and minds wholly taken up with God, to be continually absorbed in him, and to employ all the powers of our soul in only loving and adoring him, is what cannot be well done by us but in heaven. In this life the weakness of our nature, and the necessity of supplying the wants of the body, hinder us from attaining so high a degree of perfection. However, though this commandment is the consummation of all the rest, yet God has vouchsafed to place it at the head of them all, that, at first sight, we may know what we ought to aspire to, and how far we must endeavour to advance. "Why," says St. Austin, "are we commanded to love God with all our heart, which is a command we cannot fully perform in this life? It is because a man never runs well, if he knows not how far he has to go." (Lib. de Perf. torn, vii.) Almighty God has set immediately before our eyes the greatest of all the commandments, that aiming at an object so sublime, at perfection so complete, we may constantly endeavour to reach it; and if, through weakness, we are unable to reach, the higher we aim, the nearer shall we approach the object. St. Jerom explaining these words of the Psalmist: " Blessed is the man, O Lord, whose help is from thee; his heart is always thinking how to raise itself higher and higher " ( Ps. lxxxiii. 6); says, the just man's heart is always towering aloft, and the sinner's heart is perpetually sinking. The just man has his eyes continually raised to the things most sublime in virtue; he aspires to increase in perfection; and it is this he perpetually thinks on, according to the saying of the Wise Man: " The thoughts of the strong are always carried to an abundant increase." (Prov. Xxi. 5.) But no thought is less present to the mind of the sinner than this; he is content to live like the rest of the world; at the utmost he proposes to himself but an ordinary degree of virtue, he grows tepid, his spirits sink, and he attains not his object. This, says Gerson (Gers. 3, p. Tract, de Myst. indust. seu consid. 4), is the language used by many: It is enough for me to live as people in general live; I desire only to be saved; the sovereign degree of perfection and glory I leave to the apostles and martyrs; I do not pretend to soar so high, but am content to walk upon the plain ground. Such is the language of sinners and imperfect men, who, in number, far exceed the just and perfect: "For many are called," says our Saviour, " but few are chosen." (Matt, xx. 16.) "And wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who enter by it. How narrow is the gate and strait is the way, which leadeth to life, and few there are who find it." (Matt. vii. 13.) St. Austin, speaking of such as walk on
