66 As the latter will augment the terror of the wicked, so the former will increase the joy of the righteous. "The righteous shall rejoice, when he seeth the venge"ance." Eternity is attributed to each; on the one side, an eternity of punishment; on the other, an eternity of life, which is truly life. The punishment will not only include the punishment of loss, but also of sense; for they shall " depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." The life will consist in the most perfect knowledge, love, and fruition of God, and in the joy arising from these. Both will be eternal; the one, without hope of intermission or abatement; the other, without fear of loss.50 66 cence. 66 XXXV. The Circumstances to be considered, are those of PLACE and TIME. The PLACE is generally designated by the air and the clouds.P And why is the judgment to be transacted there? 1st, That place, being exposed to the view all, will form a spacious amphitheatre for the display of the Divine magnifi"Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him." 2dly, The clouds are more than once represented as God's royal throne, and the chariot in which he rides. Christ, therefore, when he comes in the clouds, will demonstrate, by that very circumstance, that he is the Lord of glory ;-of which glory there was a prelude at his transfiguration, when" a bright cloud overshadowed him." 3dly, The Son of God came in a cloud when he published the law." Mat. xxv. 41. Comp. Rev. xiv. 11. xx. 10. ¶ Rev. i. 7. Mat. xxvi. 64. u Exod. xix. 9. 50 See NOTE L. What then more fit and proper than that he should come again in a cloud, when he shall appear to pronounce sentence according to that law? XXXVI. Not satisfied with this general designation of the place, human curiosity inquires farther, in what region of the earth all mankind are to be assembled for the last judgment, and presumes to point out as the spot chosen for that purpose, the valley of Jehoshaphat, which mount Olivet overhangs, whence our Lord ascended into heaven. The Papists have borrowed this conceit from the Jews, whose account of the matter they have somewhat embellished. The foundation of this opinion is the following prophecy of Joel: "I will "also gather all nations, and will bring them down "into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with "them there." And again: "Let the heathen be 66 66 wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; "for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round "about."w To this Christophorus a Castro adds the words of the angels to the disciples: "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so "come in like manner as ye have seen him go into "heaven." But Cornelius a Lapide appeals also to reason, and alleges it is just that Christ should display the majesty of his glory in the same place where he sustained the greatest ignominy, and judge on the very spot where himself was judged. XXXVII. But none of these arguments is well-founded. To begin with the reasoning of Cornelius;-although it is our duty to attend to the procedure of Divine wisdom, so far as she unveils to us her counsels, in adjusting all things in such a manner that the last correspond to the first, yet it is altogether contrary to that modesty which becomes us to feign for ourselves certain resemblances and correspondences, according to which the works of God are to be conducted. Unless there be sufficient evidence regarding the will of God, it is an instance of temerity on our part, to have recourse to reasons of that sort. But nothing respecting the will of God as to this matter, can be concluded from the passages alleged. The words of the Angels in the Acts refer unquestionably, not to the place, but to the manner, of the coming of Christ. XXXVIII. The inferences, deduced from the third Chapter of Joel, are also mere conjectures. 1st, It is uncertain whether the valley of Jehoshaphat be a proper name, or an appellative. The latter seems more consonant both to the subject, and to the enigmatic language of prophecy. 2dly, If it is allowed to be a proper name, it still remains uncertain, what part of the world is so called. Many think that this designation is given to the valley in which the enemies of Jehoshaphat perished, where Jehoshaphat himself blessed the Lord, and where he had said; "O our God, wilt "thou not judge them?" But that valley is called "the valley of Berachah," that is, of Blessing. Nowhere in Scripture, or in the writings of Geographers, is it denominated the valley of Jehoshaphat. It was situated too, it is certain, at a considerable distance from Jerusalem: for it was near the place where the overthrow of the enemies happened, that were assembled at Hazazon-tamar, which is Engedi, whither the Israelites went forth through the wilderness of Tekoa, which, according to Jerome, is twelve miles distant from Jerusalem; as likewise, after having obtained the victory, and rendered thanks to God, they began their march to return to Jerusalem. It is quite incredible then, that this valley is adjacent to Olivet. Others therefore imagine that it is a place betwixt Jerusalem and the mount of Olives, which might be called the valley of Jehoshaphat, either from the sepulchre of that King being situated in it; or from some of his buildings, suppose a triumphal arch, erected there to commemorate his victory. But this last suggestion of those writers is uncertain, and supported by no authority; and the former is utterly false; for Jehoshaphat was buried in the city of David,d not in any valley without the precincts of Jerusalem. Cornelius a Lapide, besides, has committed a prodigious blunder,* in maintaining that the valley of Jehoshaphat is the valley of Kidron, and at the same time asserting that it contains Gehenna, or the valley of the sons of Hinnom. The valley of Kidron, it is clear, was on the east of Jerusalem, betwixt the temple and Olivet; whilst the valley of the sons of Hinnom lay on the south. Wherever the valley of Jehoshaphat may be situated, and whatever may be the extent of the valley so called, it cannot be sufficient for the many thousands of myriads of mankind, that are to be summoned to judgment. As to the conjectures of Cornelius, that by means of levelling the places adjacent, that valley may be extended far and wide;-and then that the reprobate only are to be gathered together on the earth, and Error Tartessia muræna grandior. b Verse 20. ◄ 2 Chron. xxi. 1. © Verse 27. e Josh. xv. 8. 3dly, the saints to be assembled not on the earth, but in a more elevated region and nearer the Judge, to wit, in the air; where they are to sit together as in an aerial scaffold, some higher and others lower according to their merits, these are the dreams of men disordered by a fever, or the ravings of madmen, not the discoveries of the Gospel. XXXIX. But what is of the greatest weight, the passage in Joel referred to, doth not relate to the last judgment. To omit other arguments, the truth of this assertion is evident from the consideration, that the judgment spoken of by the Prophet, is succeeded by a description, which begins at the seventeenth verse, of the glorious state of the Church on earth. What then? This prophecy contains an account of some signal display of the Divine vengeance on the enemies of the New Testament Church, not unlike that which happened in the time of Jehoshaphat; for there is an allusion to that history, which may be thus explained. The Moabites, the Ammonites, and the children of mount Seir, undertook an expedition against Judea in the reign of Jehoshaphat, and came to the valley of Blessing, where, at the singing of the Israelites, as if struck with a kind of supernatural rage, they rushed against each other with mutual violence, and wounded and destroyed one another, so as clearly to manifest that Jehovah is the Judge, and the avenger of his people. God, in his adorable providence, is, in like manner, so to govern the affairs of the world, that nations which are in the vicinity of the Church, and somewhat connected with her in several respects, may take counsel against the Church which is separated from their communion, invade her boundaries, and reduce her to such extremities, that, like Jehoshaphat when he knew not |