live to thee? But love conquers all things, and what will not thine effect? Thou that art highest of all wert made lowest of all. What was it did this? Love unconscious of dignity, mighty in affection, efficacious in persuasion. What is stronger than love? It triumphs over God; and can it not govern me? Can it be that the love of God will not be able to expel my love of self?
That I may love thee, I am bound doubtless to hate myself. I am commanded to lose my life that I may find it and thee who art good. Behold, my heart is ready. with my whole heart I desire to be thine. But they that are thine crucify the flesh with its vices and concupiscences. Circumcise, O Lord, the flesh and foreskin of my heart, that I may be reckoned in the number of thy children. Without circumcision, O Lord, thou receivedst not the name of Saviour, nor can I receive the salvation purchased by thy Blood unless I bear thy mortification as a seal upon my body. Would it were my highest pleasure to delight in the Lord, and to know no other pleasure beside thee! Yes, let my soul refuse to be comforted, forgetful of all save thee; for at thy right hand are delights even to the end. If thy love draw me to thee, O Lord, no pleasure shall draw me away. Therefore, thou who drawest all. things to thyself by love, draw me after thee, that so I may run after the odour of thy ointments. For thus indeed it is, that the grace of God our Saviour has appeared to all men, instructing us that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly, justly, and godly in this world.
Christ. It is so, my son; thou owest sobriety to thyself, justice to thy neighbour, piety to God. The constant effort of a pure mind is as it were a continual martyrdom. In vain thou seekest rest and peace in this life, for it is like a warfare upon earth. The time will come when thou shalt rest from thy labours, when thou shalt reap in joy what thou hast sown in tears; then shalt thou eat the labours of thy hands ; blessed shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee, and thou shalt rejoice, as reapers in harvest-time, and as conquerors when they have taken the spoil.
But now is the time for labour. Why art thou afraid? For thy sake I was in labours from my youth. I hurried through streets and highways, I indulged nowhere in rest or ease; in hunger and in thirst, in heat and in cold, I wrought thy salvation in the midst of the
