It is like those carcasses that retain the
form of a human body as long as they are buried in the obscurity of
the tomb, but which, on being exposed to the air, are immediately
reduced to dust. Those who are separated from it without having ever
known it are exposed to be deceived by its perfidious allurements;
and those who, in order to know it, with a view of despising it,
desire to mingle in its feasts and pleasures, run a greater danger of
falling a victim to the seductions and corruption of its charms.--
How, then, shall you secure the advantage and escape the danger?
By shunning the world, you secure your heart and conscience against
its seductions; but this evasion, leaving you to consider it from a
remote standpoint exposes your mind to prejudices favorable to it,
and which, later, might become for you the source of many errors and
of many faults. How shall you surmount this twofold difficulty? On
the one hand you cannot mingle with the world without danger, and on
the other hand it will not do for you to ignore its dangers which
must be known in order to be avoided.
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