but
the people stood in groups outside to catch through the open windows
the words of the prayers offered. Erastus also approached. He heard how
Paul explained the text of the Epistle of St. James to the sick.
"Behold, we called them blessed which endured: ye have heard of the
patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord
is full of pity and merciful." As a gentle soothing song sounded the
melodious tone of the melancholy sermon from the church even to the
place under the old lindens, fanned by the evening breeze: "Behold, we
call them blessed which endured, endured even to the end. Our portion
is grief and suffering but they are at rest in the peace of God; we
rack our brains to find out how to build up once more our fortunes,
they have entered into the rest of the Saints, and are concealed in the
eternal mansions; we must raise once more our arms in hard work, whilst
they lie in a peaceful calm slumber. Thousands of irksome paths await
our weary tread, while their feet are in sweet repose after their long
pilgrimage." It seemed as if the patients in their couches were now
more tranquil. The groans of agony ceased, the cries of impatience were
hushed. "Behold, we call them blessed, which endured," reechoed the
preacher, "all of those who have gone forth through these portals to
the silent chambers of God, have died in the Lord. But we also, who
have been preserved for a fresh struggle, let us call ourselves
blessed, in that we have suffered; for then only can we say with the
Apostle: as we live, we live in the Lord. The destroying angel of God
has come in among us like a prophet and he said: I have a word unto
you, you children of men! He found you with your sorrows, cares,
enmities, idle thoughts, your coarse enjoyments. Then came the dread
angel of the Lord, and he asked you old people, what was the worth of
that for which you fret, grieve, quarrel, strive after, in the presence
of death. He asked you young maidens, what was the value of your
ornaments, finery, and beauty, if the next morning the angel of the
plague touched you with its finger. He knocked the cup out of your
hands, young men, and hushed your lewd songs. He placed the hand of the
brother in that of the sister, he made peace between father and son,
between neighbor and relation. Therefore let us call ourselves blessed,
that we have gone through this time of tribulation. We take our life
from God, as a gift bestowed a second time