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On the Want of Faith in Heaven.
to accept it; but the slothful, tepid man does not understand it; he does not believe in it, and therefore he does not trouble himself about it. I know well the bald excuses that tepid Christians make. I do no harm, they say; as far as I know I do not commit any grievous sin; I do not lead a wicked or vicious life. Thus they imagine they are all right, and that they need not go to any further trouble. But in this they fall into a grievous error against the very foundation of our belief in heaven, as I shall show in the
Second Part.
To gain heaven it is not enough to abstain from evil. Shown by a simile.
I do no harm, commit no grievous sin. So you think, because you are buried in sloth, in temporal cares, or in idleness, and you pay no heed to your interior life, although it is hardly possible for you to keep your conscience pure for such a long time, But I will not now dispute this point with you; granted that it is true, as you say, that you do no harm, do you imagine that all that is required to gain heaven is to do no evil? Tell me this: you have a servant in your house who never does any harm, or anything against you; he sits the whole day with folded hands, or goes about the rooms without putting his hand to any work; or if he does anything, it is only some trumpery affair that is of no use to your housekeeping: would you pay that servant his yearly wage? No, you say; I would not on any account. And if you were asked whether you had a good servant, you would answer, no; I cannot keep that servant any longer. Why? Does he steal from you? No; I have no complaint to make in that respect. Does he allow strangers to make away with your things? No. Is he a drunkard? No. Does he give scandal to your children by bad language or example? No. Does he keep up an improper intimacy with any one? No. Does he answer you disrespectfully when you speak to him? No. And why then do you refuse to pay him? He does nothing; he is always idle, and I have not hired him for that. It is not enough for me that he does no harm; he must work and earn his wages by bis industry. Now this very answer of yours is the judgment of God on the excuse you allege in favor of your tepidity. You do not commit mortal sin; you are not a blasphemer or addicted to cursing; you are not an adulterer, a drunkard, a thief, a murderer, a vindictive or uncharitable man; all the better for you if it is true: but you do little or nothing for God’s sake; you sit idle the