"Be

assures us that God is judge himself. The blessed and holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is judge in regard to judicial authority, dominion, and power. But the Son incarnate is judge in respect to dispensation, commission, and the exercise of that power. The judgment is to be executed by the Son; for unto him" the Father hath committed all judg"ment." This is part of the exaltation given to Christ in consequence of his voluntary humiliation. "cause He who was in the form of God, and who thought it not 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 at the name of Jesus every "knee should bow"-should bow to his essential and omnipotent Deity at the judgment-seat, where " every

one must give account of himself unto God*.”

The wisdom of God, in committing the awful and important work of judgment to Jesus the Godman will appear on reflection. Is it not necessary that the Judge should be a divine person? For what power less than omnipotence can gather together all nations, and "separate them one from "another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the "goats?" What power inferior to omnipotence can put in execution the sentence that shall be passed upon the wicked? What knowledge short of 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 that ever shall have peopled the earth?— But is there not a display of the highest wisdom in the appointment of Jesus the Mediator, as judge of the world? Is it not a mark of wisdom, that a world committed to the administration of a mediator, should have a mediatorial judge? Is there not a

* Compare Philip. ii. 8-10, with Rom. xiv. 10-12, and with Isa. xlv. 23.

wise and a holy fitness in committing this office 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? All this, according to the ability which God has afforded us of forming any sentiments on the subject, appears to be highly suitable and proper. Hence it is said, that all judgment is committed unto the Son, because he is the Son of man: and the consideration that Jesus the Judge, is man as well as God, affords much consolation to his people. It is a consolatory encouragement to believers to consider that their Judge is their Mediator, who has been "tempted in "all points like as we are, yet without sin." To this it may be added, that the condemnation of the wicked, at the judgment-seat of a mediator, will be rendered more conspicuously just; for, if Jesus the Saviour, the Mediator between God and man, condemn them, their condemnation must be just indeed.

As to the manner of the Judge's appearance, this is represented in the Scripture to be such as is suitable to the dignity of his person, character, and office. His appearance at his second advent will not be similar to that of his first, when he made himself of no reputation, and took on him the form of a servant. He will not come the second time to be despised and rejected of men, to be buffetted and spit on, to be scourged and crucified. No! his advent will be now in all the glory and majesty of the "King of kings and Lord of lords." "The Lord "Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his "mighty angels." All the saints, who shall have lived from Adam to this period of his manifestation in glory, will likewise attend on him to grace his appearance: for "those that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him;" and the saints that shall be alive upon the earth will be changed, and "caught up to meet the Lord in the air." What a different appearance will this be from that of the former ad

vent of Jesus! Then he came attended by twelve poor fishermen; now he will be accompanied by ten thousand times ten thousand angels and saints. Then he was introduced to his mediatorial work by the "voice of one crying in the wilderness;" now he comes "with the voice of the archangel and the "trump of God." Then he was lifted up on the cross between two thieves, as if unworthy of a place on the earth even to die on; now he will ascend his great white throne" as the Judge of the human

race.

Such, the Scripture assures us, will be the manner of the appearance of the Judge.-But is this the same Jesus who wept in the manger of Bethlehem? Is this the supposed son of Joseph the carpenter? Is this the despised and rejected Nazarene ? Is this the person who was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief? Is this the same Jesus who was arrested, scourged, condemned, crucified ? Is this He of whom his enemies have said, "Crush the wretch?” Yes! THIS IS HE:-but he comes Now in his manifested character, of dignity, glory, and power.-Let heaven and earth rejoice at his approach. "Sing, "O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every green tree "therein."-" Let the floods clap their hands: let "the hills be joyful together before the Lord: for "He cometh to judge the earth; with righteousness "shall he judge the world, and the people with "equity *.

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"And I saw a great white throne, 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 can possibly describe the majesty, the holiness, the purity of the Judge, in a stronger light than the imagery here used. Not

* Isa. xliv. 23. Ps. xcviii. 8, 9.

only shall impenitent sinners be unable to stand before him; but even the earth on which they trod, the material heavens on which they gazed, the air in which they breathed, are all represented as fleeing away and having no place found for them. "The "heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and "the elements shall melt with fervent heat *."Whether the earth will be totally and for ever destroyed by the fire of the last day, or whether it will be subsequently renovated; or how far the system to which it is united will be affected by the catastrophe, it is not for man to know. Thus much, perhaps, may without presumption be asserted, that all that has been infected by sin must be destroyed; or, like the leprous house, be taken down and rebuilt.-But in the midst of this "wreck of matter and crush of "worlds" man will still survive: for the same scene which presented to the eyes of the Apostle the dissolution of the earth and the heavens, exhibited to him the whole human race collected before the judgmentseat to receive their final doom.

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand "before God; and the books were opened: and an"other book was opened, which is the book of life: " and the dead were judged out of those things "which were written in the books, according to "their works."-Here we have a description of the parties who are to be judged, and the manner in which the judgment will be conducted.

The parties to be judged are all the ranks, orders, and degrees of the human race. From other Scriptures it is implied, that devils will appear at the bar of Christ as well as men. Satan and his angels will then receive their final and everlasting doom. From the period of their apostacy they have indeed been subjected to the wrath and justice of the Almighty. They were cast down into hell; and, wherever they

2

* 2 Pet. iii. 10.

are, they carry their own hell with them. But still they are reserved unto the judgment of the great day; and then shall they be judged for all their sinning and all their temptations to sin, from the time of their apostacy and departure from God to the consummation of all things. Then shall they receive the due reward of all the dishonour they have done to God, and of all the mischief they have effected against man. These evil spirits who are now in chains, though not in such close custody but that they 66 go about seeking whom they may de"vour," will then receive their final sentence and be shut up in the prison of hell, according to the de scription before given in the tenth verse. In prospect of this judgment, which the devils expect, they addressed the Son of God in the days of his incarnation, "Art thou come hither to torment us before "the time?"-But what it behoves us particularly to notice here is, that all mankind must appear in that day at the tribunal of Christ. The whole race of men, the great and small, the noble and ignoble, princes and peasants, rich and poor-every human being of each sex, and of every age, quality, and condition, must stand before God. Adam and Eve, with all their immense posterity, will constitute the vast assembly. "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, and before him shall be "gathered all nations." This wonderful work, it appears, will be accomplished by the ministry of angels for when the "Son of man shall come in "the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory, "he shall send his angels with a great sound of a "trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect "from the four winds, from one end of heaven to "the other*."-The ministry of these holy and powerful beings extends to the wicked likewise as well as to the righteous: " for in the end of the

* Matt. xxiv. 30, 31.