man, or thing, or pleasure, and so to live in future that in the supreme hour, when and wherever it may come, I may be amongst the number of those of whom Christ says: “Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching,”[1] for He will place them over all His goods in the kingdom of heaven. Amen.
Another introduction to the same sermon for the third Sunday of Advent.
Text.
Ego vox clamantis in deserto: Dirigite viam Domini.—John i. 23.
“I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord.”
Introduction.
Oh, that a voice of that kind were to cry out to the hearts of all men, and unceasingly call out in our ears: “Make straight the way of the Lord”! Christians, be ready! Your Lord will come; He is now on the way; not as a Saviour to free the world from eternal death, as He came in the time of St. John the Baptist; but as a strict Judge, to call each one of us in death to eternity. “Make straight the way of the Lord”! Ah, hold your selves in readiness for His coming; prepare a long time for it; for much, all depends on it. “Make straight the way of the Lord”! Prepare yourselves with the utmost care! For He will come but once; see, therefore, that His coming be a fortunate one for you. “Make straight the way of the Lord”! But some of you may think: why do you thus try to inspire us with an unnecessary and premature fear and anguish? If, as you have said before, the whole matter depends on one moment, it will be enough for me if I am in the state of grace when that moment comes. Why, then, should I trouble myself now about it? I will live as I please, ac cording to the fashion of other men. When I feel that the last moment has come I shall still have time enough to prepare for it, and to put my soul in the condition required, etc…Yes? Is that your opinion? Be more careful in jumping to such an unwarranted conclusion in such a weighty matter! Who has told you when your last hour will come? Do you think death will approach you like a post-rider, blowing a horn from time to time to give notice of his coming? Not by any means! You
- ↑ Beati servi illi, quos, cum venerit Dominus, invenerit vigilantes.—Luke xii. 37.
