they will certainly repent one day if they have not done it already and can they be affraid to spend eight days in the compass of every year in preparing for another Life in securing their Salvation CHAP II. Of the great importance of making one day's Retreat every Month. T is not very hard to make men sensible that a spiritual Retreat is an excellent means to amend our Lives and work out our salvation but the difficulty lyes in persuading them that they may find time for it if they will Eight days seem very long to them and indeed there are many who cannot spare so much time together Multitude of business the care of a family want of health the necessary duty 's of their callings are the reasons or pretences where by some excuse themselves from making a retreat of eight days but no man can pretend that he his not able to allow one day in a month to that holy Exercise Is any thing more reasonable then this He may choose what day he pleases which renders it as easy as it is useful You are desir'd tospend one day in a Month to take care of what concerns you more then all things in the world to apply your selves to the great business of your Life upon which Eternity depends that when you have spent a whole month in what you call business which is rather the business of others then your own you would give one day to the only business that regards your self that after having labour'd for the world you would labour one day for everlasting happiness Would any man refuse one day in a Month to serve his Friend Alas how many do men loose every Month in vain pleasure in play in trifling folly ' you are desir'd tospend but one for your soul you must surely be very indifferent for salvation and very careless of what becomes of you hereafter if you refuse it Especially since the following Chapters will render this practise so very easy that it seems impossible for any one reasonably to decline it How industrious are Merchants to improve every opportunity ofacquiring Riches How exact are they in stating their accounts from time to time and observing how they thrive what they have gain'd or lost Thus let us take one day at least to examine carefully the state of our Consciences and what progress we make in virtue The great benefit of this Christian practise is visible all sorts of men may find good by it 't is very efficacious to reclaim sinners from their disorders and make them return to God to confirm the virtuous and to elevate them to the highest degree of Christian perfection Besides the usefulness of meditating on the most important truths of Religion it is almost impossible that a man who sets aside his most serious business and retires from the world to employ one day every Month in the serious consideration of the state of his soul should not succeed God who seeks us with so much patience when we fly from him and who is not weary of offering us mercy not with standing our refusals but calls on us even when our earnestness after the world makes us deaf to his call will never hide himselfe from those who come so often to meet him in the midst of solitude he will never refuse to communicate himselfe abundantly to those who withdraw themselves from all things to hearken to him Neither our condition nor our employements require this of us nor do we do it out of custom or osstentation which is so inseparable from other acts of Piety none of all these lead us to Retreat nothing but a sincere desire to work out our salvation can bring us there and can a sincere desire be ineffectual Can it be attended with small profit 'T is hardly possible that a man who sets a part one day in a month to study the methods of living well should live disorderly Nor is he in danger of being surpriz'd by Death who so frequently and so exactly prepares for it But the importance of this Retreat will appear much greater if wee consider the necessity we lye under to reflect often on the great verity's of our Faith T is from the want of this Reflection that we see so few Christians live up to the purity of their Profession We see but few truly virtuous tho they are oblig'd to be so in a very high degree because men seldom reflect on the divine Truths they content themselves with submitting their Reason to Faith they think it enough to believe But tho we do not find many infidels in the Church yet Jam a fraid wee find fewer Christians who seriously consider what they believe And this is the Reason that what we believe of the End of our Creation of the small number of the elect of the pains of Hell and of everlasting misery make so slight an impression on us This want of Reflection has allway's been and still is the usual cause of our sins of our return to them after we have resolv'd to quit them and of our advancing no more in piety For as without reflecting on what we read we shall learn but little by our reading so we shall make small progress in virtue if wee do not frequently reflect on what we believe 'T is generally from serious Reflections that great Conversions spring and without it the most terrible Doctrines of Christianity the most amasing accidents and the most sensible Graces will have no great Effect on us Can a man who attentively considers the vanity of the world and all its allurements who reflects seriously on what he beleives of Hell judgment and Eternity who is affected with its rigours and who foresees its consequences Can such a man refuse to yield himselfe to the divine Grace which allways makes use of those happy moments T is these Reflections that have peopled the desarts that fill our Convents every Day and that recall so many sinners from their Evill ways If wee could once perswade men to reflect of ten we should find their lives reform'd we should see the ancient fervour of Religious houstes renew'd this would be a sure way to prevent the greatest disorders and to make saints This is what you are to do in your Retreat spend the day in reflecting seriously on the great Truths of our Religion in examining your life and meditating on the points of your Faith 'T is properly a Day Reflection which you may easily see must needs be useful and that it concerns you very much to do it well The Eight days retreat is for the same end but besides that the length of the Time is afalse Pretense to several for performing it very carelessly this must be more profitable because that is usually made but once a year this every month This is no new Devotion but the practise of the greatest saints of Latter ages T is to this divine art that Saint Ignatius Founder of the Society of Jesus confesses
of former Confessions chiefly to excite a true contrition in our hearts wherein in all sorts of people and even the best Christians are too often faulty We must hear Mass and receive as if were to be our last Communion and we must perform all the other exercises in the same disposition Priests should examin themselves particularly whether their Lives are suitable to the Holiness of their Character whether they celebrate with such affection as become men who are really penetrated with what they profess to believe Let them offer that adorable Sacrifice with such a fervent Devotion that this Days Mass may be an atonement for the faults they have been guilty of in all the rest and be a model of those they shall say for the future making it their great business to profit by this more than they have yet done We must be very careful to keep ourselves retir'd and to avoid every thing that can possibly distract us there us no danger of thinking the time long we shall find employment for every moment and one day so fill'd up is soon pass'd it is but a day let us make it indeed a day of retreat all the time we are not in the Church we should keep our selves shut up in our Chamber and indeed it would be well to do most of our spiritual Exercises in the Chamber unless we have conveniency of being as much retir'd before the blessed Sacrament Because this Exercise is very usefull to all sorts of men and the great est part cannot meditate I have calculated these Meditations for the greater number to that end I have made them long that they may find matter enough to take them up for an hour together that the very reading of them may be truly à Meditation and that they may be profitable Such as can meditate may make use of what part of them they find most for their purpose but these as well as the others must be very careful to avoid a fault to which most who meditate on the truths of our Religion are too subject They must not content themselves with believing them and think their work done when they are once convinced It is not enough to believe those important Truths the Devils believe as much perhaps more then we and tremble We must not stop at speculation we must reduce them to practise Our Meditations must all tend to reform us 'T is not sufficient to read and believe the Truth of what we read we must attentively consider every point and apply it to our selves We must examine its consequences and make those reflexions on them as we would do if we were on our death bed when we know we shall have little or no time left to profit by them Let this be your way of Meditation if you read do it with attention pause upon each passage that affects you most Put the question to your selfe is this true have I liv'd up to these Rules what is it they require of me for the future And then reflect seriously on the dismall consequences attending your negligence if this double discovery do not produce more fruit then your former Meditations have yet done You need not trouble your self to read the whole Meditation if one single reflection take up all the hour provided you receive good by it you have spent that hour well And the rest of the Meditation may serve you to read some other time of the day which is not absolutely allotted to some particular exercise A right consideration is very useful and therefore to be carefully perform'd It consists in reading with application the Reflections at the end of the Book you may pass lightly over those which are less suitable to you and dwell longer on such heads as you find affect you most and which are most proper for you Besides the hour usually spent after dinner in consideration it would be well to allott half an hour in the morning for Religious men to reflect on the observation of their Rules and others on the duty 's of their particular callings observing exactly wherein they have fail'd and prescribing to themselves such methods as may be most efficacious for their amendment if we cannot spate half an hour we may divide the hour of consideration one half for general reflections and the second for those that concern our particular Rules and the duty 's of our Callings And here we are always to remember that we must not content our selves in these spiritual exercises to form good designs and take strong resolutions of changing our Lives it is to no purpose to resolve though we seem to do it never so sincerely unless we likewise fix the particular means and methods by which we may effectually practise what we have resolv'd It is not our business to read much let uâ— read less and profit more we should choose to read only what is useful to us 'T is not sufficient to be able to say that we have read some spiritual discourse we must read with a design to grow better by what we read We have already observ'd that Religious persons are not hereby dispens'd from the exercises of their Community's nor even from their usual recreations but having discover'd by their Examinations the faults they are subject to in those Exercises and recreations they should begin that very Day to reap the benefit of their Retreat by beginning to correct themselves and reform those faults carrying themselves in every occasion â—s men who are already chang'd And being careful now more then ever to lift up their hearts fervently to God and beg him to preserve thâ—m from that distraction and dissipation of mind which generally accompany'is conversation The great design of this spiritual Retreat being to prepare us for Death I have compos'd a third Meditation on the sentiments we shall have in that last hour to be read in every Retreat And it being the most proper subject for the End I propos'd to my selfe I judg'd the same Meditation might be renew'd every Month. The chief benefit we are to receive by this pious Exercises being a reformation of all the faults we have discover'd in our selves since the last Retreat a more earnest longing for perfection the getting the Victory over our favourite Passion a more ardent Love to our Redeemer particularly in the adorable Sacrament and a greater exactness in all our Duty 's we are at the begining of each Retreat to propose these things to our selves as the end for which we make it And seeing it is a direct preparation for Death we are to come out of it in such a state as we would desire to be in if we were immediately to dye And we must be careful to keep our selves in the same disposition General resolutions are commonly useless and to no purpose our best way is to pitch upon some particular fault which may be the subject of our daily Examination and to regulate the means which we will every day
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
and few there be that find it And in another place he tells us that many are called but few are chosen even of those that are called which he repeats in the same terms on another occasion And the Apostle speaking by the spirit of Christ compares the Body of Christians to those who run a race where many run but one onely gains the prize to whom he likens those that are saved And to let us see that he speaks of Beleevers he cites the example of the Israelites you know my Brethren say's he that our Fathers were all under a cloud all passed through the Red sea with Moses that they did all eat the same spiritual meat all these miracles were wrought onely for their safe passage to the promis'd Land yet how few of them arriv'd in it of eighteen hundred thousand souls that came out of Egypt none but Ioshuah and Caleb entred into Canaan Isaiah compares the Elect to those few Olives that are left here and there upon the Trees after the gathering and to that small number of grapes that remain after the diligent gleaning of the Vineyard Besides these examples and comparisons which the scripture uses to convince us of this terrible Truth we have the examples of all the world there was but one family preserv'd from the deluge of five great city 's onely four persons were saved from destruction and we find but one sick man cur'd of the palsey among the crowd of Paralyticks that flock'd to the pool of Bethesda This dreadful truth which our Lord repeated so of ten to his disciples gave occasion to that question Lord are there few that shall be saved To which our Saviour waving the Question least he should terrify them answers strive to enter in at the strait Gate This is certainly the most awakening and terrible Doctrine of our Religion yet how little are we affected with it Were I sure that but one of ten thousand should be damn'd I ought to fear and tremble least it should be my case but alas among ten thousand perhaps there will hardly be one sav'd and yet I am unconcern'd and and fear nothing Is not my security a sufficient cause to fear Do's it not proceed from the blindness and hardness of my heart which renders me insensible of my danger and thereby less capable of preventing or avoiding it The news of one ship lost among ten thousand affrights many every one that has concerns at sea apprehends for himselfe but though we know that the greatest part of mankind shall be lost that very few will arrive at the Port of eternal happiness how little are we sollicitous for our selves and who has told us that we shall arrive there If Jesus-Christ had promis'd heaven to all Christians as positively as he has declared that his Elect are but few we could not be more unconcern'd then we are But do's this security lessen our danger And will this insensiblity render us less miserable Alas if we had no other this very tranquility is a sufficient cause to make us doubt of our Salvation We don't think of it what is it employs our thoughts if Eternity do's not Do we believe it can we believe it and not fear it and how can we fear it without thinking of it How can we be unconcern'd at the sight of so great a danger the greatest Saints were alwayes afraid Saint Paul himselfe was never exempt from this saving fear yet we are free from it for it is impossible to fear truly and not mend our Lives We Sacrifice our goods to preserve our selves from shipwrack a marchant makes no difficulty to throw his most precious wares the fruits of many yeares labour overbord to save himselfe but we will rather hazard all than part with any thing to secure us from damnation If the infection be in the City every body is afraid with what earnestness do we seek preservatives with what care do we shun the best companys condemn our selves to solitude and all this because we are afraid to dye Are we not afraid of being damnd we believe that the greatest part of the world will be lost and yet we are unwilling tospare one day for retreat we will do nothing to make sure of Heaven Do we rely upon our vocation upon the sanctity of our condition upon the talents God hath given us or upon the meanes of salvation which he affords us Alas remember Saul had a true vocation to the Kingdom Judas to the dignity of an Apostle yet Saul was rejected and Judas lost even in Christs family Solomon the wisest of men hath with all his knowledge left us in doubt of his Salvation and an infinite number of Christian Hero's who were exemplary for their Piety during the greatest part of their Lives have fallen at last Their too much security hath ruin'd them in the end of their Lives and they are damn'd with all their pretended merits And yet O my God can I be without fear This want of saving fear should make me fear all things I am certainly lost if I be not afraid of being lost and can I fear any thing so much as eternal perdition O my Dear Saviour who hast redeemed me with thy precious blood and who art graciously pleas'd to make me sensible of my danger suffer me not to be lost for ever My God! let me not be found among the Reprobates I confess that I have hitherto walk'd in the broad way but behold O Lord I will now go into the narrow way and will strive with all my might to enter into the streight Gate Let others run in crowds to Hell were there to be but one sav'd in this place I am resolv'd to be he and I depend on thy grace I know it is my own fault if I be not one of thy Elect. I have abus'd thy former graces but I have ground to hope that this shall be effectual for I am resolv'd let the number of the Elect be never so small I will be one of that little flock whatever it cost me And I am persuaded it is thy will as well as mine since I could not form this resolution if thou hadst not inspir'd it SECOND POINT Consider that if our Faith did not reach us this terrible truth our own Reason would convince us of it we need onely reflect on what is requir'd of us and on our manner of performing it and we shall presently conclude that there will be but few saved If we would be saved we must live up to the Rules of the Gospel are there many that observe them we must profess our selves openly to be followers of Christ is not the great est part of man kind asham'd of that profession if we would be sav'd we must either actually or in affection renounce the world and all we have in it and bear our Saviours Cross daily The Pharisees had all the appearances of Piety they were extreamly mortified and their Lives were
of Faith If we believ'd that the enjoyment of God that an Eternity of infinite happiness or misery which includes surpasses all other miserys depended on our diligence if we did really believe what we repeat so of ten that we can not serve God and the world at once that time is short and that Death approaches that each moment for ought we know may be our last if we did indeed believe that Salvation is our own work and that we onely can secure it that it is no matter what becomes of us here if we make sure of heaven that we loose all even temporal blessings by neglecting our Souls and that if we be truly careful of them we shall loose nothing not even worldly goods if we do seriously believe these things how can we be careful how can we be sollicitous for any thing but Salvation Of the false pretences of orldly men about Salvation T is very surprizing that men of Sence and wisdom who reason so well about every thing else should reason so very falsly when they are desired to think on and work out their Salvation they freely own that it is hard to secure it in the world they will make lively and pathetical deseriptions of the Corruptions of the Age they are very eloquent on the inevitable dangers to which men are expos'd in the world and they readily conclude that they who live in it stand in as much need of an Heroik virtue as the Religious in their Convents but when they are told that in order to Salvation it is necessary for them to overcome themselves to mortify their passions to follow the example of Christ and his Saints they pretend that these vertues do not belong to them that 't is not their business that their condition do's not oblige them to so great a Sacrifice and that none but Religious can live regulary and conformably to the maxims of Jesus-Christ Is it not natural to conclude from hence that either the work of Salvation is not a secular Christians business which is a most gross and damnable error or else that Secular Christians do indeed renounce their Salvation Of the Facility of Salvation Of the ill use of the means Salvation God could have put us under a necessity of seeking him continually as our ultimate End and of never departing from him but he must then have taken away our Liberty when we reflect on the vast number of Christians who loose their Souls we are ready to wish that he had subject'd us to that happy necessity of working out our Salvation that so we might not be tormented with the fear of Hell But could we desire him to secure our Salvation better than by putting into our own hands And because he has made me master of my destiny of my eternal happiness shall I therefore be unhappy Shal this render my Salvation doubtful shall this put me in greater danger I might have reason to be aftaid if it depended on another tho my best friend but it depends only on me by the help of grace which will never be wanting to me yet this is the chief cause of my ruine O my God! if I do not secure my Salvation now that thou hast made me master of it I must own that I deserve judgment without mercy nothing less than an Eteernal punishment Of the ill use of the means of Salvation Can we think of our unprofitableness under such powerful means of our slighting so many graces and rendring them useless to us without apprehending least God should say to us as the Apostle to the Ieâ—vs Vobis oporrebat primum loqui verbum Dei Act. 13.46 the word of God was first spoken to you You were born in the bosom of the Church you were transplanted into the fertile field of Religion into a ground cultivated by the Labours and water'd with the sweat and blood of him who is both God and man How many means and helps have we had to enable us to fulfill all the duty 's of our Station and to make us fruitfull in good works but since these means and assistances which were so proper to have made us bring forth an hundred fold have been useless to us have we not reason to fear least he should add But seeing you put that divine word from you Sed quoniam repellitis illud indignos vos judicatis aeternae vitae ecee conver timuâ— aâ—â— entes v. 46. judge your selves unworthy of everlasting Life be hold we turn to the Gentiles This sentence is already executed on Syria and on almost all the East where Christianity first began and a great part of the North particularly unhappy England those nations formerly such good Christians and who reckon among their Ancestors so many great Saints have in these latter times cut themselves off from the fold of Christ while the Indians and people of Iapan and many other barbarous nations are enter'd into the Church and have reviv'd the primitive fervour piety equalling the generosity of the most glorious Martyrs Of want of Faith Whence comes it that we make no difficulty of believing the mistery's of the Trinity of the Incarnation c. tho they are not only a bove our understandings but seem to shock our Reason Is it not because these mystery's do not contradict our passions but do we believe with the same facility the other truths of the Gospell the Doctrines of selfdenyal of contempt of the world of love of poverty and humiliation Yet my God! they are all grounded upon the same infaillible Authority thy holy word for ' t is as certain that we shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven if we do not deny our selves subdue our passions and love our Enemy's as it is that we shal never enter there if we are not baptis'd Yet we rely very much on our faith for every man pretends to be one of the faithful not considering that we have but a dead Faith and that we confound the knowledge of what we ought to believe with that true Christian Faith which is allway's fruitful in good works and without which there is no virtue Of the thoughts Hell We believe that there is an Hell of fire and dreadful torments and that one mortall sin is sufficient to condemn a soul to Eternal pains and yet are we much afraid of mortal Sin do we not fear Eternal flames and torment Our trembling at the thoughts of Hell shews we believe it If the thoughts of its pains be so terrible what will it be to feel them all how great will our despair and anguish be when we call to mind that we would not avoid that Hell at the thoughts of which we have so often trembled Of a miserable Eternity We talk very much of an unhappy Eternity but do we know what it is by often speaking of it we use our selves to the thoughts and so come to be very little affected with it A man