or restrain them, so that instead of remaining in a state of miserable bondage to vain pleasures, they may gather a noble spoil from each object, and bring it home to the soul; and that the soul, by an act of recollection, may spread her wings with renewed energy towards Heaven, and rise to the contemplation of God. This may be thus done:—
When an object is presented to any one of your outward senses, separate in thought the spirit and the material substance, and reflect that of itself it possesses none of those qualities which your senses attribute to it, but that all is the work of God, Who by His Invisible Spirit endows it with the being, beauty, goodness, or charm whatever it be which belongs to it. Then rejoice that your Lord Alone is the Cause and Principle of such great and varied perfections, and that in Himself they are all contained in the highest degree; for they are but the faintest shadows of His Infinite Excellence.
Whenever you discover yourself to be absorbed in the act of admiring some noble object, let your thoughts bring the creature down to its own nothingness, and let your mind's eye gaze upon the great Creator therein present, Who made it to be what it is; and, delighting in Him only, say—"O Divine Essence, above all things to be desired, what joy it is to think that
