Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/51

 also of  neglected  good. He will  examine  even  your  good actions themselves,  and  discover  if  they  be  accompanied with any  imperfections  as  to  intention  and  exactness. " I  will  judge  justices,"  he  says  by  the  mouth  of  David. (Ps. lxxiv.  3.)  And  by  Sophonias,  "  I  will  search  Jerusalem with  lamps." (i. 12.)  If  God  judge  so  strictly the "justices"  of  the  Saints,  and  "search"  even  "Jerusalem," with  how  much  more  rigor  will  He  act  towards Babylon and  sinners!

III. Ask yourself  this  all-important  question:  "What shall  I  be  able  to  say  or  produce  in  my  defence,  at  that fearful  moment?" Take the  advice  of  Ecclesiasticus, " Before  sickness  take  a  medicine,  and  before  judgment examine  thyself,  and  thou  shalt  find  mercy  in  the  sight of  God." (Ecclus. xviii.  20.)  Whilst  you  have  power  and time, do  good,  and  fly  from  evil;  for  this  conduct  alone will screen  you  from  the  terrors  of  judgment.

I. Consider  the  miserable  situation  of  a  sinful  soul,  at the  moment  of  judgment,  if  it  be  found  wanting,  and  in the  state  of  sin. For if  that  should  be  its  unfortunate case, it  will  be  completely  degraded. — In the  first  place, it will  be  deprived  of  the  gift  of  faith;  because  its  actions did not  correspond  with  its  faith. 2. It  will  be  stripped of the  gift  of  hope;  for,  having  hitherto  neglected  to  adopt the means  of  gaining  what  Christians  hope  for,  it  can now hope  no  longer. 3. Its  supernatural  graces,  if  it had  any,  will  be  taken  from  it,  and  all  its  moral  virtues, which it  has  abused. 4. Its  natural  knowledge  will  still remain, but  will  remain  to  torture  it,  for  it  will  forever know and  feel  what  it  has  lost  and  what  it  has  gained, by sinning. 5. The  character  of  baptism  and  every  other