was found no place for them.

12 And I saw the dead

beautiful metaphor. As in the an- Son of man coming in his kingdom ;' cient city of Jerusalem, "there were Matt. xvi. 27, 28. Here the Saviou set thrones of judgment, the thrones explicitly states, that there were some of the house of David ;" Psa. cxxii. 5; standing before him, and listening to so in the holy city New Jerusalem, his words, who should not die before there are also "thrones of judgment." his coming in his glory should take The principal one is the "great white place. The reader who wishes to be throne" of the Mediator. The throne very critical may also consult Matt. denotes the power of the Lord Jesus viii. 38; ix. 1; Luke ix. 26, 27. We to reign. It is said to be great because esteem it, then, to be fully settled, "all power in heaven and on earth that "the great white throne" was was given to him ;" Matt. xxviii. 18; set up at the time the kingdom of God and it is said to be white to show its came with power at the destruction spotless purity and justice. And of the Jewish state, and when Jesus him that sat on it. - This was the Son commenced to reign in the gospel. of man. See Matt. xxv. 31; Dan. vii. ¶ From whose face the earth and the 13, 14. It is here very proper to in-heaven fled away. — The objector may quire, when did the Son of man assume think this fatal to our views, because this throne? We answer, it was the earth and heaven remain to our when he commenced to reign as King time, and have not fled away. But, in Zion, or as Mediator. His course in fact, the very circumstance that as Mediator and Saviour is compared heaven and earth were said to flee to a reign which is to continue until away at the commencement of the all enemies are subdued unto him; Messiah's reign is a confirmation of 1 Cor. xv. 25-28. But when did this our opinion, for the earth and heaven reign begin? We reply, it begun did flee away at the time of the dewhen the kingdom of God came with struction of the Jewish state, and of power at the destruction of the Jewish the permanent establishment of the state. Jesus refers to this in the fol- gospel, in the sense intended by the lowing words: " Verily, I say unto revelator. And this fact we now you, That ye which have followed me proceed to prove. Nothing is more in the regeneration, when the Son of certain than that it was the custom man shall sit in the throne of his glory, of the Jewish prophets to represent ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, political commotions, the rise and fall judging the twelve tribes of Israel;" of rulers, cities, and bodies politic and Matt. xix. 28. But we still press the sacred, under the figure of commoquestion, when did this reign begin?tions in the heavenly bodies. We Observe the following words of Christ: "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, THEN shall he sit upon the throne of his glory;" Matt. xxv. 31. When did the Son of man come in his glory? This is a question very easily answered. Our Lord himself has answered it: "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels; and then shall he reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the

might give a multitude of learned authorities in confirmation of this point, but we content ourselves with one only, viz., that celebrated Orthodox divine, and truly learned man in all Biblical knowledge, Dr. Lightfoot. He said: "The destruction of Jerusalem and the whole Jewish state is described as if the whole frame of this world were to be dissolved Nor is it strange, when God destroyed his habitation and city, places once so dear to him, with so direful and sad an overthrow; his own people, whom he accounted of as much or more

small and great, stand before God; and the books were than the whole world beside, by certain than that it was the custom

so dreadful and amazing plagues. of the Jewish prophets to repre(Matt. xxiv. 29, 30,) 'The sun shall sent political commotions and great be darkened,' &c. Then shall appear changes in rulers, states and systems, the sign of the Son of man,' &c.; by the metaphor of changes in the which yet are said to fall out within heavenly bodies. And we may add, that generation; (ver. 34; 2 Peter iii. such was also the custom of the New 10.) The heavens shall pass away Testament writers, borrowed from the with a great noise, and the elements ancient prophets, as the passages shall melt with fervent heat,' &c. quoted above from that work clearly Compare with this, Deut. xxxii. 22; show. When, therefore, it is said Heb. xii. 26; and observe that by that the earth and heaven fled away elements are understood the Mosaic at the time of the establishment of elements, (Gal. iv. 9; Col. ii. 20,) "the great white throne," the meanand you will not doubt that St. Peter ing is, that the nations were moved; speaks only of the conflagration of the Jewish people, as a body politic, Jerusalem, the destruction of the na-entirely passed away; the Mosaic tion, and the abolishing the dispen-religion was superseded, and fled into sation of Moses. Rev. vi. 12, 13: oblivion, before the coming of the The sun became black as sackcloth of hair,' &c., and the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together,' &c. Where, if we take notice of the foregoing plagues, by which, according to the most frequent threatenings, he destroyed that people, viz., the sword, (ver. 4,)-famine, (vers. 5, 6,)—and the plague, (ver. 8;)-withal comparing those words, They say to the mountains, Fall on us, and cover us,' with Luke xxiii. 30; it will sufficiently appear that by those phrases is understood the dreadful judgment and overthrow of that nation and city. With these also agrees that of Jer. iv., from ver. 22 to 28, and clearly enough explains this phrase. To this appertain those and other such expressions as we meet with; (1 Cor. x. 11.) 'On us the ends of the world are come;' and (1 Peter iv. 7) The end of all things is at hand."(See Lightfoot's Works, Pitman's Edition: London, 1825: iii. 184, 314, 315, 320, 327; vi. 293; xi. 303, 304, 404.)

gospel. And we shall find, when we come to the commencement of the 21st chapter, that the introduction of the gospel is described as the appearance of "a new heaven and new earth." If the new heaven and new earth represent the new gospel kingdom, the passing away of the old heaven and earth represented the passing away of the former dispensation.

There was found no place for

them. And why not? The language here has an allusion to the metaphor of the prophet Daniel: "Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth;" ii. 35. That image represented the Roman kingdom in the time when (Dan. ii. 44) the kingdom of God was set up. The latter, or heavenly kingdom, not formed by In addition, examine Isa. xiii. 13; human aid, was represented by the XXIV. 4; xxxiv. 4; Ezk. xxxii. 7, 8; stone cut out of the mountain without Joel ii. 30, 31; compare Acts ii. hands, (Dan. ii. 34,) which ultimately 16-21; Matt. xxiv. 29; Mark xiii." became a great mountain, and filled 24-26; Luke xxi. 25; 2 Peter iii. the whole earth." If it filled the whole 10-12. We repeat, nothing is more earth, no place could possibly be

opened and another book was | opened, which is the book

him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. For, for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the "pirit." That by the dead here is not meant those who had passed out of the present into the immortal state, but the dead in ignorance and sin, is acknowledged by commentators of different sects, some of whom are of very high standing. Adam Clarke says, on 1 Peter iv. 5: "To judge the quick and the dead signifies, they shall give account of these irregulari

found for any contrary system. We do not desire to interpret these things too strictly, nor to make too much of what may appear to some a minor circumstance; but we have no doubt the revelator had his mental eye on this metaphor of Daniel. Observe again Daniel's words: "The wind carried them [i. e., the broken elements of the earthly kingdoms] away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." The revelator's language, then, is very appropriate, under our view of the subject. He was describing the ascent of Jesus to the medi-ties to him who is prepared to judge atorial throne, on which he was to reign until all opposing systems passed away, and the gospel filled the whole earth. How appropriate then to say, "I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them;" ver. 11.

both the Jews and the Gentiles. The Gentiles, previously to the preaching of the gospel among them, were reckoned to be dead in trespasses and sins; Eph. ii. 1-5; under the sentence of death because they had sinned. The Jews had, at least by their religious profession, a name to live; and by that profession, were 12. And I saw the dead. - These bound to live to God."-(Com. on the were the persons to whom the gospel place.) In addition to the opinion of was to be preached, and who were to Dr. Clarke, we give the following be judged, and ruled, and governed from Dr. Macknight : "To judge the by it. The dead are those who were living and the dead. From the folburied in ignorance of God; who lowing verse it appears, that by the knew not his law; who obeyed him dead the apostle meant the Gentiles, not, and were therefore represented said in other passages to be dead as dead, until they believed the gos-through ignorance and sin. Consepel. We have found this judgment of the "dead, small and great," mentioned once before in the Apocalypse, viz., xi. 18, in connection with the closing up of Judaism and the opening of the gospel reign; and there the revelator stated, "Thy wrath is COME, and the time of THE DEAD that they should be judged," &c. See the long note on that verse. This preaching the gospel to the dead, and judging them thereby, is mentioned in other parts of the New Testament. In fact, the living and the dead are both judged by the gospel. This is the meaning of Peter's language, 1 Epis. iv. 5, 6: "Who shall give account to

quently, by the living we are to understand those, who, by their profession in the gospel, are reputed to be alive; Rev. iii. 1. Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. See, also, 1 Tim. v. 6. The living and the dead, therefore, are the Jews and Gentiles." See Macknight on the Epistles. Dr. Whitby, in his very valuable Commentary on the New Testament, speaks of this passage as follows:-"The dead, in Scripture, doth often signify, not those who in a natural sense are dead by dissolution of the soul and body, but those who are spiritually so, as being alienated from the life of God, and dead in tres

of life and the dead were judged out of those things

four quarters of the earth, who attacked the camp of the saints; the devil was not carried away from the earth to be cast into the lake of fire; the "great white throne" was on the earth, and was set up at the time "the earth and seas, and the old roll

passes and sins; as when the apostle saith, The widow that liveth in pleasure is dead whilst she liveth; 1 Tim. v. 6; and Christ unto the church of Sardis, Thou hast a name to live, and art dead; Rev. iii. 1. And when he speaks to one of his disciples thus, Follow thou me, and let the dead burying skies," [Watts,] passed away, their dead; Matt. viii. 22. This is a phrase so common with the Jews, that, as Maimonides informs us, they proverbially say, The wicked are dead even while they are alive for he, saith Philo, who lives a life of sin, is dead as to a life of happiness; his soul is dead, and even buried in his lusts and passions. And because the whole Gentile world lay more especially under these most unhappy circumstances, whence the apostle styles them sinners of Gentiles; Gal. ii. 15; it was proverbially said by the Jewish doctors, The heathens do not live; and they in Scripture are more peculiarly intended by that phrase. Hence the apostle saith to the Ephesians and Colossians, Eph. ii. 1, Col. ii. 13, they were dead in tresspasses and sins; and brings in God thus speaking to the Gentiles, Awake, thou that sleepest, arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light; Eph. v. 14." These, then, were the dead that were to be judged, and the judgment commenced to take place when "the great white throne was set up, and the earth and heaven fled away from the face of the Son of man, and at the time of the new heaven and new earth, and of the descent of the new Jerusalem to the earth; xxi. 1-4. There are very serious and weighty objections to giving any other interpretation to the passage before us. 1st. To place this judgment after the immortal resurrection would not agree with the whole drift of this chapter. The scene of the destruction of the dragon was laid on the earth; the reign of Christ was on the earth; after the thousand years had expired nations were found on the

and why, then, should it be supposed that the judgment is not on the earth? 2d. In those parts of the New Testament in which the immortal resurrection is unquestionably spoken of, there is no mention made of the setting up of the great white throne, or the passing away of the heavens and the carth, or the judgment of the dead, small and great, according to their works. We reaffirm, that nowhere, in all the Bible, are these things mentioned in connection with the resurrection of the dead into the immortal state, unless it is in the passage before us. If we should interpret this passage as having reference to the immortal existence, the interpretation would stand alone, unsupported by another passage in all the Bible. Should not a fact of so vast importance make us hesitate in regard to such an interpretation? 3d. Did not Christ commence to judge the nations when he ascended the great white throne? Read the 11th and 12th verses in connection. See again the words of Jesus, Matt. xxv. 31, 32: "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, THEN shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations," &c., &c. In the parable from which this last extract is made, Jesus represented the nations as being judged by his gospel according to their works, not their faith, or baptism, or professions, but their works. See Matt. xxv. 31-46, especially verses 35, 36, and 42, 43. Now, when did the judgment here described take place? Answer. When the Son of man came in his glory. See the

which were written in the

books, according to their works.

proof; it follows: "When the Son related in point of style than those of of man shall come in his glory, and Daniel and the Apocalypse. The all the holy angels with him, THEN former is the Apocalypse of the Old shall he sit upon the throne of his Testament, the latter of the New. glory;" Matt. xxv. 31. When did | And we have already shown that the the Son of man come in his glory? revelator had his eye on the prophecy We have already proved, beyond all of Daniel when he wrote the section dispute, that it was during the life- of the Apocalypse which we are contime of some of those who had sidering. Now Daniel clearly shows attended personally upon his min- that the judgment of the nations comistry. See the proof: "For the Son menced simultaneously with the comof man shall come in the glory of his mencement of the reign of Christ. Father, with his angels; and then he Let the reader consider attentively shall reward every man according the following facts. The kingdom to his works. Verily I say unto you, of Christ, as all know, commenced There be some standing here, which in the days of the Roman Empire. shall not taste of death, till they see "And in the days of these kings shall the Son of man coming in his king- the God of heaven set up a kingdom, dom;" Matt. xvi. 27, 28. Christ which shall never be destroyed: and commenced to judge the nations ac- the kingdom shall not be left to other cording to their works when he people, but it shall break in pieces ascended "the great white throne." and consume all these kingdoms, and If, then, the judging of the nations is it shall stand forever;" ii. 44. That in the future state, Christ Jesus will the judgment commenced at the same not ascend "the great white throne" time with the commencement of the until all men have entered the future kingdom, is fully evident from Dan. state. And in that event, there is vii. 9, 14: "I beheld till the thrones now no Mediator, no kingdom of were cast down, and the Ancient of heaven among men. To such absurdays did sit, whose garment was dities are we driven by the common interpretation of the passage before

us.

It is of the utmost importance to be remembered, that the judgment of the nations under the gospel commenced when Christ commenced to reign, and shall not be discontinued until he shall resign the kingdom to the Father. That Christ will resign the kingdom to the Father at the immortal resurrection, Paul shows, 1 Cor. xv. 24-28. The judgment began when Christ assumed the kingdom; but if we suppose the judgment will be postponed until the immortal resurrection, we make the judgment begin not until Jesus shall resign the kingdom. This is most singular, that the judgment should commence not at the time the Lord Jesus ascended the throne, but at the time he shall leave it! There are no two books in the Bible more nearly

white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: HIS THRONE was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands min|istered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him : THE JUDGMENT WAS SET, AND THE BOOKS WERE OPENED. I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." Does not this show, that the judgment was established and the