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 him. He who is young counts on his vigorous youth; he who is grown up on his manly strength; the old man trusts in his still robust health; every one finds something in his imagination to defend himself against the approach of death; and hence there are few who are disquieted by the question: where go thou? To the grave? Oh, it will be long before it comes to that with me! Supposing now, my dear brethren, that such is the case, and indeed it is true that some live longer than others, what difference does that make? For instance, there are three men on their way to execution; the one is to be beheaded in the market-place here in Treves; the other is to be brought outside the town to Euren; and the third has to go three or four miles along the bank of the river before he comes to the place of execution. They are brought out of prison at the same time; the first has but a few steps to go to the market-place, the second a few hundred yards to Euren, the third has a much longer journey before him; but they are all going to the same end; they must all lose their lives. If the third were to give way to feelings of exultation, to provide him self with new clothes, to curl his hair, and to make all kinds of purchases, thinking that he has some hours longer to live than the others, would you not be inclined to laugh at him? Eh? There is little inclination for merry-making in any of them! They are all in an evil plight; all full of sorrow and care, because they know that they are going to die, that they are being led out to death. Is it not the same with us, my dear brethren, in this world? We are all condemned to death, only some are executed a little sooner than others; one has a few more steps to take, a few more days to live before he comes to the place of execution. The Creator has given to one twenty, to another thirty, to a third forty, fifty, sixty, seventy years of life; but meanwhile are we not all travelling the same road that leads to death? Truly such is the case! As St. Jerome beautifully says: "There is no difference between him who has lived ten and him who has lived a thousand years, once the common end of all and the inevitable doom of death has come upon them." Consider the years of the patriarchs of old; we think what long lives they had; but what of that after all? Their years came to an end at last. Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years; and what then? And he