the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and before him shall be gathered all nations. Where then shall the sinner and the ungodly appear? What will then become of those who despise, and those who abuse the gospel of the grace of God? The libertine, the infidel, the apostate, the hypocrite, the profane scoffer, and the false professor, how will they stand, or whither will they flee, when the great Judge shall sit upon his awful throne, and the books shall be opened, and every secret thing shall be disclosed! Alas for them that are full, and that laugh now, for then they shall pine and mourn, Luke vi. 25. Then their cavils will be silenced, their guilt, with all its aggravations, be charged home upon them, and no plea, no advocate be found. Can their hearts endure, or their hands be strong, when he shall speak to them in his wrath, and say, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels!" 66 But let them who love his name rejoice. You have fled for refuge to the hope set before you. To you his appearance will be delightful, and his voice welcome. You shall not be ashamed. This awful God is yours. He will then own and accept you before assembled worlds, and will say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you." Then the days of your mourning shall be ended, and your sun shall go down no more, Matt. xxv. 34. Is. lx. 20. SERMON XXXVI. THE LORD REIGNETH. throne, the songs of the redeemed, and the chorus of the angels, he receives such an impression of glory, as awakens his gratitude, desire, and joy, and excites him likewise to take up the same song of praise, to him who has loved him, and washed him from his sins in his own blood. He is content to leave the discussion of hard questions to learned men, while he feeds by faith upon those simple truths which can only be relished by a spiritual taste; and which, where there is such a taste, make their way to the heart, without the assistance of critical disquisition. The subject of the preceding chapter, is the destruction of mystical Babylon, the head of the opposition against the kingdom of the Lord Christ. But Babylon sinks like a millstone in the mighty ocean, and is no more found. So must all his enemies perish. The catastrophe of Babylon, like that of Pharaoh at the Red Sea, is beheld by the saints and servants of the Lord with admiration, and furnishes them with a theme for a song of triumph to his praise. This may be properly styled sacred music indeed. It is commanded, inspired, and regulated, by the Lord himself. The performers are all interested in the subject, they who fear God, and are devoted to his service and glory. And though persons of this character are comparatively few upon earth, hidden, and in a manner lost, among the crowd of mankind, they will be, when brought together at last, a very large company. Their united voices are here compared to the voice of many waters, and of mighty thunders, and this is the solemn close, the chorus of their song, "Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." The impression which the performance of this passage in the Oratorio usually makes upon the audience is well known. But however great the power of music may be, should Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent we even allow the flights of poetry to be truth, reigneth! Rev. xix. 6. If that it can soften rocks, and bend the knotty THE book of the Revelation, being chiefly prophetical, will not perhaps be fully understood, till the final accomplishment of the events shall draw near, and throw a stronger light upon the whole series. But while the learned commentators have been hitherto divided and perplexed in their attempts to illustrate many parts of it, there are other parts well adapted for the instruction and refreshment of plain christians; particularly those passages in which the scenery and images seemed designed to give us some representation of the happiness and worship of the heavenly state. Thus a plain unlettered believer, when reading with attention the fourth and fifth chapters, though he cannot give a reason why the elders are four-and-twenty, the living creatures four, and the number of their wings neither more nor less than six; yet, from the I apprehend that this passage, taken in the whole description of the Lamb upon the strictest sense, refers to a period not yet ar instinct of animals, whereby they are unerringly instructed in whatever concerns the welfare and preservation of their species, so vastly exceeding the boasted wisdom of man, that he can neither imitate nor comprehend it, is communicated by him. He teaches the birds to build their nests, the spider to weave his web, and instructs the communities of bees, and insignificant emmets, to form their admirable policies and government among themselves. If we speak of intelligent beings, he does what he pleases in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the rived. Babylon is not yet fallen. The servants of God in the present day, will most probably fulfil their appointed time upon earth, like those who have lived before them, in a state of conflict. They must endure the cross, and sustain opposition for his sake. The people who shall live when the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, when the nations shall learn war no more, are yet unborn. But even now we may rejoice that the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, and that Jesus is King of kings, and Lord of lords. I must consider my text as referring to him. Many of the Heathens be-earth. He directs and overrules the counlieved that God reigned. The christian doctrine is, that the Lord God omnipotent exerciseth his dominion and government in the person of Christ. "The Father loveth the Son, and hath committed all things into his hands," John iii. 35. And thus our Lord, after his resurrection, assured his disciples, All power is committed unto me in heaven and in earth," Matt. xxviii. 18. He has already taken to himself his great power and reigneth. His right of reigning over all is essential to his divine nature; but the administration of government in the nature of man, is the effect and reward of his obedience unto death. But in the union of both natures, he is one person, Christ Jesus the Lord. All the riches and fulness of the Godhead, all the peculiar honours of the Mediator, centre in him. They may be distinguished, but they are inseparable. Happy are they who can, upon solid and scriptural grounds, exult in the thought that the Lord reigneth, and can make his government the subject of their hallelujahs and praises! Happy they, who see, acknowledge, and admire, his management in the kingdom of providence, and are the willing subjects of his kingdom of grace. Let us take a brief survey of his reigning glory in these kingdoms. I. Great and marvellous is this Lord God omnipotent in his kingdom of universal providence! His mighty arm sustains the vast fabric of the universe. He upholds the stars in their courses. If we attentively consider their multitude, their magnitudes, their distances from us and from each other, and the amazing swiftness, variety, and regularity of their motions, our minds are overwhelmed, our thoughts confounded, by the vastness and the wonders of the scene. But he spoke them into being, and they are preserved in their stations and revolutions by his power and agency. If we fix our thoughts upon the earth, though in comparison of the immensity of his creation it is but as a point or a grain of sand, it is the object of his incessant care. All its various inhabitants derive their existence and their support from him. He provides for the young ravens when unable to fly, and for the young lions that traverse the woods. The sels and purposes of men, so that though they act freely, the event of all their different interfering schemes, is only the accomplishment of his purposes. When they are employed as his instruments, from small beginnings, and in defiance of difficulties apparently insuperable, they succeed beyond their own expectations. When unhappily engaged against his designs, in vain they rage and plot. He takes the wise in their own craftiness, pours contempt upon their power and policy, and all their great preparations melt like a mist, or like snow before the sun, and leave no trace behind. Still more wonderful, to the eye of faith, is his control over Satan and the powers of darkness. Whatever, for wise reasons, though unknown to us, he may permit them to do, they cannot with all their subtlety or strength, detain one soul in their bondage longer than till his appointed time of release; nor recover one soul back to their dominion, of which he is pleased to undertake the care. On the contrary, he breaks the heads of these leviathans in pieces, turns their counsels against themselves, and makes them instrumental in purifying his people, and extending his church, by the means they employ for the destruction of both. Thus they who dwell under his shadow are safe; for all things are in his power, and he always careth for them, and keepeth them, as the pupil of his eye; and therefore, though they are exercised with trials, and suffer many things for their good, his eye being always upon them, and his ear open to their prayer, they are supported, supplied, relieved, delivered, and at last made more than conquerors. II. He has a peculiar kingdom, which he has established distinct from the kingdoms of this world, though diffused and extended among them, and which, in due time, like leaven, will pervade and assimilate them all to himself. This is the kingdom of the gospel, his church. It is founded upon a rock, and though the gates of hell continually war against it, they cannot prevail. For he is a wall of fire round about it, and the glory in the midst of it, Zech. ii. 5. Here he reigns upon a throne of grace. He possesses and exercises unlimited authority as a sovereign, to save whom he pleases, to is that part of the visible church which is pardon all manner of sins and offences, and united to the Lord by a living faith. It comto admit rebels and enemies, when they sub-prises all who agree in the profession of the mit themselves and bow to his golden scep- fundamental truths of the gospel, and whose tre, into the number of his children and his conversation is regulated by its precepts; or friends. Seldom do the kings of the earth in the apostle's words, "All who love the publish an act of grace in favour of those who Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity," Eph. vi. 24 have been guilty of rebellion, without clog- This catholic church, through the policy of ging it with exceptions. Either they feel a Satan, and the deceitfulness of the heart, is resentment against some of the delinquents, too much divided against itself. Prejudice, which they have not magnanimity sufficient bigotry, and remaining ignorance, greatly to conquer, or they dare not trust them. But prevent that desirable union amongst true his mercy is infinite; and he knows how to christians, which would promote their peace, change their hearts when he pardons their comfort, and increase, and would contrisins. bute more than a thousand arguments to put their adversaries to shame and to silence. That shameful contention for denominations, parties, and favourite preachers, for which the apostle reproved the Corinthians, (1 Cor. iii. 4,) is still greatly to be lamented. But 1. It denotes in the aggregate, the mystical though they are too backward in acknowchurch, the whole body of that spiritual king-ledging and assisting each other, the Lord is dom, of which the Redeemer is the living and life-giving head, Col. i. 18. A succession of these has appeared upon earth in every age, from the days of righteous Abel, whom Cain slew; and we have reason to believe, that the far greater part of them are yet unborn. They will all be assembled together before the throne, in the great day of his final appearance, and inherit the kingdom of glory prepared for them. This is the church which God hath bought with his own blood, Acts xx. 29. Happy are they who belong to this society of the redeemed, whose names are written in heaven. Perhaps it may not be a digression wholly unuseful and impertinent, if I take this occasion to point out the several senses in which the word Church may be understood, agreeable to the scripture. 2. The visible church contains all those who bear and acknowledge the name of Christians, and who admit and enjoy the gospel-revelation. The church, in this sense, includes many nations. But it is a small thing to belong only to the visible church, for it is compared to a corn-floor, (Matt. iii. 12,) on which chaff is mingled with the wheat; to a field in which tares grow promiscuously with the good seed; to a fisher's net inclosing a great multitude of fishes both good and bad, Matt. xiii. 24, 47. But a time of discrimination will come. The chaff and the tares, and whatever is evil, will be consumed. Alas! what will it avail at last to say, "Lord, we have eaten and drank in thy presence," at thy table with thy true disciples, and "thou hast taught in our streets," (Luke xiii. 26, 27,) and we have heard in our own language of thy wonderful works, if you can say no more? My heart is pained with the apprehension, lest some of you have joined in the same public worship with true believers, have sat in the same seat, and lived in the same families, should at last see them, with whom you have been very nearly connected in this world, received into the kingdom of heaven, and you yourselves be shut out. 3. The catholic church in any one period, merciful to their weakness, and bears with them all. And as they grow in grace, and drink more into his Spirit, their hearts are enlarged, and they approach nearer to his pattern of long-suffering, patience, and tenderness. 4. The word church is applied to particular societies of christians, who are connected by a participation in the same ordinances of the gospel, and who maintain a scriptural separation from the sinful spirit and customs of the world. And though there may be pretenders among them, as there were among the apostolic churches, they are denominated by the better part. They belong to the catholic church by their profession of the truth; of course they are a part of the visible church; and those of them who are in deed and truth what they profess to be, are living members of the mystical church, to which all the promises are made. By whatever name they are known or distinguished among men, they are branches of the true vine, they have their fruit unto holiness, and their end, everlasting life. But to return, In this his church, or spiritual kingdom, he rules by wise and gracious laws and ordinances. He releases his subjects from all authority, in point of conscience, but his own, and enjoins them to call no one master but himself, Matt. xxiii. 8-10. If they stand fast in the liberty wherewith he has made them free, (Gal. v. 1,) they will not give themselves up implicitly to the dictates of any man, nor follow him farther than he follows their Lord. And consequently, if they are influenced by his royal law of doing to others as they would that others should do unto them, they will not attempt to exert an undue anthority, or wish to be called masters themselves, so as to assume a dogmatical carriage, or to expect a universal and absolute submission. But it must be owned that in our present state of infirmity, this privilege is not sufficiently prized, nor this command duly complied with, there being scarcely a man who does not either arrogate too much to himself, or allow too much to others. A fault in the one or the other of these respects, may be assigned as a principal cause of most of the evils which deform the appearance, or injure the peace of the church. But the design of his gospel is to set his people at liberty from the yoke of men, from the fetters of custom and tradition, of superstition and will-worship; that they may enjoy in his service, a state of perfect freedom. For it is the principal glory of his kingdom, that he reigns in the hearts of his people. There he writes his precepts, impresses his image, and erects his throne; ruling them, not merely by an outward law, but by an inward secret influence, breathing his own life and Spirit into them, so that their obedience becomes, as it were, natural, pleasurable, and its own reward. By the discoveries he affords them of his love, he wins their affections, captivates their wills, and enlightens their understandings. They derive from him the spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind, (2 Tim. i. 7.) and run with alacrity in the way of his commandments. propriety of his proceedings, is ready to acknowledge, in his sharpest afflictions, that the Lord is gracious, and has not dealt with him according to the desert of his iniquities. He considers himself as no longer his own, but bought with a price, and brought under the strongest obligations to live no longer to himself, but to him who loved him, and gave hinself for him. And what was before his dread and dislike, becomes now the joy of his heart, the thought, that the Lord reigneth, and that all his concerns are in the hands of him who doeth all things well. Are there any among us, who say in their hearts, We will not have this Saviour to rule over us? The thought is no less vain than wicked. He must, he will reign, till he has subdued all enemies under his feet. You must either bend or break before him. SERMON XXXVII. THE EXTENT OF MESSIAH'S SPIRITUAL KINGDOM. The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever. Rev. xi. 15. It is impossible therefore to make this song our own, and cordially to rejoice that the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, unless we are the willing subjects of his government; un- THE kingdom of our Lord in the heart, less we are really pleased with his appointed and in the world, is frequently compared to a way of salvation, approve of his precepts, and, building or house, of which he himself is both from a view of his wisdom and goodness, can the foundation and the architect, Isa. xxviii. cheerfully submit and resign ourselves to the 16; liv. 11, 12. A building advances by dedisposal of his providence. In all these re-grees, (1 Corinth. iii. 9. Ephes. ii. 20—22,) spects we are by nature at variance with him. We are too proud to be indebted to his grace, too wise in our own conceits to desire his instruction, too obstinately attached to the love and practice of sin, to be capable of relishing the beauty and spirituality of his commandments. And our love of the world, and the things of it, is too strong and grasping, to permit us to be satisfied with the lot, and with the dispensations he appoints for us. We wish, if possible, and as far as possible we attempt, to be our own carvers. We are unthankful when he bestows, impatient if he withholds, and if he sees fit to resume the gifts of which we are unworthy, we repine and rebel against his will. This enmity must be subdued, before we can be pleased with his government. In other words, we must be changed, we must be made new creatures. To produce this change, this new creation, the gospel is the only expedient; and when revealed and applied to the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, the miracle is wrought. The sinner who is first convinced of his guilt and misery, and then reconciled to God by faith in the great atonement, willingly yields to his administration. He owns and feels the VOL. II. 2 U and while it is in an unfinished state, a stranger cannot, by viewing its present appearance, form an accurate judgment of the design, and what the whole will be when completed. For a time, the walls are of unequal height, it is disfigured by rubbish, which at the proper season will be taken away; and by scaffolding, which, though useful for carrying on the building, does not properly belong to it, but will likewise be removed when the present temporary service is answered. But the architect himself proceeds according to a determinate plan, and his idea of the whole work is perfect from the beginning. It is thus the Lord views his people in the present life. He has begun a good work in them, but as yet every part of it is imperfect and unfinished; and there are not only defects to be supplied, but deformities and incumbrances that must be removed. Many of the dispensations and exercises which contribute to form their religious character, do not properly belong to that work which is to abide, though they have a subserviency to promote it. When that which is perfect is come, the rest shall be done away. My business is only to lead you to some pleasing and profitable reflections upon this subject, now it comes in my way. There are many prophecies in the Old Testament, that speak in magnificent strains of a kingdom, which God would, in his appointed time, establish upon the earth; the sense of which is greatly weakened and narrowed, if restrained, as some commentators would restrain it, to the restoration of Israel to their own land, from their captivity in Babylon. Yet it must be allowed, that the highly figurative language in which many of these prophecies are expressed, a great part of which cannot be understood literally, renders the interpretation difficult. And thus, although the growth and extent determine which is the more probable, or to of his kingdom is the great scope and object propose better of my own. I do not, thereof his providence, to which all the revolu- fore, undertake to give the precise sense of tions that take place in the kingdoms of this this passage, as it stands connected with the world shall be finally subservient; yet the rest of the chapter. Nor should I, perhaps, steps by which he is carrying forward his de- have attempted to preach from it, but upon sign, are, for the most part, remote from the this occasion. It is introduced, with great common apprehensions of mankind, and there- propriety, in the Messiah, as a close to the fore seldom engage their attention. His second part, which begins with a view of the kingdom, founded upon the Rock of ages, is Lamb of God taking away the sins of the building, advancing, and the gates of hell world, by the power of his priestly office; and shall not be able to withstand its progress. concludes with an account of his glorious Only detached and inconsiderable parts of the success as the King of kings and Lord of plan are as yet visible, and the beauties are lords. everywhere obscured by attendant blemishes; but his counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure. Princes and statesmen seldom think of him, are seldom aware, that in prosecuting their own schemes, they are eventually fulfilling his purposes, and preparing the way to promote the cause which they despise, and often endeavour to suppress. But thus it is. Sometimes he employs them, more directly, as his instruments; and when they are thus engaged in his work, their success is secured. So Cyrus, whom Isaiah mentioned by name (Is. xlv. 1—5,) long before his birth, as the appointed deliverer of Israel from their captivity, prospered in his enterprises, being guided and girded by him whom he knew not, and established his own power upon the ruins of the Assyrian monarchy. The Roman empire likewise increased and prospered from small beginnings, that a way might be opened, in the proper season, for the destruction of the Jewish economy, and for facilitating the preaching of the gospel. And posterity will see, that the principal events of the present age, in Asia and America, have all a tendency to bring forward the accomplishment of my text; and are leading to one grand point, the spreading and establishment of the church and kingdom of our Lord. His plan is unalterably fixed. He has said it, and it shall be done. Things will not always remain in their present disordered state; and though this desirable period may be yet at a distance, and appearances very dark and unpromising, the word of the Lord shall prevail over all discouragements and opposition. Prophecies which are not yet fulfilled will necessarily be obscure. Many learned men have laboured to explain the prophecies in this book, to ascertain the facts which are foretold, and to fix the dates when they may be expected to take place. But they are so divided in their judgments, and with regard to several of the most eminent who thus differ, the support their opinions derive from the character and abilities of the proposers is so nearly equal, that those who consult them are more likely to be embarrassed than satisfied. For myself, I think it becomes me to confess my ignorance, and my inability, either to reconcile the conjectures of others, or to What we read in the twentieth chapter of this book, of a period in which the saints shall reign with Christ during a thousand years, has given occasion to almost a thousand conjectures, concerning a millennian state. Some persons suppose, that the present frame of nature shall be dissolved and changed, and expect a proper resurrection of the dead; after which, the Lord will personally reign with his people upon the earth, when purified by fire, and restored to its primitive perfection and beauty. If so, earth will be heaven; for the state of happiness believers are taught to hope for, depends not upon local circumstances, but chiefly consists in the enjoyment of his unveiled immediate presence, and in beholding his glory. Others seem to conceive of the millennium, nearly in the same manner as the Jews formed their expectations of Messiah's kingdom. They think that temporal honours, dominion, prosperity, and wealth, will then be the portion of believers; the very portion which they are now called upon to renounce and despise. But, as I have hinted, large allowances must be made for the metaphorical language of prophecy. We read, that the streets of the New Jerusalem are paved with gold, and that the twelve gates are twelve pearls; (Rev. xxi. 15, 21;) but no person of sound judgment can suppose, that this description is to be understood strictly, according to the letter. The personal presence of Messiah with his people, is not necessary to such degrees of happiness as are compatible with the present state of mortality |