with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Rev. i. 7. Behold he cometh with clouds; and every eye shalt see him, and they also which pierced him. And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Bear up your hearts ye mourners, and support your hopes with the promise of our Lord. Again, a little while and ye shall see me; John xvi. 17. shall see the Son of man sitting on the throne of his glory." Mat. xxv. 31. "Then shall your heart rejoice in his honours and in your own, and this joy no man taketh from you ;" John xvi. 19, 22. And while he repeats this promise with his last words in the bible, Surely, I come quickly, let every soul of us echo to the voice of our beloved, Amen, even so come, Lord Jesus.

DISCOURSE V.-The Wrath of the Lamb.

Rev. vi. 15, 16, 17.-And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond-man, and every free-man hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

WHEN some terrible judgment or execution of divine vengeance is denounced against an age or a nation, it is some. times described in the language of prophecy by a resemblance to the last and great judgment-day, when all mankind shall be called to account for their sins, and the just and final indignation of God shall be executed upon obstinate and unrepenting criminals. The discourse of our Saviour in the xxiv. chapter of Matthew, is an eminent example of this kind; where the destruction of the Jewish nation is predicted, together with the final judgment of the world, in such uniform language, and similar phrases of speech, that it is difficult to say, whether both these scenes of vengeance run through the whole discourse, er which part of the discourse belongs to the one, and which to the other. The same manner of prophecy appears in this text.

Learned interpreters suppose these words to foretel the universal consternation which was found amongst the heathen idolaters and persecutors of the church of Christ, when Constantine the first christian emperor, was raised to the throne of Rome, and became governor of the world. But whether they hit upon the proper application of this prophecy or not, yet still it is pretty evident that this scene of terror is borrowed from the last judgment, which will eminently appear to be the day of wrath, as it is called; Rom. ii. 5. It is the great day of divine indignation in so eminent a manner, that all the tremendous desolations of kingdoms and people, from the creation of the world to the consummation of all things shall be but as shadows of that day of terror and vengeance.

I shall therefore consider these words at present, as they contain a solemn representation of that last glorious and dreadful day; and here I shall enquire particularly.

I. Who are the persons whose aspect and appearance shall then be so dreadful to sinners.-11. How comes the wrath which discovers itself at that time to be so formidable; and,—III. How

vain will all the shifts and hopes of sinners be in that dreadful day to avoid the wrath and vengeance.

First, Who are the persons that appear clothed in so much terror?

Answer. It is he that sits upon the throne and the Lamb: It is God the Father of all, the great and almighty Creator, the supreme Lord and Governor of the world, and the Lamb of God, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ his Son, dwelling in human nature, to whom the judgment of the world is committed, and by whom the Father will introduce the terrible and the illustrious scenes of that day, and manage the important and eternal affairs of it. It is by these names that the apostle John, in this prophetical book, describes God the Father, and his Son Jesus; Rev. iv. 10. and v. 6-13.

If it be enquired why God the Father is described as the person sitting on the throne, this is plainly agreeable to the other representations of him throughout the scripture; where he is described as first and supreme in authority, as sitting on the throne of majesty on high, as denoting and commissioning the Lord Jesus, his well-beloved Son, to act for him, and as placing him on his throne to execute his works of mercy or vengeance. Rev. iii. 21. He that overcometh shall sit down with me on my throne, saith our Saviour, even as I have overcome, and am set down with the Father on his throne. John v. 22 27. The Father has committed all judgment into the hands of his Son. It is true, the godhead or divine essence is but one, and it is the same godhead which belongs to the Father, that dwells in the Son, and in this respect, "Christ and the Father are one, he is in the Father, and the Father in him; John x. 30, 38. yet the Father is constantly exhibited in scripture with peculiar characters of prime authority, and the Son is represented as receiving all from the Father; John v. 19, 20, 22, 26, 27.

If it be farther enquired, Why Christ is called the Lamb of God, I shall not pursue those many fine metaphors and similes, in which the wit and fancy of men have run a long course on this subject, but shall only mention these two things:

1. He is called the Lamb, from the innocence of his beha-, viour, the quietness and meekness of his disposition and conduct in the world. The character of Jesus among men was peaceful and harmless, and patient of injuries; when he was reviled, he reviled not again, but was led as a Lamb to the slaughter with submission and without revenge: This resemblance appears, and is set forth to view in several scriptures, wherein he is compared to this gentle creature; Acts viii. 32. 1 Pet. ii. 23.

2. IIe is called the Lamb, because he was appointed a sacri

fice for the sins of men; John i. 29. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. You were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb, without blemish, and without spot. It was a Lamb, that was ordained for the constant daily sacrifice amongst the Jews morning and evening, to typify the constant and everlasting influence of the atonement made by the death of Christ; Heb. x. 11, 12. It was a Lamb which was sacrificed at the passover, and on which the families of Israel feasted, to commemorate their redemption from the slavery of Egypt, and to typify Christ who is our passover, who was sacrificed for us, and for whose sake the destroying angel spares all that trust in him; 1 Cor. v. 7.

But will a Lamb discover such dreadful wrath? Has the Lamb of God such indignation in him? Can the meek, the compassionate, the merciful Son of God put on such terrible forms and appearances? Are his tender mercies vanished quite away, and will be renounce the kind aspect, and the gentle language of a Lamb, for ever?

To this I answer, that the various glories and offices of our blessed Lord require a variety of human metaphors and emblems to represent them. He was a Lamb, full of gentleness, meekness, and compassion, to invite and encourage sinful perishing creatures to accept of divine mercy: But he has now to deal with obstinate and rebellious criminals, who renounce his Father's mercy, and resist all the gentle methods of his own grace and salvation: And he is sent by the Father to punish those rebellions, but he is named the Lamb of God still, to put the rebels in mind, what gentleness and compassions they have affronted and abused, and to make it appear, that their guilt is utterly inexcusable. Let us remember, Christ is now a Lamb raised to the throne in heaven, and furnished and armed, with seven eyes, and seven horns; Rev. 4. 5, 6. with perfect knowledge and perfect power, to govern the world, to vindicate his own honour, and to avenge himself upon his impenitent and obstinate enemies. Here the Lamb will assume the name of the Lion of the tribe of Judah also, and he must act in different characters according to the persons he has to deal with.

The second general question which we are to consider is, "How comes the wrath of that great day to be so terrible?" İ answer, in general, because it is not only the wrath of God, but of the Lamb: It is the wrath that is manifested for the affronts of divine authority, and the abuse of divine mercy: It is wrath that is awakened by the contempt of the laws of God, written in the books of nature and scripture, and for the contempt of his love, revealed in the gospel by Jesus Christ. It is proper to observe here, that the wrath of God, and the wrath of the Lamb, are not to be conceived as exactly the same, for it is the

wrath of the Son of God, in his human nature exalted, as well as the displeasure of God the Father: It is the righteous and holy resentment of the man Jesus, awakened and let loose against rebellious creatures, that have broken all the rules of his Father's government, and have refused all the proposals of his Father's grace: It is the wrath of the highest, the greatest, and the best of creatures, joined to the wrath of an offended Creator*. But let us enter a little into particulars :

1. It is righteous wrath, and just and deserved vengeance, that arises from the clearest discoveries of the love of God neg. lected, and the sweetest messages of divine grace refused. All the former discoveries of the love of God to men, both in nature and providence, as well as by divine revelation, whether made by men or by angels, whether in the days of the patriarchs, or in the days of Moses, and the Jews, were far inferior to the grace which was revealed by Jesus Christ; and therefore the sin of rejecting it is greater in proportion, and the punishment will be more severe. If the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward,How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation as this, which began to be spoken by our Lord;" Heb. ii. 2-4.

Moses had many true discoveries of grace made to him, and intrusted with him for sinful men: But the scripture saith; John i. 17. The law came by Moses, and and truth came grace by Jesus Christ; that is, in such super-abundance, as though grace and truth had never appeared in the world before. The forgiving mercy of God, under the veil of ceremonies and sacrifices, and the mediation of Christ, under the type of the highpriest, was but a dark and imperfect discovery, in comparison of the free, the large, the full forgiveness, which is brought to us by the gospel of Christ. Learn this doctrine at large from Heb. x. 1-14. This is amazing mercy, astonishing grace, and the despisers of it will deserve to perish with double destruction, for they wink their eyes against clearer light, and reject the offers of more abounding love.

* Here let it be observed, that when the holy scripture speaks of "the wrath and indignation of the blessed God," we are not to understand it, as though God was subject to such passions or affections of nature, as we feel fermenting or working within ourselves, when our anger rises: But because the justice, or rectoral wisdom of God, inclines him to bring natural evil, pain, or sorrow upon those, who are obstinately guilty of moral evil or sin, and to treat them, as anger or wrath inclines men to treat those that have offended them, and therefore the scripture speaking after the manner of men, calls it the “wrath and indignation of God."

And it is hard to say, whether or no the wrath of the Lamb; that is, of the man Christ Jesus, in whom Godhead dwells, be any thing more than the calm, dispassionate, rectoral wisdom of the human nature of Christ, inclining him to punish rebellious and impenitent sinners, in conformity to the will of God his Father, or in concurrence with the godhead which dwells in him.