nent represents it, should we then be justified in assuming, that the scriptures recognise but one day of judgment? we might, indeed, if there were not numerous testimonies to the contrary; but to do so in the face of these would seem to imply a strange indifference to bible authority. Every day is, in some sense, a day of judgment, for all God's ways are said to be judgment. (Dan. iv. 37.) He "is known by the judgment he executeth." (Psl. viii. 16.) "Every morning doth he bring his judgment to light." (Zeph. iii. 5.) But times of signal retribution upon a particular place or people, are more especially designated as days of judgment, of vengeance, or of recompense: and these are often alluded to in such strong phraseology, that the inattentive reader might easily be led to think that they belonged to the concerns of eternity. See the following, with regard to the destruction of Idumea. "And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig-tree. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven; behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment." (Isaiah xxxiv. 4, 5.) "For it is the day of the LORD's vengeance, and year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into burning pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up forever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever." (ib. 8-10.)

the

Let us now attend to the texts which are considered as direct proofs of a future general judgment: the first is Acts xvii. 30, 31. If I have any knowledge of language this passage affords a refutation of the doctrine it is brought forward to support. It informs us that God connived at the idolatry of former times, because of the ignorance of the people; "but now," says the apostle, "he calls on all men every where to repent." Why? "Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world," &c. Now here a question arises, Are all men, of all ages, to be judged at that appointed day? If so, I again ask, why were not men called on in former times to repent as well

as now? And, moreover, how can it be said that God winked at former wickedness, if it be true that he purposes bringing it to the scrutiny of his bar? It is most manifest that the apostle spake of a judgment in which the people of former times had no concern; and, therefore, not a future general judgment, for in that it is supposed, all will be concerned alike! To me the apostle's meaning is clearly as follows: "In past times, when Jehovah made no express manifestations of himself to the heathen nations, their idolatry was excused, or overlooked, but now, a dispensation of superior glory being opened-its light and privileges being extended to all-all are now called upon to reform their conduct: for God hath appointed in this latter day to judge the world, by the strict and righteous principles of the gospel of his son; and he hath given assurance of this fact he has set the seal of his direct sanction to his son's doctrines, by raising him from the dead." Such, upon the face of the passage, seems its true meaning, and the following considerations go irrefutably to confirm it. 1st. As has been shown before, the gospel dispensation is emphatically termed," the time of God's judgment." 2nd. Christ expressly declares that he will not personally judge men, but “ the words that I have spoken," saith he, "the same shall judge him in the last day :" (John xii. 48.) i. e., the gospel day, or era. 3rd. We have testimony direct both as to the time and the place of this judgment, both of which are in accordance with the above view. "Now is the judgment of this world." (John ix. 30.) "He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth : and the isles shall wait for his law." (Isaiah xìii. 4.) "But let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.” (Jer. ix. 24.) "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth." (Jer. xxiii. 5.) Thus much for my opponent's first direct proof of a general judgment after death: it is precisely the text that I should select for a contrary purpose. His next is in 2 Pet. iii.: this seems, prima facie, to lend more countenance to his position, and without doubt this seeming is greatly strengthened by our educational bias: but never mind, VOL. I.-S

with candid scrutiny for our guide we shall get at the writer's meaning I trust. Did the writer mean that the natural elements -fire, air, water &c., should "melt with fervent heat"?! What meant he by telling those to whom he wrote that they looked for these things? and also, by exhorting them to maintain a strict watch in reference to them? Do not these circumstances seem to imply that they were near at hand? Now that the 13th verse figuratively represents the gospel state, no attentive student of the bible will question. "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." (2 Pet. ii. 13.) With this compare the following in Isaiah: "For, behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of lays, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die a hundred years old; but the sinner, being a hundred years old, shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them." &c. (Isaiah lxv. 17-20.) This cannot belong to eternity, for it is presumed people will not there build houses, nor plant vineyards, nor die even in their hundredth year. John, in Revelation, describes the same state of things. "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." (Rev. xxi. 1-5.) Observe. This New Jerusalem is not with

God in heaven, but it cometh down from God, out of heaven. The destruction of the Jewish state is several times alluded to in the scriptures under the figure of a dissolution of the physical universe. See a prediction to this effect in Haggai. "For thus saith the LORD of hosts, Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land: And I wili shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts." (Hag. ii. 6, 7.) By universal consent of commentators, this alludes to a dissolution of the Mosaic institution, and the bringing in that of the gospel. Paul evidently so understood it. "Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear." (Heb. xii. 26-28.) From the whole, then, it must be apparent to all my attentive hearers, that Peter is speaking of no other judgment than that which was to accompany the dissolution of the old covenant, and the ushering in of the new: his language and imagery are exceedingly bold, it is true, and so, indeed, they well might be, for the events themselves were to be stupendous beyond what had ever before been witnessed.

Should it be objected, that, inasmuch as there is an allusion in the connexion to the destruction of the old world by water, and it took place literally, therefore we ought also to understand the predicted destruction by fire in a similar sense. I answer, that in point of fact the old world was not, itself, destroyed by the deluge: the inhabitants only were destroyed-and not all of them, for Noah and his family were saved, and the writer himself saith "the same world is kept in store, reserved unto fire," &c.: that a literal destruction of the "ungodly men," referred to in the text, took place when the old system was abolished, is not denied.

The next proof of a judgment after death, is in 2 Thessalonians, i. Here we have the coming of Christ with his mighty angels-taking vengeance on the rejectors of the gospel, &c.: were not these matters, in the foregoing debate, clearly proven to

have taken place when the dissolution of the Jewish state, above alluded to, transpired? Was there to be more than one such coming of Christ? If so, as they are all similarly described, how shall we distinguish between them?

A careful analysis of this text, with the context, presents the following as its chief subject-matters, viz.: The apostle writes to comfort the Thessalonian christians under their persecutionshe asserts the righteousness of God in recompensing tribulation upon those that troubled them-he promises them rest from these afflictions when the Lord Jesus should be revealed, to take vengeance on the persecutors and rejectors of his gospel-this vengeance is termed "everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." In the next chapter the apostle terms the time of these transactions" that day ;" and he cautions them against being deceived by reports that it had already arrived, for it should not occur until "a falling away" had taken place; (alluding, no doubt, to some signal apostacy,) and the "man of sin" had been revealed, whom the Lord should 66 consume with the brightness of his coming." This very caution implies that the coming of Christ alluded to was not distant, although less near than some would have had them think; they would not, methinks, have been likely to be deceived with expectations of an immediate coming of Christ to judgment, if they had not been taught that it should happen at no great distance of time. "But then," it may be objected, "this epistle was written to a gentile church, and said church was situated in a gentile city; how then could the overthrow of the Jewish state concern them ?" Thessalonica, it is true, was a gentile city; but the number of Jews which were there seems to have been considerable, and quite influential also, (see Acts xvii.) and extremely active in their opposition to the gospel. "Now, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath-days reasoned with them out of the scriptures; opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. But the