ABSTRACT
For the sake of thy Christ, thou must die to thyself: for the love of him you must be willing to die to all thy sins, and to the whole world. All good works must be done, and an holy and innocent life must be lived; but this, not to merit anything thereby; but only out of pure love towards him. You canst merit nothing for thyself: Christ hath made that for thee, when he made himself poor for thy sake, that so thou, by means of his poverty, mightest become rich. Let therefore this love of Christ prompt thee to all that good. O let this, I say, be the motive of mortifying thy flesh with all its concupiscences [innate sinful desires]; and for the remembrance of that death which he most willingly accepted for thee, make thee also ready and willing to lay down even thy life for him; and out of a sincere affection and gratitude for all his inestimable benefits, to accept the cross at his hand, and to resist the world even unto blood.
