troubled, then is the time when thou art nearest unto blessing.
Thou must go through fire and water that God may bring thee into
a wealthy place. Unless thou put force upon thyself, thou wilt
not conquer thy faults. So long as we carry about with us this
frail body, we cannot be without sin, we cannot live without
weariness and trouble. Gladly would we have rest from all
misery; but because through sin we have lost innocence, we have
lost also the true happiness. Therefore must we be patient, and
wait for the mercy of God, until this tyranny be overpast,
and this mortality be swallowed up of life.

6. O how great is the frailty of man, which is ever prone to
evil! To-day thou confessest thy sins, and to-morrow thou
committest again the sins thou didst confess. Now dost thou
resolve to avoid a fault, and within an hour thou behavest
thyself as if thou hadst never resolved at all. Good cause have
we therefore to humble ourselves, and never to think highly of
ourselves, seeing that we are so frail and unstable. And quickly
may that be lost by our negligence, which by much labour was
hardly attained through grace.

7. What shall become of us at the end, if at the beginning we are
lukewarm and idle? Woe unto us, if we choose to rest, as though
it were a time of peace and security, while as yet no sign
appeareth in our life of true holiness. Rather had we need that
we might begin yet afresh, like good novices, to be instructed
unto good living, if haply there might be hope of some future
amendment and greater spiritual increase.

(1) Psalm xxv. 17.