[As, at that period, rewards and punishments will be alike distributed, one would suppose that that day might with equal propriety be called " the day of the salvation of godly men." But this designation would by no means be so proper as that which is given to it in my text. For, though the salvation of the godly will be then completed, it will not then be begun : it is begun in this world : the saints, as soon as they believe in Christ, " receive the end of their faith, even the salvation of their souls a:" nor is there any one blessing which they shall ever enjoy in heaven, but is now conferred upon them through the medium of faith ; insomuch, that they are represented by St. Paul as already " sitting in heavenly places in Christ Jesus b." Their bodies will indeed be then partakers with their souls in the felicity of heaven ; but, as far as their souls are concerned, they have already, even whilst here upon earth, an earnest and foretaste of their heavenly inheritance. The ungodly, on the other hand, have to wait for their award till the day of judg- ment. I say not, indeed, but that God does sometimes make them to feel a foretaste of his wrath even here ; but, generally speaking, they are left to pass their time here under a fearful delusion, by which they pacify their consciences, and lull themselves asleep in their sins. They are under condemnation now, as much as ever they will be : as it is said, " He that believeth not, is condemned already, because he believeth not in the name of the only-begotten Son of Godc:" but the day of execution is that which is specified in my text: and so St. .Tude expressly calls it ; " Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, The Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have un- godlily committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against himd." And the great use of the judgment will be, to display before the whole assembled uni- verse the justice of God in inflicting on the wicked this punishment, whilst so different a portion is given to the righteous : as St. Paul has said ; " It is the day of wrath, and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of Gode" Hence there is a peculiar propriety in that name, by which the day of judgment is designated, in my text, " The day of the per- dition of ungodly men."]
2. That it will so prove —
[Doubtless, at the time of our death, a suitable award is made to every man : but at the day of judgment there will be a public assignment of this doom to every individual of
a 1 Pet. i. 8, 9. b Eph. ii. 6. ° John iii. 18.
d Jude, ver. 14, 15. e Rom. ii. 5.