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 persons with God, they will be but as a heap of cinders, which are equally hideous, though some may be the ashes of costly articles, others of vile materials. One alone distinguishing mark will be left, the love of the Cross, by which to judge them. III. By the Cross will the saints be recognized, as in Ezekiel ix. the prophet saw in vision the destruction of the last day, when God’s command was, _Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark Tau_. This Tau, Deza observes, is the Cross, the mark on the brow by which the faithful shall be known. Tau is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and it is the last sign which shall appear in Heaven. The preacher then goes through the list of those slain, old and young, maids, and little children, and women, and shows how that wisdom of grey hairs, or innocency of childhood, or purity of virgins, are of no avail to stand the fire of trial unless the Cross be the source of those graces. The Cross is the banner of the King in His army on earth. It is the tree of life in the Paradise of His Church. IV. The Cross, as sign of safety to some and of destruction to others, was prefigured in the Old Testament— α. By the rod of Moses, which opened the sea for the passage of the Israelites, and which brought it back again to overwhelm the Egyptians. β. By the ark of Noah. γ. By the blood-marks on the lintel and door-post when the destroying angel passed through Egypt. V. A contrast is drawn between St. Peter and the penitent thief. The former feared the Cross, and when our Lord spoke of His approaching crucifixion, the Apostle said, _Be it far from Thee_; and was therefore suffered to fall. But the thief who sought Christ through the Cross found acceptance. VI. Deza shows that people may now become enemies of the Cross of Christ— α. By gluttony and drunkenness. β. By debauchery and frivolity. γ. By injustice and dishonesty. δ. By falsehood and calumnies. ε. By hypocrisy. He draws a very solemn and awful picture of the dawning of the great day, and the flashing of the sign of the Son of Man upon the enemies of the Cross of Christ, and then—