Let us then cry out, for our needs are extreme: we are faltering — sin is gaining upon us — the joys of sense are carrying us away with them. Let us cry out, by all means, for we can do no less; but let it be to our Father. And let us not forget that what impels us to cry is the Holy Ghost, the God of love: — the Love itself of the Father and the Son, ‘ who pours forth the charity of God in our hearts;' and that therefore we may call out, with all the fervour of our very innermost being, ‘ O God, Thou art our Father!'
‘Abraham,' and the other Patriarchs from whom we spring according to the flesh, ‘have ignored us, and Israel has not known us.* But Thou, O God, our true parent, dost know us; and Thou dost Thyself send us, even from Thy own bosom, that Holy Spirit by whom we call upon Thee as Thy children.
St Paul says further that ‘the Spirit himself giveth testimony to our spirit that we are the sons of God.' [1] But who shall understand that Spirit, which testifies to us only when the conscience is at peace, and the heart has nought to reproach itself with that should keep it from God? Who shall hear that voice which whispers to us, in the inmost, silent recesses of the heart,
- ↑ Rom. viii. 16.
