A golden treatise of mental prayer/A meditation for Thursday: of the latter judgment
A MEDITATION FOR THURSDAY.
This day thou shalt meditate upon the latter judgment, to the end, that thou mayest stir up in thy soul two principal effects, which every Christian soul ought to have, to wit, the fear of God and hatred of sin.
Place, therefore, first before thine eyes, how terrible that day will be, wherein all the litigious causes of the sons of Adam shall be decided, and a final end put to the processes of our whole life, and what shall be ordained of those for all eternity, shall be publicly pronounced to the view of the whole world.
This day comprehendeth in it, all the days of all ages, past, present, and to come; and exacteth a severe account of all the actions of all men, pouring out all the fury upon men, heaped up together from forepassed ages; because then the torrent of Almighty God's vengeance shall overflow beyond its limits, rushing with a greater violence, by how much more it was the longer detained, and at once shall overwhelm all iniquity from the creation of the world.
Consider, secondly, the dreadful signs which shall go before this day. For our Saviour saith: Erunt signa in sole, et luna, et stellis.[1] And all creatures of heaven and earth shall tremble, understanding their ruin to be at hand. Men also, as our Saviour saith, worn and withered away, perceiving the horrible raging of the sea; and they, themselves, scarce a hair's breadth distant from death. Seeing also, the mighty risings and inundations of the water; and by these conjecturing the calamities and misery these prodigious signs threaten to the world, will be amazed with such a horror, that they will be without life, without voice, without color, or human shape; they will be dead before they die, dreading their damnation before the sentence be pronounced, imagining the future pain, by their present distemper. Then every one out of exceeding fear, will be so solicitous of himself, that he will nothing regard others whosoever they be, parents, or husbands, or wives, or friends, or companions.
Imagine, thirdly, the universal deluge of fire, which shall go before this judgment; that dreadful noise of the trumpet, which one of the archangels shall blow, wherewith all the people of the whole world shall be summoned together, in one place, making their appearance before the judgment seat; and last of all, that dreadful majesty, the supreme judge of the quick and dead, shall assume to himself upon this tribunal.
Fourthly, consider, what exact account shall be required of every one. Holy Job saith: "Vere scio quod ita sit: et quod non justificelur homo compositifs Deo. Si voluerit contendere cum eo, non potent ei respondere unum pro mille."[2] "Indeed, I know it is so, and that man cannot be justified, compared with God. If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one for a thousand." What then shall become of man, when God shall begin to handle him according to the rigor of his justice, when he shall speak to his conscience inwardly?
O wicked and perverse man, what hast thou seen in me, that out of the height of impiety, despising me, thou shouldst join with my enemies! I have created thee according to mine own image and likeness: I have illuminated thee with the light of faith: I have seasoned thee in the Christian faith from thy infancy: I have redeemed thee with my own blood: for thy sake I have fasted, watched, prayed, undergone tedious journies, sweat blood, and endured many more miseries in the course of my life: for the love of thee, I have suffered persecutions, injuries, blasphemies, and the very cross itself. This cross is my witness, these nails my witnesses, which thou seest imprinted in my hands and feet: to conclude, heaven and earth that did behold my passion are my witnesses. How I have drawn thy soul. How I have redeemed thee with the ransom of my precious blood.
How hast thou esteemed this precious pearl? bought by me with an inestimable price. O generation of vipers, why hast thou chosen to serve my enemy with a great deal of pain, and neglected thy duty towards me, thy Creator, and Redeemer, which thou mightest have performed with a great deal of pleasure. I have called thee, and thou wouldst not answer to my vocation. I have knocked at the door of thy heart, and thou hast refused me entrance. I have stretched my arms upon the cross, and thou hast not regarded me, thou despiseth my counsels, promises, and threatenings. Pronounce, therefore, ye angels, the sentence, and be judges betwixt me and my vineyard. "Quid est quod debui uttra facere vineae meae ut non feci ei?" " What is there that I ought to do more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it."[3]
What will the reprobate and scoffers at divine mysteries answer? they that have hissed at virtue, derided simplicity, and observed better the laws of the world than of God; they that have stopped their ears at the voice of God; they who have contemned bis divine inspirations; they who have been rebellious against his commandments, and ungrateful for his benetits. What will those libertines say, who letting themselves loose to all vices, have lived as if there were no God at all, or that he did not regard the things that are done below. What will those say, who have followed their commodities, gust, and pleasure for a law, "Quid facietis in die visitaiionis et calamitatis de longe venientis, ad cujus confuegietis auxilium? et ubi derelinquetis gloriam vestram ut non incurvimiiii sub vinculo et cum interjectis cadatis?" What will ye do in the day of visitation and of calamity coming from afar? To whose help will ye flee, and where will ye leave your glory, that ye be not bowed under the bond, and fall with the slain?"
Fifthly, consider, that terrible sentence, which, after judgment, the supreme Judge pronounceth against the wicked; which he will thunder out with such a dreadful noise, that at the sound thereof, the ears of the standers by will ring, as the prophet Isaias saith:[4] "Labia ejus repleta sunt indignatione, et Ihigua ejus quasi ignis devorans." "His lips are filled with indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire." For what flannes can be so ardent as those words: "Discedite a me maledicti in ignum esternum,qui paratiis est Diabolo et angelis ejus." " Go from me, O ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels." Every word of which sentence, is full of bitter torment. For who is able to comprehend what this separation is, what curse, what fire, what society, and, finally, what eternity, to which the wicked are adjudged by force of this sentence?