of sin?_ To renounce that which
tempts thee; never again to open the book that excites thine imagination?
Not to bestow thine affection on one who is not devout, and whose presence
steals the peace from thy soul?

Wilt thou go now and be loving and forbearing towards one who has vexed
thee?...

Good, My child!... Go, then, return to thy daily toil; be silent, humble,
resigned, charitable; then return to Me with a heart yet more loving and
devoted, and _I_ shall have for thee fresh blessings.

XXIII.

"There will soon be none left," said S. Francis de Sales, "who will love
poor sinners but GOD and myself."

Oh! why do we fail in love towards those poor sinful ones! Are they not
very much to be pitied?

When they are prosperous, pray for them; but when misfortune comes (and
trouble weighs heavily upon the wicked), death depriving them of the only
beings they did not hate, afflicting them with a loathsome disease,
delivering them up to scorn and misery--oh! then, when all this comes upon
them, love them freely. It is by affection alone that we can reach the
worst characters, and the souls that are steeped in sin.

How many have died impenitent, who, if only some one had cared for them
and shown them love, might have become at last saints in heaven! Oh! the
sins that are committed, oh! the souls we suffer to wander from GOD, and
all because we are so wanting in love towards them.

XXIV.

Let us always be on our guard against _Prejudice_.

Some women have a way (of which they themselves are unconscious) of
turning the cold shoulder to some one member of their family.

For what reason? They cannot say, simply because the cause is never very
clearly defined and in this lies all the mischief.

Perhaps an air of indifference they may have fancied, and which arose
merely from fatigue, or trouble that could not be confided to them.

A word misinterpreted, because heard at a time when they felt
discontented, and their morbid imagination made everything appear in a
false light.

Some scandal to which they ought never to have listened, or, at least,
should have endeavored to fathom, going direct to the person concerned and
seeking an explanation.

And behold the result: they in their turn become cold, reserved, and
suspicious, misinterpreting the slightest gesture ... in a few days arises
a coldness, from the feeling they are no longer beloved; then follow
contempt and mistrust, finally, a hatred that gnaws an