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 RESURRECTION AND JUnCMENT 
 
 AS THIEY AFFECT BBUEVER8. 
 
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 , ■ ■;^--/':':' BY THE ' 
 
 REV. WILLIAM BEVAN, 
 
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 TORONTO: ; 
 
 WOl^IAM BRI008, 78 « 80 Itfim STREET BAST. 
 - MOMTBIAL: C. W. OOATCI. HAUPAZ : & F. HUHVn& 
 
 1880. 
 
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 THE 
 
 OF CHRIST. 
 
 THE 
 
 RESURRECTiqN AND JUDGMENT 
 
 AS tHEY AFFECT BELIEVERS. 
 
 tt^ Si^ott lIottB ptt l^e C^ttrc^ anb Jpiinbtqj. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. WitLIAM BEVAN. 
 
 IncumbeHt of West Flamboro\ 
 
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 TORaNTO: 
 
 WILLIAM BrotoGS, 78 ft 80 KING STREET EAST. 
 MONTREAL: C. W. OOATES. K^ALIFAX: 8. F. HUE8TIS. 
 
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 1889. 
 
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PREFACE. 
 
 It ii extraottlinary how different men will look at the 
 wastie thing and see it in entirely different lights, so that it 
 seems black to one and. white to another. Modern progress 
 means one thing for one school of thought, and quite the 
 opposite for another. 
 
 The new life and energy— political, mechanical, scientific 
 aind reliji^ous^of ourage, appears so wonderful and beneficial 
 to one school of thought, that it is for them, the inauguration 
 of a new dispensation, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 We are, according to this view of things, to go from stage 
 to stage of blessedness. So they ij»ll us, "Each century 
 will become more luminous with ii|Bkpf divine truth. Each 
 generation wilLadvaiyie to higher donceptions, grander at- 
 tainmenta, andiuller realizations of every divine excellence 
 than its predecessor. The obstructions that lie in the way 
 will be removed. Prejudices will vanish. , Narrow-minded 
 bigotry will pass like a cloud from off the spiritual horizon 
 . . . man will not only be in the Church, but the Church 
 will be in man. Theory will give way to practice; words 
 to deeds; professions to actualities; a,nd assumptions to 
 practical demonstrations." On the other hand, another 
 sohpol seei in the modem world something as bad, if not 
 worse, than the pagan world of the apostles' day. Every 
 attempt to improve it is an attempt to improve the empire of 
 Satan. The march of modem progress is the world's last, 
 proud and headstrong venture to improve itself' without 
 Gkxl, and is, therefore, the precursor of its eternal ruin. So 
 they tell us, "Is thfSre not something unspeakably melam- 
 choly in the stories one has read of condemned criminals 
 dressing themselves out in the full height of fashion to go forth 
 
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 ^ PREFACE. 
 
 to the scaffold t And is there not something incomparably 
 more ghastly and appalling in the spectacle of a world trick- 
 ing itself but in all the finery of modern ideas, the intel- 
 lectualities, the refinements, the elevating pursuits and 
 obiects by which it seeks to make to itself a name, and build 
 a tower whose top shall reach to heaven, when all the while 
 the lightning of Ood's judgmente is ready to descend, and , 
 leave it a mass of ruin and desolation 1" 
 
 These two schools are the extremes of modern religious 
 speculation. Each goes to the Scripture, especially to the 
 book of Revelations, to prove itself in the right, and each 
 seems perfectly certain it possesses the key of truth. In 
 the meantime, the Church Catholic goes calmly on her way,* 
 blessing all that is pure and good in modern progress, know- 
 ing that all purity and goodness flow from Christ. But yet 
 she, with divine instinct, sees that alt is not good, that the 
 future, like the past and present, will witness the Vftrfajre 
 betwee^ good and evil, which will not end in'crtffiptetc' 
 victory until the arrival of "^hat one far-off divine event, ^ 
 toward which the whole creation moves, when 'God will 
 be all in all.'*' We all do well to cultivate the calm watch- 
 fulness, which is the ideal temper of the Bride of Christ 
 We all do well to guard against optimism on the one hand, 
 and pessimism on the other; each is fraught with its own 
 peculiar dangers— each will lead us into ite own peculiar 
 errors The following few notes have been put together for 
 the use of my own congregation, many of whom have be- 
 come confused by listening to the conflicting opinions df^ 
 those who put their own construction upon the texte of 
 Scriptures quoted, and have built up a system alien to that 
 of the Church of Christ. I have, a» regards the texte 
 quoted, given a literal translation of the Greek text. 
 West Flamboro', Advenit 1888. 
 
 • . I 
 
• . 1 
 
 "The Government of the 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
 Lord 
 
 HOW eternally true the Holy Scripture is! Too 
 large in its truth for man's theological systems 
 -—it is not only true, but it |^ eternally becoming true. 
 Our blessed Lord describes His coming judgment, 
 ind, after listening, they ask : " Where, Lord ? " He 
 replies: "Wheresoever the body is there shall the 
 vultures be gathered together." (Luke xvii. 37.) He 
 here uses what must have been a familiar fact to the 
 apostles as a means of teaching them an eternal law ' 
 of the Kingdom of God. In the East, 4he dead body 
 remains for a very short time upon the earth before 
 the keen-sighted vultures are down upon it ; they are 
 the great Eastern scavengers — they consume the car- 
 casses which otherwise would be a pestilence. Tfefe^, 
 Lord God has His moral scavengers, who remove out 
 of His kingdom rotting bodies which otherwise would 
 cause a moral pestilence ; and such judgments are 
 judgments of Christ; such days are days of Christ ; 
 in such convulsions Christ comes. Christ our Lord is 
 He.to whom " All power is given in heaven and earth." 
 (Matt, xxviii. 18.) " He must reign till He hath put all 
 
 
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 THE COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
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 enemies under His feet" (i Cor. xv. 25.) Such asser- 
 tions as that Satan is the " god of the world," must be 
 understood in such a manner as not to conflict with 
 our Lord's assertion that He possesses all power in 
 heaven and earth. Christ exercises His authority and 
 power, and in each crisis in the world's history we see 
 the consummation of the moral course of the govern- 
 ment of Christ. "The world at such moments is 
 shaken (see Heb. xii. 26-29), that the unstable may be 
 removed." In such "days" the vultures, the great 
 scavengers of the King of kings, swoop down on 
 tlie morally putrid carcasses of this wofld-^Christ^ 
 comes — comes in judgment. God remains above the 
 water-floods of human passions a King forever, and 
 never was a more paralyzing error propounded than 
 that the Lord had abdicated the throne of government 
 to the devil. 
 
 In Rev. xix. 11-16, we have a magnificent descrip- 
 tion, by means of great symbols, of this government of 
 Christ : " In righteousness doth He judge and make 
 war"— all good nien fight in this. war on the Lord's 
 side. In the fall of old empires, morally rotten to the 
 corer-Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and Rome ; in the 
 destruction of the Church of North Africa ; in the 
 Reformation ; above all, in tfte fall of Jerusalem, 
 Christ came in judgment. 
 
 As has been truly said, His final advent to judg- 
 ment will be "«^/ the resumption, but th^ triumph 
 of His rule." But these judgments are not for 
 individuals, but for communities. Our Lord has laid 
 dpwn the principle that temporal misfortunes are not 
 
 j,^^i,tiaimieMmimS,iii 
 
I ''.'/!* ■."!■' 
 
 \ 
 
 RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 7 
 
 judgments for the individual. (Luke xiii. i*>5.) So we 
 believe that i^ is revealed that there will be a final 
 judgment by the King of kings, when all men shall 
 bc^juclfed according to their^orks. There we are 
 met by a contradiction, viz : that there will be an 
 exception, that a// will not be judged— much less 
 judged according to their works. 
 
 Spiritual Resurrection. 
 
 The contradiction reTerred to in last chapter is part 
 of a theory put together with great skill, and, no doubt, 
 consciientiously held by its Advocates. To clear our 
 ground, we must consider the question of a spiritual 
 resurrection. 
 
 There can be no doubt we have two resurrections 
 mentioned in the New Testament, the first a spiritual. 
 " How shall we, who are dead to sin, live any longer 
 therein ? Know ye not that ^o many of us as were 
 baptized were baptized into His death? Therefore 
 we were buried with Ijiim in baptism unto deam . 
 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed 
 unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ, our. 
 Lord." (Rom. vi. 3-5 and 1 1.) This passage describes 
 the iiiea/ state of a Christian. He lives a resurrection 
 life and exists in a resurrection state. " Let him there- 
 fore, having risen with 'Christ, make this ideal resMr- 
 rection an actual fact by living day by day the real 
 resurrection life." This epistle asserts the *^(?fl/ state 
 of privilege in which a Christian man stands, but is. 
 largely taken up with exhortations to make his real, 
 every-day life square with his idfetf/ state. 
 
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 8 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 St. Paul^ in Romans vii. 7-25, speaks in the first 
 person indeed, but from the- standpoint of unregenerate 
 humanity. '* I was, alive without the law once, but 
 when the commandment came sin revived knd I died." 
 (v. 9.) This verse is the key to the chapter. When 
 man falls to the condition of the brute, which has no 
 knowledge of moral law, he is comparatively happy 
 and at ease (I was alive without law) ; but when con- 
 science awoke, and the moral law spoke, then ensued 
 a state of miseiy and unrest (I died). In this power- 
 less condition he cries in agony,' " O wretched man 
 that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this 
 death?" "I thank God through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord." Then follows the conclusion, " So then with 
 the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the 
 flesh the law of sin." That is, I, by myself, apart from 
 Christ, may admire the law of God in the higher part 
 of my being, but in the lower part the law of sin. In 
 the next chapter (viii.) he Commences by -saying that 
 for those who have passed from this condition— those 
 " in Christ jesus "—there is no condemnation («»Ta*p«A«»). 
 for they walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. 
 
 the passage from the state of slavery to sin, to the 
 state described as "in Christ," is called a resurrection. 
 Baptism is the sign and seal of such resurrection. 
 
 "And ye are complete in Him who is the head of 
 all principality and power, in whom also ye are cir- 
 cumcised with the circumcision made without hands 
 in putting off* the body (of the sins) of the flesh, by the 
 circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, 
 Wherein also ye are risen with Him through faith of 
 
 itS ^>' l*iCi^'^i^^ ^^Sm^ 
 
RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 
 
 the Operation of God, who hath raised Him from the 
 dead, and ye being dead in the uncircumcision of your 
 flesh, hath He quickened together with Him." (Col. ii. 
 1 0-16.) In the next chapter he proceeds to warn them 
 to, make this ideal sizXc of privilege a practical reality 
 <©ife. , "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those 
 things that are above." (Col. iii. i.) (See whole chap- 
 ten) In this chapter he gives a series of directions as 
 to how the practical life of the Christian is to be 
 brought into conformity with his ideal state. He 
 does this in view of the judgment, |vhen all will be re- 
 warded according to their woi^ks. v ■ 
 
 In this epistle we find a development of the idea of 
 the spiritual resurrection. J n the earlier epistle 
 (Romans) we have " in the likeness of the resurrec- 
 tion;" here it is a participation in it, "Ye are risen 
 with Him." 
 
 In Eph. V. St. Paul is contrasting spiritual light with 
 spiritual darkness, the children of light with the chil^ 
 dren of disobedience ; and in the 14th verse he intro- 
 duces a quotation which, wherever it may come from, 
 he endorses by its introduction, and by deducting a 
 warning from it, "Rouse thyself, thou that sleepest, 
 and arise from the dead, and Christ shall dawn upon 
 thee ; see that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, be- 
 cause the days are evil." We cannot fail to connect 
 with this a passage from the epistle to the Romans, 
 xiii. H-14, "Now it is high time to rouse out of sleep, 
 for now is oiu* salvation nearer than when we believed ; 
 the night is far spent, the day is at hand ; let us, there- 
 fore, cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on 
 
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 lO 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST 
 
 the armor of light; let us walk decorously as in the 
 day, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife 
 and envyings." For by " faith " we are indeed placed 
 in an iV/(?^condition of justification and sanctification. 
 But in our " Belief" we have a living motive power 
 whereby we are enabled to bring our daily life jnto 
 conformity with our ideal state. And this should be 
 done. Why? In view of the final division, when 
 every man will be judged according to his works, to 
 attempt this without the " motive power " would end 
 in failure ; and such an attempt would be an endeavor 
 to justify ourselves by works. The spiritual resurrec- 
 tion above referred to, is called in Revelations the 
 " first fi^urrection," which, of course, it is. "And I 
 saw thrones, and they that sat upon them, and judg- 
 ment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of 
 themlthat were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and 
 the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the 
 beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark 
 upon their foreheads, or in their hands, and they lived 
 ana reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the 
 rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years 
 w^re finished. Blessed and holy is he that hath part 
 in the fiist resurrection ; on such the second death hath 
 
 ' i^o power, and they shall be priests of God and of 
 (Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." 
 (Rev. XX. 4-7.) The outlines of this chapter are clear 
 
 / and simple. An angel descends from heayen, having 
 the key of the abyss, and a chain on his hand, he lays 
 hold of Satan, chains him, casts him into the abyss, 
 locks and seals the mouth; then comes the passage 
 
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 RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 
 
 11 
 
 quoted above, after which^ we are told Satan shall be 
 loosed, and shall deceive the nations {which have not 
 been destroyed in the process of binding the evil one). 
 The nations shall then make a final attack upon the 
 saints, in which attempt they shall be destroyed. 
 Then follows a description of the judgment, after 
 which the new Jerusalem descends. 
 
 Are we to be ultimately saved or not according as 
 we correctly understand all this or fail to do so ? God 
 forbid. It is only of late years that education and 
 printing (both products of modern progress) have 
 made it possible for the overwhelming mass of human 
 beings to judge the matter for themselves. If the 
 way to eternal life lies in the solving of what (to the 
 mass of illiterate humanity) is a divine enigma, we 
 have read the Scriptures to little piurpose. "This is 
 life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true 
 God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." 
 
 However, the thousand years must not be under- 
 stood literally, any more tj|an the periods of times in 
 either of the Apocalyptic books— Daniel or the Revela- 
 tions. It means^ lengthy, but indefinite, period. 
 Then the binding and defeat of the Evil One could be 
 by no other power than Christ's. With these facts, let 
 us turn to the Gospels. 
 
 • "Now is the judgment of this world (Koff/«w); now 
 shall the prince of this world be cast out, and I, if I be 
 lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." (John xii. 31-34.) 
 The ^dgment of this world, and the casting out of 
 Satan, are the effects, the first of Christ's death, the 
 second of His resurrection. " i 1, . 
 
 .7J^f|#^g%5'«^.-s^>i^sr?if;,:rscT^:..-r> 
 
 im%1(^: 
 
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 ■ :-f^'''T'-'"'iW'^''£-^^^^^^^^ •■• 
 
 •«/ ■ 
 
 ■.I- 
 
 12 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 V^ 
 
 But different tenses are used; the judgmeht 6f this 
 world is the tmmediaU consequence of His death, the 
 casting-out of Satan the ,^yw<^<j/ after-eflfect of His 
 resurrection. He would draw all men to Hiiri by His 
 sacHfice, setting up a kingdom of righteousness which 
 would gradually dethrone^lfio, ruler of the w^ld. The 
 Jewish theologians called' Satan "The prince of this 
 ^ world," or "the ruler of the Gentiles." Th^ supposed 
 and taught that the Messiah, when He /amc, would 
 destroy the Gentile world (or the nations), cast out 
 their ruler, and set up a visible Jewish kingdom. Our 
 Saviour warned them they were no exception to the 
 rule, when they gloried in Abraham as their father, 
 "Ye are pfjwyr father the devil." (John viii. 44.) 
 Thus ended their complacent trusting to a favoritism 
 on God's part He also brought down the rest of 
 their house of cards when He informed them, "God so/ 
 loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, 
 that whosoever believeth in Him should hot perish* 
 but have etemaHife." (John iii. 16.) He came not to 
 ^condemn the world; yet, of course. His death would 
 have that eflfect. The judgment is represented as 
 a/ready passed upon the prince of the world; it only 
 remains for the judgment to take effect, which (John 
 X". 31) represents by the tense^oT the verb used as a 
 gradual process— the after-effect of tjie resurrection— 
 the downfall of the kingdom of evil by the growth of 
 the kingdom of righteousness. Christ's work is the 
 redemption of the world by the downfall of the god of 
 this world. 
 
 Now let us turn back to the twentieth cliapter of 
 
 . , r ■ ■ - • ■ 
 
' rw'^'^'^^^^¥f^X*^PV' --^ ir*»''"*^»f;^^*^»^;^'feT'5^B^'^^'^' ^'W ''■^,'^ 
 
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 RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 
 
 13 
 
 Revelations, and examine it in the ligh|: we have from 
 the Gospels. We see the ideals of the Gospels and of 
 Revelations agree. This magnificent book of tumul- 
 tuous imagery contains a lovely ide^. Satan bound 
 and the saints reigning. It only remains for man, 
 by the grace of God, to realize this ideal; the only 
 obstacle in the road of the realization of the ideal i& 
 refusal to receive Him who was lifted up. But yet 
 the divine picture has been, to a great extent, realized, 
 and this fact should encourage us to look forward to 
 its still more perfect realization. Surely, in the mil- 
 lions who have risen with Christ and taken .part in the 
 first resurrection, we have a partial fulfilment of the 
 vision. The world of the apostles* day was some- 
 what different from the wor/d of to-day. In all 
 probability St. John wrote Revelations in the summer 
 of 68 A.D., in the midst of gre^t physical convulsions, 
 just after the suicide of the Emperor Nero, and before 
 Galba was murdered. Nerbj of all human beings, was 
 the most infamous and depraved, yet he was the most 
 popular of the Emperors ; thus showing us the char- 
 acter of a people whq^^ould admire such an unspeak- 
 able creature. He was deified in his lifetime, and the 
 worship of himself or his statue (image) demanded 
 from the civilized world, he wsis received everywhere 
 with the honors of a god ;l on the very coins every 
 Christian would see he claimed the unique title of 
 "The saviour of the world." Although dead, he was 
 expected to return to earth %ain. It has been said, 
 as regards the number of the beast, "The Jewish 
 Christian would have tried the nam^ as he thought of 
 
 ♦ 
 
 J 
 
">^ . -^^4 1' .p,~^^-,^pG^r. ^^ ''^^Hi^fV''^ '*" 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 the name in Hebrew letters. The moment he did so 
 the secret would be revealed. No Jew thought of 
 Nero except as ' Neron Kesar/ which, m Hebrew 
 c^^aracters. gives 666, The name i^^/^ wr,"^^ 1" 
 Jewish inscriptions." ' Nero then was " antichris in 
 the same way as the "Fall of Jerusalem" was "The 
 coming of Christ." but this does not exhaust the truth 
 qf the Word of God, which is always becoming true, 
 and will at last have a final fulfilment. ^ ^ 
 
 Nero represents the world of the apostles day. 
 He. an antichrist, ruled it as vicegerent of the god 
 of the world. It would be quite impossible here to 
 speak of the abyss oh shame and vice in which Nero, 
 arid the world he governed, wallowed. The fact that 
 Christianity has dethroned Paganism, that the spirit 
 of Christianity p«^ades law, society, and morals, 
 proves that Christ reigns ; that Satan's, kingdom has 
 been shaken. Not only has he been judged, but he is 
 being cast out. Could St. Paul or St. John compare 
 the world of to-day with their own, th^y would see 
 the power of the resurrection. When it is remembered 
 that Paganism, with its worship of demons, is repre- 
 sented in the New Testament as peculiarly the king- 
 dom of Satan, we cannot but think there is something 
 of a millenium in the Christian world of to-day, with 
 all its imperfections. Just picture 6pe of the apc^tles 
 who, as he passed through the pagan world of his 
 day, saw on every side-in the streets, in the public 
 amusements, in the temples, on the coins, in thepolitics 
 -evidences of the p^an world power, with a Nero at 
 its head, translated intb our midstjo-day. There 
 
 t*i'rt. 
 
 Z~'-^-.~T^ 'TV^i^^ 
 

 
 
 RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 
 
 15 
 
 em •• was " The 
 
 would indeed be much, very, very much, evil left ; 
 many of our movements jmay not be real /w^«j, but 
 yet he would certainly see a millenium in comparison 
 with the old world. Satan would be comparatively 
 inactive. They would see the saints reigning with 
 Christ over Christendom. The rest of the dead rise 
 not, rule not T*he goverijiment of the present world, 
 sadly imperfect as it is, belongs far more to St. John, 
 St Peter, St Paiil, St James, under Christ, than to 
 any of the old pagan world. We Christians look for- 
 ward to coming ihuch nearer the ideal, to the yet 
 more complete|,overthrow of the evil world of Satan ; 
 we hope to see evil more and niore chained in the 
 abyss, the mouth mpre perfectly sealed over it, 
 before the time when l^atan raises his head for his 
 final effort, which will \end in his final overthrow. 
 Can this- interpretatioiy be impugned ? Of coUrse 
 it can, as can evei^ o^her one advanced. But yet, 
 if the first resurrection be tot a spiritual one, then 
 many passages of ^clipture become meaningless, as, 
 for instance, " If ye be risen with Christ" (Col. iii. i.; 
 If we are to take a confessedly symbolical book like 
 [Revelations literatlly, we should be lost in a maze. 
 \Why is this twentieth chapter to be an exception? 
 |lf it bean exception, then we must believe that Christ, 
 dth His saints in spiritual and glorified bodies, will 
 reign here on earth, in the midst of the nations, all in 
 latural bodies.. And that in spite of this^we-inspir> 
 ig sight in their midst, the nations will be deceived 
 ito making an assault upon this awful kingdom in 
 leir midst, with God incarnate and glorified at its 
 

 
 i6 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 head. Surely "The letter killeth, the Spirit givcth, 
 life." We have shown : i. That there is a spiritual 
 resurrection. 2. That the saints have taken part in 
 it, and that they reign with Christ over redeemed 
 humanity by their inspired writings and their exam- 
 ples— which still speak. 3. That we are justified in 
 looking forward to a yet more complete overthrow of 
 Satan's kingdom, before the last great assault of evil 
 against the Church. 
 
 The Resurrection. 
 
 The Gnostic sects which troubled the peace of the 
 early Church, and against whose errors St. Paul and 
 St John both protest, believed, among other things, 
 that matter was inherently evil. They taught that 
 matter was created by the Demiurge, and not by God, 
 They, therefore, absolutely denied the resurrection of 
 either the just or the unjust, although claiming to 
 
 believe in Christ Jesi^. 
 
 Hymenaeus and Philetus belonged to one of these 
 sects, "Their word,*^ says St. Paul, " doth eat as doth 
 a gangrene, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, 
 who, concerning the truth, have erred, saying the 
 resurrection is passed already, and overthrow the faith 
 of some," (2 Tim, ii. 17,) But they could but have 
 denied a general resurrection (it is contended) ; what 
 they denied nftust have been the resurrection of the 
 saints a uiousand years before the general judgment. 
 Why couldn't they? It must be remembered the 
 whole of the Ne^ Testament was not written at this 
 time. That which wacs written wasiscattered about 
 
 - s. 
 
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 p»,«^Miw>rP»«*w»''«"*™'' 
 

 * w^s^K'-^^pq: ^ "^ pn 
 
 ■ - V r ',•' %3( %>- 
 
 RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT, 
 
 17 
 
 in the Church. It was not brought together into one 
 volume for two hundred years at least after this. We 
 know there were false apostles wandering about teach- 
 ing false doctrine. We know St. Paul's authority 
 as an apostle was denied by many professing the 
 religion of Christ. And above all, we know the 
 Gnostics did actually deny the resurrection of the 
 body. Even to-day a school of thought exists which 
 do6s' teach that the FINAL resurrection HAS COME, 
 and that the New Jerusalem has come down out 
 of heaven to earth. 
 
 Hymenaeus and Philetus, in common with- the 
 Christian Gnostics, the fewish Essenes and Sadducees, 
 denied the resurrection of the body. The orthodox 
 Jews of oiir Lord's time believed tWre would only 
 be a partial resurrection— the just ONLY were to 
 be raised, and not the unjust Josephus, who lived 
 about the titrft of Christ, tells us, "they (the Phari- 
 sees) believe that souls have an immortal vigor in 
 them, and that under the earth there will be rewards 
 and punishments, according as they have lived virtu- 
 ously or viciously in this life ; the latter are to be 
 detained in an eternal prison, but the former shall 
 have power to revive and live again." (i4/i/. xviii. 1-3,) 
 Again, he says, "the Pharisees are those esteemed 
 the mo^kilful in the exact explanation of their 
 I laws. . . TOey say all sShs are imperishable^ but that 
 the souls of good men ONLY are removed into another 
 body, but that the souls of bad men are subject^tp 
 [etemal punishment." ( Wars viii. 14.) 
 
 The resurrection of just and unjust is maintained 
 
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 ^•u 
 
 i8. 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 by our Lord and St. Paul. Our Lord, in the fifth 
 Chapter of St. John, speaks first of a sp^rjtual resur- 
 rcction (see 21-27), then' He passes on to consider, 
 the actual resurrection : " Verily, verily. I say unto 
 you, he that heareth My words, and believeth on Him 
 that sent Me. hath eternal life, and shall not come into 
 judgment, but is passed from death to life. Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, 
 that the dead shall Ifear the voice of the Soif of God :> 
 and they that hear shall live." (24, 25.) The 24tb! 
 verse explains the 25th, the passing from "death to 
 life" is a spiritual resurrection. The world is an 
 immense cemetery, full of men dead in trespasses and 
 sins. They hear the voice of the Son of God ; they 
 ' ideally rise by belief, and <i/ once, from death to life 
 The rising actually from the death of sin to the life of 
 dghteousness is a ^«^««/ process ; a habit has to 
 f be shaken off, and a new habit formed. But only 
 they who have a part in this the first resurrection, 
 can have a joyful part in the final resurrection. 
 
 Our Lord/ then goes on, in the 28th verse, to teach 
 a second resurrection. All shalf take part in this 
 —just and unjust— in contrast to the first resurrec- 
 tion, when only the just arise from the death of sin 
 to the life of righteousness. " For the hour is coming, 
 in which all that are in the ^aves shall hear My 
 voice, and shall come forth; they that Aave done' good 
 unto the r^urrection of life ; and they that have 
 practised evil unto the resurrection of , judgment' 
 (v. 28.) Here is a resurrection oC the body— "/^< 
 hour is coming"— "W/ in the graves shall hear My 
 
 fJMUfJKHMimHWW*" 
 
"^^fSf*' 
 
 RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 
 
 »9 
 
 y\cc " at one time, and no exception. Here is the 
 
 jndemnation of the Jewish idea on the subject, 
 'hen notice how careful the wording, " they that have 
 me good," but " they that have practised evil." The 
 imc distinction in the verbs may be observed in 
 jhn iii. 20, 21. I mean, of course, in the Greek; 
 le real and important distinction is not brought out 
 our English translation. This verse is introduced 
 "Marvel not," for our Lord knew He was cor- 
 bcting a popular mistake on the subject. 
 St. Paul also protests agamst this popular error, by 
 sclaring, " There shall be a resurrection of the dead, 
 jth of the just and of the unjust." (Acts xxiv. 15.) 
 ^ne resurrection absolutely general. When St. Paul 
 lins the Pharisees in the Council to his side, he 
 lerely cried, "Of the hope and resurrection of the 
 :ad I am called in question." 
 
 It has been asked by believers in two actual bodily 
 
 fsurrections, *• Why does St. Paul speak of 4wo 
 
 isses? If he were not disputing with those who 
 
 pnied the resurrection of the unjust, he must mean 
 
 /o different resurrections." But we have shown from 
 
 le most full and important of Jewish historians, him- 
 
 |lf a Pharisee, who lived in St. Paul's lifetime— 
 
 sephus — that he was talking before those who did 
 
 believe in a resurrection of the unjust; so the 
 
 rse is quite clear in its meaning. 
 
 f :,: 
 
 The Parables. 
 
 The teaching of the parables in reference to these 
 >ortant subjects is commented upon as follows by 
 
 -M 
 
 ^ 
 
20 THE COMING OF CHRIST^ ^'^ 
 
 non-believers in a general resurrectidrtiP^' During our 
 Lord's ministry, the time for d^kclosing thtf fhystery 
 of His separate advent for thT& saints was not arrived, 
 and in His parables the two parts of His coming are 
 spoken of without distinction." We cannot help 
 thinking .the so-called mystery is the old Jewish con- 
 ception of a Messiah coming to reign with His qfiosen 
 peopp%rael, and to destroy all their enemies, which 
 has beer> transplanted into the midst of Christendom. 
 As regards the Jews, it was a mistake. The Christ, 
 when He did come, tells them they are also children 
 of evil ; and St. Paul warns them, all are not Israe|[ites 
 who are of Israel. 
 
 When the parables are examined by our brethren 
 who see no general ^"Q[p^^'0'* ^" Holy Scripture, '| 
 "judgn^nt " (kpivu) i sjBwMfep onyniQu^ wjtHl^puntsh- 
 ment («a;uu7(f), two q^pMrent v^ras. Judgment 
 may end in acquittal ; the primary meaning of the 
 word is "a division." Our word "discern," "to dis- 
 tinguish between," is from Kpivu. Now the great point 
 9f all the parables relating to this subject is the 
 iyjsion between the just and the Unjust, the good and 
 ivil. When we are told "believers," viz., "saints," 
 will not be judged (adversely), it simply amounts to 
 saying those who will ultimately be saved will be 
 saved, which is a simple truism. 
 
 In the parable of the "ten virgins "-we hav^a divi- 
 sion into five wise and five foolish, and, therefore, a 
 judgment. In the parable, of the "talents," the 
 ser\'ants or stewards are rewarded according to their 
 works ; one (of course, repre.senting a class at the 
 
 m 
 
 
 ■H 
 
 <<,SSfJlW«!H?*WIWI«'f» 
 

 ^.. 
 
 rfWP^* During our 
 )siiig thd' fhystcry 
 :s was not arrived, 
 f His coming are 
 We cannot help 
 e old Jewish con- 
 n with His qfiosen 
 :ir enemies, which 
 it of Christendom, 
 ake. The Christ, 
 are also children 
 I are not Israelites 
 
 r^ju^ wklil^pui 
 ^ras. Judgi 
 
 i by our brethren 
 1 Holy Scripture,' 
 untsh- 
 ment 
 / meaning of the 
 discern," "to dis- 
 »w the great point 
 lis subject is the 
 just, the good and 
 rs," viz., "saints," 
 imply amounts to 
 be saved will be 
 
 ;".we hav^a divi- 
 , and, therefore, a 
 lie "talents," the 
 ciccording to their 
 class at the 
 
 S-^ 
 
 '^M. 
 -^., 
 
 RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 
 
 ai 
 
 general judgment) is cast into outer darkness : " therf 
 shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matt. xxv. 
 
 30) 
 
 Possibly the parable of the " sheep and the goats " 
 
 defers to the judgment of the world outside of 
 Christendom ; if so, a division will be made between 
 the good and bad of the world — the good going into 
 eternal life, the evil into eternal punishment U must- 
 be admitted our- Lord goes into the subject of 
 I judgment much more minutely than the apostles. It 
 is a well-known maxim that the less fiill account 
 must always be explained by the fullef and more 
 minute. And again, though in some particulars the 
 [account in the epistles may be more ful^ yet there 
 lean be no contradiction^ 
 
 Our Lord (see Luke v. 31-49) gives a mosf^olemn 
 I warning to be prepared for His coming. -St Peter, in 
 the midst of it, asks, "Lord, speakest Thou this par- 
 able to us or even to all?" (v. 41.) The answer im-'' 
 plies it is for servants or stewards of God. The 
 [servant, or ste^ard^ who imagined his lord dd^yed his 
 
 >ming, and began to behave himself badly, beating 
 [the other servants, eating and drinking, and being 
 [drunken, his lord shall come unexpectedly, and shall 
 
 It him off and appoint him his portion with the un- 
 
 ilievers. (v. 46.) Here is ihe^ judgment oi or\c portion 
 
 >f what are called servants or stewards ; they should 
 
 <:«/ ^, and have their portion with the unbelievers. 
 
 'he very act of cutting off shows what their pOsitiQn 
 lad.been.. ^-^ • .-■.,. ^v-.-- 
 
 "The servant which knew his lord*s will, and pre-* 
 
 ^ 
 
 % 
 
 ^ 
 
W,,^if*sp^fF«^^JKs^^^'»l!'!'^^fl^^5^i^t«]7/**»''^'W^'^'^?^ •'f^wM 
 
 
 <S 
 
 22 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 %.. 
 
 -'■'(^ 
 
 1 ■ 
 
 pared not, neither did according to his will, shall be 
 beat with many stripes." (v. 47.) " But he that knew 
 not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be 
 beaten withyi?«/ stripes." (v. 48.) 
 
 Then follows the enunciation of the great principle 
 which these verses teach and lead up to, viz :— that 
 privilege will only entail greater responsibility, that 
 God has no favoritism, and is no respecter of persons: 
 "Unto whom much is given, much is required." Jv.48.) 
 All this is opposed to the principle that God has 
 privileged a certain number of persons who shall 
 never account for the use of their privileges in the 
 last judgment, in common with all other human beings. 
 It is opposed to the idea that privilege is a blessing in 
 any other sense, than that, by the grace of God, it may 
 be made a blessing by its proper use. This is a very 
 minute account of judgment. We may explain any- 
 thing in the Gospels by the epistles, but we are not at 
 liberty to explain it away. Here, then, we have in this 
 twelfth chapter of St Luke the coming of Christ; 
 the condemnation of unprepared servants or stewards 
 ^some are cut off, some beaten with many, some with 
 few stripes ; a division into classes, and the allotment 
 of different degrees of punishment must necessitate a 
 judgment. A passage from St. Peter is a good colfi- 
 ment upon fliese passages : " The time is colnie that the 
 judgment must begin ajt the house of God, and if first 
 at us, what shall the end be of those who. obey not the 
 Gospel of God?" Are our attempts to make the 
 Church militant and the ultimately saved exactly the j 
 same things, more likely to succeed than the apostles ?! 
 
 •■->.../ 
 
RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 
 
 2$ 
 
 Our Lord's parables about the tares and the wheat 
 growing together, and the good and bad fish in the 
 same net, must cerainly mean soniething. (See Matt 
 xiii. 18-24, 57-44, 47-52.) 
 
 Judgment 
 
 We have examined that p^rt of the twentieth 
 chapter of Revelation, descriptive of the state of the 
 saints who reign with Christ oVer Christendom, having 
 attained the first resurrection from the death of s^n to 
 5^;the life of righteousness. / 
 
 Xxt ||li.ttbw pass on to consider the description of 
 the judgment which follows: "And I saw a great 
 white throne, and Him that was seated ther^n, from 
 whose face fled the earth and the heaven, and place 
 was not found for them. And I saw the dead, the 
 great and the small, stand before the throne ; and the 
 books were opened : and another book was opened, 
 which is the book of life : and the dead were judged out 
 of the things which^ had been written in the books, 
 according to their works. And the sea gave forth 
 the dead that were irt it ; and death and Hades gave 
 forth^ the dead which were in them : and they were 
 juijged, each man according to his works " (Rev. xx. 
 ii-14). AH that are not contained in the book of 
 life are punished by the infliction of the second death. 
 Why dwell upon the fact that the book of life is used, 
 if it be only a judgment of the evil world ? Of course, 
 we have the truth here delivered, by means of symbols, 
 but yet the symbols mean something— why then the 
 book of life, if the evil only are being condemned? 
 
 iy€.^".'. ,' 
 
??.^!- 
 
 H 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 Ifirbe answered that here and in the parable of the 
 sheep and goats we have the judgment of the world, 
 then I answer; then the world is far from being 
 ; universally condemned, for some in the parable were 
 welcomed into everlasting life, and somei }»^re not cast 
 ino the lake of fire, because their names^j|| found in 
 the book of life. li^f 
 
 However, as we have everything in IthS description 
 to prove a universal judgment, and not a word to re- 
 strict it to the evil world, we find here the final judg- 
 ment In our examination of other scriptures, we shall 
 put this point beyond a doubt. Much doubt and uncer- 
 tainty has been introduced into the subject by a play 
 upon the word judgment The Greek Kptw means to 
 separate, to part, Jo inquire into, to divide, to judge, to 
 condemn. It maV mfan to separate with the object 
 of acquittal, or' With the object of condemnation ; it 
 occurs a hundred an fourteen times in the New Testa- 
 ment KaroKptvo i^eans to give sentence against, to con- 
 demn ; it occurs twenty-four times; Kp£/t«i, judgment, 
 twenty-four time^ ; /v«T£f, judging, forty-nine times. 
 
 We should naturally expect to see it stated that 
 " there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ 
 Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the 
 spirit," and so we do (Rom. viii. ly^KaraKptfia). We 
 should certainly think God "a respecter of persons if 
 any are to be exempt ffom that general process of 
 separation described in Revelations xx. 12 to end. But 
 Kptvo has often the same force as the word used in 
 Rom. viii. I, as any Greek lexicon will testify; its 
 meaning mu^t be judged by the context, andjlie 
 
 -vv> 
 
 
 •j.n.i'm. 'i 
 
%^9 m9^^^^ 
 
 "*•■ .'^rt^,0pv^.£W' 
 
 "j?^^ 
 
 RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT, 
 
 2i 
 
 teaching of the New Testament as a whole. « Ye that 
 heareth My wo^ds'and believeth on Him that sent Me, 
 hath eternal itfe, and shall not come into judgment." 
 Here our Lor^is describing, as I have pointed out, 
 the spiritual resurrection ; it means here, of course, an 
 adverse judgment. From thevery formof the sentence, 
 we infer that a sentence against those who have taken 
 part in the /rj/ resurrection, viz: thdse who have 
 passed from dead works to serve the living God, will 
 not be administered at the final judgment. 
 
 We find it used in another sense in i Cor. xi. 
 There, after reproving the Corinthians for coming to 
 the Holy Communion in a state of intoxication froni}^ 
 the Love Feast or Agape, St. Paul goes on to speak 
 of this disgraceful conduct as follows: "Let a man 
 prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread and 
 drink of the cup; for he that eateth and drinketh in 
 an unworthy mapner, eateth and drinketh a judgment 
 to himself, if he does not distinguish the body ; for this 
 cause many are sick, and weak, and some sleep; but 
 if we would discern ourselves, we should not be judged ; 
 but being judged, we are chastened of the Lord, in 
 order that we may not be condemned {KaraKpiBofuv) with 
 the world." Here the- judgment is the chastisement, 
 sent upon the believing Corinthians, viz., sickness, 
 weakness, and death, to preserve them from the con- 
 demnation of the world of evil. TheSe Christians at 
 Corinth were (in common with all other Christians) 
 iideally risen with Christ; and, therefore, in the condi- 
 tion described by Christ, " He that believeth on Him 
 Ms not judged; but he that believeth not is already 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 

 ^V 
 
 
 26 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 -t 
 
 ■ I i 
 
 judged." (John iii. 18.) But when their practical life 
 failed to agree with their ideal life, judgment came. 
 God does not suspend his natural laws. For those 
 who put their fiqgers into the fire, it will burn; for 
 those guilty of immorality, the consequences will fol- 
 low. This law is one of the most unalterable of all 
 laws, both in the physical and moral worlds. But it 
 is also said, " He that believeth not has been already 
 judged." (John iii. 18.) According to one way of in- 
 terpreting the first half of this verse,.this (above quoted) 
 lattcjr half would prove that the judgment of unbeliev- 
 ers fs over also, so that there will be no final judgment 
 at all. \ 
 
 AH we can really unders,tand from these passages 
 we. can explain by quoting somq others. "He that 
 endureth to the erfd shall be saved." (Matt x. 22.) 
 "Give diligence to make your calling and election 
 sure." (2 Peter i. 10.) "Jesus answered them. Have 
 not I elected you ^twelve, and one of you is a devil ?" 
 (John vi.V,o.) St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, 
 ^' With me it is a very small matter that I should be 
 judged of you or of man's day; yea, judge not mine 
 own self, for I know nothing against myself; yet am 
 I notf hereby justified, but He that judgeth me is the 
 Lord; therefore, judge nothing before the time, until 
 the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hid- 
 den things of darkness, and will panifest the councils 
 of the hearts." (i Cor. iv. 3-6.) Here St. Paul con- 
 trasts man's day (which is the correct reading) with 
 the Lord's- day of judgment He, without doubt, con- 
 nects the idea of judgment with the day of the Lord's 
 
 '>^?4'5?-_- >*' 
 
 ^i.'::^^M»:iiiT^i^^''Z^^^^C^^^i^^^^x^^^ 
 
K^*^^' 
 
 ■^ ^ TW "<-,»» '.A'^fSsi- 
 
 RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 
 
 27 
 
 coming. He tells the Corinthians to leave judgment 
 to Christ, who will perform tlie task most completely. 
 As it was St. Paul who was being judged, the passage 
 clearly shows us St. Paul expected to be judged at 
 Christ's coming; no doubt he hoped for, and in faith 
 expected, an acquittal. ^ is, therefore, not to he won- 
 dered at that in his second Epistle to the Corinthians 
 he sljould solemnly warn them in the following words: 
 "Wherefore we strive earnestly, that we be accepted 
 of Him, for we must all be made manifest before the 
 judgment seat of Christ, that every man may receive 
 the things done in the body, according; to what he 
 hath done, whether it be good or bad; knowing, there- 
 fore, the fear of the Lord, we persuade men." <2 Cor. 
 
 ,v. 10-12.) 
 
 Here St. Paul tells believers we should strive earn- 
 estly But why? That we might be accepted of : 
 Him. But when, and wher9? When He sits upon 
 His judgment seat. Bema Was "the official seat of the 
 Roman judge, raised above the floor of the Basilica ; in 
 classical Greek, indeed, it had meant the orator's plat- 
 form; but it was, of course, impossible that St. Paul 
 could have used the word in an obsolete sense. The 
 apostle always connects the judgment of brother upon 
 brother with the final judgment of Christ. "Why 
 dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at 
 naught thy brother? for we sh411 all stand before the 
 judgment seat of God . . . so every one of us 
 shall give an account of himself to God." (Rom. xiv. 
 10-12.) It may satisfy some people to explain this as 
 a mere manifestation before God, but the whole con- 
 
 is 
 
^i» j.^^TF '■i"^'!^" '^%T^^k-^ 
 
 29 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 •^ s 
 
 } 
 
 i 
 
 
 tCJct points to what may justly be called a judgment 
 We naturally connect these passages with the " throne 
 of God" in Rev. xjc., before which are gathered the 
 ^^ead, small and great (Stjbhn always uses the word 
 "throne," and ipany times in Revelations). S| Paul 
 uses bema,"the raised seat of the judge in the Ronian 
 Empire, of which he was a titizen. He did not scruple 
 , to use the power his position gave him, for on one 
 occasion, when he stood a prisoner before the "bema" 
 of the Roman Judge, he Isaid, " I appeal to Caesar." In 
 view of these passages. We are reminded of others of 
 like nature. « Be not decei^, God is not mocked • 
 for whatsoever a man/ soweth, that shall he also rfeap • 
 for he that soweth fo the flesh, shall of the flesh reap 
 corruption; but he that soweth to the spirit, shall of the 
 spirit reap eternal life." They certainly are deceived 
 who imagine "doing" a deadly thing; and yet there 
 IS i doing that is deadly. St. Paul, after that terrific 
 list of the sins of the flesh, says : '^they which ^o such 
 thmgs shall not inherit the kingdom of God." (Gal. v 21 ) 
 In Sf. Paul'^ theology, /am means a living motive 
 power, which will strengthen the will to refuse the" 
 evU^and cling to the right ; had he meant by "faith" a 
 mere fiction by means of which we were to escape that 
 which,elsewhere he himself and all other Scriptures Con- 
 cur in telling us ^//rnust undergo, he would certainly 
 have said so plainly, without mistaki of contradiction • 
 .and, having said so, he would not have filled up his 
 letters with whole passages which it would require the 
 keenest ingenuity to explain away. , And, again 
 another important point-an important principle-is 
 
 
"t^-ajfU 
 
 <,"5-'TJH*K 
 
 RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 
 
 29 
 
 * this, that God most certainly freely makes us His 
 children, that we may be good children. We not 
 only acknowledge this, but glory in the fact ; He does 
 not adopt us as His children after arriving at any cer- 
 tain degree of goodness. In this the wisdom of God is 
 manifest, and we do well (if we have families) in 
 following His example, in dealing with our own chiU 
 
 ^ Ifiren. But when we say this we mu$t also add, admit- 
 ted into a holier sanctuary, the more terrififi^will be the 
 condemnation if we become reprobates, or " cuHs,** as 
 the Greek word translated reprobates means literally. 
 
 V The Second "Advent. < 
 
 Our Lord said; during His life on earth, "Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you, there be some standing here 
 which shall not taste of death till they see the Sob of 
 man coming in His kingdom," (Matt. xvi. 28,) and 
 again, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this genera- 
 shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. (Matt 
 xxiv* 34.) These two passages are introduced by the 
 solemn asseveration " Verily, verily,"^ thus catifng 
 especial attention to them. Eyery attempt to explain 
 them away is stamped with failure. He had just said 
 (v. 18) that He would build His Church upon this 
 ." Rock," viz., "The Rock of Ages," Himself But the 
 ' Jewish dispensation yet existed, the temple still rung 
 with the praises of the old dispensation, the altars still 
 smoked with victims, year by year the high priest still ' 
 entered into the Holy of Holies, and sprinkled the 
 mercy-seat with the bloocj of the sacrificial victim, all 
 was being done as God had commanded ; yet the new 
 
 ?fii 
 
, ^^^^f*.iir^«f^'^3^^fP«*i "= 
 
 30 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 * V 
 
 dispensation ^as to be inaugurated on the day of 
 , Pentecost. \ / 
 
 But God hadNaot yet commanded the divinely in- 
 stituted ritual to^ase. This was still to come It 
 w^ to cease by tfe coming, in judgment, of that same 
 God who had instituted it. This was done, and be- 
 fore that generation had passed away, before all those 
 who had listened to our Saviour had tasted death. 
 The Tranisfigur^fion cannot be referred to. To speak 
 thus of what was to feappen in six days would have 
 been unnatural.and misleading ; and, besides. He did 
 not come in His kingdom at the Transfiguration In 
 the twenty-fourth .chapter of St. Matthew we find our 
 Lord,>e Truth itself, telling His audience of Jews 
 that their city would'be surrounded with armies, and 
 to know by this sign .that desolation was near, that those 
 in the surrounding country were to flee to the moun- 
 tams, and those in the city were-to come out of it 
 that weak women and nursing mothers would have a 
 poor chance of escape, for something He calls the 
 kingdom of God was near; then He tells them, with 
 the solejnn introduction^ that this would come to pass 
 before the then existing generation would pass away, 
 ^. as in another place, before some standing before 
 Him died; then He goes on t6 warn them against 
 evil doing and sin, that they might escape the evil 
 that was coming, and stand before Him. 
 
 He speaks to them as Jews, and as Jews who would 
 remain true to the outward observances of their reli- 
 gion, even the observance of the Jewish Sabba* 
 (Saturday) after the Jewj^i laws, until God destroyed 
 
 V 
 

 i-fiys-^^ Bjy-'-" Ti^J" 
 
 ■^.ifti- V*^r- J, ^z" 
 
 RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 
 
 3» 
 
 by a divine interposition — formally abrogated the 
 divinely appointed order of the old dispensation — 
 " Pray ye that your flight be not .... on the 
 Sabbath day." They were not allowed to take a long 
 journey on the Sabbath day. (See Matt, xxiv.) The 
 primary meaning of this is quite clear. The last 
 
 I words of the preceding chapter (xxiii.) had been the 
 wail of the Divine Patriot over the ^'Beloved City." 
 In April, 70 A.D., Titus, the Roman general, with 
 8o,cxX) troops, laid siege to Jerusalem. The city was 
 full of passover pilgrims. This siege stands out as 
 one of the greatest and most awful events in the 
 world's history. The city became the scene of mad 
 confusion aqd famine, women slaying and devouring 
 their own 4:hildren. The Jews fought with frantic 
 courage. When the city was taken, the temple be- 
 came the » centre ot the fight, the great altar was 
 covered with the slain ; the courts of the temple were 
 covered with streams of hifman blood ; six thousand 
 1^ women and children perished in the burning ruins. 
 The Roman troops adored their ensigns on the spot 
 where the Holy of Holies had stood ; one million one 
 hundred thousand human beings perished in the siege, 
 the number of captives taken and sold as slaves was 
 enormous. 
 
 This was the awful fiat of the Almighty, the end of 
 the visible economy of the old dispensation. No 
 longer was the struggling Christian Church In danger 
 
 ' of becoming a mere sect of Judaism. The Lord, by 
 coming and destroying the whole outward framework 
 of the Mosaic ritual, came to bless and confirm His 
 
 4 
 
 jfeij-'j? i^ y i!»i^ 
 
*^rr »(j~j,^"^ 'te-^ j^tj #-^orTn' -^^■•r^^^y. , s, -^/^i^ , '** 'f ," 
 
 32 
 
 THE X:0>fING OF CHRIST. 
 
 Struggling Church by overthrowing and destroying 
 her dead and useless rival. ; |i 
 
 This was what our Lord's ji^s <above quoted) re- 
 ferred to. No doubt he had atep H is final coming and 
 judgment in view when he uttered the awful words of 
 the twenty-fourth of Matthew. We must bear in mind 
 that all the New Testament books were written before 
 the fall of jerusalen^with the exception of the Gospel 
 and Epistles of St. jSri;>vho lived to see this coming of 
 Christ. (See John xxi! ig-25.) 
 
 So we find in them an intense «>epectation of Christ's 
 coming; and no wonderpv^en Christ had said He 
 would come, within that generation. We also^nd, in 
 the references to His comihg in the epistles, the double 
 reference, just as in the twenty-fourth cha)»ter of Mat- 
 thew, first His coming in the fall of Jerusalem, and again 
 His final coming. The words used to express the facts 
 are, " The day of judgment," " The day of the Lord," 
 " The day of Christ," and " That day." 
 
 The Thessalonians are in intense sorrow, as their. 
 fellow-Christians drop off one by one, and yet the 
 Lord comes not; would they who died lose their part 
 i« the glories of the kingdom Christ was coming to 
 establish and confirm ? We see how the two comings 
 were mixed up in their minds. St. Paul writes to re- 
 assure them, "I would not have you ignorant, breth- 
 ren, concerning them that are asleep, that ye sorrow 
 not, even as the rest which haye no hope. For if we 
 believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, them 
 that fall asleep through Jesiis will God* bring with Him. 
 For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, 
 
 'E^Ss^^ 
 
f^^;'^ -^yp '' t '\ 6, t 
 
 ' ' * 1^^^^^Sf^'•'^t^• fvr-^'V 
 
 RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 
 
 33 
 
 and destroying 
 
 that we that remain, that are left fintil the presence of 
 the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen 
 asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from 
 heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel 
 and the trump of God, and the ^ead in Christ shall 
 rise first, then we that are alive, that are left, shall to- 
 gether with them be caught up in the clouds to meet 
 the Lord in the air, and so shall we be ever with the 
 Lord." ( I Thess. iv. 13- 1^.) This sorrow of the Thes- 
 salonians was altogether alien to the true spirit of 
 Christianity under such circumstances. The New 
 Testament, the catacombs, artd all the ancient burial 
 services, testify to anything but intense sorrow in the 
 presence of death. In the New Testament death is 
 always brightened by the resurrection ; jn^the cata- 
 combs (the burial places of the early Roman Chris- 
 tians),' there is no sign of sorrow ; on the contrary, the 
 rude art of those dark places testify to-day to the ex- 
 perience of joy and victory on the part of the early 
 Christians in the presence of death. We hear the 
 same key of joy and victory struck in the burial ser- 
 vice of the Church of England, which is a good repre- 
 sentative of the spirit of the ancient services from 
 which it was compiled. How could this excessive 
 sorrow be corrected ? By the presentation of the truth 
 of Christ's coming and the resurrection. But we are 
 told, " They knew the dead would rise— as Martha did 
 —why then tell them so again?" Are we never to 
 apply a well-knowri truth, when needed, becaiise it is 
 known ? St. Paul oM, not in the matter of the resur- 
 rection only, but in other matters of doctrine. He, 
 
 ~^ 
 
 w t«^2ffgAsieii!a'V^^ 
 
 >* I 
 
 -^1 
 
 /-C 
 
if^^I- Tf i™-^^ 
 
 (■ J^T» ^^fT^J^-V-^- 
 
 "*>v'*r^"^p^^ 
 
 34 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 -f: 
 
 liSe our Urd, reiterates the grand truths of the faith 
 
 »K .; •'''"'.' ''^t"" P''^"'""B 'he advent as it concerned' 
 the II just." The order is: ■• First the dead in Christ 
 rise —not as contrasted with the " unjust," who are to 
 
 "tf' r/":. *' ^'^^ *'" ""' 1^" ^"'h » meaning 
 --but "first, VIZ., before, the hving are glorified and 
 rise to meet their Saviour, then shall they both " the 
 risen and the hving," ascend to meet their SavioLr to- 
 gether. St Chrysostom says of jhis: " When the kin? 
 Cometh into a cit:J^ they that are honorable pro- 
 ceed forth to meet :him, but the guilty await their 
 judge within. St. Paul only refers to the adveftt and 
 resurrection in relation to the "just"; any reference 
 to the unjust" would not have been to the point for 
 he *as writing to comfort those who mourned the 
 death of am/,a,._«And so shall we be ever with 
 the Lo«l. Not a word of Satan's being let loose, and 
 another assault upon them by the " nations " of evil • 
 not a word of another attack from the world power' 
 when a divine interposition will be necessary to save 
 them from the enemies' hand. (See Rev. xx. 7.,, ) If 
 this were^to happen afterwards, it would be a sad blot 
 
 Z",ll " rt"' '^^"P''°" °^fi»«' peace and bliss. 
 But although the "unjust" be not mentioned here, 
 they are in his second epistle, where he refers again to 
 
 ShSt "''"•" *""' '' '^ " riehteous'thing 
 with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict 
 
 you; and to you that are afflicted, rest with us, at the 
 
 revelation^of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaved, «^,h 
 
 the angels of His power, in flaming fire, rendenW 
 
 vengeance to them that know not God, and t5-th«n 
 
-" -^jj- , ' , ° 
 
 t'- ^ • .A ;-■ ■ ", 
 
 RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 
 
 i$ 
 
 that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 
 who shall suffer punishment, even eternal ruin from 
 the face of the Lord, and from the glory of His 
 might; when we shall come to be glorified in His 
 saints, and to be macvelled at fn all them that 
 believed (because our ^ testimony unto you was 
 believed) in that day; to which endiwe pray alway 
 for you, that our Lord may count you, worthy of. your* 
 calling." (2 Thess. i. 6-12.) . ti. . 
 
 In the 2oth chapter of Revelation, i-io, there is no 
 mention of the coming of our Lord; no mention of the 
 judgment or punishment of any of the " unjust." On 
 the contrary, we have '^he binding of Satan, that he may 
 not deceive the nations ; a curbing of the power of evil 
 in the world, that the saints may reign there. Satan's 
 renewed attack upon the spiritual Zion, "the holy 
 city," viz., the Church, is the sign of that, (which on 
 all hands) is acknowledged to be the final judgment 
 But here, in Thessalonians, we have those who 
 troubled the saints recompensed with punishment; 
 a judgment upon the evil world in accordance with, 
 the parable of the *! sheep and the goats." (Matt. 
 XXV. 31-46.) And then note the kind of punishment 
 administered, it is '' elernal destruction" or, as it may 
 be translated, ^/^r/ftf/ ^^aM. 
 
 Revelations xx. 14, calls it Xh^ second death, just 
 as Revelations xx. 5, calls spiritual resurrection th^ first 
 resurrection. In the parable of "the sheep and the 
 goats " it iscalled eternal punishment. (Matt xxiv. 46.) 
 But these two passages are by all acknowledged to 
 refer to the /«tf/ judgment. Then note again the 
 
 -i^St't* ^"Xfk ^ 
 
n 
 
 t III * 
 M 
 
 
 1 . ; 
 
 ^■' 1 ' ■ 
 
 HI 
 
 MB f, . ' 
 
 Bll- ' '-. . 
 
 
 
 ^^H 
 '^^1 
 
 
 
 
 ,B-:^ ■■•:■;■■ 
 
 
 36 
 
 * THE COMING bF CHRIST. 
 
 punished and rewarded are respectively represented 
 _ under two descriptions. The punished are— 
 
 1st. They that know not God. 
 
 5nd. They that obey not the Gospel. 
 
 The rewarded are — 
 
 1st. His saints. 
 
 2nd. Them that believe. 
 
 "They that 'know not God" in contrast to them 
 that believe ; "they that ^% not the Gospel," in 
 contrast to " His paints," viz., sanctified people. Then 
 St. Paul prays "that God may esteem you worthy 
 of this calling." The word translated "reckon" 
 embraces the sense of "decide," "adjudicate," so here, 
 in- the coming, we have a judgment of the beUevers.' 
 .But what does St. Paul mean by his prayer? It 
 refers to the two several classes of the punished 
 and rewarded. " WorOiy of this calling," " Called to 
 be saints," viz., sanctified persons. (Rom. i. 7.) He 
 prays that the "believers." at Thessalonica may, by 
 the grace of God, be actually as well as ideally 
 "saints," so that they may not be embraced in that 
 class of the lost who are described as disobedient 
 to the Gospel, in contradistinction to the other class 
 who are described as not knowing God. ^ ' 
 
 Again is the theory dashed to the ground that 
 God IS a respecter of persons ; that He will practise 
 favoritism, by exempting those who are most privi- 
 leged from a judgment that all must undergo. 
 
 The term "last days '^ must be understood, when 
 used, as Uiose days preceding a coming, or judgment, 
 
'«??»fF?;wpfj;pw«*'y^'' 
 
 RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 
 
 ^7 
 
 of Christ The days of the apostles were the last days 
 of the Jewish economy, which Christ would come 
 to destroy. Those days were also the beginning of 
 the end of that Pagan Empire of Rome, and, there- 
 fore, its last days. The days of any rotting institution 
 or nation preceding its destruction are its " last days," 
 and pre-eminently the days preceding the final end 
 of evil ^e the " last days." 
 
 The "last days" in any of these ^nces are always 
 "evil days." St. Peter's description of the last days 
 preceding the time when " the elements' shall be dis- 
 solved with fervent heat and the earth also^ and shall 
 the works thereof be found?" (2 Peter, iii. 10), reads 
 very much like the account of the final judgment in 
 the Revelation of St. John, where the " earth " is repre- 
 sented as fleeing away from the face of God, after the 
 evil days when the saints shall be assailed by the 
 deceived nations. 
 
 2 Thes. ii. 8. "Then shall the lawless one be 
 revealed, whom the Lord shall consume in the bright- 
 ness of His comihg^" 
 
 St. John tells us there are many antichrists ; there 
 have been many fulfilments of this prophesy, and, 
 possibly, there may be many more before the final 
 fulfilment . 
 
 One of the marks and signs of Christ's coming in 
 judgment is the revelation of "the Lawless One." 
 God's moral law is eternal in its very nature ; whenever 
 the devil let loose, goes about to deceive men into be- 
 lieving that God's moral law may be lost sight of with 
 
 
 A - • » 
 
 
 ^1* A^«»TT 1 
 
 \,jo vyiic la uc 
 
 iiig rcve 
 
 aiea, 
 
 
 \ - 
 
 
 • 
 
 
 J 
 
 - 
 
 ■¥■- 
 
 ! 
 
 if 
 
 
 
 t?"^;-'' 
 
 
 m 
 
 i^ 
 
 fc ' ''■•'' 
 
™05WWJ*'* 
 
 '^•^' 
 
 38 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 . and h.s revelation always precedes the Lord's com.W 
 .n judgment. We have now seen that our iLTlf 
 dZ u''- :"'" "= """' J'«'Se *he quick andS 
 out ^f "[h'"K'\*''' =""^" ""<' ereat shall be judgtd 
 man shiir l^' r".' "^ '-°'' oHife. and evl^ 
 man shall be judged according to his worl^ I„ 
 
 -^^l:i1^t-'^' no exceptiirt^h!; 
 
 ..othp,e,^rm:^s*:,i^Lr 
 
 ments;eachhasthestan.poffinalityuS.„it K" 
 fore, the false deduction which springs from a mt 
 appreh^sion of the doctrine of « j^fic'^tiX fa^^ 
 m that believers will be exempt from juLment 
 receives no warrant from the Word of God. ^^^^' 
 
 The Church and the Ministry. 
 
 It IS oil all sides acknowledeedk-'lvliVf" <• u 
 
 possible) is the condition, and bawlm^hf *^J ", 
 
 entrance into the Christian Churl So ,^. °^ 
 
 elude thof ,n k ^- . "" ^'""^^n- 00 that we con- 
 clude that all baptized people who believe in Chri« 
 are members of the Church of Christ ' 
 
 _ In this sense of the word Church, we see it used in 
 *e following passages: Matt. xvi. ,8; Ac7s viH ? 
 Cor. XV. 9, and in the passage '• The i^.h f^!. i ^ '. 
 Church daily such as wereting savt^^' ^^f^^ ^^ 
 "It# used of the Chun* M ™J^ ' !'' ^^'^ 
 counj^... (A , ,^a , ^ ^^^ -^ <; ^«- city or 
 
 I'ping in tfte upper room, lent for 
 
 
^■jr** * f-ff toip-v'i^m 
 
 •-'wr^f't'^ ;rt^^* **i^^ "^ !''wy""^'^ 
 
 
 RESURRECTION AND' JUDGMENT. 
 
 9 
 
 39 
 
 f" (when 
 mode of 
 t we con- 
 in Christ 
 
 t used in 
 
 ed to the 
 ts ii. 47.) 
 
 • city or 
 
 2.) 
 
 "Aquiia 
 
 house." 
 
 ean the 
 
 lent for 
 
 the purpose by Acquila and Priscilla. We come to 
 this conclusionr, because this form of salutation, in dif- 
 ferent epistles, is always sent to the same persons, but 
 not to all Christian families. It is used also in the 
 plural, meaning various congregations. (Acts ix. 3 1 ; 
 XV. 41 ; Rom. xvi. 4 ; i Cor. vii. 17.) 
 
 The Greek word ecdesia, which is translated 
 Church, is used in the Greek version of' the Old 
 Testament, called the Septuagint, for congregation 
 Our Lor4<*and the apostles were well versed in this 
 Greek version of the Old Testament, as they often 
 rti^de their quotations from it arid not from the He- 
 brew version. So we may now see where the word 
 came from as used in the New Testament. 
 
 There are two texts often brought forward to prove 
 thA the Spirit of God is in such a way the president 
 in a Christian assembly or congregation,^lhat a minis- 
 try in the Church is needless, if not actually unlawful. 
 They are as follows: "Wherever two or three are 
 are met together in My name, there am I in the 
 midst of them." (Matt, xviii. 20.) This is the origin 
 of the celebrated ecclesiastical saying, '' Ubi tre^ ibi 
 Ecciesia!' This, verse is explained by the preceding 
 verse, " If two of you shall agree on earth as touching 
 anything that ye shall ask, it shall be done for them 
 of My father which is in heaven." Our Lord then 
 tells them that He would be present at the assembling 
 of the faithful, as the Mediator between God and man, 
 and as the Great High Priest, to present their devo- 
 tions to the Father ; nothing aboutthe presidency in 
 the congregation is mentioned. ' 
 
 
 r 
 
 1^ 
 
,'^;aw^p^'- 
 
 ip 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 ■ 4» 
 
 The other passage is, "iGod is not of confusiod, but 
 of peace;" (i.Coi|.|jjciv.33.) The word author does not 
 exist in the Grep|c. - This sentence contains a. self- 
 evident truth, and the reason why it occurs here must 
 be found by reading the chapter from which it is 
 taken. In this fourteenth chapter of first Corinthians 
 .the apostle is reproving his Converts at Corinth for 
 tonfusion in the congregation. 
 
 A ministry of " gifts " existed in the 'early Church. 
 Some of these " gifts " were miraculous, and in .their 
 exercise, especially in the exercise of the |*^ft of^ 
 tongues," the Corinthians brought confusion into th^ 
 assembly. Had the Holy Spirit been given to^prfe- 
 serve such order as was seemly in the assembly, how 
 is it the apostle intervenes in this way, instead of 
 plainly telling the Corinthians the truth? . 
 
 There can be no do^ibt St. Paul describes a state of 
 babel and confusion.! "How is it, then, brethren? 
 when ye come toget^ier^ every /one of you hath a 
 psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, ha,th a revels^r 
 tion, hath an interpretation." (v; 26.) How is it? i>., 
 whence this confusion? He then goes on, giving 
 directions for the exercise of these gifts. And hav- 
 ing given .these directions, he says*in eflfect: "The 
 Goli you worship is a lover of order, »decorum, 
 and peace, thei-efore, if in the congregation you wish 
 to offer Him an acceptabk service, it must not be one 
 ;■ of cdhfusipn."., ■■'_■; / X --. :■:"•:>- -'wz'--^ :i:\' '::::. :J^:-s 
 The latter part of veree '33rd belongs to the 34th 
 ^^"e» »^^ the 32nd. It should read, "As in all, the 
 churches of the saints, let your women keep ^ilenc^ in 
 
 ./"' 
 
 •St 
 
 •i^Si^y * 
 
■ ' «';:sS^'"-'^'"*'. "^fr", f^'yv^W.*' "'Ji.'!^^ •>!< }.iEj^«'s 1 -T^*-\>'y'. 
 
 :-/ 
 
 KESORRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 
 
 41 
 
 the church." (33, 34.) The general order was in all 
 the churches that women were silept in the congrega- 
 tion. Corinth was an exception to this rule, therefore", 
 the apostle tells them to do. as other churches in this 
 matter ibr the future. • t 
 
 St. Paul was a wise man, and wise also by revela- 
 tion; he was reproving the Corinthian Church fpr wild 
 disorder and ecstatic confusion, he well knew women 
 being naturally more excitable than men, would only 
 add to the Confusion wer^ they to be allowed their say 
 too, His concluding orderMs, " Let all things be dqne 
 decently and in order." (v. 40.) Let your worship be 
 conducted with orderly jjec^ncy, these wild outbursts 
 pf incoherent fanaticism must ,cease. (See the whble 
 twenty-fourth chapter of first Corinthians.) It seems 
 to me impossible to deduce an argument ag^iifist the 
 q;iinistry (rather'otherwise) from this chapter. 
 
 With the exception of the Epistle of St James 
 and the Epistles tb the Thessalonlans, the two 
 Epistles to, the Corinthians were the first part of the , 
 New Testament written. We see what a state of 
 immo^iity, confusion, insubordination and division 
 this Corinthian Church was. in, by carefully reading 
 these two epistles. Examine the following jpassages 
 from these epistles: i Cor. i. n, 12; i Cor. iii. .1-5; 
 l# i'Cor/ v. 1-3 2 ; Cor. xi. 13. In 2 Cor. jcL 26, we 
 ,see there must have been numbers of false brethren 
 in the- Church a^ the time-v So^in the. Church of the 
 apostles' day we find false brethren, false apostles, 
 deceitful workers, immoi«il persons, divisions, and 
 qucirrels. ^ Th^se are what some persons imagine a 
 
 
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 4i 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 recognition on the part bf" modern Christians of a 
 presidency of the Holy Spirit in the assembly, and 
 the abrogation of the ministry would altogether 
 banish. We doubt the success now, any more than 
 when the Chutch was govcrneci by the apostles. * ^ 
 
 But let us pass on to the epistles written later on. 
 The Epistles to the Corinthians had been written 
 in the year 56 ^.D. The Epistles to Timothy and 
 the Epistfes to Titus and the Hebrews were written 
 during the years 64 and 65 A.D. In the Epistles to 
 Timothy and Titu.s, we find an o/ganized system of 
 government' in the hands of Church officers, called 
 bishops (overseers) or presbyters (elders), under the 
 apostles. The Epistle to theJFJ'ebrews recognizes 
 this fact in two passages : " Remember them that are^^ 
 the guides over you, who haye spoken, to you the 
 word of God" (Heb. xiiK 7.) " Obey them that have 
 the guidance over you, arid yield to them, for it js 
 they that watch on behalf of your souls, as having 
 to give account." (Heb. xiii. I ;^.) . 
 
 Of course, we are told that the organized ministry 
 was to cease with the apostles, and that only apostles 
 and their delegates appointed and ordained ministers. 
 We should certainly have been surprised to find any 
 one but the rulers and qrganizel-s of any socifety ordain- 
 ing the ministry of such society. And so with the 
 Church; who but the apostles or their delegates would 
 have governed and ordained ? But we find the Church 
 still continued the Christian ministry after the apostles' 
 death. We hiaive in the very earliest documents, refer- 
 ring to th ^ Church, after the apostles' death; ample 
 
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 7 ifESURRECTIOK AND JUDGMENT. .43 
 
 . proof that the ministry was ^ntinucd without the 
 least ideia that a mistake was being madt If the 
 Church was in need of the ministry during tn^ lifetime 
 of the apostles, to correct such disorder and confusion 
 as the apostle describes at Corinm, surely the neces- 
 sity stiU-cxi^ts to-day : (not that I mean that the only 
 .duty of the ministry is to correct disorder; I am on 
 these subjects taking the lowest- position). " Had God 
 r-*meant the Christian ministry to die with the apostles, 
 'He most/ certainly would have revealed the fact, and 
 we shoiild haVe had it clearly stated in the New Tes- 
 tament God in His providence would never have 
 allowed \hree epistles, the ist and 2nd Timothy, and 
 * Titiis, almost altogether taken up with a description 
 of/ church organization, the proper qualifications for 
 niinisters, and tl^eir appointment, to take up so much 
 place in the New Testament, were the ministry to 
 cease with the apostles ; especially is this' so, when we 
 * remember St. John tells us there were many things 
 Jesus did and taught hot recorded at all. (John xxi. 
 25.) The truth is, that this new idea is the outcome 
 of the ifiodern progress of the w^r/flf. Since modern 
 ' progress has introduced printing, and the education of 
 nearly air the people, every one is able to study the 
 Bible for himself. No one dreamt of denying the 
 necessity "of the ministry when Bibles had to be written 
 by hand, when no one tould buy pne, but the very 
 ► rich, and even had nine hundred and ninety-nine men 
 out of a^ thousand possessed one, thiey could not have 
 read it The principle of the perpetuity of the mmis- 
 is laid down in 2 Tim, ii. 1.2. The word " faithful " 
 
 
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 THE COMING QF CHRIST. 
 
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 in this passap^e does not mean ordinary believers, but» 
 as the whole epistle proves, thos^ who have ^he quali- 
 fications for the office of the ministry. 
 
 The word " elders'' (or "presbyters") was used of 
 the officers of the Jewish Synagogue, and ^tu rally 
 passed into the Christian Church. It is used in refer- 
 ence to " office," and not age. For instance, St. Paul 
 says to Timothy, "Let no man despise thy youth," 
 although Timothy was doubtless an "elder.*' (See i 
 Tim. iv. 14.) 
 
 The State of the Church in the Apostles' 
 Days and Our Own. » 
 
 Divisions among Christians are deploral^e*" facts. 
 We have divided from disagreement, which is not 
 creditable. But yet, divisions among Christians existed 
 at Corinth in St. Paul's day/ "Now I beseech you, 
 brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye 
 all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions 
 (schisms) among you ; but that ye be perfectly joined 
 together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 
 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my 
 brethren, by them which are of tlie house of Chloe, 
 that there are contentions among yoii. What I mean 
 is this, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; 
 and I of Apohos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ 
 Is Christ parcelled out into fragments? Was Paul 
 crucified for you? Or weref ye baptized in the name 
 of Paul ?" (i Cor. i. 10-14.) 
 
 .This shows us that the church which excelled all 
 others 'in its possession of "gifts" was in a most 
 

 RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 
 
 4S 
 
 deplorable coridilJipn J that divisions the most painful 
 and acuie existed. What does St Paul propose as 
 a remedy ? To come out of Corinthian Christianity ? 
 Most cer^aily not. Qn the other hand, he counsels 
 them to draw together* by speaking the same thing, 
 and thus drive away th^ spirit of disunion. This, as 
 long as they sacrificed no living ^principle of the faith 
 of Christ, it was their duty to do. He tells these 
 ' contending schools of thought at Corinth, not one 
 of them had a mbnoply of Christ. 
 
 A careful study of the Acts of the Apostles and 
 the epistles will convince any one, willing to be con- 
 vinced,, that the Christian Church of the apostles' 
 days was by no means a society of perfect people; 
 very far, indeed,/rom it. Nothing more convinces one 
 of the truth of Holy Scripture, than that it gives 
 us the blots and blemishes, as well as the holiness and 
 purity, both of individuals and the Church. 
 
 Are the "believers" of early times commanded 
 " to come out of the Church by the apostles because 
 the Church of that time contained false brethren, false 
 apostles, deceitful workers, drunken irequenters of the 
 Holy Communions ; schismatics, jinio set up schools 
 of thought of their own, and called their schools 
 by particular names, Paul, Peter, ApoUos, or even 
 Christ? (For it must be remembered, to call our own 
 school of thought by the name of CJirist, in a 
 fractious spirit, is even worse than to give it the name 
 of some mere human teacher.) No ; these mistaken, 
 weak, and erring brethren are to be reclaimed ; for 
 tiie^hurch*^n earth is more like a huge s piritua l 
 
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 46 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 
 hospital than a society of immaculate people. Thesfe 
 divisions and clashing schools are to cease their 
 contentions, and all to draw together. 
 
 This is the task before the modern religious and 
 ecclesiastic reformer, who wishes to follow in St 
 PauVs steps— not the attempt to make confusion 
 worse confounded, by adding a narrower, bitterer 
 school to those alreading existing. ' 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 The great doctrines of "Election and Predestina- 
 tion," and "'jus.tification by Faith," are both scriptural, 
 are both true. But the doctrine of " Predestination and 
 Election," be it never held so firmly, is not truly exalted 
 • by casting away^the doctrine of "Free Will." The 
 doctrine of " Justification by Faith " is not truly exalted 
 by casting away the doctrine of "A Final Judgment 
 according to Works/' 
 
 To illustrate the above assertions, we will close the 
 consideration of these great topics by quoting a pas- 
 sage from the works of a celebrated divine — Canon 
 Mozely : " It were to be wished that that active pene- 
 tration, and close acute attention, which mankind have 
 applied to so many subjects of knowledge, and so suc- 
 cessfully. Sad been applied, in a somewhat greater pro- 
 portion^ than it has been* to the due apprehension of 
 that very important article of knowledge, their own 
 ignorance. . . . Nor does this apply to the un- 
 • instructed and uncultivated part of marikind only, but 
 perhaps even more strongly to the learned and contro- 
 versial dass. For certainly to hear the way in which 
 
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 RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT. 
 
 some Of t^ class argue, and draw inferences from the 
 
 romprehensible truths of revelation 'S're^lU 
 
 as they say. to their -""^"'''"^^^"t '^ ^aS 
 upon which, howe^^e e^^e and r-fetched. ^ ^^^ 
 
 Sa " t'LhTtJf-t: •:&. I W. rrom the long 
 !nTfin^ tr™ns of inferences drawn by some theolog.ans 
 f^m mjr ous doctrines, endltes distinctions spun . 
 lutof^ach other in succession, and issuing .n subtle- 
 rsS bam. all comprehension, and ar^msho. 
 
 rrrh alS:Su.g .om reHglou trLs one 
 
 cannoTavoid two reflections: 0"^. *" -'" P^/^ '" 
 not know their own ignorance • the other, that .t .s 
 
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 ^dcomprehensive. not afrL of api«.rent mcons-s- 
 
 ■ trncyb^t admitting all tru(h which presents .tseU to 
 
 ISice. It .s only when minds begin to Ph^-f- 
 
 that that they are narrow Then begms ine 
 
 Tdlof argument, the ti,genuity of construction, the 
 Sryiouf.of ideas and principles into successive 
 ' cSuences. which, as they b««5me more «.d 
 . more*mote.leave the original truA at a d.sUnce. 
 
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26 
 
 THE COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 judged." (John iii. i8.) But when theiV practical life 
 failed to agree with their ideal life, judgment came. 
 God does not suspend his natural laws. For those 
 who put their fiqgers into the fire, it will burn; for 
 those guilty of immorality, the consequences will fol- 
 low. This law is one of the most unalterable of all 
 laws, both in the physical and moral worlds. But it 
 is also said, " He that believeth not has been already 
 judged." (John iii. i8.) According to one way of in- 
 terpreting the first half of this verse,.this (above quoted) 
 lattcjr half would prove that the judgment of unbeliev- 
 ers is over also, so that there will be no final judgment 
 at all: ;.. A, ■ ■• :/ , -^ 
 
 AH we can really unders,tand from these passages 
 we. can explain by quoting some others. "He that 
 endureth to the erfd shall be saved." (Matt x. 22.) 
 "Give diligence to make your calling and election 
 sure." (2 Peter i. 10.) "Jesus answered them. Have 
 not I elected you ^twelve, and one of you is a devil?" 
 (John vi. '70.) St. Paul writes to the Corinthians 
 
 . RESURRECTION AND JUDGMl 
 
 coming. He tells the Corinthians to U 
 
 to Christ, who will perform tlie task mc 
 
 As it was St. Paul who was being judg< 
 
 clearly shows us St. Paul expected to 
 
 Christ's coming; no doubt he hoped f< 
 
 expected, an acquittal. It is, therefore, 
 
 dered at that in his second Epistle to 1 
 
 he sbould solemnly warn them in the fc 
 
 " Wherefore we strive earnestly, that \ 
 
 of Him, for we must all be made man 
 
 judgment seat of Christ, that every mi 
 
 the things done in the body, accordi 
 
 hath done, whether it be good or bad ; 
 
 fore, the fear of the Lord, we persuadi 
 
 , v. 10-12.) 
 
 Here St. Paul tells believers we sho 
 estly. But why? That we might 
 Him. But when, and wher^? Whei 
 His judgment seat. Bema Was the of 
 Roman iudee. raised above the floor of