If the work of each week be thoroughly done, this is actually accomplished.” {63c} The aim of the first week, according to the same authority, “is the cleansing of the conscience from past sin, and of the affections from their future dangers.” And how is this mighty result to be accomplished? how is the conscience to be cleansed from the past, and the affections guaranteed for the future? How is the frail and wavering heart of man to be so purified in a single week, that it shall go out into a world of trial and temptation, “cleansed against future danger?” Really it makes the heart sad to read the miserable and mournful absence of all that the Gospel has provided for a sinner. Loyola knew what sin was, and had bitterly felt its sting, so that there are touching signs of the sincerity of the deep inward conflict which passed within his soul. But the melancholy part of the whole matter is, that there is no hint at the only remedy. There is not a single passage in which the troubled conscience is directed to the atonement, as God’s provision for man’s free pardon; not a single allusion to the Lord’s advocacy, and no mention of either the name or the office of the Holy Ghost. But in the place of all this, there are certain rules to be observed during the retreat. If the inquirer is in business, he must be satisfied with the devotion of an hour and a half daily to the work. {64a} If he has more leisure, he is directed “to migrate from his former habitation into some more secret house or cell;” {64b} being there, he is “to deprive himself of all the brightness of the light, shutting the doors and windows as long as he remains there, except while he has to read or take his food.” {65a} He is “to direct his eyes on no one, unless the occasion of saluting or taking leave require it;” {65b} “he is to do penance by fasting, by limiting the hours of his sleep, and by the use of hair-cloth, ropes, iron bars, and whips;” but, “in preference, whips of small cords, which hurt the outward parts, and not those within, so as to injure the health.” {65c} He is provided with a manual to assist him in meditation, and self-examination; and, above all, he places himself under the guidance and authority of a director, “for,” says Dr. Wiseman, “the life of a good retreat is a good director.” {65d} With this apparatus complete, he sets to work, and is directed to draw a diagram, like the following, containing seven pairs of lines, one pair for each day. {65e} [Picture: Diagram of seven pairs of lines]