True virtue never says: It is enough. In this matter, not to advance is to go back. Always to advance, such is the word of command; always to rise higher, such is the rule of the just . . . We must study our besetting sin, and when we know it well, make war to the death against it all the year long, by means of vigilance, of examination of our conscience, of good confessions, and fervent prayer.
"If, every year," says the author of
The Imitation, "We tear out a vice from our hearts, we shall soon be perfect."
-- Hamon,
Meditations
