" It grieveth me, O my God, that I have offended Thee, because I love Thee above all created things, and would willingly have lost them all rather than have sinned; and with Thy grace I purpose to confess all my sins, with a determination never more to return to them," at that very instant I remain justified. And if that night I should die suddenly, without being able to confess myself, although I had committed many mortal sins, I should not be condemned for them. From which is seen the importance of this sorrow before my going to bed; for if I have sinned mortally, and death assault me in my sleep, (as it has assaulted many,) with this sorrow I shall be saved, and without it I shall be damned.
2. To excite myself to this contrition, it is very available to compare that of the first point with that of the third, that is, the great benefits that in this day Almighty God has done me with the sins that I have committed, (IS) being ashamed of myself for having offended so good a God and so liberal a benefactor, and grieving that I have answered such benefits with such offences.
(To this end the meditation of sins which we have set down, especially the fifth, will conduce; and that which will be declared in the thirty-first meditation.)
POINT V.
The fifth point is, to make a very effectual purpose, by God's grace, to amend the day following, and not to fall into the like sins, with that earnestness with which the Prophet David says, " I have sworn, and am determined to keep the judgments of Thy justice " [1] eternally; not for a day, nor for two, but throughout all my life and all eternity. And that this purpose may be such, it is necessary, besides that which will be declared in the meditation
- ↑ Ps. cxviii. 106.
