Not so very many others my friends, who study to please me rather than men, to whom the life is more than food, or drink, or raiment; but esteem all things to be but loss, and count them but as dung, that they may gain me. Willingly they withdraw themselves from their occupations when they are able, or take care so to arrange their occupations, that, amid all their exterior business, time may not be wanting for the one which outweighs all the rest, the business of the soul. Accordingly, at stated hours, they enter into their chamber, and having shut the door, pray to me in secret, pouring out their hearts before me; and in the early morning they keep watch to me, that the best part of the day, when the mind is freest and purest, may be devoted to the noblest work, the work of prayer. And these are they who receive from me a fuller light of understanding, by which they may be directed in their ways; these are they who taste more abundantly how sweet is the Lord, and that there is no weariness in his society.
So thou too, my son, consider what it will profit thee, if thou shouldst gain the whole world, and neglect the one thing necessary, the care of thy soul. Set bounds, therefore, to thy worldly prudence, and be not engaged on many things at once; for he shall find wisdom whose engagements are few. Seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, in the confidence that all other things shall be added to thee. Why art thou careful and troubled about many things? Why waste thy strength with profitless toil? Have pity on thy own soul in pleasing God. To whom wilt thou be good, if thou art evil to thyself?
To what purpose dost thou, to the loss of prayer, pursue with such anxiety of thought the projects in which thou art engaged? Be sure of this, that no human reason will avail like earnest prayer to bring thy plans to a happy accomplishment. Cast all thy solicitude upon me, for I have care of thee, all the greater in proportion to the assurance with which thou reliest upon me, and committest thy designs to my providence. True it is, that unless I build the house, they all labour in vain that build it. Dost thou believe this? Blessed is he who understands it. For many receive not this word; that is to say, those who trust in their own strength, and torture themselves with different cares and toils, but are as unfortunate in the plans which they contrive, as the spiders which exhaust the substance of their bodies to weave their fruitless webs; because they repair not with
