grave, and none have been able to make refift ance, yea, death did affail the Lord of life himfelf, and got the victory for a while, and fhut him up in prifon; but he got loofe before three days were at an end,broke open the doors,and gave death a deep wound, as it were, and an abolishing stroke in his refurrection, I. Tim. i. 10. Pursuing the complete victory which afterwards he would obtain over this enemy of mankind. Now when Chrift makes his fecond appearance in the world at the last day, he will exercise his power over death, he will lead captivity captive, he will lay firft his hands on death, and tread this conqueror under his feet, and strip him of all his force and spoil which he hath been treasuring up for fo many years: he will fnatch the keys of the grave out of the hand of death; and open the prison doors, and let forth all his captives; he will loosen all the bonds of death: and knock off his chains, and bring out all his prisoners into freedom and enlargement, as it is faid, Hof. xiii. 14. "I will ranfom them from the power of the grave; will redeem them from death. O death! I will be thy plague: O grave! I will be thy deftruction." And it is faid, I.. Cor. xv. 25, 26.-"That all enemies fhall be put under the feet of Jefus Chrift, and the last enemy which he shall defroy, is death." And verse 24. "When this mortal fhall put on immortality, then death fhall be swallowed up in victory." And fure

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ly Chrift muft needs come with great power to get victory over fuch a potent enemy.

2. He will come with power over men and devils. He will have power over all his ene. mies, which have rebelled against him; over all the principalities and powers on the earth, that exercise lordship and dominion in the world; he will bring the kings of the earth down from their feats, and pluck off the robes of princes, he will take the staff and the fword out of their hand, and diveft them of all their royalty and greatnefs, and they who have employed their borrowed power against him, how will they quake and tremble before him? fee Rev.xi. 15, 16, 17, 18. "When the feventh angel founded, there were great voices in heaven, faying, The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Chrift; and he hall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders fell on their faces, faying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and waft, and art to come, because thou haft taken to thee thy great power, and haft reigned. And the nations. were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they fhould be judged, and that thou shouldeft give rewards unto thy fervants the prophets, and to thy faints, and them that fear thy name, fmall and great, and houldft deftroy them which deftroy the earth.” The kings of the earth, and great potentates,

will be angry when they will be dethroned ; and the wicked of the earth will be troubled, when the Lord Jefus fhall come down from heaven to call them to judgment: if all the powers of wicked men, and devils too, who are greater in power than men, could, they would make head against and refift the Lord Jefus Christ and pull him from his throne, and put him to death, as the Jews did at his first appearance; if they had but any hopes of making their party good against him, how would they call their forces, and gather their armies, and wage war with this great king: efpecially when all the wicked fhall be raised up, and the ancient rebels, the giants of the old world, shall come forth of their dust, and the prison of hell, where fome of them have been tormented by him many years! O how would they combine their strength, and fo many millions of them together, rush upon him with rage and violence; and endeavor to avenge themselves upon him, at least defend themselves against him, when he comes to torment them; but Chrift will come with fo great power, that he will be able to deal with the whole world of wicked men together, when they are raised and united in one body, and have obtained more ftrength of body, and are filled with more rage and spite of mind than here they had, and are out of all hopes of making peace with him, and have the whole ftock of all the devils in hell to join in

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their company; I fay Chrift will come with fufficiency of ftrength to bind them all in chains, and fo to hold them all down, that they fhall not be able to make the least resistance: he that hath power to raise the wicked from the dead, will have power to keep all his enemies from rebellion. He will come with power.

2. Chrift will come at his fecond appearance with great glory: at his first appearance, he came like a fervant, yea, like a fervant of fervants; at his fecond appearance, he will come like a Lord. Yea, like a Lord of lords, like the great Lord of glory; at his firft appearance he was clothed with great difhonor, and a chain of contempt was put about him; but at his fecond appearance he will be clothed with glory and honor, and most excellent majefty will be put upon him; at his firft appearance his deity was veiled, his beauty was masked with infirm flesh, his brightnefs was under a cloud : though fometimes fome beams did break forth with fuch a dazzling luftre, as made Peter to fall at his feet, faying, "Depart from me, for I am a finful man, O Lord," Luke v. 8. And others in a fhip to worship him, acknowledging, of a truth, "Thou art the Son of God," Mat. xiv. 38. And often filled his disciples with fear and aftonishment; but he was fo disguifed in flesh, that few knew him at all, none knew much of him, when he was fo difrobed, and fo meanly attired and attended. It is faid,

"The princes of the world knew him not, elfe furely they would have laid down their sceptres at his feet, had they known him, they would not have dared fo disgracefully to have crucified the Lord of glory,” I. Cor. ii. 8. But at the fecond appearance the veil will be fo drawn afide, that the deity of Chrift will fhine forth with amazing splendor to the view of the whole world: his human nature will be glorious beyond any other creature; but Oh! how glorious will his divine nature be, when the eyes of the whole world fhall be opened to fee God in fuch a way, as now we are not able to conceive? He will appear in the brightness of his Father's glory, fo that they which fee him, will fee the Father; the majefty, authority, dominion, power, holiness, juftice, and love of the Father will be like fo many sparkling gems to deck the crown of Chrift at his appearance: but who can conceive the royalty and furpaffing excellency of Jefus Chrift, when he comes down out of his Father's palace into the world? He will come in great glory, God will come down in him, and with him: the throne of God will be removed, the palace will be below, the heaven will be upon the earth, where Chrift is, there is heaven, there is God in his greatest glory to be feen; he will come in glory, never was there fuch glory seen upon the face of the earth; never did the eye of man behold fuch a fight, as then it will behold: we