mother’s eye is always open and watchful; her uneasy, anxious heart is always beating. Ah, my God! I have but the one! If he dies, my name and family, my consolation and joy are all at an end!
An only means to an important end is used carefully. Shown by a simile. If there is only one means of preserving the beloved object, it surely will not be neglected, but rather used with the greatest care, that it may not fail of producing the desired effect. Suppose, my dear brethren, that two soldiers who have been condemned to death for desertion, and are already on their way to execution, throw the dice with each other to see who shall escape with his life. Trembling and shuddering the first takes the dice-box in his hand; his anguish is so great that he hardly dares to make the throw; he grows pale at the bare idea of throwing a low number. But why is he so cowardly? He can make the throw at once? Yes, that is true; but he thinks to himself: my life depends on this throw, and that, too, the only life I have; if I lose it I am done. But if you throw a low number the first time, you can take the dice again and try your luck a second time. Oh, no! I am allowed but one throw, and if I am unlucky in that my life is lost. This is a mere question of luck, my dear brethren; what would it be if the soldier had the chance of practising beforehand, so as to make sure of throwing a high number? How do you imagine he would act in such a case? He would almost forget to eat, drink, or sleep; day and night he would have the dice-box in his hand practising so as not to make a mistake in the last decisive moment. And yet nothing more than his life depends on it, and that, too, a mortal life, which he must lose in a short time, whether he wishes or not; and, moreover, it is a very short, uncertain life, full of crosses and troubles, that vanishes like a shadow. Yet it is the only life he has and it is dear to him. So great is the esteem, so jealous the care we have for a good that belongs to us, and that we can possess but once.
Confirmed from Holy Scripture.
Come with me, now, into the valley of Terebinth. There we find the people of Israel in the greatest fear and confusion. “And Saul and all the Israelites,” says the Scripture, “hearing these words of the Philistine, were dismayed and greatly afraid.” What was the matter with them? What was the cause of their fear? What had they heard? The huge giant Goliath stood in the van of the Philistine army: “And standing, he cried out to the bands of Israel: Choose out a man of you, and let him come down and fight hand to hand,” on this condition: “if he be able to fight with me and kill me, we will be servants to you: but if I