you have left them. Remember, however, that old age is generally what youth has been; for, as the sacred writer observes, "how shalt thou find in thy old age the things thou hast not gathered in thy youth?"[1] Let me urge you, then, in the words of the same inspired author, to "give thanks whilst thou art living and in health, to praise God and glory in His mercies."[2] Among those who waited at the pool of Bethsaida[3] he only was cured who first plunged into the water after it had been moved by the Angel. The salvation of our soul, in like manner, depends upon the promptness and submission with which we obey the inspiration with which God moves us. "Delay not, therefore, dear Christian, but make all the haste you can; and if, as the prophet says, "you shall hear His voice to-day,"[4] defer not your answer till to-morrow, but set about a work the difficulty of which will be so much lessened by a timely beginning.
CHAPTER XXV.
OF THOSE WHO DEFER THEIR CONVERSION UNTIL THE HOUR OF DEATH.
THE arguments we have just stated should certainly be sufficient to convince men of the folly of death-bed repentances; for if it be so dangerous to defer penance from day to day, what must be the consequence of
