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the soul with a body also capacitates it for certain virtues or vices, by the restraint or indulgence of the bodily passions, which would be impossible to a disembodied spirit.

The day and hour of this resurrection knoweth 'no man,1 though they are doubtless fixed by God. We know it will be at the end of the world, and prior to the judgment. The prophetical data of the sacred volume may perhaps, when fully understood, determine the precise time of this awful event; and several general signs of the times are given in the sacred volume. We know, that there will be a "falling away first, and that the man of sin will be revealed, the son of perdition." How interesting will be the scene, when the voice of the archangel shall sound, and the all-alarming clangor of his trumpet reverberate throughout the earth; when the graves, and charnel houses will rattle with the stirring dead, when the ocean will heave and throw up the bodies buried in her bosom; when nations under ground bestir themselves and arise to judgment ! How august will be the appearance of the Judge, coming in the clouds of heaven, surrounded by his mighty angels; and how different the feelings of those who come forth to the resurrection of life, and those unhappy beings who lived and died enemies to God, and now come to the resurrection of damnation! Reader, now in thy day of grace enquire, with which of these classes will thy lot be cast? Will thy renovated body but prove the channel of augmented suffering to thee, or hast thou given up thy members as instruments of righteousness, and thy body as a temple for the Holy Ghost?

IV. FINAL JUDGMENT.

To the resurrection of the dead will succeed the general judgment. a) Every fact which tends to establish the exist

1 Matth. 24: 36. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. Acts 1: 7. 2 Pet. 3. 10. 2 2 Thess. 2: 3. 1 Thess. 4: 16.

ence of a moral government in the world, also affords proof of a future retribution in which the inequalities of the present administration will be equalized. And it is but meet that this award should be preceded by a public rehearsal of each individual's case. Reason could not discover the doctrine of a formal judginent. It was brought to light by the scriptures, and in them it is abundantly taught. Paul inculcates it in his speech before the intelligent and polished citizens of Athens. "God," says he, " has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained." Yes, the man of Calvary will be the judge of all the earth! He, in whom God was manifest, and humbled himself so low, will be thus gloriously exalted, and sit in judgment on an assembled universe! Then will be summoned before him also all his foes, and be at least compelled to worship him, from whose head they vainly attempted to strike the crown. Before this tribunal you, reader, and I must also appear; for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

b) At what time this awful scene will take place, we know not. But the day is fixed, “for God hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world." Probably it will be sooner than we expect ; for " it cometh as a thief in the night." The world will be immersed in wickedness, as in the time when Noah entered the ark. The glorious influence of the millennium will have in a great measure ceased, Satan shall be again let loose for a season on the earth,' and "the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, will be gathered together to battle against the followers of the Lamb. The earth will be buried in violence, lust, and total security, when the great day of God Almighty comes. The last sun has run its course, and set in darkness on the earth forever.

c) Then shall the Son of man appear in the clouds of heav

1 Rev. 20: 7. 8. And when the thousand years are shall be loosed out of his prison.

expired, Satan

en, surrounded by the mighty angels at midnight, when mankind are wrapped in sleep. He will shed forth from his own person, a light exceeding far the splendor of the sun, a light that shall penetrate the universe and render visible not only the thousands of nations and generations then assembling before the Judge, but also their secret thoughts: a light that will like an arrow transfix with terror the heart of every sinner, and thrill with humble joy to the true believer. Then will the Judge unfold the book of his omniscience, and exhibit to an assembled universe its appalling contents. Alas, what discoveries will then be made! What scenes of midnight revelry and debauchery and murder will be brought to light! When all these, together with the wars and blood-shed to which the sinful passions of men have led, are reviewed in the light of eternity, truly their record will look like the annals of hell and the biography of devils! Reader, how will your secret life appear?

d) The law by which the different subjects of God's moral government will be judged, will be the degree of light enjoyed by them in the world. The heathen will be judged by the law of nature, and Jews and Christians by the revelation they possessed. And now will the Judge enter on the work of retribution, and reward each one according to his work! Reader, dost thou belong to the children of God? Hear the delightful plaudit, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world!2 Then wilt thou be admitted into that city which has no need of a temple, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it; and which has no need of the sun, neither the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."

1 Rom. 2: 12. For as many as have sinned without the (written) law, shall also perish without the law; and as many as have sinned under the law, shall be judged by the law.

2 Matth. 25: 34.

But do you belong to the enemies of God? You too must be rewarded according to your works. You have rejected the Saviour, and counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing; and therefore that blood cannot be applied to cancel your sins. You have rejected the only days-man betwixt God and you, and therefore must meet the wrath of your offended Judge in the nakedness of your own guilt. To you and all the assembled enemies of God, the Judge will say, Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels,1 and thus your eternal state be unchangeably fixed.

e) Then will sentence also be passed on the devils, who kept not their first estate, and whom God had reserved in chains of darkness unto the judgment of the great day. The peculiar circumstances of their transgression, and the process of judgment in reference to them, is indeed not known to us, but the fact that they will also be summoned to the judgment, is clearly revealed. We know that they, like men, were moral agents, and therefore will be judged for their voluntary conduct in reference to the will of God as made known to them.

f) After the judgment is closed, the conflagration of the earth will follow. Flaming fire from the presence of the Almighty Judge, will sweep in one continued volume over our globe, enveloping the stately tower, the magnificent palace, and the humble cot in one indiscriminate conflagration. The elements will be consumed with fervent heat, the earth will melt,3 1 Matth. 25: 35.

2 Jude v. 6. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day. 2 Peter 2: 4. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.

32 Peter 3: 10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein, shall be burned up. v. 12. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens be

the atmosphere around it will catch the flame and be converted into one body of liquid fire. Thus, "the heavens," the visible concave surrounding our earth, "will flee away from the face of him that sitteth on the throne; and no place be found for them any more!" "Seeing then, that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons," reader, "ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness."

In regard to this final catastrophe a diversity of opinion has existed. Some have supposed that this conflagration will involve in its train the sun, moon, planets, and fixed stars; in short, all the thousands of worlds that exist in the universal empire of Jehovah.

Others, we think with more propriety, confine its effects to the destruction of our own globe; because the judgment to which it is an appendage, refers, mainly, to the human race. The affairs of this earth will then be brought to a close; but the separate existence of other worlds may not be affected by it. Our earth and perhaps its moon, will be stricken out of the vast concave of heavenly luminaries; but the solar system will move on uninterrupted, and the loss of this little speck in creation perhaps not be noticed by the inmates of other worlds!

Some have supposed that our earth will be annihilated, whilst others have more plausibly maintained that it will be transformed into a new heaven and new earth.

V. Happiness of the righteous after Judgment.

The abode of the righteous subsequently to the solemnities of the judgment day, is designated by various names, such as heaven, paradise, our heavenly Father's house, the rest that re

ing on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.

1 2 Peter 3: 11.