THE SINNER’S GUIDE.
CHAPTER I.
THE FIRST MOTIVE WHICH OBLIGES US TO PRACTISE VIRTUE AND TO SERVE GOD: HIS BEING IN ITSELF AND THE EXCELLENCE OF HIS PERFECTIONS.
Two things, Christian reader, particularly excite the will of man to good. A principle of justice is one, the other the profit we may derive therefrom. All wise men, therefore, agree that justice and profit are the two most powerful inducements to move our wills to any undertaking. Now, though men seek profit more frequently than justice, yet justice is in itself more powerful; for, as Aristotle teaches, no worldly advantage can equal the excellence of virtue, nor is any loss so great that a wise man should not suffer it rather than yield to vice. The design of this book being to win men to virtue, we shall begin by showing our obligation to practice virtue because of the duty we owe to God. God being essentially
goodness and beauty, there is nothing
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