vancement alone; who cares not what becomes of his neighbor or of the whole world, so that he himself gets on, and gains riches or power or pleasure, or whatever else it may be that he seeks? Is he not at heart a demon—an evil spirit? For is he not precisely opposite, in his essential character, to God and to the angels? and is not the opposite of good, evil,—and the opposite of essential good, essential evil? Then, when such a man comes to die, that is, to throw off the material body, and appear in his spirit, where else can he go than amongst his like, that is amongst the evil? Hence is the ground of the Lord's condemnation of such: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was an hungered and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I was a stranger and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick and in prison, and ye visited me not."
This may seem a hard test to try ourselves by; but nevertheless it is the true test; for, as above declared by our Lord Himself, the Judge, it is what will be the test at our judgment. If we have love to the Lord and our neighbor in our hearts, we shall go to the right, amongst the good: if we are found without love, wrapped up in our own selfishness, we shall go to the left amongst the evil: for there is no place for such in heaven.
Applying this Divine test, we may now see more clearly why this is called, as it truly is, at this day—"a wicked world:" it is such, because it is a selfish world; because the great mass of mankind, at the present day, are wrapped up in profound selfishness, pursuing their own narrow ends, without regard to the
