in torments, he had become famous by the prodigies which
he wrought. The governor of Rome, named Chromatius,
who was afflicted with incurable infirmities, sent for him,
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 329
hoping that he would becured by him. When St. Sebas
tian appeared before the governor, he spoke to him of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and told him that it was in his name
and by his power he performed all the miracles of which
he had heard. "Well!" said Chromatius to him, "let
Jesus Christ cure me, and I promise him that I will be
come a Christian. 7 "That is not enough," replied St.
Sebatian, " commence by breaking all your idols, and I
promise you, you shall be cured." Chromatius promised
him, and they parted. Some days after, more tortured
than ever, the governor sent again for the generous
Sebastian, and began bitterly to reproach him : " How is
this, thou wretched Christian ? At thy word I broke all my
idols, and behold I suffer more than ever ! " " Is it true,
my lord, that you have broken all your idols ? have you
spared none?" "No, I broke them all, except one little
golden statue, which I value very highly, because it has
been a long time in our family." " Ah my lord, I am no
longer surprised that you have not been cured ; were that
idol dearer to you than all the world, you must destroy it ;
because you cannot, in conscience, prefer it to the God
who has created you, who preserves you, and will one
day judge you. Break it, and I tell you again I will
answer for your cure." Chromatius now broke his golden
statuette to pieces, and was perfecty cured. (LASSAUSSE,
Explic. du Cat. de V Empire, 571.)
There are many Christians who resemble this Roman
governor. They break to pieces many idols of their heart
except one ; they go to confession and accuse themselves
of all their mortal sins except one ; they renounce many
proximate occasions of sin, except one 5 they forgive all
their neighbors except one ; they restore many ill-gotten
330 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
goods except one ; they believe all the truths of the Cath
olic religion except one. Hence they remain sick in soul,
and often in body, until they have renounced the idol of
their heart.
7. What is attendance at false worship 1
It is to assist at the religious worship of heretics.
To worship God according to a rite contrary to all
precepts of the Gospel is a false and unlawful worship of
God. Hence it would be a grievous sin for a Catholic to
worship God according to the ceremonial laws of the
Jews, for though they were prescribed by God for the
Jews before the coming of Christ, yet they were abolished
by Christ in the new law.
It is also a false and unlawful worship of God to adopt
a new religion in opposition to the doctrine of the true
Church of Jesus Christ, the Roman Catholic Church, and
assist at the religious worship of such a false religion.
Hence, even if a Catholic despises in his heart such a
false religion and worship, it is unlawful for him to play
the organ, or to sing, or to discharge the office of sacris
tan, in Jewish or Protestant temples during their false
worship, or to compose hymns or music for the same, or
to ring the bell for calling the people together, or to con
tribute money towards the erection of temples for false
worship, or to call a Protestant minister for the perform
ance of some religous rites, as, for instance, the rites of
marriage or baptism, or funeral, etc.; or to take Protestant
children, or accompany grown persons, to Protestant
Sunday-schools or church and stay with them during
their religous worship. Any such act is strictly forbid
den by the law of God and of the Church, because it is
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 331
a real communication and formal co-operation in a false
worship, and a real approval of it. " No one/ 7 say the
Fathers of the Fourth Council of Carthage (in 398),
"must either pray, or sing psalms with heretics; and
whosoever shall communicate with those who are cut off
from the communion of the Church, whether clergyman
or layman, let him be excommunicated. " Such was the
language of the Church in all ages.
Pope Paul IV. wrote to the Catholics in England : " We
are forced to admonish and to conjure you, that on no ac
count you go to the churches of heretics, or hear their
sermons or join in their rites, lest ye incur the wrath
of God 5 for it is not lawful for you to do such things
without dishonoring God and hurting your own souls."
In consequence of such authoritative decision, the Catho
lic pastors of England and Scotland have made most strict
prohibitions of all such communication by their special
regulations.
Here one may say : The reason why I play the organ,
or sing, or officiate as sacristan, etc., in a Protestant
church, is because I get a good pay which enables me
to support my family. I answer : What you do is a
grievous violation of the first commandment. It is
never allowed to commit a mortal sin in order to acquire
the means of support. Alas ! that there are so many
people who make a living by unlawful means ! " But the
bishop, or parish priest has given me permission to play
the organ, to sing, etc., in the Protestant church," says
another one. I answer : Neither any priest nor bishop,
nay, not even the Pope, can give you permission to
violate any of the commandments.
"But I am well instructed in my religion," says another;
332 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
"I can see no harm in what I do in the Protestant church. n
I answer : I doubt what you say. If you were well in
structed, you would know that attendance at false worship
is a mortal sin, and that this sin is still greater for him
who plays, or sings, at it, or renders any other kind of
service for it. And do you see no harm in committing
a mortal sin? Do you see no harm in the great scandal
you give to those Catholics who know of it, and to the
Protestants, whom by your playing and singing, etc., you
confirm in the belief that their religion is as good as the
Catholic religion ? (See Bishop Hay s Sincere Christian,
vol. ii. On communicating with those out of the Church
and Father A. Konings C. SS. R., Moral Theology, de
Co-operatione Catholicorum. p., 136.)
St. Hermenegild, th6 son of Leovigild, king of Spain,
became a convert to the Catholic faith. When his father,
who was addicted to the Arian heresy, heard of it, he be
came quite enraged, and put his son in a frightful dun
geon, where he made him suffer most cruel torments.
The holy martyr wrote to his father: "I avow your
goodness to me has always been very great. I will pre
serve, to the last moment of my life, the respect, duty,
and tenderness which I owe you. But is it possible that
you should wish me to like worldly greatness better than
my salvation ? I value the crown as nothing. I am ready
to lose sceptre and life, too, rather than abandon the
divine truth."
The prison was a school of virtue to this great martyr.
He clothed himself in sack-cloth, and performed other
bodily penances in addition to the hardships of his prison.
He offered up to God many fervent prayers to obtain
sufficient strength and courage to remain faithful in con
fessing the truth and dying for it.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 333
The solemnity of Easter being come, the perfidious
father sent, in the night, an Arian bishop with the message
to his son that, if he received communion from the hand
of that prelate, he would be received into favor again.
Hermenegild, however, rejected the proposal with indig
nation, reproaching the messenger with the impiety of
his sect, as if he had been at full liberty. When the
bishop returned to the Arian king with this account, the
furious father, seeing the faith of his son proof against all
his endeavors to make him give up the Catholic religion,
sent soldiers with orders to kill him. They entered the
prison and found the saint fearless and ready to receive
the stroke of death. They cleaved his head with an axe,
and scattered his brains on the floor. (Butler s Lives of
the Saints, April 13.)
8. What is divination?
Divination consists in having recourse to the power and
influence of the devil by a tacit or express compact, in order
to knoiv past, or present, or future things.
The devil, as we have said, possesses still great natural
powers which God gave to the angels when he created
them. Satan did not lose those powers by his rebellion
against God. He is, moreover, assisted by an experience
of thousands of years, during which he observed the ways
of men and the laws of nature. Hence, he can easily
foresee and do certain things that are hidden from us.
He can know such things as are actually in existence or
are past. He can also know such future things as are
the natural effects of such natural causes as he knows pro
duce their infallible effects. Hence, he can foretell certain
future, natural things, as an astronomer can foretell an
334 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
eclipse of the sun or the moon by his knowledge of the revo
lutions of the planets. But to consult the devil even about
these things is a great sin, because God has forbidden any
kind of dealing with Satan, for this enemy of God and man
uses his power only for opposing God s holy will and
causing the ruin of man. The devil, however, does not
know such future things as depend on God s will. To
attempt, then, by the assistance of the devil, to know and
foretell such things is to attribute to him who is but a
mere creature, an eternal perfection of God the privilege
of knowing all things and to do this is to be guilty of a
most grevious sin. We read in Holy Scripture that when
King Ochozias was very sick, he sent messengers to con
sult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron, whether he would
recover from his illness. This sin was so great that the
Lord sent an angel to the prophet Elias directing him to go
and meet the messengers and say to them : "Is there not a
God in Israel, that ye go and consult Beelzebub, the god of
Accaron ? Wherefore thus saith the Lord : From the bed
on which thou are lying thou shalt not arise ; but thou shalt
surely die. So he died according to the word of the Lord
which Elias spoke." (IV. Kings, chap, i., 2, 4, 16, 17.)
There are other kinds of divination, such as necromancy
or spiritism, astrology, witchcraft, sorcery, fortune-telling,
spells, charms, dreams, and a great variety of other supersti
tious practices, which are the abominable remains of idolatry.
9, What is necromancy, or spiritism, or spiritualism ?
Necromancy , or Spiritism, is to believe that the spirits or
souls of the dead communicate with men, by rapping and moving
furniture, or by writing, or seeing, or speaJcing mediums.
Necromancy is the invocation of the dead, who seem
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 335
to appear in their natural state, to answer whatever ques
tions are proposed to them. In our day, and especially in
our country, necromancy is practised under the name of
Spiritism. Now, can Spirits appear to the living on earth ?
When the soul has left the body, and has been judged
by God, it at once enters either heaven, or hell, or purga -
tory. But can it leave any of these places, at least for a short
time, and return to this world, in order to warn its surviv
ing friends, or any other persons I Or, in other words, can
there be, or have there been such things as lt spirits" or
spectres? It is certain that the belief in " spirits" a
belief spread far and wide can be traced back to the
earliest times. People of every nation, even the most
barbarous and uncivilized, are, or have been, of opinion
that souls, after death, can return to this world, assume
terrestrial or serial forms, make noise, howl, and speak.
In this there is nothing opposed to common sense, nothing
surpassing the almighty power of God.
" When a soul has been separated from the body," says
Bergier, " God can make it appear again in the world,
give it the same body which it had before, or some other
body, and endow it with the power of performing the very
same functions it had performed before death. This is
one of the most striking means which God could employ
in instructing men and rendering them tractable. ? It is,
then, absolutely possible that souls after death can again
appear in the world.
That souls after death have returned to this world, we
have no less an authority than the Sacred Writings. We
are told in the Gospel, that Moses with Elias appeared on
Mount Thabor at the time of Our Lord s transfiguration j
and that at the death of Christ, and after his resurrection,
336 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
lt many bodies of the saints that had slept arose j and
coming out of the tombs, after his resurrection, came
into the holy city, and appeared to many." (Matt,
xxvii., 52.) In the Second Book of Machabeus, we
read that Jeremias, with the holy Pontiff, Onias, appeared,
though in a vision, to Judas Machabeus, and presented
him with a sword of gold, saying : " Take this holy sword
a gift from God, wherewith thou shalt overthrow the
adversaries of My people Israel." (II. Mach. xv., 16.)
We read, too, in the First Book of Kings, that the Prophet
Samuel appeared after death to the Witch of Endor, and
that he prophesied and foretold to Saul the evils which
were soon to befall him.
St. Thomas unhesitatingly says, that Samuel appeared
in person : and St. Augustine thus speaks in his Questions
to Simplicity : " It is not absurd to believe that God per
mitted the prophet to appear to the king, that he might
inspire him with a salutary fear." The same holy doctor,
in his letter to Evodius, bishop, makes mention of a young
man who appeared to a great many persons after his
death and by that means, he adds, God permitted that
they should be confirmed in the opinion which they had
of his sanctity. Eusebius, St. Paulinus, Origen, Sulpicius,
Severus, Theodoret, and other writers, recount in their
works many instances of persons who returned after death
to this World.
St. Augustine assures us that St. Felix, the martyr,
appeared to the inhabitants of Nola when besieged by
barbarous tribes, and by his presence encouraged them
to fight valiantly and gain a glorious victory. St. Gregory
the Great relates, also, many instances of souls in purgatory,
whom God, in his mercy, permitted to appear to their
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 337
friends on earth and ask them to relieve them in their
sufferings by prayers and other good works.
In my little book, " Purgatorian Consoler/ I have
related several instances of such apparitions.
There is a remarkable apparition related of what is
called the " White Lady," in Baireuth, Germany. In
that place, there are two pictures of the White Lady. One
is in the new castle and the other in a hermitage. The
latter is in the costume of a shepherdess and dressed in
white. The one in the castle, on the contrary, is dressed in
black, and wearing a cap or hood. The spectre of the
White Lady always appears in the latter costume, and
seems to be an exact image of the picture. The whole affair
was juridically examined ; the sworn testimony of witnesses
was taken down, and all came to the conclusion that the
apparition was real. Count Munster, the guardian of the
castle, a man of learning and calm judgment, declared
positively that he had often met the apparition in the
castle, and carefully avoided the room where the picture
was hanging. In 1806, as the French army was march
ing through Baireuth, the spirit became restless and caused
so much disturbance in the castle that the French generals
who had taken up their quarters there, were greatly
annoyed and terrified. In 1809, General d Espagne,
commander of the reserves of the 8th army corps, lodged
in the castle. About midnight, a wild shriek resounded
from his room. The officers rushed thither and found
the general in the middle of the room, lying under the
heavy bedstead which had been upset. He was greatly
excited. As soon as he grew calmer he related how he
had seen an apparition and described her appearance, so
that it corresponded exactly with the picture. The spirit
338 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD,
threatened to strangle him, then pushed the bed into the
middle of the room, and upset it. He left the castle that
very night. Next day he ordered that the room should
be thoroughly searched, the wainscoting removed to see
if there were a secret door or passage, but he could dis
cover nothing.
Napoleon I. was twice in Baireuth. The first time was
on May 14th, 1812, when he was on his way to Russia.
He lodged in the castle. A courier was sent with the
express orders that the emperor did not wish to be lodged
in the room in which the White Lady usually appeared,
and that no one should be allowed to enter the room pre
pared for him but the emperor himself. A few hours
before Napoleon s arrival, Count Munster went through
the castle to see whether every thing was in order, and to
his amazement saw a lady walking through the corridor.
Indignant that his orders had been disobeyed, he was
about to order the stranger away, when she turned around
and to his horror he saw it was the White Lady. The
spectre then vanished. Next morning Napoleon appeared
greatly annoyed and excited. He repeated several times
the words : u Ce maudit chateau !" and declared he would
never spend another night there again . He enquired
about the appearance and costume of the White Lady, and
when they offered to bring him the picture, he positively
refused to see it. On August 3rd, 1813, Napoleon came
again to Baireuth. A courier was dispatched with orders
that the emperor would not lodge in the new castle. They
prepared a room for him in the old one. But when Na
poleon came to Baireuth, he refused to spend the night
there and went on to the next tower. The soul of the
White Lady was released by a descendant of hers, a
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
young girl who looks very much like the picture in the
hermitage. She was still alive in 1850,
There is, however," says St. Thomas, a great difference
between the souls of the saints and those of the damned.
The souls of the saints can appear at will, for the sancti-
fication of the faithful, but the latter can never appear
without a special permission from God, a permission that
God may grant for the terror of the wicked, to make them
sensible of the eternal torments of hell."
In the life of St. Bruno, there is an account given of a
doctor of Paris, who appeared on the third day after his
death, and related how he had been accused, judged, and
condemned to most excruciating tortures 5 and the de
scription which he gave of what happened to him, was
such as to make all who heard him shudder. There have
been, therefore, and there may be still, instances of persons
appearing again in this world after death.
Now, though there may be, and in reality have been,
well authenticated accounts of persons who have returned
from the other world, and have been seen again on earth,
yet we must not conclude that all the stories that we
hear told at the fireside, by night, or at wakes and meet
ings, about spectres and ghosts, are true. Of a thousand
stories of this sort, there is not one that turns out to be
true ; and even apparitions, of the reality of which there
is scarcely a doubt entertained, can be explained, in
almost every case, in a natural way.
A great number of stories we hear about spirits which,
when closely examined, have turned out to be purely the
result of deception, skill, and artifice. At one time we find
that the pretended ghost, of which we heard so much, was
no other than a young man of the neighborhood, who, in order
340 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
that he might, without being discovered, keep up an illicit
familiarity with a female in the house, so disguised him
self as to be thought " a spirit." At another time, the
" spirit" spoken of as making its appearance in a certain
house, and there uttering unearthly sounds, and making
fearful noises, turns out, on close examination, to be no
less a personage than a noted thief, who, to secure him
self from detection, had recourse to those means of im
posing on the credulity of those living in the house.
Again, the report that a certain house is haunted has
gained ground, and no one can be induced to live in a
place where it is believed spirits are roaming about at
night, and turning everything upside down ; but in a few
months it transpires that all this had been effected by one
who had lately been ejected from the dwelling, and
wanted to prevent others from taking it.
There are, too, a great number of apparitions, which,
though supposed real, can be traced to fear, or to an ex
cited imagination j as, for example, something white is
seen at night standing against a hedge, at the end of a
narrow road, and it is no sooner seen than it disappears
in some unaccountable way. A report immediately gets
abroad that it was a " spirit," as, at the time it was seen,
plaintive cries were heard. But in reality, the spirit
was no other than a frightened poor beast !
A gentleman was benighted, not long ago, in a remote
part of the highlands of Scotland, and was compelled to
ask shelter for the evening at a small, lonely hut. When
he was to be conducted to his bedroom, the landlady ob
served, with a mysterious air, that he would find the win
dow very insecure. On examination, part of the wall ap
peared to have been broken down to enlarge the opening.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 341
After some inquiry he was told that a pedler, who had
lodged in the room a short time before, had committed
suicide, and was found hanging behind the door in the
morning. According to the superstition of the country,
it was deemed improper to remove the body through the
door of the house, and to convey it through the window
part of the wall was removed. Some hints were dropped
that the room had subsequently been haunted by the poor
man s spirit. The gentleman retired to rest rather uneasy j
and, to protect himself, laid his fire-arms by the bed-side.
He was visited in a dream by a frightful apparition, and
awaking in agony, found himself sitting up, with a pistol
grasped in his right hand. On casting a fearful glance
around the room, he discovered, by the moonlight, a
corpse dressed in a shroud, reared erect against the wall
close by the window. With much difficulty he summoned
up courage to approach the dismal object, the features
of which, and the minutest part of its funeral shroud, he
perceived distinctly. He passed one hand over it, felt
nothing, and staggered back to bed. After some time, and
much reasoning with himself, he renewed his investigation
and at length discovered that the object of his terror was
produced by the moonbeams, forming a long bright image
through the broken window, on which his fancy, excited
by his dream, had pictured, with mischievous accuracy,
the form of a body prepared for interment.
The appearance of spectres and phantoms can be very
often traced to a mind ill at ease, and to a conscience
torn with remorse. Persons guilty of enormous and un
natural crimes, who have during life, for example, ill-treat
ed their parents, relatives, or friends, to such an extent
as to be the cause of their death, or have been guilty of
342 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
seducing from the paths of virtue many young and in
nocent souls, are peculiarly predisposed for seeing spirits.
Conscience speaks to them of guilt its voice cannot be
hushed. They cannot rest night or day, owing to the
remembrance of what they have done. The victims of
their crimes present themselves to their minds continually.
They tremble, they shudder, at the vivid picture before
their eyes. Their imagination becomes so heated, that,
in the darkness of night, they think they clearly see
frightful apparitions, reproaching and threatening them
for their evil deeds that their fathers are before them on
the way cursing them, and their wives upbraiding them
with terrible imprecations.
Apparitions or ghosts can be very often traced to a
gloomy and melancholy turn of mind ; and it is worthy of
remark, that ghosts were never so numerous in England
as during some years after the civil war in 1649. The
gloomy tendency of the rigid Puritans of that period, their
possession of the old family seats, formerly the residence
of hospitality and good cheer, but, in their hands, dismal,
dark, and desolate, and the fearfully thrilling stories cir
culated far and wide by the old retainers of these ancient
establishments, after they had been dismissed, contributed
altogether to produce a wide-spread terror, unknown in
other periods of the history of the country.
The little that we have said on this subject will prob
ably explain all the wonderful things that have been said
about ghosts and spirits. As we said before, so we now
say, that the apparition of what we call " spirits" is pos
sible, for God is all-powerful, and the soul is immortal.
Because persons have been deceived in a thousand causes
of apparitions, it does not follow that in no case can it
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 343
be proved that a soul has appeared again in this world
after death. On this subject we should incline neither
to too great credulity, nor to absolute unbelief, but hold a
middle course. Nearly all the accounts that have ap
peared of " spirits," says Salgues, in his book on Popular
Errors and Prejudices, u are formed of puerilities." Ears
pulled, bed-clothes removed, tables upset, candles extin
guished, vessels broken, curtains drawn aside, chairs dis
placed, and the like, form the burden of stories about
ghosts. After these preliminary remarks on the apparition
of spirits, it will be more easy to understand what necrom
ancy or spiritism is.
It is now over thirty years (1847) since the notorious
Fox girls began to attract public attention by their spirit-
rappings. At first, the spirits communicated by rapping
and moving furniture ; but, now besides rapping mediums?
there are writing mediums, seeing and speaking mediums.
Mddern science is altogether unable to account for, or to
disprove, the alleged facts of spiritualism, but this is be
cause modern science, or rather what passes for science,
refuses to acknowledge the existence of the superhuman
and supernatural. To deny the reality of all the alleged
spirit manifestations, is to discredit all human testimony ;
and to regard them all as jugglery, as the result of trick
ery, is equally absurd. No one, who reflects a little, will
pretend to say that so many thousands of spiritualists
among whom are numbers of men and women noted for
their intelligence and honesty no one, I say, will pretend
that all these are only playing tricks upon one another.
Tell me, in the name of sound reason, what object could
all these fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, friends
and relatives, have in thus deceiving one another, and
344 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
pretending to have communications from spirits, if they
really have none f Those who can swallow such an ab
surdity, are certainly far more weak-minded and credulous
than those who believe in the reality of spirit manifestations.
It is certain that there is often a great deal of jugglery
and trickery in these so called spirit manifestations. It
is also certain that there is much that can be explained on
natural principles. There is much that proceeds from
the morbid or abnormal affections of human nature, from
imagination or hallucination ; but, admitting all this, there
still remains a great deal that can be explained only by
admitting the interference of superhuman and intelligent
powers. Some try to explain the phenomena of spirit
ualism by attributing them all to animal magnetism, or to
a force which they call " od," or "odyllic" force. But
what * odyllic" force means, they are unable to say ; and
so, with this newly-coined word, they only seek to cover
their ignorance.
Spiritualists pretend that these phenomena are produc
ed by departed spirits ; but of this they have no other
proof than the assertion of the spirits themselves. Now,
according to the testimony of all spiritualists, many, I
might say all, of these spirits are liars, and consequently
their assertions cannot be credited. The truth is, we
cannot conclude any thing certain from these phenomena
without the aid of revelation. I do not pretend to say
that all science is necessarily based on faith, but I do say
that, without the light of revelation, we cannot have a
full knowledge of the various phenomena of the universe,
or explain the various facts of history. If I did not
know, from revelation, that the devil and his angels
exist, I might observe^ and be convinced of, the various
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 34:5
manifestations of spiritualism, and yet I could not trace
them with certainty to their true source ; they would re
main to me inexplicable. But, knowing from revelation
that even the very air swarms with evil spirits the en
emies of God and man I can see at once the natural ex
planation of the spirit manifestations, and trace them to
their proper source. This source is no other than hell.
With Father Bonaventure, I boldly assert that " modern
spiritualism is nothing but Satanism." The proofs for
the truth of this assertion, I take :
1. From the holiness of God and his angels.
2. From the answers of the spirits themselves.
3. From the character of those spirit manifestations and
visitations.
4. From the behavior of the spirits when in sthe pres
ence of some supernatural power.
5. From the principles and morals of the spirtualists.
6. From the baneful consequences of spiritualism.
7. From Holy Scripture and the Church.
As to the origin of these spirit-manifestations, I say
they cannot come from God, or his holy angels or saints.
God and his angels and saints are too holy and too sub
lime beings to amuse vain men with such frivolous enter
tainment. Good and holy spirits hate What God hates J
they will never do any thing that is an abomination in the
sight of God. The spirit-manifestations must, then, pro
ceed from evil spirits, from Satan and his associates.
The answers of these spirits are such that they betray,
at once, their author. "Out of thy own mouth I judge
thee. wicked servant !" (Luke xix., 22.) The spiritu
alists themselves assert that the spirits, from whom they
receive communications, often speak ambiguously j that
346 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
they do not always tell the truth, but that, in many in
stances, they have told palpable lies. Now does not this
betray their satanic character? To tell a lie is a sin.
But holy spirits, cannot sin any more. These lying
spirits, then, are evil spirits. Satan is a liar, and the
father of lies. He is the inveterate enemy of truth, and
if he sometimes tells it, it is because he is compelled by a
higher power ; or if, now and then, of his own accord, it
is only because truth serves his purpose of deception
better than falsehood.
The predictions of God are clear and precise, for, with
God, the future is ever present. But Satan is a creature,
and his power and intelligence, though superhuman, are
yet limited. The universe has many secrets which he
cannot penetrate. The devil can never tell the future
with certainty ; he can only guess at it, like a shrewd
observer, judging from his knowledge of the present and
the past. Hence it is, the oracles of Satan are always
ambiguous and stammering, and calculated to deceive j
in most instances, they turn out to be falsehoods. Now
the holy, good spirits never speak ambiguously, or in a
manner calculated to deceive ; they never tell lies, for
they can sin no more. It is, then, evident that those ly
ing spirits, with- whom spiritualists communicate, must
be evil spirits.
The visitations or communications of God, or of His
angels, bring peace and holy joy j while the communica
tions or visitations of the devil, on the contrary, bring
trouble and discord
When the Lord comes in his gracious visitations, all is
sweetness and peace. No disturbance of the physical
system, no whirling and howling, no storm and tempest,
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 347
no wringing and twisting of the arms and legs, no violent
and indecent postures, no abnormal developement or
exercise of the faculties, mark the incoming of the Holy
Ghost. All is calm and serene. The understanding is
illuminated, the heart is warmed, the will is strengthened,
and the whole soul is elevated by the infusion of a super
natural grace. There is no crisis, no forgetfulness, or
awaking from a trance.
But whenever it is the reverse, as is the case in spirit
ism whenever we see violence, distortion, quaking,
trembling, and disturbance these are so many indica
tions of the presence of the evil spirit, which delights in
violence and disorder, and which displays power without
love, force without goodness, knowledge without gentleness.
Besides, it is a well- attested fact, that many of the so-
called spirit-mediums understand Greek, Latin, Spanish,
and French, when they have no knowledge of any
language but their own; and that often there have been
speaking and writing in foreign languages by those who
were unacquainted with any. Some of them see and
tell things passing in distant places, and exhibit a sup-
perior physical strength.
A daughter of Judge Edmonds, a celebrated spiritua
list, when about eight or ten years old, wrote, in a trance,
Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin. Mr. Hume, in England,
some time ago, carried fire in his hands, lengthened his
arms, flew up in the air, and was shining bright sometimes.
Facts like these evidently betray a diabolical agent,
and even satanic possession ; for they are precisely the
same as those laid down by the Catholic Church for the
guidance of exorcists in cases of supposed demoniac
invasion or possession.
348 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
The good angels do all in their power to promote the
kingdom of Jesus Christ on earth. They remind us of
the gospel truths, and encourage us to live up to them :
whilst those spirits with whom spiritualists hold inter
course, make most strenuous efforts to destroy Christianity.
Jesus Christ triumphed over the devil by his death on
the cross 5 he broke his power. Hence it is that Satan
bears an implacable hatred to Jesus Christ and his religion.
What wonder, then, if we find that he is always engaged
in undermining Christianity, and destroying all belief in it.
The doctrines which these spirits teach, and confirm
with lying wonders, are evidently what St. Paul calls 6i the
doctrines of the devils." These lying spirits all unite in
denying the existence of hell and of devils. They also
deny the resurrection of the body ; they give a false idea
of God ; they assert that Christianity has had its day, and
that they have come to announce a new and more sublime
form of religion a religion which shall free the world from
the Old Church, from bondage to the Bible, from creeds
and dogmas a religion which shall free mankind from
the laws of social and political life, and shall place the
religious and political world on a higher basis, and infuse
into it a more energetic spirit of progress. Such is the
high-sounding boast of spiritualism and its infernal agents.
In the eyes of its deluded followers, spiritualism is destined
to carry on and complete the work which was begun by
Jesus Christ, and which, as they blasphemously assert,
was left unfinished.
The morals and principles taught by these lying spirits
are as bad as can be imagined ; and, in fact, the lives led
by some of the more advanced spiritualists are most im-
inoral and revolting. The spirits^ it is true, give, now
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 349
and then, some good advice : they sometimes tell the
truth j for, as the Apostle assures us, the devil sometimes
" puts on the semblance of an angel of light." But he
does this only to gain credit and to secure the confidence
of his deluded followers. He sometimes tells the truth,
but it is always blended or followed by falsehood. He
sometimes gives good advice, but, at the same time, he
takes away all moral restraints. The evil spirit may
sometimes advise persons to become Catholics, but it is
only that they may receive the sacraments unworthily,
and thus become hardened in sin, and incapable of return
ing to the truth, and that thus he may acquire more power
over them. After some time, he always advises them to
leave the Catholic Church. We have numerous instances
of this.
Dr. Nichols, from Philadelphia, and Mr. Hume, were
told by the devil to become Catholics ; and, after some
time, the devil said to them, " Now leave the Catholic
Church, and ascend higher."
These lying spirits war against all authority in faith
and morals, as being repugnant to the rights of reason ;
as being repugnant to the sentiments of the heart. They
assert that all should seek and do what is right, but that
no one should be constrained. The affections and passions
should be free as the air we breathe, and to restrain them
they war against all authority in social and domestic life,
say these lying spirits, is to war against nature herself.
These hellish spirits often speak to their deluded followers
of love, but the love which they preach is not the love of
God. No ! it is only sexual love j base, animal passion !
Hence the spiritualists very generally look upon the mar
riage law as tyrannical and absurd, and assert the doctrines
350 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
of free love. They hold that sexual love is the essence
of marriage, and that, when that love ceases, the marriage
is dissolved. They, therefore 2 consider it immoral for a
husband and wife to live together, after they have ceased
to love each other. It is easy to see to what such a
doctrine leads, and we are not at all surprised to find that
conjugal fidelity is not considered a virtue by the greater
part of spiritualists. The spiritualist husband may leave
his wife, and the spiritualist wife may leave her husband,
and choose a new " affinity " as often as they please. At the
Spiritualist Convention, held some years ago (June, 1858)
at Rutland, Vt., the following resolution was presented
and defended :
u Resolved, That the only true and natural marriage is an
exclusive conjugal love between one man and one woman."
According to this theory, the essence of marriage is
" exclusive conjugal love." Consequently, the bond of
marriage is dissolved as soon as this conjugal love ceases,
and a man or woman may marry as often as his or her
conjugal love becomes " exclusive " for any particular
individual.
A similar resolution was presented at the National
Spiritualist Convention, held in Chicago, August 9, 1864.
It was offered by Dr. A. G. Parker of Boston, Chairman
of Committee on Social Relations.
At the famous Rutland Convention, a certain Miss Julia
Branch, of New York, said, as reported in the "Banner
of Light," July 10, 1858, that she must demand her free
dom ; she must demand her right to receive equal wages
with man in payment for her labor, and her right to have
children when she will and by whom she will.
We might quote much more, still more startling ; we
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 351
might give an account of the spiritualist community at
Berlin, Ohio; but we do not wish to disgust our respected
readers. What we have said concerning the doctrines
and morals of spiritualists, is enough to prove to all
that spiritualism is of satanic origin. " By their fruits
you shall know them."
Let us see now how these familiar spirits of the
spiritualists behave when in the presence of an opposing
power. Such an opposing power, for instance, is a sim
ple prayer from a Catholic priest, or even from a good
Catholic layman.
I know a certain priest, who, one day, went to such a
meeting with the intention of preventing the diabolical
performances. He adjured the evil spirits not to exer
cise any influence, neither over their mediums, nor over
any of those present at the meeting. What happened ? It
was in vain that the medium tried to make the spirits
appear and speak. He told the assembly that the spirits
would not come, that there must be some opposing power.
One day, the Earl of Fin gall, in Ireland, Lord Plun-
kett, father of Rev. Father Plunkett, of the Congregation of
the Most Holy Redeemer, happened to be at a meeting of
spiritualists. The tables began to move. He became
frightened, because he saw there was something preter
natural in it. So he retired to a corner, and began to
pray (to say the Rosary), and instantly the operations
were stopped, and they could not get along any more, as
long as he was there. (Related ~by Father Plunkett to one of
our Fathers.)
The familiar spirits of spirit-mediums find an opposing
power in the presence of sacred relics.
The Emperor Julian, surnamed the Apostate, was most
352 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
foolishly superstitious, and exceedingly fond of soothsay
ers and magicians (or spiritualists), Maximius, the Ma
gician (or spiritualist), and others of that character, were
his chief confidants. He endeavored, by the black art,
or by means of the devil, to rival the miracles of Christ,
though he effected nothing.
At that time there was, at Daphne, five miles from
Antioch, a famous idol of Apollo, which uttered oracles in
that place. Gallus Caesar, to oppose the worship of that
idol, translated from Antioch to Daphne the sacred relics
of St. Babylas, Bishop of Antioch, and Martyr. He
erected a church, sacred to the name of St. Babylas, near
the profane temple (or devil s temple), and placed in it
the venerable relics of the martyr, in a shrine above
ground. The neighborhood of the martyr s relics struck
the devil dumb. Eleven years after, in the year 362,
Julian the Apostate came to Antioch, and, by a multitude
of sacrifices, endeavored to learn of the idol the cause of
his silence. At length the fiend gave him to understand
that the neighborhood was full of dead bones, which must
be removed before he could be at rest, and disposed to
give answers. Julian understood this of the -body of St.
Babylas, and commanded that the christians should im
mediately remove his shrine to some distant place, but not
touch the other dead bodies. The christians obeyed the
order, and, with great solemnity, carried in procession the
sacred relics back to Antioch, singing, on this occasion,
the psalms which ridicule the vanity and feebleness of
idols, repeating after every verse : " May they who adore
idols and glory in false gods blush with shame, and be
covered with confusion. 77 The following evening light
ning fell on the Temple of Apollo, and reduced to ashes
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 353
the idol and all its ornaments. (Sutlers Lives of the Saints,
vol. i., pp. 107 and 112, note.)
Holy tvater, too, or any thing else blessed by the Church,
is an opposing power for these spirits.
While some of our Fathers were giving a Mission in
Erie, a meeting of spiritualists was held in that city.
When the bishop heard of it, he sent one of our Fathers
to prevent the evil spirits from exercising their influence
over their mediums. The Father went in disguise to the
house where the meeting was to take place. He took
with him a bottle of holy ivater. Before the performance
began, the Father sprinkled the whole floor with holy
water. The medium, a young woman, came on the stage,
to get into a trance, but she could not succeed. They
tried for about an hour, but got no answer. At last the
performer, the medium, said: "Ladies and gentlemen,
we have to give up to-night. There must be some oppos
ing power, as the spirits do not appear and speak."
When General Lamoriciere, Commander of the Pope s
Army, and a very pious Catholic, came back from Italy,
he happened to be present at a meeting of spiritualists.
He held in his hand a little crucifix, blessed by our Holy
Father the Pope. Now, when they laid their hands on
the table, and invoked the spirits, none of the spirits
would come and answer. The medium then came and
said : " Gentlemen, there is some one among you who is
averse to the spirits." He examined the hands of every
one, and found the little crucifix in the hand of General
Lamoriciere. He then told the general either to give
up this article or to leave. The general left, the
opposing power was gone, and the spirits could work
through their medium.
354 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Even the simple Sign of the Cross is an opposing power.
One day, as St Gregory Thaumaturgus (worker of
wonders) was returning from the city of Neocsesarea to
the wilderness, a violent rain obliged him to take shelter
in a heathenish temple, the most famous in the country, on
account of oracles and divinations delivered there. At
his entrance, he made the sign of the cross several times,
to purify the air from the evil spirits, and then passed
the night there with his companion in prayer, according
to custom. The next morning he pursued his journey,
and the idolatrous priest performed his usual supersti
tions in the temple ; but the devils declared they could
stay there no longer, being forced away by the man who
had passed the night there. After several vain attempts
to bring those powers back, the priest hastened after the
saint, threatening to carry his complaints against him to
the magistrates and to the Emperor. Gregory, without
the least emotion, told him that, with the help of God, he
could drive away or call the devils when he pleased.
When the idolater saw that Gregory disregarded all his
menaces, and when he heard that the saint had the power
of commanding demons at pleasure, his fury was turned
into admiration, and he entreated the bishop, as a further
evidence of the divine authority, to bring the demons
back again to the temple. The saint complied with his
request, and dismissed him with a scrap of paper on which
he had written, " Gregory to Satan : Enter." This being
laid upon the altar, and the usual oblation made, the de
mons gave their answers as usual. The priest, surprised
at what he saw, went after the holy bishop, and begged
he would give him some account of that God whom his
gods so readily obeyed. After being instructed in the
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 355
principles of our holy religion, he renounced his devilish
practices, and became a Christian. (Butler s Lives of the
Saints, vol. iv., p. 356.)
Some time ago the Davenport brothers put up a blas
phemous placard all over the city of St. Louis, Mo., inform
ing the public that they could perform miracles similar
to those of Christ. A certain priest of the city read this
placard, and became quite indignant at it. He determined to
expose the authors of the placard. So he went, in disguise,
to the meeting. Now, when they were about to perform
their lying miracles, they put out the lights, and told all
present to join hands and form a circle. The priest said
to his neighbor: "I will not join hands with you j I wish
to find out whether the joining of hands is necessary to
the performance." As soon as the lights were put out,
they heard music over their heads.
All went on very well. The priest saw that the circle
was not necessary to the performance j that it was nothing
but a cheat to make the affair mysterious. Having found
this out, the priest made the sign of the cross. Instantly
there was heard a shriek, and a crash. The lights were
lit. Davenport came and said : a Gentlemen, some one
of you must have broken the circle ; please join hands once
more, and do not break the circle." The lights were then
put out again. The priest did not join hands with his
neighbor, yet the performance again went on as well as
before. The priest again made the sign of the cross,
and again there was heard a shriek and a crash. Daven
port came down and complained. The priest s neighbor
then cried out : "My neighbor here did not join hands with
me." Every one shouted : " Put him out ! Put him out !"
and Davenport, too, begged him to leave. But the priest,
356 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
who was a strong man, said : " I will not leave until the
performance is over. You will have some trouble and
difficulty in putting me out ; I have paid for my ticket,
and I have as much right to stay as any one else. "
They could no longer succeed in the performance of
their lying wonders. Every one left 5 the priest stayed until
all were gone. Davenport complained to him, saying :
Why did you act thus, and stop our proceedings?"
" Well ! " said the priest, " do you know who I am ? I
am a Catholic priest. I suppose you never had a Catholic
priest in any of your circles. As you blasphemed God by
your placard, I will expose you in all the newspapers of
the city. A simple sign of the cross, which I made, was
more powerful than all your evil spirits. Had they any
power, they would have told you what was the opposing
power." Davenport left the city next day. (St. Louis
Guardian.)
Now every Christian knows that good angels or spirits
are not afraid of, nor are driven away by prayer, by holy
relics, by the sign of the cross, by holy water, or the like.
It is only the devil who fears the power of prayer, and
trembles in the presence of sacred objects, because he
finds in them the power of Jesus Christ. It is, then,
evident from these facts that spiritism is nothing but
satanism.
Holy Scripture tells us that Spiritualism is an abom
ination in the sight of God. Holy Scripture, it is true,
does not use the word Spiritualism or Spiritism, but it uses
another word which has the same meaning. Holy Scrip
ture forbids necromancy, or the evocation of the dead, and
commands that necromancers shall be put to death.
.Mow our modern Spiritualists openly assert that they
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 357
hold intercourse with the spirits of the departed. They
are, then, real necromancers, real diviners, attempting, by
means of evoking the dead, to divine secrets, whether of the
past or the future, unknown to the living. They prac
tise what the world has always called divination, and that
species of divination called necromancy. Thus far all is
plain, certain, undeniable ; and therefore they do that
which the Christian world has always held to be unlawful
and a dealing with the devils.
Modern Spiritualism is but a revival of the old heathen
idol-worship.
Satan is constantly engaged in doing all in his power
to entice men away from God, and to have himself wor
shipped instead of the Creator. The introduction, estab
lishment, persistence and power, of the various cruel,
filthy, and revolting superstitions of the ancient heathen
world, or of pagan nations in modern times, are nothing
but the work of the devil. They reveal a more than
human power. God permitted Satan to operate upon
man s morbid nature, as a deserved punishment upon the
Gentiles for their hatred of truth, and their apostacy from
the primitive religion. Men left to themselves, to human
nature alone, however low they might be prone to descend,
never could descend so low as to worship wood and stone,
four-footed beasts and creeping things. To do this needs
satanic delusion..
Paganism in its old form was doomed. Christianity
had silenced the oracles, and driven the devils back to
hell. How was the devil to reestablish his worship on
earth, and carry on his war against the Son of God. and
the religion which he taught us ! Evidently only by
changing his tactics and turning the truth into a lie.
358 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
He found men in all the heresiarchs, who, like Eve, gave
ear to his suggestions, and believed him more than the
Infallible Word of Jesus Christ. Thus he has succeeded
in banishing the true religion from whole countries, or in
mixing it with false doctrines. He has prevailed upon
thousands to believe the doctrine of vain, self conceited
men, rather than the religion taught by Jesus Christ and
his Apostles. It is by heresies, revolutions, bad, secret
societies, and godless State-school education, that he has
suceeded so far as to bring thousands of men back to a
state of heathenism and infidelity. The time has come
for him to introduce idolatry or his own worship. To
do this he makes use of spiritualism. Through the spirit-
mediums he performs lying wonders. He gives pretended
revelations from the spirit world, in order to destroy or
weaken all faith in divine revelation. He thus strives to
reestablish in Christian lands that very same devil-worship
which has so long existed among heathen nations, and
which our Lord Jesus Christ came to destroy. The Holy
Scriptures assure us that all the gods of the heathens are
devils. (" Omnes dii gentium dcemonia." Ps.) These
demons took possession of the idols made of wood or stone,
of gold or silver ; they had temples erected in their honor :
they had their sacrifices, their priests and their priest
esses. They uttered oracles. They were consulted
through their mediums in all affairs of importance, and
especially in order to find out the future, precisely as they
are consulted by our modern Spiritualists at the present
day.
In modern Spiritualism the devij communicates with
men by means of tables, chairs, tablets, planchette, or by
rapping, writing, seeing and speaking mediums. It is all
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 359
the same to the devil whether he communicates with men
and leads them astray by means of idols, or by means of
tables, chairs, planchette, and the like.
Upon this sort of dealing with the devil, the Lord has
pronounced both temporal and eternal woe. In the book
of Deuteronomy, chap, xviii., verses 10-12, we read :
" Let there not be found among you," says the Lord,
" any one that consulteth soothsayers, or observeth dreams
and omens ; neither let there be any wizard nor charmer,
nor any one that consulteth pythonic spirits, or fortune-tell
ers, or that seeketh the truth from the dead, for the Lord
abhorreth all these things." " The soul that shall do these
things, " says the Lord, " I shall set my face against that
soul, and destroy it out of the midst of its people."
(Leviticus, xix., 20.)
In the same book of Leviticus, chap, xx., 27., we read :
" A man or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or is a
wizard, dying, let him die ; they shall stone them, and
their blood shall be upon them." St. John tells us that
such people shall have their portion in the pool burning
with fire and brimstone. (Apoc., xxi., 8.)
That God has severely punished those who hold deal
ings and communications with the devil, we find record
ed in Holy scriptures.
King Saul was slain in battle because he had recourse
to a witch, i. e., a spirit-medium.
Holy Scripture also tells how King Achab consulted
the false prophets, or spirit-mediums, and how God gave
power to the devil to deceive these mediums, and tell
falsehoods to the King. Achab believed them, and God
punished him ; for, soon after, the King perished in battle.
The same kind of death was inflicted upon the Emperor
360 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Julian, who was so fond of consulting the devil by his
mediums.
In our own day we see similar punishments inflicted upon
those who practise spiritualism, and even on those who
take but a slight part in it.
- I know a certain doctor who assisted sometimes, out of
curiosity, at these diabolical circles of Spiritualists. When
he came to understand that it was sinful to assist at such
meetings even from a spirit of curiosity, he never went
again ; but he was punished for having entered the house
of the devil. He came to me, and told me how he was
harassed and tormented every night by evil spirits, that
they made a horrible noise in his room, and prevented
him from sleeping.
"I would not care for the noise," said he, " provided I
could sleep, but I have not slept for several weeks, and I
am so nervous and excited that I cannot possibly bear it;
I shall become insane if it continues so any longer. Please,
Father, help me if you can."
I told him to kneel down, and I recited over him the
prayers prescribed by the Catholic Church for such per
sons. The evil spirits left him quiet for about a month,
when they began again to disturb him during the night.
The doctor, came again to me, that I might pray over
him. I did so ; and the evil spirits retired again. This
happened about four years ago. Last summer I saw the
doctor, and asked him whether the evil spirits had left
him alone. He said : " Yes ; I have not suffered any more
from them since I saw you last."
This is an instance of but a slight punishment ; but
there are on record instances of far severer punishments.
Experience teaches that those who practise Spiritualism
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 361
often turn insane in the end, and become perfect maniacs.
You have, probably, read of many such cases of insanity
in the newspapers. The Boston Pilot writes, Jan. 1, 1852:
"Most mediums become misanthropical, idiotic or in
sane. The same happens even to many of the auditors.
Experience teaches that, almost every week, one of these
unfortunate persons commits suicide, or is locked up in
a mad -house. Many of these mediums betray evident
signs of mental derangement, and even sometimes not less
evident marks of satanic possession."
The Courier and Inquirer writes, May 10, 1852, that,
in the month of April, in Indiana, six persons were taken
to the insane asylum in consequence of the intercourse
which they had held with spirit rappers.
The Herald mentions, under date of April 30, 1852,
that Mr. Junius Alcott, of Utica, committed suicide in a
fit of insanity brought on by the same cause.
In Paris, in the same year, many persons, while taking
part in table rapping, suddenly became insane, and found
their way to the mad-house in Bicetre and Charenton,
and others were taken to private insane institutions.
Madame Victoria d Hennequin also died insane. Her
husband, too, died a maniac j he had discharged the office
of secretary to the spirit of the earth, which communicated
with him through the medium of a small table. Not long
ago a certain person of Pittsburg, and some others of
Philadelphia, who made frequent use of the planchette,
became insane, and were put in the insane asylum.
Another famous Spiritualist, of Philadelphia, committed
suicide because the spirit told him to do so.
It would take me too long to adduce more instances of
this kind, to show how the votaries of spiritualism are
362 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
punished even in this life. What I have said on Spirit
ualism, should be sufficient to convince every sincere
mind that the Catholic Church is right in condemning as
unlawful the practice of spiritualism.
In the admirable book of the Council of Baltimore lately
published in which it is enjoined on all, Bishops, Priests,
and Laity, to observe strictly, after a brief exposition of
the rogueries of Magnetism, Clairvoyance and Spiritism,
as partly foolery and partly an open door to deviltry, the
Fathers of the Council, as approved at Rome, conclude
by saying :
"It is a great solace to us that our children, beloved
in Christ, the Catholic faithful, have not, thus far, been
infected with this plague. And we exhort them, in the
Lord, that they never give countenance to Spiritism, even
in the most casual manner j and that they do not, through
any curiosity, ever be present at its circles. 7 For they
who enter the house of the devil, have all reason to fear that
they will be deluded by his devices, and enslaved to his
command. Against the vile snares of these people, the
Apostle, inspired by the Holy Ghost, spoke in prophecy
of these last days of the world : the Spirit speaketh, open
ly, that in the last days some will fall from the Faith,
adhering to spirits of error, and to doctrines of devils, in
hyprocrisy speaking falsehood, and having their conscience
scarred." 2U /., p. 83.
The claims of Spiritualism are very high, but there is
abundant proof to show that, instead of being "ancient
Christianity revived, 7 it is, perhaps, the worst enemy
that Christianity ever had to meet. It is Satan s last
grand effort to substitute his own infernal worship for the
worship of God. The snares of the devil are cunningly
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 363
laid. Thousands and millions are already his deluded
victims. Occasionally we hear a warning voice from one
who has escaped from his power, like a mariner from the
sinking wreck 5 but the greater part of Satan s deluded
followers, after they have been once initiated into the
Spiritualist " circle," are like boatmen in the midst of
a terrible whirlpool their destruction is inevitable !
Mr. J. F. Whitney, editor of the " New York Path
finder," was formerly a warm advocate of Spiritualism,
and published much in its favor. Hear what he says :
" Now after long and constant watchfulness, after see
ing for months and years the progress and practical work
ings of Spiritualism upon the devotees and its mediums,
we are compelled to speak our honest conviction, that the
manifestations coming through the acknowledged mediums,
whether rapping, tipping, writing, or entranced mediums,
have a baneful influence upon its followers, and create
discord and confusion. The generality of their teachings
inculcates false ideas, and upholds principles and theories
which, when carried out, debase men and make them
little better than the brute. . . .
" We have seen the gradual progress it makes with its
believers, and particularly its mediums, from morality to
sensuality and immorality. We have seen it gradually
undermining the foundation of good principles we have
noticed with amazement the radical change which a few
months will bring about in individuals." " We desire," he
says in conclusion, " to send forth our warning voice ; and
if our position as head of a public journal, our known
advocacy of Spiritualism, our experience, and the con
spicuous part we have played among its believers, the
honesty and fearlessness with which we have defended
364 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
the subject, will weigh anything in our favor, we desire
that our opinions may be received ; we desire that those
who are moving passively down the rushing rapids to
destruction, should pause ere it be too late and save
themselves from the blasting influence which these mani
festations are causing."
Under the description of necromancy or spiritism comes
Animal Magnestism, or Mesmerism.
" Animal magnetism, or mesmerism," as it is commonly
called, is a theoretical agent of a peculiar nature, and is
supposed to be capable of producing the most powerful
effects, in some mysterious way, on the human body.
This so-called science is of recent discovery. Its inventor
was Anton Mesmer, who studied physics at Vienna, and
took his degree of doctor of medicine in the university
of that place, in the year 1776. Whilst at Vienna he
became acquainted with a Jesuit, Father Hehl, who had
great faith in the influence of the loadstone on human
diseases, and had invented steel plates of a peculiar form,
which he impregnated with the virtues of a magnet, and
applied to the cure of diseases. From him Mesmer learned
the art of using the magnet in the cure of diseases ; and
having left Vienna, and travelled for some time in different
parts of Germany and Switzerland, continuing everywhere
to work wonderful cures, he at last set out for Paris,
where he arrived in the year 1778. Here his success in
curing patients was very great, and a society was actually
formed for purchasing his secret.
Mesmer and his followers on the Continent, and most
of those who have practised mesmerism in these countries,
have produced its effect by placing themselves near the
individual to be mesmerised, and making downward passes
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 365
with their hands over him, without touching him, but
looking him at the same time intently in the face. This
is said to affect the individual in a space of time varying
from two or three minutes to half an hour. However,
Mr. Braid, a surgeon, residing in Manchester, in the course
of his inquiries, found that a second individual was not
necessary to the successful development of mesmeric
phenomena, and that by causing a person to sit still and
simply directing his attention, by means of the eyesight,
to some particular object, all the effects of the passes and
of the intense looking of the operator could be produced.
Many theories have been propounded in order to explain
the facts of animal magnetism.
Mesmer and his immediate followers attributed them to
the action of a subtle fluid in the bodies of animals, which
enables them to exercise an influence on another at a
distance, just as a magnet affects iron ; hence he called it
animal magnetism. This hypothesis of a nervous fluid
susceptible of being influenced, and producing an in
fluence more or less modified, has been adopted by most
writers on mesmerism, till the appearance of the experi
ments made by Surgeon Braid. The mesmeric state
having been produced by Mr. Braid, it is said, without
any influence from a second person, he accounts for the
phenomena by supposing there is "a derangement of the
cerebro-spinal centres and of the circulatory and respiratory
and muscular systems, induced by a fixed state, absolute
repose of the body, fixed attention, and suppressed respir
ation, concomitant with the fixity of attention." He further
adds, that in all cases-he believes u that the whole depend
ed on the physical and psychical condition of the* patient
arising from the causes referred to ; and not at all on the
366 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
volition or passes of the operator throwing out a mag
netic fluid, or exciting into activity some mystical uni
versal fluid or medium. 7
The effects of the passes or fixed attention, on persons
of nervous susceptibility, are various. There are different
stages or degrees in reference to the effects produced by
mesmerism. The person mesmerised completely has his
eyes closed and his senses lulled, and yet he speaks and
acts he answers the questions proposed him, and mani
fests an intelligence and knowledge of which before he
gave no proofs ; and no sooner has he got out of that
mesmeric trance or state, than the knowledge displayed
previously at once departs.
To what, though, are we to attribute this strange state
effected by mesmerism f Are we to consider it as a natural
result of the process applied, or are we to attribute it to
the intervention of demons 1
To this question we simply answer that, whatever
animal magnetism or mesmerism may have been in its
origin, it has since been allied to superstition and licen
tiousness to such an extent that it has been condemned
by the Holy See, and has been forbidden as a culpable
and dangerous abuse. (Encyc. of the Holy Office, Aug.
4, 1856.)
In regard to magnetism, Catherine Emmerich says :
u My impression with regard to magnetism has always
been one of horror. Magnetism borders on magic. In
deed, it is true, the devil is not invoked, but he comes of
his own accord. Whoever practises mesmerism plucks
from nature something that can be lawfully won only in
the Church of Jesus Christ, and that preserves its power
of healing and sanctifying only in her bosom. For all
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 3G7
such as are not intimately united with Jesus Christ by
true faith and by sanctifying grace, nature is full of
satanic influences.
" Magnetic persons see nothing in its essence and in
its relation to God. They see each thing singly and
unconnected, as if they saw it through a hole or cranny.
Through magnetism they receive a single ray of light, and
would to Grod that ray were pure and holy !
" It is a blessing of Grod that he has separated and
veiled us from one another and has placed walls of clay
between us. We are so full of sin, and each one has his
own peculiar sins, so that it is a mercy that we must first
act before we can influence our neighbor by our wicked
ness and communicate it to him.
" In Jesus Christ alone, as our Head, we can become
one, purified from our sins, and sanctified. Whoever
breaks down this wall of separation in any other way,
unites himself in a most dangerous manner with fallen
nature, in which he reigns who brought nature to its fall.
" Magnetism is essentially true, but in its hidden light
there is a thief loosed from his chain ! Every union
among sinners is dangerous ; but this clear-sighted pene
tration is still more dangerous. When a soul whose in
terior is entirely open, falls through magnetism a prey to
artifice and intrigue, then one of the faculties man possessed
before the fall, and which is not yet quite dead, revives,
but only to leave the soul interiorly more unprotected and
mystified, and more exposed to the assaults of the demon.
" This state really exists, but it is covered j for it is a
spring poisoned for all except the saints.
" The condition of these clairvoyants or magnetized
persons runs, in some respects, parallel to mine, but it
368 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
moves in another direction, flows from other sources and
has other consequences. The sins of persons, in their
ordinary state of life, are committed through the senses;
the inner light is not thereby darkened, conscience warns,
and, like an unseen judge, urges the sinner to acts of
contrition and penance, and leads him to the sensible and
supernatural remedies of the Church the holy sacraments.
" The senses are the medium of sin, while the inner
light remains the accuser. But when, in the magnetic
state, the senses are dead and the inner light receives and
produces impressions, then that which is holiest in man,
the warning conscience, is exposed to sinful influence and
to evil infections, of which the soul loses all consciousness
as soon as it returns to its waking state to the life of
the senses ; and thus the soul cannot cleanse itself from
these sins by the purifying remedies of the Church.
" A soul, quite pure and reconciled with God, cannot
be wounded by the devil, even when its inner life is thus
open. But if the soul has previously consented to the
least temptation, as easily happens, especially in the case
of females, then Satan is free to play his game in the
interior of the soul, and to dazzle her with the semblance
of sanctity. And even should the magnetized person see
or learn some way of healing the mortal body, she has to
pay dearly for it by secret infection of her immortal soul ;
for through a certain magic influence, she is often defiled
by the sinful dispositions of the magnetizer.
" I saw the state of this magnetized person s soul, and
learned that her visions were not pure and not from God.
Though she did not wish to acknowledge it even to herself,
she was influenced by sensuality and the desire of pleasing;
and secretly loved the magnetizer.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 369
tl The passes the magnetizer made before the woman s
eyes, his stroking and his touches, appear to me to be
something abominable, for I could see the interior of them
both; I could see the inflowing of his nature and his
influences into her being. Satan was always present in
person, and accompanied every motion of the magnetizer.
a These mediums in their visions are in a sphere entirely
different from mine. If they have the least impure stain
in them-, before the eyes of their soul are open, they see
every thing in a false light. The devil dazzles them with
alluring images, and paints everything in glowing colors.
" If a medium, before the vision, desires to have some
thing interesting to tell, or if she harbors the least sensual
desire, she is in the greatest danger of falling into sin.
Many indeed are healed bodily through mesmerism, but
the greater part of them leave the magnetizer with their
soul in a worse condition than when they came, without
knowing where the evil was communicated to them."
" Vampire" means a blood-sucker, and is said to be a
man who returns in body and soul from the other world,
and wanders about the earth doing every kind of mischief
to the living, generally by sucking their blood when
asleep, and thus causing their death. Those who are
destroyed in this way, we are told, become themselves
vampires. The only way, it is said, of getting rid of such
revolting visitors, is, according to Dom Calmet, (Disserta
tion sur les Vampires) to disinter their bodies, to pierce them
with a stake cut from a green tree, to cut off their heads, and
burn their bodies. The belief in l i vampires " has prevailed
for many ages in Hungary, Bohemia, Austria, Greece,
and all through the East. Of all those countries Hungary
may be considered as the principal seat of "vampires/
370 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
and scarcely a century has elapsed since all Europe was
filled with reports about the deeds of vampires in Hungary
and Servia. The belief became so general in those coun
tries, in the middle of the eighteenth century, that
Louis XV. of France commissioned the Due de Richelieu,
his ambassador at Vienna, personally to ascertain in
Hungary the reality of vampirism.
In some Hungarian papers, the manner and habits of
those vampires are described ; as, for instance, that when
lying in their graves they suck and chew their winding
sheets, and that, therefore, it was necessary to bind their
hands, that they might not be able to turn about in their
coffins. Many believe that " vampires," notwithstanding
all the means used to destroy their bodies, will resume
their shape, and recommence their mischievous wander
ings as soon as the rays of moonlight fall on their graves.
Innumerable stories, more or less wonderful, have been
circulated in reference to vampirism ; yet, despite the
apparent evidence of certain facts, there are very few
persons, nowadays, who attach the slightest importance
to the accounts circulated about " vampires."
" Whatever has been related of their return to life,"
says Dom Calmet, "of their appearances, of the alarm
and dread which they cause in town and country, and of
the death which they inflict by sucking the blood of the
living all this is but a delusion, and the result of an over
heated imagination, and of a mind strongly prejudiced.
No sane, serious, unprejudiced witness can be cited, who
can say that he saw, touched, felt, questioned, or examin
ed such spirits, or who could assure us of the reality of
their return to life, and of the effects which are general
ly attributed to them." It is very likely that the super-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 371
slition about the vampire has derived considerable strength
from cases where men, supposed to be dead, have been
buried alive. Such cases have happened in many countries,
as has been shown by the altered position of the body in
the coffin, spots of blood on the torn winding- sheets, bites
on the hands, and other marks of the trouble and despair be
fore life became extinct ; and it is probable that such signs
have been sometimes interpreted as the marks of vampirism.
10. What is astrology ?
Astrology assumes to forecast the fate of nations and of
individuals, and the changes in the elements, from the
aspects of the heavenly bodies.
In common language there are still remaining somo
faint traces of the once almost universal belief in astrology,
as when we speak of being born under a lucky star, and of
blessing our stars.
What possible connection can there be between the stars
and the destinies of men! St. Augustine proves by a story
of his own day how ridiculous the notion is that stars can
exercise a particular influence on the destiny of a person.
"The circumstance occurred to one of his friends, named
Firminius, who related it to him in these terms: "My
father was so superstitious, that, some time before I came
into the world he consulted the stars in order to read my
fortune. He had a friend who was addicted to astrology
no less than himself; this friend likewise consulted the stars
for one of his domestics, who was on the point of giving
birth to a child. They agreed together that one should
send a messenger to the other to apprise him of the day
and hour on which the respective births should take place.
By a singular chance, the messengers, s,et out a,t the same
372 COMMANDMENTS OP GOD.
moment from the two houses, and met midway on the
road, which proves that the two children were born
exactly at the same time. Well ! behold the folly of fortune
tellers : my father pretended to have read in the stars
that I was to be a great genius, and all my life through, a
favorite of fortune. His friend, who had been observing
the heavens at the same moment, and who, consequently,
should have seen just what he did, assured him that he
saw quite the contrary, an evident proof that there is
nothing more ridiculous, more absurd, than observations
of this kind." D. GENEVAUX, Histories choisies, p. 436.
When the Greek Emperor, Comenus, was very ill, the
Patriarch, Theodosius, earnestly exhorted him not to lose
time in settling the affairs of his kingdom, and making
arrangements about his youngest son, Alexius. But the
emperor answered that he had been assured he would live
fourteen years more, and that his informant was one whose
word could not be questioned, as he was an astrologer. As
his malady appeared not to abate, but rather increased
from day to day, he gave up all hope of living much long
er, settled his affairs as well as he could, detested and
bewailed his superstition, and died a short time after.
11. What is witchcraft?
Witchcraft is to try, with the help of the devil, to injure
others in their person or property.
Witchcraft consists in trying, by the help of the devil,
to injure others j to bewitch them, make them fall into
diseases or into poverty 5 to torment them with pains 5 to
hurt their cattle, to excite them to impure love, to inspire
them with hatred to certain persons and the like. To
do anything of the kind is a great abomination, in the
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 373
sight of God, and a most grievous sin against charity and
justice. The idolatrous parents of St. Cyprian, surnaraed
the magician, were given up to all kinds of superstition.
They devoted their son from his infancy to the devil.
They brought him up in all kinds of impious practices of
superstition. They sent him to Athens, Mount Olympus,
Macedon, Argos, Phrygia, Memphis in Egypt, Chaldea, and
the Indies, in order that, in these places so famous for super
stition and the black art, he might make great discoveries
in these infernal, pretended sciences.
When Cyprian was imbued with all the extravagances of
devilish delusion, he no longer hesitated to commit any kind
of crime. He blasphemed Christ, and committed secret
murders of children, in order to offer their blood and inspect
their bowels, and thus learn future events. He employed
his infernal skill against the modesty of virgins ; but he found
Christian women proof against his assaults and spells.
There lived at Antioch a young woman called Justina.
her nobility and beauty drew all eyes upon her. She was
born of heathen parents, but was converted to the Catholic
faith. Her conversion was followed by that of her parents.
Now it happened that a young nobleman, a pagan, fell
deeply in love with her, and finding her modesty inacces
sible, and her resolution invincible, he applied to Cyprian
for the assistance of his black art. Cyprian was no less
taken with the young virgin than his friend. He tried
all the secrets of black art to conquer her resolutions, and
excite her to impure love. When Justina perceived her
self vigorously attacked, she armed herself with prayer,
watchfulness and mortification against all his artifices and
the power of his spells. "She defeated and put to flight
the devils by the sign of the holy cross/ says Photius.
374 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
When Cyprian found himself worsted by a superior pow
er, he began to consider the weakness of the hellish
spirits, and resolved to give up their service. The devil
was enraged at the loss of one by whom he had gained so
many souls. To avenge himself on Cyprian, he assailed
him with the utmost fury ; he filled his soul with a deep
melancholy, and brought him near the brink of despair by
showing to him the enormity of his past crimes.
In this great perplexity of mind, he felt inspired by the
grace of God to go and see a holy priest, named Eusebius,
who had been his school-fellow. By the advice of this
priest, he was wonderfully comforted and encouraged in his
conscience. On the following Sunday, very early in the
morning, he was conducted by the priest to the assembly
of the Christians. Every one was astonished to see Cyprian
introduced by the priest among them. The bishop could
hardly believe his own eyes, and be persuaded that
Cyprian s conversion was sincere.
But on the day following, Cyprian gave him a proof of
his sincerity by burning all his magical books. He, more
over, gave all he possessed to the poor, and joined the
Catechumens. When he was sufficiently instructed in
the Christian doctrine, he was baptised by the bishop.
Agladius, the first suitor to the holy virgin, was likewise
converted and baptised. Justina herself was so deeply
impressed by these examples of divine mercy, that she
cut off her hair, dedicated her virginity to God, and gave
all- her jewels and other possessions to the poor. After
his conversion, Cyprian began to lead a most exemplary
life. He edified every one by his humility, modesty,
gravity, love of God, contempt of riches, and assiduous
application to heavenly things. After he had been door-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 375
keeper and sweeper of the Church for some time, he was
promoted to the priesthood, and after the death of Anthi-
mus the bishop, he was made bishop of Antioch. He died,
at last, a martyr under the persecution of the emperor
Diocletian.
12. What is sorcery 1
Sorcery is to try, with the help of the devil, to do wonder
ful things.
St. Luke relates, in the Acts of the Apostles, (chap,
viii.), that a certain man, named Simon the Magician, had
acquired a great reputation in the city of Samaria. This
man seduced the people by his magical practices. He
gave out that he was some great one. All gave ear to
him, from the least to the greatest, saying : a This man is
the power of God, which is called great."
The infernal spirit tried to oppose these illusions and
artifices to the true miracles of Christ, as he was suffered
to assis the magicians of the King Pharaoh against Moses.
But God, when He permits the devil to exert in so extra
ordinary a manner his natural strength and powers, always
furnishes His servants with the means of discerning and
confounding the imposture.
Accordingly, the clear miracles wrought, at that time,
by St. Philip the Deacon, put the magician quite out of
countenance. Being himself witness to them, and seeing
the people run to Philip, he also believed, or rather pre
tended to believe, and, being baptized, he adhered to
Philip, hoping to attain to the power of effecting miracles
like those which he saw him perform. The Apostles of
Jerusalem, learning of the conversion of Samaria, sent
thither St. Peter and St. John to confirm the converts by
376 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
the imposition of hands. With the grace of the Sacra
ment of Confirmation, at that time, were usually conferred
certain external gifts of miraculous power. Simon, seeing
these communicated to the laity by the imposition of the
hands of the Apostles, offered them money, saying, "Give
me also this power, that on whomsoever I shall lay
my hands he may receive the Holy Ghost." But St. Peter
said to him : u Keep thy money to thyself, to perish with
thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may
be purchased with money. Do penance for this thy wick
edness, and pray to God, if perhaps this thought of thy
heart may be forgiven thee. For I see thou art in the gall
of bitterness, and engaged in the bonds of iniquity."
Simon, fearing the threat of temporal evils, answered :
" Pray for me to the Lord that none of these things may
come upon me."
The Fathers of the Church generally look upon the
conversion of Simon to the faith as an act of hyprocrisy,
founded only in ambition and temporal views, and in the
hope of purchasing the gifts of the Holy Ghost, which he
ascribed to a superior magical art.
Simon the Magician, having been confounded in Sa
maria, went to Rome, where he gained a high reputation.
St. Justin, Martyr, Sts. Irseneus, Tertullian, Eusebius, and
others, assure us that divine honors were paid to him.
there. Simon found means to ingratiate himself with
Nero, the Roman Emperor ; for Nero was, above all other
mortals, infatuated with the superstitions of the black art
to the last degree of folly and extravagance. To excel
in this art was one of his greatest passions, and for this
purpose he spared no expense and hesitated about no
crimes.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 377
Simon Magus, then, by his vain boastings and illusions
could not fail to please the tyrant. The Fathers assure
us that this famous magician had promised the Emperor
and the people to fly in the air, carried by his angels,
thus pretending to imitate the ascension of Christ. Ac
cordingly, he raised himself in the air, by his magical
power, in presence of the Emperor.
St. Peter and St. Paul, seeing the delusion, betook
themselves to prayer, whereupon the devil lost his power,
the imposter fell to the ground, was bruised, and broke a
leg ; so that he who undertook to fly in the air, was, in a
short time after, no longer able to walk on the ground.
He died, a few days after, in rage and confusion.
(Butler s Lives of the Saints, vol. ii., pp. 348, 463, 464.)
St Augustine tells us in his book, " The City of God,"
(book xviii., 18.) " that when in Italy, he heard in a cer
tain place of that country, there were women, keepers of
inns who, being imbued with the wricked arts, were said
to be in the habit of giving to such travellers as they
chose, or could manage, something in a piece of cheese by
which they were changed on the spot into beasts of burden,
and carried whatever was necessary, and were restored
to their own form when the work was done. Yet their
minds did not become bestial, but remained rational and
human.
" Now, if the demons really do such things, they do
not create real substances, but only change the appear
ance of things created by Almighty God so as to make
them seem what they are not in reality. I cannot, there
fore, believe that even the body, much less the mind,
can really be changed into bestial forms and lineaments
by any reason, art or power of the demons ; but the
378 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
phantasm of a man, which even in thought or dreams
goes through innumerable changes, may, when the man s
senses are asleep or overpowered, be presented to the
senses of others in a bodily form, in so me indescribable
way unknown to me, so that men s bodies themselves may
lie somewhere, alive, indeed, yet with their senses much
more heavily bound than in sleep, while that phantasm,
as it were, embodied in the shape of some animal, may
appear to the senses of others and may even seem to the
man himself in sleep to be changed, and to bear burdens ;
and these burdens, if they are real substances, are borne
by the demons, that men may be deceived by beholding at
the same time the real substance of the burdens and the
simulated bodies of the beasts of burden. For a certain
man, called Praestantius, used to tell that it happened to
his father in his own house, that he took that poison in a
piece of cheese, arid lay in his bed as if sleeping, yet could
by no means be aroused. But he said that after a few
days he, as it were, woke up and related the things he had
suffered, as if they had been dreams, namely, that he had
been made a sumpter horse, and, along with other beasts
of burden, had carried provisions for the soldiers of what
is called the Rhaetian Legion, because it was sent to Rhae-
tia. And it was found that all this took place really as
he told, but it seemed to him that it was but a dream.
" And another man declared that in his own house at
night, before he fell asleep, he saw a certain philosopher
whom he knew very well, come to his house and .explain
to him some things in the Platonic philosophy, which he
had previously declined to explain when asked. Now
when he asked this philosopher why he came to his house
to explain what he had to do at home, he said : 6 1 did
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 379
not do it, but I dreamed I had done it. 7 And thus what
the one saw when asleep was shown to the other when
awake, by a phantasmal image.
"These things have come to us from trustworthy persons
whom we could not suppose to be deceiving us. There
fore what men say about the Arcadians being often changed
into wolves by the Arcadian gods, or demons rather, if such
transformations took place in appearance, they have, in
my opinion, happened in the way I have said."
A fact similar to those related by St. Augustine, is
related by Goerres. He tells us that a woman, accused of
being a werewolf, anointed her body in presence of the
magistrate who promised not to kill her if she would give
a specimen of her art. Immediately after anointing, she
fell on the ground and slept profoundly. After three
hours she awoke and told the magistrate that she had
been changed into a wolf, and had torn to pieces a sheep
and a cow near a village a few miles off, which she named.
The magistrate sent to the village and found that the
mischief had really been done.
Fortune-telling. Fortune-tellers are generally gipsies
or idle strollers, who go about the country to make their
living by imposing on the credulity of ignorant and silly
people, persuading them that they can tell them whatever
they wish to know, as if God had revealed his secrets to
them, or made things of the future known to them.
The means for telling fortunes is sometimes what is
called u cutting cards," " reading cups," " a lock of hair ;"
other times, "the careful scanning of the furrows or creases
in the palm of the hand." But very often fortunes are told
without having recourse to any external means.
What can be more absurd than to believe that our
380 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
fortune can be read in cards, cups, in the palm of the
hand, in a lock of hair, and in the like. It is, therefore,
the height of folly to consult fortune-tellers, and it is,
moreover, a great sin to believe firmly in fortune-telling.
But many will say that they do these things for amuse
ment. But let them remember that what begins in amuse
ment, ends very often in earnest.
There are many persons who began to tell fortunes in
play, and became at last convinced that they could, with
certainty, tell what would happen by using such means,
because they often found that, by the use of these super
stitious practices, their predictions came true.
Now this can be easily explained. God allows the
devil to be connected with these things, in order to punish
the crime of those who use them. "It happens, some
times," says St. Augustine, " that through the illusions
and the deceit of the fallen angels, and through many
superstitious means, that several things past and to come
are told and foretold, and do not happen otherwise than
they are foretold. And when persons find that their ob
servations come to pass, this heightens their curiosity,
and entangles them more in the snares of a most pernicious
error." (L. ii. de Doct. Christ.)
"Charms and spells" are certain words, sentences, or
things, used by superstitious people to procure health for
man and beast, to preserve them from some particular evils
with which they may be threatened, or to obtain some
advantage or other such as sewing certain things in one s
clothes, pronouncing certain words, tying things about
some parts of the body, carrying papers about one with cer
tain unknown names and figures written on them, for the
purpose of curing, for example, the tooth-ache. To use
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 381
sacred tilings to produce an effect which they have no
power to produce, either from nature or God, or from
any blessings of the Church, is also detested by God,
and forbidden by His holy law. It is superstitious to recite
prayers, though good in themselves, in a certain deter
mined number of times, believing by these means that we
shall infallibly be preserved from sickness, or that our
health will certainly be restored.
Certain verses of Scripture written in a certain figure
with other unknown characters, and sewed in one s
clothes, as a certain means to ward off sudden death, is
also superstitious, and a charm under the cover of
piety, introduced by the devil, who can transform him
self into an angel of light, in order to deceive and ruin
easy and credulous souls. u Philosophize as long as you
please upon them," says St. Chrysostom, "and tell me
that you call upon God and do nothing else, and that the
old woman you make use of is a Christian and Catholic,
I tell you it is idolatry and a charm : and no doubt some
times the devil makes use of the appearances of piety to
hide his treachery, and give poison in honey. 7 (Lib. ii.
de Doct. Christ, c. 20.)
The great St. Bernard, in his youth, was at one time
afflicted with a violent headache, which deprived him of
all rest, and which all the remedies prescribed were
unable to relieve. Thereupon some of the attendants
bethought themselves of a woman, who was reported to
have ,the power of healing diseases by means of certain
charms applied to the sick person. They accordingly
introduced her into his chamber, but no sooner had the
holy youth perceived her intention than he leaped from
his bed, and drove her hastily from the room. Having
382 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
done so, he again lay down, but this time fell into a
refreshing slumber, on awaking from which he found
himself entirely cured. Life of St. Bernard.
One day some gypsies met with a young peasant who
was herding swine. They told him that they could give
.him an excellent means to prevent his herd, even in his ab
sence, from scattering and being devoured by wild beasts,
These words strongly excited the herdsman s curiosity,
for he would be well pleased to be able to go away now
and then for a little relaxation. The strangers then
showed him a little image of St. Blaise, and told him he
had only to fasten that to his stick, and then plant it
wherever he wished his swine to remain. The herdsman
failed not to make the trial. The first and the second
time, having still some doubt as to the efficacy of the
plan, he went but a short "distance from his herd, and
found nothing wrong on his return. Encouraged by this
apparent success, and full of confidence in the virtue of
his image, he planted his stick again, and went off to join
some of his companions two or three miles away. He
btaid long without any uneasiness ; but in the evening
when he returned, he found that all his swine had van
ished, and no trace of any of them could he find. The
adventurers who had dicovered to him their famous secret,
had counted on his credulity ; they had concealed them
selves behind the bushes, and profited by the absence of
the simple young herdsman to take away his swine.
SCHMID et BELET, Cat. Hist., II., 64.
It is also a superstitious practice to believe that those
who carry about them the Rosary or Scapular, or such
marks of piety, shall never be damned, or at the hour of
death they certainly shall repent and have the benefits
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 383
of the sacraments, although they have neglected them all
their lives. "The vanity and superstition of those are
abominable/ 7 says the Council of Cambray, held in the
year 1565, "who for certain promise themselves that they
shall not depart this life without penance and the sacra
ments, because they have a devotion to this or that saint ;
who place a security in the things they carry about them,
and think that they shall certainly have the success they
desire j and whatever else of this nature is made use of
and believed." The devotions of the Rosary and Scapular
are undoubtedly good and laudable ; and so, too, is the
practice of carrying about us relics, or a St John s gospel,
the image of Christ, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or any
of the saints, provided all this be done with a pious atten
tion, without placing in them a certainty of salvation,
which is unwarrantable, and not approved by the Church.
The Ark of the Covenant was a great treasure for the
Jews. When it was carried around the city of Jericho,
the walls of the city fell down ; when the Jews had arrived
with it at the River Jordan, the waters of the river divided,
the lower part flowing off, and the upper part rising like
a mountain. Now after the Jews had lost four thousand
men in one day, in a war against the Philistines, they had
the Ark brought into the camp, hoping that, for its sake,
the Lord would protect them, and deliver their enemies
into their hands. And the ancients of Israel said : "Why
hath the Lord defeated us to-day before the Philistines ?
Let us fetch unto us the Ark of the Covenant of the
Lord from Silo, and let it come in the midst of us, that
it may save us from the hands of our enemies. And
when the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord was come into
the camp, all Israel shouted with a great joy, and the
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
earth rang again." (1. Kings, iv.) Now they thought they
had no more to fear from their enemies, who, at the sight
of the Ark of the Covenant, were panic-stricken j so much
so, that they cried out, "God is come into the camp.
And sighing they said. Woe to us ; who shall deliver us
from the hands of these high Gods 1 "
With new courage the Jews began to fight again. Were
they victorious ? By no means j they were defeated
worse than ever, losing thirty thousand men, besides the
the Ark of the Covenant. One might ask here : Did God
cease to love the Israelites ? Most assuredly not. His
love still remained the same as before. Why, then, were
they defeated in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant,
which was given to them as a sign of the Divine blessing
and protection? "But for the love of his Ark," says
Theodoret, " God did not wish to protect His people,
because, after having previously offended Him, they did
not repent of their sins. It was with sinful hearts they
paid outward honor to the Ark. They shouted with great
joy as soon as they beheld it, but there was not one who
shed a tear of repentance, no one prayed and sighed with
a sorrowful heart. Hence the Ark brought down no
blessing upon them at that time."
In like manner, let Catholics wear as many scapulars,
Agnus Deis, relics of the saints, gospels of St. John as they
please, all these articles of devotion will not save them,
if they continue to live in sin.
DREAMS. To give credit to dreams or to allow our ac
tions to be regulated by dreams, by persuading ourselves
that from them we know what is to happen, and how our
affairs are to succeed, is a very superstitious practice, and
strictly forbidden by God. To attach importance to dreams
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 385
argues in us folly and silliness as well as impiety. Must
not every sane man admit, that dreams and the idle fancies
which come into our heads in sleep proceed from the
constitution of our bodies from the humors, indigestions,
and the like by which the body is afflicted from the
fumes of what we have been eating and drinking, or from
the thoughts which engaged our minds on retiring to sleep.
And such being the case, is it not absurd to take them as
pointing out what is about to happen to us, or to consider
them a rule by which to regulate our acts ? This it is
that made the wise man say : "Dreams lift up fools. The
man that giveth heed to lying visions is like to him that
catcheth at a shadow, and followeth after the wind. . . .
What truth can come from that which is false ? Deceit
ful divinations and lying omens, arid the dreams of evil
doers, are vanity .... for dreams have deceived many,
and they have failed that put their trust in them." (Eccles.
xxxiv., 1.) The impious Manasses, King of Juda, was
guilty of the superstition of giving credit to dreams, and
with^ this crime and the practice of others like it, he is
reproached in Scripture. Giving credit to dreams has
been condemned by many councils 5 and a council held in
Paris in the year 820, says that to credit dreams is a
relic of paganism.
However, it is not forbidden to give credit to dreams
when there are good grounds for thinking that they come
from God: for often dreams do come from God. In the
Old Law particularly, God was pleased to make known
his will to his servants by means of dreams, for in the
Old Law he had not so fully revealed the divine truths to
mankind as he has done in his Gospel. And so we find
mention made in the Old Testament of the dreams of
386 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Jacob, Laban, Joseph, Pharaoh, Nebuchodonozor, Daniel,
the three wise men 5 and in the New Law we read of the
orders of God made known to St. Joseph in a dream.
Almighty God, in the book of Numbers says : "If there
be among you a prophet of the Lord, I will appear to him
in a vision, or I will speak to him in a dream." (Num.?
xii., 6.) And in the book of Samuel, we are told that
Saul "consulted the Lord, and he answered him not,
neither by dreams, nor by priests nor by prophets. 7 (1
Sam., xxviii., 6.) Historians relate many conversions
effected by means of dreams or supernatural visions.
Eusebius tells us that Arnobius was often urged in his
dreams to examine closely into the Christian religion, for
which, up to that time, he entertained no other sentiments
than those of hatred and contempt ; and that he did so ;
and his prejudices giving way to the light of reason and
the proofs of the divinity of the Christian religion, he
abjured paganism, and embraced the religion of Jesus.
But it must not be forgotten that, as we see from the
examples above, when God makes known his will to men
by dreams, they always were either great saints or prophets,
or people in a public character ; and that his will was
made known to such, not on account of trifling, unimpor
tant matters, but for some great object that had reference
to the public good. For, it nowhere appears that he
communicated his will by dreams to ordinary mortals,
and for objects of every-day occurrence. And fearing
that others should be induced to give credit to dreams,
God makes an express and general law that no one should
give credit to them : " Let there be none among you that
observeth dreams . . . for the Lord abhorreth all these
things." (Deut.j xviii., 10.) But this general prohibition
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 387
did not make the servants of God let pass unheeded the
manifestations of his will when communicated to them in
dreams j for these dreams were accompanied by such pecu
liar circumstances, as to prove that they certainly came
from God. For the subject proposed in the dreams to the
servants of God was invariably good 5 the manner in which
it was proposed, decent, distinct, and unequivocal j and
peace, humility, fervor, and piety were consequent on
those dreams.
There are many who believe that the very contrary of
what they dream will certainly take place 5 and this notion
of dreams is indeed ridiculous and foolish in the extreme.
If they dream of gold or silver, they think they will be
poor and wretched ; if they have pleasing and happy
dreams, they are, they say, to meet with difficulties and
trials during the day ; if they dream of a friend that he is
happy, he is soon, they imagine, to die. Can there be a
greater absurdity than this ?
A variety of other superstitious practices.
It would be almost an endless task to mention all the
superstitious practices in use.
It is superstition to believe that I shall have ill-luck if
I stumble on the threshold as I go out of the house, or if I
put on my right shoe first, or if I meet with a man with
one eye, or one that is sick and lame. It is superstition
to believe that some misfortune shall befall me if I should
meet a magpie on the road, if a hare crosses my path, or
if a crow should croak from the house-top. It is also
superstition not to begin a journey, or to commence any
business upon days that are considered unlucky, and
particularly that day of the week on which the feast of
Holy Innocents falls that year not to get married on
3 (S3 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Friday, or in May or August, such times supposed to be
unlucky. Now, what power have these things to forbode
good or bad luck ? Surely, none. They have no power
of themselves, nor from nature, nor much less any power
from God. They have no power, then, at all j and conse
quently observing these things and regulating our actions
accordingly, is no less folly and credulity than sin.
If superstitious people will say that they know from
experience that their observances of things are not vain
but well grounded, such may be the case in their regard,
who allow themselves to be influenced by such idle fears,
for it may happen that God permits them for their punish
ment, that through means of the devil these things may
have an evil influence. It is, indeed, hard to account for the
way in which some people act and speak. There is cer
tainly but one thing that can bring us ill luck or make
our affairs go wrong, and that one thing is sin. And yet
a great many people have no concern about it ; and the
very first thing they do in the morning is to call on the
devil to take themselves or their families, or to wish bad
luck to themselves or their affairs, and yet they have no
fear of any evil consequences from their cursing, whilst
from some little mistake or foolish occurrence they are
terrified, lest some evil come upon them. This is, indeed,
strange ! Do not the Scriptures tell us, that " If God be
for us, who can be against us? " And, u That all things
work together for good to them that love God. 7
It is also superstition to say that it is unlucky to pare
one s nails or comb one s hair on Fridays, or wash linen
on such days. To present one with a penknife, some will
say, is unlucky, for it cuts friendship ; if a grave be made
on such a day, another will say, a great many will die that
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 389
year in the parish ; if we have rain on St. Swithin s day,
many will say, we will have rain esrery day for forty days.
To enumerate all the other nonsensical and supersti
tious remarks that are made every day, would be end
less. The observance of lucky and unlucky days is a
superstition that is derived from the ancient pagans, and
even in the time of the Apostles began to creep in among
Christians. It was for this that St. Paul, in writing to
the Galatians, says : " You observe days, and months, and
years 5 I am in fear for you, lest, perhaps, I labored in
vain among you. 7 (Gal., iv., 11).
A widow, advanced in years, became one day danger
ously ill. Her daughter earnestly implored of her to have
the priest sent for that she might receive the last sacra
ments of the Church ; but she made answer that there
was no necessity. The daughter spoke to a friend in the
neighborhood on the subject, and asked the person to
unite her entreaties with her own, in inducing her mother
to have the priest sent for j but the old woman answered
laughing: u Fear not ; I am not going to die yet. The
cuckoo has prophesied that I have twelve more years to
live." There are some who think that the number of
years they will have to live will be in exact proportion to
the number of continued notes they have heard from a
cuckoo. As she was every day getting worse, the daugh
ter sent for the priest at last. The priest came at once,
but when he entered the house the old superstitious wo
man was without sense or feeling, and remained so until
she died. Lohn, Bibl. iii., 559.
St. Chrysostom, in his homily against those that ob
serve new moons, says : " It is the greatest madness to
expect that your affairs for the whole year should be
390 COMMANDMENTS- OF GOD.
successful, because you began them on such a day. Nay,
it is not only madness, but an argument of a strange
diabolical impulse, to attribute the prosperity of our life
to the occurrence of a certain day, and not to our own
care and industry. A day is not lucky or unlucky of its
own nature, for one day differs not from another, but it
becomes such by our own industry or our sloth. If you
employ it in virtue, it will be a lucky day, and merit a
reward from God ; if you spend it in wickedness, it will
be an unlucky day, and deserves his anger and punish
ment." Oh, how misguided are many Christians ! They
will make no difficulty in marry irig contrary to the laws
of the Church, which is offensive to God, and which will
be the cause of much misery and unhappinesss in the
marriage state ; and they will not marry in the break
of the moon, because the devil suggests that their marriage
will be unhappy if they do so. Surely, this manner of
acting must be most offensive to God. Regard not, then,
good and bad omens, lucky and unlucky days, for these
are relics of paganism, and the pomps and snares of the
devil. Beware of the devil in all shapes, and never build
an assurance of salvation upon any particular form of
prayer.
Louis XIII., King of France, was not one of those who
shared the silly belief that Friday was an unlucky day.
Having fallen dangerously ill, in 1643, Extreme Unction
was proposed to him. He wished to have the opinion of
his physicians ; he asked Bouvard whether his disease were
curable. " Sire" said Bouvard, " God is all-powerful"
Then the king, with a gay and smiling countenance, said
in the words of the prophet : Lcetatus sum in Ms quce dicta
sunt mihi, in domum Domini ibimus : "I rejoiced at the
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 391
things they have told me : we shall go into the ho is of
the Lord." And believing that he was to die on the fol
lowing day, which was Friday, he immediately added :
" 0, the desirable, 0, the agreeable news ! 0, the blessed
day for me ! this is indeed a lucky Friday ! But this is
not the first time that Fridays have been favorable to me.
It was on Friday I ascended the throne, that I gained my
first victory at Ponts-de-Ce, that I took the city of St.
John d Angely, and, finally, that I fought Soubisse at
I lle de Re. But this one will be the happiest of all my
life, since it will place me in heaven, there to reign eter
nally with my God." It was in these Christian sentiments
that this wise prince prepared to receive the last sacra
ments, and then to appear before God. He died at St.
Germain en Laye, on the 14th of May, 1643. GUILLOIS,
Explic. du Cat., 182.
No good Christian, then, will ever use superstitious
means and practices.
Almighty God has appointed two different ways of as
sisting us in our necessities. The one is by natural means ;
thus medicines are appointed by God as the natural
means for recovering health; food is appointed by him as
the natural means of supporting life; prudent examination
with reflection is appointed by him to find out the truth
of those things that it is well that we should know. The
other way is by supernatural means; thus prayers, and
particularly the prayers of the Church, whether applied
to us immediately or by means of those creatures which
she blesses for that purpose, are appointed by God as
supernatural means for procuring for us many good things
both of soul and body. Fasting and almsdeeds are, too,
appointed by God as means for obtaining his mercies and
392 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
favors. So also the holy relics of the saints are often,
through his infinite goodness, made the means of procur
ing for us many advantages j as also other pious practices
which the holy Church approves, and which we may law
fully and laudably perform, that we may bring down
upon our affairs the heavenly blessings of our Lord. But
if we have recourse to superstitious means to obtain what
we desire, we shall not only not obtain the desired favor,
but we shall also lose our soul.
The Sin of Irreligion.
We have said that two sins can be committed against the
virtue of religion the sins of superstition and irreligion.
We have seen what the sin of superstition is, and in how
many ways it may be committed. Let us now see what
the sin of irreligion is, and how it is committed.
The word " irreligion" means a want of due reverence
for God and holy things. The sin of irreligion, therefore,
consists in showing disrespect to God and holy things.
Now, this may be done, (1,) by tempting God ; (2,) by
committing sacrilege ; and, (3,) by simony.
1. By tempting God. To tempt any one, means to
sound him and try to find out what his power and senti
ments are in our regard. To tempt God, then, means to
call upon him and expect that he will show his power, or
wisdom or mercy, at our pleasure, and in ways that he
has not promised. There is a man who, without a spe
cial divine inspiration, abstains from food for forty days,
trusting that God, by his power, will preserve his health
and life.
There is another. He is very sick. He prays for the
recovery of his health, but despises the natural means for
recovering it.
ogo
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
There is another. He prays for success in a matter
of great importance, but neglects to use the natural means
for success. There is another. He exposes himself,
without just cause, to the proximate occasion of sin, hop
ing that God, in his mercy, will preserve him from falling
into sin. There is another. He borrows a large sum of
money, hoping, that God, in his goodness, will send him
the means to return it.
There is another. He exposes himself, without a grave
cause, to the danger of life, believing that, by the power
of God, he will escape all danger.
There is another. He enters upon a state of life, with
out having all that is necessary to be able to comply with
the obligations of that state of life, hoping that God, in his
goodness, will supply what is wanting to him.
There is another. He goes to pray, and expects to
pray with fervor and confidence without due previous
preparation for prayer, hoping that God will supply such
preparation.
Now, all such persons show a want of due reverence
for God ; for the Lord, who is the giver of all natural and
supernatural blessings, has given us natural and super
natural means to obtain those blessings ; and to neglect the
use of those means, and yet expect from God his blessings,
is to expect them in ways that he has not appointed.
This is to tempt the Lord, and such a tempting of God is
a mortal sin. We read in the Gospel of St. Matthew, that
the devil tempted our Saviour when standing on the pin
nacle of the temple, and said to him : " Cast thyself down,
for it is written : That he hath given his angels charge of
thee, and in their hands shall they bear thee up, lest
perhaps, thou hurt thy foot against a stone." Our Saviour
394 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
answered : " It is written again, thou shalt not tempt the
Lord, thy God." (chapt. iv.)
13. What is a sacrilege ?
Sacrilege is the profanation of holy persons, of holy places
or of holy things.
Persons, places and things are considered holy if they
are consecrated for the service and the worship of God,
and not used for worldly purposes. By such a consecration
to the service of the Lord, they are invested with a sacred
inviolable character. Hence, whatever tends to bring
contempt, insult, or ridicule on the religion of Christ, its
priests, its temples, ceremonies and sacred things, is an
insult offered to the Lord of all glory and sanctity, and
such an insult is the sin of sacrilege, which is a most griev
ous sin. With regard to holy persons, that is, priests and
religious, sacrilege is committed by him who strikes them j
for to beat them is to show great contempt and irreverence
for their sacred character. It is also the sin of sacrilege
to commit a sin against the sixth commandment with any
person consecrated to God by the vow of chastity.
With regard to holy places, that is, churches, chapels,
monasteries, cemeteries, and other religious houses, or
property destined for the support of the clergy, churches
and other pious purposes, the sin of sacrilege is commit
ted by those who rob, or maliciously burn or destroy them,
or who, contrary to the end for which they were intended,
convert them into places for buying and selling, gaming,
drinking or other profane uses. These persons incur
excommunication. Want of due respect and reverence
shown to a person consecrated to God is a greater sacrilege
than that which is committed by profaning holy places,
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 395
because the sacred character of the priests of God
surpasses that of all places of worship. It is also a sac
rilege to defile a holy place, by committing in it a grievous
sin in word or action, for instance, by speaking very
obscenely, or by blaspheming God, or- the saints.
With regard to holy things, that is, the holy sacraments,
the sacred vases of the sanctuary, the images and relics
of the saints, the ornaments of the church and the vest
ments of the priests, the sin of sacrilege is committed by
those who receive any of the sacraments unworthily,
especially the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. This sin
is also committed by those who, by way of mockery,
wear the priestly vestments, mimic the sacred ceremonies
of Mass or of any of the sacraments, administer or receive
any of the sacraments, convert the holy oil or sacred
vessels to profane purposes, show disrespect to the holy
Bible, or to holy images and relics by throwing them on
the ground in contempt, trampling them under foot and the
like. All such acts are sacrilegious, most impious and
highly criminal.
That Almighty God detests sacrilege, and has severely
punished those who have brought into contempt or shown
irreverence to holy persons, places, or things, is easily
proved from his sacred writings and from history. With
respect to sacred persons, we read in the book of Kings,
that when Zacharias, thes on of Joiada the priest,
reproved king Joas for his impiety, the .king s servants
collected around him, and stoned him at the king s com
mand, in the court of the house of the Lord. "And
when he was dying, he said, The Lord see, and require
it. And when a year was come about, the army of Syria
came up against Joas ? and they carne tq Ju(}a and Jeru-
396 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
salem, and they killed all the princes of the people. ...
And on Joas they executed shameful judgments. And
departing they left him in great diseases. And his ser
vants rose up against him, for revenge of the blood of the
son of Joiada the priest, and they slew him upon his bed,
and he died. (2 Chron., xxiv.)
It happened not long ago in this country, that a certain
bad Catholic was admonished by his parish priest to put
an end to the scandal he gave to the whole parish. In
stead of entering into himself he began to ridicule the
priest publicly. But he was soon after punished by
Almighty God. He broke his leg and became a cripple.
In a place where our Fathers gave a mission, a certain
man named one of his horses after the name of one of the
Fathers, thus to bring contempt and ridicule upon them.
What happened ? The horse died suddenly.
With regard to lioly tilings and sacred vessels, we find in
many parts of Scripture frequent examples of the hatred
in which God held all profanation of them, and of the
severity with which he punished those guilty of that pro
fanation and irreverence. We read in the book of Chron
icles, that Ozias, the king, elated with his victories,
"neglected the Lord his God, and going into the temple
of the Lord, he had a mind to burn incense upon the altar
of incense." The priests opposed him, as their duty
required of them j but " Ozias was angry, and holding in
his hand the censor to burn incense, threatened the priests.
And immediately there arose a leprosy in his forehead
and they made haste to thrust him out.. ..And Ozias the
king was a leper unto the day of his death, and he dwelt
in a house apart, being full of leprosy." (2 Chron., xxvi.,
16.) And we read in the book* of Kings, \hefi when the
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 397
Philistines, after the victory they gained over the Israel
ites, took the ark of the Lord, carried it away in triumph,
and placed it in the temple of their idol, Dagon, the idol
was fallen next morning, and broken to pieces before the
ark; and "the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them,
and he destroyed them, and afflicted them with emerods
And there was the confusion of great mortality in the city....
and there was the fear of death in every city, and the
hand of God was exceedingly heavy and the cry of
every city went up to heaven." (1 Kings, v., 2, 6.)
In the time of the first French Republic, several regi
ments of soldiers who were in Italy were passing through
a village, when a violent storm suddenly arose, followed
by a heavy fall of rain. Some of the soldiers, finding the
church open, went in for shelter. It was one of those
unhappy years when every effort was being made to
destroy religion, and when all those whose faith and piety
were not deeply rooted, made a boast of impiety and
irreligion. Many of these unhappy soldiers behaved in
the Lord s temple as though it were a profane place. Some
proposed to have wine brought thither. It was brought
in large jars. But, as there were not enough of goblets
or cups to drink from, there was one of the soldiers im
pious enough to provide himself with a sacred ciborium,
by a horrible sacrilege. He goes up to the altar, breaks in
the door of the tabernacle, dares to take the consecrated
vessel in his hand, throws on the ground the sacred Hosts
it contained, and goes back to his comrades with his prize,
as though he had done something great. But the moment
of God s terrible vengeance had arrived. Just as the
wretch dipped the holy ciborium in the jar of wine he fell
down dead, and, lest any one should doubt that his death
398 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
was the act of divine vengeance, the ciborium which he
had profaned could not be taken from his hand by any
one till the pastor of that afflicted parish was brought,
who removed it without any difficulty, and replaced it in
the tabernacle. Several inhabitants of the village, who
were in the church, were witnesses of the sacrilege com
mitted by the soldier and the terrible chastisement inflicted
upon him. One of them, a bad Christian, was converted
on the spot, and went to confession the same day. Sev
eral others, even amongst the soldiers, did all they could
to repair the horrible scandal given on that sad occasion.
LASSAUSSE, Explic. du Cat. de V Empire, 540.
It has never been known that God punishes any one
for turning into ridicule, falsehood, idolatry, heresy, super
stition and the like ; on the contrary, God is pleased with
those who confound heresy, idolatry, superstition and all
kinds of error. But when the truths and the mysteries of our
holy religion are denied, or turned into ridicule, God has, in
many instances, shown his displeasure by inflicting terri
ble punishments on those who are guilty of such crimes. All
truth is from God. Therefore, to contradict truth, to deny
it, to turn it into ridicule, is to contradict God himself
who uttered it it is to mock the Lord of heaven and earth.
No wonder, then, that we often hear of instances in
which the wrath of God fell upon such enemies of the true
religion. By these punishments God confirms those truths
and mysteries which are ridiculed and attacked.
In the village of Edinghausen, situated not far from
the town of Bieldeld, in Rhenish Prussia, an impious
blasphemer took it into his head one day to ridicule the
Holy Eucharist. He sat down at table with some com
panions, not much better than himself. He took bread
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 399
and wine and pronounced over them with mock solemnity
the sacred words of consecration. After this sacrilegious
parody he distributed the bread and wine among his com
panions, saying to them with an ironical smile : " Take
ye all of this." He had just distributed the bread and wine
to the others and was about to take some himself, when
suddenly he grew pale ; his head fell on his chest, and in a
few moments he was a corpse. This terrible judgment of
God happened on the fifth of January, 1807. The wretch
was buried outside the cemetery, on the feast of the Epiph
any. (Schmid et Belet, Cat. II., 146.)
The Abbe Favre relates, that, some years ago, an im
pious barber of Turin had the impertinence to ridicule a
person for wishing to assist at the procession of the Blessed
Sacrament. He went into the street through which the
procession was passing. There he placed himself with
his hat on, in order thus to insult the Catholics and to
ridicule the Blessed Sacrament. Behold ! when the Blessed
Sacrament passed by him he was struck by the hand of
God and fell to the ground a corpse. This event made
such an impression on the whole city, that the commissary
caused the body of the impious man to be exposed before
the court-house for thirty-six hours. A great many of
the eye-witnesses of this fact are still living ; among others
M. Raet, formerly rector of Plancherine, in the diocese
of Chauberg, who was staying at Turin when this melan
choly occurrence took place.
In the year 1563, a Lutheran nobleman in the city of
Erfurt ridiculed the Blessed Sacrament, as it was carried
in procession by the Rev. Father Th. Baumeier. " Be
hold," said he, " what a ridiculous thing that old man is
carrying ! " No sooner had he uttered these words than
400 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
he fell speechless to the ground. Dr. J. Hebenstreit
was instantly called in, but pronounced the man beyond
recovery. A few days after the nobleman was a corpse.
About thirty years ago, on the feast of Corpus Christi,
several citizens of Duren, near Aix-la-Chapelle, were sit
ting together in an inn fronting on the market-place, when
the solemn procession of the Most Holy Sacrament was
passing. Among those present was the son of the mayor.
Now, as the priest gave the benediction, with the Blessed
Sacrament at the altar that had been erected in the square,
this young man held up a silver dollar and mimicked the
sacred ceremony. In a few days the very arm with which
he had committed this sacrilege began to mortify; the mor
tification soon extended to the shoulder, and, not long
after, the unhappy man died. Moreover, from this mom
ent, the blessing of God forsook his house ; several of his
family died, and the rest sunk into poverty and disgrace.
In the summer of 18 a mission was given in the town of
D., Mass. One of the missionary Fathers said Mass and
preached a few sermons, also, in the neighboring village
of N. On the following Good Friday, Mrs. H., the par
son s wife at N., took it into her head to mimic the mis
sionaries and make a mockery of holy communion. She
dressed herself somewhat like a missionary, collected a
number of children, made them kneel down and hold a
cloth, and then gave them something in mockery of holy
communion. Next morning, holy Saturday, Mrs. H. was
missed. Search was made, and she was found in the yard,
her face buried in a pool of water a ghastly corpse !-
At the burning of the Ursuline Con vent near Charlestown,
Mass., when the nuns were driven from their cloister at the
hour of midnight by a fanatical mob, one of the ruffians had
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 401
the hardihood to open the tabernacle, and seizing the
sacred vessels, he poured into the pocket of a companion
the consecrated hosts which they contained. The latter,
on his way back to Charlestown, treated the sacred
particles with the most atrocious irreverence, and even
jestingly offered them to a tavern-keeper in payment for
liquor he had drunk. He then returned home and gave to
his wife an account of the night s proceedings. Shortly
after he went into the yard, but as he did not return, the
family became uneasy, and sought for him everywhere.
After searching for some time, they found him a ghastly
corpse ! He had died the death of Arius. This fact was
related by the late Bishop Fenwick, of Boston.
Towards the close of the last century, there lived a very
impious man in Rottweil, a little town of Swabia, Germany.
One day, when the Blessed Sacrament in solemn proces
sion passed the house of this wretch, he had the diabolical
audacity to scoff at the holy sacrament in the most infam
ous manner. He placed himself before the window, in
his shirt-sleeves, wearing his butcher s apron and a white
night-cap on his head. By appearing in this unbecoming
dress, he wished to show his contempt and disrespect for
the Holy Eucharist. What was still worse, as the Bless
ed Sacrament passed by him he spat at it. Only a few
persons noticed his impiety, otherwise it would have been
instantly avenged. But what men failed to do, God was
not slow in accomplishing. This blasphemer soon after
died the death of a reprobate. This, however, was not
all. The dreadful scandal which he had given, and which
had become generally known, and the insult which he had
offered the divine Majesty, required a public act of repara
tion. God made use of the following means to effect
402 COMMANDMENTS OP GOD.
this : Immediately after the death of this impious man,
such horrible noises, such frightful groanings, lamentations
and howlings were heard in his house that no one could
live there. Everyone easily guessed the cause of this.
The difficulty was, how to put a stop to these strange dis
turbances. At last, as if inspired by God, the people had
recourse to the following expedient : It was resolved that
this man s portrait should be painted, in the same dress
and posture in which he had appeared when scoffing at
the Blessed Sacrament, and that the painting should be
placed in an opening made in the wall, that all might see
how God punishes those who scoff at the Blessed Sac
rament. Strange to say, no sooner was this painting
placed in the wall, than the house became quiet. Some
years after, the wife of a Protestant preacher, who lived
opposite the house, could no longer bear the sight of this
horrid portrait. Accordingly, her husband went to the
civil magistrate, to obtain an ordinance for the removal
of the picture. His petition was granted ; but no sooner
was the painting removed, than the former frightful dis
turbances returned, and continued until the people of the
house obtained permission to restore the painting to its
place. One of our fathers, an eye-witness of the fact,
related this event to me.
About ten years ago, one of our priests received a let
ter from his father, in Treves, Germany. In this letter a
terrible example was related that had occured in that
city, on the occasion of the solemn procession of Corpus
Christi.
When the procession passed by the house of a certain
Protestant gentleman, his servant-girl who was a Catholic
said to her master: "0, come and see the splendid pro-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 403
cession and the faith of the Catholics." In answer to this
invitation, the gentleman uttered a horrible blasphemy
against the Blessed Sacrament. No sooner had he done
so than he fell to the ground a corpse ! The whole city
looked upon this sudden death as an evident chastisement
of God for the horrid crime of blasphemy.
As to holy places and churches, it appears from many
passages in Scripture that God requires that every respect
should be paid them, and that a want of reverence and
respect for them has met with his severest chastisements.
In the book of Exodus we read that God commanded Moses,
and Aaron and his sons, to wash their hands and feet when
going into the tabernacle of the covenant : " Aaron and his
sons shall wash their hands and feet when they are going
into the tabernacle of the testimony, and when they are
come to the altar to offer on it incense to the Lord ; lest
perhaps they die." (Exodus, xxx., 19.) And in the book
of Machabees we read, that when king Antiochus resolved
to bring over the Jews to his pagan rites, he defiled the
temple of God, and filled it with riots and revellings, and
began to persecute the Jews. And from that time for
ward we are told that all his affairs went wrong, his
armies were beaten, his cities taken, and that himself, re
turning from an unlucky expedition into Persia, " the Lord,
the God of Israel, that seeth all things, struck with an
incurable and invisible plague worms swarmed out
of his body, and while he lived in sorrow and pain, his
flesh fell off, and the filthiness of his smell was noisome to
the army, and no man could endure to carry him for
his intolerable stench." (2 Mach., ix.) And when he en
tered into himself, and began to remember all the evils he
had done at Jerusalem, he promised to repair all damages.
404 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
and to adorn the temple with rich gifts, and to multiply
the holy vessels j but all to no purpose. Almighty God
would not accept these offerings from his sacrilegious hands
and " he died a miserable death, in a strange country,
among the mountains." (1 Mach., vi.)
But it is particularly to be remembered that Jesus
Christ himself, who bore all his own sufferings with the
most amazing patience and meekness, was inflamed with
the greatest zeal, and manifested his displeasure in a very
marked way when he saw the temple profaned. . u When
he went up to Jerusalem after the marriage of Cana in
Galilee ; and he found in the temple them that sold oxen,
and sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting.
And when he had made, as it were, a scourge of little
cords, he drove them all out ,of the temple, and the sheep
also, and the oxen, and he poured out the changers
money, and the tables he overthrew. And he said to
them that sold doves : Take these things hence, and
make not the house of my Father a house of traffic. 77
(John, ii., 13.) He reproved the world, indeed, for many
sins, but he would punish with his own hands none but
sacrilege. He refused to be judge in parting the inherit
ance between two brothers ; he refused to judge the woman
taken in adultery j but when he witnessed the temple of
God profaned, he took upon himself immediately to. be
both accuser, judge, and executioner.
You see, then, how great is the evil of profaning the
house of God, and how displeasing and disrespectful it is
to him to engage yourself, whilst in it, in anything ex
cept in praying to him, and praising him, and thanking
him for his many favors and graces bestowed on you, and
in listening to his words proceeding from the . mouth of
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 405
his priests. To amuse yourself in church, to speak there
on worldly business, to look about to see and be seen, is
offensive to God, and will, sooner or later, bring upon you
his displeasure and anger. " Have you not houses of your
own to eat and drink in," says St. Paul, "and do you des
pise the church of God ? " (1 Cor., xi.) " The Lord is in
his holy temple," according to the prophet Habacuc ;
"Let all the earth keep silence before him." (Hab., ii., 20.)
14. What is simony?
Simony is the crime of buying or selling spiritual tilings
for money or an equivalent.
Want of reverence for God is also shown by those who
commit the great sin of simony. Simony means the ir
religious, infamous practice of buying or selling holy things
for money or an equivalent. An act is bad in itself when
its object is unlawful, or contrary to reason, justice, and
charity. Now, such is the sacrilegious traffic of buying
or selling spiritual things for money or an equivalent, for
they are more precious than all temporal goods, and con
sequently cannot be bought or sold for money. Wisdom,
which includes every virtue and is contrary to all acts of
injustice, is, says Holy Scripture, " more precious than
all riches, and all things that can be desired are not to be
compared with her." (Prov., iii., 15.)
Indeed, the abominable practice of simony is repug
nant to the divine origin of spiritual things. Jesus Christ,
the supreme Master of all spiritual goods, and the Founder
of the Roman Catholic Church, said to his Apostles :
" Freely you have received, freely give ; " (Matt., x , 8.)
that is, give gratuitously for the sanctification of the faith
ful what you have received gratuitously from God s good-
406 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
ness and mercy. These divine words contain the funda
mental, inviolable doctrine concerning the administra
tion of the sacraments and every thing in connexion
with them, as the reception of Holy Orders, church pro
perty and religious institutions in general. To acquire,
then, something by means of simony, is one of the worst
acts of injustice. Therefore ample reparation must be
made for all things obtained by simony.
The holy Catholic church has always detested the in
famous practice of simony. She is accustomed to inflict
most exemplary punishments on all persons guilty of this sin.
If such a person is in Holy Orders, she suspends him
from all ecclesiastical functions, and if he is a layman, she
excommunicates him. It is indeed very just and reason
able to deprive a person of the spiritual graces arid trea
sures of the church, who has so disgracefully abused them.
One of the earliest converts to the Christian faith in the
time of the Apostles, was a celebrated sorcerer or magi
cian called Simon. Having seen the miracles worked by
the Apostles, and in particular the signs, which frequently
followed the conferring of the Sacrament of Confirmation,
he came to St. Peter, offering a sum of money, and say
ing, " Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I
also lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. 77
But St. Peter rejected with contempt and indignation
the offer made him by Simon, and answered him thus :
" Keep thy money to thyself, to perish with thee, because
thou hast thought that the gift of God could be purchased
with money. Do penance for this thy wickedness, and
pray to God, if perchance the thought of thy heart may
be forgiven thee." Simon, thus baffled in his design,
shortly after abandoned the Christian religion.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 407
St. Peter Damian relates (Ep. 5. c. 7.) that a certain
man who was guilty of the sin of simony, made very light
of this great crime. Now, when he was told to pronounce
the words " Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and
to the Holy Ghost," he could not say, " to the Holy Ghost."
He could only say, " Glory be to the Father, and to the
Son." He tried several times to say " to the Holy Ghost,"
but he tried in vain. Now, this happened as a punish
ment for the sin of simony of which this man was guilty
for " by buying the gifts of the Holy Ghost," says St>
Damian, "he forced the Holy Ghost to leave him, and
render him utterly unable to pronounce even the name
of the third person of the Holy Trinity."
Is it, then, forbidden to receive money or an equivalent
for the administration of the sacraments, or for saying
Mass for a certain intention ? No, it is not forbidden.
It is customary to give an a honorary" on the occasion of
christening, or a marriage, or a funeral. It is also cus
tomary to give an honorary to the priest whenever he is
requested to say a Mass for a particular intention, whether
for the living or for the dead. Custom has established
that this honorary for saying Mass should amount to the
sum required for the decent maintenance of the priest for
one day, and this custom is sanctioned by the Church.
The custom of giving an offering to the priest with the
request to offer up the Mass, is one of the most ancient in
the Church. We find it even in the Old Law. The Jews
were obliged by the Law of God to bring offerings, part
of which were consumed in sacrifice and part given to
the priests. The Holy Scripture tells us that Judas Mac-
cabseus sent a very large sum of money to the priests,
with the request that sacrifices might be offered up for
408 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
those who died in battle. The early Christians were
accustomed to bring offerings during the holy Sacrifice of
the Mass, and one part of the Mass is on this account still
called the Offertory. The fourth Council of Lateran says,
that " though the sacraments are given freely, nevertheless
the faithful should be exhorted to give the customary
offerings."
St. Epiphanius, who lived about three hundred years
after the death of our Lord, tells us that a certain Jewish
Rabbi, who became a convert to the Church, gave, after
his baptism, a large sum of money to the bishop who bap
tised him with the request to offer up the holy sacrifice
for him. We find numerous examples of this kind in
history. It is related, in the life of St. John the Alms-
giver, who was patriarch of Alexandria in Egypt in the
beginning of the seventh century, that a certain man
brought him a large sum of money, with the request to
offer up a Mass for his son, who had set out on a dan
gerous voyage.
Now, whatever is given to the priest on the reception
of the sacraments, or on the celebration of Mass, is not
given as pay for the graces received in the sacraments,
but as a compensation for his trouble, loss of time, and as
a means of support.
St. Paul says, u that he that ministers at the altar should
live by the altar." This is certainly just and reasonable, for
"If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great mat
ter if we reap your temporal things ?" (1 Cor.,ix., 11 13.)
The priest cannot support himself by working at a trade
or by entering into business. The Church forbids it, and
the faithful would be scandalized. He must devote all
his time his whole life to spiritual things, to the care
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 409
of souls. In this country especially, where a young man
living in the world has so many opportunities of growing
rich, no one but a madman would ever become a priest
for the purpose of making money 5 and indeed no one
would anywhere become a priest, except from the highest
and holiest motive.
A person engaged in a lawsuit, will willingly pay a law
yer or advocate to take his case in hand to obtain justice.
A sick man sends for a physician and pays him liberally for
his visits and advice. The priest is the spiritual advocate ;
he pleads men s cases with God, and obtains mercy and
pardon. The priest is the physician of the soul 5 he
devotes his energy, his faculties of mind and body, he
sacrifices his health, his time, for the welfare of Christians.
It is then most reasonable that they should make some
return for his services.
" Let the priests that rule well," writes St. Paul to St.
Timothy, " be esteemed worthy of double honor, especially
they who labor in the word and doctrine." (1 Tim., v., 17.)
In his explanation of these words, St. Augustine says,
that they are worthy of a double recompense of the
temporal support from the people, and of eternal glory
from God, as a reward for the exercise of their holy
ministry.
15. How do we worship God by faith ?
1, By adoring him as the eternal Lord and the Creaior
of heaven and earth ; 2, By believing firmly all that he
teaches us by the Catholic Church.
We have seen that God, in the first commandment,
prescribes the virtue of religion, which consists in wor
shipping God in a manner worthy of him. Now, we can-
410 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
not worship God in a worthy manner, unless we have a
true idea of him.
If the first commandment, then, prescribes plainly the
true worship of God, it prescribes also at the same time,
the duty of knowing him and the sacred truths which he
has revealed for our salvation. Now, there are four great
truths which every one must know and believe as a
necessary means of salvation. The first of these truths
is : That there is but one living God, ivho is the Creator of
heaven and earth.
As without faith man cannot please God and go to
heaven, his Creator has made faith easy for him.
Man is born a believing creature, and cannot, if he
would, destroy altogether this noble attribute of his nature.
If he will not accept a belief in the living and uncreated
God, he will create and worship some other god instead of
the true God. There never has been a real, an absolute
unbeliever. All the so-called unbelievers are either
knaves or idiots. All the Gentile nations of the past have
been religious people 5 all the pagan powers of the present
are also believers. There never has been a nation with
out faith, without an altar, without a sacrifice.
The belief in the existence of God among men in some
sensible form seems to be a want of the human heart. To
satisfy this craving after the real Presence of God, men
made use of unholy means. Blinded by their passions they
fell into idolatry, and, instead of raising themselves to the
true, living God, they foolishly worshipped what they
deemed the Divine Presence in stones, plants, and animals.
It is God himself who planted in the human heart the
desire for his real Presence, and God himself also found
means to satisfy this desire.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 411
He first revealed himself to man by the creation. Al
though hidden in creation, he constantly speaks to man
through his great works. An architect speaks to us
through a beautiful building, a painter through a paint
ing, a writer through a book. God speaks to men in like
manner. " He has manifested his power and divinity in
the creation of the world." (Rom., i., 19.) He shows his
power in the storm, in the cataract, in the earthquake.
" For the invisible things of him are understood by the
things that are made." (Rom., i., 20.)
One of the clearest proofs of the existence of God is
taken from the necessity of a first moving power. Inac
tivity is one of the properties of matter. Hence, if we see
bodies move, we know that they must have received that
moving power from a first agent. If, with my stick, I
set in motion, a stone which moves another, the second
stone receives its movement from the first, and the first
receives its movement from my stick, and my stick
received it from my hand. Whence came this moving
power to me ? From my parents, and they received it
from theirs, and so on all along to the first father of the
human race. But Adam s body was inert matter like all
the bodies of nature. He, therefore, could not be the
first cause of the moving power. He must have received
it from his Creator, who gave him life and movement,
and said : Walk now in the garden of Paradise. It is the
Creator, then, who gave to all the stars and planets of
the heavens, and to all things in this world organization
and movement, with marvellous perfection and harmony.
Besides the moving power, we see efficient causes in
the world. The animal produces another of the same kind,
and is its cause. The plants ; flowers, and trees grow from
412 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
seed. But this animal and this seed came from what pro
duced them j so that, going from the last to the first link
in the chain of their reproduction, we come to the first seed
and the first animal.
Now, it cannot be said that they engendered them
selves, and are the primitive cause of their existence. To
say that anything can exist before its creation, is non
sense. There is, therefore, an eternal and omnipotent
Creator, who is the principal cause of all things that exist.
Were he to withdraw his power, or to interrupt the pre
sent order of things by depriving us only of the air, of
the heat and light of the sun, all things would soon become
extinct. So we have all from God, and without him we
have nothing and we are nothing.
As God makes known his power in the great works of
creation, so he makes his wisdom known in the laws by
which he governs the boundless universe.
" The wisdom of God reacheth from end to end mightily
and ordereth all things sweetly. 77 (Wisd., viii., 1.) What
admirable order and perfection do we not see in the phy
sical world ! What wonderful harmony and regularity in
the movement of the sun, the moon, and the millions of
stars. For nearly six thousand years the sun has never fail
ed to rise and set at the usual hour. The order and regular
succession of the seasons of the year are also unchangeable
in their course. Spring returns periodically to give heat
and fecundity to the earth, and development to all the seeds
scattered on its surface. When they are in full growth,
the summer heat gives increase to the fruits and corn, and
autumn brings them to perfect ripeness.
Winter approaches with all its inclemenc}^ and covers
the earth with frost and snow, but does not deprive her of
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 413
her inexhaustible gifts. She needs rest after giving birth
to an abundant harvest, and obliges her children to treat
her with care and diligence in hope of a generous reward.
What splendid order and harmony in the heavenly
bodies ! They move with such rapidity that our sight
could not follow them. If they came into collision, the
universe would be shaken from its foundation. " They
advance," says Holy Scripture, " with the order and
obedience of an army in line of battle."
Do we not see the birds of the air, the fishes of the sea,
and the animals of the earth, all guided by a wonderful
instinct and the laws of nature ? Whence comes all this
to irrational creatures, unless implanted by the omnipotent
hand of God ? The perfect order, therefore, that prevails
in the heavens, and in all things on earth, clearly proves
the existence of God, Indeed, " God did not leave him
self without testimony, doing good from heaven, giving
rains and fruitful seasons." (Acts, xiv., 16.) Hence St. Paul
says that "all men are vain in whom there is not the
knowledge of God ; and who, by these good things that are
seen, could not understand Him who is, neither, by atten
ding to the works, have acknowledged who was the work
man. . . . For, if they were able to know so much as to
make a judgment of the world, how did they not more
easily find the Lord thereof." (Wisd., xiii., 1, 9 ; Rom., L,
20.) Therefore, "if any one shall say that the one true
God, our Creator and Lord, cannot be certainly known by
the natural light of human reason, through created things,
let him be accursed." (Vat. Counc., ii., 1.)
The second great truth is :
That there are three persons in God : The Father, and
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, that each of these persons
is God, and yet there is hit one God.
414 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
We have seen that, from the contemplation of the world,
its beauty, harmony and order, the human mind is forced
to acknowledge the existence of &od.
However, by the light of reason alone, we could not
know and show what God is.
" Reason tells us that there is a God," says St. Basil,
" but it does not teach us what he is."
But God, in his goodness, wished us to have of him
a knowledge as perfect as possible. So he revealed him
self to man. If a friend visits us at night and finds us
sitting in the dark, he speaks, he makes use of words to
show that he is really present. In like manner, God,
wishing that man should have a correct knowledge of him,
spoke to man who was sitting in the darkness of this life.
He addressed him in words, and made known to him
what he must believe and do in order to be saved.
However, God did not reveal all the sacred truths of
faith from the beginning. He communicated them gradu
ally to his servants. He revealed, in progress of time, his
divine attributes, the Trinity of persons, in the unity of
eternal Divine Essence, the means by which he governs
the universe and procures the salvation of the human race,
what shall be the reward of the faithful and the punishment
of the wicked in the other world. He spoke to our first
parents in the Garden of Paradise, he spoke to the patri
archs and prophets, and finally, as St. Paul assures us, he
spoke for the last time by his only begotten Son.
The knowledge of the Patriarchs, says St. Gregory, was
increased in proportion as they approached the time of the
coming of the Redeemer. "And the Lord said to Moses :
I am the Lord that appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
by the name of God Almighty, and my name Adonai
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 415
(Jehovah) I did not show them." (Exod., vi., 2, 3.) In the
time of the Royal Prophet, divine revelation was still better
known, and so, alluding to the patriarchs, he says: a l
have more understanding than the ancients." (Ps. 118,1 00).
The Apostle says likewise : u which in other generations
was not known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed
to his holy Apostles and Prophets in spirit. 77 (Eph., iii., 5.)
Now, as to the Holy Trinity, this great mystery was
hidden, from all eternity, in the bosom of the Divinity,
until the Son of God made it known. " No one knoweth
the Son but the Father, neither does any one know the
Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal
him." (Matt., xi., 27.) Now the Son of God has revealed
to us that there are three persons in God.
We do not find the name of person given to God in any
passage of the Old or New Testament. There are, how
ever, many passages in Holy Writ which express what
we understand by person, and thus authorize us to give
the name of person to God. u There are three who give
testimony in heaven : the Father, the Word, and the Holy
Ghost, and these three are one." (1 John, v., 7.) " What
are they ? The three divine persons," says St. Augustine.
If we say with truth that every rational being is a person,
we can, most assuredly, say with more truth that God is
a person, because he is in an infinite degree all that con
stitutes a person.
To answer the objections of infidels and heretics, we
are obliged to employ new words to explain the ancient
faith and fundamental doctrine of the Church. These
terms only illustrate the sacred text, contain nothing pro
fane or contradictory, and are not those profane novelties
of words which the Apostle counsels to avoid, when he
416 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
writes to St. Timothy : " Keep that which is committed
to thy trust, avoiding the profane novelties of words, and
oppositions of knowledge, falsely so called." (vi., 20.)
Now, we give to the first person in God the name of
Father. The name of a person distinguishes him from
everything that is not himself, from all who are in con
nexion with him. Now, no better name than that of Father
could be given to the first person in God to distinguish
him from the two other persons of the Holy Trinity. What
we principally consider and admire in a father is his great
yearning to cummunicate himself and all his goods, as far
as possible, to his children. As his yearning of commun
icating himself and all his goods to his children is natural
in an earthly father, we say that it is from God. Such
yearning, therefore, is also found in God. In him, how
ever, the yearning of communicating himself and all his
goods is infinite it is essential to his nature, for God is
infinite love, and love culminates in the reproduction of
itself, that is, of generating its own image.
Now, the first person in God being Father, eternally be
gets as such another self, who is his Son, his most perfect
image. He, together with his Son, sends forth a third
Self, proceeding from both as from one principle, who is
their reciprocal Love the Holy Ghost, so that the one
and the same divine essence is quite the same in each of
the three divine persons. These great truths were taught
by Jesus Christ. He tells us in tha Gospel, that there is
in God the procession of the Son from the Father. a I
proceeded," he says, "and came from God. I came not
of myself, but he (the Father) sent me." (John, viii., 42.)
The Son proceeds from the Father as an effect from
its cause. This spiritual procession of the Son or the
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 417
Adorable Word is a real substantial generation. " Thou
art my Son," says God the Father ; " this day have I
begotten thee." (Ps., ii., 7.)
However, when speaking of the generation of the Son,
we must confess and say with St. Ambrose : " My mind
is troubled, my voice becomes mute, and not only mine,
but that of the angels, of the cherubim and seraphim."
To conceive, however, a faint idea of this divine gen
eration, we should remember that there are two kinds of
generation a generation of lifeless things, and a genera
tion of living beings.
The generation of lifeless things is the passage or
transition of something that did not exist into a state
of being.
The generation of a living being is the origin of a living
being, proceeding from a living principle, and receiving
from it its substance.
Thus a father, as he is a living principle, begets
a living son, to whom he is united by the paternal
substance transmitted to him. Still we must not suppose
that everything in the son, such as hair, size, etc., should
have all the characteristic impress of generation. We
call engendered oiily that which is necessary for the son
to resemble his f^her.
Now, do we n,i according to those preliminaries, find
a real, perfect generation in the procession of the Word ?
It proceeds from a living principle, being produced as
it is by an intellectual operation.
When we think of something that we know and under
stand perfectly well, we form in our mind a correct idea of
it. Now, God the Father from all eternity, knows himself
and all his divine perfections. He necessarily contemplates
418 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
himself, and forms, in his divine mind, a perfect image
of himself, called his Word or Son. This image is a living
image, for it resembles the living principle from whom it
comes 5 and, as the substance of the Father is indivis
ible, and is as such communicated to the Word, the Son
is consubstantial with the Father. Hence Jesus Christ
says, "As the Father hath life in himself, so he hath given
to the Son also to have life in himself." (John, v., 26.) " I
and the Father are one." (John, x., 30.) " Do you not be
lieve that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" (John,
xiv., 10.) It is, therefore, something far greater in God
to be Father than to be Lord ; for as Father, he begets his
Son, who is equal to himself in all his divine perfections,
whilst as Lord he created the universe, which is infinitely
less than his Son. As the first person in God, then, is the
first and eternal principle and source of the Holy Trinity,
the first person could not receive a better name than that
of Father, to distinguish him from the other persons.
There is another procession in God, the procession of
the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son as from one
single principle. This truth, too, we are taught by our
dear Saviour. He says : " But when the Paraclete (Holy
Ghost) shall come, whom I will send you from the Father,
he shall give testimony of me." (John, xv., 26.) " All
things whatsoever the Father hath are mine; therefore, I
said that he (the Holy Ghost) shall receive of mine and
will declare it to you. 7 (John, xvi., 15.)
This procession of the Holy Ghost, however, is not like
that of the Word. The procession of the Word, as we
have said, is a real, substantial generation, whilst the pro
cession of the Holy Ghost is only a procession of Love.
As our soul is the image of God, it is not surprising to
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 419
find, in its intellectual faculties, a procession somewhat
similar to this divine procession a procession of opera
tions similar to those in God. When we are in profound
meditation, we perceive the singular phenomenon of our
thoughts and ideas ; we know and feel that they proceed
from our intellectual faculties.
The mind conceives an idea, a word ; it works upon it,
and the tongue expresses it in an intelligible manner.
But the activity of the mind is not limited to that
operation. After having conceived a word, or idea, it
experiences a certain love for it, and the heart expands
with joy at this favorite production of the mind.
This spontaneous excitement of love is a second pro
cession, presented to us by the superior faculty of the soul.
There is, however, an infinite difference between these
two processions and those in God the Father. In him
they are divine, living Persons, whilst in us they have
neither personality nor life.
Knowing the Holy Trinity, we can find, in nature,
striking emblems of this great mystery.
The human soul is a type of the Holy Trinity, endowed
as it is with its three distinct faculties of memory, under
standing, and will, with which it seems to be blended.
Another is the sun which is at once furnace, light and
heat. The root, the stem, and the branches form but one
tree. But all these imperfect figures or emblems fall
very short of proving and explaining the depths of the
mystery.
The third great truth, which every one must know and
believe as a necessary means of salvation, is : That the
second person of God the Son, by the operation of the
Holy Ghost ; took to himself a body and soul like ours,
420 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
in the chaste womb of the immaculate Virgin Mary. The
divine person assumed the human nature so that the two
natures, the divine and the human, were united in the
one person of Jesus Christ. In this union, the two natures
were not confounded, but remain perfect in their union
and essence, for Jesus Christ is God of the substance of his
Father, and is man of the substance of his mother. He,
therefore, is perfect God and perfect man at the same time.
Christ s body was, like ours, composed of flesh, and bones.
When our dear Saviour, after his resurrection, appeared
in the midst of his apostles and disciples, they were fright
ened, and thought that he was a spirit. But Jesus said
to them: "See my hands and feet, it is I myself; for a
spirit hath no flesh and bones as you see me to have "
(Luke, xxiv. ? 37, 39.)
Jesus also had a soul like ours. He was susceptible of
all the affections of body and soul, sin alone excepted.
Weariness, fear, and sadness affected and oppressed him
so much that he exclamed : u My soul is sorrowful even
unto death." (Matt, xxvi., 38.) "As the soul," says St.
Thomas, "is a spiritual substance superior to the body,
God, in his infinite power, wisdom, mercy, and glory,
pre-ordained from all eternity that the Word (his Son)
was to be united to the body by means of the soul." " And
the Word was made flesh (man), and dwelt among us ;
and we have seen the glory of the Only-begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth." (John, i., 14.)
We adore Jesus Christ as God and Man. There are
two distinct things to be considered in the respect and
honor which we testify to a man in high power and dig
nity his person, and the reason why we honor him.
When we bow to him, or kiss his hand in sign of friend-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 421
ship and respect, or when we admire and applaud his
virtue, knowledge, merit, or when we pay due attention
to his orders, it is his person we respect and revere in
all these things.
In like manner we honor and adore the divine person
of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in the hypostatic union
of his divinity with the humanity ; for he is the principlb
of all virtues and eternal wisdom, and consequently merits
divine honor and adoration. " For which cause God hath
exalted him, and given him a name which is above all
names : that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend
of those who are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth 5
and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus
Christ is in the glory of God the Father." (Phil., ii., 9,
10, 11.) Conducted by the Holy Ghost, the wise men from
the East adored him in Bethlehem. (Matt., ii., 11.) The
Apostles went to the mount where Jesus had appointed
them, and seeing him, they adored him. (Matt., xxviii.,
16.) That the explicit faith in the mysteries of the Holy
Trinity and of the Incarnation of the Son of God is also
required as a necessary means of salvation, we learn from
Jesus Christ and his church.
" This is life everlasting," says our Saviour, " that they
may know thee (God the Father) the only true God, and
Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent; " (John, xvii., 3), for,
says he, U I am the way, and the truth, and the life,"
that lead man to the Father. Hence " no man cometh to
the Father but by me." (John, xiv., 6.)
This doctrine is clearly expressed in the following words
of the Athan tsian Creed : u He, therefore, who wishes to
be saved, must thus think of the Trinity," that is he must
believe the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as explained m
422 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
this Creed. (i Futhermore, it is necessary to everlasting
salvation that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our
Lord Jesus Christ."
But what necessity was there that Jesus Christ should
suffer for our redemption ? Adam sinned, and all mankind
being descended from him, inherited his sin, and deserved
hell. In order to obtain pardon it was necessary that men
should make full satisfaction to God for their sins. But
men, as finite creatures, were not able to make such satis
faction to the infinite majesty of God. What then did God
do ? " God our Saviour wishes all men to be saved and to
come to the knowledge of the truth : for there is one God,
and one Mediator of God and man, the man Christ Jesus."
(1 Tim., ii., 4, 5.) Now, tHe office of a mediator is to rec
oncile two opposite parties. Original sin separated man
kind very far from God. It required a powerful mediator,
who by his divinity and humanity, was capable to grant
us pardon and grace, and reconcile us with our omnipotent
and merciful Creator. Jesus Christ most bountifully ac
complished this divine mediation. He descended from
heaven in the midst of us with his divine Nature, presented
himself to his heavenly Father with our mortal nature,
and thus offered himself up as a propitiatory Victim of
reconciliation : " As the children are partakers of flesh
and blood, so Jesus also made himself partaker of the same :
wherefore it behoves him in all things to be made like
unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and
faithful high-priest before God, and be a propitiation for
the sins of the people." (Heb., ii., 14, 17.)
" Christ died for all, that they who now live may not
live to themselves, but unto him who died for them and
rose again." (2 Cor. ? v. ; 15.) On account of the merits of
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 423
Jesus Christ, the heavenly Father has adopted us as his
children. " Who hath predestined us to be children of
adoption through Jesus Christ." (Eph., i., 5.)
To adopt any one is to entitle him to a part or the whole
of our possessions. To do this, we must be rich and gen
erous j For, if we have hardly anything to give, or if we
are wealthy without being generous, no one would wish to
become our adoptive child. But God s riches are immense,
and his bounty is inexaustible. Hence it is in his power to
adopt us, and give us possession of an everlasting inher
itance. ll God sent his Son that we might receive the adopt
ion of sons, and sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts
crying Abba, Father," (Gal., iv., 6.) (2 Cor., v., 15.)
Thus, Jesus Christ, as God and man, has obtained grace
and mercy for us in this life, and immortality in the next,
by the glorious triumph of his resurrection.
Hence St. Peter says ; " Be it known to you, that there
is no salvation in any other name than that of Jesus
Christ ; for there is no other name under heaven given
to men whereby we must be saved." (Acts, iv., 10, 12.)
"Thus," says St. Alphonsus, " there is no hope of salvation
except in the merits of Jesus Christ. Hence St. Thomas
and all theologians conclude, that, since the promulgation
of the Gospel, it is necessary, not only as a matter of pre
cept, but also as a means of salvation (necessitate medli)
to believe explicitly that we can be saved only through
our Redeemer." (Reflections on the Pass, of Jesus Christ,
Chap i., No. 19.)
Now, St. Thomas Aquinas explains how necessary it is
for salvation to know the mystery of the Incarnation.
This saint asks the question : Did Jesus Christ when he
descended into hell (Limbo), deliver the children who
424 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
died in original sin ? and he answers : There is a certair
principle and doctrine which we must never lose sight o
when there is question of salvation. This principle is tha
no salvation is possible for any one who is not united t(
Jesus Christ crucified. Hence the great Apostle St. Pau
says: "It is Jesus Christ whom God hath proposed tob(
a propitiation through faith in his blood." (Rom., iii., 25.
Now, those unfortunate children were not united t(
Jesus Christ by their own faith, because they had not the
use of reason which is the foundation of faith ; nor were
they united to Jesus Christ by the faith of their parents,
because the faith of parents was not sufficient for the sal
vation of their children ; nor were they united to Jesus
Christ by means of a sacrament, because under the Old
Law there was no sacrament which of itself had the
virtue of conferring either grace or justification.
Besides, eternal life can be obtained only by means oJ
sanctifying grace. u The grace of God is life everlasting,
in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom., vi., 23.)
Therefore, all who died at any age. without perfect char
ity and faith in the Redeemer to come, as well as those
who die without the sacrament of spiritual regeneration
after the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ, are not puri
fied from the mortal stain of original sin, and are, on this
account, excluded from the kingdom of eternal glory.
The explicit belief in the mysteries of the Holy Trinity
and of the Incarnation of the Son of God, is therefore of
the greatest importance. This belief teaches us the origin
of the world, its creation by God the Father ; it teaches
us the supernatural end of man, his fall, and the redemption
and salvation of mankind by God the Son ; it teaches us
the sanctification of souls by the gifts of the Holy Ghost.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 425
Now, though, by the merits of Jesus Christ, heaven was
opened again for those who repent of their sins, do pen
ance for them, and keep the commandments of God to the
end of their life, yet hell remained open as ever before,
for all those who continue to transgress the command ments
of God, and live in mortal sin until death. This is the
fourth great truth, which every one must know and believe
as a necessary means of salvation, namely : that God
rewards, in heaven, those who keep his law, and punishes,
in hell, those who transgress it. This great truth presup
poses another ; it supposes the truth, that the soul of man
will live forever. We now and then meet with a class of
men who impiously deny their eternal existence, who as
sert that they have no soul, and that there is no eternal
reward or punishment hereafter, "They," (the wicked)
says Holy Scripture, " have said, reasoning within them
selves, but not right : The time of our life is short. . . .
We are born of nothing ; and after this we shall be as if
we had not been. . . .our body shall be ashes, and our
spirit shall be poured abroad as soft air, and our life shall
pass away as the trace of a cloud, and shall be dispersed
as a mist which is driven away by the Beams of the sun,
and overpowered with the heat thereof. .... Come there
fore and let us enjoy the things that are present, and let
us speedily use the creatures as in youth. Let us fill our
selves with costly wine. . Let us crown ourselves with
roses before they be withered. Let none of us go with
out his part in luxury. . . .Let us oppress the poor, just
man, and not spare the widow, nor honor the ancient gray-
hairs of the aged. . . .These things they thought and were
deceived ; for their own malice blinded them. And they
knew not the secrets of God, nor hoped for the wages of
426 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
justice, nor esteemed the honor of holy souls. For God
created man incorruptible, and to the image of his own
likeness he made him." (Wisdom, ii.)
The wicked, says Holy Scripture, reason with them
selves, but not right. Indeed, their reasoning clearly proves
that they have a soul j for their thoughts and reasonings do
not proceed from the body, but from the soul. If bodies
could think, their thoughts would be divisible like them.
But can we imagine a half, or a third, or a quarter of a
thought ?
The operation of a being is always like the substance
which produces it. A material operation proceeds from a
material substance, and a spiritual operation proceeds from
a spiritual substance. Now, to think and to reason is a
spiritual operation. Our thoughts and reasonings, there
fore proceed from a spiritual, substance, which we call soul.
A body is limited by time and place. If our thoughts,
then, proceeded from the body, they also would, like the
body, be limited by time and place. But neither time nor
place can limit our thoughts. Our thoughts can pass in a
moment up to heaven and down to hell, through the length
and breadth of the earth, and down to the lowest part of it.
In our thoughts we can recall the years that are past, and
reach things in the far future, when the last day of this
world will be over and eternity shall have begun. Our
thoughts, therefore do not proceed from the body, but from
the soul.
The body cannot conceive any desire. But we exper
ience in us an insatiable desire for everlasting happiness.
Such a desire proceeds from the soul which cannot die.
The body cannot learn languages, conceive plans of
magnificent churches, palaces, steam-boats, locomotives ;
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 427
the body cannot count days, dates, distances, money, and
above all, know andjove Grod. It is only the soul that can
do all this.
The body cannot say, " I will, and I will not." There
is a man. He beats his neighbor, and is sentenced to be
imprisoned for a month, because he was not obliged to beat
his neighbor. He could do so or not, as he liked, because
he has free will. But if a stone falls from a building and
hurts a man, the stone is not imprisoned, because it has no
free will. Free will is not then a faculty of the body, but of
the soul which can will and choose whether it will do good or
evil. " Before man are life and death, good and evil : that
which he shall choose shall be given him." (Eccles., xv.)
Now, the soul of man is immortal, incorruptible. The
corruption of a thing takes place by the separation of the
parts of which it is composed. But the soul, being a
spiritual substance, is not composed of parts. Hence no
separation of parts can ever take place in the soul. There
fore the soul is incorruptible, immortal ; it will live forever.
The soul is not like those things which can be seen by the
eye. No rational being ever said, " I saw my soul," because
the soul is a spirit, which is not visible to the eyes of the
body. The soul does not wear away like things in this
world. It does not fade like a flower, or like the colors of
the rainbow. Hence we say the soul is immortal. That
means it will never die as the body dies. The soul will not
be nailed down in a coffin, or buried in a grave. When
the body dies, the soul will go out of this world to God, who
made it.
We are created to live forever. It is true we must
die ; but it is only our body that is doomed to the grave,
and that only for a time. Death does not destroy us ; it
428 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
separates only the soul from the body for a certain number
of years. Ah ! yes, after a while Almighty God will raise
us again to life, that we may hear our eternal fate. This
is the infallible doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ. " Won
der not at this, 7 he says, " for the hour cometh wherein
all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son
of God. And they that have done good things, shall come
forth unto the resurrection of life ; but they that have done
evil, unto the resurrection of judgment." (John, v., 28,
29.) This resurrection of the body will take place, as St.
Paul assures us, u in a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, at the last trumpet : for the trumpet shall sound, and
the dead shall rise again incorruptible." (1 Cor., xv. ? 52.)
" Oh ! say not that we die!
Say not that we, whose heaven-born souls inherit
Their life from Life, can ever pass away ;
That we, whose source is the Eternal Spirit,
Can yield what is from God to slow decay."
After a time, in which everything passes away, man
shall enter upon an eternity in which nothing passes away.
The heavens and the earth will pass, but God and the soul
shall remain for ever. It has been decreed by God that
eternity should be closely united to man s being, as it is
to His own. God and man shall live forever.
When Jesus was alive on the earth, there was a certain
man called Jairus. He had an only daughter, a girl twelve
years old. This girl was dying. Jairus went to Jesus.
He fell down on his knees before Him, and asked Him to
come and cure his daughter. While Jairus was there,
somebody came to him and told him that his daughter was
dead ! Jesus heard this, and he said to Jairus : " Do not
be afraid j only believe, and your daughter shall be safe."
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 429
So Jesus went with Jairus to his house. They found peo
ple crying round the dead girl. Jesus told all the people
to go out of the room except the father and mother of the
girl, and his apostles. Then Jesus who is almighty, took
hold of the hand of the dead child, and said "Girl, I say
to thee, arise ! " As soon as Jesus had said these words, her
soul came back, and she rose up and walked ! (Luke, viii.)
You see how it was. The body died. But the Scripture
says the soul came back from the other world 5 so the soul
did not die with the body.
Our life, therefore, is not finished at the grave. We shall
be for ever either in heaven or in hell. The infidel or great
sinner may ridicule and deny this doctrine. But what will
the denial of this truth avail him ? It avails him just as
little as, nay, even less than, it would avail a robber or a
murderer to say, "I do not believe either in the existence
of a policeman who can take me prisoner, or of a judge
who can sentence me to death."
The man who denies his eternal existence is a liar. His
lies will not change the decrees of the Almighty ; they will
not restrain the power of God ; they will not prevent our
Lord from carrying out his threats. Let the infidel say,
"I do not believe in the immortality of the soul;" his
disbelief will not annihilate his soul.
"What," exclaims St. Paul, " if some of them have not
believed ? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God with
out effect ? God forbid. But God is true, and every man
is a liar." Will the sun shine less brilliantly because a man
shuts his eyes, in order that he may not see its light ? And
will God and ail the truths he has revealed be less true
because an infidel, a great sinner, denies those truths ?
To him then, who impiously asserts that he has no soul,
430 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
answer simply this : lt If you say you have no soul, you must
consider yourself simply an animal ; and since you are
pleased to be an animal, you had better go and live with
the class of beings to which you belong.
"When you are travelling, do not take the passenger
train which is intended for men, who have a soul, but take
the cattle train.
" When you are invited to a dinner, go and take it with
that class of brutes to which you belong. If you are a
physician, let no sick man send for you, for no sensible
man ever sent for a brute to be cured by it. If you are a
teacher, let no parents send their children to you, for no
one sends his children to an animal for instruction. If
you are a business-man, let no one transact business with
you, for a horse or any other kind of animal that you choose
to be, cannot transact business. Yes, if you consider your
self a brute, let men treat you as such, let them cast you out
of their society, for they have a soul, and on this account
their dignity is but a little inferior to that of the angels."
Reason acknowledges the immortality of the soul; revel
ation speaks of it explicitly, and of the resurrection of the
body, of the immortality and eternity of our whole being.
" I believe the resurrection of the body and life everlasting."
u And these shall go into everlasting punishment : but the
just, into life everlasting." (Matt., xxv., 46. ) This is the
unchangeable decree of the Almighty. " My counsel," says
he, " shall stand." (Isai., 46,10.) As men, then, are created
to live for ever, they can be rewarded as well as punished
for ever.
Now, it is in heaven that God rewards those who have
done his will on earth. It is in heaven where he shows
himself as a Father of infinite goodness. There he com-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 431
municates himself and all his goods, as far as possible, to
all the elect. As a king is with his people, a father with
his children, a teacher with his pupils, so God will always
be with the elect in heaven, recreating and feeding them,
and filling them with numberless delights and unspeakable
happiness. They will constantly enjoy his presence which
was hidden from them here below. They will see God
and speak to him face to face, more familiarly than child
ren speak to their father, and God the Father will pene
trate them with ineffable sweetness and consolation, for
" He shall be their God, their Father, their glorifier, their
all." Yes, "He that cometh to God," says St. Paul, "must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder to them that
seek him." (Heb., xi., 6.)
As heaven is the place where God rewards his faithful
servants, so is hell the place where he punishes all the
wicked. Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that, as the just
shall enter into everlasting life, so shall the wicked go
into everlasting fire. u Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his
angels." (Matt., xxv., 41.) This fire of hell, says St. Thomas
Aquinas, is enkindled by the infinite power of God as an
instrument of his divine vengeance, to burn the souls, and
also their bodies after the general resurrection it is a fire
which tortures and excruciates the damned with much
greater intensity than natural fire can affect our body in
this world; for it does not operate by the. virtue of its own
nature, but by the infinite power of God, who has given
it the peculiar property to torment the damned in pro
portion to their crimes.
Many a sinner wishes that there were no hell ; he even
tries to believe that there is no such place of punishment.
432 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
But what does such a wish, such a belief avail ? Wheth
er he believes it or not, there is a hell ; there is an eternal
punishment. His foolish wish and belief will not keep
him out of it. He who does not believe in hell, now when
he can escape it, shall believe in it hereafter when he can
no longer escape it. The demons bear witness to this
truth.
The soul that quits her body in the state of mortal sin
at enmity with God, remains in that state of enmity with
God for all eternity ; it is fixed unalterable in the spirit
of impenitence as the grace of repentance is not granted
in the other world. "Wherever the tree falleth, there it
shall lie." As the soul can no more repent, its sin can
never be forgiven, it will always remain. It is on this
account that the soul continues to be for ever a subject of
punishment.
St. Thomas asks the question : u Is hope possible for the
damned I "and he answers: According to the Apostle,
hope produces joy ; but the damned are not in joy ; they
are in everlasting grief and desolation according to these
words of Isaias, (Xlv., 14.): "Behold, my servants shall
rejoice, and you (the wicked) shall be confounded. Behold
my servants shall praise for joyfulness of heart, and you
shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for grief of
spirit. " The damned, therefore, can have no hope of ever
being delivered from their eternal torments. Endless per
petuity is one of the awful conditions of the punishment
which the dammed suffer, and knowing their torments to
be eternal, they can have no hope of deliverance from
their everlasting captivity and damnation."
But some one may ask : Would it not argue cruelty and a
want of mercy in God were he to punish the wicked for
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 433
ever ? The answer is plain : God has decreed that the re
wards of the just in heaven for their good lives on earth
should surpass all that the eye has seen, the ear has heard
the heart has conceived. In like manner has God decreed
that the punishments which the wicked have to suffer in
hell for their bad lives should surpass all that we can see,
all that we can hear, all that we can conceive in our heart.
God has decreed that the rewards of the just should last
for ever, and he has also decreed that the punishments of
the wicked shall be everlasting. It is the will of the Lord
that by the everlasting rewards of the just his infinite
mercy should be glorified for all eternity ; and it is also
his will that by the everlasting punishments of the wicked
his infinite justice should be made manifest for ever and
ever. Let us u think well of the Lord 5" that is, we must
believe that the jnstice of God is just as great as his mercy.
It is the common opinion of theologians, says St. Alphon-
sus, that any person who has come to the use of reason
and lives and dies in ignorance of these four great truths
of our holy religion, even without any fault on his part,
cannot be saved.
There are, however, many other revealed truths, which
we must believe, but which a person may not know with
out any fault on his part, and is on this account, not res
ponsible for the want of knowledge of such truths. Such
a person may be saved if he is otherwise disposed to
believe and do all that God requires in order to be saved.
That we must believe all the truths revealed by God for
our salvation with at least implicit faith, is evident from
the words of our dear Saviour. After commissioning his
Apostles to teach all nations to observe all things what
soever he had commanded, he added : < ( And he that
434 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
believeth not (namely, all things that he had commanded)
shall be condemned."
Now, besides those four great truths the knowledge of
which is a necessary means of salvation, there are others
which we must know as a matter of precept, which
is binding under pain of mortal sin. We must know
and believe all the truths contained in the Apostle s Creed,
namely : That God has created heaven and earth, preser
ves and governs the universe ; that the blessed Virgin
Mary is the true mother of God, was conceived without
sin and ever remained a virgin 5 that Jesus Christ by his
own power rose from the dead on the third day after his
death, ascended into heaven, and, there sitteth at the right
of his eternal Father ; that on the last day of the world, all
men shall rise, and be judged by Jesus Christ.
We must also believe the communion of saints, that is,
that each of the faithful who lives in the grace of God,
shares in the merits of all the saints, living and dead.
We must believe in the remission of sins, that is, that
our sins are forgiven in the sacrament of penance, if we
are truly sorry for them.
We must also know the ten commandments of God and
the six precepts of the church, the seven sacraments and
the graces which they confer upon the receiver, especially
the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, penance and the
holy Eucharist, and the other sacraments when we are
about to receive them.
We are also obliged to know the Lord s Prayer, which
is a prayer composed by Jesus Christ and left to us in
order that we may know how to ask the graces most nec
essary for our salvation. Every one should also learn
the Hail Mary, in order to know how to recommend
himself to the mother of God.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 435
Every one should also know that, in the other world,
there is a place called Purgatory.
Many of the just die without having fully cancelled the
temporal punishments due to their sins. On account of
the sorrow for their sins, and the love for God which they
conceived in this world, says St. Alphonsus with other
theologians, God remits all the guilt of their sins ; but
not all the temporal punishments due to them. They can
not concel those punishments by acquiring new merits,
for their earthly pilgrimage is over. Upon them is come
that fatal, u night in which no one can work." (John, ix.,
4.) They are no longer at liberty to choose doing penance,
but are forced to suffer for their sins, and on this account
their sufferings are no longer of any merit. Although
they are unable to assist themselves, yet they can be as
sisted, in their sufferings, by our prayers and good works.
We should, therefore, often pray for the souls in pur
gatory that they may be relieved in their sufferings.
(Council of Trent, by St. Alph. Sess, 25, n. 17 and 20.)
(Catech. on Faith, n. 12.)
We also must know and believe that it is very useful
to pray to the saints, especially to the Mother of God, to
obtain through their prayers, the graces and blessings of
God necessary for our salvation. Every Christian, wheth
er he be a priest, or layman, a married or single person,
lawyer or physician, etc., is obliged to know the principal
duties of his state of life. As these truths have been re
vealed by God, he commands all men to believe them
under pain of eternal damnation. " He that believeth not
shall be condemned." (Mark., xvi., 16.)
From the fact that Jesus Christ has commanded all men
to believe and to do under pain of eternal damnation all that
436 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
he has taught for our salvation, it clearly follows that he
must have left in this world a teacher whom he endowed
with the gift of teaching his doctrine with infallible cer
tainty and without the least admixture of error. With
out such a teacher it would be impossible to know what
the true doctrine of Jesus Christ is.
Now, our dear Saviour gave to the world, such an
infallible teacher of his doctrine in his Apostles, and es
pecially in the person of St. Peter and his lawful successors,
upon whom he built his Church, the Roman Catholic
Church, in which alone the lawful successors of St. Peter
and of the other Apostles are found. "I say to thee,
thou art Peter, (a Rock) and upon this rock I will
build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of
heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth it
shall be bound also in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt
loose upon earth it shall be loosed also in heaven." (Matt,
xvi., 18-19.) "Feed my lambs, feed my sheep :"(John xxi.,
15-17.) As Jesus Christ built his Church upon Peter, and
said, that the gates of hell would never be able to prevail
against her, it is clear that the true Church is found only
where Peter or his successor is. Now, it is clearly proven
from history, that the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church
alone is the lawful successor of Peter, and therefore the
Roman Catholic Church alone is the true Church of
Christ, the true, infallible Teacher of his doctrine. This
is an article of faith. " He," therefore, "who will not hear
the Church let him be to thee as the heathen and publican."
(Matt., xviii., 17;)
As we have, in the Catholic Church, the faithful guard
ian and infallible teacher and interpreter of the doctrine
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 437
of Christ, it follows that we must believe, with unwaver
ing, steadfast faith, all that the Church teaches us. " He
that heareth you, heareth me, and he that despiseth you,
despiseth me." (Luke, x., 16.) (See "Church and her
enemies.")
There are then, two reasons which oblige us to believe
the truths of faith. The first is, because God, the infal
lible Truth, has revealed them.
Our belief in a person s word is firm in proportion as
we think that he is not deceived in his knowledge ; that
he knows well what he says, because he is wise and pru
dent ; that he will not deceive us, because he loves the
truth and fears God. Thus, in transacting business, we
give more credit to a learned and able than to an ignorant
man ; to a learned man who is virtuous than to one who
is not so.
Now, God is the first and essential Truth. His know
ledge extends to all things and is infinitely perfect ; he is
essentially true in his words. He knows things only as
they are, and can speak them only as he knows them.
Therefore we must have the most respectful, submissive
faith in all that he has revealed to us, and believe his mys
teries with the utmost firmness and simplicity, with an
unwavering conviction of their reality.
We must believe all the articles of faith more firmly
than we believe the proposition : "The whole is greater
than a part." We should believe them more firmly
than what we see with our eyes, hear with our ears,
touch with our hands ; we should be more certain of these
articles of faith than we are of our own existence, because,
though all these things are realities of which we cannot
doubt, yet the things of faith are still more real ; because
438 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
they have been taught by God, who cannot deceive us,
while we know the others only through the senses, which
often deceive us, and by the assurance of our mind, which,
being enveloped in darkness, may easily be deceived ; so
that there is nothing true in the universe of which we
ought to be so certain, of which our understanding should
be so fully convinced, as of the mysteries of religion.
u Faith, v says St. Basil, " always powerful and victorious,
exercises a greater ascendency over minds than all the
proofs which reason and human science can furnish, be
cause faith obviates all difficulties, not by the light of man
ifest evidence, but by the weight of the infallible authority of
God, which renders them incapable of admitting any
doubt." It was thus that Abraham believed when, not
withstanding all the impediments of nature, he felt sure
that he should see himself the father of a son, and through
him of many nations. " He believed in hope against hope,"
says St. Paul, "that he might be made the father of many
nations, according to what was said to him : i So shall thy
seed be. ? r And he was not weak in faith, for he consid
ered neither his old age nor that of his wife, Sarah. He
distrusted not the promise of God, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God, being most fully convinced that what
soever God has promised he is able to perform.
The faith of Moses was so great that St. Paul says of
him, that " he acted with the invisible God as though he
were visible."
Similar was the faith of the famous and valiant Count
de Montfort, who, being told that our Lord in the Host
had appeared visibly in the hands of the priest, said to
those who urged him to go and see the miracle : " Let
those go and see it who doubt it ; as for myself, I believe
COMMAS DM^NTS OF GOD. 439
firmly the truth of the mystery of the Eucharist as our
mother the holy Church teaches it. Hence, I hope to receive
in heaven a crown more brilliant than those of the angels ;
for they, being face to face with God, have not the power
to doubt."
The noble Count St. Eliazer used to say, that with re
gard to matters of faith, he believed them so firmly that
if all the theologians in the world strove to persuade him
to the contrary, their logic would not have the slightest
effect on him.
And, in effect, faith ought to take precedence of reason,
demonstration, experience, and all other motives of certi
tude, with the true Christian and new man regenerated
in Jesus Christ. " Consider," says St. Augustine, " that
you are not called reasonable but faithful, since when any
one is baptized we say : He has become one of the faithful."
We must have this firm faith not only in some but in
all the truths which God has made known, although they
may be altogether incomprehensible to us. Faith will
not allow of the rejection of even one ; and he who should
voluntarily entertain a doubt of one single article one
single point of faith could not be said to have faith at
all. We believe everything that God has revealed, pre
cisely for this reason : that God has said it.
The word of God, who. is infallible truth itself, and who
cannot deceive nor be deceived, is the ivliy and wherefore of
our belief. To say or to think, I believe this article, this
truth of faith, but I do not believe that, is as much as to
say or think, I believe that God tells the truth in this point,
but he tells it not in that other ; it is as much as to say
God is capable of telling a lie. This is blasphemy ; it is
even the denial of God s existence.
440 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
And also to say or think, I cannot believe such an art
icle or such a mystery of faith, because it is too obscure,
too incomprehensible, and contrary to reason, is to exhibit
a lamentable Lick of reason. To be a man, it is neces
sary to have reason. Reason is the light of man. But
reason tells us that it is necessary to submit to faith, and
that there is no sense in him who wishes to submit to his
reason the very essential principle of his reason, and that
to wish to understand what is above his intelligence is to
be without intelligence.
Reason tells us that our religion would not be divine if
it were not above reason. For God would not be God if
he were not incomprehensible, and my soul could not adore
him if my mind could comprehend him. It is one thing
to say that such a mystery is contrary to reason, and an
other to prove it. In order to prove that a doctrine is con
trary to reason, we must have a clear, precise idea of what
that doctrine is. We can say, for instance, that it is con
trary to reason to assert that a square is a circle, for we
have a clear, precise idea of what a square is, and what is
a circle. But we cannot say with certainty that a doc
trine or a mystery of our holy faith is contrary to reason,
for we can never have a full, clear, precise idea of that
doctrine or mystery. We cannot have this clear idea,
simply because those doctrines are far above reason.
We cannot say, for instance, that the doctrine of the
Holy Trinity, the doctrine of three divine Persons in one
divine Substance, is contrary to reason, because we can
never have a clear, precise idea either of God s essence or
of the nature of the three divine Persons. And what is
true of the Trinity is true also of all the other doctrines
and mysteries of our holy faith. They are not against
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 441
reason, but they are above reason. Reason is above the
senses, and faith is above reason.
" Certainly/ 7 says St. John Chrysostom, " since the
works of God incomparably surpass the capacity of our
minds, the thoughts whereby we seek to penetrate the
abysses of faith are always accompanied with folly, and
resemble labyrinths which it is very easy to enter, but
from which it is almost impossible to come forth ; these
thoughts spring from pride, and as proud minds are asham
ed to believe or to admit that which they cannot under
stand, they entangle themselves in difficulties from which
they cannot easily issue. Is it true, then, proud man,
that you can understand how the sun and stars were cre
ated ; how the earth, with all its riches, was called forth
from chaos j how the magnet attracts iron ; how a single
grain of corn sown in the earth produces a thousand other
grains ? You are not ashamed to own that you cannot
answer these things ; and when there is question of things
of a more sublime nature, of things that are above the
comprehension of angels, you will not avow your ignor
ance you make bold efforts to understand them. Fool !
the shame is not the inability to comprehend them, but
the daring to sound them."
Speaking of Rahab, who received the spies, and of
whom St. Paul says that her faith saved her from the un
happy fate of her fellow-citizens, St. John Chrysostom
praises the simplicity of her faith, and adds : " This
woman did not examine what the spies said, neither did
she reason with herself thus : How can it be possible that
the captives and fugitives now wandering in the desert
will capture a city so strong and so well provided as
ours ? Had she argued thus, she had been lost."
442 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Those of the Israelites, on the contrary, who, hearing of
the prodigious strength and power of the countries they
were to conquer, yielded to diffidence, notwithstanding the
divine assurance that they should vanquish their enemies,
even without fighting them, were deprived by their
infidelity of the happiness which God had promised to
their faith.
What could be more strange or more opposed to reason
than to command a father to sacrifice his only and most
innocent son ? And yet Abraham put himself in readiness
to do so, without discussing the commandment or adducing
arguments to prove its unreasonableness $ he considered
only the divinity and wisdom of him who commanded.
Another person, wishing to show himself more reason
able refused to strike a prophet, as he had been ordered to
do, because the thing seemed to him improper. But his
disobedience was soon punished, for a lion rushed upon
him and devoured him, not far from the place where the
fault had been committed.
Saul, having been ordered by God to put the Amalekites
to death with their flocks and herds, found it reasonable to
spare the king, and to set aside the best and fattest of the
flocks for sacrifice; in reccompense for his fine reasoning
on the subject, he was overwhelmed with many evils, and
finally lost his kingdom.
The child at the mother s breast takes what it sees not;
sometimes he will even close his eyes when he might see,
as though he confided entirely in his mother, and in the
love she bears him j in like manner the soul sucks the milk
of faith from the bosom of the Church, which she sees not ;
she reposes on the infinite wisdom and goodness of Jesus
Christ, who can teach her nothing but what is true, and
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 443
give her nothing that is not good. It is on this juice of
divine faith that the just man lives, as St. Paul tells us.
The faith of St. Teresa was so firm that it seemed to
her she could convert all the heretics from their errors ; and
so simple that she said the less she comprehended a mys
tery, the more firmly she believed it and the more devo
tion it excited in her ; she tasted a singular pleasure in not
being able to comprehend it. She silenced all objections
to a mystery by saying : " The Son of God, Jesus Christ,
has revealed it to us, and we have no more questions to
ask."
The second reason, which obliges us to believe the
truths of faith is, because God, through his infallible
teacher, the church, proposes them to our belief, and com
mands us, under pain of eternal damnation, to believe and
do what she teaches us for our salvation.
" To reject, then, but one article of faith taught by the
Church," says St. Thomas Aquinas, " is enough to des
troy faith, as one mortal sin is enough to destroy charity j
for the virtue of faith does not consist in merely adhering
to the Holy Scriptures, and in revering them as the word
of God ; it consists principally in submitting our intellect
and will to the divine authority of the true Church charg
ed by Jesus Christ to expound them. I would not believe
the Holy Scriptures, says St. Augustine ; were it not for
the divine authority of the Church. 7 He, therefore, who
despises and rejects this authority cannot have true faith .
If he admits some supernatural truths, they are but simple
opinions, as he makes them (the truths) depend on his
private judgment. It is absurd for him to say that he
believes in Jesus Christ. To believe in a man is to give
our full assent to his word and to all he teaches. True
444 COMMANDMENTS OP GOD.
faith, therefore, is absolute belief in Jesus Christ and in
all he taught. Hence, he who does not adhere to all that
Jesus Christ has prescribed for our salvation, has no more
the doctrine of Jesus Christ and of his Church than the
pagans, Jews and Turks have. c He is, says Jesus Christ,
* but a heathen, and a publican. 7 So there is no faith out
side of the true Church ; and as faith is the beginning of
salvation, the foundation and source of justification, and
is found only in the true Church, it is clear that there is
no salvation outside of the true Church." (See Predest
ination in my work, on Grace and Sacr.)
So great is the importance of this truth that the holy
Catholic Church has placed it as the first article of the
profession of faith which converts have to make when
about to be received into the church. This truth or
article of faith reads as follows : " I, N. N., having before
my eyes the holy Gospels which I touch with my hand,
and knowing that no one can be saved without that faith
which the Holy, Catholic Apostolic Roman Church holds,
believes and teaches, against which I grieve that I have
greatly erred," etc.
" How grateful, then," says St. Alphonsus, " ought we to
be to God for the gift of the true faith. How great is not
the number of infidels and heretics ! The world is full of
them, and they all will be condemned, except infants who
die after baptism." (Catech. Sect, i., 10, 19.) " Our rule
of faith, therefore," says St. Alphonsus, "is this: My God,
because thou, who art the infallible truth, hast revealed to
the Church the truths of faith, I believe all that the Church
proposes to my belief. 7 (Catech. Sect, i, 6.) Such is
the faith which God prescribes in the first commandment.
It is only by such faith that he is truly honored and wor-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 445
shipped, for by such faith we acknowledge him as the
sovereign Being of infinite perfections, made known to us
by revelation, and as the sovereign Truth, who can neither
deceive nor be deceived.
It is never allowed, under any circumstances whatever,
to deny this faith ; for our dear Lord says : " He that
shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my
Father who is in heaven." (Matt., x., 33.) From this,
however, it does not follow that we are bound always to
make an open profession of our faith before every body.
We are obliged to profess our faith openly when God s
honor, or our own, or our neighbor s good requires us to
do so. Hence we are bound to make an open profession
of our faith when interrogated by tyrants and persecutors
of the church : or when wicked men, by our silence, would
be encouraged in blaspheming our holy faith; or when
we know that our neighbor would be in danger of deny
ing the faith or committing any grievous sin if we were
not to profess our faith openly ; or when we are obliged
to choose between doing something contrary to our consci
ence and making an open profession of our faith " Every
one that shall confess me before men," says our Lord "I
will also confess him before may Father who is in heaven. "
(Matt., x., 32.)
Theodosia had an only son, named Neanias. When
he reached his 20th year Theodosia was eager to advance
his interests. On this account she presented him to the
emperor Diocletian. To gain the favor of the emperor,
Theodosia told him, that in spite of all her efforts, her
husband died a Christian, but that she had carefully train
ed up her son for the service of the emperor and the gods.
. Diocletian, being a deadly enemy of the Christians, was
446 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
pleased to hear that Theodosia had brought up her son
a pagan. He immediately placed Neanias at the head of
a troop of soldiers, and sent him to Alexandria, with orders
to ferret out the Christians and put them to death.
Theodosia was overjoyed and Neanias, who had learned
from his mother to hate Christians, resolved to distinguish
himself by his zeal against them, and thus advance in the
esteem of the emperor.
He set out with his troops, breathing fire and slaugh
ter, when wonderful mercy of God ! as he neared
the city of Apamea, he heard an interior voice saying to
him : " Neanias ! whither art you going 1 " At the same
time he beheld a cross in the air before him. Startled by
what he saw and heard, he halted instantly. In a mom
ent a brilliant flood of light illumined his soul. He called
to mind all that his father had told him of the religion of
Jesus Christ. At that moment, touched by the grace of
God, he resolved to become a Christian.
Instead of attacking the Christians he turned his arms
against the bands of marauders who infested the country,
and completely routed them. He then repaired to Alex
andria, where he was fully instructed in the faith.
On his return, his mother, not knowing that he had
become a Christian, was transported with joy at his great
victories. "Yes, mother," answered Neanias, "I have
gained a victory far more glorious than all these. I have
conquered myself, With the grace of God I have become
a Christian ! " What ! my son ! " cried Theodosia, in
amazement, "you a Christian ! surely you are jesting. "
" No," replied Neanias, " I am in earnest. " Then drawing
from his bosom a cross that he wore, he showed it to her
and kissed it reverently. He then broke to pieces all the
idols that were in the house.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 447
At the sight of this Theodosia became so enraged that,
scarcely knowing what she was doing, she rushed to the
emperor and denounced her own son as a Christian, an
enemy of the gods.
Diocletian was surprised at this news. He sent for
Neanias, spoke kindly to him at first, then threatened him
with the most terrible torments. Neanias remained firm.
Diocletian was enraged, and ordered him to be put to
torture. At first Neanias was cruely beaten with rods,
then cast into prison, to give him time for reflection.
On the following day as Neanias remained firm he, with
a number of other Christians, was put to the most fright
ful tortures. Theodosia was present with a number of
ladies of rank. She hoped that her son, overcome by his
sufferings, would at length renounce the Christian faith,
which she hated so intensely. She noticed, however, that,
on the contrary, her son as well as the other martyrs,
rejoiced in all their sufferings.
Suddenly, as she sat there witnessing the wonderful con
stancy of the martyrs, the grace of God touched her proud
heart. She saw in that moment all the enormity of the
unnatural crime she had committed in giving up her own
son to be tortured. She was filled with shame and remorse.
Enlightened by God ; she cried out in a loud voice : " I
am a Christian ! "
She was denounced to the emperor, and led to the same
prison to which her son had just been brought back.
Neanias was surprised to see his mother enter the prison,
but how great was his joy when she informed him that
she, too, had become a Christian, and that with God s
grace she was resolved to die for the faith. After many
useless efforts to induce them to apostatize, mother and
son had at length the happiness to die for the faith !
448 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
We are, moreover, obliged to make internal acts of faith :
1. As soon as we come to the use of reason, and are
sufficiently instructed in the truths of faith.
2. Whenever faith is a necessary disposition for the
performance of a certain duty, for instance, when we are
about to receive a sacrament.
3. Whenever we cannot overcome a certain temptation
unless we make an act of faith.
4. As we are bound to increase in the virtue of faith,
and as every virtue is nourished and increased by frequent
acts of virtue, we are obliged to make frequent acts of
faith in the course of our life. Hence it is a mortal sin
not to comply with this duty for a considerable time.
However, the obligation of making acts of faith is ful
filled as often as we pray, or hear Mass, or perform other
religious duties with proper dispositions.
5. Lastly, we are obliged to make acts of faith when
we are in danger of death.
But here a non-Catholic may object :
Will you send to hell all those who do not think as
you do?
The Catholic Church sends no one to hell. No one is
condemned to the torments of hell, except through his own
fault. God gives sufficient grace to all men, heathens as
well as heretics. Those who abuse this grace will have to
answer for it to God, and not to the Church.
You ask, if I wish to send every body to hell, and I ask,
if you wish to send every body to heaven I
If every one is to go to heaven, no matter what his
creed may be, why did the Son of God come down from
heaven and establish a Church 1 Why did he abolish the
Jewish Church, the sacrifices and ceremonies of the Jewish
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 449
worship ? Why did he declare in so solemn a manner
that whoever did not believe in him would be damned ?
God really desires the salvation of all, but he wishes
that men should reach heaven in the way he has marked
out. Now those who refuse to walk that way when they
know it, clearly go astray. They walk with open eyes
to their own destruction. He alone has an excuse who
is invincibly ignorant. But he that is invincibly ignorant,
and does what he can and as well as he knows, will re
ceive the assistance of God, if he prays for it. God does
not save the Turk by leaving him a Turk, or the idolater
by leaving him an idolater, but he leads those who cor
respond with his grace to a knowledge of the truth, so that
at last they are saved ; but those who continually and
deliberately refuse to correspond with his grace are lost.
Hence, those that are damned go to hell, not because they
do not think as we do, but because they refuse to cooper
ate with the lights and graces which God gives them.
They are like a child born in a cave. If they follow the
glimmer of light, it will lead them to perfect dayj if
they do not they will remain in darkness forever.
Who is then to blame I Whose fault is it ? Remember
it was God who created these souls, it was God who be
came man and died for them ; and this same God tells us
that they who refuse to believe will be condemned. Will
any one pretend to tell me that he knows better than God
himself, that he has more love for souls than God himself?
What prayers have you offered up, what tears have you
shed, what sacrifices have you made, what sufferings have
you endured for the salvation of souls ? Go, pray, watch,
fast, do penance, pour out your heart s blood, give your
life for the salvation of men, as Jesus Christ did, and then
450 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
perhaps I may listen to your theories, but unitl then I
shall believe the words of Jesus Christ in spite of the
shallow objections you may bring.
Ah ! let us lay aside all foolish prejudice and blind pas
sion. For God s sake, and for your soul s sake, consider
the matter calmly. Supposing we admit for a moment
that every one goes to heaven, no matter what his belief
is. Why then there is no truth on earth. Jesus Christ has
said 5 " He that will not believe will be condemned." Now,
if the Son of God does not tell the truth, where shall we
find it? " "He has the words of eternal life. 7 St. Paul says,
" Without faith it is impossible to please God." These are
the words of the Bible, the words of God. If I cannot
believe God s word, I can believe no one there is no
truth on earth.
If all go to heaven, then there is no heaven. Suppose
you had to live forever with your most deadly enemy,
would you call such a life heaven 1 Suppose you had to
live forever with drunkards, murderers, blasphemers, with
devils, and the vilest scum of humanity, would you call
such a life heaven? . Now, as there is a heaven, so there
must be a hell.
Now, St. Paul says that heretics, adulterers, and so on,
"shall not possess the kingdom of God." And do not
deceive yourself with the vain imagination that those
who die in mortal sin, will wander from star to star and be
able to purify themselves and amend in the next world.
The terrible words of Jesus Christ are too plain. " Wher
ever the tree falleth, there it shall lie."
I ask, what excuse can they have who reject the known
truth in order to follow the corrupt desires of their heart,
who hate the light because their works are evil; who
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 451
stifle the voice of their conscience, and then pretend that
no matter what a man believes he will be saved anyhow.
Of course God must change his divine decrees, must break
all his divine promises, must cease to be just and holy, in
a word, he must cease to be God, in order not to lose their
company, and who are they t Unbelievers, perjurers,
adulterers, murderers sinners of every die. And yet
they imagine that heaven cannot be happy without their
company ?
" Ah ! You Catholics," says a non-Catholic, " are intol
erant*, you have no charity." Before answering this
objection, I would ask : " Who are those who accuse the
Catholic Church of intolerance ? Why of course, first of all,
it is charitable tolerant England Aye, England with
her penal code, that code inspired by devils and written
in human gore. Ha ! ask Ireland, bleeding, manacled
Ireland, standing by her ruined shrines 7 her red graves,
her coffinless trenches, and they will tell you of England s
wonderful toleration. Go, ask the exiled children of
Ireland ; track them to the uttermost ends of the earth ;
go, ask the winds that have so often heard their sighs and
their prayers ; go, ask the earth that has so often drunk
in their tears and their blood go, ask the ocean that has
so often witnessed their death-struggle while flying from
chains and slavery ; go to the dreary shores of the icy
north go to the burning sands of the torrid south, and
the bleached and scattered bones of Ireland s sons and
daughters will tell you of England s wonderful toleration.
Or is it, perhaps, New England, with her Blue Laws, her
cropping and branding, and witch burning. Or is it per
haps the faithful followers of Calvin and Knox, so well
known for their burning zeal. The hypocrites ! to talk of
452 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
toleration with their penal laws, with their bloody persecu
tion directed against those brave and noble souls that
had the courage to remain faithful to the religion of their
forefathers, the religion of the civilized world, the holy
church of Jesus Christ. Before they can talk of toleration,
let them first blot out of history the names of that lustful
bluebeard, Henry VIII., the name of that heartless virago,
Queen Bess, the names of Cromwell and Knox. Before
they can talk of toleration, let them first restore the sacked
and plundered churches and abbeys of Ireland ; let them call
up from their graves the thousands that were massacred,
that were deliberately starved to death, that were con
demned to a long weary life of exile, far away from their
beloved land.
Look at the various protestant countries of Europe.
See they practise that toleration which they preach so
glibly. Go to Norway, Sweden and Denmark. There,
after exterminating the Catholic religion with fire and
sword, they still exclude Catholicity by the most tyran
nical laws.
Look at Germany at the present day. Their religious
are exiled, their property is seized, their priests and
bishops are imprisoned.
Before protestants can talk of toleration, let them first
destroy the history of the past three hundred years, let
them destroy the very facts that exist even to this day.
You blame the Catholics ; you call them intolerant,
because they defend their holy faith, because they love
it more than their life.
Now, suppose some new sectarian should arise and
teach that God requires human sacrifices. Suppose, in
fact, he kidnapped your child, killed it ; and poured its
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 453
blood on the altar as an agreeable sacrifice to God.
Would you tolerate such a monster, would you approve of
his bloody rites ? Certainly not. And why not ? Suppose
his conscience tells him that such sacrifices are pleasing
to God, would you hinder a man from following the dictates
of his conscience ? Did not the ancient, do not even
modern heathens offer up human sacrifices I
But you will say, the interests of civilization, the in
terests of humanity require that such cruel and inhuman
sacrifices should be abolished. Very well, granted. Then
you admit that there are instances when it is your right
and even your duty to be intolerant in matters of religion.
Again, if you believe it a sacred duty to forbid human
sacrifices, would you not at least allow the disciples of
that inhuman religion to preach it every-where, to try to
gain as many followers as possible, so that, by and by,
they would be strong enough to defend themselves ?
Would you allow people to preach such inhuman doctrines ?
By no means. Very well, then there are false doc
trines which no sane man can tolerate.
Let us take another case. Suppose some loved men
and women would try to introduce publicly into your city
the worship of Venus, as it existed among the heathens of
old ; suppose they would poison the minds of your own
sister, your virtuous wife or your innocent children with the
virus of their foul doctrines, would you tamely suffer them
to go on ! What, if they told you it was their religion ?
Would you hinder them from following the dictates of
their conscience ? Where then is your boasted toleration.
"Ah ! " you answer, " such a religion is false ; it is con
trary to the laws of common decency."
Will you not at least allow the worshippers of Venus to
454 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
preach their doctrines, to spread them by means of books
and pictures and pamphlets ? to scatter these vile books
and pictures in your own family, among your innocent
children ? Never ! Very well, then there are false doc
trines which you believe it your right and even your duty
to suppress, even though some persons should on that ac
count call you intolerant.
Again, suppose a number of fanatics should stand up
once more, as they did in the days of the so-called reform
ation and slay and burn and outrage all who dared oppose
them, would you tolerate this new religion ! But suppose
they should declare that they were called by the Lord,
that they were bound in conscience to act thus, that, in a
word, it was their religion, would you tolerate them ?
Then where is all your boasted toleration. Then there
are false principles, which every honest man is bound in
conscience to oppose to the best of his power. That is
precisely what we Catholics maintain.
We know, with infallible certainty, that the Catholic
religion is the only true one, that the greatest misfortune
that can ever befall a man is to lose the true faith 5 u for
without faith it is impossible to please God," impossible
to go to heaven. We are ready to sacrifice our health,
our posessions, yea, our life itself, rather than give up our
holy faith. Can you wonder then that we are jealous of
this faith, that we can tamely suffer any one to rob us or
our children of that which is dearer to us than life ? To
tolerate falsehood quietly, a man must be without heart
and without reason. It is in the very nature of every
honest man when he has the truth, to guard it with
jealous watchfulness, and to repel with indignation every
admixture of falsehood.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 455
Look at the teacher of mathematics, when he discovers
an error in the calculation of his pupils, does he not con
demn it is he not intolerant ?
Look at the musician, the leader of a choir is he not
indignant when some one sings flat or out of time?
Look at the lawyer who has carefully studied the laws
and is eloquently pleading his case. He quotes a certain
law. He has. read it even that very morning. Suppose
you tell him that no such law ever existed. Is he not
indignant at your denial? Is not he jealous of what
he knows to be the truth ?
Look at that experienced physician. Try if you can
to make him believe that unnatural sins will not hurt the
nervous system. You may as well try to convince him that
poison will not kill.
Every honest man guards the truth with the most jeal
ous care, and you will blame the Catholics for jealously
guarding the highest truth that truth which God himself
has revealed that truth upon which depends our whole
happiness here and hereafter ?
Do not the laws of every civilized land condemn those
who sell poison indiscriminately, and can you blame the
Church for condemning those who poison the souls of their
fellow-men, who rob them of their holy faith, who deprive
them of the means of salvation, of the assistance of God s
grace, who rob them even in their dying hour of the con
solations of religion, of even the hope of heaven ? Is not
the Church right in condemning those murderers of souls ?
" But charity requires at least a little toleration. "
Well then, what is charity ? Charity means certainly
to wish well to your neighbor. Now the true faith is the
greatest blessing that man can possess in this life, and the
456 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
lack of faith is the greatest misfortune that can befall one.
" For without faith it is impossible to please God. "
What kind of charity then is it to rob a man of his
greatest treasure his holy faith ? And you will assert
that to try to save a man from such a misfortune is to be
without charity. What ! the physician that saves the life
of your wife or child, the lawyer that saves your property
and your good name are they uncharitable ? To warn
a poor, blind man that is walking on the brink of a fright
ful precipice even to seize him and draw him back is
that uncharitable f Now is not he that saves a man s sou]
his immortal life, a far greater benefactor ? The honor
we owe to the God of truth, and the love we bear our
neighbor, alike oblige us to defend our holy faith by every
lawful means in our power.
The various sects and secret societies are ever prating
about toleration, why then do they not practise what they
preach ? Why are Catholics even to this day forbidden
to hold office in New Hampshire ? Why is the Catholic
priest forbidden to visit the prisons and hospitals in so
many parts of the United States? Why do they tax Cath
olics to support their godless schools ? Why do they kid
nap thousands of our children every year and sell them
out West ? Why do they preach continually against the
Catholic Church ? Why do the} 7 spread broadcast so many
books and pamphlets, filled with the most infamous calum
nies of our holy Church ?
And should we Catholics, ever dare to defend our holy
faith against such atrocious calumnies, these hyrocrites
instantly clasp their hands arid turn up the whites of their
eyes in holy horror, and accuse us of bigotry, intolerance,
want of charity, and so on ! With what name should we
brand those who are guilty of such conduct ?
COMMANDMENTS OF QOD. 457
16. Which are the sins against faith ?
The sins against faith are : infidelity, heresy, apostasy,
indifference to faith, ivilful doubt of any article of faith, and
liberalism.
17. What is infidelity,
Infidelity is the want of the true faith in an unbaptized
person.
Those who do not believe what God has revealed are.
called infidels. Infidel means one who has no faith. Hence
unbelievers, and all those who reject any article of the
Catholic faith, are, in a certain sense, infidels.
The word " infidel," however, is especially applied to
those who are not baptized, and who do not believe in
God, or in Jesus Christ, his Son.
Children who are not baptized, idolaters and pagans
who do not adore the one true God, but pay divine honor
to idols, are called infidels.
Turks are also infidels, for, though believing in one
God, they have no belief in Jesus Christ. They pay
honor to a false prophet, called Mahomet, from whom they
take the name of Mahometans. They distinguish them
selves from others by the name of Mussulman, which, in
the Turkish language, means a true believer.
There are many persons who never had an opportunity
of knowing the true religion, or of becoming aware of the
obligation of seeking and embracing it. These persons
are called negative infidels, and the want of the true
religion in these persons is called negative infidelity. This
kind of infidelity is no sin, for the Church has condemned
the proposition of Baius :
" Merely negative infidelity in those to whom Jesus
458 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Christ has not been made known, is a sin." Hence, all those
who live in this kind of infidelity are not accountable for
the want of the true faith. It is for this reason that our
Lord said : " If I had not come and spoken to them, they
would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their
sin." (John, xv., 22.)
The Christian revelation is a positive law. Now, the na
ture of a positive law is not to be binding until it has been
made known. Hence, if negative infidels are condemned,
they are not condemned on account of their infidelity, but
on account of their sins, says St. Thomas. " For whosoever
have sinned without the law/ 7 say a St. Paul, " shall
perish without the law. 7 (Rom., ii., 12.)
Almighty God has impressed upon man from the begin
ning, the principles of right and wrong or the law of
nature, and when man is about to violate this law, his
conscience warns him not to do so, and if, in spite of
this warning, he violates the natural law, he makes him
self guilty and damnable in the sight of God. He will
be punished in proportion to his guilt.
But if a negative infidel is faithful in obeying the voice
of his conscience, God will have pity on him before he dies ;
for, says St. Thomas Aquinas, " if any one was brought up
in the wilderness or among brute beasts, and if he follow
ed the law of nature to desire what is good, and to avoid
what is wicked, we should certainly believe either that
God, by an inward inspiration, would reveal to him what
he should believe, or would send some one to preach the
faith to him, as he sent Peter to Cornelius." (See what I
have said on this subject in my work, " Grace and the
Sacraments, " article on Predestination, p. 117154.)
There are other persons to whom the truths of the true
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 459
religion have been sufficiently made known, so as to be
inexcusable before God, like many of the Jews of whom
our Lord said that they had no excuse for their sins, be
cause he had spoken to them. Having received sufficient
light to know the truth, or at least to understand the dan
ger of their position, -and the obligation of making diligent
inquires to ascertain and embrace the truth, it is evident
that such people are accountable to God, especially if they
voluntarily deny the truth and obstinately resist it. The
want of faith in these people is called, positive infidelity.
Now, " positive infidelity, being wilful obstinacy, pal
pable contradiction, and public contempt of divine rev
elation and of the precepts of the Gospel, is one of the
most grievous sins in the sight of God and of his holy
Church, " says St. Thomas Aquinas. To understand this
truth, we have but to remember what mortal sin is.
Mortal sin is a deviation from virtue and divine law.
The most heinous sin, therefore, is that which separates
man from God more than any other. Now, no sin causes
a greater separation from God than that of positive in
fidelity. When the intellect is in error and abandons the
knowledge of God, the will follows it and increases in
malice in proportion as the intellect turns away from the
path of truth, justice and charity. Each step that such a
man takes in the darkness of infidelity, increases the dis
tance that separates him from God. A return from that
dangerous course is very difficult, for when the intellect
is in error and the will filled with malice and depravity,
all the bonds capable of uniting man to God are torn
asunder.
.Let us take a good look at an infidel and see what kind
of man he is. In our day and country it has become fash-
460 COMMANDMENTS OP GOD.
ionable for a large number of men to have no religion,
and even to boast of having none. To have no religion
is a great crime, but to boast of having none is the height
of folly. The man without religion is a kind of monster,
with the intelligence of a man and the cruelty and instincts
of a beast. His religion is to disregard good principles ;
to do away, not only with all revealed religion, but even
with the law of nature j to hold iniquity in veneration ; to
practise fraud, theft, and robbery almost as a common
trade ; to be regardless of parents and of all divinely con
stituted authority ; to create confusion, not only in religion,
but also in government and in the family circle ; to con
tribute towards the increase of the number of apostates,
and make of these apostates members of such secret soc
ieties as aim at the overthrow of governments, of all order,
and of the Christian religion itself.
The man without religion says : " There is no God." He
says so "in his heart," says Holy Writ j he says not so in his
head, because he knows better. There are moments when,
in spite of himself, he returns to better sentiments. Let
him be in imminent danger of death or of a considerable
loss of fortune, and how quickly, on such occasions, he
lays aside the mask of infidelity ! He straightway makes
his profession of faith in an Almighty God ; he cries out :
u Lord, I am perishing ; Lord ! have mercy on me."
The famous Volney was once on a voyage with some of
his friends, off the coast of Maryland. All at once a great
storm arose, and the little bark, which bore the flower of
the unbelievers of both hemispheres, appeared twenty
times on the point of being lost. In this imminent dan
ger every one began to pray. M. de Volney himself
snatched a rosary from a good woman near him, and began
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 461
to recite Hail Marys with edifying fervor, neither did he
cease till the danger was over. When the storm had
passed, some one said to him in a tone of good-natured
raillery : " My dear sir, it seems to me that you were
praying just now. To whom did you address yourself,
since you maintain that there is no God ? " "Ah ! my
friend, " replied the philosopher, all ashamed, " one can be
a sceptic in his study, but not at sea in a storm. 7 (Noel,
Catech de Bodez, L, 73.)
A certain innkeeper had learned, in bad company, all
sorts of impiety. In his wickedness he went even so far
as to say that he did not believe in God. One night he
was roused by the cry of " Fire ! fire ! " His house was
on fire. No sooner had he preceived the dreadful havoc
going on than he cried with clasped hands : " My God !
my God ! God Almighty ! God of grace and mercy ! have
pity on me and help me ! " Here he was suddenly stopped
by one of his neighbors : u How ! wretch, you have been
denying and blaspheming God all the evening, and you
would have him come now to your assistance ! " (Schraid
and Belet, Cat. Hist, i., 43.)
Colonel Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticenderago, was an
atheist and unbeliever. On the 12th of November, 1827,
his daughter fell dangerously ill. The poor girl appeared
to have but a few moments to live. She sent for her father
to her bedside, and, taking him by his hand, faintly ad
dressed him in these words : u My dear father, I am going
to die very soon ; tell me seriously, then, I entreat you,
whether I am to believe what you have so often told me
that there is neither God, nor heaven nor hell, or what I
learned in the catechism which my mother taught me?"
The father was thunderstruck; he remained silent for
462 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
some moments, with his eyes. fixed on his expiring daugh
ter. His heart appeared to be torn by some violent strug
gle. At length he approached the bed, and said in a
choking voice : " My child, my dear child, believe only
what your mother taught ! " The astonishment of the un
believers who heard him may easily be imagined. One
of them, who had long before abjured his religion, being
asked what he thought, replied that it was more pleasant
to live according to his new religion, but it was better to
die in the old. (Schmid and Belet Cat. Hist, ii., 47.)
From these examples it is evident that the mouth of
the infidel belies his own heart.
There is still another proof to show that the infidel does
not believe what he says. Why is it that he makes his im
pious doctrines the subject of conversation on every occa
sion ? It is, of course, first to communicate his devilish
principles to others, and make them as bad as he himself is ;
but this is not the only reason. The good Catholic seldom
speaks of his religion 5 he feels assured, by the grace of God,
that his religion is the only true one, and that he will be
saved if he lives up to it. Such is not the case with the
infidel 5 he is constantly tormented in his soul. u There is
no peace, no happiness for the impious," says Holy Scrip
ture. (Isaias, xlviii., 22.) He tries to quiet the fears of his
soul, the remorse of his conscience ; so he communicates to
others, on every occasion, his perverse principles, hoping
to meet with some of his fellow-men who may approve of
his impious views, that he thus may find some relief for
his interior torments. He resembles a timid man who is
obliged to travel during a dark night, and who begins to
sing and shout in order to keep away fear. The infidel
is a sort of night traveller 5 he travels in the horrible dark-
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 463
ness of his impiety. His interior conviction tells him
that there is a God, who will certainly punish him in the
most frightful manner. This fills him with great fear,
and makes him extremely unhappy every moment of his
life ; he cannot bear the sight of a Catholic Church, of a
Catholic procession, of an image of our Lord, of a picture
of a saint, of a prayer-book, of a good Catholic, of a priest
in a word, he cannot bear anything that reminds him
of God, of religion, of his own guilt and impiety ; so, on
every occasion, he cries out against faith in God, in all
that God has revealed and proposes to us for our belief
by the holy Catholic Church. What is the object of his
impious cries ? It is to deafen, to keep down, in some
measure, the clamory of his conscience. Our hand will
involuntarily touch that part of the body where we feel
pain ; in like manner, the tongue of the infidel touches,
on all occasions, involuntarily ? as it were, upon all those
truths of our holy religion which inspire him with fear
of the judgments of Almighty God. He feels but too
keenly that he cannot do away with God and his sacred
religion by denying his existence.
The man without religion must necessarily lose the
esteem and confidence of his folio w-men. What confidence
can be placed in a man who has no religion, and conse
quently no knowledge of his duties \ What confidence
can you place in a man who never feels himself bound by
any obligation of conscience, who has no higher motive
to direct him than his self-love, his own interests ? The
pagan Roman, though enlightened only by reason, had
yet virtue enough to say : "I live not for my self ^ but for
the republic ;" but the infidel s motto is : "I live for my
self; I care for no one but myself." How can such a man
464 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
reconcile " poverty and wealth/ 7 " labor and ease/ 7 " sick
ness and health," " adversity and prosperity/ 7 " rich and
poor/ 7 " obedience and authority/ 7 "liberty and law/ 7
etc., etc. ? All these are enigmas to him, or, if he affects
to understand them at all, he thinks they arise from bad
management or bad government. He will be a tyrant or
a slave, a glutton or a miser, a fanatic or a libertine, a thief
or a highway robber, as circumstances may influence him.
Think you that the common u fall-back 7 on the principle
of self-interest well or ill understood will ever restrain
such a one from doing any act of impulse or indulgence,
provided he thinks it can be safely done ? He will look
on life as a game of address or force, in which the best
man is he who carries off the prize.
He will look upon power as belonging of right to the
strongest ; the weak, or those who differ from him in opin
ion, he will treat with contempt and cruelty, and will think
that they have no rights which he is bound to respect.
In power such a man will be arbitrary and cruel ; out of
power he will be faithless, hypocritical, and subservient.
Trust him with authority, he will abuse it ; trust him with
money, he will steal it ; trust him with your confidence,
and he will betray it. Such a man pagan and unprin
cipled as he is may nevertheless affect, when it suits
his purpose, great religious zeal and purity. He will talk
of Philanthropy and Humanity, have great compassion,
perhaps, for a dray-horse, and give the cold shoulder to
the houseless pauper or orphan.
The heart of such a man is cold, insincere, destitute
of every tender chord for a tender vibration, of every
particle of right or just feeling or principle that can be
touched 5 on the contrary ; it is roused to rage, revenge?
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 465
and falsehood if interfered with. How is such a heart to
be touched or moved, or placed under such influences as
could move it ? Indeed, it would require a miracle. Nay,
even a miracle would fail to make a salutary impression
upon such a heart. A French infidel declared that, should
he be told that the most remarkable miracle was occurring
close by his house, he would not move a step out of his
way to see it. Pride never surrenders 5 it prefers rather
to take an illogical position than to bow even to the
authority of reason. Furious, beside itself, and absurd, it
revolts against evidence. To all reasoning, to undeniable
evidence, the infidel the man without religion opposes
his own will : " Such is my determination." It is sweet
to him to be stronger single-handed than common sense,
stronger than miracles, stronger even than God who
manifests himself by them.
Such a man may be called civilized, but he is only an
accomplished barbarian. His head and hands are instruct
ed, his heart, and low passions, and appetites unbridled
and untamed.
Collot d Herbois played the most execrable part during
the French Revolution. Having become a representative
of the people under the Reign of Terror, he had the Lyon-
ese massacred in hundreds. The very accomplices of his
crimes regarded him as a man so dangerous that they
thought it expedient to exclude him from society, by ban
ishing him to the deserts of Guiana. Transported to that
tropical country, he looked upon himself as the most miser
able of men. " I am punished, " he would sometimes ex
claim ; " the abandonment in which I find myself is a hell."
Being attacked by a malignant fever, he was to be taken to
Cayenne. The negroes charged with this commission threw
466 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
him on the public road with his face turned to the scorch
ing sun.^ They said in their own language : " We will not
carry that murderer of religion and of men." " What is
the matter with you? " asked the doctor, Guysonf, when he
arrived. " I have a burning fever and perspiration." ." I
believe it ; you are sweating crime." He called on God
and the Blessed Virgin to assist him. A soldier, to whom
he had preached irreligion, asked him why he invoked
God and the Blessed Virgin he who mocked them some
months before. "Ah ! my friend," said he, " my mouth
then belied my heart." He then cried out : " my God,
my God ! can I yet hope for pardon? Send me a con
soler, send me a priest, to turn mine eyes away from the
furnace that consumes me. My God, give me peace ! "
The spectacle of his last moments was so frightful that
no one could remain near him. Whilst they were seeking
a priest he expired, on the 7th of June, 1796, his eyes
half open, his hands clenched, his mouth full of blood and
froth. His burial was so neglected that the negro grave-
diggers only half covered him, and his body became the
food for swine and birds of prey. Debussi, Nouveau
Mois de Marie, 251.
The man without religion is a slave to the most degrad
ing superstition. Instead of worshipping the true, free,
living God, who governs all things by His Providence, he
bows before the horrid phantom of blind chance or inexora
ble destiny. He is a man who obstinately refuses to believe
the most solidly established facts in favor of religion, and
yet, with blind credulity, greedily swallows the most ab
surd falsehoods uttered against religion. He is a man
whose reason has fled, and whose passions speak, object,
and decide in the name of reason. He is sunk in the gross-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, 467
est ignorance regarding religion. He blasphemes what
he does not understand. He rails at the doctrines of the
Church, without knowing really what her doctrines are.
He sneers at the doctrines and practices of religion because
he cannot refute them. He speaks with the utmost grav
ity of the fine arts, the fashions, and matters the most
trivial, while he turns the most sacred subjects into ridi
cule. In the midst of his own circle of fops and silly women,
he utters his shallow conceits with all the pompous assur
ance of a pedant.
The man without religion is a dishonest plagiarist, who
copies from Catholic writers all the objections made against
the Church by the infidels of former times or by modern
heretics ; but he takes good care to omit all the excellent
answers and complete refutations which are contained in
those very writings. His object is not to seek the truth,
but to propagate falsehood.
The man without religion often pretends to be an infidel,
in order to appear fashionable. He is usually conceited,
obstinate, puffed up with pride, a great talker, always shal
low and fickle, skipping from one subject to another with
out thoroughly examining any. At one moment he is a
deist, at another a materialist, then he is a sceptic, and
again an atheist, always changing his views, but always a
slave of his passions, always an enemy of Christ.
The man without religion often praises all religions
he is a true knave. He says : "If I were to choose my
religion, I would become a Catholic ; for it is the most
reasonable of all religions." But in his heart he despises all
religion ; he scrapes together all the wicked and absurd
calumnies he can find against the Church. He falsely
accuses her of teaching monstrous doctrines which she has
468 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
always abhorred and condemned, and he displays his in
genuity by combating those monstrous doctrines which he
himself has invented, or copied from authors as dishonest
as himself. The infidel is a monster without faith, with
out law, without religion, without God.
There are many who call themselves " free-thinkers "
many who reject all revealed religion merely out of
puerile vanity. They affect singularity in order to attract
notice, to make people believe that they are strong-minded,
that they are independent. Poor, deluded slaves of human
respect ! They affect singularity in order to attract notice,
and they forget that there is another class of people in the
world also noted for singularity ; in fact, they are so
singular that they have to be shut up for safe-keeping
in a mad-house.
What is the difference between an infidel and a madman?
The only difference is that the madness of the infidel is
wilful, while the madness of the poor lunatic is entirely
involuntary. The one arouses our compassion, while the
other excites our contempt and just indignation.
The man without religion is a slave of the most shame
ful passions. What virtue can that man have who believes
that whatever he desires is lawful ; who designates the
the most shameful crimes by the name of innocent pleas
ures f What virtue can that man have who knows no
other law than his passions ; who believes that God regards
with equal eye, truth and falsehood, vice and virtue ? He
may indeed practise some natural virtues, but these vir
tues are, in general, only exterior. They are practised
merely out of human respect ; they do not come from the
heart. But the seat of true virtue is in the heart, and
not in the exterior ; he that acts merely to please man, and
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 469
not to please God, has no real virtue. What are the poor
without religion? They are unable to control their pas
sions, or to bear their hard lot. They see wealth around
them, and, being without religion, they see no reason why
that wealth should not be divided amongst them. Why
should they starve, while their neighbors roll in splendor
and luxury ? They know their power, and, not having
the soothing influence of religion to restrain them, they use
their power. They have done so in France and elsewhere ;
and if they do not always succeed in producing revolution
and anarchy, it is only the bayonet that prevents them.
Is not the man who has said, " There is no God," on
the point of also saying, " Property is robbery," and
" Lust is lawful?"
What are children without religion to their parents ?
They are the greatest misfortune and the greatest curse
that can come to them.
History informs us that Dion, the philosopher, gave a
sharp reproof to Dionysius, the tyrant, on account of his
cruelty. Dionysius felt highly offended, and resolved to
avenge himself on Dion ; so he took the son of Dion pris
oner not, indeed, for the purpose of killing him, but of
giving him up into the hands of a godless teacher. After
the young man had been long enough under this teacher
to learn from him everything that was bad and impious,
Dionysius sent him back to his father. Now what object
had the tyrant in acting thus ? He foresaw that this cor
rupted son, by his impious conduct during his whole life
time, would cause his father constant grief and sorrow, so
much so that he would be for him a lifelong affliction and
curse. This, the tyrant thought, was the longest and
greatest revenge he could take on Dion for having
censured his conduct.
470 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Indeed, there is no father, there is no mother, who is
not throughly convinced of the truth that a child without
religion is the greatest affliction that can befall parents.
This truth needs no illustration.
What is the man of learning without religion ? He is
more destructive than any army of savage soldiers. His
science will prove more fatal than the sword in the hands
of unprincipled men ; it will prove more of a demon than
a God. The arsenal of his mind is stored with weapons
to sap alike the altar and the throne ; to carry on a war
of extermination against every holy principle, against the
welfare and the very existence of society ; to spread
among the people the worst of religions the no-religion,
the religion which pleases most hardened adulterers and
criminals, the religion of irrational animals. The man of
learning without religion will do all in his power to preach
licentiousness, cruelty, and vice ; the substitution of the
harlotry of the passions for the calm and elevating in
fluences of reason and religion 5 to bring about a genera
tion without belief in God and immortality, free from all
regard for the invisible a generation that looks upon this
life as their only life, this earth as their only home, and
the promotion of their earthly interests and enjoyments as
their only end ; a generation that looks upon religion,
marriage, or family and private property as the greatest
enemies to wordly happiness j a generation that substi
tutes science of this world for religion, a community of
goods for private property, a community of wives for the
private family 5 in other words, a generation that substi
tutes the devil for God, hell for heaven, sin and vice for
virtue and holiness of life.
Witness the current literature of the day, which is pene-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 471
trated with the spirit of licentiousness, from the preten
tious quarterly to the arrogant and flippant daily news
paper, and the weekly and monthly publications, which
are mostly heathen or maudlin. They express and incul
cate, on the one hand, stoical, cold, and polished pride of
mere intellect, or, on the other, empty and wretched sen
timentality, irreligious and impious principles. Some em
ploy the skill of the engraver to caricature the institutions
and offices of the Christian religion, and others to exhibit
the grossest forms of vice and the most distressing scenes
of crime and suffering. The illustrated press has become
to us what the amphitheatre was to the Romans when men
were slain, women were outraged, and Christians given to
the lions to please a degenerate populace.
Who were the leaders in the work of destruction and
wholesale butchery in the Reign of Terror ? The nurs
lings of lyceums in which the chaotic principles of the
"philosophers" were proclaimed as oracles of truth.
Who are those turbulent revolutionists who always long
to erect the guillotine ! And who are those secret con
spirators and their myrmidon partisans who have sworn
to unify Italy or lay it in ruins ? Men who were taught
to scout the idea of a God and rail at religion, to consider
Christianity as a thing of the past ;.men who revel in wild
chimeras by night, and seek to realize their mad dreams
by day.
What is the physician without religion ? He peoples
the grave-yards, murders helpless innocents, and makes
many of his patients the objects of his brutal lust. What
does he care, provided his purse swells and his brutal
passion is gratified ?
A gentleman of one of the smaller towns of Connecticut
writes to the Independent as follows :
472 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
11 I dare not tell you what I know (and the information
has been given me unsolicited) in reference to the horrid
practise of the crime of infanticide in the land. I do not
believe there is a village in the New England States but
this crime is practised in more or less. There are men who
make it their business, with medicine and instruments, to
carry on this slaughter. And even physicians in good and
regular standing in the Church have practised it. Men
are making here, in this highly moral State, three thous
and and four thousand dollars a year, in the small towns
alone, at this business."
Trustworthy physicians assure us that there are not less
than sixty ghouls in New York City who grow rich by kill
ing infants. The number has been stated at six times
sixty. The author of the book Satan in Society writes on
pages 130, 131, as follows : " A medical writer of some note
published, in 1861, a pamphlet, in which he declared him
self the hero of three hundred abortions. He admits, in a
work of his, that he only found abortion necessary to save
the life of the mother in four instances, thus publicly con
fessing that in an immense number of cases he has per
formed the operation on other grounds j and yet, in the
face of all this self-accusation, this rascal walks unhung. 7
These infidel and immoral physicians advertise publicly,
offering their services to enable people, as they say, " to
enjoy the pleasures of marriage without the burden."
They prepare, and even publicly sell everywhere, the
drugs and implements for committing such murders of the
helpless innocent. But who are the patients of those infidel
physicians, the victims of these ghouls ? They come from
the low and vicious circles of society. Many of them,
shocking to say, are under the age of fifteen.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 473
" How is all this possible ? " exclaims the good Christian,
" Is not affection for their offspring a quality possessed
even by all animals, with rarely an exception ? Few,
indeed, of the millions of the animal creation seek to
destroy their own offspring after birth, or to so neglect
them as to leave them liable to destruction by other bodies
or forces. How, then, can a human intelligence, a mother,
though she be illegitimate, be cruel enough to adopt the
most revolting and barbarous means of committing that
most unnatural of crimes, the crime of infanticide ? "
Such a crime is indeed most shocking for the truly Chris
tian woman. But since thousands of young ladies nowa
days are brought up without religion, and are real infidels,
we need not wonder at the fact that they are a kind of
monster, with the intelligence of a man and the cruelty and
instincts of a beast. In 1865, Dr. Morse Stewart, of
Detroit, Mich., could not help declaring that " among
married persons the practice of destroying the legitimate
results of matrimony had become so extensive that people
of high repute not only commit this crime, but do not even
blush to speak boastingly among their intimates of the deed
and the means of accomplishing it." "Several hundreds
" Protestant women," says Dr. Storer of Boston, " have
personally acknowledged to us their guilt, against whom
only seven Catholics; and of these we found, upon further
enquiry, that all but two were only nominally so, not going
to confession. There can be no doubt that Romish ordin
ance, flanked on the one hand by the confessional, and by
denouncement and excommunication on the other, has
saved to the world thousands of infant lives." Criminal
Abortion, p. 74.
Ah ! if God is despised, his laws will be hated and vio-
474 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
lated ; man will see only his own interests j his neighbor s
property will only whet his appetite 5 his neighbor s life will
only be a secondary consideration ; he would, according to
his creed, be a fool not to shed blood when his interest
requires it ; his fellow-men become imbued with his princi
ples anarchy succeeds subordination vice takes the place
of virtue what was sacred is profaned what was honor
able becomes disgraceful might becomes right treaties
are waste paper honor is an empty name the most sacred
obligations dwindle down into mere optional practices
youth despises age wisdom is folly subjection to autho
rity is laughed at as a foolish dream the moral code itself
soon becomes little more than the bugbear of the weak
minded crowns are trampled under foot thrones are
overturned, nations steeped in blood, and republics swept
from the face of the earth.
Witness the downfall of so many empires, kingdoms,
dynasties, and republics of the past. Witness the great
confusion in the governments of the present. Witness the
nameless abominations of the Communists, Fourierites,
and other such vile and degraded fraternities ; the cold
blooded murders and frightful suicides that fill so many
domestic hearths with grief and shame ; the scarcely-con
cealed corruption of public and professional men; the adroit
peculation and wilful embezzlement of the public money ;
those monopolizing speculations and voluntary insolven
cies so ruinous to the community at large ; and, above all,
those shocking atrocities so common in our country of
unbelief the legal dissolution of the matrimonial tie, and
the wanton tampering of life in its very bud ; all these
are humiliating facts sufficient to convince any impartial
mind that if the devil were presented with a blank sheet
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 475
of paper, and bade to write on it the most fatal gift to
man, he would simply write one word no religion. Yes,
it is the infidel, the man without religion, who makes
war on God and His Christ, and says, with Lucifer,
"Non serviam" I will not serve thee. This daring
rebel against God and his law wishes to have the inno
cent children of the Christian family, to teach them his
false, devilish maxims 5 promises them, as Satan, his
master did the Saviour, riches, and honors, and power, if
they will but fall down and worship him. He is blind,
and he attempts to lead ; he is ignorant, and he offers to
teach and direct his fellow-men. He will not receive the
law, and he claims the right to give it. He arrogates
the "higher law," and "would be as God." How
incomprehensibly strange it is that there are so many
men and women in our day who give ear to this temper
instead of saying, " Get thee behind me, Satan," and
" Thou art a liar and a cheat from the beginning."
Were we given to see a devil and the soul of an
infidel at the same time, we should find the sight of the
devil more bearable than that of the infidel ; for St. James
the Apostle tells us that " the devil believes and trembles."
(Chap, ii., 19.)
As no one can attain life everlasting without knowing
and living up to the true religion, it is evident that man
kind can have no worse enemies than those who endeavor
by word and deed to destroy the true knowledge of God
and his holy religion. Alas ! how numerous are these
enemies in this country !
How hateful these enemies of God and of his holy reli
gion are in the sight of the Lord may be seen from the
frightful punishments which the Lord is accustomed to
inflict upon them.
476 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Let us look at a few instances, taken from the little book,
Fate of Infidelity, by a converted infidel.
" You have undoubtedly heard of Blind Palmer, a pro
fessed infidel. After he had tried to lecture against
Christ he lost his sight, and died suddenly in Philadel
phia, in the forty-second year of his age. You will also
have heard of the so-called Orange County Infidel Society.
They held, among other tenets, that it was right to in
dulge in lasciviousness, and that it was right to regulate
their conduct as their propensities and appetites should
dictate ; and as these principles were carried into practi
cal operation by some families belonging to the association,
in one instance a son held criminal intercourse with his
mother, and publicly justified his conduct. The step
father, and husband to the mother who thus debased
herself, boldly avowed that, in his opinion, it was morally
right to hold such intercourse. The members of this
impious society were visited by God in a remarkable
manner. They all died, within five years, in some
strange or unnatural manner. One of them was seized
with a sudden and violent illness, and in his agony
exclaimed: My bowels are on fire die I must, and his
spirit passed away.
" Dr. H., another of the party, was found dead in his
bed the next morning.
" D. D., a printer, fell into a fit, and died immediately,
and three others were drowned within a few days.
u B. A., a lawyer, came to his death by starvation ;
and C. C., also educated for the bar, and a man of super
ior intellectual endowments, died of want, bungerand filth.
" Another, who had studied to fee a preacher, suddenly
disappeared, but at length his remains were found fast in
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 477
the ice, where he evidently had been for a long time, as the
fowls of the air and the inhabitants of the deep had
consumed the most of his flesh.
" Joshua Miller, notorious as a teacher of infidelity, was
found upon a stolen horse, and was shot by Col. J. Wood-
hull. N. Miller, his brother, who was discovered one Sun
day morning seated upon a log playing cards, was also shot.
" Benjamin Kelly was shot off his horse by a boy, the
son of one Clark, who had been murdered by Kelly ; his
body remained upon the ground until his flesh had been
consumed by birds.
u I. Smith committed suicide by stabbing himself while
he was in prison for crime.
" W. Smith was shot by B. Thorpe and others for rob
bery.
" S. T. betrayed his own confidential friend for a few
dollars ; his friend was hung, and he was afterwards shot
by D. Lancaster.
" I. V. was shot by a company of militia. I. D. ? in a
drunken fit, was frozen to death.
" I. B., and I. Smith, and J. Vervellen, B. R., and one
other individual, were hung for heinous crimes they had
committed. N. B., W. T., and W. H. were drowned. C.
C. hung himself. A. S. was struck with an axe, and bled
to death.
"F. S. fell from his horse and was killed. W. Clark
drank himself to death; he was eaten by the hogs before
his bones were found, which were recognized by his cloth
ing. J. A., Sr., died in the woods, his rum-jug by his
side 5 he was not found until a dog brought home one of
his legs, which was identified by his stocking; his bones
had been picked by animals.
478 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
"S. C. hung himself, and another destroyed himself by
taking laudanum. D. D. was hired for ten dollars to
shoot a man, for which offence he died upon the gallows.
"The most of those who survived were either sent to
the State prison, or were publicly whipped for crimes
committed against the peace and dignity of the State."
This is a brief history of the Orange County "Liberals,"
as they called themselves.
The days of the infidel are counted. What a fearful
thing is it for him to fall into the hands of God in the
hour of death ! He knows this truth, and because he knows
it he dies in the fury of despair, and, as it were, in the
anticipated torments of the suffering that awaits him in
hell. Witness Voltaire, the famous infidel of France. He
wished to make his confession at his last hour. But the
priest of St. .Sulpice was not able to go to hisjbedside,
because the chamber-door was shut upon him. So Vol
taire died without confession. He died in such a terrible
paroxysm of fury and rage that the Marshal of Richelieu,
who was present at his horrible agony, exclaimed : " Really,
this sight is sickening ; it is insupportable ! " M. Tron-
chin, Voltaire s physician, says : "Figure to yourself the
rage and fury of Orestes, and you ll still have but a feeble
image of the fury of Voltaire in his last agony. It would
be well if all the infidels of Paris were present. the
fine spectacle that would have met their eyes!" Thus is
fulfilled in infidels what God says in holy Scripture : " I
will laugh at the destruction of those who laughed at me
during their life."
Witness Tom Paine. A short time before he died he
sent for the Rev. Father Fenwick. So Father Fenwick
went in company of Father Kohlman, to see the infidel in
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 479
his wretched condition. When they arrived at Paine s
house, at Greenwich, his housekeeper came to the door
and enquired whether they were the Catholic priests.
"For," said she, "Mr. Paine has been so annoyed of late
by ministers of different other denominations calling upon
him, that he has left express orders with me to admit no
one to-day but the clergymen of the Catholic Church."
Upon assuring her that they were Catholic clergymen, she
opened the door and invited them to sit down in the parlor.
"Gentlemen," said she, "I really wish you may succeed
with Mr. Paine ; for he is laboring under great distress of
mind, ever since he was informed by his physicians that he
cannot possibly live, and must die shortly. He sent for
you to-day because he was told that if any one could do
him good you might. He is truly to be pitied. His cries,
when he is left alone, are truly heartrending. Lord !
help me ! he will exclaim during his paroxysms of dis
tress. l God help, Jesus Christ help me ! repeating the
same expressions without any, the least variation, in a
tone of voice that would alarm the house. Sometimes he
will say, i God ! what have I done to suffer so much f
Then shortly after : l If there is a God, what will become
of me ? Thus he will continue for some time, when on
a sudden he will scream as if in terror and agony, and
call out for me by name. On one of these occasions,
which are very frequent, I went to him and enquired what
he wanted. Stay with me/ he replied, for God s sake ;
for I cannot bear to be left alone. I then observed that
I could not always be with him, as I had much to attend
to in the house. Then, said he, l send even a child to
stay with me ; for it is a hell to be alone. 7 I never saw,"
she concluded, " a more unhappy, a more -forsaken man.
It seems he cannot reconcile himself to die."
480 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
The fathers did all in their power to make Paine enter
into himself and ask God s pardon. But all their endeavors
were in vain. He ordered them out of his room in the
highest pitch of his voice, and seemed a very maniac with
rage and madness. " Let us go," said Father Fenwick to
Father Kohlman. " We have nothing more to do here.
He seems to be entirely abandoned by God. Further
words are lost upon him. I never before or since beheld
a more hardened wretch." Lives of the Catholic Bishops
of America, p. 379, etc.
To the infidel and evil-doer these examples present mat
ter worthy of serious reflection, while the believer will rec
ognize in them the special judgment of God, which is too
clearly indicated to be doubted by any honest mind. Let
the unbeliever remember that the hour will come when he
shall open his eyes to see the wisdom of those who have
believed ; when he also shall see, to his confusion, his own
madness in refusing to believe. u Oh ! that he would be
wise, and would understand that there is none that can
deliver out of the hand of the Lord." (Deut., xxxii., 39.)
We have seen what positive infidelity is ; and we have
seen what an infidel is. Let us now mention the various
causes that lead to infidelity. These causes are corruption
of the heart, neglect of prayer, ignorance of the mind,
private judgment in matters of faith, and godless education.
Before the prodigal son left his father s house our Lord
said that "he asked for the portion of goods which should
come to him." We are thus informed of the desire which
was in the prodigal s mind before he quitted his father s
roof ; his aim was to spend those goods without restraint or
remonstrance. For the same purpose, also, he took these
goods " into a far country," where he would no longer
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 481
be under his father s eye. Thus it is with every sinner.
When his passions begin to gain a sway over him, he
invents maxims and principles of conduct in order that
he may rid himself of the reproaches of the law of God
"putting for the commandments of God the traditions of
men " and by giving a less offensive name to his sin he
stills the voice of conscience within him. The next step
is to "go into a far country" into the farthest possible.
He says that there is no God. Corruption of the heart or
slavery of the passions is the very first cause, the prolific
mother, of infidelity.
You will find men who deny the immortality of the soul,
who deny the eternity of hell, who deny the infallibility
of -the Pope. You will find men who deny the divine
origin of confession but why ? It is because these whole
some truths put a check to their passions. They cannot
believe in these truths and at the same time gratify their
criminal desires. " It is only the/00?, the impious man,
that says in his heart there is no God." (Ps., xiii., 1.) An
honest, virtuous man would never think of doubting or
contradicting these sacred truths.
In spite of its innate pride, the mind is the slave of
the heart. If the heart soars to heaven on the wings of
divine love, the mind, too, rises with it. But if the heart
is buried in the mire of filthy passions, it soon exhales dark,
fetid vapors, which obscure the intellect. The infidel s
reason is the dupe of his heart.
There is a man who was once a good Catholic, who used
formerly to go regularly to Mass and to confession. He
is now an infidel 5 goes no longer to confession. But why ?
Has he become more enlightened ? Has he received some
new knowledge ? The only new knowledge he has received
482 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
is the sad knowledge of sin. He believed as long as he
was virtuous. He began to doubt only when he began to
be immoral ; he became an infidel only when he became
a libertine. The history of his life is soon told. Wishing
to gratify his passions without restraint and without re
morse, he tried to rid himself of a religion which would
have troubled him in the midst of his unlawful pleasures.
His face tells the story. The sacred nobility of the free
man is there no longer. He has become a member of a
secret society. The dark, oath-bound seal of hell is on his
lips. His hands are defiled by injustice. He hath grown
rich, but his riches are accursed. His heart is a slave to
the most shameful passions. He wishes to gratify Ids
wicked desires without shame, without remorse. In order
to do this he tries to get rid of religion. The solemn form
of religion appears in the midst of his sinful revelry like
the hand on the wall, writing in letters of fire the dread
sentence of his damnation. His conscience tells him that
there is a hell to punish his crimes, and he tries to stifle
the voice of his conscience, and says ; a There is no hell."
The voice of his conscience reproaches him and tells him
that there is a just God, who will punish him for his sins ;
and he stifles the voice of his conscience, and says :
" There is no God." His conscience, says to him : " Ha !
there is a strict and terrible judgment that awaits you after
death ; " and he stifles the voice of his conscience, and
says : u There is no hereafter ; it is all over after death."
He tries to prove to himself and to others that man is a
brute, because he wishes to live like a brute. He hates re
ligion, he hates the priest, he hates the Church, he hates the
Sacraments, he hates every thing that reminds him of God,
because he knows that by his crimes he has made himself
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 483
an enemy of God. The unhappy man says, " There is
no hell, " and whithersoever he goes he carries hell in his
heart. In the silence of the night, when others are sleep
ing around him, he cannot sleep. His conscience tortures
him. It asks him : u Were you to die in this state this
night, what would become of you ? It is a terrible thing
to fall unprepared into the hands of the living God ! Think
of eternity ! eternity ! eternity ! Think of the worm that
never dies, and the fire that never quenches ! " No wonder
that men sometimes commit suicide. They cannot bear
the remorse of conscience, and so they try to find rest in
death. The hell of the infidel begins even in this world,
and it continues throughout all eternity in the next.
There lived in France a certain philosopher, an infidel,
named Banguer. When he was lying on his death-bed,
he sent for the priest, the Rev. Father La Berthonie, to
assist him in his last moments. The priest instructed
him at great length in order to rouse his faith. u Hasten
to the end, Rev. Father," said the philosopher; "for it is
my heart rather than my mind that wants to be healed ;
I was an unbeliever only because I was bad."
One day a Lieutenant-General revealed his doubts on
religion to one of his officers in whom he placed great
confidence. This officer advised him to confer with Father
Neuville and Father Renaud. But notwithstanding the
solidity of their arguments, he could not arrive at convic
tion. Hereupon the officer prevailed on him to visit an
ecclesiastic whom he had chosen for his confessor. The
Lieutenant-General called upon him in the name of his
friend. He told him what had brought him, and the fruit
less steps he had already taken to dissipate his doubts.
"What could I possibly add, sir," answered the priest,
484: COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
" to the arguments of men like Fathers Neuville and
Renaud ? What force can their arguments receive from
my lips ? I have only one recourse ; please try it. Enter
into my oratory ; let us pray God to enlighten your
understanding, to touch your heart, and then begin by
making your confession. 7 " I, sir, when I scarcely believe
in the existence of God ? " " You believe in him, and
in religion too, far more than you think. Kneel down,
make the sign of the cross, I am going to call to your
mind the Gonfiteor, and to put to you the necessary ques
tions. " After sundry marks of astonishment that seemed
but too well founded, after many repetitions of his doubts,
and even of his infidelity, after many objections and dif
ficulties, the Lieutenant-General at length obeyed, and
answered honestly the different questions of the priest.
The priest went back with him to the time of his first
transgressions ; he dwelt at some length on the disorders
that ensued. By degrees the heart of the penitent open
ed itself, his voice began to tremble, and tears involun
tarily flowed from his eyes. The priest, seeing his
agitation, ceased questioning him, and giving full scope
to all the ardor of his zeal, he exhorted him in the most
pathetic and touching manner, and thus accomplished
what his interrogations and the first avowals made to
him had begun. " father ! " exclaimed the penitent,
sobbing, " you have followed the only path that could
have conducted you to my heart ! I am a wretch who
has been led astray by his passions alone, who carried his
judge in the hidden recesses of his conscience, but who
stifled that judge s voice, who dared not avow his crimes
to himself, and who preferred to believe nothing rather
than be obliged to live well ! I will return to-morrow, and
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 485
I will then make a more lengthy confession." And he
did so with sentiments of the most lively compunction
he died some years after, in the practice of the most aus
tere penance and of a truly Christian life. (Debussi,
Nouveau Mois de Marie, 143.)
The second cause of infidelity is the neglect of prayer.
This was pointed out many centuries ago by a great pro
phet. " The impious," says David and who is more
impious than an infidel? "the impious are corrupt, and
they become abominable in their ways. . . . They are
all gone aside ; they are become unprofitable together ;
there is none that does good, no, not one. . . . Destruc
tion and unhappiness are in their ways." " Now the
cause of all this wickedness," continues David, " is because
they have not called upon the Lord." God is the light
of our understanding, the strength of our will, and the
life of our heart. The more we neglect to pray to God,
the more we experience darkness in our understanding,
weakness in our will, and deadly coldness in our heart.
Our passions, the temptations of the devil, and the allure
ments of the world, will draw us headlong from one abyss
of wickedness to another, until we fall into the deepest of
all into infidelity, and indifference to all religion.
The third cause of infidelity, and indifference to all
religion, is the ignorance of the mind. Many are infidels
because they never received any instruction in religion.
Among these are some who are more guilty than others ;
namely, those who do not wish to be instructed in their
religious duties, in order that they may more easily dis
pense themselves with the obligations of complying with
these duties. Now it is this very class of men that easily
give ear to the principles of infidelity, because these prin-
486 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
ciples are more pleasing to their corrupt nature than those
of our holy religion. This class is very numerous and
their number is on the increase every day. For, not
having any religion themselves, nor wishing to have any,
what wonder if their children follow their example ? Such
as the tree is, will the fruit be. A Catholic lady of New
York asked a little child: "How many gods are there,
and who made you?" The child could not answer the
questions. So the Catholic lady said to the child : " Say,
There is but one God ; say, God made me. When
the mother of the child heard this she flew into a passion,
and said : " My child shall never learn such a thing j God
has nothing to do with my child." Behold how infidel
mothers bring up their children !
There are others who became infidels because they
were never sufficiently instructed in their holy religion.
There is a certain class of parents who have their children
instructed in everything but their religion. They allow
them to grow up in ignorance of everything except of the
means by which they make money. Now, when the
time draws near for these children to make their First Com
munion, their parents will take them to the priest to pre
pare them for this holy sacrament in a week or two. What
can children learn in a couple of weeks ! Certain it is that
what they learn in that time very seldom enters their hearts.
Their hearts are not prepared for the Word of God ; they
are light-minded, and in many cases corrupt, and what
they learn is learned from constraint. No sooner are they
free from constraint than they throw their religion over
board ; they become the worst kind of infidels and the
worst enemies of our holy religion.
The young man who set fire to St. Augustine s Church,
COMMANDMEXTS OF GOD. 487
in Philadelphia, Pa., was a Catholic, and he gloried in
being able to burn his name out of the baptismal record.
Archbishop Spalding, of Baltimore, asserted one day that
in one body of Methodist preachers he had observed seven
or eight who were the children of Catholic parents, and
that they were the smartest preachers among them. Bishop
England said that the Catholic Church loses more, in this
country, by apostasy than it gains by conversions. Thus
is verified in these children what God has said through
the Prophet Isaias : u Therefore is my people led away
captive because they had not knowledge." (chap, v., 13.)
These three causes of infidelity have existed from the
beginning of the world. But about three centuries ago
Protestantism opened a very wide avenue to the same end,
as we shall see in the explanation of the next question.
18 What is heresy?
Heresy is the obstinate clinging to error of abaptized per
son, in opposition to a truth taught l)ij the Catholic Church.
The word " heresy " is derived from the Greek, and
means to choose or adhere to a certain thing. Hence a
baptized person, professing Christianity and choosing at
the same time for himself what to believe and what not to
believe, as he pleases, in obstinate opposition to any par
ticular truth which he knows is taught by the Catholic
Church as a truth revealed by God, is a heretic. Three
things, therefore, are required to make a person guilty of
the sin of heresy.
1. He must be baptized and profess Christianity. This
distinguishes him from a Jew and idolater.
2. He must refuse to believe a truth revealed by God,
and taught by the Church as so revealed.
488 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
3. He must obstinately adhere to error, preferring his
own private judgment in matters of faith and morals to
the infallible teaching of the Catholic Church.
Heresy, therefore, is a corruption of the true faith.
This corruption takes place either by altering the truths
which constitute the principal articles of faith, or by
denying obstinately those which result therefrom. But,
as the error of a geometrician does not affect the principles
of geometry, so is the error of a person, which does
not affect the fundamental truths of faith, no real heresy.
Should a person have embraced an opinion which is
contrary to faith, without knowing that it is opposed to
faith, he is, in this case, no heretic, if he is disposed to
renounce his error as soon as he comes to know the truth.
A baptized person, then, professing Christianity, com
mits the sin of heresy, when he obstinately rejects a truth
revealed by God and taught by the Church as so revealed,
or when he embraces an opinion contrary to faith, main
tains it obstinately, and refuses to submit to the authority
of the head of the Church j or when he wilfully doubts the
truth of an article of faith, for by such a wilful doubt he
actually questions God s knowledge and truth, and to do
this is to be guilty of heresy. " The real character of rank
heresy, " says St. Thomas Aquinas, " consists in want of
submission to the head of the Church. "
It is false to say that only those truths are of faith which
have been defined by the Church, and that he only is a
heretic who denies a defined truth.
A man steals a large amount of money from his neigh
bor. Now is that man no thief so long as the court has
not pronounced him guilty of theft ?
Jesus Christ has revealed to his Church a certain
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 489
number of truths. She knows what those truths are. She
always believed and taught them as revealed truths, but she
defined many of these truths in precise terms only when
it was fit or necessary to do so. These definitions of the
faith are so many judgments of the Church against those
who denied her doctrine or called it into doubt, out of
vincible or invincible ignorance. Those who, out of invin
cible ignorance, denied certain revealed truths, were
excused from heresy until the Church delivered them from
the ignorance of these truths by declaring and defining
them in precise terms. A Christian, then, who knows
that a certain truth is revealed by God and taught by the
Church as so revealed, though not defined by her, becomes
guilty of heresy if he denies or wilfully doubts that truth.
No doubt, Luther, Calvin, etc., were considered by the
Church as heretics even before she had defined those truths
which were denied by those impious men, and those
denied truths were articles of faith, and as such believed
just as firmly before as after their definition by the Council
of Trent,
Any one, then, who sufficiently knows the truths of the
true religion, and denies even but one of them, commits
one of the greatest sins. To reject what we know has been
revealed by God is not only to cut ourselves off from all
the blessings of religion, but it is to call in question the
Truth of God, and he who calls in question the Truth of
God offers to him the greatest insult. We believe the
truths of faith, because God revealed them and proposes
them to our faith by his infallible Church. Now, to be
lieve some of these truths, and reject one or more of them,
is as much as to say: I believe that God told the truth in
this point, but not in that other. This is a horrible bias-
490 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
phemy. Wilful heresy, therefore, in regard even to but
one sacred truth of religion destroys all faith, attacking as
it does the authority of God, who revealed the truth. If
a man who poisons the food of his fellow-men is most
damnable in the sight of God, how much more damnable
are not those men who poison the souls of men by the seed
of heresy !
To take away the life of the body is a mortal sin. Now
is it not a greater crime to rob the soul of its life the
grace of God, and lead it to everlasting perdition by false
doctrines f Hence it is that Holy Scripture condemns the
sin of heresy in the strongest terms. " A man, " says St.
Paul, " that is a heretic, after the first and second admon
ition avoid 5 knowing that he who is such an one is subver
ted, and sinneth, being condemned by his own judgement."
(Tit, iii., 10. ) And again he says: " Though we, or an
angel from heaven, preach a Gospel to you besides that
which we have preached to you, let him be anathema, "
that is, accursed. (Gal, i., 8, 9.) St. Paul also classes sects
or heresies among the works of the flesh, and says that
those who do such things, shall not obtain the kingdom of
God. (Gal., i., 29. )
When the emperor Valens passed the decree that St.
Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea, should depart
into banishment, Almighty God passed, at the same time,
a decree against the only son of the emperor, named Val-
entinian Galatus, a child then about six years old. That
very night the royal infant was seized with a violent fever.
The physicians were not able to give him the least
relief. The empress Dominica told the emperor, that the
sickness of the child was a punishment of God, for the
decree of banishment which he had passed against the
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 491
Archbishop ; and that, on this account, she had been
disquieted by terrible dreams.
The emperor sent immediately for the saint, who was
just preparing to go into exile. No sooner had the holy
Archbishop entered the palace, than the young prince s
fever began to abate. St. Basil assured the emperor and
the empress that their son would be restored to perfect
health, if they should have him instructed and brought up
in the Catholic faith. The emperor accepted the condi
tion. St. Basil prayed over the young prince and obtained
his complete cure from God. But Valens was unfaithful
to his promise. He sent afterwards for a heretical bishop
to baptize the child. Thereupon the young prince relapsed
and died. (Butler s Lives of the Saints, June 14.)
The Catholic faith restored the sick child to perfect
health all on a sudden, and heresy destroyed this blessing
arid caused almost sudden death. The blessing bestowed
upon the soul by Catholic faith is life everlasting, whilst
heresy brings upon it everlasting destruction.
In the history of the foundation of the Society of Jesus,
in the kingdom of Naples, is related the following story
of a noble youth of Scotland, named William Elphinstone.
This youth was a relation of King James. Born of heret
ical parents he followed the false sect to which they
belonged. But enlightened by divine grace, which showed
him his errors, he went to France, where, with the
assistance of a Jesuit Father, who was, like himself, a
Scotchman, and still more by the intercession of the Bles
sed Virgin, he at length saw the truth of the Catholic
religion, abjured heresy, and became a Catholic. He went
afterwards to Rome, where a friend of his found him one
day very much afflicted and weeping, on being asked the
492 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
cause of his affliction, he answered, that in the night his
mother had appeared to him and said : u My son, it is
well for thee that thou hast entered the true Church. I
myself am lost, because I died in heresy."
From that time, the young convert became very fer
vent in the practice of his religion. He joined the
Society of Jesus, and died in it a very edifying religious.
To understand still better the heinousness of the sin ot
heresy, we have but to consider that it leads to infidelity
and even to idolatry.
All the heresies of our age and country go by the
name of Protestantism. Protestantism introduced the
principle that " there is no divinely-appointed authority
to teach infallibly. Let every man read the Bible and
judge for himself."
Upon this false principle they even boldly denied the
Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.
What more natural than gradually to begin to deny with
the same boldness almost all the Gospel truths ? Why
should the one who does not care for Jesus Christ upon
the altar be expected to care for Jesus Christ in heaven,
and for all that He has taught us ? Hence it is that what
they may call their religion and their religious service is
in itself neither inviting nor impressive ; it has nothing in
it to stir up the fountains of feeling j to call forth the
music and poetry of the soul ; to convey salutary instruc
tion or to awaken lively interest. It possesses no trait of
grandeur, of sublimity; it has certainly not one element
of poetry or pathos. Generally cold and lifeless, it be
comes warm only by a violent effort, and then it runs into
the opposite extreme of intemperate excitement and sen-
timentalismj nay, it is no exaggeration to say, that
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 493
religiousness among the greater part of Protestants in our
day and country seems to have well-nigh become extinct.
They seem to have lost all spiritual conceptions, and no
longer to possess any spiritual aspiration. Lacking as
they do the light, the warmth, and the life-giving power
of the sun of the Catholic Church the holy Mass, the
Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament
they seem to have become, or to be near becoming,
what our world would be if there were no sun in the
heavens.
For this reason is it that the greater part of Protestants
are so completely absorbed in temporal interests, in the
things that fall under their senses, that their whole life is
only materialism put in action. Lucre is the sole object on
which their eyes are constantly fixed. A burning thirst
to realize some profit, great or small, absorbs all their facul
ties, the whole energy of their being. They never pursue
anything with ardor but riches and enjoyments. God, the
soul, a future life they believe in none of them; or rather,
they never think about them at all. If they ever take up
a moral or a religious book, or go to a meeting house, it is
only by way of amusement to pass the time away. It is
a less serious occupation than smoking a pipe or drinking
a cup of tea. If you speak to them about the foundations
of faith, of the principles of Christianity, of the importance
of salvation, the certainty of a life beyond the grave all
these truths which so powerfully impress a mind suscept
ible of religious feeling they listen with a certain pleasure ;
for it amuses them and piques their curiosity. In their
opinion all this is "true, fine, grand." They deplore the
blindness of men who attach themselves to the perishable
goods of this world j perhaps they will even give utterance
494 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
to some fine sentences on the happiness of knowing the
true God, of serving Him, and of meriting by this means
the reward of eternal life. They simply never think of
religion at all ; they like very well to talk about it, but it
is as of a thing not made for them a thing with which,
personally, they have nothing to do. This indifference
they carry so far religious sensibility is so entirely with
ered or dead within them that they care not a straw
whether a doctrine is true or false, good or bad. Religion is
to them simply a fashion, which those may follow who have
a taste for it. By and by, all in good time, they say ; one
should never be precipitate ; it is not good to be too en
thusiastic. No doubt the Catholic religion is beautiful and
sublime, its doctrine explains with method and clearness
all that is necessary for man to know. Whoever has
any sense will see that, and will adopt it in his heart with
all sincerity 5 but after all, one must not think too much
of these things, and increase the cares of life. Now, just
consider we have a body ; how many cares it demands.
It must be clothed, fed, and sheltered from the injuries of
the weather ; its infirmities are great, and its maladies are
numerous. It is agreed on all hands that health is our
most precious good. This body that we see, that we touch,
must be taken care of every day and every moment of the
day. Is not this enough without troubling ourselves about
a soul that we never see ? The life of man is short and
full of misery ; it is made up of a succession of important
concerns that follow one another without interruption.
Our hearts and our minds are scarcely sufficient for the
solicitudes of the present life ; is it wise, then, to torment
one s self about the future 1 Is it not far better to live in
blessed ignorance ?
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 495
Ask them, What would you think of a traveller who, on
finding himself at a dilapidated inn, open to all the winds,
and deficient in the most absolute necessaries, should spend
all his time in trying how he could make himself most com
fortable in it, without ever thinking of preparing himself
for his departure and his return into the bosom of his
family ? Would this traveller be acting in a wise and rea
sonable manner ? " No," they will reply ; " one must not
travel in that way. But man, nevertheless, must confine
himself within proper limits. How can he provide for
two lives at the same time ? I take care of this life, and
the care of the other I leave to God." If a traveller ought
not regularly to take up his abode at an inn, neither ought
he to travel on two roads at the same time. When one
wishes to cross a river, it will not do to have two boats,
and set a foot in each j such a proceeding would involve
the risk of a tumble into the water and drowning one s self.
Such is the deep abyss of religious indifferentism into
which so many Protestants of our day have fallen, and
from which they naturally fall into one deeper still-
infidelity.
A body which has lost the principle of its animation
becomes dust. Hence it is an axiom that the change or
perversion of the principles by which anything was pro
duced is the destruction of that very thing; if you can
change or pervert the principles from which anything
springs, you destroy it. For instance, one single foreign
element introduced into the blood produces death ; one false
assumption admitted into science destroys its certainty ;
one false principle admitted into faith and morals, is fatal.
The reformers started wrong. They would reform the
Church by placing her under human control. Their
496 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
successors have in each generation found they did not .go
far enough, and have, each in turn, struggled to push it
further and further, till they find themselves without any
church life, without faith, without religion, and beginning
to doubt if there be even a God.
It is a well-known fact that, before the Reformation,
infidels were scarcely known in the Christian world.
Since that event they have come forth in swarms. It is
from the writings of Herbert, Hobbes, Bloum, Shaftesbury,
Bolingbroke, and Boyle that Voltaire and his party drew
the objections and errors which they have brought so
generally into fashion in the world. According to Dide
rot and d Alembert, the first step that the untractable
Catholic takes is to adopt the Protestant principle of
private judgment. He establishes himself judge of his
religion j leaves and joins the reform. Dissatisfied with the
incoherent doctrines he there discovers, he passes over to
the Socinians, whose inconsequences soon drive him into
Deism. Still pursued by unexpected difficulties, he finds
refuge in universal doubt 5 but still haunted by uneasiness,
he at length resolves to take the last step, and proceeds
to terminate the long chain of his errors in infidelity. Let
us not forget that the first link of this chain is attached
to the fundamental maxim of private judgment. They
judged of religion as they did of their breakfast and din
ner. A religion was good or bad, true or false, just as it
suited their tastes, their likings ; their rel : gious devotion
varied like the weather ; they must feel it as they felt the
heat and cold.
New fashions of belief sprang up, and changed and dis
appeared as rapidly as the new fashions of dress. Men
judged not only of every revealed doctrine, but they also
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 497
judged of the BiWe itself. Protestantism, having no
authority, could not check this headlong tendency to un
belief. Its ministers dare no longer preach or teach any
doctrine which is displeasing to the people. Every Pro
testant preacher who wishes to be heard, and to retain his
salary, must first feel the pulse of his hearers ; he must
make himself the slave of their opinions and likings.
It is, therefore, historically correct that the same princi
ple that created Protestantism three centuries ago, has
never ceased since that time to spin it out into a thousand
different sects, and has concluded by covering Europe and
America with that multitude of free-thinkers and infidels
who place these countries on the verge of ruin.
The individual reason taking as it does the place of faith,
the Protestant, whether he believes it or not, is an infidel
in germ, and the infidel is a Protestant in full bloom. In
other words, infidelity is nothing but Protestantism in the
highest degree. Hence it is that Edgar Quinet, a great
herald of Protestantism, is right in styling the Protestant
sects the thousand gates open to get out of Christianity.
No wonder, then, that thousands of Protestants have
ended, and continue to end, in framing their own formula
of faith thus : " I believe in nothing." And here, I ask,
what is easier, from this state of irreligion and infidelity,
than the passage to idolatry ?
This assertion may seem incredible to some at this day,
and may be esteemed an absurdity ; but idolatry is express
ly mentioned in the Apocalypse as existing in the time of
Antichrist. And, indeed, our surprise will much abate if we
take into consideration the temper and disposition of the
present times. When men divest themselves, as they seem
to do at present, of all fear of the Supreme Being, of all re-
498 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
spect of their Creator and Lord j when they surrender them
selves to the gratification of sensuality ; when they give full
freedom to the human passions and direct their whole study
to the pursuits of a corrupt world, with a total forgetfulness
of a future state j when they give children a godless educa
tion, and have no longer any religion to teach them, may we
not say that the transition- to idolatry is easy ? When all
the steps leading up to a certain point are taken, what
wonder if we arrive at that point ? Such was the gradual
degeneracy of mankind in the early ages of the world,
that brought on the abominable practices of idol- worship.
Of course it will be said that we have the happiness of
living in.the most enlightened of all ages ; our knowledge
is more perfect, our ideas more developed and refined, the
human faculties more improved and better cultivated than
they ever were before j in fine, that the present race of man
kind may be reckoned a society of philosophers when com
pared to the generations that have gone before. How is it
possible, then, that such stupidity can seize upon the human
mind as to sink it into idolatry ?
This kind of reasoning is more specious than solid. For,
allowing the present times to surpass the past in refinement
and knowledge, it must be said that they are proportionately
more vicious. Refinement of reason has contributed, as
every one knows, to refine upon the means of gratifying the
human passions.
Besides, however enlightened the mind may be supposed
to be, if the heart is corrupt the excesses into which a man
will run are evidenced by daily experience.
Witness our modern spiritism (spiritualism). What else
is our modern spiritualism than a revival of the old heathen
idol-worship ?
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 499
Satan is constantly engaged in doing all in his power
to entice men away from God, and to have himself wor
shipped instead of the Creator. The introduction, estab
lishment, persistence and power of the various cruel, re
volting superstitions, of the ancient heathen world, or of
pagan nations in modern times, are nothing but the work of
the devil. They reveal a more than human power. God
permitted Satan to operate upon man s morbid nature, as a
deserved punishment upon the Gentiles for their hatred of
truth and their apostasy from the primitive religion. Men
left to themselves, to human nature alone, however low
they might be prone to descend, never could descend so low
as to worship wood and stone, four-footed beasts, and creep
ing things. To do this needs satanic delusion.
Paganism in its old form was doomed. Christianity
had silenced the oracles and driven the devils back to hell.
How was the devil to re-establish his worship on earth,
and carry on his war against the Son of God and the re
ligion which he taught us ? Evidently only by changing
his tactics and turning the truth into a lie. He found men
in all the heresiarchs who, like Eve, gave ear to his sug
gestions, and believed him more than the Infallible Word
of Jesus Christ. Thus he has succeeded in banishing the
true religion from whole countries, or in mixing it with
false doctrines. He has prevailed upon thousands to be
lieve the doctrines of vain, self-conceited men, rather than
the religion taught by Jesus Christ and his Apostles. It
is by heresies, revolutions, bad secret societies, and godless
state school education, that he has succeeded so far as to
bring thousands of men back to a state of heathenism and
infidelity. The time has come for him to introduce idolatry,
or his own worship. To do this he makes use of spiritu-
500 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
alisin. Through the spirit-mediums he performs lying
wonders. He gives pretended revelations from the spirit-
world, in order to destroy or weaken all faith in divine
revelation. He thus strives to re-establish in Christian
lands that very same devil-worship which has so long
existed among heathen nations, and which our Lord Jesus
Christ came to destroy. The Holy Scriptures assure us
that all the gods of the heathens are devils ( " nines dii
gentium dcemonia" Ps.) These demons took possession
of the idols made of wood or stone, of gold or silver ; they
had temples erected in their honor; they had their sac
rifices, their priests, and their priestesses. They uttered
oracles. They were consulted through their mediums in
all affairs of importance, and especially in order to find
out the future, precisely as they are consulted by our
modern spiritualists at the present day.
In modern spiritualism the devil communicates with men
by means of tables, chairs, tablets, or planchette; or by
rapping, writing, seeing and speaking mediums. It is
all the same to the devil whether he communicates with
men and leads them astray by means of idols, or by means
of tables, chairs, planchette, and the like.
Assuredly, if the philosopher is not governed by the
power of religion, his conduct will be absurd and even
despicable to the most ignorant individual of the lowest
rank.
A Socrates, a Cicero, a Seneca, are said to have been
acquainted with the knowledge of one supreme God ; but
they had not courage to profess his worship, and in their
public conduct basely sacrificed to stocks and stones with
the vulgar. When men have banished from their heart
the sense of religion, and despise the rights of justice, (and
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 501
is this not the case with numbers ?) will many of them
scruple to offer incense to a statue, if by so doing they
serve their ambition, their interest, or whatever may be
their favorite passion ? Where is the cause for surprise,
then, if infidelity and irreligion be succeeded by idolatry?
That pride alone, when inflamed with a constant flow of
prosperity, may raise a man to the extravagant presumption
of claiming for himself divine honors, we see in the ex
ample of Alexander, the celebrated Macedonian conqueror,
and of several emperors of Babylon and ancient Rome.
From suggestions of that same principle of pride, it will
happen that Antichrist, elevated by a continued course of
victories and conquests, will set himself up for a god. And
as at that time the propagation of infidelity, irreligion,
and immorality will have become universal, this defection
from faith, disregard for its teachers, licentiousness in
opinions, depravity in morals, will so far deaden all in
fluence of religion, and cause such degeneracy in mankind,
that many will be base enough even to espouse idolatry,
to yield to the absurd impiety of worshipping Antichrist
as their Lord and God j some out of fear for what they may
lose, others to gain what they covet.
Then will it be evident to all that infidelity, and even
idolatry, existed in the Protestant principle of private
judgment, as the oak exists in the acorn, as the conse
quence is in the premise; or, in other words, that this
principle was but the powerful weapon of Satan to carry
on his war against Christ ; of the sons of Belial to fight
the keepers of the law ; of false anti-social liberty to de
stroy true and rational liberty to make worshippers of
the devil out of the worshippers of God,
It may be asked here, why does God permit the Cath
olic faith to be assailed by heresy !
502 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, with the
exception of the Greek schismatics, a few Lollards in
England, some Waldenses in Piedmont, scattered Albi-
genses or Manicheans, and a few followers of Huss and
Zisca among the Bohemians, all Europe was Roman
Catholic. England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Portugal,
France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland,
Holland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, every civil
ized nation was in the unity of the Catholic faith. Many
of these nations were at the height of their power and
prosperity. Portugal was pushing her discoveries beyond
the Cape of Good Hope, and forming Catholic settlements
in the East Indies. Christopher Columbus, a Roman
Catholic, had discovered America, under the patronage
of the Catholic Isabella of Spain. England was in a state
of great prosperity. Her two Catholic Universities of
Oxford and Cambridge contained, at one time, more than
fifty thousand students. The country was covered with
noble churches, abbeys, and monasteries, and with hos
pitals, where the poor were fed, clothed, and instructed.
However, the progress of civilization tended to foster a
spirit of pride, and encourage the lust of novelties. The
prosperity of the Church led to luxury, and in many
cases to a relaxation of discipline. There were, as there
always have been, in every period of the Church, the
days of the apostles not excepted, bad men in the Church.
The wheat and tares grow together until the harvest.
The net of the Church encloses good and bad. The
writings of Wickliffe, Huss, and their followers, had un
settled the minds of many. Princes were restive under
the check held by the Church upon their rapacity and
lusts. A Henry VIII., for example, wanted to divorce a
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 503
wife to whom he had been married twenty years, that he
might marry a young and pretty one. He could not do
this, so long as he acknowledged the spiritual supremacy
of the pope. Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, wanted two
wives. No pope would give him a dispensation to marry
and live with two women at once. Then there were
multitudes of wicked and avaricious nobles, who wanted
but an excuse to plunder the churches, abbeys, and mon
asteries, whose property was held in trust for the educa
tion of the people, and the care of the poor, aged, and
sick, all over Europe. Then there were priests and
monks eager to embrace a relaxed discipline j and many
people who, incited by the cry of liberty, were ready to
rush into license, and make war upon every principle of
religion and social order, as soon as circumstances would
favor the outbreak of this rebel spirit in individuals and
masses. Now when God, says St. Gregory, sees in the
Church many revelling in their vices, and as St. Paul
observes, believing in God, confessing the truth of his
mysteries, but belying their faith by their works, he
punishes them by permiting that, after having lost grace,
they also lose the holy knowledge which they had of his
mysteries, and that without any other persecution than
that of their vices, they deny the faith. It is of these
David speaks, when he says: " Destroy Jerusalem to its
foundations" (Ps., cxxxvi, 7.) j leave not a stone upon a
stone. When the wicked spirits have ruined in a soul
the edifice of virtue, they sap its foundation, which is
faith. St. Cyprian, therefore said : " Let no one think
that virtuous men and good Christians ever leave the
bosom of the Church 5 it is not the wheat that the winds
lift, but the chaff; trees deeply rooted are not blown down
504 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
by the breeze, but those which have no roots. It is rotten
fruits that fall off the trees, not sound ones ; bad Catholics
become heretics, as sickness is engendered by bad humors.
At first, faith languishes in them, because of their vices ;
then it becomes sick 5 next it dies, because, since sin is
essentially a blindness of spirit ; the more a man sins, the
more he is blinded ; his faith grows weaker and weaker ;
the light of this divine torch decreases, and soon the least
wind of temptation or doubt suffices to extinguish it."
Witness the great defection from faith in the sixteenth
century, when God permitted heresies to arise, in order t J
exercise his justice against those who were ready to
abandon the truth, and his mercy toward those who re
mained attached to it ; to prove, by trials, those who were
firm in the faith, and to separate them from those who
loved error ; to exercise the patience and charity of the
Church, and to sanctify the elect ; to give occasion for the
illustration of religious truth and the holy Scripture 5 to
make pastors more vigilant, and value more the sacred
deposit of faith ] in fine, to render the authority of tra
dition more clear and incontestable. Heresy arose in
all its strength j Martin Luther was its ringleader and its
spokesman.
Martin Luther, an Augustinian friar, a bold man and a
vehement declaimer, having imbibed erroneous sentiments
from the heretical writings of John Huss of Bohemia, took
occasion, from the publication of indulgences promulgated
by Pope Leo X., to break with the Catholic Church, and
to propagate his new errors, in 1517, at Wirtemberg, in
Saxony. He first inveighed against the abuse of indul
gences ; then he called in question their efficacy ; and at
last totally rejected them. He declaimed against the
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 505
supremacy of the See of Rome, and condemned the whole
Church, pretending that Christ had abandoned it, and
that it wanted reforming, as well in faith as discipline.
Thus this new evangelist commenced that fatal defection
from the ancient faith, which was styled "Reformation. 7
The new doctrines, being calculated to gratify the vicious
inclinations of the human heart, spread with the rapidity
of an inundation. Frederick, Elector of Saxony, John
Frederick, his successor, and Phillip, Landgrave of Hesse,
became Luther s disciples. Gustavus Ericus, King of
Sweden, and Christian III., King of Denmark, also de
clared in favor of Lutheranism. It secured a footing in
Hungary. Poland, after tasting a great variety of doc
trines, left, to every individual the liberty of choosing tor
himself. Muncer, a disciple of Luther, set up for doctor
himself, and, with Nicholas Stark, gave birth to the sect
of Anabaptists, which was propagated in Suabia, and other
provinces of Germany, in the Low Countries. Calvin,
a man of bold, obstinate spirit, and indefatigable in his
labors, in imitation of Luther, turned Reformer also. He
contrived to have his new tenets received at Geneva, in
1541. After his death, Beza preached the same doctrine.
It insinuated itself into some parts of Germany, Hungary,
and Bohemia, and became the religion of Holland. It was
imported by John Knox, an apostate priest, into Scotland,
where, under the name of Presbyterianism, it took deep
root, and spread over the kingdom. But, among the
deluded nation, none drank more deeply of the cup of error
than England. For many centuries this country had been
conspicuous in the Christian world for the orthodoxy of
its belief, as also for the number of its saints. But by a
misfortune never to be sufficiently lamented, and by
506 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
an unfathomable judgment from above, its Church shared a
fate which seemed the least to threaten it. The lust and
avarice of one despotic sovereign threw down the fair
edifice, and tore it off from the rock on which it had
hitherto stood. Henry VIII. , at first a valiant asserter of
the Catholic faith against Luther, giving way to the violent
passions which he had not sufficient courage to curb,
renounced the supreme jurisdiction which the pope had
always held in the Church, presumed to arrogate to him
self that power in his own dominions, and thus gave a
deadly blow to religion. He then forced his subjects into
the same fatal defection. Once introduced, it soon over
spread the land. Being, from its nature, limited by no
fixed principle, it has since taken a hundred different
shapes, under different names, such as : the Calvinists,
Arminians, Antinomians, Independants, Kilhamites, Glass-
ites, Haldanites, Bereans, Svvedenborgians, New-Jeru-
salemites, Orthodox Quakers, Hicksites, Shakers, Pant-
ers, Seekers, Jumpers, Reformed Methodists, German
Methodists, Albright Methodists, Episcopal Methodists,
Wesleyan Methodists, Methodists North, Methodists South,
Protestant Methodists, Episcopalians, High Church Epis
copalians, Low Church Episcopalians, Ritualists, Pusey-
ites, Dutch Reformed, Dutch non-Reformed, Christian
Israelites, Baptists, Particular Baptists, Seventh-day Bap
tists, Hardshell Baptists, Softshell Baptists, Forty Gallon
Baptists, Sixty Gallon Baptists, African Baptists, Free
will Baptists, Church of God Baptists, Regular Baptists,
Anti-mission Baptists, Six Principle Baptist River
Brethren, Winebremarians, Menonites, Second Advent-
ists, Millerites, Christian. Baptists, Universalis, Ortho
dox Congregationalists, Campbellites, Presbyterians, Old-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 507
School and New-School Presbyterians, Cumberland Pres
byterians, United Presbyterians, The Only True Church
of Christ, 573 Bowery, N. Y., up stairs, 5th story, Lat
ter-day Saints, Restorationists, Schwentfelders, Spiritu
alists, Mormons, Christian Perfectionists, etc., etc., etc.
All these sects are called Protestants, because they all
unite in protesting against their mother, the Roman
Catholic Church.
Some time after, when the reforming spirit had reached
its full growth, Dudithius, a learned Protestant divine, in
his epistle to Beza, wrote : " What sort of people are our
Protestants, straggling to and fro, and carried about by
every wind of doctrine, sometimes to this side, some
times to that I You may, perhaps, know what their sen
timents in matters of religion are to-day, but you can
never tell precisely what they will be to-morrow. In
what article of religion do these churches agree which
have cast off the Bishop of Rome ? Examine all from
top to bottom, and you will scarce find one thing affirmed
by one, which was not immediately condemned by another
for wicked doctrine." The same confusion of opinions
was described by an English Protestant, the learned Dr.
Walton, about the middle of the last century, in his pre
face to his Polyglot, where he says : " Aristarchus hereto
fore could scarce find seven wise men in Greece ; but with
us, scarce are to be found so many idiots. For all are doc
tors, all are divinely learned j there is not so much as the
meanest fanatic who does not give you his own dreams
for the word of God. The bottomless pit seems to have
been opened, from whence a smoke has arisen which has
darkened the heaven and the stars, and locusts have come
out with stings, a numerous race of sectaries and heretics,
who have renewed all the ancient heresies, and invented
508 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
many monstrous opinions of their own. These have filled
our cities, villages, camps, houses, nay, our pulpits, too,
and lead the poor deluded people with them to the pit of
perdition. " " Yes," writes another author, u every ten
years, or nearly so, the Protestant theological literature
undergoes a complete revolution. What was admired
during the one decennial period is rejected in the next,
and the image which they adored is burnt, to make way
for new divinities ; the dogmas which were held in honor
fall into discredit j the classical treatise of morality is
banished among the old books out of date ; criticism over
turns criticism ; the commentary of yesterday ridicules
that of the previous day, and what was clearly proved in
1840, is not less clearly disproved in 1850. The theo
logical systems of Protestantism are as numerous as the
political constitutions of France one revolution only awaits
another." (Le Semeur, June, 1850.) It is indeed ut
terly impossible to keep the various members of one sin
gle sect from perpetual disputes, even about the essential
truths of revealed religion. And those religious differ
ences exist not only in the same sect, not only in the same
country and town, but even in the same family. Nay,
the self- same individual, at different periods of his life, is
often in flagrant contradiction with himself. To-day he
avows opinions which yesterday he abhorred, and to
morrow he will exchange these again for new ones. At
last, after belonging, successively, to various new-fangled
sects, he generally ends by professing unmitigated con
tempt for them all. By their continual disputes and
bickerings, and dividing and subdividing, the various
Protestant sects have made themselves the scorn of honest
minds, the laughing-stock of the pagan and the infidel.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 509
These human sects, the " works of the flesh," as St.
Paul calls them, alter their shape, like clouds, but feel no
blow, says Mr. Marshall, because they have no substance.
They fight a good deal with one another, but nobody minds
it, not even themselves, nor cares what becomes of them.
If one human sect perishes, it is always easy to make
another, or half a dozen. They have the life of worms,
and propagate by corruption. Their life is so like death
that, except by the putridity which they exhale in both
stages, it is impossible to tell which is which, and when
they are buried, nobody can find their grave. They have
simply disappeared.
The spirit of Protestantism, or the spirit of revolt against
God and his Church, sprung up from the Reformer s spirit
of incontinency, obstinacy and covetousness. Luther, in
despite of the vow he had solemnly made to God of
keeping continency, married a nun, equally bound as
himself to that sacred religious promise ; but, as St.
Jerome says, " it is rare to find a heretic that loves
chastity."
Luther s example had indeed been anticipated by Carlo-
stadtius, a priest and ringleader of the Sacramentarians,
who had married a little before ; and it was followed by
most of the heads of the Reformation.
Zwinglius, a priest and chief of the sect that bore his
name, took a wife.
Bucer, a member of the order of St. Dominic, became
a Lutheran, left his cloister, and married a nun.
(Ecolampadius, a Brigittin monk, became a Zwinglian,
and also married.
Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, had also his wife,
Peter Martyr, a canon-regular, embraced the doctrine
510 COMMANDMENTS OP GOD.
of Calvin, but followed the example of Luther, and mar
ried a nun.
Ochin, general of the Capuchins, became a Lutheran,
and also married.
Thus the principal leaders in the Reformation went
forth preaching the new gospel, with two marks upon
them : apostacy from faith, and open violation of the moat
sacred vows.
The passion of lust, as has been already said, hurried
also Henry VIII. of England, into a separation from the
Catholic Church, and ranked him amon<r the Reformers.
O
Those wicked men could not be expected to teach a
holy doctrine ; they preached up a hitherto unheard-of
" evangelical liberty," as they styled it. They told their
fellow-men that they were no longer obliged to subject
their understanding to the mysteries of faith, and to
regulate their actions according to the laws of Christian
morality ; they told that every one was free to model his
belief and practice as it suited his inclinations. In pur
suance of this accommodating doctrine, they dissected the
Catholic faith till they reduced it to a mere skeleton ;
they lopped off the reality of the body and blood of Christ
in the Holy Eucharist, the divine Christian sacrifice
offered in the Mass, confession of sins, most of the sacra
ments, penitential exercises, several of the canonical
books of Scripture, the invocation of saints, celibacy,
most of the General Councils of the Church, and all
present Church authority ; they perverted the nature of
justification, asserting that faith alone suffices to justify
man; they made God the author of sin, and maintained
the observance of the commandments to be impossible.
As a few specimens of Luther s doctrine, take the fol-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 511
lowing : " God s commandments are all equally impos
sible." (De Lib., Christ, t. ii, fol. 4.) " No sins can
damn a man, but only unbelief," (De Captio, Bab. t. ii,
fol. 171.) "God is just, though by his own will he lays
us under the necessity of being damned, and though he
damns those who have not deserved it." (Tom. ii, fols.
434, 436.) "God works in us both good and evil."
(Tom. ii, fol. 444.) " Christ s body is in every place, no
less than the divinity itself." (Tom. iv, fol. 37.) Then
for his darling principal of justification by faith, in his
eleventh article against Pope Leo, he says : " Believe
strongly that you are absolved, and absolved you will be,
whether you have contrition or not. 7?
Again, in his sixth article: u The contrition which is
acquired by examining, recollecting, and detesting one s
sins, whereby a man calls to mind his life past, in the bit
terness of his soul, reflecting on the heinousness and mul
titude of his offences, the loss of eternal bliss, and con
demnation to eternal woe, this contrition, I say, makes
a man a hypocrite, nay, even a greater sinner than he was
before."
Thus, after the most immoral life, a man has a compen
dious method of saving himself, by simply believing that
his sins are remitted through the merits of Christ.
As Luther foresaw the scandal that would arise from
his own and such like sacreligious marriages, he prepared
the world for it, by writing against the celibacy of the
clergy and all religious vows ; and all the way up, since
his time, he has had imitators. He proclaimed that all
such vows " were contrary to faith, to the commandments
of God, and to evangelical liberty." (De Votis Monast.)
He said again : " God disapproves of such a vow of living
51-2 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
in continency, equally as if I should vow to become the
mother of God, or to create a new world." (Epist. ad
Wolfgang Reisemb.) And again: "To attempt to live
unmarried, is plainly to fight against God."
Kow, when men give a loose rein to the depravity of
nature, what wonder if the most scandalous practices
ensue ? Accordingly, a striking instance of this kind
appeared in the license granted in 1539 to Philip, Land
grave of Hesse, to have two wives at once, which license
was signed by Luther, Melanchthon, Bucer, and five other
Protestant divines.
On the other hand, a wide door was laid open to an
other species of scandal : the doctrine of the Eeformation
admitted divorces in the marriage state in certain cases,
contrary to the doctrine of the Gospel, and even allowed
the parties thus separated to marry other wives and
other husbands.
To enumerate the errors of all the Reformers would
exceed the limits of this work. I shall therefore only
add the principal heads of the doctrine of Calvin and the
Calvinists: 1, that baptism is not necessary for salvation 5
2, good works are not necessary ; 3, man has no free
will ; 4, Adam could not avoid his fall ; 5, a great part of
mankind are created to be damned, independently of their
demerits; 6, man is justified by faith alone, and that
justification, once obtained, cannot be lost, even by the
most atrocious crimes; 7, the true faithful are also infal
libly certain of their salvation ; 8, the Eucharist is no
more than a figure of the body and blood of Christ.
Thus was the whole system of faith and morality over
turned. Tradition they totally abolished ; and, though
they could not reject the whole of the Scripture ; as being
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 513
universally acknowledged to be the word of God, they
had, however, the presumption to expunge some books of
it that did not coincide with their own opinions, and the
rest they assumed a right to explain as they saw fit.
To pious souls, they promised a return to the fervor of
primitive Christianity j to the proud, the liberty of
private judgment j to the enemies of the clergy, they
promised the division of their spoils j to priests and monks
who were tired of the yoke of continence, the abolition of
a law which they said was contrary to nature ; to liber
tines of all classes, the suppression of fasting, abstinence,
and confession. They said to kings who wished to place
themselves at the head of the Church as well as the State,
that they would be freed from the spiritual authority
of the Church ; to nobles, that they would see a rival
order humbled and impoverished 5 to the middle classes
and the vassals of the Church, that they would be eman
cipated from all dues and forced services.
Several princes of Germany and of the Swiss cantons
supported by arms the preachers of the new doctrines.
Henry VIII. imposed his doctrine on his subjects. The
King of Sweden drew his people into apostasy. The
Court of Navarre welcomed the Calvinists ; the Court of
France secretly favored them.
At length Pope Paul III. convoked a General Council
at Trent, in 1545, to which the heresiarchs had appealed.
Not only all the Catholic bishops, but also all Christian
princes, even Protestants, were invited to come.
But now the spirit of pride and obstinacy became most
apparent. Henry VIII. replied to the pope that he would
never intrust the work of reforming religion in his king
dom to anyone except to himself. The apostate princes
514 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
of Germany told the papal legate that they recognized
only the emperor as their sovereign; the Viceroy of Naples
allowed but four bishops to go to the Council; the King
of France sent only three prelates, whom he soon after
recalled. Charles V. created difficulties and put obsta
cles in the way. Gustavus Vasa allowed no one to go
to the Council. The heresiarchs also refused to appear.
The Council, however, was held in spite of these difficulties.
It lasted over eighteen years, because it was often inter
rupted by the plague, by war, and by the deaths of
those who had to preside over it. The doctrines of the
innovators were examined and condemned by the Council,
at the last session of which there were more than three
hundred bishops present, among whom were nine cardi
nals, three patriarchs, thirty-three archbishops, not to
mention sixteen abbots or generals of religious orders,
and one hundred and forty-eight theologians. All the
decrees published from the commencement were read
over, and were again approved and subscribed by the
Fathers. Accordingly, Pius IV., in a consistory held on
the 26th of January, 1564. approved and confirmed the
Council in a book which was signed by all the cardinals.
He drew up, the same year, a profession of faith con
formable in all respects with the definitions of the Council,
in which it is declared that its authority is accepted ; and
sinae that time, not only all bishops of the Catholic Church,
but all priests who are called to teach the way of salvation,
even to children nay, all non-Catholics, on abjuring their
errors, and returning to the bosom of the Church, have
sworn that they had no other faith than that of this holy
CounU.
The new heresiapchs, however, continued to obscure
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 5 1 5
and disfigure the face of religion. As to Luther s senti
ments in regard to the pope, bishops, councils, etc., he
says, in the preface to his book, De Abroganda Missa
Privata : u With how many powerful remedies and most
evident Scriptures have I scarce been able to fortify my
conscience so as to dare alone to contradict the pope, and
to believe him to be Antichrist, the bishops his apostles,
and the universities his brothel-houses 5" and in his book,
De Judicio Ecclesice de Gravi Doctrina, he says: "Christ
takes from the bishops, doctors and councils, both the right
and power of judging controversies, and gives them to
all Christians in general."
His censure on the Council of Constance, and those that
compose it, is as follows : u All John Huss s articles were
condemned at Constance by Antichrist and his apostles "
(meaning the pope and bishops), "in that synod of Satan,
made up of most wicked sophisters j and you, most holy
Vicar of Christ, I tell you plainly to your face, that all
John Huss s condemned doctrines are evangelical and
Christian, but all yours are impious and diabolical. I
now declare," says he, speaking to the bishops " that for
the future I will not vouchsafe you so much honor as to
submit myself or doctrine to your judgment, or to that of
an angel from heaven." (Preface to his book, Adversus
falso nominatum ordinem Episcoporum.) Such was his
spirit of pride that he made open profession of contempt for
the authority of the Church, councils, and Fathers, saying:
u All those who will venture their lives, their estates, their
honor, and their blood, in so Christian a work as to root
out all bishoprics and bishops, who are the ministers of
Satan, and to pluck by the roots all their authority and
jurisdiction in the world, these persons are the true
516 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
children of God, and obey his commandments." (Contra
Statum Ecclesm etfalso nominatum ordinem Episcopomm")
This spirit of pride and of obstinacy is also most appar
ent from the fact that Protestantism has never been ashamed
to make use of any arguments, though ever so frivolous,
inconsistent, or absurd, to defend its errors, and to slander
and misrepresent the Catholic religion in every way
possible. It shows itself again in the wars which Protest
antism has waged to introduce and maintain itself. The
apostate princes of Germany entered into a league, offen
sive and defensive, against the Emperor Charles V., and
rose up in arms to establish Protestantism.
Luther had preached licentiousness, and reviled the
emperor, the princes, and the bishops. The peasants lost
no time in freeing themselves from their masters. They
overran the country in lawless bands, burnt down castles
and monasteries, and committed the most barbarous cruel
ties against the nobility and clergy. Germany became
at last the scene of desolation and most cruel atrocities
during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648.) More than
one hundred thousand men fell in battle, seven cities
were dismantled, one thousand religious houses were razed
to the ground ; three hundred churches, and immense
treasures of statuary, paintings, books, etc., were destroyed.
But what is more apparent and better known than the
spirit of covetousness of Protestantism ? Wherever Protes
tantism secured a footing, it pillaged churches, seized
Church property, destroyed monasteries and appropriated
to itself their revenues.
In France, the Calvinists destroyed twenty thousand
Catholic churches ; they murdered, in Dauphiny alone,
two hundred and fifty-five priests, one hundred and twelve
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 517
monks, and burned nine hundred towns and villages. In
England, Henry VIII. confiscated to the crown, or distrib
uted among his favorites, the property of six hundred
and forty-five monasteries and ninety colleges, one hun
dred and ten hospitals, and two thousand three hundred
and seventy-four free chapels and chantries.
They even dared to profane, with sacrilegious hands,
the remains of the martyrs and confessors of God. In
many places they forcibly took up the saints bodies
from the respositories where they were kept, burned them,
and scattered their ashes abroad. What more atrocious
indignity can be conceived f Are parricides or the most
flagitious men ever worse treated ! Among other instances,
in 1562, the Calvinists broke open the shrine of St.
Francis of Paula, at Plessis-Lestours ; and finding his body
uncorrupted fifty-five years after his death, they dragged it
about the streets, and burned it in a fire which they had
made with the wood of a large crucifix, as Billet and other
historians relate.
Thus at Lyons, in the same year, the Calvinists seized
upon the shrine of St. Bonaventure, stripped it of its
riches, burned the saint s relics in the market-place, and
threw his ashes into the river Saone, as is related by the
learned Possevinus, who was in Lyons at the time.
The bodies, also, of St. Irenseus, St. Hilary, and St.
Martin, as Suritts asserts, were treated in the same
ignominious manner. Such, also, was the treatment offered
to the remains of St. Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury,
whose rich shrine, according to the words of Stowe, in
his annals, " was taken to the king s use/ and the bones
of St. Thomas, by the command of Lord Cromwell, were
burnt to ashes in September, 1538.
518 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
The Catholic religion has covered the world with its
superb monuments. Protestantism has now lasted three
hundred years ; it was powerful in England, in Germany,
in America. What has it raised ? It will show us the
ruins which it has made, amidst which it has planted
some gardens, or established some factories. The Cath
olic religion is essentially a creative power, to build up, not
to destroy, because it is under the immediate influence of
that Holy Spirit which the Church invokes as the creative
Spirit, " Creator Spiritus." The Protestant, or modern
philosophical spirit, is a principle of destruction, of per
petual decomposition and disunion. Under the dominion
of English Protestant power, for four hundred years,
Ireland was rapidly becoming as naked and void of
ancient memorials as the wilds of Africa.
The Reformers themselves were so ashamed of the
progress of immorality among their proselytes, that they
could not help complaining against it. Thus spoke Luther :
" Men are now more revengeful, covetous, and licentious,
than they were ever in the Papacy." (Postil. super Evang.
Dom. i, Advent.) Then again : "Heretofore, when we were
seduced by the pope, every man willingly performed good
works, but now no man says or knows anything else than
how to get all to himself by exactions, pillage, theft, lying,
usury." (Postil. super Evang. Dom. xxvi, p. Trinit.)
Calvin wrote in the same strain : "Of so many thous
ands, 7 said he, "who, renouncing Popery, seemed eagerly
to embrace the Gospel, how few have amended their lives !
Nay, what else did the greater part pretend to, than, by
shaking off the yoke of superstition, to give themselves
more liberty to follow all kinds of licentiousness ? " (Liber
de Scandalis.) Dr. Heylin, in his History of the Refor-
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 519
mation, complains also of tl the great increase of vicious-
ness " in England, in the reforming reign of Edward VI.
Erasmus says : " Take a view of this evangelical
people, the Protestants. Perhaps tis my misfortune, but
I never yet met with one who does not appear changed
for the worse." (Epist. ad Vultur. Neoc.) And again :
" Some persons," says he, " whom I knew formerly
innocent, harmless, and without deceit, no sooner have I
seen them joined to that sect (the Protestants), than they
began to talk of wenches, to play at dice, to leave off
prayers, being grown extremely worldly, most impatient,
revengeful, vain, like vipers, tearing one another. I speak
by experience. " (Ep. ad. Fratres Infer. Germanics.)
M. Scherer, the principal of a Protestant school in
France, wrote, in 1844, that he beholds in his reformed
church " the ruin of all truth, the weakness of infinite
division, the scattering of flocks, ecclesiastical anarchy,
Socinianism ashamed of itself, Rationalism coated like a
pill, without doctrine, without consistency. This church,
deprived alike of its corporate and its dogmatic character,
of its form and of its doctrine, deprived of all that con
stituted it a Christian church, has in truth ceased to exist
in the ranks of religious communities. Its name continues,
but it represents only a corpse a phantom, or, if you
will, a memory or a hope. For want of dogmatic
authority, unbelief has made its way into three-fourths
of our pupils." (UEtat Actual de TEglise Eefonnee en
France, 1844.)
Such has been Protestantism from the beginning. It is
written in blood and fire upon the pages of history.
Whether it takes the form of Lutheranism in Germany,
Denmark, and Sweden ; Anglicanism in Great Britain, or
520 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Calvinism and Presbyterianism in Switzerland, France,
Holland, Scotland, and America, it has been everywhere
the same. It has risen by tumult and violence ; propa
gated itself by force and persecution ; enriched itself by
plunder, and has never ceased, by open force, persecuting
laws, or slander, its attempt to exterminate the Catholic
faith, and destroy the Church of Christ, which the fathers
of Protestantism left from the spirit of lust, pride, and
covetousness, a spirit which induced so many of their
countrymen to follow their wicked example ; a spirit, on
account of which, they would have been lost anyhow, even
if they had not left their mother, the One Holy Roman
Catholic and Apostolic Church.
19. What is apostasy ?
Apostasy is a formal renunciation of the Catholic faith.
Apostasy, or the falling away from the true faith, is
another kind of infidelity. As the virtue of true faith unites
us with God, so the sin of apostasy separates us from him.
As the real loss of faith is a total separation from God
and his holy Church, it is called apostasy of perfidy.
Whoever is guilty of this kind of apostasy, is deprived
of grace and of all other means of salvation, for, " Faith
is the life of the soul : in the just man lives by faith." (Rom.,
i., 17.) "When the soul, the life of the body, " says St. Thomas
Aquinas, " has left the body, all its natural powers and
physical organization begin to be dissolved. In like man
ner, when true faith, the life of the soul, is totally destroyed,
a mortal disorder, a spiritual contagion, pervades through
all the members and faculties of the, body, which are the
instruments of the soul. Hence, it is that the apostate
uses every faculty of his soul and body to pervert others,
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 521
by inducing them to renounce the faith which he himself
has renounced to his own perdition. "It had been better
for them (heretics and apostates) not to have known the
way of justice than, after having known it, to turn away
from it." (2 Pet., ii., 21.) Ah! "Wo to you, ungodly
men," says Holy Writ, " wo to you who have forsaken
the law of the Most High Lord ! If you be born, you shall
be born in malediction ; and if you die, in malediction
shall be your position. The ungodly shall pass from mal
ediction to destruction ; the name of the ungodly shall be
blotted out." (Ecclus, xli., 11-14.)
The emperor Julian fell away from the Catholic faith,
and is, on this account, surnamed the Apostate. He un
dertook to destroy the church of Jesus Christ, and declared
himself Christ s enemy, and a worshipper of the heathen
gods. After he had reigned for nearly two years, he
made war upon the Persians, A. D. 363. When he saw
some persons flying in the heat of the battle, he raised his
arms and his voice to encourage his soldiers in the pur
suit, when, lo ! a stray arrow passed through his ribs into
his liver. In trying to pluck out the fatal weapon, he
lacerated his hands, and, as his strength failed, he fell
from his horse. He was taken to a neighboring hut,
where he received surgical assistance, and soon after
seemed to be restored. He mounted his horse again, with
the intention of heading his troops, but as his strength
completely failed him, he expired that very night.
Theodoret and Zosimen relate that when the impious
emperor received his death-wound, he filled his hand
with the blood which flowed from his side, and dashing it
into the air, exclaimed : " Thou hast conquered, Gal
ilean ! " (meaning Jesus Christ.) Cardinal Orsi adds that,
522 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
according to the Alexandrine Chronicles, and a revelation
made to St. Basil, the knight who wounded the apostate,
was the martyr St Mercurius who suffered in Cappadocia
during the persecution of Decius. It is thus that God
will punish all apostates from the faith. " When they
die, in malediction shall be their position."
It is a most grievous sin not only to fall away from the
faith, to deny it by words and signs, but even to do any
thing by which others might be led to think that we have
denied our faith. This was the sin committed by some
of the early Christians during the time of persecution.
In order to escape the rigor of the law against Christians,
some weak Christians purchased from the magistrates a
writ testifying that they had complied with the law of the
emperor, though in reality they had not. Now all those
Christians who were guilty of this act of deception were
regarded by the Church as traitors to their faith and to
their God. They were excommunicated, and they had
to undergo a long and severe public penance before they
were received back into the Church.
20 What is indifference to faith 1
Indifference to faith is to care for no religion, to consider
all religions equally good, or to neglect attending religious
instruction.
Our future and true home is heaven. Oh ! how full of
joy and sweetness is that one word, " heaven, paradise."
To the ear of the exile there is nothing sweeter than the
name of home. What wonder, then, that the name of
heaven should be so fall of sweetness, since it is our true
home, our home forever? When blessed Egidio heard
any one speak of heaven, he was so overcome with joy
that he was lifted up into the air in an ecstasy of delight.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 523
Now, no one can go to heaven unless he knows the way
to heaven. If we wish to go to a certain city, the first
thing we do is to ask the way that leads to it. If we do
not know the way, we cannot expect to arrive at that city.
So, too, if we wish to go to heaven, we must know the way
that leads to it. Now, the way that leads to it is the know
ing and doing of God s will. But it is God alone who can
teach us his will ; that is, what he requires us to believe and
to do, in order to be happy with him in heaven.
The end for which man was created his everlasting
union with God says the Vatican Council, is far above
the human understanding. It was, therefore, necessary
that God should make himself known to man, and teach
him the end for which he was created, and what he must
believe and do in order to become worthy of everlasting
happiness.
Now, God himself came and taught us the truths which
we must believe, the commandments which we must keep,
and the means of grace which we must use to work out
our salvation.
To know God s will is to know the true religion or the
true way to heaven. As God is but one, so his holy will
is but one, and therefore his religion is but one. In
order that we might learn, with infallible certainty, this
one true religion, Almighty God appointed but one infalli
ble teaching authority the Roman Catholic Church and
commanded all to hear her and believe her infallible doc
trine, under pain of exclusion from eternal life.
Now, not to care to know the true religion, is to des
pise God and all he has done and suffered for our salva
tion. This indifference to faith is the enormous crime of
the age, and especially of this country.
524 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
The sins of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah
cried to heaven for vengeance. " The sin of Sodom is
become exceedingly grievous. We will destroy this
place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord."
(Gen., xviii., 20.) Now, our Lord Jesus Christ tells us
in the gospel that those who are indifferent to the true
religion not caring to know it, and to listen to his
apostles and their lawful successors, are far more guilty
in the sight of God, and shall, on this account, be more
severely judged than the inhabitants of Sodom and
Gomorrah. u Whosoever shall not receive you (the Apos
tles) nor hear your words, going forth out of that house, or
city, shake off even the dust from your feet for a testi
mony against them. Amen, I say to you, it shall be
more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah, in
the day of judgment, than for that city. 77 (Matt., x., 14,
15, and Luke, ix., 5.)
This severe judgment is executed even here below
upon those who are guilty of the sin of indifference to the
true religion. Their prayer, says the Lord, is an abom
ination. " He who turneth away his ears from hearing
the law, his prayers shall be an abomination." (Prov.,
xxviii., 9.)
St. Paul tells us in plain words, in what the judgment
consists which God passes and executes upon those who
are indifferent to the true religion. He says that " those
who did not like to have the knowledge of God (of the
true religion) were delivered up by God to a reprobate
sense to do such things as are unbecoming, to become
filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice,
wickedness, full of envy, murder, contention, deceit,
malignity, hateful to God, proud, haughty, inventors of
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 525
evil things, disobedient to parents, foolish, dissolute,
without affection, without fidelity, without mercy."
(Rom., i., 28-32.)
Now as there is and can be but one true religion, all the
others must be false, must be opposed to God and hateful
to him. Now that which is false and opposed to God
cannot be good. Consequently it is false to say that all
religions are good.
To maintain that all religions are good, is to maintain
that truth and falsehood are equally pleasing to God ;
that God is just as well pleased with those who blaspheme
him as with those who honor him. That to adore the devil
is just as pleasing to God, as to adore the living and true
God himself. Who can swallow such monstrous absurd
ities ?
There is a man. He is a notorious liar, a perjurer, a
thief, a wretch without honor, without principle, and
without morals. Now can you love and respect that man
just as much as the man who is truthful, honest, and
virtuous ? Would you introduce that perjured wretch
into your family ? Would you allow him to associate
with your pure wife, with your beautiful and virtuous
daughters ?
Now if you love truth and virtue, does not God love
them more ? If you hate falsehood and crimes, does not
God hate them more ? Now the more precious a thing
is in itself, the more dangerous, the more hateful is its
counterfeit. A one hundred dollar counterfeit note is more
dangerous than a ten dollar counterfeit note. Now the
true religion is the most precious gift that God has bestowed
on man. Consequently a counterfeit or caricature of it
must be most hateful to God.
526 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Why did God forbid idolatry so strictly in the Old Law ;
. why did he punish idolaters so severely, why did
he even exterminate so many nations for practising it, if
all religions are equally good and pleasing to God ?
What need was there for Jesus Christ to come down
from heaven to become man, to suffer and die on a cross,
all in order to establish the true religion what need, I
say, was there of all this if all religions are equally good,
equally pleasing to God ?
" But, " some one will say, " at least all the Christian
denominations are good."
"All the Christian denominations?" How many de
nominations are there ? And among all these, how many
hold the same doctrines 1 How many of them hold even
the same doctrines they held a few years ago ? What
one of them believes in, the others reject. What one of
them believed in yesterday, he rejects to-day. Show me
one doctrine in which all the sects agree.
Now, do you mean to say that Christ, who is God, can
be the author of all these wrangling sects ? God is the
author of peace and unity. The devil alone is the author
of wrangling sects, the promoter of discord.
Can you believe that it is equally good, equally pleasing
to God to adore Jesus as the living God, as we all do, or
to hold that he is a mere man as do the Unitarians f
All the truths of religion have been revealed by God.
Now, do you mean to say that God would reveal one truth to
one class of men, and reveal the opposite to another class!
The Son of God became man precisely in order to e s-
tablish the true religion, a perfect religion, free from all
doubt and error. He taught and labored for thirty-three
years. He founded a Church, committed to her care all
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 527
his doctrines, and his sacraments. He sent to his Church,
the Holy Spirit to remain with her always, and teach her
all truth. He promised that he himself would remain
with his Church all days even to the end of the world.
The Son of God sent his Apostles to preach to every
nation all that he had taught. He confirmed those doc
trines by numberless miracles. He sealed these doctrines
with his own blood ; he sealed them with the blood of
millions of glorious martyrs. And yet you will tell me,
after all this, after all that God has done to teach men the
true faith, it matters little what a man believes. Jesus
Christ says : " He that will not believe shall be damned, s
and you say, " he will not be damned at all, for all religions
are good." What then do you make of Jesus Christ ?
Will you dare assert that Jesus Christ told a lie ?
" If all religious are good," then there is no such thing
as heresy. And yet St. Paul warns us against heresy.
He classes heresy with wilful murder and adultery. He
says that the heretic shall not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Even the apostle of love, St. John, forbids us to associate
with a heretic.
If all religions are good, what need was there of so
many councils, even from the days of the apostles down
to the present 1 Why has the Church struggled so long
against heretics and innovators ? Why has she fought and
bled, and suffered so bravely for the perfect maintenance
of the truth? If all religions are good, then all those
martyrs who poured out their blood like water for the true
faith, were fools ; then all those converts Dr. Brownson,
Mary of Ripon, Dr. Ives, and so many others, who have
sacrificed every thing for the true faith, were fools ; then
all those Catholics in Ireland and elsewhere, who suffered
and died for the faith, were fools !
528 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
If all religions are good, what need is there of your Pro
testant Churches, and Protestant preachers ? What need
is there of your bible societies and foreign missionaries f
If all religions are good, why are Protestants, infidels,
freemasons and so on, so bitterly opposed to the Catholic
Church ? Why do they form secret societies sworn to
exterminate the church ? The Catholic religion is, after
all, a religion and if all religions are good, why then the
Catholic religion must be good, and if it be good, why did
Martin Luther and the first Protestants leave it 1
u As for me I respect every man s Religion."
Indeed ! Now what does that mean : I respect every
man s religion, or " I respect every religion ? " for it is
the same thing. A man, who speaks thus means to say :
" I believe that all religions are doubtful," or " There is
no absolutely true religion on earth," or " The question
of religion is one of very little importance."
Those who make use of this expression : " I respect
every man s religion," look upon themselves as learned
men, and pride themselves on their generosity and tolera
tion. But in reality they are men of very shallow minds,
and as for their learning :
" Tis deep as the sky in a lake,
Till the mire at six inches reveals the mistake."
I ask you what kind of brains must that man have who
tells you coolly that he respects or accepts two propositions
exactly the reverse, aye, the very contradiction of each
other ?
Philosophy comes from two Greek words meaning
" love of wisdom," i. e. love of truth. Now the man that
loves and respects falsehood, can certainly be no philos-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 529
opher. True charity forbids us to despise those who are
in error j on the contrary, it teaches us to pity and love
them. But there is an infinite difference between loving
those in error, and loving the error itself; there is an
infinite difference between loving the sinner, and loving
his sins.
To say : " I respect or esteem all religions," is not only
unreasonable, but even blasphemous, for, by it, you assert
that you esteem that which God abhors you respect and
esteem falsehood.
Whenever you meet any of those men who, boastingly
declares that he respects all religions, take a gook look at
him. If he is one of those grown up children, so common
at the present day, who merely repeat what they have
heard without understanding its meaning, then pity him
from your heart and correct him kindly. If he is, how
ever, one of those arrant knaves an agent of some secret
society, tear off the mask at once from his brow and show
him in all his hideous deformity the enemy of man the
enemy of God !
The man without religion pretends to be a philosopher.
He tells you he is above the ignorant prejudices of the
vulgar. Now the man without religion is certainly no
philosopher. He can lay no claim whatever to true solid
learning. The greatest pagan philosophers that we have
any knowledge of were undoubtedly Socrates, Plato, and
Aristotle. Now these men spent nearly their whole lives
in studying the questions : " What is the soul ? What be
comes of us after death I What is God?" and so on. In a
word, they studied continually those very questions that
religion teaches us. To be indifferent to religion, then,,
is to be indifferent to all true philosophy.
530 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
The man without religion is in reality but little higher
than the beast of the field. To be indifferent to religion is
to be indifferent to the highest and noblest truths that can
occupy the human mind, the relations between God and
man, between this life and the next j the evils we must
avoid and the good we must gain. Doubt concerning
such truths is the death of the intellect, but indifference
with regard to such vital truths, shows that a man s intellect
must indeed be on a level with the brute.
What are you to think of a lawyer who tells you it is
indifferent to him whether he wins his case or not. What
are you to think of a doctor who assures you he is quite
indifferent whether his patient recovers or not ? What
are you to think of a general who tells you that he cares
little whether he conquers or is defeated I
Now the man who is indifferent with regard to religion
is even far more blameworthy.
Moreover, the man who boasts that he has no religion
insults the good and holy God who made man to know,
love and serve him j he insults that God who, as our
Creator and Lord, has a perfect claim to our entire worship
and obedience. What would you think of the woman who
boasts that it is indifferent to her whether she lives with
her husband or with another ?
What would you think of a son who boasts that he has
no more respect for his father than he has for his enemy ?
Now the man who boasts of his religious indifference is
a thousand times worse. He has as much respect for the
synagogue of satan as he has for the church of Christ ;
as much respect for the false inventions of bad priests as
he has for the doctrines of Christ and the Apostles.
A certain infidel once boasted in company that he had
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 531
no religion. " 0," said the gentleman of the house, " there
are others here who are afflicted in the same way." " Who
are they 1 " asked the infidel. " Why, our dogs and our
horses," answered the gentleman. " Only these poor
brutes have sense enough not to boast of their misfortune."
Nay, the infidel is even worse than the beast. He
resembles the very demons of hell. They, too, refuse to
worship God. They, too, hate and deny God. Yet with
all this the infidel pretends to be a man of sense, a man
of learning. He pretends to have made a more thorough
study of religion than the very priests and doctors of the
Church who have devoted their whole life to this sacred
subject.
21. What is liberalism?
Liberalism is to be Catholic with the Pope and liberal
with the government.
From the time of the Apostles the true followers of
Christ have been called Catholics. The meaning of this
appellation has always been that they belonged to the One,
Holy Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church. The term
u Catholic" has always distinguished them from every
heretical sect. They were known by this term in every
part of the world.
Within the few last years, however, certain persons
have arisen who are not satisfied with the name of Catholic.
Hence they call themselves ft Liberal Catholics." If asked
in what they differ from Catholics, they answer: u Our
motto is : Catholic with the Pope, but liberal with the
government."
Liberal Catholics falsely assert, lt that it is a mistake to
protect and foster religion, because religion," they say,
532 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
" will flourish much better if left alone ; that the world
has entered a new phase, and has begun to run a new
course, and consequently the Chiu ch should accommodate
herself to the spirit of the age ; that religion has nothing
to do with politics ; that it has to do only with the
private lives of men ; that religion must keep inside the
church that it is meant for Sundays alone ; that we must
be generous in our religious feelings toward non-Catholics;
that a Catechism, therefore, in which every truth, taught
by the Church, is set forth in its full bearing, is not fit to
be put in the hands of our children, because it is calcu
lated to repel the children of non-Catholics, and alienate
their feelings, and to make religious fanatics of our good
children," and the like.
A liberal Catholic, therefore, is a compound of true and
false principles. He has two consciences : one for his
public, and another for his private life. The motto,
^Catholic with the Pope, but liberal with the government,"
has for its basis the infidel doctrine of the separation of
the Church from the state j of the spiritual from the
temporal, a doctrine condemned by Pious IX., in the
fifty-fifth proposition of the Syllabus. This doctrine
tends to put the State above the Church, as if the State
were the omnipotent ruler of all things, the teacher of
truth, the fountain of right, the source of law, and the
interpreter of the truths of faith.
In the eighteenth proposition of the Syllabus, all the
false principles of liberalism, of progress, and of modern
civilization, are declared to be irreconcilable with the
Catholic faith.
On the 18th of June, 1871, Pope Pius IX., in replying
to a French deputation headed by the Bishop of Nevers,
COMMANDMENTS OB" GOD. 533
spoke as follows : " My children, my words must express
to you what I have in my heart. That which afflicts
your country, and prevents it from meriting the blessings
of God, is the mixture of principles : I will speak out, and
not hold my peace. That which I fear is not the Com
mune of Paris, those miserable men, those real demons of
hell, roaming upon the face of the earth no, not the
Commune of Paris ; that which I fear is liberal Catholi
cism. . . .1 have said so more than forty times, and I
repeat it to you now, through the love that I bear you.
The real scourge of France is liberal Catholicism, which
endeavors to unite two principles, as repugnant to each
other as fire and water. My children, I conjure you to
abstain from those doctrines which are destroying you. . . .
if this error be not stopped, it will lead to the ruin of
religion and of France." In a brief, dated July the 9th,
1871, to Mgr. Segur, the Holy Father says: "It is not
only the infidel sects that are conspiring against the
Church and society which the Holy See has often reproved,
but also those men who, granting that they act in good
faith and with upright intentions, yet err in caressing lib
eral doctrines." On July 28, 1873, his Holiness thus ex
pressed himself: "The members of the Catholic Society
of Quimper certainly run no risk of being turned away
from their obedience to the Apostolic See by the writings
and efforts of the declared enemies of the Church ; but
they may glide down the incline of those so-called liberal
opinions which have been adopted by many Catholics,
otherwise honest and pious, who, by the influence of their
religious character, may easily exercise a powerful as
cendency over men, and lead them to very pernicious
opinions. Tell, therefore, the members of the Catholic
534 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Society that, on the numerous occasions on which we
have censured those who hold liberal opinions, we did not
mean those who hate the Church, whom it would have
been useless to reprove, but those whom we have just
described. Those men preserve and foster the hidden
poison of liberal principles, which they sucked as the
milk of their education, pretending that those principles
are not infected with malice, and cannot interfere with
religion j so they instil this poison into men s minds, and
propagate the germs of those perturbations by which the
world has for a long time been vexed."
A liberal Catholic, then, is no true Catholic. The
word Catholic is no vain and empty word. To be a true
Catholic means to hold most firmly all those truths which
Christ and his apostles have taught, which the Catholic
Church has always proclaimed, which the saints have
professed, which the popes and councils have defined,
and which the Fathers arid Doctors of the Church have
defended. He who denies but one of those truths, or
hesitates to receive one of them, is not a Catholic. He
claims to exercise the right of private judgment in regard
to the doctrine of Christ, and therefore he is a heretic.
The true Catholic knows and believes that there can be
no compromise between God and the devil, between truth
and error, between orthodox faith and heresy. St.
Stephen, the first martyr, was no compromiser. When
accused of being a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, he,
in his turn, accused his enemies of being the murderers
of Christ. All the holy martyrs of the Church were no
compromisers. Being charged by the heathens with the
folly of worshipping and following a crucified God, they, in
their turn, charged the heathens with the impiety of wor-
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 535
shipping creatures, and following the devil. Why became
our Holy Father, Pope Pius IX., a prisoner? It was be
cause he was not, and could not be, a compromiser. Why
are, at this time, so many bishops and priests exiled or in
prison 1 It is because they are no compromisers. Why is the
Catholic Church persecuted in Germany and other parts
of the world ? It is because God, by means of persecu
tion, purifies his Church from liberal or compromising
Catholics. And as there are so many liberal Catholics
in this country, persecution must come to separate them
from the Church.
The good Catholic knows and understands that the
Catholic Church never has required, nor will require, a
particular form of civil government ; for she has lived
with the Venetian aristocracy, with the Swiss democracy,
with the mixed aristocracy and democracy of Genoa,
with the British and the United States constitutions, and
with many absolute monarchies. But he knows, at the
same time, that no form of government, no times and
circumstances, can change the doctrine and constitution
of the Church, because they are .divine, immutable, and
everlasting. The good Catholic, therefore, is always in
readiness to obey, in all things, the true Spouse of Christ
our Lord, the holy Roman Catholic Church. The well-
instructed Catholic knows that between Jesus Christ and
his Spouse, the Church, there is but one and the same
Spirit, who governs and directs us all to our salvation,
that same Spirit and Lord who one day gave the law on
Mount Sinai, and who now rules and governs the holy
Church. This firm adhesion to every truth of the Church
distinguishes the true Catholic from the liberal Catholic,
as well as from all Protestants, from all schismatics, from
530 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
all heretics. When Protestants abandoned the Church
the guardian of divine truth they gave themselves up to
hundreds of errors. Good Catholics, on the contrary,
keeping, as they do, in the footsteps of the Church, and
humbly submitting to all her doctrines, retain within
themselves the principle of truth and of divine certainty.
They feel assured that what the Church orders, is
ordered by Jesus Christ j and that what the Church for
bids, is also forbidden by Jesus Christ.
The principle of heresy is the principle of rebellion
against the Church, and against every lawful authority on
earth. The principle of the Church, on the contrary, is
to be submissive to every lawful authority. The essential
principle of politics and of life is ardently to love the
Church, profoundly to revere the Church, unhesitatingly
to submit to the Church, and to be most closely united
with the Church. Our Lord asks of us no other submission ;
he requires of us no other faith than that which the Church
teaches. His will and his truth are made known in the
Church. As he and his father are one, so also he and his
Church are one. No one can, in truth, call God his Father,
who does not look upon the Church as his mother.
In the Church alone there are certainty and security
against error. Around this Rock we behold nothing but
raging tempests, nothing but disastrous shipwrecks, in
difference to religion, negation of all worship, the abomi
nation of atheism and immorality, derision of holy things,
a fanatic pietism, a delirious religiousness, rationalism, or
the denial of all revelation and of everything supernatural,
Every non-Catholic who earnestly seeks to learn what he
is to believe, every one who yearns to obtain certainty in
religious matters, must sooner or later turn to the Church
COMMANDMENTS OP GOD. 537
as the only source of certainty, the only guardian of the
true religion, the only fountain of true peace and happiness
in life and in death.
22. How do we worship God by hope 1
By confiding in Ms promises that he ivill grant us : 1,
the pardon of our sins; 2, final perseverance in his grace;
and, 3, the everlasting glory of Paradise.
Many years ago a strange sight, a singular contrast,
might have been witnessed in the rich Eastern city of
Babylon. Throughout the streets and public places of that
populous city, the inhabitants might be seen feasting, sing
ing, and rejoicing. Everywhere, whithersoever you turned,
you could behold signs of triumph and gladness. But see !
in the midst of this rejoicing there is one spot in which
sadness reigns. Upon the banks of Babylon s streams a
vast multitude is assembled. There you see strong men
borne down by sorrow. There you see feeble women pining
away with grief. There are old men whose hoary heads
are bowed down with sadness ; you see little children lan
guishing in pain. The faces of all are pallid ; their eyes
are filled with tears. They rest their wearied limbs be
neath the shade of the mournful cypress. Their harps,
their musical instruments, hang sadly upon the branches
of the willow. No hand is raised to touch them, no finger
evokes sweet music from their chords. They are silent ;
they are neglected. There nought is heard save the sighs,
the moans, the sobs of the multitude, as they blend con
fusedly with the murmur, the dash of the stream. Nought
is seen save the tears that trickle down from their eyelids
and blend with the flood. Ah ! let us draw near those poor
unhappy creatures ! Let us ask them the cause of their
538 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
tears. Perhaps their feet are loaded with chains, or their
hands bound by cruel manacles ? No, they are not
chained this is not the cause of their grief.
Are they, perhaps, needy, suffering from the bitter pangs
of hunger ; or are they crushed and down-trodden con
demned to hard labor, to degrading servitude ? Are these,
perhaps, the cause of their grief? Ah ! no ; these are not
the cause of their tears. They weep, they are heart-broken,
because they are exiles ; because they are far, far away
from their home, their native land. This, this alone is the
cause of their tears.
How mournful are the days of exile ! How sweet it is
to breathe once more the air of our native land ! The
bread of the stranger, like the bread of the wicked, is
bitter to the heart. The streams of a foreign land may
murmur in soothing tones, but, oh ! they speak an unknown
tongue. The birds in foreign lands may sing sweetly,
but they want one melodions note they do not sing to us
of home. The scenes in other lands may be wildly fair,
but, oh ! they have not that sweet, that soothing charm
which endears every object in our native land.
Ah ! we are poor exiles here below, far away from
heaven, our true home ; we, therefore, constantly suffer
the pain of exile. We are never satisfied in this world.
We always crave for something more, something higher,
something better? Whence is this continual restlessness
which haunts us through life, and ever pursues us to the
grave ? It is the home-sickness of the soul. It is the
soul s craving after God.
It is God who made our heart, and he made it for him
self. When man first came forth from the hand of God,
his heart turned to God naturally, and he loved creatures
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 539
only as loving keepsakes of God. But sin and death came
into the world. The heart of man was defiled and degraded.
He turned away from the pure and holy love of God, and
sought for love and happiness amid creatures. But our
heart seeks in vain among creatures. Our heart is small
indeed, but its love is immense, It can find rest only
in God. Whatever we love out of God brings only pain
and bitter disappointment.
There is always an aching void in our heart a void
which cannot be filled by father or mother, by brother or
sister or our dearest friend it can be filled by God alone ;
and he will fill it in heaven to the fullest extent of our
desires, for there we shall possess him, the source of all
happiness.
" We shall see him as he is." (1 St. John, iii., 2.) During
this life, the soul cannot see God. And the Lord said to
Moses who wished to see the face of God : " Thou canst
not see my face, for no man shall see me and live."
(Exod., xxxiii., 20.) As long as the soul remains united
to the body it is embarassed by the flesh 5 it cannot con
ceive anything without the help of sensible images. But
no object that strikes the senses can represent the Divine
Essence. The soul, therefore, to be enabled to contem
plate this Essence, which is invisible to mortal eye, must
be delivered from the shackles of the body. It is only
then that it comprehends what is spiritual without having
recourse to sensible images.
The more the soul controls the senses, the more able it
is to comprehend things of a spiritual nature. Hence,
God generally makes his revelations, and gives the spirit
and gift of prophecy to holy persons whilst they are in
ecstasy or asleep, because in that state the senses are less
540 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
active and leave the spiritual faculties of the soul more
free to receive spiritual communications and divine
impressions. If we, then, in our simple, natural state,
cannot rise to supernatural things, much less can we, in
this state, conceive the knowledge of the Divine Essence.
The most enlightened of interpreters of Holy Scriptures,
and many Fathers of the Church are of opinion that
Moses and St. Paul saw God face to face, and contem
plated the Divinity, but this was by supernatural grace,
and a miracle which exempted them from the laws of
nature. God granted them that extraordinary privilege
and preeminent sanctity, in order to proclaim his power,
wisdom, and glory to the world by the holy ministry of
two inspired men, who were to be the one the deliverer
and law-giver of the Hebrew people, and the other the
zealous and faithful doctor of the Gentiles. " To me,
the least of all the saints, is given this grace to preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to
enlighten all men, that they may see what is the dispen
sation of the mystery which had been hidden from eter
nity in God, who created all things j that the manifold
wisdom of God may be known to the principalities and
powers of the heavenly mansions through the Church."
(Eph., iii., 8-10.)
To see the Divine Essence is something far above
the faculties of the human soul, nay it is something even
far above the natural faculties of an angel. The soul,
therefore, must be prepared for the contemplation of the
Divinity.
If we wish that a thing should produce an effect which
is above its nature, we must carefully prepare it for the
production of such an effect. If, for instance, we wish to
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 541
set the air on fire, we must gradually raise its tem
perature. In like manner God must prepare the soul to
make his Essence accessible to its intelligence. This he
does by bestowing upon it here below the inestimable
gift of true faith, hope and charity. Those who leave this
world, endowed with these divine virtues, are prepared
to see God in a created light, called the light of glory.
As the intellectual faculty of the soul is too feeble
to withstand the splendor of the Divinity, God moderates
the intensity of the rays of glory. This temperate light
increases the intellectual powers of the saints, and renders
them capable of contemplating, in all its splendor and
brightness, that Eternal Sun which was before too
dazzling for their sight.
However we must not say that the light of glory is
intermedial between God and the saints. It is but a
means to enable them to stand the divine Presence.
" This light of glory shines for ever in the City of the
saints," (Apos., xxl., 23.) and makes them like God, for
they see him face to face. (John, xxl., 23.)
All the saints, however, have not an equal knowledge
of God. This knowledge is in proportion to their merit ;
and therefore their glory is not the same. tl One is the
glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon, and an
other the glory of the stars ; for star differeth from star
in glory." (2 Cor., xv., 41.)
Now, this unequality does not consist in this that one
saint resembles God more than another, for in God there
is neither form nor image. This inequality consists in
this that the light of glory shines more brilliantly on some
than on others, and enables their intellectual faculties to
behold the Divine Essence in proportion to the brilliancy
with which it shines upon them.
542 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Now, the lustre of this light is in proportion to the degree
of charity in which the saints, after their death, appear
before God. Divine love begets, in the soul of the just
man, an ardent desire to possess God the object of his
love, and disposes it to have free and easy access to him.
Hence, the greater our charity is, when we die the more
brilliant will be the light of glory that will shine upon us
for all eternity. It is then not the wealthiest, nor the
highest in power and honor, nor the most learned, but the
greatest in the love of God that are the happiest in the
kingdom of heaven.
God is an infinite ocean of light, delight, and happiness.
Into this ocean of happiness the soul of the just man enters
when the Lord says : " Well done, good and faithful ser
vant j because thou hast been faithful over a few things,
I will place thee over many things : enter thou into the
joy of thy Lord." (Matt., xxv., 23.) Our Lord does not
say that his joy and happiness is to enter into his servant,
but that his faithful servant is to enter into his joy. Were
we told to receive into ourselves all the water of the sea,
we should say : " How can this be done f It is utterly
impossible." But were we bade to plunge into the water
of the sea, we should see no impossibility in this. Now,
our Lord is an infinite ocean of joy and happiness. It is im
possible for the soul to receive this happiness all into her
self, but most easy for her to enter into this ocean of
happiness when our Lord tells her : " Well done, good
and faithful servant : enter into the joy of thy Lord."
In the very instant that the soul hears these words, she
sees, by the light of glory, the infinite beauty of God, face
to face ; she is at once filled, and, as it were, all consumed
with love 5 she is lost and immersed in that boundless
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 543
ocean of the goodness of God ; she forgets herself, passing
over into God and dissolving into him ; the Lord com
municates himself substantially to her, giving himself up to
her in a manner most sweet and intimate. On this
account St. John says : " Behold the tabernacle of God
with men ; and he will dwell with them : and they shall
be his people, and God himself, with them, shall be their
God." (Apoc., xxi., 3) ; " He that shall overcome shall
possess these things : and I will be his God, and he shall be
my son."(Xxi., 7.)
This everlasting happiness and glory of Paradise, the
eternal possession and enjoyment of God, is the primary
object of our hope. But, as the everlasting enjoyment of
God can be obtained only by supernatural means, these
means: are the secondary object of our hope. These
means are : the pardon of our sins, the assistance of God s
grace, and the gift of perseverance in the grace of God.
Now, our hope, to possess God for all eternity in the
world to come, and to obtain, here below, all the graces
necessary to put us in possession of everlasting happiness,
must, like faith, be firm and unwavering.
Our faith is firm because it rests upon a supernatural
motive or foundation the truth of God. Our hope, then,
to be firm and unwavering, must also rest upon super
natural motives. These motives are: I, the power of God, by
which he is able to save us ; 2, the mercy of God, by which
he wishes to save us; and 3, the faithfulness of God to his
promises to save us, if we ask him to save us through the
merits of Jesus Christ. Behold the promise : "Amen,
amen, I say to you : if you ask the Father anything in
my name, he will give it you." (John, xvi., 23.)
1. As God is all powerful, he is able to save us. By
544 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
his power, he made the heavens to give us light and rain,
the fire to give us warmth, the air to preserve our lives,
the earth to produce various kinds of fruit, the sea to give
us fish, the animals to give us food and clothing; by his
power, he became man for us. lived and died for us,
changes bread and wine into his body and blood to become
the food of our soul.
By this same power, he can deliver us from darkness
and blindness of the understanding in spiritual things,
from attachment to sensual pleasures, from our sins and
punishments due to them. By his power he changed in
a moment, the heart of Saul, and made him from a per
secutor of the Christians, a most zealous defender and
propagator of the Gospel. By his power, God changed
the heart of the good thief, of St. Augustine, of St. Mary
of Egypt, of St. Margaret of Cortona, and of thousands of
other notorious sinners, and made them models of virtue
and ornaments of the Church. By his power, "God is
able of the stones to raise up children to Abraham. 77
(Matt., iv., 9.) "The hand of the Lord is not shortened,
that it cannot save." (Isai. lix., 1. )
2. Our hope rests also upon the goodness and mercy of
God. His goodness is as great as his power. God takes
delight in using his power to show us his goodness and
mercy. He is a Father, and to a father nothing is more
peculiar than the great yearning of communicating to his
children himself and all his goods as far as possible. In
our heavenly Father, that yearning is infinite; it is quite
essential to his nature; and therefore he wishes to save us
and share his own happiness in heaven for all eternity.
We are his children, and the laws of all nations, in
accordance with those of nature, grant to children a holy
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 545
riglit to their father s goods, especially so if these were
given him to be transmitted by him to his children.
One day a poor man, called Peter, went to his friend
Paul, and spoke to him of his great poverty. "My dear
friend, " said Peter, " do you not know anyone who could
help me? " "Yes, I do," replied Paul ; " go to Mr Bonus,
a rich nobleman ; he will help you. 7 " I am afraid," said
Peter, " he will not receive me. " "You need not be afraid,"
said Paul, "because this nobleman is goodness, liberality,
and charity itself; he receives every one that comes to him,
with the greatest affability. Some time ago he issued a
proclamation, in which he declared that he was the father
of the poor, inviting all to come and tell him their wants.
He never feels happier than when he bestows alms upon
the poor. He is exceedingly rich. He had a dearly
beloved son, to whom he bequeathed all his possessions ;
but his son died a short time after, and on his death-bed
willed all his property to the poor, and made his father
the executor of his will. Now, this good father considers
himself bound in conscience to distribute this property to
the poor. There is no reason, then, why you should fear
to call on him ; you will certainly receive as much as you
need." These words filled the heart of Peter with great
hope and confidence ; he went to see the rich nobleman,
and received what he asked of him.
Now, we are all like this poor man. We are in want of
many things ; we need especially the grace of God ; we
need the gift of perseverance in the friendship of Almighty
God in order to obtain heaven. The grace of God and
perseverance in it are the objects of our hope. How much
are we not strengthened in this hope by the remembrance
that in all our wants we can have recourse to a Lord whq
546 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
is far more compassionate, and infinitely richer than the
kind-hearted nobleman of whom I have spoken. This
good Lord is our Heavenly Father. He has issued a
proclamation, recorded in Holy Scripture : " Every one
who asks receiveth." (Luke, xiii., 10.) And u All things
whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall
receive." (Matt., xxi., 22.) God the Father also gave
everything to his Divine Son Jesus : " All things are
delivered up tome by my Father." (Matt., xxi., 27.) His
Son Jesus died, and made us heirs to all his graces and
merits. His heavenly Father considers us as his dear
children, who may, in justice, lay claim to the merits and
graces of his Divine Son, who called our special attention
to this right of ours when he said : "If you ask the
Father anything in my Name, he will give it to you. 7 (John,
xvi., 23.) He means to say : You must represent to
your heavenly Father that he is your Father, and that
you are his children, and have as such, according to all
divine and human laws, a claim upon all his goods. This
claim of yours is so much the stronger as I have acquired
it by my Passion and Death.
3. Finally, our hope rests upon God s faithfulness to
his promise to grant us whatever we ask of him in the
name of Jesus Christ.
" The power and mercy of God," says St. Alphonsus,
"are indeed strong motives for hope, but the strongest of
all motives is God s fidelity to his promise, because?
though we believe that God is infinite in power and
mercy, nevertheless we could not have the unwavering
certainty that God will save us unless he himself had
given us the certain promise to do so, provided we ask
him to save us. As God gives the grace of prayer to
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 547
every one, no one can reasonably fear to be lost if he
perseveres in prayer. As for myself, I never feel greater
consolation, nor greater assurance of my salvation, than
when I am praying to God and recommending myself to
him. And I think the same must happen to every other
Christian. There are several signs by which we can
become certain of our salvation, but there is none so
certain as prayer, for we know with infallible certainty
that God will hear him who prays with confidence and
perseverance."
Among the praises given by the saints to Abraham,
St. Paul ranks this above all the rest, that " against hope
he believed in hope" (Rom., iv., 18.) God had promised
him to multiply his posterity like the stars of heaven and
the sand of the sea. To try his hope, God commanded
Abraham to sacrifice to him his only son ; but Abraham
did not, on that account, give up hope. He believed
that, to obey the command was no reason why God
would fail to keep his word.
Great, indeed, was his hope ; for he saw nothing on
which to rest except the word of God. Oh ! how true
and solid a foundation is that word ! for it is infallible.
But here one might say : u Eternal life depends on per
severance in the grace of God. As this perseverance is
uncertain, eternal life is uncertain ; and this uncertainty
of eternal life makes us doubt the divine promises to be
saved through the merits of Jesus Christ." To this ob
jection St. Alphonsus replies : " The divine promises
can never fail. Hence we can never have any reason on
the part of God, to doubt that he will be wanting by
denying what he promised us. The doubt and fear is on
our part, for we may be found wanting by transgressing
548 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
the divine commandments, and thus losing God s grace.
In this case, God is not obliged to fulfil his promises, but
has reason to punish us for our infidelity. St. Paul,
therefore, exhorts us to work out our salvation with fear
and trembling. (Phil., ii., 12.) Hence we are certain of
salvation if we remain faithful to God. But if we are
unfaithful, we should dread our perdition.
But does not this fear and, uncertainty destroy the peace
of conscience f
" Peace of conscience in this life, does not consist in a
certain belief that we shall be saved, for this is not what
God promises us, but peace of conscience consists rather
in the hope that he will save us, through the merits of
Jesus Christ, if we strive to lead a life in conformity with
his commandments, and endeavor, by prayer, to obtain
the divine assistance to persevere in a holy life." (History
of Heresies, Refut, xi., 47.)
Suppose God reveals to a person the decree of his
damnation ; on account of the fore knowledge he has of
his sin, should that person give up hope? "No," says St.
Thomas, "for such a revelation should not be looked
upon as an irrevocable decree, but as a threat which
would be carried into effect only when a person perseveres
in sin until death."
This hope is, like faith, necessary for salvation, " for
we are saved by hope," says St. Paul. (Rom., viii., 24.)
This virtue is prescribed by the first commandment,
which requires us to worship God by faith, hope, and
charity. As it is a duty to increase in faith, so it is also
a duty to increase in hope.
Now, the virtue of hope is nourished by prayer, good
works, the frequent reception of the sacraments, by
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 549
devotion to the blessed Mother of God, and by frequent
acts of hope.
1 . Hope is nourished and increased ~by prayer.
Frequent conversation with a friend will gradually
reveal to me his goodness and kindness, and the more
I become acquainted with his virtues, the greater will
be my confidence to obtain from him what he promises
to me.
In like manner, our confidence in God is in proportion
to our knowledge of God. Now, one of the best means
to become acquainted with God is to be often in his
company and converse with him familiarly. This conver
sation takes place in prayer and in meditation on God s
goodness, on his life, passion and death, on his Real Presence
in the Blessed Sacrament. In this holy exercise God
makes himself gradually known to the sou-l, as he promis
ed when he said : " I will manifest myself to him." (John,
xiv., 21.) He manifests himself to the soul in prayer by
drawing it powerfully, yet sweetly, to himself, and by
inspiring it with great confidence in his power, goodness,
and fidelity to his promises. If holy Christians have
greater confidence in God than ordinary Christians it is
because they oftener converse with God, and draw, from
this holy conversation, an unlimited confidence in him.
Prayer, therefore, is the mother and nurse of hope.
2. Hope is nourished by good works.
u Alms," says Holy Scripture, u shall be a great confi
dence before the Most High God to all those that give it."
(Tob., iv., 12.) As we have shown in this volume, when
speaking of the corporal works of mercy, how good works
increase confidence in God, it is useless to repeat here
what has already been explained.
550 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
3. Hope is nourished ~by the frequent reception of the sacra
ments of the Holy Eucharist and Penance.
As to the increase of hope by the reception of Holy
Communion, we know that the Holy Eucharist is the
pledge of our inheritance and has in itself the promise of
eternal life, " He that eateth of this bread shall live
forever. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood
abideth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath
sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me
the same also shall live by me. He shall never hunger or
thirst. He shall not die, but have life everlasting, and T
will raise him up, on the last day. (St. John, chap, vi.,
18.) St. Paul argues that " if we are sons, then we are
heirs, heirs indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ ; ^
and elsewhere he says, " that we glory in hope of the
glory of God." It is true, that in this life we can never
have an infallible assurance of our salvation, but Holy
Communion most powerfully confirms and strengthens our
hope of obtaining heaven and the graces necessary for
living and dying holily. However great the fear and
diffidence may be with which our sins inspire us, what
soul is not comforted when our Saviour himself enters the
heart and seems to say : " Ask whatever you will, and it
shall be done unto you." " Can I refuse the less I who
have given the greater ? Can I withhold any necessary
graces who have given myself? Shall I refuse to bring
you to reign with me in heaven, who am come down on
earth to dwell with you?"
As to the increase of hope by confession, we know that
61 If our hearts do not reprehend us, we have confidence
towards God." (1 John, iii., 21.)
In this life, a poor man may be afraid to show himself
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 551
before a wealthy lord, an ignorant person may be afraid to
appear before a learned man. But neither poverty nor
ignorance makes a person afraid to appear before God.
It is only sin that inspires us with fear of God, and dimin
ishes our confidence in him. The more we renounce
sin. the more increases our confidence in God.
Now, it is in a good confession that we renounce sin,
and obtain its forgiveness. See the sinner after a good
confession. His countenance is radiant with beauty ; his
step has become again elastic ; he has thrown off the load
that bent him to the earth ; his soul, being once more free
and the companion of angels, reflects even upon his
features the holy joy with which it is inebriated; he
smiles upon those whom he meets, and every one sees that
he is happy. He has again entered that sweet alliance
with God, whom he can now justly call his Father 5 he
trembles now no more when he lifts his eyes to heaven ;
he hopes, he loves; he sees himself reinstated in his lost
dignity he is once more a child of God. Now that his
soul rules the body, a supernatural strength animates him ;
he feels himself burning with zeal and energy to do good ;
a new sun has risen upon his life, and his soul puts on
the freshness of youth.
Now frequent confession increases the peace of mind,
confidence in. God, lightness of heart; it increases sanctify
ing grace, devotion and tenderness of the soul, clearness
of intellect, purity of conscience ; it increases the facility
in the performance of good works and all the spiritual
gifts which lead the soul confidently to eternal salvation.
4. Hope is nourished and increased by devotion to the
blessed mother of God.
The blessed Virgin Mary is called our hope. To un-
552 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
derstand this, we must make a distinction. God is our
principle hope, because he is the author of grace and
and of every good ; and Mary is our hope, because she
prays for us to Jesus Christ. Hence St. Bonaventure
addresses her in the following words : " Through thee,
first finder of grace, mother of salvation, we have access
to the Son, that, through thee, he may receive us, who,
through thee, was given to us." The saint means to say
that, as we have access to the Father only through Jesus
Christ, who is the Mediator of justice, so we have access
to the Son only through Mary, who is our Mediatrix of
grace, and by her prayers obtains for us those graces
which Christ merited for us. Oh ! how many sinners have
returned to God through the intercession of Mary. Being
pressed down by the heavy load of their sins, they felt
afraid of approaching God in confident prayer ; but know
ing the great mercy of Mary, and her power with her
divine Son Jesus Christ, they had recourse to her who is
called the refuge of sinners. She prayed for them, and
obtained for them the grace to make a good confession of
their sins. They remained devoted to her to the end of
their life, and were through her prayers enabled to lead a
holy life. The greater our love, the more tender our devo
tion to Mary is, the more confidence we experience in the
goodness of God, and the more firm is our hope to be saved.
Mary knows best how necessary great confidence in God
is in order to be saved. So she prays to Jesus Christ,
and obtains for us the great grace of a firm, unwavering
hope in the merits of her divine Son and in his infinite
mercy and goodness.
5. Hope is increased by frequent acts of hope.
As frequent bad acts weaken the will and incline it
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 553
more and more to evil, so good acts strengthen the will
and incline it more and more to good. The oftener,
therefore, we make acts of hope, the more we confirm the
will in this virtue. As the virtue of hope is absolutely
necessary for salvation, every Christian should be careful
often to make acts of hope.
It is difficult to state precisely how often we are
obliged to make the acts of hope. However we may say
in general, that we should make them often enough to
keep up the habit of hope.
A person is especially obliged to make acts of hope
when the promises of God are first proposed to him j also
when he is grievously tempted against hope, and when
he is at the hour of death.
The holier a Christian is, the oftener he will make acts
of hope in God every day, not only for the purpose of
nourishing this virtue, but also because he knows that,
as by faith he honors the truth of God, so by hope he
honors the power and goodness of God and his fidelity to his
promises. We read of St. Alphonsus Liguori that he was
accustomed to make, every night, ten acts of confidence
in Jesus Christ and ten acts of confidence in the blessed
Virgin Mary The virtue of hope in God is one of the most
difficult to practise. We should then make use of every
means in our power to be more and more strengthened and
confirmed in it to the end of our life. Then the Lord will
give himself to us as reward for our faith and hope in him
in this world, and possessing him for ever, he will no longer
be the object of our faith and hope, but only that of our
love and joy throughout all eternity.
Such is the ultimate end which the goodness of Gogl
wishes us to attain in the other world. Our soul will not
554 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
be entirely at rest until it is perfectly united with God in
heaven. It is true that those who love Jesus Christ en
joy peace in doing his holy will ; but they cannot enjoy
perfect peace and happiness in this life, for such peace and
happiness are found only in the inseparable possession of
God. The soul is restless, sighing and mourning until it is
eternally united with God.
The greatest punishment which the souls in purgatory
endure, is their desire of possessing God and seeing him
face to face. This punishment is inflicted especially on
those souls that, in this life, had but a faint desire of
Paradise. Cardinal Bellarmin says that there is, in
purgatory, a place called the prison of honor (career
honoratus) where the souls do not endure the pains of sense,
but only the pain of the privation of the vision of God.
Many examples of souls suffering this particular kind of
punishment are related by St. Gregory, St. Vincent Ferrer,
Yen. Bede and St. Bridget.
Now this punishment is inflicted on souls, not for sins
committed, but for having had little desire of heaven
during their life on earth. Many souls, it is true, endeavor
to become perfect, yet they entertain hardly any desire of
leaving this world in order to be intimately united with
God. But as eternal life is an infinitely precious blessing,
merited by the death of Jesus Christ, God punishes, in an
especial manner, those souls that had but a faint desire of
heaven during their earthly career.
23. What are the sins against hope ?
1, Despair, or utter want of confidence in God s mercy; 2 ?
Presumption, or an unfounded confidence in God s mercy.
God is a most merciful father. There is nothing more
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 500
peculiar to him than to be merciful and to spare. He
delights far more in manifesting his mercy than his power
or wisdom, or any other of his divine attributes. Had
man not fallen, God could not have manifested his mercy.
Mercy shines most brilliantly where there is misery.
There is a man. He is very wealthy, wise and learned,
and at the same time very kind and charitable. For his
wealth, wisdom and learning he will be admired ; but it is
only his kindness and charity that draw the hearts of all
men to him.
God knows that disposition of our hearts. He knows
that we admire his power and wisdom. But he also
knows that we feel greatly drawn towards him by his
goodness and mercy. He made us for himself, and there
fore he declares in holy Scripture that his delight is to be
with the children of men. Hence, to make us come to
him, he has tried, from the beginning of the world, to
draw us by acts of charity and mercy.
No sooner had Adam sinned than he went after him,
called him back from his evil way, pardoned him on
account of the Redeemer whom he promised to send to
repair his fault, and was ever afterwards kind and mer
ciful to him.
To show that he does not wish the death of the sinner,
but that he may be converted and live, he invariably seeks
him first, and invites him to repentance by remorse of
conscience.
If he is not listened to by the sinner, he waits for his
return, and gives him many graces to repent and be
reconciled to him.
And who can describe the joy of the Lord at the return
of the sinner from his evil ways?
556 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
To spare the sinner our heavenly Father has not spared
his only-begotten Son, but delivered him up to the most
cruel death upon the cross.
He has promised most solemnly that on the day on
which the sinner returns to him he shall be forgiven, and
his sins shall no longer be remembered, and that there
will be great rejoicing in heaven on account of his conver
sion. Innumerable, indeed, are the ways by which God
has shown how good and merciful he is to every sinner,
in spite of all his crimes, if he is ready to renounce his
sinful career. He says, that " even though his sins were
as red as scarlet, as numerous as the sand on the sea-shore,
and as black as ink, he shall be made whiter than snow
if he returns to me."
Now, to doubt this mercy of God, to despair of it and
say with Cain, who killed his brother, " My iniquity is
greater than that I may deserve pardon/ 7 (Gen.,"iv. ? 13,)
is one of the greatest sins.
To despair of God s mercy is as much as to believe
that his mercy is not infinite, that it can be exhausted by
the number and greatness of sins, that the merits of Jesus
Christ are not infinite, not sufficient to cancel all sins and
obtain the forgiveness of all. Who then does not see that
this sin of despair is one of the greatest outrages that can
be offered to the infinite mercy of God, and to his fidelity
in keeping his promise to pardon every sinner who
returns to him. Ah, I venture to say, that if the sins of
a man despairing of God s mercy were weighed, and the
sin of his despair were put in one scale, and all the rest
in the other, the sin of despair would appear heavier than
all his other sins. God feels more outraged by this sin
alone than by a million of others.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 557
It is true, the sin of infidelity is greater than that of
despair. He who despairs puts only limits to God s mercy,
but does not deny or wish to destroy it, whilst the infidel
denies and wishes to annihilate it. However, should an
infidel repent of his crime, but begin to despair of God s
mercy on account of the enormity of his sin, he would
displease God more by despairing of his mercy than he
did by his sin of infidelity.
Hope encourages us to practise virtue, keeps us from
evil ways, and checks the torrent of the passions j but
despair prevents us from doing good, and throws us into all
sorts of sins according to the words of the Apostle : u who in
despair have given themselves up to lust, avarice and all
sorts of corruption. " (Eph., iv., 19.)
As the sin of despair is one of the greatest outrages
that can be offered to God, and is so fatal in its effects
upon the soul, we should be careful to guard against
preparing the way to it.
He who begins to gratify the temptations of the flesh,
soon loses all relish for spiritual goods. He finds the
acquisition of them not only difficult, but altogether
impossible. This false notion throws him into a state of
spiritual sloth and indolence, or of sadness which enervates
the powers of the mind and renders him incapable of any
virtuous or meritorious act. This vicious habit begins
with a corrupt heart and depraved will, and generally
ends in disgust and despair.
But be the sins of a man whatever they may, they
never are a sufficient cause of despair. If the sinner
asks of our Lord to give him true sorrow for his sins and
the grace to return to him with sincerity of heart, he will
obtain this grace, and God will forgive him thousands of
sins as quick as he forgives one.
558 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Father Lireus relates the following story : A certain
young nobleman gave himself up to gambling. In one
afternoon he lost all his money, and contracted a great
debt besides. Enraged at this loss, he commenced to
utter the most frightful blasphemies. " Now, O Jesus
Christ ! " said he blasphemously, " I am done with thee !
I no longer care for thee nor for thy threats ; thou canst
not make me suffer a greater loss than I have sustained
to-day. " What happened ? In the afternoon of that
very day he met with an accident. The carriage in
which he was riding home was upset and he broke his
leg. The fracture was very bad and brought on a dan
gerous fever, so much so, that the physicians entertained
serious doubts about his recovery. The young man now
understood that God was able to make him undergo a
still greater loss than that of his money, to wit, his health,
and even his life probably. But instead of entering into
himself and asking God s pardon, this great sinner blas
phemed God more than ever. " God, " said he, " Thou
rejoicest in showing how it is in Thy power to punish me
still more severely. Very well, show me now that Thou
canst inflict on me the greatest punishment possible. And
since, after the loss of my money, health and life, there is
no greater misfortune than that of eternal damnation, show
me how it is in Thy power to cast me into hell. If I were
Thy God " horrible to relate, horrible to hear a if I
were thy God, I would do this to thee also ! " most
horrible blasphemy ! Why was it that hell did not open
that very instant to devour so execrable a blasphemer.
But God is merciful. As the impious young man in his
despair and rage refused to listen to any good advice,
God inspired his servant to enter his room and whisper
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 559
into his ear the following words : " My lord, there is a
good friend of yours here who wishes to take leave of
you." " Who is it? 7 asked the dying sinner; "let
him come in." At these words the good servant showed
him a crucifix, saying: u Behold, my lord, this is your
best friend, who wishes to say a word to you." At that
very moment the grace of God touched the heart of the
blasphemer, and enlightened him to see his miserable
state. He raised his eyes and fixed them on the crucifix.
The eyes of the crucifix seemed to become alive, and to
cast looks of mercy upon the dying man, and he heard
a voice coming forth from the crucifix, saying unto him :
" My child, I will show you that it is in my power to do
to you what is best and not what is worst. Had I wished
to cast you into hell, I could have done so long ago.
But no, my child, I will do to you not what is worst,
but what is best. You say that were you my God, you
would cast me into hell for ever. "Now, I am your
God well, I will make you happy with me in heaven
for all eternity, although you have not deserved such a
mercy." At this voice of mercy the dying sinner took
the crucifix into his hands, pressed it to his lips, and shed
a torrent of tears ; he made a general confession with
such contrition of heart that even his confessor could not
help weeping. After having received the last Sacraments,
he continued to shed bitter tears of sorrow and true love
for God, and soon after died in this happy state.
How true are those words that the Lord spoke one day
to Blessed Henry Suso. " Imagine," said he to his great
servant, "that the whole world was on fire, and then see
how quickly a handful of straw cast into it is consumed.
But I forgive a repentant sinner a thousand times quicker
560 COMMANDMENTS OB GOD.
than a handful of straw can be burned up in the largest
fire." " Ah, yes ! " exclaims the holy Cure of Ars, " all
the sins ever committed are but a grain of sand beside a
huge mountain if compared with the mercy of God."
Hence the Lord wishes every priest to tell poor sinners
what he one day commanded his prophet to tell them for
their encouragement, namely, "Say to the faint-hearted,
take courage, and fear not. If the wicked man shall do
penance of all his sins, I will no longer remember his
iniquities which he hath wrought. Why will ye die I
Keturn ye and live. My children, why will you destroy
yourselves, and of your own free will condemn yourselves
to everlasting death ! Return to me, and you shall live."
Presumption.
Almighty God has promised to save us if we believe and
do all that he teaches us through his infallible Church.
If we comply with this condition, we shall be saved.
But to hope to be saved without complying with this
condition is the sin of presumption. Of this sin are guilty :
1. All those who rely too much on the goodness of
God living in their sins, in the vain hope that they
will repent before they die that there is time enough for
repentance, that God is merciful and will not suffer them
to be lost. We often hear such language ; but all those
who think and speak in this way are guilty of presump
tion and are walking fast on the road which leads to hell.
They say: " God has not created me to damn me!"
But has God created you to offend him ? and in drawing
you out of nothing, has he engaged to let go unpunished
the outrage and insults offered to him by those to whom
he has given being and life ?
2. The sin of presumption is committed by those who
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 561
presume on their own strength, exposing themselves to
the danger of offending God, foolishly imagining that by
their own strength, endeavors, and resolutions, they can
overcome temptations, and subdue their passions. This
was the sin of St. Peter, when he said to Christ: " Though
all men should be scandalized at Thee, I will never be
scandalized." (Mat., xxvi., 33.) This presumption is very
often punished by our being abandoned by God, and
allowed to fall into some shameful sin, that we may be
convinced of our folly, and taught our own weakness and
misery, as happened to St. Peter.
3. Those also are guilty of presumption who, living in
the dangerous occasions of sin, will not quit those occasions,
vainly thinking that they are now so firmly resolved,
that they will never again commit the sin to which they
are exposed. This is the sin of many Christians who
frequent balls and theatres, who read impious and immoral
books, who listen to licentious discourses, and at the same
time boldly say, "All this makes no impression on me ; I
know my own strength ; no danger is there to me, I am
certain." No danger, indeed ! As if man were anything
else than misery and weakness j as if it were not written :
" He who loves the danger shall perish therein." (Eccl.,
iii., 28.) Ah ! how many poor souls, relying too much on
their own strength, fall every day into the most shameful
crimes ! Vain presumption ! who can count the crimes
and excesses which you bring forth every instant ? If
you seriously wish to obtain heaven, then enter on the
way that leads to heaven. Avoid sin, practise virtue ;
watch, pray, fly from the occasions of sin, and receive
the sacraments of penance and the holy Eucharist fre
quently ; for these are the means by which God wishes
us to be saved.
562 COMMANDMENTS OP GOD.
4. Of the sin of presumption are especially guilty all
non-Catholics. That their hope of salvation is most pre-
sumptious is evident from the fact that they foolishly imagine
to be saved by serving our Lord in the way they are
pleased to serve him, whilst our Lord tells us that only
those shall enter the kingdom of heaven who have done
his will on earth. (Matt, vii., 21.)
Suppose a young lady wishes to get a situation with
a wealthy family, on condition that she has full liberty to
work when she pleases and in the way she pleases, and
that she receives one hundred dollars every month for her
house-work. Will any sensible man admit such a foolish
presumptious person into his family ? But is not the
presumption of a non-Catholic far greater when he expects
that God will admit him into heaven after having served
him according to his own notion and fancy ? What can
be more absurd ? Our Lord is not only a merciful but
also a just God. He is a merciful God to those only who
do his will in the way in which he revealed it to his
Church. To them alone heaven is promised. But he
will be a just God to those who have refused to do his will
in the way in which it is taught by his Church. He will
tell them: " I never knew you." (Matt., vii., 23.) You have
not done my will on earth, but yours. You have imitated
Lucifer and his angels, who refused to serve me according
to my will. You, therefore, have deserved their punish
ment. "Depart then from me, you that work iniquity."
(Matt., vii., 23.) How foolish then to say : " How could
God condemn, to eternal torments, that man who was so
kind, so honest in his dealings, so truthful," etc. "Ah !"says
St. Thomas Aquinas : " such is the language, of many in
the world, of the haughty, presumptions enemies of faith,
hope and charity."
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 563
Exterior honesty may, indeed, keep a man out of prison,
but it is not sufficient to keep him out of hell. A great
deal more is required to enter the kingdom of heaven.
"Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven : but he that doth the will of
my Father, who is in heaven, he shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven." (Matt., vii., 21.) This will of God is
found, taught, and explained only in the true Church of
Jesus Christ the Roman Catholic Church, and therefore
"Jet him who does not hear the Church, be to thee as the
heathen and publican. 77 (Matt., xviii., 1 7.)
24. How do we worship God by charity ?
J3y loving God above all things for his own sake ; and
our neighbor as ourselves, for the love of God.
"We have already explained what is to love God above
all things and our neighbor as ourselves. We will speak,
therefore, only of of the sins against charity.
25. What are the sins against charity ?
All mortal sins in general, but, in particular ; 1, indif
ference and aversion to God and divine things ; and, 2,
hatred and repugnance to his fatherly dispensations.
We sin against the love of God by every sin, because
in committing sin we disobey the commandments of God,
and so render ourselves displeasing to him. If we have
charity, or a true and sincere love of God, we will have
a great fear of displeasing him. We see that children
who really love their parents are exceedingly careful to
avoid whatever may be displeasing to them, and are
most attentive to do anything that is agreeable to their
will and inclination. In like manner, if we have a real
564 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
and sincere love of God, we shall feel it a duty and a
-pleasure to do everything that pleases him, and we shall
be most careful to avoid every sin, even the most venial j
for the lightest sin is a disobedience to God s commands,
which is displeasing in his eyes.
But it is particularly by mortal sin that we sin against
the love of God, for mortal sin not only lessens our love
for God, but it destroys altogether that love, and causes
a total separation between ourselves and God. When we
commit a mortal sin, we prefer our own pleasures, and
the gratification of our passions, to God. In committing
mortal sin, we virtually tell God that we have no respect
for his commands that we care very little about his
admonitions that we make no account of his promises
that we are indifferent to his rewards or punishments,
and that we will do what our inclinations suggest, no
matter how displeasing it may be to him. Ah, can there
be any insult equal to that offered to God by mortal sin f
Let us then carefully guard against so crying an evil let
us be ever watchful against the approaches of a monster
so frightful, and always pray that we may never be so
wicked as to sin against the love of God by mortal sin.
Although it be true that every mortal sin is opposed
to charity, yet the sin more particularly opposed to it is
hatred to God. But is it possible for one to hate God,
the eternal source of all goodness and mercy ?
Hatred proceeds from a perverse will. But how does
it happen that the will of a person becomes so perverse
as to hate God f The will is generally inclined to the
object which is presented to it by the intellect. Now,
the intellect may represent God to the will in a two-fold
manner j it may represent him such as he is in himselft he
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 565
essence and source of all beauty and goodness, and it may
represent God as he is in his external operations.
Now, the will cannot conceive hatred to God when the
intellect represents him as the source of all beauty and
goodness, for it is natural to love and admire what is
beautiful and good.
The will, however, may conceive hatred to God when
the intellect represents him in his external operations in
the temporal and eternal punishment which he inflicts on
sinners. This kind of hatred to God is the consequence
of pride and sin, which are always contrary to charity
and divine justice. " The pride of them that hate thee,
ascendeth continually. 7 (Ps., Ixxiii., 23.) "If I had not done
among them the works that no other man hath done, they
would not have sin ; but now they have both seen and
hated both me and my Father." (John, xv., 24.)
Now, hatred to God is one of the greatest sins, for it is
a voluntary alienation from God, and contrary to faith
and charity. Other mortal sins, as the sins of the flesh,
for instance, proceed from disorderly passions rather than
from the perversity of the intellect and will ; but the sin
of hatred to God proceeds from an utter perversity of the
intellect and will. Hatred to God, therefore, is one of
the most heinous sins that man can commit.
There is another sin which is opposed to charity, the sin
of schism. The word schism means division, or separa
tion from something. Now, the sin of schism consists
in deviating from the doctrine or discipline of the true
Church, in separating from her members and from Jesus
Christ, who, in the person of the sovereign Pontiff, is her
vital principal and head. Hence those who refuse to
submit to the spiritual authority of the visible Head of the
566 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
Church, and wilfully renounce communication with the
faithful, are called schismatists. " Vainly puffed up by the
influence of the flesh, they do not adhere to Jesus Christ,
the head and body of all the members of the Church,
which receiveth increase from God." (Col., ii., 18, 19.)
Schism is a special sin in itself, different from heresy
and infidelity. Infidelity proceeds from the intellect, and
is opposed to faith and charity, whilst schism proceeds
from the will, and is opposed only to charity. Hence,
schism is not so great a sin as infidelity j it is even not so
great as heresy. Every kind of heresy is schism, but
schism is not palpable heresy. Schism is opposed to the
discipline and unity of the universal Church, whilst heresy
is opposed to the fundamental doctrine of Christianity.
" Schism," says St. Cyprian," is the offspring of pride, and
parent of heresy."
ON THE HONOR AND INVOCATION OF THE SAINTS.
26. May we honor the saiiits of God I
Yes : 1, because ive honor God in them / 2, because ive
may obtain many graces through their prayers.
1. WHY WE HONOR THE SAINTS.
We read in Holy Scripture that, after Joseph, the son
of the holy patriarch Jacob, had explained the two dreams of
Pharao, the king rose and said to his servants : " Can we
find such another man filled with the spirit of God ? "
And as no one replied, Pharao turned to Joseph, and said :
" Seeing God hath showed thee all thou hast said, can I
find one wiser and like to thee ? Thou shalt be over
my house, and thy word all the people shall obey j only
in the throne will I be before thee." And he took his
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own ring from his own hand, and gave it into his hand,
and he put upon him a robe of fine linen, and a chain of
gold round his neck, and caused him to mount up into
the second royal chariot, and ordered the crier to go
before him, proclaiming to all the people that they should
bow their knee, and know that Joseph was made governor
over the whole land of Egypt. Moreover he changed
his name, and called him, in the Egyptian language,
" Saviour of the world." And when the people cried to
Pharao for food, he said to them : " Go to Joseph, and
do all that he shall say to you." (Gen., xli.)
It is thus that the king of Egypt honored Joseph for the
great gifts and excellent qualities which he discovered in
him ; and it was for the same reasons that he also wished
all his subjects to bestow upon him all possible honors except
the honor due to his royal majesty alone. tl Only in the
throne will I be before thee." Now, it is for similar reasons
that we worship the angels and saints of God. When
non-Catholics use the word " worship," they generally
mean divine worship ; for they do not worship the Bless-
sed Virgin and the saints. Hence they object to Catholics
that they pay divine worship to creatures, and thereby
become guilty of idolatry. This calumny proceeds from
their ignorance of the different meanings of the word
" worship," and of the Catholic doctrine.
When the word " worship " is applied to God, it means
supreme worship, which consists in giving God the honor of
divine adoration. This worship is rendered to God alone.
When the word " worship " is applied to the saints of
God, it means an inferior worship, or homage, which con
sists in honoring, in a suitable manner, the angels and
saints of heaven. Finally, when the word " worship " is
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applied to the Blessed Virgin Mary, it means a superior
homage, rendered to her on account of her supereminent
dignity and sanctity as mother of God. There is, there
fore, an immense difference between the worship of God
and the worship of the saints. We bestow upon the saints
all such honors as we possibly can, except the honor of
divine adoration, which we give to God alone.
The natural prompting of our heart impels us to res
pect and honor those who are renowned for their talents,
learning, bravery, the dignity of their office, great charity,
and other virtues. And we show this esteem outwardly
in our words and actions. Good children honor and res
pect their parents ; servants show respect to their masters,
and subjects to their superiors. In like manner, the
Catholic Church honors those servants of God who are
crowned with grace and glory in heaven.
Now, the first faithful servants of God are the holy
angels. We honor them
1, For their natural and supernatural gifts;
2, For their virtues ;
3, For the high dignity of their office j and
4, For their numberless benefits and services.
1. We honor the angels for their natural and super
natural gifts.
a It is more than probable," says St. Thomas, " that God
did not let a long interval of time pass between the
creation of spirits, or angels, and the creation of bodies. 7
" At the beginning of time," says the council of Lateran,
" God simultaneously created two kinds of beings the
one spiritual, the other corporal."
There is, indeed, no reason to suppose that when God
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 560
created heaven, he did not, at the same time create also
those who were to inhabit it, and he did not create these
inhabitants of heaven as a world apart ; he created them
to constitute, together with all other created beings, the
beauty aud perfection of one universal world. God
created them as intermediate spiritual powers between
himself and mankind. They are pure spirits, that is,
intelligent spiritual beings. They have no bodies, nor
were they created to be united to bodies, as our souls
are. They have no size, no figure, no head, no hands,
no feet. They cannot be seen or felt by our senses.
They are simple beings, that is, they are not composed
of parts. Hence they are immortal, as every spirit is ;
for a being that is not composed of parts can never perish
except by the omnipotence of God.
The angels are endowed with beauty, power, agility,
with subtlety and quickness of penetration, and with a
knowledge and science of natural things, which are beyond
all human conception.
Beauty is a ray emanating from the Divinity. Hence
it is honored by all spirits and loved by all hearts. Now,
the angels possess a two-fold beauty They have a natural
and supernatural beauty.
Their natural beauty comes from the very purity of
their being which, as it is spiritual, surpasses in dignity
and perfection, all other beings ; for everything beautiful,
contained in inferior beings, is also found in superior
beings. Hence an angel of the lowest order is far more
beautiful than anything, even the most charming in the
whole universe.
The angels do not, like men, derive their existence one
from another. They are the first works of God s hands,
570 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
the first productions of his omnipotence, the first master
pieces of his wisdom, the first rays of his beauty.
This is but a very imperfect description of the natural
gifts of the good spirits. Unspeakably more wonderful
is their supernatural beauty, which is derived from their
noble spiritual endowments of grace and the riches of
immortal glory. St. John the Evangelist, upon seeing
an angel in his supernatural beauty, fell prostrate to adore
him, thinking that he was the Son of God himself. St.
Anselm assures us that, if an angel could make himself
visible in all his glory in place of the sun, the light of the
sun would altogether disappear in the light and splendor
of the angel. St. Bridget said that, at the sight of an
angel, we would die of joy. St. Lidwine, who became one
of the most extraordinary saints of the Church by her
heroic patience in her most excruciating pains which she
suffered for thirty-five years, was vouchsafed to see her
guardian angel in a bodily shape. She tells us that, at
the sight of the angel, every pain of soul and body
disappears.
Now the holy angels have all their natural and super
natural gifts from God. By honoring them for these gifts
we honor God himself as the Author of them. He who
praises a great work of art, praises the artist himself who
made it. In like manner, he who honors and praises the
angels, honors and praises at the same time God who
created the angels.
2. We honor the holy angels for their virtues.
God created the angels in a state of natural happiness,
and destined them to reach supernatural happiness in
heaven by means of his grace and their own merit.
"As the vegetation of plants/ says St. Augustine,
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"did not spring forth from the earth at its original
formation, but received at first the virtue of germinating,
and then acquired the full development and perfection of
which they were capable by time and culture, so the
angels were created in natural, but not supernatural
beatitude. They acquired supernatural beatitude after
wards by their knowledge of the Word, and the contem
plation of the Divine Essence.
The angels, however, could not reach their supernatural
end without the assistance of divine grace or supernatural
means, which can be obtained only by perfect love, merit
and the mercy of God.
All that Divine Providence has produced in the course
of ages existed, as St. Augustine says, at the beginning
of creation, in the so-called seminal, radical, fundamental
causes, such as vegetation of every kind animals, and
material bodies. So that all things in creation attain their
perfection in virtue of this imperishable seed, which exists
in their nature since the beginning of the world.
Now, as the angels were destined for supernatural
happiness, it was necessary that the imperishable seed of
divine grace should be in them. St. John alludes to this
divine seed when he says: "Whoever is born of God,
committeth not sin, for his (God s) seed (divine grace)
abideth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of
God." (Chapt. in., 9.)
A rational being can obtain an object only by some act
which it makes, and that act cannot have the power of
putting him in possession of an object which is of a
supernatural order. Now, eternal beatitude is a good of
a supernatural order, God alone has always enjoyed that
perfect glory and happiness. No matter, how great the
572 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
natural perfection of the angels was, they could not, by
an act of their own natural perfection, put themselves in
possession of an object of supernatural perfection. It is
only by divine grace that they could merit and obtain it.
It is, therefore, evident that the angels were blessed with
divine grace before they merited heavenly beatitude.
They merited and obtained that beatitude, not long after
their creation, by their first act of perfect love. An angel
acts not as man does. The intellectual faculties of an
angel are far superior to those of man. He perceives
things in a moment. We, on the contrary, are slow in
perceiving things. Hence, we take time to reflect and to
deliberate before we act. We accomplish things only by
degrees. We are wavering and inconstant in our choice.
It is not so with an angel. When he makes his choice,
he makes it irrevocable for ever by the first act of his
will. That first act of the will of the good angels was an act
of perfect love of God and of obedience to him. This act
was sufficient to merit eternal beatitude, and to fix them
in goodness and in love for God for all eternity.
By being submissive to God and adhering to his holy
will, the good angels have set a great example of humility
and obedience to all men ; they have shown us the only
true road to eternal happiness, which is no other than the
road of perfect submission to the divine teaching inter
preted, not by private judgment, but by the Church of
Jesus Christ, the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Roman
Church.
3. We honor the lioly angels for the high dignity of their
office.
God created various beings to manifest his perfections.
Now, the grander and the more perfect he made certain
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creatures, says St. Thomas, the more numerous they are
in kind. How prodigiously grand are not the heavenly
bodies ! Terrestrial bodies are but points scarcely per
ceptible in comparison with them. Even the whole globe
of the earth is but a very small portion of the creation.
Almost numberless planets are thousands of times larger
than our globe.
As to angels, who hold the first rank amongst all created
beings, and are the most perfect, they outnumber all
other things in the whole universe. " Thousands of thou
sands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred
thousand stood before him. 7 (Dan., vii., 10.)
" But you are come to Mount Sion, and to the city of
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company
of many thousands of angels." (Heb., xii., 22.) " And I
beheld and heard the voice of many angels round about
the throne, and the living creatures and the ancients :
and the number of them was thousands of thousands."
(Apoc., v., 11.)
Now the angels do not all enjoy the same perfections.
Some of them are more privileged than others. The natural
spiritual faculties as well as the supernatural gifts of grace
of some of them are greater than those of others. God
communicates his supernatural gifts and graces to his
rational creatures in proportion to their natural perfections.
The higher the angels are in natural perfection, the more
abundantly they are endowed with the supernatural gifts
of grace and glory. Those angels who were endowed by
God with a more perfect substance, a more active and
penetrating understanding in their natural state, says the
Master of Sentences, were also endowed with greater gifts
of grace in their supernatural glorification. Grace is the
574 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
perfection of nature, and glory the final perfection of
grace. The nature of an angel as well as that of man is
the foundation of the spiritual edifice ; grace and glory are
its supernatural and everlasting ornament.
Though the angels are not in the highest degree of
beatitude, yet they cannot rise higher in the glory which
they enjoy by the irrevocable decree of divine Predestina
tion. However their joy can be increased by the salvation
of those whom they assisted during their pilgrimage on
earth ; for we are told in the Gospel : u I say to you, there
will be more joy amongst the angels in heaven for one
sinner doing penance, than for ninety-nine just who do
not need penance." (Luke, xv., 7.) These transports of
joy of the angels are but accidental rewards. They are
more the result of their beatitude than of their merit ;
hence they can increase even to the day of general
judgment.
From the difference of the natural and supernatural
gifts of the angels arises the difference of the orders of the
angels.
There are three hierarchies of angels. Each hierarchy
consists of a superior, intermediate and inferior order of
angels.
The first hierarchy is composed of the orders of
Cherubim, of Seraphim and, of Thrones ; the second, of
the orders of Dominations, Virtues and Powers ; and the
third, of the orders of Principalities, Archangels and
Angels.
In creating heaven and earth, says St. Thomas Aquinas,
God established an immutable law, a marvellous order, a
universal harmony among all his creatures. This order
or law is that the good of inferior beings is to be effected
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 575
by means of superior beings, that beings of an inferior
order are to be led to God by beings of a higher order,
receive from them the knowledge of divine things, and
be governed by them.
According to this divine law and order, the Lord of
heaven and earth enlightens and governs the angels of a
lower order by those of a higher order.
The angels of the first hierarchy who are nearest to
God, enjoy the plenitude of beatific vision. They
surpass all the other angels in the knowledge of God and
divine things, in power and in glory. They enlighten
the angels of lower orders j that is, they communicate to
them the knowledge of divine things. They are to them
what a teacher is to his pupils. These angels had even
a foreknowledge of the mystery of the Incarnation, and
God will never cease even to the day of general judgment,
to reveal to them things concerning the human race, and
thus they will always have new things to communicate to
the angels of the lowest order of the divine hierarchy ;
nay, even after the day of general judgment, they will
never cease casting light and splendor on those of the
lowest order, and on the souls of the elect.
We read in Holy Scripture that a Seraphim purified by
fire the lips of the prophet Isaias. However, the Seraphim
did not go himself. He commissioned an angel of a lower
order to represent him, and so he is said to have fulfilled
this office himself, just as we say that the Pope gives
absolution when his legate gives it.
The privilege of the angels of the second hierarchy is
to participate in the divine government of the universe.
In a well organized administration, there are some who
receive orders from the king ; others, who take necessary
576 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
measures for the execution of the king s orders, and others,
who determine the manner in which the orders of the
king are to be carried out.
In the divine government the angels, called the Domi
nations^ receive the orders of the King of heaven and
earth; there are others, called the Virtues, who take
proper measures for the execution of these orders ; and
there are others again, called the Potvers, who determine
the manner of executing the orders of the Lord of heaven
and earth.
To secure the faithful execution of an order, there must
be men to direct the execution. Every choir has a
director, and every army has higher officers. There
must be other men, who, as simple instruments of the will
of others, execute the order, and there must be others,
who are subaltern officers between the higher officers
and soldiers.
In the divine government, the angels of the third hier
archy, called the Principalities, direct the execution of the
divine orders; the angels of the lowest order are the
simple instruments that execute the orders.
Between the Principalities and the angels are the
Archangels, as subaltern officers are between the staff and
simple soldiers.
It is the opinion of all the Doctors of the Church that the
angels exercise a universal power in the government of
the moral and physical world. " In this world," says St.
Augustine, "nothing can be perfectly accomplished without
the intervention of an invisible being." St. Gregory says,
11 that the angels, called the Powers, have control over the
evil spirits, and that those angels, called the Virtues,
preside over human affairs." The angels called the
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Principalities have charge of provinces and kingdoms;
those called the Virtues^ perform great miracles and
extraordinary things in nature ; and those called the
Dominations, are charged with the spiritual government of
grace.
It is true, God could take care of and direct and govern
all things in person, but he wishes to make use of his
angels in order to show us the greatness of his Kingdom,
and the majesty and magnificence of the Celestial Court ?
and that he has established in the world a most wise and
admirable government, in which superior beings have the
office of directing inferior ones.
4. "We honor the angels for their numberless benefits and
services.
The angels are intermediate powers between God and
mankind they are higher in dignity and power than we
are. Hence God makes use of them to procure our tem
poral and spiritual good. " Are not all the angels minis
tering spirits," says St. Paul, " sent to minister for those
who shall receive the inheritance of salvation." (Heb.,
L, 14.)
It was through his angels that God enlightened the
prophets to know and announce future events. The
angel Gabriel was sent by God to the prophet Daniel, to
tell him the precise time of the coming of the promised
Redeemer, the mighty works which the Redeemer would
perform, and the terrible punishments which would fall
upon the ungrateful city of Jerusalem.
The same angel was afterwards sent to Zachary, to tell
him of the birth of St. John the Baptist ; and to the
Blessed Virgin Mary, to announce to her that she was
choosen by God to become the Mother of the Redeemer.
578 COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
It was by an angel that God showed to St. John the
future state of the Catholic Church. An angel of the
Lord removed the stone from the sepulchre of Jesus Christ,
and announced to the holy women that our Saviour was
risen.
An angel of the Lord told St. Philip the Apostle to go
and teach the Christian religion to the eunuch of Candace,
queen of the Ethiopeans. " And the apostle went and
instructed him on the way from Jerusalem to Gaza, and
baptized him. 7 (Acts, viii.)
The angels present our prayers and good works to God.
The angel Raphael said to Tobias that he had treasured up
his alms, his abstinences and his prayers, like so much
heavenly perfume, and presented them to God : " When
thou didst pray with tears I offered thy prayer to
the Lord." (Tob. ? xii., 12.)
" Behold," says St. John, " an angel came and stood
before the altar, having a golden censer : and there was
given him much incense, that he should offer of the
prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which is before
the throne of God. And the smoke of the incense of the
prayers of the saints ascended up before God, from the
hand of the angel." (Apoc., viii., 3, 4.)
The angels do not only present our prayers to God ?
but they also pray themselves for us.
The prophet Zacharias heard an angel pray for Israel
in these words : " Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou
not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Judah,
with which thou hast been angry so long. 7 (Zach., i., ] 2.)
And immediately afterwards the Lord comforts the angel
by granting his prayer, and promises to bestow again his
mercies upon Jerusalem. The angels console the afflicted.
COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. 579
An angel from heaven strengthened our Saviour in his
agony. (Luke, xxii., 43.)
We read in Holy Scripture that Abraham dismissed
Agar and her son from his house. Agar went into the
wilderness of Bersabee. When the water which she took
along was spent, she cast the boy under one of the trees
and went away some distance; "for," said she, "I will
not see the boy die." She cried and wept bitterly. God
heard the voice of the boy. And an angel of God said
to Agar : " What art thou doing, Agar ? fear not, for God
hath heard the voice of the boy. Arise, take up the
boy, and hold him by the hand, fo 
