the condition to which both you and they must so soon be reduced, and you will see what little reason you have to set your affections upon these painted dunghills, which will so quickly betray what they are, and end in noisomeness and corruption. We read that St. Francis Borgia was so touched with the bare sight of the ghastly countenance of the empress Isabella after death, whom he had seen a little before in all her majesty, and all her charms, as to conceive an eternal disgust of this world, and a happy resolution of consecrating himself wholly to the service of that king who never dies. Let the like consideration move us to the like resolution.
THE EIGHTH DAY.
On the sentiments we shall have at the hour of our death.
CONSIDER, Christian soul, what will be thy sentiments at the hour of death with regard to this world, and all its perishable goods, vain honours, false riches and cheating pleasures. Alas! the world must then end in thy regard; it will turn upside down before thy eyes; and thou wilt begin to see clearly the nothingness of all those things on which thou hast here set thy heart. How wilt thou then despise all worldly honours and preferments, when thou seest thyself at the brink of the grave, where the worms will make no distinction between the king and the beggar! How little account wilt thou then make of the esteem of men, who now will think no more of thee? How wilt thou undervalue thy riches, which must now be left behind thee, when six foot of land, a coffin and a shroud, will be all thy possession? How despicable will all worldly pleasures then seem to thee, which, at the best, could never give thee any true
