Page:MeditationsOnTheMysteriesOfOurHolyV1.djvu/198

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— His glorious throne — the form of His countenance and His assistants that are on either side.

1. First, I will consider how Christ our Lord will really and truly descend from heaven, [1] and come the second time into the world to judge it, but in a way very different from that which He came at His first coming. For at this second coming He will come with a glorious and resplendent body, crowned with a crown of glory and immortality, with such splendour that the sun, moon, and stars, will not give light in His presence; and with such majesty that angels and men, righteous and sinners, and even the devils themselves, will subject themselves to Him, and adore, and (be they never so loth) acknowledge Him for their God and their Almighty Lord. For then will the eternal Father fulfil the promise that He made Him, to subject all things to Him, and to " put all His enemies under His feet," [2] that " every knee should bow" in His presence, and " every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father." [3]

Colloquy. — O my Saviour, very just it is that Thy second coming should discover that glory which at Thy first coming Thou didst conceal! Grant me, O Lord, to imitate the humility of the first that I may enjoy the glory of the second! Amen.

2. Then will I consider the train that accompanies Him, for (as " Enoch" prophesied) " the Lord shall come with thousands of His saints," [4] encircled with the whole army of heaven, [5] with the three hierarchies and the nine choirs, assuming (as may piously be believed) aerial bodies resplendent like the sun, discovering therein the beauty and excellency of their hierarchy and choir. Before Him (as is

  1. Matt. xxiv. 30.
  2. Pa. cix. 1; 1 Cor. xv. 25.
  3. Phil. ii. 11.
  4. Judae,14.
  5. Dan.vii.10; Matt. xvi 27; xxv.31.