 Days 18-20 of Think Well in It by Bishop Richard Cholliner. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. 18th day on the small number of the elect. Consider first those words of Christ. Many are called, but few are chosen, which contain a great and awful truth, frequently inculcated by the mouth of truth itself, from that profound lethargy into which the enemy has lulled them. This is one of those lessons, which he has laid down for the foundation of Christian morality. In his Divine Sermon on the Mountain, St. Matthew 7, 1314, where he exhorts us to enter in at the narrow gate, for broad is the gate, and wide is the way that leads to damnation, and many are they that enter by it. Oh, how narrow is the gate, and straight the way that leads to life, and how few are they that find it. Hence in the same sermon he declares that not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven, is, by a faithful compliance with the law of God and his gospel, without this he assures us that he will avail us nothing, even to have done miracles in his name. Many shall say to me on that day of judgment, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and cast out devils in thy name, and done many wonders in thy name, and then I will declare to them that I never knew you, depart from me ye wickers of iniquity. Good God, what will become of us if those that have even done miracles in thy name, shall nevertheless be excluded thy eternal kingdom. Consider secondly how many ways this frightful truth has been declared, or prefigured in the Old Testament. Of all the inhabitants of the earth, only eight souls, Viz Noah and his family, were preserved in the ark from the waters of the Deluge. Of the 6,000 of the children of Israel who came out of the land of Egypt, under the conduct of Moses, only two persons, Joshua and Caleb, entered Canaan, the land of promise, figure the apostle St. Paul expressly applies to us, Christians, 1 Corinthians 10, to the same effect the prophet Isaiah chapter 24, 13, 14, likens those that shall escape the divine vengeance to the small number of olives that is left on the tree after the fruit is gathered, or to the few bunches of grapes that are found on the vines after a well-gleaned vintage. Ah, Christians, hear then and obey the voice of your Savior, who bids you, St. Luke 13, 23, contend, that is, strive with all your force, to enter in at the narrow gate. For many, I assure you, shall seek to enter and shall not be able, because the generality of Christians, though they use some endeavors to enter, yet they do not strive with all their force. They are not thoroughly in earnest in their seeking, and therefore shall never find. Here again, with fear and trembling, the great apostle St. Peter, when he tells you that if the just will hardly be saved, where will the sinner appear? 1st Epistle, chapter 4, verse 18. O my soul, let us then take care, as the same apostle adminishes 2 Peter 1 by good works to make your election sure. And if others will go in crowds to hell, let us resolve not to go with them for company's sake. Consider thirdly, that though the Scripture has said nothing of the small number of the elect, yet that this is truth must appear evident to us if we compare the lives of the generality of Christians with the Gospel of Christ and His holy commandments. Without will to enter into life says our Lord, Matthew 19, keep the commandments. There is no other way to life everlasting. And the first and greatest of all the commandments is this. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. Matthew 22. Now, how few are there that keep this commandment. It is easy to say with the generality of Christians that we love God with our whole hearts. But what is the practice of our lives? Do not self-love, vain glory, sensuality, etc. On every occasion take place. If so, it is in vain to say we love Him above all things. And yet there is no salvation without this love. Think well on this. Besides, the Apostle James declares, Chapter 4, Verse 4, that whosoever will be a friend of this world, becomes an enemy of God. And Saint John, Epistle 1, Chapter 2, Verse 15, If anyone loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Nay, does not Christ himself declare that we cannot serve two masters, Matthew 6, 24. How then can we think to reconcile the conduct of the greatest part of those who call themselves Christians, whose whole study is to please the world and conform themselves to its false maxims, corrupt customs, and deluded vanities, with their expectation of the Kingdom of Heaven, which is not to be otherwise obtained, but by violence to ourselves, renouncing the sinful world, and by a life of self-denial and mortification. Consider, fourthly, how great a corruption is generally found even amongst the greatest part of true believing Christians, and from thence form a judgment of their future lot. How few are proof against human respects. The pernicious fear of what the world will say. Alas, what numbers sacrifice their eternal salvation to this accursed fear? By rather choosing to forfeit the grace of God than the false honor and esteem of this world. How many of those whose birth and fortune have advanced them above the level of their fellow mortals live continually in the state of damnation by a cursed disposition of never putting up with an affront, and of preferring their worldly honor before their conscience? Unhappy men, who by conforming themselves now to those false maxims of deluded worldlings will be trampled under foot by insulting devils for all eternity. How few masters of families are sincerely solicitous for those things under their charge. To see that instructions be not wanting, devotions be not neglected, et cetera, and that nothing scandalous or sinful lurk under the favor of their negligence or carnivores. And yet the apostle assures us and neglects the care of his family, he is worse than an infidel. 1 Timothy 5.8 How few parents effectually take care to bring up their children from their infancy in the fear of God, and to inspire into them an early horror of sin above all evils. Ah, what a double damnation will the greatest parts bring upon themselves by sacrificing these tender souls to the devil and the world, which they might have with so much ease have consecrated to heaven. And fine, not to run over all states of life in particular, is it not visible that injustice, impurity, pride, detraction, et cetera, everywhere reign among Christians, and that the number of those who live up to the gospel is indeed very small. Good God, have mercy on us and grant us grace to be of the number of the few that so we may be included in the number of the saved. 19. On mortal sin Consider first that there is not upon earth or even in hell itself a more hideous, filthy, abominable monster than mortal sin. A monster, the firstborn of the devil, or to speak more properly, the parent both of the devil and hell. There was not in the whole universe a creature more beautiful, more perfect, or more accomplished with all kinds of gifts, both of nature and grace. Then was the bright angel Lucifer and his companions, yet one mortal sin, and that only consented to and thought, changed them in an instant into ugly doubles, just objects of horror and abomination to God and man. What effect then think ye will sin have upon man who was but mere dust and ashes if it blasts so foully the stars of heaven? It was this monster, sin, who turned his parents out of paradise and condemned both of them and us their posterity to innumerable miseries and to both a temporal and eternal death. It was sin that drowned the world with the waves of the flood and daily crowds hell with millions of poor souls to be the fuel of endless flames. Good God, deliver us from this accursed evil. Consider secondly that sin is safe to his body, so consequently that body from which the soul has departed is dead. And like manner, as it is the grace of God which is the life of the soul, so that soul is dead which has lost her God and his grace by mortal sin. If then a dead carcass from which the soul has departed be so loathsome and frightful that few can endure to pass one night in the same bed with it, that thou canst endure to carry continually with thee the carcass of a soul dead in mortal sin which is far more loathsome and hideous. Ah, beg of God that he would open thy eye to behold thine own deplorable state and to test the hellish monster sin which thou has so long nourished in thy breast and which is alas the true cause of all thy misery. Consider thirdly what the soul loses by sin and what she gains in recompense of this loss. She forfeits the grace of God and the greatest of all treasures and in the loss thereof she loses God himself. She loses the fatherly protection in favor of God. She loses the dignity of a child of God and spouse of Christ. She forfeits her right and title to an eternal kingdom. She is stripped of all the gifts of the Holy Ghost. She is a child of hell and a slave of the devil spiritually possessed by him and with him liable to eternal damnation. This is all she gains by sin because the wages of sin is death. Romans 6 The death of the soul here and a second and eternal death hereafter. Our rich and sinners open your eyes to see and bewail your lamentable blindness and thus exchanging God for the devil. Heaven for Hell Sin is infinitely odious and testable in the sight of God as being infinitely opposite to his sovereign goodness. He hates it with an eternal and a necessary hatred and can no more cease to hate it than he can cease to be just. Hence, if the most just man upon earth were so unhappy as to fall into the least mortal sin he would in that instant become the enemy of God and were he to die in the guilt thereof he would certainly feel the weight of God's avenging justice for all eternity. Ah, Christians, never let us be so mad as to venture to wage war with God. Alas, how many dreadful judgments does he daily exercise upon sin and sinners? How many in punishment of sin are snatched away in the flower of their age by sudden and unprovided death? How many die in despair? How many after having long abused God's graces are given up in his sense and hardness of heart the worst and most terrible of all his judgments? Oh, let us tremble at the thoughts of so great a misfortune. Let us be convinced that there can be no misery so great as that which we incur by mortal sin and that we are more our own enemies and do ourselves more mischief by consenting to but one mortal sin than all the man upon earth and all the devils in hell could do to us or all to conspire together to do their worst because all they can do so long as we refuse consent to sin cannot hurt the soul whereas by consenting to one mortal sin we bring upon our own souls a dreadful and eternal death. Good God, never suffer us to be so blinded as to become thus the murderers of our own souls. Consider fifthly, O my soul, and tremble at the multitude of thy treasons against God by which thou hast so often provoked his indignation during the whole course of thy life. Alas, it is not too true that no sooner didst thou come to the use of reason than thou didst abandon thy king and thy God, under the wings of whose fatherly protection thou hast happily passed the days of thy innocence. Ah, how early didst thou fly away from the best of fathers and, like the prodigal son, wandering away thy substance in a strange land, hast thoughts in vain to satisfy thy appetite with the husks of swine. Recall to thy remembrance in the bitterness of thy soul all the years of thy past life and see what treasures of iniquity and thought word indeed will discover themselves to thy eyes. Consider how long thou hast unconcernedly sported on the brink of a dreadful precipice in the hair's breath betwixt thy soul and hell, and be confounded at thy past folly, admire and adore the goodness of thy God, and now at least resolve to embrace his mercy. 20th Day On the relapsing center consider first that if one mortal sin be so heinous a treason against the sovereign majesty of God, as we have seen in the foregoing chapter, if every such sin be an to our Lord, and the death of that unhappy sinner who is guilty of it, what must we think of the miserable condition of lapsing sinners, that is, of such Christians as are continually relapsing again and again into the same mortal sins after repeated confessions and solemn promises of amendment. Alas, what can we otherwise think but that by this method of life they are treasuring up to themselves which will in all appearance sooner or later draw down the dreadful vengeance of God upon their guilty heads, because by every relapse their crime is aggravated and their latter condition becomes worse than the former. Consider secondly the ingratitude, the perfidiousness, the contempt of God, of which the relapsing sinner is guilty, as often as after his reconciliation he returns like a dog to the vomit. He is guilty of the highest ingratitude in treading underfoot the grace of reconciliation by which he had been a little before raised from the dung hill of sin and even drawn out of the jaws of hell and by a distinguishing mercy restored to their friendship of God to the dignity of a child of God in air of heaven. He is guilty of a base perfidiousness in breaking the solemn promise he made to God in his confession. He is guilty of a notorious contempt of the divine majesty in banishing God from his soul after having invited him in and of introducing Satan in his place, and this after a full knowledge and experience of both sides. Good God, to put the whole universe in balance with the would be a most heinous affront since heaven and all the powers thereof, the earth and the seas and all things therein are less than a grain of sand if compared to the what then must we think of the unparalleled injury done thee by the relapsing sinner when putting thee and Satan in the scales he gives the preference to the devil. Consider thirdly the dreadful danger to which the relapsing sinner is daily exposed from the sword of the divine justice hanging over his guilty head which he has daily provoked by his ingratitude and insolence. Alas, we are all mortal. We either know the day or the hour that will be our last. Should we be surprised by death in the state of mortal sin, as millions have been, we are irrecoverably lost. If then it be madness at any time to risk eternity by consenting to mortal sin how much more to provoke the almighty by frequent relapses and a practice of abusing his grace and mercy at every turn. How would multitudes of souls have been thus betrayed into that dismal pit of never ending woe, where the worm never dies nor the fire is quenched unhappy wretches. They designed as little to damn themselves as any of us do, but God will not be laughed at. Consider fourthly another evil which the sinner who frequently relapses into the same sins has to just reason to apprehend is the insincerity of his past repentance, for in reality what appearance is there that his sorrow and resolution of amendment have been such as God requires, when after so many confessions he is still the same man. True contrition is a sovereign grief by which the penitent detests his sin above all other evils with a full determination and a firm resolution of never returning to it any more. Now how is it likely that the relapsing sinner detests sincerely his sin above all evils, with a firm purpose of amendment, when he is so easily prevailed upon by the first temptation to return to it again. Consider fifthly the remedies and means by which we are to be preserved from this pernicious evil relapsing into mortal sin. The first is to avoid the dangerous occasions which have or probably may draw us into the same sins. Without this care to fly the occasions of sin the strongest resolution of amendments will prove ineffectual as we daily see by woeful experience, for he that loveth the danger shall perish therein. Ecclesiasticus 3 No pretext of worldly concerns must here be put in balance with eternity. We must part with hand or eye sooner than lose our souls. Another main preservative against relapse is to labor by frequent prayer and diligent frequenting of the sacraments to suppress the unhappy dispositions that insensibly lead there unto. Figurously to resist the first moments to evil and to strive with all possible diligence to root out that wretched propensity to sin which former sins have left behind in the soul a how hard it is to maintain a castle where the enemy has already surprised the avenues and has a strong party within ready to open the gates to him. The third in chief remedy against relapse is for the penitent to nourish carefully in his heart a truly penitential spirit daily to renew his sorrow for his sins and to recount in the sight of God in the bitterness of his soul all his past iniquities daily to admire and adore that mercy which has borne with him so long and to value above all treasures that grace of reconciliation by which he is being drawn out of so much misery daily to beg of God with all the fervor of his soul sooner to take him out of this world than to suffer him anymore to die by mortal sin good God grant that this may be always the disposition of our souls. Amen Amen Days 18-20 Days 21-23 of Think Well in It by Bishop Richard Chaloner This Librox recording is in the public domain 21st day on doing penance for our sins Consider first these words of Christ Luke 13, 3, and 5 Accept ye, do penance ye shall all perish behold, here is a general rule, nor does our Lord make any exception. Penance then is necessary first for those whose conscience accuses them of mortal sin Alas, such as these must either do penance for their sins or burn for them for all eternity Poor sinners their state is most deplorable they are playing upon the brink of hell and every moment one or another of them is tumbling into that bottomless pit and it is possible they should be unconcerned under so great and evident a danger why then do they not lay hold of the grace of penance, the only plank that can save them from shipwreck the only means left for the salvation of their souls. Secondly penance is necessary for all those who though their conscience accuses them not at present yet have in their past life been guilty of such mortal offenses. Ah Christians one mortal sin is enough for us to do penance during all our life and how can we do less if we consider what mortal sin is what it is to have been the enemies of God what it is to have been under the sentence of eternal damnation and never to know for certain whether this sentence has been cancelled is not this efficient to obligate us to a penitential life can we otherwise pretend to be secure even in these and God best knows how few they are who are not conscious to themselves and having committed such a sin in their whole life must therefore think themselves exempt from the obligation of doing penance as well because of their own hidden sins as of those which they may have occasioned in others for no man knows whether he be worthy of love or hatred Ecclesiasticus 8 verse 9 as also because a penitential life is the very best way against sin which will insensibly prevail over us if not curbed by self-denial mortification and penance consider secondly that as in the method of penance different rules must be prescribed to different persons those who have the misfortune to be actually in the state of mortal sin or what is still more deplorable are plunged in the depth of a habit of one or more kinds of mortal sin as soon as their eyes are open to discover the hellish monster which they carry about with them must, like the prodigal child, arise without delay and return to their father a sacrifice of a contrite and humble heart is what God above all things requires at their hands this ought to be the sole foundation of their penance without this, corporal austerities will be of small amount such sinners ought to allow themselves no respite so they have made their peace with God their sins ought to be always before their eyes their first thoughts in the morning ought to be upon their misfortune in being at so great a distance from God enslaved by the devil and liable to be his companions in eternal misery the like ought to be their last thoughts at night when, like the penitent David they ought to wash their beds with their tears as often as they appear before their God in prayer it ought to be in the spirits that themselves is unworthy to lift up their eyes to heaven or towards the altar of God and with him striking their breasts with a lord be merciful to me a sinner thus will they certainly obtain mercy from him who is the father of mercy consider thirdly that after the sinner has done his best endeavors to seek a reconciliation with his offended God by a sincere repentance and a confession of his sins he must not think himself exempt from any other penance as if he had now no just debt to discharge to the justice of God nor obligation of making satisfaction for his sins by penitential works or of bringing forth fruits worthy of penance this would be a great and dangerous error nor must he content himself with barely acquitting himself of the penance enjoined by his confessor which is it is to be feared seldom sufficient to satisfy the justice of God alas if sinners were truly sensible of the enormous injury done to God by mortal sin as true penitents must be they would certainly do penance in another manner than too many do they would be more an earnest in chastising their sinful flesh by penitential works and thus making a more proportional satisfaction for their past treasons consider fourthly that the true manner of doing penance for our sins is more learnt from the holy fathers and doctors of the church than from the loose maxims of worldlings or the practice of too many penitents in this degenerate age let us give ear then to those lights of the church and follow their direction on this important subject God himself has taught us as Saint Cyprian in what manner we are to crave mercy of him he himself says return to me with your whole heart in mourning let us then return to the Lord with our whole heart let us appease his wrath by fasting weeping and mourning as he admonishes us let the greatness of our grief equal the heinousness of our sins we must pray earnestly we must pass the day and morning and the night in watching and weeping spending all our time in penitential tears our lodging should be on the floor strewed with ashes strewed with cloth etc after having cast off the garment of Christ we should not now seek any worldly clothing we must employ ourselves now in good works by which our sins may be purged away we must give frequent alms by which our souls may be delivered from death so far Saint Cyprian with whom agrees Saint Pation in his exhortation dependence if anyone call you to a bath you must pronounce all such delights make what you must say such imitations are for those that have not had the misfortune to lose their God but I have sinned against the Lord and am in danger of perishing eternally what have I to do with feasts that have offended my God you must make your courts to the poor you must beg the prayers of widows you must cast yourself at the feet of the priests you must implore the intercession of the church you must try all means which may prevent your perishing or your lasting and Saint Ambrose in the second book of penance chapter 10 can anyone imagine that he is doing penance whilst he is indulging his ambition in the pursuit of honors whilst he is swallowing wine etc the true penitent must renounce the world must abridge even necessary time of sleep must interrupt it with his sighs and cut it short with his prayers and Saint Caesarus of Arles homily 8 the sick or those that are in prison or reconcile together those that are adverting us with each other as often as we fast on days commanded by the church give alms to the poor that pass by our door etc by these and such like works our small sins are daily redeemed but this alone is not enough for capital crimes we must add tears, lamentations and long fasts and give alms to the utmost of our power thus as the same saint tells us by present mortification will be prevented the future sentence of eternal death thus by humbling the guilty will the guilty be consumed and by this voluntary severity the wrath of a dreadful judge will be appeased these short penitential labors will pay off those vast debts which otherwise everlasting burning will never be able to discharge Christians, let us follow and practice these excellent guides in today, against a lay of repentance consider first that of all the deceits by which Satan deludes sinners to their eternal ruin there is none greater or more dangerous than when he persuades them to put off the repentance and conversion from time to time till no more time remains for repentance alas thousands and eight millions of poor souls have been thus betrayed into everlasting flames who never deigned to dam themselves by dying in sin any more than we do at present but by putting off their conversion they have by a just judgment of God being at last surprised by death when they least expected it and by dying as they lived have been justly sentenced to that second and everlasting death unhappy wretches who would not believe their just judge who so often cautions them to watch and declares in the gospel that otherwise he shall come at a time when they least expect him how dreadful and how common are these unprovided deaths consider secondly the great presumption of sinners who put off their reconciliation with an offended God till another time shutting their ears to his voice by which he calls them at present and refusing him entrance into their hearts where he stands and knocks alas if he withdraws himself they are undone forever how dare they then treat him with so much contempt is it not an infinite goodness an inexpressible condensation in this sovereign majesty to call after them whilst they are running from him and so eagerly to press them without any interest on his side to return to him who is their only good and supreme happiness what then ought they not to apprehend from his justice to embrace his mercy how dare they pretend to dispose of their time to come or promise themselves greater graces hereafter than those which they now abuse do they not know that God alone is master of time and grace and that by his just judgment those who presume to tempt him in this manner generally speaking die in their sins odd is too true that he who has promised pardon to the sinner that is sincerely converted to the most time nor efficacious grace to those who defer their conversion consider thirdly the great folly of sinners who put off their conversion to God till another time under pretense of doing it more easily hereafter whereas both reason and experience make it evident that the longer they defer this work the more difficulties they need to compass it and how can it be otherwise since by this delay these sinful habits gather strength the devil's power over them increases and God who is daily more and more provoked is by degrees less liberal of his graces so that they become less frequent and pressing till at length by accusting themselves to resist his grace they fall into the wretched state of blindness and hardness of heart the broad road to final impenitence consider fourthly the unparalleled madness of those who defer their conversion upon the confidence of a death bed repentance designing to put a cheat upon the justice of God by indulging themselves in sin all their lifetime and then making their peace with God when they can sin no longer unhappy wrenches consider that God is not to be mocked that what a man soweth the same shall he reap Galatians 6.6 the general role is that as a man lives so he dies a role so general that in the whole scripture we have but one example of a person who died well after a wicked life there is the good thief an example so singular in all its circumstances as to give no encouragement to sinners who entertain a premeditated design of cheating the justice of God by a death bed conversion how dreadfully difficult must it be for the dying sinner in whom the habit of sin is by long custom into a second nature to attain to a thorough change of heart sincere sorrow and destation of sin, love of God above all things which he never thought of in his lifetime which now becomes indispensable necessary how deceitful are those tears which are often shed by dying sinners as may be seen in the case of King Antiochus who being wholly influenced by the fear of death prevailed not with the just judge to be so much danger even when tears are plentifully shed what must there be when, as it commonly happens either the dullness and stupidity caused by the sickness or the pains and agonies of the body and mind are so great as to hinder any serious application of our thoughts to the greatest of all concerns for if a headache be enough to hinder us from being able to pray with devotion what an obstacle to prayer must not the agonies of death be better than that the saints and servants of God make so little account of those deathbed performances especially since as we see by daily experience that those who made the greatest show of repentance when they were in danger of death no sooner escaped that danger but are still the same men they were before O Christians let us not then be imposed upon by the false and flattering discourses who are so free and pronouncing favorably of all those who after a life spent in sin make some show of repentance at their death let us rather tremble at the deplorable case of such souls and remember that the judgments of God are very different from those of men 23rd day on time and eternity consider first how precious a thing time is which we are apt to squander away as if it were no value time is the measure of our lives and as much as we lose our time so much of our life is absolutely lost time is given us in order to gain eternity and there is not one moment of time in which we may not work for eternity and in which we may not store up immense and everlasting treasures as many therefore as we lose of these precious moments are so many lost eternities the present is the only time of working it is the only time we can call our own and God only knows how long it will last it is short it flies away in an instance and when once it is gone it cannot be recalled the very moment in which we are reading this line is just passing never know never more to return every hour is posting away without stopping one moment till it be swallowed up in the immense gulf of eternity and as many of these hours are moments as are lost are lost forever the loss is irreparable learn hence on my soul to set a just value upon the present time learn to husband it well by employing it in good works consider secondly christian soul what thy thoughts will be at the approach of death of the value of time which thou make is so little account of at present what wouldest thou not then give for some of those hours which thou now looses in vanity and sin the dreadful anguish that will rack the dying sinner when seeing himself at the brink of a miserable eternity he shall wish a thousand times but in vain that he could recall one day or even one hour of his past time and had but the same health and strength as he formerly had to employ it in the love of god and sincere repentance for his sins ah worldlings where are you then so blind as not to see that any one of these hours is indeed more valuable than ten thousand worlds consider thirdly what will be the sediments of the damned of the value of time when time shall be no more how bitterly will they regret during eternity all those hours, days, months, and years which were allowed them by the bounty of their creator during the space of this mortal life by the due employment of which they might have prevented that misery to which they are now irrequivably condemned and might have made themselves eternally and infinitely happy but alas they would not work whilst the time was whilst they had the daylight before them the night, the dismal and eternal night is now come in which it is too late to work and during which they shall eternally condemn their past folly and madness in neglecting and abusing their precious time ah Christians let us be wise at their expense what do you think will be the sediments of the blesseds in heaven of this precious time truly if it were possible and if their happy state could admit of such a thing as grief there is nothing those blessed souls would regret more than the loss of those moments which in their lifetime had not weaned well husband when they shall clearly see in the light of God what an immense increase of glory and happiness they might have acquired by the due employment of those precious moments consider fourthly that as all time is short and passes quickly away so all temporal enjoyments honors riches and pleasures of this world are all transitory uncertain and inconstant only eternity and the goods or evils which it comprises are truly great as being without end without change without comparison emitting of no mixture of evil in its goods nor any alloy of comfort in its evils all the vanity of all temporal grandeur which must soon be buried in the coffin oh how quickly does the glory of this world pass away a few short years are more than anyone can promise himself and after that poor sinner what will become of these alas the worms will prey upon the body and the merciless devils on thy unrepentant soul thy worldly friends will forget thee the very stones in which thou hast got thy name engraved will not long outlive thee oh how true is that sentence vanity of vanities and all is vanity but to love God and to serve him alone it is thus only we shall be wise for eternity all other wisdom is but folly end of days 21 through 23 days 24 through 26 of think well on it by bishop Richard Chaloner the sleeper box recording is in the public domain 24th day on the presence of God consider first that God is everywhere present if I ascend into the heaven it says the psalmist Psalm 130 verse 8 thou art there if I descend into hell thou art there he fills both heaven and earth and there is no created thing whatsoever in which he is not truly and perfectly present in him we live in him we move our very being is in him as the birds wherever they fly meet within the air which encompass them on all sides and as the fishes swimming in the ocean everywhere meet with the waters so we wherever we are or wherever we go meet with God we have him always with us he is more intimately present to our souls than our souls are to our bodies alas my poor soul how little have we thought of this and yet it is an article of our faith in which we have been instructed from our very cradle let us seriously reflect on this truth for the future let us strive to be always with him who is always with us consider secondly that God being everywhere sees us wherever we are all our actions are done in his sight our very thoughts even the most secret motions and dispositions of our hearts cannot be concealed from his all seeing eye in vain does the sinner see himself in his crimes saying like the libertine mentioned by the wise man ecclesiasticus 23 that darkness encompasses him and walls cover him and no one sees him whom he fears alas the eyes of the Lord are infinitely brighter than the rays of the sun and no darkness clouds walls or curtains can screen us from his piercing sight which penetrating clearly sees the very center of our soul and no wonder he should clearly see what passes in the place where he is always present consider thirdly that God who is in all places and in all things is everywhere whole and entire because he is indivisible he is everywhere with all his majesty attributes and perfections we have then within us oh my soul the eternal immense omnipotent self-existing and we are with this infinite being who accompanies us wherever we go he is in all places by his omnipotence to which all things are subject what then have his friends to fear he is everywhere with his infinite justice how then can his enemies be secure he is everywhere infinitely good to his children his love and kindness to them surpasses that of the most tender mother his providence watches over them his wisdom wonderfully disposes of all things for their greater good oh what comfort then must this thought of the presence of God afford his servants and those that truly fear and love him consider fourthly that God existing in all places requires of us that we should everywhere take notice of his presence can there be any object more worthy of attention and shall we then be so unfortunately blind as to amuse ourselves with every trifle that falls in our way and let God the sovereign beauty and sovereign good pass unregarded let us never regret being alone since we always have in our company the infinite being the sight and enjoyment of whom is the eternal felicity of angels what if we see him not with our corporal eyes is he the less present but have we not more noble eyes vis the eyes of understanding which assisted by divine faith ought to contemplate God always present in the very midst of us the sweetest repose is to be found in him all other recreations are vain when compared to this consider fifthly that God being everywhere present it is requisite that we should comport ourselves interiorly and exteriorly in such a manner as becomes those who are standing in his sight the very presence of a person for whom we have a respect is sufficient to restrain us from doing anything trivial or indecent and shall not the presence of the infinite majesty of God in comparison with whom the greatest monarchs of the earth are less than nothing restrain us in that exterior modesty and interior reverence which are so justly his do ought we not even to annihilate ourselves in the sight of this immense divinity but oh my God how far are we from these dispositions as often as we dare to sin in thy almighty presence and fly in the face of thy sovereign majesty alas my poor soul how much should we be ashamed to have our sins known to such persons whose esteem we covet we would be ready even to die with confusion to have them known to the whole world we would be very unwilling to have our vain and ridiculous amusements though otherwise innocent late open to the eyes of our neighbors and why will we not consider the all seeing eye of our great God which is always fixed upon us and discerns all that passes in the most secret closet of our heart why will we not reflect that our evil thoughts being known to God is indeed a greater shame a greater loss of our true honor than if they were published by the sound of trumpet over the universe consider sickly that God being everywhere present everywhere requires our love he is everywhere infinitely amenable beautiful good perfect sometimes and in every place infinitely good to us why then do we not love him who is all love God is love says st. John chapter 4 we have this loving and most lovely God continually with us and within us why do we not run to his embraces he is a fire that ever burns in the very center of our souls how then comes it to pass that we feel so little of its flames it is because we do not approach it it is because we do not restrain our thoughts at home attentive to the great guest who resides within us but suffer them continually to wander abroad upon vain created amusements turn away my soul from all these worldly toys which keep thee at a distance from thy God Psalm 144 return then to him who is thy true and only happiness wherein him only thou will find everlasting repose 25th day and first on our savior in the garden of Gethsemane consider first how the son of God who came down from heaven and glowed himself with our humanity in order to be our priest and our victim and to offer himself a bleeding sacrifice for our sins to his eternal father was pleased to begin his passion by a bloody sweat and agony in the garden of Gethsemane the night before his death here having left the rest of his disciples at some distance and taking with him who before had been witnesses of his glorious transfiguration on Mount Tabor he begins to disclose to them that mortal anguish, fear, and sadness which oppressed his heart my soul saith he is sad even unto death Matthew 26 that is with a sadness which even now would strike me dead if I did not preserve myself in order to suffer still more for you sweet Jesus what can be the meaning of this that is a cry out speaking of thy passion and the desire that thou hadst of suffering for us I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized and how am I straightened till it be accomplished Luke 12 once then comes this present sadness was it not thou who has given such strength and courage to thy martyrs as not even to shrink under the worst of torments and art thou thyself afraid but oh dear lord I understand that it was by my own choice that thou has condescended to suffer thyself to be seized with this mortal anguish it was for my instruction that thou mightst suffer so much the more for my sake I adore thee under this weakness if I may be allowed to call it so no less than on thy throne of glory because it is here that I better discover thy infinite love for me consider secondly how our dear savior under this anguish and sadness but takes himself to prayer as the only refuge under afflictions the only shield in the day of battle but take notice my soul with what reverence he prays prostrate on the ground to his eternal father and with what fervor with a loud cry and tears says the apostle Hebrews 5.7 learn then to imitate him to apply his inferior part to perdition that the cup of his bitter passion might be removed from him but then he immediately added yet not my will but thine be done to teach us under all trials and crosses a perfect submission and resignation to the divine will consider thirdly how our savior interrupted twice his prayer to come and visit his disciples but found them both times asleep ah my soul and is it not thy case also to sleep that is to indulge thyself in a slothful sensual way of living whereas the whole life of thy savior was spent in laboring for thy salvation and all he then suffered he suffered for thee ah pity now at least his comfortless condition whilst on the one hand his father seems deaf to his prayers and on the other his disciples are too drowsy to afford him the least attention in this desolate state an angel from heaven appears to comfort him who is the joy of angels oh what humility but what kind of comfort think you did this angel bring no other but the representing to him the will of his eternal father and humbly in treating him in the name of heaven and earth not to decline the imparting to poor sinners by his infinite love the plentiful redemption for which he came into the world and to undergo the ignomies and torments of one short day's continuance with the prospect of promoting the salvation of mankind in the eternal glory and honor which the godhead should receive from his sufferings let the light consideration of the will of god his greater honor and glory and the good of thy own soul comfort thee also under all thy anguish and crosses there can be no comfort more solid consider fourthly the mortal agony which our savior suffered in his soul this night during his prayer we may judge if his pains and anguish the wonderful effect they produced in his body by casting him into so prodigious a sweat of blood as to imbue the very ground on which he lay prostrate sweet Jesus who ever heard of such an agony but what thinkest thou my soul was the true cause of all this anguish and the bitter agony of thy savior chiefly these first a clear view and a lively representation of all that he was to suffer during the whole course of his passion so that all the ignomies and torments that he was afterwards successively to undergo were now all at once presented before the eyes of his soul with all their respective aggravations by which means he suffered his whole bitter passion twice over once at the hands of his enemies and at the other time by his own most clear and lively imagination of all that he had to suffer but why dear Jesus these additional agonies his only thy love can answer another cause that contributed to our savior's anguish was a distinct view of the sins of the whole world from the first to the last of the horrid crimes and abominations of mankind all now laid to his charge to be cancelled by the last drop of his blood ah how hideous how detestable were all these hellish monsters in the eyes of our savior who alone had a just notion of their enormity and always before him a clear sight of the infinite majesty by them offended oh lord how great a share has not my sins had in this tragical scene how much alas did they contribute to thy pains and grief a third cause of our savior's agony was the foreknowledge he had of the little use Christians would make of all his sufferings he foresaw that blindness and hardness of heart into this antidote into a mortal poison and tread his blood under their feet as well as the eternal loss of so many millions of souls for which he was to die all these sad and melancholy thoughts assailing at once the soul of our redeemer cast him into a mortal agony and forced from him those streams of blood ah Christians pity now the anguish of your savior and resolve never more to have any hand tender soul by sin 26th day on our savior in the court of Caiaphas consider first how our savior arising from his prayer after having conquered all his fears returns to his disciples bidding them now sleep on and take the rest for that his hour was come and that the traitor was just at hand but thou, dear lord when wilt thou enjoy rest or peace not till the last sleep of death on the hard bed of the cross contemplate Christians the courage and readiness which our savior shows to suffer for you by going forth to meet the traitor and his band behold with what meekness he receives the treacherous kiss of peace and yet to make it evident that no power upon earth could arrest him but with his own free will with the force of two words egosum I am he he struck down the whole multitude that was come to apprehend him making them all real backward and fall to the ground after which he delivered himself into their hands and they having bound him dragged him along into the city whilst his disciples fled and abandoned him leaving him in the hands of his enemies who presented him first before Anais the father-in-law of the high priest where he was struck by a vile servant who struck him on the face from thence they led him to the court of Caiaphas where the chief priests and the elders were assembled longing to see this new prisoner before them determined right or wrong to make away with him follow thou the savior o my soul now abandoned by all his friends contemplate this meek lamb loaded with their scoffs and insults in the midst of ravenous wolves but carry the eyes of thy understanding still farther view the interior of his soul and see the joy and satisfaction he takes in complying with the will of his eternal father in suffering for thee and learn from thence to have the like dispositions and all thy sufferings consider secondly how our lord was no sooner brought to the court of Caiaphas the high priest where the great council of the Sanhedrin were assembled but immediately after a scornful welcome they proceeded to his trial and call in the false witnesses who were to dispose against him but behold the providence of God see the force of truth and the wonderful innocence of this lamb of God notwithstanding the malice of this impious court and their witnesses men of neither honor nor conscience yet all that they could allege against him was either insignificant or they could not agree in their story which made their testimonies of no weight but whilst thou adorest this providence behold and admire the meekness and patience of thy Savior who remain silent under all the provocations given by these false witnesses giving thereby a most convincing proof of his being more than a man who could thus calmly hold his peace whilst his reputation and life were both attacked by palpable columnies the malice of our Savior's enemies being thus confounded the high priest arises and ensures him to live in God to tell him whether he was the Christ the Son of God and reverence to which adorable name our Lord made a solemn confession and profession of the truth teaching by his example all his followers when called it to be the like trial never to be ashamed of him or his faith upon this Caiaphas rins his garments crying out blasphemy and they all pronounced him worthy of death but thou my soul let us on the contrary in all the elect of God revelation 512 the lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power and divinity and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and benediction from all creatures forever consider thirdly how the unjust sentence against our redeemer was no sooner pronounced by the great council but immediately they all with unheard of barbarity fell upon him more like furies of hell than men discharging upon him all kinds of injuries rose affronts and blasphemy see my soul how these hellhounds spit in the face of thy savior and disgorge their filthy flim on that sacred forehead where beauty and majesty sit behold how they buffet kick and strike him merciless rage whilst he with his hands tied behind him is not able to ward off one blow nor has any friend present to wipe his face or afford him any other help see how they muffle up his face with a filthy rag and then in derision as if he were a mock prophet or imposter at every blow bid him prophesy who it was that struck him besides many other affronts which he endured with an invincible patience and fortitude consider fourthly that of all our savior's sufferings in the court of Caiaphas none touched him so much to the quick as the fall of Peter the chief of his apostles who had received the most signal favors from him who after having boasted that very night that though all the rest of his disciples should abandon their master he would never forsake him and that he would sooner die with him than deny him yet behold the weakness and inconstancy of human nature at the voice of a silly maid he immediately denies his master repeats his denial a second a third time and even asserts with oaths and implications that he never knew the man sweet jesus what is man alas oh lord look to me and support me by thy grace or I also shall deny thee the causes of Peter's fall were first the secret pride and presumption upon his own strength secondly a neglect of the admonition of our savior in sleeping when he admonished him to watch and pray thirdly in exposing himself to the danger by running into ill company beware that the delight causes do not produce the like effects in thee but he leading the also to deny and even crucify the lord by sin learn to imitate the speedy repentance of this apostle who immediately after his fall going out wept bitterly a practice which it is said he ever after retained as often as he heard the crock grow consider fifthly how the high priest inscribes after having pronounced sentence of death against our savior retired to take their rest leaving him in the hands that were not likely to suffer him to take any rest in the midst of such a rabble who to gratify their own cruelty and the malice of their masters repeated over and over again that scene of inhumanity which they had begun while their masters were present loading him with all kinds of outrages and blasphemies so that we may boldly affirm that one half of what our savior suffered on that night will not be known till the day of judgment all which insolence he not only bears in silence but even whilst they are abusing him he prays for them excusing them to his father and offering up all his sufferings in atonement for their sins sweet Jesus give us the grace to imitate the end of days 24 through 26 days 27 through 29 of think well on it by Bishop Richard Chaloner this sleeper varch recording is in the public domain 27th day our savior is brought before Pilate and Herod consider first how early in the morning notwithstanding their late sitting up the high priest and his fellows in iniquity convene a more numerous assembly of the Sanhedrin and there again put the same question to our savior whether he was the son of God and receiving the same answer confirm their former sentence yet as they did not think it's safe for themselves being subjects of the Roman Empire to put this question in execution without the consent to Pontius Pilate the governor they determined to carry him to Pilate and by his authority to have him crucified a kind of execution which their malice made choice of because it was at the same time most ignominious as being only for vile slaves and notorious criminals and most cruel as being a long and lingering death under the sharpest and most sensible torments come now, O Christian soul and contemplate thy savior whilst he is hurried along the streets with his hands bound from the house of the high priest to the court of Pilate attended by the whole council and their wicked ministers publishing aloud as they go along that now all his imposters were late open his hypocrisy discovered and himself convicted of blasphemy behold the giddy mob who a little before reverenced him as a prophet now all on a sudden join with his enemies following him with uproborious shouts and insults as he passes along the highway and discharging a thousand kind of injuries and affronts upon him consider secondly and view the judge of the living and dead standing with his hands bound as a criminal at the bar of a petty governor and behold the process the chief priests and the princes of the people having delivered him up and Pilate demanding what particulars they had to allege against him they made no scruple of inventing fresh columnese viz that he was a factious insidious man a traitor and rebel to the government who had forbid tribute to be paid to Caesar and set himself up for king of the Jews once more take notice of the invisible patients of thy savior in hearing with silence such notorious falsities as these laid to his charge and so much that the governor was astonished that a man could be silent under such accusations which aimed at nothing less than procuring his condemnation to the worst of deaths however as he plainly saw through all the disguise of the high priest and scribes he interpreted this silence in favor of our savior only hesitating a little at the word king and having received full satisfaction upon that head by being given to understand that the kingdom of our savior was not of this world and therefore not dangerous to Caesar's government he determined to set him at liberty admire the force of innocence which could even move a heathen and one of the worst of men such as Pilate was and ensure thyself that speaking generally patients in silence are a thousand times better proofs of thy innocence than returning injury for injury and making an approprious and glamorous defense consider thirdly how Pilate being convinced of our savior's innocence and desirous of setting him at liberty met with an obstinate resistance from the malicious princes and deluded people and therefore understanding that our savior as being an inhabitant of Galilee belonged to the jurisdiction of Herod the tetrarch thereof he from thence took occasion to rid himself of their importunity by sending him to Herod accompany thy lord, oh my soul in this new stage of his incomparable meekness whilst he passes through the streets lined on each side with an insulting multitude and echoing with their reproaches and calamars Herod rejoiced at his coming in hopes to seize some miracle and therefore put a thousand questions to him whilst the princes of the Jews with unwaryed malice were repeating all their false accusations against him but our lord was still silenced nor would he satisfy the curiosity of Herod nor do anything by which he might incline this prince to free him from that death which he so ardently desired as being by the decrees of heaven the only means of our redemption blessed by all creatures be his goodness forever consider fourthly how Herod provoked by our saviors not consenting to gratify his inclinations of seeing a miracle sought to revenge himself by treating him with mockery and scorn by posing him to the scoffs of his guards by ordering him to be clothed in contempt with a white garment as with a fool's coat or perhaps as a mock king and in this dress sent him back again to Pilate attended in the same manner as he came with an insulting mob headed by the scribes and Pharisees stand amazed, my soul to see the wisdom of the eternal father treated thus as a fool and learn from thence not to repine or be solicitous about the judgment of the world consider fifthly how Pilate seeing our savior brought back again to his tribunal contrived another way to bring him off so as to give him at the same time a little offense as might be to the high priest and the chief of the Jews it was the custom of the nation on the day of their paschal solemnity which was celebrated that very day in the memory of their delivery from the Egyptian bondage to set at liberty one criminal for whom the people should petition wherefore Pilate taking advantage of this opportunity proposed to their choice our savior on one hand in Barabbas a notorious male factor robber and murderer on the other not doubting that they would rather choose to have the innocent Lamb of God released than that Barabbas the worst of criminals should escape due punishments not Pilate what outrageous affronts dost thou here upon the Son of God willst thou pretendest to favor him what must the Lord of life and immortality the king of heaven stand in competition with the vilest of men but the most notorious criminal that could be pitched upon must it be put to the votes of the mob which of the two is the better man and which is the more worthy of death oh the unparalleled injury oh the incomparable humility of my savior oh king of glory will hast thou stooped to rise me up from the dung hill consider sickly if it was an intolerable affront to compare our savior with Barabbas what idea must we frame or what name must we give to that blind people's choice when they prefer Barabbas to Christ and desired that the latter might be crucified and the former acquitted behold oh my soul in this wonderful humiliation of thy Lord how deep and dangerous was the wound of pride which could not be cured by so great humility oh see if thine be yet cured examine thyself also whether thou hast not often been guilty like these blind Jews of preferring Barabbas to thy savior by turning thy back upon him for some petty interest or filthy pleasure if so thou art more inexcusable than they because thou knowest him to be the Lord of glory at the same time as thou persecutest him by sin whereas had they known him to be such they would never have preferred a Barabbas before him 28th day our savior is scourged at the pillar and crowned with thorns consider first how the Jews still continuing to cry out against our Lord and in a tumultuous manner to demand his crucifixion Pilate contrives another way to bring about his being sat at liberty is by striving to satisfy their cruelty in ordering him to be most severely scourged oh Pilate how cruel is thy mercy it is thus that thou treatest him whom thou declarest innocent is this thy justice but our sins oh my soul required that the Lord of glory should be thus cruelly treated and subjected to this ignominiest punishment but common slaves or the meanest wretches are liable and to which a Roman citizen should upon no account be condemned stand thou my soul and see in what manner this sentence be executed behold how the bloody soldiers lay their impious hands on this meek lamb of God how they strip off all his clothes and tie him naked fast to a stone pillar see how they discharge upon his sacred back in shoulders innumerable stripes and scourges behold the blood come spouting forth on all sides see how his body is all over rent and mangled by their cruelty and the flesh laid open to the very bones behold his enemies all the while insulting over him and rejoicing at his torments whilst he with eyes cast up towards heaven is offering up all he suffers for their sins and for those of the whole worlds us sinners take a serious view of your redeemer's condition and contemplating in his torn and mangled body the malice of sin learn to detest this hellish monster which has brought on the son of God all these sufferings consider second how these bloody ruffians by their cruel scourging have made but one wound of our Savior's body from head to foot loose him at last from the pillar leaving him to put on his clothes as well as he could Christians have compassion now on your Savior's abandoned condition who has no one to lend him a helping hands to bind up his gaping wounds or staunch the blood that comes flowing from them all present yourselves now and offer him what service you are able offer at least to a system in putting on his clothes to cover his green wounds from the cold air but oh how rough are these woollen clothes to his wounded back alas instead of affording him any ease or comfort they do but increases sores by rubbing upon them consider thirdly how these merciless soldiers had scare given our Savior a short respite after his scourging when they were pushed on by the devil to act another scene of cruelty such as never was heard of before or since and that was to make themselves a barbarous sport in crowning him a king therefore they drag him into the court of the Praektorium and assemble together the whole regiment then violently strip him again of all his clothes which now begin to cleave to his wounded body set him on a bench or stool throw about him some old ragged purple garment twist a wreath of long hard and sharp thorns and press it down in a sacred head put in his hand a reed for a scepter then in derision one by one they bend their knees before him with the scornful salutation hail king of the Jews they spit in his face buffet him and taking the reed or cane out of his hand strike him with it on the head driving the thorns deeper in whilst the blood trickles a pace from the many wounds which he receives from their points sweet Jesus shall we hear say or which shall we most admire the malice of these ministers of Satan or thy unparalleled charity which made the undergo such unheard of reproaches and torments for ungrateful sinners plus it be thy goodness forever consider fourthly how Pilate hoping now that the rage and malice of the Jews would be satisfied so as to insist no longer upon our Saviour's death after they should see with how much cruelty and contempt he had been treated in compliance to their fury lends him forth in the same condition with the crown of thorns on his head and the ragged purple on his shoulders and from an eminence shows him to the people saying echa homo behold the man behold in what manner he has now been handled cease then any longer to seek his death let his body mangled from head to foot bespeak your pity and thou, O Christian soul, behold the man with other kind of eyes than these heart-hearted wretches and see to what a condition thy sins and his own infinite charity have reduced him behold his head crowned with a wreath of sharp thorns piercing on all sides his sacred flesh and entering into his temples with excessive pain behold his face quite disfigured with blows and quite piss-mirrored with spittle and blood and, mainly, rent and torn with whips and scourges and now covered with a hard ragged garment rubbing and at each moment increasing his wounds and then look up and contemplate him upon his throne of glory and see what return thou canst make him for having thus annihilated himself for love of thee he desires no more of thee than an imitation of his patience and humility learn then in what manner 29th day our Savior carries his cross and is nailed to it consider first how the malice of the Jews no way relenting at the sight of the Lamb of God bleeding for the sins of the world but continuing still in a tumultuous manner to demand that he might be crucified pilot at last yields to their importunity and against his own conscience sentences our Savior to the death of the cross as it never been your misfortune by the like cowardice to condemn your Savior and his doctrine and basely to renounce in the practice of your lives the maxims of the Gospel for fear of what the world will say as not too often a much weaker temptation than the fear of losing Caesar's friendship induced you to crucify again the Son of God be confounded and repent consider secondly that this sentence of death how unjust so ever from Pilate yet as being most just from his eternal Father and necessary for our salvation was received with perfect submission charity and silence by our blessed Redeemer who there upon was immediately stripped again of his purple garments clad with his own clothes a heavy cross of the length and size proportional to the bearing of a man laid on his wounded shoulders his associates and to be executed with him to verify the prophecy with the wicked he was reputed Isaiah 53 come now devout souls and take a view of our Lord in this his last progress or procession a crier leads the way publishing aloud the pretended crimes and blasphemies of this never heard of mal-factor then follow the soldiers and executioners with robes, hammers, nails, etc after whom goeth or rather creepeth along our high priest and victim all bruised and bloody with a thief on each hand and a cross on his shoulders dragging it forward step by step followed and surrounded on all sides by the priests and the scribes and the whole mob of people cursing and reviling and scoffing at him whilst the cruel executioners are hastening him forward with their kicks and blows now at least take pity on your Savior's sufferings and add not to his load by your sins consider thirdly how our blessed Lord having for some time with unspeakable labor and torment carried his cross through the streets at last falls down under its weight unable to carry it any further wonder not my soul at this since besides the load of the cross oppressing his worried body wounded in every part despite the loss of so much blood his Heavenly Father has laid upon his soldiers another more insupportable weight viz that of the sins of the whole world ah Christians it is under this untold burden that our Savior faints and falls down nor is he any way eased of this merciless load by Simon the sireen who was compelled to take up the cross but bore no part of the weight of our iniquities all of which the Heavenly Father laid upon his beloved son to be cancelled by his blood and death oh infinite goodness of the Father oh infinite charity of the Son to do and suffer so much for wretched man oh my poor soul see thou never more be ungrateful to so loving a God consider fourthly how our Savior being now arrives at Mount Cavalry quite weary and spent the ministers of hell still persecute him with unworried cruelty and whereas it was the custom to give the criminals that were to die a strengthening draught of wine seasoned with myrrh they contrived to mingle gall with the portion designed for him after which they violently strip him of his clothes which by this time clove fast again to his sores opening his wounds afresh and exposing him naked to shame and cold in the sight of an immense multitude draw nigh now my soul and see him again bleeding for the love of thee oh see how while the cross is preparing he falls upon his knees and offers himself to his eternal Father a bleeding victim to appease his wrath and kindled by thy sins consider fifthly how the cross lying flat on the ground they lay our dear redeemer stretched out upon it who like a meek lamb makes no resistance and first drawing his right hand to the place designed to fix it on they drive with their hammers a sharp gross nail through the palm forcing its way with incredible torment through the sinews, veins, muscles and bones of which the hand is composed into the hard wood of the cross in the meantime the whole body to favor the wound and the pierce sinews was naturally drawn towards the right side but was not long permitted to remain so for immediately these cruel butchers laying hold of his left arm and hand violently drag him towards the opposite side in order to nail that hand also to the place designed for it then pulling down his legs they fastened his sacred feet in like manner with nails to the wood and all this was such violence that it is thought with the force of stretching and pulling they very much strained his whole body and disjointed it in many parts verifying the prediction of the royal prophet they have dug my hands and feet they have numbered all my bones Psalm 21 Ah Christians, if the contracting or piercing of a nerve or sinew if the disjointing or displacing of a bone though never so small be so cruel a torture think of the torments which our savior endured in his disjointed body what must we think of what he suffered when his hands and feet where so many sinews, muscles veins and bones all meet were violently bored through with gross nails all let us never cease to admire a door and love his mercy end of days 27 through 29 days 30 and 31 of think well on it by Bishop Richard Chaloner the sleeper vox recording is in the public domain 30th day our savior on the cross consider first how the bloody executioners having now nailed our savior fast to the cross begin with ropes to raise him up in the air oh what shouts did his enemies make when he appeared above the people's heads with what blasphemies did they salute him whilst his most afflicted mother and other devout friends stood by pierced to the heart at the sight at length they let the foot of the cross fall with a sudden jolt into the hole prepared for it and thus he hung suspended in the air under the most excruciating tortures the weight of his body continually increasing the wounds in his pierced hands and feet without any resting place for his head but thorns or bed for his worried and wounded body with the hard wood of the cross consider secondly the infinite charity of our savior and the unparalleled malice of his enemies when in the midst of his torments he cries out father forgive them for they know not what they are doing they grin and shake their heads at him saying va, thou that destroy us the temple of god and rebuild us it again in three days save now thyself if thou art the son of god come down from the cross the common people and soldiers but also the chief priests and elders unite in loading him with a thousand such like reproaches and blasphemies which he hears and bears and patience and silence but oh who can tell us the interior employment of his blessed soul whilst he hangs upon the cross his thoughts of peace towards us his prayers for us the anguish and dreadful agonies of the interior part of his soul the expressible joy in the supreme part thereof and the glory of his father which was to arise from that painful redemption which he was then imparting to poor sinners consider thirdly the part of the blessed virgin mother bore in the sufferings of her son and how truly here was verified that prophecy of old simian that the sword should pierce her very soul oh how killing a grief must have oppressed the soul of this most tender unloving of all mothers who during the whole course of the passion of her dearest son whom she loved with an incomparable love was an eyewitness to all the injuries outrages and torments he endured blessed lady may we not truly say that the whips thorns and nails that pierce thy son's flesh made as deep a wound in thy virgin heart and that nothing less than a miracle could have supported thy life under such excess of pain but oh what a deep wound didest thou feel in thy soul when thy dying son recommended thee to his beloved disciple saint john giving to thee the son of zebedee in exchange for the son of god blessed virgin how gladly we acknowledge thee for our mother an honor conferred on such of us in the person of saint john oh through all thy sufferings remember us poor banished children of eve before the throne of grace Christians learn the admirable lessons taught to you by our blessed lady at the foot of the cross imitate her unshakable faith an undoubted hope perfect resignation, patience and fortitude all learn from her to love jesus and to test sin the true cause of his sufferings consider fourthly how all things seem now to have conspired against our dearest lord the thought of being forsaken by his father and the grief and presence of his mother pierce him to the heart as for his apostles one of them has betrayed him another denied him and the rest have abandoned him his friends and all those whom he had most favored and miraculously cured now either join with his persecutors or at least are ashamed of him his enemies insult him and triumph over him his own body by its weight is a torment to him but what of all afflicts him is the foresight of the ingratitude of Christians the little benefit they will derive from his death and passion and the eternal loss of so many souls redeemed by his precious blood ah sweet jesus suffer me not to be included in that unhappy number be so miserable as to join with thy enemies in crucifying thee by sin consider fifthly the lessons that our savior gives us by his last words upon the cross first a perfect love and charity to his enemies by praying for them and pleading their excuse with his eternal father father forgive them for they know not what they do oh let us learn from our dying redeemer this necessary lesson to love and pray for those that hate and persecute us and instead of aggravating excuse their crime and imputed to their ignorance oh how true is it of every sinner he knows not what he does otherwise he would never dare to fly in the face of infinite majesty he would never be so mad as to renounce heaven for a trifle and cast himself down the precipice that leads to hell secondly learn the efficacy of a sincere conversion humble confession of sins and the plenary indulgence given by our dying savior to the good thief amen I say unto thee this day thou shall be with me in paradise thirdly learn the filial devotion to the blessed virgin recommended to us as a mother by her son in the person of saint john behold thy mother fourthly learn the greatness of the interior anguish from these words my god my god why has thou forsaken me alas it was for no other reason but that poor sinful man might not be forsaken fifthly from that word of thy crucified jesus I thirst it is to be observed that our savior suffered two violent thirsts upon the cross the one corporeal proceeding from is having fasted so long suffered so many torments and shed so much blood the other spiritual in his soul by his vehement desire for our salvation but all cruel wretches who would grant him nothing but vinegar to quench his corporeal thirst and more cruel sinners who instead of satisfying his spiritual thirst by gratitude and devotion give him nothing but the gall of sin and vinegar of wickedness sickly from these words of our dying savior it is consummated learn to rejoice that the whole work of man's redemption is now perfected that the figures and prophecies of the law are fulfilled and the handwriting that stood against us is now completely cancelled by the blood of our redeemer seventhly from these last words of our expiring lord father into thy hands I commend my spirit learn both in life and death to commit thyself holy to god happy they that study well these lessons which their great master teaches from the chair of his cross thirty first day on the death of our savior consider first how our lord having spoken these last words father into thy hands I commend my spirit with a loud and strong voice leaning down his head in perfect submission to his father's will and perfect charity to us poor sinners to whom in this posture he offered as it were the kiss of peace breathe forth his pure soul and thus ended his mortal life which from the moment of his birth will now be nothing else but a series of sufferings and dirt for us he said now my soul and approach boldly to kiss the sacred feet of thy redeemer view his pale limbs count at leisure all his wounds and lament all thy sins for which he suffered such exquisite torments consider secondly in the passion of our savior the truth of those words which were delivered by him upon another occasion he that humble with himself shall be exalted and see how our lord having humbled himself to the death of the cross was even at that very time honored and exalted by his heavenly father and that many ways for during the time he hung upon the cross the sun for three whole hours which drew its light from the world and at his death the earth trembled the rocks were rent asunder and the monuments opened the veil of the temple which hung before the sanctuary was rent from top to bottom the people touched with these wonders went home striking their breasts and the centurion or captain of the guards publicly professed that this man whom they had crucified was truly the son of God rejoice so Christian soul to see thy savior's death thus honored and learn under all events to confide in God who will at last convert the malice of thy enemies to thy honor and advantage sit now down at the foot of the cross and there at consider thirdly and repeat in thy mind the multitude and variety of the sufferings which thy savior has endured for thee from his entrance into the garden of Gethsemane till his expiring on the cross view them one by one and now shall see that not one part of his sacred body which being the most perfect was to the same time the most sensible of pain of any that has ever been was free from its particular torment his head thorns his face defiled with spittle bruised and swollen black and blue with blows his hair and beard plucked and torn his mouth drenched with gall and vinegar his shoulders oppressed with the heavy weight of the cross his hands and feet pierced with nails his whole body exhausted with a bloody sweat mangled and laid open with whips and scourges his limbs wearied out and all disjointed upon the cross what he suffered in his soul was not a jot less but rather infinitely more painful than what he suffered in his body witness that mortal anguish which cast him into an agony in the garden witness that grievous complaints on the cross my God my God why hast thou forsaken me he suffered more over in his reputation by false witnesses and outrageous calamities which is often dear to a man than his life in a manner of reproaches and affronts he suffered in his goods being dispoiled of his very clothes and hanging naked upon the cross he suffered in his friends being forsaken by them all not to speak of other sufferings which are usually more sensible to flesh and blood this the ingratitude of those he had favored with his miracles the triumphs of his enemies their insults over his disciples etc these sufferings he denied himself those comforts which he usually affords to his servants under their crosses and which have made the greatest torments of the martyrs not only tolerable but oftentimes sweet and comfortable but he would allow himself no other comfort but that of doing the will of his father and purchasing our redemption consider fourthly who it is that suffers all this and now shall find him to be the eternal son of God the eternal co-equal and co-substantial to his father the great lord and maker of heaven and earth infinite in power and wisdom and in all perfections but for whom does he suffer for man a poor wretched worm of the earth for ungrateful sinners traitors to his eternal father and to himself for those very Jews that crucified him for us mortals who for the most part thank him for or even so much as to think of his sufferings oh how admirable art thou oh lord in all thy ways but in none more so than in the contrivances of thy mercy oh how does the passion of our redeemer enrich and illustrate all the attributes of God it is here we discover his infinite goodness and charity and thus wonderfully communicating himself to us and laying down his life for our sakes we discover his unparalleled mercy in taking upon himself our miseries and enduring the stripes due to our sins here we behold the admirable wisdom of his providence in opening the fountain of life to us by his death here we learn to fear the severity of his justice which fell so heavily upon his only begotten son who had clothed himself in the semblance of a sinner to atone for our sins oh what must the guilty themselves expect at his hands if they do not prevent the terrors of his justice by instantly embracing his mercy consider fifthly in the sufferings of thy Savior the infinite malice the unparalleled hideousness of mortal sin which could not be cancelled out but by the blood of the Son of God this is the chief lesson which thy Savior desires to teach thee from the chair of the cross thou canst not please him better than by studying it well I'll never then be so ungrateful as to crucify him again by mortal sin I'll suffer not that monster to live in the for the destroying of which Christ himself would die the end end of days 30 and 31 end of think well on it or reflections on the great truce of the Christian religion for every day of the month