ou have from friends, help
to nourish this state. God's designs, regarding you, and his methods
of bringing about these designs, are infinitely wise.

There are two methods of serving little children. One is, to give them
all they want for present pleasure. Another is, to deny them present
pleasure for greater good. God is a wise Father, and chooses the best
way to conduct his children.

A sad exterior is more sure to repel than attract to piety. It is
necessary to serve God, with a certain joyousness of spirit, with a
freedom and openness, which renders it manifest that his yoke is easy;
that it is neither a burden nor inconvenience.

If you would please God, be useful to others, and happy yourself, you
must renounce this melancholy disposition. It is better to divert your
mind with innocent recreations, than to nourish melancholy. When I was
a little child, a nephew of my father's, a very godly man, who ended
his days by martyrdom, said to me, "It is better to cherish a desire to
please God, than a fear of displeasing him." Let the desire to please
God, and honor him, by an exterior all sweet, all humble, all cordial
and cheerful, arouse and animate your spirit: For this I pray. Ever
yours.

GOD'S CARE OF THE SOUL COMMITTED TO HIM.

O, that you could realize, my dear friend, how much God loves you. As
a painter draws upon his canvas what image pleases him, so God is now
preparing your soul, by these inward crucifixions, to draw upon it his
own likeness, He cherishes you as the mother her only son. He would
have you yield readily to his will, even as the branches of the tree
are moved by the light breath of the wind. In proportion to your
abandonment to God, he will take care of you. When you yield readily
to his will, you will be less embarrassed to discern the movements of
God. You will follow them naturally, and be led, as it were, by the
providencies of God. God will gently arrest you if you mistake. God
has the same right to incline and move the heart as to possess it.
When the soul is perfectly yielding, it loses all its own consistency,
so to speak, in order to take any moment the shape that God gives it;
as water takes all the form of the vases in which it is put, and also
all the colors. Let there be no longer any resistance in your mind,
and your heart will soon mingle in the ocean of love; you will float
easily, and be at rest.

POWER OF THE ADVERSARY.

I am deeply affli