Think Well On't/Day 3
THE THIRD DAY.
On the benefits of God.
CONSIDER, my soul, how many and how great are thy obligations to the bounty of thy God. He has thought of thee from all eternity:
he has loved thee from all eternity: all the blessings and favours which he has bestowed upon thee in time, he designed for thee from all eternity; they are all the consequences of his eternal love for thee. Is it possible that so great a God, the most high and the most holy, who dwells in eternity, should set his affections upon such a poor sinful worm of the earth? Is it possible, my soul, that thou shouldst have had a place from all eternity in the heart of thy God; and that his eternal mind should never have been one moment without thinking on thee! Ah! poor wretch, what return hast thou made for this ancient love? How late hast thou loved him, who has loved thee from all eternity? How little hast thou thought of him, who always thinks of thee?
2. Consider that thy God has not only given thee by creation thy soul and body, with all their powers and faculties, and, in a word, whatever thou hast, and whatever thou art; but also preserves them each moment by the benefit of conservation, which may be called a continual creation. For as nothing but his Almighty hand could give thee this being, so none but he could preserve thee from falling back into thy former nothing: which must infallibly have happened to thee, if thy God had but for one moment withdrawn his supporting hand. Poor sinner! why didst thou not think of this when, by thy repeated crimes, thou wast waging war with thy God; and he with incomparable love was night and day watching over thee? How didst thou dare presume so often and for so long a time to provoke him, who held the thread of thy life in his hand, and who every moment could have crushed thee into nothing, or send thee headlong into hell! Oh! blessed by all creatures be his mercy for ever, for having borne with thee so long.
3. Consider the inestimable benefit of our redemption, by which our loving God has rescued us from sin, and from hell, the just reward of sin. Alas! my poor soul, we must have been lost for ever, had not this sovereign Maker and Lord of heaven and earth loved us to that degree, as to deliver himself up to the most cruel and ignominious death of the cross for our redemption. Greater love than this no man hath, that one lay down his life for his friend: St. John xv. 13. But, O dear Lord, thou hast carried thy love much farther than this, in dying for those who by sin were thy declared enemies: in dying for such ungrateful wretches, as would scarce ever thank thee for thy love, and seldom or never so much as pity thy sufferings, or take any notice of them. Ah! Christians, what shall we most admire, to see this great monarch of heaven and earth, (in comparison with whom the whole creation is just nothing, or rather less than nothing,) expiring on a cross for such despicable worms as we are? Or to see those, who believe this amazing truth, take so little notice of this immense love, which will be a just subject of astonishment to men and angels for all eternity.
4. Consider how much we owe to God for having called us to the true faith, preferably to so many millions whom he has left behind in darkness and the shades of death. Alas! poor souls, how deplorable is their condition, void as they are of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, or of his only spouse, the true Catholic Church! How little do they think of God, or of the life to come! With how little apprehension or remorse do they run on from sin to sin, and die impenitent! Ah! the goodness of God, that has not suffered us to fall into such misery, though born and bred up amidst a people seduced by error! Or, if we have also had the misfortune, like our neighbours, to have gone astray from the womb, has by a more distinguishing mercy drawn us out of the dragon's jaws, and brought us to his fold, the Catholic Church! Blessed be our God for ever for all his mercies. Oh! what an inestimable happiness it is, to have, by the means of this grace of vocation, God himself for our father, and his holy Church for our mother! Consider, first, those words of the prophet Jeremias : "With desolation is the whole earth laid desolate, because there is no one who thinks in his heart." Jer. 12. v. 11. And reflect how true it is, that the want of Consideration on the great truths of Christianity, is the chief source of all our evils. Alas! the greater part of men, seldom or never think either of their first beginning, or last end: they neither consider who brought them into the world, nor for what; nor reflect on the eternity into which they are just about to step. Hence all their pursuits are earthly and temporal, as if they were only made for this life, or were to be always here, Death, judgment, heaven, and hell, make but little impression upon them, because they don't give them time to sink deep into their souls by the means of serious Consideration. They run on, with their eyes shut, to the precipice of a miserable eternity, and only, then begin to think, when they find themselves lodged in that place of woe, where "their worm shall never die, and their
To pass this transitory life in the happy society of the only spouse of God's only son! To be daily partakers of the sacraments, those heavenly conduits of divine grace! To live and die in the communion of the saints, &:c. Ah! blessed is the people who have the Lord for their God: Ps. cxliii. 15.
5. Consider, Christian soul, whoever thou art, the particular providence of God towards thee! With how many graces he has presented thee from thy tender years: from how many misfortunes he has preserved thee! Has he not borne with thee for a long time, whilst others have been cut off in their sins? Are there not millions now burning in hell for less sins than thou hast committed? Reflect on the advantages thou hast received above thousands: what conveniencies of life, what friends, what health &c; whilst so many, more worthy than thyself, have been abandoned to poverty and misery. Ah! admire the unspeakable goodness of thy God to thee: be astonished and confounded at thy past ingratitude: resolve from henceforth never to cease giving him thanks and blessing his name.