by Works of Charity and Mercy, he will place at his Right-hand, and in the Prefence of God and all his holy Angels, he fhall fay unto them; Come ye blessed of my Father,inberit the Kingdom prepared for you, from the Beginning of the World for I washungry, and ye gave me Meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me Drink; I was a Stranger, and ye took me in; hungry, and ye cloathed me; I was fick, and ye vifited me; I was in Prifon, -and ye came unto me; verily Ifay unto you, in as much as ye bave done it unto one of the left of thefe my Brethren, ye bave done it unto me.

There be fome that make this Question, What Sign fhall precede immediately, or accompany the Coming of Chrift in the World? Our Saviour hath given Occafion to this Demand; for when he fpeaks of the Things that are to happen about the Time of his glorious Appearance,he faith, That the Sun fhall be darkned, the Moon fhall not give Light, the Stars Shall fall from Heaven, and the Powers of the Heavens fhall be fhaken, and then fhall appear inHeaven the Sign of the Son of Man.

Some imagine, that this Sign of the Son of Man, is the Sign of the Crofs, which will be visible in the Air. This Opinion in it felf is harmless, but in Regard that it hath no Foundation in holy Scripture, I am not to infift upon it. Others believe, that it fhall be the Fire with which Jefus Chrift fhall burn the Earth, diffolve the Elements and punish Unbelievers. This Conceit is grounded upon St. Paul's Words to the Theffalonians, 2 Thef. i. It is a righteous Thing with God to recompenfe Tribulation to them that trouble you, and to you who are troubled, Reft with us, when the Lord Jefus fhall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire, taking Vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gofpel of our Lord Jefus Chrift. Others conceive, that the Sign of this Son of Man, is nothing else but the Body of Jefus Chrift, bearing and difcovering the Print of the Nails in his Hands and Feet, and the Wound of the Spear in his Side. This they gather from thefe Ff a Words

Words, in Rev. i. Behold, he cometh with Clouds, and every Eye fhall fee bim, and they also which pierced bim. There be others yet, that take it in another Senfe, and believe that there fhall be no particular Sign, but that we must understand by this Sign of the Son of Man, all thofe Things which fhall declare the End of the World, and the Coming of Jefus Chrift to judge the Quick and the Dead. If we take the Words in this Senfe, there will be an excellent Allufion to that which is commonly practifed, when Kings and Princes make their publick Entry into great Cities; for their Coming in is proclaimed by the Sound of a Trumpet, and by the Attendants of Majesty, a Train and Pomp that ufually accompanies it. the fame Manner, the glorious Coming of Jefus Chrift, fhall be known by all the Sound of the ArchAngel's Trumpet, and by the Signs and wonderful Alterations which fhall fuddenly happen in the Heavens. This laft Opinion is very likely, and the former is not contrary to the Analogy of Faith.

In

Therefore in Matters indifferent, not plainly decided by the Word of God, we leave to every pious Soul a Liberty to chufe that which it likes beft.

Some enquire farther, If the Souls of the Damned go down into Hell immediately after their egrefs out of the Body, and are tormented in an unquenchable Fire, whereof the Heat never leffens, as the Chriftian Religion teacheth, and as we may understand by the Parable of the Rich Glutton; doth it not follow, that these Wretches are are already judged? How is it then that the Son of God will judge them again at the last Day, and fend 'em to an everlasting Burning prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels? I anfwer, First, That 'tis no Abfurdity to fay, that one Sentence fhall be pronounced twice; for Men are wont to read the Sentence of Doom to the Prifoner, before he is taken out of Prison; afterwards the fame Sentence is published in the Audience of the People, at the Time of Execution. Likewise, when the Souls of the Wicked

depart

depart out of their wretched Bodies, God pronounces to them the Sentence of Death; but when Jefus Chrift fhall fit upon the Throne of his Glory, he fhall publish the fame Sentence before all the Men of the World, and all the Angels of Heaven. Besides, that Sentence was never declar'd but to the Soul; but then it shall be declar'd to both Soul and Body, and both together shall be sent to the everlasting Burning, from whence they never fhall be releas'd. From hence, therefore, Christians, you may understand, that there are three Degrees of Punifhments or Torments to the Wicked; for in this Life they have a Worm that gnaws their Bowels and Heart, and a kind of Hell,that torments their Confciences. At the going of their Souls out of the World, they are caft headlong into the eternal Flames of Hell, where they fuffer unipeakable Torments. At that Time their Bodies are fenfelefs in their Graves, as the Bodies of the Righteous. But at this Jaft and dreadful Day of Judgment, as the Grave fhall reftore all the dead Bodies, Hell, which is the Place defigned for the Torments of the Damned, fhall give up all the Souls that are tormented in its Flames, and these curfed Souls fhall be fent back to their miserable Bodies,to fuffer the pangs of an eternal Death,Rev.xx, Thus they fhall be caft Body and Soul into the bottomless Pit, where there is Weeping and Gnafhing of Teeth. At that Time the Beaft, the falfe Prophet, and all the Enemies of God and of hisChurch,fhall be caft alive into the Lake burning with Fire and Brimftone,which is the second Death,Rom. xx. 10,11. And when all thefe Offenders fhall be executed, the Executioners themselves fhall be punifh'd for their Crimes, when the Damned fhall be calt into eternal Tortures, the Devils and infernal Furies fhall be fent after them; as 'tis faid, The Devil who feduced the Nations, fball be caft into the Lake of Fire and Brimftone, where the Beaft and the falfe Prophet are, and shall be tormented Day and Night for ever and ever, Rev. xx. 10. What a dread ful Sight will it be to look upon all thofe roaring Lions, Ff 3 thofe

thofe furious Dragons in their Rage, vomiting forth Fire and Flames! What a joyful Spectacle fhall this be to the Children of God, to look upon thefe infernal Devils, bound faft with thofe Chains which they fhall never be able to break, and fhut up in the bottomlefs Pit, out of which they fhall never be released!

Our Lord fhall caft into this Lake of Fire and Brimftone, and shut up in this bottomless Pit, not only the Devil and his Angels, the Beaft and the falfe Prophet, and in general all wicked Souls and Unbelievers, but he fhall caft therein alfo Death and the Grave, or rather, he fhall abolish them for ever. As Fofbua, when he conquer'd the Kings of the Amorites,put them not to Death until he had overcome all his Enemies Jikewise our Lord Jefus Chrift, our true Joshua, has encountred with Death upon the Crofs, and overcome it by his Refurrection; but he will not destroy it altogether until the last Day, when he fhall come to judge the World. Then to perfect all his glorious Victories, he fhall destroy this laft Enemy, this Deftroyer of his Brethren, and of his Members; fo that Death fhall be no more. It fhall be no more for the Wicked, they fhall feek it in vain to be freed from their Torments. It fhall fly away from them as a Shadow that departs, and is no more to be found. Death shall be no more for God's Children, for it fhall never difturb their Reft and Happiness.

If the old Serpent could enter into Paradife, we fhould fear his Temptations and enflamed Darts; and if Death continu'd in its Empire, we fhould dread its Approaches; but then it fhall not have the leaft Power, it fhall be totally abolish'd; and all the Living shall become immortal. And altho' God will not deftroy the Being, nor take away the Malice of the Devil; yet to us he shall be as if he were not, for he fhall never be able to break his Chains, or to efcape out of his Prifon; and between him and us there fhall be Depths that can never be filled. So that as Mofes, when he caft his Eye upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians,who pur

fued

fu'd the frighted Ifraelites, he told them, Stand ftilland fee the falvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to, day for the Egyptians whom you bave feen to day, ye fball fee them again no more for ever, Likewife, when we think upon Satan, and all his infernal Armies that purfue you, you may fay with Confidence, fettle your Minds, Chriftian Souls, and with the Eye of Faith behold the Salvation of the Lord; for thefe hellish Furies that have perfecuted you fo long, fhall be reduc'd to that Condition, that they fhall not be able to do you the leaft Difpleafure, or to give you any Apprehenfion. God is going to drown them in the Red Sea of his Wrath, and to fhut them up for ever in the bottomless Pit of his juft Revenge. So that, as in the heavenly Paradife, there fhall be neither Pain nor Sorrow, nor Grief, nor Crying, nor Sighs heard ; likewife there fhall never be any Fear or Fright, or the leaft Alarm; but we fhall live there in a fetled Peace and Quiet for ever.

'Tis reported of the Macedonians, that they wept for Joy, when they beheld their King Alexander the Great, feated on the Throne of Darius, and trampling under feet the Pride and Empire of Perfia. But how exceeding great fhall our Joy be, when we fhall behold Jefus Chrift our Great Monarch, fitting upon the Throne of God, and trampling under feet the Pomp of the World, crushing the red Dragon, and all the tyrannical Powers of Hell? The Glory of Alexander vanifh'd away with his Breath: Death deftroy'd all his Trophies; but our Lord fhall triumph over Death it felf it fhall be the laft Act of his eternal Juftice, to deftroy the great Murderer from the Beginning.

At that time there fhall be no more Enemies to encounter with, no Evils to be fear'd, neither fhall there be any Advantages to be defir'd, nor Honours to be expected; for God will admit us to the bottomlefs Ocean of the most divine Pleasures, and raife us up to the highest Glory that our Nature fhall be capable of. This Happiness and this Glory fhall be infinite in reF f 4

gard