soul of any other man after death, till their reunion at his glorious resurrection. 1 The scripture in general informs us, that the souls of the righteous, when their earthly tabernacle is taken down, are made perfect in knowledge, purity, and love; being freed from all remains of sin removed from every temptation, made conquerors over all enemies, exempted from all labours, sorrows, fears, and distresses, and admitted into the presence of Christ to behold his glory and enjoy his love: that they are qualified to join the rapturous worship of angels, and to share their felicity, in the full completion of all their spiritual desires, in communion with God, and in the society of holy beings: that their joys far exceed all that they could on earth conceive or imagine, and are fully adequate to their most enlarged capacities, though proportioned to the degree of their grace and fruitfulness on earth : that nothing is wanting to the absolute completion of their happiness, but that ré-union with their bodies, for which they wait in joyful hope, assured that then "mortality shall be swallowed up of life :" and that, with adoring acclamations, they witness the Redeemer's triumphs on earth, and that accomplishment of the prophecies, for which they fervently prayed whilst here they fought the good fight of faith."-On the other hand, it is manifest from the sacred oracles, that the souls of the wicked, when they leave the body," are driven 66 66 away in their wickedness," under condemnation and the wrath of God, and the power of their vile propensities now freed from all restraint : and that thus they immediately sink into a state of despair, and punishment proportioned to their crimes: in which they will continue till the day of judgment, in fearful expectation of that event to complete their misery, by re-uniting them to their bodies, the instruments of their crimes, and sharers with their souls in the righteous vengeance of their offended Creator. After the souls of successive generations shall have been thus gathered each to his own company, and their bodies shall have returned to the ground whence they were taken, the end will at length arrive; when "the Lord Jesus shall be revealed "from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming "fire, taking vengeance on them that know not "God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord "Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with ever"lasting destruction from the presence of the "Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he "shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be "admired in all them that believe." The divine Saviour will then personally appear in the clouds, even as the apostles beheld him when he ascended into heaven.2 "For the Lord himself shall de"scend from heaven with a shout, with the voice "of the archangel, and with the trump of God; "and the dead in Christ shall rise first."3 This will be accompanied by the change of all such believers as shall then be found alive upon this earth. The resurrection of all others, who shall have died from the creation of the world to this 1 2 Thess. i. 7-10. 3 1 Thess. iv. 15-17. 2 Acts i. 11. 52. grand consummation of all things, will afterwards take place and then the earth and all its works will be burnt up by one general conflagration. No words, however, can possibly explain, illustrate, or enable the reader to frame any adequate conception of this majestic, tremendous, yet most delightful scene: or the different emotions of the righteous and the wicked during this astonishing catastrophe. What a spectacle of grandeur, and horror, would the conflagration of one large city present, were it all at once in flames! What then will be the prospect exhibited to the innumerable spectators, when "the heavens shall pass away "with a great noise, and the elements shall melt "with fervent heat; the earth also and all the "works that are therein shall be burnt up!" when universal nature shall, as it were, expire in convulsions! when the haughtiest rebels shall call in vain for the rocks and mountains to fall on them, and hide them from the face of their offended Judge! and when all possibility of escape, or of finding mercy shall vanish for ever! “The hour, then, is coming, in the which all "that are in their graves shall hear the voice of "the Son of God, and shall come forth; they that "have done good to the resurrection of life; "and they that have done evil to the resurrection "of damnation."2 "The multitudes that sleep in "the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting " contempt;" and "there shall be a resurrection 66 1 2 Pet. iii. 10-13. 3 Dan. xii. 2. 2 John v. 28, 29. "both of the just and of the unjust." As the body is a part of our nature, and the instrument of the soul in doing good or evil: so it is meet that it should be raised from the dead, to share the happiness or misery which shall be awarded to every one according to his works by the righteous Judge of the world. Little, however, is spoken in scripture concerning the resurrection of the wicked, compared with the copious information there afforded concerning that of the righteous. By the omnipotent word of Him" who is the Resurrec❝tion and the Life," the bodies of his redeemed people shall first be raised from the dust of the earth, from the depths of the sea, and from every place in which they have been deposited: and, being restored to life, incorruptible, immortal, and glorious, they will be re-united to their immortal souls, to participate and increase their unspeakable felicity. For "the Lord Jesus shall change our "vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto "his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things to " himself." We know what appellation the apostle bestowed on those who, cavilling at his doctrine, inquired, "How are the dead raised? and with what body "do they come?" Questions about identity, and the difficulties raised against the possibility of a resurrection, may answer the purposes of a proud sceptical philosophy; but the humble disciple, sitting as a little child at the Saviour's feet, will allow that such "knowledge is too high for him, Phil. iii. 20, 21. 66 66 " he cannot attain unto it ;" and perceive that it is meet to answer all such objections by saying, "Hath God spoken, and shall he not do it?” "Can any thing be too hard for the Lord?" We are sure that our bodies will be raised so far the same, that we shall know ourselves to be the same persons who did such and such things on earth: but," as we must all be changed," our bodies will not be in every respect the same. "There is a "natural body, and there is a spiritual body:" the "image of the first, and of the second Adam :' and, as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly; "that which is sown in corruption, dishonour, and "weakness, shall be raised in incorruption, glory, "and power." "Flesh and blood cannot inherit "the kingdom of God;" but he will give every one his own body, even as he gives to every seed an increase of the same kind that was sown.1 When we reflect on the resplendent appearance of Christ on the mount of transfiguration; and further recollect that the beloved disciple, who leaned on his breast at table, fell at his feet as dead when he had a vision of him in his glory; we shall find our views enlarged, and expect to receive a body at the resurrection, beyond expression glorious and beautiful, and as much superior to these "bodies of our humiliation," as the heavens are above the earth. They will be liable to none of the wants, decays, disorders, or grossness, of our present animal frame: no longer will they retard our motions, or impede us in contemplation and 11 Cor. xv. 37, 38. |