3. An action done for God, how trifling soever it may be, is of far greater value than the most renowned exploits of heroes. If we pique ourselves upon so much courage in labouring for vanity, what should be done when we are employed for eternity? What! the servants of the devil spare no pains; they do not complain of what they go through; they are ever indefatigable. Is Jesus Christ then less considerable than the devil? Is paradise less valuable than hell? Hell then shall be, as it were, our instructor: we are to love God as much as the damned hate him; we are to serve God as much as the world serves the devil. Is this too much?
Examine your conduct with respect to the service of God; consider the actions in which you are most remiss, and excite yourself to perform them henceforth with a fervour worthy of your master.
"Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." _Romans_.
"Let the ardour you formerly had for the world be now entertained for him that created it." _St Augustine._
_Thirty-first Day._--On Devotion to the Mother of God.
1. A more pure, more excellent, or more amiable being than this glorious Virgin, was never yet created. God having from all eternity destined her to be the mother of his Son, it was proper she should be embellished with every created excellence, and that her dignity and influence in heaven should far surpass the dignity and influence of all the other saints. Most justly then is she entitled to our veneration, respect, and confidence.
2. Let us put ourselves under her protection: let us recommend ourselves to her prayers. How great soever our wickedness, or how numerous soever our faults may have been, let us always have recourse to her, and hope, through her prayers, for the grace of our conversion. Her charity is so great, her interest is so powerful, that she must always plead successfully for the repenting sinner.
3. But let us never forget, that to honour her properly, is to imitate her virtues; that to persevere in sin, upon the hopes of her future intercession, is equally absurd, impious, and detestable. Her hatred of this error should be always before our eyes. Her purity, her mildness, her patience, should be ever present to us.
"O name! under which no one should despair." _St. Augustine._