into glory, shall say (Wis. v. 3), These are they, whom we had sometime in derision, and for a parable of reproach. We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints.

The servants of God ought, therefore, to be persuaded that it is losing time to endeavour to appease those that murmur; that this life is short, and that the best way is to suffer with patience, to imitate our Lord, and to leave everything else to him.

However this does not hinder, but that we may sometimes be obliged to give a reason for our conduct, either in public or in private, when the salvation of our neighbour, the good of the church, and the glory and service of God require it; but then we must do it with such moderation, that in exactly satisfying the truth as far as we ought, we admit no passion therein; and, that we do not murmur against those that murmur; otherwise by justifying ourselves on one hand, we shall fall on the other into the crime of our accusers.

But because we almost always exceed in what concerns ourselves, we ought to follow therein the advice of some servant of God; and take care, above all things, not to complain too much against those that use us ill, or exaggerate the injury they do us: for the more just these complaints may appear, the more dangerous they are to the soul. By thus complaining, it loses the purity of patience, falls into presumption, disedifies the fellow-creature, weakens the vigour of charity, and attributes to itself a part of the judgment which belongs entirely to God. So that if after these complaints, it happens to enter seriously into itself, it will very often find more to correct there than in the tongue of slanderers, of which it makes so many complaints. It is much better at that time to make them to God, who sees all things, desiring none but him to be the witness of what we suffer, pouring out our hearts before him, and remembering, that in silence and meekness of spirit there is a hidden treasure of spiritual goods, which depends only on us to find out. Happy is he that finds it, and enjoys in secret that precious gift, which slanderers are unaquainted with.

V. Slander is an incurable disorder: it is, therefore, unprofitable to endeavour to heal it; and we ought to despise it, if we are desirous of preserving the tranquillity of our heart. For the most part, those who slander, do it either to divert themselves or to injure us. Those that slander merely for the pleasure of slandering, have little scruple about what pain they may occasion others thereby, and do not imagine they stand in need of any remedy. Their pleasure is even augmented, when one is troubled at what they say; and they are by so much the more excited to speak, as one bears their words more impatiently.

For this reason, the ancient philosophers so prudently advised,

to consider slanders as salutary instructions, and as a mirror which represents our defects to us. For what a friend excuses out of friendship, or dissembles out of consideration, or sees not out of negligence, the slanderer speaks it freely, and shows us clearly the vices we ought to be afraid of. Which made St. Bernard say (Lib. de Consid.), "That virtue would be weakened, and would lose its whole lustre, if it remained without exercise; that slanderers and persecutors are they that exercise it; and that by suffering their violences, and doing them good for evil, it becomes purer and more perfect."

This saint adds, that the religious should not be subject to murmuring. May God grant his grace to all those that are religious, that this reproach may not fall upon them; and that we may all have continually before our eyes this sentence of the apostle St. James (i. 26): If any man think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man's religion is vain.

CONTEMPLATION.-On Christ, concerning the Murmurings of Men. I adore thee, O infinite goodness! O my Lord and my happiness! I give thee a thousand thanks for all the means thou makest use of, and for all the pains thou sufferest, in order to disengage me from the love of earthly things. If I had my eyes open, how could I remain one moment fixed to the world, whose malice is so great that it presumes to rise up against thee, O my sovereign happiness! how could I live without blessing thee? Why am I in this life? Ah, Lord! place me where I may praise thee without interruption; lead me into the company of those pure spirits who behold thee, prize thee, love thee, and adore thee; and whose whole occupation is to glorify thy holy name. But till thou bestowest this favour upon me, give my heart a profound contempt of human praises, and of all those tongues that know not how to honour thee. Though every part of our bodies were to be changed into tongues, and all the celestial spirits were to join us in praising what thou hast done for us, what would it be in comparison of what thou art, of what thou deservest, and of the love which thou hast expressed for us? And yet this single tongue which thou hast given to each of us, is not employed in blessing thee.

Is there anything in thee, O thou love of my soul! but what we might and ought to praise? Why should we refuse thee praises? Is it because thou eatest with sinners? observest not the sabbathday? and conversest with the poor and mean people, rather than with the proud and rich of the world? Is it because the Pharisees say, that thou art possessed with the devil, and art a Samaritan? that thou hast done no good to men? that they have found nothing commendable in thee, nor have felt the effects of thy divine virtue? Were they not sensible of thy mercy and meekness? and were they so blind as to see nothing in thee but their own vices? How then,

O my God! can I desire that the world should see in me what it has not seen in thee? and that it should say the good of me which it did not say of thee?

Since death and life are in the power of the tongue (Prov. xviii. 21), and since the world has said nothing of thee, who art the true life, but words of death; Lord thou wilt open my lips, and my mouth shall declare thy praise (Ps. 1. 17). With my whole heart I will praise thy infinite greatness; I will give thee thanks for the blessings those ungrateful people have not acknowledged in thee. I will bless thee as long as I live, O thou life of my soul! because they have murmured against thee, for those very favours thou bestowedst on them.

II. I adore that charitable condescension, O my Saviour! which made thee converse and eat with sinners, that thou mightest gain them to thee. For, alas! what should become of me, if thou didst converse only with the just? What hopes should I have of obtaining the pardon of my sins, if I saw none but saints in thy company? What would become of my wounds and infirmities, if thou didst not enter into the houses of the sick? Let the Pharisees say what they will of thee, thou art my salvation, my mercy, and my refuge. The table of sinners is no less suitable to thee than that of angels.

Enter, therefore, into my heart, O God of love! abide and eat with me: and since thou knowest how thou shalt be received, and the little I can present thee with, thou wilt have the goodness to bear with the poverty of this house. Everything in it is poor, cold, and disagreeable. Thou wilt find nothing in it but weak desires, corrupt and sinful works, capable of disgusting thee. Thou canst not however, O thou Lord of my soul! dispense with thyself from entering therein, since I desire it; and thou inspirest me with the desire thereof. Thou wilt put all things there in such a state as thou wouldst have them; all blessings will come thither with thee, and thou wilt receive thyself therein.

Remember, after saying that thou wilt come to him, and make thy abode with him that loves thee and keeps thy words (John, xiv. 23), thou hast not ceased to take care of sinners, to seek them, and visit them, though they neither loved nor knew thee: for thou comest to the just, because they love thee; and to sinners, that they may love thee. Raise up, therefore, thy spirit in me, O my God! fill my heart with thy love, and repair all the disorders thou findest therein. If the Pharisees murmur at it, the angels will rejoice, and I shall bless thee eternally for it.

III. I bless thee now, O Lord! for being pleased to take no other rest on the sabbath-day, than that which thou foundest in doing good to men. When thy divine love, always active, after having created the world in six days, rested on the seventh, it was not that it might remain in idleness. The Pharisees, who were

ignorant of that secret of thy love, murmured at the good which thou didst at that time. They knew not that thy sabbath, O my God! is to take thy rest in my soul, and that for this reason thou hast commanded that I should be taken up with nothing else but thee alone on that day. But let the world say of me what it pleases, I acknowledge and adore that eternal love, which induced thee, for my good, to create so many creatures from nothing. I adore that desire whereby thou art willing to dwell and repose in I adore that goodness, by which thou callest thyself the Lord of the sabbath (Matt. xii. 8), in order to bestow favours upon me on that day, as well as on all the others, in which thou didst create the universe. Let not my sins, O my God! hinder the effects of so beneficent a will.

me;

I adore thee, O divine reputed Samaritan! vanquisher and enemy of devils. Those that murmured against thee, being blinded by the malice of their hearts, knew not what they said; but I, who know this truth, give thee thanks for having taught me it. Thou didst appear, O my Saviour! under the figure of a sinner, and as a Samaritan, unknown to the world. Thou travelledst on earth, and foundest miserable people thereon, wounded by their enemies, without help or remedy; thou, concerned at their misery, carried them upon thy shoulders, dressed their wounds, and showed them thereby that thou wast truly our neighbour and friend.

Discover to me, O divine love! that charitable heart: make me sensible what thy joy was, when, being called a Samaritan out of contempt, thy tenderness and compassion had obliged thee to become one for me. Afflicted, on the one hand, to see that those slanderers acknowledged not the grace granted to them; and, on the other, that they would not permit thee to heal their wounds. Perform, O Lord! in regard of me, what thou wouldst have me to perform in regard of thee. Love me, make me feel the effects of thy love; be ever with me; have thy eyes continually upon me; since it is from thee I am to receive the power, strength, and light which I have need of, for accomplishing what thou desirest of me. IV. I also bless thee, O divine Jesus! and adore with my whole heart that great mercy which thou hast testified to sinners; when, without entering into the houses of the priests, the doctors of the law, and the great and powerful of the world, thou favouredst the wishes of Zaccheus the sinner, who was desirous of seeing thee and receiving thee into his house; though thou knewest they would murmur thereat. Whence comes this, O Lord? Is it, therefore, possible that the desires of sinners, imperfect as they are, should be so precious in thy sight?

But is there, O my Jesus! a greater sinner than I am? I desire thee as Zaccheus did, O my salvation! I desire thee, O my sovereign good! I desire thee, O my mercy! I desire thee, O my

riches, my friend, my redeemer, my father, my treasure, my whole glory, and all my felicity! I languish with the desire of seeing thee; but, like Zaccheus, I am so diminutive that the multitude wherewith I am encompassed hinders me from seeing thee. All my comfort is that thou seest me, knowest me, and dost not require my desire to be perfect, provided it be sincere.

Grant therefore, O eternal truth! that this imperfect heart may at least desire thee sincerely. Look upon me with mercy, as thou didst upon Zaccheus and Matthew. Come unto me, and grant that I may receive thee with love and joy. Bring salvation and peace to this house, and abide in it always.

V. I bless thee, O my God! for all the favours thou hast bestowed on the world, and which it has not acknowledged; for all the actions on account of which it murmured against thee; and I give thee a thousand thanks for having vouchsafed to suffer the persecution of those venomous tongues, for my consolation. Teach me that sweet truth, which thy holy prophet declared to us when he said of thee: Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy face, from the disturbance of men. Thou shalt protect them in thy tabernacle from the contradiction of tongues.-Ps. xxx. 21, 22.

How happy a retreat is this, O my God! and how charming a refuge is the secret of thy countenance? When wilt thou receive my heart therein, that I may become insensible to the discourses of men? They say what they do not see, and what they do not know. But what does not he see who is hidden in the secret of thy countenance? who is refreshed with the salutary waters of thy grace, nourished with thy heavenly bread? who enjoys thy secret communications, and possesses that hidden treasure which the world knows not? Why, O Lord! am I so sensible of what men say, but because I also love what they esteem, and do not relish what is hidden in thee?

If thou be my food and life, what matters it to me their saying I am poor and miserable? If I am wholly possessed with thy love, ought I to be afflicted when they say I am good for nothing? Let me, O my God! be unprofitable to the world, provided I be possessed with thee. Let them say what they please, provided I hear thee. Let them murmur against me, provided I enjoy thee. Let them reject me, provided I find thee. Let them tear me to pieces, provided I satisfy thee. What hurt will all their discourses do me, or rather what advantage shall I reap from thence, if I love thee, O thou only happiness of my soul! Break asunder, 0 ye heavens! be opened, ye eternal gates! and let me behold my Lord and sovereign good. But what do I say, O my divine Jesus! heaven is deaf and hears me not; thy heart is my true heaven, it has eyes to see me, ears to hear me, wisdom to know me, light to guide me, and beauty to charm me.