in my heart, Thy comforts have given joy to any soul." (Ps. xciii. 19.) 2. You must feel an aversion to the follies and vanities of this world, and must hunger and thirst after spiritual things. Hence our Lord says, by the mouth of Jeremias, " I have inebriated the weary soul, and I have filled every hungry soul." (Jer. xxxi. 25.) Approach then with confidence, "that ye may suck and be filled with the breasts of her consolation." (Is. lxvi. 11.)
MONDAY.
The Benefit of Creation.— I.
I. What were you before God created you? Nothing; and you would always have remained so had not God, out of mere goodness, without any merits of yours, given you existence. From among millions of possible beings he selected you. After having decreed to give you a being, He might have given you any other form than that which you possess. There was nothing to prevent Him from placing you among the works of inanimate or irrational nature. " Cannot I do with you as the potter„ O house of Israel, saith the Lord; behold, as clay is in the hand of the potter, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel." (Jer. xviii. 6.)
II. That God has given you a rational soul, is a second benefit. Ponder the excellences of this soul of yours. It is a pure spirit, like the angels and God Himself. Learn, then, that the nature of your soul requires that you should seek spiritual things, and not attach yourself so miserably as you do to corporal pleasures and transitory goods. This soul of yours is by its own nature immortal, and cannot be destroyed by any created power, and will not be destroyed by the Creator. As you are
