Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/611

 and the  dead  were  judged  by  those  things  which  were written in  the  books,  according  to  their  works."  All our  good  deeds  and  bad,  weighty  and  trivial,  aye, even  every  idle  word,  all  our  thoughts,  words,  deeds, and  omissions,  and  the  deeds  of  others  in  which  we were  either  concerned  or  implicated — all  are  there recorded  for  or  against  us,  and  by  them  shall  we  be judged.  And  if  the  just  man  trembles  for  his  fate and  is  barely  saved,  what  shall  we  say  of  the  sinner? Oh,  woe  to  us  if  our  one-time  friend,  but  secret enemy,  the  devil,  shall  be  able  before  the  judgment-seat  to  turn  the  weight  of  evidence  against  us!  Woe to  us  if  it  shall  there  appear  that  we  deliberately  replaced God's  image  in  our  soul  with  the  brand  of  the beast!  Woe  to  us  if  while  the  Saviour's  promises failed  to  elicit  our  service,  we  yielded  to  the  devil's empty  blandishments! That awful  sentence  will  then be ours:  "  Depart  from  Me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels." Christ cursed  the  fig-tree,  and  it  withered  to  the root — a figure  of  the  blighting  effect  of  that  sentence on an  immortal  soul,  for  thenceforth  the  day  of growth  in  virtue  and  of  bearing  fruits  worthy  of penance  is  closed  forever. Nor will  it  avail  us  aught to call  on  the  rocks  and  hills  to  fall  upon  and  hide  us, for the  sentence  once  pronounced  will  be  executed. "And," says  St. John (Apoc.  xviii.  21),  "a  mighty angel  took  up,  as  it  were,  a  great  millstone  and  cast it  into  the  sea  saying:  With  such  violence  as  this shall  Babylon  be  thrown  down,"  and  he  continues (Apoc. xiv.  11),  "  the  smoke  of  their  torments  shall