their redemption shall be drawing nigh. Luke, 21: 28. Christ will appear with infinite majesty, yet at the same time they shall see infinite love in his countenance. And thus to see their Redeemer coming in the clouds of heaven, will fill their hearts full of gladness. Their countenances also shall be changed, not as the countenances of the wicked, but from sorrow to exceeding joy and triumph. And now the work of redemption will be finished in another sense: the whole church shall be completely and eternally freed from all persecution and molestation from wicked men and devils.

II. The last trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised, and the living changed. God sent forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, to gather together his elect from the four corners of the earth in a mystical sense, before the destruction of Jerusalem; that is, he sent forth the apostles and others to preach the Gospel all over the world. And so in a mystical sense the great trumpet was blown at the beginning of the glorious times of the church, But now the great trumpet is blown in a more literal sense, with a mighty sound which shakes the earth. There will be a great signal given by a mighty sound made, which is called the voice of the archangel. 1 Thess. 4: 16. "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God." On the sound of the great trumpet the dead shall be raised every where. The number of the dead is now very great. How many has death cut down since the world has stood! But then the number will be much greater; the world shall have stood longer, and through most of the remaining time it

will doubtless be much fuller of inhabitants than ever it has been. All these shall now rise from the dead. The graves shall be opened in all parts of the world, and the sea shall give up the innumerable dead that are in it. Rev. 20 13.

And now all the inhabitants that ever shall have been upon the face of the earth shall appear upon earth at once. All that have been of the church of God in all ages: Adam and Eve, the first parents of mankind; Abel, and Seth, and Methuselah, and all the saints who were their contemporaries; Noah and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the prophets of Israel, the holy apostles of Jesus Christ, and all the saints of their times; and all the holy martyrs who fell under furious persecutions. There will be found all who belonged to the church in its wildernessstate during the dark times of Antichrist, and all who have suffered under his persecuting cruelty, with all the saints that have been, and that shall be to the end of the world. Now also all the enemies of the church in all ages shall appear again; all the wicked Heathens, and Jews, and Mohammedans, and Papists. Sinners of all sorts; demure hypocrites, profane sensualists, heretics, infidels, and all cruel persecutors, and all who have died or shall die in sin, shall come together.

And at the same time that the dead are raised, the living shall be changed. The bodies of the wicked who shall then be living, shall be so changed as to fit them for eternal torment; and the bodies of all the living saints shall be changed to be like unto Christ's glorious body. 1 Cor. 15: 51-53. The bodies of all the saints shall be so changed as to render them for ever incapable of pain, or affliction, or uneasi.

ness; and all that dullness and heaviness, and all that deformity which their bodies had before, shall be put off; and they shall put on strength and beauty, activity, and incorruptible unfading glory.

And now the work of redemption shall be finished in another respect: all God's people shall now be actually redeemed both in soul and body. Before this, the work of redemption, as to its actual success, was but incomplete; for only the souls of the redeemed were actually saved and glorified, excepting in some few instances: but now all the bodies of the saints shall be saved and glorified together; they shall all be glorified in the whole man, the soul and body in union.

III. Now shall the saints be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and all wicked men and devils arraigned before the judgment-seat. When the dead saints are raised, then the whole church, consisting of all God's people through all ages, will stand together on the earth, at least all excepting those few whose bodies were glorified before; and then they shall all mount up as with wings to meet Christ, who shall fix his throne in the air, whence he may be seen by all the vast multitude that shall be gathered before him. Then shall the saints ascend up to their Savior. Thus the apostle tells us, that when the dead in Christ are raised, and the living changed, then those who are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we be ever with the Lord. 1 Thess. 4: 16, 17. What a wonderful sight will that be, when all the many millions of saints are thus mounting up from all parts of the world.

Then shall the work of redemption be finished in another respect: then shall the whole church be perfectly and for ever delivered from this present evil world; shall take their everlasting leave of this earth, where they have been strangers, and which has been for the most part a scene of trouble and sorrow; where the devil has reigned as God, and has greatly molested them, and which has been such a scene of wickedness and abomination; where Christ their Lord has been crucified; and where they have been so hated, reproached and persecuted. They shall leave it, and shall never set fool on it again. And there shall be an everlasting separation made between them and wicked men.

Be

fore, they were mixed together, and it was impossible in many instances to determine their characters; but now all shall become visible; both saints and sinners shall appear in their true characters and forms.

Then shall all the church be seen coming from the east and west, and north and south, and ascending to the right hand of Christ. What a mighty cloud of them will there be ! All that ever have been of the church of God: all that were before Christ; all the multitude of saints in the apostles' time; all that were in the days of Constantine the Great; all that were before and since the Reformation; and all the great multitude of saints that shall be in all the glorious times of the church, when the whole earth shall for so many generations be full of saints; and also all that shall be living when Christ shalĺ come-all these shall be seen flocking together in the clouds at his right hand!

And then also the work of redemption will be

finished in another respect: the church shall all be gathered together. They all belonged to one society before, but yet were widely separated. Some were in heaven, and some on earth; and those who were on earth were separated, many of them by wide oceans and vast continents. But now they shall all be gathered together, never to be separated more. And not only shall all the members of the church now be gathered together, but all shall be gathered unto their Head, into his immediate glorious presence, never to be separated from him any more.

At the same time all wicked men and devils shall be brought before the judgment-seat of Christ. These shall be gathered to the left hand of Christ, and, as it seems, will still remain upon the earth, and not be caught up into the air, as the saints shall be. The devil, that old serpent, shall now be dragged up out of hell. He, that first procured the fall and misery of mankind, and has so set himself against their redemption, and has all along shown himself such an inveterate enemy to the Redeemer, shall never more have any thing to do with the church of God, nor be suffered in the least to afflict or molest any member of it for ever. Instead of that, now he must be judged, and receive the due reward of his deeds. Now is come the time which he has always dreaded, and trembled at the thought of; the time wherein he must be judged, and receive his full punishment. He who by his temptation maliciously procured Christ's crucifixion, and triumphed as though he had obtained the victory, even he shall see the consequences of that death which he procured. Now he must stand before the same Jesus, to be judged, condemned, and eternally destroyed by him.