this, give praise unto God--acknowledge himself to be one of His
greatest debtors; because it seems to be His will to take him
into His house, having chosen him for His kingdom, if he does not
turn back.

4. Let him not regard certain kinds of humility which exist, and
of which I mean to speak. [3] Some think it humility not to
believe that God is bestowing His gifts upon them. Let us
clearly understand this, and that it is perfectly clear God
bestows His gifts without any merit whatever on our part; and let
us be grateful to His Majesty for them; for if we do not
recognize the gifts received at His hands, we shall never be
moved to love Him. It is a most certain truth, that the richer
we see ourselves to be, confessing at the same time our poverty,
the greater will be our progress, and the more real our humility.

5. An opposite course tends to take away all courage; for we
shall think ourselves incapable of great blessings, if we begin
to frighten ourselves with the dread of vain-glory when our Lord
begins to show His mercy upon us. [4] Let us believe that He Who
gives these gifts will also, when the devil begins to tempt us
herein, give us the grace to detect him, and the strength to
resist him--that is, He will do so if we walk in simplicity
before God, aiming at pleasing Him only, and not men. It is a
most evident truth, that our love for a person is greater, the
more distinctly we remember the good he has done us.

6. If, then, it is lawful, and so meritorious, always to remember
that we have our being from God, that He has created us out of
nothing, that He preserves us, and also to remember all the