34 THE PREPARATIvES [Chap. 2. our souls, and whom our souls love, shall be our Judge! Will a man fear to be judged by his dearest friend ? or a wife by her own husband ? Christian, did Christ come down and suffer, and weep, and bleed, and die for thee, and will he now condemn thee ? Was he judged, con- demned, and executed in thy stead, and now will he con- demn thee himself? Hath he doue most of the work al- ready, in redeeming, regenerating, sanctifyingand preserv- ing thee, and will he now undo all again ? Well, then, let the terror of that day be never so great, surely our Lord can mean no ill to us in all. Let it make the devils trem- ble, and the wicked tremble, but it shall make us leap for joy. It must needs affect us deeply with the sense of our mercy and happiness, to see the most of theworld tremble with terror, while we triumph with joy ; to hear them doomed to everlasting flames, when we are proclaimed heirs of the kingdom ; to see our neighbors, that lived in the same towns, came to the same congregation, dwelt in the same houses, and were esteemed more honorable iii the world than ourselves, now, by the Searcher of hearts, eternally separated. This, with the great magnificence and dreadfulness of the day, the apostle pathetically ex- presses : " It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you ; and to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be re- vealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe in that day." Yet more : we shall be so far from the dread of that judgment, that ourselves shall become the judges. Christ Avill take his people, as it were, into commission with him- self, and they shall sit and approve his righteous judg- ment. Do you not know that the saints will judge the world ? Nay, "know ye not that we shall judge angels ?" Were it not for the word of Christ that speaks it, this ad- vancement would seem incredible, and the language arro- gant. Even Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied this, saying. "$ehold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands
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