[296] Abundance of little things that have all their conveniences have all their inconveniences also, and take up our time, and so would shut out greater things, if they be not cast aside themselves, and would become great sins by such a consumption of our time, Luke x. 42.
[297] Convivia, quæ dicuntur (cum sint commessationes modestiæ et bonis moribus inimicæ) semper mihi displicuerunt; laboriosum, et inutile ratus vocare et vocari, &c. Idem.
[298] Laertius saith of Solon, that Thespim tragœdias agere et docere prohibuit, inutilem eas falsiloquentiam vocans.
[299] 1 Pet. iv. 3.
[300] Eph. ii. 2.
[301] Sicut ignis in aqua durare non potest, ita neque turpis cogitatio in Dei amante: quoniam omnis qui Dei amator est, etiam laboris amans est: cæterum labor voluntarius, naturaliter voluptati inimicus existit. Marcus Erem.
[302] See the directions for prayer, hearing, reading, and the sacrament. Part ii.
[303] See in my tract on Heb. xi. 1, called "The Life of Faith."
[304] See my book of the Mischiefs of Self-ignorance.
[305] Thus evil may be made the object and occasion of good: it is good to meditate on evil to hate it, and avoid it. Keep acquaintance with conscience, and read over its books, and it will furnish your thoughts with humbling matter.