SECOND DAY.—ON THE END OF MAN.
1. God alone is our last end: he created us for himself. Our hearts tell us that we were made for him: we cannot disown it without belying ourselves.
2. Every one should have what justly belongs to him: let us then give ourselves to God, since it is he who has a right to us. If we be not his children of our own accord, we must be his slaves in despite of us. We must of necessity live under the dominion of his justice or of his bounty. Which choice shall we make?
3. Everything should tend to its proper object and act according to its nature. If the sun, which is made to shine, refused its light to the world it would be a monster in the universe: nor is that heart less monstrous, which, being made for God, still refuses to belong to him. Do I behave myself as a creature which belongs to God? Are my thoughts and all my actions directed to him? Ah, how little do I do that may be called truly done for God! What does all the business in this world avail me, if I forget the only affair for which I am come into it?
[Make here a firm resolution of seeking God alone, and of depriving him of nothing which he has a right to.]
"Thou are my Lord and my God."—John xx.
"He requires you entirely, who hath made you entirely." — St. Austin.
THIRD DAY.—CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD.
1. From the moment we are attached to the world, we cease, in some measure, to be Christians. This profane world, so passionately fond of grandeur, of pleasure, of everything that can flatter self-love, is the capital enemy of Jesus Christ: their maxims, their commandments, their interests are quite
