which follow? If such be the vigil of this great day, what will be the day itself? Man's eyes are no sooner closed in death than he appears before the judgment-seat of God to render an account of every thought, every word, every action of his life. If you would learn the severity and rigor of this judgment, ask not men who live according to the spirit of this world, for, like the Egyptians of old, they are plunged in darkness and are the sport of the most fatal errors. Seek, rather, those who are enlightened by the true Sun of justice. Ask the Saints, and they will tell you, more by their actions than by their words, how terrible is the account we are to render to God. David was a just man, yet his prayer was: "Enter not, O Lord! into judgment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight no man living shall be justified."[1] Arsenius was also a great saint, and yet at his death he was seized with such terror at the thought of God's judgment that his disciples, who knew the sanctity of his life, were much astonished, and said to him: "Father, why should you now fear?" To this he replied: "My children, this is no new fear which is upon me. It is one that I have known and felt during my whole life." It is said that St. Agatho at the hour of death experienced like terror, and having been asked why he, who had led such a perfect life, should fear, he simply answered: "The judgments of God are different from the judgments of men." St. John Climachus gives a no less striking example of a holy
- ↑ Ps. cxlii. 2.
