1. Pride. 2. Avarice. 3. Luxury. 4. Envy. 5. Gluttony. 6. Anger. 7.
Indolence.
Of these Pride, Avarice, and Envy, are vices of the soul; Luxury,
Gluttony, Anger, are vices of the body. Indolence is a vice of the soul
and of the body.
Of Pride it is said, "Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination
to the Lord." (Prov. xvi. 5.) "God resisteth the proud." (James iv. 6.)
"The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride, and arrogancy, and the
evil way, and the froward mouth do I hate." (Prov. viii. 13.)
Of Avarice it is said, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not
inherit the Kingdom of God," and S. Paul says that among these are
"the covetous" who "shall not inherit the Kingdom of God." (1 Cor. vi.
10.) "No covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in
the Kingdom of Christ and of God." (Eph. v. 5.) David speaks of "the
covetous, whom God abhorreth." (Ps. x. 3.)
Of Luxury, there are many and strong denunciations in Scripture, it is
one of those conditions which, like avarice, shuts out from the Kingdom
of God. (1 Cor. vi. 10.) S. John saw the luxurious shut out from the
gates of the New Jerusalem. See also Gal. v. 19.
Of Gluttony, that is of indulgence to excess in eating and drinking,
the same is said. "The works of the flesh are manifest, which are
these--drunkenness, revellings, and such like, of which I tell you
before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such
things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God." (Gal. v. 21.)
Of Envy it is the same, "Envyings," are included among the works of the
flesh.
So also is Anger.
Indolence is the torpor of the soul and body, which will not exert
itself to do what is right, or to resist what is wrong. It is a state
of indifference to the true ends for which man has been made, and in
Scripture is called sleep--"Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from
the dead."
[Illustration]
Fifth Monday in Lent.
_IN WHAT THE VICES ARE ROOTED._
The soil in which the Seven Vices find their root is Self-love, or
rather in an undue and disordered love of Self. If we really loved
ourselves we would seek to mortify and kill all the vices in us; but it
is through undue and irrational self-love that the vices find root and
opportunity to grow and flourish.
1. Self-love is not in itself sinful. God has planted in every man a
love for himself. It is part of the nature of every man and of every
intelligent creature to take care of self, and seek those things which
conduce to its welfare. God has even set self-love as the measure to us
of the love we should bear to our fellows. (Matt. xix. 19.)
2. Self-love becomes sinful when it is excessive and unreasonable.
When, for instance, the love of self makes a man disregard another's
need or comfort. When, moreover, it becomes a dominating passion in
the soul, obscuring and even extinguishing the love of God. When it
seeks wrong ends for self, the indulgence of selfish pleasures, selfish
comforts, passion, glorification. Then self-love is sinful. When a
person takes no interest in any subject but what concerns self, has no
talk save of what touches self, sees everything in the light in which
it affects self, then self-love is unduly great.
Moreover, self-love may be disordered when it seeks for its end
apart from God, in its pleasures, in its self-glorification, in its
self-righteousness. Some people dethrone God and set up self in His
place, and make self-interest their only law, and self their only
law-giver. Again, self-love becomes sinful when it sees good where good
is not, and takes the appearance for the reality.
Self-love is disposed to self-delusion whenever it is allowed to
consider itself too highly.
3. Self-love once excessive and unreasonable, draws on to pride,
avarice, luxury, gluttony, anger, indolence, because it shows man his
supreme good in honours that flatter, riches and pleasures that puff
up and indulge self-love, revenge against such as offend self-love,
and that neglect of duty which comes so easy to those who give way to
self-love. All the Seven Vices minister to self-love, pamper and feed
it, assist in its growth, and tend to make it take the place of God in
the heart.
Self-love is harmless so long as it does not encourage the growth of
these noxious vices. We must therefore be very watchful of ourselves,
and hold our love of self under severe control, never allowing it to
become a soil in which vices may luxuriate, but seeing that it be a
garden plot in which Christian graces spring up, which it well may, for
the same soil that grows weeds will grow flowers.
4. Self-control, self-renunciation, are required of us by Christ. "If
any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow Me." (Matt. xvi. 24.) The true love of self has a far
eye and looks to eternity, and seeks those things that are above, not
the things that minister to self-love below; seeks the salvation of
the soul, not the pampering of the flesh and the flattery of pride. And
the only way of obtaining the imperishable riches and unfading joys,
is by resisting the inclinations of the carnal nature towards such as
are for a time, and perish in the using. There is a true love of self
and a false love of self; or rather love may be directed towards the
elevation of the better self, or to the degradation of the inferior
self. It is necessary to distinguish between the elements that make
man, Body, Soul, and Mind, and to seek those things which minister
to the superior elements--Mind and Soul, not to the animal part of
man--Body. Or again, not to serve only the Mind and neglect the Soul,
but to seek the welfare of the Soul first of all.
[Illustration]
Fifth Tuesday in Lent.
_PRIDE._
1. Pride is the love and estimation man has for himself beyond measure.
Every man should have a proper pride in himself as a creature of
God, an heir of everlasting life, and so maintain his dignity and
self-respect, not degenerating into buffoonery, and making himself a
laughing-stock to men.
But Pride must be within due limits. Let no man think more highly of
himself than he ought to think.