of doubt, when he explained the meaning of his parable of the tares and the wheat : As, therefore, the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world:"-Again, how forcibly did He inculcate the certainty of a time of general judgment, in those awful words, "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left," &c.

The Apostles Peter and Paul declare that Jesus Christ will judge both quick and dead: and the latter, in his memorable sermon preached on Mars Hill to the idolatrous Athenians, enforced the necessity of repentance towards God, "because," said he, "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." Very

remarkable are the allusions, made by several of the inspired writers, to this eventful period. In the communications of the heavenly messenger, who appeared unto Daniel, whilst amongst the children of Israel captive in Babylon, is this striking revelation: "Many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." And how inconceivably solemn was the prophetic vision of the Apostle John: "I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened, and another book was opened which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every man, according to their works." This may be understood as a figurative representation; yet, even then, it undoubtedly conveys a truth of unspeakable importance;

that, as the Apostle testifies, "We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ." We can, in our finite and mortal condition, form no adequate idea of the realities of the unseen world; neither can we judge, with any degree of correctness, of the nature and extent of our spiritual perceptions when unclothed of flesh and blood; when the senses and faculties that belong to our corporeal frame, together with all our merely natural affections and desires, shall be put off: then, if, through infinite mercy, we be numbered with the redeemed of the Lord, we shall be divested of our carnal will and attachments, we shall love only that which is of God; we can have no fellowship with any but holy and pure spirits; and shall be prepared to unite in the sacred anthem, "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty: Just and true are thy ways; Thou King of Saints." In the parable spoken by our Lord, respecting the rich man and Lazarus, we find that, although the one was in the place of torment, he could not only behold, but could recognise him who had lain "at his gate full of sores," and he knew Abraham also, in whose bosom

the poor man was resting in peace: although, as Abraham alluded to Moses and the prophets, it is clear that the rich man could not on earth have seen him. This also is an allegorical narrative: yet we must bear in mind that, in all the parables taught by Christ, nothing but pure and certain truth was represented or inculcated by Him who is the Source and Fountain of all truth. And we may also remember that, when upon the Mount, the three disciples witnessed the transfiguration of their Lord, the heavenly strangers who talked with Jesus, although unknown to their mortal perceptions, were recognised by them as being Moses and Elias. This fact affords certain evidence that there are faculties of a spiritual nature; to be developed, doubtless, in that world where we shall no longer "see as through a glass darkly," but "face to face," and "know even as we are known." But, if that world be to us a state of glory, we must, whilst our day of probation here below is mercifully lengthened out, be earnestly concerned to "use all diligence to make our calling and election sure," by not having a dead faith, but a

"faith that works by love, to the purifying of the heart:" this alone will give us a part in Christ, "The resurrection and the life;" and the one all-essential point at which we need to aim, is, that we may find, by our own individual experience, that "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection;” being raised from the death of sin to newness of life in Christ: "On such the second death" --that eternal death which awaits the wicked "hath no power."

There is yet another doctrine, inculcated. by our Lord in his description of the circumstances of the rich man and Lazarus ;-a doctrine which ought ever to be remembered with deepest instruction and most solemn warning-that the retribution, which follows the final award of the great and righteous Judge, is irreversible; that, between the two states, in one of which must every soul be centred, "there is a great gulf fixed," so that none can pass from the one to the other. On another occasion, when Jesus taught without a parable, he plainly declared concerning the awful perdition of impenitent spirits, plunged into the world of darkness,