been so translated, as Jesus Christ asserts in this passage, "all that are in the graves shall come forth," to wait their different destinies, according to their works, whether they be good, or whether they be evil.

A new question, therefore, of course arises. If the soul, immediately after death, pass into a state of happiness or misery, will the respective degrees of happiness and of misery receive any augmentation after the final judgment?

An answer in the affirmative to this question must, doubtless, be given: otherwise, if, with respect to the state of the soul, when separated from the body, the degree of its happiness or misery, be finally determined instantly upon its separation from its earthly partner, what will be the issues of a day of judgment? Nay, what necessity for such a day?-That a day of final judgment will take place is declared in so full and circumstantial a manner by the Spirit of Truth, that not even the wicked can disbelieve it: and of so much practical importance is this great doctrine,

that, notwithstanding scriptural proofs of its reality have been incidentally adduced, as we have proceeded in this inquiry, it may not be improper to bring forward a somewhat more detailed citation of them.

Not only does "he, who is ordained of God" to preside in Judgment on that day, allude to it in many of his parables; but he actually describes the awful manner of proceeding, and the momentous consequences of the day, both to the righteous and to the wicked. In his parablesThe tares and the wheat, the latter preserved with care, and the former consumed by fire,-The net cast into the sea, and drawn to shore full of different kinds of fishes; the good gathered into vessels, and the bad cast away or rejected,-The Lord requiring an account from his servants of talents entrusted to them, and of goods which they were not to abuse,-The ten virgins, five received into bliss, and five excluded by their own wilful neglect, sloth, and folly,-The king who made a marriage for his son,-and the fate of him who presumed to appear as a guest, with

out a wedding-garment. These, the Great Judge himself declares, significantly point to "the end of the world;" when he also declares he will "come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him; when he will sit upon the throne of his glory, and when before him will be gathered all nations; and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; when he will say to those on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father! inherit the Kingdom prepared for you, from the foundation of the world;' and to those on his left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed! into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."" And, lest in the fine picture, whence this short portion is taken, any should be led to suppose that the whole of Christianity consists in beneficence or good works, and that at the last day, faith or belief in christian doctrine will have no effect upon the eternal destiny of mankind, Jesus says, with an emphasis which ought to penetrate every heart, "This is the will of him that sent me, that every one who seeth the

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son, and believeth on him, may have ever lasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.' "* Again—“ I am the Resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die :"+ Or (as the latter words should be rendered) shall not die for ever, or everlastingly; ου μή αποθάνη εἰς τὸν ἀιῶνα : plainly intimating that, in a christian, faith and good works should be united; and that no person is really a christian, where this is not the case. For, no Christian can say of his character, what Christ, on the cross, said of his Mission," It is finished," till that character be finally distinguished equally by sted fast faith and pure morals. Such an one alone will Christ commend at the last day, as "a good and faithful servant," and invite to "enter into the joy of his Lord:" such an one alone, according to the prophet Malachi, will "abide the day of Christ's coming, and stand when he appeareth:"

for, after noticing the conduct of infidels and evil-doers, the same prophet says, "they that feared the Lord spake one to another," i. e. conferred frequently together, not allowing the prosperous state, and temporary escape of the wicked to shake their pious confidence: " and the Lord hearkened and heard them; and a book of remembrance was written before him, for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name; and they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day, when I make up my jewels. Then shall ye discern between the righteous and the wicked; between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. For, behold! the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up; but unto you, that fear my name, shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings.'

As, in one part of this passage, the wicked may infallibly know their wretched doom at the day of judgment, so, in the