We have here, from the nature of our undertaking, only briefly noticed the description in St. Matthew. But it is so awfully sublime, so simply pathetic, so calculated to amend our hearts, and purify our desires, that it cannot be too often read over by the devout Christian".

Q. Fifthly. On what authority is it expressed particularly, that Christ will judge the quick and the dead?

A. First, on that of St. Peter, who said, "God commandeth us to preach unto the people, and to testify, that it was he (Christ) which was ordained by God to be the Judge of quick and dead." And again, the wicked “shall give account to him (Christ) that is ready to judge the quick and the dead i.”

Secondly, St. Paul declareth, "I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing *.'

k "

Q. Who are the quick and dead?

A. The quick are they who will be alive upon the earth at the time of Christ's second coming to judge the world.

* See Jer. Taylor's Description of Christ's Advent to Judgment, Sermons I. II. III.

h Acts x. 42.

2 Tim. iv. 1.

i 1 Peter iv. 5.

The dead are they who have already, or will hereafter die, before the great day of account'. Q. Will the dead be then restored to life, and rise to judgment?

A. St. Paul says, Behold, I show you mystery; we shall not all sleep (the sleep of death), but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed"." He says again, "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first."

n

"

Q. Sixthly. When will these things be? A. We are informed that God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness ";" but his will is no further revealed: and "of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father".

Ου παντες, φησι, κοιμιθησόμεθα. Κρινει ουν ζωντας μεν, τους τοτε ζωντας· νεκρους δε, τους ανισταμενους εκ των νεκρων. Justin Martyr. Quæst. and Respons. cix.

1 Cor. xv. 51.

n Acts xvii. 31.

Oude ayyeλol, oude vlog, id est," Neque Angeli, neque MesΟυδε αγγελοι, ουδε υιος, sias. Isto namque sensu sumenda est vox vos hoc in loco, alibique sæpissime: ut in periochâ istâ." Joann. v. 19. Filius, id est, Messias, ex se nihil potest facere, nisi quod Patrem

"Take ye heed, therefore, watch and pray; for ye know not when the time is P."

Q. Can the above passage of St. Mark be fairly brought forward as an argument in the present question? Does it not rather refer to the destruction of Jerusalem ?

A. We maintain, with many ancient fathers of our Church, that this passage, and some others in the thirteenth chapter of St. Matthew, cannot with propriety be confined to the destruction of Jerusalem, and that our Saviour used them with relation to his second coming to judge the world.

Q. How, if Christ be God, and knoweth all things, can it be said, he knoweth not the judgment day?

A. To say that the second Person of the Trinity knoweth not any thing, would indeed be blasphemy. But Christ, considered as a prophet sent from God, might well say he knew not something, which had no immediate reference to his prophetic office. Elsewhere it is written, the Son of man " spake nothing of himself, but

facientem videt," vers. 20. "Pater amat Messiam," &c. vers. 26. "Messiæ dedit vitam habere in seipso," &c. Vocemque Filium hoc sensu esse reddendam, patet ex commate 27. "Authoritatem ei dedit etiam judicium exercendi quia est filius hominis" nota illud,-quia est Filius hominis. Lightfoot. Hor. Heb. Marc. xiii. 32.

Mark xiii. 32, 33.

the Father which sent him gave him commandment what he should say." And again, " The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do ."

:

Q. Is not the doctrine of a future judgment one of the most important in the Creed?

A. Assuredly for it affords the greatest pos

John xii. 49. v. 19.

Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. Marc. xiii. 32. "Imo. Aliud est, Filium Dei intelligere nude et abstractè pro secundâ personâ in sacrosanctâ trinitate, aliud pro Messiâ, aut secundâ istâ Personâ incarnatâ. Dicere secundam Personam in Trinitate aliquid non scire, blasphemum est; at non ita est, ita dicere de Messiâ, qui tamen etiam fuit idem cum secundâ personâ in Trinitate. Nam quamvis secunda Persona, secundum meram Deitatem abstractè considerata, coæqualis fuerit Patri, coomnipotens, co-omnisciens, co-æterna, &c. Messias tamen (qui eɛaveρwπos) consideratus ut Messias, erat Patri Servus et nuntius, et mandata et authoritatem recepit a Patre. II. Distinguendum est inter excellentias et perfectiones Christi, quæ fluxerunt ab istâ hypostaticâ duarum naturarum unione, et istas, quæ fluxerunt a donatione et unctione Spiritûs Sancti. Ab hypostaticâ unione naturarum fluxerunt infinita dignitas personæ, impeccabilitas, infinita avтapkɛia ad præstandam legem, et satisfaciendum justitiæ divinæ. Ab unctione Spiritûs fluxerunt Potestas miraculorum, futurorum præcognitio, atque mysteriorum Evangelicorum omnimoda Scientia. Illæ idoneum eum reddiderunt et perfectum Redemptorem, hæ idoneum et perfectum ministrum Evangelii. Jam ergo præscientia futurorum, de quâ re hic agitur, inter ea numeranda est, quæ ab unctione Spiritûs sancti fluxerunt, atque ab immediatâ revelatione, non ab hypostaticâ naturarum unione.”

sible encouragement to virtue, and is the most effectual of all restraints on vice. In vain would the preacher endeavour to withdraw his hearers from an intemperate indulgence in the pleasures and vices of the world, if he could not appeal to their fears, and present to their terrified imaginations, the condemnation which awaited the unworthy and disobedient children of God. In vain would the preacher strive to maintain the faith of his followers pure, through the fiery trials to which mortality is subject, if he could not hold out, as a motive to perseverance, the glorious prospect of future rewards, and that eternal weight of glory which is promised to the faithful followers of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ'.