Chapter 12. On the Last Judgment ; Being a More Lengthened Consideration of the Subject of the Last Meditation

§ 1.—On the great effect produced in the soul by the fear of God and in order to this, on the advantages of the consideration and remembrance of the divine | judgments and particularly of the last judgment . which will take place at the end of the world.

1.—Great are the effects produced in the soul by the fear of God. “He that feareth God,” says the Preacher “shall Reclex, tk go well in his latter days, and on the day of his death a blessing shall come upon him.” And in another place, ‘‘ How great is he who has reached the height of wisdom and knowledge: but great though he be, he is not greater than him who feareth God, because the fear of God takes its place above all the rest. Happy is the man to whom | is given the fear of the Lord. To whom shall I compare him? | Because the fear of God is the beginning of the love of God.” All these words are the words of the Preacher, by which it clearly appears how the fear of God is the beginning of all that is good, that is of the love of him, and not only the beginning but the key and guard of every other good, as St. Bernard bears testimony when he says, “ Truly I know of | nothing so efficacious for preserving divine grace as living at | all times in fear and with our thoughts directed upwards.” | 2.—As a means to secure this precious treasure, it will be found extremely serviceable to consider. and constantly bear in remembrance the divine judgments and especially that final judgment which will take place at the end of the world. This is the most terrible fact announced in Holy Writ; for so frightful is the description given of this day, that if God himself had not spoken, it would be utterly beyond belief. Wherefore our Lord having told his Disciples some of the things which were then to come to pass, because the magnitude of them seemed to exceed all the common powers of belief in man, finished the account of them with this asseveration, saying; ‘‘ Verily I-say unto you this generation shall not

Marke xiii, pass away until all these things be fulfilled, heaven and earth shall pass away but my word shall not pass away.” 3.—In the Acts of the Apostles it is written, that whilst pete Lar. St. Paul was preaching on the events of this day before the Prefect of Judea, the Prefect himself began to tremble at the words of the Apostle, though being a Gentile he placed neither faith nor credit in the mystery; whence it appears how terrible were the doctrines preached by the Apostle, since the mere sound of them sufficed to rouse such fear and trembling even in an unbeliever. As for the Christian then who believes them as a matter of faith, what limit can there be to his feelings on the subject ?

4.—And let not any one think to excuse himself as innocent and say, these threats are not intended for me but for the unjust and wicked ; because, St. Jerome was a just man, nevertheless he was wont to say that whenever he thought of the day of judgment he trembled in both soul and body. David was also a just man, and a man after God's own heart, but with all that he so much dreaded the account of that day, as to say in one Psalm exlii. of the Psalms, “Enter not into judgment, oh Lord, with thy servant, for in thy sight no man living shall be justified.” The most virtuous Job was also a just man, nevertheless such was the fear in which he lived, that he says Job xxxi. of himself, “As the sailor fears in the midst of the storm, when he sees the furious waves swelling over him, thus have I always feared the majesty of God; and so great was my fear that his weight I was not able to bear.” But above all the Apostle St. Paul was a most just man,

1 Cor. iv. 4. nevertheless he said, “For I am not conscious to myself of anything, yet am I not hereby justified ; but he that judgeth me is the Lord.” As if he had said, oftentimes our own eyes may be unable to detect any stain upon our actions, but the eye of God may detect it, for what is hidden from the eyes of man is not hidden from the eye of God. To an ordinary artist, the painting he has just finished may seem very perfect, but a first-rate painter would discover many blemishes. How many then will be found by that supreme goodness and infinite wisdom in a creature so inclined to evil as man, who, as is written in the Book of Job, ‘‘ Sucks

Job xv. up iniquity like water?’ And if the sword of God found so much to cut down in heaven; how much more will it find upon earth which raises only thistles and thorns? Who shall manage to keep every corner of his soul so swept and clean as.not to need to cry out with the prophet,

Psalm xviil. ““ From my secret sins deliver me oh Lord?”

5.—Thus then it behoves all to live in fear of this day, however just may be their lives; since the day is so fearful, and life so culpable, the Judge so just, and above all so profound in his judgments, that no one knoweth the fate that will befall him, but as our Saviour says, “Two men shall be Luke xvii. in the field, the one shall be taken and the other shall be left. There shall be two men in one bed, the one shall be taken and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together in one mill, the one shall be taken and the other shall be left.” By which words we are to understand, that from each state and condition of life, some shall be carried to heaven and some to hell, for no one can hold himself to be secure whilst still living in this world.

§ 2.—On the severity of the trial on the day of judgment.

6.—In reflecting on the awful character of this judgment, first bear in mind that no tongue can adequately describe the very least of the troubles of this day.

7.—Hence the Prophet Joel being desirous of proclaiming , wget te its greatness found himself so disconcerted and embarrassed with the subject, that he began to stammer like a child, and cry out, “Ah, ah, ah, what shall that day be!” The same kind of language did Jeremiah use when God wished to send him to preach; to shew that he wasa child and quite unfit for the great embassy for which God had chosen him, and the Prophet used this language to shew us that there is no human tongue but must stammer like a stuttering infant in proclaiming the events of this day.

8.—On this day God will restore to its pristine beauty all the foulness with which the wicked have filled the world by their evil doings, and as the number of these has been so great, so the restoration must be proportionably great, that the world may be rendered beautiful at the expense of evil, with the chastisement of it after the same manner that it was made foul by its iniquity. When aman stumbles and dislocates his arm, the greater the dislocation, the greater will be the pain of the setting. Since then the wicked have dislocated all things in the world, and thrown them out of joint, when the heavenly physician shall come to reinstate things with chastisement for so many crimes, how frightful will that chastisement be since so many and so great are the dislocations !

9.—This day is not only called the day of wrath but the hi day of God, as the Prophet Joel names it, to give us to understand that all other days have been the days of men, in which they followed their own will against the will of God; but this is called the day of God because on it God will act according to his own will contrary to theirs. Now, thou swearest and blasphemest, and God is silent; the

1 * \ day will come, when God will break the silence of so many days and of so many injuries and will avenge his own honour. So that there are but two days in the world, the day of God, and the day of man. On his own day man is free to do as he

II Paral. xxxvi. likes, and God is silent. On it, King Sedi-

• cias can command the prophet of God to be thrown into a well and fed with bits of bread and can do as it pleaseth him and God will be silent in the face of all these insults. But after this day will come another day, and God will carry away King Sedicias and deprive him of his kingdom, and will destroy Jerusalem and carry the king in irons before the king of Babylon and there will massacre all his friends and children before his sight, and after his eyes have beheld such dreadful things will order them to be put out and himself to be carried a prisoner to Babylon, and cast into a prison there to remain until death. So that as man had liberty to do in his day according to his own will without being withheld by anyone, so God will work on His day according to his own pleasure without hindrance from anyone.

§ 3.—On the signs which shall precede the day of the final judgment.

10.—Finally, if thou desirest to know what sort of day that day will be, stop to consider the signs that will precede it, for by the signs shalt thou know what is intended to be signified, and by the eve and the vigil shalt thou know the Feast of the day. 11.—First, when that day shall be, no man knoweth, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son so as to reveal it, but Matt. xxiv. 36. only the Father; nevertheless it shall be

I, Tim. i. preceded by certain signs, by which men may foresee not only the approach, but also the terrors of it ; Matt, xxiii, . for as our Saviour said, “Before the day shall come, there shall be great wars and commotions through the world; nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be great earthquakes in many places, and pestilence and famine and fearful prodigies in the air and other great signs and wonders.”

12.—And amidst all these calamities shall commence that persecution so often predicted, of the greatest persecutor that ever attacked the chureh, namely of Antichrist, who not only by force of arms and horrible tortures but also with pretended miracles, shall levy the most cruel war against the church that ever she suffered. Consider then now, as St. Gregory says, “What sort of a time that will be, when the holy martyr shall resign his limbs to an executioner, working miracles before his eyes?” “In fine so great shall be the tribulation of those days,” says our Saviour, “as was never seen since the commencement of the world, nor ever shall be again. And if the mercy of God had not shortened those days, no flesh would be saved: but for the sake of the just those days will be shortened.”

13.—After these there will follow other signs more dreadful as the day approaches, which will appear in the sun and the moon and the stars, of which our Lord speaks through his Prophet Ezechiel, ““I will make the stars of heaven dark above thee, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall refuse her light, and all the luminaries of the sky will I clothe in mourning, and they shall lament over thee and 1 will send darkness over the whole earth.” With all these signs and changes in the heavens, what dost thou expect will appear upon the earth? We see in a commonwealth, when the head of the ruler is turned with folly that all the inferior ‘members are thrown into turmoil and confusion, and the whole State heaves with the clash of arms and dissensions. If the | body of this world be regulated by the powers of the heavens, when they are overturned and thrown out of their natural order, what will become of its members and parts? Thus the air will be filled with lightning and whirlwinds and fiery comets. The earth will be filled with yawning rents and with such frightful quakings as not only to overthrow houses and the loftiest towers, but even mountains and rocks will be split and shaken from their foundations. But the sea beyond all the elements will be agitated, and its waves will run so high and furious as to threaten to overwhelm all the earth. Its swelling will terrify the inhabitants of the coasts and its roaring those at a distance.

14.—In those days how will man demean himself! how astounded, how bewildered, lost to every feeling, speechless, and reckléss of everything! Our Saviour informs us, that then shall nations be in great distress and men shall be parched and fainting unto death from very dread of the evils about to fall upon the world. What is this? Shall they say, What mean these tokens? When are these labour-pains of the world to cease? In what will all these whirlpools and universal changes end? Thus will mankind walk terrified and fainting, their hearts sunk within them and their arms hung down, gazing vacantly at each other; and they will be so terror-stricken at beholding themselves so disfigured as to faint away solely from fear. All business and employments will be at an end and with them the study and desire of gain, for fear will so fill their hearts that not only will these things be forgotten but even eating and drinking and all that is necessary to sustain life. All their anxiety will be to find some secure shelter against the earthquakes tempests and swellings of the ocean; thus men will hide themselves in the dens of wild beasts, whilst the wild beasts will seek for cover in the habitations of men, and thus will everything be over-thrown and filled with confusion. The evils present to their sight will trouble them, but much more will be the fear of those to follow, for none shall know where these dreadful beginnings are to stop. Words do not suffice to describe this - tragedy and all that can be said will fall short of the reality. We see even in these our days when the sea is agitated by a frightful storm, or the earth is swept by a hurricane or shaken by an earthquake how terrified and panic-stricken men are, how feeble and bereft of judgment; when then heaven .and earth and the sea and air are all in wild commotion and each element is lashed with its own peculiar tempest; when the sun is darkened and the moon crimsoned like blood and the stars are falling from the firmament, who will eat, who will sleep, who will have a moment of rest in the midst of such a storm? Oh, the unhappy lot of the wicked threatened by all these signs, and the happy lot of the good, for whom all these things are favours and bounties, and good tidings of great joy soon to come! How joyfully shall they then sing with the

Psalm xlv. i. prophet: ‘Our God is our refuge and strength, therefore we will not fear when the earth shall be troubled; and the mountains shall be removed into the heart ae of the sea.” “See the fig-tree, and all the trees,” says our Saviour, ‘‘ when they now shoot forth their fruit, you know that summer is nigh, so you also when you shall see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is at hand.” Then you can open your eyes and lift up your heads, because the day of your redemption is at hand. How full of joy then shall the good man be, and how well recompensed shall he feel are his labours! And on the other hand, how grieved shall the wicked man be and how shall he condemn all his past actions and ways!

§ 4.—On the end of the world and the resurrection of the dead.

15.—Aftor all these signs will come the Judge, who will be preceded by an universal deluge of fire which will burn and reduce to ashes all the glory of the world. This fire will indicate the punishment of the wicked, and will be the beginning of the glory of the just and of those who had still to suffer for their sins in purgatory. Here will end the glory of this world, here the revolution of the heavenly bodies Ñ will be arrested and the course of the planets stayed ; the generation of all things and the variations of the seasons and all dependant on the changes of the heavens will end. And thus

Apoc. x. does St. John in the Apocalypse, write that he saw a mighty angel clothed in a shining cloud, whose face shone as the sun and a rainbow as a crown upon his head, and his feet like pillars of fire, one of which he placed upon the sea and the other upon the earth; and, he says, this angel raised his arm towards heaven and swore by him who lives for ever and ever, that time was henceforth no more, that is, that the revolution of the heavens and all things regulated thereby were ended, and, what is more, that there was no room for repentance nor merit or demerit for the other life.

16.—After this fire according to the Apostle, shall come

II Thes. iv. an Archangel with great power and majesty and shall sound a trumpet, which means, shall in a loud and terrible voice, which shall be heard through the whole world summon together all nations to judgment. This is that fearful voice of which St. Jerome says, ‘‘ Whether I eat or drink I always seem to hear ringing in my ears that voice crying out: Arise ye dead and come to judgment !” Who can appeal from this summons? Who can refuse this judgment? Who shall not tremble at this voice? This voice shall despoil the spoils of death and make it disgorge all it has carried out of

Apoc. xx. the world. Therefore, says St. John, shall the sea deliver up its dead, and death and hell itself shall surrender their victims. What a sight shall it be to behold the sea and the earth bringing forth on all sides such various bodies, and to see merging in one, such numerous armies and various kinds of people and nations? There shall be the Alexanders, and Xerxes and Artaxerxes, there the Dariuses and the Roman Ceesars and the most potent kings in different style and bearing, and with very different ideas to those they had in this world; and there in fine shall be gathered together all the children of Adam, each to give an account of himself and to be judged according to his works,

17.—But though all shall arise never more to die, wide shall be the difference between their respective bodies. For the bodies of the just shall arise beautiful and shining bright as the sun, but those of the wicked foul and loathsome as death itself. What joy then for the souls of the just to see all their desires fulfilled, to see joined together after so long a separation brothers so long loved and sought for? Then may the soul address the body; Oh body, faithful companion thou that hast helped to obtain for me this crown, that hast so often joined me in fasting and watching, who hast suffered the discipline and the sorrows of poverty and borne the cross of penance and the contradictions of the world! How often hast thou withheld bread from thy mouth to give it to the poor! How often hast thou stripped thyself to clothe the naked! How often hast thou given up and lost thy rights to keep peace with thy neighbour! It is right then that thou shouldst share my inheritance since thou hast helped to acquire it, and that thou shouldst be the companion of my glory as thou wast of my sufferings. Then shall faithful friends be united in all their wishes, without difference in desire or opinion, but bound with the tie of perpetual peace and conformity of will, so as to sing and cry out for ever: “See how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” But, on the other hand, what will be the anguish of the damned at beholding his body as it shall then appear dark, foul, loathsome and abominable! O cursed body, will the soul exclaim, O beginning and end of all my sorrows! O cause of my damnation! not my friend but my enemy! not my support, but persecutor! not my repose but the chain and snare that tied and lured me to perdition! O cursed taste how dear have thy revels cost me! Is this the body for which I sinned? For the gratification of this am I for ever lost? For this rotten dunghill have I sacrificed the kingdom of heaven? For this vile and filthy carcass have I lost the fruit of eternal life? O furies of hell rise against me and tear me to pieces for I deserve this punishment! Oh accursed is the day of my unfortunate birth, since it was to be my fate to suffer eternal torments in exchange for such short and momentary pleasures! 18.—These and other frightful pr will the unhappy soul pour upon that body which she once loved so well. - Then answer me, thou miserable soul, why dost thou hate so now what thou once loved so tenderly? Was not this piece of flesh thy beloved? Was not this belly thy God? Is not this the face thou so much cherished and guarded against the sun and airand which thou wast wont to paint with artificial colours? Are not these the arms and fingers that blazed with gold and diamonds? Is not this the body for which sea and land were ransacked for the luxurious banquet, the soft bed and precious clothing? What then has changed thy Office ?

Who has made abominable what was once all amiable? Take - notice then brother and see in what ends the pride and glory of the world with all its pleasures and delights of the body.

§ 5.—On the coming of the Judge, on the mode of the judgment and on the witnesses and the accusers,

19.—When all have risen again to life and assembled in one place awaiting the coming of the Judge, he, whom God Acts x. has appointed to judge the living and the Luke xxi. dead will descend from on high; and as on Mat. xxiv. his first coming he came in the most humble form and meekest manner, inviting men to peace and calling .

them to repentance, so on his second coming he will appear clad in majesty and glory, surrounded by the principalities and powers of heaven, threatening with the fury of his wrath those who refused to accept his mercy. Here so great will be

Teal. xi. the fear and terror of the wicked, that, according to Isaiah, they will try to hide themselves in the clefts of the rocks from the immensity of their dread of the — Lord and of the glory of his Majesty when he shalt come da rang judge the earth. Lastly so great will this terror be, that, CSS according to St. John, the heavens and the earth shall fly before the face of the J udge and shall not find where to hide themselves. Why do ye fly oh ye heavens? What have ye done? Why do ye fear? And if by the heavens are meant, those blessed spirits who dwell therein, ye happy spirits, created and born in grace, why fly? What have ye done? Why fear? They fear not danger to themselyes, but they tremble to behold the awful majesty and wrath of the Judge enough to fill the whole heavens with horror and wonder. When the sea is roaring in the storm, he who looks on in safety from the shoro is yet filled with awe and admiration; when the father of a family filled with anger -is chastising his slave, his innocent child looks on in fear though he knows the anger is not directed against him. *What then will the wicked do, when thus the just man quakes? If the heavens flee, what will the earth do? And if those who are immortal spirits tremble, what will those do who are clothed in flesh? And if, as the Prophet says, on that day - the mountains shall melt away before the face of God, how is - it that our hearts are harder than rocks since they. are still unmoved ?

20.—Before the Judge will be borne the royal standard of the cross in testimony of the remedy God sent to the world and that the world would not receive it. And thus will the cross justify the cause of God, and will leave the wicked SEVER Say without consolation or excuse. Then, says our Saviour, all the nations of the earth shall weep and mourn and beat their breasts. Oh what reason will not they then have to weep and mourn! They will weep because there is then no time for repentance, nor to fly from justice, nor to appeal against the sentence. They will weep for their past sins, for their present shame, for their future torments. They ‘will weep for their unhappy fate, thoir unfortunate birth and - their di us end. For these and a thousand other causes

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BS y : =D Ma] á h will they weep and lament, as cut off on all sides without counsel and without remedy, they will according to the Eyangelist, beat and strike their breasts.

21.—Then will the J udge divide the good from the bad, and he will place the goats on his left hand and the sheep upon his right. Who will those happy ones be that will find themselves in this place of honour? Punish me here Oh Lord; slay me here, torture me here, burn me here, that there I may be set on thy right hand. Then will begin the judgment, the cause of each one will then be tried, as it is written Dan. vii. by the Prophet Daniel, ‘I was attentive aoe. and beheld until thrones were placed, and the Ancient of days sat; his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like clean wool; his throne like flames of fire; the wheels of it like a burning fire. A swift stream of fire issued forth from before him; thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him.” ‘+I beheld this in the vision of the night, and lo one like the Son of Man.came with the clouds of _heaven.”- Thus far the words of Daniel, to which St. John Apoc. xx. 12, adds; “And I saw the great and small standing'in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” Take notice here, brother, of the rule according to which thou art to be judged, take notice here of the measure and coin by which all the good thou hast done is to be calculated, and not by the foolish judgment of the world, which holds in its hand the false scales of Canaan, where virtue and vice weigh much alike. In these books are all the actions of our lives so minutely Osea. xli. recorded, that not even will a word that has fallen from thy lips escape being noted and set d in the registry.

22.—But for what, thinkest thou, shall we have to render OL a an account? ‘Thou hast counted, Oh Lord, all the steps of my life,” says Job. Of every idle word and of every thought will an account be demanded, and not only of every thought and every word but also of every thing which we were bound to do but omitted to perform. If thou Mat. xii. shalt say: Oh Lord, ‘I swore not.” The Judge will say: “Thy son or thy servant swore, and thou didst not chastise him.” And we shall™not only be called to an account for our evil deeds, but also for our good actions both as regards our intentions and our manner of performing them. Finally, according to St. Gregory, there will be required from each one an account of how he spent every moment of his lifo. If this be true, whence such security and heedlessness in those who believe it? To what do we trust? How do we sit content and flatter ourselves in the midst of such dangers? How comes it that those who have most cause to fear, fear least, and those who have least cause, fear the most? Job was a just man according to the declaration of God himself, and yet lived in such great dread of this account, as to Job il. ery out; “What shall I do when God shall arise to judge? And when he begins to question me, what shall I answer him?” These are the words of a truly contrite and sorrowful heart. ‘‘ What shall I do?” he says. As if he should say, ‘‘One care always weighs upon me, and a nail is always fastened in my heart and will not let me rest; what shall I do? Where shall I go? What shall I answer when God shall enter into judgment with me?” Happy saint, why dost thou tremble? Why art thou in trouble? Art not thou he who said, I was a father to the poor, an eye to the blind, and feet to the lame? Art not thou he who said that in all thy life thy own heart could not accuse thee of wickedness ? Since then thou art so innocent, why art thou afraid? Because this holy man knew well that God. did not see with the eye of the flesh, nor judge according to the judgment of men; in whose eyes oftentimes those things look bright that are an abomination before the Lord. Oh truly just man! and just because thou livest always in fear! My brethren, this fear condemns us for our false security, this declaration overthrows our vain confidence. Is there one amongst us whom this solicitude has ‘deprived of a single meal or one night’s rest ? But such as truly feel this care as they ought to do, sometimes lose sleep and forget their meals and something even more. We read in the lives ef the Fathers, how one of these holy men once observing one of his disciples’ laughing addressed him. ‘ How is this? Hast not thou to render an account before the Lord of heaven and earth, and darest thou to laugh?’’ It seemed to this holy man that no one would dare to laugh who looked forward to the accounting day.

-23.—Then there will be no lack of accusers and witnesses in the cause. For our own consciences will be the witnesses, which will cry out against us. Every created thing which we have made improper use of will rise up as a witness against us, and above all our Lord himself whom we have offended, will appear as a witness against us, as he tells us by his

Mal, ili. prophet, saying, ‘‘ I will be a speedy witness against sorcerers, and adulterers, and false swearers, and them that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widows and the fatherless; and oppress the stranger, and have not feared me, saith the Lord of hosts.”

24.—Neither shall there be want of accusers and Satan himself shall be the prosecutor, he, according to St. Augustin, will boldly assert his rights before the Judge, and say; Most just Judge, I call on thee to condemn and deliver into my hands these traitors, as they have ever been my subjects and obeyed my will. Thine they were because thou didst create them, thou didst make them after thy own image and likeness and didst redeem them with thy blood. But they have blotted out thy likeness and assumed mine, they have renounced obedience to thee and adopted me as their commander, they have set at nought thy commandments and have followed mine. They have lived under my inspirations, they have imitated my works, they have walked in my paths and in all they have worn my livery. Behold they have been mine rather than thine, without gift, without promise, without my having been nailed to the cross for their salvation, they have obeyed my orders and not thine. If I commanded them to swear, to perjure themselves, to rob, to commit murder or adultery and to deny thy holy name, they obeyed me with joy and alacrity. Tf I enjoined them to sacrifice their property, their life and their soul itself for a point of honour the importance of which I exaggerated to them, or for a deceitful pleasure to which I _ seduced them, they risked all for me: but for thee their God, their Creator and their Redeemer, to whom they owed pro- - perty, health and life itself, who proffered thy grace, promised thy glory and above all who suffered death upon the cross for them ; in return for all they refused to undergo the slightest trouble in the world. How often has it occurred to thee to stand at their doors wounded and poor and naked and to find that they cared more for fattening their dogs and horses, for covering their walls with silk and golden tapestry than for thee? And if this be true, it is but just that the day of chastisement should come for all their injuries and affronts to thy sovereign Majesty.

25.—Having heard the charge the Judge will pronounce upon the wicked that awful sentence, ‘‘Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for Satan and his angels; Mat. xxv. because, I was hungry and ye gave me not - to eat; thirsty, and ye gave me not to drink, &c.’’ And thus will the good go to life eternal and the wicked to everlasting fire. Who can describe the feelings of the wretches to whom these words are addressed? Then will they call upon the mountains to fall upon them and the hills to cover them. Luke xxiii. Then will they blaspheme, deny and curse their God and the day of their birth and their unhappy lot.

Then absolutely will their day have an end, their glory finish and the book of their prosperity be shut: and everlasting tortures will seize for ever on their bodies; as St. John explains it in the Apocalypse, under the name of Babylon, in

Apoc. xviii, 9. these words: ‘‘And the kings of the earth who have committed fornication and lived in delicacies with her shall weep and bewail themselves over her, when they .

shall see the smoke of her burning; standing afar off for fear of her torments, saying; Alas! alas! that great city Babylon, that mighty city; for in one hour is thy judgment come! And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her ; for no man shall buy their merchandise any more; merchandise of gold, and silver and precious stones; and of pearls, _ and fine linen, and purple and silk and scarlet, and all manner of vessels of ivory and all manner of vessels of precious stones, and of brass, for in one hour are so great riches come to nought.”’

26.—My dear brethren, if all this has to happen, let us prepare in time, and take the advice of him who chose to be our mediator before being our judge. No one better knows our wants on that day than he who will be the judge. He himself teaches us in a few words all that is essential; when Luke xxi. 34, he says by St. Luke “Take heed to yourselves, lest perhaps your hearts be over-charged with surfeiting”

and drunkenness, and the cares of this life; and that day come upon yousuddenly, for as asnare shall it come upon all that sit upon the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, . praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all those things that are to come and to stand before the Son of man.” Brethren, bearing this in mind, come and arouse yourselves from this deep sleep, before the dark night of death encompasses you, before that dreadful day shall arrive of which the prophet says: ‘‘ Behold he cometh, and _ Mal.iii,l.and2, vho shall stand to see him? And who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? Truly, he bi - a AA only can await the day of Judgment, who shall have taken the Judge by the hand, and first entered into judgment with himself.”