persecute the saints at Damascus; and then he was also made personally acquainted with the kingdom of God, by the unspeakable grandeur of his exaltation and vision, in the third heaven.

The revelation made to the three disciples above-named, of the outward glory of the kingdom of God, is recorded by Matthew, in these words: For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily, I say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.

The evangelist immediately proceeds to show how this saying was fulfilled :

1. And after six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John, (his brother,) and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart,

2. And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

3. And behold there appeared unto them Moses, and Elias talking with him.

4. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles: one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

5. While he yet spake, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

6. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.

The first impressions made upon the mind of the disciples by the commencement of this manifestation were impressions of joy. But as the representation increased in its glory, and they beheld the face of their Lord kindling into the brightness of the sun, and his raiment growing into a fabric of pure light, then, looking up and around, they saw the whole mountain canopied by a cloud, with the very brightness of heaven in it; and while it filled everything about them with

its unearthly effulgence, a voice, as unfamiliar to human ears as the cloud was to human eyes, announced, in tones of thunder, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him, their joy was converted into dread, and, no longer able to look upon a scene of such overwhelming magnificence and grandeur, they fell upon their faces, amazed and confounded.

St. Peter makes use of this august scene, to confirm his words respecting the coming kingdom of God in his second Epistle: For we have not followed cunningly-devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his Majesty ; * * * when we were with him in the holy mount.

This was but a miniature representation of the outward or sensible appearance of the kingdom of God, restricted and adapted to mortal eyes; and yet mortal eyes could not endure the sight. If even this small glimpse of the glory which will fill and distinguish the kingdom of God could not be looked upon by mortal eyes, well might St. Paul say, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

In order to dwell in that kingdom, we must have a physical organization adapted to its glories: we must have bodies. of very different powers and capabilities from those we now possess. The image of the earthly cannot be borne there ; we must bear the image of the Lord from heaven; yea, we must be like unto his glorious body. This is the resurrection body.

The next inquiry connected with this subject is, who will dwell in this kingdom of God, and with what body will they come? This leads to some reflections upon the resurrection, which will occupy a separate chapter.

THE FIRST RESURRECTION; OR, RESURRECTION OF THE JUST.

From what I have said on the subject of the millennium, it will appear that the resurrection is the epoch in man's

existence which introduces it. It cannot be supposed, that so great an event in the being of man, as his Resurrection, or his new life, would have been left out of the visions of the Apocalypse. The glorified state of man's existence, after his present mortal life, is evidently intended to be represented in the fourth verse of the twentieth chapter. Christ and his apostles have said much on this subject, and held it up as a fundamental doctrine of the Christian religion; and the Apocalypse, as I have before remarked, seems to be a pictorial, or scenic, representation of what they taught.

4. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

The prophet by this description of those he saw living and reigning with Christ, does not refer to the martyrs only; this worship of the beast and his image, and bearing the mark of the false religion which they represent, draws the line of distinction between the godly and the ungodly. And to the righteous only, does the prophet's description apply. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.

If it is contended that this is merely an allegorical resurrection, and means nothing more than the ultimate triumph of Christianity over the errors and superstition of all false religion-what will be said of the second resurrection which takes place at the end of the thousand years? That must be allegorical too; and, if both are so, there would be no resurrection at all. And if the first-described resurrection is allegorical, and the last one literal, then there would be a resurrection of the ungodly only and no resurrection of the just! But what does Christ say, and his apostles, on this subject? All they say is summed up by the prophet in this short sentence of the sixth verse: Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection-that is, the just-the righ

teous-the children of the kingdom only are the subjects of this first resurrection. And, to make the distinction more emphatic, the prophet says, in the fifth verse: But the rest of the dead lived not again, until the thousand years were finished.

Christian doctrine, as well as the history of earthly governments, are represented in the Apocalypse in symbols, figures and metaphors, when they can be represented in that way. But, can we conceive of any figure or metaphor, that could adequately present the resurrection to our view? There was but one way in which the resurrection could be scen, and that was in the simple facts as given by the prophet:Once I saw the people of God persecuted and cruelly tormented by men, their names cast out as evil, and themselves banished from their country and kindred, and beheaded [a general term for martyrdom] for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. But now I behold them in the kingdom of God, living and reigning with Christ a thousand years. This the only representation the prophet could give of the resurrection—this is all that he could say about it. And while he gazed upon this scene of the future and glorious life of the righteous— looking out upon it from the solitude and banishment he was then suffering for the testimony he had borne to the truth of Christianity, what transports of joy must he have experienced under the assurance that he would have his portion amongst them?-that the solitude of Patmos would be exchanged for the unspeakable glories of the kingdom of Godthe thousand years' reign with Christ and his saints.

As this vision represents a subject of greater interest to the church than any other that has yet been under our notice, I wish to enter upon its discussion understandingly. And, the first point to be settled is: what is meant by the resurrection?

This question to the generality of Christians may seem to be a very singular one, and they at once answer it by saying: "Why, does not everybody know that the resurrection

"means the rising again of the bodies of all the dead at the "day of judgment, according to the words of the Lord? "All that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of "Man and shall come forth?"

This is the popular opinion of the resurrection, and it is precisely the opinion that was entertained of it by the Jews, as far as they believed in the resurrection at all, and it has come down with the current of Christian belief with such force that it will require a strong effort to stem the current, and overcome its effects upon our judgment and our faith.

That the Jews and early converts to Christianity held opinions on this subject not entirely free from error, we must infer from the words addressed by our Savior to Martha, on the occasion of her brother's death; as well as from the elaborate and philosophical argument in which St. Paul vindicates the true view of that subject, in his epistle to the. Corinthian Church.

When Christ assured Martha that her brother should rise again, she replied, according to the Jewish belief respecting the resurrection: I know that he shall rise again in the resur rection at the last day. Jesus answered her and said: I amthe resurrection and the life.

Now, if Martha's belief had expressed all that was embraced in a proper view of the resurrection, what necessity was there for these words of our Savior? He evidently intended to give the mind of his infant church a new direction and a new impulse, and to prepare it for the fuller instruction that would be given in the apostolic days on that subject.

To answer the preliminary question above stated, I will say, that the resurrection is simply a change in the mode of man's existence. And I hold that the present body of man, which dies and goes to corruption, will never be reänimated; it will never perform the functions of life again. It has served its purpose in carrying the man through his mortal state; but as it has no adaptation suitable to the immortal state that state which flesh and blood cannot inherit or