in the Apocalypse (Apoc. xii. 4,) that he saw a woman in labour, and that there lay near her a horrible dragon, watching till she should be delivered, that he might devour the child. It is this the devil, with all his power, endeavours to do to us, whenever the soul has conceived a good design. We ought, therefore, be very careful to proceed,, as soon as we can, to the execution of any good resolution we have formed. St. Bernard says, that the prophet Isaiah meant the same thing, by the short and pithy sentence, "If you seek, seek" (Isa. xxi. 12); i.e., be not weary of desiring, be not weary of seeking, for true desires require fervour and perseverance: they must be fervent, they must be efficacious, they must, in fine, be such as, according to the prophet Micheas, may excite in us a continual care always to please God more and more: u I will shew you, O man," says he, what it is which is good, and what our Lord requires of you. It is to do justice, to love mercy, and to be careful to walk always with your God." (Mk. vi. 8.) Behold these are the desires he expects on our part, in order to bestow on us his graces and treasures. Happy are the souls that feel this hunger and thirst to be, of all things, the most urgent; for they shall be satiated and shall have all their desires most fully accomplished. We read in the Life of St. Gertrude, that our Saviour appearing one day to her, told her, that he had given to every good soul a golden tube, that through it they may imbibe from his sacred side as much grace as they could desire: and that golden tube, as he afterwards declared, was no other than a holy and upright will, whereby we draw down on ourselves all sorts of blessings from God.
CHAPTER IV.
The more we apply ourselves to Spiritual Things, the more earnestly shall we desire them.
"They that eat me shall yet hunger, and they that drink me shall yet thirst" (Ecclus. xxiv. 29), says the Holy Ghost, speaking of wisdom. St. Gregory says, there is this difference between the pleasures of the body, and the pleasures of the soul, that we desire the former with great impatience, when we have them not, and when we have possessed them, we set but little value on them. For example, in the world every man, accord
