him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.'*

Efforts have been made to build up systems of reliAs well gion without this name; but all in vain. attempt to rear a building without a foundation; as well look for a stream without a source; as well expect fruit without a tree; or a spring without a sun to warm the earth. Well did the Apostle say, 'For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.'t Here then we must rest all our hopes for salvation: For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.'‡ We see from the records of his life, the grand and beautiful exhibitions of his power while on earth. This same power is still manifesting itself in the moral world. Millions have felt its divine influences. The great work will go forward. Jesus. will touch heart after heart, soul after soul, till 'all confess him to be Lord, to the glory of God the Father.' 'His name shall endure forever. His name shall be continued as long as the sun. shall be blessed in him. All nations shall call him blessed.' 'Blessed be his glorious name forever, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen.'

Men

* Phil. ii. 9, 10, 11.

† 1 Cor. iii. 11.

+ Acts iv. 12.

XLIV. JUDGE.

'And God commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that Jesus was ordained of him to be the Judge of quick and dead.'

Acts x. 42.

THIS term occurs about two hundred and fortyseven times, but is not applied to Christ in a distinct and positive manner in any other passage. True, the work or office of judge is frequently said to be assigned to Jesus, and perhaps it may be said of this word, as of some others, that it is to be understood rather as designating an office than a title.

'I

We will now present a few passages wherein this work is said to have been committed into the hands of the Son of God. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son; and hath given him authority to execute judgment.'* charge thee, therefore, before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.' And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.' These passages 2 Tim. iv. 1. Acts xvii. 30, 31.

* John v. 22, 27.

(

abundantly confirm the doctrine that the office of Judge is assigned to the Son of God. Indeed, no Christian will, for a moment, deny the fact. The difference of opinion is not on this point, but respecting the manner, the object, and the time of this judg

ment.

A brief statement of the popular view may not be inappropriate. It is believed that after the resurrection of all the dead, there will be a judgment day; that Jesus will sit upon his throne, and that before him will be assembled every moral being that has ever been an inhabitant of earth. Witnesses will be called up, and every thought, word and deed will be examined. Then sentence will be passed upon every one, either of approval or condemnation. Then the righteous will enter upon an everlasting scene of) enjoyment, and the wicked upon an endless state of misery. We are aware of the feebleness of this description. The truth is, no imagination can fully conceive) the horrors that are said to be connected with the final judgment. The firmest believers in such a notion acknowledge the inability of language to present the awful scene. Edwards has given us the following terrific description of the scenes connected (with the last judgment. After having gone on from climax to climax in presenting the miseries of the damned, he says to the sinner: 'After you have worn out the age of the sun, moon, and stars, in your dolorous groans and lamentations, without rest day or night, or one minute's ease, yet you shall have no hope of being delivered—when, after you shall have worn out a thousand more such ages, yet you shall have no hope, but shall know that you are no one

t

whit nearer to the end of your torments-that still there are the same groans, the same shrieks, the same doleful cries incessantly to be made by you, and that the smoke of your torment shall still ascend for ever/ and ever, and that your souls, which shall have been, agitated with the wrath of God all this while, yet (will still exist to bear more wrath-your bodies, which shall have been burning all this while in these glowing flames, yet shall not have been consumed, but will remain through an eternity yet, which shall not ( have been at all shortened by what shall have been, past!': What a tremendous view of the termination, of the moral government of God! Who can believe that such a scene as this is 'a just exhibition of the conduct of the Author of this beautiful and happy world! Such conduct is worthy of the mind that plotted the inquisition, and of the heart that first leaped in exultation at the device of consuming the body in the flaming fagot for the good of the soul; but to impute it to the pure, and lovely, and benignant Spirit that presides over the universe-language cannot speak the horror that is in it,'t

(

X

*

We doubt not the sincerity of those who maintain such views of the termination of the moral government of the Sovereign of the universe; but we sincerely believe that they are contrary to the Word of God.

* Those who would see this subject carried out in all its horrid deformity, we would refer to a work entitled 'Practical Sermons,' by JONATHAN EDWARDS. Edinburgh, 1783. And of all the divines we have met with, we know of no one who seems, on the whole, to have relished so well the prospect of exulting over the torments of the damned in hell.

† Illustrations of the Divine Government, by T. SOUTHWOOD SMITH, p. 138.

"buran speech is incectionate to exforess

198

TITLES/OF CHRISTtione. is aweetness of men a a dos

And we have many objections to this tremendous doctrine, but we cannot state them here, for our work does not admit of such a labor. We freely admit all that the sacred writers have said about the judgment, or a judgment day.*

This whole subject may be arranged under three divisions.

I. The manner in which Christ should come to judge the world.

II. The object of the judgment.

III. The time when it should take place.

A few observations on the view here presented will be all that our limits will permit. To guide us in our remarks, we will present a single passage where the Judge himself speaks of his coming to judgment: 'For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily, I say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.'† Now, if the reader will look carefully at this Scripture, he will find that the Judge himself has clearly pointed out the manner, the object of his coming, and the time when he should appear. Nothing can be plainer, and yet nearly the whole christian world has been in the dark upon this

* The phrase, 'the day of judgment,' as found in our version, and which occurs only nine times, should have been rendered a day of judgment, with one exception, 1 John iv. 17.* Had it been so translated, very different views would long before this have prevailed in the christian world.

† Matt. xvi. 27, 28.

The judgment that God was about to bring upon the Jewish nation was so near, that John might, with great propriety, when he wrote, use the definite article.