Pilate and delivered up to the will of the Jewes Wherefore they forthwith laid hands on him and loaded with the Beam of his Cross they drew him out of the City The sweet Lord carrying his Cross on his rent shoulders was pushed forward beaten forced to make haste the amiable Redeemer made the reproach of men and disdain of the people humbly went forwards to the place of Calvary O how much did the weight of his Cross load and afflict him but more the weight of my sins But he for my salvations sake willingly bore all Labour and Dolor and all Confusion To him be praise honor and glory for ever Amen Article XX. THe sweet JESUS being come weary and out of breath to Mount Calvary he refused not to taste Wine mixed with Myrrhe and Gall which was offered unto him that by this bitter drink he might expiate the faults which I have contracted by eating and drinking intemperately O what a kind of refection was that of my Lord To him be praise honor and glory for ever Amen Article XXI THe sweet JESUS was disgracefully stript upon Mount Calvary and by the pulling off of his Clothes his wounds were renewed the mild and innocent Lamb of God was unmercifully stretched out upon the Cross by cruel men his delicate hands and undefiled feet were cruelly bored through with bloody Nails the joynts of his most holy Members were miserably loosed Purple Blood abundantly flowed out of his sacred wounds as out of so many Fountains O how hard a bed had the Spouse of my soul extended on his Cross and nailed to it for my sake To him be praise honor and glory for ever Amen Article XXII THe sweet JESUS hanging naked upon the ignominious Gibbet of his Cross in the middle betwixt two Thieves with his hands and feet transfixed powred out most precious Blood and suffered most bitter dolours for my sake he was scoffed at he was reviled with Blasphemies but in the mean time he prayed for those who blasphemed him he prayed for his Crucifiers saying Father forgive them for they know not what they do To him be praise honor and glory for ever Amen Article XXIII THe sweet JESUS hanging upon the Cross despised and wounded graciously promised Paradise to the penitent Thief he tenderly compassionated his Virgin-Mother standing by the Cross transpierced with the sword of grief and commended her to his Disciple St. John and to the same St. John and to us all he gave her to be a Mother To him be praise honor and glory for ever Amen Article XXIV THe sweet JESUS when he had for me endured immense torments for three hours upon the Cross and his sacred blood being powred out was most vehemently a thirst he had Vinegar given him to drink which having tasted he the Author of Life to all things commending himself to his Father and bowing his venerable head gave up the Ghost To him be praise honour and glory for ever Amen Article XXV THe sweet JESUS as soon as he was dead upon the Cross forthwith descended according to his soul out of exceeding Charity into Hell and delivered the Fathers detained in Lymbus for they at the coming of his soul instantly were filled with the Light of Glory and saw the most Blessed Trinity saw clearly the Divine Essence And this was that spiritual Paradise of which our Lord said to the Thief To day thou shalt be with me in Paradise To him be praise honour and glory for ever Amen Article XXVI THe sweet JESUS the good shepherd laid down his life for his sheep And the right side of his dead body was opened with a Spear whence did flow forth to us blood and water his amorous heart was wounded for me O may this most sweet heart this pleasant treasury of happiness be salvation and comfort to me in my death that after death I may be united to Jesus and contemplate him for all Eternity To him be praise honour and glory for ever Amen Article XXVII THe sweet JESUS dyed for me whose immaculate body when it was taken down from the Cross his most blessed Mother received it into her Lap kist it and wept over it then Joseph and Nicodemus wrapped it in a clean winding sheet and laid it in a Sepulchre so that Jesus the immarcessible Flower of humane dignity was buried for me To him be praise honour and glory for ever Amen Article XXVIII THe sweet JESUS coming the third day victorious out of his closed and sealed Sepulchre by a noble triumph arose from the dead and the clarity of his most pleasant countenance being restored he first exhilarated with a new joy his most dear Mother the Virgin Mary then Mary Magdalen and his other friends To him be praise honour and glory for ever Amen Article XXIX THe sweet JESUS on the Fourtieth day after his Resurrection in the presence of his Disciples filled with ineffable joy gloriously ascended into Heaven and afterwards sent them the Holy Ghost He sits in Heaven at the right hand of his Father and thence is to come in Majesty to Judge the living and the dead To him be praise honour and glory for ever Amen Thirteen short Precepts necessary for one who aspires to a perfect Life Precept I. FOr the love of Jesus Christ who suffered very sharp things for thy sake renounce the pleasures of thy senses When thou hast a mind and desires to see hear smell taste touch or speak any thing remember that thou must not obey thy sensuality inciting of thee but Reason and God speaking in thee Yea even be ready to want spiritual delights according to Gods good pleasure and ordination And when thou art recreated with inward comfort and sweetness have a care thou do not rest in it nor abuse it to thy own proper pleasure Precept II. KEep very diligently thy sight hearing and tongue that they do not decline to unlawful vain and unprofitable things It behoves thee to be vigilant and very wary in thy speech that thou speak not more words nor otherwise than is convenient Let thy speech be succinct plain and quiet Carefully rule and contain in good order all the Parts of thy Body Avoid immoderate Laughter and all lightness of behaviour Precept III. DO not adhere to any Creature by inordinate affection but dye to all perishable things and keep thy heart free from them for in such a death and in such a liberty does lye hid the most true and most pleasant life Precept IV. BY an entire abnegation of thy self and resignation diligently destroy in thee vitious passions and affections and thy own will and self-seeking But love dearly and only the Divine will and ever wish it and submit thy self wholly unto it so that whatsoever God wills do thou also will Every where seek rather the praise and honour of God than thy own profit Precept V. IN all things which happen wisely regard the providence of God and securely commit thy self and all thy concerns
hast done Him an infinite affront and after a certain manner hast Crucified CHRIST again Who notwithstanding has alwayes most bountifully done thee good and preserved thee Pondering well this thy pride perversness and ingratitude humble cast down and put thy self beneath all the men in the world yea beneath all Creatures esteeming thy self the vilest of all and unworthy whom the earth should sustain but worthy whom hell should swallow up unless the Mercy of God hindered 5. Ponder how much God detests and punishes Sins so that by His terrible and just Judgment He has damned eternally very many for one single Mortal Sin as is manifest in Lucifer and in the Angels who consented to him It is manifest also how much God was offended by one only Transgression which our First Parents Adam and Eve committed Now What ought to have been done with thee who hast so often offended the most holy King of Glory Deeply considering these things accuse and judge thy self lest afterwards thou be judged by our Lord. Admire greatly that all the Elements and all Creatures have not risen up against thee to revenge upon thee the Injury of their Maker Be astonished that the Earth has not opened it self to swallow thee up alive and has not transmitted thee into Hell how the holy Angels also have been able to endure thy iniquities 6. Finally grieving with thy very Soul or desiring to have Grief and eyeing attentively JESUS crucified and His bloody Wounds cry out from thy heart and say these or such like words Alas O most pittiful Lord Jesus Christ my Creator Redeemer and Benefactor I most unhappy have so and so offended Thee and contemned Thee those and those Iniquities I have so often repeated I have been so disobedient and ungrateful unto thee But pardon me I beseech thee for thy immense Goodness and Charity with which thou didst sustain for me thy most bitter Passion When thou shalt with humility have said these or such like words by no means despair but resuming a full and amorous Confidence in God purpose firmly by his Grace to mend thy self and to avoid as much as shall be in thy power all Sins not only Mortal but also Venial and the least Meditation II. Of Death Division 1. TO think on Death before-hand and diligently to prepare ones self for it is true wisdom And thou shalt be happy if alwayes and every where expecting the Hour of Death thou shalt so watch as thou permittest nothing to reside in thy Conscience which might cause thee anxiously to fear although thou wert just now to dye It shall be well with thee if considering how vile thy Flesh shall be thou art not proud nor dost not follow Carnal delights For How miserable I pray thee is thy Flesh in this Life How frail how full of Filthes which continually flow with an intollerable stench through all the passages although outwardly it appear fair and neat So that thy Body at present may rightly be called a sack of dung and all kind of filth but shortly it shall be an abject corrupted and putrid Carcass and Worms meat 2. Think therefore that thou must shortly dye yea perhaps to day and must go hence into another unknown region and must leave here riches glory honours pomps pleasures friends vanities and all other transitory and perishable things which thou inordinatly lovest or in which thou art now delighted And indeed every day every hour and every moment thou approaches near thy death and the last hour of thy life Therefore compose thy self as if thou wert now to dy Think thy countenance to wax pale thy mouth to be contracted thy sight to be darkned thy breath to fail and the sweat of death to be now present which testifies nature to be overcome 3. Think I pray thee how great a trembling and horror will then seize thee and how much thou wilt grieve if thou shalt be unprovided because thou hast not vigorously mended thy self O how short will the time of thy life seem to thee For it will appear like a dream and a shadow when thou shalt reflect that eternity is at hand which shall never end Perhaps thou wilt desire one little hour to correct thy self but it is uncertain whether thou shalt obtain it What will thy pride profit thee what will it profit thee if thou shalt now have followed thy own will and the vitious passions of thy mind O how sad wilt thou be when thou shalt have lost thy precious time or spent it unprofitably How wilt thou be vexed that thou hast lived so wickedly negligently remissly That thou wast so greedy to see hear and talk vain things That thou hast not more manfully contemned the Allurements of thy Flesh and Senses that thou hast been so slack to the mortification of thy self and to follow true humility and charity and to gather together all spiritual good things Now therefore whilst thou hast yet Time amend thy self and study to live better and more holily 4. Think when thy Soul galled with the sharp prickings of death shall cease to see the light of this world and shall begin with its inward eyes to behold the state of the other Life and those things which before it would not believe Cruel Beasts and horrible troops of Devils will present themselves by divers means endeavouring to ensnare thy same Soul and exspecting it to make a prey of it if it shall have departed here without true Repentance It is therefore good and healthful to Salvation now to provide for ones self to cut off bad and unprofitable desires to leave vain and worldly things and to convert ones self wholly to love and seek after Celestial and Eternal Goods 5. Consider how that thy Soul being gone out of thy Body it shall immediately be presented before the Tribunal of a Terrible Judge who cannot judge thee otherwise than thy works deserve seeing that He is the Supreme and immutable Justice In this particular Judgment thou must render a most exact Account of thy whole Life of all thy Time spent unprofitably of all thy Bad Works of all the Good thou hast omitted of all thy Idle Words and of all thy Thoughts and inordinate Affections The Devils shall propose all thy sins and all thy negligences which have not been blotted out by Repentance Finally a Sentence shall be pronounced by the Just Judge concerning thy Soul which shall never be recalled for all eternity For where the Tree shall fall whether towards the South or towards the North there it shall for ever remain and shall belong either to eternal Salvation or Damnation 6. It is profitable for thee often to think on these things that thou may'st with diligence Correct thy Life and make thy Peace with God before that thou shalt be called hence This thou wilt do if thou be'est wise For our Lord God is very merciful and receives most courteously all those who timely return unto Him by true Repentance Because He
most familiar and perpetual society with Christ and his most Lovely and most Gracious Mother Mary and with all the Blessed Assuredly all the joys of the world Compared with the least joy of Heaven are meer bitterness The vast Ocean does not so much exceed in quantity one single drop of water as the least pleasure of the Blessed does exceed all the delight and pleasure that ever was in the world And the joys of Heaven shall never be ended nor ever be diminished Nor be interrupted for one single moment for all eternity 5. Besides when thy Soul in the Resurrection shall have received thy glorious body what joy shall it thence receive For thy very body shall be most splendid and much more bright than the Sun it shall be most sound most firm most beautiful most pure odoriferous incorruptible impassible most subtil and very agil Whence thy soul with its glorified body can be wheresoever it will in a very short space of time nothing can hinder it nothing put a stop or impediment unto it Thou shalt also after the Resurrection conceive exceeding great Joy from the happy renovation of this visible World which shall be of a far more elegant form than now it is For whatsoever is now in the World unclean whatsoever is obscure and shady in the Earth whatsoever is cold in the Waters and whatsoever has power of burning in the Fire all that shall go down into Hell The Sun and Moon and Starres shall be seven times more bright than they are now Henceforth there shall be no Clouds nor Hail nor Rain nor Winds nor Lightning nor Thunder Night shall cease to be a perpetual Day and Clarity succeeding as well on Earth as in the Heavens The Air shall have more light than it has now the Water shall be purer than it is now The Earth shall be fair as Gold and pellucid as Crystal and plain as the palm of your hand 6. Such things God has prepared for those who love him O how unhappy are they who for the most base pleasures delights and vanities of this World deprive themselves of so great joyes But thou who readest these things aspire and make haste to that never-fading Glory Detest and fly all Sin as much as thou canst contemn all transitory things love God love all Men and spend the time profitably which is allotted thee The Conclusion Admonitions concerning the Practice of these Meditations 1. HE who exercises himself in the foregoing Meditations may nay ought in some of them to wit in those which are more fruitful stay more than three daies especially during the first Exercise which Exercise precedes the repetition of the same Meditations 2. It will be profitable when he is to begin any Exercise our Meditation that he read first the last division of the same Meditation for in it commonly are put some things conducing to the right and profitable performance of the same Meditation 3. If whilst he is exercising himself he be overcharged with sleep let him rise and standing or walking continue the Exercise He must diligently weigh with himself all the points and members of the Divisions and freely stay in them 4. Moreover when he shall perceive himself to be solicited or allured to follow his vitious passions Concupiscences and inclinations if holy love do not restrain him from evil he must forthwith call to mind death judgment and hell that at least profitable fear may restrain him 5. He must very Carefully contain and bridle his tongue and senses for otherwise he will never make any progress in true vertues 6. That he may more speedily attain to a contempt of himself and true humility without which no Vertue is of any value he must very often exercise himself in an attentive and amorous consideration of the greatness of God and of his Fidelity and Charity towards himself and on the contrary in the consideration of his own littleness and of his unfaithfulness and ingratitude towards God he shall say to God these or such like things O Lord who art thou and who am I Thou art the Lord of highest majesty nobility and dignity Thou art the Creator of Heaven and Earth Thou art the Immense God the Omnipopotent God But I am a most vile worme I am unworthy whom the Earth should sustain I am nothing I can do nothing Thou hast been ever most faithful to me loving me most purely and bestowing upon me innumerable benefits but I alas have been most unfaithful and too ungrateful to thee and am so still He must perform the foresaid exercise purely to the honour of God He must in his heart prefer every man how wicked soever before himself and deem him better than himself 7. He must accustom himself frequently to recall and elevate his mind to God and he must do this even amidst conversation and when he is exercised in external works least his mind wandering and forgetful of his purpose and too estranged from God lose its inward purity and antient grace He must piously attend the amiable presence of God knowing that he alwaies beholds all his thoughts words and actions He must aspire after the spouse of his soul Jesus Christ and maintain sweet colloquies of love with him By this means he shall both pass this life with pleasure and after the death of the body he shall come to eternal joyes of immortal life Amen A short Commemoration of the Life of Christ divided into Articles Article I. THe sweet JESUS the Son of the living God the most high God the Creator of Heaven and Earth for the exceeding Charity wherewith he loved me would be conceived by the Holy Ghost and incarnate in the most chast womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary in which also he dwelt nine months My God emptied himself and taking the form of a servant was made my Brother that he might reduce me to his Heavenly Kingdom O Ineffable Piety and inestimable Favor what shall I return to my Lord I offer and resign my self wholly to his good pleasure To him be praise honour and glory for ever and ever Amen Article II. THe sweet JESUS the King of glory the cause of my salvation was born a Tender Infant in a poor stable winter sharply raging He was wrapp'd in clouts He was reposed in the Crib of Beasts He lay upon hay and straw He was suckled by the breasts of a poor mother The Son of God endured so great Poverty for my sake To him be praise honour and glory for ever Amen Article III. The sweet JESUS was circumcised on the eighth day from his Birth his Mother sadly condoling with him He was circumcised and shed his most pure Blood for me a most vile wretch and he would be called Jesus that is a Saviour for my comfort Then he was revealed to the Gentiles when the Sages guided by a star to Bethlehem to adore the little Infant and with joy and reverence offered to him gifts gold frankincense and myrrhe To him