July 4

And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.—Matthew 24:31.

WHY now doth he call them by angels, if he come thus openly, for they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory? To honor them in this way also. But Paul saith, that they shall be caught up in clouds. And he saith this also, when he was speaking concerning a resurrection. For the Lord himself, it is said, shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel. So that when risen again, the angels shall gather them together, when gathered together the clouds shall catch them up; and all these things are done in a moment, in an instant. For it is not that he abiding above calleth them, but he himself cometh with the sound of a trumpet. And what mean the trumpets and the sound? They are for arousing, for gladness, to set forth the amazing nature of the things then doing, for grief to them that are left.

Woe is me for that fearful day! For though we ought to rejoice when we hear these things, we feel pain, and are dejected, and our countenance is sad. Or is it I only that feel thus, and do ye rejoice at hearing of these things? For upon me at least there comes a kind of shudder when these things are said, and I lament bitterly, and groan from the very depth of my heart. For I have no part in these things, but in those that are spoken afterwards, that are said unto the Virgins, unto him that buried the talents he had received, unto the wicked servant. For this cause I weep to think from what glory we are to be cast out, from what hope of blessings, and this perpetually, and for ever, to spare ourselves a little labor. For if indeed this were a great toil, and a grievous law, we ought even so to do all things; nevertheless many of the remiss would seem to have at least some pretext, a poor pretext indeed, yet would they seem to have some, that the toil was great, and the time endless, and the burden intolerable; but now we can put forward no such objection; which circumstance most of all will gnaw us no less than hell at that time, when for want of a slight endeavor, and a little toil, we shall have lost heaven, and the unspeakable blessings. For both the time is short, and the labor small, and yet we faint and are supine. Thou strivest on earth, and the crown is in heaven; thou art punished of men, and art honored of God; the race is for two days, and the reward for endless ages; the struggle is in a corruptible body, and the reward in an incorruptible.

"The trumpet sounds,—Awake!— Ye dead to judgment come!— The pillars of creation shake, While hell receives her doom.

"Thrice happy morn for those Who love the ways of peace; No night of sorrow e'er shall close, Or shade their perfect bliss."