pusillanimity to be dejected to contemplate the examples of me and my Saints to commend thy selfe to the prayers and exhortations of good men to give way to my inward and divine inspirations to exercise prayer and holy reading never to admit of idlenesse to love silence and retirednesse These and such like doe change the naughtinesse of the mind and chase away the feare of death When thou shalt come in the end of every day say thus to thy selfe Now is my life become shorter by one day Earely when thou risest say thus to thy selfe O Gracious God now am I nearer to death by one Night An Exercise whereby earely or whensoever thou willest thou maist poure out thy heart unto God for a good death O Omnipotent eternall God my Creator and Lover I praise laud adore and blesse thee for that thou so mercifully and patiently hast suffered mee groveling in my sins and my unthankfulnes even unto this houre to which thou of thy goodnesse hast brought mee enriching me with thy benefits conferring this life with things necessary for this life upon me with an angelicall guardian protecting me and inlarging towards mee thy mercy who am injuriously â—nworthy and a spectacle of misery Ah gracious God who knoweth whether the terme of my life shall be proâ—ogued to the evening O what death shall I desire O â—ost mercifull Lord God and Father give unto mee contrition whereby with all mine heart I may bewaile my sins and my offending thee And doe not suffer my soule to goe forth from her bodie till she be reconciled to thee in mercy adopted to thee by grace adorned with thy merits and vertues inflamed with most perfect charitie and accepted according to thy all-good-will and pleasure O most gracious Lord Jesu Christ if this I desire of thee do please thee grant it unto me although I bee most unworthy to bee heard of thee grant unto me I beseech thee for thine infinite mercies and the merits of thy passion that I may bee purged in this life from all my sins that dying and through vehement and true contrition pricked and in most ardent charitie to thee united I may goe out unto thee my most sweet Redeemer being forthwith freed and secured from all damnation and future affliction Notwithstanding O most loving Jesu I doe offer and resigne my selfe unto thee whether it be to poverty penury or any other extremitie for thy glories sake according to thy good-will and pleasure beseeching thee only this that thou wouldst bee mindfull of my frailty vilenesse weaknesse and misery as also of thy goodnesse and charity that thou wouldest never forsake mee nor depart from mee but that thou wouldst alwayes wholly governe and possesse mee according to thy good pleasure Amen An oblation of Christ and his merits to his Father O Omnipotent most gracious Father I doe offer unto thee all those pains dolours reproches stripes and rebukes all adversities extremities and labours of thine onely begotten Jesu Christ the Lambe immaculate which hee suffered in his body for me likewise all his actions and every of his members afflicted for me his bloud shed for me and with prophane feet trampled also his most noble and devout Soule separated from his lovely Body for me his merits likewise and infinite vertues Likewise the powers or faculties of his Soule and body and all those vitall parts in him given up unto death for mee albeit inseparably united to his Divinity yea the whole Christ thy blessed Sonne God and man omnipotent and infirme despicable and glorious doing wonders and hanging upon the Crosse these I say doe I offer unto thy sacred Majesty to the expiation and satisfaction of all my sins and of all the world and to the mortification and extinction of all mine evill passions affections and vices to the supply of all my negligences and to thy praise and thanksgiving for all thy benefits O God be mercifull unto me a miserable sinner for his sake Have mercy on mee for the love of Jesu Christ thy beloved Son THE DYING mans Diary Or A Christians Memento mori Divided into a five dayes Exercise THere are who all the yeare long present the figure and feature of Death before them by some certaine Exercise and prepare themselves no otherwise for death than if they were even then to dye and that for the space of five dayes continually The first day they meditated of the griefes infirmities which goe before death and horrour of death unto all which they resigne themselves The next day they thinke of their â—ins confessing them with so great diligence and intention as if they were to dye presently after their confession Therefore they spend this day in sighs and teares The third day they come unto the blessed Eucharist with all the fervour they may receiving it as their Viaticum in their passage from this their exile The fourth day they make continuall supplications unto God for the unction of the Holy Spirit whereby they might be illuminated and the hardnesse of their hearts mollified And this they do as it were for extreme unction The fifth day they become most fervent Supplicants unto God for a spirituall death wherby they may perfectly dye to the world to themselves and live with God And to everie of these dayes may be applyed proper Psalmes and Prayers as also divine invocations giving of thanks for all benefits conferred by God upon them all their life long Profitable Counsell for one approaching neare the point of death O Daughter seeing thy selfe in this extremitie prepare thy soule for God so order and dispose here in thy life time of thy goods temporall that after thy death no difference nor debate may arise It is most profitable for thee to dispose of thy goods in thy life time and to redeeme thy sins whilest thou livest with works of mercie Whatsoever thou wouldest recommend to others to doe for thee labour to doe it of thy selfe For if after death thou go to eternall torment the Provision of a Will a pompous Funerall Almes and Doales after death what will these availe thee when thou art damned Offer these Oblations to me now whilest thou art living that thou mayest not onely be delivered from thy sins but by increasing in my grace never fall into damnation but by my preventing grace preserving thee from sin persevere in good works even to the end When death draweth neare see that thou wholly free thy selfe then from all unnecessarie cares and imployments strive to meet me immaculately affectionately faithfully promising nor presuming nothing of thy works but through my assured mercie to obtaine Salvation And in this faith committing and commending thy selfe and all thou hast in this world to my providence and good pleasure receive the Sacraments humbly and devoutly Those peculiar priviledges and graces also which have power in them through my merits and are given by mee as a treasure unto the Church albeit many oft-times abuse them
fulfill thee throughout that Where sin hath abounded grace likewise may superabound Yet I would beloved I would be trusted I would with sighs and teares be intreated than which no sweeter melody can unto me be tendred Sinner O my crucified JESU I know I am dearer to thee than I am to my selfe for to thee I am alwayes deare who as it is written Lovest all things that are and hatest nothing of those which thou hast made But man is not alwaies equally deare to himselfe as he is unro thee because hee that loveth iniquity hateth his ownâ— soule Christ. This have I shewn in the continuall sorrowes of my whole cruâ—ified life For I received the Crosse of my Passion in the Womb of my mother and continually bore it in my heart and confirmed it with much austerity in my body So as that I might purposely shew the unmeasurablenesse of the sorrowes of my soule my finall passion then approaching it was my will to sweat blood thorow all my members and that which lay hid as a secret of my crucifying from the wombe of my Mother with sensible signes to reveale to my faithfull ones which seemed fittest to be at my passage and poinâ— of death Sinner I conceive my good JESU how in that bloudy sweat with which thou wert deep-died and engrained in all thy members thy blessed soule wholly suffered because it is whole in every part of the body yea and the very life of the body But tell me what thou requirest of me for so great anguish continually sustained for me Christ. Onely to love me againe For to this end have I suffered my passion that I might purchase thy affection Sinner Surely most worthy art thou to bee loved because thou art good in thy selfe and none good but God alone And because thou art the Lord delivering from the power and slavery of the Devill And because thou art God forgiving sinnes which none forgiveth but God alone And because thou lovest those that love thee Whence it is that thou sayest I love those that love mee And because thou hearest those that begge of thee whence one saith I have loved the Lord because hee will heare mee Thou also as the peace of charity comming into the world to warme and inflame the cold and lukewarme hast said I came that they might have life to wit the life of grace in this life and more abundantly to wit of glory in the life to come Christ. Surely there is nothing which may so inflame the fire of Gods love in thy heart as a continuall consideration and meditation of this speech of mine I came that they might have life and that more abundantly And of that much like unto this So God loved the world as he gave his onely begotten Sonne Sinner Truly wretched and miserable is hee in whose heart the fire of love is not kindled when hee considereth these things wherein the Charity of God hath chiefly appeared But ô thou only begotten of God suffer not my heart to bee so frozen or benummed with this icy congelation but rather through thy mercy in the remembrance of these thy Words like Snow melting by the heat of the Sunne let me say with that princely Prophet My heart is become as melting wax Christ. Humane impiety before the time of my passion tooke occasion of being unthankfull For man being created but not as then redeemed said I am no more bound to God than other creatures be For he spake the word and I was made hee hath bestowed no more labour on me than any other brute creature But now the mouth of these that speak wickedly is stopped and no place now is left for unthankfulnesse For I have laboured more in the sole redemption of man than in the whole frame and fabrick of the World For of a Master I became a servant of Rich poore of Immortall mortall of the Word flesh of the Sonne of God the son of man I suffered reproaches of such as upbraided me I suffered underminers in my Works contradicters in my Words scorners in my Woes necessities of the flesh horrour of death ignominy of the Crosse. Sinner O how admirable was this love What shall I render to my Lord for all his sorrowes Christ. If thou recall to mind how great things the Lord of Majesty the Sonne of God suffered for thee though thou shouldâ—t dye a thousand deaths yet wert thou not equally sufficient to answer me for the estimate of so great a benefit exceedeth all meanes of requitall Sinner As thou best knowest how much I owe unto thee the Lord of glory who subjectedst thy self to death for me that I might enjoy that happinesse which neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard recount unto me I beseech thee the reasons which caused that most dolorous paine in thy most holy soule For thou saidst right now that in the wombe of thy blessed Mother thou receivedst the Crosse of thy Passion and bore it continually to the houre of thy dissolution Christ. To this end that thou mightst by affection compassion become an acceptable sacrifice unto God wholly inflamed with the fire of Charity all the rust and rubbish of sin being consumed and wasted Consider diligently with a lively heart how I suffred a double Martyrdome one in my body another in my soule or Spirit As touching the Martyrdome of my Body consider that there was never the suffering of any martyr so sharp so painfull that it might be compared with my suffering which I will prove unto thee by authority by signe by reason First by authority For I my selfe crying out of the greatnesse of my sorrows said O all yee who passe by this way consider and see if ever there were sorrow like unto my sorrow as if I should have said there was never any Secondly by Signe Forasmuch as there were never so many Signes seene in the Martyrdome of any as at my Passion implying the sharpnesse and painfulnesse of it to wit When the Sunne was darkned the Earth moved c. As if by the dolorous clamours of my passion they had conceived a sense of devout compassion bemoning me the Son of God hanging on the Crosse. For it was not in the creature to indure the injury done to the Creatour Wherein wicked and obdurate hearts are justly reproved who will not be wrought to compassion nor softned with a pious devotion in the remembrance of my death Thirdly I prove unto thee the bitternesse of my passion by reason Forasmuch as my complexion was most excellent both by reason of the incorruption of my flesh as also by reason of the most proportionable union or mixture of the Elementary qualities For I tooke corruptible flesh of the Virgin for the freeing of all Originall sinne that is of inordinate concupiscence Now to such a complexion was required comelinesse of beauty and strength of body Because therefore by how much more proportionable the union is of those Elements and qualities whereof
my Crucifying in their manners who imprint the signe of my Crosse for their defence in their foreheads that by his Law they may bee formed by whose Faith they are armed For otherwise he disloyally beareth the stampe of his King whose will he doth not observe Neither doth hee rightly protect himselfe with his signe whose command he doth not obey Sinner O good Jesu vouchsafe to bestow on my hearing a fuller joy by recounting to mee thy most unworthy Sinner the rest of those benefits and fruits arising from the dayly remembrance of thy most holy Passion Christ. The memory of my death by a dayly ruminating thereof ought to burne upon the altar of thy mind for many reasons First because thou canst doe nothing more acceptable unto mee than to exercise thine heart in my most holy Passion with love compassion reverence and imitation Whereof thou canst not doubt being assured thereof by many authorities of holy Scripture Wherefore I doe advise thee to stamp my painfull love and loving paine in thy soule and to be thankfull unto me saying Set me as a signet upon thine heart As if he should say Love mee as I love thee Remember not onely how great things I have done for thee but how sharpe and unworthy things I have suffered for thee and see if thou doest not give mee an ill requitall if thou doest not love mee For tell mee who loves thee as I doe Who desireth to be loved of thee as I doe Set me therefore as a signet upon thine heart that thou maist love me with all thy strength upon thine arme that thou maist performe those things which please mee with all thine affection upon thine heart that whatsoever is deare unto thee thou maist set aside for me and alwaies preferre me and alwaies more and more love me Secondly thou oughtst continually to remember my Passion because by it thou art led by the hand to the love of God For by my Passion I have shewne to thee the quantity of my affection And love deserveth love againe Understand what I say I would not reedeme man with praier for so oft times man freeth man from captivity Nor with the price of gold and silver for so sheep and Oxen are bought but with the price of my bloud that by the price of the thing bought my love might bee weighed Do not therfore dis-esteeme thy worth consider oft times thy price If I had redeemed man with gold or silver it might have beene thought that the soule of man had beene comparable â— to temporall riches That which is redeemed is more precious than that by which it is redeemed Therefore the soule of man is more precious than my bloud Thirdly â—or stirring of devotion Whence it was that Sampson found an Honeycombe in the mouth of a dead Liâ—n I am the Lion of the Tribe of Iudâ— in whose death the honeycombe of devotion is found wherewith the spirit of man is refreshed O that thou wouldst seriously consider how upon the Crosse my mouth appeared like one halfe-alive open and my tongue bloudy surely if thou hadst an heart of iron it would have melted with compassion and devotion The fourth fruit arising from the memory of my Passion is that in it is found a guard of defence against all Enemies Whereupon my Apostle Peter Christ suffered for you arme your selves likewise with the same mind And I say Enter into the rocke As a Souldier who unable to withstand his enemy in the field flyeth to his Tents Briefly the Enemy shall prevaile nothing against him whom the daily exercise of my Passion doth delight The fifth is because with no exercise is man so much enriched as with my merits applied to him and made his by the hand of faith for the foundation of all grace and the root of merit as it hath sole relation to me and derived to man by Faith in me consisteth in the sorrow of heart and body for my Crosse. For this cause mine Elect Apostle said I have esteemed my selfe to know nothing but JESUS CHRIST and him crucified And that devout sonne of my blessed mother Bernard It is my highest philosophy said hee to know CRIST JESUS and him Crucified But thou oughtst to grieve because there are many enemies of my Crosse. For the lovers of pleasures are my persecutours they are guilty of my death not as authors or fautors but as contemners 〈◊〉 my death These are they who make the merit of my Passion in them of no effect who make themselves unworthy of mine heavenly blessing unspeakable glory who living in their delights laugh at the mysterie of my Passion who tread mee the Sonne of God under their feet and lay reproach upon the Spirit of Grace A carnall life is an injury unto God contempt of my Crosse and redoundeth to the contumely of all the blessed Trinitie The sixt is the allaying of the labours and dolours encountring man in his way of repentance and life of Religion For a devout faithfull Souldier hath no feeling of his owne wounds when hee seeth the wounds of his loving Captaine And to this end have I contemned all earthly goods that I might shew how they were to bee contemned and sustained all adverse things that I might teach how they were to bee sustained The seventh is the extinguishing of carnall desires for with the sight of my Passion whatsoever is carnalâ— decreaseth The eighth is the stirring of compunction and repentance for sinues For who is he that grieveth not highly when he recals to mind how his sinnes were so odious to God the Father that for taking them away he would have his beloved Sonne crucified and put to death The ninth is the begetting of good hope and considence For in my Crosse the Sinner hath his Sanctuary as a murderer flying for refuge to the Church-yard Nothing is so bitter even unto death which may not be cured by my death I have changed the sentence of thy eternall punishment into the crucifying of my Body subject to a dolorous languishment For I in that sentence which Pilat pronounced against me taking upon me the person of all Sinners to purge their sins wherein they had long laboured was adjudged to death for all Sinners Sinner I conceive and contemplate by this which thou my good Jesu hast said that albeit this sentence was very unjust and therefore execrable in respect of thee because man had no power over God the wicked over the just yet in respect of us it was manifold common modious and profitable and the reason hereof is amiable and venerable because hee wholly reversed that sentence pronounced upon the first man for sinne For the sentence of a dolefull exclusion was denounced against him Whence it is written The Lord cast out man from the Paradise of pleasure and set an Angell to keepe the way of the tree of life But happy and honourable was thy sentence because 〈◊〉 called back a banish'd man for by this
Devout Prayers Or Meditations of F. Lewis of Granado gathered forth of his Meditations in Spanish and heereto annexed God forbid that I should rejoyce but in the Crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ whereby the world is crucified to me and I unto the world Gal. 6. 14. To Christ Crucified WEe adore thee O Lord Jesu Christ and blesse thy holy Name for that thou hast redeemed the world by this thy Crosse. Wee give thankes to thee most gracious Saviour for that thou hast so highly loved us and cleansed us by thy bloud from our sinnes as likewise for that thou hast offered thy selfe upon the Crosse for us that with the most sweet smell of this thy most noble Sacrifice inflamed with the fire of thy love thou mightst reconcile GOD to us and procure our peace with him Blessed bee thou for ever O Saviour of the World O Reconciler of men repairer of Angels Restorer of Heaven Triumpher over Hell Conquerour of the Devill Authour of life Destroyer of Death and Redeemer of them who sate in darknesse and shadow of Death To the sacred mystery of the Crosse by JESUS Sanctified And to JESUS who was on it crucified O Crosse thou drawest hearts more powerfully unto thee than the Adamant doth Ironâ— Thou more clearly enlightnest our minds than the Sunne doth mens eyes Thou more vehemently inflamest our soules than fire doth coales Wherefore O most holy Crosse draw mee unto thee powerfully enlighten mee continually inflame mee vehemently and vigorously that my mind and cogitation may never depart from thee Thou also my good JESU illuminate the eyes of my soule that in this Crosse I may understand how to behold thee to wit that I may not onely contemplate those extreme sorrowes which thou sufferedst for my sake and take compassion of them but that I may also know that the examples of those many and excellent Vertues which thou heere exhibitedst were to mee recommended that they might by mee be imitated Wherefore O thou Teacher of the World O thou Physician of our soules here doe I come to the foot of thy Crosse she wing my wounds and sores unto thee heale mee O my God and prescribe mee what I should doe I acknowledge and confesse O Lord that I am vehemently addicted to sensuall affections and too great a Lover of my selfe which selfe-love I perceive hindereth much my spiritual profit and proficience So as being oft-times ensnared either with my pleasures and delights or deterred with the labour of fasting I lose the benefit of pious and devout exercises with the losse whereof my salvation likewise is endangered This sensuality of mine is to mee very tedious very grievous for truly it desires at set houres to feast daintily and delicatly it desires after dinners and suppers to solace it selfe in discourses and delights likewise to take the ayre walke in gardens and arbours alwayes affecting one recreation or other but teach thou mee O Lord by thy example what I ought to doe O with what confusion with what shame doe I conceive my selfe to bee cloathed so often as I behold after what sort thou entertainedst that most delicate and most tender body of thine In the midst of those anguishes and dolours of thy most bitter death thou ministredst to it no other repast nor receit than that which was confectioned of gall and vinegar by those cruell and hatefull Apothecaries And at that time whose tongue I pray thee durst complaine of thy meat that it was eyther cold or raw and ill dressed or too quickly or slowly dished upon sight of that Table spread O Lord for thee in that thy so great necessity In stead of delights and discourses which I seeke in my Suppers and banquets thou hadst the voyces of them who with moving and mowing and wagging their heads derided and blasphemed thee saying Hey thou that destroyest the Temple and buildest it in three dayes This was the musick this the harmony of thy banquet Likewise when thou stuckst nailed hand and foot upon the Crosse this was thy walking into the Garden For albeit thou hadst another garden wherto thou retiredst after supper yet was it not to walke in but to pray in not to refresh thee but to shed thy bloud not to delight thee but to grieve sorrow and bee in the agony of death What shall I say more of the rest of those refreshments of thy blessed flesh My flesh requireth a soft bed a pretious weed spacious and specious houses but tell thou mee O my holy Love what an one might be thy chamber What thy house What thy garment Thy garment is nakednesse and thy purple the habit of derision Thy house is to bee conversant in publike assemblies exposed to the distemperatures of Sunne and ayre and if I seeke for any house of thine besides this it is a stable for beasts Foxes have their holes and the Sparrowes of heaven their nests But thou the Creator and Maker of all things hast not whereon to lay thine head O yee curiosities and superfluities how comes it to passe that there is any place left for you among Christians Either let us cease to be Christians or let us cast from us all these delights and superfluities seeing our Lord and Master hath not only cast from him those things which were superfluous but even those things also which were necessary Now it remaineth Lord that I see what a Chamber thou hast Tell mee O sweet Lord where it is that thou lyest where thou sleepest at noone I lay mee downe here at thy feet teach mee what I ought to doe For this my sensuality will not well relish a Sermon of thy Crosse. I desire a bed soft and sweet and if I awake at Prayer time yet doe I suffer my selfe easily to bee overcome by sloth I expect likewise a morning slumber that I may get rest for my head But tell mee O Lord what rest thou hadst upon that bed of thy Crosse. When as leaning on the one side thou wert wearied how couldst thou rest thee on the other side that thou mightst bee eased May not thine heart here burst May not all thy sensuality here dye O solace to the poore O shame to the rich O strength to the penitent O condemnation to the soft and delicate Neither is JESUS CHRISTS bed for you nor his glory for you O Lord give mee grace that after thy example I may subdue and kill my sensuality but if not I beseech thee that even this very moment thou wouldst take my life from mee For it is not reasonable nor tolerable that thou shouldst bee fed upon the Crosse both with Gall and Vinegar and I seek after delights and most exquisite dainties Nor that thou shouldst â—ee so poore and naked and I with such earnestnes hunt aâ—ter worldly riches and so wretchedly love and affect them Nor that thou shouldst have a Crosse for thy couch and I seeke
a soft bed a pleasant chamber and delight of the flesh Bee ashamed therefore O my soule when thou beholdest thy Lord hanging upon the Crosse Where imagine him to bee preaching unto thee and rebuking thee after this manner I tooke for thee O man a Crowne of Thornes Thou in contempt of mee wearest a garland made of Flowers I for thee stretched out my hands upon the Crosse wilt thou reach thine forth to pleasures and dalliance I dying could not quench my thirst so much as with water wilt thou seeke after precious Wines and Viands I both on the Crosse as likewise all my life long was full of reproaches and sorrowes wilt thou bestow thy time upon honours and pleasures I suffered my side to bee opened that I might make thee even partaker of my heart wilt thou have thine exposed and opened to vaine and perillous loves A Short and fruitfull Confession of a Sinner unto God for obtaining Contrition O God of inestimable and eternall mercy God of unmeasurable piety God the Creator and Redeemer of mankind who purifiest the hearts of such as confesse their sinnes unto thee who releasest all such from the bond of iniquity as accuse themselves before the sight of thy divine majesty I beseech the power and depth of thy goodnesse with inward groanes that according to the multitude of thy mercies thou wouldst grant mee to make a pure and sincere confession before thee of all my sinnes whereof my guilty conscience doth accuse mee And that thou wouldst give mee true repentance for all such things as I have committed in naughty thoughts depraved cogitations wicked consent unjust counsell in concupiscence and uncleane delights in evill and hatefull words in malicious works in my seeing hearing tasting smelling and touching I truly even in all my members doe conceive my selfe guilty above measure because as the starres of heaven and sands of the Sea so doe I know my sinnes to bee innumerable But to thee Lord who knowest all secrets and who hast said Thou desirest the repentance of a Sinner doe I reveale all the secrets of my heart accusing my naughtinesse and my many and very great sinnes which I have committed before the eyes of thy fearefull Majesty all my wretched life long especially these here for the better increase of thy devotion and spirituall compunction maist thou particularize some of thy grievouser Sinnes with all those my evils which are open and manifest O God of mercy in thy sight And now O most gracious LORD looke upon mee and have mercy on mee and give unto mee a fountaine of teares and remission of all my sinnes through thy free mercie and that with inward confession of heart and affection of desiring remission seconded with so sincere a Confession Rectifie and reforme in mee O most loving Father whatsoever is depraved in mee either in word deed thought through my owne impietie or the Devils subtiltie and by joyning mee a member to the unity of the Church make mee partaker of thy Redemption and admit mee to the Sacrament of blessed reconciliation as one who hath no confidence but in thy mercy and compassion A Confession of Sinnes by Blessed Augustine O Mercifull pitifull great and terrible God I confesse unto thee my sins to thee to thee doe I discover my wounds for thine ineffable goodnesse bestow a Salve on mee Thou O most mild Lord vouchsafedst to say I desire not the death of a sinner but rather that hee may turne from his wickednesse and live I confesse that my life is in thy sight wicked and crooked that my life is falling into the lake of misery and my Soule perishing in my iniquities Lust sinfull delight naughty works wrath pridâ— impatience malice envy gluttony ebriety theft rapine lying perjury scurrility foolish speaking murmuring detraction ignorance infidelity distruct negligence of Gods Commandements as contagious glagues have slaine my Soule Mine heart and lips are polluted My seeing hearing tasting smelling and touching have enfeebled my Soule with sinnes and I am wholly lost as well in my cogitation as action I beseech thee O my Lord God whose mercy hath no end draw mee unto thee as thou drewest that sinfull woman As thou gavest grace unto her not to cease from kissing thy feet washing them with her teares and wiping them with her haires so graciously vouchsafe to grant unto mee that according to the greatnesse of mine iniquities thy great love may bee in mee that for thine unmeasurable piety thou maist forgive mee all my sinnes Bestow on mee pardon for evils past continence for evils present and cautelous prudence for evils to come Grant mee I beseech thee before I dye most fully to obtaine thy mercy and suffer not my dayes to bee ended till my sinnes bee pardoned but as thou willest and knowest have mercy on mee Amen A PRAIER before the holy Communion HAile O most holy flesh and bloud of Christ wherereof I am made partaker in these visible Elements Haile O thou highest sweetnesse who knowest no losing takest away all loathing destroyest death restorest life Haile thou blessed food which leadest thine Elect from the exile of this World to their Country Haile thou happy Sacrifice which art offered upon the Altar of the Crosse to God â—he Father for the whole burden of our sinnes Haile thou Manna more white than snow more sweet than honey more precious than all gold Take from mee I beseech thee O good Shepheard mine iniquities that with a purified heart and spirit I may deserve to taste these Holy of holiest Let this venerable Sacrament bee an impregnable Safeguard to mee against the deceits of the enemy that fed with this wholesome Viand I may passe the slippery wayes of this life in a blamelesse conversation and come unto thee the Bread of life and the true Lord of Angels without any hinderance of the Devils subtilty or malice O Lord heare mee bee pacified with mee attend mee and tarry not from mee O my God for thy goodnesse sake For none can bee worthy of so great a mystery unlesse thou ô Omnipotent God make him worthy Amen A PRAIER OF Th. Aquinas to be said after celebration of the holy Communion I Give thankes to thee O holy Lord OmnipoteÌ„t Father Eternall God who hast vouchsafed to refresh me thy grievous sinner and unworthy servant for no deserts of mine but for thy sole mercy sake with the precious Body and Bloud of thy Sonne our Lord JESUS CHRIST And I beseech thee that this holy Communion may not bee of guilt to mee unto condemnation but a soule-saving intercession of remission and consolation Let it bee unto mee the armour of faith and the shield of good-will Let it bee unto mee a removing of my vices a rooting out of lust and licentiousnesse an increasing of Charity and Patience Humility and Obedience and of all Vertues Let it bee a strong defence against all mine Enemies as well visible as invisible a perfect quieting and composing of my
as they do other most holy things if thou canst have them cause them to be applyed unto thee For even this verie holy persons of both sexes and famous for their miracles have formerly done An Exercise wherein the sick person with sighs and groanes because otherwise it can scarcely be done may resigne himselfe unto God and fervently desire that he may deserve to be joyned unto him O Most faithfull Lover most mercifull Lord Jesu Christ grant unto mee that with heart and mind I may feele what I say As the Hart brayeth for the rivers of water so panteth my Soule after thee ô my God I have chosen to be an Abject in the house of the Lord rather than to dwell in the Tabernacle of sinners Blessed are they that dwell in thy house ô Lord for ever and ever shall they praise thee My Soule hath thirsted after thee ô God when shall I come and appeare before thy face Why art thou sorrowfull ô my Soule and why art thou so disquieted within mee Trust in the Lord therefore will I now confesse my selfe unto him the Salvation of my countenance and my God Shew the light of thy countenance upon thy servant ô Lord save me for thy mercies sake Let me not be confounded for ever for I have called upon thee Be not far from mee ô my God Looke downe upon mee and help mee ô my God The poore is left unto thee Thou wilt be the Orphans helper Thou art my refuge in my tribulation which hath compassed mee O my joy deliver me from these that encompasse mee Make hast to helpe mee ô Lord God of my Salvation For thou art my strength and my refuge my helper and my protector Doe not then leave me nor despise me ô God of my salvation Behold I come unto thee ô my God whom I have despised and offended for the whole earth is full of thy mercie Therefore doe I flie unto thee my most mercifull Father Receive mee according to thy word when thou sayest I WILL NOT THE DEATH OF A SINNER and let mee live and confound mee not in my hope O my God I doe not pray unto thee for a life temporall but I call upon thee for the Salvation of my Soule who art life eternall O my sweet Lover O my Lord God for as much as I have offended thee for that I have neglected thine inspirations and admonitions for that I have at any time loved ought beâ—ide thee or without thee for this O my Lord God for this doe I grieve And I beseech thee that thou wouldest give unto mee so much grace as I may with all mine heart grieve aâ—d lament during everie moment of my life Would to God that I might poure out and offer unto thee everie drop of my bloud with teares for griefe and love into thy most sweet heart O sweet Jesu I neither desire nor expect of thee life nor death but thy good will and pleasure may it be done unto mee according to thy will If it be thy will O my sweet Jesu that I shall dye receive my spirit And although I come in the Evening as the verie last of all grant unto mee that I may receive eternall rest with thee and in thee But if it be thy will that I shall live longer O sweet Jesu I purpose this and I crave the assistance of thy grace for this to amend the rest of my life and to offer my selfe wholly as a burnt Sacrifice unto thee to thy glorie and according to thy good will and pleasure O most desired Jesu for as much as I have consumed my life in sin to the reproch of thy glorious name nor to this day have begun to serve thee grant unto mee that I may now at last perfectly begin and employ all the powers of my Soule anâ— Body and all the remainder of my time given mee by thee to thy glorie and according to thy best and most perfect will O most mercifull Jesu be thou neare mee in these my paines and miseries with which I am straitened and iâ— any more grievous than these shall come upon mee for that I have deserved not onely more grievous but most grievous by reason of my sins grant that I may patiently beare them O sweet Jesu if I had never at any time sinned nor at thine hand evilly deserved notwithstanding to thy glorie and for thy love good will and pleasure I offer and resigne my selfe unto thee either in these or any other punishments to deale with mee according to thy will not my worth but in the multitude of thy mercies on which I relye and on which I call that by thy power thou wouldest raise and rouze up the frailtie of my flesh and strengthen with longanimitie and confirme with patience the pusillanimitie and instabilitie of my Spirit that I may not â—all downe as one either vanquished with tentation or faint through pusillanimitie but swallowed up with the most burning heat of thy love I may onely sigh after thee onely desire thee and leave loath and contemne the world with all that is in it giving thee thanks with all mine heart for all things whether ministring unto me occasion of joy or sorrow O most loving Jesu I chuse thee I wish thee I desire thee I meet thee and I renounce whatsoever thou art not in mee what thou willest I will what thou nillest I nill whatsoever thou abhorrest I abjure And though sometimes that 〈◊〉 is contrarie to this will in mee may be incident unto mee I beseech thee O my God that thou wouldst not impute it unto mee nor judge mee according to that depravednesse of Will in mee but according to this Election of my mind by thy grace wrought in mee Because I contradict all those things which I ought not to will yea though which for thy mercie sake avert I hereafter vanquished should consent unto yet now doe I accurse and abjure them O most loving Jesu if it please thee and redound to thy glorie grant unto mee that I may be preâ—erved in this life from all sins and punishments into which after death I ought otherwiâ—â— to come to which I am subject or may possibly come and that thou wouldst receive my Soule by the hand of thy mercie immediately from this life to eternall joyes O Lord Iesu Christ receive my Spirit c. A CHRISTIANS LAST-WILL OR TESTAMENT Containing A PROTESTATION or Testament not unprofitable to be repeated or meditated of everie Christian at the point of death Composed as may be probably gathered by JOANNES LANSPER GENSIS and faithfully rendred according to the Originall A CHRISTIANS LAST-WILL OR TESTAMENT Containing A Protestation or Testament not unprofitable to be repeated or meditated of everie Christian at the point of death Composed as may be probably gathered by JOANNES LANSPER GENSIS and faithfully rendred according to the Originall IN the name of the Father and the Son and Holy Ghost I. M. an unhappie Sinner redeemed with