TREATISE II: On the
Precept of Hope
20.—By hope, which is the second
theological virtue, love longing for God is understood, in which we
long for God more than all other desirable things so that we are
prepared to lose all things rather than God, and divine things. It is
often asked on this, when does its precept oblige?
Resp. 1. It is probable the precept of
hope obliges per se, when man first attains the use of reason, God
and beatitude, as an end, to which he ought to tend, has been
sufficiently proposed so that in such a notable time he would not put
it off. So Becan., c. 17, quaest. 7, n. 2; Turr. and others in
common. And the reason is, because in the act of hope one is neither
justified nor persists in divine justice, nor do we act in a
meritorious matter. Schol.
Resp. 2. The precept of hope per
accidens obliges 1) when an act of prayer, penance, charity, etc. are
in a precept, which, without preceding an act of hope cannot be
exercised. So think the cited authorities, and Filliuci, tr. 22, c.
8, n. 255. 2) When someone is so tempted that there would be danger
of consent, unless the mind raised itself in hope. See Filliuci, loc.
cit. 2., Laymann l. 2, t. 2, c. 2; Bonacina, d. 5, quest. 3.
Thus the following
cases are resolved:
1. It is a mortal sin to hope in or
to love (with the love of desire) earthly things more than heavenly
ones, e.g. if anyone were so composed to desire to perpetually
abide in this life and leave heaven to God if he would [or could]
stay behind on earth.
2. It is likewise a mortal sin to
despair of attaining God, or salvation and forgiveness of sins or the
necessary means to obtain them, e.g. to despair of the divine
assistance, and emendation emendation of life. Yet it cannot be a
venial sin by reason of the smallness of the matter, since it would
be injurious to the mercy of God. St. Thomas, q. 20, a. 3, Laymann,
l. 2 t. 2. c. 2. n. 3.
3. It is also a mortal sin to
presume upon the mercy of God, e.g. since someone hopes for that
which is impossible according to the ordinary law; that if he were
to hope for the remission of sins and salvation without penance, or through his own merits and natural strength [i.e.,
trusting in his own strength and merit rather than relying on God,
who is the giver of all good and hence the ultimate cause of all our
merits], or even if someone were to determine to persevere in
sins as long as he would will, and yet hope that he was going to do
penance before death. St. Th., q. 21, art. 1; Laymann, loc.
cit.
4. Lastly, it is a mortal sin to
hate God (viz. with a hatred of abomination or aversion), e.g. if
God would displease us, so to speak, as hostile on account of the
vengeance against sinners. See Laymann, loc. cit., Bonacina, disp. 3,
q. 3. [Comment: It is not a sin to be tempted to hate God and
complain against Him provided we resist such inclinations and they
displease us, since our rebellious flesh, the devil and our
concupiscence always will tempt us to do evil – and this is
especially more true when we try to mortify this body of death of
ours and try to better our life!]
21.—Hope is defined more briefly
and fittingly as: “The virtue through which we place certain
trust in the coming beatitude and expect the means to attain it
through the help of God.” The primary material object of hope
(namely, that which we hope for), is eternal beatitude, which is to
enjoy God himself; the secondary object, however is divine grace and
our good works obtained by the divine assistance. Yet, the formal
object (or the motive on account of which we are held to hope) some
say is the mercy of God, others the divine omnipotence, exactly as
the Thomists hold in common; others say the divine promise, just as
Jeuninus thinks; others, at length, say it is the divine goodness,
inasmuch as he communicates the graces themselves to us to obtain
salvation, and according to this understanding goodness is the same
thing as divine mercy; if anyone would will the formal object of
faith to be the goodness of God, inasmuch as he is the thing hoped
for, the Continuator of Tournely rightly says that he would not speak
correctly. (de praecept. Decal. cap. 1, art. 2, sect. 2, concl. 2).
Since we have posited these, I think it
must be concluded that the first three aforementioned motives would
constitute the formal object of hope, namely, mercy, divine
omnipotence, whereby God bestows assistance upon us to conquer the
enemies of our salvation and these two motives are expressly taught
by St. Thomas in Quaestionibus disputatis, qu. un. de Spe,
where he says: “So the formal object of hope is the assistance of
divine piety and power, on account of which the movements of hope
tend in goods hoped for, which are the material object of hope.” I
think, in addition to these two, a third must be added, namely the
divine promise, just as Jeuninus rightly thinks, or divine fidelity
in regard to the promise which he showed to save us on account of the
merits of Christ; otherwise, without this promise we would not avail
to hope for salvation with certain trust.
The vices opposed to hope, however,
as we said above, are despair and presumption. In regard to
presumption it must be noted that one would sin by presumption who
hopes for salvation either merely due to his own merits or due to the
merits of Christ without any cooperation of their good works.
Busembaum says here (n. 3) that one
sins gravely that wishes to persevere in sin until death, hoping
perhaps that he will be sorry before death, and he cites St. Thomas
and Laymann, but neither say this; rather St. Thomas merely says in
2.2. q. 21, a. 1, that presumption is,
“to hope for forgiveness without repentance, or glory
without merits.” Furthermore, he adds in a. 2, ad 3, that “to
sin with a purpose to persevere in sin under the hope of forgiveness
is presumption and increases the sin. But to sin under the hope
of receiving forgiveness at some time with the purpose to stop
sinning and do penance for sin would not be presumption [to the same
degree] and decreases the sin [against hope as compared to the
former] because by this it seems the will is less established in
sin.”
This is why, according to St. Thomas,
it is not a sin against hope to persevere in sin under the hope of
being sorry at some time. But it is true that one can only with great
difficulty be excused from grave sin against charity toward himself,
since from the common consent of the Doctors, those who would so
purpose would expose themselves to great danger of their damnation.
Hence, Bonacina and Sporer (de praec.
spei c. 4, n. 17) and Croix (l. 2, n. 126) rightly say that one who
delays penance under the hope of forgiveness does not sin against
hope while that hope of remission stands only concomitantly in regard
to the sin, but not efficaciously to him the motive or reason to sin.
The same must be said about one who would sin under the hope of
forgiveness. For then someone must be judged to sin against hope,
when the readiness of hope for obtaining forgiveness would become his
reasoning, or the motive influencing him to sin. Otherwise it must be
said, that if he would sin from passion, by hoping concomitantly that
sin would later be remitted. So then he would increase the sins
under the pretext that God will forgive ten sins as easily as he will
forgive five[*], he sins from presumption, as the Cont. of
Tournely says, loc. cit. sect. 6, concl. 2, Raro.
Source:
St. Alphonsus Liguori, Moral Theology (Theologia Moralis), Book 3 - TREATISE II: On the Precept of Hope.
Footnotes:
[*]
On the
Number of Sins You Commit
by St. Alphonsus Di Liguori
“Because
sentence is not speedily pronounced against the evil, the children of
men commit evil without fear.”–Eccl. viii. 11.
FIRST
POINT.
If
God instantly chastised the man who insults him, we certainly should
not see Him so much outraged as we do at present. But because the
Lord does not instantly punish sinners, but waits for them, they are
encouraged to offend Him the more. It is necessary to understand
that, though God waits and bears, he does not wait and bear forever.
It
is the opinion of many holy fathers – of St. Basil, St. Jerome, St.
Ambrose, St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine,
and others – that as God (according to the words of Scripture, Wis.
xi. 21: “Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and
weight”) has fixed for each the number of his days, the degrees of
health and talent which He will give to him, so He
has also determined the number of sins which he will pardon; and when
this number is completed, he will pardon no more.
And these fathers have not spoken at random, but resting on the
sacred Scriptures. In one place the Lord says that He restrained His
vengeance against the Amorrhites, because the number of their sins
was not as yet filled up: “For as yet the iniquities of the
Amorrhites are not at the full.”–Gen. xv. 16. In another place He
says, “I will not add any more to have mercy on the house of
Israel.”–Osee i. 6. Again he says, “All the men who have
tempted me ten times . . . . shall not see the land.”–Num. xiv.
22, 23. “Thou hast,” says Job, “sealed up my offences as it
were in a bag.”–Job xiv. 17. Sinners keep no account of their
sins; but God keeps an account of them, that when the harvest is
ripe, – that is, when the number of sins is completed, – he may
take vengeance on them. “Put ye in the sickles; for the harvest is
ripe.”–Joel iii. 13. In another place he says, “Be not without
fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin to sin.”–Eccl. v. 5. As
if he said, O sinner! you must tremble even on account of the sins
which I have forgiven you; for if you add another, it may happen that
this new sin, along with those which have been pardoned, may complete
the number, and then there shall be no more mercy for you. “The
Lord waiteth patiently, that, when the day of judgment shall come, he
may punish them in the fulness of their sins.”–2 Mach. vi. 14.
God waits till the measure of iniquities is filled up, and then he
chastises the sinner.
Of
such chastisements there are many examples in the Scriptures. Saul
disobeyed God a second time, and was abandoned. When he entreated
Samuel to intercede for him, saying, “Bear, I beseech thee, my sin,
and return with me that I may adore the Lord,” (1 Kings xv. 25,)
Samuel answered, “I will not return with thee, because thou hast
rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee.”–ver.
26. We have also the example of Balthassar, who, after having
profaned the vessels of the temple at table, saw a hand writing on
the wall, “Mane, Thecel, Phares.” Daniel came, and in explaining
these words, among other things, said, “Thou art weighed in the
balance, and art found wanting.”–Dan, v. 27. By these words he
gave the king to understand that in the balance of divine justice the
weight of his sins had made the scale descend. “The same night
Balthassar, the Chaldean king, was killed.” O, how many miserable
sinners meet with a similar fate! They live many years multiplying
sins; but, when the number is filled up, they are struck dead, and
cast into hell. “They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment
they go down to hell.”–Job xxi. 13. There are some who spend
their time in investigating the number of the stars, the number of
the angels, or the number of years which each shall live. But who can
discover the number of sins which God will pardon each individual? We
should, therefore, tremble. My brother, it may be that God will
pardon you no more after the first criminal pleasure which you
indulge, after the first thought to which you consent, or after the
first sin which you commit.
Affections
and Prayers
Ah!
my God, I thank thee. How many, for fewer sins than I have committed,
are now in hell! For them there is no pardon – no hope. And I am
still living; I am not in hell; but, if I wish, I can hope for pardon
and for paradise. I am sorry above all things for all my sins,
because by them I have offended thee, who art infinite goodness.
Eternal Father, look on the face of thy Christ; behold Thy Son dead
on the cross for my sake; and through His merits have mercy on me. I
wish to die rather than offend Thee any more. When I consider the
sins I have committed, and the graces Thou hast bestowed on me, I
have just reason to fear that, if I commit another sin, the measure
shall be completed, and that I shall be damned. Ah! assist me by Thy
grace; from Thee I hope for light and strength to be faithful to
Thee. And if Thou seest that I should again offend Thee, take me out
of my life, now that I hope to be in a state of grace. My God, I love
Thee above all things, and I feel a greater fear of incurring Thy
enmity than of death. For thy mercy’s sake do not permit me ever
more to become Thy enemy. Mary, my mother, have pity on me; assist
me; obtain for me holy perseverance.
SECOND
POINT.
Some
sinners say, “But God is merciful.” “Who,” I ask, “denies
it?” The mercy of God is infinite; but though His mercy is
infinite, how many are cast into hell every day! “The Lord hath
sent me to heal the contrite of heart.”–Is. Ixi. 1. God heals
those who have a good will. He pardons sins, but He cannot pardon the
determination to commit sin. These sinners will also say, “I am
young.” You are young; but God counts not years, but sins. The
number of sins which God pardons is not the same for all; some he
pardons a hundred; others a thousand sins; others he sends to hell
after the second sin. How many has the Lord condemned to eternal
misery after the first sin!
St. Gregory relates that a child of five years, for uttering a
blasphemy, was condemned to hell. The most holy Virgin revealed to
that great servant of God, Benedicta of Florence, that a girl twelve
years old was damned after her first sin. A boy of eight years died
after his first sin, and was lost. In the Gospel of St. Matthew we
find that the Lord instantly cursed the fig-tree the first time he
saw it without fruit. “May no fruit grow on thee forever. And
immediately the fig-tree withered away.”–Matt, xxi. 19. Another
time God said, “For three crimes of Damascus, and for four, I will
not convert it.”–Amos i. 3. Perhaps
some daring sinner may have the temerity to demand an account of God
why He pardons some three sins, but not four. In this we must adore
the judgments of God, and say with the apostle, “O depth of the
riches, of the wisdom, and of the knowledge of God! How
incomprehensible are His judgments, and unsearchable His ways!”–Rom.
xi. 33. The Lord, says St. Augustine, knows whom He spares, and whom
He does not spare. To those who receive mercy He gives it
gratuitously; from those who do not receive mercy, it is justly
withheld.
The
obstinate sinner may say, “But I have so often offended God, and He
has pardoned me; I also hope He will pardon me the sin which I intend
to commit.” But, I ask, must God spare you forever, because He has
not hitherto chastised you? The measure shall be filled up, and
vengeance shall come. Samson continued to allow himself to be deluded
by Dalila, hoping that, as on former occasions, he would escape from
the Philistines. “I will go out, as I did before, and shake
myself”–Judges xvi. 20. But at last he was taken, and lost his
life. “Say not, I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen
me?”–Eccl. v. 4. Say not, says the Lord, I have committed so many
sins, and God has not chastised me; “for the Most High is a patient
rewarder;” (Eccl. v. 4.) – that is, He will one day come and
punish all; and the
greater the mercy which He will have shown, the more severe shall be
the chastisement which He will inflict. St. Chrysostom says, that God
should be dreaded more when He bears with the obstinate sinner, than
when He punishes him suddenly. Because, according to St Gregory, if
they remain ungrateful, God punishes with the greatest rigor those
whom He waits for with the greatest patience. And it often happens,
adds the saint, that they whom God has borne with for a long time,
die unexpectedly, and without time for repentance. And the greater
the light which God will have given, the greater shall be your
blindness and obstinacy in sin.
“For it had been better for them not to have known the way of
justice, than, after they have known it, to turn back.”–2 Pet.
ii. 21. And St. Paul says, that it is morally impossible for a soul
that sins after being enlightened, to be again converted. “For it
is impossible for those who were once enlightened, have tasted the
heavenly gifts, . . . . and are fallen away, to be renewed to
penance.”–Heb. vi. 4, 6.
The
threats of the Lord against those who are deaf to His calls, are
truly alarming. “Because I have called, and you have refused, . . .
. I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that
shall come to you which you feared.”–Prov. i. 24. Mark the words
– I also:
they mean that, as the sinner has mocked God by his confessions, by
promising fidelity, and afterwards betraying him, so the Lord will
mock him at the hour of death. The wise man says, “As a dog that
returned to the vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his
folly.”–Prov. xxvi. 11. In explaining this text, Denis the
Carthusian says, that as a dog that eats what he has just vomited, is
an object of disgust and abomination, so
the sinner who relapses into sins which he has detested in the
tribunal of penance, renders himself hateful in the sight of God.
Affections
and Prayers
Behold
me, O my God, at Thy feet. I am that disgusting dog that has so often
eaten the forbidden apples, which I before detested. I do not deserve
mercy; but, O my Redeemer, the blood which Thou hast shed for me
encourages and obliges me to hope for it. How often have I offended
Thee, and Thou hast pardoned me! I promised never more to offend
Thee, and I have afterwards returned to the vomit; and Thou hast
again pardoned me! What
do I wait for? Is it that Thou mayst send me to hell, or that Thou
mayst abandon me into the hand of my sins, which would be a greater
punishment than hell?
No, my God, I wish to amend; and in order to be faithful to Thee, I
will put all my confidence in Thee. I will, whenever I shall be
tempted, always and instantly have recourse to Thee. Hitherto, I have
trusted in my promises and resolutions, and have neglected to
recommend myself to Thee in my temptations; this has been the cause
of my ruin. Henceforth Thou shalt be my hope and my strength, and
thus I shall be able to do all things. “I can do all things in Him
that strengtheneth me.”–Philip, iv. 13. Give me grace, then, O my
Jesus, through Thy merits, to recommend myself to Thee, and to ask
Thy aid in my wants. I love thee, O Sovereign Good, amiable above
every good; I wish to love Thee alone; but it is from Thee I must
receive aid to love Thee. O Mary, my mother, do Thou also assist me
by Thy intercession; keep me under Thy protection, and make me always
invoke Thee when I shall be tempted. Thy name shall be my defence.
THIRD
POINT.
“My
son, hast thou sinned? do so no more; but, for thy former sins, pray
that they may be forgiven thee.”–Eccl. xxi. 1. Behold, dear
Christian, the advice which your good Lord gives you because He
desires your salvation. Son, offend me no more; but from this day
forward be careful to ask pardon for your past transgressions. My
brother, the more you have offended God, the more you should tremble
at the thought of offending Him again; for the next sin which you
commit shall make the balance of divine justice descend, and you
shall be lost. I do not say absolutely that after another sin there
shall be no more forgiveness for you; for this I do not know; but I
say that it may happen. Hence, when you shall be tempted, say within
yourself, “Perhaps God will pardon me no more, and I shall be
lost!”
Tell me; were it probable that certain food contained poison, would
you eat it? If you had reason to think that on a certain road your
enemies lay in wait to take away your life, would you pass that way
as long as you could find another more free from danger? And what
security, or even what probability, have you that, if you relapse
into sin, you shall afterwards repent sincerely of it, and that you
will not return again to the vomit? What just reason have you to
believe that God will not strike you dead in the very act of sin, or
that, after your sin, He will not abandon you?
O
God! If you purchase a house, you spare no pains to get all the
securities necessary to guard against the loss of your money; if you
take medicine, you are careful to assure yourself that it cannot
injure you; if you pass over a torrent, you cautiously avoid all
danger of falling into it; and for a miserable gratification, for a
beastly pleasure, you will risk your eternal salvation, saying, “I
expect to go to confession after this sin.” But when, I ask, will
you go to confession? “Perhaps on Sunday.” And who has promised
that you will live till Sunday? Perhaps you intend to go to
confession to-morrow. But who promises you to-morrow. How can you
promise yourself that you shall go to confession to-morrow, when you
know not whether you shall be among the living in another hour? “He,”
continues the saint (St. Augustine), “who has promised pardon to
penitents, has not promised to-morrow to sinners; perhaps He will
give it, and perhaps
He will not.” If
you now commit sin, God, perhaps, will give you time for repentance,
and perhaps He will
not; and should He
not give it, what shall become of you for all eternity? In the mean
time, by consenting to sin, you lose your soul for the sake of a
miserable pleasure, and expose yourself to the risk of being lost
forever.
Would you, for that vile gratification, risk a sum of one thousand
ducats? Would you, for that momentary pleasure, expose to danger your
all – your money, your houses, your possessions, your liberty and
life? Surely you would not. Will you, then, for that wretched
delight, lose all – your soul, heaven, and God? Do you believe that
heaven, hell, and eternity, are truths of faith, or that they are
fables? Do you believe that, if death overtake you in sin, you shall
be lost forever? O, what temerity! what folly! to condemn yourself,
by your own free act, to an eternity of torments, with the hope of
afterwards reversing the sentence of your condemnation. No one is as
foolish as to take poison with the hope of being preserved from
death; and will you condemn yourself to eternal death, saying, I
will, perhaps,
be hereafter delivered from it? O folly which has brought, and
brings, so many souls to hell! “Thou hast,” says the Lord,
“trusted in thy wickedness . . . Evil shall come upon thee, and
thou shalt not know the rising thereof.”–Isa. xlvii. 10, 11. You
have sinned through a rash confidence in the divine mercy; vengeance
shall unexpectedly fall upon you, and you shall not know whence it
comes.
Affections
and Prayers
Behold,
O Lord, one of those fools who have so often lost their souls and Thy
grace with the hope of afterwards recovering them. And
hadst Thou struck me dead in those nights in which I was in sin, what
would have become of me?
I thank Thee for Thy mercy, which has waited for me, and which now
makes me sensible of my folly. I see that Thou desirest my salvation;
and I too wish to save my soul. I am sorry, O infinite Goodness, for
having so often turned my back upon Thee. I love Thee with my whole
heart. And I hope in the merits of Thy passion, O my Jesus, that I
will never again be one of those fools. Pardon me at this moment, and
give me the gift of Thy grace. I will never leave Thee again. “In
Thee, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be confounded.” Ah no; I
hope, O my Redeemer, never more to suffer the misfortune and
confusion of seeing myself deprived of Thy grace and love. Grant me
holy perseverance, and give me the grace always to ask it of Thee by
invoking Thy holy name and the name of Thy mother, and by saying,
“Jesus, assist me; most holy Mary, pray for me.” Yes, my queen,
if I have recourse to thee, I shall never be conquered. And when the
temptation continues, obtain for me the grace not to cease to invoke
thy aid.
ON THE
NUMBER OF SINS BEYOND WHICH GOD PARDONS NO MORE
"Thou shalt not
tempt the Lord thy God" – Matt., 4:7
A sermon by St. Alphonsus Mary De
Ligouri (1696-1787), Bishop and Doctor of the Church. St. Francis
Jerome, when he visited the parents of St. Alphonsus shortly after
his birth, made this prophecy: "This child will be blessed with
length of days; he shall not see death before his ninetieth year; he
will be a bishop and will do great things for Jesus Christ."
This prophecy certainly came true. One of the most accomplished of
all the saints is Alphonsus Liguori. He was a lawyer in both civil
and Church law before he dedicated his whole life to serving God. He
was founder of a religious order, author of more than a hundred
books, originator of modern moral theology, renowned preacher and
confessor, bishop, musical composer and painter. For all of his 91
years on earth, he was also a man of prayer and deep personal
holiness. He gives an example of true Christian living that all of us
would do well to follow. Now his sermon:
In this day's Gospel we read that
having gone into the desert, Jesus Christ permitted the Devil to set
Him on the pinnacle of the temple and say to Him: "If
Thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down"; for the angels
shall preserve Thee from all injury. But the Lord answered that in
the Sacred Scriptures it is written: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord
thy God. The sinner who abandons himself to sin without striving
to resist temptations, or without at least asking God's help to
conquer them, and hopes that the Lord will one day draw him from the
precipice, tempts God to work miracles, or rather to show to him an
extraordinary mercy not extended to the generality of Christians.
God, as the Apostle says, "will
have all men to be saved" – I Tim. 2:4; but He also wishes us
all to labor for our own salvation, at least by adopting the means of
overcoming our enemies, and of obeying Him when He calls us to
repentance. Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and
continue to offend Him. But God does not forget them. He numbers
the graces which He dispenses, as well as the sins which we commit.
Hence, when the time which He has fixed arrives, God deprives us of
His graces, and begins to inflict chastisement. I intend to show in
this discourse that when sins reach a certain number, God pardons
no more. Be attentive.
1. St. Basil, St. Jerome, St. John
Chrysostom, St. Augustine and other fathers, teach, that as God
according to the words of Scripture, "Thou hast ordered all
things in measure, and number, and weight" – Wis. 11:21
has fixed for each person the number of the days of his life, and
the degrees of health and talent which He will give him, so He has
also determined for each the number of sins which He will pardon; and
when this number is completed, He will pardon no more.
2. "The Lord hath sent me to heal
the contrite of heart" – Isa. 61:1 God is ready to heal those
who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the
obstinate sinner. The Lord pardons sins, but He cannot pardon those
who are determined to offend Him. Nor can we demand from God a reason
why He pardons one a hundred sins, and takes others out of life and
sends them to Hell, after three or four sins. By His Prophet Amos,
God has said: "For three crimes of Damascus, and for four, I
will not convert it" – 1:3. In this we must adore the
judgments of God, and say with the Apostle: "O the depth of the
riches, of the wisdom, and of the knowledge of God! How
incomprehensible are His judgments" – Rom. 11:33. He who
receives pardon, says St. Augustine, is pardoned through the pure
mercy of God; and they who are chastised, are justly punished. How
many has God sent to Hell for the first offense? St. Gregory relates,
that a child of five years, who had arrived at the use of reason, for
having uttered a blasphemy, was seized by the Devil and carried to
Hell. The divine Mother revealed to that great servant of God,
Benedicta of Florence, that a boy of twelve years was damned after
the first sin. Another boy of eight years died after his first sin,
and was lost. You say: I am young; there are many who have committed
more sins than I have. But is God on that account obliged to wait for
your repentance if you offend Him? In the Gospel of St. Matthew
(21:19), we read that the Savior cursed a fig tree the first time He
saw it without fruit. "May no fruit grow on thee henceforward
forever. And immediately the fig tree withered away." You
must, then tremble at the thought of committing a single mortal sin,
particularly if you have already been guilty of mortal sins.
3. "Be not without fear about
sin forgiven, and add not sin to sin" – Eccl. 5:5. Say not
then, O sinner: "As God has forgiven me other sins, so He will
pardon me this one if I commit it." Say not this; for, if to
the sin which has been forgiven you add another, you have reason to
fear that this new sin shall be united to your former guilt, and that
thus the number will be completed, and that you shall be abandoned.
Behold how the Scripture unfolds this truth more clearly in another
place. "The Lord patiently expecteth, that when the day of
judgment shall come, He may punish them in the fullness of sins"
– II. Mac. 6:14. God waits with patience until a certain number
of sins is committed but, when the measure of guilt is filled up, He
waits no longer, but chastises the sinner. "Thou hast sealed
up my offenses as it were in a bag" – Job 14:17. Sinners
multiply their sins without keeping any account of them; but God
numbers them, that, when the harvest is ripe, that is, when the
number of sins is completed, He may take vengeance on them. "Put
ye in the sickles, for the harvest is ripe" Joel 3:13.
4. Of this there are many examples in
the Scriptures. Speaking of the Hebrews, the Lord in one place says:
"All the men that have tempted Me now ten times. . . . shall not
see the land" – Num. 14:22, 23. In another place, He says,
that He restrained His vengeance against the Amorrhites, because the
number of their sins was not completed. "For as yet the
iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full" – Gen.
15:16. We have again the example of Saul who, after having disobeyed
God a second time, was abandoned. He entreated Samuel to interpose
before the Lord in his behalf. "Bear, I beseech thee, my sin,
and return with me, that I may adore the Lord" – I Kings
15:25. But, knowing that God had abandoned Saul, Samuel answered: "I
will not return with thee, because thou hast rejected the word of the
Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee," etc. – 5:26. Saul, you
have abandoned God, and He has abandoned you. We have another example
in Balthassar, who, after having profaned the vessels of the Temple,
saw a hand writing on the wall, Mane, Thecel, Phares. Daniel
was requested to expound the meaning of these words. In explaining
the word Thecel, he said to the king: "Thou art weighed in the
balance, and art found wanting" – Dan. 5:27. By this
explanation, he gave the king to understand that the weight of his
sins in the balance of divine justice, had made the scale descend."
The same night Balthassar, the Chaldean king, was killed" –
Dan. 5:30. Oh! how many sinners have met with a similar fate!
Continuing to offend God till their sins amounted to a certain
number, they have been struck dead and sent to Hell! "They spend
their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to Hell" –
Job 21:13. Tremble, brethren, lest if you commit another mortal sin,
God should cast you into Hell.
5. If God chastised sinners the moment
they insult Him, we should not see Him so much despised. But, because
He does not instantly punish their transgressions, and because
through mercy He restrains His anger and waits for their return, they
are encouraged to continue to offend Him. "For, because
sentence is not speedily pronounced against the evil, the children of
men commit evil without any fear" – Eccles. 8:11. But
it is necessary to be persuaded, that though God bears with us, He
does not wait, nor bear with us forever. Expecting, as on former
occasions, to escape from the snares of the Philistines, Samson
continued to allow himself to be deluded by Delilah. "I will
go out as I did before, and shake myself" – Judges 16:20. But
"the Lord departed from him." Samson was at length taken by
his enemies, and lost his life. The Lord warns you not to say: I have
committed so many sins, and God has not chastised me. "Say
not: I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me; for the Most High
is a patient rewarder" – Eccl. 5:4. God has patience for a
certain term, after which He punishes the first and last sins. And
the greater has been His patience, the more severe His
vengeance.
6. Hence, according to St. Chrysostom,
God is more to be feared when He bears with sinners, than when He
instantly punishes their sin. And why? Because, says St. Gregory,
they to whom God has shown most mercy shall, if they do not cease
to offend Him, be chastised with the greatest rigor. The saint
adds that God often punishes such sinners with a sudden
death, and does not allow them time for repentance. And
the greater the light which God gives to certain sinners for their
correction, the greater is their blindness and obstinacy in sin. "For
it had been better for them not to have known the way of justice,
than, after they had known it, to turn back" – II Pet. 2:21.
Miserable the sinners, who, after having been enlightened, return to
the vomit. St. Paul says, that it is morally impossible for them to
be again converted. "For it is impossible for those who were
once illuminated, have tasted also the Heavenly gifts. . . and are
fallen away, to be renewed again to penance" – Heb. 6:4, 6.
7. Listen, then, O sinner, to the
admonition of the Lord: "My son, hast thou sinned? Do so no
more, but for thy former sins pray that they may be forgiven thee"
– Eccl. 21:1. Son, add not sins to those which you have already
committed, but be careful to pray for the pardon of your past
transgressions; otherwise, if you commit another mortal sin, the
gates of divine mercy may be closed against you, and your soul may be
lost forever. When then, beloved brethren, the devil tempts you
again to yield to sin, say to yourself: “If God pardons me no more,
what shall become of me for all eternity?” Should the Devil in
reply, say: “fear not, God is merciful;” answer him by
saying: “What certainty or what probability have I that, if I
return again to sin, God will show me mercy or grant me pardon?”
Behold the threat of the Lord against all who despise His calls:
"Because I have called and you refused,...I also
will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that shall come to
you which you feared" – Prov. 1:24, 26. Mark the words "I
also"; they mean that, as you have mocked the Lord by betraying
Him again after your confession and promises of amendment, so He will
mock you at the hour of death. I will laugh and will mock.
But, "God is not mocked" – Gal. 6:7. "As a dog,"
says the Wise Man, "that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool
that repeateth his folly" – Prov. 26:11. Bl. Denis the
Carthusian gives an excellent exposition of this text. He says that,
as a dog that eats what he has just vomited, is an object of disgust
and abomination, so the sinner who returns to the sins which he
has detested and confessed, becomes hateful in the sight of God.
8. O folly of sinners! If you purchase
a house, you spare no pains to get all the securities necessary to
guard against the loss of your money; if you take medicine, you are
careful to assure yourself that it cannot injure you; if you pass
over a river, you cautiously avoid all danger of falling into it: and
for a transitory enjoyment, for the gratification of revenge, for a
beastly pleasure, which lasts but a moment, you risk your eternal
salvation, saying: I will go to confession after I commit this
sin. And when, I ask, are you to go to confession? You say: On
tomorrow. But who promises you tomorrow? Who assures you that you
shall have time for confession, and that God will not deprive you of
life as He has deprived so many others, in the act of sin? "Diem
tenes" says St. Augustine, "qui horam non tenes."
You cannot be certain of living for another hour, and you say: I
will go to confession tomorrow. Listen to the words of St.
Gregory: "He who has promised pardon to penitents, has not
promised tomorrow to sinners" – Hom. 12 in Evan. God has
promised pardon to all who repent; but He has not promised to wait
until tomorrow for those who insult Him. Perhaps God will give you
time for repentance, perhaps He will not. But, should He not
give it, what shall become of your soul? In the meantime, for the
sake of a miserable pleasure, you lose the grace of God and expose
yourself to the danger of being lost forever.
9. Would you, for
such transient enjoyments, risk your money, your honor, your
possessions, your liberty, and your life? No, you would not. How then
does it happen that, for a miserable gratification, you lose your
soul, Heaven, and God? Tell me: do you believe that Heaven, Hell,
eternity, are truths of faith? Do you believe that, if you die in
sin, you are lost forever? Oh! what temerity, what folly is it, to
condemn yourself voluntarily to an eternity of torments with the hope
of afterwards reversing the sentence of your condemnation! "Nemo,"
says St. Augustine, "sub spe
salutis vult aegrotare." No one
can be found so foolish as to take poison with the hope of preventing
its deadly effects by adopting the ordinary remedies. And you will
condemn yourself to Hell, saying that you expect to be afterwards
preserved from it. O folly! which, in conformity with the divine
threats, has brought, and brings every day, so many to Hell. "Thou
hast trusted in thy wickedness, and evil shall come upon thee, and
thou shalt not know the rising thereof" – Isa. 47:10, 11. You
have sinned, trusting rashly in the divine mercy: the punishment of
your guilt shall fall suddenly upon you, and you shall not know from
whence it comes. What do you say? What resolution do you make? If,
after this sermon, you do not firmly resolve to give yourself to God,
I weep over you and regard you as lost.
