תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

surely the most interesting and appalling that can be presented to the mind of man.

It were vain to attempt a description of such a scene. Nothing that has hitherto befallen this lower world can be compared with, or give the least idea of, what will take place at its final dissolution. The earthquake, the whirlwind, and the flaming volcano, are phenomena terrible indeed to those who are endangered by them. They display the power of a Mighty Being; but they afford not the faintest resemblance of that awful catastrophe, which shall come suddenly to pass upon the earth, when "the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed," (1 Cor. ch. xv); "when the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light," (Matthew, ch. xxiv); "when the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up," (2 Peter, ch. iii.); and when " as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west," the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, and sit on the throne of his glory to judge the world!

Such a stupendous consummation far exceeds the utmost stretch of human thought to imagine: but although we can neither imagine it, nor tell the time of its visitation, there is one important truth inseparably connected with it, which is but too manifest,-that to the righteous it will be a day of joy,

happiness, and glory everlasting; to the wicked a night of tribulation and anguish, and the blackness of darkness for ever! Appalling truth! Is there a heart that can lie still under such a reflection? Is there a being, bearing the name of a Christian, that will not immediately inquire of his life and conduct on which side of the Judge he is now standingwhether on the right hand or on the left-amongst the sheep or amongst the goats-in union with him or in separation from him? If he have the answer of "a good conscience towards God," well; but if otherwise, if his conscience condemn him, will he suffer another moment to escape without falling on his knees before God to ask, through faith in the meritorious sacrifice of his only beloved Son, for pardon and forgiveness of all that is past, and for the help of Divine Grace, that he may be enabled to turn from his evil ways, repent himself truly of his manifold sins, walk in newness of life, and thus be ready for the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord, which, for aught he knows, may be "near, even at the doors."

OCCASIONAL

ON

POEMS

SACRED SUBJECTS.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.-Psalm xix. ver. 14.

« הקודםהמשך »