Page 140 - a-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-man

to die and after death the judgement. Death is certain. The
time and manner are uncertain, whether from long disease
or from some unexpected accident: the Son of God cometh
at an hour when you little expect Him. Be therefore ready
every moment, seeing that you may die at any moment.
Death is the end of us all. Death and judgement, brought
into the world by the sin of our first parents, are the dark
portals that close our earthly existence, the portals that
open into the unknown and the unseen, portals through
which every soul must pass, alone, unaided save by its good
works, without friend or brother or parent or master to help
it, alone and trembling. Let that thought be ever before our
minds and then we cannot sin. Death, a cause of terror to
the sinner, is a blessed moment for him who has walked in
the right path, fulfilling the duties of his station in life, at-
tending to his morning and evening prayers, approaching
the holy sacrament frequently and performing good and
merciful works. For the pious and believing catholic, for the
just man, death is no cause of terror. Was it not Addison,
the great English writer, who, when on his deathbed, sent
for the wicked young earl of Warwick to let him see how a
christian can meet his end? He it is and he alone, the pious
and believing christian, who can say in his heart:

O grave, where is thy victory?
O death, where is thy sting?

Every word of it was for him. Against his sin, foul and
secret, the whole wrath of God was aimed. The preacher’s

140 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man