August 30

Sixth Friday after Trinity

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Romans 6:12.

LISTEN not to Satan, telling thee this is hard. It is hard when thou beginnest. It is hard to resist sin: it is hard not to follow thine own will; but God will make hard ways easy. To have learned in one day with sorrow of heart for love of Jesus to look into thyself and bewail, not thy sinfulness only, but the sins of that day to Him, is the first and hardest step to eternal life. Pray to persevere, all the rest will be easier. Thinkest thou that it will be toilsome to thee so day by day to remove every speck of sin? What is it, then, which it is so wearisome to look to, to cleanse? Is it something which concerns thee not, something for a time only, something for another? Truly it is for another, for it is for the All-Holy Trinity; it is that thine own soul, whom thou shouldest love, may be enlarged to contain God and the love of God; that too thy senses may desire nothing but what they have in that blessed-making Light of God, and have what overwhelms all their desire, to be blessed in His bliss, wise in His wisdom, good in His goodness, full of God yet stretching forth to God; all thine which is God's save His Infinity, and that will be for thee too, for thou canst never reach the bounds of His perfections and His goodness. Shall this be for a time? No! for ye shall be, if ye attain, eternal in His eternity. Prepare yourself for such fulness of bliss, and

All graces I would crave to have

Calmly absorbed in one—

A perfect sorrow for my sins,

And duties left undone.