when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live."

Even while Christ was on earth, the time was coming, yea, had come, that the dead, Lazarus, the widow's son, &c., should, and did hear his voice, and those that heard, lived. Were all these instances in one literal hour, or at one time? Clearly not. But, says the objector, it does not mean the dead in a literal but spiritual sense. Very well, we will look at its meaning then. The hour is coming and now is when the dead in trespasses and sins shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Was this true, I ask, only that very hour in which he spoke; or is it true of all subsequent time to the end of the world? The latter is true, most clearly. Then the hour signifies, in verse twenty-five, the whole gospel dispensation; why, then, may it not, by the same rule, signify, in the twenty-eighth verse, a thousand years? It must be understood, in the twenty-fifth verse, in some other than its literal acceptation; then why not in the twentyeighth verse? It is not necessary to go beyond the fifth chapter of John to settle the controversy, on the import of the term hour, as used in reference to the time of the resurrection.

The true millennium of Revelation, twentieth chapter, is not until the first resurrection, or the resurrection of the just. Rev. xx. 4-6. The classes enumerated in this text who live and reign a thousand years before the rest of the dead live again, include the "blessed and holy."

There is no such thing as a conversion of the world taught in the twentieth of Revelation, but only the thousand years between the two resurrec

tions. The term resurrection is never used in the Bible in any other than its proper sense of bringing to life the bodies of the dead. I would dwell longer on this point, but so much has been said upon it that the fable of the spiritual reign is well nigh dissipated from the mind of the great mass of the church. The clergy and theological professors, it is true, still hold on upon it. But it will not go; the people are opening their eyes to look for themselves.

XV. GOG AND MAGOG.

Who are Gog and Magog, says one, whom Satan is to deceive at the end of the thousandyears, if there are to be none but the raised and glorified saints on earth during that time? I an swer, the same mentioned in verse 5, who are not to live again until the thousand years are finished; clearly implying they will live again then. If they are raised then, and Satan is loosed at the same time, he will find a great abundance of subjects of his deceptive pretence of a battle with Christ and his saints. And this is the only point of deception. There is no battle between the devil and the saints; but "fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them." The fire of God's wrath will sweep them from the earth into the lake of fire.

XVI. GOG AND MAGOG IN THE NEW EARTH.

But it is asked, do you suppose Gog and Magog, or the wicked dead, will rise out of the new earth, and come upon it and defile it? I do suppose

they will be raised out of the new earth, 1. Because they are to be burned up (Mal. iv.) at the great day when God makes up his jewels, and burns the earth; and be ashes under the saints' feet. So, if they come up at all, as they assuredly will, it must be from the new earth. 2. It is in the new earth they are raised, because they will come around the camp of the saints and the beloved city. But the New Jerusalem is only to come with the new earth. Rev. xxi.; Isai. Ixv, 17, 18.

"How can these things be?" is only an infidel inquiry, and shows the same error of which the Sadducees were guilty, "not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God." I do not suppose they will defile the earth by treading on it, any more than the devil defiles the human mind by throwing in an involuntary wicked thought, which is instantly rejected. We have only to believe God's testimony, and all difficulties vanish. What he has promised, he is able also to perform.

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XVII. THE MEANING OF THE TERM JUDGE."

1. It is used in the Bible in the sense of a trial according to law and evidence; the idea being drawn from a civil or criminal court. The term is used in this sense in Luke xix. 22, in the parable of the nobleman and his servants. "Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant." This is clearly a trial.

2. It signifies a penal judgment; or the execution of judgment; and is so used, Acts vii. 7. "And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, saith God." This judg

ment on the Egyptians, when God delivered Israel, was clearly a penal judgment.

The terms are both used in reference to the judgment of the human race. 1. All men will be brought to trial, or into judgment, and all their deeds and their moral characters will be examined, and their everlasting states will be determined by the evidence produced from God's books, including the book of life, which will decide the moral character and everlasting destiny of each individual of Adam's race. If their names are found in "the book of life," they will be saved; and if not found there, they will be cast into the lake of fire, the second death. But the degree of reward or punishment will be graduated by what each one has done. If they have built on Christ, they will have their names in the book of life, and will be saved; if not, they will be lost. If they have built on Christ, of gold, silver, precious stones, they will receive a rich reward; if of wood, hay, stubble, they will have their work burned up, and suffer a great loss, but themselves be saved, so as by fire.

XVIII. THE TRIAL MUST PRECEDE THE EXECUTION.

This is so clear a proposition that it is sufficient to state it. No human tribunal would think of executing judgment on a prisoner until after his trial; much less will God. He will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or evil.

But the resurrection is the retribution or exccution of judgment; for "they that have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life."

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"We look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus, who shall change our vile bodies, and fashion them like unto his glorious body." In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorrup tible, and we shall be changed." Here is clearly a retribution in the resurrection. It will be administered when the saints are raised. But no more certainly than they that have done evil will come forth damned, or "to the resurrection of damnation." They will come forth to shame and everlasting contempt. The saints will be raised and be caught up at once to meet the Lord in the air, to be forever with the Lord. There can be no general judgment or trial after the resurrection. The resurrection is the separating process, and they will never be commingled again, after the saints are raised. No matter how long or short the period to elapse between the two resurrections; it is all the same so far as the separation which the resurrection produces, is concerned. If there is no more than a second which elapses between the two resurrections, the separation it makes is final.

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These two senses of the judgment are recognised in Rev. xx. 12, 13. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." This is the trial of the dead in the invisible and spiritual world, before Jesus Christ comes in the clouds of heaven. The only evidence on which the trial proceeds, is, the books and the book of life.