reluctation, a deprecation of death, in the approaches thereof; but he
had his cordial too, _Yet not my will, but thine be done_. And as thou
hast not delivered us, thine adopted sons, from these infectious
temptations, so neither hast thou delivered us over to them, nor
withheld thy cordials from us. I was baptized in thy cordial water
against original sin, and I have drunk of thy cordial blood, for my
recovery from actual and habitual sin, in the other sacrament. Thou, O
Lord, who hast imprinted all medicinal virtues which are in all
creatures, and hast made even the flesh of vipers to assist in cordials,
art able to make this present sickness, everlasting health, this
weakness, everlasting strength, and this very dejection and faintness of
heart, a powerful cordial. When thy blessed Son cried out to thee, _My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?_ thou didst reach out thy hand
to him; but not to deliver his sad soul, but to receive his holy soul:
neither did he longer desire to hold it of thee, but to recommend it to
thee. I see thine hand upon me now, O Lord, and I ask not why it comes,
what it intends; whether thou wilt bid it stay still in this body for
some time, or bid it meet thee this day in paradise, I ask not, not in a
wish, not in a thought. Infirmity of nature, curiosity of mind, are
temptations that offer; but a silent and absolute obedience to thy will,
even before I know it, is my cordial. Preserve that to me, O my God, and
that will preserve me to thee; that, when thou hast catechised me with
affliction here, I may take a greater degree, and serve thee in a higher
place, in thy kingdom of joy and glory. Amen.

FOOTNOTES:

[147] Prov. xxiii. 26.

[148] Job, i. 8.

[149] Jer. xvii. 9.

[150] Gen. vi. 5.

[151] Amos, iv. 13.

[152] 1 Sam. xiii. 14.

[153] Jer. iii. 15.

[154] Ezek. xi. 19.

[155] Eccles. vii. 26.

[156] Hos. vii. 6.

[157] Prov. xxviii. 26.

[158] John, xiii. 2.

[159] Ecclus. l. 23.

[160] Lev. xxvi. 36.

[161] Josh. ii. 11.

[162] 1 Sam. vii. 3.

[163] 2 Cor. i. 22.

[164] 1 Sam. xxv. 37.

[165] 1 Sam. xxiv. 5.

[166] 2 Sam. xxiv. 10.

[167] 1 Kings, viii. 38.

[168] Phil. iv. 7.

XII. ------------------ Spirante columba
Supposita pedibus, revocantur ad ima vapores.

_They apply pigeons, to draw the vapours from the head._

XII. MEDITATION.

What will not kill a man if a vapour will? How great an elephant, how
small a mouse de