Will he require that of the heathen nations that will be required of the Jews, to whom 66 were committed the oracles of God?" Rom. iii. 2. Will he require that of the Jews that will be required of the Christians, who have lived in the light of the glorious Gospel? We think not; because it would not be equitable. Men will be judged according to their respective dispensations of providence and grace; their means and opportunities of improvement; and their various intellectual powers and capacities. These rules of judgment are righteous, and agree with the rectitude of the divine nature; and in this way our Lord will vindicate and display his own justice, before men and angels. But if we suppose he has decreed all things that come to pass, and that he will punish those crimes which he has decreed, we dishonour his holy name. The supposition, if indulged and defended, is a punishable offence against the Judge.

VII. The decisions of the day of judgment will be final: for there cannot be any appeal to a higher court of justice.

Then the saints, having passed through their state of probation, will be confirmed eternally in happiness and glory; and sinners, who have lived and died in sin, will perish without any hope of recovery. We do not read of any afterstate of trial; no subsequent judgment-day; no change or alteration. Every thing is fixed

For

in the day of judgment to all eternity. then Jesus gives up his mediatorial kingdom to the Father; and there will not be any other mediator appointed to restore lapsed beings to the favour of God. 1 Cor. xv. 24. That state of things is awful beyond description; but it is established by the Lord. He is infinitely wise, unchangeably good, but inflexibly just; and we should submit to his sovereign will without prying into the arcana of his government.

There have been many wild speculations on this subject. The final salvation of fallen angels and men has been confidently asserted; but assertion is one thing, and proof is another. However desirable the final restoration of lost intelligences may be to our present feelings, we venture to affirm it is not a doctrine of divine revelation. The great day closes the scene of all mundane affairs; and after that we have no information of any future event. What Almighty God may do in his government, after the day of judgment, either in heaven or hell, is not written in the inspired volume. Here then we leave the subject, with this observation, that the word eternal is applied to the state of the righteous and the unrighteous; and that if the sufferings of apostate spirits come to an end, there is no certainty that the joy and glory of the saints will be eternal.

VIII. In every point of view the prospect of a general judgment is truly awful; and it should

be the great business of our lives to prepare for it.

It will be awful to stand at the bar of a Judge who knows the secrets of our hearts, as well as the open actions of our lives! It is awful to know that all our thoughts, words, and works will be made known to an assembled world! It will be awful to enter on that state which " no change or alteration knows!" It will be awful to see the heavens and the earth flee away, without any place being found for them, within the reach of our sight! Rev. xx. 11. It will be awful to saints, who are with the Lord; but it will be terrible to sinners, who are about to be banished from him for ever! There have been many great days, such as the deluge, the burning of Sodom, and the destruction of Jerusalem; but the solemnities of the last day will exceed them all in awful grandeur, in the displays of mercy and grace, and in the dreadful manifestations of wrath and justice!

But the most important concern of man, and his one great business in the present life, is to prepare for the day of the Lord. To this end he should inquire, with the jailer at Philippi, "What shall I do to be saved?" We are all sinners before God; and if he should mark iniquity, who shall stand? No man can stand on a legal foundation, for all have transgressed the law; but there is forgiveness with God, that he may be feared. Ps. cxxx. 4. He pardoneth

and absolveth all them that truly repent; and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel. Then let us repent of all our past sins; believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with our hearts unto righteousness; love God supremely, or with all our hearts; and obey the Saviour in all his commands, as he may enable us by his grace. Then we shall be "found in him, not having" our "own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Phil. iii. 9. The sins of the saints will be made known; but their pardon will be published. The one will humble them before God; the other will fill them with joy unspeakable. They will owe their salvation entirely to Jesus, who died and rose again; and to him, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, they will offer up everlasting praise. Look up to Jesus; fix the eye of faith on him just now; and he will save : for "the vilest offender may turn and find grace;" but those who reject the offers of mercy will find no remedy, either in this world or in that which is to come. Save us, merciful Lord, with a present and an everlasting salvation, through the merit and mediation of thy wellbeloved Son!

you:

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CHAPTER XXI.

FINAL REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS.

The subject stated in several particulars-The rewards of the righteous-The punishments of the wicked-The justice of both-The subject applied by a few general reflections.

WHEN We speak of future rewards and punishments, we base all our observations on divine revelation; for without that light, we are left in a state of painful uncertainty. Imagination may draw a picture which is fair and plausible; but the word of God must decide the subject; and from that word there is no appeal. The theories of speculative men may be right, or they may be wrong; but the infallible records of divine truth are always right. The one may mislead us; but the other is a safe and unerring guide. What does man know of future existence, either in a happy or miserable state, but what God has revealed to him? Without that revelation, the most vigorous intellects are in darkness, not knowing what may happen in future ages, either in the visible world or the world of spirits. Who can discover, by the most profound investigation, what will take place in this world on the morrow? And a future state in the eternal world would have been entirely hidden