Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/20

 that great  Spiritual  Insurance  Company — the  Church — sends her  agent  to  insure  us  for  eternity,  we  either neglect or  refuse,  though  the  policy  she  offers  is  infinitely desirable,  her  reliability  infallible,  and  the premium ridiculously  small. There is  something fairly ghastly  in  our  indifference  to  the  issue  of  the death and  judgment  that  await  us;  as  there  is  in  the picture of  a  pleasure  party  on  the  St.  Lawrence, carousing in  their  frail  bark  as  it  sweeps  downward to the  falls;  or  a  criminal  singing  a  ballad  on  his  way to the  gallows. If God  were,  in  an  instant,  to  petrify this age,  and  one  man  were  left  to  go  around  and inspect the  stony  figures,  how  many,  think  you, would he  find  to  have  been  engaged  at  the  last moment in  the  service  of  the  world,  and  how  few  in the  service  of  God? The reason  is  because  we  are asleep to  the  main  issue;  we  have  forgotten  the  one thing to  be  remembered. And our  folly  is  without excuse. For, as  surely  as  the  sun  rises  and  sets,  so sure  are  we  that  the  evening  of  time  is  coming,  and thereafter the  dawn  of  eternity. The dreary  rain prefigures the  tears  to  be  shed  over  us;  the  snow  that mantles blighted  Nature  reminds  us  of  the  shroud that awaits  us  and  the  decay  that  is  our  common  lot. When the  thunder  booms  we  seem  to  hear  the angel's trumpet  calling  the  dead  to  judgment,  and  in the  lightning's  flash,  which  cometh  out  of  the  east and appeareth  even  unto  the  west,  we  are  reminded of the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man. In the  midst  of life  there  is  death;  the  grave  is  dug  by  the  cradle's side,  and  the  mother's  lullaby  is  but  the  prelude  to  the