Page:AceticLibraryV2PreparationForDeath.djvu/66

 will do all that lies in their power to gain his soul. "Their houses shall be full of doleful creatures." (Isa. xiii. 21.) One will say, " Fear not, thou wilt soon be well." Another will say, " How is it that thou, who for so many years hast been deaf to the voice of God, canst expect Him now to show thee mercy?" And another, " How canst thou now remedy those evils that are done, and the reputations thou hast ruined?" And another, "Dost thou not see that thy confessions have been of no avail, without true grief; without any intention to do better for the future? How then canst thou now repair the evil which is done?"

Besides all this, the dying man will behold himself surrounded by his sins: " Evil shall hunt the wicked person to overthrow him." (Ps. cxl. ii.) S. Bernard observes that these sins, like so many watchful guards, shall hold him in their grasp, and shall say to him, "We are thy works; we will not leave thee; we will go with thy soul to the other world, and with it present ourselves to the Eternal Judge." Then the dying man will want to rid himself of these enemies; but to get rid of them it would be necessary to hate them; it would be necessary for his heart to become converted to God. Whereas his mind is darkened, and his heart is hardened. " A hard heart shall fear evil at the last; and he that loveth danger shall perish in it." (Ecclus. iii. 27.) S. Bernard says, that that heart which has been so obstinate in sin during life, will use every means to free itself when dying from this state of condemnation, but will be unable to do so; and being oppressed with its own wickedness, will pass from life in this state. Until the hour of death arrived, the sinner always loved sin; he has also loved the danger of his own damnation; very justly therefore will the Lord allow him to perish in that peril in which he has loved to live until the time of his death. S. Augustine believes, that "he who is left by sin before he himself leaves it, at the hour of death will hardly dislike it as much as he ought, because whatever he does at that time will be done through necessity."

Miserable indeed is that sinner who is so hardened that he resists the voice of God when He calls him! " His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone." (Job xli. 24.) Instead of yielding and being softened by the