journey that he has begun. But if, from time to time, he takes rest and refreshment, it is rather for necessity than pleasure, that, when he has recovered his strength, he may proceed and walk on the way more briskly afterwards.
Do thou act in like manner, and redeem the time from those vain and transitory things in which there is nothing but vanity and affliction of spirit, and devote it to the thing that is above all things serious and necessary, — the care of a good death and a happy eternity. For thou knowest not how long thou mayest continue, and whether after a while thy Maker may take thee away.[1] Therefore, whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly;[2] for the night is coming, in which no man can work. For neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge, shall be in hell, whither thou art hastening. Do now what thou wilt wish done when thou canst do it no longer, and wilt passionately lament that thou hadst not done when thou couldst.
Man. O Lord! who art rich in mercy, I am distressed on every side; do not abandon me. Reach out thy right hand to the work of thy hands, and draw me out of the mire, that I may not stick fast.[3] For behold, I cry to thee out of the depths. I resolve daily to amend my life, but I am ever putting it off from day to day; and while I purpose to do this in future, it happens that this future is always future, nay, perhaps will never take place.
Lord Jesus, how long shall I take counsels in my soul?[4] What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to corruption? Enlighten my eyes, that I may never turn them away from the sight of death, that I may see the dangers that hang over me, and that I may never sleep unto death, lest at any time my enemy say, I have prevailed against him!
Christ. Oh, if thou didst but know how greatly the mind of one who is at tho point of death is agonised by the remembrance of the time that has been so unprofitably lost! Oh, if thou couldst but see and hear the anguish, the complaints, and the wailings of the damned, that, alas! are useless, in their torments, what counsel, thinkest thou, wouldst thou take? Lo! the thing they deplore the most of all is this, that, when they could have redeemed themselves from torments so horrible, by a labour that was short and easy, still, regardless of death, they clung fast to vanities, and meanwhile neglected the time for putting oil in their
