SEC I. PROOF OF A SEPARATE STATE. 321 the judge standeth at the door." Rev. xxii. 10. " Seal notup the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand." Verse N. " And, behold, I come quickly, and my re- ward is with me, to give every man as his work shall be :" And the sacred volume is closed with this assurance, verse 20. " Surely, I come quickly ; and the echo, and expectation of the apostle, or the church, Amen, even. so come, Lord Jesus." It is granted, that, in prophetical expressions, such as all these are, some obscurity is allowed : And it may be doubtful, perhaps, whether some of them may refer to Christ's coming, by the destruction ofJerusalem, or his coming to call particular persons 'away by his mes senger of death, or his appearance to the last judgment. It is granted, also, it belongs' to prophetical language to set things far distant, as it were, before our eyes, and make them seem present, or very near at hand. But still these expressions liad plainly such an influence, on primitive christians, as that they imagined the dayof re- surrection and judgment was verynear : and since the prophetical words of Christ, and his apostles, seemed to carry this appearance in them, and to keep the church under some uncertainty, it is no wonder, that the apos- tles chiefly referred the disciples; of that age, to the day of the resurrection, for comfort under their sufferings and sorrows': And though they never asserted, that Christ would cone to raise the dead, and judge the world, in that age, yet when they knew themselves, that he would not come so soon, they might not think it necessary to give every christian, or every church, an immediate ac- count of the more distant time of this great event, that the uncertainty of it might keep them ever watchful : And, even when St. Paul informs the Thessalonians, that the day of the Lord was not so verynear, as they imagined it, 2 'Mess. ii. 2. yet he does not put it off be- yond that century byany express language, Thus we see there is very good reason, why the New Testament should derive its motives of terror and com- fort chiefly from the resurrection, and the day ofjudg- ment ;` though it is not altogether silent of the separate state of souls, and their happiness or misery, :commenc- ing, in some measure, immediately after death, whichbas vol.. 11. Y
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=