Christ Admired and Glorified in His Saints

2 Ep. Thessal. i. 10. When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe.

How mean and contemptible soever our Lord Jesus Christ might appear heretofore on earth, yet there is a day coming when he shall make a glorious figure in the sight of men and angels. How little soever the saints may be esteemed in our day, and look poor and despicable in an ungodly world, yet there is an hour approaching when they shall be glorious beyond all imagination, and Christ himself shall be glorified in them. In that day shall the Lord our Saviour be the object of adoration and wonder, not only among those of the sons of men that have believed on him, but before all the intellectual creation, and that upon the account of his grace manifested in believers.

The natural enquiry that arises here is this, * What particular instances of the grace of Christ in his saints, shall be the matter of our admiration, and his glory in that day?’

To this I shall propose an answer under the following particulars.

First, It is a matter of pleasing wonder, ’ that persons of all characters should have been united in one faith, and persuaded to trust in the same Saviour, and embrace the same salvation;’ for some of all sorts shall stand in that blessed Assembly. Then it shall be a fruitful spring of wonder and glory, that men of various nations and ages, of different tempers, capacities, and interests, of contrary educations, and contrary prejudices, should believe one gospel, and trust in one Deliverer, from hell and death; that the sprightly, the studious and the stupid, the wise and the foolish, should relish and rejoice in the same sublime truths, not only concerning the true God, but also concerning Jesus the Redeemer; that the Barbarian and the Roman, the Greek and the Jew, should approve and receive the same doctrines of salvation, that they should come into the same sentiments in the matters of religion, and live upon them as their only hope.

Astonishing spectacle! when the dark and savage inhabitants of Africa, and our fore-fathers, the rugged and warlike Britons, from the ’ ends of the earth,’ shall appear in that assembly, with some of the polite nations of Greece and Rome, and each of them shall glory in having been taught to renounce the gods of their ancestors, and the demons which they once worshipped, and shall rejoice in Jesus the king of Israel, and in Jehovah the everlasting God.

The conversion of the Gentile world to Christianity, is a matter of glorious wonder, and shall appear to be so in that great day. That those who had been educated to believe many gods, or no god at all, should renounce atheism and idolatry, and adore the true God only: and those that were taught to sacrifice to idols, and to atone for their own sins with the blood of beasts, should trust in one sacrifice, and the atoning blood of the Son of God. Here shall stand a believing atheist, and there a converted idolater, as monuments of the Almighty power of his grace.

There shall shine also in that assembly, here and there a prince, and a philosopher, though ’ not many wise, not many noble, not many mighty are called;’ and they shall be matter of wonder and glory; that princes who love no control, should bow their sceptres and their souls, to the royality and godhead of the poor man of Nazareth; that the heathen philosophers, who had been used only to yield to reason, should submit their understandings to divine revelation, even when it has something above the powers and discoveries of reason in it.

It shall raise our holy wonder too when we shall behold some of the Jewish Priests and Pharisees, who became converts to the Christian faith, adorning the triumph of that day. The Jewish Pharisees who expected a glorious temporal prince for their Messiah, that they should at last own the son of a carpenter for their Teacher, their Saviour and their king: that they should veil the pride of their souls, and acknowledge a parcel of poor fishermen for his chief ministers of state, and receive them as ambassadors to the world. That those who thought they were righteous, and boasted in it, should renounce their boastings and their righteousnesses, and learn to expect salvation and life for themselves, from the death and righteousness of another: that they who once called the cross of Christ ‘folly and weakness,’ should come to see the ’ wisdom and power of God’ in crucified man, and believe him who hung upon a tree as an accursed creature, to be Emmanuel, God with us, ‘God manifest in the flesh,’ and the Saviour of mankind.

Surely shall men and angels say in that day, ’ these were the effects of an Almighty power, it was the work of God the Saviour, and it is marvellous in our eyes. ‘With united voice shall all the saints confess, “flesh and blood has not revealed this unto us, but the spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of God the Father. We had perished in our folly, but Christ has been made wisdom to us; we were in darkness and lay under the shadow of death, but Christ has given us light-’3 1 Cor. i. 30. Ephes. v. 14.

Come, all ye saints of these latter ages upon whom the end of the world is come, raise your heads with me and look far backwards, even to the beginning of time and the days of Adam; for the believers of all ages, as well as of all nations shall appear together in that day, and acknowledge Jesus the Saviour. According to the brighter or darker discoveries of the age in which they lived, he has been the common object of their faith. Ever since he was called the ’ seed of the woman,’ till the time of his appearance in the flesh, all the chosen of God have lived upon his grace though multitudes of them never knew his name. It is true the greater part of that illustrious company on the right hand of Christ, lived since the time of his incarnation, (for the “great multitude which no man could number, is derived from the Gentile nations,” Rev. vii. 9.) Yet the ancient patriarchs, with the Jewish prophets and saints, shall make a splendid appearance there: ‘one hundred and forty -four thousand are sealed among the tribes of Israel. These of old embraced the gospel in types and shadows; but now their eyes behold Christ Jesus, the substance and the truth. In the days of their flesh they read his name in dark lines and looked through the long glass of prophecy to distant ages, and a Saviour to come, and now behold they find complete and certain salvation and glory in him. ‘’These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them.” Heb. xi. 13. They died in the hope of this salvation, and they shall arise in the blessed possession of it.

Behold Abraham appearing there. the Father of the faithful, who * saw the day of Christ,’ and rejoiced to see it, who trusted in his Son Jesus two thousand years before he was born. His elder family the pious Jews surround him there, and we his younger children among the Gentiles, shall stand with him as the followers of his faith, who trust in the same Jesus almost two thousand years after he is dead. How shall we both l rejoice to see this brightest day’ of the Son of man, and congratulate each other’s faith, while our eyes meet and centre in him, and our souls triumph in the sight and love, and enjoyment of him in whom we believed! How admirable and divinely glorious shall our Lord himself appear, on whom every eye is fixed with unutterable delight, in whom the faith of distant countries and ages is centred and reconciled, and in whom ’ all the nations of the earth’ appear to be ’ blessed,’ according to the ancient word of promise. Gen. xv. and xvii.

Secondly, It is a further occasion of pleasing wonder, * that so many wicked obstinate wills of men, and so many perverse affections, should be bowed down, and submit themselves to the holy rules of the gospel.’ This is another instance of the grace of Christ, and shall be the subject of our joyful admiration. Every son and daughter of Adam by nature is averse to God, and inclined to sin, a child of disobedience and death. Eph. ii. 2. There is a new miracle wrought by Christ in every instance of converting grace, and he shall have the glory of them all in that day. It is a first resurrection from the dead, it is a new creation, and the Almighty power shall then be publicly adored.

Then one shall say, ‘I was a sensual sinner, drenched in liquor and unclean lusts, and wicked in all the forms of lewdness and intemperance: “the grace of God my Saviour appeared to me, and taught me to deny worldly lusts,” which I once thought I could never have parted with. I loved my sins as my life, but he has persuaded and constrained me to cut off a right hand, and to pluck out aright eye, and to part with my darling vices; and behold me here a monument of his saving mercy.’

<I was envious against my neighbour, (shall another say,) and my temper was malice and wrath; revenge was mingled with my constitution, and I thought it no iniquity. But I bless the name of Christ my Redeemer, who in the day of his grace turned my wrath into meekness; he inclined me to love even mine enemies, and to pray for them that cursed me; he taught me all this by his own example, and he made me learn it by the sovereign influences of his Spirit. I am a wonder to myself, when I think of what once I was. Amazing change and almighty grace V

Then a third shall confess, * I was a profane wretch, a swearer, a blasphemer; I hoped for no heaven, and I feared no hell; but the Lord seized me in the midst of my rebellions, and sent his arrows into my soul; he made me feel the stings of an awakened conscience, and constrained me to believe there was a God and a hell, till I cried out astonished, what shall I do to be saved? Then he led me to partake of his own salvation, and from a proud rebellious infidel, he has made me a penitent and a humble believer; and here I stand to shew forth the wonders of his grace, and the boundless extent of his forgiveness.’

A fourth shall stand up and acknowledge in that dayy ‘And I was a poor carnal covetous creature, who made this world my god, and abundance of money was my heaven; but he cured me of this vile idolatry of gold, taught me how to obtain treasures in the heavenly world, and to forsake all on earth, that I might have an inheritance there; and behold he has not disappointed my hope: I am now made rich indeed, and I must forever speak his praises.’

There shall be no doubt or dispute in that day, whether it was the power of our own will, or the superior power of divine grace, that wrought the blessed change, that turned a lion into a lamb, a grovelling earth-worm into a bird of paradise, and of a covetous or malicious sinner, made a meek and a heavenly saint. The grace of Christ shall be so conspicuous in every glorified believer in that assembly, that with one voice they shall all shout to the praise and glory of his grace; “Not to us, 0 Lord, not to us, but to thy name be all the honour.” Psal. cxv. 1.

Thirdly, It shall be the matter of our wonder, and the glory of Christ in that day, ‘that so many thousand guilty wretches should be made righteous by one righteousness, cleansed in one laver from all their iniquities, and sprinkled unto pardon and sanctification, with the blood of one man, Jesus Christ, See the “great multitude that no man can number,” Rev. vii. 9. 10. They all “washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,” ver. 14.

It is a matter of wonder to us now on earth, that the blessed Son of God who is one with the Father, should stoop so low as to unite himself to a mortal nature, that he should become a poor despicable man, and pass through a life of sufferings and sorrows, and die an accursed death, to redeem us from guilt and deserved misery. But when we shall see him in his native glory and lustre, his acquired dignities, and all the honours of heaven heaped upon him, it will raise our wonder high, to think that such a One should once humble himself to the death of the cross, the death of the vilest slave, that he might save our souls from dying; that he should pour out his own blood to wash off the stains of millions of sins, that we might appear righteous before a God of holiness. Then shall the multitude of the saved join in that song, “To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, be glory and dominion for ever.” Rev. i. 5, 6. “Worthy is the Lan:b that was slain to receive power, and riches, and honour, for thou hast redeemed us with thy blood from every kindred, tribe and nation.” Rev. v.

Then shall those blessed words of Scripture appear and shine in full glory, howsoever they are often passed over in silence, and too much forgotten in our age, Rom. v. 17, 19, 21. “If by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Then shall our blessed Lord shine in the complete lustre of that incommunicable name, Jehovah Tzidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. Jer. xxiii. 6.

And not only the atonement and salvation itself, shall be the subject of our glorious admiration, but the ‘way and manner’ how sinners partake of it, shall minister further to our wonder, and to the glory of Christ. That such a world of poor miserable creatures should be saved from hell, by believing or trusting in grace, when they could never be saved by all their own works; that they should obtain righteousness and acceptance unto eternal life, by a humble penitence and poverty of spirit, depending on the death and righteousness of another, when all their labours and toil in works of the law, could not make up a righteousness of their own, sufficient to appear ‘before the justice of God; Christ will not only be glorified in their holiness as saints, but admired and honoured in and by their faith as believers. His blood and his grace shall share all the glory.” Therefore it is of faith, “and not of works, “that it might be of grace,” Rom. iv. 15. Yet this saving faith is the spring of shining holiness in every believer. Duties and virtues are not left out of our religion, when faith is brought into it. The graces of the saints join happily with the atonement of Christ, to render that day more illustrious.

Fourthly, i That a company of such feeble Christians, should maintain their course towards heaven, through so many thousand obstacles:’ this shall be another subject of admiration, and yield a further revenue of glory to our Lord Jesus Christ, for he who is their righteousness is their strength also. Isa. xlv. 24, 25. “In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel glory” in that day, as their strength and their salvation. They have broke through all their difficulties, and were “able to do all things through Christ strengthening them.” Phil. iv. 13.

Behold that noble army with palms in their hands; once they were weak warriors, yet they overcame mighty enemies, and have gained the victory and the prize; enemies rising from earth, and from hell, to tempt and to accuse them, but “they overcame by the blood of the Lamb,” Rev. xii. 7, 11. What a divine honour shall it be to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Captain of our salvation, that weak Christians should subdue their strong corruptions, and get safe to heaven through a thousand oppositions within and without? It is all owing to the grace of Christ, that there is grace which is all-sufficient for every saint, 2 Cor. xii. 9.

They are “made more than conquerors through him that has loved them,” Rom. vih. 38.

Then shall the faith, and courage, and patience of the saints, have a blessed review; and it shall be told before the whole creation what strife and wrestlings a poor believer has passed through in a dark cottage, a chamber of long sickness, or perhaps in a dungeon; how he has there combated with powers of darkness, how he has struggled with huge sorrows, and ’ has borne and has not fainted,’ though he has been often ’ in heaviness through manifold temptations.’ Then shall appear the bright scene which St. Peter represents as the event of sore trials, 1 Pet. i. 6, 7. When our ‘faith has been tried in the fire’ of tribulation, and is found ’ more precious than gold,’ it shall shine to the ’ praise, honour, and glory,’ of the suffering saints, and of Christ himself ’ at his appearance.’

Behold that illustrious troop of martyrs, and some among them of the feeblest sex and of tender age; now, that women should grow bold in faith, even in the sight of torments, and children, with a manly courage, should profess the name of Christ in the face of angry and threatening rulers; that some of these should become undaunted confessors of the truth, and others triumph in fire and torture; these things shall be matter of glory to Christ in that day; it was his power that gave them courage and victory in martyrdom and death. Every Christian there, every soldier in that triumphing army, shall ascribe his conquest to the grace of his Lord, his Leader, and lay down all their trophies at the feet of his Saviour, with humble acknowledgments and shouts of honour.

Almost all the saved number were, at some part of their lives, weak in faith, and yet, by the grace of Christ, they held out to the end, and are crowned. ‘I was a poor trembling creature,’ shall one say, ’ but I was confirmed in my faith and holiness by the gospel of Christ; or I rested on a naked promise and found support, because Christ was there, and he shall have the glory of it.’ In him are all the promises yea, and in him Amen, to the glory of the Father,” 2 Cor. i. 20, 21, 22. And the Son shall share in this glory, for he died to ratify these promises, and he lives to fulfil them.

‘Oh what an almighty arm is this (shall the believer say) that has borne up so many thousands of poor sinking creatures, and lifted their heads above the waves!’ The spark of grace that lived many years in a flood of temptations, and was not quenched, shall then shine bright, to the glory of Christ who kindled and maintained it. When we have been brought through all the storms and threatening seas, and yet the raging waves have been forbid to swallow us up, we shall cry out in raptures of joy and wonder, “What manner of man is this, that the winds and the seas have obeyed him?”

Then shall it be gloriously evident, that he has conquered Satan, and kept the hosts of hell in chains, when it shall appear that he has made poor, mean, trembling believers, victorious over all the powers of darkness; for the Prince of ’ peace has bruised him under their feet.’

Fifthly, There is more work for our wonder and joy, and more glory for our blessed Lord, when we shall see ’ that so many dark and dreadful providences were working together in mercy, for the good of the saints;’ it is because Jesus Christ had the management of them all put in his hand; and we shall acknowledge “he has done all things well.” Rom. viii. 28, “All things have wrought together for good.” It is the voice of Christ to every saint in sorrow, “what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter,” John xii. 7. I saw not then, saith the Christian, that my Lord was curing my pride, by such a threatening and abasing providence, that he was weaning my heart from sensual delight, by such a sharp and painful wound; but now I behold things in another light, and give thanks and praises to my divine Physician.

We shall look back upon the hours of our impatience, and be ashamed; we shall chide the flesh for its old repmings, when we shall stand upon the eternal hills of paradise, and cast our eyes back upon yonder transactions of time, those past ages of complaint and infirmity. We shall then, with pleasure and thankfulness, confess, that the captain of our salvation was much in the right to lead us through so many sufferings and sorrows, and we were much in the wrong to complain of his conduct.

Bear up your spirits then, ye poor afflicted distressed souls, who are wrestling through difficult providences all in the dark. Bear up but a little longer, “he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry;” he will set all his conduct in a fair light, and you shall say, Blessed be the Lord, and all his government.”

Sixthly, i That heaven should be so well filled out of such a hell of sin and misery as this world is,’ shall be another delightful reflection full of wonder and glory. Take a short survey of mankind, how ’ ail flesh has corrupted its ways’ before God, and ‘every imagination of the thought of man’s heart is only evil, and that continually; there is none righteous, no, not one.’ Look round about you and see how iniquity abounds, violence, oppression, pride, lust, sensualities of all kinds, how they reign among the children of men. Religion is lost, and God forgo tteu in the world; and yet, out of this wretched world, Christ has provided inhabitants for heaven, where ‘nothing can enter that defileth.’ Look into your own hearts, ye sinners, see what a hell lies there; and ye converts of the grace of Christ, look into your hearts too, and see how many of the seeds of wickedness still lie hid there; how much corruption, and how little holiness; look inward, and wonder that Christ should ever fit you for heaven, by his converting and his sanctifying grace.

Look round the world again, and survey the miseries of this earth; as many calamities as there are creatures, and perhaps ten times more. Who is there on earth without his sorrows? and sometimes a multitude of them meet in one single sufferer. See how toil, and weariness, and disappointment, poverty and sickness, pain, and anguish, and vexation, are distributed through this world, that lies on the borders of hell; see all this, and wonder at the grace of Christ, that has taken a colony out of this miserable world, and made a heaven of it.

We shall, many of us, be a wonder to each other as well as to ourselves, and we shall all review and admire the grace of Christ in and towards us all. Among the rest, there are two sorts of Christians whose salvation shall be a special matter of wonder, and these are the melancholy and the uncharitable* The melancholy Christian shall

* The word is not used here by our author, in the full extent of its meaning. The uncharitable would be as much out of place in heaven, as the sanctified would be in hell. Yet compared to what he ought to be, a truly pious man, through rashness and mistake, may be uncharitable in particular instances; and owing to difference of temperament, knowledge, piety, or iabit, pious men are sometimes uncharitable to a blamable extent, not only wonder that ever such a sinner as himself was brought to heaven; and the uncharitable shall wonder how such a sinner as his neighbour came there. The poor doubting melancholy soul, who was full of fears lest he should be condemned, shall then have full assurance that he is elected and redeemed, pardoned and saved, when he sees, heais and feels, the salvation and the glory upon him, within him, and all around him, and he shall admire and adore the grace of God his Saviour. The narrow-souled Christian, who said his neighbour would be damned for want of some party notions, or for some lesser failings, shall confess his uncharitable mistake, and shall wonder at the abounding mercy of Christ, which has pardoned those errors in his neighbour, for which he had excommunicated and condemned him. Both these Christians in that day, I mean, the timorous and the censorious, shall stand at his right hand, as monuments of his surprising grace, who forgave one the defects of his faith, and the other his want of love; and their souls and their tongues shall join together to rejoice in the Lord, and their spirits shall magnify their God and Redeemer. Christ shall have his due revenue of glory from both, in the hour of their public salvation.

0 what honour shall it add to the overflowing mercy of Christ, what joy and wonder to all the saints, to see Paul the persecutor and blasphemer there, and Peter who denied the Lord that bought him, and Mary Magdalene that impure sinner!’* See what a foul and shameful catalogue, what children of iniquity are at last made heirs and possessors of heaven, 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10, 11. The fornicators and idolaters, the thieves and the covetous, the drunkards,

in respect of what they should be, but also compared with others. It is in this comparative sense that the word is used as above. — En.

* Tradition has been exceedingly unjust to the character of Mary of Magdala. There is not a vestige of proof in the New Testament, that she ever had been an impure woman. There is evidence of the contrary in the character of her associates; such as Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward, Susannah, and other women of respectable station, and of the best character. “She is spoken of,” as Dr. Scott says, “rather as one who had been Temarkably afflicted, than peculiarly -wicked.” She was a wealthy and pious woman, who “ministered to Jesus of her substance,” not only while he was living, but also brought spices to embalm him after his death. She was one of those devoted women, who watched our dying Saviour duiing the whole time of his sufferings on mount Calvary, saw him laid in the tomb, and was the first to whom he was pleased to show himself after he the revilers, and the extortioners. Such they were in the days of ignorance and heathenism, fit fuel for the fire of hell; and in those circumstances they are utterly excluded ’ from the kingdom of God;’ but now they find a place in that blessed assembly, and the converting grace of Christ is admired and glorified, that could turn such sinners into saints. 0 surprising scene of rich salvation, when these Corinthian converts, washed in the blood of Christ, and renewed by his Spirit, shall appear in their white garments of holiness and glory! There is not one sinful creature to be found in all the vast retinue of the holy Jesus. But there are thousands who have been once great criminals, notorious sinners, and have been snatched by the arm of divine love, as ’ brands out of the burning.’ What an affecting sight will it be, when we shall behold all the members of Christ united to their Head, and complete in glory; and see at the same time, a world of vile sinners doomed to destruction! With what admiration and wonder shall we cry out, “and such were some of these happy ones, but they are sanctified, but they are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God,” ver.ll. ‘Not unto us, 0 Lord, not unto us, but to’ God our Saviour be eternal honour.

In the seventh place, There is another glory and wonder added to this illustrious scene, and gives honour to our blessed Saviour, and that is, ‘that so many vigorous, beautiful, and immortal bodies, should be raised at once out of the dust, with all their old infirmities left behind them.’ Not one ache or pain, not one weakness or disease, among all the glorified millions. As the Israelites came out of their bondage in Egypt, so shall the army of saints from the prison of the grave, “and not one feeble among them,” Psal. cv. 37. This is the work of Christ the Creator and the Healer.

rose from the dead. I conclude, therefore, with Dr. Clarke, “that the common opinion is a vile slander on the character of one of the best women mentioned in the Gospel of God; and a reproach [by implication] on the character and conduct of Christ and his disciples,” to whom a certain degree of imprudence might justly be imputed, if a woman of her supposed character, however reformed, had been numbered among their associates. Far be it from us to ascribe imprudence to Him who is possessed of all the treasures of wisdom; and we would also be as far from giving countenance to the aspersions which blundering tradition casts on the character of any of his faithful followers. — Ed.

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Here I might run many sorrowful divisions, and travel over the large and thorny field of sickness and pains that attend human nature, those inborn mischiefs that vex poor Christian in this state of trial and suffering. But these were all buried when the body went to the grave, and they are buried forever; he that has the keys of death, shall let the bodies of his saints out of prison; but no gout nor stone, no infirmity nor distemper, no head-ache nor heart-ache, shall ever attend them. The body was sown in weakness, but it is raised in power;’ it was ’ sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory,’ through the power of the second Adam, and his quickening Spirit. 1 Cor. xv. 43, 45. Rom. viii. 11.

Then shall Christ appear to be Sovereign and Lord of death, when such an endless multitude of old and new captives are released at his word, and the grave has restored its prey; when those bodies which have been turned into dust some thousands of years, and their atoms scattered abroad by the winds of heaven, shall be raised again in glory and dignity, to meet their descending Lord in the air. Surely Jesus in that day shall be acknowledged as a Sovereign of nature, when, at the word of his command, a new creation shall arise, all perfect and immortal.

It will add yet further glory to Christ, when we remember what fruitful seeds of iniquity were lodged in that flesh and blood, which we wore on earth, and which we laid down in the tomb; and when, at the same time, we survey our glorified bodies, how spiritual, how holy, how happily fitted for the service of glorified souls made perfect in holiness. How did all the saints once complain of ‘a law in their members, that warred against the law of their minds, and brought them into bondage to the law of sin?’ But this ‘law of sin’ is now for ever abolished, this ‘bondage’ dissolved and broken, and these ’ members’ all new-created, for ‘instruments’ of ‘righteousness’ to serve God in his temple. Holy Paul shall no more ’ groan in a sinful tabernacle,’ he shall no more complain of that ’ flesh wherein no good thing dwelt,’ he shall cry out no more, “0 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?”

Many and bitter have been the sorrows of a holy soul in this world, because of the perverse dispositions of animal nature and the flesh. But none of the saints in that assembly shall ever feel again the stings at inward envy, the pricking thorns of peevishness, nor the wild ferments of ’ wrath and passion:’ none of them shall ever find those ’ unruly appetites’ which wrought so strongly in their old flesh and blood, and too often overpowered their unwilling souls, those appetites which brought their consciences sometimes under fresh guilt, and filled them with inward reproaches, and agonies of spirit. These evil principles are all destroyed by death, they are lost in the grave, and shall have no resurrection. The new-raised bodies of the righteous in that day, shall be completely obedient to the dictates of their spirits, without any vicious juices to make reluctance, or perverse humours to raise an inward rebellion.* And not only so, but perhaps even our bodies shall have some active holy tendencies, wrought in them so far as corporeal nature can administer, towards the sacred exercises of a glorified saint. A sweet and blessed change indeed! And Jesus who raised these bodies in this beauty of holiness, shall receive the glory of this divine work.

The last instance I shall mention, wherein Christ shall be admired in his saints, is this, ‘they shall appear in that day, as so many images of his person, and as so many monuments of the success of his office.’

Is the blessed Jesus a great Prophet, and the Teacher of his church? These are the persons that have learnt his divine doctrine, they have ’ heard the joyful sound’ of his gospel, and the holy truths of it are copied out in their hearts. These are the disciples of his school; and by his word, and by his Spirit, they have been taught to know God and their Saviour, and they, have been trained up in the way to eternal life.

Is Jesus a great ‘High Priest, both of sacrifice and intercession?’ Behold all these souls, an endless number, puri-

* “Vicious juices,” and “perverse humours,” may be the causes or effects of bodily disease; and disease, together with the habits which sometimes produce it, may make “reluctance,” and “raise inward rebellion,” — may try the faith and patience of God’s people, and detect the deficiency and feebleness, of their graces, and the strength of their Remaining corruptions. But disease in any part of the material frame, is not the cause of moral delinquency. It is the consequence of sin, the evidence that we “were by nature the children of wrath, even as others,” or, it may be the occasion of remaining depravity in some way discovering itself; but it would be approximating too much the confines of Gnosticism, to admit the idea that any of the “juices” or “humours” of the body are morally “vicious” or “perverse. — Ed.

fied from their defilements by the blood of his cross, washed and made white in that blessed laver, and reconciled to God by his atoning sacrifice. Behold the power of his intercession, in securing millions from the wrath of God, and in procuring for them every divine blessing. He has obtained for each of them grace and glory.

Is Jesus the ‘Lord of all things,’ and the ‘King of his church?’ Behold his subjects waiting on him, a numerous and a loyal multitude, who have the laws of their King engraven on their souls. These are the sons and daughters of Adam, whom he has rescued by his power from the kingdom of darkness, and the hands of the devil: he has guarded them from the rage of their malicious adversaries in earth and hell, and brought them safe through all difficulties, to behold the glories of this day, and to celebrate the honours of their King.

Is he the ‘Captain of salvation?’ See what a blessed army he has listed under his banner of love; and they have followed him through all the dangers of life and time under his conduct. These are the ‘chosen, the called, the faithful.’ They have sustained many a sharp conflict, many a dreadful battle, and they are at last, ’ made more than conquerors through him that has loved them.’ They attribute all their victories to the wisdom, the goodness, and the power of their divine Leader: and even stand amazed at their own success against such mighty adversaries. But they fought under the banner, conduct, and influence of the ‘Prince of life,’ the King of righteousness, who is always victorious, and has a crown in his hand for every conqueror.

Is Jesus the great ‘example of his saints?’ Behold the virtues and graces of the Son of God, copied out in all his followers. ‘As he was, so were they in this world, holy, harmless and undefiled, and separate from sinners.’ As he now is, so are they, glorious in holiness, and divinely beautiful, while each of them reflects the image of their blessed Lord, and they appear as wonders to all the beholding world. They ’ were unknown’ here on earth, even as ‘Christ himself was unknown.’ This is the day appointed to reveal their works and their graces. Jesus is the ‘brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person; and all the Sons and daughters 01 God shall then appear, as so many pictures of the blessed Jesus, drawn by the finger of the eternal Spirit.

And not their souls only, but their glorified bodies alst are framed in his likeness. What grace and grandeur dwells in each countenance! ‘As thou art,’ 0 blessed Jesus, so shall they be on that day, ’ all of them resembling the children of a king!’ Vigour and health, beauty and immortality, shine and reign throughout all that blessed assembly. The adopted sons and daughters of God resemble the original and only begotten Son. Christ will have all his brethren and sisters conformed unto his glories, that they may be known to be his kindred, the children of his Father, and that he ‘may appear the first-born among many brethren.’ When the Son of God breaks open the graves, he forms the dust of his saints, by the model of his own glorious aspect and figure, “and changes their vile bodies into the likeness of his own glorious body, by that power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself,” Phil, iii. 21. He shall be admired as the bright original, and each of the saints as a fair and glorious copy. The various beauties that are dispersed among all that assembly, are summed up and united in himself: ‘he is the chiefest of ten thousands, and altogether lovety.’ One sun in the firmament can paint his own bright image at once, upon a thousand reflecting glasses, or mirrors of gold. What a dazzling lustre would arise from such a scene of reflections! But what superior and inexpressible glory, above all the powers of similitude and beyond the reach of comparison, shall irradiate the world in that day, when Jesus the Son of righteousness shall shine upon all his saints, and find each of them well prepared to receive this lustre, and to reflect it round the creation; each of them displaying the image of the original Son of God, and confessing all their virtues and graces, all their beauties and glories, both of soul and body, to be nothing else but mere copies and derivations from Jesus, the first and fairest image of the Father!

Use. The doctrines and the works of divine grace are full of wonder and glory. Such is the person and offices of Christ, such are his holy and faithful followers, and such eminently will be the blessed scene at his appearance. In the foregoing part of the discourse, we have briefly surveyed some of those glorious wonders, we now come to consider what use may be made of such a theme.

Use 1. It gives us eminently these two lessons of instruction.

Lesson 1. ‘How mistaken is the judgment of flesh and sense, in the things that relate to Christ and his saints.’ The Son of God himself, was abused and scorned by the blind world, they esteemed him as “one smitten of God and unbeloved,” and “they saw no beauty nor comeliness in him,” Isa. liii. 23. He was poor and despised all his life, and he was doomed to the death of a criminal and a slave. As for the saints they find no more honour or esteem among men than their Lord, they are many times called and counted ’ the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things,’ 1 Cor. iv. 13. This is the judgment of flesh and sense.

But when the great appointed hour is come, and Jesus shall return from heaven ’ with a shout of the arch-angel, and the trump of God, when he shall call up his’ saints from their beds of dust and darkness, and make the graves resign those ‘prisoners of hope,’ when they shall all gather together around their Lord, a bright and numerous army, shining and reflecting the splendours of his presence, how will the judgment of flesh and sense be confounded at once, and reversed with shame? ‘Is this the man that was loaded with scandal, that was buffeted with scorn, and scourged and crucified in the land of Judea? Is this the person that hung on the cursed tree, and expired under agonies of pain and sorrow! Amazing sight! how majestic, how divine his appearance! the Son of God, and the king of glory! And are these the men that were made the mockery of the world? that wandered about in sheep-skins, and goat-skins, in dens and caves of the earth? Surprising appearance! how illustrious! how full of glory!’ 0 that such a meditation might awaken us to judge more by faith.

Lesson 2. The next lesson that we may derive from the text is this, viz. ‘One great design of the day of judgment, is to advance and publish the glory of Christ* He shall some on purpose to ’ be glorified in his saints;’ the whole creation was made by him and for him; the transactions of Providence, grace and justice, are managed for his honour; and the joyful and terrible affairs of the day of judgment, are designed to display the majesty and the power of Jesus the King, the wisdom and equity of Jesus the Judge, and the grace and truth of Jesus the Saviour. I will grant indeed that the appointment of this day is partly intended for the glory of Christ, in the ‘just destruction of the impenitent, for he will be glorified in pouring out the vengeance of his Father upon rebellious sinners. “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power,” ver. 7, 8, 9. before my text. But his sweetest and most valuable revenue of glory arises from among his saints.

If the ‘messengers of the churches’ are called ’ the glory of Christ,’ with all the weaknesses, and sins, and follies that attend the best of them here, as in 2 Cor. viii. 23, much more shall they be in his glory hereafter, when they shall have no spot or blemish found upon them, and when the work of Christ upon their souls has formed and finished them in the perfect beauty of holiness. The saints shall reflect glory on each other, and all of them cast supreme lustre on Christ their head. The people shall be the crown and glory of the minister in that day, and the minister shall be the joy and glory of the people, and both shall be the crown, joy and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Thes. ii. 19, 20. 2 Cor. i. 14. 2 Thes. i. 12. He shall appear high on a throne in the midst of that bright assembly and say, Father, these are the sheep that thou hast given me, in the counsels of thine eternal love; all these have I ransomed from hell at the price of my own blood; these have I rescued by my grace, from the dominion of sin and the devil; I have formed them unto holiness and fitted them for heaven: I have kept them by my power through all the dangers of their mortal state, and have brought them safe to thy celestial kingdom. Ml thine are mine, and all mine are thine; I was glorified in them on earth, John xvii. 10, and they are now my everlasting crown and glory.’

Then shall the unknown worlds that never fell, worlds of angels and innocent creatures, and the world of guilty devils and condemned rebels, stand and wonder together at the recovery and salvation Christ has provided for the fallen sons of Adam. They shall stand amazed to see the millions of apostate creatures, the inhabitants of this earthly globe, recovered to their duty and allegiance by the

Son of God going down to hell amongst them; millions of impure and deformed souls restored to the divine image, and made beautiful as angels, by the grace and spirit of our Lord Jesus. Those spectators shall be filled with admiration and transport, to see such a multitude of criminals pardoned and justified, for the sake of a rightousness which they themselves never wrought, and accepted as righteous in the sight of God, by a covenant of grace unknown to other worlds, and by faith in the great Mediator. They shall wonder to see such an innumerable company of polluted wretches, washed from their sins in so precious a laver as the blood of God’s own Son. And he that, hung upon the cross as a spectacle of wretchedness at Jerusalem, shall entertain the superior and inferior worlds with the sight of his adorable and divine glories, and the spoils he has brought from the region of death and hell. Thus to * the principalities and powers in heavenly places, shall be made known by the church triumphant, the manifold wisdom,’ and the manifold grace of God the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, Eph. iii. 10.

But tremble, 0 ye obstinate and impenitent wretches! ye sensual sinners! ye infidels of a Christian name and nation! Christ will be glorified in you one way or another: if your hearts are not bowed and melted to receive his gospel, you shall be ’ punished with everlasting destruction’ among those that ’ know not God, and obey not the gospel of his Son. ’

Tremble, ye sensual and ye profane sons of iniquity, when ye remember this day, when ye shall see the holy souls that ye scorned, with crowns on their heads, and palms in their hands, with the shout of victory and joy on their tongues, and the God-man whom ye despised, and whose grace ye neglected, shining at the head of that bright assembly.

Tremble, ye infidels, ye despisers of the name of a crucified Christ, behold his cross is become a throne, and his crown of thorns a crown of glory. See the man whom ye have scorned and reproached, at the head of millions of angels, and adored by ten thousand times ten thousand saints, while wicked princes and captains, armies and nations of sinners, wait their doom from his mouth, nor dare hope for a word of his mercy. 0 make haste, and come and be reconciled to him, and to God by him, that ye may belong to that blessed assembly, that ye may bear a part in the triumphs of that day, and that Christ may be glorified in your recovery from the very borders of damnation.

This thought leads me to the next use.

II. This discourse gives * rich encouragement to the greatest sinners to hope for mercy, and to the weakest saints to hope for victory and salvation.’ Such sort of subjects of the grace of Christ, shall yield him some of the brightest rays of glory at the last day. Yet, sinners, let me charge you here never to hope for this happiness without solemn repentance, and an entire change of heart unto holiness; for an unholy soul would be a fearful blemish in that assembly, and a disgrace to our Lord Jesus. Christians, I would charge you also never to hope for the happiness of this day, without battle and conquest; for all the members of that assembly must be overcomers: but where there is a hearty desire and longing after grace and salvation, let not the worst of sinners despair, nor the weakest believer let go his hope, for it is such as you and I are, in whom Christ will be magnified in that day.

Believe this, 0 thou humbled and convinced sinner! who complainest that thy heart is hard, though thou wouldest fain repent and mourn; who fearest that the bonds of thy corruptions are so strong that they shall never be broken; believe that the sovereign grace of Christ has designed to exalt itself in the sanctifi cation of such unholy souls as thou art, and in melting such hard hearts as thine. And thou poor, trembling soul that wouldest fain trust in a Saviour, but art afraid, because of the greatness of thy guilt, and thine abounding iniquities, believe this, that i where sin has abounded, grace has much more abounded.’ It is from the bringing such sinners as thou art to heaven, that the choicest revenues of glory shall arise to our Lord Jesus Christ, and thy acclamations of joy and honour to the Saviour, shall perhaps be loudest in that day, ’ when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe.’

Read 1 Tim. i. 13, 14, 15, and 16, and see there what an account the great Apostle gives of his own conversion; “I was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious, yet I obtained mercy; and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith, and love, which is in Jesus Christ.” Now I am sent to publish and preach to blasphemers and persecutors, that “this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am the chief. Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.”

Turn to another text, ye feeble believers, 2 Cor. xii. 9y 10, and there you shall And the same Apostle a convert and a Christian, but too weak to conflict with the messenger of Satan that buffeted him, nor able to release himself from that sore temptation that lay heavy upon him: but having received a word from Christ that his ‘grace wassufficient,’ and that his ’ strength was’ to shine ’ perfect in glory in the midst of our weakness,’ the Apostle encourages himself to a joyful hope. Now, says he, I can even “glory in my infirmities, (so far as they are without sin,) that the power of Christ may rest upon me; when 1 am weak” in myself, “I am strong” in the Lord.

Are not the most diseased patients the chief honours of the physician that hath healed them? And must not these appear eminently in that day, when he displays to the sight of the world the noblest monuments of his healing power? When cripples and invalids gain the victory over mighty enemies, is not the skill and conduct of their leader most admired? You are the persons then in whom Christ will be glorified, be of good cheer, receive his offered grace,, and wait for his salvation.

III. The next tise I shall make of this discourse, is to draw a ‘word of advice’ from it. Learn to despise those honours and ornaments in this world, in which Christ shall have no share in the world to come.’ I do not say, * cast them all away, for many things are needful in this life? that can have no immediate regard to the other; but ’ learn to despise them,’ and set light by them, because they reach no further than time, and shall be forgotten in eternity. Never put the higher esteem on yourselves or your neighbours, because of the gay glilterings of silk 6r silver: nor let these employ your eyes and your thoughts in the time of worship, when the things of the future world should fill up all your attention; nor let them entertain your tongues in your friendly visits, so as to exclude the discourse of divine ornaments and the glorious appearance of our Lord Jesus.

When I am to put on my best attire, let me consider, if I am hung round with jewels and gold, these must perish before that solemn day, or melt in the last great burning, they can add no beauty to me in that assembly. If I put on love and faith, and humility, I shall shine in these hereafter, and Christ shall have some rays of glory from them. 0 may your souls and mine be drest in those graces which are ornaments of great price in the sight of God!” 1 Pet. iii. 3, 4, such as may command the respect of angels, and reflect honour upon Christ in that solemnity!

I confess we dwell in flesh and blood, and human nature in the best of us is too much impressed by things sensible. When we see a train of human pomp and grandeur, and long ranks of shining garments and equipage, it is ready to dazzle our eyes, and attract our hearts. Vain pomp, and poor equipage, all this, when compared with the triumph of our blessed Lord, at his appearance with an endless army of his holy ones; where every saint shall be vested, (not in silks and gold,) but in robes of refined light, out-shining the sun, such as Christ himself wore in the mount of transfiguration. Millions of suns in one firmament of glory. Think on that day and the illustrious retinue of our Lord: think on that splendor that shall attract the eyes of heaven and earth, shall confound the proud sinner, and astonish the inhabitants of hell. Such a meditation as this will cast a dim shadow over the brightest appearances of a court, or a royal festival; it will spread a dead colouring over all the painted vanities of this life; it will damp every thought of rising ambition and earthly pride, and we shall have but little heart to admire or wish for any of the vain shows of mortality. Methinks every gaudy scene of the present life, and all the gilded honours of courts and armies, should grow faint, and fade away and vanish, at the meditation of this illustrious appearance.

IV. This text will give us also two hints of caution.

First, i You that are rich in this world, or wise, or mighty, dare not ridicule nor scoff at those poor weak Christians, in whom Christ shall be admired and glorified in the last day.’ You that fancy you have any advantages of birth or beauty, of mind or body here on earth, dare not make a jest of your poor pious neighbour that wants them, for he is one of those persons whom Christ calls his glory, and he himself has given you warning; lest you incur his resentment on this account, Matth. xviii. 6, “Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” Perhaps the good man has some blemish in his outward form, or it may be his countenance is dejected, or his mien and figure awkward and uncomely; perhaps his garments sit wrong and unfashionable upon him, or it may be they hang in tatters: the motions of his body perhaps are ungraceful, his speech improper, and his deportment simple and unpolished; but he has shining graces in his soul, in which Christ shall be admired in the last day, and how darest thou make him thy laughing-stock? Wilt thou be willing to hear thy scornful jest repeated again at that day, when the poor derided Christian has his robes of glory on, and the Judge of all shall acknowledge him for one of his favourites?

The second hint of caution is this, ‘You that shall be the glory of Christ in that day, dare not do any thing that may dishonour him now.’ Walk answerable to your character and your hope, nor indulge the least sinful defilement. Say within yourselves, Am I to make one in that splendid retinue of my Lord, where every one must appear in robes of holiness, and shall I spot my garments with the flesh? When I am provoked to anger and indignation, let me say, doth wrath and bluster become a follower and an attendant of the meek and peaceful Jesus? When I am tempted to pride and vanity of mind, will this be a benuty, or a blemish, to that assembly that shines in glorious humility? Or perhaps I am wavering, and ready to yield, and become a captive to some foolish temptation; but how then can I expect a place in that holy triumph, which is appointed for none but conquerors? And how shall I be able to look my blessed General in the face on that day, if I prove a coward under his banner, and abandon my profession of strict holiness, at the demand of a sinful and threatening world?’

V. The last use I shall make of the text, is matter of ‘consolation and joy’ to two sorts of Christians.

First, ‘To the poor, mean, and despised followers of Christ,’ and in whom Christ himself is despised by the ungodly world; read my text, and believe that in you,

Christ shall be glorified and admired, when, with a million of angels, he shall descend from heaven, and make his last appearance upon earth; mean as you are in your own esteem, because of your ignorance and your weakness in this world, you shall be one of the glories of Christ in the world to come: little and despicable as you are in the esteem of proud sinners, they shall behold your Lord exalted on his throne, and you sitting among the honours at 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 lamentation 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, direct 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 ye shall see me;” ye shall see “the Son of man sitting on the throne- of his glory,” Matt. xxv. 31. ‘Thenehall 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.