242 THE WORLD TO COM$. to the call of Jesus from one end of time to the other, and from all the ends of the earth. They shall arise together to meet the Lord in the air, that they may be for ever with the Lord ; I These. iv. 17. Never was any voice obeyed with more readiness and joy than the voice or trumpet of the great archangel, sum- moning all the children of God to awake from their long slum - bers,and to leave their . dusty beds behind them, with all the seeds of sin and sorrow, which are buried and lost there for ever. Never did any army on earth march with more speed and plea- sure, at the sound of the trumpet, to attend their general to a new triumph, than this glorious assembly shall arise to meet their returning Lord, when this last trumpet sounds, and when he shall come the second time in the full glories of his person and his offices, as Lord and Judge of the world, to bring his faithful followers into complete salvation. Reflection. " Whensoever, O my soul, thou feelest any re- luctance to obey the summons of death, encourage thy faith, and scatter thy fears, by waiting for the call of God to a blessed re- surrection. Jesus himself lay down in the grave at his Father's command, and he arose with joy at the appointed hour as the head of the new creation, as the first -born from the dead ; and he has orders given him by the Father to summon every saint from their graves at the long appointed hour. Because Jesus arose and lives, they shall arise and live also. O may my flesh lie down in the dust with all courage and composure, and rejoice to escape into a place of rest and silence, far away from the noise and tumult, the hurry and bustle of thispiresent life ; being well assured that the next sound which shall be heard is the voice of the Son of God, arise ye dead! Make haste then, O blessed Jesus, and finish thy divine work here on earth : I lay down my head to sleep in the dust, waiting for thy call, to awake in the morning." VT. C° God takes delight in his works of nature, but much more when they are dignified and adorned by the operations of divine grace. Thou wilt have a desire, saith the good man in my text, to the work of thy own hands. Thou hast moulded me and fashioned me at first by thy power, thou hast new created me by thy Spirit, and though thou hidest me fora season in one of thy secret chambers of death, thou wilt raise me again to light and life, and in myflesh shall I see God. When the Almighty had created this visible world, he sur- veyed his works on the seventh day, and pronounced them all good, and he took delight in them all before sin entered and de -` tiled them : And when he has delivered the creatures of his power from the bondage of corruption and has purged our souls and our bodies from sin and from every evil principle, he will again de- light in the sons and daughters of Adam whew he has thus clean-
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