the surrender of the soul to thee, I preached it all, as thou didst give it me in charge to do." And there shall rise up before the sinner's face, the day, and the hour, and the discourse which his inmost soul acknowledged to be true, and did not receive. His countenance shall fall, and the worm that never dies shall lay hold upon the self-condemned heart, and the flame that never shall be quenched shall begin to burn! Depart from me, ye fearful and unbelieving Christians, that heard the word and yet received it not with joy, neither were my faithful soldiers and servants, but cowardly soldiers and slothful servants. He who was the minister of the word to you witnesseth against you, and my word.” 66 And And so it shall be with all the nations that shall stand before the throne. there shall be a fearful winnowing, and sifting of the wheat from the chaff, and the elect, in the same moment, shall be gathered together, from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. In the same parish one shall be taken, and another left; in the same family, shall one be taken, and another left. As the innermost soul shall witness or no, that they accepted the whole Gospel as it is in Jesus with sincerity, and the incarnate Word, who was the life of it, shall testify from the throne that they embraced it. Oh! brethren, may I and you be numbered among that blessed and innumerable multitude, unto whom their Lord, who knoweth his own, and forgetteth them not, may testify in that day! It will be a joyful thing to hear the words, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou unto the joy of thy Lord." It will be a joyful thing, and full of bliss unspeakable, to put on our garments of glory in that day, washed, beyond the sun's brightness, in the blood of the Lamb. For then shall we catch from the face from which heaven and earth shall flee away, looks of divine love, and the image of the holiest shall pass into us, and make us like the Lord! And when we look, as we ascend into heaven, on the woe of those against whom the Word hath testified, and brought them into the eternal torment, we shall say, like the angel in the Revelation, "Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus." Even so, Lord God 66 Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments." 186 SERMON VIII. MATT. xxiv. 40, 41.-"Then shall two be in the field; one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left." THIS is a very striking portion of the awful description of the vengeance of Almighty God upon Jerusalem, the words of which, as they come from our Lord's lips, are heavy with threats and terrors. They make the heart sink within us, with dread of the things that shall come upon the earth. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the As it stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken." But though this universal shaking and darkening of heaven and earth, men's hearts failing them for fear, and the sea and the waves roaring, sets overwhelmingly before our eyes the tribulation of the last days, the suddenness of the visitation is still more vividly represented. The final stroke shall come as it were in a moment. was when the flood came in the days of Noah; as it was when the windows of heaven were opened, to rain fire and brimstone upon accursed Sodom and Gomorrah; as was the cry which woke the sleeping Virgins as midnight-Behold! the bridegroom cometh! so shall it be then. Fly for your lives! escape to the mountains, lest ye die! The fire and the blood, and the armies of destruction are upon us! Nay, turn not back, there is not an instant to lose; on, on, on, if you would escape the ruin! Let him which is on the housetop, not come down to take any |