Reader!
(Matthew Mead, "The Almost Christian")
"God has set a day on which He is going to judge the world in
righteousness." Acts 17:31
Reader! Meditate much on the strictness
and suddenness of that judgment-day, through which you
must pass, into your everlasting state; wherein God, the impartial
judge, will require an exact account at your hands of all your talents
and blessings. You must then account . . .
for time—how you have spent
that;
for estate—how you have employed
that;
for strength—how you have laid
out that;
for afflictions and mercies—how they have been
improved;
for the duties—how they have been discharged;
and for means of grace—how they have been improved.
Look! how we have sowed here on earth—we shall reap for eternity!
Reader, these are things which above all others, deserve most of, and
call loudest for—our utmost care and endeavors; though they are least
minded, by most people.
Consider what a spirit of atheism (if we may judge the tree
by the fruits—and the principle by the practice)
the hearts of most men are filled with, who live, as if
God were not to be served,
nor Christ to be sought,
nor lust to be mortified,
nor self to be denied,
nor the Scripture to be believed,
nor the judgment-day to be minded,
nor hell to be feared,
nor heaven to be desired,
nor the soul to be valued;
but give up themselves to a worse than brutish sensuality, "Having lost
all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to
indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more!"
(Ephesians 4:19). This is a reflection fit enough to break our hearts!
"Know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment!"
Ecclesiastes 11:9
"Remember, each of us will stand personally before the judgment
seat of God!" Romans 14:10
"Don't be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he
will also reap!" Galatians 6:7