Fourteenth Day. Of preiiaviv. for death

I. "Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee; then whose shall those things be wiiich thou hast provided?" Luke xii. 20. Deplorable is the blindness of those vv ho %vill not think of deatii, but divert their minds conthmally from an event that is inevitable, and which they might render tippy by anticipation. Nothing is so dreadful as death, to those who are fond of life. It ie strange that the expevience of ages should not have caused us to judge soundly of the present and of the future, so as to have taken proper measures both for the one and for the other. We dote upon this world, as if it were never to have an end; and we neglect the next, as if it were never to have a beginning.

II. Therefore, be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not, the son of man Cometh." Matthew xxiv. 44. These words are addressed to every individual; yet all men (for few even among persons of piety are to be excepted) reckon upo]i a long life, and form projects accordingly. And what is the reason of such an obstinate hope of life? It is because we love it passionately. And whence is it that we aifect to remove death at such a distance from us? It is because we do not love the kingdom of God and the grandeur of the world to come. O gmss and stupid mortals who cannot raise themselves above this earth, wherein even by their own confession, they are miserable; The true manner of preparing for the last moment, is to S[)end all the preceding w ell, and to live in constant expectation of that event.