Ecclesiasticus, " Defraud not thyself of the good day, and let not a part of a good gift overpass thee," [1] but make thy profit of all, to the glory of Him that gives it to thee.
POINT II.
Secondly, I will consider the great affliction that my soul shall feel in leaving all things present, if I possess them with an evil conscience, or with an inordinate affection; upon which I should persuade myself that in that hour I must perforce, and in spite of myself, leave three sorts of things. [2]
1. First, I must leave the riches, dignities, offices, delicacies and possessions that I had, and shall not be able to carry anything with me. And the more goods I have the more bitter it will be to leave them. For death (says Ecclesiasticus) is very " bitter to him that hath peace in his possessions" [3] and dignities, and is desirous to live to enjoy them longer; and the sins he committed in procuring and in abusing them shall augment this bitterness, God's justice so ordaining it that those things which in their life were the instruments of their vicious delights, should in their death be their executioners and tormentors. Then shall be fulfilled that which is written in Job of a sinner. " His bread in his belly," which he did eat with much savour, "shall be turned into the gall of asps within him; the riches which he hath swallowed he shall vomit up, and God shall draw them oat of his belly. He shall suck the head of asps, and the viper's tongue shall kill him." [4] That is to say, his delights shall be turned into gall, his riches shall make him disgorge; but he shall neither have courage to dispose of them nor to leave them, until death take them away by force, the serpents and vipers of hell tormenting him for having gotten and possessed them with sin.
