He, at whose voice heaven trembles, even He, Great as He is, knows how to stoop to me. "Vain pageantry and pomp of earth, adieu! A MEDITATION. "O, the grace of God! O, the purity of God! The goodness of God! can "Is it possible, my Beloved, that men love Thee, without experiencing consolation and happiness in their love? "To me every event is God; and whether it be joyful or afflictive, I receive it with equal gratitude, knowing that He will send me only what I need. "To me every object is God. I do not go into distinctions, and say, this is mine, or that is mine. But I say, God is mine; everything belongs to God; and I have an inward conviction, which is better understood than expressed, that in the possession of God I have all that God has." A MEDITATION. "Have I not infinitely more than an hundredfold in this life,' in so entire possession as Thou, my God, hast taken of me; in that unshaken firmness which Thou givest me in my sufferings, in that perfect tranquillity in the midst of a furious tempest, which assaults me on every side; in that unspeakable joy, enlargedness and liberty which I enjoy, at the very time of an imprisonment, rigorous and severe? I have no desire that my imprisonment should end before the right time. I love my chains. Everything is equal to me, as I have no will of my own, but purely the love and will of Him who possesses me. My senses, indeed, have not any relish for such things; but my heart is separated from them, and borne over them; and my perseverance is not of myself, but of Him who is my life; so that I can say with the Apostle, 'It is no more I that live, but Jesus Christ that liveth in me.' And if his life is in me, 80 my life is in Him. It is He in whom I live and move and have my being." FENELON. Fenelon, one of the purest names and most beautiful characters in French religious history, was born at Chateau de Fenelon, Perigord, 1651, and died at Cambrai, 1715. Louis XIV. made him preceptor of his grandsons, the Dukes of Burgundy and Anjou. Embracing the views of Madame Guyon and the Quietists in respect to the inner life and its experiences, he lost favor with the court and ecclesiastical authority, but was given the bishophic of Cambrai, in the district provinces. Here he greatly endeared himself to the people by his strong sympathy with them, and by the beauty and simplicity of his character. On hearing of the burning of the Archepiscopal Palace, containing his libraries and art treasures, he is said to have exclaimed: "Better all there, than the cottage of one poor peasant." A PRAYER FOR MORNING. "Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep me, through thy grace, this day without sin: and defend me, with all my dear relations, in the same, with thy mighty power, from running into any kind of danger, for the merits of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." FOR NOON. "O Lord, Heavenly Father, let thy faithfulness and truth preserve me from the arrow that flieth by day, and from the plague that destroyeth at noonday! But above all, from the plague of my own heart: And dispel the darkness that is in me by the light of thy heavenly doctrine, and keep me evermore in the true knowledge and love of Thee, and of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, my Sun and my Shield, till I arrive at the perfect light of eternity, where Thou art with Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, and livest and reignest forever. Amen." 66 FOR EVENING. Lighten the darkness of my mind I beseech Thee, O Lord. And by thy great Mercy defend me with all my dear relatives and friends from all perils and dangers of this night, for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen." From Fenelon's "Instructions for the Education of a Daughter." "O, my God and Father, Thou knowest better than I how much I love Thee. Thou knowest it as I cannot, for nothing is more completely hidden from me than the depths of my own heart. I desire to love Thee, and fear lest I should not love Thee as I ought. I ask of Thee an abundant and pure love. Thou seest this desire, for Thou hast implanted it in me; regard then the want which Thou beholdest in thy creature. O God, whose love to me is sufficient to inspire a boundless affection in return, look not upon the torrent of iniquity in which I was almost swallowed up, but rather on thy mercy. "Lord, Thou art the God of nature; all things obey thy word. Thou art the soul of all being, and even of those things that as yet are not. Thine are all things, and shall not my heart be Thine, that heart which Thou hast formed, and dost keep in life? It is Thine, and no longer mine. 66 "But, O Lord, Thou art mine, for I love Thee. Thou art my all, my eternal Portion. I ask not earthly consolations, nor extraordinary gifts, nor |