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Preparation.
- Place yourself in the Presence of God.
- Entreat Him to inspire you.
Considerations.
- When the time comes which God has appointed for the end of
this world, and after many terrible signs and warnings, which
will overwhelm men with fear,--the whole earth will be
destroyed, and nothing then left.
- Afterwards, all men, save those already risen, shall rise
from the dead, and at the voice of the Archangel appear in the
valley of Jehoshaphat. But alas, with what divers aspects! for
some will be glorious and shining, others horrible and ghastly.
- Consider the majesty with which the Sovereign Judge will
appear surrounded by all His Saints and Angels; His Cross, the
Sign of Grace to the good and of terror to the evil, shining
brighter than the sun.
- This Sovereign Judge will with His awful word, instantly
fulfilled, separate the evil and the good, setting the one on
His Right Hand, the other on His Left--an eternal separation,
for they will never meet again.
- This separation made, the books of conscience will be
opened, and all men will behold the malice of the wicked, and
how they have contemned God; as also the penitence of the good,
and the results of the grace they received. Nothing will be hid.
O my God, what confusion to the one, what rejoicing to the
other! Consider the final sentence of the wicked. "Depart from
Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels." Dwell upon these awful words. "Go," He says--for
ever discarding these wretched sinners, banishing them for ever
from His Presence. He calls them "cursed:" O my soul, what a
curse: a curse involving all other maledictions, all possible
evil, an irrevocable curse, including all time and eternity;
condemning them to everlasting fire. Think what that eternity of
suffering implies.
- Then consider the sentence of the good. "Come," the Judge
says--O blessed loving word with which God draws us to Himself
and receives us in His Bosom. "Blessed of My Father"--O blessing
above all blessings! "inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from
the beginning of the world." O my God, and that Kingdom will
know no end!
Affections and Resolutions.
- Tremble, my soul, at the thought. O God, who will be my stay
in that hour when the pillars of the earth are shaken?
- Abhor your sins, which alone can cause you to be lost when
that fearful day comes. Surely I will judge myself now, that I
be not judged;--I will examine my conscience, accuse, condemn,
punish myself, that the Judge may not condemn me then. I will
confess my faults, and follow the counsels given me.
Conclusion.
Thank God for having given you means of safety in that terrible
Day, and time for repentance.
Offer Him your heart, and ask for grace to use it well. OUR
FATHER, etc.
Gather your bouquet.
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