The Judgment

Laugh at religion now! scoff at Christ now! now that the angels are gathering for the judgment, now that the trumpet sounds exceedingly loud and long, now that the heavens are red with fire, that the great furnace of hell o’er leaps its boundary, and is about to encircle thee in its flame. Now despise religion! Ah, no! I see thee. Now thy stiff knees are bending, now thy bold forehead, for the first time, is covered with hot sweat of trembling, now thine eyes that once were full of scorn are full of tears; thou dost look on Him whom thou didst despise, and thou art weeping for thy sin.

O sinner! it will be too late then. Where thou fallest, there thou liest. Where judgment finds thee, there eternity shall leave thee. Time shall be no more when judgment comes; and when time is no more, change is impossible! In eternity there can be no change, no deliverance, no signing of acquittal. Once lost, lost for ever; once damned, damned to all eternity!

In hell there is no hope. They have not even the hope of dying—the hope of being annihilated. They are for ever—for ever—for ever—lost! On every chain in hell there is written “for ever.” In the fires, there blazes out the words “for ever.” Up above their heads they read “for ever.” Their eyes are galled, and their hearts are pained with the thought that it is “for ever.” Oh! if I could tell you that hell would one day be burned out, and that those who were lost might be saved, there would be a jubilee in hell at the very thought of it. But it cannot be—they are cast into outer darkness for ever.

Oh, bethink you that there is but one hope, and that one hope lost it is gone for ever! Defeated in one battle, a commander attempts another, and hopes that he may yet win the campaign. Your life is your own fight, and if it is lost, it is lost for ever. The man who was bankrupt yesterday commences in business again with good heart, and hopes that he may yet succeed; but in the business of this mortal life, if you are found bankrupt, you are bankrupt for ever and ever.

I do therefore charge you, by the living God, before whom I stand and before whom I may have to give an account of this day’s preaching ere another sun shall shine, I charge you to see to your own salvation.