then we have no authority to apply the curse of death on man to any thing else than natural death, as recorded in Gen. iii. 19. It is the death of the body, for the body alone returns to the dust. If the resurrection of Christ was literally the resurrection of his body, which none can doubt, then death is the death of the body, therefore natural death. The argument of Paul was to prove the simple fact of death, the death of all, occasioned by Adam, the first man; and the fact that the dead, all the dead, would be made alive by Christ-the body was made mortal and suffers death, and the body shall be made alive in the resurrection. Not one word is said, that any thing else is effected by Christ besides simply to make alive those who die—nothing about the soul, a change of the soul, making it holy and happy. As life may exist independent of holiness, a righteous character and its consequent happiness, so we have no authority to say, that because the dead are made alive in the resurrection, therefore they will be holy and happy; yea rather, we are prohibited from drawing such an inference, from the fact, that such a character and such blessedness can only be affirmed of the soul, and that it is impossible for the resurrection to produce any effect without an adequate cause. All the resurrection can do, and will do, is to make alive the bodies of the dead, and spend its influence in that direction; the soul is not dead as the body is dead; therefore Paul had no reference to the soul, the fountain and seat of holiness, of righteousness and of bliss.

Then all that these passages prove, is that all die in consequence of the sin of one man; and that all are restored from a state of natural death to a state of natural life by. the act of one man. This the Scriptures teach and all orthodox people believe; but this is not Universalism. The argument fails of proving the system of Universalism, both in its premises and conclusions, therefore is wholly inadequate, yea,

irrelevant. The premises of Paul's argument do not include the moral effects of sin, (only the natural effects on the body) nor the soul of man as affected by sin, therefore what Christ did, (so far as the argument is concerned,) was designed to counteract the natural effects of sin only, that is, to take the body from the power of death and make it alive. The conclusion Universalism draws, is, that because Christ makes the dead alive, therefore all are made holy and happy. But since holiness and happiness cannot be predicated of the body, such an idea being absurd, and since Christ's work is confined to making the body alive, as Adam's sin made the body mortal, therefore final holiness and happiness can never be effected from the resurrection of the dead-the conclusion is unwarrantable, and Universalism is left without its foundation.

To prove Universalism from these passages, you must put into the mouth of the apostle quite another argument and another set of premises. The argument should have been, there generation and moral change of the soul, instead of the resurrection of the body; and instead of the natural effects of sin upon the body, rendering it mortal, it should portray the moral effects of sin on the soul, that all mankind are condemned, guilty and exposed to divine wrath by the sin of one man, viz: Adam; and that the soul is converted, sin is forgiven, and holiness and happiness restored by one man, viz: Christ. This would prove the doctrine of final holiness and happiness, as taught by Universalists.

But first, the above argument is not that of the apostle, he had no reference to it at all. Secondly, it would destroy the free agency of man, by placing the soul in the inactive position of the body, and therefore would conflict with the laws of God's own government. Thirdly, it would destroy. some of the principles of Universalism, build up in one place and tear down in another. Universalists profess

believe, that man is born as pure now and with the same nature that Adam had when created, therefore his sin could not morally affect his offspring. This conflicts with the above argument. Universalists profess to believe, that the soul is not the original seat of sin, but that the body is; and that the soul is not affected by sin, never losing the favor of God, but that sin begins and ends in the body, therefore the soul needs no change, as commonly understood by the new-birth. This position also conflicts with the above supposed argument. Universalists profess to believe, that all that Christ did, was never designed to save men in another world, but merely to affect them in this life, making them happier and better; and that the bliss and glory of heaven is bestowed upon all men, wholly independent of Christ's work and man's character in this world, as a free gift of God. If so, then Christ never will restore men to holiness and happiness by the resurrection, or any other agency. Therefore, let Universalism grapple with either argument, it must fall before the Goliath of truth.

But Paul has impregnably fortified his own argument against all erroneous conclusions; especially, against that of Universalism. He says, verse 23, "But every man in his own order; Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ's, at his coming." Although there will be a resurrection of all the dead, yet it will be according to the order or arrangement of God-"every man in his own order." The word order (tagma) refers to a military array; the arrangement of troops, placing the leader and every man in his proper position according to dignity and rank—every man in his place and time. So it will be in the resurrection; Christ the first in rank and honor is the leader, and he rose first from the dead as a pledge of a general resurrection; next in order of time, they who are Christ's, or all christians. This argument confuted the

idea that the resurrection was already past, for Christ had only as yet risen from death; and it also shows, that all who are Christ's, up to the time of his coming, and only such, shall be made alive by Christ next in the order of time. The argument of Paul was chiefly designed to prove

the resurrection of Christ and all who became christians during his mediatorial reign, who lived and died, or fell asleep in Christ-all such belong to Christ; for he says not one word about the time and manner of the resurrection of those who do not belong to Christ, and who "die in their sins." But who are Christ's? Those who have the spirit of Christ, and not the spirit of bondage again to fear. "If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Rom. viii. 9. Those who are separate from the world and keep the word of God and believe on Christ, and not those who are of the world, disobey God, and reject and despise Christ. "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world *** and they have kept thy word." John xvii. 6. "Neither pray I for those alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." verse 20. Such belong to Christ, and he has promised "to raise them up at the last day." The resurrection of Christ's people is elsewhere in the Bible called “the resurrection of the just," "to everlasting life," "to life," and "the first resurrection."

The apostle having proven the fact, the author, the extent, the order of time, and the time when-viz. at his coming the resurrection of his children shall take place, he proceeds to show

5. How and by virtue of what office, Christ shall raise the dead. (verses 24-28.) It was by his character and office as mediator between God and men. He assumed the great work of reconciling the world to God, by teaching the truth, therefore he was a Teacher; as a Priest to offer the sacrifice

of himself to God, to atone for sin and honor the law, that "God might be just, and yet the justifier of every one that believeth in him;" and as a King to rule and reign in the hearts of men, to destroy sin and set up a spiritual kingdom in the earth.

The Lord Jesus shall continue to act as mediator, and reign in his kingdom until the appointed time of his coming his coming and the end of his mediatorial kingdom, shall transpire at one and the same time. His last official act as mediator will be to raise the dead, present his commission as Savior and Intercessor, together with the results of the plan of salvation, and mediatorial reign, to God, and then he will assume the tribunal of the Universe, as Judge, to adjudicate the world in righteousness. His work shall be finished, when death is destroyed, the last enemy to the complete triumph of his mediatorial reign, is vanquished, and souls having been redeemed and purified by grace, and their bodies delivered from the empire of the grave; and soul and body reunited, and as the saints of God, standing upon the shore of heavenly rest, with songs of praise and exulting joy upon their lips. Just so long as death sways his cruel sceptre over the dead in Christ, and sits on his throne of skulls and darkness, in defiance of the King of glory; so long Christ will be mediator, offering salvation and life to the perishing sons and daughters of earth; but when the time shall arrive for the dead in Christ to arise, then he will subdue death beneath his feet and despoil his kingdom, putting the song into the lips of his children, “O, death! where is thy sting? O, grave! where is thy victory?" Then shall Christ "see of the travail of his soul," the law of heaven honored, believers finally redeemed and glorified, and heaven filled with bursting anthems of praise. Though Christ, as man and mediator, shall surrender his kingdom, yet, as God, he shall reign among the saints and

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