MEDITATION XXIV.
ON SLOTH.
POINT I.
The vice which we commonly call by the name of sloth, is an inordinate heaviness and fastidious disgust for virtuous exertion. [1] In this we may sin in many ways, through the many vices which accompany it.
i. The first is an over-great apprehension of the labour and the difficulty of virtue, flying from it for that reason; from which proceed faintness and weariness in the exercises of it, so that one performs them with disgust.
ii. The second is pusillanimity and cowardice in undertaking difficult things in God's service, [2] hiding for that reason the talents that Almighty God has given, and not using them when the law of justice or charity obliges me.
iii. The third is sloth and negligence in fulfilling and observing the law of God, the evangelical counsels, the statutes and rules of my state of life and office. So that I do the things by fits, with delays and repugnance, out of fear, and, when I cannot otherwise leave them undone, with base and servile ends and sinister intentions.
iv. The fourth is inconstancy in prosecuting the acts of virtue, and carrying them on to the end with unsteadiness in them; hastily quitting one for another to get rid of tediousness, until I leave off the good I have begun, returning back like a dog to his vomit.
v. The fifth is timidity and distrust of succeeding in endeavours for virtue, or of becoming victorious against temptations, until we fall into the pit of despair.
