fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee; and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?”[1] You vain, delicate tenderlings, whose only thought is pleasure and the gratification of your senses, when do you think the time will come for you to die? Not yet, you say; there is no sign of death in us so far; we are not sick and have no danger to dread. But beware! and hear how the hour was fixed by the Prophet Job for worldlings like you: “Their houses are secure and peaceable,” as they falsely imagine; “they take the timbrel, and the harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to hell.”[2] O mortals, who rely on your health and strength, and heedlessly think with the wicked servant in the gospel of St. Matthew: “My Lord is long a-coming,”[3] I can do what I like, for it will be a long time before he comes; I can eat and drink, and fight and quarrel, enjoy myself at balls and dances, and turn night into day; death is still far off! So you think, and so did that servant think too; but read what happened to him: “The lord of that servant shall come in a day that he hopeth not, and at an hour that he knoweth not: and shall separate him, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”[4] The huge statue that God showed King Nabuchodonosor in a dream was crumbled into pieces by a stone that fell on it, as we read in the Book of Daniel. It is a figure of those who are exalted high above others by their position in the world; the stone is a figure of death, that without respect or distinction of dignity or rank overthrows the mightiest potentates, and turns them into dust and ashes. But where did the stone come from? “A stone was cut out of a mountain without hands: and it struck the statue;”[5] from this you can understand how unexpected is the coming of death. A stone that is cut out on purpose seldom strikes any one; for the mason who is pulling down a wall, or the slater working on a roof, looks first to
- ↑ Anima, habes multa bona posita in annos plurimos: requiesce, comede, bibe, epulare. Stulte, hac nocte animam tuam repetunt a te; quæ autem parasti, cujus erunt?—Luke xii. 19, 20.
- ↑ Domus eorum securæ sunt et pacatæ…tenent tympanum, et citharam, et gaudent ad sonum organi. Ducunt in bonis dies suos, et in puncto ad inferna descendunt.—Job xxi. 9, 12, 13.
- ↑ Moram facit dominus meus venire.—Matt. xxiv. 48.
- ↑ Veniet dominus servi illius in die qua non sperat, et hora qua ignorat: et dividet eum, partemque ejus ponet cum hypocritis; illic erit fletus et stridor dentium.—Ibid. 50, 51.
- ↑ Abscissus est lapis de monte, sine manibus; et percussit statuam.—Dan. ii. 34.
