Dtsc. v.1 THE WRATH OF THE LAME; 421 the kind aspect, ,and the gentle language of a Lamb, for ever ? To this I answer, that the various glories and offices of -our blessed Lord require a variety of human metaphors and emblems to represent them. He was a Lamb, full of gentleness, meekness, and compassion, to invite and encourage sinful perishing creatures to accept of divine mercy : But he has now to deal with obstinate and rebel- lious criminals, who renounce his Father's mercy, and resist all the gentle methods of his own grace and salva- tion,: And he is sent by the Father to punish those rebel- lions, but he is named the Lamb of God still, to put the 'rebels in mind, what gentleness and compassions they have affronted and abused, and to make it appear, that their guilt is utterly inexcusable. Let us remember, Christ is now a Lamb raised to the throne in heaven, and furnished and armed, " with seven eyes and seven horns," Rev. v 5, 6. with perfect know- ledge and perfect power, to govern the world, to vindi- caté his own honour, and to avenge himself upon his impenitent and obstinate enemies. Here the Lamb will assume the name of "the lion of the tribe of Judah," also, and she must act in different characters, according to the persons he has to deal with. . The second general question, which we are to consi- der, is, " How comes the wrath of that great day to be so terrible ?" I answer, in general, because it is not only the wrath of God, but of the Lamb : It is the wrath that is mani- fested for the affronts of divine authority, and the abuse of divine mercy: It is wrath that is awakened by the contempt of the laws of God, written in the books of nature and scripture, and for the contempt of his loves revealed in the gospel by Jesus Christ. It is proper to observe here, that the wrath of God, and the wrath of the Lamb, are not to be conceived as exactly the same, for it is the wrath of the Son of God; in his human nature exalted, as well as the displeasure of God the Father:, It is the righteous and holy resent- ment of the man Jesus, awakened and let loose-against rebellious creatures, that have broken all the rules of his Father's government, and have refused all the propo- sals of his Father's grace : It is the wrath of the highest, 2E3
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=