a result may be brought about by the artifices and workings of Satan, and of our own deceitful nature; for through our lurking pride we take that for virtue which is really vice. Besides, if we consider the standard of perfection to which God calls us, however great our progress may have been in the way of holiness, we shall hardly persuade ourselves that we have even crossed its threshold.
As a young soldier, then, and, as it were, a new-born babe in the conflict, return continually to your earliest exercises, as though as yet you had done nothing.
And remember, beloved, that it is much better to seek to advance in virtues, than to examine too nicely what progress you have made; for the Lord God, the true and only Searcher of our hearts, gives this knowledge to some and not to others, according as He sees that it will lead to humility or to pride; and, like a loving Father, He removes a danger from one, whilst to another He vouchsafes an opportunity of growing in the virtue.
Therefore, though the soul does not perceive the progress which has been made, yet still continue these exercises, for when the Lord wills our progress shall be revealed to us for our greater good.
