Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/277

 full state of the parties who are its subjects are so nearly completed, that they eagerly accept or reject "the Word" which "judgeth," and so pass on to that eternal destiny for which they are prepared.

Judgement, of course, means discrimination and decision upon what is good and evil, true and false, in the spiritual life of man. These are effected by comparing human character with the Divine law, by which right is declared and wrong is denounced. This being so, all the Lord's judgments will be conducted upon the principle of comparing the interior lives of those who are judged with the Word He has revealed. Respecting this point. He has spoken with great decision. "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day;" consequently, those who have received "the Word" with willingness and love will have in them those principles of life to which the Lord can be conjoined, agreeably to His own declaration: "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." It is very plain that such persons, on passing into the world of spirits, will soon be elevated into heaven. But those who have not so received the Word, have not those principles of spiritual life to which the Lord can be conjoined; therefore, on their entrance into the world of spirits they will very soon sink down to hell. This also is agreeable to the Lord's saying: "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered." With every one, the process of judgment is the same. Men who have conformed to the Divine Word will be adopted and saved; those who have not so conformed will be rejected and lost. But the time they remain in the world of spirits will be