pleasure, to think of how it may be with you at the end of your years. “Remember thy last end” is the advice the wise Ecclesiasticus gives each and every one of you;[1] in all your works, in all your days, think of what you would wish your last end to be. That thought will make you careful to avoid the occasions of sin, to keep away from dangerous places and company, to restrain the outward senses, and especially the eyes and ears, that you may do nothing even in thought or desire that could make your end unhappy. That thought will remind you to take timely council with God regarding your future state in life, and in the choice of that state, on which generally depends the happy or unhappy end of your years, not to be led by the senses or by what seems agreeable to you, but to consider what state is the most likely to make the end of your years happy. In all doubts that occur to you, as to whether you should do this or that, or permit it, go to this or that place or company, act or act not according to this or that worldly fashion—in all such circumstances think of the end of you*r lives; ask yourselves: will this company, or conversation, or fashion bring me comfort on my death-bed, or make me more sure of heaven? or will it, on the other hand, perhaps increase my death-bed anguish? May I not, perhaps, wish to have lived more carefully, humbly, modestly, and so on? Think often in that way of your last end, that my wish may be fulfilled in your regard: happy be the end of your years!
To widows and the afflicted. Joy and consolation for you, widows and orphans, desolate, sorrowful, and afflicted Christians! Joy and consolation, I say, will be brought to you by the thought of the happy end of your years, provided only that you are minded to work for it earnestly. The Prophet Daniel, describing the many tribulations and afflictions that were to visit different peoples, adds: “And this until a time.”[2] Poor, oppressed souls! only be patient and resigned to the will of God! Think how short is this uncertain time; what you are now enduring shall last only until a time; it will soon come to an end! Your poverty and want shall last only for a time; they will come to an end. Your trouble and desolation shall last only for a time: they shall come to an end; your sighs and tears shall last only for a time: they shall come to an end; and if you keep always in the friendship of God it will be a most happy end, of which you can be far more sure than any one else. For there is no other
