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reader is defired to confult with attention. In it one particular is mentioned, which remarkably displays the purity of this judgement, even that God will judge the fecrets of men by or in the perfon of Jefus Chrift. This is more fully declared in Acts xvii. 31. "Because he hath appointed "a day in the which he will judge the world "in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given affurance unto "all men, in that he hath raised him from the "dead." Thus God the Judge in the perfon of Christ fits upon the throne, clothed in human nature, and tries men by a Judge, who in one fenfe is bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh, and even calls them brethren.

When this throne of judgement shall be erected, this earth and the visible heavens or folar fyftem of which it forms a part fhall be diffolved. Of this diffolution the apoftle Peter thus fpeaks; 2 Pet. iii. 7. "But the heavens and the earth "which are now, by the fame word are kept in "store, referved unto fire against the day of judge"ment and perdition of ungodly men.' And verfe 10th," But the day of the Lord will come as "a thief in the night; in the which the heavens "fhall pass away with a great noife, and the e"lements fhall melt with fervent heat; the "earth alfo and the works that are therein fhall "be burnt up."

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That fome time fhall interveen between the complete overthrow of Gog and Magog and the day of judgement, and that the precife length of time is known to God only, has been fhewn already. As in the narrative the day of judgement follows close upon the final overthrow of Gog and Magog,, it is, thereby intimated that from that time to the day of judgement the reign of truth, righteoufnefs, peace, and joy, fhall not be greatly interrupted in the world. All men of every country, age, rank, or character, fhall appear before that tribunal. The rich and the poor, the greateft monarch and the meanest flave, the philofopher and the peafant, the infidel and the believer, the wifeman and the fool, the good and the bad, thofe who fhall then be alive on the earth, who fhall be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and those whose bodies are in the grave, fhall ftand before God.

"The books were opened." As written laws and written evidence are the beft fences of juftice, to exprefs the perfect juftice of this court it is faid, the books were opened. Thefe are the books which contain the written laws, and the records in which the evidence of the facts are inferted. The plain meaning of this fymbol is, that every perfon in whatever country or age he lived, fhall at last be judged by thofe rules of faith and conduct with which he had been favoured. Thofe

Thefe were to him as a written law. He shall not be judged by advantages or rules of which he was neceffarily ignorant, though other perfons were favoured with them. These were not written laws to him.

In the paffage cited in Rom. ii. three general fyftems of laws are mentioned, by which men fhall be tried at the final judgement. The firft is the law of the Gentiles, the law written in the heart, which is commonly ftiled the law of nature: The fecond is "the law," by which in fcripture, in this and many other paffages, is meant the written law of Moses. And the third is "the gof"pel," which is the difpenfation of revealed religion published to the world by Chrift and his apostles. Under one or other of these, all men, in every age and country of the world, have been placed. That fame impartial juftice, which will try every man by the law under which he lived, will certainly try him by the degree in which any of these laws were in fact promulgated to him, every circumstance of his conftitution, temper, and fituation being duly attended to. The facts, alfo, for which they fhall be tried, fhall be stated and proven as from written records. They fhall be brought forth from the perfect omniscience of God. Every intention, word, and action, which form the real character, are perfectly known to God, and fhall be brought forth to view as authenVOL. II. Y y

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tic evidence for or against them, when they shall ftand at his bar. They fhall be brought forth from the book of men's own confcience. Men fhall then recollect thofe intentions, words, and actions, which had formed their character; at least they fhall all be perfectly fatisfied that they were, in fact, exactly fuch as they are ftated by the Judge.

It is added, "And another book was opened, "which is the book of life." Befides these two books, by which mankind, in general, fhall be tried, there is a book of another kind, by which true Chriftians fhall be tried. This other book is the book of life. By the book of life, we are to understand all thofe perfons, whom God knows to be alive as intelligent, rational, moral, and religious creatures, all who are fpiritually alive in Chrift Jefus. At that day, God will approve of all fuch perfons, and admit them into the joys of heaven, not because, when in this world, they always acted in perfect conformity to thofe rules of conduct with which they were favoured; not because their own confciences fhall not then recollect any failings or tranfgreffions; but because they have been made alive in Christ Jefus, have heartily embraced that method of falvation, which the mercy of God hath offered to them through the mediation of Chrift, and have been made meet for the inheritance of the faints in light, by

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the fpiritual life begun, and gradually brought to perfection in them."There is no condemna"tion to them who are in Chrift Jefus, who walk

not after the flesh, but after the fpirit. To be "carnally minded is death: but to be spiritually "minded is life and peace." The phrafe, or rather the fymbol," the book of life," is used eight times in fcripture, and uniformly all these times, to fignify those perfons whom God knows to be fpiritually alive, viz. Philipp. iv. 3. Rev. iii. 5. xiii. 8. xvii. 8. xx. 12, 15. xxi. 27, and xxii. 19.

So perfect is the divine standard of duty to man, and fo defective is the obedience of the wifeft and best Christians in this world, that even they could not be justified by that standard at the bar of God. But the gospel of Chrift is a merciful fyftem, wifely calculated for faving man, when by the perverfion of his nature, he had difqualified himself for acting up to that perfect ftandard. As God hath promised eternal life to all, who give the gofpel of Chrift that reception which they ought, and regulate their faith, difpofitions and conduct by it, his truth and equity are engaged finally to fave fuch perfons. But all they, who are written in the book of life are fuch. In Pfalm. xcvi. 12, 13. xcviii. 8, 9. we find the fame difference marked between the manner in which God fhall judge the world at large, and the people in particular, Y y 2

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