and service, let us give back unto Him at least a tithe thereof, and dedicate two hours of four-and-twenty, one in the morning and the other in the evening, to His particular honour.

4. That we must make an act of pure intention at our entrance into Recollection; as thus:—

'I intend, O my God, to employ each moment of the short time I shall remain in Thy presence in adoring Thy Majesty, admiring Thy goodness, begging Thy pardon for my offences, Thy mercy for the souls in Purgatory, Thy succour for the Church's necessities, Thy assistance in such an extremity, Thy strength against such an inclination, Thy grace for the getting such a virtue. I am here on my knees, O Lord, to perform these homages, and present these petitions.'

This intention will endure virtually throughout the whole time of prayer, and make our seeming idleness and stillness active and meritorious.

5. That we must briefly examine our consciences, and produce acts of contrition, self-confusion, humility, and resolutions of amendment, saying from the very bottom of our hearts, in this or the like manner :

'O my Lord, my God, my All! Thou deservest all praise, honour, and service, because Thou art good, gracious, and glorious. I will henceforth rather lose all than leave Thee, O my God, without Whom all is nothing; and since Thou art so good in Thyself, and so good to me, I will, by thy grace, never more offend Thee. I will confess my sins, amend my life, perform

my penance, walk carefully, humbly, obediently, resignedly in Thy presence; and unto all this am I moved principally by the infinite greatness and beauty of Thine own divine Being and perfection.'

In the particular examen of our consciences-which must never be omitted in the beginning of our Recollection-we must mark to what vices we are most inclined and wherein we are most frail, and then trample that down violently and resolutely; for this captain-imperfection* being conquered, the rest will soon yield and submit. And in the next examen, we must impartially search and censure ourselves, and see whether our falls in that kind are still as frequent as they were formerly, and so set upon our enemy again with fresh fervour, vigour, courage, and constancy until we have gained the complete victory.

6. That we must also make an act of perfect resignation before setting about this exercise, leaving ourselves entirely in God's hands. He is our Father; let Him dispose of His children and all that concerns them as He best pleaseth, saying:—

'O my Lord, my Father, my Lover, do with my life, my health, my temporals, my spirituals, my body, my soul, all, all, as Thou wilt. I come not hither to seek my own will, but to conform myself to Thy will in all things, and to remain in that very state-neither more, nor less, nor otherwise-which best pleaseth Thy Divine Majesty.'

That is, our predominant passion.

7. That we must bring with us some theme, subject, or groundwork of our Prayer and Recollection.

As some mystery of our Saviour's Life, Death, Passion; man's last end; some vice to be conquered; some virtue to be obtained; some divine perfection to be admired; or some ejaculatory sentence to be so long dwelt and pondered on till our souls feel themselves inclined to quit all discoursing and acting, and to remain quiet in an exercise of pure faith and perfect resignation.

8. That we must look on God by faith, and leave off all discoursing.

This we must do when, conceiving by means of a lively faith that our Lord is in us and in all things, we humbly beg Him to teach us the holy lesson of divine love; and so, keeping ourselves in His presence, bidding good-night to all creatures, objects, and images whatsoever, we only and immediately eye the beloved object of our souls, and rest quietly, contentedly, silently, and sweetly absorbed into the Divinity.*

9. That we must carry God with us from our Prayer.

Let us not leave our dear Lord in the oratory when we rise from Recollection, but bear Him along with us. continually in our hearts, talking still with Him and of Him, eating and drinking in His company, sleeping with Him in our arms, working, walking, recreating, doing all things with Him, in Him, for Him, and ever

See notes to Maxim 3 and 4.

praying to Him, and praising Him Whom we have with us and within us in the closet of our souls.

10. That we must put on Christ and imitate His example in all our actions.

Our Saviour Christ is our Master; let His life therefore be our model, and His practices the patterns which we always study to express and imitate. Let us comfort ourselves in eating, drinking, sleeping, speaking, praying, and doing all things as we conceive Christ did, or would do upon the like occasions if He were now living upon earth in His humanity. Let us study to have this rule-of-three always at our fingers' ends:1. To think as Jesus did. 2. To speak as Jesus did. 3. To do as Jesus did; so striving to become, as it were, a Jesus Christ by imitation.*

Thus briefly, we have the whole manner and method of this transcendent prayer and divine exercise of recollection to wit, 1. to go into some retired spot; 2. and there placing ourselves on our knees; 3. twice every

# This fiery love is perfect, and maketh the soul that is in love to imitate her Beloved, the sorrow-stricken God-Man, which is the perfection of all perfection. And because he who perfectly loveth another striveth to be transformed into him in his manners, and to do those things that are more pleasing unto him whom he loveth, so too he who loveth Jesus, the God-Man, endeavoureth to be transformed into Him and into His habits, and to do what is pleasing unto Him, and to be made like unto Him in his manner of living. The more perfect, then, a man is in his love of God, so much the more let him endeavour to do what He did, and willeth and commandeth and counselleth to be done, and to avoid all things that might be displeasing unto Him; and he ought to continue in this his whole life long, because the God-Man, as long as He lived in this world, lived in the continual and most bitter cross of penance.' Visions and Instructions of B. Angela of Foligno, p. 301.

day; 4. to make an act of pure intention; 5. to examine our consciences and produce acts of contrition; 6. and resignation; 7. then to think on the subject of our prayer; 8. leave off all discourses and look on God by faith; 9. carry God with us from prayer; 10. and, lastly, put on Christ by imitation. This is the short and secure way to divine Union and Deiformity, when faithfully performed, discreetly practised, and carefully accompanied with profound humility, perfect obedience, and an absolute submission to our spiritual director, as shall be more fully shown in the subsequent Maxims.

THE SIXTH MAXIM.

That for this pure, perfect, and transcendent Prayer no certain Rules can be prescribed.

THE ground of all prayer, even the purest, is—as hath been said-some mystery, some devout sentence, some virtue, or ejaculatory dart until our affection be moved. Now, if by continual introversion and special grace our wills be drawn irresistibly by the simple view of our beloved Lord, it is needless to use this ordinary

means.

When our affections are thus enkindled, they break forth into flames of love and aspiration. Then, the heat increasing, our prayer grows more inward, our sighs deeper, our love greater, our hearts more ardent in their desires of union, which is Active Contemplation: wherewith our souls, being overcome and drowned in their