and responsibility toward each of these sovereign acts and relations. All judgment is determined by the attitude which men hold towards Christ. He is set forth as a perpetual challen<re to men to live a right thinking and right acting life.
2. Tht Judgment. — Jesus in the Gospels presents an almost numberless series of tests by which men may judge themselves in this present age. Their ' works ' or ' deeds' are reviewed (Mt 16" 25'' ; cf. Ro 2*, Rev 20"^). Every kindness to a disciple will be rewarded (Mk 9", Mt 10*=). Every cause of stumbling to one of these little ones (Lk 17") will be punished. Jesus presents Himself as the supreme and personal test. What is man's atti- tude towards Him as proved by ' his deeds and works'? This kind of judgment is contiguous and cumulative here, and comes to a conclusion at the final crisis or judgment. These are some of the tests :
FoUowing Him (Mt 418-2!! io38 19s, Mk &*) ; confessing Him (Mt 1032, Lk 128); failure to appreciate His presence and work (Mt 11=1); failure to come to Him (Jn 5«); failure to believe Him (Jn 318) ; failure to obev Him (Jn 336) ; failure to honour Him (Jn 523) ; failure to stand with Him (Mt 1230) ; failure of right fruitage (Mt 2131-J2 716, Lk 6«) ; failure in outward con- duct (Mt 2211-13); failure to help men (Mt 2531-J6); failure to repent (Jn 5-")) ; failure to use the gifts of God (Mt 251'<-3«) ; making light of His personal invitations (Mt 221-7) ; unwillingness to hear His words (Mt 12'" ->-) ; unwillingness to forgive an injury (Mtljis lS'-S-30)', being ashamed of Him (Mk S38) ; breaking a commandment (Mt .'i'^) ; the spirit of our judgment on others (Mt T-) : faith or lack of it (Mt 81" 5122 09 i52s_ 51k 534) ; heart unreceptive to His words (Mt 10" 15) ; hypocrisy (Mt 2313-36); idle words (Mt 12:«) ; lip senice without the heart (Mt 15') ; selfish conceit (Mt 62) ; wicked pride (Mk 1238) ; love of dark- ness (Jn 319); rejection of His disciples (LklOlO); adultery (Mt 19»); commercialism in worship (Mt 2113); blasphemy against the Spirit (Mt 1231-32) ; loring others more than God (Mt 1037) ; hearing, seeing the Son, with beUef or with failure to believe (Mt 72^1323, Jn 52i e-xi); the cup of cold water given to a disciple (Mt 1012) ; mercifulness (Lk 636) ; love to Christ (Lk 7", Jn 2116) ; love to enemies (Lk 627); humble-mindedness .as a child (Mt IS''); fldeUtv of serrice (Mt 201'' 24«-5l); endurance in well-doing (■2413) : doing wUl of God (1250) ; deeds in general (1627) ; inward thoughts and motives (Mk 7^3, Lk 522- 23).
These are clear, varied, and concrete tests which men may apply daily to conduct and character, and which bring them into continual judgment. They cover almost every phase of human life, both inward and outward. The OTeat first and second commandments in the law wiiich our Lord enunci- ated to the lawyer (Mt 22^-39) are in the nature of a judgment, for men know whether or not they have been kept. Judgments are continuous in the sphere of moral life, as conscience persistently aflirms. They are continuous in the religious life, and the principles upon which they are based are found in these teachings and in the character of Jesus. No man can plead ignorance of the grounds on which judgment is pronounced on him, becau.se these varied tests cover clearly and openly so much of his life. Jesus always holds Himself forth ('I am the way and the truth and the life,' Jn 14") as the supreme standard of life ; and the in^'itation to come to Him leads to a comparison and judg- ment of likeness or unlikeness. The work of the Holy Spirit (whom Jesus sends, Jn 16') is to con- vict men of sin, righteousness, and judgment (v.»), and He accomplishes this by showing men their unlikeness to Christ. The character of Jesus is thus continually a challenge to men, and the measure of the "judgment which they must pass on themselves. In all the Gospels, judgment is deter- mined by the relation wliich a man holds to Jesus Christ. But the Gospels also teach that this con- tinuous judgment wiU culminate in a crisis or Final Judgment. The inadequacy and inequalities of punishment here seem to demand a final adju.st- ing of the accounts of all men on principles of eternal equity. The parable of Dives and Lazarus (Lk 162"'-2») exhibits this final accounting and the equitable readjustment of their respective condi- tions. Lazarus had wretchedness. Di>es had
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luxury. The continuous judgment in this life did not result in the proper rewards and penalties, lience the balances are struck after death. Final judgment and penalty are then reached.
3. The time of this Final Judgment is set forth in the Synoptics as at 'the end of the world' (Mt 13-'''). Some have held that this means at the end of each man's life, but the more obvious meaning is the end of this time-order of race, life, and things (of. He 9="). The words ' the time ' (Mt S-"^), and 'then' (16" 25'), point to a time which follows the Lord's appearing in glory with His angels after the resurrection from the dead. ' That day and hour ' (24^), ' the resurrection of life ' and ' the resurrection of judgment' (Jn S^), are the anti- thetical statements of what takes place after the resurrection, which to one class of men is entrance into life, and to the other entrance into judgment followed by spiritual death. The Gospels do not give information as to whether or not the Final Judgment follows immediately on the general res- urrection. The weight of impression is that judgment does follow immediately, but it would be by no means an entirp misinterpretation of the sayings of Jesus if (iiii> lidd tli:il there was a con- siderable period of intci vciiiiiu linir.