v. 10: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things in body according to that he hath done, whether good or bad." Also, Paul's testimony in the Acts of the Apostles: "God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance to all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." What we are assured of by the resurrection of Christ, is, the execution, in the resurrection, of a righteous judgment on all men.

XXI. THE TIME OF THE TRIAL OF THE DEAD.

It is under the opening of the sixth seal of Revelation seventh chapter, where the servants of God are sealed preparatory to the resurrection. And under the seventh seal, (chapter viii. 1,) when there is silence in heaven about the space of half an hour; when the great Mediator ceases to plead for sinners, the day of grace ends; then the judgment or trial will proceed on the living inhabitants of the earth. That done, Christ will appear in the clouds of heaven, and come to the Ancient of days and the scene of trial, to announce the verdict with a shout, and deliver all his saints as soon as they are declared innocent or justified, and raise them to eternal life in the twinkling of an eye. We are now justified by faith; we must, however, be declared justified at the day of judgment, before the effects of the fall will be taken away, and the saints be restored to God's perfect image and glory.

XXII. THE XXVTH CHAPTER OF MATTHEW.

This chapter does not, as has been supposed, describe the great trial, but the separation between the righteous and wicked, which will be accomplished by the resurrection of the just. And when the separation is accomplished, Christ will address each party, and show why he has made this separation. But through the whole scene, he acts the part of the executor of judgment. All nations will be before him, not in the body to be separated, but the living in the body and the dead in the spirit. They will be "judged, (tried) according to (by the same rule of) men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." [Query. Did the judgment, or trial of the dead, begin or sit, when they took away the papal dominion in 1798? See Dan. vii. 26, compared with Dan. vii. 9, 10.]

CHAPTER II.

THE JEWS.

I. ARE THE JEWS, AS SUCH, TO BE RESTORED TO THE LAND OF PALESTINE?

THIS question is of so great moment, in the estimation of many people, that, until it is met and fully disproved, no argument can avail with them in proving the speedy coming of Christ. I shall endeavor to meet the question in as brief a manner as possible and do it justice.

1. They will not go back to Palestine as a nation, because they have no good title to the land.

The Jews profess to be the proprietors of that land, first, on the ground of the title given by promise, to " Abraham and his seed." This, of course, is a good title, if they can prove themselves the subjects of it. If they cannot do this, their title to the land fails; it is null and void.

Let us test this question. Gen. xvii. 8: "And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." Abraham and his seed are the heirs, and the undoubted heirs of that land. We will now turn to Gal. iii. 15, 16: "Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; though it be but a MAN's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no

man disannulleth or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his SEED were the promises made: he saith not and to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ." If there is any strength or point in the argument of the apostle, it is, that Christ, not the Jews, is the heir to the inheritance of Canaan.

If man had made and confirmed the covenant, it could not be altered; but it was God who did it; how much less, then, can it be changed. It was made to and confirmed in Christ; then Christ must possess the inheritance it gives, and not the Jews. But Christ is not the alone heir, but all the members of his body are a part of himself, and will share his glory and his inheritance. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female; but ye are all one in Christ Jesus; and if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. iii. 27-29.

66

Every Christian, is, therefore, a rightful heir to the land of promise, with Abraham and Christ.

But, secondly, the Jews claim a right to the soil, on the ground, that, under the law of Moses, God brought them in, and put them in possession of the land of promise. This, Paul also meets as he did the other claim. He shows that if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. And having given it to Abraham and Christ by promise, the law which came four hundred and thirty years after the promise was made, could not break or

disannul that promise, by taking the promised inheritance from Christ to give it to the Jews.

But the Jew again asks, Wherefore then serveth the law, if it does not confer a title to the inheritance? Why was it given? See Gal. iii. Paul answers, "because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made." "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith." The true heir had not come, and God placed the Jewish nation in possession of the land until he should come. When he came, the husbandmen said, this is the heir, come let us kill him; and they cast him out of the vineyard and slew him. What shall the Lord of that servant do unto those wicked husbandmen? He will miserably destroy those wicked husbandmen, and let out the vineyard to other husbandmen. The Pharisees saw that he had spoken this against them. If there is any point to this parable of the vineyard, it teaches the doctrine of the forfeiture of the possession of that land by the Jews. The true seed has now come, and it belongs to him, and all who are in him by faith, and are thus Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. But as yet, Jerusalem is trodden down of the Gentiles, and will be until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Abraham, in his life-time, never had enough of the land that he could call his own, by virtue of the promise, to set his foot on. Acts vii. Christ, the true seed of Abraham, while on earth, had not where to lay his head. Abraham, together with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise, by faith sojourned in the land of promise as in a