Note XVI.

This truth becomes evident by means of the following apologue:

A father gave his son education and instruction, that is, the means to know how to conduct himself. He cedes him a field to cultivate and says to him: here is the rule to follow in order to make this field fertile and to assure your existence. I have given you instruction so that you may understand this rule. If you follow it, your field will produce much and will afford you repose in old age; if you do not follow it, it will produce nothing and you will die of hunger. Having said this, he leaves him to act as he wills. Is it not true that this field will produce in proportion to the care that is bestowed upon its cultivation and that all negligence will redound to the detriment of the harvest? In old age, therefore, the son will be happy or unhappy, according to whether he has followed or not the rule his father traced for him. God is even more provident, for He warns us at each instant whether we are proceeding well or ill. He sends us the Spirits to inspire us, but we do not listen to them. There is, besides, this difference: in granting man new existences, God always provides him with resources to repair the errors of the past, whereas the son of whom we speak, if he employs his time badly, will no longer have any resource. [Question 964.]