Ministers of the Gospel at the Last Day.
By Dr. Griffin
"Soon we shall appear with our respective charges before the judgment seat of Christ. What a scene will then open between a pastor and his flock, when all his official conduct towards them shall be scrutinized, and all their treatment of him and his gospel shall be laid open; when it shall appear that an Omnipresent eye followed him into his study every time he sat down to write a sermon, and traced every line on his paper, and every motion of the heart; and followed him into the pulpit, and watched every kindling desire, every drowsy feeling, every wandering thought, every reach after fame. Ah, my dear brethren, when you hear on the right hand the songs of bursting praise that you ever had existence, and on the left hand, behold a company of wretched spirits, sending forth their loud lament that you had not warned them with a stronger voice, will you not regret that all your sermons were not more impassioned, and all your prayers more agonizing? But what is that I see? A horrid shape, more deeply scarred with thunder than the rest, around which a thousand dreadful beings with furious eyes and threatening gestures, are venting their raging curses! It is an unfaithful pastor, who went down to hell, with most of his congregation; and those around him are the wretched beings whom he has decoyed to death. My soul turns away, and cries, give me poverty, give me the curse of a wicked world, give me the martyr's stake, but, O, my God, save me from unfaithfulness to Thee, and to the souls of men."