trumpet, and that men cannot blow it; it is not ye that speak, but the fpirit of your Father which speaketh in you, Matt. x. 20. The Lord God fhall blow the trumpet, and all the human race are commanded to attend to it. "All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, fee ye, when he lifteth up an enfign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye," Ifa. xviii. 3.

We are under the fixth trumpet now, and the deftruction of the Ottoman empire will finish it; and by the crumbling tottering state of it, it looks as if it was drawing to a close. And then the seventh trumpet will begin, and never cease founding till the Lord defcends with his fhout, and with the trump of God, which fhows how near the time is; even at the doors. Let my reader take notice what the Lord, by John, fays: "And the angel which I faw ftand upon the fea and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the fea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer." But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to found, the mystery of God fhould be finished, as he hath declared to his fervants the prophets, Rev. x. 5, 6, 7. The angel here standing is doubtlefs the Lord Jefus,

who, as man and mediator, fwears by his Father; but at other times, and as God, he fwears by himself, fee Ifa. xlv. 22, 23. Here are two things that are to be noticed.

and

1. What is meant by the mystery of God;

evermore.

2. What by finishing of it. By mystery we are not to understand the Holy Trinity, which Paul calls the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Chrift, Col. ii. 2. For as this mystery had no beginning, fo it can have no end. Nor is the incarnation of Chrift intended, which Paul calls the great mystery of godliness, God manifeft in the flesh, 1 Tim. iii. 16. For, although this had a beginning, yet it will have no end; he will dwell in his glorified humanity for The mystery of efpoufing fouls to Jefus Chrift, and joining them in one spirit with him, by the gospel, which is called the mystery of Chrift and the church, (Eph. v. 32.) is a work that will not be always in hand, as now, but will be finished as foon as all the elect of God are gathered in. The Holy Ghoft's work of setting up the kingdom of God in finners' hearts at converfion, which is called the mystery of the kingdom of God, will be finifhed also, when the reign of grace will terminate in the reign of glory. Joining Jews and Gentiles together in one church ftate is called by Paul a myftery, Eph. iii. 4, 5, 6, and is a work which must be

done; for Chrift will make the Jews to come and worship at the feet of Gentile minifters, and let them know that he has loved the Gentile church, Rev. iii. 9. But the finishing of the mystery of God, or the last branch to be finished, is that of changing the bodies of living faints which shall be found alive when Chrift comes. "Behold I fhew you a mystery; we shall not all fleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the laft trump,' 1 Cor. xv. 51. This, as far as I am enlightened to fee, will be the finishing stroke that will be given to the mystery of God. The finishing of the mystery of God will be in the days of the feventh angel, when he fh ll begin to found. Whenever the Turkish empire falls, the fixth trumpet will be at the close, and the man of fin at his end; for, at the blowing of the seventh trumpet, the Saviour will take unto himself his great power, for fo it is written: "And the feventh angel founded; and there were great voices in heaven, faying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Chrift; and he fhall reign for ever and ever," Rev. xi. 15. All which fhews that the fixth trumpet ceaseth at the deftruction of the Turk and the man of fin: and at the founding of the seventh these empires and kingdoms come into the hands of Christ. I did intend to have offered a few private thoughts of my own upon this fubject, but

I forbear, having digreffed too far already. I have proved in this discourse, that the trumpets under the law were used to proclaim liberty on the year of release, and alfo to call the people to the facrifices on the folemn feast days; and that the "great trumpet " (typified by all these small ones under the law) was blown in the days of the gospel, not by men, but by God; the Lord God, which is the Holy Ghoft, fhall blow the trumpet, Zech. ix. 14.

The joyful found of this trumpet, at the day of judgment, is LIBERTY, eternal freedom from every yoke of bondage, and from the bondage of corruption, to which vanity we are unwillingly fubjected, though we are fubjected in hope; because the creature itself alfo fhall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God, Rom. viii. 21. This will be the last time of blowing the jubilee trump, and this is the trump of God, because it proclaims our eternal release, and is what God ordained before the world unto our glory. This trumpet has been founded both in our ears and hearts, and a joyful found it has often been, having made us free, and brought us home to God, to walk in the light of his countenance; and it is the fame trump of God that fhall bring us up from the bondage of corruption, and into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Thou which haft fhewed me great and fore

troubles, [haft quickened me once, and thou] fhalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every fide, Psalm lxxi. 20, 21. O what a day will this be! the trumpet fhall found, and the dead fhall be raised. The law in the members, the darts of Satan, the rod of God, the body of the death, the fcourge of the tongue, and the contempt of fools, fhall be no more. Our finful weakneffes, our difhonour, our corruption and mortality, shall all be fwallowed up of life, when he who only hath immortality fhall appear. Our heavenly pedigree, and the divine image of Chrift on us, has been hid from the world through the blindness of their hearts: darkness has covered the earth, and grofs darknefs the people, even when the Lord has rifen upon us: but this shall not always be the cafe, we shall not abide for ever under an eclipfe; the veil of ignorance fhall be rent, and the shrouds of corruption fhall be put off, and then fhall the righteous fhine forth as the fun, in the glory of their Father's kingdom, for ever and ever; who hath ears to hear, let him hear. When these corruptible bodies fhall put on incorruption, and thefe mortal bodies put on immortality, being raised in power, and raised in glory, light and life, love and joy, must be all in all; and what mortal can conceive, however divinely inspired, what it will be to be filled with