TWENTY-NINTH SERMON.
ON THE SUDDENNESS WITH WHICH THE LAST DAY SHALL COME.
Subject.
1. After the appearance of the signs the last day shall come upon men quite suddenly and unexpectedly; 2. Therefore we should always hold ourselves in readiness for it.—Preached on the third Sunday of Advent.
Text.
Dirigite viam Domini.—John i. 23.
“Make straight the way of the Lord.”
Introduction.
Hitherto we have been considering the signs that are to precede the end of the world and the day of general judgment, and also the persecution that is to be carried on by Antichrist, who will turn almost the whole world away from Jesus Christ by offering worldly goods, honors, and pleasures as a bribe, by deceiving people with false miracles and hypocrisy, and by forcing them to adopt his views, adhere to his side by means of cruel tortures; we have seen, too, what we are to learn from all this. In another sermon we considered the terrible signs that shall be seen in the sun, moon, and stars, and the disturbance that is to take place in all the elements, signs that shall fill the wicked with fear, but the good with consolation; and the same is to be understood of public calamities that afflict the world in our own times. On last Sunday we saw that those signs are proofs and effects of the divine mercy and goodness toward sinners, so that they being terrified may enter into themselves, do penance, and escape the anger of God on the last day; so also the calamities that we suffer from nowadays are warning voices coming from the goodness and mercy of God, to chastise us for our sins, induce us to amend, and so help us to escape the eternal punishment of hell. And what is to happen after all those signs and portents, my dear brethren? “Then they shall see the Son of man;” then the last day shall come, and Jesus Christ in His majesty and glory shall appear in the valley of Josaphat to judge
