by the sacrifice of Himself." Moreover, those who have been accustomed to think that Christ spoke of the end of the world should observe the definiteness, the emphasis, of His great saying in Matthew xvi. 27, 28, "For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then shall He render unto every man according to his deeds. Verily I say unto you, there be some of them that stand here which shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." Before the generation that had known Him in the flesh had passed away some were to see Him on the throne of His glory, His angels with Him! And, turning to another famous passage (Matt. xxv. 31-46), we see Him setting forth with Divine impressiveness a scene of judgment which we must not try to relegate to a spectacular "last day." Now is the judgment of this world. Now is the Son of Man seated on the throne of His glory, now are His angels-all agencies, animate and inanimate, that make for righteousness, that take up the causes of stumbling, that make straight through the dreary desert of sin and suffering a highway for the march of an emancipated people now are His angels separating the beneficent from the self-indulgent: Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight, Parts the goats upon the left hand and the sheep upon the right. Now is sounding, deep down in each man's consciousness, though he hears it not, the appalling "Depart, ye cursed," the glorious "Come, ye blessed." And the fateful law that character tends to permanence declares once again that those are going away into eternal punishment, but these into life eternal. And it is this on which we need to insist, which you and I must remember. Judgment begins here, goes reaching on, travels with us, abides for ever. It is true of life here; it lives through death; it is true of this same life continued beyond the grave. Though I would not work upon your fears nor win you through your lowest feelings, yet a man who loves you and who loves truth can still, with deep and solemn earnestness, urge you to flee from the wrath to come. Be not deceived. Though the brutal hell of the theologian is no more, and the ghastly horrors of an Augustinian slaughterhouse are remembered only with a sigh of thankfulness for escape from a notion which dishonours God, yet He is not mocked; whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. And now is the judgment of this world! But more; I would help you to rob death of his terrors. Death is no accident, no dislocation of sovereign purpose, no interruption of the eternal order. It is an episode of universal experience, such as birth, and, like birth, the entrance into another sphere of activities, but with this gain, that all that has been learnt and all that has been won which is worth preserving shall live on still, with enlarged opportunities, with ex panding powers, with an ever-increasing fulness of that life of which here our nerves are scant. When men speak of heaven and hell they too often forget that these are states, not places, which begin now, and are only facts of the future because they are truths of the present time. A good man carries heaven about with him. The strength of brave men sustaining him; the love of good women that ennobles him; the smiles of happy children, God's refuge for man's weariness; the joy of work well done; the felt presence of the Christ; the realised ministry of the Spirit; the approval of the living God completing and crowning his strenuous endeavour-these constitute a heaven amid the gloom and shadow of the present evil age, a heaven which brightens more and more unto the eternal day of God. Stabat Mater dolorosa Eia! Mater, fons amoris Fac, ut tecum lugeam: Ut sibi complaceam. -Hymn of the Flagellants. |