I. The love of the Cross is the characteristic of the elect; whilst the hatred of the Cross is the sign of the reprobate.
α. The Lord knoweth those that are His—by their love of His Cross of suffering. If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
β. But the wicked are called the enemies of the Cross of Christ, whose end is destruction.
The day will come, the great and terrible day of the Lord, when He will call the heavens from above, and the earth, that He may judge His people; when the Cross, the sign of the Son of Man, will appear in the clouds of Heaven.
II. Then God will judge the world with fire, and the Cross alone will be the standard by which all will be tried.
God will judge the world with fire.—How with fire? When a palace is destroyed by the flames, every thing in it is reduced to cinder; the rags of the beggar, the gorgeous robes of the prince, the statue of the king, and the image of the ape. So every man will be tried with fire, and all difference between man and man as now existing will be rendered indistinguishable. King and subject, master and slave, will stand shivering in nakedness beside each other; there is no respect of per-
