but no, for God knows well how to comfort His children when they are dying; and amidst the pains of their death, He makes them feel a certain incomparable sweetness, as a foretaste of that Paradise, which within a short time He will bestow upon them. Like those who die in sin, who even upon their death-bed experience certain foretastes of hell, such as remorse, fear, and despair; so on the contrary do the saints, by the acts of love which at that time they often make towards God, by the desire and by the hope that is in them, of very soon enjoying God, begin even before death to feel that peace which they will afterwards fully enjoy in heaven. Death to the saints is not a punishment, but a reward. " For so He giveth His beloved sleep." (Ps. cxxvii. 3.) The death of him who loves God is not called death, but sleep, so that he can truly say, " I. will lay me down in peace and take my rest." (Ps. iv. 9.)
Father Saurez died in such peace that when dying he was able to say, " I did not think that it was so sweet to die." Cardinal Baronius having been advised by his physician not to think so much about death, replied, "And why? Is it perchance that I fear it? I do not fear, but I love it." Cardinal Fisher, as Saunders relates, when about to die for the faith, put on the best clothes he had, saying, that he was going to a wedding. When he came in sight of the scaffold he cast away his staff, saying, " Make haste my feet; make haste, for we are not far from Paradise." And before dying he sang Te Deum, in returning thanks to God, who had allowed him to die a martyr's death, for the holy faith, and thus being filled with joy, he placed his head under the axe. S. Francis of Assisi sang when dying, and invited the others to sing. One, brother Elias, made answer, saying, " We ought to weep, Father, and not to sing when we are dying." But the saint replied, " I cannot do less than sing, seeing that within so short a time I am going to enjoy God." A Teresian nun dying whilst she was young, and seeing the other nuns begin to weep, she said to them, " O God, wherefore do you weep, I am going to find my Jesus; if you love me rejoice with me." Father Granada relates that a certain huntsman found a solitary leper singing when dying; " Why is it," said the huntsman, "that thou canst sing when in this condition?"
