to Thee, O my good Lord and Master; to cast myself in all humility at Thy sacred feet, and heartily to beg Thy mercy, pardon, and reconciliation.

O merciful Father, I truly acknowledge my prodigality, and humbly confess my treachery, and am sorry from my heart that ever I offended Thee, Who deservest so much love and service from me, beseeching Thee as a guilty prisoner to be pitiful to Thy poor creature, and mercifully to forgive me the manifold rebellions and grievous iniquities that I have committed against Thy Divine Majesty and Goodness. And for the love of Thee, I freely forgive all those who have in any way offended or contristated me, sincerely acknowledging that I deserve no comfort from any creature, but all contempt and confusion, and not only to be troubled by all on earth temporally, but even to be tormented by the devils in hell eternally.

6. O how ungrateful a child have I been to offend so often and so grievously so loving and liberal a Father, 80 meek and merciful a Redeemer, and so sweet and Sovereign a Majesty, Who hath always showed Himself so benign and bountiful to me, tolerating me in my sins, and expecting me to His mercy, wooing me to His love, and calling me to His service by a thousand means, all of which I have either rejected or neglected, and Who hath still, nevertheless, given me time and opportunity to do penance!

O blindness, O folly, O frenzy! would God I had never sinned! O that I might never sin more! O my

T

God, what have I done? Would I had suffered on the cross pains of body and pangs of soul, when I, N . . ., thus sinned!

O, what can I say or do more? I abhor and detest whatsoever I have done, said, thought, or desired contrary to Thy holy will, O my Lord and my Love. I renounce all company and occasions which may induce me to offend Thee.

7. I cast myself at Thy sacred feet, to be Thy slave for ever, with a firm resolution to bear Thy cross till death, and to do penance and satisfaction for my past pride and pleasure, desiring nothing but to live at Thy feet, like the penitent Magdalen, in solitude, silence, submission.

O good Jesus, out of Thy infinite mercy, merits, and meekness, suffer not me, Thy poor creature, to be damned and separated from Thee eternally. O amiable eternity! O eternal amity of God! shall I leave and lose thee for filthy pleasures, frail creatures, fond friendships, fading honours?

No, dear Lord, no! Let it please Thee rather to take my soul out of my body than Thy love out of my soul; let me rather die miserably than sin mortally.

Let me pass on through the rest of my pilgrimage in Thy grace and fear, that I may end my days in Thy friendship and favour. This I beseech Thee to grant me, O most powerful and merciful Saviour, by the love of Thy sweet heart, by the merits of Thy bitter Death and Passion, by the intercession of Thy blessed Mo

ther, and by the suffrages of all holy, happy, and devout souls.

Upon all of which relying, as upon so many sure anchors of my hope, I commit and resign myself to Thy disposition and providence for time and eternity, O my Lord, my Love, and my All, fully trusting that Thou wilt mercifully pardon my sins, carefully assist me in my wants and weaknesses, and in the end happily bring me to eternal bliss by such means as Thy divine wisdom knows most convenient for me.

THURSDAY.

TO SUBDUE SENSUALITY TO REASON.

The Fourth Exercise.

1. My spirit is willing, O most glorious and gracious Lord God, to serve Thee, love Thee, honour Thee, and follow Thee; but my flesh is weak, frail, and refractory. I do not that good which I will, O my God, and that which Thou demandest; but the evil which I hate, that I do,* and what Thou forbiddest.

I feel, O my Lord, a law of sensuality contradicting the law of my mind, captivating my reason, clouding my judgment, and continually striving to cast me down headlong into sin and perdition.†

Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from
Romans vii. xv.

'But I see another law in my members, fighting against the law' of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin that is in my members.' Rom. viii. 23.

the body of this death? Ah, my brutish body! ah, my burdensome flesh! thou art my dangerous and deadly enemy. It is thy weight that depresseth my soul, thy earth that clogs and corrupts my spirit, thy contagion and perversity which infecteth and debaseth my better part and heavenly portion, thy sensuality which draws on, endangers, and almost destroys my reason.

2. Ah, sensuality! the source of all my misery, how justly do I now hate thee, and how willingly would I leave thee!

At my first acquaintance with thee, thou didst defile me with original sin; in my infancy thou madest a beast of me; and now in my riper years thou still pursuest me, proclaimest open war with me, blindest my understanding with darkness, ignorance, and errors; makest my will refractory to good, and ready to all evil; distractest my memory with vain and vile fancies; and perpetually tossest me to and fro between love and hatred, joy and grief, hope and fear; and the rest of thy numerous and enormous, irascible and concupiscible powers and passions. Ay me! how sad is my state! how deplorable my condition! O, how long must I dwell with these devils ? how long must I endure the violence of these passions?

O my Lord, my strength and my salvation, break these fetters for me. Command a calm, O Thou only Ruler of sea and winds, and appease the surges of these my unmortified appetites. O, restore me to myself

Rom. vii. 24.

again, reduce reason to her lost dominion in my soul, and me bring back, Thy poor creature, to Thee, my powerful Creator. O, let not this passenger perish amidst these boisterous billows, nor suffer utter shipwreck in these fearful tempests.

The

I suffer violence; O my Lord, answer for me. companion which Thou hast given me hath deceived me;* sense hath corrupted and conquered my judgment. O how I am dragged up and down by my allmastering appetites, commanded by my servants, and fettered by my slaves! O tyranny! O indignity!

Ah, my soul! O noble spirit, fair as the angels, formed to thy Creator's lovely resemblance, stamped with His divine character, and heir-apparent to His glorious kingdom, and yet to be thus subject to the base and brutal desires of flesh and blood! O intolerable bondage! O unworthy servitude!

3. O Father of mercies and only Physician of my soul, Thou art all might and all mercy, and I am all weakness and all misery. There is no part left sincere in my whole body and soul from the contagious poison of passion, from the infectious leprosy of sin and sensuality.

All is out of order, O my Lord: I acknowledge it to my own shame and confusion: each sense is gone astray, each member of my body is corrupted, each power of my soul is perverted.

And Adam said: The woman whom Thou gavest me to be my companion gave me of the tree, and I did eat.' Genesis iii. 12.