view of the very unequal and indiscriminate allotments of the present
life. Here the virtuous are often the objects of hatred and relentless
persecution. Here the man of ambition and dark intrigue, circumvents and
treads down his more honest rivals. Here Providence often afflicts even
the most pious; while the licentious, and proud, and oppressive, are,
perhaps, suffered to enjoy uninterrupted prosperity. Now we believe,
assuredly, that "God is just;" and we infer, that he will so exhibit
himself by another and more equal distribution of his favours and
frowns. We conclude with the wise man, "that God shall judge both the
righteous and the wicked." Conscience and reason, then, unite with
revelation, in saying, that "God hath appointed a day, in which he will
judge the world in righteousness." No language can be plainer, and no
event more reasonably anticipated.

With this absolute certainty before us, then, of a judgment for all
mankind, it would be unnatural--it would betray awful insensibility to
eternal concerns, not to inquire with all seriousness--When will this
universal judgment take place? What objects is it designed to
accomplish? What connexion will it have with our future and eternal
condition? We inquire then,

I. _When will the universal Judgment take place?_

The precise time, God has wisely concealed from every intelligent
creature. "Of that day and that hour knoweth no man. No; not the angels
that are in heaven." But the text speaks of it, in general terms, as
that which is to take place _after our death_. Other passages are
somewhat more explicit, as to the time. The apostle Peter declares, "The
heavens and the earth which now are, by the same word are kept in store,
reserved unto fire, against _the day of judgment_, and perdition of
ungodly men." According to this account of the judgment, it will occur
at the same time with the destruction of the world; "when," as the same
apostle declares, "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and
the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth, also, and the
works that are therein shall be burnt up." Paul gives a similar account
of the _time_, as he comforts the church at Thessalonica, under
persecution, with the prospect of the judgment, "when the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire,
taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ." Indeed, if God is