M adame: I pity you much. It will be of great importance if you can leave the care of your affairs t o ------ | and spend the remain der of your life only in worshipping God. He requires no great matters of us: a little remembrance of Him from time to time; a little adoration; sometimes to pray for His grace, some times to return Him thanks for the, benefits He has given, you, and still gives you, in the midst of your trou bles. He asks you to console yourself with Him the oftenest you can. Lift up your heart to Him even at your meals and when you are in company; the least little remembrance will al ways be acceptable to Him. You need not cry very loud; He is nearer to us than we think. To be with God, there is no need to be continually in church. We may
make an oratory of our heart wherein to retire from time to time to con verse with Him in meekness, humil ity, and love. Every one is capable of such familiar conversation with God, some more, some less. He knows what we can do. Let us begin, then. Perhaps He is just waiting for one generous resolution on our part. Have courage. We have but little time to live; you are near 64, and I' am al most 80. Let us live and die with God. Sufferings will be sweet and pleasant to us while we are with Him; and without Him, the greatest pleasures will be cruel punishment to us. May He be blessed for all. Amen. Accustom yourself, then, by degrees thus to worship Him, to beg His grace, to offer Him your heart from time to time in the midst of your business, even every moment, if you
can. Do not scrupulously confine yourself to fixed rules, or particular forms of devotion, but act with a general confidence in God, with love and humility. You may assure ------- of my poor prayers and that I am their servant, and particularly Yours in our L o rd ,------ God In Me Sir: Not finding my manner of life in books, although I have no diffi culty about it, yet, for greater se curity, I shall be glad to know your thoughts concerning it. In a conversation some days since with a person of piety, he told me that the spiritual life was a life of grace, which begins with servile fear, which is increased by hope of eternal life, and which is consummated by pure love; that each of these states had its different stages, by which one arrives at last at that blessed consum mation. I have not followed all these meth ods. On the contrary, from I know not what instincts, I found that they discouraged me. This was the reason why, at my entrance into religion, I resolved to give myself up to God as the best return I could make for His love, and, for the love of Him to renounce all besides. For the first year I commonly em ployed myself during the time set apart for devotion with the thought of death, judgment, heaven, hell and my sins. Thus I continued some years, applying my mind carefully the rest of the day, and even in the midst of my business, to the presence of God, whom I considered always' as with me, often as in me. At length I came insensibly to do the same thing during my set time of prayer, which caused in me great delight and consolation. This prac tice produced in me so high an es teem for God that faith alone was capable to satisfy me in that point. Such was my beginning, and yet I must tell you that for the first 10 years I suffered much. The appre hension that I was not devoted to God as I wished to be, my past sins al ways present to my mind, and the great unmerited favors which God bestowed on me, were the matter and source of my sufferings. During this time I fell often, yet as often rose again. It seemed to me that all cre ation, reason, and God Himself were against me, and faith alone for me. I was troubled sometimes with thoughts that to believe I had re ceived such favors was an effect of my presumption, which pretended to be at once where others arrive only with difficulty; at other times, that it was a wilful delusion, and that there was no salvation for me.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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