it to the enemy: ye who practise the temperance of Daniel, lament the case of him who hath suffered himself to be deprived of it: ye who are endued with the patience of Job, grieve for the wretchedness of him who is a stranger to it: ye who inherit the poverty of the Apostles, compassionate the infirmity of one who is so far removed from it: ye who cleave with purpose of heart to the Lord, be afflicted for the double mindedness of one who is unstable in all his ways: ye who are members of the blessed society of holy mourners, mourn for one that should, but cannot, mourn for himself: ye who have kept the temple of God undefiled, interceed with strong crying for one who has polluted and prophaned it: ye who are ever mindful of your departure hence, and the judgment to come, bemoan the hardheartedness of him who, though he professes to be so, acts as if he thought of neither: ye who are heirs of the kingdom of heaven, let rivers of waters run down your eyes for him who has deserved nothing but the flames of hell. Ah! wo is me! my members have been the servants of iniquity, and the imaginations of the thoughts of my heart only evil continually. The end of all things approacheth, and the judge standeth before the door. Thus have I opened to you the wounds of my spirit. Look upon me, O my friends, for I am sick of sin. Let not this sickness be unto death, but intreat the physician for the diseased, the shepherd for the sheep, the king for his subject in captivity, the life for the dead; that so I may obtain the salvation of Christ Jesus our Lord, even to have all my sins forgiven by his mercy, and all my infirmities healed and strengthened by the power of his grace. How often have I set the battle in array against the temptations that surround me? But still in the encounter I find my strength decayed, through the wiles of the devil, and the prevalence of sense: I become weak, and like another man, and fall into the hands of the Philistines. So foolish am I and ignorant, that I am burnt by the fire from which I endeavour to save others; I am drowned in perdition, instead of delivering my neighbours; with a beam in my own eye I undertake to cast the mote out of my brother's, and am a blind leader of the blind. I will pray therefore the more earnestly, that I may think of myself as I ought to think; and then he who giveth grace to the humble shall cause the ignorance that is in me to vanish, and the light of divine knowledge to shine in my heart, and take up its abode with me; for with God all things are possible. He made the depths of the sea a way for his ransomed to pass over: he'rained down manna also upon them to eat, and quails like as the sand: he brought water out of the stony rock, to give drink to his chosen: he was the Saviour of the man that fell among thieves. Save me, even me also, O my Father, for I am fallen amongst grievous temptations, and am fast bound in the chains of my sins. I have no confidence towards him who searcheth the hearts and reins. And yet there is no one, but he, in heaven or earth, who can restore my soul. Many a time have I thrown up what I thought an impregnable mound, and fortified myself with the strongest walls and bulwarks, against the incursions of the enemy. But the mound gave way, for it was not raised upon the fear of the most high: the walls and ramparts proved insufficient, for the repentance they had for their foundation was hypocritical. Wherefore, O thou who hast said, knock, and it shall be opened unto you, behold I stand at the gate of mercy, and knock; be it unto me according to thy word, wherein thou hast caused me to put my trust. Hear me, O Lord, if for nothing else, yet because of my importunity, for never will I give over praying, till my request is granted. True it is, that for all the kindness thou hast hitherto shewed unto thy servant, I have returned only evil. But shut me not out, O Lord, from the riches of thy forbearance and long suffering: and though I merit not thy forgiveness, even of my idle words, yet through grace let me obtain it for my foul and unlawful deeds. Deliver me, good Lord, from every evil work, ere yet the end come upon me, that so I may find mercy and favour in thy sight at my last hour; for in death no man re-\ membereth thee; and who shall give thee thanks in the pit? Save my soul from fear of the wrath to come, and wash my spotted garments in the blood of the Lamb, which can make them white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white them. Thus may I be admitted, un-: worthy as I am, to bear my lamp amongst the virgins that go forth to meet the bridegroom, and be made a partaker with them of the kingdom of heaven; there, introduced into the unspeakable joy of my Lord, to sing the praises of him who hath delivered my afflicted soul out of the mouth of the lion, and placed it in the para-dise of everlasting felicity. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Vol. VII. Churchm. Mag. Oct 1804 KK SACRED SACRED CRITICISM. No. XX. A CRITIQUE ON OUR LORD's PROPHECIES, Matt. xxiii, xxiv, xxv. PART III. (Continued from Page 178.) TO THE EDITOR OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S SIR, MAGAZINE. HAT the remainder of the 25th chapter from verse 31, to the end, relates indeed to the general judgment, is the coneurrent opinion of almost all the commentators; still however, it must be acknowledged, that there are striking traits of resemblance between the subjeets of the three branches that constitute the whole enquiry, which render it difficult, if not impossible, before the mysterious consummation, critically to distinguish throughout, the intermingled texts, that relate to each transaction. 1. Thus, a considerable interval or delay was foretold to happen between the first and second; and still longer between the second and third cases; 2. the coming in vengeance, is to be perhaps, equally rapid and sudden in all the cases; 3. the slaughter and havoc of the unfaithful, immense, in all the cases; 4. the rage and despair of those who are to suffer the "second death,” with the devil and his angels in hell-fire, repining at the glories of the righteous in Heaven, (Matt. xiii. 42-43. Dan. xii. 2-3. 1 Thess. iv. 17. Rev. xx. 6—14; xxi. 8, &c.) may equal, if not exceed, those of the sufferers of the first death in the "outer darkness" of Hades, as the felicity of the Saints, in the new paradise or renovated earth; so awfully described in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Luke xvi. 19-31, representing the present state of things. Still, however, the distinction between the three. branches of the disciples' enquiry, is so strongly marked (as we have seen) by the context, and by the whole tenor of Holy Writ, that I humbly conceive, (with all due diffidence, upon subjects so profoundly mysterious, which even Angels are desirous to pry into) that we are not war ranted ranted by any arguments drawn from our ignorance and short sightedness, to deny the general doctrine of the foregoing threefold distinction, (especially in the two latter cases, which are the most momentous, to present and future generations) merely, because we are as yet unable to discriminate in every case, the texts appropriated to each, by the SPIRIT OF TRUTH.May He speedily guide us into all the truth," requisite for us to know, in this our infancy of knowledge! Thus, though in my last communication, I assigned that important text, Matt. xvi. 27, to our Lord's approaching advent to raise and reward "his elect" who shall have lost their lives for his sake and the Gospel's," yet I will not dare to confine it solely, or even refer it chiefly thereto, when so many respectable critics and commentators appropriate it to the last and general judgment. In either acceptation however, we may rest assured, that the righteous judge of all the earth, "will repay to every one, according to his practice," Mark and Luke, have altogether passed over in silence, the third branch of the enquiry noticed (as we have seen) by Matthew. And that the omission was intentional on their parts, we may fairly collect from their omission, likewise of the leading parables of the Tares and of the Net, preparatory thereto; while they carefully record the antecedent parable of the Sower, and with important additions and explanations: because it was essential to their common plan to state the various reception of the Gospel among hearers of different descriptions, for a warning to all. Thus, the grand adversary of mankind, who "taketh away the good seed of the word (or Gospel) sown in their hearts by JESUS CHRIST and his faithful servants; and who in its stead mischievously "soweth tares in the field" of the moral world; is stiled by Matthew, more indeterminately, Tompos "the wicked one,' by way of bad eminence," in the language of our LORD'S PRAYER; but more appropriately by Mark, Satan, according to oriental phraseology; and by Luke, i diacon," the devil," according to occidental. While Luke alone, has furnished that inimitably concise and comprehensive oracle, descriptive of the perfect Christian,-Who, in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, shall keep it, and bring forth fruit, with patience." Luke viii. 15.Still however, Mark and Luke have incidentally noticed the doctrine of the general resurrec ὁ σατανας Kk 2 tion tion, following Matt. v. 29-30; Mark ix. 48-48: Luke xii. 4--5, and perhaps elsewhere.* In the Apocalypse, John has so fully and plainly expounded the doctrine of the first (or partial) and of the second (or general) resurrection, in the 20th chapter, that he who runs may read; and nothing I think, but the most obstinate and incorrigible prepossession, can fail to perceive and understand it literally, as it was understood by the early fathers of the primitive Church, and by the Church of England at the Reformation, (See my last communication). And to support this construction of the chapter, which it is now the fashion (especially among divines of the German school, the followers, of Rosenmuller, Wetstein, &c.) to explain away in a figurative or mystical sense; I shall now adduce the powerful suffrage of a "man not far removed from the Apostles, in time and virtue"-Justin Martyr. "I however, and such Christians as are orthodox in all points, do know, that there will be a resurrection of the flesh; and, a thousand years, in Jerusalem, rebuilt, adorned and enlarged according to the joint declarations of Ezekiel, Isaiah, and the other prophets"—" And since, a certain person from among us, whose name was John, in a revelation made to him, did prophesy, that the believers in our CHRIST shall spend a thousand years in [the new] Jerusalem: And that after these, the universal and (in a word) eternal resurrection and judgment of all [assembled] with one accord together, shall come to pass."+ To this ver ypassage, Eusebius may well be supposed to refer in his Ecclesiastical history, Lib. iv. c. 18, p. 140, *Compare Matt. xvi. 25-26, and Mark viii. 35-38, with Luke ix. 24-26, where it is evident that Luke copied both from Matthew and Mark; while he has most judiciously guarded against the ambiguity occasioned by their double sense of the word ", " life and soul," by substituting for the latter, autov, "himself." † Εγω δε, και ει τινες εισιν ορθογνώμονες κατα πανία Χσιςιανοι, και σαρκος αναςασιν γενήσεσθαι επιςάμεθα, και χίλια έτη εν Ιερεσαλημ οικοδομηθείση, και κοσμηθείση, και πλατυνθείση. [ως] οι προφηται εξεκιήλ, και Ησαίας, και οἱ αλλοι, ομολογεσιν. Και επειδή, και παρ ήμιν ανήρ τις, ω ονομα Ιωάννης, εἷς των αποςόλων τα Χρις8, εν αποκαλύψει γενομένη αυτω, χίλια στη ποιησείν εν Ιερεσαλημ τες τω ημετέρω Χριζω πιςεύσαντας, προεφήτευσε. Και μετά ταύτα, την καθολικήν, και συνελονι φαναι, αιωνιον ομοθυμαδόν αμα πανίων αναςασιν γενήσεσθαι και κρισιν. Justin Mart. Dial. cum Tryphone, Pars II. p. 307–308, Edit. Paris; or p. 313-315. Edit. Thirlby; or Bp. Newton Proph. Vol III. p. 338 when |