Christ shall descend from heaven to judge the world, some will be found alive upon the earth; these shall not die, and sleep for a short time in the dust of the earth; but they will experience a change equivalent to that which shall pass on those who shall then be raised from the grave; and, as we are informed, the dead saints will be raised before the living are changed. "The dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17.

II. There shall be a general resurrection of the dead. This is a doctrine which unassisted reason could not discover. The wisest of the heathen philosophers derided it. When Paul preached at Athens, which was called the eye of Greece, the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers mocked when he spake of the resurrection of the dead. But it cannot be reckoned an incredible thing that God should raise the dead. If he be omnipotent and omniscient, as he certainly is, otherwise he would cease to be God, this cannot be considered impossible. He who formed the human body out of dust, and breathed into it the breath of life, must be able to raise and animate it again after it has been reduced to dust. To the power of God our Saviour referred, as an answer to all the cavils which might be brought forward against the doctrine of the resurrection. To the Sadducees, a sect of the Jews who denied this doctrine, he said: "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." Matt. xxii. 29. But it is only by the revelation of the will of God that we are infallibly assured of the certainty of the resurrection. It was revealed in the writings of the Old Testament. Job expressed the strongest confidence of the resurrection of his body. Job xix. 25. The prediction of the prophet Daniel is equally explicit. Dan. xii. 2. This doctrine held a prominent place in the discourses of our Lord and his apostles. Nothing could be more explicit than our Lord's declaration; "The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth," &c. John v. 28, 29. After our Lord's ascension, this was the grand theme of the testimony of his apostles, as upon it the truth of the whole system of Christianity rested. Hence Paul thus argued with the Corinthians, "Now, if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no re

surrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." 1 Cor. xv. 12-14. The resurrection of the saints is firmly established by the resurrection of Christ himself. In the chapter to which we have now referred, the apostle shows the infallible evidence which he and his bre thren had for the resurrection of Christ, and then argues that the resurrection of believers necessarily follows from the admission that Christ their head is risen. The grave cannot always retain what is so intimately connected with the living Redeemer. "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept." 1 Cor. xv. 20. See also 1 Thess. iv. 14; Rom. viii. 11.

III. The dead shall be raised with the selfsame bodies, although with very different qualities. The very term resurrection implies that the same bodies shall be raised that fell by death; for if God should form new bodies, and unite them to departed souls, it would not be a resurrection, but a new creation. Our Saviour declares, "All that are in the graves shall come forth;" this certainly implies that the same bodies which were committed to the graves shall be raised; for, if new bodies were to be produced, and united to their souls, they could not, with truth, be said to come out of their graves. The apostle Paul affirms, that the same body shall be raised which is sown in corruption, and declares, "This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on im. mortality;" pointing, as it were, to that corruptible and mortal body which he then carried about. But, though the bodies of the saints will be the same in all essentials as to substance, they will be vastly changed as to qualities. "Flesh and blood," in their present state of grossness and frailty, not inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." The resurrection-body, therefore, shall be wonderfully changed, in respect to qualities, that it may be fitted for the employments and felicities of the heavenly state. "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory: it is sown in weak. ness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." 1 Cor. xv. 42-44. With regard to the wicked, the Scriptures give us no specific information with respect to the state and qualities of their bodies. All that we learn is, that they shall rise "to shame and everlasting con

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tempt;" from which it is evident that they shall be raised to dishonour.

How solicitous should we be to obtain the resurrection of the just! This was Paul's great desire, and the object of his earnest pursuit. Phil. iii. 11. If we would attain to a blessed resurrection, let it be our concern to be "found in Christ." United to him by the inhabitation of his Spirit and by a living faith, we need not be slavishly afraid of death or of the grave; for Christ is "the resurrection and the life, and he that believeth in him, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in him shall never die."

CHAPTER XXXIII.

OF THE LAST JUDGMENT.

SECTION I. God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ,1 to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father. In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged, but likewise all persons that have lived upon earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds, and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil.1

SECTION II. The end of God's appointing this day is for the manifestation of the glory of his mercy in the eternal salvation of the elect, and of his justice in the damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient. For then shall the righteous go into everlasting life, and receive that fulness of joy and refreshing which shall come from the presence of the

1 Acts xvii. 31.

2 John v. 22, 27.

* 1 Cor. vi. 3. Jude 6. 2 Pet. ii. 4.

42 Cor. v. 10. Eccl. xii. 14. Rom. ii.

16; xiv. 10, 12. Matt. xii. 36, 37.

Lord; but the wicked, who know not God, and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast into eternal torments, and be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.5

• Matt. xxv. 31-46. Rom. ii. 5, 6; ix. 22, 23. Matt. xxv. 21. Acts iii. 19. 2 Thess. i. 7-10.

EXPOSITION.

There is a particular judgment which passes upon every individual immediately after death; for "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Heb. ix. 27. There is also a general judgment, which shall take place after the resurrection of the dead, at the last day. The present sections, 1. Declare the certainty of a future judgment; 2. Affirm that the administration of this judgment is committed to Jesus Christ; 3. Point out the parties who shall appear before his tribunal; 4. The matters to be tried; and, 5. The sentence to be pronounced.

I. The certainty of a future judgment. We are told that Paul reasoned before Felix of judgment to come. Acts xxiv. 25. He proved this truth by arguments drawn from the nature and reason of things; and such arguments are not to be overlooked by us, though our faith stands upon a more sure foundation.

1. The certainty of a future judgment appears from the dictates of conscience. Men, even when destitute of supernatural revelation, apprehend an essential difference between good and evil. When they do what is right, their conscience approves and commends their conduct; and when they do what-is wrong, their conscience reproaches and condemns them. If they have committed some atrocious crime, conscience stings them with remorse; and this it does although the crime be secret, and concealed from every human eye. Whence does this arise, but from an awful foreboding of future retribution? The apostle Paul, accordingly, shows that all mankind have a witness in themselves that there shall be a future judgment. Rom. ii. 15.

2. Reason infers a future judgment from the state of things in this world. Here we take for granted these two fundamental principles of religion-the being of God, and his providence in the government of the world. All who

acknowledge these truths must, and do, believe that God is infinitely just and righteous, infinitely wise and holy, infinitely good and merciful; and that he cannot be otherwise, From this it necessarily results that it must be well with the righteous, and ill with the wicked. But the most superficial view of the present state of things is sufficient to convince us that God does not, in this world, dispense prosperity only to the good, and adversity only to the evil: "There be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous." Eccl. viii. 14. The promiscuous dispensations of Providence have perplexed the minds of men in every age, and tried the faith of the children of God. Ps. lxxiii. 4-17; Jer. xii. 1, 2; Hab. i. 13. But reason rightly exercised would lead us to the conclusion that, upon the supposition of the being and providence of God, there must be a day coming when these things will be brought under review, and when a wide and visible difference shall be made between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

3. God has given testimony to this truth in all the extraordinary judgments which he has executed since the begin ning of the world. Though much wickedness remains unpunished and undiscerned in this world, yet God sometimes executes judgment upon daring offenders, to show that he judgeth in the earth, and to give warning to men of a judgment to come. In signal judgments, "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against the ungodliness of men ;" and an intimation is given of what he will further do hereafter. 2 Pet. ii, 5, 6; iii. 5, 7.

4. That there is a judgment to come is confirmed by the most explicit testimonies of Scripture. Enoch predicted the approach of this day of universal decision as a salutary admonition to that profligate age in which he lived. Jude 14, 15. Solomon addressed this solemn warning to the voluptuous: "Know that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment." Eccl. xi. 9. Job put his friends in mind that there is a judgment; and the Psalmist frequently represents it in very solemn language. Job xix. 29; Ps. I. 3-6; xcviii. 9. Our Lord during his personal ministry, frequently foretold his coming to judgment; and the testimonies to this truth in the writings of his apostles are numerous, Matt. xxv. 31-46; Rom. xiv. 10, 12; 2 Cor. v. 10.