uncertainty in which they leave it; and by which, however, it is purified. These are not the vain and puerile scruples which we blame in weak minds. They are those pious fears of charity and of grace inseparable from every faithful and religious soul. It works its salvation with fear and trembling; and even frequently regards as crimes actions which are often virtues in the sight of God; and which, at most, can only be regarded as simple Weaknesses.
These are the holy perplexities of charity, which derive their source even from the lights of faith. This path has, in all ages, been the path of the just.
Yet, nevertheless, it is that pretended charity, of which, in the midst of a vicious life, and of all your infidelities, you believe yourselves still possessed, that makes them appear slight to you: it is that charity itself, which you suppose not to have lost, that comforts and encourages you; that dimimishes your faults in your own sight, and fixes you in a state of peace and security: in a word, that not only banishes from your heart all those pious alarms inseparable from real piety, but makes you regard them as weaknesses, and even the excesses of piety. Now tell me, I beg of you, is not that an inconsistency? Does charity contradict itself in that manner? Or can you place much dependence on a love which so nearly resembles hatred?
The last character of charity is to be active and diligent in the ways of God. We find how much the apostle dwells on its activity and fecundity in the heart of a Christian. It operates wherever it is; it cannot, say the saints, be idle: it is a celestial fire, which no power can hinder from showing itself, and from acting: it may sometimes indeed be overwhelmed, and greatly weakened, by the multitude of our weaknesses, but, while not entirely extinguished, there always proceed from it, as I may say, some sparks of sighs, wishes, lamentations, efforts, and deeds. The Holy Sacrament reanimates it; prayer arouses it; pious reading, affliction, disgrace, bodily infirmity, all rekindle it, when not utterly extinguished. It is mentioned in the second book of the Maccabees, that the sacred fire, which the Jews had concealed during their captivity, was found at their return apparently extinct. But as the surface alone was obscured, and the sacred fire still internally preserved all its virtue, scarcely was it exposed to the rays of the sun, when they saw it instantaneously rekindle, and present to their sight a brightness altogether new, and an activity altogether astonishing.
Behold, my brethren, a faithful representation of the coldness of a truly just soul; and which likewise, would be your case, had the multitude of your infidelities done no more than cover and relax, as I may say, without extinguishing, the sacred fire of charity within you: — behold, I say, what ought to be your situation, when you approach the Holy Sacrament, or listen to the word of God. When Jesus Christ, the sun of righteousness, darts upon you some rays of his grace and light, and inspires you with
