many there are who refuse to hear Him! Be not of their unhappy number.
Sooner or later you must acknowledge this truth, if not in this life, surely in the next. Think, therefore, of the confusion and anguish which on the day of judgment will overwhelm all those who will then have been condemned for abandoning the path of virtue. Too late they will recognize how excellent is this path, and how far it exceeds that of sin, not only for the happiness it affords in this life, but for the security with which it leads us to eternal joy.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
OF THOSE WHO REFUSE TO PRACTISE VIRTUE BECAUSE THEY LOVE THE WORLD.
IF we examine the hearts of those who refuse to practise virtue we shall frequently find a delusive love for the world to be one of the chief causes of their faint-heartedness. I call it a delusive love because it is founded on that imaginary good which men suppose they will find in the things of this world. Let them examine with closer attention these objects of their affection, and they will soon recognize that they have been pursuing shadows. If we study the happiness of the world, even under its most favorable aspects, we shall find that it is ever accompanied by six drawbacks, which tend very much to lessen its sweetness. No one will ques-
