thought on it, or else they think of it in a careless manner. “Therefore,” says the Prophet David, “pride hath held them fast; they are covered with their iniquity and their wickedness. Their iniquity hath come forth, as it were, from fatness: they have passed in to the affection of the heart.” And what is the cause of that? “For there is no regard to their death.”[1] Therefore evil comes forth, as it were, out of their very entrails. There is nothing for me to do but to sigh forth in the words I have already quoted for you: “O that they would be wise and would understand and would provide for their last end!”
And at last eternal death. Shown by an example. Ah, brethren, why are we so backward in meditating on death? Why do we so obstinately close our hearts to it, although it will infallibly come to each and every one of us? How carefully we set about some temporal end we have in view, although we may never gain it! What preparations we make to entertain a dear friend, although he may never come to visit us! How eagerly we work and plan in order to leave rich legacies to our children, although they may die before us! Death is infallibly certain for all; why, then, do we not think of it? Why do we not take care that we may once die well? Once, I say; because if we make any mistake in dying, we shall never have the chance of repairing it. And why should we not think of death? Tell me poor mortal, why do you so obstinately reject such a wholesome consideration? You must die; you may die this very moment. If death were to come to you now, and it is actually coming to many, and may easily come to you, you would go to hell for all eternity. But you do not consider this, and therefore you go on living as a careless sinner. You must not say: the thought of death is a sad one, and therefore I reject it; but say and acknowledge candidly: my sins and the love I have for earthly things embitter the thought of death, so that I can never recall it without shuddering. Therefore I will at once be converted; at once detest my sins and detach my heart from the false joys of this miserable world. Then I shall be able to think of death, and make provision to avoid danger without sadness. But you refuse to do this because you do not now wish to detach your heart from sensual and sinful pleasures. I say to you, how ever, and let the words sink deeply into your mind, what St. Malachy said once to a vain worldling. The latter had often
- ↑ Ideo tenuit eos superbia; operti sunt iniquitate et impietate sua. Prodiit quasi ex adipe iniquitas eorum; transierunt in affectum cordis. Quia non est respectus morti eorum.—Ps. Ixxii. 6, 7, 4.
