ALL THE VIRTUES ARE PLEASING TO GOD
Virtue is of its nature so loveable, that God favours it wherever he finds it. The non-Christians, though enemies of his Divine Majesty,[1] practised sometimes certain human and social virtues. Such virtues were not by their nature above the abilities of the rational spirit. Well, Theotimus, you can understand how small a matter that was. Indeed, though these virtues made a great show, they were in fact of little worth because of the lowness of the intention of those who practised them. They worked for scarcely anything else than honour, as St. Augustine says, or for some other object of light consideration such as the welfare of civil society. Or they were drawn by some small inclination they had for good. Provided this inclination met with no great opposition, it carried them on to little acts of virtue, as for example, to show mutual courtesy, to help their friends, to live with moderation, not to steal, to serve masters faithfully, to pay labourers wages. Nevertheless, even though this was very little, and accompanied with many imperfections, God received it from these poor people and rewarded them abundantly.
The midwives ordered by Pharaoh to kill all the male children of the Israelites were, without doubt, Egyptians and unbelievers. In excusing themselves for not carrying out the king’s command, they said, the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, because they know the art of delivering children and they give birth before we come to them. (Exodus 1:15 -19). The excuse would not have been to the point if these midwives had been Hebrews. And it is unbelievable that Pharaoh would have given so cruel an order against the Hebrews to Hebrew women, members of the same nation and religion. Further, Josephus[2] testifies that they were Egyptians. Though they were all Egyptians and unbelievers, yet they feared to offend God (Exodus 1:17) by such barbarous and unnatural cruelty as would have been the massacre of so many little children. God’s goodness was so pleased with this that he built them houses (Exodus 1:21), that is, made them fruitful in children and in temporal riches.
Nabuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had waged a just war against the city of Tyre. Divine justice wanted to punish this city, and God said to Ezekiel that as a reward he would give Egypt to Nabuchadnezzar and to his army, because they worked for me (Ezekiel 29:20). Hence St. Jerome adds in his Commentary, “We learn that if the unbelievers themselves do some good deed they are not left unrewarded by God’s judgement." So also, Daniel exhorted Nabuchadnezzar, an unbeliever, to atone for his sins by alms (Daniel 4:27), that is to redeem himself from the temporal punishments due to his sins by which he was threatened. Theotimus, you see it is indeed true that God takes account of virtues though practised by persons otherwise evil. If he had not approved of the mercy of the midwives and of the justice of the war of the Babylonians, would he have taken care, I ask you, to reward them? And if Daniel had not known that the unbelief of Nabuchadnezzar would not prevent God from being pleased with his alms, why would he have advised him to give them? Indeed the Apostle [St. Paul] assures us that the unbelievers who do not have the faith do by nature what the law requires (Romans 2:14). And when they do so, who can doubt that they do well, and that God takes account of it? The unbelievers understood that marriage was good and necessary, they saw that it was proper to bring up their children in knowledge of the arts, in love of the country, in civil life, and they did so. Now I leave it to your consideration whether God did not find this good. It was for this purpose that he had given the light of reason and natural instinct.
Natural reason is a good tree which God has planted in us. The fruits which are produced by it cannot but be good. They are fruits which in comparison with those produced by grace are indeed of very small value. But they are not for that of no value. God has valued these fruits and for them given temporal rewards. Thus, according to the great St. Augustine, he rewarded the moral virtues of the Romans with the vast extent and magnificent renown of their Empire.
Sin, without doubt, makes the soul sick. Then it is not able to do great and mighty deeds. But little deeds it still can do. Not all the actions of the sick are sickly: they still speak, they still see, they still hear, they still drink. The soul in sin can do good deeds which being natural are rewarded with natural rewards, being civil are paid in civil and human coin, that is, with temporal advantages. The sinner is not in the situation of the devils. The will of the devils is so steeped in evil and identified with it that it is unable to will any good. No, Theotimus, the sinner in this world is not like that. There he is, on the way between Jerusalem and Jericho, mortally wounded but not yet dead. In the words of the Gospel, he is left half-living (Lk. 10:30). As he is half- alive, he can also do half- living actions. He cannot really walk, or get up, or cry for help. He cannot even speak except feebly because of his weak heart. But he can still open his eyes, move his fingers, sigh, say some words of complaint. These are weak actions and in spite of them he would die miserably of his wounds. However, the merciful Samaritan has poured in his oil and his wine and taken him to the inn to be treated and cared for at his own expense (Lk.10:33-34).
Natural reason is deeply wounded and as it were halfdead because of sin. Being in such a weak condition, it is not able to keep all the commandments even though it clearly sees them to be good. It knows its duty but it cannot do it. Its eyes have more light to show the way than its legs have strength to walk in it.
The sinner can indeed observe well here and there some of the commandments. In fact he can even keep them all for a short time, as long as no great occasion for practising virtues that are commanded presents itself, or there is no strong temptation to do what is forbidden. But that a sinner should live long in his sin without adding new ones to it, this certainly cannot be done except by God’s special protection. The enemies of humans are eager, active and constantly at work to throw them down. When they see that no occasion of practising commanded virtues occurs, they stir up a thousand temptations to make us fall into forbidden things. Then, nature without grace cannot save itself from disaster. If we overcome, God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1Cor.l5:57), as St. Paul says. Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation (Mt.26:41). If our Lord had told us only watch , we might think that we could do enough by ourselves. But when he adds pray he shows that if he does not guard our souls in time of temptation in vain will they keep watch those who guard them (Ps 127:1).
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[1] “non-Christians enemies of his Divine Majesty”: St-Francis is speaking here according to the opinion of his time. He was always appreciative of what was good in non-Christian religions, and philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.
[2] Josephus (37-98) was a Jewish historian.