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the Lord He is God. I am sure of it through Thy grace, and I hear, Delight thou in the Lord and He shall give thee thy heart's desire. Therefore Thou dost call me to Thee, so that I may truly rejoice in Thee, and despise the consolations of the creature; and Thou dost promise me to grant my petitions. What are they? One thing have I desired of the Lord, which I will require, that I may love Thee, and that nothing may separate me from Thee for ever. Amen.

A Longer Prayer.

Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks, so longeth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul is athirst for God, yea even for the living God, when shall I come to appear before the presence of God? Tell me, O Thou Whom my soul loveth, where Thou feedest, where Thou makest Thy flock to rest at noon : for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of Thy companions? I have vowed a vow unto Thee, I will not suffer mine eyes to sleep, nor mine eyelids to slumber, neither the temples of my head to take any rest, until I find out a place for Thee, Lord Jesus, and Thou shalt rest in the tabernacle of my heart. In this desert land, Application to Commu- with no way and where there is no water, I whom Thou knowest, unhappy man that I am, yet am happy in this, that I stand before Thee this day, and come to Thee, that I may taste how sweet Thou art to my soul, that I may see Thy power and glory. I beseech Thee, by Thy great love, that Thou wilt not despise me a stranger and an exile, the wandering sheep: hide not Thou Thy face from me; Thou hatest nothing that Thou hast made: far less any of those things which Thou hast thus made again. For what is my hope? Art not Thou, my Lord, my Saviour? What is and what shall be my consolation for ever? Is it not Thou, the God of all comfort?

nion.

God forbid that I, Thy most unworthy son, should wish aught upon earth apart from Thee, or beyond Thee; that I should walk through difficult and crooked paths, or be delighted and rejoice in the consolation of the creature, which is but as a snare, and so that grief should seize the end of my joy. And what is that grief? Would that it may be such, that I may grieve that I have forsaken Thee the Fountain of living waters; that I may grieve most deeply from love of Thee :-I pray Thee hide not Thou Thy face from me. For what is my hope? Art not Thou, O Lord? No more will I walk through difficult and crooked ways. For where are those delights for the sake of which we have wearied ourselves? Are they not foul, base, mean, and for which we blush when they are passed? Truly,

truly it is a bitter thing, it is bitter to leave Thee, O most sweet Jesus. Thou art ineffable sweetness, Thou art all desirable. Alas! woe is me, If I leave Thee, most sweet Jesus. O the madness of the children of Adam! Why, I pray you, seek you cisterns which can hold no water? Seek ye the Fountain of living water, and drink, and be ye fully satisfied with the breast of His consolations.

Behold, O Lord, behold, O Jesu, my affliction; for although Thou be present here with me and with all, Thou ocean of all good, yet alas, we fly Thee when Thou followest us, and we seek filthy ditches, like the waters of Sodom and the Dead Sea, which satisfieth not thirst, but enflameth it the more. For that only is true joy, which is taken from Thee, my God. Of what sort is that joy? He knoweth who knoweth Thee, who hath tasted and seen how gracious Thou art, Lord, unto them that love Thee. What seekest thou, O my soul? delight thou in the Lord, and He shall give thee thy heart's desire? Seek thine own good. One thing is good for one creature, another for another, and all creatures have some good peculiar to themselves; the good of cattle is to fill the belly, to be free from want, to sleep, to sport, to live, to be well, to beget their kind. Is it good of this kind which thou seekest, who art a joint-heir with Christ? Why dost thou rejoice? because thou art the companion of cattle? raise up thy hope to the Good of all good things. For Thou, my God, art all Good: Thou alone canst satisfy the mind: Thou art the only joy which is most enduring with constant pleasantness; at Thy right hand are plea- ture is joy in sures for evermore! This it is which I love, when I love Thee, my God, I love all good, and perfect, and lasting, and pure. All other delights are short lived, whether from honour or from pleasure: all things are vain, and fleeting, and uncertain. For who can boast of the favour of the world, which passeth away in a moment? It is ever uncertain, and speaketh smoothly, like Joab, when it slayeth secretly: it floweth in softly, but at the end it biteth like an adder.

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God.

The children of this world experience the goadings of imagination and the gnawings of conscience, by which all that little sweetness becomes hidden or rather lost and quenched, whatever can be sweet apart from Thee, O highest Sweetness, our Happiness and Joy beyond all joy. Better is one day in Thy courts than a thousand: better are the crumbs which fall from Thy table, my Lord, than the delights of all the world. And while in Thee we possess all things, for the sake of what, I pray, should we leave Thee? In the sun I admire brightness, in the flowers beauty, taste in bread, in earth fertility; but from Thee, O God, are all these things; and doubtless Thou hast reserved for Thyself far more than, O my Creator, Thou hast given to Thy creatures. Yet perchance it would be wearisome to sigh after Thee, if the way to Thee and to Thy joy were long and through a desert; but lo, if

I will, I can even now be Thy friend, and rejoice before Thee, and in a contented mind may prepare a continual feast for Thee, and be crowned with glory and honour. Behold with your eyes, saith Thy holy Preacher, how that I have had but little labour, and have gotten unto me much rest1. Draw near unto Wisdom, and bear her good fruits; in her work thou shalt labour a little time, and quickly shalt thou eat of that which is born of her. Therefore I desire henceforth, from this moment, earnestly to follow Thee, Lord Jesus, and to embrace this virtue (here purpose some virtue). For if I do so, then lo, my heart and my flesh shall rejoice in the living God; but if I do not, then trouble and heaviness await me. Whom have I then in Heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of Thee. Thou art my Hope and my portion in the land of the living. Amen.

RULES FOR OBTAINING THE JOY WHICH SPRINGS FROM VIRTUE.

How pleasure is to be repelled.

Mortification

both

neces and

FIRST, when any one perceiveth himself to be enticed by pleasure, to susSuspend the pend his inclination, and restrain his longing, because that which mind in he seeketh or hopeth to obtain through sin, by praying and overtemptation. coming himself, he can obtain far more nobly and more profitably. Secondly, as often as pleasure inviteth, to think, as a certain one adviseth, that thou hast already enjoyed it; for it matters not whether that enjoyment hath been in reality, or in opinion only; since nothing can remain after it, save the grief for having had that pleasure, which thou canst seek in the Lord, and draw from the wells of the Saviour. Thirdly, to practise mortification and self-denial in both great and small circumstances; for this wonderfully conduceth to this end; nor will this be difficult, if one is well assured that instead of this consolation of the creature which thou hast lost, there is prepared for thee that which is eternal: yea even a divine consolation now in this life. For as often as any one relinquisheth any thing on account of the love of God, and sheweth himself liberal towards the divine Majesty, so often will he in return experience that Majesty liberal towards himself. For wickedness surpasseth not wisdom, nor our need Him Who is liberality itself. Yea, verily, there is no man that hath left home, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for the sake of the Lord's Name, but he shall receive an hundredfold-and in the world to come eternal life. But To him that when, dost thou ask, shall he receive that hundredfold? The Lord mortifieth answereth, He shall receive a hundredfold now in this present time; hundredfold houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and is given. lands with persecutions, and in the world to come eternal life,

sary sweet.

himself an

f Ecclus. li. 27.

And this it is which the Bridegroom insinuateth in the Canticles, "I am come into my garden," that is, the soul; "I have gathered my myrrh," because He hath stirred up to mortification; "I have eaten my honey-comb with my honey I have drunk my wine with my milk; eat, O friends: drink, yea drink abundantly, O beloved." For soon after mortification he had the honey-comb of the soul, and drinketh the "wine that maketh glad the heart of man." He visiteth the soul, even this our earth, and blesseth it; He maketh it very plenteous; He poureth abundantly upon it the rain of His graces, and blesseth the increase of it.

Ejaculations.

"One thing have I desired of the Lord, which I will require, even that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the fair beauty of the Lord and to visit His temple." Psalm xxvii. 4.

"I believe verily to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Psalm xxvii. 15.

"They shall be satisfied with the plenteousness of Thy house, and Thou shalt give them drink of Thy pleasures, as out of a river." Psalm xxxvi. 8.

"For with Thee is the well of life, and in Thy light shall we see light." Psalm xxxvi. 9.

"The Lord hath granted His loving-kindness in the day-time; and in the night season did I sing of Him, and made my prayer unto the God of my life.” Psalm xlii. 8.

IMAGE THE TWENTY-FIFTH.

EXAMINE AND IMITATE THE EXAMPLE OF ANY PARTICULAR VIRTUE, AS IT IS SHEWN THEE IN THE LIFE OF OUR LORD.

Observe, O Christian, what illustrious examples of faith and holiness the good Spirit and Christ, thy Lord, hath set before thee in the sacred Scriptures (A). In order that Virtue (B) and her ways may not be an offence unto thee, behold how thy Lord hath gone before thee in all instances of goodness (C). Imitate then and copy Him (D), and endeavour to follow Him. See," saith He, "that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount." Look to Christ as set before thee on the mount of His Passion (E). Hear Him also teaching on the mount of the Beatitudes (F). Behold, and consider that virtue (G) which He there pointeth out, and hear also God the Father, from Heaven (H) on that other mount of His Transfiguration, commanding us to hear His Son. Finally, flee from Sin (1), which would turn thee away from following Christ, lead thee from the difficult road of the Cross, which is the only way of virtue, and tempt thee to thine own destruction. For every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. Thus shrinking from that rough dealing with ourselves which virtue requires, or from a love of some momentary pleasure which is found in sin, he falls away from the path of Salvation.

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