Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1879-05-10
From the Lutheran Visitor. ]
THE JUDGMENT.
BIZ REV. J. p. SHELTER, d. D.

but after THIS the JuugIIleul.-Ieo. IA 80
For we must all appear before the judg-
ment seat of Christ; that every one may
receive the things done in his body
Cor. V. 10.
"The Word of God, His everlasting
name;
Throned in mid-heaven with clouds Of
glory spread,
Ee sits in judgment on the quick and
Strong to deliver; saints. your songs pre-
Rush from your tombs to meet him in the
air."
No one, who acknowledges Creator,
Preserver, and Redeemer, can reasona-
bly, deny an over-ruling Providence not
only in His care and benevolence expe-
rienced, but also in His corrective Judg-
ments felt. Gods love to the human
race, in bestowing temporal blessings,
in redeeming the soul, in promising
eternal life, is beyond conception great
The judgments of the Almighty are be-
yond measure fearful. This is seen in
the curse entailed on humanity on ac-
count Of the violated law in Eden. It's
fearfulness is seen 10 a world submerged
beneath an angry flood. 1t is seen in
the confusion OF tongues. at is fear
ful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God" "Who can stand before
him when he is angry?"
1t will be solemn hour to the living
when they are called to resign earth
aud its treasures, to bid farewell to
loved ones, TO exchange this world for
the spirit land. 1t will DE more mo-
mentous when the iron bands of death
shall be broken and the soul and body
again united. But when the dead shall
stand before the Judge of quick and
dead, it will be solemnly awful. The
eye of the All-Seeing One, beaming
with awful splendor on that vast assem-
bly,; the throne set and the Omniscient
Judge upon his seat; the seven-sealed
book opened by the Lion of the tribe OF
Judah, detailing every thought, feeling
and act; secret crimes, concealed in the
memories of few, brought TO light; the
revelry of the midnight hour made pub
lie, and seen in the blaze Of that day !:
benevolent deeds shining forth, OF which
the world had no conception; the i'm
mense multitude anxiously waiting TO
hear their eternal destiny; the intense
10y depicted on the cOuntenances OF
Gods people; the awful despair, like a
terrible incubus, lowering over the
wicked; the soul.inspiring shout, as the
redeemed enter upon their neger-endlng
joys the wall of the doomed as they
sink into the bottomless pit-these, and
manifold more, will render that a scene,
in comparison with which, all other
scenes sink into utter insigniicance.
The great disclosure Of that day will
be the vndication of the blood-bought
Jewels of salvation. The reproach of
Christs death and the cross the Chris
tian bears will be wiped away. The re-
deemed have been despised, considered
as the off-scouring of earth, trampled
beneath the feet of designing men,,
spurned as superstitious by the philo-
sophie world, looked upon as fanatics
by the inidel, regarded as hypocrites
by the ungodly; now they are owned
by the Judge, and welcomed to regions
Of unsullied splendor in the eternal
kingdom of the great Hereafter. Once
they were pilgrims, speaking a word
here and there for Jesus now they are
at home, and Jesus speaks for them.
Once they were despised, Knocked and
martyred; now they are envied, as their
songs ,reverberate along the corridors OF
their heavenly home.
eff you confess humanity, believe
There is God to punish or reward
Our doings here"
The doctrine of general judgment,
day appointed to assemble the sons
and daughters Of Adam, to reward or
punish them, according to their deeds
in their day of probation, is clearly re-
vealed in the gospel. No one, believ-
ing the Bible to be the Word of God,
can deny it. The necessity for the
judgment day may also be deduced from
reason, when we acknowledge a right
eous Governor Of the Universe. "Every
fact that tends TO establish the existence
OF moral world, also affords proof of a
future retribution in which the irregu-
laritles of the present administration
will be equalized. And it is but meet
that this award should be preceded by
a public rehearsal of each individuals
case" The ungodly frequently prosper;
the righteous frequently suffe'. Before
that universal pean of praise shall as
cend from every soul: "Righteous art
thou, Lord God Almighty" these prov
licences will be known and understood.
Reason would dictate a universal judg-
ment. The Scriptures are remarkably
clear and positive on this subject. ''It
is appointed unto man once TO die"
truth no one denies it is also stated,
''but after this the Judgment. John,
in his glorious vision of the future, says:
II saw the dead, small and great, stand
before God; and the sea gave up the
dead which were in it; and death and
hades delivered up the dead which were
in them: and they were judged every
man according TO their works"
God has constituted man free moral
agent. He has given hin the faculty
of reason, made him a subject capable
of moral government, placed before him
good and evil, rewards and punishments.
His deeds have a relation to law, both
physical and moral. If man violates
the principles of morality revealed, he
may rest assured that he will one day
be called TO give an account. He
brought nothing into the world when
Re made his aDDearance here and ba