Page:The Catholic prayer book.djvu/294

 moment, which  concludes  the  pleasures  of  time,  to begin  the  pains  of  eternity!

2. What  would  we  wish  to  have  done  at  the  hour of death! Let us  do  at  present  what  we  would  then be glad  to  have  done. There is  no  time  to  lose: every moment  may  be  the  last  of  our  lives. The longer we  have  lived,  the  nearer  we  approach  to  the grave. Our death  is  not  the  less  distant  the  more the thought  of  it  has  been  put  off.

3. What  will  our  notion  of  this  earth  be,  when we are  forced  to  quit  it? Let us  now  take  advice from death,  it  is  a faithful  counsellor; it  will  not deceive us. What will  become  of  this  beauty,  this money, this  pleasure,  this  honour? What will  be  our thoughts of  them  at  the  hour  of  death? In our lifetime appearances  often  deceive  us; but,  at  our death, we  shall  see  things  as  they  really  are. Man, whilst alive,  esteems  the  world: man,  when  dying, despises it. But which  should  we  reasonably  believe — man living,  or  man  at  the  point  of  death? Ah, how trifling  will  the  world  appear  by  the  light  of that  torch  which  faintly  glimmers  near  the  bed  of death! but, alas,  it  will  then  be,  perhaps,  too  late to undeceive  ourselves.

[Think seriously on  what  you  chiefly  apprehend,  were  you  this moment  to  die,  and  regulate  it  immediately. Accustom yourself to  perform  every  act  ion  as  if  you  were  to  die  instantly  after. Above all things,  observe  this  practice  in  the  use  of  the  Sacraments.]

“Death and I are  divided  but  by  a single  step." — 1 Kings  xx.

“There is no  to-morrow  for  a Christian." — Tertullian.

1. I must one  day  appear  before  the  tribunal  of Jesus  Christ, to  be  there  judged  for  the  good  or  evil I shall  have  done. There is  nothing  more  formal  or express  in  the  Gospel  than  this  truth; I believe  it  as