goodnes We must necessarily beg of God since our necessityes enforce vs thereunto his bounty inuiteth vs we must aske that he hath appointed vs in our Lords prayeâ— which is the abridgement of all Theology we must demaund it in the name of the Sonne with confidence to obtaine it we mâ—st begge it for the Church for the Pastours for our most gracious King for publike necessities for our selues for our neighbours we must aske for spirituall temporal blessinges so much as shall be lawfull according to occasions neuer forgetting the dead For which purpose it is good to haue a collection of prayers for all occurreÌ„ces as a litle Fort furnished with all manner of pieces of battery to force euen heauen it selfe with a religious fortitude and a pious violence At the least pray daily euery morning that thou mayst not offend God mortally not be wanting in grace light and courage to resist those sins to which thou art most inclined to practise the vertues most necessary for thee to be guided and gouerned this same day vnder the prouidence of God in all which concerneth the weale of soule body and thingeâ— exteriour To participate in all good workes done thorough Christendome to obtaine new graces and asistances for the necessities of our neighbours which may then offer themselues and that by the intercession of Saints where with your prayer must be sealed Say for your selfe and all those who concerne you what S. Thomas vsed SECT XIII A forme of Petition MY God giue both to me and to all those whom I recommend in my prayers an vnderstanding which may know thee an affectionate deuotioÌ„ which may search for thee a wisdome that may find thee a coÌ„uersation that may please thee a perseuerance that may boldly waite on thee a confidence which may happily imbrace thee My God so handle the matter that I may be wounded with thy sufferings in penitence that in this life I may vse thy blessings in grace enioy in the other thine eternall comforts in the bosome of glory So be it SECT XIIII Of the intercession of Saints of which we make vse in the petitions we offer to God AS for the intercession of Saints it is good to recommend your selfe very particularly to the Mother of God by this auncient forme O my most Holy Mistresse I put my selfe to day and so all the dayes of my life into your protection as it were into the bosome of your mercyes I recommend vnto you my soule my body all that belongeth to me all my hopes all my affaires all my difficultyes my miseries my consolations and aboue all the manner of my death to the end that by your merits prayers all my actions may be directed according to the most holy pleasure of your Sonne O most mild virgin succour the miserable asist the weake comfort the afflicted pray for the people be the aduocate of persons Ecclesiastike protectrix of the deuout sexe So vse the matter thatal those whocelebrate your memory may at this time tast your fauors but most especially obtaine for me of your Sonne a profound humility a most vnspotted chastity progression and perseuerance in goodnesse and affoard me some small participation in the dolours you suffered on the day of his passion adding thereunto also a sparke of that great deuotion you did vse in the holy Communion after the Ascension of the Word Incarnate For your Angell-Guardian saying O God Omnipotent Eternall who hast created me to thy Image deputed one of thy Angells to defend me though I be most vnworthy of this fauour Giue me grace I may now to day auoyd all perils of soule and body vnder his direction safeguard so vse the matter that in the end after the course of this life I may partake in HeaueÌ„ of his glory whome I haue on Earth for protectour And to al the Angels in making prayer by the imitation of the Church O God who with admirable order gouernest the ministery of Angels and men so do by thy mercy that those who are present and perpetually attend in Heauen before the throne of thy Maiesty may likwise on Earth be guides and protectours of our life And for all Saints PRotect thy poore people o Lord as they haue a singular confidence in the protectioÌ„ of thy great Apostles S. Peter S. Paul and in all the rest of thy Apostles and in all Saints of both sexes who now suruiue in Heauen preserue by thy gracious assistance and for euer defend them Then in memory of those whose fectiualls the Church at this present celebrateth whose names are couched in the Martyrologe LET all thy Saints O God who are honoured through all the parts of the world assist vs that we recording the memory of their merits may be sensible of the fauour of their protection Giue peace to our times by their intercession and for euer banish all malignity froÌ„ thy Church Prepare our way our actions our wills in a comfortable prosperity affoarding beatitude to our Benefactors for the salary of their charity and to the soules of the faithfull departed eternall rest I most humbly beseech thee through thy wel beloued Sonne I speake this briefly supposing that for your other more enlarged deuotions you will haue either a book of meditations as those of Father Bruno or a collection of prayers as those of Ribadeneira and the interiour occupation of the R. Father Cotton which is very deuout and most proper for persons of quality You shall find that these fiue acts well practized will giue you full scope of prayer and entertainment with God vpon all occasions SECT XV. Of the time proper for spirituall Lesson IF you will belieue me at the very same instant of the morning when your mind is most free froÌ„ earthly thoughts you shall do well to vse some spirituall reading one while of precepts another while of the liues of Saints remembring that which S. Isidore spake in his booke of sentences That he who will liue in the exercise of the presence of God ought often to pray and read For when you pray you speake to God when you read God speaketh to you Good sermons and good bookes are the sinewes of Vertue Do you not obserue that colours as philosophy teacheth vs haue a certayne light which during in the night becometh dull and as it were buryed in matter But so soone as the Sunne rayseth himselfe aboue the earth and displayeth his beames ouer so many beautyes languishing in darkenesse he awakens them and maketh them appeare in their true lustre So may we truly say we haue all certaine seeds of Wisdome which amidst the vapours enforced by passions remaine as it were wholy smothered vp if the Wisdome of God which speaketh in holy scripture and good spirituall bookes excited them not giuing them beauty and vigour to vnkindle the passage of our actions to vertue Perpetually call vpon the Father of Lights to direct
that according to his customary goodnesse he hold vs vnder his protection that he chase away froÌ„ our sleep euill dreames the phantasies of Night hindering the crafty surprizalls of our Aduersary who roameth vp down about vs as a roaring LyoÌ„ besetting the sheep-cote These deuotions are graue authentique and able throughly to instruct a Soule that will practise them SECT XXI Of Confession an Act of deuotion very necessary with counsell vpon it I Ranke amongst the deuotions of the weeke Confession and Communion for for such as will lead a life pure there is no excesse ar all if the weeke circuÌ„uolued they discharge themselues of this duty And although I haue spoken amply inough according to my scope of the practise of these exercises in Treatises which I haue compiled thereof and that it were as to carry a drop of water into a riuer to write of it after so great an abouÌ„dance of bookes yet am I bound by the necessity of my dessigne to tell you in few wordes that to make your Confession good it ought to haue the qualities of a Mirrour 1. Solidity 2. Liuely representation 3. Clearenesse 1. Solidity in going therunto with much consideration of your misery of your sinnes and imperfections 2. Much reuerence towardes the Maiesty of God who beareth sway in this Sacrament 3. With a reasonable examinatioÌ„ of your conscience 4. A distast of your offences more for the interest of God then for any other consideration 5. An accomplishment of the pennance enioyned a true amendment Liuely Representation 1. In auoyding confessioÌ„s made by rote which haue euer but one and the same sound or those which are ouer dry or are not sufficiently explicated or such as are too much filled with history cloyed with superfluity 2. In representing perspicuously the state of your soule and succinctly discouering the condition therof First in acts of deuotion which more particulerly concerne the diuine seruice accusing your selfe of intentions lesse pure of negligences irreuerences voluntary distractions coÌ„tempt of holy things coldnesse in fayth and voluntary distractions Secondly towards your selfe in the directioÌ„ both of your interiour and exteriour namely in sinnes of Vanity Pride Sensuality Intemperance Curiosity Impurity Idlenesse Pusillanimity Anger Enuy Iealousy Quarrells Auersion Impatience Murmur Lyes Detractions Iniuries Oathes False promises Babble Impertinent tattle Flattery Scoffes Mockery Thirdly towardes your Neighbonrs as wel Superiours and equalls as Inferiours vnfoulding the defects that may haue happened in the duties which Charity or Iustice obligeth you to render to euery one according to his degree Examine heere euery word and you therein shal find matter of accusation As for clearenesse of CoÌ„fession it consisteth in explication in termes simple honest significatiue Those who confesse often may be very short specifying only when all things are light seauen or eight articles or lesse also of note happened since their last confession S. Bernard in the booke of the inward House which is the Conscience hath framed a little forme of Confession causing the peniteÌ„t to say before his Confessor such like words Father I accuse my selfe to haue byn troubled with anger moued with enuy puffed vp with pride and besides I am fallen into an incoÌ„stancy of spirit scoffes of the mouth slaunders excesses of the tongue I accuse my selfe rather to haue iudged of my Superiors then obeyed them that being reprehended for my faults I haue murmured and shewed my selfe refractary in matters of duty I accuse my selfe to haue preterred my selfe before those who were better theÌ„ I vaunting and boasting with much vanity presumption al whatsoeuer is myne and despising others with taunts and irrisions I accuse my selfe to haue reglected the duty of my charge and sought ambitiously into that of another I haue had neither respect to obedience nor modesty in my wordes nor discipline in my manners but much selfe-opinion in my intentions obstinacy in my hatt vaine glory in my wordes I accuse my selfe to haue beene an Hypocrite stiffe in hatred and auersion froÌ„ my Neighbour byting bitter in wordes impatieÌ„t to be vnder subiection ambitious of honour couetous of wealth slothful in workes of deuotion and charity not sociable in coÌ„uersation many tymes vnciuill I accuse my selfe to haue beene ready to speake of the actions of another rash to censure contentious in argument disdainfull in hearing presumptuous in speaking to others dissolut in laughter excessiue in pleasures of rast of game and costly in apparell burthensome to my friendes troublesome to the peacefull vngratefull to those who did me any good haâ—sh imperious to such as were vnder my charge I haue boasted to haue done that which I haue not to haue seene what I haue not to haue said what I haue not and on the contrary to haue dissembled and denyed to haue seene what I haue seene spoken what I haue spoken and done what I haue done I accuse my selfe of carn all thoughts impure remembrances dishonest apprehensions whereunto I haue not vsed resistance speedy inough Those who liue more dissolutely shall find as sayth Harmatolus a Greeke Authour that they haue great accounts to make to the executioner of Concupiscence Behould the cause why they may well examine themselues coÌ„cerning Kisses Touchinges Softnes Pollutions Fornications Adulteries ill vse of mariage and other sinnes called Monsters adding also Impietyes Sorceryes Diuinations false Oaths Periuryes blasphemyes Calumnyes CoÌ„tentions Disobediences Iniustices OppressioÌ„s Falshoods Thefts Vsuries Sacriledges and such like It is not to be thought one can make a forme of Confession as it were a Buskin for all legges consciences are as faces euery one beareth with it its diuersity that which S. Bernard speaketh in generall may serue for a direction yet ought it to be particularized circumstanced shewing the intentioÌ„ quality quantity manner and continuance of a Vice SECT XXII Behold heer an excellent prayer of S. Augustin for this exercise of pennance drawne froÌ„ a Manuscript of Cardinall Seripandus MY God see heere the staynes and woundes of my sin which I neither can nor wil hide from the eyes of thy Maiesty I already beare the paine in remorse of my conscience and in other sufferings ordayned me by thy prouidence for my correctioÌ„ but I endure nothing that may equal my demerit One thing amazeth me that I so often feeling the payne of sinne still do retayne the malice and obstinacy therof my weaknesse boweth vnder the burtheÌ„ and my iniquity still abydeth immoueable My life groneth in languishments and is not amended in its workes If thou slacken the punishment I deferre my amendement if thou chastice me I can no longer continue I confesse my offence in thy correction and after thy visitation I no longer remember my sorrowes whilst thou hast the rodd in hand to scourge me I promise all if thou with-holdest it I performe nothing If thou touch me I cry out for mercy and if thou pardon I againe prouoke thee to
strike My God my Lord I confesse vnto thee my miseries and implore thy clemency without which there is no saluation for me My God giue me what I aske though I deserue it not since without any merit of myne thou hast extracted me from nothing to begge it of thee SECT XXIII Of Communion which is the principall of all the Acts of Deuotion with a briefe Aduise on the practise thereof As for receauing remeÌ„ber the six leaues of the lilly which it should haue I meane Desire and Purity before you present your selfe therein Humility Charity in presenting your selfe Thankesgiuing and Renouation of mind after presentation And if you desire to know the quasityes which will make you discerne a luke-warme Communion from a feruent I say that a good Communion ought to be lightsome tastfull nourishing effectuall Lightsome in illustrating you daily more and more with reflections and verityes of fayth which may transport you to the loue of thinges diuine and contempt of worldly frayle and temporall Tastfull in making you to rellish in will and sense what you know by the light of the vnderstanding But if you haue not this tast in deuotion tender and sensible be not amazed thereat For sensible deuotion will oftentymes happen to him who hath left Charity as is obserued by that great Doctour Richardus vpon the Canticles Affectuosa dilection interdum afficit minuÌ„s diligenteÌ„ It is inough that you haue in the vpper region of your soule good habits of vertue Nourishing in holding your selfe in a good spirituall way good thoughts of heauenly thinges good affections towards the seruice of God free from drynesse meagernesse voluntary sterility Effectuall in applying your selfe instantly to the exercise of solid vertues Humility Patience Charity and to the workes of mercy for therein behold the most vndoubted note of a good communion It is good to present your selfe in it with sincere intentions which are pondered and fitted to occurreÌ„ces communicating as S. Bonauenture obserueth in a little Treatise he composed of preparations for the Masse one while for the remission of sinnes another while for the remedy of infirmities sometyme for deliuerance from some affliction sometymes to gaine a benefit sometymes for thankes-giuing Sometyme also for the help of our neighbour and aboue all for the soules in Purgatory In the end to offer vp a perfect prayse to the most holy Trinity to record the sufferings of Iesus-Christ and dayly to increase in his loue For this purpose you may repeate before you communicate this prayer of the great Saint S. Thomas O most sweet Iesus my Lord and my Maister Oh that the force of thy loue more penetrating then fire much sweeter then hony would engulph my soule as in an abysse drawing it from affections inordinate towardes all things vnder heauen that I may dye in thy loue since thorough loue thou hast vouchafed to dye for me on a Crosse And after CommunioÌ„ to make these petitions of S. Augustine O My God that I might know thee and likewise not be ignorant of my selfe and that there where thou art might euer be the end of my desires My God that I might haue no hatred but for my selfe nor loue but for thee and thaâ— thou be the beginning progresse and end of all my actions My God that I might humble my selfe euen to Abysses and magnify thee aboue the Heauens hauing my spirit no otherwise employed but in thy prayses My God that I might dye in my selfe liue in thy hart that I cold accept all which commeth from thy prouidence as guifts from Heauen My God that I might pursue my selfe as an enemy and follow thee as a singular friend My God that I had no other assuraÌ„ce but the feare of thy holy name nor confidence but in the distrust of my selfe My God when will the day come that thou takest away the veile of the Temple and that I may see thee face to face to enioy thee eternally THE SECOND PART OF THE DIVRNALL Of acts of Vertue SECT I. Twelue fundamentall considerations of Vertues YOVV must vndoubtedly persuad your selfe that the chiefest deuotion consisteth in the practise of good manners without which there is neither solide Piety nor hope of Saluation Paradise is replenished with happy soules Hell with wretched But the world wherein we liue hath great diuersity of merchants some trafike in Babylon and others in Sion some through euill trade disorder in their carriage insensibly hasten to the vtmost misery which is a separation froÌ„ the life of God in an eternity of punishment Others go in a direct line to the prime and soueraigne happines which is the vision fruition and possession of God in an Eternity of inexplicable contentments If you desire to take this way I couÌ„sell you to set oftentymes before your eyes these twelue coÌ„sideratioÌ„s which I haue inserted in the holy Court. For in my opinion they are twelue great motiues to all actions of vertue The first is the nature and dignity of man to wit that the first and continuall study of maÌ„ ought to be maÌ„ himselfe to behold what he hath beene what he is what he shall be What he hath beene Nothing What he is aâ—reasonable creature what he shal be a guest of Paradise or of hel of an eternall felicity or of an euerlasting vnhappines What he is according to nature a maister-piece where many Prerogatiues meete togeather a body composed of a meruaylous Architecture a Soule endowed with Vnderstanding Reason Spirit Iudgment Wil Memory Imagination Opinions A soule which flyeth in an instant froÌ„ one Pole to the other descendeth euen to the Center of the world and mounteth vp to the top which is in an instant in a thousand seuerall places which imbraceth the whole world without touchingit which goeth which glittereth which shineth which diggeth into all the Treasures and Magazins of nature which findeth our all sorts of inuentions which inueÌ„teth Artes which gouerneth Common-wealthes which disposeth worldes In the meane tyme she beholdeth about her selfe her passions as an infinite number of dogs that barke at her happinesse and endeauour to bite her on euery side Loue fooleth her Ambition turmoyleth her Auarice rusteth her and Lust inflames her Vaine hopes sooth her Pleasures melt her Despaire ouerbears her Choller burnes her Hatred filleth her with gall Enuy gnaweth her lealousy priketh her Reuenge eÌ„rageth her Cruelty makes her sauage Feare frosteth her Sorrow consumeth her This poore Soule shut vp in the body as a bird of Paradice in a cage is altogeather amazed to see her self assayled by all this mutinous multitude though she haue a Scepter in her hand to rule she notwithstanding often suffereth her selfe to be deceaued rauished dregged along into a miserable seruitude Then see what man is through sin vanity weaknesse inconstancy misery malediction What he becommeth by Grace A child of light a terrestriall Angell the son of a celestiall Father by adoption