advent, and in conjunction with the translation of the living saints?

We can of course have no object in denying or disguising the fact, that these words have very much the air of directly contravening the general tenor of our interpretation of the preceding portions of this chapter. Still, if our previous train of reasoning be sound-if our conclusions be fairly sustained by the evidence adduced —it is certain that these words rightly understood cannot be in conflict with them. Every part of the word of God must be in harmony with every other part, though apparent discrepancies may exist, to the clear conciliation of which we may not always be competent. In the present case we are so strongly persuaded of the truth of our previous conclusions, founded both upon the intrinsic nature of the subject itself, and upon the just interpretation of language, that our confidence in them is no wise shaken by the literal reading of a passage, which seems at first view to enforce entirely another theory. It remains, therefore, to inquire in what manner this declaration of the apostle, is to be made consistent with what we conceive to be the general teaching of the New Testament on the subject of the resurrection, viz., that it is the same with the future life of the righteous.

The position is very easily made out, that the general expectation of the Jews looked forward to a period of consummation or restitution, frequently called 'the last day'— 'the world to come '—' the reign of the Messiah,'—when a new order of things was to be ushered in, among which was to be the event, denominated the resurrection of the dead. Connected with this was the deliverance of the Jewish nation from the yoke of their enemies-their advancement to acknowledged pre-eminence over all other people-the restoration of the Shekinah-the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its temple in renovated splendor-the endowment of the earth with a new and unexampled fertilitythe cessation of wars and bloodshed—and an indefinite peri

vent.

od of peace, prosperity, and happiness, from the rising to the going down of the sun. This predicted consummation does indeed form the burden of a multitude of the Old Testament prophecies, which the Jews, overlooking the previous ordained humiliation of the Messiah, applied to his first adWe know that they belong to his second advent, and that they constitute the leading features of that economy which was to be ushered in at the time when Christ under the Gospel should take possession of his spiritual and eternal kingdom. Now it is unquestionable that our Lord, in predicting his second coming, Mat. 24 and 25, does in reality announce, in accordance with Dan. 7. 15. 28, the same great era, though it is essentially interwoven with the tissue of his predictions respecting the destruction of Jerusalem, and that appearing which was to take place during the lifetime of some of the men of that generation. We learn from the event, that that prophecy included a vast extent of time, although it was so framed that its chronological relations could not be easily discovered; and consequently we see no reason to doubt that, as they were not instructed to the contrary, the apostles themselves generally anticipated the grand consummation as destined speedily to occur, and probably even within the limits of their own natural lives. And let it here be remarked, that while the predictions of our Lord himself on this subject were in fact but the application of numerous Old Testament prophecies to their true-meant design, these predictions, thus drawn from the earlier prophets, were the foundation of all the knowledge which the apostles possessed respecting the Lord's second coming. In other words, their own announcements on the subject were not strictly original, or uttered de novo, but were the echo of the Saviour's oracles, and of those of the Old Testament on which they were founded. Thus the remarkable passage 1 Thes. 4. 15-17, is but a paraphrase of Christ's prediction, Mat. 24. 29-34, whence he introduces it by stating, "This we say unto you by the word of the

Lord." Consequently, if the true meaning of the symbolic language in which our Lord delivered his predictions was not made known to the apostles, of which their writings afford no evidence, they would naturally interpret them according to the letter, and suppose a speedy fulfilment. It is also to be borne in mind, that the epistles were written in the interval between the crucifixion and the destruction of Jerusalem, with which, from the tenor of the Saviour's predictions, they were led to suppose that the end of the world' (alov, age, dispensation, order of things) was synchronical. What then more natural, nay, unless expressly informed to the contrary, what more inevitable, than that they should have cherished the expectation, that they should themselves behold the Lord appear in the clouds of heaven, and be themselves caught up to meet him in the air?

We may properly adduce in this connexion, from two very opposite sources, a concurrent testimony bearing upon the view of the subject we have now proposed. The first is an extract from Gibbon (Dec. and Fall of the Rom. Emp., p. 185, Lond. ed. 1830): "In the primitive church the influence of truth was very powerfully strengthened by an opinion which, however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, has not been found agreeable to experience. It was universally believed, that the end of the world, and the Kingdom of Heaven were at hand. The near approach of this wonderful event had been predicted by the apostles; the tradition of it was preserved by their earliest disciples, and those who understood in their literal sense the discourses of Christ himself, were obliged to expect the second and glorious coming of the Son of man in the clouds, before that generation was totally extinguished, which had beheld his humble condition upon earth, and which might still be witness of the calamities of the Jews under Vespasian or Hadrian. The revolution of seventeen centuries has instructed us not to press too closely the mysterious language of prophecy and revelation; but as long as

for wise purposes, this error was permitted to subsist in the church, it was productive of the most salutary effects on the faith and practice of Christians, who lived in the awful expectation of that moment when the globe itself, and all the various race of mankind, should tremble at the appearance of the divine Judge."

The other is a passage from Dr. Watts, in his "Essay towards the Proof of a Separate State of Souls," prefixed to his "World to Come."

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"As the patriarchs and the Jews of old, after the Messiah was promised, were constantly expecting his first coming almost in every generation, till he did appear, and many modes of prophetical expression in Scripture, which speak of things long to come as though they were present, or just at hand, gave them some occasion for this expectation; so the Christians of the first age did generally expect the second coming of Christ to judgment, and the resurrection of the dead, in that very age wherein it was foretold. St. Paul gives us a hint of it in 2 Thes. ii. 1, 2. posed the day of the Lord was just appearing. And many expressions of Christ concerning his return, or coming again after his departure, seem to represent his absence as a thing of no long continuance. It is true these words of his may partly refer to his coming to destroy Jerusalem, and the coming in of his kingdom among the gentiles; or his coming by his messenger of death; yet they generally, in their supreme or final sense, point to his coming to raise the dead, and judge the world. And from the words of Christ, also, concerning John, 'If I will that he tarry till I come' (John xxi. 22), it is probable that the apostles themselves at first, as well as other Christians, might derive this apprehension of his speedy coming.

"It is certain (Dr. W. proceeds) that when Christ speaks of his coming in general, and promiscuous, and parabolical terms, whether with regard to the destruction of Jerusalem or the judgment of the world, he saith, Verily I say unto

·

world, the coming of

hand' (Phil. iv. 5):

you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled' (Matt. xxiv. 34). And the Apostles frequently told the the Lord was near: The Lord is at Exhorting one another-so much the more, as you see the day approaching' (Heb. x. 25): and that this is the day of the coming of Christ, verse 37 assures us: For yet a little while, he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.' 'Now it is high time to awake out of sleep the night is far spent; the day is at hand' (Rom. xiii. 12). To him who is ready to judge the quick and the dead' (1 Pet. iv. 5). The end of all things is at hand' (ver. 7). 'The coming of the Lord draweth nigh: Behold the judge standeth at the door' (James v. 8, 9). Seal not

up the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand' (Rev. xxii. 10): 'And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to every man as his work shall be' (ver. 12). And the sacred volume is closed with this assurance, Surely I come quickly:' and the echo and expectation of the Apostle, or the church, Amen! even so, come, Lord Jesus.'

"It is granted (our author goes on) that in prophetical expressions, such as all these are, some obscurity is allowed : and it may be doubtful, perhaps, whether some of them may refer to Christ's coming by the destruction of Jerusalem, or his coming to call particular persons away by his messenger of death, or his appearance at the last judgment. It is granted, also, that it belongs to prophetical language to set things far distant, as it were before our eyes, and make them seem present, or very near at hand. But still these expressions had plainly such an influence on the primitive Christians, as that they imagined the day of resurrection and judgment was very near.”

But to all this we are aware it may be objected, that it impugns the inspiration and infallibility of the sacred writers. If they labored under a mistake on this point, how can they be said to have been prompted by the unerring