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LXIV.

Internal before the Final Kesurrection.

"The groans of nature in this nether world,

Which heaven has heard for ages, have an end."

Cowper.

THE succession of that great harvest of which the death of our Saviour was the seed, is thus described: "Every man in his own order; Christ the first-fruits; afterward, they that are Christ's at His coming." As a great pledge, many bodies of saints that slept arose, and came out of the graves at His resurrection; but thenceforth there is an interval. It is that space during which the Christian destinies of the world are to be accomplished; then cometh the resurrection; and then the end.

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At first, it was easy for the believers to imagine that the rapid result of the triumphs or struggles of the Gospel was to be the preparation of the way of the Lord for His early return. He was at hand; every eye should see Him; it might be to-morrow; it might be to-day. His words had been such as to create perpetual expectation, and to enjoin incessant watchfulness. The first believers watched, and waited for the sound of His coming, as of a thief in the night.

But soon it was revealed to the apostles that much remained to be seen on earth before the sign of the Son of man should be seen in heaven. For this, time, many

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.

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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 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

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