Oh, when that day shall dawn, WILL ALL BE WELL WITH US?-with ME? Let no one put this question from him; it is far too serious to be deferred. If we would have it to be well with us in that day, we must see that it is well in this. "NOW is the day of salvation." Happy those (and why should not this be the estate of all?) who can look up with confidence and find in the great King and Judge A FRIEND! O that it were graven on the heart of every sinner while this day of grace endures-while yet His coming lingers-while yet His "sign" appears not in the vault of heaven-that THE ALMIGHTY JESUS IS THE SYMPATHISING FRIEND OF EVERY SIN-BOUND SOUL! Oh, is there not love, is there not pity, is there not the tenderest sympathy, in those pierced hands and feet-in that agonised frame—that blood-that heavenward cry? Oh, is there not compassion in that Seat of Mediation on which one who is A MAN, OUR BROTHER, Sits? Does not all this combine to call aloud in every burdened sinner's ear, "I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE; HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME, THOUGH HE WERE DEAD, YET SHALL HE LIVE, AND WHOSOEVER LIVETH AND BELIEVETH IN ME, SHALL NEVER DIE?" *

* John xi. 25, 26.

LECTURE V.

THE JUDGMENT OF THE NATIONS.

"In righteousness He doth judge and make war."-Rev.

xix. 11.

66

RELIGIOUS people often speak of "THE LAST DAY,"—"THE DAY OF THE LORD,- - or THE DAY OF JUDGMENT;" as if it were to be a day of ordinary duration, to come suddenly upon the world: A certain day of twelve or fourand-twenty hours, appointed by the Father, in which a complete destruction of all sublunary, if not heavenly, things is to take place; and the righteous and the wicked, being raised and judged, rewards and punishments of everlasting nature are to be awarded them.*

This is perfectly correct so far as may concern the great events which shall transpire. "The day of the Lord"-ST. PETER tells us-"will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the

* Introductory Lecture.

earth, also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up.' "* Moreover, as OUR LORD Himself has told us-" When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory; and before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats, and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left." And those on His left hand "shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life Eternal."+

So far, therefore, as the events spoken of in the popular tradition are themselves concerned, there is correctness which cannot be gainsayed. But there seems to be decided incorrectness therein, as to the PERIOD OF ENDURANCE which has been assigned to "the Great Day,” and also as to the ORDER in which the events of that day will transpire as it passes onward from its morning to its evening.

The word "DAY" is often used in Holy Scripture to signify a certain period of time, marked out distinctly from all other periods, but not necessarily of either this or that precise Matt. xxv. 31.

* 2 Pet. iii. 10.

duration. So, we remember, CHRIST very plainly used the word, saying,-"Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it and was glad."* So, too, ST. PAUL-“The night is far spent, the day is at hand.”† And so elsewhere. For our present purpose, however, the words of the Apostle PETER are most suitable in the third chapter of his Second Epistle, where it is written-"The heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against THE DAY OF JUDGMENT AND PERDITION OF UNGODLY MEN. But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that ONE DAY IS WITH THE LORD AS A THOUSAND YEARS, AND A THOUSAND YEARS AS ONE DAY."

But what does the Apostle mean? Can it be that he would afford a hint, as it were, that the Great Day of Judgment will endure ONE THOUSAND YEARS? or does he refer only to the period to which the Lord may possibly delay His coming, and seek to found thereon an argument on the behalf of patient waiting till He shall appear? The latter certainly is the more probable. But, judging from what is said in other parts of Scripture, we may think Rom. xiii. 12.

John viii. 56.

it possible that both these lessons were intended to be given.

We will at any rate suppose it so to be, and dwell awhile upon the former of the two, that we may see if anything is clearly placed before us in the Bible which will lead to the conclusion that the day of judgment will endure a thousand years, or any lengthened period which in the prophetic language might be so expressed.*

We have seen that the Lord will come, and in a fearful stroke of judgment sweep, as with a besom of destruction, the rebellious people from the surface of the world; that in the valley of Jehoshaphat,—the valley of decision, —He will judge the nations with a just but heavy stroke. This Act of Judgment will introduce the MORNING of the Last Great Day, "the Day of God Almighty."

But the morning of the day will pass, and brighter hours succeed. The nations shall

"The sentiments of the learned, humble, and pious MEDE will have weight with those who really know his writings. He remarks, I do not indeed think we are to expect two Advents of Christ; but one, namely, that in which He will judge the quick and the dead at His appearing; but that both His Advent and His Judgment will be protracted through the period of a thousand years." -Bickersteth's Guide to the Prophecies, p. 248.