Letter 124:  “Let man aim at the good which belongs to him.  What is this good?  A mind reformed and pure, the imitator of God, raising itself above things human, confining all its desires within itself.”

5. Hypocrites like whited Sepulchres.

“Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.” (Matt, xxiii. 27.)

Seneca:  “Those whom you regard as happy, if you saw them, not in their externals, but in their hidden aspect, are wretched, sordid, base; like their own walls adorned outwardly.  It is no solid and genuine felicity; it is a plaster, and that a thin one; and so, as long as they can stand and be seen at their pleasure, they shine and impose on us:  when anything has fallen which disturbs and uncovers them, it is evident how much deep and real foulness an extraneous splendour has concealed.”

6. Teaching compared to Seed.

“But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit; some an hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold.” (Matt xiii. 8.)

Seneca (Letter 38):  “Words must be sown like seed; which, although it be small, when it hath found a suitable ground, unfolds its strength, and from very small size is expanded into the largest increase.  Reason does the same....  The things spoken are few; but if the mind have received them well, they gain strength and grow.”

7. All Men are Sinners.

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1 John i. 8.)

Seneca (On Anger, i. 14, ii. 27):  “If we wish to be just judges of all things, let us first persuade ourselves of this:—­that there is not one of us without fault....  No man is found who can acquit himself; and he who calls himself innocent does so with reference to a witness, and not to his conscience.”

8. Avarice.

“The love of money is the root of all evil.” (1 Tim. vi. 10.)

Seneca (On Tranquillity of Soul, 8):  “Riches ... the greatest source of human trouble.”

“Be content with such things as ye have.” (Heb. xiii. 5.)

“Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content.” (1 Tim. vi. 8.)

Seneca (Letter 114):  “We shall be wise if we desire but little; if each man takes count of himself, and at the same time measures his own body, he will know how little it can contain, and for how short a time.”

Letter 110:  “We have polenta, we have water; let us challenge Jupiter himself to a comparison of bliss!”

“Godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1 Tim. vi. 6.)

Seneca (Letter 110):  “Why are you struck with wonder and astonishment?  It is all display!  Those things are shown, not possessed.... Turn thyself rather to the true riches, learn to be content with little.”