563. It is well known that habit becomes second nature, so that what is easy for one person is difficult for another. The same is true of self-examination and confessing its results. Is there anything easier for a hired labourer, a porter or a farm-labourer than to toil with his hands from morning to night? Yet on the other hand a gentleman who leads a soft life could not do the same for half an hour without fatigue and sweat. It is easy for a runner with a staff and in soft shoes to cover a mile, while one who is used to riding in a carriage can hardly run slowly from one street to the next.
[2] Any artisan who works hard at his job performs it easily and willingly, and when he is away from it is anxious to get back to it; while another who has the same trade, but is lazy, can hardly be at length induced to practise it. It is much the same with anyone who holds any office or is engaged in any study. Is anything easier for the religious zealot than to pray to God, or more difficult for the slave of irreligion, or the reverse of these? Is not any priest who is preaching for the first time before the king afraid? But once he is established as a preacher, he proceeds fearlessly. What is easier for one who is an angel than to lift up his eyes to heaven, or for one who is a devil than to cast them down to hell? But if the second man becomes a hypocrite, he can look up to heaven as well as the first, but keep his heart turned away. The end he has in view and the disposition it engenders permeates every person.
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