Lack of Consideration – The Chief Source Of All Evils!

Consider those words of the prophet Jeremias,with desolation is the whole earth laid desolate,because there is no one who thinks in his heart,Jerem.xii.11.

And reflect how true it is,that the want of consideration on the great truths of Christianity, is the chief source of all our evils. Alas!the greatest part of men seldom or never think, either of their first beginning or last end:they neither consider who brought them into the world,nor for what,nor reflect on that eternity into which they are just about to step. Hence all their pursuits are earthly and temporal,as if they were only made for this life,or were always to be here.

Death,judgment,heaven and hell make but little impression upon them, because they do not give them leisure to sink deep in to their souls by the means of serious consideration. They run on with their eyes shut to the precipice of a miserable eternity,and only then begin to think, when they find themselves lodged in that place of woe, where their worms hall never die, and their fire shall never be quenched. Ah!my poor soul,take care that this be not thy case!

Consider,that we cannot be saved without knowing God, and loving him above all things. Now we can neither know him or love him as we ought,without the help of consideration. It is this which discovers to us the infinite perfections of this sovereign being:his charming beauty;his eternal love for us,and all the benefits which he has bestowed upon us his most undeserving and ungrateful creatures. All which,alas!make no impression on us without serious consideration. All things that are about us, the heavens,the earth,and every creature there in, cease not to preach god unto us, and invite us to love him:but without consideration we are deaf to the voice of this whole creation;we are like those that have eyes,and see not;that have ears,and hear not. Ah!the great and dreadful mischiefs that follow from the want of that true knowledge of God, which is the fruit of daily consideration!Is it not upon this account that the whole world is overrun with wickedness;and that hell opens wide it’s jaws,devouring without end or number the unhappy children of Adam,because God is forgotten,because there is no knowledge of god upon earth? Osee iv.1

Consider,that to save our souls we must also know ourselves;we must know our misery and corruption, that we maybe humble,and diffuse in ourselves:we must know our irregular inclinations and,that we may fight against them and overcome them; we must study and watch the motions of our own hearts,that we may not be surprised by sin,and sleep in death. And how can this all necessary knowledge of ourselves,this science of the saints be acquired without the help of daily consideration,?Ah! How unhappy are they who know all thing else,and are strangers to themselves!Let us the daily pray with St. Augustin, noverim te, noverim me; Lord give me grace to know thee, Lord give me grace to know myself: and let us labor to acquire these two most necessary sciences by frequent consideration.

(BP. CHALLONER, Think Well On’t)