that "the Father himself is at the Son's right hand, and strikeš through kings in the day of his wrath," Psalm cx. 5.

2. He not only is," but he also "sits" at the right hand of God "He sits on the right hand of God," saith the apostle, Coll. iii. 1, which intimates, (a) his agreeable resting from his painful labour; for we sit in order to rest, (b) his actual employment in the exercise of his dominion, and judicial power: for a king sits down on his throne, in order to exercise his dominion, and to maintain justice, Psalm ix. 4, "Thou hast maintained my right and my cause, thou sattest on the throne, judging right." And (c) his stability and continuance in his government; for "he shall rule over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end," Luke i. 33. For he who sits down, shows that he intends to continue. Thus it is said of the Saviour, Isaiah xvi 5. "A throne shall be established in mercy, and he shall sit upon it constantly in the tabernacle of David.”

3. It is also said, that he "stands" on the right hand of God: "Stephen saw the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God," Acts vii. 56. This was in order to manifest his readiness and willingness to assist Stephen against his enemies, to take him up to himself in glory, and to avenge himself of his enemies like a king; for he who stands shows that he is willing and ready to do his work; as the Lord is represented to us, Isaiah iii. 13. "The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people."

As this is a glory of his mediatorial office, so it is also proper to him according to both his natures; for his human nature is exalted hereby above all the saints and the blessed, and is acknowledged and glorified by them to the utmost, as "having redeemed them to God by its blood, and as having made them kings and priests to God," Rev. v. 9. And thus "we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour," Heb. ii. 9. Compare herewith Heb. xii. 2. We may also say, that he is on the right hand of God according to his Godhead, inasmuch as the glory of the Godhead, which was concealed before under the humbled manhood, was revealed. Therefore he prayed to his Father, John xvii. 5. "Glorify me, O Father, with thine ownself, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” See Philip. ii. 6, 7.

It is therefore silly in the Lutherans to hold, that he is only ac

• We have rendered this passage according to the Dutch translation

cording to his human nature at the right hand of God, that they may conclude therefrom, that his human nature is every where, because the right hand of God is every where: but although God's right hand is every where, Christ is not on that account according to his human nature every where at God's right hand, but only in heaven; for "he sits at the right hand of the majesty on high," Heb. i. 3. As "the heaven is God's throne," Isaiah lxvi. 1. Psalm xi. 4. And therefore "Christ sits on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens," Heb viii. 1.

As his sitting at the right hand of God was his reward, and con duceth to the glory of God the Father, so it is also to the advantage of his elect; the instructor shows in the fifty first question, that they receive a two-fold advantage from his sitting on the right hand of God:

1. First, that by his Holy Spirit he poureth out heavenly graces upon us his members." That believers are made partakers of the Holy Spirit, as an earnest of Christ, who is ascended from them into heaven, is shown in the forty ninth question; but it is now shown. that they receive by the Holy Spirit the heavenly graces, which are sent down to them from heaven, and from the throne of God, which render them heavenly-minded, and lead them up to heaven; which graces are many and divers, as we will show upon the twentieth Lord's day, and are not shed forth now in drops only, as under the Old Testament, but in whole streams, according to the promise which was made, Isaiah xliv. 3. "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." And the outpouring of these graces is an advantage, which we obtain by his sitting at the right hand of God, as Peter testifieth, Acts ii. 33. "Therefore being exalted by the right hand of God and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." He hath respect here to the Spirit, who was poured out at the feast of Pentecost: of which every believer, each according to his measure, partakers, as well as the apostles, according to what was promised, Joel ii. 28-32. John vii 38, 39.

2. "And then that by his power he defends and preserves us against all enemies." Believers have many enemies, who seek their destruction; but Jesus preserves them even "the gates of hell shall not prevail against them," Matt. xvi. 18, for "all power is given unto him in heaven and on earth,” Matt. xxviii. 18. As he sits at the right hand of God, he defends and preserves them by the right

hand of his po ver, the rod of his strength, with which he rules in the midst of his enemies, as the text shows.

II. He will manifest that he defends and preserves them against all enemies particularly in the last judgment; for he will show then as judge, that he is on the right hand of God: for this sitting implies also a public exercise of judgment and of judiciary power. said to Caiaphas, that he might terrify him and the wicked Jewish Sanhedrim. "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven," Matt. xxvi. 64. For God is said to ride and to come upon the clouds, when he draws near to judge a people, Isaiah xix. 1.

Although God exercises many and severe judgments upon human beings, there are nevertheless more particularly two general judgments, which will pass on all men; one is exercised in secret upon the soul of every individual, when it removes out of the body in death; the soul is then brought before God, and receives of him the reward of that which was done in the body, whether it were good or evil the other will be exercised in public upon body and soul at the last day. Of this judgment the creed and the instructor speak in the fifty second question.

In order to treat of the last judgment in such a manner as shall conduce to our advantage, we must attend to these three particulars, 1, To the nature of this judgment, 2, to the reality of the judgment, 3, to the comfort that believers receive from the expectation of the judgment.

1. With respect to the first particular, the nature of this judgment, we learn wherein it will consist, (a) by the judge who shall judge, (b) by the persons who shall be judged, (c) the matters that shall be brought into judgment, (d) the judiciary procedure, or the manner in which this judgment shall be exercised and holden, and, (e) the circumstances of this judgment. The brevity of our method will permit us to say only a few words to each of these particulars. (a) The Judge in this judgment, saith Paul, is God, Heb. xii. 23. But God the Father will not judge by himself, but by his Son: "the man whom he hath ordained, of which he hath given assurance to all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead," Acts xvii. 31. The Father set him at his right hand, that he might be Mediator, and it belongs also to his Mediatorship to judge as a judge. Yea, the Father hath committed the work of judging to him, because it is his will, that it should be exercised in a public and visible manner; for he, being also man, can appear visibly: "For the Father judgeth no man; but hath committed all judgment unto the Son; and hath

given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man," John v. 22, 27. "He came not indeed to judge, but to save the world, John iii. 17. xii. 47, but he will come hereafter to judge. "The saints also shall judge the world and angels," 1 Cor. vi. 3, but it will be only with a judgment of approbation, by which they will approve of the sentence of the Judge, as they do with respect to "his judging the great whore," Rev. xix. 1, 2.

(b) Every reasonable creature will be cited before this Judge; for "not only the angels will be judged," 1 Cor. vi. 3. "The angels that sinned were cast into hell, and delivered into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment," 2 Peter ii. 4. Thus Jude also speaks in his epistle, in the sixth verse. But all men likewise will be cited before this Judge, as well those who have been, as those who are now, and those also who shall be hereafter; whether they be high or low, rich or poor, men or women, young or old, righteous or wicked, dead or yet living, also thou and I: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ," 2 Cor. v. 10.

(c.) But upon what matters shall this judgment be holden? Paul saith that it will be holden upon "that which is done in the body, whether it be good or evil," 2 Cor. v. 10. All the good actions of God's children, although they have not considered their actions as good on account of their impurity; but especially their works of mercy, will be brought to light by the, great Judge, will be highly esteemed by him, and extolled as evidences of their good state. The Judge himself showeth this, Matt. xxv. 35-40. The ungodly will be obliged to render an account of all their wicked actions, whether sins of omission or commission, or sins of their thoughts; for "God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ," Rom. ii. 16. 1 Cor. iv. 5; or words, as well "idle words," Matt. xii. 36, as "all hard words," according to the fifteenth verse of the epistle of Jude; or deeds, so Jude speaks also in the same verse. We dare not decide positively whether the sins of believers will also be produced in this judgment, although it is highly probable that they will: for not to alledge all that might be offered here, when the sins of the ungodly, into which they have seduced the godly, will be brought to light, it will then be necessary that the sins of believers should also be mentioned. "But however this may be, they will not be upbraided with their sins, as unatoned, and as subjecting them to condemnation.

(d) In order that we may consider the nature of this judgment more particularly, we must attend also to the judiciary procedure of it. To this pertains, (a) the constituting of the tribunal or the

court of judgment, (b) the examination, (c) the sentence, and (d) the execution of the sentence.

(a) The constituting of the tribunal or court of judgment will begin with a terrible commotion in heaven and on earth; the Judge Jesus will appear in the clouds, before the eyes of every individual, . in a most glorious manner, surrounded with the hosts of heaven, and "he will therefore come again" to judge "in the same manner, in which the apostles saw him depart," Acts i. 9, 10, 11. Upon which the dead will be raised up, and with all those who will remain alive, be cited and brought before the judgment seat. The Judge himself declares this, Matt. xxiv. 29, 30, 31. "The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fail from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." And that all things may be conducted in a more orderly manner, all men will not pass confusedly together, but the Judge will separate the godly from the wicked, and he will place the godly on his right hand, and the wicked on his left, Matt. xxv. 31, 32, 33.

(b) Hereupon will follow the examination, which will be exceedingly strict, like an examination from certain books. In this manner was the judgment exhibited to John in a vision, Rev. xx. 12. "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." See also Dan. vii. 10. These are not real books, but books figuratively so called, of different kinds, to wit, (a) that in which the duty of man is written, or made known; either the book of nature, from which the heathens, who will be cited, will learn what they ought to have done, according to the discovery which God had made to them of himself and of his law in their nature; or the book of scripture, and the revelation of the gospel, according to which those only, who have had the scripture, will be informed what they ought to have been and done; "For as many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law" Rom. ii. 12. (b) Moreover, the book and the register of men's actions, to wit, the omniscience of God, will be opened. As God