religious state, even after promise of
marriage: "Be zealous for the better gifts. And I shew unto you yet a
more excellent way."

2. It is _of faith_ that virginity is preferable to matrimony: "If any
one saith that the marriage state is to be preferred before the state
of virginity, let him be anathema."--COUNCIL OF TRENT.

The religious state is a more usual and a safer way of preserving
virginity than a life in the outer world.

3. The invitation to the counsels is _general;_ it may be accepted by
anyone who is not prevented by some particular impediment, as
marriage, sickness, or home obligations.

"The three counsels--of poverty, chastity, and obedience--constitute
the substance, of the religious state."--SUAREZ.

4. "I say to the unmarried, and to the widows: it is good for them if
they so continue, even as I. . . . The unmarried woman and the virgin
thinketh on the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body
and in spirit. But she that is married thinketh on the things of the
world, how she may please her husband."--ST. PAUL.

5. "As it is the duty of the pastor to propose to himself the holiness
and perfection of the faithful, his _earnest_ desires _must be in full
accordance_ with those of the Apostle when, writing to the
Corinthians, he says: 'I would that all men were even as myself;' that
is, that all embraced the virtue of continence."--CATECHISM OF COUN.
TRENT.

6. "A life of continence to be desired by all."--Marginal resume of
the above paragraph, CATECHISM OF COUN. TRENT, page 225.

7. "In the world there is a vast number of women who damn their souls;
the number of those who lose their souls in convents is very small."--
ST. LIGUORI.

CHAPTER XI.

MEANS OF PRESERVING A VOCATION TO THE RELIGIOUS STATE.--SOME
OBSTACLES.

Q. What are the means of preserving a vocation whilst preparing to
enter the religious state?

A. Prayer, retirement, and promptness in entering religion.

Q. Why is retirement, or seclusion from the world, necessary in order
to preserve the grace of a religious vocation?

A. Because an apparently trifling circumstance often causes the loss
of such a vocation. A day of amusement, a discouraging word, even from
a friend, an unmortified passion, or a conversation, especially with a
person of the opposite sex, often suffices to bring to naught the best
resolution of giving one's self entirely to God.

Q. Why should a vocation to the religious stat