direct his thoughts to his studies, to business, to trifles? When he is afterwards to give an account of the state of his conscience, cannot he say what he pleases, and conceal what is most essential to be revealed? Cannot he make us believe, that his conscience is in a good state, while, perhaps, it is in a state of all others the most deplorable? It is in vain, then, we take all possible care and precaution to make a man virtuous, unless he sincerely desires, and strenuously endeavours, to become so himself.
The answer of St. Thomas of Aquin to one of his sisters is very well adapted to the present subject. She asks him, " How she could save her soul?" (Hist. Pr. v. 37.) He answered, " By willing it if you desire it, you will be saved, if you desire it, you will make progress in virtue, you will render yourself perfect. All then depends on our willing it, t. e., on our willing it seriously and effectually, and on exerting ourselves with all possible diligence to secure our salvation. For Almighty God is always ready to assist us; but if our own will is wanting, all the exertions of our superiors are unavailing. It is you yourself, therefore, that must take your salvation to heart — it is your own affair — it is you alone that are concerned, and it is for this alone you entered religion. Let every one, then, be persuaded, that as soon as he begins to grow tepid and negligent in what relates to his spiritual advancement — as soon as he abstains from the exact performance of his exercises of devotion, and feels not interiorly a great desire of making progress in virtue and of mortifying himself — from that very moment, he conducts badly the business of his eternal salvation. This doctrine is conformable to a rule laid down by St. Ignatius in the beginning of his Constitutions. " It is the interior law," says he, " of charity and of the divine love imprinted and engraven on our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which ought to support, guide, and make us advance in the way of God's service." (Proem. Const. § 1.) It is this fire of his love, this insatiable desire of his greater glory, which ought continually urge us to elevate ourselves towards him, and make us advance in virtue.
This desire once truly imprinted in the soul makes us exert ourselves with fervour and diligence to attain what we wish for. For we are naturally active in seeking and finding out the things we have an inclination for; and it is for this reason the Wise Man says, a The beginning of wisdom is to excite in our hearts an earnest desire thereof. (Wis. vi. 18.) But in this we find another advantage, also which renders this means
