The Throne of Grace, Epigraph
Even ſo, come, Lord Jeſus, come quickly, Finiſh thy Work; fulfil all thy Promiſes; anſwer fully all the Prayers of all thy People. Put an end to Sin, and Time, and Trouble, and Temptation: And haſten the Marriage Day, that thy people may be glad and rejoyce, and give honour to thee, Rev. 19.7. Let the Bride be made ready, and let the Bridegoom appear in his Wedding Garments of Glory. O how bleſſed will the Meeting, and the Marriage be? He married his Bride, when on Earth, in Garments dyed in his own precious Blood; and the Bride receaves him as Glorious, even in … bloody Raiment. This moſt precious Blood was ſhed in love to his Bride, and for her Salvation; and therefore he is amiable to her in that Dreſs. Believers in Chriſt are contracted to a ſlain Husband, but ſhall be married to him in a far other Manifeſtation of himſelf. How great is the difference betwixt our deareſt Lord Jeſus, under his Croſs, and under his Crown? And yet under his Croſs he is infinitely amiable to a Believer's Heart and Eye? If it were not that the Light of that glorious day of his Appearance, will prevent all Miſtakes, the Nations of them which are ſaved (as they are called, for their Multitude out of all Nations, Rev. 21.24.) might doubt (but doubt they cannot, but wonder they will, both at him, and at themſelves, 2 Theſſ. 1.10.) and ſay, Is this that bleſſed Saviour, I believed on ſo feebly? whom I truſted with my Soul and its Salvation, with ſo much fainting, and with ſo many Fears? is this he whom I loved ſo little, and ſo coldly? Is this he, whom (all the time I liv'd on Earth, after he had revealed himſelf to me) I depended and lived on by Faith, and that with ſo many Staggerings through Unbelief, becauſe I knew not ſo well, as now I do, whom I then believed
And until this bleſſed Day come (and come it will, for it is promiſed, and ſworn by him, who cannot lie; it is not far off, for it is above 1600 years ſince he teſtified, Surely I come quickly, Rev. 22.20. It is his laſt Promiſe to his Bride.) Let his moſt excellent Name be poured out as Oyntment; and let the Savour of his Knowledge be made manifeſt in every place. Let his Saving bleſſed Death be remembered, gloryed in, and fed upon by all Believers, (the greateſt Token of his Love to us, the only Price of our Redemption. 1 Pet. 1.19. and the only Food of our Souls.) Let his juſtifying Righteouſneſs be only mentioned before God, on Earth by believing Sinners, as it will be only mentioned by glorified praiſing Saints in Heaven. Let the Throne of Grace, reared up by the Father in his Son, and conſecrated by the Blood of this Son, God manifeſt in the Fleſh, be revealed to the darkened World, and ſet up amongſt the blinded Nations: And let Grace from thence be diſpenſed to many thouſands of periſhing Sinners. Let the glory of God's free, moſt free, every way free, Grace in Jeſus Chriſt, ſhine ſo in the Nations, as it may (and when that Glory ſhines, it will) darken, confound, and put to ſhame all the Antichriſtian Darkneſs (and Dreams of falſe Chriſts of men's making, and of Works, Hire, and Merit, under all their Names and Pretences) and make it all hateful in Sinners Eyes, as it is hurtful to their Souls, and as it is hateful in God's ſight. Let the Praiſes of my Lord and my God, as recovered Thomas calls him, John 20.28. fill Heaven and Earth, and fill the Hearts, and fill the Mouths, and ſhine in the Lives of all Believers on his Name; and let his Praiſe fill all the Goſpel Worſhip in all the Churches, till the Day of the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jeſus Chriſt, Tit. 2.13. And unto theſe Wiſhes, let every Believer on, and ſincere Lover of Jeſus Chriſt, ſay (and every one that is ſuch, will ſay) Amen. So let it be, ſo will it be.
FINIS.
End of the text · Robert Traill, The Throne of Grace (1696)