earth is coming to his judgement-seat in the air. The throne that shall be there erected for him is thus described by Daniel-"I beheld till the thrones were "cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit; whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his "head like the pure wool. His throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire: a fiery stream issued, and came forth from before "him thousand thousands ministered unto him, "and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before "him. The judgement was set, and the books were "opened." In the clouds over our heads is this judgement-seat to be formed; as it is also written in the book of Psalms-"Clouds and darkness are "round about him, righteousness and judgement are "the habitation of his throne." From amidst this thick darkness the lightnings, those swift executioners of divine vengeance, shall flash abroad over the earth, while ten thousand thunders, rolling forth from the glorious God that maketh them, shall at once utter their tremendous voices; as it is written again in the same book of Psalms-"Our God shall come, and "shall not keep silence," as once, when, like a sheep dumb before his shearers, he opened not his mouth. "A fire shall now devour before him, and it shall "be very tempestuous round about him. "The "Lord," even the Lord Jesus, "shall thunder out "of heaven, and the Highest give his thunder, hailstones, and coals of fire." By the brightness of his coming all enemies shall soon be consumed, all clouds shall pass away; and the Judge shall appear upon his radiant throne, like his emblem the sun;

so that there shall not be a tongue but must own, with the church in her triumphant song, "Heaven "and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory." And as Christ upon his throne, like the sun, will see all, so, like the sun, he will be seen of all; which brings us to the

II. Thing to be considered, namely, the circumstance of mankind beholding him, with the effect it shall produce upon them: "Every eye shall see "him, and they also which pierced him; and all the "kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him."

The Judge being seated on his throne, and all things subdued to him, "before him shall be ga"thered all nations," all the innumerable multitudes of men and women that have lived in every age and every country. Every eye shall see the God that made it, and commanded it to be pure and single. How it has fulfilled his commandment, will then be known. The sight of Christ upon his throne will be a trying sight; the effects of it will enter the heart like the piercings of a sword, and reveal all its thoughts in the countenance; hypocrisy shall then be no more. "Every eye shall see him." But who shall be able to endure the sight? Even "they that

pierced. him" must "look on him whom they "pierced." Pilate will behold the poor despised Galilean, whom he scourged and delivered to be crucified, now ready to judge him and all the world. Herod and his men of war, who mocked and set him at naught, will see him encompassed with ten thousands of saints and angels, about to speak unto them in his wrath, and trouble them in his sore displeasure.

A corrupt temporizing Sanhedrim, who were instant with loud voices that he might be crucified, will see heaven and earth fly away from before the face of that priest, of whom they, his representatives, were the betrayers and murderers. They who platted and put on the crown of thorns, shall be struck blind with rays of glory beaming from his sacred head. And they who drove the nails, and he who thrust the spear into his side, shall see that same Jesus, whom they pierced, exalted above every name that is named in heaven and earth.

But think not that the Jews, who crucified Christ, are the only persons that will have reason to tremble at this sight. There are others who may dread it, as well as they. Those whose sins, yet unrepented of, sharpened the nails, and pointed every thorn. Those careless ones, who are at ease; whose hearts, harder than the rocks that rent asunder at his crucifixion, remain unmoved at the sight of the Son of God dying upon the cross for them, and calling from thence to a thoughtless world—"Is it nothing to -66 you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see, if there "be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done "unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in "the day of his fierce anger?"

Bishop Taylor, in one of his Advent sermons, has an expostulation with a sinner upon this subject, which is so just, beautiful, and affecting, and so infinitely beyond any thing I can offer, that I shall not only have your pardon, but your thanks for reciting it. "It was for thy sake "that the Judge did suffer unspeakable pains, such

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as were sufficient to reconcile all the world to God. "And to consider that thou hast, for thine own par

ticular, made all this in vain, and ineffective; that "Christ thy Lord and Judge should be tormented "for nothing; that thou wouldest not accept felicity "and pardon, when he purchased them at so dear a

price; it must needs be an infinite condemnation "to thee. How shalt thou look upon him that "fainted and died for love of thee, and thou didst 66 scorn his miraculous mercies? How shalt thou "dare to behold that holy face which brought salvation to thee, and thou didst turn away, and fall "in love with death, and deformity, and sin? And

yet in the beholding that face consists much of "the glories of eternity. Surely all the pains and "the passions, the sorrows and the groans, the humility and poverty, the labours and the watch'ings, the prayers and the sermons, the miracles "and the prophecies, the whip and the nails, the "death and the burial, the shame and the smart, "the cross and the grave of Jesus, shall be laid

upon thy score, if thou hast refused the mercies "and design of all their holy ends and purposes. "And if thou rememberest what a calamity that was, " which broke the Jewish nation in pieces, when "Christ came to judge them for their murdering

him, who was their king, and the prince of life; " and considerest, that this was but a dark image "of the terrors of the day of judgement, thou mayest "then apprehend, that there is some strange unspeakable evil in store for one who refuses the sal"vation of Jesus, and rather chooses that Satan

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"should rejoice in his destruction, than that Jesus "should triumph in his felicity."

Thus far this excellent prelate. And all who consider the matter in this its true and proper light, cannot wonder at the effect which, as St. John in the text tells us, the sight of Christ will produce among the kindreds of the earth. They shall wail because of Christ, when they see him whom they have pierced by their sins, and crucified afresh. And that wailing must needs be terrible, when millions of men and women shall at the same instant fearfully cry out, and the noise shall mingle with the trumpet of the archangel, and the thunders of the dying and groaning heavens passing away with a great noise, and the roaring of the flames in which the earth and all the works that are therein shall then be dissolving. The terror and lamentation throughout the world at that time, with the foreboding pangs and convulsions of departing nature, will be such as never were, since the day that God created man upon the earth. Include in your idea the destruction of the old world by the flood, the overthrow of the cities of the plain by fire and brimstone, and the desolation of Jerusalem by the Roman armies, with an assemblage of the plagues of Egypt, and the miseries and calamities felt by men in all ages, yet your conceptions will fall as far short of the things themselves, as the shadow does of the substance. Nothing can exceed our blessed Lord's description of this last scene, but its actual accomplishment-" There "shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in "the stars and upon the earth distress of na