you? Who ought not to be seized with fear from the reflection, that there is a sin which God has marked as terminating the day of his grace?—that powerful grace without which no one can be saved! What is that sin? I know not. After what number of sins will it come? Of this I am ignorant. Of what nature,—of what kind is it? This also is a mystery to me. Is it some particular and extraordinary sin; or is it a common and ordinary transgression? This is a depth which I cannot fathom. All that I know, Omy God, is that I ought to spare no pains to prevent the misery which threatens me. Happy am I that I sec my danger! Not less happy that thou art yet disposed to aid me in escaping it! And supremely happy shall I be, if I walk henceforth, guided by thy divine fight, till I arrive to that state of glory and blessedness to which thou art conducting thy chosen ones !--Amen.

P

A

SPIRITUAL PARAPHRASE

OF SOME OF THE

PSALMS:

IN THE FORM OF

DEVOUT MEDITATIONS AND PRAYERS,

BY J. B. MASSILLON.

A. PARAPHRASE, &c..

PSALM I.

The happiness of a soul returning to God.

VERSE 1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the coun sel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

a

MY God! In what a state of blindness have I hitherto lived?-I saw nothing, I judged of nothing, but by my passions; I mistook in every thing; and all my light was but darkness. Although I was not happy in sin, I incessantly sought in it a felicity which as incessantly fled from me. I thought I saw happiness in those who were not thwarted in their pursuit of pleasure; and I envied them a blessing which they did not enjoy themselves. But since thy light has scattered the thick cloud which passion had formed around my heart, I see my error, and wonder at my former delusion.

VERSE 2. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

I KNOW none happy here below, O Lord, but those who serve and obey thee. I sought a dangerous tranquillity from the conversation of the impious, who endeavored to fortify my mind against remorse for sin, by treating, as a puerile credulity, all the terrors of an hereafter, and by attempting to persuade me to