been? " Alas," replied the holy man, " miserable sinner that I am! I have no right to bear the name of a religious; I have seen an Elias, I have seen a St. John the Baptist in the desert, when I beheld Paul in his solitude." We read also of the great St. Macarius, that having seen the sublime perfection of some holy hermits whom he had visited, the blessed man wept, saying to his disciples, " I have seen a real and true religious; but as for me, I deserve not the name of a religious." What these great saints said out of pure humility, we may say with a great deal of truth, when we consider the example set by themselves, and by many others who lived before and since their time. Let us then seriously reflect on the great perfection they attained, that we may be encouraged either to make efforts similar to theirs, or if our strength tails, that the confusion and shame we must justly feel for being so tardy, may, in some measure, supply what is defective by reason of our frailty; and thus, at all events, the means I here propose cannot but prove of exceeding great advantage.
CHAPTER IX.
How important it is not to neglect the smallest Things.
"He that contemneth small things," as it is said in Ecclesiasticus, "shall fall by little and little." (Ecclus. xix. 1.) The doctrine contained in these words is of great importance to all persons, especially to those who aspire to perfection: for we are exact in the performance of great things, as they carry with themselves their own recommendation; but it is very usual with us to be careless in small things, as we fancy they are of no great consequence. In this, however, we deceive ourselves, because it is very dangerous to neglect and fail in these things; and therefore the Holy Ghost in this passage of Scripture declares to us, " That he who contemns small things, shall fall by little and little." To convince us then of this truth, and to oblige us to be watchful, it ought to be sufficient that God himself says so: but in order that this may make a deeper impression on our minds, when treated more at large, let us consider what was the opinion of the saints on this subject. St. Bernard says, " That those who run into disorders and crime," of the highest nature, begin at first by committing small faults, and no person ever falls or plunges himself all at once
