ningly devised fable. My friends, it is this indecision which ruins you. While you are delaying and hesitating in what manner to treat the Bible, time is rapidly passing away, and death is hastening on. How long, then, halt ye between two opinions? If the Bible is God's word, then believe and obey it as such. But if not, reject it at once, and no longer come here to listen to the superstitions and conjectures of men. Remember the awful doom of those, who are neither cold nor hot, neither open infidels, nor firm, constant believers. Remember that no character is more hateful in the sight of God, or more contemptible in the opinion of men, than a double-minded man, who is unstable in all his ways, and who does not know himself what he believes or what he denies.

To conclude. From what has been said, you, my friends, who believe and know the Bible to be true, may learn how highly you ought to prize it, and how great should be your gratitude to Him who has bestowed on the world this inestimable gift; and who has cast your lot in a land, where it is known, and given you satisfactory and infallible evidence of its divine original. Permit me to ask, whether you have not been, and whether you are not still, greatly deficient in this respect? Have you been duly sensible of the value of this gift, and of the blessings which it imparts, and of the dreadful situation in which we should be placed without it? Have you studied it, have you blessed God for it as you ought? If not, let what has been said prompt you to an immediate performance of these duties. Your Bible ought to be dearer to you than your daily bread, than the light of heaven, than the breath of life; for what would all these things, what would life itself be without it. O, then, praise, unceasingly praise God for the Bible; and remember that the most suitable and acceptable way in which you can express your gratitude for the gift of it, is to believe its doctrines, and to obey its precepts; to trust its promises, to be what it requires you to be, and hide it in your hearts, that you may not sin against its Author.

SERMON XCVI.

THE FINAL JUDGMENT.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.—2 CORINTHIANS V. 10.

To a mind that looks beyond present appearances, to future realities; and with the eye of faith, sees things which are not, as though they were, how solemn, how interesting is the scene before us. In this assembly, we behold an assembly of immortals, an assembly of candidates for eternity; a part of that vast assembly, which will one day stand exulting in triumph, or sinking in despair, before the tribunal of an avenging God. In every individual here present, we contemplate an heir of glory or a child of perdition; a future inhabitant of heaven, or a prisoner of hell; an embryo angel, or an infant fiend. Whatever diversity there may be in other respects, how different soever may be your character, pursuits and situations in life, to one of these classes, my friends, you all belong; for you must all appear before the judgment seat, to receive according to the deeds done in the body; and after the irrevocable sentence is pronounced, must each of you depart accursed into everlasting fire, or enter blessed into life eternal.

As there is no middle character between the righteous and the wicked in this world, so there will be no intermediate state be

tween heaven and hell in the next; but one of these is the habitation finally appointed for all living.

And do you feel no anxiety, do you consider it a matter of no consequence, my friends, to know which of these will be your lot? You are usually sufficiently fond of looking forward beyond the present hour, and anticipating the future scenes of life; especially when any important event is before you. With anxious eagerness and curiosity, you look forward from childhood to youth, from youth to manhood, and from manhood to age; and perhaps not a single hour arrives, which has not been the subject of frequent anticipation. Come then, and exercise for a few moments, an employment of which you are so fond. Let not your thoughts be ever confined to this narrow circle of three score years and ten; but for once take a bolder range and anticipate scenes equally certain, far more instructive and infinitely more important, than any which this life affords. Come and look forward to the final consummation of all things, when Christ shall be revealed in flaming fire, to take vengeance on those who know not God, and who are disobedient to the truth; when the heavens shall pass away with a great noise; and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; and the earth, with the works thereof, shall be burnt up. Come and look forward to that tremendous day, far more terrible to the self-condemned sinner, than all the horrors of dissolving nature, and a world on fire; which will unalterably determine our final destinies; and bestow on each of us an eternal weight of glory, or consign us over to the mansions of despair.

But the subject is too vast to be grasped at once by any finite intelligence. To assist our feeble faculties, let us consider it separately under the following particulars. The certainty of a future judgment; the Judge who will preside; the persons who will be judged; the things for which they will be called to an account, and the design of the whole transaction.

I. We are to inquire into the certainty of a future judgment, before which we all must appear, as the apostle asserts.

Of this, my friends, we shall soon see there is no room for doubt. No proposition of natural or revealed religion, not even that which regards the existence of a God, is accompanied with. more convincing evidence than this. They are indeed truths necessarily and inseparably connected; for it is evident almost

to demonstration, that he who created must govern, and that he who governs must judge the world. We cannot possibly suppose, that an infinitely wise being would create man, and then leave him to himself, or to the sport of blind accident. No, he must have had some suitable design in his creation; and the only design of a being infinitely holy, just, and good, of which we can form any conception, is his own glory as connected with the greatest possible happiness of his creatures. To accomplish this design, certain laws and regulations are necessary; and if his creatures disobey these regulations, all his perfections. join in requiring that they should be restrained and punished. Experience however, abundantly shows that, in this world, no adequate punishment is inflicted, that there is little or no apparent distinction between the bad and the good; but that all things come alike to all; that there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. Hence it appears, that there must be a future day of recompense and retribution, when God will vindicate his own character, reward his faithful friends, and convince the assembled world that his righteous laws are not to be violated with impunity.

Omitting the arguments which might be deduced from the present life, as being a state of probation, and others equally cogent, we may observe, secondly, that the existence of natural consceience also proves the certainty of a future judgment. Wherever we see inferior courts and subordinate officers, we naturally conclude there is some superior power from whom their authority is derived, and by whom their proceedings will be ratified and sanctioned. In the same manner, when we see conscience summoning us to her bar and passing sentence on every thought, word and action, we cannot avoid concluding, that he who placed this monitor in our breasts, and from whom its power and authority are derived, will at some future period confirm her decisions by his own decree. But without insisting on these, and other arguments of a similar nature, the certainty of a future judgment is sufficiently proved in the word of God; and I hope, my friends, you are not so little acquainted with this word as to render it necessary to quote the numerous passages in which it is taught in the plainest terms. Certainly none who acknowledge its divine authority, (and to such only do we ad

dress ourselves; for how can we hope to be heard by those to whom God has spoken in vain?) can possibly doubt that God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. This brings us, as was proposed,

II. To inquire who will be the Judge on this solemn occason; who is the man that God hath ordained; and this is no other than the man Christ Jesus, even he, who was born of the virgin Mary, who was crucified, and who rose and ascended to heaven, shall so come, in like manner; and before him shall be gathered all nations. This truth our blessed Saviour abundantly taught while on earth; and there seems in this appointment the same fitness and propriety, as in all other parts of the divine conduct. It is certainly highly fit and proper, that he who made and redeemed should also judge the world, and that he who humbled himself below all creatures should also be exalted above all, so that to him every knee shall bow and every tongue confess him Lord to the praise and glory of God the Father. Then will his exaltation be complete. Every thing will then manifestly appear to be put under him. The glory in which he will then appear will be greater than he has ever yet assumed, greater than we could support the sight of, while clothed with mortality. At the creation he was surrounded by hosts of morning stars, who sung together, and the sons of God, who shouted for joy; and at the dispensation of the law on Sinai, he was arrayed in all the majesty and terror which the elements could afford. But on this still more awful occasion, he will come, not in his own glory only, but in that of his Father, and the holy angels. Heaven will pour forth all her armies to grace his triumph, and spread around him all her ineffable glories in one unremitted blaze of splendor, before which the sun will fade away, and even archangels veil their faces; while,

From his keen glance affrighted worlds retire,
He speaks in thunder and he breathes in fire.

His countenance, like the pillar of cloud between the Israelites and Egyptians, will present a double appearance; and though clothed with the rainbow of peace toward his friends, it will lower on his enemies like a stormy sky; and while his eye, at