Blanquerna

The abbess went into the chapter-house with all the sifters of the convent, and spake these words: “ Forasmuch as the Divine ordinance has been pleased to ordain that man should have the use and governance of his corporal sight which, rightly ordered, may lead to a spiritual life, there-

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fore is it well that a rule and ordinance be made among us that we may know how to use the sight of the body. Let our eyes then, be ordered well to gaze upon the Cross, and upon the image of our Lady Saint Mary, and upon other figures which present to us the lives of the saints who have passed from this world. Let us do honour to all these, in¬ voking them whensoever we see them, and remembering in our souls those things which they signify to us."

2. “ Let our apparel be humble ; let there be no subtlety neither any adornment in our features, but only that which Nature has set there according to the will of God. When women of the world come to see us or to hear our words (as was said in the chapter concerning the hearing), when we see their proud apparel, and their features subtly painted, then muft we praise and bless God for that He has chosen us to be the servants of humility and kept us from the vanity of this world. Then muft the eyes of our spirits see how Jesus Chrifl our Spouse, and our Lady, and the Saints, wore humble apparel. Each one of us may win much merit if she can remember this when she looks upon proud apparel. Let us furthermore beg the women of the world that they come among us humbly apparelled, and that in their features there be no subtlety nor adornment, that they may not tempt our souls to covet the vanities of this world.”

3- “ When we behold the graveyard, then is it time to think upon death; and with the eyes of the spirit we may look upon the worms that shall gnaw and consume the eyes wherewith we see, and the ears wherewith we hear, and the tongue wherewith we speak. When we behold the vileness of our bodies,' then is it time for us to think upon the vile¬ ness of our natures, that pride may be mortified in us and humility exalted. If we enter the orchard and see the ass drawing the water-wheel > and look upon the trees and the

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plants, then is it time for us to render thanks to God, Who has created us to be of a nobler nature than the beafts or the trees or the plants; for, had He so willed it, He could have created us after their kind.”

4, “ Let us look up to the heavens and behold how high they be; let us gaze upon the sun, the moon and the ftars. Let us meditate upon the sea and the earth and upon birds, hearts, plants and men. Let us praise God Who is so great, for if God has created so many, so various and so lovely creatures, how much greater than them all is He, their Creator 1 And if all these creatures have been created by God for the service of man, how great should be our thanks toward God for all these things and for many beside.” The abbess prayed the sifters after this manner to use the eyes both of the body and of the spirit, that their souls might rise to the love of God and incline neither to error nor