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tors, oppressors, and despots! While they have been rioting in luxury and wantonness, the innocent have been confined in the gloomy dungeon, bound to the stake, or expiring on the wheel. What scenes of iniquity have been carried on, too, by the hypocrite, the impostor, the ungrateful, the proud infidel! Shall all these be connived at by him who is an infinitely holy God? Is it possible that there shall be no retribution? Shall the blood of the slain cry for vengeance in vain? Shall crimes of the deepest dye be never so much as examined? and culprits, because they had means of escape here, be never brought to the tribunal of justice hereafter? Let not inen deceive themselves; "for God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."* Sometimes, indeed, we see the wicked suffer in this life; for, as it has been often remarked, were not some punished here, men might conclude that God had forsaken the earth; but if all were punished here, then they would imagine there was no judgment to come.

* Eccles. xii. 14.

The accusations of conscience are no small testimonies in favour of the last judgment; "which shew," as the apostle observes, “the work of the law written in their hearts; their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts, the mean while, accusing, or else excusing one another."* Some consciences, it is true, are seared as with a hot iron; but there are few persons but what have an idea of a supreme law, and that they are in a state of dependance and accountability. It is exceedingly difficult, indeed, for a man to divest himself of the belief of a Deity. He must be sunk nearly to the level of a brute when this is the There are moments in the lives of the most dissipated, when conscience lifts up its voice, and makes the delinquent tremble. Could we but follow him into secrecy, it is more than probable but we should hear him saying, "I cannot, after all, but think there is a God. I fear I must be accountable to him. It is no use to flatter myself-I must die. These pleasures cannot be always enjoyed: these vices

case.

* Rom. ii. 15.

cannot be always kept secret. I am a miserable wretch. O, that I had no existence!" Such, no doubt, are often the stings of conscience; such the moments of horror and misery; such the bondage, after all, of those who, while they talk of liberty, are themselves bound with the chains of guilt unto the judgment of the great day.

Of the nature and transactions of this solemn day we may observe, that the scriptures declare "that God will judge the world in righteousness, by that Man whom he hath ordained, Jesus Christ. To him every knee shall bow; all judgment is committed to him.”*

He shall appear too, when the world will be ill-prepared to meet him. "For as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, also, as it was in the days of Lot. They did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold,

* Acts xvii. 31. Philip. ii. 10. John v. 21.

they planted, they builded. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day that the Son of Man is revealed."*

He will be clothed with majesty and honour.. Once he appeared as a degraded criminal, crowned with thorns, and despised and rejected of men then he shall come in great glory. With all authority, wisdom, dignity, justice, and power, will he judge the nations of the earth.

Then shall the righteous be separated from the wicked. The final sentence shall be pronounced. "The wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." Then shall all things here be dissolved; "the whole beautiful fabric shall be thrown down. As soon as the destroying angel has sounded the last trumpet, the everlasting mountains fall; the foundations of the world shall be shaken; the beauties of nature, the decorations of art, the labour of industry shall perish in one common flame. The globe itself shall

* Luke xvii. 26 to 30.

return into its ancient chaos, without form and void; or, like a star, fallen from the heavens, shall be effaced from the universe, and its place shall know it no more." Reader, are you prepared for this solemn day? Whatever be your condition now, remember you will form one of that vast and awful assembly; for "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ."* The rich and the poor, the wise and the ignorant, young and old, the righteous and the wicked, must here all meet together. Were you charged as a criminal, and shortly to stand before an earthly tribunal, would it not fill you with the greatest concern? Would you delay enquiry? Would you wish to leave every thing to the last moment? Would you not rather prepare to meet your trial? Would you not be all anxiety to know the decision? But how much more ought you to be concerned about your final state! Here is a Judge, before whom you must stand, of infinite dignity and glory. The cause is of all others the most important. The witnesses will be numerous, and their tes

* 2 Cor. v. 10.

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