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Future Judgment.

Happy he, who, convinced of this adorable grace, looks continually and stedfastly with the eye of Faith, to that great day when the Saviour shall come in the clouds! Then shall his fears be for ever removed, and all his anxious doubts shall vanish as the smoke; then with an accent of melodious sweetness, with a look full of love and joy ineffable, the great Redeemer shall welcome him, together with all those who have been faithful unto death, shall welcome them and say, Come ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world!Nay, he shall vouchsafe to enumerate those general deeds of Christian benevolence, which such souls have performed through their faith in him : and not only enumerate, but acknowledge them, as if they had been conferred upon himself; Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me!

How forcible, how affectionate a motive to us now in the day of pilgrimage, to be diligent, continually and unweariedly diligent in all such acts and offices of love: Christ will accept them; our redeemer, our judge, our hope, and our all,

Future Judgment.

will accept our tender charities to his members, and our fellow-creatures; will accept our works of faith and labours of love, as if we had been happy enough to have had an opportunity of performing them, even to his own person! and, publishing the grateful tidings to all around, he will allow us to partake of his triumph, and to enter, amid his returning saints and angels, those regions of glory and peace, where we shall live with him, and enjoy everlasting happiness.

But we will refer to our next chapter what we have to add respecting the peculiar blessedness of that state, and the exquisite misery reserved for those who know not God, and who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who will be punished with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance; and when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them who believe, in that day.* A passage of scripture which cannot fail greatly to influence

* 2 Tim. i. 7.

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Future Judgment.

those who give it that attention which its importance deserves: for who can think of everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power, without an anxious desire to avoid that destruction, the very terror of which chills the heart!

Prostrate, my contrite heart I bend:
My God, my Father, and my Friend!
Do not forsake me in my end!

LORD ROSCOMMON.

Punishment.

CHAPTER XX.

And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.

MATT. XXV. 26.

ETERNAL punishment! Eternal life! What awful words! What solemn sanctions! Who can read them and be unconcerned? Who can think of them, and be indifferent to the momentous truths they impart ?-Were our existence to terminate with the present passing scene, indulgence might be laudable, and every self-gratification right. "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die; let us crown ourselves with rose-buds; let none of us go without his part of our voluptuousness;" would then be the language of reason and truth-But Eternity before us-consummately blessed, or consummately

Future Punishment.

wretched ;-and death every moment shaking his dart triumphantly over us, preparing to strike once and strike no more;—can it be possible that any rational being should remain unsolicitous, and neglect to prepare for the important realities of Eternity, while chasing with unremitted ardour, the fugitive vanities of Time!

Yet, alas! many beings, proud of their faculties, and boasting their superior reason-are found, are daily found, immersed in sin, and rivetted to the world! heedless of God, of themselves, and immortality; uninfluenced by every motive of gratitude, unmoved by every argument of interest to obey the voice of Religion and Truth, and to secure the eternal salvation of their souls! Oh that they would indulge one serious reflection; that they would condescend awhile to meditate, with us, on the miserable woe reserved for those who forget their God-on the inexpressible comforts which they shall reap in joy who love and serve him!

Think then, my fellow-creatures, oh, think of that awful day of which we spoke in the preceding chapter, and imagine, if you can, the horror which must seize the souls of those who hear the

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