may see Him whom they have crucified.' 2. That the just may receive that honor and glory before all mankind, which they deserve, and the wicked meet with that confusion which they have merited; for in this world, for His own wise purposes, God frequently suffers the wicked to be exalted and permits the virtuous to be depressed. 3. That our bodies may receive reward or punishment, as they have been the instruments of virtue or of vice.
II. What terrors will precede the general judgment? "There shall be great earthquakes and pestilences and famines and terrors from heaven." (Luke xxi. 11.) "The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be moved." (Matt. xxiv. 29.) And, as St. Peter says, "the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved." (2 Peter iii. 12.) The sea will be troubled in the most terrible manner and the trembling earth shall be all on fire. " For behold, the day shall be kindled as a furnace," says the prophet, "and all the proud, and all who do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day which cometh shall set them on fire." (Malac. iv. 1.) Beware lest on that day you prove to be nothing but stubble.
III. The angel will go forth and sound on his trumpet the terrible words, "Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment!" The dead will then resume their bodies; but with what different feelings! The wicked will inveigh against their bodies, because for their gratification they have committed so many crimes. They will exclaim to the mountains, " fall upon us, and to the hills, cover us." (Luke xxiii. 30.) But their exclamations will be uttered in vain. At that moment sinners will wish rather to have led virtuous lives, than to have worn crowns or governed empires. Reflect, therefore, fre-
