remain fo far above our finite comprehen

fion.

"No man hath feen or can fee, neither can the heart of man conceive, what God has prepared for them that love him" in the eternal mansions of heavenly glory; for it doth not yet appear what we shall be" in that remotely distant state of our exiftence. But we are expressly told, that "in the fame manner as Christ arofe from the dead," and appeared with "flesh and bones" as a human being, "not as a spirit," even fo fhall we rife alfo;" "he fhall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." "This mortal must put on immortality, and this corruptible put on incorruption; for there are bodies terrestrial, and bodies celeftial, differing in degrees of glory as the stars of heaven." And the angels declared to the Apostles, when

66

66

they stood gazing up to heaven," after our Lord's afcenfion, "that in the fame manner as he ascended up into heaven, he would again return to the earth; which agrees with our Lord's words to the Jewish people, "Ye shall not fee me again till fhall fay, Bleffed is he who cometh in

ye

a 1 Cor. xv. 40. 53.

the

the name of the Lord." But how is this confiftent with the affurance, that "he will come with power and great glory in all the majesty of heaven, with ten thoufands of his faints and holy angels, to judge both the quick and the dead at the last day, when the earth fhall be burnt with fire, and the final doom of everlafting blifs or wo fhall be pronounced upon every foul according to his works"-if we do not fuppofe that the man Christ Jesus”"the feed of David," who" is now glorified and "is exalted at the right hand of God, above all principalities and powers," whofe name is, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords," our

great High Prieft and Interceffor," "the Meffiah of the Jews," "the Saviour of the world," "the Son of God"-fhall come again to conquer all his enemies by fome fignal marks of Divine vengeance, and to establish "the kingdom of the mountain" "with power and great glory," which fhall at length command the worship of "

every creature which is in heaven and on the earth, and under the earth, and fuch as are in the fea, and all that are in them," to be paid unto " him which fitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

We

We should obferve that this kingdom of the mountain is mentioned as to fucceed the four great kingdoms of the earth, which the stone was to break in pieces-a "kingdom given to the Son of Man, that all people, and nations, and languages fhould ferve him." And when the bleffed fpirits waiting in the prefence of God fell down be

fore the Lamb which is in the midst of

the throne," and " worshipped him that liveth for ever," the profpect of this kingdom appears to have formed a part of their triumphant, grateful fong, "Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the feals thereof; for thou waft slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and haft made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on earth b."

But though the inhabitants of the holy city," "the people of God," are to be peculiarly, they are not to be exclufively, favoured. The reign of the faints is to be of univerfal benefit to the world. The many fupernatural circum

Rev. v. 9, 10.

ftances

ftances attending it must excite general attention, and, united with the active zeal of "the men of the city," will gradually produce general conviction among the nations. Peace, after a long feries of the moft dreadful wars, fhall come to abide upon the earth-" The fwords fhall be beat into plough-shares, and the spears into pruning hooks; for nation fhall no more rise against nation." The plagues, which have punished the earth during the reign of Antichrift, fhall ceafe-the general prevalence of the Chriftian Religion will purify the morals and preserve the lives of men; and the temporal bleffings enjoyed by the Elect of God will be an additional incentive to virtue. "I will take sickness from the land in that day, faith the Lord." In Jerufalem," there fhall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die an hundred years old, but the finner being an hundred years old, fhall be accurfed';" it fhall be a mark of Divine displeasure, for a man to die at fuch an early period of this lengthened life. "And they fhall

• Ifaiah lxv. 20.

build

build houses, and inhabit them; and they fhall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them; they shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another cat; for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect fhall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the feed of the bleffed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. -The wolf and the lamb fhall feed together, and the lion fhall eat ftraw like the bullock, and duft shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, faith the Lord". "And the Lord fhall be king over all the earth; in that day fhall there be one Lord, and his name one;" for "I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall see my glory."

The advantages that must naturally refult to the world in general from the lengthened life of good men, extending their researches into the various ftorehouses of nature, according to their various talents,

d Ifaiah lxv. 21—25.

and