disagreeable service for love of Christ. These are a sort of groundwork of such longings as yours, without which others would be suspicious. Well, practise such results of your longings as these neither object nor opportunity can be lacking-it is entirely within your power to do this, and consequently you ought to do it. It is useless to imagine that you would do those good works which are beyond your reach or impossible, if you neglect such as are attainable. So henceforth be diligent in the practice of common lowly works of charity, humility, and the like, and you will soon find the benefit of so doing. Magdalene needed to wash the Saviour's Feet, and to wipe them with her hair before she dared speak heart to heart with Him; she anointed His Head with oil before she was filled with the balm of Heavenly contemplation.

It is well to aim high, but we must regulate our aims and desires according to what is seasonable and possible. Gardeners prune away the leaves of certain plants, in order to let all the sap and juices go to the formation of fruit, rather than to mere exuberant foliage. And in like manner, it is well to hinder the mere multiplying of wishes, lest the soul should rest in them, and neglect to produce those results, of which the smallest, when practical and real, is worth all imaginable vague impossibilities. God requires

a faithful fulfilment of the merest trifle given us to do, rather than the most ardent aspirations for things to which we are not called.

After all, if these remedies do not help you, be patient; wait till the sun arise, and it will disperse the mists. Be of good cheer, "this sickness is not unto death, but for the Glory of God." . I wished to say something to you, rather as a proof how sincerely I wish your well-doing, than because I feel able to help you. But do not doubt that I will commend you to the Father of Light; I do so gladly, hoping that you will do the like by me, as indeed I greatly need it, being, as I am, embarked in the most stormy part of the Church's ocean. . . Finally, I intreat you to persevere in the resolution you made in the midst of your letter: "I protest before God, and before you, that I desire Him only, and would serve Him alone. Amen."

This is right and just, for He on His part asks you for nothing, save-yourself!

I am, truly and heartily, my dearest child in Jesus Christ, your very affectionate, &c.

TO A LADY OF HIGH RANK, WHO WAS BEING INVOLVED IN LAW PROCEEDINGS.

I Do not dwell upon the more than fatherly love which I have in my heart for you, my dearest child, for I think that God, Who called it forth, will tell you of that, and if He does not, it is not in my power to do so. But why should I say all this? Because, dear child, I have not written to you so often lately as perhaps you may have wished, and sometimes people measure affection more by sheets of paper than by the rarer but more useful proofs of the heart's inward feelings.

Now, without further preface, I am going to say plainly and without disguise what my soul bids me say to you. How long, my dearest child, are you going to strive after other victories in the world, and over the things of the world, than those which our Saviour sought for, and at which He bids you aim? What did He do, Lord of all the world as He was? My child, He was the true Lord of all things, but did He ever strive even for "where to lay His Head”? He was wronged on every side; did He ever go to law? Did He ever bring any of His enemies before

the judgment seat? Never, of a truth! nor would He even summon the traitors who crucified Him before God's tribunal, but rather He pleaded for their pardon; "Father, forgive them." And He has given us as a precept, "If any one will take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also."

I am not superstitious, nor do I condemn those who go to law, provided it be with truth, judgment, and justice; but I say, I exclaim, I cry out, and if need be, I would write with my own blood, that he who would be perfect and wholly the child of Jesus Christ Crucified, had need follow our Lord's teaching in this respect. Let the world rave, let worldly prudence tear her hair, let all the wise men of our day invent as many subterfuges, and excuses, and pretexts as they will; before all the maxims of prudence, there rise up the words, "If any man will take thy coat, let him have thy cloak also."

But, you will say, this is to be understood in a certain sense. True, my dearest child, but thanks be to God, we can take it in that certain sense, for we aim at perfection, and we seek to follow as closely as we can him who said in his apostolic fervour, "Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content; " and who exclaimed to the Corinthians, "Now, therefore, there is utterly a fault among you, 1 I. Tim. vi. 8.

แ

they give cause for which would say: out their doctrine!

Now listen,

because ye go to law one with another."1 my child, to what this man went on to say, one who, though he lived, it was "not I, but Christ liveth in me." "Why," he asks of his spiritual children, "why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?" Observe, my child, that he does not speak thus to a spiritual daughter who has specially high aspirations after a life of perfection, but to all the Corinthians. Take notice that he bids them "take wrong;" he accuses them of sin in going to law with those who deceive and defraud them. Why sin? Because, in so doing, scandal to the unbelieving world, "See how these Christians follow Their Master said: Let him that would take thy coat have thy cloak also; but they risk eternal gain for that which is temporal; they sacrifice the brotherly love they ought to maintain for mere profit." S. Augustine bids us notice that the Lord did not say, If any man take thy ring let him have thy brooch—both superfluities—but He speaks of coat and cloak, which are necessaries. Oh, my dearest child, this is the true wisdom of God, His Prudence, which is a holy adorable simplicity-or, to use an Apostle's language, "the foolishness of the Cross." But you will reply in the tone of human prudence. 1 I. Cor. vi. 7.