Babylon, and dispersed all over the world at the destruction of their ecclesiastical and civil polity by the Romans. The time also for the day of judgment is fixed, though it is still hid in the bosom of the Father : and " the times," whether of com- munities or individuals, are altogether " in his hands."]
When that period is arrived, they will be executed to the uttermost —
[At present there is mercy mixed with judgment; but in the last day there will be "judgment without mercy." Wrath now comes on offenders with measured severity ; but then without any other measure than their own deserts. Then the cup of God's indignation will be poured out for them without mixture, and they shall drink it to the very dregs b. Terrible is that name whereby the day of judgment is designated, " The day of the perdition of ungodly menc." This present time may, even in reference to the ungodly, be called " The day of sal- vation ; " because salvation is freely offered to every one of them: but that is " the day of wrath," against which an accu- mulated and daily augmenting treasure of wrath is laid up for them, and shall " come upon them to the uttermost."]
This view of the day of judgment sufficiently shews,
II. That that time should be much and deeply con- templated—
Let us then contemplate, 1. Its gradual approach —
[Every day and every hour is bringing it nearer to us. The delay to us indeed may appear long : but it is nothing when compared with eternity : " A thousand years are in God's sight as one day, and one day as a thousand years." Pro- fane persons and infidels will ask, as it were, in derision, " Where is the promise of his comingd?" But " their judg- ment lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth note." Let those who are advanced in life consider this. Their days must of necessity be few ; and consequently every hour should appear to them as it does to criminals under sentence of death ; even the striking of the clock should remind them, that the hour for their departure is rapidly advancing, and must soon arrive. And young persons too should remember, that they also are liable to be cut off in the midst of their days ; and that, even if they live to the age of man, their time will soon have
b Rev. xiv. 10, 11. c 2 Pet. iii. 7
d 2 Pet. iii. 4. * 2 Pet. ii. 3.
1097.] APPROACHING END OF GOD's FORBEARANCE. 345
passed away, and appear as a dream in the night. But our text informs us, that " the end watcheth for us :" yea, it may come as a thief in the night." Who then should not stand on his watch-tower, that he may be prepared for it ?]
2. Its actual arrival —
[The day of judgment, whenever it shall arrive, will find men as much unprepared for it as at this moment. In the days of Noah, persons of every description engaged in their respective occupations with the same confidence as if nothing had been spoken respecting a deluge ; " they ate, they drank, they planted, they builded, they married and were given in marriage, till the very day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came : thus will it be also in the day of judgment; persons of every age and condition will be as secure as at any period of their existence, till the trumpet shall sound, and the Judge shall summon them to his tribunal. What a sound will this then be, " An end, the end, is come ! " Then will be an end of all that now renders life desirable ; an end of all pleasures, whatever be their kind or quality ; an end of all means of grace, no opportunity now remaining for prayer and seeking after God : there will be an end of all hope of mercy, the door of heaven being closed, as Noah's ark was, by the hand of God himself. Then will be " an evil, an only evil," such as will have no mixture of good in it. O what " a morning" will that be, when the voice shall sound, " Awake, ye dead, and come to judgment!" This will not be a mere echo, a delusion, " a sound reverberated from the mountains ; " but a fearful reality. Let us for a moment contemplate the state of the antediluvian world, when they saw the face of the earth gradually dis- appearing, and the loftiest mountains sinking into the waters of the great deep : O what fear, what terror, what distraction would be visible on every side ! Thus will millions, in the last day, be " calling upon the rocks to fall upon them, and the hills to cover them from the wrath of the Lamb." Would to God that men would now endeavour to realize that scene ; and that they would " prepare," whilst yet there is time afforded them, " to meet their God ! "]