DISCOURSES ON THE WORLD TO COME. DISCOURSE I. The End of Time. Rev. x. 5, 6. And the Angel, which I saw stand upon thé Sea, and upon the Earth, lifted up his Hand to Heaven, and swore by him that liveth for ever and ever, That' there should be Time no longer. TIiIS is the oath, and the solemn sentence of a mighty angel, who came clown from heaven, and by the description of him in the first verse, he seems to be the angel of God's presence, in whom is the name of God, even our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who pronounced and sware, that time should be no longer ; for all seasons and times are now put into his hand, together with the book of his Father's decrees ; Rev. v. 7, 9. What special ageor period of time, in this world the prophecy refers to, may not be so easy to determine ; but this is certain, that it may be happily applied to the period of every man's life; for whensoever the term of our continuance in this world is finished, our time in the present circumstances and scenes that attend it shall be no more. We shall be swept off the stage of this visible state into an unseen and eternal world : Eternity comes upon us at once, and all that we enjoy, all that we do, and all that we suffer in time shall be no longer. Let us stand still here and consider in the first place, what awful and important thoughts are contained in this sentence, what solemn ideas should arise to the view of mortal creatures, when it shall be pronounced concerning each of theta, that time shall be no more I. " The time of the recovery of our nature from its sinful and wretched state shall be no longer." We come into this world fallen creatures, children of iniquity and heirs of death ; we have lost the image of God who made us, and which our nature enjoyed in our first parents; and, instead of it, we are changed into the image of the devil in the lusts of the mind, in pride and malice, in self - sufficiency and enmity to God ; and we have put on also the image of the brute in sinful appetites and sensualities, and in the lusts of the flesh; nor can we ever be made truly happy, till the image of the blessed God be restored upon us till we are made holy, as he is holy, till we have a divine change passed upon us, whereby we are created anew, and re- formed in heart and practice. And this life is the only time
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