you any good of soul or body that is not from Him? If interest be your aim, what greater could you have than to avoid eternal misery and gain eternal joy? If you aspire to happiness in this life, what happiness equals that of the just? The least of the privileges of virtue which we have described affords more true happiness than the possession of all the treasures of the world. If you reject these evidences in favor of virtue, you do so in wilful blindness, for you close your eyes to the light of truth.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE FIRST REMEDY AGAINST SIN: A FIRM RESOLUTION NOT TO COMMIT IT.
IT is not sufficient to persuade men to love virtue; we must also teach them how to acquire it. The first condition, a wise man has said, is the absence of vice. We shall therefore first treat of the most common vices and their remedies, and afterwards of the virtues and the means of acquiring them.
Before entering upon this subject bear in mind that there are two principles in which you must be firmly established if you would change your life and give yourself to God. The first is a just appreciation of the importance of the labor you are about to undertake; you must be convinced that this is the sole interest, the sole profit, the sole wisdom in the
