Page:Rules of Life, Johan Amos Comenius.djvu/17

Rh flight is always safer than conflict; and that Joseph acted wisely who, when a reasonable defence of his upright purpose did not suffice, chose rather to rescue himself by flight than to parley; an enemy is cast out with less honour and with more danger than his entrance is prevented.

3. If at any time you must fight against vices and do not altogether escape the wounds of conscience, immediately recollect yourself, and instantly cast out the nest which satan is beginning to build within you; that is, immediately, at the very beginning of sin, forthwith have recourse to penitence, before the horror of sin expire, and the deadly poison become sweet, and conscience begin to die. Whoever knowingly and willingly accustoms himself to sin, surrenders to the devil his hands and feet to be so bound by the chains of evil custom, that he cannot set himself free, although he wish for it (2 Tim. ii. 25, 26). Let the following lines be a perpetual law to you:

Withstand beginnings: Medicine comes too late, When in the mortal frame, through long delays, Diseases have seized hold upon the Vitals.

There is no refuge from storms to a conscience disturbed with sin, except the port of penitence; more easily reached if you have not departed far; with greater difﬁculty, even with the danger of being swallowed up, if you have been carried far away. Never, therefore, commit sin because of the hope of becoming penitent, it being uncertain whether you may be able to do this; for those sinning spontaneously of their own mere motion, are wont to be forsaken by the Spirit of God, and without this guide to penitence, they arrive not at penitence (Heb. xii. 17). Think on this likewise, that it is better that a vessel never be soiled than that it be to be cleansed, and that it is better not to be wounded than to have to be cured, and better to exclude an enemy from the interior of a kingdom, than to wish to expel him