Gen. xvii. 7. ' I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed ai'ter thee.' Good and bad is the next distinction, — both sorts come to receive their sentence ; only the one come to the judgment of condemnation, the other to the judgment of absolution : John v. 28, 29, ' Those that have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those that have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation;' Acts xxiv. 15, 'There shall be a resurrection of the dead; both of the just and unjust.' The next distinction is men of all callings, — apostles, ministers, private Christians. Apostles: Paul expected to be judged: 1 Cor. iv. 4, 'I know nothing of myself, yet am I not thereby justified, but he that judgeth me is the Lord \' he speaketh with respect to the execution of the apostolical office. Ordinary ministers : Heb. xiii. 17, ' They watch for your souls, as those that must give an account.' If souls miscarry through their negligence, they are answerable to God for it. Ordinary Christians: Eom. xiv. 12, ' Every one must give an account of himself to God.' Men of all conditions, poor or rich, weak or powerful, high and low : Kev. xx. 12, '1 saw the dead, small and great, stand before God ; ' I mean those that are so distinguished now ; these distinctions do not outlive time, there all stand on the same level ; the ruffling men of the world shall then be afraid, and * call upon the mountains to cover them from the wrath of him that sitteth upon the throne,' Kev. vi. 16. The poor are not forgotten ; they are God's creatures, and must undergo his judgment. Thus shall all people that live scattered up and down in the world, how much soever they differ from one another in rites, tongues, customs of living, be brought together in one place.
2. There is a segregation : Mat. xxv. 32, 33, * He shall separate the one from the other, as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats ; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on his left.' There may be now a confusion and mixture of the godly and the wicked, as sheep and goats feed in the same pasture ; and they may be all raised togetlier according to the places where they lived and died ; but then a perfect separation : good and bad are first gathered together, but the good are drawn into a company by them- selves, but no pure com])any, till the great Shepherd will 'judge between cattle and cattle,' Ezek. xxxiv. 17; ' He will gather his saints together,' Ps. 1. 5 ; Ps. i. 5, ' The ungodly shall not stand in the judg- ment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.' So Mat. xiii. 49, ' At the end of the world the angels shall come, and sever the wicked from among the just.'
3. An aggregation : believers are gathered together to him for sev- eral ends : —
[1.] To make up the number of Christ's train and attendants to wait on him : Jude 14, iv fivpuiaiv (vyiai^, ' with his holy ten thousands ; ' Zech. xiv. .5, ' And the Lord my God sliall come, and all the saints with him ;' 1 Thes. iv. 17, ' The dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which are alive shall be caught up together in the clouds with them, to meet the Lord in the air.'
[2.] That after judgment we may be solemnly presented to God by
2 ThES. II. 1, 2.] THE FIRST SERMON. 13
head and poll. We were given to Christ to be preserved unto the glory we were designed for : John xvii. 6, ' I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world ; thine they were, and thou gavest them me;' not by way of alienation, but oppignoration, recompense, and charge. Christ is to give an account : John vi. 40, ' And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life ; and I will raise him up at the last day.' The form of presenta- tion is, Heb. ii. 13, ' Behold I and the children which God hath given me.'
[3.] That in one troop we may be brought into his heavenly kingdom : John xiv. 3, ' And if I go, and prepare a place for you, I wilt come again, and receive you to myself ; that where I am, there ye may be also.' The whole flock shall then follow the great Shepherd of the sheep into the everlasting fold.
Use 1. Believe this gathering together to him. We are joined to the church of God's elect now by faith only : Heb. xii. 22, 23, ' Ye are come to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven,' &c. Ilavrjyvpi'i is a meeting made up of many different persons gathered together fi-om several countries into one body and one place ; as the meeting of all sorts of persons from all the corners of Greece to see the Olympic Games was called the -rravij'yvpc'; ; people of all countries came to behold their ayoiva ; so the mystical state of the church of the gospel is a general assembly, because it is not confined to one nation, but extended to believers of all nations and ages ; they are drawn into a body, or heavenly society, into one fold, under one Shepherd ; but they never meet in an actual assembly until the last day, which is the great congregation or rendezvous of the saints, so that now it is matter of faith.