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But other works are contrary to the observance of the Sabbath inasmuch as they impede our attending to Divine things.

There are also corporal works not pertaining to God's service which are not properly servile, because they are common to all, both servants and masters. Thus every one, servant or not, is bound to provide in necessary things not only for himself but for his neighbour, especially what concerns the support of life or the avoiding of great loss (Deut. xxii. 1; S. John vii. 23; S. Matt. xii. 2).

(3) The observance of the Lord's Day under the Gospel law takes the place of the Sabbath, not by force of the precept of the Old Law, but by the authority of the Church and Christian custom. The Lord's Day is not figurative like the Sabbath. No such strict prohibition of work, therefore, belongs to it. Cooking food was prohibited; it is now allowed, etc. And needful dispensation, even in what is prohibited by the Church, is more readily obtained under the Gospel's easy burden.*

The Fifth Commandment.

The end of the Decalogue is love of God and our neighbour. But among neighbours parents hold the highest place. Therefore this commandment heads the second table; but since parents are the source of our being, it holds close affinity with the first table, and some-e.g., Josephus and Philo-have placed it there.

(1) Parents take the precedence of other relatives and of our country. Nevertheless, in this precept is understood whatever pertains to rendering due honour to others according to their rightful claim.

(2) Reverential honour is due to parents as such in every case; but there are special duties in special cases, like support in time of need, which are implied in the general law.

* See, further, Supplement, chap. iii. page 511.

The last five commandments.

These pertain to justice in general, which gives all indifferently their due.

(1) Why are they all negative? Why is there no affirmative precept? Man is always and universally bound to do no harm to any one; and so the commandments prohibit it. But positive duties to our neighbours vary with person, time, place, etc.; therefore they do not appear in these universal laws.

(2) Are there not many other injuries beside homicide, adultery, theft, and false witness? Why are only these specified? These are chief in their respective classes, and the others are reducible to these. Thus, all injury to the person of our neighbour is included in homicide, as the chief injury; wrongful deeds of lust against others, and especially against those connected with us, are included in adultery; injurious actions towards others' property are embraced in theft; and, finally, injurious words, detractions, blasphemies, and the like, are prohibited along with false witness.

(3) In the Tenth Commandment, which prohibits concupiscence, are not included the first motions of it, which spring from our fallen, sensuous nature; but the consent of the will is forbidden, consent whether to the deed or to the pleasure of it.

(4) Concupiscence leading to theft or adultery is expressly prohibited, and not that (wrath, etc.) which leads to homicide, because that in itself does not present itself as a desirable or useful thing, like adultery or theft.*

* See, further, Supplement, chap. iii, page 514.

CHAPTER VI.

COURAGE AND FORTITUDE: THEIR ALLIED VIRTUES, AND THEIR OPPOSING VICES.

(If I were to follow the example of modern ethical writers I should omit almost all which our author finds needful to say of that group of manly virtues of which courage and fortitude are chief. Whewell, for example, in his Elements of Morality, merely finds a place for the names in his list of private virtues. Effeminacy or sentimentality may admire courage in some military chief. But that courage is an essential virtue in the soldier of the Cross; that the world is to be defied even unto death; that hardship and the persecution of calumny and neglect, with attendant poverty and contempt, are the virtues of the saints of Godthese are the hard lessons to be learned in the school of our Lord Jesus Christ. He that follows the Divine Master must learn of Him not only His long-suffering, but the steadfast courage with which He went up to Jerusalem, knowing that He was going to His cross. I will abridge our author's discussions, but omit little more than those counsels of perfection which may be found in this part of the Summa.-J. J. E.),

§ 1. Courage and fortitude (fortitudo).

Are these virtues?

"Virtue makes him that possesses it good, and renders his work good." But the good of man is a life according to right reason. Virtue, therefore, is in agreement with rea

son.

(1) Reason itself is rectified by the intellectual virtues; (2) this right reason is applied to human affairs by justice; (3) impediments to this rectitude in human relations are removed.

But there are two impediments to right reason's work; one, when pleasure attracts in an opposite direction, which impediment is removed by temperance and its allied virtues ;

another, when the will is repelled from following right reason by the difficulties which present themselves. To resist these difficulties requires fortitude of mind. Manifestly, then, this is a virtue, inasmuch as it leads one to a life according to reason.

(1) Weakness of body (2 Cor. xii. 9) is courageously borne by a patient soul, and patience is one of the allied virtues, a part of fortitude; while a man's recognizing his own natural weakness pertains to that perfection of the Christian life which is called humility.

(2) The doing courageous acts does not always indicate. the virtuous habit. One may encounter difficulties like a courageous man when he does not perceive the greatness of the peril; or when he is confident because he has previously escaped; or when he trusts to his acquired art or skill; or he may be impelled by some passion like anger or sorrow; or he may be in quest of some temporal advantage, honour, pleasure, or lucre; or he may be driven to act courageously through fear of punishment, disgrace, or loss (Nic. Eth. iii. 7, 8).

(3) Some are so physically constituted that they have a natural disposition (physical courage) towards this virtue of the soul. And this is true also of other virtues; e.g., temperance or continence.

All virtues require a fixed purpose; but courage, as a special virtue, significs firmness in enduring and repelling grave dangers in which it is most difficult to retain that fixed purpose. The special object, then, of this special virtue is grave perils and great labours.

These are the remoter object; the more immediate object is fear and excess of rashness. For fear shrinks from evil which is difficult to resist or overcome, and so withdraws the will from following right reason. But also such difficulties must be judiciously encountered in order that they may be utterly destroyed. Courage must govern not only natural fear but also excessive rashness.

The fear of death.

It is necessary to hold firmly by rational good against every evil whatsoever, because no corporeal good can equal that good; and courage, therefore, most of all braces the will against the greatest evils, among which none is more terrible than death; for this strips a man of all the earthly goods which he may desire. The Lord, therefore, in forbidding fear, selected the dread of death, saying, "Be not afraid of them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul" (S. Matt. x. 28).

This is not merely the courage of the soldier in battle; it is the courage of the just judge, or of the priest, or of any private man who does not shrink from peril of death while holding by the right; as when the priest, the sister, or any Christian man allows no fear of infection to hinder his duty to the sick, or goes on a dangerous journey because some pious work calls thereto.

This is the courage of martyrs who in faith courageously fight a good fight (Heb. xi. 34).

Fortitude in enduring is greater than courage in attacking.

For it is more difficult to repress fears than to govern excessive rashness. The danger itself aids the latter virtue, while it increases the difficulty of the former.

To endure is more difficult than to attack, first, because the attack which calls for your fortitude seems to be made by the stronger, while in attacking with courage it seems to be implied that you are the stronger; and, again, he who endures with fortitude feels the peril imminent, while he who attacks has it in the future; and, lastly, fortitude implies protracted effort of soul, while the courageous attack may be a sudden movement, a transient impulse.

This endurance, therefore, has its special beatitude (S. Matt. v. 10).

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