apply to the Friend of sinners, and find in him all that salvation which they need.

2. We must give an account of the mercies which we enjoy.

For what has God given us our time, but that we may catch the fleeting moments, and spend them all in wisdom's ways? Soon there shall be time no longer. Oh, then, let us not waste it, but redeem it, because the days are evil; so shall time bear us away to a happy eternity. But, oh, what an awful reckoning will those have to give, who employ every art to kill time! We are favored with innumerable blessings of a temporal nature, of which we must give an account. God has given them to us, that they may lead us to repentance; and happy will it be for us if they produce that desirable effect. And why does the trumpet of the gospel salute our ears with glad tidings of great joy? Oh, for how much more shall we have to answer than those who have never heard or known the joyful sound! Great is the company of those who preach the gospel of the Son of God; from time to time we hear them delivering their message; and for every sermon that we have heard, we must give an account. One Sabbath succeeds another, and one opportunity for meeting with the saints follows another; and for all these things we must give an account. In short, every mercy with which we are favored, whether temporal or spiritual, will pass before our eyes, and demand of us how we have improved it. Oh, for grace to keep this awful account in mind, that so we may highly esteem our privileges, and see to it, that we not only duly estimate, but properly use, the mercies we enjoy, seeing the time is approaching when we shall enjoy them no more forever.

3. We shall give an account of the judgments we neglect.

Sinners are often reproved, yet, nevertheless, they harden their necks, and will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. How often does God display the terror of his frown to a nation by awful calamities, such as war, famine, or pestilence. He says to them, in these judgments, when he beholds their iniquity, "Shall I not visit for these things? and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" Yet, though his hand is awfully lifted up, they will not see.

But let the people of such a nation recollect, that they must give an account of that contempt with which they have treated national visitations. How often does God make irreparable breaches in families! Visiting them for impiety, he removes a darling son, a beloved daughter, a tender parent, an affectionate husband, or a much-loved wife, with a stroke! And yet, after all this, they are numbered with the families that call not upon his name. There is nothing short of efficacious grace that can cause the inhabitants of the world to learn righteousness. Oh that the arm of the Lord might be revealed, in convincing men of sin, and fore-warning them of the account they will shortly have to give of the little success attendant either on the mercies or judgments of God! And has not God already spoken to us by the loud voice of an awakened conscience? Have we never been exercised with personal trials, difficulties, or conflicts? Have we never known what it is to feel alarm in our own souls, and dreadful forebodings of the day of judgment? If we are not awakened by these evils to a sense of duty, our condemnation will be increased by them for, for all these things we must give

an account.

4. The righteous Judge will inquire into the actions which we performed.

"For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil." The penetrating eyes of God will notice the motives from which our actions spring. Probably we have done numerous actions, well enough, in themselves considered, but which are rendered impious and unholy by the desires from which they sprung. All this shall be Jaid open before an assembly of angels, devils, and men. And for every idle word that men speak, they must give an account. Oh that, before we shall be called to this tribunal, we may have our persons and services washed in the precious fountain of Immanuel's blood! Then the terrors of Sinai's fiery law will not molest us; nor will any one vial of Divine wrath be poured out upon us. Then God will look on us, and be well pleased for his righteousness' sake. They that have done good, shall rise to eternal life; and they that have done evil, to the resurrection of damnation. There is not even a wicked thought that will escape the notice of his eye, but they will be unto him like destruction, which is open before him, or hell, which is without a covering. Every thing will be noticed by God, the Judge of all, before whom we must all appear.

"So then every one us shall give account of himself to God." Ot our account may be delivered with joy, and not with trembling; that a happy entrance may be ministered to us, into his eternal kingdom and glory!

Having thus endeavored to show that, at the general judgment, we shall give an account of ourselves, we proceed to remark:

II. That this account will be rendered to God: "We must give account of ourselves to God."

In the fifth chapter of the Evangelist John, and the twenty-second verse, it is said, "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son ;" and again, in the twenty-seventh verse, he "hath given him (that is, Christ) authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man." These passages seem to prove that God the Father will not appear as Judge, but God the Son, that is, Christ, in his now glorified state. And there are many other passages which confirm this idea, such as these: "The Son of man shall come in his glory, and all his holy angels with him, and before him shall be gathered all nations," &c. "6 Behold, he," namely, Jesus Christ, the Faithful Witness, who loved us, &c., "cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.” And that this was the apostle's idea, is clearly deducible from the 10th verse of the chapter before us; at the close of which he says, " For we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ." He uses similar language in the second epistle to the Corinthians, the fifth chapter and 10th verse, where he says, "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ.' The apostle, in the text, says, "So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God." N can any one deny that this proves the Deity or Jesus Christ? It is said, that God shall judge th world, and that act is ascribed to Jesus Christ, which plainly demonstrates that he is "God over all, blessed forever." The Godhead of Christ is the triumph of the Christian, who can look up to him, and with filial fear, ming

led with holy boldness, can exclaim, "My God!" And those who now deny that Jesus Christ is the eternal God, will, in the day of judgment, have sufficient evidence of his Deity. He will appear, in all the uncreated glories of his Godhead, to banish all his enemies to the gulf of perdition, the lake of fire and brimstone, whence the smoke of their torment will ascend up forever and ever. Yes, they who now oppose the reign of Jesus, will then have to give up their account to him. All men shall appear before him, and he will give to every one according to his works.

We shall now observe, that our giving up our account to God, will heighten the solemnity of the scene; secure the impartiality of the sentence; and display the power and authority of the Judge. 1. It will heighten the solemnity of the scene. It will be an awful thing to hear the sound of the angel's trumpet; to behold the elements melting with fervent heat; to see the graves opening, and the race of Adam shaking off the sleep of thousands of years; to hear the doleful shrieks of souls lost forever. Oh! it will be a dreadful sight to see unhappy thousands, standing at the left hand of the Judge, to be cast into the lake of hell, which already yawns to receive its new possessors! But, when we recollect that God himself is the Judge; that He who made heaven and earth, and is "glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders," is to decide on the final state of every man, we are filled with solemnity and dread. Those who now treat the doctrine of a resurrection and future judgment with unconcern, nay, with contempt, who laugh away gloomy thoughts of an awful eternity, will then be serious in reality, when they behold God, the Judge of all. For