being now made perfect," and " their vile body fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body!" On the other hand, with what reluctance are the ungodly dragged into his presence ! How gladly would they hide themselves from him, if it were pos- sible. Thousands, who were once the great and noble of the earth, and who thought there was none above them to whom they owed allegiance, will now curse the day that they were born, and " cr}' to the rocks and mountains to cover them" from the face of their offended Lord1".]
Having stated this, he declares,
III. The blessed issue of it to the saints —
They " shall be ever with the Lord" —
[From him they will receive a sentence of acquittal, or rather of unqualified approbation, " Well done, good and faithful servants." To his right hand will they be called, as a prelude to the honour he is about to confer upon them. The judgment finished, he ascends with all his bright attendants to the heaven of heavens, the immediate residence of the Deity; and these his redeemed people now ascend together with him, to behold his glory in all its unclouded splendour", and to participate his throne, even as he participates his Father's throne0. O what fulness of joy do they now possess p! How bright their vision of his glory ! how unbounded their fruition of his love ! Nothing now could add to their felicity ; nor can any thing now detract from itq. That too which constitutes its chief ingredient is, that it will be " for ever." Were this happiness to be only for a fixed period, however long, it would not be complete : the idea of its ultimate termination would rob it of half its value. But it will be pure and endless as the Deity himself.]
But how different the condition of the ungodly!
[They will be bidden to " depart from him; to depart accursed ; to depart into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Alas ! alas ! what weeping, what wailing, what gnashing of teeth will they experience ; and that also for ever and ever ! Unhappy creatures ! " Good were it for them, that they had never been born."]
He further suggests,
IV. The improvement that should be made of this subject —
m Rev. vi. 14 — 17- n John xvii. 24. ° Rev. hi. 21.
P Ps. xvi. 11. <J Rev. vii. 14 — 17. and xxii. 3 — 5.