The nightly Examination of Conscience makes up the principal part of the last exercise of the day. The method thereof consists in the following acts, viz., of the presence of God, thanksgiving, supplication, examine, sorrow, and good resolutions.
The many single blessings which God has bestowed and does bestow on those families where prayers are regularly said in common, should alone be a sufficient inducement to establish this practice every where, and chiefly at night, when all may be assembled with greater convenience.--"_Where two or three persons shall be assembled in my name, there,_" saith Christ, "_shall I be in the midst of them._" O Christians, what stronger inducement can we have to procure so great a happiness?
Blessed be the holy and undivided Trinity, now and for evermore. Amen.
Come, O Holy Ghost, replenish the hearts of the faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of thy divine love. Amen.
Let us place ourselves in the presence of God, and humbly adore him.
Impressed with the most lively sense of the presence of thy Eternal Majesty, I adore thee, O my God! I believe in thee, because thou art truth itself; I hope in thee, because thou art faithful to thy word; I love thee with my whole heart, because thou art infinitely amiable and worthy of my love; and, for thy sake, I love my neighbour as myself.
Let us return thanks to God for the favours he has conferred on us.
Enable me, O Lord, to return thee sufficient thanks for all thy inestimable blessings and favours.
Thou hast thought of me, and loved me, from all eternity; thou hast formed me from nothing; thou hast delivered up thy beloved Son to the ignominious death of the cross for my redemption; thou didst preserve me from falling into the abyss of eternal misery, when my sins had often provoked thee to cut the slender thread of my life, which thou heldest in thy all-powerful and chastising hand; and thou still continuest to preserve me, notwithstanding I still continue to offend thee. Alas! my God, what return can I make for the innumerable blessings thou hast conferred on me, during the whole course of my life, as well as for the particular favours of this day? O all ye angels and saints! unite with me in praising the God of Mercies, who is so bountiful to so unworthy a creature.