Page:MeditationsOnTheMysteriesOfOurHolyV1.djvu/242

 multitude and greatness of our sins; and to learn how to examine the conscience, as well for sacramental confession as for the daily examination which is every night to be made; and finally, it aids much to dive deep into the knowledge of ourselves, to discover the roots of our sins, and to apply to them their remedies.

2. In the first place, I will set down the meditations of the seven deadly sins; for in them, as in seven heads, the other sins are virtually included^ and for this reason our principal battle must be against them; for whosoever perfectly vanquishes them, vanquishes the dragon with the seven heads which makes war upon the saints, and destroys the seven nations of enemies which hinder the entrance into the land of promise, not earthly, but heavenly, as Cassian largely prosecutes it in those books which he wrote upon this matter. Whence it is, that the principal end of these meditations must not be only to know and abhor the malice and deformity of these vices, but forthwith to begin the work, and to mortify those inordinate passions and affections that have taken deep root in our heart; for, as St. Basil saith, vices are not vanquished nor virtues gained with bare considerations, but with strong exercises of mortification, for which meditation and prayer is a help, moving our will to be willing to be mortified, and obtaining of bur Lord strength to that end. And although it is true that all mortal sins are taken away together and at an instant by contrition and confession, in which one mortal sin is not pardoned without another, yet vicious customs that remain in the soul, and passions of the appetite upon which they are founded, are to be mortified by parcels, and by little and little; for which Moses said to his people — speaking of the seven nations above-mentioned — "Ipse consumet nationes has in conspectu tuo