First inference: As the godly and ungodly of various generations are to be gathered together before Christ at his coming, those of the generations preceding his coming, both of the godly and ungodly, must be raised at that time; and, therefore, the saints will not be raised first, before the ungodly, but at the same time. Conse. quently the first resurrection cannot be the resurrection of the saints at the coming of Christ in glory.-Second inference: As all the ungodly will go into everlasting fire at the time of Christ's second coming (ver. 41), no ungodly persons can either remain or spring up after that time. But nations of ungodly persons, in the four quarters of the earth, and whose number is as the sand of the sea, exist and rebel against God during the period described, Rev. xx. 7 to 9. Consequently that period cannot be after, but must be before, the second coming of Christ. But that period is a thousand years after which is called the first resurrection; therefore the first resurrection must be before the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of the saints in glory, both by the thousand years and by that period.-Third inference: The very striking coincidence which there is between the description given in Matt. xxv. 31 to 46, of the events which will take place at the time of Christ's coming in glory; and the description which the Holy Ghost has also given us in Rev. xx. 11 to 15, of the events which will take place at the time when he sits upon the white throne, proves, I conceive, that they are one and the same.-Let us remark this coincidence in the following points. 1. As the Son of man sits upon the throne of his glory (Matt. xxv. 31); so he sits upon the great white throne (Rev. xx. 11). 2. As all nations are gathered together before him (Matt.xxv.); so the dead, small and great, stand before him (Rev. xx. 12). 3. As the works of those who are gathered together before Christ are made known, and judgment is declared according thereto (Matt. xxv. 35-45); so the books recording the works of the dead who stand before Christ, are opened, and the dead are judged out of those things which are written in the books according to their works (Rev. xx. 12, 13). 4. As in Matt. xxv. 33, 34 [Note N], the sal

[N] The salvation of the righteous is marked in Matt. xxv. as being entirely of grace in four particulars. First, his calling them

vation of the righteous is set forth as springing entirely from grace, although the fruits of righteousness, which are characteristic of his sheep and evidences of their faith in, and union with him, will be declared by the Son of Man; so in Rev. xx. 12, 15, their salvation by grace is equally indicated by the description given of the book of life being opened, and of their being saved in consequence of being found written therein. 5. As the righteous receive all the glory and blessedness herein described, in the presence of Christ, of all the holy angels, of one another, and of the ungodly, such a manifestation as this cannot, I conceive, but coincide with the opening of the book of life, in which their names are written (Rev.xx. 10-15).6. Asthe ungodly depart into everlasing fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. xxv. 41); so those who are not written in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire, into which the devil also is declared to be cast (ver. 10). The remarkable coincidence in each of these six points between the description which the Holy Ghost has given us in Matt. xxv. 31—46, and in Rev. xx. 11—15, prove, I conceive, that he foretells the same events in both passages; and, consequently, that the second coming of Christ will be at the time of the judgment described in the latter part of Rev. xx. Hence I conclude, that

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sheep, indicating thereby that they were given to him by the Father, and purchased by his own blood (John x. 11, 16, 28, 29; Acts xx. 28). Secondly, the title by which the Son of Man will summon them, Blessed of my Father, which implies that the Father had chosen them in Christ before the foundation of the world, and blessed them accordingly with all spiritual blessings in him. (Compare Ephes. i. 3, 5.) Thirdly, by his calling them to inherit the kingdom: which word (inherit) plainly implies that they had not acquired the kingdom by any works or merit of their own, but in consequence of their being the children of God, and thus heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ of the heavenly inheritance unto which the God and Father of their Lord Jesus Christ had begotten them again, and of which the Holy Spirit by whom they were sealed, was the earnest (Rom. viii. 16, 17; Eph. i. 13, 14; and 1 Pet. i. 3, 4). Fourthly, by its being declared that the kingdom was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, agreeing herein with the declaration, 2 Tim. i. 9, that God hath saved us (his people), and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. By comparing this with vers. 35 to 40, the reader will remark the same beautiful harmony and connection between the privileges and the character of Christ's sheep, which I endeavoured to point out in note G, page 12.

the first resurrection, cannot be the same as that of the saints; but must, with both the millennial and subsequent period, precede the second coming of Christ.

VIII. John vi. 39: "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."

John xii. 48: "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him : the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day."

As the same expression, ev tŋ eoxarn nuɛpa, in the last day, is used in these two passages, so I conceive the time signified in each cannot but be the same. Consequently, the time when those shall be judged who, in that or any other age, have rejected Christ, must be the same as that in which he will raise up the bodies of those whom the Father has given to him. Hence I infer, First, As those who, in that or any other age have rejected Christ, and have died before his coming, must be raised in order to be judged, their resurrection will be at the same time as that of those whom the Father has given to him. Secondly, The judgment of the dead who have rejected Christ must be the same as that foretold, Rev. xx. 11 to 15. Hence the resurrection of those whom the Father has given to Christ will also take place at the time of the judgment, Rev. xx. 11 to 15; and, consequently, will be more than a thousand years after, and not at the same time as what is called the first resurrection (Rev. xx. 4).

It is necessary in this place to call the reader's attention to what is here called the last day. He will notice the following expressions in the New Testament: the last day (John vi. 39, 40, 44, 54, and xi. 24, and xii. 48); the day of judgment (Matt.x. 15, and xi. 22, 24, and xii. 36; and 2 Pet. ii. 9, and iii. 7; and 1 John iv. 17); the judgment of the great day (Jude 6); the day in which God will judge the world, and the secrets of men by Jesus Christ (Acts xvii. 31; Rom. ii. 16); the day in which the Son of Man will be revealed (Luke xvii. 30); the day of the Lord (1 Cor. v. 5, and 2 Cor. i. 14, and 1 Thess. v. 2, and 2 Pet. iii. 10); the day of God (2 Pet. iii. 12); the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God (Rom. ii.

12, and xxi. 34; and 2 Tim. i. 12, (2 Thess. ii. 2).

5); that day (Matt. vii. 22; Luke x. and 1 Thess. v. 4; and 2 Thess. i. 10; 18, and iv. 5); and the day of Christ The obvious conclusion is, that the day spoken of in these various passages cannot but be one and the same; especially as the same events, such as the resurrection of the saints, the judgment, &c. are either expressly declared or intimated in each of them. We may, however, observe, First, none of them can be before the resurrection of the saints, and, therefore, cannot be BEFORE the last day (John vi. 39, 40). Secondly, none of them can be AFTER the last day, because there can be no day after the LAST. Consequently they must all be included in that.

From this, therefore, it follows, that, whatever judg ment is described in any of these passages, must take place in the last day. Hence the ungodly inhabitants of Sodom (Matt. x. 15); the worldly inhabitants of ancient Tyre and Sidon (Matt. xi. 22); the city of Capernaum, (Matt. xi. 23, 24); the Jews and Gentiles, and ungodly professors in the time of the Apostles (Rom. ii. 5, 9, 16, 2 Pet. ii. 9, and Jude 14, 15); and all who have not known God and do not obey the Gospel of Christ (2 Thess. i. 8); these ungodly of different ages and nations of mankind will all be judged in the last day. From this, therefore, it is evident that the judgment of all the ungodly of all ages and nations will take place in the last day. Hence, as this must be the same as the judgment of the dead small and great, described Rev. xx. 11 to 15, that also must take place in the last day. We know also that the saints will be raised in the last day (John vi. 39, 40, &c). From this, therefore, it follows that the resurrection of the saints and the judgment of the dead (Rev. xx. 11 to 15), must both occur IN the ast day. And the obvious inference from this would be that they will both take place at one and the same time; in agreement with the meaning of the words in the last day.

The first resurrection, however, being more than a thousand years before the judgment, cannot be considered as taking place in the same day, according to any common acceptation of that term. Those, therefore, who adopt the millennarian interpretation are compelled not only to set aside this, but also to make out that both the first resurrection and the judgment, however distant from one

another in point of time, take place IN the last day. For this purpose, they have recourse to two hypotheses. First, they suppose the last day to be a period of a thou.. sand years. Secondly, they suppose Christ will raise the saints at the beginning of this day of a thousand years, and that he will judge the ungodly dead just before the end of it. By making these two hypotheses, and combining them together, they conceive that the above, otherwise insuperable, difficulty to this interpretation of the first resurrection is removed.

In order to support the first of these hypotheses, a single clause in 2 Pet. iii. 8, one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, is quoted separately from the rest of the verse, and is interpreted to signify that the day of the Lord will be a thousand years. In the next chapter, I shall endeavour to shew that 2 Pet. iii. 8, instead of affording any support to such an hypothesis, rather proves that the term day in Scripture signifies a short period, in agreement with its obvious meaning; and leads us to expect that the last day will be a short period. With respect to the second hypothesis, I am not aware of any passage of Scripture having been alleged in support of it. It appears to me to rest entirely upon an assumption, that the first resurrection must signify the resurrection of the saints; and that, therefore, any hypothesis, which is necessary to support this interpretation, must be right. As far as I can trace the method of reasoning adopted upon this point, it is this:-When the above difficulty in the way of the proposed interpretation of the first resurrection is urged, the hypothesis of a day of a thousand years is made to remove this difficulty; and when the difficulty in the way of the hypothesis itself is urged, the proposed interpretation is assumed to remove that. So that the hypothesis is assumed to prove the interpretation, and the interpretation is assumed to prove the hypothesis. For myself, I feel convinced that Christ would not have used the same expression, in the last day, in these two discourses recorded by the same Evangelist, intending to signify in the one the precise time of his coming, and in the other a time more than a thousand years after his coming, without giving in either passage the least intimation of this vast difference. Independent, however, of the above considerations,