Now and Then | AdventAI

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 12, 1856

Now and Then.

NOTHING is more certain to come than the day when "every one of us shall give an account of himself to God." Seeing that "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ," it is surely important to inquire, "What are my prospects, and what are likely to be my feelings on that great day?" Is there any hope of standing there with confidence? Shall I stand trembling and astonished, or is there any way of being calm, bold, joyous, and self-possessed?

The beloved disciple of the Lord Jesus has said for himself, and in the name of those generally who know the Lord Jesus, and "love his appearing," that "we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world." "The hearers of the Lord" are "bold" now, but the lovers of the Lord are the only persons who shall be possessed of boldness then. Those who despise the love of God, are now proud, haughty and full of boldness, but in the day of judgment they will appear altogether crestfallen, ashamed, confounded and filled with terror. Few of earth's great, rich, martial, and mighty men tremble at the presence of the Lord now, but it will be very different then; for we read that "the kings of the

earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man," shall hide "themselves in the dens and rocks of the mountains," and shall be found crying to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand." —Boston Mess.