22 A SHORT METHOD OF PRAYER.

Matt. xvi. 24). It is impossible to love God with-out loving the cross ; and a heart which has learned to love the cross finds sweetness, joy, and plea-sure even in the bitterest things. " To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet " (Prov. xxviL 7), because it is as hungry for the cross as it is hungry for God.

The cross gives God, and God gives the cross. Abandonment and the cross go together. As soon as you are sensible that something is repugnant to you which presents itself to you in the light of suflfering, abandon yourself at once to God for that very thing, and present yourself as a sacrifice to Him : you will see that, when the cross comes, it will have lost much of its weight, because you will desire it This will not prevent your being sensible of its weight. Some people imagine that it is not suffering to feel the cross. The feeling of suflfering is one of the principal parts of suflfering itself. Jesus Himself was willing to suflfer it in its intensity.

Often the cross is borne with weakness, at other times with strength : all should be equal in the will of God.