conversation, will be fully acknowledged: and, then, their zeal for the extension of the glory of God, and their ardent desires for the salvation of men, will draw forth the commendations of the Saviour, who will not suffer the smallest token of affection to him, or the weakest effort sincerely made to advance his cause, to pass unrewarded.

Now, too, all the calumnies and lies which have been raised against the people of God will be satisfactorily confuted; for he has promised " that the rebuke of his people shall be taken away from the earth."

Their enemies will no longer brand them with illiberal epithets; but justify their conduct, as the dictate of the soundest wisdom; whilst they will feel constrained to condemn their own folly in neglecting that piety of heart which has led to the exaltation of the righteous. "We fools accounted his life madness, and his end to be without honour: how is he numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints"!"

And, then, their justification having been announced to the assembled world, Christ, with accents of inexpressible grace and love, will thus address them: "Come, ye (blessed) children of my Father! inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world". The equity of this sentence will be admitted by all; whilst they, in whose favour it is pronounced, will have cause for joy and exultation; accounting their past sufferings light and momentary, in comparison with the "eternal weight of glory" which shall be revealed in thema.

9.

The wicked, consisting of the rest of mankind,

* Isa. xxv. 8.

? Mat. xxv. 34.

Wisdom of Solomon, v. 4, 5. a 2 Cor. iv. 17.

will then be placed before the judgment-seat of Christ. Conscious of their guilt, they will not be able to endure the countenance of the incensed Judge without trepidation and alarm: they will approach his bar with slow and trembling and reluctant steps.

And when the books are opened, in which their evil deeds are registered, what scenes of villany will be developed! Crimes of the deepest cast, which have lain hid for ages, will then be divulged before all. The wicked actions of the unrighteous, the oppressor, the unjust, the murderer, the persecutor, and of all who have walked contrary to the Gospel, will be set in the light of their countenances. And, oh! how will sinners be covered with shame, to find those deeds of infamy, which they hoped to bury in eternal silence, proclaimed before the assembled world!

There will be no necessity of calling witnesses, to substantiate the charges which are preferred against them the violated law, and the upbraidings of conscience, will be their accusers.

And now they will be convicted, by the clearest evidence, of countless offences against God, whose commands they have wilfully disobeyed-of unbelief and contempt of Christ, whose salvation they have despised of despite to the Spirit of his Grace, by whom they might have been sanctified-of manifold acts of injustice to his brethren-in fine, of incredible mischief to the souls of men, by their own pernicious example.

Being self-condemned, and having nothing to offer in their defence, or in arrest of judgment, Christ will pass on them the irrevocable sentence, "Depart

b Heb. x. 29.

from me, ye cursed! into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels"." Tremendous words! every one of which will be big with horror to the impenitent sinner. How awful the punishment ! How eternally miserable the condition of lost souls! They will be deprived of the cheering presence of God, and the ineffable bliss of heaven; and be consigned to darkness and suffering and despair, without any intermission throughout eternity; and this will constitute the greatest sorrow imaginable.

Seeing their doom is inevitable, what will they then be willing to give, to obtain its reversal ?Foolish thought!-The Judge is inexorable, and will take no bribe. His aversion to sin, his inflexible regard to justice and righteousness, will oblige him to consign impenitent transgressors to perdition.

In what light will they then regard their past unholy conduct? Will it then be, as it was in the day of their worldly prosperity-a cause of joy and pleasure? Will they then look back with any satisfaction on those deeds of wickedness which they have wantonly committed? No: the recollection will fill them with shame and unavailing regret. They will condemn themselves, on a review of their misspent life, for having incensed God, and neglected those valuable opportunities, which he afforded them, of gaining the crown of immortal glory, which they will then lose for ever and ever.

All their sorrow will be too late, to be of any avail. The die will then be cast, and their destiny unalterably fixed.

The fatal hour is now come: and the angels must execute their awful commission. They will cast, herefore, the drunkard, the whoremonger, the C Mat. xxv. 41.

adulterer, the sensualist, the thief, the swearer, the infidel, the unbeliever, the covetous, the worldlyminded, and all who have forsaken or neglected or dishonoured God, into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, where the smoke of their torment will ascend up before God for ever and

ever.

Neither the hypocrite, who has put on the garb of religion from sinister motives; nor the formalist and self-righteous, who have contented themslves with the form, without the power of godliness; will escape the same punishment. For it will then be made evident, that immense numbers who professed a belief in the Gospel were living at the same time in habits of secret and open iniquity. Though they had, it may be, convictions of the danger of leading an unrighteous life, yet, it will be manifest that they loved the wages of sin, and performed all their works to be seen of men, whilst they were strangers to constant, secret, fervent devotion. Destitute of love to Christ and his followers, they were never interested in the covenant of grace, but remained under the curse of the broken law.

This, indeed, will be the case, not only with the openly profane and immoral who have cloked their secret abominations under a religious profession, but with all those who have not shewn their regard to Christ by a lively faith in him, evidenced by its appropriate fruits and effects.

It is obvious, then, that, at the solemn period to which our attention has been called, none but real believers, who have overcome the world by faith, will be able to abide the heart searching scrutiny of the Judge. To all others, he will say, "Depart ⚫ ib. xiv. 10, 11.1 Jolin v. 4—6.

Rev. xx. 10.

с

from me, ye workers of iniquity! I never knew you" "

10. We shall do well to meditate continually upon the day of judgment; and frequently to place ourselves, by way of anticipation, at the bar of Christ. This method of bringing it often before our eyes would forcibly tend to deter us from entering on a wicked life. We could not indulge in flagrant immorality, or dissolute courses, if we seriously believed in a future day of reckoning, when sin will meet with its just deserts. Nor will an unprofitable, a gay, or a thoughtless life, afford much satisfaction, in the prospect of such a period: for surely a mere negative goodness, which consists in doing no harm to our neighbour, will not answer the demands of the Divine law. We must, through grace, strive to glorify God, as well as to abstain from doing evil, if we would be ranked with his devoted friends.

But how can they, who waste their time in "making provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof," whilst the interests of their souls are forgotten, or rarely attended to,-escape the terrifying denunciation, Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth i ?"

Contemplations on the solemnities of judgment imperatively urge upon all men the indispensable necessity of a due preparation. "Prepare to meet thy God!" is the merciful warning, which the voice of truth and wisdom perpetually sounds in our

ears.

11. The preparation that will qualify us to stand with acceptance before Christ, consists of unfeigned