must appear in the presence of God, to render an account of all his thoughts, words, and actions, and receive sentence accordingly, from the mouth of his judge: the first, when each one departs this life; for he is instantly placed before the judgment seat of God, where all that he had ever done, or spoken, or thought, during life, shall be subjected to the most rigid scrutiny; and General, this is called the particular judgment: the second, when, on the same day, and in the same place, all men shall stand together, before the tribunal of their judge, that, in the presence and hearing of a congregated world, each may know his final doom: an announcement which will constitute no small part of the pain and punishment of the wicked, and of the remuneration and rewards of the just; when the tenor of each man's life shall appear in its true colours. This is called the general judgment; and it becomes an indispensable duty of the pastor to show why, besides the particular judgment of each individual, a general one should also be passed upon the assembled world. The first reason is founded on circumstances that must augment the rewards or aggravate the punishments of the dead. Those who depart this life sometimes leave behind them children who imitate the conduct of their parents, dependants, followers; and others who admire and advocate the example, the language, the conduct of those on whom they depend, and whose example they follow; and as the good or bad influence of example, affecting as it does, the conduct of many, is to terminate only with this world; justice demands that, in order to form a proper estimate of the good or bad actions of all, a general judgment should take place.
Moreover, as the character of the virtuous frequently suffers from misrepresentation, whilst that of the wicked obtains the commendation of virtue; the justice of God demands that the former recover, in the presence and with the suffrage of a congregated world, the good name of which they had been unjustly deprived before men.
Again, as the good and the bad perform their good and bad actions not without the co-operation of the body, these actions are common to the body as their instrument; and the body, there fore, should participate with the soul in the eternal rewards of virtue, or the everlasting punishments of vice; and this can only be accomplished by means of a general resurrection and of a general judgment.
Finally, it was important to prove, that in prosperity and adversity, which are sometimes the promiscuous lot of the good and of the bad, everything is ordered by an all-wise, all-just, and all-ruling Providence: it was therefore, necessary not only, that rewards and punishments should await us in the next life; but that they should be awarded by a public and general judgment; that thus they may be better known and rendered more conspicuous to all; and that, in atonement for the querulous murmurings, to which, on seeing the wicked abound in wealth and flourish in honours, even the Saints themselves, as men, have
