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DISCOURSE XXVI.

SAINT MATTHEW, xvi. 27.

FOR THE SON OF MAN SHALL COME, IN THE GLORY OF HIS FATHER, WITH HIS ANGELS; AND THEN HE SHALL REWARD EVERY MAN, ACCORDING TO HIS WORks.

WE are placed by Divine Providence, between the first and last coming of Christ; how much nearer to one than the other, is known to him, who hath put the times and seasons in his own power. But, as we are greatly interested, in that which is past, and that which is future, it behoves us to meditate often and seriously on both, that we may be affected with due sentiments of each: of Christ's coming in the flesh, to save mankind; and of his coming in glory, to judge the world. And therefore, with attention to both these great offices of our Lord, the church, solicitous for the spiritual welfare of her children, hath composed her service for the Sundays in Advent.

The first coming of Christ, is a subject of unquestionable history: it was in great humility, but, at the same time, with Divine authority and power; without which, the Gospel never could have triumphed over the opposition of the world and the devil, over the corruptions and prejudices of mankind, - and have established itself in all nations.

The last coming of Christ, is an object of Divine faith : known only by the revelation of it, contained in holy Scripture; yet, as sure and certain, as that he is already come in the flesh. For, what he hath promised, must undoubtedly take place; it being easier for heaven and earth to pass, than for one tittle of his word to fail.

Of this coming of Christ to judgment, we will, 1. Collect some of the particulars, which the Scripture foretells concerning it: then consider,

2. What inquiries will be made into every man's life and conversation, before the due reward of his works shall be assigned him: and,

3. Conclude with a few reflections, arising from the subject before us.

I. And first, of the particulars foretold in Scripture, concerning the last coming of Christ.

When our Lord Jesus Christ had finished his ministry on earth; and had, by himself, purged our sins, he was received up into heaven, and

sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; with his Father, in his throne. We are told, that, at his ascension, a cloud received him out of the sight of his disciples; and presently after, that he shall so come, in like manner as they saw him go into heaven." Arising, therefore, from the seat where he sits enthroned, in that glory which he had with the Father, before the world was, - he shall descend in a cloud, illuminated, from his heavenly body, with a light, such as Saint Paul saw in journeying to Damascus, above the brightness of the sun. For he shall come in his own glory; the glory which he exhibited, when he was transfigured on the Mount: and with the glory of his Father : and with the glory of the holy angels. The princes of the armies of God, leading their several legions, shall then attend to grace the appearance of their great King; and will together compose an innumerable host; since it is written, that all the angels of God shall be with him.

Thus, then, the Lord Jesus shall be revealed with his mighty angels; and shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; for the trumpet shall sound, and pierce the ear of nature in her deepest recesses; and a voice shall go

forth, the voice either of Christ himself, or of the archangel, calling by his command, and enforced by his almighty and all-quickening power: and all that are in their graves, shall hear it, and shall come forth; all the coeval and successive generations of mankind; all, that from Abel, who first felt the stroke of death, have slept in the bosom of the earth, shall hear it, and shall come forth; and the sea shall give up the dead, that are in it; and death and hell shall deliver up the dead, that are in them: and they shall live, and stand upon their feet; an exceeding great army.

But this great army, and general assemblage of mankind, will appear, not all at once, but in two successive divisions: for the dead in Christ, shall rise first; and, at the same time, they who are his, and shall be alive at his coming, shall be changed. For they who remain unto the coming of Christ, shall not prevent those which are asleep. But the resurrection of the dead in Christ, and the change of the living in Christ, shall befall them together; and both shall stand forth, in their renewed bodies, at one instant. And, because these things shall be done at the same time, in whatever parts of the earth Christ shall then have, or before have had, his faithful servants,—he will

send his angels, and they shall gather his elect into one great and blessed assembly, from the four winds.

And then, mankind in general shall be raised; and shall behold a great white throne, and him that sitteth upon this throne of glory, — a fiery stream issuing and coming forth before him; thousand thousands ministering unto him; and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him. For, "Before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them, one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left."

Thus shall all appear before the judgmentseat of Christ; righteous, as well as wicked, to be judged of him.

But the order in which they have arisen, the bodies with which they are clothed, and the places in which they stand, consenting with the sensations of their intermediate state, and the present feelings of their minds and consciences, ... shall declare before judgment is past, —to the righteous, that they have all things to hope,to the wicked, that they have every thing to fear, from the presence of the Judge, and the Majesty of his appearance.

These, then, are some of the particulars that

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