another text, to prove that Christ will judge his people at his coming. Psalm 1. 3-6; “ Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, (that he may judge his people,) Gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God is judge himself." This passage, if it prove anything, proves that when Christ comes to gather his elect, he will judge his people, and that all his saints will be there, both which are in heaven and on earth.

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Again. Peter clearly shows that there is a day of judgment, when the world shall be cleansed by fire. 2 Peter iii. 7: "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” This text agrees with the fiftieth Psalm, and evidently refers to the same time, when Christ shall come; for he in the tenth verse says, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with great heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up.' We learn by this passage, that it is the same time as Paul tells us in 1 Thess. iv. 15-18; also v. 1-4: "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly, that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." And in 2 Peter iii. 15, 16, we are assured by Peter that Paul "had written unto us concerning these things.” Paul speaks of the same day of the Lord coming as a thief, &c., and says, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of

the archangel and the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first."

Let these passages be sufficient to prove that God has revealed unto us the following truths:

:

1. That he has appointed a day of judgment. 2. That the judgment follows the resurrection. 3. That his saints are raised and judged at the second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ.

II. I WILL NOW SHOW HOW LONG THAT DAY WILL BE, AND WHEN THE WICKED WILL BE RAISED AND JUDGED.

1. This day of judgment is often called "the day of the Lord," as in Isaiah ii. 12: "For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low." Isaiah xiii. 9: "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it." (Consult Isaiah xxxiv. 8. lxi. 2. Ixiii. 4.) These passages all go to show, that, when Christ comes to recompense the controversy of Zion and reward his people, he will destroy the incorrigible, the proud, and wicked out of his kingdom. And we are clearly made to understand by the prophets and apostles, that this is to be done by literal fire. And Christ, in the parable of the tares and wheat, more than intimates the same thing. Malachi, in the fourth chapter of his prophecy, shows, as plain as words can make it, "that the proud and all‍ that do wickedly shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts; it shall leave them neither root nor branch." This day has not yet come, certainly, that all the proud and all that do wickedly are burnt up, not one of them left. We have too much evidence that there are such characters yet in the earth; and as the word all is said by our opponents to mean all, they, of course, to be consistent with themselves, will not deny the conclusion. "But unto you that fear my name, shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall"

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This, to me, is a plain figure of the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the saints, the meeting of Christ in the air, and the security from the burning wrath of God when the proud and wicked are consumed. "And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet, in the day I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts." It is evident, that the bodies of the wicked are now burnt, and are not raised, for they are ashes: this then must be a day between the destruction of the wicked and their resurrection. It is after the resurrection of the righteous, for they have gone forth from the dust and the grave to meet the sun of righteousness. They have received the last healing beams from Christ, in his second advent. Death is now conquered; for they now stand in their lot on the earth; they have feet, for they shall tread down the wicked" in that day.' In what day? I answer, in the day of the Lord; in the day between the two resurrections, of the just and of the unjust. John says, Rev. xx. 5, 6: "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." This is the day of the Lord, one thousand years. Is this day to be understood a literal or figurative thousand years? I answer, literal, for it is an explanation of a figure, rather than a figure. See 2 Peter iii. 8: "But, be loved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day;" that is, one day with the Lord is as a thousand years with us. It is evident that Peter is talking about this same judgment day, in the 7th verse; in the 8th and 9th verses he explains the length of the day, and gives a good reason why it is a thousand years, because God is long-suffering. Then, in the 10th verse, he goes on to describe the same day as spoken of in the 7th and 8th verses,

THE FINAL JUDGMENT.

there called judgment day; but in this 10th verse it is named the "day of the Lord."

2. When will the wicked be raised and judged? I answer, when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, Gog and Magog will come up on the surface of the earth. Gog and Magog signify the whole host of the wicked which have ever lived on the earth, the opposers of Christ, and the persecutors of the people of God. Ezekiel says Gog is the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, which mean the powers of this world, at the head of all their followers, an army like the sand of the seashore. Magog signifies dissolved Gog. They have once been dissolved, dust or ashes in the earth; but have now been raised. "The sea, death and hell have given up their dead." Then they are gathered around the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and are there judged, "every man according to their works;" and then the justice of God drives them from the earth into a lake of fire, where they are tormented day and night forever and ever. This is the second death. In order to get the proof of the things mentioned above, let the inquirer read the 20th chapter of Revelations. In that chapter, 1st verse, John is describing the second advent of Jesus Christ. The 2d and 3d verses give an account of his chaining Satan and casting him into the bottomless pit and shutting him up. The 4th verse gives an account of the resurrection of the saints, their judgment, and reign with Christ one thousand years. The 5th verse shows that the wicked dead will not live again until the thousand years are finished, and calls the above the first resurrection. The 6th verse speaks of the blessings of those who have part in the first resurrection. The 7th verse shows that when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be loosed from his prison. The 8th verse describes the acts of Satan, in deceiving the wicked host, that have now lived again on the earth, gathering them to battle, as he tells them, (but there is no battle,) and gives the number as the sand upon the sea-shore, implying the

whole class of the wicked. The 9th verse tells us that this army went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; which proves two things: First, that no saint is deceived; but they are all encamped in the city, and nothing that worketh abomination or maketh a lie can enter into the city. Therefore none can be deceived who have lived on the earth during the thousand years. Secondly, that the New Jerusalem is on the earth, and of course must have come down from heaven at the commencement of the thousand years: for we find it on the earth when the wicked compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city, where the wicked are judged by the saints, and by the justice of God are driven from the earth, represented by the figure of fire; and as shown in the 10th verse, the devil, the beast, and false prophet, are cast into the lake of fire, where they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. This closes John's first account of the judgment. The 11th and 12th verses show the resurrection and judgment of the saints at the commencement of the thousand years, and are properly a review of the account given in the former part of the chapter.

The 13th, 14th, and 15th verses, are an account of the resurrection of the wicked; for "death and hell deliver up the dead which were in them," and they are judged every man according to their works, and the same persons cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death.

I shall now meet a few objections, raised by the opponents of a future judgment. First: they say this judgment was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem. To this I answer, that Christ says, Matt. xxiv. 29, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days"—that is, after the destruction of Jerusalem, by their own showing,-" shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken." This evidently shows the gospel, or two witnesses, being clothed in sackcloth, the