The death of a sinner is the most dreadful of all evils. His mirth and jollities are then all come to their fatal period, and his eyes are taking an everlasting leave of all the fond objects of his passions. This horrible divorce and separation makes him shudder in most bitter anguish and grief, whilst he beholds himself violently torn from all he possesses and enjoys, and from his very body. The pagan philosopher considered this only when he defined death the king of terrors, and of all terrible things that which is the most dreadful; but what is more alarming than all this separation is, that all his former notions of things are overturned in this awful moment, and an entire new scene is opened to him. His conscience is a confused chaos, a thousand perplexing thoughts disturb him, and his habits of spiritual sloth grow stronger than ever. He sees that riches and honors, which he so eagerly pursued, were mere illusion; that his pleasures were dreams and shadows, which passed in a moment, but left a cruel sting behind them; the treacherous world forsakes him in the day of his distress; and the prospect of the abyss of eternity into which he is stepping, fills his mind with alarms and dread which no tongue can express. If he dies insensible, his situation is but the more desperate and unhappy. For, alas! in the moment in which the miserable soul leaves the body, no tongue can express her horrible calamity. We ought to invite heaven and earth to weep over her; or rather adore God, who is terrible in his justice, and stop our tears which can no longer avail such a soul. She is from this moment eternally and irretrievably lost. She is abandoned by God and his angels, and given over a prey to merciless devils, who insultingly cry out,—Let men on earth crown the carcass with pomp, epitaphs, monuments, and panegyrics, whilst it is made a feast for worms and maggots; and the soul is our victim, as the body also will one day be. How happy were the martyrs, who, by their torments purchased themselves joy, secure peace, and eternal glory at their death!
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 08:58:53 +0000
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