rted that we are under obligation to love God as soon as we can use
our reason, the Jesuit Sirmond replied to him that that was very soon;
the Jesuit Vasquez claims that it is sufficient to love God in the hour
of death; Hurtado says that we should love God at all times; Henriquez
is content with loving Him every five years; Sotus, every Sunday. "Upon
what shall we rely?" asks Father Sirmond, who adds: "that Suarez desires
that we should love God sometimes. But at what time? He allows you to
judge of it; he knows nothing about it himself; for he adds: 'What a
learned doctor does not know, who can know?'" The same Jesuit Sirmond
continues, by saying: "that God does not command us to love Him with
human affection, and does not promise us salvation but on condition of
giving Him our hearts; it is enough to obey Him and to love Him, by
fulfilling His commandments; that this is the only love which we owe
Him, and He has not commanded so much to love Him as not to hate Him."
[See "Apology, Des Lettres Provinciales," Tome II.] This doctrine
appears heretical, ungodly, and abominable to the Jansenists, who, by
the revolting severity which they attribute to their God, render Him
still less lovable than their adversaries, the Jesuits. The latter, in
order to make converts, represent God in such a light as to give
confidence to the most perverse mortals. Thus, nothing is less
established among the Christians than the important question, whether we
can or should love or not love God. Among their spiritual guides some
pretend that we must love God with all the heart, notwithstanding all
His severity; others, like the Father Daniel, think that an act of pure
love of God is the most heroic act of Christian virtue, and that human
weakness can scarcely reach so high. The Jesuit Pintereau goes still
further; he says: "The deliverance from the grievous yoke of Divine love
is a privilege of the new alliance."

CLXXXV.--THE VARIOUS AND CONTRADICTORY IDEAS WHICH EXIST EVERYWHERE UPON
GOD AND RELIGION, PROVE THAT THEY ARE BUT IDLE FANCIES.

It is always the character of man which decides upon the character of
his God; each one creates a God for himself, and in his own image. The
cheerful man who indulges in pleasures and dissipation, can not imagine
God to be an austere and rebukeful being; he requires a facile God with
whom he can make an agreement. The severe, sour, bilious man wants a God
like himself; one who inspires fear; and rega