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 O save me." Thou Who art my only good, my only adorable one, be also my only love. Give me zeal in loving Thee. I have offended Thee often enough, therefore it will not suffice to love Thee; I must love Thee very much, so that I may in some measure atone for the wrongs I have committed against Thee. I hope for it from Thee, O Thou Who art Omnipotent.

Not only does the sinner insult God, but he dishonours Him. "Through breaking the law dishonourest thou God." (Rom. ii. 23.) Yes, it is because He renounces His grace, and for a miserable pleasure treads under foot the friendship of God. If a man loses the Divine friendship to gain a kingdom for himself, and even the whole world, he would nevertheless commit a great evil, because is not the friendship of God worth far more than the world, or a thousand worlds? " Wherefore should the wicked blaspheme God? " (Ps. x. 14.)

For a little earth, for a fit of anger, for an impure pleasure, for a vapour, for a caprice: " Will ye pollute me .... for handfuls of barley, and for pieces of bread? " (Ezek. xiii. 19.) When the sinner begins to deliberate, whether or not he shall consent to sin, then, so to speak, he takes the scales in his hand, and ascertains which weighs the most, the grace of God, or that fit of temper, that vanity, and that pleasure; and when he consents to sin, he declares, as far as he is concerned, all these things are of far more importance than the Divine friendship. Behold God insulted by the sinner! When David was contemplating the grandeur and the majesty of God, he exclaimed, " Lord, who is like unto Thee? " (Ps. xxxv. 10.) But, on the contrary, when God sees a miserable pleasure compared to, and preferred rather than Himself, He says, " To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? " (Isa. xl. 25.) Therefore the Lord says, "Is that vile pleasure worth more than My grace? " " Thou hast .... cast Me behind thy back." (Ezek. xxiii. 35.) You would not have committed that sin, if by committing it, you would lose your hand, or any sum of money, however small. Therefore God alone, as Salvian observes, is so contemptible in