14. And, to pass over everything else, we ought to remember what a glory it is to come immaculate to Christ—to be a sharer in His suffering, and to reign in a perpetual eternity with the Lord—to be free from the threatening destruction of the world, and not to be mixed up with the bloody carnage of wasting diseases in a common lot with others; and, not to speak of the crown itself, if, being situated in the midst of these critical evils of nature, you had the promise of an escape from this life, would you not rejoice with all your heart? If, I say, while tossing amid the tempests of this world, a near repose should invite you, would you not consider death in the light of a remedy? Thus, surrounded as you are with the knives of the executioners, and the instruments of testing tortures, stand sublime and strong, considering how great is the penalty of denying, in a time when you are unable to enjoy, the world for the sake of which you would deny, because indeed the Lord knew that cruel torments and mischievous acts of punishment would be armed against us for our destruction, in order that He might make us strong to endure them all. “My son,” says He, “if thou come to serve God, stand fast in righteousness, and fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation.”12    Ecclus. ii. 1. Moreover, also, the blessed Apostle Paul exclaimed, and said, “To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”13    Phil. i. 21.

0794C XIV. Atque, ut transeam cuncta, meminisse debemus quanta sit gloria ad Christum immaculatum venire, consortem passionis existere, perpetuaque cum Domino aeternitate regnare, carere exitiis imminentibus saeculi, nec inter cruentam morborum populantium stragem communi cum caeteris sorte misceri. Atque, ut sileam de corona, si tibi in his naturae lubricis malis posito vitae promitteretur excessus, nonne omni mente gauderes? Si, inquam , te in hujus mundi turbinibus fluctuantem vicina arcesseret requies, nonne mortem pro remedio computares? Positus inter arma carnificum ac tela probantium quaestionum, stans sublimis ac fortis, considerans quanta sit poena negare eo tempore quo frui saeculo 0794D nequeas, cujus causa negares: quoniam quidem gravia 0795A tormenta ac puniendi noxias artes in perniciem nostram Dominus sciebat armari, quo fortes ad omnem tolerantiam faceret. Fili, inquit, accedens ad servitutem Dei, sta in justitia et timore, et praepara animam tuam ad tentationem (Eccli. II, 1). Sed et beatissimus Paulus apostolus exclamavit et dixit : Mihi vivere Christus est et mori lucrum (Philip. I, 21).