VI. of God, from which the heavens and the DISC. earth fhall fly away, and no place be found for them any more for ever! Yet fo it is. Behold, he who came in fwaddling clothes, cometh with clouds. He who came to preach the day of falvation, cometh again to proclaim the day of vengeance. He who was led as a lamb to the flaughter, leads his ten thousands to the prey, as the lion of the tribe of Judah. He who cried not, nor lifted up his voice against his enemies upon earth, thunders with the glorious voice of his excellency against them from heaven. He who never brake a bruised reed, rules the nations with a rod of iron, and breaks them in pieces like a potter's veffel. He who quenched not the smoking flax, extinguishes the great lights of the world; darkens the fun, and turns the moon into blood; commands the stars from their stations, and the dead from their graves; shakes the powers of heaven, and the foundations of the earth, and all hearts that are not fixed on him. The DISC. VI. The trumpet founds, and he is coming! The everlasting gates of heaven, which lifted up their heads for the King of Glory to enter in, are again lifted up; and behold the proceffion that comes forth of them, defcending to this lower world, as it is described by one who saw it in vision. "I faw heaven opened, and behold a white “horse, and he that fate upon him was "called faithful and true," the accomplisher of all his promises; " and in righteousness he doth judge" the world, "and make war" against all that oppose him. "His eyes were as a flame of fire," discerning and deftroying the counfels of his adverfaries "and on his head were "many crowns;" all the kingdoms of this world were become his; " and he had a "name written, that no man knew, but "he himself," the ineffable name of the divine effence." And he was clothed with “a vesture dipt in blood," the garment of vengeance. "And his name," by which he is known to men," is called, THE WORD "OF GOD. And the armies which were VI. in heaven followed him upon white DISC. "horfes," attending him in his glory, "clothed in fine linen white and clean," which is the righteousness of faints. "And "out of his mouth goeth a fharp fword," namely, his holy word, "that with it he "fhould fmite the nations. And he shall "rule them," that have rejected the golden fceptre of mercy, with a rod of iron. "And he treadeth the wine-prefs of the “fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. "And he hath on his vefture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, " AND LORD OF LORDS." When Joshua, at the head of the armies. of Ifrael, furrounded Jericho, at the found of the trumpet, the walls fell flat. When the divine Joshua, at the head of the armies of the true Ifrael of God, the church triumphant, furrounds this city of deftruction, can the event be otherwife? Affuredly it cannot. The ftrength, beauty, and glory of the world will fall, and come to nothing, at the moment when the trum pet, DISC. pet, founding from the one end of heaven VI. to the other, fhall give notice, that the judge of all the earth is coming to his judgment-feat in the air. fhall be there erected for ་ The throne that him is thus de fcribed by Daniel-" I beheld till the "thrones were caft down, and the antient "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 burn ing fire; a fiery ftream iffued, and came "forth from before him: thousand thou"fands miniftered unto him, and ten thou"fand times ten thousand ftood before "him. The judgment was fet, and the "books were opened." In the clouds over our heads is this judgment-seat to be formed; as it is alfo written in the book of Pfalms-" Clouds and darkness are round "about him, righteousness and judgment " are the habitation of his throne." From amidst this thick darkness the lightnings, those swift executioners of divine vengeance, fhall flash abroad over the earth, VI. while ten thousand thunders, rolling forth DISC. from the glorious God that maketh them, fhall at once utter their tremendous voices: as it is written again in the fame book of Pfalms-" Our God fhall come, and shall "not keep filence," as once, when like a sheep dumb before his fhearers he opened not his mouth. "A fire fhall now devour " before him, and it shall be very tempef"tuous round about him. The Lord," even the Lord Jefus," shall thunder out of hea“ven, and the highest give his thunder, "hail-ftones and coals of fire." By the brightness of his coming all enemies shall foon be confumed, all clouds fhall pass away; and the judge shall appear upon his radiant throne, like his emblem the fun; fo that there shall not be a tongue but must own with the church, in her triumphant fong, "Heaven and earth are full of the majesty "of thy glory." And as Chrift upon his throne, like the fun, will fee all, fo, like the fun, he will be seen of all ; which brings us to the IId Thing |