heaven, or it may be from hell, make themselves gods, and say unto the populous world, What are ye without us? Truly these, when accurately examined, must be pronounced broadly out to be no better than wicked idolaters, each in his proper temple, of the idol that dwelleth therein, and despisers of the only living and true God.-And we behove to speak to them in sterner language than we used above.

Hear, then, ye despisers, and perish! Is it a less crime for a philosopher, a man of wisdom and understanding, to despise God, than for an ignorant and unlettered man? Is it a less crime for a sceptred monarch to despise the King of kings and Lord of lords, than for a labouring peasant or a poverty-stricken beggar, who earneth a poor pittance from providence? Is it a less crime for a speculative statesman, who knows and covets good government, to despise the government of God, than for a slave who knoweth only the government of the lash? Or for a man who knoweth the sacrifices of mercy, is it less crime to despise the inestimable sacrifice of Christ for mercy's sake? or for a man who sitteth in his house at home at his ease, is it a less crime to neglect to study the ways of God, than it is for low-born, hard-toiled, unenlightened men? Whence, then, in the name of sacred truth and justice, this whining, puling pity, that these sovereigns of their various spheres should be turned to the left with the throngs which they served to mislead? It is both bad philosophy and spurious sentiment, that the mind should shrink and misgive for their sakes, as if they were not the most privileged and therefore the most responsible of men. Nay, verily, I am for swaying the other way, and pitying the poor ignorant, misguided man; the unlettered, untutored rustic; the wretches born under evil stars of vice, and bred amidst the contagions of evil. But my soul is like flint and steel against these proud, outrageous despisers of God, who, though nursed in the lap of his providence, and cast in the finest mould of nature, and basked on by the sunshine of knowledge, entertain for his ordinances a high despite, taste his blessings with ingratitude, and, but for Death the destroyer, would I believe, set up themselves for gods, and lord it over the very spirits of their kind. No, no; we have enough of this sycophancy of the soul, this unbonneting of manhood, and selling of evenhanded judgment in time, to let it go further. Verily, these qualities, according to their estimable degree, have in time that estimation which alone they sought, and, having aimed no further, they will not reach any further. God will have

a rewarding time for himself, a reaping time for righteousness and piety.

And shall not God have a reaping time for righteousness and piety? Shall science reward her servants with knowledge and with fame, with honour and with power; shall mammon reward his servants with wealth and pleasures; and temperance reward his servants with health and beauty; and honesty bestow trust; and affection find affection in return; and every grace of life have its season of gain, but God alone have no opportunity of rewarding those who loved him and wrought for him and suffered reproach for his name's sake, despising the rewards of mammon, ambition, luxury and pride, and affection itself, when they stood in the way of his honourable service! What hinders these noble spirits from regarding the Lord God Omnipotent who reigneth, and who is surely higher than they? Why do they not stretch out their hands to the tree of life, and live for ever? Are they too great to come under such a sovereign too learned to learn from such a master-too well employed to have to do with such occupations-too exalted to deign a look from their several spheres upon the whole dispensation, except it be a look of scorn? Well, well! let them have their elevated places, and bear them bravely in their gallant courses, and nurse their enmity to God, and their contempt of his plebeian ordinances. But let them bear the brunt of the judgment which they have braved, let them reap as they have chosen to sow. What is that to us that we should whine and mope with melancholy over them more than over others?

I hope I do not frown upon the distinctions of temporal excellence, which I rather love and admire as the ornaments of time; but I will not exalt the Genius of philosophy or the Muse of poetry or the Spirit of patriotism, much less will I exalt the base god of lucre, or the demon of pride and passion-above Jehovah, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Nor will I admit into my mind that they shall shield their favourites, and keep them secure in rebellion against the God of all the earth, who alone doeth righteously. I think it patience enough on the part of the Most High to tolerate these, the idols and deities of our polished society; to tolerate them in their power, and their subjects in their idolatrous rebellion, for the length of lite, and to stand by begirt with grace and mercy, holding out proffers of forgiveness all the duration of time. But, no, it is too much that he should yield them a place in his heaven, whence he

cast out a more knowing, more powerful, more graceful, more proud spirit, and would not endure him an instant, but cast him out, and all those rebellious though high-minded intelligences, who since that time have usurped their several places upon the earth, and led astray those bands of followers, whom we do pity, but will neither encourage nor justify.

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OF JUDGMENT TO COME.

PART VII.

THE ISSUES OF THE JUDGMENT.

In the detail and defence which have been just concluded of the Last Judgment, we have entered into no particulars of cases; which were an endless task, and not convenient to the aim of a discourse, not meant to make the scene poetically or figuratively striking, but to prove it unto reason a fair and equitable transaction. Therefore we took up the very words of Christ's description, and showed how shortly and strikingly, yet how amply and severely, it brought to trial the whole scope of Christian obedience and disobedience. There is not in scripture any passage or expression so beautiful, so tender, so full of pathos, and productive of charity, in purport so perfect a criterion, so unerring a condemnation or so satisfactory an acquittal, as the few words which we have taken such time to explain, and explained so little to our own satisfaction. It will be observed by those who are of a logical and judicial turn, that there wanteth a link to connect the constitution of law, which we formerly explained, with this method of passing judgment upon the observance of that law. The judgment turns altogether, or almost altogether, upon our personal attachment and personal sacrifice in Christ's behalf. And what connexion hath this with the keeping of the very pure and spiritual law of which we discoursed at large? To this question, materials for many answers are furnished in the body of the preceding description of the solemn scene. But there is such a beauty in this connexion, that we cannot refrain from noticing it apart.

It will be remembered, that after trying the resources of human ability against the pure institution of God, we found it was not possible for conscience to acquit herself, and that she must give in, overwhelmed with helplessness and trans

gression. Upon right therefore she cannot take the prize, and you perceive it is not yielded in right of conscience, but as a boon for affection towards Christ. Now it will be further remembered, that in order to be delivered from this dejection and despair of conscience, no resource of human ingenuity was found available, and that we were fain to turn unto the Gospel of Christ as our refuge, and take upon mercy that which was denied to right. Then we proceeded to sift the Gospel of mercy to the bottom, and find out, whether a loose were thereby given to licentiousness and disobedience, and a broad shield of forgiveness cast over the delinquencies of men. From this inquiry we gathered, that the disciple of Christ and believer in salvation through his merits, was not set loose from obligation, or delivered. from one tittle of former obligation, but was brought under a new sort of obligation, and led into a new kind of obedience; that to all the native obligations of the law originating in its admirable adaptation to human circumstances, there are added all the affectionate and advantageous obligations of the gospel springing from the knowledge of God's love in Christ and the assurance of success through the Spirit; that Christ bound a new knot between the soul of man and his Maker, composed of a thousand interlacing ties, of which we cannot again afford to speak separately. Only this was the pith of the whole, that Christ was the intermedium, and that from him all this new life sprung, and to him it was in gratitude devoted; that we hung and were suspended on him, as a viceroy or vicegerent for God over the affairs of our soul's salvation, and that through this new condition, a plenty and joyfulness of obedience was yielded, which could by no other means have been extracted from the fallen nature of man.

To

Now mark, how well to this new style and spirit of obedience, answer the style and spirit of the judgment! whereof the pith and marrow are placed in the strength of our attachment to Christ, which attachment is the spring, the nourishment, and the measure of this new obedience. examine into that attachment is therefore as good as to examine into this obedience, for the one is like the stream which drives the other on; and their race is equal. There is a coincidence here in itself so wise, that we confess we feel all that went before upon law and obedience to be in a manner rivetted, and capable of holding fast.

Had the Judgment been detailed as an investigation of individual actions (though it is that in the main)-had it