be afraid to be surprised by death. So it is, my dear brethren. I do not mean that we should always live in a state of fear, dread, and melancholy. No, that is by no means necessary. To be joyful in the Lord, cheerful, and good-humored harmonizes easily with the meditation on death, provided we are only firmly resolved not to commit a grievous sin, or if we should commit one, not to remain long in the state of sin. He who lives in that way need not fear death, since he is always ready for it; and no man on earth has greater cause to rejoice at heart than he whose conscience gives him this testimony: if death were now to come and hurry me off into eternity I should be prepared for it.
And to remove every obstacle to a happy death. If, then, I find anything on my conscience that troubles it I will say to myself what Eliezer, the faithful servant of Abraham, said when he went to bring home Rebecca, the bride of Isaac, as we read in the Book of Genesis. He had come to the house of the bride weary and tired, hungry and thirsty, and was at once invited by her parents to sit down to eat. No, said he: “I will not eat till I tell my message.”[1] But rest a little first, and take some refreshment; then we shall hear what you have to say. No, I cannot do that, nor taste a single mouthful, nor drink, nor sleep, until I have done what I am sent for; the business for which I have come is the most important thing and must be attended to first. Oh! exclaims de Lyra, commenting on this passage, “in this he showed that he was impressed with the importance of his duty.”[2] In the same manner I will in future take to heart the affair of my eternal salvation, and say and think to myself: “I will not eat till I tell my message.” I will not eat or drink until I have opened my mouth to disclose the sins I have committed and till I repent of them. I will not eat till I have made restitution for my neighbor’s injured honor or property. I will not eat till I have been reconciled to my enemy and made friendship with him. I will not eat till I have removed the occasion of sin, given up that dangerous intimacy, and abolished those abuses. I will never lay down to rest till I have examined my conscience and excited myself to sorrow and contrition for my sins. I will give myself no rest till I shall have begun to lead a better life. In a word, I am in earnest about dying a happy death and going to heaven; and therefore I am determined never to consent to mortal sin for a single moment for the sake of any
