eyes, as heirs of immortality, and advancing in awful procession to the great white throne. How glorious and magnificent will the visible agency of the angels appear in that awful moment: for it is said he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet to gather his elect from every quarter of the globe. See them darting round the globe in eager flight, in joyful competition, to execute the last kind offices to those who enjoyed their ministrations during life, to assist them in their resurrection-tear asunder the vaults of mortality, assist them in laying aside their grave-clothes, to collect the scattered members of their body-their previous dust, now to be arranged into forms of immortality, and to bear them on their wings to meet the Lord in the air.

In the same moment, behold the transformation of the righteous resident on the earth; see them from clods of earth brightening into suns, into most glorious forms of immortality, and ascending with their risen brethren. (1 Thess. iii. 17,)

We that are alive and remain," says the apostle, "shall be caught up, together with them, in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.”

What surprise will it excite in the minds of the wicked on earth, to see their neighbors, their acquaintances, undergo such a sudden change, both with respect to their appearance and situation! What shrieks of horror will it produce to find themselves left behind on the earth, to be dragged as reluctant criminals to the judgment seat, whilst they are wafted up under angelic convoy to sit at Christ's right hand! What awful distinction will be made among the living at that day! Hence, our Lord tells us, "Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken and the other left; two men shall be in the field, the one shall be taken and the other left."

3. The next thing in this awful day, will be the appearance of the Judge, pursuant to the sign of his coming, and the sound of the last trumpet. Hence, the apostle represents the dead in Christ, whose resurrection shall take place on the sound of the trump of God, as being caught up along with the living in Christ, who shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye to meet the Lord in the air, which supposes a progressive motion on both sides, while they ascend from the earth, he will descend from the heavens. "Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him." Now he bursts through the visible heavens, which shall pass away with a great noise, be rolled together as a scroll or curtain. Behold his banners waving majestic across the heaven, and his shining courtiers,

and countless hosts, filling the skies. Now, the powers of heaven shall be shaken; the orbs of light shall be turned into darkness, from the superior glory of his countenance. Nay, they shall drop from their spheres, run into mutual confusion, and the earth shall totter to its centre, and be removed from its foundation. Hence, the apostle represents the heaven and earth flying from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne. How justly, therefore, does the apostle represent it as the glorious appearing of the great God. (Tit. ii. 13.)

It is Christ who is to be Judge. All power in heaven is given to him as God-man, Mediator. It is true, God the Father is sometimes represented as being Judge. But there is no real inconsistency in this representation, as it is by the Son that the Father judges the world. Hence, says the apostle, "He hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world by that man whom he hath ordained." The Father judgeth no man personally, but only by delegating that supreme judiciary power which is vested in the Godhead, to Christ. Hence we are told, John v. 27, that "the Father hath given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man." It was necessary, as a reward of his voluntary humiliation. (Phil. ii. 8-10.) It was fit that he who was judged and condemned in human nature, should in the same judge the world in righteousness. It was necessary, that he who had stood before the tribunal of men, should, in due time, call men to stand before his tribunal. As God-man, he is better qualified to execute judiciary power, than if he had only been God. For, besides the possession of those divine perfections, viz. knowledge, wisdom, justice and power, which enable him to pass a just and righteous sentence, and to put it into execution-he is qualified in this character to execute his office in such a way, as will not only affect the moral perception, but even the senses of mankind. He will appear to the eye of an assembled universe, as sitting upon a glorious throne. They will be sisted before a visible bar, and in their ears he will audibly pronounce sentence upon them. This will be equally transporting to the righteous, and terrible to the wicked, to those who had rejected and despised him. What transports will the view of the Saviour and Judge, in human nature, produce in the minds of his people! What terror will it inspire into the minds of his enemies, especially those who maltreated, persecuted, insulted and crucified him in that nature! How will they be troubled and confounded at his presence! Hence his visible presence is represented as a circumstance which would occasion much distress, and

anguish in the minds of his enemies. They shall see the sign of the Son of Man, and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn. "They shall look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn." This last passage may respect unbelievers as

well as believers.

In this character, as the great God and as our Saviour Jesus Christ, he will make a glorious appearing, as the supreme Judge of the world. He will be, in this capacity, distinguished by a three-fold glory: by the glory of his angels, his own glory and the glory of his Father. (Luke ix. 26.) He will appear in his own glory, that glory which is competent to him as God-man. This will be inconceivably great. It appeared to Saul on his way to Damascus, as surpassing the lustre of the meridian sun, and struck him blind to the ground. Upon a like display, it struck the apostle John as dead to the ground. And we have every reason to believe, that it will exceeed these displays.

2. He will appear in the glory of his Father, or that glory which is competent to him as God. But who can describe the nature of it? Who can delineate the blaze of divine glory which will encompass his throne? When he gave a display of it at Mount Sinai, it was like devouring fire. All the displays which he made of his essential glory under the Old Testament, were under the symbol of fire. Hence, at the great day his throne will be enveloped in flame. Hence says the Psalinist, (Psal. 1,) "A fire shall devour before him, it shall be very tempestuous round about him." And says the apostle, (2 Thess. i. 7, 8,) "He will come in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Dan. vii. 9, 10,) "I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool, his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the judgment was set, and the books were open. ed." It is evident he will appear under all the magnificence of infinite majesty. He is represented as sitting upon a great white throne, to point out the majesty of him who sits upon it, the importance, and righteousness of the decision he is to make, and the sentence which he is to award. Of what this throne will consist, it is not for us positively to determine. Likely it will be a very bright and luminous cloud, infinitely more so than any we have ever seen. The angels tell the

apostles, (Acts i. 2,) that Jesus would return in the same way in which he departed, viz. on a cloud. And again, “Behold he cometh with clouds."

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He will come in the glory of the angels. Enoch prophesied, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints," and says the apostle, "He will be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels." Says Daniel, "Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him." The angels will then be clothed in robes of the highest glory and dignity, such as will become the occasion. It is highly probable they will assume some visible shape, for the greater glory and magnificence of Christ's appearance, who will be seated on a visible throne. What heart can conceive, or tongue express the magnificence of this appearance, and the terror which it will inspire into the minds of the ungodly? A judge of unsearchable wisdom, inflexible justice, irresistible power, and infinite majesty-A throne awfully magnificent, with the ensigns, and symbols of of those perfections, enwrapped with a devouring fire, and guarded with flaming cherubims, and surrounded by attendants as countless as the stars, and each of them more glorious than the meridian sun! Then the hearts of the most obdurate, will melt, and become feeble as water. Then those who scorned subjection to the divine law, who laughed at the threatenings of God's word, at the idea of judgment to come, will see their mistake-with shrieks of horror, shall turn away from the face of the judge, and cry to the rocks and to the mountains to fall upon them and cover them, saying, “The great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand." Whatever men think now, they will then find it a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, to appear before the tribunal of an incensed Jehovah, whose fury is poured out like fire.

4. But next turn your eye to the countless millions which will move in awful procession to the decisive bar. What a vast assembly! How diversified by age, sex, and condition! I saw (says John) the dead, small and great, stand before God. Every individual of the human race, from Adam to his youngest son, high and low, rich and poor, bond and free, young and old, must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Many in this world are too great to be brought to an account for their conduct, and some are too mean to be thought worthy of judicial notice. But no degree of rank or condition will then be taken notice of. All civil distinction will be abolished. The prince and the beggar will stand on

a level. An Alexander or a Cæsar-those who made the earth to tremble by their authority, will be equally responsible with the meanest of their vassals. No elevation of rank, no species of power, possessed in this world, will in the least degree alleviate, much less protect from the terrors of that awful day. Those who waved the conqueror's banner over affrighted kingdoms, will now tremble before the Lord of hosts, who is a man of war. Those who swayed a lordly sceptre over millions of their fellow men, will now bow to Him, whose kingdom ruleth over all. Those who balanced the scale of justice among men, in the exercise of judicial power, before whose tribunals their fellow creatures trembled with fear, will now have to stand as pannels before the Judge of the universe. Those who would not bow before a throne of grace, must now bow before a throne of judgment. Those who would not confess the divine power and goodness in this world, will now be compelled to acknowledge them before men, angels and devils. Those who have been associates in sin, will now be associated in judgment, for the mutual aggravation of their guilt and punishment. Then the jovial sons of sensuality, who gave full scope to every appetite, who thronged the board of luxury, handed round the cup of intoxication, and surrounded the altar of concupiscence, will now have to stand under mutual guilt, have all their scenes of debauchery exposed to an assembled universe. In a word, all the crimes of the ungodly, all the abominations of the heart, all the enormities of the life, whether known or unknown to the world, will be announced, probably by the voice of the Arch-angel, to an assembled world. This will convince them of the omniscience of Deity, which they once would have fondly called in question. "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." And how will they tremble at the disclosure, how will they grow pale under conviction of guilt, and be covered with the utmost confusion. How fondly would they then shrink into impenetrable darkness, from the face of the Lamb. But they will have to stand forth before the view of all, until they receive their sentence and sink into the blackness of darkness forever. Then, many characters which lay under a cloud in this world, will brighten up; and many which appeared fair and irreproachable, will be covered with spots of the deepest dye.

As to the disclosure and publication of the sins of the righteous, on the great day, there is a variety of opinions. That they will not come into judgment of condemnation, is incontestibly evident. Yet many think that their evil as well as