every creature nothing to me, but only in Thee, and for Thee alone!

'O that I could go out of myself and get into Thee! That I could thrust my caitiff heart out of this breast to establish Thine, O my sweet Saviour, in its place!

'O let Thy true love transform me totally into Thee! Let me not live any longer but in Thee! Let me not love any creature but by, in, and for Thee, my Creator!

'O incomprehensible bounty, either take my soul out of this world or take the love of this world out of my soul! Either bereave me of my life or bestow on me Thy love!'

In all which raptures and affections the Holy Spirit is the best Director, Whose inward impulse and dictate you are diligently to follow-though still according to discretion and obedience-with a perpetual longing and loving, sighing and seeking, to advance your soul to divine union.

An excellent counsel

of St. An

3. Finally, I conclude with this hearty and heavenly counsel of St. Anthony to his disciples against thony. this dangerous coldness in devotion :- My brethren, let this be my general and particular precept unto you; never to lose your first fervour and good purposes, nor to grow slack in your observances, but to go always forward, and renew daily your devout exercises, as if you daily were new beginners in the way of perfection. This he often repeated and inculcated; and being on his deathbed, that his last words might remain more vividly

* See Vita Patrum, lib. i. cap. xv., Migne, Patrologia, tomus 73.

*

imprinted in their minds, he bequeathed unto them, as his final and never-to-be-forgotten testament, this piercing and pithy document, able to win, wound, and melt a flint into fervour and compunction:-O my loving children, I go the way of my forefathers; our Lord calls and invites me, and my soul thirsts after Him and heaven. But you, O my bowels, what will you do? I have often admonished you, and do at this last gasp leave unto you for my will and testament this warning-That you grow not tepid, and go not backward, and so on a sudden lose the pains and profit of so many years past. Think still you are to begin anew, as though what you had already suffered for Christ were nothing. Let your good-will and desires get every day new strength and vigour. Forget what is past, and run to what is before you. Live and labour with such fervour and purity, as if it were your first work that ever pleased God, or the last service you should ever render Him in this mortal life."

O devout souls, our days pass away swiftly, death is always at our heels, eternity approaches, wherein our God, Whom we have served and loved, will wipe the tears from our eyes, the sweat off our brows, and the blood off our wounds, and crown us with glory, peace, security, and immortality. Let us not lose heart in His service, nor hope in His goodness. He expects and invites us. Angels and saints offer their helping hands. The question is of eternal life, eternal light, eternal liberty, and eternal love!

* See Vita Patrum, lib. i. cap. lviii., Migne, Patrologiæ, tomus 73.

Second Treatise.

OF THE USE AND PRACTICE OF OUR SPIRITUAL WEAPONS,

HERE METHODICALLY ARRANGED AND DRAWN INTO SEVEN EXERCISES, AFFECTIVE ACTS OR ASPIRATIONS, ACCORDING TO THE DAYS OF THE WEEK.

Give me understanding, and I will search Thy law and I will keep it with my whole heart. Ps. cxviii. 34.

MONDAY.

OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD AND CONFIDENCE IN HIM.

The First Exercise.

1. To know Thee, O divine Fountain of goodness, is to be truly happy; and yet none can know Thee, O boundless and bottomless Sea of all perfections, but through Thy own manifestation and mercy. Vouchsafe, therefore, I beseech Thee, O most loving and liberal Lord, to enter this poor and empty heart of Thy meanest servant, to inform my ignorant soul with a glimpse of this necessary science, and to inflame my cold affection with a small spark of Thy love.

O omnipotent Creator of heaven and earth, both of which Thou fillest with Thy goodness and glory; 0 God of infinite power, excellent wisdom, immeasurable

goodness, and incomprehensible love, my soul thirsts after Thee, the essential Source of all felicity; my heart seeks Thee, the proper Place of its repose; it sighs to Thee, the natural Centre of all its hope and happiness. In Thy blessed mind, O my God, it first rested in its eternal possibility and similitude; thither it must again return, and there it must either rest eternally or perish for evermore. O let it now find Thee that it may ever

love Thee!

2. O Lord, most good, glorious, and gracious, most blessed and bountiful, most high and holy, most excellent and ineffable, what words or thoughts can express Thy purity and perfection! Let me know Thee, O Thou Life of my soul. Let me see Thee, O Thou Light of my eyes. Let me seek Thee, O Thou only Solace of my spirit. Let me find Thee, O Thou Desired of my heart. Let me embrace Thee, O my heavenly Spouse. Let me possess Thee, O Thou sovereign Sweetness and full Satiety of all my inward and outward senses. 0 that my heart could always think on Thee, my will ever love Thee, my mind still remember Thee, my understanding continually conceive Thee, my reason perpetually adhere to Thee, and my whole man incessantly praise Thee. O hide not Thy face from me, my Joy, my Light, and my Life. If I may not see Thee and live, O let me die that I may see Thee. I desire to die here, and be dissolved, that I may see Thee, know Thee, come to Thee, live with Thee, and love Thee eternally.

O ever blessed and glorious Divinity; O Father,

Who of Thine own substance bringest forth an ineffable Goodness, coequal, consubstantial, and coeternal with Thyself, which is Thy Son; O Father and Son, Who loving each other with infinite charity and content, are united together in the Holy Ghost, equally and unspeakably proceeding from You both; I admire Thee, adore Thee, and worship Thee with all the powers of my body and soul.

3. O sacred Deity! O Tri-Unity and Uni-Trinity! O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, Who wert, art, and shalt be for ever Almighty! I, Thy poor creature, prostrate before the throne of Thy Divine Majesty, from the abyss of my own nothingness invoke, adore, and acknowledge Thee the abyss of all perfection. I present Thee with all Thine own gifts, goods, and graces, which Thou hast plentifully poured out upon all Thy creatures. I offer up to Thy praise the affections of angels and men, the properties of the elements, the beauty and motion of the whole universe, and the essence of all being. 0 that my soul were capable of comprising unitedly all their several affections and perfections. How joyfully would it employ them in Thy praise! would it melt away in Thy presence! God, I make an entire oblation of them all, I acknowledge and adore Thee with them all, and desire to do it as frequently as I breathe, and as often as there are minutes in time, stars in the firmament, sands in the ocean, and numbers in all nature.

How sweetly Behold, O my