graces very difficult. They are the parents, and all other virtues follow them as little chickens follow their brooding mother.

I am very glad that you are taking the part of schoolmistress. God will reward you for it. He loves little children;-as I said the other day when catechising, wishing to urge our ladies to interest themselves for the girls, their guardian angels have a special love for those who bring up little children in the fear of God, and our Saviour threatens such as hinder them through any scandal with the wrath of those guardians.

... No, you are not disobedient because you raise your heart to God less often than I bade you, or because you do not exactly follow all my advice. These things are counsels, profitable to you, but they are not commandments. When one lays commands on anybody, one does it in unmistakable terms. Do you know how counsels should be dealt with? They should not be despised, but rather loved; that is quite enough, they are not in any way binding.

Be of good cheer, my daughter. Let your heart be warmed this Lent. We must not doubt;-Jesus Christ is ours. As a little girl said the other day to me, "He is more mine than I am His, more than I am my own."

[123.]

XXII.

TO ONE OF THE BISHOP'S MARRIED SISTERS.

July 20, 1607.

Do not be eager, but believe me that the true way to serve our Lord is in careful stedfast quietness. Do not try to do everything; be content to do something, and doubtless you will do a great deal. Practise such mortifications as come most in the course of things before you; they need our first attention, and afterwards we can seek others. Embrace heartily these crosses which our Lord Himself has put into your arms do not stop to consider whether they are made of precious scented woods; all the better as crosses if they be common and unsavoury. These thoughts are ever with me; I am perpetually singing this song. In truth, my dear sister, it is the Song of the Lamb-somewhat sad, perhaps, but lovely and full of harmony. "Father, not my will, but Thine be done." Magdalene sought the Lord while in truth. she touched Him; she inquired for Him of Himself, for she did not behold Him under the form she sought, and therefore she was not satisfied, and strove to find Him elsewhere. She looked to see Him in His robes of glory, not in the earthly garb of a

gardener; but so soon as He called her by her name, "Mary," she knew Him.

Now, my dear sister, you meet our Lord in His gardener's garb in the daily vexations and mortifications which offer themselves to you. You would prefer grander, more attractive mortifications; but, indeed, those are not the most profitable. Do you not believe that He calls you by name? "Mary, Mary." But before you see Him in His Glory, He wills to plant many a little lowly flower in your garden, after His own fashion, and therefore He comes to you in such a garb. May our hearts be eternally united to His Heart, our wills to His Will. I am for ever and without bounds, my dear sister, your loving brother, &c.

Be of good cheer, and do not let yourself be cast down. Let us belong solely to God, for He is ours.

TO A CURÉ. ON ABIDING IN HIS WORK. MY VERY DEAR BROTHER, SALES, Sept. 25, 1607. Forgive my delay in answering the first letter you ever wrote to me. It shall not be so in future if I have the pleasure of hearing from you, but I was so occupied at the time of my departure as to have no

Letters.

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leisure whatever for this duty. I persist in telling you that you ought to serve God where you are, "et facere quod facio." Not, dear brother, that I would forbid the increase of your good works, or the continual purification of your heart, but "fac quod facio, et melius quam facio," for what God said to Abraham, He says in him to all the faithful, "Walk before Me, and be thou perfect,"1 and again, " Blessed are all they that fear the Lord, and walk in His ways," "they will go from strength to strength." 3

Be of good courage, then, in cultivating your vineyard, contributing your little work towards the spiritual good of souls, as one of those who have not bent the knee to Baal, though "dwelling in the midst of a people of unclean lips."4 Do not marvel that the fruits of your labour do not as yet appear: "Be stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." 5

Indeed, dear sir, God has fed us with the milk of consolation, in order that, having come to years of discretion, we may strive to help in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, whether by carrying staves, by mixing mortar, or by wielding the hammer. Believe me, abide where you are. Do faithfully and heartily 3 Ps. lxxxiv. 7.

1 Gen. xvii. I. 2 Ps. cxxviii. 1.
4 Is. vi. 5.

5 I. Cor. xv. 58.

whatever you have moral power to do, and you will realise the promise, "If thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the Glory of God."·

If you would go on well, count any suggestion that you should change your place as a temptation; for while your mind is looking elsewhere than upon your actual work, it will never be thoroughly given to do the best where you are.

I beg you to consider all this as said in the confidence with which your letter inspires me, and with that sincere friendship which I bear you " in visceribus ejus cujus viscera pro amore nostro transfixa sunt." I pray Him to confirm you more and more in zeal for His Honour, and am most heartily yours, &c., &c.

TO A LADY AT COURT.

MADAME, ANNECY, Sept. 27, 1607. It is unnecessary to make any excuse for writing to me; your letters are a consolation to me in the Lord, in Whom I love you sincerely. I see that you are alarmed at the prospect of being established at the Castle, fearing lest you be deprived of your present opportunities of serving God, but you must 1 John, xi. 40.

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