would not be a doubt of that infinite power which God exerts there I should sooner stagger at the exceeding Love of Jesus in giuing himselfe there to us for I am not able to comprehend how men can believe that he is present on our Altars and that they receive him in this adorable Sacrament And yet be indifferent and cold to him be forgetful of and disgusted with him Who would not expect that such a wonderful Prodigy of Love should excite at least a desire an earnestness and exceeding tenderness in the hearts of all men But Alas it is just contrary We act as if we should have lov'd him more if he had lov'd us less I tremble O my God! at the thought of the indignitys and outrages which the impiety of bad Christians and the fury of Hereticks have offer'd to thee in this August Sacrament how Sacrilegiously have they profan'd thy Altars and thy Churches how impiously an'd scornfully have they often treated the Body of Christ Can any Christian call to mind these horrible impiety's without being earnestly desirous to repair by all possible means those barbarous outrages And how can a Christian live and not have that desire Have I often thought on this Do I think often on it I who appear so seldom at the foot of the Altar and who am so unwilling to spare a little Time to adore my Saviour a specially at those hours when the Churches are least frequented My God! I will think seriously on it for the future because I will now begin to love thee truly and certainly it is high time for me to begin I have made several resolutions to love thee and have broke them all but I am confident this will be effectuall Yes my Divine Saviour I am fully resolv'd to love thee and to love thee without any reserve thou hast loved me and wouldst have me love thee and therefore I am sure that thou wilt not refuse me thy Grace to enable me to love thee full of this hope and confidence I am bold to say with thy Holy Apostle Quis ergo nos separabit à charitate Christi Certus sum quia neque mors neque vita neque Angeli neque Principatus neque virtutes neque instantia neque futura neque fortitudo â—bque altitudo neque profundum neque creatura alia poterit nos separare à charitate Dei quae est in Christo Jesu Domino nostro Rom. 8.35 38.39 who shall separate me from the Love of Christ I am certain that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principality's nor Powers neeiher the sight of things present nor the prospect of things to come nor greatness nor adversity nor any Creature shall ever be able to separate me from ordeprive me of the Love of God which is in Jesus-Christ our Lord FINIS THE COMPOSER NOT understanding English many litteral faults have escap'd correction which the Reader will easily mend as also the mistakes in the Stops and points Such faults as spoil the sence are here set down P. 5. l. 29. blot out not p. 17. the last line r. of our p. 25. l. 11. r. their vanity p. 26. l. 3. 4. for at r. as p. 29. l. 8. blot out in p. 40. l. 13. r. like them p. 58. l. 15. blot out you are put in that dignity p. 73. l. 25. after Salvation r. have we made good use of the general p. 80. l. 12. 13. for do compose r. discompose p. 97. l. 1. r. he is like p. 98. l. 11. blot out not p. 112. l. 26. 27. for confession r. conversion p. 121. l. 28. for Hove r. Above p. 153. l. 18. for owne r. owe. p. 171. l. 19. after our wills r. to his p. 203. l. 9. for any r. my p. 208. l. 3. for of r. or p. 216. l. 1. for OCTOBER r. NOVEMBER p. 216. l. 3. for willingness r. un willingness p. 217. l. 24. for thare r. share p. 227. l. 16. for of r. if p. 238. l. 6. for S. Bonavenre r. Bonaventure p. 258. l. r. r. Sin hath p. 266. l. 22. for to r. do p. 272. l. 1. for thoughts r. tongues p. 277. l. 21. for applicerion r. application p. 280. l. 17. for orldly r. worldly p. 282. l. 2. 3. blot out of the ill use of the means of Salvation p. 290. l. 16. for this r. ' t is p. 293. l. 9. for chamns r. charms p. 3ë 1. l. 17. for own'd r. vow'd p. 325. l. 7. for reason r. season l. 8. for for Salvation r. out their salvation p. 330. l. 16. r. It matters not say's S. Augustin p. 332. l. 1. for the. r. be p. 335. l. 23. 24. for to displease no. r. not to displease any man no. p. 337. l. 2. for one very r. on every p. 337. l. 20. after is r. What. p. 352. l. 20. for aspectaly r. especially There are some quotations omirted in the Margin and divers faults in those that are inserted j it is needless to remark them for those who do not understand Latin and they who do know how to correct them
of Faith If we believ'd that the enjoyment of God that an Eternity of infinite happiness or misery which includes surpasses all other miserys depended on our diligence if we did really believe what we repeat so of ten that we can not serve God and the world at once that time is short and that Death approaches that each moment for ought we know may be our last if we did indeed believe that Salvation is our own work and that we onely can secure it that it is no matter what becomes of us here if we make sure of heaven that we loose all even temporal blessings by neglecting our Souls and that if we be truly careful of them we shall loose nothing not even worldly goods if we do seriously believe these things how can we be careful how can we be sollicitous for any thing but Salvation Of the false pretences of orldly men about Salvation T is very surprizing that men of Sence and wisdom who reason so well about every thing else should reason so very falsly when they are desired to think on and work out their Salvation they freely own that it is hard to secure it in the world they will make lively and pathetical deseriptions of the Corruptions of the Age they are very eloquent on the inevitable dangers to which men are expos'd in the world and they readily conclude that they who live in it stand in as much need of an Heroik virtue as the Religious in their Convents but when they are told that in order to Salvation it is necessary for them to overcome themselves to mortify their passions to follow the example of Christ and his Saints they pretend that these vertues do not belong to them that 't is not their business that their condition do's not oblige them to so great a Sacrifice and that none but Religious can live regulary and conformably to the maxims of Jesus-Christ Is it not natural to conclude from hence that either the work of Salvation is not a secular Christians business which is a most gross and damnable error or else that Secular Christians do indeed renounce their Salvation Of the Facility of Salvation Of the ill use of the means Salvation God could have put us under a necessity of seeking him continually as our ultimate End and of never departing from him but he must then have taken away our Liberty when we reflect on the vast number of Christians who loose their Souls we are ready to wish that he had subject'd us to that happy necessity of working out our Salvation that so we might not be tormented with the fear of Hell But could we desire him to secure our Salvation better than by putting into our own hands And because he has made me master of my destiny of my eternal happiness shall I therefore be unhappy Shal this render my Salvation doubtful shall this put me in greater danger I might have reason to be aftaid if it depended on another tho my best friend but it depends only on me by the help of grace which will never be wanting to me yet this is the chief cause of my ruine O my God! if I do not secure my Salvation now that thou hast made me master of it I must own that I deserve judgment without mercy nothing less than an Eteernal punishment Of the ill use of the means of Salvation Can we think of our unprofitableness under such powerful means of our slighting so many graces and rendring them useless to us without apprehending least God should say to us as the Apostle to the Ieâ—vs Vobis oporrebat primum loqui verbum Dei Act. 13.46 the word of God was first spoken to you You were born in the bosom of the Church you were transplanted into the fertile field of Religion into a ground cultivated by the Labours and water'd with the sweat and blood of him who is both God and man How many means and helps have we had to enable us to fulfill all the duty 's of our Station and to make us fruitfull in good works but since these means and assistances which were so proper to have made us bring forth an hundred fold have been useless to us have we not reason to fear least he should add But seeing you put that divine word from you Sed quoniam repellitis illud indignos vos judicatis aeternae vitae ecee conver timuâ— aâ—â— entes v. 46. judge your selves unworthy of everlasting Life be hold we turn to the Gentiles This sentence is already executed on Syria and on almost all the East where Christianity first began and a great part of the North particularly unhappy England those nations formerly such good Christians and who reckon among their Ancestors so many great Saints have in these latter times cut themselves off from the fold of Christ while the Indians and people of Iapan and many other barbarous nations are enter'd into the Church and have reviv'd the primitive fervour piety equalling the generosity of the most glorious Martyrs Of want of Faith Whence comes it that we make no difficulty of believing the mistery's of the Trinity of the Incarnation c. tho they are not only a bove our understandings but seem to shock our Reason Is it not because these mystery's do not contradict our passions but do we believe with the same facility the other truths of the Gospell the Doctrines of selfdenyal of contempt of the world of love of poverty and humiliation Yet my God! they are all grounded upon the same infaillible Authority thy holy word for ' t is as certain that we shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven if we do not deny our selves subdue our passions and love our Enemy's as it is that we shal never enter there if we are not baptis'd Yet we rely very much on our faith for every man pretends to be one of the faithful not considering that we have but a dead Faith and that we confound the knowledge of what we ought to believe with that true Christian Faith which is allway's fruitful in good works and without which there is no virtue Of the thoughts Hell We believe that there is an Hell of fire and dreadful torments and that one mortall sin is sufficient to condemn a soul to Eternal pains and yet are we much afraid of mortal Sin do we not fear Eternal flames and torment Our trembling at the thoughts of Hell shews we believe it If the thoughts of its pains be so terrible what will it be to feel them all how great will our despair and anguish be when we call to mind that we would not avoid that Hell at the thoughts of which we have so often trembled Of a miserable Eternity We talk very much of an unhappy Eternity but do we know what it is by often speaking of it we use our selves to the thoughts and so come to be very little affected with it A man
had an end in drawing us out of nothing and that end was no other then his own glory he created us only to know love serve him we glorify him by knowing and loving him we shew our love by serving him and we serve him when we keep his Commandments This was his End design in our Creation he could have not created us but he could not create us for another End the disorders of our Lives may indeed make us forget our duty but it cannot change our ultimate End Let us be never so dissolute it will still be true that we are not sent into the world to heap up Riches to acquire honours to enjoy a multitude of pleasures become great we are sent into the world only to serve God Kings and their people the learn'd the ignorant the Rich and the poor are in the World only for this End Tho there be a great difference in mens conditions and a subordination among them tho some are born Masters and others subjects they are all made for the same ultimate End all agree in this point that they are created only to know to love to serve God The fire is not more created to give heat and the sun light then man is to love and serve God who has made that almost in fin to number of Creatures only to help us in attaining this End there being not one among them all which in its selfe do's not fournish us with a means to know God a motive to love and away to serve him We need only consult our own hearts on this subject and we shall find that the extreme dâ—sire to be happy which is implanted in our natures and the absolute impossibility of being so in this Life are a sensible proof that man was not made for any created object He must elevate his heart to God he will immediately find a full and perfect peace which alone fixes all his desires he feels a sweetness which he never felt any where else Fecisti nos Domine ad te inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te which is an evident mark that God alone is his End and he Center of his Rest We are then in the world only to serve God this is the End of all Men but do all men live for that End this is the only thing necessary of which the son of God speaks in the Gospel do we look upon it as such How earnest are we to accomplish our designs to acquit ourselves well of our employments and to serve our Princes Are we as earnest to serve God do not men generally act as if they valued every thing but him How often is the title of a man of the Gown or of the sword prefer'd to that of Gods servant How often do the Maxims of the World get the better of the Duty 's of a Christian Every one has his designs and seeks his own Ends surely we are not persuaded that God is our End seeing we take so little pains to seek him as such This Truth of Gods being our End is one of the first Tru h's we learn yet it is that which we think least of and are least affected with when we do think of it We are us'd from our Cradles to hear that we are created only to serve God but we are not at all touch'd with the meaning of those words which in all probability we never truly understood much less foresaw their consequences For if be true that I live in this world only to serve God then every one of my actions ought to be directed to him and it may be I have not in all my Life done any one single action onely for him This is the fundamental Verity of our Religion do we live up to this important Truth The whole Gospel is founded on this as its chief maxime but who that examines our manner our maxims can think that God is our ultimate End We think of every thing but God as if we thought him nothing We find time for every thing except for loving and serving God we are delighted with riches honours and pleasures God alone hath no charms for us And yet where can we find any true pleasure but in him only Thou Lord hast created us for thy selfe saith Saint Augustin and our hearts will be allwayes uneasy and unquiet till they rest in thee Have we not found this by frequent experience in those very things whereof we have been most fond were we satisfyed when we had obtain'd them has not the very possession been sufficient to digust us with them and make us slight them 't is to no purpose to deceive our selves that we may sin with less fear these very disgusts these continual disquiets are a secret voice which admonishes us that we are not made for the Creatures that every thing in the world is bur vanity amusement and vexation of spirit and that we are made only for God We cannot choose or make any other End to our selves he who gave us our being hath put us under an indispensable necessity of returning to him If he had left us at Liberty to make choice of God the infinite good for our last End could we have thought of any other and now that he has subjected us to the happy necessity of having no other we are very little concerned to attain it Ingrateful men are you not well enough provided for to have God for your last End Usquequo claudicatis in duas partes si Dominus est Deus sequimini eum 3. R g. 8.21 How long will you halt between two opinions If the Lord be God follow him why will you be divided between God and the World If God be your only master why do you not serve him alone My God! what do I stay for am I too young have I too much health am I afraid to serve thee too long if I begin so soon I who am left in the world onely to serve thee Alass I made no difficulty of spending the best part of my Life in unprofiâ—able amusements in the service of the World and now that I am disabus'd and convinc'd of my folly shall I refuse thee the rest of my Life shall I balance one moment to love thee 'T is strange that I stand in need of so many reasons reflections to resolve upon a thing of this importance of which Jam fully convinc'd but it is yet stranger that all these reflections do not make me resolve Do I stay till Jam at last Extremity till Jam told that I have but a few days left to think seriously of my Conversion No my God! it is resolv'd thou hast made me only for thy selfe and for the future I will be wholly thine 't is true I begin late to serve thee but Jam resolv'd to have this satisfaction in Dea h whenever it comes that I did begin to serve thee SECOND POINT Consider that
more surprizing we are all agreed in the importance of Salvation and in the vanity of every thingelse yet we apply our selves onely to seek those vanity's and are negligent in nothing but the business of salvation We are all conceited of our wisdom and capacity in business every man pretends to understand it we think ignorance in business or neglect of it shows want of sence breeding that our reputation depends upon it but if we neglect nothing but our Salvation if we live as unconcernedly as if we had no soul to loose we are so farr from blushing or hiding our carelessness that we glory in it and tho we are never so indevout and irregular we pass for very honest men and if we understand the world and know how to be successful in it we are accounted wise 'T is an affront to tell a man that he do's not understand his business but 't is no disgrace to be accus'd of negligence in the business of Salvation surely we do not look upon it as our business My God! when did this one thing necessary cease to be so We can loose our souls with all the tranquility in the world and we are reasonable Creatures in every thing that do's not concern us we do not deny that the Saints were truly wise yet all their wisdom consisted in preferring their Salvation to every thing else in esteeming it their onely business Are we wiser them they that our actions are so contrary to theirs they spent their whole lives in preparing for Eternity to what end did they take so much pains spend so much time for what we pretend to do with so much ease Miserable unthinking wretches that we are to allow so little Time for what requires it all Have we found a new way to heaven whereof the son of God was ignorant or is the price of Heaven fallen and is that happiness which cost the blood of Christ to purchase become of less value What are now the sentiments of those famous states men whom we esteem the greatest Politicians of those extraordinary men who were alway's busy in pacifying or troubling the world which their heads wer alwayes full of Those men of Riches as the scripture calls them who liv'd without thinking on Eternity and who after an uninterrupted success in all their other business have miscarry'd only in this great business of Salvation They are not damn'd for laziness and sloth on the contrary they ow their ruine to too much useless business they were so busy that their very sleeps were broken by their Cares and they have lost themselves by labouring in what did not concern them by taking too much pains about nothing while they neglected their onely real business And 't is by this that the greatest part of mankind are lost And shall not I increase the number of the lost if I continue to live as I have done what have I done for Heaven what have I not done to deprive my selfe of it I have been careful of every thing but my soul and I act as if its ruine were nothing to me But I trust in thy mercy O my God that the change of my Life shall manifest that my heart is chang'd I will save my soul the care of my Salvation requires all my diligence and it shall have it all I humbly beseech thee to give me thy grace to recover what I have lost as thou hast given me Time for it I am sensible that this is my onely business I am resolv'd to do it let thy Grace make me successful SECOND MEDITATION OF THE MOTIVES which we have to apply our selves continually to the business of our Salvation FIRST POINT The Motives which are common to all Christians SECOND POINT The Motives which every one hath in particular FIRST POINT COnsider what God has done for our Salvation he is earnest and desirous to render us happy as if his own happiness had depended on ours Having made us free and masters of our selves what pains hath he taken what pains doth he still take to gain our hearts He desires our hearts he sollicites us to give them he is importunate with us for them some times he promises some times he threatens he leaves nothing undone to persuade us to love him he takes all this pains because he knows it is in our power to save or damn our selves and he earnestly desires our Salvation Did we ever duly consider are we able to comprehend the mistery of our Redemption where the Almighty exerts all his omnipotence to shew the greatness of his Love to our souls and with what earnestness he desires our salvation Could we ever have imagin'd that God should become man to the end that men might be saved Yet this he hath done and not content with this wondrous miracle he goes yet farther to engage us to love him he passes a Life of three and thirty years in poverty and sufferings and he subjects himselfe to a cruel Death Such a value doth God set upon our souls that nothing less than the sufferings the blood the Life of this God and man could redeem them and shall we think it a small matter to loose them Shall we think that we do too much when God thought nothing too much to purchase our happiness Let us rather conclude that we can never do enough What does he get by our Salvation yet what could he do more then he hath done Is not all the profit ours why then do we do so little for it How many are now raging and despairing for having neglected to do what I may do if I will and which if I neglect now I shall one day feel the same regrett as they Can we have a more powerful motive to excite us to set about it without delay and to pursue it continually Blessed be God we may yet work out our Salvation we have yet time God offers us his Grace these very thoughts proceed from that Grace but this may perhaps be the last moment wherein it will be offer'd us Our Eternal happiness for ought we know our Predestination may depend on this one important moment I am certain that I may make my Salvation sure at present if I turn sincerely and heartily to God I have at least great reason to doubt that if I let slip this occasion I shall never have a nother and can I wilfully deferr one moment Shall the Devil take more pains to destroy our souls then we will take to preserve them shall he value our souls at an higher rate then we do our selves The comparison is shameful but too true tho his nature be much nobler then ours and his pride so great yet he stoops to any thing that can ruine a soul he never gives over the greatest resistance never weary's him or renders him less diligent in assaulting us he cunningly makes use of every little occasion to destroy us Good God! must we learn of him how to prize our souls
sin by the sacrifice of their very beings Moses his distrust in striking the Rock twice cost him his Life Five and twenty thousand Israelites dyed in one day at Berhshemeth for looking too curiously into the Ark of God Davids vanity in numbring the people brought a terrible Plague upon them two and forty children were devoured by wild Bears for mocking the Prophet Elisha and Hezekiahis ostentation in shewing his treasures to the Ambassadours of Babylon could not be expiated by less than the loss of those treasures Thus God whose wisdom is infinite punishes venial sins in this Li-Life but in the next where his justice is not restrained by his mercy the punishments of venial sins yield in nothing as to their violence to the torments of Hell and this he inflicts even on those souls whom he loves tenderly and who love him above all things We shall find one Day that the Death of our beloved Child the loss of such an estate such a distemper the ruine of such a family and publick calamity's are perhaps now as formerly the punishments of venial Sins God indeed doth not alway's send visible chatisements but then he reserves the sinner for severer strokes For every venial sin we deliberately committ God withdraws some portion of his Grace and is the deprivation of Grace a small loss Veniall Sins do not indeed make God hate us but they make him love us less they make him stop the course of his bounty withold his Graces and suspend that particular Providence with which he watches over those he loves that tender care whereby he preserves them from danger whereby he either keeps them from Temptations or enables them to overcome them Venial Sins render a soul languishing and insensibly disgust it with Piety till they have brought it into a lukerwarm disposition the most dangerous state a soul can be in And God at length grows weary of our ingratitude and cannot suffer that we should believe that we auquit our selves sufficiently of the infinite obligations we have to him provided we abstain from offring him the most outragious affronts thô at the same time we indulge our selves in displeasing him everyhour Which of us would have the patience to keep a servant onely for his honesty who had no other good quality who did every thing with reluctancy and by halves who treated us with disrepect and who never took care to please us under pretense that it was in things of no consequence And can we expect that God should suffer a servant whom we would not endure It is true that venial Sins do not renderus Enemy's to God but it is as true that he who indulges himselfe deliberately in many venial Sins do's not love God Certainly the man that contents himselfe with barely not being Gods Enemy esteems his Love but little the best that can be said is that he is afraid to have God his Enemy but very indifferent in desiring him for his Friend The wilful disobliging a Friend upon all occasions is a strange method to make him love us And I cannot see how we shall be able to reconcile our profession of loving with our practise of wilfully displeasing him 'T is no excuse that we offend onely in little things their smallness renders us inexcusable because we might more easily avoid them If they be little things we cannot pretend that we were discourag'd by difficulties or that the violence of our passions hurry'd us away it proceds onely from an indifferency for God whom we serve out of fear and flatter our selves that we love him because we dread his justice No wonder then if God be as indifferent for us if he abhorr our baseness if he withdraw his favours from such unworthy wretches and refuse to communicate him selfe any more to us And indeed we can not expect those peculiar favours which he bestow's onely on fervent souls Thus we run our selves into danger of comitting greater faults for an habit of venial sins is the high Road to mortall ones and God is in amanner oblig'd to deprive us of those divine lights of those strengthning graces without which we can never resist violent Temptations Hence proceed the surprising falls of many who were at first so reserv'd they began by allowing themselves little Liberty's and so by degrees fell into such disorders as before this unfaithfulness they would have trembled to think of He who despises little things will most certainly fall by degrees For though venial sins can never be come mortall yet they dispose us for them if we once content our selves with not losing the Grace of God we are sure to loose it in a very little Time these terrible falls startle us but if we did wel consider the disposition in which venial Sins put the soul we should be Ies◠surpris'd Venial Sins are like the beginnings of a sickness the first indisposition seems nothing at all and we think it wil easily be cur'd yet by little little it undermines our health so that the least excess or unwholsome ayr throws us in to a malignant feavour and from thence in to the Grave Though sometimes men dye suddenly yet their Deaths are usually preceded by some light indisposition which seem'd of no consequence Thus Venial Sins thô never so deliberate and numerous do not kill the soul but they weaken it and impair its strength so that it languishes and do's its duty 's but by halves and with reluctancy every thing hurts it Sacraments Good works do it no good How can a soul in this condition remain long in a state of Grace being thus expos'd to so many impending dangers depriv'd of its support and strength every moment running its selfe farther in to danger This made an Eminent Saint say that we ought some times to be more careful to avoid small sins than great ones And 't is the apprehension of not stopping here 't is the fear of being depriv'd of strengthning grace in punishment of those little infidelity's there by being left a prey to temptation that makes the Saints so incapable of comfort after a veniai Sin After all is a Venial Sin nothing is it of no consequence what then shal we count something if it be nothing to offend God wethink it a matter of consequence not to disoblige a friend we think it a matter of consequence not to be rude to any man so much as by mistake and shall we think it a slight thing deliberately to displease God shall we think it nothing to lessen his kindness to us to stop the channel of his Graces to diminish the fervour of charity to render all the Sacraments of no use shall we think our selves affronted by a rash word shall we think that fault little which offends God which draws his indifference on us thô not his hatred which will make us loose those inestimable Treasures that are worth more than all the riches in the world shall we make nothing of
of any thing wherein a man would be thought mad or at least imprudent that should talk to us of business Is a sick or dying man in a condition to talk of business And yet it is to this time which we our selves acknowledge to very unfit for the most trivial affaires that we deferr the greatest business in the world the business of Salvation of Eternity How can we think of being converted one day and yet deferr it though but to the next day The design of being converted implies that we believe our Souls in danger that we are sensible of want of Love to God that we do not serve him faithfully That we are out of his favour and that we dare not dye in the state in which welive He who deferrs his Conversion wilfully lives in a continual danger by which so many perish every Day he refuses to love God is content to be out of favour with him he resolves to live in à State wherein he is afraid to dye and this after serious reflection and after several designs to change his Life he resolves to persist in enmity to God at the very time when God tenders him his Grace and presses him to accept his Friendship Can any Christian can any rational man make this reflection afterwards deferr his Conversion one moment Alas my Dear Saviour I am but too capable of doing this these reflections and an hundred more will be to no purpose if thou dost not convert me Oh! do it for thy mercys sake as this is the day wherein I resolve to be converted so let it be the Day of my perfect Conversion SECOND MEDITATION OF THE GOOD VSE of Time FIRST POINT That Time is very precious SECOND POINT That the loss of Time can never be repaired FIRST POINT COnsider that nothing is so precious as Time every moment is worth an Eternity that the glory of the Saints the Eternal joys of heaven which Christ hath purchas'd for us by his blood are the reward of the good use we make of our Time Time is so precious that the smallest part of it is worth more than all the honours and Riches in the world tho we employ but one moment to get all those honours and Riches if that be all we gain by it God who judges righteously will look upon that moment as lost If a damn'd Soul were master all the Kingdoms of the Earth he would give them all and all its Treasures for one of those precious minutes which he for merly spent in folly and which we loose every Day Comprehend if you can what Grace and the possession of God is this Grace this God are the price of our Time which is given us onely to obtain more grace and by its assistance to merit the enjoyment of God and it is certain that by every moment we spend for any thing else we loose more than the whole world can repay The Saints in Heaven by reiterated perfect acts of vertue to Eternity can not merit a greater degree of Glory yet this I can merit every moment if I will by one true act of Love to God Reprobates will not be able to satisfy the divine justice nor to obtain the pardon of one sin by all their regrets and tears nor by an Eternity of dread ful Sufferings but I may do it every moment by one sigh or one tear by one act of contrition I may appease the wrath of God Eternal happiness or misery will be the consequence of my use or abuse of Time I can work out my Salvation onely while Time lasts how then can men be so much at a loss how to employ their time how can they amuse themselves and be taken up with trifles only to passe away the time You do not know how to spend the Time Have you never offended God are you not oblig'd to him have you receiv'd no favours from him Ought not you to adore and serve him The glorious Saints do not think Eternity too long to love to praise to bless and honour him and shall we think an hour of a day too long You dont know what to do have you no sins to grieve for Dont you know that Jesus-Christ is in person on the Altar where he expects to be ador'd is ador'd but by few and can you want employment for your time we are never at a loss how to spend our time but when we have most time to serve and love God For we can spend whole days in business and vain pleasures in offending God and destroying our Souls with hout being uneasy or thinking the Time long Let us consider that we can secure our Salvation only while Time lasts and that all the time of our lives is given us only for this End how careful ought we then to be of improving it every moment is precious we loose all if we loose our time But do we much value this loss Do we think that there is such a thing as the loss of time we improve every moment for things of no consequence we are cast down at disapointments and with all our care and diligence we are continually afraid that we shall want Time But alas a Time wil come when we shall think otherwise because we shall have juster thoughts a time will come wherein we shall regret those favorable days and hours which we mispend now A time will come when we would give all the world to recall some of those precious moments which we now throw away and wilfully loose when we shall be torn with despair to find that they are all lost and that time is past Then you will cry out Oh! that I were now in the condition I was in such a Day of my Life when I was meditating upon the improvement of Time Oh! that I had now the same health and strength my God! what would I not do but wretch that I am I foresaw this despair which torments me now for having lost my Time why did I make no use of that foresight nor of that Time Time is short it ends with our Lives wee have already pass'd the greatest part of them and to what purpose what use have I made of this last year how much time have I lost in doing what I ought not or in omitting what I ought to have done and how little of it have I spent in doing my duty My God! what a terrible account have I to give of my Time of these present Reflctions How can I expect mercy from God if I make no better use of what is left if I deferr my Conversion any longer how many are dead who were in better health than I some months ago how many seem now in their full vigour who will be in the grave before the year is past and how do I know that I shall not be one of them Let us then work while we have time we cannot expect it should be long and therefore let us not
or scrupulous for being very earnest in pursuing our interests exceeding careful in our wordly affaires allway's up on the watch to make use of every thing to let slip no occasion of making our fortunes on the contrary it is the way to be esteemed men of sence able wise and prudent but if we apply our selves seriously to the of Salvation if we carefully lay hold one very little opportunity of pleasing God and of growing in virtue If we be exact in discharging all the dutys of our Station and faithfull in the smallest matters the world calls us weak scrupulous it laughs at our care and blames our conduct They who are most desirous to please God are often less able to support this than any other difficulty in the practise of virtue they are better proof against any other persecution My God! if the earnest desire to please thee were condemn'd by the Infidels 't is no more than we might exspect but to meet with this difficulty among Christians among men who profess to be thy servants this is one can hardly imagine Of the Artifices of Self Love My God! how much pains would a little sincerity truth spare those who serve thee we do not seek God with simplicity enough we are not entirely willing to please him and we alwayes seek our selves nay too often we seek only our selves even when we pretend to seek him My God! where is the danger of giving our selves wholly and entirely to thee that we take so much time to resolve T is selfe love that spoils all it is too true that the greatest part of mankind is govern'd only by it All the difference between ipiritual men and those that are not so is that self Love is barefac'd in the latter and less visible more distinguish'd in the former and if we would take the pains to reflect on the true motive of the greatest part of those actions which seem least imperfect we should find an hundred windings and turnings of self Love which renders them all unfruitful Of the tender Love of God to those who serve him All the Sanctity and perfection of a Christian Life consists according to S. Basil in Looking upon God as the cause of all things in conforming our selves entirely to his holy Will If we were thorowly convinc'd of this important truth what a real sweetness should we find in a spiritual Life And what perfect tranquility should we enjoy being assureed that all that happens in the World except Sin proceeds from a particular Providence of God who loves us tenderly All the world ought to have this Confidence in God but much more Religious men whom he hath adopted in a peculiar manner whom he hath inspir'd with the Sentiments which dutiful Chilldren should have for their Father Ps 26.10 My Father and my Mother have forsaken me but the Lord hath receiv'd me saith the Psalmist Rodri. Tr. 3. c. 10. 't is an advantageous exchange to choose so good a Father in the room of him we have left so that now we have a right to say with confidence Ps 22.1 the Lord taketh care of me therefore I shall not want J am poor and needy but the Lord provideth for me Ps 69.6 who can reflect that God himselfe provides for him that his eternal Providence watches over him with the same goodness and care as if he had no other creatures to preserve in the whole world who can think of this without feeling himselfe transported with joy love to God We shall find reason enough to love him and to abandon our selves entirely to him if we do but reflect on the obligations we have to his fatherly Providence and on the tender Love he bears us You believe that sickness is the effect of chance You thought that that humiliation that mortification proceeded from the passions of men They may indeed act out of Passion but do you know that God makes these very passions serve to bring about his designs for your advantage Men perhaps seek to satisfy their revenge by using you ill but God permits it only for your good When Josephs Brethren sold him into Egypt they follow'd the dictates of their vengeance and design'd his ruine but God made their barbarous action a means of Joseph's Glory Since we have such powerfull motives to excite us to put all our trust in God why do we rely no more upon him it is because we are not hearty towards him we give him what he requires only by halves imperfectly and unwillingly we continually refuse him some part of what he demands and this is the true reason that our request are accompanyed with so many fears so little Faith How far we are to imitate Virtuous men Good examples are a great help to us we may easily be Saints if we converse with Saiuts the exercise of virtue is much less difficult in the company of those who truly practise it but we must have a care of taking any man for our pattern tho he seem never so virtuous we must imitate his virtue but we must still remember that he who is eminently virtuous now may be perverted and that the most perfect is he that has fewest faults When we propose to our selves to imitate any man we are in danger of imitating his very imperfections Our opinion of his virtue makes us copy every thing he do's we follow blindly all his examples very often we imitate his faults more than his virtues Of insensibility proceeding from carelessness How can a Religious man who lives carelessly or a Priest who is indevout and who dishonours his sacred Character by his manners think without trembling on the account they must give to God of all the graces they have abus'd of all the good which they should have done of which they have render'd themselves incapable of all the meanes of sanctification of which they would make no use These unhappy men are like those who after having serv'd God fervently for some time grow careless and weary of his service God usually punishes their infidelity in this Life some times without delay by an insensibility which often degenerates into hardness of heart we have a terrible example of this insensibility in Judas who had without doubt receiv'd singulars favours from Jesus-Christ no sooner was he grown careless and had perverted himselfe but he fell into a strange insensibility which became incurable he could hear his Saviour say the most touching things in the world without being at all affected when the blessed Jesus press'd his Conversion in the tenderest and most loving as well as most forcible manner Unus ex vobis trader me Mare 14.18 when the son of God discover'd the wicked intentions of that Traitor without naming him all the rest of the Apostles trembled for themselves Judas only to whom he spake is unconcern'd when a soul is insensible it soon grows impudent Judas has the face