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awfully responsible? How striking are the Judge's words, At my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Your advice might have turned many from their evil way; your genius might have recommended religion; your leisure might have instructed the ignorant; your superfluous wealth might have relieved the distress of many of my afflicted servants; and thus at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

May the Spirit of God enlighten us to discern the talents which belong to our respective stations and acquirements, and the way in which it is His will that we should trade with them; that whether over many things or over few, we may be found faithful, and admitted to the joy of our Lord.

LECTURE XXII.

THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS; PROCEDURE OF THE
LAST JUDGMENT DESCRIBED.

MATT. XXV. 31-46.

31. "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.

32. "And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

33. "And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left."

A DESCRIPTION is here given us of that awful day, which shall assign their everlasting destiny to all the children of Adam. A description uttered by Him who is Himself the arbiter of that destiny. He who will be Himself judge, declares the grounds of His judgment. He who is "the door" of the heavenly kingdom, declares whom He will admit, and whom He will exclude. He to whom "all things are delivered of the Father," declares in what manner He will execute His trust. "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth :" "the Lord, even the most mighty God, hath spoken."

34. "Then shall the king say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35. "For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in.

36. "Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37. "Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee; or thirsty, and gave thee drink ?

38. "When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39. "Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

I

40. "And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily say unto Inasmuch as ye you, have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

Matt. xi. 27.

It is remarkable, that the test or proof of character here brought forward, is taken entirely from works of mercy and charity. Ye have clothed the naked, and relieved the hungry, and visited the prisoner: what is done to the least of these my brethren, is done unto me: Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

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This, at first sight, seems opposed to the whole tenor of the gospel, which declares that we are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works and deservings:" that "by grace we are saved; not of works, lest any man should boast:" that so far from relying upon our good deeds, our justice, our integrity, our zeal, or our charity, our language is to be, when we "have done all," "we are unprofitable servants," who can advance no claim.3

The account, however, here given of the day of judgment, does not contradict this truth. But it discloses the real nature of faith in Christ Jesus; which is not a mere assent to the history of his Advent and Incarnation ;—which is not a presumptuous confidence in His merits: but is the "receiving Him" with the whole heart, as "the way, the truth, and the life:" alike the Redeemer to atone, and the King or Lord to guide and rule. This is the faith which

2 Acts xi.

3 Luke xvii. 10.

unites Him to us, and us to Him. This is the faith by which "he is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." This is the faith according to which "man believeth unto righteousness."

And this faith will naturally and necessarily lead to the works here described of active charity.

For, first, those who have this faith, obey their Lord's precepts. And His precepts tell us, that the characteristic of His disciples is to "have love one towards another:" and that the law and the prophets are all comprehended in this, that, "whatsoever we would that men should do unto us, we do also unto them."

Secondly, those who have genuine faith in Christ will imitate His example. And we well know that His example was the model of that benevolence which His precepts enjoin.

If then, he “went about doing good," so must His disciples. "If He so loved us," as our faith avows that He did, "we ought also to love one another."

Thirdly, those who truly believe in Christ, learn of Him to view their fellow-creatures in a light peculiar to the Christian: for their fellowcreatures are those whom He so loved, as to descend from heaven for their redemption: those whom He so pitied, as to lay down His life for their sakes. And therefore it is, that if hungry, they are to be fed; if naked, they are

to be clothed; if strangers, they are to be cared for; if sick, or in prison, they are to be visited; if erring, they are to be reclaimed; if young, they are to be nurtured; if ignorant, they are to be instructed. Thus manifesting our "love not in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth, we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him." For He has said, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it

unto me.

Those, then, who are here represented as the righteous, who "go into life eternal," are rewarded for their works. But the ground of their acceptance is still their faith. And the cause why they have wrought these works, is their faith. Faith is the principle,-works, the effect. Holiness, purity, temperance, integrity, mercy, charity, are proofs of the existence and of the soundness of the principle from which they spring.

The same argument applies to those on the left hand, who are rejected.

41. "Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

42. "For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

43. "I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited

me not.

1 John iii. 19.

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