Chapter X. Of the offering of ourselves

Having heartily thanked our Lord for all these blessings, our hearts will then naturally break forth into that affection of the Prophet-King which speaks in the words, ‘‘ What reward shall I give unto the Lord, for all the benefits that He hath done unto me?”” This desire we satisfy in some sort, when we offer to God all we have, or can offer Him.

For this, we should, first, offer ourselves to be His servants for ever, placing ourselves in His Hands, giving up ourselves wholly to His Will, that He may do with us whatever it shall please Him to do, in time and in eternity; and, together with this offering, we should join our words, works, thoughts, and troubles, all that we may do or suffer, that all may be to the honour and glory of His holy Name.

Then, secondly, we should offer to God the Father, all the merits and labours of His Divine Son, all the travails of His Soul which, in His obedience, in this world He endured, from the Manger-Crib to Calvary ; for all these are our health, and the inheritance which He bequeathed to 5, ae a Ne us in that New Covenant by which He has made us heirs of so great a treasure. For as that is no less our own which He has bestowed upon us of His grace than that which we have obtained by our own efforts, so those merits and gifts which He has bestowed upon us are as much our own as if we had toiled and laboured for them ourselves. Wherefore we may make this second offering no less truly than the first, recounting in their order all those labours and pains, and all the virtues of His most holy life, His obedience, patience, humility, faithfulness, charity, mercy, and all other virtues ; because this is the best, and the most precious offering we can make.