dispositâ—ons which your holy soul had at the last moment of your life to which I unite my self with all my heart to supply those which I want I abandon my self entirely to you to suffer for your love the pains of death as long many as you please I renounce disavow all the impatience evill thar their force may cause me unwillingly to committ Have recourse to the blessed Virgin the Saints O holy Virgin mother of my God refuge of Sinners be now my Advocate grant I may feel the effects of your power with the blessed Trinity O Mary mother of grace mother of mercy receive me at the houâ— of my death defend me from my Enemies Shew that you are my mother obtain that he who for our salvation was willing to become your son be born of you may receive me by your intercession O all yee Saints blessed spirits interceed now for my soul in this extremity that I may obtain the victory over my enemies Great S. Joseph you all my holy patrons Protectours assist me Great S. Michael fight for me Charitable Angell my dear Guardian defend me from the ambushes of my Enemies and forsake me not in this last passage Eternal father look upon me in your dear son Jesus Christ who has shed his blood for my salvation Have pitty upon me according to the greatness of your mercies pardon my sins for the glory of your holy name Enter not into judgement with me o my God for in thy sight no one living can justify himself My divine Jesus put your cross your passion between your judgement and my soul My God my destiny is in your hands save me I beseech you O Lord in you have I trusted therefore I shall not be eternally confounded An act of adoration to the most holy Trinity O most holy most adorable Trinity I adore you with my whole heart I unite my self both for the present for eternity to all the adorations praises which the most holie humanity of my Saviour Jesus Christ his most holy mother together with all the Saints and Angels do or have renderd you or shall eternally render you in heaven I offer you all the sacrifices of this most holy humanity which are now offerd or shall be daily offerd to the day of judgement all the world over in satisfaction of all my sins in thanksgiving for all your divine benefits bestowed upon me If the Recommendation of the soul be said observe to say at the end this conclusion afterwards say the Responsory Subvenite Sancti c. Conclusion of this Exercise Act of abandonment resignation O my God I abandon my self without reserve to that divine judgement you shall pronounce upon my soul I submit my self to it with all my heart I adore reverence it as most just equitable now for Eternity A Spirituall Expiring Holding your cross in your hand Say these words Behold o my God my Creatour my Redeemer that I come unto you because you call me receive me in the bosome of your mercy And amorously kissing the wounds of your Crucifix pronounce the holy namas of Jesus Mary at each wound then repeating the last words of our Saviour My God into your hands I yeeld up my Spirit expire in the sacred wound of the side of Jesus chose it for your grave hide your self in his sacred heart After this Exercise we must look upon our selves as dead to the world to our selves accordingly we should often repeat those words of S. Paul I live yet not I but Iesus Christ that lives in me my life is hid with Iesus Christ in God. THE RECOMMENDATION of the soul which ought to begin with these little Letanies the following prayers are to be said in time of agony these may serve for those that are about the dying person LOrd have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Holy Mary prayer for him Holy Angells pray for him Holy Abel pray for him Quire of all the just pray for him S. Abraham pray for him S John Baptist pray for him Holy Patriarchs Prophets pray for him S. Peter pray for him S. Paul pray for him S. Andrew pray for him S. Johne pray for him Holy Apostles Evangelists pray for him Holy Disciples of our Lord pray for him Holy Innocents pray for him S. Stephen pray for him S. Laurence pray for him Holy Martyrs pray for him S. Silvester pray for him S. Gregory pray for him S. Austin pray for him Holy Bishops Confessors pray for him S. Bennet pray for him S. Francis pray for him Holy Monks Hermits pray for him S. Mary Magdalen pray for him S. Lucy pray for him Holy Virgins Widdows pray for him Saints of God of both sexes interceed for him Lord be mercifull unto him pardon all his sins Lord be mercifull to him deliver him O Lord deliver him from your wrath Deliver him from the danger of death Deliver him from an evill death Deliver him from the pains of hell Deliver him from all evill Deliver him from the power of the devil Deliver him by your holy Nativity Deliver him by your holy cross passion Deliver him by your holy death burial Deliver him by your glorious resurrection Deliver him by your admirable ascension Deliver him by the grace of the holy Ghost the Comforter Deliver him in the day of judgement Lord we beseech thee to hear us poor Sinners We beseech thee to hear us soe as to pardon him Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us THE PRAYER Proficiscere anima christiana CHristian soul leave this world in the name of the omnipotent Father who created thee in the name of his son Jesus Christ who redeemed thee in the name of the holy Ghost who diffused himself in thee in the name of the holy Angells Archangells Thrones Dominations Cherubins Seraphins in the name of the Patriarchs Prophets in the name of the Apostles evangelists of the holy Martyrs Confessors in the name of the holy Religious Anchorites of the holy Virgins of all the Saints of God that this day your habitation may be in peace your abode in the holy Sion by the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen THE PRAYER Deus clemens O God of goodness clemency who according to the infinite-greatness of your mercies blot out the sins of the penitent pardon their crimes sins past cast a propitious look upon your servant N hear his prayers for the remission of all his sins which he confesses with all his heart as much as he is able Renew in him o best of Fathers whatever may in time be either corrupted by the frailty of nature or depraved by the malice of the Devil unite to the body of your triumphant Church
keeping the spirit of sweetness charity with our neighbour but aboue all we ought to be carefull to joyn thereto an interiour retreat keeping our minds sequestred from all vain curious thoughts or all unprofitable reflections upon our selves or others imploying ones mind heart in frequent aspirations sighs addressed to God to demand his holy spirit which to obtain we must unite them with the interiour dispositions prayers of the holy Virgin the Apostles II. SAy every day the Veni creator at the end of the book make seven elevations of mind to demand the seven gifts of the holy Ghost the disengagement from creatures the victory over our humours which is the life of our own spirit opposed to that of the holy Ghost Make one elevation of mind to the eternall father another to the son a third to the holy Ghost a 4. th to the holy Virgin a 5. th to the Apostles a 6. th to your good Angell the last to S. Phillip Nery who reeived with such fullnessh the oly Ghost upon the day of Pentecost These elevations of mind ought to be made with ardent desires of obtaining this singular grace Aboue all beg a total change of your heart beseech the holy Ghost that he would cause you to live a life wholly supernaturall to die to all the longing hankering appetites of the human sensuall life VENI CREATOR OR The Hymne of the holy Ghost COme Creatour Sp'rit divine Visit now the souls of thine Fill with grace distill'd from heau'n Hearts to whom thou life hast giv'n Whom the comforter we call Gift of God transcending all Living spring fire fervent love Ghostly unction from aboue Sev'nfold grace thou dost impart And Gods right hand finger art Thou the fathers promise which Tongues with language doth enrich Kindle light in every sense Love into our hearts dispence Strengthen what in flesh is fraile With a vertue cannot faile Drive away our mortall foe Peace upon us soon bestow As a guide before us shine That all vice We may decline By thee may it so be done That we father know Son And in thee believe who dost Flow from both the holy Ghost Glorious may the father reign And the Son who rose again So the holy Paraclite During Ages infinite III. ADd a quarter of an hour to your ordinary time of prayer as much to your time of silence to think in the presence of God of the great affects which his spirit works in a well disposed heart in order to the making an absolute charge in it as he did in the hearts of his Apostles the better to entertain your self with a meditation upon some one of the gifts of the holy Ghost as you will find them explicated in some of your book on that subjet Make also a particular visit to the blessed Sacrament every day to demand of Jesus-Christ the fullness of his spirit IV. AVoid tepidity negligence or humour in your actions as faults particularly opposite to the fervour of that divine love which the holy Ghost in kindles in a soul watch over your self to be able to discerne the motions of his grace be faithfull in following them do to thing against the light which God gives you to avoid any thing because that would be to afflict the holy Ghost The practise of your aspirations during this holy time may be done after this or some such like manner Father of mercy send me your comforting spirit that may give peace to my soul my Jesus give me the spirit of understanding wisdome that may make me know you with a lively faith that I may feel your presence within my heart that I may relish nothing but you alone O holy Ghost heart of the blessed Trinity substantiall love of the Father the son come inlighten my mind with the truths of faith animate my heart with the flames of pure love come strengthen me in my weakness raise me up after my fallings purify me from all hankering after or fondness of creatures O love of my God be you the soul of my soul be you my life grant that I may die wholly to my self live wholly to you The seven gifts of the H. Ghost THe gift of Wisdome The gift of Understanding The gift of Knowledge The gift of Counsell The gift of Fortitude The gift of Piety or Godliness The gift of the Fear of God. FOR THE OCTAVE OF WHITSONTIDE Apply your self every day to know demand practise one of the seven gifts of the holy Ghost to the end that he may purifiy and Sanctify with these seven divine habits all the affections of your soul THE I. DAY The gift of Wisdome LEt the subject of your prayer be the qualities of this gift which are 1. to make us relish God all that unites us to him 2. to give us an extreme disgust of all pleasures of the senses all naturall satisfaction 3. to make us esteem love search with passion sufferings disgrace abjection of which we have such a horrour 4. to make an intire separation of a heart from all fondness of creatures as also from all that is sensuall in devotion from all that is not God. Come o holy Ghost come enlighten my mind with this gift of wisdome come destroy in me the love of the world grant that I may take no relish in any thing but in God that God may be all to me creatures may be nothing grant that I may love contempt which my Saviour so esteemed that the cross may be the onely oâ—ject of my love 2. Beg often during the first day that is the day of Pentecost the gift of wisdome which consists in loving spirituall things make an extraordinary visit to the blessed Sacrament to beg this day as well as throughout the whole Octave the Office of the holy Ghost in the morning after your prayers say veni Creator as in the end of this book give every day of the Octave some little almes to the poor to obtain the gifts of the holy Ghost whom the holy Chruch stiles the Father of the poor THE II. DAY The Gifts of Vnderstanding 1. COnsider in your prayer the effects of this gift which are 1. to make us love what we believe to render our faith so lively strong that it may make such an impression upon our minds as if we saw the objects of what we believe so that a soul inlightened with this gift is lost in the respect love it finds in gods presence in prayer before the blessed Sacrament as if it saw God with its eyes this gift works the same effect in the soul as the light of glory does in the souls of the Blessed It sees God in the bosome of it feels his presence after so intimate certain a manner that it is rather a possession then a knowledge of
it in the spirit of pennance with all the pains humiliations privations which follow it in satisfaction of all the sins I have committed An offering of our Life to God. 6. Receive ô my Saviour the sacrifice that I make to your divine Majesty of my bo dy my life which I offer as a victime sacrificed to your self Unite it to that you offer'd for me upon the cross consume it with the fire of your divine love A desire to render to Iesus Christ Death for Death 7. O my divine Jesus since that your love to me made you dye upon the cross for my salvation is it not just that with a good will I accept death for love of you in counter-change as far as I am able of that you indured for me O why have I not a thousand lives to give them all for this end to acknowledge therby that you are my God! Spiritual confession With profound humility at the feet of Iesus Christ as if he were present in his sacred humanity accuse your self to him of all your sins taking a short review of them at the end of which excite your soul to a lively tender sorrow for them AN ACT OF CONTRITION O my God prostrate before your soveraign majesty I most humbly beg pardon for the great contempt abuse I have made of your holy graces of all the sins I have committed from my birth in thought word or deed I retract disavow them with my whole heart Yes o my God 't is from my whole heart that I detest disavow them wish I had never committed them not for fear of the punishment they deserve but onely because I have by them offended your infinite goodness which deserves to be loved above all things honoured by all creatures O why is not my heart capable too of an infinit sorrow to blot out their guilt But accept o my God in satisfaction of that sorrow which is wanting in me that which my Saviour had in the garden of Olives upon the cross for the sins of the whole world in generall for mine in particular Accept also for this effect that sorrow contrition which all the Saints have ever had Purifiy me from my secret sins pardon those I have committed by others despise not o my God an humble contrite heart which hopes onely for pardon of its sins from your infinit mercy In the 50. Psalm you have promised that when a sinner laments his sins you will no longer remember his iniquities And if you please o my God to prolong my life I make a firm purpose by the assistance of your holy grace to amend particularly such such faults thereby endeavour to repaire what is past Having made these Acts receive as an absolution that which Jesus Christ the soveraign priest gives you spiritually applying to your self his divine merits after which imagine you hear him say to you as he did to S. Mary Magdelen Your sins are forgiven you go in peace Say the 50. Psalm Miserere mei c in the spirit of pennance Aspirations to the three divine persons O father Eternall since you so loved the world as to give your onely son for its redemption I dare presume to hope from your mercy the salvation of my soul since you gave him not to condemn us but to save us for that end imposed upon him the holy name of Iesus Luk. 1. O divine Jesus be you my Jesus remembcr your own words that you came not for the just but for sinners Luk. 5. O my God you will not the death of a sinner but that he be converted live EZech. 18. Convert me therefore to your self that I may live an Eternall life Come divine spirit repose in my soul with your 7. gifts for to purify justify sanctify it consume in it by the fire of your holy love all that is yet earthly therein fortify it in this its last passage against all the temptations of its enemies An act of Faith. I protest my God before heaven earth that I will dye in the faith union of the holy Catholick church I believe firmly all that it believes teaches because you my God who are the Eternall truth have said revealed it that you are an infinite goodness holiness that cannot deceive any one an infinite wisdom that cannot erre are moreover omnipotent And from this very moment I disavow and detest all temptations contrary to it which the Enemy may suggest in the last moments of my life I return you thanks with my whole heart for the great grace which you have done me in making me of the numbe of the children of your holy Church Recite the Apostles Creed Credo in Deum c And making reflection upon every Article protest that you believe it An act of Hope O my God thô for the enormity inconceivable multitude of my offences I most justly merit hell yet confiding entirely in the merits of my Saviour Jesus Christ in the infinit greatness of your mercy which can pardon more sins then I can committ I cease not to hope for pardon for the grace to persevere in your love to which I consecrate the last moment of my life An act of Charity O my God when shall this soul of mine being separated from my body from all creatures be united perfectly to your self love you with that pure unchangeable affection with which the blessed in heaven love you O what is there I desire in haven or what is it I desire on earth butt you the God of my heart my God everlasting portion of my felicity I have regarded all things as nothing vile contemptible to gain Jesus Christ An act of Love towards our Neighbour O my God I beg of you grace mercy for all the creatures you have redeemed with your precious blood particularly for the true children of your holy Church for those from whom I have received any displeasure whom I pardon my God for love of you as I desire you should pardon me A desire to receive Iesus Christ O my God my Creatour redeemer my beginning my end the onely soveraign object of my heart O what a longing desire have I to receive you for to unite my self to you come then into my soul sanctify it replenish my heart with your graces take possession of all its affections to the end that all the moments of my life that are yet behind may entirely be consecrad to your love The Spirituall communion for the Viatick or the Sacramentall one if permitted to receive it Hearken to your good Angell who invites you to eat the bread of life speaks to you as that of Elias did to him Arise eat because you have a great journey still to make 3. Kings c. 19. Imagine that Jesus Christ accompanied with the blessed Virgin your good
time of your prayer unless you are hindred by indisposition detaining your self in a posture full of respect and as a victime sacrificed as well to the power of a God whom you honour by executing his will in spite of the difficulty you find in it as to his justice which you glorifie by suffering either the proof he makes of your fidelity or the pain wherewith he punisheth your past unfaithfulness The third thing to be observed in prayer is to make particular purposes resolutions as for example to overcome your inclinations humours to renounce your own will to mortifie your senses to humble moderate recollect your 〈◊〉 such such occasions In conâ—usion you ought to offer your good purposes resolutions to Jesus-Christ by the hands of his blessed mother The last thing to be performed is that when you know that God acts in you by certain lights or good motions which he bestows upon you you must receive these graces with a spirit altogether annihilated with an humble heart full of silence without abandoning your self intirely to sensibility without endeavouring by sighs or other tendernesses to conserve or augment the favours which you feel above all keep your self barely attentive during the whole time to God who acts in you rather then to what he does You must take care not to rest in a speculative languishing faith of his verities accompanied with a barren emptie satisfaction but ought to animate both with a lively practicall faith efficacious resolution to act accordingly IV. MASSE AT eight of the clock hear masse according to the practice which has been taught you or according to the spiritual exercise which you have for this purpose in some of your manuals or else you may satisfie your self with observing the following directions First go quietly to the Church begging of the blessed Virgin to obtain for you such sentiments feelings of compassion loue as she had for her son when she accompanied him to Mount Calvary say to your self come let us go my Soul let us go to see thy Saviour crucified Secondly entring into the Church take holy water conceiving an hearty sorrow for your sins keeping your eyes in an humble submissive posture before your God your Judge adore him with a lively faith give him your heart So long as you shall be in the Church chiefly all the time of holy masse continue in a respectfull posture without looking about and do not sit down unless by reason of some indisposition or weakness or that you should stay there very long Thirdly offer the mass you go to hear unto Almighty God in union with the intentions which Iesus Christ himself had when he offered the same sacrifice for us upon Mount Calvary which he now will have when he offers it againe to his eternall father upon the Altar Protest that you desire to joyn with him in his designs and to have the same interiour dispositions as also to make your whole self a victime together with him to be sacrificed to the glory of God alone But in particular offer the mass for these four ends first to honour the greatness of God secondly to thank him for all the graces and favours that he hath ever bestowed upon you thirdly to help and comfort the poor souls in purgatory more especially those who are forgotten abandoned by others or are detained there through your fault fourthly to beg of God for the sake of Iesus Christ some particular grace and favour as the victory over your own humour the love of your enemies a greater recollection such other vertues as you find your self to stand most in need of you may offer the same in the fifth place for that sinner who shall be in danger that day of dying in mortall sin without confession Fourthly after these intentions which you ought if you have opportunity to make before mass if you have not time to say your vocall prayers after mass you may recite them from the beginning of mass till Sanctus but if you have other time for them attend during the whole mass with all interiour application imaginable to this great sacrifice either as your spirituall directour has advised or according to the rules of your manuall or else after this manner first in the beginning ask together with the priest the pardon of your sins saying the Confiteor then till the Gospel exercise your soul in the consideration of the goodness of God who seeing in what an impossibility we were of saving our selves descended from heaven made himself man was born in a stable abasing annihilating himself before his father to appease his wrath which wee had justly provoked then give thanks to our Saviour for this excess of bounty goodness towards you protest that this day you will endeauour to humble your self in gratitude for in honour of the humiliations annihilations of his incarnation Secondly at the Gospel make an act of faith belief of all the verities which the priest there reads protesting that you are ready to die for the faith Beg of our Saviour to augment increase it in you to render it lively active desire him to enlighten convert all Infidels Hereticks offer your self to his justice to suffer that day something for their conversion Thirdly at the offertory offer up to God as a sacrifice by the hands of Iesus Christ your body soul life reputation kinred family estate all that you have and protest that you will make no other use of them then for the service glory of God and salvation of your own soul that you will retrench whatsoever s'hall be ill in them and even deprive your self often of what is not absolutely usefull sanctifying your whole exteriour by the spirit and conduct of his grace Fourthly from Sanctus to the Elevation think upon the death of our Saviour going over the chief mysteries of his passion from the garden of Olives to his crucifixion but make this reflection without staying long upon each particular satisfying your self with beholding Iesus suffering in these mysteries with a tender compassion an acknowledgement for a love of his goodness together with sorrow for your sins wickedness Fifthly at the Elevation offer unto the eternall father Iesus Christ his onely son adore him as lifted up on the cross for your sins beg of him to obtain mercy for you for all sinners present to his father all the drops of blood he shed all the moments of sadness his heart suffered the wounds wherewith his whole body was covered the injuries he endured for you beg of him for the sake hereof that he would have mercy on you Sixthly till Domine non sum dignus imploy your thoughts upon Christ sacrificed for your sake upon the Altar consider that he is come thither for your sake that he thinks of you that he prays for