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his right hand, while they shall rage afar off, and gnash their teeth at your glory: When the eye of faith is open, it can spy this bright hour at a distance, and bid the mourning Christian rejoice in hope.

Secondly, There is comfort also in my text, to those 'who mourn for the dishonour of Christ in the world;' those lively members of the mystical body who sympathize with the blessed Head, under all the reproaches that are cast upon him and his gospel, who groan under the load of scandal that is thrown upon Christ in an infidel age, as though it were personally thrown upon themselves. It is matter of lamenta- . tion indeed, that there are but few of this sort of Christians in our day, few that love our Lord Jesus with such tenderness; but if such there be among you, open your eyes, and look forward to this glorious day. This day, to which Enoch, the first of all the prophets, and John, the last of all the Apostles, directs our faith. Read their own words, Jude 14, 15. Rev. i. 7. "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed, and of all the hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him." Bear up your hearts, ye mourners, and support your hopes with the promise of our Lord. "Again, a little while and shall see "the Son!

ye shall see me;"

"ye

31.

of man sitting on the throne of his glory." Matt. xxv. 'Then shall your heart rejoice' in his honours and in your own, and this "joy no man taketh from you," John xvi. 19, 22. And while he repeats this promise with his last words in the Bible, surely I come quickly,' let every soul of us echo to the voice of our beloved, Amen. Even so come Lord Jesus.

DISCOURSE V.

THE WRATH OF THE LAMB

Rev. vi. 15, 16, 17.

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond-man, and every free-man, hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us, and bide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of bis wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand.

WHEN some terrible judgment, or execution of divine vengeance is denounced against an age or a nation, it is sometimes described in the language of prophecy, by a resemblance to the last and great judgment-day, when all mankind shall be called to account for their sins, and the just and final indignation of God shall be executed upon obstinate and unrepenting criminals; the discourse of our Saviour in the xxivth of Matthew, is an eminent example of this kind, where the destruction of the Jewish nation is predicted, together with the final judgment of the world, in such uniform language, and similar phrases of speech, that it is difficult to say, whether both these scenes of vengeance run through the whole discourse, or which part of the discourse be

longs to the one, and which to the other. same manner of prophecy appears in this text.

The

Learned interpreters suppose these words to foretel the universal consternation which was found amongst the heathen idolaters and persecutors of the Church of Christ, when Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, was raised to the throne of Rome, and became governor of the world. But whether they hit upon the proper application of this prophecy or not, yet still it is pretty evident, that this scene of terror is borrowed from the last judgment, which will eminently appear to be the "day of wrath," as it is called, Rom. ii. 5. It is the great day of divine indignation, in so eminent a manner, that all the tremendous desolations of kingdoms and people, from the creation of the world, to the consummation of all things, shall be but as shadows of that day of terror and vengeance.

I shall therefore consider these words at present, as they contain a solemn representation of that last glorious and dreadful day; and here I shall enquire particularly, (1.) 'Who are the persons whose aspect and appearance shall then be so dreadful to sinners? (2.) How comes the wrath which discovers itself at that time to be so formidable? and (3.) How vain will all the shifts and hopes of sinners be, in that dreadful day, to avoid the wrath and vengeance.'

First, Who are the persons that appear clothed in so much terror?

Answ. It is he that "sits upon the throne and the Lamb:" It is God the Father of all, the great and

Almighty Creator, the supreme Lord and Governor of the world, and the Lamb of God, i. e. our Lord JESUS CHRIST, his Son, dwelling in human nature, to whom the judgment of the world is committed, and by whom the Father will introduce the terrible and the illustrious scenes of that day, and manage the important and eternal affairs of it. It it by these names that the Apostle John, in this prophetical book, describes God the Father and his Son Jesus. Rev. iv. 10. and v. 6.-13.

If it be enquired, why God the Father is described as the person sitting on the throne,' this is plainly agreeable to the other representations of him throughout the Scripture, where he is described as first and supreme in authority, as sitting on the throne of majesty on high, as denoting and commissioning the Lord Jesus, his well-beloved Son, to act for him, and as placing him on his throne, to execute his works of mercy or vengeance. Rev. iii. 21. "He that overcometh shall sit down with me on my throne," saith our Saviour, "even as I have overcome, and am set down with the Father on his throne." John'v. 22, 27.

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The Father hath committed all' judgment into the hands of the Son." It is true, the Godhead or divine essence is but one, and it is the same Godhead which' belongs to the Father that dwells in the Son, and in this respect "Christ and the Father are one, he is in the Father, and the Father in him," John x. 30, 38; yet the Father is constantly exhibited in Scripture, with peculiar characters of prime authority, and the

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