God, and be glorious amongst those who have fought the good fight and finished their course with joy." (Chap. viii.)

Many a father has given advice to his son, but none ever perhaps more wisely than Paternus did" as they were sitting together in the garden, when the child was ten years old." Here is the substance of it.

"You see, my son, this wide and large firmament over our heads, where the sun and moon, and all the stars appear in their turns. If you were to be carried up to any of these bodies at this vast distance from us, you would still discover others as much above you, as the stars that you see here are above the earth. Were you to go up or down, east or west, north or south, you would find the same height without any top, and the same depth without any bottom. And yet, my child, so great is God, that all these bodies added together are but as a grain of sand in his sight. And yet you are as much the care of this great God and Father of all worlds and all spirits, as if he had no son but you, and there was no creature for him to love and protect but you alone. Therefore, fear and worship and love God. Your eyes, indeed, cannot see him. But all things that you see are so many marks of his power and presence, and he is nearer to you than anything that you can see. Take him for your Lord and Father and Friend, look up unto him as the fountain and cause of all the good that you have received from my hands; and reverence me only as the bearer and minister of God's good things unto you. And he that blessed my father before I was born, will bless you when I am dead. Therefore, my child, meditate on these great things; and your soul will

soon grow great and noble by so meditating upon them. Do good first of all to those that most deserve it; but remember to do good to all. Let every day be a day of humility; condescend to all the weaknesses and infirmities of your fellow-creatures, cover their frailties, love their excellencies, encourage their virtues, relieve their wants, rejoice in their prosperities, compassionate their distress, receive their friendship, overlook their unkindness, forgive their malice, be a servant of servants. Remember there is but one man in the world with whom you are to have perpetual contention, and be always striving to exceed him, and that is yourself." (Chap. xviii.)

Some of us may have our doubts as to the value of intercessory prayer, but Law believed in it strongly, and he gives his reasons. Among these is the good effect which such prayer has on him who prays.

"Be daily on your knees, in a solemn deliberate performance of this devotion, praying for others in such forms, with such length, importunity, and earnestness as you use for yourself; and you will find all little, ill-natured passions die away, your heart grow great and generous, delighting in the common happiness of others, as you used only to delight in your own. Such intercessions, besides the great charity of them, would have a mighty effect upon your own heart, as disposing you to the exercise of every other virtue towards such persons as have so often a place in your prayers. This will fill your heart with a generosity and tenderness that will give you a better and sweeter behaviour than anything that is called fine breeding and good manners."

The effect of intercession is shown in the change it

wrought on Ouranius, who is a clergyman in a poor country village. When he began his work there "he had a haughtiness of temper, a great contempt and disregard for all foolish and unreasonable people; but he has prayed away this spirit.... At his first coming to his village, it was as disagreeable to him as a prison, and every day seemed too tedious to be endured in so retired a place. He thought his parish was too full of poor and mean people, that were none of them fit for the conversation of a gentleman. This put him upon a close application to his studies. He kept much at home, writ notes upon Homer and Plautus, and sometimes thought it hard to be called to pray for any poor body, when he was just in the midst of one of Homer's battles.

But now his days are so far from being tedious, or his parish too great a retirement, that he now only wants more time to do that variety of good which his soul thirsts after. The solitude of his little parish is become matter of great comfort to him, because he hopes that God has placed him and his flock there to make it their way to heaven. He can now not only converse with but gladly attend and wait upon the poorest kind of people, and is so far from desiring to be considered as a gentleman, that he desires to be used as the servant of all ; and in the spirit of his Lord and Master, girds himself, and is glad to kneel down and wash their feet."

Such was the effect of the practice of intercession on a clergyman. Here is an illustration of its effect on a layman.

"Susurrus was a pious, temperate good man, remarkable for abundance of good qualities. . . . Yet he has a prodigious failing along with these great virtues." He

had a "whispering evil-speaking temper. Susurrus once whispered to a particular friend in great secrecy something too bad to be spoken of publicly. He ended with saying, how glad he was that it had not yet taken wind, and that he had some hopes it might not be true, though the suspicions were very strong. His friend made this reply: 'You say, Susurrus, that you are glad it has not yet taken wind, and that you may have some hopes it may not prove true. Go home, therefore, to your closet, and pray to God, for this man, in such a manner and with such earnestness, as you would pray for yourself on like occasion. Beseech God to interpose in his favour, to save him from false accusers. and bring all those to shame, who by uncharitable whispers and secret stories, wound him, like those that stab in the dark. And when you have made this prayer, then you may, if you please, go tell the same secret to some other friend, that you have told to me.' Susurrus was exceedingly affected with this rebuke, and felt the force of it upon his conscience in as lively a manner, as if he had seen the books opened at the Day of Judgment. All other arguments might have been resisted; but it was impossible for Susurrus either to reject or to follow this advice, without being equally self-condemned in the highest degree. From that time to this he has constantly used himself to this method of intercession; and his heart is so entirely changed by it that he can now no more privately whisper anything to the prejudice of another than he can openly pray to God to do people hurt. Whisperings and evil-speakings now hurt his ears like oaths and curses; and he has appointed one day in the week to be a day of penance as long as he lives, to

humble himself before God, in the sorrowful confession of his former guilt." (Chap. xxi.)

In Law's writings, and especially in those written after he came under the influence of Jacob Boehme, we find a wonderful catholicity of spirit. He felt himself in union not only with every section of the Christian Church, but with all outside who loved God. Like Tauler and the other fourteenth-century mystics, he insists that the one thing needful is the good will," the desire of the soul turned to God." Thus in a classic passage of The Spirit of Prayer, he says:

There is but one possible way for man to attain this salvation or life of God in the soul. There is not one way for the Jew, another for the Christian, and a third for the Heathen. No; God is one, human nature is one, salvation is one, and the way to it is one; and that is the desire of the soul turned to God. When this desire is alive, and breaks forth in any creature under heaven, then the lost sheep is found, and the shepherd hath it upon his shoulders. Through this desire the poor prodigal son leaves his husks and swine, and hastes to his father; and it is because of this desire that the father sees the son, while yet afar off, that he runs to meet him, falls on his neck, and kisses him. See here how plainly we are taught that no sooner is this desire arisen and in motion towards God, but the operation of God's Spirit answers to it, cherishes and welcomes its first beginnings, signified by the father's seeing and having compassion on his son, whilst yet afar off-that is, in the first beginnings of his desire. Thus does this desire do all; it brings the soul to God, and God into the soul; it co-operates with God, and is one life with

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