"The sun shall be darkened, and the trump of God," 1 Thess. iv, 16. and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory: and he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to another," Matt. xxiv, 29-31. "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats," Matt. xxv, 31, 32. "I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them: and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works," Revelation XX, 11, 12. 5. Now can we behold this glorious person, and doubt of his divinity? Can we see On an empyreal, flying throne, Awfully raised, heaven's everlasting Son! Can we (I say) fix our eyes upon him, and still pronounce that he is a mere man? Can we observe him as the "resurrection and the life," manifesting infinite wisdom and almighty power, in raising from the dust of death the bodies of all mankind, and by a secret and invisible energy, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, forming those of his saints after a conformity to his own glorious body? Can we see them suddenly caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air? Can we view all nations gathered before him-all the posterity of Adam—all Can we mark with what that have ever inhabited this spacious globe? infinite discernment of the characters of men, founded on his perfect knowledge of the human heart, in all its unfathomable depths of deceit, and endless labyrinths of iniquity, in all its counsels and designs, motives and ends, thoughts and desires, he "separates them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats?" Can we observe the righteous justice wherewith he condemns the wicked to fiery torments, and that in exact proportion to their demerit, and the boundless mercy whereby he raises his followers to heavenly bliss, rewarding them, unworthy as they are, according to their works? Can we (I say) fix our eyes upon the Judge himself, and behold the most awful process of this most awful day, and remember that our eternal fate depends upon it, and yet believe that the Person upon the throne, before whose bar all nations of men, and legions of angels, tremble, and to whom, according to the prophecy, "every knee bows;" that he (I say) is but a mere man, and that a mere man determines the states, the final and everlasting states of all the immense multitudes of men, and the various ranks of fallen angels? Surely this would be a stretch of faith indeed, not to be found in the most orthodox believer in the Christian mysteries! But let us hear the Scriptures upon this subject. They are so plain that it is hardly possible to mistake their meaning. "The mighty God, even Jehovah, (says the psalmist, Psalm 1, 1,) hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above," (viz. the inhabitants of heaven, the heavenly hosts, who will attend and minister unto him,)" and to the earth that he may judge his people. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God is Judge himself." Mark that word, "God is Judge himself," even the same God, who, conversing with Abraham ages before, concerning the destruction of Sodom, is styled by him "Judge of all the earth," and who, as a pledge of his future manifestation in the flesh, often appeared (as we have seen) in a visible human shape, to the patriarchs and prophets of old. Of him St. Paul speaks, when he says, that, "being in the form of God," (viz. before his incarnation when he appeared to his ancient servants, in all ages from the beginning,) "he thought it not robbery to be equal with God," being his very "word and wisdom, his face, efful. gence," and "express image," assuming, as we have seen, all the Divine names, titles, and attributes, as belonging to him, in union with the Father; yet "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, humbled himself" still more, becoming obedient unto death, the death of the cross: therefore God also hath highly exalted him," not only his Word that had glory with him before the world was, but the humanity assumed for our sakes, "and given him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and those in earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 7. It is not denied but that the Judge is man, yea, very man, and, as man, is distinct from pure and proper Deity and to this, his manhood, the apostles often refer in the New Testament. As for instance, Acts x, 38-42, "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost, and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him: whom they slew and hanged on a tree; him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly, and he commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is he that is ordained of God to be the judge of the quick and dead," viz. he that was anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power, he whom they slew and hanged on a tree, he whom God raised up, and showed openly, even the "man Christ Jesus." He is the appointed and visible Judge. But to prevent our mistaking, (were it possible to mistake in so plain a case,) to prevent our supposing that a mere man, however dignified and exalted, could, of himself, be able to judge all the ten thousand millions of men and angels, to know perfectly, and remember distinctly, every action of every individual of that immense multitude— every word, every temper, every desire, every thought; to discern and unfold all the secret workings of every heart-of every son and daughter of fallen Adam, and of every fallen angel; to bring to light all the hid den things of darkness, and make manifest all the counsels of the heart; to discover all the motives and ends, as well as words and works, schemes and pursuits arising therefrom, and to know and make known, the true state and character of every one, so as to pronounce a right sentence, and assign every saint and every sinner, every man and every angel, his proper share of praise or blame, happiness or misery: to prevent our mistaking (I say) in this case, we are repeatedly assured that the Divine nature is joined to the human, and that God (in and by his eternal Word and Wisdom) is with and in the man. 8. Thus St. Paul, preaching at Athens, declares, "God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof (says he) he hath given assurance to all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead," Acts xvii, 31. Again, Rom. ii, 16, “God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my Gospel." So that God, in and by man, the Divine nature in and by the human, brings (as Solomon says) "every work into judgment, and every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Thus, though the dead, small and great, stand before a visible man, yet, as St. John assures us, they also "stand before God," Rev. xx, 12; and though "every knee of those in heaven, and those in earth, and those under the earth, bow, and every tongue confess" to that man whom God hath highly exalted; yet, in bowing and confessing to him, they bow and confess to God. 9. The man, therefore, the visible Judge, is not alone when he judges the world, any more than he was alone when he walked upon the water, rebuked the wind and the sea, said, "Lazarus, come forth; destroy this temple, [my body,] and in three days I will raise it up;" pronounced to the sick of the palsy, "Thy sins be forgiven thee;" proclaimed "I am the resurrection and the life. I quicken whom I will. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Come unto me, ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. My grace is sufficient for you, my strength is made perfect in weakness. Where two or three are met in my name, I am there in the midst of them. I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Upon this rock I build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." But as when he did these wonders, and pronounced these words, (too great, surely, for any creature to perform and pronounce,) the "Word that was in the beginning with God," and in union with him, "was God," dwelt in the human nature, and spoke and acted by that nature; and as the Father was in the Son, and the Son in the Father: so when he comes to judge the world in righteousness, the man does not come alone, but the "fulness of Deity "that dwelt, and does dwell, and ever will dwell in him bodily, comes along with him, and perceives, and knows, and speaks, and acts, in and by him, as much as the soul perceives, and knows, and speaks, and acts, in and by the body. So that, as David says, "God is, indeed, Judge himself;" and yet the man Jesus of Nazareth is appointed "Judge of quick and dead." 10. And how exceeding reasonable and proper does all this appear to be, even to us, little as we know in Divine things! Hereby, first, the Judge is visible-he is a man like ourselves, and we may have access to him. We need not say, with Job, xxiii, 3, &c, "O! that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat! I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments: I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me. For he may reply, If thou canst answer me, set thy words in order before me, stand up. Behold I am, according to thy wish, in God's stead. I also was formed out of the clay. Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid; neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee," "In this (says Bishop Pearson) appeareth the wisdom and goodness of God, that, making a general judgment, he will make a visible Judge, whom all may see who shall be judged. Without holiness no man shall ever sce God;' and therefore if God, as God only, should pronounce sentence upon all men, the ungodly would never see their Judge. But that both the righteous and unrighteous might see and know who it is that judgeth them, Christ, who is both God and man, is appointed Judge: so, as he is man, all shall see him; and, as he is God, they only shall see him who by that vision shall enjoy him. 11. "And, secondly, whom can we desire to appear before, rather than Him, who is of the same nature with us? If the children of Israel could not bear the presence of God as a lawgiver, but desired to receive the law by the hand of Moses,-how should we appear before the presence of that God, judging us for the breach of that law, were it not for a better Mediator, of the same nature that Moses was, and we are of, who is our Judge ?" Having dwelt in flesh, and in the days of his flesh, "having suffered, being tempted," he perfectly knows our frame knows what sore temptations mean, and is "touched with the feeling of our infirmities." Beside, he is our near kinsman, our own brother, a descendant of our father Adam, of our flesh and of our bone; and, therefore, "for his affinity with our nature, for his sense of our infirmities, as well as for his appearance to our eyes, he is most fit to represent the greatest mildness and sweetness of equity, in the severity of that just and irrespective judgment. 12. "Nor is this a reason only in respect of us who are to be judged, but, thirdly, in regard of Him also who is to judge; for we must not look only upon his being the Son of man, but also what he did and suffered as Son of man. He humbled himself so far as to take upon him our nature; in that nature, so taken, he humbled himself to all the infirmi ties which that was capable of-to all the miseries which this life could bring to all the pains and sorrows which the sins of all the world could cause; and, therefore, in regard of his humiliation, did God exalt him; and part of the exaltation due unto him was this power of judging. The Father, therefore, who is only God, and never took upon him either the nature of men or angels, "judgeth no man, but hath committed all judg ment unto the Son ;" and the reason why he hath committed it to him is, "because he is" not only the Son of God, and truly God, but also the Son of man, and so truly man; because he is the Son of man, who suffered so much for the sons of men." 13. And "certainly it is a demonstration of the justice of God, so highly to reward that Son of man as to make him Judge of all the world, who came into the world, and was judged here; to give him absolute power of absolution and condemnation, who was by us condemned to die, and died that he might absolve us; to cause all the sons of men to bow before his throne, who did not disdain, for their sakes, to stand before the tribunal, and receive that sentence, 'Let him be crucified."" He, therefore, who "for the suffering of death was made a little lower than the angels," nay, lower than the generality of men,— who was arraigned as a criminal at the bar of Pilate, and expired as a malefactor on a cross on Calvary, is now rewarded and crowned with glory and honour, comes in the clouds of heaven, sits on a throne of judgment, summons all nations to his bar, and passes an irreversible sentence on men and angels! 14. In the meantime, fourthly, his enemies are humbled and degraded, by being placed at the bar of a man, once poor, mean, and afflicted; whom, in former days, they despised and insulted, hated and persecuted, arrested, tried, condemned, and crucified. "They who pierced him, now wail because of him; and they who would not have him to reign over them, are now brought forth and slain before him." Well might Daniel say, "They shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt!" For, surely, they shall be ashamed and confounded, to bow to him whom they deemed a lunatic-to stand at the bar of him whom they arraigned at theirs-and to receive their sentence, their final, irreversible sentence, from the lips of one whom they formerly condemned to the most ignominious and disgraceful of all deaths. Nor man alone; the foe of God and man, From his dark den, blaspheming, drags his chain, His baleful eyes! he curses whom he dreads, Milton supposes that he fell through refusing allegiance to God's Messiah, to the Word and only begotten of the Father, concerning whom he says, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." If so, if he refused to acknowledge him as Lord, by whom himself and all the heavenly hierarchies had been created, though appearing in a nature superior to angels in his "form of God,"-how must it mortify that proud spirit, and all the associates of his revolt, to bow at the footstool of the same person, when united to flesh, and inhabiting a nature formed out of the clay! 15. As to Christ's loyal subjects, fifthly, whether men that have been restored, or angels that never fell,-how must they applaud the wisdom, revere the justice, and rejoice in the mercy and grace of this dispensation! The holy angels must rejoice to see one so exalted and honoured, toward whom they had maintained their allegiance, when millions of their companions revolted and rebelled;-one, whose amazing condescension and love to mankind, when immersed in sin and ruin, they had admired and glorified; of whose wonderful birth they had brought tidings to our world; whom they had constantly attended, and to whom they had ministered in the days of his humiliation, when he was a man |