Law: each has its purpose

Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Meditation:
Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD;
    may your love and your truth always protect me.
For troubles without number surround me;
    my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
    and my heart fails within me.
Be pleased, O LORD, to save me;
    O LORD, come quickly to help me.
    —Psalm 40:11-13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If religion calleth us to a life of watching and prayer, it is because we live amongst a crowd of enemies, and are always in need of the assistance of God. If we are to confess and bewail our sins, it is because such confessions relieve the mind, and restore it to ease; as burdens and weights taken off the shoulders, relieve the body, and make it easier to itself. If we are to be frequent and fervent in holy petitions, it is to keep us steady in the sight of our true good, and that we may never want the happiness of a lively faith, a joyful hope, and well-grounded trust in God. If we are to pray often, it is that we may be often happy in such secret joys as only prayer can give; in such communications of the Divine Presence, as will fill our minds with all the happiness, that beings not in Heaven are capable of.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728], London: Methuen, 1899, p. 180 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, be my first recourse. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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