Holy Scripture has made most important revelations to us about the General Judgment at the end of the world. It frequently repeats that God is a judge, and that He will come to judge the world, its good and its evil together. "Know ye that there is a judgment" (Job xix. 29). "Behold the Lord cometh with thousands of His saints to execute judgment upon all, and to reprove the ungodly for all the works of their ungodliness . . . and all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against God" (Jude, 14, 15). "God shall judge both the just and the wicked, and then shall be the time of everything" (Eccles. iii. 17). The thought of this should always be kept in mind, as an encouragement in doing good and a restraint upon sin, for comfort in tribulations, and for the better understanding of the ways of Providence. Men forget that every deliberate word, thought and action has its full effect, that the effect includes responsibility, and that this means judgment: and so an important restraint is removed. "Because sentence is not speedily pronounced against the evil, the children of men commit evils without any fear" (Eccles. viii. 11). Recall this thought frequently, and let it exercise a continual influence on your life.
