II

That the End for which we were created was to glorify God for ever.

ARE not these inestimable benefits bestowed upon thee by thy Creator enough for thee, to make thee render to Him continual thanksgiving and pay to Him thy debt of love unceasing, when thou considerest how at the beginning of thy creation He called thee by His goodness out of nothing, or rather out of the dust of the earth to so great a height of dignity? Apply to thine own life the words of the Saints. Hear what is said concerning a Saint. This then is the praise given to a Saint: With all his heart he praised the Lord. Behold that end whereunto thou wast created; behold the task which thy Master hath set thee to do. For to what end should God have raised thee up by so glorious a privilege in thy creation but that He desired thee to give thyself to His praises with out ceasing? Thou wast then created to praise thy Creator, so that, being occupied in nothing else than His praises, thou mightest here by the service of thy righteousness draw nearer unto Him and hereafter attain to the life of blessedness. For His praise makes thy righteousness in this world, and thy happiness in the world to come. But if thou praisest, praise Him from thy whole heart, praise Him by loving Him. For this is the rule of praising that is given to 59the Saints: With all his heart he praised the Lord and loved God that made him.⁷²⁷²   Ecclesiasticus xvii. 8, acc. to Vulgate.

Praise therefore, and praise with thy whole heart, and love Him whom thou praisest. For he praiseth, but not with his whole heart, whom prosperity persuadeth to bless God, but adversity restraineth from the office of blessing. Again he praiseth but loveth not, who in the praises of God, seeketh to have anything by his praising beside God Himself.

Praise therefore, and praise worthily, so that to the utmost of thy power there be in thee no charge, no thought, no contemplation, no carefulness of mind, that is void of the praise of God. Let no worldly prosperity divert thee, nor any worldly adversity restrain thee from His praise. For thus thou wilt praise the Lord with thy whole heart and with love also; thou wilt seek from Him nothing else than Himself, that He may Himself be the goal of thy desire and the reward of thy labours, thy consolation in this life of shadows and thy possession in the blessed life to come. Hereunto wast thou created, that thou shouldst bear a part in His praises for ever and ever, and this thou shalt more fully understand, when thou, being lifted up by the blessed vision of Him, shalt see that by His mere free bounty thou, when thou wast not, wert out of nothing created to such happiness, and created, called, justified, glorified⁷³⁷³   Rom. viii. 30. unto such 60unspeakable bliss. For the contemplation of such things will give to thee a love that shall not weary of praising Him for ever, of whom and by whom and in whom thou shalt rejoice that thou art blessed with good things so great and so unchangeable.