est clearly and manifestly perceive what he is, and what thou art, and hence conjecture, what diffidence thou oughtest to have in thyself, and what confidence in God, to love him, and to glorify thyself in him, and not in thyself, but so far as his grace doth freely operate in thee.
These things being digested with attentive meditation, as much as thou canst, urge thyself to a contempt of thyself: imagine that thou art like an empty reed, shaken with every blast of wind, without gravity, without virtue, without constancy, without stability, and, finally, without any thing. Think thyself to be a Lazarus four days dead, a stinking and abominable carcass, swarming with vermin, so filthy that passers by, are forced to stop their nostrils, lest they smell such a nasty savour. Believe me, thou art more abominable before God and his holy saints. Think thyself unworthy to lift up thine eyes to heaven; to tread upon the earth, or that the creatures should serve thee; yea, not worthy to eat bread or breathe in the air. Cast thyself, with the sinful women in the gospel, at our Blessed Saviour's feet; presenting thyself unto him with a confused and blushing countenance, no otherwise than the woman taken in adultery before her husband, and with inward sorrow and true compunction, beg pardon for thy sins: that, for his infinite mercy and goodness, he would vouchsafe to receive thee again into his favor, and that thou mayest dwell in his house for ever.
