which I can hardly break, because some sins I forget with the same facility that I commit them; others, through ignorance, I know not; and those which I do know, through my great coldness I deplore not as I ought
Colloquy. — Therefore, O my God, by Thy inspiration remedy my forgetfulness; with Thy light illuminate my darkness; and with Thy fire of love chase away my coldness, that I may know my sins, and in such manner bewail them that I may obtain pardon of them! Amen.
POINT III.
1. This petition being made, I will lift up my heart to Almighty God, beholding Him as a Judge that is to judge me with great rigour, searching (as Sophonias says) the corners of "Jerusalem," (which is my soul and its faculties,) " with lamps," [1] discovering all the sins that are therein, be they never so small; examining (as David says) not only my injustice, but also my "justices" [2] and good works, with which evil circumstances are wont to be mixed.
2. With this consideration, full of a holy fear in the presence of God, I will begin to examine all the sins which I have committed in that day by thought, word, and deed, and by omission or negligence; and I will very attentively endeavour to find out whether I have any of those which David calls "hidden sins," [3] having committed them through ignorance or culpable inconsiderateness, or by the illusion and deceit of the devil, holding them for works of virtue, as if I should hold for zeal that which is anger. To this examination, that will help much which has been said in the first points of the meditations upon the seven deadly sins, and upon the commandments, senses, and faculties of
