"Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.-He cometh, he cometh to judge the earth he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth." Solomon also declares that, God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." The glory and majesty of this great day, is thus sublimely described by the prophet Daniel. "I beheld till the thrones were cast down," or rather, placed or set up, "and the ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued, and came forth from before him thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him the judgment was set, and the books were opened." In the New Testament, Jesus, the judge himself, affirms that he goes into heaven to prepare places for his people, and that he will come again from thence to receive them to himself. his own account of some of the awful transactions of the great day, he declares that, "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." The apostle Paul

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declares that, "the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." And without multiplying farther testimonies to this glorious and tremendous event, our text declares that, the Father hath appointed the very "day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained." Such are some of the decisive declarations of the Holy Scriptures on this subject. The truth of God is pledged that a general judgment shall take place.

3. Once more, we argue the certainty of the judgment from the resurrection of Christ.

This is indeed the particular argument used by St. Paul in the text. God hath given assurance of this event to all men, in that he hath raised his Son, the appointed judge, from the dead. By this act he hath assured mankind, that he hath given his Son his commission to be the judge of the world. In the days of his humiliation, the Judge himself was arraigned before a tribunal of the guilty creatures who are hereafter to stand at his own judgment seat. Here he was accused and condemned. But while in this state of degradation, he plainly forewarned his accusers and judges, of the glory of his own character as the judge of the whole earth. Hereafter shall

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ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." On account of this declaration, the Redeemer of man was immediately condemned as a blasphemer. But God, having raised him from the dead, has given an undeniable proof of the truth of his assertion. "To this end," says the apostle, "Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." Enough has been said, it is presumed, to prove the certainty of the general judgment, and to convince you, my brethren, that God hath indeed appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness. Let us proceed, in the second place, to consider

II. The character of the judge, and the manner of his appearance.

Who is the judge? This is no other than the Lord Jesus Christ. God" will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained,"-by Jesus, the Son of God, and the Son of man. The Psalmist assures us, that God is judge himself. The holy and glorious Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is judge in regard to judicial authority, dominion, and power. But the Son incarnate is judge in regard to dispensation, commission, and the exercise of that power. The judgment will be executed by him, because "unto him the Father hath committed all judgment." This is part of that exaltation given to him in consequence of his voluntary humiliation for the salvation of men. "Because Jesus,

who being in the form of God, and who thought it no robbery to be equal with God, humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; therefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name that is above every name,' that is, power and authority over all, "that at the name of Jesus," to his omnipotence, "every knee should bow"-at his judgment seat, where “ every one must give account of himself unto God."

A little reflection will shew us why the awful and important work of judgment is committed to Jesus the God-man; and that this, as well as all the other dispensations of Jehovah, is marked by infinite wisdom. Is it not necessary that the judge should be a divine person? For who, possessing less than the attribute of omnipotence, can gather together all nations, and separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats? What less than omnipotence can put in execution the sentence that shall be passed upon the wicked? What knowledge inferior to omniscience, the attribute of Deity, can qualify a judge to determine, and to pass judgment, in relation to all the thoughts, words, and actions of all the inhabitants of the earth? Doubtless the judge must be that searcher of hearts, from whom nothing can be hid, and to whose eyes all things are naked and open. Is there not likewise a display of wisdom, that Jesus, as the mediator, is appointed judge of the world? Is there not a fitness that this office should be committed to Jesus, as an honorary reward for his humiliation and abasement?

Is it not right that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father? It is expressly asserted, "that all judgment is committed unto the Son, because he is the Son of man."

The consideration that Jesus the judge, is man as well as God, affords much consolation to his people. Is it not an encouragement, Christians, to consider, that he who is to be our judge is also our Mediator? who has been tempted in all points like as we have been, yet without sin? Will that Saviour, in whom his people have believed, whom they have loved, and on whom they have trusted, condemn them at last? Will that judge, who as the Saviour has loved them, and given his life to redeem them, consign them to everlasting punishment? As the judge is the believer's advocate, may they not be satisfied that his intercession will prevail, and that, according to his gracious promise, they shall not perish, but have everlasting life? On the other hand, may it not be added, that the condemnation of the wicked at the judgment seat of a Mediator will be rendered more conspicuously just? The judge is the Redeemer, whose laws they have broken, whose love they have slighted, whose grace they have rejected, and whose blood they have trodden under foot. They have refused him as their Saviour, but they will not be able to withstand him as their judge. But if Jesus, the Saviour, the Redeemer, the Mediator, condemn them, their condemnation must be just indeed.

But let us take notice of the manner of the judge's appearance. The appearance of the Saviour will be