same renovation, and be organized alike after the model of the Saviour's glorified body. If the work of raising the dead bodies to life, strikes infidelity with incredulity and amazement, what heightened astonishment will be produced by the act of power that shall change the weak, sickly and corruptible bodies of all the saints, who shall be living and abiding on the earth at the moment of the resurrection, making them glorious, and adapted to the condition of the future world. The burst of praise, that shall roll up its magnificent tidings along the sounding skies, as the ascending millions of saints redeemed in soul and body, shall leave the earth to the curse and winding sheet of fire, will be a scene that shall produce a thrill to the farthest limits of Jehovah's empire. Death will be conquered and the grave spoiled, when the ecstatic song of the redeemed, shall commingle with the choral notes of descending angels, in myriad throngs, to welcome them to higher and heavenly joys, as the fruit and gathered harvest of the mediatorial reign of Christ.

"Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory." All the saints of God obtain a victory over sin, death and the grave, through the Lord Jesus Christ. The victory over sin, they secured by faith in Christ,-of this they enjoyed the evidence and assurance; but the victory over death and the grave, the apostle has explained and proven in this chapter; he has dispersed the horror and gloom of the grave, raised the curtain of life and immortality, and permitted us to scan the full and earnest commencement of eternal life, and rivers of unfathomable glory. In view of all these things-be steadfast in faith and abounding in the work of the Lord, for such labor shall not be in vain; for Paul also labored and suffered, "if by any means he might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." At death, he found the crown of righteousness, and his sleeping body awaits the

consummation of the mysteries of God on earth, and the closing up of the Saviour's meditorial reign. It will feel the voice of that trump which shall startle and rock the mansions of the sleeping dead, and arise.

We think, that we have amply proven the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead; and that the argument of Christ in Luke xxii., and of Paul in 1 Cor. xv. do, by no means, sustain the system of Universalism; but rather nullify all its claims of deducing the final holiness and happiness of all men, from the simple fact, that all the dead shall be made alive. The passages already considered are those which are relied upon by Universalists, in order to prove the reconciliation of all the world to God by the resurrection, and we have found that they do not answer their purpose, but rather lay prostrate the daring assumption.

We have a few more passages, which we shall quote, to prove directly, the truthfuluess of the doctrine of the resurrection, as understood by us. We might, however, rest the argument here; for if we have effectually routed the proofs of Universalists, relative to their notion of holiness and happiness in and by the resurrection, then it must be true, that all who are not made holy by faith in Christ prior to the resurrection, shall fail of heaven.

1. The resurrection will be general. All mankind will be raised-all the generations of men, who have lived in any age of the world, shall come forth to life again. This is admitted, and needs no proof in this connection.

2. The specified time of the resurrection, is at the termination of Christ's mediatorial reign.

Though Universalism has not as yet determined and settled the time of the resurrection from the dead, whether immediately after death, or gradually effected in the hand of God, at a subsequent time; whether it will be simultaneous with all, or as each individual becomes prepared for

the event; nevertheless, matter of fact and Scripture have passed judgment upon this question. Some have said, that the resurrection is past, in this they erred, and overthrew their own, and the faith of others. Matter of fact points to the grave and the charnel-house, and there the mouldering bodies are still reposing; therefore, the dead have not risen. Christ, the first-fruits has made his appearance from the mantling darkness of the grave, clothed in beauty and immortality; but those who are Christ's will not awake and leap forth out of the prison-house of death, till Christ come, and angel-trumpets sound the jubilee. He must destroy death, the last enemy of the children of God, and that will take place at the time when the mediatorial kingdom shall cease. But Christ is still Mediator, therefore the dead are not raised. The time is, at the closing up of the affairs of this world.

3. The same contrast of character seen in this world, will be disclosed by the resurrection, and fix the destiny of all men accordingly.

Beyond successful contradiction, there is a broad contrast of characters among men in this world, and we are assured by Scripture that the same will exist beyond the grave.— There is nothing in mental or bodily anguish, in sickness, affliction, death, the grave and the resurrection, adapted to change the heart to holiness and the character to righteousness. They who die in sin, will arise to condemnation and everlasting contempt. We read in Dan. xii. 2. "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Here we have the condition of "life" put in contrast with "shame and contempt.”

1. Thess. iv. 14. "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him." Those who are dead in Christ,

died while christians, God will bring up from earth with Christ, the first-fruits. In order to die in Christ, we must believe in him and trust in the atonement. The wicked do not die in Christ, but in their sins, and they have no assurance of rising with Christ. "The dead in Christ shall rise first." At the very time when the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout and the voice of the archangel. As they left the world with a righteous character and holiness of heart, so they shall awake in Christ, and enjoy their destined lot in the presence of the Lord.

The apostle Paul suffered the loss of all things, and deemed them worthless, that he might be found in Christ, and be clothed with the righteousness of God by faith, that he might fully know him and the power of his resurrection, to be like Christ in life and in death, that by "any means he might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Phil. iii. 11. As Paul believed in the resurrection of all the dead, and therefore he would be "made alive" as a matter of inevitable consequence, he wished to express something more by the resurrection, and had evidently in view the resurrection of the righteous. To attain this, required effort, faith and a christian life and death, and he felt resolved to apprehend, to seize such a glorious boon, such an honorable distinction and such immortal blessedness, by any means.

The christian era disclosed times of persecution and trial, believers in Christ were destroyed; some recanted, saved life and were restored to the bosom of their families; while others would not accept a deliverance from the sentence of martyrdom by a renunciation of their faith; for they wished to "obtain a better resurrection." Heb. xi. 35. Should they renounce religion and die a natural death, they would be raised in the general resurrection; but they preferred to die as martyrs, and to fall asleep in Christ, that they might obtain a better resurrection, that of the right

eous to glory and immortal blessedness. We not only learn a distinction in the resurrection, and a difference in the characters of those raised, but also that the conduct, faith, life and character exert their influence and determine the time, manner and reward of those who are raised.

We read in Acts xxiv. 15. "And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." Luke xiv. 14. "Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." Paul teaches that there will be a resurrection of the dead-that the Old Testament taught this doctrine that the Jews, especially the Pharisees, believed and hoped for the resurrection of the dead-that the resurrection would be general, including the just and the unjust, and this the Savior confirms. Those who die as the saints of God, shall rise and be holy and just; but those who die in their sins, shall rise, but it will be among the wicked and the unjust. It is well known and acknowledged, that the great majority of the Jews believed, that the wicked would be raised to life with the same character they had when they died, and that after the resurrection, they would be cast into hell and be punished forever. Now, this dogma, however horrible to the refinement and sensibility of Universalists, was nevertheless believed, and instead of being confuted by Christ and his apostles, they constantly employed language and expressed sentiments which would naturally confirm them in their faith. Therefore, they either disregarded error, or else the doctrine is true. The latter must

be the case, for they repeatedly and constantly assailed and controverted the prevailing errors of the day.

We quote John v. 28, 29. "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall