reward every man according to his works. Which St. Luke expresses thus more fully1: Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels. Some of which glorious creatures appeared to the apostles, and told them as much, when they stood gazing after our Saviour as he ascended up into heaven. This same Jesus, say they, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Now he went thither in a most illustrious manner, in the bright clouds of heaven, attended by the celestial ministers; who came to conduct him into his glory. For that is the meaning (it were easy to show if this place were proper for it) of those words a little before": He was taken (or lifted) up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.

In brief, he will appear as the Lord of hosts, i. e. of all the armies of heaven, whether archangels or angels, thrones or dominions, or powers, or whatsoever other name there is whereby they are called.

5. And then making the air his camp, where he will pitch his royal pavilion, a great white (i. e. most royal and shining) throne will be set for him, and lesser seats, it is likely, for all those whom he intends to honour at that great day P.

6. After which he will send forth his voice, his mighty voice, or most powerful and irresistible word of command; the efficacy of which will be such that it will raise the dead out of their graves, and bring them before his throne or judgmentseat. So he himself tells us in John v. 28, 29: The hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. Of which authority and power of his, he tells them they should shortly have a proof: which was at the resurrection of Lazarus, when he did but say with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth; and immediately he that was dead (as it there follows) came forth, though bound hand and foot with grave-clothes.

In as easy a manner will he at the last day raise up all mankind; who, being then gathered before him, and standing at his tribunal, shall be judged and sentenced by him to receive every one according as their works have beent.

Some indeed shall rise before others, (as St. Paul informs us in that I Thess. iv. 16,) but such shall be the conclusion of this glorious appearance; which, as far as the holy Scriptures (our only guide in those matters) would direct me, I have briefly explained. For after he hath taken an exact survey of men's actions, and made a just distinction of their persons, in such sort as he himself hath told us", (where all belonging to this judgment is summed up,) he will crown the fidelity of his obedient disciples; and, returning back from the air, (whither they will be caught up in glorious clouds to meet him,) he will carry them along with him to his heavenly palace; and so, saith the apostle, shall we be ever with the Lord ×.

And who is there now that would not wish to behold him come in this royal majesty, and put such an happy end to all our labours and troubles here? What soul is there that can forbear to love and earnestly desire this glorious sight, if it hope to reap advantage by it? This is that on which all good Christians should set their hearts. This they should wait and long for, as the most lovely spectacle that can bless their eyes, whensoever it shall please God to let it appear. They may be tempted rather to be impatient, because it is so long deferred, than to be cold in their affection towards it, or indifferent whether it come or no. Nothing can hinder it from raising the most ardent desires to enjoy it, unless any doubt creep into our hearts, whether there will be such a time as I have described. That distrust indeed, if we have any, must first be removed. We ought to look after a good assurance of the certainty of that which we make the object of our love and most passionate expectations.

For if we expect a show, that is only painted in our own fancies in curious colours, but hath no real existence any where else, what an amazing disappointment will it be to find we have set our hearts on that which is not, and have embraced a u Matt. xxv. 31-33, &c.

t Rev. xx. 12, 13. 2 Cor. v. 10.

* Thess. iv. 17.

cloud instead of God! How miserable should we feel ourselves if at last we perceived that we had pressed a dream, and with long out-stretched arms (as I may speak) most ardently clasped about a shadow! Into what a gulf of shame should we tumble if we saw in the conclusion and issue of things the whole weight of our souls and most hearty affections fall upon the thin air and have nothing to support them! Nothing can express the confusion it would throw us into, to find that we had courted, so many years or ages perhaps, a mere vision of our own hearts, and let our affection loose to wander in the paradise of fools.

That we may be out of fear therefore of any such disappointment, and have our affections powerfully excited towards so great a good, and be engaged most earnestly to pursue it, I shall proceed to the second part of this discourse, which is to show the grounds we have to expect the appearing of the Lord Jesus the second time unto our eternal salvation.

CHAP. IV.

The certainty of this appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

To prove that there will certainly be such an appearing of our Lord as will surpass even the glory wherein the apostles saw him on the holy mount, (which St. Luke plainly shows was a figure of ity,) I might allege all those arguments which assure us there will be a day wherein God will judge the world in righteousness; and that the Lord Jesus is ordained to be the Person by whom he will judge it. Which is as much as to say, that all those arguments which prove him to be the Son of God might be employed to this purpose; for in that name is included (as I have shown in former treatises) his power and authority to be the Judge of the world. This the Father, the Word, the Holy Ghost, and the other witnesses on earth, as well as those in heaven, testify to be an undoubted truth; and therefore I might from every one of their mouths demonstrate, that he shall appear again in such a manner as I

have described. Judge of all, ever ascend their tribunals in robes of state, and royally attended, as those that represent the majesty for whom they judge.

For all judges, much more the supreme

But it would be too tedious to follow that method, and it is not needful I should lead you so far about to bring you and this truth together. There is one place in the writings of the apostle St. Paul, which, if well expounded and understood, will be sufficient to persuade us we do not abuse ourselves with vain expectations of this appearing. And therefore with the explication of that (which contains divers arguments to establish us in this belief) I shall content myself, without having recourse to every one of those witnesses. And I shall the rather confine myself to it, because I shall illustrate a very considerable portion of God's holy book, (which upon all occasions we ought to design to make perspicuous,) while I endeavour to give satisfactory reasons that our Lord Jesus will appear again, and in so glorious a manner as hath been related.

It is in his former Epistle to this very person, his beloved son Timothy, where he charges him to keep the commandment he had given him, without the least violation of it, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; that is, till his coming from heaven, with all the glorious train of angels, to recompense men according to their works. Now that Timothy might be fully persuaded there would be such a blessed time, and to be more ready and cheerful in his obedience to this exhortation, the apostle assures him that this is no such spectacle as is formed merely in the imagination; but which God the possessor of heaven and earth will really exhibit in his time. So the words are, Which (appearing) in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords: who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can seea.

Where we are first to observe well those words which begin this description of him who will show our Lord Christ in such excellent glory, idíois kaɩpoîs, in his times, (we render it,) or rather in the proper seasons' for it; that is, in the time or z 1 Tim. vi. 13, 14. a Ver. 15, 16.

season which God in his unsearchable wisdom hath appointed. From which phrase three things offer themselves to our consideration.

First, that the time, indeed, of this appearing is not revealed and made known to us. We must be content to be ignorant of it, for it is kept as a secret in his own breast, and it becomes not us to determine the season which he hath reserved to himself. Some great men, it is true, have adventured upon it; and Saint Hilary, for instance, hath delivered his opinion, that the transfiguration of our Lord, six days after he had spoken of his coming in his kingdom, prefigured the "honour of the celestial kingdom," (as his words are,) after the world had continued six thousand years. But this and the current fancy among many in ancient times, that because the world was six days in making it should last just six thousand years, had no better foundation than those misapplied words of St. Peterd, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years. And therefore it is deservedly censured by St. Augustine (upon Ps. xc. 4o) as a presumption reprehended by our Lord himself, when he told his apostles, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. And yet there have been those who would needs be meddling, and conclude this from no better reason than the translation of Enoch, who was the seventh from Adam. And there is one of great note in these later times, (to name no more,) who hath been so bold as from a slighter ground to conjecture the time of the coming of our Lord. Who having said in Luke iv. 19, that, according to Isaiah's prophecy, he was come to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, or to proclaim a jubilee to the world, Cusanuss thence concluded that for every year of our Saviour's life, the church should continue a jubilee, that is, fifty years. And therefore he rising again in the 34th year of his age, the church should have its blessed resurrection when the 34th jubilee was past; that is, after the year 1700, before the year 1734, which he