Precisely so will it be in the moral world, and with reference to the holiness of God.  That man who simply neglects to prepare himself to see a holy God, though he never denies that there is such a Being, will find the vision just as unendurable to him, as it is to the most determined of earthly skeptics.  So far as the final result in the other world is concerned, it matters little whether a man adds unbelief to his carelessness, or not.  The carelessness will ruin his soul, whether with or without skepticism.  Orthodoxy is valuable only as it inspires the hope that it will end in timely and practical attention to the concerns of the soul.  But if you show me a man who you infallibly know will go through life careless and indifferent, I will show you a man who will not be prepared to meet God face to face, even though his theology be as accurate as that of St. Paul himself.  Nay, we have seen that there is a time coming when all skeptics will become believers like the devils themselves, and will tremble at the ocular demonstration of truths which they have heretofore denied.  Theoretical unbelief must be a temporary affair in every man; for it can last only until he dies.  Death will make all the world theoretically orthodox, and bring them all to one and the same creed.  But death will not bring them all to one and the same happy experience of the truth, and lave of the creed.  For those who have made preparation for the vision of God and the ocular demonstration of Divine truth, these will rise upon their view with a blessed and glorious light.  But for those who have remained sinful and careless, these eternal truths and facts will be a vision of terror and despair.  They will not alter.  No man will find any place of repentance in them, though, like Esau, he seek it carefully and with tears.

3.  In the third place, this subject shows that only faith in Christ and a new heart can protect the soul from future misery.  The nature and character of God cannot be altered, and therefore the change must be wrought in man’s soul.  The disposition and affections of the heart must be brought into such sweet sympathy and harmony with God’s holiness, that when in the next world that holiness shall be revealed as it is to the seraphim, it will fall in upon the soul like the rays of a vernal sun, starting every thing into cheerful life and joy.  If the Divine holiness does not make this impression, it produces exactly the contrary effect.  If the sun’s rays do not start the bud in the spring, they kill it.  If the vision of a holy God is not our heaven, then it must be our hell.  Look then directly into your heart, and tell us which is the impression for you.  Can you say with David, “We give thanks and rejoice, at the remembrance of Thy holiness?” Are you glad that there is such a pure and immaculate Being upon the throne, and when His excellence abashes you, and rebukes your corruption and sin, do you say, “Let the righteous One smite me, it shall be a kindness?” Do you