To be near unto God - pagina 286

to think of anything save God. That day is the day of judgment. In the representation of this day of judgment art has done much harm. As art it could not do otherwise than work with the representation. For this it borrowed its material and image from an earthly court of justice, with the millions and the millions that have ever lived on earth as defendants before God's holy tribunal. It could not do this otherwise, and this has been done in a masterful way by more than one pencil or pen. It should not be forgotten however, that it is the outward representation of what is chiefly of a And the spiritual act in spiritual significance. judgment can not be pictured. So that when infidelity came in, which denies the judgment. it made use of the outward representation, by which to turn the matter itself into ridicule, and to show its impossibility. Where would there be room for these millions and millions of people to stand? How much time would it take to give ench individual a hearing, even to the particulars It is said to be a of every word and thought? day, and for every family it would require more

than a year.

Our confession struck a truer note, when in view of the spiritual nature of the judgment, it spoke of it as the opening of the books of conscience. With this understanding of it, the judgment is a review, in one clear vision, of the whole life; an immediate sight of totals, where before we only reckoned with the unpaid accounts of each moment. The judgment is a settling of accounts.

What we owe God, and what 278

is

our due fo- deeds

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