will sleep in the dust. But at the sound of the trumpet in the last day, that also shall be raised ; and, in a state of union with the soul, be made a partaker of the doom which the soul had before experienced. It once bore its part on all that was transacted by the soul : and all its powers shall at that day be so strengthened, that it shall be able to sustain its part also in all the blessedness or misery to which the soul has previously been consigned. The body will then be a spiritual body : and in it, no less than in his soul, shall every saint enjoy an eternity of bliss.]
Some, on the other hand, will arise to everlasting shame and contempt —
[The wicked, whilst in this world, so resembled the right- eous, that there could not be a separation made between them. But at the last day, the tares and the wheat will be as easily distinguished from each other as goats from the sheep ; and no longer will they grow together. " The ungodly will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous." The wicked will then be disowned by all. The Saviour, who once laid down his life for them, and, during a long course of years, followed them with invitations and entreaties to accept of mercy, will then turn from them with disgust, and say, " Depart from me : I never knew you, ye workers of iniquity." The angels too, those benevolent spirits who once would have been glad to minister unto them as their attendants, will engage in dragging them from their retreats, and will " bind them up in bundles, to burn them." To all their former friends also, who once laboured for their welfare, will they be objects of abhorrence d : yea, to the devils them- selves will they be objects of malignant triumph and reproachful exultation, as doubtless our first parents were after their fall ; in that they were so foolish as to believe the lies of Satan, in preference to the truth of God.]
But let us mark especially what is spoken of,
II. The peculiar felicity of the saints —
They are here characterized as wise in their con- duct, and as useful in their generation —
[" They were once perhaps derided and despised as fools." But " they chose the better part," and therein approved them- selves truly wise. " The fear of the Lord is the very begin- ning of wisdom :" and all are wise in proportion as they are regulated by it. But those who are " wise for themselves" will not be content to leave others in their folly, or to go to
d Isai. lxvi. 24. VOL. IX. P P