place appointed for all living. The poor man Lazarus, who lay at the rich man's gate, died, and was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom. But perhaps some will say, that this was a parable, and Lazarus, the poor man, referred to the Gentile nation which was carried into the bosom of the gospel by the embassadors of Christ. And this idea, I have no mind to dispute, or deny; but parables are always taken from the similitudes of facts, and the fact itself must exist, or there can be no propriety in the parable.

2. The souls of those who die in the Lord are present with him, and behold his glory, whom they shall see face to face, in those heavenly mansions, until they shall come to reign with him on the earth.

The apostle Paul had a great desire, while he tabernacled in the flesh, to depart and be with Christ, which was far better; which certainly shews that the soul does not sleep with the body, as some good people suppose. For me to live (saith he) is Chirst, but to die is gain; and the reason he gave was, that when he was absent from the body, he should be present with the Lord; which could not be, unless the soul, or spirit, survived the body.

It would be difficult for language to paint out those sublime joys that the spirits of just men. made perfect are now possessed of; which are all that some people entertain in the ideas of the fulness of heaven itself; but I must not enlarge here, for this is but a small part of their blessed

ness.

3. All those who die in the Lord, shall be brought with Christ, when he shall come the second time to reign on the earth. "For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." 1 Thess. iv. 14.

The scriptures are very full and plain upon this point. Jesus Christ shall be revealed from heaven accompanied with all his saints and the holy angels; the trump shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, their souls and bodies shall be united, and those who are alive upon the earth (that is, the saints) shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye and be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. "This is the first resurrection.

Blessed

and holy is he that hath 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," Rev. xx. 5, 6.

Here is something worthy of our attention. Observe that the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were expired. It will be very hard to accommodate this event to any thing that hath ever taken place, or will ever take place in this life. For although there may be people living on the earth at this time, when Je. sus Christ shall come to be glorified with his saints, &c. yet I believe that those whom Jesus will bring with him, as well as the dead that lived not until the thousand years were expired, cannot mean any body in the flesh.

How then, say some, that there will be no discrimination among characters after death, but all will be alike happy?

Let us not be deceived! God is not mocked! Whatever a man soweth that shall he reap. If he sow to the flesh, he shall of the flesh reap corruption; but if he sow to the spirit, he shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.

Let God be true, and every man be a liar, rather than to evade the face of any positive texts of scripture, to favor any particular tenet whatever. So where the scriptures speak of a separation between the righteous and the wicked, and the just and final retribution that each shall receive, according as their work shall be, whether it be good or whether it be evil; and not only so, but that the stripes shall be proportion. ed according to the aggravation of the crime, as well as one star (or saint) shall differ from another in glory: I say, do not try to spiritualize these texts away, and accommodate them, or make them mean something which they never intended. So again, on the other hand, where God speaks indiscriminately of general blessings, and gifts in Jesus Christ, universally giv en; such as, "The tabernacle of God shall be with men, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God,” &c. Do not try to accommodate these texts to a part of the human family, merely for the sake of shutting a part of mankind out of heaven.

But to return to my subject. I was speaking of the blessing, or happiness of the saints whom Christ shall bring to reign with him on the

earth, when he shall come to set up his universal kingdom here; to be worshipped by all nations, even unto the ends of the earth. They shall not only receive the adoption of sons, to wit,the the redemption of their bodies; but they shall have the pleasure of seeing all the kings and nations of the earth, either destroyed for their wickedness, or brought to bow the knee to Jesus, and willingly confess him to be Lord, to the glory of God the Father. They shall see the King in his beauty. There shall be one Lord, and his name shall be one, from the rising to the setting sun. He shall establish universal peace throughout the universe.

He shall be seated in his temple nigh the beloved city, and his saints shall encamp around him. They shall be clad with white raiment, or the righteousness of Christ, and they shall have the pleasure of seeing all nations come up once a year to worship the Lord of Hosts at Jerusalem. In a word, if this happy reign with Christ for no less than a thousand years, were all the heaven which we were ever to enjoy, one would think it worth life's purchase; notwithstanding it is so little noticed by many. But this is only a prelude to those eternal joys that are yet to be revealed.

4. But I hasten on to speak of those further blessings that shall attend those who die in the Lord, when they shall come to be with Christ in the judgment. But before I speak particularly of this, I must mention a circumstance that will take place previous thereunto. After these thousand years of happy reign with Christ,

Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are scattered over the four quarters of the globe, whose number is as the sand of the sea, to gather them together to battle; and they shall come up and compass the beloved city and the camp of the saints, and fire shall come down from heaven and consume them.

Then shall the heavens and the earth pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth and all the works thereof shall be burnt up, and there shall be no more place found for them. Then shall the dead small and great stand before God, and their books shall be opened, and another book shall be opened, which is the book of life, and they shall be judged out of those things written in the books, according their works.

Now observe. I do not understand that those who die in the Lord are included with the dead that stand before God at the general judgment; for they are not the dead, now, but the living; and have lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, have been judged and found worthy to receive the adoption of sons; and not only so, but they shall be with Christ in the judgment, and consequently they cannot be the dead that are to be judged. "Know ye not (saith the apostle) that we shall judge angels." Again. "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world."

1 Cor. vi. 2, 3. 5. In addition to all these blessings, they, as well as all those whose names were found written in the Lamb's book of life, at the general