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 with the  other,  to  see  if  there  be  a  scale  or gradation  according  to  which  we  may  place them as  they  are  in  themselves,  and  independently of  any  personal  attraction  one  may have toward  them.

I think  it  may  be  safely  stated  that  devotions are  the  more  approved  of  by  the  Church, and therefore  the  more  solid,  in  proportion  to their  being  more  deeply  founded  in,  or  more intimately connected  with,  revealed  and  defined dogma,  and  therefore  reaching  back  to the  earliest  ages. Keeping this  before  us  as a  standard,  we  may  safely  say  that  devotions to God,  or  to  one  of  the  three  divine  Persons, and to  Our  Lord,  are  of  a  higher  order  than devotion to  any  creature,  angel,  or  saint; and that  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  is of  a  higher  order  than  that  to  any  of  or  to the  whole  court  of  heaven.

Confining ourselves  to  Our  Lord,  and  keeping in  mind  that  true  devotion  in  its  full and perfect  meaning  supposes  love  for  and imitation of  the  person  to  whom  we  are  devoted, we  may  securely  say  that  the  Passion and the  Blessed  Sacrament  are  the  subjects best suited  to  create,  increase  inflame  our hearts, first  with  love,  and  then  with  a  real desire of  imitation. Both are  the  clearest and strongest  proofs  of  the  love  of  His  Sacred