other white; that is, day and night; the past night has already gnawed away its part, and the thread is so much eaten away. Who knows how long they still have to gnaw? Who can know it? Perhaps this very evening they may have finished with you or me; and wo then to him who falls, not merely into the jaws of death, but into the abyss of hell! “Except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish.”[1] Oh, yes, merciful God! I will now take to penance as the surest means; now I already begin to bewail my sins and to lead a different life. I must die; but I am determined not to die unhappily, and therefore I shall lead a better life. I cast myself into the arms of Thy fatherly mercy; do with me what Thou pleasest; this one request is all I make of Thee: “Let my soul die the death of the just;”[2] let my death be happy, holy, and precious in Thy sight. Amen.
FOURTEENTH SERMON.
ON THE COMFORT OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE IN DEATH.
Subject.
First; a good conscience takes away all that death has terrible in itself. Secondly; a good conscience takes away all that it has terrible in its circumstances.—Preached on the feast of the Purification of the B. V. M.
Text.
Nunc dimitti servum tuum, Domine.—Luke ii. 29.
“Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord.”
Introduction.
Remarkable and extraordinary is this canticle of the aged Simeon. How few there are amongst men who through sheer joy wish for death, and sigh and long for it! How many who are terrified at its very name! Even old people have generally some desire to live longer; if, they say, I could only see my children settled, I should willingly die. And when that wish is granted, ah, they exclaim, if I could only live till an heir is born to one of my sons! And when the heir makes his appearance, ah, they wish to finish a law-suit, or a building they have begun, before leaving this world. And if that too is granted them, they are
