glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shal! separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats, and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, and the goats on His left. 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. And 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. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. These solemn and awful descriptions are given to us in order that we may take warning, and flee from the wrath to come.

The description of the day of judgment recorded by St. Matthew seems to have been the last public discourse of our blessed Saviour, before He was taken, and by wicked hands crucified and slain; His last testimony, which showed to the Jews, and by them to us, the great importance of receiving Him as the true Messiah, and believing in Him, and loving Him above all things, in order to be prepared to stand before His judgmentseat. For, we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one

46 Matt. xxv. 31-34, 41, 46.

47 Acts ii. 23.

may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.*

Having spoken several parables of the most solemn kind, it was no wonder that He should begin His discourse to His disciples, after He had taken His last supper with them, and had commanded them to keep up the remembrance of Him by a perpetual ordinance: Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, and ye believe in Me. In my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. In the same way He encourages and comforts them in the text. But let us pass over this verse at present, as we shall have occasion to return to it again afterwards.

49

In order to illustrate His subject, our Saviour, according to His frequent custom, spake unto them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your ownselves that summer is now nigh at hand. When the trees of the field begin to put forth their buds and to show their leaves, it is a sure evidence that the winter is going off, and the summer is approaching. This is manifest to the most common observer. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of

48 2 Cor. v. 10.

49 John xiv. 1—3.

God is nigh at hand. The occurrence of the extraordinary commotions in the world, to which our Saviour had referred, would be as sure a sign of His coming to judge the world, as the bursting forth of the leaves of the trees in spring is a sign of the approach of summer. would be the warning given to mankind before His appearance.

This

But as He had spoken at the beginning of His discourse respecting the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem, and of the judgments which would be executed upon the Jewish nation, in consequence of their rejection of Him: with reference to the question of the disciples, When shall these things be? He replied, Verily, I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. And in order that the solemn impression which His words were calculated to make, might not be effaced from their minds, He further declared, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.

The manner in which this prophecy of our Lord Jesus Christ was fulfilled within forty years of its delivery, was most remarkable. A Jewish historian (named Josephus) has given us such an account of the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem, and of the Jewish polity altogether, that it is enough to make the ears of every one that heareth it to tingle; the circum

stances which accompanied it having been so dreadful, and so astonishing. And we may be satisfied that as surely as the former part of the prophecy was fulfilled with regard to the Jewish nation, so surely will it be completely accomplished by the events which will take place previous to the second coming of the Son of man. The great commotions that have been in the world, may be considered as giving so many assurances to mankind that there will be hereafter a time of trouble such as never was, since there was a nation,50 previous to the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. The warning that was addressed to the Jews, is therefore addressed to us. The Son of man will come with power and great glory to judge the world in righteousness; and it becomes us to prepare to meet our God, since we shall then receive our final award from His hands. The Apostle Peter exhorted Christians, Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness; but grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.51 Such should be the character and conduct of believers in Christ, while they are waiting all the

50 Dan. xii. 1. 51 2 Pet. iii. 14, 17, 18. 52 1 Cor. i. 7.

days of their appointed time on earth till their change come, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.52 We are to consider

Secondly, The directions which our Saviour gave to His disciples in reference to His second coming, When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. This exhortation seems to denote that the persons addressed were in a state of depression, and even of bondage. And is not this the state of the children of God in this world? The Apostle says, We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened.53 This made him exclaim, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 54 It is through Jesus Christ our Lord that deliverance is hoped for; and when He shall appear with power and great glory, this deliverance will be fully obtained. But our blessed Saviour never gave His disciples reason to expect pleasure in worldly prosperity, or in the enjoyment of the things of this life. On the contrary, He told them, In the world ye shall have tribulation.55 And the Apostle Paul reminds the Thessalonians, Verily when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.56

Such being the state of the children of God.

53 2 Cor. v. 4. 54 Rom. vii. 24. 55 John xvi. 33. 56 1 Thess. iii. 4.