Gospel in general, especially those, whose profession has been such as to deceive the servants (desc) of Christ, the ministers of the Gospel, and has continued during the whole of their lives. They have not on, however, the wedding garment; they have not really put on Christ (Rom. xiii. 14; Gal. iii. 27); nor are found in him (Phil. iii. 9); and therefore, when the king himself comes in, he discovers this their want of qualification for his marriage supper, however unperceived it had been by his servants. Hence he commands his ministers (diakovo, ver. 13, not the same word as deλo, servants 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, but signifying perhaps his angels-who are described, Heb. i. 14, as sent forth to minister (εıç diakoviav) to the heirs of salvation, and who will be with him at his coming; and, as in former times, so then also will be executioners of his judgments, Matt. xiii. 41, 42, 49), to bind him hand and foot, and to cast him into the outer darkness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth; which appears to me evidently the same as the casting into the lake of fire, Rev. xx. 15, compared with Jude 7, 13.

From this, therefore, two obvious inferences appear to me to follow. Inference first: As all mere professors of the Gospel, who have been gathered into the supper room, or the visible church, during all periods of the Gospel, are to be cast into the outer darkness at the time of Christ's coming, those of them who have died during any previous age of the Gospel, must be raised at that time ; even as his true disciples of all ages must, in order to sit down with him at the supper. Consequently the resurrection and blessedness of his true disciples will not precede the resurrection and punishment of all mere professors. But the first resurrection does precede the resurrection and punishment of all mere professors (Rev. xx. 4—15): consequently it must also precede, and cannot be the same as the resurrection of the true disciples of Christ.-Second inference : The description of, 1. the coming of Christ; 2. the discovering and casting into outer darkness of all who have not on the wedding garment; and 3. the sitting down to the marriage feast with his true disciples, in Matt.xxii. 11-13, so coincides with the description which the Holy Ghost has given us in Rev. xx. 11 to 15 of,—

1. Christ sitting on the throne of judgment; 2. all who are not found written in the book of life being cast into the lake of fire; and, 3. the blessedness to be subsequently enjoyed by his church, represented under the same figure of a marriage (see page 15), that I cannot but feel convinced, that the events thus designated are one and the same. Consequently this also appears to me to prove that the first resurrection cannot be any event which is to take place at the time of the second coming of Christ; but must, with the millennial period, be something preceding that second coming.

VI. Matt. xxv. "14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. 15. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey...... 19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.....28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. 29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. 30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

From the parable of the Talents, I collect, First, the faithful servants represent his people of all generations, who having, through his grace, become the servants of God (Rom. vi. 22), and being brought under the constraining love of Christ, have lived, in their measure and degree, not unto themselves, but unto him, who for them died and rose again, 2 Cor. v. 14, 15; and the unprofitable servant represents those persons of all generations, who have not laid out the talents with which he has entrusted them, to his glory, or in his service. Secondly, The coming of the Lord of the servants, ver. 19, prefigures, as to its final accomplishment, the second coming of Christ, as in ver. 31; and the reckoning with the two classes will take place at the time of his coming. Thirdly, The unprofitable servants of all generations, will be then (TOTE, at that time, ver. 24), reckoned with and cast into

outer darkness, as the faithful servants of all generations will be reckoned with and enter into the joy of their Lord, vers. 20 to 23.

From this, therefore, there is a double inference.— First inference: As all unprofitable servants of all generations are to be reckoned with at the time of the coming of Christ, those who have died previously must be raised when he comes, in order to be reckoned with, and cast into outer darkness; even as all his faithful servants of all generations, who have died before his coming, must be raised when he comes, in order to be reckoned with and to enter into his joy, Consequently, the resurrection of the faithful, will take place at the same time as that of the unprofitable servants. But the event called the first resurrection, will take place more than a thousand years before the unprofitable servants are reckoned with and cast into the lake of fire, Rev, xx, 11 to 15 : consequently it must also take place more than a thousand years before the resurrection of the faithful servants at the coming of Christ. Second inference: The description of, 1st, the Lord coming and reckoning with his servants; 2d, the faithful servants entering into the joy of their Lord; and, 3d, the casting of the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, each after this reckoning with them, so coincides, in this threefold point of view, with the description which the Holy Ghost has given us in Rev. xx. 11—15; of, 1. Christ sitting upon the throne of judgment, and the dead being judged according to their works; 2. those who are written in the book of life, i. e. all his real servants, entering into the blessedness described, ch. xxi. 1—6; and 3. those who are not written in the book of life (which designation includes all unprofitable servants) being cast into the lake of fire after the judgment, that I cannot but feel convinced, that the events also are one and the same. Hence I conclude, (1) that the time of Christ's second coming, and of his faithful servants entering into his joy, will be the same as that of the judgment, Rev. xx. 11—15; and, consequently, not the same as that of the first resurrection. (2) The living and reigning with Christ, during the thousand years, must also be something preceding the second coming of Christ, and not the same as that of his faithful servants, after they have entered into his joy.

VII. Matt. xxv. "31 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: 32 and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33 and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world......41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels...... 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal" (or everlasting). [Note M.]

[M.] As this passage, in its obvious meaning, is entirely contradictory to the idea of the saints being raised, and entering into glory a thousand years, or at all, before the time when the ungodly are raised and punished; some, who have adopted such an interpretation of Rev. xx. 4, 5, assert (for I have never seen any reason whatever alleged from the passage itself) that all nations, who are described in this passage as being gathered together before Christ at his coming, only include the generation which will be living at that time, and not the generations who have died before his coming. On this I would observe, First, The usual signification of the term nations, or all nations, implies persons not of one generation only, but of various generations. See Rom. iv. 17, and xv. 9 to 12: Gal. iii. 8; Rev. v. 9; xii. 5; xiii. 7; xiv. 8; xx. 3. Consequently it would be a groundless assumption, and equally contrary to its usual as to its obvious signification in the passage itself to restrict it to merely one generation. Secondly, The term nations in Rev. vii. 9, appears to me to refer, not only to persons of different generations, but to those who have died before Christ's second coming, in agreement with the obvious meaning of the term in Matt. xxv. Thirdly, The context shews that the term all nations cannot refer only to the generation then living, but must also include preceding generations. For the sheep who form one division of all the nations (ver. 32) represent the saints: but the saints not only of that, but also of all preceding generations will be with the Lord when he comes. 1 Thess. iv. 15-17; Col. iii. 4. Consequently the sheep include the saints of all preceding generations; and therefore the term, all nations, also includes all preceding generations, as well as that which will be living at the time of Christ's second coming. This hypothesis, therefore, appears to me altogether destitute of any foundation.

We may observe that the only criterion of judgment noticed in this passage is, the exercise or absence of love to the Lord's people whom he calls his brethren. Compare John xx. 17, Matt. xii. 48, Luke viii. 21, Rom. viii. 29, Heb. ii. 10-14. This, however, does not seem

From the obvious meaning of this passage, I collect, First, That at the time when the Son of Man will come in his glory, all nations of the various ages of mankind will be gathered together before him. Secondly, That all nations will consist of two classes, the sheep and the goats; and, as the former will include all the godly from the foundation of the world, who are to inherit the kingdom, (ver. 34, compare 1 Thess. iv. 15-17, 2 Thess. i. 10), so the latter must include all the ungodly from the foundation of the world, all who are to go into everlasting fire, vers. 41, 46. Thirdly, That the Son of Man will separate the sheep from the goats, and will place the sheep on his right hand, and solemnly pronounce upon them a judicial sentence of grace and mercy by acknowledging them as the blessed of his Father, calling them to inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and declaring his acceptance of their work of faith and labour of love, as set forth in vers. 35, 36. Fourthly, That this glorious distinction will be conferred upon the saints, in the presence 1. of Christ himself; 2. of all the holy angels who have come with Christ (ver. 31); 3. of one another; and, 4. of the ungodly. Fifthly, That Christ will at the same time (TOTE) denounce that awful judicial sentence of condemnation, noticed ver. 41, upon the ungodly: and, Sixthly, That these will go into everlasting punishment, at the same time that all the righteous will go into everlasting life, ver. 46.

From these six points thus collected from the three inferences appear to follow.

passage,

to point out that this will be the only criterion, any more than we can argue from the parable of the Ten Virgins that the absence of real grace; or, from that of the Talents that the non-use of them will be the only criterion. It rather seems to be introduced in order to point out the light in which love to Christ's people, for his sake, is regarded, and will be acknowledged by him, as an evidence of love to himself. A similar mode of speaking appears to be adopted elsewhere. Thus, John iii. 19, This is the condemnation that light, &c. does not imply that this will be the only, but the chief source of condemnation. John xv. 22, &c., If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin, does not signify that the only sin was rejecting him, but that this was their chief sin. And, in like manner, I conceive, the passage under consideration implies that love to his brethren will be (not the only but) a main criterion in the declaration of judgment at his coming, at least as it respects those who have lived in countries where his people have been found.

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