excuse our presumption, to accept our services, to bless our labours, by imprinting thy love in the hearts of all, that after having honoured and loved thy Son on earth, we may praise Him and bless Him for ever in heaven. Amen. I CONCLUSION. And with this, my dear reader and brother, lover of our Mother Mary, I bid you farewell, and say: Continue with joy to honour and love this good Lady, and endeavour also to cause her to be loved by as many as you can; and doubt not, but be fully persuaded that if you persevere until death in true devotion to Mary, your salvation is certain. I conclude, not that I should not still have much to say on the glories of this great Queen, but lest I should tire you. The little that I have written will be more than sufficient to make you desire this great treasure, devotion towards the Mother of God, which she will fully reward by her powerful patronage. Accept then the desire which I have had in this work, to lead you to salvation and to sanctity, by inflaming you with love and ardent devotion to this most amiable Queen. And should you find that in this I have somewhat helped you by my book, as a charity I beg that you will recommend me to Mary, and ask her for me the grace which I ask her for you, that we may one day be together at her feet, in company with all her other dear children. And to thee do I turn in conclusion, O Mother of my Lord, and my Mother Mary, I beseech thee graciously to accept my poor labours, and the desire which I have had to see thee praised and loved by all. Thou well knowest how ardently I have desired to complete this little work of thy Glories before the end of my life, which is already drawing to its close. But now I die happy, leaving this book on earth which will continue to praise and preach 1 Serm. de Exalt. B. M. V. in gloria, art. ii, cap. 3. thee as I have endeavoured to do during the years which have passed since my conversion, which through thee I obtained from God. O immaculate Mary, I recommend all those who love thee to thee, and especially those who read this little book; and more particularly those who have the charity to recommend me to thee. O Lady, grant them perseverance, make them all Saints, and thus lead them all united to praise thee in heaven. O my most sweet Mother, it is true that I am only a poor sinner, but I glory in loving thee, and hope great things from thee, and amongst others to die loving thee. I trust that in the agonies of death, when the devil will put my sins before me, that in the first place the Passion of Jesus, and then thy intercession, will strengthen and enable me to leave this miserable life in the grace of God, that so I may go and love Him, and thank thee, my Mother, for all eternity. Amen. PRAYERS. O Lady, say to thy Son for us, "They have no wine." How bright is the chalice of this inebriating wine! The love of God inebriates us, so as to make us contemn the world; it warms and strengthens us to become indifferent to temporal things, and inclines us towards, and makes us active in the acquirement of those things which are invisible.1 Thou art a fruitful field filled with virtues, filled with graces. Thou camest forth as a bright and blushing dawn; for original sin being conquered in thee, thou wast born resplendent with the knowledge of truth, and blushing with the love of virtue; the enemy could in nothing prevail against thee, for a thousand bucklers hang upon thee, all the armour of valiant men; for there is no virtue which did not shine resplendent in thee; and whatever was divided 1 Dic Domina rerum, dic pro nobis Filio tua, Vinum non habent Calcis hujus vini inebrians, quam præclarus est... Inebriat amor Dei ad contemptum mundi: calefacit... facit fortes... somnolentos ad temporalia... et ad invisi ilia contemplanda pronos et promptos.-S. Bern. aut quisquis est auctor in alte Reg. amongst all the Saints, thou didst possess united in thyself.1 O, our Lady, our mediatress, our advocate, reconcile us with thy Son, commend us to thy Son. Grant, O blessed one, by the grace which thou didst find, by the prerogative which thou didst merit, by that mercy to which thou didst give birth; that He who, through thee, deigned to become a partaker of our infirmity and misery, may also, through thy intercession, make us the partakers of His happiness and glory.2 Sweet Rose, most fair! if thou dost care A love so strong, that I may long Queen of my heart, this grace I implore, Sweet Mary, I place all my trust upon thee; Live Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and Teresa. 1 Tu es ager plenus, plena virtutum, plena gratiarum. Tu processisti ut aurora lucida et rubicunda, quia superatis originalibus peccatis in utero matris, nata es lucida cognitione veritatis, et rubicunda amore virtutis. . . Nihil omnino profecit inimicus in te, eo quod mille clypei pependerunt exte, omnis armatura fortium... Nihil est enim virtutis quod ex te non resplendeat: et quicquid singuli habuere sancti, tu sola possedisti.--Ib. 2 Domina nostra, mediatrix nostra, advocata nostra, tuo Filio nos reconcilia, tuo Filio nos commenda, tuo nos Filio repræsenta. Fac O benedicta per gratiam quam invenisti, per prærogativam quam meruisti, per misericordiam quam peperisti: ut qui te mediante fieri dignatus est particeps infirmitatis et miseriæ nostræ, te quoque intercedente particeps faciat nos gloriæ et beatitudinis suæ.-S. Bern. Serm. ii, de Adv. D. The Glories of Mary. THIRD PART. CONTAINING VARIOUS ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES APPERTAINING TO THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, DISCOURSES, MEDITATIONS FOR SEVERAL FESTIVALS, AND MANY DEVOTIONS IN HONOUR OF THIS SAME Holy Virgin. VARIOUS ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES APPERTAINING TO THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. HERE are some persons who make it a boast that they are free from prejudice, and pride themselves on believing no other miracles than those recorded in the sacred Scriptures, looking upon all others as tales and old women's fables. Here it is well to repeat a just remark made by the learned and pious Father John Crasset.'1 He says, 'that as good people easily believe miracles, so are the wicked always ready to turn them into ridicule ;' and he adds, ‘that as it is a weakness to give credit to everything, so on the other hand does the rejection of miracles when they are attested by grave and pious men either savour of infidelity because they are thought impossible to God, or of presumption in denying the credibility of such a class of authors.' We give credit to 1 Tom. ii, tr. 6, prat. 20. † |