assured by that infallible verity of diuine Faith of the reall and substantiall presence both of the diuinity and humanity of IESVS-CHRIST true God and man accompanied with all the diuine Attributes belonging vnto the infinit Maiesty of our heauenly eternall and Almighty God Secondly we ought there to behaue our selues with all exteriour reuerence and verie carefully to auoyde all needlesse words and lookes still keeping the eyes of our soule firmely fixed vpon the Altar and our mindes wholy busied with deuout attention vnto these most sacred Mysteries of the life and death of IESVS-CHRIST which in that dreadfull sacrifice are so verie liuely there represented vnto vs and to this verie end it was instituted by him For as often as you shall eate this bread and drink the chalice you shall shew the death of our Lord vntill he come 1. Cor. 11. A Prayer to be saide at the beginning of the Masse DEate IESVS my most mercifull Redeemer who dayly to renew in vs both the happie fruit and memory of thy most bitter death and Passion didst institute this holy sacrifice of the Masse vouchsafe I beseech thee that I may not only by my presence assist thereat but also partake of those diuine Mysteries wherein thou art the vnspotted lambe and gratefull victime offered for the sinnes of the world And grant I befeech thee that I may with a true repentant hart and attentiue reuerence so assist at this great Mystery of thy diuine power wisdome and goodnesse that I may effectually participate of the self-same gratefull sacrifice as it was offered by thee in that bloody forme vpon the Crosse for the Redemption of the world to thy Eternall Father for this is the infinit treasure wherein only I confide and the inestimable price which I offer in expiation of all my grieuous sinnes and vnder this shelter of thy sacred merits only it is that I dare presume to present my selfe before thee as a poore captiue slaue redeemed with the price of thy most precious blood who liuest and raignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost world without end Amen What we are to consider at the Priests descending to the foote of the Altar and makeing a low reuerence there A Declaration of the Mystery THe Priest being ascended to the Altar and hauing placed there the Chalice and opened the booke he immediately descends againe to the lower step to signifie that though by the happie state of our first creation we had been vnited to God in Adam by the holy vnion of his grace yet we were soone separated from him by sinne which in our verie conception we all contract and are cast downe to the lowest degree of abiection and become obiects of the wrath of God as the Priest at the lowest step of the Altar by his bowing with profound reuerence represents to vs. Here in the true spirit of humiliation make this your petition as followeth The Petition O Most infinitly good and mercifull God who to preserue thy trayterous rebellious and vngratefull seruant from eternall punishment didst condemne thy only deare sonne to a reproachfull death vpon the Crosse vouchsafe I beseech thee to interpose his most sacred death and Passion betwixt my sinfull soule and thy most dreadfull iudgement both now and in the houre of my death Amen What is signified by the Priests makeing the signe of the Crosse when he beginnes the Introibo The Declaration THe Priest erecting himselfe againe makes the signe of the holy Crosse in the name of the blessed Trinity humbly acknowledging that by the bitter death Passion of our souueraine Lord vpō the Crosse we are redeemed raised vp againe to the happie state of reconciliation and to the right of our heauenly inheritance in humble and assured hope whereof the Priest proceedes saying with the Royall Prophet I will appreach to the Altar of my God to the God who much reioyceth me c. Psal 45. Here disposing your hart to gratitude and humble confusion say The petition MY most gracious Lord IESVS how often by separating my selfe from thee by grieuous sinne had I been cast into the lowest Hell had not thy infinitt goodnesse and great mercy reserued me to rise by holy penance and to make my happie peace againe with thee Grant me the sense of true gratitude and thy holy grace so truly to detest all sinne as I may much rather choose to dye then by anie deliberate consent to offend thee greuously anie more Amen What is signified by the Confiteor The Declaration A Tributing here all good vnto God and nothing but sinne with the iust confufion and punishment thereof vnto our selues the Priest makes profound reuerence and from a contrite and humble hart he vtters the publike and generall Confession of his sinnes committed by thought word or deed which the people with like contrition accompanying the clerke are also to say Knock here your breast with the contrite and humble Publican of the Gospel saying The petition GOd be mercifull to me a most wretched sinner Grant me I beseech thee true repētāce that being purified thereby from sinne I may become more gratefull to offer vp to thee this holy sacrifice both for the liuing and dead What is signified by the following verses vntill the Priest ascends vp to the Altar and kisseth it The Declaration THis humble confession thus mutually made both by the Priest and people they now likewise encourage each other in the aboundant mercy of so great a God by these confortable ensueing verses of the Psal 86. O God thou being reconciled to me wilt giue me life and thy people will reioyce in thee Shew fourth to vs o Lord thy mercy giue vs thy saluation O Lord heare my prayer and let my crye come vnto thee c. And soe the Priest ascending to the Altar kisseth it in testimonie of our happie reconciliation with God by the Incarnation of his only sonne IESVS-CHRIST in whom we are also tobe vnited by perfect charity to our neighbour all the world The petition LOrd IESVS who in thy infinite loue didst shed thy most precious blood to reconcile vs vngratefull sinners to thy Eternall Fathers peace vouchsafe that we may liue and dye in that blessed triple peace first with thee by holy grace secondly with our selues by the enioyment of a good conscience and thirdly with our neighbour by imitation and in honour and hommage of thy diuine and infinite Charity Amen At the Introite and Kyries The Declaration THe Introite puts vs in mind of the great desires which the holy Fathers and Patriarches had of their Redeemers comming And the Kyries of their earnest cryes for his speedy approach With whome we must ioyne our harty desires to the Blessed Trinity for his speedy comming by grace into our soules whereby to be fortified against our three ghostly enemies the world the flesh and the Diuell And to this purpose say The petition COme Lord IESVS come prepare an Altar in my
Christian Conuersation ALthough alacrity in Conuersation cheerefulnesse in countenance and myrth in fitting recreation are exceeding commendable and by no meanes to be excluded from true Christian conuersation yet the Diuell and his impious instruments would make vs beleeue that vertue myrth pietie cheerefull recreatiō can by no meanes be associated togeather which is a most malicious falsity for God commanding his children to serue him with ioy Ps 99. forbids all sadnesse and Melancholy yea myrth with a pure intention may be meritorious as well as our prayer Blessed Sales that great Father of spirituality in his tyme had a most pleasant and winning sweetnesse both in his words and behaue our S. Antonie had so very cheerefull a countenāce as in a multitude he was easie to be knowne euen by such as had neuer seene him before Yea Palladius recompts that one might haue beheld those holy Fathers of the Desert by their only outward aspect to haue manifested aboundantly the inward purity of their happy soules and to haue enioyed vpon Earth farr greater felicity then the whole world had been able to afford them no melancholy heuing power to ceise vpon their harts which were so truly vnited to God himselfe This makes them truly ioyfull and their faces cheerefull like to the Saints Indith 16. By all which we now see that Saints haue not sadd nor melancholy or pensiue countenances but ioyfull cheerefull and merry as become their happy consciences And by this I hope you sufficiently perceiue that cheerefulnes in aspect and a pleasant countenance doe well accord with true vertuous Conuersation And now that innocent harmeles myrth and gratefull alacrity is nowayse vnbeseeming the same neither examples reason or authority can be wanting to make manifest so apparent a truth no for true pietie and right Christian deuotion exclude not affability nor doe they hinder fitt recreation or honest and innocent myrth wherein modesty refraynes all vicious excesse but much rather require the same for a cheerefull alacrity with a pleasant modesty is most commendable and frequently gaines much more vpon sinners for their amendment then too seuere or a rigidly composed conuersation which being so austere would become vnpleasing yea cause auersion and but discredit true deuotion and piety which is sweet pleasing cheerefull full of content and thereby becomes attractiue and is neither tedious nor difficult Manie Saints haue been of this pleasant humour and full of innocent and pleasing iestes in their discourse S. Greg. Nazianze recordes of those two great Saints and most illustrious Prelates S. Basil and S. Martin that they so seasoned their Conuersation with pleasant and gratefull speaches as they were able thereby to haue dissipated the darkest cloude of melancholy from the most deiected hart the happie effects of which gratefull alacrity the said S. Basil hauing well obserued by experience it gaue him iust occasion to wish that other holy persons would also mixe their Conuersation with the like innocent and true spirituall myrth wherein that most renowned Heros of our Cuntrye Sr. Th. More in all his Conuersation did excell in facetious innocent myrth which euen sweetens deuotion and by it vndoubtedly manie soules haue been gained to God as well as by serious exhortations and the strongest discourse S. Ignatius of Loyola was also farr from seuerity herein nor did he approoue in his brethren the practise of too rigidly a composed Conuersation which much more probably may terrifie mens minds then gaine their soules Manie Saints haue been of a pleasant and iocund humour and yet of interiour great vertue and perfection Yea vndoubtedly and euen experience makes it manifest that a good word of deuotion being deliuered with a cheerefull countenance and with an open frendly hart it penetrates the soule as doth a note of harmonious musick the eare and takeing by that meanes a true possession of the hart it workes strong effects in producing good practises of vertue supposing as it is euer to be vnderstood that the ieastes be alwayes religiously modest and the intention good it being vnlawfull in all Conuersation and discourse whatsoeuer to vse either scurrilous or vnciuill words and much lesse profane or irreligious ieastes or finally so carelesly to let loose the raines of temperance to vnfitting liberty as to forget thereby Gods diuine Presence or due reuerence therevnto Briefly nothing ought to be said or done in such Conuersation which may be vnbeseeming either the modesty decency Person tyme or place And now true Christian Conuersation thus iustifi'd against the former calumnies it remaines that I also shew The lawfulnesse of moderate recreation in gaming and fitting sports and wherein the abuse of them consists WHilst God by so miraculous fauours conducted the Israelits into the fruitfull land of Promisse there wanted not malitious Spies who by the manie false reports which they made of the vnwholsome ayre badd qualities of the country and of the barbarous fiercenesle of the Inhabitants so terrifi'd all the rest of their brethren as had it not been for faithfull Calib and Iosue who manifestly refuted the falsity of their calumnious reports they would rather haue returned to their Egiptian captiuity then exposed hēselues to such insufferable difficulties as they were made to conceiue Num. 13. The Diuell and his instruments haue euer in the selfe same manner endeauoured to perswade the world that in a religious and vertuous life there is nothing but deepe sadnesse and melancholy to be found no myrth nor anie alacrity to be enioyed no other exercise but prayer fasting hare-cloth and continuall solitude whereby those persons who addict themselues to deuotion must needs become say they peeuish stupid and verse infirme And vpon this false perswasion they endeauour to make men to fly both their example and companie But to shew both the malice great ignorance where-vpon they ground this false calumnie of Deuotion and of a vertuous life it may suffice to shew how both S. Thomas and Aristotle and with them generally all Diuines agree that to vse honest and fitting recreation is an act of the vertue which they call Eutrapelia and may properly be interpreted Alacrity or Myrth which is not only laudable but also necessary for Man whose vigour and spirits being but limited verie weake it is impossible for him to be so continually busied in serious occupations but of necessity he must haue both ease and relaxation whereby to refresh and giue new strength to his spirits by this vertue of Eutrapelia or fitt recreation which vertue consists in the mediocrity betwixt these two extremes of an excesse in retyrement from all fitting diuertisement and companie on the one side of spending vnworthely our whole tyme in idle pastimes and play on the other but this midle way is both lawdable and verie necessary for all such as aspire to a vertuous life after the vsuall meane 2. Euen reason it selfe conuinces the necessity of this fitting recreation For as mans body requires sleepe
Prince as that wee could not bee vnderstood so much more sinfull irreuerence it is to speake with the King of Heauen in hudling out so fast our words in Prayer as that euen wee our selues should not know that which we so mutter to Almighty God Now concerning the interiour conditions required for holy prayer true faith being first supposed without which the Apostle tells vs that it is impossible to please God Heb. 11. the next necessary condition and required also by saint Paul is Charity without which euen Faith it-selfe he saith would nothing auaile him Cor. 13. and for want of which vertue both the Prayers and Sacrifices of wicked Cain were vtterly rejected because he made his offering with a hart full of rancor enuie against Abel his innocent brother And therefore if going to make our prayer and oblation vnto God wee finde in our hart any grudge or breach of Charity towards our neighbour our Sauiour himselfe expresly commands vs to lay downe our offering and hauing first made our peace and reconcilement then to bring our offering and not before Math 5. The second interiour condition is by purity of intention to seeke the true end of prayer without which it would be vaine and fruitlesse now the true and pure end of all good prayer is humbly to craue thereby a light from God to vnderstand his holy will and grace to performe the same as also increase in his loue and aduancement in vertue a true conformity to his blessed will with a reall contempt and abnegation of our-selues not seeking our owne sensible gust or spirituall consolation but renouncing all curiosity of spirit and self loue to seeke onely and purely Gods glory and not our owne satisfaction by Prayer for in that we seeke not God so much as ourselues and our owne interest and therefore no maruaile if we finde him not A third condition yet required for holy prayer is the vertue of Mortification for such is the great connexion of these two vertues as the one is neuer to be found in any eminentdegree or perfection without the other the reason thereof is cleare for if the hart be possessed wth vaine or sensuall delights it is not capable of true spirituall and heauenly contents and therefore it is that we finde so few endued with this holy vertue of prayer because there are so few who are truly mortified for who hath obtained the vertue of mortification will soone gett the vertue of prayer the first disposing vs vnto the second for since wee cannot liue in this world without affection to some content or other therefore it is that if we hate and depriue our selues of these wordly contents we shall easily seeke out diuine and heauenly comforts by the meanes of holy praier which doth necessarily require Attention the third condition without which our praier would be but plaine hypocrisie and by voluntary distraction it would become vice and much rather prouoke Gods anger against vs then appease his wrath for God being a spirit in spirit we must adore him saith saint Iohn 4. and therefore only lipp-prayer without the hart according to saint Isidore is no prayer at all Prayer being as saint Iohn Damascen defines it an eleuation of the hart to God without which they are most iustly reproached by the holy Ghost who praise God with their lips but haue their harts farr from him Prayer being without attention but as the shell without fruit which as it would bee rigthly offensiue to present to a mortall Prince with much more reason a farr greater crime it is to present our prayer to God without attention which is as the shell without the kernell or as the body without a soule yea meere verbal Prayer without attention of the minde is but a corporall action and no prayer at all which requires an eleuation of the hart with pious affection and attention of the soul Prayer finally is properly called a vertue of Religion and consists not only in the corporeall or materiall faculty of the body but chiefly in the powers of the soule and in the spirituall actions thereof which must be interiour and truly spirituall for otherwise it could be no true worship of God and by consequence no act of the vertue of Religion it not proceeding from the interiour operation of the soule by which God must be worshiped as saint Iohn hath told vs. c. 4. It is also here to be noted that prayer is not the end but rather the meanes vnto perfection and therefore that our prayer may be profitable we must raise vp thereby some pious affections and produce from thence good purposes and resolutions for the actual exercise of some determinate vertue or for auoyding some particular vice for some certaine good act to the glory of God or to amende some particular imperfection or finally to practise some vertuous act of mortification for the loue of God and the like for in this consists the true profit of prayer and by so praying it will be both holy and good be it neuer so insipid or drye yea it will be both pleasing to God and verie profitable to our soules though wholy past ouer with what inuoluntary and troublesome distractions soeuer The fourth condition and the principall whereby to make our prayer efficacious to obtaine what we aske and by which both it and all our other actions ought to be regulated is to present it in the name of IESVS-CHRIST as S. Paul recommends to vs Colos 3. Vvhatsoeuer ye doe saith he either by word or by deed doe it all in the name of IESVS-CHRIST And he himselfe also assures vs that all which we aske of his Father we shall obtaine it vndoubtedly prouided we demaunde it in the name of his deare Sonne IESVS Io. 14.15 and 16. that is in his spirit and with such dispositions and intentions in our prayer as he gaue vs example in this world to doe And therefore to this end vnite your prayers vnto his performe them in true loue charity humilitie puritie feruour and attention the best you can and in all those other dispositions and holy intentions wherewith our louing Redeemer was accustomed to pray vnto his Heauenly Father whil'st hee was here amongst vs vpon Earth The fifth condition is to place our selues in Gods presence with profound humilitie and a contrite hart for all our sinnes ackowledging our owne great vnworthiness to appeare in his sight or to be heard by him as not being able of our selues to haue the least good thought nor performe the least gratefull act to God but relying wholy vpon the sacred merits of IESVS-CHRIST in which humble assurance we may demand of his Eternall Father a supply of all our necessities both spirituall and temporall together with all other celestiall graces for his sake The sixt condition required for true fruitfull prayer is an humble confidence with constant perseuerance and true fidelity in this diuine exercise for God requireth it
The petition O My soueraine Lord IESVS I wholy and entyrely remit my selfe body and soule with all the powers of them both to thy heauenly disposition yea I abandon and sacrifice them all to thy diuine pleasure as well for life as for death Grant I beseech thee that I may neuer haue anie other desire nor will but thy only good pleasure in all And that as thou hast vouchsafed to dye for the loue of me so I may both liue dye purely for the loue of thee and that liuing or dying I may neuer willfully offend thee anie more Amen What is meant by Kissing the Altar at Rogamus ac petimus c. The Declaration THe Priest saying those words kisseth the Altar thereby to signifie that he presumes not to demand anie thing for his owne deserts or merits but for the merits only of IESVS-CHRIST who as it said before is represented by the holy Altar Of the three ensueing Crosses made vpon the Host and chalice The Declaration THe three Crosses made at those words haec dona †haec munera †haec sancta sacrificia †The first signifies the sacrifices offered by the Patriarches and Prophets vnder the law of nature The 2. those offered by Aaron and the Priests vnder the written law And the 3. signifies those vnder the law of grace The signe of the Crosse is made at each one of theÌ„ to shew that they were all made acceptable to God only because they represented that wherein his most dearely beloued sonne our Sauiour suffer'd when he was crucified vpon mount Caluary from which only all Sacraments and sacrifices both now doe euer did and alwayes shall deriue all their force and value At the first Memento The Declaration IN this Memento we remember those liuing persons for whom we intend and are most obleiged to pray and to offer this holy sacrifice And as by it we vnite our selues in Charity to the liuing so by the same with due honour and reuerence we also vnite our selues with Gods chiefest Saints in Heauen the most blessed Virgin the Apostles the primitiue prelates and successors of S. Peter togeather with diuers others Gods chiefe fauorites now in eternall Blisse beseeching his diuine protection by their gratefull intercession and also testifying thereby in this great sacrament of Charity the Communion and inseparable coniunction between the Militant and Triumphant Church of God For which effect by a holy aspiration eleuate your hart to God and say The petition LOrd IESVS I here offer vp to thee thy beloued spouse the Cath. Church togeather with thy Elect from all Eternity by whose powerfull mediation I most huÌ„bly craue thy holy grace that liuing here in imitation of their vertues and in vnion with all the world by perfect Charity I may offer vp my selfe entirely to the glorious Trinity as a gratefull oblation in vnion honour and adoration of that most blessed sacrifice of my soueraine Lord and Sauiour IESVS-CHRIST vpon the Crosse Be mindefull good Lord I beseech thee to comfort the afflicted to reward my benefactors to forgiue all my enemies grant perseuerance to the iust repentance to all sinners true peace and charity amongst all Christians extirpate all schisme and heresie and that especially in our poore afflicted Kingdome where that contagious Peste of soules at present so greatly aboundes grant this deare Lord for thy most bitter Passion sake to the exaltation of thy holy Faith and increase of thy eternall glory Amen At hanc igitur c. when the Priest extendes his hands ouer the Host and chalice The Declaration THe Priest extends his hands ouer the Host and chalice to represent to vs the cursed Iewes sacrilogiously laying their hands vpon our Blessed Sauiour whem they tooke him in the garden and bound him with cordes by which they dragged him with all cruelty to seuerall Courtes And hauing scourged and crowned him with thornes they finally condemned him to a reproachfull death vpon the Crosse The Priest holds his hands ouer the Host and chalice to signifie that he ioynes himselfe to that offering and substitutes it in his place and ours since it is vnlawfull for him to sacrifice and destroy himselfe And herein he also imitates the custome of the old law where the Priestes euer extended their hands ouer the sacrifice before it was offered Prepare here your hart to true gratitude and compassion saying The petition O Mercy surpassing all other bounds except the infinit goodnesse of a God who to redeeme his disloyall and most rebelliously vngratefull seruant condemned to death his only begotten and most dearely beloued sonne I am the delinquent ô heauenly Father and must I be ransommed at no lesse a price then with that deare and precious blood of thy most innocent and beloued sonne my grieuous sinne hath iustly deserued eternall punishment from thy wrath and must this most innocent and vnspotted lambe be made a sacrifice to satisfie the rigour of thy iustice by so costly an expiation of my most execrable sinne ô infinit mercy o ineffable goodnesse and loue without all paralell vouchsafe that this precious ransome prooue not frustrate in me thy most vnworthy creature Amen At the fiue ensueing Crosses made ouer the Host and Chalice The Declaration THese Crosses made ouer the Host and Chalice represent to vs the preparation of the heauie Crosse by the wicked Ministers who layed it vpon the wearie and wounded shoulders of our blessed Redeemer to be borne by him to mount Caluary These Crosses are in number fiue to put vs in minde of the cruell torments which our louing Sauiour suffered in his â—â—ue senses and principally by his fiue most precious wounds as also to professe thereby that all the force and efficacy of our Sacraments and sacrifices are deriued from the Crosse and Passion of IESVS CHRIST For with the signe of the Crosse we consecrate the body of our Lord and whatsoeuer is consecrated in the name of CHRIST is consecrated with this signe saith S. Augustin serm 181. de temp Craue here true patience and conformity saying The petition O Louing and diuine Redeemer of my soule wert thou my God crucified for my sake and shall I refuse to beare my Crosse and follow thee o grant me grace to imitate thy blessed patience and conformity in gratefull acknowledgment of thy manie dolorous and reproachfull sufferings in paying so costly a ransome for my sinne Vouchsafe I beseech thee that I may ioyfully embrace all afflictions and Crosses either in body or minde which thy diuine and fatherly disposition from all Eternity hath ordained mee for my greater good Amen At the Consecration and Eleuation The Declaration THe Priest being now come to the principall action of this sacrifice to the end to follow the example of IESVS-CHRIST in what he both said and did at the institution thereof he first blesseth and consecrates the bread and wyne by the selfsame words which IESVS-CHRIST himselfe did vse Which done he eleuates in those consecrated
this innocent pastime doth much rather resemble Puritanicall cruelty then anie vertue or true Christian deuotion which comming from the holy Ghost cannot be in that seuere spirit of cruelty and rigour but in his spirit by whom all thinges are sweetly disposed wisd 8. Now as concerning your ordinary deuotions if leasure and good commodity will permitt after your daily morning prayers and other vsuall deuotions make some more then ordinary spirituall lecture say your Euen song also after dinner and heare some good exhortation if oportunity be offered and let not the whole day passe without some good worke as in visiting some sicke person or to comfort such as either corporally or spiritually may most stand in need of your helpe or finally to exercise at the least some one of the holy workes of mercy Take more tyme on those dayes for reading spirituall bookes and make a diligent examen of your last weekes comportment towards God whether faithfull in your good purposes for the amendment of your life or if not rather worse by continuing and increasing your former bad habits Whereat confound your selfe and renew with great feruour your former Resolutions of amendment and with the next new weeke begin also a new reformation for there is no better way saith holy Sales to end happily a true spirituall life then daily to begin the same and it is greatly nourished by this ensuing help Of spirituall lecture a proper Exercise for all festiuall dayes SPirituall lecture is a holy Magazen which doth furnish both our memory and vnderstanding with pious thoughts for heauenly contemplation whereby to vnite vs to God it excites vs to the practise of vertue and therefore though it be daily necessary for the vertuous soule yet principally to be practised those dayes peculiarly dedicated to the diuine seruice of God to whom we speake by prayer and by spirituall lecture God speakes vnto vs. Which two holy Exercises haue great connexion and are mutually maine helpes each one to the other and as meate and drinke are both needfull nourishments to the body so these are as necessary for the soule Omit not therefore daily to giue your soule this necessary spirituall food at such tymes as you finde the best leasure for it Your reading may be in the Imitation or following of CHRIST in the Saints liues in some of Granada his workes in the Introduction to a deuout life in the Spirituall Combate in the Holy court or the like But to performe your spirituall lecture with best profit a good methode therein is verie necessary for which you may briefly obserue as here followeth First placing your selfe in Gods diuine presence as in prayer raise louingly your hart to him humbly craue his grace to make profit of what you are going to reade 2. Reade leasurely and not as if you desired to see quickly an end of the booke but meeting with some good point for your instruction pause there and consider it with leasure and good attention as if it were God himselfe who should speake thereby to you which done then goe on and still practise the same 3. Reade not for curiosity but for deuotion thereby to learne the true practise of vertue and to inflame the will to embrace it much rather then to informe the vnderstang what it is Sticke not to reade the same booke if it like you well twice or thrice ouer for it is the leasurely and perfect disgestion which breedeth the purest blood 4. A quiet and reposed minde is necessary for the reaping profit by reading for as vnquiiet water reflects such broken and confused species of the shadow which is cast vpon it as one scarcely can perceiue anie true proportion thereof so likewise it is the verie same with an vnquiet and troubled minde with anie passion which is vncapable then to make anie profitable conception or but verie vnperfectly at the least with the best spirituall bookes by reason that it being disquiet in it selfe it needs must reflect but broken and confused conceptions of what is reade Finally with a recollected and quiet mind in reuerence and deuotion let your reading be not so much by way of studie to know but rather in the spirit of true piety to draw from thence some spirituall profit for the good of your soule and faile not also to draw from your reading some good point in particular which may incite you to the holy practise of piety standing euer most carefully vpon your gard against it's greatest enemie that pernicious Sloath which once getting roote in your hart it will endanger the greatest vertue in your soule This dangerous vice of spirituall sloath and teadious vnwillingnesse to all exercise of vertue I will endeauour to destroy by the ensuing article Of spirituall Sloath and Indenotion THis vice is properly a languishing of the soule a dulnesse of the mind and an vnpleasingnesse of the will towards all spirituall deuotion which declines vs from pious exercises and makes vs negligent and vnwilling to the practise of vertue it inclines vs to giue ouer our accustomed prayers or at least to performe them but verie negligently and only by halues The great danger of this sinne is sufficiently declared by those words of our blessed Sauiour Mat. 7. the tree which beareth not good fruit shall be cut downe and cast into the fire and it is neuer so predominant as vpon these festiuall and consecrated dayes to Gods glory and our owne soules greatest good Against which Capitall vice source of so much sinne our soueraigne remedie must be to haue recourse to God by frequent and earnest prayer that he vouchsafe to enkindle in our harts the ardent flame of deuotion and the true feruour of Pietie Obserue punctually the accustomed tymes for your prayer so farr as conueniency will permit Quitt not your former vsuall holy exercises though they seeme neuer so barren and dry yea though your fancy doth perswade that they nothing auaile you yet be but faithfully patient with true humble perseuerance and God will at last not faile to bestow both comfort and his holy blessing vpon you It is also a great helpe against this spirituall Sloath and indeuotion to reade the liues of Saints and to consider attentiuely therein the great feruour and deuotion wherewith they serued God And aboue all it might aboundantly suffice to cure our sinfull sloath by considering the incessant and most painfull labours which IESVS-CHRIST the eternall Sonne of God did take for our Example and saluation hee spending frequently whole nights in prayer to his heauenly Father in our behalfe what wearisome iourneis through seuerall Prouinces made he to instruct and to cure the infirme both in body soule It may well cōfound vs also to consider with what faithfull alacrity the Apostles made their continuall pilgrimage about the world to plant the holy Gospel for the saluation of soules and with what cheerefull constancy they gaue their liues for the glory of God Finally by what
may be blest and sanctifi'd by this my true desire and good intention of vnion vnto thyne and theirs and that my life be sacrificed in those sacred flames of diuine loue wherein they haue so happily ended theirs O immaculate Virgin Mother O thou beloued disciple of our Lord and thou o happy and repentant Magdalen yee who had that speciall honour to accompanie my Lord IESVS at his dolorous death and there to assist at the foot of the Crosse whilst therevpon he pay'd the deare ransome of our Redemption vouchsafe yee also to assist me by your powerfull intercession in that last passadge to my Eternity It would be also verie expedient this day to reade the Passion of IESVS-CHRIST and the 17. chapter of S. Iohn which contaynes the last words and the prayers of IESVS-CHRIST before he came to the Crosse as also to reade the prayers of the Church for an agonizing soule for they are verie pious and efficacious Nor doe we know whether at the day of our death we shall be able to make vse of anie such preparation let vs therefore so reade them now as we ought to reade them then and with the selfsame dispositions and affections as if in that last article of our death Lord Iesv for thy great mercy sake grant me this happy grace to consecrate the finall instant of my mortall life to the honour of that sanctifi'd moment wherein thou did'st expire vpon the Crosse and that my last breath may yeald fourth a feruent act of diuine and pure loue of thee which may perseuere with my soule eternally This is sweet Iesv my true harty desire and firme resolution confirme and so strengthen it I beseech thee in holy grace as that by finall perseuerance I may performe it to thy glory and my owne eternall felicity Conclusion 1. Thanke God for your good affections and Resolutions 2. Craue grace to put them in execution Beseech him to pardon your negligence in prayer Pater Aue. Credo The seauenth Meditation Of our particular iudgment at the houre of death Preparation 1. Place your selfe in the presence of God 2. Beseech him to inspire you with his grace 3. Reflect vpon that ioyfull sentence come yee blessed c. And vpon the excessiue horrour of that other Goe yee cursed c. and prepare your selfe in tyme by a good life to auoyde the same Considerations 1. We must consider our selues now as at the point of death and Iesvs-CHRIST as if appearing to vs in quality of our soueraigne Iudge come to pronounce our finall sentence to an eternall life or death without all further appeale Lett vs yeald to him in quality thereof all honour and homage laboring by true loue repentance to renderhim propitious tovs against that dreadfull houre that houre after which no moment more of tyme will euer be giuen vs that deciding houre which will determin vs to ioy or misery for all Eternity O lett vs therefore entertayne our most serious thoughts affections and resolutions herevpon whilst that both tyme and mercy is afforded for the same 2. Consider the immaculate lambe the Saint of Saints and essentiall sanctity it selfe IESVS-CHRIST infinitly farr frō all blemish of sinne yet layde prostrate in a bloody agonie before his heauenly Father in the garden soone after at Pilats feet there charged withall the sinnes of the world becomme the voluntary suerty and the accepted caution for all sinners whatsoeuer And therefore it was that the eternall Father did so seuerely exercise his diuine and rigid iustice vpon that sacred Humanity and made it to vndergoe the iudgment which was due to wicked Man permitting his most innocent and beloued sonne to be condemned to that reproachfull death vpon the Crosse Which iudgment he accepted with most perfect submission to his heauenly Father and ardent loue to Man In honour vnion and adoration whereof here prostrate your selfe as at the feet of IESVS-CHRIST and there acknowledge adore him as the soueraigne Iudge both of Men and Angells without appeale Raise vp your soule to true loue and gratitude by these ensueing Affections or the like Affections and Resolutions O Diuine IESV I honour thee in this thy particular comming to iudge me at the article of my death And I here adore what thy eternall decree shall there dispose of me Enlighten me I beseech thee that I may so discouer the enormity of my sinnes as I may behold them now in the self-same manner as they would appeare to me at the houre of my death to the end I may by true repentance and satisfaction make here my happy peace before I fall into the finall zeale of thy dreadfull iustice when all tyme will be past for anie fauour or mercy I therefore now detest from my very hart and renounce for euer all my finfull offences and at the sacred feet of thy diuine mercy I resolue most willingly to accept what punishment soeuer thy iustice shall ordayne me nor can I hope for anie other meanes whereby to expiate my grieuous sinne but meerely by thy mercy and merits of thy most precious blood O mercifull Redeemer who did'st for my sake permit thy selfe to be ledd bound and in all disgracefull manner to that prophane tribunall of Pilate and there with all malice and scorne to be presented and iudged before him thou being thy selfe the supreame and soueraigne iudge both of the liuing dead Grant I beseech thee that all those indignities suffered for the loue of man obtayning pardon for my sinnes may graciously preserue me from that vnhappy number who shall neither loue nor praise thee during their cursed Eternity And though most vnworthy I be of this blessed effect of thy great mercy yet behold ô God our Protectour and looke vpon the face of thy Christ Psal 83. thy diuine and only begotten Sonne ◠eternall Father being adiuged to that dolorous death for my offence may begg my pardon and therevpon is grounded all my hope and humble confidence O Mother of mercy and faithfull aduocate of all who craue thy powerfull intercession sacred Virgin and Mother of God O all yee blessed Angells and Saints of Paradise vouchsafe yee to intercede for me vnto the most glorious Trinity and offer vp I beseech yee your holy sufferings for his sake in part of satisfaction for my sinne pray yee for me that he dealenot with me according to the rigour of his iustice but rather answerably to the multitude of his infinit mercy to the end that I may loue and praise him with you all world without end Conclusion 1. Thanke God for your good Affections and Resolutions 2. Craue grace to put them in execution 3. Beseech him to pardon your negligences in prayer Pater Aue. Credo The eight Meditation Of the state of our death and buriall Preparation 1. Place your selfe in the presence of God 2. Beseech him to inspire you with his grace 3. Conceiue now your soule and body separated The first to appeare