may overtake me in the miserable state in which I now am? No, my God, do thou assist me to prepare for death.
III. O God, how many graces has my Saviour bestowed on me to enable me to save my soul! He has caused me to be born in the bosom of the true church; he has many times pardoned me my transgressions; he has favoured me with many lights in sermons, in prayers, in meditations, in communions and spiritual exercises; and often has he called me to his love. In a word, how many means of salvation has he granted me which he has not granted others! And yet, O God, when shall I detach myself from the world and give myself entirely to thee? Behold me, O Jesus, I will no longer resist. Thou hast obliged me to love thee. I desire to be wholly thine, do thou accept of me, and disdain not the love of a sinner who has hitherto so much despised thee. I love thee, my God, my love, and my all; have pity on me. O Mary, you are my hope.
Meditation Thirty-ninth.
On the near approach of death
I. EVERY one knows that he must certainly die, yet many delude themselves by imagining that death is at such an immense distance from them that it will scarcely ever reach them. No, our life is indeed short, and death is very near us. The days of our sojourning here are few, and perhaps much fewer than we imagine. What else is our life but a light vapour which is driven away and disappears with the wind? a blade of grass which is dried up in the heat of the sun? O God, thou
