WARNINGS AND PREPARATORY

MEDITATIONS

In the Evening,

RAISING OF THE MIND TOWARDS GOD.

IN

N war there is the note of charge, fitted for the onset.

Of recall, whereby stragglers are recalled :

So the mind of man, as it must be excited in the morning, so in the evening, as by a note of recall, is it to be called back to itself and to its Leader,

By a scrutiny and inquisition or examination of self; by prayers and giving of thanks.

Scrutiny and Inquisition or Examination. A good man would rather know his own infirmity than the foundations of the earth, or the heights of the heavens.

But that knowledge of our own infirmity is not attained but by diligent inquisition: without

which the mind is for the most part blind, and sees nothing of that which pertains to it.-ST. AUGUSTIN.

There are many hiding-places and recesses in the mind.-CICERO.

You must come to the knowledge of, before you can amend, yourself.

An unknown sin grows worse and worse, and is hopeless of cure.-SENECA.

The heart is deceitful above all things.

The Old Man is bound up in a thousand folds. Therefore take heed to thyself.

Points chiefly to be inquired.

We see that God Himself concluded each day of the old Creation in no other manner, than by an examination of the works of each.

And He beheld that all were good.

Cato exacted from himself an account of every day's business, and also Pythagoras.

"Nor let sweet sleep upon thine eyes descend, Till thou hast judged its deeds at each day's end."

King David, when the day was over, meditated, and searched out his spirit.

In this Areopagitic nightly examination,
take care to shew thyself the judge,
not the patron, of thy sins:
and in the tribunal of thy mind,
say with grief and indignation,

O Lord, I acknowledge my faults. Who will set scourges over my thoughts, and the discipline of wisdom over my heart?

If we judged ourselves,

we should not be judged. •

Prayer is the guardian of the sleeping,
the confidence of the waking.

Nor do we think him safe who is undefended by the arms and the guard of prayer. Rightly therefore teacheth Rabbi J [archi?] that penitence must not be put off till the morrow, saying,

Behold the hope of advantage and eternal salvation shall have deceived itself for ever, unless even in this very night thou shalt have delivered thy soul.

And if an examination of this kind takes place every few days, or, at farthest, every month, with penitence, it may suffice to form a perfect habit of virtue.

O Lord, the Only Begotten Son,
Jesu Christ.

O Lord God,

Lamb of God,

Son of the Father,

Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.