JESUS ON THE GREAT WHITE THRONE OF JUDGMENT

JESUS WAS ON THE GREAT WHITE THRONE
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Revelation20:1111Then I saw a great white throne
and him who was seatedon it. The earth and the
heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place
for them.
The Great White Throne BY SPURGEON
“And I saw a greatwhite throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose
face the earth and the Heaven fled away. And there was found no place
for them.”
Revelation20:11
MANY of the visions which John saw are very obscure, and although a man
who is assuredof his own salvationmay possibly be justified in spending his
days in endeavoring to interpret them, yet I am sure of this–it will not be a
profitable task for unconverted persons. They have no time to spare for
speculations, forthey have not yet made sure of positive certainties. Theyneed
not dive into difficulties, for they have not yet laid a foundation of simplicities
by faith in Christ Jesus. Betterfar to meditate upon the Atonement than to be
guessing atthe little horn. Betterfar to know the Lord Jesus in His powerto
save, than to fabricate an ingenious theory upon the number of the beast.
But this particular vision is so instructive, so unattended by serious
difficulties, that I may invite all here presentto considerit, and the more so
because it has to do with matters which concernour own eternal prospects. It
may be, if God the Holy Spirit shall illuminate the eyes of our faith to look and
see that “greatwhite throne and Him that sat upon it,” that we may reap so
much benefit from the sight as forever to make the arches ofHeaven ring with
gratitude that we were brought in this world to look at the “greatwhite

throne.” By so doing we shall not be afraid to look upon it in the day when the
Judge shall sit, and the quick and dead shall stand before Him.
I shall, first, endeavorto explain what John saw. And then, in the second
place, I shall try to setforth the effectwhich I think would be produced by
this sight if the eyes of our faith should now be fixed on it.
1. First, then, I have to callyour very earnestattention to WHAT JOHN
SAW. It was a scene ofthe Last Day–thatwondrous day whose coming
none can tell–
“For, as a thief unheard, unseen, it steals
Through night’s dark shade.”
When the eagle-eyedseerof Patmos, being in the Spirit, lookedaloft into the
heavens, he saw a throne from which I gatherthat there is a throne of moral
government over the sons of men, and that He who sits upon it presides over
all the inhabitants of this world. There is a throne whose dominion reaches
from Adam in Paradise downto “the last man,” whoeverhe may be.
We are not without a Governor, Lawgiver, and Judge. This world is not left so
that men may do in it as they will, without a legislator, without an avenger,
without One to give reward or to inflict punishment. The sinner, in his
blindness looks, but he sees no throne, and therefore he cries, “I will live as I
like, for there is none to call me to account.” But John, with illuminated eye,
distinctly saw a throne, and a personalRuler upon it who satthere to callHis
subjects to account. When our faith looks through the glass ofRevelationit
sees a throne, too. It were well for us if we felt more fully the influence of that
ever-presentthrone. That “the Lord reigns” is true, Believer–tonight–andat
all times.
There is a throne where sits the King eternal, immortal, invisible! The world
is governedby laws made and kept in force by an intelligent Lawgiver. There
is a moral Governor. Men are accountable, and will be brought to accountat
the Last GreatDay, when they shall all be either rewardedor punished. “I
saw a greatwhite throne.” How this invests the actions of men with solemnity!
If we were left to do exactlyas we willed without being calledto accountfor it,
it were wise, even then, to be virtuous, for rest assuredit is best for ourselves
that we should be good–andit is in itself malady enough to be evil.
But we are not so left. There is a Law laid down which involves a penalty to
break. There is a Lawgiverwho looks downand spies every action of man,
and who does not suffer one single word or deed to be omitted from His
notebook. ThatGovernor is armed with power. He is sooncoming to hold His
assize, and every responsible agentupon the face of the earth must appearat

His bar and receive, as we are told, “according to the deeds done in the body,
whether they are goodor whether they are evil.” Let it, then, be gathered
from the text that there is in very deed a personaland realmoral Governorof
the world, an efficient and suitable Ruler–nota mere name, not a myth, not an
empty office–but a Personwho sits on the throne, who judges right, and who
will carry out that judgment before long.
Now, Brothers and Sisters, we know that this moral Governoris God Himself
who has an undisputed right to reign and rule. Some thrones have no right to
be, and to revolt from them is patriotism. But the best lover of his race
delights the most in the monarchy of Heaven. Doubtless there are dynasties
which are tyrannies, and governors who are despots. But none may dispute
the right of God to sit upon His throne, or wish that anotherhand held the
scepter. He createdall, and shall He not judge all? He had a right, as Creator,
to lay down His laws, and, as those laws are the very pattern of everything
that is goodand true, He has, therefore, because ofthis, an eternal right to
govern, in addition to the right which belongedto Him as Creator.
He is the Judge of all, who must do right from a necessityof His Nature. Who
else, then, should sit upon the throne, and who shall dare to claim to do so? He
may castdown the gauntlet to all His creatures and say, “I am God, and
beside Me there is none else.” If He reveals the thunder of His power, His
creatures must silently admit that He is Lord alone. None can venture to say
that this throne is not founded upon right. Moreover, there are some thrones
on which kings, howeverright, are deficient in might–but this is not the case
with the King of kings. We constantly see little princes whose crowns fit their
heads so ill that they cannotkeepthem on their brows. But our God has might
invincible as well as right infallible!
Who shall meet Him in battle? Shall the stubble defy the fire, or shall the wax
make war with the flame? Jehovahcan easilyswallow up His enemies when
they setthemselves in battle array againstHim. “Behold, He touches the hills
and they smoke!He looks upon the mountains and they tremble! He breaks
Leviathan in pieces in the depths of the sea. The winds are His chariots, and
the tempests are His messengers. At His bidding there is day, and at His will
night covers the earth. Who shall stay His hand, or sayunto Him, "What are
You doing?” His throne is founded in right and supported by might. You have
Justice and Truth to settle it, but you have Omnipotence and Wisdom to be its
guards, so that it cannotbe moved.
In addition to this, His throne is one from the powerof which none can escape.
The sapphire throne of God, at this moment, is revealedin Heaven where
adoring angels casttheir crowns before it. And its power is felt on earth,

where the works of creationpraise the Lord. Even those who do not
acknowledge the Divine government are compelled to feel it, for He does as He
wills, not only among the angels in Heaven, but among the inhabitants of this
lowerworld. Hell feels the terror of that throne. Those chains of fire, those
pangs unutterable, are the awful shadow of the throne of Deity. As God looks
down upon the lost, the torment that flashes through their souls darts from
His holiness which cannot endure their sins.
The influence of that throne, then, is found in every world where spirits dwell,
and in the realms of inanimate nature it bears rule. Every leafthat fades in
the tracklessforesttrembles at the Almighty’s bidding, and every coral insect
that dwells in the unfathomable depths of the sea feels and acknowledgesthe
Presence ofthe all-present King. So, then, my Brethren, if such is the throne
which John saw, see how impossible it will be for you to escape fromits
judgment when the greatday of assize shall be proclaimed, and the Judge
shall issue His summons bidding you appear. To where can the enemies of
God flee? If up to Heaven their high-flown impudence could carry them, His
right hand of holiness would hurl them from there, or, if under Hell’s most
profound wave they dive to seek a sheltering grave, His left hand would pluck
them out of the fire to expose them to the fiercerlight of His countenance!
Nowhere is there a refuge from the MostHigh. The morning beams cannot
convey the fugitive so swiftly as the almighty Pursuer could follow him.
Neither can the mysterious lightning flash, which annihilates time and space,
journey so rapidly as to escape His far-reaching hand. “If I mount up to
Heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in Hell, You are there.” It was said
of the Roman empire under the Caesarsthat the whole world was only one
greatprison for Caesar, forif any man offended the emperor it was
impossible for him to escape. If he crossedthe Alps, could not Caesarfind him
out in Gaul?
If he sought to hide himself in the Indies, even the swarthy monarchs there
knew the powerof the Roman armies, so that they would give no shelterto a
man who had incurred imperial vengeance.And yet, perhaps, a fugitive from
Rome might have prolongedhis miserable life by hiding in the dens and caves
of the earth. But oh, Sinner, there is no hiding from God! The mountains
cannot coveryou from Him! Even if they would, neither canthe rocks conceal
you. See, then, at the very outset, how this throne should awe our minds with
terror. Founded in right, sustained by might, and universal in its dominion,
look and see the throne which John of old beheld!
This, however, is but the beginning of the vision. The text tells us that it was a
“white throne,” and I would call your attention to that. “I saw a greatwhite

throne.” Why white? Does not this indicate its immaculate purity? There is no
other white throne, I fear, to be found. The throne of our own happy land, I
believe, is as white and as pure as any throne might well be on earth. But
there have been years, even in the annals of that throne, when it was stained
with blood and not many reigns back it was black with debauchery. Not
always was it the throne of excellence andpurity, and even now, though our
throne possessesa lustrous purity, rare enough among earthly thrones, yet in
the sight of God there must be in everything that is earthly something that is
impure, and therefore the throne is not white to Him.
As for many other thrones that are still existing, we know that with them all is
not white. This is neither the day nor the hour for us to call the princes to the
bar of God, but there are some of them who will have much to answerfor,
because in their schemes ofaggrandizement they took no accountof the blood
which would be shed or of the rights which would be violated. Principle
seldom moves the royal mind. The knavishlaw of policy is the basis of king-
craft–a policy worthy of highwaymen and burglars. And some kings are little.
On the continent of Europe there are not a few thrones which I might describe
as either black, or crimson, as I think of the turpitude of the conduct of the
monarch, or of the blood through which he has wadedhis way to dominion.
But this is a greatwhite throne, a throne of hallowedmonarchy that is not
stained with blood nor defiled with injustice. Why, then, is it white for purity?
Is it not because the King who sits on it is pure? Hark to the thrice sacred
hymn of the cherubic band and the seraphic choir, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord
God of Sabaoth.” Creatures who are perfectly spotless, themselves,
unceasinglyreverence and adore the yet superior holiness of the greatKing.
He is too greatto need to be unjust, and He is too goodto be unkind. This
King has done no wrong, and can do no wrong–andHe is the only King of
whom this can be said without fiction. He who sits on this white throne is
Himself the Essence ofholiness, justice, truth, and love. O fairestof all
Thrones!Who would not be a willing subject of your peerless government?
Moreover, the throne is pure because the law the Judge dispenses is perfect.
There is no fault in the statute Book of God. When the Lord shall come to
judge the earth, there will be found no decree that bears too harshly upon any
of His creatures. “The statutes ofthe Lord are right.” They are true and
righteous altogether. That Book ofthe TenCommands in which you find a
summary of the Divine will, who can improve it? Who can find anything in
excess in it, or point out anything that is wanting? “The Law of the Lord is
perfect, converting the soul,” and well may that be a white throne from which
there emanates sucha Law!

But you know that with a goodlaw and a goodlawgiver, yet sometimes the
throne may make mistakes, andit may be stainedby ignorance, if not by
willful injustice. But the sentence whichshall go forth from this great white
throne shall be so consistentwith justice that even the condemned culprit
himself must give his unwilling assentto it. “Theystood speechless,” itis said–
speechlessbecause theycould neither bear the sentence nor in any way
impugn it. It is a white throne since never was a verdict delivered from it of
which the culprit had a right to complain. Perhaps there are some here who
view this as a matter of hope, but to ungodly persons it will be the very
reverse.
Oh Sinner, if you had to be judged before an impure tribunal, you might,
perhaps, escape.If the King were not holy, unholiness might, perhaps, go
unpunished. If the law were not perfect, offenses might be condoned. Or if the
sentence were not just, you might, through partiality, escape.But where
everything is so pure and white–
“Careless sinner,
What will become of you?”
I have thought, too, that perhaps this throne is said to be a white throne to
indicate that it will be eminently conspicuous. You will have noticed that a
white object canbe seenfrom a very greatdistance. You may have observed,
perhaps, on the Welshmountains, a white cottage faraway, standing out
conspicuously. The Welsh like to make their cottagesintenselywhite, so that
though you would not have perceivedit, had it been left of a stone color, you
see it at once, for the bright whitewashedwalls catchyour eye. I suppose that
a marksman would prefer a white objectto aim at before almost any other
color.
And this greatwhite throne will be so conspicuous that all the millions who
were dead, but who shall rise at the sound of the last trumpet, shall all see it–
nor shall it be possible for a single eye to close itselfagainstthe sight! We must
see it–it shall be so striking a sight that none of us will be able to prevent its
coming before us. “Every eye shall see Him.” Possiblyit is called a white
throne because ofits being such a convincing contrastto all the colors of this
sinful human life. There stand the crowd, and there is the greatwhite throne.
What can make them see their blackness more thoroughly than to stand there
in contrastwith the perfections of the Law and the Judge before whom they
are standing? Perhaps that throne, all glistening, will reflect eachman’s
character. As eachunforgiven man shall look at that white throne, its dazzling
whiteness will overcome him and coverhim with confusion and with terror
when he sees his own defilement in contrastwith it.

“O God!” he says, “how can I bear to be judged by such a One as You are? I
could face the judgment seatof my fellows, forI could see imperfections in my
judges, but I cannotface You, You dread Supreme, for the awful whiteness of
Your throne, and the terrible splendor of Your holiness utterly overcome me!
Who am I, sinner as I am, that I should dare to stand before that greatwhite
throne!”
The next word that is used by way of adjective is “great.”It was a “great
white throne.” You scarcelyneed me to tell you that it is calleda greatwhite
throne because ofthe greatness ofHim who sits upon it. Speak of the
greatness ofSolomon? He was but a petty prince. Speak of the throne of the
Mogul or his CelestialMajestyof China, or of the thrones of Rome and
Greece before which multitudes of beings assembled? Theyare nothing–mere
representatives ofassociations ofthe grasshoppers ofthe world–who are as
nothing in the sight of the Lord Jehovah!A throne filled by a mortal is but a
shadow of dominion. This will be a greatthrone because onit will sit the great
God of earth, and Heaven, and Hell–the King eternal, immortal, invisible–
who shall judge the world in righteousness, andHis people with equity.
Brethren, you will see that this will be a “greatwhite throne” when we
remember the culprits who will be brought before it. Not a handful of
criminals, but millions upon millions, “multitudes, multitudes, in the Valley of
Decision.”And these not all of the lessersort–notserfs and slaves alone whose
miserable bodies restedfrom their oppressors in the silent grave–but the great
ones of the earth shall be there. Not alone the down-trod serf who toiled for
nothing, and felt it sweetto die, but his tyrant master who fattened on his
unrewarded toils shall be there!
Not alone the multitudes who marched to battle at their master’s bidding, and
who fell beneath the shot and the shell, but the emperors and kings who
planned the conflictshall be there! Crownedheads no greaterthan heads
uncrowned. Men who were demigods among their fellows shallmix with their
slaves, and be made as vile as they! What a marvelous procession!With what
awe the imagination of it strikes the heart! What a pompous appearing! Ah!
Ah! You downtrodden multitudes, the greatLeveler has put you all upon a
footing now! Deathlaid you in one equal grave, and now Judgment finds you
standing at one equal bar to receive the sentence of One who fears no king,
and dreads no tyrant–who has no respectof persons–butwho deals justice
alike to all!
Can you picture the sight? Land and sea are coveredwith the living who once
were dead! Hell is empty, and the grave has lostits victims! What a sight will
that be! Xerxes on his throne with a million marching before him must have

beheld a grand spectacle,but what will this be? No flaunting banner, but the
ensigns of eternal majesty! No gaudy courtiers, but assembledangels!No
sound of drum nor roar of cannon, but the blast of the archangel’s trumpet
and the harps of ten thousand times ten thousand holy ones!There will be
unrivalled splendor, it is true, but not that of heraldry and war! Mere tinsel
and gewgawshallhave all departed, and in their place there shall be the
splendor of the flashing lightning and the deep bass of the thunder. Jesus, the
Man of Sorrows, with all His angels with Him shall descend–the pomp of
Heaven being revealedamong the sons of men!
It will be a greatwhite throne because ofthe matters that will be tried there.
It will be no mere quarrel about a suit in Chancery, or an estate in jeopardy.
Our souls will have to be tried there! Our future, not for an age, not for one
single century, but foreverand forever! Upon those balances shall hang
Heaven and Hell–to the right shall be distributed triumph without end. To the
left destruction and confusion without a pause–andthe destiny of every man
and woman shall be positively declaredfrom that tremendous throne! Can
you perceive the greatness ofit? You must measure Heaven! You must fathom
Hell! You must compass eternity–and until you can do this you cannotknow
the greatnessofthis greatwhite throne!
Great, last of all, because throughout eternity there shall always be a looking
back to the transactions ofthat day. That day shall be unto you, you Saints,
“the beginning of days,” when He shall say, “Come, you blessedof My
Father.” And that day shall be to you who perish, the beginning of days, too.
Just as that famous night of old in Egypt, when the first-born were spared in
every house where the lamb had shed its blood was the first of days to Israel–
but to Egypt the night when the first-born felt the avenging angel’s swordwas
a dread beginning of nights forever. Many a mother reckonedfrom that night
when the Destroyercame, and so shall you reckonthroughout a dread
eternity from the day when you see this great white throne!
Turn not awayyour eyes from the magnificent spectacletill you have seenthe
glorious Personmentioned in the words, “And Him that sat on it.” I wonder
whether anything I have said has made you solemnly think of the greatday. I
am afraid I cannot speak so as to getat your hearts, and if not, I had better be
silent. But do now, for a moment, think upon Him who satupon the great
white throne. The most fitting One in all the world will sit upon that throne! It
will be God, but hearken, it will also be Man. “He shall judge the world by
this Man, Christ Jesus, according to my Gospel,” says the Apostle. The Judge
has to be God. Who but Godwere fit to judge so many, and to judge so
exactly? The throne is too greatfor any but for Him of whom it is written,

“Your throne, O God, is foreverand ever; a scepterof righteousness is Your
scepter.”
Christ Jesus, the Son of God, will judge, and He will judge as Man as well as
God. And how fitting it is that it should be so!As Man He knows our
infirmities. He understands our hearts, and we cannot objectto this, that our
Judge should be, Himself, like we are. Who better could judge righteous
judgment than One who is “bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh”? And
then, there is this fitness about it. He is not only God and Man, but He is the
Man, the Man of men! Of all men the most manly, the type and pattern of
manhood. He will be the test in His own Person, forif a man is like Christ,
that man is right. But if a man is otherwise than Christ-like, that man
deserves to be condemned. That wondrous Judge needs only look upon His
own Characterto read the Law and to review His own actions to discern
whether other men’s actions are right or wrong.
The thoughts of many hearts were revealedby Christ on earth, and that same
Christ shall make an open exhibition of men at the Last GreatDay. He shall
judge them. He shall discerntheir spirits. He shall find out the joints and the
marrow of their being–the thoughts and intents of the heart He shall lay bare.
Even you, Believer, will pass the test before Him! Let no man deceive you with
the delusion that you will not be judged–the sheepappearedbefore the great
dividing Shepherd as well as the goats–thosewho usedtheir talents were
calledto accountas well as he who buried his pound, and the disciples
themselves were warned that their idle words would bring them into
judgment.
Nor need you feara public trial. Innocence courts the light. You are not saved
by being allowedto be smuggled into Heaven untested and unproved, but you
will, in the righteousness ofJesus, pass the solemn test with joy! It may not be
at the same moment as the wickedthat the righteous shall be judged (I shall
not contend for particulars), but I am clearthat they will be judged, and that
the blood and righteousness ofJesus are provided for this very cause–that
they may find mercy of the Lord in that day.
O Sinner! It is far otherwise with you! Your ruin is sure when the testing time
comes!There will be no witnesses neededto convictyou, for the Judge knows
all. The Christ whom you despisedwill judge you! The Savior whose mercy
you trampled on–in the fountain of whose blood you would not wash, the
despisedand rejectedof men–it is He who shall judge righteous judgment to
you, and what will He say but this, “As for these, My enemies, who would not
that I should reign overthem, cut them in pieces before my eyes!”

II. I need a few minutes–and I have but too few left–to DRAW THE
INFERENCESWHICH FLOW FROM SUCH A SIGHT AS THIS–andso
turn the vision to practicalaccount. Believerin Christ, a word in your ear.
Can you see the greatwhite throne, and Him that sits upon it? I think I see it
now. Then let me searchmyself. Whatever professionI may make, I shall
have to face that greatwhite throne. I have passedthe elders. I have been
approved by the pastor. I stand acceptedby the Church. But that greatwhite
throne is not passedyet.
I have borne a reputable characteramong my fellow Christians. I have been
askedto pray in public and my prayers have been much admired, but I have
not yet been weighedin the last balances–andwhatif I should be found
wanting! Brother Christian, what about your private prayers? Can you live in
neglectof the closetand yet remember that your prayers will be tried before
the greatwhite throne? Is your Bible left unread in private? Is your religion
nothing but a public show and sham? Rememberthe greatwhite throne, for
mere pretense will not pass there!
Brother Christian, what about your heart and your treasure? Are you a mere
money-hunter? Do you live as others live? Is your delight in the fleeting
present? Do you have dealings with the throne of Heaven? Have you a stony
heart towards Divine things? Have you little love to Christ? Do you make an
empty profession, and nothing more? Oh, think of that great white throne,
that greatwhite throne! Why, there are some of you, who, when I preach a
stirring sermon, feel afraid to come againto hear me! Ah, but if you are afraid
of my voice, how will you bear His voice who shall speak in tones of thunder?
Do searching sermons seemto go through you like a blast of the north wind,
chilling your very marrow and curdling your blood? Oh, but what must it be
to stand before that dread tribunal? Are you doubting now? What will you do
then? Can you not beara little self-examination? How will you bear that God-
examination? If the scales ofearth tell you that you are lacking, what message
will the scales ofHeaven give you? I do warn you, fellow professors,speaking
to you as I desire to speak now to my own heart, “Examine yourselves,
whether you are in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know you not your own
selves how that Jesus Christ is in you, exceptyou be reprobates?”
Having spokena word to the Christian, I should like to say to every one of
you, in remembrance of this greatwhite throne, shun hypocrisy! Are you
tempted to be baptized though you are not a Believer, in order to please
parents and friends? Beware ofthat greatwhite throne, and think how your
insult to Godwill look at that Last GreatDay! Are you persuaded to put on
the cloak ofreligion because it will help your business, or make you seem

respectable? Beware, youhypocrite! Beware ofthat greatwhite throne, for of
all the terrors that shall come forth from it, there shall be none more severe
than those which shall scathe the mere professorwho made a professionof
religion for gain!
If you must be damned, be damned any way than as a hypocrite–for they
deserve the deepestHell who for gain make a professionofgodliness. The ruin
of By-Ends and Hypocrisy will be just, indeed. O you high-flying professors,
whose wings are fastenedon with wax, beware of the sun which will surely
pour its heat upon you, for fearful will be your fall from so greata height! But
there are some of you who say, “I do not make any professionof religion.”
Still my text has a word to you. Still I want you to judge your actions by that
Last GreatDay.
O Sir, how about that night of sin? “No,” yousay, “nevermind it. Bring it not
to my mind.” It shall be brought to your remembrance, and that deed of sin
shall be published far wider than upon the housetops, proclaimed to all the
multitudes who have ever lived since the first man, and your infamy shall
become a byword and a proverb among all createdbeings!What do you think
of this, you secretsinners? You lovers of wantonness and chambering? Ah,
young man, you have commencedby filching, but you will go on to be a
downright thief. It is known, Sir, and, “be sure your sin will find you out.”
Young woman, you have begun to dally with sin, and you think none has seen
you, but the most Mighty One has seenyour acts and heard your words–there
is no curtain betweenHim and your sin!
He sees you clearly, and what will you do with these sins of yours that you
think have been concealed?“It was many years ago,” youtell me. Yes, but
though buried these many years to you, they are all alive to Him, for
everything is present to the all-seeing God–andyour forgotten deeds shall one
day stand out presentto you, also. My Hearers, I implore you, do nothing
which you would not do if you thought God saw you, for He does see you! Oh,
look at your actions in the light of the judgment. Oh, that secrettippling of
yours–how will that look when Godreveals it? That private lust of yours
which nobody knows of–how would you dare to do it if you remembered that
God knows it?
Young man, it is a secret, a fearful secret, and you would not whisper it in
anyone’s ear–but it shall be whispered–no, it shall be thundered out before the
world! I pray you, Friend, think of this! There is an Observerwho takes notes
of all that we do and will publish all to an assembleduniverse. And as for us
all, are we ready to meet that Last Great Day? I had many things to sayto
you, but I cannot keepyou to saythem now, lest you grow weary. But if

tonight the trumpet should be sounded, what would be your state of mind?
Suppose that now every ear in this place should be startled with a blast most
loud and dread, and a voice were heard–
“Come to judgment,
Come to judgment, come away”?
Supposing some of you could hide in the vaults and in the foundations, would
not many of you rush to the concealment? How few of us might go down these
aisles walking steadilyinto the open air and saying, “I am not afraid of
judgment, for ‘there is therefore now no condemnationto them that are in
Christ Jesus.’”
Brothers and Sisters, I hope there are some of us who could go gladly to that
judgment seat, even if we had to traverse the jaws of death to reachit. I hope
there are some of us who can sing in our hearts–
“Boldshall I stand in that greatday
For who anything to my charge shalllay?
While, through Your blood, absolvedI am
From sin’s tremendous curse and blame.”
It might put many of us much about to saythat. It is easyto speak of full
assurance, but, believe me, it is not quite so easyto have it in earnestin trying
times. If some of you get the finger-ache your confidence oozes out at your
joints, and if you have but a little sickness youthink, “Ah, it may be cholera,
what shall I do?” If you cannot bear to die, how, then, will you bear to live
forever?
Could you not look Deathin the face without a shudder–then how will you
endure the Judgment? Could you gaze upon Death, and feel that he is your
friend and not your foe? Could you put a skull upon your dressing table, and
commune with it as your memento moni? Oh, it may well take the bravest of
you to do this, and the only sure way is to come as we are to Jesus, with no
righteousness ofour own to trust to, but finding all in Him! When William
Careywas about to die, he ordered to have put upon his tombstone this verse–
“A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,
On Christ’s kind arms I fall.
He is my strength, my righteousness,
My Jesus, andmy All.”
I would like to wake up in eternity with such a verse as that in my mind, as I
wish to go to sleepin this world withsuch a hope as that in my heart–

“Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the Cross I cling.”
Ah, I am talking about what some of us will know more of, perhaps, before
this week is over! I am speaking nowuponthemes which you think are a long
way off, but a moment may bring them near. A thousand years is a long time,
but how soonit flies! One almostseems, in reading English history, to go back
and shake hands with William the Conqueror–a few lives soonbring us even
to the flood. You who are getting on to be forty years old, and especiallyyou
who are sixty or seventy, must feel how fast time flies. I only seemto preach a
sermon one Sunday in time to getready for the next.
Time flies with such a whirl that no express train can overtake it, and even the
lightning flash seems to lag behind it. We shall soonbe at the greatwhite
throne! We shall soonbe at the judgment bar of God. Oh, let us be making
ready for it! Let us not live so much in this present, which is but a dream–an
empty show–but let us live in the real, substantialfuture. Oh that I could
reachsome heart here tonight! I have a notion that I am speaking to someone
here who will not have another warning. I am sure that with such throngs as
crowdhere Sunday after Sunday, I never preach to the same congregation
twice. There are always some here who are dead betweenone Sunday and
another. Out of such masses as these it must be so according to the ordinary
computation.
Who among you will it be who will die this week? Oh, ponder the question
well! Who among you will dwell with the devouring flames? Who among you
will abide with everlasting burnings? If I knew you I would gladly bedew you
with tears!If I knew you who are to die this week, I would gladly come and
kneeldown at your side and implore you to think of eternalthings. But I do
not know you, and therefore, by the living God I do implore you all to fly to
Jesus by faith! These are no trifles, Sirs, are they? If they are, I am but a sorry
trifler, and you may go your ways and laugh at me! But if they are true and
real, it becomes me to be in earnest, and much more does it become you to be
in earnest.
“Prepare to meet your God!” He comes!Prepare now! “Now is the accepted
time. Now is the day of salvation!” The gates ofmercy are not closed!Your sin
is not unpardonable! You may yet find mercy! Christ invites you. His blood
drops cry to you–
“Come and welcome,
Come and welcome,
Sinner, come.”

Oh, may the Holy Spirit put life into these poor words of mine, and may the
Lord help you to come now! The way to come, you know, is just to trust in
Christ. It is all done when you trust in Christ! Throw yourselves right on Him,
having nothing else to trust to. See now, my whole weightleans on the front of
this platform. Should this rail give way, I fall. Lean on Christ just in that
way–
“Venture on Him, venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude.”
If you can geta grip of the Cross, and stand there beneath the crimson canopy
of the Atonement, God Himself cannot smite you, and the Last GreatDay
shall dawn upon you with splendor and delight, and not with gloomand
terror. I must send you away, but not until all Believers presenthave given
you an invitation to return to the Lord Jesus. To do this we will sing the
following verses–
“Return, O wanderer, to your home.
Your Father calls for you!
No longer now an exile roam
In guilt and misery,
Return, return!
Return, O wanderer, to your home,
‘Tis Jesus calls foryou!
The Spirit and the bride say,
Come!
Oh now for refuge flee;
Return, return.
Return, O wanderer, to your home,
'Tis madness to delay!
There are no pardons in the tomb,
And brief is mercy’s day.
Return! Return!”
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Final Judgment

Revelation20:11-15
S. Conway
Stripped of its imagery, this most solemn Scripture declares to us the
truth which is found in records manifold. Those of the Bible. The
confirmatory passagesare everywhere throughout its pages, and
especiallyin those which record the very words of Christ. The most
dreadful things in the Bible fell from his lips. Those of the traditions of
ancient and heathen peoples. Everywhere we find, as especiallyin
Egypt, creeds which declare a final and awful judgment. Those of
conscience. Theytell of "a fearful looking for of judgment." Read
'Macbeth,'and whereverany greatwriters have drawn true
portraitures of men, the witness of conscience maybe heard in them all.
The imagery here is takenfrom the tribunals, and the procedure in
them, with which the age of St. John was familiar - the augustand awe
inspiring paraphernalia of justice, the magnificent and elevatedthrone
of the judge, the giving of the evidence, and the sentence. But
underlying all this metaphor are such truths as these -
I. THAT DEATH DOES NOT END ALL. This greattransactiontakes
place when life is over, when this world is done with. Men, therefore,
live on after death, or else they could not appear at this judgment bar.
And that men do thus continue to live in their true real self, there is
much evidence, beside that of Scripture, to show. The ancientGreeks
disputed whether the relation of the soul to the body was that of
harmony to the harp, or that of the rowerto the boat. If the former,
then, if you destroy the harp, you destroy the harmony it gave forth;
and so, if you destroythe body, you destroy the soul too, and death does
end all. But if the second, then the boat may sink or go to pieces, but the
rowerlives on still. And so is it with the soul. The body - its boat - may
sink into the depths of the grave, but the soul sinks not with it. Professor
Huxley has affirmed that "life is the cause oforganization, and not
organizationthe cause oflife;" and Tyndall has shownthat dead matter
cannot produce life. Life, therefore, must exist prior to and independent
of matter, and therefore canexist after the material organizationwhich
it for a while animated has decayed. We are the same self conscious
beings in old age as we were when in childhood, though our bodies have
changedover and over againmeanwhile. Death, then, does not end all;
we live on, and so one demand of the doctrine of final judgment is met.
II. THAT THERE SHOULD BE RECORDSUPON WHICH THE
JUDGMENT SHALL PROCEED.Theyare spokenof in this Scripture

(ver. 12) as "books." "And another book, which is the book of life." The
books containbiographies, and therefore are voluminous. The "other
book" contains but names, and therefore is but one. No biography is
needed; nought but the fact that they believed in Jesus. Butwhat is
meant by the "books"?Simply that there are records of the soul's life,
which will be opened and read in the greatjudgment day. They are
found:
1. In the souls of others. In the characterwe have helped to impress
upon them. There is no one but what has written down evidence about
himself on the souls of others. If we have helped them heavenward, that
is there; if we have urged them hellward, that is there.
2. But chiefly in our own souls. We are always writing such record, and
it may be read even now in the body, in the countenance, in the very
way we bear ourselves before our fellow men. Charactercanbe read
now. It comes out at the eyes, in the look, the aspect, is heard in the tone
of voice. But much more helps to concealit. The restraints of society, the
regard to the opinion of others, make men reticent and reservedand full
of concealmentof their real selves. Butin the spiritual body it is
altogetherprobable that the essenceofthe man will be far more visible -
may, in fact, be, as many have thought, the creatorof its body, so that
"every seed" shallhave "its own body." But on the soul itself its record
will be read. Many a man can trace yet the scarof a wound, and that
not a severe one, which he receivedthirty, forty, fifty, years and more
ago. The ever changing body will so hold its record. And there are scars
of the soul. Wounds inflicted on it will abide and be visible so long as the
soul lasts. Like the undeveloped plate of the photographer, a mere
blurred surface until he plunges it into the bath, and then the image
comes out clearly; so our souls are now illegible and their record
indistinct, but when plunged into the bath of eternity, then what has
been impressed thereonwill be distinct and clear. Then the image of
"the deeds done in the body" will come out with startling but unerring
accuracy. If man can find out means, as he has found, so to registerthe
words and tones of a speakerthatthey can be reproduced years after,
and wheneverit is desired, is there not in that discoveryof science a
solemn suggestionthat all our "idle" and worse "words"may be
recordedsomewhere, and be heard againwhen we thought they were
forgottenforever? Yes, there are records. And -
III. A JUDGMENT. "Itis appointed unto men once to die, and after
death the judgment." "And they were judged every man," etc. (ver. 13).

What do these Scriptures mean? Now, the Greek word for "judgment"
is "crisis;" that is the Greek word, simply, in Englishletters. But what is
more is that our word "crisis" does more accuratelysetforth the
meaning of "judgment" than what is commonly understood thereby.
When we speak ofa "crisis," we mean a turning point, a decisive
settling as to the course which affairs will take. That is a crisis. But
when we speak of"judgment," the imagery of these verses rise up
before our minds, and we think of an external judge, and a sentence
that he passes upon us. Judgment, however, often takes place. How
common it is to hear it saidof a man who has passedthrough some
greatexperience, "He has never been the same man since"!Greattrials,
disappointments, distresses ofany kind, and greatsuccesses andwealth
also, actas crises, turning points, judgments, to a man. They actlike the
watershedof a district, which determines which way the streams shall
flow; so these greatcrises ofa man's life turn this way or that the moral
and spiritual dispositions which dwell in him. They do much to settle
him in a fixed habit of character, forgoodor ill, as the case may be.
How much more, then, after "death" must there be "judgment"! Then,
freed from all the restraints of life, from all that hindered the
manifestation of what he really was, his nature now gravitates towards
that side of spiritual characterto which it has long been leaning, but
from which it has hitherto been held back. It takes up its position
according to its nature. If evil, with the evil; if good, with the good - for
in this case his name is found "written in the book of life." It is ill for us
to put off the idea of judgment until some far distant day, amid some
unwonted scenes. God's judgments are continually taking place, and
every thought, act, and word is helping to determine to which side,
whether to the right hand or to the left, our souls shall go.
IV. THE SENTENCE. Ithas been said that this judgment told of here is
of the ungodly only, and that the book of life is mentioned only for the
sake ofshowing "that their names are not there." We cannot think this.
Nothing is said about the sentence ofany, only the final fate of the
ungodly. "The lake of fire," the "oven of fire" (Matthew 13.), and
similar expressions, are metaphors takenfrom the barbarous
punishments of that age. To eastmen alive into fire was a fearful but
not unusual punishment. Hence it is takenbecause of its fearfulness as a
figure of the final fate of the ungodly. Evil charactersuch as that into
which they have settled is like a raging fire, and the blindness of heart
and mind which attends such characteris like "the blackness of

darkness" itself. We may see men in hell today when filled with the fury
of rage and passion;and, blessedbe God, we may see others in heaven
because filled with the peace ofGod. Heavenor hell is, in greatdegree,
in a man ere ever he enters either the one or the other. They are in us
before we are in them, and the judgment is but eachman's going to his
own place. What solemn confirmation, then, do such Scriptures as that
before us receive from observedfacts and experiences ofmen in this
life! What urgency, therefore, do they lend to the exhortation, "Commit
thy wayunto the Lord"! And how prompt should be our resolve to
entrust the keeping of our souls unto Christ, so that in the great
judgment after death they may go with Christ and his saints into eternal
life! "Jesus,by thy wounds we pray, help now that our names may be
written in the book of life" (Hengstenberg). - S.C.
Biblical Illustrator
I saw a greatwhite throne.
Revelation20:11-15
The age of retribution
D. Thomas, D. D.
I. THIS RETRIBUTIVE PERIOD WILL DAWN WITH
OVERPOWERING SPLENDOUR UPON THE WORLD.
1. The characterof this manifestation. A "throne" is an emblem of
glory. This is a "white throne." There is not a single stain upon it. It is a
"greatwhite throne." Great in its occupant: He filleth all in all. Great in

its influence: toward it the eyes of all intelligences are directed; to it all
beings are amenable; from it all laws that determine the characterand
regulate the destiny of all creatures, proceed.
2. The effect of this manifestation. Before its refulgence this material
universe could not stand: it melted — vanished away. It will pass away,
perhaps, as the orbs of night pass awayin the high noontide of the sun:
they are still in being, still in their orbits, and still move on as ever; but
they are lost to us by reasonof a "glorythat excelleth."
II. THIS RETRIBUTIVE PERIOD WILL WITNESS THE
RESURRECTIONOF THE DEAD AND THE CONSEQUENT
DESTRUCTION OF HADES AND THE GRAVE.
1. In the resurrectionthere will be a connectionbetweenman's raised
and man's mortal body.
(1)The one rises out of the other.
(2)The one retains the same plan, or outline, as the other.
(3)The one fulfils the same functions as the other.
2. The resurrection will be co-extensive with the mortality of mankind.
Not an infant too young, nor a patriarch too old. Tyrants and their
slaves, sages andtheir pupils, ministers and their people — all will
appear.
III. THIS RETRIBUTIVE PERIOD WILL BRING HUMANITY INTO
CONSCIOUS CONTACTWITHGOD.
1. There will be no atheismafter this.
2. No deism.
3. No indifferentism.
IV. THIS RETRIBUTIVE PERIOD WILL SETTLE FOR EVER THE
QUESTION OF EVERY MAN'S CHARACTER AND DESTINY.
1. The worth of a man's characterwill be determined by his works.
2. A man's works will be determined by recognisedauthorities. God's
moral and remedial laws are "books,"andthey will now be opened —
to memory, to conscience, andto the universe.
3. According to the correspondence,ornon-correspondence, ofman's
works with these recognisedauthorities will be his final destiny.
(D. Thomas, D. D.)

The greatwhite throne
H. Bonar, D. D.
I. A THRONE. Yes, a royal seat, a seatof judgment, the seatof the
greatKing and Judge of all.
II. A GREAT THRONE. All earth's thrones have been little, even the
greatest — Nebuchadnezzar, or Alexander, or Caesar, orNapoleon;but
this is "great";greaterthan the greatest;none like it in magnificence.
III. A WHITE THRONE. White is purity, truth, justice, calmness. Such
is the throne to be — unsoiled, untainted, incorruptible; no one-
sidedness nor imperfection; no bribery nor favour there. All is "white"
— transparent and spotless perfection.
IV. ONE SEATED ON IT. It was not empty or unoccupied, nor filled by
a usurper, or by one who could not wield the powerrequired for
executing its decrees. Godwas seatedthere; that very God before whose
face heaven and earth flee away; that God whose presence melts the
mountains, and made Sinai to shake (Psalm102:26;Isaiah36:4; Isaiah
2:6; Jeremiah4:23, 26;Revelation6:14; Revelation16:20). How terrible
to stand unready before such a Judge and such a throne! All justice, all
perfection, all holiness! Who can abide His appearing? But besides the
Judge and the throne, there are the millions to be judged.
(H. Bonar, D. D.)
Bp. R. Bickersteth.
I. WHEN ONCE THE GREAT WHITE THRONE IS ERECTED,ALL
DISTINCTIONSOF THIS LIFE WILL HAVE BEEN FOR EVER
ABOLISHED. We often marvel at the contrastexhibited in the present
life, betweenthe circumstances orconditions in which mankind are
placed. From the extreme of affluence to the extreme of destitution
there are endless varieties of condition, yet, in certain respects, allare
equal; the noble and the mean; the richestand the poorest. Surely it
ought to make the wealthy set loose to their riches, and the poor think
lightly of their poverty, when it is remembered how soonthe small and
the greatwill stand alike before God, to be judged according, not to
their respective conditions on earth, but eachaccording to his works.

II. The next feature which calls for notice is THE OPENING OF THE
BOOKS. The idea is that of a faithful registerto be brought forward
hereafter, to decide the everlasting portion. Thus, when we hear of the
books to be opened at the judgment, and of men being judged out of
those things which are written in the books, we are, in effect, reminded
that the actions which we day by day commit, the very words we speak
and the thoughts we indulge, contribute the materials for a final
reckoning, upon the issue of which will be suspendedeternal joy or
eternal shame. This regardto the inevitable connectionbetweenconduct
in this life and our portion in eternity, would serve alike to restrain
from iniquity and impel to obedience.
III. It must not be overlooked, however, thatwhile mention is made of
books — of severalvolumes of account — out of which the dead will be
judged, ALLUSION IS MADE TO BUT ONE BOOK OF LIFE,
containing the names of those who would be saved. Possiblyan
intimation is hereby conveyed as to the comparative fewness ofthe
saved. Yet another interpretation of the difference is, that, whereas
there are many different methods by which men may go to perdition,
there is but one wayof life. It is not alone the heathen, who never heard
of a Redeemer;nor the infidel, who professedto disbelieve the existence
of God or a revelation; nor the heretic, who corrupted the truth and
turned the grace of God into lasciviousness;not alone the scoffer, the
profligate, the profane, who will be excluded from heaven;but the
impenitent, the unbelieving, the unconverted, the ungodly — all who
have refused to lay hold of the salvation which is offered in the gospel.
III. THE DEAD, UNIVERSALLY, ARE SAID TO BE JUDGED
ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS. This accords with the
representationgiven in other parts of the Bible. The reward is of grace;
the judgment is according to things done in the body.
IV. THE ISSUE OF THE JUDGMENT, AS DESCRIBEDIN THE
CLOSING VERSE OF THE CHAPTER. No soonerhas the evangelist
spokenof the judgment itself, than he tells us of the extinction,
thenceforward, of death and of hell. There will be no more slumber in
the grave. Up to this period the wickedwill nat have entered upon the
full consummation of misery. The soul is not the man. The soul, in union
with the body, constitutes the nature, which Christ redeemed, and
which must, hereafter, partake of punishment or reward. Hence the
complete wretchedness willnot overtake the wickedtill the final
abolition of death and the grave. "Whosoeverwas not found written in

the book of life, was castinto the lake of fire." This will be the
consummation of the ruin of the ungodly. From this doom there will be
no appeal; from this sentence no reprieve. We can be earnestfor time;
who, comparatively, is earnestfor eternity? The book is still open.
Christ is willing to write your name there.
(Bp. R. Bickersteth.)
C. H. Spurgeon.
I. WHAT JOHN SAW. When the eagle-eyedseerofPatmos, being in
the Spirit, lookedaloftinto the heavens, he saw a throne, from which I
gather there is a throne of moral government over the sons of men, and
that He who sits upon it presides over all the inhabitants of this world.
There is a lawgiverwho looks downand spies every actionof man, and
who does not suffer one single word or deed to be omitted from His
note-book. Now we know that this moral governoris God Himself, who
has an undisputed right to reign and rule. Some thrones have no right to
be, and to revolt from them is patriotism; but the best lover of his race
delights the most in the monarchy of heaven. In addition to this, His
throne is one from the powerof which none can escape.The sapphire
throne of God, at this moment, is revealedin heaven, where adoring
angels casttheir crowns before it; and its poweris felt on earth, where
the works ofcreationpraise the Lord. Even those who acknowledgenot
the Divine government are compelledto feelit, for He doeth as He wills,
not only among the angels in heaven, but among the inhabitants of this
lowerworld. See, then, at the very outsethow this throne should awe
our minds with terror. Founded in right, sustained by might, and
universal in its dominion, look ye and see the throne which John of old
beheld. This, however, is but the beginning of the vision. The text tells
us that it was a "white throne." Does not this indicate its immaculate
purity? There is no other white throne, I fear, to be found. Why, then, is
it white for purity? Is it not because the King who sits on it is pure?
Hark to the thrice sacredhymn of the cherubic band and the seraphic
choir, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth." Creatures who are
perfectly spotless themselves unceasinglyadore the yet superior holiness
of the greatKing. Oh fairest of all thrones I who would not be a willing
subject of Thy peerless government? Moreover, the throne is pure,
because the law the Judge dispenses is perfect. There is no fault in the

statute-book of God. When the Lord shall come to judge the earth, there
will be found no decree that bears too hardly upon any one of His
creatures. "The statutes ofthe Lord are right"; they are true and
righteous altogether. I have thought, too, that perhaps this throne is said
to be a white throne to indicate that it will be eminently conspicuous.
You will have noticedthat a white object can be seenfrom a very great
distance. We must see it; it shall be so striking a sight that none of us
will be able to prevent its coming before us; "every eye shall see Him."
Possiblyit is called a white throne because of its being such a convincing
contrastto all the colours of this sinful human life. There stand the
crowd, and there is the great white throne. What canmake them see
their blackness more thoroughly than to stand there in contrastwith the
perfections of the law and the Judge before whom they are standing?
Perhaps that throne, all glistening, will reflect eachman's character.
The next word that is used by way of adjective is "great." Itwas a
"greatwhite throne." You scarcelyneedme to tell you that it is called a
greatwhite throne because ofthe greatnessofHim who sits upon it.
Speak of the greatness ofSolomon? He was but a petty prince. Speak of
the thrones of Rome and Greece before whichmultitudes of beings
assembled? Theyare nothing, mere representatives of associations of
the grasshoppersofthe world, who are as nothing in the sight of the
Lord Jehovah. A throne filled by a mortal is but a shadow of dominion.
This will be a greatthrone because onit will sit the greatGod of earth
and heavenand hell, the King eternal, immortal, invisible, who shall
judge the world in righteousness, andHis people with equity. You will
see that this will be a "greatwhite throne" when we remember the
culprits who will be brought before it; not a handful of criminals, but
millions upon millions; and these not all of the lessersort, not serfs and
slaves alone whose miserable bodies rested from their oppressors in the
silent grave; but the greatones of the earth shall be there; not one
missing. It will be a greatwhite throne, because of the matters that will
be tried there. It will be no mere quarrel about a suit in Chancery, or an
estate in jeopardy. Our souls will have to be tried there; our future, not
for an age, not for one single century, but for ever and for ever. Turn
not awayyour eyes from the magnificent spectacle till you have seenthe
glorious Personmentioned in the words, "And Him that sat on it." The
most fitting One in all the world will sit upon that throne. It will be God,
but hearken, it will also be man. The Christ whom you despised will
judge you, the Saviour whose mercy you trampled on — it is He who
shall judge righteous judgment to you, and what will He saybut this —

"As for these Mine enemies, who would not that I should reign over
them, cut them in pieces before My eyes!"
II. THE INFERENCESWHICH FLOW FROM SUCH A SIGHT AS
THIS.
1. Let me searchmyself.
2. Having spokena word to the Christian, I should like to sayto every
one of you, in remembrance of this greatwhite throne shun hypocrisy.
3. But there are some of you who say, "I do not make any professionof
religion." Still my text has a word to you. Still I want you to judge your
actions by that last greatday. Oh sir, how about that night of sin? "No,"
say you, "never mind it; bring it not to my remembrance." It shall be
brought to thy remembrance, and that deed of sin shall be published far
wider than upon the house-tops.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
H. Batchelor.
I. THE SUPREME TRIBUNAL:"A greatwhite throne." It is a new
wonder. St. John saw other thrones in more than one apocalyptic
disclosure, but none like this. It is unique and transcendent. It is
"great." It represents Divine majesty. It is "white." Its intolerable
splendour is without a stain. It is not a throne of grace. To it no
penitents are welcomed. None couldbow before it. No elemencyis
published and no forgiveness dispensed. It is the supreme and final
tribunal. From the decisions ofthis bar there is no appeal. The
sentences ofthe King are irreversible.
II. THE INTOLERABLE PURITY OF THE JUDGE:"Him that saton
it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away." Descriptions
may be indefinite from the lack of graphic ability in the narrator, or
from the impossibility of seizing and reporting the transcendentand
stupendous objects which he has to record. Nota single minute
particular is given in St. John's outline of the dread vision. All that we
are told of the throne is, that it is vast, and dazzling in its whiteness.
"Him that sat upon" the throne; but not a syllable is there about that
sight. Of that face — its majesty, brightness, terror — St. John could
utter nothing; but he has recordedwhat followedits unveiling. Earth
and heaven, as conscious and guilty things, fled away — just as the stars

retreat and disappear when the sun darts forth at break of day, or
rather as tow and gossamerfly and vanish when touched by the flame.
The face from which all nature shrank into instantaneous invisibility,
and could discoverno space to hide in, was incapable of description.
III. THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE DREAD ASSIZE: "I Saw the
dead, small and great, stand before God." Earth and heaven were
permitted to vanish from the face, the splendour and purity of which
they could not endure. Not so men. The guiltiest, though the heart
shrink, must encounter the sight and hear the sentence. St. John "saw
the earth and heavenfly"; but "the dead, small and great, stand," stand
"before the throne," and awaittheir doom.
IV. THE IMPARTIALITY OF THE SOLEMN AWARDS. The
prominent truth in the vision is, He will "judge the people righteously."
"According to their works," as goodorevil, holy or unholy, the
sentence will be given. Faith ""n the blood of atonement, without a life
of reverence, virtue, love of God, self-sacrifice,and Christ-like
nobleness, is the pretence of hypocrites and traitors. "According to their
works," St. John saw "everyman judged."
V. GREAT AND APPROACHING CHANGES IN THE SEEN AND
UNSEEN WORLDS:"And death and Hades were castinto the lake of
fire." We cannot understand this statementwithout recalling the
peculiarities of our present life. To the righteous now there exist the
earth and the unseenheaven. After the judgment the distinction
betweenthe earth where we are and heaven where God is, will be
abolished. The earth and the visible skies are to depart; the unseen
heaven will alone remain. Resembling changes awaitthe wicked. The
bodies of the unrighteous are in the graves of this planet. Their souls are
in Hades awaiting judgment. The scene ofretribution is a future and
unseen world. After judgment, the earth and the grave will be Be more.
Hades — the unseen world of spirits — will be similarly abrogated.
Deathand Hades, and all which they represent, will merge in
retribution, of which the lake of fire is the symbol.
(H. Batchelor.)
S. Coley.

"I saw a throne." There is a throne now, but men do not see it. There is
a real government now, but it will be a visible one then. You know the
sceptic has doubts, because he cannotsee. He says, "Where is God, and
whom is the throne? I have never seenit." Did you ever see the throne
of England? I never did — but you know there is one; you know there is
a government. I never saw the Queen, and I dare say many of you have
not seenher, but you know there is a Queen. I never saw the great King,
but He is here. He reigns; and by and by His throne will become visible,
and faith and doubt will be lost in sight, and the believer will say, "It is
He"; and the infidel will say, "It is He"; and there will be no more
doubting and no more believing — it will be sight. "I saw a throne." It
is calleda "great" throne. "I saw a greatwhite throne." Now, of all the
seats in the world, I believe thrones are the filthiest. I believe the throne
of England to be one of the purest in the world; but that throne has
oftentimes been stainedwith the blood that tyrants have shed. But that
is the "greatwhite throne." Many a time darkness has dimmed it
round, for "clouds and darkness are round about him"; it has been
veiled in mystery; but behind the cloud it was a white throne — a
throne that never was tarnished by injustice, and that never was defiled
by wrong-doing. The infidel and the doubter have often had hard
thoughts of God; but when the throne is setit will be seento be without
a stain. "I saw a greatwhite throne, and Him that saton it." It is the
Man of Calvary; it is the Babe of Bethlehem— but, oh, how changed!
See His eyes piercing and flashing — pictures of His penetrating
wisdom. See His feet that have the glow of the furnace, that outshine the
sun in its glory. And then hear His voice. It is louder than the choruses
of mature. It is "as the voice of many waters." And as He says, "Rise, ye
dead." they come forth at His bidding. Oh, when that day comes, may
you find that the blessedOne who sits upon the throne is your friend. A
minister was one day travelling with a young spark, a scepticalfellow;
and as the manner of such men is, and probably liking a little to annoy
the personwith whom he was travelling, he said, among other things,
"Talk about the Bible being an inspired book! why, I tell you, those
books of the old pagans were far better; it is not fit to be named in the
same day of the week with Homer." "Well," said the minister, calmly,
"since you seemto be so greatan admirer of Homer, would you give me
a specimen— some favourite passagefrom your beloved author?" "In
a minute," said the young man, "I will"; and very readily he pointed to
what he thought a fair specimenof the sublimity and power of Homer,
where he speaks in these words — "Jove frownedand darkenedhalf the

sky." "Now, there, sir," said he, "just think of the sublimity of that
figure — the very frown of the god darkened half the face of nature." "I
grant," said he, "you have selectedwith very goodtaste;but before you
venture to pit your favourite author againstthe inspired Word of God,
read it a little more. What do you say to this: 'I saw a greatwhite
throne, and Him that satupon it, from whose face the earth and the
heaven fled away.'" How much less sublime what you have repeated
from Homer is than that? The young man was silent. I hope he learned
never again to pit any book againstthe Book of God. "And the sea gave
up the dead which were in it." Now, those of you that are at all
acquainted with the opinions of the people that lived when the Apostle
John wrote, will know that it was thought among the most impossible of
things that anybody should ever be recoveredthat was lostin the
waters. Hence, in the Odysseyyou will find that when Ulysses was in
peril of drowning he moaned that he had not fallen in the fight before
the walls of Troy, for he speaksofhimself as sinking in the waters, and
so being for ever dead. And it was a great opinion that all who had not
sepulchral rites could never have peace or happiness after; the body
they never dreamed could rise, but even the spirit they thought was
destroyed. Blessedbe God, we have a better view than that. How many
of the bravest of Britain's sons and the fairest of her daughters have
gone forth and have gone down with the storm for their requiem, the
wreck for their coffin, and the waters for their winding-sheet. There
they are. Though you do not know where they are lying, Jesus knows;
and when the lasttrump is heard they will come forth. And not only so,
but "deathand hell shall give up the dead that are in them." This is a
noble personification. Deathand hell are the twin giants that rule the
grave and the spirit-world. What a blessedthing it is that both will be
conquered! When the trumpet is blown, the dust in the charnel will
begin to stir and creepand quiver, and bone will come to his bone, and
the frame will be built up again. And when the trumpet is blown, it will
be heard in the highestheaven, and the blessedspirits will come down,
and it will be heard in the deepestpit, and the lost souls will come up,
and there, by some wondrous appointment, body and soulwill be
remarried never to be divorced for ever. "And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God." I saw them — small and great — the man of
wealth and the man of rank, the prince and the man of poverty. What a
mighty host will that be! You and I will be among the number. Then
there is another thing. "The books were opened." Now whatare these
books?

1. First of all, there will be the books ofGod's requirements. Where are
these books? There are many. First, God's requirements as they are
written in nature. The poor pagan has had that book, that book whose
syllables are constellations andwhose letters are stars. The firmament
has declaredthe being and power of God, and the dew of heaven and
the flowers of nature have shown His goodness. There is enough in
nature to make a man feel after God, if haply he may find Him; and the
heathen have had that.
2. Then there will also be that book of moral consciencewhich Godputs
into a man; and He has written something on the page of every heart.
You may, if you like, try to be irresponsible, but there is something
within that won't let you feellike that. When Pericles once keptone of
his friends waiting, when at last he got in he said, "Pericles, why was I
kept waiting so long?" He said, "I was preparing the accounts for the
citizens." "Why take so much trouble?" said his friend; "why not
declare yourself irresponsible?" Well, now, that is just what many silly
infidels of this day say. They cannot gettheir accounts quite clearfor
the throne, but I tell you what they do — they declare that they are not
responsible, that they are conquered by circumstances, andcannot help
whateverthey may be. Will that do? God will open the book of
conscience, andHe will judge you, and your own conscience willattest
that God is true.
3. Well, then, there is the book of inspiration. Every sceptic in this land
will be judged by this book. Your not believing it is no reason;if you do
not believe it, you ought.
4. Well, the book of God's providence will be opened, and God will be
justified in that day. You know sometimes His providence seems dark,
and we are sometimes inclined to grumble, and say this is wrong and
that is wrong; but when that day comes, it will all be open, and we shall
say, "It is all right," and even the sinner will be obliged to bow his head
and say, "It is all just."
5. And there is another book — the book of God's remembrance. It is a
beautiful figure that represents the Divine knowledge as the book of
God's remembrance. That book will be opened, and your very secret
sins will all be there.
6. Ay, and then the book of memory will be opened. There are some
strange facts that now and then transpire with respectto human
memory. I do not believe when a thing has once been in your mind you

ever really lose it again. I cannotunderstand it at all, but I could tell you
fact after factabout it. I remember coming home from an appointment
one very dark night, and there came on a storm, and by and by the
lightning flashed out, and for an infinitesimal portion of time I could see
everything. There I saw the church steeple, whichmight be a mile off, as
plainly as could be, and the whole of the landscape, in that infinitesimal
portion of time. Have you never had it like that in your memory? I
believe there is a key somewhere thatwould unlock everything you ever
did, and bring it up before your mind. Now, when the books are opened,
the book of memory will be opened, and there will come flashing up
pictures of all sorts of things you did; and I tell you, if you do not get sin
washedawayby the blood of Christ, there is nothing for you but
horrors — horrors for ever.
(S. Coley.)
I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God
The lastjudgment
R. W. Hamilton, D. D.
When Massillonpronounced one of those discourses whichhave placed
him in the first class of orators, he found himself surrounded by the
trappings and pageants of a royal funeral. The temple was not only
hung with sable, but shadowedwith darkness, save the few twinkling
lights of the altar. The beauty and the chivalry of the land were spread
out before him. There satMajesty, clothed in sackclothand sunk in
grief. All felt in common, and as one. A sense of the indescribable
nothingness of man "at his best estate," ofthe meanness of the highest
human grandeur, now made plain in the spectacleofthat hearsed
mortal, overcame him. His eye once more closed;his actionwas
suspended; and, in a scarcelyaudible whisper, he broke the long-drawn
pause — "There is nothing great, but God." I take the sublimely
affecting sentence and mould it to the present theme — There is nothing
solemn but judgment. The thunderstorm is solemn: when the lightnings,
"as arrows, shootabroad." But what is it to that far-resounding crash,
louder than the roar and bellow of ten thousand thunders, which shall
pierce the deepestcharnels, and which all the dead shall hear? The
ocean-tempestis solemn: when those huge billows lift up their crests;
when mighty armaments are wreckedby their fury. But what is it to
that commotion of the deep, when "its proud waves" shallno more "be

stayed," its ancient barriers no more be observed, the largestchannels
be emptied, and the deepestabyss be dried? The earthquake is solemn:
when, without a warning, cities totter, and kingdoms rend, and islands
flee away. But what is it to that tremour which shall convulse our globe,
dissolving every law of attraction, severing every principle of
aggregation, heaving all into chaos and heaping all into ruin? Great
God! must our eyes see — our ears hear — these desolations and
distractions? Must we look forth upon these devouring flames? Must we
stand in judgment with Thee? Penetrate us now with Thy fear; awaken
the attention, which Thy trump shall not fail to command; surround our
imagination with the sceneryof that greatand terrible day!
I. LET US CONSIDER THE SCENERYWHICH SHALL
ILLUSTRATE THIS AUGUST ASSIZE. The "throne" is the emblem
of royal dignity. It is the symbol of Divine supremacy. "The Lord hath
prepared His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all."
It is "a greatwhite throne." It is vast, shadowy, undefined. No rainbow
of the covenantgirdles it; no suppliants or penitents sue before it; no
pardons are issuedfrom it. It is a tribunal throne. "He hath prepared
His throne for judgment." It is occupied. There is One, that "sitteth
upon it." This is often characteristic and distinctive of the Father. There
is no manner of similitude. Nothing at first appears to guide us in the
present discrimination. There is no form. It seems essential, andnot
distinguished, deity. But need we be at loss? "We must all appear before
the judgment-seatof Christ." He now "thinketh it no robbery to be
equal with God," and as God He is "Judge Himself." "From the face"
of Him who sitteth upon the throne, "the earth and the heaven flee
away." Who can think of that countenance and not associatewith It
pensive downcast, deepestaffliction, sweetestmeekness? Into what
expressionmast that countenance have now kindled! With what terrors
must it now be clothed! Things inanimate, insensible, smitten with a
strange panic and with a sudden dismay, start back;and those refulgent
heavens and this fair earth shrink into ancient disorder and anarchy:
they rush into primeval chaos and night. Rut net so can the sinner "flee
away";rocks — mountains — cannot coverhim; there is no hiding-
place for "the workers ofiniquity." It makes little difference whether it
be the greatercatastrophe orthe inferior; the larger could not strike a
deeper terror — the smaller could not induce a less. And why do heaven
and earth pass away? and why is no more place found for them? They
have realisedtheir end. They were but as the scaffolding;the erectionis

complete. They are of no further use. They may be setaside. "The
mystery of God" is "finished." There is "the consummation." Time,
therefore, need "be no longer."
II. WE NOW, THEN, TURN TO THE MULTITUDE THAT SHALL
BE SUMMONED TO THIS JUDGMENT. "Deathdelivered up the
dead which were in it." This is the powerof the grave, it is the
personificationof death. He who burst the barriers of the tomb and
made death bow before Him — He shall send forth His mandate,
publish His behest;and then the vaults and the catacombs and the
mummy pits and the bone-houses shalldisgorge their relics. It was
much for the sea to obey Him who sitteth on the throne; it was more for
inexorable death — the grave — the sepulchre — to yield its victims;
but "hell" — the place of departed spirits, where the disembodied soul
of man is to be found, whether in happiness or in woe — hades has
listened to a voice until then unknown to it. The gates of "the shadow of
death" unbar, and its portals fly open. And now there come — there
come — there come — clouds of spirits rolling upon clouds, in swift
succession, withimpetuous rush; sumless, but unmixed, but
individualised; the consciousness ofeachdistinct, the characterof each
defined, the memory of eachunobliterated, and the sentence ofeach
foredoomed. And hades sends back spirits to those bodies, which the sea
and the grave may no more retain. "The small and the greatstand
before God." All who have been among the mighty, and would not "let
go their prisoners," and who "destroyedthe earth," and all of minor
state. None are so greatthat they canintimidate: none so little that they
can escape.And thinking of that mighty throng, there is a distinctive
circumstance which must not be overlooked:"every man was judged."
God can say, "All souls are Mine"; and all souls, on that day, shall pass
in review before Him. Eachof your "idle words," eachof your "vain
thoughts," eachof your impure desires, every bias of your spirit, every
movement of your heart must reappear. "Be sure your sin will find you
out."
III. LET US CONSIDERTHE PROCESSWHICH MUST
DETERMINETHIS JUDGMENT. WhenHilkiah found the law, and
read it to the people, they rent their clothes, terror-struck, that they had
committed so many offences againsta long-forgottenlaw. "Shall not the
Judge of all the earth do right?" He is the God of judgment. He is the
God of truth. "But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to
truth." But then that book, which is closedto so many, shall "be

opened" — shall be opened in all its injunctions, all its penalties, all its
sanctions. You will not then think that its bands are small; you will not
then think that its terrors are weak. If the law, by one drop of its
present fury, one flash of its presentpower, causesthe stoutestheart
and the most rebel conscience to quail, how will the stoutestheart be as
tow in the fire, and the most rebel consciencebe as waxbefore the
flame, when this book shall be opened! — shall be opened in all its
contents, shall be opened in all its principles, shall be opened in all its
awards!But these "books"may refer to the discoveries ofthe gospel.
And these might indeed cheer, and these ought indeed to fortify, if you
have "wonChrist and are found in Him." Yet if you are unbelievers
still, if you are "enemies in your minds by wickedworks," this book, the
word of reconciliation, is more portentous in its aspectagainstyou, even
them the volume of the law. You will be judged "according to this
gospel." All the beseechings ofmercy, all the remonstrances of
authority, all the pleadings of tenderness!This book shall be opened
only the more terribly to convictand to condemn. Mercy will in that day
be more terrible than justice.
(R. W. Hamilton, D. D.)
The lastjudgment
C. Bradley, M. A.
I. THE MAJESTYOF THE TRIBUNAL.
II. THE PERSON OF THIS JUDGE. Here is justice, we may say, here
is retribution, in the very commencementof this judgment, the very
constitution of this court — the once abasedbut now exalted — openly
exalted — Jesus, is receiving from His Father a compensationfor all His
former degradationand shame.
III. THE DISSOLUTION OF THE WHOLE MATERIAL WORLD.
What is a man advantagedif he gain the whole of such a world as this?
The world would be a poor thing to make our portion, even if it were
destined to last for ever, but we shall be alive ages andages afterit has
perished; and if the world is our all, where then will our happiness be?
where will our comfort and support be?
IV. THE STRANGE, VAST ASSEMBLY GATHERED TOGETHER
IN IT.
V. THE PROCESSOF THIS JUDGMENT.

1. Its exactness."The books were opened." "The bookswere opened"
— the book of God's law; the law of His universe, which every creature
is bound by his very existence in His universe to obey. The book of His
gospel — a book superadded in man's case to the book of the law, and
as binding on man when made known to him as the law itself. And then
there is a hook to be opened within us, the book of memory and
conscience. There are few of us who have not at intervals been surprised
at the powerof these two faculties within us; it is an indication of their
future power when they are calledforth in their full energy before our
Judge.
2. The justice or equity of this judgment: "The dead were judged out of
those things which were written in the books."False accusers cando
nothing againstus now. Friends and flatterers can do nothing for us.
They will not be listened to. The books — the true and faithful books
only — will be regarded, and by their testimony will our sentence be
determined.
3. The wonderful grace that will be manifested by Him in this judgment.
There is anotherbook mentioned. "Another book was opened, which is
the book of life." "He that believeth shall be saved," it says. "Now bring
forward that book of life. It is My once secretregisterof all that are
Mine. Open it. There stands that man's name written; I with My own
hand wrote it there; and though My law condemns him, and record
upon record condemns him, yet he believed in Me for salvation, and
that is enough — I will never condemn him. I will not blot out his name
out of that book of life, but I will confess his name, declare and proclaim
it here as a name dearto Me, before My Father and before His angels."
(C. Bradley, M. A.)
The greatassize
J. D. Carey.
There are three greatdays connectedwith the history of our race.
1. The day the world was made.
2. The day the world was redeemed.
3. The day the world will be judged. It is to the lastof these days our
text invites attention. Come forth with me and view the scene. Every
prophecy is fulfilled, the lasthour arrived; the funeral day of the world

has come. Forthe first and last time are found in one greatassembly
every angel, every saint, and every devil. The books are opened.
I. THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE JUDGMENT.
1. The day will be ushered in with sound of trumpet and the voice of
God. The debaucher will be revelling in obscenity — the prodigal
rioting in prodigality and wantonness — the self-righteous wrapped up
in his own carnalsecurity — the robber on his errand of sin — the
whisperer slandering his neighbour — the infidel glorying in his shame
— the miser counting over his gold — the soldierin the tented field —
the sailoron the briny deep — the carelesssitting at ease — the
hypocrite practising deceit. When the shrill blast of the archangel's
trump, waxing louder than ten thousand thunders, shall shake the
earth, and the angelshall swearby Him that liveth for ever and ever
that time shall be no more.
2. The Judge will appear. Every eye shall see Him, for like the sun He
will appearequally near to all who shall be placed at His dread tribunal.
All our previous ideas of grandeur will be infinitely surpassedby the
realities of this solemn scene.
3. The dead shall be raised, and all createdintelligences shallstand
arraigned before the judgment-seat. People of every age and condition,
rank and degree. Populous assemblies!Not one missing of past, present,
or future generations.
II. PROCEEDINGS OF THE JUDGMENT. "And the books were
opened."
1. There will be the book of God's omniscience. Every thought, feeling,
desire, motive, and purpose of every heart are fully recorded; and every
act of every life.
2. The book of conscience. The one will be found to tally exactly with the
other. Oh, trifle not with your conscience,for it will wake up in the
judgment and echo the truthfulness of God's omniscience.
3. The book of life. The Divine wisdom or remembrance, whereby the
Lord knoweththem that are His.
III. ITS FINAL AND IRREVERSIBLE RESULTS.
1. The whole will be divided, and there shall be no mistake. Notone
sinner shall stand in this vast congregationofthe righteous.

2. Sentence will be pronounced. If we have not on the wedding garment,
we must hear that awfully tremendous voice saying unto us, "Depart, ye
cursed."
3. Executionof the sentence.
(J. D. Carey.)
The lastjudgment
J. G. Breay, B. A.
I. THE SEAT OF JUDGMENT — a greatwhite throne.
1. Its dignity. A throne is the seatof royalty (1 Kings 10:18, 19; Isaiah
6:1).
2. Its purity. White is an emblem of purity. As from the majestyof this
throne there canbe no appeal, so with respectto the equity of it there
can be no just cause of complaint.
II. THE AUTHOR OF JUDGMENT.
1. Who is the Judge? Jehovahin the person of Christ. The Father
judgeth no man (John 5:22).
2. His qualification for His work.
III. Infinite knowledge.
(1)Unspotted justice.
(2)Unlimited power.
III. THE SUBJECTS OF JUDGMENT. "Isaw the dead, small and
great," etc.
1. The appearance will be universal.
2. The appearance will be inevitable.
IV. THE RULE OF JUDGMENT. Conclusion:
1. Flee to the Cross of Christ.
2. Ever associatethat day with feelings of the deepestsolemnity.
(J. G. Breay, B. A. .)
The lastjudgment
J. A. Macdonald.

I. THE SUBJECTSOF THE JUDGMENT.
1. The dead, small and great.
(1)Young and old.
(2)Rich and poor.
(3)Illiterate and learned.
2. These shallstand togetherbefore God.
(1)Socialdistinctions are not accountedat that tribunal.
(2)Ethnic distinctions cease.
(3)Distinctions of time also are at an end. All generations mingle in one
grand congregation.
3. The value of characterwill then appear.(1)When conventional,
accidentaldistinctions vanish, the real, permanent distinctions of
charactercome out in the boldest relief.(2)The interval of the
disembodied and millennial states will afford the best opportunities for
reflectionupon that conduct which is now crystallisedinto character.(3)
If anything further is needed to force home this lessonupon the spirit,
here it is in the excitements of the judgment — the prodigies — the
Judge — the witnesses — the impending doom.
II. THE CHARACTER OF THE JUDGE.
1. Christ appears not now as Mediator.(1)Deathends probation.(2) The
shadows ofthe greatjudgment are felt here in the court of conscience.
Works, words, thoughts, motives, should be ever examined here in
anticipation of the more imposing court.(3) The preparation of holiness
we must have.
2. He now appears as King.(1) He comes "in the glory of His Father" —
the glory of His Divinity. The dead "stand before God."(2)He comes in
"His own glory" — the glory of His exalted and beatified manhood.
Here is the only universal Monarch. On His head are many crowns.(3)
He comes with His retinue of holy angels.
3. His resources are equal to the occasion.(1)See the effectof His glance.
The world kindles into conflagration(ver. 11;2 Peter3:7-12).(2) The
eye of flame can discriminate as it can search.(3)Whatimpiety can dare
that throne?
III. THE STANDARDS OF THE JUDGMENT.

1. The book of God's works.(1)This volume treats of His power. The
forces of Nature assert His sovereignty. How has that been respected?(2)
It treats also of His wisdom. The exquisite dovetailing of things, nice
adjustments, wonderful adaptations, assertHis adorableness. How has
that been respected?(3)It treats further of His goodness. What
contrivances to give pleasure to His creatures!Every voice of
beneficence calls forgratitude. How have we responded?
2. The book of God's Word.
(1)In this we have His law.
(2)In this also we have His gospel.
3. The book of memory.
(1)God's memory forgets nothing.
(2)Man's memory will be prodigiously quickened.
4. The book of condemnation.
(1)The names of the doomed are written there. The characterofthe
writing is legible and black.
(2)How many millions will find their names there! Is yours amongstthe
number?
(3)What does it mean to be written there? Exclusion from heaven.
5. "And another book was opened which is the book of life."
(J. A. Macdonald.)
The lastassize
H. Melvill, B. D.
Though the Book ofRevelationcontains much that is mysterious, and
even inexplicable, passagessuchas this are as instructive as
magnificent. The delineationis that of transactions in which we must all
bear a part in the lastgeneralassize. It was before the Redeemerthat
the mighty multitude of those whom the grave had surrendered were
arraigned, the title of absolute divinity being justly assignedto Him who
is evidently the Son of Man, seeing that the two natures coalesced
indissolubly in His person. Our text then proceeds to give some account
of the principles upon which judgment will be conducted, showing that
an accurate registerhas been kept of human actions, and that men will
be judged according to their works, and therefore judged in

righteousness. We know not whether the principles of God's moral
government are insisted on with sufficient frequency and urgency from
our pulpits, but we are sure that they produce not their due influence on
the greatmass of men. Here and there, indeed, you may meet with an
individual whose thoughts are seton the accountwhich he must one day
render, and whose habitual endeavourit is to preserve an habitual sense
of the coming of the Lord. But even individuals such as these will
confess to you that their endeavours are but partially successful;that
they have greatcause of humiliation before God, on accountof their
forgetfulness of the day of trial. So that there can be no class of hearers
to whom the subject of discourse presentedby our text is not
appropriate. We shall premise a few remarks on the necessityof a
generaljudgment, in order to vindicate God's moral government, and
then proceedto examine the severalassertionsmade in our text in
regard to this fact. Now, in every age of the world, men have been
perplexed by what seemedopposite evidences as to the superintending
care of a wise and beneficentBeing. On the one hand, there is no doubt
that we live under a retributive government, and that cognisance is
takenof our actions by an invisible but ever-present Being whose
attributes render Him the determined foe of vice and the steadfast
upholder of righteousness. Onthe other hand, there has been an
irresistible demonstration, from the experience of all ages, that no
accurate proportion is at present maintained betweenconduct and
condition, but that vice has most frequently the upper hand, while
righteousness is depressedand overwhelmed. There has been no
reconciling of these apparent contradictions, exceptby supposing that
human existence wouldnot terminate with death, but that in another,
though yet unknown state, vice would receive its due meed of
vengeance, andrighteousness ofreward. Thus you see how reason
concurs with revelationin directing your thoughts to a state of
retribution. We next remark that the seasonofjudgment is not to arrive
until the end of all things, when the dead shall be raised. Once admit
that all men are to be put upon trial, and you also admit, so far as we
can see, that their final portion is not entered upon ere that trial is past;
for what could be more contrary to all show of justice than the
sentencing after execution? But when men would curiously inquire into
the particulars of the intermediate state, we are not at all able to answer
their questions. We doubt not that the justified soul is immediately
assuredof its acceptance withGod, and consignedto the peace and
repose in the blessedcertainty that heaven will be its portion. We doubt

as little that the soulof him who dies in his impenitence is immediately
conscious thatits doom is determined, and given over to anguish and
remorse because allowedno hope that lost time may be redeemedand
hell yet avoided. It is the whole man, the compound of spirit and flesh,
which has obeyed or transgressed;it must be therefore the whole man
which is put upon trial, and which receives the portion whether of
promise or threatening. Thus, whateverour thoughts of the
intermediate state, we know that the allotments of eternity cannotbe
fully dealt out unless the vision of our text shall have been first
accomplished, "andthe dead, small and great, stand before their God."
We pass now to the contemplation of the personof the Judge. We wish
to set before you the combined wisdom and mercy of the appointment,
that He who is to decide our portion for eternity, is the very Being who
died as our surety. We cannotdispense with the omniscience ofDeity;
we see clearly enoughthat no finite intelligence canbe adequate to that
decisionwhich will ensure the thorough justice of future retribution.
But then neither can we dispense with the feelings of humanity; at least
we can have no confidence in approaching His tribunal if we are sure
that the difference in nature incapacitatesHim from sympathy with
those whose sentence He is about to pronounce, and precludes the
possibility of His so making our case His own as to allow of His deciding
with due allowance forour feebleness and temptations. It is thus we are
assuredthat mercy and justice will alike have full scope in the
transactions ofthe judgment, and that in appointing that the Mediator
who died as our substitute will preside at our trial, God hath equally
provided that every decisionshall be impartial, and yet every man be
dealt with as brother to Him who must determine our fate. It would
have been an encouragementto wickednesshadthe Judge been mere
man, and therefore liable to be deceived. It would have filled humble
piety with dread had the Judge been only God, and therefore not
"touchedwith a feeling of our infirmities." This leads us to our
concluding point, the thorough righteousness ofthe whole procedure of
the judgment.
(H. Melvill, B. D.)
The judgment
T. T. Munger.

It is related of Daniel Webster, the reality of whose moral endowments
no one disputes, that when once askedwhatwas the greatestthought
that had everoccupied his mind, he replied, "The fact of my personal
accountability to God." Eliminate accountability, and man drops into
the categoryof instinct and natural desire; if he is a savage, he becomes
a beast;if he is civilised, he becomes virtually a criminal. Freedomand
conscienceimply accountability; accountability implies rendering
account, and this implies a judgment; such is the logic that covers
human life, few and simple in its links, but strong as adamant and
inexorable as fate. It underlies and binds togetherthe twofoldkingdom
of time and eternity — one chain, whether it binds things in heaven or
things on the earth. It is the weaknessofformulated theologythat it
arbitrarily transfers the most augustand moving features of God's
moral government to a future world, thus placing the wide and
mysterious gulf of time and death betweenactions and their motives. All
broken law begins at once to incur judgment; the quick pang of
consciencethat follows sin is the first stroke of judgment; while
undergoing it the soulis passing a crisis, and turns to the right or the
left hand of eternal righteousness.Thus we are all the while rendering
accountto the laws without and within; we are all the while undergoing
judgment and receiving sentence of acquittal or condemnation. Conduct
is always reaching crises and entering upon its consequences. It may be
cumulative in degree, and reachcrises more and more marked; it may
at last reacha specialcrisis which shall be the judgment when the soul
shall turn to the right or left of eternal destiny. A profound view of
judgment as a testor crisis entailing separation, shows us that it attends
change;for it is through change that the moral nature is arousedto
specialaction. It is a law that catastrophesawakenconscience.It is also
a peculiarity of the actionof the moral nature under greatoutward
changes that man is disclosedto himself. Recallthe most joyful event of
your lives, and you will find it to have been also a period of greatself-
knowledge. Recallyour deepestsorrow and you will still more vividly
recognise itas an experience in which there was a deep, interior
measurement of yourself. If change has this revealing and judging
power, the change of worlds must have it in a superlative degree. It is
appointed unto men once to die, and after that comethjudgment; the
testing and unveiling of character and conduct. Pre-eminently, far
beyond anything that has preceded, man is then judged and assignedhis
true place and direction. I think the central truth of the judgment can
nowhere more easily be gotat than in the passage before us. No other

symbol than that of "books"couldso vividly convey the fact that the
whole life comes into judgment. Nothing is left out or forgotten;there
can be no mistake. The books are the unerring transcript of the life. The
simplicity of the symbol is marred by the introduction of "another
book" than those recording the works. Why is there "anotherbook
which is the book of life " — and what does it mean? Mankind do not go
up to the throne of God to be judged simply by their works. Parallel
with humanity is the kingdom of heaven. Parallelwith men's deeds are
the purposes of God. Over and above what humanity does of itself is a
plan of redemption, the working out of which enters into human
destiny. It may be that the other book represents that other power, and
the influences that flow out of the life of Christ. It is a book of life, and
He is the life of the world. Men are judged by the records of their works,
but it may be that the sentence pronounced is affectedby what is
written in the book of life. I am aware that this complicates the thought,
but we must remember that the problem of spiritual destiny is not
absolutely simple. But we will leave this side issue and turn to the main
thought — the books out of which men are judged. The books must be
found in God, or nature, or man. The mind of God must indeed be a
tablet whereonare written all the works ofmen, but let us not touch
that ineffable mystery without warrant. Science,in the personof some
of its high priests, has suggestedthat all the deeds of men are conserved
as distinct forces in the ether that fills the spacesofheaven, and may be
brought togetheragainin true form, in some new cosmos, as light
traversing space as motion is turned to heat when arrestedby the earth.
But we can find no link betweensuch a fact, if it be a fact, and the moral
process ofjudgment. We must searchman himself for the elements of
his greataccount. Take the mind: at first it is merely a set of faculties,
without even self-consciousness, but contactwith the world brings them
into action— first observation, then memory; soonthe imagination
spreads its folded wings;then comes the process ofcomparisonand
combination, and thus the full process ofthinking is developed — a
process to which there is no end, and the capacities ofwhich are
immeasurable. When we reach the limit of our own powers, we open the
pages of some greatmasterof thought, and there find new realms that
revealcorresponding powers. Take the soul: there are faculties that
exist only in germ till certainperiods of life arise. The child knows
nothing of the love that breaks in upon the youth with its rapturous
pain and yearning of insatiable desire, flooding the heights of his being,
but the capacitywas in the child. The soft touch of a babe's hand

JESUS ON THE GREAT WHITE THRONE OF JUDGMENT

JESUS ON THE GREAT WHITE THRONE OF JUDGMENT

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JESUS ON THE GREAT WHITE THRONE OF JUDGMENT