Page:MeditationsOnTheMysteriesOfOurHolyV1.djvu/254

 and it was not granted him. Thus shall all three suffer the hunger of dogs, raging thirst, pangs, and bitterness of eternal galls, according to the sentence pronounced against Babylon: "As much as she hath glorified herself and lived in delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give ye to her."

Colloquy. — Then what art thou doing, O my soul? Why not bewail thy gluttonies? why dost thou not amend thyself of them? Behold that temporal fulness and drunkenness shall be chastised with eternal hunger and thirst; and if, like Esau, for a vile dish of meat thou sellest the inheritance of heaven, thou shalt peradventure have no time to recover it. Consider how many have been chastised for this vice, and beware by other men's evils, lest torment light upon thee for thine own!

Of temperance and fasting. — Thirdly, I am to consider the great benefits and rewards that I shall receive of Almighty God, if I mortify gluttony and perfectly embrace temperance and fasting, reducing them also to three classes, opposite to the three punishments of gluttony. Some are proper to themselves, like good fruits of a good tree; others our Lord adds, to show how much this virtue pleases Him; others are rewards of heaven, with which He rewards it.

1. For, first, abstinence pays in ready money the pain which it has in the beginning; for it tempers the body — it preserves from infirmities — it preserves health — it prolongs the life — it recreates the soul, it renders it fit for prayer and receiving celestial comforts— it takes away the arms of its enemy the flesh, and subjects it to the spirit, to encourage it to undertake glorious enterprises in the service of God.