The daily exercises of a Christian life or the interiour spirit with which we ought to animate our actions throughout the whole day: With an easy instruction for mentall prayer, translated out of French by I.W. of the Soc. of Jesus.

AN ACT OF RESIGNATION.

MY heart is prepared, my God, my heart is prepared, that your will, & not mine, be done in me, & by me, now, & for all eternity.

1. O God eternall; immense, & infinite, who are sufficient in your self, & stand in need of none of your creatures; how little does it import; whether I live or die, so I may ac∣complish your holy will, in which alone, true life consists! therefore, let it not be as I will, but as you please.

An acknowledgement of our no∣thingness.

2. To acknowledge the dependance

that I have of you, my soveraign Creatour, & openly to confess before heaven & earth, that you alone, are he that is; & that I, misetable crea∣ture, am he that is not; I embrace with an humble submission, the de∣struction of this corruptible being, & consent that by death, it should return to its first nothing, out of which you took it.

A restitution of our being into the hands of God.

3. O my Soveraign Creatour, will restore you the being you have given me, & for this end, I accept of death, in the manner that shall be most pleasing to you, & be most to your glory: Dispose therefore of your creature, & destroy this body of sin, in punishment of the offences, it has committed against your divine majesty: That this body may return to the earth from whence it came, but that my soul created after thy image, may return to your bosome.

An acknowledgement of Gods so∣veraig•• dominion over us.

4. O my God, thô my death be of it self, a thing of necessity, yet I am resolved for love of you, as far as possible, to make it a will-of∣fering: I rejoice that by it, I shall be out of a state & condition, any more to resist your Soveraign domi∣nion over me, as Liege Lord of all creatures; & I accept it as a just pu∣nishment of the ill use I have made of my free will, which you have given me.

How to receive death as a just punishment of sin.

5. Since death, O my God, is the punishment you have ordained for sin, 'tis with an humble & submis∣sive heart to the decree of your ju∣stice, that I accept it in the spirit of pennance, with all the pains, humi∣liations, & privations, which follow it, & in satisfaction of all the sins I have committed.

An offering of our Life to God.

6. Receive, ô my Saviour, the sacrifice that I make to your divine Majesty, of my bo dy & my life, which I offer as a victime sacrificed to your self. Unite it to that you offer'd for me upon the cross, & consume it with the fire of your divine love.

A desire to render to Iesus Christ, Death for Death.

7. O my divine Jesus, since that your love to me made you dye upon the cross for my salvation, is it not just, that with a good will I accept death, for love of you, in counter-change, as far as I am able, of that you indured for me. O why have I not a thousand lives, to give them all for this end, to acknowledge therby that you are my God!