palpable, which is the dust and slime of the earth, [1] to the end that man, seeing daily with his corporal eyes this dust, might continually remember his original and beginning for two ends. i. That he might humble himself profoundly, and understand that of himself he deserves to be contemned, trodden under foot and trampled upon like dirt, and that he has nothing (though he have great goods) of which to be proud, because all have their foundation in dust. ii. That he might be moved to love and to serve his so loving and powerful Creator, who from vile dust raised him to so great a height as to be a man according to the image and likeness of God Himself.
2. So that dust and dirt may serve for remembrancers to recall to my memory my original and the matter of which I was formed, imagining when I see them that they cry out to me, and say, " Remember that thou art dust, humble thyself as dust, love, serve, and obey thy Creator that took thee from the dust." And when I wax proud with the gifts that I have, I am to imagine that they cry to me, repressing my vanity, and saying to me, "Of what art thou 'proud,' 'earth and ashes? ' " [2] " Why art thou puffed up, vessel of clay? "[3] Be warned by forgetful Adam, who, forgetting that he was dust, presumed to be as Almighty God, and rebelled against his Maker.
Colloquy. — O omnipotent Creator, permit not in me so pernicious an oblivion, that I fall not into so great a danger! Clear my eyes, that I may in spirit behold the dust of which I was formed, and open my ears that I may hear its cries, so imprinting them in my heart that I may never forget them! Amen.
(Of this point we shall speak largely in the sixth part, in the 26th meditation.)
