.

But I must guard you against the presumption that any mere degree of awakened attention to the salvation of your soul in view of these awful scenes will secure your safety. Deep and powerful convictions do not always result in true conversion. There is a kind of repentance which is not unto life, but unto death. Such was the repentance of Judas when he came and threw down the thirty pieces of silver, saying, I have betrayed innocent blood, and then went and hanged himself, and went to his own place. You read also of one who trembled as Paul reasoned before him of righteousness, temperance, and a judgment to come, but was not converted. Felix cried, When I have a more convenient season, I will send for thee. But there is not the slightest evidence that he ever thought the convenient time had come. He had ample opportunity to see the Apostle, and to have learned more about the way to prepare to meet the judgment to come, if he had desired to do so. But he did not avail himself of these opportuities. He escaped from the importunity of his conscience at the time, on the plea of a more convenient season, which he never found. But, dear hearer, what more convenient time can you ever have than the present? To-morrow may not be yours. This very night your soul may be required of you. And if to-morrow does not come to you, the awful day of judgment will surely come. If the more convenient season for you to come to Christ does not come, still it is absolutely certain you must appear before his Judgmentseat. And if the Apostle contemplates the day of the appearing of the Lord Jesus in His Kingdom as the day of his coronation, when he shall receive his crown of righteousness, and so also all who love his appearing, then how awful will be the doom of all hypocrites and unbelievers! If the righteous scarcely be saved, what shall be the end of the ungodly and of all who disobey

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the Gospel? He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: He that believeth not shall be damned.

II. The consummation of all things belonging to our dynasty, in the way that we understand the Holy Scriptures, is in perfect harmony with the best views of the heathen, and is supported by reason, common sense, and tradition. It is in harmony essentially with Rabbinical and Hindoo philosophy, as well as with the teaching of Greek and Roman poets and moralists. According to the Hindoos, the Supreme Deity is the Supreme Pontiff and Judge of the universe. All law, all intelligence, all systems are from Him and accountable to Him. Even the Brahmin is an emanation from Him, bringing to the earth the attributes he possessed in heaven. Now all such ideas imply a final judgment, when the conflict between good and evil must be decided. Is it not reasonable to suppose there is a just end appointed for this contest? For without this eternal judgment, how will the Justice of God ever be made manifest? If men's lots are now diverse, is that difference always according to right? Is there no injustice in the disproportions of this world? Is not Divine Providence a golden chain that hangs between heaven and earth, of which we see at best only a few links, while all the rest are either so far above, towards the end that is attached to the Eternal Throne, that even our faith cannot see them, or they are so deep in the mysteries of Providence that we cannot fathom them and in the mean time, is it not a precious discipline to wait in hope for the clearing up of all in the Great Day? Is there not a God who is all-wise, almighty, and just? Does not evil now reign? If not triumphant over good, still certainly it has a vast empire. Are there not evil spirits, angels who have fallen from their allegiance in heaven, and some who have kept their places of duty and

glory? Is there to be no final settlement with the wicked angels? Did not God make man holy, and then, after he sinned and fell, did He not show him mercy, and does He not now offer to restore our race to Paradise again? But all do not accept this offer. Many live in total ignorance or wicked contempt of it. Must there not be a day for showing the harmony of all God's ways—a day for doing justice to the pure and holy angels and other virtuous beings in the universe, as well as for avenging his saints?

III. The Day of Judgment is a clear demonstration of the Supreme Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing less than the sum of all the Godhead could be equal to the functions of the Judgment-seat. Not only will the duties of that awful day require that all authority and power in heaven and earth should be in his hands, but that He should also have omniscience to search the heart and try the reins of all intelligent beings. And as CHRIST in his own person executes his office as Judge of the quick and the dead, He will show more of the splendor and majesty of God than had ever before been manifested to created beings. The Judge of quick and dead is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is ordained as Mediator, Saviour, Advocate, King, Lord, and Christ. Thus the Apostle declares that God hath given assurance of the judgment of the world in righteousness by Christ, in this, that He hath raised him from the dead, and ordained him to that work, and appointed a day for it. As Christ has redeemed his people, they meet Him on the judgment throne as a friend. But his enemies, who would not that He should reign over them: how will they stand before Him, and answer for rejecting His offers of pardon? Then will they be speechless and without excuse. The mercies of God and the very blood of the Cross will be awful witnesses against them.

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IV. Such a day must be thought of with very different views and feelings by different kinds of people. The vast assembly at the Judgment will be divided into two great classes, the righteous and the wicked. The righteous rise to the resurrection of life, and the wicked to the resurrection of shame and everlasting contempt. The righteous will then lift up their heads with joy. Their sorrows are past. Oppressed innocence is now redressed. The Judge on the Throne is their friend. His words are distinct and authoritative. COME, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Enter now into the joy of your Lord. Here on earth, He said, Come, take up your Cross; deny yourselves; follow me. But now the work is done, the race is run, "the gate is past and heaven is won.' And so, on the other hand, how awful the condition of those who are then numbered with his enemies! Every mouth will be stopped, and all will be guilty before God. And the Judge will say, Bring hither these mine enemies, WHO WOULD NOT that I should reign over them, and slay them before me. Cast them into utter darkness, where there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I called them to come. I besought them to repent and forsake their evil ways. They were warned that sin would bring them to this awful end; but they would not hearken. Now they must reap as they have sown.

V. Since, then, there is a day fixed for the judgment of all men by the Lord Jesus, let the wicked and the profane know that Divine vengeance, though it is slow, does not sleep. The record of every human being is now making up for this awful day. And though we know not the time, we know it will surely come. And whether that day be far remote or near at hand, the day of death cannot be very far from every one of us, and after death

we can make no more preparation for the Judgment-seat. As we die, so we appear for judgment. Nor is there any possible escape. No place in which to hide. All nations, small and great, and of all generations are there. The sinner hidden in the centre of the material universe, even if it were piled in ruins upon him, could not escape. The piercing eye and Almighty hand would drag him forth to the Judgment Throne.

VI. And the certainty of a judgment to come should make us more in earnest for the salvation of our fellowmen. Can it be that there is an endless eternity just before us? Is there an endless heaven for the pious and an eternal hell for the ungodly? How then can we rest, or allow ourselves to live' so sluggish, so engrossed with the things of this life? Seeing that such awful things are before us, part and parcel of which we must ourselves soon be, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God!

VII. The contemplation of the judgment to come should make us more patient in suffering, more content to endure the trials of this life, and teach us to think less of the honors and show and riches and glory of this world. What will all these things be in that eventful day! How then will the unjust, the slanderer, the drunkard, the whoremonger, the liar, the murderer, the profane and the contemner of God, the despiser of the Gospel of Christ appear before God! In that splendid and awful assembly their laughter will be turned into mourning, and their joy into lamentation. But it will be all in vain for them to cry for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of the Throne of God and of the Lamb.