Sustains not such a rushing sea of light)
I see on an empyreal flying throne,
Awfully raised, heaven's everlasting Son ;
Crowned with that majesty which formed the world,
And the grand rebel flaming downward hurled.
Virtue, dominion, praise, omnipotence,
Support the train of their triumphant prince.
COMPLETED IN A FUTURE STATE. 363
This will be a most unexpected sight to the wick-
ed world: it will come as a cry at midnight : they
shall be taken in the midst of their wickedness, and
it will give them a dreadful alarm. It will at once
break up their revels and carousing. It will put an
end to the design of the great army, that will then
be compassing the camp of the saints : it will make
them let drop their weapons out of their hands.
The world, which will then be very full of people,
most of whom will be wicked men, will then be
filled with dolorous shrieking and crying ; for ' all
A zone, beyond the thought of angels bright,
Around him, like the zodiac, winds its light.
Night shades the solemn arches of his brows,
And in his cheek the purple morning glows.
Where'er serene he turns propitious eyes.
Or we expect, or find a paradise :
But if resentment reddens their mild beams,
The Eden kindles, and the world's in flames,
On one hand knowledge shines in purest light,
On one the sword of justice fiercely bright.
Now bend the knee in sport, present the reed.
Now tell the scourg'd imposter he shall bleed !
Triumphant King of glory, soul of bliss !
What a stupendous turn of fate is this !
Oh M-hither art thou raised above the scorn
And indigence of him in Bethlem born,
A needy, helpless, unaccounted guest,
And but a second to the foddered beast !
How changed from him, who meekly prostrate laid,
Vouchsafed to wash the feet himself had inade !
From him who was betrayed, forsook, denied.
Wept, languished, prayed, bled, thirsted, groaned and died ;
Hung pierced and bare, insulted by the foe.
All heaven in tears above, earth unconcerned below !
Now the descending triumph stops its flight,
From earth full twice a planetrary height.
There all the clouds, condensed, two columns raise
Distinct with orient veins and golden blaze.
One fixed on earth, and one in sea, and round
Its ample foot the swelling billows sound.
These an immeasurable arch support,
The grand tribunal of this awful court.
Sheets of bright azure, from the purest sky,
Stream from the crystal arch, and round the columns fly.
Death wrapt in chains low at the basis lies,
Aiid on the point of his own arrow dies.
Here high enthroned th' eternal judge is placed.
With all the grandeur af his Godhead graced ;
Stars on his robes in beauteous order meet.
And the sun burns beneath his dreadful feet. „ , ..
Young's Last Day, Book ii.
3G4 HISTORY OF REDEMPTION-.
the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.'
Rev. i. 7. And where shall they hide themselves ;
how will the sight of that awful majesty terrify them ?
Then they shall see whom they have mocked and
scoffed at, and whose church they have been endea-
vouring to overthrow. This sight will change the
voice of their laughter and singing into dreadful
wailing. Their countenance shall be changed from
a show of carnal mirth, pride and contempt, to
ghastly terror, trembling, and amazement.
But with respect to the saints, the church of
Christ, it shall be a joyful and most glorious sight
to them ; for it will at once deliver them from all
fear of their enemies, who before were compassing
them about, just ready to swallow them up. Then
shall they lift up their heads, and their redemption
shall be drawing nigh. Luke xxi. 28. Thus Christ
will appear with infinite majesty, and at the same
time with infinite love in his countenance. Their
countenances also shall be changed, not as the coun-
tenances of the wicked, but from sorrow to exceed-
ing joy and triumph. And now the work of re-
demption will be finished in another sense ; the
whole ehtireh shall be completely and eternally
freed from all persecution and molestation from
wicked men and devils.
2. The last trumpet shall sound ; 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 Jeru-
salem ; 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. iv. 16. ' For the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the
COMPLETED IX A FUTURE STATE. 363
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.'
On the sound of this trumpet, the dead shall every-
where be raised. The number of the dead is very
great, for what multitudes has death cut down since
the beginning of the world. But then the number
will be much greater after the world shall have
stood so much longer, and through most of the re-
maining time will doubtless be much fuller of inha-
bitants 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. xx. 13. •
And now all the inhabitants that ever shall have
been upon the face of the earth, from the beginning
to the end of the world, shall appear upon the earth
at once. The church of God in all ages, Adam and
Eve the first parents of mankind, and Abel, Seth,
Methuselah, and all the saints who were their con-
temporaries ; Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the
prophets, and all the Old Testament saints ; the holy
apostles of Jesus Christ, and all the saints of their
times ; the martyrs under the ten heathen persecu-
tions ; all who belonged to the church during the
dark days of antichrist, all the holy martyrs who
have suffered under the cruelty of the popish perse-
cutions ; all the saints of the present time, and all
that shall be from hence to the end of the world. —
Now also the enemies of the church in all ages of the
world shall appear upon the face of the earth again ;
the wicked drowned by the flood, and the multi-
tudes of impenitent sinners that died all over the
world among God's professing people, or others be-
fore Christ, and all wicked Heathens, Jews, Maho-
metans, and Papists, that have died since ; all shall
come together. Sinners of all sorts ; demure hypo-
crites, those who have the fairest and best outside,
and open profane drunkards, w^horemongers, profane
deists, cruel persecutors, and all that have died or
shall die in sin, to the end of the world.
At the same time that the dead are raised, the
livino: shall be changed. The bodies of the wicked
366 HISTORY OF REDEMPTION.
who shall then be living, shall be so changed as to
fit them for eternal existence without corruption;
and the bodies of all the living saints shall be changed
to be like Christ's glorious body. 1 Cor. xv. 51 — 53.
They shall be so changed as to render them incapa-
ble of pain, affliction or uneasiness ; and all that
dulness, heaviness, and deformity, which their bodies
had before, shall be put off; and they shall put on
strength, beauty, and activity, and incorruptible un-
fading glory. Now the work of redemption shall be
so complete, that all the elect shall be actually re-
deemed both in soul and body. Before this, the
work of redemption, as to its actual success, was
incomplete ; for only the souls of the redeemed were
actually saved and glorified, excepting in a very few
instances : but now all the bodies of the saints shall
be saved and glorified together, both in soul and
body.
3. The saints shall be caught up in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air, and all wicked men and
devils shall be arraigned before the judgment seat.
When the dead saints are raised, then the whole
church, consisting of all the elect through all ages,
shall appear together on the face of the earth, ex-
cepting those few whose bodies were glorified be-
fore ; and shall ascend to meet Christ, who shall
fix his throne in the air, whence he may be seen by
all that vast multitude that shall be gathered before
him. 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 Thes. iv. 16,
17. Then shall the work of redemption be finished
in another respect ; the whole church shall be per-
fectly and for ever delivered from this evil world.
They shall take their everlasting leave of this earth,
where they have been strangers, and which has been
to them a scene of trouble and sorrow ; where the
devil for the most part has reigned as god, and has
greatly molested them ; where Christ their Lord has
COMPLETED IN A FUTURE STATE. 367
been crucified ; and where they have been so hated,
reproached, and persecuted, from age to age ; and
there shall be an everlasting separation made be-
tween them and the wicked. Before they were
-nixed together, and it was impossible in many in-
stances to determine which were which ; but now
Doth saints and sinners shall appear in their true
characters.
What an immense cloud of them will there be
when all the church shall be gathered together from
the east and west, north and south, to the right hand
of Christ. — Then the work of redemption will be
finished in this respect also. They all belonged to
one society before, but yet were widely separated
from each other ; some being in heaven, and some
on earth ; and those on earth were separated one
from another, many of them by wide oceans and
vast continents. But now they shall all be gathered
together, never to be separated any more. And not
only gathered together, but 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 his left hand, and, as it
seems, will still remain upon the earth, and not be
caught up into the air, as the saints shall. Satan,
that old serpent, who first procured the fall and
misery of mankind, 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, or be suffered in the least to afflict any mem-
ber of it any more for ever ; but shall now be judged,
and receive the due reward of his deeds. Now is
come the time which he long has 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 upon it, as
though he had obtained the victory, even he shall
3G8 HISTORY OF REDEMPTION.
see the consequences of the death of Christ which
he procured : for Christ's coming to judge him in
his human nature is the consequence of it, because
he obtained and purchased this glory to himself by
that death. Now he must stand before that same
Jesus whose death he procured, to be judged, con-
demned, and eternally destroyed by him. If Satan,
the prince of hell, trembles at the thought of it
thousands of years beforehand, how much more will
he tremble, as proud and as stubborn as he is, when
he comes to stand at Christ's bar ! Then shall he
also stand at the bar of the saints, whom he has so
hated, afflicted, and molested : for the saints shall
judge him togother with Christ. 1 Cor. vi. 3.
* Know ye not that we shall judge angels !' Now
shall he be as it were subdued under the church's
feet. Rom. xvi. 20. Satan, when he tempted our
first parents to fall, deceitfully and falsely told them,
that they should be as gods : but little did he think
that the consequence should be, that they should
indeed be so much like gods, as to be assessors
with God to judge him. Much less did he think,
that in consequence of this, one of the posterity of
those persons whom he tempted, should actually be
united to God, should judge the world, and that he
himself must stand trembling and astonished before
his judgment seat. And all the infernal spirits who
have so opposed Christ and his kingdom, shall now
at last stand in the utmost amazement and horror
before Christ and his church, who shall appear to
condemn them.
Now also shall Christ's other enemies be brought
to appear before him. Now shall the proud scribes
And pharisees, who had such a malignant hatred
against him while in his state of humiliation, and
who persecuted Christ to death ; those before whose
judgment seat Christ was once called, and stood as
a malefactor at their bar, and those who mocked him,
and buffeted him, and spit in his face; now shall
they see Christ in his glory, as he forewarned them.
COMPLETED IX A FUTURE STATE. 3G9
when he was before their judgment seat ; but now
they shall stand before him with inconceivable hor-
ror and amazement. Matt, xxvi, 64, 65,
Now also all the cruel enemies and persecutors
of the church in all ages, shall come in sight toge-
ther ; Pharaoh and the Egyptians, Antiochus Epi-
phanes, the persecuting scribes and pharisees, the
persecuting heathen emperors, Julian the apostate,
the cruel persecuting popes and papists, Gog and
Magog, all shall appear at once before the judgment
seat of Christ. They and the saints who have in
every age been persecuted by them, must confront
one another before the great Judge. The saints on
their glorious thrones shall now be made the judges
of those unjust kings and rulers, who have before
judged and condemned them to death. Now shall
those persecutors behold the glory to which they are
arrived, whom before they so despised and cruelly
treated, and Christ will make those holy martyrs as
it were to come and set their feet on the necks of
their persecutors ; they shall be made their foot-
stool. Thus wonderfully will the face of things be
altered from what it used to be in the former times
of the world ; now will all things be coming to
rights.
4. The righteousness of the church shall be mani-
fested, and all the wickedness of their enemies shall
be brought to light. Those saints who had been
the objects of hatred, reproach, and contempt in the
world, and were reviled and condemned by their
persecutors w^ithout a cause, shall now be fully vin-
dicated. They shall now appear clothed with the
glorious robe of Christ's righteousness. And their
inherent holiness shall also be made manifest, and
all their good works be brought to light. The good
things which they did in secret shall now be mani-
fested openly. Those holy ones of God, who had
been treated as though they were the filth and off-
scouring of the earth, as though they were not fit to
live upon earth, shall now appear to have been the
excellent of the earth. God will bring forth their
3 B
370 HISTORY OF REDEMPTION.
righteousness as the light, and their judgment as the
noon-day. Now shall it be seen who were those
that were not fit to live, when all the wickedness of
the enemies of Christ and his church, their pride,
their malice, their cruelty, their hatred of true reli-
gion, shall be set forth in its true light. Now all
the wickedness of the whole world shall be fully
discovered, their very hearts opened to view ; and
things that have been spoken in the ear, in the clo-
set, and done in the dark, shall be manifested in the
light, and proclaimed before angels and men. Luke
xii. 3.
5. Sentence shall be pronounced both on the
righteous and the wicked. Christ, the judge, shall
pass that sentence on the church at his right hand :
* Come, ye blessed of m.y Father, inherit the king-
dom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world.' Matt. xxv. 34. This shall be pronounced
with infinite love, and the voice will make every
heart to overflow with joy. Thus Christ shall pro-
nounce a sentence of justification on thousands and
millions, who have before had a sentence of con-
demnation passed upon them by their persecutors.
He will thus put honour upon those who have been
before despised : he will own them for his, and will
as it were put a crown of glory upon their heads
before the world ; and then shall they shine forth as
the sun with Jesus Christ in glory and joy, in the
sight of all their enemies.
Then also shall the sentence of condemnation be
passed on the wicked : ' Depart, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.'
Thus shall the church's enemies be condemned ; in
which sentence of condemnation, the holy martyrs,
who have suffered from them, shall concur. When
the words of this sentence are pronounced, every
syllable will be more terrible than a stream of light-
ning through their hearts. We can conceive but
very little of the horror that it shall produce.
6. Christ and all his saints, and the holy angels
ministering unto them, shall then leave this lower
COMPLETED IX A FUTURE STATE. 37]
world, and ascend up to the highest h,eavens.
Christ shall ascend in as great glory as he descend-
ed, and in some respects greater ; for now he shall
ascend with his elect church with him, glorified
both in body and soul. Christ's first ascension to
heaven soon after his own resurrection, was very
glorious ; but this second ascension, the ascension
of his mystical body, his whole church, shall be far
more so. The redeemed shall all ascend with him
in a most joyful and triumphant manner ; and all
their enemies and persecutors, who shall be left
behind on this accursed ground, shall see their glory
and hear their songs.
7. When Christ and his church have ascended to
heaven, this world shall be set on fire, and turned
into a great furnace, wherein all the enemies of
Christ and his church shall be tormented for ever
and ever. 2 Pet. iii. 7. ' The heavens and the earth
which now, by the same word are kept in store,
reserved unto fire against the day of judgment, and
perdition of ungodly men.' Ay, how will it strike
the wicked with horror, when the world shall be set
on fire, either by lightning from heaven, or fire issu-
ing out of the bowels of the earth ; especially when
the fire begins to lay hold upon them, and they find
no way of escape. 2 Pet. iii. 10 — 12. ' The heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat ; the earth also, and the
works that are therein, shall be burnt up.' So fierce
will be the heat, that it shall burn the earth to its
very centre. ' For a fire is kindled in mine anger,
and shall burn to the lowest hell ; it shall consume
the earth with its increase, and set on fire the foun-
dations of the mountains.' Deut. xxxii. 22.
Here all the persecutors of the church of God,
who have before burnt the saints at the stake, shall
burn in everlasting fire, and shall suffer torments
beyond all that their utmost wit and malice could
inflict. Here their bodies shall be tormented eter-
najjy, and never be consumed, while the wrath of
God shall be poured out upon their souls. Thougii
372 HISTORY OF KLDEMPTIOi^
the souls of the wicked in hell do now suffer punish-
ment, yet that will be so encreased at the day of
judgment, that what they suffered before is, in com-
parison of it, as an imprisonment to the execution
which follows. And now the devil, that old serpent,
shall receive his full punishment ; and that which he
long trembled for fear of, shall now fully come upon
him. This world, which formerly used to be the
place of his kingdom, where he set himself up as
God, shall be the place of his full and everlasting
punishment.* And in this another design of the
work of redemption, that of putting Christ's enemies
under his feet, shall be perfectly accomplished. Ilis
enemies shall now be made his footstool, in the
fullest degree. Now shall be the complete fulfil-
ment of that threatening : ' It shall bruise thy head.'
Gen. iii. 15.
8. At the same time, all the church shall enter
with Christ, their head, into the highest heavens,
and shall there enter on the state of their highest
and eternal blessedness and glory. While the lower
world, which they have left under their feet, is
seized with the fire of God's vengeance, the whole
church shall enter, with their glorious head, and all
the holy angels attending, in a joyful manner, into
the eternal paradise of God, the palace of the great
Jehovah, their heavenly Father. The gates shall
ooen wide for them to enter, and there Christ will
* Though this Author has conjectured that this Earth will finally
become the place of torment, it seems far more probable that it will
form a part of the heavenly world, after it has been purified by fire : but
wherever the regions of misery may be fixed in a future state, it is
scarcely possible to conceive of a description more awfully sublime,
than that given by Milton in the following passage —
A dungeon horrible on all sides round
As one great furnace flamed, yet from those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible
Served only to discover sights of woe,
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all ; but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery deluge fed
With ever burning sulphur unconsumed :
Such place eternal justice has prepared
For those rebellious.
COMPLETED IN A FUTURE STATE. 373
bring them into his chambers in the highest sense.
He will bring them into his Father's house, into a
world unlike that which they have left. Hither
Christ will bring them, and present them in glory
to his Father, saying, ' Here am I, and the children
which thou hast given me.' Heb. ii. 15. Here am I,
with every one of those whom thou gavest me from
eternity to take the care of, that they might be re-
deemed and glorified, and to redeem whom I have
done and suffered so much, and to make way for the
redemption of whom I have for so many ages been
accomplishing such great revolutions. Here they
are now, perfectly redeemed in body and soul. I
have perfectly delivered them from all the ill effects
of the fall, and freed them from all their enemies.
I have brought them all together into one glorious
society, and united them all in myself. I have open-
ly justified them before angels and men, and brought
them hither from that accursed w^orld where they
have suffered so much, and presented them spotless
before thy throne. I have done all that for them
which thou hast appointed me. I have perfectly
cleansed them from all filthiness in my blood, and
here they are resplendent with thy perfect image.—
Then the Father will accept and own them for his
children, and will welcome them to the eternal and
perfect inheritance and glory of his house, giving
them more glorious manifestations of his love than
ever, and admitting them to a more full and perfect
enjoyment of himself.
Now shall be the marriage of the Lamb, in the
most perfect sense. The commencement of the
glorious times of the church on earth, after the fall
of antichrist, is represented as the marriage of the
Lamb : but after this we read of another marriage
of the Lamb, at the close of the day of judgment.
After the beloved disciple had given an account of
the day of judgment, in the close of the twentieth
chapter of Revelation, he then proceeds to give an
account of what follows, mi the next two chapters.
Tn particular, he mentions that he saw the holy city,
374 HISTORY OF REDEMPTION.
the new Jerusalem, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband. And when Christ shall bring his.
church into his Father's house in heaven-, after the
final judgment, he shall bring her thither as his
bride, having there presented her, whom he loved,
and gave himself for, to himself without spot or
wrinkle, or any such thing. Ephes. v. 27. The
bridegroom and the bride shall then enter into hea-
ven, both having on their wedding robes, attended
with all the glorious angels, and commencing an
eternal feast of blessedness. This shall be the day
of the gladness of Christ's heart, in which he will
greatly rejoice, and all the saints with him. Christ
shall rejoice over his bride, and the bride shall re-
joice in her husband, in this state of her consummate
and everlasting blessedness.
Now the whole work of redemption is finished,
and we have seen how it has been carrying on from