120 THE WORLD TO COME. fice for the sins of men ; John i. 29. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. You were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb,' without blemish, and without spot. It was a Lamb, that was ordained for the constantdaily sacrifice amongst the Jews morn- ing and evening, to typify the constant and everlasting influence of the atonement made by the death of Christ ; Heb. x. 11, 12. It was a Lamb which was sacrificed at the passover, and on which the families of Israel feasted, to commemorate their re- demption from the slavery of Egypt, and to typify Christ who is our passover, who was sacrificed for us, and for whose sake the destroying angel spares all that trust in him ; 1 Cor. v. 7. But will a Lamb discover such dreadful wrath ? Has the Lamb of God such indignation in him ? Can the meek, the com- passionate, the merciful Son of God put on such terrible forms and appearances ? Are his tender mercies vanished quite away, and will he renounce 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, meek- ness, and compassion, to invite and encourage sinful perishing creatures to accept of divine mercy : But he has now to deal with obstinate and rebellious criminals, who renounce his Fa- ther's mercy, and resist all the gentle methods of his own grace and salvation : And he is sent by the Father to punish those re- hellions, 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 in- excusable. 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. 4. 5, 6. with perfect knowledge and per- fect power, to govern the world, to vindicate his own honour, and to avenge himself upon his impenitent and obstinate enemies. Itere the Lamb will assume the name of the Lion of the tribe of Judah also, and he must act in different characters according to the persons he has to deal with. The second general question which we are to consider is, S° 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 manifested for the affronts of divine authority, and the abuse of divine mercy : It is wrath that is awakened 67 the contempt of the laws of God, written in the books of nature and scripture, and for the oontetupt of his love, revealed in the gospel by Jesus Christ. It is proper to observe here, that the wrath of God, and the wrath of the X,amb, are not to be conceived as exactly the same, for it is the
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