from these, they did not; nor by any exercise of the unassisted human intellect did they; "the world by wisdom knew not God." God therefore has revealed Himself to us in His Word; and it is from that Word alone that we can truly, fully, and authoritatively learn what He is.

All men have their own ideas of what they would like God to be, and what they think He ought to be; and these ideas will vary with the men that have them. The man who loves evil thinks that God ought not to punish evil, and at last cheats himself into a belief that He will not. To such God says, "Thou thoughtest wickedly that I was such an one as thyself." We are not to go to God's Book with our mind made up as to the character of God; but in order to learn from that Book what God's character is. And once fully persuaded in our own mind that the Bible is the revealed and inspired Book of God, we are to receive all it says without a question, in simple child-like faith; understanding all we can, asking to be taught all we may, and believing all, even when we cannot understand it. In this spirit every word will be received as infallibly true. What seems to be contradictory to any of our own previous notions, we shall put to the account of our own ignorance," I said it is my own infirmity,"—and we shall believe that it will be all made clear, if it is well; and that it is all well, even though it is not made clear.

In this spirit we shall receive the words of Christ, which speak of the everlasting condemnation of the unrighteous, as well as the eternal life of the righteous. They are the words of the Incarnate God, therefore they are absolutely true; "and in His times He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate."

But the simple belief in this must add both earnestness and tenderness to our ministrations. When speaking to our fellow-man of "the terror of the Lord," we shall so speak of it as to try to persuade him to escape it. If we love his soul, and long for it, there will be a trembling tenderness, as well as a real and hearty earnestness, in our heart and voice when we urge him "to flee from the wrath to come." We shall not attempt to weaken, by any description of our own impotent fancy, the terrible simplicity of the very words of our Lord Himself; nor, in the pride of supposed intellectual power, endeavour to prove, as a mere theological dogma, that which is meant to be a most practical and urgent truth, stated on God's own authority, and told by Him in order that His creatures may be led to shun the awful alternative.

We know well that the carnal heart will rebel against this truth. It ever has created, and ever will create, disputings and reasonings. But while such minds must recoil the more from it, if it is spoken of in the language of self-sufficient security, of im

plied superiority, of denunciatory arrogance, or of cold unsympathizing argument, even such minds cannot but be touched, though it may be only for the moment, by the loving persuasion of a fellow man, who, in a voice subdued by real tenderness, and in a tone that speaks of honest and believing earnestness, is trying to persuade a fellow-sinner to flee from the eternal storm which he, like Noah, believes will one day burst from the sky, and so escape to Him who is the Refuge from that storm, and the Eternal Life of all that trust in Him.

W. W. C.

ON THE FIRST RESURRECTION.

PART I.

"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 worshipped 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. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." (Rev. xx. 4—6.)

THE grand and ultimate object of the redemption work of Christ, is to repair the damage of every description, whether moral or physical, which the fall of man has entailed upon the world in which we live, and upon man who is the inhabitant of that world; and the Bible is a history of that great enterprise from its commencement to its consummation. It begins with an account of the introduction of sin, and of the infliction of the curse upon man, and upon his inheritance, as the consequence of sin. It relates the circumstances of the first advent of Christ, when He came to lay the foundation of that work which He had undertaken to accomplish, by paying the ransom price of redemption; and it closes with a prophetic description of the actual completion of that work at the second coming of Christ, when the curse shall be removed, when death shall be destroyed, when all that is evil of every kind and description shall be taken away, and when the kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever. The three concluding chapters of the Revelation refer especially to this latter subject. The twentieth refers to the commencement of Christ's reign upon earth, during which the work of redemption is being practically effected the twenty-first and twenty-second refer to that state of blessedness and glory which shall constitute the eternal condition of the new heavens and new earth, which shall

succeed the present. The fourth verse of the twentieth chapter refers to the duration of the commencement of Christ's reign upon earth, which it represents as continuing for one thousand years. Hence, the origin of the term MILLENIUM, which all Christians believe in, but with respect to the particulars of which there is much difference of opinion. Let me state concisely the two leading views which are held upon this subject: 1. Some look upon the Millenium as being nothing more than a state of perfection, towards which the present dispensation is advancing; as a time of great blessedness and spiritual prosperity that awaits the Church, to be brought about by the same instrumentality which is at present at work; during which time Satan shall be restrained, idolatry and persecution shall be suppressed, and there shall be a revival of religion in a succession of men, coming and acting in the spirit and power of the ancient martyrs; but during which time Christ is still absent in heaven, and no resurrection has taken place. The resurrection, according to the views of these persons, not occurring until the end of the Millenium, when they expect that Christ will come to judgment.

2. Others look upon the Millenium as not being any part of the present dispensation, but as the commencement or introductory period of a future and eternal dispensation of righteousness and blessedness that awaits our world. They believe that Christ will come again in person at the beginning of the thousand years; that then shall take place the resurrection of the saints, to reign with Him on the earth, and to be employed by Him in effecting the redemption or restitution of all things; that at the end of this period the general resurrection and general judgment shall occur, when to all shall be assigned their respective destinies for eternity, and when the earth shall be completely renovated, so as to become the everlasting residence of Christ and His glorified people.

Now, it is evident that these two classes must differ as to the interpretation which they give of Rev. xx. 4—6; as accordingly they do. The latter explain that important passage in a literal sense, as referring to the actual resurrection of the saints, before the rest of the dead, at the beginning of the Millenium. The former explain it in a spiritual and figurative sense, as referring merely to a revival of principles by which the Saints of old were influenced, in men that should be born and live during the Millenium. My object, in this paper, is to argue against the figurative, and in support of the literal, interpretation of the passage.

It is said that the resurrection of souls to live and reign with Christ, means no more than that there shall be a future revival of the principles of those who had been martyred, or who had kept themselves pure from idolatry, and from the errors of an

apostate church, in men of like temper and character with themselves. That there shall be, in fact, not a literal resurrection of persons, but a figurative resurrection of principles, or a revival of religion in a succession of men coming in the spirit and power of those who were slain for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God.

In defence of this interpretation, it is asserted that the word "souls" suggests the idea-not of their bodies as being raised from the dead, but-of the living animating principles of the persons referred to. But I reply to this, that there is not the least occasion that the word "souls" should mean bodies in the passage, in order that it may be understood literally. We may understand it as being synonymous with the word persons, a use of the word which is very common in Scripture, as in Acts ii. 41, 43; iii. 23; vii. 14, 27, 37; Rom. xiii. 1; 1 Pet. iii. 20. But it is not necessary even thus to understand the term; for John evidently contemplates the souls of the saints just as they were immediately before "they lived and reigned," or in the intermediate and separate state in which the soul is disunited from the body, as in chap. vi. 9. The assumption of bodies by these souls, in order that they might reign with Christ, is evidently included in the assertion that they lived." It is, we are aware, said that the word "souls" is never employed in connexion with a proper resurrection; but this is not correct, as we find, for instance, in Ps. xvi. 10, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades," the word used with reference to the resurrection of Christ, as we learn from Acts ii. 27, 31.

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But the real question is, Can the word "souls" in the original, Yoxas, imply the moral and religious principles of men? The word does, indeed, sometimes denote the living, animating principles of men; but these are very different from moral and religious principles, and in no one instance of the 101 times that this word occurs in the New Testament has it the latter meaning. And if all that was meant here was that there should be a revival, or as it were a rekindling, of the principles of the martyrs in their successors and representatives, the word πνεύματα, and not yuxa, would have been used. We have an instance in point-a passage in which it is asserted that the spirit and character of an ancient prophet appeared and was displayed in one who was born after many generations. I allude to the case of John the Baptist, who resembled Elias so much in spirit and in character. But observe how this is expressed. It is not said that the soul of him who was carried up into heaven in a chariot of fire lived in the time that Christ was born; but it is said, "He shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias." (Luke i. 17.) The word in this passage is TVEνμаTI, spirit, not yvxn, soul.

But what spirit and principles, which characterized the ancient martyrs, are to be revived in their successors and representatives during the Millenium? Is it their spirit of fortitude and patience under suffering, of meekness under persecution, of calm and submissive resignation under injuries? If so, of what use, I ask, can these be? Of what use are the helmet and the shield, the breastplate and the sword, to the soldier, when the day of battle has terminated, and the morning of triumph has been ushered in? The Christian armour is for the present dispensation, while the Church is militant here on earth. During the Millenium, we are told that Satan shall be bound for a thousand years, that his hostility shall consequently be arrested, that a righteous authority shall succeed to an unrighteous, that persecution shall be suppressed, and that the earth shall be blessed with tranquillity and peace. Of what use, then, would be the revival of the spirit of the martyrs, when there shall be no opportunity for its exercise? If John the Baptist appeared in the spirit and power of Elias, it was because the existence of a wicked and degenerate age, of a generation of vipers, required and demanded such a one to reprove and rebuke them. But during the millenial age there shall be no tribulation that worketh patience, there shall be nothing to require the existence, or to draw forth the exercise, of a martyr's spirit.

Or is it the spirit of piety and godliness, which they pos sessed who were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God, and who had not worshipped the beast, that is meant in this passage? If so, then I ask, What is the meaning of speaking of a future resurrection or revival of this spirit of piety or godliness? There can be no resurrection where there has not been a previous death; and the death of principles implies their utter and entire extinction. But when did the principles of piety and holiness, which characterized the ancient saints who are here described, die? I answer, Never; for thero never has been a time when there did not exist a remnant, however small, of godly, pious, and devoted men according to the election of grace? Or again, if we admit, as we freely do, that there may be times when genuine vital religion is, as it were, dead and buried in respect of the Church at large, has there never been a revival of it, or shall there never be a revival of it, until the days of the Millenium? For observe what is said of the resurrection spoken of in this passage-"This is the first resurrection." What, then, becomes of what is termed, and properly termed, the glorious Reformation? Was it no resurrection of principles? Was it no revival of the ancient spirit of martyrs? Was not the spirit and power of the Apostle Peter revived, as it were, in Luther? and the spirit and power of John revived, as it were, in Melancthon? Undoubtedly, in