burn within me while thou speakest to me. Teach me to do thy will, that my sentence may not be the heavier, because when I knew thy will I did it not. For the servant that knows the will of his Lord, and does it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. But I am thy servant; give me, then, understanding, that I may learn thy commandments; and give me grace also, that I may keep them with my whole heart. For it is my soul’s desire henceforward to obey and to please thee, and be for ever united to thee, O God of my heart, and God that art my portion
for ever!CHAPTER I.
THE DOCTRINE OF A HOLY LIFE TREATED OF IN A COLLOQUY BETWEEN CHRIST AND MAN.
§ 1. Aspiration after the way of salvation.
Man. O Lord my God, who art the eternal wisdom, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth! All these things hast thou created out of nothing by thy powerful hand ; and of thy immeasurable goodness hast made me to thy own image, when I was not. But when I was lost, thou hast redeemed me by thy blood; and, that I might have life, hast given thy own precious life unto death.
Thou hast also signed upon me the light of thy countenance, that I might own thee for my highest good. And therefore my soul pants after thee, O my God, as the hart after the fountains of water! Oh, when and how shall I appear before the face of God ! For in this desert land, where there is no way and no water, —in this place of horror, this vast wilderness, I find no path that is sufficiently certain and safe.
Therefore, O true light, who enlightenest every man that comes into this world, enlighten me, who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and direct my feet into the way of peace and salvation. Enlighten my darkness, and tell me what I must do to possess eternal life. Thou who teachest the way of God in truth, make known to me the way wherein I should walk, that I may come to thee, O my salvation and my life!
Christ. Thou dost right to inquire for the way that
