life may justify. 2 Cor. 5: 10. 2 Tim. 4: 6-8. Matth. 25: 34. It is for this reason, that this "last time" and the advent of the Lord which shall follow, are so frequently represented as the final object and end of their most important expectations. See John 6: 39. 14: 3. 1 Pet. 1: 5-9. 1 Cor. 1: 7. Phil. 1: 6— 10. 3:11, 20, 21. 1 Thess. 1: 10, to wait for the Son of God from heaven. 2: 19. 3: 13. 5: 10, 4, 23. 1 Tim. 6: 14. 2 Tim. 1: 18. 4: 8. Tit. 2: 13. Col. 3: 4. 1 John 3: 2. 4:17. Heb 9: 28. 10: 25, 37. 12: 26, "yet once more I will shake not the earth only, but also heaven; and transform heaven and earth into a state in which they shall be immutable." 2 Pet. 1: 16. 3: 4-14, the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. When the apostle Paul animates the christians by the prospect of happiness after the resurrection, he by no means denies that they will be happy immediately after death; as is evident from those passages in which he speaks of their blessedness between death and the judgment. 2 Cor. 4: 14. 5: 6, 9, 10.1

VI. John 5: 28. 6: 39-54. Phil. 3: 20.

VII. 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--he is the Judge of the living and the dead, appointed by God-he (God) will judge the world in righteousness, by that Man whom he has appointed-we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ--I charge thee, by the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Matth. 16:27. 25: 31. Acts 10: 42. 17: 31. 2 Cor. 5: 10. 2 Tim. 14: 1. John 5: 22-27. Rom. 14: 10. 1 Cor. 4: 5. 2 Thess. 1: 7. God will conduct the judgment of mankind, through Jesus, because he is a man [John 5: 27, or vios avdoшnov eσri. comp. Acts 17:31, avno]. In this passage of John, the phrase "Son of

1 Dissert. de Vita Beata, Note 28.

man

is used without the article, and therefore does not, as it would with it, mean a particular and distinguished man, the Messiah, but signifies, indefinitely, a man; as in Heb. 2: 6. Mark 3: 28. The phrase o vios avdowлov, with the article, designates the man, xar εžov, in the superlative sense. There is a certain day appointed for the awful scene of judgment. "He hath appointed a day 2-judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come 3—in the day of wrath -then.”5 This day is indeed unknown to us. "It cometh as a thief in the night."6 It is the day which is also the end of the present state of the world," "the last day." On this solemn day, the whole human race Exaσ78 shall be judged. Nor shall there be any exception; but all who have ever lived upon the earth,10 or shall then be yet living, shall be included in the process, which shall take place in the presence of the angels.12 At this judgment Jesus, who is now invisible on earth (Col. 3: 3), will not only evince his presence by particular instances of his agency; but the man Jesus will himself be visible, just as he was formerly visible and present on this earth, "the Lord shall descend from heaven."14 66 φανήσεται το σημείον του υἱου του ανθρωπου εν τω ουρανῳ

9

13

1 See Rev. 3: 17, ὁ ταλαίπωρος και ὁ ελεεινος, by which is meant, the Son of man whose history is mentioned in Dan. 7: 13. See Dissert. in Libros N. T. historicos, p. 33. Schleusner's Lex. art. avvowños no. 3. Schmidt's Dissert. in Henke's Mag. Pt. II. p. 3. No. XVIII.

2 Acts 17: 31.

31 Cor. 4: 5.

4 Rom. 2: 5. 5 Matth. 16: 27.

6 Matth. 24: 36. 1 Thess. 5: 2. 2 Pet. 3: 10.

7 Matth. 13: 40, 49. John 12: 48. Rev. 20: 11. 2 Pet. 3: 7.

8 Matth. 16: 27. 25: 32. Rom. 2: 6, 16. 2 Cor. 5: 10. Jude 15.

9 Acts 17: 31.

10 John 5: 28, all who are in the graves. Rev. 20: 12, 13.

11 2 Tim. 4: 1. 2 Cor. 5: 9. Acts 10: 42. 1 Pet. 4: 5.

12 Matth. 25: 31. 13: 41, 49.

13 John 5: 27. Acts 17: 31.

16: 27. 2 Thess. 1: 7. Jude 14.

14 1 Thess. 4: 16.

the Son of man, this wonder, will appear visible in heaven."1 The object of this solemn appearance of Jesus, is to display to the world his greatness and his glory. Acts 1: 11, "He will come in the same manner as ye saw him ascend to heaven."2 Then the wicked who shall then be still living (1 Thess. 5: 3), and have, therefore, never seen his invisible glory; and those who shall have died, but had not been admitted to the presence of the Redeemer, and who through the ages of futurity shall be banished from his blessed society (Matth. 25: 41)3 shall have at least one opportunity of seeing the glories of the Redeemer, and of being convinced of the dignity of his person by the view of his glory and that of those on whom he bestows his salvation. 2 Thess. 1: 10, when he shall come to be glorified among his saints and to be admired by all them that believe. 1 Thess. 3: 13. Heb. 11: 39. Col. 3: 4. And now, at least, they shall be compelled to acknowledge and adore their Lord, through whose merits (even though they had not heard of him) they might have been saved, or whose doctrine they rejected when preached to them, and whose person they refused to adore. 2 Thess. 1: 10, "at that time my declarations concerning your salvation will be confirmed in such a manner that no one can doubt them.”

1 This interpretation is defended (in Dissert. I. in Lib. N. T. histor. p. 37.) on the following grounds: a) In the parallel passages, Luke 21: 27. Mark 13: 16, we find, instead of "the sign of the Son of man" merely "the Son of man ;" and Matthew himself explains these words thus: "they shall see the Son of man."—b) Christ is called a miracle or wonder, onuɛlov, in other passages also. Luke 11:30, 29, 14-16, after many other wonders, onuεia (Luke 21: 25) which shall be seen in the heaven (Matth. 24: 29), Christ himself, the greatest of all wonders, shall also appear." If onμelov were intended to mean miracles wrought by Christ, it would be onuɛia. The genitive in this case is genitive of apposition; as is onμelov laσews in Acts 4: 22; and 1 Pet. 3: 4, o xovπτος της καρδιας ανθρωπος instead of κρυπτος ανθρωπος, η καρδια. 2 Heb. 9:28. compare Ernesti Theses Theol. dogm. P. III. Thes. IV. 3 See Morus' Epit. Theol. Christ. p. 295.

4 Matth. 25: 31. Luke 9: 26. 2 Thess. 1: 7.

Phil. 2: 10, 11, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and those in earth, and those under the earth. Matth. 26: 64, "ye shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven," in allusion to his second coming. In this solemn manner, shall this honour which God has appointed him, be shown to Jesus, and redound to the glory of God. Phil. 2: 9. John 5: 23. Heb. 2: 9, "the present power and dominion of Jesus, assures us of the future subjection of all things to him." In this solemn manner, will it then be demonstrated, that no individual was lost on account of the natural depravity in which God suffered him to be born; but that God in his mercy had provided a Redeemer for the fallen race of man, whose dignity and allsufficiency can then no longer be doubted, in view of the splendour of his appearance and the host of blessed spirits who are indebted to him for their salvation (2 Thess. 1: 10, 12. Col. 3: 4). And in this awful manner, will it be demonstrated that the wicked are the cause of their own condemnation, and owe their misery not to God but to themselves. But not only on Jesus and on God, will this scene reflect honour. It will be honourable in the highest degree1 to the saints; for they shall be pronounced the beloved of Christ and of his Father, 2 in the presence of the angels 3 and of the whole human family; and shall actually receive all those blessings, the expectation of which exposed them to ridicule and contempt. 2 Thess. 1: 10. 1 Pet. 1: 9.

Christ's second coming is to be literally understood.—Those who deny that Christ will come visibly, to judge the world, do not all evade the natural meaning of the texts in question, in the same way.-I. Some assert, that "Jesus did not mean a visi

1 1 Pet. 1:7. 5: 4. 2 Tim. 4: 8. Rom. 2: 7, 10. 1 Cor. 4: 5. 2 Thess. 1:12. Col. 3: 4. 1 John 3: 2. Opuscul. Vol. II. p. 102.

2 Matth. 40: 34.

3 Luke 12: 8. Rev. 3: 5. 20: 12, 15.

6

ble advent. All his declarations, such as Matth. 25: 31, must be understood as meaning an invisible coming to promote his kingdom, or the triumph of Christianity over Judaism; they are wholly figurative." In reference to a future retribution, they contend that "his doctrine is merely this: Our lot in the future life, depends on our obedience or disobedience to the commands which Jesus gave us in the present life; and a future life may be expected in which the pious followers of Jesus shall be eternally happy. This, however, was not the belief of the disciples of Jesus. They adhered to the common Jewish opinion of a visible advent of the Messiah.3 In refutation of these views, the reader may consult the Tüb. gel. Anzeig. Henke's Magazine, and Paulus' Commentary. The following are the principal arguments against the figurative interpretation of the declarations of Jesus concerning his advent.-1. The declarations of Jesus expressly assert a visible advent, and in the strongest terms. -2. His hearers could not well have understood him as meaning any thing else than a visible appearance. -3. These declarations (such as Matth. 25: 31) were addressed to his disciples, and if they are to be interpreted figuratively, he ought certainly to have given them some intimation of it.-II. "The declarations of Jesus relative to his second coming cannot, indeed, without violence be interpreted in a figurative manner; but Jesus accommodated himself to the ideas of the Messiah, entertained by his contemporaries, only correcting

1 Eckermann's Theol. Beiträge, B. 2. St. 2. S. 209, 218. Ammon, on the Declarations of Jesus concerning his coming to judgment. New Theolog. Journal, Vol. 3. No. 3, p. 185.

2 Eckermann's Beit. sup. cit.

3 Eckermann, ut sup. p. 213. Ammon's Scientific and practical theology, p. 314.

4 For 1793. No. 58, p. 461.

5 Vol. II. No. 2, p. 393. Vol. V. No. 3, p. 538.

6 Pt. III. p. 380, 484.