17. Such is my offering; if it be slight and
inferior to his merit, God loveth that which is according to our
power. 2 Cor. viii. 3; ix. 7. Part of our
gift is now complete, the remainder we will now pay by offering (those
of us who still survive) every year our honours and memorials.
And now for thee, sacred and holy soul, we pray for an entrance into
heaven; mayest thou enjoy such repose as the bosom of Abraham affords,
mayest thou behold the choir of Angels, and the glories and splendours
of sainted men; aye, mayest thou be united to that choir and share in
their joy, looking down from on high on all things here, on what men
call wealth, and despicable dignities, and deceitful honours, and the
errors of our senses, and the tangle of this life, and its confusion
and ignorance, as if we were fighting in the dark; whilst thou art in
attendance upon the Great King and filled with the light which streams
forth from Him: and may it be ours hereafter, receiving therefrom
no such slender rivulet, as is the object of our fancy in this day of
mirrors and enigmas, to attain to the fount of good itself, gazing with
pure mind upon the truth in its purity, and finding a reward for our
eager toil here below on behalf of the good, in our more perfect
possession and vision of the good on high: the end to which our
sacred books and teachers foretell that our course of divine mysteries
shall lead us.