Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/45

 cles. xi. 3.) There  will  be  no  more  time  or  place  for repentance.  Take  care,  then,  that  by  leading  a  good  life you  may  be  always  ready,  and  the  tree  fall  on  the  right side.  Consider  your  present  state,  and  examine  whether there  be  anything  on  your  conscience  which  you  would be  sorry  for  on  your  death-bed.  Impress  this  thought deeply  on  your  mind,  that  to  perish  once  is  to  be  lost forever.

I. Consider  the  miserable  state  of  a  dying  man, stretched out  on  his  death-bed,  and  hastening  to  dissolution. Reflect on  the  terrible  pains  which  he  will  have to suffer. The sins  of  his  past  life  will  rush  into  his mind, and  the  recollection  of  his  having  lost  so  much time in  vanity  and  trifles,  of  his  having  despised  and neglected so  many  of  God's  graces,  will  torture  his memory. He will  perhaps  have  reason  to  wish  for  one hour more,  in  which  to  do  salutary  penance,  when  he may  not  obtain  it  because  he  has  neglected  so  many. " He  would  not  have  blessing,  and  it  shall  be  far  from him,"  says  holy  David. (Ps. cviii.  18.)  Oh,  with  what regret will  the  sinner  exclaim  at  that  awful  moment, " What  hath  pride  profited  us,  or  what  advantage  hath the  boasting  of  riches  brought  us       (Wis.  v.  8.)

II. Consider the  sorrow  which  the  sinner  will  feel  at leaving  the  things  of  this  world  and  their  enjoyments. " That  object,"  says  St.  Augustine,  "  is  not  abandoned without  pain  which  is  possessed  with  delight." In that hour, however,  relations  and  friends,  riches  and  enjoyments and  pleasures  are  all  to  be  abandoned,  without the hope  of  recovering  them. " For  we  brought  nothing into  this  world,"  says  the  Apostle,  "  and  certainly  we  can