eous with shining forms, and the wicked clothed with shame, as in anticipation of their respective dooms. The consuming fires will then be let loose upon the earth, and will wrap it in the flames of a devouring furnace. The earth and all the works therein will be burned up. Then will the judgment set, and the Judge will be seen in glorious majesty on his throne of luminous cloud. I announce the time and order of these events as they are revealed in the word of God. St. Peter informs us that "the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.' He had just said, "The heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment." But before the judgment sets the dead must be raised. "I saw the dead, small and great," says the revelator, "stand before God." The order of events will therefore be, first the resurrection of the dead, then the dissolution of the world by fire, and then the judgment. All this gross materialism will be swept out of the way, to give place to the majestic throne and the judicial proceedings of that day. "I saw a great white throne," says the revelator," and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them." Nothing will remain to engage the eye, or occupy the mind; every eye must look * 2 Peter iii. 10. † Rev. xx. 12. + Rev. xx. 11. upon the enthroned Judge, every mind be absorbed with the awful decisions. 2. Where will the judgment be? It cannot be on this earth, for the earth will be "burned up.' It will not be in heaven, for the wicked are not allowed to enter the gate of that holy kingdom. It will not be in hell, for only condemned spirits enter that place of punishment. It remains, therefore, that the judgment will set in the mid-heavens, between the abodes of the righteous and of the wicked, whence the judged will be sent to the one or to the other, according to their respective sentences. The wicked will thence be banished" from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power," to the place prepared for the devil and his angels. The righteous will ascend in shining clouds with their Lord into the ethereal mansions of glory, where they will be forever with him. "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the arch-angel and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive, and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." We shall inhabit "a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."¶ The solid pavement of the earth will not be required to support the feet of the myriads thronging to judg *2 Peter iii. 10. † Rev. xxi. 27. Matt. xxv. 46. ¶ 2 Cor. v. 1. ment, for as the dead will be raised and the living changed to spiritual bodies, not subject to the laws of gravitation, they will be able to move and rest, like forms of light, in open space. Hence there will be no obstruction to the full vision and burning presence of the Judge-every eye shall see him, every knee bow to his throne. 3. Who will be the Judge? Jesus Christ. "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ."* Nor will he judge by proxy, as some suppose ;-for he has told us that he himself will come seated on a glorious throne, and all the nations of the world will be assembled before him. St. Peter in one of his sermons says, that after Christ rose from the dead "he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God, to be the Judge of quick and dead." St. Paul also, in one of his discourses, says, "Because 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 raised him from the dead." raised from the dead will then men, in that he hath The same who was be the Judge of the world. And again, in his Epistle to the Romans,— "We shall all stand before the judgment seat of CHRIST." As the divinity of Christ has been often denied, and divine honors withheld from him, he has admonished us, "The Father judgeth no man but * 2 Cor. v. 10. † Acts x. 42. Acts xvii. 31. hath committed all judgment to the Son, that all men might honor the Son, even as they honor the Father."* It is thus unequivocally taught in the word of God, that Jesus Christ will be the Judge of the world. This is a most important and interesting truth. He who once came to redeem, will then come to judge. But oh! how changed! Never again can his Godhead be questioned-never again will divine homage be withheld from him. Before, a helpless babe in the manger, now a glorious Judge on the throne ;-before, a man of sorrows, now over all God, blessed forever ;— before, arraigned at Pilate's bar, now Pilate is arraigned at his bar ;-before, he endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, now all souls must fall before him, and every mouth be stopped. Amazing contrast! Oh how the God now shines forth, in that human form. With what stupendous honors is humanity clothed ! 4. How extensive will the judgment be? It will be universal, including all mankind and fallen angels. The Scriptures are quite explicit on this point. "We must ALL appear before the judgment seat of Christ."+ "EVERY eye shall see him,-every tongue shall confess to him." "He will judge the WORLD in righteousness"—all mankind. "Every one of us shall give account of himself to God." "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."¶ * John v. 22. † 2 Cor. v. 10. § Rom. xiv. 12. Phil. ii. 11. || Acts xvii. 31. ¶ Jude 6. None of all the teeming myriads of immortals, that have inhabited the earth since creation's dawn, nor any of the fallen spirits of darkness, will be able to escape that ordeal. No marble shall hold its dust, no ocean-cave its prisoner, no deep cavern its fear-stricken tenant, and no chains of darkness their guilty victims, that they should not come forth to judgment. Although they call to the rocks and to the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, the rocks and the mountains will not know their call, for a mightier voice will have reached them. Fleeing like autumnal leaves before a tempest, they will leave no refuge from the blazing brightness of the great white throne ;-all-all-from earth and hell, must stand before it. There are many things in the future, which we may possibly escape. Even death, one of the most common events, some have escaped, and many others will; but none can escape the judgment. 5. How much of our conduct will be brought to light in the judgment? We reply, there will be a complete developement of character. Judge nothing before the time," says the apostle, "until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts."* "There is nothing covered," says Jesus Christ, "that shall not be revealed, and hid, that shall not be known." At human tribunals, facts are often suppressed, evidence kept back, |