when the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." And when our bodies, by the word of the almighty God, shall be thus called together again, I believe that our souls shall be all prepared to meet them, and be united again to them, and so both "appear before the judgment seat of Christ, to receive sentence according to what they have done in the flesh, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." And though it is very difficult, or rather impossible, for me to conceive or determine the particular circumstance of this grand assize, or manner and method how it shall be managed, yet, from the light and intimations that God has vouchsafed to give us of it, I have ground to believe, it will be ordered and carried after this, or the like manner.

The day and place being appointed by the King of kings, the glorious Majesty of heaven, and Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, who long ago received his commission from the Father to be the

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judge of the quick and dead," "shall descend from heaven with the shout of the archangel, and with the trump of God," royally attended with an innumerable company of glorious angels. These he shall send with the great sound of a trumpet, and

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they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the one end of heaven to the other;" yea, and the wicked too, from whatsoever place they shall be in; and then shall he " sever the wicked from the just." So that all nations, and every particular person, that ever did, or ever shall live upon the face of the earth, shall be gathered together before him, and " he shall separate them one from an

other, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on the left."

Things being thus set in order, the Judge shall read his commission, that is, declare and manifest himself to be the Judge of all the earth, sent by the God of heaven to judge them that had condemned him; and in that very body that was once crucified upon the cross, at Jerusalem, for our sins. So that all the world shall then behold him shining in all his glory and majesty, and shall acknowledge him to be now, what they would not believe him to be before, even both God and man; and so the Judge of all the world, from whom there can be no appeal.

And having thus declared his commission, I believe the first work he will go upon, will be to open the book of God's remembrance, and to cause all the indictments to be read, that are there found on record against those on his right hand; but behold, all the black lines of their sins being blotted out, with the red lines of their Saviour's blood, and nothing but their good works, their prayers, their sermons, their meditations, their alms, and the like, to be found there; the righteous Judge, before whom they stand, turning himself before them, with a serene and smiling countenance, will declare to them before all the world, that their sins are pardoned, and their persons accepted by him, as having believed in him; and therefore will he immediately proceed to pronounce the happy sentence of election on them, saying, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

The sentence being thus pronounced, the righteous (and I hope myself amongst the rest) shall go up with shouts of joy and triumph, to sit with our blessed Redeemer, to judge the other parts of the world, who sit at the left hand of the tribunal, with ghastly countenances and trembling hearts, to receive their last and dreadful doom. Against these all the sins that they committed, or were guilty of, shall be brought up in judgment against them, as they are found on record in the book of God's remembrance, and the indictments read against every particular person, high or low, for every particular sin, great or small, which they have committed.

And the truth of this indictment shall be attested by their own consciences, crying, Guilty, guilty; I say, by their own consciences, which are as a thousand witnesses; yea, and by the omniscience of God too, which is as a thousand consciences. And therefore, without any farther delay, shall the Judge proceed to pronounce the sentence, the doleful sentence of condemnation upon them, "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels."

This, I believe, or such like, will be the method of Christ's proceeding with us in that great and terrible day of trial and retribution.

"Oh! may those awful thoughts and ideas of it always accompany me, and strike such a deep and lively impression upon my heart, in every action of life, as to deter me from offending this just and almighty Being, in whose power it is to destroy both soul and body in hell;' and engage me in such a regular, strict, and conscientious course of life, as

to be always ready, whenever he shall please to summon me, to give in my accounts at the great audit, and, with a holy assurance, fly for mercy and succour into the hands of my Redeemer, and be permitted to enter into the joys of his rest?""

ARTICLE XII.

I believe there are two other worlds, besides this I live in; a world of misery for unrepenting sinners, and a world of glory for believing saints.

WHEN death hath opened the cage of flesh, wherein the soul is penned up, whither it flies, or how it subsists, I think it not easy to determine, or indeed to conceive. As for the Platonic aerial and ethereal vehicles, succeeding this terrestrial one, I find neither mention of, nor warrant for them, in the word of God. And, indeed, to suppose that a spiritual substance cannot subsist of itself, without being supported by a corporeal vehicle, is, in my opinion, too gross a conceit for any philosopher, much more for one that professes himself a divine, to advance or entertain. Only this I am sure of, that, according to the distinction of lives here into good or bad, and the sentence passed upon all hereafter, of absolution or condemnation, there will be a twofold receptacle for the souls of men, the one of happiness, and the other of misery.

As to the first, I believe, that at the great and general assizes of the world, there will be a glorious entrance opened for the righteous into the holy of holies, the seat and fountain of all bliss and hap❤

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piness, where they shall draw nigh to the most high God, "behold his presence in righteousness," and reign with him for ever in glory, where they shall see him "face to face, and know him the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent." And this knowing and beholding God face to face, is, believe, the very heaven of heavens, even the highest happiness that it is possible a creature should be made capable of: for, in having a perfect knowledge of God, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all things that ever were, are, shall, yea, or can be in the world. For God being the Being of all beings, in seeing him, we shall not only see whatsoever hath been, but whatsoever can be communicated from him. The contemplation of which, cannot but ravish and transport my spirit beyond itself; especially, when I consider, that in knowing this One Allthings, God, I cannot but enjoy whatsoever it is possible any creature should enjoy. For the knowing of a thing is the soul's enjoyment of it; the understanding being to the soul, what the senses are to the body. And therefore, as the body enjoys nothing but by its senses, so neither doth the soul enjoy any thing but by its understanding. And, as the body is said to have whatsoever affects its proper senses, so may the soul be said to have whatsoever comes under its knowledge. Nay, the soul so far hath what it knows, that, in a manner, it is what it knows; itself being, in a spiritual manner, enlarged, according to the extent of the objects which it knows, as the body is by the meat it eats; the truths we know turning into the substance of our souls, as the meat we eat doth into the substance of our bodies.