THE SIXTH DAY.
On the happiness of serving God.
CONSIDER these words of the Prophet Isaiah: say to the just man, it is well: Isai. iii. 10. and reflect on the manifold advantages which this short world well comprises and ensures to the just, both for time and eternity. Honour, riches and pleasure, are the things on which the world sets the greatest value. But they are not to be found where the world seeks them, but only in the service of God. Can any honour upon earth be compared to that of being a servant, a friend, an adopted son of the great king of heaven? Such a soul is far more dignified, in the eyes of God and his angels than the greatest emperor in the universe. She is a child of the eternal Father, a spouse of the eternal son, a temple of the eternal spirit; heiress of the kingdom of heaven, and sister and companion to the angels. Oh! my soul, let such honours as these be the only object of thy ambition.
2. Consider that the truest riches are to be found in the service of God; not, indeed, always those worldly possessions, which are attended with so many cares and fears; which are daily exposed to so many accidents, and which are not capable of satisfying the heart: but the inestimable treasure of the grace of God, which is the seed of everlasting glory; the gifts of the Holy Ghost; the love of God; in a word, God himself; whom the whole world cannot take from the soul, unless she be so miserably blind as to drive him away by mortal sin. Add to this the fatherly providence of God over the just; that his eyes are always upon them to take care of their welfare; that his angels always encamp about them to guard them by night and by day: Ps. xxxiii. v. 8. that, as he formerly said to Abraham, Gen. xv. he himself is their protector, and their
