thy heart, for thou knowest not when I shall come to thee. What if I come as a thief in the night, and at an hour when thou thinkest not! Watch, therefore, and be ready at all hours.
Behold, what is thy life but a vapour, that appears for a little while! What is thy body, liable as it is to a thousand accidents, miseries, and dangers, and which a wind, a slight fever, or a sudden accident, lays low in a moment? And dost thou venture to lean confidently upon so frail a support?
Is not the folly of such confidence sufficiently proved by the examples of mortality that are of daily occurrence; which, without distinction of age, sex, or condition, but not without the sure counsel of my providence, are frequently brought before thy eyes, that thou mayest learn how vain are men’s hopes, how delusive their thoughts, and remember that what has befallen another may also befall thee, and that he is happy and wise who improves his own conduct from the misfortunes of others.
Man. Thou art just, O Lord, and thy judgment is right; but spare me, if I speak to my Lord, who am dust and ashes. Is the death of the wicked a pleasure to thee? Are not thy mercies over all thy works? And when thou art angry, wilt thou not remember mercy? Hast thou not said, I desire not the death of a sinner, and the wickedness of the wicked shall not hurt him, in what day soever he shall turn from his wickedness? Is there not, then, time for repentance as long as there is life?
6. Penance not to be delayed from regard to the divine mercy.
Christ. Great indeed is thy folly, whosoever thou art, who forgettest my justice, to flatter thyself with the hope of my mercy. Wilt thou therefore be evil, because I am good?
Is it for this that I proclaim myself to be merciful and ready to pardon, merely that thou mayest sin the more securely, and the more freely provoke me to anger? and that, when thou hast filled me with reproaches at thy will, thou mayest not the less confidently promise thyself my mercy? Great, I own, is my mercy towards sinners, while it is the time for mercy; but thou, whom I have warned so often by my inward inspirations, so often by the preachers of my word, but hast ever resisted my spirit, and, like the deaf asp, that stops her ears, hast refused to hearken to my voice, how canst thou venture to hope for my mercy at the last, who, according to thy hard-
