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The Sinner's Guide Ven. Louis of Granada 1504-1588 With Imprimi Potest and Imprimatur TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC. Ch 17. The Sixth Privilege of Virtue: The Confidence of the Just   The joy of a good conscience is always accompanied by that blessed hope of which the Apostle speaks when he tells us to rejoice in hope and to be patient in tribulation. (Cf. Rom. 12:12). This is the rich inheritance of the children of God, their general refuge in tribulation, and their most efficacious remedy against all the miseries of life. Before entering upon this subject we must bear...

The Sinner's Guide Ven. Louis of Granada 1504-1588 With Imprimi Potest and Imprimatur TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC. Motives for Practising Virtue Ch 16. The Fifth Privilege of Virtue: The Peace of a Good Conscience   God, Who gives His creatures all that is necessary for their perfection, has planted the seed of virtue in the soul of man, and has endowed him with a natural inclination for good and an instinctive hatred of evil. This inclination may be weakened and perverted by a habit of vice, but it can never be totally destroyed.We find a figure of this truth...

THE SINNERS GUIDE Ven. Louis of Granada 1504-1588 With Imprimi Potest and Imprimatur TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC.Ch 15. The Fourth Privilege of Virtue: The Consolations with which the Holy Spirit visits the Just   We might regard charity, or the love of God, as the fourth privilege of virtue, particularly as the Apostle accounts it the first-fruit of the Holy Ghost; but our intention being at present to treat more of the rewards of virtue than of virtue itself, we shall devote this chapter to the consolations of the Holy Ghost, and refer to another pan the consideration of...

The Sinner's Guide Ven. Louis of Granada 1504-1588 With Imprimi Potest and Imprimatur TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC.   Motives for Practising Virtue   Ch 14. The Third Privilege of Virtue: The Supernatural Light and Knowledge granted to Virtuous Souls  The heavenly light and wisdom with which God enlightens the just form the third reward of virtue. And this blessing, as well as all the others, is the effect of that grace which not only rules our appetites and strengthens our will, but removes the darkness of sin from our understanding and enables us to know and fulfill our duty....

The Sinner's Guide Ven. Louis of Granada 1504-1588 With Imprimi Potest and Imprimatur TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC. Ch 13. The Second Privilege of Virtue: The Grace with which the Holy Spirit fills Devout Souls   God's fatherly providence, of which we have just been treating, is the source of all the favors and privileges which He bestows upon those who serve Him. For it belongs to this providence to furnish man with all the means necessary for his perfection and happiness. The most important of these means is the grace of the Holy Ghost, which in its turn is...

THE SINNERS GUIDE Ven. Louis of Granada 1504-1588 With Imprimi Potest and Imprimatur TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC.     Ch 12. The First Privilege of Virtue: God's Fatherly Care of the Just   The greatest privilege attached to virtue is the care which God exercises over those who serve Him. From this, as from a fountainhead, flow all other favors. Though God's providence is extended to all His creatures, yet He manifests a special care for His faithful servants. To appreciate the greatness and goodness of God's providence we must have experienced it, or attentively studied the Holy Scriptures, which,...

THE SINNERS GUIDE The Sinner's GuideVen. Louis of Granada 1504-1588 With Imprimi Potest and Imprimatur TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC.   Ch 11. The Eleventh Motive for Practicing Virtue: The Inestimable Advantages Promised It Even in this Life   With such powerful reasons for embracing virtue, I know not what excuse men can make for refusing to practice it. That pagans, who are ignorant of its value, do not prize it is not astonishing. A peasant digging in the earth and finding a precious stone will probably throw it away, because he does not know its worth. But that Christians,...

THE SINNERS GUIDE Ven. Louis of Granada 1504-1588 With Imprimi Potest and Imprimatur TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC. Ch 10. The Tenth Motive for Practicing Virtue: The Thought of Hell, the Fourth of the Four Last Things   The least part of the happiness we have endeavored to portray should be sufficient to inflame our hearts with a love of virtue. Nevertheless, we shall also consider the terrible alternative of misery reserved for the reprobate. The sinner cannot comfort himself by saying, "After all, the only result of my depraved life will be that I shall never see God. Further...

THE SINNERS GUIDE Ven. Louis of Granada1504-1588With Imprimi Potest and Imprimatur TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC. Chapter 8. The Eighth Motive for Practicing Virtue: The Thought of the Last Judgment, the Second of the Four Last Things   Immediately after death follows the particular judgment, of which we have been treating. But there is a day of general judgment, when, in the words of the Apostle, "We must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the proper things of the body, according as he hath done, whether it be good or evil." [2...

THE SINNER'S GUIDE Ven. Louis of Granada1504-1588With Imprimi Potest and Imprimatur TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC. Ch 7. The Seventh Motive for Practicing Virtue: The Thought of Death, the First of the Four Last Things   Any one of the motives we have just enumerated should be sufficient to induce man to give himself wholly to the service of a Master to Whom he is bound by so many ties of gratitude. But as the generality of men are more influenced by personal interest than by motives of justice, we will here make known the inestimable advantages of virtue in...

Ven. Louis of Granada1504-1588With Imprimi Potest and Imprimatur TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC. Ch 6. The Sixth Motive which Obliges us to Practice Virtue: Gratitude for the Incomprehensible Benefit of Election   To all the benefits which we have just enumerated we must add that of election, or predestination, which belongs to those whom God has chosen from all eternity to be partakers of His glory. The Apostle, in his Epistle to the Ephesians [Eph. 1: 3-5], thus gives thanks, in his own name and that of the elect, for this inestimable benefit: "Blessed be the God and Father of...

THE SINNERS GUIDE Ven. Louis of Granada1504-1588With Imprimi Potest and Imprimatur TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC. Chapter 5. The Fifth Motive which Obliges us to Practice Virtue: Gratitude for our Justification   What would the benefit of Redemption avail us, if it had not been followed by that of justification, through which the sovereign virtue of Redemption is applied to our souls? For as the most excellent remedies avail us nothing if not applied to our disorders, so the sovereign remedy of Redemption would be fruitless were it not applied to us through the benefit of justification. This is the...

The Sinner's Guide Ven. Louis of Granada 1504-1588 With Imprimi Potest and Imprimatur TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC. Chapter 4. The Fourth Motive which Obliges us to Practice Virtue: Gratitude for the Inestimable Benefit of our Redemption   Let us now consider the supreme benefit of Divine love, the redemption of man. But I feel myself so unworthy, so unfitted to speak of such a mystery that I know not where to begin or where to leave off, or whether it were not better for me to be silent altogether. Did not man, in his lethargy, need an incentive...

The Sinner's Guide Ven. Louis of Granada 1504-1588 With Imprimi Potest and Imprimatur TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC. Chapter 3. The Third Motive which Obliges us to Serve God: Gratitude for our Preservation and for the Government of His Providence   Another motive which obliges man to serve God is the benefit of preservation. God gave you being, and still preserves it to you, for you are as powerless to subsist without Him as you were incapable of coming into existence without Him. The benefit of preservation is not less than that of creation. It is even greater, for your...

The Sinner's Guide Ven. Louis of Granada 1504-1588 With Imprimi Potest and Imprimatur TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC. Chapter 2: The Second Motive which Obliges us to Practice Virtue and to Serve God: Gratitude for our Creation   We are obliged to practice virtue and keep God's Commandments not only because of what God is in Himself, but because of what He is to us, because of His innumerable benefits to us. The first of these benefits is our creation, which obliges man to give himself wholly to the service of his Creator, for in justice he stands indebted to...

The Sinner's Guide Ven. Louis of Granada 1504-1588 With Imprimi Potest and Imprimatur TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, INC. Chapter 1:The First Motive which Obliges us to Practice Virtue and to Serve God: His Being in Itself, and the Excellence of His Perfections   Two things, Christian reader, particularly excite the will of man to good. A principle of justice is one, the other the profit we may derive therefrom. All wise men, therefore, agree that justice and profit are the two most powerful inducements to move our wills to any undertaking. Now, though men seek profit more frequently than justice,...

CHAPTER 1 The First Motive which obliges us to practice Virtue and to serve God: His Being in itself, and the excellence of His Perfections Two things, Christian reader, particularly excite the will of man to good. A principle of justice is one, the other the profit we may derive therefrom. All wise men, therefore, agree that justice and profit are the two most powerful inducements to move our wills to any undertaking. Now, though men seek profit more frequently than justice, yet justice is in itelf more powerful; for, as Aristotle teaches, no worldly advantage can equal the excellence...