many more if you had not ungratefully refused to accept them, and despised them. Through Jesus you hope to have a share in the endless happiness of the saints. Through Jesus you are not now in hell, where you deserved to be so often. See now, if Jesus, dying on the cross, does not love you specially; he prays particularly for you, and entreats his Father for singular favors for you! And you, how do you love Jesus? How have you at heart the giving of him pleasure, by a virtuous and Christian life, by works of piety and of mercy, by the faithful practice of his teaching? A friend who loves you, and bestows a gift on you now and again, can bind your heart to his, and fill you with love for him; and Jesus who has loved you so much, bestowed so many priceless blessings on you, who is dying on a cross for you, can not gain a little of your love! Ah! before he expires, beg of him to place your heart in his, and inflame it with love in this burning furnace of charity. Beseech him to detach it from all earthly affections, so that it may be wholly consecrated to the love of Jesus — Jesus crucified.
I would offer thee something, my most amiable and agonizing Redeemer, in return for so much love, for so many blessings; but I have nothing but a soul covered with the leprosy of sin, and a cold, carnal heart. This is the soul which thou hast loved even unto death, and for which thou hast shed thy blood. This soul I offer thee, that thou mayest purify it, sanctify it, and make it worthy of thee. I offer thee my heart, that thou mayest cleanse it from its guilty passions, from its evil affections, and inflame it entirely with thy love. Bind me, press me to thyself, so that I may never more be separated from thee. The world, creatures, earth, shall rob me no more of my heart; thou alone wilt for ever be the God of ray heart; thee alone shall I love henceforth. Take
