are these the men that were made the mockery of the world? That wandered about in sheep-skins, and goatskins, in dens and caves of the earth? Surprising appearance! How illustrious! How full of glory!' O that such a meditation might awaken us to judge more by faith.

Lesson 2. The next lesson that we may derive from the text is this, viz. One great design of the day of judgment, is to advance and publish the glory of Christ.' He shall come on purpose to be glorified in his saints;' the whole creation was made by him and for him; the transactions of Providence, grace and justice, are managed for his honour; and the joyful and terrible affairs of the day of judgment, are designed to display the majesty and the power of Jesus the King, the wisdom and equity of Jesus the Judge, and the grace and truth of Jesus the Saviour. I will grant indeed, that the appointment of this day is partly intended for the glory of Christ, in the ' just destruction of the impenitent,' for he will be glori fied in pouring out the vengeance of his Father upon rebellious sinners: "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power," ver. 7, 8, 9. before my text. • But his sweetest and most valuable revenue of glory arises. from' among his saints.

If the 'messengers of the churches' are called 'the glory of Christ,' with all the weaknesses, and sins, and follies that attend the best of them here, as in 2 Cor. viii. 23. much more shall they be his glory hereafter, when they shall have no spot nor blemish found upon them, and the work of Christ upon their souls has formed and finished them, in the perfect beauty of holiness. The saints shall reflect glory on each other, and all of them cast supreme lustre on Christ their head: The people shall be the crown and glory of the minister in that day, and the minister shall be the joy and glory of the people, and both shall be the crown, joy and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Thes. ii. 19, 20. 2 Cor. i. 14. 2 Thes. i. 12. He shall appear high on a throne in the midst of that bright assembly, and say, Father, these are the sheep that thou hast given me, in the counsels of thine eternal love; all these have I ransomed from hell at the price of my own blood; these have I rescued by my grace, from the dominion of sin and the devil; I have formed them unto holiness, and fitted them for heaven; I have kept them by my power through all the dangers of their mortal state, and have brought them safe to thy celestial kingdom: All thine are mine, and all mine are thine; I was glorified in them on earth: John xvii. 10. and they are now my everlasting crown and glory.'

Then shall the unknown worlds that never fell, worlds of angels and innocent creatures, and the world of guilty devils and condemned rebels, stand and wonder together at the recovery and salvation

Christ has provided for the fallen sons of Adam. They shall stand amazed to see the millions of apostate creatures, the inhabitants of this earthly globe, recovered to their duty and allegiance by the Son of God, going down to dwell amongst them; millions of impure and deformed souls restored to the divine image, and made beautiful as angels, by the grace and spirit of our Lord Jesus. Those spectators shall be filled with admiration and transport, to see such a multitude of criminals pardoned and justified, for the sake of a righteousness which they themselves never wrought, and accepted as righteous in the sight of God, by a covenant of grace unknown to other worlds, and by faith in the great Mediator. They shall wonder to see such an innumerable company of polluted wretches, washed from their sins in so precious a laver as the blood of God's own Son: And he that hung upon the cross as a spectacle of wretchedness at Jerusalem, shall entertain the superior and inferior worlds with the sight of his adorable and divine glories, and the spoils he has brought from the regions of death and hell. Thus to the principalities and powers in heavenly places, shall be made known by the church triumphant, the manifold wisdom,' and the manifold grace of God the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, Eph. iii. 10.

But tremble, Oh ye obstinate and impenitent wretches, ye sensual sinners, ye infidels of a Christian name and nation, Christ will be glorified in you one way or another: If your hearts are not bowed and melted to receive his gospel, you shall be '

pun.

ished with everlasting destruction' among those that 'know not God, and obey not the gospel of his Son.'

Tremble, ye sensual and ye profane sons of iniquity, when ye remember this day, when ye shall see the holy souls that ye scorned, with crowns on their heads, and palms in their hands, with the shout of victory and joy on their tongues, and the God-man whom ye despised, and whose grace ye neglected, shining at the head of that bright assembly.

Tremble, ye infidels, ye despisers of the name of a crucified Christ, behold his cross is become a throne, and his crown of thorns a crown of glory: See the man whom ye have scorned and reproached, at the head of millions of angels, and adored by ten thousand times ten thousand saints, while wicked princes and captains, armies and nations of sinners, wait their doom from his mouth, nor dare hope for a word of his mercy. O make haste, and come and be reconciled to him, and to God by him, that ye may belong to that blessed assembly, that ye may bear a part in the triumphs of that day, and that Christ may be glorified in your recovery from the very borders

of damnation.

This thought leads me to the next use.

'

II. This discourse gives rich encouragement to the greatest sinners to hope for mercy, and to the weakest saints to hope for victory and salvation.' Such sort of subjects of the grace of Christ, shall yield him some of the brightest rays of glory at the last day. Yet, sinners, let me charge you here never to hope for this happiness without solemn repentance,

and an entire change of heart unto holiness, for an unholy soul would be a fearful blemish in that assembly, and a disgrace to our Lord Jesus. Christians I would charge you also never to hope for the happiness of this day, without battle and conquest, for all the members of that assembly must be overcomers; but where there is a hearty desire and longing after grace and salvation, let not the worst of sinners despair, nor the weakest believer let go his hope, for it is such as you and I are, in whom Christ will be magnified in that day.

Believe this, Oh thou humbled and convinced sinner, who complainest thy heart is hard, though thou wouldest fain repent and mourn; who fearest the bonds of thy corruptions are so strong that they shall never be broken; believe that the sovereign grace of Christ has designed to exalt itself in the sanctification of such unholy souls as thou art, and in melting such hard hearts as thine. And thou poor trembling soul that wouldest fain trust in a Saviour, but art afraid, because of the greatness of thy guilt, and thine abounding iniquities, believe this, that where sin has abounded, grace has much more abounded:' It is from the bringing such sinners as thou art to heaven, that the choicest revenues of glory shall arise to our Lord Jesus Christ, and thy acclamations of joy and honour to the Saviour, shall perhaps be loudest in that day, 'when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe.' Read 1 Tim. i. 13, 14, 15, and 16. and see there what an account the great Apostle gives of his own