what was done in her, came and fell down before Him.”[1]
But on that day He will be more terrible to the sinner than hell itself. If, I say, the mere voice of the then loving Saviour, when He was actually distributing His benefits, could inspire such fear, how will it be on that day when the same Man shall come in all His majesty and glory, surrounded by a thousand times a hundred thousand angels, having laid aside all His mercy and compassion, and resembling a ravening lion in His wrath and anger? How will it be when He shall have the sinner bound before His throne, and shall speak to him in a terrible voice, upbraiding him with having neglected the example of his Saviour’s most holy life? Oh, “who shall stand to see Him?” Will you be able to do it, wicked Christian? But what am I saying? Will you, O holy and innocent Job? Oh, no! he answers; I shall not be able to bear the sight of my Judge, nor to look at His face! “Nor shall the sight of man behold me: Thy eyes are upon me, and I shall be no more.”[2] Let the heavens thunder and send forth their lightnings on that day in the most awful manner; let the sun be darkened and turn day into night; let the moon lose her light and become blood-red; let the stars in confusion fall from the heavens, the sea roar and pass its bounds, and all the living things on earth grow mad with terror: all that will not frighten me so much as one look of that Man. Of what Man? Of Christ Jesus! Oh that I may not have to face Him! But what are you saying? Are you afraid of that countenance that makes the joy of the angels and elect in heaven? that countenance that surpasses the sun in beauty? that countenance that so many patriarchs, prophets, and kings have longed to behold, and have not seen? Yes; that is what I fear. “Nor shall the sight of man behold me:” hell would be more tolerable to me than the sight of that Man. “Who will grant me this, that Thou mayest protect me in hell, and hide me till Thy wrath pass?”[3] Thus, according to St. Basil, holy Job speaks in the person of the sinner before the sacred humanity of Our Lord in the tribunal of judgment. “Who will grant me this, that Thou mayest protect me in hell?” Eternal Father! protect me; hide me! What, accursed sinner! why should I protect thee? where should I hide
- ↑ Muller, quæ erat in profluvio sanguinis annis duodecim; cum audisset de Jesu, venit in turba retro, et tetigit vestimentum ejus. Jesus conversus ad turbam, aiebat; Quis tetigit vestimenta mea? Mulier vero timens et tremens, sciens quod factum esset in se, venit et procidit ante eum.—Mark v. 25, 27, 30, 33.
- ↑ Nec aspiciet me visus hominis; oculi tui in me, et non subsistam.—Job vii. 8.
- ↑ Quis mihi hoc tribuat, ut in inferno protegas me, et abscondas me, donec pertranseat furor tuus?—Ibid. xiv. 13.
