HOLY EXERCISES OF RESIGNATION.

TO THE DEVOUT READER.

Devout Reader,

Above all other acts of the will, our venerable author doth most recommend to practise those of Resignation. For thy use, therefore, I have selected certain forms which thou mayest either exercise as they be, or according to them frame exercises for thyself. Now here thou wilt find both examples of general illimited resignations (most proper for the more perfect, which yet may be used indifferently by any), and likewise of resignations in all particular difficulties and afflictions, either actually pressing or only in imagination and supposition. Now for the use and application of all these I refer thee to the foregoing instructions in Treat. iii. sect. iii. chap. iii. The particular resignations are taken from four heads, in which any person may receive damage, and consequently may have occasion to resign himself, viz.: 1. Goods of fortune, as riches, houses, clothes, &c.; 2. Goods of fame, honour, authority, office, &c.; 3. Goods of the body, as health, strength, beauty, agility, &c.; 4. Goods of the soul, as endowments, natural or supernatural, learning, &c.

Now in regard of these, there first follow short patterns of resignation, according to this order, one after another. If thou desirest acts of this nature and order more largely expressed, I refer thee to the book called the Idiot’s Devotions. After these I have several other more extended exercises of particular resignations, consisting of acts relating to the foresaid heads, without any order, one mixed with another. And those which I judged most necessary, and the occasions of them most frequently occurring, I have oft repeated.

ACTS OF GENERAL RESIGNATION.

1. My God, whatsoever I have, whatsoever I can do, all this Thou hast freely bestowed on me. Behold I offer myself and all that belongs to me to Thy heavenly will. Receive, O Lord, 631my entire will and liberty; possess my understanding, memory, and all my affections; only vouchsafe to bestow upon me Thy love, and I shall be rich enough; nothing more do I desire; Thou alone, O my God, sufficest me.

2. O my God and all my good, I have and do consecrate to Thy love and honour both my body and soul. Conserve them as it shall please Thee, and employ them according to Thine own will in Thy service.

3. My Lord, I here prostrate myself before Thee, to do Thee homage for what I am and may be by Thy grace.

4. My God, I beseech Thee to glorify Thyself by me, according to whatsoever manner Thou shalt please.

5. My God, hereafter I will never search any object of my affections out of Thee, since I see that all good is to be found in Thee.

6. Ecce Domine, ecce cor meum quod offero Tibi, et quid volo nisi ut sit holocaustum charitatis ad æternam gloriam Tuam?

7. O most desirable goodness of my God, let it be to me even as Thou wilt, O eternal, most holy, and well-pleasing will of my Saviour; do Thou reign in and over all my wills and desires from this moment for ever.

8. My God and all my good, for that infinite love of Thine own self, grant that as I live in and by Thee, so may I live only to and for Thee.

9. Deus meus et omne bonum meum, in voluntate Tua vita est; in mêa mors: non meâ voluntas fiat, sed Tua Domine in terra sicut in cœlo. Amen. Jesus.

10. O my soul, let us live to Him, and for Him only, that died for us; let us disengage ourselves from this base world; let us pass from sense to reason, and from reason to grace; let us enter into commerce with the angels, that our conversation may be with Jesus, that so by all manner of ways we may be His, both in life and death, in time and eternity.

11. O my soul, let us freely submit ourselves to our Lord’s judgments, renouncing our own judgment; let us adore them, though we be ignorant of them. Let us most assuredly believe 632that He doth nothing but for our greater good. Whatsoever befalls us, let us take it willingly and thankfully from His hands, which are always full of blessings for us.

12. Let Jesus only live and reign in my heart, and let the world and all its vain desires perish.

FORMS OF PARTICULAR ACTS OF RESIGNATION.

1. About External Goods.

For the love of God, and in conformity to His will, I resign myself: 1. To be deprived of any of the clothes that I have, or may have, though never so necessary; 2. or of books; 3. or of convenient lodgings; 4. and to have those things bestowed on me from which my nature is most averted. 5. To be driven to wear clothes that seem base, unfit, or inconvenient for the season. 6. To be ill accommodated in lodging, bedding, &c. 7. To want even necessary clothes. 8. To be forced to wear such clothes as will make me appear ridiculous. 9. To want meat or drink; 10. or to have only such as is ungrateful to nature. 11. To endure crosses that in any sort, spiritually or corporally, may fall on my friends or kindred, as loss of state, infirmity, death, &c.; 12. and, on the other side, to restrain all inordinate complacency in their prosperity. 13. To endure that my friends should neglect, forget, yea, hate and persecute me. 14. To be abandoned of all creatures, so that I may have no man or thing to cleave unto, save only Thee my God, who wilt abundantly suffice me. 15. To be indifferent in what place, company, &c., I shall live; 16. yea, to live with those from whom my nature is most averted. 17. To live in all sorts of afflictions, as long as shall please Thee my God; 18. and not to yield to the motion of nature, which perhaps out of wearisomeness would fain have life at an end. But wholly to conform my will to Thy good will and pleasure; 19. yea, to take pleasure that Thy will may be fulfilled in me any way.

2. Acts of Resignation about our Good Name.

For the love of Thee my God, and in conformity to Thy 633will, I resign myself: 1. To suffer all manner of disgraces, contempts, affronts, infamies, slanders, &c., be they done to my face or behind my back; 2. though I have given no cause or provocations; 3. yea, after I have done the greatest kindnesses to my defamers; 4. if I have deserved them by my fault I am sorry for it and beg pardon, but am glad of this good effect of it, that it is an occasion of procuring this mortification and humiliation. 5. To suffer injuries either from superiors, equals, or inferiors. 6. To be in life or manner of my death shameful and odious to others; 7. and after death to be evil thought and evil spoken of by others; 8. yea, not to have any that will vouchsafe to pray for me; 9. yea, to be esteemed to have died in the state of eternal damnation; 10. yea, moreover, to have it expressed so to the world in a chronicle, to the shame of all that have relation to me; 11. in this life to be held for the scum of mankind, forsaken by all both in their doings and affections. 12. To be mortally persecuted by professed enemies (though I will account none such); 13. yea, by such as have had great proofs of my charity to them; 14. in sickness and other necessities to be driven to be chargeable and troublesome to others; 15. whereas I in the mean time am profitable to none at all; 16. so that all men do grow weary of me, and long to be rid of me; 17. and in this case to remain several years, yea, all my life long; 18. dying a natural death (so it be in Thy grace), to be esteemed by others to have destroyed myself; 19. and thereupon to have my body ignominiously used, buried in the highway or under the gallows, to the eternal loss of my fame and unspeakable confusion of my kindred, friends, &c.

3. Acts of Resignation about the Body.

For the love of Thee, O my God, and in conformity to Thy will, I resign myself: 1. to suffer weaknesses, sickness; 2. pains; 3. deformity; 4. horror in the sight of others, as was the case of Job and Lazarus. 5. To suffer extremity of heat or cold; 6. want of necessary sleep, and hunger or thirst; 7. indigestion; 8. torments and defects about my five senses. 9. To be affrighted with horrible and hideous sights of devils, &c. 10. To be 634afflicted with fearful noises. 11. To suffer scourgings, beatings, &c. 12. To be spit upon, as Thou my Saviour wast. 13. To suffer incisions, torments, &c., external and internal. 14. To suffer loss of eyes, hearing, &c.; to be overtoiled with all sorts of labours; 15. and this being in feebleness of body. 16. To lose all pleasure and gust in meats and drinks. 17. To suffer any disfiguring in my face, or distortions in other parts of my body. 18. To suffer the loss of any of my members. 19. To receive harm in my imagination, and thereby to lose my perfect judgment, so as to become a fool or mad. 20. That my body should by little and little putrefy and rot away. 21. To die suddenly, or after long sickness and tokens of death. 22. To die without senses or memory, and distracted or mad. 23. To endure the agony of death, and the long torments that do accompany it. 24. To suffer the unwillingness and terror that nature feels in the separation of the soul from the body. 25. To die a natural death, or else a violent and painful one, procured by others. 26. To die at what time, in what place and manner it shall please Thee my God. 27. To die without the help of any of the Sacraments, being not able to come by them. 28. In the agony of death to endure such terror, afflictions, and temptations as the devil doth then usually procure. 29. Being dead, to want not only all decent or honourable, but even Christian burial, so as that my body may be made a prey to beasts and fowls.

4. Particular Acts of Resignation about the Soul.

For the love of God, and in conformity to His will, I do resign myself: 1. To undergo all sorts of temptations that shall please Thee my God to lay on me or permit to befall me; 2. and to suffer them to the end of my life, ever adhering to Thee. 3. To endure all manner of desolations, aridities, and indevotions. 4. To suffer all obscurity and darkness in my understanding; all coldness and dulness of affection in my will to Thee, so far as I am not able to help it; 5. in all which I renounce the seeking any solace in creatures. 6. To want all manner of gifts and graces not necessary to my salvation; 7. nor to desire inordinately 635nor rest with affection in supernatural contemplations, sweetnesses, or other extraordinary visits or favours. 8. To resign myself to all things, be they never so contrary to sensuality. 9. To bear with the repugnance that I find in sensuality, till with Thy grace (sooner, or later, or never) it may be brought to perfect subjection to my spirit; in the mean time suffering patiently the difficulty that is in fighting against it, or resisting the desires of it. 10. To endure all the difficulties, tediousnesses, and expectations that are in a spiritual life; also such various changes, chances, and perplexities as are in it; notwithstanding all which my purpose is (through Thy grace) to persevere and go through them all. 11. To bear with my own defectuousness, frailty, and proneness to sin; yet using my best industry, and bearing with what I cannot amend. 12. To die before I can reach to perfection. 13. To live and die in that degree of a spiritual life as shall seem good to Thee, and not according to my own will; 14. yet ever desiring and endeavouring that I may not be wanting in coöperating with Thy calls and graces. 15. To be contented to serve Thee according to that manner Thou hast provided and appointed; that is, with regard to my natural talents, complexion, &c., as likewise such supernatural helps and graces as Thou shalt afford me, and not according to the talents and gifts bestowed on others. 16. To be contented that Thou hast bestowed greater gifts on other men than on me. 17. To understand and know no more nor no otherwise than Thy will is, and to remain ignorant in what Thou wilt have me to be ignorant of. 18. To give up and offer to Thee my God whatsoever honour and contentment may come by such knowledge; for all is Thine. 19. To want all knowledges but such as are necessary to my salvation. 20. To follow Thee by all the ways whatsoever that Thou shalt call me, externally or internally, though I cannot understand how they can lead to a good issue; so walking, as it were, blindfold. 21. To be contented that others excel me in virtues, and that they be better esteemed; yet ever desiring that I may not be wanting in my industries. 22. To be content not to know in what case I am as to my soul; nor in what degree of perfection, nor 636whether I go backward or forward; 23. nor to know whether I be in the state of grace; only beseeching Thee that I be industrious to please Thee. 24. To be content that another should receive the fruit of all my endeavours and actions, though never so perfect, so purely do I desire to serve Thee. 25. To endure with patience all manner of injuries; 26. and yet to be esteemed by others that I endure them against my will, without humility, with murmuring, revengefulness, and pride, and that the fear of danger or discredit only hinders me from executing such revenge. 27. To serve Thee purely for Thine own sake, so as that I would serve Thee though there had been no reward or punishment. 28. To suffer the pains of Purgatory, though never so bitter, that Thou shalt ordain; 29. and this for as long a time as Thou shalt please. 30. To do and suffer in this life both in soul and body what, and in what manner, and for how long as it shall please Thee my God. 31. To be content to enjoy the lowest place in heaven; 32. and this, although Thou shouldst enable me to merit as much as any or all Thy Saints in heaven have done.

OTHER MIXED RESIGNATIONS.

§ 1. O, how good art Thou, O my God, to those that trust in Thee, to the soul that truly seeks Thee! What art Thou, then, to those that find Thee!

1. Whatsoever I shall suffer, O my God, by Thy ordinance, either in body or soul, and how long soever I shall suffer, I renounce all consolation but what comes from Thee.

2. My God, though Thou shouldst always hide Thy face from me, and never afford me any consolation, yet will I never cease to love, praise, and pray unto Thee.

3. For Thy sake I renounce all pleasure in eating and drinking, being resolved to make use of Thy creatures only in obedience to Thy will, and to the end thereby to be enabled to serve Thee.

4. I resign myself to abide all my lifetime among strangers; yea, or among such as have an aversion towards me, and which will never cease to molest me.

5. My God, casting myself wholly on Thy Fatherly providence, 637I renounce all care and solicitude for to-morrow concerning anything belonging to this life.

6. I offer unto Thee, O my God, this desire and resolution of my heart, that notwithstanding my continual indevotion, my infinite distractions and defects, &c., I will never give over the exercises of an internal life.

7. My desire is always to be in the lowest place, beneath all creatures, according to my demerit.

8. For Thy love, O my God, I renounce all inordinate affections to my particular friends or kindred.

9. I resign myself to suffer any lameness or distortedness in any of my members.

10. I resign myself to abide all my life among those that are enemies to Thy Catholic Church, and there to be in continual fears, dangers, and persecutions.

§ 2. Draw me, O God, we will run after Thee, because of the odour of Thy precious ointments.

1. For Thy love, O my God, I resign myself to want necessary clothing, or to be deprived of those which I have.

2. I resign myself patiently to bear with the repugnance I find in my corrupt nature, and the difficulty in resisting the unruly passions of it. Yes, through Thy grace, my purpose is to use my best industry and vigilance against it.

3. For Thy love I renounce the seeking after all curious and impertinent knowledge.

4. I renounce all sensual contentment in sleep or other corporal refreshments, being desirous to admit no more of them than shall be necessary, and in obedience to Thy will.

5. My God, through Thy grace, neither hard usage from others, nor any mere outward corporal extremity or want, shall force me to seek a change of my present condition.

6. My God, I do consecrate myself to Thee alone, for the whole remnant of my life to pursue the exercises of an internal life, leaving the fruit and success of my endeavours to Thy holy will.

7. For Thy love, and in conformity to Thy blessed will, I 638resign myself to be abandoned of all creatures, so as to have none to have recourse unto but Thee only.

8. I offer myself unto Thee, with patience to suffer whatsoever Thou shalt inflict on me, and never to yield to the inclination and feebleness of nature, which perhaps out of wearisomeness would have life at an end.

9. When obedience or charity shall require it, I resign myself to go and abide in a place haunted with evil spirits, being assured that as long as I adhere to Thee they cannot hurt my soul.

10. I renounce rashness, readiness, and forwardness to judge the actions of others, employing all my severity in censuring against myself only.

§ 3. My God and all my good, in Thy heavenly will is life; but death is mine. Not my will, therefore, but Thine be done in earth as it is in heaven.

1. For Thy love, O my God, I do resign myself to be deprived of all the gifts and privileges which in my nature I do most affect, and to see them conferred on the person for whom I have the greatest aversion.

2. I resign myself not only to want the esteem or favour of my superiors, but also to be despised, and hardly, yea, injuriously treated by them.

3. When through my own demerit I do deserve such ill usage from them, I will be sorry and humbled for my fault, and bless Thee for punishing it so easily in this life.

4. O tepidity, I do detest thee.

5. I do resign myself, and am even desirous to find such usage in this world, that I may know and feel it to be only a place of exile.

6. My God, whatsoever affliction or desertion Thou shalt suffer to befall me, through Thy grace I will neither omit, neglect, nor shorten my daily appointed recollections.

7. I offer myself to Thee, O my God, entirely to be disposed of by Thee, both for life and death. Only let me love Thee, and that is sufficient for me.

8. Whatsoever natural or other defectuousness shall be in 639me, either for mind or body, by which I may incur disesteem from others, I do willingly embrace such occasions of humiliation.

9. I renounce all forwardness to give counsel to others, being much rather desirous to receive it from any other.

10. I do utterly renounce all familiarity and all unnecessary conversation or correspondence with persons of a different sex.

§ 4. My Lord Jesus, Thou who art Truth hast said, My yoke is easy and My burden light.

1. I have received from Thy hands a cross of religious penitential discipline; through Thy grace I will continue to bear it till my death, never forsaking any ways to ease it by external employments, or to escape from it, and shake it off by missions, &c.

2. For Thy love, O my God, and in conformity to Thy will, I resign myself to die when, where, and in what manner Thou shalt ordain.

3. I am content to see others make a great progress in spirit, and to do more good in Thy Church than myself.

4. I renounce all that satisfaction and false peace which is got by yielding to my inordinate passions, and not by resisting and mortifying them.

5. My God, till Thou hast humbled that great pride which is in me, do not spare to send me daily yet more and greater humiliations and mortifications.

6. I offer myself unto Thee, to suffer with patience and quietness whatsoever desolations, obscurity of mind, or deadness of affections that shall befall in a spiritual course; notwithstanding all which, through Thy grace, I will never neglect a serious tendency to Thee.

7. I am content to serve Thee with those mean talents that Thou hast given me.

8. I yield myself to endure all manner of injuries and contempts, and yet to be esteemed by others to be impatient and revengeful.

9. I do renounce all solicitude to please others, or to gain the affections of any one to myself.

10. I do resign myself to such painful and withal base offices as my proud and slothful nature doth abhor, whensoever obedience, charity, or Thy will shall impose them on me.

§ 5. My God, Thou art faithful, and wilt not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able; but wilt with the temptation give an issue that we may be able to bear it.

1. My God, my desire is to serve Thee gratis, like a son, and not as a mercenary.

2. I came into religion to suffer and to serve; I renounce, therefore, all desires of procuring ease, plenty, or superiority.

3. In love to Thee, O my God, I resign myself to follow Thee, by whatsoever ways, external or internal, that Thou shalt conduct me, although I be not able to understand them, nor can see how there can be any good issues of them.

4. I am content to see all become weary and desirous to be rid of me.

5. I am resigned to want whatsoever gift and graces are not necessary to my salvation.

6. In love to Thee, O my God, and in submission to Thy will, I do renounce all inordinate love and correspondence with the world, that so I may attend to Thee only.

7. I resign myself to become a spectacle horrible and loathsome to men’s eyes, as was Job or Lazarus.

8. I do adore and most humbly submit myself to Thy most wise and secret judgments concerning my death or future state.

9. I resign myself to suffer those most bitter pains of the stone, gout, colic, &c., if Thou shalt ordain them to fall on me.

10. I renounce all obstinacy in defending mine own opinions, and all desire of victory in discourse.

§ 6. My God, who is like unto Thee, who hast Thy dwelling most high, yet humblest Thyself to regard the things which are (done) in heaven and earth!

1. I resign myself to abide in this place and in this present 641state of life wherein Thou hast put me; neither will I seek or ever procure a change for any outward sufferings till Thou shalt appoint.

2. Let all creatures scorn, abandon, and persecute me, so that Thou, O my God, wilt accompany and assist me; Thou alone sufficest me.

3. Through Thy grace I will never cease to approach nearer and nearer to Thee by prayer and abstraction from creatures.

4. I do resign myself, whensoever necessity, obedience, or charity shall require it, to visit and assist any one lying sick, though of the plague, or any other infectious or horrible disease.

5. I am contented that those who are nearest to me in blood or friendship should be so averted from me as to abhor my name.

6. I resign myself to die a natural or violent death, and as soon as it shall please Thee.

7. I offer unto Thee this desire and purpose of my heart, that I will esteem no employment to be necessary but the aspiring to a perfect union with Thee, and that I will not undertake any other business but in order to this.

8. I do heartily renounce all affection to all, even venial imperfections and the occasions of them.

9. I renounce all propriety in any dignity or office that I have or may have hereafter.

10. I desire to have no more to do with the world than if I were already dead and buried.

§ 7. My God, it is my only good to adhere unto Thee, who art the God of my heart and my portion for ever.

1. I offer myself unto Thee to be afflicted with whatsoever temptation, external or internal, Thou shalt permit to befall me; and though I should fall never so oft, yet will I not yield to dejection of mind or despair, but will rise up as soon as by Thy grace I shall be enabled.

2. I resign myself to follow Thee, O my Lord Jesus, in the same poverty of which Thou hast given me an example, renouncing all propriety in anything, and being contented and pleased to enjoy only what shall be necessary in all kinds.

3. I resign myself not only to be disfavoured by my superiors, but also to see those most favoured that are most averted from me.

4. My God, although Thou shouldst kill me, yet will I never cease to hope and trust in Thee.

5. I am content not to learn or know any more than Thou wouldst have me to know.

6. I do offer myself to all manner of contradictions and injuries to be sustained from my superiors or brethren, in patience, silence, and without complaining.

7. I renounce all impatience and unquietness for my many defects and hourly imperfections.

8. I do offer unto Thee my desire and resolution never to relinquish an internal spiritual course, notwithstanding any difficulties whatsoever that shall occur in it.

9. My God, I do not desire a removal of all temptations, which show me: 1. How impossible it is to enjoy a perfect peace in this life; and, 2. how necessary unto me Thy grace and assistance is. I embrace the pain of them. Only let me not offend Thee by yielding to them.

10. For Thy love I resign myself to be deprived of all proper and certain habitation.

§ 8. Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth! All the earth is full of Thy glory. Glory be to Thee most High.

1. For Thy love, O my God, and in conformity to Thy holy will, I resign myself unto Thee, with all that I am, have, can do, or suffer, in soul, body, goods, fame, friends, &c., both for time and eternity.

2. For Thy love I do renounce all desire of authority, especially all charge over the souls of others.

3. I am content not to learn or know more than Thou wouldst have me to know.

4. I resign myself, whensoever Thou shalt call me to it, to sacrifice my life, in what manner soever Thou shalt ordain, for the defence of Thy Catholic truth, trusting in Thy merciful promise that Thou wilt assist me in such trials.

5. My God, I am content to be blotted out of the memory of all (except those that would afflict me).

6. My God, let me be the universal object of the contempt and hatred of all creatures, so that I may love Thee and enjoy Thy presence and grace.

7. Jesus, who art the Prince of peace, and whose habitation is in peace, I offer my heart unto Thee, that Thou mayest establish a firm peace in it, calming the tempestuous passions that so oft rage in it.

8. I renounce all affection to speaking.

9. I resign myself in sickness to be burdensome and chargeable to others, so as that all should become weary and desirous to be rid of me.

10. I renounce all facility in hearkening to or believing any ill that is reported concerning others, and much more to be a disperser of such report.

§ 9. I adore Thee, O my God, the blessed and only Potentate, King of kings and Lord of Lords, who dwellest in unapproachable light: to Thee be glory and eternal dominions. Amen.

1. I resign and offer myself unto Thee, to follow the conduct of Thy Holy Spirit in an internal life, through bitter and sweet, light and darkness, in life and death.

2. I do renounce all solicitous designs to gain the affections of superiors or of any others; with any intention thereby to procure ease or contentment to nature.

3. I do renounce all propriety in any endowments that Thou hast or shalt give me.

4. I am contented with whatsover Thou shalt provide for my sustenance, how mean, how little, and how disgustful soever it be.

5. I resign myself in the agony of death to endure whatsoever pains, frights, or temptations Thou shalt permit to befall me, only let my spirit always adhere to Thee.

6. My God, I do here again renew and ratify my vows of 644religious profession, consecrating myself and all that I have or can do to Thy glory and service only.

7. I resolve, through Thy grace, that my great and daily defects shall not destroy my peace of mind nor confidence in Thy goodness.

8. I resign myself, for the humiliation and good of my soul, to be deprived of any endowments and gifts that may any way make me be esteemed by others.

9. I resign myself in sickness to want the assistance and comfort of friends, yea, even the use of Sacraments.

10. I resign myself (yea, would be glad) to lose all sensual pleasure in meats and drinks, if such were Thy will.

§ 10. Blessed is the man whose hope is only in the name of Thee my God, and that regardeth not vanities and deceitful frenzies.

1. Though Thou shouldst always hide Thy face from me, yea, my God, although Thou shouldst kill me, yet will I never cease to approach to Thee, and to put my whole trust in Thee only.

2. I consecrate my whole life to Thee, to be spent in a continual tendency in soul to Thee; not presuming to expect any elevated contemplations or extraordinary graces, but referring to Thy holy pleasure whether I shall ever be raised above my present mean exercises.

3. I resign myself to be esteemed fit and capable only of the basest and most toilsome offices; the which if they shall be imposed upon me, I will not avoid them.

4. I resign myself to be guided only by Thee and Thy holy inspirations.

5. I resign myself to be continually tormented, and to have my sleeps broken with any kind of troublesome noises or frights, &c.

6. My God, I resign myself to Thee alone, to live and die in that state and degree of a spiritual life to which it shall seem good to Thee to bring me; only I beseech Thee, that I may not be negligent in coöperating with Thy grace and holy inspirations.

7. I resign myself to suffer the straits and tediousness of a prison, and there to be deprived of books, or any thing that may divert my mind.

8. I resign myself to suffer the extremity of heat and cold, and to want the comfort of all refreshments against heat, and of necessary clothes against cold.

9. I resign myself to be obliged to take meats and drinks loathsome to my nature.

10. I resign myself to see others, my inferiors, provided of all things, and myself only neglected.

§ 11. Our Lord is my light and salvation: whom, then, should I fear?

1. There is not any spiritual exercise so displeasing or painful to my nature which I would not embrace, if I knew or did believe Thy will to be such.

2. My God, so I may die in Thy grace and holy love, I resign myself to the infamy of being reputed to have procured my own death; and that therefore my body should be ignominiously cast out, and none to have the charity to pray for my soul.

3. I resign myself to be affrighted with horrible noises, hideous apparitions, &c.

4. Through Thy grace, my God, I will not rest with affection in any of Thy gifts how sublime soever; but will only make use of them to pass by their means in to Thee, who art my only increated, universal, and infinite good.

5. I esteem this life to be a mere prison or place of exile.

6. My God, I offer my soul unto Thee, that Thou mayest establish a firm peace in it, not to be interrupted as now it is by every contradiction and cross.

7. I resign myself to have my superiors, and all others whom my nature would wish to be most friendly, to be in all things a continual contradiction and cross to me.

8. For Thy love I would be content rather to have no use of my tongue at all, than thus continually to offend Thee with it.

9. Let all creatures be silent before Thee, and do Thou, O 646my God, alone speak unto me; in Thee alone is all that I desire to know or love.

10. My God, I know that to fly Thy cross is to fly Thee that diedst on it; welcome, therefore, be (these) Thy crosses and trials.

§ 12. My God, with Thee is the fountain of life, and in Thy light we shall see light.

1. My God, to Thee only do I consecrate the remainder of my life, purposing to account no business to be necessary, but only tendency to Thee by prayer and abnegation.

2. I resign myself, if such be Thy pleasure, even to be deprived of all use of these eyes, that are still so much delighted with vanity, curiosity, and all distracting objects.

3. O that I were nothing, that so Thou, my God, mayest be all in all!

4. I resign myself to be deprived of all certain habitation, and to live a vagabond in the world, so that none should take care of me or own me.

5. My God, my desire is to serve Thee in a state wherein I may be deprived of all propriety and election in all things, as well internal as external: do Thou, my Lord, choose for me.

6. In conformity to Thy heavenly will, O my God, I do accept the pain and trouble that I feel from my continual indevotion, my unruly passions, and (almost) unremediable imperfections; and I will with patience expect Thy good time, when I shall be enabled with Thy grace to rectify them.

7. For Thy love I renounce all conversations and correspondences, which I do find to be occasions to me of falling into defects, by nourishing inordinate affection or unquietness.

8. I renounce the folly of being disquieted with seeing that others are not such as I would have them to be, since I cannot make myself such an one as I fain would.

9. I offer myself to become a fool unto all for Thee, my God.

10. So that thereby my pride may be humbled, I even beg of Thee, my God, that Thou wouldst not spare to send me crosses and contradictions.

§ 13. I know, my God, that Thou art the God that triest hearts and lovest simplicity, therefore in the simplicity of my heart I offer myself unto Thee.

1. O my God, when will the time come that Thou wilt lead my soul into Thy solitude?

2. For Thy love I renounce all complacency in any kind of endowment or skill in any arts (as far as any of these are in me), consecrating all that by Thy free gift is in me to Thy glory and service only.

3. I do utterly renounce all familiarity and unnecessary conversations or correspondences with persons of a different sex.

4. My God, it is Thou that hast placed me in this my present condition; and Thou only shalt displace me.

5. O tepidity, I abhor thee. My God, teach me an effectual cure and remedy against it; let not my latter end be worse than my beginning.

6. My God, I offer unto Thee my heart, that whatsoever yet unknown inordinate desires are in it, Thou mayest teach me to mortify them by any ways Thou shalt please.

7. I resign myself, in case that obedience shall unavoidably oblige me thereto, to undertake that most fearful employment of the charge of souls (in the mission, &c.).

8. For Thy love and for the mortification of sensuality, I could content to be freed from all necessity of eating and drinking, if such were Thy pleasure.

9. I offer unto Thee, my God, this desire of my heart, that at last, this day, I may begin perfectly to serve Thee, having spent so much time unprofitably.

10. Feed me, O Lord, with the bread of tears, and give me drink in tears, according to the measure that Thou shalt think fit.

§ 14. My Lord and my God, from Thee are all things, by Thee are all things, to Thee are all things: to Thee only be glory, love, and obedience for ever.

1. My God, if Thou wilt that I be in light, be Thou blessed for it, and if Thou wilt that I be in darkness, still be Thou 648blessed for it. Let both light and darkness, life and death, praise Thee.

2. Blessed be Thy holy name that my heart doth not (and never may it) find rest or peace in anything that I seek or love inordinately, whilst I do not love it in Thee and for Thee only.

3. I offer unto Thee this resolution of mine, that by all lawful and fitting ways I will endeavour to avoid any office of authority.

4. I resign myself to live and abide in any state or place where I shall daily have my health or life endangered.

5. I resign myself to suffer in Purgatory whatsoever pains, and as for as long a time, as shall seem good to Thee.

6. Through Thy grace and assistance, O my God, no hard usage from others, nor any desire of finding any ease or contentment to my nature, shall force me to change my present condition.

7. My God, if Thou shalt so ordain or permit, I resign my body to be possessed or tormented by evil spirits, so that my spirit may always adhere by love to Thee.

8. I resign myself to take part in any calamity, disgrace, &c., that Thy Divine Providence shall permit to befall the country or community in which I live.

9. I renounce all resting affection to sensible gusts in my recollections, resolving to adhere firmly to Thee, as well in aridities as consolations.

10. My God, I am nothing, I have nothing, I desire nothing, but Jesus, and to see Him in peace in Jerusalem.

§ 15. Blessed art Thou, O my God, in all Thy gifts, and holy in all Thy ways.

1. I offer unto Thee the desire and resolution of my heart, that no employment which cannot without sin be avoided, nor much less any complacency in conversation with others, nor any unwillingness to break off conversation through impertinent civility, shall cause me to omit or shorten my daily appointed recollections.

2. Far be it from me that my peace should depend on the favour or affection of any creature, and not in subjection to Thy will only.

3. I renounce all knowledge that may hinder or distract me from the knowledge of my own defects and nothingness.

4. My God, I have neither devotion nor attention, and indeed do not deserve either; only I beseech Thee that Thou wilt accept of my sufferings.

5. My God, so that I may die in Thy holy fear and love, I resign myself to want all comforts and assistance from others, both in my death and after it, if such be Thy will.

6. My God, through Thy grace I will never voluntarily undertake any employment or study, but such as shall serve to advance my principal and most necessary business of seeking Thee by prayer, to which all other designs shall give way.

7. My God, I beseech Thee not only to forgive, but to crown with some special blessing all those that despise, depress, or persecute me, as being good instruments of Thy grace to abate pride and self-love in me.

8. Whatsoever dignity or privilege I enjoy, I am content to relinquish it whensoever it shall be Thy will; and if I were wrongfully deprived of it, I will not for the recovering endanger the loss of mine own peace or that of others.

9. I resign myself not only to suffer for mine own faults, but also the faults of my brethren.

10. My God, my desire is to live to Thee only. Place me, therefore, where Thou, wilt; give me or take from me what Thou wilt. Only let me live to Thee and with Thee; that suffices me.

N.B. The reader may take notice that before every one of these fifteen exercises of particular resignations there is premised a proper passage of Holy Scripture, which may be conceived as the ground of the following acts, and will moreover be a fit subject to exercise some good affection or act of the will upon.