Meditation XI

"Not every one that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them I never knew you. Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. Blessed is he that doeth the will of my Father, that he may have right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the holy city; for the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man which sowed good seed in his field; but whilst men slept the enemy came, and sowed tares among the wheat. The servant saith unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in the field; from whence, then, hath it tares? He sayeth unto him, An enemy hath done this; let both grow together until the harvest; and in time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Bind the tares in bundles, to burn them. Many who profess the name of Jesus are not careful to walk according to their profession, and thereby prove themselves a stumbling-block and a rock of offense in the way of sinners; but when the mighty angel shall descend from heaven, and step one foot upon the earth and the other upon the sea, and swear by him that liveth for ever and ever, that time shall be no longer; when the last trumpet shall sound, "Awake, ye dead, and come to judgment;" when the world shall be on fire, and the elements shall pass away with a great noise, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; when death, and hell, and the sea shall deliver up the dead that are in them, and all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people shall be arrayed before the awful bar of God, and the books shall be opened; then, then, if we have not the pure and undefiled religion of Jesus, wo, wo, wo, will be unto us! Better for us that we had never been born; better for us that a mill-stone were hanged about our necks, and that we were cast into the depths of the sea.