THE Holy Desires OF DEATH. OR A COLLECTION Of some Thoughts of the Fathers of the Church, to show how Christians ought to despise Life, and to desire Death.  
By the R. F. Lalemant, Prior of St. Genovefe, and Chancellor of the University of Paris.  
Englished by T. V at the Intrance of a Person of Honour.  
Printed in the Year, 1678.   

Qui Perfectus est, Patienter vivit, Delectabiliter moritur.  
The Perfect Man, Lives Patiently, Dies Pleasantly.  St. Augustin in his Exposition upon the 1 Epist. of St. John Tract. 9  

AN ADVERTISEMENT.  
THis Collection, entitled The Holy Desires of Death, was only in its beginning a Simple and Literal Translation of some Passages of the Fathers of the Church, which the Author made in his continual Infirmities, for the Comfort of himself, and of some persons of Piety.  
Afterwards, his Manuscript having been viewed by very Prudent and Illuminated persons, they judged that it ought to be published: but withal, that it was fit it should be first enlarged and explicated by a kind of Paraphrase upon some of the Conceptions of the Holy Fathers which are couched in this Work; thereby to render it useful to more people by rendering it intelligible to all.  
You will therefore find in some places, that the Author hath picked out only the Sense, and (as one may say) the Sap and the Juice of the Doctrine of these great Saints, in explicating their Conceptions, and in adding to their Expressions; yet so as not to swerve from their Sentiments, nor stray from the Character of their Spirits.  
It was also conceived that it might be permitted to support their Reasonings with the authority of the sacred Scripture: and as that is the source of all their Lights, to rely principally thereupon to strengthen this Work.  
And this Liberality appeared to be so much the more tolerable, by how much it was sometimes even Necessary to render the Discourse more consequent, more connected, more forcible, and finally more capable to serve for the Edification of our Neighbour, which is the sole Intention we had, and which indeed one can justly have.  
For the rest, it ought not to be taken amiss, if among the divers Conceptions here collected from the Scriptures and from the Fathers, there are found some which resemble one another; since even that Resemblance hath also great Advantages. For besides that thereby it is made manifest, that these Conceptions are not particular Opinions, it is more over a sensible Mark of the spirit of Truth which dictated them; and 'tis to be hoped that they who shall Read them in the same Spirit, will always derive from them some new Instructions.  
We have placed St. Augustin in the first Rank of the Church Fathers whose Sentiments are here related, because we found his Discourses so effectual, that we beliveed we had reason to make them the Foundation of this Work, and to style them by the Name of Principles; because in effect all that which ensues, whether out of the same St. Augustin, or out of the other Fathers, relates to the first Maxims which we have drawn from him, as Consequences from their Principles.  
It would have been very Natural, and certainly very profitable, to join in this Treatise the Example of the Holy Fathers to their Doctrine, but the Author having already traced the History of their holy Death in his Book Of the Death of the Just, you may thither have recourse.   

The CONTENTS of the Principal Matters contained in this Book.  

I. Article. THe First Principle of St. Augustin, That the Difference which is between Perfect and Imperfect Christians, is, That the One love Death and endure Life, and that the Other love Life and endure Death. pag. 1.  
II. Article. The Second Principle of St. Augustin, That proportionably as the Christian feels his love for Virtue to increase, he also feels the Desire of Death to enerease in himself. p. 7.  
The Union of the Two precedent Principles. p. 9  
III. Article. St. Augustin having established these Two Principles; answers an Objection. p. 11.  
iv Article. The Third Principle of St. Augustin, That there are among Christians two sorts of Fear to displease God. p. 14.  
V Article. Other Principles of St. Augustin; That we are not happy in this Life but by the Hope and by the Desire of Eternal Goods; etc. p. 21.  
VI Article. The Fathers who preceded and followed St. Augustin, explicated themselves in the same manner as he did upon the same Subject. p. 32.  
Tertullian says, That Christians are distinguished from all other Men by the Desire they have of Death; That they look upon it as a Grace which is to crown all the other Graces; and That it is principally that which they daily demand of God in their Prayers. p. 33.  
VII. Article. Some Maxims of St. Cyprian, collected from several places of his Writings; and principally from the Discourse he composed, Of Mortality. p. 38.  
The First Maxim of St. Cyprian: That Christians who dread Death are  and Unreasonable, because in saying every day to God in the Lord's Prayer, Thy Kingdom come, they pray him to hasten their Death. p. 39  
The Second Maxim of St. Cyprian: That 'tis no marvel that Infidels and Wicked people dread Death; but that this Weakness is not tolerable in Christians. p. 43.  
The third Maxim of St. Cyprian: That Christians ought not to love the World, since the World hates Christians: etc. p. 46.  
The Fourth Maxim of St. Cyprian: That Death ought to be considered by Christians as a passage from the Miseries of this Life to a glorious Immortality. p. 48.  
VIII. Article. The Sentiments of St. Gregory of Nazian concerning the obligation which Christians have to contemn Life and to cover Death. p. 54.  
IX. Article. The Abridgement of a Discourse of St. Gregory Bishop of Nisse, Wherein he shows, That we should be so far from lamenting them who go forth of this Life, that we should rather envy and desire their Happiness. p. 62.  
X. Article. An Abridgement of a Treatise which St. Ambrose made de bono Mortis, of the good of Death: where he says, That 'tis Death which delivers us from the Miseries of this Life, and from the servitude of Sin, etc. p. 77.  
XI. Article. An excellent Dostrine of St. Ambrose, who establishes two manners of Living and of Dying, observed in the Sacred Scripture. p. 82.  
XII. Article. Divers Instructions of St. John Chrysostom. p. 89.  
1. Instruction, where he shows what is it to be a Christian; and that his principal Character is to desire and to love Death. p. 90.  
XIII. Article. The Second Instruction of St. John Chrysostom: That we should be miserable if our Life were never to end, etc. p. 100  
XIV. Article. The Third Instruction of St. Chrysostom, That Death is that which most of all humbles Man; and that Humility being the Foundation of all Virtues, it follows, That to be virtuous, we must meditate incessantly upon Death, etc. p. 112.  
XV. Article. The Fourth Instruction of St. John Chrysostom: That we ought to be as ready to go forth of the World, as criminals are ready to go forth of their Prison, when one brings to them the Prince's pardon. p. 122.  
XVI. Article. The Fifth Instruction of St. Chrysostom: That if we lived as beseems true Christians, we should not have any difficulty to conceive Death to be the most desirable of all good things. p. 128.  
XVII. Article. The Sixth Instruction of St. John Chrysostom: That the Death of Christ Jesus should have cured us from the fear of Dying: and that the Ceremonies of the Church in the Funerals of the Faithful, aught to give us Joy and Comfort. p. 134.  
XVIII. Article. An Exhortation of St. John Chrysostom, where he declaims with much vehemence against the lazy and imperfect Christians who fear Death; and instructs after an admirable manner the zealous and perfect Christians who desire Death. p. 146.  
XIX. Article. The Sentiments of St. Jerome, concerning the Advantages which Death brings to Christians, and the Obligation they have to prepare themselves for it, and to think continually upon it. p. 154.  
XX. Article. St. Jerome teaches us what temper we ought to observe in the disgust of Life, and in the desire of Death. p. 160.  
XXI. Article. An Excellent Instruction of the same St. Jerome: p. 173.  
XXII. Article. St. Jerome, or the Author of some Epistles attributed to him, which are at the end of his Works, presses this Doctrine farther, and expressly teaches, That a Christian ought not only not to fear Death, wherein he would do no more than many Pagans have done: but that he ought also to represent it often to himself, to desire it, and to love it, if he will imitate Christ Jesus. p. 177.  
XXIII. Article. We return, following the Order of the time of St. Augustin, and we relate some more Sentiments of this holy Doctor, which confirm the Truths we have established by his Principles. p. 181.  
An Excellent Moral of St. Augustin against them who fear a temporal Death, and dread not the Eternal Death. p. 182.  
XXIV. Art. A pithy Reflection of St. Augustin upon the shortness of the Life of the Body, and upon the Eternity of the Life of the Soul. p. 188.  
XXV. Art. A most true and edificatory Observation of St. Augustin, That God by a particular Mercy besprinkles the most pleasing Sweets of this World with Bitterness, and permits his Elect to be afflicted with Infirmities, which Contradictions, with Calumnies, and with Crosses, to oblige them to despise Life, and to desire Death. p. 193.  
XXVI. Article. St. Augustin teaches in several places of his writings as an assured Doctrine, That the most solid Virtue of Christians, and the most Visible Character of the Predestinate, is, to sigh continually in the expectation of Death, and in the Hope of another Life. p. 197.  
XXVII. Article. A Comparison of Faithful Christians with the Faithful Isralites: In which St. Augustin shows, That as the first coming of the Messiah was the object of the continual Desires and of the devotion of the true Isralites; so also the second coming of Christ Jesus ought to be the Aim of the most solid Piety and of the most fervent Desires of Christians. p. 203.  
XXVIII. Article. An Instruction of S. Isidore of Damiet to all Christians, to excite in them a perfect desire of Death. p. 213.  
XXIX. Article. St. Eucherius Archbishop of Lion, exhorts Christians to observe attentively the different Agitations of human Passions, the shortness of Life, and the uncertainty of Death; to the end they may never engage themselves in the Tumults of the World, and that they may be evermore prepared to die. p. 216.  
XXX. Article. St. Fulgentius and St. Paulinus prove, That Death is a Recompense for the Just, and a Chastisement for the Wicked, That Life is to be counted by the quantity of good Works which one hath done, and not by the number of Years one hath lived. p. 223.  
XXXI. Article. Reflections of St. Gregory Pope, upon the Subject which is proposed in this work. p. 231.  
1. Reflection. That the continual view of Death is the most assured means to lead a Holy and Quiet Life. p. 231.  
XXXII. Art. 2. Reflection of St. Gregory, That naturally all the Desires and all the Actions of Man tend to Death; That Grace should do in us, that which Nature doth of itself. etc. p. 233.  
XXXIII. Art. 3. Reflection of St. Gregory; That they who love the World have some reason to fear the end thereof; but That they who serve Christ Jesus, ought not to be apprehensive of the World's destruction, etc. p. 238.  
XXXIV. Art. 4. Reflection of St. Gregory: That there are few Just persons, who can truly say with St. Paul; god forbidden that I should glory in any other thing, than in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; because the World is dead and crucified to me, as I am Dead and Crucified to the World. p. 241.  
XXXV. Art. A pithy Description which St. Gregory the Great makes of the necessities and of the Miseries of the Body and of the Soul: whence this holy Pope concludes, That men ought to desire Death for ●he enjoyment of a better Life; in which they shall no longer be exposed either to Sorrow or to Sin. p. 257.  
XXXVI. Art. S. John Climachus distinguishes the Desires of Death which the Devil suggests unto us, from those which Grace inspires into us; and he composed one Degree of his holy Ladder upon this subject, where he shows That the Meditation of Death is the most profitable of all Spiritual Practices. p. 270.  
XXXVII. Art. St. Bernard Teaches us, That Hope is the portion of true Christians, and That this Virtue makes them to love Death, and to suffer patiently all the evils of this Life. p. 277.  
XXXVIII. Art. St. Bernard proves, That to the end we may not dread Death, but receive it which Patience, and even with Joy; we must prepare ourselves for it every day by 〈◊〉 true Repentance. That by this mean● Grace overcomes Nature; That what appears so terrible to a sinful man becomes pleasing to a just man, but particularly to such as have embraced a Religious and solitary Life. p. 288.  
XXXIX. Art. The Sentiments of St. Bernard touching the Comtempt which perfect Christians ought to have of Life and of Health. From whence he takes Occasion to speak of the Patience which they ought to have in their Infirmities, and of the Joy which the continual thought of Death ought to afford them. p. 294.  
XXXX. Art. An Extract of some passages of the Book of the Imitation of Christ; where it is treated of the Contempt of Life, and of the desire of Death. p. 299.  
XXXXI. Art. The admirable Praises which St. Laurence Justinian gives to Death: From whence he concludes, That it is no wonder if they who are the most perfect among Christians, are they who most desire it. p. 311.  
XXXXII. Art. A Collection of some of the admirable Sentiments which St. Teresa hath left us in her Writings, touching the Meditation upon Eternity and upon the Desire of Death. p. 318.  
The Conclusion of this whole Collection. How as from the beginning of this Treatise, we have drawn from St. Augustin such Principles as were proper to establish this Proposition: That perfect Souls desire Death, and receive it with Joy. So we end this Collection with a Discourse which the same holy Doctor made upon the same Subject; wherein he pretends to engage all Men, by their proper Interest, to desire to pass forth of this World. p. 326.    

To the devout Peruser of these Collections.  
IF in the Mouth of two or three Witnesses every word is established: 
Mat. 18.16.  You have here (devout Reader) above six times that number of irrefragable Testifiers of that Truth, which is intended to be established in this short Treatise, to wit, That Christians ought to despise Life and desire Death.  

I. S. Augustin Leads the Van, whose Principles are the Basis of the following Building. He was one of the most famous and learned Fathers of the Church, and the renowned Bishop of Hippo in Africa: where he flourished in admirable Sanctity in year of our Redemption, 400. and died in the year, 433.  
The Fathers who preceded and who followed S. Augustin, deliver the same Doctrine upon the same subject, to wit.  
II. Tertullian. Who flourished in the Year, 230.  
III. St. Cyprian. The most Eloquent and holy Bishop of Carthage: who was crowned with Martyrdom, in the Year, 250.  
IV. St. Gregory. Bishop of Nazian, surnamed the Divine, the equal of St. Basil, and the Companion of his studies, who flourished in the Year, 370.  
V St. Basil. Surnamed the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, who flourished at the same time, to wit, 370.  
VI St. Gregory. Bishop of Nyce, the Brother of St. Basil, who flourished in the Year, 380.  
VII. St. Ambrose. Bishop of Milan, who died in the Year, 397.  
VIII. St. John Chrysostom. Bishop of Constantinople, who died about the Year, 407.  
IX. St. Ireneus. Bishop of Lions in France, who suffered under Severus, in the Y. 180.  
X. St. Jerome. Priest and Doctor of the Church, who died in the Year, 420.  
XI. St. Isidor. Bishop of Sevil in Spain, who died in the Year, 636.  
XII. St. Eucherius. Bishop of Lions in France, who died about the Year, 433.  
XIII. St. Fulgentius. Bishop of Ruspen in Africa, who died in the Year, 529.  
XIV. St. Paulinus. Bishop of Nola, in Campania, who died in the Year, 431.  
XV. St. Gregory. The first most holy Hope of that Name, deservedly surnamed the Great, who died in the Year, 604.  
XVI. St. John Climacus. A holy Abbot in Mount Sina, who flourished in the Year, 560.  
XVII. St. Bernard. Abbot of Claraval, an Apostolical man of great Sanctity, who died in the Year, 1153.  
XVIII. The Author Of the Books of the Imitation of Christ.  
XIX. St. Laurence Justinian. The 1. Patriarch of Venice, died in the Year, 455.  
XX. St. Teresa. A holy Virgin in Spain, who lived and died in the last age.  
Upon the view of these many Evidences and multitudes of Authorities, and upon the frequent perusal of these Collections; you will undoubtedly by degrees render your Life more easy unto you, and remove that vulgar and universal error out of your mind, concerning the dreadful apprehension of Death; which you will familiarly behold and hourly expect as the happy period of your painful and dangerous Pilgrimage, and as the desirable passage opening to eternal Life, eternal rest, eternal felicity.    

THE Holy Desires OF DEATH.  

Article I. The First Principle of St. Augustin. 
S. Aug.  That the Difference which is between a Perfect and Imperfect Christian, is, That the first desires Death with Ardour, and endures Life with Patience; whereas the second only receives Death with Submission, and hath not yet quitted all the Ties which ordinarily fasten men to Life.  
WIll you know what Progress you have made in Charity? 
In Epist. ●. Joan. tract 9  Examine yourself upon these Words of St. John: The Perfection of our Love towards God, consists in having an entire Confidence in him for the day of Judgement. So that Charity is perfect in all them who have this Confidence. What is it, to have this Confidence for the day of Judgement? 'Tis not to dread its coming.  
Some there are who do not believe this day will come. I speak not of these impious Wretches; for what likelihood is there that they can either desire of dread that which they believe will never come to pass? 
Epist. 1. Joan. c. 4. v. 18.  But as soon as a man gins to believe the day of Judgement he must also begin to fear it. True it is that so long as he only fear's it, he hath not yet Confidence, because he is not replenished with this Charity which animates Faith. Nevertheless this Fear ceases not to produce excellent Effects. It is a beginning of Mortification and of good Works; and it ordinarily falls out that by these exercises of Virtue, they come to desire what formerly they only dreaded. Then a Soul looks no longer upon that last day, but as the first of her Happiness; nor doth she go against her own Sen, timents, when she Prays-saying; Lord, Let your Kingdom come. In effect, He who fears lest the Kingdom of God should come, fears also lest his Prayer should be heard. Judge now in what manner one Prays, when one fears to obtain what one demands: whereas he who Prays with that Confidence which perfect Charity gives him, desires effectually that what he demands may be speedily granted him.  
We may therefore say that there are yet some imperfect persons, to whom Sufferings and Death serve only for an exercise of their Patience and of their Courage; and who are not yet strong enough to desire to Suffer or to Die. These, because they desire to live longer, simply suffer Death when it befalls them. But there are others more perfect, who are so unfettered from Life, that in lieu of loving it as a good thing, they endure it as an Evil.  
All that the former can do, is to conquer the repugnance of Nature, and to submit themselves to the Will of God: because finally they like rather to conform themselves to what he hath ordained concerning them, than to leave themselves to be transported with a bootless weakness in following their own will. Thus, altho' the desire of this present Life struggles in their Heart against the necessity of Dying; yet they arm themselves with Fortitude and with Patience to receive Death with Peace and with Submission. One may say, That the Christians who are in this Estate, suffer Death with Patience.  
But the Others, who desire with the Apostle, that their Souls may be untied from their Bodies to be united to Christ Jesus; are not content to suffer Life as a necessary Evil: but they receive Death itself with Joy as a great Good: because they find nothing in this present Life but subjects of Disquiet and of Sorrow, and that they find in Death the end of all these Pains, and the beginning of an Eternal Felicity.   

Article. II. The Second Principle of St. Augustin, That proportionally as the Christian feels his Love for Virtue to increase; he feels also the Desire of Death to increase within him.  
WHen a man hath a lively and sincere Faith, which gives him a sight of the place whether he is to walk during his abode upon Earth; and of that where he shall arrive one day, after his going forth of this World: the Desire of Death ought to increase in him, according to the increase of his Piety: because it sussiceth not that Faith makes him see that Celestial dwelling, where he is to be settled for ever; but Charity must also make him love it, and desire speedily to obtain it. Now 'tis impossible for him to have this Disposition in his Spirit and in his Heart, without being glad to go forth of this Life.  

An Excellent Passage of one of St. Augustins' Disciples, who made a Collection of his Sentences and of his chief Maxims: where the tow precedent Principles are united.  

This Collection is attribution to St. Prosper.  IF we consult our Faith, and have the Sentiments which it ought to inspire into us; we shall acknowledge, that Sanctity of Life and a Desire of Death are things inseparable. For one cannot be truly a Christian if one loves not God, and if one aspires not to that Eternal Life which he hath promised to all them who love him. We see it by Faith, we expect it by Hope, we love it and we desire it by Charity. According as a man advances in the practice of these Virtues, he advances also in the exercise of this holy Desire. The more ardour he hath for eternal Life, the less adhesion he hath to the temporal Life: and considering Death as the sole issue out of this World, and as the entrance into that Celestial Life, which ought to be the object of all our Desires, he looks with Joy upon that last moment which is to take him from off the face of the Earth. So that when Faith and Charity are perfect in a Soul, the Desire of Death is there at the same time so perfect, that it raises it-self above that love of Life, which blind and material Nature inspires into us. But when Virtue is yet imperfect, although Faith persuades us that Death is advantageous unto us, yet Nature thwart's in us this holy Thought; and we then feel that we possess Life with pleasure, and should lose it with pain and difficulty; whereas perfect Christians endure Life with pain, and lose it with pleasure.    

Article III. St. Augustin having established these two Principles; proposes to himself the Objection of some persons of Piety, who fear the Judgements of God, and who say, That they do not believe they should do well in desiring Death; and that it seems better to them to demand of God Time for Mortification, and for becoming more Perfect.  
I Know not upon what they can ground themselves, 
Quaest. Evan in Mat. q. 17.  who having a sincere Faith, can say nevertheless that they would not die so soon, to the end they might have more time to labour for their Salvation and their Perfection. For 'tis certain that the most infallible Mark which a Soul can have of her advancement in Virtue, is when she advances in this holy disposition which makes her desire Death. If then these persons will speak according to truth, Let them not say, I desire not to die so soon, to the end I may have time to become more virtuous; but let them rather say, I desire to live longer, because I am not virtuous enough to love Death. Thus, not to be willing to die so soon, is not to the Faithful a means to acquire more Virtue; but 'tis a sign that they have not yet acquired any. Let them therefore who have hitherto said, that they would not die to the end they might become more perfect, say henceforth, That they desire to die: and this will make it appear, that they are arrived at Christian Perfection.   

Article IU. The Third Principle of S. Augustin: That there are among Christians two sorts of Fear to displease God; One of which is destroyed, and the Other strengthened by Charity. From whence this holy Doctor concludes, That Faithful Souls which are the true Spouses of Christ Jesus, fear nothing so much as to be for a long time separated from this Divine Bridegroom.  
THere is a Fear which is banished by Charity, 
In Psal. 127. Tr. 9 n Epist. i Joan. & pass. 1 Joan. 28  according to that word of Saint John: Fear is not found with Charity; but perfect Charity drives out Fear: and he who fears, is not perfect in Charity. There is another Fear, which the Royal Prophet calls, the Fear of our Lord; that pure and chaste Fear, 
Psa. 18 10.  which remains for ever and ever. Which gives us occasion to observe, That there are two forts of the Fear of God, one of which will subsist in Heaven with Charity, and the other will be banished thence; the one will perish with Life, the other will remain eternally.  
I cannot better explain unto you the Nature and the Properties of these two Fears, then in placing before your Eyes a Comparison which seems to me very just and very sensible. Figure to your selves two Women, One of them chaste, and the Other unfaithful to her Husband: Is it not true, that when their Husbands are absent, the unfaithful Woman fears at every hour the return of her Husband; and that on the contrary, the chaste Woman fears lest her Husband should stay too long from coming?  
Our Souls are the Spouses of Christ Jesus, and during the state of this mortal life, this Divine Bridegroom is separated from his Spouses. Now if you agree to this truth, there remains no more, my Brethren, but to ask yourselves concerning the nature of the Fear which you feel; to see whether it is either that imperfect Fear, which Charity ought to exclude, or that other tender and awful Fear, which is to remain eternally. O Christian Souls! do not neglect this occasion which I present unto you, to know well yourselves. Question your Conscience: Will you know whether you truly love this Divine Bridegroom? Do you desire that he should come presently? or that he should yet for some time delay his coming? Behold, my Brethren, and consider how your Heart is thereupon disposed, and from thence you shall know what your Fear is, and what is your love. Alas! How many Christians are there to whom if one should tell this News, Christ Jesus will come to morrow to take you out of this World, they would say; Lord, stay a little longer, I have only begun to taste Life, I have Youth and Health about me; my House is not yet well established; my Children are in their tender age and cannot pass without me; I have in my mind great designs for the public good; the Poor have need of my assistance; I perform many good Works; I render Justice without Passion and without Interest; another will possess my place, who will not perchance acquit himself so worthily. Rather take away from the Earth those Wicked ones, who only incommode the good people: It concerns the honour of your sacred Name to exterminate those Atheists who contemn you; it concerns your Glory to confound that Tyrant who abuses his power. Why strike you not with Death that Usurer who heaps up treasures at the charge of the Widow and of the Orphan? Why take you not an exemplary chastisement upon that public Blood sucker who ruins a multitude of families? But as for us, who continually bless you, who give Alms, and who spread abroad in all places the effects of our cares and of our Liberalities, leave us to live to honour you. 'Tis thus that the major part of Christians would speak. But as for them who are arrived at such a degree of Perfection as to despise Life, the World, and themselves; they, I say, who aspire to nothing else but to unite themselves to God for evermore; they would make use of another manner of language. Come, they would say, Come, O thou too long exdected Hour of the Bridegroom's arrival! Our Souls always burning with a desire to be with him, find that all the moments of this miserable Life which separates us from him, are so many ages. Why do you stay, O Lord? Have not our Sighs given you sufficiently to understand that we lang 〈…〉 with the love of your beauty 〈…〉 You need but only knock at the door, our Heart watches, even whilst our Eyes seem to be shut up by Sleep.   

Article V Other Principles of St. Augustin: That we are not happy in this Life, but by the Hope and by the Desire of Eternal Goods: That to be worthy to enter into the Celestial Country, we must be willing to go forth of our Exile: That the whole Life of a Christian is but a holy Desire of things to come, and a generous Contempt of present Goods.  

In Psal. 83. & a●os.  WE are here in the Region of Death; but we are not, thanks be to God, to remain here always. We are to pass from the Region of the Dead to that of the Living. In the mean while, there is nothing in this Region of the Dead but labour, sorrow, fear, affliction, temptation. The persons who are unhappy in the World, are there truly unhappy; but they who believe themselves to the there happy, do there enjoy but a false happiness; and a false happiness is a true unhappiness. Thus, to speak truth, there are none but only they who suffer not themselves to be blinded by the false felicities of this Life, who can enjoy in this World a true Comfort, and who can hope to enjoy one day a true Felicity in the other.  
You then who agree to this, that one is miserable in this Life, listen to the Saviour of the World, who tells you, 
Mat. 5.5.  Happy are they who weep and lament. O how mysterious is the Felicity of these Tears? Nothing is so agreeable to Misery as to Sigh and to Weep: nothing is so opposite to misery, as to be Happy. Why then O Lord, do you speak of a certain kind of men who are afflicted and who at the same time are Happy? Let us endeavour, my Brethren, to comprehend the truth of these Words. Why doth Christ Jesus call them Happy who Weep; and what Happiness do they possess in lamenting? This Happiness, O Christians, 'tis the Contempt of Life, 'tis the Desire of Death. They lament the length of their Banishment; they weep out of compassion for the blindness of them who are tied to the Earth; they weep finally out of the impatience they have to come to that dear Country which God hath promised them: and whatever Beauty presents it-self to their eyes upon the banks of the Rivers of Babylon, they stay not upon them but to weep.  
Blessed are they who weep in this manner, because they shall be comforted, 
Mat. 5.5.12.  and because a great recompense is reserved for them in Heaven. But the better to know their Happiness, let us mark a little the misfortune of such as are in Criminal Joy of Worldlings. Their Heart is only sensible of the objects of their Passions: they make it their whole study to seek out new Pleasures: yet whatever care they employ in it, a disgust so closely follows the enjoyment, that all their industry cannot soon enough furnish new inventions to entertain this diversity. The excess of good Cheer takes away their appetit and ruins their Health; a tender and constant Friendship tire's them; the best entertainment grows tedious to them; their own greatness perplexes and combers them; if they are in company they would be alone, and yet they cannot endure solitude. The Rich envy's the tranquillity of the Poor; the Ambitious wishes for wealth to raise himself to honour; the Voluptuous finds that every thing incommodes him, and creates to himself a true torment by his solicitude in seeking for his pleasure, Finally, if we look upon things but only with human aspects, they are extremely unhappy. But the most terrible of all their miseries, is, That the disgust they conceive of this Life, doth not move them to desire another. They languish, they sigh, they weep sometimes in the middle of their delights: but their delights will soon have an end and their tears will never be dried up: And after they have wept in this Life, they shall be plunged in darkness of Hell, where Despair and Rage shall make them weep eternally.  
Consequently to this Maxim, St. Augustin teaches moreover elsewhere: 
Ep. ad Probam. Tract. 4. in Ep. Joan: passim in Psal.  That all the Life of a Christian ought to be but a holy desire of Death and of the goods of Eternity. No man, says this great Saint, going from Earth shall arrive at Heaven, to be there satiated with that eternal Justice, which makes up all the joy of the Blessed; unless he hath had an ardent thirst, and an unsatiable hunger thereof, whilst he was yet in the world. And therefore it is Written, That they who have an Hunger and they who have a Thirst of Justice, 
Mat. 5.6.  shall be happy, because they shall be satiated. It is then most certain, That all the Justice of Man upon earth, is no other thing than a Thirst and an ardent desire of the Eternal Justice. But how can one desire that Eternal Justice, if one love's Life, if one dreads Death, and if one doth not even desire to die in order to possess in Heaven this Justice which one cannot possess upon Earth? For the Felicity of a Christian cannot be perfect unless his Charity is also perfect; and the perfection of Charity is no other thing than this Eternal Justice, which consists in knowing God and in possessing him perfectly. 'Tis for this reason that the true Christians look not upon all the things of the Earth but with the eye of Faith, nor love them but with the Spirit of Charity. Now Faith and Charity do not link themselves to that which is perishable. He who practices these two Virtues, possesses temporal Goods, without permitting himself to be possessed by them. He gathers Riches, but 'tis to distribute them liberally to the Poor. He hath care of his Health without being disquieted, as well knowing that all the precautions one takes to preserve it are useless, and sometimes even criminal, when one submits them not to the orders of Providence. Although his Honour is dear unto him, he ceases not to suffer calumnies with patitience. He is tender for his Friends, without having effeminate complacencies for them. Finally, he resembles a Traveller in all things, who comforts himself when the weather is bad, or his lodging incommodious, because he prepared himself for all sorts of sufferings, and for that he expects no repose but in the end of his journey. Thus, let detraction decry him, let poverty oppress him, let sicknesses torment him, let the loss of Friends afflict him; the desire of Death and the Hope of the other Life render his Soul unmovable amidst all these miseries. This Desire and this Hope are as two Ankers, which resist the most furious Tempests, and which defend his Heart against the Violence of Passions, and against the blows of Fortune.   

Article VI There are an infinity of other suchlike Thoughts and Expressions in St. Augustin. But it will perhaps suffice to have related these which we have collected from many passages of his Writings to serve for the Foundation and for the Principles of this Work.  
THis holy Doctor drew from the sacred Scriptures and from the Tradition of the Church, the substance of these Maxims: and the Fathers who went before him, 
Tertul.  or they who followed him, have explicated themselves in the same manner upon the same subject.  
Tertullian says, That the Christians were distinguished from all other men by the Desire of Death, That they look upon it as a Grace which is to crown all their Graces, and That it is principally that which they demand of God every day in their Prayers.  
What, I pray you, is the Idea we ought to have of Christians? 
In Apol. & passim.  The Christians are certain people evermore ready to die; who have this thought imprinted in their Spirit and this desire engraved in their Heart; who look upon Death as the end of their servitude and the beginning of their happiness. 'Tis, as one would say, a People and a Nation of men distinguished from all others by the contempt they have of Life. Moreover they are ready to lose it; and that which afflicts others comforts them; for they know that Baptism hath already separated them from the World, and therefore they are glad when Death comes to deliver them out of it for evermore. They conceive it to be a want of Faith for one to testify the least fear of Death in the most dangerous diseases, or at the sight of the most cruel torments. Is there question of suffering for God? One may perceive Joy painted in their countenances, they disdain the Tyrants, they encourage their Executioners, they cast themselves with alacrity into the flames. All that prolongs their Life, retards their Felicity. Let's go die, say they, we are Christians, we glory in it, and the glory of a Christian is to die courageously for his Master; to happy we, who being the Disciples of Christ Jesus, may die as he did.  
True Christians, says Tertulian in another place, desire with an extreme passion to break the Chains which tie them to the Earth, and to go to reign in Heaven with Christ Jesus. Our Soul, 'tis true, is no longer a slave to the Devil, since the Saviour of the World hath ransomed it; but our Body is yet under his empire. He can raise Persecutions against us, and expose us to the rage of our Enemies. Shall we fear him for so small a matter? Shall we not have the courage to free ourselves from his power? What is it that Death hath so terrible in it, since Christ Jesus hath showed us the example of dying well? There is no other way to come to the Kingdom which he hath prepared for us. Let's die with him, O Christians, if we will reign with him. These thoughts are the ordinary entertainment of the Faithful, and the continual object of their vows. The Pagans are confounded, and the Devil's despair, but the Angels rejoice at their resolution.  
This Constancy which the Christians testify in affronting Death, and this contempt they have of Life, are so linked to the Spirit of Chrystianisme, that even altho' the Son of God should not have expresty signified that Christians ought to demand to die in demanding the Coming of his Kingdom; yet they would not have ceased to offer up to him this Petition So true it is, that the sole character of Christian ought to inspire a continual contempt of Life, and an ardent desire to possess the Kingdom which Christ Jesus hath promised to his Elect.   

Article VII. That which Tertullian hath so well expressed in few Words, hath been very largely explicated by St. Cyprian in many passages of his Writings; and Principally in the Discourse he composed upon Mortality. We have collected some Maxims of this great-Bishop concerning this subject, 
S. Cypri.  and particularly of the eagerness which true Christians ought to have to get forth of this Life.  

The First Maxim of St. Cyprian; That the Christians who fear Death, are Unjust and Unreasonable, since in saying to God every day in the Lord's Prayer, Thy Kingdom come, they desire our Lord to hasten their Death.  
WE may say that they who fear Death, show plainly that they know not the prime Principles of Christianism. 'Tis surely to have little love for Christ Jesus, to apprehend the arrival of his Kingdom. May not one say, That we are the Enemies of the Son of God, and that we fear he should ascend his Throne to punish them who have offended him? What is there more unjust and more unreasonable than to wish every day that the Will of God may be accomplished, and yet to complain when it is accomplished? Nevertheless 'tis this disorder into which most of us fall. We do as those bad Servants and those rebellious Slaves, who must be trailed against their will into the presence of their Masters. We pass forth of this Life rather by necessity than by submission; and by such a cowardly repugnance we make it plainly appear that we have no Faith, nor any Hope to be rewarded by him who calls us.  
Surely I cannot comprehend how 'tis possible that a Christian Soul can divide herself into such contrary Sentiments. For if the Captivity of the Earth doth yet please us, why do we pray that the Kingdom of Heaven may come? To what end do our Lips pronounce so frequently such holy Prayers, in which we demand of God that the day of our glory and of our triumph may arrive? Is it that we had rather serve the Devil upon Earth, then reign in Heaven with Christ Jesus? Either let us change our belief, or else let us change our language; let us speak like Pagans if we will live like Pagans. Let us dread Death, if we hope for nothing after Death. But why should we not despise this Life, if we expect a better? Let's make it appear that we submit our-selves to Faith, and that we are fully persuaded of the truth of the Promises of Christ Jesus.   

The Second Maxim of St. Cyprian: That 'tis no wonder if Infidels and Wicked people fear Death; but that this Weakness is not tolerable in Christians.  
LEt him dread to die, who hath not obtained as we have a new birth of the holy Ghost, and who not being regenerated in the Waters of Baptism, shall be cast headlong into the Flames which can never be quenched. Let him dread to die, who hath not the sacred Unction, and who hath not been marked with the adorable and wholesome sign of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, let him dread to die, who in the delay of his Death finds also the delay of the punishments which expect him after Life. But he who is truly a Christian, and who loves God, can fear nothing, and aught to hope all. Death is not a Death for him, but a Life. 'Tis not a destruction of his Being, 'tis a changing of estate which is to end all his Miseries. Since Death hath been joined to the source of Life, which is Christ Jesus, it hath lost all its malediction and all its bitterness. It hath changed those horrible names which affrighted us, to take the pleasing names which comfort us. Now the Christians call it a Sleep which charms our displeasures, a Passage which conducts us to the Celestial Country, a happy Ship wreck which casts us into the Haven. So long as man was yet in the first state of Innocence, Death was a punishment wherewith the Divine Justice threatened him if he should fall into Sin; but in the state of Grace, 'tis a Sacrifice by which it purifies the Just, and renders him worthy of Eternal Glory. Formerly, to terify man, it was said, to him; If thou Sinnest, thou shalt die; and now, to support him and to encourage him in the sufferings of this Life, it is said unto him: If thou diest not thou wilt Sin; and the Apostles exhort us to comfort one another by the consideration of the nearness of Death and of the Coming of Christ Jesus.   

The Third Maxim of St. Cyprian: That Christians ought not to love the World because the World hates Christians: and That when Death delivers them from all commerce with the World, 'tis a subject of Joy for them.  
'TIs for him who finds his delights in a worldly Life; to desire to remain long in the World. 'Tis for him whom the World keeps as it were enchanted by the charm of pleasures, to desire not to go forth of the World. But since the World hates true Christians, why do you who are Christians love the World which loves not you? Why do you not rather love Christ Jesus who loves you? and who calls you to crown you with all sorts of Goods? Why do you not frequently consider, that you have renounced the World by the Vows of your Baptism; and that you stay not in the World during the time of your life, but as a Stranger during his Journey? Hate then the World, since the World hates you; and desire that happy day in which you shall pass into the true place of your repose, there to enjoy the liberty of the children of God.   

The Fourth Maxim of St. Cyprian: That Death ought to be considered by Christians as a passage from the miseries of this Life to a glorious Immortality.  
'TIs certain that the Servants of God will not enjoy a perfect Peace till Death shall deliver them from all the miseries of this World, and until they are arrived to that happy Haven, where an eternal Tranquillity reigneth. 'Tis the sole means which is left us to possess that Peace without trouble, that Joy without sorrow, and that Pleasure without disgust, which we in vain seek to find elsewhere. So that we ought to be so far from fearing Death which procures us so many Goods, that on the contrary we ought to rejoice when it approaches. In effect, this Life is it any other thing than a Combat and a continual Temptation? Let the most happy persons of the World examine themselves, and then let them speak sincerely; they will avouch that their purest Joy is evermore troubled by some pensiveness; that all their Sweets are intermixed with bitterness; that their Honours are accompanied with vexations and solicitudes; and finally, that Evils and Goods are linked together with an inseparable colligation. Yet if Man hath any desire in this unfortunate Life, 'tis surely a desire to be happy. It must needs be that he hath formerly had in himself an original greatness, whereof there remains in him only say ruins upon which he strives to rebuild some kind of Felicity. All his thoughts aim at this end; but he knows not distinctly either the Happiness he hath lost, or the way he must take to recover it. His Soul conducts him always towards Heaven from whence she derives her birth, and his Senses drag him always towards the Earth, whereof they are form. He neither knows what he is, nor what he would; and like to a Vessel floating at the mercy of the Winds and of the Waves, he serves for a weathercock to fortune and to his own cupidity. Let him fortify himself with the wisest Maxims of Philosophy; let experience, a good wit, and an human reason, guide him 〈◊〉 his actions; let him make choice among all the goods of the Earth, of them which are least subject to change, and which are most capable to render a man happy: all his labour vanishes into smoke, he will repent himself of his choice, he will seek after other goods, and those other goods will deceive him. But when will he be able to stop his affections; what means will he find out to preserve them, and to preserve himself? Ever since this blind Love of Life hath carried men on to invent Remedies to prolong it, have they met with any one against Death? Why then do they not look upon it rather as an infallible Remedy against their Disquiets, and as the wholesome end of all their Evils? Ah, 'tis that they are not truly Christians; 'tis that they know no other Life than this; 'tis that they doubt of God's promises, which never deceive us, and that after so many dismal proofs of the uncertainty of the things of this World, they love rather still to deceive themselves than to acknowledge that they are deceived. But the true Disciples of Christ Jesus, being persuaded of the truth of his Words, and inflamed with his love, have no difficulty to undeceive themselves from the vanities of the World, to contemn Life and even to take an extreme pleasure in seeking after Death; because they are assured that no one can be perfectly happy, 
S. Gregory of Nazian.  until he dies for Christ Jesus, and until he reigns with him in his Heavenly Kingdom.   

St. Gregory of Nazian, in his Funeral Orations, furnishes excellent thoughts concerning the obligations which Christians have to despise Life and to desire Death: and particularly in the Elogium he composed for his Brother Cezarius.  
WHen I consider the happiness which our Kindred have acquired by dying, and the little they have lost in losing this unhappy Life; so far am I from afflicting myself, that I feel myself, transported with joy; and I say to God: When shall it be, O Lord, that you will take us, as you have them, out of this strange Land, and that we shall go into our lovely Country to join ourselves with them who are there arrived before us? When shall it be, that Death shall put us in a condition to partake with them the pleasures of Paradise, and to lead together an eternally happy Life? In effect, my Brethren, what can we expect during the short time which remains of our Life, but to see day after day more miseries, tosuffer more evils, and to commit more Sins than we have hitherto committed.  
'Tis therefore this consideration, and not the loss of our Friends; 'tis the danger of offending God to which we are exposed during our Life, and not the grief for their Death, which ought to be the true subject of our Tears. Let's weep, my Brethren, but let us weep as David did, for that our Pilgrimage is prolonged. Let's afflict ourselves for that our Exile is not ended. Let's weep because we love a Life subject to so many miseries, and which incessantly exposes us to lose the Grace of God. This is, my Brethren, a just cause 〈◊〉 our sighs and tears. 〈◊〉 therefore sigh over ourselves with the holy Apostle, and let us say, 
2 Cor. c. 4. and 5.  This base Cottage built of clay, wherein we now lodge, shall it never be destroyed? Shall we not soon dwell in that other house which is not made by the hand of man, and which shall endure eternally? For how long shall we yet lie oppressed under the weight of this mortal Body? And till when must we trail after us in all places a living Sepulchre, where our Soul is as it were buried in the Flesh, and infected with a corruption greater than that of real Graves? 〈◊〉 my Brethren, if the ●●●th of Sin is not the subject of your griefs and affliction, you have no subject that is legitimate. But that which ought to cover us with shame, is, That we love this Life, all miserable as it is, and that we make much of this Body which detains our Soul captive. 'Tis true, that we are unwilling to offend God; but we are willing to continue in a state of offending him; at lest 'tis that which we desire when we desire to Live. Do you then know for what a true Christian ought not to afflict himself? I repeat it over again to you, a true Christian ought not to afflict himself 〈…〉 he lives too long. 〈…〉 thing that delays his 〈◊〉 delays also his happiness: but what happiness? A happiness which is pure in its enjoyment, immense in its greatness, and eternal in its duration: Finally, a happiness which comprehends the possession of God himself, and which consequently surpasses the intilligence and the desire of man. Behold that which ought to make us sigh without creasing towards Heaven, and to say with the Prophet; 
Psal. 118 v. 81.  My Soul languishes, O Lord, she falls almost into a swoon in the expectation of your Salvation.  
For my own part, through 〈…〉 of God, I fear 〈…〉 my Body should 〈◊〉, since its nature is to be perishable. I am persuaded that the ruin of that which is material and terrestrial in me, cannot choose but be very advantageous unto me. Let's leave to the wicked the care to flatter a Body which kills the Soul, and which one cannot keep long alive. Those unhappy wretches taste not the goods of the Spirit, because they have no feeling of Hope for another Life. And surely I do not at all wonder that they place their sovereign good in this mortal Life, in Health, in good cheer, and in the other pleasures of the senses. But for us, my Brethren, who are convinced that all those goods are but vanity, and that they will be dissipated in less time than the dew of the morning; let us say with the Apostle, would to God that by a lively Faith and by an ardent Charity I had so mortified my Body, that it were not capable to detain my Soul: for if I could totally bury myself with Christ Jesus, I should be assured to be resuscitated, and to live with him eternally.    

Article. IX. 
S. Gregory Nisse.  St. Gregory Bishop of Nisse, hath made a Discourse to show: That we should be so far from lamenting them who go forth of this Life, that we ought to envy and desire their happiness. He proves this Truth by many reasons, which we give in brief; and in the end be explicates it by an excellent comparison of the state of men in this present Life, with the state of an Infant enclosed in his Mother's Belly. He says afterwards, That they who lament the Death of their Neighbour, or who are afraid to die, are as little reasonable as Children who cry when they are born into the World, because they are not sensible of the happiness they have in being delivered out of the most dismal of all Prisons.  
THey who excessively afflict themselves at the Death of their Kindred and Friends, 
Orat. de mortuis. To 3.  are for the most part very weak Spirits, who suffer themselves to be led by the move of Nature and of Custom. They weep ordinarily, because 'tis the custom to weep upon such occasions. They grieve for themselves. in the person of another, because in losing him they lose some advantage which they reaped from him; or else, they weep because they fancy a false honour of appearing to be of a tender and good nature. There is moreover a certain pleasure in Tears, and one delights to draw compassion or esteem from others by weeping. Finally, in whatever manner we weep over the Dead, 'tis always a weakness; and we should never fall into it, if we gave ourselves time to consider, That the orders of Providence are unalterable, and that human things change incessantly. For is it not a folly to grieve for the Dead as if they could have lived always; and to live so, as if one were never to die?  
To get forth of this error, we need only to consider a little the difference there is between the solid and infinite goods we hope for in heaven, and Goods so vain and so short which we possess upon Earth: and we shall clearly see, That if Christians ought to weep, 'tis not for that their Friends are too soon dead, but for that they themselves live too long. For the greatest of all miseries, is to languish in the World amidst all manner of Evils, and to be for a long time deprived of the happiness which those very Friends possess whose loss we lament.  
I demand therefore of you, my Brethren, in the first place, wherein do you believe that Man's sovereign Good doth consist? For if we will reason according to the Rules of Christian Philosophy, the only Good which deserves to be ealled Good, is that which belongs to all, and for always. The Pagan Philosophy which reasons only upon false lights, gave formerly the name of Good to such things as regard only either men's Bodies of their Fortunes. But is it not a horrid blindness, to establish the sovereign Good in Beauty, in Strength, in Dexterity, and in such other like exterior Qualities? These wise profane people, did they not perceive that these things, which are given but to a few, diminish with age, perish in a short time, and are accompanied with so many misfortunes, that one must be very stupid not to aspire after a better happiness? Did they not see, I say, what we now see, That Riches, Dignities, and even Crowns, which without doubt raise men to the highest pitch of this false Felicity, pass from one Family to another; that the most elevated Thrones fall down to the ground; that the most glittering Fortune is but a smoke which is dissipated in an instant, and which leaves nothing else behind it but the smut of the bad actions which were done to acquire it? These men who affected the name of Wise, were they senseless enough not to know, That the best grounded Glory is subject to the darts of Detraction, and that the people, by one and the same capriciousness, sets up and pulls down the reputation of the greatest men? If one makes use of Treasures, they are consumed; if one hides them, they are useless: But what matters it whether it be Covetuousness or Prodigality which makes us poor, since the miseries which accompany poverty are not so unsupportable as are the disquiets which attend upon riches? Finally, these Wise persons who had so great a knowledge of human things, could they not comprehend that all the Goods of this Life are mere illusions; they who had every day the experience thereof? Ha', my Brethren, it was because Faith did not clear them: it was because in the darkness of Paganism Pride being the soul of all their thoughts and of all their actions, they sought in themselves a Good which cannot be found without renouncing those false Goods and ones own self.  
It is not so with Christians; they seek their sovereign happiness in Humility, in the contempt of Life, and in their self-annihilation: because they are persuaded that one possesses all in possessing God, and one possesses not him but by unclothing one's self of all things; and by consequence, that one must make no other provision for Heaven but that of good Works; For there one shall neither suffer hunger, nor cold, nor the injuries of Air, nor the cruelties of the wicked. One shall not there be embusied in labouring nor in sowing the earth, in sailing on the Sea, in building Palaces, in traficking, in pleading, in filling the Spirit with Sciences, in inventing laws, nor in causing them to be kept. There will neither be War, nor Process, nor Tyranny, nor Malady, nor Poverty: and as the Goods there will be without end and without mixture, so nothing can there either corrupt or change them.  
Surely, when I consider the weakness, of them who afflict themselves for their Friends departure out of the world, and who themselves fear to follow them, I cannot sufficiently admire it. If a man, after he had passed the time of his tender Youth in an obscure Prison, and lived as it were in a continual night, should be displeased with them who obtained his liberty to go forth to contemplate the Sun, the Stars, the Earth covered with fruits, and the other Beauties of the Univers, and finally to place him in a full liberty: what would you think of this man who had such strange humours? Without doubt, my Brethren, you would believe that he had lost his Wits, and you would strive to cure him of so extravagant a folly. Permit me to tell you that yourselves are in the same state, and that your error is perhaps more deplorable than his. You are displeased at the happiness which your Friends enjoy in being delivered out of this, miserable Prison of the Body, and yourselves fear to go forth of it to go to contemplate in his glory the Creator of the Sun, of the Stars, and of all the Beauties of the Universe.  
For my part, I avouch to you that I cannot conceive the cause of so great a straying in the human spirit, unless it is that the criminal curiosity of the first man hath plunged all his posterity in such a profound ignorance, that men know not even what is convenient for them. One may say that we are become like unto a Child, who being yet shut up in his Mother's Belly, hath not so much as the use of his Senses. This Child hath Eyes, and he sees not, he hath Ears, and he hears not; he hath a rational Soul, and he knows not; he neither understands what he is, nor what must become of him; finally, he hath no knowledge of Life, which nevertheless is the sole Good in which he ought to be concerned. Is it not true that if this Child could reason, he would surely judge that Nature had not furnished him with all these faculties and all these organs, to be always deprived of their functions? That having a Mouth, he was not to be nourished like a Plant? That having Feet and Hands and all the other parts which compose his Body, he was not designed to be always a lump of Flesh, nor to live among nastinesses, and to be close shut up in a Dungeon? Is it not true, I say, that by making these reflections, he would assuredly come to the knowledge of the Life he was to lead upon Earth? But because this Child doth not reason, that which should rejoice him, afflicts him: he receives as an Evil all the advantages of his birth and of his liberty; and as if he lost a great Good in going forth of his Mother's Belly, he complains as soon as he comes into the World.  
Behold, if I am not deceived, an image very much resembling these weak men, whom I undertook to convince. Now if there is any of them who hear me, who is of the number of those blind persons who will not see the light: Ah, my dear Brethren, I conjure you to take some compassion of his blindness. 'Tis surely a shame for a Christian to lament for the Death of his Friends, and to fear his own Death. This weakness is only pardonable in a Child. Let us then open our Eyes, let's act as reasonable men, let's live like Christians, 'Tis high time to conceive a horror of our Prison, and to shake off the chains which detain us in it. Let's reflect that there is another Life than this; let's awaken our Faith; let's excite our Hope, and finally let us comfort ourselves; let's rejoice that our near Relations have acquired an eternal Happiness by the loss of a miserable Life: let's burn with a holy Desire of Death: let's seek with ardour and receive with joy, that which will put an end to our afflictions, and give a beginning to our Felicity.   

Article X. Among all the Fathers of the Church, St. Ambrose is one of them who hath spoken best of Death. He made a particular Treatise De bono mortis, Of the good of Death: 
S. Ambrose.  where he says, That it frees us from the miseries of this Life, and from the servitude of Sin. He teaches, That 'tis Death which procures Immortality to our Soul, and a glorious Resurrection to our Body: and finally, That 'tis Death which gives us the means to testify our Gratitude, our Love, and our Zeal to Christ Jesus. Whence he concludes that if we have Faith, we ought to desire Death.  
Life is a burden, the weight whereof oppresses us; and Death is the only succour which can discharge us of it. Life is a punishment, and Death is the sole means which remains for us to be released of it. Did one ever see Slaves and miserable Wretches fear to be set at freedom and to be comforted? 'Tis from Death alone that we must expect this Comfort and this liberty.  
Now if we ought to love it, because its frees us from the miseries of Life; ought we not to love it more, because it delivers us from the bondage of Sin? For the most innocent of men is a Sinner as long as he is living; he must die to the end he may sin no more; and his Death is no less the end of his Sin, than of his Life.  
But Death doth yet much more; it breaks not the bonds of Sin, but to procure us the glorious liberty of the Elect. 'Tis Death which reunites men to their beginning, makes them find their greatness and their felicity in the loss of their Lives. 'Tis Death finally, which delivering them from corruption, introduces them into an incorruptible and eternal Life. For as soon as Sin had given birth to Death, God drew from thence the Resurrection; to the end that Sin ceasing by Death, Nature might always subsist by the Resurrection; and that man dying to the Earth and to Sin, might live eternally in Glory. Then this Word of the sacred Scripture willed be accomplished: Death hath been absorped and destroyed by an entire victory: 
1 Cor. 15. v. 55.  and we shall be able to say with the Apostle: O Death, where a thy victory? O Death, where is thy sting?  
But the greatest advantage which we derive from Death, is, That it gives us the means to imitate the Charity of Christ Jesus, and to do for him in some sort the same thing he hath done for us. We may be in dying the Victims of his glory, as he hath been the Victim of our Salvation; and we may testify our gratitude by voluntarily offering to him this Sacrifice. In effect, how will it be possible for us to satisfy otherwise our so great obligations? And moreover, if we well consider it, 
Rom. 8.  What proportion is there between the sufferings of the present Life, and the felicity of the other Life; between the torments of Death, and that immortal glory which God is one day to discover in us?   

Article XI. An Excellent Doctrine of St. Ambrose, which establishes two manners of Living and of Dying set down in the Sacred Scripture. The first is that of just men, who Live of Life, that is, who being in the Grace of God, enjoy the Life of Body and of Soul: And the second, is that of Sinners and wicked men, who Live being dead, and who leading an exterior life upon Earth, are dead interiorly before God, As to the two manners of dying, the One is of them who die of death, that is, who in dying impenitent, endure a double Death, that of the Soul, and that of the Body: and the Other is of the Sole Predestinate, who die to live; which is understood of the Elect, who endure the corporal Death with patience and with joy, to go to possess an eternal and glorious Life.  
WHen it is said in the sacred Scripture, That the man who shall keep God's Commandments, 
De Paradiso. c. 9  and shall exercise Justice and Mercy towards his Neighbour, 
Ezech. 18.  shall live the Life: we must not believe that the Holy Ghost made use without design of such an extraordinary expression. To live the Life or of Life, is to have a double Life, One of which is exterior and corporal, and the Other interior and spiritual; 'tis to lead the life of a Man and of an Angel both together; 'tis to enjoy at the same time Health and Grace; 'tis to live of a general Virtue, which includes all the natural and supernatural functions; finally, 'tis the estate in which good people live upon Earth: an Estate truly happy for the time; but from which one may fall, unless one labours continually to disengage himself from all adhesions to Life, by the thought and by the desire of Death.  
On the contrary, to die the Death or of the Death, 
Gen. 2. Exod. 21.  what is it else, according to the language of the Scripture, but to suffer a double Death, of the Body and of the Soul? I mean, to be deprived of the ordinary use of this transitory Life, and of the possession of eternal Life? And this is it which makes the misery of the reprobate, who for having over much loved a criminal Life, die miserably in their crimes.  
There is moreover among Christians another manner of dying, which is of them, who die to life, or who die in living; that is, who are dead and living both together. And these are they who live of the life of the Body, who enjoy a perfect health, who have beauty, strength, and dexterity; and yet who are dead to the Life of Grace, and are not animated with the Spirit of God. 'Tis of these men that it is said in the Scripture That they descend alive into Hell. And 'tis in this sense that the words of the Apostle are to be understood; 
Psal. 54.16.  The Widow who lives in delights is dead, 
1 Tim. 56.  altho' she seems to be living. And it is also the deplorable state of the wicked in this life, out of which they may nevertheless get forth by sincere penance.  
Finally, the fourth kind of Christians, in relation to Life and to Death, and the most happy of all, is of them who live by Death; such are all the Holy Martyrs, who expose not themselves to die but in hopes to live: the Body dies for a time, and the soul lives for an eternity. Ah, my Brethren, let us beware of being like to them who live outwardly being dead within. Let us desire to be rather of the number of those happy Dead, who die in appearance to live in effect. This was the sentiment of St. Paul in those celebrious Words: I desire to be disengaged from the bonds of this Body, 
Philip. 1.23.  and to be with Christ Jesus. It was also the thought of David, when he exclaims in one of his Psalms: Alas! 
Psal. 119.5.  how irksome is my exile! I live here as a Stranger; my Soul is troubled to remain so long among the Enemies of peace. Behold this is properly the state of the Predestinate, who are afflicted at their stay upon Earth among the snares and the miseries wherewith this Life is replenished, instead of going to enjoy in Heaven those infinite Goods in their full greatness as well as in their eternal duration; and which are the sole object of their Hope and of their Desires.   

Article XII. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom are full of excellent Instructions concerning Death. We have made choice of such as seemed most proper for this Work.  
1. 
S. Chrysost.  Instruction of St. John Chrysostom; where he shows what it is to be a Christian, and that his principal Character is to desire and to love Death.  
A Christian evermore considers himself upon Earth as a man going onward in his way; 
Hom. 24. in Epist. ad Hebr.  
In Psal. 119.  and the continual reflection which he makes upon this quality of a Stranger and of a Traveller, 
Ad Theod lapsum. c. 3.  is the foundation of all his Virtues. For he who hath sojourned upon Earth as a Stranger, shall be a Citizen in the Kingdom of Christ Jesus. What is the care of a Traveller? 'Tis to cumber himself with nothing but what is necessary for his journey, to take the path which is shortest and most secure, to use all the diligence he possibly can, and not to fix his heart upon any thing he finds in his way, because he reserv's all his affections for his dear Country. According as he draws nearer to it he feels his impatience increase to arrive at it; and as soon as he discovers it, he is so transported with Joy that he forgets the pain he hath endured, and the dangers he hath incurred: or if he keeps them in his memory, 'tis but as a valiant Champion remembers his wounds after he hath gained the Victory.  
In effect, what is it that a Christian can love or fear upon Earth, which is not unworthy his affection or his fear? Can all the favours of fortune give him a more glorious Title than that of Son of the most High, and of Brother of Christ Jesus? For 'tis Christ Jesus himself who honours with this quality all them who have received his Word. And when the Pharisees say, that 'tis to commit a Blasphemy to give this honour to men, Jesus answers; 
John. 10.34.  Is it not written in your Law, I have said, you are Gods? Can the Scripture fail? Wherefore, O Christians, labour so long as you please to agrandise yourselves in the World: Endeavour to become Rich, Learned, Conquerors, Princes, Kings, if you will. Procure even, if it is possible, that your Kingdom may be extended over the whole Earth: what is there in all this which can be compared with the Kingdom which God hath promised you?  
You have therefore nothing to hope for in the World; Let us see now what you have to fear: Hunger or Thirst, say you? But hath not God said: 
Mat. 5.6.  Blessed are they who are Hungry and Thirsty, for they shall be satisfied? Is it Poverty? He hath also said; Blessed are the Poor, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to them. 
v. 3.  Do you fear Injuries, Persecutions, Afflictions, Sicknesses? On the contrary it is Written; Rejoice, give your minds to gladness, 
v. 11. and 12.  you who endure courageously all these things for the glory of our Master, because you shall receive an ample reward in Heaven.  
You have then nothing else to dread, O Christians, but the delay of these rewards. And what can forward them but Death? It is not therefore an Evil, as men of the vulgar sort believe; on the contrary, 'tis a Good for them who have Faith; not an ordinary Good, but the greatest of all transitory Goods. For if our sovereign Good is to possess the Celestial Kingdom, our greatest Good is surely that which hastens the possession hereof.  
Wonder not therefore after this, O you Sensualists, if a Christian fully persuaded of these Truths, runs to Death with more ardour, than you run after Pleasures. Be no more surprised that he disdains your promises, that he despises your threats, that he treads under his feet your Idols, and that he triumphs over your Tyranny. Know that it shall sooner be drained dry in inventing torments, than the constancy of Christians will be shaken with your cruelty: because Death is a desirable Good for them who hope another Life, and because our Kingdom is not of this World. 
John. 18.36.  For were our Kingdom of this World, we would fight to defend it against our Enemies.  
Nevertheless, do not fancy that the Christian remains upon the Earth, altogether stupid and insensible, as the trunk of a barren tree, which expects nothing but the mortal blow which must separate it from its roots. 'Tis true that the Christian desires Death, because it will end his pains: but yet he ceases not to make a holy use of Life He employs all the moments thereof in good works; but whatever he doth in this Life, is only to procure him a happy end of it. For these holy Desires of Death do not hinder him from cherishing his Neighbours, from serving his Friends, from loving his Brethren, and from acquitting himself of all Christian duties, more faithfully than they who perform them having only profane ends in their Friendships. But doth God ordain that he should quit them to come to him? he is evermore ready to departed: and although, according to the resentments of Nature, his Heart is as much afflicted in being separated from his Friends, as his Body in being separated from his soul; yet he ceases not to desire to be separated from them, to the end he may always possess them with God; and he prefers this eternal enjoyment before a possession of longest durance, from which one can only derive a weak and uncertain consolation. Wherefore he says at all times with the Apostle: Christ Jesus is my Life; and Death is a gain for me. 
Philip. 1.21  Unhappy man that I am! Who will deliver me from the bonds of this mortal Body, 
Rom. 7▪ 24.  that I may no longer be fastened to any thing but to Christ Jesus?  
'Tis in effect the property of a Christian and of a Child of God, not to tie himself to things present and perishable, that he may sooner go towards his Father, who stretches forth his arms to receive him. This tender affection and this holy impatience, spring from the purity of a good Conscience. He who is inflamed with the love of eternal Goods, is not puffed up in Prosperity, nor cast down in Adversity. He is as it were above the Earth, and dwells already in Heaven; he conserveses a Spirit evermore equal in the inequality of his lives events: Finally, he is like him, of whom it is said in Scripture:   

You stick not either at the Benedictions, or at the Maledictions of the World: but you are as an Angel of our Lord. 
2. Reg. c. 24. v. 17.   
2. Instruction of St. Chrysostom: That we should be miserable if our Life were never to end; and that if we had a faithful and true belief of the Resurrection, we should not only not dread Death, but we should ardently desire it.  
WHen God gives us Life, 
In cap. 12. Gen. Hom. 32.  'tis by an action of his Omnipotency; but when he gives us Death, 
In Cap. 5. Gen. Hom. 21.  'tis by a wholesome effect of his Bounty. What would Life be without Death? A long sequel of miseries, an eternal Banishment, an infinite Punishment, 
In Cap. 5. Gen. H●m. 67.  and almost as cruel as that of Hell. For what more painful torment could be inflicted upon them who love, 
Serm. in Verba Pauli, De dormientibus nolo vos. Ser. 29.  than to separate them for ever from their beloved object? If this Maxim is true, in sensual love, is it not infinitely more in the Divine love? A Heart deeply engaged in this love, to which one should say, you shall remain always upon Earth, and you shall never see God; would it not have cause to esteem itself almost as miserable as the Damned? It is therefore truly said, That if Death is the chastisement of Adam's Sin, 'tis also the greatest favour that God could grant to the Children of Adam after his Disobedience.  
Before the coming of Christ Jesus, Death was frightful, because men were its slaves, and that they could not obtain of God any more than temporal rewards for their good actions. But since he hath ransomed us by his precious Blood, since he hath loved Death and made an alliance with it; it is not only no longer an Evil, but 'tis the greatest of all Goods, 'tis the source of all imaginable happinesses. Thus the fear of dying aught to be considered as a weakness of Nature, and not as an effect of Reason. 'Tis true that all Creatures have an extreme desire to conserve their Being; but this desire is not pardonable, except only in such people who know nothing of any other Life than this. The true Christian who hopes after this Death a more noble and a more happy Being than this first Being which he received by being born into the World, not only desires not to conserve it, but burns with impatience to lose it, that he may acquire the possession of a sovereign Felicity.  
There is no truth which Christ Jesus preached and assured more authentically than the Mystery of the Resurrection: 
Ib. & Serm. de tridua Domini Resurrec.  and there is nothing also which the Enemies of Christianism have more thwarted. All the World agrees that Christ Jesus died: 
1 Cor. 18.23.  The Jews looked upon his Cross as a Scandal, and the Gentiles as a Folly. But as for the Resurrection, they all absolutely deny it: only the Christians believe that, and God gives to them all sorts of proofs thereof, He permits that Soldiers should be placed around his Sepulchre; he rises forth of the Tomb in their presence; the Stone is overturned; the Earth trembles; the Guards are affrighted; the Women find him not where they had laid him; and the Angels assure them that he was risen: He appeared to his Disciples in particular, in public, in divers places, in many encounters: He stays with them Forty days, he there drinks, he there eats; and when one of them protests that he would believe nothing of it, unless he could see him with his Eyes, and touch him with his Hands, our Saviour presents himself unto him, shows him the Wound of his side, will have him to put his Finger into it, and finally forces him by this last proof to cry out: I doubt no longer; 
John. 20. v. 28.29.  you are my Lord and my God. Thou hast believed, answered Jesus, because thou hast seen: Blessed are they who believe without having seen. Can one desire testimonies more evident and more authentical of his Resurrection? If we are Christians, we must believe it: If we will be Happy, we must believe it without seeing it any otherwise than by the Eyes of Faith. What Happiness ought we to expect from the Rusurrection and from the Promises of Jesus Christ? Is it not to be resuscitated as he is, that we may reign with him? But to have a share in his Resurrection and in his Kingdom, we must necessarily die. Death therefore is an inestimable advantage and happiness: and thus, we ought not to dread it, but with all our hearts to desire it.  
What advantage can we find by living longer? Old age and the Infirmities which accompany it, do they not render us imsupportable to others and to ourselves? Consider an old man overwhelmed with years, his spirits dejected, his Body extenuated, his face full of wrinkles, his eyes half shut up, his voice trembling, his head hanging down towards the Earth, as it were seeking for a Sepulchre wherein to be buried: Is not this a kind of Monster in nature? But that which is here more monstrous in him, is the desire to live in despite of so many incommodities, and to trail along his Soul captivated and burdened with such heavy chains. Strange blindness of man! This passion is more violent in the very caducity and feebleness itself, than in the most tender youthfulness. Whatever tie a man advanced in age hath for his dignities and for his treasures, he would willingly destrip himself of all to prolong his Life for some years; and he would employ these years in acquiring other honours and other riches, of which he should destrip himself. Mad man! Weak Worm of the Earth! Refuse of the Universe! Learn that in so deplorable an estate thou hast nothing more to desire but Death, nor any thing to hope for but the Resurrection!  

Serm. 20. in verba. De tormientibus.  An Engraver hath made a fair Statue; he finds it afterwards to be eaten with Rust, and spoiled by the injury of time. The love he hath for his own work, moves him to take compassion on it; he breaks it in pieces, casts the metal into the fire, and frames a Figure fairer than the former. This is that which God did, having seen that Man who was his Image and his Head-work was disfigured by Sin. By what right and upon what account, O thou ungrateful and insolent creature, thou unfortunate work of the hand of the Almighty, thou kneaded vessel of clay; by what right darest thou murmur against the God who created thee; since instead of this gross form which is subject to corruption, he will give thee another perfect and incorruptible? Our Lord, 
Jer. 18.6.  says the Prophet, hath commanded me to go down into the house of the Potter. I found him turning a Vessel upon the wheel; but the work was spoiled as soon as it was out of the hands of the workman: he broke it in pieces, and made another as himself pleased. And shall not I have the same power as hath this Artist? And the people of Israel, are they not in my hands as the Clay is in the hands of the Potter? O man, what art thou, adds the Apostle, who darest dispute against God? 
Rom. 9.20▪  The Work, can it say to the Workman who form it, Why have you made me so? Let us therefore thank him for the Life he hath given us, perishable as it is, since 'tis the first favour we have received from his Bounty. But let us look upon it as perishable, and let's demand of him a holy Death, as the happy passage to that immortal Life which he hath promised us.   

Article XIV.  
3. Instruction of St. Chrysostom: That Death is that which most humbles man: and That Humility being the foundation of all the Virtues, it follows that to be virtuous we must incessantly meditate on Death, talk of it at all times, familiarise ourselves with it, visit Sepulchers, and assist dying persons; because nothing doth more edify and comfort than to see the Saints die; and nothing more deterrs from impiety, than to see the wicked die.  
WHether Man labours to acquire Glory, 
In c. 5. Genes. hom. 67.  or to raise himself into Dignities, or to heap up Riches; 
Ser. de fide & lege not.  nothing doth so much humble him and makes him better to resent the vanity of all these things than Death. A Conqueror who makes whole Provinces desolate, and who breathes nothing but Blood and Murder, may in vain blind himself with a fond passion of rendering his reputation immortal: if Death which he brings into all places hath spared him for some time, yet he is no less sure to die, and to see the course of his conquests cut off by the same lot by which he hath made thousands perish before his eyes. What avails it to this Magistrate, to this Minister of State, to this Favourite, to have a troop of adorers attending him, to have honour given him, and to hear himself praised to the skies? 'Tis in vain for Flatterers to endeavour to raise up their birth by alloting to them Ancestors they never had; 'Tis frivolous to labour to justify their conduct, which the Public condemns; and to predict to them a long Prosperity, which so many accidents can overturn: Death, the faithful counsellor of those people to whom none dares speak truth, presents itself unto them at every hour, in public, in private, in the height of their employments, and even amidst their pleasures; but in a shape much more terrible than it appears to ordinary persons; and reads to them this affrighting Lesson: Remember Man, that thou art made of Earth, and that thou art to return to Earth. I have there laid all thy Predecessors: Know that had not God commanded me to leave thee hitherto in the World to exercise the Good and to punish the Wicked, 'tis long since that the horror of thy crimes would have obliged me to take thee from off the face of Earth. The Rich and the Covetous are no more exempt from these threats, than the Ambitious; and altho' they are perpetually taken up with the care of keeping their treasures, they cease not to hear the voice of Death, which secretly whispers in their Ears: 
Luc. 12.20.  To morrow I will fetch back thy Soul. All thou hast been heaping up so many years, shall be dissipated in the space of Six Months by thy Heirs: Lawsuits shall consume one part; Riot shall swallow up the other part: and among all thy Successors, not one shall be found who will so much as remember to pray for thee. Thus it is that the very wicked receive instructions from Death, and that they learn of it to humble themselves in the enjoyment of their false Goods; to which they would adhere yet more than they do, if they were not averted by these wholesome advertisements.  
But this Lesson hath never more force than in the mouth of dying persons. Certainly, there's nothing more edifies a Christian and affords him greater comfort, than to see a man breath forth well his last breath, in producing acts of Piety, of Love, and of Confidence towards God. The tranquillity which appears in his countenance, is an effect of the quiet of his Conscience. The Charities which he hath exercised, the services which he hath rendered to the poor, the Pardon which he hath granted to his Enemies, his Watch, his Fast, his Mortifications, and finally all his good works, are as so many Angel-Gardians encompassing his Soul, to defend her against the assaults of the Devil. In this estate he explicates his last will without any trouble of Spirit; he comforts and instructs them who assist him; he demands of them to join their Prayers with his; and after the tender embraces of the Cross of his Redeemer, he renders up his Soul upon that adorable instrument of his dear Saviour's Passion; his Life is extinguished as a Light which hath no more nourishment; his beautiful Soul fly's to Heaven, and his Eyes are closed with that peaceable Sleep of the Just, which doth not separate the Soul from the Body, but to reunite them one day in Eternity. What Christian well persuaded of the truth of his Religion, would not desire to die in this manner; and would not avouch that this Death is more desirable a thousand times than Life?  
The Death of the Wicked is a far different Lesson; but which doth no less instruct them who know how to make their profit of it. One may there observe visible signs of God's anger, a terrible effect of those celebrious Words of the Scripture: You who have had no other Gods but your own passions, and who have contemned my Counsels and my Chastisements, wicked wretches, I will render speedily unto you with usury the taunting scoffs which you have darted against me. When you shall be in the arms of Death, I will abandon you to despair and to fury. I will not otherwise look upon you than with disdain, and I will take pleasure to insult over your misery with a mocking laughter. In effect, those Atheists who braved Death when they conceived it to be far from them, are a thousand times more weak than others, when it is near at their doors. The remorse of their Crimes gins to gnaw their Hearts, and yet their Ears are shut against all holy instructions. They listen to nothing but what is said concerning their Sickness; they complain of the insufficiency of the Remedies, and quarrel with all that come near them; their Eyes are wand'ring and sparkling with rage; and their Mouth even yet vomits forth Blasphemies.  
In this fearful estate all the world leaves them; their House falls to the pillage of their Heirs or of their Domestics; nothing is looked after but to secure their Goods, and to preserve their Offices and their Dignities, whilst their Soul is abandoned for a Prey to the Devil; And very frequently, of all the Riches they possessed upon Earth, there is scarcely found enough to bury them after their Death.   

Article XV.  
4. Instruction of St. John Chrysostom: That we ought to have as great a joy to go forth of the World, as criminals have to get forth of Prison, when the news is brought them of the Prince's favour.  
WE are to put ourselves in an estate to be ready to open the Door to Christ Jesus at the first knock he gives at it. For besides that our Resistance would be bootless against him who hath broken Hell-gates in pieces; our long delay in obeying, will make us lose the advantage which we may derive from our Death. But to the end we may avoid this Evil we need only to represent frequently to ourselves, That we are in this World as Prisoners who expect every hour the grace of the Prince to be released out of their Prison. 
Rom. ●  For we have not receiv'd the spirit of servitude, but we have received the spirit of adoption of the Children of God, by which we cry, my Father, my Father. 
2 Tim. 1.  Let us then say to him with Job, not with a spirit of Fear, but of Confidence and of Courage, of Love and Wisdom: Lord, 
Job. 7.12.  is it not long enough that my Soul languishes in the chains which keep it fettered? Is it an untamable Monster? Is it as furious as the Sea, that you should shut it up in so straight a Prison? On the contrary, 'tis your Image; you have created it free; you have ransomed it from the bondage of Sin, you have adopted her; you have promised her your Kingdom; why delay you then to give it her? Are you not weary to hear us sigh and sob within ourselves, in expectation of the Divine Adoption, 
Rom. &.  which is to be the Redemption and the Deliverance of our Bodies?  
In effect, we who are Brethren of Christ Jesus, and designed to reign with him, shall we be so remiss as to prefer our chains before the Crown which he hath prepared for us? Yet I much fear that there are many of these remiss Christians who are so fast fettered to Life, that they have none but base and servile Inclinations. The sacred Scripture assures us, 
Eccle. 4.  that there are some who shall go forth of the Dunjoon to ascend to the Throne; 
Sap. 18.  and others who shall pass from their Prison into another more obscure. They are the Children of darkness, they are blind, and they are senseless wretches, unworthy ever to enjoy the Light. Is't not they whom the Prophet Isay threatens when he pronounces these terrible Words: 
Isa. 14.19.  The Sepulchre shall not be for you a place of rest, nor an inviolable Sanctuary. You shall one day be drawn forth of it, as they pull from the Earth the trunk of an useless Tree. You shall be confounded with them whom the Sword of our Lord hath exterminated, and who shall be cast into the depth of the Abysmus, as rotten carcases. Rouse up your self then, O Christian, to get forth of your Captivity; as a Criminal assured of his pardon, runs at the first noise he hears, to lay hold of the good news. This Impatience which you shall testify to go towards God, will much contribute towards the obtaining pardon for your Sins; and will keep you evermore disposed to go to render him an account: to the end that Death, which steals upon you as a Thief, 
Thes. 5.  may never surprise you.   

Article XVI.  
5. Instruction of St. Chrysostom: That if we lived as true Christians, without tying ourselves to the pleasures of the Earth; if we embraced the Cross of Christ Jesus by renouncing all the Wantonnesses and Delicacies of the World; we should find no difficulty to conceive, That Death is of all Good things the most desirable.  
WE live not, my dearest Brethren, 
Hom. ad pop. Anti●c.  we live not with an austerity worthy the name of Christian. We love with excess this soft and delicious Life; and 'tis by so bad a disposition that our Heart becomes more and more insensible of the holy desires of Death. But if we passed our days in Fasting, in Watching, and in a voluntary Abstinence from a thousand frivolous and dangerous things; if we took care to curb the violence of our Passions, to exercise ourselves in the laborious ways of Virtue, to treat our Body hardly, 
1 Cor. 9  and to bring it into subjection, as the Apostle speaks: we should not be perplexed with all the vain disquiets which self-love brings upon us, nor should we any longer obey its irregular motions. Finally, if we walked in the narrow and painful way which the Gospel shows us, we should have such an impatience to get to the end of the course, that we should never stay upon the fond amusements of the World; and nothing would more lively touch us than the desire to finish such a dangerous journey. The Champions observe in all things so exact a temperance, 
1 Cor. 9  and yet 'tis but to gain a corruptible Crown, whereas we labour to deserve an incorruptible one. Let us run therefore in such sort as that we may win the Prize. Let's disengage ourselves from the fetters of Sin, which so straight bind us, and let's run with patience, that I may make use of the same Apostles terms, 
Heb. 12.  in this career which is opened unto us. Let us fix our Eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our Faith, who in stead of a quiet and happy Life which he might have enjoyed in the World, 
Rom. 6.  loaded himself with shame and with contempt, 
Ephes. ●▪  and endured the torment of the Cross, 
Col. 3.  not staying upon the Earth but to show us the way which leads to Heaven.  
Will you moreover see lively examples, and behold with your own Eyes the truth of my Words? Take a turn into the Desert, and there from the tops of the mountains contemplate those Solitary. Men, who pass the days and the nights in continual Mortifications, and who voluntarily shut up themselves in those dismal Grotts, only to cut off all commerce of all the rest of the creatures. You shall not find any one there, who sighs not incessantly with an impatience to die, 
Hom. 14. in Epist. 1. ad T●uoth.  because they well know that the end of their Life is the end of their Miseries. As they have nothing to fear upon Earth, and as they possess nothing but their Soul and their Body; so they look upon Death as an advantage which puts them in possession of Christ Jesus. When they understand that some one among them is dead, there's a universal Joy amongst them all: No one daring to say, Such a one is Dead: but they all say, Such a one hath finished his Course. At this happy tidings they chant forth Canticles of Joy to the praise of God, humbly demanding of him for themselves the grace of a speedy and holy Death. In effect, as the Gladiatours have an extreme desire to get forth of the Theatre where they are perpetually exposed to new Wounds; so they who lead an austere Life, and see themselves perpetually exposed to the Temptations of Sin, burn with a desire to put an end to their combats, and to be delivered from the labours of this miserable Life, in order to enjoy a repose which shall never be interrupted.   

Article XVII.  
6. Instruction of St. John Chrysostom: That the Death of Christ Jesus ought to have cured us of the dread of Death: and that the Ceremonies of the Church in the Funerals of the Faithful, should afford us Comfort and Joy, both for them and for ourselves.  
ST. Paul says, That before the birth of Christ Jesus, 
Hom. 4. in Ep. ad Heb c. 2.  Death reigned in the whole Univers, and that its Empire was extended over all the Nations of the Earth: Then Man began not to live but to Die, without passing to a better Life. But the Saviour of the World hath triumphed over Death by dying; he hath destroyed its Tyranny even to the gates of Hell; and those ghastly places to which it fled, have acknowledged the power of our Deliverer. In so much as after his Passion and his Resurrection, one cannot be his Disciple without loving Death, as he loved it. Thus my Brethren, strengthened by his Example, we have no longer any cause to trouble ourselves when we think of that last hour; and we should do amiss to make now such complaints as our forefathers did before the coming of our Redeemer.  
What do we see upon Earth, 
Job. 14.  said job, more wretched than Man, He is born of a Woman amidst pains, he lives a short time and suffers much; his best days pass away as a shadow, and he never remains constant in the same estate; Were it not better for him, never to have been? At least, there remains some hope in the Wood when 'tis cut down; the Stem thereof buds forth afresh, and its Branches become more thick and green than before: But as for Man, when the Woof of his life is once broken off, 'tis for evermore. He comes naked forth of his Mother's womb, and he shall return naked into the womb of the Earth. What remains there of man when he hath served for food to the Worms? Can he not behold the Light, but upon this hard condition, that he must in a moment after be plunged in the darkness of the Tomb?  
Behold what was the langage of men before the coming of the Messiah. But Christ Jesus hath visited us in these darknesses: he hath drawn us forth of this shadow of Death wherewith we were encompassed: he hath caused our Life to spring from our Death: he hath opened us a passage to Eternity, by passing himself first by a Death ignominious in appearance, but in effect glorious. Thus, he fought Death with its own weapons, he hath pulled out its sting, 
〈◊〉. 23.  he hath destroyed it by itself: 
Heb. 11.  he hath subdued the Prince of Death, and finally he hath cast it headlong into an eternal Abysmus: 
● Cor. 25.  and by this Victory he hath wiped off the Tears, and razed the disgrace of his people from the face of the Earth. 
Isay. 25.   
Let us not, my Brethren, lose the advantage which he hath given us over Death: Let us have no horror of a thing which God hath rendered to useful and so glorious unto us. 
Rom. 8.  We who possess the first fruits of the Spirit with hope to be delivered from this subjection to corruption, and to be made partakers of the glory and of the liberty of the Children of God. Let us remain firm in Faith, let us generously brave Death: If we look on it with Eyes of Faith, we shall find nothing in it that is terrible; but on the contrary it will appear to us sweet and agreeable; and in the end we shall grow familiar with it. But we must look upon it at all times, and be acquainted with it, if we will find it pleasing unto us. We must love it and desire it, by the example of our dear Master, who loved it for our sakes.  
When I behold on one side to what degree of honour Christ Jesus hath raised us, and on the other side when I consider to what lowness we debase ourselves, I am altogether confounded at our remissness and negligence. I see many among Christians who fear Death, not only for themselves, but for their Friends. This weakness is so visible among us, and even among persons who seem to have much piety, that the Pagans publicly mock at it. For, say they, if the Christians believe in God whom they adore, why fear they to see him? and if they love him, what induces them to shun the only thing which according to their own doctrine, must unite them eternally unto him?  
'Tis certainly to give occasion to the wicked, to esteem all that we say of the eternal Goods, and of the Resurrection of the Dead, to be mere Fables. They less regard what we preach, than what we do. You destroy by your actions, what we endeavour to establish by our discourses; for they judge rather of the Religion of Christ Jesus by your Life, than by our Instructions. In effect, all the frights which you make appear, show plainly that you have little confidence in the Word of God. When the Apostle S. Paul says; I desire to die, 
Philip. 1.23.  and to be united to Christ Jesus, he teaches us what should be the continual desire of all true Christians. Thus when you testify so great an apprehension of Death, you make known to the whole world, that your Faith is feeble and languishing; we see that you fear to obtain that which you cannot demand with too much ardour; and that instead of practising the precepts which you have heard, 
Heb. 1.  your Heart resembles those balf-open Vessels which let out all one pours into them.  
For the rest, I bless God for that he will have his Church make use in the Funerals of the Dead, of such holy and august Ceremonies as condemn your remissness, and which convince you of your little Faith. For why think you do we there sing Hymns and Psalms, and set up lighted Cierges and Torches, but to teach you to look upon your Brethren, whilst we are burying them, as upon victorious Champions, whom we ought to accompany with honour and with pomp in their triumph? What truer subject of Joy can we have for them, than to be the witnesses of their liberty and of their victory? What have we else to do or say, but bless God for having called them to himself, and for having crowned his own Gifts in them by a happy Death? Do we not thereby testify the acknowledgement of this favour, by Words the most holy that can be found in the Scripture? Finally, is it not for this reason that we cause our Churches to echo forth Cantieles of praise and of jubilation? Surely there is nothing in all the Ceremonies which invite you not to a holy alacrity. For as Ecclesiasticus says, Singing accords not with tears and lamentation. Eccle. 91.  
Believe me, my Brethren, do not look upon Death as a frightful thing. For if you are solidly Christians, if you are persuaded that there is another Life, if you believe the Resurrection of the Dead; you will easily comfort yourselves in the loss of your Friends, and you will wish that yourselves may soon pass forth of this Life so full of dangers and of miseries, where one doth nothing but suffer and Sin. 
Cor. 6.  Do not therefore any longer dishonour your name by such shameful weaknesses: but acting as faithful Ministers of God, render yourselves recommendable by a great Patience in Evil, and by a courageous Contempt of Death; be as if you were always dying although yet living; as sad, and yet always joyful; as poor, and yet possessing all in the possession of God, who is promised unto you.   

Article XVIII. An Exhortation of St. John Chrysostom; where he speaks against remiss and imperfect Christians who dread Death: and instructs courageous and perfect Christians to desire it.  
YOu who make profession to believe in Christ Jesus, can you love the sweets of this Life? 
Serm. de non timenda morte. c. 24.  Can you dread the bitterness of Death? O you remiss and faithless Christians! have you forgotten the example of Christ Jesus our good Master, and do you doubt whether you must die as he did? The true Christians have made themselves always known by the holy desires of Death; but they have not acquired this generous disposition by any other means than by unshackling themselves from all the Goods of the Earth. When one hath once with a sincere heart renounced them, Life is a small matter; and one will consider it rather as a punishment, than as a pleasure. 'tis therefore for this unfettering of the Heart that we must labour, and 'tis that wherein consists the perfection of a Christian: For as for Death, besides that it is unavoidable, it is to be desired by them who have never so little Faith: and although at first it is repugnant to Nature, yet Grace overcomes by little and little that repugnancy; and makes us love at last that which before gave us a horror. Hear what the Apostle St. Paul, 
1. Et 2. ad Corinth.  says: You who are enroled in the sacred warfare of Christ Jesus, aught to have no other care than to stand to your Arms, and to fight upon all occasions. A Soldier doth not involve himself in the employs of the Civil life, to the end he may he wholly embusied in satisfying him who hath enroled him. Now the Warfare of Christ Jesus, is to endure constantly Watch, Fast, Poverty, Injuries, Imprisonment, Wounds, and Death itself, for the glory of his holy Name.  
'Tis true, that the Christian Moral appears at the first view too severe to senfual men: but if one examines it with a Spirit untied from the secret interest of self love and of Concupiscence; one finds nothing so reasonable and so advantageous to the common good of all men, nor even so profitable to particular persons, whether it be for their conduct or for their comfort. In effect, what Religion is there in the world which proposes a more perfect Model than Christ Jesus, whose Life is more pure, whose Miracles are more evident, and whose Doctrine is more wise and more disinterressed? Do but compare it with that of the most prudent Philosophers, and of the most renowned Lawmakers; and you will find that in all the Words and in all the Actions of Christ Jesus there is a Character of Sanctity and of Divinity, which his Enemies themselves cannot choose but aeknowledge; whereas in the other Doctrines, human Wisdom is always interwoven with some extravagancy, with some gross interest, with some contradiction, or with some error.  
Since therefore we make profession to follow the Lessons of so good a Master; let us endeavour, O Christians, to imitate him in all things. Let's leave Sensualists to enjoy their Sensuality: this enjoyment is so small a matter, and lasts so short a time, that we ought more to pity than to envy them. Let's leave the World to reign; 'tis here it's Kingdom, ours is not yet come. What hath our Joy common with the Joy of the Earth? The World will lament whilst we laugh, and we shall one day mock at its tears, as it this day mocks at ours. The difference there is between it and us, is, That it being in our own power to rejoice as it doth, we do it not, because we acknowledge the vanity of all its pleasures: but it cannot enjoy the pleasures of Eternity, because it hath despised them: on the contrary it shall be plunged in dreadful darkness, where pains and gnash of teeth shall never end, but shall be the continuing signs of its sufferings and of its despair. Let us weep then, my Brethren, let's weep whilst the World rejoices; let's weep for its being in joy, because Charity so ordains; and let us be so far from loving Life as the World doth, as to run to Death which it loves not; because Death is not unhappy for us as it is for it: but on the contrary it will end all our unhappinesses. 
Psal. 29.  In the Evening we are drowed in tears, and in the Morning we shall be in an eternal joy.  
Let us never forget, That our true pleasure ought to be to despise all vain pleasures: and that our solid happiness is to believe there is none solid but with God. Ah, Christian, if thou considerest thy condition as thou oughtest, how wilt thou dare to complain of living without pleasure, thou who art obliged to die with pleasure?   

Article XIX. As St. Jerome is one of the Doctors of the Church, who hath testified the greatest desire of Death; so we have few Ecclesiastical Authors who have spoken so clearly as he, either of the Advantages which Death brings to Christians, or of the obligation they have to prepare themselves for it, 
S. Jerom.  and continually to think of it. Behold in what manner this great Saint explicates himself concerning it, in several places of his Writings.  
THe greatest mark of an irregular Life, is never to think of Death: and when we think but seldom of it, 'tis a certain Sign that we have yet but very little Virtue and Piety. 
Epist ad. Prin. ad Euriam. ad. Paulinum▪ & alibi.  As Death is the end at which all men must arrive, so the thought of Death is a faithful guide to conduct us with safety unto it. For the Scripture hath said, That if we remember the last days of our Life, 
Eccles. 7.40.  we shall never Sin. Surely then we run an hazard to sin often, if we do not think that we must die. We fall into the same misfortune as do those Travellers whom the night hath surprised in a Forest, and who have strayed out of their way. Every one of them takes a several tract, and the farther they go the more they swerve from the right path. Christ Jesus hath showed us the way: He hath said, I am the Way and the Truth. His Light conducts us amidst the darkness; his Voice calls us. He serves us for a guide, but 'tis by the pathway of sufferings, and by the tract of Calvary that he leads us: and all they who will follow him, must as he did, carry their Cross, and prepare themselves to die.  
This different disposition which men have in regard of Death, is the most visible Character of their predestination or of their reprobation. And 'tis that which Christ Jesus hath showed us in the Parable of the Virgins. For he says that those five foolish Virgins did not enter to the Marriage of the Bridegroom, because they had not put themselves in a readiness to receive him: How can one explicate these marriages and this preparation, but of the Joy of a Christian Death, and of the holy disposition which one ought to have for it? He teaches us at the same time, that the five Wise Virgins being totally replenished with these holy thoughts, deserved to have room in the house of the Bridegroom, and there to celebrate the Marriage-feast, the joy whereof shall last for all Eternity,  
He who would not do good when he could have done it, shall be justly punished with an impotency of doing it when he would do it. He who would not think of Death during his Life time, shall not be able to think of the true Life at the hour of Death. And what doth it avail a man to avoid the remembrance of an Evil which he cannot shun, and to love that which he is not sure to possess one moment? What doth it avail him to adhere to a life which flies from him, and to fly from Death which seeks after him? Man, says the Psalmist, 
Psal. 38.  spins his days, as the Spider spins her Web. 
Isai. 59  After many turns and returns, wherein he consumes himself with his own labour, Death comes, which ruins all his work; and than it appears not so much as that he ever was.   

Article XX. St. Jerome teaches us the temper we ought to keep in the disgust of Life, and in the desire of Death.  
We have added this passage for the Comfort of good people, who naturally fear Death.  
NOthing is more ordinary to man, 
In Amos c. 5. etalibi.  than to be cast down in afflictions, to be weary of living, and to wish to die. But all they who find themselves in this disposition, do they believe that they are for this more perfect than others? On the contrary, they ought to be ashamed of it, as of a defect of Faith and a want of Courage. Not but that Life is despicable, and that it is even meritorious to contemn it; but that we should be so far from conceiving a disgust of it when it is full of afflictions, as that we ought then chief to cherish it as a means given us by God to do penance. If Death is to be desired, 'tis in a delicious Life, where sometimes our condition exposes us to sin, as it were, against our will; 'tis in a long prosperity where we may have just cause to sigh for passing our life unprofitably, and perhaps criminally upon Earth, and for vainly spending the precious time which is only lent us to merit Heaven by our sufferings. For my part says the Apostle St. Paul, If it is permitted to boast, 
1. Cor. 12.  I aver that I glory of my pains and of my afflictions, to the end that the power of Christ Jesus may dwell in me. I feel a satisfaction and a joy in my Infirmities, in Injuries, in Poverty, in Persecutions, in the pressing Adversities which I suffer for my Saviour: and when I am weak, 'tis then that I find myself most strong. The contempt therefore of Life is not always a certain mark of our Faith and of our Piety; 'tis sometimes a weariness of suffering for God, sometimes a sadness which the austerity of devotion casts into the Heart: we are ashamed to leave it, and we want courage to persevere in it. If the Soul is not supported by an extraordinary Grace, the disgust of all things and even of Piety itself which is insinuated by little and little, and the Imagination which black's itself by dismal thoughts and by desires of dying, brings her to the brinks of Despair. Those persons who have lately sequestered themselves from the World, are more exposed to this misery than others; until the Divine love hath filled up all that emptiness which the separation left in their Spirit. For whatever endeavour these persons use, Nature never endures the yoke of Grace without violence; 'tis in vain to tame this Nature by the continual exercises of piety, by mortifications, by rigorous penances; for that inward Law of the Body evermore resists the law of the Spirit; and in the combat which is fought between them, although the Spirit gets the victory, yet it is sometimes weakened, and foiled in its own conquests. Then we would die, because we find no more pleasure in living: and in these sad desires 'tis Nature which acts and not Grace; Nature is willing to discharge herself of Life, as of a Burden which is to her insupportable. Always to fight, says she, always to languish, always to suffer! Ah; is it not something worse than to be dead?  
I know it by my own experience, Brethren, and if it may be permitted me to glory in my infirmities, and to make use of the terms of the Apostle, I would tell you what I have done to quell these revolts and these impatiencies of Nature. 
Eusebius, of the Death of S Jerome; relating his own Words.  Finding that the memory of the divertisements of my youth followed me every where as my shadow, and troubled my most innocent occupations; I shut up myself in a dismal Grot amidst the vast Deserts of Syria, where the Rocks scorched with the ardours of the Sun furnished our Solitary Hermits with places of retreat, which are common to them with the Savage Beasts. I confess that I could not enter there without horror, but the occasions of offending God appeared to me more horrible than that Solitude. Nevertheless in a dwelling so dreadful, where I nourished myself only with wild Roots, my Imagination ingenious to persecute me ceased not to entertain itself with the delights of the Roman City. I passed the day in sighing, and the night in weeping for my Sins. But the more I strove to quench with my Tears the secret fire of my Concupiscence, the more that rebel was enkindled even in the marrow of my bones. If sometimes the wearinesses of my penance forced me to abandon myself to sleep; I paid not that tribute to Nature but against my will: and to free myself quickly from it, I suffered my body to fall to the ground, it being extenuated with watch, and as it were broken with all sorts of macerations. I had no other Pillow than a Stone, no other Garment than a Hayr-cloath, no other Drink than Water, nor other Food than Herbs and Roots: and when the weakness of my Stomach obliged me to eat them boiled, for a more easy digestion; I durst not satisfy my hunger, fearing to commit an excess in making good cheer. This Abstinence and the heat of the Climate joined to the ardour of my temper, had dried me up like a Skeleton; and one might have counted all the Nerfs through a Skin more tawny than that of the Ethiopians. In this sad estate, I had more horror of myself, than of the Scorpions and of the Serpents which were round about me; and yet my Spirit would escape on a sudden even amidst my most holy Meditations, and quit Prayer to dream of the Roman Dames, running over all the assemblies I had frequented formerly, where the Devil had laid his mortal Baits to entrap Chastity. Then being irritated at the revolt of my Senses which these thoughts had excited against me, I massacred my breast with a thousand blows, and I left not off striking it, until the Grace of our Lord had calmed my Passions. He knows what my sorrow was after such strange Conflicts. I blushed with shame. Life was insupportable unto me. All the corners of my Grot, all the Rocks of my Solitude, seemed to me so many Censurers of my Life and so many Witnesses of my Weaknesses. For this cause I often changed my habitation, hoping to find out some one where I might have more quiet, but my evil did not change, because I bore every where about me the subject of my disquiet. I avouch that in the height of my torments I ardently desired to die, and that I could have wished it had been permitted me to go forth of the World. When one day I was pressed with this thought more violently than I was wont, I took up the Book of the sacred Scripture which was my sweetest comfort, and as God would have it, I fell upon that passage where the Prophet Amos says these terrible Words: 
Joel. 2.11.  Accursed be they who inconsiderately desire the day of our Lord. 
Soph. 1.15.  Who urges you thus to desire it? That day of our Lord is a day without Light, 
Amos. 1.18.  a day of darkness and obscurity. When you shall be weary of your misery, overwhelmed with infirmities, persecuted with temptations, rejected by the injustices of others; when you shall be disgusted with the whole World, and irksome to yourself; expect the hour of our Lord with patience. 
Amos. ●. 19.  For what doth it avail a man to shun the meeting of a Lion, if he falls into the paws of a Bear? 
S. jerom.  It is not in his power to hinder his Soul from going forth when that hour shall be come; 
Eccl. 8.8.  and he hath no right to hasten or to slacken the day of his Death.  
After this sacred Instruction, I suffered Life patiently, being resolved to employ all the moments thereof in doing good works; and being persuaded that we may well desire Death, but that it is not permitted us to advance or further it, nor even so much as to demand it of God with overmuch impatience; because although we ought to contemn Life, yet we must not omit to conserve it.   

Article. XXI. An Excellent Instruction of the same St. Jerome: That Death ought to be looked on as an order of the Divine Providence, rather than as an effect of human Infirmity: and that so we ought to die by Obedience and by Love.  
A True Christian looks upon Death not only as upon a subject of consolation, 
Lib. 9 in Isaiam; & alibi.  but moreover as upon an object of love and of respect; because it must be granted that it is God who makes us live and die when he pleases; and that the end of our days is more an effect of the Divine Will, than of human infirmity. For if the fall of the least Sparrows happens not without the order of God, as himself says in the Gospel; we ought to believe by a stronger reason, That the last fall of our Body never happens but according to the immutable decree of his Will. We should therefore look on Death with Love, considering it as an effect of the eternal Providence. We must take from it that which Nature finds horrible in it; and think that God sends it not to them whom he loves, but to the end they should always love him.  
In effect, the greatest testimony he can give them of his love, is to withdraw them out of the World and to free them from the slavery of their Body and of Sin, to render them Saints and make them eternally happy. I say yet much more, we are in some sort made partakers even upon Earth of this happiness, when we submit to his will with this Confidence. And as the last mark we can give of our Love towards God, is to receive Death with an entire Obedience, and even with Joy, when it summons us to go forth of the World: so the most perfect act of our Faith and of our Piety towards Christ Jesus, is to resign ourselves before hand to what ever God shall ordain of our Life and of our Death. Let us therefore with David say to him: 
Ps. 89.  Behold we are ready, O Lord, Cut of the thread of our miserable Life when you please. And surely, what is the duration of our days? They pass away more speedily than the Word: We live ordinarily but Seaventy Years, and the stronger scarcely pass Fourscore. But should our Life endure a Thousand years: before your eyes, a Thousand years are no more than yesterday which is past and gone: Death hurries them away as a Whirlwind, and they disappear as a Dream. So that, how long soever our Life is, it will be counted for nothing, unless it is pleasing to you. Grant then, 
Sap. 3.  O Lord, that we may count our days by our Good Works, and that we may know their shortness, to the end we may acquire Wisdom of Heart.   

Article XXII. St. Jerome, or the Author of some Epistles attributed to him, which are placed at the end of his Works; urges this Doctrine yet farther; and teaches, That a Christian ought not only not to dread Death, but that he ought also to desire it and to love it if he will imitate Christ Jesus.  
'TIs a small matter not to dread Death, since Pagan Philosophers, who imagined they lost all in losing Life, were free from this fear. Is it a matter of more difficulty to overcome Death with the Christian Faith, than with the profane Philosophy?  
Let us familiarize ourselves with this Bugbear; it affrights only them who dare not look near at hand upon it. But it suffices not to learn to die, when old Age or Diseases threaten us with Death. 'Tis in the flourishing years of Youth, and in the vigour of Health, that we should most seriously apply ourselves to this study. For who told us, that we should have time enough to prepare ourselves thereto? Since its blows are unavoidable, let us resolve to endure them. So many Martyrs, so many Virgins have affronted it with courage, why shall we not imitate them? God doth not always demand these bloody Sacrifices: but as for the sacrifice of our Will, he demands it every hour; and I dare say that there is more merit to offer unto him our Life in all the moments wherein he conserveses it unto us, than to lose it once by the cruelty of the Executioners.  
Let us aspire yet to a greater Perfection, since we are Christians. Let us change our Dread into Desire, and our Aversion into Affection. We have the honour to be Heirs to a Man-God, who hath changed the punishment of our Crime into a Sacrifice of Piety. Let us desire Death as he desired it: let's love Death, and let's seek it even between the arms of the Cross, as Christ Jesus there sought it. Let's render to him in dying the same Obedience which he rendered to his Eternal Father. Finally let us rejoice to go to find our Master, since we are his Disciples. Let us departed with alacrity to come to our Father, since we are his Children. For if we have no love for him, nor Desire to be near him, we are supposititious Children, Children of darkness; unworthy to see the Light, and to reign one day with Christ Jesus.   

Article XXIII. The order of time demands now that we return to St. Augustin: For besides the Principles of Doctrine, upon which we in the beginning established the whole design of this Treatise; there are moreover found in his Writings an infinity of pithy passages, where he repeats and deeply prosecutes this matter. 
S. Augustin.   
An Excellent Moral of St. Augustin against them who fear Temporal death, and who do not apprehend Eternal Death.  
ALL men are apprehensive of the Death of the Body; 
Tract 49. in Joan.  but few there are who fear the Death of the Soul. All the World strives to hinder that first from seizing on them, which nevertheless will infallibly one day come upon him; and scarcely and one labours to avoid that Death of the Soul, 
Epist. 45. ad Armamentarium.  which will no less infallibly follow unless timely prevented. Was there ever any greater extravagancy than this? For the Death of the Body is but the shadow and the Image of the Death of the Soul. The Man who must necessarily die upon Earth, uses all his endeavours not to die there; and the same man who is designed to live eternally in Heaven, uses no diligence to render himself worthy of that happy Life. Thus, having a will to do that which he cannot, and having no will to do that which he ought, his endeavours are useless and criminal. When he attentively considers that Death is inevitable, he troubles and disquiets himself to retard it at least for some Months: But why doth he not rather consider, that by leading a holy life, he would secure an infinite happiness, he would suffer no disquiet, and that he should die even with joy, because he might justly hope to live happily in Eternity? We expose ourselves daily to contempt, to a thousand perplexities, and to all sorts of vexations, and even to the dangers of losing our Lives, in seeking out the means to conserve it. And this passion of living long, doth so strangely blind men, that they sometimes die with the sole-fear of dying. To fly from a furious Beast, they cast themselves headlong into a River. To avoid a Shipwreck, they throw their Victuals into the Sea. Fear doth that in them which rashness could not do. An affrighted man knows no longer any danger. Such a one to escape the kind of Death which he dreaded, exposes himself to a thousand Deaths more terrible than that wherewith he was threatened.  
What torments doth not the Iron and the Fire cause them to suffer, who put themselves into the Surgeon's hands? They endure to have a part of their Body cut off, to save the other. A man who loves his health, submits himself as a Slave to all that the Physicians ordain him to do or suffer: and although he knows the vanity of their Art, he omits not to obey them in all things; nor can his own experience, nor the uselessness of their applications, nor the uncertainty of their skill, undeceive him. This man more sick of Imagination than of any other Disease; feeds himself with a false hope of being cured, try's all sorts of remedies, and hastens his Death by the Medicines which are given him to prolong a little while his Life. But the most horrible of all the effects which are caused by so blind and so irregular a passion, is, That Men to live a little longer, adventure sometimes to offend him mortally, who is the very Source of Life. For fearing to lose a Life which must necessarily end, they lose a life which must never end. And yet God commands us but few things, and those very easy, to deliver us from the true Death; which we nevertheless neglect to put in practice. We ourselves only are to be blamed if we obtain not a Life which will eternally preserve itself without the help of men, and whereof our Enemies can never deprive us. But as for this death which we so much fear, we cannot possibly avoid it, and are most sure to suffer it, though never so much against our will.   

Article XXIV. A pithy reflection of St. Augustin, upon the shortness of this Life, and upon the Eternity of the other; to stir up Christians to unfetter themselves more and more from the Earth, and ardently to breath after Heaven.  
O Men, 
In Psal. 36. Serm. 107. de diversis.  who are engaged in the course of this Life, and who prepare yourselves to end it well: do not bound your consideration only upon the places through which you must pass; consider that place where you are to arrive. You shall indeed suffer much in this journey, but you surely shall come at the end to an eternal rest. Cast your Eyes upon the recompense which is prepared for you, and you will look with contempt upon the miseries you endure on Earth. For if you compare the Evils you suffer, with the felicity which is promised you; you will be astonished that such light and short pains, should procure you a happiness so great, and a felicity so infinite.  
In effect, my Brethren, it seems that an exact Justice would require that one should not purchase an Eternal repose, but by an Eternity of pains; and it seems that you ought to labour and suffer without end, to enjoy a happiness which hath no end. But also on the other side, if your labour should have no end, how should you obtain an endless recompense? It is therefore necessary that the pains should last but for a time; to the end that they being ended, you may taste a pleasure which shall never end.  
God might, without overmuch rigour, exact of us much longer pains, and much harder labours for the Eternity of pleasures which he promises us. Yes, my Brethren, If you Labours and our Tribulations were to last many Ages; If God should prolong our miseries for the space of a Thousand years: What are a Thousand years in regard of Eternity? Is there any proportion between the Finit and and the Infinite? One cannot compare with Eternity either a Thousand years, or Ten-times an Hundred Thousand years, nor Millions of Millions of Ages, if we were designed to live all that time.  
But that which should exceedingly comfort us, is, That God would not have our pains to be either long or extreme. Life is so short that it cannot make a man for any long time miserable: But what do I say, miserable? I am sure, That if a Man is good, the interior joy and sweetness which God gives him to taste of amidst the bitterness of this Life, do more touch him, than all his Pains and all his Afflictions.   

Article XXV. A most true and edificatory observation S. Augustin, That God by a particular mercy, besprinkles the greatest Sweets of this World with bitterness; and permits that his Elect should be afflicted with Diseases, with contradictions, and with Calumnies, thereby to give them cause to contemn Life, and to desire Death.  
A Soul which hath not yet a sufficient courage to walk without weariness in the way of Heaven; 
Tract. 6. in Joan.  seeks among the goods of the Earth for some mitigation of the pains which she meets withal in her march. 
In Ps. 83. & passim.  The difficulty which this Soul finds in keeping herself in a continual disposition to follow the Divine Inspirations, makes her to roam after that which she conceives capable to untire her in her labours. This is one of the nicest temptations which persons of piety endure. But God who by a singular mercy never abandons his Servants and will unfetter them from this Life, frequently intermixes bitterness among those things which we esteem to be the most innocent. Why think you doth he sometimes render the Goods of the Earth so unsavoury, but to take from us the gust of them, and to make us desire the Goods of Heaven? And when God will exercise his Elect, and hinder them from dwelling upon any object which may divert them from their Salvation; be takes pleasure, if we may say so, in raising against them Afflictions both within and without, and in giving them occasions at every moment to merit new degrees of Glory, by new actions of Patience and of Love for Christ Jesus.  
Perhaps should he less frequently send them Mortifications, their zeal would cool and relent: at least one may be assured that they would have less Merit. And it is a very particular favour of God, when he makes us employ profitably for the other Life, all the days of a Life so short as this is.  
We see how they who walk faithfully in the narrow way of Heaven, are upon earth as the Grapes are under the Press, according to the thought of the Prophet. They crush the Grapes, they tread them under their feet, to draw from them a Juice which serves for the Life of men: In like manner they oppress, they persecute the Just in the World; they are incessantly exposed to all sorts of injuries and miseries: but God so permits it, in order to draw from thence Good Works which serve for the perfection of the Christian, by disengaging him from all that is material and impure within him, to elevate him to that sovereign honour which the World cannot give him.   

Article XXVI. St. Augustin teaches in many places of his Writings, as an assured Doctrine: That the most solid virtue of Christians, and the most visible character of the Predestinate, is to sigh continually in the expectation of Death, and in the hope of another Life.  
'TIs not for this World, 
In Psalm. 53.145.247.148.  that you are Born and Regenerated in Christ Jesus: 'Tis for Heaven. It is the Celestial Kingdom you are to seek for: 
Tract. 5. in Joan. etc.  The sorrow for being so long separated from so great a Good, is that which ought to cause all your Sighs and all your Tears. Interior sighing is a gift of the Holy Ghost: When we are once inflamed with his Love, how shall we choose but sigh and languish in this our Banishment, knowing that we have no true Country but Heaven; and that this exile which separates us from it, is the punishment of our Sin? Carnal Christians who breathe nothing but the Goods and the Pleasures, of the Earth, and who content themselves with a vain and transitory Felicity, are afflicted at the loss of Goods, at sicknesses, at Imprisonments, at Banishments, at Shipwrecks, at Calumnies. They sigh, but their sighing proceeds from their self love, and from the adhesion they have to earthly Goods. It is not the Holy Ghost, nor the love of Celestial Goods which causes their affliction; 'tis the sorrow for their losses which makes them lament. But Faithful Souls, who aspire only to the sovereign Good, who desire nothing but to be separated from the impurities of the Body, sigh in the most peaceable enjoyment of all perishable Goods; and 'tis the Holy Ghost that forms these Sighs in the bottom of their Heart, to the end they may be advertised by this interior sadness, of the vanity of all worldly pleasures. He who looks upon them in this estate only with Carnal Eyes, is persuaded that a true Christian leads a very unhappy Life, and this error hath averted many from piety. But if they could comprehend the consolation which God mingles with these Sighs, the secret satisfaction which he spreads in the Soul of a good man, the peace, the pleasure, the joy which is tasted even amidst the tears poured forth in these transports of Divine Love; they would surely change their opinion. But certainly, Sensual Souls cannot penetrate into these Mysteries: they must have felt these Celestial sweetnesses who will rightly conceive them. Happy and holy Experience, how powerful art thou upon Hearts! Divine transports of the Love of Christ Jesus! 'tis you which give a contempt of this Life; 'tis you which make Death to be desired; and you more persuade this truth in a moment, then can all the reasonings of human Wit. If once I am raised above the earth, 
John. 12.32.  I will draw all to myself, says Christ Jesus. But, Lord, whence comes it that you draw not all, and that it seems as if the fruit of your sacred Passion were imperfect? Ah! 'Tis because the weight of our sins is yet stronger than the Adamant which draws us: 'Tis because we have not the courage to quit all that we have of terrestrial. For had we never so slender a disposition to bend ourselves towards Heaven, thou O Lord, wouldst quickly draw us thither by the power of thy Grace. Give us, we beseech thee this disposition; and since it is impossible for man to raise himself above the Earth, but by the Cross which elevated thee upon Calvary, in the view of all Nations; Grant, O Saviour, that we may embrace this Cross with as much Gratitude for thy Bounties and Mercies, as thou hast had Compassion for our Miseries.   

Article XXVII. A Comparison between true Christians and the faithful Israelites, in which St. Augustin shows, That as the first coming of the Messiah was the object of the continual Desires and Devotion of the true Israelites, so the second coming of Christ Jesus should be the scope of the most solid Piety and of the most fervent Desires of Christians.  
THe Elect whom the Sacred Scripture names the Children of God, 
In Psal. 136. and 143.  and the Reprobate whom it calls the Children of Men, or Children of the Earth, have lived after a very different manner. The Reprobate limit their hope to the present World, and expecting no other Felicity than that of this Life, 
Hom. 50. & alibi.  embusy themselves in building Towns, and in establishing a permanent fortune upon Earth. Cain, the head of the Reprobate, first founded a City which he called by the name of his Son. Nembroth raised the Tower of Babel, and built Babylon. But we read no such thing of the Children of God. It is not said that they built any Town, on the contrary they fled from Towns, they walked continually from place to place; and when by the order of God they stayed in any Country, they lodged under Tents in the open Fields, to avoid the corruption of the World, which is a kind of contagious Disease gotten by commerce with one another. Such was the Life of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, and of other holy Patriarches. Moses lived in a like manner, in conducting the people of Israel in the Desert, after he had freed them from the Captivity of Egypt. All the events of his passage, 
1 Cor. 10. Heb. 7.8.9.  were (according to the thought of S. Paul) but a Figure of that which was to befall the Elect, who are the true Isralites chosen by God from all Eternity. Wherefore if we will be of this beloved troop whereof our Saviour speaks in the Gospel, we must not pass our Life in building Palaces, and in raising great fortunes upon Earth. Let us not imitate the ingratitude and Blindness of these Hebrews, who made to themselves God's according to their own capricious brain, who repined at their servitude, and who upon every little incommodity happening in their Journey, murmured against their conductor, and preferred their slavery of Egypt before all the goods which he gave them hopes of in the Land of Promise. On the contrary, they who were truly touched with the desire of that dear Country, endured with undaunted courage all the difficulties of their voyage, in hopes to arrive one day at that place of repose and plenty which Moses promised them. But so long as they remained Captives, they ceased not to sigh and weep upon the banks of the Babylonian River; they hung their Harps upon the branches of Trees; and when they were entreated to sing Canticles of Mirth, their answer was; 
Psal. 1 36.  Alas! how can we sing being in a strange Land? Rather let our Tongues be dried up, and all the Strings of our Harps broken; than that we should be induced to sing in a place of tears and lamentation.  
Zion was but the Figure of the Church, and the captivity of Egypt was but the Image of the Tyranny of the Devil. The true Israelites knew well that they could not enjoy an entire liberty until after the coming of the Messiah▪ Therefore it was that they made so many vows and Prayers to see the arrival of that happy days, foretold by all their Prophets. And that Nation had evermore such ardent desires for the coming of their Redeemer, that even in their greatest blindness and when they crucified the true Messiah, they still continued their Prayers, and demanded of God that he would send him to deliver his people. Let not us imitate these blind and self opinioned Jews. Let us acknowledge Christ Jesus for our Deliverer. Let us courageously support the toils of our Pilgrimage. Let us look upon the World as upon a Wilderness, through which we must pass with all sorts of pains and incommodities: and when we shall be ready to enter into our Celestial Country, let's Render Thanks to our Redeemer, for that after having delivered us from the bondage of the Devil, he hath moreover the Goodness to send us Death, to accomplish the breaking of our Fetters.  
Let us then, 
In Psal. 66.  my Brethren, prepare ourselves to meet the coming of our Saviour's Kingdom; for that it will come is most certain. It is, I say, most certain, that he who came once in an estate of contempt and of humiliation, will come another time in an estate of greatness and of Majesty. It is certain, that he who came to be judged by the World, will come one day to judge the World. Let us now adore him in his humiliation, to the end we may not be affrighted one day by that terrible preparation of greatness and of Majesty, wherewith he will come to Judgement. If we love him whilst he hath yet his Arms stretched forth on the Cross, we may deserve to contemplate him in his Glory. He will divide his Kingdom with them who have sincerely desired that his Kingdom should come, and that his Will should be done. Why then desire we not to have it come? Why do we not accomplish his Will? His Will is no other than that of his Father who sent him. Let us avouch Christ Jesus before Men for our Master, if we will not have him to disavow us before his Father for his true Children. But it is not enough for obtaining an entrance into the Heavenly Kingdom, to say to him with our Mouths, 
Mat. 7.21.  Lord, Lord, We must fulfil the Will of his Father, which is also his Will: Now the Will of my Father, says Christ Jesus, is, that all they who see the Son, and who believe in him, should have Eternal Life, 
Job. 6.40.  and I will raise them up at the last day. Let us then believe in him with our whole Heart, and let us look upon him for the present with Eyes of Faith and of Love, to the end we may behold him face to face in a blessed Eternity. 
S. Isidor.    

Article XXVIII. An Instruction of St. Isidore of Damiet to all Christians, to excite them to a perfect desire of Death.  
SOme persons even the most pious persuade themselves oftentimes, 
In Epist. passim.  that they have no longer any tye and adhesion to Life, nor to any thing of this World. But 'tis an Error to fancy that one is entirely untied from it, if he feels not in his Heart a true desire of Death. Let him who believes himself to be in so perfect an estate, enter seriously into himself, and he shall undoubtedly perceive that the Will of Man reigns yet in his Soul, and that he is not totally unclothed of the love of Life. Let him severely examine himself, let him question himself, and ask of his Soul: Do we no longer fear Death? Doth nothing fasten us any longer to Life? If we were to die within one Year, within one Month, within one Day; if we were to die in this Moment; should we be ready to render an account to God of our Actions? And should we have no reluctancy to quit our friends, our relations, our dwelling, our works? For we adhere to all, and this adhesion is sometimes more violent for small matters than for the greatest. Yet, if there remains any thing that chains our Will to the World, the Love which we have for God is not perfect. Our Life upon Earth is a continual Warfare. We bear Arms for the Glory of God. He commands us to march, to fight, to pour forth our blood for him. Why shall we not do for an Eternal Recompense, that which men do for the reputation of a few days? Let us then seriously examine ourselves, and let us see whether our heart is wholly submitted to this holy discipline of the Warfare of Christ Jesus. Let us see, whether according to St. Paul's precept, we have taken for the Armour of our breast and back, Faith and Charity; 
Thes. 5.8.  and for our Helmet, the Hope of Salvation. For if our submission is perfect, our Love will also be perfect, and Death will afford us joy, instead of giving us terror.   

Article XXIX. St. Eucherius Archbishop of Lion, exhorts Christians to observe attentively the different agitations of human Passions, the shortness of Life, and the uncertainty of Death, to the end they may never engage themselves in the tumults of the World, 
S. Eucherius.  and that they may be evermore prepared to die.  
HAve you never contemplated from the Seashore, 
Epist. ad Valerianum.  the combat of the Winds disputing among themselves for the Empire of the Waves! That dreadful bellowing of the Billows, which rush one upon another and push them with such violence against the Rocks, whilst the mountains of Water and of Froth seem to ascend to the skies, and then suddenly to descend to the abysmus? Doth not this sight inspire I know not what horror, which is nevertheless accompanied with some pleasure; and which insensibly engages the beholder to meditate upon those mervails? This is the most lively and the most resembling Image we can find of the Agitations of the World. But to behold them well, we must stand upon the Shore, and consider according to the spirit of God, the joys and the afflictions, the hatred and the friendship, the quarrels and the reconciliations, the fortune and the misfortune of men, the flux and the reflux of their interests, of their designs, and of all their actions; how they do and undo, how they seek and shun the same things; how one generation succeeds another; how the Grandfather makes place for the Father, and the Father for the Son; not any of them thinking seriously during the whole course of their Life of the rapidness of this motion which trails them towards their Death. Certainly, this spectacle is a learned Lesson for them who know how to make their profit of it: and we may say, that it also affords some satisfaction, when one reflects upon himself, and finds that he is exempt from that trouble which overthrows the reason of all the rest of men. Happy Tranquillity, Adorable Peace of the love of Christ Jesus! How sweet is it to them whom you have timely placed in the haven of their Salvation; to behold in safety the fury of the Tempest, without fearing either the winds, or the waves, or the rocks, or the quick sands? But as for us, who have escaped Shipwreck by a sincere penance: we, I say, who know the dangers out of which you, our good God, have delivered us; give us we beseech you a holy horror upon the sight of this terrible spectacle of the Tempests of the World, and an ardent desire to be freed from them for ever by a Christian Death. And surely we must not expect to enjoy a perfect calm, so long as we sojourn upon Earth. Should we live longer, we should not be more happy. The Life of our Fathers is ended, our own slides daily away. Let us make place for them who are to follow us, a little sooner or a little later, the difference is small, for they will not long survive us. Finally, in the same manner as the Surges of the Sea follow, push, and press upon one another by a precipitated motion, and as the Waves which are raised up highest fall down afterward the lowest, to make room for a second, the second for a third, which is driven away by an infinity of other followers, all which in the sequel come to be dissipated upon the shore: even so the Life of one man succeeds that of another man; one is elevated and the other is humbled according to the capriciousness of fortune. But by how much their elevation is higher, by so much the abysmus into which they sink is deeper; and all terminate in Death.   

Article XXX. 
S. Fulgentio.  St. Fulgentius and S. Paulinus prove, That Death is a Recompense for the Just, and a Chastisement for the Impious: That the length of Life is to be computed by the number of Good Works one hath performed, and not by the number of days one hath lived.  
THe bad man trembles at the bare Name of Death. Hath he the least indisposition? 
Fulg. Epist 5. ad Gall.  He believes 'tis a mortal Sickness. 
Paulin. Ep. 37. ad Pam.  If one talks to him of God, he falls into a fury. He complains of the impotency of Remedies. He is pierced with the apprehension of the least danger. His Soul, 
Prov. 12. and 28.  says Solomon, is perpetually perplexed with vain terrors. 
Sap. 3. and 4. etc.  He flies when no one pursues him. But the Just looks upon the danger without being affrighted, and marches on like a Lion, who is secure of his strength and of his courage. Nothing that befalls him, contristates him: and if he were threatened even with Death, he would be so far from being afraid, that he would rejoice at it; because his Heart is in the hands of God, and for that the torment of Death doth not touch him. It seems to the eyes of the unwise, that the Just man dies; his departure out of the World appears to them an affliction. They imagine that the way he takes in separating himself from others, will bring him to nothing; whereas it is but a passage which leads him to peace and to repose. Although he endures a cruel Death before men, yet God replenishes him with a certain hope of Immortality. He suffers a little, to gain much. Our Lord hath tried him by these pains of short durance, and hath found him worthy of his Love. 'Tis Gold which he puts into the melting vessel to refine it. 'Tis a Victim which he sanctifies by the Sacrifice, to make it revive one day in Eternity. The day will come, when the Just shall possess the glory of Heaven, and he shall shine more brightly than the Stars: we shall behold him judging Nations, and bearing sway over the people, for he is the Child of the most High. He shall share with him in his Kingdom, and the Lord of the Just shall reign Eternally. They who have confidence in him will understand this truth, they shall repose in his bosom, and shall enjoy the Peace which he hath prepared for his Elect.  
But as for the Wicked, who have despised and injured the Just, and who have withdrawn themselves from God, they shall be chastised according to their crimes. How unhappy are they, to have abandonned Wisdom, and shaken off the yoke of Justice! For all their hopes will be vain, their labours will be unprofitable, and their works will remain imperfect. If they have Wives they will be dishonest; if they have Children, they will be unnatural; A curse shall fall upon their families, and the posterity of Adulterers shall be exterminated. 'Tis in vain for them to boast of their Riches, of their Power, of their Health. Should they live longer than other men, all the years of their Life shall be counted for nothing at the day of their Death. If they die old, their old age shall be disquieted with the remorse of their Conscience; and the World growing impatient to see them so long upon Earth, will look upon them only with contempt, and perhaps with indignation. If they die Young, they shall be deprived of the advantages they might have had in the World, and of the hope of the heavenly Good. Finally, the Death of the wicked is the ruin of their race; 'tis a desolation without hope, a night without light, an Abysmus of miseries, where nothing dwells but a dismal nothing and an eternal horror.  
These sentences of the sacred Scripture make us see, That only Impious and Infidels need to fear Death. but that Christians who are endued with piety, should be so far from fearing it, that they ought even to desire it. Certainly, a happy Life doth not consist in living a long time, but in living in a perfect submission to the orders of Providence. What doth it serve us to continue upon earth even to a decrepit age? Is not Innocence of Life to be preferred before the duration of Life? and is not purity of manners more worth than old age? The Scripture speaking of the Just man who dies young, hath said; That he was snatched speedily out of the World, 
Sap. 4.11.  lest the Master of error should seduce his spirit, and lest Malice should corrupt his Soul. But because he became perfect in a short time, 
v. 13.  'tis as if he had lived many Years: and God to whom this Soul was agreeable, hastened to withdraw her from the midst of iniquity, wherewith the whole Earth is replenished.   

Article XXXI. As St. Gregory the Pope was himself very infirm and sickly; so he speaks and writes frequently of Death. He is one of the Ecclesiastical Authors who hath filled his Works with the strongest reflections upon this subject. We have drawn out four or five of them, which best relate to our proposed Design.  
I. Reflection of St. Gregory, 
S. Gregory.  That the Continual view of Death is the most assured means to lead a holy and quiet Life.  
HE who seriously considers what he ought to hope for or to fear at the article of Death, 
Moral. in c. 17. Job.  must needs act with great circumspection, and have a continual apprehension of falling into Sin. That last hour which he hath evermore present before his Eyes, renders him truly living to the Eyes of God. He fixes upon nothing that is perishable. He desires nothing of all that which men who live without Reflection, seek with so much earnestness; and the disposition wherein he places himself every hour, as if he were then to die, makes him to look upon himself as already dead. For Life is by so much the more holy and more perfect, by how much it hath relation each moment to Death. Holy Scripture teaches us, 
Eccles. 7.  that the more men study this Lesson, and contemplate themselves in this Looking-Glass which flatters not, the farther they are from falling into the snares of Sin.   

Article XXXII. 2. Reflection of St. Gregory: That naturally all the Desires and all the Actions of man tend to Death: That Grace should do that in us which Nature doth of itself: That according to the thought of Job, Life resembles the day of a hireling, a pilgrimage, a warfare, where no one enroll's himself but to die in fight against the Enemies of our Salvation.  
THe Sick person who lies languishing in pain and in sadness, 
Lib. 2. Mor. c. 3. Lib. 12. c. 3.  expects with impatience the return of the day; but the Sun which brings the Light, brings no remedy to his misery; on the contrary it diminishes one day of his Life. The Hireling finds the hours of his labour overlong, and blames the Night for coming on so slowly. The Covetous man counts with discontent all the moments. which retard his revenues. The Ambitious man who hath conceived great designs, would in order to hasten the success, hasten the years of his Life. The Husbandman makes vows to see his Harvest ripen. Finally, it seems that men demand nothing but to be Old, altho' they apprehend nothing so much as Old-age. In Winter we wish the return of the Spring. Scarcely is the season of Flowers passed over, but we desire that of Fruits. In Autumn we say that Winter hath its pleasures. Thus it is that the Spirit of Man, unquiet and insupportable to itself, carries on its vain desires from one time to another, and not enjoying the present, anticipates always upon the future, and marches by a secret impatience towards his Death. What we do by a hidden motion of Nature, why shall we not do by the Inspiration and by the Succour of Grace? Grace incessantly advertises us, that this Life is short and miserable, and that we ought to aspire to another Life which is everlasting and happy. Sometimes the sacred Scripture teaches us this Verity, by comparing Life to a Pilgrimage, wherein we are to make what speed we are able. Otherwhiles it compares it to a Warfare, whereinto we enrol ourselves to die in fight against the Enemies of Christ Jesus. At other times it represents Death unto us under the Parable of a Hireling, who tills the Vinyard for the price of his days labour. O Christians, when the Evening shall come, let not us imitate those indiscreet Vignerons, who complained that they had born the burden of the day, and endured the heat of the Sun. Let's not presume that we have deserved a larger recompense than they who have laboured less time than we. It belongs to the Master of the Vinyard to distribute his Wages as himself pleases. At what ever hour he calls us to his service, let us labour as long as the day lasts. Our Lord knows well how to pay unto each one what appertains to him. 
Mat. 20.12.  Perhaps the last shall be first, and the first last, because there are many called and but few chosen. Let us expect the hour of payment with Patience and with Humility. That hour, O Christians, is the hour of Death; for this Death which we so much dread, is the period of our pains, and the time of our reward.   

Article XXXIII. 3. Reflection of St. Gregory: That they who have the World, love some reason to fear the end of it; but that they who serve Christ Jesus, ought not to apprehend the destruction of the World: on the contrary, they ought to endure with patience, War, Famine, Pestilence, Detraction, Persecution, and the other Scourges wherewith the hand of God chastises men; because these are the signs of the second coming of our Saviour.  
IF the scourges of God fall upon your Head, lift it up, and look towards Heaven; 
Hom. 1. and 13. in Evan.  because your Redemption is near at hand. Behold the Figtree, and all other Trees, 
Luk. 21.  when their fruit gins to be form, you say that Summer is coming on. So when you shall see all these things arrive, which the common sort of men account miseries, know that the Kingdom of Christ Jesus approaches, and that Christians ought to rejoice thereat as at the greatest of all good things; because they shall never possess the Kingdom of God, until that of the Devil, which is the World, shall be destroyed. It belongs therefore to them only who have the love of the World rooted in their Heart, who look not after eternal Life, who even fancy that there is none: It only belongs, I say, to those wretched Children of the World, to afflict themselves for the end of the World. But as for us, who are the Children of God, who know that our Patrimony is not upon Earth, but that it expects us in the glory of the Eternal Father; we rejoice to see an end of the World's Tyranny, which hath already too long lasted. Heaven and Earth shall pass, 
Luk. 21.33.  but my Words shall not pass, says our lord Those are the works of his Hands; they shall perish, but our Lord will remain; 
Heb. 1.11.  They will wax old as a Garment; They will change their form as a Cloak: But he who created them will be evermore the same, 
Ps. 101. v. 26.27. etc.  and his years will have no end. The Just shall dwell with him, and their Posterity shall be eternally happy.   

Article XXXIV. 4. Reflection of St. Gregory: That there are few Just who can truly say with St. Paul: God forbidden that I should glory of any other thing than of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; because the World is dead and crucified for me, as I am dead and crucified for the World: That altho' the major part of good people employ all their Life to die to the World, 
Gal. 6.14.  yet it frequently falls out that the World dies not to them; but on the contrary that it strives to corrupt them by its flatteries and by its illusions. From whence this holy Doctor takes an occasion to exhort Christians to be willing to go forth of this place which is so dangerous, and to desire Death as the sole Remedy of all their Evils.  
THere is no Just Man who doth not acknowledge himself miserable during this Life, 
Morol. l. ●. c. 2.3. etc.  and who considers it not as a painful and perilous Pilgrimage. He knows that the Dignities and the Riches of the World are things perishable. But what ever experience he daily makes of them, they cease not to leave in his spirit the same impression which the sight of a delicious Country leaves in the Spirit of a Traveller. He doth not absolutely prefer it before his native Land; but he is less impatient to get home to it. What should press us to leave Life, will some one say, if we make good use of it? Our Lord hath given us Goods, let us employ them for his Glory▪ He forbids not the enjoyment o● Honours, when one referr● them all to him. What har● is there in hearing our Praises published, so long as w● cease not to praise God 〈◊〉 Thus doth the World endeavour to seduce the Jus● man by subtle stratagems which it disguises under th● appearances of Virtue. Bu● a true Christian grounde● in the love of Christ Jesu● speaks another Language. 〈◊〉 you Honours of the World says he, you Riches, Health, Commodities of Life, I am not to look upon you but as the obstacles of my Salvation. In this sad voyage which I make upon Earth, my Soul sends forth continual sighs for the length of her exile, nor can she suffer with patience that which separates her from her dear Country. What a remissness, what an imprudence is it, to stay upon the Earth for the exercising of an Office and Dignity which torments us, to distribute our Goods which are capable to corrupt us, to acquire a Praise which may make us proud, and perhaps for some other end which is yet more vain and frivolous? Ah, my Soul▪ do not thou adhere to any worldly thing; thou wilt not there meet with any thing which is not unworthy of thy affection. Remember the nobility of thy origin, thou comest from Heaven; the Earth is not for thee: God did not create thee to animate eternally a lump of Flesh. Death will ere long destroy this Body, in which thou takest so much complacency: but its loss ought not to afflict thee, God will one day repair it. 'Tis Sin which thou oughtest to dread, there is thy Death, and a terrible and irreparable Death. Thou wilt be exposed to the danger of this Death so long as thou sojournest upon Earth. Go forth of it then, my Soul, go forth of thy Prison; separate thyself from thy Body: for I burn with a desire to die, that I may go to live eternally with my Lord Jesus.  
Behold what are the sentiments of perfect Christians. They have learned in the School of so good a Master, that even they who most desire to die, notwithstanding that they are already dead to the World, yet the World ceases not to live to them, and to lie every where in wait to entrap them, sometimes by applauding their Virtues, and other times by extolling their Actions. It besieges them, it pursues them, it enchains them by secret confidences, by continual visits, by an ardent seeking of their friendship. All these things seem only to tie an innocent knot, and which may have a very good end. Nevertheless the danger is great, and it is a temerarious confidence to expose one's self thereto without an extreme necessity. The World loses nothing in this traffic; on the contrary, it serves it very frequently for an honest Veil to hid its Vices: but the Just man runs a great hazard thereby, and sits down always with the loss. The Devil, who is but too ingenious to deceive us, employs a thousand subtle crafts, disguises himself into all manner of shapes, and even into that of Virtue, in order to seduce us. At first he distils light distractions, little solicitudes, vain desires, unprofitable curiosities, which diminish by little and little the fervour of our devotions, and which estrange from our memory the thoughts of Death. Then the same Spirit which cools the Love of God, enkindles insensibly in our Soul those former affections which repentance and Charity had there as it were stifled and buried. Alas? how few Just persons are found who entirely imitate S. Paul in this double Death of the Christian to the World, and of the World to the Christian! Where are they whose Conscience renders to them the same testimony as it did to this great Apostle, and who have put themselves into a perfect liberty, by breaking not oniy all the Chains which kept them fast tied to the World, but moreover those which tied the World to them. For 'tis not enough to have despised and abandoned the World; we must so order it, that the World may despise and abandon us. This is that which the Apostle intends to teach us, when he says: The World is dead and crucified for me, as I am dead and crucified for the World. The World was crucified to him, because it was dead in his heart, and was no more any thing to him but the object of his contempt and of his hatred: but besides this, he was also crucified to the World, because having made appear an insensibility for the concerns of the Earth, the world ceased to seek after him, and did no longer so much as think of him.  
If we take not heed, we shall find that even in the most retired professions, in the greatest disgust of the vanities, of the infidelities, and of the corruptions of the world, when we fancy that we are for ever freed from them; yet there still remain some roots thereof in our Heart. We hold no more of the world, but it holds us yet by imperceptible bonds. We make a show of shuning it, and yet we are not sorry that it should seek after us, and that it should come sometimes to trouble our solitude, which would otherwise appear to us dismal and insupportable. Finally, with a mean Virtue one may forget the world, but one must have an extraordinary Virtue to wish to be forgotten by the world. This is that which holy Souls aim at, which are perfectly unfettered from the world, They not only suffer themselves not to be drawn by the World, but moreover they draw not the World to themselves. And 'tis to them that may be applied the saying of S. Paul: Man and the World are reciprocally Crucified, one in regard of the other; because they not seeking one another, nor mutually loving each other, are as two dead things which can no longer have any communication.  
But alas! how few there are who can come to he happiness of this double Death? The greatest Saints, all crucified as they are to the World, cannot without the succour of an extraordinary Grace, crucify the World entirely in themselves. Therefore it is that they incessantly mortify themselves, and they cry out with David: Lord, 
Psal. 90.  save my Soul from the Ambushes of her Enemies; defend her against the cunning of deceitful Tongues: deliver me from the snares of the Hunters, and from the corruption of the World. For altho' the Just man flies the World, and is perfectly disengaged from it, he evermore apprehends that he hath something in himself which engages the world to follow him. But if God covers him with his Wings, (to make use of the Royal Prophet's words), what ever endeavours the world makes to seek him out, it will not find him; or if it finds him, 'twill find him Dead as to all earthly concerns, doing nothing to please it, nor to allure it, being deaf to its praises, insensible to its blandishments, indifferent to its interests, without curiosity, without pretention, without disquiet, doing good for goodness sake, and little caring to have confederates or admirers of his Virtue. On the contrary, if in labouring for God's glory, he increases his own glory, he will so far humble himself in his own interior and before others; that the aversion which he will testify against all flatteries, will foil his Flatterers. Finally, the World, which will not entertain any traffic with the Just but upon some motive of interest or of pleasure, will cease to seek after him; and finding there no more nourishment to live upon, will die and crucify itself in him. For 'tis most certain that the World is in that, like unto the Sea, which swallows up and detains within its bosom the living Bodies, but rejects the dead carcases and leaves them upon the sands. So, the World lays hold upon that only which is yet living and sensible for it, and abandons that which is devoid of feeling and of Life for all such things as any way concern it.   

Article XXXV. A pithy Description made by the Great St. Gregory, of the Necessities and of the Miseries of the Body and of the Soul. From whence this holy Man concludes, That men should desire to die, in order to enjoy a better Life, in which they shall be no longer exposed either to Sorrow or to Sin.  
ONe cannot express all the Miseries to which Man is exposed by Sin. 
Lib. Moral. in c. 7. Job.  His Body is subject to a thousand sorts of infirmities; it is exposed to the injuries of the Air and of all the Elements, to Dangers, to Diseases, to the ignorance of Physicians, which is some▪ times more to be dreaded than the Diseases themselves. The natural Heat which sustains his Life, devours its proper substance as soon as it wants nourishment. If he reposes, sloth renders him unwieldy; if he is employed, labour drains him; if he eats, the meat overcharges him; thirst dries him up, the excess of drink makes him brutish; sleep oppresses him, watching wearies him; cold pinches him, heat stifles him; and that which eases him of one incommodity, casts him presently into another. Finally, on which ever side he turns himself, he is tormented by the Evil, or by the Remedy.  
The Soul hath no less weaknesses and miseries than the Body. You see her one day deceived by Hope, and on the morrow troubled with Fear; Anger transports her; Sadness dejects her, Joy dissipates her, Envy gnaws her, and nothing contents her. One Passion follows another; and sometimes for one that is destroyed, there spring up a thousand. The sacred Scripture compares this agitation to the dreadful Tempests which are raised upon the Waters: 
Isa. 57 20.  Who can then, says the Prophet, number all the Waves of the Sea! Nevertheless 'tis yet a harder task to count the desires of Man, who goes astray in the error of his Heart, 
Jacob. v. 6.  He will, and he will not at the same time the same things. He seeks with impatience what he hath not, and he is presently disgusted with what he possesses, Vice is followed with remorse; Virtue is accompanied with pains; he knows not to which of the two he should apply himself. His first motion inclines him to Good, and yet he doth the Evil by reflection, at the same time when he condemns it. The Apostle St. Paul says: 
Rom. 7.18.  I find in myself a Will to do Good, but I find not the means to accomplish it. For I do not the Good to which I have a will, and I do the Evil which I would not. There is nothing good in Man. He is submitted both together to the Law of God according to the Spirit, and to the Law of Sin according to the Flesh. God and the World draw him by turns. He is a Compound of all that which is most motley in Nature, always and in every thing unlike to himself, His manners, his opinions, his desires, all his actions, all his thoughts, are in a continual instability. Finally, one may sooner stop the course of the Winds, and the rapidity of a Torrent, than fix his inconstancy by the sole force of Reason. Thus, the more our Soul examines herself, the less she knows herself. Who am I, for example, I who make so many reflections upon others? What is the Beginner that stirs all the parts of my Body? By what means do they come to know the orders of my Will? How can they execute them with so much readiness? But this will, what makes it spring up in me? Whence proceeds this intelligence which guides it, these lights which clear it, these darknesses which sometimes encompass it? It walks upon the wings of the winds, upon the points of the Waves; it penetrates the highest Heavens; it descends into the centre of the Earth; it carries its curiosity into every corner; and yet the most common and the most sensible objects hid themselves from its knowledge: in a word, it knows not what itself is. Man thinks, and he knows not what it is to think; he reasons, and he cannot say what reason is. The Soul is united to the Body, and she conceives not how she is united to it; she enters not there, and she goes not from thence when she pleases; the matter which she animates, serves her for a Prison; and by an inclination opposite to her nature, she loves this Prison which keeps her captive. The Senses which should be in all things subject unto her, revolt incessantly against her, deceive her, and corrupt her. 'Tis an assembly of qualities which are mortal and immortal, which are corruptible and incorruptible. Water is not so contrary to Fire, as these Qualities are contrary among themselves; yet all agree together in one and the same subject, notwithstanding that 'tis impossible to say either what makes their mutual intelligence, or what breaks it. One cannot number all the kinds of Diseases which may separate the Soul from the Body; and yet the Soul acts as if nothing were able to separate her from it. She heaps up designs upon designs, hopes upon hopes, and there needs no more than a blast to overturn all. O Man, thou confused Pile of uncertainties and of miseries, 
Eccles. 7▪ and 8.  learn not to pry into that which is above thee, since thou knowest not thy own self, since thou art ignorant of that which is proper to thyself during thy Life, and in this little number of days designed for thy Pilgrimage upon Earth, which pass as the shadow of a smoke: 'Tis the Wisest among men who hath said: No one knows how he is to finish his course. And even as the Fishes are caught by the hook of the Fisher, and Birds are taken in the Nets of the Fowler; so Men fall into the ambushes of Death when they least dream of it. What is Man, O my God, that he should by you be so highly honoured? Why do you east your eyes and employ your thoughts upon a Vessel so feeble and so full of iniquity? 
Job. 7.19.  You visit him in the Morning, and presently you exercise him by strong Trials. He hath scarcely begun to see the day light, before he falls into Darkness. 
Psal. 15.  His Body is but a heap of dust, and his Life fleets away as the Grass: it blooms in Morning like the Flowers of the Field; and in the Evening the smallest blast of wind withers it: it dwindles away, and there remains no tract of the place where it but now flourished. It seems as if after you had form man, you had abandoned him to his own conduct. 
Eceli. 15.  You have set before his eyes the Water and the Fire, Life and Death, Good and Evil, to the end you might leave him the liberty of choice which is almost always unlucky to him. There are none who have understanding 
Psal. 13.  and light. There are none who seek God. They are gone astray from the right path. They are all corrupted. There is not any one who (of himself) doth good, no, there is not one. Lord, why do you leave them to be a prey to their Passions, and to the hardness and malignity of their own Heart? Know you not that our fall is inevitable, as soon as you withdraw your hand from holding us up? Do not then estrange yourself from us, O Lord, you who are our only prop and our strength. Draw us out of the mire of the World, that we may not sink down and be drowned in it. Deliver us from those worldlings, who have made choice of this present Life for their portion. 
S. Gregory.  Overwhelm them with an abundance of your riches and of your treasures, wherewith they may satiate their cupidity. But as for us, who have placed our treasure in Heaven, our Heart is where our Treasure is. Grant then, O my God, that we may perfectly renounce all the goods of the Earth, and that we may surmount all the miseries of our Nature. 
2 Cor. 4.  Grant that we may carry evermore in our Body the death of our Lord Jesus, to the end that the Life of Jesus may appear also in our Body. For we who live for him, are every hour delivered up to Death for him, that we may live eternally in his Glory. 
S. Climacus.    

Article XXXVI. St. John Climacus distinguishes the desires of Death which the Devil suggests unto us, from those which Grace inspires: and of this Doctrine he composes one degree of his holy Ladder; 
Degree. 6. n. 4.  where he shows, That the Meditation of Death is the most profitable of all Spiritual practices.  
AS all apprehensions of Death are not criminal; 
Degree. 8. n. 3. & 4. Ibid. 8.  so all the desires of Death are not always lawful. According to Nature, Man dreads to die, and Christ Jesus himself was apprehensive of it; to make it clearly appear to men, that he had taken upon him all the weaknesses of humanity, and that there were two Natures united in his Person. If God had not given to the Soul this natural adhesion for her Body, she would not remain there shut up one instant. This adhesion is therefore an order of Providence, and not a disorder of Sin. But to know whether the Desires or Fears of Death are criminal or commendable, we must examine the reasons which move us to dread it or to desire it. There are some who by a motive of Despair desire to die, when they find themselves oppressed with sickness or with affliction: and these are very faulty, in not receiving these chastisements from the hand of God with patience and humility. Others, after they have embraced a Penitent Life, are discouraged, and grow weary of suffering for the expiation of their Sins: and these surely are very unhappy, for they lose the fruit of all the good works which they have formerly performed. They have kept their Lamps along time lighted, and they let them go out at the hour perhaps in which the Bridegroom is ready to come. Others there are, who being puffed up with a vain presumption, imagine that they are arrived at the soverein peace of Soul, and have gotten a commeat victory over all their Passions, because they have no longer any fear of Death. They perceive not that this Pride is a thousand times worse than the fear of Death, and that the malice of our invisible Enemies is so great, 
7. Degree n. 68  that they convert the seeds of Virtues into Vices. Some others more conformable to the Spirit of Christianism, seeing that the violence of their evil Customs makes them to relapse incessantly into Sin, desire Death with thoughts of repentance and of humility. These sentiments are laudable, 
22. Degree n. 25.  and yet they are but the beginning of Christian perfection. One arrives at this perfection, when being dead to all the affections of the World, to the World itself, 
6. Degree. n. 20.  and to Sin, one desires to die upon no other motive than only to be entirely united to Christ Jesus.  
'Tis by this mark that one may know the difference between the natural apprehensions of Death, 
6. Degree. n. 6.  and the fear which proceeds not from the feeling of Nature; between the Impatience which comes from Despair, and the desire which the hope of a better Life produces. For he who hath not renounced all created things and his own will, 
6. Degree. n. 20. and▪ 11.  betrays himself; and is like to a Soldier who should present himself with his hands tied in the day of Battle.  
They who during their Life-time have their Heart and Spirit linked to Heaven, 
26. Degree. n. 106.  mount up to Heaven after their Death. But they who have had their Soul linked to the Earth, descend under the Earth. 
26. Degree. n. 377.  The goods and the honours of the World are as so many rotten steps of a Ladder, upon which the humble man cannot set his foot without putting himself in danger to lose his Humility.  
He who voluntarily resigns himself to Death, and who expects it without fear, 
6. Degree. n. 12.  hath some Virtue: But he who at every hour desires it, may pass for a Saint. We cannot live holily one sole day, if we do not desire that it may be the last day of our Life, rather than to offend God in it. The continual thought of Death extinguishes at last all Vices. And as a perfect Charity renders a man exempt from falling into Sin; so a perfect Meditation of Death renders him uncapable to fear any thing but the Judgements of God. 
Ib. n. 14.  And surely there is reason to admire, that the Pagan's themselves have said something not unlike unto this; when they declared, That Philosophy or the love of Wisdom is nothing else but a continual study of Death.   

Article XXXVII. St. Bernard teaches us, That Hope is the portion of true Christians, and that this Virtue enables them to suffer patiently all the evils of this Life, and to Love and Desire Death.  
THe Children of darkness sleep in the night season: 
Ser. 6. in Ps. 90. & alibi.  but as for us, my Brethren, who are Children of light, let us watch in expectation of the days coming in which we are to sleep the sleep of Death. 
S. Bernard.  Let us arm ourselves with a holy Hope to fight against this drowsiness of the World. Let Sensualists shut their eyes against the beams of this Hope, and let them repose in the wantonness of a voluptuous Life. Let them say, we are in peace and in security; who can discover us? what can trouble the enjoyment of our pleasures? The day will come, when they shall be overwhelmed with an unforeseen ruin, as a Woman is surprised by the pangs of Childing. How terrible are your judgements, how incomprehensible are your words, 
●ap. 17.  O Lord? Whilst the Wicked insult over the holy Nation of your Elect, and flatter themselves that they shall always domineer; a stroke of your hand lays these fugitive slaves in the dust, who fancied they could steal themselves from your eternal Justice. They who were seen to triumph over your Patience, are all enwrapped in the shadows of a long and dismal night, as many criminals are fast linked together with one and the same Chain. As for us, O my God who have no share in their Sleep, nor in their Blindness, we lift up our Eyes incessantly towards Heaven from whence we expect our help. You O Lord, 
Psal. 15.  are our good, and all our portion. This part which is fallen to our Lot is rich and delicious. Our hereditary share is of an incomparable excellency. 
S. Ber.  'Tis for this that our Heart rejoiceth, and that we sing with alacrity, because you will not leave the Soul of the Just in Hell, nor will you suffer him whom you have made holy, to see corruption.  
Thus, O Lord, the inheritance of the Children of Jacob is more worth than the riches of the Children of Esau: for when they should possess the whole Earth, when the Goods which the World promises them should be great; the possession thereof is not peaceable, the duration is but short, the end is uncertain, and the loss of them is followed with an infinite number of miseries. Let him who rests assured upon the darkness and upon the uncertainty of this Life, learn that Death hath no respect for Treasures, for the greatness, nor for the glory of men. It neither pardons the lustre of birth, 
De morum conversione.  nor of manners, nor of age; except only that it is at the door of old men, and that it lies in wait for young ones. To ground one's hope upon all these things, is to imitate that senseless person of whom the Gospel says: He built his house upon the Sands, 
Mat. 7.29.  the Rain fell, the Rivers overflowed, the Winds blew, and setting upon this house, it was soon overturned,, and great was its ruin, because it was hurried away before its time, and when the owner thought least of it. The Torrent hath devoured all even to the foundations. 
Job. 21.  What a folly is it to consume in a perishable work the time which one ought to employ in acquiring an eternal happiness? Do we not consider that this Life is but a Vapour which vanishes? O thou Ambitious person, hast thou obtained at last the Dignity for which so many years thou underhand laboured'st? The weight of it will quickly oppress thee. O thou Covetous man, hast thou stuffed thy Coffers with money? Take care of losing it, and beware of Theives: the Harvest hath been plentiful, pull down thy Barns to build greater, change and re-change thy Edifices, toil, heap up, pole and pillage on all sides, and then sit down and say: 
L●● 〈…〉 19  O my Soul, how happy are we now? We have Goods in store for the whole remainder of our Life. Ah! how long will this Life yet last? Perhaps not one Year, perhaps but one Day, perhaps but a Moment; and perhaps in that fatal Moment in which thou makest in thy Soul these vain projects of a long possession of all these Goods, God will re-demand this Soul; and then; who shall enjoy the fruit of thy labours?  
It is not so with them who place all their hope in God, who unclothe themselves of all affection to worldly goods, who are evermore ready to quit the Earth and always inflamed with the desire of the Heavenly goods; because they have heaped such goods together as the Worms cannot devour, nor the Theives purloin from them. The blind Lovers of the World believe that we in this estate lead a life here below full of bitterness: but 'tis because the blindness of their Spirit renders them uncapable to conceive the sweetnesses wherewith the Love of Christ Jesus incessantly fills the Soul of the Just, even whilst she is yet a captive within the Prison of her Flesh. Surely, we must not imagine that this Paradise of inward delights whereof God gives sometimes a taste even in this world to his Elect, is a place which is sensible and material. 'Tis not the feet, 'tis the motion of the Heart, which conducts to this enclosed Garden, to this sealed Fountain, which causes to issue forth of the only source of Wisdom, the living water of the four Virtues. In this delicious place, Hope makes us feel the excellent Odours of this tree of Life, of this Pomegranet-tree of the Canticles, more precious than all the trees of the Forests, under the shadow whereof the Bridegroom delights to refresh himself. There it is that one tastes by advance with a holy greediness, the incomparable pleasures of the Divine Love. Nevertheless, these pleasures which the eye of the sensual man cannot behold, and which the spirit of the World cannot comprehend, are not counted among the rewards of the eternal Life, 'tis but a pay of the temporal Warfare. Taste, says David, and acknowledge the delights of our Lord. 
Ps. 33, 8.  'Tis a Manna which satiates, without giving any disgust.  
But, O Christians, let not us imitate our Fathers, who fed upon the Manna and are dead: let us make provision only to continue our Journey, and to get strength to overcome the difficulties of the way. An incorruptible Food expects us in Heaven: 'tis that Celestial nourishment after which we must have an insatiable hunger. Let us demand of God that he will introduce us to this delicious banquet of the Lamb without blemish, where we shall sit at his Table in the company of Saints and of Angels in a happy Eternity.   

Article XXXVIII. S. Bernard proves, That to the end we may not fear Death, but may endure at with patience, and even receive it with Joy; we must prepare ourselves daily for it by sincere Repentance: That by this means Grace overcomes Nature: That what appears so terrible to a sinful man, becomes pleasing to a just man, but particularly to them who have embraced the Religious and solitary Life.  
'tIs a constant truth, the more one mortifies himself, 
De div. Ser. 18. in Cant. Ser. 26▪  the more one hopes for Mercy, and by consequence one less needs to apprehend Death. A Christian who mortifies his Body, 
In Vigil. Nativ. Ser. 2 & Tract. de Vita Solit●ria.  who entirely disengages himself from the Earth, and who exercises himself in all sorts of Virtues during his Life, feels his Courage and even his Joy redoubled, when he is to die. He looks on Death as a Sanctuary and a secure Harbour. He leaps over this passage which is so short, as a Bridge to thwart the impetuous torrent of this Lives bitterness. Finally he desires Death as the term of his banishment, as the day in which he is to shake off his fetters, and to free himself for ever from the miseries which oppressed him.  
Now if God gives this Grace to persons remaining in the World, he gives it yet more abundantly, to good Religious, and such as are truly Solitary; because they have embraced a profession, into which they enter by a Spiritual Death, by separating themselves from all things which afford any adhesion to the Life of the Body. In effect, what is it that a true Solitary person can fear in Death? or rather, what will he not there find to desire? He learns in his little Cell to unclothe himself of all that is in the World. He makes it in his retreat his continual study to contemplate the felicity of Paradise. A Cell and Heaven have a near relation to one another: what is done in Heaven, is done also in a Cell: one is there employed upon God; there one enjoys God and the society of Angels; there one leads a Life altogether Celestial. The Cell is a holy place, 'tis a sacred Mountain, where the Sovereign Master of the World, unclothing himself, if we may say it, of all his Majesty, frequently entertains himself with his Servant, without witness, without reserve, as one friend with another.  
And even as the Temple is the Sanctuary of God, so the Cell is the Sanctuary of a true Religious man. Whether his, Soul raises up herself to the enjoyment of the blessed. Eternity, either by fervent Prayer, or by a holy. Death, she finds a short and easy way from the Cell to Heaven. The weight of earthly of affections hinders not her flight thither. The Love of God wherewith she is inflamed lifts her above the Earth by a secret force like that of the Adamant. They who are in so sublime an estate, have not only acquired Sanctity, but moreover the perfection of Sanctity, and the very height of perfection itself. But let them give thanks to the Author of these Favours with a profound Humility. For as Pride caused the most perfect Angels to fall from the height of Heaven, so the same Pride hath caused many Solitary persons to perish. If God inspires us with a contempt of this Life, and an ardent desire of Death; let us attribute to his sole Bounty such Sentiments which are so contrary to our Nature, and let us humbly expect that he will hear our Prayers.   

Article XXXIX. Reflections of St. Bernard, concerning the contempt which perfect Christians ought to have of Health and of Life. From whence he takes occasion to speak of the Patience they are to practise in their Infirmities, and of the Joy which the continual thought of Death affords them, if they are true Disciples of Christ Jesus.  
Hypocrates pretends to teach us the method of preserving and prolonging our Life: 
Scr. 30. in Cant.  Epicurus seeks the means to make us pass it over pleasantly: But Christ Jesus instructs us to despise it and to lose it, or to render it more short and more painful.  
Which side will you take? To which of these Masters will you become Disciples? In my Judgement the choice contains no difficulty; I am not in pain to determine myself, either concerning the Sentiments which I ought to follow, or concerning the Doctrine which I am to propose unto you. I am no Disciple either of Hypocrates or of Epicurus; I am the Disciple of Christ Jesus, and I speak to the Disciples of Christ Jesus. I should be a Prevaricator, if I should teach you other Maxims than his. Hypocrates undertakes to preserve the health of the Body; Epicurus would banish from it all sorrow, and cause Pleasure to reign in the Soul: On the eontrary, Christ Jesus my Master ordains us to endure Sicknesses, to love Sorrows, and to shun Pleasures. Thus, the Physician aims only to entertain for a long time the union of the Soul and of the Body; the Philosopher thinks on nothing but how to render this Union delightful; and both of them finally confine their spirit to this mortal and perishable Life, which they cannot with all their Science either prolong one day, or exempt one hour from miseries. But Christ Jesus, who levels his Doctrine only at an immortal Life, and who knows that the Labours and Pains of the transitory Life are absolutely necessary to deserve the repose and the pleasures of Eternity, speaks of nothing but of hating ourselves and of loving sufferings and Death. Doth he not tell us in the sacred Scripture: He who hath a desire to save himself, 
John 12.26.  let him lose himself; and he who shall lose himself for the love of me and of the Gospel, shall save himself? And what is it to lose one's self, if it is not to abandon one's self to the misfortunes and to the pains of Life, as a Martyr; or to afflict one's self by voluntary Mortifications, as a Penitent? For 'tis a kind of Martyrdom to suffer constantly Sicknesses, or the injuries of Fortune, and to Mortify the Flesh by a severe Penance, and by a continual meditation of Death.  
We have hereupon the example of the Holy Fathers, 
I pist. 384.  and of our blessed Predecessors. Why think you did they make choice of shady, low, and moist Valleys for the building of their Monasteries? It was surely to the end that the bad Air causing frequent Infirmities to befall the Religious there residing, those sicknesses might exercise their Patience, and render Death to them more familiar and more desirable. In a word, my Brethren, the Science of the saints consists in suffering for some time Pains and Afflictions, 
Serm. 21. de dversis  in order to acquire a happiness full of Joy and of Rest in Eternity.   

Article XXXX. Although the Book of the Imitation of Christ is in every one's hands, yet it will not be unprofitable to extract out of it some pithy passages, concerning the contempt of Life. There is, if we may say it, a Moisture and an Unction of Sanctity in all the Words of that Author, 
Imitation of Ch.  which penetrate even to the bottom of the heart, and which give an admirable Idea of the Death of the Saints. There is surely Just cause of admiration, that so many persons of Piety, who continually read this Work and approve of it, should still nevertheless passionately love Life, and tremble with fear when one speaks to them of Death.  
FAir day of Eternity, which art not darkened by the return of Night; Calm and clear day, in which sparkle all the lights of sovereign truth! 
Lib. 3. c. 48. and cl 20.  Celestial City, Happy habitation of the Saints, Residence full of joy, Place of rest and of delights, 
Lib. 1. c. 23.  the possession whereof is not troubled by any of those changes which overthrow the felicities of the Earth: 
Lib. 3. c. 49. etc.  When will this happy day shine for us? When, O Lord, shall we see this dear Country? And why do we not unclothe ourselves even at this hour of every thing that hinders us from arriving there? Alas! the brightness of that day shines not yet to us but only afar off. We make our interview of it only through the thick darkness of our ignorance: Whilst the Citizens of that holy Jerusalem. abandon themselves to the transports of their joy, and incessantly chant forth Canticles to the glory of the Most high, to the glory of his thrice holy Name; the Children of Eve, unfortunate Heirs of her Chastisement, creep upon the Earth, and sigh at the length of their banishment.  
Is that called a Living which we live here below? All our days are full of darkness, of bitterness, and of sorrow. Our Soul is there upon the rack through a continual fear of Sin. Our Heart is there disquieted by a thousand solicitudes, dissipated by curiosity; transported by ambition, blinded by error, beaten down by labour, besieged by temptations, effeminated by delights, languishing in poverty, in Sicknesses, and in all sorts of Calamities. O Man! acknowledge that if it is grievous unto thee to die, it ought to be yet more grievous unto thee to live.  
O the Strange stupidity of the human Heart amidst so many miseries! Man is to day, and to morrow he appears no more. Nevertheless he scarcely ever thinks of the uncertainty of his condition. Senseless that he is, he makes projects for many years, as if he were assured to live a long time, he who hath not one sole day certain. How many men have we seen whom Death hath surprised in the height of their great enterprises? How often have you heard say, of them who were seen yesterday so flourishing: One of them was murdered, the other was drowned, another died in playing; and he who seemed to have most health, expired sitting at table? One should never have done, if one should run over all the manners of Death, wherewith daily and dismal examples strike our eyes; and yet what profit do we make thereof? He surely is wise and happy, who passes on his Life, without adhering to it; who sees all its moments slide away, as if each of them were to be the last; and who prepares himself at the beginning of each day with the same care which he would take upon the day of his Death! One acquires this happy foresight by the contempt of the World, by the desire of advancing in Virtue, by a sincere repentance, by a blind obedience to the orders of Providence, by an unclothing and despising of one's self, accompanied with a firm resolution to suffer all for Christ Jesus. Let us say to him with St. Paul; Lord, 
2 Tim. 4.  I am as a Victim which hath already the aspersion to be sacrificed: the time of my departure draws near, I have finished my course, and no more now remains for me, but to expect the crown of Justice which is reserved for them who have fought valiantly. Behold the state in which a true Christian should be settled; 
Ibid.  for he who hath not fought according to the Law, shall not be crowned. Wherefore, make your profit of the strength which God hath given you: and whilst you you are in health, lay up a treasure of good works for the other Life. Perhaps you will not be any longer in the state of performing them, when you shall fall into sickness and infirmity. You are not surely so great a fool as to fancy you shall always enjoy health. Alas! how the sentiments of man change in the bed of Death: All that he esteemed great in the World, appear then to him little and despicable: the sin which seemed to him small and inconsiderable becomes great and monstrous. But the change of his reason serves him no more but to plunge him in Despair.  
Learn this sacred doctrine from the mouth of Christ Jesus: 
Lib. 3. c. 49.  He who loves his Soul shall lose it? 
Joh. 12.15.  Do not imitate those self-lovers of whom the Apostle St. Paul speaks with execration. 
Tim. 3.  For nothing is worthy of your love but God alone; no, not even your own Soul, 
2 Pet. 3. Jud. 10.8.  which is the most perfect image of the Divinity: 
Mat. 16.26.  If you love it, you shall lose it; and if you lose your Soul, 
Mark. 8.  what will it avail you to have gained the whole World? For having once lost your Soul, by what exchange can you recover it? But we shall never comprehend this truth, unless the love of Jesus serves us for our Master. O love of my God, when wilt thou clear my spirit? When wilt thou set my Heart on fire? When shall I enjoy thy delights? When shall I contemplate the glory of thy Kingdom? Comfort me in my Banishment. Sweeten my Affliction. I sigh after nothing but to be with you, my beloved Lord, for all the comfort the World offers me, doth but augment my impatience and my sorrow. When I have a will to raise up myself towards Heaven, my Passions draw me towards the Earth. Tottering between two so opposite motions, I am a burden to myself, and I desire ardently to die, that so there may be an end of all these combats which put me in perpetual danger to be overcome by the Enemy of my Salvation. If I had still any affection for the World, I would entreat you to leave me in it: but since I have settled all my affections upon you, what is there that should stay me upon Earth?  
If God doth you the favour to afford you these feelings, do not attribute them to yourself: 
Rom. 12.  I exhort you not to elevate yourselves beyond that which you ought, in the sentiments you have of yourselves; but to contain yourselves within the limits of moderation, according to the measure of the gift of Faith which God hath imparted to each one of you. 
Jer. 13.  'Tis to me alone to whom glory appertains, says our lord Do not glorify yourselves, because I have spoken unto you. Give to me the glory of all, before darkness surprises you. By this means you will profit more and more in Virtue, and I will give you a taste of all the sweetnesses of a holy Death.   

Article XXXXI. The admirable Praises which St. Laurence Justinian gives to Death: from whence he concludes, that 'tis no wonder if the most perfect among Christians are they who most desire it.  
WE need not marvel that the Faithful who are penetrated with the Love of Christ Jesus, 
De incendijs Divini amoris.  desire to die; 
S. Laurence.  since he hath rendered Death desirable by dying for us. In effect, 'tis no longer a punishment, 'tis a favour, and a favour by so much the greater, by how much the sooner obtained. For that which was a chastisement of Sin, is now a temporal recompense of good Works. We ought therefore to look now upon it as the object of our sweetest hopes, and not as the subject of our Fears. O Death! thou art no longer bitter, thou art no longer cruel to the Disciples of Christ Jesus, as thou wert formerly to the Children of Adam. Let us bless our Lord, for having made the most terrible of all Evils, to be so wholesome and so universal a remedy, which frees us from all sorts of infirmities and miseries; which exempts us from the misfortunes of poverty, from the outrages of our enemies, from the attacks of envy, from the disquiets of avarice and of ambition; in a word, from the tyranny of all our passions: &c, (which is yet more desirable) which exempts us from Sin. Death having thus changed its nature, Christians have no longer any aversion against it; but on the contrary, they desire it as much as other men dread it: and they invite to their assistance that which the World avoids as the cause of its destruction.  
Now altho' all true Christians have these thoughts, we must nevertheless acknowledge that the Saints are infinitely more pierced therewith. As they have more love for Christ Jesus, they have also a greater desire for Death. The ardour of this Love gives them such an absolute contempt of Life, and such an impatience to get out of it, that there is not a moment in which they wish not the separation of their Soul from their Body. Nothing more nearly touches than these Words of David, when having his Heart transfixed with the darts of Divine Love, and as it were transported out of himself by a happy and holy fury; he exclams: 
Psal. 83. ●.  My Soul languishes and is consumed with a desire to enter into the house of our Lord. My Heart burns with an ardent thirst to enjoy God, the living God; and my Body is dried up in this desire. Happy they who placing in you all their confidence, have no other thought but to advance themselves towards you, O Lord: for one sole day in your House, is more worth than a Thousand any where else. I had rather be the last, and upon the step of the door in the House of my God, than dwell in the tents of the Wicked. In effect, it seems that a Soul inflamed with the desire of seeing her God, unties herself from her Body by continual Ecstasies; and, to make use of David's expression, Melts away in these transports, 
Psal. 21.  as Wax melts with the heat of the Sun.  
They who are arrived at so high a degree of perfection which renders them equal to Angels, forget oftentimes to take such nourishment as is necessary for their Body; because they are devoured by a Hunger much more pressing than that which is satisfied by food. The Spiritual aliment which fills them, takes from them all gust of corporal sustenance; and the flames of Charity do so stifle in them the flames of concupiscence, that they become insensible, both as to the necessities of the Body, and as to the pleasures of the Earth. O Lord, said a great Saint, Why do we preserve with so much precaution a miserable Life? Should we not laugh at a Prisoner who should spend all his time in raising up the walls of his Prison? Yet, this is that which men do, when they pamper their Bodies. Since we must die to see you, O God, and since no one can entirely possess you but by losing his Life; I accept the condition even from this hour. Do that to day which you will do one day. Behold I am ready to follow you, and I demand of you this chief favour, That I may see you to the and I may die, 
S. Teresa.  and that I may die to the end I may see you eternally. 
S. Aug.    

Article XXXXII. It may perhaps seem strange that we should place the thoughts of St. Teresa in a collection of those of the Fathers. But the Writings of this great Saint are replenished with so sublime a piety, that one may compare them in this point to the most beauteous Works which the Spirit of God ever dictated to men. Wherefore we conceived that it might not only be permitted, but that it would prove profitable to insert here some of the admirable Sentiments she hath left us upon the meditation of Eternity, and upon the desire of Death.  
O Jesus, soverainly amiable, 
A pious exclamation after Communion.  sole object of my affections, shall I always languish with the impatient desire of seeing you? What solace will you give to a Soul, which nothing upon Earth comforts, and which can take no rest but in you alone? O that this banishment is long? O that Life is irksome to one who burns with the desire of possessing you! I die because I cannot die. You know it, O my God, you who died for the love of me, know whether it is to live when one long expects what one loves!  
No, my Life is not a Life, 'tis a continual torment, 'tis a fire which devours, 'tis a punishment which would be as terrible as those of Hell, if one had lost the Hope of seeing an end of it. O Life, thou enemy of my happiness, Life more cruel a thousand times than Death! why is it not permitted me in this moment to break the chains wherewith thou keepest me in captivity. But I preserve thee because my God protects thee. I have a care of thee, because thou belongest to him. Do not then any longer abuse his bounty nor my obedience, and cease at last to oppose thyself to the impatience of my affection.  
O desirable Death, and too long expected! O Sanctuary, inaccessible to all the tempests of the World, happy end of our miseries, destruction of Sin, beginning of our true Life, make haste to deliver me from the Death of the World. O let me die, to the end I may not die. 'Tis the Death of Sin which I dread. 'Tis the Life of Grace which I desire. But this dread and this desire consume me in such sort, that I do not live, and yet I cannot die. My Life is all out of me, because all my Hope is in Christ Jesus, who hath promised unto me a better Life.  
Alas! It is very true, That Love is more dreadful than Death. 
Cant. 2.  O Love of Jesus, how piercing are your darts? how stinging are your wounds? The rudest blows of Death are endured with less difficulty than yours. There is too much of it, O Lord, there's too much; Turn a little aside your looks, 
Cant. 6.  for I want strength to support them. Either burn me no longer, or make an end to reduce me into ashes. How will you have my Soul to divide herself between that which you demand of her, and that which my Body requires of her?  
Be gone from me, O all you Earthly Consolations; a Heart wounded with the Love of Jesus, cannot be cured but by Jesus. All human Remedies are too weak to assuage a Divine Sickness. 'Tis you my Saviour, who cure and who wound when you please. O Faithful Bridegroom of the Faithful Soul, with what bounty, what sweetness, what pleasure, what ravishments, what testimonies of tenderness, do you heal the hurts which your Love hath made in us.  
O my Soul, let us expect yet a little, and he will take compassion on our languishing condition. His impatience is no less than ours; we sometimes believe him to be far off, when he is very near at hand. Behold him descending from the mountains, and traversing the hills, he runs, he flies to draw near unto us, he knocks at the door, he calls us. Enter, Lord, I slept, but my heart watched: Alas! I was ready to follow you, and you have stolen yourself from me. I seek you, and I find you no more. I call you, and you do not answer.  
What have we done, my Soul, who hath driven away your Bridegroom? Is it not that our impatience displeases him? Is it not that we love him overmuch, or that we love him not enough? For he is a Jealous God, 
Exod. 34.  who will be loved more than all things, and will have us love nothing but himself. Perhaps he will surprise us. 
Thes. 2.2.  His day comes when it is least thought on, as the Thief who comes in the night. Let us expect with humility that dreadful day. If Jesus loves us, he will not slack his coming; if he doth not love us, he will come but too soon for us.   

The Conclusion of all this Collection. 
S. Aug.   
As at the beginning of this Treatise we drew from St. Augustin Principles to establish this Proposition; That perfect Souls desire Death and receive it with Joy; we thought fit to finish this Collection with a discourse wherein the same holy Doctor shows, That all people by their proper Interest ought to desire to departed out of the World.  
YOu complain that Truth is trampled on by the tricks of Lying and Falsehood. 
Lib. 22. de Civ. c. 30.  You say, O Christians, that they who make profession to be the Masters or the Disciples of Truth, do basely abandon it, 
Ser. 64. de Verbis Domini.  and that its beauty which is altogether Divine cannot fix the inconstancy of its Lovers. Why then do you not aspire to Heaven, 
Ser. 6. inter Communes.  where Truth glittering with all its beams triumphs over falsehood and malice, and frees them who love it, 
In Psalm. passim.  and frees them who love it, from all injustice and violence?  
You declaim against the iniquity of men, who neither regard desert nor virtue, who bestow Offices upon birth or favour, and who sleight the good people without confering on them any reward. Why then do you not aspire after the glory of the Blessed in Heaven, where happiness corresponds to the pains they have endured, where Crowns are proportioned to the Combats they have fought, and finally where rewards follow the good Works they have performed, and where the most holy are most honoured?  
King's cannot exercise their magnificence and their Liberality, which are their most shining virtues, without being very often deceived by outwards apparences. As they know not the true spirit of their Subjects, they cannot discern their true deserts. They frequently favour Vice, when they intent to render Justice to Virtue. But the God whom we adore, cannot be deceived. He reads in the Heart of them who serve him. He discerns all our actions; and as he beholds all the motions of our Will, he also lets not impiety pass without punishment, nor Virtue without reward.  
You complain of the hardness of your condition, you murmur for that you must always fight, you grieve to be incessantly encompassed with enemies, you bear them about you, you nourish them within yourselves, and you are the theatre of this intestine War, where the Flesh is continually at strife with the spirit. On which ever side the victory falls, you cannot rejoice, without being afflicted at the same time for some loss. Leave then this wretched dwelling, where Life is a continual temptation and a perpetual combat. Desire Death, which will be the end of all these miseries. Sight after that agreeable habitation, where the Saints enjoy a perfect victory, and a peace without molestation. Do not any longer complain that in despite of all the care you take to bring one part of yourself to agree with the other part, yet their differences are daily renewed: Or if you will complain, let this your complaint serve at least to make you march more speedily towards that place of peace, where you shall agree with yourself, and be in a perpetual repose.  
Finally, you love Life, but you would not have it to be made up of miseries and of sorrows. Shall God make Life for you after another manner than it was for his own Son? To come to that Life which you demand, you must be gone out of this. Christ Jesus himself hath showed us that we must acquire it at that rate. Why seek you not that dwelling, where the Life which you desire hath his habitation? From the first moment in which you shall possess Heaven, you will no longer fear either poverty, or misery, or disease, or death. Why then do you not that, for the enjoyment of so happy a Life, which you do for the prolonging of this other unfortunate Life? You abstain from Meats and from Divertisements which are hurtful to your health. Why do you not as much for that Life which will never be troubled with any sicknesses? And yet the solicitudes you have to preserve your Body, will not warrant it from Death. All that you can pretend to, is to die a little later. Ah! my dear Brethren, can it be possible that you should do less to live eternally? No I cannot believe it; and you will testify without doubt by your actions, by your sufferings, and by the Holy Desires of Death, that you have a Faith and Hope for another Life.  
What would you give to be exempt from all incommodities, and to be assured to live always? Is it not true, that all whatever you possess, would not suffice to purchase so great a good, altho' you were Lord even of the whole Universe? Yet this so great and excellent a good is to be sold: You may buy it, if you will: the price ought not to affright you: it will not exceed your abilities: you shall pay no more for it then what you are able to give: you may purchase it by an Alms; you may acquire it by some other good Works; you may deserve it by a good desire; finally you may obtain it by a penitential Life, and by a holy Death. Do not then despise a happiness which depends only on the will to possess it. And if you have any spark of zeal left in you to promote your true Interest and to procure your own Salvation; seek a dwelling where Truth is victorious, where Sanctity is honoured, where Peace is immutable, & where Life and Felicity are Eternal.   

Approbation.  
SInce the Death of the Just gives us the liberty to render to their memory what we owe them; we may say that the Reverend Father Lalemant, Prior of St. Genovefe, and Chancellor of the University of Paris, having studied and endeavoured by the meditation and the practice of such Truths as the Spirit of God ●nspired into the greatest men of the Church, to make Death familiar unto him: this Collection of the most pithy thoughts which the holy Fathers had concerning Death, is one of the most considerable Monuments which remains ●o us of his sublime virtue. It were ●o be wished that every one would follow the example of this great person in reading his Works, and that they would learn to die Christianly, by seeing how he prepared himself thereto. The esteem which people most elevated by their condition and their deserts had of his Piety, and his extraordinary Qualities, did not at all lessen the contempt he had of Life, and the desire of Death, which always appeared in him, according to the example of the Apostle. Thus hi● memory shall be evermore in veneration to all them who will rea● this excellent Work.  
'Tis th● judgement which I gave at So●bon: the first of March, 1673. Signed, Colbert.  
FINIS.