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?¹²²¹²²   Matt. xxiv. 29. 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.¹²³¹²³   Matt. xxv. 41. 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.¹²⁴¹²⁴   Zeph. i. 15, 16. Verily bitter is the voice of the day of the Lord; the mighty man shall be afflicted therein.¹²⁵¹²⁵   Zeph. i. 14. acc. to the Vulgate. For they that in the pride of their hearts despise the will of God, boast themselves now in the following of their own wills; but then shall they be cast into everlasting fire which shall not be quenched for ever, and the worm that dieth not shall feed upon them,¹²⁶¹²⁶   See Isa. lxvi. 24; Mark ix. 45. and the smoke of their torment shall ascend up for ever and ever.¹²⁷¹²⁷   Rev. xiv. 11.