An imperfect description of the Coming of our Saviour, and of the World on Fire.
CERTAINLY there is nothing in the whole course of Nature, or of Humane C affairs, so great and so extraordinary, as the two last Scenes of them, THE COMING OF OUR SAVIOUR, and the BURNING OF THE WORLD. If we could draw in our minds the Pictures of these, in true and lively colours, We should scarce be able to attend to any thing else, or ever divert our imagination from these two objects. For what can more affect us than the greatest Glory that ever was visible upon Earth, and at the same time the greatest Terror. A God descending in the Head of an Army of Angels, and a Burning World under his feet.
These are things truly above expression; And not only so, but so different and remote from our ordinary thoughts and conceptions, that he that comes nearest to a true description of them, shall be look’d upon as the most extravagant. ’Tis or unhappiness to be so much used to little trifling things in this life, that when any thing great is represented to us, it appears phantastical: An Idea, made by some contemplative or melancholy person. I will not venture therefore, without premising some grounds out of Scripture, to say any thing concerning This Glorious Appearance. As to the Burning of the World; I think we have already laid a foundation sufficient to support the highest description that can be made of it; But the coming of our Saviour being wholly out of the way of
In these representations you have some beams of the glory of the Father and of the Son; which may be partly a direction to us, in conceiving the lustre of our Saviour's appearance. Let us further observe, if you please, how external nature will be affected at the sight of God, or of this approaching glory. The Scripture often takes notice of this, and in terms very high and eloquent. The Psalmist seems to have lov’d that subject above others; to set out the greatness of the day of the Lord, and the consternation of all nature at that time. He throws about his thunder and lightning, makes the Hills to melt like wax at the presence of
That appearance of God upon Mount Sinai, which we mention’d, if we reflect upon it, will help us a little to form an Idea of this last appearance. When God had declar’d, that he would come down in the sight of the People; The Text says, There were thunders and lightnings, and a thick Cloud upon the Mount, and the voice of the Trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the Camp trembled. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. And the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole Mount quaked greatly. If we look upon this Mount as an Epitome of the Earth, this appearance gives us an imperfect resemblance of that which is to come. Here are the several parts or main strokes of it; first, the Heavens and the Earth in smoke and fire, then the appearance of a Divine Glory, and the sound of a Trumpet in the presence of Angels. But as the second coming of our Saviour is a Triumph over his Enemies, and an entrance into his Kingdom, and is acted upon the Theater of the whole Earth; so we are to suppose, in proportion, all the parts and circumstances of it, more great and magnificent.
When therefore this mighty God returns again to that Earth, where he had once been ill treated, not Mount Sinai only, but all the Mountains of the Earth, and all the Inhabitants of the World, will tremble at his presence. At the first opening of the Heavens, the brightness of his Person will scatter the dark Clouds, and shoot streams of light throughout all the Air. But that first appearance, being far from the Earth, will seem to be onely a great mass of light, without any distinct form; till, by nearer approaches, this bright Body shows it self to be an Army of Angels, with this King of kings for their Leader. Then you may imagine how guilty Mankind will tremble and be astonish’d; and while they are gazing at this heavenly Host, the Voice of the Archangel is heard, the shrill sound of the Trumpet reaches their ears. And this gives the general Alarum to all the World. For he cometh, for he cometh, they cry, to judge the Earth. The crucified God is return’d in Glory, to take Vengeance upon his Enemies: Not onely upon those that pierc’d his Sacred Body, with Nails and with a Spear, at Jerusalem; but those also that pierce him every day by their prophaneness and hard speeches, concerning his Person and his Religion. Now they see that God whom they have mock’d, or blasphem’d, laugh’t at his meanness, or at his vain threats; They see Him, and are confounded with shame and fear; and in the bitterness of their anguish and despair call for the Mountains to fall upon them. Fly into the clefts of the Rocks, and into the Caves of the Earth, for fear of the Lord, and the glory of his Majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the Earth.
As it is not possible for us to express or conceive the dread and majesty of this appearance; so neither can we, on the other hand, express the passions and consternation of the People that behold it. These things exceed the measures of
But I leave the rest to our silent devotion and admiration. Onely give me leave, whilst this object is before our eyes, to make a short reflection upon the wonderful history of our Saviour; and the different states, which that Sacred Person, within the compass of our knowledge, hath undergone. We now see him coming in the Clouds in glory and triumph, surrounded with innumerable Angels. This is the same Person, who, so many hundred Years ago, enter’d Jerusalem, with another sort of Equipage: mounted upon an Asse's Colt, while the little people and the multitude cry’d, Hosanna to the Son of David. Nay, this is the same Person, that, at his first coming into this World, was laid in a Manger instead of a Cradle; A naked Babe dropt in a Crib at Bethlehem: His poor Mother not having wherewithall to get her a better Lodging, when she was to be deliver’d of this Sacred burthen. This helpless Infant, that often wanted a little Milk to refresh it, and support its weakness: That hath often cry’d for the Breast, with hunger and tears: now appears to be the Lord of Heaven and Earth. If this Divine Person had fain from the clouds in a mortal Body, cloath’d with Flesh and Blond, and spent his life here amongst sinners; that alone had been an infinite condescension. But as if it had not been enough to take upon him humane Nature, he was content, for many months, to live the life of an Animal, or of a Plant, in the dark cell of a woman's Womb. This is the Lord's doing, it is marvellous in our eyes.
Neither is this all that is wonderful in the story of our Saviour. If the manner of his death be compar’d with his present glory, we shall think, either the one, or the other, incredible. Look up, first, into the Heavens: see how they bow under him, and receive a new light from the Glory of his Presence. Then look down upon the Earth, and see a naked Body hanging upon a cursed Tree in Golgotha: crucified betwixt two Thieves: wounded, spit upon, mock’d, abus’d. Is it possible to believe that one and the same person can act or suffer such different parts? That he, that is now Lord and Master of all Nature: not only
Let us now return to our subject. We left the Earth in a languishing condition, ready to be made a Burnt-offering, to appease the wrath of its offended Lord. When Sodom was to be destroy’d, Abraham interceded with God that he would spare it for the Righteous sake: And David interceded to save his guiltless People from God's Judgments and the Destroying Angel. But here is no Intercessor for mankind in this last extremity: None to interpose where the Mediator of our Peace is the party offended. Shall then the righteous perish with the wicked? Shall not the judge of all the Earth do right? Or if the Righteous be translated and delivered from This Fire, what shall become of innocent children and Infants? Must these all be given up to the merciless flames, as a Sacrifice to Moloch? and their tender flesh, like burnt incense, send up fumes to feed the nostrils of evil Spirits? Can the God of Israel smell a sweet savour from such Sacrifices? The greater half of mankind is made up of Infants and Children: and if the wicked be destroyed, yet these Lambs, what have they done? are there no bowels of compassion for such an harmless multitude? But we leave them to their Guardian Angels, and to that Providence which watches over all things.
It only remains therefore, to let fall that Fire from Heaven, which is to consume this Holocaust. Imagine all Nature now standing in a silent expectation to receive its last doom: The Tutelary and Destroying Angels to have their instructions: Every thing to be ready for the fatal hour: And then, after a little silence, all the Host of Heaven to raise their voice and sing aloud, LET GOD ARISE: Let his enemies be scattered. As smoak is driven away, so drive them away: As wax melteth before the fire, so LET the wicked perish at the presence of God. And upon this, as upon a signal given, all the sublunary World breaks into Flames, and all the Treasuries of Fire are open’d, in Heaven and in Earth.
Thus the Conflagration begins. If one should now go about to represent the World on Fire, with all the confusions that necessarily must be, in Nature and in Mankind, upon that occasion, it would seem to most men a Romantick Scene. Yet we are sure there must be such a Scene. The heavens will pass away with a noise, and the Elements will melt with fervent heat, and all the works of the Earth will be burnt up. And these things cannot come to pass without the greatest disorders imaginable, both in the minds of Men and in external Nature: and the saddest spectacles that eye can behold. We think it a great matter to see a single person burnt alive: here are Millions, shrieking in the flames at once. ’Tis frightful to us to look upon a great City in flames, and to see the distractions and misery of the people: here is an Universal Fire through all the Cities of the Earth, and an Universal Massacre of their Inhabitants. Whatsoever the Prophets foretold of the desolations of Judea, Jerusalem, or Babylon, in the highest strains, is more than literally accomplish’d in this last and general Calamity: And those only that are Spectators of it, can make its History.
But if we suppose the storm over, and that the fire hath got an entire victory over all other bodies, and subdued every thing to it self, the Conflagration will end in a Deluge of fire: Or, in a Sea of fire, covering the whole Globe of the Earth. For, when the exterior region of the Earth is melted into a fluor, like molten glass, or running metal; it will, according to the nature of other Fluids,
300:1 ’Tis ill render’d in the English, cast down.
