with diffidence and submission. It may prove to be otherwise. The predictions of the Old Testament produced the universal impression that the first coming of Christ was to be attended at once by events which we learn from the New Testament require ages to bring about. Still, we are bound to take the Scriptures as they stand, and events which are described as contemporaneous are to be assumed to be so, until the event proves the contrary. We may be perfectly sure that the Scriptures will prove infallibly true. The predictions of the Old Testament, although in some points misinterpreted, or rather interpreted too far, by the ancient church, were fully vindicated and explained by the event.
The second question to be considered is. When is the end of the world to take place ? According to some, at Christ's coming ; according to others, at an indefinite period after his second coming. It may be admitted that this verse is not de- cisive on this point. It marks the succession of certain events, but determines nothing as to the interval between them. First, Christ's resurrection ; then the resurrection of his people ; then the end of the world. But as it is said that those who are Christ's shall rise at his coming, and then cometh the end ; the natural impression is that nothing remains to be done after the resurrection before the end comes. This view is confirmed by the numerous passages of the New Testament, several of which have already been quoted, which connect the general judgment and end of the world as intimately with the coming of Christ as the resurrection of his people. Some of those who assume that an indefinite period is to elapse between the com- ing of Christ and the end of the world, suppose that the inter- vening period is to be occupied not in the work of conversion, but in the subjugation of the enemies of Christ spoken of m the following verses. The common opinion among those who adopt this interpretation is, that the interval in question is to be occupied by the personal reign of Christ on earth. This is the doctrine of the ancient Chiliasts, and of modern Millenar rians. The form which this doctrine has commonly assumed in ancient and modern times is only a modified Judaism, en- tirely at variance with the spirituality of the gospel and with the teachings of the apostle in this chapter. He tells us that flesh and blood, i. e. bodies organized as our present bodies are, i. e. natural bodies, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The whole design of the latter portion of this chapter is to show that after the resurrection, the bodies of behevers will