Of the little progress we make in Virtue

We should be very much asham'd to own our selves or to be thought as ignorant after ten and twenty years study of the sciences, as we were the first half year; and much more asham'd to have it thought that we are contented to be so. And yet how many who make profession of piety, whose great business it is to become perfect, are not asham'd to confess, and to have it believe, that they would think themselves happy if after as many years study in the sublime science of Salvation, they were but as fervent, as mortifyed, and as near being Saints, as when they were but six months converted? they do indeed strive to banish those thoughts by giving themselves up to the insipid pleasures of a careless Life, but sooner or later Death will come, and what will their thoughts be then?

from Christian Reflections by Fr. Jean Croiset