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not only which may equal, but even which may approach it? What should, therefore, be my gratitude for so many favors? What my desire, what my ardor, what my impatience for the possession of such a blessing? What should, therefore, be my confusion to find, that instead of the transports I should feel at this hour, I find in my heart nothing but coldness and insensibility ? Thou callest me to thee to possess thee; and instead of eagerly seizing so great a good, I remain stupid and unmoved, as if it were a question concerning some perishable and inconsiderable thing

If I cannot put an end to such stupidity, O my God; if I cannot relieve myself of it, yet I condemn, I detest, I abhor it. But as thy grace may set me free from it, and inspire sentiments which are opposed to it, I have recourse to thee; and with my whole heart I beseech thee not to refuse the help of this omnipotent and absolutely free grace, which thou never refusest to any who implore it with humility and faith. Grant, LORD, that I may desire thee alone, and that I may seek in thee alone a remedy for my ills, and a comfort for my sufferings. Fill my heart with love for thee, and desires for the possession of thyself. Overcome the stupidity and insensibility of this miserable heart, and grant that instead of grovelling in the dust, as it here

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tofore has done, it may rise above the heavens, and attach itself to thee, who art the only source of its happiness, and the only legitimate centre of its motion. In a word, LORD, grant that I may unite myself to thee with a correspondent love; that I may unite myself by a contemplation of thy immortal essence, and by the possession of thy glory and of thy bliss. Grant this, O merciful Father, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE DYING SHOULD EXCITE THEMSELVES TO LOVE GOD WITH

A LOVE OF GRATITUDE.

The duty of which I have spoken in the preceding chapter is doubtless very necessary: but it is also true that it is not sufficient. We must love God with a love of interest, but we must love him, above all, with a love of gratitude. The graces which he grants us must inspire an admiration of so much goodness, and lead us effectually to respond to them by a sincere and absolutely disinterested love, as speaks St. John: “We love him because he first loved us."

The most proper means to create and excite more and more these dispositions in our hearts, is, to consider with attention the motives which may inspire them. Many of these might be detailed, but there are three in particular to which I shall here confine myself; the advantages which arise from the love which God has for us; what he has considered needful to do that he might communicate them to us; and what we have done ourselves to prevent their being shed upon us. For the first, we are indebted to the goodness of

God for all that we have had, and that we have lost; for all that yet remains, and for all that we hope to come; not having, nor even being capable to have, any actual good, any advantage, however unreal or unsubstantial, which comes not from the infiņite goodness of God. “What hast thou, O man,says his Apostle, that thou didst not receive ?" This is one consideration, but it is not all.. Among these blessings, which God has the goodness to grant us, there are some very precious in themselves, and very useful for us. What would become of us without remission of our sins?

Could we without this inestimable favor, escape the punishments and miseries of hell, the gnawing of that worm which dieth not, the devouring heat of that fire which is never quenched? What would become of us without the supernatural helps of divine grace; without the assistance of the Holy Spirit? Left to ourselves, what could we do but sin, and consequently perish? Above all, should we forget the blessedness and glory which God prepares for us in his paradise? Here is not one benefit, but a combination of infinite benefits, which transcend the imagination, and surpass not only our merits, but our natural capacity also, in such a manner, that it would have been impossible to give possession of it to innocent man without raising his

nature above itself, and without placing it in a heavenly and supernatural state. We find in this blessedness all that can excite desire; and we find it on one hand so abundant, that it is impossible to increase its not even by thought; and on the other, we find it all pure and separate, not only from evil, but from the shadow and the appearance of evil.

We find in it honor and glory; we find in it utility; we find in it pleasure and satisfaction; and what is more, each of these blessings is not only infinite, but eternal; what endures for ever, and shall never end. What, then, could we desire more? and consequently, in this respect, what could we add to the goodness which God has evinced to us? But that which gives us an idea still more striking, is the consideration of what it was necessary that God should do to communicate to us all these blessings. We should have indeed incurred for ever an infinite obligation, though all these benefits had cost him nothing, and though to confer them he should have done no more than at the creation of the world, when He spake the word, and it was made; He commanded and it stood fast.But it must be acknowledged, that the obligation which we should have incurred under this supposition, would have been scarcely of any value when compared with

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