A Little Book of Eternal Wisdom [45]
he take me not by surprise. I will learn how to die; I
will turn my thoughts to yonder world. Lord, I see that there is no
remaining here; Lord, in sooth, I will not save up my sorrow and repentance
till death. Oh, how terrified I am at this spectacle, I marvel that my soul
is still in my body! Begone, begone, from me, soft reclining, long sleeping,
good eating and drinking, perishable honours, delicateness and luxury! If
but a little suffering here is so painful to me, how shall I ever endure
immeasurable agony? O God, it indeed I were now to die thus, how would it be
with me? What a load have I not still upon me! Lord, this very day I will
set a poor man[12] to pray for my poor soul, and since all her friends have
forsaken her I will befriend her.
Eternal Wisdom.--See; this shouldst thou diligently look to whilst thou
art in thy youth, and whilst thou hast still time to make things better. But
when, in truth, thou hast reached this hour, and thou canst not make things
better, then shouldst thou look at nothing on earth, except My death and My
infinite mercy; so that Thy trust may repose wholly in Me.
The Servant.-- O Lord, I prostrate myself at Thy feet, and I beseech
Thee with bitter tears to chastise me here as Thou wilt, only keep it not in
store for me in the next world. Woe is me, Lord, the fire of Purgatory and
its unspeakable torments, how could I ever be so foolish as to think lightly
of them, and how do I now stand in such great fear of them!
Eternal Wisdom.--Be of good heart, this thy fear is the beginning of
wisdom, and a path to salvation. Or hast thou forgotten how all the
Scriptures declare what great salvation is contained in the fear and
diligent contemplation of death? Thou shouldst always praise God, for not to
one in a thousand has it been granted to know Him, as to thee. Listen to a
lamentable thing: they hear it spoken of; they know of it beforehand, and
yet they allow it to pass by, and heed it not till they be swallowed up by
it, and then they howl and weep when it is too late. Open thy eyes, count
upon thy fingers, see how many of them have died around thee in thy own
times; talk with them a little in thy heart; join thy old man to them as
though it were dead; question them together; see with what fathomless sighs,
with what bitter tears they will say: Oh, blessed is he that ever he was
born, who follows sweet counsel and, in the misfortunes of others, learns
wisdom! Prepare thyself well for thy departure hence; for truly thou sittest
as a bird on the bough, and art as a man who stands on the water's edge, and
looks at the swift sailing ship in which he will presently take his seat,
and sail away for a strange land whence he will never more return.
Therefore, so regulate thy life that when the ship comes for thee thou
mayest be ready, and mayest joyfully take thy departure hence.
CHAPTER XXII. How One Should Live An Interior and Godly Life
The Servant.--Lord, many are the rules, many the ways of a godly life,
the one is so, the other so. Many and various are the ways. Lord, the
Scriptures are inexhaustible, their precepts innumerable. Teach me, O
Eternal Wisdom, in a few words, out of the abyss of all the things they
contain, to what I ought chiefly to hold fast in the way of a truly pious
life.
Eternal Wisdom.--The truest, most useful, and most practical doctrine
for thee in all the Scriptures that, in a few words, will more than amply
convince thee of all the truth requisite for the attainment of the summit of
perfection in a godly life, is this doctrine: Keep thyself secluded from all
mankind, keep thyself free from the influence of all external things,
disenthrall thyself from all that depends on chance or accident, and direct
thy mind at all times on high in secret and divine contemplation, wherein,
with a steady gaze from which thou never swervest, thou hast Me before thy
eyes. And as to other exercises, such as poverty, fasting, watching, and
every other castigation, bend them all to this as to
will turn my thoughts to yonder world. Lord, I see that there is no
remaining here; Lord, in sooth, I will not save up my sorrow and repentance
till death. Oh, how terrified I am at this spectacle, I marvel that my soul
is still in my body! Begone, begone, from me, soft reclining, long sleeping,
good eating and drinking, perishable honours, delicateness and luxury! If
but a little suffering here is so painful to me, how shall I ever endure
immeasurable agony? O God, it indeed I were now to die thus, how would it be
with me? What a load have I not still upon me! Lord, this very day I will
set a poor man[12] to pray for my poor soul, and since all her friends have
forsaken her I will befriend her.
Eternal Wisdom.--See; this shouldst thou diligently look to whilst thou
art in thy youth, and whilst thou hast still time to make things better. But
when, in truth, thou hast reached this hour, and thou canst not make things
better, then shouldst thou look at nothing on earth, except My death and My
infinite mercy; so that Thy trust may repose wholly in Me.
The Servant.-- O Lord, I prostrate myself at Thy feet, and I beseech
Thee with bitter tears to chastise me here as Thou wilt, only keep it not in
store for me in the next world. Woe is me, Lord, the fire of Purgatory and
its unspeakable torments, how could I ever be so foolish as to think lightly
of them, and how do I now stand in such great fear of them!
Eternal Wisdom.--Be of good heart, this thy fear is the beginning of
wisdom, and a path to salvation. Or hast thou forgotten how all the
Scriptures declare what great salvation is contained in the fear and
diligent contemplation of death? Thou shouldst always praise God, for not to
one in a thousand has it been granted to know Him, as to thee. Listen to a
lamentable thing: they hear it spoken of; they know of it beforehand, and
yet they allow it to pass by, and heed it not till they be swallowed up by
it, and then they howl and weep when it is too late. Open thy eyes, count
upon thy fingers, see how many of them have died around thee in thy own
times; talk with them a little in thy heart; join thy old man to them as
though it were dead; question them together; see with what fathomless sighs,
with what bitter tears they will say: Oh, blessed is he that ever he was
born, who follows sweet counsel and, in the misfortunes of others, learns
wisdom! Prepare thyself well for thy departure hence; for truly thou sittest
as a bird on the bough, and art as a man who stands on the water's edge, and
looks at the swift sailing ship in which he will presently take his seat,
and sail away for a strange land whence he will never more return.
Therefore, so regulate thy life that when the ship comes for thee thou
mayest be ready, and mayest joyfully take thy departure hence.
CHAPTER XXII. How One Should Live An Interior and Godly Life
The Servant.--Lord, many are the rules, many the ways of a godly life,
the one is so, the other so. Many and various are the ways. Lord, the
Scriptures are inexhaustible, their precepts innumerable. Teach me, O
Eternal Wisdom, in a few words, out of the abyss of all the things they
contain, to what I ought chiefly to hold fast in the way of a truly pious
life.
Eternal Wisdom.--The truest, most useful, and most practical doctrine
for thee in all the Scriptures that, in a few words, will more than amply
convince thee of all the truth requisite for the attainment of the summit of
perfection in a godly life, is this doctrine: Keep thyself secluded from all
mankind, keep thyself free from the influence of all external things,
disenthrall thyself from all that depends on chance or accident, and direct
thy mind at all times on high in secret and divine contemplation, wherein,
with a steady gaze from which thou never swervest, thou hast Me before thy
eyes. And as to other exercises, such as poverty, fasting, watching, and
every other castigation, bend them all to this as to