How all the words of God are to be heard with humility, and how
many consider them not
1. "My Son, hear My words, for My words are most sweet, surpassing
all the knowledge of the philosophers and wise men of this world.
My words are spirit, and they are life, and are not to be
weighed by man's understanding. They are not to be drawn forth
for vain approbation, but to be heard in silence, and to be
received with all humility and with deep love."
2. And I said, "Blessed is the man whom You teach, O Lord,
and instruct him in Your law, that You may give him rest in
time of adversity, and that he not be desolate in the earth."
3. "I," says the Lord, "taught the prophets from the beginning,
and even now I cease not to speak unto all; but many are deaf and
hardened against My voice; many love to listen to the world
rather than to God, they follow after the desires of the flesh
more readily than after the good pleasure of God. The world
promises things that are temporal and small, and it is served
with great eagerness. I promise things that are great and
eternal, and the hearts of mortals are slow to stir. Who serves
and obeys Me in all things, with such carefulness as he serves
the world and its rulers?
"Be you ashamed, O Sidon, says the sea;
And if you reason seek, hear you me.
"For a little reward men make a long journey; for eternal life
many will scarcely lift a foot once from the ground. Mean reward
is sought after; for a single piece of money sometimes there is
shameful striving; for a thing that is vain and for a trifling
promise, men shrink not from toiling day and night.
4. "But, O shame! for an unchangeable good, for an inestimable
reward, for the highest honor and for a glory that fades not
away, it is irksome to them to toil even a little. Be you
ashamed therefore, slothful and discontented servant, for they
are found readier unto perdition than you unto life. They
rejoice more heartily in vanity than you in the truth.
Sometimes, indeed, they are disappointed of their hope, but my
promise fails no man, nor sends away empty him who trusts
in Me. What I have promised I will give; what I have said I will fulfill, if only a man remains faithful in My love unto the end.
Therefore am I the rewarder of all good men, and a strong
approver of all who are godly.
5. "Write My words in your heart and consider them diligently, for
they shall be very needful to you in times of temptation. What you understand not when you read, you shall know in the
time of your visitation. I am wont to visit My elect in twofold
manner, even by temptation and by comfort, and I teach them two
lessons day by day, the one in chiding their faults, the other in
exhorting them to grow in grace. He who has My words and
rejects them, has one who shall judge him at the last day."
A PRAYER FOR THE SPIRIT OF DEVOTION
6. O Lord my God, You are all my good, and who am I that I
should dare to speak unto You? I am the very poorest of Your
servants, an abject worm, much poorer and more despicable than I
know or dare to say. Nevertheless remember, O Lord, that I am
nothing, I have nothing, and can do nothing.You only are good,
just and holy; You can do all things, are over all things, fill all things, leaving empty only the sinner. Call to mind Your tender mercies, and fill my heart with Your grace, You who will not that Your work should return to You void.
7. How can I bear this miserable life unless Your mercy and grace
strengthen me? Turn not away Your face from me, delay not Your
visitation. Withdraw not Your comfort from me, lest my soul
"gasps after You as a thirsty land." Lord, teach me to do Your
will, teach me to walk humbly and uprightly before You, for You are my wisdom, who knows me in truth, and knew me before the
world was made and before I was born into the world.
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