SERMON II.

ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT.

2 CORINTHIANS V. 10.

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.

THE awful truth contained in this passage of the holy scriptures is of such vital importance, is conveyed in terms so plain and powerful, and is capable of being proved by such an infinite variety of unanswerable arguments, that to consider all that might be said on this momentous subject would detain us, perhaps, too long on the present occasion. I shall, therefore, confine myself in this discourse to the proofs afforded us by nature and revelation as to the certainly of a future judgment; and in a future sermon will pursue

the subject by considering the information given us in the holy scriptures as to the manner and time of this judgment, and endeavour to lay before you some reflections which will naturally suggest themselves.

First, then, we are to inquire what intimations of a future judgment can be collected from the consideration of the course of nature, and the situation of mankind; and though it must be confessed that the conclusions to be drawn from this investigation do not amount to a certain proof of a day of retribution, yet the reflections to which they must infallibly lead the thinking mind, are such as to be most admirably adapted to prepare us for the reception of those glad tidings of immortality contained in the gospel of Christ. If we once are perfectly satisfied of the existence of a God, whose leading attribute is strict and impartial justice, a very cursory view of the situation of mankind must raise in our minds a strong idea of the probability of a future judgment; for if our existence were to close with our departure from this world, if there were nothing to animate the exertions of virtue, or appal the career of vice, but worldly honors and

human punishments, it never could be consistent with the justice of our great Creator to permit those examples of splendid vice and suffering virtue to exist, which daily experience offers to our view. And here let us pause one moment to mark the absurdity of that modern system of specious sophistry, which would fain persuade us that did all our hopes and fears centre in the enjoyment of this world's happiness, still the condition of mankind is perfectly in unison with the idea of an all-just Creator. Although, say the supporters of this theory, the honest and virtuous are stretched on the couch of pain and sickness, though they moisten the scanty meal their hard fortune allows, with the bitter tears of affliction, and sigh in vain for those luxuries they see the wanton and profligate consuming and wasting at their ease, there yet is an inward satisfaction inherent in virtue, and a restless inquietude the ceaseless attendant of vice, which renders the hard couch of the one far smoother than the downy pillow of the other; and gives to the coarse repast procured by fatiguing yet honest labour, a relish not to be found in the costly delicacies furnished by the guilty aid of rapine and extortion. Now all this most certainly

is the truth, but it is not the whole truth. I would ask these shallow advocates of earthly retribution, whence arises this inward peace which you justly call the handmaid of virtue? What is the cause of that ceaseless inquietude which haunts the steps of vice? I would answer in the words of one of our most celebrated moralists, ""Tis the Divinity that speaks within us, 'tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter, and intimates eternity to man.' It is the inspiring hope of an after reward which leads the poor but honest man to submit cheerfully to that state of trial which his Almighty Master has here allotted him, and cheerfully to do his duty in that humble sphere in which his all-wise Creator has destined him to move. It is the fear of a future judgment, conducted on the unerring principles of Almighty justice, which embitters the cup of guilty pleasure, arrests with resistless force the strong arm of the oppressor, and makes the tyrant tremble on his throne, lest, like Belshazzar, he be weighed in the balance and found wanting.

Thus we have seen that the first conclusion unassisted reason draws from comparing the present state of human life with the idea of an all

just Creator, amounts to this, that it is highly probable that there will be a distribution of rewards and punishments after death, and this probability is perhaps the extent of the evidence the light of nature could afford us with respect to an after state, and so strong is this probability, so plain are the arguments on which it is founded, that if it does not carry with it certain proof, it must raise in our minds a well-founded expectation of a future judgment, an awful tribunal at which we must all appear. And, this idea once admitted, how beautifully does it reconcile all the seeming partiality in the distribution of human advantages. It tells the reflecting mind how wisely Providence has allotted trials and afflictions to the children of men, to teach them the frailty of all human joys, and lead them to fix their hopes on that blessed state of eternal felicity where only true joys are to be found: it points out to us the opportunities afforded by sickness, affliction, or disappointment, for the exercise of the christian virtues of piety, meekness, and resignation; it shows us that though the wicked may be great and wealthy, the virtuous alone can be permanently happy; it sets before us a bright object of