Alexanders and Cæfars, and all the Nimrods of the Earth curfe the Madness of their Ambition, when those Thousands of Orphans and Widows they have made appear before the Throne against them? How will they be astonish'd when whole Armies, and whole Nations of murther'd Men stand round (for Vengeance) about them? So on the contrary, what a reviving Sight will it be, to meet with those whom we have reliey'd in Neceffity, reduc'd from Error, recover'd from Vice, refcu'd from Oppreffion, and defended from unjust Reproach? Such Perfons will look like Guardian Angels about us, and fortify us against the Terrors of that dreadful Day.

3. A third folemn Circumstance of this Judgment confifts in the Majesty of the Judge. When our Bleffed Saviour came to fuffer for the Sins of the World he fuited his Condition accordingly, and took upon him the Form of a Servant. His Condefcenfion stoop'd to the lowest Humiliation; he was then contented to bear all the Hardships of Poverty, the

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Scorns of Contempt, all the Infolency and Outrage of Cruelty, of Power and Malice. But at the End of the World, when he appears to execute Judgment upon all for their ungodly Deeds which they have committed, and for their hard Speeches which they have spoken against him, when he comes to revenge all the Injuries done to himself and his Servants, he will then affume his own proper Greatness, and make his Appearance fuitable to the Dignity of his Office: Himself has foretold how illuftrious his fecond Defcent will be, when he comes in the Glory of his Father, and with all his holy Angels; then he will deck himfelf with Light as with a Garment, and be cloathed with Majefty and Honour; then he will bring the Splendor of his own Court along with him, and appear in all the Pomp and Magnificence of Heaven; the Archangels, and Principalities, and Thrones; thofe exalted Spirits whofe Condition fully answers thefe Titles of Greatnefs, of Authority, and Power: Thefe exalted Spirits fhall

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shall be rang'd in their Hierarchal Order, appear in their Robes of State, and display the Luftre and Advantages of their Nature. Thus the King of Glory will be then attended, and though he would have none at his Crucifixion, yet now he will have more than twelve Legions of Angels: And as Daniel defcribes it, Thousands of Thousands shall minifter unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand fand before him. At that Day his fovereign Perfections will fhine out, his Omnipotence become vifible, and all his Actions and Appearance be suitable to the Grandeur of a God; his Majesty will be fo infupportably great, that as St. John's Vifion represents it, Nature will fink under his Prefence, and be as it were extinguifh'd with the Brightness of his Coming. *I faw, fays he, a great white Throne, and him that fate on it, from whofe Face the Earth and the Heaven fled away, and there was no Place found

* Rev. xx. II.

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for them. And now, as the Prophet fpeaks, Who may abide the Day of his Coming, and ftand at his Appearing? If a Messenger from the invifible State is fo furprizing to us now, what a terrible Spectacle must it be when the Curtain between both Worlds is drawn, and all the Inhabitants of Heaven, and poffibly of Hell too, prefent themselves before us. If Daniel, one fo remarkable for his Courage, for his Innocence and Virtue, could not stand the Prefence of one fingle Angel, but was perfectly ftupefy'd and overwhelm'd with the illuftrious Vifion, how fhall we bear the united Glories of them all? How fhall we support the Converse of the Deity itself? For though our Saviour will still continue what he was upon Earth, and not cease to be Man, as Eutiches fuppos'd, yet his Divine Effence will be fo vifibly prevalent and confpicuous, he will be fo much the express Image of his Father's Perfon, that his humane Nature will seem as it were abforp'd in the Radiancy of the Godhead: There muft

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muft of Neceffity therefore be a Change wrought in his Creatures to enable them to stand before him; their Senfes muft be fortify'd and refin'd, their Bodies must be harden'd into a firm and immortal Texture, otherwife his very Prefence would destroy them, and they would fcarce have Life enough to receive their Sentence, or feel their Punishment.

4. The difmal Change which will be made in the World is another heightening Circumftance of the Terror of this Judgment.

All the remarkable Instances of God's Wrath which we find in Scripture are fuppos'd to be Types of this last Day of Vengeance; fuch as the drowning of the old World, the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, the dreadful Destruction of Jerufalem: 'Tis reprefented by the Heavens being rolled together as a Scroll, and the Stars dropping out of them, by the Sun's being turn'd into Darkness, and the Moon into Blood, by the Wailing and Lamentation of all the Kindreds of the Earth. In a Word, every

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