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dead will be raised at the coming of the Lord, then indeed this text would be in point; but as it is, it adds nothing to my mind; see also Psalm 1xii. 12. Does this mean the general judgment? Your fourth proof, Rev. xxii. 12, is of the same class, and subject to the same difficulties. The

third is from Matt. xxv. 31-32. You here again italicise all nations. Now if all nations means all the dead, then your point would be gained. Does all nations, (Isa. xxii. Matt. xxviii. 19) or all flesh, (Joel iii. 8) mean all the dead? If not, why not the above text mean that the all nations

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who have flown into the Lord's house, the all nations who have been taught and baptized, and the all flesh upon whom the Spirit has been poured out, shall be thered before him? For surely you will admit that some that have flown into the Lord's house, that have been taught and baptized, and upon whom the Spirit has been poured out, are wicked. And again, might not all nations mean all that are upon the earth at the time of the Lord's coming? See Isa. lx. 18-21; Joel iii. 2; Jer. iii. 17. These are plain without comment. In 1 Cor. xv. 22-26, Paul says that every man shall be raised in his own order: so I understand him. Now if all the dead are raised at once at the coming of the Lord, where and what is the order?

Yours in the love of truth, A. S. The argument of the second essay on the coming of the Lord is this:1st. Ascertain the events concomitant with the second coming of the Lord. 2nd. Then examine whether these events can be viewed as compatible with a subsequent Millennium. The conclusion from such a comparison must be either that they are, or are not, compatible. If, however, they are shown to be compatible, it will not prove that a Millennium must follow them; but, on the other hand, if they are not shown to be compatible with such a state of things, then it will logically follow that there is no Millennium after the second coming of the Lord, unless we change the names of things, and call heaven and eternity a Millennium. Four events alleged to be concomitant with the second coming of the Lord were adduced in that essay. The first two are admitted by our correspondent: the third, questioned. These four

events are

1st. The resurrection of all the dead saints.

2nd. The transformation of all the living saints.

3rd. The judgment and final separation of the righteous and wicked.

4th. A change in the structure of the material universe, as connected with our planet; or the creation of new heavens and earth.

Now to consider attentively his objection to the 3rd event, we observe 1st. That if the general judgment immediately follows upon the second coming of the Lord, which we all agree to be a literal and personal return to this planet, the resurrection of the wicked must also be contemporaneous with that event. In logic, however, it matters not whether one prove the resurrection of the wicked to accompany his coming by express testimony; provided only, we exhibit such testimony that the wicked dead, or that all mankind are to be rewarded at his coming. We indeed attempted both the demonstration of such resurrection of the wicked; also, the demonstration of a general judgment. We are redundant rather than deficient in proof. Our correspondent appears to distrust the evidence for the simultaneous resurrection of the wicked more than for the simultaneous judgment of the righteous and wicked. Now it so happens the latter, being spoken of more frequently than the former, affords numerically more testimonies, and perhaps somewhat clearer; nevertheless, that the wicked are raised at the same time with the righteous, is as evident from the fact of their simultaneous judgment, as it could be from any direct affirmation concerning their resurrection. Still, however, the passage quoted from John v. 39, indicates not only by the word, but by "all in the graves" and "hearing his voice," one and the same voice and hour, for all in the graves. "All in the graves" is the subject of the proposition, and certainly includes both good and bad, as defined in the pas

sage. Now as hour and voice are applied equally to the whole subject of the proposition, it is unreasonable that the "hour" means periods a thousand apart; and the "voice" means two voices at immense intervals. It is, then, not in the word hour the point and strength of the argument lies, though that may be shown from similar passages to denote a particular day or time; but in the facts of all in the graves hearing the voice in that hour and coming forth the doers of good and the doers of evil-the one for life, the other for condemnation. To rescue the mind of our correspondent from all difficulty on the term hour, it will be only necessary for him to reflect that although it were clearly proved to denote a lifetime, no one pretends that in any sort of language, literal or figurative, it ever meant a thousand years.

Our correspondent assumes too much about the indefinite import of the word hour in verse 25, and in chap. iv. 21; ii. 4,* as well as labors unnecessarily on the phrases "all nations," "every man," Matth. xxv. The stress lies not on these words, but on the fact that the Lord then makes a separation, placing the parties on different sides, and addressing them accordingly; and more especially on the word then, Matth. xvi. 27, "For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his holy angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works." Then, not before, but at that time he will reward, &c.

2 Thess. i. 6-10. The whole passage, Rom. ii. read together needs no comment. "God will render to every man according to his works." Two questions arise-Who are included in "every man ?" and When are these to be judged? Both questions are most distinctly answered in this passage. Continues the Apostle, "God will render to every man-to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor, (he will render) eternal life. But to them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, (he will render) indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evilof the Jew first, and also of the Gentile. But glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh good—to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile; for there is no respect of persons with God: for as many as have sinned without law shall perish without law; and as many have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law(WHEN?)-in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." The persons and time are clearly noted. If any thing can be wanting to fill up the picture and to establish the fact, it will be found in the words of the same Apostle, 2 Thess. i. 6-10, "It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. And to you who are troubled, rest with us (till, or) when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus

But express and definite as is this language, it is neither more precise nor unambiguous than are two pas-Christ; who shall be punished with sages in Paul's epistles-Rom. ii. and *Hour either literally or figuratively denotes a definite time; but that definite time means not always sixty minutes. Jesus said, "The hour is come," John xvii. 1; xii. 23, 27; xiii. 1; Luke xii. 53, &c. Even in the passage quoted by our correspondent, it is used definitely My hour is not yet come." John ii. 4; "the hour is coming," iv. 21, denote a particular time, not an age, not a thousand years; but a certain day, an era, the commencement of a new period-not the whole period, but the beginning of it.

everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired by all them that believe."

May we not now ask, What need have we of farther witnesses ? Here we are most expressly informed that

the Pagans who know not God, and |
the Jews and Pagans who disobey
the gospel, shall be punished with
utter destruction WHEN the Lord
comes to be glorified and admired by
his saints. Till farther informed I
shall therefore hold it as established
by divine testimony, that the coming
of the Lord to be glorified and to be
admired by his people, is the day of
destruction and perdition of ungodly
men. Hence the resurrection and
ultimate condemnation of the wicked
are to be at the coming of the Lord
are to be simultaneous with the re-
surrection of the just, and not to be a
thousand or three hundred thousand
years after.

Lord in the air? I will be told it is very plain. Though all is done in one day, there is a first, second, and a third. So say I. But to contemplate 1 Cor. xv. 22, “Every man in his one band," as Macknight renders it. Christ the first fruit, by himself; then the dead in Christ at his coming. What next? "Then cometh the end." No resurrection of the wicked at all, then, according to Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 22, unless it follow immediately that of the just: for it cannot be after the end. If it be before the end, it must instantly follow the resurrection of the just. The mistake is, that Paul here writes only of the just; but to the Romans and to the Thessalonians, of just and unjust. We, then, expound Paul to the Corinthians by Paul to the Romans and to the Thessalonians, and not as some others who expound Paul to the Romans and Thessalonians by Paul to the Corinthians. The difference of our method expounds the difference in conclusions to which we have come.

But when I say that the resurrection of the just and of the unjust are to be simultaneous events, I am far from thinking that there may not be an order and priority, even in a resurrection consummated in one literal hour or day. When I am taught by Paul that the dead in Christ shall be raised before the living saints shall be changed, I do not suppose an interval of a day nor an hour, much less a thousand years. And when I affirm my conviction that the dead saints shall be raised first, the living saints changed in the second place, and the ungodly raised in the third place, I would not be understood as intimating an interval of one week, or one day, or one hour, much less a thou-heavens and earth to be created when sand years. There may be order—a first, second, and third, in one minute as well as in a million of years.

Not observing this fact may be the occasion of my correspondent's embarrassment, intimated in the closing period of his communication. In 1 Cor. xvi. 22, Paul says that "every man shall be raised in his own order." Now if all the dead are raised at once, at the coming of the Lord, where and what is the order? I answer, What or where is the order when the dead saints are raised first, and the living saints changed next, and yet both are taken up together at once to meet the

I hold it, then, that my third event, or fact concomitant with the coming of the Lord, is unequivocally established. But if any yet doubt, I have other reasons and evidence to offer.

Some there are who have indirectly assailed my fourth event contemporaneous with the coming of the Lord. This they aim at by alleging the new

the Lord comes, or making out of
them a mere moral improvement in
governments and in society. But as
this is not formerly avowed, I shall
not assume the labor of demonstrating
that however often heaven and earth
may be used figuratively in visions
and symbolic apocalypses, they are
not so used in Peter's writing. I, for
one, look for new heavens and a new
earth when the Lord comes.
Of this,
however, we have something more to
say in its proper time.

From different sources I have learned that my remarks on Rev. xx. are not distinctly understood No

thing yet, however, has come before
us in a tangible form. No one, in-
deed, seems disposed to hazard an
opinion contrary to the grand position
expressed on that subject-That as
the first, so is the second resurrection
—both literal, or both figurative: and
that two literal resurrections of the
dead, a thousand years apart, are no
where intimated in the whole Bible,
unless in this single passage. And in
the third place, that to except out of
all the symbolic imagery of the 20th
of the Apocalypse from the govern-
ment of the canons of interpretation,
so much only as pertains to the first
resurrection would be an anomaly
an innovation subversive of the intelli-
gibility of the whole treatise, of which
this is but a paragraph. These are
three grand points in the final settle-
ment of this long litigated case.

A. C.

THE "CONFESSION & ABJU.
RATION" OF J. THOMAS, M.D.

[WE stated on the cover of the British Millennial Harbinger for July, and again on the cover of the October number, that the far-famed John Thomas, M.D. of Richmond, Va. had publicly abjured all connection with the churches of the Reformation in the

United States, more especially with Brother Campbell and his associates: that he had not only renounced what be learned from them, but what he taught whilst among them -counting it all as dross, and wishing it to sink into oblivion; thus repudiating the whole, that he might, by re-immersion, enter upon a new era as the freed-man of Christ. The following"Confession and Abjuration," is extracted from the Herald of the Future Age, dated March 3, 1847, and was published about the time Brothers Campbell and Henshall came to England.]

selves as free from these; and, who
regard with pious horror, the possibility
of "heresy" being an ingredient of
their religionism. But, it is not so
with the Editor of the Herald of the
Future Age. He admits he has erred
"in many things;" and, it affords him
great and pleasant satisfaction to an-
nounce to his readers, that by the
profitable assistance of the sacred
writings, he has discovered some mis-
takes, which, if not corrected, would
prove fatal to his eternal well-being.
His errors are of a positive and nega-
tive character-errors of omission, and
errors of commission.
While it may
be a palliation to say, he erred in sin-
cerity, he considers such a plea no va-
lid excuse or expiation. Paul com-
mitted many heinous offences igno-
rantly; therefore he found mercy,
but he was not therefore pardoned;
so, because we have erred ignorantly
and at the same time honestly con-
tending for what we believed to be
true, we have also "obtained mercy,"
in the forbearance of God toward us,
seeing that we are still spared to the
discovery of the sandiness of our foun-
dation, and the correction and abju-
ration of our errors unto life.

When we look back upon the past 13 years, it is with mingled astonishment and satisfaction; but though in the course of that period, we have had many regrets, yet from the position we now occupy in viewing "the landscape o'er," we cannot confess that our mingled feeling is disturbed by the bitterness of regret.

I. First, we remark, that our moral training at the hands of a kind and pious mother, was the best her WHEN We consider the nature of education in the Calvinism of the flesh and blood, and the constitution Scottish Kirk could enable her to of the world to which it stands related, give. She instilled into us a profound it seems impossible, that a man should veneration for the Holy Scriptures, struggle for twelve long years, in and which we retain to this day. We with the darkness and evil by which had more veneration for the book, he is surrounded, and have no errors than accurate knowledge of its conto confess and abjure. There may tents. Hence, while our youth was be some immaculates, who, being wise strictly moral, the hereditary princiin their own conceit, consider them-ple of our flesh was strong and unsub

dued.

cestral sins, were the leading characteristics of our early manhood. These urged us on to "high things," as we then esteemed them. We sought distinction in politics and science, "the mean ambition and pride of men;" but God in his goodness foiled all our schemes, and we found ourselves an alien in a strange land.

Such are the leading facts in the case as well as we can remember at this distance of time. We cast no blame on our friend, while we condemn ourselves. With the views he had then, and seems still to retain— and which for many years we have shared with him and others, we should, and doubtless have pursued, the same course; but the eyes of our understanding being enlightened, as we verily believe, we confess that the whole matter was a mistake, and as such make this public abjuration thereof:

Pride and ambition, our an- | kind of thoughts flitting athwart the mind; but we replied, that we thought that, being a stranger, he ought not to press us to do this; but that we should wait, and prove whether we were worthy; we might discredit our profession, which would be worse than none." He very politely expressed that he had no fears of that kind. We told him, however, frankly, II. With a very, very insufficient that we were seeking the truth, and knowledge of the word, amounting if the course he recommended were almost to nothing, we became a truth-scriptural we would comply. He seeker. We sought truth as a worldly-cited the case of the Ethiopian officer, minded, but otherwise moral young and in the conversation quoted Acts man might be supposed to seek it ii. 38, which proved an end to all we sought it at the lips of the world's controversy. prophets and diviners. Events introduced us to our worthy friend Walter Scott of the Protestant Unionist. We conversed on the Book of Daniel; we were acquainted with these prophecies then only so far as they are interpreted by Rollin which we have elsewhere by a different interpretation proved to be fallacious. If, therefore, the Kingdom of God was touched upon, and we think it was not, it is very certain we did not understand it. However, said our friend, we agree very well as to generals; let us see if we cannot come to an understanding as to particulars. You believe that Jesus is the Christ!" The truth is, in relation to this, we could not have told when we did not "believe" it! We answered " yes." "What hinders, then, that you should be a Christian ? You believe that Christ died for sins, was buried, and rose again, why not be baptized ?" "Yes, we believed this, because it was so written, but we had always supposed ourselves as good a Christian as others, though not in a church. We had belonged to the Independents when 17 years old, for about six months, when we withdrew; we had always been a church-goer, and had officiated as a sort of chaplain on board a ship. A Christian! Could we be more a Christian than we were? Such was the

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1. Because our "faith" rested mainly, if not solely, upon the word of man.

2. Because that most excellent man, we think, did not then, neither does he now, appear to know, nor did we, what the Gospel of God is concerning his Son.

3. Because we mistook the mystery of the Gospel for the Gospel itself.

4. Because the editor was a stranger to the Abrahamic disposition and mode of thinking, which are the true type of " repentance unto life.”

5. Because, being destitute of this child-like frame of mind, even had he known and believed the Gospel of the Kingdom, his faith would not have been imputed to him for righteous

ness.

6. Because that men are 66 saved by the hope," being ignorant in toto of that hope, he was not saved by it,

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