prevail against him, and kill him, you shall be servants, and shall serve us.”[1] That, says Gaspar Sanchez, was what caused such terror to Saul and the Israelites; nor is it to be wondered at; for it is a terrible thing to think that the freedom or slavery of a whole nation depends on the success or failure of one man in a single combat. David, a shepherd, had to undertake the task and face the giant, the mere sight of whom was enough to strike terror into the bravest. On one side stood the army of the Philistines, on the other the people of Israel. David takes a stone out of his wallet, places it in a sling, and swings his arm to launch the stone against his enemy, unhappy Israelites! “they were dismayed and greatly afraid;” they were filled with anguish and apprehension, waiting to see whether David would hit or miss. God! they thought, now is the decisive moment. On this cast of the sling depends our freedom or slavery; if he succeeds, we are free; if not, we are lost! Oh, what will be the upshot of the affair! terrible chance which depends on the throw of a stone!
The eternal happiness or misery of our only soul depends on the last moment of our life. My dear brethren, let me now call out to all of you, and repeat a thousand times those memorable words of Our Lord to Martha, as she was busying herself about her domestic occupations: “Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things. But one thing is necessary;”[2] only one thing has to be well looked after once for all. Ah, foolish mortals, why are you so careful and so inordinately troubled about so many things? What do you seek, desire, and strive for in the world? What is the meaning of all your hard work and struggles for earthly and transitory things? Only one thing is necessary, and that we must love and prize above all; we have but one child, whom we must labor with all our strength to preserve, and that is the salvation of our own soul; for if that is lost, all is lost. And it can be saved or lost but once, according as we now look after its interests or neglect them. Our life is a game, or rather a continual preparation for a game; the stake is this one soul of ours, and its eternal happiness in heaven or eternal misery in hell. There is only one moment in which the decisive throw can be made, and that is the last moment of our lives, as I have said before. For
- ↑ Audiens autem Saul et omnes Israelitæ sermones Philistæi hujuscemodi, stupebant et metuebant nimis. Stansque clamabat adversus phalangas Israel: Eligite ex vobis virum, et descendat ad singulare certaraen. Si quiverit pugnare mecum, et percusserit me, erimus vobis servi; si autem ego prævaluero, et percussero eum, vos servi eritis, et servietis nobis.—I. Kings xvii. 11, 8, 9.
- ↑ Martha, Martha, sollicita es, et turbaris erga plurima. Porro unum est necessarium.—Luke x. 41, 42.
