HERE FOLLOW THE SEVEN FORMER MEDITATIONS.
A MEDITATION FOR MONDAY.
This day thou shalt call to memory thy sins, and shalt exercise thyself in the knowledge of thyself, that on the one side thou mayest truly ponder the greatness of thy offences, and on the other side, thou mayest look into thy baseness, and thy own nothing, and acknowledge that all the good which thou hast, is from God. This consideration will get thee submission of mind, and true humility, the mother of all virtues.
First, therefore, weigh with thyself, the multitude of the sins of thy former life, and namely, those sins which thou hast committed, when as yet thou wert not illuminated with the divine splendor to know Almighty God rightly. These if thou dost examine with exquisite diligence, thou wilt find to be so many in number, that they will exceed the hairs of thy head; for in this time thou leadest the life of a heathen, ignorant of the divine power, and as it were without any knowledge of his sacred Deity.
Then consider how thou hast behaved thyself about the ten commandments, and the seven deadly sins, and thou wilt find, that there