Page:Christ the only refuge from the wrath to come.pdf/6

 Cross. This is He, who fulfilled all righteousness for the justification of your persons. Behold Him, ye despisers of his grace, and wonder and perish. This is He, whose merciful overtures you have contemned, and on whose precious blood you have trampled.

The great white throne, beyond description, is erected. The King of Heaven, the Lord of glory, takes his seat or. the dreadful tribunal. Mercy, on his right hand, displays the olive branch of peace, and holds forth the crown of righteousness. Justice, on his left, poises the impartial scale, and unsheaths the sword of vengeance. While Wisdom and Holiness, brighter than ten thousand suns, beam in his divine aspect. What are all the preceeding events to this new scene of dignity and awe! The peals of thunder sounding in the Archangel’s trumpet, the blaze of a burning world, the strong convulsions of expiring nature; the unnumbered myriads of the dead starting into instantaneous life, and thronging the astonished skies; all these seem familiar incidents, compared with the appearance of the incarnate Jehovah—Amazement, mote than amazement, is all around. Terror and glory unite in their extremes. From the sight of his majestic eye, from the insupportable splendours of his face, the earth itself and the very heavens flee away — How then—Oh, how shall the ungodly stand— stand in his angry presence, and draw near to this consuming fire.

Yet draw near they must, and take their trial, their decisive trial, at his righteous bar. Every action comes under examination. For each idle word they must give account. Not so much as a