FROM “Of Prayer and Meditation” by Venerable Louis of Granada:

HOW MANY the miseries are that be included in this misery alone, I will not take upon me to declare at this present. Only I will rehearse what a certain holy father saith by way of exclamation against death in this wise. O death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee? How quickly and suddenly stealest thou upon us? How secret are thy paths, and ways? How doubtful is thy hour? And how universal is thy seignory, and dominion? The mighty can not escape thy hands: the wise can not hide themselves from thee: and the strong lose their strength in thy presence. Thou accountest no man rich: forsomuch as no man is able to ransom his life of thee for money. Thou goest every where: thou searchest every where: and thou art every where. Thou witherest the herbs: thou drinkest up the winds: thou corruptest the air: thou changest the ages: thou alterest the world: thou stickest not to sup up the sea: all things do increase, and diminish, but thou continuest always at one stay. Thou art the hammer that always striketh: thou art the sword that never blunteth: thou art the snare whereinto every one falleth: thou art the prison wherein every one entereth: thou art the sea wherein all do perish: thou art the pain that every one suffereth: and the tribute that every one payeth.

O cruel death, why hast thou not compassion of us, but comest stealing suddenly upon us, to snatch us away in our best times, and to interrupt our affairs when they are well begone, and brought to a good forwardness! Thou robbest from us in one hour, as much as we have gained in many years. Thou cuttest of the succession of kindreds, and families: Thou leavest kingdoms without any heirs. Thou fillest the world with widows, and orphans: Thou breakest of the studies of great clerks: Thou overthrowest good wits in their ripest age: Thou joinest the end with the beginning, without giving place to the middle: To conclude, thou art such a one, as almighty God washeth his hands of thee, and cleareth himself in plain words, saying: That he never made thee, but that thou hadst thine entry into the world by the very envy and craft of the devil.

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