JUDGMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 88, 15 April 1899, Page 7 (Supplement)

JUDGMENT.

(By the Late Canox Bates.)

Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will jud^e the woria in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.—Acts xvil.

These are the closing words of S. Paul's sermon to the men of Athens. He was on his way to Corinth, buthad stopped at Athens that some of his party might come up with him, and his spirit was moved because as he went about the city he saw everywhere the monuments *of idolatry. One special altar attracted his notice. It bore the inscription, "to the unknown God." This inscription he made- the text of his speech when he was brought, before the* Areopagus, and called upon to account for his public teaching. He found at Athens a highly intellectual and cultured people, whose whole time and attention "were taken up with discussion. They were ready to converse upon every kind of subject, and were always desirous of some new topic for conversation. It was little wonder, therefore, that they eagerly seized the subject of Jesus and the resurrection which was the burden of Paul's preaching. They wanted to understand the new teaching, and Paul was not tinwilling to bear his testimony. He was speaking to men who did not believe, not to bcliev-ers who might require further information, further instruction. He was not speaking to those whose hearts it was necessary to move; he was addressing outsiders, and the topics which he chose were such as were likely to touch their consciences if they had consciences at all. He did not plunge into deep or difficult doctrine*; there was nothing very mysterioTis in what he had to say. He declared that Jesus Chris* had risen from the dead, that He was the appointed judge of all mankind, and that judgment would surely come. In other words Paul's appeal was to that inner sense which is at the bottom of man's spiritual being —the sense that right must eventually triumph, that whatsoever is evil will be put down in the presence, of good, and that those who join themselves to evil will inevitably find that they have made a fatal mistake. That is the idea which underlies S. Paul's discourse.

He appeals to men's consciences, to that which is so strong- and powerful in the soul of every man. We cannot get rid of it even when we have lost all faith. A voice which we cannot refuse to hear is for ever declaring that the triumph of right over wrong is absolutely sure. Men who have lived pnofiigate lives, and men who have lived careless self-indulgent lives cannot banish from their minds the fear that all is not right wifh them. And. when men begin to reflect; when they see what a power this whispeu is in the world, how it moves men against their wills and inclinations — there must arise the question, "How does this voice come here?" "Why is it so persistent?" How is it that it cannot be satisfied?"

There have been ages of practical unbelief; when men have been given up to careless living, when the utterances of the human conscience seemed to be stifled. Yet all history testifies that the voice was never altogether silent —it had the power to make itself heard and mankind could not ignore it. The progress in civilisation which is our boast—the progress in the knowledge, and mastery of nature's secrets which is thought by some to promise deliverance from all religious beliefs —does not after all do what was expected. Religious convictions do but grow stHonger. Civilised races as compared with savage races make progTess in religious faith as in other matters. It is in the civilised portion of mankind much more than in the. uncivilised, that such truths as were spoken by Paul hold their highest place. The. instinct which tells that all our actions, words, and thoughts are subject to an unerring moral judgment, cannot be. destroyed. It has in it the power of an endless life. Christ Himself came to declare that judgment was. sure, and that He Himself was to be .the judge. He came to confirm t-liat secret voice telling of a judgment to come. We are capable of judging all that we do and say, and think and feel; judg-ing of the purpose of our own lives; judging1 of the fulfilment of tlrat purpose in our conduct. And no other pain can be compared to the pain which' belongs to remorse for wrong; and no pleasure or enjoyment can equal the peace of a good conscience. We may value other pleasures and find them more attractive, but they cannot be confounded with those which spring from a sense of peace with God. S. Paul in the text speaks of a judgment according to righteousness, and our own experience and the experience 'of the race confirm the expectation of such a judgment. What preparation then are we making for this judgment? By what law are we living? The New Testament lays down for us a moral law which is marked distinctly by certain great characteristics. Now a special characteristic of Chris Wan morality is self-sacrifice, for the sake of others, for the sake of duty. Christ was Himself the, great example, of selfsacrifice. His teaclting lays the greatest stress on self-sacrifice. Even when men do not practise self-sacri-fice they are constrained to admire and respect it. For self-sacrifice men are honoured and deserve the honour. Is not this a striking proof of the reality of that inner voice of right which is often so different from men's lives and actions? Hence men applaud and involuntarily honour the self-sacrifice which they are at no pains to practise.- The man who sacrifices himself for others wins honour ,in the eyes of his fellows and raises' and purifies his own nature. I Next to self-sacrifice the New Testament teaches the duty of truthfulness. , Throughout S. John's Gospel the one dominant exhortation is to do the truth, to speak the truth, to live the truth, to be set free by the truthtruth in word and deed—truth in our purposes and belief. How much is implied in the v*ord, "be true!" The man who is always true and .trust-.

worthy—the man who has" no concealment in him and no hypocrisy;1 the man who can be "always depended upon to do what he has said and to live by the principles he has declared; who is not false for self-interest, or to g-ain some end; the man who is true and always true. When we meet such. a man, do we not feel a reverence for him, and does not that feeling prove that this truth is a fundamental principle of the laws of God ?

Lastly, there is the law of purity. Purity grants us the rision Df the Holy God. The pure in heart shall see God. Purity is the crown and glory of all that is noble and most excellent in human life.

These are plain, elementary principles of Christian duty. The\- mustenter into our lives and be cherished by us if we would prepare ourselves for the judgment of Him who shall judge the world in righteousness,; We must expect to meet with temptations and difficulties, but we need not be overcome by them. With us is One "who is strong to save and whoso strength cannot fail."