Page:PracticeOfChristianAndReligiousPerfectionV1.djvu/59

 into an  excess  of  wickedness."  (Bern,  de  ord.  vit.  et  mor.  instit.) That  is  to  say,  that  commonly  speaking,  none  ever  ascend  at once  to  the  highest  point  of  vice  or  virtue,  hut  that  good  and evil  gradually  insinuate  themselves,  and  grow  insensibly  in us.  It  happens  in  spiritual  as  it  does  in  corporal  diseases;  both the  one  and  the  other  increase  by  little  and  little:  so  that  when you  see  a  religious  commit  some  great  fault  do  not  imagine, says  the  saint,  that  his  disease  then  begins,  for  none  ever  fall on  a  sudden  into  an  enormous  sin,  after  having  a  long  time  led an  innocent  and  virtuous  life.  But  they  begin  first  by  negligence in  those  duties  which  they  consider  as  unimportant,  then their  devotion  growing  cold,  it  diminishes  daily  more  and  more: so that  at  length  they  deserve  that  God  should  withdraw  his hand, and  no  longer  supported  by  him,  they  easily  yield  and  fall under the  first  great  temptation  that  attacks  them.

Cassian explains  this  very  well,  by  a  comparison  taken  from holy Scripture. Houses fall  not  to  ruin  on  a  sudden,  but  the damage first  begins  by  some  gutters  out  of  repair  and  neglected, through which  the  rain  entering,  by  degrees  rots  the  timber that sustains  the  building;  in  process  of  time  it  penetrates  the wall, dissolves  the  cement,  and  at  last  undermines  the  very foundation, so  that  the  whole  edifice  tumbles  to  the  ground, perhaps in  one  night. " By  slothfulness,"  says  the  Holy  Ghost m Ecclesiastes,  "a  building  shall  be  brought  down,  and  through weakness  of  hands,  the  rain  shall  drop  through." (Eccles. x.  18.) Every one  knows,  that  by  neglecting  to  repair  a  gutter,  or  to examine  the  roof  carefully  in  time,  the  whole  building  at  last falls. It is  just  so  with  us,  says  the  same  author,  a  certain natural inclination  which  we  have  to  evil,  first  flatters  our senses, then  gains  ground,  and  insinuating  itself  into  our  souls, shakes the  firmness  of  our  good  resolutions,  and  at  last  so weakens  and  undermines  the  whole  foundation  of  our  piety, that the  entire  spiritual  edifice  falls  in  a  moment. A little care and  vigilance  in  the  beginning  might  have  easily  prevented the  growth  of  the  evil;  but  because  we  neglected  it when  it  was  but  small,  and  did  not  take  care  in  time  to  correct such faults,  as  appeared  to  us  but  inconsiderable,  it  happens that this  shameful  sloth  is  the  cause,  why  we  suffer  ourselves to be  overcome  by  any  temptation  that  occurs;  nay,  some thereby abandon  their  religious  order,  and  become  miserable apostates. Would to  God  that  sad  experience  had  not  taught us, that  these  woful  examples  are  too  frequent  amongst  us! In