it will follow that the sinner will also receive his reward, after having finished the work of life and passed the limits of his present career. But before we enter upon the proof of the position, it should be remarked, that when we speak of the reward of obedience, we mean a reward of grace, and not of debt. Though we can merit nothing at the hand of God, by our obedience, yet God of his free grace in Christ Jesus, has promised a future reward to all such as obey the gospel in this life. We will now attempt to show that our conduct in this life will have a bearing upon our condition in a future state. Luke xiv. 13, 14, "When thou makest a feast call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." Here benevolence has the promise of a reward at the resurrection of the just; which proves such reward to be in a future state. The man then, who from true christian love, bestows his goods to feed the poor, will enjoy a reward in the future world, in which the sordid miser will have no part; and yet, which he might secure if he would pursue the same course. Therefore the case of the benevolent and the miserly, will both be affected in a future state, by their conduct in the present life. Heb. xi. 35. "And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection." This clearly shows that holy martyrs died in the belief, that their fidelity and sufferings would be rewarded with a better resurrection in the future world; which clearly implies, that such as accept deliverance, or procure exemption from suffering in this life, by a renunciation of the truth, or by betraying in any way the cause of God, will be raised from the dead, less to their advantage in the world to come. Rev. ii. 10. "Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life." This text is too plain to need comment. The faithful here have the promise of a reward after death. And will not the unfaithfulness of the sinner affect him after death, by depriving him of that reward? We might multiply quotations on this subject, but it is unnecessary; the above plain scriptural evidence must convince every candid reader, that we are all acting in this life for the retributions of a future world.

XIII. The scriptures teach that there is to be a day of

general judgment, when the whole human family will be judg ed and rewarded according to their moral characters, or conduct in this life. If men receive all the punishment due to their sins, in this life, then every man must be judged as he passes along in life's career; hence, if we can show that there will be a day of general judgment, the doctrine of future punishment will follow as a necessary consequence. There are several classes of scripture texts which might be urged in proof of a future and general judgment.

1. It is worthy of notice, that the scriptures speak of the judgment as an event yet future, and not as though it had taken place, or as though it were now transpiring every day. Eccl. xii. 14. "For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil." Mark the expression, God shall bring, not has brought, nor does bring, every work into judgment. Rom. xiv. 10. "For we must," not do, "all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." 2 Cor. v. 10. "For we must," not do, "all appear before the judgment seat of Christ."

2. Another class of scriptures fix the judgment at a set time or on an appointed day. Acts xvii. 31. "He hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness. "Rom. ii. 16. "In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ." Jude 6. "The judgment of the great day." 2 Pet. ii. 9. "The day of judgment." John xii. 48. "He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him. The word that I speak, the same shall judge him at the last day." These expressions, "the day of judgment," "the day when God shall judge the secrets of men," "the judgment of the great day," "that day," "" the last day," &c. were common among the Jews; and how they understood them, and consequently how they are to be understood when they occur in the scriptures, may be seen by the following extract from Josephus. "For all men, the just as well as the unjust, shall be brought before God the word, for to him hath the Father comitted all judgment. This person, exercising a righteous judgment of the Father towards all men, hath prepared a just sentence for every one according to his works; at whose judgment seat when all men and angels, and demons shall stand, they will

send forth one voice, and say, JUST IS THE JUDGMENT." See discourse on Hades.

3. The scriptures speak of the judgment of former generations as yet to come. Matt. x. 15. "It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city." xi. 23, 24. " And thou Capernaum, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, in the day of judgment than for thee." Luke xi. 31, 32. "The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and condemn it. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it.” It is here declared that it shall be more tolerable, in the day of judgment, for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah, than for those cities where Jesus preached and wrought miracles without effecting their moral reform. Mark the peculiar language; Christ does not say it was more tolerable for the land of Sodom than it shall be for thee, in the day of judgment, but it shall be more tolerable, &c. referring the whole to the future, clearly implying that those ancient cities, which in ages past had withered from existence under the divine displeasure, had not yet received their final judgment, and that they were yet to be judged together with the unbelieving Jews of our Lord's time. This clearly shows that the final judgment and punishment of sinners are matters which belong to the future world. Again, it is said in the above quotations, that the queen of the south, and the men of Nineveh, shall rise in judgment with those to whom Christ preached, and condemn them. Now, the Ninevites, here referred to, lived eight hundred and sixty-two years before Christ, and the queen of the south made her visit to see the wisdom of Solomon about one thousand years before Christ; and yet these are said to rise up in the judgment with the Jews of our Lord's day. And how can this be unless a general judgment is referred to? Surely, generations so remote from each other in point of time, between whose earthly allotments, nations rose and fell, and millions came and went on the waves of intervening ages; we say, two such generations declared to rise up in the same judgment, and at some future time, must prove beyond all doubt a future and general judgment.

XIV. The scriptures teach that the judgment, and conse

quently the punishment of the wicked, are to take place after death, and at the general resurrection; which must determine the punishment to be in a future state. 2 Tim. iv. 1. “I charge thee therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing." 1 Peter iv. 5. "Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead." Acts x. 42. "And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be judge of quick and dead." In these texts, by the quick, we are to understand those who shall be alive upon the earth when the judgment shall sit; and by the dead, we are to understand such as die previously to the judgment who will be raised from the dead.

What most clearly confirms the point, that these scriptures relate to a judgment after death, and at the general resurrection, is the circumstance that Christ is declared to be the judge. There can be no doubt but it is in the Redeemer's glorified character that he will judge the world; and if so, it follows that the judgment must be after death, and at the general resurrection; otherwise all those generations and nations of men, who had their being, and passed into the future world before the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, have no part in the judgment; whereas, Christ, in his glorified character, is constituted judge of the world, of the "quick and dead." If Christ is the judge of all men in his glorified character, the judgment must be subsequent to his resurrection and exaltation, which proves beyond the possibility of doubt that men are judged after death; for the inhabitants of four thousand years had lived and were dead before this event. This view is sustained by the Apostle, Acts xvii. 31. "He hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." This text contains so many reasons in support of the above view that it deserves particular attention."

1. It speaks of the appointment of a day of judgment "in the which he will judge the WORLD. The world then is to be judged by Jesus Christ, and by the world, in this text, nothing less than all men can be understood. Nor

can this be set aside by universalists, by saying that it is the Jewish world which is here spoken of, and that it was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem; for this discourse was not directed to the Jews, nor was it spoken concerning them. The text in question is a part of that celebrated discourse delivered by St. Paul in Athens, to the idolatrous and philosophical Greeks. The connexion shows that the judgment is universal. The Apostle says, "the times of this ignorance God

winked at," which shows that the heathen world is the subject of discourse. He farther says, God" now commandeth all men every where to repent; because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world." The expression "all men every where," pointing out the subjects of the divine command, enjoining repentance, corresponds with the expression "world," pointing out the subjects of judgment; hence, if all men every where are commanded to repent, then, all men every where are to be judged. Here then is a day of judgment predicted which does not relate to the Jews, nor to the destruction of their city, nor subversion of their polity. It would have been a very singular mode of reasoning to urge the necessity of repentance upon the Greeks, because God had appointed a day in the which he would judge the Jews in righteousness, and burn up their city and disperse them among the surrounding nations..

2. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is set forth in the text, as an evidence or an assurance of this universal judgment. There are two points of light in which the resurrection of Christ is an assurance of a general judgment. First, it confirmed the doctrines of the gospel, one of which is that of a general judgment; and secondly, it furnished clear evidence of a general resurrection; for "if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? but if there be no resurrection of the dead then is Christ not risen. But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept." See 1 Cor. xv. 12, 13, 20. It must be difficult to see on what other ground the resurrection of Jesus Christ can be an assurance that all men will be judged; and if this is the correct view of the subject, it follows that the judgment is subsequent to death, and at the general resurrection.