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IT would be convenient you should take one day in the week, to vis•• the prisoners, or the poor in th•• Hospitall: but take care aboue a•• things, not do to these holy action either out of custome, & without a•• interiour spirit, or out of custome, & without an interiour spirit, or out o•• a pure naturall compassion, & there¦fore before you beging these vi∣sits,
1. Pass by some Church, & the••
demand the benediction of our Sa∣viour, & beg of him that he would animate you with the spirit with which he used himself to visit & comfort afflicted persons; & at the same time offer to him the action you are going to perform, & go to the place you design to visit, with modesty & re∣collection.
2. As soon as you are arrived there, look upon the poor & sick, as the images of Iesus Christ; salute their good Angells, & beg of them, to inspire you with good thoughts, so long as you shall be speaking with them.
3. And since they are not onely often ignorant of what belongs to the duty of a Christian, but always in affliction, entertain them always with some word of instruction, par∣ticularly, concerning confession & communion, and likewise of conso∣lation & compassion, letting them know that you take part in their sufferings, & giving them ho••es they shall one day receive a recompence for them in heaven.
4. Accompany your almes with an actuall desire to please God, & to assist Jesus Christ in his mem∣bers.
5. Shun all vanity & all rebound∣ings of self-satisfaction that may spring from this action, which you are to keep at secret as you can.
6. Overcome generously all she repugnance that you may have in approaching the poor sick persons, & the better to overcome your self, affect rather to approach the party, for whom you find your self to have the greatest naturall horror, provi∣ded his disease be not catching. Salute the blessed Sacrament, retur∣ning from your visit, & beg like a poor body, of Iesus Christ, a spi∣rituall almes for your soul, by the the particular tenderness he has for poor, & those that assist them.
8. In sin, eremember that the Almes done in this manner, is an excellent means to please God, & to blot out your sins, & to purify your heart from all engagements, to obtain for your selves suck particular favours as
God imparts to his freinds, & to gain the heart of Iesus Christ, to ••ppease the wrath of your Iudge, to obtain the vertues you want, & to correct your imperfections.
Wherefore make a resolution never to deny any poor body, since he pro∣cures far more for you towards the salvation of your soul, then you give him for the relief of his body.