CONSIDERATION XXIV
Particular Judgment
"For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ" 2 Cor. v. 10.
First Point.
LET us now consider the soul's appearance before God; the accusation, the examination, and the sentence. And, in the first place, speaking of the appearance of the soul before the Judge, it is the general opinion of theologians, that the particular judgment takes place at the very moment when man expires, and that, at the same place in which the soul is separated from the body, it is judged by Jesus Christ, Who will not send, but will come Himself to judge its cause, " for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not." (S. Luke xii. 40.) S. Augustine observes, " He will come with love for us; with terror for the ungodly." Oh, what fear will that one feel, when he beholds the Redeemer for the first time, and beholds Him in wrath! " Who can stand before His indignation?" (Nah. i. 6.) To see the wrath of the Judge will be the forerunner of condemnation. " The wrath of a king is as messengers of death." (Prov. xvi. 14.) S. Bernard remarks, that, the soul will suffer more in seeing Jesus wrathful, than in being even in hell itself. Very often criminals are seen to perspire with a cold perspiration upon being brought before some earthly judge. When Piso appeared before the Senate in a criminal's dress, he was so troubled that he committed suicide. What grief is it to a son to see his father really offended; or to a subject to see his prince deeply
