us, that He not only desires, but is solicitous of the salvation of each one of us. " The Lord careth for me." (Ps. xl. 20.) And what will the Lord deny us, for, on our behalf He has given His Son Himself. " He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?" (Rom. viii. 32.) Let us then always abandon ourselves into the hands of that God, Who ever has concern in our good whilst we are in this life; " Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you." (i S. Pet. v. 7.) Let us say with the sacred Spouse, " I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine." (Cant. vi. 2.) My Beloved thinks of my good, and I desire to think of nought, but how I may please Him, and be uniting myself to His holy will. The Abbot Nilus says that we should never pray that God would do as we wish, but that we may do as He wills.
He who so acts, will lead a happy life, will die a holy death; and he who dies, wholly resigned to the Divine will, leaves behind him a moral certainty of his salvation. He who has not in life been united to the Divine will, cannot be so in death, and will not be saved. Let us endeavour, then, to render ourselves familiar with certain passages of Holy Scripture, which may help ever to keep us united with the Divine will. " Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" (Acts ix. 6.) Tell me, O Lord, what Thou wiliest me to do, that I may do it with all my will. " Behold the handmaid of the Lord." (S. Luke i. 38.) Save me, O Lord, and then do with me as pleaseth Thee; I am Thine I am no longer my own. When any more considerable trouble happens to us, let us say, at once, " Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." (S. Matt. xi. 26.) So let it be, my God, as it pleases Thee. In addition to these, hold as sweet, the third petition of the Lord's Prayer, " Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." (S. Matt. vi. 10.) Let us say it often with affection, and repeat it many times over. Happy are we, if we live and die, saying, " Thy will be done."
Affections and Prayers.
O Jesus, my Redeemer, Thou didst consume Thy life on the Cross in an agony of grief, to render Thyself the cause of my
