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OF THE
ORDINARY ACTIONS OF THE DAY,
AND THE SPIRIT WITH WHICH THEY OUGHT TO BE PERFORMED.
Of your Work or Ordinary Employment.
OFTEN call to mind that sentence passed upon all mankind, Genesis iii. 19, In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread, till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return. In consequence of this sentence, submit yourself to the labours of your calling, as a penance laid upon you by the Almighty, and go through them with a penitential spirit, offering them up daily to God for your sins.
Fly idleness as the mother of all mischief; and, if your condition in life does not oblige you to any work or employment. by way of seeking your bread, yet choose always something of this nature for your soul's sake, that the devil may never find you idle.
In the beginning of your work direct your intention to God; consider what you are taking in hand as a business allotted you by him, and let your design in doing it be to please him. Almighty God most certainly appoints to every one in his family his respective employment: embrace then yours in consequence of the will of God; and offer up both yourself and your work, from time to time, to him, in union with the works in which your Saviour was employed in his mortal life.
In the midst of your work, let your interior, as much as possible, be taken up with God by recollection: make a closet in your heart for Jesus Christ, invite him thither, and entertain him as well as you can: seat yourself with Magdalen at his feet, and make frequent aspirations of love to him.
If in your work you would amuse yourself with singing, in stead of profane and lewd songs, sing hymns and praises to God; and if you work in the company of worldlings, set a particular guard over your heart, that it draw not in the infection of their vain and wicked discourse.
Perform all your works with due care to do them well, not as pleasing the eyes of men, but the eyes of God; in whose presence, and for whom, you ought to do all that you do. And when by his will you are called away from your work, as you are to be willing to do it for him, so you must be willing to leave it for him.
Take care to mortify that over- great eagerness with which you sometimes find yourself set upon your work, and do all with calmness and peace, if you would have God be with you. C