THE METHOD OF Mental Prayer Render'd Practical and Easie for all sorts of Persons Compos'd in French by R. F. Francis Nephew S. J. To which is added a Method how to offer up Mass according to the four ends of this Sacrifice LONDON Printed by Thomas Hales 1694. THE Advertisment TO THE READER NOthing has taken so much place nor sunk so deep into the Minds and Opinions of most Men as the groundless prejudice they entertian against Mental Prayer and nothing can be so great a hinderance to their Devotion at this unlucky and mistaken prevention which frights most people from the practise of so holy profitable and withal so necessary an exercise The very name of Mental Prayer makes most people afraid some out of a foolish modesty and shew of humility perswade themselves that this kind of Prayer is only proper for Souls that are already perfect that one must have great wit and learning or else a very particular Grace an call from God to enable 'em to apply themselves to the practice of it and therefore 't would be a very great presumption in 'em to attempt this exercise Others by a more gross illusion look upon the duty and practise of Meditation as a thing very incompatible with the care which they must take of their affairs or with their quality which obliges 'em to converse much in the World where their many civil and necessary duties do not afford 'em leisure to attend to Meditation which they conceive to be an employment that only becomes Religions persons and such as live retir'd and separated from the rest of the World There are some others that are still blinder and more unjust also than these who look upon Meditation as an idle employment in vogue only amongst silly Devotes and weak simple Souls and are pleas'd to make it the ordinary subject of their mirth and railleries so that many times such Secular persons as are addicted to Mental Prayer are oblig'd out of discretion or for fear of being laught at rather to conceal its practise than expose themselves to their censures and mockeriâ—s Infine some others less unreasonable than the former yet not less to be pitty'd thô they understand and apprehend very well the great benefit of Meditation and are convinc't â—hat â—hey may reap greaâ— advantages som so holy an exercise could they but seriously apply themselves to it yet either their apprehension of occuring difficulties hinder 'em from venturing upon any tryal at all or the little trouble they meet with in the beginning disheartens 'em from that perseverance in it as would afford 'em comfort 'T is in order to disabuse all such as are seduc't and deceiv'd by these groundless dangerous and common errors that I undertake first to prove by strong plain and evident reasons how necessary Meditation is for all sorts of persons secondly that I endeavor to make 'em understand how easie 't is for 'em to Meditate by proposing so plain and easie a method that I dare undertake that whoever will lay aside the prejudice he has already conceiv'd against it or for a while suspend it shall be oblig'd to confess that there are none of so mean a capacity nor so engag'd in business or Worldly affairs but may easily if they will daily make their Meditation and therefore that all persons ought to do so When I have once explicated this easie method of Prayer I shall add the Rules necessary to be observ'd in the practise of it and give examples upon all the different subjects of Meditation whereby I shall reduce the method into practise and teach the manner how to observe all the Rules prescrib'd for it I desire the Reader notwithstanding to take notice that I pretend not here to Write a formal Treatise of Mental Prayer which would be very unnecessary considering the many excellent Treatises already Written by the most Learned Men of our Age upon that Subject But that my only design is to instrust and assist those that desire to enter into a retreat who not being us'd to Mental Prayer find themselves in the beginning at some loss they being yet ignorant how to apply their minds to Meditation which is and ought to be the chief business of a retreat Wherefore when I have let 'em evidently see how profitable and necessery Meditation is I doubt not to convince 'em of the easiness and at the same time make 'em Masters of this Holy Art by teaching 'em a short and easie manner how to Meditate and laying before 'em the practise of it upon such different subjects as are the grounds and matter of Meditation so that by one hours Reading they may be sufficiently inform'd of the manner how to make their Meditation well and afterwards with very little pains may put their knowledge into practice But thô I had at first nothing else in prospect but by this small Treatise to help those that desire to enter into retreat yet now I hope it may become also very useful to such as are inspir'd with a sincere desire of working their own Salvation and that they may accomplish that great work with less difficulty and greater security are desirous to make use of so excellent and necessary a means as Meditation is experienc't to be to so profitable an end AN Easie Method for Mental Prayer reduc't to Practice CHAP. 1. Of the necessity of Meditation A Man would think 't were enough to explicate only what we mean by Meditation to convince those that are the most preposâ—est with prejudice against this holy exercise that 't is morally necessary for all that efficaciously intend to save their Souls for by Meditation we mean nothing else but a serious reflection upon the Maxims of the holy Gospel upon the great and saving truths of our Faith upon our duties towards Almighty God upon the best means that may facilitate and secure our happiness or upon the obstacles that may retard or hinder our eternal felicity which reflection naturally produces those good and pious desires holy affections and such sincere and efficacious resolutions as reduce those good desires into practice and move us to put in execution all our good designs by making use of those means which by our reflection we find capable of furthering us in the work of our eternal Salvation and of helping us to overcome whatever obstacles oppose it All the Holy Fathers suppos'd this great truth that Meditation or a consideration and serious reflection is necessary for Salvation and have always admitted this for a fundamental Maxim in Christian Morality 'T is the opinion of Saint Chrysostom and Saint Austin who both assure us that a serious consideration and reflection is the first principal and foundation of all good actions and Saint Bernard proves that Prayer and Meditation are of equal necessity for Meditation says he discovers what we stand in need of and Prayer obtains from Almighty God whatever we want the one shews us the way and the other brings
most exactly himself what he so earnestly recommended to others of which the admirable Psalm I cited is an evident proof for there is scarce a Verse in the whole Psalm wherein he do's not mention the Commandments of God the great care he took to Meditate often upon 'em and his zeal and fidelity in observing ' em The Fourth Reason 'T is not yet enough to know our duty and to know the Law of God that enjoyns it but we must also take delight therein and place our affections upon it seriously applying our selves to its observance To do this 't is necessary to understand the reasonableness and equity of the Divine Law to apprehend the advantages and the great recompence that God promises to those that shall observe his Commandments and the terrible punishments with which he threatens those that shall dare to violate 'em for this reason Almighty God after he had propos'd his Law to the Israelites did on the one side particularly declare the blessings he would heap upon such as should faithfully observe it and on the other side he set before 'em the miseries should fall upon all those that should be so insolent as to transgress ' em Infine the strange propensity we have to evil the great repugnance we have to good the difficulty we meet with in observing a Law that contradicts the inclinations of corrupt nature are so prevalent that nothing less than the hope of a great reward or the fear of such terrible pains as those of Hell which are infinite and eternal can stop us and serve as a ramper to check the violence of our passions we must then at all times have these rewards and these punishments in our thoughts that is we must continually Meditate upon ' em And is it not for want of considering and pondering these great truths that the greatest part of the World abandon themselves so easily and so frequently to all sorts of crimes and plunge themselves so deep in sensual pleasures and most enormous Sins Is it not I say for want of making a reflection that those beastly pleasures which last but for a moment must end in everlasting pain If one should ask those miserable Christians that are now in Hell how they came thither they would certainly answer 't is because they did not consider nor think enough upon those pains they now suffer Desolatione desolata est omnis terra quia nullus est qui recogitet corde All the Earth is become desolate because none considers or takes it to heart The Fifth Reason We may at present say with great reason what our Blessed Savior sayd heretofore do you believe that if the Son of Man should come again upon the Earth to sound the minds and examin the hearts of most Christians or at least of those that bear the name of Christians he should find any faith there Assuredly 't is this want of Faith that is the source of almost all our disorders of the carelesness and neglect we live in as to the great business of our Salvation of our forgetting Almighty God and insine of our eternal Damnation Not that we have lost all Faith or that we do positively doubt of the truths of Christian Religion or of the Maxims of the Gospel but for want of a lively practical and active Faith We suppose and take our Christian truths for granted without ever penetrating 'em and without drawing those consequences from 'em which necessarily follow the granting 'em to be true But what is there that can render our Faith more lively and active Without doubt nothing can contribute more to it than such solid reflections upon those great truths which are best made in our Meditations and are most proper and likely to make strong impressions upon our minds and wills which being mov'd by those impressions 't is to be hop't we shall take our great affair to heart and fall seriously to work reforming our lives and reducing to practice those things which have been represented to us in our Meditation By this it plainly appears that as the want of a lively and practical Faith so much recommended to us in Holy Scripture is the chief cause of the Damnation of most Christians so the neglecting to apply themselves to reflect and seriously consider what Holy Scripture and the fundamental Maxims and verities of Christian Religion teach and require of us is in truth the greatest occasion of the want of that practical Faith The Sixth Reason 'T is morally impossible to succeed in any business of great importance that is not only difficult in it self but is also traverst and oppos'd by most powerful crafty vigilant and active Enemies without first considering seriously how to lay our business well and applying great care to find out and to make good use of the best means to surmount the obstacles and break the measures of those Enemies which oppose us Now tell me is not the concern of our Salvation a business of the greatest importance Since of that depends either our eternal happiness or our eternal miseries And is it not an affair of great difficulty By reason of the corruption of our hearts the frailty of our will the blindness of our understanding the violence of our passions the force of those ill habits we have got the many dangerous occasions we are expos'd to and which frequently we cannot avoid Besides are not the World the Flesh and the Devil whom we are to fight against most terrible Enemies Can there be any more powerful crafty vigilent or active then these are Shall we then flatter and promise our selves good success in so difficult an affair as this without continual application and care to consider and observe well every step we make to discover the artifice of our Enemies and the many Snares they lay for us And is it possible to do this without frequent Meditation These reasons which clearly manifest the great necessity of Meditation as plainly prove the necessity of a retreat especially for such persons aâ— are engag'd in multiplicity of business and the great commerce of the World For the reasons they ordinarily alledge to excuse themselves from retiring are those which most evidently prove the great want they have of it so that if a retreat be profitable for all Men in general 't is in a manner absolutly necessary for these for since they cannot be sav'd without making serious reflexions upon the means that facilitate the working of their Salvation in order to embrace 'em nor without reflecting and discovering the obstacles that stand in their way in order to remove 'em if the great hurry of business and that worldly commerce wherein they are engag'd will not allow 'em leisure to make these reflections as seriously as they ought they are oblig'd to set a part some few Days and free themselves from those other businesses that take up all their thoughts and from that worldly commerce that so dissipates their minds and suffers 'em
to recollect themselves that in the time of that little solitude they may have nothing else to think on but Eternity and their own Salvation CHAP. II. Of the pretences that many Men make use of to excuse themselves from taking the pains to Meditate THô all Men are oblig'd to employ their wit and reason to search after and find out the best means to facilitate and secure their eternal happiness yet methinks most of 'em are in nothing so industrious and ingenious as they are in contriving how to blind and cheat themselves and in finding out idle pretences to lay aside and dispense with the most advantagous and holy exercise that can be practis'd not reflecting as they ought upon that most infallible and important Maxim which ought to regulate all our undertakings That we can never have security enough where Eternity lies at stake Ibi nulla satis magna securitas ubi periclitatur aeternitas All the pretences which are commonly alledg'd to dispense with Meditation may be reduc't to six and are objections against the six Reasons I propos'd for the necessity of it Wherefore I intend now to examin these pretences and then 't will be no hard task to discover their vanity and weakness The First Pretence The first pretence they alledge is their multitude of affairs how is it possible say they that a Man taken up by an employment that requires his whole time and application burthen'd with the care of a numerous Family or a Woman engag'd by her Quality in the Commerce of the World oblig'd by necessity to take care of her Children Servants and Household affairs as also to receive and to return Visits can find leisure amongst all these employments to attend to Meditation Which is only fit for Religious Persons that are as 't were out of the World and have in a manner nothing else to do There needs but a very little Faith and reason quickly to discover the fallacy and weakness of this kind of arguing for is there any business in this World so important as that of our Eternal Salvation Are there any duties so Essential as those we owe to God Is there any Christian that dares say or think there is If then as we have already made it appear Meditation be one of the most necessary and useful means to work our Salvation and to acquit our selves of our duty towards God we are inexcusable if we neglect it upon account of any other business or employment whatsoever All other businesses compar'd with the concerns of our Salvation are but trifles as Saint Austin very well calls 'em Majorum nugae negotia vocantur we ought then to find always time to think of this great and indeed only important affair What would we say of an Embassador that were sent and charg'd with the care of Treating and Managing the Affair of the Peace of all Europe who instead of attending to that should amuse himself in contriving how to be commodiously Lodg'd and spend all his time in Playing and Danceing Durst he alledge such Employments as these for an excuse of his neglect in managing and bringing to a good issue that important Affair with which he was intrusted What press soever of business a Man is in if a concern of any very considerable Temporal Interest intervenes he will not fail to find time to look after it and shall we say we have no time left when we are to attend to that main business which concerns our Eternal Interest A Woman can always find time to Play to keep idle and many times dangerous Company to comply with the World and perchance to ruin and Damn her self but she cannot find one moment of leisure to think and reflect seriously how to save her Soul What miserable blindness is this Wherefore we must undertake no more business nor allow our selves any other divertisments than what are consistent with our great and only affair which is that of our Eternal Salvation The Second Pretence Some others object that they no sooner apply themselves to Meditation but they are immediately fill'd with distractions My fancy says one is so quick and wandering that 't is impossible for me to fix it upon any object to think upon or go about to make my Meditation is enough to make me rave and run into a thousand foolish frivolous and many times very extravagant fancys I grant there are some people whose vivacity is such that 't is hard to fix their Imagination and that those persons have not the same facility and good disposition that many others have for Mental Prayer but if you are not capable of making a long Meditation you may at lest Meditate by Reading and the way to do it is this Take a good Book and by an Act of Faith place your self in the Presence of God and beg light sufficiently to understand and penetrate those truths which you are going to Read perswading your self that 't is God himself who is going to speak to you by that Book then Read leisurely and with Attention endeavoring to comprehend and relish well what you Read when you light upon something that touches your self in particular or agrees with your Disposition or answers your present wants and necessities stop there make some particular reflections and apply it to your self if you meet with something in your Reading that blames and condemns your former conduct humble your self before Almighty God implore his mercy and resolve to mend it begging his holy Grace for that end and then continue your Reading in the same manner The blessed Saint Terese made use for a while of this Method of Meditation and there is no body but is capable of it and may profit very much by it The Third Pretence The third Pretence which is much like the second is drawn from the importunity of distractions My Prayers says one are nothing else but a continual heap or floud of distractions whereby that which is of great advantage to others becomes an obstacle to my Perfection because endeavoring to do a good work I commit a sin and 't were better for me not to Pray at all than to Pray ill and offend by Prayer This may be answer'd divers ways First the distractions are either voluntary or not if they are voluntary it depends on you to shake 'em off and 't is your fault if you do not If they are not voluntary they offer you a fair occasion of Merit by the care and endeavors you may use to reject 'em by the exercise of your patience and by the pain and trouble you undergo whilst you suffer 'em against your Will In the next place you must examin from whence these distractions proceed if it be from the great liveliness of your fancy you must not be too much troubl'd at it but make use of that remedy set down in the Answer to the Second Pretence but if it be from your passions you must labor to mortifie and overcome 'em if they proceed
miseries in calling to mind your grievous sins and infidelities and mourning for 'em and if you do not find your self touch't with sorrow enough beg of God a contrite an humble heart which he alone can give telling him that you can offend him without him but you cannot have a due sorrow for having offended him without his Divine assistance Fourthly you may pass the time of your Prayer in making Acts of Faith Adoration Hope Charity and Confidence in God a Meditation made after this manner is a good Prayer Fifthly employ the time of your Meditation in examining what passion 't is that sways you most What effects it produces What are the consequences and dangers of these effects What means you ought to use for resisting and overcoming that passion You may do the same in respect of any ill habit you have contracted Sixthly think upon and often call to mind during your Prayer those many and great obligations which you have to Almighty God them any blessings you have receiv'd from him which thô they are universal yet are not the less great upon that account nor ought you to be less sensible of 'em But above all you ought to consider certain particular favors which usually move us more because they carry with 'em a mark of distinction which self love renders commonly more sensible of there is no Man that passing over and considering the whole course of his Life but will plainly discover many tracts of a special Providence that have sweetly and efficaciously guided and preserv'd him amidst a thousand dangers in which he had infallably perish't without Gods particular and powerful Protection which obliges us to make our humble and thankful acknowledgements and to say with the Prophet when he invites all Creatures to joyn with him in blessing and praising God Benedic anima mea Domino qui redimit de interitu vitam tuam Qui coronat te in misericordia miserationibus Bless the Lord O my Soul who redeems thy life from destruction and crowns thee with mercy and compassion Seventhly 't is a very useful and profitable exercise during the time of Prayer to make pious resolutions and consider what occasion we are like to have to put 'em that day in practise and to take our measures how to overcome those difficulties we are like to meet with For the chief end and aim of Prayer is to prepare us to Act well so that Prayer is best made which is follow'd with good effects The Sixth Pretence There are some persons that are naturally so modest and have such mean and low thoughts of themselves as to believe they are incapable of Meditating and are perswaded that to be able to Meditate one must have greater wit and more eminent parts than they can find themselves to be owners of and there wants not some Directors who being neither very Spiritual themselves nor us'd to Prayer do by their foolish Maxims and weak conduct authorize this dangerous illusion believing that a young Maid ought to content and employ her self wholly at her work and a Marry'd Woman only busie her self with the care of her Family and House-hold affairs But experience shews us how vain this pretence is for how many persons do we see of mean wit but of a pure and humble heart that are endow'd with an excellent gift of Prayer And find more facility in the exercise of that interior conversation with God than Men of the greatest Wit or Learning do experience Do's not the Holy Ghost assure us that God takes pleasure in entertaining himself with simple good and sincere Souls Cum simplicibus sormocinatio ejus and do's not the Son of God thank his Heavenly Father that he is pleas'd to discover his Divine secrets no little ones That is to the ignorant while in the mean time he hides 'em from the Wordly Wise and from great and presumptuous Wits The heart has a greater share in Prayer than the understanding and there needs only a good heart to render a Man capable of making a good Prayer The business is not to raise high thoughts and quaint discourses but to penetrate and be convinc't of ordinary and plain truths One good thought well ponder'd may employ a Man during the whole time of his Prayer Saint Francis past whole Nights in Meditating these few words Deus mens omnia My God and my All and our blessed Savior in his Prayer in the Garden repeated only these words Transeat à me Calix iste veruntamen non sicut ego volo sed sicut tu Father I beseech you that I may not drink of this bitter Cup of my Passion but let it not be as I will but as you will which made Saint Ignace say in his Exercises That the fruit of Prayer do's not consist in many thoughts but in the great feelings But the weakness of this pretence will be more clearly demonstrated in the following Chapter where we shall see how easie 't is for any Man to make his Meditation CHAP. III. Of the facility of Meditation §. 1. Shewing how casie 't is for any Man to Meditate or make Mental Prayer I Cannot imagine how an opinion so ill grounded as that is which occasions Men to fancy so great and extraordinary a difficulty in Meditation and Mental Prayer comes to be so generally receiv'd methinks there is nothing so easie as to disabuse 'em in this point and make 'em see and acknowledge if they will deal sincerely how gross that Error is for there is scarce any Man that is not capable of Meditating and to do it there needs but such an ordinary capacity as suffices for the smallest and easiest sort of business which the generality of Mankind does possess In fine there needs no more but being capable of reason to enable any Man to make Mental Prayer for Prayer is nothing else but the Exercise of the three faculties of our Soul that is of our Memory Vnderstanding and Will which three faculties we make vse of in Meditation to think upon the great affair of our Salvation and those Truths our Faith teaches us in the same manner as we make use of 'em in reasoning and considering any affair that concerns our Temporal interest and our other Worldly business and employments A Merchant has no difficulty in reasoning and reflecting upon what concerns his commerce a Husband man upon his Tillage a Tradse-man upon his Calling nor a good Huf-wife upon her Houshold affairs all these persons make frequent reflections upon what has before happen'd to 'em to distinguish what they have found advantageous and profitable and what has prov'd inconvenient or occasion'd their loss and how little brains soever they have upon these reflections they take the best measures they can and consider the best means how to succeed in their business They look forward and provide against those accidents they fear may happen to cross and hinder 'em What therefore can hinder 'em from doing the same in