CHAPTER XXIII.
OF MEDITATION ON DEATH.
ERY quickly there will be an end of thee here: look what will become of thee in another state.
To-day we are here, to-morrow we disappear, and when we are gone, quickly also we are out of mind.
O the stupidity and hardness of man's heart, which thinketh only upon the present, and doth not rather care for what is to come!
Thou oughtest so to order thyself in all thy thoughts and actions, as if thou wert about to die.
If thou hadst a good conscience, thou wouldst not greatly fear death.
It were better to avoid sin, than to escape death.
If to-day thou art not prepared, how wilt thou be so to-morrow!
To-morrow is uncertain, and how knowest thou that thou shalt live till to-morrow!
What availeth it to live long, when there is so small amendment of our lives?
Alas! length of days doth not always better us, but often rather increaseth our sin.
O that we had spent but one day in this world thoroughly well!
Many there are who reckon years of conversion; and yet slender is the fruit of amendment.
If to die be accounted dreadful, to live long may perhaps prove more dangerous.
