a map all the kingdoms of the world that he promised Him; no, he took Him up into a high mountain and showed them to Him, hoping that an actual view of them and the glory thereof would cause the Saviour to fall down and adore him. How rash, then, and presumptuous it is for you who have but lately fled from sin to tread again the dark and crooked alleyways of vice, where every doorway hides a lurking demon, and every lighted window allures like the eyes of a lascivious woman. On what grounds do you justify such great self-confidence? Is it your invincible strength of will? Why, even St. Jerome confessed to Vigilantius that his reason for abandoning the haunts of men and seeking refuge in the wilderness was that he dared not trust himself amid the pitfalls of society. Have you achieved a mastery of yourself beyond St. Jerome? " They," says Ezechiel, " they who shall flee shall escape, and they shall be in the mountains like doves of the valley, all of them trembling." Physical valor and spiritual courage differ in this, that the former consists in pressing forward to the combat, but the latter, in fleeing from the enemy. And as when the gunshot echoes among the hills the flock of pigeons in the valley flutter to the mountain top and perch there, watchful and all trembling, so should converted souls act, who by God's grace are driven from the valley of death to the mount of holiness. The higher our station on the steep incline of sanctity, the more need there is for caution. It is unhappily true that in an instant one can pass from virtue down to vice, but alas! the op-
