be rendered, I am pressed, I am straitened with two things, i. e. he was afflicted with two evils before him, a life of pain and trouble, or a violent death. "I cannot, therefore, (continues he,) but desire to be released, to die;" or, as he expresses it, to be with Christ; which is a blessedness that we look for at his coming though it would be better for them that he should remain longer in this world; and, therefore, on that account he had a strong persuasion that it would be so.

I.

Thus, this being with Christ, which St. Paul mentions his desire of, is to be explained, not of his immediately going to him at death, but being with him, being restored to life, at his second coming, at the end of the world. And in agreement with this, the Scriptures invariably lay down that the followers of Christ are not to be with him till the resurrection, or his second coming to judge the world. And it is observable, in many instances, that death, and this coming of Christ, are indifferently used as synonymous terms, equivalent expressions. For though his apostles and first followers looked upon this his second coming as an

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uncertain and unknown period; they did not expect they should remain long in their graves before it arrived: it did not strike their imaginations as being of such very long duration as it does ours, who have seen near eighteen hundred years pass, years pass, and still the day is not come; and therefore they spoke so differently of it.

So that no conclusion can be formed from this language of the apostle, that he expected instantly upon dying to be with Christ in a se parate state till the day of judgement.

And this interpretation you will find confirmed by the general language of Christ and his apostles, concerning the commencement of our future life after death.

For, as an eminent author hath proved by incontestable evidence of Scripture,

"The dead are not to awake, or be made alive, till the resurrection;" (John vi. 39. xi. 24, &c. 1 Thess. iv. 15, &c.) and, therefore, could not immediately be with Christ.

"The wicked shall not be severed from the righteous, but both are to be together till the resurrection, or the end of the world."

"Our christian course, and improvements in piety in this world, terminate in the resur

rection,

rection, the coming, or day of our Lord." (Phil. i. 6. iii. 10, 11. 1 Thess. iii. 13.)

"Christians are said not to have boldness or confidence before Christ till the resurrection; which could not be true, if they were all along to be with Christ in a separate state." (John ii. 28. iv. 17.)

"The faith, labours, and sufferings of chritians are said to be all lost, if there be no resurrection; which also would not be true, if they were immediately at death to go to Christ." (1 Cor. xv. 18, &c.)

"The world is not to be judged before the resurrection."

We are told, also, that the coming to life again of christians after death, and the final judgement passed upon them, is not a thing that is to take place in succession, as each person goes off the stage of this life: but God hath appointed a day, a particular period, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man Christ Jesus, whom he hath deputed to that office under him. There are not particular trials of the dead carrying on every day as they depart hence: but the Scriptures speak of a general trial, for which they are all reserved.

There

There is one further very conclusive remark on this subject with which St. Paul furnishes us, and which seems to set the matter out of all doubt, that it is not the doctrine of the Scriptures, that the virtuous and good go immediately to Christ after death: and this is, that our apostle, in the motives of consolation which he gives for the loss of beloved friends and dear relations, never tells them that those for whom they mourned were then alive and happy with Christ, which would have been a most soothing thought and consideration to them but what he comforts them with is, that though their friends were asleep, without life, and lost to them at present, yet they were under the care of God, who would restore them to life, and bring them with Christ when he came to judge the world at the last day. The passage (1 Thess. iv. 13-18.) is very remarkable; with it, therefore, I shall conclude this head: "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep," (good christians, you see in St. Paul's account, did not go immediately to Christ, into a state of conscious happiness, but were asleep :)" that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that

Jesus

Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with them. For this we say unto you, by the word of the Lord, (i. e. not from any conjecture of his own, but the express authority of Christ,) that we which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent those which are asleep :" according to his usual way, though he might not look for any thing of the kind, he puts himself in the number of those who should be found alive at the last day, and never die; and says that these latter christians should have no preference or advantage above those multitudes, who should be in the number of the dead at that day; but that all of them together should then, and then only and not before, meet Christ, and be for ever happy with him. "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ (i. e. those who died virtuous christians) shall rise first! Then we, which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we be ever with the Lord."

II. I