fear, when they are looking up into the clouds, and fee the Son of man is come down, and his throne is prepared for judgment. The heathen natious will mourn to fee him, especially the wicked, who have had the name of Christians upon them, and have fat under the light of the gofpel: O! how will their faces be filled with fhame and confufion, and their hearts with terror and aftonishment, when they behold the face of the Lord Jefus Chrift fhining with fuch beauty and glory, but looking on them with anger and difdain! "And is this glorious King that Jefus Chrift whom we heard fo much fpoken of, when we lived upon the earth?Was he indeed fo great whofe command we disobeyed, whofe threatenings we flighted, whofe grace we abused, and whose wrath we disregarded? Was it fo excellent a Person who was described and set forth to us by minifters in fuch fuperlative expreffions, all which he exceeds, and yet we could fee no form, nor comelinefs in him, nothing for which we could defire him? Was this the Savior that was preached to us, and proffered to us? That the Jefus Chrift, that we were preffed fo frequently, and fo earnestly, to get an interest in, with fo many powerful arguments, and yet could not be moved and perfuaded? Was it this Person that did call us, and did ftretch forth his hand all the day long to us, that did woo us, and entreat us by his meffengers, to ac

cept of pardon, and grace, and falvation, and knocked at the door of our hearts again and again, by his word and Spirit for entertainment? And did we fhut our ears and our hearts against him, and refuse all his gracious tenders which were made unto us? What, did we hearken to the devil, when he tempted us to fin, that he might destroy us, and not hearken to Chrift, who would have perfuaded us to faith and obedience, that he might fave us? Could we harbor bafe lufts, which were like fo many vipers in our bofoms, and give no entertainment to Jefus Chrift, who would have brought riches and glory with him? O what fools and mad men and women have we been? How have our curfed hearts deceived us, and the devils deluded us? How have we been bewitched, to prefer the vanities of the world, and the fatisfaction of the defires of our flesh, before an intereft in fuch a Savior? Wo!wo! wo! be unto us, for now the great day of the Lord is come, and who is able to ftand ?" This is the fifth antecedent to the judgment of the wicked, they shall see the Lord Jefus coming in the clouds, and be fummoned to the bar, and placed at his left hand; of which before.

6. The fixth antecedent, will be their feeing the judgment, and hearing the fentence of the righteous, "Come ye bleffed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world." And O how will

they grind and gnafh their teeth, and their hearts be ready even to burft with envy and indignation, to fee thefe poor mean Chriftians, whom fome of them have separated from their company, and accounted as the off fcouring of the earth, and not worthy to fit with the dogs of their flock, exalted to fuch dignity, fhining in fuch glory, and adjudged to fuch happiness, when themselves are looked upon with fuch contempt and standing waiting for the judg ment and final doom to torments and eternal mifery. These are the antecedents of the judgment of the wicked.

CHAP. VIII.

CONCERNING the judgment of the wick ed itself; I fhall here speak of,

1. The Judge.

2. Affeffors.

3. The malefactors.

4. The crimes.

5. The accufers and witneffes.

6. The conviction.

7. The fentence.

1. The Judge of the wicked, as of the right. eous, will be the Lord Jefus Chrift. It is faid, Rom. iii. 6. "God fhall judge the world;" but it will be God in Chrift, and God by Chrift, Acts xvii 31. "God was in Chrifl reconciling the world (of the elect) unto himself,"

II. Cor. v. 19. And God in Chrift will judge and condemn the world of the reprobates."The Father hath committed all judgment to the Son," John v. 22. " And he hath given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man," ver. 27. The fame Jefus whom the wicked would not fubmit unto, and take for their King to rule over them, they must submit unto, and have for their Judge to examine and condemn them. The properties of this Judge are worthy here of our obfervation.

1. Chrift will be a moft glorious Judge; never was there fuch a Judge feen on the earth; it will be the greateft judgment, there will be a general affize of the whole world; and Christ will be the greatest Judge, the greatest for dig. nity and glory, that ever eye did behold. Chrift will be moft glorious, in regard of his person, he will appear to be the Prince, the Lord of glory, and be admired, not only by the faints, but also by the wicked, among whom, before they faw him he was defpifed. The defpifers shall behold the luftre of their Judge, and wonder and perish, as it is faid in another cafe, Acts xiii. 41. Chrift will be more glorious in re. gard of his retinue; all the holy angels, thofe glorious fpirits who are about the throne of God fhall attend upon him, Mat. xxv. 31."When the Son of man cometh in his glory, and all his holy angels with him ;" yea, all the

holy faints alfo fhall attedd upon him in the judgment of the wicked. Jude ver. 14, 15."Behold the Lord will come with ten thoufand of his faints, to execute judgment upon all the ungodly, yea, and he will come with all his faints," I. Theff. iii. 13 The whole innumerable company of faints fhall attend upon Christ in white shining garments, with bodies like unto Chrift's more beautiful and glorious, than the moft fplended attire can make them; and Chrift will then be admired in all the faints and believers, by the wicked which fhall behold them; and Chrift will fit upon the throne of his glory, Mat. xxv. 31. "I faw a great white throne, and him that fat upon it, from whofe face the earth and the heavens fled away," Rev. xx. 21. We read of a glorious throne which Solomon made, I. Kings x. 18, 19, 21. But the throne and tribunal feat of Christ will be far more glorious than Solomon's or any monarch's that ever lived upon the face of the earth.

2. Chrift will be a moft powerful Judge, he will have power to raife all the wicked out of their graves unto life again, which requires as much power to effect, as the giving them their being and life at the firft: He will have power to bring all the wicked to his foot, and keep them in awe, that they fhall not ftir, nor lift up the hand in the leaft, in a way of rebellion, which is more than the moft potent prince