not because of the punishment it deserves that pierceth a soul in all places with an holy respect an humble dread before the divine majesty of God which is intirely present to it 2. O how well do I conceive O my God how this constant habituall fear of a soul does purify untye render it perfect in a small time O holy Ghost bestow upon me this wholsome fear which may make me apprehend the lightest infidelity which may assure me of a happy eternity 3. This gift unites us intimately to God in prayer it recollects all the senses it stops all the powers of the heart in the sight perfection of this sole object of which the soul experiences an intimate presence rather then a knowledge of it 4. O holy Spirit source of love bounty the adorable origine of the sanctification of our hearts inflame them with the fire of thy divine charity let us see tast how sweet our Lord is give us the spirit of recollection of prayer which may carry us to do all things as in gods sight yet recall us into our selves there to adore love a God who abides in our hearts as in his temple and sanctifies them by the communication of his spirit A PRACTISE OF MENTAL PRAYER very easy for all sorts of persons The whole method of prayer consists in four things FIrst in the consideration or view of the truth we meditate Secondly in the application which the mind makes of this truth to its self to be moved with it to put it in practise Thirdly in the affections which the heart produces at the sight of this truth Fourthly in the good resolutions which it makes in putting it in practise the fervent petition it makes to God to obtain it by the intercession of the blessed Virgin. HOW THE MEMORY IS to be imployeâ—d befote prayer First an Act of Faith upon the presence of God. MY God I believe al your seing eye beholds me you before whom the very Angells tremble with an humble dread in whose presence I am as a pure nothing I behold you with a profound respect as my God with a confidence as my father with fear as my judge Second Act of Adoration I adore you o my God as my creatour as my soverain Judge to whom I must one day render an account of this very action I am about to perform Third Act of Petition I beseech you to grant me your grace to execute this day what you are about to inspire me with in this prayer pardon the sins imperfections I may commit in it the distraction that may take up or hinder my mind in the due performance of it HOW THE MIND IS TO imploy it self during prayer First consider the truth propos'd which is done by a certain view or act of faith repeat strongly sweetly in your mind the truth of that matter or subject which most of all moves you then after rather by a simple view thereof then by any long ratiocinations thereon make an act of faith with all the fervency you are able Yes o my God I firmly believe what you have now taught me in this truth but animate my faith and convert it into practice that it may not one day serve to my greater damnation Secondly reflect on your self pausing some time on each point Well o my soul what hinders thee from practising this vertue 't is thy duty to practise it t is in thy power to performe it God ordains it thy Jesus urges its performance thy salvation depends upon it thou oughtest from this very day forward to practice it why wilt thou not what hinders thee o I see very well what it is t is such such a hankering such a vanity such a curiosity such a passionate word such such occasions what ought a creature to rob thee of thy Creatour wilt thou always live unfaithfull what wilt thou never as long as thou livest be intirely gods how then canst thou hope to be intirely his in Eternity my God I am yours no my dear Jesus no toy or trifle shall any more hinder me from being intirely yours I will not any more rob you of a heart which is so justly yours which besides has cost you so dear THIRDLY WHAT AFFECTIONS the heart is to be imployed in YEs o my God yes I am resolved to love you a thousand times better then my self I am resolved to be all yours as you are wholly mine I have horrour of whatsoever is displeasing to you I desire nothing more then to express my love to you to that end I desire to imitate you this day in what I have learnt in this medâ—tation I conjure you my Jesus to put me in mind of these lessons when any occasion of practice offers it self Resolutions for the time to come I am resolved my God against from this very present I break off intirely with thâ— dâ—fect which I perceive is the source of many others in me I will have you alone to be the absolute master of my heart it is yours ô my God it is wholly yours DIVERSE AFFECTIONS which may be made in time of prayer 1. Of Confidence MY God since I find my self so weak inconstant in my resolutions grant I may execute them as effectually as you have assisted me to make them I expect all from your goodness my Iesus confide as much in the assistance of your grace as I diffide in my own weakness 2. Love. O my Jesus o my amiable father o infinite goodness which has loved me from all eternity which daily bestows infinite graces favours upon me which has destin'd me for Paradise ah how can I live without loving you shall I never leave offending you who never leave of doing me good How can I behold you my Jesus how can I see you dying with love sorrow for me not live intirely to you I have a heart for no other and then to love you a mind onely to Know you yet I love think of nothing less then you o that I had never thus displeased you 3. Resignations to the difficulties we meet with in prayer I am confounded o my God to see my self so insensible of your love so little touched with the truths which I meditate you see o Lord my miseries extream poverty I embrace it with my whole heart I submit to your pleassure I sacrifice my self to all the severities of your justice I am contented never more to tast the sweetness of your presence so that I may but have the whole fruit effect of it t is but just that you should retire your self leave a heart so unfaithfull to you which hath withdrawn it self a hundred times from you revenge your self o my God satisfie your justice I desire no other satisfaction but to see you satisfied I am sure you are
the least satisfaction or effusion of hart towards creatures will make you continually to go out of your self to loose your self in God and to remain in him and this is the true effect of the state of faith to which you are called for the life of faith is to live not in ones self nor for ones self but in God and for God. 4. In occasions where you shall find your hart or sences ready to satisfy themselves in any curious booke humersome word or promptitude laet this word alone put a stop to them My God my all you alone suffice me I desire nothing but you Or else can I content my self ô my God in discontenting you ô love of my God reign only in me no more of creature nor of human satisfaction to a hart of which God is the master 5. At any time when you have any thing to suffer either by sicknesse or trouble of mind or by the disquiets or contradictions of men let this thought presently calme your mind You will have it so my God be it so content your self I am yours being a thousand times happy in suffering to please you and in dying for you Or else cast a simple reguard of confidence and resignation upon a crucifix or any Image of our Blessed Lady or towards the blessed Sacrement according to the place you shall be in with this word IESVS dyes in paynes for me and would I suffer nothing for him There can be no love without sufferance or no sufferance without love 6. Leave your self thus in the hands of God to be crucifyd by a continuall and intire abandoning your self amidst all the contradictions and aridities from within this is the way devine truth takes to make a victime of you he will annihilat by litle and litle in you all that is of you 7. Follow your affaires with a great liberty of mind with a calme and continual equallity of hart Employ not your self in them for any other reason but because God would have you do so and when he would have you do so God is content and this is the word with which you are to support your self in them Simple reflections of faith upon a Crucifix 1. WHat do you suffer my IESVS and how litle am I moved with your sufferings What paines What injuries and what blood do you shed for an ungratfull creature 2. You dye my IESVS you dye of griefe for me and can I live to my self or live without suffering for you Can I live without a Cross ô what lost moments are these in which I suffer not for you ô let me suffer or dye 3. O wounds ô nailes ô thornes ô torments ô Cross what pain do you give to my IESVS ô my Saviour what confusion ought I to have seeing you suffer thus much Yet what griefe ought I not to have that I am the cause of your sufferings 4. Behold my soul the worke of thy infidelityes and the love of a God cease then to satisfye thy self to content thy dying JESVS Advices 1. EVERY night cast some one of these simple reguards upon your crucifix after your examen for a short space one alone suffices each time and even one word of each 2. Make vse of these aspirations in prayer and when you are at Masse being troubled or opprest to support your self 3. Read them often in the day time especially the last and the other before Masse and prayer Aspirations to be made at all times to recollect ones self in God. FOR RISING 1. MY God and my all 2. All to you my God all in you all by you FOR PRAYER 1. Content your self my God. 2. My God my all 3. You my God are all and I am nothing 4. You my God behold me and will have me be as I am therfore I desire to be so 5. I come not hither to content my self but to content God. 6. O the good will and pleasure of my God I Sacrifice my self intirely to you For the employments and exteriour occupations of the day 1. GOd is content this is my joy and my sole happinesse 2. O my God would I content my self and displease you 3. All to you my God all for you all in you 4. God alone suffices me all else is nothing to me 5. The more we dye to our selves the more me shall live in God. 6. Let us go my soule let us go and loose our selves in God let us cease to be to the end that God may be all in us 7. What do I desire in heaven or on earth but you ô the God of my hart my Portion for Eternity An Elevation to the Sacred harts of JESVS and MARY to obtaine the love of God. O Inflamed harts living with love ô Sanctuaries of the divinity temples of the Sovereign Majesty Altars of Divine Charity harts that burn with love for God and me I honour you I love you and I melt with love and respect in your presence I unite my self to your holy dispositions I will yes I will burn with your fire and live with your life what joy have I to se you happy and content what part do I take in your graces in your sorrowes and in your glory with how good a hart would I dye and suffer all things rather then displease you O my hart we must act no longer but according to the inclinations of these sacred harts you ought to expire in silence in their presence to all that is human of naturall in you 2. O that I were able to engage all the harts of mankind to render homage to the hart of JESVS and MARY and to forme themselves according to their divine modelle ô harts full of grace purity fervour and humility inspire my hart with these sentiments I unite my self to you I loose my self in you I will live no more but by you and for you 3. Thus all the employment of my hart shall be from hence forward to remain in silence and respect annihilated in the presence of JESVS and MARY and there as a burning lampe that consumes it self before the Blessed Sacrament to burn to suffer and to dye Be it so The holy Mother of God hath lately promised to one of her Children that whoever shall say the following Prayer with devotion if they be in the grace of God she shall augment the divine love in their harts at each of these twelve salutations and benedictions which it containes and if they are in mortall sinn with her sweet and Virginall hand she will knock at the dore of their harts at each salutation to excite them to open unto grace and she added that when one should find any persons in great sinnes and hard to be converted that it would be good to excite them to say this prayer with a good will or at least to consent to have it sayd for them mervelous effects of it have lately been seen in severall persons 1. Haile MARY Daughter of God the Father 2. Haile MARY Mother of God the Sonn 3. Haile MARY Spouse of God the Holy Ghost 4. Haile MARY Temple of the Divinity 5. Haile MARY Beautifull Lilly of the most resplendent Trinity 6. Haile MARY sweet Rose to all the Celestiall Court. 7. Haile MARY Virgin of Virgins powerfull Virgin full of sweetness and humility of whom the King of heaven would be born and of whose milk he would be nourished 8. Haile MARY Queene of Martyrs whose soul was pearced with the sword of sorrow 9. Haile MARY Lady and Mistress of the world to whom all power has been given both in heaven and earth 10. Haile MARY Queene of my hart my Mother my life my sweetness and my love 11. Haile MARY most amiable Mother 12. Haile MARY most admirable Mother MARY full of Grace our Lord be with thee 1. Blessed art thou amongst woemen 2. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb IESVS CHRIST 3. Blessed be thy Spouse Saint Ioseph 4. Blessed be thy Father Saint Ioachim 5. Blessed be thy Mother Saint Anne 6. Blessed be thy Sonn Saint Iohn 7. Blessed be thy Angell Saint Gabriël 8. Blessed be the Eternall Father who has chosen the. 9. Blessed be thy Sonn who has loved the. 10. Blessed be the Holy Ghost who has espoused the. 11. O most happy Virgin let all that love you blesse you 12. Blesse us ô Holy Virgin togeather with your Sonn so be it FINIS
ALl the world speaks of dying to themselves but few know what it is scarce any one does it with such fidelity as is necessary yet none can have an intire conversion to God live intirely to him without ceasing to live to them selves The first step that leads to this death is to deny all such satisfaction to our senses as is either inordinate or unprofitable and to purifie them by mortifying displeasing objects Wherefore 't is noâ— enough not to forbear the looking on any object with any tie of satisfaction or curiosity or the giving ear to any thing which is spoken against our neighbour or to what we have too eager a desire of knowing or the speaking with passion impatience or vanity or the eating between meals or at meals with too much desire of pleasing our appetites I say it is not enough to refuse these a thousand other little commodities unprofitable pleasures to our bodies but we ought to oblige our selves sometimes to see to speak and to hear such things as we have a repugnance to which mortify displease us The second step to die to ones self is to suppress stifle such reflections thoughts of mind as are unprofitable or curious or may give our soul any inclination towards creatures The third step is to moderate the desires of our heart when they are too violent to retrench or cutt off all adhesion tie to creatures all search after them all rest confidence in them that we may keep fast to God alone DISPOSITIONS of mind during the time of Advent I. An ardeni desire thut Iesus Christ may be born reign absolutely in our hearts The 1. Exercise For the Morning THat which was done from the beginning of the world by the holy Patriarcks who all sighed after the coming of our Saviour for the salvation of all mankind in generall the same each christian ought to perform for his own advantage in particular during this holy time of Advent 1. We ought to wish that Jesus may be born in us this ought to be our onely as well as efficacious constant desire that is to say 1. We must desire nothing but to possess Jesus be possessed by him to loue him to be beloued by him 2. we must desire that he should reign absolutely in our understandings by a lively active faith in our hearts by a strong over-ruling loue which may render our wills intirely subject to his bound stop all the sallies of humour passion ouer our senses by depriving them of all such satisfactions as they inordinately seek after ouer our actions by conforming our life to the pattern of his own because it is by this means that Jesus will be born in our hearts reign absolutely in them will be in us as the soul of a holy perfect life 3. In fine this desire of the birth of Jesus in our souls ought to be constant that we may joyfully consent that our Saviour should himself endeavour to form his own image within us by pains both of body mind by persecutions from men derelictions froâ— God by all the evils of this life as a carver makes use of his chissel hammer by force of blows renders his statue beautifull cutting oâ— whatever is any way rude or deformed therein 2. But that we may obtain of Goâ— this spirituall birth of Jesus Chrisâ— in our souls let us address ouâ— selves to the blessed Trinity let uâ— daily ask of the Eternall Father to give us his son that is to say thaâ— he would animate us with his spirit with his maxims destroy in us the spirit maxims of the world And we out of a due acKnowledgeâ—ment of so pretious a gift since ' tiâ— no less then God himself ought to receive the same with much respect gratitude in the communion where of 't is good to pertake frequently during this holy time 3. Let us beg of the son of God that he would give himself intirely to our souls as a victim in the blessed Sacrament of the Altar wherein he incorporates himself with us transforms us in to himself that as the the fruit benefit of our communions he would let us live only for him by him in him For him as the end of all our actions by a pure holy intentions by him as the source life of whatsoever we shall either do say or think in him as in a center where our hearts will be at rest Or else that he would give himself unto us as the model pattern of our life which cannot be christian unless it be like unto that of Iesus Christ Or lastly that he would bestow himself on us as the remedy vanquisher of sin of self-loue of our evil inclinations hindring us from falling into any voluntary fault healing the wounds scarrs which sin has made in our souls by imparting to us a sincere sorrow for having committed them a firm resolution of avoiding them the tears sighs of an humble contrite heart the holy martyrdom of an heart which is an enemy to its own pleasures is armed against it self bâ— an holy hatred 4. Let us in fine beg of the holy Ghost that he would produce form Iesus Christ in our hearts by the mosâ— pure flames of his loue and that he would imprint in them the simplicity humility innocence of the Infant Iesus 1. His simplicity first that we may treat with God in prayer without reflecting on any thing which is not himself nor even on that which we receive from him to the end that we may unite our selves to him with the whole strength of our souls permitting him to take the intire possession of us Next that we may treat with men in our commerce conversations without any dissimulation or deceit And lastly that we may treat wit hour own selves without flattering our selves in our faults or hiding them from our own sight 2. His humility nor such however as that of a God as it were annihilated for man cannot descend or humble himself after this manner because he cannot go beyond his nothing out of which he was taken but such as consist in a sincere acknowledgement of what we are viz according to nature pure nothing neither meriting of nor good for any thing in respect of grace unable to think so much as one good for any thing in respect of grace unable to think so much as one good thought by our own strength or to recover our selves from the state of sin without the actuall help assistance of God having onely power of our selves to do evil incurre our damnation 3. The innocence of the Infant Iesus that we may be preserved from all sin even from such venial ones as are voluntary free from all inordinate affections or ties to creatures as
far as is possible from all imperfection 4. That you may obtain these graces of the Infant Iesus say at the end of your prayer for matter whereof you may take these considerations 1. time Pater Ave 3. times Gloria Patri And often in the day time endeavour to produce in your heart most ardent desires that Iesus Christ may be born in you II. Adore Iesus in the bosome of Mary salute Mary in the heart of Iesus THE II EXERCISE For the Evening 1. WE must consider with a profound respect a God inclosed in the womb of a Virgin acknowledge in adoring him that as little as hidden as annihilated as he is in the chast bowells of the Virgin he is the same God who is adored by the Angells in heaven is the absolute Lord and Soveraign of all creatures Then unite our selves in spirit will with those all divine dispositions which he possesses in the bosome of Mary with the most loving designes he has for our salvation 2. Let us take notice of the vertues which this Infant God practised in this prison in which he was shut up for nine months together for our instruction for our good Let us admire the profound humility of an Infant shut up in his mothers womb In effect he there hides his power under weakness he there confines his immensity within the little body of an Infant annihilates all the splendour of his glory in the obscurity lowlyness of Infancy And after all this is it just that pure nothings as we are should desire to elevate our selves aboue others despise them give place to none search after the esteem of men have a high conceit idea of our selves O how far do we fly from annihilated Iesus while we elevate our selves by those sentiments of vanity 3. 3. Let us consider the patience of the same Saviour undergoing the incommodities to which all Infants are subject whilst they are in this condition Alas my Iesus from this very time thou didst foresee my impatience my murmurings my delicacy that would suffer nothing you punish't your self on their score for me from that very time I begun to give you that pain and cause you to suffer for the ungratefull sacrifice your self for miserable creatures who apprehend nothing more then to suffer O Pains ô dolours ô Incommodities of life how dear ought you to be to me since from this very time you became the hearts delight of my Iesus 4. In fine represent to your self how rude severe the mortification was which little Iesus exercised upon his senses in the womb of his mother having deprived them of their exercises of all their naturall satisfaction that so you may do pennance for all the sensuall pleasures you abandon your selves unto O curiosity of my eyes how sensible you are to my Iesus since to make satisfaction for you he remained nine months in his mothers womb without seeing any thing How highly am I obliged to you my Saviour for imposing so long a silence upon your tongue to obtain pardon for all my evil or unprofitable speeches which mine has pronounced O how heartily I renounce for loue of you all the satisfaction of my senses all the delicacys of my body and all the affections I may feel in me that are human curious or unprofitable O Iesus ô amiable Infant ô adorable victim of justice loue I unite my self to the sacrifice you made of your intire self to your eternall Father from the first moment of your life which was a sacrifice of fidelity of sorrow of obedience O grant that I may consummate it with you upon the cross 5 Say Nine Paters Aves every day to honour the nine months that Iesus Christ was in the womb of the Virgin salute Iesus as often in the womb of Mary Mary in the heart of Iesus Retire your self from company as much as you are able increase your mortifications in your time of silence keep your mind sweetly imployed with the thoughts of the profound silence intimate union of the soul of Mary altogether lost swallowed up in the bottomless depth of the heart of Iesus Enter with her into this adorable sanctuary of loue which you will find full of bounty for you wholly taken up with the thoughts of your salvation O how is Mary filled with the loue of Iesus ô how is Iesus replenished with the loue of Mary whith charity for sinners O holy Virgin I conjure you by this admirable favour which you had in the possession of your Iesus to fill my heart with the loue of him For the Feast and Octave of Christmas I. IMploy half an hour in Christmas night or in the day to think upon the most amiable mistery of the birth of Godman Consider all the circumstances of it with admiration loue represent to your self an Infant laid upon straw in a poor stable all trembling with cold bound up in swadling clouts exposed to the winds unknown to men for whose salvation he came into the world both he his holy Mother abandon'd in want of all human succours finding your self astonished at so strange a condition to which you see your Saviour reduced let your heart pierced with compassion filled with gratitude for little Jesus break out in these exclamations ô bounty ô inconceivable loue of my God! is it possible that my soul should be so dear to thee that for loue of it thou shouldst subject thy self to so many miseries O humiliations of my Jesus how do you condemn my pride my vanity O amiable Jesus so much the more lovely by how much the more you have debased your self for my sake What my soul canst thou behold a God who has dispoiled himself of the splendour of his glory embraced an extream poverty to inrich thee with his graces yet endure to take pleasure in the dresses worldly ornaments of your body You see a God which makes himself an Infant as humble poor obedient as an Infant and you can have vanity dissimulation malice repugnance in obeyying 2. Approach with confidence this most lovely Infant beg of the blessed Virgin Saint Ioseph to present you to him Adore him with respect because he is your God Loue him with tenderness because he is a victim of love that offer'd himself for your sake Mix your tears with his weep with compassion ouer his sufferings whilst he weeps for sorrow ouer your sins Fear nothing he is an amiable Infant wholly yours his heart is full of charity for you his eyes are full of sweetness tenderness he is all love Approach him embrace him with all the ardour of your heart loose your self let your self be swallowed up in this bottomless ocean of loue let your self burn consume in this sacred fire beg of this divine Infant to be born live in you
you that he sacrifices himself to the justice of his father to appease his wrath against you in a word that this our amiable Sauiour is wholly taken up with you for you upon the Altar This thought will move you presently to render thanks for this great bounty to hope firmly that you shall obtain whatever he askes for you to unite your intentions with those which he has in order to your salvation to protest before God that you ask the same which he askes for you that you sacrifice all that to him which he sacrificed for you and that you will stand to whatsoever promise he has made in your behalf Seventhly a little before the Communion of the priest dispose your self to a spiritual Communion by acts of faith acknowledging that Jesus Christ is really upon the Altar of hope confiding that he will render you partaker of the effects of this adorable sacrament of love burning with an ardent desire of being united unto him of humility esteeming your self unworthy to receive him sacramentally Eighthly after communion till the end of mass imploy your self in thanking God for the graces favours he has bestowed upon you which he hath asked for you during this holy sacrifice as also in offering your self as a victime unto him sacrificing to him for that day some word or action that is pleasing to you After mass say one De profundis one Pater Ave for the souls in Purgatory and return home with modesty silence V. WORK ABout nine of the clock being retired home for on those days wherein you do not communicate 't is enough to be one hour in the Church in the morning half whereof may be spent in hearing mass the other in vocall prayer you must fall to work or do such busyness as you have in hand taking care never to be idle the spirit or intention wherewith this ought to be done is first to offer your work to God in union with that work labour which Jesus Mary performed in their house Secondly to remember from time to time that God looks upon you Thirdly to quit the action or worK as soon as the will of God or charity â—hall call you else where without adhering thereunto with too great an affection Fourthly to perform it with all the care and perfection that you are able without neglecting any thing in it Fifthly to thinK often that God has condemned us for our sins to labour that one day in heaven we shall have nothing to do but to love God. Sixthly if your work be at your own disposall do something from time to time for the poor as about Christmas make swadling clouts for some child in honour of the Infant Jesus or other worK for the Altar according to your directours advice VI. EATING A Litle before dinner maKe a short reflection upon the vertue of the month or the vice that is given you to overcome see how you have behaved your self ask grace of God by the intercession of your Patron to taKe more care and become more vigilant the rest of the day one may add hereunto the reading of a chapter out of Thomas â— Kempis if you have leisure which assure your self will not be lost secondly say grace or the Benedicite not in hast barely out of custome but with attention respect remembring that you speaK to God that he beholds you Thirdly never pasâ— a meal without offering to our Lord some little bit which is most pleasing to you depriving your self thereof to give it him but in such a manner as that no notice may be taken of it Fourthly from time to time offer to God this action which of it self being low mean indifferent ought to be animated with an holy intention to maKe it meritorious of heaven Fifthly sit at table with modesty gravity without being taken up with or searching after the pleasing of your appetite think sometimes how Iesus Mary performed this action this ought to be the model you propose to your self in all other actions In fine remember that the Saints gave with regret onely out of necessity this satisfaction to their â—odies which they lookt upon as their â—reatest enemies Sixthly I would â—ounsell you not to eat between meals â—ithout great necessity but you may â—reakfast because perhaps you may â—uffer prejudice by fasting all the morning consequently be less able to perform your business VII CONVERSATION OF all the actions of the day this is that in which you ought most to stand upon your guard because there is more danger of offending God in this then in all others In effect the holy Scripture says that he who offends not with his tongue is perfect wherefore to render your conversation truly Christian in it to bridle your tongue observe the following advice First never speak of the faults of others if you be not obliged in conscience to reprehend them or to give others account of them Secondly before you enter into conversation recommend your heart tongue to your good Angell that yoâ— may say nothing nor consent to any thing that is said against your neighbour Thirdly avoid as much as you can the conversation of worldings who speak of nothing in these times but vanity fashions ornaments a la mode But when necessity or decency obliges you to such company stay as litle amongst them as may be because one ordinarily comes from them with wandring thoughts a heart very insensible of what belongs to God. Fourthly take care also not to talk too much of devotion of prayer direction because ordinarily there is much of self-self-loue vanity in speaking too much of these matters it is more secure to hear others then to speak much on this subject Fifthly Notwithstanding you ought to let no conversation pass in which you do not handsomly bring in some good discourse you will do well to seek the company of such as love to speak of God nevertheless you ought to entertain none but your directour with any discourse of your own interiour Sixthly never say any thing either to your own advantage or against your self for oftentimes it is a counterfeit humility to undervalue ones self before others whereas we should be very sorry that they should believe us to be such as we represent our selves but the true mark of sincere humility is not to excuse our selves when we are reprehended or blamed for any thing That a wife may Keep the respect due to her husband a child to its father mother let them remember never to loose it in speaking saying nothing that may offend them nor contradicting them with obstinacy or answering them with coldness indifference disrespect or contempt Eightly if you desire the spirit of recollection prayer fly the world company as much as you can never maKing visits but for meer necessity nor entertaining any familiar acquaintance but with one or two
him live such an hidden contemptible life often abandoned forsaken by all men for whose salvation he sacrifices himself upon the Altar wherefore animate your self to bear him company as often as you can sighing longing in your heart after Iesus in the blessed Sacrament when you are absent in body loving and defiring a life like unto his which renders you unKnown neglected and abandoned of all the world Sixthly on frydays honour his love which obliges him to give himself intirely to you without an reserve to the end that you may bâ— wholly transformed into him Endeavour to express such a disinteresse loue towards him but be sure to manifest the same rather by deeds theâ—â— words Seventhly on Saturdays honour that liberality which he expresseâ— in those graces he bestows on you in your communions by keeping himself always upon the Altar to appease the wrath of his father which is enkindled against you Thank him for the miracles he works that he may give himself unto you Admire a God who is as it were so prodigall of himself Beg pardon for the ill use you have made of so many graces as he has bestowed on you in your communions The subjects of these visits may oftentimes serve you for the entertainment of your prayer in the afternoon XI EXAMEN A Litle before dinner recollect your self take a view of the â—nfidelitys which you have been guilty of that morning in the practice of the vertue of the month in overcoming â—our own ill humours bad inclinations and natural repugnances beg pardon for them of God by a sigh or two from the bottom of your heart At night before you go to bed make your generall Examen first of your ordinary faults sudden sallies of passion Secondly touching the ill use of divine graces the ill imployment of your time Thirdly touching the spirit intention wherewith you have animated your actions examining whether they proceeded from natural inclination passion or meer custome or else were performed with a good intention and inward fervour then make a solid sincere act of sorrow rather then a sensible one unite it by your intention with that act of contrition which you shall endeavour to make ar your next confession that you may produce this act the better cast your eyes upon Iesus crucified by you for you behold with confusion regret a God expiring through grief loue in your behalf sometimes consider the bounty and Goodness of God in expecting you in seeking after you in receiving you with loue after so many infidelities and offences sometimes hearken to what he says in the bottom of your heart Grow you weary of offending me since you see I do not grow weary of doing what good I can for you Sacrifice to me that vanity that curiosity that humour that sudden motion of anger which has so many years stood in competition with me for the possession of your heart for which â— have sacrificed the very last drop of my blood After your Examen say five Paters and Aves in pennance for your faults When you go to bed think a little on death which may perhaps surprise you that very night XII The spirit of recollection which we ought to preserve during the whole day THe spirit of recollection is the fruit of a good prayer of a communion worthily received you will obtain this recollection by calling to mind the presence of God which you may do first by breathing forth every hour these or the like aspirations My God I am wholly yours O that I might die to my self to live to you die in your loue Secondly say in the beginning of every work or action I do all for you my God all in your presence all for your love ô how glad am I to please you in this action Thirdly entring into company say ô my good Angel guard my â— heart tongue to the end I may neither speak any thing against charity nor hear it with complacence or any other concurrence on my part Fourthly being in pain or trouble as also in aridity or dryness in prayer or at any time out of humour say ô my God be you my strength support let me take a satisfaction in that pleasure which you have that I should suffer for your sake I am confounded in your presence to see how miserable weak I am in the performance of what is good but at the same time I rejoyce at my being nothing since you are all I willingly accept am heartily contented with my weaknesses imbecillities which may serve to destroy all self-loue to establih your most holy pure loue in my heart Fifthly being ready to give way to any sudden anger or other passion cast your eyes on God who looks on you and preserves you from yeilding to the temptation and say let me rather die ô my God then satisfie my self in any thing that displeases you By the frequent use of these aspirations you will conserve your heart in devotion be always diposed for prayer you will easily hinder distractions of mind which at that time are wont to disturb you whatsoever you do will be as I may say full of God you will live with such an equality and stedfastness of mind as will render you superiour to all sallies of passion animate all your actions with interiour life spirit XIII The spirit of mortification for every day YOu shall practice this mortification first in your eyes depriving them of all curiosity and voluntary levity Secondly in your tongue forbearing all words of curiosity anger vanity impatience detraction Thirdly in your taste restraining and moderating its sensuality and the too great desire curiosity of your appetite aboue all by not eating without necessity between meals Fourthly in the sense of hearing avoiding to hearken after news or other unprofitable curiosities touching the life or manners of others such affairs as do not belong to you Fifthly in your body fasting or using some other mortification according to the advice with the permission of your directour Sixthly in your mind cutting off all unprofitable reflections upon your self or others but especially such as disquiet you or proceed from human respects Seventhly in your heart restraining its solicitude hasty eagerness in what it goes about the excessive ardour of its desires the disquiets anxieties that afflict it when it is discontented the vain satisfaction which it takes in any graces received from Almighty God it s too great tie or in ordinate affection to its devotions in fine whatsoever is sensible therein since your heart must die to all these things that it may live intirely to God wherefore by little little you must wholly destroy or at least moderate them Aboue all study to deny your own will by an exact fidelity a constancy in that rule or course of life which you have
undertaken by overcoming all your naturall repugnances this is the exercise wherein properly speaking true devotion solid vertue consist CHRISTIAN TRUTHS which may serve for subject or matter of aspirations prayer for ore very day when one has not taken any determinate subject or when what we have taKen does not move us I. THere is nothing great but God nothing to be esteemed but what conduceth to his service all the rest ought to be despised II. GOd knows all the misery that happens to me can deliver me from it if he pleases and having done suffered so much as he hath for my sake I cannot doubt but that he loues me wherefore certainly it is more advantagious for me to suffer this misery wherein I am at present then to be delivered from it since God does not think fit to take it away III. IT is now a long time that the goodness of God has urged me to overcome this ill habit this domineering passion that his patience has expected my amendment that his mercy has received me into favour as often as I have confessed these failings yet I use no endeavour to correct overcome them ought I not to grow weary of offending a God who is not weary of pardoning me IV. TO act in gods presence with sloath or passion to act with God by a motive of self-loue is to dishonour his presence to abuse his power to injure his loue V. IF a soul in purgatory had but one hour of that time which we loose what would it not do to merit heaven and if we had been but one moment in those flames what would we not to do avoid the least veniall sin VI. THe abuse of gods graces favours is so much the more to be feared by how much the less it is apprehended there is no inspiration which cost not our Saviour Jesus Christ much blood pain and yet every moment we neglect contemn them ô how terrible will be the account which one day will be demanded of them VII THat we may be able to suffer with courage we must consider that we suffer in the presence of God for God with God That the happiness of a Christian upon earth consists in suffering that pains are the heart's delight of Jesus that pure loue is onely found upon the cross wherefore we ought to suffer purely without consolation faithfully without sloath peaceably without impatience VIII JEsus laid in the manger Jesus dying on the cross Jesus sacrificed for us on the Altar ought to be the center of our hearts of our devotion to the end that these three states of Jesus may render us victims of the loue justice wisdome of God. IX A Soul ought always to have the desire of seeing God the fear of loosing him the sorrow of not being yet worthy to possess him X. SOlid vertue true devotion consist first in using a continuall violence against our selves Secondly in a continuall victory ouer our naturall repugnances Thirdly in not yeilding to or sparing our selves in any thing of humour or passion Fourthly in suffering with joy or at least with an interiour and exteriour quietness the being reprehended for our faults before others contradicted in all our inclinations If we do not endeavour to get this abnegation we may be assured that we shall never get solid vertue that all our devotion will be nothing else but delusion X. WHat a folly is it to have so great an affection to or concern for such goods as in a moment will slip away from us so great an indifferency for those that will remain with us for ever and this when we know that those are not so much as the shadow of these ô my God! is it reasonable that there should be nothing but you which we can loose without displeasure or that we should be less concern'd to loose a suit at law or displease a freind XII WE ought to go to confession with a spirit of sorrow to come from it with a spirit of sacrifice oblation in offering our selves intirely to the rigours of the justice of God arming our selves with a just desire of tevenging on our selves all the injuries which we have done to God. We ought moreover to remember after confession to apply the satisfactions of our dying Iesus for our sins offering them to his Eternall father as also to present to the justice of God all the sufferings which he shall please to send us till our next confession resolving to impose some pennance on our selves over and aboue what the Confessour has enjoyn'd us as some almes some restraint of our humour or passion or the like but aboue all we ought to take care not to dissipate or distract our selves immediately after confession XIII APproach unto Iesus Christ in the Communion with such a lively faith of his presence as may put you to an holy confusion Secondly with such a confidence as those sick persons had who according to the Scripture doubted not but that they should be healed if they could but once approach Iesus Christ or touch his garments Thirdly with a fervent loue with a great desire of uniting your self most intimately with Iesus of transforming your self intirely into him that you may neither live nor act but by him for him in him Fourthly receive him with a profound respect thumbling annihilating your self in his presence being content to remain at his feet in silence Fifthly beg of him that he himself would return thanks to his eternall father for you that he would entertain himself within you since you are unable to make him such an entertainment as he deserues that he would ask for you that which he sees necessary Sixthly joyn with that sacrifice which he makes of himself in your heart a sacrifice of whatsoever is there displeasing to him Seventhly asK of him with confidence a victory over your bad inclinations offer some one of your defects to him desiring him to overcome it in you cause you to keep a watch ouer your self for that purpose till your next communion Eighthly remember that the true fruit of a good communion consists in strength to overcome your self in occasions to keep your self more recollected during that whole day rather then in tenderness sensible devotion which is soon dissipated XIV ONe ought to neglect nothing in the service of God but to be very faithfull to avoid the least most light imperfections to overcome ones self in small things to perform even the least actions as in the presence of God to mortify ones self in a thousand very inconsiderable occasions to sanctifie the least pains by a generall resignation of our selves to the justice of God without this fidelity 't is impossible ever to arrive to an eminent perfection nay one will soon fall into â—epidity into a great danger of being lost XV.
That he may become the soul of your soul that he may wean disengage your heart from the loue of of temporall goods to imitate his poverty that he may make you live a life full of humility of obedience simplicity to enter thereby into the true spirit of his Infancy II. 1. EAch day of the Octave renew these sentiments in your prayer in the evening take part in the joy which the Angells and shepheards tefied at the sight of a God become an Infant Acknowledge a God by the markes which heaven gives of him in the crib To witt in the swadling cloths in the extream poverty in which he was born stongly convince your self that you ought to be poor either in effect or in heart to resemble Iesus to save your self 2. Give in the honour of Jesus the Infant some suit or swadling cloths to the child of some poor body visit during this office the children brought up in the Hospitall doing them some service with as much affection as you would to the Infant Iesus 3. Apply your self to keep your heart in an indifferency to all things in a resignation to the divine providence in peace silence before this divine Infant as Infants are wont to live in indifferency to all things without concerning themselves for any thing reposing wholly upon the care of their parents 4. Speak little to creatures during this tyme to be the better able to imploy your self the more in the thoughts loue of the Infant Iesus forget your self to be able to thinK of nothing but him O love ô love how powerfull art thou to make of God an Infant O my heart how ingratefull art thou if thou lovest not this Infant God! This is the aspiration which thou oughtest to renew severall times a day 5. In fine approach often if your Directour rhink fit to holy communion during the Octave to incorporate your self with the Infant Jesus to act nothing but by his spirit to live no more but by his life to love humiliations poverty the interiour renunciation of all satisfaction of the heart or the senses that is the better to conform your self to these inclinations of little Iesus The exercises of Christian life during lent GENERALL ADVICES I. Lent is a time of Sanctitie THe time of lent is a time of sanctity and devotion these are the days of salvation as the scripture stiles them so that we ought to apply our selves more at this time then at any other of the year with an exact fidelity to our perfection thaâ— is to say 1. To perform our exercises of devotion with more fervour frit our exteriour exercise with a greater interiour To be more upon our guard to resist all the sallys of our humour all the unprofitable reflections or relapses of our minds upon creatures all the extravagancies of our senses 3. To use violence to ones self to overcome ones naturall repugnances to act no longer according to custome or inclination but according to the interiour spirit of grace 4. To entertain ones self more frequently in the presence of God either ones mind by a frequent recourse to him or ones heart by a constant desire to please him 5. To apply ones self with greater zeal to the practise of some vertue every month and in the day to make some interiour or exteriour acts of it 6. To make it oâ—es study to keep ones self iâ— time of prayer peaceable humble submissive respectfull before God â—ithout disquieting or troubling ones felf for all the distractions distasts sterilitys that may happen in it seeking nothing else but to please God without minding to please ones self Remembring the advice our Lord gives us not to discourse too much in it with peace of mind to be satisfied with the state of privation insensibility when God puts us therein To labour by means of our examition to know all that is bad or ill in us to correct it that which is human to purifie it that which is unprofitable to elevate it 8. Not to content ones self with an affective devotion which consists onely in good thoughts desires resolutions which one may have to do well but to perswade ones self that true devotion and solid vertue consist in doing what God will have us in spite of all our naturall repugnances 9. In ones spirituall reading to relish well what one reads as in all one 's other actions to expect therefrom all the fruit of gods grace 10 To make ones confâ—ssions with more sorrow for what is past morâ— confusion for the present more resolution for the future more circumspection ouer ones self the day one has confessed 11. To make ones communionâ— with more faith confidence loue with a more ardent desire to unite ones self to Iesus Christ with a more profound respect with a greater recollection union to the sacrifice which Christ makes in our hearts to his eternall Father more fervency in our demands more reservedness the rest of the day II. Lent is a tyme of penance PEnance is either interiour which consists in an efficacious sorrow for our sins or exteriour which compreheâ—ds satisfactory works For the first one ought all the lent long to have ones heart continually contrite humble before God so perform out of this stock of sorrow state of compunction a continuall mortification during this holy time consecrated intirely to penance So that every hour it were good to make an act of contrition for ones sins rather by a sigh of our heart then by Formall words my God forgive me I 'le sin no more my God I 'le do nothing more to displease thee For the second one ought to observe when at age the fast of the Church But 1. we must perform it with such joy as our saviour instructs us to do as may be so much the greater the more pain we have to do it for then the merit is also greater 2. We must perform it in union with the fast of Iesus Christ for to honour it 3. In the exact privation of all things that may flatter our senses I mean of the curiosity of our eyes our ears or the satisfactions or nice choice of words for we ought to joyn the abstinence of our other sences with our mouths 2. We ought to augment our ordinary austeritys according to the advice of our directour 3. We ought to distribute greate almes then ordinary yet not without our directours advice because wâ— ought to do penance at this time foâ— our whole years sins III. Lent is a time of solitude T Is at this time the better to honour the solitude of Jesus Christ that we ought to form to our selveâ— an interiour exteriour solitude The first consists in removing from our memorys all ill human unprofitâ—ble thoughts to let it bâ— taken up with nothing but God present or his holy will to blot out oâ—
ones understanding all esteem of vanitys honours reputation before men to admit thereinto no othe esteem but that which may render uâ— great before God and by a simplâ— returne towards him to repress in our hearts all naturall motions desires or tyes inclinations to any creature and to entertain continually therein an ardent desire to please God to overcome ones self In fine to cut of all the ill unprofitable satisfactions of the senses This watching ouer ones heart ouer ones senses is called interiour solitude To perform the exteriour one we ought to cut off all visits which are not made either out of charity or necessity 2. To visit every week the poor in the Hospitall or in prisons to satiâ—fie for so many unprofitable or worldly visits made all the year 3. To keep if possible an hour of silence every day to honour that which our Saviour kept this holy time 4. To avoid in conversation that licencious ness in laughter discourses that tend to excess 5. To interdict ones self aboue all things the speaking ill of our neighbour PRACTISES OF PIETY during Lent. I. To honour the Passion the Sacred wounds of Iesus Christ with some particular devotion AS Lent disposes us to celebrate with more devotion the mysterys of the Passion of Jesus Christ so 't is convenient the better to conform ones self to the intention of the holy Church to imploy ones thoughts oftâ—n on them during this time to honour after a particular manner the wounds which our Lord received for loue of us of which I here give you the practise 1. Make every day an hour of meditation upon one of the mysteries of the Passion of our Saviour with sentiments of compassion for the sufferiâ—gs of a God of sorrow for your sins the cause of them of loue for the exceeding goodness which reduced our Saviour to so pittifull a condition of confidence in that adorable blood shed for our sakes and of imitation to animate our selves to suffer any thing at the sight of God expiring for loue pain for you 2. Say every day the little office of the holy cross 3. Let no day of Lent pass without a desire to suffer something either in body or mind by the rigour of the season by your own discontents or the ill humours of others when you find any such occasion instead of making any return or comâ—laint of others or of tenderness towards your self do you offer up likewise all your pain to Jesus Christ crucified unite your self to his interiour dispositions sacrifice your self to the rigour of his divine justice for your sins for his loue as he sacrificed himself thereto for yours Stifle all the bitterness of your heart all the murmours of your mouth with the thoughts of a God dying of loue pain for you Desire not to be pittied by men or to be eased in your pain but drink as Jesus Christ did the chalice quite pure in all its bitternessâ— if you find that day no occasion of suffering either from your self or others mortify your self in some thing make your self suffer that you may no day fail to be the image of Christ crucified 4. At night at the end of your examen Kiss the 5. wounds of Jesus Christ with al imaginabâ—e tenderness with all the sentiments of a heart pierced with sorrow for its sins with loue of a God whose life they have taKen away It is not necessary to say any thing in making this adoration of the cross the heart alone ought to sâ—eaK there by its sighs tears but if one finds not ones self touched one may say an Ave Mary Kissing each wound in memory of the dolours of the sacred Virgin demand of our Saviour by his adorable head a lively animated faith by his sacred feet humility by his right hand patience by left hand the loue of our enemys by the wound of his side a consummation in his loue In fine apply the Crucifix to your senses begging of Iesus Christ that he would sanctify them consecrate them to himself This practise of devotion may continue all the frydays of the year 5. During the Day time cast your eyes often upon Iesus crucified but look upon him sometimes with loue with respect or confidence with a lively resentment of your sins these casts are of so great merit before God so capable of purifying a soul that the holy fathers assure us that they are more agreable to God then many fasts almes other austeritys than one can perform 6. In fine endeavour to overcome your self in something to surmount your naturall repugnances to bridle your impatience not to follow the motion of your humour that 5. different times in the day to honour the 5. wounds of Iesus Christ to whom this sacrifice of mortification is more pleasing then all the austeritys of the body that you can offer to him II. Hear with fruit the Sermons that are mad during Lent. ONe ought to carry a heart thither well disposed by that fidelity that penance by that solitude of which we have spoken in our generall advices but in particular one ought 1. To go to a sermon with a sincere desire of profiting by it for this end in the beginning of it we should demand this grace both for our selves others 2. You ought to hearken in the mean time with great attention both to the preacher which speaks to you exteriourly to the holy Ghost which speaks interiourly to your soul open your soul your heart to the motions of grace to the endâ— that the truths which are preached to you may be imprinted and established in the bottom of your soul 3. Receive the word of God with respect from what mouth soever you hear it remembring that the truths of the Gospel were delivered to the world converted it being preached in a plain simple stile far remote from human eloquence therefore that the less they are adorned the more impression they will make 4. Never apply to another what the preacher says but perswade your self he speaks to you alone 5. Elevate your heart to God duâ—ing the Sermon begging of him the grace to practise what you hear for this end keep your mind senses very much recollected 6. When you go from the sermon give not way presently to distraction of mind least the good seed sown in your heart may be choaked by the hindrances of affairs or rooted up by the first temptation but after having instructed you in what his pleasure is you should do beg him not to permit these verities to prove your damnation for want of practise of them endeavour as occasion serves to remember them 7. In fine offer that day some good work some aâ—mes or some mortification that you may do to obtain for the preacher the grace of touching some obdurate sinner III. To
keeping the spirit of sweetness charity with our neighbour but aboue all we ought to be carefull to joyn thereto an interiour retreat keeping our minds sequestred from all vain curious thoughts or all unprofitable reflections upon our selves or others imploying ones mind heart in frequent aspirations sighs addressed to God to demand his holy spirit which to obtain we must unite them with the interiour dispositions prayers of the holy Virgin the Apostles II. SAy every day the Veni creator at the end of the book make seven elevations of mind to demand the seven gifts of the holy Ghost the disengagement from creatures the victory over our humours which is the life of our own spirit opposed to that of the holy Ghost Make one elevation of mind to the eternall father another to the son a third to the holy Ghost a 4. th to the holy Virgin a 5. th to the Apostles a 6. th to your good Angell the last to S. Phillip Nery who reeived with such fullnessh the oly Ghost upon the day of Pentecost These elevations of mind ought to be made with ardent desires of obtaining this singular grace Aboue all beg a total change of your heart beseech the holy Ghost that he would cause you to live a life wholly supernaturall to die to all the longing hankering appetites of the human sensuall life VENI CREATOR OR The Hymne of the holy Ghost COme Creatour Sp'rit divine Visit now the souls of thine Fill with grace distill'd from heau'n Hearts to whom thou life hast giv'n Whom the comforter we call Gift of God transcending all Living spring fire fervent love Ghostly unction from aboue Sev'nfold grace thou dost impart And Gods right hand finger art Thou the fathers promise which Tongues with language doth enrich Kindle light in every sense Love into our hearts dispence Strengthen what in flesh is fraile With a vertue cannot faile Drive away our mortall foe Peace upon us soon bestow As a guide before us shine That all vice We may decline By thee may it so be done That we father know Son And in thee believe who dost Flow from both the holy Ghost Glorious may the father reign And the Son who rose again So the holy Paraclite During Ages infinite III. ADd a quarter of an hour to your ordinary time of prayer as much to your time of silence to think in the presence of God of the great affects which his spirit works in a well disposed heart in order to the making an absolute charge in it as he did in the hearts of his Apostles the better to entertain your self with a meditation upon some one of the gifts of the holy Ghost as you will find them explicated in some of your book on that subjet Make also a particular visit to the blessed Sacrament every day to demand of Jesus-Christ the fullness of his spirit IV. AVoid tepidity negligence or humour in your actions as faults particularly opposite to the fervour of that divine love which the holy Ghost in kindles in a soul watch over your self to be able to discerne the motions of his grace be faithfull in following them do to thing against the light which God gives you to avoid any thing because that would be to afflict the holy Ghost The practise of your aspirations during this holy time may be done after this or some such like manner Father of mercy send me your comforting spirit that may give peace to my soul my Jesus give me the spirit of understanding wisdome that may make me know you with a lively faith that I may feel your presence within my heart that I may relish nothing but you alone O holy Ghost heart of the blessed Trinity substantiall love of the Father the son come inlighten my mind with the truths of faith animate my heart with the flames of pure love come strengthen me in my weakness raise me up after my fallings purify me from all hankering after or fondness of creatures O love of my God be you the soul of my soul be you my life grant that I may die wholly to my self live wholly to you The seven gifts of the H. Ghost THe gift of Wisdome The gift of Understanding The gift of Knowledge The gift of Counsell The gift of Fortitude The gift of Piety or Godliness The gift of the Fear of God. FOR THE OCTAVE OF WHITSONTIDE Apply your self every day to know demand practise one of the seven gifts of the holy Ghost to the end that he may purifiy and Sanctify with these seven divine habits all the affections of your soul THE I. DAY The gift of Wisdome LEt the subject of your prayer be the qualities of this gift which are 1. to make us relish God all that unites us to him 2. to give us an extreme disgust of all pleasures of the senses all naturall satisfaction 3. to make us esteem love search with passion sufferings disgrace abjection of which we have such a horrour 4. to make an intire separation of a heart from all fondness of creatures as also from all that is sensuall in devotion from all that is not God. Come o holy Ghost come enlighten my mind with this gift of wisdome come destroy in me the love of the world grant that I may take no relish in any thing but in God that God may be all to me creatures may be nothing grant that I may love contempt which my Saviour so esteemed that the cross may be the onely oâ—ject of my love 2. Beg often during the first day that is the day of Pentecost the gift of wisdome which consists in loving spirituall things make an extraordinary visit to the blessed Sacrament to beg this day as well as throughout the whole Octave the Office of the holy Ghost in the morning after your prayers say veni Creator as in the end of this book give every day of the Octave some little almes to the poor to obtain the gifts of the holy Ghost whom the holy Chruch stiles the Father of the poor THE II. DAY The Gifts of Vnderstanding 1. COnsider in your prayer the effects of this gift which are 1. to make us love what we believe to render our faith so lively strong that it may make such an impression upon our minds as if we saw the objects of what we believe so that a soul inlightened with this gift is lost in the respect love it finds in gods presence in prayer before the blessed Sacrament as if it saw God with its eyes this gift works the same effect in the soul as the light of glory does in the souls of the Blessed It sees God in the bosome of it feels his presence after so intimate certain a manner that it is rather a possession then a knowledge of
God. 2. This gift makes us see God in all things makes all things carry us to God So that a soul which is enlightened with it considers nothing that is good rich or perfect in creatures but onely iâ— God as in the source of all bounty goodness It is full of the Idea of thâ— greatness of God It penetrates chrâ—stian verities with a supernaturall view It discovers in abjection in thâ— cross beauties unknown to sensual soules depises all earthly goods 2. O my God dissipate the darkneâ— of my mind by the light of your holy spirit grant I may judge no more oâ— things according to their appearances according to sense but according to truth according to the supernaturall view of grace that all things that I understand may carry me to you that all creatures may disappear in the presence of their Creatour to the end that God alone may take up my mind which is made to know him my heart which was created to ove him 3. Observe that which is marked the first day after meditation to wit the frequent aspirations during the whole day taken out of the affections marked in your meditation The visit of the blessed Sacrament The office of the holy Ghost The veni Creator to obtain this Gift do the same the other days of the Octave THE III. DAY The Gift of Knowledge 1. COnsider that the gift of knowledge when it enlightens a soul it makes it judge of things as God himself does that is to say it makes it esteem nothing great but the service of God to fear nothing but his displeasure to love nothing but what makes us more agreable in his eyes 2. This gift enlightens us in the knowledge of the Crucifix that is to say it makes us behold with respect all the crosses that God sends us proceding from the cross deify'd in Jesus-Christ therefore makes us far from complaining of them it receives them with gratefull acknowledgement thanks our Saviour for them as for a singular favour it thinks it self more happy in suffring a contempt an affliction an injury a persecution an affront a refusall a drieness a sensible dereliction of Goâ— in prayer more then in possessing the whole earth wherefore the soâ— thus enlightened with the gift oâ— knowledge when any pain happen to it goes immediately casts iâ— self on its knees before a Crucifix tâ— receive its cross as from the hand oâ— God with respect submission loue 2. O my Jesus O that the beamâ— of your cross were more known to the world O how do they contemne the holy reliques of your cross which you offer to us shut up in the pain of this life O cross of my Saviour O how often have I adored you iâ— my Crucifix which is your image despised in my pains which are youâ— true effects as it were your sâ— many other selves THE IV. DAY The Gift of Counsell 1. COonsider that this gift carrys us 1. to consult God in all things that we undertake 2. to do nothing but by the motions of grace or according to the maximes of the Gospell 3. never to neglect inspirations interiour admonitions of the holy Ghost but readily faithfully to follw them 4. to give good counsell to such as ask our advice 5. never to follow that which vanity humour or self love counsells us to do but to do that onely which the spirit of grace the love of our abjection inspires us 2. O my God! how much reason have I to fear that I have been the cause of the sin damnation of many persons by my ill counsells Perhaps at this present there are some in hell which would have been in heaven if I had counselled them in their despaire assisted them in their poverty or withdrawn them by my good counsells from the occasion of sin O how many have I ruined by my bad example What reproaches will these damned make me at the day of Iudgement O holy Ghost how sorry am I that I have so often neglected thy counsells to follow the sentiment of self love O that I could be so faithfull for the future as never to do any thing contrary to your â—nspirations but in all things to follow your counsel THE V. DAY The Gift of Fortitude 1. COnsider the effects of this gift which are 1. to render our selves so perfect masters of our humours of our choler of our passions that we may crush stifle their revolts in their birth 2. to give us invincible courage in our pains never to permit our selves to be oppressed by them but to remain faithfull in them 3. to give us stedfastness in our good resolutions courage constantly to follow that which we have undertaken for the glory of God the salvation of souls inspite of all contradictions contempt or oppositions of creatures 4. to establish all our happiness in sufferings or the persecutions that we undergo for the good we would do 2. O Jesus humbled despised o that your affronts would render my contempts pleasing to me And that your annihilations would give me courage to suffer my self to be reduced to nothing for your sake in the esteem of all men Holy spirit grant that my mind may find its strength in the weakness of my body that I may never fall under the burthen of the cross O how I am confounded to see that there needs onely a rude word a contradiction nay a nothing to make me fall into impatience It seems to me when I goe from my prayer that I want no force to do suffer all things but how weak am I when the occasion presents it self Give me grace to suffer all things from others to make me suffer my self THE VI. DAY The Gift of Piety 1. COnsider that this gift inspires a soul with true devotion which consists 1. in performing with fervour promptitude all that God desires of us 2. in loving prayer the exercises of piety the frequenting of the Sacraments solitude reading recollection of mind in the presence of God. This gift imprints in the heart so lively and animated a tenderness for the love of God thaâ— one is ready to do suffer all things to please him 2. Ought I ô my God so often to bear the cross yet neuer to bear it well O that a soul were as knowing in the science of Saints to esteem love cherish crosses as worldlings shun reject them O Cross ô holy Cross how can you be all my consolation comfort in my life how can I look upon you at the day of judgement with confidence if I receive you not with respect in this world suffering my pains with submission silence love THE VII DAY The Gift of the Fear of God. 1. COnsider that this gift imprints in our hearts a filial respectfull fear of God which makes us apprehend the least sin because 't is displeasing to God
more pleased to see me contented with my weakness to suffer with peace in your presence then if I were filled with consolation ADVICE OF IMPORTANCE how to make ones prayer with fruit facility 1. For distractions of mind AS soon as you find your self distracted presently make a return to God. O my God let me be all yours all for you wholly in your presence when you have done this make no reflection at all upon your distractions either to examine them or to disquiet your self You may sometimes remain before God all quite ouerwhelmed with confusion to see how little respect you bear to his presence 2. For desolations of heart The more you feel of tediousness of oppression or disgust the more you must force your self to remain with courage respect submission before God for this reason keeip your self always upon your knees your hands joyned your eyes humbly cast down with a submission of mind heart to the pain you suffer so sacrifice your self generously without reserve to the rigour of the divine justice give no way to this oppression permit your self to be crucified by all those wandrings of your mind by all those disquiets troubles of your heart believe that in this state God requires nothing else then that you suffer with patience humility submission to his will. 3. For prayer of affection 1. If you find difficulty in meditating upon your subject imploy your self in affections after you have made an act of faith upon that truth which moves you most but after having also formed an affection conformable to your subject or to the inspiration God shall give you upon it remain in silence for a little while in gods presence that it may take the deeper impression never passe forward to a second affection before your heart has penetrated remained content in the first because when one makes light hasty acts they make very light or no impression upon the will. 3. For the prayer of Silence First if the onely presence of God which you behold within you does take you wholly up recollect you which causes a great peace calm over your heart be not so unfaithfull as to disturb or trouble this strong efficacious operation of God by your own thoughts affections which would make you deviate from this respect which you ow to so greate a God who makes you feel his presence by a sweet inward inspiration that recollects you then content please your self with what he works in you abandoning your self intirely into his hands put no obstacle to whatsoever he shall work in you You are all my God I am nothing these two words will suffise whilst you shall remain in this sacred silence when that is past return to your matter Secondly accustome your self according to the counsell of Jesus Christ to iscourse little in prayer that is to say that your mind be contented with a simple view of the truths you meditate without tiring your self with long discourses especially if these views make more impression in your heart then discourses and that you have long before meditated these truths Thirdly let not your will dilate it self too much in its affections but let it reduce them insensibly to holy fervent aspirations which your heart may form towards God. If God gives you any sensible grace or favour receive it with humility without reflecting upon it or giving youâ— self up too much to it unite youâ— self always to the Authour of thosâ— graces not to the graces themselves Fourthly act when God acts not but remain silent when he speaks be not like those souls who remain whole hours in pure idleness of minâ— expecting that God would touch oâ— move them or of those who alwayâ— speak to God this idleness is not thaâ— which we call the prayer of silence which keeps a soul elevated above the motions of anger self-love which sustains it recollects it penetrates it with a holy respect in gods presence animates all the actions of the mind with his grace Advice how to draw fruit out of prayer The reasons why one profits not by prayer are FIrst because one does not sufficiently penetrate the truths one meditates upon Secondly because one makes not â—cts with such fervour affection as one ought Thirdly because one makes resoâ—utions after a slack generall manner Fourthly because one stays not â—ong enough upon every affection â—hat one makes them after a slight manner Fifthly because one gives too much way to the disgust pain one finds â—n prayer thinking it lost time that it is altogether unprofitable that one imagines ones self to do nothing when it is evident that to suffer this affliction before God with humility â—s to make a good prayer Sixthly because one soon forget the good resolutions made in prayer instead of often renewing them by thinking of them in the day chiefly at such time when one is in the occasions of performing them Now to profit in prayer one ought first to be free have ones heart disengaged secondly to recollect one self often in the day as in gods presence Tihrdly to mortifie ones senses passions upon all occasions Fourthly to retire ones self from company to love retirement In fine one ought to prepare ones self for it with care in time of it to conserve ones self with great reverence respect in gods presence not dissipate or distract ones self soon after it THE CONVERSION OF A SOUL TO GOD. ELevate thy self o my soul to thy Creatour deferr no longer thy conversion thô but for a moment what is past is gone what is to come is not in thy power thou art master onely of the present which is but a moment given thee for no other end then to serve God to gain eternity Conceive well these words one God one moment one eternity attends thee An eternity which either gives all or takes all from thee for ever a God whom thou so little servest a moment which thou makest so ill use of an eternity which thou hazardest O God! o moment o eternity o God my heart desires thee my heart seeks thee to give thee it self intirely to subject it self to thee fill it self with thee I beseech thee to take receive it in to thy possession bâ—nish from it all sin all ties to creâ—tures all inordinate love to mâ—self that I may serve thee so faithfully that I may merit to possess theâ— eternally A CHRISTIAN CONDUCT Whereby persons Whose vocation engages them in the world may therein work out their salvation 1. SAy your prayers night morning with fervency devotion make a firm peremptory resolution in the morning not to commit on purpose or deliberately any sin to do all you can to please God to do nothing unprofitable for eternity Examine your self every night about your
read there also with attention what you will find in the Christian thoughts allotted for that day or a chapter in Thomas a Kempis making from time to time a serious reflection upon what you read beg grace to perform it 8. Be nor of the number of those who sit up allmost all night sleep the next morning till eleven or twelve of the clock but have a certain time allotted for rising going to bed as much as you are able remember that a christian life ought to be regular 9. Flatter not your self too much concerning your almes since you are obliged to give such as may be proportionable to your fortune take care that almes be given to the poor in the Country by giving them corn do the same in town either to prisoners or bashfull poor know for certain that a person who is rich cannot save his soul by doing small almes that one is obliged in conscience under pain of great sin to assist the poor in their pressing necessities which are but too frequent that you may easily know if you will but take the pains a little to inform your self that to defer or lessen the salaries of poor tradesmen is visibly to damn ones self think not that your poor vassalls can give a hundred days work exacted of them did not the fear of their Lords force them to it therefore doubt not but t is your duty to pay them 10. For your devotions perform them at least every 8. th day or even twice a week if your Confessour judge it fit but remember to deprive your self the night before of your ordinary divertisement of play apply your self to make your communions as well as you can according to the following directions 11. For confession endeavour 1. to examine well your conscience to particularise your sins especially those which you commit out of custome as choler detraction consider also the evill that you have not hindred to be committed in your house the good you have not performed as you might have done for example to reconcile your neighbours to give almes to the poor in great necessity to neglect your spirituall exercises out of sloth or to divert or let fall a detraction 2. after this the better to conceive a true sorrow sincere contrition propose to your self all the motives that are capable to excite in you an actuall interiour disengagement from sin without which your confessions â—ave not worth any thing wherefore regard regret your sins as the effects of the greatest ingratitude against the infinite goodness and bounty of God towards you for all the graces favours he has bestowed upon you all the benefits you have received from his hands deplore them as the greatest affronts committed against his supreme majesty as a contempt of his greatness as a trampling under foot his most precious blood casting your eyes upon a crucifix imploy your mind at the same time upon the following thoughts Behold what my sins have made my Jesus suffer See to what extremity his love for me has brought him ought I to have displeased so amiable a Deity ought I to continue to shed his most pretious blood ought I to not leave off affronting him who never leaves off doing me all the good he can O my God! what a regret sorrow have I for having offended you ô that I might ratther undergo a thousand deaths then ever more displease you 2. sincerely confess your sins saying those you remember in short mixing no unprofitable discourse with them taking notice in a few words of the necessary circumstances avoiding all long unprofitable stories by which one makes known rather anothers sins then ones own in which they do ill whilst they think to do well believe it as a certain truth that the shorter more exact clear your confession is the better more perfect it is to make it so forget not as much as you are able to express the number of your sins whether you have committed them with foresight or reflection to take notice also whether you staid long in them or onely a short time or in fine whether you gave full consent to them or were negligent in rejecting or withdrawing your self from them never fail to take notice whether your sins are concerning any light mater or of moment In the third place when you receive absolution recollect your mind as in gods presence renew your sorrow for your sins perswade your self that t is the blood of Jesus Christ that purifies your soul sanctifies it gives it a new force not to committ any more sins In the fourth place after confession retire your self alone put your self in spirit at the feet of Christ crucified consider him all covered with wounds blood expiring with love grief for your sake 1. Give him thanks with all your heart that after having so often pardoned your sins he has had but now once more the bounty for you to pardon them again blush with shame confusion in his presence that you have so often fallen into the same 2. â— Offer to the eternall father the blood sufferings of his son Jesus Christ for pennance satisfaction for your sins for the pain due to them then unite with his the pennance you are about to perform 3. Perform it with attention sorrow confusion as a criminall that acknowledges regrets his crime make an ardent lively resolution to avoid all sin particularly that which you are most subject to remember if you communicate not the same day that you confess not to let loose your mind after confession but to keep an exact watch over your self not to fall into your ordinary imperfections 12. For holy Communion take a particular care to dispose your self very well for it to improve much by it because there is nothing more dangerous then to approach it with indifference out of formality not to grow better by it Therefore from the very minute after your prayer morning night think that you are to receive your God that same day conceive an ardent desire to receive him worthily To prepare your self Well for Communion 1. Endeavour to excite in your self a lively faith of the presence of Jesus Christ in the blessed Sacrament consider very well these three things I go to receive my God my Saviour my judge therefore with what respect ought I to approach my God ywith what love ought I to approach my Saviour with what confusion ought I to present my self before my judge O my God may Soveraign Lord who are you who am I that I should dare to appear in your presence But o my Jesus my amiable Saviour ô how much fervency have I to unite my self so to you as to make you absolute master of my heart O Souveraign judge of
all mankind how is it possible that I should dare to receive you within my self who have so often provoked your anger O my God receive your self in me because I am unworthy to approach you o my Saviour offer your self within me to your father at the same time sacrifice to your father to your divine justice all that is criminall or human within me O my judge condemn me not for my tepidity O my God one word alone from you suffices to make me a Saint to heal all the maladies of my soul who am unworthy to receive you within my self O my Saviour how sorry am I that I have ever offended you and caused you to suffer so much for my sake O my judge how does your presence pierce my heart with horrour confusion when I think that I go to receive him who one day will judge me concerning the action I am about to perform who bears in his hands my eternal happiness or misery 2. Endeavour to conceive a firm confidence a fervent love an ardent desire to receive Jesus Christ because you ought to be convinced that 't is the same Saviour who is so charitable so good as to heal all those that approach him with faith have recourse to him with confidence 3. â— Excite in your self an ardent desire to receive your soveraign good your redeemer deliverer who are a slave to your passions your Physician who are sick your Saviour who are in danger of perishing 4. Abouâ— all remember after you have received your God to recollect your self for some time eithâ—r casting your self at his feet with S. Magdelen to hear his instructions or adoring him with the Leper in the Gospell saying with him Lord if you please you can cure me or in fine consecrating your self intirely to him begging of him to take possession of your heart of your body to unite transform you into himself to become for the future the soul of all your actions the rule model of your life that it may be he that lives in you by you that all you do may be animated with his spirit If you find your self much transported by the sweetness deliciousness that the presence of Jesus Christ may diffuse in you remain with silence at his feet begging him to receive himself and to thank himself in you be contented to remain with a profound respect in his presence 5. Make your petitions to him with fervency with a firm confidence of being heard in them beg of him the grace never to loose his favour by a mortall sin to die in an act of his love Beseech him earnestly to inspire you with a contempt of the world with a disengagement from all earthly objects patience in the government of your family charity in conversation so as never to be backbiting your neighbours liberality towards the poor fidelity to his graces with the spirit of devotion in your prayers 6. lastly after having returned thanks most affectionately to the goodness of Jesus Christ in vouchsafing to come into your heart offer to him in gratitude the victory you may have gotten over the sallys of your humour or any other imperfection that displeases him in you which is most customary take care till the next communion to be faithfull in this point to correct this imperfection five times a day quell this passion in honour of the five wounds of our Saviour 7. Put your self from time to time during the day in mind of what passed in communion remember the favour you have received of your Jesus to give him thanks for it And keep a guard over your heart tongue that you may not prophane either by any word or inordinate desires of your own a soul that is sanctified by the presence of a God. 13. In fine remember to make reflections from time to time in the day time upon the great truths of Christianity to convince your mind of them engrave them deep in your heart Think often 1. that you have but one soul to loose or save but once to die well or ill 2. that one cannot go to heaven without merit that one cannot merit but by using violence over ones passions 3. that God whom we serve so carelesly is the disposer of our misery or happiness that he has heaven hell at his disposal Alas if we search with so much earnestness the favour of those upon whom depends a good success of our affairs why do we neglect his freindship upon whom depends a happy or miserable Eternity 4. What a blindness is it to regret the loss of what we have here in this world not be concerned at the loss of a God which by a mortall sin we sustain 5. It is impossible to love serve God the world at the same time and to save ones self the broad and easy way we must necessarily renounce either the heavenly or earthly paradise 6. what will it profit you to have gained all the riches of the world if you loose your own soul A SAINT FOR THE YEAR SAINT ROSE THE VERTVE The renouncing of the pleasures of sense curiosity vanity and rallerie THE PRACTICE First to say nothing in passion Secondly not to be so easy as to comply with any that shall backbite others Thirdly to seek nothing out of pure curiosity or self-satisfaction I. Before Communion 1 J go to receive a God who is my judge O grant my Jesus that I may not receive thee to my damnation 2. I am about to receive in my heart a God who is my Saviour o God receive thou thy self there with the love thou deservest 3. O my judge I tremble I am ready to die with confusion grief whilst I approach your majesty O my Saviour I hope in your goodness I abandon my self entirely to you I burn with desire to open my heart to you I will die with love of you breath my last in you I unite my self to all the respect which Angels to all the love which Seraphins bear you to all the confidence of the sick that you have cured o my Jesus during your whole life I hope with them that you will give a speedy remedy to all the diseases of my soul II. During Communion 1. O my Jesus o my love o God of glory o God of goodness o majesty of my God! who are you who am I 2. Receive your self in me thank your self in me Sacrifice your self upon my heart for me I unite my self to all that you are going to do in me 3. In your passage thorough my heart heal all its curiosities all the ill words of my tongue III. After Communion 1. O liberality of my Jesus how am I obliged to you for having given me a God for the nourishment of my soul O that all creatures all the Angels would oyn with me in giving you due
thanks for me 2. I adore you my Jesus as my Creatour who gave me my life as my Saviour who has deliver'd me from death as a God of glory who has designed me for Paradise 3. Pause here in silence look upon â—esâ—s Christ as your Saviour with confidence as your Judge with fear as your most loving and lovely God with love 4. Beg of him to apply himself to your senses to your mind to your heart to cure your infirmities to purifie them fill them with his love A GENERAL PRACTICE FOR THE VERTUE OF THE MONTH Together with the manner whereby you ought to honour a Saint every month 1. One ought to form a high Idea of this vertue conceive a fervent desire to practise it for this reason it were good to make a meditation of it in the beginning in the middle in the end of the month 2. One ought to receive it from ones Directour as from God himself who inspires him therewith who will exact an account of it ar the day of Judgment it is good to beg it often of God by the intercession of the holy Patron recommended to your choice particularly in the morning at noon at night saying for this end a Pater Ave. 3. The practice of the vertue of the month ought to be in this manner 1. you must offer the first communion of the month to obtain it 2 in the morning when you rise make a firm resolution to practise it that day forecasting to your self the occasions you may have to exercise it 4. Before dinner recollect your self the space of a Pater Ave to consider how you have practised it to see whether that morning you have exercised any acts of it or fallen into the contrary vice if you find you have ask pardon of God purpose to be more faithfull the following part of the day 5. In your examen at night make the same review compare with diligence the faults you have committed after dinner with those committed in the morning noting the number upon a paper or with knots upon a piece of thred to see if your fidelity was greater after dinner then in the morning 6. Take care every dal especially in the morning to make there acts of the month the same after dinner for exteriour acts take care to keep a watch over your self that you fall not upon occasion into the vice contrary to it 7. If you happen to fail impose upon your self immediately some mortification if occasion permits that may be contrary to the fault you committed for example if you have for your vertue to say nothing out of humour or inclination or the mortification of your tongue after you have failed hinder your self from speaking when you have never so much mind to it if it be nothing but unprofitable discourse or keep a greater silence then ordinary by retiring your self the like you may do in respect of other vertues 8. Give an exact account to your Directour of your care or negligence in the practice of the vertue of the month be afraid that God should withdraw his particular grace of which you have great need if you neglect this particular care because God will treat you as you do him 9. Perswade your self that all your spirituall advancement depends upon your practice of this vertue which if you neglect you will never profit in it Remember also to offer some of your alms mortifications to our Lord to obtain this vertue present them to him by the hands of your Directour 10. Honour your monthly Patron invoking him three times a day saying for this end a Pater Ave 2. Have recourse to him in your occurring difficulties 3. Give thanks to our Lord for the graces bestowed upon him 4. Communicate upon his feast 5. Make a Letanie of all the Saints you have every month say them every day AN EXERCISE VERY PROFITABLE TO prepare ones self to die well A prayer to Iesus Christ SAviour of the world word incarnate life of the dying death of the living life of the dying by the glory you bestow upon them purchased by your precious blood death of the living by the grace which you give them to dye to the flesh to live to the spirit animate this exercise with your holy dove to the end that by the â—ractice of it we may find our selves so prepared for death that after this life we maâ— live with you eternally in heaven there to bless praise love you with the Father holy Ghost Amen Ever praised be the most holy Sacrament of the Altar ADVICE FOR THE PRACTICE of this Exercise SInce t is a truth of which we have daily but too great an experience which yet for all that we too easily forget that we must dye that a suddain death may perhaps surprise us unawares as we see happens often to those that think least of it or that the extreme pains of our sickness may deprive us of the liberty to make those acts that are necessary for this last hour the hour of all hours most important the hour after which there remains no more hours the hour that decides our Eternall happiness or misery 't is necessary every month to prepare our selves by the exercises of a death in imagination to those which we must really practise when we come actually to dye Watch prepare your selves because the son of man will come at the hour you think least of Says our Saviour in the 13. of S. Mark 's Gospell in the 12. of Ecclesiastes we are warned that where the tree falls there it lyes As near as you can either the day before or upon the day you exercise this devotion make your Sacramentall confession which will not hinder you from making your spirituall confession to Jesus Christ either before or after the sacramentall one according to each ones devotion After confession make a sacramental communion by way of Viaticum as if it were your last in case you actually communicate endeavour to have by you some meddal to which the Pope has applyed a plenary Indulgence to gain one Upon the day of your devotion if possible hear mass to unite your self more particularly in this holy sacrifice which is a reall representation of that upon the cross to Jesus Christ dying offering him to the eternall father together with all the sacrifices which shall be offer'd to the end of the world to obtain the grace of a happy death It will be very profitable to make choice of the last day of every month for this exercise if one be not minded to make it altogether one may begin the first point in the morning the second at some other hour that day or otherwise perform it in two days then one should repeat over again the acts of contrition of faith of hope of charity conteined in the first point observing
to make your meditation that day upon the subject of death exercise ones self more particularly in good works in the practice of mortification other vertues You must also take notice that thô there be many acts noted in this exercise 't is onely to facilitate the practice of them to those who for want of being habituated in them ' would otherwise find great difficulty to perform them for the best are those that love produces in our heart We have added at the end of this discourse the recommendation of the soul in English for those who having the devotion thereby in a holy manner to anticipate their death to joyn these to the foresaid devotions do not understand them in Latin in this case one ought to change the termes that concern another to ones self as in stead of saying pray for him or her or receive this soul say pray for me receive my soul so in other places reserving the conclusion of this exercise till after your last prayer Now the fruit which one ought to draw from hence as shall be noted in the following meditation is the contempt of the world a weaning ones self from creatures the renouncing of ones self the amendment of ones faults which are the true means to obtain the grace to die a deatâ— that hshall be the beginning of a most happy blessed lâ—fe If we make this exercâ—se with care during our lives t is not to be conceived how profitable we shall find it at our death where we may repeat the same or cause it to be read to us You may make the meditation in the morning after your prayer before you go out The first part part of the exercise for death may be made in the Curch before Communion or during mass the other part in the evening towards four or five a clock A MEDITATION DISPOSITIONS FOR A happy death Put your self in to the presence of God beg of him his divine inspiration FOr the ground of this meditation one must be well possest of this truth That life is onely a gage given us by God in trust wherefore iâ— follows if we be not always prepared and disposed to give it back we refuse him the right of soveraignty which he has upon our beings It is appointed for all men once to die after that to be judged Says the great Apostle to the Heb Chap. 9. COnsidering this truth That one dies bur once that an ill death can never be repair'd throughout the whole vast extent of Eternity we may easily perceive how necessary it is not to be surprised but to be always upon our guard as that servant of whom the Gospell speaks which waits for the coming of his master in the 12. Chap of S. Luke I. POINT Since we must necessarily dye it behooves us much to conceive well this truth That death is certain the hour of death uncertain that all the prudence of a Christian consists in preparing ones self well for it that we may not faile in an affair which in truth is the affair of affairs and the sole onely one we have to do in this world since we come into it onely to save our souls in loosing them we lose all For what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world if he loose his own soul Says our Soveraign master Jesus Christ iâ— the 8. Chap of S Mark. O my God how great is the blindness of the most part of mankind who not thinking on this great truth live onely an earthly sensuall brutish life never elevating their minds to heavenly things fix their affections so fast to this mortall life that they prefer it before the eternal He that loves his life Says our saviour shall loose it 〈◊〉 he that hates it in this world shall gain for it life everlasting in the next in the 12 Chap of S. Iohn O my God â—is noâ— therefore to love our lives â— to have to â— great a fondness for them siâ—ce this fondness for a emâ—orall life proceeding from an irreguâ—ar love of our selves â— puts us in danger of loosing an everlasting one that you assure me o my divine Jesus that if any one comes to you does not hate this sensuall life even his own soul he cannot be your disciple Give me o Lord a holy hatred of this mortall life which may make me continually tend pretend to the eternall one where I may love you for ever II POINT The death of Saints is precious in Gods sight says the Psalmist in the 118. Psalm If we will dye the death of Saints we must live their lives 1. by keeping our affections always as much weaned from the things of this world as if we were to dye every moment because there is no moment in which death may not surprise us in which we ought not to be prepared to receive it if we will not hazard our salvation 2. by overcoming the naturall fear which we have of death by faith by the confidence which we ought to have that Jesus Christ in whose hands are the keys of life death who loves us infinitely more then we love our selves will send it us at such a time in such a manner as in the order of his divine providence he foresees best for us Has he not created us for life everlasting do not we believe that life better then this mortall life we lead if we are not of this beliefe we want faith by consequence have no hope because we cannot obtain that happiness he has promised in the other life but by death But what charity also can an interessed soul have which loves its own life more then the will of God has a greater fear to dye then to see unite it self to him Perfect charity says the holy Scripture in S. Johnâ— Gospell chap 24. excludes fear And as we ought to shew our love which we have for God by our hatred to sin what hatred do we express to it when for all we know we cannot live without committing every day some yet we are so much affraid of death O if we had a true love with what joy should we embrace death that we might be in a state in which we could no more offend his infinite goodness Since the least sin as the Doctours of the Church affirm is so more to be feared then death III. POINT Should God give us the choice of of the time the hour the manner of our death could we make a better choice then he who ordains it by his infinite wisdome power goodness who having created us for himself redeemed us with his blood accordingly desires nothing more then to save to bring us to the enjoyment of that happy end And since faith teacheth us this verity why do not we entirely abandon the care of our lives deathes to him what can there
be better for us in heaven or earth in life or death then to accomplish his most just most holy will And because we ought necessarily to submit to its orders is it not better to do it freely by an humble submission to filiall confidence in his divine goodness then to do it by constraint as the Devills do by that resistance render this action rather worthy of punishment then recompence If the fear of our sins makes us apprehend death desire onely to live to do pennance for them what better pennance can we perform that is more agreable to God then perfectly to conform our selves to his will undergo the sentence of death to render him the obedience a creature owes to his creatour thereby to shew him that we preferr the honour of pleasing him before our own lives If actions so much the harder they be to perform so much the more meritorious they be esteemed what can there be harder then to renonce life what greater pennance can we perform then frankly freely to give up our lives to God because by giving them to him we give not onely all we can give but all that is dearest to us No one has greater charity then he who gives up his life says our Saviour in the 13 of S. Johns Gospell And if a God would dye so painfull ignominious a death for us and give his life upon the cross for our salvation can we refuse him ours Is our life more precious or necessary then his O my soul had we never so llittle love for God or gratitude for this great favour of his we ought to desire a thousand lives to lay them all down for his sake What have we that is not his O my God since I am nothing but by you I will be nothing but what you would have me I care not whether I live or dye Affections Resolutions SInce that upon the moment of my death depends my eternal life Grant o my God that by a true hatred of sin by a perfect contempt of the world of its vain honours pleasures riches by an entire renouncing of my self I may always keep my felf prepared for this last hour that I may never let my self forget death least permitting the lamp of charity to be extinguished the oyl of good works to be wanting in my soul you may surprise me in this condition reproach me with the same terrible words you did the foolish virgins in the 25. Chap of S. Iohns Gospell I know you not but that keeping my self always ready for your coming I may merit to enter with you into that eternall nuptiall feast Where neither eye has seen ear heard nor has it enterd into the heart of man to conceive what you have prepared for those that love you Give me o my God the light of your holy Spirit to the end I may not suffer my self to be deceived nor seduced by my senses to take what is false for true that I may not esteem the things of this mortall life good or bad but as they lead me to or withdraw me from my last end CONCLVSION LEt us conclude this meditation with this truth that if we will dye the death of the just we must live the lives of the just since the way to obtain a good death is to live a good life as there is nothing more precious nor more to be desired then a good death so there is nothing more unhappy nor that we ought more to fear then an ill death the best means of securing our selves in an affair of so great an importance as this is daily to live as if it were to be the last day of our lives keeping our affections as perfectly weaned from the things of the world as if we were ready to leave it where all things that be not of God will appear as smoak that either is scattered it self or at best covers but a fleeting shadow A MOST PROFITABLE EXERCISE TO PREPARE our selves for death VPON THIS MOMENT depends Eternity The day you intend to make this exercise enter into the thoughts of death look upon that day as the last of your life THE FIRST PART IMagine your self lying sick upon your death-bed that your good Angell is sent by God to give you notice of the irrevocable decree of your death that he says to you as Esaye did to Ezechias Isa 38. Dispose of your affairs because you shall dye shall no longer live Prostrating your self as at the foot of your Crucifix or before the blessed Sacrament beg with all your heart the grace light of the holy Ghost the help succour of the blessed Virgin of the Saints your Patrons of your good Angell to maKe the following acts AN ACT OF RESIGNATION MY heart is prepared my God my heart is prepared that your will not mine be done in me by me now for all eternity 1. O God eternall immense infinite who are sufficient in your self stand in need of none of your creatures how little does it import whether I live or die so I may accomplish your holy will in which alone true life consists therefore let it not be as I will but as you please An acknowledgement of our nothingness 2. To acknowledge the dependance that I have of you my soveraign Creatour openly to confess before heaven earth that you alone are he that is that I misetable creature am he that is not I embrace with an humble submission the destruction of this corruptible being consent that by death it should return to its first nothing out of which you took it A restitution of our being into the hands of God. 3. O my Soveraign Creatour will restore you the being you have given me for this end I accept of death in the manner that shall be most pleasing to you be most to your glory Dispose therefore of your creature destroy this body of sin in punishment of the offences it has committed against your divine majesty That this body may return to the earth from whence it came but that my soul created after thy image may return to your bosome An acknowledgement of Gods soveraig◠dominion over us 4. O my God thô my death be of it self a thing of necessity yet I am resolved for love of you as far as possible to make it a will-offering I rejoice that by it I shall be out of a state condition any more to resist your Soveraign dominion over me as Liege Lord of all creatures I accept it as a just punishment of the ill use I have made of my free will which you have given me How to receive death as a just punishment of sin 5. Since death O my God is the punishment you have ordained for sin 't is with an humble submissive heart to the decree of your justice that I accept
it in the spirit of pennance with all the pains humiliations privations which follow it in satisfaction of all the sins I have committed An offering of our Life to God. 6. Receive ô my Saviour the sacrifice that I make to your divine Majesty of my bo dy my life which I offer as a victime sacrificed to your self Unite it to that you offer'd for me upon the cross consume it with the fire of your divine love A desire to render to Iesus Christ Death for Death 7. O my divine Jesus since that your love to me made you dye upon the cross for my salvation is it not just that with a good will I accept death for love of you in counter-change as far as I am able of that you indured for me O why have I not a thousand lives to give them all for this end to acknowledge therby that you are my God! Spiritual confession With profound humility at the feet of Iesus Christ as if he were present in his sacred humanity accuse your self to him of all your sins taking a short review of them at the end of which excite your soul to a lively tender sorrow for them AN ACT OF CONTRITION O my God prostrate before your soveraign majesty I most humbly beg pardon for the great contempt abuse I have made of your holy graces of all the sins I have committed from my birth in thought word or deed I retract disavow them with my whole heart Yes o my God 't is from my whole heart that I detest disavow them wish I had never committed them not for fear of the punishment they deserve but onely because I have by them offended your infinite goodness which deserves to be loved above all things honoured by all creatures O why is not my heart capable too of an infinit sorrow to blot out their guilt But accept o my God in satisfaction of that sorrow which is wanting in me that which my Saviour had in the garden of Olives upon the cross for the sins of the whole world in generall for mine in particular Accept also for this effect that sorrow contrition which all the Saints have ever had Purifiy me from my secret sins pardon those I have committed by others despise not o my God an humble contrite heart which hopes onely for pardon of its sins from your infinit mercy In the 50. Psalm you have promised that when a sinner laments his sins you will no longer remember his iniquities And if you please o my God to prolong my life I make a firm purpose by the assistance of your holy grace to amend particularly such such faults thereby endeavour to repaire what is past Having made these Acts receive as an absolution that which Jesus Christ the soveraign priest gives you spiritually applying to your self his divine merits after which imagine you hear him say to you as he did to S. Mary Magdelen Your sins are forgiven you go in peace Say the 50. Psalm Miserere mei c in the spirit of pennance Aspirations to the three divine persons O father Eternall since you so loved the world as to give your onely son for its redemption I dare presume to hope from your mercy the salvation of my soul since you gave him not to condemn us but to save us for that end imposed upon him the holy name of Iesus Luk. 1. O divine Jesus be you my Jesus remembcr your own words that you came not for the just but for sinners Luk. 5. O my God you will not the death of a sinner but that he be converted live EZech. 18. Convert me therefore to your self that I may live an Eternall life Come divine spirit repose in my soul with your 7. gifts for to purify justify sanctify it consume in it by the fire of your holy love all that is yet earthly therein fortify it in this its last passage against all the temptations of its enemies An act of Faith. I protest my God before heaven earth that I will dye in the faith union of the holy Catholick church I believe firmly all that it believes teaches because you my God who are the Eternall truth have said revealed it that you are an infinite goodness holiness that cannot deceive any one an infinite wisdom that cannot erre are moreover omnipotent And from this very moment I disavow and detest all temptations contrary to it which the Enemy may suggest in the last moments of my life I return you thanks with my whole heart for the great grace which you have done me in making me of the numbe of the children of your holy Church Recite the Apostles Creed Credo in Deum c And making reflection upon every Article protest that you believe it An act of Hope O my God thô for the enormity inconceivable multitude of my offences I most justly merit hell yet confiding entirely in the merits of my Saviour Jesus Christ in the infinit greatness of your mercy which can pardon more sins then I can committ I cease not to hope for pardon for the grace to persevere in your love to which I consecrate the last moment of my life An act of Charity O my God when shall this soul of mine being separated from my body from all creatures be united perfectly to your self love you with that pure unchangeable affection with which the blessed in heaven love you O what is there I desire in haven or what is it I desire on earth butt you the God of my heart my God everlasting portion of my felicity I have regarded all things as nothing vile contemptible to gain Jesus Christ An act of Love towards our Neighbour O my God I beg of you grace mercy for all the creatures you have redeemed with your precious blood particularly for the true children of your holy Church for those from whom I have received any displeasure whom I pardon my God for love of you as I desire you should pardon me A desire to receive Iesus Christ O my God my Creatour redeemer my beginning my end the onely soveraign object of my heart O what a longing desire have I to receive you for to unite my self to you come then into my soul sanctify it replenish my heart with your graces take possession of all its affections to the end that all the moments of my life that are yet behind may entirely be consecrad to your love The Spirituall communion for the Viatick or the Sacramentall one if permitted to receive it Hearken to your good Angell who invites you to eat the bread of life speaks to you as that of Elias did to him Arise eat because you have a great journey still to make 3. Kings c. 19. Imagine that Jesus Christ accompanied with the blessed Virgin your good
dispositâ—ons which your holy soul had at the last moment of your life to which I unite my self with all my heart to supply those which I want I abandon my self entirely to you to suffer for your love the pains of death as long many as you please I renounce disavow all the impatience evill thar their force may cause me unwillingly to committ Have recourse to the blessed Virgin the Saints O holy Virgin mother of my God refuge of Sinners be now my Advocate grant I may feel the effects of your power with the blessed Trinity O Mary mother of grace mother of mercy receive me at the houâ— of my death defend me from my Enemies Shew that you are my mother obtain that he who for our salvation was willing to become your son be born of you may receive me by your intercession O all yee Saints blessed spirits interceed now for my soul in this extremity that I may obtain the victory over my enemies Great S. Joseph you all my holy patrons Protectours assist me Great S. Michael fight for me Charitable Angell my dear Guardian defend me from the ambushes of my Enemies and forsake me not in this last passage Eternal father look upon me in your dear son Jesus Christ who has shed his blood for my salvation Have pitty upon me according to the greatness of your mercies pardon my sins for the glory of your holy name Enter not into judgement with me o my God for in thy sight no one living can justify himself My divine Jesus put your cross your passion between your judgement and my soul My God my destiny is in your hands save me I beseech you O Lord in you have I trusted therefore I shall not be eternally confounded An act of adoration to the most holy Trinity O most holy most adorable Trinity I adore you with my whole heart I unite my self both for the present for eternity to all the adorations praises which the most holie humanity of my Saviour Jesus Christ his most holy mother together with all the Saints and Angels do or have renderd you or shall eternally render you in heaven I offer you all the sacrifices of this most holy humanity which are now offerd or shall be daily offerd to the day of judgement all the world over in satisfaction of all my sins in thanksgiving for all your divine benefits bestowed upon me If the Recommendation of the soul be said observe to say at the end this conclusion afterwards say the Responsory Subvenite Sancti c. Conclusion of this Exercise Act of abandonment resignation O my God I abandon my self without reserve to that divine judgement you shall pronounce upon my soul I submit my self to it with all my heart I adore reverence it as most just equitable now for Eternity A Spirituall Expiring Holding your cross in your hand Say these words Behold o my God my Creatour my Redeemer that I come unto you because you call me receive me in the bosome of your mercy And amorously kissing the wounds of your Crucifix pronounce the holy namas of Jesus Mary at each wound then repeating the last words of our Saviour My God into your hands I yeeld up my Spirit expire in the sacred wound of the side of Jesus chose it for your grave hide your self in his sacred heart After this Exercise we must look upon our selves as dead to the world to our selves accordingly we should often repeat those words of S. Paul I live yet not I but Iesus Christ that lives in me my life is hid with Iesus Christ in God. THE RECOMMENDATION of the soul which ought to begin with these little Letanies the following prayers are to be said in time of agony these may serve for those that are about the dying person LOrd have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Holy Mary prayer for him Holy Angells pray for him Holy Abel pray for him Quire of all the just pray for him S. Abraham pray for him S John Baptist pray for him Holy Patriarchs Prophets pray for him S. Peter pray for him S. Paul pray for him S. Andrew pray for him S. Johne pray for him Holy Apostles Evangelists pray for him Holy Disciples of our Lord pray for him Holy Innocents pray for him S. Stephen pray for him S. Laurence pray for him Holy Martyrs pray for him S. Silvester pray for him S. Gregory pray for him S. Austin pray for him Holy Bishops Confessors pray for him S. Bennet pray for him S. Francis pray for him Holy Monks Hermits pray for him S. Mary Magdalen pray for him S. Lucy pray for him Holy Virgins Widdows pray for him Saints of God of both sexes interceed for him Lord be mercifull unto him pardon all his sins Lord be mercifull to him deliver him O Lord deliver him from your wrath Deliver him from the danger of death Deliver him from an evill death Deliver him from the pains of hell Deliver him from all evill Deliver him from the power of the devil Deliver him by your holy Nativity Deliver him by your holy cross passion Deliver him by your holy death burial Deliver him by your glorious resurrection Deliver him by your admirable ascension Deliver him by the grace of the holy Ghost the Comforter Deliver him in the day of judgement Lord we beseech thee to hear us poor Sinners We beseech thee to hear us soe as to pardon him Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us THE PRAYER Proficiscere anima christiana CHristian soul leave this world in the name of the omnipotent Father who created thee in the name of his son Jesus Christ who redeemed thee in the name of the holy Ghost who diffused himself in thee in the name of the holy Angells Archangells Thrones Dominations Cherubins Seraphins in the name of the Patriarchs Prophets in the name of the Apostles evangelists of the holy Martyrs Confessors in the name of the holy Religious Anchorites of the holy Virgins of all the Saints of God that this day your habitation may be in peace your abode in the holy Sion by the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen THE PRAYER Deus clemens O God of goodness clemency who according to the infinite-greatness of your mercies blot out the sins of the penitent pardon their crimes sins past cast a propitious look upon your servant N hear his prayers for the remission of all his sins which he confesses with all his heart as much as he is able Renew in him o best of Fathers whatever may in time be either corrupted by the frailty of nature or depraved by the malice of the Devil unite to the body of your triumphant Church