to rely with joyous faith on any promise. It appeared that he who was to lead so many souls to God, was appointed to undergo the same trials as Peter, the rock on whom the Jewish and Gentile churches were built; and Satan was permitted to sift both these eminent servants of the Lord as wheat. It was indeed the hour of the powers of darkness.

Still, however, though deeply tried, his faith failed not. He could appeal to the Lord that he had kept his integrity: he could say, Thou knowest, Lord, the way that I would take, and after I am tried I shall come forth like gold. He endeavored to follow the exhortation of the prophet, who commands those who obey the voice of the Lord, and walk in darkness and have no light, to trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon their God. He therefore steadily walked in his precepts, waiting for his re-appearance. This state of desolation did not continue long. His faith having been tried, the Lord again appeared from heaven, and his Spirit again returned

into his heart as the comforter. He had been spending some time in prayer, when these words, from the 119th Psalm, were powerfully applied to his heart," Princes have persecuted me without a cause, but my heart stood in awe of thy word only." The whole of the 9th Psalm too was immediately after presented to him with a degree of light and unction which he had never before experienced. He was instantly enabled to feel joy and peace in believing, to suffer long, seeking not his own, and not being provoked, to bear all things, to hope all things, and to endure all things. And trying the spirit by its fruits, he knew it to be of God. From that hour M. de St. Cyran experienced uninterrupted peace. The joy in his Lord was his strength, and during the whole of his imprisonment he was uniformly enabled to rejoice evermore, to pray without ceasing, and in every thing to give thanks.

As soon as his books were restored, he resumed his studies. His hours were divided between prayer, study, and acts of

charity. Some of his most valuable works were composed whilst in the fortress of Vincennes. To his charity, also, many amongst his guards and fellow-prisoners were indebted, not only for a supply of temporal necessities, but, under God, for the salvation of their souls. The governor of the fortress himself became soon a converted character. Those committed to his charge soon felt the good fruits of his piety.

M. de St. Cyran's charity was fervent and genuine. It not only consulted the necessities, but the feelings of others. It was the custom at Vincennes that all the prisoners should attend mass once a day. He observed that several of them, amongst whom were two or three persons of distinction, were very thinly clad. M. de St. Cyran immediately packed up some of his books, and sent them with a letter to a lady of his acquaintance in Paris, requesting her to sell the books, and with the money to buy a supply of clothing for the prisoners; "I will also thank you, madam," continued he, " to buy some clothes for the

Baron and Baroness de Beausoleil. Pray let the cloth be fine and good, such as suits their rank. I do not know what is proper, but I think I have somewhere heard, that gentlemen and ladies of their condition cannot appear without gold lace for the men, and black lace for the women. If so, pray get the best, and, in short, let all be done modestly, but yet sufficiently handsomely, that, in looking at each other, they may, for a few minutes at least, forget that they are captives." To this letter the lady returned a remonstrance, observing that this money œconomized might be better employed, and more suitably to his ecclesiastical character. To this he answered, "I do not believe that the Lord who commands me to give to Cæsar that which is Cæsar's, will account me a bad steward for giving modestly to each according to that rank in which he placed them. The deepest rivers cause the least noise; and the most enlightened piety is generally the least singular. The Christian rule is to do as we would be done by; and

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you ask me how we should act towards ourselves in expenses which custom alone has rendered necessary, I shall answer, Never lavish upon your rank what it only allows; and never refuse to it what it indispensably exacts. The violator of the first rule is a bad steward, the violator of the second wants that Christian humility which makes the true child of God submit for his sake, to the powers and ordinances that be. Now the rule which decides what we should allow ourselves, regulates also what we should give others; for we are to love our neighbour as ourselves; and, therefore, the degree in which we are to consult our own rank, is that also in which we are to regard his." The lady immediately bought the things. They were conveyed into the prisoners' apartments, who never suspected whence they came. They only observed that M. de St. Cyran himself was destitute of those comforts, and concluded that his having been alone forgotten, was a judg ment upon him for his heresy.

The beneficial influence, however, of M.