Page:HalfHoursWithTheSaints.djvu/31

 I say  usually,  because  divine  love  is  sometimes  so violent  that  it  actually  separates  the  soul  from  the  body, and, by  causing  the  death  of  those  who  love,  it  renders them infinitely  happier  than  if  it  bestowed  on  them  a thousand  lives.

As the  lot  of  the  reprobate  is  to  die  in  sin,  that  of  the elect is  to  expire  in  the  love  and  grace  of  God,  which  is effected  in  several  ways.

Many of  the  Saints  died,  not  only  in  the  state  of  charity, but in  the  actual  exercise  of  divine  love. St Augustine expired in  making  an  act  of  contrition,  which  cannot  exist without love;  St.  Jerome,  in  exhorting  his  disciples  to charity  and  the  practice  of  all  virtues;  St.  Ambrose,  in conversing  sweetly  with  his  Saviour,  whom  he  had  received in the  Holy  Eucharist;  St.  Antony  of  Padua  also  expired in the  act  of  discoursing  with  our  Divine  Lord,  after  having recited a  hymn  in  honour  of  the  ever-glorious  Virgin; St. Thomas  of  Aquinas,  with  his  hands  clasped,  his eyes raised  to  heaven,  and  pronouncing  these  words  of the  Canticles,  which  were  the  last  he  had  expounded: " Come,  my  beloved,  let  us  go  forth  into  the  field." (Cant vii. n).

All the  apostles,  and  the  greater  number  of  the  martyrs, died in  prayer. Venerable Bede,  having  learned  the  hour of his  death  by  revelation,  went  to  the  choir  at  the  usual hour to  sing  the  evening  office,  it  being  the  feast  of  the Ascension, and  at  the  very  moment  he  had  finished  singing vespers,  he  expired,  following  his  Guide  and  Master into heaven,  to  celebrate  His  praises  in  that  abode  of  rest and happiness,  round  which  the  shades  of  night  can  never gather, because  it  is  illumined  by  the  brightness  of  the eternal day,  which  neither  dawns  nor  ends.

John Gerson,  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Paris, remarkable for  his  learning  and  virtue — of  whom  Sixtus of Sienna  said,  "that  it  is  difficult  to  decide  whether  the