"O how happy are they," continues St. Cyprian, "who, after being delivered from these storms and hurricanes, have happily arrived at the haven of everlasting bliss!" How happy are they who are removed from the dangers of sin, and freed from the assaults of the devil, and the conflict of their passions! How happy are they who are withdrawn from the miseries of this perishable life, and have put on a glorious immortality! Who would not rejoice to obtain everlasting rest, out of the reach of danger? Who would not cheerfully quit this sinful Babylon, to spend an eternity in the presence of God, and live for ever with Jesus Christ, in the company of millions of saints and angels! {281} O blessed be that Divine Providence, that infinite goodness, which has provided a better world to receive us, and there promises us eternal life: Hence hath St. Teresa exclaimed: "O death, I know not who can fear thee, since it is by thee that we find life." Too great a love of life betrays a want of that lively faith and confidence, which, by fortifying the mind of a Christian, enables him to stare death in the face, and despise that king of terrors. It is now more than ever incumbent on us to comply with the obligation we lie under, of suppressing inordinate self-love in our hearts, and of doing, not our own, but the will of our heavenly Father; for how inconsistent would it be to desire that _his will may be done on earth, as it is in heaven_, if upon summoning us to quit this world, we are reluctant and unwilling to obey his call? With what propriety can we say, _thy kingdom come_, whilst we evidently betray a desire of remaining here in a state of bondage to our passions and subjection to the devil, rather than accept the invitation to go and live with Jesus Christ, in the kingdom which he has purchased for us at the expense of his sacred blood. To die well or ill, is all that should give us trouble. We know for certain that death is the only way to eternal happiness; that the cross is the ladder by which we should ascend to heaven; and that through many sufferings and tribulations we must endeavour to enter into it. Christ himself died before he entered into his glory. We cannot arrive at heaven by any other road. It is the only gate to life everlasting. It is a passage from a valley of tears to a region of unspeakable bliss. It is a deliverance from a continual warfare, in which we are surrounded with a thousand dangers of perishing. It is a happy exemption from the temptation of the devil, the world, and the flesh, which are our capital enemies. Animated therefore, with a bright prospect of eternal happiness at our departure, we should consider the pangs of death as nothing else but the breaking down of that partition which stands betwixt the soul and the sight of its sovereign good.