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d industrious, spare no pains, be indefatigable in their work; and will run to and fro; and by this means knowledge will be l be the time, even in the Philadelphian state, when there fet, which no man can fout; an opportunity of preaching ere, and which will be taken and used; a wonderful door of iven to minifters of the word, who will open their mouths. and with great fuccefs. The doctrines of the gospel are the led for their refreshing and quickening nature, both to dead ; faints, that at this time fhall go out of Jerufalem, the church towards the former fea, or the eastern fea", as the Targum; ch lay east of Jerusalem, and so before it; and half of them 3, or the western sea', as the fame paraphrafe; the Medilies to the weft of Jerufalem, and fo behind it; and both of the gospel in the latter day, east and weft, for the con1 nations in China, Tartary, Perfia, &c. and for the convertions in Europe; in fummer and in winter shall it be. These owing, these doctrines will be conftantly preaching; nor he word be hindered by any heat of perfecution, or by any ce to it.

e very large conversions every where, in the feveral parts popish countries, and antichristian states; even the ten n their kingdoms to the beaft, have been affociates of anwith him, fhall withdraw from him; they and their fubhim, and be converted, and embrace the pure gospel: ian princes and potentates that will pour out the feven ey will carry the gospel with them wherever they go; or S of it will follow closely at their heels, way being made em; whofe miniftry will meet with great fuccefs every escape the judgments of God in these nations, will not em, but will be truly converted by the gofpel, and give en'. In the Mahometan nations, the Turkish woe being being destroyed, and way made for the gofpel to be carngdoms, great and large converfions will be made by it; prophecy of this in Isaiah Ix. 7. which whole chapter and perfonal reign of Chrift; all the flocks of Kedar shall thee; the rams of Nebaioth fhall minister unto thee; they ance on mine altar, and I will glorify the boufe of my glory. b were the fons of Ishmael, Gen. xxv. 13. who fettled in Arabia,

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he is in our nature, into the air, where he will be visible; every eye fhall fee him, when be cometh with clouds"; or in the clouds of heaven, which will be his. chariot; he will defcend on earth at the proper time; and bis feet shall ftand upon the mount of Olives; on that spot of ground from whence he afcended to heaven. Job seems to have this descent of his in view, when he fays, he shall ftand at the latter day upon the earth; which feems to refpect not fo much his first coming as his fecond; fince it is connected with the refurrection of the dead.

This appearance of Chrift will be a very glorious one; it is called the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jefus Chrift; for he will appear under both characters to his people: when he appeared the first time, it was in. the form of a fervant; he came not to be ministered unto, but to minister; but. now he will come as King of kings, and Lord of lords: then he was fent in the likeness of sinful flesh, to bear the fins, and work out the salvation of his people;. but now he will appear without fin, to put them into the full poffeffion of the falvation obtained for them: he will come in his own glory, and in bis Father's, and of the holy angels'; he will appear in the glory of his deity, and all the perfections of it; who is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of bis perfon'; it will then be evident, that he is the Lord God omnipotent that reigneth; and that he is omnifcient, the fearcher of the hearts, and trier of the reins of the children of men: and he will be seen in all the glory of his human nature, and with that glory he has with the Father, as mediator; all which, in fome fense, may be faid to be his Father's; because his divine glory is the fame with his Father's, and his human and mediatorial glory is what he has from him; and he will come with all that power and authority vested in him by his Father as the judge of the world: he will be attended with his holy angels, as when on mount Sinai, and as when he afcended to heaven; whom he will employ in one kind of fervice or another, and who will make a confiderable figure in this apparatus to which may be added, that all the faints will come along with Chrift; the fouls of all that have departed from the beginning of the world, in order to be re-united to their bodies, which will now be raised; there will be Adam, and there will be Abraham, and all the ante-diluvian and post-diluvian faints, old and new teftament-ones; when Chrift will be glorified in them, and admired by them, and they shall appear with him in glory.

2dly, There will be a refurrection of the bodies of the faints; the dead in Chrift, who died in union with him, believers in him, and partakers of his grace, fall rife firft; they will have the dominion over the wicked in the morning of the refurrection, who will not rife until the end of that day; there

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will be a thousand years diftance between the refurrection of the one and of the other; hence the resurrection of the justTM, as that is named in distinction from that of the unjuft, is called the first resurrection *.

This refurrection will be a very glorious one; it will not only be by the pow er of Christ, and in virtue of union with him, but in entire conformity to him; as by him will be the refurrection of the dead, and every one will rife in his order, and they that are his at his coming, and because they are his; fo they will be fashioned like unto his glorious body: though they are laid vile bodies in the grave, they will rife glorious ones; the body that is fown in corruption, will be raised in incorruption; and though fown in difhonour, will be raised in glory; being fown in weakness, it will be raised in power; and from a natural body will be raised a fpiritual one; and the righteous, in foul and body, fhall fhine forth as the fun in the kingdom of their father".

3dly, The next thing will be the change of living faints: this is the mystery the apoftle fays he would fhew the Corinthians; and perhaps he was the first man that was led into it, or however, the first that fhewed it to others; that we shall not all fleep, or die, but we shall all be changed; even those that die fuch as will be alive at the coming of Chrift, fhall undergo a change equivalent to death; their bodies fhall be changed from mortal to immortal, from corruptible to incorruptible ones; and their fouls fhall become at once perfectly pure and holy. I have sometimes thought, that that change which paffes upon the hearts of the people of God at the inftant of death, or will pafs upon living faints at the time I fpeak of, when hearts fo full of finful luft, pollution, and wickedness, will be at once cleared of all, is a greater evidence and difplay of the power of God, than the change that paffes upon their bodies, either at the resurrection, or at this time. This being done, thefe living faints, changed, fhall be caught up together with the raised ones, to meet the Lord in the air; where it feems as if he and they should stop awhile, until an after-event is accomplished.

4thly, The precious duft of the faints being collected out of the earth, and their bodies raised and united to their fouls, and living ones changed, and both taken up from hence, and with the Lord, the general conflagration will begin; the heavens fhall pass away with a great noife, and the elements fhall melt with fervent beat; the earth alfo, and the works that are therein, fhall be burnt up, with all the wicked in it; for the heavens and the earth that now are, that is, the earth with its furrounding atmosphere, are kept in store, referved unto fire, for the perdition of ungodly men ; when,

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5thly, There will fucceed new heavens, and a new earth, which God has promised; and which, the apostle Peter says, faints look for according to his promife;

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and which the apostle John had a vifion of. In this new earth Christ will defcend and dwell; here the tabernacle of God will be with men; and he shall dwell with them: this will be the feat of Chrift's perfonal reign; here he will reign before his antients gloriously; here he will have his palace, and keep his court, and display his glory, and the greatness of his majefty; and here his people will dwell with him, who will now be all righteous, perfectly so, even righteousness itself; for in these new heavens and new earth will dwell righteoufnefs; nothing fhall enter into this glorious new Jerufalem-ftate, that makes an abomination or a lie; it will be perfectly an holy city, confifting wholly of holy perfons; wherefore bleffed and holy is he that hath part in the first refurrection nor will there be any enemy to annoy the faints in this ftate; the wicked will be all burnt and deftroyed at the general conflagration; the beast and false prophet before this will be caft alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. Satan will be bound by Chrift, and caft into the bottomlefs pit, where he will remain till the thousand years are fulfilled: for fo long will this ftate continue; fo long Satan will be bound; fo long the faints will live and reign with Christ'; this will be the day of the Lord, which is as a thousand years, and which thoufand years will be as one day *. At the close of these years Satan will be loofed again, and the wicked dead will be raised'; which, with the whole poffe of devils, will make the Gog and Magog-army, who fhall be in the four quarters of the world, and go upon the breadth of the earth; and whose numbers shall be as the fand of the fea, being all the wicked that have been from the beginning of the world; a large army indeed, fuch an one as never was before, confifting of enraged devils, and of men raised with all that malice and wickedness they died in, with Satan at the head of them; by whom they will be animated to make this last feeble and foolish effort, for their recovery and liberty; in order to which they will compass the camp of the faints about, the beloved city; who will be in no manner of pain and uneafinefs at the appearance of this feeming formidable army; being clothed with immortality, fecured by the power of God, and Chrift being in perfon with them; when fire fhall come down from heaven and devour the wicked; the wrath of God fhall feize them, distress and terrify them, divert them from their purpose, and throw them into the utmost confternation and confufion; and when they shall be dragged to the tribunal of Chrift, and stand before him, small and great, and be judged according to

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e 2 Peter iii. 13. Rev. xxi. 1. Rev. xxi. 27. As I do not fuppofe that the earth, at the conflagration, will be annihilated, or be destroyed, as to the substance of it; only purified by fire, refined and cleared of all noxious qualities, and therefore called a new earth; fo (confidering the omnipotence of God) there can be no difficulty about the repofitories of the aflies of the wicked, or the place from whence they will be raifed, any more than about the place where the duft of Adam, and of all from the beginning of the world, is laid up.

f Rev. xxi. 3. g Ifaiah Ix. 21. 2 Peter iii. 13. h Rev. xx. 6. i Rev. xx. 1-6. k2 Peter iii. 8.

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