years, perhaps many centuries, must be demanded in the common course of Providence. When the canon of sacred books was closed with the Apocalypse, numbers were even assigned, expressive of periods still to come; numbers and periods which, when they were compared with those of the older prophecies, seemed to point to a long, long development of events in the future.

That development, too, has in great part been realized. Much, and probably most, of all which was predicted is now in the past. But it is, and must continue to be, as true as ever, that "of that day and that hour knoweth no man," when the last enemy, which is death, shall be trodden under the feet of the returning Deliverer.

Thus much, however, we know from the only source of such knowledge. A succession of great and of disastrous events would spread their clouds over the face of society. Nation would rise against nation: earthquakes, famines, pestilences, would follow each other, from age to age; and history would be the narrative of wars, of pestilences, of temporary victories won by the powers of darkness, and of human sufferings succeeded by no general repentance. Still, the word of God should have its course; the Gospel should be preached, sooner or later, to all nations; and the kingdoms of the world should at length become the kingdoms of the Lord. But in the mean while, gigantic powers were to rise against the truth; an Antichrist, a Man of Sin, exalting himself above all that is worshipped; a city on seven hills, corrupting the nations; an army like locusts, laying waste the earth; adversaries, who should trample down the outer courts of the sanctuary; Gog and Ma

gog, and the nations gathered against the holy city. All these enemies should be overcome, before the subjugation of the last enemy.

Periods of a thousand years, and of a thousand two hundred and threescore days or years, appear in the sacred vision. It should seem that the latter is nearly past: it must be that the former is yet to come. When these are over, with all which precedes or follows or lies between, that "day for which all other days were made” shall come suddenly. The lightning, the approach of the thief, the twinkling of an eye, are the comparisons that illustrate the suddenness of its coming.

Thus much we know, while generation after generation are gathered to their fathers. The work of death must be complete; the number of the elect finished. Each generation must watch, like those before; and, whatever probable calculations may be made, to prove a greater or less distance, it was not intended that any mortals should be permitted to close their ears against the sound of the chariot-wheels. Scoffers, it was foretold, would cry, "Where is the promise of His coming?" but they would all lie down in their turn in the grave. Good men, observing "the signs of the times," would again and again be disappointed, and cry, "How long?" and they too would go to their rest. Death must prevail over every generation but one, before death too shall die.

The last sun will rise or set, rising on one region of the earth and setting on another, without creating, we may presume, any new hope or alarm. All nature will pursue its appointed course, and all human society will be engaged as always before, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, or watching and praying,

under the same calm skies, till in a moment, fixed from eternity, the last of all that shall sleep will expire, the sentence, "Unto dust shalt thou return," will have been accomplished, and "the trumpet shall

sound."

LXV.

Promise of the Resurrection.

OF the appointed hour our Lord has said, "The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth." It was the first occasion on which He is recorded to have spoken of the belief in the resurrection of the dead, which generally prevailed amongst the Jews; and He both confirmed it by His word, and connected it with His person, mission and authority. "As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will; for, the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son."

The resurrection of the body itself was a part of the hope revealed to the patriarchs, and cherished by the faithful in Israel. At this day, the very words chosen to utter our hope over the graves of our brethren, are those in which Job uttered his own: "Though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." That hope had come down from father to son; and the bones of Jacob and his sons were, in that hope, carried from Egypt to the land of promise. To the patriarchs, God was "not the God of the dead, but of the living;" all ́lived to Him; and they believed, with Abraham, that He was able to raise them from the dead. The thought that the flesh should not be given over to corruption; that the wicked should lie in Hades, and the righteous should have dominion over

them in the morning, was familiar to the Psalmist, and to those who sang his melodies. When Ezekiel, in his vision, saw the dry bones starting up into an army of living men, it was no strange figure, but only what his faith foresaw at that "end of the days," when, as was told to his contemporary, Daniel, many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." In such a faith, that mother, whose story is found in the records of the Maccabees, assured her seven sons while they were dying in torments, that "doubtless the Creator of the world would of His own mercy give them breath and life again." It was the common faith of all the Jews, except the Sadducees, who denied all spiritual existence. Some readily believed that John the Baptist was risen from the dead; others, that one of the prophets had returned. In their assembly, therefore, St. Paul appealed confidently to the hope of the resurrection of the dead, as that which he held with his countrymen, and with their fathers.

To a people thus taught, our Saviour said that He would raise up every one that should believe on Him; every one that should eat His flesh and drink His blood. "I am the resurrection and the life," He said to Martha, when she had professed her belief that her brother should rise again in the resurrection at the last day." In reply to the Sadducees, He declared that the resurrection of the dead was implied even in the promises to the patriarchs. He intimated it in the assertion that God is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” To His disciples He gave the assurance, in every form, that the life which He was to enter at His resurrection should be theirs; that He would prepare a place for