1. Besides our intelligence and will we have other faculties that
go by a diversity of names; sometimes they are called the
emotions, sometimes the passions, sometimes they are alluded to as
the sentimental side of our nature; but by whatever name we may
happen to call them, it is clear that they represent just those
movements of our being which are not really rational in
themselves, though they can be controlled by the reason. It is
simplest to divide them into two classes and to realize that they
lie just on the borderline between spirit and matter, partly of
soul, partly of body. These two classes are arranged according as
the emotion attracts or repels man. The repelled emotions are
fear, anger, hatred, etc.; the attracted are love, desire, joy,
etc. This gift of piety enables even the emotions to be made
responsive to God. It is always the notion of some perfect
instrument to be made harmonious that perhaps most clearly shows
us the work of the Holy Spirit in the gifts of God, some perfect
instrument, which needs to be so nicely at tuned that its every
string shall give out a distinct note, and shall require the least
movement from the fingers of God's right hand to make its
immediate response. Here, then, we have first to record the fact
that the purpose of this gift is to make the emotions or passions
so refined, so perfectly strung, that at once the slightest
pressure of the Divine instinct moves them to turn their love,
desire, joy, towards God, finding in Him the satisfaction of their
inmost heart.
2. Piety, in its Latin significance (and here in theology, of
course, we get almost all our terms through the Latin tongue),
means the filial spirit of reverence towards parents. Virgil gives
to the hero of his Roman epic the repeated title of _pius_,
because he wishes always to emphasize AEneas' devotion to his aged
father. Hence it is clear that what is primarily intended here is
that we should be quickly conscious of the Fatherhood of God. The
mediaeval mystics, especially our homely English ones like Richard
Rolle of Hampole, and Mother Julianna of Norwich, curiously enough
were fond of talking about the Motherhood of God in order to bring
out the protective and devoted side of God's care for us; of
course God surpasses both a mother's and father's love in His
ineffable love for us. But then it is just that sweetness of soul
in its attitude towards God, that this gift produces in me a
readiness to perceive His love in every turn of fortune, and to
discover His gracious pity in His treatment of my life. It
requires a divine indwelling of the Spirit of God to effect this
in my soul, for though I may be by nature easily moved to
affection, prompt to see and profit by every opening for
friendship, yet I must, no less, have a difficulty in turning this
into my religious life without God's movement in my soul.
3. Perhaps the most unmistakable result of this is in the general
difference between Catholic and non-Catholic nations, in their
ideas of religion. Even if one takes a non-Catholic nation at its
best and a Catholic nation at its worst, the gulf between them is
enormous, for at its lowest the religion of the Catholic nation
will be attractive at least with its joy, and the non-Catholic
repellent with its gloom. There is a certain hardness about all
other denominations of Christianity, a certain restrained attitude
of awe towards God, which though admirable in itself, is perfectly
hateful when it is made the dominant note in religion. Better
joyous superstition than gloomy correctness of worship; better,
far better, to find happy children who have little respect, and
much comradeship, towards their parents, than neat and quiet
children who are in silent awe of their parents. It is, then, to
develop this side of religion that the gift of piety is given. The
result then is a sweetness, a gracefulness, a natural lovingness
towards God and all holy persons and things, as opposed to a
gloomy, respectable, awkward, self-conscious hardness towards our
Father in Heaven. Clever, trained people have most to be on their
guard, for the intellectual activities of the soul are apt to
crowd out the gentler, simpler side of character.