destruction and will mock" (a). O terrible words! O dreadful wrath of God! AFFECTIONS. I believe, O Lord Jesus, that, "he that loveth father or mother more than Thee, is not worthy of Thee" (b). I believe that "no man can serve two masters, God and Mammon " (c); the flesh and the grace of God. I believe that "he that is not with Thee, is against Thee; and he that gathereth not with Thee, scattereth" (d). Wherefore, you will not accept a divided allegiance; you will not receive one-half of his heart. from him who is unwilling to give thee the whole. This is why I fear, O Lord, the punishments which you threaten against those who obstinately resist your heavenly calls. I fear that terrible pronouncement: "I will move thy candlestick out of its pluce" (e). "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof" (f). I fear to hear from my angel guardian those words: "For as much as thou hast rejected the word of the Lord (by disobeying His will), the Lord hath also rejected thee" (g). Alas! what has happened to so many others, may happen, also, to me. For what assurance is there that I may not be of the number of those who, if they fail to become saints, become devils? My God! either a saint or a devil? Either very high in heaven, or sunk in the lowest abyss of hell? (a) Proverbs i. 26. (g) Kings xv. 23. (b) Matt. x. 37. Oh, accursed affection (N.), if you should prove to be the cause of so much misery to me; go! take thyself from my heart; go! go! I detest you; nor shall I give myself rest, until I redouble one thousand times my love towards my dear Redeemer, and thus make at least some slight recompense for the many sorrows I have caused Him for thy sake. Yes, my Jesus, in abandoning your dear and amiable mother, you have taught me to sever every tie of flesh and blood; behold I follow you. Speak, O Lord, for thy servant heareth. COMPENDIUM. The object of this meditation is to banish from our heart every inordinate affection: 1, towards our relatives; 2, towards ourselves; 3, towards every created thing. We are incited to do this: 1, by the example of Christ; 2, by the hope of reward; 3, by the fear of punishment. I. "By the example of Christ." Though His most holy parents were deserving of all possible love, and He did love them most intensely, nevertheless, no sooner did He hear the voice of His Heavenly Father calling Him to His service in the Temple, than he immediately abandoned them, depriving Himself of the happiness of their society, and of the comforts of His father's house. And will you, when God calls you, wish to place obstacles to obedience, because of the love you bear your relatives? because of the comforts you may have to relinquish ? because of the inordinate love you cherish towards any creature? II. "By the hope of reward." Whosoever frees himself from those bonds of flesh and blood, 1, enjoys an indescribable peace of mind. 2. He unites himself to God by the tie of an intimate familiarity. 3. God regards him with a loving eye, and watches over him with a special providence. III. "By the fear of the punishment which would otherwise follow." This punishment may be reduced to four heads: 1. The loss of most precious graces; 2. Trial by most terrible temptations; 3. A life of confirmed tepidity; 4. And the crushing weight of adversity. 270 Sixth Day. FIRST MEDITATION. On the two Standards of Christ and of Lucifer. FIRST POINT. CONSIDER 1. The object of the war, in which each of these two captains is going to put forth all his strength. Lucifer, "having great wrath "(a), and ever "seeking whom he may devour" (b), "cometh not but to kill and destroy” (c) and to "cast us into the great press of the wrath of God" (d). For, since he can never share the glory destined for us, he wishes to make us sharers in his misery; and since he has been banished from paradise, he cannot endure the thought that we, beings formed from the slime of the earth, should be chosen to оссиру the thrones vacated by him and his rebel companions. In fact, with an insatiable thirst, he thirsts for the eternal perdition of mankind; he is never weary in his labours to bring about this result; he strives for it himself, and he keeps his miserable companions also busily engaged in the same task; and he would (a) Apoc. xii. 12. (b) Peter v. 8. (c) John x. 10. natch pelled ON THE TWO STANDARDS. 271 Count his and their labours light, if he could but as his slaves in the flames of hell. To this he is imwhom he would wish to be despoiled of his honour, and robbed of the homage which his creatures owe from heaven, and chain us down for ever Him; by a twofold hatred by a hatred of God, whom he sees reflected the image of his Maker, and of whose election to eternal happiness he is bitterly jealous. On the other hand, Jesus Christ looks solely to His Father's glory, and to the salvation of the human race; for, He "is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (a); He came that men might have life; He came to give His own life for the redemption of the human race; He came to give us great and precious promises, "that by these we might be made partakers of the Divine nature” (b). This was the one goal of all His desires: all His labours and His sufferings were directed to this one end—“ our sanctification and redemption" (c). And by this we are taught not only to work out our own salvation by all means possible, but, also, to exercise our zeal in striving to procure the salvation of others. We are prompted to do this, 1, by the raging hate of Lucifer, who exerts his utmost power to destroy the souls of men. For, surely, it would be a sad disgrace, were Satan and his followers to toil more assiduously for the damnation of human souls, than we for their salvation. 2. The example of Jesus Christ requires this from us; since, for thirty-three long years, He (b) 2 Peter i. 4. (a) Luke xix. 10. |