alleging specious pretexts of vainglory, then the soul should raise its gaze to its Creator and Lord, and if it sees that the thing is not contrary to God's service, it ought to take the very opposite course to the course suggested by the tempter, and say with St. Bernard: I did not begin for you, and I will not leave off for you" Besides, success in any profession is not attained except by hard work, and hard work is a wonderful cure for vainglory. Hard work crowds out thoughts of vanity. Work is hard because we are weak. Hard work reveals our weakness and humbles us. Real hard work is not work done with facility and zest, as when a healthy lad runs his mile. Real hard work is gone through in spite of reluctance and pain, and occasional inability to proceed: it is as the limping, hobbling gait of a lame man. The advantages that men are born with, or come in for without labor, or possess henceforth in comfortable security without further need of effort, such are the advantages most likely to turn a man's head with vainglory. Still, labor as we may, some of us will never attain success in this world. God has His own way of treating every soul. Some He leads to heaven by the road of temporal success, but many by the way of failure, poverty, and humiliation, the same by which Himself, as man, mounted to His heavenly throne. Never was there to human eyes such an utterly hopeless failure as Christ crucified. Accused, found guilty,
