good and pious one, or else a wicked, godless one. If it has been good, pious, regulated by the law and will of God, and is found at the end with a good conscience in the grace and friendship of God, truly, no one can then say that its end is evil or terrible. For if we have but a spark of Christian faith left, what more can we desire than such a death? What can we more hope for or rejoice in than such a death, which changes our mortal life into an immortal one, and makes us infallibly sure of our salvation, which was before always a matter of doubt, and brings us without fail to the end for which we are created. Is it then a terrible thing for the traveller to reach the end of his journey, and to arrive in good health and spirits at his father’s house, where he can repose after the fatigue of the road? Is it a terrible thing for the sailor, after having escaped the dangers of the sea, to arrive in port with a richly-laden ship? Is it a terrible thing for the soldier to return in triumph after having conquered the enemy? Oh, truly, that is a joyful ending of the journey, the voyage, the battle! And still more joyful is the ending of a pious life.
As we ourselves acknowledge. Must you not acknowledge this, my dear brethren? Could I bring you more joyful news than if I were now authorized by divine revelation to assure you that you shall end your lives in the state of sanctifying grace? You often see little children dying in their cradles; the father and mother weep for the loss of their child, and it is only natural they should do so; but who will say that such a death is bitter or terrible? Oh, how happy that child is! such are the exclamations of the bystanders, and many of them experience a secret envy in their hearts; oh, they say, I wish I had died in the same state! Is it not so? And why? Is not the child dead? Is not its life ended by death just as if it were a grown person? Not a doubt of it. And why then do not people look on such a death as bitter or terrible? Nay, why are there so many who long for such a termination to their lives? Because, you say, that child died in its first innocence, and is perfectly certain of its eternal salvation, and rejoices with the angels and saints in heaven. From this I conclude that death, or the end of a good life, has nothing bitter or terrible in itself; and, further, if there is anything bitter or terrible in death it comes not from death itself, no matter what its nature maybe, but simply from a wicked and sinful life; hence, not death is to be feared, but a bad life.
