obeyed my suggestions, and disobeyed Thy laws and therefore though he belong to Thee by right, yet he is fallen to me by default: he is Thine in respect of his workmanship, but mine by the rebellion of his will, and disorder of his affections: having yielded himself to follow my temptations, and to forsake the paths of Thy commandments"."

But it is not the devil alone that shall thus accuse thee, when arraigned at the bar of Divine Judgment; but, as St. Chrysostom saith, the heavens and the earth, and the sea, the sun and the moon and the stars, both nights and days, and all the creatures thou hast abused, shall bear witness against thee but above all,

Thine Own conscience shall be as a thousand witnesses; for being then freed from this clog and damp of the corruptible flesh, all thy imaginations and desires, all thy words and works spoken and done in the body, shall appear to thy conscience in their native, genuine, and proper colours, without any ignorance or oblivion, mispersuasion, or misprision, which now blinds the minds

of many thousands, to their eternal ruin on that day.

Oh, who shall then be able to answer Thee one of a thousand (Thou most worthy Judge Eternal) if Thou shouldest be extreme to mark what is done amiss, and Thy great mercy intervene not to mitigate the rigour of Thy justices!

"But in Thee have I put my trust Thou shalt an

swer for me, O Lord my God"," I have no other advocate to plead my cause, but my righteous Judge Himself, from Whom, in my daily prayers, "I have required that they, even mine enemies, should not triumph over mei," when I stand to be judged before the tribunal of Heaven.

"Who will set scourges over my thoughts, and the discipline of wisdom over my heart? that they spare me not for mine ignorances, and pass not by my sins: lest mine ignorances increase, and my sins abound to my destruction, and I fall before mine adversaries in the day of my trial, and mine enemies, the spirits and powers of darkness, rejoice over me, whose hope is far from Thy mercy."

8 Psalm cxxx. 3. Ecclus. xxiii. 2, 3.

MEDITATION II.

"My flesh trembleth for fear of Thee, and I am afraid of Thy judgments ';" when I consider the severity of many of Thy temporal judgments, which are now intended to drive sinners to repentance, that Thou mightest spare them hereafter, I cannot but foresee the inconceivable rigour of Thy eternal judgments, which intend punishment only, without any thought of future mercy to spare and to forgive, as in this life.

And I, vile sinner, have great cause to fear, as a strict examination which all must undergo, so a severe sentence to pass upon me, having not SO conscientiously as I ought obeyed the | sacred dictates of the saving grace of God, "teaching us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world m"

With what face then shall I look for the "blessed hope," or hope for blessedness upon the appearance "of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ"?"

I have a greater cause to fear than to hope; to waive, than to await His coming.

But how shall I avoid, or whither shall I flee from the face of my Judge? whither but from an offended God, to a merciful Redeemer ? from the throne of Thy justice, to Thy mercy-seat? To meet Thee now with repentance in my heart, and the fruits thereof brought forth in the actions of my life; and with such spiritual wings cemented with the blood of my Redeemer, I may hope to flee from the wrath to come.

O God, Who art justly displeased for our sins, and pacified by our true and sincere repentance; spare, O spare all those who confess their sins unto Thee: that they whose consciences by sin are accused, by Thy merciful pardon may be absolved, through Christ our Lord.

MEDITATION III.

"Before judgment examine thyself; and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy","

And I, upon the examination of myself, do find my heart foul and polluted, and

n Tit. ii. 13.

• Mat. iii. 7, 8.

my life stained with manifold offences; but that I may escape the judgment of God, I judge myself to be a miserable sinner, I judge myself to have incurred the Lord's just indignation, to have deserved the dismal sentence of condemnation to pass upon me. "For I have sinned, and I have done wickedly, and I have committed iniquity, and have rebelled against the Lord, by departing from His most holy laws and judgments."

Many will be my accusers, when I come to my great trial upon life or death eternal; and many and great accusations have they to lay against me; the devil and his angels, whose suggestions unto evil I have too often followed; many men, and many women too, who have been conscious of my sins, and of whose sins I have been many ways guilty; all the good creatures of God I have abused, and His mercies in them; all those evil deeds I have committed, and the many good offices I have wittingly omitted, all which stand upon

9 Psalm xxvi. 1.

record in the Lord's black book of remembrance; and mine own conscience shall bear witness to all these undeniable evidences.

These are the books that shall be opened against me; and I have not what to answer for myself: "but my trust is in the tender mercies of the Lord, therefore I shall not fall," and be cast in my trial. Holy Jesus, Who wast condemned being innocent, acquit me though greatly nocent, through faith in Thy blood.

66

ness"

Judge me, O Lord, according to Thy righteousnot after mine; for it is little, and good for little; but it is Thy righteousness, Holy Jesus, both active and passive, I must plead for my acquittance when judged by Thee; then, O then, "let not mine enemies triumph over me."

"Let them not say in their hearts, There, there, so would we have it: neither let them say, We have devoured him;" but in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment,

Good Lord, deliver me.

Psalm xxxv. 25.

"WHEN the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all His holy Angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of his glory'.' "And before Him all nations shall be gathered"."

This is called" the day of the Lord," by way of eminence, as being of all days the greatest.

I.

And that, first, in respect of the great appearance which shall be upon this day, both of the Judge, and the persons to be judged.

1. Great and glorious, terrible and amazing, shall be the appearance of the Judge Himself, with all his numerous attendants.

His personal appearance shall be in Majesty and great Glory: not in respect of His Divine nature, for that appears not to be in the eyes of flesh; but in respect of His human nature assumed.

That nature which appeared here upon earth, poor, mean, contemptible: wherein He was despised and scorned, whipped and

+ Mat. xxv. 31. u Mat. xxv. 32.

scourged, beaten and buffeted, bespattered with ignominious spittings and vile reproaches: racked, disjointed, distorted, deformed, nailed and pierced, crucified and died shall upon this day appear clothed with majes ty, and crowned with glory: every eye shall see Him, even they also who pierced Him; and the marks in His nailed hands, in His nailed feet, and in His gored side, shall appear as so many shining stars for their glittering splendour.

2. A great day, in respect of the numerous attendants upon this great Judge; of whom "when the ancient of days did sit... thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him; the judgment was set, and the books were opened "."

When this day of the Lord cometh, the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood; and all the glittering stars shall fall from their orbs: but then the Sun of Righteousness shall shine, attend1 Thes. v. 2. 7 Dan. vii. 9.

ed by all the triumphing Saints and Angels of Heaven, who shall appear as so many stars in the firmament above, dazzling the eyes, and astonishing the hearts of all persons to be judged: and this renders,

3. This day, a great day, in respect of the appearance that shall then be; even of all the men that ever lived, or shall live, upon the face of the earth: and of all the Angels also, who are more numerous than men, in the judgment of the schoolman, who saith, That there be as many, if not more, of spiritual than of corporeal beings'.

4. A great day, in respect of the multitudinous trials, even of all the works that ever have been done, from the creation to the dissolution of all things under the sun: and not our works only, but,

5. Of all our words, even of every idle word, an account must be given: "By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."

6. Not our words and works only, but even the inward thoughts, intentions, and desires of our hearts

T. Aquin., p. 1. q. 50. Art. 3.
Psalm xe. 8.

shall be exposed to open view and censure: "The Lord will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of all hearts."

The most seared conscience of the wicked, and the most subtle secret conscience of the hypocrite, shall, by the all-piercing light of the Divine Majesty, be displayed, and appear as manifest and open as if all the counsels thereof had been written with a beam of the sun: "For Thou, O Lord, hast set our misdeeds before Thee, and our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance"."

It is recorded of Agathon, a person famous amongst the Egyptian Fathers for strictness and holiness of life, that he was notwithstanding exceedingly afraid upon his approaching death : and being demanded the reason of his fear, by such as knew the innocence of his life, he answered, That the judg ments of God do vastly differ from the judgments of men: "Every way of man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weigheth the spirits." Woe, woe to the most holy and innocent life