comes up from the desert leaning upon her beloved Cant. 8. Those who hope in our Lord shall change their strength they shall take wings like Eagles they shall walk and not faint Isa 40. Many are the scourges of a sinner but him that hopes in our Lord mercy shall encompass Psal 31. Our Lord said to Gideon you have much people with you nor shall Madian be delivered up into his hands least Israel glory against me and say I was delivered by my own strength Judg. 8. Command the rich men of this world not to be high-minded nor to trust in the uncertainty of their riches but in the living God who does bestow abundantly on us all things for us to enjoy 1 Tim. 6. LVIII MED Of Charity CHarity is a treasure of Merit that enriches us A treasure of Grace that sanctifies us A treasure of Sanctity which makes us perfect A treasure of Peace which makes us happy Charity blots out all sins Calms all Passions Produces all Virtues Sweetens all Pains Makes us like unto God Unites us intimately to God Transforms us in som kind into God It makes God to be all ours And us all his Charity seeks not her self She loves for loves sake Her love is her pleasure Her love is her reward She is Humble Patient Mild Doing good Is not bitter Is not puffed up Not disdainful Not envious Believes all Hopes all Suffers all Pardon 's all O Charity my God! Why do you command me to love you Should not you rather have forbidden me Can there be a greater good than to love you Can there be a greater ill than not to love you Can you threaten me with a greater misery Than to forbid me to love you How is it possible not to love a God that is so infinitly good A God who love us infinitely A God who does us infinit Benefits A God who is united to us by infinit Alliances And yet I love you not O God of goodness I have in my heart only a Phantom of Charity I am Proud Impatient Troublesom Cholerick Doing ill Envious I will suffer nothing Pardon nothing Alas how shall I be saved Since I have no Charity O I have lov'd you too late Beauty always ancient and always new O I will never cease from blessing you From praising you from loving you Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart Matth. 22. The end of the precept is Charity out of a pure heart a good conscience and an unfeigned faith 2 Tim. 1. Charity covers a multitude of sins 1 Pet. 4. Many sins are forgiven her because she loved much Luk. 7. God is Charity and he that remains in Charity remains in God and God in him 1 John 4. This is the charity of God that we keep his Commandments 1 John 5. He that has my Commandments and keeps them 't is he that loves me John 14. LIX MED Of Purity of Intention YOu belong wholly to God You are totally for God You have all from God You ought therefore to do nothing but for God Such is your Action as is your End If your End be good your action is good If your End be ill your Action is ill If you have the same End with God Your Action will be holy as God's is God works only for himself And you work only for your self God seeks only his own glory And you seek only yours God would have you saved And you will damn your self If you will do nothing for him What must you expect from him If you be naught to your self Who will you be good to God looks not on the hand but the heart He considers not the gift but the giver So much you do as you intend to do So much you give as you intend to give So much you gain as you intend to gain The Intention alone sometimes is profitable without the action But never the action without the intention You please God if you intend to please him You love God if you intend to love him Is not that a great comfort to you O I will never henceforth labour for the World O I will henceforth serve God! Since you are pleas'd O my God when we intend to please you Since we love in intending to love you You are the best of all Masters I will never more think on any thing But how to please and love you All men seek their own interefts Phil. 2. Do I seek to please men Gal. 1. If I should yet please men I should not be Christ's servant ibid. VVhether yeeat or whether ye drink or whatsoever else you do do all things to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10. LX. MED Which is the noblest Intention WE never lose any thing by serving God The less we intend to get The more we get We may serve him for profit sake But this service is not so profitable True Love is contented with its self The thing it loves is its reward That Love is suspected Which seeks any thing else with God That Love is mercenary Which expects any other good but God That Love is weak Which relishes any thing else but God That Love is perfect Which contents it self with God To labour for gain Is an interested service To labour for to perfect Is a Love that is not quite purified To labour for to please God Is a Love in its Infancy To labour because it pleases God Is Love in perfection My God! I have not strength enough to fly so high My heart clings too much to the Earth To raise it self even above Heaven I will serve before I love I will kiss your hand Before I kiss your mouth I will love your reward That I may have no other but your love O how rich shall I be When I labour for you only O how perfect shall I be When I desire to please none but you O how happy shall I be When I love nothing but you I have inclin'd my heart to do your justifications for retribution Ps 118. VVhat is there to me in Heaven and what would I besides thee on Earth Ps 72. Let no man seek his own interest 1 Cor. 20. To thee alone Ps 50. Not as pleasing men but God who trys our hearts 2 Thess 7. LXI MED Of the Marks of a pure Intention IF I labour without disturbance Without eagerness without a Witness As if there only God and I I am glad that others should labour as well as I. If I rejoyce when they labour more than I If I am not angry when my labour is interrupted If I am contented when my labour succeeds not If I love the bad as well as the good success If I love rest as well as business If I am pleased to do nothing When God will have it so As well as to do much If I love contempt as well as glory If I make no vain reflexion After I have don a good action 'T is a mark that I had a good Intention O my
in the beginning of every Week The same thing I have likewise observed on the Feasts of the Saints for I give Meditations either on the Virtues which they practised or on the Gospel that is Read on their Mass Those who shall Read the Abridgment of their Life may easily joyn their Example to the Truth which they meditate on There are some virtuous Persons who desire every Month to make the Exercise of Death and for to satisfie their Devotion I have at the end of every Month put four Meditations for to prepare them thereunto Those whom this Devotion does not please may make use of the others that are there marked out for them or choose those they have a mind to in the first Table that follows Now for to make profit of these Meditations this I conceive is the Method they are to be made in After the ordinary Preparations of which we have spoken in our Method of Prayer Read with respect and attention the words of the Holy Scripture Weigh each word of them Make Acts of Faith and if you find your Mind to be taken up stop there without going any further But in case it fix not upon that subject Read then the first part of your Meditation and stop at that Truth which makes most impression on your Heart or else begin by the two first lines Endeavour to penetrate the sence of them Make reflexion on your self and see whether your life be conformable to those Truths Conceive a Sorrow and consequently made good Resolutions For example if you meditate upon Patience and that you be com to these two lines All that I endure is nothing in comparison of the Punishment that I have deserved Call to mind for a while the principal Sins of your life compare the place that you are in with that which you ought to be in the pains that you suffer with those that you ought to have suffered Measure the time of your pains with that of Eternity and see whether you have reason to complain Say If God had don with me according to his justice where should I now have been Am not I better here than in Hell If I were there as so many others are would not I reckon my self happy to com out from thence for to endure what I now endure Why then should I complain Does God do me wrong Have not I deserved infinitly much more Push on this Consideration and press your heart until it submits it self to God's Orders Consequently frame your affections give thanks to our Lord for his Goodness and Mercy that he has used towards you Beg Pardon of him for your Impatiences and make resolutions of suffering better than you hitherto have Then you shall pass on to the following line In comparison of the Glory that is prepared for me And you shall meditate on it as on the foregoing lines Thus flying up and down like a Bee from flower to flower until you have found the honey of Devotion But in case nothing do touch you yet quit not your Prayer for all that but remain quiet in the Presence of God or else make use of the Practices that we have taught you in the Method of Prayer You may also Read the words of Devotion which are at the end of the Fourth Part and there doubtless you will find som comfort When at any time you find your self in any extraordinary disposition of Joy or Sadness it will be good even out of Prayer to entertain your self in this manner Lift up your heart to God beg of him to make known to you his Divine Will and Pleasure Then opening your Book stop at that Meditation on which you have lighted and you will oftentimes find therein what you seek after The Providence of God says the Wise man plays upon Earth with Men and takes delight to manifest it self in casual and unforethought-of accidents Since I am commanded to put my Name to this new Edition I conjure all virtuous Persons through the Charity which they owe to those who are in misery to give som place in their remembrance to him and som share in their Prayers Here follow two Tables the First of the Meditations of the two Tomes The Second of those which are to serve for every Day in the Year A TABLE OF THE Meditations Contain'd in the First TOME The First PART For the Purgative Life Med. 1. OF the End for which Man was made Page 1 Med. 2. Of the Dominion of God over his Creatures Page 3 Med. 3. Of the care of our Salvation Page 6 Med. 4. Of disengagement from Creatures Page 7 Med. 5. Of the Will of God Page 9 Med. 6. Of the Obligations we have to love and serve God Page 10 Med. 7. Profitable thoughts fit to draw us off from the World Page 12 Med. 8. Of Death Page 13 Med. 9. Of the Death of the Just Page 14 Med. 10. Of the Death of Sinners Page 17 Med. 11. Of the Last Judgment Page 20 Med. 12. Of Hell Page 22 Med. 13. Of the Two Eternities Page 24 Med. 14. Of Mortal sin Page 25 Med. 15. Of Venial sin Page 26 Med. 16. Of Pennance Page 28 Med. 17. That we ought not to differ our Conversion Page 29 Med. 18. Of the Conditions of a true Pennance Page 32 Med. 19. Of the flight from Occasions and evil Companies Page 35 Med. 20. Of a good and a bad Conscience Page 39 Med. 21. Of the peace of the Soul Page 41 Med. 22. Of vain Desires Page 42 Med. 23. Of Tepidity Page 43 Med. 24. Of the Hatred of the World Page 45 Med. 25. Of the small number of the saved Page 48 Med. 26. Of Scandal or bad Example Page 50 Med. 27. Of outward Pennance and Mortification Page 53 Med. 28. Of the excellency of Mortification Page 55 Med. 29. Of the profit and necessity of Temptations Page 56 Med. 30. Of the causes of our Temptations Page 58 Med. 31. Of the troubles and pains of Mind Page 61 Med. 32. Of natural Inclinations Page 62 Med. 33. Of Aversions Page 65 Med. 34. Of Presumption Page 67 Med. 35. Of the good use of Time Page 71 Med. 36. Of Persecutions Page 73 Med. 37. That it is necessary to be afflicted and persecuted Page 75 Med. 38. Of human Respect Page 77 Med. 39. Of Slander or Detraction Page 79 Med. 40. Of Sadness Page 81 Med. 41. The ill effects of Sadness Page 83 Med. 42. Remedies against Sadness Page 84 Med. 43. Of Pride Page 89 Med. 44. Of the Pardoning of Injuries Page 91 Med. 45. Of the judgment of men Page 94 Med. 46. Of Avarice Page 97 Med. 47. Of Relapse Page 100 Med. 48. Of Customary Sins Page 102 Med. 49. Of Preparation to Death Page 105 Med. 50. How to resolve for Death Page 108 Med. 51. The Affections of a just Soul at the approaches of Death which we should cause to be read to us in our last sickness Page 111 Med. 52. A Paraphrase upon our
You have grace enough not to go thither You have enough to retire from thence But shall you have grace enough if you stay there Is it not a sin of Presumption To promise it your self in the occasion At least it will be very weak And your enemy will be very strong He is a Dog in a chain When we come near him he bites us He expects us in the occasion If you go thither O rash Soul You will yield to that temptation He that loves danger will not escape danger Be not familiar with a cholerick man neither do thou walk with a furious man least thou learn his foot stept Prov. 22. He that touches pitch shall be defiled with it and he that keeps company with a proud man will put on pride Eccles 14. He that joyns himself to Fornicators will be naught Eccles 14. If any one be a Fornicator amongst you do not so much as eat with such an one 1 Cor. 5. He that loves danger shall perish therein Eccles 3. Go off from the Tabernacles of the wicked men and do not touch any thing that belongs to them that ye be not involv'd in their ruin Numb 16. If thy right eye scandalize thee pluck it out and cast it from thee Matth. 5. We denounce unto you brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ That you withdraw your selves from every brother that walks disorderly 2 Thess 3. XX. MED Of a good and a bad Conscience O How good it is to serve God What a pleasure is there in loving him How good is he to those that love him How terrible to those that offend him How happy is a good conscience How unhappy is a bad Conscience How joyful is a sound heart How sad is a sick heart O what quiet is there in a good Soul O what disturbance in a wicked Soul The Conscience of a just man is a Heaven The Conscience of a Sinner is a Hell God is in the Soul of a just man The Devil is in the Soul of a Sinner A virtuous man fears nothing A wicked man apprehends all things A just man is well with himself A wicked man is ill with himself A virtuous man willingly stays at home Because all is in peace there A wicked man dares not enter into himself Because all things are there in disorder O how sweet is Virtue O how bitter is Vice O how precious is the death of the Just O how horrible is the death of Sinners Ah! I will love God now That I may love him in Eternity I will lead a good life that I may have a good death My sin is always before me Psal 50. There is no peace to the wicked saith our Lord. Isa 48. A good conscience is as it were a perpetual feast Prov. 15. Tribulation and anguish upon every Soul that works evil Rom. 2. Hell is my house Job 17. This is our glory the testimony of our conscience 2 Cor. 1. XXI MED Of the peace of the Soul I Would fain be in peace Whence comes it that I am not Is it not because I defer too much to my own sence Because I am too much wedded to my own will Because I rebel against my Superiors Because I will suffer nothing Because I desire something with eagerness Because I am ambitious Because I am envious Is it not because I wage war against God Because I resist his Will Because I oppose my self to his Providence Because I would have what he will not Because I will not what he wills Who can live in peace that fights against God Who can be contented that is at odds with God O my Soul If thou art against God God will be against thee If thou disturbest his peace he will disturb thy quiet If thou keep his orders his orders will keep thee If thou disturb his order His order will disturb thee Desire nothing and thou shalt have all Do the Will of God and God will do thine He will do the Will of those that fear him Ps 144. VVhence come the wars and brangles amongst you is it not from your concupiscences James 4. Glory be to God on high and on Earth peace to men of good will Luk. 2. My peace I give you let not your heart be troubled John 14. Much peace there is to those that love thy law Ps 118. XXII MED Of vain Desires ARt thou contented O my Soul What dost thou desire upon earth Is not God sufficient for thee Is not he thy happiness When wert thou well without him Or when ill with him What dost thou seek besides God Who can content thee but God Thy desires are thy Tyrants 'T is they make thee miserable 'T is they that rent thy heart How happy would'st thou be if thou desiredst nothing What dost thou get by desiring These sort of desires enter not into Heaven They are the Devils in Hell 'T is they that torment the damned Leave off desiring and thou wilt get out of Hell O my God! Out of you all abundance is to me indigence All sweetness is bitterness to me That Heart is very covetous To which God is not sufficient Covetousness is the root of all evils 1 Tim. 6. The desires of sinners shall perish Ps 122. Desires kill the slothful man Prov. 21. Turn away from me all desires Eccles 23. Yield me not O Lord from my desire to the Sinner Psal 139. Martha Martha thou art Sollicitous and troubled about many things Luk. 10. XXIII MED Of Tepidity How miserable is a Tepid Soul She has lost all relish of God She is depriv'd of all comforts She wanders out of the ways of his Providence She sins without fear She does ill without remorse She dares not enter into her self She is Sick and is not sensible of her Sickness She is wicked and thinks her self good She is a slave and thinks her self free She abuses all remedies She rejects all Inspirations She is insensible to all Grace She discredits Devotion She scandalizes her Neighbour She is a burden to Communities She lies heavy upon God's heart She is just upon the point of being cast out She is in danger of never re-entring more Am not I in that state Am I hot or am I cold Am I all God's Or am I his only by halfs If so I have a tepid Soul O divine Saviour How long have I afflicted you How long have I clogg'd your heart Ah! Vomit me not up yet Deprive me not of your love Drive me if you will out of your Heaven But drive me not out of your Heart Draw in your goods from my soul But draw not back your love from thence Alas I more dread your hatred Than I do the pains of Hell My Soul Remember the state thou art fallen from Resume thy first fervour 〈◊〉 tho I dost it quickly Thy Candlestick will be removed And another put in its place JESUS will drive thee out of his heart And thou shalt never more re-enter therein If thou