Consider first, the necessity we lie under, ever since the corruption of our nature by sin, of keeping our passions also in order by a continual mortification of them. Before man was corrupted by original sin his whole soul was regular and orderly, and all his passions were under proper command. But as soon as the superior part of the soul had withdrawn herself from her allegiance to God, the inferior part began to rebel against the superior; and all its appetites and passions were let loose to run into all manners of disorders; because the bridle of original justice was now flung off with which they were kept in and restrained before. Hence arises an indispensable necessity of our ever mortifying our passions if we would secure our souls. For as our nature is now corrupted, our love and our hatred, our desires and our fears, our joy and our grief, our anger, &c., all share in this corruption, and are all apt to be disorderly, if not curbed and corrected by daily mortification.

Consider 2ndly, that this most necessary branch of mortification which relates to our passions, chiefly consists in the duly regulating all their motions--by directing them in a proper manner to their proper objects, and restraining all their excesses--so that they may all be brought under subjection to reason and religion, and made even serviceable to the true welfare of our souls. Thus we are to regulate our love, our desires, and our joy, by turning them away from all disorderly affection to perishable creatures to the living God; from running after vanity and lying fooleries to the pursuit of virtue and truth; and by keeping them always within their proper bounds, that they may not disturb the peace of the soul or distract its application to God. In like manner we must mortify our fear, our anger, and all our other passions by watching over all their motions, and restraining all their disorders and excesses. O how happy are they who by the daily practice of this mortification are arrived at that command of their passions, which is the blessed parent of true peace and certain image of heaven upon earth. Happy they who turn their fear and all their love to God, and to what God would have them fear and love; who hate nothing but the offence of God; desire nothing but the will of God; rejoice in nothing but God; grieve at nothing but what is contrary to his honour and the good of souls; and are angry at nothing but sin!

Consider 3rdly, that as love is the strongest of all the passions, and that which principally influences all the rest, so the regulating of love and mortifying its disorders ought to be at all times the great object of the Christian's attention. 'My love is my weight,' says St. Augustine, 'thither am I carried wheresoever I am carried.' Now our love is regular and orderly when we love all things according to the great rule of the will of God; when we love our friends in God, and our enemies for God's sake; when we weigh all things in the scales of the sanctuary, and prize them according to the weight they have there, and allow them no other love than what will stand this test. But then, on the other hand, whatever love, whether of any person, or any creature, or anything else, offers to captivate our affections, or to divide or take off any part of our heart from God, or to carry us any way out of the bounds of moderation, reason, or religion, is disorderly and must be restrained, corrected, and mortified. All such love as this strikes at the very root of the welfare and salvation of the soul, by violating the very first and chiefest of all God's commandments, which is to love the Lord our God with all our heart.

Conclude to watch over all thy passions, that thou mayest keep them all in subjection; but principally to take care to restrain thy love and thy desires from all unlawful, dangerous, or vain objects; and from all excess or immoderation, in being too strongly bent, or too eagerly carried, even to lawful ones. For whatsoever the object be, 'tis a criminal love to affect anything more than God.

Consider first, that the passions of love and desire, when they are unmortified, branch out into all manner of vices and vicious inclinations commonly ranged under the seven heads, which are usually called the seven capital sins--though St. John brings them into a narrower compass, when he reduces them all into these three, 'the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,' 1 John ii. 16. Now, amongst these vicious inclinations which wage war against the soul there is usually some one or other that is stronger and more violent than the rest, or that occasions more or greater sins, and this is named by divines the predominant passion, the mortification of which is one of the chief businesses of a spiritual life. For this predominant passion being, as it were, the captain and commander of the rest, when this is overthrown, the rest will more easily be subdued and brought under, as when their champion Goliath was slain the Philistines were all immediately put to flight.

Consider 2ndly, that as this predominant passion, this reigning love, this strongest desire or affection, whatever the object of it may be, has already unhappily gained the heart, it is but too apt to impose upon the poor soul with specious pretexts, in order to keep its hold, and to maintain its ground against the remonstrances of conscience and all the calls and graces of heaven. 'Tis the Agag, which the deluded soul, by a false compassion, would willingly spare, though with the risk of being cast off by God, as Saul was, for so doing, 1 Sam. xv. Ah! Christians, deceive not then yourselves; this predominant passion, this favourite affection, which has taken possession of your heart, is indeed the capital enemy of God and your souls; it must be slain, it must be sacrificed to the living God. Beware of the traitor which you carry about with you; suffer him not to impose upon you; it is very easy, if you have not a mind to be wilfully blind, to discover what he would be at; because upon the least examination of your hearts you will find him always busy in undermining the reign of the love of God, thrusting himself upon His throne, and setting up an idol in His temple, by challenging the chiefest place in your heart to the prejudice of divine love.

Consider 3rdly, what you must do in order to get rid of this worst of all your enemies. O! you must make yourself thoroughly acquainted with the depth of his malice and all his stratagems, that you may not be surprised or imposed upon by him; you must observe all his motions to resist them at the very beginning; you must study all the secret springs by which he acts upon the heart, and sets the other passions on work to fulfil his irregular inclinations. Ah! Christians, 'tis of infinite importance in this spiritual warfare to know the true state of your interior, and to watch all the motions and secret ambushes of your enemies! You must also single out this enemy in such a manner as not to allow any one of your passions or vices to remain unresisted in your soul, yet you are in a more especial manner to turn all your forces against this predominant passion by directing your daily and most fervent prayers, your confessions and Communions, your particular examination every night, and the rest of your spiritual exercises, towards the total subduing of this evil, and acquiring the contrary virtue.

Conclude, if you hope to succeed in the great work of the mortification of your passions, to begin by declaring an eternal war against their chief, and never cease to attack him upon all occasions till you have brought him down. All the rest will yield themselves up when he is subdued, and you will begin to relish the sweets of peace and true liberty, which you shall never enjoy till you have broken the chains with which he enslaves you.

Consider first, that our sensual appetite, that is, the strong inclination we have to gratify our senses, and to indulge them in their pleasures, is one of the most dangerous enemies the soul has, and stands most in need of being restrained and corrected by mortification. The flesh, with its senses, was designed to be the servant of the soul, and to be subservient to its true welfare and happiness. But if the sensual appetite be not kept under subjection by mortification, the servant will quickly become mistress, and the poor soul will be made her slave, and will be dragged along by her irregular inclinations into all kinds of evils. Our sensuality therefore must be mortified; we must absolutely deny ourselves all unlawful, sensual, and carnal pleasures; we must fly them more than death; we must retrench all excess and immoderation in the use even of lawful pleasures and diversions; we must never suffer ourselves to affect them much less to have a passion for them; we must accustom ourselves to curb and thwart the inclinations of our senses in things lawful or indifferent, that so we may acquire a greater facility in overcoming our sensual appetite when it inclines to things unlawful, and may at the same time punish our having formerly indulged ourselves in them. In fine, we must never do anything merely for our pleasure.

Consider 2ndly, the opposition there is between a sensual life or a life of pleasure and a truly Christian life, which is agreeable to the maxims of the gospel and the practice of Christ and of all His saints, who have taken up their crosses to follow Him, and have always borne in their bodies the mortification of Jesus, and have been, as it were, crucified with Him. This opposition is so great that the apostle cannot speak without weeping for those half Christians who give themselves up to their pleasures; of whom he says, Philip. iii. 18, 19, 'that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; that their end is destruction; that their god is their belly; that they glory in their shame, and mind only earthly things.' Christ did not study His own pleasure. 'He did not please Himself,' Rom. xv.3. His whole life was a cross, which He voluntarily chose for the glory of His Father, and for the love of us. The apostle 'chastised his body, and brought it into subjection,' by voluntary mortifications, 1 Cor. ix. 27; all the saints have walked in the same footsteps, they have all crucified their own flesh Gal.v. 24. 'The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and none but they that use violence upon themselves beareth it away,' Matt. xi. 12. And shall Christians think that a sensual life will ever bring them thither? No; true 'wisdom is not found in the land of them that live in delights,' Job xxviii. 13. And we are not to imagine we may give ourselves up to our pleasure here, and yet promise ourselves 'the good things of the Lord in the land of he living' hereafter.

Consider 3rdly, that there is no one but what may and ought to practice the mortification of the flesh and of its sensual appetites; and that too by restraining it often from things otherwise lawful. The guilty must do it to punish themselves for their past sins; the innocent must do it, in order to keep themselves from falling into sin, which will be the unavoidable consequence of their not mortifying and keeping under so dangerous an enemy. None must excuse themselves here on account of their want of strength or health; 'tis easy for a Christian of a good will to contrive and to put in execution a variety of self-denials that neither require any bodily strength nor prejudice the health. If we are not able to wear the hair shirt or use the discipline; if we cannot fast or lie upon the hard floor, we may at least retrench many superfluities and affected niceties in our eating, drinking, clothing, & c.; we may shorten the time we give to unnecessary lying in bed; we may upon many occasions withdraw ourselves from such things as we are inclined to, and which perhaps are less wholesome for us, and choose such things as are less agreeable to our own inclinations; in fine, we may daily and hourly mortify, in many things, our eyes, our ears, our tongue, &c.

Conclude to make it thy daily business to mortify on every occasion thy sensual appetite, lest otherwise flesh and blood prevail on thy soul and she fall an everlasting prey to her mortal enemies.

O loving Jesus! make me pure. O sweet Jesus! make me chaste. To preserve purity, dearer to me than my life, O Jesus, grant me the spririt of prayer. O merciful Jesus! may I call upon Thee in the dark hour of temptation. Jesus, save me from the foul evil of impurity.

Help me, O blessed Saviour, when I am tempted. May I die, O Jesus, take me out of life, O Lord, but never permit me to fall into mortal sin. O merciful Saviour, give me a living fear of sin, and the dangerous occassion of sin. "Pierce thou my flesh with Thy fear." O Blessed Lord, grant me a horror of pride, and love for humility. O Saviour, grant me the grace to shun sensuality of all sorts, and to love and practise mortification and self-denial. St. Joseph, obtain for me from Jesus purity of body and soul.

"Guardian of Virgins, and holy father Joseph, to whose faithful custody Jesus Christ, Innocence itself, and Mary, Virgin of Virgins, were committed, I pray and beseech thee by these dear pleadges, Jesus and Mary, that, being preserved from all incleaness, I may, with spotless mind, pure hear, and chaste body, ever serve Jesus and Mary all the days of my life."

Virgin most pure, Virgin most chaste, Virgin Immaculate, pray for me, and obtain for me purity of soul and body. Amen

Practice: Today practice four acts of self-denial: of the eyes, the tongue, the taste or appetite, and the will.

Aspiration: O Jesus! make my heart and soul, my mind and body, as pure and chaste as the angels of God in Paradise.