thou shouldst work out thy salvation, that thou shouldst strive to go in at the strait gate, and go by the way which, though narrow, is a way that leads to life. Nothing is better able to lessen the fear of death than a life led in the continual fear of God, and contempt of the enjoyments of the present, in the hope of the life that is to come. Chastise, therefore, too, thy body with St. Paul, and bring it to subjection. To him, behold, the world was crucified, and he to the world; how, then, could he die otherwise than cheerfully? Believe me, not one who is dead already to his sins and to the world is ever unwilling to die. For of what is death able to deprive one who loves nothing that is in the world, but all whose treasure is in Heaven?
Yet hearken to what thou wilt deem a yet greater marvel, that such persons have no fear even of the death so dreaded by others; I mean, a sudden and unexpected death. And why? Is it because such a death is more evil than others? Not so; but because it commonly seizes them unprepared, and too much entangled in earthly things. For to those whom it finds prepared it is so far from being evil, that to them it is rather an easy and a ready transit from the ills of this life to the blessings that are eternal, and to the rest that shall have no end.
Oh, how secure and happy is the death of one whom no worldly affection ties down to earth! With what alacrity does one go the way of all flesh whose study it has been to trample under foot within himself all desires of the flesh? To such a one will death not be terrible and unwelcome, but rather as a tranquil slumber that comes to refresh the limbs that are wearied after labour and fatigue! Hence it is that my friends are said to die in the Lord, because, while they lived, they made me the aim and end of their life; every act and intent of it they directed to me; and to me they attain in death at last, who am the end and object of their being, and therefore in peace in the selfsame they sleep, and are at rest; where there shall be no more any mourning, or crying or sorrow, for the former things are passed away. Hence it is but just that their death should bear the name, as it has the reality, of peace.
For since the life of man is a warfare upon earth, and you have a severe conflict to wage against the princes of darkness, my Elect die in peace, because all their wars and combats are set at rest in death, and because they fought stoutly under my banner, and followed me as
