of fire and brimstone, to be tormented day and night, for ever and ever," (Rev. xx. 10.) it will "show God's wrath, and make his power known," in the sight of the whole intelligent. system. (Rom. ix. 22.)

6. The grand rebellion in the intellectual system being brought to this issue by MESSIAH, the prince, whose name is King of kings, and Lord of lords, and an end put to this visible creation, in which so much sin has been committed, now doomed to eternal fire, MESSIAH, with the angels, his attendants, and with the saved from among men, in number like the sands on the sea-shore, shall ascend to the heavenly Zion with singing, and enter into everlasting joys.

For, as the Messiah loved his church, when she lay polluted in her blood, and gave himself for her, and redeemed her from the earth, and washed her in his own blood, and made her a glorious church, and adorned her as a bride is adorned for her husband; so now the marriage of the Lamb shall be celebrated before all the inhabitants of heaven; and she shall be called "The bride the Lamb's wife." (Rev. xxi. 9.) The saved shall be taken into the nearest union, and most beatific communion with Jesus Christ; who will rejoice over them as the fruit of his labours; as the travail of his soul; as the joy that was set before him. Even " as a bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride; so will he rejoice over them." (Isai. lxii. 5.) And "he will rejoice and joy in them.” (Isai. lxv. 19.) And "rest in his love." (Zeph. iii. 17.) And thus they shall be for ever with the Lord; shall be where he is, and behold his glory. And God will be their God, and wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away. All temptations and trials are at an end; for ever out of the reach of satan, sin, and danger. All things are made new; are put upon a new foot, not as in the first creation, when all finite intelligences were put on trial, and left to stand or fall for themselves, God unobliged to hold them up, in consequence whereof sin entered into heaven and earth; whereas, in this new heaven and earth, there shall be no sin; but in them" dwelleth righte ousness." (2 Peter iii. 13.) Christ will eternally be the

head of all holy intelligences, and his immutability be their eternal security. (Eph. i, 10.) So they shall possess this good land which flows with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, of which the earthly Canaan was a type: I say, they shall possess it for ever.

7. And upon the whole, what must be the reflections of angels and saints, in those happy regions of light, love, peace, and eternal contemplation? What must the elect angels think, while they recollect the day of their creation, when satan and all his hosts stood with them, and bowed and worshipped before the throne; and remember his foul revolt, his expulsion from heaven, his attempts to dishonour God, and get himself adored in an apostate world; and now view his eternal overthrow, chained to the burning lake for ever and ever?

And what must be the reflections of Adam, Abel, Enoch, and Noah; of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; of Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and of all the prophets, apostles, and martyrs; and of all the saved, in every age of the world, and from every nation, language, and tongue, under heaven? while they recollect the original apostacy of mankind, and the whole history of all the conduct of an apostate world, from the fall of Adam to the day of judgment, as lately laid before the tribunal of Christ; and remember their own former awful temper and dreadful state while secure in sin, running in full career to hell; and consider how they were pitied and redeemed by an incarnate God, and stopped and reclaimed by sovereign grace, and kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation; but for which they not only might, but certainly would, have been in the same infinitely dreadful condition they now behold others in, once their neighbours and companions, chained among devils to the burning lake.

As the pious Israelites, when quietly settled in the earthly Canaan, would naturally call to mind the day when they were bondmen in the land of Egypt, and the Egyptian manners, and the idolatrous customs in which they were educated; and how they had forgotten the God of Abraham, and the promised land, until the arrival of Moses from the land of Midian, with the rod of God in his hand; and how they felt

in the time of the plagues, and at their egression, and when pursued by Pharaoh, and when passing through the sea on dry gound, and when they found themselves safe on the other shore, while Pharaoh and his hosts were sunk like lead in the mighty waters; and talk over all their wilderness-travels, and all God's wonderful works; and how they sinned at Massah, Tiberah, and Kibroth-hattaavah, and were always provoking the Lord to wrath; and how the carcasses of six hundred thousand fell in the wilderness. "Yea, and we should all have been cut off and destroyed, had not the Lord wrought for his great name's sake. It was not for our righteousness, nor the uprightness of our hearts, that he brought us into this good land; but from his own sovereign, self-moving goodness, and that he might fill the whole earth with his glory. Wherefore, we will tell our sons and our sons' sons, what God hath wrought; that we and they may fear and reverence that fearful and glorious name, THE LORD OUR GOD, and adore his distinguishing goodness, and walk in all his ways, and keep all his commands for ever." So it will be just as natural for those who are saved from among men, when the day of judgment is past, and they safe in the heavenly Canaan, from thence to look back, and survey, and talk over all the ways of God to men, and all the ways of man to God, from the creation to the final conflagration. And while they behold the divine nature set in so clear, strong, and striking a light; and the picture still brightened by a view of the shocking conduct of the human race towards him, how will they feel, and what will they say?

Let us but imagine ourselves in the company of the saved, and attend to the conversation of heaven. Patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and angels, mixed in the same assembly, all join to carry on the conversation, each filled with holy delight, while the ways of God to man, and the ways of man to God, are all the theme.

ADAM begins: "How surprising is it to find myself and so many of my posterity in this happy world, happier a thousand times than the paradise I lost! Indeed, I was happy then, but the scenes of darkness, guilt, and wo, I passed through after my revolt from God, and all I have seen and heard from that day

to this, things never to be forgotten, will for ever heighten the joys of this blessed place. But, Oh, my foul revolt! How infinitely heinous was the crime! How just, if God had left me and all my race to have gone on in rebellion, died in despair, and spent eternal ages with satan and his hosts, in yonder lake of fire and brimstone! But sovereign grace interposed! And now I see the promise accomplished; the seed of the woman hath bruised the serpent's head. Know it, then, you are happy, not by me; not to me, therefore, but to God, and God alone, is all the glory due."

GABRIEL next: "Indeed, ye sons of men, is all the glory due to God. He only is immutable. See, in yon lake, satan and all his hosts for ever lost. Once this was their abode. With us they worshipped before the throne; but they fell, And so might we have done, but for the grace of God. And so might all mankind have fallen, too, had they been created at once, as we in heaven were; and each set to act for himself, as many of Adam's conceited sons have often foolishly wished had been the case. From the day that satan fell, to this very hour, every thing we have observed has joined to establish us in this, that there is no safety for finite intelligences, but in God alone. He only is by nature immutable. Nor can a creature, how exalted soever, arrive so near to a state of independence, as to be in himself immutably good. God is our strength and refuge, and the only source of our eternal stability; of whom, and by whom, and to whom, are all things; to whom belongs glory for ever!"

St. PAUL." No doubt, the interest of the human race was as safe in Adam's hands as it would have been in our own. And it being no injury to us, God might, without any injustice to us, appoint him our public head. And, indeed, considering the design God had in view, there was great wisdom in that constitution; for Adam was suited, as a type and shadow, while we dwelt in that world of darkness, to assist us to right conceptions of Christ, our second Adam; our second public head. The Omniscient, seeing no trust could be put in his saints, and that even the angels could not be depended upon, did, before the foundation of the world, design his own Son should become incarnate, and stand forth as the

first-born of every creature, the head of the creation of God; that in him he might gather together, fix and establish, all the elect, whether belonging to heaven or earth, as we see at

this day." ADAM. "How glorious is the exchange! Once I was your public head; but in me all was lost. God left me, that it might be seen what was in my heart; that it might appear all flesh is but grass. And now, not I, but his own Son, is your head. And your eternal welfare is secured in the divine immutability. This glory was due to God alone, who only is unchangeable : and this glory, by means of my fall, God has taken to himself in the sight of the whole intellectual sys

tem."

GABRIEL. "So satan once stood at the head of all the angelic hosts, who revolted with him, a mighty CHIEF. And, like the bright morning-star, excelled in lustre all those stars of heaven. But how art thou fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning! And how hast thou drawn off a third part of the stars of heaven, to join in thy revolt* !”,

St. PAUL. “ But now, not an archangel, nor the father of mankind, but God's dear Son, is, in this new state of things, at the head of all holy intelligences. Both angels and men are gathered together in one; even in him, who is the image of the invisible God, and has exhibited the sublimest picture of the Deity in all his works, but chiefly in the works of our redemption."

ADAM. "And all is free sovereign grace! His giving being, natural powers, and moral excellencies to his creatures in their first creation, brought them into debt to him; but not him to them. They owed themselves to him; he owed them nothing. He was unobliged to become their surety. I ought to have been obedient to the God that made me; but I fell; and the throne of the Almighty was guiltless. Destruction was our due. Oh, how free and sovereign is the grace that has saved us !"

* We read of principalities and powers among the evil angels, (Col. ii. 15.) as well as among the good. (Eph. i. 21.) And one of their number is called a prince. (Eph. ii. 2.) And doubtless he was prince before he fell, as well as since. See Rev, xiv. 3, 4. 7, 8, 9.