Chapter LXIII.
THE LAST JUDGMENT.
[Mat. 25, 31—46.]
AFTER Jesus had admonished His disciples to prepare for the Last Judgment, He described it to them in these words:
“When the Son of Man shall come in His majesty, and all His angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the seat of His majesty[1]. All nations shall be gathered together before Him; and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth[2] the sheep from the goats[3]. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand[4], but the goats on the left.
“Then the King shall say to them that shall be on His right hand: ‘Come, ye blessed[5] of My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ — Then shall the just answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when have we done these things to Thee?’ The King shall answer and say to them: ‘Amen, I say to you, as long as you have done it to one of these, My least brethren, you did it to Me.’
“Then shall He say to them on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me not in; naked, and you clothed Me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then shall they also answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see Thee
- ↑ The seat of His majesty. On His judgment-seat.
- ↑ Separateth. When, in the evening, he pens them in the fold.
- ↑ Goats. The gentle, docile, patient and harmless sheep are taken as a figure of the just; whereas the wild, unruly, quarrelsome and unclean goats are a type of the wicked. This separation of the evil from the good will be made by the angels of God, as we learnt in the parable of the seed and the cockle (chapter XXVIII).
- ↑ His right hand. Which is the place of honour.
- ↑ Ye blessed. They are styled thus, because the Father has called them through His Son to be heirs of His kingdom, and has showered blessings and graces on them.
