the Father hath given all judgment; with the wise judgment of Thine Equity Thou discernest this to be neither just nor right, that the sons of this world, of night and darkness, with more perfect longing energy and zeal should love and seek perishing riches and fleeting honours, than we, Thy servants, love Thee our God, by Whom we have been created and redeemed. For if man loveth man with so great love, that the one scarce suffereth the other to be away from him, if the bride is glued to the bridegroom with so great ardour of mind, that for greatness of love she can enjoy no rest, bearing not without great grief the absence of her beloved; with what love then, what zeal, what fervour, ought the soul, which by faith and compassion Thou hast espoused to Thyself, to love Thee, her true God, and most beautiful Bridegroom, Who hast so loved us and saved us, and hast done for us so many and so great and so glorious things.

But although these lower things have their delights and their loves, yet not in such measure do they delight as Thou, our God. For in Thee the righteous delighteth, because Thy Love is sweet and quiet; for the hearts which Thou possessest, Thou fillest with sweetness and fragrance and calm. On the other hand, the love of the world and of the flesh is anxious and perturbed; assuredly the souls which it entereth it suffereth not to be at rest; for it ever harasseth them with suspicions and troublings, and various fears. Thou then art the delight of the upright, and justly so; for there is firm rest with Thee, and a life free from trouble. Who entereth into Thee, good LORD, "entereth into the joy of his LORD," and shall fear no more, but shall be happy in a happy place, saying, This shall be my rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein." And again, "The LORD is my Shepherd, therefore

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shall I lack nothing, He hath set me in a place of pasturage.

O Sweet Christ, Good Jesu, fill Thou ever, I beseech Thee, my heart with Thy quenchless Love, and with ceaseless remembrance of Thee; so that as a burning flame I may be all on fire with the sweetness of Thy Love, which even many waters may be unable ever to quench in me. Make me, O most

Sweet LORD, to love Thee, and for longing for Thee to lay aside the weight of earthly desires, and the heavy burden of earthly concupiscences, which attack and weigh down my wretched soul, that running unhindered after Thee, in the odour of Thy ointments, I may, under Thy Guidance, speedily attain to come to the vision of Thy Beauty, to be effectually satisfied therewith.

For two loves, the one good and the other evil, the one sweet and the other bitter, find not place at once in the same breast; and therefore if any loveth ought beside Thee, Thy Love is not in him, O God. O Thou Love of Sweetness, and Sweetness of Love, Love that painest not, but delightest, Love which sincerely and chastely abidest for ever, Loved which ever burnest, never art extinguished. O sweet Christ, good Jesu, O Charity, my GoD, kindle me wholly with Thy Fire, Thy Love, Thy Fragrance and Sweetness, Thy Joy and Exultation, Thy Pleasure and Thy Concupiscence, which is holy and good, chaste and pure, calm and untroubled; that entirely filled with the sweetness of Thy Love, wholly set on fire with the flame of Thy Charity, I may love Thee, my GoD, with all my heart and the whole marrow of my soul, having Thee in my heart and in my mouth and in my eyes, always and everywhere, so that no place may be left in me for unchaste love.

c Matt. xxv. 21; Psalm cxxxii. 15; Ibid xxiii. 1, 2. d S. Aug. Conf. book x. c. 29. p. 264. Oxf. Tr.

Hear, O my GoD, hear, O Light of my eyes; hear what I ask, and give me what to ask, that Thou mayest hear me. O loving and most merciful LORD,

be not Thou made unto me hard to be entreated for my sins' sake, but for Thy Goodness' sake receive the prayers of Thy servant, and grant me the performance of my prayers and my desires, for Thy tender Mercy's sake.

Prayers of S. Anselm.

PRAYER XVIII.

PRAYER TO CHRIST, WHOM ALONE THE CHRISTIAN SOUL HUNGRETH AND THIRSTETH FOR.

O LORD Jesu, Loving Jesu, Who didst deign to "die for our sins, and didst rise again for our justification," a I beseech Thee, by Thy glorious Resurrection, raise Thou me again from the sepulchre of all my vices and sins, and give me daily a share in the first Resurrection; that in Thy Resurrection I may be counted worthy truly to obtain a portion. O most Sweet, most Kind, most Loving, most Dear, most Precious, most Longed-for, most Lovely, most Beautiful, Thou didst ascend into Heaven with the triumph of Thy Glory, and sittest at the Right Hand of the Father. O King most powerful, draw me up to Thee, that I may run after Thee in the odour of Thine ointments; may run and faint not, while Thou drawest, Thou leadest me running; draw the mouth of the soul, that thirsteth after Thee, to the streams above of everlasting satiety; yea, draw me to the living Fountain, that thence, as I am able to contain, I may drink whence I may live for ever, O my GoD, my Life. For Thou hast said with Thy holy and blessed Mouth, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink." Fountain of Life, give to my thirsty soul ever to drink of Thee; that, according to Thy holy and truthful promise, "out of my b John vii. 37.

a Rom. iv. 25.

Fountain of

belly may flow rivers of living water." Life, fill Thou my mind with the torrent of Thy Pleasure, and inebriate my heart with the sober ebriety of Thy Love; that I may forget all things which are vain and earthly, and may have Thee alone continually in my memory, as it is written, "I remembered GoD and was delighted.'

Give me Thy Holy Spirit, Which was signified by those waters which Thou didst promise that Thou wouldst give to the thirsty. Give me, I beseech Thee, with my whole longing and entire zeal to strive thither, whither we believe Thee, after Thy Resurrection, on the fortieth day, to have ascended: that I may be held in this present misery as to my body only; and may be ever with Thee in thought and desire; that there may be my heart, where Thou art, my Treasure, longed-for and incomparable, and much to be loved. For in this mighty deluge of this present life, where we are tossed by the storms which surround us, and no sure resting-place is found, or ground above the water, where the foot of the dove may be able for awhile to rest; no where is there safe peace, no where undisturbed quiet; everywhere wars and strifes, everywhere enemies, "without fightings, within fears."d And, forasmuch as we are one part of heaven and one of earth, "the corruptible body presseth down the soul." Wherefore my mind, my companion and my friend, coming wearied from a journey, is faint, and lieth torn and mangled, by the vanities it hath passed through; it hungreth and thirsteth vehemently; and I have not what I may set before it, for I am poor and a beggar. Thou, O LORD my GOD, rich in all good things, and most bounteous Bestower of feasts of

e Ps. lxxvi. 4. Vulg. It is literally "moaned," that is, to God, "complained." Ps. Ixxvii. 3. e Wisdom ix. 15.

d 1 Cor. vii. 5.