by any means; the rod of the wicked shall be felt for a time upon the lot of the just; but it shall not be left there. The great day is to come when a complete change shall be made. The time shall come when Christ alone appearing in His glory shall assemble before Him all nations, and divide them, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”[1] And that is the last day of the world, when the trumpet shall summon the dead from their graves to appear before the judgment-seat of Christ in the valley of Josaphat. And how great shall then be the glory of the elect, when they see themselves justified from the calumnies they suffered so patiently on earth, while their persecutors are put to shame in the sight of the whole world! What a consolation it is even during this life to see truth sometimes prevailing and injured innocence protected! What joy there will then be on that day for the pious, when their holiness and virtue are made manifest to all, and when they see what treasures of merit they gained by their patient silence, and how their good name and honor are amply restored to them!
The early Christians were comforted by the thought of the last day. It was, according to Tertullian, the thought of the last day that always comforted the early Christians; it was to that they appealed whenever they were falsely accused before the judges or unjustly condemned to death. “You sentence us,” they used to say, as we learn from Tertullian, “without giving us a hearing; the only crime we are guilty of is that we are Christians; but we appeal from your judgments to that of the Almighty God; He will judge us and you at the last day. Now you may hold your heads as high as you please; then you shall not be able to save your necks from the noose, and we shall have our case tried in the sight of the whole world.” In the same strain St. Cyprian wrote to a wicked calumniator: You accuse me of words that I never dreamt of uttering; of deeds that I never dreamt of doing; but wait a while; one day we shall both appear in the same place; there we shall have the case tried: “you have my letter, and I have yours; on the day of judgment they shall both be read before the tribunal of Christ,”[2] and the whole world shall then be able to see who is right.
- ↑ Modo quidem justi aliquantum laborant, et modo aliquanto iniqui dominantur justis. Numquid sic erit semper, ut iniqui imperent justis? Non sic erit: sentitur ad tempus virga peccatorum super sortem justorum, sed non ibi relinquetur. Veniet tempus quando unus Christus in claritate sua apparens congregabit ante se omnes gentes, et dividet eas, 8icut dividit pastor oves ab hædis.—S. Aug. in hunc locum.
- ↑ Habes tu literas meas, et ego tuas; in die judicii ante tribunal Christi utraque recitabuntur.—S. Cypr. advers. detract. Ep. 9.
