Sweete thovghtes of Iesvs and Marie, or, Meditations for all the feasts of ovr B. Saviovr and his B. Mother togeither with Meditations for all the Sundayes of the yeare and our Sauiovrs Passion : for the vse of the daughters of Sion : diuided into tvvo partes / by Thomas Carre ...

Aspirations or prayers before receiuing culled out of S. Augustine.

COME, my deare Iesu; come ô thou light of my eyes, let me loue thee. Come ô thou solace of my hart, let me loue thee. Come ô thou life of my soule, let me loue thee. O my deare delight; my sweete consolation, my God, my life, my loue, my all. O thou onely desire of my hart, let me possesse thee alone. O thou loue of my soule, let me embrace thee; ô deare celestiall spouse, let me inioy thee. O soueraigne sweetnesse, and eternall beatitude of my soule, let me lodge thee, and locke thee vp in the center of my hart In that hart, which thou hast made to thy selfe, and for thy selfe, and it will not, it cannot rest saue in thee alone.

I loue thee, ô my deare Iesu, and I am still desiring to loue thee more and more. For in verie deade, thou art sweeter then any honie; more nourishing then any mil∣ke; more delicious then all that is delight∣full. O inflamed Loue, who art euer bur∣ning, and art neuer quenched, doe thou inflame me. Let me, I say, be wholy in∣flamed

by thee, that so I may wholy lo∣ue thee: For, alas, he loues thee too little who loues any thing with thee, which he loues not for thee.

Come, deare Iesu, come into my sou∣le, which thou thy selfe hast prepared to∣wards the receiuing of thee, through the desire wherwith it was inspired by thee. Enter into it, I beseech thee, and make it fit for thy selfe, that as thou hast made it, and redeemed it, thou maist also pos∣sesse it, and place thy selfe as a seale vpon it.

Giue me thy selfe, ô my God, restore thy selfe to me, for all thinges which are not my verie God are nothing to me. I loue thee: ô my god, I loue thee and if it be yet too litle, ah! make me loue thee more and more ardently.

Who am I, and who art thou, deare Lord? who am I, I say, that the King of heauen, the God that made me, should come to visite me? Alas, my Lord, I am not ignorant, but I loue. I am not pre∣sumtuous, but I loue. I euen quake to approach to thee; but alas without thee, I quite languish and dye. Great indeede is my miserie; yet infinitly greater is thy

mercy. And whither, my euer mercifull Lord, should my languishing Soule run from thee, but to thee?

O that I were able to receiue thee, with that humilitie, obedience, loue and fer∣uour that thy Sacred Virgine Mother con∣ceiued thee! O that I had the burning loue of an Angell, to receiue thee, the foode of Angells!

O thou spouse of my soule, come quickly unto me; Come, wound my hart with thy loue. Come take vp thy mansion, and re∣pose in my poore breast. Come, sweete Iesu, come away; delay noe longer; the hart which thou louest, is infirme, and languisheth for thy presence. Come health, come life, come thou onely desire of my soule.

Immediatly before receiuing, say.

O my soule! behold! thy spouse is coming▪ Goe out and meete him. He is thy Creatour, thy Lord, thy King, thy father, thy Pa∣stour, thy Phisitian, thy Crucified Loue, Iesus-Christ, who louingly payd downe his owne pretious bloud for thy ransome; and leaues himselfe wholy for thy foode.