of the same family, children of the same father, travelling the same road, and to the same home. It appears, from Matt, xxv. that six things only compose the necessaries of life, viz. food, drink, rayment, health, liberty, and social friendship. Should a member of the household of faith be destitute of any one of these necessaries of life, it is the imperative duty of "Christian" to administer to his wants, Should be neglect or refuse so to do, it will be recorded against him in God's book of remembrance. I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was naked, and ye clothed me; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then will the Christians answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an bungred, and fed thee; or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in; or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the Judge shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto unto, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me, We have now before us a subject which, for the magnificence of the scenery, the magnitude of the transaction, and the durable effects which it draweth on, stands unrivalled in the annals of human knowledge, and with which the powers of conception are unable to contend. I have dived into the unfathomable depths of imagination, but returned more confounded than I entered.. The great white throne descending out of heaven, guarded and begirt with the powers and principalities thereof-the awful Presence, at whose sight the heavens and the earth flee away, and no place for them is found. The archangel, with the trump of God, riding sublime in the midst of heaven, and sending through the widest dominions of death and the grave, that sharp summons which divideth the solid earth, and rings through the caverns of the hollow deep, piercing the dull cold ear of death and the grave with the knell of their departed reign; the re-union of body and soul; one from unconscious sleep, the other from apprehensive or unquiet abodes; and the congregation of all generations, over whom the stream of time hath swept;-to give form and figure to the outward pomp and circumstances of such a scene, no imagination is adequate-nor does the understanding labour less. "But 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 burnt up. Seeing, then, that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godli ness, Looking for and basting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent beat. Nevertheless we, (true Christians) according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless." 2 Pet. iii. 10-14. It is true, Christian, it is an awful day; a day, in which nature shall be thrown into a confusion as yet unknown. No earthquake, no eruption of burning mountains, no desolation of cities by devouring flames, or of countries by overflowing rivers or seas, can give any just emblem of that dreadful day; when the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the earth and all that is therein shall be burnt up; 2 Pet. iii. 10. when all nature shall flee away in amazement before the face of the universal Judge, and there shall be a cry heard, far beyond what was known in the land of Egypt, "when there was not a house in which there was not one dead." Exod. xii. 30. Your flesh may tremble in the view; yet your spirit must surely “rejoice in God your Saviour." You may justly say, Let this illustrious day come, even with all its horrors; yea, like the Christians described by the apostle, 2 Pet. iii. 12. you may be looking for and hastening to that day of terrible brightness and universal doom. For your Lord will then come, to vindicate the justice of those proceedings, which have been in many instances so much obscured, and because they have been obscured, have been also blasphemed. He will come, to display his magnificence, " descending from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God;" taking his seat upon a throne infinitely exceeding that of earthly, or even celestial princes; clothed with his Father's glory, and his own, surrounded with a numberless host of shining attendants, when coming "to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe." His enemies also will be produced to grace his triumph; the serpent shall be seen there rolling in the dust, and trodden under foot, by him and by all his servants. Those who once condemned him shall tremble at his presence; and those who bowed the knee before him in profane mockery, shall in wild despair, "call to the mountains to fall upon them, and to the rocks to hide them from the face of the Lamb of God," whom they once led away to the most inhuman slaughter. Dr. Doddridge. What a scene of wonder and terror is here! A descending God -the rising dead-an opening eternity-the great white thronethe heavens and earth flying away before the presence of the Son of God-the trumpet sounding-the Judge appears-the dead arise -the books are open-the Judge on the throne-all the wicked at the bar- their crimes appear in a light as red as blood-the sentence is pronounced," Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire"-the two eternities are disclosed to view-time expires-and the two worlds of vational and immortal creatures remain to glorify grace and justice as long as God endures. Ryland. In respect to the Judge, the scriptures, with one voice, concur to assure us that Christ is to be "the Judge of quick and dead." This, among other characters of our Lord, is one which he is to exercise as his own personal and peculiar right. "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father." John v. 22, 23. Jesus, and Jesus only, could be the proper person to possess this honour. He who undertook and accomplished man's redemption, hath by right a power to be the Judge of man; and indeed it is expressly said, that the Father hath given him authority to execute judgment, "because he is the Son of man." John v. 27. Observe the expression! Not because he is the Son of God, for in that sense no authority could be given to him, for he possesseth, in common with the Father and the Holy Ghost, all supreme and eternal power. But, as the Son of man, he receives this power, and it becomes the suited reward of his labours, and sufferings, and death. And what a beautiful order and harmony there is in this appointment, as well as grace and mercy to his people! He who once came to save, will one day come to be our Judge! He who then acted as our Redeemer, will then appear as our Sovereign and our King! Dr. Hawker. O what confusion will this be to all unbelievers and impenitent sinners, when they shall see that very person, of whom they thought so meanly, and whose offers of salvation they often despised, appearing in the clouds with ten thousand glorious angels about him, and coming in the most terrible manner that can be imagined, to call them to account for ther lives past, and to execute judgment upon all ungodly men. They will not then any longer, with the scoffers, that St. Peter tells us shall be in the last days, say, "Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the creation;" for they shall be convinced, that, however his coming was for good reasons deferred, yet he shall then come to purpose, to the everlasting confusion of their faces, that opposed, or despised, or neglected him and his religion. Then shall they say, Yonder he is, whom we slighted, whose religion we derided, whose servants and followers we took to be no better than a company of credulous fools! Lo, yonder he is in the clouds, whose tenders of mercy we have refused, whose counsels we have rejected, to whose Spirit we have done despite ! Yonder he is but no longer "a carpenter's son ;" no longer 66 a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;" no longer a mean obscure Galilean; no longer a crucified God, as we in derision called him; but the everlasting Son of the everlasting Father, the Sovereign of angels, the Judge of men and of devils, the Lord of all things, both in earth and heaven. Archbishop Sharp. The day and place being appointed by the King of Kings, the glorious Majesty of Heaven, and Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, who long ago received his commission from the Father, to be the Judge of quick and dead, (John v. 22. Acts xvii. 31.) shall descend from heaven, with the shout of the archangel, and with the trump of God, (1 Thess. iv. 18.) royally attended with an innumerable company of glorious angels, Matt, xxv. 31. These be shall send with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the one end of heaven to the other; (chap. xxiv. 31.) yea, and the wicked too, from whatsoever place they shall be in; and then shall he sever the wicked from the just, Matt. xii. 49. So that all nations, and every particular person, that ever did, or ever shall, live upon the face of the earth, shall be gathered together before him, and he shall separate the one from the other, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and be shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats upon the left, Matt. xxv. 32, 33. Things being thus set in order, the Judge shall read his commis sion, i. e. declare and manifest himself to be the Judge of all the earth, sent by the God of heaven to judge them that had condemned him, and in that very body that once was crucified upon the cross, at Jerusalem, for our sins. So that all the world shall then behold him, shining in all his glory and majesty, and shall acknowledge him to be now what they would not believe him to be before-even both God and man, and so the Judge of all the world, from whom there can be no appeal. Bishop Beveridges There shall be a day of judgment. This is as evident a truth, as that there is a Providence, or that God is the Governor of the world. Every intelligent creature, who is the subject of moral |