SEVEN EXERCISES OR MEDITATIONS By which a MAN May be in a short time Established In the FEAR of GOD And in a Good and Holy LIFE By Lewis Blosius Abbot Of the Holy Order of St. Benedict With other Choice Collections out of the same Author London Printed for M. Turner at the Lamb in Holbourn 1686. THE PREFACE IF thou wouldst be confirmed in the Fear of God and be established in a Good and holy Life thou must fall upon the following Meditations with an humble and constant Mind and accomplish them in order although thy Nature seem to have some Repugnancy which also thou must not lightly or negligently run over but must ruminate them with leasure and diligence and apply thy whole Soul and inward endeavours to them diligently examining and discussing every particular point and imprinting it deeply in thy Mind And indeed thou must stay in every Meditation at least three dayes and every day if it may conveniently be done thou must employ * Or 2 or 3 half hours according to thy leasure Devotion two or three Hours or rather more in the Exercise of Meditation leaving in the mean time other private and voluntary Exercises Besides throughout the whole day whether thou walkest or sittest still unless when thou oughtest to think of other things thou must strive to have in thy memory and to revolve in thy mind those things which belong to the Meditation of that Day It is not necessary nor expedient that in every hour deputed to the Exercise of Meditation thou shouldst dispatch more Divisions but it shall suffice to take one Division or two or three points to Metitate on When thou shalt have ended the Meditations after that manner thou must repeat them again persisting in every one of them at least two dayes which repetition being compleated thou must still continue these Exercises for two Months or longer but then thou mayest assume the first Meditation on Mondays the second on Tuesdays the third on Wednesdays the fourth on Thursdays the fifth on Fridays the sixth on Saturdays the seventh on Sundays Afterwards thou must diligently exercise thy self in the Life and Passion of CHRIST according to thy Devotion Throughout thy whole life thou must retain pious and congruous Exercises which may nourish in thee thy good purpose and true Devotion But thou must take heed lest at any time thou preferr these thy Exercises before Obedience or Fraternal Charity or the Divine Will For it is necessary that even in these thou learn to deny thy self If in this Spiritual Study thou shalt feel thy self hard and dry and shalt suffer grievous irksomes of Mind thou must not for that leave off thy profitable and wholsom Exercise but must humbly to the Honor of God do what is in thy power Perhaps thou wilt often think thus with thy self Why do I afflict my Spirit in these things when I might much better and more to my delight be conversant in others But neglecting such kind of thoughts thou oughtest to persevere in what thou hast begun and to believe that it is most acceptable to God that thou shouldst be employed in them If God shall give thee the grace of Devotion and Tears thou must not for this take complacence in thy self nor esteem thy self to be any thing nor despise others but must alwayes contain thy self in holy Fear and humility of Heart judging thy self unworthy of all the gifts of God Thou mayest in thy Exercise by speaking to thy Soul stir up thy self As if thou shouldst say O my Soul Let us watch and consider attentively c. Thou must also convert thy self sometimes to our Lord God sometimes to the Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of GOD sometimes to other Citizens of Heaven and ask those things which make for thy souls health But that thou mayest reap plentiful fruit out of these Exercises thou must diligently abstain from immoderate joy from dissolution of heart and from inordinate and vain laughter For such things dissipate and extinguish inward recollection compunction and grace Thou must shun also as much as conveniently thou canst much talking and seek convenient solitude Whilst thou art Meditating thou mayest kneel sit or stand observing that posture of Body by which thou shalt perceive thy self to be most helped Thou must chuse a secret quiet place and fit for such Exercises Before thou beginnest thy Meditation having made the sign of the Cross thou shalt say this short Prayer O most gracious Lord God have mercy on me thy poor Creature calling upon thee and grant that every intention thought and action of mine may be purely ordained to the observance and praise of thy divine Majesty Amen The hour of Meditation being ended Recite our Lord's Prayer with the Angelical Salutation Meditation I. Of Sins Division 1. COnsider how that thy Soul was made by GOD most noble and most beautiful But thou by living wickedly and carelesly hast most dishonourably defiled it and made it vile sordid and abominable For the deformity of sin is greater than any visible deformity And indeed so great is the enormity of mortal Sin which deserves eternal damnation that by right we ought to depress our selves for one even the least such Sin all the dayes of our life to the very dust even under the brute Beasts 2. Thou wast made to this end that thou shouldst exhibit observance and reverence to thy most high most worthy and most bountiful Creator and that thou shouldst love and praise Him but by sinning thou hast averted thy self from Him and converted thy self to the love of vain and perishable Creatures and so hast made thy self unworthy of His favour but worthy of eternal punishments Wherefore deservedly thou shouldst strive to bewail thy self and lament the evils by which thou hast offended thy Lord God with inward or also with outward tears 3. Wherefore call to mind as well as thou canst in the bitterness of thy Soul all thy more grievous Sins which thou hast committed from thy child-hood to this very moment by works words thoughts and omissions as if thou wert immediately to make an exact Confession of them to a Priest Yet notwithstanding thou must not stay long upon the Sins of the flesh which thou hast committed lest such an imagination breed in thee some harmful delight Run over diligently year after year or day after day or time after time Call to mind the places in which thou wast the persons with whom thou livedst and the state and office which thou hadst Ponder how often thou hast repeated thy wicked wayes Make to thy self as it were a little bundle of all thy Sins that as often as thou shalt unfold it thou mayst easily see the Crimes and Wickednesses of thy former Life and mayest therefore blush be compunct and humbled 4. Exaggerate and aggravate thy Sins by which thou a despicable and vile Man hast dishonoured and despised the Creator of Heaven and Earth and Lord of highest Majesty and
hast done Him an infinite affront and after a certain manner hast Crucified CHRIST again Who notwithstanding has alwayes most bountifully done thee good and preserved thee Pondering well this thy pride perversness and ingratitude humble cast down and put thy self beneath all the men in the world yea beneath all Creatures esteeming thy self the vilest of all and unworthy whom the earth should sustain but worthy whom hell should swallow up unless the Mercy of God hindered 5. Ponder how much God detests and punishes Sins so that by His terrible and just Judgment He has damned eternally very many for one single Mortal Sin as is manifest in Lucifer and in the Angels who consented to him It is manifest also how much God was offended by one only Transgression which our First Parents Adam and Eve committed Now What ought to have been done with thee who hast so often offended the most holy King of Glory Deeply considering these things accuse and judge thy self lest afterwards thou be judged by our Lord. Admire greatly that all the Elements and all Creatures have not risen up against thee to revenge upon thee the Injury of their Maker Be astonished that the Earth has not opened it self to swallow thee up alive and has not transmitted thee into Hell how the holy Angels also have been able to endure thy iniquities 6. Finally grieving with thy very Soul or desiring to have Grief and eyeing attentively JESUS crucified and His bloody Wounds cry out from thy heart and say these or such like words Alas O most pittiful Lord Jesus Christ my Creator Redeemer and Benefactor I most unhappy have so and so offended Thee and contemned Thee those and those Iniquities I have so often repeated I have been so disobedient and ungrateful unto thee But pardon me I beseech thee for thy immense Goodness and Charity with which thou didst sustain for me thy most bitter Passion When thou shalt with humility have said these or such like words by no means despair but resuming a full and amorous Confidence in God purpose firmly by his Grace to mend thy self and to avoid as much as shall be in thy power all Sins not only Mortal but also Venial and the least Meditation II. Of Death Division 1. TO think on Death before-hand and diligently to prepare ones self for it is true wisdom And thou shalt be happy if alwayes and every where expecting the Hour of Death thou shalt so watch as thou permittest nothing to reside in thy Conscience which might cause thee anxiously to fear although thou wert just now to dye It shall be well with thee if considering how vile thy Flesh shall be thou art not proud nor dost not follow Carnal delights For How miserable I pray thee is thy Flesh in this Life How frail how full of Filthes which continually flow with an intollerable stench through all the passages although outwardly it appear fair and neat So that thy Body at present may rightly be called a sack of dung and all kind of filth but shortly it shall be an abject corrupted and putrid Carcass and Worms meat 2. Think therefore that thou must shortly dye yea perhaps to day and must go hence into another unknown region and must leave here riches glory honours pomps pleasures friends vanities and all other transitory and perishable things which thou inordinatly lovest or in which thou art now delighted And indeed every day every hour and every moment thou approaches near thy death and the last hour of thy life Therefore compose thy self as if thou wert now to dy Think thy countenance to wax pale thy mouth to be contracted thy sight to be darkned thy breath to fail and the sweat of death to be now present which testifies nature to be overcome 3. Think I pray thee how great a trembling and horror will then seize thee and how much thou wilt grieve if thou shalt be unprovided because thou hast not vigorously mended thy self O how short will the time of thy life seem to thee For it will appear like a dream and a shadow when thou shalt reflect that eternity is at hand which shall never end Perhaps thou wilt desire one little hour to correct thy self but it is uncertain whether thou shalt obtain it What will thy pride profit thee what will it profit thee if thou shalt now have followed thy own will and the vitious passions of thy mind O how sad wilt thou be when thou shalt have lost thy precious time or spent it unprofitably How wilt thou be vexed that thou hast lived so wickedly negligently remissly That thou wast so greedy to see hear and talk vain things That thou hast not more manfully contemned the Allurements of thy Flesh and Senses that thou hast been so slack to the mortification of thy self and to follow true humility and charity and to gather together all spiritual good things Now therefore whilst thou hast yet Time amend thy self and study to live better and more holily 4. Think when thy Soul galled with the sharp prickings of death shall cease to see the light of this world and shall begin with its inward eyes to behold the state of the other Life and those things which before it would not believe Cruel Beasts and horrible troops of Devils will present themselves by divers means endeavouring to ensnare thy same Soul and exspecting it to make a prey of it if it shall have departed here without true Repentance It is therefore good and healthful to Salvation now to provide for ones self to cut off bad and unprofitable desires to leave vain and worldly things and to convert ones self wholly to love and seek after Celestial and Eternal Goods 5. Consider how that thy Soul being gone out of thy Body it shall immediately be presented before the Tribunal of a Terrible Judge who cannot judge thee otherwise than thy works deserve seeing that He is the Supreme and immutable Justice In this particular Judgment thou must render a most exact Account of thy whole Life of all thy Time spent unprofitably of all thy Bad Works of all the Good thou hast omitted of all thy Idle Words and of all thy Thoughts and inordinate Affections The Devils shall propose all thy sins and all thy negligences which have not been blotted out by Repentance Finally a Sentence shall be pronounced by the Just Judge concerning thy Soul which shall never be recalled for all eternity For where the Tree shall fall whether towards the South or towards the North there it shall for ever remain and shall belong either to eternal Salvation or Damnation 6. It is profitable for thee often to think on these things that thou may'st with diligence Correct thy Life and make thy Peace with God before that thou shalt be called hence This thou wilt do if thou be'est wise For our Lord God is very merciful and receives most courteously all those who timely return unto Him by true Repentance Because He
and wounds and out of it ran on all sides down upon the earth rivolets of his precious blood O what and how sad a Spectacle was this Truly he was wounded for our iniquities he was bruised for our wickedness and by his bruises we were healed Isa 53. 6. The sweet Jesus King of Kings is Clothed in a Purple Cloak to his greater reproach is Crowned with Thornes and Wounded Hence his Purple Blood flowed down plentifully upon his amiable face and neck A reed is put in his hand and he is scoffingly saluted and adored he is stricken with a reed again he is spit upon and buffeted He is exposed to be gazed upon by the people with a Crown of Thorns upon his Head and a Purple Vestment about his shoulders 7. The Sweet Jesus the Creator of Heaven and Earth carrys his own Cross upon his bruised and hurt shoulders He tastes upon mount Calvary wine mixed with myrrhe and gall Again he is stripped and his wounds are renewed by the pulling off of his Garments He is unmerciful stretched out on the Cross and his delicate hands and undefiled feet are transfixed with hard Nailes and the Joynts of his most Holy Limbs are miserably loosed Most Pure Blood Flows abundantly out of his sacred Wounds as out of so many Fountains Go to Ponder and Meditate profoundly these things Take notice of the Bloody and saving wounds of thy Redeemer Salute and Venerate them with a Devout Heart 8. The Sweet Jesus endured most bitter Torments three Hours Hanging on the Tree of the Cross betwixt two Thieves Lo he is Mocked and blasphemed but he prays for his blasphemers he prays for his Crucifiers He deeply Compassionates his Sorrowful and Afflicted Mother standing by and Courteously speaks to her Burning with a most grievous Thirst Vinegar is given him to Drink And forthwith bowing his Venerable Head he gives up the Ghost The good Pastor lays down his life for his sheep He who gives Life to all things dyes for thee Afterwards his Side is opened with a Spear and thence Flows out Blood and Water Last of all his Immaculate Body being taken down from the Cross is laid in a Tomb and buryed 9. Thou hast here a Spiritual bundle of Myrrhe See thou lay it diligently between the breasts of thy Soul But whilst thou ponderest these things behold with thy inward Eyes thy beloved Jesus Christ not as a Pure Man but Contemplate him as God and Man in all things which he did and suffered Consider diligently his deep humility and patience his inestimable bounty and most Ardent Charity Admire be amazed imitate compassionate him and return love for love as thou art able Adore praise and glorifie him and give him thanks Consider I beseech thee whether it be fitting that the Son of the most high the Supream King of Glory enduring for thee a most vile Caitiff so great Abjection and Ignominy and so great labours and torments thou in the mean time as if thou wert secure shouldst give thy self to sports and jests to vanities and delights little or nothing thinking of him and living negligently nay perhaps wickedly O! how ill at the last shall it go with those ungrateful and unhappy hearts who little esteem so great benefits such ensignes of love and care not to ruminate the Passion of Christ Far be it from thee Meditation VI. Of the Imitation of Christ Division 1. LO the Cruel base and horrible Prince of darkness the Devil says to thee hear and follow me be Proud and neglecting God do thy own will love the world and those things which are in the world that thou maist be Tormented with me in the horrible punishments of hell On the contrary side the Mild Gracious and Amiable King of Glory Christ says to thee Hear and follow me be humble and despising the World deny thy own proper will Love God and those things which are above that thou maist rejoyce with me for ever in Heaven Here now enquire and weigh diligently with thy self whether of the two thou oughtest to hear and follow Assuredly thy reason manifestly crys and shews that thou oughtest to follow the Lord Jesus thy most sweet Creator Redeemer Lover and Benefactor Which being so do thou without delay joyn thy self to Christ and say from thy heart O Lord Jesus I despising the Devil from henceforth purpose thy grace assisting me to follow imitate and love thee my King 2. Wherefore as Jesus Christ thy King the most high God humbled and emptied himself by assuming human flesh and the form of a servant by being born of a poor Virgin by washing his Disciples feet by most perfectly obeying his Father and Men so thou must purpose hereafter to humble thy self under all things for his love Thou must willingly submit thy self to all men willingly serve all Willingly take the lowest place seeing thou art not worthy that the earth should support thee by reason of thy sins and ingratitude Thou must willingly perform vile and abject works although thou shouldest therefore suffer some shame before men Thou must willingly readily obey men in lawful and convenient things not only thy superiours but also thy equalls and moreover thy Inferiors 3. Also as thy King Christ was alwaies meek and humble of heart so thou oughtest hereafter to endeavour that all rough and vitious motions of Anger be extinguished in thee Thou must not be obstinate in thy own sense nor adhere to thy own proper Judgement but must wisely prefer the judgement and will of others before thy own judgement and will Thou must from thy heart repute thy self the most unworthy of all men and renounce all vain glory and self complacence as much as thou canst acknowledging thy self of thy self to be nothing to be able to do nothing and to have nothing but sins and defects Thou must therefore never usurp to thy self any thing of Gods gifts but must attribute all good things to God and purely refer them to him Thou must chuse and love rather not to be known and little esteemed by men than to be known or praised 4. Also as thy King Christ abstained from all vanity pomp curiosity and superfluity in meat drink clothing and other necessaries for his life yea and chose most abject poverty in his Nativity and Death so also thou must purpose hereafter to use all things moderately and to be content with simple meat and drink and simple cloathing removing from thee whatsoever is vain proud or altogether superfluous 5. Again as thy King Christ did not follow sensual pleasures and the delights of the flesh but even thirsting drunk Gall and Vinegar and adhered inordinately to nothing and had most pleasing manners and behaviour so thou must purpose hereafter to reject all impure and sensual delights and impure pleasures Thou must restrain all thy senses thy sight hearing tast and touching and also thy tongue from all excess vanity and curiosity Thou must keep thy heart with all diligence clean and
be praise honour and glory for ever Amen Article IV. THe sweet JESUS was presented in the Temple and was redeemed with the sacrifice of the poor He fled into Aegypt and there endured the incommodities of Poverty with Mary and Joseph He was subject and obedient to the same Mary and Joseph In his sacred Infancy Childhood and Youth he suffered very many necessities and tribulations for my salvation To him be praise honour glory for ever Amen Article V. THe sweet JESUS when he was thirty years old humbly received Baptism from his servant John He fasted forty daies and forty nights dwelling with the Beasts in the desert The maker of the World the King of Angels the Omnipotent God did not disdain to be tempted by the Devil for my sake To him be praise honor and glory for ever Amen Article VI. THe sweet JESUS was wearied with journeys watchings and labours for my salvation He preached wrought miracles bestowed favours He suffered hunger and thirst cold and heat He endured with a most meek heart three and thirty years innumerable grievances and innumerable persecutions and at length came to Jerusalem that he might dy for me To him be praise honour glory for ever Amen Article VII THe sweet JESUS the King of Kings and Lord of the highest majesty girt about him a linnen cloath and powred water into a Basin and kneeling down humbly washed the feet of his Disciples and wiped them with a towell O what an example did my Lord God give me To him be praise honor and glory for ever Amen Article VIII THe sweet JESUS out of the immense Love with which he most tenderly loves us instituted the venerable Sacrament of the Eucharist by a stupendious liberality and a most sweet charity giving and leaving to us himself in it To him be praise honor and glory for ever Amen Article IX THe sweet JESUS coming into the Garden of Olivet he began to fear and to be sad so that he said My Soul is sad even unto death he humbly bended his knees upon the ground and falling upon his face he prayed to his Father three times for my sake being excessively afflicted he most fully resign'd himself to his Father saying Father not my will but thine be done Out of the vehemency of the anguishes with which his most meek heart was oppressed he swet Blood all over his Body so that the drops ran down upon the earth To him be praise honor and glory for ever Amen Article X. THe sweet JESUS burning with an earnest desire of redeeming me and suffering for me went out to meet his Enemies and most courteously spoke to them He refused not to receive a kiss from the traytor Judas and ignominiously to be apprehended and bound as a thief by wicked men that I might be absolved from the Bonds of my Sins To him be Praise Honor and Glory for ever Amen Article XI THe sweet JESUS bound as a Malefactor was led with disgrace to the house of Annas and thence to the house of Caiphas the high Priest My gracious and sweet Lord was dragg'd pushed on beaten and blasphem'd by the Ministers of the Devil but he bore all those grievous and unworthy things most patiently for the love of me To him be Praise Honor and Glory for ever Amen Article XII THe sweet JESUS Lord of Lords endured most modestly for my Salvation a reproachful and cruel box on the ear most unjustly given by a servant of the High Priest And how shall not I hereafter in return for his Love patiently endure the affronts that are done me I beg I wish I desire to be strengthened and confirmed by his Grace To him be praise honor and glory for ever Amen Article XIII THe sweet JESUS was falsly accused in the house of Caiphas he was unjustly condemned He was fowly spit upon and received horrible blows and buffets he was scornfully blindfolded the wicked smiting him and in scorn saying Prophecy unto us O Christ who it was that struck thee Ah! that royal and amiable face of his for me was defiled with filthy spittle the most meek Lamb in the mean while did not complain but teaching us Patience he was dumb and opened not his mouth he bore in silence for my sake revilings contumelies reproaches and all sorts of injuries O how ill and how unworthily was he handled that night To him be praise honor and glory for ever Amen Article XIV THe sweet JESUS the Holy of Holys and King of Angels defiled with spittle and bound in the morning was led to Pilate and stood before him with a loving countenance and his eyes down And when he was falsly accus'd by the Jewes he humbly held his peace answering nothing To him be praise honor and glory for ever Amen Article XV. THe sweet JESUS bound as a Thief was sent from Pilate to Herod who seeing him silent to his own idle questions and to the false accusations of the Jewes he despised him and clothed him in a white and ridiculous Coat as a Fool and so sent him back to Pilate The amiable Lord at the pleasure of his Enemies went backward and forward without contradiction permitting them to do with him whatsoever they would O how humble was the Obedience and Patience of the Eternal King To him be praise honor and glory for ever Amen Article XVI THe sweet JESUS was ignominiously stript in the Pretors Hall he was inhumanly tyed to a Pillar he was most cruelly torn with whips for me his delicate and Virginall Flesh was all deformed with blewness and wounds and out of it ran down on all sides upon the ground streams of precious Blood O sharp dolours O sad spectacle Indeed he was wounded for my iniquities he was bruised for my sins and by his wounds I was healed To him be praise honor and glory for ever Amen Article XVII THe sweet JESUS for his greater ignominy was clothed with a Purple Cloak a Crown of Thorns was pressed upon his venerable head and so his head being grievously wounded most pure Blood abundantly flowed down upon his face and neck A Reed was put into his hand and he was scoffingly saluted and adored by the wicked deriding him and saying Hail King of the Jewes he was smitten with a Reed he was spit upon and received cruel buffets for my sake To him be praise honor and glory for ever Amen Article XVIII THe sweet JESUS was brought forth by Pilate and shown to the furious Jewes wearing a Crown of Thorns and a Purple Vestment But they ask'd with loud clamours that he might be crucified His head surrounded with thorns his face stained with blood and defiled with spittle his body cut with whips his humble and pleasant Aspect did not move them to pitty I pray God they may move me to a most inward Compassion and ardent Love of him To him be praise honor and glory for ever Amen Article XIX THe sweet JESUS was condemned to dye by