the colours, for the harmony of the sounds, for the pleasantness of the odours, for the sweetness of the meats, for the softness of our raiments, and for all those things which recreate my five senses, seeing Thou createdst them for me that I might praise and serve Thee with them.
2. And then I will consider how well these creatures comply with the end for which Almighty God created them, serving me and nourishing me, because God so commanded it; and contrariwise, how evilly I have complied and do comply with my end, using them evilly to offend God with all, placing in them my final end, as if I had been created to enjoy them, making the end of that which was but the means. And if I run through my senses, I shall find that they have gone lusting after creatures, using them only for their delight, and not to glorify God that gave them me; for the which I justly deserved that God should take them from me, and that He should " set at liberty" (as he said by Oseas) His " corn and wine," His flour and His " wool" from the " service" [1] they are in under my possession, using them against their inclination to offend their Creator.
Colloquy. — O most just Creator, how is it that Thou didst not justice upon him that so abused thy creatures, using them against Thee? O my soul, how art thou not confounded with such treachery as this? And how art thou not ashamed of this great baseness thou hast committed, abasing thyself to place thy final end upon a thing so vile as is the creature to the injury of the Creator! O my God, how ungrateful have I been for Thy sovereign benefits! for what Thou gavest me to serve Thee I converted into an occasion to offend Thee. Pardon, O Lord, my unthankfulness, and assist me, that from henceforward
- ↑ Oseas ii. 9.
