XIII. A Meditation on the Day of Judgment, wherein the Goats shall be set on the Left Hand.
St. Anselm The Devotions of Saint Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?119Then shall idle gladness depart, the pomp of place shall be put to flight, the pursuit of worldly greatness shall be proved deceitful.
Blessed is the soul, which in that judgment a good conscience defendeth, and the remembrance of a holy life protecteth; which, while she was yet in the flesh, was often cleansed by the water of repentance, adorned with earnestness of confession, enlightened by meditation on God's holy law; which humility made gentle, and patience quiet, and obedience free from seeking her own will, and charity fervent in the performance of every virtue. Such a soul shall not fear that dreadful hour, and shall not be ashamed when she speaketh with her enemies in the gate.120 For she will have fellowship with them, of whom the Scripture saith: When He hath given His beloved sleep, behold the inheritance of the Lord.121
XIII A Meditation on the Day of Judgment, wherein the Goats shall be set on the Left Hand.
BUT who can say anything of that terrible sentence of the Last Judgment, whereby the sheep shall be set on the right hand and the goats on the left? How great shall be the trembling when the powers of the heavens shall be shaken?122 How great the confusion, the lamentation, the crying of those that howl, when they that neglect to do good shall be met by that terrible word, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.123 Verily that day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm.124 Verily bitter is the voice of the day of the Lord; the
1 Pet. iv. 18.
Ps. cxxvii. 6.
Ps. cxxvii. 3, 4. This in the Vulgate reads thus: When He hath given His beloved sleep, behold the inheritance of the Lord, even children, a reward, the fruit of the womb. This is interpreted by St Jerome of the saints at rest. His beloved are the saints, who after the slumber of this present life, seem to sleep here, that they may be counted worthy in the resurrection to come to life eternal. When the saints have departed out of this world and obtained their rest, then shall they be made the inheritance of the Lord, because they are no longer subject to temptations.
Matt. xxiv. 29.
Matt. xxv. 41.
Zeph. i. 15, 16.