hath disposed to Me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom.”[1] I shall no longer see the light of the sun with my bodily eyes, nor have sensible experience of how my descendants shall fare on earth after my death; but everything that occurs in heaven and on earth I shall know and understand incomparably better by the beatific vision of God. My body, that has hitherto served my soul as a sort of garment, and is torn by death, and the life that I have tried so hard to preserve by minding my health, these shall be taken from me; but neither is that a great hardship. For my soul shall be clad with the shining robe of glory and will live forever without fear of illness or fatigue. Farewell, then, O world, with all your fripperies! I leave you with joy! Go forth, my soul, from this emaciated, miserable body; leave it to the earth to be eaten by worms in the grave. The time shall come in which this very body shall rise up out of the dust in the general judgment, to be again united to thee, and to share forever in thy eternal joys. Goodbye to everything on earth! My banishment is at an end; the business of my life happily accomplished; I am going to the land of joys where it shall be always well with me! These are the joyful thoughts of the man who dies a happy death. See, my dear brethren, the end of your years that -I wish each and every one of you from my heart. And such an end we can all have if we only strive for it earnestly, no matter what our state or condition; that we may all do this, is the wish I shall briefly express in the
Second Part.
Exhortation to the clergy to work for a happy death. My first care shall then be for myself, that my years may end happily, and in this you, reverend members of the clergy, are all concerned. This firm resolution of mine shall constantly remind me of the duties and obligations imposed on me by God in my state of life, so that I may always try to fulfil them as I shall wish on my death-bed to have fulfilled them. It will help me, whenever I appear before the face of God to announce His praises in the divine office and other prayers, to show to such a great Lord all due reverence, and to be modest and attentive in His presence, in the hope that at the end of my years I may praise Him forever with the angels. It will remind me, when I
- ↑ Ego dispono vobis, sicut disposuit mihi Pater meus, regnum, ut edatis et bibatis super mensam meam in regno meo.—Luke xxii. 29, 30.
