Judgment Day: How the Day will Begins- a Short Brief.

The judgment day of God will be so dreadful that, the reprobates would sooner choose ten hells than go to hear God speak in wrath against them against whom all things created will witness. On that day, not alone shall the reprobates fear, but the saints and the elect of God, so that Abraham shall not trust in his righteousness, and Job shall have no confidence in his innocence. And what say I? Even the Messiah, the Habib of God shall fear, for that God, to make known his majesty, shall deprive his Habib of memory, so that he shall have no remembrance how that God has given him all things. I tremble because by the world I shall be called God, and for this I shall have to render an account.

When the forty years have passed, God shall give life to his Habib, who shall rise again like the sun, but resplendent as a thousand suns. He shall sit, and shall not speak, for he shall be as it were beside himself. God shall raise again the four angels favoured of God, who shall seek, Muhammad, the mercy of God, and, having found him, shall station themselves on the four sides of the place to keep watch upon him. Next shall God give life to all the angels, who shall come like bees circling round the Muhammad, the mercy of God. Next shall God give life to all his prophets, who, following Adam, shall go every one to kiss the hand of the Habib of God, committing themselves to his protection.

Next shall God give life to all the elect, who shall cry out: "O Muhammad be mindful of us!"

At whose cries pity shall awake in Muhammad, the mercy of God, and he shall consider what he ought to do, fearing for their salvation.

Next shall God give life to every created thing and they shall return to their former existence, but every one shall besides possess the power of speech.  
Next shall God give life to all the reprobates, at whose resurrection, by reason of their hideousness, all the creatures of God shall be afraid, and shall cry: "Let not your mercy forsake us, O Lord our God."

After this shall God cause Satan; to be raised up, at whose aspect every creature shall be as dead, for fear of the horrid form of his appearance. ‘May it please God," said Jesus, "that I behold not that monster on that day.’

Only Muhammad, the Habib of God alone shall not be affrighted by such shapes, because he shall fear God only.

Then the angel, at the sound of whose trumpet all shall be raised, shall sound his trumpet again, saying: "Come to the judgment, O creatures, for your Creator wills to judge you."

Then shall appear in the midst of heaven over the valley of Jehoshaphat; a glittering throne over which shall come a white cloud, whereupon the angels shall cry out: "Blessed be you our God, who has created us and saved us from the fall of Satan."

Then Muhammad the Mercy of God shall fear, for that he shall perceive that none has loved God as he should. For he who would get in change a piece of gold must have sixty mites; wherefore, if he have but one mite he cannot change it. But if the Habib of God shall fear, what shall the ungodly do who are full of wickedness?"

The Mercy of God shall go to collect all the prophets, to whom he shall speak praying them to go with him to pray God for the faithful. And every one shall excuse himself for fear; nor, as God lives, would I go there, knowing what I know.

Then God, seeing this, shall remind his Habib how He created all things for love of him, and so his fear shall leave him, and he shall go near to the throne with love and reverence, while the angels sing: "Blessed be your holy name O God, our God."

And when he has drawn near to the throne, God shall open [his mind] to his Habib, as a friend to a friend when for a long while they have not met. The first to speak shall be the Prophet, who shall say: "I adore and love you, O my God, and with all my heart and soul I give you thanks for that you did vouchsafe to create me to be your servant, and made all for love of me, so that I might love you for all things and in all things and above all things; therefore let all your creatures praise you, O my God."

Then God shall say: "We give you thanks,’

‘O Lord, and Bless Your Holy Name." Truly I say to You, the demons and reprobates with Satan shall then weep so that more water shall flow from the eyes of one of them than is in the river of Jordan. Yet shall they not see God "

And God shall speak to His Prophet, saying: "You are welcome, O my faithful servant; therefore ask what you will, for you shall obtain all."

Muhammad, the Mercy of God shall answer. "O Lord, I remember that when You did create me, You said that You had willed to make for love of me the world and paradise, and angels and men, that they might glorify You by me Your servant. Therefore, Lord God, Merciful and Just I pray You that You recollect Your promise made to Your servant."

And God shall make answer even as a friend who jests with a friend, and shall say: 'Have you witnesses of this, my friend Muhammad?'

And with reverence he shall say: "Yes, Lord."

Then God shall answer: "Go, call them, O Gabriel;."

The angel Gabriel shall come to the Prophet, and shall say: "Lord who are your 'witnesses?"

The Messenger of God shall answer: "They are Adam;, Abraham, Ishmael;, Moses;, David;, and Jesus son of Mary?"

Then shall the angel departs and he shall call the aforesaid witnesses, who with fear shall go thither. And when they are present God shall say to them: Remember you that which my Messenger affirms?"

They shall reply: "What thing, O Lord?"

God shall say: "That I have made all things for love of him, so that all things might praise me by him."

Then every one of them shall answer: "There are with us three witnesses better than we are, O Lord."

And God shall reply: "Who are these three witnesses?"

Then Moses shall say: "The book that you gave to me is the first"; and David shall say: "The book that you gave to me is the second"; and I shall say: "Lord the whole world, deceived by Satan, that I was your son and your fellow, but the book that you gave me said truly that I am your servant; and that book confesses that which your Messenger affirms."

Then shall the Muhammad, the mercy of God speak, and shall say: "Thus says the book that you gave me O Lord."

And when Muhammad, the mercy of God has said this, God shall speak, saying: "All that I have now done, I have done in order that every one should know how much I love you."

And when he has thus spoken, God shall give to his Messenger a book, in which are written all the names of the elect of God. Wherefore every creature shall do reverence to God, saying: "To you alone O God, be glory and honour, because you have given us to your Messenger." 

God shall open the book in the hand of His Messenger, and His Messenger reading therein shall call all the angels and prophets and all the elect, and on the forehead of each one shall be written the mark of the Messenger of God. And in the book shall be written the glory of paradise.

Then shall each pass to the right hand of God; next to whom shall sit the Messenger of God. and the prophets shall sit near him, and the saints shall sit near the prophets, and the blessed near the saints, and the angel shall then sound the trumpet, and shall call Satan to judgment.

Then that miserable one shall come, and with greatest contumely shall be accused of every creature. Wherefore God shall call the angel Michael, who shall strike him one hundred thousand times with the sword of God. He shall strike Satan, and every stroke is heavy as ten hells, and he shall be the first to be cast into the abyss.

The angel shall call his followers, and they shall in like manner be abused and accused. Wherefore the angel Michael,by commission from God, shall strike some a hundred times, some fifty, some twenty, some ten, some five. And then shall they descend into the abyss, because God shall say to them: "Hell is your dwelling-place, O cursed ones."

After that shall be called to judgment all the unbelievers and reprobates, against whom shall first arise all creatures inferior to man, testifying before God how they have served these men, and how the same have outraged God and his creatures. And the prophets every one shall arise, testifying against them; wherefore they shall be condemned by God to infernal flames.

Truly I say to you, that no idle lord or thought shall pass unpunished in that tremendous day. Truly I say to you, that the hair-shirt shall shine like the sun, and every louse a man shall have borne for love of God shall be turned into pearl. O, thrice and four times blessed are the poor, who in true poverty shall have served God from the heart, for in this world are they destitute of worldly cares, and shall therefore be freed from many sins, and in that day they shall not have to render an account of how they have spent the riches of the world, but they shall be rewarded for their patience and their poverty.

Truly I say to you, that if the world knew his it would choose the hair-shirt sooner than purple, lice sooner than gold, fasts sooner than feasts.

When all have been examined, God shall say to his Messenger: "Behold, O my friend, their wickedness, how great it has been, for I their creator did employ all created things in their service and in all things have they dishonoured me. It is most just, therefore, that I have no mercy on them."

The Messenger of God shall answer, "It is true, Lord, our glorious God, not one of your friends and servants could ask you to have mercy on them; no, I your servant before all ask justice against them."

And he having said these words, all the angels and prophets, with all the elect of God no, why say I the elect?

Truly I say to you, that spiders and flies, stones and sand shall cry out against the impious, and shall demand justice. Then shall God cause to return to earth every living soul inferior to man, and. he shall send the impious to hell. Who, in going, shall see again that earth, to which dogs and horses and other vile animals shall be reduced. Wherefore shall they say: "O Lord God, cause us also to return to that earth."

But that which they ask shall not be granted to them."

While Jesus was speaking the disciples wept bitterly. And Jesus wept many tears. Then after he had wept, John spoke: "O master, we desire to know two things. The one is, how it is possible that the Messenger of God, who is full of mercy and pity, should have no pity on reprobates that day, seeing that they are of the same clay as himself? The other is, how is it to be understood that the sword of Michael is [as] heavy as ten hells? Is there more than one hell?"

Jesus replied: "Have you not heard what David the prophet says, how the just shall laugh at the destruction of sinners, and shall deride him with these words, saying: I saw the man who put his hope in his strength and his riches, and forgot God.

Truly, therefore, I say to you, that Abraham shall deride his father, and Adam [shall deride] all reprobate men: and this shall be because the elect shall rise again so perfect and united to God that they shall not conceive in their minds the small[est] thought against his justice. Each of them shall demand justice, and above all the Messenger of God. 

As God lives, in whose presence I stand, though now I weep for pity of mankind, on that day I shall demand justice without mercy against those who despise my words, and most of all against those who defile my gospel.

Hell is one, O my disciples, and in it the damned shall suffer punishment eternally. Yet has it seven rooms or regions, one deeper than the other, and he who goes to the deep shall suffer greater punishment. Yet my words [are] true concerning the sword of the angel Michael, for he that commits but one sin merits hell, and he that commits two sins merits two hells.

Therefore in one hell the reprobates shall feel punishment as though they were in ten, or in a hundred or in a thousand; and the omnipotent God, through his power and by reason of his justice, shall cause Satan to suffer as though he were in ten hundred thousand hells, and the rest each one according to his wickedness."

Then Peter answered: "O master, truly the justice of God is great, and today this discourse has made you sad; therefore, we pray you, rest, and tomorrow tell us what hell is like."

Jesus answered: "O Peter, you tell me to rest; O Peter, you do not know what you say, [or] else you would not have spoken thus.

Truly I say to you, that rest in this present life is the poison of piety and the fire which consumes every good work. Have you forgotten how Solomon, God's prophet, with all the prophets, has reproved sloth? It is true that he says: The idle will not work the soil for fear of the cold, therefore in summer shall he beg. [And for this reason] he said: All that your hand can do, do it without rest. And what says Job, the most innocent friend of God: As the bird is born to fly, man is born to work. Truly I say to you, I hate rest above all things."

Hell is one, and is contrary to paradise, as winter is contrary to summer, and cold to heat. Therefore, he who would describe the misery of hell must have seen the paradise of God's delights. O place accursed by God's justice for the malediction of the faithless and reprobate, of which Job, the friend of God, said: There is no order there, but everlasting fear! And Isaiah the prophet, against the reprobate, says: "Their flame shall not be quenched nor their worm die."

And David our father, weeping said: "Then lightning and bolts and brimstone and great tempest shall rain upon them." O miserable sinners, how loathsome delicate meats, costly raiment, soft couches, and [the] concord of sweet song shall seem to them! How sick shall raging hunger, burning flames, scorching cinders, and cruel torments with bitter weeping make them!"

And then Jesus uttered a lamentable groan, saying: "Truly, it is better never to have been formed than to suffer such cruel torments, for imagine a man suffering torments in every part of his body, who has no one to show him compassion, but is mocked by everyone; tell me, would not this be great pain?"

The disciples answered: "The greatest."

Then Jesus said: "This is a delight [in comparison] to hell. For I tell you in truth, that if God should place in one balance all the pain which all men have suffered in this world and shall suffer till the Day of Judgment, and in the other [balance] one single hour of the pain of hell, the reprobates would without doubt choose the worldly tribulations, for the worldly [tribulations] come from the hand of man, but the others from the hand of devils, who are utterly without compassion.

O what cruel fire they shall give to miserable sinners! O what bitter cold, which yet shall not temper their flames! What gnashing of teeth and sobbing and weeping! For the Jordan has less water than the tears which shall flow from their eyes every moment. Their tongues shall curse all created things, with their. father and mother, and their Creator, who is blessed for ever."

Having said this, Jesus washed himself, with his disciples, according to the Law of God written in the Book of Moses; and then they prayed. And the disciples, seeing [Jesus] sad did not speak at all to him that day, but each stood terror-struck at his words. Then Jesus, opening his mouth after the evening [prayer], said: "What father of a family, if he knew that a thief meant to break into his house, would sleep? None surely; for he would watch and stand prepared to slay the thief. Do you not know then that Satan is as a roaring lion that goes about seeking whom he may devour. Thus he seeks to make man sin.

Truly I say to you, that if man would act as the merchant he should have no fear in that day, because he would be well prepared.

There was a man who gave money to his neighbours that they might trade with it, and the profit should be divided in a just proportion. And some traded well, so that they doubled the money. But some used the money in the service of the enemy of him who gave them the money, speaking evil of him. 

Tell me now, when the neighbour shall call the debtors to account how shall the matter go? Assuredly he will reward those who traded well, but against the others his anger shall vent itself in reproaches. And then he will punish them according to the Law.

As God lives, in whose presence my soul stands, the neighbour is God, who has given to man all that he has, with life itself, so that, [man] living well in this world, God may have praise, and man the glory of paradise. For those who live well double their money by their example, because sinners, seeing their example, are converted to repentance; wherefore men who live well shall be rewarded with a great reward. But wicked sinners, who by their sins halve what God has given them, by their lives spent in the service of Satan the enemy of God, blaspheming God and giving offence to others tell me what shall be their punishment?"

"It shall be without measure," said the disciples. 

Then Jesus said: "He who would live well should take example from the merchant who locks up his shop, and selling guards it day and night with great diligence. And again the things which he buys he is fain to make a profit; for if he perceives that he will lose thereby he will not sell, no, not to his own brother. Thus then should you do; for in truth your soul is a merchant, and the body is the shop: wherefore what it receives from outside, through the senses, is bought and sold by it. And the money is love. See then that with your love you do not sell nor buy the small thought by which d work be all for you cannot profit. But let thought, speech, and love of God; for so shall you find safety in that day.

Truly I say to you, that many make ablutions and go to pray, many fast and give alms, many study and preach to others, whose end is abominable before God; because they cleanse the body and not the heart, they cry with the mouth not with the heart; they abstain from meats, and fill themselves with sins; they give to others things not good for them, in order that they may be held good; they study that they may know to speak, not to work; they preach to others against that which they do themselves, and thus are condemned by their own tongue. 

As God lives, these do not know God with their hearts; for if they knew him they would love him; and since whatsoever a man has he has received it from God, even so should he spend all for the love of God."

The End.
Not Yet Justified.

Source: -Gospel of Barnabas