shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things which offend them, and which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."*

We are here admonished to beware how we use our bodies, as well as our souls. As our bodies are to live hereafter, they too, as well as our souls, will have revenge upon us, if we abuse them. If we consecrate these bodies to God, as temples of the Holy Ghost, if we make them subservient to the Redeemer's will, with what rapturous joy will our spirits welcome them, as they come up all glorious from the dust, to receive them back again, and go forth to meet the King in beauty. But if we debase them to the service of sin, how appalling the reunion! The guilty spirit, that made the body sin, and the guilty body, that made the spirit sin, must now come together for mutual recrimination and everlasting fellowship of wo!

Finally, the morning of the resurrection, when it comes, will come very suddenly and gloriously. The preparation is gradual-the watches of the night seem to number tardily along—but when all is ready, the grand consummation will come as in a moment, like the flooding beams of the sun when he cuts the horizon. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the bidding of Christ, the archangel's trump will rend the trembling skies, send its terrific clangor through all the

*Matt. viii. 12.

chambers of the dead, and change the living. Now, the earth is rolling quietly on in its orbit, and its myriads of entombed children are slumbering unconsciously in its bosom. The next moment, it is convulsed, and land and ocean yield up their quickened dead. The rocky prisons, the marble shrines, the coral depths, instantly respond to the almighty voice. And now the burning breath of Jehovah goes up and envelopes the globe; the world is on fire; and heaven and earth mingle their roaring elements in a vast furnace of devouring flame! "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens will 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 burnt up.' From their ashes will rise a world shining with the lustre of a new creation, and corresponding with the resurrection bodies. "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." Then will the Saviour's triumph be complete-his joy full. He will then have subdued the "last enemy,"† and have delivered all his friends forever from death's iron sway. Then will all that is mortal have put on immortality, all that is corruptible will have put on incorruption, and the blest voices of the redeemed will sing together with angelic powers, "O death, where is thy sting?— O grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be to God,

who hath given us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ."*

Who would not live for such a consummation? Be this ever in our eye; and never may we forsake the path that leads to a glorious resurrection.

1 Cor. xv. 55.

CHAPTER XVI.

PROOF OF THE JUDGMENT.

ALL nature proclaims that the affairs of this world are tending to a grand consummation. The human family is evidently a portion of a vast empire of intelligencies, sustaining relations to a government superior to this perishable earth, eternal in the heavens. The Almighty spake the earth into being, lifted the curtains of heaven and marshalled the shining hosts around it, and launched it forth in its orbit, to be peopled with a race of probationers for eternity, and having run its appointed circuit of ages, to present them at his judgment bar. For this, creation exists; towards this, the wheels of providence are rolling; and here will they arrive at the appointed time. The gospel must first be preached among all nations. Religion and science are to enlighten the earth, infidelity and idolatry to creep forth from their dark places and flee in disgrace. The head of the serpent is to be bruised, Eden to be restored, Zion to put on her beautiful garments, and all the ends of the earth to see the salvation of God. Then will follow the ushering in of the splendors and

triumphs of judgment. Then will appear the great white throne, and him that sitteth thereon, from whose face the earth and the heavens will flee away. The dead, small and great, will stand before God, the sea give up the dead which are in it, death and the grave surrender all their captives, and the whole human family come forth to receive their doom. Then will come the end of this world. Having finished its appointed circuit of ages, and accomplished its great purpose, its last day will set, and the same Word that spake it into being will return it to whence it came. The angel will lift his hand to heaven, and swear by him that liveth forever and ever, that time shall be no longer.†

By the general judgment we understand an event, in which the Almighty will assemble all the subjects of his moral government, and in the perfect light of truth and on principles of everlasting righteousness pronounce public and final sentence upon them.

Respecting this great event men are prone to be sceptical. It has ever been the scorn of the atheist and the derision of the profane. Yet of all conceivable events, it is the last on which trifling becomes us. Every person must admit that such a judgment may await us; and if it does, language is inadequate to express the magnitude and solemnity of our interest in the event. Let us then look seriously to it. My object now is to notice the evidence that such a judgment will actually take place. We find, on inquiry, that our moral