of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth:" "and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats." How does the shepherd make the separation? Does he examine out of a book which is a sheep and which a goat? or does he distinguish by their plain marks? Does not the wool show the sheep and the hairy and rough skin the goat? In like manner if thou hast now been cleansed from thy sins, thy deeds shall be henceforth as pure wool; and thy robe shall remain unstained.

By thy vesture shalt thou be known for a sheep. But if thou be found hairy like Esau, who was rough with hair, and wicked in mind, who for food lost his birthright and sold his privilege, thou shalt be among those on the left hand. But God forbid that any here present, should be an outcast from grace, or for his evil deeds be found on the left hand, among the ranks of sinners.

Terrible in good truth is the judgment, and terrible is the news of it. The kingdom of heaven is before us, and everlasting fire is made ready. How then, some one will say, should we escape the fire? and how should we enter the kingdom? "I was an hungered," He says, “and ye gave me meat" learn now the way; there is no need of allegory, but to fulfill what is said; "I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me."

These things if thou do, thou shalt reign together with Him; but if thou do them not, thou shalt be condemned. At once then begin to work these things, and abide in the faith; lest like the foolish virgins, tarrying to buy oil, thou be shut out. Be not confident because thou merely pos sessest the lamp, but constantly keep it burning. Let the light of thy good works shine before men, and let not Christ be blasphemed on thy account. Wear thou the garment of incorruption, resplendent with good works; and that which thou hast received from God to dispense as a steward, dispense thou profitably. Hast thou been put in trust with riches? dispense them well. Hast thou been

entrusted with the word of teaching? Be a good steward thereof. Canst thou bring over to the church the souls of the hearers? Do this diligently. There are many doors of good stewardship; only let none of us be condemned and cast out; so we may with boldness meet Christ, the everlasting King, who reigns forever and ever. For He reigns forever, who, having died for quick and dead, shall be judge of quick and dead. And as also Paul says, "For to this end Christ both died and rose again and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living."-St. Cyril, Catechetical Lectures, xv. 19.

Reader, before you is the warning of one who, being dead, yet speaketh. Fifteen hundred years ago, in that very city where Jesus walked and taught, the voice of this holy man was heard in tones of solemn warning, heralding the returning triumph of the crucified Redeemer. His eye, dwelling amid the sad memorials of the cross, glanced forward to the splendors of the crown, when he who was a betrayed and unresisting sufferer should return as the avenger of his people, as the deliverer of his elect, as the restorer of his desolate creation, and as the judge of quick and dead! This solemn prospect furnished the grand motive to repentance and holy living in apostolic days, and the successors of those apostles had not forgotten to urge the same awful and important fact.

And if this motive was so prominent in those early times, how much additional strength it should ere this have gath ered, as it has rolled down the plane of fifteen centuries since! If then they were to live in holy fear and expect. ancy of that day, how much more should we, who live so much nearer the scenes of final reckoning and of dread award? If Jesus said eighteen centuries ago, "Watch, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh-Watch, lest coming suddenly, he find you sleepingWhat I say unto you I say unto all, Watch!" and if the early preachers of Christianity caught up and re-echoed the warning note, and conformed their lives to these requirements, how much more should we, who live in these degencrate and slothful days, rouse ourselves with all energy to

the work of God by the same motives which were so powerfully urged by those who have preceded us in the Christian course. They have finished their course-they sleep in Jesus-but their voices, borne through the tumult of successive centuries, fall like a trumpet-call upon our slumbrous ears. Let us awake! The Judge standeth before the door! The times in which we live are fraught with peril. A lethargic apathy steals upon the church, the siren song of "peace and safety" rolls in delicious melody upon the drowsy ear, the lullaby of "progression," the boasted developments of art and science, the glitter of advancing worldliness and pride, all pass like a pleasing dream before the minds of the careless and the pleasure-loving race. But all this while wrath gathers o'er a Christless world. Clouds of gloom roll darkly up the distant heavens, they hang wrathfully on all the arches of the sky, and “damnation now of a long time slumbereth not!"

As it was in the days of Noah, when the awful watery deluge burst upon a careless throng, so shall it be when the deluge of fiery indignation shall roll in like an overrunning flood. As it was in the days of Lot, when the deepest wickedness was accompanied by the most profound security, until a flood of flame rushed in lurid torrents from the rending skies, and overwhelmed them in utter ruin, so shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed, when "upon the wicked God shall rain snares, fire and brimstone" in the resistless fury of his coming wrath! And are we not now living in an age as careless and as fearless as was that of Noah? Do not we see in the lawless violence and oppression of the present a counterpart of those scenes which preceded Sodom's overthrow? And is not the church of God in that condition of slumber and of sleep which marks the last age of her history, when along the midnight sky shall ring the startling shout, "Behold! the bridegroom cometh! go ye out to meet him!" Are we ready for that trumpet-voice? Are we waiting with lamps trimmed and burning? Have we oil in our vessels with our lamps? Oh, that we may be prepared to stand complete in Christ in that great day!

Let us heed, then, these ancient voices of warning that

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have survived the wrecks and surmounted 'he discords of time, and have come down to us in this generation as faith ful admonitions-the echoes of a Saviour's parting words. Let us watch! Let us be vigilant and faithful to the end. And if we are yet unsaved, if out of Christ, if yet in the paths of disobedience, oh let us haste to gain a refuge in the Rock of Strength! Let us fly to the Saviour's arms! In Christ there is life, in him there is salvation. In him we may have boldness in the day of judgment. And so, when all the hopes and resting-places of mortality shall fail us, we shall hear his voice saying in tones of holy melody, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

Thus shall we escape the things that are coming on the world. Thus shall we partake the eternal peace which Christ bestows upon his people. Thus shall we know what earth can ne'er afford-joys high as heaven, wide as the universe, and lasting as eternity. My dear reader, I invite you to those joys. With all the confidence that an experience of boundless mercy can afford, I assure you that you may come and come freely. God invites you to come, Christ says come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden." The Holy Spirit gently bids you come, saints on earth invite you to come, and angels in heaven wait to rejoice anew at your coming. Oh, will you not come? can you disobey that God? can you resist that Saviour? can you grieve that Spirit? can you despise all those entreaties? I beseech you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God. Hark, poor, desponding sinner, hear thy Saviour's voice, "WHOSO COMETH UNTO ME WILL I IN NO WISE CAST OUT." Come, then, to Jesus. You will not intrude, you will not be rejected; come boldly to the throne of grace, you will not fail to find acceptance, for Jesus, the great and merciful High Priest, is there to receive the penitent and brokenhearted one. Come then to Jesus, come boldly, come quickly, come NOW! "Behold, now is the accepted time, behold, now is the day of salvation."

PUBLISHED by H. L. Hastings, 49 Arcade Gallery, Rochester, N. Y. ; M Grant, 167 Hanover Street, Boston, Mass.; W. Pratt, Moline, Illinois; R. E Ladd, Main Street, Springfield, Mass.

PRICE 2 cents ringie. $1 per 100.

SCRIPTURE SEARCHER, No. 4.

THE JUDGMENT.

I. There is a just God who is the Judge of all the earth. Gen. xviii: 25. Judges xi: 27. Job ix: 15. Ps. 1: 6; lxviii: 5. lxxv: 7; xciv: 2. Heb. xii: 23. 1 Sam. xxiv: 12,15. 2 Chron' xx: 12. Ps. vii: 8; xxxv: 24; xl:ii: 1; liv: 1. Lam. iii: 59. Is. iii. 13. Jer. xi: 20. Job xxi: 22. Deut. xxxii: 4.

II. The affairs of men are not in the present time administered according to the laws of justice. Rev, vi: 10. Eccl. iii: 16; iv: 1 ; v : 8 ; viii; 11, James v: 6. Is, lix: 1–5. Lam. iv: 13. Mic. iii: 11; v: 1; vii: 3. Luke xviii: 2. Ps. lxxxii: 8. Job xxii: 13. III. Therefore there must be a future judgment. Eccl. iii: 16, 17. Deut. xxxii: 36. Ps. 1: 4; cxxxv: 14. Heb. x: 30. Rom. iii: 5.6. Isa. xxviii: 17. Rom. ii: 3. Heb. ix: 28. Acts xvii: 31. IV. God has appointed Jesus Christ to be the Judge of the world. Acts xvii: 31. Rom. ii: 16. John v: 22.

V. When Christ was on earth he was not the Judge, but was judged by wicked men. John xii: 47; iii: 17. 1 John v: 9. Acts. viii: 33, Luke xxiii: 1–11. Math. xxvi: 57, 68,

VI. Hence Christ will judge the word when he shall come again. Ps. xcviii: 7-9. 2 Tim. iv: 1, 8. James v: 9, Jude 14, 15. John xii: 48. 2 Pet. iii: 7. Heb. ix: 27, 28. Math, xxv: 31-46. VII. He shall judge The great, The small, The good, The bad, The living, The dead-The Jews, The Gentiles-Mankind and evil angels. Rev. xx: 11, 15. Eccl. iii: 16. 1 Sam. ii: 10, Ps. vii: 6-8; xcvi: 13. Joel iii: 12. Rom, ii: 1-16. Job. xxi: 29-30; 1 Pet. iv: 5. Rom. xiv: 10, 13. 2 Cor.v: 10, Math. xxv: 41. 2 Pet. ii: 9. 1 John iv: 17. Daniel vii: 9-14, Luke xi: 31, 32. VIII. He shall judge men according to their thoughts, their. words, and their acts or deeds. Rom. ii: 16. Eccl. xi: 9; xii: 13,14. Math. xii: 34–37; xvi: 27, 41, 42. Rom. ii: 6. Rev. xi: 18; · xxii: 12. Is. xxvi: 21.

IX. This Judgment is eternal. Heb. vi: 2. Consigning the wicked to eternal condemnation, and destruction in fire like that of Sodom. Mark iii: 29. Math. xxv. 4, 46. Jude 7, 2. Thess. i: 6, 9. And giving to the righteous eternal salvation, glory, life, and redemption. Heb. v: 9; ix: 28. 2 Tim. ii: 10. 1 Pet. v: 10. Math. xxv: 46; x: 30. Rom. vi: 23. Jude 21. Heb. ix: 12. Luke xxi: 27, 28. Luke xiv: 13, 14.

X. The day of Judgment will come suddenly and unexpectedly to the wicked. Dan. xii: 10. 2 Pet. iii: 3, 4, 10, 17. 1 Pet. iv: 4-7 James v: 9. 1 Thess. v: 1-11.Math. xxiv: 36-42, 44; xxv; 13. Mark xiii: 32–37. Luke xvii: 26–30; xxi: 34–36. Aets xxiv: 25,

XI. Hence we are commanded to repent. Acts xvii: 30. To obey Christ. 1 John iv: 17. To be righteous. Zeph. ii: 3. Amos iv: 12. 1 Pet. iv: 17, 18.

H. L. Hastings, 43 Centre St. New York. 1 ct. single, 50 per 100.