himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of GOD." "Behold the

LORD cometh with ten thousand of his Saints."*

His coming shall be also sudden. Every moment which passes by, is bringing it nearer. Yet we are told, that it will at last come, when men are not expecting its arrival. "The day of the LORD SO cometh as a thief in the night t," unlooked for, and unthought of. We are frequently reminded of this truth in the Scriptures. Our Lord himself expressly says, that "in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh while in the following passage, he more particularly declares the same thing, "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, they planted, they builded: but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroy

xxiv. 30. -1 Thess. iv. 16.

* Matt. xxv. 31. 2 Thess. i. 7, 8.—Jude, 14.

ed them all; even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed."*

To the Certainty and Manner of his coming, we may add, in the third place, the Purpose and the Consequences of it.

When CHRIST first came into the world, he tells us, that "He was come not to judge the world, but to save the world." In his state of humiliation he came as a Saviour. When he comes in glory, he will come in a different character. He will then come as a Judge, he "will sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations." He will not come to save, but to judge the world. Then, indeed, in the words of the prophet, immediately following the text, he will be "like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap." He will separate the dross from the sterling gold. He will divide the chaff from the wheat, the goats from the sheep. He will make an awful and everlasting distinction between the righteous and the wicked; and, by his just sentence, will assign to each the reward or the punishment, to which they are entitled.He will condemn the wicked to everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. He will crown the righteous with everlasting glory in the kingdom of his Father.

*Luke, xvii, 26-30.

Having thus reminded you of some particulars concerning Christ's Second Coming, I shall now proceed,

II. To answer the solemn Question proposed to us in the text.

"Who may abide the Day of his Coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth ?" The meaning of this question is plain. "We must all stand before the Judgment-Seat of Christ;" but who among us will be able to bear that severe and close enquiry, which will then be made into our lives and characters? Who will stand with comfort, with confidence, with acceptance, in the presence of his heart-searching Judge, and will escape in that fearful Judgment? In answering this question, I shall show, in the first place, who those are, that will not be able to "abide the Day of Christ's Coming, and to stand before Him when he appeareth."

Among these we must first place every open and habitual sinner. The drunkard, the liar, the thief, the sabbath-breaker, the profane swearer, the impious scorner, the impure fornicator, the malicious, the envious, the revengeful man, the extortioner, and the oppressor : all these persons, and all such as these, will assuredly be unable to stand before Christ at his appearing. What

ever they may now think; by whatever excuses they may now silence the voice of conscience; whatever peace they may now feel; whatever security they may now promise to themselves in their iniquities; very different will be their thoughts and feelings, when they shall be called before the Judgment-Seat of Christ. They will then see how vain are these excuses; how vast is their guilt. Their boasted confidence will fail. Their tongues, which here spoke so stout against the Lord, will be speechless. Their hearts will tremble and melt like wax. Unable to abide the presence of the Lord, they will be overwhelmed with horrible confusion. In anguish of soul they will say to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him, that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand ?" *

To these persons we may add, secondly, the Worldly man: the man who has made this world his God, and has set up his idols in the heart, "the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eye, or the pride of life.". All his days he has been constantly engaged in pushing his worldly interests. His treasure has been upon earth. His affections have

*Rev. vi. 16, 17.

been set on things below. The main employment of his time, of his thoughts, and of his talents has been, how he may procure to himself a somewhat larger portion of worldly goods. Of such a man the world thinks favourably; and looks on him, it may be, with admiration and respect: for "the world will love its own;" and "men will praise thee; when thou doest well to thyself." But what will become of such a man "in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of GOD? Will he be able to stand in that fearful Judgment? No. His idolatrous love of the world will then become his utter confusion. He will see his beloved Idol, the world and all things in it, consumed with fire; and glad will he be, could he perish in the same flames, rather than stand before the face of his offended Judge. But he must stand before the Judge, and receive sentence together with those, who "having served the creature more than the Creator," have thave "held the truth in unrighteousness, and when they knew GOD, "glorified him not as GOD."

Let us turn, thirdly, to a person of an other character, to the Hypocrite: to the man who has outwardly the appearance of

*Psalm xlvi. 18.