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IMagine your self lying sick upon your death-bed, & that your good Angell is sent by God to give you notice of the irrevocable decree of your death; & that he says to you as Esaye did, to Ezechias, Isa: 38. Dispose of your affairs: because you shall dye & shall no longer live.
Prostrating your self as at the foot of your Crucifix, or before the bles∣sed Sacrament, beg with all your heart, the grace, & light of the holy Ghost; the help, & succour of the blessed Virgin, & of the Saints your Patrons, & of your good Angell, to maKe the following acts.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
With profound humility at the feet of Iesus Christ, as if he were pre∣sent in his sacred humanity, accuse your self to him, of all your sins, taking a short review of them; at the end of which, excite your soul to a lively & tender sorrow for them.
O my God prostrate before your soveraign majesty, I most hum∣bly beg pardon for the great contempt, & abuse I have made, of your holy graces, & of all the sins I have com∣mitted from my birth, in thought, word, or deed: I retract & disavow them, with my whole heart; Yes, o my God, 'tis from my whole heart that I detest, & disavow them, & wish, I had never committed them, not for fear of the punishment they deserve, but onely because I have by
them, offended your infinite goodness, which deserves to be loved above all things, & honoured by all creatures. O why is not my heart capable too, of an infinit sorrow, to blot out their guilt! But accept, o my God, in satisfaction of that sorrow which is wanting in me that which my Saviour had in the garden of Olives, & upon the cross, for the sins of the whole world in generall, & for mine in par∣ticular. Accept also for this effect, that sorrow & contrition, which all the Saints have ever had. Purifiy me from my secret sins, & pardon those I have committed by others, & despise not, o my God, an humble, & contrite heart, which hopes onely for pardon of its sins from your infinit mercy. In the 50. Psalm, you have promised, that when a sinner laments his sins, you will no longer remember his iniquities.
And if you please, o my God, to prolong my life, I make a firm pur∣pose, by the assistance of your holy grace, to amend particularly such & such faults, & thereby, endeavour to repaire what is past.
Having made these Acts, receive as an absolution, that which Jesus Christ, the soveraign priest gives you spiritually, applying to your self, his divine merits; after which, imagine you hear him say to you, as he did to S. Mary Magdelen;
Your sins are forgiven you; go in peace.
Say the 50. Psalm. Miserere mei &c: in the spirit of pennance.
O father Eternall, since you so lo∣ved the world, as to give your onely son for its redemption, I dare pre∣sume to hope from your mercy, the salvation of my soul; since you gave him, not to condemn us, but to save us, & for that end imposed upon him, the holy name of Iesus, Luk. 1.
O divine Jesus, be you my Jesus, & remembcr your own words, that you came not for the just, but for sin∣ners; Luk. 5. O my God, you will not the death of a sinner, but that he be converted & live; EZech. 18. Con∣vert me therefore, to your self, that
I may live an Eternall life.
Come divine spirit, repose in my soul with your 7. gifts, for to purify, justify, & sanctify it; consume in it, by the fire of your holy love, all that is yet earthly therein; & for∣tify it in this its last passage, against all the temptations of its enemies.
I protest my God before heaven & earth that I will dye in the faith & union of the holy Catholick church: I believe firmly all that it believes, & teaches, because you my God, who are the Eternall truth, have said, & revealed it; & that you are an infinite goodness & holiness that cannot deceive any one, an infinite wisdom, that cannot erre, & are moreover omnipotent: And from this very moment, I disavow, and detest all temptations contrary to it which the Enemy may suggest in the last moments of my life: I re∣turn you thanks with my whole heart for the great grace which you have done me, in making me of the numbe
of the children of your holy Church.
Recite the Apostles Creed Credo in Deum, &c: And making reflection upon every Article, protest, that you believe it.
O my God, thô for the enormity & inconceivable multitude of my of∣fences, I most justly merit hell yet confiding entirely in the merits of my Saviour Jesus Christ, & in the infinit greatness of your mercy, which can pardon more sins then I can com∣mitt, I cease not to hope for pardon, & for the grace to persevere in your love, to which, I consecrate the last moment of my life.
O my God, when shall this soul of mine being separated from my body, & from all creatures, be united per∣fectly to your self, & love you with that pure, & unchangeable affection, with which the blessed in heaven love you?
O, what is there I desire in haven, or what is it I desire on earth, butt
you, the God of my heart, my God, & everlasting portion of my felicity?
I have regarded all things as no∣thing, vile, & contemptible, to gain Jesus Christ.
O my God, I beg of you, grace & mercy for all the creatures you have redeemed with your precious blood, particularly for the true chil∣dren of your holy Church, & for those from whom I have received any displeasure, whom I pardon, my God, for love of you, as I desire you should pardon me,
O my God, my Creatour, & redee∣mer, my beginning, & my end, the onely soveraign object of my heart, O, what a longing desire have I to receive you, for to unite my self to you! come then into my soul, san∣ctify it, & replenish my heart with your graces, take possession of all its affections, to the end, that all the moments of my life that are yet be∣hind, may entirely be consecrad to your love.
Hearken to your good Angell, who invites you to eat the bread of life, & speaks to you, as that of Elias did to him; Arise, & eat, because you have a great journey still to make. 3. Kings. c. 19.
Imagine, that Jesus Christ, accom∣panied with the blessed Virgin, your good Angell, & the Saints your Pa∣trons, entring your chamber, to give you with his own hands, his sacred body, has he did to his Apostles in his last supper; & that he says to you, as he did to them, Take, eat, this is my body, which was delivered to death, to give you life.
Having adored him with all your heart, Salute him with the following words:
O my God, since you have said, that he who eats you, shall live eter∣nally, & shall not dye; Grant me
the grace, that by the reception of your sacred body, I may live onely in you, by you, & for you; & that quitting this mortall life, I may, by the force & vertue of this divine bread, arrive to heaven, where I may for ever, see, & enjoy your divine majesty.
Alas! from whence comes this hap∣piness to me, that my God should come to visit me?
Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter into my soul speak onely but a word, & it shall be healed.
Having received him, entertain your self amorously with him, make all your senses appear before him, & all your faculties, to make him, as it were, an oath of allegiance: renew the vows & promisses you have made, conjure him never more to leave you, & say to him, as the disciples going to Emmaus did, Stay with me, o Lord, for it is late, the evening of my life ap∣proacheth. Or with Simeon, Let now, o Lord, thy Servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen the authour of my salvation; Or with David, Althô I
walk in the middle of the shadow of death, I will feare no evill, because you are with me.
O my God, put your self as a seal upon my heart, to the end, that all earthly things may find no more en∣trance thereinto.
Unite this Communion, to that which this divine Saviour made before his death, & to all those which the most holy Virgin, & the Saints made during their lives; & also to all those which shall be made, to the end of the world, to supply the imperfections you have committed, in receiving this divine Sacrament.
Return God thanks, for the favour of receiving it, & for all those other graces which he has so liberally be∣stowed upon you, & invite all crea∣tures to bless, praise, & thank him for you? Reciting the. 117. Psalm;
Laudate Dominum omnes gentes, &c. or the Canticle, Benedicite omnia opera, &c.