Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/266

 in my  heart,  Thy  comforts  have  given  joy  to  any  soul." (Ps.  xciii.  19.)  2.  You  must  feel  an  aversion  to  the  follies and  vanities  of  this  world,  and  must  hunger  and thirst  after  spiritual  things.  Hence  our  Lord  says,  by the  mouth  of  Jeremias,  "  I  have  inebriated  the  weary  soul, and I  have  filled  every  hungry  soul."  (Jer.  xxxi.  25.)  Approach then  with  confidence,  "that  ye  may  suck  and  be filled  with  the  breasts  of  her  consolation."    (Is.  lxvi.  11.)

I. What  were  you  before  God  created  you? Nothing; and you  would  always  have  remained  so  had  not  God, out of  mere  goodness,  without  any  merits  of  yours,  given you existence. From among  millions  of  possible  beings he selected  you. After having  decreed  to  give  you  a  being, He  might  have  given  you  any  other  form  than  that which you  possess. There was  nothing  to  prevent  Him from placing  you  among  the  works  of  inanimate  or  irrational nature. " Cannot  I  do  with  you  as  the  potter„ O  house  of  Israel,  saith  the  Lord;  behold,  as  clay  is  in the  hand  of  the  potter,  so  are  ye  in  my  hand,  O  house of  Israel." (Jer. xviii.  6.)

II. That God  has  given  you  a  rational  soul,  is  a  second benefit. Ponder the  excellences  of  this  soul  of  yours. It is  a  pure  spirit,  like  the  angels  and  God  Himself. Learn, then,  that  the  nature  of  your  soul  requires  that you should  seek  spiritual  things,  and  not  attach  yourself so miserably  as  you  do  to  corporal  pleasures  and  transitory goods. This soul  of  yours  is  by  its  own  nature  immortal, and  cannot  be  destroyed  by  any  created  power, and will  not  be  destroyed  by  the  Creator. As you  are