employ to reform it till the next Retreat And the better to preserve those Good dispositions we should first render thanks to God for the Graces he has bestow'd on us during the Retreat We should then offer up all our Resolutions to him and renew them with more earnestness beseeching the Blessed Virgin to intercede for us with her son that he would give us his Grace where by we way be render'd faithful to the End and begging that she would undertake for our fidelity which she can obtain for us But after all these Resolutions we must not rely so much upon them as to forget our weakness for nothing is more dangerous then too much security It very much concerns us to be exact in our watch the first three or four Days after this we shall find the difficulty'is lessen so that we shall execute our resolutions with Ease The greatest difficulties are in the beginning and the surest way to maintain our fervour is without any delay to declare our selves for virtue A MEDITATION to prepare for Retreat THe subject of this Meditation is taken out of the Parable in the thirteenth of Saint Luke Luâ—e 23.6 7. c. of the man who sought fruit on a Fig-tree planted in his Vineyard and finding none said to the dresser of the Vineyard It is now three years that I come seeking fruit on this Fig-tree and find none out it down why cumbreth it the Ground But his servant desir'd him to wait one year more that he might dig about it and dung it and if after all his care it should be still unfruitful then he would cut it down FIRST POINT Consider with what care God hath hitherto cultivated us that we might bring forth fruit We came into the world not only a barren tree but corrupted and spoil'd by original Sin fit for nothing but to be cast into Hell Fire The singular Mercy of God has preferr'd us to many others has planted us in his Church by making us Christians or in the fertile field of a Religious Life if by a greater effect of his Love he has call'd us to that state Have we ever truly known the advantage of being planted in this holy ground cultivated by the labours and water'd by the sweat and blood of him who is both God and man This ground in which we are hath produc'd those Hero's of Christianity and bears every day a multitude of saints of all sexes ages conditions Those excellent fouls with the same manuring that is with the same assistance that is given us have and do every day bring forth fruit worthy of Eternal Life They had no other Gospel no other Sacraments then we have The Grace of God abounds at all times ther Rules were not different from ours only they were more faithful to those Rules by the exact observation of which alone they are become great saints We have the benefit of their Examples and many proper helps which they wanted Add to these advantages the particular favours we have receiv'd from God call to mind all the pains he hath taken to make us fruitful all the good thoughts he hath inspir'd us with all the pious Resolutions he hath excited in us since we had the use of Reason his favours have been innumerable since we have been in his service how often hath he nourish'd us with the food of Angels his owne flesh how often have we heard him speaking to our hearts how often has he enlightned us how many Graces have we receiv'd from him in our Retreats and â—ommunions and and how many other favours hath he heap'd on us Half these are sufficient to make a great saint nay there are many blessed spirits now in heaven who never had all these advantages and yet they bare much fruit They made admirable use of their talents their Lives were full of good works which have adorn'd them with merits whereby they now possess everlasting happiness a just reward of their Fidelity Let us now consider seriously and impartially whether the same manuring the spinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ have made us like bear much fruit SECOND POINT Consider that the fruits God requires of us are not dry and barren devotions and appearances of virtue which serve for the most part onely to amuse the imperfect who with all their pretended good works pass their whole Lives in sloth tepidity without growing better in any one point Their specious virtues are but leaves but gaudy out sides which deceive men and themselves too making them take the effects of passion or humane respect of Education or of their natural temper for real virtues The Fruits which Saint Iohn calls Fruits worthy of pennance Matt. 3.8 Gal. 5.22.23 c. and Saint Paul the Fruits of the spirit are the effects of a true love to God and a perfect charity towards our neighbour They are such as a solid Piety produces an extreme horrour for the smallest sin a violent hunger after Righteousness an universall coâ—stant and continual Mortification a profound humility a great exactness in all the duty 's of our Calling they are an exceeding a version for every thing our Saviour hates and an high esteem for every thing he loves The Victory over our passions the reformation of our Lives and conduct are the Fruits that he expects from us This is the meaning of those words Matt. 3.8 Bringforth fruits worthy of pennance shew by your works by the whole course of your Life that you are really converted Here let us examine our selves Have we brought forâ—h many of these Fruits God hath been careful to cultivate us these three these ten years that we might be fruitful many would have been saints with much less Graces and yet all have not perhaps made one good Religious or one good Christian 'T is not the fault of the ground in which Jam planted it is holy ground and yields an hundred fold even many of my accquaintance with less advantages bring forth much more fruit then I. What benefit have I receiv'd by so many Masses what am I the better for so many Communions One single Communion is able to elevate a soul to a sublime perfection yet I who have receiv'd it may be one or two hundred times have not yet reform'd any one fault After so many Devotions am I more humble more exact more mortifyed Do I love my God and Saviour more What is become of all the good thoughts I have formerly had where is all my fervour what is become of that inward peace and true pleasure which I have sometimes experien'cd in my Devotions what is become of all my holy Resolutions and all my fair promises alas perhaps we find no traces of them all but a sad remembrance which serves only to shew us how far we are from the state in which we ought to be Has not our ingratitude towards God augmented proportionably to the increase of his blessings And do's it
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
thy Grace that I will both love and serve thee And I hope in thy mercy that since thou hast patiently born with my disobedience so long thou wilt now be so gracious as to pardon and forgive it SECOND MEDITATION OF THE MEAN'S which are given us to attain our ultimate end FIRST POINT Of the means common to all Christians SECOND POINT The particular means proper for each Christian FIRST POINT COnsider that God not content to have created us for himselfe as for our ultimate End has out of his great goodness indispensably engag'd us to seek him by those numerous meanes which he hath given us to attain that End Every creature taken in its selfe is an help to our knowledge Love of him And 't is only our abuse of them that makes any of them hinderances The happiness and mis fortunes of our Lives the chastisemens wherewith God corrects our unfaithfulness our very faults may be so many furtherances of our Salvation Even the devices and temptations of our mortal Enemy the Devil may be a means to save us Without grace it is impossible to attain our ultimate End all our endeavours without it are vain 'T is an article of Faith that we may be wanting to the Grace of God there is not one soul in Hell who is not damn'd by his own fault We are weak the occasions of sin are many and our corrupted hearts are violently enclin'd to it but can we have greater assistance to prevent our falls and to raise us up again when we are fallen Are we sensible of the facility with which we may work out our salvation if we will have recourse to those Excellent means which God hath put into our hands So many Sacraments whereby all the merits of our Saviour are apply'd to us in which we are as it were bath'd in his blood where in our souls feed on the Body and Blood of that Divine Redeemer are without doubt most effectual and easy means to attain our great End It was easy for the Disciples to be saints who had their Divine Saviour always with them And shall it be more difficult for us who have him continually present in the Eucharist their happiness consisted in having their requests granted what should hinder our obtaining of him as they whatever we desire Another very effectual means is frequent Prayer for our Saviour hath solemnly engag'd his word that he will grant whatever we ask in his Name His promises are without exception not limited to any Sort of men Do but ask Every body surely is able to ask and they who will not do most certainly value Heaven at a very low rate since they think it not worth their asking If we had only the Sacrifice of the Altar would nor our Salvation be sure what Grace what assistance can we need which our Redeemeâ— who gives himselfe as an earnest of his grace cannot obtain And how can we doubt his so often reiterated promises that he desires our happiness We are all debtors to the justice of God and stand in need of extraordinary helps One Mass one Communion bestows on us a treasure sufficient to pay all our debts and supply all our needs Let us offer up that Host to his Eternal Father Who we are sure cannot but be pleas'd with it It is sufficient to blot out the sins of all mankind and whose fault will it be if it do's not efface ours Certainly if God had left it to us to choose the most proper means of Salvation we should never have been able to find so many so easy and so effectual we shâ—uld never have thought of proposing what Christ has done for us And yet what use have we hitherto made of those means And what must we think of our selves and of our unprofitableness under them surely we have no great mind to be saved if we lose our souls in the midst of so powerful and such easy means of salvation what excuse shall we inuent what shadow of pretence can we have to justify our selves if we neglect them What shall we answer to the reproaches of the Heathens What shall we answer when our Saviour himselfe reproaches and confounds us with the example of those Pagans who only out of a vain desire of Glory for an imaginary recompense were such lovers of virtue such haters of vice even superstitiously devout what would they have done if they had enjoy'd our helps What regret must a Christian have who is damn'd with all those advantages what shall I be the better for them if I be damn'd And what must I expect if make no better use of them for the future SECOND POINT Consider that besides those general helps common to all Christians every man has some means proper for him whereby he may easily become agreat Saint His temper his education parts his very passions if rightly manag'd will much contribute to it The Grace of God commonly makes use of every one of these and whether our inclinations be good or bad we may with alittle resolution make them all serve to our progress in virtue Every sickness and unfortunate accident of our Lives is sent on purpose to bring us nearer to our last end by separating us or at least by weaning our affections from sensible objects which take up too much of our time and thoughts But the surest and most effectual means are those which every man meets with in the condition wherein God hath plac'd him Each state of Life is a different way by which the divine Providence leads us to our ultimate End It is a great Error to think that wee cannot attal Perfection without doing something extraordinary we may be very eminent saints only by acquitting our selves exactly of the duty 's of our callings The Virtuous Woman that Heroine so highly prais'd in Holy writ acquir'd all those merits only by taking care of her Family And Jesus Christ himselfe for thirty years together thought be could do nothing more becoming him then to discharge the duty 's of that humble and poor condition which he had chosen All o her ways are subject to illulusion we deceive our selves by doing much unless we do what we ought he do's what he ought who fulfills the will of God which we are sure we fulfill when we are exact in the smallest duty 's of our callings They who live in the world need not seek means of Sanctification out of their ordinary course of Life in the dutys of each day they will find matter enough to make them saints and they are inxecusable before God if they neglect those means since they take much more pains for the World then he requires them to take for him that they may be saved Religious men find in their state all and indeed the only means of perfection that are proper for them which consist in a punctual observation of their Rule and vows Those Rules have already made the Saints that are honour'd in their
is the most precious season of our Lives wherein it concerns us most to improve every moment and which we are least capable of improving Both our body's and mends languish on a sick bed and what we do is out of custom We are not able to make long prayers nor affectionate meditations but we may and must make frequent acts of Resignation Love contrition and confidence in God And how shall we do it if we never practis'd them Te do them well we must have us'd out selves to produce them This consideration has induc'd me to set down some short prayers and fervent Ejaculation taken for the most part out of scripture or the Holy Fathers They are proper to assist us in dying well and may be very useful to a Christian during his sickness if he were acquainted with the practise of them before Lord he whom thou lovest is sick Ecce quem amas infirmatur Joan. 11.3 a Aegrotus sum ad medicum clamo miser sum ad misericordupropeâ—o 〈◊〉 mortuussunâ— ad vitam suspiro Tu es medicus tu es misericerdia tu es vita Jesu Nazarene miserere mei Aug. Soliloq cap. 2. I am sick O my God I come to thee my only Physitian I am miserable and there fore I fly to thee who art the source of Mercy I am dying and therefore I have recourse to thee who art Life its selfe Yes my Dear Saviour thou art my Physician thou art the fountain of mercy thou art the Life of my soul pity my infirmity's b Miserere me Domine quoniam infirmus sum sana me Domine quoniam conturbata sunt ossa mea Psalm 6.3 Help O Lord my strength faileth me my soul is over whelmed with trouble and all my bones are broken with grief O Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath Domine ne in furore tuo arguas me neque in ira tua corripias me Ps 27. Reminiscere miserationuÌ„ tuarum Domine Psal 24.6 neither chasten me in thine Anger be mindful O Lord of thy tender mercy's and pity me a Nunquid oblivisci potest infantem suum ut non misereatur Filio uteri sui si illa obliviscatur fuum Isai 49.15 I am quite cast down I suffer exceedingly but this is my comfort that thou my God wilt not forget me in the midst of my misery Can a mother forget her Child that she should not have compassion on the son of her Womb yes she may forget but I have thy promise that thou wilt not forget me b Tu nosti onus meum quale sit Domine da mihi illud patienter fâ—rre ut per viam crucis extollar ad te Aug. Med. ca. 37. Adauge laborem modò augeas patientiam Aug. Obsecro Domine fac misericordiaÌ„ tuÌ„ cum servo tuo dirige viam meaÌ„ ut cum salute revertar in domum Domini mei Thou knowest O my God what I suffer Oh! do thou give me patience that I may be able to go to thee by the way of the Cross c My sufferings are great but not great enough I deserve much severer chastisements give more crosses but at the same time give me more patience shew thy mercy O Lord unto thy servant direct my way that I may at length arrive at my Fathers House My God! if I had a thousand Lives I would devote them all to thee Oh! that the Life which thou hast given me were more pure and worthy thy acceptance but such as it is I give it thee without any repugnance since thou requirest it I would not keep it tho it were in my power Yes my God! I am ready and willing to be depriv'd of every thing I lov'd upon the Earth to lay down this Body which I have lov'd too well I accept willingly the hideous state to which I shall be soon reduc'd when I become meat for the worms and am turn'd into rottenness Oh! how happy should I be if this destruction of my Body could repair the injury I have offered to the Divine Majesty by prefering my body to him and its satisfaction to his service Not with standing all my pains I am ready to suffer greater if it be thy will O God My most acute torments are too slight and short seing they are the last proof I shall ever give thee of my Love and of my earnest desire to please thee Tho thou shouldst condemn me to all the pains of the next Life tho they should be never so violent and should endure to the end of the world yet I would submit to them Glorify thy selfe O Lord inpunishing me since I would not honour thee nor do thy will I believe O Lord all that thou hast revealed to thy Church and I firmly hope for those glorious things which thou discoverest to thy Elect in Heaven I acknowledge O my God! the enormity of my sins I have committed more then I am able to remember my soul is grieved that I have served so good a Master so ill But all my sins cannot lessen my confidence in thy Mercy 's which are infinitely greater then them all I trust that not with standing all my guilt thou wilt not suffer me to be for ever miserable for thou art infinitely good I am not a fraid of Hell tho I have deserv'd it becaust my saviour hath purcthas'd Heaven for me I hope in thy Mercy O Lord and all the Devils in Hell shall never make me relinquish that hope In spight of them I will sing eternal praises to thee will adore thy mercy and possess and love the for ever Magna mater suscipe Filium cum tota Ä™ternitate luctantem Just Lips O Divine Mother most holy Virgin receive your unworthy child who is now strugling and striving with Eternity and succour him in this hour of danger Maria mater gratiae Mater misericordiae Tu nos ab hoste protege hora mortis suscipe Da misericordiam misero ac poenitenti qui tamdiu popercisti peccatori Bernard Oh! Holy Mary Mother of Grace and mercy defend me from the assaults of the Enemy assist and help me now and in my last hour and receive my soul into thy Arms. Have mercy O Lord on this wretched sinner thou who hast so often for given renewed offences make him partaker thy mercy now he repents of them a Peccavi Domine peccavi iniquitates meas agnosco peccavi super arenam matis sed misericordiae tuae etiam non est numerus In orat Manass I have sinn'd O God! I confess my iuiquities they are more numerous then the sand on the sea-shore but thy Mercies are never to be numbred b Doleo Domine Deus meus doleo quod peccavi quia parum doleo maximè doleo Aug. I repent O Lord my God of all my sins My soul is torn with grief because I have displeas'd thee and that which grieves me yet more is that I do not grieve
and do we stand in need of his Example to excite us seriously to work out our Salvation Is nor all that thou hast done sufficient must we search for new arguments to convince us of the worth of a soul for which thou hast paid so so great a price Thou hast redeemed me o Divine Saviour I am thine by a double title and am resolv'd that nothing in the world shall hinder my giving my selfe wholly to thee without reserve SECOND POINT Consider how much Gods peculiar care of us obliges us to concurr with him to secure our Salvation shall God himselfe act for us as if he had nothing else to do as if he could not be happy without us And shall we stand in need of a more powerful motive to excite us to diligence How do's his infinite wisdom improve every moment from our births to make us love him How admirarable is the conduct of his Providence in bringing about our Salvation Do we count it a small Grace that we are born of Christian Parents when so many are born of Infidels Is it a small Grace to be educated in the bosom of the Church out of which perhaps we should have still continued if we had been bted in Error How great a mercy was it to have a good instructor in my youth a companon who set me a good example a good Friend to advise me We look on these things as common Accidents but we shall one day see that the hand of Providence dispos'd them all We afflict our selves for the loss of a friend for the death of a Relation we are quite dejected with Poverty our want of capacity disturbs us and we are troubled to find our selves so little considered in the world while perhaps these very things are the cause of our conversion and we shall one day find that we owne our Salvation to these seeming misfortunes Most men have been in some dangers or sick perhaps to extremity God who saw we should certainly be lost if we dyed then being desirous to save us hath given us more time we have read some pious discourse only to pass away the time and have found our hearts touch'd by it how many happy occasion have we met with which tho wholly unforeseen were very proper to promote Gods designs in our conversion One inspiration one sudden thought one word spoken without design is frequently the first occasion of great Conversions If we have the honour to be consecrated to the immediate service of God let us call to mind all the circumstances of our vocation and we shall find them so many miracles of Providence that we should come to such a place at such a time and in such company that when we thought our selves most wedded to the world we found our selves on a sudden weaned from it that the numerous examples of worldings did not allure us nor the love of our Friends retain us that we were not discourag'd by the austerity's of a life which appeard so terrible but that we had resolution enough to surmount all rhese obstacles Nothing but grace could inspire this generous resolution to a person weary of the world tir'd out with Crosse and terrify'd with the thoughts of approaching Death but in the heat of youth when the world appears most charming when we are most eager in the pursuit of pleasures when the hopes of a long Life and the prospect of making a great fortune suggest other thoughts what is a miracle if such a conversion be not But whence proceed these pious sentiments at a time when I deserve them so little whence is it that among so many who would have been better then I God hath inspir'd me only with this thought And if others have entertain'd the same sincere desires have had much greater merits whence is it that they are not chosen how comes it that if they were chosen they did not persevere that God perhaps hath suffer'd them to fall back that I might take their place Add to these distinguishing favours all the inspirations and powerful assistances with which he prevents us daily and if all these visible proofs of his singular care of us do not prevail with us to love and serve him without any reserve we must be certainly the most ungrateful wretches living and deserve the severest and most immediate vengeance These are great subjects of meditation which require frequent and serious reflexions they are the sensible effects of Gods particular Providence which continually watches over us They are the visible marks of his singular Love in preferring us to so many others and nothing is so capable of exciting in us a lively faith a firm confidence an invincible resolution and ardent Love to him And yet perhaps there are some who never thought of it My God! how do we employ our thoughts How can we neglect these comfortable important Truths surely it would be impossible to delay setting about the great work of Salvation if we did seriously reflect on what God hath done and continues to do every day for us No wonder the Devil employs all his cunning to prevent our meditating on these things he knows how very proper they are to inspire a sincere desire of serving God but we are inexcusable to pass so slightly over and be so little affected with these pressing motives to endeavour after perfection in our several stations Let us examine whether we have faithfully concurr'd with the Grace of God and whether we have comply'd with his designs in taking so much care of our Salvation Let us examine wherein we have been negligent and penetrated with this wonderful goodness of God who is so desirous to make us Saints let us deferr no longer let us immediately correspond with his will who seeks our good and resolve on such measures as will make our Resolutions effectual Then we shall reap the fruit of this meditation and of this Day 's retreat if we be careful to pursue our Resolutions and not suffer them to be as so many have already been without effect THIRD MEDITATION OF THE SENTIMENTS we shall have at the hour of Death SEE THE THIRD MEDITATION For the month of January MARCH SEPTEMBER FIRST MEDITATION OF THE SMALL NVMBER of those that are saved FIRST PONINT Our Faith teacheth us that but few shall be saved SECOND POINT Our Reason convinces us that hut few shall be saved FIRST POINT COnsider that then umber of those who shall be saved is very small not only in comparison of above two thirds of mankind who live in infidelity but even in comparison of that vast multitude who are lost in the true Religion There are few doctrines of our Faith more clearly reveal'd than this Strive to enter in at the strait Gate saith our Saviour for wide is the Gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be that go in thereat but strait is the Gate narrow is the way that leadeth to Life
tobe Saints without following their Example what grounds have we to rely on the mercy of God when we make use of that mercy to hinder our Conversion Jesus-Christ has expressly condemn'd lukewarm souls yet do's not this tepidity reign among Christians Am I convinc'd that the number of the Elect is so small and shall I do nothing to be of that number Yes my God! were there to be but one soul saved since it depends on my will to be that soul I am resolv'd to be sav'd I acknowledge that I have done nothing for thy service which can make me hope but my confidence is founded on what thou art doing now for me Thy design in giving me this opportunity in exciting me to this resolution was not to increase my guilt I have no need of any other Argument to convince me that thou desirest my Salvation thanthis very fear which thou hast imprinted in my soul least I should not be of the number of thy chosen I have often rendred my best thoughts useless but my God I have reason to hope that this resolution which I now make to work out my salvation with all the earnestness in the world shall be effectual And because I have had too much experience that these pious designs are easyly forgotten I will begin this moment to turn to thee Dixi nune coepi haec mutatio dexterae Excelsi Ps 76.11 to devote my selfe entirely to thy service and I rely upon thy goodness for strength to persevere SECOND MEDITATION OF SIN FIRST POINT Of Mortal Sin SECOND POINT Of Venial Sin FIRST POINT COnsider that all the calamity's and misery's that are in the world or have been since the Creation proceed from mortal sin this is the cause of warrs plagues and Famines of the destruction of City's by fire and of men by sickness Eternal Damnation and Hell it selfe are the dismall effects of one Mortal sin How can we comprehend the heinousness of mortall sin seeing thô the Angels were the most perfect part of the Creation neither the nobleness of their nature nor all their perfections nor their fitness to glorify their maker to all Eternity nor their being particularly design'd for that end could exempt them from being plung'd into everlasting flames for one mortall sin of a moment express'd in a vain thought For one act of disobedience Adam was depriv'd of his original justice of all his natural and supernatural gifts by this one sin he lost the priviledge of immortality became subject himselfe and subjected his Posterity to those innumerable misery's under which wegroan so many thousand yeares are past and the Divine vengeance is not yet appeas'd nor will be till the end of Ages 't is the fire of this wrath that burns in Hell and will never be extinguish'd The consideration of the terrible punishment inflicted on mortal sin is a clear proof that it is the greatest of evils since God who is goodness its selfe and whose mercy is exalted above all his works is so very severe against one act of it How many persons eminent for virtue full of merits and arrived to a great degree of sanctity are now damn'd for one mortal sin If after three or fourscore years of penance after a long Life spent in the exercise of the most heroick virtues after having wrought miracles if we commit one mortall sin all our penance all our virtues will be counted for nothing we become Enemys to God and objects of his wrath vengeance By the severity of the punishment we may conceive some Idea of the crime but its enormity and the hatred which God bears to it are more visible in the pains he hath taken and what it hath cost him to destroy it Those inconcevable mistery's of the incarnation the nativity the Life the passion and the Death of the Eternal Son were wrought onely for the destruction of sin nothing less then all theblood of Christ could redeem one soul and after all this soul shall be damni'd for one mortal sin all the flames of Hell those Eternal flames could never cleanse the least sinful spot Can we believe this and live one moment in sin and notwithstanding this extreme danger continue to sin and to expose our selves every day to the occasions of committing it this is hardly to be imagin'd How shall we reconcile our Faith with our practise how shall we make our practise and our Reason agree we refuse no pains to oblige a friend we are wonderfully exact in every punctilio of good breeding but stupidly careless in the important duty 's of a Christian Life We own that most afflictions are the punishments of our sins we are all afraid of Hell yet we are not afraid of sin which is the cause of Hell how sensible are we of the smallest loss how uneasy how sad and often uncapable of comfort yet how insensible of the greatest of that irreparable loss which a million of worlds can never repair we sin but we are not sad neither do we stand in need of comfort Thô we had committed but one mortal sin in all our Lives it would be a just reason for continual humiliation it would be a just subject of fear and trembling to the last moment of our Lives We have sin'd we are in danger of renewing our sins we are uncertain of their pardon how can we be without fear Are we sure that we are in a state of Grace or do we hope so be cause of our reiterated confessions Alas who hath told us that our contrition was sincere that our sorrow was from a supernatural motive how can we be satisfy'd with our purposes and resolutions when we know by experience and by so many relapses how ineffectual they have often been Since God spared not the Angels that sin'd how ought we to tremble who have sin'd after the knowledge of their terrible punishment After having seen the son of God expire on a Cross to destroy sin can I imagine that God will hate sin less in me My God Sauiour who hast dyed for me which thou wouldst not do for the fallen Angels I humbly beseech thee by the merits of thy Death to give me that Grace which thou wouldst not offer them Give me an hearty sorrow for all my sins and incline my will to answer thy End in affording me this time for repentance which thou hast not given many others and to begin immediately SECOND POINT Consider that venial Sins seem small onely to those who have little faith and less Love they who love God truly look upon all sin with horror and are more afraid of it than of the grearest misery A venial sin is indeed a small sin but it is not a small evil as long as it is a sin it is agreater evil than a general desolation of the whole Universe and therefore the Saints of God have always judg'd yt all the creatures ought to think themselves happy if they could prevent one venial
deferr our Conversion one moment SECOND POINT COnsider that you can never repair the loss of Time that all you can do will never recall one moment and if you be capable of reflection and be seriously desirous of Salvation this will be sufficient to convince you of the importance of redeeming time It is certain that all the moments of our Lives are counted let us employ them well or ill we shall not increase their number for it is fix'd and lessens continually An hour ago we had so much more time to work out our Salvation an hour hence we shall have so much less Tho we live holily after the example of Sainr Paul and do not loose one moment of what is left yet it is most certain that a moment once gone will return no more and that if it be employed ill 't is lost If we employ the rest of our time well we may escape the dangers into which our abuse of the past has brought us but we cannot undo what we have done we have still lost so many precious hours and with them all the graces which God would have bestowed on us all the good we might have done in them My God! what a loss is this so many moments lost since we had first the use of reason and with them so many graces beyond recovery When we spend hours and days in vanity we call it passing the Time a phrase very unfit for a Christians mouth we pass a way the time Time it self passes away the Time so pass'd is lost and neither it nor the graces we could have merited in it will return any more The Grace of Predestination is in some manner annex'd to some certain moments what will become of us if God has fix'd ours to some of those moments that are past lost The fear of having lost it is indeed a sure and sensible mark that I am not yet deprived of it but what must I expect if I let slip this opportunity and do not grow better by this fear We know time is precious and short and yet we complain it passes slowly we are continually wishing for some time to come whence proceeds this uneasiness are we weary of living no but we make ill use of our Time and that loss which we see and feel disturbs our quiet and makes us think the time long All our pleasures and diversions cannot free us from this uneasiness which never quits those who loose their Time But they who improve it well for their Salvation are not subject to this uneasiness nothing is so easy so full of peace as they Many Saints have with Saint Paul desired to be deliver'd from their Exile that they might perfectly enjoy their God and be out of danger of losing him but we never find that they were uneasy in the discharge of their duty 's in doing the will of God So true it is that to be entirely satisfy'd and contented we need onely make a good use of time by yielding obedience to the Divine Will But here let us examine what use we have made of our Time it s pass'd if it be lost too how great is our loss how shall we repair it If we had improv'd those many moments hours and days as a Christian ought to do we should now reap the fruit in spirituall consolations instead of which we feel nothing but regrett for having lost so much time and terrible apprehensions for the exact account we must give of it Let us therefore at least make good use of what is left for the period of our Life is fix'd and we draw nearer it every moment a time will come when we can improve Time no longer because it will be follow'd by Eternity Quia tempus non erit amplius Apec 10.6 Let us for the future improve the little that remains and not loose one single moment THIRD MEDITATION OF THE SENTIMENTS we shall have at the hour of Death SEE THE THIRD MEDITATION For the month of January MAY OCTOBER FIRST MEDITATION OF THE WILLINGNESS of most Christians and the insincerity of their desires to be saved FIRST POINT He who sincerely desires to be saved must make use of the meanes SECOND POINT It is not enough to make use of some means but we must make use of all the necessary means of Salvation FIRST POINT COnsider that altho every man pretends to be willing to be saved yet there are but very few truly willing The most hardned Sinner will sometimes tell you that he intends to be converted the most unfaithfull Religious believes himself desirous of perfection because no man is so mad or so much his own Enemy as to be fond of ruine and we know that without Conversion we are ruin'd for ever But if we stop there and content our selves with saying we desire it without making use of the means we have indeed the thought of Conversion but not the will If we consult either our faith or Reason the torments of Hell will mahe us afraid and the great Truths of our Religion will startle us but we deceive our selves if we take this for Conversion t is onely a conviction that we ought to be converted A good natural disposition or Education may inspire us with an admiration of virtue and an horror of vice but the understanding has a greater thare in these Sentiments than the will and it is much to be feared that such an aversion to Sin is onely an hatred of its dismall consequences and such a love of Piety is no more than an agreable Idea of the happiness that attends it without any efficacious desire of Salvation Let us not deceive our selves we we shall not be judg'd according to the good thoughts we have entertain'd but according to the good works we have done Hell is full of souls who were as willing to be saved as the greatest part of Christians are and can we content our selves with no better a will than theirs We do not design to be damn'd there is not one Soul in Hell that ever design'd it but like a frantick sick man who says he would fain be well yet will not take any thing to make him so who satisfy's himselfe with thinking on the benefits of health but will make use of no means to be cur'd so we desire to be sav'd but we will not make use of the means of Salvation Can any man in his wits imagine that this is the way to Heaven and what truth would there be in our Religion if it were Can we fancy that a faint desire is sufficient to save us with out use of means all the damn'd Souls have had that desire Can we entertain a thought so injurious to the wisdom of Jesus-Christ and so unworthy of our holy Faith Christ will not have the most labourious carefull Christians believe themselves out of danger and sure of their reward tho they have neglect'd none of the means of Salvation tho they have
under the shelter of which they frequent the Sacrements and do some good wocks yet still indulge themselves in secret aversions in envious jealousies in criminal and dangerous engagements in uneasiness murmuring against their Superiors in selfe Love and in pride which influence almost all their actions and in an hundred other faults of the same nature in the midst of which they live unconcern'd they persuade themselves that there is no great crime in all this and seek for excuses to palliate those faults which God condemns as heinous sins and which they themselves will condemn as such when they come to dye for then their passions will be no longer able to hinder them from seeing things as they are in themselves surely it is no hard matter to discover that the Salvation of a man in such a state as this is in great danger The State of a Soul in mortal sin is very dangerous but our Saviour judges a lukewarm state to be yet worse for he tells the Angel or Bishop of the Church of Laodicea I would ' thou wert either cold or hot for because thou art lukewarm and neither col nor hot I will cast thee out of my mouth as tainted offensive Do's Jesus-Christ who bears with the greatest Sinners who is alwayes ready to pardon them who did not abhorr even Judas himselfe do's he abhorr a lukewarm Soul hath he who is so tender towards Sinners no tenderness no love for a Soul that is neither cold nor hot What hopes then can such a Soul have of being saved We ought not to despair of the Salvation of the most notorious Sinner though his disorders and crimes have renderd his Conversion difficult we ought still to hope for he knows his Sins is therefore more capable of being made sensible of them and of hating them Tell the grearest Sinner of the severe judgments of God of Death and of the rigourf and duration of Eternal Torments the foree of these terrible verity's may alarm and convert him but all this makes no impression on a luke-warm Soul his condition is without remedy because it abstains from crying and scandalous Sins which startle a Soul that hath any fear left ' it do's not mind Spiritual and interior faults it mingles them with some actions of Piety so that they easily pass unregarded by a Conscience that is not exceeding tender and thus not knowing the greatness of its danger it do's noting to prevent it Nothing do's a Soul Good in this condition Prayers exhortations reading masses meditations Sacrements are all fructless whether it be that the little benefit it hath hithertho receiv'd by them gives it a disgust and takes away its desire to make use of them or that being accustom'd to them they have less effect that having heard these terrible truths discours'd of an hundred times and having as often discours'd of them its selfe to no purpose they make no impression on it It receives but few graces because of its unfaithfulness in those which it do's receive its faults are alwayes great because they are attended with an higher contempt a greater malice a blacker ingratitude than the faults of others this odious mixture of good and bad which composes the caracter of a lukewdarm Soul discovers clearly how injurious such a conduct is to God the seeming good works that it do's are a convincing proof that it hath not forgotten God but its careless and imperfect way of doing them shews how little it stands in awe of that God whom it serves with so much indifference and disgust And indeed this disgust is mutual it has an aversion to Christ and Christ hath an aversion to it no wonder that such men immediately after their communions are ready to return again to and renew their Sins as if they had not receiv'd the Opinion of their pretended good works tenders them proof against all wholesome advice they can hear it with all the coldness in the world and 't is this that makes so many good thoughts and holy inspirattons useless Hence proceeds the strange blindnefs of a lukewarm Souls and that horrible insensibility which is the heaviest of judgments and the utmost degree of misery And there fore S. Bernard and S. Bonavente declare that it is much easier to convert a worldling tho never so wicked than a Lukewarm Religious What hope is left for such a Soul there is no remedy for it it will not be cur'd because it is not sensible of its illness It is a sick Creature whose condition is the more desperate because it laughs at those who think its sick so that there is need of a greater miracle to convert a lukewarm Soul than to make the blind to see or to raise the dead to Life None but thou my God canst do it thou art able to cure the most inveterate diseases but thou hatest Lukewarmness and this makes me fear I cannot pray with that confidence as I would for the most scandalous sinner I acknowledge that I have been hirher to in a lukewarm State But since thou hast made me sensible of it I am persuaded thou desirest to draw me our of it Oh! let not this renewed grace which perhaps will be last thou wilt ever Offer me be ineffectual thou wouldst have me be saved I am resolv'd to be saved what then can hinder my Salvation SECOND POINT Consider that a lukewarm state is not only very dangerous but which is more strange it is almost impossible to recover a Soul out of it because he that would recover must be sensible of his being in danger which a tepid Soul is not An heinous Sinner easily knows his danger there are eertain favourable moments where in by the help of grace he discovers so much deformity in his Soul that he presently laments his misery which knowledge and confession render his conversion much less difficult But a lukewarm soul do's not believe that ke is lukewarm he that believes himselfe tepid ceases to be so for we are rarely sensible of our condition till we begâ—n to be fervent this renders the conversion of the lukewarm almost impossible for which way shall one go about to persuade them that they are in such a State Blindness is the first effect of Tepidity It s unfaithfulness being gradual it is less sensible of them then its faults grow habitual and at last it takes pleasures in them nothing toucheth it when it is in this condition and it suspectes nothing it is not sensible of any new fault it grows lukewarm without omitting one of its devotions 't is the imperfections of these very devotions that give birth to its tepidity and help it to deceive its selfe by covering its reall faults with a false appearance of vertue God himselfe who so loudly a larms the Sinner is now silent and will not awake him but leaves him to dye in this mortal Lethargy I will begin says he to cast thee out he do's not do it all
at once he throws him off by degrees that he may not see it the unhappy Soul is rejected and his reprobation sealed and he do's not perceive it nor is he in the least sensible of his wretched condition And what hope can he have to be cur'd how is it possible for him to recover out of this dismall state The advice of his true Friends the pious counselli of his wise director and of his zealous Superior and the best examples are all ill received by his insensibility and hardness of heart he seems to be enchanted all his actions bear the visible marks of certain reprobation and that God hath left him Saint Bonaventure observes that it is no extraordinary thing to see notorious sinners quit their sins and become truly penitent but that it is very extraordinary to see a lukewarm Soul recover And to this we may apply the words of S. Paul in that terrible passage at which all thosé who grow cold after having been fervent in the service of God should tremble it is impossible that is extremely difficult for them who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost preferably to many others and of the swetneess of a Spititual Life and of saving Truths if they fall away if they grow weary of serving God and return to theyr Sins it is impossible to renew them again unto Repentance But my God what is all this to a lukewarm Soul unless by a miracle of mercy thou art pleas'd to open his eyes and to make him see his dangers he do's not suspect himselfe of being fallen away nor will he suspect it till thou discover it to him by an inward light and what will it avail him to be convinced of it unlesse thou givest an extraordinary supply of grace to recover him from that wreched State Let us now examine if we have no reason to fear The Lukewarm are exceeding curious they will try all Sorts of devotions and therefore may possibly read this meditation but let them not deceive themselves this day of retreat may be profitable if we examine impartially and diligently whether this dangerous tepidity do's not influence all our actions whether the Sacraments are usefull to us and whether we grow daily less imperfect by the Exercises of Virtue THIRD MEDITATION OF THE SENTIMENTS we shall have at the hour of Death SEE THE THIRD MEDITATION For the month of January JUNE DECEMBER FIRST MEDITATION OF HELL FIRST POINT The damn'd in Hell suffer all the torments that can possibly be suffer'd SECOND POINT The Damn'd suffer to Eternity FIRST POINT COnsider ther is an Hell that is a place of torments prepar'd for those Souls who dye in their Sins we are so us'd to hear of Hell that we are very little affected with the thoughts of it but if we were truly sensible what Hell is we should never think of it without more more horrour Imagine that you see in the center of the Earth a vast and bottomless lake of fire and flames the damn'd plung'd and rowling in it all cover'd and transperc'd with fire which they suck in with their breath and which enters at their eyes and ears their mouths and nostrils casting forth dreadful flames their skin scorch'd their flesh blood humours and brains boyling and bubling up with the violence of the burning their bones and marrow all on fire like a piece of iron taken red hott out of the furnace all the parts of their body on fire and the fire in every part of it How glad would these wretches be to suffer only from our fire notwithstanding the horrour of being thrown into a burning gulph but alas there is no comparaison between it and the fire of Hell my God! what tourments Ours is lightsome their 's dark Ours is an effect of the goodness and bounty of God theirs is the product of his incens'd Omnipotence and of the infinite hatred he bears to Sin t is a fire which the Almighly do's all he can to render furious raging and alas it is not their onely torment this fire makes them feel at the same time all sorts of pains Represent ro your selfe a man tormented with the gout or a violent colique what pains do's he feel how do's he cry out how willingly would he dye to put an end ' to his torture and yet he suffers onely in one part of his body he hath the Liberty of complaining the satisfaction of seeing himselfe pityed what would it be if every member suffer'd the same torment if instead of helping him the standers by abus'd him without suffering him to complain In hell the damn'd do not onely suffer the pains to which we are subject in this Life they suffer all these and infinitely more their torments are universal violent complicated and all excessive in one instant they feel them all and in the midst of all they cannot receive or so much as hope for any ease what would one drop of water be against a whole Sea of flames And yet that poor refreshment that nothing is deny'd them The sick find some ease in tumbling and removing from one place to another but the damn'd shall be eternally in the fire unmovable as a rock Yet all these dreadful torments are nothing to their despair when they look back on the time that is lost and the ill use they have made of it The thoughts of the damn'd will be employ'd to all Eternity in calling to mind the vanity of those objects which made them forget God I have plung'd my selfe into this abyss of darkness and everlasting flames for the love of a trifling pleasure of an imaginary honour which I could possess but a moment and of which I have scarce any Idea left where are now all those fantomes of glory greatness and reputation which took up all my Time and made me forget Eternity Where is that fortune to which I sacrific'd my all Where are all those whom I lov'd so well Where are those of whose vain opinion censures and power I stood so much in awe Yet these I preferr'd to the favour love of God and for these I have lost my Soul The opportunitys of Salvation which he hath abus'd and the reward that he hath lost will take up the thoughts of a damn'd soul to all Eternity How easyly might I have confess'd such a Sin God offer'd me his Love he gave me warning he press'd and sollicited me so long gave me so many years of health since my fall I pass'd for a wise man in the world Oh! how came I to deferr my conversion to the hour of Death How often have I trembled at the thought of my danger at the apprehension of damnation And yet am damn'd at last I needed onely have done those good worke which such a friend such a companion such a Relation have done I began well it would have cost me little to persevere and if it
did they do wisely did they do well to neglect nothing to do all they were able to avoid Hell Who would not give all he is worth to be freed from a dungeon who thinks any pains too great to prolong his Life But Oh! what do we do nay what do we not refuse to do to avoid Hell The divine Justice is terrible God punishes these that offend him with Eternal torments in Hell yet we offend him in the sight of this Hell certainly an Eternity of misery is not too severe a punishment for such malice if there were no hell already God should make one on purpose for such offenders The thoughts of Hell make us tremble we are unwilling to think of it least it thould affright us and yet we are not afraid to run headlong into it we are afraid to think of the Eternal duration of those bitter torments and yet we will not make one step out of the road that leads to them There is an Hell and yet we delight in pleasures and Sinh at h still charms for us we think the practise of virtue difficult and there are still careless and imperfect Religious and debauch'd Christians this seems as incomprehensible as Eternity it selfe You object that perfection is not necessary to avoid hell true it is not necessary but can you keep to farr from a Lake of Fire into which so many fail Can you take too much care and too many precautions to preserve your selfe from everlasting fire rage despair How cruel must the thoughts of a damn'd soul be who knows that he might have been eternally as happy as he is eternally miserable if he had pleas'd that he might have been a Saint with ease and is not because he was not pleas'd to be so that his Brethren are in heaven but he is in Hell he laugh'd at those who being afraid of the condition in which he is now liv'd otherwise than he did and now what would he not do to be what they are I call'd an holy exactness melancoly a Christian modesty reservedness I call'd stupidity scrupulousness Oh! that I had been so stupid so scrupulous and melancoly that exactness that reserve has made many Saints who are now in heaven absorpt in Joys but what is become now that I am in flames of all my mirth and good humour which I affected to shew by rallying every thing If I had imitated such and such of my acquaintance if I had made good use of the divine inspirations such a day if I had been faithful to such a grace if I had shun'd such an occasion of Sin if I had practis'd such a virtue if I had mortifyed my selfe if I had been truly willing I should be now in heaven instead of which I am damn'd to Eternity I am lost and lost for ever Oh terrible regret And that which aggravates my misery is the remembrance how often I have thought on the pains I now endure on that eternal regret I should one day feel if I were damned Yet after all this men damn themselves Great God! thy vengeance is just they deserve it all Is it possible that we can avoid thinking on Hell is it possible that we can think on it and not be converted Is it possible that we are converted and do not continue to think on it we must have it all wayes before our eyes after our conversion to prevent our falling the greatest Saints those pure fouls whose hearts were all inflam'd with the Love of God thought it absolutely necessary for them to meditate on Hell and the apprehensions of it made them tremble and can any who pretend to virtue can any Religious man imagine that it is unnecessary to think on Hell certainly such men dare not think on it they are conscious to themselves that they do not take pains enough to give them ground to hope that they shall not be condemn'd but have they less cause to fear because they have a greater account to give And how can they hope to be less severely punish'd because they are under greater obligations Christ had good reason to tell us that Hell is the onely evil we ought to fear for what is a man the worse for being hated and persecuted for being reduced to a mean and obscure Life and for being mortify'd if he escape being damn'd My God! if thou art resolved to punish me for my Sins chastise me in this Life but do not damn me I will satisfy thy justice here I will hope in thy mercy and will love thee what satisfaction will it be to thee to see me in Hell sur rounded with flames transported with rage and despair hating and cursing thee and eternally blaspheming thy name My God! hast thou given me time to think on the pains of Hell onely to augment my despair one day for being damn'd after having thought on these pains Remember I am sprinkled with the blood of Jesus and 't is through that blood that I beg and hope for mercy Thou hast paid too great a price for me to be indifferent whether I be lost or no. I will be sav'd suffer me not to be lost Hic ure hic seca modo in aeternum parcas if thou wilt punish me do it in time but let not my punishment be Eternal SECOND MEDITATION OF THE FRVITS of Pennance FIRST POINT Pennance is necessary for all sorts of men SECOND POINT What the Fruits of that Pennance ought to be FIRST POINT COnsider that mortification and pennance is the onely way to heaven Jesus-Christ shew'd us no other way and the Saints who from their infancy were confirmed in grace knew no other T is an error to imagine that pennance is necessary onely for great Sinners and no less an error to think that mortification is the virtue onely of the perfect if we be Sinners we must do pennance to endeavour to appease the wrath of God and to obtain mercy and pardon if we are so happy as not to have lost our innocence pennance is necessary for us to preserve that precious treasure we have sin'd we may sin again two powerful motives to do pennance Since we all confess that men sin more frequently in the world and that they are more expos'd to the danger of offending God than in a cloyster can we reasonably believe that pennance belongs onely to Monastery's and that none but Religious are oblig'd to mortification Do we consider that many of those Religious whom we think indifpensably oblig'd to do pennance never lost their innocence shall we who own our selves guilty of many Sins and who are in danger of committing more every moment shall we think to persuade our selves that mortification and pennance do not belong to us It we had nothing but our own passions to overcome could we reasonably hope to conquer them without the exercice of pennance and who can reasonably hope to be saved without subduing his passions It is an article of Faith
that none enter into heaven but those who do violence to themselves and yet we pretend to enter there without mortification The Life of man upon the earth is a perpetual warfare for S. Paul telles us that the desires of the flesh arc contrary to the desires of the Spirit and the desires of the spirit are contrary to those of the flesh how then can we hope to be victorious without the practise of Pennance We please our sensual appetites in every thing we are careful of our body 's even to excess we follow blindly our natural inclinations and in this condition we live without fear in the midst of the world where we are expos'd to the greatest dangers Certainly either we are of a different nature from the rest of mankind or the Devil stands in awe of us and respects us or we are confirm'd in Grace or else we are in danger which is much more probable to dye in our Sins Do's heaven cost the most fervent and generous souls so much and can we expect that the lazy and imperfect should gain it with less pains Saint Paul chastis'd his body he joyn'd a continual pennance to the cruell persecutions he suffered for fear of being perverted himselfe while he converted others And shall men who dare not pretend to be any thing near as perfect as S. Paul imagine that they have no need to practise mortification Were the Saints more frail than we Did they expect another recompense Did they follow another guide or serve another Master Their lives were a continual mortification are ours like them And can we call our selves the Disciples of Christ while we neglect to do pennance Our Saviour says if any man will come after me let him deny himselfe and bear his Cross daily True mortification is inseparable from true piety not only because no virtue can subsist long without a constant and generous mortification but also because no virtue is real that is not attended with it We have great reason to distrust our exercises of piety our good works every thing is to be suspected in those whose passions are strong who are unmortify'd It do's not seem that we are afraid of the difficulty we dislike the motive for what do we not suffer in the service of the world Alas if God requir'd of his servants all that the world exacts of those who serve it I am afraid he would have but few servants How to we constrain our selves every day to please those whom our Interest requires us to manage what mortification so severe and so continual as a Courtiers a Merchants intent upon his trade a Soldiers or a scholars Yet they are not dis courag'd they seem satisfy'd amydst all their sufferings but when God calls upon us to constrain our selves a little every thing is uneasy we find his yoak heavy virtue frights us we are disgusted and the sole thought of mortification makes us loose courage But oh we shall have other thoughts on a death bed when the image of Jesus-Christ crucifyed is presented to us will not the sight of it have a quite contrary effect it will upbraid our delicacy and increase our regret for having lead so lazy so sensual a Life for having neglected pennance and mortification They present a Crucifix to the dying but my God! do all the dying find much comfort in contemplating a crucifix at their Death is it possible my dear Jesus that the mortification which thou hast render'd so easy should seem hard and insupportable only when we are to practise it in conformity to thy example and for Love of thee Oh! my God! what should I do if thou hadst requir'd of thy servants if I were bound to do and suffer as much for salvation as I do and suffer to ruine my selfe thou requirest less than the world do's less than I do and suffer in its service and shall I refuse to do and suffer what is absolutely necessary for salvation what I have deserv'd by my offenses and what all the blessed Spirits in heaven have done and suffer'd that they might imitate thee God forbid that I should glory in any thing but in the Cross of our Lord Jesus-Christ Absit mihi gloriari in nisi in cruce Domini nostri Jesu Christi per quem mihi mundus crucifixus est ego mundo Gal. 6.14 by whom the world is crucify'd to me and I unto the world SECOND POINT Consider that by the fruits of pennance is meant not only macerating our body's but chiefly the mortification of our passious and the Reformation of our Lives these are indeed the fruits which God expects from our Contrition and pennance by these marks we may know whether we have made good use of the Sacraments and whether we be truly sorry for our Sins and faithful to the Grace of God The Exercises of Devotion the frequentation of the Sacrements and the practise of good works are powerful means of perfection but while we retain our former passions with these powerful means while we are as proud as impatient as peevish as envious as difficult to be pleas'd as cholerik as unmortify'd as ful of selfe Love as before can we reasonably rely on these pretended exercises of Piety Mortification of the body is an exercise of Pennance but that pennance must have its fruit which consists in suppressing our passions in regulating our inclinations and in repairing the disorders of self-self-Love To what purpose do we confess so often if in a whole years time we have not perhaps reformed any one of the faults that we confess its is not enough for us to detest our Sins we must resolve to commit them no more and how can that resolution be sincere if we do not likewise resolve to avoid the least occasion of Sin The execution of this resolution is properly the fruit of pennance In good earnest if we know the efficacy of this Sacrament of pennance only by the fruits we find of it in our selves should we have an high Idea of it It is much to he feared that our using our selves by an unaccountable carelesness and especially by want of contrition to reap no profit by the Sacrament will render our disease incurable A Religious Life is a continual pennance but is there no danger of its being unfruitful What a miserable thing would it be for a Religious to have done penance so long without any fruit And what fruit can an unmortify'd Religious who is of a worldly spirit lukewarm and careless receive from all his pennance He is very much in the wrong who bears the Cross and will not tast the fruits of it he would not suffer more nay he would suffer much less for those fruits are ful of true sweetness It is certain that every body has very much to suffer in this life we shall meet with Crosses every where they who live most at their ease are not exempted let us at least bear them patiently let us unite
wise men admire no thing that weak men don't admire what deserves it most because it is above their reach and they are incapable of judging those qualitys which you think deserve most admiration seem very indifferent to others they have as great an opinion of their own wisdom virtue and capacity as we have of ours we think they are partial to themselves and they judge the same of us Yet the world is some rimes very free of its praises because it sees every body desirous of them but if we reflect a little we shall find that those great marks of esteem those extraordinary praises are the very same words of course which we use every day to those whom we esteem least have we not observ'd that they who are most lavish of their praises to a mans face are the first that speak ill of him when they are at Liberty to vent their thoughts Can we have so little sence as to imagine that we are the only persons to whom men speak sincerely and that altho they praise all the rest of the world either out of rallery or at best out of civiliry custom yet they are in earnest when they praise us Many believe that all the world admires them when indeed all the world pitys them They persuade themselves that all their actions are taken notice of to their advantage because they do not consider that every mans thoughts are taken up with himselfe that he whom they think their admirer fancy 's that they admire him Add to these the many cruel troubles and vexations which men feell continually but are forc'd to dissemble how often in order to keep up their reputation are they oblig'd to spend more than their revenue how often do they find their fortunes decaying yer dare not moderate their expence They are forc'd to laugh when their hearts are ready to break the whole world is nothing but outside and grimace and he passes for the happiest man who can dissemble his griefs best 'T is the desire of Liberty that ordinarily engages men in the world but can men be in a greater subjection a more absolute dependance not only in the army but in business in every profession we are continually subject to the humours will of others Certainly a worldling is the uneasiest man living but it is his own fault he may render his troubles meritorious if he will he need not suffer so much to be a great Saint if he would but suffer for God Yes my God! the greatest part of Christians would think thy yoak insupportable if they were bound to do half so much to please thee as the world exacts of them they are certainly in the wrong not to make use of those plentiful means of sanctification which they all have they need not go out of their own Station to find opportunity 's of meriting very much They are incessantly complaining of the Vanity of the world yet they are every moment engaging themselves farther among those vanity's and grow every hour fonder of them Of the Confidence we ought to have in the merits of Christ The consideration that the merits and satisfaction of Christ belong to us is a solid ground of Confidence Let our wounds be never so dangerous we have a certain cure for them tho we were more in debt to the Divine justice than we are tho our debts be never so great we are in a condition to pay them all for we find in the merits of Christ in his precious blood a treasure that infinitely surpasses them he had no need of them for himselfe he hath bestow'd them on us so that though we should have been so unhappy as to have committed the most heinous crimes tho we saw the most terrible effects of the divine wrath ready to fall on us if we can but make one single act of true relyance on the satisfaction of Jesus offer it up to thee my God we shall no longer need to fear our own sins nor thy wrath being shelter'd from them by our Saviours Cross wash'd with his precious blood the merits of which he is pleas'd to apply to us Of our indifference to please God When we value any ones friend ship we endeavour says an eminent Servant of God to acquire preserve our selves in his favour by a thousand Services by shewing all the respect and zeal imaginable even in things to which our duty do's not absolutely oblige us by avoiding every thing which may in the least displease him The fear of punishment keeps us from attempting the Life of the man we hate we do neither good nor harm to those whom we think below our notice but when we deliberately frequently affront a man 't is an evident sign that we neither value his Love nor fear his hatred and if we do not offer him the highest injury's t is not because we care for his aversion but because we fear his power They who abstain only from great sins and allow themselves a Liberty in every thing else have reason to fear that charity is absolutely extinguish'd in their hearts and if they will examine themselves they shall find that it is only the apprehension of the severity with which God punishes heinous sins that keeps them from committing them they would willingly displease him if the sight of Hell did not stop them they wish with all their hearts they might sin without punishment This is a fearfull disposition yet it is the disposition of those who indulge themselves in deliberate Venial Sins God hath no share in the motives that make them abstain from great Crimes and therefore he is not obliged to assist them which renders it exceeding difficult for a man who desires to avoid only mortal Sins to be long free from them Of Confession Tho Sacrament of Penance is an easy and efficacious remedy for all the diseases of the Soul and a certain means to obtain the pardon of all our Sins nothing is more easy than to declare all our Sins to a Priest who represents Christ with a true and sincere sorrow for having offended our good gracious God who has lov'd us so well To what purpose do we confess our Sins if we are not sorry for them and resolv'd to Sin no more As it is easy so it is efficacious because all the merits of the Son of God are apply'd to us by this Sacrament But whence is it that we receive no more benefit by this Divine remedy Never were confessions more frequent never was there less amendment custom brings us to Confession and custom makes us return to the Sins we have confess'd as if we had no other design in frequenting the Sacrament but to grow familiar with our Sins If our coufessions be insincere we seem to have a design of rendriug our selves more criminal by our confessions we want contrition we content our selves with a slight superficial Sorrow especially when our interest
the loss of some Grace and by the loss of that Grace it is depriv'd of many others without whih it will certainly yeild to temptations in some occasions This made S. Greg. 3. part ad mâ—ral 34. Gregory say that little faults are in some respect more dangerous than great ones and S. Chrysostom speakes thus on the same subject Tho the proposition appear extraordinary and unheard of yet I am not afraid to tell you that sometimes it seems to me that we ought to take more care of avoiding small than great faults The enormity of these fills us with horror but we easily grow familiar with the others because we think them inconsiderable And after all this shall we neglect these little faults of which the Saints were more afraid than of heinous Sins says Saint Augustin whether the ship be sunk by the violence of the waves or by the negligence of the Mariners in not pumping out the water that enters at a small leak and he adds in another place You are upon your guard against great Sins but what have you done to preserve your selfe from little ones Don't you fear them have a care least after having thrown your heavy lading over boord to lighten your Ship least after having renounc'd every thing that seem'd considerable at your entrance into Religion the sand in the Hold sink it have a care least after having escap'd the violence of the storms in the tempestuous Sea of the world when you are just ready to enter into the port of Religion have a care least you perish upon little banks of Sand which seem'd nothing and which you neglected to shun The greatest Graces are commonly the fruit of fidelity in little things which is it selfe the effect of a greater degree of Love to God if we deprive our selves by our coldness and want of care of those extraordinary helps of those singular favours which inspire so much courage against the strongest Temptations which are so necessary in many cases how often shall we be in doubt whether we have not consented to temptation what a great advantage should we find at such a difficult time in having given our selves wholly to God and having thereby merited his special and free help by which we are sure to be enabled to resist all the efforts of the Tempter and without which we shall not only the expos'd to danger but we shall perhaps be overcome Of Fidelity in little things He that is faithful in little things wil be faithfull also in great things and indeed none but great Souls have this Fidelity They are indeed little things in themselves but it is no little thing to be faithful to God in the smallest matter yet this fidelity will be worth nothing if we be negligent in greater things but we must own that this Fidelity in little things is very great noble if we love much we shall neglect nothing that we know is pleasing to those we love God did not choose the stoutest boldest Israelites to overcome the Midianites one of the greatest victorys the children of Israel ever won was gain'd by three hundred men who did not kneel down to drink in the River In trecentis viris qui lambuerunt aquas liberaho vos Judic 7.7 What seems of less consequence than the holding up ones hands Yet the victory over the Amalekites depended so absolutely Cumque levaret Moyses manus vincebat Israel c. Exod. 17.11 on the lifting up Moses hands to heaven that when ever he held them down the Enemy prevailed What do you mean Joâ—sh cry'd the Prophet Elisha to smite the Earth but three times Si percussisses quinquies aut sexies percussisses Synain usque ad consumpptionem 4. Reg. 13.19 Josu 6.18.19 if you had smote it five or six times you should have been master of all Syria and have utterly destroyd your Enemys How slight was the ceremony on which depended the taking of Jericho O what a mock would our half devotes who despise small things have made of it when the walls fell down before the people of God Quia supes pauca fuisti fidelis intra in gaudium Domini tui â—â—uit 25.21.22 Infine 't is sufficient that Jesus-Christ assures us that heaven eternal hapiness and God himselfe is the reward of fidelity in little things Of the Source of our Imperfections Though the greatest part of Christians pretend to aspire to Perfection yet very few attain it because they are not really willing to be perfect they readily believe the Doctrines of the Gospell the important maximes upon which all true Piety is grounded but they are not sincere in the application of them They do not dispute the necessity of doing violence to our inclinations in order to obtain heaven but they find out specious Reasons to excuse themselves from that violence in certain occasions which require much pains they own themselves bound to subdue their passions they fight with them and frequently gain a kind of victory over them but they do not meddle with their reigning passions this is the cause that all their other victory 's signify nothing for they should have begun with this We must set a continual watch upon our selves and upon every motion of our hearts that we may suppress all our carnal desires the many al most imperceptible but continual selfish designs which make us seek only tho secretly to advance our interests a thousand other insinuations of selfe Love which surprise the most virtuous mingling themselves with their best actions take away all their merit or at least diminish their Perfection Of the false complaisance which we have for others True Piety is never iucommode it is full of Charity for all the world a solidly virtuous man is affable and obliging never troublesome or uneasy but allwayes in good humour still ready to do service to others and severe only to himselfe for the spirit of Christ is a spirit of Peace sweetness This Principle self Love which is ingenious in making advantage of every thing employs to deceive many who make profession of Piety by persuading them to draw consequences from it very different from the true spirit of Christ Under this pretence it would persuade us to please all the world to displease no not those who do not relish our Saviour maxims but how can we please him if we pretend not to displease them From hence proceeds that unhappy that unworthy complaisance which makes us so often asham'd to take Christs part to declare our selves boldly his Disciples because we would be complaisant and disoblige no body But where do we find that a punctual observance of our Rule that modesty recollection and purity and the doing our duty is disobliging If the imperfect are disoblig'd by these things we can not avoid displeasing them unless we are willing to betray our Consciences displease God Of Exactness We are not afraid of being thought weak
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
to ask if his Master means him Tu dixisti Matt. 6.64 Christ conceals it no longer but this answer which should have fill'd him with confusion makes no impression on his hardned heart he hears coldly that terrible threatning from his Saviours Vae homini illi per quem Filius hominis tradetur Matt. 26.24 mouth Woe to that mâ—â— by whom the Son of man shall be betrayed remains insensible Jesus condescends to wash his feet to give himselfe to him in the communion to exhort and threaten him yet nothing moves him nothing can stop him he goes out and puts his impious design in execution and accomplishes his black and malicious ingratitude by a treacherous kiss How should we tremble at the thought of this insensibility It is the most dreadful of judgments and so much the more dreadful in that it is not perceiv'd by those who lye under it The surest mark that we are not in that state is a fear least we should be in it nothing is so difficult as to convert those who are not sensible of their want of Conversion Of the thoughts of Death The thought of death is a most powerful argument to convince us of the vanitys of this Life we shall easily be disgusted with the empty pleasures of the would its imaginary honors and its false Riches for which we weary our selves if we seriously reflect where they all end in a winding sheet in a Coffin in a grave in worms and dust there are the end of all humane Pride and greatness Form as many vast projects as you please rely upon your wisdom friends and Riches you must quit them all whether you will or no and they will all abandon you Only thou o God! dost never forsake those who serve thee I will therefore love and serve thee none but thee Of our condescention to the Imperfect It is surprizing that men have so little consideration for fervent Christians while they have all the condescention in the world for the careless imperfect But we do not see the special hand of providence who herein favours those whom he loves most is a man truly virtuous we make no scruple of excercising his patience his desires are frequently cross'd and he is often forc'd to do what he do's not like yet at the same time we refuse nothing to the imperfect whether it be that we use them like sick men that are past recovery whom we let have what they please or that God by a terrible judgment lets them alone in this Life and leaves them to their own imaginations However hard this distinction seems it is much for the advantage of those who serve God faithfully and renders them much more esteem'd by all who judge wisely and who are animated by the Spirit of Jesus-Christ Of natural inclinations to Virtue Men of soft and peacable tempers who seem born with a natural propensity to virtue are in great danger of being but indifferently virtuous and of making no progress in the way of perfection if they do not heep a strict watch over all the motions of their hearts else their natural tranquility will degenerate in to an indolence which is very a greable to self Love so that they wil take no pains to acquire great virtues and will content themselves with an obscure Life with a seeming moderation not founded upon humility but the pure effect of self Love which is unwilling to take pains and chooses a moderate virtue for fear of meeting with oppositions and sufferings in the pursuit of a more sublime But alas they who satisfy themselves with an ordinary virtue will in all probability live and dye destitute of all true virtue Of true Zeal It is a dangerous fault to be uneasy when others do as many or more good works than we would to God that all Preachers were eminent and successful would to God that every Director of souls had the gift of wisdom and discerning of spirits the zeal and solid piety which are so necessary for all Directors so God be glorifyed what matter it whether I or another be the instrument when the good success of others in the exercise of their Ministry is a real satisfaction to us it is a sure sign that we seek only his Glory Of sincerity in the Service of God Many desire to be perfect and from time to time endeavour after it yet how few attain it That which hinders the greatest part from advancing in the way of virtue is a want of sincerity in Gods service some little affections which they do not and will not renounce 't is selfe Love disguis'd under thes specious names of moderation good sence prudence and civility in fine it is a certain secret pride which corrupts the greatest part of their best actions God will be serv'd with a dove like simplicity with an uprighteness of soul that cannot stoop to those little arts of selfe Love which are so prevalent every where we seek an easy Director we torment our brains to forge something like Reasons to excuse our selves from some duty 's which we know in our Consciences God requires of us but which we sind unpleasant and are unwilling to perform Do we think to deceive God by these artifices The number of those who seck God in spirit is very small who serve him with that true simplicity which is necessary to Perfection how many instead of endeavouring to pleasa God Study to persuade themselves that they may please their own Appetites in every thing without displeasing him If they make him any little Sacrifice They presently find out some way to make themselves amends How come so many Professors of Piety to be so very sensible in the imaginary points of Honour The tone of a voice a disobliging word disturbs them Let them make as much use as they please of the words Modest and humble true humility is inseparable from Patience and sweetness Many think that they are truly humble because they have a mean opinion of themselves but they deceive themselves if they are not willing that others should have the same thoughts of them It is not sufficient to know that we have no true virtue or merit we must be wiliing to have others believe it too Of submission of our wills It is generally said and perhaps not without appearance of Reason that devout men are fond of their own opinions but it is an error to think that men who will always follow their own Wills and are obstinately conceited of their own sentiments can be truly devout This submission of our Wills is that renouncing of our selves which Jesus-Christ requires so positively and commands so often in the Gospell and without which we cannot be his Disciples And indeed we can never be truly virtuous without this submission both of our Understanding and Will Of the Love of Christ. If any thing says agreat servant of God could shake my faith in the Mistery of the Eucharist it