Burlington hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1845-185?, 1851-03-20
in his own individual moral character,
which, at his death, passed with him into

which, az MS ucatIl, pdsseu Will uAA IAAo
the future state. sst azeas-e. j tase .as.yr /
At death we are all either penitent or
impenitent, pardoned or unpardoned, justi-
fed or condemned sinners, and as such
each Of us will be placed at the right or
the left hand Of the Judge eternal; but still
we shall appear in as great variety Of
moral and mental character as we possess
ed in this life, at the dissolution Of each
ones soul and body. rsat.ra
We are divided now by line Of de-
marca.ion in the sight of God, which sep
arates between the righteous and the
wicked, the renewed and the unrenewed,
the children of God, and Of the wicked
one but still there are diversities ofmoral
and religious character manifest in the in
dividuals Of the two classes of the godly
and the ungodly. He who dies mere
babe in Christ is not to stand up before
the bar Of judgment in the character of
a full grown man in Christian faith and
practice. He who attained 10 the expe-
rience of eminently faithful and jealous
apostles, martyrs, ministers, elders, and
teachers in the kingdom of Christ in the
world, will be widely distinguished from
others on the right hand, who had a little
faith, and love- but scarcely enough, be-
fore any eye but tha: Of God, TO distinguish
them from the men Of the world, whose
portion is wholly in this life. And among
The wicked on the left, some will appear
under deeper dishonor, shame, contempt
and woe than others, who all belong 10 The
class of the unbelieying and abomipable.
Let US imagine, by scrutinizing our pre-
sent respective characters, how we shall
appear, If we die as we have hitherto
lived, and now are, in the view of the
heart searching Jehovah. ases@@5
II is not difficult to Judge where those
will be found at last, who live and die, ha-
bitually and allowedly immoral persons,
without pres suming to make any profess
sions of personal religion. Such then are
among US, though comparatively few in
number in some congregations, whose
words and actions publish to all who
thoroughly know them, that they are the
enemies Of God, and despisers Of the cross
Of Christ. The company which they now
keep, from choice, sufficiently shows in
what society they will be found in the
judgment. They are profane and filthy
now, full of self-conceit, vanity, and lust |;
and dying as they are, they will be filthy,
unjust, unwise, and contemplate forever.
There are others, who are reputable MEM
bers of the community, good men Of busi-
ness, kind in their domestic relations, gen.
erally moral in their department, and Of
some service to the temporal interests Of
the church, but they never pray, are not
benevolent, are not penitent for their sins,
and neither profess nor possess any prscsi-
cal godliness. They will have the same
character in the general judgment, and
will be covered with greater confusion and
shame than any Of the polluted pagans,
who had but few advantages for knowing
God and the way Of salvation.
In worse condition still will be found
some COMMITMENTS in the church, whe
are insincere professors, and giddy, frivo
lous, thoughtless, prayerless worldlings
the sons and daughters Of pleasure, wht
habitually dishonor the name whereby
they are called, by making it manifest tha
the love of Christ is not in them. Happy
would il have been for them and for the
church Of Christ had they never pretend.
ed to be Christians. .
| Those who have named the name o
Christ and appeared for time 10 rur
we'll, but fell into great carnality, and for
sock the communion of saints, will be
found al the left hand, in company with
/ the scoffing inidel, the drunkard, thief
gambler and murderer. There also viii
be seen the hoary headed professor, whose
religion was all in his head, and neither
in his heart nor life who reasoned well
was orthodox in opinion loved the repu-
ta,ion of piety, and served himself, his
honor, his family, and fortune, under the
pretext of obeying Christ. He talked for
Christ, when lie thought his worldly inter-
es,. would be thereby promoted, but he
iired fer his vanity, pride, appetite and
purse. Beside him stood the avowed mi
ser, no more the worshipper Of gold than
himself; and hard by might be seen the
dishonest dealer, the knayish counsellor,
the bribed Judge. the slanderous tale bear
er, the 5loated glutton, and the mock am
bassador Of Christ. There will be found
all who have loved the praise Of men
more than the appreciation of God, honor
more than honesty, appetite more than
conscience, gain more than godliness, Of
flee more than usefulness, and the form
OF religion more than the power OF divine
grace.
On the right hand will be found those
who have chosen to suffer affliction with
the people Of God, in preference TO allth
pleasure of this life; those who have be-
lieved in Christ with the heart, who have
been followers of that winch is good, who
have labored to do good unto all men, ac-
cordipg to the ability given by God, who
have loved and served the church Of
God who have fed, clothed. visited and
comforted Christ in his brethren who
have loved the word, the day, the house,
the law, the gospel and the ordinances Of
the Lord who have been meek, pure,
peacemakers, and contrite; and all who
have fled 10 Christ and received him for
righteousness, strength, and salvation
Not one of the weakest, feeblest, and most
imperfect Of all the saints Of God will be
found absent from his right hand in the
day Of judgment. My readers, where in
the day OF the Lord will you and | stand
Are you willing TO stand before him with
| L