Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

3: 1, 2. But he will prevail against the wicked. Perhaps this is intimated in the words of David, (which ought to be considered more as a prediction than an imprecation,) "Let Satan stand," or rather Satan shall stand “at his right hand; when he is judged, let him be," or he shall be, "condemned." Psa. 109: 6, 7.

Devils are able to rehearse long catalogues of their crimes; they can bring to light their secret and unseen practices, and they have malice enough to urge them home against them. Devils will then accuse those whom they now tempt; and they who now solicit them to vice, will appear and prove against them the commission of it. How great the madness, my dear Benjamin, to give ear to diabolical suggestions! For this false and treacherous friend, after he has prevailed with souls to commit sin, will make good the charge which he will bring against them for it, and torment them for what they have done.

§ 19. With respect to the trial itself, we may be sure that it will be impartial. Jesus Christ will do every man justice; "he will judge the world with righteousness." The Thebans represented their judges as blind and without hands; blind, that they might not respect persons; without hands, that they might take no bribes. In human courts, the judges sometimes extend and amplify, sometimes contract or smother the evidence, and are more rigorous or favorable in their sentence, as they are biased towards the persons before them. But the righteous judge of the world is incapable of being inclined to favor or severity upon such base motives. Christ's sceptre is a sceptre of righteousness. He is no respecter of persons. Rom. 2: 11. 1 Peter, 1 17. It is not nearness of blood that prevails; many of his kindred will be condemned; nor is it a glowing profession; many will go to hell with Christ in their mouth. Matt. 7:22. Things will not be carried on in that day by parties, but weighed in a most just balance,

46

There are no fees taken in that court, nor will the judge be bribed by a hypocritical tear or a Judas' kiss. The rich and the poor shall then meet together without distinction, before God the Maker and Judge of them all." "There shall be neither Greek nor Jew, Barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free;" but he that has done wrong shall receive for the wrong he has done; and there is no respect of persons.".

§ 20. As there will be no partiality to persons, so there will be a perfect distinction of causes, and every man be judged according to his works, the tenor of good works. and the desert of bad. The apostle assures us that " whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap: he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Gal. 67, 9. "To them who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, and honor, and immortality, eternal life; but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil; of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile: for there is no respect of persons with God." Rom. 2:7-11.

"It is more rational," says the sweet writer, Dr. Bates, "to conceive that things may be congealed by the heat of fire, or turned black by whiteness, than that the least act of injustice can be done by the righteous Lord. The apostle rejects with extreme detestation the blasphemous charge of unrighteousness in God's proceedings: "Is God unrighteous that taketh vengeance? God forbid for then how shall God judge the world?" Rom. 3: 5, 6. He may as soon renounce his nature and cease to be God-for, as such, he is necessarily judge of the world-as violate his own perfections in his judicial proceedings with us."

§ 21. Every individual will be perfectly convinced of the fairness of the proceedings, and the justice of the sen,

tence. Not only will "every mouth be stopped, and the sinner become speechless," but every one will be convinced that the sentence is just. The sinner himself shall clear God of injustice; God's taking vengeance is doing justice. Sin makes God angry, but it cannot make him unrighteous. The wicked shall drink a sea of wrath, but not a drop of injustice. If Christ should say, "Sinner, what apology canst thou make for thyself? Are not thy sins written in the book of conscience? Hadst thou not that book in thine own keeping? Who could interline it ?" The sinner, being self-condemned, would clear his Judge and say, "Lord, though I be condemned, yet I have no wrong done me; thou art clear when thou judgest." Psa. 51: 4.

22. Thus, my dear Benjamin, I have endeavored in as brief a manner as possible to prove the certainty of a general judgment, pointed out the Judge in his person and in the manner of his appearance, and mentioned some of the most important circumstances connected with the trial, such as relate to the subject, to the rule and evidence, and the nature of the trial itself; you will doubtless be anxious to hear of the sentence to be pronounced and its consequences, which I propose to describe in my next letter. In the meantime let me beg of you to read carefully and prayerfully the 25th chapter in St. Matthew's Gospel, from ver. 31-46. I am aware, my dear Benjamin, that there are a variety of questions that present themselves to the mind whilst contemplating this all-important subject, such as respecting the place, the time, &c. &c. which the limits of this letter will not permit me to notice; but as the event is certain, and will be universal, decisive and eternal as to its consequences, let us rather be concerned for the welfare of our immortal interests, flee to the refuge set before us, improve our precious time, depend on the merits of the dear Redeemer, and adhere to the duties of the divine word, that we may be found of him in peace. Farewell.

Letter III.

THE MISERY OF THE WICKED.

My Dear Benjamin,

[ocr errors]

1. Agreeably to promise, I will now notice the sen tences pronounced and their consequences. At the close of my last letter I recommended to your serious attention the 25th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, from 31st verse, where you will have observed that our blessed Lord has given us a lively description of the solemn process of the final judgment and the different sentences that shall be passed on the righteous and on the wicked. To the righteous, those at his right hand, he will say, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." But to the wicked, those at his left hand, he will say, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Matt. 25: 34, 41. And these sentences will be immediately executed; for it follows: "these," i. e. the wicked, “shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." In the present letter I propose to consider the nature and duration of the misery of the wicked.

§ 2. With respect to its nature, you must not expect, my dear Benjamin, more than some general account. A particular and accurate description of that misery can only be given by those miserable wretches that already feel it. The torments of hell, as well as the joy of heaven, are yet in a great measure unrevealed, and we can then only expect any accurate notion of them when the veil of mortality is rent, and the great objects of an unseen state are presented to our view.

The nature of the future punishment and misery of the wicked has usually been divided into the punishment of loss, and the punishment of sense. In describing the former, viz. the punishment of loss, I would observe,

3. That the wicked will be for ever debarred from the blessed presence of God, the only fountain of life and light, of joy and blessedness: "Depart," says the Judge, "from me," in whose "presence is fullness of joy, and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore." All attempts to reclaim and reform them will cease for ever. No invitations to return, no offers of pardon and peace, no merciful entreaties to accept of them shall be any more addressed to them. All cries for pity and commiseration (how importunate soever) are now fruitless, and come too late, for ever.

§ 4. Further observe, my dear Benjamin, that as the wicked and impenitent will be debarred from the beatific vision of God, so likewise they will be for ever excluded from his heavenly court, the place where he manifests his ravishing glory and communicates his felicitating love to all the happy attendants of his exalted throne.

[ocr errors]

They must be for ever shut out," says the silvertongued Mr. Boyce, "from that bright habitation of holiness, and become perpetual exiles from those amiable mansions of light, into which none but the children of light shall be received. And consequently they must be thrust out of the society of the saints in light, and excluded from the desirable conversations and entertainments, from the noble work and the satisfying joys, from the transcendent perfections and blessedness of that blessed and holy community. The gates of the heavenly Jerusalem shall be for ever barred upon them. An unpassable gulf shall cut off all possibility and hope of returning to these forfeited regions of endless bliss, Luke, 16: 26. Rev. 21:8, 27. While they behold those holy souls, whose serious piety

« ÎnapoiContinuă »