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SERMON IX.

ANTICIPATIONS OF THE JUDGMENT.

1 TIM. v. 24, 25.

"Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after. Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid."

WE are constantly professing our belief that Christ shall "come to be our Judge." In the daily-recited creeds, and in this recurring season of Advent most especially, we are obliged to recall to mind the fact that every thought, word, and deed, of every one who lives, from Adam downward to the coming of the Great Judge, shall pass in review solemnly before HIM-no possible circumstance, no fears, no wishes, no feelings, opinions, faith, or knowledge, exempting any from the ordeal. A future Judgment, however fearful the thought, none but the infidel will deny ;-but that any sins are so open beforehand" as to "go before to judgment" we are slow to realize; though it is sometimes so plain a fact, even in Providence, that none can call it in question. It is not, however, in rarely occurring instances that the Apostle intimates the existence of this dis

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tinction as to human sins, and their Judgment, when he here lays it down as a broad rule for Timothy's personal guidance, that "some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment." Little as it may be thought of, and little cared for, it is a very practical truth which is here referred to; that there are certain extremes, of sin on the one hand, or of holiness on the other, which, even in this life, do in a manner practically forestall the decision of the last Judgment! We may find profit, I trust, for our souls, in meditating at this time on this solemn topic, the pre-judgment of some sins, and the final Judgment of all sins; "Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after." After dwelling on it, we will notice the Divine rule, here also glanced at, respecting deeds of holiness; "Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid."

We shall be best prepared for the apprehension of the truths here set before us by referring to the context of the passage. St. Paul had been giving Timothy, as Bishop of Ephesus, large directions respecting the government of his Church, and had just concluded the earnest advice as to the ordinations of the clergy, "Lay hands suddenly on no man;" to which he strikingly adds, "meddle not with other men's sins: keep thyself pure;" when, after one verse of caution, to restrain Timothy's personal rigours of asceticism from going beyond what was right and profitable, he immediately adds the verses of our text. So that I take it to be clear, that their special meaning was, that Timothy should so govern his Church with wisdom,

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as not to ordain any to the rank of presbyter whose sins had been "manifest beforehand;" nor in any other way so mix himself with sinful Christians as to seem to be mixed up with their sins.-Would to God that Christian prelates had such personal acquaintance with candidates for the ministry as is here implied! Would that our discipline were such as would give our bishops real knowledge too of their dioceses !-Timothy was warned to remember the solemn fact, "that some men's sins were open beforehand," bearing, or leading on, to judgment. head of the Church of Ephesus he was to keep in mind, that he was a spiritual ruler and judge under Christ, and must act as such. The "manifest" ungodliness of some would (if he were faithful) lead him to form, and give, "judgment " respecting them and their sins even now, bearing in him the memory of Christ's empowering words, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven!"-words not lightly spoken-words which (believe me) shall " judge many in the last day!" So weighty is the import of what is here said, that some sins " judgment !"

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To be so manifestly evil as to fall beneath the censure of the Church of Christ now, and be practically cut off, this is a kind of miserable anticipation of that Day which shall be "revealed by fire," when "the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." And is it not a woeful thought, that many and many a thoughtless, sinful man, braving and sneering at the Church's voice, is making "manifest beforehand" the fact of his own perdition-flattering himself the while that he yet will have time to repent at his leisure of all his present

crimes! Or if he have advanced yet further in guilt, he may even have lost the intention, or thought, of a future repentance; so, while he is "manifest beforehand " to all the Church, and to God, and the holy angels, as bearing the mark of ruin on his brow, he himself knows it not. Oh! verily some men's sins are thus but too "open beforehand."

Whether indeed it were possible at all to define what classes of sins become thus palpable and deadly, it were hard to say. We know the fact that at times God does interfere to decide on men's doings "beforehand!" And surely also, in sterner and holier times, the discipline of the Church was felt, and her voice of judgment " heard, solemnly discharging "on earth" that dread function which was once for all committed to the representatives of her Lord. Christ's voice of judgment was wont to proceed from the apostolic thrones, and "He ratified in heaven (saith Hooker) what was so done on earth, respecting the hardened and notorious offender."-(Ah! men forget, in complaining of Church evils, that an undisciplined laity leads naturally to a corrupt clergy; for the clergy spring from the ranks of the people.)-But let it not be thought that the pre-judgment of the obstinately sinful does not really proceed even now, although the voice of Christ's ambassador be but faintly heard!

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Who does not see the aboundings of a "manifest" irreligion, even among professed Christians? who shall say in what wretched degree thousands are placing themselves in the number of those who are "going before to judgment ?" What thousands are self-excommunicate from all the privileges of grace in Christ,-cut off as fatally as if an apostle's

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voice had "retained their sins," and "bound" their souls!

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Alas! it is a matter " open beforehand;" " open in the face of the whole Christian world; so that if the Church were now to arise in all her majesty, and pronounce judgment on those whose sins are "open beforehand," it would discover so woeful a thinning of the ranks of professing Christians, that we should scarcely find expression for our feelings more suitable than the disciples', Who then shall be saved?" If we look abroad over the face of society, see we not on every side the tokens of iniquity "open beforehand ?"-baptized men despising their baptism; Christian men ashamed of Christ, making a secret of every religious inclination that rises in them, and only their worldliness open," and visible to all? Or if we enter our very sanctuaries, what is the thing most palpable? what is the sign of the majority? what is most " open beforehand" to every observer? Is it a peaceful and holy crowd of reverent worshippers? Or is it a bustling attendance of "sitters and hearers," who find one service per Sunday quite religion enough, and that only in fine weather, and come in to that, often, after its commencement, and leave before its most solemn close? What in this is the thing most "open beforehand?" the thing which is so common as to be now matter of course? Simply this, that nine out of ten of our baptized people never remain to see the holy service to its end; the vast majority-(this is the "manifest" thing!)—never approach the holy Altar of their Lord who died for them, and by whose merits they say they hope to be saved!

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