ant angels' ears unutterable sounds, as of the clanking of invisible chains to bind the guilty soul for ever and ever! God of His mercy grant that we bear not with us such tokens of our perdition, when our summoned spirits are called to travel hence to His bar!

Finally, as a rule for the Church's guidance, and a comfort for her faithful children, the Apostle adds, "likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid." You will notice a slight difference of phraseology. In reference to the sins of some, it was said not only that they were open beforehand, but were "going before to judgment as manifesting not only a solemn fact of Providence, but also as indicating a duty of the Church to deal judicially with sin, when tangible (which was peculiarly Timothy's duty at Ephesus, in the case contemplated by the Apostle). In reference however to good works, the statement is varied: it is equally affirmed that they are in some cases open or "manifest" beforehand; but it is not said that they go "before to judgment;" for though this world is oftentimes the scene of God's and the Church's judgment of sin, it is not commonly the arena for the rewards of holiness to be assigned. At times, indeed, will holiness be "manifest," but it will generally be unrewarded, and not rarely persecuted, here on earth! With marked emphasis therefore the Apostle changes his style, and says not that the holy receive their judgment here. Brethren and co-heirs of the "Man of Sorrows," they look not for joys in a world which crucified HIM! The very light with which they shine before men, and are so "manifest beforehand" to

be Christ's, will but be a sign to attract the onset of a godless world; yet do they look for a recompense of reward, when Christ shall come; "their reward is with HIM, and their works also before Him." Some of their works even now are manifest, and some of their names canonized by the grateful piety of the Church; but those that "are otherwise," those whose piety is not manifest now, cannot ultimately be hid,—their “works do follow them!" Holy deeds that the world knew nothing of (though blessed thereby!) shall follow the just to the presence of their Saviour. Holy prayers breathed in secret, or in damp and thinly-attended churches, night and morning; holy fastings that have power to put legions of temptations to flight; holy almsgiving, through the loved medium of the Church of the blessed Saviour; holy deeds of domestic purity, or social charity, or angelical peace-making; holy words of quick repentance, gentleness, and blessings for all, -these are deeds that will not be hidden, cannot be hidden, at the day of account; these are deeds which will add peace to the dying hour of any man or woman who can recal them; these are works which "do follow" the blessed dead, and which, with all their imperfections, are accepted before the throne of Him who pitieth us like a father, for His sake who died and ever liveth to make intercession for us!

Nothing, nothing shall be hidden at that day which we all must meet! There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known." That which is now whispered in the ear, shall be proclaimed as from the house-top.

That which now is uttered in a corner, shall be made known before assembled worlds! Oh! woe, woe, to the dead who have died in sin; for, alas, no archangel's merciful interference could hinder but that their works must follow them! Oh! blessed sound for them who have lived by faith upon the Son of God. Blessed martyrs who died for your Lord! your works were recorded in characters of blood, but the marks thereof shall not be erased from our earth when its Judge shall come; your works shall not be hid, but gloriously "follow you" in that day! Holy confessors who have pined in caves, or famished in the mines of earth, whose very names have perished from among men-ye will not be hid! ye cannot! methinks the very air of your ancient haunts yet tells silently that "your works shall follow." Ye too who have retired and given up this perishable world, not forcibly driven from it,-the wilderness and solitary place has often been made glad by your lonely prayers and midnight praises! oft in your holy homes, the solemn quires sent up untiring anthems, and angels heard them! little were ye "manifest" in your day, but your works "shall not be hidden." From deserts long forsaken, once whitened by your bones, from chapels long in ruins, once knelt in at your hours of prayer, "your works," a goodly train, shall follow as ye rise to meet HIM in the air, and be covered and lightened by the brightness of His coming!-Yea, and all meek and holy souls, in whatsoever guise, within the blessed pale of salvation,-all who have aimed to make earth happier and holier, and be themselves conformable to the image of the Holy One; all who in unseen

paths have been doing His will who set them there, humbly, unostentatiously, peaceably, shall find that not one Christ-like deed shall then be hidden; yea, that one such attendant deed shall, to them, outweigh in that day the treasures of the world!

"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, write, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord!— their works shall follow them!"

SERMON X.

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF THE LAST ACCOUNT.

ROм. xiv. 12.

"So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God." OBJECTIONS there are to some of the truths of religion, which, though not reduced to argument, (and, perhaps, not capable of being so reduced,) nor sufficiently cogent to lead men to a denial of such truths, nevertheless have the power to undermine them, and to neutralize the influence they ought to exert over men's hearts and lives. These objections cannot be called arguments; they are, more properly, impressions against the truths in question, than even objections; but their mischievousness who can doubt? Though they float upon the surface rather than sink into the soul of the world, yet as a straw or a hair may disorder or bring to a stand a piece of mechanism, so do these floating impressions unhinge the operations of the apparatus of eternal verities and divine realities upon the mind of man.

As an instance of what we mean, we need not seek further than that verity which the solicitude of the Church, regardful as she ever is in her services