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a boy at school was filled with a longing for worldly honors. One day he met St. Philip Neri and the venerable old man asked him: "Francis, what do you intend to be? " " I will be the genius of the school and bear off all the honors." " And then?" "I will be a priest." "And then?" "I will be a bishop." "And then?" "I will be a cardinal." " And then? " " Pope." " And then? " " I shall die, I suppose." "And then?" Ah, what then, what then? On the answer to that last then depends an eternity of happiness or an eternity of misery. But worldly pleasures— could I exchange my soul for a life of pleasure? Oh, no, for the highest carnal pleasure is as pain compared to the joys of heaven. God tells me that " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive what joys He has prepared for those who love Him." And shall I forfeit all that for a low, sensual gratification which I indulge in one moment only to repent of it the next? Time is but a moment compared to eternity, and so I am the most foolish of fools if for a momentary gratification I sacrifice an eternity of joy and incur an eternity of misery. Think of Lazarus and Dives. Dives was a rich man who feasted sumptuously every day and gave not a thought to God or the value of his own soul, and Lazarus was a beggar dying of starvation on the rich man's doorstep, with never a friend in all the world but an old dog that licked his sores. They both died — Lazarus on the doorstep and Dives at his table. What was the lot of each? Lazarus, the Gos-