Teftament. And ye fhall flee, fays the prophet, to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains fhall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and the Lord my God fhall come, and all the faints with thee, Zech. xiv. 5. This agrees with my text, the Lord comes, and all the faints with him, and the wicked are fleeing, at his appearing, as before an earthquake; but, all in vain; for whither can we go from his Spirit, and whither can we flee from his prefence? When Chrift died he redeemed his church; when he rose from the dead, he justified her in himself; when he afcended to heaven, he reprefented her; when he fent forth his Spirit, it was to infpire men to espouse her; and when fhe, in all her members, is espoused, he will come forth and prefent her to himself: may we be girt about with truth, having our lamps burning with love, and blazing with joy, and be kept watching and waiting for the Lord when he fhall return from the wedding, to take her to the nuptial chamber. I come now to the next general head, which is, to confider the fhout.

II. The Lord fhall defcend with a fhout. A fhout seems to be a giving vent to the joy of the heart by a loud acclamation from the mouth, and was used on various occafions among the Jews.

1. Sometimes it was used to animate the

troops when two armies joined in battle; and David came into the trench as the hoft was going forth to fight, and shouted for the battle, 1 Sam. xvii 20.

2. Shouting used to be heard on the obtaining a victory; shout, for God hath given you the city, Jofh. x. 16.

3. Shouting was used when a cruel oppreffing nation had all her hard measures dealt back by the law of retaliation. Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about; all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her; fpare no arrows, for she hath finned against the Lord. Shout against her round about, Jer. 1. 15.

4. We read of shouting when their vintage was done, which God threatens to put a stop to. And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in their vineyards there fhall be no finging, neither fhall there be fhouting; the treaders fhall tread out no wine in their preffes; I have made their vintage-shouting to ceafe, Ifai. xvi. 10.

5. The Scriptures make mention of spiritual shouts, or of shouting on religious accounts: O clap your hands, all ye people; fhout unto God with the voice of triumph, Pfalm xlvii. 1. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerufalem: behold, thy king cometh unto thee he is juft, and having falvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, Zech. ix. 9. Cry

out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion. Let the inhabitants of the rock fing, let them fhout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare his praise in the islands, Ifai. xlii 11.

"

6. Shouting is fometimes afcribed to the Lord himself; The Lord fhall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he fhall mightily roar upon his habitation; he fhall give a fhout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the in abitants of the earth, Jer. xxv. 30. The Lord his God is with him, and the fhout of a king is among them, fays Balaam, Numbers xxiii. 21. Hence it appears, that there has been shouting upon various occafions, which joy, and the causes of it, are sometimes natural: there is fhouting with the voice of joy and triumph, under the influences of the Holy Ghost. And Jeremy and Balaam both ascribe shouting to the Lord himself; but it is a queftion with me whether either of them ever heard him. I believe in my confcience, that i have been as much, at times, filled with the love and joy of the Lord as moft men, and yet I never was conftrained to fhout, hoop, or halloo in the fireets; and I have seen others filled like the bowls of the altar, but they made no more fhouting than I did. This shout_ ing must therefore mean fomething befides a noise.

And it fhould be noticed, that the

very fame

things are ascribed to the Lord's afcenfion as are to his defcenfion. For the Lord himself shall defcend from heaven with a fhout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. Three things attend the Lord's defcent; the fhout, the voice, the trump, or trumpet. And the fame are faid to attend the Lord at his afcenfion into heaven: God is gone up with a fhout, the Lord with the found of a trumpet, Pfalm xlvii. 7. There were none prefent at our Lord's afcenfion but the apoftles; these heard his voice, for he laid his hands upon them and bleffed them, Luke xxiv. 50. This voice of bleffing they heard, but who heard the fhout, and the found of the trumpet? There was no fhouting among the apoftles, nor any trumpet heard by them, and yet the Lord is faid to go up with these. Something befides a great noise must be meant by this fhout. I believe that this fhout, in the best fenfe, is the voice of the Holy Spirit and his grace in the hearts of God's faints, proclaiming to their fouls fpiritual and eternal victory over every enemy of God and man. The fhout of a king, fays Balaam, is among them. The Lord Jefus had given Ifrael victory over Pharaoh, over Amalek, over Sihon, over Og, and over the Midianites; the Lord is a man of war, fays Mofes, hence we read of the books of the wars of the Lord; it was these victories that filled the hearts and mouths of Ifracl, and was

the fhout of the great king among them; for it became the public topic of many who never had heard God's voice, or feen his fhape, and yet could rehearse the might of his terrible acts. With this fhout Chrift afcended, leading them captive who had long held us in the worst of all captivities. He led captivity captive, and received the gift of the Holy Ghost for men, to make them free indeed. Victory was it that filled their hearts; Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world; by which it appears that their good cheer and holy fhout was victory.

And what will be the fhout when the Lord appears the second time? why he must reign till he hath put down all rule, all authority, and all power; the last enemy that he shall deftroy is death. He comes to destroy death, and the victory of the grave, and this victory he will give to us; "thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jefus Chrift." And the word of God fhews us, that the victorious multitude (and we know that the great reward is promised to none but overcomers) every one of them are set forth with palms in their hands, Rev. vii. 9; which palm is an emblem of victory, and this victory is ascribed to them all. "And I faw as it were a fea of glass mingled with fire and them that had gotten the victory over the beaft, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, ftand