tobe Saints without following their Example what grounds have we to rely on the mercy of God when we make use of that mercy to hinder our Conversion Jesus-Christ has expressly condemn'd lukewarm souls yet do's not this tepidity reign among Christians Am I convinc'd that the number of the Elect is so small and shall I do nothing to be of that number Yes my God! were there to be but one soul saved since it depends on my will to be that soul I am resolv'd to be sav'd I acknowledge that I have done nothing for thy service which can make me hope but my confidence is founded on what thou art doing now for me Thy design in giving me this opportunity in exciting me to this resolution was not to increase my guilt I have no need of any other Argument to convince me that thou desirest my Salvation thanthis very fear which thou hast imprinted in my soul least I should not be of the number of thy chosen I have often rendred my best thoughts useless but my God I have reason to hope that this resolution which I now make to work out my salvation with all the earnestness in the world shall be effectual And because I have had too much experience that these pious designs are easyly forgotten I will begin this moment to turn to thee Dixi nune coepi haec mutatio dexterae Excelsi Ps 76.11 to devote my selfe entirely to thy service and I rely upon thy goodness for strength to persevere SECOND MEDITATION OF SIN FIRST POINT Of Mortal Sin SECOND POINT Of Venial Sin FIRST POINT COnsider that all the calamity's and misery's that are in the world or have been since the Creation proceed from mortal sin this is the cause of warrs plagues and Famines of the destruction of City's by fire and of men by sickness Eternal Damnation and Hell it selfe are the dismall effects of one Mortal sin How can we comprehend the heinousness of mortall sin seeing thô the Angels were the most perfect part of the Creation neither the nobleness of their nature nor all their perfections nor their fitness to glorify their maker to all Eternity nor their being particularly design'd for that end could exempt them from being plung'd into everlasting flames for one mortall sin of a moment express'd in a vain thought For one act of disobedience Adam was depriv'd of his original justice of all his natural and supernatural gifts by this one sin he lost the priviledge of immortality became subject himselfe and subjected his Posterity to those innumerable misery's under which wegroan so many thousand yeares are past and the Divine vengeance is not yet appeas'd nor will be till the end of Ages 't is the fire of this wrath that burns in Hell and will never be extinguish'd The consideration of the terrible punishment inflicted on mortal sin is a clear proof that it is the greatest of evils since God who is goodness its selfe and whose mercy is exalted above all his works is so very severe against one act of it How many persons eminent for virtue full of merits and arrived to a great degree of sanctity are now damn'd for one mortal sin If after three or fourscore years of penance after a long Life spent in the exercise of the most heroick virtues after having wrought miracles if we commit one mortall sin all our penance all our virtues will be counted for nothing we become Enemys to God and objects of his wrath vengeance By the severity of the punishment we may conceive some Idea of the crime but its enormity and the hatred which God bears to it are more visible in the pains he hath taken and what it hath cost him to destroy it Those inconcevable mistery's of the incarnation the nativity the Life the passion and the Death of the Eternal Son were wrought onely for the destruction of sin nothing less then all theblood of Christ could redeem one soul and after all this soul shall be damni'd for one mortal sin all the flames of Hell those Eternal flames could never cleanse the least sinful spot Can we believe this and live one moment in sin and notwithstanding this extreme danger continue to sin and to expose our selves every day to the occasions of committing it this is hardly to be imagin'd How shall we reconcile our Faith with our practise how shall we make our practise and our Reason agree we refuse no pains to oblige a friend we are wonderfully exact in every punctilio of good breeding but stupidly careless in the important duty 's of a Christian Life We own that most afflictions are the punishments of our sins we are all afraid of Hell yet we are not afraid of sin which is the cause of Hell how sensible are we of the smallest loss how uneasy how sad and often uncapable of comfort yet how insensible of the greatest of that irreparable loss which a million of worlds can never repair we sin but we are not sad neither do we stand in need of comfort Thô we had committed but one mortal sin in all our Lives it would be a just reason for continual humiliation it would be a just subject of fear and trembling to the last moment of our Lives We have sin'd we are in danger of renewing our sins we are uncertain of their pardon how can we be without fear Are we sure that we are in a state of Grace or do we hope so be cause of our reiterated confessions Alas who hath told us that our contrition was sincere that our sorrow was from a supernatural motive how can we be satisfy'd with our purposes and resolutions when we know by experience and by so many relapses how ineffectual they have often been Since God spared not the Angels that sin'd how ought we to tremble who have sin'd after the knowledge of their terrible punishment After having seen the son of God expire on a Cross to destroy sin can I imagine that God will hate sin less in me My God Sauiour who hast dyed for me which thou wouldst not do for the fallen Angels I humbly beseech thee by the merits of thy Death to give me that Grace which thou wouldst not offer them Give me an hearty sorrow for all my sins and incline my will to answer thy End in affording me this time for repentance which thou hast not given many others and to begin immediately SECOND POINT Consider that venial Sins seem small onely to those who have little faith and less Love they who love God truly look upon all sin with horror and are more afraid of it than of the grearest misery A venial sin is indeed a small sin but it is not a small evil as long as it is a sin it is agreater evil than a general desolation of the whole Universe and therefore the Saints of God have always judg'd yt all the creatures ought to think themselves happy if they could prevent one venial
sin by the sacrifice of their very beings Moses his distrust in striking the Rock twice cost him his Life Five and twenty thousand Israelites dyed in one day at Berhshemeth for looking too curiously into the Ark of God Davids vanity in numbring the people brought a terrible Plague upon them two and forty children were devoured by wild Bears for mocking the Prophet Elisha and Hezekiahis ostentation in shewing his treasures to the Ambassadours of Babylon could not be expiated by less than the loss of those treasures Thus God whose wisdom is infinite punishes venial sins in this Li-Life but in the next where his justice is not restrained by his mercy the punishments of venial sins yield in nothing as to their violence to the torments of Hell and this he inflicts even on those souls whom he loves tenderly and who love him above all things We shall find one Day that the Death of our beloved Child the loss of such an estate such a distemper the ruine of such a family and publick calamity's are perhaps now as formerly the punishments of venial Sins God indeed doth not alway's send visible chatisements but then he reserves the sinner for severer strokes For every venial sin we deliberately committ God withdraws some portion of his Grace and is the deprivation of Grace a small loss Veniall Sins do not indeed make God hate us but they make him love us less they make him stop the course of his bounty withold his Graces and suspend that particular Providence with which he watches over those he loves that tender care whereby he preserves them from danger whereby he either keeps them from Temptations or enables them to overcome them Venial Sins render a soul languishing and insensibly disgust it with Piety till they have brought it into a lukerwarm disposition the most dangerous state a soul can be in And God at length grows weary of our ingratitude and cannot suffer that we should believe that we auquit our selves sufficiently of the infinite obligations we have to him provided we abstain from offring him the most outragious affronts thô at the same time we indulge our selves in displeasing him everyhour Which of us would have the patience to keep a servant onely for his honesty who had no other good quality who did every thing with reluctancy and by halves who treated us with disrepect and who never took care to please us under pretense that it was in things of no consequence And can we expect that God should suffer a servant whom we would not endure It is true that venial Sins do not renderus Enemy's to God but it is as true that he who indulges himselfe deliberately in many venial Sins do's not love God Certainly the man that contents himselfe with barely not being Gods Enemy esteems his Love but little the best that can be said is that he is afraid to have God his Enemy but very indifferent in desiring him for his Friend The wilful disobliging a Friend upon all occasions is a strange method to make him love us And I cannot see how we shall be able to reconcile our profession of loving with our practise of wilfully displeasing him 'T is no excuse that we offend onely in little things their smallness renders us inexcusable because we might more easily avoid them If they be little things we cannot pretend that we were discourag'd by difficulties or that the violence of our passions hurry'd us away it proceds onely from an indifferency for God whom we serve out of fear and flatter our selves that we love him because we dread his justice No wonder then if God be as indifferent for us if he abhorr our baseness if he withdraw his favours from such unworthy wretches and refuse to communicate him selfe any more to us And indeed we can not expect those peculiar favours which he bestow's onely on fervent souls Thus we run our selves into danger of comitting greater faults for an habit of venial sins is the high Road to mortall ones and God is in amanner oblig'd to deprive us of those divine lights of those strengthning graces without which we can never resist violent Temptations Hence proceed the surprising falls of many who were at first so reserv'd they began by allowing themselves little Liberty's and so by degrees fell into such disorders as before this unfaithfulness they would have trembled to think of He who despises little things will most certainly fall by degrees For though venial sins can never be come mortall yet they dispose us for them if we once content our selves with not losing the Grace of God we are sure to loose it in a very little Time these terrible falls startle us but if we did wel consider the disposition in which venial Sins put the soul we should be Ies◠surpris'd Venial Sins are like the beginnings of a sickness the first indisposition seems nothing at all and we think it wil easily be cur'd yet by little little it undermines our health so that the least excess or unwholsome ayr throws us in to a malignant feavour and from thence in to the Grave Though sometimes men dye suddenly yet their Deaths are usually preceded by some light indisposition which seem'd of no consequence Thus Venial Sins thô never so deliberate and numerous do not kill the soul but they weaken it and impair its strength so that it languishes and do's its duty 's but by halves and with reluctancy every thing hurts it Sacraments Good works do it no good How can a soul in this condition remain long in a state of Grace being thus expos'd to so many impending dangers depriv'd of its support and strength every moment running its selfe farther in to danger This made an Eminent Saint say that we ought some times to be more careful to avoid small sins than great ones And 't is the apprehension of not stopping here 't is the fear of being depriv'd of strengthning grace in punishment of those little infidelity's there by being left a prey to temptation that makes the Saints so incapable of comfort after a veniai Sin After all is a Venial Sin nothing is it of no consequence what then shal we count something if it be nothing to offend God wethink it a matter of consequence not to disoblige a friend we think it a matter of consequence not to be rude to any man so much as by mistake and shall we think it a slight thing deliberately to displease God shall we think it nothing to lessen his kindness to us to stop the channel of his Graces to diminish the fervour of charity to render all the Sacraments of no use shall we think our selves affronted by a rash word shall we think that fault little which offends God which draws his indifference on us thô not his hatred which will make us loose those inestimable Treasures that are worth more than all the riches in the world shall we make nothing of
selfe Love and pride cannot please themselves here because there is no noise or ostentation Let us now take a view of the dispositions methods whereby we may receive most profit A sence of our want of it and a persuasion that this practise may be very useful to us is one good disposition The rest which we ought to have if we would receive benefit are almost the same which the Author of the retreat according to the spirit methode of Saint Ignatius sets down in his Preface and they are chiefly five The first is an unfeigned desire to think seriously of our salvation a firm Resolution not to flatter our selvs but to examine carefully and axactly without disguising any thing the state of our souls what progress we make in the way of Perfection what benefit we receive by the sacraments what ground we gain whether we be victorious over our selves and whether we be insueh a state as we would venture to appear before God in to give an account of our Lives In fine whether we be such now as we would desire to be at the hour of Death But all our examinations and discovery's will be to no purpose unless we add to them a firm resolution to correct what ever is amiss this is not one of those barren devotions which for the most part serve only to amuse the imperfect and render them more faulty they who have not a real design and an earnest desire to walk with God will find but little satisfaction in it their coldness and indifference will soon make them weary The second Disposition is an humble distrust of our selves supported by a firm confidence in God knowing that salvation is chiefly his work and that without him we can do nothing assuring our selves that since he hath inspir'd us with the desire of retiring once a month he will not refuse us the necessary graces to profit by it And indeed this desire of making use of the best means to convert our selves to God is an evident proof that he who inspires it would fain have us turn and live and we find by experience that those unhappy men who dye in their sins are such as made but very litle use of this excellent means of Conversion The third Disposition is a free heart that gives its selfe to God without reserve saying with Saint Paul Acts. 9.6 Psal 56.8 Lord what wouldst thou have me to do or with David My heart is ready O God my heart is ready to do thy will The want of this disposition is the cause that the most pious practises are without effect For when we think of an entire conversion we are too often irresolute we will will not we know not what we would have and very often we imagine that we desire what we really and indeed do not desire We are for capitulating with our maker we are for retaining some part of what we promise him we deliberate on every thing he requires we dispute with him on every occasion My God! what is it we fear to throw our selves entirely on thee we are convinc'd that 't is the best thing we can do but we are unwilling to do it because we foresee that if we once give our selves to thee we shall soon grow weary of the Creatures The communications of thy self to us will not fail to render us sensible of vanity and make us loath them and we are unwilling to be made sensible of it or to loath them this is what we fear The fourth Disposition is a ponctual observance of the order and rule of our Rerreat an exactness in every part of it neglecting nothing that can contribute to our doing it well judging nothing little that is capable of advancing so great a work as our salvation being fully persuaded of this Truthe that the great profit of this devotion depends on exactness in the least things Whether it be that this carefulness is an evident proof of our sincerity or that it prevails with God to refuse none of his Graces to those who neglect nothing to please him The Fifth disposition which is at is were the soul of all spiritual Retreats is a perfect solitude both inward and outward keeping our selves in a profound recollection and silence And avoiding every thing that can any way distract us When an indolent soul is eight or ten days in retreat the Devil easily finds some occasion to disgust it with its holy employment it thinks the time long when it has none but God to converse with When it do's not find many spiritual consolations in prayer when its thoughts are almost continually distracted its want of fervour and the imperfection of its desires to be converted render the most holy exercises of devotion very unpleasant Eight days in Retreat seem an age so that it counts all the hours and wishes for the last But to these dangers we are not expos'd in one day's Retreat 't is but one day and if we make a right use of it we may gain as much and perhaps more profit then in a longer Retreat which ought certainly to engage us to neglect nothing whereby we may improve such a precious season to the best advantage One Day in thirty is but a small matter let us give it heartily and cheerfully to God let us be very exact in the performance of the spiritual excercises that we may have nothing to reproach our selves One day is quickly over and it will be our unspeakable comfort to have past it well CHAP IV. How we are to spend the Day of Retreat IT being left to every ones convenience to choose what day he pleases for this Reâ—â—eat we should pitch upon the day wherein we may have the least interruption and which we can best have to our selves If it be possible we should receive the same day Men of business and tradesmen would do well to choose an Holiday Religious men some day wherein they can without distraction give themselves entirely to this holy exercise We should endeavour to spend halfe an hour in Meditation the night before to dispose us for the duty 's of the day at least we should read attentively the preparatory Meditation compos'd for that end and if we have opportunity we should at the same time with the same design visit our Redeemer in the Blessed Sacrament We must observe a profound silence during the whole Day to which we must add an inward recollection we must spend it in exact solitude as far as our condition will permit but we are not hereby oblig'd to neglect any of the duty 's of our calling nor are Religious persons forbid their ordinary recreations much less the Dutys of their vocation We must make this Day the three Meditations design'd for each Month and pass an hour in reflecting on the practical Truths of Religion our Confession should be larger and more particular then ordinary that we may thereby endeavour to repair the faults
thy Grace that I will both love and serve thee And I hope in thy mercy that since thou hast patiently born with my disobedience so long thou wilt now be so gracious as to pardon and forgive it SECOND MEDITATION OF THE MEAN'S which are given us to attain our ultimate end FIRST POINT Of the means common to all Christians SECOND POINT The particular means proper for each Christian FIRST POINT COnsider that God not content to have created us for himselfe as for our ultimate End has out of his great goodness indispensably engag'd us to seek him by those numerous meanes which he hath given us to attain that End Every creature taken in its selfe is an help to our knowledge Love of him And 't is only our abuse of them that makes any of them hinderances The happiness and mis fortunes of our Lives the chastisemens wherewith God corrects our unfaithfulness our very faults may be so many furtherances of our Salvation Even the devices and temptations of our mortal Enemy the Devil may be a means to save us Without grace it is impossible to attain our ultimate End all our endeavours without it are vain 'T is an article of Faith that we may be wanting to the Grace of God there is not one soul in Hell who is not damn'd by his own fault We are weak the occasions of sin are many and our corrupted hearts are violently enclin'd to it but can we have greater assistance to prevent our falls and to raise us up again when we are fallen Are we sensible of the facility with which we may work out our salvation if we will have recourse to those Excellent means which God hath put into our hands So many Sacraments whereby all the merits of our Saviour are apply'd to us in which we are as it were bath'd in his blood where in our souls feed on the Body and Blood of that Divine Redeemer are without doubt most effectual and easy means to attain our great End It was easy for the Disciples to be saints who had their Divine Saviour always with them And shall it be more difficult for us who have him continually present in the Eucharist their happiness consisted in having their requests granted what should hinder our obtaining of him as they whatever we desire Another very effectual means is frequent Prayer for our Saviour hath solemnly engag'd his word that he will grant whatever we ask in his Name His promises are without exception not limited to any Sort of men Do but ask Every body surely is able to ask and they who will not do most certainly value Heaven at a very low rate since they think it not worth their asking If we had only the Sacrifice of the Altar would nor our Salvation be sure what Grace what assistance can we need which our Redeemeâ— who gives himselfe as an earnest of his grace cannot obtain And how can we doubt his so often reiterated promises that he desires our happiness We are all debtors to the justice of God and stand in need of extraordinary helps One Mass one Communion bestows on us a treasure sufficient to pay all our debts and supply all our needs Let us offer up that Host to his Eternal Father Who we are sure cannot but be pleas'd with it It is sufficient to blot out the sins of all mankind and whose fault will it be if it do's not efface ours Certainly if God had left it to us to choose the most proper means of Salvation we should never have been able to find so many so easy and so effectual we shâ—uld never have thought of proposing what Christ has done for us And yet what use have we hitherto made of those means And what must we think of our selves and of our unprofitableness under them surely we have no great mind to be saved if we lose our souls in the midst of so powerful and such easy means of salvation what excuse shall we inuent what shadow of pretence can we have to justify our selves if we neglect them What shall we answer to the reproaches of the Heathens What shall we answer when our Saviour himselfe reproaches and confounds us with the example of those Pagans who only out of a vain desire of Glory for an imaginary recompense were such lovers of virtue such haters of vice even superstitiously devout what would they have done if they had enjoy'd our helps What regret must a Christian have who is damn'd with all those advantages what shall I be the better for them if I be damn'd And what must I expect if make no better use of them for the future SECOND POINT Consider that besides those general helps common to all Christians every man has some means proper for him whereby he may easily become agreat Saint His temper his education parts his very passions if rightly manag'd will much contribute to it The Grace of God commonly makes use of every one of these and whether our inclinations be good or bad we may with alittle resolution make them all serve to our progress in virtue Every sickness and unfortunate accident of our Lives is sent on purpose to bring us nearer to our last end by separating us or at least by weaning our affections from sensible objects which take up too much of our time and thoughts But the surest and most effectual means are those which every man meets with in the condition wherein God hath plac'd him Each state of Life is a different way by which the divine Providence leads us to our ultimate End It is a great Error to think that wee cannot attal Perfection without doing something extraordinary we may be very eminent saints only by acquitting our selves exactly of the duty 's of our callings The Virtuous Woman that Heroine so highly prais'd in Holy writ acquir'd all those merits only by taking care of her Family And Jesus Christ himselfe for thirty years together thought be could do nothing more becoming him then to discharge the duty 's of that humble and poor condition which he had chosen All o her ways are subject to illulusion we deceive our selves by doing much unless we do what we ought he do's what he ought who fulfills the will of God which we are sure we fulfill when we are exact in the smallest duty 's of our callings They who live in the world need not seek means of Sanctification out of their ordinary course of Life in the dutys of each day they will find matter enough to make them saints and they are inxecusable before God if they neglect those means since they take much more pains for the World then he requires them to take for him that they may be saved Religious men find in their state all and indeed the only means of perfection that are proper for them which consist in a punctual observation of their Rule and vows Those Rules have already made the Saints that are honour'd in their
fond of it there is no more world for you when you are once dead what do you carry away with you what reward do's the world give you for having been so long its slave what vexation regret and despair for having serv'd it They are truly wise who leave the world first who do not stay till it leaves them but despise it before it despises them T is a sad spectacle to see a man carried out of a great house which he had newly built or purchas'd into which he never must return more All his riches his goods and what ever he had in the world is now in the possession of another Where are all those great men who made such a bustle in the world and appear'd in such splendor They are gone they are nothing now and the world who considers men no longer than they are useful thinks no more of them they are in their graves their flesh putrify'd their bones calcin'd their whole body turn'd into dust How little do we think of those who liv'd before us unless it be to blame their actions or publish their faults And this is all the recompense we are to expect even from those whom we have most oblig'd With what satifaction would men dye if they did for God but the hundred th part of what they do for the world to no purpose My God! what benefit shall I reap by these Reflections what thoughts what anguish shall I have upon a death bed if these considerations do not make me fruitfull Am I so fully persuaded that there is no solid satisfaction but in thee and shall I seek it any where else thou onely canst make me happy both in Life and in Death The Saints were wise hated themselves and kept their body's in subjection never sparing them while they liv'd why then do not I endeavour to be wise after their Example They applaud themselves for having liv'd a mortify'd and holy Life in opposition to the maxims of the world My God! what good will these pious reflections do me if I defer my Conversion any longer I give thee hearty thanks for affording me this time to prepare for death I know that I must begin by an holy Life and Jam resolv'd to delay no longer but begin this very moment OF PREPARATION FOR DEATH SECT I. OF THE NECESSITY OF preparing for Death ALL the world agrees that no thing is of so great concern as Death that it is the most difficult thing in the world to dye well that we can never recover our selves if we dye ill yet there is hardly any thing for which men make so little preparation as for Death If we could dye twice our imprudence would not be so great we might have some hope to repaire our fault by expiating a wicked Life and an unprepar'd Death together But we can dye but once and we know that an Eternity of happiness or misery depends on that once We are not onely bound to live well saith an Eminent servant of God but much more to dye well for the most pious Life will avail nothing if it be not follow'd by an holy Death Have we labour'd for Heaven have we lead an holy Life we are so much the more concern'd to dye holily that we may not lose the fruit of our pains 'T is true an happy death is the ordinary fruit of an holy Life but 't is no less true that if we dye ill we lose all the merit of the most Exact Life and all those merits cannot secure us an happy Death Whence comes it then that we take no more care to prepare for Death then if were certain that we should never dye or that we should dye well or that we should dye more then once whence is it that we act as if we could lose nothing by dying ill or as if it were a very easy thing to dy well Can we be ignorant of the danger we run of acquitting our selves ill of what we never try'd especially when we don't know how to go about it Can we be ignorant that it is the hardest thing in the world to dye well that if we desert our preparation to a death bed we put it off to a time that is too uncertain for so great à work The work is long the time is short and very improper for a business so extremely nice and delicate so that he who waits for this time stay 's till he is a dying to prepare himselfe for Death We must therefore adds that holy man prepare our selves betimes We should begin this moment least if we delay any longer we begin too late or least the time we shall have then prove as most certainly it will altogether unfit to prepare to dye in If a good Death consisted only in receiving the last Sacraments in kissing a Crucifix or shedding a few teares our imprudence would be more tolerable but how many with all imaginable helps have dy'd miserably because they never prepar'd for death He who dyes well dyes in the state of grace he dyes truly penitent which he cannot do unless he hates sin above all things in the world will it be easy for a man who has lov'd and doted on sin all his Life and stays till death tears him by force from the occasions of it will it be easy for such a man efficaciously to resolve against it will it be an easy thing for him to make sincere acts of Contrition of faith of hope and Charity who was never us'd to them when he is oppress'd with pain and sickness his soul troubled and disorder'd at the approach of Death will it be an easy thing for him to regulate his family and his Conscience too at such a time to make a general Confession which requires so much leisure thereby repair all the faults of his past Confessions Is such a man who scarce knows what he do's in a condition to dispatch in two or three hours the most difficult work in the world which requires very much time a perfect tranquility of mind and the greatest application If we imagine it easy to dye well and with so little preparation we must condemn the Saints who took so much pains who spenr Their whole lives in preparation and yet after all were not free from a saving fear at their last hour Nay we must condemn our selves for acknowledging that they were truly wise in what they did We own that we cannot be too well prepar'd for Death O why then do we make so little preparation for it Our Redeemer forsaw our carelessness in this matter and therefore he has exhorted us more to this preparation than to any thing else Matt. 24.42 Mar. 13.35 Luke 21.35 Watch says he for you know not the hour wherein your Lord will come watch because you know neither the day nor the hour Be alway's ready and upon your guard And to let us see more clearly that this preparation is a sure way to dye well
he adds blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find watching ready to run and open the door as soon as he knocks This preparation is necessary for all those who desire an happy Death and it seems that God the Soveraign dispenser of all Grace has annex'd the Grace of dying well to the care we take in preparing for it This we learn by the Parable of the Virgins the Virgins who had been careful in feeding their Lamps and had prepar'd them selves before hand to meet the Bridegroom went in with him to the wedding from whence the foolish Virgins were excluded because of their negligence want of preparation This truth that we have need of preparation to dye well is universally acknowledg'd 't is for this reason that we are so afraid of sudden Death But what do's this fear produce Has it awaken'd and excited us to prepare for Death Or do we wait for our last sickness that is staying for Death to prepare to dye The wise men of the world are not so negligent in their temporal concerns do we our selves act in the same manner do we undertake any thing of importance wherein our interest our honour or our pleasure is concerned without taking our measures before hand we will not venture to speak in publick or to shew our capacity till we have taken time to prepare our selves for it and with what care and diligence do we improve prove that time If we are to shew our skill in any exercise we allwayes take some time for practise what pains did they take saith S. Paul who strove for victory in the publick games how carefully did they study all the flights necessary for their design how did they foresee the artifices their adversary might make use of to surprise them how did they avoid pleasure least it should enervate them how temperate were they in their dyet how great was their chastity for many years together And shall we who know that our Salvation that our Eternal happiness depends on the manner of our dying be less solicitous to learn to do it well we are then to engage in a terrible fight dare we venture before we have learn'd to make use of our weapons how to void being overcome how can we hope for an happy death if we de not learn to dye well if we do not so much as know what we are to learn How long shall we rely on out health and youth and on the facility of being assisted on our death beds do we know any thing more certainly then the uncertainty of that last hour who would venture his Estate upon the hopes of a long Life we may dye every moment this for ought we know may be the last day we have to live we see men dye every hour and yet we deferr to prepare for Death still we put it off to a nother time Good God! what time do we mean The time of sickness is no time of preparation we should be ready then Estote parati Matt. 24.44 Be ready says our Saviour he do's not say prepare your selves but be ready now common sence will tell us that we must prepare before we can be ready What should we think of a Captain of a ship who never enquires whether his anchors and cables be in a readiness and fit for service till he is just perishing in a violent storm what should we think of a Governour who neglects to repair the breaches of his Town and lets the magazines remain empty till he is close besieg'd and the trenches opend Death says the wiseman is a dangerous voyage we sail from time to Eternity among Rocks and tempests It is a sudden siege where our Enemy has shut us up in a moment and can we think this a fit time to prepare our selves to fight We are afraid that the thoughts of Death will disturb our joy and make us sad we deceive our selves the thoughts of Death disquiet onely those who are unprepar'd and unwilling to think of it After all our endeavours we shall never attain a solid happiness in this Life by any other means then those which conduce to an happy death He who has learn'd to dye well says a very holy man has learn'd not only to live well but to be happy for the thoughts of death are uneasy only to those who have cause to fear they shall dye ill 't is the truest subject of joy and consolation to him that knows how to dye well he who is alwayes ready to dye cannot be afraid to think of dying I could not avoid insisting on the necessity and manner of preparing for Death because the chief design of this retreat ought to be to excite a Christian to prepare to dye happily by living holily No practise of Devotion is more universally necessary then this Every body cannot fast Solitude and austerities are not equally proper for all sorts of men but every age rank and condition is able to prepare for Death nothing can be a reasonable hinderance Let us then examine how we have been hitherto prepar'd whether we do now prepare And seeing we are now convinc'd of the necessity of doing it how will our souls be rack'd with despair when we come to dye if we negiect it SECT II. OF THE MANNER HOW we must prepare to dye well 1. THe most general and most necessary Preparation is an holy Life when we begin that we ought to begin to prepare for death the whole Life of a Christian being indeed a preparation to dye well We are afraid to dye suddenly but what good will that fear do us if we put our selves under a kind of necessity to dye ill for how can a man dye otherwise who will not prepare till he is just going to expire And indeed what probability is there that a man who has liv'd ill should dye well that he should be able in two or three days to make reparation for the wickedness of a long Life When the greatest Saints after a perfect Life of many years have not yet been out of danger of dying ill But we hope the we shall have time what time A time that is no time for us a time of which we can make no use a time when the time of mercy is past But we trust in the grace of God and thus whe hazard all by supposing our selves sure of Grace which God without any injustice might have refus'd to the most perfect Saints and the son of God hath protested that they who deferr their confession to the last shall dye in their sins In peccato vestro moriemini Joh. 8.21 And the Holy Gost hath declar'd by the pen of the wiseman that when death seizes you which you put so farr from you now when distress and anguish which you did not apprehend come upon you of a sudden In interitu vestro ridebo subsanabo vos Prov. 1.26 Clamabitis ad me non exaudiam vos
disposing our selves to fall in to mortal Sin of indulging our selves in those irregularity's which are often the ginning of the Reprobation of many who appear'd eminent for Piety Consider what are our thoughts of venial Sins have we fully resolv'd in all our confessions to mend them for it is much to be feard that by frequent confessing the same venial Sins we too oftenrender our confessions at best useless for want of contrition Let us no longer look upon them as little things there are but few things that we ought to fear so much Let us examine our selves strictly accordingly regulate our practise THIRD MEDITATION OF THE SENTIMENTS We shall have at the hour of Death SEE THE THIRD MEDITATION For the month of January APRIL OCTOBER FIRST MEDITATION THAT WE OVGHT NOT to delay our Conversion FIRST POINT If we delay our Conversion we thereby put our selves into an evident danger of being never converted SECOND POINT If we delay our Conversion we thereby put our our selves under a kind of necessity of being never converted FIRST POINT COnsider that there is no Christian who has not some time or other desir'd to turn sincerely to God there are certain happy moments wherein by an inward light we discover on a sudden so many faults in Creatures we find so little solidity in every thing on the earrh and are so disgusted with what seem'd most charming that we cannot avoid confessing that to neglect the service of God is the highest degree of madness Our Reason is convinc'd but our passions are too strong and wehave not resolution enough to oppose them there fore self-Love finds an expedient to flatter both it satisfy's our Reason by persuading us to resolve on Conversion and pleases our sloth by engaging us to deferr it and to retain our former habits but here it apparentiy deceives us for this delay puts us in to an evident danger of never being convetted Time Grace and a willing mind are necessary to Conversiow if we put it off but for one day how can we promise our selves that one day if we have that Day are we sure that we shall be more willing to improve it And who hath told us that we shall then be assisted with amore efficacious graee than that which we have hitherto resisted Is any thing more uncertain than Time how many have been surpris'd by Death while they were deliberating And would it not be a dismall thing to dye full of designs for a future Conversion We think it is not now a fit Time to quit our dangerous conversations to avoid the occasions of sin to reform our Lives and to live more retir'd more like Christians alas what time would we have we are for staying till the heat of youth is past till age and experience have disabus'd us ' as to those triffles which take us up now and then every thing will contribute to our conversion Thus the greatest part of mankind argue about their projects of conversion for no man pretends to dye unconverted but do they reason well do we find many of these Resolvers converted before they dye We accept saith S. Augustin their pennance who deferr their conversion to the end of their Lives but we make no great account of such conversions No my Brethren adds that great Saint I dare not deceive you and therefore must declare that we make no great account of them We refuse to be converted now what grounds have we to believe that we shall be more willing here after If we find difficulties now we shall meet with greater then they increase with our passions which will then be stronger and instead of youthful amusements which take up our Time now we shall then find that multitude of business will be a greater hindrance Do not flatter your selves that you may be converted at any time who has told you that you shall at all times be capable of conversion If we refuse to be converted when God invites us now when our ill habits are but weak few can we reasonably expect to be able to do it here after when they are multiply'd and grown inveterate God will be weary of waiting his sollicitations will diminish as our resistance of his Grace encreases so that we are forc'd to own that we run the greatest hazard in the woild by delaying and yet we are not a fraid to venture Was it ever heard that a condemne'd malefactor was unwilling to receive his pardon desir'd it might be deferr'd to another Time God offers us his Friendship he tenders his pardon to us and we are unwilling to have it yet we desire him to stay till we are in humour to receive it He sollicites us and we bid him keep his Love for another Time would we treat the last of men thus and how should we resent this usage our selves Every man promises him selfe Time for Conversion if Jesus-Christ had promis'd us with an Oath that we should have notice of his coming we could not live in greater security than we do thô we know that he hath sworn the direct contrary Did ever any Merchand when he had found an opportunty of recovering all his losses put it off to another Time and deferr the securing his fortune till the next day Would not we think a man distracted who being dangerously sick should desire his Physician not to visit him till five ot six Day hence Am not I with all my pretensions to wisdom this distracted man when I delay my Conversion one Day I am out of favour with God my soul is dangerously ill the most efficacious remedy's do me no Good my sickness encreases God sollicites and beseeches me to be cur'd he desires onely my consent and I refuse his offer Has not the Son of God prevented all our excuses and all our false pretences by declaring that he will come when we are not aware of him this is not only the Counsell of a wise and knowing friend it is the decision of the Lord of Life and Death who knows the time in which he designs to call us Let our designs and projects be never so well laid Death will come when we least expect it Did we ever see a man dye were we ever dangerously ill our selves without resolving to turn to God and yet we are still unconverted Our last sickness will put us on the same resolutions but how can we be sure they will be more sincere than the former and why should we think that God will accept them Men tremble when they find themselves in danger of losing their Lives or Estates is it nothing to loose our souls by remaining unconverted If the loss of a soul be so small a matter why did Jesus-Christ do and suffer so much to redeem it My God! thou desirest not the Death of a sinner thou desirest his Conversion so that it is my own fault if I be not converted Am I unwilling and how can I pretend to be
willing if I put it off from day to day One would think it were a great misfortune to be wholly thine since men give themselves to the as late as they can I am terrifyed by other dangers is not this of being lost for ever a much greater danger It is resolv'd O my God! it is resolv'd I will deferr no longer but thô I am willing it is thou alone that must convert me Converte nos convertemur Thron 5.21 Do it and then I shall be truly converted SECOND POINT Consider that by deferring our Conversion we are not onely in danger but under a kind of necessity of never being converted when the Scripture exhorts us to seek God while he may be found it teaches us there is a Time when he will not be found what then must a man expect whom God hath sought in vain several yeares together and who has been insensible to all his Goodness Do we thinck our selves too young to be devout and that we ought to stay till we are older and then be converted This is as much as to say that we have not sufficiently offended God that when we have abus'd his goodness more and driven our ingratitude as farr as we can we wil then begin to serve him Will he accept of our service then T is true God will never refuse a Sinner that is really converted but the difficulty lyes in being converted seeing we will not be converted now when God desires it can we be sure of doing it when we shall have all the Reason in the world to doubt whether he continues to desire it Could the Apostles reasonably expect a second call from Christ to leave all and follow him if they had delay'd till next day to obey the first could they expect to have more courage next day they who were invited to the supper in the Gospel were but twiee invited and excus'd themselves but once upon very plausible pretences Luc. 14.16 which were yet sufficient to exclude them for ever from the Feast and to seal their Reprobation The Difficulties and obstacles we meet with now and which we pretend are already invincible will augment in number and force every day we say we cannot be converted now we shall be less able here after the spiritual helps of reading and meditating on the great Trutbs of the Gospel the Counsels of a wise Director the frequentation of the Sacraments have no effect on us now upon what then do we build our hopes of Conversion we would not yield at first when we were touch'd with those truths much less thall we yield our selves when we are grown insensible We accustom our selves to every thing in time the best advice and the most terrible Truths will make no impression on our affections and less on our hearts like those whoare continually about dying people we shall by degrees loose all sence of what terrify'd us at first By frequent slighting the thoughts of Hell we shall become little afraid of it Do we expect to be disabus'd then Alas we are already convinc'd of our danger for why do we intend to turn to God at last if we be not persuaded that we are in a dangerous state Suppose a longer experience should make us see our Error and wean us from the false pleasure the false Liberty of the world so that we cease to esteem them we thall still retain them out of custom interest obstinacy or inclination Though we glory no longer in being Libertins in following the maximes of the world in not being devout we shall insensibly continue so because we are us'd to it Unless we are absolutely resolv'd to be deceiv'd we can not propose to our selves to overcome so many multiplied obstacles all at once when with a greater assistance of grace than we can expect with less guilt we have not courage to enough to conquer one single Sin We persuade our selves that at the hour of death the sence of approaching danger will make us turn to God but how can we rely upon a Conversion to which we are excited onely by the presence of Death and which must therefore infallibly be the effect of Fear And for a clear proof that those Conversions are seldom sincere how many have we seen truly converted after a great Sickness besides it is an Article of our Faith that the Son of man will come at an hour when he is least expected so that althô the Death of the greatest part of mankind be not sudden yet it is unforeseen and Jesus-Christ hath declar'd with an Oath that he will be inflexible to all the prayers of those who expect their last hour to turn to him so that we must either believe the Son of God mistaken or that he had a design to deceive us or we must believe that the sinner who deferrs his Repentance to a Death-bed will dye impenitent Our Saviour do's not Say that we shall continue obstinate to the last that we shall not beg him to forgive us or that we shall not have Time but I foretell you saith he that you shall dye as you have liv'd But we must all wayes hope true but that is no Christian hope which is contrary to our Faith The merits of our Redeemer might indeed save us if his word and his Gospel had not already condemn'd us Can we imagine that the great work of Eternal Salvation which is the work of our whole Lives and for which Christ himselfe judg'd no less time necessary can be done in a few hours that it can be done well in those last moments After all this can we believe that when we have delay'd it from one day to another we may easily do it not withstanding we put our selves under a kind of necessity of not doing it at all Where Eternity is concern'd we ought to hope only on solid grounds The only foundation of hope is the word of God and yet we hope against this express word How long hath God sollicited us to be converted yet how long do we continue to resist his grace If we had no other motives than the assurance that Grace is offer'd us that God is ready to receive us that we may be this very moment if we will in the condition we shall wish for when we come to dye the want of which will then drive us to despair do we need any other to make us resolve Would a damn'd soul delay one moment if he had any time and the means of Conversion that I have those wretched Souls were once what I am have not I reason to fear that I shall be one day what they are they deferr'd their Conversion and are damn'd for it am not I in danger of being damn'd for the same delay 'T is strange that we can put off our Conversion to the last that is to do the most important and difficult work in the world we wait for a season wherein we shall be wholly uncapable
when we desire to succeed in any worldly business What a difference is there between a man following his business or his study and the same man working out his Salvation Were we as earnest for heaven as we are for honours and Riches we should soon be great Saints for we cannot be rich if we will but we may be be Saints if we will We are not contented to make use of all necessary means to obtain our temporal ends we employ even those that are not necessary and we justify all this care and pains by saying that we would not have any neglect to reproach our selves do we observe this maxim in the business of our soul shall we have nothing to reproach our selves on a Death bed If we do not design to be saved why do we make use of any means if we de design it why do we not make use of all is it not because some are more difficult than others but to what purpose do we practise onely those that are easy since they are all necessary Are we ignorant that he who do's not do all he ought to be saved is no more advanc'd than of he had done nothing Do we think some few and doubt ful means sufficient in a business of consequence And would we venture its success upon such means as common experience has found very improper for a business of that nature certainly the business of Salvation is a business of consequence Jesus-Christ hath declar'ed that he will have all or nothing that he will accept no divided heart there is no medium they who are not absolutely for him are against him Yet notwithstanding we all know this lukewarmness tepidity this divided heart is the cararacter of most Christians at this day Thus we live but did any of the Saints sanctify himselfe by such a Life Do not we our selves doubt of the Salvation of those who dye in such a State What shall we think of our condition if we don't take other measures after all these Reflections can we reasonably expect to be saved And that which makes our danger yet more visible is that our Lives are a manifest contradiction to our Faith and yet we do not mind it we are convinc'd that it is necessary to Salvation to believe the mistery of the Trinity and of the Eucharist notwithslanding all the difficulties that sence reason suggest because God hath reveal'd them but hath not the same God declared that he who will be saved must abhorr the maxims of the world that he mâ—st bear the cross daily ad must make use of those very means which I neglect wedurst not pretend a desire of Salvation if we refus'd to believe the least tittle of what Christ requires us to believe in order to be saved how then can I pretend that I desire to be saved if I practise onely some part of the means which he hath clearly told were absolutely necessary to Salvation But our Religion is too sincere not to condemn this contradiction between our Faith and manners it teaches us that God requires all or nothing surely he deserves very little if he do's not deserve all it would be better for us to give him none than not to give him all such a division is exceeding injurious to him for infine we carry our selves thus only to those whom we neither respect nor fear God abhorrs this conduct he hates tepidity more than coldness and therefore cannot endure to be serv'd by halves Absolute perfection is not necessary but our Saviour commands every one efficaciously to seek perfection in his station do not object that the number of these men of good will is so very small that if this be true there will be but few saved who can doubt of it after what Christ hath told us of the small number of the Elect Do we see many who love God with all their hearts how can we pretend that we are sinceeely desirous of Salvation while we do not obsewe this first and great Commandment while we make use onely of some meanes and neglect the rest while we satisfy our selves with some pretended good works of our own choosing and indulge our selves in our belov'd passion which is a continual Source of Sin I see now my God that I have not been truly willing that I have hitherto deceiv'd my selfe with a false desire which hath kept me in ignorance of the greatness of my danger but I am now resolv'd sincerly to be saved at anyrate And I have some grounds to believe that I am truly willing but it is thy grace my Dear Saviour that must render my desire efficacious I hope for it through thy mercy I am convinc'd of the necessity of using all the means this conviction hath dispos'd me to do whatever thou commandest Paratum cor meum Deus paraâ—um cor meum Ps 56.9 command now whatever thou pleasest 〈◊〉 will make no difficulty I will obey without any reserve SECOND MEDITATION OF LVKEWARMNESS FIRST POINT There is no state more dangerous than a Lukewarm state SECOND POINT It is harder to recover out of a Lukewarm state than from any other FIRST POINT COnsider that by a lukewarm State is meant a certain disposition of the Soul in which it contents its selfe with avoiding heinous sins but takes little care to avoid small faults it is negligent in spiritual duty 's its prayers are distracted its confessions without amendment its communions without fervour and without fruit it is unfaithful to the divine grace and sins without fear or remorse Such a soul grows indifferent to the greatest virtues and soon after disgusted with them its affections languish in the service of God so that the yoak of Christ seems heavy insupportable its thoughts are distracted so very little taken up with God or its selfe that it fuffers them to rove after every object it dares not retire in to its selfe because it can find no peace there In this condition it makes no scruple of exposing its selfe to the occasions of Sin if it do's any good 't is only by fiâ—s if it performs any duty 's 'tis only out of custom and provided is keeps some measures and avoids the reproaches of those of whom it stand in awe it is not at all sollicitous to please God whom it offends almost by every action It makes no difficulty of committing all sorts of venial Sins with deliberation it performs with reluctancy and uneasiness those devotions which it cannot avoid it enterrains an aversion for pious Christians because their vertue is an uneasy reproach to it it takes pleasures onely in the imperfect because their actions countenance its carelessness Hence proceed those pernicious friendehips to which so many pretended Friends ow their ruine those insipid rallerys on Christian exactness whereby they stiffle the small remainders of their fervour they are no sooner in this wreched state of Lukewarmness but they frame to themselves a false Conscience
did they do wisely did they do well to neglect nothing to do all they were able to avoid Hell Who would not give all he is worth to be freed from a dungeon who thinks any pains too great to prolong his Life But Oh! what do we do nay what do we not refuse to do to avoid Hell The divine Justice is terrible God punishes these that offend him with Eternal torments in Hell yet we offend him in the sight of this Hell certainly an Eternity of misery is not too severe a punishment for such malice if there were no hell already God should make one on purpose for such offenders The thoughts of Hell make us tremble we are unwilling to think of it least it thould affright us and yet we are not afraid to run headlong into it we are afraid to think of the Eternal duration of those bitter torments and yet we will not make one step out of the road that leads to them There is an Hell and yet we delight in pleasures and Sinh at h still charms for us we think the practise of virtue difficult and there are still careless and imperfect Religious and debauch'd Christians this seems as incomprehensible as Eternity it selfe You object that perfection is not necessary to avoid hell true it is not necessary but can you keep to farr from a Lake of Fire into which so many fail Can you take too much care and too many precautions to preserve your selfe from everlasting fire rage despair How cruel must the thoughts of a damn'd soul be who knows that he might have been eternally as happy as he is eternally miserable if he had pleas'd that he might have been a Saint with ease and is not because he was not pleas'd to be so that his Brethren are in heaven but he is in Hell he laugh'd at those who being afraid of the condition in which he is now liv'd otherwise than he did and now what would he not do to be what they are I call'd an holy exactness melancoly a Christian modesty reservedness I call'd stupidity scrupulousness Oh! that I had been so stupid so scrupulous and melancoly that exactness that reserve has made many Saints who are now in heaven absorpt in Joys but what is become now that I am in flames of all my mirth and good humour which I affected to shew by rallying every thing If I had imitated such and such of my acquaintance if I had made good use of the divine inspirations such a day if I had been faithful to such a grace if I had shun'd such an occasion of Sin if I had practis'd such a virtue if I had mortifyed my selfe if I had been truly willing I should be now in heaven instead of which I am damn'd to Eternity I am lost and lost for ever Oh terrible regret And that which aggravates my misery is the remembrance how often I have thought on the pains I now endure on that eternal regret I should one day feel if I were damned Yet after all this men damn themselves Great God! thy vengeance is just they deserve it all Is it possible that we can avoid thinking on Hell is it possible that we can think on it and not be converted Is it possible that we are converted and do not continue to think on it we must have it all wayes before our eyes after our conversion to prevent our falling the greatest Saints those pure fouls whose hearts were all inflam'd with the Love of God thought it absolutely necessary for them to meditate on Hell and the apprehensions of it made them tremble and can any who pretend to virtue can any Religious man imagine that it is unnecessary to think on Hell certainly such men dare not think on it they are conscious to themselves that they do not take pains enough to give them ground to hope that they shall not be condemn'd but have they less cause to fear because they have a greater account to give And how can they hope to be less severely punish'd because they are under greater obligations Christ had good reason to tell us that Hell is the onely evil we ought to fear for what is a man the worse for being hated and persecuted for being reduced to a mean and obscure Life and for being mortify'd if he escape being damn'd My God! if thou art resolved to punish me for my Sins chastise me in this Life but do not damn me I will satisfy thy justice here I will hope in thy mercy and will love thee what satisfaction will it be to thee to see me in Hell sur rounded with flames transported with rage and despair hating and cursing thee and eternally blaspheming thy name My God! hast thou given me time to think on the pains of Hell onely to augment my despair one day for being damn'd after having thought on these pains Remember I am sprinkled with the blood of Jesus and 't is through that blood that I beg and hope for mercy Thou hast paid too great a price for me to be indifferent whether I be lost or no. I will be sav'd suffer me not to be lost Hic ure hic seca modo in aeternum parcas if thou wilt punish me do it in time but let not my punishment be Eternal SECOND MEDITATION OF THE FRVITS of Pennance FIRST POINT Pennance is necessary for all sorts of men SECOND POINT What the Fruits of that Pennance ought to be FIRST POINT COnsider that mortification and pennance is the onely way to heaven Jesus-Christ shew'd us no other way and the Saints who from their infancy were confirmed in grace knew no other T is an error to imagine that pennance is necessary onely for great Sinners and no less an error to think that mortification is the virtue onely of the perfect if we be Sinners we must do pennance to endeavour to appease the wrath of God and to obtain mercy and pardon if we are so happy as not to have lost our innocence pennance is necessary for us to preserve that precious treasure we have sin'd we may sin again two powerful motives to do pennance Since we all confess that men sin more frequently in the world and that they are more expos'd to the danger of offending God than in a cloyster can we reasonably believe that pennance belongs onely to Monastery's and that none but Religious are oblig'd to mortification Do we consider that many of those Religious whom we think indifpensably oblig'd to do pennance never lost their innocence shall we who own our selves guilty of many Sins and who are in danger of committing more every moment shall we think to persuade our selves that mortification and pennance do not belong to us It we had nothing but our own passions to overcome could we reasonably hope to conquer them without the exercice of pennance and who can reasonably hope to be saved without subduing his passions It is an article of Faith
that none enter into heaven but those who do violence to themselves and yet we pretend to enter there without mortification The Life of man upon the earth is a perpetual warfare for S. Paul telles us that the desires of the flesh arc contrary to the desires of the Spirit and the desires of the spirit are contrary to those of the flesh how then can we hope to be victorious without the practise of Pennance We please our sensual appetites in every thing we are careful of our body 's even to excess we follow blindly our natural inclinations and in this condition we live without fear in the midst of the world where we are expos'd to the greatest dangers Certainly either we are of a different nature from the rest of mankind or the Devil stands in awe of us and respects us or we are confirm'd in Grace or else we are in danger which is much more probable to dye in our Sins Do's heaven cost the most fervent and generous souls so much and can we expect that the lazy and imperfect should gain it with less pains Saint Paul chastis'd his body he joyn'd a continual pennance to the cruell persecutions he suffered for fear of being perverted himselfe while he converted others And shall men who dare not pretend to be any thing near as perfect as S. Paul imagine that they have no need to practise mortification Were the Saints more frail than we Did they expect another recompense Did they follow another guide or serve another Master Their lives were a continual mortification are ours like them And can we call our selves the Disciples of Christ while we neglect to do pennance Our Saviour says if any man will come after me let him deny himselfe and bear his Cross daily True mortification is inseparable from true piety not only because no virtue can subsist long without a constant and generous mortification but also because no virtue is real that is not attended with it We have great reason to distrust our exercises of piety our good works every thing is to be suspected in those whose passions are strong who are unmortify'd It do's not seem that we are afraid of the difficulty we dislike the motive for what do we not suffer in the service of the world Alas if God requir'd of his servants all that the world exacts of those who serve it I am afraid he would have but few servants How to we constrain our selves every day to please those whom our Interest requires us to manage what mortification so severe and so continual as a Courtiers a Merchants intent upon his trade a Soldiers or a scholars Yet they are not dis courag'd they seem satisfy'd amydst all their sufferings but when God calls upon us to constrain our selves a little every thing is uneasy we find his yoak heavy virtue frights us we are disgusted and the sole thought of mortification makes us loose courage But oh we shall have other thoughts on a death bed when the image of Jesus-Christ crucifyed is presented to us will not the sight of it have a quite contrary effect it will upbraid our delicacy and increase our regret for having lead so lazy so sensual a Life for having neglected pennance and mortification They present a Crucifix to the dying but my God! do all the dying find much comfort in contemplating a crucifix at their Death is it possible my dear Jesus that the mortification which thou hast render'd so easy should seem hard and insupportable only when we are to practise it in conformity to thy example and for Love of thee Oh! my God! what should I do if thou hadst requir'd of thy servants if I were bound to do and suffer as much for salvation as I do and suffer to ruine my selfe thou requirest less than the world do's less than I do and suffer in its service and shall I refuse to do and suffer what is absolutely necessary for salvation what I have deserv'd by my offenses and what all the blessed Spirits in heaven have done and suffer'd that they might imitate thee God forbid that I should glory in any thing but in the Cross of our Lord Jesus-Christ Absit mihi gloriari in nisi in cruce Domini nostri Jesu Christi per quem mihi mundus crucifixus est ego mundo Gal. 6.14 by whom the world is crucify'd to me and I unto the world SECOND POINT Consider that by the fruits of pennance is meant not only macerating our body's but chiefly the mortification of our passious and the Reformation of our Lives these are indeed the fruits which God expects from our Contrition and pennance by these marks we may know whether we have made good use of the Sacraments and whether we be truly sorry for our Sins and faithful to the Grace of God The Exercises of Devotion the frequentation of the Sacrements and the practise of good works are powerful means of perfection but while we retain our former passions with these powerful means while we are as proud as impatient as peevish as envious as difficult to be pleas'd as cholerik as unmortify'd as ful of selfe Love as before can we reasonably rely on these pretended exercises of Piety Mortification of the body is an exercise of Pennance but that pennance must have its fruit which consists in suppressing our passions in regulating our inclinations and in repairing the disorders of self-Love To what purpose do we confess so often if in a whole years time we have not perhaps reformed any one of the faults that we confess its is not enough for us to detest our Sins we must resolve to commit them no more and how can that resolution be sincere if we do not likewise resolve to avoid the least occasion of Sin The execution of this resolution is properly the fruit of pennance In good earnest if we know the efficacy of this Sacrament of pennance only by the fruits we find of it in our selves should we have an high Idea of it It is much to he feared that our using our selves by an unaccountable carelesness and especially by want of contrition to reap no profit by the Sacrament will render our disease incurable A Religious Life is a continual pennance but is there no danger of its being unfruitful What a miserable thing would it be for a Religious to have done penance so long without any fruit And what fruit can an unmortify'd Religious who is of a worldly spirit lukewarm and careless receive from all his pennance He is very much in the wrong who bears the Cross and will not tast the fruits of it he would not suffer more nay he would suffer much less for those fruits are ful of true sweetness It is certain that every body has very much to suffer in this life we shall meet with Crosses every where they who live most at their ease are not exempted let us at least bear them patiently let us unite
wise men admire no thing that weak men don't admire what deserves it most because it is above their reach and they are incapable of judging those qualitys which you think deserve most admiration seem very indifferent to others they have as great an opinion of their own wisdom virtue and capacity as we have of ours we think they are partial to themselves and they judge the same of us Yet the world is some rimes very free of its praises because it sees every body desirous of them but if we reflect a little we shall find that those great marks of esteem those extraordinary praises are the very same words of course which we use every day to those whom we esteem least have we not observ'd that they who are most lavish of their praises to a mans face are the first that speak ill of him when they are at Liberty to vent their thoughts Can we have so little sence as to imagine that we are the only persons to whom men speak sincerely and that altho they praise all the rest of the world either out of rallery or at best out of civiliry custom yet they are in earnest when they praise us Many believe that all the world admires them when indeed all the world pitys them They persuade themselves that all their actions are taken notice of to their advantage because they do not consider that every mans thoughts are taken up with himselfe that he whom they think their admirer fancy 's that they admire him Add to these the many cruel troubles and vexations which men feell continually but are forc'd to dissemble how often in order to keep up their reputation are they oblig'd to spend more than their revenue how often do they find their fortunes decaying yer dare not moderate their expence They are forc'd to laugh when their hearts are ready to break the whole world is nothing but outside and grimace and he passes for the happiest man who can dissemble his griefs best 'T is the desire of Liberty that ordinarily engages men in the world but can men be in a greater subjection a more absolute dependance not only in the army but in business in every profession we are continually subject to the humours will of others Certainly a worldling is the uneasiest man living but it is his own fault he may render his troubles meritorious if he will he need not suffer so much to be a great Saint if he would but suffer for God Yes my God! the greatest part of Christians would think thy yoak insupportable if they were bound to do half so much to please thee as the world exacts of them they are certainly in the wrong not to make use of those plentiful means of sanctification which they all have they need not go out of their own Station to find opportunity 's of meriting very much They are incessantly complaining of the Vanity of the world yet they are every moment engaging themselves farther among those vanity's and grow every hour fonder of them Of the Confidence we ought to have in the merits of Christ The consideration that the merits and satisfaction of Christ belong to us is a solid ground of Confidence Let our wounds be never so dangerous we have a certain cure for them tho we were more in debt to the Divine justice than we are tho our debts be never so great we are in a condition to pay them all for we find in the merits of Christ in his precious blood a treasure that infinitely surpasses them he had no need of them for himselfe he hath bestow'd them on us so that though we should have been so unhappy as to have committed the most heinous crimes tho we saw the most terrible effects of the divine wrath ready to fall on us if we can but make one single act of true relyance on the satisfaction of Jesus offer it up to thee my God we shall no longer need to fear our own sins nor thy wrath being shelter'd from them by our Saviours Cross wash'd with his precious blood the merits of which he is pleas'd to apply to us Of our indifference to please God When we value any ones friend ship we endeavour says an eminent Servant of God to acquire preserve our selves in his favour by a thousand Services by shewing all the respect and zeal imaginable even in things to which our duty do's not absolutely oblige us by avoiding every thing which may in the least displease him The fear of punishment keeps us from attempting the Life of the man we hate we do neither good nor harm to those whom we think below our notice but when we deliberately frequently affront a man 't is an evident sign that we neither value his Love nor fear his hatred and if we do not offer him the highest injury's t is not because we care for his aversion but because we fear his power They who abstain only from great sins and allow themselves a Liberty in every thing else have reason to fear that charity is absolutely extinguish'd in their hearts and if they will examine themselves they shall find that it is only the apprehension of the severity with which God punishes heinous sins that keeps them from committing them they would willingly displease him if the sight of Hell did not stop them they wish with all their hearts they might sin without punishment This is a fearfull disposition yet it is the disposition of those who indulge themselves in deliberate Venial Sins God hath no share in the motives that make them abstain from great Crimes and therefore he is not obliged to assist them which renders it exceeding difficult for a man who desires to avoid only mortal Sins to be long free from them Of Confession Tho Sacrament of Penance is an easy and efficacious remedy for all the diseases of the Soul and a certain means to obtain the pardon of all our Sins nothing is more easy than to declare all our Sins to a Priest who represents Christ with a true and sincere sorrow for having offended our good gracious God who has lov'd us so well To what purpose do we confess our Sins if we are not sorry for them and resolv'd to Sin no more As it is easy so it is efficacious because all the merits of the Son of God are apply'd to us by this Sacrament But whence is it that we receive no more benefit by this Divine remedy Never were confessions more frequent never was there less amendment custom brings us to Confession and custom makes us return to the Sins we have confess'd as if we had no other design in frequenting the Sacrament but to grow familiar with our Sins If our coufessions be insincere we seem to have a design of rendriug our selves more criminal by our confessions we want contrition we content our selves with a slight superficial Sorrow especially when our interest