THE Daily exercises of a Christian life OR The interiour Spirit with which we ought to animate our actions all the day long.
I. RISING.
THE holiness of life and death depending on our passing ouer the day in an holy manner, & the passing of it well consisting chiefly in a good beginning of it▪ I dare affirm that the action which one ought to perform with the greatest fervour, is that of rising in the morning, wherefore taKe care to rise every day at [Page 18] a constant and regulated hour, and if you find any difficulty in it, think of Jesus-Christ hanging upon his crosse, to which the love of you fixed him, much faster then the nails; from whence he reproaches you with your delicacy and sloath▪ and you will be ashamed to give this ease to your body, seeing your saviours body torn, & his blood exhausted for the loue of you. You may also sometimes, if you please, think of that which a soul in Purgatory suffers for the sloath it had in rising, whilst it liued and entertaining your self with these good thoughts, get up with fervour, having first consecrated to god your heart and soul, & put him into possession of your self. You may rise ordinarilie in Summer at five of the clock, and at six in the winter. When you are up the first thing you are to perform, is prayer, which consists chiefly in four acts. By the first, you adore God as present, and give him thanKs for having had the goodness to preserve you that night from suddain death. By the second you offer to him all your thoughts, words, and deeds, and all your sufferings together with your self, in union with the thoughts, words, [Page 19] deeds, & sufferings of Jesus Christ, praying him to act in you, and to animate you to suffer, and to Keep you all that day intimately united to him by a faithfull imitation of his life in all that you do. By the third act you asK pardon of God for your past sins, making a firm resolution of avoiding all mortall & veniall sin & particularly to take tcare of that imperfection you find your self most subject to, and to practice that vertue which you have undertaken that month to practice: asking for this end, the assistance of that Saint whom you have for your patron & protectour. By the fourth act you must commit & resign your self first to the bounty & goodness of God, in order to all the graces which he shall please to bestow that day upon you, then to his Justice in order to all the pains & afflictions which he shall please to send you, welcoming them as from his hand, & accepting them with resignation, & lastly to his prouidence in order to all the good & bad success which he shall permit, in what you undertaKe or perform. After these Acts, say a Pater, Ave & Creed together with the Confiteor and if you please, the Litanies of Jesus, & three [Page 20] times Gloria Patri, &c. in honour of the blessed Trinity. In fine, pray to the blessed Virgin, your good Angell, & Patron, to assist and preserve you, & offer up the Masses that shall be said that day throughout the whole world, to obtain of God fidelity to concurr with his grace, as also an happy death.
II. DRESSING.
HAlf an hour past five or past six (according to the time of your rising) dress your self; (1.) with modesty, & without any satisfaction or complacence in your cloaths, remembering that God looks upon you, & that this body you take so much pains to dress & adorn, may perhaps the same day become the food of worms: consider also that Jesus Christ would die naKed upon the cross to satisfy for the vanity which we take in our cloaths, & to punish it in himself. (2.) It will be also good to devest your self of this vanity, & gratefully to acknowledge the goodness of your dying Jesus, in reducing [Page 21] himself to this poor condition for your sake, by depriving your self from time to time of some little ornament that pleases you most, thô it were but of a riband, which you may sacrifice unto him, or you may forbear to wear that day some better sute of cloaths or gown, for his sake; all which will be very pleasing to him. (3.) Aboue all, look not in your glass but for meer necessity, that so you may avoid such satisfactions & complacences as may happen in that action; consider that your soul is as disagreable in the sight of god, & as naKed of the ornaments of vertue, as your dressings & ornaments are agreable in your own. (4. [...] Employ no more time in dressing then is purely necessary, remembring that you must give an account to god for the time unnecessarily spent in it. After this, give order for such things as are to be done about your house.
III. PRAYER.
AT seven of the clock, or half an hour past it, (according to the time necessarily required for your dressing and ordering the affaires of your houshold) maKe your prayer for the space of half an hour, retiring your self in to a Closet, if you are not alone in your chamber, or if you cannot perform it with convenient recollection at home, you may go to the Church; but it would be much more to the purpose to maKe it before you quite dress your self, if you maKe it at home. In prayer, follow the advice of your directour, without consulting others, and aboue all, remember to observe three things, first, often to renew the presence of God, & sweetly and familiarly entertain your self with him concerning the truths you meditate of, to the end you may always remain with due respect, and more easily avoid distractions; Secondly receive with patience such aridities, disgusts, distractions, or wandrings of the imagination, as God permits [Page 23] to happen to you in prayer, looking on this as the best way to profit much in a short time in the pure loue of god, which is so remote from whatsoever is sensible: Moreouer in this condition you ought to do nothing else save onely (1) to humble and annihilate your self before the divine Majesty of God, looKing on your self as unworthy to speaK unto him. (2.) offer up your disabilities and weaKnesses to God; resigning your self to his will, & protesting that you seeK or desire nothing but purely to please him. (3.) raise your self by frequent elevations of your heart to God, & chiefly by acts of faith, hope, charity, humility and resignation, not troubling your self if you do not this with sweetness or facility & being throughly perswaded, that the more violence you use towards your self, the more pleasing you are to Almighty God. ( [...].) in fine, you ought in this condition, to continue on your Knees with fidelity, during the whole time of your prayer, (unless you are hindred by indisposition) detaining your self in a posture full of respect, and as a victime sacrificed as well to the power [Page 24] of a God, whom you honour by executing his will, in spite of the difficulty you find in it, as to his justice, which you glorifie by suffering, either the proof he makes of your fidelity, or the pain wherewith he punisheth your past unfaithfulness▪ The third thing to be observed in prayer is, to make particular purposes & resolutions, as for example, to overcome your inclinations & humours, to renounce your own will, to mortifie your senses, to humble, moderate, & recollect your [...] such & such occasions. In con [...]usion, you ought to offer your good purposes & resolutions to Jesus-Christ by the hands of his blessed mother. The last thing to be performed is that when you know that God acts in you by certain lights or good motions, which he bestows upon you, you must receive these graces with a spirit altogether annihilated, with an humble heart full of silence, without abandoning your self intirely to sensibility, & without endeavouring by sighs or other tendernesses, to conserve or augment the favours which you feel, above all keep your self barely attentive during the [Page 25] whole time to God who acts in you, rather then to what he does. You must take care not to rest in a speculative & languishing faith of his verities accompanied with a barren & emptie satisfaction, but ought to animate both with a lively & practicall faith, & efficacious resolution to act accordingly.
IV. MASSE.
AT eight of the clock hear masse, according to the practice which has been taught you, or according to the spiritual exercise which you have for this purpose in some of your manuals, or else you may satisfie your self with observing the following directions. First go quietly to the Church, begging of the blessed Virgin to obtain for you such sentiments & feelings of compassion & loue as she had for her son when she accompanied him to Mount Calvary, & say to your self come let us go my [Page 26] Soul, let us go to see thy Saviour crucified. Secondly, entring into the Church, take holy water, conceiving an hearty sorrow for your sins; & keeping your eyes in an humble submissive posture, before your God & your Judge adore him with a lively faith, & give him your heart. So long as you shall be in the Church, & chiefly all the time of holy masse continue in a respectfull posture without looking about, and do not sit down, unless by reason of some indisposition or weakness, or that you should stay there very long. Thirdly, offer the mass you go to hear unto Almighty God, in union with the intentions which Iesus Christ himself had, when he offered the same sacrifice for us upon Mount Calvary, & which he now will have when he offers it againe to his eternall father upon the Altar. Protest that you desire to joyn with him in his designs and to have the same interiour dispositions, as also to make your whole self a victime together with him to be sacrificed to the glory of God [Page 27] alone, But in particular offer the mass for these four ends, first, to honour the greatness of God, secondly, to thank him for all the graces and favours that he hath ever bestowed upon you; thirdly, to help and comfort the poor souls in purgatory▪ & more especially those who are forgotten & abandoned by others, or are detained there through your fault; fourthly to beg of God for the sake of Iesus Christ some particular grace and favour, as the victory over your own humour, the love of your enemies, a greater recollection, & such other vertues, as you find your self to stand most in need of, you may offer the same in the fifth place for that sinner who shall be in danger that day of dying in mortall sin without confession. Fourthly, after these intentions (which you ought, if you have opportunity, to make before mass) if you have not time to say your vocall prayers after mass, you may recite them from the beginning of mass till, Sanctus, but if you have other time for them, attend during [Page 28] the whole mass with all interiour application imaginable to this great sacrifice, either as your spirituall directour has advised, or according to the rules of your manuall, or else after this manner, first, in the beginning, ask together with the priest the pardon of your sins, saying the Confiteor, & then till the Gospel exercise your soul in the consideration of the goodness of God, who seeing in what an impossibility we were of saving our selves, descended from heaven, made himself man, was born in a stable, abasing & annihilating himself before his father to appease his wrath, which wee had justly provoked; then give thanks to our Saviour for this excess of bounty & goodness towards you, & protest that this day you will endeauour to humble your self in gratitude for & in honour of the humiliations & annihilations of his incarnation.
Secondly at the Gospel make an act of faith & belief of all the verities which the priest there reads, protesting that you are ready to die for the faith [Page 29] Beg of our Saviour to augment & increase it in you, & to render it lively & active; desire him to enlighten & convert all Infidels & Hereticks; & offer your self to his justice to suffer that day something for their conversion. Thirdly at the offertory, offer up to God as a sacrifice by the hands of Iesus Christ your body, soul, life, reputation, kinred, family, estate, & all that you have, and protest that you will make no other use of them then for the service & glory of God, and salvation of your own soul, & that you will retrench whatsoever s'hall be ill in them, and even deprive your self often of what is not absolutely usefull, sanctifying your whole exteriour by the spirit and conduct of his grace. Fourthly, from, Sanctus, to the Elevation, think upon the death of our Saviour, going over the chief mysteries of his passion from the garden of Olives to his crucifixion, but make this reflection without staying long upon each particular, satisfying your self with beholding Iesus suffering in these mysteries with a tender compassion, an [Page 30] acknowledgement for, & a love of his goodness, together with sorrow for your sins & wickedness. Fifthly, at the Elevation, offer unto the eternall father Iesus Christ his onely son, adore him as lifted up on the cross for your sins, beg of him to obtain mercy for you & for all sinners, present to his father all the drops of blood he shed, all the moments of sadness his heart suffered, the wounds wherewith his whole body was covered, & the injuries he endured for you, & beg of him for the sake hereof, that he would have mercy on you.
Sixthly, till, Domine non sum dignus, imploy your thoughts upon Christ sacrificed for your sake upon the Altar, consider that he is come thither for your sake, that he thinks of you, that he prays for 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, [Page 31] 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 [Page 32] 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, 'tis 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 [Page 33] [...]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 [Page 34] day: one may add hereunto the reading of a chapter out of Thomas [...] 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 pas [...] 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 [Page 35] of necessity this satisfaction to their [...]odies, which they lookt upon as their [...]reatest enemies. Sixthly I would [...]ounsell you not to eat between meals [...]ithout great necessity, but you may [...]reakfast, because perhaps you may [...]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. [Page 36] Secondly before you enter into conversation, recommend your heart & tongue to your good Angell, that yo [...] 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-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 [Page 37] 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 persons of devotion like your self. Nin [...]ly, banish from your conversation [Page 38] all unprofitable curiosity con [...] ning the life & conduct of others, vanity, sowrness and immoderate afection, carry your self cheerfully [...] ciuilly, but so as to avoid distractio [...] or dissipation of mind.
VIII. READING.
AFter dinner & the recreation following it, you must read in som [...] spirituall booK for half, or a quarter of an hour, as shall be appointed you, and that you may do this with fruit, first, in the beginning humbly crave grace of our Saviour to profit by it, saying either, veni sancte Spiritus, or a Pater & Ave. Secondly read not out of curiosity & in haste, but leisurely and with attention, & when you meet with any thing either moving or instructiue, rest there a little while, endeavouring, as it were to relish it, consider how you may be able that day to practice it, & beg of the holy ghost to imprint it in your heart. Thirdly be not in pain to read [Page 39] [...]any pages in your book, read a [...]ttle, but with great recollection & [...]ttention, always apply what y [...]u [...]ead in order to practice, & consider [...]ow & then that those very truths, which you read will condemn you one day before gods tribunal if you do not follow them. Fourthly let not this spirituall reading be ordinarily but in solid and moving books, & such as your directour shall approve. Fifthly be not troubled if you remember nothing of what you have read, but commit all that you have read to him who is able to touch & move your heart independently of those truths which you read. Sixthly after your reading thanK God for having thereby instructed you, & make a firm resolution by the assistance of his grace to practice the Instructions he has given you.
IX. SILENCE.
AFter your reading you must r [...] turn to your work if you hav [...] not some business which obliges yo [...] to go abroad, & take care at two [...] the clock to keep an half, or a quarter of an hour of silence according a [...] your directour shall thinK fit. Durin [...] the time of your silence, first, ofte [...] call to mind the silence which Jesus Mary & Joseph often observed durin [...] their work, uniting your silence wit [...] theirs, sometimes think of the sacred silence observed in heaven by the Saints, who are wholly absorp't i [...] God, & do you sigh and long after that happy repose; sometimes also entertain your self in your heart with your good Angell, thanKing him for the care he taKes of your salvation, promising him due respect & fidelity in performing whatsoever he shall inspire you to do, & begging of him to present your prayers, & the desires [Page 41] of your heart to our Saviour: you may at another time imploy your thoughts on the necessity of spending our time well & on the account which we must render to God, for every moment of our life: or if you please in case you be alone, recite some vocall prayers which you can say by heart, but taKe care that no one perceives this Keeping of silence in you, unless it be such as observe the like, & therefore make no difficulty in answering any question which is made you, satisfying your self that you do not speak of your own accord. Thirdly offer this silence to God in satisfaction for the faults you have that day committed in speaking. Fourthly, I would counsell you to impose on your self from time to time some little space of silence, for example, during a Misere, when you have spoken any words of humour or sensuall inclination or against charity, imposing it on your self when you have most desire to speak.
X. The visit of the blessed Sacrament & of the prayer in the evening called, the Salve.
TOwards four or five of the clock in the evening go to the Church, either to make a second half hour of prayer, if your directour judges it convenient, or to be present at the Benediction or Salve. Take care to perform this visit of the blessed Sacrament with spirit and fervour, & not meerly out of custome, & without fruit. First on sundays present your self to our blessed Saviour, to honour the glorious state of his body risen from the dead, which is upon the Altar, testifying the joy you have of its glory, rendring thanks to the blessed Trinity for this marvellous beauty which it has communicated to the sacred body of our blessed Saviour, & begging of him with confidence to bestow on your body a participation [Page 43] of these glorious qualities at the resurrection, making a strong resolution to receive with love all corporall pains, which will purchase such a resplendent glory to our bodys, as the pains & torments which our saviour suffered brought to his, doing in fine the same by an act of faith towards Jesus Christ, which the Saints perform towards him in the clear sight of his glory. Secondly, on Mondays honour in this visit the state of a victim or sacrifice, which our saviour has in the blessed Sacrament, offering up your whole self to his love, sacrificing to him the curiosity of your eyes, the bitterness and impatience of your speech, the eagerness of your desires, the distractions of your mind & the evill affections & inclinations of your heart; & since Jesus Christ, always bears about him this state of death and quality of a victim or sacrifice on our Altars, offering himself continually on them to his eternall father for us, so to honour him in this state, you must all the day long carry the spirit of a sacrifice about [Page 44] you, which will cause you in all occasions to die to your own humours & inclinations, & to sacrifice to God your naturall repugnances. And tis on this day you must possess your self of such sentiments as these, that all the week following you may practice the same, considering Jesus Christ in this visit as a victime both of justice & loue, & begging of him to render you conformable to himself herein. Thirdly on Tuesdays, honour the exact & constant obedience which Iesus practises in the blessed Sacrament, submitting himself to the voice or call of a man, & abandoning himself to his disposall how bad soever he be, and make a firm resolution of doing all things with the spirit of obedience, submitting your self to all, & obeying those in particular who are in the place of Superiours. Fourthly on wednesdays imploy your self in the consideration of the wonderful patience of Iesus in the blessed Sacrament, which causeth him to suffer all the outrages of hereticks and ill christians with perfect [Page 45] constancy, not being weary of staying lay and night upon our Altars, that he may gain the hearts even of his enemies. Endeavour to honour this patience by a compassion of his sufferings, & by asking pardon for such as are wanting in their respect unto him, and by devoting your self to his justice with a resolution to suffer all things without murmuring for the satisfaction thereof, & even to oblige those who offend you. Fifthly on Thursdays, honour the humility of Iesus in the blessed Sacrament, which makes 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 [Page 46] himself intirely to you without an reserve, to the end that you may b [...] wholly transformed into him, Endeavour to express such a disinteresse loue towards him; but be sure to manifest the same rather by deeds the [...] words. Seventhly on Saturdays, honour that liberality which he expresse [...] 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 [...]nfidelitys which you have been guilty of that morning in the practice of the vertue of the month, in overcoming [...]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 [Page 48] 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 [...] 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 [Page 49] 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 [...] 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, [Page 50] 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 [Page 51] 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 [Page 52] 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, its 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; [Page 53] & 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 [Page 51] 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 [Page 55] 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 [Page 59] 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 [Page 60] 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 [Page 61] 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, 'tis impossible ever to arrive to an eminent perfection, nay one will soon fall into [...]epidity, & into a great danger of being lost.
XV.
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 [Page 62] 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, 'tis no [...] 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, [Page 63] 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.
[Page 65]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 [Page 66] both of body & mind, by persecutions from men, & derelictions fro [...] 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 o [...] whatever is any way rude or deformed therein.
2. But that we may obtain of Go [...] this spirituall birth of Jesus Chris [...] in our souls, let us address ou [...] selves to the blessed Trinity; let u [...] daily ask of the Eternall Father to give us his son; that is to say, tha [...] 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 acKnowledge [...]ment of so pretious a gift (since 'ti [...] no less then God himself) ought to receive the same with much respect & gratitude in the communion, where of, 'tis 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 [Page 67] 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 b [...] [Page 68] 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 mos [...] 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; [Page 69] 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.
[Page 71]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, [Page 72] 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 [Page 73] 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 [Page 74] 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 [Page 75] 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? [Page 76] 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; That he may become the soul of your soul, that he may [Page 77] 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, [Page 78] 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, [Page 79] 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, tha [...] is to say:
1. To perform our exercises of devotion [Page 80] 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 o [...]es study to keep ones self i [...] time of prayer, peaceable, humble, submissive, & respectfull before God, [...]ithout disquieting or [Page 81] 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 ones other actions to expect [Page 82] therefrom, all the fruit of gods grace
10 To make ones conf [...]ssions with more sorrow for what is past, mor [...] confusion for the present, more resolution for the future, & more circumspection ouer ones self, the day one has confessed.
11. To make ones communion [...] 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 comprehe [...]ds satisfactory works. For the first one, ought all the lent long [Page 83] 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.
[Page 84]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 w [...] ought to do penance at this time fo [...] our whole years sins.
III. Lent is a time of solitude.
TIs at this time the better to honour the solitude of Jesus Christ that we ought to form to our selve [...] an interiour & exteriour solitude The first consists in removing from our memorys all ill, human, & unprofit [...]ble thoughts, & to let it b [...] taken up with nothing but God present; or his holy will; to blot out o [...] ones understanding, all esteem of vanitys, honours, & reputation before men, & to admit thereinto no othe esteem but that which may render u [...] great before God; and by a simpl [...] [Page 85] 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 sati [...]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 'tis convenient the better to conform ones self to the intention of the holy Church to imploy ones thoughts oft [...]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 sufferi [...]gs of a God; of sorrow for your sins, the cause of them: of loue, [Page 87] 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 com [...]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 [Page 88] by men, or to be eased in your pain, but drink as Jesus Christ did, the chalice quite pure, in all its bitterness [...] & 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 imaginab [...]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 s [...]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 [Page 89] 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 [Page 90] 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 end [...] [Page 91] 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 du [...]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 [Page 92] 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 a [...]mes, or some mortification, that you may do, to obtain for the preacher the grace of touching some obdurate sinner.
III. To do good works with the spirit of Christianity.
IT would be convenient you should take one day in the week, to vis [...] the prisoners, or the poor in th [...] Hospitall: but take care aboue a [...] things, not do to these holy action either out of custome, & without a [...] interiour spirit, or out of custome, & without an interiour spirit, or out o [...] a pure naturall compassion, & therefore before you beging these visits,
1. Pass by some Church, & the [...] [Page 93] demand the benediction of our Saviour, & beg of him that he would animate you with the spirit with which he used himself to visit & comfort afflicted persons; & at the same time offer to him the action you are going to perform, & go to the place you design to visit, with modesty & recollection.
2. As soon as you are arrived there, look upon the poor & sick, as the images of Iesus Christ; salute their good Angells, & beg of them, to inspire you with good thoughts, so long as you shall be speaking with them.
3. And since they are not onely often ignorant of what belongs to the duty of a Christian, but always in affliction, entertain them always with some word of instruction, particularly, concerning confession & communion, and likewise of consolation & compassion, letting them know that you take part in their sufferings, & giving them ho [...]es they shall one day receive a recompence for them in heaven.
[Page 94]4. Accompany your almes with an actuall desire to please God, & to assist Jesus Christ in his members.
5. Shun all vanity & all reboundings of self-satisfaction that may spring from this action, which you are to keep at secret as you can.
6. Overcome generously all she repugnance that you may have in approaching the poor sick persons, & the better to overcome your self, affect rather to approach the party, for whom you find your self to have the greatest naturall horror, provided his disease be not catching. Salute the blessed Sacrament, returning from your visit, & beg like a poor body, of Iesus Christ, a spirituall almes for your soul, by the the particular tenderness he has for poor, & those that assist them.
8. In sin, eremember that the Almes done in this manner, is an excellent means to please God, & to blot out your sins, & to purify your heart from all engagements, to obtain for your selves suck particular favours as [Page 95] God imparts to his freinds, & to gain the heart of Iesus Christ, to [...]ppease the wrath of your Iudge, to obtain the vertues you want, & to correct your imperfections.
Wherefore make a resolution never to deny any poor body, since he procures far more for you towards the salvation of your soul, then you give him for the relief of his body.
A practise for the Octave of the blessed Sacrament.
ONe must honour the state & condition of Iesus Christ in the blessed Sacrament. 1. In the morning, by offering him your actions, thereby to return him thanks for this great benefit. 2. by making every hour some aspiration to Iesus Christ who is in the blessed Sacrament on the Altar, with an ardent desire to unite himself to you 3. by reciting every day the Office of the blessed Sacrament, & performing our communions during this time with an extraordinary [Page 96] preparation of faith, confidence, humility, & loue, in mortifying your tongue & heart in th [...] sallys of your humour, because bot [...] the one & the other have the honou [...] to receive Iesus Christ.
It is good every day to spend som [...] time extraordinary before the blessed Sacrament.
So that the first day you may visi [...] and honour him as a victim that sacrifices himself for you, & you may remain in his presence, in the spiri [...] of a sacrifice, begging of him to make you a victim of his loue, & that he would destroy in you what soever is displeasing to him.
The second day you may honour his annihilations in the Eucharist, & look upon him as a God humbled so low as to put himself under the form of a little bread, for loue of you, & you may remain quite annihilated in his presence, begging him to destroy in you all your pride, & that he would make you love a hidden life
The third day you may honour [Page 97] his loue, Which makes him give himself Wholly to you, that he may intirely transform you into himself, & you may consecrate to him all the inclinations & desires of your heart.
The fourth day, you may honour him as your father, that feeds your with his own proper substance, & remain before him, in the spirit of confidence in his goodness.
The fifth day, you may honour his life of consummation, which obliges him, his own self, to loose his sacramentall life & being, & to be destroyed to consummate our perfection in our souls, & beg of him to destroy in you all that is not God. The 6 7. & 8. th days, you may honour the vertues which he practises upon the Altar, & beg the imitation of them, as, of his exact obedience, his humility his patience his prayers, or continuall application to his father, his charity for the salvation of souls, his loue, his solitude, his mortificaiion: & endeavour each day, to imitate some one of these vertues.
RULES OF FIDELITY, to arrive to an eminent perfection,
I. Fidelity in the generall examen, consists,
1. IN avoiding the least sin or imperfection, & all things that either displease, or at least, do not please God.
2. In performing the least spiritual and indifferent actions, with an interiour spirit, not influenced by humour, custom, or vanity.
3. In suffering all that gives pain to mind or body with resignation, fidelity, and love: this is the matter or subject of the general examen.
II. Fidelity in the particular examen, consists,
1. IN observing the very least rules prescribed by obedience.
2. In doing every thing in the moment prescribed by obedience.
3. In overcoming the repugnance of our humour, in all occasions, even in the least things.
III. Fidelity in the continual examen, or vigilance over ones self, Which neither allows nor pardons in ones self, any naturall satisfaction Whatever, consists,
1. IN watching over our senses, to cut off thence, all ill, unprofitable, human, or even but meerly naturall satisfactions.
[Page 100]2. In watching over our minds, to annihilate all considerations or reflections, that are human, whether they proceed from vanity, curiosity, or impertinence.
3. In watching over our hearts, to stifle all human motions, that is to say, all over ardent, or over eager desires of any thing whatsoever, all immoderate joy, or tenderness; all fondness, all relish or satisfaction which one may take in any thing one does; all sensible pleasure that may cause a heart to live to its self. Tis in the fidelity of these three sorts of examens, that consists a perfect self-deniall, true devotion, solid vertue, & all sanctity.
FROM THE ASCENSION to whitsontide.
I.
ONe must enter into an exteriour retreat, with the holy Virgin, & [Page 101] the Apostles, casting off all unnecessary business, visits or unprofitable discourses, & 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 [Page 102] 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.
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 [Page 105] 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 [Page 106] you my life, grant that I may die wholly to my self, & live wholly to you.
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 [Page 108] 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 o [...]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 Ʋnderstanding.
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 [Page 110] or perfect in creatures, but onely i [...] God, as in the source of all bounty & goodness: It is full of the Idea of th [...] greatness of God, It penetrates chr [...] stian verities with a supernaturall view It discovers in abjection, & in th [...] cross, beauties unknown to sensual soules, & depises all earthly goods
2. O my God dissipate the darkne [...] of my mind, by the light of your holy spirit; grant I may judge no more o [...] 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, [Page 111] 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, [Page 112] a persecution, an affront, a refusall a drieness, a sensible dereliction of Go [...] in prayer, more then in possessing the whole earth; wherefore the so [...] thus enlightened with the gift o [...] knowledge, when any pain happen to it, goes immediately & casts i [...] self on its knees before a Crucifix, t [...] receive its cross as from the hand o [...] God, with respect, submission, & loue
2. O my Jesus! O that the beam [...] 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 i [...] my Crucifix which is your image, & despised in my pains, which are you [...] true effects, &, as it were, your s [...] 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, [Page 114] 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 [...]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 [Page 115] 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 [Page 116] 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, tha [...] 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.
[Page 117]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 'tis displeasing to God, & 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 [Page 118] 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 imploye [...]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 [Page 121] 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? 'tis thy duty to practise it, tis 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, tis 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 med [...]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 th [...] d [...]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 [Page 125] 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: tis 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 [Page 126] satisfied: & I am sure you are 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 [Page 128] 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 [Page 129] 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, [Page 130] receive it with humility, without reflecting upon it, or giving you [...] self up too much to it, & unite you [...] self always to the Authour of thos [...] 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 min [...] expecting that God would touch o [...] move them, or of those who alway [...] speak to God: this idleness is not tha [...] 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 [...]cts, with such fervour & affection as one ought.
Thirdly, because one makes reso [...]utions after a slack & generall manner.
Fourthly, because one stays not [...]ong enough upon every affection, & [...]hat one makes them after a slight manner.
Fifthly, because one gives too much way to the disgust & pain one finds [...]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, [...]s to make a good prayer.
[Page 132]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 [Page 134] it in to thy possession, & b [...] nish from it all sin, all ties to cre [...] tures, & all inordinate love to m [...] self, that I may serve thee so faithfully, that I may merit to possess the [...] 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 ordinary failings the sallies of your humours, your detractions, & your laziness in gods service; then [Page 135] consider with sorrow, the abuses you have made of his graces, & the ill use of those crosses he has that day sent you; reflect upon the confusion & regret you will one day have, for your faults, when you shall appear before God; & consider, that perhaps, there is not more then an hour between you & eternity: As near as you can, say your prayers in publick every night, where take care, that all your family be present.
2 After your morning prayer make a quarter, or half an hour of mentall prayer, according to your Directours advice; take care to make it with fervency upon some certain subject which you may have read, in Granade, Pointe, or Mico's Meditations: or if You understand French, in the Meditations of Abely, Busée, Hayneufe, Noüet, or Crasset which are very moving & instructive: in so doing, you ought to maKe all your good resolutions to avoid the sin you are naturally most inclined to, & to practise the vertue you meditate of: But make these resolutions in particular, [Page 136] not in generall, & take care to foresee the occasions of practising them. In the beginning, look upon what is most moving in the matter you meditate on; & then apply it to your self & see whether you practise it: be confounded & sorry, that you do not do so, & resolve that day, to put it in execution; & as you ought a [...]ways to diffide in your self, beg of our Saviour by the intercession of the blessed Virgin, that you may put your good endeavours in practise.
3. Having dressed your self, & taken care about your houshold-affairs, go strait to mass, without deferring gods service to the last minute of the morning. Above all things, take care of speaking in the Church, but keep your self there with that respect is due to your God, & to your judge: say your vocall prayers, after you have offered to God, the holy sacrifice of the mass, in honour of his supreme majesty, in thanks for all the favours you have received of him, for pardon of your sins, & for the repose of such souls in Purgatory, as are your [Page 137] relations or friends: but now & then, interrupting a moment of your devotions, offer them to God by the hands of Jesus Christ himself immolated upon the Altar for your sake, & unite your intentions with his, whereby he offers himself as a victime for your salvation: from Sanctus to the Elevation, think of the mysteries of the passion of Jesus Christ, with sorrow for your sins which occasioned it, & with a purpose to suffer something that day, for a God who has suffered so much for you: At the Elevation, adore him, & offer him to his Eternall father, sacrifice your self to his justice, & at the Pater noster, continue your vocall prayers to the end of mass.
4. Being returned home, apply your self to your domestick affairs, from time to time, offering to God your actions, & if you have any leisure, in the morning, or after dinner, bettween one & two of the clock, read in some spirituall book, for a quarter of an hour, with attention & desire of profiting, in the Evening, whilst you receive [Page 138] or give visits, take care not to take part with those that speak ill of their neighbours, nor to speak ill of them your self; & now and then reflect, that God hears all you say, and that one day, you must render him account. If any person happens to speak to you something coldly or rudely, curb the sallies of your resentment, & endeavour to take no notice of it; & without troubling your self about what the world will say of it, think onely of that which God, who hears all that passes, will say to you at the day of judgement. If you hear any loose or impious discourse, endeavour presently to shew, by putting on such an indifferent, cold, or serious countenance thereupon, that the discourse does not please you, remembring, that should you testifiy any satisfaction you take in it, you would thereby make your self guilty before God, of whatever is displeasing to him in such ill discourses.
5. Take care never to be idle when you are at home, but always have something to imploy your self in, [Page 139] knowing that you are to give account to God, for all the time you lose: when you reprehend your servants, remember to do it, (1.) with reason, for some considerable fault; (2) in few words, & without repeating the same things over & over again, to please your humour: 3. when you find your self moved with passion, leave off saying any thing: (4.) do not often find fault, nor chide upon all occasions, for little or nothing: (5. [...] turn them not away at the years end, upon pretense of their ill humou [...], or other light faults, except you should find them unfaithfull, or of ill life, or keep ill company; for then, you are obliged to part with them; & perswade your self, tis enough to endanger your own soul, to turn away your servants every year, except for these 2. weighty reasons, or to lessen their wages for such faults or omissions, which they unadvisedly commit, making them pay the overplus of what they bought too dear, or for, things laid aside or lost, by chance, & without their fault: once more believe, that 'tis an injury to [Page 140] your own conscience, & will endanger your salvation, thus to defraud your servants of any part of their wages.
6 Have all the respect, submission, & complaisance for your husband, your father, or mother, which you ow them never contradict them with obstinacy: never give them any rude; sl [...]ghting, or disgustfull language: believe that the great secret how to live with them in peace, & esteem, is to comply with them, when you find them in choler, or angry, & to seem to be of their minds, & to follow their wills & inclinations, & ever accommodate your self to their humour, when they desire nothing contrary to the will of God. Say every day, S. Josephs Letanies, to obtain this peace so necessary for a well ordered family, offer to God, the trouble & discontents, the cross humours of a husband, a father, or mother, may occasion; & offer the patience with which you suffer it, for their conversion. Make it your chief vertue and greatest care, to stay at home, to look after your servants, & to breed up [Page 141] your children; because this is the chief thing God will examine you about, at the day of judgement. Permit not in your family, any blasphemous or debauched persons, for fear of drawing the curse of God upon it. Remember to give the example of patience, mildness, charity & devotion, to your family, as you ought to do.
7. In the Evening, about four or five of the clock, go to Church, to beg at least, or to receive the benediction of the blessed Sacrament when it is given; or if you be in the Country, to your Chappell, & say your beads there with devotion, together with the Evensong of our blessed Lady; & 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, [Page 142] 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 tis your duty to pay them.
10. For your devotions, perform [Page 143] 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 [...]ave not worth any [Page 144] 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, [Page 145] 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 [Page 146] sins, & perswade your self, that tis 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. [...] 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 [Page 147] 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 [Page 148] 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, [Page 149] 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 'tis 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. [...] 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.) Abou [...] all, remember, after you have received your God, to recollect your self for some time, eith [...]r casting your self at his feet, with S. Magdelen, to hear his instructions, or adoring him with the Leper [Page 150] 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; [Page 151] 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 [Page 152] 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 [Page 153] 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 [Page 155] 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 [Page 156] 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 [...]es [...]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 [Page 158] 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 [Page 159] 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 [Page 160] 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 [...]ractice of it we may find our selves so prepared for death, that after this life, we ma [...] live with you eternally in heaven, there to bless, praise & love you, with the Father & holy Ghost. Amen.
ADVICE FOR THE PRACTICE of this Exercise.
SInce tis 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; 'tis 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, [Page 163] 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.
[Page 164]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, 'tis 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 [Page 165] 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 deat [...] that hshall be the beginning of a most happy & blessed l [...]fe.
If we make this exerc [...]se with care, during our lives, tis 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 [Page 166] 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 i [...] 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.
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 [Page 168] 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, i [...] 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, [...]is no [...] therefore to love our lives [...] to have to [...] great a fondness for them si [...]ce this fondness for a em [...]orall life proceeding from an irregu [...]ar love of our selves [...] 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, [Page 169] & 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 [Page 170] 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. John [...] 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 [Page 171] 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 [Page 172] 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 [Page 173] 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 [Page 174] 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, [Page 175] 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.
[Page 177]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 [Page 178] 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, 'tis 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, 'tis 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 [Page 182] 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.
[Page 183]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 [Page 184] 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 [Page 185] 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 [Page 186] 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 [Page 188] 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 [Page 189] 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 [Page 192] 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 [Page 194] 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, [Page 195] 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 disposit [...]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 [Page 196] 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 hou [...] 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.
[Page 197]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, & [Page 200] 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.
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, this living member of Jesus Christ: Have pitty, o Lord, of his tears, & receive him to the grace of your reconciliation, who has no confidence but in your sole mercy, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Commendo te.
MY dearest Brother, I recommend thee to the omnipotency of God, & I remitt you into the arms of him who is your Creatour, that after you have paid the debt due to humane nature, & by death are separated from your body, you may return to your Authour, which formed you out of the slime of the earth; Let the resplendant Quire of Angells come to receive your soul at its going out of your body; Let the august company of the Apostles be therewith present; Let the most goodly & triumphant army of Martyrs, be at the same rendevous; Let the holy troop of Confessors encompas it; the chast assembly of Virgins receive it; & the holy Patriarchs closely embrace it; to make it enjoy in their bosomes, the repose of the blessed: Let the most sweet Jesus shew himself unto you, & place you amongst those that continually praise him, That you may never know any of all those horrible [Page 206] things that are in the darkness of hell; the gnashing of teeth heard in its flames, & the aking & twinging of its torments; Let Satan with all his dismall guards, fret at your arrivall, & seeing you under the protection of the Angells, fly, and cast themselves head long into the horrours of eternall darkness; Let God arise, & let his enemies be scatered; & let those that hate him, fly before his face: Let sinners disapear as the smoak that vanisheth, & perish before God, as wax dissolves before the fire; Let the just rejoice eternally in the presence of God, & let the Infernall Legions & ministers of Satan be ashamed & confounded, & never be so bold as to venture to set upon you, in your passage to Eternity: Let Jesus who was crucified for you, deliver you from the pains of hell; & & let Jesus who was willing to dye for you, deliver you from Eternall death; Let Jesus Christ son of the living God, place you in his paradise, there to enjoy everlasting pleasures; & let that good shepard own you for [Page 207] one of his flock, & when he has pardoned you all your sins, place you at his right hand amongst his Elect: may you see your Redeemer face to face, & assisting continually in his presence, & your eyes be so happy as to behold clearly the Eternall veritie, & being admitted amongst the blessed, may you enjoy the sweet vision of God for everlasting ages. Amen.
THE PRAYER. Suscipe Domine.
REceive, o Lord, your servant to the place where he hopes for his salvation, thtough your mercy. Amen.
Deliver, o Lord, the soul of your servant from all the dangers of hell, & from all its pains & torments. Amen.
Deliver the soul of your Servant, as you delivered Enoch & Elias from the common death of mankind. Amen.
Deliver the soul of your Servant, as you delivered Noah from the flood, Amen.
[Page 208]Deliver the soul of your servant, as you delivered Abraham from the burning of the Caldeans, Amen.
Deliver the soul of your servant, as you delivered Job from his evils. Amen.
Deliver the soul of your servant, as you delivered Jsaac from the hand of his father, that would have sacrificed him. Amen.
Deliver the soul of your servant, as you delivered Lot out of Sodom, & its burning. Amen.
Deliver the soul of your servant, as you delivered Moses from the persecution of Pharaoh King of Egypt. Amen.
Deliver the soul of your servant, as you delivered Daniel from the Den, & the mouths of the Lyons. Amen.
Deliver the Soul of your servant, as you delivered the three Children from the fiery furnace, and from the wrath of a wicked King. Amen.
Deliver the soul of your servant, as you deliuered Susanna from the crime she was falsly accused of. Amen.
[Page 209]Deliver the soul of your servant, as you delivered David from the hands of Saul & Goliah. Amen.
Deliver the soul of your servant, as you delivered S. Peter, & S. Paul from their chains & prisons. Amen.
Infine, as you deliver'd the blessed Virgin & Martyr S. Tecla, from three cruel torments; so vouchsafe to deliver the soul of your servant, & grant it may rejoyce with you in the possession of heavenly felicity. Amen.
THE PRAYER. Commendamus tibi.
O God, we recommend to thee the soul of thy Servant (N) & we beseech you, O Lord Jesus Christ, Saviour of the world, that as out of your mercy, you were pleased to descend from heaven, for it, you would not refuse to receive it into the bosome of the Patriarchs.
Take notice, o Lord, of your creature, which was not created by strange Gods but by you of alone, the onnely [Page 210] living God; for there is no other God but you, & no works like unto yours.
Lord, recreate this soul with the joy of your presence, & remember not its past iniquity, nor the excesses which its fury, or the too hot pursuit of its ill desires, has caused it to commit. There is no doubt but it has sinned, yet it has neuer denied the father, Son, & holy Ghost; but has believed in you, & had the zeal of the glory of your name, & has ever adored him who made all things. Amen.
THE PRAYER. Delicta Iuventutis.
O Lord, we beseech you not to remenber any more the sins of his youth, nor his ignorances, but according, to the greatness of your mercy, remember him in the splendour of your glory. Open the heavens, o Lord, & receive your servant into your Kingdom: Let S, Michael the Archangel of God, who has merited [Page 211] the chief command in the Celestiall hosts, receive him: Let all the Angells of God come forth to meet him, & conduct him into the holy City of Jerusalem: Let S. Peter, to whom were given the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, receive him: Let S. Paul the Apostle, who was a worthy vessell of Election, assist him: Let S. John, the beloved of God, to whom were revealed the secrets of heaven, interceed for him: Let all the Apostles, to whom was given the power of binding & losing of souls, pray for him: Let all the Saints, and Elect of God, who for the name of Jesus Ghrist, have suffer'd torments in this world, interceed for him; that being separated from, & stript of his earthly body, he may merit to arrive to the glory of your heavenly Kindom, by the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father, & the holy Ghost, lives & reigns world without end. Amen.
After the soul has quitted the body, recite the following Responsory.
Come speedily, o yee Saints of God, [Page 212] you Angels of our Lord, hast yee, & receive this soul, & offer it in the presence of the most high.
℣. Let Jesus Christ who has called you, receive you; & let his Angels carry you into Abrahams bosome.
Lord have mercy upon us.
Christ have mercy upon us.
Lord have mercy upon us.
℣. Give him Eternall rest, o Lord, & let him be illuminated with Eternall light.
℣. Lord deliver his soul,
℟. From the gates of hell.
℣. Let him repose in peace.
℟. Amen.
℣. Lord hear my prayer,
℟. 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 [Page 213] 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 [Page 214] 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 yo [...]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.
[Page 215]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 [Page 216] 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 [Page 217] manner; calli [...]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 [Page 218] 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 [Page 219] 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 [Page 220] 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; I am pleased with my condition because it pleases you; and [Page 221] I am here in your presence for no other end then to please you.
4. O my God, my all; my God, my love, my joy, my hope, let me cease to be to my self, that you may be all in me.
5. O my God, I see nothing, I feel nothing, I tast nothing of you. But I am contented to posses you in a manner above the sense of seeing, tasting or feeling, I would not have you but in your self, without my self.
6. The Angells ô Lord honour you in heaven by silence, & mankind on Earth by annihilation, peace, and intire resignation. Remain in me, and let me remain in peace, and lost in you.
7. Neither privations, emptinesse, distractions, insensibilities, tediousnes, and oppressions, shal separat me from my God, you come from him, and you unite me to him.
8. O my soule, thou dost much whilst thou thinkst thou dost nothing, thou contentest thy God, thou pleasest him by being so, thou expirest [Page 222] in him, thou loosest thy self for him, and sacrifisest thy self to him; thou art no longer in thy self, but dost passe into him.
9. O the good will and pleasure of my God, how dear art thou to me. Be content with me my God, and I am satisfyed. You will have me to be so.
10. O Pure faith which transformes my mind into God by blinding it, O pure love which unites my hart unto the hart of my God, by despoyling it of all things, remove, consume, and destroy in me all that is humane, sensible, or naturall.
11. Who are you my God, and who am I, that I should dare to speake before, or behold you, I am but a litle dust, and a pure nothing before you; so you looke vpon me it is enough, I ought to be content with my nothing, and to be nothing.
12. Lord you can do all things, you know all things, and you love me; you know my wants and my miseries; it is enough, I desire nothing [Page 223] but you, I abandon my self to you, do what you will with me, and in me.
Advice in desolation in time of Prayer.
1. SUpport your self by the former feellings, renewing them by a simple reguard in God, begining your prayer to annihilat your self before God, intirely abandoning your self to him, to believe you are not idle whilst you do this, thô you neither feel nor know any thing; but be in peace and contented to be nothing in Gods presence. The arme that holds it self without motion dos it do nothing? You abandoning all things, running to, and putting your self continually in God, is it not to act after a divine manner? In a word God would have you to be in the state you are, obey, and remain in peace.
[Page 224]2. Be not one of those souls, who reject all the good thoughts God gives them to remain without action as they call it, and in pure passivenesse: which is an errour and a pure idlenesse; but when you feel your self moved to adore and love God, and to abandon your self to him, receave humbly, and follow simply this impulse, yet without tying your selfe to it, or desire of keeping or augmenting it, and be equally contented to have or loose it, one is not to act as of ones self, but to follow the impression of grace.
3. In fine, make it your employment, your repose, your satisfaction in prayer to content God. Remain firme there to honour his greatness by the sense of your nothing: and go from it intirely resolved to renounce your self in all things.
FOR MASSE AND COMMVNION.
To which one must carry the state of a victime and the spirit of a Sacrifice.
1. O JESUS, victime of my salvation who offered your self as one for me; cause all that is within me to become a victime of your love, and that I may be entirely sacrificed to your good will and pleasure, and to your glory.
2. O God annihilated, crucified, and sacrificed for me; annihilate crucify and sacrifice all that is humane sensible, and savours of self love in me.
3. O my JESUS you worke miracles to put your self in a condition to enter into my hart, work one more by gaining it intirely to your self; [Page 226] make an altar of it where you may never cease to be offering your self a sacrifice to your Father; sacrifice in me all that is not yours, that I may cease to be, and may expire in you.
4. All in JESUS is a victime upon the Altar, all is there annihilated, all is destroyd, nothing of him appeares. Behold what I ought to be, to heare Masse well, and to communicat as I ought. A simple faith ought to sacrifice the light of my understanding; the love of the good will and pleasure of God, ought to sacrifice the intire satisfaction of my hart; The respect to the presence of my God ought to make me forget my self and to sacrifice my person intirely vnto him. O how glorious is it, to be the victime of a God; to destroy ones self for him, and to expire in him.
5. During the time of Masse remain in the spirit of an united sacrifice; annihilated and lost in JESVS; offered vp for you vpon the altar; the abandoning your self, the silence [Page 227] and respect in presence of JESVS honouring his Father after this manner, ought to be the foundation of all your dispositions. Jn this manner did Mary assist at the bloody sacrifice of her son vpon the altar, her eyes and hart were fixt vpon him by a simple reguard full of respect and love, and t'is after the same manner you ought to assist at Masse.
6. O my JESUS, I consent to all that you do for me upon the altar, and I do the same in you, and for you. All is yours ô my love nothing but you, all for you. What streames of blood; what wounds; what injuries do you my JESVS suffer for so ungratfull a hart as myne is, my IEsus dies of love for me, and can I still live to my self?
7. Go from Masse with peace, courage and a firme resolution to dye to all things for IESVS, and to sacrifice to him all your satisfactions and humours, this determination and this resolution is the true fruit of holy Masse; O my soule thou must live [Page 228] no longer any other life but that which is crucified, annihilated, and sacrificed to IESVS, become a victime for love of him.
For Communion.
1. TIs the end and fruit of a good communion, to receive a God, to live the life of a God, to unite our selves to God, to be like IESVS by the assistance of his grace, to have his sentiments his inclinations, and his qualities, to be no more to ones self, and to live no other but such a supernaturall and divine life as that of IESVS.
2. O the infinit Majesty of a God! who dares approach you? Yet ô Soveraign love ô infinit bounty of my God, who is able to be from you? You are in the host for no other end but to enter into my hart, and take possession of it, you burn with desire to be there receiued, you make it your delight to remain in it; oh! come my IESVS; come presently [Page 229] into it, I burn with a desire to receive you there, and to make you the God of my hart. Come thither to receive yourself, and to love your self there, for I of my self am nothing, and can do nothing, so I leave all to you, and will remain in my nothing in your presence.
3. O yee Seraphins that I had your respect! O Mary that I had your love! O my hart what can you desire, love and breath after but your IESVS, I will live no longer to my self I ought to be nothing to all things, and IESVS ought to be all to me.
4. O my love enter into my hart to reign there absolutly, to possesse it alone; and to animate it with your self, let all within me give place to IESVS, humour, satisfaction, pleasure, vanity, self love, let all give place to IESVS, he is master here, he is the God of my hart.
5. Remain at the feet of IESVS as a Magdalen in silence, and as it were retired into thy own nothing; [Page 230] let him give thanks and honour his Father in you, let him consummat in your hart the holocauste of his love to which he will joyne yours. O love, ô lover, ô God of love, live, reign, triumph, distroy sacrifice in me all that is not your self.
6. When your state consists of pure faith in darknesse and aridity, remain in peace in it, and content your self to have JESVS within you; it is enough, it is sufficient for you to have him; seeke not a great many thoughts, nor many acts to make known your gratitude and love to him, let him do what he pleases in you. My God and my all let me only live for you, by you, and in you.
8. Going from communion remember that IESVS ought to act, speake and suffer in you and by you. O tongue dyed with the blood of a God. O hart full of the Majesty of God. O sense, ô mind, ô body, animated with the purity of a God, can you tye your selves any longer to a creature.
FOR EXAMEN AND CONFESSION.
1. AFTER having examin'd for some time the voluntary imperfections that you have fallen into, contrary to the light which God gave you, as also all the unprofitable thoughts and reflections, the eagernesses and promtitudes of your hart, the impatiences of your tongue, and the negligences of your actions, employ your self in some of the insuing thoughts.
2. Is it possible ô my God that I should have displeased you? That I should have the confusion to have prefered a bauble before you? How sorry am I to have provoked your anger against me. O my IESVS punish me as you please; but pardon me: I desire to satisfy your justice, but I cannot suffer the sight of your [Page 232] anger against me.
3. Ah my JESUS what blood and teares have my infidelitys cost you? And how litle have they cost me? You dyed in pain to blot out my sinns, and I will not use the least violence to my self to overcome them. No my IESUS I will not afflict or torment you any more by my sinns, what pain soever I vndergo.
4. O Goodnesse of my God, how long have you sought me? O patience of my God how long have you waited for me? How long shall I continually contemn your calls, your allurements, and your love? O sins, ô infidelity, ô basenesse I detest you because you injure my God.
5. Shall I allways be vnfaithfull to so many graces which you bestow vpon me? What? allways receive a thousand benefits from you, and allways render you a thousand ingratitudes? Oh my IESVS pardon me. I dye with griefe to have given you so great and so just a displeasure.
[Page 233]6. Is it possible that for a nothing I have so offended you, ô my dear IESVS. How have I preferred a small satisfaction of my own to that of your hart. Yes so long as I content my self in this effusion of hart, in this promptitude, in this humoursome word, in this detraction, this resentment this liberty and remissnesse; you behold me my IESVS, & say to me in my hart, is it because you have a mind to displease me, to offend me, and to draw me from you, is it that I am not better then this pleasure which moves you to sinn? And I make answere by my actions my IESVS, yes I love to content my self rather then to please you. O love, ô goodnesse contemned ô hart of my IESVS, I deserve not that you should receive me. But I hope all things of your mercy, and I protest that you shall be all to me, and all things else shall be nothing.
7. Mortall sinn mak's us loose gods favour, veniall sinn cools it, and di [...]ves [Page 234] us from him, imperfection and the life of nature, stops and hinders vs from going to him; it renders his graces, his blood, his love, uselesse to our salvation. O sinn either grievous, or light, I have a greater horrour of you then of death, because you offend my God, I will hence forth live a life altogether supernaturall, and quite contrary to my owne inclinations.
8. Remember that you reflect not to much vpon your sinns, and take care not to disquiet your self for them. A simple and amourous return towards God within you is sufficient; is it possible my God that I should have displeased you? Behold this is what I can only do of my self, but it is that which I will endeavour by the assistance of your grace to do no more. This suffices, then forget all, and loose your self in God.
9. Make your confession after the clearest and shortest manner you are able, and receive absolution with [Page 235] an interiour sense of confusion, griefe and love, without designing to tast any sensibility.
10. Go from confession throuly penetrated with the goodnesse of a God who presently pardons, and of your ingratitude, who continually offend him; and remaining in his presence and in him, with a respectfull silence, let him take possession of you, abandoning your self intirely to him. O bounty of my God, possesse my hart, ô Justice of my God satisfy and content your self upon me.
For the employment and exteriour occupations of the day.
1. ENDEAVOVR to performe all your actions in the presence of God, to content God, and without contenting your self. Follow [Page 236] allways the will of God, and the motions of his grace, and never incline to your owne humour, to the end God may live in you, and that he may act by you.
2. Be faithfull by continually dying to all unprofitable reflections of your mind, to hasty words, your humour, and the impatience of your tongue, to the propensions vivacity of your nature, and be persuaded that the more faithfull you shall be in this, the more you will advance in your state: so that all your application thrô out the day, is to possess your self, to be of an equall temper, and to refrain in occasions what ever you shall perceive lesse perfect.
3. This fidelity of dying and of denying your self 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 [Page 237] 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 [Page 238] 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.
[Page 240]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.
- 1. MY God, and my all.
- 2. All to you, my God, all in you, all by you.
- 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 [Page 244] 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 [Page 245] 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 [Page 246] 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.
[Page 247]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.