"his mighty angels-with the voice of the arch-angel, "and the trump of God." His transfiguration was an emblem of the power and grandeur of his fecond coming. "He will come in the fame manner as he "was feen go into heaven." At his ascension, “a "cloud received him out of the fight" of the wondering disciples-meaning angels by the cloud. These are his chariots. "The chariots of God are thou"fands of angels. Thou haft afcended on high, and "received gifts for men." Thus he was feen go into heaven; and thus he will come to judgment." All "the angels worship him: They are all his miniftering fpirits. He will come in his own glory, and in the "glory of his Father, with the holy angels."

The throne of judgment, as we learn from St. Paul, will be fixed in the air. John defcribes it as d great white throne; and obferves that from the face of him who fat upon it, the earth and the heaven fled away. "He fhall fend forth his angels, with a great found of "a trumpet, and they fall gather all nations before "him"-all that have been buried in the earth or fea, and all who fhall be found live at his coming. Thefe laft "fhall be changed in the twinkling of an eye; and "the dead fhall be raised incorruptible," when the trumpet fhall found. The dead in Chrift fhall rife before the living faints afcend. Then the raifed and the living" fhall be caught up together in the clouds, to meet the Lord." Angelic hofts, who guarded them through life, will convoy them to his throne. '

The Son of man will not come, as the Jews fuppofed, to prefide over them, and fübject all other nations to them. No difference of any one nation from another will then be known. Mankind will stand, not in a national, but in their individual capacity in that day. The governments of the world and the frame of nature will be diffolved. "The heavens fhall pafs away with a great noife, the elements melt with

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"fervent heat, the earth also and the works therein "be burnt up. The heavens and earth which now are, are referved unto fire against the day of judg"ment and perdition of ungodly men.' To this day, the prophet Daniel may allude, (chap. vii. 9, 10, 13, 14,) "I beheld till the thrones were caft down, " and the Ancient of days did fit, whofe garment was "white as fnow, and the hair of his head like the

pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and "his wheels as burning fire. A burning stream issu"ed, and came forth from before him."

St. Matthew has inftructed us, that the righteous will be first judged. And it is fuppofed, that, having received the plaudit of the Judge, they may bear a ministering part in the judgment on the wicked. The faints fhall judge the world. Yea, they fhall judge rebel angels. The fame fentiment is favoured by thofe words, To him that overcometh will I grant to fit with me in my throne.

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We attempt not to describe the bleffedness of thofe in whom the Son of man "fhall come to be admired "and glorified"--to whom he shall fay, "Come, ye blef"fed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you." It is indefcribable:. The things prepared for them have not entered into the heart of man. They "fhall be like him, and fee him as he is." But what this vision and likeness denote, does not yet appear. not enough that they " fhall behold his face in righteoufnefs, and be fatisfied with his likeness ?" Among those who fhall appear with him in glory, the only emulation will be, who fhall admire, and love and extol him most. Their hearts and tongues being one, they will, with infinite hofts of angels, caft their crowns before the throne. The temple of God in heaven will eternally found with this triumphant fong from angels and faints, "Bleffing and honour, and "glory, and power be unto him who fitteth on the "throne, and unto the Lamb, forever and ever."

The sentence on the unbelieving and impenitent, which fhall be pronounced by the Son of man from his judgment-feat, will be, "Depart, ye curfed, into everlafting fire. These fhall go away into everlasting "punishment. The Lord Jefus fhall be revealed "from heaven-in flaming fire, taking vengeance on "them that know not God, and obey not the gofpel, "who fhall be punished with everlasting deftruction "from his prefence, and from the glory of his power."

If, as fome fuppofe, and as St. Peter may have intimated, (2. Eph. iii. 7.) the conflagration of the world will be the hell of the wicked, this may be confidered as a comment on fuch scripture emblems of the place and nature of their punishment as thefe-a furnace of fire-a lake burning with fire and brimstone-the worm dieth not-and the fire is not quenched-the smoke of their torment afcendeth for ever and ever. Whatever may be the import of this language, we may conclude that the punishment of the wicked will be beyond conception and remediless. Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every foul who perfifts in his trefpaffes. Lively remorfe and utter defpair are included in these words. Sometimes the pains of hell appear to have taken hold on prefumptuous finners in this world, in fuch horrours of conscience as the son of perdition experienced, reflecting on his having betrayed innocent blood-even the blood of his Mafter, the Prince of life. Our God is a confuming fire. He can kindle an hell in the breast of finners. Often have they presaged the day of the Lamb's wrath, when they who derided him fhall "cry to the rocks to fall 66 on them, and to the mountains to cover them from "the face of" the Judge on the throne. "Behold, "the Lord cometh with thousands of his faints, to ex"ecute judgment upon the ungodly."

Do you afk, When will he come to render a reward to his fervants, and to punish those who hate him, and

fay, "We will not have this man to reign over us?" The anfwer is in his own words; "Of that day and "hour knoweth no man, no not the angels of God, "nor the Son, but the Father." All the information we have as to the time of judgment, is, that it will be at the end of the world. "The heavens muft receive "him until the times of the reftitution of all things, which "God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy pro"phets fince the world began." The things ftill to be accomplished before the fecond coming of Christ will all be fulfilled in their feafon. Not one fhall fail. But "the Father hath kept the times and feasons in his "own power. With him one day and a thousand

years" are alike. The period affigned to the reign of antichrift and to the Mahometan imposture has not expired. Events fince the reformation, and fome very recent ones, appear ftrongly to indicate that the former may be haftening to a close. The ten kings, who with one mind gave their power to the beast, have fome of them fallen off; and all of them have concurred to reduce his power and authority. Indeed, his temporal power is reduced to a fhadow, and that even in Rome itself. The power which first placed him on a temporal throne, hath been first to ftrip him of it. This power has, at the fame time, made war with the Lamb. What will be the end of the wonders of the present day, it is impoffible to forefee. The European kingdoms appear to be in the midst of the vial full of war and bloodshed, foretold to precede the final and utter fall of mystical Babylon-to precede the first refurrection and the new heavens and new earth.-The Mahometan impofture ftill exifts in full ftrength in Europe and Afia. The Jews are not restored from their difperfion; nor do exifting events bear any im, mediate aspect on their speedy return. We are taught to expect a glorious prevalence of religion for a thoufand years before the laft judgment-that "the king

¶ dom and dominion, and the greatness of the king"dom under the whole heaven fhall be given to the "people of the faints of the MOST HIGH." In the view of prophecy on these various fubjects, it cannot be prefumed that the coming of Chrift to judge the world is very near. The only opportunity we have to prepare for his coming is, however, very fhort. The day of death can be at no great distance. No one who reflects that man's probation may be very speedily closed, will poftpone the great bufinefs of it a year or a day.

How widely different will the coming of the Son of man, with authority to execute judgment, be from his firft coming? Then he appeared in a state of abafement. Then the Son of man had not where to lay his head. He was defpifed and abhorred, and loaded with every opprobrium; he was arraigned and condemned as the vileft malefactor, and suffered the moft infamous and cruel death. The powers of earth, in league with thofe of hell, exhibited him as a spectacle of wretchedness. There was no forrow like his. He was made perfect through fufferings for our fakes. He could have commanded legions of angels to his rescue. With a word he could have deftroyed all his foes. But it behoved him thus to suffer, in fufillment of his own and his Father's love to a guilty world. When he fhall come again, he will be arrayed in majefty as univerfal Judge. None will be feen to put on him a fcarlet robe and crown of thorns-to bow the knee in derifion-to fcourge and buffet him-to pierce his hands and his feet to thrust him with a fpear. No fcoffer will appear to mock him. Among his bittereft enemies, not one will be able to endure the day of his coming. All will be covered with fhame, and fhudder to lift up an eye to their Judge. All will be brought and flain before him. His "divine effence will "then be fo vifsibly prevalent and confpicuous, that "his human nature will feem as it were abforbed in

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