wilt grant me a heart open and ready to do all Thy good pleasure with resignation and obedience, and that Thou, coming to me spiritually, wilt comfort and strengthen it against all the enemies who would fain separate it from Thee. Thus may it be, as it seems good in Thy Sight. O my Creator and Redeemer, may Thy Will be now and evermore my food and support! This only do I ask of Thee, O my Beloved, that my soul, cleansed and purified from every thing that is displeasing in Thy Sight, and adorned with holy virtues, may be ever prepared for Thy coming, and for the performance of Thy Will, whatsoever it may be."
If you will bear in mind these warnings, know assuredly, that when baffled in any good which you had proposed to do—whether the hindrance be from your own nature, or from the Evil Spirit's endeavour to distress you and turn you aside from the path of holiness, or from God Himself for a trial of your submission to His Will—you will always find an opportunity of pleasing your Lord in some way most acceptable to Him. And in this lies that true devotion and service which God requires of us.
I caution you, further, lest you grow impatient under trials, from whatsoever source they spring, that, in using the lawful means which God's servants are wont to resort to, you do not employ
