o fulfil thy duty in thy generation.
Is not his Spirit the Lord and Giver of life--the only fount and
eternal spring of life? From him life flows out unto the smallest
blade of grass beneath thy feet, the smallest gnat which dances in
the sun, that it may live the life which God intends for it. How
much more to thee, who hast an altogether boundless power of life;
whom God has made in his own likeness, that thou mayest be called
his son, and live his life, and do, as Christ did, what thou seest
thy heavenly Father do.

Thou feelest, perhaps, how poor and paltry thine own life is,
compared with what it might have been. Thou feelest that thou hast
never done thy best. When the world is praising thee most, thou art
most ashamed of thyself. Thou art ready to cry all day long, 'I
have left undone that which I ought to have done;' till, at times,
thou longest that all was over, and thou wert beginning again in
some freer, fuller, nobler, holier life, to do and to be what thou
hast never done nor been here; and criest with the poet--

'Tis life, whereof my nerves are scant;
'Tis life, not death, for which I pant;
More life, and fuller, that I want.

Then have patience. With God is the fount of life. He will refresh
and strengthen thee; and raise thee up day by day to that new life
for which thou longest. Is not Holy communion his own pledge that
he will do so? Is not that God's own sign to thee, that though thou
canst not feed and strengthen thine own soul, he can and will feed
and strengthen it; and feed it--mystery of mysteries--with himself;
that God may dwell in thee, and thou in God. And if God and Christ
live in thee, and work in thee to will and to do of their own good
pleasure, that shall be enough for thee, and thou shall be
satisfied.

And just so, again, with that same thirst after truth. That, too,
can only be satisfied by God, and in God. Not by the reading of
books, however true; not by listening to sermons, however clever;
can we see light: but only in the light of God. Know God. Know
that he is justice itself, order itself, love itself, patience
itself, pity itself. In the light of that, all things will become
light and bright to thee. Matters which seemed to have nothing to
do with God, the thought of God will explain to thee, if thou
thinkest aright concerning God; and the true knowledge of him will
be the key to all other true knowledge in heaven and earth. For the
fear of the Lo