MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOGMA. TREATISE III. 11. THE SPECIAL ENDOWMENTS OF THE ANGELS.
MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOGMA.
TREATISE III.
11. THE SPECIAL ENDOWMENTS OF THE ANGELS.
I. "Star differeth from star in glory" (1 Cor. xv. 41).
There are differences between the heavenly spirits ; they
have received various kinds and various degrees of grace
from God. Amongst them, no doubt, as amongst men, their
Lord has singled out some for special favour and for higher
place. To some He has assigned a peculiar vocation, and
duties which require greater capacities and graces. Some,
possibly, like some of us, have responded with greater ardour,
generosity and love to the advances of God, or may have
used their opportunities to better effect than others. To all
this must correspond a more abundant outpouring of divine
favour. Moreover, the angels are arranged in different orders
and choirs, and this involves differences of dignity, activity
and glory. Your present sanctity and future reward depend
partially on the free generosity of the Almighty, partially on
the task and position assigned to you here, partially on your
own efforts and fidelity to grace. Be content with God s
arrangements for you, and strive to do the best with such
graces as you have. The last often becomes first ; the
humblest and the least endowed have risen to high spiritual
perfection and glory, above those who seemed to be the wise
and the strong according to nature and even according to
grace.
II. With their difference of vocation and difference in
correspondence to grace, the angels are also distinguished
by a different perfection of virtue. The ardour of the
Seraphim, the knowledge of the Cherubim, the submission
of the Thrones, the other virtues of the blessed choirs,
these are peculiarities special to each, which constitute their
particular service towards God. So it is among the Saints.
Each has his own character of holiness. Noah is noted for
perseverance, Abraham for faith, Job for patience, Joseph for
chastity, Moses for meekness, David for fervent devotion ;
and, in the Christian Church, St. Francis of Assisi for poverty,
St. Peter of Alcantara for austerity, St. Ephrem for holy
fear, St. Francis of Sales for sweetness, St. Thomas Aquinas
for learning, St. Vincent of Paul for organized charity. So
it should be with you. There is some form of usefulness in
the service of God and man for which you have a special
facility. There is some attribute of God or aspect of the
life of Jesus which you have to manifest as your contribution
towards the total exhibition of God in mankind. There is
some particular virtue which God wishes to dominate your
life. Pray to know what it is, and to have grace to fulfill
your destiny.
III. It is to be remembered that each angel, although
excelling in a particular virtue, possesses all others, and is
not deficient in any one. Every possible virtue and excellence
is common to them all. A perfection which is distinctive of
one choir by its special brilliance is not therefore absent
from other angels ; nor is its possession by one angel a cloak
or excuse for the want of other perfections in him. Your
special virtue must not be your only one ; your principal duty-
must not make you forget minor ones. Do not rely on any
good work of yours, however meritorious, but remember that
you have many great deficiencies known not to you but to your
friends and enemies. Do not trust to one virtue as making
you completely just, but fear lest by the violation of one commandment you make yourself guilty of all. You may, how
ever, practice one virtue especially, and this will bring in the
others and co-ordinate them round itself. This virtue may
become the key-note of your spiritual life, tuning all the
others into harmony, and giving them a special character.
But it has an opposite pole, your predominant passion, which
may easily become a key-note of evil and a source of other
sins. Beware of it.
MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOGMA BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES BELLORD, D.D
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