the soul by this or that breach, all being equal to him, provided he attains his end, and brings you to a miserable shipwreck. St. Bonaventure says, " That of many small drops of rain great torrents are formed, which undermine and tumble down strong walls; and that a small chink by which the water gets into a ship, oftentimes causes the loss of the vessel;" (Bon. sup: Ps. Ixvi.) Wherefore St. Austin tells us, that as when a ship springs a leak, we must immediately pump, in order to get out the water and prevent her from sinking; so we also, by fervent prayer, and a strict examination of conscience, must continually endeavour to root out of our heart whatever imperfection or impurity had found its way into it, which if neglected would at last cause our ruin. This should be the continual exercise of a religious; he must incessantly labour to amend his faults, and continually put his hand to the pump, otherwise he will be in great danger of perishing. " You are armed," says St. Austin in another place, " and prepared to defend yourself against great sins; but what care do you take to avoid small faults? Are you not afraid of them also? You have already thrown overboard those heavy bales, which would have sunk your ship; but take care that the small heap of sand, still in the hold, does not bring you down." (Aug. sup. Ps. xxxix. 13.) You have happily escaped all the storms raised against you, in the tempestuous sea of the world; but take precaution lest you be wrecked in the harbour of religion. For as it would avail nothing that a ship should have weathered all the storms, and escaped all the rocks at sea, if she is wrecked in port; so it would be of no advantage to you to have resisted all the assaults of the strongest temptations, if afterwards you yield to weaker ones and thereby lose your soul.
CHAPTER X.
Another weighty Reason which shews how extremely requisite it is to attach Importance to small Things.
Another very cogent reason, why we should apply ourselves with great care and attention to the smallest thing conducive to our perfection, is, that if we neglect to perform it, it is to be feared that God will refuse us these special graces, which we stand in need of, both to preserve us from sin, and to assist us in attaining the perfection we aim at, and for want of which graces we shall be
