Page:MeditationsOnTheMysteriesOfOurHolyV1.djvu/173

 Colloquy. — Consider well what will be the end of this flesh that thou hast; consider whom thou cherishest, whom thou adornest, and upon whom thou dost build these castles in the air; for all is but like a little " dust which the wind driveth from the face of the earth," which presently returneth to fall back again. Be ashamed to subject thyself to so vile flesh; endeavour rather to subject it like a slave to thee, that it may aid thee to purchase life everlasting. 0 eternal God, clear the eyes of my poor soul with Thy sovereign light, that it may behold the wretched end of its miserable body, and contemn that which is present with the view of that which is to come! Amen.

3. Finally, I will consider that I cannot tell whether it will fall to my lot to have so honourable a funeral, or whether our Lord will permit, for chastisement of my sins, that I be buried in the belly of fishes or of wild beasts, or, as Jeremiah says, " with the burial of an ass," or be eaten by crows, or by dogs, like unhappy Jezebel,  which I have well deserved for my sins; for to a bestial life is due the sepulchre of beasts. And therefore as much as lies in me I will abhor the vain pomp of worldly sepulchres, desiring both in life and death to choose for myself the humblest place on the earth.

4. I may also spiritualise what has been said in these three points, applying it to my soul dead by sin, which remains ugly, deformed, and unable to do meritorious works of eternal life, while her passions are carrying her to be interred in the abyss of evil, covering her with the gravestone of obstinacy, until she descend to the obscure and dreadful sepulchre of hell. All this should move me to compassion; for if I bewail the body from which the soul is absent, much more reason have I to bewail the soul from which Almighty