You may thus understand, dear Christian, the gratitude the elect owe to God. And yet there is no one, provided he do what is necessary for salvation, who may not consider himself of this happy number. "Labor, therefore, the more," as St. Peter tells you, "that by good works you may make sure your calling and election."[1] We should never lose sight, therefore, of our end, for God's grace is never wanting to us, and we can do all things in Him Who strengthens us.
CHAPTER VII.
THE SEVENTH MOTIVE FOR PRACTISING VIRTUE: THE THOUGHT OF DEATH, THE FIRST OF THE FOUR LAST THINGS.
ANY one of the motives we have just enumerated should be sufficient to induce man to give himself wholly to the service of a Master to Whom he is bound by so many ties of gratitude. But as the generality of men are more influenced by personal interest than by motives of justice, we will here make known the inestimable advantages of virtue in this life and the next.
We will first speak of the greatest among them: the glory which is the reward of virtue, and the terrible punishment from which it delivers us. These two are the principal oars which propel us in our voyage to eternity. For
- ↑ 2 St. Peter i. 10.
