November 20

to crown your application if you seek according to the true order. Only remember the time of finding is both short and uncertain. You cannot be happy too soon; and your safety leaves you not a moment to lose—"Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near."

NOVEMBER 20.—"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."—Matthew 25:41.

WHAT a contrast between this sentence and the language addressed by the same Judge to those on his right hand! That says, "ye blessed of my Father;" this, "ye cursed." That says, "Come;" this, "Depart." That says, "Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;" this says, "Depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."

The words are not for declamation, but belief. This "terror of the Lord" was not intended to be defined and comprehended, but was to be left to those forebodings of imagination in which there can be no danger of excess—"Who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear so is thy wrath." We shall not therefore dwell upon the duration, or the nature of this misery; but only remark three things.

The first regards the origin of this dreadful state. It was not it seems at first provided for the human race, but "prepared for the devil and his angels." Yet being prepared, the abode could receive any other rebels as well as they; and those who will join his party in our world, and do the works of the devil, as they have shared in the same sin, must share in the same suffering with him and his followers. Thus the sinner renders their place his own; as it is said of Judas, "he went to his own place."

The second regards the certainty of the doom. The denouncement is not an idle tale; it is not the offspring of the nursery, or the creation of priestcraft. The consciences of men tell them this, and much more frequently and seriously than they are willing to acknowledge. The misery is such, that if there was only a probability, or even a possibility of incurring it, wisdom would justify a submission to all the self-denial and sacrifices the Gospel demands. The children of this world act upon this principle, where their temporal interests are concerned. They throw overboard the lading of the vessel when they are not sure, but only apprehensive of a shipwreck: and yield to the painful excision of a limb when the preservation of the whole body is not certain, but probable, and in some cases possible. But before a man can suppose that this misery is not possible, and even probable; before he can question the certainty of it, he must prove either that our Lord never uttered these words as the Gospel affirms, or that if he did utter them he is not to be depended upon. But he is the faithful witness; and the Scripture cannot be broken. What a task then has the infidel to perform before he can lay his apprehensions to rest, and bid defiance to this sentence—He must prove that the Bible is a lie, or Jesus a liar. Men may be ignorant of these things, but they must be "willingly ignorant." And they cannot be ignorant long. And, considering the uncertainty of life,