day upon the left, are rejecters of grace-are out of Christ-have,cut, with their own wanton hand, all the cords of love by which the Lord wished to draw them in their earthly life; have wished to help themselves, or have desired no help at all. The pardoned, however, know right well that their life, their rescue, their salvation, depends solely upon the word of him who sitteth upon the throne-they know it with appropriate timidity, for they feel their poverty and sin. But they behold shining in his countenance that eternal light, of which a stray beam has fallen into their hearts, and, therefore, they have an exultant hope in their souls, even before the judge hath opened his mouth. And now as he speaks, his first word is itself a proof that their names are written in the book of life; for he acknowledges all the good which they have done, but makes no mention of their sins. The holy judge, who knows so well every form and kind of sin, has not a word to say of their sins; but addresses them as the blessed of his Father-the heirs of the kingdom prepared for them from the beginning. That melts their hearts. That is inconceivable love toward poor sinners, who had never consciously belonged to Jesus on earth! In this glow of heavenly love, the last hardness of heart disappears; they softened, and, like all those who have already been in the dust, repented and found their peace in the blood which was shed upon Calvary.

False and worthless, therefore, is the statement that the Lord declared, in his description of the judgment, "Man shall be saved by his works." Nay, all those who are saved in the judgment know nothing of their works, and when he says, "Whatsoever ye have done unto one of the least of these, ye have done unto me," and when he calls them the blessed of his Father, they have no answer to give; but their hearts sink in wonder at such mercy and glory, prepared for the most unworthy!

Thus, my beloved in the Lord, do we hear the annunciation of the Reformation sound forth to us from the throne of the world's judgment ! This is the banner which our Luther unfurled, and around it we band ourselves together against every foe within or without! It is grace-free grace for Christ's sake-imparted and announced by the Son of God, even then at the last day—it is free grace that saves! On the other shore, among the innumerable hosts who sing the song of their redemption, not one can be found who knew of works, who built his own ladder to heaven; there they speak of but one Deliverer.

One gentle Lamb, our triumphs gain,

And THOU, O Lamb, the slain !

Therefore, beloved, rejoice if your names are written in heaven-your guilt blotted out; rejoice and exult, every soul of you which is able to appropriate that merit of your Saviour's here on earth!

But since the word of God demands it, you must venture to come with me to the contemplation of that picture of horrors-the judg

ment according to works. I return to the judgment-resurrection. "Some," says the prophet Daniel, "shall come forth unto everlasting shame and contempt." But not he alone; in fact, the sages of the heathen had presentiments thereof, when they taught that in the other world those who here on earth had been godless and wanton, blasphemers and violators of holy ordinances, would appear in horrible forms, as wolves and other ravenous beasts. In this doctrine lies a foreboding of what the godless man makes out himself. We, however, go upon the ground of Scripture further. The worldling in his carnal passage through the earthly life, perverts and defaces the original divine image. Think what frightful forms and shapes must be the final expression of the hatefulness of a soul at enmity with God! The perversion of God's image can only produce the most opposite, the most frightful, because in itself it is so glorious and noble. And now think of the resurrection of those who have Christ only for an inexorable judge, because, as a mediating Saviour, they rejected him! Is it a wonder that they cry, "Mountains, fall on us; ye hills cover us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne ?"

They are raised bodily, and their bodies are the visible copies of their souls. Every defacement, every perversion, every distortion, every thing awful, shocking, and loathsome, whatever the inner life of a godless and Christless man can become, will stand there fully, visibly manifest in the eyes of all the world. They shall appear in the shame of their wickedness, for the wholly hidden and secreted sinfulness shall be turned out

ward: they shall appear even as they are. The irresistible power of their guilt shall of itself hurl them to the left hand; there must they go, and every capricious will to place themselves at the right, were as a powerless straw against the gusts of a storm; for it is the power of the inner judgment, which drives to the side of those whose sentence is, "Depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire."

"The books shall be opened and they shall be judged according to their works." Here stand their works distinctly written; yea, every word; for "by thy words shalt thou be justified ;" and "by thy words shalt thou be condemned ;" and "thou shalt give an account for every idle word which cometh out of thy mouth"-and even the thoughts of their hearts, the almost unconscious movements of their inmost soul. The picture of their life, with its finest and most delicate shades, shall stand incontestably clear and sharp before them-their hostile, Godresisting, Christ-hating life, and each will already be judged by a glance at this picture. The glance from this picture to the countenance of Christ, as illumined with grace and mercy, will only reveal to each, thun der-clouds and consuming flames. He, however, the holy judge, will give to each precisely according to his works.

I might almost say, to each is already given according to his works when they appear, and each exhibits outwardly what he is inwardly.

His sad fate is already pronounced before the eyes of the world! But no. Still lingers in the soul of the unjudged man the impression of the divine likeness. The untried servant still has the talent in his hands which was intrusted to him. Still are there gifts, talents, powers, even in the ghastly distortion remaining-his endowments as born into this world. Good things are still to be found in him—not his own work, but gifts to him-acquired from education, from society, from the church, from the state, from science and art, certain purer and noble features. The judgment, however, that great divorcement, not only separates those who are good from those who are evil, but also, inwardly, the good from the evil. The talent shall be taken from the slothful servant who hid it in a napkin. Every natural good shall be taken away from those upon the left; the little flame which at least occasionally illumined their benighted souls, shall be extinguished; nothing shall remain but the piercing light of the thought, "There is a God, an eternal God, and thou art his creaAll that, which men here on earth so eulogize-good-nature, tender-heartedness, kindliness of disposition, sentiments of honor—all these shall be taken away from them; all knowledge of the truth, all acquaintance therewith-and the man be slung back into what he has made himself. He is purely his own work; and as such, is intrenched in his pitiful poverty, emptiness, blindness and pervertedness, for all eternity!

This, poor, poor soul, who rejectest and spurnest Christ, this shalt thou be-a pure self-perversion, self-distortion; and then shalt thou hear that word "ye cursed!" with whose pronunciation every blessing of God shall be for thee abrogated-the blessings of grace and that primeval blessing which he sent forth of old upon his yet unfallen creation. This is the curse, the only unmitigated curse; for all the divine judgments upon the sins of men were, until the day of judgment, still attended with blessing. Then at last, curse without blessing, the banishment of the soul in her own black and awful shape—that is judgment according to works. For not only the single deed stands written there in the books-not merely the total of his evil deeds, but the whole molding of his life; the whole action and passion, the whole development of the man out of his own sinful and perverted self; each bears "his own burden," and none will be able to doubt that his lamentable condition and everlasting destruction is purely his own work, held fast by him with all his might against the striving grace of God in Christ!

And that is the sermon for the festival of the Reformation. For as our loved Reformers brought forth the Bible from the rubbish under which it was hidden, brought it into our churches, and schools, and houses-ah! God grant into our hearts also-as this word repeats a thousand times, that man is not justified by his own merit, but through grace; through the offering of Jesus Christ made upon the cross and completed in eternity, is counted righteous; that justification by faith is

the only way in which man can be saved, even if it first appear on the last day; so the same word also teaches us, and out of it the whole evangelical church also, that each shall answer for his own works, that each must bear his own burden, that no one can lighten the oppressive load a single ounce; that no mother of Christ, no saint, no merit, nor superogatory merit of even the truest of God's servants, who themselves would have shuddered at the thought, can rescue a soul from the terrors of the judgment. These are tatters of well-meant deception laid upon the wounds of souls. These treasures of the church are fictitious; no one helps; thou shalt bear thy own burden. There is but one rescue. If the registry of thy guilt is blotted out with the blood of the Lamb, then are thy works also stricken out, and only thy name will be found inscribed in the book of life-the name which the Lord, in his ineffable love, shall there give thee!

Does the Reformation then ignore works? Have they for her no worth at all?

O yes! the Reformation hath somewhat to say of works; for she preaches a living faith. Works, true works of love, self-sacrificing deeds of charity to the least of the brethren, done out of love to Jesus-these are the works by which true faith is known. So teaches the evangelical church in accordance with the words of the apostles. She teaches that that faith which is merely a persuasion of the mind, a mere intellectual notion, is a dead faith-in fact no faith at all. She teaches indeed that the works judge the man, but also that, in Christ's own words, all evil works proceed from unbelief. Works of unbelief comprise every evil work, and it is unbelief which condemns, just as it is faith which seizes upon the saving grace.

And now, beloved, let us take one comprehensive glance, and turn our souls to the Lamb of God. We see here upon his altar the appointed emblems of his body and blood-ay, himself, who really administers himself to believing communicants unto eternal life, but who will give himself to the unbelieving unto judgment. We have to-day a summons to works of love-a double summons-a summons for to-day, and another for the coming Sunday-to works of love which should be done unto our brethren with prayer and from faith-to works for the rescue of souls and to works for rescue from bodily wants.*

May the consideration of the final judgment incline us to a new seizure upon our Lord, and sturdy growth with him by means of his holy sacrament. May the summons which reach us from far and from near inspirit and charm us to works of love and self-sacrifice. But the spirit of believing prayer comes only from God. For holy works are only those which the Saviour himself works in us by his Holy Spirit, when we stand back, and only consent thereto.

* These remarks referred to a couple of collects taken for the relief of certain countrymen and Christian brethren in America.—[TR

Glance forward once more unto the end. God grant that no one of us come before that judgment-seat, but that we all press through unto life while here on earth, and happily enter into the joy of our Lord among the thousands of saints who with him shall hold the judgment! But look well to it; it is possible that one or another among us may be snatched away into eternity before he has made his calling and election sure in Jesus Christ. OI pray you, to-day! now! let not an hour, let not a minute, pass, until, in faith-be it ever so weak-you have seized upon the Lord, who offers you his infinite grace with the forgiveness of sins, that you may triumph over death, the grave, and the judgment— that your resurrection may be a resurrection of life-your name stand written in the Book of Life—that you may receive the new name which he has promised unto those who now come in Jesus Christ! That is may that be our reformation! Amen.