284 JUDGMENT, AN ERA Of light. him and one another. And since this will be the business of the great day, it is necessary that every intelligent creature in the universe should be actually present at the day of judgment. Ed. The general judgment is the place fixed upon for indelible impression. The eternal progress of the intelligent creation depends upon the impression of the elementary truths and facts of religion. The reason we make little progress here in essential knowledge, is because we have such feeble impressions of truth and right, beauty and deformity. To make these impressions clear and strong, God has laid the best conceivable plan in the circumstances of the day of judgment. Every principle of the Gospel will be set in the clearest possible light, and the brightness of truth will annihilate the darkness and delusion of all error. This will be of unfathomable consequence to intelligent and moral creatures, in its bearing on the progress of eternity. The facility and rapidity of future acquirements, will essentially depend upon the accuracy and strength of the impressions made during the day of judgment. 502. JUDGMENT, AN ERA OF LIGHT. Ed. With all its solemnities, the righteous may truly say, "My soul longeth, yea even fainteth," for the great day. It is the alma mater for the life that is to come the corrector of all errors, the umpire of all disputes, and will usher in the pure light of the Lord and of heaven upon all beings, objects, and events. The value of a holy and happy existence will be increased beyond conception by the light and disclosures of this day. The knowledge of earth is mere infantile vision, when compared with the profound intellectual comprehension that will result from its revelations. The Father of lights knows how to manifest himself- the eternal Son of God knows how to teach creatures knowledge and the more profound and complete the discoveries of creatures, the more God will be justified and glorified. The vast and the minute, the simple and the complicated, the plain and the obscure in creation, providence, and grace, will be alike conspicuous. The progress, achievements, and pretensions of science, are the mere twilight of knowledge, when compared with the perfection that will follow the great day. JUDGMENT INCOMPARABLY SOLEMN. 285 Em. Such a clear and full exhibition of facts will clear the innocent and condemn the guilty, in the minds of all intelligent beings. And from the day of judgment to all eternity, every intelligent being will possess clear light respecting himself, his God, and his fellow creatures. This will give an emphasis to the joys of heaven and the miseries of hell, and serve as bars and bolts to sever the righteous and wicked, to interminable ages. This will shut fear out of heaven, and hope out of hell, forever and ever. 503. JUDGMENT, INCOMPARABLY SOLEMN. A sunbeam pointing out each secret thought! Em. In solemnity and importance the day of judgment will unspeakably surpass all other scenes which ever have taken place, or ever will take place, in time or eternity. Accordingly the Apostle, with peculiar propriety and emphasis calls it THE GREAT DAY. The circumstances, the business, and the consequences of it, will all unite to render it solemn and interesting beyond the present conception of men and angels. 504. JUDGMENT DAY CERTAIN. Ed. Truth and right, innocence and piety, for centuries and millenaries, have looked to this period for vindication against their calumniators, and God will surely vindicate them. He will illustrate his own wisdom, goodness, and righteousness, by 286 JUMPING AT CONCLUSIONS, JURISPRUDENCE. contrasting them with all the folly and deceit, selfishness and malevolence in the universe. He will illustrate, in the same way, the benevolence he has caused in the hearts of his people. He will make the opposite tendency of sin and holiness appear. 505. JUDGMENT WORTHY OF REGARD. Ed. Why should we regard any surveillance and tribunal except the eye and judgment seat of Christ, since all things else appear as nothing and vanity, the moment the day of judgment is fairly in view. 506. JUMPING AT CONCLUSIONS. Multitudes see, without observing. Ed. When the mind jumps at its conclusions, without examination, the conclusions need to be proved, before being trusted. Ib. A habit of jumping at conclusions in science, resembles a religion of mere impressions, and is a very mischievous habit. 507. JURISPRUDENCE. Webster, D. The law is made to protect the innocent, by punishing the guilty. Ib. The criminal law is not founded in a principle of vengeance. It uses evil, only as the means of preventing greater evil. Ib. Whenever a jury, through whimsical and ill-founded scruples, suffer the guilty to escape, they become responsible for the augmented danger of the innocent. 508. JUSTICE. The rapid and the slow are seldom just. Ed. When sin abounds, and justice is most needed, it comes to pass that she is commonly maligned as impolitic and unjust. Then expect trouble in the cabinet and country. Ib. When general justice is denounced, justice between man and man is loosened from its foundations. Adams, J. Q. JUSTICE, as defined in the Institutes of Justician, nearly two thousand years ago, and as it is felt and understood by all who understand human relations and human rights, is: Constans to perpetua voluntas, jus SUUM cuique tribuere'-'a constant and perpetual will to render TO EVERY ONE that which is his own.' JUSTICE VINDICATIVE. 287 Democritus. It is justice to do those things which ought to be done; injustice, not to do them. Epicurus. Justice gives to every one according to his due, and provides that injury be done to no one. [See 827.] 509. JUSTICE, VINDICATIVE. Young. He weeps! - the falling drop puts out the sun; His wrath inflam'd? his tenderness on fire - Like soft, smooth oil, outblazing other fires? Em. The apostle Paul speaks in the name of all true believers, and says (Heb. 12: 29), " Our God is a consuming fire." Though the Gospel has opened a way in which God can display his mercy, instead of his justice, towards penitent sinners, it has not dispossessed him of his attribute of justice. This is still an essential part of his character, and renders him a consuming fire to all, who finally reject the offers of his grace. Vindicative justice is an amiable perfection of the true God. A being of perfect goodness must be a being of vindicative justice. "God is love;" and his benevolence necessarily disposes him to love benevolence in all his creatures, and to hate their selfishness or malevolence. But if he necessarily hates all moral evil, then he must necessarily feel disposed to punish it, or manifest his disapprobation of it, by inflicting natural evil, the proper punishment of it. We cannot conceive that God should love holiness, and feel disposed to reward it with the tokens of his favor, and yet not hate sin, and feel disposed to condemn it by marks of his displeasure. In this light God represented his character to Moses, when he desired to see his glory. So Christ and his apostles have represented it. Ed. Though vindicative justice is despised and denounced by a world lying in wickedness, all those who will ever sing the songs of heaven, will see and sing the greatness of the Divine excellency in her most terrible manifestations. Ib. Who ever read the account of the overthrow of the proud Haman, that was not constrained to admire the justice that overook him? [See 604, 821.] 288 KINDNESS, KINGDOM. 510. KINDNESS. Kindness is stronger than the sword. Wms., T. Christian kindness consists in those friendly affections and services which mere justice does not demand, nor any particular engagement require. Wise sayings often fall upon barren ground, but a kind word is seldom thrown away. He who is accustomed to do kindnesses, always finds them when in need. Ed. Little kindnesses are great ones. They drive away sadness, and cheer up the soul beyond all common apprehension. They become sources of great influence over others, which may be used for important purposes. When such kindnesses are administered in times of need, distress, danger, and difficulty, they are still more likely to be remembered with gratitude. Parents should be as much concerned to make their children kind, gentle, obliging, and respectful to all others around, as to provide for them a common education in needful knowledge. Ib. A kind word, in return for an unkind one, is kindness that is felt. Ib. The Father of mercies is kind to the evil and the unthankful; bears and forbears long; and multiplies his absolute favors to a marvellous extent. He suffers his kindness to be very long and very widely abused, before he vindicates. In this kindness we all share very extensively every day, hour, and moment, -which lays us all under great and solemn obligations to abound in all needful kindnesses to the needy and suffering around us, to serve one another, and "let good favors go round," as Franklin expressed it. [See 394.] 511. KINGDOM, KINGDOMS. Ed. The devil claims all the kingdoms of the world; but the kingdom of Christ, when denoted by its own distinctive features, he never does or can claim, with his present feelings. Ib. Kingdom of God-the only absolute monarchy that is free from despotism. Ib. The kingdom of God is so completely above all other |