2 shall become a great mountain, and shall fill the whole earth." Yes, then it is, that "the judgment shall sit, and they "-that is, Christ, and His co-judges and rulers, the risen saints"-"shall take away the dominion of the Beast, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him." In conclusion. Our next direct, and exclusively scriptural argument, in proof that the second personal coming of Christ is pre- and not post-millennial, will be shown in PART II. A demonstration, That the ideas and language of the New Testament writers in reference to the second personal coming of Christ and the judgment of the great day, were derived from and founded upon the prophetic statements of the inspired preChristian Jewish writers regarding them. In illustration of this subject, we shall adopt the following passages as a stand-point: Jude, verses 14, 15. " And Enoch of old, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thou sand of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly men have spoken against Him." And St. Jude prophesied, saying-verses 20, 21: "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ (i. e., at His second coming) unto eternal life." Here it is to be observed in the outset as not a little singular, that only six out of the forty-one prophets of the Old and New Testaments, viz., Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, David, Daniel, and Malachi, predicted of the first coming of our Lord; while most of these, together with the others, prophesied of His second personal coming. (See Note D.) 1 Dan. ii, 35. 4 Rev. xx. 3-6. Rev. iii. 21; 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3. 5 Dan. vii. 26, 27. Rev. ii. 26-28. So also, while the first class of prophets point out Christ to us in the aspect of His suffering humanity as a sin-atoning sacrifice under the law; the second class treat exclusively of His resurrected humanity, as connected with "the glory that is to follow" His sufferings, as our TRIUMPHANT KING. And now, in regard to the purposes of the second coming of Christ as presented to view in the two passages already cited, they embrace two separate and distinct parts, or acts-those of judgment and of mercy. Of judgment for the ungodly: of mercy for those who, in faith and hope, "keep themselves in the love of God, looking" for the final conferment upon them of "eternal life" at His second coming. These two prophecies of Enoch and St. Jude, therefore, both relate to one and the same event, called in Scripture "the day of judgment "-" the day of the Lord"-"that great day of God Almighty," etc., which is to take place at the time of the Second coming of Christ. But on this, as on other momentous questions in connection with it, as we have seen, the Church of this day is unhappily at issue with herself, as to what the Scriptures teach of the nature and the order of events, etc., of “ THE DAY OF JUDGMENT." Inasmuch, therefore, as that event hinges, so to speak, on all those numerous prophecies which foretell of the second coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven, "In pomp and majesty ineffable," it is absolutely impossible rightly to interpret and apply them, until we shall have ascertained in what that day of judgment consists, as inclusive of both the particulars named above. To explain. The prevailing doctrine of the Church on this subject is, that as, at the instant of the death of the righteous and the wicked, the one is immediately admitted to the perfect fruition of heavenly blessedness, and the other immediately consigned to endless consummate misery; so, there will be a universal simultaneous resurrection of both classes, that is, of the just and the unjust, by the second personal coming of Christ at the end of the millennium, as the Judge of the quick and the dead: when, having assembled all, both small and great, before His great white throne, He will open the books, try them, etc.; and, having passed sentence upon each order according to the deeds done in the body while in this life, He will say to the righteous, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, enter ye into the joys of your Lord;" and to the wicked, "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." This theory also connects with it the additional idea, that the trial, sentences, etc., etc., of the myriads of myriads of the raised dead, will be disposed of within the limits of a natural day of twenty-four hours, or of a very short period. It is here also in place to remark, respecting this theory, that the millennium, at the end of which the second coming of Christ, or the day of judgment, is alleged to take place, is that state of universal peace, prosperity, and triumph of the Church on earth of a thousand years, which the great body of Protestant Christians profess to look for as still future. Consequently, this theory, by placing the second coming of Christ at the close of that period, teaches that it is post-millennial, and that we are not to look for that event until some 1500 years to come; or according to the Rev. Samuel H. Cox, D. D. (who interprets the thousand years of the Apocalypse as a mystical number 1), not until 365,000 years! On the other hand, there are many in the Church-not confined to any one of, but who may be found among all, the different branches of evangelical Christians in both hemispheres, and those too most eminent for their learning, piety, position, etc.—who affirm that the second personal coming of Christ is pre-millennial; also, that "the day of judgment" commences and runs parallel with the thousand years of millennial rest to the Church. They also deny that there is to be a simultaneous resurrection both of the righteous and the wicked at the end of the millennium; but maintain that the Scriptures speak of two acts of raising the dead, the first of which takes place at the instant of Christ's second coming, at the commencement or "morning" of the millennium, agreeably to that passage, Rev. xx. 6, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection," for "on such the second death shall have no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years," etc.: the second, at the end or evening of that period, according to Rev. xx. 5, "But the rest of the dead," i. e., of the wicked dead, "lived not again until the thousand years were finished." Hence they teach, that the "day of judgment" which takes place 1 See Christian Intelligencer, New York, 1864. 2 Ps. xxx. 5; xlix. 14. at the time of the second coming of Christ, instead of being limited to a natural day of twenty-four hours, opens with an act of mercy to the righteous, both dead and living, agreeably to the statement of St. Paul, 1 Thess. iv. 13-17: "But I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as them which have no hope,” i. e., the wicked dead; "for, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep," i. e., from being raised: "for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ SHALL RISE FIRST." Nor this only.: for the apostle adds: "Then," i. e., at the time of the second coming of Christ, "we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them," i. e., the raised dead in Christ, "in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord."" But, this "great day of God Almighty" also opens with an act of judgment upon the wicked, who shall then be alive upon the earth. We again quote from St. Paul, 2 Thess. i. 7-10: "And to you who are troubled rest with us, 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 Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power: WHEN HE SHALL COME to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe . . in that day," i. e., the day of their first resurrection, etc., as above described. This act of judgment, therefore, takes effect, not upon the wicked dead, but upon the living nations who, "in that day," "know not God and obey not the gospel of Christ." It will fall upon all those who are then found within the pale of the apostate Christian Church, and of the last great DemocraticoAtheistic Confederacy against Christ and His saints, who, being "consumed "—as St. Paul (2 Thess. ii. 8) says it will be"with the spirit of the mouth, and destroyed by the brightness of the coming" of the Lord Jesus; and, thus numbered with the 11 Thess. iv. 13-17. dead, they "shall not live again," i. e., be raised from the dead, "until" at the close of the same second coming of Christ, when He shall appear "seated upon His great white throne," to execute upon them the final act of judgment, by causing all of them, "both small and great," gathered from the "sea," and "death" or the grave, and from hell (adŋs), "to stand before God" when "the thousand years are finished." (See Rev. xx. 5.) Consequently, this latter class of prophetical interpreters affirm of this "day of judgment," inasmuch as it comprehends the twofold acts of rewards and of punishments, that it spans the whole period of the thousand years of millennial blessedness. This is founded on what they claim that the Scriptures teach in regard to the official character and functions of the risen and glorified saints, to wit, that, being "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation and a peculiar people;" as the "heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ,"" they are constituted "kings and priests unto God and his Father;" and that, as such, they shall wear "crowns," "4"sit on thrones with Christ," and that "judgment shall be given unto them," to "judge the twelve tribes of Israel," and also to "rule the nations with a rod of iron," etc. 1 Thus they "shall live and reign with Christ a thousand years on the earth and over the saved nations, Jewish and Gentile, in their millennial state. The prophet Isaiah, speaking of Messias in direct reference to this period as "the Branch that was to grow out of the root of Jesse," says, "With righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth." And to this he adds, "and He shall smite the earth”the four Gentile monarchies-" with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall he slay the wicked.” Here then, we submit, we have a clearly defined double act of mercy and judgment, such as is to characterize the entire millennial period of the Church as that "great day of the Lord" called "the day of judgment," of which the Scriptures speak. And, at the close of this day, when the wicked dead are raised, tried, and condemned, "Death," i. e., he that "had the power of death, which is the Devil;" and hell (Hades, gons), where the spirits of the wicked dead, prior to the resurrection of their bodies, had 11 Pet. ii. 5-9. 2 Rom. viii. 17. $ Rev. i. 6. 4 Ib. iv. 4-10. 5 Ib. xx. 4. • Isa. xi. 4. |