JUDGMENT DAY.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 463, 16 April 1890, Page 6

JUDGMENT DAY.

THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. MR VARLEY’S ANSWER TO AN IMPORTANT QUESTION. Auckland, April 9. Mr Henry Varley was asked in the course of his evangelistic meeting held at the Y.M.C.A. lecture hall last evening, to state what was the meaning of the expression “sbeep and goats,” as contained in the 25th chapter of Matthew, the passage being as follows : “ When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall Hecitupon the throne of His glory. And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd dividebh the sheep from the goats : And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.” Mr Yarley said : “ You will see that Christ’s judgment is upon the living nations when Ho comes to the earth. If you notice the whole judgment, you will see that it turns upon the treatment of the Son of Man :—“ I was an hungered,-and ye gave me meat; 1 was thirsty, and ye gave me drink ; I was a stranger and ye took me in ; naked, and ye clothed me ; I was sick and ye visited me ; I was in prisonandyecameuntome,”and “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me.” You could not put the heathen in that judgment because they have not heard of the Christ. And there is no resurrection of the dead in the 25th of Matthew. “ When the Son of Man shall come in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sib on the throne of His glory,’’ etc. There is nob a word about the resurrection of the dead, nota word about the sea and the grave giving up the dead that are in them, lb is a judgment of living people only, and is nob bo be confounded wibh the judgment of the Great White Throne at the Millennium. There are three judgments under that view—* the judgment seat of Christ, which is nob penal, where we must appear to give an account of deeds done in the body. It is for Christ’s people only, and for reward, and for some of those to have their works tried by fire. The second judgment, which is referred to in the 25th Matthew—this is for Christendom—for the Gentile nations that have heard the Gospel, mostly for professing Christendom. We do not believe that when the Lord comes he comes in judgment upon the people of China or upon those races that are in Egyptian darkness, as the races of South Africa. These have noo heard of His fame, they have not seen His glory, and they will form part of the sphere where He shall revisit the earth, where he comes to justify His glory amongst the nations sitting in darkness.' I think it is a serious thing to reflect that eleven millions of the people in the world are sitting in darkness ; that instead of the Christian Church overtaking heathenism, heathenism is overtaking the Church.” Mr Yarley was here asked to answer the query : When does this judgment of the nations take place ? He replied as follows : —“ He comes with His people to the earth at the beginning of the Millennium age. Judgment ushers in the Millennium, judgment closes it. That is the final judgment, when the devil is ca-t into the lake of fire and when the wicked shall go to the same torrible place. I believe it is impossible to get away from the logical position of everlasting punishment. You see, when you get into eternity you will be just the same man that you are to-night. You will not stop your activity; you will be a much freer agent out of the ' body than you are in it. The rich man in hell did not cease to sin. Indeed, he saw a better way of saving his brothers than God did, and in a way contrary to God. If you think that when you leave the body you are going to get rid of your lustful, drunken, covetous propensities, you will believe a lie. There will be the fire of covetousness, bub it will not be satisfied ; the fire of lust, bub no means of gratification ; selffshness, but no splendid wines to sib down to or any magnificently-furnished house. It is a terrible thing to go into eternity to reap the fruitage of life here. I bell you I would not stand in the position of some men that I know in the world—take for example the clever man who denied the existence of God, and who published books for the purpose of circulating this doctrine amongst his fellowmen., Very likely he is in eternity now, bub his books are still in circulation, and thousands have had unbelief instilled into their minds by the writings of that man. He is bound to reap the harvest of it. It is nob because he has gone into another world that he is going to cease reaping the harvest. Hero is a man leaves Auckland. He has invested a thousland pounds in the establishment of drinking houses—be careful, I say, what you set in motion, for you never know when you can stop it. Do you nob think that man will reap the harvest which he has sowed ? Paul set his glorious epistles in circulation, and he is new reaping the harvest of it. *Be sure your sins will find you out.’ You and I are face to face with the fact that hosts of men in this world escape moral punishment. They pay to no law for their sin in the world, and we are also face to face with the truth that they are bound to be dealt with in the judgment to come in eternity, and there is not one of them. will escape it. I believe St. Paul has a circle of friends in heaven next to that of the Lord Jesus Christ, for, just as’ a man like Rothschild may become—he has risen above his fellows Paul is to-night one of the richest in greatness of intellect, and in the power which will pertain to the princes of God. If there was no hell at all, the war between men who have destroyed one another would be terrible. I would nob have the heritage of a wicked man in the world to come for all my human life. People dare nob live as they do if they only looked the facts in the face.” Mr Varley concluded by asserting that he spoke entirely by the Book, for the more he studied and the more he understood the Bible, the more he could defend it, and its principles were as true as a straight line.