May 17th. The man whose blood is pure has nothing to fear. So he whose
spirit is purified and sweetened becomes proof against these germs of
sin. "Anger, wrath, malice and railing" in such a soil can find no root.
Natural Law, Mortification, p. 192.

May 18th. The Mortification of a member . . .is based on the Law of
Degeneration. The useless member here is not cut off, but simply relieved
as much as possible of all exercise. This encourages the gradual decay of
the parts, and as it is more and more neglected it ceases to be a channel
for life at all. So an organism "mortifies" its members. Natural Law,
Mortification, p. 193.

May 19th. Man's spiritual life consists in the number and fulness of his
correspondences with God. In order to develop these he may be constrained
to insulate them, to enclose them from the other correspondences, to shut
himself in with them. In many ways the limitation of the natural life is
the necessary condition of the full enjoyment of the spiritual life.
Natural Law, Mortification, p. 195.

May 20th. No man is called to a life of self-denial for its own sake. It
is in order to a compensation which, though sometimes difficult to see,
is always real and always proportionate. No truth, perhaps, in practical
religion is more lost sight of. We cherish somehow a lingering rebellion
against the doctrine of self-denial--as if our nature, or our
circumstances, or our conscience, dealt with us severely in loading us
with the daily cross. But is it not plain after all that the life of
self-denial is the more abundant life--more abundant just in proportion
to the ampler crucifixion of the narrower life? Is it not a clear case of
exchange--an exchange, however, where the advantage is entirely on our