foot before the other for fear, and if a dry leaf but falls from a tree he cries out that he is undone; that the robbers are upon him; nor does he feel at ease until he has brought his treasure home safely and put it beyond the reach of accident. Then, and then only, can he enjoy it in peace.
The sinner loses by death all he formerly possessed. O mortal, who are now so careless, living on in the state of sin with a bad conscience! how will it be with you one day? You are now toiling for treasure on earth; perhaps you have acquired it already; but where? Where the moths shall eat it away, or thieves steal it from you? How long will you retain possession of it? Let me ask you in the words of the Gospel to the rich man: “They require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?”[1] You are now amassing gold and silver; whose will they be when you die? “They shall leave their riches to strangers,”[2] is the answer of the Psalmist, “and their sepulchres shall be their houses forever.”[3] You now try to make a great name for yourself before men: “They have called their lands by their names;”[4] but when you die, “whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” What will become of your treasure? “When he shall die, he shall take nothing away: nor shall his glory descend with him.”[5] No matter how great he is in the sight of men, he will be unknown in darkness after death: “He shall never see light.”[6] You now seek bodily comforts, and the pleasures and delights of sense; even if you have enjoyed them in superfluity, “whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” What will become of all your joys when you die? “Under thee shall the moth be strewed, and worms shall be thy covering.”[7] You seek to curry favor with some rich man; of what use will that be to you on your death-bed? “The rich man when he shall sleep shall take away nothing with him: he shall open his eyes, and find nothing.”[8] All his treasures must remain behind: “Poverty like water shall take hold on him…A burning wind shall take him up and carry him away, and as a whirl-wind shall snatch him from
- ↑ Animam tuam repetunt a te; quæ autem parasti, cujus erunt?—Luke xii. 20.
- ↑ Relinquent alienis divitias suas.—Ps. xlviii. 11.
- ↑ Et sepulcra eorum domus illorum in æternum.—Ibid. 12.
- ↑ Vocaverunt nomina sua in terris suis.—Ibid.
- ↑ Cum interierit, non sumet omnia, neque descendet cum eo gloria ejus.—Ibid. 18.
- ↑ In æternum non videbit lumen.—Ibid. 20.
- ↑ Subter te sternetur tinea, et operimentum tuum erunt vermes.—Is. xiv. 11.
- ↑ Dives, cum dormierit, nihil secum auferet; aperiet oculos suos, et nihil inveniet. Job xxvii. 19.
