I will employ my time and talent in studying thy essence excellency effects motives and what else concerns thee that I may sincerely affect thee seriously seek thee happily lay hold on thee and resolutely practice thee I will perseverantly fight against perverse nature quel concupiscence cut off curiosity repress vice and reiterate these acts till they induce the contrary habits of all Virtues into my conquering Soul O Jesu perfect exemplar of all sanctity who art graciously pleased to afford courage to weaklings to confound the strong 1. Give me a noble Generosity to set on Virtue that I may with vigour alacrity and promptitude vanquish all sloath and negligence 2. Give me a discreet Severity to set on my self that the caitiff pleasures of flesh and bloud make me not relent in my labours 3. Give me a meek Benigntty and sweetness of heart that I may peaceably patiently and joyfully pass over all difficulties remain always solaced and satisfied with thy good pleasure and permission and persevere constantly in these my pious practises and resolutions The Second Exercise Of the Theological Virtues and first of Faith 1. The Essence of Faith Faith is a Theological Virtue elevating and enabling our souls to an assured though obscure knowledg of all such things as are revealed by God PRostrate again and humbled even into the center of my own nothing I represent my self before thy supreme Majesty O dread Sovereign of heaven and earth I acknowledg O prime infallible and only essential verity that the Just man lives by Faith that by it only I can have access unto thy sacred Majesty and that without it it is not only vain to pretend but altogether impossible to please thee I believe O my Lord that Faith is the first step of my Pilgrimage towards heaven the necessary foundation whereupon I must raise the high edifice of my desired perfection and the very substance and support of all my hope of future happiness in thy blessed eternity I also most gratefully confess that Faith is a gratuite gift of thy meer mercy and gracious bounty which alone moved thee to infuse it into my undeserving soul in Baptism O love O liberality But ah my unfaithfulness how poorly have I performed my then made publick promise and profession Alas my disloyal Soul Thou hast not liv'd according to Faith's Laws thou hast little lov'd thy Lord less thy Neighbour and least of all thine own self Thou hast scarcely dreaded thy supreme Creator as thy severe Judg much less honour'd serv'd and obey'd him as thy sweet Father Thy Faith hath been hitherto dead and thy barren tree hath not yet budded forth into blossoms nor born any fruit of good works O pious and potent Lord Curse not presently this fruitless fig-tree lest it forthwith wither away into nothing O cut me not yet off nor cast me suddenly into the fire as I have most justly deserved for having thus long possess'd a place in thy Garden without any return of profit to thee my heavenly Planter O spare me one year longer Divine Husbandman digg about me and refresh my driness with the sweet streams of thy infinite mercy that I may spring forth into fruitfull works worthy my Faith and profession Quicken renew revive O bountifull Lord thine own gracious gift of Faith in my Soul which is dulled deaded and almost destroy'd and choak'd up with the venomous weeds of my wilfull sin and negligence O give me a fresh supply of celestial light and strength enable my poor Soul to pour forth her self here in thy Divine presence receive thy now repenting and returning child pardon mercifully his past disloyalties and graciously accept these hearty protestations of his most sincere fidelity for the future I believe O eternal Truth I believe all that thy self hast said in thy sacred Scripture and reveal'd to thy dear Spouse the Catholick Church as most sure and certain verities Yes Lord thy words are indubitable thy Church is infallible and I will sooner believe my self not to live than to suspect thy Prophets Apostles or their Successors in thy Church by whose mouths thou speakest to be Authors of the least falshood I will therefore expect no greater evidence in this life in these secret and sacred mysteries of Faith than thy Divine Revelation and thy holy Churches assertion Ah my soul how well is it for thee that thou art uncapable to Dive into the Counsels of the Divinity What were the merit of thy Faith if thine own reason could yield thee an infallible certainty To clear it alas were to ruine it to draw the curtain which obscures it were to bereave it of its most convenient cloathing to examine it too punctually were to distrust thy God too peremptorily wherefore my Soul doth humbly and heartily sacrifice to thee her Soveraign Creator the noblest faculty wherewith thou hast endowed her which is her Vnderstanding She willingly submits it by an absolute captivity and blind obedience to all thy Divine Decrees Laws and Ordinances without questioning how or why I receive all intirely universally singularly each sentence of Scripture each sanction of the Church without the least exception choice reserve or distinction I believe all O Lord help my unbelief 2. The Material Object of Faith God is the material object of our Faith who hath revealed all truths which are to be believed THou O Eternal Unity of Essence O ineffable Trinity of Persons O Father Son and Holy Ghost in whom all things live move and have their being art the prime object of my Faith to whom all truths are to be referred as the first and infallible rule of all verity Thou hast revealed thy self as an infinite independent eternal perfect and omnipotent Creator of all things Conserver of the whol Universe Governour of Heaven and Earth Glorifier of Angels Redeemer of Sinners Justifier of Saints first Author and final End of all Creatures I believe adore admire and melt away in the meditation of these thy marvellous greatnesses and glories Thou hast delivered unto me by thy Apostles the faithfull Interpreters of thy Word and Will a short Symbole as a compleat abridgment of the truths I am bound to believe of the good things I am to hope and of the blessed objects whereon I am to fix my affection O Divine Creed little in expressions but large in mysteries containing sweet milk for Children and solid meat for Men I firmly credit each tittle thou containest in the same sense and meaning it is to be believed I will frequently repeat and ruminate each one of thy sublime articles when I rise I will remember thee when I betake me to my rest I will recite thee Thou shalt be my Garment to adorn me my Glass to dress me my Corslet to defend me till I come to thy blessed Kingdom O Father Almighty and all Mercy where thy self in clear vision wilt be the revealed object of my Faith the final accomplisher of my Hope and the rich recompence of
my Creator I will irrevocably fix my Heart and Hope making it my sole imployment during this my lives Pilgrimage to please praise and love thee and not doubting but thou wilt provide for me preserve me perfect me and at thy own appointed time bring me to thy perpetual bliss and felicity In this Act of Love Hope and Confidence I will securely sleep expire and die the death of Love living no more to my self for my self in my self but thou my loving Lord living within me leaving to thee all care of my self and not Fearing what can befall me in all future time and eternity 5. A Divine Sleep of Contemplation ANd now composing my Body to sleep my Heart shall remain awak'd to thee my Lord and Lover Though my Understanding remains vacant from all discourse and image my Will shall be still working watching and melting away in Acts of Love to thy divine Majesty O sweet and secure sleep O sincere and solid repose O pure and perfect pleasure O the difference between this spiritual and all fleshly contents How great O Lord is the multitude of thy sweetness which thou hast laid up in store for all such as truly love and faithfully serve thee O Lights O Delights O Extasies of Spirit O sweet Spouse of my soul Wound me Burn me Consume me Annihilate me in the abyssal depths of thy divine Love and Union Then put off your Garments with all modesty and civility being never without some pious thought in your heart or some Jaculatory prayer in your mouth As O Saviour how barbarously wert thou uncloath'd to be nail'd naked to the Cross Uncloath my soul sweet Jesu of all its evil habits and idle affections c. Composing your self in your Bed you may say or think thus This Bed may perhaps be my Grave this sleep my Death and my next Uprising may be my Summons to the Soveraign Judges terrible Tribunal O dear Saviour dispose of me at thy pleasure for time and eternity Endeavour to take your Sleep which is a natural action with a Spirit of Devotion so making meritorious each minute of time whereof Sleep seems to rob you by loving God with your Soul even whilst your Body hath no use of Sense either Actually by breathing forth affectionate Aspirations as oft as you awake or Vertually by the vigour of your now well made Intention And thus you may say with the Spouse in the Canticles I sâ—…p but my heart watcheth Then quietly shut your Eyes and fall asleep upon some good Cogitation or pious Affection For the last thought at Night occurs commonly first in the Morning saying with Jesus on the Cross Into thy hands O heavenly Father I commend my Spirit If sleep seizes not presently upon you say three Pater-nosters and Aves The first for the faithfull departed The second for the now sick and agonizing The third for all your enemies Which are Three Spiritual Alms-deeds ¶ II. Directions for Prayer and Meditation THey who aim at the perfection of Virtue and mean to make a solid progress in Spirituality must besides the Morning and Evening Exercises before prescribed daily duly and perseverantly apply themselves to Prayer at fit and set times and never omit it upon any pretext whatsoever as far forth as Obedience Charity and Discretion will permit There are four sorts of Prayer Vocal Mental Aspirations Transcendent 1. VOcal Prayer is the most imperfect of all as having the least share of Spiritual light Yet it is the most proper for Beginners till the Soul becomes more internal And it is to be perform'd especially when it is of obligation punctually leisurely distinctly devoutly Be sure to make a good choice of your Vocal Exercises preferring those before all others which excite you to most Devotion and which afford the sweetest relish to your Souls appetite 2. MEntal Prayer consists of three parts Preparation Meditation Conclusion Preparation hath three Acts The first is a Lively Humble and Amorous apprehension of Gods Presence who is with you within you your Life your Love your All. The second is Purity of Intention protesting you come to Prayer only to praise please and honour the divine Majesty and happen what will that you will do as far forth as his powerfull Grace shall enable your weak endeavours The third is Invocation by which you heartily beg light from the Father of lights humbly acknowledg your own Nothing and entirely abandon your self into Gods holy hands in all things whatsoever Meditation hath also three Acts. Consideration or a quiet search into the matter proposed that you may win your will to God Affections and Desires to do this leave that love God hate vice c. Resolutions firm purposes and protestations to practise as your Will is inclined as your Vnderstanding is convinced and as your Soul is now inspired Conclusion hath likewise three Acts. Thanksgiving for all Gods benefits in general and particular especially for the grace he hath now given you Petition craving that by your Creators mercy your Redeemers merits and the Saints mediation all your Defects may be pardoned your Wants supplied your Wounds cured your Wishes accomplished and imploring a special assistance for the putting in execution of your now made Resolutions Oblation of your self body soul present prayer all to the divine Majesty 3. PRayer of Aspirations or Jaculatory Prayers are short sweet frequent and fervent desires requests elevations and affections of the Soul to God These are of several sorts and may be made either in the Heart only or by the Heart and Mouth joyntly Of this sort of Prayer see more in our Spiritual Conquest 4. THe last purest perfectest and highest manner of Prayer is made only by a certain adhesion of the devout Soul to the divine Will without any Vocal expressions Mental discourses or any Images whatsoever But by a simple general obscure light of Faith and a Fervent Attentive Intensive motion and Vnion of Love Of this Prayer See also our Spiritual Conquest A way to Meditate upon any Virtue or Vice 1. AFter a lively apprehension of the divine Presence an humble acknowledgment of your own unworthiness and a rectifying of your intention as above Ponder wherein the Virtue you desire or the Vice you derest doth really consist 2. What need you have to get this and to root out that How happily you should live could you obtain it What you lose by not having it 3. What did your blessed Saviour teach and practise What our blessed Lady or such a Saint What saith your Rule or your Conscience or what is your Obligation touching this matter 4. Now what means are there to purchase it What are the occasions which nourish this Vice this Passion this Imperfection and hinder this Virtue or Perfection What Remedies What Practise 5. Then purpose and resolve upon them couragiously and confidently not doubting but that in due time you shall tast the fruits of your faithfull labours and diligence c. And to perswade
feel thy sweet effects O heavenly Virtue Fulness of Joy is ever with thee Abundance of Peace is thy inseparable companion and plentitude of Mercy is to thee a perpetual retainer O God! the soveraign Joy of all spirits and Jubilation of all hearts cheer me amid'st this worlds calamities with the solid comfort of thy only satisfying presence grace and love in my Soul O King of Peace give me Peace in my Self by an absolute union of all my inward forces and faculties to thy only glory Give me Peace with the Good by conformity of my conversation with them Give me Peace with the Bad by bearing the injuries they inflict on me Give me Peace with Thee by an intire submission of all my wishes and desires to thy holy will and decree O most liberal Lord Give me also the love of Mercy that I may be ever pitiful and compassionat towards all poor and miserable persons Give me the love of Beneficence that I may be always willing to succour my necessitous Neighbour for thy sake The love of Alms-deeds that I may be ready to relieve all his corporal wants to Feed him in his hunger Refresh him in his thirst Cloath him in his coldness Ransom him in his captivity Harbour him when he hath no home Visit him when he is sick and Bury him when he is dead The love of Fraternal correction that I may charitably Correct sinners Instruct the ignorant Counsel the doubtful Comfort the sorrowfull Bear all wrongs patiently Pardon all injuries cordially and pray for all the living and the dead zealously O my Lord make my Charity efficacious Let not my love rest in lip language but proceed to real performances of all these outward inward corporal spiritual actions of piety that in the dreadful and doubtful hour of my death and thy judgment I may find thee my sweet Saviour full of pitty and compassion towards my poor Soul 7. The Precept of loving God God commands us in the Old Law to love him with all our heart soul and strength Christ repeats it in the New as the first and greatest Precept Acts of pure Charity THy Love O my Lord is in it self so excellent and to my Soul so pleasant that should'st thou perpetuate this divine gift to me upon Earth without ever bestowing on me thy blessed Heaven it must needs make me in some sort happy O my Soul what is more precious than Gods pure love wherein canst thou and all creatures employ your time and talents more profitably than in admiring your Creators greatness and loving his goodness Yet O eternal Charity Thou also commandest me to love thee and threatnest to lay miseries upon me if I love thee not Ah! Is it not alone misery enough not to love thee Is there need of so many ties of Precepts and threats of Punishmens to oblige me to thy love O infinitly amiable bounty Is not one stroke sufficient to mollify my stony heart Thou shalt love me with thy whole heart but thou addest a second and with thy whole Soul and drivest in this sacred wedg with a third and fourth blow and with thy whole Strength and Vertue Should'st thou not O perfect Lover exact this just tribute from me I surely ought most freely to pay it for the good I finde in thy sweet friendship and now that thou claim'st it and call'st for thy due Child give me thy heart shall I deny it thee Alas Lord it is a poor present but such as it is take it totally unto thy self and dispose of it absolutly at thy pleasure Oh! that it were as rich and beautiful as befits thy Majesty to receive and my obligation and affection to give It is thy only right O my God! by all just titles of Creation Redemption Vocation and it shall be thine daily by my own free Donation Imitation Affection Lord I love thee in this very instant with all my heart soul force and vertue O let not my enemy upbraid me at my death to have pass'd my life without one Act of thy pure love Behold I here at this present banish all foul and forreign affections all self and interessed love and whatsoever is contrary to thy divine liking and embrace thy only naked Charity with as much ardour and sincerity as all my united forces and faculties can possibly enable me Rule thou henceforth and reign only in my soul O glorious King of Love Let nothing live but to love thee and praise thy liberality to manifest thy goodness and to magnify thy glory O Love O divine and desirable Treasure O rich and precious Jewell What Soul reflects upon thy real value and suddenly sells not all to buy thee leaves not all to follow thee suffers not all to enjoy thee contemns not all to compass thee How late do I love thee O beauty so ancient so new Ah my heart thou hast hitherto lov'd thy self truly wilt thou remain evermore cold careless tepid and negligent in loving that object for which only thou wert created and which alone can make thee happy Ah perfect Lover my Soul now settles her self to love thee only entirely eternally she will recompence her former failing by her future faithfulness she defies all branches of self-Self-love she desires nothing in Heaven or Earth but thy self her God her inheritance the only joy of her heart and sweet satisfaction of all her wishes But O sweet Saviour what pawn of this my love shall I leave with thee what pledg of my sincere affection shall I give thee Thou hast asked my heart Take it Lord Jesu 2 Take it alone 3 Take it all unto thee 4 Take it as thine own due and my free donation 5 Take it as the present of a Child to his Father 6 Take it as an holocaust offered up only to please praise and obey thee and not in respect of thy present benefits or expected blessings 7 Take it O loving Lord as thou desirest it deservest it demandest it and commandest it O that I had as many Hearts and Souls in my body as I have Hairs on my head that I might thus dedicate them all to thy divine Love Oh! that I could employ each moment of my remaining time in loving thee as perfectly as thy glorious Citizens do in Heaven Oh! that the very last act of my expiring life which I now consecrate unto thee might be by vertue of this my oblation and resolution an extasie of thy pure and perfect Love Lord I love thee thou knowest that I love thee how much I love thee and how ardent my desires are to love thee more I will not leave to love thee till thy love transforms me all into love which is thy self O Eternal Love Eternal Life Eternal Happiness The fifth Exercise Of the Cardinal Virtues and first of Prudence 1. The Essence of Prudence Prudence is an Intellectual Virtue enabling us to Consult wisely Judg solidly and Resolve effectually upon all occasions of action or omission GReat and Glorious
of Gods high perfections O King of Glory I acknowledg thy perfections to be above all knowledg but that of thy own divine Understanding I confess that thy height is unreachable thy goodness unchangeable thy greatness incomprehensible thy light inaccessible And all other thy divine attributes and perfections are so mighty and so many so good and so glorious so excellent and so admirable so worthy and so wonderful that were all the Power and Prerogatives all the vertue wisdom and qualities of all creatures united in one individual nature it were not so much in respect of thy glory and greatness as the least drop of water is in comparison of the vast Ocean Wherefore I beg of thee O immense and inaccessible Godhead only so much to know conceive believe and understand of thy hidden Majesty as may efficaciously move my will to thee and I content my self with so much light of thy divinity as may force me to love thee ardently effectually perseverantly O my Lord and my Love Fill my heart with the sweet influence of thy heavenly grace that I may in some measure discover how good and gracious thou art to me and to all thy creatures O let me still remember thy mecry ever dread thy Justice and continually admire and adore thy Power and Providence Ah! my noble Soul stampt with thy Creators lovely image endowed with the excellencies of Understanding to know him of Will to love him of Memory to rest in him why adherest thou not fast to him only in pure and perfect delight forgetting and forgoing all sensible worldly Objects 5. Fervent wishes and desires to love and serve God O That I were so ravished with thy love and liking My only amiable Lord God! that through joy jubily and admiration I might feel no self at all no sense no change no inequality That no prosperitie might puff me up no adversitie deject me no accident separate me from thee O my God of infinite love and liberality O that I could be ever joyful in thee ever grateful to thee and ever mindful of thy inhabiting presence within me Thou art always nearer to my Soul O my good God! than my Soul is to my Body always conserving counselling disposing directing inciting and inspiring it to thy Love and wilt thou not O my senseless and sinful soul be alwaies cautious and circumspect how thou behavest thy self in thy Lords presence who is so tenderly careful of thy safetie O let his love be no longer neglected his sweet invitations no longer slighted O that thou wouldst henceforth walk before him as befits his chast and holy Spouse with all respect and reverence fear fidelity courage and constancy preparing thy self diligently for his divine embraces 6. Admirations of Gods bounty and benefits and Resolutions of corresponding thereto GRant I beseech thee O mighty and merciful Creator that my whole time and thoughts may be totally taken up in the contemplation of thy unmeasurable benefits and bounty towards me For I know Lord that I am truly nothing and yet thou carest for me O my loving Maker as if thou hadst no other creature in heaven or earth thou deliverest me from innumerable dangers thou adornest me with many gifts and graces thou givest me leave at all times to have free access to thy Throne of Mercy so that with one holy thought one humble sigh one devout desire I may draw near to thee and enjoy thee and in thee all comfort content O divine priviledg To discover to thee my Wants lay open my Wounds and boldly declare my Wishes as to my nearest dearest and trustiest friend and familiar and to be sure of supplies salves and succour in all my necessities O what Goodness what Grace what Mercy is this O my Soul How loving and liberal a Lord have we how loving in Mercy how liberal in bounty Ah! our unthankfulness to requite our unworthiness to deserve his favours Up my heart be no longer ungrateful and unfaithful to so great good and gracious a benefactor Yes O blessed and bountiful Giver I now say cordially and will ever stand to it couragiously I will henceforth love thee my Lord my love my life my strength my support my home my harbour and my happiness I will remember thy sweet words to all sinners Why will you perish O children As I live I desire not the death of a sinner but that he would turn to me and live I will behold thy sacred wounds suffered for me able to move a rock to love and compassion And though I am asham'd to think what I have been how little I have done how much thou hast endured for me how long thou hast expected me how lovingly thou hast sought me and how poorly I have corresponded to thee Yet I know O my Lord thou ceasest not to be God and good though I am weak and wicked Therefore I will yet take courage in thy service and confidently hope that thou who hast sought after me a lost sheep wilt mercifully receive me now I seek after thee my loving Shepheard with a right intention real resolution and inflamed affection 7. Acts of Confidence and purposes of Perseverance in the divine love and service YEs O my Lord and my Love heaven and earth shall sooner perish than my Confidence in thy sweet mercies and my Saviours merits If thou repellest me I will run after thee if thou shuttest the door against me I will never leave knocking and if thou killest me yet will I trust in thee I wholly cast my self upon thy holy Will Providence and Protection I protest with heart and mouth that I now am and henceforth will be entirely thine that I have nothing seek nothing fear nothing desire nothing demand nothing want nothing will nothing but thee only My Lord my Love and my All. And I firmly purpose to serve and love thee O sacred and supream Majesty simply sincerely purely and perseverantly not for any fear of pains or punishment not for any self-interest of what this world can offer or the next afford not for the least hope of Heaven or happiness but I will thee seek thee and love thee for thy self only O my All-sufficient Lord God! who art the sole object sweet compleatment and solid contentment of my soul Pardon me protect me and provide for me for thou art my only hope and happiness The Third Exercise Of the knowledg of and diffidence in our selves 1. A total Abnegation of our selves and Relation to the divine Providence WHat is man O omnipotent Creator what is this man that thou shouldst be so mindful of him He is a meer nothing Lord and I am the least and worst of those nothings because I have least corresponded to thy grace and made worst use of thy gifts O give me light reach forth thy hand to this blind creature crying after thee O true light of the world and life of my Soul that now at length I may duly diligently cordially and abyssally
Tepidity Sluggishness Cowardise and Pusillanimity all my my Covetous desires all Impurity and all Intemperance Purge me O my powerful Lord purifie me O my merciful Saviour Give strength comfort and courage to my feeble and frail nature that I may pass undauntedly through all difficulties and dangers to come to thee and to repose in thee the only center of my desires Grant me O my Lord Chastity of body and Cleanness of heart Temperance in my appetites and Sobriety in my senses Gravity in my deportment and Moderation in all my proceedings that nothing may dislike thee in my soul nor dissolve the sacred knot wherewith thou hast fastned me unto thee Give me also O Jesu my Lord perfect Poverty of spirit O permit not my soul designed to enjoy thee her only solid and satiating object to be intangled with the least affection to the poor and perishable trifles of this world Behold I cast my self uncloathed from all creatures into thy naked embraces O crucified Saviour I desire to clip nothing in my folded arms but a breast burning with desires to please thee my Redeemer and a heart melting away in thy love I make choice of thy baâ—e Cross O Christ for my best inheritance I stretch out my opened folds to meet thy holy and heavenly huggings O let me never more be unclasp'd from thy blessed bosom Be thou O my great-little naked-Jesu my rest during the short time of my life and my refuge at the dreadful hour of my death 6. More humble Petitions before the Sacred Head and Face of our Crucifi'd Saviour ANd now O merciful Saviour I humbly convert my eyes and contemplation to thy sacred Head crowned with thorns and thy divin Face all besmeared with gore and spittle for my sake Here I implore strength O Jesu for the weaknesses of my head and pardon for the wickednesses of my five Wits and Senses O my Lord I desire to bury in these thy innumerous Wounds the enormous number of my iniquities and I beseech thee for these thy sufferings sake to adorn my weak capacity with so much solid Wisdom as may fitly suit with my condition O let me never think speak or act any thing which is not season'd with the salt of Discretion Let me seriously weigh each circumstance and patiently wait thy leave and leasure before I leap into any work Enlighten me to see cleerly thy will and pleasure and impower me exactly to fulfil and follow it Open the eyes of my Understanding to behold my own baseness and wickedness and give me thy gracious assistance to reform it Help me to frame a right judgment of the real vileness and vanity of all transitory things and indue my heart with courage to contemn them Inebriate my affection O amiable Jesu with the sweetness of thy love and let all worldly solaces savour of bitterness to my soul Let me be deaf blind and dumb to all things which are not thy self O my crucified Saviour Let me prudently discern and piously perform each parcel of my duty in its due circumstance of time place order measure and manner Let that holy and innocent Simplicity which is the Virtue of thy Saints shine in all my actions Let me not be curious to know much but careful to practise much and cordial to love thee much O my only Lord and love Cleanse my Will from all self-seeking Keep my Memory from all superfluities Close up my Senses from all vanities that my happy soul seperated from all sensible images may quietly tend to thee only sweetly repose in thee and continually enjoy thy blessed presence O let thy pure and perfect love Dear Lord Jesu be the faithful Scout-watch over all my proceedings that no forreign affection no sinister intention no self liking or self seeking may steal into my heart and defraud or disturb its happy enjoyment of thee and holy unity with thy divin Spirit Grant O my Lord that I may prudently turn all good events and all bad accidents to my spiritual profit by reflecting wherefore they befall me of what they warn me and how far they concern me Let me learn thereby gratitude to thy Goodness fervour in Prayer contempt of my self humility of spirit care of my actions resignation to thy will amendment of my life or what else thy holy Spirit shall please to intimate by these fatherly visitations O sacred Head of my crucified Saviour be thou my certain succour during my lives conflict and my sure place of retreat in my last agony of Death 7. And finally Ardent Petitions before the Heart of JESVS wounded with a Launce ANd Lastly I reverently approach to thy dear Heart O amiable Lord Jesu opened with a cruel Launce in the sight of thy blessed Mother and thy beloved Disciple for the love of my Soul O my Jesu I here implore thy pardon for all my perverss affections and irregular appetites Give me thy leave O my loving Lord to creep into this sweet hole of the rock this sacred cleft of the wall this unlock'd closet of heavenly treasures this saving Ark of the New Testament and shut you O Jesu the door from without that free from the deluges of all wickedness and dangers of the World Flesh and Devil I may sit solitarily silently and sweetly hearkning to thy divin whispers in my elevated Soul Purge all my impurities O my dear Saviour in the precious Blood streaming from thy patent side and replenish my heart with thy perfect love Oh! drown me wound me burn me and consume me in thy divine flames of affection that I may love thee strongly purely perfectly perseverantly O grant that I may leave all things with alacrity for thee my beloved Jesu though never so great to loath all things joyfully for thy love though never so good to do all things contentedly for thy honour though never so hard to suffer all things patiently for thy sake though never so painful and to persever constantly in my pious practices for the sole satisfaction of thy holy Will and the accomplishment of thy blessed pleasure O let me be incessantly calling and knocking at this sacred gate of Mercy Let me be still sighing and seeking after thee my Jesus my Saviour my Lord and my Love Let me be always thinking ever talking and perpetually tending to unite my heart to thine to conform it unto thine to transform it into thine that so I may be all thine and thou all mine for time and eternity Grant also dear Jesu that I may truly love all others in thee and for thee O inflame my Charity quicken my Faith rectifie my intentions strengthen my confidence in thee destroy all complacency in my self establish me in all these my good purposes and let me be as often minded of my now-promis'd duty and encouraged to proceed forwards in the path of perfection as I shall eye the sacred image of thy crucified humanity Elevate my desirous Soul unto thy self O Jesu my Lord above all chances changes
of my Soul I most heartily confess and acknowledg that thou hast provided for me in so convenient a manner both in prosperity and adversity in health and sickness in body and soul as no other wisdom but thou only my sweet Lord and Maker the increated Goodness and wise Disposer of all things could have effected To thee therefore O my God and my All I commit my self and all to be disposed of now and ever as shall be most agreeable to thy own honour and glory and most conformable to thy eternal just and equal will and providence I hope O my Soveraign Lord God! that this moment of pains and sufferings will be soon changed into an Eternity of happiness and comfort I trust that my now languishing and dying body shall be one day raised to glory impassibility immortality I cheerfully expect to have this poor imprisoned soul of mine called up to see enjoy and contemplate thy amiable and beautifying countenance for evermore 4. Acts of Love O Eternal Father thou hast given thy Son to me and behold I give him again to thee together with my whol self and all that I have am and can my Love my Life my Liberty my Heart my Soul to please and honour thee for all future time and Eternity O my Lord I love thee heartily and during the short remainder of my life in this world I will serve thee faithfully not so much of obligation as of Election not so much for my own comfort and profit as for thy will and pleasure not for the delight I take in thy loving service but for the desire I have to please thee not as a servant bondslave or hireling but as a Freeman loves his Friend as a Child his Father as a Spouse her Bridegroom not only out of gratitude for received benefits but also and chiefly because thou art my God of infinit perfection in thy self and of infinit affection towards me O God of Love and Love of my Soul what do I desire in Heaven or expect from Heaven and what do I long for upon Earth but thee the only object of my affections the only aim of my pretensions the only desire of my heart the only delight of my spirit Come O my blessed Lord and Lover and take full possession of my Heart and Soul transform me into thy love and conform me to thy Will Let thy Will be the only desire of my heart and let thy Love be the only life of my Soul and lease of my life that when I leave to love I may cease to live c. 5. Acts of Resignation Take examples from CHRIST in his Agony O My All powerful Father If I must needs drink of this bitter chalice endure this long and tedious Sickness suffer these sharp and severe torments thy holy Will be done From Job on his Dunghil 'T Is thou O Soveraign Lord who art the bountiful bestower of all blessings and thou maist justly withdraw revoke and retake them at thy own will and pleasure be thou blessed and praised for evermore From S. Paul prostrate on the ground LOrd What wilt thou have me to do what is thy holy pleasure behold thy Servant ready to accomplish it Aspire frequently to God and Resign up all willingly to him in this or the like sort WEre I master of all Bodies and Souls I would presently give up to thee Great Lord of Heaven and Earth all my right and title and were it in my power I would make of each body an instrument to please and praise thee and of all souls as many Paradises to lodge and love thee Come what will O my Creator I will place my hopes in thy infinit mercy and in thy Sons abundant Redemption And my perpetual Song shall be O Lord be merciful to me a Sinner Blessed be my God for all and in all Live Jesus by whose death I live and for whose love I am willing to die c. O when shall I take as much pleasure in suffering as I have done in sinning O that I could entirely resign my whol self Body and Soul in Life or Death for time and eternity to be disposed of according to thy divin Will and Pleasure O that I could in every moment of time pronounce with heart and tongue Live Jesus only whose Will be accomplished whose name be sanctified whose praise be published in all by all above all c. 6. An Act of Purity of Intention O Eternal Lord God! Thou hast created me to serve thee only redeemed me to love thee only and now inspir'd me with a will and desire to please thee only during all the remaining days of my life And behold my hearty and humble desire is to serve thee love thee and please thee purely perfectly perseverantly Reform therefore I beseech thee my sinful life conform my stubborn will Deiform my sinister intention change and transform my spirit into thine that all my thoughts words actions pretensions and these my present pains sufferings and sickness may be presented to thy sacred Majesty with such purity perfection and perseverance as thy Love deserves from me and mine desires for thee 7. An Heroick Act of highest efficacy containing a Contract between the Soul and her Creator Which being made devoutly at the beginning of any dangerous Sickness and frequently iterated during the intervals therof must needs afford exceeding great comfort in Deaths last hour and Agony O My God my Lord my Creator from whom by whom and in whom I and all things live move and have a being I rejoice at what thou art as if it were all mine and I offer what I and all creatures have and are as being all thine Behold O Heavenly Father I thy poor Child and unworthy Creature do here with all possible sincerity submission and devotion make this present Contract with thy Sacred Majesty to be thy faithful servant and bondslave for evermore intending hereby that each remaining moment of my life and all that is within me without me about me may henceforth incessantly bless and praise thy holy Name and accomplish thy most just and holy Will in all things whatsoever And for this end I do now enrol this Oblation Donation and Resignation of my whol self to thy divin Majesty in the very Center of my Heart Soul with such Intention Force and Efficacy as thou O my all-knowing Lord God! canst comprehend to be the very best which I thy poor creature am capable to perform without any reservation restriction or contradiction whatsoever I desire also O my Creator to make this Contract with thy sacred Majesty in the best manner with most proper words in the fittest terms and with such significant clauses and conditions as it ought and may be performed In Confirmation whereof I produce as witnesses the sacred Virgin Queen Mary my Angel Guardian my particular Patrons and all the celestial Citizens humbly imploring the assistance of their Prayers for the performance of this my hearty
me unto thy self by these strong bonds of thy infinite Charity 7. Ah! my dull Soul this disaster comes undoubtedly from thy self who remainest so cold amidst these ardent flames so hard amongst these iterated strokes so impenetrable against these sharp-Pointed darts and arrows of the divine love and affection Yes My Lord and Lover the desect of my love proceeds from my own default For thou My dearest Lord desirest nothing more than to see thy Grace have its full and entire effect in my heart which I hinder by my unnatural harshness tepidity and ingratitude 8. Alas my misery shall I still live and not sincerely Love thee the only worthy to be beloved object No my amiable Lord God! to live and to love thee shall be henceforth in me one and the same continued univocal convertible action Let others lead their lives according to their own election and liking for my part I here make choice of this life of love for my only Haven and Heaven upon earth and my amorous Motto shall be for evermore My beloved to me and I to him 9. Yes O sweet Bridegroom of my Soul thy sacred love shall be the lease of my life that I may cease to live when I leave off loving thee O the sweet secure life of Love I have chosen thee and I will contentedly repose in thee I have found thee and I will faithfully follow thee My Beloved shall be mine and I will be his for all future time and Eternity 10. Ah! Soveraign King of Love how miserable is that Soul that lives devoid of thy dear Love and how much more miserable is that Soul which having felt the sweetness of thy affection falls back to her former tepidity negligence and ingratitude O my Lord Let not this misery fall to my lot but let me love thee solidly sincerely preseverantly O Let my amorous spirit become fully and finally absorpt into thy felf Let me admire thee in thy blessed gifts and graces but permit me to adore thee in thy own abyssal essential amiable essence which infinitely exceeds them Let thy Love run sweetly into my heart and permit my heart to return sweetly back by the same channel of Love into thy bosom as a Brook slides silently and sweetly but yet swiftly into its original Ocean to be there unrecoverably lost in the bottomless depths of thy divine Affections 11. O my God my Lord my Love my Life my All I am no longer able to endure the consideration of thy ardent Love without corresponding thereunto with all my heart soul and strength by the most zealous perfect and cotinued affection that can possibly be produc'd by any poor creature O how it grieves me to have so long neglected this necessary duty O dear Love I most humbly crave thy pardon and conjure thee by thy own sweet self to forget all my past tepidities and accept of this present ardour whereby I promise to be henceforth so faithful fervent and constant unto thee that no time no temptation nor death it self shall ever hinder or interrupt the payment of this my sincere homage of love upon thy sacred Altar 12. Behold O the only Beloved of my Heart what a bold protestation of future fidelity in thy presence I have now made hoping for thy blessing upon it as an effect of thy love but putting no value upon it as proceeding from my self whose power and being are one and the same thing to wit a meer Nothing before thy supream Majesty Since therefore I have as much confidence in thy infinite Goodness as I have distrust in my own Nothing I will patiently hopefully resignedly expect thy divine will and pleasure in this and all things whatsoever O thrice welcome Will of my God! be thou fully accomplished in me and in all creatures for all time and Eternity 13. O dearly beloved Bridegroom of my Soul thou art pleas'd to be all mine and I am resolv'd to be all thine My life my liberty my love all is thine Dear Jesu all shall be thine and thine alone Thou shalt be the sole subject of all my thoughts and the sweet object of all my affections Thou shalt be the God of my heart the heart of my life the life of my soul and the soul of my love for evermore Thou shalt rest as a fragrant Posie between my breasts repose like a loving Bridegroom in my heart and reign like a Soveraign King in the most intime closet of my interiour I will keep thee kiss thee conjure thee to continue with me and I will choose rather to leave my life than lose thy love 14. O my God! thou art my all and only good thou art the only desire of my heart delight of my soul Thou art the only refuge repose and retreat of my spirit Thou art the only light of my eyes musick of my Ears hony of my Tongue joy of my Heart Thou art the only sufficient and ever-indeficient Fountain of peace plenty purity and perfection Out of thee is neither pleasure nor profit neither praise nor preferment neither liberty nor liberality neither peace nor purity neither life nor love neither honour nor happiness I will therefore remain in thee only love thee only O only amiable object for evermore Dilectus meus mihi ego illi My Beloved is mine and I am his Errata PAge 40. line 11. add and. p. 82. l. 26. farther r. further p. 88. l. 26. week r. weak p. 134. l. 15. dele of p. 138. l. 4. dele and. p. 155. l. 15. dele and. p. 158. l. 19. his r. this p. 161. l. last the with r. with the. p. 170. l. 27. committed r. omitted p. 225. l. 24. anther r. another p. 250. l. 15. meery r. mercy p. 278. l. 4. maks r. makâ—st p. 291. l. 10. dele out p. 313. l. 10. Motner r Mother p. 319. l. 7. old r. hold p. 345. l. 7. 336. r. 311. p. 365. these are 12 lines repeated p. 371. line penult Greator r. Creator p. 408. l. 2. beautifying r. beatifying FINIS
tyrannize over your Nature 3. To what imperfections you have been most subject 4. How you have perform'd your Morning resolutions of doing this avoiding that 5 How you have comply'd with the Obligations which concern your special calling charge and condition 3. Marking particularly upon each one of these heads your most notorious Excesses Omissions Commissions Negligences Then conceiving a general hatred horrour and detestation of all sin say briefly O my Soul How ill have we imployed our Time and Talent lent us to merit Eternity O my Lord and Maker I am most heartily sorry for all these sins defects and imperfections which by thy divine grace and light I have now discover'd and discern'd in my soul and humbly implore thy mercifull pardon both for them and all such others as have escaped my memory But if in the Examination of your conscience you there take notice of any mortal Crime Be sure to confound your self presently in your Creators presence Crying out in the bitterness of your Soul O my strange Frailty Malice Ingratitude Whence is it that thou my justly irritated Creator commandedst not the Earth instantly to swallow me or Fire from Heaven to consume me or thy exterminating Angel to cut me off Whence is it that thou withheldst thy breath from blasting me in the very height of my sinfull action with sudden death or that thou sent'st not some of thy instruments of Justice to revenge this horrid injury by razing me from off the Earth's surface and hurrying me head-long into the dismal inexplicable interminable torments of Hell being the place which is only proper and therefore prepar'd to receive such ungratefull ungracious and perverse wretches And why is this favourable delay of thy divine Justice afforded me O my patient and compassionate Lord God! but only to give me time to recall my self from my wickedness and to call upon thy Mercy and Goodness Behold O my Creator I call I cry I come to thee as a poor wretched miserable Criminal I call to thee for Pity I cry to thee for Mercy I come to thee for Pardon And I resolve purpose and promise by the assistance of thy Grace seriously to correct speedily to confess and willingly to satisfie for what is amiss in me And this not for fear of Hell-fire which I have deserved not for the loss of Heaven which I have forfeited but for the love of thee my Lord God! whom I have offended I acknowledg my self worthy of thy Punishment unworthy of thy Inheritance but that which chiefly grieves me is the having injur'd thy Goodness The consideration of having offended thee my loving Father more lively pierces my soul than the apprehension of my sufferings or the loss of my Childs portion Wherefore even for thy own sake O compassionate Father pity relieve and receive thy poor repenting and returning Prodigal who even for thy own and only sake heartily detests all his sins sincerely promises his amendment and humbly craves thy pardon They who have more time and leisure and who desire to become more truly spiritual may here before they betake themselves to their rest make these five internal and affectionate acts 1. A Spiritual uncloathing of our Souls REturn securely O my Soul into thy place of rest Repose sweetly quietly confidently in the bosom of the divine Bounty Rely entirely upon thy Lords love and mercy And cutting off all cares and curiosities all fears and desires remain here contentedly without diverting thy self with any other Objects Behold O my Lord and Lover I absolutely renounce all but thee humbly casting my self into the arms of thy most holy Disposition Providence and Protection I will henceforth aim at nothing but the advancement of thy Honor the accomplishment of thy Will the encrease of thy Love and an Union with thy self O how truly happy wouldst thou be my yet unmortifi'd Soul were thy Affections once free and not clasp'd to any Creature that thou couldst readily resolutely resignedly throw off all and take the naked Cross for thy total Inheritance Thou O my loving Lord Jesu wert born naked in a Stable diedst naked on a Cross wert put naked into thy dolefull Mothers arms to be first bath'd in her Tears and then buried naked in anothers Sepulchre and shall not my Heart and Soul burn with love of external and internal Nakedness Live my Lord Jesus depriv'd of Father and Mother on the Cross Live Mary depriv'd of thy only Son at the foot of the Cross Live naked Cross and live this holy Nakedness Live my Beloved to me and I to him Uncloath me therefore O Jesu 1. Of all sin 2. Of all affection to sin 3. Of all curiosity and vanity 4 Of all sensuality 5. Of all inordinate passion 6. Of all self-complacency self-judgment self-self-love self-will 7. Of my whol self and whatsoever is displeasing to the pure eyes of thy divine Majesty 2. A most profound Humiliation of our Souls O My Soveraign Creator I most heartily acknowledg my own baseness misery weakness wickedness nothing I perfectly hate dislike and loath my self and all my own proceedings Behold me O Lord lying here prostrate at thy feet as a poor Publican not worthy to lift my Eyes towards Heaven or to take thy sacred Name into my sinfull mouth But what more can I do O my Maker than offer up to thy Majesty an humble and contrite heart fully prepar'd to suffer what thou shalt please to command it And lo I present my whol self bound hand and foot before the Throne of thy Mercy to be adjudg'd according to thy Will Lord I fly not from thee I appeal not from thy Sentence I pretend no priviledge I plead no excuse Be thou the Knife and I the Flesh Hack and hew me cut me and crucifie me as thou pleasest Only pardon my sins Let me live in thy service Die in thy favour and Enjoy thy Love for all Eternity 3. A recommendation and resignation of all to the divine Majesty INto thy holy hands O heavenly Father I recommend my Spirit my Memory my Will my Understanding my Senses my Actions all that I have and am I cast all at thy sacred feet imploy them all as best liketh thee that by them all thou mayst be praised served and loved purely perfectly perpetually I entirely resign my self and all to thy most sacred Will in life and in death for time and for Eternity And will resolutely chearfully and affectionately say and sing at all times in all places upon all occasions Our Lords Name be ever praised his honour always promoted his Will eternally perform'd by me and by all his Creatures 4. A hope and confidence that God whom we Love and who Loveth us will effect what is best for us BEhold O Heavenly Father I here place my self under the wings of thy paternal protection by an immutable Act of filial Confidence and faithful Affection humbly committing all that any way concerns me to thy most holy Providence In this Center O
lost thy life for me and can I imagin thou wilt ever leave me unless I first leave to love thee O love capable to cure all sickness able to give life to the dead Ah my heart How canst thou choose but be softned to compunction and hightned to confidence with these efficacious comforts and sweetnesses Thou hast not only delivered me from sin but call'd me to sanctity with thy holy Vocation giving me thy grace in Baptism continually repairing it with thy other Sacraments separating me from the vast multitude of infidels and hereticks which are out of the Church-way to beatitude not only permitting me to possess a place amongst thy faithful Christians but fetting me in an high and honorable condition wherein I may make use of all aids all helps all means to farther me in virtue and goodness in this life and to purchase glory in the next O loving Lord how greatly do all these endearings demonstrate the earnest desire thou hast to save me If thou art further called to the more perfect state of Priesthood or Religion O how highly doth it inforce this motive of thy Hope O my God! how infinite is thy goodness how manifold thy blessings how innumerable thy benefits corporal and spiritual general and particular performed and promised And can I suspect that thou who hast done so much for me wilt not accomplish what is yet behind O my Lord my life my love I put my whole confidence in thee and expect from thy bounty all the benefits thou hast promised me because I know thou art truth it self which never can deceive nor be deceived but thy Word is infallible and thy Work immutable 4. Fear is also to be joyned with our Hope because God is terrible in his works in his chastisements and in his Counsels YEt least Hope without Fear may make me insolent and negligent in providing for my Salvation crucifie my flesh with thy Fear O my Lord for I tremble at thy Judgments O give me a chast and filial apprehension of thee my loving Father that I may reverently and incessantly honor thy infinite Mercy and never dare displease thy dread Majesty Give me that Fear which is Hopes daughter and begotten by thy pure Love in my soul that my continual care may be to please thee purely and perfectly for thine own sake not servilely for mine own interest 'T is true O my Lord my Sins are many and grievous I confess it and am confounded and affrighted at the memory of them But is there any blemish so foul which my Redeemers blood cannot cure Thy mercies and merits dear Saviour are so immense that should my only conscience be burden'd with all offenses of all mankind I would not despair of thy pardon I will therefore remember thy sacred Wounds O Jesu and there will I confidently hide my self till my iniquities be pass'd over Thou say'st O eternal Lover As I live I desire not the death of a sinner but rather that he return to me and live And I also cordially hopefully and confidently answer As I live I desire rather to die than to commit a deadly sin and I beseech thee to take my soul out of my body before thou tak'st thy love and this resolution out of my soul O generous Resolution O the infinite mercy of my blessed Creator And canst thou any longer doubt my Soul but the same divine goodness hath eternally chosen and predestinated thee to his glory which hath now thus graciously endued thee with these heroick thoughts so befitting thy duty What dreadest thou O thou of little Faith He hath blessed thee with spiritual blessings chosen thee before the foundation of the world predestinated thee into the adoption of a child through Jesus Christ according to the resolution of his good pleasure O my Lord blessed be thy eternal Love and ever praised be thy infinite Mercy how happy art thou my poor Soul and how much obliged to thy dear and dread Soveraign who hath vouchsafed a favourable glance of his eye upon thee from all Eternity Lord I will henceforth love thee as an obedient child doth his loving Father I will serve thee couragiously cordially and cheerfully for thine own infinite goodness sake which hath given me such hopes of my being enroll'd amongst thy adopted children and of having a blessed portion alloted me in thy heavenly inheritance 5. The Sins contrary to Hope are Despair Presumption and too much Confidence in Creatures Despair is a certain aversion from Beatitude or rather a leaving off from looking after it under a false colour of impossibility to attain to it GRant yet furthermore O most gracious Lord God! that I may not so dread thy Judgments as to despair of thy Goodness O let me never be seized with the least disgust against piety or distrust of thy promised Beatitude Let me at no time desist from patiently pursuing it upon any pretence of impossibility to purchase it No my Lord my Love my Life my Strength my Mercy my Refuge to thy power all things are possible I acknowledg thee to be the most undrainable source of all sanctity the bountiful giver of all grace the encourager comforter and raiser up of sinners I hear thee speaking to my dejected Spirit It is I fear nothing I am thy protector whereof art thou apprehensive I came to call sinners to cure the sickly to comfort the sorrowful O my God! what sweet and ravishing Words are these to my sad and sinful soul Art thou so good to the most wicked O how gracious wilt thou be to them that devoutly seek thee desire to please thee and are unwilling to offend thee O ever blessed be thy infinite bounty and benignity Let the most depraved in the world leave off their sinfulness and look on thy sweetness and they may confidently hope in thy Goodness and let the most holy ones incessantly and eternally praise the immensity of thy Mercies 6. Presumption is a disordered expectation of good things from the divine Bounty LEt me also ground all these my Hopes of happiness purely in thy power O my Soveraign Lord and maker and upon thy promises let me expect nothing from thy mercy disorderly nor from my own merits presumptuously O my poor soul What folly what frenzy what vanity is it for thee to hope in thy own goodness unsupported by the divine grace to think of scaling heaven without heavenly help to dream that in doing or living contrary to thy own knowledg and conscience thou shalt gain so great a good as is an eternity of glory As though thou my Supream Creator didst so highly prize this caitif Creature as not to punish him according to his wilful wickedness or never deprive him of those felicities which thou hast laid up for thy faithful friends and favourites No Lord Thou hast disposs'd all things in their due number weight and measure thou hast set certain limits to thy creature which are impossible to be pass'd and thou hast
establish'd rules serving for the secure guidance of such souls to thy self who art their final end and beatitude as will not peremptorily go astray and deprive themselves of thy blessings O let me worthily conceive of thy wisdom greatness and goodness and never abuse thy bounty and longanimity by taking from thence occasion to continue in my malice and impenitency I fear thee therfore O my dread Soveraign amidst the heights of my Hopes O let me not be dashed against the rock of Presumption having happily escaped drowning in the gulf of Despair O my Lord What skill what care what adress is necessary to stear this tottering Vessel that it may safely arrive at thee it s only secure Harbour lest thou reject it as presumptuous or detest it as desperate Be thou the guide of my week soul O sweat Saviour Let thy Spirit of discretion direct her in the middle track that she neither lanch forth into the main of Presumption nor be swallowed up in the quicksands of Despair Let me hope for such happiness in such measure by such means as are most pleasing and agreeable to thy sacred Majesty O let my Wishes be ever conform'd to thy will Let my Hopes still rely upon thy mercies Let my endeavours be alwaies to live in all purity sanctity and perfection that nothing may frustrate the happy accomplishment of my high expectation 7. Too much confidence in Creatures is also contrary to our livly Hope in our Creator And the conclusion of this Exercise THou only O my blessed Creator canst bound my desires Ah! what content can I take in the best of thy Creatures Thou hast made my heart for thy self and till it rests in thee its true Center it remains totally unsatisfied O worldly glories what are you but poor and perishing trifles compared to my Gods essential goodness Grant therefore O my God! that I may so love all thy creatures and make such use of all temporalities that my hopes may never be unfastned from thee my final and eternal happiness Let me not rest in them as soveraign nor pursue them as principal since they are too vain and uncertain too uncapable and unworthy to quiet and content my Soul which aims at a higher mark and hopes one day to behold thy aimable countenance more clearly than through Faiths glass to contemplate thy lovely perfections without lassitude to enter into thy eternal Paradise and be there sweetly ravished with the unveil'd rarities of thy Divinity Thou Lord art the only Author of all my Good and therefore the main object of all my Hope Yet since thy paternal piety and providence hath allotted second and less principal causes to be assistants to me in order to the desired possession of these prime prerogatives I will place also in the sacred Humanity of my Redeemer in the powerful intercession of the Mother-Virgin in the suffrages of the heavenly Angels and holy Saints so much Confidence as may not in the least measure hinder distract or divert my full Hope from thy self who art my supream and only soveraign object And now my God! the only desired of my Soul behold I offer up unto thee all these acts of my Hope and Confidence And here again I most humbly acknowledg that thou hast provided both for my Body and Soul in so convenient a manner as no other but thy self O increated Wisdom could have effected To thee then I commit my self and all that concerns me to be disposed of now and ever as shall be most pleasing to thy divine honour and most conform to thy eternal and equitable disposition For since thy power knowledg and goodness are infinit what hurt can befal him or what enemy harm him who lives secure in thy sacred friendship and is shadowed under the wings of thy Divine Protection For the future O my good and gracious Soveraign I will grave on the door of my mouth and heart Dominus providebit Our Lord will provide Fear not my soul Our Lord governs thee nothing can be wanting to thee God is for us who dare be against us He placeth us neer himself let who will stretch their hands against us Let Man and Devil earth and Hell fight against us Thou Lord art my Captain my comfort my company Thou O JESU art my victory my glory my crown and my contentment Thou O Christ art my hope my help my happiness I will henceforth dread nothing but to displease thee nor desire any thing but to love thee I will rest quiet and confident under thy fatherly care and powerful protection come sickness or health welcom darkness or light joy or sorrow plenty or penury friend or foe life or death Heaven or Purgatory Time or Eternity The fourth Exercise Of Charity 1. The Definition of Charity in respect of the Divine Majesty Charity in respect of God is a Theological Virtue elevating our Wills to a supernatural love and liking of God for himself and for his own sake Several Acts of Love and Charity THou O most amiable Lord God! art Charity and he that remains in Charity lives in thee and thou in him O divine Love O happy life Lord give me this love that I may thus live draw my will powerfully by thy grace to love thy goodnesses greatnesses and glories with a supernatural liking of them for thine own sake Habituate and dispose me thy poor creature O Omnipotent Creator to form sweet Acts of thy sacred love direct me to fasten all my affections to thy only interests destroy in me all selfishness cancel all divertisments to created objects and raise up my soul to a sincere desire that thou alone shouldst possess all such perfections as are to thy self most proper and convenient I am therfore most highly pleased most heartily glad and I most humbly congratulate thee O my Lord that thou art even all that which thou art and that thou enjoyest thine own eternal Prerogatives thy Unity of Essence thy Trinity of subsistences thy Infinity of attributes thy Power Wisdom Bounty Beatitude Greatness Glory and all other the unconceivable goods and perfections flowing from thy divine Nature and peculiar to thy eternal Being O the inscrutable and immense perfections of my God! how glad is my soul that thou canst not be fully comprehended nor perfectly known by any created understanding I wish and desire Dear Lord the accomplishment of thy most just Commandments the augmentation of thy honour praise service and all other appurtinances to thy glory or relatives to thy greatness with all the affections which can possibly be conceived by thy weak creatures capacity O my Lord I will and desire all this for thine own selfs sake with a love of perfect liking benevolence and congratulation for thy good without the least touch of concupiscence or proper interest O the joy and jubily of my heart to consider thee the mighty Monark of heaven and earth to be in thy self and of thy self so great so happy so rich so glorious Oh!
how ardent are my wishes that all things that have a being would more glorifie thee more highly exalt thy holy Name more zealously seek thy honour and more religiously respect and reverence thy Majesty O that thy glory were infinitly greater in heaven and earth O that all created liberties were more perfectly addicted to thy Love and all Spirits had a clearer knowledg of thy incomparable goodness excellency and amability And yet how highly doth it please me that all that which the best of creatures can endeavour to do for thy Love and Service is so far inferiour to thy essential worth and dignity Live my dread Soveraign Be thou what thou art Infinit Eternal Incomprehensible Remain O powerful Emperour of the whol universe for ever exalted upon the Throne of thine own greatnesses and glories I love thee in them all and each of them in thee as if I were all one with thee they all mine own and I equally concern'd in them all 2. The same Charity wherewith we love God induceth us to love all his Creatures our Neighbours and our Selves I Love all things O my Lord in thee and for thee Thy Creatures are the products of thy power they are so many bright beams issuing from thy bounty they are under thy dominion and jurisdiction thy proper goods and possessions and appurtenances to thy glory Lord I admire adore praise and love thee in all and every of them My Neighbour is yet a neerer shadow of thy goodness O divine Creator a livelier Image of thy greatness thy own adoptive child bought at the dear purchase of thy precious bloud and designed to be partaker of thy heavenly Paradise O shall it ever enter into my heart to hate or offend any one of these thy lovely creatures Is it possible I can truly love thee My Lord and my God! and loath that soul which is stamp'd with thy sacred similitude intended for thy greatest glory and predestinated to chant forth thy eternal praises amongst the blessed quires of Saints Angels Ah! how can that body which shal be one day resuscitated to heavenly bliss imbellisht with glorious dowries of immortallity be now odious unto me aiming at the like happiness No my Lord I love my Neighbours most truly tenderly particularly in thee and for thee I will henceforth cherish them all for thy sake and contract a durable peace with them Be they vicious envious ugly ulcerated they are still my fellow Brethren and thy lovely creatures and therefore fit objects of my affection Confirm me O my God! in this ample and diffuse charity O let all my joy and complacency all my wishes and desires in loving them drive at the only glory of thy infinit goodness And now O my Lord and Lover reflecting my Charity upon my own Soul I most humbly beseech thee that I may henceforth so truly love my own eternal welfare as never more to adventure the loss of thy grace by the admittance of wilful sin Imprint O my God this important resolution with indelible characters in my heart Never to sin wilfully in thy sight were it to save the whol World or to gain Heaven to a million of souls much less to please any earthly friend or purchase any temporal commodity Ah unequal chang Ah poor return of profit to win a world and lose my own soul 3. Three effects of Charity 1. It makes us truly love our Selves 2. It contracts a friendship with God 3. It is the form of all other Virtues THou hast no where expresly enjoyned me to love my Self O great Master of Perfection because to love thee seek thee serve thee perfectly purely punctually is to love my Self solidly truly unfainedly These loves O my Soul cannot be the least separated thou lovest thy Self really when thou lovest thy God intirely thou hatest thy Self absolutly when thy love hath not his goodness for its object Dost thou not then hate thy Self when thou hazardest thine own Salvation Dost thou love thy Self when by voluntary sin thou leav'st thy self in danger of eternal Death and Damnation Dost thou love thy Body when thou pamper'st it and permittest such pleasures as must be paid with perpetual punishments O fals feigned and foolish affection which tends to thy own ruine and destruction No my Lord 't is thy only Love which is the true model of Self-love O let masked and mistaken Charity never more betray me let me love my self in loving thee serving thee obeying thee renouncing all proper contentment and desiring thy only satisfaction If you love me saith the Lord of Love you will keep my Laws and if you fulfil my precepts you are my friends O sublime Dignity to contract friendship and familiarity with the King of Glory O divine Promotion How highly are thy friends honoured O heavenly Monarch How firmly is their Principality established Wilt thou not O my Soul court cherish and covet this sacred Charity which procures thee such inestimable nobility pleasure and profit Ah silly Worldlings what do you what seek you what pretend you After all your pains what is your pay at the best but a little pelf a puff of honour a name at Court a favour from a King a friendship with an Emperour and what is in all these that is not frail and full of danger Ah! how long will you sweat in these unsure and unsatisfying persuits when as to be Gods friend and favorite I am so if I will even at this very instant O the heavenly prerogative of perfect Charity 'T is thou alone O glorious Charity which givest unto Virtues their true form life value worth denomination and perfection since thou guidest them all unto God who is the end whereto they are to be referred and to his glory for which they are to be practised to make them truly Virtues To thee therefore O King of my heart I dedicate my works to thee O my Soveraign good my only end and sweet center I consecrate all my future endeavours I will not now live but to love thee not breath but to bless thee not have any being at all but to be all thine All I shall do think speak during the whol residue of my days is design'd to thy glory I give up tree branches leaves flowers fruit all to this only end by an entire irrevocable and eternal Donation Whatsoever shall hereafter happen contrary to this my resolution I here protest in thy presence O my God! to be a meer surprisal and altogether involuntary And therfore now for then utterly disavow it and chuse thee embrace thee aim at thee O my blessed Creator as the final period of all my Faith Hope Love Actions Intentions and Pretensions whatsoever 4. The habit of Charity may daily encrease during this life O Unlimited Virtue of which a Soul is by so much the more capable and susceptible by how much she hath thee in a higher perfection How passionatly doth my heart desire the increase of thee O my Lord I ask thee
no enlargment of earthly treasure no addition to my worldly goods or glories I only beg the riches of thy pure Love and a prosperous progress in thy perfect Charity that I may seek thee in all affect thee above all and live content with thee who art only to me all and all And since each virtuous action increaseth this divine and desirable habitude of Charity Up my Soul be thou holily covetous to heap up Heavenly Jewels lose no time let slip no opportunity lay hold on all occasions to better thy Talent Give grace to thy servant O sweet Saviour to set vigorously upon all acts of Virtue both great and little that by both he may be a continual gainer of thy gracious favour and friendship and become more and more agreeable to thy good love and liking Encourage me O my God! to climb up the several steps of thy heavenly Charity O let the same merciful goodness which hath given it a beginning in my heart augment it and bring it to its full growth and perfection As I have for thy love rooted out all affection to sin assist me now to implant Virtues in my Souls garden that thou may'st finally repose in it during the mid-day heat of my affection thus fitted up and prepar'd for thy desired Presence Grant O most gracious Lord that I may never more so far forget my self and forgo my present resolution as to fall into mortal Sin which is the present death absolute poyson and utter destruction of thy divine Charity O love of my God! the life of my Soul the crown of my head the chief jewel of my heart shall I lose thee for any worldly profits pleasures preferments No my Soul Let us watch and pray that we enter not into temptation Let our Love be active that sin seize not on us being idle Let us frequently and fervently cordially and continually breath forth Acts of sweet love to our ever loving Lord O that we could still do it all the moments of our life and die in the height of this divine exercise 5. Our Charity is to be duly ordered 1. We are to love our God who is above us 2. Our own Soul which is within us 3. Our Neighbour who is neer to us 4. Our Bodies and all other things which are under us O That happy Spouse in whom thou O Lord wert pleas'd to imprint the perfect order of Charity My Soul is also thy dear Spouse O divine Bridegroom Order there also I beseech thee thy heavenly love season all my affections with wisdom and discretion Suffer me not to commit the least injustice in my charity but to settle my love upon each object according to its true value worth and merit I love thee O my Lord chiefly and soveraignly I love my Self only for thee pursuing nothing so passionatly as my Souls Salvation that so I may more perfectly love thee more purely please thee perpetually praise thee and enjoy thee eternally I love my Neighbour as stamp'd with thy Image design'd for thy glory I love thy dear Servants with complacency I love mine Enemies with desire of their amendment I love all rational Creatures with wishes of their progress and perfection in thy Charity Finally I love all things in their several orders to thee their amiable Creator and as they are more or less worthy before thee who art the only Rule and touchstone of all my affections Lord Regulate thus my love Order thus my Charity Let me henceforth prize all things with an equal and upright tax Let me look on Silver and Gold as white and red clay made precious only by mens erring opinions upon this Life as a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away upon all corporal Beauties as flowers soon fading whose end is deformity and rottenness O let me not absurdly and ignorantly equal the bodies worth with the Souls dignity Heaven with Earth Eternity with Time or thee my Creator with thy Creatures Ah my indiscreet Soul how long hast thou been deceived how grosly hast thou hitherto transgressed and swerv'd from these sacred Rules how confused have been thy affections Alas a poor created object a pretended friend a plastred countenance a parcel of small and perishable commodities have so perverted thy judgment troubled thy senses and taken up thy love that thou hast often preferr'd them before him who produced thee them and all things out of their eternal nothing Is it possible that such disordered appetites should master a rational Soul indued with a being to be wholly bestow'd on divine love O suffer it no longer my loving Lord Take up thy chief place in my heart which only appertains unto thee Let it first cherish thy infinit Charity before all things and lend so much and no more of its affection to all other objects as thy heavenly love will permit and allow of 6. The Retinue and train of Charity 1. Faith and Hope go before it 2. The Interiour and Exteriour Acts march on each side of it 3. The Effects of the Acts follow it WHence is it O my tepid Soul that having so firm a Faith in thy Creators greatness and so full Confidence in his goodness thou yet remainest so cold in his Charity Ah my my Lord this defect may seem supportable in Infidels who believe not thy supream power and in Devils who cannot hope in thy divine mercy but in me who am so well inform'd of both it is totally intolerable O shall the earths frail beauties move the heart of their beholders to admiration and shall not thy heavenly beauties benefits perfections promises inflame my Soul in thy affection Yes O my God! as I most unfainedly believe thee and most undoubtedly hope in thee so I cannot but most cordially love thee And I will endeavour accordingly to practise and produce such acts as are conformable to these my ardent affections O how glad is my heart that thou alone art God! so good so great so eternal in thy self so incomprehensible in thy perfections so amiable in beauty so admirable in glory so infinit in felicity O when shall I perfectly praise thee and powerfully excite all creatures by my example to glorifie love serve and adore thee as thy immense goodness deserves Why then my weak wretched wicked Soul O why hast thou acted so often contrary to thy beloved Soveraigns glory been an open enemy to his greatness and so long injurious to his goodness Pitty and Pardon me O meek and merciful Creator be no longer deprived of the greatest praise a poor soul is capable to render thee Lord for the love of thine own honour change all sinners affections and draw from them those respects duties submissions gratitudes for which thy goodness created them O great Charity how gloriously art thou attended how ample and magnificent is thy train of followers how happy is that Soul which becomes a Paradise of delights by harbouring thee O divine Guest Oh that I were worthy to
I may become pleasing to thy divine Majesty profitable to my Neighbours and instrumental so my own perfection and Salvation 7. The Conclusion of this Exercise with an humble Petition for perfect and Christian Temperance ANd now O great and glorious Creator who hast made all things for my use and me for thy service Grant I beseech thee that I may never more violate thy sacred order and design O let me not rest in any creature which is so much inferiour to my noble nature but terminate my love in thy blessed self who only art above me Where else Alas can my understanding find a soveraign Object to satiate it or Center to content it but the O supream Verity Where can my will meet with a perfect felicity whereupon to fix its affections but thee alone O essential Goodness Let me not therefore leave thee the solid Substance to love the Figure which so lightly fades away But give me O gracious Lord God! thy efficacious assistance that I may make such temperate use of the world as if I us'd it not that so living out the remaining days of my Pilgrimage Soberly Vigilantly and Faithfully according to my calling I may Joyfully Hopefully Confidently and Preparedly expect thy coming O my merciful Judg having my Reins girt with Continence my Lamp lighted with Charity Staff in hand with prompt Obedience to all thy holy Ordinances and finally enter with thee my Souls dear Bridegroom into thy Marriage-chamber of eternal delights in thy happy Paradise ¶ 4. Of Penance and Confession SInce Penance according to the sacred Councel of Trent is a duty inseparably annexed to the state of Christiany and that every ones life in whatsoever condition should be a continual practise and perseverant performance of Penance during the time of this our earthly pilgrimage We shall endeavour to deliver with all possible brevity distinction and clearness 1. Such Necessary Essential and Fundamental Truths and Tenents concerning Penance as are unquestionable amongst all Orthodox Doctors and proper to be known by every Penitent for the due exercise thereof 2. We shall descend to the practical and most important part of Penance which is Confession setting down such Preparations Examinations of the Conscience and Acts of devotion as are to precede it such as are to accompany it and such as are to follow it 3. We shal add a larger Examination of the Conscience or Catalogue of sins for their help benefit who desire to make a good general Confession General Maxims and Positions concerning Penance and Confession The necessity of Penance WE are by nature the children of wrath and being heirs of our first Parents malediction we are with them banish'd out of Paradise and abandon'd to labor and toyl upon earth where we remain slaves to our irregular passions under the tyrannical yoake of Death and the Devil Now there are but two means to redress these miseries and to recover the divine favour and friendship and consequently to regain Heaven to wit Innocency and Penance Innocency concerns only such spotless Souls as have inviolably conserv'd their Baptismal sanctity even to the last moment of their lives though they also if there be any such Saints besides Children dying in the nonage of reason may be said in some sort to stand in need of Penance for the preservation of their purity and perseverance in their Innocency Penance concerns all Sinners as being the sole means establish'd by God and left by Christ JESVS to his Church whereby to appease our irritated Creator to satisfie the divine Justice and to restore as to our lost heavenly Inheritance Unless you do Penance you shall all Perish Penance is the chief Exercise of a Christian WHence it follows That Penance is the most necessary important and excellent Exercise of all Christians since all must either Perish or do Penance and and it is an Article of our Faith that Penance is so absolutely necessary for all Sinners that without it there is no hope lest of obtaining pardon for their Sins of regaining Gods favour of saving their Souls and of enjoying eternal Happiness Penance comprehends the Virtue of Penance and the Sacrament of Penance WHich is to be understood both of an interiour Penance which is an act of the Virtue of Penance and of an exteriour Sacrament of Penance which is commonly call'd Confession By the Virtue of Penance The Sinner is to detest his impieties with a firm resolution of no more offending the divine Majesty By the Sacrament of Penance he is to accuse himself of them with an earnest desire to repair the wrongs satisfie the injuries done to the divine Justice So that to obtain pardon for his Sins he must of necessity have both an inward sincere Christian sorrow and repentance and also when it may be obtain'd an outward Confession and Accusation of his crimes accompanied with such Conditions as shall be hereafter specified The Sacrament of Penance consists of these four Parts 1 Contrition of heart 2 Confession of mouth 3 Satisfaction of works which are its material Parts 4 An Absolution of the Priest which is its Form Of Contrition the first Part of Penance A Sinner cannot duly perform this important affair of Penance unless he conceiv's as aforesaid a Sorrow for his past offences This Sorrow may be either Perfect or Imperfect It is Perfect 1 When it proceeds from perfect Charity grounded upon the consideration of Gods love and goodness 2 Accompanied with an inward sincere and cordial detestation of the committed Crime And 3 joyned with a firm purpose and resolution of future Amendment It is Imperfect when Charity in us is imperfect and when our sorrow proceeds 1 Rather from the fear of Hell 2 Or from the desire of Heaven 3 Or from the foulness of the Sin it self than from the love of God The first is called Contrition the second Attrition Attrition is of it self insufficient to obtain pardon and therefore it must be accompanied with a Sacramental Confession to render it effectual for the Remission of sins and reconciliation to the divine Grace and Friendship Contrition is so Excellent that S. Cyprian esteems it the very best thing which a mortal creature can offer up to her Creator It is so Powerful that S Ambrose says It opens heaven shuts up hell cures all the Souls diseases repairs all spiritual ruins and serves as a Sponge to deface all iniquities It is so pleasing to God that sings the Royal Prophet he never rejects an humble and contrite Heart but ever receives it as a most perfect Sacrifice It is so easy that a Moment may conceive it an Instant may produce it For neither the shortness of time says S. Cyprian nor the exremity of the last hour hinders the pardon of a Contrite Penitent Finally it is so Profitable that says the same Saint it not only obtains Pardon for past offences but gains also a future Crown of glory But this perfect Contrition must proceed 1. from a
Whilst your Spiritual Father pronounces your Absolution produce either with heart or mouth some of these short Acts following 1. Of Sorrow O God be merciful to me a sinner 2. Of Humility Not unto me Lord but to thy Name be given all praise and glory 3. Of Love and Confidence My God and my All My comfort and my content my secure rest and sole refuge Remain with me sweet Jesus and it is sufficient 4. Of Spiritual joy and alacrity Take courage my poor dejected desolate Soul Jesus is our guide and we are going to Heaven what matters it whether we get or lose in this World have friends or foes sink or swim live or die upon earth If Jesus loves us and we Him it is enough Live the Cross and my crucified Redeemer Adieu world Farewel self-Self-love Heaven is my Home Jesus is my Hope and Happiness Also At the time of Absolution Imagine you feel Christs sacred Blood distilling into your Soul and that you hear those his sweet words directed unto your ears Go in peace thy Sins are forgiven thee now sin no more lest some worse thing befal thee O words full of sweetness and comfort After Confession REtire your self a while 1. To give God thanks 2. To say your Penance 3. To renew your good purposes and resolutions 4. To offer up your self and all your actions with whatsoever you are and have to be hereafter employed for your sweet Saviours honour love and service 5. To beg of him who died on the Cross with his Eyes full of Tears Body full of Wounds and Heart full of Mercy for the salvation of your Soul to supply all defects which may have occurred in this or any other your Confessions Then ejaculate sweetly some of these Sentences CLeanse me O Lord from my secret sins from my vitious customs inclinations and affections and permit me not to participate with others in their offences nor to be involved in their crimes by my consent and connivency Return my Soul into thy rest for thy Lord hath done well for thee What have I in heaven and what would I have on earth O my God! thou art the God of my heart my part my portion and my inheritance for ever I desire to be dissolved and to be with thee my Lord and Saviour But who will free me from the body of this death I would gladly be separated not only from Sin and the occasions thereof but even from this body of Sin which I can bear about me That so being absolved and dissolved my departing soul might unspottedly ascend to her eternal rest in the very Act of this vehement and amorous Contrition Yes my good and gracious Creator I would willingly be sequestred from my self and all creatures that I might be totally united to thy self my first beginning my final end my hope my happiness my All. It is good for me to stick fast to my Lord to place my confidence in God my Saviour Let others seek other contents I and my house will serve thee our Lord and Maker A Prayer after Confession O Merciful Redeemer of my Soul what praise love and thanks shall I return to thee for having made a Bath of thy Bloud a Garment of thy Grace to cleanse and cloath my defiled and naked Soul in the Sacrament of Penance Let my Body Soul and all that is within me bless thee eternally and let Heaven Earth and all that is within them say Amen Alleluja Receive I beseech thee O my dear Lord Jesu by the bowels of thy Mercy by the breasts of thy Mother and by the merits of all thy blessed Saints this my Confession Let it be pleasing to thy sacred Majesty and profitable to my own Soul Let thy infinite sweetness of love and bitterness of sorrow supply all its defects whether it be want of Contrition or of Integrity or of Humility or of Clarity or of Simplicity or of a true sense and feeling of my Sins heynousness or of a full Resolution of amendment or any other Circumstance Negligence or Error whatsoever Forget and forgive all the crimes ingratitudes impurities of my life past and in particular whatsoever through my own carelesness may have escap'd my memory whatsoever the common Enemy may accuse me of at the hour of my death and whatsoever thou my dread Judg maist in the rigour of thy Justice lay to my charge at the day of thy dreadful Judgement I repenr me heartily for all that I have done amiss I renounce all that is opposite to thy perfect love and liking I resolve to amend all and to avoid all sinful occasions I resign body soul all to do Penance make all possible Satisfaction And lastly for thine own sake sweet Jesu I beseech thee to pardon all relying upon thy goodness confiding in thy mercy rejoicing at what thou art to wit so loving and so worthy of all love so good in thy self so good to all others so good to me the least and worst of all others Let all creatures joyn with my soul to love honour serve and praise thee her glorious Creator her gracious Redeemer her liberal Sanctifier this day and for all eternity And now my Lord Jesu I here again lay down the whole burrhen of my Sins at thy sacred Feet and take up thy Cross in exchange Resolving by thy gracious assistance to pass on my lives pilgrimage in the perpetual practise of Penance Patience and Purity abandoning Body Soul Goods Limbs Life all to thy service Accept my offer O dear Lord Jesu and admit me henceforth for one of thy meanest Bond-slaves Let me live and dy in the performance of this my promised duty obedience and submission to thy holy Will and Precepts Let me never more offend thee but loath and abhor the very name and shadow of Sin more than Death or Hell it self Teach me O Lord how to persevere in thy love and to correspond to my vocation with a zealous fervor joyned with prudence and discretion That serving thee my Soveraign Lord and Master during my abode in this prison of Mortality with fidelity simplicity sincerity I may at the end of my lives course be received into immortality with security and that as I here justly sing forth thy Mercies for having used such sweet and efficacious means to bring my sinking Bark into the safe Haven so I may there joyfully intone eternal Canticles of thy Divine praises in thy Kingdom of glory Amen ¶ 6. An easie and necessary method of Examining the Conscience for the making of a General Confession General Advertisements concerning General Confessions 1. THe motive which obliges all Christians who are desirous to perform their Duty and settle their souls in the state of Grace to make a General Confession is only this When upon just and rational Grounds and not out of an erroneous or scrupulous Understanding they doubt of the Validity of any of their former Confessions by reason-of some essential Defect which accompanied them The
Fundamental practises of sublime and solid Piety may be always ready at hand for the daily use of devout Christians both before and after Communion and in which they may also according to each ones fervor and opportunity very profitably employ themselves after their Morning Exercise as it were in the way of a Canonical Office for which reason they are distinguished like the precedent Exercises of Christian Vertues which may be practised in the same manner into Seven Points correspondent to the Seven Hours of the Church-Service The First Exercise Which is the Ground work of all Prayer and Introversion and which alone being performed with requisite diligence discretion and perseverance will speedily and infallibly afford unspeakable Comfort and spiritual Profit to the pious Practicer thereof As being indeed the end of all other external Exercises and the short sure simple and Regia via leading to a Devout and Divine life THis Exercise consists of Three parts in general and Nine points in particular 1. Preparation of three acts 1. An affective and lively apprehension of Gods presence 2. A cordial and profound act of humility 3. A pure intention to please and praise God only 2. Consideration of 1. Our Wounds both internal and external 2. Our Wants which are many in every degree 3. Our Wishes and humble desires 3. Conclusion also of three acts 1. Contrition for our Sins 2. Resignation in our wants 3. Complacence in God and Confidence in his Goodness A practical description of this Exercise The first part is Preparation of three Acts. 1. A lively apprehension of Gods presence not only in all places and in all creatures by his Power and Essence but in our Souls by his Mercy Love Care and Providence O My Soul Where are we who sees us What is he that is with us and within us By whose light we see by whose fire we burn and by whose love we live Live my most glorious and gracious Lord in whose presence I kneel in whose arms I rest and after whose love I breath O that thou wert as dear to my soul as thou art near it Alas why doth she not care as much for her God as he doth for her good Why do I not love thy presence O my amiable Lord since thou art present by love Thou art my Father my Physician and my Food hear me heal me help me I am wicked I am wounded I am wretched Out of thee there is no place of rest without thee there is no hope of happiness remain therefore with me and reign within me Let me be thine all thine ever thine 2. Profound and cordial Humility acknowledging unfainedly before God and his Angels our wickedness weakness and wretchedness what we are and what we deserve and so resting quiet in the Center of our own Nothing O My Soul What have we been What are we What have we What can we do What do we deserve What do we desire What hath our loving Father and liberal Lord that he hath not given us What have we proud and prodigal Children that we have not received from his merciful hand and heart What have we received that we have not abused by self-love or self-delight O sweet Jesu Give tears to my eyes words to my tongue sighs to my heart and love to my spirit for I need them all to deplore my misery and implore thy mercy to admire thy beauty and adore thy bounty to sigh after thee and suffer for thee What I have been it grieves me to remember What I am after so many signal benefits on thy part and serious promises on mine I am ashamed to think What I deserve I am afraid to call to mind What I desire I am ignorant how to ask Lord for thy Mercies sake for thy Mothers sake by thy Bowels of mercy and her Breasts of meekness by all that thou hast suffer'd for me and she for thee by all that is dear to thee in Heaven and Earth Forget and forgive what I have been my past folly and wickedness Pity and protect what I am my present frailty and weakness Be satisfi'd for what I deserve supply what I desire and be mindfull of me in life and death How much O my God! do I wish to leave all and lose my self to find thee to humble my self to please thee and to hate my self to love thee But these hard and high matters I dare scarcely promise how then and when shall I practise them Yet without thee O Sacred Humility there is no solid center to rest in no true sweetness to take gust in therefore O my God! I come to thy School to learn this necessary Lesson teach me touch me wound me and win me unto thy self 3. Pure intention to please and praise God only to be all his ever his in what manner and measure he best liketh both in this Prayer and all things whatsoever BEhold therefore O my Lord how out of pure Obedience to thy Will and confidence in thy Mercy I now approach to please and praise thy divine Majesty Not to receive great matters from thee for I am unworthy nor to conceive great matters of thee for I am uncapable but to leave all for thee to be humble of heart beyond all and to love thee more than all this is conform both to my Condition and Obligation I come to Prayer O my only Lord and love not to have much but to give up all to be thine all thine ever thine in life and death for time and eternity as thy self best pleaseth I come O my center and sweetness to seek thee and sigh after thee yet I am content neither to find thee nor feel thee but only to see thee by faith and to suffer for thee with fidelity I am satisfied and content that thou art so good great glorious rich and happy in thy self and I am confident that thou in thy good time wilt make me rich in thy mercy and happy in thy love for in this Pilgrimage I desire no other happiness than true humility nor greater riches than naked Charity The second part is Consideration shewing three things first to our selves and then to our Soveraign Lord and Maker 1. Our Wounds both internal and external to wit our Sins Ingratitudes Daily failings strong Passions c. AH my sick and sinful soul How weak and Wounded are we in every degree in all parts in each member of body and faculty of mind 1. All is out of order all is pride and self-love how impenitent are we in sorrowing how impatient in suffering how unconstant in persevering and yet how importunate in sinning 2. My Vnderstanding is blind to good clear-sighted to evil My Will is perverse peevish cold sensual My Memory is weak full of idle images subject to distractions 3. My Affections are vain my Passions violent my Inclinations vitious 4. My Faith is little my Hope less my Charity least of all 5. So forward to extroversion and dissolution so backward
to introversion and compunction so full of imperfections and immortifications 6. So little confidence in my Saviours mercy so little patience in my misery and almost no performance of my good purposes 7. So curious to censure others so careless to keep my self and curb my own senses Finally all is self-love self-will self-conceit self-seeking pride propriety partiality which are my daily and dangerous diseases O Father of Mercies and only Phisician of my Soul Thou art Almighty and All-bounty these are my wounds and impurities and if thou wilt thou canst both cure and cleanse me and if thou wilt not I will remain content as I am I am willing to continue weak so I be not wicked to be wearied and wounded so I be not utterly tired overturned defeated lose the victory Cut kill crucifie O Lord only spare me for eternity 2. Our Wants for we are not only needy but naked not only poor but beggers who neither know how to deserve an alms nor how to desire it O My poor Soul What do we want nay what do we not want 1. True light true liberty true love true life 2. A setled attention a simple intention a serious introversion a sincere conversion 3. Humility of heart conformity of will purity of soul indifferency of spirit 4. Wisdom to know Gods Will strength to execute it patience to persevere in it 5. Resolution to suffer for our Saviour devotion to sigh after him diligence to find him constancy to remain with him 6. Courage to endure all Faith to forgo all Hope to expect all Charity to give all and Confidence to gain all Finally we want all we should have Yet our loving Lord is ready to bestow on us all that he hath O my God and all Thou art all that I want give me thy self and all my wants and wishes will be at an end Thou art all my safety and my only security all my refuge and my only center until I can return unto thee or wholly turn into thee let thy Cross be my Purgatory and thy Will my Paradise for other heaven upon earth I can never hope to find Until then I must be content to sweat and sigh under the burden of this mortal life to sit like Job upon a dunghil forlorn and forsaken by all full of sores and sorrows to remain a perpetual and pitiful patient scarcely feeling patience in my self and finding no compassion in others 3. Our Wishes and desires What can a wounded wretch wish but to be cared for and cured What can a naked begger desire but to be cloathed and comforted with some few rags and crums What can a blind and cold person ask but light and love THis O my Soveraign and sweet Lord is the sum and substance of all my wishes and requests O that I could go out of my self and get into thee O that I were dissolv'd from my loathed body to the end I might dilate my heart in thy love contemplate thy divine face in perfect liberty and please and praise thee eternally for in this prison of flesh and vale of tears I faint under the weight of temptations I fall under the burden of my troubles and I continually fail in the prosecution of my pious purposes Oh! that thy Will did so rule me and reign over me that it were a torment to decline never so little from it O that thy Love did so freely and fully possess my heart that there were no room at all remaining for any bastard or base love of things created Good Jesu how truly happy and holy should I be if I could clearly behold my own nothing in thy All If I could embrace crosses as Crowns and swallow down all contempts and confusions as milk and hony O when shall I be so elevated in spirit above my self by extasie of love as to be able and willing to humble my self under all creatures without repugnancy Alas Shall I never be content to forsake all and be forsaken by all Yea having lost and left all for One to be left by that One who is my All and so remain quiet in my own nothing How long shall I lie wallowing in flesh and bloud how long shall I delay and dally in false loves How long shall I sigh and not enjoy Seek and not find live and not love Come my Lord and Love Lord Jesu come quickly Let the fire of thy sweet love so consume in me all dross of self-love and so transform my spirit into thee that I may take all from thee indifferently give all to thee liberally and rest and repose in thee eternally Lord Let me be thine or nothing Love or not live The third Part is the Conclusion which consists also of three Acts. 1. Contrition which is a hearty and humble Sorrow for our Sins Ingratitudes Disloyalties Tepidities c. O My God! How little did I love thee when I so carelesly offended thy divine Majesty Oh! that I had never sinned mortally though it had cost me my life immediatly O that I were sure never more to swerve from thy Sacred Will and Commandments Let me henceforth endure dear Jesu a thousand deaths of my body rather than admit one deadly sin again into my soul O pity and pardon my past follies and frailties and prevent me with thy gracious blessings against future failings How great O Lord is my obligation to serve and please thee were it but for thy favours conferred thy benefits bestowed and thy love powred out upon me and yet ungrateful wretch that I am how poorly have I corresponded Oh! that I had so deep a sense of my Sins that my Heart might break with sorrow Hide not O Lord thy face from me shut not up thy Mercy gates against me for though I have most grievously gone astray yet I am resolved upon an entire amendment correction reformation of my whole man this strong Resolution which is thy gracious gift grounds my hope in thy goodness emboldens my confidence in thy mercy and gives me courage and comfort in thy love 2. Resignation in all our Wants Wishes Desolations and Distresses to the divine Will and pleasure I Am indifferent O my dear Lord to sickness and health to light and darkness to delight and desolation I am thine sweet Jesu put me where thou wilt do with me as thou wilt send me what thou wilt I am content not only to have nothing but to be nothing so thou O my Lord be all things unto me I acknowledg my self unworthy to beg and less worthy to obtain and therefore I resign my self still to beg and yet still to want even that which I most wish which is all Light all Liberty all Love all Comfort all Content yea even all Virtue Peace Perfection so long as it shall please thee O Father I am thine ever thine all thine body and soul for time and eternity Live Jesus only 3. Complacence and Confidence the first that our God is what he is the next
that he will heal our Wounds supply our Wants satisfie our Wishes and turn all to our good I Am glad O my gracious Lord God! that thou art so worthy of all love though I of all others am not worthy to love thee I am as joyful for what thou art O great God! as if all thou hast were all mine and I will love thee in all I am and have as being all thine Thy Cross is my comfort thy Will my wel-fare and thy Love my life so that if I can but suffer for thee do thy will follow thy love I shall do all that is necessary I am indeed dry dark and desolate but since it is thy will I am sure it is my good therefore sufficient for me satisfactory to thee I hope thou wilt one day compleat thy own heavenly design in my soul healing my Wounds supplying my Wants fulfilling my desires and filling my yet empty heart with thy sweet presence and perfect love In the mean space I will say and sing Live Jesus Live my Lord my love my life my all whose name be blessed by all whose will be accomplished in all whose honour be advanced above all An Advertisement touching the precedent exercise 1. WE must perform it daily diligently discreetly and with great confidence and courage 2. Yet without propriety that it may neither hinder the operation of the Holy Ghost within nor Works of due obligation and obedience without 3. If in the practise of this Introversion we find dryness and feel little devotion we may sometimes fitly resume in lieu of the second part or consideration our wonted exercises whereto our minds are more addicted ending the same with the Conclusion here prescribed being ever duly disposed to follow the holy Spirits invitation to higher matters The Second Exercise Of the knowledg of God and Confidence in Him 1. Our Chief Happiness consists in knowing God TO know thee O divine Fountain of goodness is to be truly happy and yet none can know thee O boundless and bottomless Sea of all perfection but through thy own manifestation and mercy Vouchsafe therefore I beseech thee O most loving and liberal Lord to enter into this poor and empty heart of thy meanest servant to inform my ignorant soul with a glimps of this necessary Science and to enflame my cold affection with a small spark of thy holy love O Omnipotent Creator of Heaven and Earth both which thou fillest with thy greatness glory O God of infinite power excellent wisdom unmeasurable goodness and incomprehensible Love my soul thirsts after thee the essential source of all felicity my heart seeks thee the proper place of its repose it sighs to thee the natural center of all its hope and happiness In thy blessed mind O my God! it first rested in its eternal possibility and similitude thither it must again return and there it must either rest eternally or perish for evermore O let it now find thee that it may ever love thee 2. Extasies Admirations and Adorations of the Divinity O Lord most good glorious and gracious most blessed and bountiful most high and holy most excellent and ineffable What words or thoughts can express thy purity and perfection Let me know thee O amiable life of my soul Let me see thee O true light of my eyes Let me seek thee O only solace of my spirit Let me find thee O desired of my heart Let me embrace thee O my heavenly Spouse Let me possess thee O Soveraign sweetness and full satiety of all my inward and outward senses O that my heart could alwaies think on thee my Will ever love thee my mind still remember thee my understanding continually conceive thee my reason perpetually adhere to thee and my whole man incessantly praise thee O hide not thy face from me my joy my light and my life If I may not see thee and live O let me die that I may see thee I desire to die here and be dissolved that I may see thee know thee come to thee live with thee and love thee eternally O ever blessed and glorious Divinity O Father who of thine own substance bringest forth an ineffable goodness coequal consubstantial and coeternal with thy self which is thy Son O Father and Son who loving each other with infinite charity and content are united together in one Holy Ghost equally and unspeakably proceeding from you both I admire you adore you and worship yon with all the powers of my body and soul 3. An absolute Oblation of all to the divine Majesty O Sacred Deity O Tri-unity and Vni-trinity O Father Son and Holy Ghost Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts who wert art and shalt be for ever Almighty I thy poor creature prostrate before the Throne of thy divine Majesty from the abyss of my own nothing invoke adore and acknowledg thee the abyss of all perfections I present thee with all thy own gifts goods and excellencies which thou hast plentifully poured out upon all thy creatures I offer up to thy praise the affections of Angels and Men the properties of the Elements the beauty and motion of the whole Universe and the essence of all being O that my soul were capable to comprise unitedly all their several affections and perfections how joyfully would it employ them in thy praise how sweetly would it melt away in thy presence Behold O my God I make an entire Oblation of them all I acknowledg and adore thee with them all and desire to do it as frequently as I take breath as often as there are minutes in time stars in the firmameat stands in the Ocean numbers in all nature O my Lord whose love is the life of my Soul increase my knowledg of thee that I may enlarge my love to thee Alas I love thee not O amiable Lord God! because I know thee not I know thee not because darkness and sin hath covered and incompassed my understanding Wherefore O bright light who illuminatest all things expel this darkness from my Soul drive off those clouds from my Understanding and draw the curtain from off the face of the abyss of my Mind that I may see and know thee and then I shall not choose but love thee O my dear Jesu shew me thy divin Father dart a beam of thy heavenly splendor into my dull heart that I may have some degree of that holy science which may help me in thy love make me obedient to thy will and resolute in thy service To know all things of this world O Jesu and not to know thee is but ignorance and folly let me therefore know thy eternal Father and thy Self whom he hath sent for my Salvation and it sufficeth me O give me this knowledg that I may give thee my love and I ask no more Let me be unknowing ignorant and a fool in all other things so I may wisely know thee only O my God and my All. 4. An humble acknowledgment
sorry from the bottom of my heart and Soul that ever I offended thee who deservest from me all possible love honour and obedience beseeching thee as a guilty Criminal to take compassion upon thy poor and penitent Creature and to forgive me the great and grievous transgressions and offences which I have committed against thy divin bounty as I do for the love of thee my Lord and Maker most freely forgive all those that have any way offended distasted contristated or scandalized me sincerely knowing that I deserve no comfort from any creature but all contempt and confusion and not only to be troubled and trampled on by all on earth temporally but even to be tormented by the Devils in Hell eternally Ah Crucified Jesu take pity on my Soul for which thou pouredst forth thy Sacred Blood and gavest up thy dearest life on the Cross Alas How ungrateful a Child have I been to offend so frequently so hainously so disloyally so loving and liberal a Father so meek and merciful a Redeemer and so sweet and soveraign a Majesty who hath always shew'd himself to me so benign and bountiful sparing me in my Sins and expecting me to Repentance wooing me to his love and calling me to his service by a thousand means all which I have either rejected or neglected and still nevertheless continuing unto me my life time and means to do Penance Oh my poor Soul How hast thou been blinded and bewitched to leave the bread of Angels and to feed on the husks of Swine to abandon God and all solid goodness upon whom depends all thy hope and happiness all thy quiet content and comfort in time and eternity for trifling vanities empty shadows meer nothings O strange folly and phrensy would I had never Sinned and Oh that I might never Sin more O my God! What have I done and not done would I had suffered on the Cross with thee my sweet Saviour and for thy love pains of body pangs of soul and even death it self when I thus grievously Sinned And what can I say or do more I abhor and detest whatsoever I have done said thought or desired contrary to thy divine will and liking I renounce all company and occasions which may induce me to offend thee I cast my self at thy sacred feet to be thy faithful Bond-slave for ever I firmly resolve to take up my Cross and carry it after thee Dear Jesu till death and to do penance and satisfaction for my past pride pleasure and impiety desiring no more in this world but to linger out my pilgrimage at the foot of the Cross like the Penitent Magdalen in perpetual solitude silence and submission Good Jesu for thy infinite mercies sake suffer not thy poor creature to be separated from thee eternally O amiable Eternity O Eternal amity of God! Shall I leave and lose thee for filthy pleasures frail creatures fond friendships fading honours No my dear Lord Be pleased rather to take my soul out of my body than thy love out of my soul Let me rather Die miserably than Sin mortally Let me pass on the rest of my pilgrimage in thy grace and fear that I may finish it in thy friendship and favour Grant me this I beseech thee O meek and merciful Saviour by the merits of thy bitter death and passion by the intercession of thy most blessed Mother by the suffrages of all thy holy Saints in heaven and happy Souls upon earth Upon all which relying as upon the Anchors of my hope I absolutely commit and resign my self to thy sacred disposition and providence for time and Eternitie fully trusting that thou wilt mercifully pardon all my Sins carefully assist me in all my Wants and Weaknesses and in the end happily bring me to thy Eternal Bliss and Beatitude by such means as thy divin Wisdom knows most expedient for me The Fifth Exercise Of subduing Sensuality to Reason 1. We deplore our proneness to Evil. MY Spirit is willing O most glorious and gracious Lord God! to serve thee love thee honour thee and follow thee but my flesh is weak frail and refractory I do not what I desire O my God! nor what thou demandest But I act that which I hate and what thou forbiddest I feel O my Lord a law of sensuality contradicting the law of my mind captivating my reason clouding my judgment and continually striving to cast me down headlong into sin and perdition Vnhappy man that I am Who will free me from this body of death Ah! my brutish body ah my burdensome flesh Thou art my dangerous and deadly enemy 'T is thy weight that depresseth my Soul thy earth that clogs and corrupts my air thy contagion and perversity which infects and debaseth my better part and heavenly portion thy sensuality which draws on endangers and almost destroys my reason 2. A detestation of our Sensuality AH Sensuality the source of all my misery how justly do I now hate thee and how willingly would I leave thee At my first acquaintance with thee thou defiledst me with Original Sin In my Infancy thou mad'st a beast of me And now in my riper years thou still pursuest me proclaimest open war with me blindest my Understanding with darkness ignorance and errours make my Will refractory to good and ready to all evil distractest my Memory with vain and vile fancies and perpetually tossest me to and fro between love and hatred joy and grief hope and fear and the rest of thy numerous and enormous irascible and concupiscible powers and passions Ay me how sad is my state how deplorable my condition Oh! how long Lord must I dwell with these devils how long must I endure the violence of these Passions O my Lord my strength and my salvation break these fetters for me Command a calm O thou powerful Ruler of Sea and Winds and appease the surges of these my unmortified appetites Oh! restore me to my self again reduce Reason to her lost dominion in my Soul and bring back me thy poor Creature to thee her powerful Creator O let not this passenger perish amidst those boysterous billows nor suffer utter shipwrack in these fearful tempests I suffer violence O my Lord answer for me the companion which thou hast given me hath deceived me Sence hath corrupted and conquer'd my Judgment Oh! how am I dragg'd up and down by my all-mastering appetites commanded by my servants and fetter'd by my slaves O Tyranny O indignity Ah my soul O noble spirit fair as the Angels formed to thy Creators lovely resemblance stampt with his divine Character and Heir apparent to his glorious Kingdom To be thus subject to the base and brutal desires of flesh and blood O intolerable bondage O unworthy servitude 3. An humble acknowledgment and confession of our frailty and misery O Father of Mercies and only Physitian of my soul Thou art Almighty and All mercy and I am all weakness and all misery There is no part left in my whole body and soul
free from the infectious leprosie of Sin and Sensuality All is out of order O my Lord I acknowledg it to my own shame and confusion each sense is gone astray each member of my body is corrupted and each power of my Soul is perverted My Understanding is obscured with self-love my Memory distracted with sensual objects my Will possess'd with peevish inclinations My affections are vain my passions violent my dispositions vitious My body is burdensom my imagination troublesom my life irksom These are my Wounds O my heavenly Surgeon O put to thy helping hand I beseech thee see sear and search them before the Gangrene enters and the Grief grows incurable My soul is sick even to death if thou wilt O my Lord thou canst both cleanse and cure me To this end thou descendest from Jerusalem to Jerico O pious Samaritan from heaven to earth O compassionate Saviour where thou findest me in this pitiful plight sore beaten wounded half dead and utterly despoil'd of all natural and spiritual riches by Thieves and Robbers which are the Senses of my Body and the Faculties of my Soul O pass not by me sweet Jesu but mercifully bind up my bleeding Wounds with the swathing bands of thy Death and Passion pour upon them the wine of thy precious Blood and supple them with the oyl of thy heavenly Grace 4. A firm Resolution of a total Reformation of our lives and manners I Intend O my Lord strengthen me in this hour I intend O sweet Saviour a total reformation of my life and manners an entire mortification of my corporal senses and spiritual faculties an absolute change in my whole man O grant me I beseech thee my loving Lord the powerful assistance of thy special Grace for the performance of this great and good purpose Teach me now O blessed Master to live inwardly piously spiritually as I lov'd formerly to live outwardly vainly sensually O let me henceforth yield to thy divine motion obey thy call imitate thy example and follow thy will O let me never more act or omit any thing be it never so little for my own liking but purely and perfectly for thy love 5. A desire of perfect Conformity both in all our Actions and in all our Senses to our dear Saviour GRant O Good Jesu that at each word of my mouth at each glance of my eye at each morsel I eat at each member I move at each inward and outward action I undertake I may first ask thy leave and permission so do it or leave accordingly as thy holy inspiration allows me O that I could perform each natural and necessary work with an actual reflection upon thy praise and pleasure and with a pure intention to be united to thee My Lord and my Love Thy outward Senses O my sweet Saviour were exactly subject to thy Reason and perfectly obedient to thy sacred Soul O let mine be swallowed up I beseech thee gracious Jesu and sanctifi'd by the merits of thine Let me live love move and make use of my senses purely and only in thee for thee and by thee Thy sacred Hands O holy Jesu were harshly nail'd to the tree of the Cross preserve mine I beseech thee from all sinful touch ng Thy blessed Feet were likewise pierced and fastned to the same rood O fix my steps that I run not to evil actions direct them in thy paths and make me speedy in all works concerning thy honour and the assistance of my neighbour Thy holy Mouth was free from guile full of Wisdom put thy Words sweet Jesu into mine let it always speak of thy love und only sing thy praises Thy divin Ears were fill'd with blasphemies and derisions Let not mine be open to hear vanities and detractions Thy sweet Eyes poured out floods of tears for me O give unto mine tears of compassion for thy Sufferings and of compunction for my own Sins Thy Taste was tormented with the noysome potion of Gall and Vinegar O take from me I beseech thee all desire of delicacies let me not eat or drink but for meer sustenance and necessity Thy whole Humanity O gracious Jesu was martyr'd and murther'd O grant that I may be truly and totally mortifi'd Let me not see feel hear taste smell eat drink do any thing or make use of any thing as following my own gust sensuality and self-seeking but in pure conformity to thy divin Will and Pleasure 6. Petitions for the Conformity of our whole inward man to our Lord and Saviour O Merciful Redeemer how great and grievous were the inward sufferings of thy holy Soul O for those thy sorrows and thy tender mercies sake cleanse cure inlighten inform reform and transform all my inward man O permit not my Vnderstanding where the knowledg of your greatness and goodness should be only seated to be overspread with ignorance and errour Let not my Memory which should be totally taken up with thee be stuffed with vain fancies or impertinent curiosities Let not my Will which thou gavest me to desire and love thee O my only Lord and Love above all thy creatures be inslav'd to any inferiour affection Repair O gracious Redeemer this lively image of the lovely Trinity which is almost defac'd by my brutish Sensuality Grant O dear Saviour that my Vnderstanding Will and Memory may be incessantly busied in knowing loving and remembring thee that they may forget and forgo all other Objects but only in thee and for thee 7. An absolute Disengagement of our selves from created objects and Adhesion to the Divinity O That my heart were perfectly dis-ingaged from the love of all Creatures Drain it sweet Jesu and deliver it from all forreign and domestick Affection and fill it up again with thine only that it may never love desire nor will any thing but thee alone O my Lord my Love and my All O that my Will were conformable to thine without any reservation or retraction Take it unto thee Dear Lord freely and fully for time and eternity I will have no will but thine dispose of me as thou pleasest both here and hereafter O that my Memory were disincombred from all imaginations and purg'd from all impressions but of thee only Empty it O thou only amiable object of my soul and then replenish it with such holy and heavenly notions as may best please thy divin Majesty O that my Vnderstanding were imbued with some measure of the knowledg of thy Divinity O my Lord infinit in goodness dreadful in Majesty and unspeakable in all perfection O my great gracious and glorious God quicken it sharpen it elevate it and illuminate it that knowing thee I may not choose but love thee and that knowing and loving thee I may be eternally happy Behold Lord I make an absolute divorce with all self-self-love sensuality and affection to creatures and give thee my self by an irrevocable donation Behold Lord the keys the lodging the treasure and the Master prostrate at thy sacred feet
Enter freely possess all fully dispose universally and command absolutly Put me where thou wilt give me what thou wilt treat me as thou wilt thine I am O my Lord my Love and my All for time and Eternity The Sixth Exercise Of Mortification and perfect Abnegation 1. If we will be Christ's true Disciples we must renounce all deny our selves take up our crosses and follow him O Eternal and ever blessed Lord God! thou hast framed me of soul and body and fitted me with faculties proportionable to attain the end of my creation which is to love thee intirely and to live with thee eternally But alas how far am I from observing this thy blessed and beautiful order Thou O Lord gavest me a Soul to bear all the sway in my body Reason to have the chief regency in my Soul thy Law to be the guide of my Reason and thy self to be the sole mover and governour of my whole man But oh how have I wilfully cross'd thy sacred design contradicted thy intention and swarv'd from this perfection My body is all brutish my soul all animal and my reason all sensual I am all blindness self-love and immortification Yet I know well and thou O eternal verity hast expresly told me that unless I renounce all deny my self take up my Cross and follow thee I can never become thy true Disciple Ah harsh words to my carnal ears If thou wilt be my Disciple deny thy self If thou wilt be perfect sell all give away all reform all renounce all relinquish all If thou wilt possess life eternal contemn this life temporal If thou wilt be exalted in Heaven humble thy self in the world If thou wilt wear a Crown with me bear thy Cross with me But O my soul how wilt thou brook that more dismal sentence Depart from me thou accursed into eternal fire Wherefore O my Lord my Love and my All Since thou hast taught me these things by thy Sacred Word and shewed them by thy holy Example and thou art The Way the Truth and the life Grant O infallible Truth that I may couragiously walk in this perfect Way that so I may happily come to thee the only true and eternal life and love of my Soul 2. We must leave all things to finde one thing which is all in all WHat dreadest thou O my fearful and faithless Heart Behold Christ thy King and Captain is marched on before thee take up thy Cross and travel after him he leads thee to a Kingdem Heaven is worth thy pains O take courage to mortifie thy self deny thy self and dy to thy self that thou mayst live to Jesus and with Jesus eternally Learn O my soul this short and securing lesson Leave all things and thou shalt find one thing which is all in all Take courage and fight valiantly against thy own bad nature pray suffer stoop bear repugnances swallow down contradictions digest injuries The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence The end thou aimest at is Perfection the reward of thy Conquest is Eternal Love eternal Life eternal Happiness Behold O my Lord my strength and my Salvation I am fully resolved to lay the ax to the root of this wicked tree Help me I beseech thee with thy Grace from above that I may hew my self out of my self that I may kill crucifie and mortifie my inveigling sensuality cut off my evil inclinations rectifie my disorder'd passions and root out each thought or desire which tends not directly to thy honour will and love O my Lord and my God! 3. We can never love God unless we hate our Selves I Know Lord that it is bootless to study Perfection without the practice of Mortification I confess I can never love thee truly but in as much as I hate my self really such is the Antipathy between self-self-love and thy holy affection Ah! how can a spirit distracted with contrary inclinations be freely and fully vacant to thy divine contemplation Put therefore I beseech thee a sluce to my unmortified Passions put a bound to my distraught heart and powerfully keep back those innumerous concupiscences and corrupt imaginations violently succeding each other that my united affections may intend thee only the only object of all happiness Gather O my Lord the dispersed forces of my Soul from all multiplicity of worldly affections to the union of thy only love Keep I beseech thee my Understanding Will Memory Imagination and all my inward and outward Senses from roaming abroad that carefully attending and entertaining thy divine presence in my Soul I may attain true introversion simplification and union of my Spirit with thine Reform O my Lord all the natural corruptions of my outward man and redress all the spiritual infirmities of my inward man destroy and disperse all internal and external enemies and opposers of thy holy love possess me perfectly and dispose of me entirely according to thy Divin will and pleasure 4. A firm Resolution of mortifying our exteriour Sensuality TO this end O bless my weak endeavours al mighty and al-merciful Lord God! I will subtract all superfluities from my body and accustom it to all sorts of sufferings that so I may fit it up for thee O holy Spirit who dwellest not with them that are sensual and subject to Sin Alas I have not yet resisted to the effusion of my blood and should I spill each drop of blood in my body in this holy quarrel how little ought I to regard it in respect of the great good I expect I will therefore crucifie thee O my flesh with all thy concupiscences I will mortifie my outward Senses the windows by which death steals into my Soul the hinderers of my hearts tranquillity the destroyers of true devotion the dispersers of inward recollection and the utter ruiners of all the good desires which I conceive and kindle in my prayers Ah how soon is this divin fire cooled and quenched not only by Sin but also by the distracting images of outward Objects I will keep a special and strict watch over my Tongue on which depends my spiritual life or death and cherish thee O beloved Silence which art the key of piety the keeper of innocency and the preserver of purity I will trample down my inferiour Nature with all its evil affections and motions of love hatred joy sadness desire fear hope anger c. I will order dispose and direct it according to the Laws of reason and thy divine inspirations O my Lord and my God! Grant me courage I beseech thee to quell and curb this most dangerous my greatest enemy which is the source of all my miseries the Citadel from whence Sin assails me and Satan fetches his forces to fight against me Grant Good Lord that I may never yield to this wicked Eve perswading Adam my Superior Will to eat the forbidden fruit to consent to unlawful pleasures This is the chief exercise of Gods children not to be carried away with affections of flesh and blood but to conduct
themselves according to Gods Spirit Therefore every one must strive to know his own natural inclinations and then imploy all his forces and apply all his prayers and spiritual exercises to quell them O that I could tame these cruel beasts my natural passions how soon should I be Master of all moral Virtues O that I could so till this Vineyard so delve this Garden so purge it from all ill weeds of affection and prune all superfluous surgeons and shoots of passions that the seed of thy Grace O heavenly Husbandman might only there take root increase and fructifie 5. The same Resolution of mortifying our interiour man I Will also mortifie my Superiour and Rational part with all the curious and fruitless speculations of my Vnderstanding all conceits of self-wisdome natural prudence proper judgment and good liking of my own proceedings All vain and foolish reflexions of my Memory and all petty desires and affections of my Will which relate not to thee the only object and Lord of my love I am resolved O my Lord to nip off each budding Passion as soon as it peeps up in my Soul to trouble it in its true repose and to hinder its liberty and tendency to thy love I will by thy gracious assistance proceed faithfully and sincerely in the hatred denial and mortification of my self and in the prosecution of thy divin love And in order to this only end aim I make in thy presence and from the very bottom of my Heart and Soul these particular acts following I renounce O my Lord for the pure love of thee all affection to worldly things Give them unto me O gracious God! or take them from me as best liketh thy divine Majesty I resign up all my interest in any thing though never so near and dear unto me Behold O my Lord and Lover I uncloath my Soul from all affections whatsoever to creatures and desire nothing but thy self alone O happy nakedness O rich poverty of Spirit O pure obedience to the divin Will in all things Be you my hearts delight my whole pleasure and patrimony 6. An absolute Renunciation of all Selfishness I Renounce all self-seeking Ah! my corrupt nature I abhor thee Adien all private interest profit praise and preferment I will henceforth perform all my actions and exercises O my Lord God! for thy only pure and perfect love I will seek to please and praise thee with an inward ardent and amorous affection for thy self only and not for thy gifts or graces I renounce all Sensuality whether it be in Meat Drink Sleep Apparel curiosity of my five Senses or any thing els whatsoever O my Lord I will make no other use of any thy Creatures than I am absolutly compell'd to by necessity of Nature I look for no solace but from thee alone my only comfort and content I renounce all disordered love to any worldly person No favour or friendship O my only amiable Lord God! no greatness or goodness of any one shall make me swerve from my exact duty to thee-wards No carnal affection to kindred No tenderness of amity No private or publick respect No connivency or correspondency shall make me partial in the reproof of Vice or praise of Virtue O take up my whol Heart with thy holy Love that thy image and perpetual memory may blot out all species of forreign objects I renounce all vain vicious idle and unprofitable thoughts fancies and imaginations O let my mind not only yield no consent but no entrance unto them O let me never more contristate thy holy Spirit with these Vanities nor hinder my souls advancement and union with thee by these divertisements I will henceforth compel my heart to some good employment I will no longer permit it to wander and waste it self in any idle and superfluous Curiosities No my Lord and Saviour thy bitter and blessed Passion thy blessings and benefits shall be the continual occupation of my interior O what have I to do with transitory things who am made for Eternity I renounce all care and solicitude which necessity obedience charity do not oblige me to No natural passions of joy sorrow hope fear love hatred anger or shamefastness shall make any impression in this heart of mine which is pre-ingag'd in thy affection sealed up and setled in thy contemplation No pretext of lawfulness nor shew of fittingness nor conceit of compassion nor excuse of necessity shall procure the admittance of such Passions into my Soul as may any way distract darken or dull the point of my affection and devotion towards thee my only Lord and Love I renounce all bitterness of heart against any one Is he good be thou eternally praised in him and by him O bountiful bestower of all blessings Is he wicked Correct him O merciful Creator comfort encourage and raise him to amendment Hath he offended affronted injured or sleighted me I deserve O great God! to be trodden on by all creatures and therefore I freely forgive him for the past and give him free leave to add stripes to his injuries for the future Am I denied the grant of my most lawful and just demands Thou best knowest O eternal Wisdom what is best for my state and condition O deny not thy love to my Soul and let me be refused in all other my requests whatsoever I renounce all vain-glory all self-liking and pride which may arise from worldly prayses all delight springing from any gift of nature or grace which is in me Not unto me Lord but to thy holy Name be given all honour and glory Alas what am I what have I what can I All is thine O bountiful Lord God! Nothing is mine but sin and therefore I deserve only shame and confusion 7. More Acts of Renunciation of our own Wills even in the most spiritual matters I Renounce all desire of delight in my devotions all sensible gusts of grace and all sweetnesses and solaces in the inferiour faculties of my Soul Ah my heart what is this to thee follow thou thy Saviour Thou seekest thy crucified Jesus This is not he but his gifts O my Lord it is thy self I seek and sigh after If thou sendest me comforts for the encouragemnnt of my weakness be thou ever praised for thou dost like a most benign and bountiful God If thou withdrawest them still blessed be thy providence whch hath secret and several ways of conducting souls to thy self and if thou wilt make trial of my fidelity by permitting me to be dull dry and desolate in my devotions be thou equally and eternally blessed I renounce all scrupulosity of Conscience which reflects any way upon the least diffidence or distrust in thy mercy I am a Sinner O Jesu but thou art a Saviour I have great reason to dread thy Justice but greater to hope in thy Goodness Heaven and Earth shall sooner fail than my confidence in thee my merciful Maker If thou killest me I will trust in thee And
and creatures Oh! let it be so totally attentive to thy presence so intirely taken up in thy contemplation and so wholy absorpt in thy love that no outward objects may touch or trouble it no inferiour cares or cogitations may intangle it nothing may impede the free intercourse of thy heavenly friendship nothing may stop the sweet influence of thy divin graces or any way interrupt its happy quiet and holy tranquillity O dear and open'd Heart of my dying Lord Jesus be thou my sweet comfort during this lives Pilgrimage and my sure Sanctuary in its last period Tâ—…â—…ghth Exercise Of 〈…〉 with GOD. 1. Our Soul seeks nothing but Gods lovely presence and desires nothing but the presence of his Love O Infinit immense and unmeasurable abyss of all bounty O ever-flowing Fountain of mercy O undrainable Sea of love O my Lord my Soveraign my Saviour and my Sanctifier Behold I return into thee the sweet source of my beginning I run into thee the gracious Preserver of my being and I desire to rest in thee the only hope of my Souls happiness Be thou henceforth O my Creator the sole subject of my thoughts and the only object of my love Be thou O God of my heart Heart of my life Life of my soul and Soul of my Love my part and my inheritance for ever I choose thee only I offer up my self wholly I consecrate my self heartily and dedicate my self eternally to thy love honour and service Ah good God! where dwellest thou which is the pleasant place of thy abode O King of glory and Comforter of my Soul I seek nothing but thy lovely presence I desire nothing but the presence of thy love My soul sighs to see thee my heart covets to have thee my love longs to enjoy thee and I can expect no perfect content until I am totally united unto thee If I now beg a glimps of thy divin face O my glorious Lord then a drop of thy heavenly grace and afterwards a dram of thy dear affection Yet in all this it is thy self O sweet God! which I demand thy whole self is the only satiating object of my boundless desires and unlimited affections 2. Fervent Acts of Love and Affection I Desire to love thee O only amiable Lord God! by all means and beyond all measure until I am totally transform'd into thee by love O do thou freely and fully possess my spirit guide it govern it enlighten it inflame it elevate it inform it and transport it how and when thou pleasest Oh! Let all adulterate love be quite banished all multiplicity vanish away and all impurity and self-seeking swallowed up Let thy love be my light my liberty my life Lord I desire but two things in this world To love see taste and enjoy thee My best beloved and to be humbled despised rejected and esteemed a reprobate for thy love O sweet life O loving Jesu what a heaven what a happiness is it to love thee O how lovely how loving and yet how little loved is my God O source of all goodness and center of all good souls What is the greatest love of mother friend life or any thing els Art not thou my God! all this to me and all in all Ah my Soul what didst thou ever best love And didst thou love thy Lord God as much I blush O my dear Lord I sigh and am ashamed to answer I will henceforth do any thing suffer any thing and leave all things for thy love I will not live but languish not breath but burn by an extasie and excess of love 3. Further Acts and Extasies of divin Love and Affection O Fire O flames Burn Consume Annihilate Alas Beauty of Angels how late and how little do I love thee O come into my Soul behold a poor lodging yet such as it is it is all thine I conceal nothing I reserve nothing heart soul spirit all is thine own compose all dispose all depose all unruly passions impose what Penance thou pleasest I accept it O my Lord only repose peaceably in my soul and let no foul or false affection interpose it self to disturb this blessed union O that I could please and praise thee purely perfectly perpetually Oh that I could love thee faithfully freely and fully in all above all things O my all and only love I acknowledg my self bound O Lord in thy chains of Charity I am burn'd in thy fire I am wounded and won to thy love But what shall I say What can I give All I have is not worthy of thee and yet is thine already Ask my sweet Lord and have choose and take make me such as thou desirest and then take me to thy desire Give thy self O great God! to my soul and then take my soul with thy self in it My life liberty love all is thy own My last Will is already made in which I bequeath all to thee thy own Death and Passion all thy Mercies and Merits all the praises and perfections of thy dear Mother and the blessed Saints and Angels and all the goods glories and splendors of all thy creatures All that I am have and can both spirituals and temporals kindred friends riches health honors estates offices devotion all is at thy disposal I am resolute O my Lord I am resign'd and indifferent to have them increased or diminished to use them to thy glory or to lose them altogether 4. We return back to our Creator all that we have are and can I Give thee back O merciful Maker my whole being either to be what thou wilt or to be nothing at all to love thee or not to live at all I offer to thee O pious Redeemer my sins to pardon my works to perfect my will to purifie I offer thee my wounds to cure my soul to cleanse and my spirit to comfort I offer to thee O holy Spirit my intentions to rectifie my inclinations to sanctifie my affections to deifie Finally I offer all for one I give all to one and all I desire is to be all one with thee my all and only Lord and love Thou hast given me O my bountiful Creator the whole world in freehold for one penny of Rent saying Child give me thy heart O Lord Let this penny never want the superscription of thy grace and let me never want thy grace to pay this rent O my Lord all that I have is but two small mites I cast them into thy hands and had I more I would give more Dispose of them both dear Lord of my Body and Soul as best pleaseth thee that thy will may be perfectly performed and thy name purely sanctified in both O sweet God of my heart Let me embrace thee in the two arms of profound Humility and perfect Charity O let my Heart faint and melt away in the fire of thy Divin love let me lose my self to find thee be out of my self to live in thee and be empty of my self to be full
of thee O Son of Justice dissolve with a beam of thy brightness the frost of my heart and resolve it into tears of affection 5. We declare our Weariness of all things and our desire of divin Vnion O Beautiful and best-beloved of my Soul I am weary of this wretched world and I breath thirst and sigh after thee the sweet fountain of life-giving and soul-saving waters O true rest and refresher of my faint and feeble heart out of whom there is neither comfort nor content Let me shroud my self under the shadow of thy wings until iniquity and infirmity have an end Come Lord Jesu Speak thy sweet words of love to my languishing soul for thy servant hears thee Give me courage alacrity fervour and fidelity in thy service during the few remaining moments of my wretched and wearisom pilgrimage O rest long expected and much sighed after where shall I seek thee and when shall I find thee where sleepest thou O dear Spouse at Mid-day in the heat of love Where is thy secret cabinet of Contemplation which thou hidest from the wisdom of Worldlings and revealest to little ones and humble of heart O shew me the bed of divin Union wherein thou reposest with the simple solitary and mortified soul O let my poor heart have the honour and happiness to rest in thee to remain with thee and to be united to thee O God of love wound my soul with thy sweet wounds of love which nothing can cure but death wean it from the worlds vanity and wed it to thy increated verity that treading all creatures under me I may be rapt into thee my Creator above my self and there like the happy dove in the secure Ark repose my weary and faint limbs in thy bosome my Soveraign Lord and lover 6. We humbly beg that One thing which is only necessary O Divin Wisdom Lead me into the solitude speak unto my heart teach me thy holy will in all occurrences My deep sighs secret desires are not hid from thee And thou knowest nothing can fully cure comfort and content me but thy self the one and only necessary thing O then take my self and all and give me that one thing in whom are all things O sweet waters of divin Love which flow from the blessed bosom of the Divinity and from the open side of my Saviors Humanity Run into my bowels and like pure oyl penetrate and possess every parcel of my spirit Irrigate and inebriate it overflow and absorp it that it may be transformed conformed to the divin Spirit so that all my actions cogitations and affections may be spiritual divin Deiform O let my ravish'd Soul full of life and fire break forth into these flames of joy and jubilation I have found him whom my soul loves I have him and I will hold him This is it which by reading I sought by meditation I found by prayer I desired and by contemplation I enjoy O how the earth stinks how loathsom are all creatures to me O tast O sweetness O true and solid pleasure O how great is the difference between this spiritual and all fleshly delights O the multitude of thy sweetnesses which thou hast laid up O Lord for them that fear and love thee O Lights O Delights O Extasies of spirit Wound me O sweet God! burn me consume me crucifie me Let me cry out with that Lover Retain O Lord the floods of thy grace or inlarge my heart for I can old no longer I thirst Lord give me this water O when how long how much 7. Our enamoured Souls rest sweetly in this secure home and harbour O My Soul how good is it for us to be here O sweet and secure home and harbour Let us remain and rejoice here for ever I will keep thee O my dearly beloved and I will kiss thee I will conjure thee to remain with me I will rather lose my self than leave thy presence My beloved is mine his honour is mine his heart is mine his heaven is mine And I am his behold the key the keeper the soul the body the lord the whol O my God! is thine Behold my liberty my life my love all is thine O my Jesu and thine alone Repose therefore as a sweet posie between my breasts sleep like a bridegroom in my heart and reign like a King in the closet of my Soul Come Lord Jesu come quickly take full possession of thy own Come and please thy self love thy self and serve thy self in me as thou desirest and deservest to be pleased loved served Let thy love O King of love be the life of my Soul and the lease of my life that when I cease to love I may cease to live In thy love O Jesu I end this act of love though my desire actually to love thee is endless Oh! let me live and die in thy love and for thy love that by love I may for ever reign and remain with thee in thy Kingdom of love Amen ¶ 8. Devotions Exercises and Elevations for Communion 1 What is to be done before Communion THe due Preparation to this divin Banquet requires Two things 1. Purity from all Mortal sin and from all affection to it This purity is obtained by an humble Confession a hearty Contrition fervent Prayer a careful custody of heart and a right intention in Communicating 2. An actual Recollection and Devotion which is gotten by pious and affective Considerations by Faith and Confidence in Gods Mercy by a thirsty desire to See Enjoy and be united to God who is our sweet and Soveraign Good our Father Friend and Food our Guest our Master and our Meat Several Considerations before Communion To move our Souls to Affections and to excite them to an ardent Thirst and Desire of JESUS 's presence 1. WHat is the blessed Sacrament But a pure Fountain flowing out of Paradise watering the whol Church refreshing all the Pilgrims of this world and quenching all their passions temptations I desire O my Lord to drink of this water Dispose my heart Dear Jesu thou who art Author of the desire Let me not bring a heart of paper to this Fountain which after a little received dew of childish devotion will presently fleet away for want of care and custodie Nor let me bring a heart like a Sieve which will retain no moisture But let my heart be like a Sponge to receive and retain the dews of thy divin Graces and Blessings and to be totally imbru'd inebriated satiated with thy heavenly sweetnesses 2. What is in this Sacrament My God and all that is good My Saviour and with him his Body Blood Soul Humanity Divinity My Jesus and with him all his mercies and merits Who would not desire an Union with so great a God so good a Saviour so gracious a Jesus 3. How did the poor Magdalen lament the loss of her Master at the Monument Ah my sweet Lord where art thou what can I do but sigh and sob
Lamb Cloath me with thy Wool hide me in thy Wounds cleanse me with thy Blood lodg me in thy Heart revive me by thy Death unite me to thy Love swallow me up in thy Divinity melt me away in the fire of thy Charity and make me every way according to thy own hearts desire Peace be unto you Fear not I am he It is I who have ascended to my Father and your Father that I may open Heaven gates for you and provide you there a happy lodging and yet I remain with you in the sacred Eucharist till the worlds final consummation Faith YEs Lord Jesu It is thou thy precious Body and Blood thy blessed Humanity and Divinity Yes my sweet Saviour I as firmly believe it with my Soul as if I clearly saw it with my Eyes plainly tasted it with my Mouth or sensibly touched it with my Hands and I faithfully cry out My Lord and my God Resignation and Desire I Renounce all that is mine and resign unto thee O my Lord all that is thine I desire with all my heart I were according to thy Hearts desire and that thou wouldst please to make such a Change in me that nothing might evermore displease thee in me Renunciation and pure Intention I Come to this Sacrament O my Saviour out of Obedience to thy sweet Invitations and upon Confidence in thy saving Mercies My Intention is to do thy Will and not my own to seek thy Satisfaction not to feel sensible Devotion and to please and praise thee by the performance of my Duty that so I may get by my Resignation what I cannot by my Recollection and content thee by my Desires since I cannot by my Deserts Confession Contrition Resolution O My Lord Behold my Wounds my Wants and my Wishes I remain still ungrateful wretched wicked tepid vicious unmortified full of Pride Passions Imperfections I am sorry heartily I purpose amendment really and I beseech thee O Jesu for thy own goodness sake mercifully to forgive me and to cure all consume all consummate all that displeases thee in my Soul in the sacred Fire of thy Divinity Petition THy self O my sweet Saviour is all I want and thy Love is all I wish for O let me see thee love thee enjoy thee feed on thee be satiated with the torrents of thy true delights and be totally inebriated and drowned in the Ocean of thy ineffable sweetnesses Wean my soul O Lord from all terrene and temporal Affections and Wed it unto thy self by an inviolable tye of Love and Fidelity Provide for thy self O Jesu a lovely lodging in my heart and soul O you holy Angels and Saints come and prepare your Master's dwelling place within me 2. What is to be done in Communion IN Communion two things are required First A Reverend Retired Modest behaviour of your whol Exterior humbly placing your self upon your knees keeping your Body erected Head unmoved Eyes fixed on the Sacrament Lips quiet and so expecting till the Priest shall have fully plac'd the Sacred Host in your conveniently open'd Mouth and be sure not to anticipate his Action by reaching your self on your head forwards in order to receive or by snatching your Head or Mouth suddenly backwards after you have received Secondly A profound Humility of Heart and longing Love of your Soul mixed together saying O God! be merciful unto me a sinner I am not worthy O my Lord that thou shouldst enter under my roof yet I beseech thee speak the Word and my soul shall be saved O sweet Jesu That thou thy self shouldst come to me into me A Lord of such purity and perfection to so impure and imperfect a creature as I am O Love O Liberality Come Lord Jesu Come loving Master Enter freely into my open Soul which desires to embrace thee All is thine Dear Saviour dispose of all that is here of Body and Soul of Life Lodging All according to thy divin Will and pleasure Welcome my good Jesu Now dismiss thy servant in peace for my Eyes have seen thy salvation 3. What is to be done after Communion HAving received the Priests last Benediction arise return to your place and renew your ardent affections in this or the like manner O Fire O Flames Burn me Consume me Annihilate me Alas Beauty of Angels how late have I loved and how little do I yet love thee Behold a poor lodging yet such as it is it is all thy own I conceal nothing I reserve nothing Compose all Dispose of all Depose all my unruly Passions Impose upon me what thou pleasest only repose sweetly in my soul and permit no soul false or foolish affection to interpose it self or disturb this quiet peace and union O that I could lodg thee more worthily serve thee more faithfully please thee more perfectly praise thee more incessantly love thee more ardently O Jesu my Lord my all and only love a thousand times welcome What shall I render thee O sweet Saviour for all the good things thou hast given me I humbly acknowledg that I ow more than I have to give but not more than I would give if I had it O Lord take all that I have and pay thy self O Angels and Saints bless my God for me Love my Jesus for me and sing forth his praises purely perfectly perpetually in supply of my defects Be careful to keep your Friend company after your Feast and not to drive him presently out of doors or leave him alone What a Shame Ingratitude yea and Incivility were it for you having received the King of Heaven and Earth to go forthwith not only out of the Chappel but even out of your own self by evagation of mind and extroversion of spirit This surely is one reason why many remain so cold near this Fire But perchance your particular charge office employment calls you away Were you called from your Meal Tell me Would you not supply â— som after Do here in like manner Howsoever be sure at least for some short space to keep a Mental Solitude and Recollection if not a Corporal entertaining your divin Guest with the devout Aspirations Affections and Elevations of the eighth prescedent Exercise of Perfect Union with God Page 336. And then falling into Acts of Thanksgiving Congratulation Praise Admiration Oblation c. Think within your self 1. Who hath Fed you 2. With what Food 3. In how admirable a Manner 4. With what an excess of Love 5. What he requires in Recompense Then you may do well to perform these things following 1. Renew all your good purposes Vows Professions c. 2. Make a new Reunion and Conformity of all your desires Wills and Affections to them of your blessed Saviour 3. Resolve upon some thing in particular which doth most hinder you hurt you or trouble you 4. Ask your Saviours advice and Counsel therein And 5. Having marked his Inspirations Resolve effectually and fall to practise accordingly More Exercises Acts and Considerations for such as
have more Time Zeal and Devotion Four Petitions after Communion which may be made also at any other time with very much profit 1. HAving lodg'd your Lord and Master Cleanly 2. Thanked him heartily 3. Offered him all freely 4. Resolved to leave all for him Sincerely 5. Promised to serve him faithfully Ask what you stand in need of Go to him boldly and beg of him confidently for he will deny you nothing that shall be for your Good and his Glory since as sure as God is God so sure it is that he is Good and that he desires your good And now is the time to treat with him about the affairs of your Soul and your Salvation For he is seated in the midst of your Heart as a King upon the Throne of his Mercy To give Audience To receive Complaints To redress Aggrievances and to give favourable Sentences Speak therefore to him Lord Jesu I here shew you my Wounds as to my Physician My Wants as to my Father My Wishes as to my Friend I am Wounded all over in my Soul Understanding Will Affections Passions I Want all that is good Humility Charity Patience c. What I wish thou well knowest who art privy to my secret sighs O Father O Physician O Friend Cure me Comfort me Content me 1. My first Petition is That thy sacred Name may be Sanctified Honour'd and Prais'd by all in all above all That thy Kingdom may come thy Kingdom of Grace in this world and of Glory in the next That thy Will may be done in Earth as it is in Heaven in me and in all things purely perfectly eternally 2. My second Petition is True Light true Love true Liberty true Life O my Soul Mark well how much thou wantest these Four things and thou wilt heartily demand them 3. My third Petition is A generous Disgust and Contempt of all terrene and sensual Comforts Companies Commodities A cleer sight and a couragious Resolution to know and to enterprize whatsoever shall be to thy Will and Honour An invincible Patience and Perseverance in enduring all this lives Crosses Contradictons Inconveniences A simple naked and indifferent Charity loving God in all and above all and all others in or for Him without interest or partiality or hypocrisie 4. My fourth Petition is Increase of Grace Extirpation of Vice Implantation of Vertue Mortification of Passions Victory over ill Customs Progress in divin Love Purity of Intention Perseverance in the way of Perfection All which I most humbly beg for my self for my Friends for my Enemies for them who have done me any good for the whole Church for all the World Two Questions which Jesus proposes to the Soul being in the midst thereof After Communion 1. O Blind Creature What wilt thou that I should do unto thee What dost thou want desire expect Fear not to speak I am thy Father and thy Physician Lord That I may See Thou maist easily perceive sweet Saviour what I Want and for what I Wish What doth a Blind wretch desire but Eyes and Light to See and Know both thee and Himself thy Mercy and his own misery thy Will and his own Obligations Lord Let me See thee here by Faith and hereafter by eternal Vision Fruition Possession 2. Peter Lovest thou me more than these N. tell me truly feel the pulse of thy Heart weigh thy Affection in the just Ballance of the Sanctuary speak unfainedly without self-flattery Dost thou Love me at least wilt thou Love me how much dost thou love me more than all these Creatures Answer if thou darest Lord thou knowest that I love thee a little and I will love thee more and will never cease to love thee till I come to love thee only It is easie for the Sea to swallow up a small Drop for the fire to consume a little Straw and for the Sun to revive a little Worm And is it not easier for thee O Sea of Sweetness O Fire of Love O Sun of Justice to absorp transform annihilate my poor Spirit into your Self and to make me a pure and perfect love changing my Sadness into Joy Darkness into Light Coldness into Fervor and putting new Vigor new Heat new life into my Heart N. Dost thou love me If so let me see the Tree by its Fruits Do this for my love Cut off such a superfluity abandon such company avoid such curiosity c. Love such an one for my sake Forgive all upon my command Suffer this Mortification Contradiction Cross Infirmity for my love leave all for me and leave thy self to me ¶ 9. Directions Entertainments and Affections during the time of Mass Every devout Christian should carefully observe these three Rules 1. TO hear Mass daily if he hath health leisure and opportunity 2. Not to go to Mass for fashions sake or out of custom but out of a deep sense of the incomprehensible greatness of this divin Sacrifice and out of a fervent desire to contemplate his God cloath'd with our humanity under the shapes of Bread and Wine in the Priests hands 3. Not to enter into the place design'd for this holy purpose as he would into a Play-house but with a Reverent Religious Recollected composition of all his exteriour and interiour Senses and briefly with such a behaviour as may beseem one who is to be honoured with the presence and speech of a God Preparatory Prayers before Mass Whilst the Priest is vesting himself you may entertain your self with some of these following Prayers and Elevations PRostrate before the Throne of thy divin Majesty O dread Soveraign I humbly implore thy Pardon for my Offences thy Grace for a supply of my indignity and thy Love to ravish my soul and senses in the contemplation of this Sacred Mystery that my whol interiour and exteriour man may be intirely employ'd in praising and admiring thy infinit Goodness and Mercy O sweet Jesu I will accompany thee to Mount Calvary Make me partaker I beseech thee of that Charity which conducted thee thither Give me such a feeling of thy sufferings as had the daughters of Sion meeting thee with the Cross on thy Shoulders a Cord about thy Neck and a Thorny Crown on thy Head Grant me a Resignation of my Will to thine like that of thy Virgin-Mother at the foot of thy Cross And by the Merits of thy Sufferings and Constancy bestow on me the gift of Perseverance in thy love and service O divin Spirit the faithful Bridegroom of my Soul Descend now graciously into it purifie it from the dross of its imperfections and replenish it with the flames of thy sacred affections that it may breath nothing but thy Love and desire nothing but the accomplishment of thy Will Then direct your intention and apply the Mass in this manner I offer unto thee O my God of infinit Majesty this divin Sacrifice by the hands of thy Priest For the Remission of all my Sins for a Thanksgiving for all thy Benefits for a
God! what wilt thou have me do thy Will is the Desire of my heart the Delight of my soul the Design of my intentions the Drist of my whol life and being O when shall I have no Will but thine no life but for thy Love no being but to be what thou wouldst have me Or by Acts of Self-Oblation O My Lord and my Lover since thou givest thy self wholly to me I give my self entirely to thee O Saviour Receive me take me possess me totally entirely eternally Or by Acts of Desire to please him O What shall I do Dear Lord in order to please thee What do I covet in this world but to give thee content Were there no Heaven no Hell no Reward no Punishment It were yet for me a sufficient honour and happiness to be agreeable to thy Divin Majesty O my God and my All Or by Acts of Grief that He is offended AH my Saviour whence is it then that so many Souls forsake thy love since thou art so lovely and so loving Ah! my Dear Jesu Why did I ever offend thee since thy ineffable Charity deserved my reciprocal affection O wretched wicked miserable all they who love not Jesus Or by Acts of Desire to Love him O Most pure and perfect Lover who lovedst me from all Eternity When shall I begin to pay my love which is so long since due to thy divin Goodness O when shall I truly hate the World Sin and my self for thy love and service Or by Acts of Desire to see him in his Glory O King of Glory When shall I clearly contemplate thy amiable Countenance in thy happy Kingdom O Life of my life and Love of my Soul when shall I leave this loathsom and imprisoning Earth and be admitted into thy lovely Paradise At the second Memento O Compassionate Creator take pity upon the poor Souls in Purgatory particularly such and such And let the same Mercy which hath been graciously pleas'd to pardon their impieties mitigate also their punishments that by the merits of thy dear Sons death and Passion which are here in this holy Sacrifice most humbly presented to thy Sacred Majesty in their behalf they may speedily be translated to that state of glory for which thou eternally designedst them At the Pater Noster Humbly crave such things as are contained in these Seven Petitions 1. O Heavenly Father I most heartily congratulate thy infinite Glory and Greatness Give I beseech thee the light of thy Faith to all Infidels and the grace of thy Love and Charity to all Christians That thy sacred Name may be sanctified by all men upon Earth as it is by all the blessed in Heaven 2. O Holy holy holy Trinity enter remain reign in our hearts souls affections that we may serve thee love thee honour thee upon earth as thy Saints do in Heaven 3. Teach me O Lord to perform thy Will 1. Perfectly 2. Purely 3. Promptly 4. Perseverantly 4. O Bread of Life which descendest from Heaven to give life to the world give thy self to my Soul that I may live by thee in thee for thee by thy grace in thy favour for thy honour 5. O liberal Father For the love of thee I freely forgive all such as have any way offended me and for the love of thy dear Son I beg forgiveness of all my own offences against thy divin Majesty 6. Behold O my blessed Creator how I am on all sides encompassed with cruel enemies Lord I refuse not the combat since 't is thy Will but I beg thy gracious assistance that I may get the victory and that thou mayst have the glory 7. Deliver me O All-powerful Lord God! from all Evil from all corporal spiritual temporal eternal miseries From Sin from my self and from whatsoever displeases thy divin infinite amiable adorable Majesty At the first Agnus Dei. O Sweet Lamb of God pardon all my Sins and particularly such and such an one wherein I have most grievously and frequently offended At the second Agnus Dei. O Innocent Lamb of God! Implant all Virtues in my Soul and especially this and this which I seem most to stand in need of At the third Agnus Dei. O Peaceable pure and perfect Lamb of God Give me peace of Conscience purity of heart perfection of Spirit c. and whatsoever will render me most agreable to thy divin Majesty At Domine non sum dignus HUmbling my self in the presence of thy sacred Majesty O Soveraign Lord Jesu I adore thy Goodness Greatness and Glory and acknowledg my own Unworthiness Baseness and Nothing Whilst the Priest Communicates If you are to communicate Sacramentally these Prayers and Devotions may serve you for a sufficient Preparation Howsoever you may communicate Spiritually to your great profit and merit in all the Masses at which you assist This Spiritual Communion consists in these two Points 1. A Lively Faith of your Saviours Real Presenee in the Sacrament 2. An Ardent Desire to Receive Him into your Soul and to be perfectly united to Him O my sweet Savior the Soveraign Lord of my Heart and the beloved Object of my affections I adore thy sacred Body Blood Soul Divinity cover'd under these Sacramental forms O that I had all the necessary dispositions of a worthy Communicant Do thou only speak the word O all-powerful Lord God! and my Soul shall be saved Enter O my beloved Bridegroom into this poor lodging enrich it with thy infinite perfections fit it up as thy self best knows and pleases for thy own entertainment At the last Prayers Render your hearty Thanks to the divin Majesty for all his Gifts and Benefits O My God! my desire is always to praise thee for thy always continued favours But ah my Frailty Tepiditie and Weakness interrupt my desires wishes and affections Make use therefore of thy own goodness O my gracious Redeemer in supplying my present Defects pardoning my past negligences preserving me from future failings and praising thy self in me and all thy Creatures At the Priests final Benediction O Sweet Jesu bestow on me this day thy Blessing with this of thy Minister preserve me from all sin and give me perseverance in thy service That at the last day of thy dreadful Judgment I may receive that happy Benediction amongst thy Elected and Predestinated Children of Venite Benedicti Come ye Blessed of my Father and take possession of the Kingdom which was prepared for you from all Eternity At the last Gospel of St. John This Gospel is alwayes recited in the end of Mass as containing the sublimest mysteries of our Faith and being an abridgment of the mervails hidden in the holy Trinity And as those words Verbum caro factum est The Word was made flesh Words never enough to be reverenced the Priest and People fall down upon their Knees And at the end thereof The last word is Deo gratias Thanks be to God for the aocomplishment of these holy Mysteries I Render thee all possible praise and
reflect upon my sinful life I tremble at deaths memory and approach But O dear Jesu when I consider thy infinit merits and mercies I am comforted I become confident and I remain content to dy whensoever it shall be thy good pleasure because thou being my God sufferedst Death to give me eternal Life 10. How long art thou content to ly languishing in Sickness and after death to remain punished in Purgatory Even as long as it shall please thee my Lord and Lover for in Sickness in Death and after death I wholly resign and abandon my self to thy sacred Will and Disposition 11. 1. Have I not been bountiful liberal and loving to thee 2. Hast thou well requited this my love and liberality 3. What thanks dost thou give me 4. At least what do I deserve from thee O my Lord Thy Liberality Mercy Goodness and Love to me thy most ungrateful Vassal hath been excessive immense unmeasurable and alas I have never requited the least of thy benefits by any faithful service fervent affection or sincere gratitude But now O my Royal Benefactor behold I here 1. render thee all the humble thanks benedictions and praises I am able 2. I heartily wish it were in my power to praise honour and love thee with that purity fervor and affection as thou deservest and I desire 3. Since I know my self to be altogether uncapable to pay what I owe thee therefore I beseech thee to pay thy self out of thy own infinit stock of mercy and thy Sons immense treasure of merits 4. Thy self O my Soverain Lord God! is thy own praises and this I offer up unto thy divin Majesty 12. How much did I suffer on the Cross 2. For whom 3. What moved me to it 4. What did I thirst after in dying and crying Sitio 5. Compare thy pains with mine is there any proportion 6. Will not all this move thee to suffer a little Sickness and Death for me O my dear Redeemer I am not able to conceive much less to express the dismal torments thou enduredst at thy Death 2. Yet I know it was all to Redeem Sinners and my self in particular 3. And the only motive was the great affection thou hadst to save my soul that I might Love Praise and Enjoy thee eternally 4. I believe thy Thirst was after my love and salvation 5. And I wish that mine may be after thy only Love and Honour 6. In thanksgiving for all which thy love favours and benefits and because thou art my God I absolutly resign my self to suffer and die when how and where it shall please thy divin Majesty 13. But what if thou art not of the number of my Elect and that out of my severe Justice I should send thee into Hell fires O my God! I remit my self wholly to thee and were I assured of that fearful Separation from thee yet I would still endeavour to love thee serve thee and adhere to thee during this my pilgrimage on earth with all possible diligence sincerity and fidelity 14. Dost thou not much desire in dying to have the fruit of the Sacraments and the presence and Prayers of thy Ghostly Father and of my holy Church This O my dear Lord is my most hearty desire but I prefer thy blessed Will before both I care not how suddenly Death may seize on me so it finds me not unprovided All this which is by me spoken and answer'd to my Lord and Savior with perfect use of Sence and Judgment I will by his divin Grace never revoke or deny where and howsoever I lead and end my life Of all which I take for witness my Lord God himself in whose presence I am and the whol Court of Heaven humbly offering up these my desires intentions and resolutions to the Throne of the divin mercy to be there ratifi'd confirm'd and perfected by the merits of my dear Redeemer Christ Jesus and by the intercessions of his and my blessed Mother Mary and heartily begging the assistance of the whol Church both Militant and Triumphant for the full and perfect performance thereof Blessed be my God for ever Amen Protestations to be made by the Sick Person either Vocally if he be able or els Mentally being distinctly read and suggested unto him ✚ In the Name of the Blessed Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost I N. wretched and miserable sinner do Protest before Almighty God who sees the secrets and sincerity of my heart before you my good Angel and all the Court of Heaven and also before you my Ghostly Father and Friends here present 1. That I have a firm constant and setled will and desire to die in the true Catholick Faith and Church wherein all the Saints are departed understanding and believing all the Articles of my Faith in that sense and meaning which my holy Mother the Catholick Church the Spouse of Christ and Pillar of truth hath and doth propose them to be understood and believed 2. Also I protest that I do with all my heart and soul detest all the sins of my life past humbly beg pardon for all my Commissions against God my Neighbour my self in Thought Word and Deed and for all my Omissions in observing the precepts of God and his Church the Rule and Constitutions of my Profession the works of mercy either spiritual or corporal as also for having abus'd the Sacraments refus'd Gods grace rejected his inspirations neglected his vocations been careless in the custody of my heart and senses scandalous in my life and manners tepid in tending to perfection and generally for all my sins scandals disedifications and for whatsoever I have any way offended my Creators divin Majesty and goodness Humbly beseeching him by his own infinit Mercy by the Merits of my dear Saviour Christ Jesus by the Intercession of the powerful Virgin Mary and by the Prayers of all the Angels and Saints that he will be pleased to supply all the defects of my Sacramental Confessions and that now at last he will furnish me with grace and strength to produce this one Act of true and sincere Contrition O my God! be merciful unto me a Sinner In the pronunciation whereof I could be content my heart would break asunder with grief and sorrow for having offended so infinitly amiable a Lord and Lover 3. Also I protest that I do heartily forgive all such as have ever any way offended hurt or injur'd me and that I most humbly crave pardon of all them whom I have any way knowingly or ignorantly offended hurt injur'd in words in deeds or by my bad example offering my self ready to make them full and ample satisfaction to the utmost of my power 4. Also I protest that I am altogether uncapable to render worthy thanks to the divin Majesty for his infinit favours blessings and benefits from time to time in general and in particular bestow'd upon me his undeserving unworthy and ungrateful Servant wherefore I do beseech the blessed Virgin my
the Saints and Souls in Purgatory departed At the Offertory REnew your Oblation intention petition for their succour solace deliverance At Sanctus NOt only the Angels and Saints of the Church Triumphant but also the souls of the Church suffering intone this glorious Trisagion With whom I most humbly Adore Praise and Magnifie thy sacred Name Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabbaoth O increated ineffable eternal Sanctity Increase this day the number of thy heavenly Quiristers Let Heaven and Earth be full of thy Glory Heaven receiving new inhabitants Earth procuring for them this happiness Osanna O that the same Song might now Eccho forth at their entrance into Paradise as it did at my Saviours entrance into Jerusalem At the Elevation of the Sacred Host O Eternal Father Look upon thy beloved Son Jesus and for his dear sake take compassion upon the poor Souls for whom we petition thee At the Elevation of the Chalice O Merciful Creator Let fall one small drop of this precious Blood upon Purgatory to quench its ardors and comfort those distressed souls for whom it was spilt upon the Cross At the Memento for the Dead O My Lord Look in mercy on the souls 1. Of my Parents Kindred Friends Benefactors 2. Of such a particular person N. 3. Of such as have been most charitable in praying for the departed 4. Of such as are left uncomforted unremembred unpray'd for 5. Of such as suffer most or who should according to thy Justice remain longest in their torments 6. Of such as are in the first and next place to be released 7. Of such as lastly entred 8. Of such as most loved Jesus Mary and Joseph 9. Of such as suffer there upon my occasion 10. Of them to whom thou shalt be pleas'd to apply this my Communion 11. Of my own Soul as if it were already departed out of my Body humbly entreating thee dear Jesu by the Water and Bloud which gush'd forth of thy wounded side and heart in thy Passion to pity me at this present and to permit me to advance here the payment for such punishments as I should hereafter pay in Purgatory At the Pater Noster REpeat it with the Priest as a most efficacious Prayer to obtain succour for the Souls suffering in Purgatory At the Communion MAke such Acts and Affections as are most savoury to your spiritual gust and most beneficial to the Souls for whom you intend the fruit of your Communion As for example An Act of Faith I Firmly believe that I here receive my dear Saviour Chrst Jesus Who both can and will give me the effect of this sacred Communion which is eternal life and not only to my self but also to those poor suffering Souls for whom I intend it An Act of Hope O What good things do I hope to receive by this present Communion I hope for my Self I hope for these Souls and I hope for no less than God himself and his everlasting life love and glory An Act of Love I Love thee O infinitly amiable Goodness And I desire that these Souls may speedily be translated to the fruition of thy beatifying presence that they may love thee more perfectly for all Eternity An Act of good Intention I Approach now to this blessed Banquet O my God! to glorifie thy sacred Name to unite my self to thy divin Goodness to render the merits of thy Passion efficacious both for my own Soul and for theirs to whom I humbly apply the fruit thereof In Communicating SAy for your self and them Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit O how sweet will my Purgatory seem unto me being thus placed in thy sacred hands O Jesu my life and my love Let me live and dy in thee and when thou descendest into my Soul let the effects of thy goodness descend also into the prisons of thy Justice to deliver those faithful Souls who desire nothing more than to see thee love thee and praise thee with thy Saints and Angels in thy eternal Glory After Communion AMongst all the Acts of Devotion you produce and which are elsewhere prescribed be still mindful of the Souls in Purgatory as for example Adoring your Dear Saviour seated now in the midst of your Soul do it as it were in their company saying If thou lovest me sweet Jesu as I cannot doubt but thou dost love also those poor Souls and bestow upon them such good things as thy love designs for me c. Thanking him say O my dear Saviour Let these Souls also praise thee with me in their Prison and be admitted speedily to praise thee more perfectly in thy Paradise Petitioning him say O My Lord I beg for my Self a holy life and a happy death And I beg for those Souls an application of thy Merits and Passion and the effect of this Plenary Indulgence which I hope to have this day gained and which I here most humbly offer up in their behalf to thy Sacred Majesty At the end of Mass REceiving the Priests blessing pray unto the holy Trinity that he will be pleas'd to bless these suffering Souls created to his Image and design'd for his Glory and say Almighty God bless you The Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Amen During the remaining time of the Day LEt all the Objects which oocur all the Actions you do and all the Employments you undertake serve you as so many Memorials to minde you of your own Death and of theirs who are gone before you As for example Entring into your Chamber Think of the dismal Dungeon wherein those poor Souls are by their Creators just Judgment detained Seeing the Fire Reflect upon their Flames Eating and Drinking Remember the bread of Tears which is their only food and nourishment Conversing with others Consider they have none but cruel Devils for their ordinary Companions Washing your Hands Think how this flesh of yours must shortly become the food of Worms and the subject of corruption Hearing the Clock strike say for them Requiescant in pace for your self Eternity is at hand Briefly let all the objects of your Senses serve you for as many Images of your Death The Sun you behold the Air you breath the Celestial Orbs you admire may fitly put you in mind of the darkness of Purgatory of the splendor of Paradise of the glory of Heaven whereof your poor suffering Friends are yet deprived Let your Jaculatory Prayers of this day be either concerning theirs or your own Purgatory O Lord give rest to the departed O Jesu the God of my heart the desired of my soul the object of my affections the end of my pretensions Grant I may live in thy Grace and dy in thy Favour If your leisure permits you may imitate this easie and efficacious devotion of some pious persons saying a pair of Bedes for your departed friends in this manner Take your Ordinary Rosary and forming your Intention Begin with a Creed Then say Our Father upon each of the great Grains and
upon each one of the lesser Grains say Pie Jesu Domine dona eis Requiem Amen that is O compassionate Lord Jesu give theâ—… rest Amen In the Evening HAving examin'd your Conscience endeavour to produce a most fervent Act of Contrition as if in that night you were to depart out of this world And go to Bed as to your Grave saying Ah! the Vanity of all worldly riches greatnesses and glories You must shortly be included in two yards of earth c. Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit c. Two excellent profits which all pious Christians may draw from this charitable practise of praying for the Souls in Purgatory The first profit is That remembring these departed Souls they can hardly forget their own approaching Death and consequently will be moved to make some timely preparation for that great action whereupon depends their whole Eternity THe practise hereof may be reduced to these two Points First Question your self in this sort Were I now presently to depart this world upon deaths Summons am I in a condition to appear before Gods Judgment Seat What dost thou answer O my soul what couldst thou wish to have done Fall forthwith to settle thy self and all that concerns thee in order to thy Death and never cease till thou canst say with S. Paul Nihil mihi conscius sum Through Gods goodness I finde no guilt in my Conscience My heart cannot upbraid me of any horrid crime which I have not endeavour'd to deface by Contrition to discover in Confession to do penance for by Satisfaction My soul detests all that is opposite to the love and will of my Lord Jesus Secondly Habituate your self in the Exercise of such Acts as you would and should practise in the article of your Death Taking therefore your Crucifix in your hand say Well! I must dye but when where how in what estate circumstance and condition All this is uncertain I accept therefore O my Creator the Decree of my death as from thy divine Justice and the Uncertaintie of its execution from thy eternal Providence Behold I am readie and willing to obey thy blessed Ordinances nor do I desire to live one moment longer than is according to thy most just will and liking I protest that I will live and dye in an absolute conformitie to the Catholike Faith because thou my Lord God who art the prime and essential Truth hast taught and revealed it I Hope in the infinitie of thy goodness in the fidelitie of thy promises in the immensity of my Saviours merits Though thou killest me O my Lord yet I will hope in thy Mercy I will dy in thy Love that I may love thee O abyssal Ocean of all Love and perfection for evermore Yes my Lord and my Love I could heartily wish that an Act of Seraphical Love might separate my Soul from my Body that so it might become happily united to thee its only beloved object for all Eternity It grieves me O my God! that I ever offended thee because thou art infinitly good and I am content to dy because I would be freed from all future occasions of offending thee Wherefore I here offer thee my life as a pledge of my Love and I accept of Death as a fit punishment of my offences O when will that desired day come in which I shall see thee my sweet Saviour face to face without any interposition love thee without any interruption praise thee without any imperfection I acknowledg that Purgatory is too pleasant a place for the chastisement of my impieties and were I adjudg'd thither till the last day of general doom I were most mercifully dealt withal yet O my Creator to the end I may make a more honourable satisfaction to thy sacred Justice by the merits of my sweet Saviour I will endeavour to gain all the Indulgences whereof any one is capable in the Article of Death and in particular that which is obtain'd by pronouncing then the holy Name of Jesus which I desire may be the last word of my Mouth the last motion of my Heart the last sigh in my Soul O Dear Jesu Let my last breath eccho forth Jesu Jesu Jesu Amen O Blessed Virgin Mary mother of Mercy mother of Power mother of Jesus Behold thy poor child and present my departing Soul to thy dear Son Jesus O glorious S. Joseph who expiredst in the sweet embraces of Jesus and Mary Obtain for me that I may dy in their favour and affection O my good Angel the faithful Guardian of my Life leave me not in the dangerous moment of my Death End this Exercise with a generous Resolution to Dy daily to your self to the world and to all things and to Live as you desire to Dy. THe Second Profit is That considering the grievous pains they suffer you will easily resolve to endure your Purgatory in this world which was the ardent desire of S. Augustin when he thus petition'd the divine Majesty Purge me O Lord in this life and put me here in such a condition as there may be no need hereafter of any Purifying Fire that so I may be the sooner united to thee my first beginning and my final end and felicity The practise hereof may be reduced to these points following 1. COnsider that all Sin renders us liable to punishment which must infallibly be paid either in this world or in the next Now our merciful Lord seems to leave the choice unto our selves and to present unto us two Purgatories That of the next world painful long fiery devoid of all comfort and merit That of this world easie short and full of comfort O my Soul which wilt thou choose 2. The Purgatory of this world consists in satisfying Gods severe Justice for our sins as far forth as we are able by our own free actions without deferring it to the end of our lives or depending upon the charity of others O my Soul wert thou presently to depart out of this world how many years of Purgatory must thou expect for the expiation of thy many and enormous offences Resolve therefore to begin even this day without any farther delay thy Purgatory in this world by endeavouring now to make satisfaction for thy sins 3. This Satisfaction consists in these Five things which may serve us for as many Purgatories to cleanse our Souls from their Sins and cancel the pains they have thereby justly incurred The first is To perform those works which are call'd Satisfactory to wit Alms-deeds Fasting and Prayer uniting them to the merits of our Redeemer Christ Jesus Alms deeds satisfy the divine Majesty by giving him our goods of Fortune Fasting by consecrating to him the goods of our Bodies Prayer by offering up to him the goods of our Hearts and Spirits Alms-deeds free us from Sin and Death and suffer not a Soul to descend into darkness They purge us and procure us mercy and eternal life Fasting which under its notion contains all sorts of
Here I live here I will die Supply my defects O indeficient fountain of goodness and strengthen this my Faith by thy efficacious Grace even to the last gasp I believe in God c. The Third Exercise Of Hope 1. The Definition of Hope Hope is a Theological Virtue enabling and enclining our souls to trust in God as their proper and Soveraign good by means of his grace and good works O Most infinitely amiable Lord God! who of thy meer unmeasurable and boundless mercy hast thus fill'd my Vnderstanding with true Faith whereby I have professed to believe thee and all thy revealed Verities confessed thee to be the only object of my desires and acknowledged thee the Author of my beginning preserver of my Being and the blessed end I aim at Replenish now my Will with heavenly Hope that I may patiently and perseverantly chearfully and couragiously expect the performances of thy faithful and infallible promises Lift up my soul O powerful Lord from her natural weakness and unweildiness that soaring aloft upon Hopes sacred wings she may attentively look on thee and always aspire towards thee her only secure Center and the sweet accomplishment of her desires and pretensions Thou O Soveraign Goodness art all amiable and therefore all desirable But alas I am yet far from thee I see but a glimpse of thy glory I behold thee at a great distance through the dark prospective-glass of Faith I enjoy not thy beatifying presence thy perfect love thy heavenly happiness My soul is not yet disengaged from her clog of clay she hath not yet triumph'd over her temptations trampled upon the bellies of her enemies Satan Sin Sensuality nor crown'd her virtues with final Perseverance These heights are the objects of my Hope and I rest assured that I may by thy helping grace O bountiful bestower of all blessings arrive at all these happinesses Ah! my immortal Soul what needest thou but thy God what desirest thou but his favour and friendship Canst thou content thy covetous appetites with natures poor imperfect and perishable accommodations Alas how unnecessary are they in order to thy soveraign good how unaccomplish'd how unsatisfactory But to desire thee O only amiable object of my wishes is true felicity Be thou therefore henceforth the whol aim of my love and sole scope of my endeavours O let my soul be totally taken up with this study to turn from creatures and return to thee her only desirable Creator Yes Lord As the tired and thirsty Hart seeks after the living fountain so doth my faint soul desire thee O lovely source of all sweetness When O when shall I attain to thee possess thee enjoy thee when shall I appear in thy sweet presence and be fully inebriated with thy only satisfying pleasures By thy grace O merciful Maker I may get these Glories and by a good life I shall in some sort deserve the performance of thy Promises I will now therefore strive O my God! to correspond to thy never-wanting Grace I will presently seriously and vigorously settle my self to live virtuously And though my passions are violent my imperfections many my offences grievous yet thy grace is stronger thy goodness greater thy mercy more powerful all which give me hopes of victory over my self and from thee confidence of pardon and compassion 2. The main motive of Hope is Gods great Mercy 〈◊〉 at all times in all places to all conditions O My meek Creator how infinite is thy Mercy how can I consider it and distrust thee Thou at first broughtst forth Angels and men out of their eternal Nothing to a glorious and blessed being After sin thou providedst a present remedy and promisedst a powerful Redeemer In Heaven thou recompencest thy Saints above their hopes or deserts In Hell thou punishest with less rigour than thy enemies malice requires On Earth thy glorious beams of providence shine upon all thy creatures rich and poor great and small Saint and Sinner Jew and Gentile Christian and Pagan Am I wicked Thou sweetly wooest me to penance Am I penitent Thou willingly receivest me to pardon Am I just Thou conservest me outwardly comfortest me inwardly and encouragest me to perseverance with infallible promises of eternal pleasures in thy blessed Paradise O mercy the sweet refuge and secure harbour of my Soul Shall I not hope in thee so immense so infinite so ready at all times in all places to all conditions Yes I will rely on thee O my only comfort I will repose in thee in all the accidents of this my wearisom Pilgrimage in my languor and health in adversity and prosperity life and death for time and eternity And when further I duly dive into thy Paternal Providence O heavenly Father which furnisheth all things with all necessaries to compass the end of their creation taking care of the smallest Birds Beasts Flyes Fishes Plants Minerals all shall I doubt of thy solicitude for my soul the most excellent of them all made to be master of them all form'd and fashion'd to thy own divine resemblance O my Creator how glorious things do I expect from thy bounty which hath conferr'd such plenty upon these thy least creatures Thy Power also supports this my Hope and confidence Who can take my soul out of thy hands if thou wilt save it What are Hells powers compar'd to thy omnipotency What shackles of sin can hold me if thou wilt break them Thou Lord canst lift up my drown'd soul from the deluge of vice to the piety of Saints to the purity of Angels to the perfection of Seraphins in a moment sooner then I can speak a word think a thought or twinkle with my eye And thy fidelity in the performance of thy promises O just God! confirms and comforts me in all the premises For Heaven and Earth shall pass but not a tittle of thy words shall perish 3. Other Motives of Hope Gods great Benefits are also powerfull motives for us to place our Confidence in him Especially his Creation Redemption Vocation HOw can I weigh thy wonderful Benefits O most bountiful Lord and not esteem them as so many sacred pledges of thy eternal love to me and strong pillars to support my confidence in thee Thou created'st me freely willingly unconstrainedly of nothing and canst thou hate thine own handy work Thou gavest me a noble Being and shall I doubt but thou wilt give me a perfect and accomplisht Being Thou mad'st all for me and me for thy self and may I not hope thou wilt bring me to thy self Thou constituted'st me King of thy creatures wilt thou cast me only off and not govern me with thy creatures Thou designed'st me for thy glory and wilt thou destroy me for eternity No Lord Thou wilt in thy good time compleat thine own purposes in me and finish these blessed beginnings Thou O sweet Redemer undertookest a thirty three-years Pilgrimage upon earth to seek me a lost sheep wilt thou reject me seeking after thee Thou hast loved me and