5. Why wilt thou put off thy resolution from day to day? Arise, and begin this very moment, and say: Now is the time for doing, and now is the time to fight; now is the proper time to amend my life.
When thou art troubled and afflicted, then is the time to merit.
Thou must pass through fire and water, before thou comest to refreshment.
Unless thou do violence to thyself, thou wilt not overcome vice.
As long as we carry about us this frail body, we cannot be without sin, nor live without uneasiness and sorrow.
We would fain be at rest from all misery: but because we have lost innocence by sin, we have also lost true happiness.
We must therefore have patience, and wait for the mercy of God, till iniquity pass away, and this mortality be swallowed up by immortal life.
6. O! how great is human frailty, which is always prone to vice!
To-day thou confessest thy sins, and to-morrow thou again committest what thou hast confessed!