Devil is, thou knowest.
Let us then see what is the world. It lies, saith Saint John, in three
things: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life. What are these? The lust of the flesh is not love, for that is a
fruit of the Spirit. It is self-love: worshipping thyself, comforting
thyself, advantaging thyself, and regarding all others as either toys or
slaves for that great idol, thyself. The lust of the eye is not
innocent enjoyment of the gifts of God: doth a father give gifts to his
child in order that she may _not_ use and delight in them? It lies in
valuing His gifts above His will; taking the gift and forgetting the
Giver; robbing the altar of God in order to deck thine idol, and that
idol thyself. Covetousness, love of gain, pursuit of profit to
thyself--these are idolatry, and the lust of the eye. The pride of
life--what is this? Once more, decking thyself with the property of
God. Show and grandeur, pomp and vanity, revelling and folly--all to
show thee, to aggrandise thee, to delight thee. The danger of abiding
in the world is lest the world get into thee, and abide in thee. Beware
of the thought that there is no such danger in the cloister. The world
may be in thee, howsoever thou art out of the world. A queen may wear
her velvet robes with a single eye to the glory of God, and a nun may
wear her habit with a single eye to the glory of self. Fill thine heart
with Christ, and there will be no room left for the world. Fill thine
heart with the world, and no room will be left for Christ. They cannot
abide together; they are contrary the one to the other. Thou canst not
saunter along the path of life, arm-in-arm with the world, in pleasant
intercourse. Her face is not toward the City of God: if thine be, ye
must go contrary ways. `How can two walk together, except they be
agreed' what direction to pursue? And remember, thou art one, and the
world is many. She is strong enough to pull thee round; thou art not at
all likely to change her course. And the peril of such intercourse is
that the pulling round is so gradually effected that thou wilt never see
it."

"But how am I to help it, Father?"

"By keeping thine eye fixed on God. Set the Lord alway before thee. So
long as He is at thy right hand, thou shalt not be moved."

Father Mortimer was silent for a moment; and when he spoke again, it was
rather to himself, or to God, than to me.

"Alas for the Church of Go