We taught in the preceding chapter that the man who goes out of the world yet does not die to the world cannot die well; now we must add what he who is dead to the world must do in order to live to God. For dying well is given only to one who has lived well, as we showed in the first chapter. The sum of living well is set down by the Apostle in the first epistle to Timothy in these words: "The end of the commandment is charity from a pure heart and a faith unfeigned" (1 Tim. 1). The Apostle was not ignorant of the Lord's answer to the man who had asked, "What must I do to possess eternal life?" (Luke 10) — for He answered, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments" (Matt. 19); but he wished to explain in very few words the end of that primary commandment, on which the whole law, and the understanding and fulfillment of the whole law, and the way to eternal life depend; and at the same time he wished to teach which virtues are necessary for perfect justice, of which he had said elsewhere, "Now there remain faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity" (1 Cor. 13). He says, then, "The end of the commandment is charity" — that is, the end of all the commandments whose observance is necessary for living well is placed in charity, so that whoever has the charity of God fulfills all the commandments that pertain to the second table. The same Apostle explains this latter part, which could seem more obscure, in the Epistle to the Romans, saying: "He that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law. For: Thou shalt not commit adultery; Thou shalt not kill; Thou shalt not steal; Thou shalt not bear false witness; Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this word: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The love of our neighbor worketh no evil; love therefore is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. 13). From this reasoning, everyone can understand for himself that all the commandments that refer to the worship of God are likewise fulfilled in this one charity. For just as charity toward our neighbor works no evil to our neighbor, so also charity toward God can work no evil to God; and therefore the fullness of the law, both toward God and toward our neighbor, is love.
What true and perfect charity is, both toward God and toward our neighbor, the same Apostle declares when he says, "Charity from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a faith unfeigned." In these words we understand by "a good conscience" — with St. Augustine, in his preface to the thirty-first Psalm — the virtue of hope, which is one of the three theological virtues. Now hope is called a good conscience because it is born of a good conscience, just as despair is born of an evil conscience; hence that saying of St. John: "Dearly beloved, if our heart do not reprehend us, we have confidence toward God" (1 John 3). There are, then, three virtues in which the perfection of the Christian law consists: charity from a pure heart, hope from a good conscience, and faith unfeigned. But just as charity is first in the order of perfection, so faith is first in the order of generation, according to that saying of the same Apostle: "Now there remain faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity" (1 Cor. 13).
Let us begin with faith, which first of all comes to exist in the heart of a man who is to be justified. Not without cause did the blessed Apostle add to faith the word "unfeigned." For faith begins justification provided it is true and sincere, not false or feigned. The faith of heretics does not begin justification, because it is not true but false; the faith of bad Catholics does not begin justification, because it is not sincere but feigned. Now faith is called feigned in two ways: when a man either does not believe the things that are true but feigns that he believes, or when he does indeed believe but does not live as he believes he must live. In both senses those words of Blessed Paul in the Epistle to Titus seem to be understood: "They profess that they know God, but in their works they deny Him" (Titus 1). For so the holy Fathers interpret them: St. Jerome in his commentary, and St. Augustine in his sermon 31 On the Words of the Apostle.
And from this first virtue of the just man it can easily be understood how great is the multitude of those who do not live well, and who therefore will also die badly. I pass over heretics and atheists, who are wholly ignorant of the art of living well. But among Catholics, how great is the number of those who in words profess that they know God, but in their deeds deny Him? Who confess that Christ is the judge of the living and the dead, and yet live as though they had no judge? Who do not fear to call the Mother of the Lord a harlot? Who praise prayers, fasts, almsgiving, and the other works of the virtues, yet always practice the contrary vices? I omit the rest, which are known to all. Let them not boast, therefore, that they have a faith unfeigned: either they do not believe what they falsely claim to believe, or they do not live as the Catholic faith commands that we must live; and so let them acknowledge that they have not yet begun to live well, nor let them hope to die happily, unless, with the grace of the Lord breathing upon them, they thoroughly learn the art of living well and of dying well.
The second virtue of the man who is truly just is hope, or a good conscience, as our master, the Apostle Paul, judged it should be called in this place. This virtue is born of faith; for a man cannot hope in God who either does not know the true God or does not believe Him to be powerful and merciful. But for arousing and strengthening hope, so that it may be called not only hope but also confidence, a good conscience avails most of all. For with what face will a man approach God and ask benefits of Him, who is conscious within himself of sin committed against God and not yet expiated by true repentance? For who asks favors of an enemy? Who trusts that he will be helped by one whom he does not doubt to be angry with him? Hear what the Wise Man thinks of the hope of the wicked: "The hope of the wicked," he says, "is as dust that is blown away with the wind, and as a thin froth that is scattered by the storm, and as smoke that is dispersed by the wind, and as the remembrance of a guest of one day that passeth by." So says the Wise Man, most wisely warning the wicked that their hope is a fragile thing, not solid; brief, not lasting. For while they live they can in some way hope that they will one day do penance and be reconciled to God; but when death comes, unless God first comes to them with a special mercy and inspires them with repentance, their hope will be changed into despair, and together with the other wicked they will say what is read in the same place: "Therefore we have erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice hath not shined unto us," etc. (Wis. 5): "What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow." This is what the Wise Man, who wisely admonished us, meant: that if we wish to live well and die happily, we must not dare to remain clinging to sin even for a moment of an hour, deceived by an empty confidence that much of life still remains to us and that in due time we will do earnest penance; for this empty confidence has deceived many, and will deceive still more, unless they prudently learn the art of dying well while there is still time.
There remains the third virtue, which is rightly called the queen of virtues, namely charity, with which no one perishes and without which no one lives, neither on the way nor in the fatherland. Now true charity is said to be that which is born from a pure heart — not that purity of heart properly begets charity. For charity is from God (1 John 4), as St. John says; and St. Paul says it more clearly when he writes: "The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us" (Rom. 5). Charity is therefore said to be from a pure heart, because charity is not enkindled in an impure heart, but in one purified from errors by divine faith — according to that word of the Apostle Peter, "purifying their hearts by faith" (Acts 15) — and purified by divine hope from the ardor and desire of earthly things. For just as fire is not enkindled in green wood full of watery moisture, but in dry wood, so also the fire of charity requires hearts purified from earthly love and from an empty confidence in one's own strength. From this we can understand what is true charity and what is false and counterfeit. For if someone perhaps speaks gladly of God, and is moved to compunction even to tears in prayer, and performs certain good works, distributing alms and fasting often, but in such a way that he still retains in his heart impure love, vainglory, hatred toward his neighbor, and other things of that kind which render the heart impure and sordid — such a one bears not divine and true charity, but an empty semblance or image of charity. Most wisely, therefore, the holy Apostle, when speaking of true and perfect justice, did not simply name faith, hope, and charity, but said: "Now the end of the commandment is charity from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and an unfeigned faith" (1 Tim. 1).
And this is the true art of living well and dying happily: if one perseveres until death in this true and perfect charity.