doms of the earth convened in one general rendezvous, how astonishing and vaft would be the multitude! But what is even this vaft multitude compared with the long fucceffion of generations that have peopled the globe, in all ages, and in all countries, from the first commencement of time to the laft day! Here numbers fail, and our thoughts are loft in the immenfe furvey. The extenfive region of the air is very properly chofen as the place of judgment; for this globe would not be fufficient for fuch a multitude to ftand upon. In that prodigious affembly, my brethren, you and I muft mingle. And we shall not be loft in the crowd, nor efcape the notice of our Judge; but his eye will be as particularly fixed upon every one as though there were but one before him. To increase the number, and add a majefty and terror to the affembly, the fallen angels alfo make their appearance at the bar. This they have long expected with horror, as the period when their confummate mifery is to commence. When Chrift, in the form of a fervant, exercised a God-like power over them in the days of his refidence upon earth, they almost mistook his first coming as a Saviour for his fecond coming as their Judge; and therefore they expoftulated, Art thou come to torment us before the time? Matt. viii. 29. That is to fay, We expect thou wilt at laft appear to torment us, but we did not expect thy coming fo foon. Agreeable to this, St. Peter tells us, God fpared not the angels that finned, but caft them down to hell, and delivered them as prifoners into chains of darkness, to be referved unto judgment. 2 Peter ii. 4. To the fame purpose St. Jude fpeaks: The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own babitation, he hath referved in everlasting chains under darknefs, unto the judgment of the great day. Jude 6. What horribly majestic figures will thefe be! and what a dreadful appearance will they make at the bar! angels and archangels, thrones, and dominions, and principalities, and powers blafted, ftripped of their primæval primæval glories, and lying in ruins; yet majestic even in ruins, gigantic forms of terror and deformity; great though degraded, horribly illuftrious, angels fallen, gods undeified and depofed.* Now the Judge is feated, and anxious millions stand before him waiting for their doom. As yet there is no feparation made between them; but men and devils, faints and finners, are promifcuously blended together. But fee! at the order of the Judge, the crowd is all in motion; they part, they fort together according to their character, and divide to the right and left. When all nations are gathered before the Son of man, himself has told us, he fhall feparate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he fhall fet the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Matt. xxv. 32, 33. And, O! what firange feparations are now made! what multitudes that once ranked themselves among the faints, and were highly esteemed for their piety by others as well as thernfelves, are now banished from among them, and placed with the trembling criminals on the left hand! and how many poor, honeft-hearted, doubting, defponding fouls, whofe foreboding fears had often placed them there, now find themselves, to their agreeable surprise, ftationed on the right hand of their Judge, who fmiles upon them! What connections are now broken! what hearts torn afunder! what intimate companions, what dear relations, parted forever! neighbour from neighbour, mafters from fervants, friend from friend, parents from children, hufband from wife; those who were but one flesh, and who lay in one another's bofoms, must part for ever. Those the foe of God and man, From his dark den, blafpheming, drags his chain, YOUNG, ans. Thofe that lived in the fame country, who fuftained the fame denomination, who worshipped in the fame place, who lived under one roof, who lay in the fame womb, and fucked the fame breafts, muft now part for ever. And is there no feparation likely to be made then in our families or in our congregation? Is it likely we fhall all be placed in a body upon the right hand? Are all the members of our families prepared for that glorious flation? Alas! are there not fome families among us who, it is to be feared, fhall all be fent off to the left hand, without fo much as one exception? for who are thofe miferable multitudes on the left hand? There, through the medium of revelation, I fee the drunkard, the fwearer, the whoremonger, the liar, the defrauder, and the various claf. fes of profane, profligate finners. There I fee the unbeliever, the impenitent the lukewarm formalift, and the various claffes of hypocrites and half-chriftiThere I fee the families that call not upon God's name, and whole nations that forget him. And, O! what vaft multitudes, what millions of millions of millions do all these make! And do not fome, alas! do not many of you belong to one or other of thefe claffes of finners whom God, and Chrift, and fcripture, and confcience, confpire to condemn? If fo, to the left hand you must depart among devils and trembling criminals, whofe guilty minds forbode their doom before the judicial procefs begins. But who are thofe glorious immortals upon the right hand? They are those who now mourn over their fins, refift and forfake them; they are those who have furrendered themselves entirely to God, through Jefus Chrift, who have heartily complied with the method of falvation revealed in the gofpel; who have been formed new creatures by the almighty power of God; who make it the moft earneft perfevering endeavour of their lives to work out their own falvation, and to live righteoufly, foberly, and godly in the world. Thefe are fome of the principal lineaments of their character character who fhall have their fafe and honourable ftation at the right hand of the fovereign Judge. And is not this the prevailing character of fome of you? I hope and believe it is. Through the medium of fcripture-revelation then I fee you in that bleffed ftation. And, O! I would make an appointment with you this day to meet you there. Yes, let us this day appoint the time and place where we fhall meet after the feparation and dispersion that death will make among us and let it be at the right hand of the Judge at the laft day. If I be fo happy as to obtain fome humble place there, I fhall look out for you, my dear people. There I fhall expect your company, that we may ascend together to join in the more exalted fervices and enjoyments of heaven, as we have frequently in the humbler forms of worship in the church on earth. But, O! when I think what unexpected feparations will then be made, I tremble left I fhould mifs fome of you there. there. And are you not afraid left you fhould mifs fome of your friends, or fome of your families there? or that you fhould then fee them move off to the left hand, and looking back with eagerness upon you as if they would fay, "This is my doom through your carelefinefs; had you but acted a faithful part towards me, while converfant with you or under your care, I might now have had my place among the faints." O! how could you bear fuch fignificant piercing looks from a child, a fervant, or a friend? Therefore now do all in your power to convert finners from the error of their way, and to fave their fouls from death. When we entered upon this practical digreffion, we left all things ready for the judicial procefs. And now the trial begins. Now God judges the fecrets of men by Jefus Christ. Rom. ii. 16. All the works of all the fons of men will then be tried; for, fays St. Paul, we must all appear before the judgment-feat of Chrift, that every man may receive the things done in the body according to what he hath done, whether it be good, or wheVOL. II. D ther 2 Cor. v. 10. St. John in his vision ther it be evil. faw the dead judged according to their works. Rev. xx. 12, 13. Thefe works immediately refer to the actions of the life, but they may also include the inward temper, and thoughts of the foul, and the words of the lips; for all these fhall be brought into judgment. God, fays Solomon, will bring every work into judgment, and every fecret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. Eccl. xii. 14. And though we are too apt to think our words are free, he that is to be our Judge has told us, that for every idle word which men fball Speak, they fhall give an account in the day of Judgment; for by thy words, as well as thy actions, thou fbalt be juftified; and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Matt. xii. 36, 37. What ftrange difcoveries will this trial make? what noble difpofitions that never fhone in full beauty to mortal eyes; what generous purposes crushed in embryo for want of power to execute them; what pious and noble actions concealed under the veil of modefty, or mifconftrued by ignorance and prejudice; what affectionate afpirations, what devout exercifes of heart, which lay open only to the eyes of Omniscience, are now brought to full light, and receive the approbation of the fupreme Judge before the affembled universe? But on the other hand, what works of fhame and darkness, what hidden things of dishonesty, what dire fecrets of treachery, hypocrify, lewdness, and various forms of wickedness artfully and induftriously concealed from human fight, what horrid exploits of fin now burft to light in all their hellish colours, to the confufion of the guilty, and the aftonishment and horror of the univerfe? Sure, the hiftory of mankind must then appear like the annals of hell, or the biography of devils! Then the mask of diffimulation will be torn off. Clouded characters will clear up, and men as well as things will appear in their true light. Their hearts will be as it were turned outwards, and all their fecrets exposed to |