he adds blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find watching ready to run and open the door as soon as he knocks This preparation is necessary for all those who desire an happy Death and it seems that God the Soveraign dispenser of all Grace has annex'd the Grace of dying well to the care we take in preparing for it This we learn by the Parable of the Virgins the Virgins who had been careful in feeding their Lamps and had prepar'd them selves before hand to meet the Bridegroom went in with him to the wedding from whence the foolish Virgins were excluded because of their negligence want of preparation This truth that we have need of preparation to dye well is universally acknowledg'd 't is for this reason that we are so afraid of sudden Death But what do's this fear produce Has it awaken'd and excited us to prepare for Death Or do we wait for our last sickness that is staying for Death to prepare to dye The wise men of the world are not so negligent in their temporal concerns do we our selves act in the same manner do we undertake any thing of importance wherein our interest our honour or our pleasure is concerned without taking our measures before hand we will not venture to speak in publick or to shew our capacity till we have taken time to prepare our selves for it and with what care and diligence do we improve prove that time If we are to shew our skill in any exercise we allwayes take some time for practise what pains did they take saith S. Paul who strove for victory in the publick games how carefully did they study all the flights necessary for their design how did they foresee the artifices their adversary might make use of to surprise them how did they avoid pleasure least it should enervate them how temperate were they in their dyet how great was their chastity for many years together And shall we who know that our Salvation that our Eternal happiness depends on the manner of our dying be less solicitous to learn to do it well we are then to engage in a terrible fight dare we venture before we have learn'd to make use of our weapons how to void being overcome how can we hope for an happy death if we de not learn to dye well if we do not so much as know what we are to learn How long shall we rely on out health and youth and on the facility of being assisted on our death beds do we know any thing more certainly then the uncertainty of that last hour who would venture his Estate upon the hopes of a long Life we may dye every moment this for ought we know may be the last day we have to live we see men dye every hour and yet we deferr to prepare for Death still we put it off to a nother time Good God! what time do we mean The time of sickness is no time of preparation we should be ready then Estote parati Matt. 24.44 Be ready says our Saviour he do's not say prepare your selves but be ready now common sence will tell us that we must prepare before we can be ready What should we think of a Captain of a ship who never enquires whether his anchors and cables be in a readiness and fit for service till he is just perishing in a violent storm what should we think of a Governour who neglects to repair the breaches of his Town and lets the magazines remain empty till he is close besieg'd and the trenches opend Death says the wiseman is a dangerous voyage we sail from time to Eternity among Rocks and tempests It is a sudden siege where our Enemy has shut us up in a moment and can we think this a fit time to prepare our selves to fight We are afraid that the thoughts of Death will disturb our joy and make us sad we deceive our selves the thoughts of Death disquiet onely those who are unprepar'd and unwilling to think of it After all our endeavours we shall never attain a solid happiness in this Life by any other means then those which conduce to an happy death He who has learn'd to dye well says a very holy man has learn'd not only to live well but to be happy for the thoughts of death are uneasy only to those who have cause to fear they shall dye ill 't is the truest subject of joy and consolation to him that knows how to dye well he who is alwayes ready to dye cannot be afraid to think of dying I could not avoid insisting on the necessity and manner of preparing for Death because the chief design of this retreat ought to be to excite a Christian to prepare to dye happily by living holily No practise of Devotion is more universally necessary then this Every body cannot fast Solitude and austerities are not equally proper for all sorts of men but every age rank and condition is able to prepare for Death nothing can be a reasonable hinderance Let us then examine how we have been hitherto prepar'd whether we do now prepare And seeing we are now convinc'd of the necessity of doing it how will our souls be rack'd with despair when we come to dye if we negiect it SECT II. OF THE MANNER HOW we must prepare to dye well 1. THe most general and most necessary Preparation is an holy Life when we begin that we ought to begin to prepare for death the whole Life of a Christian being indeed a preparation to dye well We are afraid to dye suddenly but what good will that fear do us if we put our selves under a kind of necessity to dye ill for how can a man dye otherwise who will not prepare till he is just going to expire And indeed what probability is there that a man who has liv'd ill should dye well that he should be able in two or three days to make reparation for the wickedness of a long Life When the greatest Saints after a perfect Life of many years have not yet been out of danger of dying ill But we hope the we shall have time what time A time that is no time for us a time of which we can make no use a time when the time of mercy is past But we trust in the grace of God and thus whe hazard all by supposing our selves sure of Grace which God without any injustice might have refus'd to the most perfect Saints and the son of God hath protested that they who deferr their confession to the last shall dye in their sins In peccato vestro moriemini Joh. 8.21 And the Holy Gost hath declar'd by the pen of the wiseman that when death seizes you which you put so farr from you now when distress and anguish which you did not apprehend come upon you of a sudden In interitu vestro ridebo subsanabo vos Prov. 1.26 Clamabitis ad me non exaudiam vos
have but cause to doubt positively that I am not In this extremity all that he hath heard of judgment of Hell Eternity come afresh in his mind affright him in a terrible manner 'T is wonderful that he who some few days ago was full of doubts and uncertaintys is now fully convinc'd of the truths which he was then so unwilling to believe Behold his fears see how he trembles and quakes at the thoughts of Death judgment We sometimes meet with men who turn the most serious exercises of Piety into Rallery and call the exactness of those fervent souls who are punctual in performing the smallest dutys of their station preciseness and weakness Let these men who imagine they have reason to censure and act thus continue to think so at this hour and mantain their character of wits to the last if they can If they were in the right let them please themselves now with calling exactness and devotion preciseness and scrupulosity They have made a false conscience to themselves under its shadow they lull themselves in a false security let rhem now maintain that imaginary systeme Alas 't is the remembrance of these very things that now drives them to despair While we are in health our passions blind us ill examples seduce us we are charm'd with present objets the hurry of business takes us up and we industriously avoid serious Reflections on the Truths of Religion even our Faith is halfe dead stifled by the corruption of our manners but at the approach of Death it revives to terrify distract us like the Faith of the Devils it makes us tremble but do's not convert us Every body is convinc'd that when Death comes we shall repent our neglect of mortification our worldly voluptuous Lives our having done so very few good works and having liv'd no better and yet which is exceeding strange after all these reflections after being fully convinc'd of them how few take pains to amend their Lives My God! how long shall we make these useful rections and yet live so unlike Christians Death makes us see clearly then our prejudices and prepossessions vanish formerly we saw but were not sensible of the vanity emptiness of every thing in the world but now we both see and feel it and wonder at our stupidity in finding it no sooner and in not discovering our double want We find we were deceiv'd and at the same time find to our unspeakable an speakable anguish that we are ruin'd by that Error and that we cannot recover what it has made us loose A Dead man is indeed a mournful but an useful sight very proper to disabuse us and to alienate our affections from the pleasures of this Life the most accomplish'd man in the World inspires horror when he is dead immediately all is silent the Corps is cover'd the Curtains drawn and every body retires where is now his beauty and good miene where is his agreeable humour what is become of all his projects great fortune you see what is the end of all But what is become of his soul what must be done with this corrupted body which begins already to grow offensive Not withstanding all its greatness notwithstanding all its charms though the most Lovely in the world every body fly's it Husband wife Children Relations Friends neighbours servants are all striving to be rid of it those who lov'd it best are most desirous to have it carried away and most uneasy to hear it spoken of It s nearest and best friends hire men to throw it to the worms they make hast to nail it up they hide it in the ground and we cannot without horrour think of its condition a few days after You are forgot as soon as bury'd every one returns to his business your Friends seek other Friends take new measures and hardly think any more of you They concern themselves no more about you then if you had never liv'd no body fears your anger nor desires your favour they often undo all you had done within a little time you are not so much as talk'd of At your Death indeed some teares may possibly be shed by your Relations and Friends for the loss of some pleasure or advantage which they expected from you teares are common but the greatest part of those teares are only grimace they will soon be comforted especially if they gain by your Death any part of your Estate falls to them We may guess what others will do for us by what we have done for others after their Death Our grief for a friend and Relation has been soon appeas'd and though they were so wretched as to have ruin'd their souls for our sakes have we thought our selves much oblig'd to them After all this can we make any great account of the world and its pleasures 'T is indeed very surprising that we think so seldom of Death but t is much more surprizing that we can think once of it and not be converted How many live as if they were sure they should never dye were to dye more then once as if they should lose nothing by dying ill or as if they could recover that loss after Death Is not this our case And what will our thought be on a Death Bed when we call to mind the reflections we now make if we reape no benefit by them SECOND POINT Consider how happy a thing it is to dye when one has liv'd well Death is the punishment of sin it can therefore be a real trouble only to those who are defil'd with sin It must needs be a subject of great joy and pleasure to those who have led a virtuous Life How can they dye unhappily since they dye saints The Death of a Righteous man saith the Prophet is precious before God consequently dear to him for one alwayes esteemes and takes care of what is precious 'T is no matter to a good man to dye destitute of all humane aid tho he dye suddenly he never dyes unprepared God takes a peculiar care of him he dyes happily because his Death is precious in the sight of his God Every thing ought to contribute to his consolation how great must his joy then be when he reflects that he has liv'd like a Christian led a penitential Life The sight of what is to come will most certainly alleviate the pains of his present condition He is now got over all the difficulties in the way to heaven fasting mortification labours austerity pennance all is over What a satisfaction is it in Death to know that the hath done all the good that was required of him and avoided the ill which he might have done especially when he thinks on the remorse of Conscience which would have tormented him if he had done otherwise The longest Life seems then but a moment from the Cradle to the Tomb what a satisfaction must it be to a dying Christian that instead of omitting he has done
his Duty what would the greatest fortune avail me says the dying man what good could powerful friends do me now If I had spent my time in pleasures and follow'd the maxims of the world of what use would they be to me now I therefore condemn now and will condemn to all Eternity the maxims of the world all the Friendships on Earth cannot deferr my Death one moment I am for ever banish'd from all Company all the pleasures of the world are not able to moderate one of my least Pains and if I had fixt my heart on them I should now have nothing left but the regret of having weary'd my selfe for my own ruine He applauds himselfe for having been so wise as to contemn those vanity's which would leave him now whether he would or no if he had not left them T is sweet t is comfortable at the hour of death to think that one has left them His great business was to save his soul to make sure of an happy Eternity if he had been successful in every thing else and had not secur'd his salvation he would have done nothing he was in danger of not doing it and what would becoâ—â— of him if he had not He trembles with fear at this thought but having by the grace of God apply'd himselfe chiefly to that great work the same thought fills him with comfort Let us suppose that a man has taken a long journey about an impottant business on which his fortune His honour and his Life depends that he comes just time enough to have audience of his Prince and to justify his conduct and finds that if he had staid an hour or two longer he would have come too late have lost his cause and been condemn'd to Death How glad is he that he did not trifile away his time upon the road But if by his diligence he not only sav'd his life but gain'd an Estate honours and dignitys and became his Princes favourite would he repine because he had miss'd some little pleasures neglected some conveniences which he might have found in the way if he had stay'd for them And by staying for which he knew several who came on the same business with him had lost their cause and their Lives remembrance of past dangers gives us real pleasure and we delight to talk of them so the difficulties we have gone through for the love of God will be very sweet to us at the hour of Death Did it ever come into a mans thoughts on his death bed to regret that he had not diverted and pleas'd himself enough in the World We very often repent the having pleas'd our selves too much we regret the time we have thrown away in vain worldly diversions while we neglected mortification Alas are not all our Lives full of nothing else but these very things of which we repent when come to dye Did ever Religious man at the hour of Death repent his having willingly and meritoriously left his Relations his wealth the world which he must now leave whether he will or no gain nothing by his leaving it an imperfect Religious will repent of his imperfections but not of his being Religious The thoughts of Death terrify the stoutest make the wicked tremble but they fill the Saints with joy He is A good man says S. John Climacus that do's not fear Death but he is a Saint who desires it Then it is that those who have lov'd their Redeemer find a mighty sweetness in receiving the Viaticum being able to say come Lord Jesus my heart is ready A crucifix must needs be welcome on a Death bed to a man who has born the Cross all his Life and liv'd by it Proficiscere anima Christiana de hoc mundo With what pleasure do's he hear himselfe invited to leave the world which he values so little and to take possession of the New Jerusalem after which he has sigh'd like a Prince recall'd to his throne like a valiant soldier whom his soveraign sends for to come and receive the reward of all his fatigues and combats T is true the sight of his sins may justly make him fear but the view of the Crucifix the prayers of the Church the assistance of the Saints and especially of the Queen of Saints of Jesus-Christ himselfe inspires him with confidence in the mercy of God which no temptation or trouble is able to disturb The sight of his good works makes him confident but not vain being persuaded that the divine goodness who has guided him by his grace during this Life will not leave him in this last hour his tenderness devotion to the Blessed Virgin and the remembrance of her past favours will afford him no less joy and comfort This fervent sâ—ul lov'd his Saviour and long'd to be with him and now rejoyces in expectatien of that happy moment which will unite him to that dear Saviour for ever What a sweetness do's he find in pronouncing the name of Jesus whom he lov'd with so much tenderness fervour What a difference is there between the death of a Saint and the death of a wicked man a difference that is seen even after their Death The Corps of the former inspires veneration not with standing the natural horror we have for dead Bodys and for every thing about them so that we are not unwilling to come near them neither the body of a Saint nor any thing about it frights us we are not afraid to enter into the Chamber where it lyes we are earnest to get some thing that belong'd to it we kiss it we strive to touch it his death is not only agreeable to him but to us to such is the power of Holiness that it takes away all the horror of a Corps and renders it venerable and precious We are all charm'd with the Death of a Saint Is it not then very strange that our desire to dye like him do's not excite us to live better We are all ready to say with the Prophet Let me dye the death of the just and let my latter end be like his But to what purpose is this lazy wish while we will not imitate his Life Are we ignorant that the satisfaction which the Saints find in Death is the ordinary fruit of the holiness of their Lives we should have liv'd like them in a continual mortification of our passions in an entire renouncing contempt of the world an uninterrupted practise of all Christian virtues and an exact performance of the duty 's of our station What is the reason that we take no more care to prepare for Death seeing there is nothing of so great importance that all depends upon dying well and that if whe dye ill we can never repair our loss oh 't is a wretched thing to be reduc'd in in the last moment of our lives to unprofitable regrets Tho you were the greatest admirer of the world thou you were never so
God who has created us only to serve him is pleas'd by a singular goodness so to order it that we cannot serve him without saving our selves He did from the beginning design our Eternal happiness in creating us for his Glory seeing that Eternal happiness is no otherwise propos'd then as a reward our whole life is given us only that we may deserve it by obedience to those Laws and Commandments which he hath made for that End And the desire of happiness which is natural to every man do's as it were by instinct advertise us in the midst of our disorders that we are plac'd in the world only to work out our Eternal salvation in Heaven The Checks of our Consciences which are hardly ever quite stifled cry loud to us that we put our selves in danger of being lost when we forget our end never so little And are not the fears of hell and of the dreadful judgements of God which shake the most hardned sinners a sufficient monitor telling us incessantly that we are in the world only to be saved This is the only business of all the world this is our last End we are not here to obtain great Employments or dignity's to render out selves excellent in this or that profession nor to establish a reputation by our good qualities You are rais'd to that dignity you are put in that dignity you are put in that station God has given you those qualitys made you successful only that these may be helps to your salvation may be the means to bring you more easily to him your last End We are then created only that we may be saved that we may avoid an Eternity of woe in Hell and obtain an happiness in Paradise which shall never end We are made only for Heaven we are but banish'd men here or at best but travellers who should rejoice when they find themselves near the End of their journy and of their banishment But do we look upon our selves as such Have we these thoughts of Heaven would any one that examines our conduct think that we believe our salvation to be our last End Men easily find means to attain their ends surely there are but few who make heaven their great design since there are so few who take the right methods to obtain it The End of a Merchant in his Trade of a scholar in his study's of a Courtier in his carriage of a soldier in the midst of dangers is easily known but is it as visible that every man in his station and employment seeks onely God and the salvation of his soul as his last End Yet what do's it profit a man to raise a great fortune to gain the whole world and loose his soul What is there in all the world that can make him amends for the loss of that It would have been much better for him not to have been born then not to be saved Let us remember that if we do not make God our soveraign happiness he will be our soveraign misery we may be wiâ—hout every thing else but we cannot be without this good tho a man be poor forsaken despis'd or forgo ten if he save his soul he will be happy to all Eternity and want nothing but let him be never so rich happy and esteem'd in the woâ—ld if he be damn'd he is miserable for ever What are those great extraordinary men who fill'd the world with their brave actions what are they the better for all the honour they gâ—in'd if they are damn'd suppose you saw the richest man in the world on his Deaâ—hbed one who had enjoy'd all sorts of pleasures who had arriv'd to the highest pitch of Glory and greatness who had been successful in all his undertakings and had only neglectâ—d his soul ask him what do all your wealth your greatness and your pleasures avail you all these are pass'd and gone as if they had never been but your soul which you have lost those pains which are the sad consequences of that loss will never pass away Let us consider what thoughts we shall have in those last moments what shall we then think of every thing that is now an obstacle to our salvation How will all our great designs and projects which took us up entirely appear then We venture our souls ra her then disoblige a friend then loose an opportunity of enriching our Children or of distinguishing our selves in the world What will our opinion of all this be when Death comes will the remembrance of all past greatness comfort a man who knows he is falling into Hell Will those pretended friends be much oblig'd to us for having ruin'd our selves to please them shall we be much oblig'd to them who are the cause of our damnation and for whose sakes we are lost Wretched Father that labours and sweats that ruins his health and shortens his Life to get an Estate for his Children and is damn'd for his pains who will thank him for it Who would not be rich if an earnest desire to be so were sufficient we may be saints if we will by the help of grace which is never wanting yet we are unwilling to be so And indeed if we are not saints it is because we will not 'T is surprising that men who love themselves so much should reflect so little on a matter of this consequence that men who in all other things are wise and prudent should yet every day go out of the world without having once seriously considered why they were sent into it whence they came and whither they are to go after Death And yet cheat themselves at last with an appearance of conversion O Divine saviour where is that passionate desire of our salvation which mov'd thee to do such great things How long wilt thou suffer so many souls to be lost for whom thou hast paid so great a price Art not thou still our God and are not we thy people Canst thou ever forget that thou art my saviour I have not indeed made a right use of my happiness in being design'd only for thee I have forgot thee to place my affections upon the Creatures I have wander'd out of the way that leads to my last End and refus'd to obey the voyce of the good shepherd who call'd me But now I see and repent of my wandring however unfaithful I have been the sence thou hast given me of my unfaithfulness makes me hope that thou wilt have mercy on me thou lovedst me when I did not love thee and when I did all I could to make thee hate me thou sought'st even when I fled most from thee O my God! wilt thou refuse me now that I am resolv'd to love thee wilt thou hide thy selfe from me now that I seek thee I cannot fear this from so infinitely good and merciful a God I acknowledge that I was made only to love and serve thee and I am resolv'd O my God by the assistance of
an hour on Death on what we shall suffer feel and think then let us endeavour to become sensible that it is not farr off and to put on such dispositions as we shall have at its approach Let us reflect seriously on the rigour of Death how without any exception it deprives us of all things on the condition of our body 's in the grave and how soon we shall be forgotten in the world how little our Relations our Friends and acquaintance will think of us as if we had never liv'd Let us affect our selves with the vanity of all that charms us here with the folly of placing our happiness or our hopes on the Creatures Riches honors pleasures all vanish are as nothing at the sight of Death but above all let us press home the importance of dying well the danger of dying ill if we do not prepare for it betimes and that it will be to little purpose for us to put off our preparation to a Death-Bed This Meditation should produce sincere resolutions that we will immediately begin to do what when Death comes we shall wish we had done sooner and what we shall not be able to de if we deferr it till then And because external objects very much contribute to render us more recollected we may follow their Examples who make their Chambers as obscure as they can who have the representation of Death before them leaving onely just light enough to discern it Others suppose themselves ready to expire and with a Crucifix in their hands seek all their consolation from that amiable object Others hang their Chamber with mourning and endeavour by the sight of their winding sheets to represent Death approching These funeral objects have a certain mournful air which is capable of making agreat impression Our Confession must bu such as we would make if we were dying we must omitt nothing we must disguise nothing that may give us any trouble we must lay our souls entirely open that our Confessor may be as well acquainted with our interior as we are our selves We must shew him all that passes in our hearts all that God sees there and which he will one day expose to all the World if we do not prevent that terrible discovery by a full and entire Confession Hove all we must be truly contrite which is the point wherein we are oftenest deficient Say to your soul that you are working for Eternity t is not a Ceremony you are about you are now to blot out all your past fins to do this work in such a manner that you may be in no need of doing it again were you immediately to dye Examine your selfe carefully on these Articles the restitution of your neighbours goods the reparation of his honour blasted by your censures the example you have given the repidity and slothfulness of your Life your Enmity's and hatreds your want of godly sorrow of sincerity and of resolutions of amendment in your Confessions the sins of your youth those which your interest hath made you commit the ill habits in wich you have indulg'd your selfe the dangerous engagements you would not break the next accafions of sin which you would not avoid the darling passion the beloved sin which men hardly ever mortify which is the source of all their disorders your inordinate Love of pleasure your wilful ignorance of the duty 's of your station your abusive and scandalous railleries the ill use of the Sacraments of time of Grace If you be Religious search into the violation of your vows your carelessness indischarging the particular duty 's of your Calling These are the things which do generally disturb us on a Death-bed and make our Salvation doubtful when restitution reparation of honour to those we have aspers'd when quitting the occasions of sin reconciling our selves to our Ennemies precede our Confession it is the best sign that our sorrow and resolutions are sincere We should look upon this days communion as the Viaticum and imagine that we hear the Priest when he puts the blessed Host into our Mouths says Accipe viaticum Frater corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi c. Receive Dear Brether the precious body and blood of Jesus Christ your Saviour to be your viaticum in your passage to Eternity The Acts following the Communion must be suitable to the condition of a dying Christian which we shall not be able to make when we are indeed expiring Having regulated our Consciences let us then put our temporal affairs in order as if we were going to dye Fac Testamentum tuuÌ„ dum sanus es dum sapiens es dum tuus es Make your will saith Saint Augustin while you are yet in health while you have your sences free while you are Master of your Time of your selfe In your last sickness continues the same Father you will be exposed to so many flatteries â— In inâ—mitat blanditiis minis duceris ubi tu non vis importunities and surprises that it will not be your will but the will of those about you Besides your time will then be too precious and too short to spend any of it in worldly matters but you must be careful not to forget your selfe while you provide for others you forget your selfe if you give nothing to the Poor Let the remainder of the Day be employed in good works in a profound solitude and recollection and in reading some spiritual Book that treats of Death Father Colombiere's three discourses on that subject are admirable and may be very useful if we peruse them carefully Or else we may read the foregoing Meditation on the sentiments which we shall have at the hour of Death Let us pass one hour in consideration on the duty 's of our private station especially on those particulars which may trouble us on a Death hed and we may reap great benefit by being attentive to the prayers of the Church for dying persons either in the administration of the Sacrament of extreme unction or in the Recommendation of the soul to God It is evident that we ought to debarr our selves all manner of conversation during the whole Day we must speak only to our Director unless we visit some poor sick or dying person not only to comfort and assist them but also to raise in our selves a more lively image of what we shall be one day We must close the Day with a Meditation on Judgment on the different conditions of a fervent and alukewarm soul going to appear befor God The chief fruits of this Christian practise are these we must be perfectly wean'd from every thing of which we know Death will deprivus to which we must add an exceeding horror of all mortal sin Reformation of our Lives and a sincere desire to lay up a treasure of merits by the practise of virtue and Good works SECT III. PRAYERS AND Ejaculations to help us to dye well THe time of our last sickness
more surprizing we are all agreed in the importance of Salvation and in the vanity of every thingelse yet we apply our selves onely to seek those vanity's and are negligent in nothing but the business of salvation We are all conceited of our wisdom and capacity in business every man pretends to understand it we think ignorance in business or neglect of it shows want of sence breeding that our reputation depends upon it but if we neglect nothing but our Salvation if we live as unconcernedly as if we had no soul to loose we are so farr from blushing or hiding our carelessness that we glory in it and tho we are never so indevout and irregular we pass for very honest men and if we understand the world and know how to be successful in it we are accounted wise 'T is an affront to tell a man that he do's not understand his business but 't is no disgrace to be accus'd of negligence in the business of Salvation surely we do not look upon it as our business My God! when did this one thing necessary cease to be so We can loose our souls with all the tranquility in the world and we are reasonable Creatures in every thing that do's not concern us we do not deny that the Saints were truly wise yet all their wisdom consisted in preferring their Salvation to every thing else in esteeming it their onely business Are we wiser them they that our actions are so contrary to theirs they spent their whole lives in preparing for Eternity to what end did they take so much pains spend so much time for what we pretend to do with so much ease Miserable unthinking wretches that we are to allow so little Time for what requires it all Have we found a new way to heaven whereof the son of God was ignorant or is the price of Heaven fallen and is that happiness which cost the blood of Christ to purchase become of less value What are now the sentiments of those famous states men whom we esteem the greatest Politicians of those extraordinary men who were alway's busy in pacifying or troubling the world which their heads wer alwayes full of Those men of Riches as the scripture calls them who liv'd without thinking on Eternity and who after an uninterrupted success in all their other business have miscarry'd only in this great business of Salvation They are not damn'd for laziness and sloth on the contrary they ow their ruine to too much useless business they were so busy that their very sleeps were broken by their Cares and they have lost themselves by labouring in what did not concern them by taking too much pains about nothing while they neglected their onely real business And 't is by this that the greatest part of mankind are lost And shall not I increase the number of the lost if I continue to live as I have done what have I done for Heaven what have I not done to deprive my selfe of it I have been careful of every thing but my soul and I act as if its ruine were nothing to me But I trust in thy mercy O my God that the change of my Life shall manifest that my heart is chang'd I will save my soul the care of my Salvation requires all my diligence and it shall have it all I humbly beseech thee to give me thy grace to recover what I have lost as thou hast given me Time for it I am sensible that this is my onely business I am resolv'd to do it let thy Grace make me successful SECOND MEDITATION OF THE MOTIVES which we have to apply our selves continually to the business of our Salvation FIRST POINT The Motives which are common to all Christians SECOND POINT The Motives which every one hath in particular FIRST POINT COnsider what God has done for our Salvation he is earnest and desirous to render us happy as if his own happiness had depended on ours Having made us free and masters of our selves what pains hath he taken what pains doth he still take to gain our hearts He desires our hearts he sollicites us to give them he is importunate with us for them some times he promises some times he threatens he leaves nothing undone to persuade us to love him he takes all this pains because he knows it is in our power to save or damn our selves and he earnestly desires our Salvation Did we ever duly consider are we able to comprehend the mistery of our Redemption where the Almighty exerts all his omnipotence to shew the greatness of his Love to our souls and with what earnestness he desires our salvation Could we ever have imagin'd that God should become man to the end that men might be saved Yet this he hath done and not content with this wondrous miracle he goes yet farther to engage us to love him he passes a Life of three and thirty years in poverty and sufferings and he subjects himselfe to a cruel Death Such a value doth God set upon our souls that nothing less than the sufferings the blood the Life of this God and man could redeem them and shall we think it a small matter to loose them Shall we think that we do too much when God thought nothing too much to purchase our happiness Let us rather conclude that we can never do enough What does he get by our Salvation yet what could he do more then he hath done Is not all the profit ours why then do we do so little for it How many are now raging and despairing for having neglected to do what I may do if I will and which if I neglect now I shall one day feel the same regrett as they Can we have a more powerful motive to excite us to set about it without delay and to pursue it continually Blessed be God we may yet work out our Salvation we have yet time God offers us his Grace these very thoughts proceed from that Grace but this may perhaps be the last moment wherein it will be offer'd us Our Eternal happiness for ought we know our Predestination may depend on this one important moment I am certain that I may make my Salvation sure at present if I turn sincerely and heartily to God I have at least great reason to doubt that if I let slip this occasion I shall never have a nother and can I wilfully deferr one moment Shall the Devil take more pains to destroy our souls then we will take to preserve them shall he value our souls at an higher rate then we do our selves The comparison is shameful but too true tho his nature be much nobler then ours and his pride so great yet he stoops to any thing that can ruine a soul he never gives over the greatest resistance never weary's him or renders him less diligent in assaulting us he cunningly makes use of every little occasion to destroy us Good God! must we learn of him how to prize our souls
tobe Saints without following their Example what grounds have we to rely on the mercy of God when we make use of that mercy to hinder our Conversion Jesus-Christ has expressly condemn'd lukewarm souls yet do's not this tepidity reign among Christians Am I convinc'd that the number of the Elect is so small and shall I do nothing to be of that number Yes my God! were there to be but one soul saved since it depends on my will to be that soul I am resolv'd to be sav'd I acknowledge that I have done nothing for thy service which can make me hope but my confidence is founded on what thou art doing now for me Thy design in giving me this opportunity in exciting me to this resolution was not to increase my guilt I have no need of any other Argument to convince me that thou desirest my Salvation thanthis very fear which thou hast imprinted in my soul least I should not be of the number of thy chosen I have often rendred my best thoughts useless but my God I have reason to hope that this resolution which I now make to work out my salvation with all the earnestness in the world shall be effectual And because I have had too much experience that these pious designs are easyly forgotten I will begin this moment to turn to thee Dixi nune coepi haec mutatio dexterae Excelsi Ps 76.11 to devote my selfe entirely to thy service and I rely upon thy goodness for strength to persevere SECOND MEDITATION OF SIN FIRST POINT Of Mortal Sin SECOND POINT Of Venial Sin FIRST POINT COnsider that all the calamity's and misery's that are in the world or have been since the Creation proceed from mortal sin this is the cause of warrs plagues and Famines of the destruction of City's by fire and of men by sickness Eternal Damnation and Hell it selfe are the dismall effects of one Mortal sin How can we comprehend the heinousness of mortall sin seeing thô the Angels were the most perfect part of the Creation neither the nobleness of their nature nor all their perfections nor their fitness to glorify their maker to all Eternity nor their being particularly design'd for that end could exempt them from being plung'd into everlasting flames for one mortall sin of a moment express'd in a vain thought For one act of disobedience Adam was depriv'd of his original justice of all his natural and supernatural gifts by this one sin he lost the priviledge of immortality became subject himselfe and subjected his Posterity to those innumerable misery's under which wegroan so many thousand yeares are past and the Divine vengeance is not yet appeas'd nor will be till the end of Ages 't is the fire of this wrath that burns in Hell and will never be extinguish'd The consideration of the terrible punishment inflicted on mortal sin is a clear proof that it is the greatest of evils since God who is goodness its selfe and whose mercy is exalted above all his works is so very severe against one act of it How many persons eminent for virtue full of merits and arrived to a great degree of sanctity are now damn'd for one mortal sin If after three or fourscore years of penance after a long Life spent in the exercise of the most heroick virtues after having wrought miracles if we commit one mortall sin all our penance all our virtues will be counted for nothing we become Enemys to God and objects of his wrath vengeance By the severity of the punishment we may conceive some Idea of the crime but its enormity and the hatred which God bears to it are more visible in the pains he hath taken and what it hath cost him to destroy it Those inconcevable mistery's of the incarnation the nativity the Life the passion and the Death of the Eternal Son were wrought onely for the destruction of sin nothing less then all theblood of Christ could redeem one soul and after all this soul shall be damni'd for one mortal sin all the flames of Hell those Eternal flames could never cleanse the least sinful spot Can we believe this and live one moment in sin and notwithstanding this extreme danger continue to sin and to expose our selves every day to the occasions of committing it this is hardly to be imagin'd How shall we reconcile our Faith with our practise how shall we make our practise and our Reason agree we refuse no pains to oblige a friend we are wonderfully exact in every punctilio of good breeding but stupidly careless in the important duty 's of a Christian Life We own that most afflictions are the punishments of our sins we are all afraid of Hell yet we are not afraid of sin which is the cause of Hell how sensible are we of the smallest loss how uneasy how sad and often uncapable of comfort yet how insensible of the greatest of that irreparable loss which a million of worlds can never repair we sin but we are not sad neither do we stand in need of comfort Thô we had committed but one mortal sin in all our Lives it would be a just reason for continual humiliation it would be a just subject of fear and trembling to the last moment of our Lives We have sin'd we are in danger of renewing our sins we are uncertain of their pardon how can we be without fear Are we sure that we are in a state of Grace or do we hope so be cause of our reiterated confessions Alas who hath told us that our contrition was sincere that our sorrow was from a supernatural motive how can we be satisfy'd with our purposes and resolutions when we know by experience and by so many relapses how ineffectual they have often been Since God spared not the Angels that sin'd how ought we to tremble who have sin'd after the knowledge of their terrible punishment After having seen the son of God expire on a Cross to destroy sin can I imagine that God will hate sin less in me My God Sauiour who hast dyed for me which thou wouldst not do for the fallen Angels I humbly beseech thee by the merits of thy Death to give me that Grace which thou wouldst not offer them Give me an hearty sorrow for all my sins and incline my will to answer thy End in affording me this time for repentance which thou hast not given many others and to begin immediately SECOND POINT Consider that venial Sins seem small onely to those who have little faith and less Love they who love God truly look upon all sin with horror and are more afraid of it than of the grearest misery A venial sin is indeed a small sin but it is not a small evil as long as it is a sin it is agreater evil than a general desolation of the whole Universe and therefore the Saints of God have always judg'd yt all the creatures ought to think themselves happy if they could prevent one venial
sin by the sacrifice of their very beings Moses his distrust in striking the Rock twice cost him his Life Five and twenty thousand Israelites dyed in one day at Berhshemeth for looking too curiously into the Ark of God Davids vanity in numbring the people brought a terrible Plague upon them two and forty children were devoured by wild Bears for mocking the Prophet Elisha and Hezekiahis ostentation in shewing his treasures to the Ambassadours of Babylon could not be expiated by less than the loss of those treasures Thus God whose wisdom is infinite punishes venial sins in this Li-Life but in the next where his justice is not restrained by his mercy the punishments of venial sins yield in nothing as to their violence to the torments of Hell and this he inflicts even on those souls whom he loves tenderly and who love him above all things We shall find one Day that the Death of our beloved Child the loss of such an estate such a distemper the ruine of such a family and publick calamity's are perhaps now as formerly the punishments of venial Sins God indeed doth not alway's send visible chatisements but then he reserves the sinner for severer strokes For every venial sin we deliberately committ God withdraws some portion of his Grace and is the deprivation of Grace a small loss Veniall Sins do not indeed make God hate us but they make him love us less they make him stop the course of his bounty withold his Graces and suspend that particular Providence with which he watches over those he loves that tender care whereby he preserves them from danger whereby he either keeps them from Temptations or enables them to overcome them Venial Sins render a soul languishing and insensibly disgust it with Piety till they have brought it into a lukerwarm disposition the most dangerous state a soul can be in And God at length grows weary of our ingratitude and cannot suffer that we should believe that we auquit our selves sufficiently of the infinite obligations we have to him provided we abstain from offring him the most outragious affronts thô at the same time we indulge our selves in displeasing him everyhour Which of us would have the patience to keep a servant onely for his honesty who had no other good quality who did every thing with reluctancy and by halves who treated us with disrepect and who never took care to please us under pretense that it was in things of no consequence And can we expect that God should suffer a servant whom we would not endure It is true that venial Sins do not renderus Enemy's to God but it is as true that he who indulges himselfe deliberately in many venial Sins do's not love God Certainly the man that contents himselfe with barely not being Gods Enemy esteems his Love but little the best that can be said is that he is afraid to have God his Enemy but very indifferent in desiring him for his Friend The wilful disobliging a Friend upon all occasions is a strange method to make him love us And I cannot see how we shall be able to reconcile our profession of loving with our practise of wilfully displeasing him 'T is no excuse that we offend onely in little things their smallness renders us inexcusable because we might more easily avoid them If they be little things we cannot pretend that we were discourag'd by difficulties or that the violence of our passions hurry'd us away it proceds onely from an indifferency for God whom we serve out of fear and flatter our selves that we love him because we dread his justice No wonder then if God be as indifferent for us if he abhorr our baseness if he withdraw his favours from such unworthy wretches and refuse to communicate him selfe any more to us And indeed we can not expect those peculiar favours which he bestow's onely on fervent souls Thus we run our selves into danger of comitting greater faults for an habit of venial sins is the high Road to mortall ones and God is in amanner oblig'd to deprive us of those divine lights of those strengthning graces without which we can never resist violent Temptations Hence proceed the surprising falls of many who were at first so reserv'd they began by allowing themselves little Liberty's and so by degrees fell into such disorders as before this unfaithfulness they would have trembled to think of He who despises little things will most certainly fall by degrees For though venial sins can never be come mortall yet they dispose us for them if we once content our selves with not losing the Grace of God we are sure to loose it in a very little Time these terrible falls startle us but if we did wel consider the disposition in which venial Sins put the soul we should be Ies◠surpris'd Venial Sins are like the beginnings of a sickness the first indisposition seems nothing at all and we think it wil easily be cur'd yet by little little it undermines our health so that the least excess or unwholsome ayr throws us in to a malignant feavour and from thence in to the Grave Though sometimes men dye suddenly yet their Deaths are usually preceded by some light indisposition which seem'd of no consequence Thus Venial Sins thô never so deliberate and numerous do not kill the soul but they weaken it and impair its strength so that it languishes and do's its duty 's but by halves and with reluctancy every thing hurts it Sacraments Good works do it no good How can a soul in this condition remain long in a state of Grace being thus expos'd to so many impending dangers depriv'd of its support and strength every moment running its selfe farther in to danger This made an Eminent Saint say that we ought some times to be more careful to avoid small sins than great ones And 't is the apprehension of not stopping here 't is the fear of being depriv'd of strengthning grace in punishment of those little infidelity's there by being left a prey to temptation that makes the Saints so incapable of comfort after a veniai Sin After all is a Venial Sin nothing is it of no consequence what then shal we count something if it be nothing to offend God wethink it a matter of consequence not to disoblige a friend we think it a matter of consequence not to be rude to any man so much as by mistake and shall we think it a slight thing deliberately to displease God shall we think it nothing to lessen his kindness to us to stop the channel of his Graces to diminish the fervour of charity to render all the Sacraments of no use shall we think our selves affronted by a rash word shall we think that fault little which offends God which draws his indifference on us thô not his hatred which will make us loose those inestimable Treasures that are worth more than all the riches in the world shall we make nothing of
under the shelter of which they frequent the Sacrements and do some good wocks yet still indulge themselves in secret aversions in envious jealousies in criminal and dangerous engagements in uneasiness murmuring against their Superiors in selfe Love and in pride which influence almost all their actions and in an hundred other faults of the same nature in the midst of which they live unconcern'd they persuade themselves that there is no great crime in all this and seek for excuses to palliate those faults which God condemns as heinous sins and which they themselves will condemn as such when they come to dye for then their passions will be no longer able to hinder them from seeing things as they are in themselves surely it is no hard matter to discover that the Salvation of a man in such a state as this is in great danger The State of a Soul in mortal sin is very dangerous but our Saviour judges a lukewarm state to be yet worse for he tells the Angel or Bishop of the Church of Laodicea I would ' thou wert either cold or hot for because thou art lukewarm and neither col nor hot I will cast thee out of my mouth as tainted offensive Do's Jesus-Christ who bears with the greatest Sinners who is alwayes ready to pardon them who did not abhorr even Judas himselfe do's he abhorr a lukewarm Soul hath he who is so tender towards Sinners no tenderness no love for a Soul that is neither cold nor hot What hopes then can such a Soul have of being saved We ought not to despair of the Salvation of the most notorious Sinner though his disorders and crimes have renderd his Conversion difficult we ought still to hope for he knows his Sins is therefore more capable of being made sensible of them and of hating them Tell the grearest Sinner of the severe judgments of God of Death and of the rigourf and duration of Eternal Torments the foree of these terrible verity's may alarm and convert him but all this makes no impression on a luke-warm Soul his condition is without remedy because it abstains from crying and scandalous Sins which startle a Soul that hath any fear left ' it do's not mind Spiritual and interior faults it mingles them with some actions of Piety so that they easily pass unregarded by a Conscience that is not exceeding tender and thus not knowing the greatness of its danger it do's noting to prevent it Nothing do's a Soul Good in this condition Prayers exhortations reading masses meditations Sacrements are all fructless whether it be that the little benefit it hath hithertho receiv'd by them gives it a disgust and takes away its desire to make use of them or that being accustom'd to them they have less effect that having heard these terrible truths discours'd of an hundred times and having as often discours'd of them its selfe to no purpose they make no impression on it It receives but few graces because of its unfaithfulness in those which it do's receive its faults are alwayes great because they are attended with an higher contempt a greater malice a blacker ingratitude than the faults of others this odious mixture of good and bad which composes the caracter of a lukewdarm Soul discovers clearly how injurious such a conduct is to God the seeming good works that it do's are a convincing proof that it hath not forgotten God but its careless and imperfect way of doing them shews how little it stands in awe of that God whom it serves with so much indifference and disgust And indeed this disgust is mutual it has an aversion to Christ and Christ hath an aversion to it no wonder that such men immediately after their communions are ready to return again to and renew their Sins as if they had not receiv'd the Opinion of their pretended good works tenders them proof against all wholesome advice they can hear it with all the coldness in the world and 't is this that makes so many good thoughts and holy inspirattons useless Hence proceeds the strange blindnefs of a lukewarm Souls and that horrible insensibility which is the heaviest of judgments and the utmost degree of misery And there fore S. Bernard and S. Bonavente declare that it is much easier to convert a worldling tho never so wicked than a Lukewarm Religious What hope is left for such a Soul there is no remedy for it it will not be cur'd because it is not sensible of its illness It is a sick Creature whose condition is the more desperate because it laughs at those who think its sick so that there is need of a greater miracle to convert a lukewarm Soul than to make the blind to see or to raise the dead to Life None but thou my God canst do it thou art able to cure the most inveterate diseases but thou hatest Lukewarmness and this makes me fear I cannot pray with that confidence as I would for the most scandalous sinner I acknowledge that I have been hirher to in a lukewarm State But since thou hast made me sensible of it I am persuaded thou desirest to draw me our of it Oh! let not this renewed grace which perhaps will be last thou wilt ever Offer me be ineffectual thou wouldst have me be saved I am resolv'd to be saved what then can hinder my Salvation SECOND POINT Consider that a lukewarm state is not only very dangerous but which is more strange it is almost impossible to recover a Soul out of it because he that would recover must be sensible of his being in danger which a tepid Soul is not An heinous Sinner easily knows his danger there are eertain favourable moments where in by the help of grace he discovers so much deformity in his Soul that he presently laments his misery which knowledge and confession render his conversion much less difficult But a lukewarm soul do's not believe that ke is lukewarm he that believes himselfe tepid ceases to be so for we are rarely sensible of our condition till we begâ—n to be fervent this renders the conversion of the lukewarm almost impossible for which way shall one go about to persuade them that they are in such a State Blindness is the first effect of Tepidity It s unfaithfulness being gradual it is less sensible of them then its faults grow habitual and at last it takes pleasures in them nothing toucheth it when it is in this condition and it suspectes nothing it is not sensible of any new fault it grows lukewarm without omitting one of its devotions 't is the imperfections of these very devotions that give birth to its tepidity and help it to deceive its selfe by covering its reall faults with a false appearance of vertue God himselfe who so loudly a larms the Sinner is now silent and will not awake him but leaves him to dye in this mortal Lethargy I will begin says he to cast thee out he do's not do it all