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
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
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—
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
Angell the Saints your Patrons entring your chamber to give you with his own hands his sacred body has he did to his Apostles in his last supper that he says to you as he did to them Take eat this is my body which was delivered to death to give you life Having adored him with all your heart Salute him with the following words O my God since you have said that he who eats you shall live eternally shall not dye Grant me the grace that by the reception of your sacred body I may live onely in you by you for you that quitting this mortall life I may by the force vertue of this divine bread arrive to heaven where I may for ever see enjoy your divine majesty Alas from whence comes this happiness to me that my God should come to visit me Lord I am not worthy that you should enter into my soul speak onely but a word it shall be healed Having received him entertain your self amorously with him make all your senses appear before him all your faculties to make him as it were an oath of allegiance renew the vows promisses you have made conjure him never more to leave you say to him as the disciples going to Emmaus did Stay with me o Lord for it is late the evening of my life approacheth Or with Simeon Let now o Lord thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen the authour of my salvation Or with David Althô I walk in the middle of the shadow of death I will feare no evill because you are with me O my God put your self as a seal upon my heart to the end that all earthly things may find no more entrance thereinto Unite this Communion to that which this divine Saviour made before his death to all those which the most holy Virgin the Saints made during their lives also to all those which shall be made to the end of the world to supply the imperfections you have committed in receiving this divine Sacrament Return God thanks for the favour of receiving it for all those other graces which he has so liberally bestowed upon you invite all creatures to bless praise thank him for you Reciting the. 117. Psalm Laudate Dominum omnes gentes c. or the Canticle Benedicite omnia opera c. THE 2. PART Spirituall extreamunction I Imagine that Jesus Christ having assisted at your communion as has been said enters also into your chamber bringing the holy oyles composed of his precious blood to apply the holy unctions with his own sacred hand Make acts of contrition in receiving them to blot out all the sins committed by each sense IN THE APPLICATION to the Eyes O my Jesus my God I demand most humbly pardon for all the sins I have committed by so many irregular looks or casts of my eyes so many unprofitable tears to blot out these sins apply to me those your amorous looKs upon the cross upon your Crucifiers the tears you shed for my salvation TO THE EARS Pardon me also the sins I have committed in taking pleasure to hearken to so many ill discourses to make satisfaction for them apply to my foul the merit of that patience humility with which you heard so many blasphemies injuries calumnies uttered against you TO THE NOSTRILLS I beg pardon also o my God for having too much sought perfumes good smells for having taken too much pleasure in them having been too delicate nice in avoiding ill ones for the satisfaction of these faults apply to me the merit of those ill sents you suffered in the stable upon mount Calvary TO THE MOVTH O my Saviour Jesus Christ pardon me the infinite number of sins that I have committed in words all my irregularities in eating drinking blot them out by applying to my soul the merits of your divine prayers preachings your holy fasts TO THE HANDS Pardon me my divine Jesus all the many unprofitable evill actions that I have committed for having so delicately treated my body for this end apply to me the merit of those holy actions divine miracles wrought by your sacred hands which were nailed upon the hard wood of the Cross for my sake by my sins TO THE FEET O my God with my whole heart I beg pardon for all the steps that I have made unprofitably or for any ill end Apply to me for the satisfaction of these faults the merit of those sacred steps you made barefoot with so much toil for the salvation of mankind especially in carrying your cross After Extrem unction make the sollowing Acts with a penitent mind O my God to satisfie as much as I am able your divine Justice to make you a due satisfaction for my sins I accept death with my whole heart I rejoyce at the separation of my soul from my body in punishment of the sins I have committed by following rather my irregular inclinations then your holy will 2. And that my body in punishment of its pride ambition shall be buried under the earth trodden under foot 3. And for that inordinate love I have born it the too great care I have taken for its ease pleasure I rejoyce that that it returns to corruption becomes the food of worms 4. And for the affection I have had for riches for creatures the abuse I have made of them I am glad to be separated from deprived of them 5. And for the forgetfullness I have had of you my God during my life I accept the forgetfulness that all will have of me after my death 6. And for having made use of all my senses to offend you I accept offer in satisfaction the privation loss of them all 7. And in punishment of my having vainly searched to please creatures I am glad that by death I shall become an object of their hatred horrour contempt For the Approaehes of Death Hearken to your good Angell speaking to you as to the Virgins in the Gospell BEhold your Spouse is coming Go forth meet him And preparing your self for his coming with the burning lamp of charity in your hands say with David I rejoyce at the good news they tell me let us enter into the house of our Lord. O Lord God of strength how amiable are thy tabernacles my soul faints with desire of them My soul thirsts after God the source of life when shall I come appear before his presence As the thirsty Hart desires the fountain so my sovl desires thee ô my God. O how do I desire to be delivered out of this mortall body to be with Christ Vnion with CHRIST JESUS dying O my divine Jesus granr me your grace that my sorrows may be united to yours my agony my death sanctified by yours that I may partake of those sacred
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
him be illuminated with Eternall light â„£ Lord deliver his soul â„Ÿ From the gates of hell â„£ Let him repose in peace â„Ÿ Amen â„£ Lord hear my prayer â„Ÿ And let my cry come unto thee THE PRAYER O God we recommend to you the soul of your seruant that having passed this life he may live onely to you that the sins he has committed in this life out of humane frailty may be pardoned by the infinite bounty and mercy and by the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen A COMPENDIUM OF the aforesaid Exercise to prepare ones self well for death Which one may make every night before one goes to bed MY heart is prepared o my God my heart is prepared your will be done my God not mine I abandon my self entirely to receive death at what time in what manner you please to send it to me 2 I most humbly beg of you pardon for all the sins I have committed against your Soveraign goodness I repent me of them with all my heart 3. I believe firmly all that the Roman Catholick Church believes teaches and I will dye in this belief 4. I hope to possess eternall life by your mercy by the merits of my Sauiour Jesus Christ 5. O my God I desire to love you above all creatures to the contempt of all creatures as my Soveraingn good my neighbour as my self pardoning him from the bottom of my heart 6. O my divine Jesus what an extreme desire have I to receive yoâ—r sacred body to do it spiritually unite my self to all the communions that shall be made throughout the whole Church to the end of the world particularly at the hour of my death 7. Afford me the grace o my divine Saviour to blot out all the sins I have committed by my senses by applying to my self the unction of thy precious blood 8. Holy Virgin mother of my God defend me from my enemies present me to your son 9. Great S. Michael my holy Angell Guardian my holy Protectours pray assist me in this last passage 10. O my God I renounce all the temptations of the Enemy generally all that may displease you I adore receive your divine judgements upon my soul as most just equitable I abandon my self to them with entire submission 11. O Jesus my divine Jesus be to me Jesus O my God retiring with an humble confidence into thy sacred wounds I commit my soul into thy divine hands receive it into the bosome of thy mercy Amen AN EXERCISE OF DEATH FOR THE last day of the month IN THE MORNING OFfer al the actions sufferings of that day to our Saviour by the hands of S. Joseph which you shall take for your Protectour to obtain a happy death make some of these Acts noted in the beginning of this Exercise then make a resolution so to live that day as if it were to be the last of your life DVRING THE DAY 1. Beg every hour of S. Joseph a good death say to your soul if we were to dye this moment are we prepared to appear before God 2. Before you begin any action or in conversation often call to mind this thought Would I have done or said this at the hour of my death 3. Communicate really or spiritually in manner of Viatick making the acts affections marked in this Exercise or contenting your self to remain with a simple view of faith in silence abandonment in the arms of Jesus to expire in him by love and confidence 4 Go from Communion with a resolution to live no longer to your self to perform no action of your life purely after a naturall humane manner calliâ—g often to mind in the day time the advertissement of the Apostle you are dead your life is hiddem in God With Iesus Christ 5. Make your meditation upon death either as it is in your ordinary booK of meditations or as it is in this Exercise read the thoughts of death in the book called Pensées Chrêtiennes or Christian thoughts IN THE EVERNING 1. BEfore you go to bed make a short review in your Examen of all the sins of the last month take notice chiefly of those you commit out of custom think with sorrow of your abuse of Gods graces favours of the ill use you have made of the crosses which God has sent you Then putting your self in the presence of Jesus Christ your Soveraign Judge immaginaing your self to be before the tribunall of his justice beg pardon for your sins with all the resentment confusion you are able Alas what sorrow would you have for them if this night you were to dye to appeare before him Then impose upon your self some pennance for the following month faile not to rise at the appointed hour to give somthing to thle poor as often as you speak in choler out of humour 2. After Examen make the same Acts that dying persons are wont to make which are noted in this Exercise or content your self to make 1 An act of faith proptesting that you firmly belieue that you shall on day dye 2. An act of confidence hoping thot our Saviour at your death will have mercy upon you pardon all your sins 3. An act of love begging him rather to Send you death then permit you to offend him at least voluntarily 4. An act of abandonment putting your life your soul your salvation into the hands of God. In fine kiss the ground to render homage to the Soveraignty justice of God which has ordained that your body should one day be reduced to dust Look upon your bed as your grave as you are going into it say three times JESVS MARIA IOSEPH Adding O my God grant that I may repose and sleep in peace with you Amen Pious thoughts to recollect ones self in God. 1. For riseing 1. O My God I am intirly yours be you all in me be you all things to me and let all things else be nothing to me 2. Lord let me do and suffer all by you in you and for you let me forthwith dye to my self and let me live and allways remain in you 3. O the God of my hart and my Portion for eternity be you the beginning and end of all my actions let me plunge and loose my self intirely in you 2. FOR PRAYER In the state of Desolation 1. O Justice of my God content your self be you pleased without contenting me 2. You are all my God and I am nothing before you I am content that all joy and consolation be yours and that nothing and the privation of all comforts be myne O contentment joy and happyness of my God you are dearer to me then my owne satisfaction 3. My God! how good are you to suffer me to be in the miserable state I am in Permit that I sacrifice the satisfaction of my hart to that of yours
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
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