Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-02-01

mon rocks. The truth is set down forever in
these words which say that "eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered
into the heart of man," the great future,
which God knows and we know not The
where. and tine hour, and the when, too, are
all in the wise ordering of God. He will
look alter them.
But here is something which we do know:
we know who the Judge will be. The Judge
will bs our Savior, Jesus Christ
That is, the Judge will be one who knows
accurately what human life is. If you are
to be put on fair trial as to your faithful
ness In your work, you want somebody for a
judge who knows something about your
work, who has had some practical
experience in it. We will be judged
at the last by One who spent
a lifetime learning about human
life and human nature by actual experience.
He took our nature, and carried our sorrows,
and walked in the streets of our cities, and
had His friends among us, and met the
temptations which we meet. He who came
in great humility is to be our Judge. The
Christ of Advent is the Christ OF Christmas.
The incarnation and the judgment meet in
Him who, having become man, will have
judgment committed to Him "because He
is the Son of Man." He has been over the
whole lesson. He has traversed the whole
path. He knows how sin besets us, and how
weak We are against it. He knows how
dreadfully hard 1t Is to be good.
Judgment by Comparison.
More than this, the Judge is our Example.
We will be examined as to the closeness
with which We have followed Him. And
so there is nothing blind nor hidden about
our trial.. We know what sort of life He
lived among US. That is the ideal by
which our lives will get their measurement.
The Day of Judgment will be like an e1-
animation where we have been told all the
questions beforehand.
BesEof all, the Judge will be one who loves
us. We know what He is, because we know
what He was when He lived in the villages
OF Syria. He changes not, nor will He
change even when He comes to be our Judge.
Can you think OF anybody to whom any sin
ming soul could look for kinder and for just
er judgment than Jesus of Nazareth? Just
as He stood beside the woman taken in
adultery, just as He looked into tie face of
Peter who denied Him, and of Thomas who
doubted Him, even into his face who came
with q traitors kiss aud met Him in Geth-
semane, so He will be in the very Day of
Judgment. Can you think Of anybody from
whom the hypocrite, the oppressor, the un-
just, the hard-hearted would quicker hurry
away budu OeSuS Oi VINO cOQIrOlL-
ed the Scribes and Pnarisees?
The Judge viii Be Friend.
So will He be then, when all the world, hy-
pocrites and sinners, men with splendid op-
portunities and men with no chance ut ali
high and low, good and bad, and you and
among them, will meet Him in the place OF
judgment. He who prayed Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do, will
ho fhn Ttt1n Ufrh laI
feet and side He will be the Judge. That is
one of the most dreadful facts about the
judgment-that He who will come at last to
judge us will not be an enemy, nor a fierce
opponent, nor divine tyrant against
whom we might stir up a courage of def
ance, but q friend, who loves US, who has
given His own life that He might save us.
Finally, there is something more which
We know about the judgment: we know that
we will be judged according to what lives
we have led. According, to our faith in
Christ, some say. And that is true, too.
Our eternal destiny will depend upon our
faith In Christ. But dead" iaith will not
| count for anything. 1t will be of exactly
as much value as unproductive seed will be
in the harvest. That is, our lives will re-
veal our faith. Those will stand with Christ
in the next lie who have stood with Christ
| in this life. But the recitation of the creed
will not be taken into account; nor the pro-
fessIons of a conventional orthodoxy which
often means nothing but lack of real inter
| est in the truths of religion, and an entire
absence of any real thinking about them;
nor attendance upon services and sacra-
| ments; nor any of the externals of faith.
The Question of Results.
What is the result of all this in your life?
What Is the harvest which it bears in your
thinking, and speaking, and behaving?
That will be the question of the Day OF
Judgment.
And that day, accordingly. will be day
of great surprises, because we are always
| somehow deceivlng ourselves. Nobody tells
us such lies as we tell ourselves. But in the
Day of Judgment we will see the real truth.
| Think of the amazement OF the Scribes and
Pharisees, the chief religious people OF their
| day, set on the left handi Think of lhe
wonder OF the publicans and sinners, des-
pissed and condemned by the respectable
people of their time, and unknown in the
synagogues, and yet set upon the right
hand! Remember how the Judge, while He
was living in our life, was forever surpris-
ing people, and reversing the popular esti-
nations OF men, and putting down the
mighty from their seats and exalting those
of low degree. No doubt there are people in
Jail to-day who will be in heaven; and peo-
Die in church who will find themselves shut
out.
"Thy kingdom come" Can we honestly
pray that, or can't we? "Surely 1 come
quickly" says our Savior and our Judge.
even so come, Lord Jesus"-Is that our
instant answer? Is that what we answer out
of sincere hearts? Do we want Him to
come? Are we ready for His coming?