employ to reform it till the next Retreat And the better to preserve those Good dispositions we should first render thanks to God for the Graces he has bestow'd on us during the Retreat We should then offer up all our Resolutions to him and renew them with more earnestness beseeching the Blessed Virgin to intercede for us with her son that he would give us his Grace where by we way be render'd faithful to the End and begging that she would undertake for our fidelity which she can obtain for us But after all these Resolutions we must not rely so much upon them as to forget our weakness for nothing is more dangerous then too much security It very much concerns us to be exact in our watch the first three or four Days after this we shall find the difficulty'is lessen so that we shall execute our resolutions with Ease The greatest difficulties are in the beginning and the surest way to maintain our fervour is without any delay to declare our selves for virtue A MEDITATION to prepare for Retreat THe subject of this Meditation is taken out of the Parable in the thirteenth of Saint Luke Luâ—e 23.6 7. c. of the man who sought fruit on a Fig-tree planted in his Vineyard and finding none said to the dresser of the Vineyard It is now three years that I come seeking fruit on this Fig-tree and find none out it down why cumbreth it the Ground But his servant desir'd him to wait one year more that he might dig about it and dung it and if after all his care it should be still unfruitful then he would cut it down FIRST POINT Consider with what care God hath hitherto cultivated us that we might bring forth fruit We came into the world not only a barren tree but corrupted and spoil'd by original Sin fit for nothing but to be cast into Hell Fire The singular Mercy of God has preferr'd us to many others has planted us in his Church by making us Christians or in the fertile field of a Religious Life if by a greater effect of his Love he has call'd us to that state Have we ever truly known the advantage of being planted in this holy ground cultivated by the labours and water'd by the sweat and blood of him who is both God and man This ground in which we are hath produc'd those Hero's of Christianity and bears every day a multitude of saints of all sexes ages conditions Those excellent fouls with the same manuring that is with the same assistance that is given us have and do every day bring forth fruit worthy of Eternal Life They had no other Gospel no other Sacraments then we have The Grace of God abounds at all times ther Rules were not different from ours only they were more faithful to those Rules by the exact observation of which alone they are become great saints We have the benefit of their Examples and many proper helps which they wanted Add to these advantages the particular favours we have receiv'd from God call to mind all the pains he hath taken to make us fruitful all the good thoughts he hath inspir'd us with all the pious Resolutions he hath excited in us since we had the use of Reason his favours have been innumerable since we have been in his service how often hath he nourish'd us with the food of Angels his owne flesh how often have we heard him speaking to our hearts how often has he enlightned us how many Graces have we receiv'd from him in our Retreats and â—ommunions and and how many other favours hath he heap'd on us Half these are sufficient to make a great saint nay there are many blessed spirits now in heaven who never had all these advantages and yet they bare much fruit They made admirable use of their talents their Lives were full of good works which have adorn'd them with merits whereby they now possess everlasting happiness a just reward of their Fidelity Let us now consider seriously and impartially whether the same manuring the spinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ have made us like bear much fruit SECOND POINT Consider that the fruits God requires of us are not dry and barren devotions and appearances of virtue which serve for the most part onely to amuse the imperfect who with all their pretended good works pass their whole Lives in sloth tepidity without growing better in any one point Their specious virtues are but leaves but gaudy out sides which deceive men and themselves too making them take the effects of passion or humane respect of Education or of their natural temper for real virtues The Fruits which Saint Iohn calls Fruits worthy of pennance Matt. 3.8 Gal. 5.22.23 c. and Saint Paul the Fruits of the spirit are the effects of a true love to God and a perfect charity towards our neighbour They are such as a solid Piety produces an extreme horrour for the smallest sin a violent hunger after Righteousness an universall coâ—stant and continual Mortification a profound humility a great exactness in all the duty 's of our Calling they are an exceeding a version for every thing our Saviour hates and an high esteem for every thing he loves The Victory over our passions the reformation of our Lives and conduct are the Fruits that he expects from us This is the meaning of those words Matt. 3.8 Bringforth fruits worthy of pennance shew by your works by the whole course of your Life that you are really converted Here let us examine our selves Have we brought forâ—h many of these Fruits God hath been careful to cultivate us these three these ten years that we might be fruitful many would have been saints with much less Graces and yet all have not perhaps made one good Religious or one good Christian 'T is not the fault of the ground in which Jam planted it is holy ground and yields an hundred fold even many of my accquaintance with less advantages bring forth much more fruit then I. What benefit have I receiv'd by so many Masses what am I the better for so many Communions One single Communion is able to elevate a soul to a sublime perfection yet I who have receiv'd it may be one or two hundred times have not yet reform'd any one fault After so many Devotions am I more humble more exact more mortifyed Do I love my God and Saviour more What is become of all the good thoughts I have formerly had where is all my fervour what is become of that inward peace and true pleasure which I have sometimes experien'cd in my Devotions what is become of all my holy Resolutions and all my fair promises alas perhaps we find no traces of them all but a sad remembrance which serves only to shew us how far we are from the state in which we ought to be Has not our ingratitude towards God augmented proportionably to the increase of his blessings And do's it
of Faith If we believ'd that the enjoyment of God that an Eternity of infinite happiness or misery which includes surpasses all other miserys depended on our diligence if we did really believe what we repeat so of ten that we can not serve God and the world at once that time is short and that Death approaches that each moment for ought we know may be our last if we did indeed believe that Salvation is our own work and that we onely can secure it that it is no matter what becomes of us here if we make sure of heaven that we loose all even temporal blessings by neglecting our Souls and that if we be truly careful of them we shall loose nothing not even worldly goods if we do seriously believe these things how can we be careful how can we be sollicitous for any thing but Salvation Of the false pretences of orldly men about Salvation T is very surprizing that men of Sence and wisdom who reason so well about every thing else should reason so very falsly when they are desired to think on and work out their Salvation they freely own that it is hard to secure it in the world they will make lively and pathetical deseriptions of the Corruptions of the Age they are very eloquent on the inevitable dangers to which men are expos'd in the world and they readily conclude that they who live in it stand in as much need of an Heroik virtue as the Religious in their Convents but when they are told that in order to Salvation it is necessary for them to overcome themselves to mortify their passions to follow the example of Christ and his Saints they pretend that these vertues do not belong to them that 't is not their business that their condition do's not oblige them to so great a Sacrifice and that none but Religious can live regulary and conformably to the maxims of Jesus-Christ Is it not natural to conclude from hence that either the work of Salvation is not a secular Christians business which is a most gross and damnable error or else that Secular Christians do indeed renounce their Salvation Of the Facility of Salvation Of the ill use of the means Salvation God could have put us under a necessity of seeking him continually as our ultimate End and of never departing from him but he must then have taken away our Liberty when we reflect on the vast number of Christians who loose their Souls we are ready to wish that he had subject'd us to that happy necessity of working out our Salvation that so we might not be tormented with the fear of Hell But could we desire him to secure our Salvation better than by putting into our own hands And because he has made me master of my destiny of my eternal happiness shall I therefore be unhappy Shal this render my Salvation doubtful shall this put me in greater danger I might have reason to be aftaid if it depended on another tho my best friend but it depends only on me by the help of grace which will never be wanting to me yet this is the chief cause of my ruine O my God! if I do not secure my Salvation now that thou hast made me master of it I must own that I deserve judgment without mercy nothing less than an Eteernal punishment Of the ill use of the means of Salvation Can we think of our unprofitableness under such powerful means of our slighting so many graces and rendring them useless to us without apprehending least God should say to us as the Apostle to the Ieâ—vs Vobis oporrebat primum loqui verbum Dei Act. 13.46 the word of God was first spoken to you You were born in the bosom of the Church you were transplanted into the fertile field of Religion into a ground cultivated by the Labours and water'd with the sweat and blood of him who is both God and man How many means and helps have we had to enable us to fulfill all the duty 's of our Station and to make us fruitfull in good works but since these means and assistances which were so proper to have made us bring forth an hundred fold have been useless to us have we not reason to fear least he should add But seeing you put that divine word from you Sed quoniam repellitis illud indignos vos judicatis aeternae vitae ecee conver timuâ— aâ—â— entes v. 46. judge your selves unworthy of everlasting Life be hold we turn to the Gentiles This sentence is already executed on Syria and on almost all the East where Christianity first began and a great part of the North particularly unhappy England those nations formerly such good Christians and who reckon among their Ancestors so many great Saints have in these latter times cut themselves off from the fold of Christ while the Indians and people of Iapan and many other barbarous nations are enter'd into the Church and have reviv'd the primitive fervour piety equalling the generosity of the most glorious Martyrs Of want of Faith Whence comes it that we make no difficulty of believing the mistery's of the Trinity of the Incarnation c. tho they are not only a bove our understandings but seem to shock our Reason Is it not because these mystery's do not contradict our passions but do we believe with the same facility the other truths of the Gospell the Doctrines of selfdenyal of contempt of the world of love of poverty and humiliation Yet my God! they are all grounded upon the same infaillible Authority thy holy word for ' t is as certain that we shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven if we do not deny our selves subdue our passions and love our Enemy's as it is that we shal never enter there if we are not baptis'd Yet we rely very much on our faith for every man pretends to be one of the faithful not considering that we have but a dead Faith and that we confound the knowledge of what we ought to believe with that true Christian Faith which is allway's fruitful in good works and without which there is no virtue Of the thoughts Hell We believe that there is an Hell of fire and dreadful torments and that one mortall sin is sufficient to condemn a soul to Eternal pains and yet are we much afraid of mortal Sin do we not fear Eternal flames and torment Our trembling at the thoughts of Hell shews we believe it If the thoughts of its pains be so terrible what will it be to feel them all how great will our despair and anguish be when we call to mind that we would not avoid that Hell at the thoughts of which we have so often trembled Of a miserable Eternity We talk very much of an unhappy Eternity but do we know what it is by often speaking of it we use our selves to the thoughts and so come to be very little affected with it A man
to receive it The experience of the miraculous conversion of so many hardned sinners of the establishment and Reformation of so many Religious Houses of so many lukewarm Christians recoverd from their tepidity and become in a few Days fervent servants of God is a sensible Demonstration of the benefit wee may reap by considering in order and in solitude the great Truths of the Gospel S. Xaverius S. Charles Borromaeus S. Françis de Sales and almost all the saints of these latter ages have acknowledg'd that they owe their conversion and their progress in holiness to these spiritual Exercises And 't is in imitation of these Examples that they who apply themselves seriously to work out their salvation and all well regulated Community's put themselves under an indispensable obligation to consecrate yearly at least eight or ten Days to the same Exercises Let us not flatter our selves t is very hard to keep our affections pure in the midst of a world where every thing conspires to defile them We shall find it very difficult to live long among so much corruption and not be some way tainted with it Time slackens the greatest fervor and the most heroick virtue stands in need of frequent supply's of strength To which end it is absolutely necessary to retire our selves from time to time and if we would breath a purer air we must seek it in solitude As too much worldly conversation alway's distracts abates our fervour and makes all out virtues languishing and weak so it is only by recollection and retreat that we can recover our selves and regain new fervour The Holy Ghost descended visibly only in the Desart Quamdiu in exteriotibus occupatus fui vocem tuam audire non potui nunc autem reversus ad me ingressus sum ad te ut possim ad te audire tibi loqui Loquere ergo misericordissime quia audit servus tuus loquere quia paratus sum audire S. Bern. de inter dom cap. 66. and when the Apostles were in Retreat S. Bernard declares that he could never hear the voice of God while he was taken up with worldly business but as soon as he came to himselfe he retir'd into solitude to converse at leisure with his Divine Master and to say with confidence speak now my God for thy servant heareth speak for Jam ready to obey thy will Can any man reasonably refuse to practise what is so much for his advantage and what he stands so much in need of Yet many who are convinc'd of the necessity of Retreat pretend that they have not time for it and this is the common excuse of those who neglect it But Good God! will this excuse be received Our business takes up all our time is not the care of our salvation a business Can any thing in the world be of so great importance to us or concern us so nearly Alas we have indeed no other business but this we were sent into the world onely for this End God has judg'd our whole Lives little enough for this great work and can we pretend that we are not able to spare eight or ten days in ayear for it A Fit of sickness makes us quit all our business to look after our health we think our selves bound to lay aside all affaires for whole Months together rather then neglect a suit at Law or hazard the loss of an Estate or expose a Friend or Relation to ruine who depends wholly upon our care diligence Are we not as much concern'd to recover out of a state of sin as to be cur'd of a distemper Is not Heaven worth more then an Estate And what greater misery can we fall into then to be visibly in danger of damnation But we hope to make use of the first leisure our business will allow us to think of our salvation A las if we don't resolve to find leisure for it our business will never allow us any Let us be not less indifferent for salvation let us but look upon this as a real business and we shall very easily find eight or ten days to employ only in it in this business of Eternity 'T is very surprizing that the most innocent souls who have the least need of Retreat never think themselves safe without it The most Apostolical men who live in the world only to sanctify it are yet in continual fear of being corrupted by it Those holy souls who never loose the presence of God are yet sensible of distractions even in the most fervent Exercises of their zeal The most Heroick Christians interrupt their labours from time to time to recollect themselves in solitude and think it the only preservative against the corruptions of the world and the most certains means to obtain new strength Even the most exact Religious whose whole Life is a continual Retreat do not find themselves enough retired And yet men of a very slender virtue in comparison of them who are every moment expos'd to the greatest dangers who live in a constant dissipation of mind in the midst of a world which they themselves own to be extremely wicked and in which they confess it is very hard to be saved Can such men as these imagine that a Retreat of eight or ten days is not fit for them can they deceive themselves with the false execuse of want of time when they are even weary of idleness when they dont know how to employ themselves when the greatest part of their Lives is spent in vain amusements and diversions Can such want time Certainly if they would confess the truth they must own that they want not time but will Our Saviours Parable of the high way where the seed of the word of God is trodden down and carryed away by the Birds of the Ayr is a just description of these busy men allways taken up with the affaires of the world Now since we cannot be saved if we do not make a right use of the Grace of God since this heavenly seed cannot spring up in an heart expos'd to noise and tumult It is evident that we are under a kind of necessity either to retire our selves sometimes from the world or to renounce all hopes of being saved But some object what will people say if they see me go into a Retreat to think only on Eternity How shall I be ridicul'd and laugh'd at Good God! How long shall such idle apprehensions stifle the most most noble sentiments make men reject the grace of God and abandon their best resolutions what can they say that you have really a desire to be saved and that you take the best method for it All wise men will esteem you many will imitate you none but Libertines will blame such a truly Christian conduct the rayllery's of such are reall praises and you ought not at all to be concerned ' what they say or think Men are not asham'd to pass whole days at play and in vanity of which
they will certainly repent one day if they have not done it already and can they be affraid to spend eight days in the compass of every year in preparing for another Life in securing their Salvation CHAP II. Of the great importance of making one day's Retreat every Month. T is not very hard to make men sensible that a spiritual Retreat is an excellent means to amend our Lives and work out our salvation but the difficulty lyes in persuading them that they may find time for it if they will Eight days seem very long to them and indeed there are many who cannot spare so much time together Multitude of business the care of a family want of health the necessary duty 's of their callings are the reasons or pretences where by some excuse themselves from making a retreat of eight days but no man can pretend that he his not able to allow one day in a month to that holy Exercise Is any thing more reasonable then this He may choose what day he pleases which renders it as easy as it is useful You are desir'd tospend one day in a Month to take care of what concerns you more then all things in the world to apply your selves to the great business of your Life upon which Eternity depends that when you have spent a whole month in what you call business which is rather the business of others then your own you would give one day to the only business that regards your self that after having labour'd for the world you would labour one day for everlasting happiness Would any man refuse one day in a Month to serve his Friend Alas how many do men loose every Month in vain pleasure in play in trifling folly ' you are desir'd tospend but one for your soul you must surely be very indifferent for salvation and very careless of what becomes of you hereafter if you refuse it Especially since the following Chapters will render this practise so very easy that it seems impossible for any one reasonably to decline it How industrious are Merchants to improve every opportunity ofacquiring Riches How exact are they in stating their accounts from time to time and observing how they thrive what they have gain'd or lost Thus let us take one day at least to examine carefully the state of our Consciences and what progress we make in virtue The great benefit of this Christian practise is visible all sorts of men may find good by it 't is very efficacious to reclaim sinners from their disorders and make them return to God to confirm the virtuous and to elevate them to the highest degree of Christian perfection Besides the usefulness of meditating on the most important truths of Religion it is almost impossible that a man who sets aside his most serious business and retires from the world to employ one day every Month in the serious consideration of the state of his soul should not succeed God who seeks us with so much patience when we fly from him and who is not weary of offering us mercy not with standing our refusals but calls on us even when our earnestness after the world makes us deaf to his call will never hide himselfe from those who come so often to meet him in the midst of solitude he will never refuse to communicate himselfe abundantly to those who withdraw themselves from all things to hearken to him Neither our condition nor our employements require this of us nor do we do it out of custom or osstentation which is so inseparable from other acts of Piety none of all these lead us to Retreat nothing but a sincere desire to work out our salvation can bring us there and can a sincere desire be ineffectual Can it be attended with small profit 'T is hardly possible that a man who sets a part one day in a month to study the methods of living well should live disorderly Nor is he in danger of being surpriz'd by Death who so frequently and so exactly prepares for it But the importance of this Retreat will appear much greater if wee consider the necessity we lye under to reflect often on the great verity's of our Faith T is from the want of this Reflection that we see so few Christians live up to the purity of their Profession We see but few truly virtuous tho they are oblig'd to be so in a very high degree because men seldom reflect on the divine Truths they content themselves with submitting their Reason to Faith they think it enough to believe But tho we do not find many infidels in the Church yet Jam a fraid wee find fewer Christians who seriously consider what they believe And this is the Reason that what we believe of the End of our Creation of the small number of the elect of the pains of Hell and of everlasting misery make so slight an impression on us This want of Reflection has allway's been and still is the usual cause of our sins of our return to them after we have resolv'd to quit them and of our advancing no more in piety For as without reflecting on what we read we shall learn but little by our reading so we shall make small progress in virtue if wee do not frequently reflect on what we believe 'T is generally from serious Reflections that great Conversions spring and without it the most terrible Doctrines of Christianity the most amasing accidents and the most sensible Graces will have no great Effect on us Can a man who attentively considers the vanity of the world and all its allurements who reflects seriously on what he beleives of Hell judgment and Eternity who is affected with its rigours and who foresees its consequences Can such a man refuse to yield himselfe to the divine Grace which allways makes use of those happy moments T is these Reflections that have peopled the desarts that fill our Convents every Day and that recall so many sinners from their Evill ways If wee could once perswade men to reflect of ten we should find their lives reform'd we should see the ancient fervour of Religious houstes renew'd this would be a sure way to prevent the greatest disorders and to make saints This is what you are to do in your Retreat spend the day in reflecting seriously on the great Truths of our Religion in examining your life and meditating on the points of your Faith 'T is properly a Day Reflection which you may easily see must needs be useful and that it concerns you very much to do it well The Eight days retreat is for the same end but besides that the length of the Time is afalse Pretense to several for performing it very carelessly this must be more profitable because that is usually made but once a year this every month This is no new Devotion but the practise of the greatest saints of Latter ages T is to this divine art that Saint Ignatius Founder of the Society of Jesus confesses
had an end in drawing us out of nothing and that end was no other then his own glory he created us only to know love serve him we glorify him by knowing and loving him we shew our love by serving him and we serve him when we keep his Commandments This was his End design in our Creation he could have not created us but he could not create us for another End the disorders of our Lives may indeed make us forget our duty but it cannot change our ultimate End Let us be never so dissolute it will still be true that we are not sent into the world to heap up Riches to acquire honours to enjoy a multitude of pleasures become great we are sent into the world only to serve God Kings and their people the learn'd the ignorant the Rich and the poor are in the World only for this End Tho there be a great difference in mens conditions and a subordination among them tho some are born Masters and others subjects they are all made for the same ultimate End all agree in this point that they are created only to know to love to serve God The fire is not more created to give heat and the sun light then man is to love and serve God who has made that almost in fin to number of Creatures only to help us in attaining this End there being not one among them all which in its selfe do's not fournish us with a means to know God a motive to love and away to serve him We need only consult our own hearts on this subject and we shall find that the extreme dâ—sire to be happy which is implanted in our natures and the absolute impossibility of being so in this Life are a sensible proof that man was not made for any created object He must elevate his heart to God he will immediately find a full and perfect peace which alone fixes all his desires he feels a sweetness which he never felt any where else Fecisti nos Domine ad te inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te which is an evident mark that God alone is his End and he Center of his Rest We are then in the world only to serve God this is the End of all Men but do all men live for that End this is the only thing necessary of which the son of God speaks in the Gospel do we look upon it as such How earnest are we to accomplish our designs to acquit ourselves well of our employments and to serve our Princes Are we as earnest to serve God do not men generally act as if they valued every thing but him How often is the title of a man of the Gown or of the sword prefer'd to that of Gods servant How often do the Maxims of the World get the better of the Duty 's of a Christian Every one has his designs and seeks his own Ends surely we are not persuaded that God is our End seeing we take so little pains to seek him as such This Truth of Gods being our End is one of the first Tru h's we learn yet it is that which we think least of and are least affected with when we do think of it We are us'd from our Cradles to hear that we are created only to serve God but we are not at all touch'd with the meaning of those words which in all probability we never truly understood much less foresaw their consequences For if be true that I live in this world only to serve God then every one of my actions ought to be directed to him and it may be I have not in all my Life done any one single action onely for him This is the fundamental Verity of our Religion do we live up to this important Truth The whole Gospel is founded on this as its chief maxime but who that examines our manner our maxims can think that God is our ultimate End We think of every thing but God as if we thought him nothing We find time for every thing except for loving and serving God we are delighted with riches honours and pleasures God alone hath no charms for us And yet where can we find any true pleasure but in him only Thou Lord hast created us for thy selfe saith Saint Augustin and our hearts will be allwayes uneasy and unquiet till they rest in thee Have we not found this by frequent experience in those very things whereof we have been most fond were we satisfyed when we had obtain'd them has not the very possession been sufficient to digust us with them and make us slight them 't is to no purpose to deceive our selves that we may sin with less fear these very disgusts these continual disquiets are a secret voice which admonishes us that we are not made for the Creatures that every thing in the world is bur vanity amusement and vexation of spirit and that we are made only for God We cannot choose or make any other End to our selves he who gave us our being hath put us under an indispensable necessity of returning to him If he had left us at Liberty to make choice of God the infinite good for our last End could we have thought of any other and now that he has subjected us to the happy necessity of having no other we are very little concerned to attain it Ingrateful men are you not well enough provided for to have God for your last End Usquequo claudicatis in duas partes si Dominus est Deus sequimini eum 3. R g. 8.21 How long will you halt between two opinions If the Lord be God follow him why will you be divided between God and the World If God be your only master why do you not serve him alone My God! what do I stay for am I too young have I too much health am I afraid to serve thee too long if I begin so soon I who am left in the world onely to serve thee Alass I made no difficulty of spending the best part of my Life in unprofiâ—able amusements in the service of the World and now that I am disabus'd and convinc'd of my folly shall I refuse thee the rest of my Life shall I balance one moment to love thee 'T is strange that I stand in need of so many reasons reflections to resolve upon a thing of this importance of which Jam fully convinc'd but it is yet stranger that all these reflections do not make me resolve Do I stay till Jam at last Extremity till Jam told that I have but a few days left to think seriously of my Conversion No my God! it is resolv'd thou hast made me only for thy selfe and for the future I will be wholly thine 't is true I begin late to serve thee but Jam resolv'd to have this satisfaction in Dea h whenever it comes that I did begin to serve thee SECOND POINT Consider that
thy Grace that I will both love and serve thee And I hope in thy mercy that since thou hast patiently born with my disobedience so long thou wilt now be so gracious as to pardon and forgive it SECOND MEDITATION OF THE MEAN'S which are given us to attain our ultimate end FIRST POINT Of the means common to all Christians SECOND POINT The particular means proper for each Christian FIRST POINT COnsider that God not content to have created us for himselfe as for our ultimate End has out of his great goodness indispensably engag'd us to seek him by those numerous meanes which he hath given us to attain that End Every creature taken in its selfe is an help to our knowledge Love of him And 't is only our abuse of them that makes any of them hinderances The happiness and mis fortunes of our Lives the chastisemens wherewith God corrects our unfaithfulness our very faults may be so many furtherances of our Salvation Even the devices and temptations of our mortal Enemy the Devil may be a means to save us Without grace it is impossible to attain our ultimate End all our endeavours without it are vain 'T is an article of Faith that we may be wanting to the Grace of God there is not one soul in Hell who is not damn'd by his own fault We are weak the occasions of sin are many and our corrupted hearts are violently enclin'd to it but can we have greater assistance to prevent our falls and to raise us up again when we are fallen Are we sensible of the facility with which we may work out our salvation if we will have recourse to those Excellent means which God hath put into our hands So many Sacraments whereby all the merits of our Saviour are apply'd to us in which we are as it were bath'd in his blood where in our souls feed on the Body and Blood of that Divine Redeemer are without doubt most effectual and easy means to attain our great End It was easy for the Disciples to be saints who had their Divine Saviour always with them And shall it be more difficult for us who have him continually present in the Eucharist their happiness consisted in having their requests granted what should hinder our obtaining of him as they whatever we desire Another very effectual means is frequent Prayer for our Saviour hath solemnly engag'd his word that he will grant whatever we ask in his Name His promises are without exception not limited to any Sort of men Do but ask Every body surely is able to ask and they who will not do most certainly value Heaven at a very low rate since they think it not worth their asking If we had only the Sacrifice of the Altar would nor our Salvation be sure what Grace what assistance can we need which our Redeemeâ— who gives himselfe as an earnest of his grace cannot obtain And how can we doubt his so often reiterated promises that he desires our happiness We are all debtors to the justice of God and stand in need of extraordinary helps One Mass one Communion bestows on us a treasure sufficient to pay all our debts and supply all our needs Let us offer up that Host to his Eternal Father Who we are sure cannot but be pleas'd with it It is sufficient to blot out the sins of all mankind and whose fault will it be if it do's not efface ours Certainly if God had left it to us to choose the most proper means of Salvation we should never have been able to find so many so easy and so effectual we shâ—uld never have thought of proposing what Christ has done for us And yet what use have we hitherto made of those means And what must we think of our selves and of our unprofitableness under them surely we have no great mind to be saved if we lose our souls in the midst of so powerful and such easy means of salvation what excuse shall we inuent what shadow of pretence can we have to justify our selves if we neglect them What shall we answer to the reproaches of the Heathens What shall we answer when our Saviour himselfe reproaches and confounds us with the example of those Pagans who only out of a vain desire of Glory for an imaginary recompense were such lovers of virtue such haters of vice even superstitiously devout what would they have done if they had enjoy'd our helps What regret must a Christian have who is damn'd with all those advantages what shall I be the better for them if I be damn'd And what must I expect if make no better use of them for the future SECOND POINT Consider that besides those general helps common to all Christians every man has some means proper for him whereby he may easily become agreat Saint His temper his education parts his very passions if rightly manag'd will much contribute to it The Grace of God commonly makes use of every one of these and whether our inclinations be good or bad we may with alittle resolution make them all serve to our progress in virtue Every sickness and unfortunate accident of our Lives is sent on purpose to bring us nearer to our last end by separating us or at least by weaning our affections from sensible objects which take up too much of our time and thoughts But the surest and most effectual means are those which every man meets with in the condition wherein God hath plac'd him Each state of Life is a different way by which the divine Providence leads us to our ultimate End It is a great Error to think that wee cannot attal Perfection without doing something extraordinary we may be very eminent saints only by acquitting our selves exactly of the duty 's of our callings The Virtuous Woman that Heroine so highly prais'd in Holy writ acquir'd all those merits only by taking care of her Family And Jesus Christ himselfe for thirty years together thought be could do nothing more becoming him then to discharge the duty 's of that humble and poor condition which he had chosen All o her ways are subject to illulusion we deceive our selves by doing much unless we do what we ought he do's what he ought who fulfills the will of God which we are sure we fulfill when we are exact in the smallest duty 's of our callings They who live in the world need not seek means of Sanctification out of their ordinary course of Life in the dutys of each day they will find matter enough to make them saints and they are inxecusable before God if they neglect those means since they take much more pains for the World then he requires them to take for him that they may be saved Religious men find in their state all and indeed the only means of perfection that are proper for them which consist in a punctual observation of their Rule and vows Those Rules have already made the Saints that are honour'd in their
projects of all the greatness and pleasures of worldly men In what a condition is a libertine who has neglected Jesus Christ all his Life which he has spent in sin and pleasure and in an extreme carelessness of Eternity what consolation can he find now in holding a Crucifix in his hand If he has no ressemblance of a crucify'd Jesus he was never sensibly affected with the terrible verity's of our holy Religion but laugh'd at the most serious Exercises of Piety what thoughts can he have when he has nothing but a Crucifix to entertain himselfe withal He may indeed make a good use of the little time that is left but alas his weakness and feares do compose his Reason and do not leave him the Liberty that is necessary to use it well Yet the Sick man dyes and there is little hope that the prayers of the Church should give him any consolarion they are indeed full of comfort for those who dye well but what comfort can they afford a dying sinner whom every word reproaches with the disorders of his Life What terror must it be to him to hear the Priest pronounce those words Proficiscere anima Christiana de hoc mundo Christian Soul go out of the world to him who lov'd the world so much who perhaps never lov'd any thing else nor ever made one step towards Heaven Go out there is no more to do you must leave all your delights tho you be never so fond of them unwilling to quit them you would leave nothing but you must dye to all The Charitable recommandation May'st thou enter into the habitation of peace Hodie sit in pace locus tous habitatio tua in sancta Sion and may'st thou dwell in the holy peace of Sion can be no comfort to one who knows they have no reason to make that prayer for him How can be expect any benefit from that petition Miserere Domine gemituum miserere lachrymarum ejus pity O Lord his sighs and let his teares prevail with thee if his grief proceeds only from his fondness of the world and if he weeps because he is forc'd to quit it and because he can sin no longer The priest go's on Agnosce Domine Creaturam tuam non à Diis alienis creatam sed à solo Deo vivo vero Look O Lord upon thy creature made by thy selfe and not by strange Gods own the work of thy hands But if the dying man has alwayes lov'd the Creature more then his Creator if his Life has not been at all conformable to the maxims of Christ how can he be like his Saviour in this last hour what must he expect seeing he is not like him and how terrible must his apprehensions be of what is to come after Death Great God! in what a condition is a dying man torn with grief and despair without hope If he have yet his sences left every thing that presents its selfe every thing he hears is an addition to his fear trouble and when he has lost his fences when external objects can make no more impression on him then the remembrance of all his Sins of all the ill he has done of all the good he has neglected when it was in his power or which he has done ill racks and torments him more How many are his Reflections yet all to no purpose he then sees his Error but it is too late to reap any benefit by it he repents of a great many things but that repentance adds new force to his torments because he knows it will do him no good How dos he grieve for not having done his duty when he was able how do's he despair of being able to do what he has left undone he would not reflect seriously on the great Truths of the Gospell while he might have done it to good purpose now he reflects and reflects at leisure but 't is a Cruel leisure for all the fruit of those Reflections is despair rage Now he is sensible of all the disorders of his Life he is now convinc'd of his Error but it s too late Oh! what must the sentiments of a person consecrated to God be when he sees his Eternal condition ready to be decided remembers how imperfect he hath been in a state which requires so much perfection to what end did I make such a doe in leaving the world and entring into Religion Was it to follow the maximes of the world there God hath called me by his Grace to an Ecclesiasticall or Religious state have I made good use of that Grace I quitted all and chose that perfect way of Life that I might dye in peace by dying like a saint but wretched Creature that I am did I consider that an happy Death is the consequence of an holy Life How often have I taught others this doctrine O! why have I made no better use of what I taught How have I been distracted in prayer how many Masses and Communions have done me no good how often have I confess'd my sins without leaving them how many graces have I rendred useless how many good works have I lost for want of right motives O my God! why have I taken so much pains to lose my selfe have left my Relations been insensible to their tears and all their caresses surmounted so many difficulties that I might secure my salvation And by loving my ease too much by setting my heart on trivial matters which one would have been asham'd of in a secular state I have been a lukewarm Religious I am now on my death bed torn with remorse oppress'd with fear trouble and having cause to doubt positivly of my salvation Oh! 't is terrible to pay so dear for such a Death And indeed what else can be the consequence of a careless Life when we come to consider seriously as we shall certainly do then that the least grace we have abus'd was sufficient to convert an infidel yet so many of them have ve not made one good Religious or good Christian When we shall discover a multitude of faults which we took no notice of before or which through the violence of our passions and our indifference we took for small ones but which now appear to be great sins What comfort can an imperfect Religious find then Will he seek it from the saints of his Order he hath dishonour'd them by his conduct Will he seek it in his Rule he has not observ'd it Will he hope to find comfort in God he hath offended and incens'd him by serving him so ill after having receiv'd so many favours from him How dismall must his apprehensions be after an irregular Life when he reflects I have but a few hours to live If I be out of the state of Grace I am lost for ever and I have not only some reason to fear that I am not in the state of Grace which fear the greatest saints
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
fond of it there is no more world for you when you are once dead what do you carry away with you what reward do's the world give you for having been so long its slave what vexation regret and despair for having serv'd it They are truly wise who leave the world first who do not stay till it leaves them but despise it before it despises them T is a sad spectacle to see a man carried out of a great house which he had newly built or purchas'd into which he never must return more All his riches his goods and what ever he had in the world is now in the possession of another Where are all those great men who made such a bustle in the world and appear'd in such splendor They are gone they are nothing now and the world who considers men no longer than they are useful thinks no more of them they are in their graves their flesh putrify'd their bones calcin'd their whole body turn'd into dust How little do we think of those who liv'd before us unless it be to blame their actions or publish their faults And this is all the recompense we are to expect even from those whom we have most oblig'd With what satifaction would men dye if they did for God but the hundred th part of what they do for the world to no purpose My God! what benefit shall I reap by these Reflections what thoughts what anguish shall I have upon a death bed if these considerations do not make me fruitfull Am I so fully persuaded that there is no solid satisfaction but in thee and shall I seek it any where else thou onely canst make me happy both in Life and in Death The Saints were wise hated themselves and kept their body's in subjection never sparing them while they liv'd why then do not I endeavour to be wise after their Example They applaud themselves for having liv'd a mortify'd and holy Life in opposition to the maxims of the world My God! what good will these pious reflections do me if I defer my Conversion any longer I give thee hearty thanks for affording me this time to prepare for death I know that I must begin by an holy Life and Jam resolv'd to delay no longer but begin this very moment OF PREPARATION FOR DEATH SECT I. OF THE NECESSITY OF preparing for Death ALL the world agrees that no thing is of so great concern as Death that it is the most difficult thing in the world to dye well that we can never recover our selves if we dye ill yet there is hardly any thing for which men make so little preparation as for Death If we could dye twice our imprudence would not be so great we might have some hope to repaire our fault by expiating a wicked Life and an unprepar'd Death together But we can dye but once and we know that an Eternity of happiness or misery depends on that once We are not onely bound to live well saith an Eminent servant of God but much more to dye well for the most pious Life will avail nothing if it be not follow'd by an holy Death Have we labour'd for Heaven have we lead an holy Life we are so much the more concern'd to dye holily that we may not lose the fruit of our pains 'T is true an happy death is the ordinary fruit of an holy Life but 't is no less true that if we dye ill we lose all the merit of the most Exact Life and all those merits cannot secure us an happy Death Whence comes it then that we take no more care to prepare for Death then if were certain that we should never dye or that we should dye well or that we should dye more then once whence is it that we act as if we could lose nothing by dying ill or as if it were a very easy thing to dy well Can we be ignorant of the danger we run of acquitting our selves ill of what we never try'd especially when we don't know how to go about it Can we be ignorant that it is the hardest thing in the world to dye well that if we desert our preparation to a death bed we put it off to a time that is too uncertain for so great à work The work is long the time is short and very improper for a business so extremely nice and delicate so that he who waits for this time stay 's till he is a dying to prepare himselfe for Death We must therefore adds that holy man prepare our selves betimes We should begin this moment least if we delay any longer we begin too late or least the time we shall have then prove as most certainly it will altogether unfit to prepare to dye in If a good Death consisted only in receiving the last Sacraments in kissing a Crucifix or shedding a few teares our imprudence would be more tolerable but how many with all imaginable helps have dy'd miserably because they never prepar'd for death He who dyes well dyes in the state of grace he dyes truly penitent which he cannot do unless he hates sin above all things in the world will it be easy for a man who has lov'd and doted on sin all his Life and stays till death tears him by force from the occasions of it will it be easy for such a man efficaciously to resolve against it will it be an easy thing for him to make sincere acts of Contrition of faith of hope and Charity who was never us'd to them when he is oppress'd with pain and sickness his soul troubled and disorder'd at the approach of Death will it be an easy thing for him to regulate his family and his Conscience too at such a time to make a general Confession which requires so much leisure thereby repair all the faults of his past Confessions Is such a man who scarce knows what he do's in a condition to dispatch in two or three hours the most difficult work in the world which requires very much time a perfect tranquility of mind and the greatest application If we imagine it easy to dye well and with so little preparation we must condemn the Saints who took so much pains who spenr Their whole lives in preparation and yet after all were not free from a saving fear at their last hour Nay we must condemn our selves for acknowledging that they were truly wise in what they did We own that we cannot be too well prepar'd for Death O why then do we make so little preparation for it Our Redeemer forsaw our carelessness in this matter and therefore he has exhorted us more to this preparation than to any thing else Matt. 24.42 Mar. 13.35 Luke 21.35 Watch says he for you know not the hour wherein your Lord will come watch because you know neither the day nor the hour Be alway's ready and upon your guard And to let us see more clearly that this preparation is a sure way to dye well
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
Pro. 1.28 then he will laugh at the sinner he will mock at his misery when he cry's for mercy he will not answer and will have no regard to his prayers T is true we seldom see any dye ill who have liv'd well but 't is much more rare to see any dye well who have liv'd ill 2. A more particular manner of preparation and which is most suit able for this day of Retreat is to do all the Exercises of the Day as if it were the last Day of your Life endeavouring to put your selfe into such a disposition as you would desire to be in at the hour of Death To that end consider seriously at the close of each Meditation what your thoughts on that subject would be if you were just going to give up an account to God of your whole Life And particularly examine what it is that would most trouble you if you were now a dying Three things usually disturb dying men 1. Their neglect of the Duty 's of their station 2. Their frequenting the Sacraments without profit 3. Their abuse of the meanes of perfection which they have enjoy'd their having rendred useless the inspirations and graces which they have receiv'd We should examine strictly this Day especially during the meditation on Death whether we have nothing to reproach our selves on these heads how we have hitherto discharg'd the duty 's of our calling whether we are punctual and careful now If we are engag'd in the world do we live in it like Christians according to our Saviours maxims If we have the happiness to be Religious are we exact in keeping our vows and obseving our Rule If we have the honour to be Priests do our Lives answer the holiness of our Caracter In what ever station we are have we done our duty in it are we satisfy'd with our condition And should we not be sorry if we were going to dye that we have made no greater progress in the way of Perfection Do not our frequent Confessions without any amendment and our reiterated unprofitable Communions fly in our faces Jesus Christ hath fed us with his precious body and blood do we grow stronger by that Divine food what should we answer to that impartial judge if we were now before him commanded to give an account of his blood Do we say or hear Mass with that piety Devotion as becomes a Sacrifice which is the holyest act of our Religion Would a Priest find comfort if he were now to dye in the Remembrance of the sentiments with which he hath so often celebrated And could he rejoyce before God in having frequently offer'd that adorable Sacrifice Have we not made an ill use of those precious Graces which our Redeemer purchas'd for us with his Blood how many inspirations have we neglected how many good desires have we stifled we must give an exact account of all these favours are we ready to do it if we were to dye this moment Are we able to shew that we have improv'd our talents We know it is not enough to keep them can we shew that we have augmented them These should be the heads of our examination at the end of the Meditation on Death we should make our Confession as if it were our last and endeavour to repair what ever we have reason to fear has been amiss in our former We should do well to make some reflections on the state of our affaires and order them so as they may not disturb us when we come to dye In short we must endeavour to end the Day in such a state as we would desire to be in the last moment and we must close up all with a sacrifice of our selves our possessions our healths our Lives to Christ begging him to dispose absolutely of them for the advancement of his Glory and submitting our selves entirely and freely to Death when ever he pleases We must then devote ourselves wholly to the Blessed Virgin beseech her to stand by us in this difficult time we must address some prayers to S. Joseph to our Guardian Angels who are able to give us very powerful succors and summ up all our desires with begging the grace of perseverance in some particular prayer as we judge most proper 3. A third Method is to set one Day a part every year to prepare for Death to consecrate it entirely to that work and do that Day what we must do when we come to dye what we shall then wish we had done and what we shall not be able to do upon a Death Bed The Evening before we must put our affairs in such order that we may meet with no interruption next day for the work of the Day requires an absolute Retreat and a perfect tranquillity of mind if we have conveniency we should begin with visiting the holy Sacrament beseeching our our Redeemer by the merits of his Death to give us grace to dispose our selves to dye well Then we should address our selves in a particular manner to the Blessed Virgin whose protection is so necessary in that last hour to Saint Michael our good Angels S. Joseph and the Saint whose name we bear we should do well to say the Vespers for the dead and so close our preparation for the next Day with half an hour of Meditation on the improvement of Time the meanes and Graces which God hath bestowed on us to work out our salvation and the little pains we have taken for it The Parable in the sixteenth of S. Redde rationem villicationis tuae Luke 16.2 Luke is proper to be the subject of the Meditation where the Rich man who was disatisfy'd with his steward requires him to give an account of his conduct since he took the charge of his affaires or else we may choose the other parable of the barren figtree which is already propos'd for the evening before the Retreat Luke 13.6 We are to spend the rest of the Evening in solitude retir'd from the noise and distraction of the world wholly employ'd in taking care of our salvation in making a general Confession of our whole Lives or of one or so many years as our Director thinks fit And we must omit nothing that may serve to put our souls into soo good a state that we may have nothing to reproach our selves no scrupules concerning our past Life that we may be able to look on the next Day as the last of our Lives to employ it as we would employ the last Let us begin the Day with blessing God who hath been pleas'd to give us yet longer time and to inspire us with the design of preparing for Death And prostrate before the Crucifix let us offer up our selves our health our goods our Lives an absolute Sacrifice to God submitting our selves heartily to whatever kind of Death he thinks fit to send accepting it in satisfaction for our sins in union with the Death of Jesus Christ Then let us meditate
enough c Vae tempori illi Domine in quo non te amavi vae tempori illi in quo te graviter off mdi My God! I curse the Day that I neglected to love thee I curse the Day wherein I offended thee d Dominus illuminatio mea salus mea Dominus protector vitae meae à quo trepidabo Ps 26. The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear The Lord is the Protector of my Life of whom shall I be a fraid e Etiamsi-consistant adversum me castra non time bircor meum Ps 26.5 Si ambulavero in medio umbrae mortis non timebo mala quoniam tu mecum es Ps 22.4 Though men should en camp against me my heart will not be terrifyed though I walk in the midst of the shadow of Death I will fear no evil because thou art with me b Etiamsi occideris me in te sperabo Domine Job 13.15 Though thou slay me yet I will trust in thee c Sperantem in Domino misericordia circundabit Ps 3.10 Mercy shall compass him about that hopeth in the Lord. d Adauge in me Domine fidem adauge spē adauge charitat em Lord increase my faith increase my hope increase my Love e Paratum cor meum Deus paratum cor meum Ps 56.8 My heart is ready O God! my heart is ready f Sive morimur sive vivimus Domini sumus Rom. 14.8 Whether we live or dye we are the Lord 's g Dominus est faciat quod bonum est in oculis suis 5. Reg. 3.18 It is the Lord let him do what seemeth good in his sight h Si bona susceptimus de manu Domini mala quare non sustinebimus Job 2.10 We have received good at the hand of the Lord and shall we not also receive evil i Justè patimur Domine quia peccavimus tibi Jer. 14.25 We suffery justly O Lord because we have sinned against thee FEBRUARY AND AUGUST FIRST MEDITATION Of the importance of salvation FIRST POINT The husiness of our salvation is the most important of all business SECOND POINT The business of our salvation is our onely business FIRST POINT COnsider that no business is of so great importance to us as the business of our salvation an Eternity of happiness or misery depends on the success of this All other affaires are only permitted as they are subservient to this great Work If we lose this we lose all for we lose God who is all good without whom there can be no good if we fail in this he is lost to us and lost for ever without recovery Salvation is our own business every thing else is forreign to us in other things we do the business of our Children our Friends our family our Country or of the Community to which we belong and not precisely our own business every thing else is a business of Time this of Eternity If we lose other business tho of the highest importance we may find a remedy or if we do not we shall be no losers provided we succeed in this The loss of our souls is the only irreparable loss Eternity its selfe will not be sufficient to deplore it Shall we be able to comfort our selves with the thoughts that we have been success full in all our other business of no consequence and and have only neglected this which is the only business of Eternity 'T is no matter tho we live obscurely and forgotten without friends or support and dye poor provided we secure our salvation But what will all our Riches and power all our knowledge and wisdom avail us if we loose our souls Tho all the world should conspire together they will never be able to deprive a man of Heaven make him miserable to all Eternity Neither will they be able to make one damn'd soul happy Quid prodest homini si universum mundum lucretur c. Luc 6.25 so much as mitigate his Torments What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul or what can he give in exchange for his soul Is it possible that this business of Eternity is the onely business of consequence we have to do and that yet we should neglect this most and lay it least to heart We fancy that our studies our trade our diversions that our visits and conversation are of great importance to us they take up all our time we can never find leisure enough for them we are unwilling to deferr them but when we should think seriously of our souls we make no difficulty of deferring we imagine it is too soon that we shall have time enough and yet which is still more surprizing we are never at leasure to set about it Certainly we must have odd notions of Eternal happiness since we are so carless of securing it would we be content to take no more pains and spend no more time in our study's and in temporal affaires then we do in what concerns ous Eternal salvation If our salvation depended on a nother could he have so little zeal or charity as to neglect it more then we do our selves Tho we know it depends wholly on our own care What pains do's every man take in his calling If we have a child to provid for if we have a design tojoyn in partnership with a Merchant how careful are we to inform our selves to examine to advise with our ffriends what measures do we not observe what precautions do we not take we think we can never be too sure But are we to spend a little time for salvation we think a very little too much Salvation is the business of Eternity but it must be done in time we have need of all our Time for it God gives us our whole Life to think of it he judged it was all little enough but we imagine it may be done inless If we spent in working out our salvation the hundredth part of the Time and pains we throw a way in worldy business we should soon be great saints This is the only necessary business we can have and yet we hardly allot a little Time for it nay we grudge it even that little By our proceedings one would think that we believe God our debtor and oblig'd to us for beeing saved If a man of business or Letters pass one whole day in accquitting himselfe of the duty 's of a Christian he looks upon that day as lost But we spend whole months in vain studys or in worldly business and call this spending the time well Salvation is our great and chief business now a mans chief business takes up all his thoughts hardly gives him time to think of any other if this succeds he comforts himselfe for the miscarriage of the rest We commonly put off the care of our salvation our to our last sickness that is we put of the business
of Eternity the most important business we have and which requires all our Lives to a time when we are incapable of following the slightest business in the world when we are indeed in capable of any thing If God mistaken who tells us this only is of consequence Is he deceived in the disposition of his Providence in all his care which tends only to this Is he in whom are all good things and who is all himselfe so little to be valued that we can be indifferent whether we lose him or no Whence is all that weeping that cruel despair of the damn'd souls if what they have lost be not worth our seeking If everlasting misery be so slight a business why do we tremble at the thoughts of Eternity And if we believe it so terrible how can we be at rest while we are so careless about it And in so much danger My God! how many day 's of Grace have I abus'd how many precious hours have I let pass unprofitably Wretch that I am to spend so much Time in doing nothing But how much more wretched shall I be if I do not now at length begin seriously to work out my salvation What do I stay for For a proper time Alas that time perhaps is already past for me Do I stay till thou callest me Thou hast never ceas'd to do it Oh! how long hast thou sollicited me to no purpose shall this reiterated Grace thou givest me now be in vain How long shall I spend the best part of my Life in vain amusements which I my selfe condemn And do I condemn them onely to aggravate my guilt by losing that time in the pursuit of them which I ought to employ for Heaven How long shall I fancy those things necessary which are of no use for the next Life whill I neglect only the business of Eternity My God how great will my despair and confusion be upon a Death Bed if I continue to live as I have done hitherto when all the meanes and opportunity 's I have had of securing my salvation when this present opportunity and the thoughts I now have of doing it present themselves to my memory O my God since thou hast not yet punished me tho I deserv'd punishment I trust thou wilt not refuse me the assistance of thy Grace tho I am unworthy of it Since this is the day design'd for my conversion the present resolution shall not be like the rest I believe I am fully persuaded I am sensible that there is but one thing necessary that Eternal salvation is the onely business that concerns me and I am determin'd to begin this Day to apply my selfe seriously to it SECOND POINT Consider that our Eternal salvation is not only the greatest but the only business we have to which we ought to apply our selves entirely least we should do it ill What ever else we call great business is not properly business at least not ours they concern others more then us and we labour more for our posterity then for our selves We may get others to do them for us and we may let them alone without being everlastingly unhappy but we must work out our salvation our selves and we are lost without recovery if we neglect it This is that one thing of which our Saviour speaks so often this is our only business onely because this alone is of such mighty consequence the success were of of depends on us Onely because no other deserves our care Onely because it requires all our care and because we may do it if we will 'T is equally the onely business of all the world of the King in the Government of his Kingdom of the Prelate in the administration of his Diocess of the Learned in their study's of the soldier in the Warr of the Merchant in his Trade of the Artisan in his calling 'T is not necessary for a man to be a King a Prelat a Soldier Porro unuâ—â— est necessarium Luc. 10.42 a Merchant or a Tradesman a scholar or a man of business but 't is absolutely necessary for him to be sav'd In other matters we have always some resourse in this Life or in the next but there is none in this he who has not done this has done nothing and will never be in a condition to do it again he who is damn'd is damn'd for ever What reception would an Embassador deserve from his Master who at his return from his Embassy should give an account of the great things he had done during his absence of the friends he had made the reputation he had gain'd the riches he had acquir'd how well he had diverted himselfe in fine that he had done every thing but the business he was sent to do God hath sent us into the world onely to work out our Salvation this was his sole design in creating us this is his sole design in preserving us will he be satisfy'd with our telling him when we come to dye Lord we have done great things we have been in great repute in the world we have got large Estates we have been instrumental in the salvation of our neighbours we have neglected nothing but our own savation we have done every thing but that one thing for which thou hast sent us into the world Ad yet this is all the account the greatest part of mankind is able to give because 't is at this rate the greatest part of mankind live And if we were now to appear before God could we give any other account Is all this true is there such an Eternity is Life given us only to prepare for it If I loose my soul can I ever recover it and shall I certainly lose it if I live as the greatest part of the world do and as I have done hitherto shall I wish at my last hour that I had liv'd otherwise that I had done what I could and what I ought to have done And will all those things that take me up now seem vain and trifling then My God! do we indeed believe this our great business the Devils and the damn'd have as good or stronger speculative belief then we but do we reduce our Faith to practise which is the science of the Saints Is it possible that other mens business should take us up that worldly things recreations compliments should have all our Time while the business of our Salvation is the least minded as if it did not concern us What are we the better for being endued with Reason if we make no use of it in the business of our Salvation for which alone God bestow'd it on us Alas we in a manner wear it out in prosecuting trivial designs we are proud of it in matters of no moment we value our selves upon our prudential conduct and wise Counsels in business but we neglect the real use of it and we act in the matters of Eternity as if we wanted common sence And which is yet
and do we stand in need of his Example to excite us seriously to work out our Salvation Is nor all that thou hast done sufficient must we search for new arguments to convince us of the worth of a soul for which thou hast paid so so great a price Thou hast redeemed me o Divine Saviour I am thine by a double title and am resolv'd that nothing in the world shall hinder my giving my selfe wholly to thee without reserve SECOND POINT Consider how much Gods peculiar care of us obliges us to concurr with him to secure our Salvation shall God himselfe act for us as if he had nothing else to do as if he could not be happy without us And shall we stand in need of a more powerful motive to excite us to diligence How do's his infinite wisdom improve every moment from our births to make us love him How admirarable is the conduct of his Providence in bringing about our Salvation Do we count it a small Grace that we are born of Christian Parents when so many are born of Infidels Is it a small Grace to be educated in the bosom of the Church out of which perhaps we should have still continued if we had been bted in Error How great a mercy was it to have a good instructor in my youth a companon who set me a good example a good Friend to advise me We look on these things as common Accidents but we shall one day see that the hand of Providence dispos'd them all We afflict our selves for the loss of a friend for the death of a Relation we are quite dejected with Poverty our want of capacity disturbs us and we are troubled to find our selves so little considered in the world while perhaps these very things are the cause of our conversion and we shall one day find that we owne our Salvation to these seeming misfortunes Most men have been in some dangers or sick perhaps to extremity God who saw we should certainly be lost if we dyed then being desirous to save us hath given us more time we have read some pious discourse only to pass away the time and have found our hearts touch'd by it how many happy occasion have we met with which tho wholly unforeseen were very proper to promote Gods designs in our conversion One inspiration one sudden thought one word spoken without design is frequently the first occasion of great Conversions If we have the honour to be consecrated to the immediate service of God let us call to mind all the circumstances of our vocation and we shall find them so many miracles of Providence that we should come to such a place at such a time and in such company that when we thought our selves most wedded to the world we found our selves on a sudden weaned from it that the numerous examples of worldings did not allure us nor the love of our Friends retain us that we were not discourag'd by the austerity's of a life which appeard so terrible but that we had resolution enough to surmount all rhese obstacles Nothing but grace could inspire this generous resolution to a person weary of the world tir'd out with Crosse and terrify'd with the thoughts of approaching Death but in the heat of youth when the world appears most charming when we are most eager in the pursuit of pleasures when the hopes of a long Life and the prospect of making a great fortune suggest other thoughts what is a miracle if such a conversion be not But whence proceed these pious sentiments at a time when I deserve them so little whence is it that among so many who would have been better then I God hath inspir'd me only with this thought And if others have entertain'd the same sincere desires have had much greater merits whence is it that they are not chosen how comes it that if they were chosen they did not persevere that God perhaps hath suffer'd them to fall back that I might take their place Add to these distinguishing favours all the inspirations and powerful assistances with which he prevents us daily and if all these visible proofs of his singular care of us do not prevail with us to love and serve him without any reserve we must be certainly the most ungrateful wretches living and deserve the severest and most immediate vengeance These are great subjects of meditation which require frequent and serious reflexions they are the sensible effects of Gods particular Providence which continually watches over us They are the visible marks of his singular Love in preferring us to so many others and nothing is so capable of exciting in us a lively faith a firm confidence an invincible resolution and ardent Love to him And yet perhaps there are some who never thought of it My God! how do we employ our thoughts How can we neglect these comfortable important Truths surely it would be impossible to delay setting about the great work of Salvation if we did seriously reflect on what God hath done and continues to do every day for us No wonder the Devil employs all his cunning to prevent our meditating on these things he knows how very proper they are to inspire a sincere desire of serving God but we are inexcusable to pass so slightly over and be so little affected with these pressing motives to endeavour after perfection in our several stations Let us examine whether we have faithfully concurr'd with the Grace of God and whether we have comply'd with his designs in taking so much care of our Salvation Let us examine wherein we have been negligent and penetrated with this wonderful goodness of God who is so desirous to make us Saints let us deferr no longer let us immediately correspond with his will who seeks our good and resolve on such measures as will make our Resolutions effectual Then we shall reap the fruit of this meditation and of this Day 's retreat if we be careful to pursue our Resolutions and not suffer them to be as so many have already been without effect THIRD MEDITATION OF THE SENTIMENTS we shall have at the hour of Death SEE THE THIRD MEDITATION For the month of January MARCH SEPTEMBER FIRST MEDITATION OF THE SMALL NVMBER of those that are saved FIRST PONINT Our Faith teacheth us that but few shall be saved SECOND POINT Our Reason convinces us that hut few shall be saved FIRST POINT COnsider that then umber of those who shall be saved is very small not only in comparison of above two thirds of mankind who live in infidelity but even in comparison of that vast multitude who are lost in the true Religion There are few doctrines of our Faith more clearly reveal'd than this Strive to enter in at the strait Gate saith our Saviour for wide is the Gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be that go in thereat but strait is the Gate narrow is the way that leadeth to Life
unblamable in the sight of men and yet if our virtue be not more solid and more perfect than theirs we shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven 'T is agreat matter to stiffle our revenge it is yet greater to for give injury's but this is not sufficient to obtain Salvation if we would be saved we must love even those who persecute us It is not enough to abhorr allwicked actions we must abhorr the least ill thought we are not onely oblig'd not to covet our neighbours goods we must bestow our own on those who are in want True humility which is the essential Caracter of a Christian will not admit of ambition or vanity Tho you labour never so much if God be not indeed the end of your labour you will have no thanks for your pains to all Eternity Be as regular as you please God is not content with an outward shew he requires the heart and that you should serve him in spirit and in Truth that is sincerely and uprightly One mortal sin effaces in a moment all the merits of the longest and best Life and one hundred thousand millions of years in Hell will not be a sufficient punishment for the sin of one moment It is an article of Faith that neither the proud the covetous the deceiver the slanderer nor the unchast shall ever enter into the Kingdom of Heaven he that enters there must either have alwayes preserv'd his Innocence or recover'd it by a sincere repentance and do we find many who offer continual violence to their inclination without which we can never come there where is that exact purity where is that continual penance that hatred of sin and that ardent charity which is the caractere of the Elect what is become of the Primitive simplicity do's not interest govern and is not Religion it selfe made subservient to it is not the General example the Rule of most mens actions who look upon it as a maxime that we must act like men while we live among men but we must act like Christians if we will be saved we must lead a Christian life in the midst of those who have onely the name 'T is likewise certain that the work of salvation is our greatest businèss that we are sent into the world for this end alone that we must employ our whole Lives in it and that after all we cannot be sure of it yet how few Christians do indeed make this their great onely business We can never be sav'd without ' final Grace 't is an article of our Faith that we can never merit that Grace that God might without injustice refuse it to the most perfect Saints what reason then have we to expect it who are so imperfect and so lukewarm in the service of God These are not counsels onely they are the maximes of Jesus-Christ the irrevocable Laws and indispensable conditions of salvation which is not promis'd to the knowledge but to the observation of them to so exact an observation that the neglect of any one damns us to Eternity Let us now call to mind at what a rate men live and then judge whether many can be saved Let us examine our selves and see whether we have any reason to hope to be of that little number Hear what S. Chrysostom says to the great City of Constantinople how many say's he do you think will be sav'd out of this vast City one of the greatest most populous in the world I shall terrify you by my answer and yet I am bound to tell you that of so many thousand inhabitants there will hardly be one hundred saved nay I doubt even of the salvation of these And yet this Imperial City was then as well regulated as any of those wherein we live full of those we call honest men its inhabitants were reputed devout frequented the Sacraments and liv'd as we generally do Let this great Saints decision who would never have spoken so positively without an extraordinary light give us an Idea of the smal number of the Elect. Is it possible that we can cheat our selves so grossly as not to see that we are running headlong to damnation and that if we continue to live at our usual rate our Religion obliges us to believe we shall be damn'd And certainly we could not believe our Religion true if after having laid down such strict Rules it allow'd us to hope to be sav'd in the violation of them this would be to impose upon the world but blessed be God our Religion condemns most severely such an irregular conduct and careless loose Christians will not be excus'd because of their great number It is an Article of Faith that unless we be like our Redeemer wecannot be saved to be like him we must conform our wills we must hate what he hates love what he loves Are there many who ressemble this great pattern how little do we our selves resemble him and what wil be come of us if we continue so unlike him Now adays men content themselves with some outward appearances of Religion with a shew of virtue every man makes to himselfe a false systeme of Conscience with which he rests satisfyed as to what concerns his Salvation yet we believe that Heretiks are lost who have their system's too who are as exact observers of the external part of Religion as we and have very often all the quality's of meer honest men what ground have we for this imaginary assurance have we any new Revelation or particular Gospell Do we build our hopes upon the profession of the true Faith which Heretiks have not surely unless we take pleasure to deceive our selves we must own that he who believes little of what he ought to do is in a much better condition than the man who do's little or nothing of what he believes If believing were sufficient the number of the Predestinated would not be small if we had liberty tolive as we pleas'd we should make no difficulty of believing any thing but Faith without works is dead though you believe never so wel you can never hope Salvation if you neglect to practise what you believe The Devils believe more than we but their Faith is onely speculative and woe be to us if ours be no more than speculative Are The sublime Sanctity of our Holy Religion the admirable example of the Son of God the shedding of his blood the efficacy of the Sacraments the communications of his Grace design'd onely to make us keep some measures which serve onely to encourage us to sin more boldly by disguising those faults which are common to us with the Pagans Were the Saints men of another condition than we are were they excepted in the universal Redemption of mankind was not the way to Heaven discover'd in their Time did they expect any other recompense how comes it that we are so very unlike them they resolv'd to be Saints what do we resolve to be And can we hope
disposing our selves to fall in to mortal Sin of indulging our selves in those irregularity's which are often the ginning of the Reprobation of many who appear'd eminent for Piety Consider what are our thoughts of venial Sins have we fully resolv'd in all our confessions to mend them for it is much to be feard that by frequent confessing the same venial Sins we too oftenrender our confessions at best useless for want of contrition Let us no longer look upon them as little things there are but few things that we ought to fear so much Let us examine our selves strictly accordingly regulate our practise THIRD MEDITATION OF THE SENTIMENTS We shall have at the hour of Death SEE THE THIRD MEDITATION For the month of January APRIL OCTOBER FIRST MEDITATION THAT WE OVGHT NOT to delay our Conversion FIRST POINT If we delay our Conversion we thereby put our selves into an evident danger of being never converted SECOND POINT If we delay our Conversion we thereby put our our selves under a kind of necessity of being never converted FIRST POINT COnsider that there is no Christian who has not some time or other desir'd to turn sincerely to God there are certain happy moments wherein by an inward light we discover on a sudden so many faults in Creatures we find so little solidity in every thing on the earrh and are so disgusted with what seem'd most charming that we cannot avoid confessing that to neglect the service of God is the highest degree of madness Our Reason is convinc'd but our passions are too strong and wehave not resolution enough to oppose them there fore self-Love finds an expedient to flatter both it satisfy's our Reason by persuading us to resolve on Conversion and pleases our sloth by engaging us to deferr it and to retain our former habits but here it apparentiy deceives us for this delay puts us in to an evident danger of never being convetted Time Grace and a willing mind are necessary to Conversiow if we put it off but for one day how can we promise our selves that one day if we have that Day are we sure that we shall be more willing to improve it And who hath told us that we shall then be assisted with amore efficacious graee than that which we have hitherto resisted Is any thing more uncertain than Time how many have been surpris'd by Death while they were deliberating And would it not be a dismall thing to dye full of designs for a future Conversion We think it is not now a fit Time to quit our dangerous conversations to avoid the occasions of sin to reform our Lives and to live more retir'd more like Christians alas what time would we have we are for staying till the heat of youth is past till age and experience have disabus'd us ' as to those triffles which take us up now and then every thing will contribute to our conversion Thus the greatest part of mankind argue about their projects of conversion for no man pretends to dye unconverted but do they reason well do we find many of these Resolvers converted before they dye We accept saith S. Augustin their pennance who deferr their conversion to the end of their Lives but we make no great account of such conversions No my Brethren adds that great Saint I dare not deceive you and therefore must declare that we make no great account of them We refuse to be converted now what grounds have we to believe that we shall be more willing here after If we find difficulties now we shall meet with greater then they increase with our passions which will then be stronger and instead of youthful amusements which take up our Time now we shall then find that multitude of business will be a greater hindrance Do not flatter your selves that you may be converted at any time who has told you that you shall at all times be capable of conversion If we refuse to be converted when God invites us now when our ill habits are but weak few can we reasonably expect to be able to do it here after when they are multiply'd and grown inveterate God will be weary of waiting his sollicitations will diminish as our resistance of his Grace encreases so that we are forc'd to own that we run the greatest hazard in the woild by delaying and yet we are not a fraid to venture Was it ever heard that a condemne'd malefactor was unwilling to receive his pardon desir'd it might be deferr'd to another Time God offers us his Friendship he tenders his pardon to us and we are unwilling to have it yet we desire him to stay till we are in humour to receive it He sollicites us and we bid him keep his Love for another Time would we treat the last of men thus and how should we resent this usage our selves Every man promises him selfe Time for Conversion if Jesus-Christ had promis'd us with an Oath that we should have notice of his coming we could not live in greater security than we do thô we know that he hath sworn the direct contrary Did ever any Merchand when he had found an opportunty of recovering all his losses put it off to another Time and deferr the securing his fortune till the next day Would not we think a man distracted who being dangerously sick should desire his Physician not to visit him till five ot six Day hence Am not I with all my pretensions to wisdom this distracted man when I delay my Conversion one Day I am out of favour with God my soul is dangerously ill the most efficacious remedy's do me no Good my sickness encreases God sollicites and beseeches me to be cur'd he desires onely my consent and I refuse his offer Has not the Son of God prevented all our excuses and all our false pretences by declaring that he will come when we are not aware of him this is not only the Counsell of a wise and knowing friend it is the decision of the Lord of Life and Death who knows the time in which he designs to call us Let our designs and projects be never so well laid Death will come when we least expect it Did we ever see a man dye were we ever dangerously ill our selves without resolving to turn to God and yet we are still unconverted Our last sickness will put us on the same resolutions but how can we be sure they will be more sincere than the former and why should we think that God will accept them Men tremble when they find themselves in danger of losing their Lives or Estates is it nothing to loose our souls by remaining unconverted If the loss of a soul be so small a matter why did Jesus-Christ do and suffer so much to redeem it My God! thou desirest not the Death of a sinner thou desirest his Conversion so that it is my own fault if I be not converted Am I unwilling and how can I pretend to be
of any thing wherein a man would be thought mad or at least imprudent that should talk to us of business Is a sick or dying man in a condition to talk of business And yet it is to this time which we our selves acknowledge to very unfit for the most trivial affaires that we deferr the greatest business in the world the business of Salvation of Eternity How can we think of being converted one day and yet deferr it though but to the next day The design of being converted implies that we believe our Souls in danger that we are sensible of want of Love to God that we do not serve him faithfully That we are out of his favour and that we dare not dye in the state in which welive He who deferrs his Conversion wilfully lives in a continual danger by which so many perish every Day he refuses to love God is content to be out of favour with him he resolves to live in à State wherein he is afraid to dye and this after serious reflection and after several designs to change his Life he resolves to persist in enmity to God at the very time when God tenders him his Grace and presses him to accept his Friendship Can any Christian can any rational man make this reflection afterwards deferr his Conversion one moment Alas my Dear Saviour I am but too capable of doing this these reflections and an hundred more will be to no purpose if thou dost not convert me Oh! do it for thy mercys sake as this is the day wherein I resolve to be converted so let it be the Day of my perfect Conversion SECOND MEDITATION OF THE GOOD VSE of Time FIRST POINT That Time is very precious SECOND POINT That the loss of Time can never be repaired FIRST POINT COnsider that nothing is so precious as Time every moment is worth an Eternity that the glory of the Saints the Eternal joys of heaven which Christ hath purchas'd for us by his blood are the reward of the good use we make of our Time Time is so precious that the smallest part of it is worth more than all the honours and Riches in the world tho we employ but one moment to get all those honours and Riches if that be all we gain by it God who judges righteously will look upon that moment as lost If a damn'd Soul were master all the Kingdoms of the Earth he would give them all and all its Treasures for one of those precious minutes which he for merly spent in folly and which we loose every Day Comprehend if you can what Grace and the possession of God is this Grace this God are the price of our Time which is given us onely to obtain more grace and by its assistance to merit the enjoyment of God and it is certain that by every moment we spend for any thing else we loose more than the whole world can repay The Saints in Heaven by reiterated perfect acts of vertue to Eternity can not merit a greater degree of Glory yet this I can merit every moment if I will by one true act of Love to God Reprobates will not be able to satisfy the divine justice nor to obtain the pardon of one sin by all their regrets and tears nor by an Eternity of dread ful Sufferings but I may do it every moment by one sigh or one tear by one act of contrition I may appease the wrath of God Eternal happiness or misery will be the consequence of my use or abuse of Time I can work out my Salvation onely while Time lasts how then can men be so much at a loss how to employ their time how can they amuse themselves and be taken up with trifles only to passe away the time You do not know how to spend the Time Have you never offended God are you not oblig'd to him have you receiv'd no favours from him Ought not you to adore and serve him The glorious Saints do not think Eternity too long to love to praise to bless and honour him and shall we think an hour of a day too long You dont know what to do have you no sins to grieve for Dont you know that Jesus-Christ is in person on the Altar where he expects to be ador'd is ador'd but by few and can you want employment for your time we are never at a loss how to spend our time but when we have most time to serve and love God For we can spend whole days in business and vain pleasures in offending God and destroying our Souls with hout being uneasy or thinking the Time long Let us consider that we can secure our Salvation only while Time lasts and that all the time of our lives is given us only for this End how careful ought we then to be of improving it every moment is precious we loose all if we loose our time But do we much value this loss Do we think that there is such a thing as the loss of time we improve every moment for things of no consequence we are cast down at disapointments and with all our care and diligence we are continually afraid that we shall want Time But alas a Time wil come when we shall think otherwise because we shall have juster thoughts a time will come wherein we shall regret those favorable days and hours which we mispend now A time will come when we would give all the world to recall some of those precious moments which we now throw away and wilfully loose when we shall be torn with despair to find that they are all lost and that time is past Then you will cry out Oh! that I were now in the condition I was in such a Day of my Life when I was meditating upon the improvement of Time Oh! that I had now the same health and strength my God! what would I not do but wretch that I am I foresaw this despair which torments me now for having lost my Time why did I make no use of that foresight nor of that Time Time is short it ends with our Lives wee have already pass'd the greatest part of them and to what purpose what use have I made of this last year how much time have I lost in doing what I ought not or in omitting what I ought to have done and how little of it have I spent in doing my duty My God! what a terrible account have I to give of my Time of these present Reflctions How can I expect mercy from God if I make no better use of what is left if I deferr my Conversion any longer how many are dead who were in better health than I some months ago how many seem now in their full vigour who will be in the grave before the year is past and how do I know that I shall not be one of them Let us then work while we have time we cannot expect it should be long and therefore let us not
had cost me never so much could I take too much pains to avoid damnation Add to these inconcevable torments to these cruel regrets the the irreconciliable loss of the supreme Good the sence of a God ittated to Eternity of a God lost without recovery lost for ever this is the height and perfection of their misery they never cease to be the Victims of the Divine wrath and vengeance we must know what God is before we can be able to conceive what it is to loose him without hope tho we are solittle affected with it now they who have lost him have other thoughts How insupportable will be the remembrance that I had a Redeemer but I slighted the price by which I was redeemed that my Saviour lov'd me to such a degree and that it is impossible for me to love him that I am hated by him and that he will never have any compassion on my misery O! my Dear Saviour who hast suffer'd so much so recall me who hast bought me with so great a price that I might not be lost thou will take pleasure to see me plung'd into this fiery gulph thou will heap everlasting misery on me without mercy thou wilt be no longer my Father nor my Saviour no wonder if Hell be a place of weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth of despair and woe since the Almighty who made the world by one act of his will do's all he can seems to exert all his power force to make a wretched Creature suffer There is an Hell and yet there are Sinners Christians believe there is an Hell and yet this hell is full of Christians There is an Hell and at this very moment an infinite number of miserable Souls are tormented in it 't is certain that many of those with whom we converse that many of those who read this and who meditate on the torments of Hell will one day be cast into those everlasting flames And am not I like to be one of them Divine Saviour thou hast not bought me to destroy me but hast not thou also shed thy blood for those that are lost This makes me fear and tremble but what good will this fear do me if I loose my Soul Oh! my good Master I wil be sav'd what ever it cost me I humbly beseech thee by thy precious blood suffer me not to be damn'd what will it advance thy glory to shut me up for ever in that abyss of fire and flames Non mortui laudabunt te neque omnes qui descendunt in infernum Psalm 113.17 They who do go down to Hell do not praise thy name they do not love thee there if thou sufferest me to fall into Hell it will only augment the number of those who hate and blaspheme thee My God! I will be sav'd tho all the rest of the world were lost thou wouldst have me be sav'd I trust in thy mercy and hope that thou will place me among thy Elect. SECOND POINT Consider that the torments of Hell are not onely universall excessive and dreadfull they are Eternal too notwithstanding all their horror there is no hope that they can either end or diminish What must be the thoughts of a damn'd Soul when after infinite millions of years she casts her eyes from that abyss of Eternity upon the short moment of her Life and can hardly find it after that vast number of ages which are past since she came there Life tho consider'd never so near appears but a moment the time past of it seems but an instant to us who live and when we come to dye tho we have liv'd long we can hardly persuade our selves that there hath been any interval between the day of our births and the prefent Day all that is past seems a Dream what then will it be after Death when so many millions of years are over when our descendants for many generations are all forgotten when time has ruin'd our houses destroy'd the Citys and overturn'd the Kingdoms wherein we liv'd when the end of Ages shall have bury'd the whole Universe in its own ashes and infinite millions of Ages after This is dreadful but all this is not Eternity when a damn'd soul shall have suffered all theis while and an hunded thousand times as much 't is nothing to Eternity Were one of the damn'd oblidg'd to fill the hollow of a mans hand with his tears and to drop but one single tear at the end of each thousand years what a terrible duration would this be Cain the first of the damn'd would have shed but six or seven Judas but one but if he were oblidg'd at the same rate to make a brook or a river of his tears to fill the Sea or the vast extent between heaven and Earth what a prodigious length of time would this require Our imagination is lost and confounded in so vast a duration but all this great and inconceva bleextent of time is nothing to Eternity A time will come when every one of those wretched Souls will be able tosay one tear for every thousand years that I have been in Hell would have drown'd the Universe and fill'd up the immense space between Heaven and Earth and yet I have an Eternity of unspeakable torments still to suffer all I have suffered is nothing to this Eternity after millions of Ages as many times multiplyed after an extensive duration in which our thoughts are lost the fire of Hell will be as violent and fierce the damn'd will be as capable of torment and as sensible of their pains and God as incens'd as far from being appeas'd as the first moment Oh! dreadfull Oh! incomprehensible Eternity were we only to burn for every wicked thought as many millions of Ages as we have liv'd days hours or minutes our pains would have an end at last but to know certainly that our torments will never end alwayes to suffer be assured that we shall alwayes suffer to be allwayes thinking on the happiness we have lost on the torments we have brought upon our selves on the means of avoiding them which we have had to have continually before our eyes the vanity of every thing we have preferr'd to God and the little while that our pleasures have lasted the unutterable sweetness we might have tasted in his service the vast difference between the pains we fear'd in the practise of virtue and those which we are now forc'd to suffer in the flames of Hell to have the thoughts of this Eternity allwayes present and to burn rage and despair for ever my God! what misery If these reflections do not convert us if the prospect of those Torments of this Eternity do's not touch us if the fear of this everlasting regret do's not wean us from Sin and from our vain amusements are we rational creatures are we Christians These terrible veritys have made so many Martyrs have peopled the deserts and daily fill the Convents what do we think of these men
our sufferings with the sufferings of Christ this will not augment them but it will make us reap fruit by them Another fruit of pennance is a constant practise of mortification My God! what fruit may we not gather from this practise Every thing in the world may give us an opportunity to curb our inclinations there is no place no time improper for it without deviating from the rules of good sence Let him who loves Jesus-Christ truly make a good use of these little occasions have we a great desire to see any object or to speak in some particular occasion we may reap great benefit by casting down our Eyes and holding our thoughts If we have an opportunity to gain applause by saying something very seasonably or by some witty piece of rallery we have also an opportunity of making a great Sacrifice There is scarce an hour where in some subject of mortification do's not present it selfe are we sitting or standing we may choose an uneasy seat or a painful posture without seeming to affect it In fine the inconveniences of the place of the season the disagreableness of the company born so that we seem not to mind them are indeed little occasions of mortification but the mortification its selfe is not little in these small occasions It is very meritorious and I may say that the greatest graces and the most sublime holiness commonly depend upon a generous constant mortification in these small matters A punctual performance of the duty 's of our community an exact observation of our Rule a conformity to the common way of living in every thing without any regard to our inclinations our employements or our Age are precious fruits of a mortification so much the more considerable as it is less subject to vanity and more conform'd to the Spirit of Christ These are the true fruits of pennance what hinders our bearing abundance of them But there is another fruit of penance yet more necessary and without which all the rest will avail us little for Eternity and that is the Reformation of our manners the victory over our dominering passion Let us observe what passion is most powerful which habit is strongest to what sin we are most subject which is in some manner the source of all the rest and of all the false maximes we frame to our selves in matter of Conscience All other fins may be strangers to us but the domineering passion is our proper caracter the fruit of a true conversion is to retrench our reigning vice to conceive an holy detestation of that imperious passion to fight against it without ceasing The Victory over this Sin alone will deliver us from the strongest temptations but we willingly attack our other sins and commonly spare this and this is the true cause of our receiving so little benefit by our penance My God! what do we stay for to become fruitful thou hast cultivated us with so much care we are planted in a ground watered with thy tears and precious blood how long shall we be unfruitful what do we get by bringing forth only thorns we feel their points but we receive no benefit by our pain because we fly from the Cross I am resolv'd my Dear Saviour to neglect nothing that I may not live such a barren Life I can do nothing without thy Grace I can do all things with it since thou givest me this Time for penance suffer me not to abuse it any more My God I am resolv'd to begin this moment to bring forth fruits worthy of pennance THIRD MEDITATION OF THE SENTIMENTS We shall have at the hour of Death SEE THE THIRD MEDITATION For the month of January CHRISTIAN REFLECTIONS WHICH MAY SERVE for matter of Consideration for every day of Retreat OF SALVATION ARe we fully convinc'd of the great Truths of our Religion If we do not believe them we do too much but if we do believe what we profess we do not do enough Dare we say that the Saints did more than was needful tho at the end of their Lives when mens judgments are most impartial they were troubled for having done no more How different are our Lives from theirs Do we indeed walk in the same way with them Do we govern our selves by the same Rules and yet we pretend to arrive at the same place Good God! have not we reason to fear that we are out of the way We admire the wisdom of the Saints for practising what they believed but how little do's our practise agree with our belief And shall we have cause to applaud our selves on a Death-bed for our past Lives Of the importance of Salvation What is this Salvation of which we talk so much this soul this Eternity Is it true that I am sent into the world onely to secure it is it true that I am undone if I do not secure it tho I should gain the whole world is it true and do I indeed believe that the business of my Salvation is the greatest business I can have That it is indeed my only business That nothing else deserves my care that this requires all my applicerion and alone depends on it if I do not believe this I am lost for ever and if I do believe it do not I deserve to be severely punish'd for my indifference which degenerates into a downright contempt of Salvation do I apply my selfe to this great business am I much concern'd about it And what ground have I to hope for success while I take so little pains should not I conclude a man ruin'd if he minded his temporal business no more than I do this difficult this important business of Salvation Of our indifference for Salvation Our indifference for Salvation is so great that we must own that of all our affaires we neglect this most and lay it least to heart Whence proceeds this unaccountable indifference for Eternal happiness God gave us our lives only to think on it he judg'd them all little enough to succeed in it Death for ought we know is very near us what part of our Life have we spent in this important business How few years how few days nay how few hours have we devoted to it Have we the confidence to reckon those we spend in the Church with so much distraction and voluntary irreverence Alas have we made any great progress in those hours Can we have the face to mention the little time we have given to hasty prayers without devotion to Confessions without sorrow and without Reformation to Communions without fruit or to a few pretended good works which we have lost by doing them upon natural or which were corrupted by bad motives We are so taken up with superfluous cares and worldly business that we can spare but a little Time to think of our Salvation and we grudge the little time we spend in thinking of it What reason can we give for such an unreasonable couduct unless we will own that it proceeds from want
that is accustomed to that continual vicissitude of seasons of years of months and days amus'd by its variety and diverted by its novelty finds himselfe in Eternity before he is aware and in that instant the Soul enters into an unchangable state it is in the same condition and in the same place where it shall remain to all Fternity from that first moment it suffers the same Eternal torments which it shall alwayes suffer so that every minute it suffers an Eternity In this wretched Eternity all the different parcels of Time concurr and unite as in one point to make the damn'd miserable 't is a globe of an infinite weight which bears on an indivisible point 't is a duration without end here these unhappy creatures suffer all the torments which the omnipotence of God can inflict they suffer them all at once without any intermission and they suffer them all perpetually without my hope of ease without any hope that their torments shall ever end or they grow less sensible of them My God how dread full is this If these pains were to end after as many millions of ages as there have pass'd moments since the Creation of the woild if every sinful thought were to be punish'd only with an hundred millions of ages in Hell and a momentary act of Sin with a thousand times as many the sinners madness would be more tolerable tho incapable of excuse tho they lasted long they would at length have an end but to be everlasting to be allways suffering and burning certain to suffer and burn for ever without any diminution my God! what excess of misery Suppose a Soul condemn'd to the flames of Hell till he had fill'd this Chamber with tears at the rate of one tear in a thousand years what a terrible extent of time must he suffer Cain has not yet shed above five or six but how much more is requir'd to fill the house yet more to make several great Rivers yet more to fill the sea and infinitely more to drown the whole Universe fill the space between Heaven and Earth Our imaginations are confounded and lost in such a vast duration the thought stunns us yet alas this though so terrible inconcevable is not Eternity it is not so much as a part of Eternity for after all this Time is past Eternity will be still entire And a time will come when every damn'd soul shall be able to say that he might have fill'd drown'd the whole universe by shedding one tear for every thousand years that he has been in Hell and yet he is still to undergo a whole Eternity of sufferings that dismall Eternity is not yet diminish'd one moment Can we yet find satisfaction in unlawful pleasures Can we delight to sin can Sin have any charms for us My Gracious God! My good Master my loving Saviour do not damn me or rather do not suffer me to damn my selfe for I know thou wilt not condemn me till I have by my repeated infidelity's and Sins renounc'd my title to Eternal happiness Am I worthy to be the object of thy incensed wrath of so long and so severe a vengeance O my soul arise and work do all that is required of thee to be saved while it is in thy power save thy self tho all the rest of the world perish this is a terrible truth but it is a certain truth We can never comprehend this Eternity of torments but we can much less comprehend how a Sinner can believe it yet live in Sin Are we afraid to think of Hell ' This true the thoughts of it have made the stoutest tremble and the greatest Saints quake but will our not thinking of it take it away or render it less terrible will our not thinking of it make us have less reason to fear damnation The Fire of Hell is indeed dread full yet an eminent servant of God observes that it is slight in comparaison of the stings of Conscience of the remembance of what is past and of the time they have mispent their thoughts will be Eternally taken up with lively Idea's of the vanity of all those things which drew them away from God they will incessantly call to mind how easily they might have been saved how easily they might have confess'd such a sin have avoided such an occasion of falling How many years of health did I enjoy after my fall Why did I deferr my Conversion to a death Bed where was all the wisdom for which I valued my selfe so much I who was thought a judicious man capable of advising others well I needed onely to have done what such and such have done it depended only on me I often design'd resolv'd to do it but I have not done it Oh! that I had made these reflections while I might have been the better for them Alas I did make them but unprofitably I might have been a Saint if I would I would not and am therefore justly damn'd Of the pretended Conversion of the Imperfect Men consecrated to the service of God are often very little touch'd with discourses of the necessity of being converted without delay because they look upon themselves as perfectly converted ever since they contracted at their entrance into Religion a greater obligation to be thorowly converted but they do not consider that it is easier to change their state than their manners that a new sort of dress is not capable of subduing their passions nor of extirpating their vitious inclinations this new form of Life this outward change dazles them at first their passions are charm'd by its novelty the grace of God which alway's abounds at such a time excites some good desires in the most imperfect in those happy beginnings every thing seems easy to them but it is this that so often deceives beginners they take the common effects of change and novelty for the effects of grace they are so satisfy'd with their imaginary progress in the beginning that they persuade themselves the work is done that they have nothing to fear and thus they lull themselves in a false security but when custom has inur'd them to this new course of Life when the chamns of novelty are over then their passions revive with greater strength and are so much the more violent in that they find nothing to amuse them and that they have layn still and have been curb'd so long then their first inclinations return their natural temper gets the upperhand they being careless and secure it is easy to imagine the ravage which such dangerous enemys make in a soul that is not upon its guard And this is thâ— the cause that so many Religious aâ—â— found more unmortify'd more greedy of pleasures more fond of honours less sensible of the eternal truths of our Religion less faithfull to the Grace of God and much more imperfect after three or four years than they were the first day of their Conversion Of the false Idea
which many frame to themselves of Virtue There is certainly some virtue a-among the greatest part of Christians but it is very much degenerated from the virtue of the first Ages of the Church it is a pliable complaisant virtue it has so much of God as serves to gain a reputation to make its selfe esteemed it allway's finds out a medium between the maxims of Christ and those of the world and therefore it is positively condemn'd by Jesus-Christ and hath nothing but the name of virtue My God! these half Christians are very unhappy while they endeavour to please both God and the world they never please men and alwayes displease God Their maxim is that we must be well bred that we must have an easy indulgent virtue which agrees with what they call good sence as if the spirit and maxims of Christ were contrary to good sence My God! how directly opposite is this pretended virtue to the Gospel and what abundance of souls do's it ruine Who persuade themselves that they need not be so recollected so exact so modest that they are men and must live like men while they converse with them Yes you are men but remember you are Christians Church men or Religious Of the little progress we make in Virtue We should be very much asham'd to own our selves or to be thought as ignorant after ten twenty years study of the sciences as we were the first half year and much more asham'd to have it thought that we are contented to be so And yet how many who make profession of piety whose great business it is to be come perfect are not asham'd to confess to have it believed that they would think themselves happy if after as many years study in the sublime science of Salvation they were but as fervent as mortifyed and as near being Saints as when they were but six months converted they do indeed strive to banish those thoughts by giving themselves up to the insipid pleasures of a careless Life but sooner or later Death will come and what will their thoughts be then Of the proper Virtues for every condition It would be a great imprudence a dangerous error in Directors to exhort all the world alike to the same degree of Perfection and to conduct them by the same methods there are many mansions Mansiones multae sunt in regno Patris mei Joan. 12.4 many places divers orders in the Kingdom of God and tho all the inhabitants of the Heavenly Jerusalem are fully content and perfectly happy yet they possess different degrees of Glory There are Serâ—phims and Angels and they who are not worthy of the same Rank with the Apostles the Martyrs and the Virgins may have a blessed place among the Penitents Divisiones gratiarum sunt 1. Cor. 12.4 As all do not receive the same measure of grace in this Life so neither do they recive the same weight of glory in the next But it is no less dangerous under this pretence to confine our desires and designs within the narrow bounds of an ordinary virtue when perhaps we have been favourd with extraordinary graces and are called to a state which requires great perfection T is true all can not be equally perfect but all are called to be Saints he that would be a Saint must acquire practise every virtue proper to his Station the same perfection is not requir'd of all in the same Station but the more perfect our state is the greater perfection is requir'd of us that virtue which may be sufficient for a Layman is not sufficient for a Religious they who are called to Apostolical fonctions are indispensably oblig'd to a more sublime virtue and God requires a greater Sanctity in Priests than in those who are not ordain'd Of the world Worldly men render themselves objects of pity when they endeavour to persuade us that they are happy tho they should always dissemble their vexations and discontents yet no man who knows of what sort of people the world is compos'd and what it requires of those that serve it can believe a worldling happy It is compos'd of men who love nothing but themselves who think no Law so inviolable as their own interests pleasures 't is a confus'd medly of people of different caracters inclinations where each man full of himselfe is contented only with what he likes and likes onely what pleases him One says an holy man is pufft up with a vain title which he dishonours by his actions another is proud of his rich cloth's which are yet unpaid this man values himselfe upon anohers merit that man frets and pines away with vexation because the world has not as good an opinion of him as he has of himselfe others break their rest to heap up Riches of which they have no need of which afterwards they make no use When they have ruin'd their health to yet an Estate they spend this Estate to recover their health they must be always on the watch against envy and jealousy against the surprises of this Competitor the other Enemy they suspect all the world and indeed there are but few real friends to be found in it What abundance of pains are daily lost in serving the world when you have labour'd with all the earnestness and diligence imaginable in its service if you are unsuccessful it gives you no thanks you loose its favour you shall be whole years unfortunate without knowing it and upon the first appearance of a fault it decry's and disgraces you and values you no more It is not sufficient to serve diligently and well unless you have found the secret to please which frequently do's not depend on us nay which is yet more strange they who would not displease the world must not seem desirous to please if it once discovers that they have that design it thinks it selfe exempt from all obligation it neither rewards the services of those who are not zealous enough for it interest nor the care and pains of those who make it their whole business to gain its favour Do you rely upon your friends in the world while you are powerfull and in a capacity of obliging many you will never want a great number of friends but the moment you fall into disgrace the moment you are no longer capable of serving them those pretended friends all disapear and apply thsmselves onely to him that succeeds you and tho you were never so much a slave to a great man he thinks it a sufficient reward for all your services to send some footman to enquire how you do when you are on your Death-bed How desirous are we to be taken notice of but how can we expect to distinguish our selves among such a multitude of pretenders who all think themselves endow'd with some excellent quality with some extraordinary merit what is this admiration of which we are so fond saith the holy man before cited do you know that
invites us to continue in our Sins or when we fancy they are common small ones we want resolution and vigorous purposes of amendment we content our selves with designing to committ the same sins no more but we will not avoid the occasions that have made us fall Which is a clear proof that our contrition is not sincere are we ignorant that the want of contrition is a grievous sin or if we do know it and pretend to strive to raise it in our Souls it is much to be fear'd that the Confessions of many are null for all that because the motive of this pretended Contrition is often onely the fear of being guilty of Sacriledge and hence it is that as soon as our Confession is over and we are no longer in danger of committing Sacriledge we relapse again into the same faults as if we had never confess'd them A man of sence who has seriously weigh'd the Reasons on both sides is not easily persuaded to change his design and can we imagine that our frequent falls were preceded by a sincere resolution to sin no more had we no motives to make that resolution If God was indeed our motive why did we so soon change our minds Did we take that generous resolution upon weak motives Since our motive subsists still why do we not continue in the same design We ought certainly to make but very little account of those confessions that are not followed with amendment My God! how will the remembrance of such confessions trouble and torment us when wâ— come to dye One visible marlâ— of true connrition is when we hate the occasions of Sin as much as Sin it selfe when we do indeed abhorr the smallest Sins Of Private Friendships Saint Basile teaches us that there should be a perfect union between all the Religious of the same Community Basil in Const Monast ca. 30. but no particular Friendships tho such private engagements may seem very innocent they are a for mall separation from all the rest of the body who loves one of his Brethren more than the rest shews by that preference that he do's not love the others perfectly and thereby he offends and wrongs the whole Community Serm. de instit Monach. These private unions adds the same Saint are a continual Seed of Discord of envy suspicions of distrust and hatred they give occasion to divisions to secret meetings cabals which are the ruine of Religion In those meetings one discovers his designs another vents his rash judgments a third complains a fourth reveals what he ought to keep secret hence proceed murmurings and backbitings uncharitable censures and undutifull reflections upon Superiours and by an unhappy contagion these ill dispositions communicate themselves from one to another and indeed the Devil has no temptation more dangerous and more capable of perverting the most fervent especially young men than these particular friendships As soon as one of these friends is vex'd and thinks himselfe ill us'd all the rest share in his discontent he gives his passion vent and they approve it either out of complaisance or a turbulent humour By this means they break their Rules to shew their friendship act contrary to their duty If such engagements were onely between the most virtuous yet they ought not to be suffer'd because they are particular But they are seldom found among the truly virtuous they are too opposite to real piety and are almost peculiar to the imperfect Observe a careless lazy Religious you will soon find him see king some particular Friendship contrary to the true spirit of charity and Religion Familiaritates aut colloquia ejusmodi haud exiguum detrimentum pariunt animae S. Ephr. to 1. Saint Ephrem tells us that those unions and private conferences are very prejudicial to the Soul are great obstacles to true Piety they destroy insensibly the spirit of Devotion and make the Soul weary of pious conversation they inspire a secret aversion for the fervent and render their very presence uneasy 't is in these particular friendships that the best resolutions miscarry in these the noblest sentiments which the Soul had entertain'd in prayer at the Communion at Mass are lost in these all the charitable remonstrances of superiours the saving counsells of Directors are rendred useless either by turning them into raillery or by advancing maxims directly contrary to the spirit of Jesus-Christ There are few virtues proof against these occasions Alas how many who had begun well have split upon this Rock and been at last miserably ruin'd by these dangerous engagements with their false Friends Therefore this Saint advises carefully to avoid such particular friendships to lay this down as a principle that in Religion we must have no such intimacy with any Our friendships must be only spiritual not built like those friendships upon flesh blood or any other humane considerations but founded only on God Of the happiness of a Religious Life How great is your Satisfaction O Religious Souls if you have given your selves without any reserve to Christ you must be very unhappy if you be not content with so good a master Every step you make in weaning your hearts from worldly objects that you may fix them more absolutely on him will be an addition to your happiness All you have to fear is least some part of your joy should proceed from that natural peace tranquility which a Life undisturb'd with cares and noise affords for then it would be a false joy you must seek the Cross you must choose and love that Cross which is most uneasy to you and most thwarts your inclinations you may easily find such a Cross every Day in your convent you will continually meet with something that contradicts your humour or displeases your fancy you ought to be watchful to make good use of these precious opportunitys of renouncing your own judment and will in all things without this submission your peace is imperfect and will soon be at an end 'T is a solid happiness to live in a Society where such perfect Piety and so much Virtue reigns tho the truly fervent soul who seeks onely God would not be the worse although there were less Piety in his Community because he is so taken up with watching over and correcting his own faults that he has no leisure to mind other mens every thing helps those who have a good intention the bad examples which corrupt the weak are so many incitements to increase his Love to his Redeemer that he may repair their negligence by his fervour and by an holy fear preserve himselfe from imitating them Yet it is a great advantage to be sorrounded with good examples to have alwayes those excellent models before our eyes to stirr us up to diligence and to make us a sham'd when we begin to languish We shall alwayes find such examples in numerous convents but if we have not living examples let us profit by
world We readily confess that they whom God calls particularly to his service are happy that being free from the vexations to which men who live in the world are expos'd they enjoy a sweet peace and tranquility of Conscience which is the ordinary fruit of virtue How often do the greatest worldlings own that a Religious man is happy yet no sooner do's a young man design to quit the world and to embrace this happy state but he meets with a multitude of obstacles from his friends and Relations who suggest to him that he ought to spend some years in trying the truth of his vocation they make a lively description of what he must expect to suffer in the state of Life which he designs to follow and they exagerate all the difficulties of if One would think by their tears that he was going to make himselfe unhappy or at least to hazard his Life and his Soul too But if he has a mind to continue in the world they do not think so many precautions necessary nor do they require so much time to resolve they know this vocation is much more perilous yet they do not exact so long a tryall instead of aggravating the difficulties they study to disguise them and to palliate those real evils wâ—â—ch they can not hide with what pleasure do they see an onely son of great hopes engage himselfe in the world they never trouble themselves to enquire whether he has thought sufficiently of it on the contrary they fear nothing so much as his entertaining the design of leaving it what can be the cause of this can Salvation be better secur'd in the world no certainly but the true Reason is that Salvation is generally the last thing men think of when they are deliberating what course of Life to choose Of the false Idea's which men have of Holiness T is exceeding strange every man considers holiness with reference to the Station in which he is not and but few apply themselves to acquire that holiness which is proper to their own Station the Poor are taken up with thinking on the opportunities the Rich have to be sav'd and the rich are persuaded that it is an easy matter to sanctify ones selfe when one is free from the obstacles that proceed from wealth the young think no reason so proper to work for Salvation as old Age Youth say they is a time of pleasure we will think of Salvation another time And the Aged continually regret the means of Sanctification which they enjoy'd in theyr youth and find themselves incapable of many good works wich they could have done then Seculars place holiness in the austerity's peculiar to a Religious Life and from thence conclude their condition unfit for it and the Religious often loose courage in the way of perfection which they have chosen because they consider Sanctity only in hair shirts and sackcloth and in those heroique actions which we admire in the Lives of some great Saints And thus by framing a false Idea of Holiness the greatest part of Christians are disguisted with it and live as if there were no Sanctity proper for their Station My God! how many mischiefs proceed from this mistake Of the Sanctity proper for every Station Every man should examine what Sanctity is requir'd of him in the Station to which God hath called him Haec est voluntas Dei Sanctificatio vestra 1. Thesâ— 4.2 the will of God is that we should be Saints but we shall never be Saints if we are not exact in the discharge of those particular duty 's which belong to our condition The virtue requir'd of a General is not proper for a Tradesman the dutys of a magistrate or of a master of a Family are very different from those which God expects from an Hermite that virtue which is proper for Seculars will not suffice for Religious men even their perfection has different degrees the virtue of a beginner differs exceedingly from that which God exacts from the most perfect the surest most efficacious way to be a Saint is to seek perfection onely in our Station It is for this end that the Church sets before us the examples of great Saints of all ages and conditions The wise woman whom the Scripture celebrates with so much applause became a Saint in looking after her family Saint Louis upon the throne Saint Isidore at the plough Saint Elzear at Court and by the help of that grace which is never wanting to us every man may if he will arrive to the perfection of his state and Calling Of Small Faults He who despiseth little things shall fall by degrees Qui spernie modica paulatim decidet Eceles 19. â—â— saith the Author of Ecclesiasticus upon which an eminent servant of God remarks that the doctrine contain'd in those words is of great importance to all the world especially to those who aspire to perfection for great matters recommend themselves so that we are naturally more careful and exact in them but little things are easily neglected because we think them of no consequence but we deceive our selves the danger is greater than we imagine it is this negligence in those small things that has hindred so many from becoming eminently virtuous and perfect in their Station Saint Bernard observes that they who commit the most horrid impyety's begin at first with little faults A minimis incipiunt qui in maxima proruunt nemo repente fit summus no man is excessively wicked on a sudden the diseases of the Soul are like those of the body contracted by degrees if a little cold a light indisposition had been taken in time when it was so easy to cure it the dying man had been now in perfect health so when you see a servant of God fall into some scandalous Sin you may besure adds that great Saint that this is not his first fault it is rare to see a man whâ— has preserv'd the piety of an innocent Life for a great while together suddenly committ a grievous Sin if he had taken a little care at first he might exsily have prevented the progress of Sin but because men despis'd the danger while it is small be cause they slight and indulged themselves in little imperfections hence proceed the terrible falls of those who had liv'd so well before The consideration that so many souls are ruin'd by such small beginnings is sufficient to make us wonder and tremble would to God men were thorowly persuaded of this important Truth on which depends the Salvation or at least the perfection of the greatest part of mankind The Devil is too cunning to tempt a servant of God to a violation of essentiall dutys at first he would have but small success if he begun with solliciting a fearful Soul to commit a mortal Sin and therefore he insinuates himselfe by such small things till he hath got footing before the Soul perceives it these infidelity's in small things are alwayes punish'd with
and few there be that find it And in another place he tells us that many are called but few are chosen even of those that are called which he repeats in the same terms on another occasion And the Apostle speaking by the spirit of Christ compares the Body of Christians to those who run a race where many run but one onely gains the prize to whom he likens those that are saved And to let us see that he speaks of Beleevers he cites the example of the Israelites you know my Brethren say's he that our Fathers were all under a cloud all passed through the Red sea with Moses that they did all eat the same spiritual meat all these miracles were wrought onely for their safe passage to the promis'd Land yet how few of them arriv'd in it of eighteen hundred thousand souls that came out of Egypt none but Ioshuah and Caleb entred into Canaan Isaiah compares the Elect to those few Olives that are left here and there upon the Trees after the gathering and to that small number of grapes that remain after the diligent gleaning of the Vineyard Besides these examples and comparisons which the scripture uses to convince us of this terrible Truth we have the examples of all the world there was but one family preserv'd from the deluge of five great city 's onely four persons were saved from destruction and we find but one sick man cur'd of the palsey among the crowd of Paralyticks that flock'd to the pool of Bethesda This dreadful truth which our Lord repeated so of ten to his disciples gave occasion to that question Lord are there few that shall be saved To which our Saviour waving the Question least he should terrify them answers strive to enter in at the strait Gate This is certainly the most awakening and terrible Doctrine of our Religion yet how little are we affected with it Were I sure that but one of ten thousand should be damn'd I ought to fear and tremble least it should be my case but alas among ten thousand perhaps there will hardly be one sav'd and yet I am unconcern'd and and fear nothing Is not my security a sufficient cause to fear Do's it not proceed from the blindness and hardness of my heart which renders me insensible of my danger and thereby less capable of preventing or avoiding it The news of one ship lost among ten thousand affrights many every one that has concerns at sea apprehends for himselfe but though we know that the greatest part of mankind shall be lost that very few will arrive at the Port of eternal happiness how little are we sollicitous for our selves and who has told us that we shall arrive there If Jesus-Christ had promis'd heaven to all Christians as positively as he has declared that his Elect are but few we could not be more unconcern'd then we are But do's this security lessen our danger And will this insensiblity render us less miserable Alas if we had no other this very tranquility is a sufficient cause to make us doubt of our Salvation We don't think of it what is it employs our thoughts if Eternity do's not Do we believe it can we believe it and not fear it and how can we fear it without thinking of it How can we be unconcern'd at the sight of so great a danger the greatest Saints were alwayes afraid Saint Paul himselfe was never exempt from this saving fear yet we are free from it for it is impossible to fear truly and not mend our Lives We Sacrifice our goods to preserve our selves from shipwrack a marchant makes no difficulty to throw his most precious wares the fruits of many yeares labour overbord to save himselfe but we will rather hazard all than part with any thing to secure us from damnation If the infection be in the City every body is afraid with what earnestness do we seek preservatives with what care do we shun the best companys condemn our selves to solitude and all this because we are afraid to dye Are we not afraid of being damnd we believe that the greatest part of the world will be lost and yet we are unwilling tospare one day for retreat we will do nothing to make sure of Heaven Do we rely upon our vocation upon the sanctity of our condition upon the talents God hath given us or upon the meanes of salvation which he affords us Alas remember Saul had a true vocation to the Kingdom Judas to the dignity of an Apostle yet Saul was rejected and Judas lost even in Christs family Solomon the wisest of men hath with all his knowledge left us in doubt of his Salvation and an infinite number of Christian Hero's who were exemplary for their Piety during the greatest part of their Lives have fallen at last Their too much security hath ruin'd them in the end of their Lives and they are damn'd with all their pretended merits And yet O my God can I be without fear This want of saving fear should make me fear all things I am certainly lost if I be not afraid of being lost and can I fear any thing so much as eternal perdition O my Dear Saviour who hast redeemed me with thy precious blood and who art graciously pleas'd to make me sensible of my danger suffer me not to be lost for ever My God! let me not be found among the Reprobates I confess that I have hitherto walk'd in the broad way but behold O Lord I will now go into the narrow way and will strive with all my might to enter into the streight Gate Let others run in crowds to Hell were there to be but one sav'd in this place I am resolv'd to be he and I depend on thy grace I know it is my own fault if I be not one of thy Elect. I have abus'd thy former graces but I have ground to hope that this shall be effectual for I am resolv'd let the number of the Elect be never so small I will be one of that little flock whatever it cost me And I am persuaded it is thy will as well as mine since I could not form this resolution if thou hadst not inspir'd it SECOND POINT Consider that if our Faith did not reach us this terrible truth our own Reason would convince us of it we need onely reflect on what is requir'd of us and on our manner of performing it and we shall presently conclude that there will be but few saved If we would be saved we must live up to the Rules of the Gospel are there many that observe them we must profess our selves openly to be followers of Christ is not the great est part of man kind asham'd of that profession if we would be sav'd we must either actually or in affection renounce the world and all we have in it and bear our Saviours Cross daily The Pharisees had all the appearances of Piety they were extreamly mortified and their Lives were