t which, one cannot be the disciple of
the Lord Jesus. All other states, however elevated they may be, are
inferior to this pure, naked state of the soul. It is a state, which
despoils the lover of all he possesses in favor of his Beloved. It is
a state in which the soul is shielded from all inroads of the enemy;
who can reach only what remains of self in the creature, and not what
is enclosed in God.

God has chosen you for himself alone. You are the sanctuary, which is
open only to the high priest, in which is contained the ark of the
covenant--the essential, will of God--the sacred place, encompassed by
the clouds, where the glory of God appears. Oh! blessed poverty of
spirit, in which state the soul is enriched with the best gifts a God
can bestow!

Measure not your advancement by relation to the road passed over, but
by rapport to the end. There yet remains a great road to pass over,
since God himself is the way.

The more fully you enter into his designs, the more I love you.

ASSISTANCE RENDERED BY ONE SOUL TO ANOTHER.

The interest I feel in your spiritual welfare, my dear F., is very
great--so deeply absorbing, that I slept but little during the past
night, presenting you in prayer before our Lord. I have an inward
conviction, that God is enriching your heart by my humble
instrumentality; thus, while he elevates you on one side, he debases
you on the other, by communicating his grace through so unworthy a
channel as myself. The Spirit has revealed to me your state, when I
have received no intelligence from you. God has thus ordered it, for
his own glory; and when many years hence, this method of God's
operations will be better known--the assistance rendered by one soul to
another, without the mediation of the body--the use he has made of this
feeble instrument to communicate to you his grace, will serve to
substantiate this divine truth and heavenly mode of operation.

There is therefore for you, a means of interior advancement, which no
distance of place can interrupt. It will be only from lack of
correspondence on your part, that it will be diverted. God desires it,
at least for a time, until your soul is entirely in union with himself.
This method of communication is only a superior fountain discharging
itself into another; or, as two rivers bearing each other to the same
sea.

Receive then this poor heart in the fulness of Christ's love, and
believe me, no one can be more fully uni