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Let it be distinctly noticed that these dead in Christ are not said to be raised incorruptible and immortal, but only caught up with the living Christians in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air-not literally, but in the same sense that the living saw the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, so should they see his saints and holy angels raised from the slumber of infamy, and, together with the Christians who remained alive at that day, be exalted with him in the air. [See Matt. xxiv: 30, 31-Mark xiii: 26-27-Luke xxi: 27, 28, and Rev. i: 7.] In these passages he is represented as 66 coming in the clouds with his angels," who gathered, with a great sound of the trumpet, his elect," and raised them to honor in his kingdom. And let me add-this is all the change Christ has ever said should take place in the living at the sound of the Trumpet. I have no doubt that the Apostle had his eye upon the above words of our Lord, when he said, "we shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." It will here be plainly seen in what sense those who had died in the cause of Christ were first raised. They are represented as coming with him at the destruction of the temple, and after that event the whole 66 body" was exalted together. The "vile body" of Christians on earth (vile indeed in the eyes of their eneemies) was then "fashioned like unto his glorious body" of saints and angels in heaven who had died in his cause.

That we have given a correct exposition of 1 Thess. iv: 15, 16, 17, is evident from Paul's words 2 Tim. iv: 7, 8-"I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge shall give me at that day," &c. The phrase

"that day" means not the day of Paul's death, but the day Christ should appear in the clouds of heaven at the end of the Jewish age. His crown was merited for having fought the good fight and kept the faith." The crown means that exalted honor he should then receive for having "turned many to righteousness." And not only himself, but all," who love the appearing of Christ," should shine as the brightness of the firmament and as the stars forever and ever in his

gospel kingdom among men. We this day look upon the martyrs and apostles as the lights of the Christian world, and as occupyas occupy ing, on the sacred page, stations far more exalted than any ever conferred upon the greatest men of the universe. They are made priests and kings to God" for dying in his cause, and thus establishing the truth of christianity.

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This was the "first resurrection," and these were the persons who had a part in it, which no subsequent Christians ever have. Rev. xx: 6-" Blessed and holy is he that hath a part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” But if Christ had not come in his kingdom at the end of the Jewish age, as the prophets and himself had declared, then the whole Christian system must have fallen and the names of its martyrs and apostles remained buried in perpetual infamy as a set of deluded men and impostors. But, blessed be God, it is not so. They, by their faithfulness, have attained unto the "first resurrection" and thus broken the dark chains of infidelity into fragments. This is the resurrection and change referred to in Phil. iii: 20, 21, and 1 Thess. iv: 15, 16, 17, on which we have commented.

We have intentionally omitted till now Phil. iii: 11, 12, as our ideas will be more readily comprehended here than in our introductory discourse where we simply adverted to these words of Paul-" If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead-Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect," &c. Here we perceive that the resurrection unto which he desired to attain depended on his exertions in the cause of Christ, and being faithful unto the end. He says (verse 14)-"I press towards the mark for, the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." But what prize was this? Ans. It was a part in the first resurrection to which he desired to attain, (verse 11) and as he was not perfect," he feared"lest after having preached to others himself might be a cast-away." He feared that he might not endure faithful unto the end. He was well aware that the promise was "Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life."

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obtain this crown of life in the first resurrection, was the highest prize, the highest calling of God, ever suspended upon human merits! Paul did continue faithful, and as he was led to the thought of death, with composure and satisfaction exclaimed-" For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also, that love his appearing." Here we perceive that Paul had continued faithful, and was entitled to the promised crown, which was awarded to him, and to all "the dead in Christ," who, on account of their faithfulness, had a part in the first resurrection,

when he came in the clouds of heaven to establish his kingdom. It has nothing to do with the immortal resurrection of the dead, for that is not the reward of merit, but the gift of God. To that all shall attain who die in Adam. But in the first resurrection none had a part except those who died in the cause of Christ, and the living who continued faithful to the day of his appearing. On them and them only devolved the honor of establishing the truth of Christianity for the happiness of future generations, by not only testifying that they had seen Jesus alive from the dead, but by cheerfully submitting to death, and showing themselves miracles of suffering in his cause. Both the departed and those that remained alive, attained to the first resurrection, were glorified together, and their crowns shall shine in the gospel heavens with undiminished splendor long after those of kings and tyrants shall be dimmed and lost in the vortex of revolutions.

He concludes the chapter by noticing the change of the "vile body" which we have explained. Here then is no evidence of a general resurrection, nor of the end of time. The context, the silence of Jesus about the change of the living into immortal beings,and the whole tenor of revelation combine to set it at defiance. Of one thing I am satisfied; that no man ever has, and, I believe, no man ever can reconcile the change of the living and the resurrection of the dead recorded in Philippians and 1 Thessalonians with their respective contexts, so as to prove a general and immortal resurrection at the end of time. As I have travelled in an untrodden path, I do not know but that I may have erred in some minor points, but am satisfied that my general positions are sound and tenable. [To be continued.]

SERMON XXIV.

"For as in Adam all

die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Cor. xv: 22.

We have now come to that point in our subject where it will be necessary to cite a few passages to prove that the immortal resurrection is successive, not general, and will conclude by considering some of the principal texts, which may be urged as objections.

We have already shown that the resurrection of the dead was to be at the sound of the last trump. And as that trump commenced sounding at the end of the Jewish age, when Christ came in his kingdom, I deem it sufficient to establish the fact that the dead are continually rising in this last, this gospel day. But the question presents itselfwere any of the human family raised immortal before that period? To this question I give an affirmative answer. I firmly believe, that the dead have been rising immortal from Adam to the present day, for God has never changed the established order of the universe. I believe that the dead are raised without any miracle, in the common acceptation of that term, as much as I believe that we are born, and die, not by a miracle, but according to that constitution of things which God has immutably established from the beginning. I believe this doctrine of Christ to be founded upon the unchanging principles of philosophy, but so mysterious, that man in his present existence cannot comprehend the subtle causes and effects by which he shall put on immortality. It was, therefore, necessary that this sublime truth should be established in the world by the miracles Jesus wrought and by the miraculous power of God in raising him from death.

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