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.
On Death —II. How Terrible it is.
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
