to me. I will serve God and will await thee at any moment with joy; and when thou comest to call me away, I shall say, trusting in God and with joyful heart, if I cannot say it with the lips: “Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord! according to Thy word in peace, because my eyes have seen Thy salvation.” Amen.
On the Comfort of a Good Conscience during Life, see several sermons in the foregoing fourth part.
FIFTEENTH SERMON.
ON THE JOYFUL DEATH OF THE JUST.
Subject.
It is a great consolation for the dying just man to think: first, I have accumulated good works and merits for heaven; secondly, the merits I have thus acquired are now in safety, and I am not in danger of losing them.—Preached on the feast of St. Joseph.
Text.
Beatus ille servus, quem, cum venerit dominus, invenerit ita facientem.—Luke xii. 43.
“Blessed is that servant whom, when his lord shall come, he shall find so doing.”
Introduction.
“Blessed is that servant whom his lord shall find so doing.” And what has the servant done? He was placed as steward over the household of his lord, as we learn from the preceding verse: “Who thinkest thou is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord setteth over his family?” Oh, blessed is that servant, when his lord shall come, after he has faithfully fulfilled his duties, to demand an account from him! My dear brethren, we need not here ask the question: “Who thinkest thou is the faithful and wise steward?” for this day reminds us of him that we may honor him—namely, St. Joseph. He it is whom the Lord has set over His family, and over the holiest and most amiable family that the world ever saw; for to his care were entrusted Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, and Mary,
