sings of him) he might stain his life with a slight fault of the tongue." St. Paul, though he was confirmed in grace and rapt to the third heaven, notwithstanding said of himself, " I so fight, not as one beating the air. But I chastise my body and bring it into subjection." (1 Cor. ix. 26.) Consider nothing then too difficult in order to avoid sin.
III. We must not only avoid the actual commission of sin, but also shun every consent of the mind to it. "Beware thou consent not to sin at any time." (Job iv. 6.) Resist every suggestion to sin, and all taking of pleasure in it; for as St. Gregory remarks, " In suggestion is the seed of sin, in delectation the nourishment, in consent the perfection or consummation." Examine what caution you employ, and what guard you place over your thoughts, words, and actions; how you avoid the occasions of danger and resist the suggestions of the devil, the world, and the flesh. Assume, with the saints of God, your spiritual arms; they are prayer and mortification. With these you will be enabled to achieve a glorious victory, and merit an immortal crown.
The Duty of Man towards God. II.
I. The second branch of the Christian's duty is to labor in the exercise of good works, in order to please his Creator. Wherefore, heaven is sometimes spoken of in Holy Writ as "a valuable pearl;" at other times as a " treasure hidden in a field " (Matt. xiii. 44), which we are to discover with pains and labor, and to sell all that we have, to purchase; sometimes, again, as a prize, which we are to gain by running the race of virtue and perfection (1 Cor. ix. 24), and everywhere as the crown and reward of meritorious actions. It is your duty to per-
