e filth of their sins, to be forever in torment. But
these are the reasonings of men, which are of no avail in the sight of
God. It is only the Father in Heaven who knows the elect. He alone is able
to tell who shall remain to be crowned, and who is to be condemned.
Perseverance is a gratuitous gift of God, we cannot merit it. All our good
actions and holy deeds, which are performed in the state of grace and out
of a motive of charity, do, it is true, merit a reward in Heaven, they
tend to increase our blessedness hereafter; but just as it is not in our
power to merit the first grace, by which we are raised from a state of
sin, so are we utterly unable to do anything which shall secure for a
certainty the final grace, by which alone we can be saved. Wherefore the
Preacher said: "All these things have I considered in my heart, that I
might carefully understand them: there are just men and wise men, and
their works are in the hand of God; and yet man knoweth not whether he be
worthy of love or hatred. But all things are kept uncertain for the time
to come, because all things equally happen to the just and to the wicked,
to the good and to the evil, to the clean and to the unclean, to him that
offereth victims, and to him that despiseth sacrifices. As the good is, so
also is the sinner; as the perjured, so he also that sweareth truth."(72)

This uncertainty as to the end of life, and of the gift of final
perseverance, all holy souls have felt. To die in the friendship of God,
and thence to enjoy His presence forever, is a gift of so transcendent a
nature, so far above our natural powers and utmost deserts that no
creature, which can at all conceive it, would dare claim it as a right. It
was this conviction that made the saints tremble to think of it. This it
was that prompted St. Paul to admonish the Philippians to work out their
salvation with fear and trembling,(73) and that also evoked from the same
Apostle those candid words concerning himself: "I chastise my body, and
bring it into subjection; lest, perhaps, when I have preached to others, I
myself should become a castaway."(74)

And have we not sometimes witnessed instances which, so far as man can
judge, give ground for this fear as to perseverance, and emphasize the
great truth that to die in God's favor is, indeed, a singular and a
gratuitous gift? How many have we not known who started well, but
terminated ill! How many are innocent and holy in youth and give ever