To God the Judge of all" have we come (Heb. I 12:23). This is a wholesome way to think of God, and to know that "the Judge of all the earth " will do right. This is immense rest to the soul, and settles a thousand and one questions that fill the minds of men to-day. "God is judge Himself" (Ps. 50:6). Into no other hand will He allow it to pass. " He is the Rock, His work is perfect:for all His ways are judgment:a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He" (Deut. 32:4).

All along God has asserted Himself in an unmistakable way as the "Judge of all the earth." The angels that rebelled have realized the same awful fact, and their abode in the lake of fire will demonstrate its awful verity, as we are taught in Jude 6 and Rev. 20:1-3, 10.

The prophetic books of the Old Testament are full of His judgments. Man himself, driven forth from the garden of Eden, was an expression of that judgment. The flood in the days of Noah, and the blotting out of Sodom and Gomorrah, demonstrate the same. The destruction of the Assyrian, Babylonian, Grecian, Roman, and other empires, as well as cities in detail, declare that God is Judge Himself, and has not given up His claim as such, however much man may have forgotten Him. And in our own time what proofs we have of this! Who can deny that the earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tidal waves, that have swept away their thousands, are the judgments of the Lord, though brought about in what may be called a natural way ? Could not He who permitted them have restrained them, if they had not been sent as expressions of His judgments ? And still yet more terrible will be His future judgments, for He will "arise to shake terribly the earth." He will yet assert His claim as the "God of the earth"; and those who dispute His claim will be made to realize the terribleness of His judgments. The judgment of the living nations, as set forth in Matt. 25 :31-46; Rev. 19 :11-16; and lastly, the judgment of the wicked dead in Rev. 20:11-15, shows what that judgment will be, and the inflexibility of the holiness of Him who will execute that judgment. "The Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God, that is holy, shall be sanctified in righteousness" (Isa. 5:16).

Thank God, the true believer "will not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life " (John 5:24); that judgment having been borne by his divine Substitute, who will soon come and take His people to the Father's house, to be forever with the Lord (John 14:1-3; i Thess. 4:15-18). Yet, notwithstanding this, He will enter into the judgment of their ways, and reward them accordingly. "Every man's work shall be tried by fire " declares that fact. "If a man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If a man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss:but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire " (i Cor. 3:13 -15). There are also the crown of life (Rev. a:10), the crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:8); the crown of glory (i Pet. 5:1-4), given as rewards for special service and suffering here. There are also rewards spoken of for the overcomer in Rev. 2:7, u, 17, 26, 27; 3:5, 10, 12, 21. Also, Matt. 25:19-23 ; 2 Cor. 4:5. How, then, we should endeavor, that whether present or absent, we may be agreeable to Him in our ways, for in that day all will be manifest, and a righteous Lord will judge according to His unerring wisdom, and then each shall receive His praise of God. Blessed will it be "in that day" to get from His own lips the "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things:enter thou into the joy of thy lord " (Matt. 25:23).

Thus, while salvation is by grace through faith, and not of works, lest any should boast; yet rewards, and places in the kingdom, when our Lord reigns, will be according to the measure of our devotedness here. The Lord, the righteous Judge, will see to it that every act of devotedness, every expression of self-surrender, every bit of service, prompted by love to Him, shall meet its reward in the day of His manifestation and glory. Everything then should be looked at in the light of the day of manifestation, when the fire will try every man's work, of what sort it is, and the Lord's judgment alone will prevail. May our service be to Him, and in the light of that day when the secret counsels of the heart shall be manifested and each shall receive his praise of God! E. A.