Here the word stands before us in a form of awful solemnity. If on the one hand it be true that _salvation_ is ready to be revealed for the everlasting joy of God's redeemed, it is equally true on the other hand that _judgment_ is ready to take its course, for the everlasting misery of those who neglect God's proffered salvation.[3] The one is as true, and as pointed, and as forcible, as the other. There is nothing to wait for in respect to the judgment, any more than there is in respect to the salvation. The one is as "_ready_" as the other. God has gone to the utmost in demonstrating His grace; and man has gone to the utmost in demonstrating his guilt. Both have reached their climax in the death of Christ; and when we see Him crowned with glory and seated on the throne, we have the most powerful evidence that could possibly be afforded that nothing remains but for salvation to be revealed on the one hand, and for judgment to take its course on the other. [3] As regards the solemn subject of eternal punishment, we shall just refer the reader to three passages of Scripture which establish the truth of it beyond all question: Mark ix. 43-48, the fire is _unquenchable_, and the worm _never dies_; Luke xvi. 26, the great gulf is _fixed_; John iii. 36, the wrath of God _abideth_. Hence it follows that man is no longer under probation. It is a grand mistake for any one to think so. It falsifies man's entire position and state. If I am under probation; if God is still testing me; if He is even now occupied in testing whether I am good for aught; if I am capable of producing any fruit for Him--if this be indeed the case, then it is not and cannot be true that "He is _ready_ to judge." Nature is not ripe for judgment so long as a probationary process is pending, if there is yet something to wait for ere judgment can take its course. But no, reader; we feel bound to press upon you the fact that the period of your probation is over forever, and the period of God's long-suffering is nearly run out. It is of the utmost importance to seize this truth. It lies at the very foundation of the sinner's position. Judgment is actually impending. It is "ready" at this moment to fall upon the head of the unrepentant--the reader of these lines, should he be one of them. The entire history of human nature--of man, of the world--has been wound up and closed forever. The cross of Christ has made perfectly manifest the guilt and ruin of the human race. It has put an end to man's probationary season; and from that solemn hour until now the true position of the world as a whole, and of each individual sinner--man, woman, and child--has been that of a culprit tried, found guilty, and condemned, but the sentence not executed. This is the present awful position of the unconverted, unbelieving reader.