rigid and severe government of that period, if we pay attention to the sayings of Christ in relation to it.

The great portion of mankind which will be found enemies to God when that day comes, and the tares which have grown up with the wheat, will then be separated and disposed of by other means than those now employed in the gospel dispensation. The present means are of a merciful and forbearing nature; they beseech men to become reconciled to God, and be saved; but they have not succeeded in reclaiming mankind entirely, nor in preventing the growth of pernicious errors even amongst churches, organized expressly to aid in evangelizing the world.

Christ's kingdom will then be no longer the kingdom of grace, dispensing its requirements under the mild, persuasive mercy of the gospel, but it will be changed into a kingdom of stern law, in which judgment is executed rigorously upon nations and individuals, when the secrets of all hearts are made known, and the hidden things of dishonesty will be brought to light. These texts are intended to show that such will be the close and searching scrutiny of the divine government into every man's character, that it will be impossible for men, by any means of deceit or hypocrisy, to elude the decisions or judgments of that day, which will make every man known, even in his private works; for the searching fire of the judgments of that day will reveal his true character.

The effect of this judgment will distinguish the wicked from the good, and exalt the nations that walk in the law of the Lord, or who had received and embraced the gospel of Christ, to dignity and honor, whilst those who had rejected it will be marked in some conspicuous manner by the displeasure of the Judge; so that it will be manifest to all the world who are the righteous and who are the wicked amongst those nations. The Christianity of the gospel day, in its different denominational forms, abounds with tares, all of which are to be removed. Christianity itself did not produce these tares; they were mingled with the good seed, our Savior says, by an

enemy, and whilst men slept. These tares grew up, it is wor thy of remark, during the gospel dispensation, and it is obvious that it requires other means- -a different administration of the divine government-to rid the Christian field of them.

The parable on the subject of tares (xiii. chap. of Matthew) shows conclusively that there are errors which have become so intertwined with Christianity, that the means necessary to their removal cannot be employed in the present day without producing an injurious effect upon Christianity itself. Therefore, Christ said, let both grow together until the end of the world, the end of the gospel economy, lest if ye now attempt to gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

We see from this, that this end spoken of is that time when the gospel, in its present aspect, will no longer be preached amongst the nations, and the judgment day, or age, will commence; during which day, the means necessary effectually to remove the tares will take the place of the gospel.

In explaining this parable our Lord says: As, therefore, the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, [means properly adapted to the work,] and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity.

The parable of the net which was cast into the sea has reference to the same thing. This net gathered of every kind, and, when full, they drew it to the shore, and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. The gospel net has gathered up a great variety of Christian systems, good and bad, which can only be purged and brought to the purity of the Christian standard by the process through which they will be carried in the judgment day.

Nothing is said which more fully explains the mode of the divine government in the judgment day than what Christ says: The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they

shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity.

The proper means employed to effect any particular end in carrying on the government of God over men are denominated angels, and the means here referred to are probably the prompt enforcement of the penalties of the divine law upon all transgressions, not at some indefinitely-remote period, but simultaneously with the act of transgression, like the Adamic law in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Men, in the present dispensation, sin with apparent impunity; they are careless, and regard the threatenings of God's word with indifference. The punishment for disobedience is far off, in their thoughts, and because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.*

But suppose every act of wickedness should receive its just punishment at the time of its perpetration, would not men be afraid to trifle with God's law as they now do? And would not all things that offend against purity and holiness be speedily laid aside? This, I suppose, will be the mode of separating the tares from amongst the wheat, and removing all things that offend out of the kingdom of Christ in the judgment day.

St. Paul, in his discourse before the learned Athenians, speaks of this day and its peculiar government in terms which plainly show that it is connected with man's earthly existence. Because (says the apostle) he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead.

Judging the world in righteousness, is synonymous with governing the world in righteousness. Judging Israel, was

the common phrase used to express the act of governing

* Ecclesiastes, viii. chap. 11 verse.

Israel in the time of the judges. The word judged, is frequently used in this sense, as well as in the sense implying defense, protection, and maintaining the rights of the oppressed. Indeed there is hardly any word in Scripture which has a greater variety of significations in its use than the word judg

ment.

This governing the world in righteousness by Christ Jesus, will bring out in grand relief before the whole intelligent creation, the glorious designs of the Creator in connecting this earth, and man as its lord and inhabitant, with his vast uni

verse.

What just conception can be entertained of the design of God in creating this world, from what we see in its present and past government by men? We behold little else than ambition, oppression, injustice, selfishness, and cruelty-personal aggrandizement, sought at the expense of truth and virtue. None can suppose that it was for such ends as these that God created this world and placed man over it. But when it comes to be governed in righteousness by Christ, whom God has appointed for that purpose, then men will see and better understand the great designs of the Creator. They will then, with admiring angels, exult in beholding the harmony, the beauty, and the glory, which will continually shine forth from the grandeur and magnificence of the universe which God has created. Nothing will occur to mar the physical beauty, the moral grandeur, and the peace and purity of the world, in the day of that righteous government. But, before that happy day arrives, the judgment day has to do its work of preparation for it. Let us attend to some of the sayings of the apostles relative to the judgment dispensation.

From what both Christ and his apostles have said respecting that day, it is quite clear that it will be a period in which the religious principles of Christians will experience the severest trial; for all things that offend against the perfect law of the Lord, every obliquity will be visited upon men,

while all who openly and presumptuously do iniquity will be taken out of Christ's kingdom.

St. Peter dwells upon this, with particular emphasis, in the fourth chapter of his First Epistle, in which, after much exhortation, in a general way, he says: But the end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer. Peter had learned from the teachings of his Divine Master that the gospel day would have an end, and that it would be succeeded by a period of severe trial to Christians and all the world. He adds, after the warning given of this great change in the moral government of the world: Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing had happened to you. For the time is come [the rendering would have been more consistent if the translators had given the reading, is to, or will come] that judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it begin at us, [meaning the Church of God,] what will the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

If any one supposes that St. Peter was speaking of the terrible persecutions which fell upon the Christians in Pagan Rome, let them explain, if they can, where and how, the same power that brought these fiery trials upon Christians, afterwards punished with equal or greater severity, them that obeyed not the gospel of God.

:

That it would be more consistent to read the text: For the time will come, or is to come; is very apparent, from the previous part of the chapter, in which the apostle speaks of this day of fiery trial as prospective-yet to come; and particularly the 1st chap. 7 verse. The end of all things is announced, then follows these fiery trials. When St. Peter speaks of these judgments beginning at us; as though he was to be a subject of them himself, it is evident he means the Church of God, by the term us. St. Peter has been dead these seventeen hundred years and more, but the end of all things, which he spoke of, is not come yet!

St. Paul is speaking of the same time when he refers to