Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/388

384 FAMILIAR COLLOQUIES. He indeed suffers it to be imputed to Him, if anything be done for His sake to a Christian, but He never promised salvation to such as Uve wickedly. Th. That is no wonder, my friend, for the transcendent power of the gospel is reserved for this order. But you shall now hear the seventh and last revelation. Ph. I am ready to hear it. Th. The Lord sware to him that none should make an ill end who died in a Franciscan's habit. Ph. But what is it that you call an ill end ? Th. Why, he makes an ill end that when his soul leaves the body it goes down directly into hell without any redemption. Ph. But what, then, does not the habit deliver from the fire of purgatory] Th. No, unless a person dies in it upon St. Francis's day. But don't you think it is a great thing to be freed from hell 1 ? Ph. Yes, I think it is the greatest of all. But what must we think of those persons who are put into the habit after they are dead, and don't actually die in it ? Th. If they desire it in their life-time, the will is taken for the deed. Ph. When I was at Antwerp, I was present in the com- pany of the relations of a woman that was just giving up the ghost. There was a Franciscan by, a very reverend man, who, observing the woman to yawn, put one of her arms into the sleeve of his garment so that it covered that arm and part of the shoulder; and there was a dispute raised upon it, whether the whole woman should be safe from the gates of hell, or that part only which had been covered. Th. Why, the whole woman was secured, as it is in baptism, but part of the person is dipped in the water, but the whole person is made a Christian.

Ph. It is wonderful what a dread the devils have of this habit. Th. They dread it more than they do the cross of Christ. When Eusebius was carried to the grave, I saw, and so did many others besides me, swarms of black devils like flies buzzing about the body and striking at it, but not one of them durst touch it. Ph. But in the meantime his face, his hands, and his feet were in danger, because they were bare. Th. As a snake will not come near the shadow of an ash, let it spread ever so far, so the devils are sensible of the venom of the holy garment at a great distance. Ph. Why, then, I believe such bodies do not putrefy; if they do, the worms have more courage than the devils. Th. What you say is very probable. Ph. How happy are the lice which always live in that holy garment ! But when the garment is going to the grave what becomes of the soul 1 Th. Why the soul carries away with it the influence of the garment, and renders it secure ; so that a great many will not allow that any of that order do go at all to purgatory. Ph. In truth, if this revelation were true, I would esteem it at an higher rate than that of St. John, for this shews us an easy and a ready way, without labour, trouble, or repent- ance, to escape eternal misery, and yet to live all our life-long merrily. Th. It is so. Ph. From henceforth I shall leave off admiring at the great deference that so many pay to the seraphic fraternity. But I stand in great admiration that any man should dare to open his mouth against them. Th. You may observe, wherever you see them, that they are persons given over to a reprobate mind and blinded in their wickedness.

Ph. I will for the future be more cautious than I have been, and take care to die in a Franciscan habit. But there are some risen up in