death? Go; my only object was to teach you what just reason I have for my fears.
Sinners should think of this now. Wicked Christian I wo to you if, more deaf than the mouldering bones which at the sound of the trumpet shall rise at once out of their graves, you close your ears to my voice, or rather to the voice of God who speaks to you by my mouth! Wo to you if the meditation on that dreadful day in which all nature shall be disturbed and men shall wither away with fear does not inspire you with a salutary fear, and with the resolution of at last amending your sinful life! But if you now refuse to listen to me who am only saying what is for your eternal salvation, you will one day against your will have to hear that terrible voice whose only utterance for you will be the sentence of your eternal damnation. Therefore I advise you in the words of St. Paul: “Rise thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead;”[1] arise and put on the mourning garments of true contrition for your sins, so that when the trumpet calls out: Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment! you may arise with joy and exultation to eternal life.
The just and the wicked shall resume their former bodies, but in very different circumstances. Again, what a change shall take place in the minds of many, of the just on one side and of the wicked on the other, when the souls of both shall rejoin their bodies, which in the case of the former shall be glorified, angelically beautiful, and brighter than the sun; but in the case of the latter, deformed, hideous, and emitting a foul odor. With what joy will not the souls of the just welcome their bodies and lead them into everlasting happiness! Come, the just soul shall say; come, my dear companion, and share in my glory which thou hast helped me to gain! Give me the hand with which thou hast labored every day for the honor of God; with which thou hast given such generous alms to the poor; which thou hast never misused for injustice or impurity! Give me the eyes that thou didst so carefully guard against dangerous looks! Give me the mouth that thou hast opened so candidly in the tribunal of penance to confess thy sins, a confession that has saved us from the fire of hell! Give me that flesh that thou hast so often mortified for God’s sake and to gain heaven! Come now, and let us enter together into the joys of heaven, where we shall never be separated from each other again! And on the other hand, with what horror, with what curses and blasphemies, the soul of the reprobate shall re-
- ↑ Surge, qui dormis, et exurge a mortuis.—Ephes. v. 14.
