escape the notice of the judge. Every temper, every work, and every word, will be brought forward. "For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Eccles. xii, 14.

The dead will be judged "out of those things which are written in the books." One man will not be allowed to accuse another. Devils will not be allowed to accuse men. Nothing but written records will be produced as evidence, either for or against any one. The books,

like him who wrote them, will be faithful and true. They will contain full and sufficient evidence to determine the everlasting fate of all; and the evidence will be so full and clear, that no doubt can remain. Devils and wicked men will be silenced, and the saints will triumphantly shout, "Righteous art thou, O Lord, and upright are thy judgments." Ps. cxix, 137.

The dead will be judged "according to their works." Not according to their professions, opinions, privileges, riches, poverty, rank, or titles, in this lower world. We are justified by faith, in this day of grace; but in the day of judgment, we shall either be justified or condemned by the evidence of our works. Works are either good or bad. Amongst the good, we may reckon works of justice, mercy, and piety; amongst the bad, we may reckon works of vanity, dishonesty, cruelty, uncleanness, drunkenness, and profaneness. All these will appear on our examination; and by them our final state will be determined. At the same time, the principles which produce these works, and the ends to which they were directed, will be taken into the account. How dreadful, to be "weighed in the balances, and found wanting!" Dan. v, 27. To prevent that, let us seek an union with Jesus, who is the true vine; and then we shall bring forth those fruits of righteousness which God will reward in that day.

It will certainly appear, when the books are opened, that Christ is the only Saviour of a lost and ruined world; and that all men, had they followed the light which he afforded, and the grace by which he influenced their hearts, might have been saved eternally. Those who have only the law written on their hearts, may find their way to the right hand of the Judge. And shall we, who are highly favoured with the word of God, and who abound with Christian privileges, be found with horror on the left?

That day will put a final period to all fraud, oppression, and injustice. The triumphs of the wicked, and the sufferings of the righteous, will then come to an end. A just sentence will be pronounced, and every one will enter upon that state in which he must remain for ever.

Amidst the hurry and tumult of this depraved world, let us often think of that great day. When we are disposed to take our fill of pleasure, and to walk in the way of our own hearts, let us recollect that for all these things God will bring us into judgment. O, how shall we appear then! What will be our lot? Must we stand with devils and the damned to hear our sentence? Or shall we be found with saints and angels? What is our state now? Let us now bring ourselves into judgment! Let conscience speak, and be atttentive to its

a merciful God

Enter into the Thus, when the

voice! Does conscience condemn? Then go to through Christ. Seek diligently the remission of sins. fountain which is set open for sin and uncleanness. Judge descends, in all the glory of his Father, we shall appear before him with joy and gladness. Amen.

SERMON LXIX.

SINNERS BANISHED FROM CHRIST.

Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. MATTHEW XXV, 41.

How awful are these words! The bare repetition of them is enough to make the stoutest sinner tremble! They contain the final sentence, which the Judge of all the earth will pronounce upon the wicked in the day of judgment. The sentence contains four parts: The wicked are banished from Christ; they are banished with a curse; they are banished into that fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels; and their banishment will be everlasting.

I. THE WICKED ARE BANISHED FROM CHRIST.

The sentence opens with the word, Depart. While those wretched beings, who are commanded to depart, lived in a state of probation, Christ often invited them to himself, and complained that they would not come to him. But, what a sad change of circumstances! Now he frowns, and says, Depart! They are not fit to remain in his glorious presence. Sin has made them contemptible, and the righteous Judge beholds them with contempt. Entreaties to remain with him would now be vain. There was a time when they might have been heard with kind attention; but that time is past and gone for ever. Henceforth, should they pray, their prayers will never reach the throne of God.

They depart from Christ, the HOLY ONE OF GOD, who lived and died for sinful man. This will be severely felt by those apostate spirits. He was their friend; but they have lost his friendship. He sought them in their lost estate; but they would not be saved. Now he pronounces on them the final sentence of damnation. There was a time when his eyes pitied them, and when his hand was stretched out to help them; but that time has gone by, and his mercy is clean gone from them for

Those who remain with Christ will be eternally happy; but those who are compelled to depart will suffer endless misery.

When the wicked depart from Christ, they also depart from all his blessed followers. On earth they mixed with the wise and good, and many blessings which they then enjoyed, were owing to that happy circumstance; but now the chaff is separated from the wheat, and must be burned up with unquenchable fire. Perhaps they have relations and

acquaintances at the right hand of the Judge; but they must depart, and never see them again to all eternity.

But this is not all: For, in departing from Christ, they depart from all the joys and glories of heaven. Their eyes shall never behold those happy plains of light, where God will reign with saints and angels. O, what a loss! The loss of ten thousand worlds, were we in possession of them all, would be a trifle to the loss of Christ and heaven! And yet, foolish men now hazard all those glories, for the momentary pleasures of sin. The present world has more charms to them than the world

to come.

II. THEY ARE BANISHED WITH A CURSE.

A curse stands directly opposed to a blessing; the one is followed by a communication of good, and the other by an infliction of evil. When God curses men, real evil is intended, and will unavoidably fall down upon them. Impotent men may call down mischief, and wish evil, but no evil may follow their daring imprecations; but the curses of God should be regarded in the most solemn manner, because they will be followed with suitable vengeance. How awful, then, are the curses of heaven! When the ground was cursed for the sin of man, it brought forth briars and thorns. When Cain was cursed, he went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, a Hebrew word, signifying a wandering vagabond, who trembles and shakes under a sense of guilt. Noah, under a Divine impulse, cursed Canaan, and he became vile, both in his own person, and in his posterity. Jesus cursed the fig tree, and it immediately withered.

Wicked men are under a curse now; but mercy spares them. In the day of judgment, the curse will not only be pronounced, but fully executed. Banishment from Christ, will be dreadful in itself; but banishment with a curse will be much more dreadful. Under his blessing, we may be happy in any place; but under his curse, we cannot be happy any where. No doubt the curse of Christ will greatly increase the torment of the damned. They will reflect with grief upon his gracious undertakings for them; his repeated offers of mercy; his calls and warnings: And when they recollect, that the last time they saw and heard him, he pronounced a curse upon them, we may suppose they will be filled with extreme anguish. Oh, cursed spirits, how can ye escape? Whither can ye flee from that vengeance which pursues you? Who can remove your curse, or deliver you from its direful effects? You have no friend in the universe! There is no eye to pity you? no hand to save you from the second death!

III. THEY ARE BANISHED INTO THAT FIRE, WHICH WAS PREPARED FOR

THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS.

Angels, as well as men, were created to be happy; but those angels which kept not their first estate, were banished from God. Hell was prepared for them at first; but guilty men, influenced, directed, and governed by those infernal powers, must share their punishment. O, how dreadful, to mix with devils, and to be confined with them in the same prison for ever!

Some have maintained, that the fire of hell will be like the fire with

which we are acquainted. The venerable Mr. Wesley says, "Does not our Lord speak as if it were real fire? No one can deny or doubt this. Is it possible, then, to suppose that the God of truth would speak in this manner, if it were not so? Does he design to fright his poor creatures? What, with scare-crows? With vain shadows of things that have no being? O, let not any think so! Impute not such folly to the Most High!"

Others suppose, that the fire of hell is a strong figure, denoting extreme torment. Fire is that element which gives the greatest pain of any other; and if the fire of hell should prove very different from our common fire, yet it must be allowed, that it implies the infliction of inexpressible and inconceivable torment. Matthew Henry says, "The fire is the wrath of the eternal God, fastening upon the guilty souls and consciences of men that have made themselves fuel for it. Our God is a consuming fire, and sinners fall immediately into his hands."

But it is of greater moment to avoid the fire of hell, than to determine the question about its nature and properties. Whether that fire be literal or figurative, it must be allowed to imply punishment, which far exceeds any thing that words can describe. It is probable that the damned will suffer throughout the whole man, and that every part, both of body and soul, will be tormented with dreadful misery. Nevertheless, as their punishment will be inflicted by the hand of impartial justice, we must suppose that some will suffer more than others. But who would run the dreadful risk of suffering the fire of hell in the smallest degree? The smallest degree of pain in those horrid regions, will be more acute than any sufferings in the present life.

IV. THEY ARE BANISHED FOR EVER.

It is generally allowed, that the joys of heaven will know no period; and the same word, aviov, being used to express both the duration of those joys, and the duration of torment in hell, we cannot suppose the one to come to an end, without supposing that the other may also end. Matt. xxv, 46. He, therefore, who maintains that the word everlasting signifies no more than a limited period, though it be for ages of ages, shakes the foundation of eternal blessedness, destroys the best hopes of holy men, and throws a damp upon the glory of heaven. The word, we admit, is used for a limited time, when applied to many things in this world, because every thing merely relating to this visible world must pass away; but when applied to eternity, it always signifies unlimited duration.

The fact is, there will be no saving remedy for the damned. The Scriptures invariably teach the impossibility of Salvation without a Mediator. Christ now acts in that capacity, and is the Saviour of all who comply with the terms of mercy; but, in the end of the world, he will give up his mediatorial kingdom, and God will be all in all. There is no intimation of his mediation for the damned. The moment in which the sentence of final condemnation is passed upon them, they are abandoned to black despair. And who will plead their cause? Who will deliver them? When Christ gives them up, they are lost for ever. Many have attempted to prove universal restoration, and the opinion

gains ground; but it is built upon detached scraps of Scripture, and farfetched criticism. A plain man, guided by common sense, and an honest heart, will never find this doctrine in the book of God. It is as dangerous as it is false. It is dangerous, not only as it leads to carelessness about eternal things; but as it leads to a plan of interpreting the Scriptures, which, if followed up, may end in the most serious consequences. Sound criticism will always be esteemed by judicious men ; but the plan of criticism followed by the advocates of universal salvation, has a direct tendency to bring the Scriptures into contempt.

Let us often reflect upon this awful sentence. Those who are banished from Christ, have lost the world, which was their god; they have lost all peace and joy; and their souls are lost. How dreadful is their lot! Banished from Christ; under a curse; tormented in fire; and no prospect of deliverance! They are filled with bitter reflections, plagued with horrid companions, and terrified with doleful prospects; and shall we, for a few fleeting and unsubstantial pleasures, plunge ourselves into endless misery? My dear friends, be wise. You are now warned: You are now entreated, to accept of life and salvation. O, delay not to accept the mercy of your God! Rejoice that your doom is not yet fixed. Bless God for his long forbearance. Renounce sin, and embrace Christ upon Gospel terms. Give your hearts to God, and walk in his ways; then this awful sentence will never be pronounced upon you: "Let us now fall into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are great. Blessed be his name from this time forth and for evermore." Amen.

SERMON LXX.

SAINTS INVITED TO GLORY.

Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. MATTHEW XXV, 34.

In this

THE friends of Jesus will live and reign with him for ever. world a kingdom of grace is set up in their hearts; and in the day of judgment they will be invited to a kingdom of glory. Who can describe the happiness of that moment, when the Judge shall say to them, "Come, ye blessed of my Father."

Let us, First, examine the character of the persons invited to the kingdom; and, Secondly, the purport of the invitation.

I. THE CHARACTER OF THE PERSONS INVITED TO THE KINGDOM. In the preceding account, they are called sheep. "He shall set the sheep on his right hand." This is an appellation which the inspired writers frequently give to good men, on account of their harmless, meek, and inoffensive conduct. The marks by which they are known, are