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LTHOUGH I have already said so much of the means whereby we may overcome self, and adorn ourselves with virtues, I will yet give you some further cautions.

First, in your endeavours after holiness, never be persuaded to adopt that routine of spiritual exercises, which divides the week, so as to set apart one day for one particular virtue, and another day for another; but let the order of your warfare and exercises be, to war against those passions which have been always injuring you, and which still often attack and injure you, and to adorn yourself with the virtues which are opposite to them, as perfectly as possible.

For when you have gained these virtues, you will have no difficulty in acquiring the rest, as occasion offers and occasions will present themselves, inasmuch as all the virtues are so interlinked one with another that you cannot possess one perfectly without having all the rest already, as it were, on the threshold of your heart.

Secondly, never set a fixed time for the attainment of virtues, nor say that you will gain