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.. 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 thousand, und altogether lovely; Cantic. v. 10, 16. 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 Sun of Righteousness, shall shine upon all his saints, and find each of thein 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!

["Here this discourse may be divided.”]

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,

I. It gives us eminently these two lessons of instruction:

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; Is. liii. 2, 3. 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 off scouring 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 archangel, and the trump of God; 1 Thess. iv, 16. when he shall call up his saints from their bed 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 judg

ment 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! Heb. xi. 37. Surprizing appearance! How illustrious! How full of glory! O that such a meditation might awaken us to judge more by faith."

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 come 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 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; Verses 7-9. before my text. But his sweetest and most valua ble 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 his glory hereafter, when they shall have no spot nor blemish found upon them, and the work of Christ upon their souls has formed and finished them in the perfect beauty of holi

ness.

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 Thess, ii. 19, 20. 2 Cor. i. 14. 2 Thess. i. 12. He shall appear bigh on a throne in the midst of that bright assembly, and say, "Far ther, these are the sheep that thou hast given me in the counsels of thy 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: All 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 dwell 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 righteousness 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 regions 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. 10.

But tremble, Oh 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 yeneglected, 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. O 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, O thon humbled and convinced sinner, who complainest thy heart is hard, though thon wouldest fain repent and mourn; who fearest 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 sanctification 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 thy abounding iniquities, believe this, that where sin has abounded, grace has much more abounded; Rom. v. 20. 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 the 1 Tim. i, 13, 14. and see there what an account the great apostle gives of his own conversion; I was a blas phemer 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 faith

ful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit, for this cause 1 obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting, verses 15, 16.

Turn to another text ye feeble believers; 2 Cor. xii. 9, 10. there you shall find 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 temtation that lay heavy upon him; but having received a word from Christ, that his grace was sufficient, and that his strength was to shine perfect in glory, in the midst of our weakness, the apostlé 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 I 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 be 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 chear, receive his offered grace, and wait for his salvation.

III. The next use 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 glitterings of silk or 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 1 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 stralí have some rays of glory from them. O may your souls and mine. be dressed in those graces which are ornaments of great price in the sight of God! 1 Pet. iii. 3, 4. Such as may command