inflJiencing the world's thon~ht 1>y ihe presentation of truth; awaying men•• eonaeienoe by lnsisting on righteousne8B; and winning men's hear-ta by the philanthrt>pie1t of love. It waa no merely empty title with which they were honoured. They had the di;..•nUy of a royal i.-iesthood below. But they bow more t'tllly now its-deep meaning. The Syriao Vel'llion 11igai6candy and auggestirely reads, "They shall be, [nay] are,. pries&a of God and of his Messiu, and they will reign with :him the thousand years." JII; THaa PA88IBQ tl'PWABJ>, Ill DJIATB, 'JO THJa ffiGHER STATE 18 CALL&D TJm nBBT BUVBUCl'I0N. And mo8' intelligibly SQ. "Surely," saya the Rev. F. D. Maurice, "-if one. t.akes tlae words aa they 1tand, they do not describe a, descent of Ohrm to earth. bot an uoent of • the Minta' to reign with him.• The tltooght of a •eal 1e1J1rrrectioa without a bodily rising from the grave ought to be no diffiouhy to th.oae accuat.omed to aoriptural phraseology. If, when a man paBS8S from dea.th to life, tile phrase,.•• risea with Christ," i1 not inappropriate, neither can it be so when be mak• the transition. from earth to heaven to be "at home" with Jesus. And when we filld the apostle saying, "I saw the souls ••• thill is the first resurrection," we do not feel at liberty to 'maintain that it ill a reaurreetion of the body which is :re(erred t.o. The irst 1'88Unec- ; tioa is the rising of the saint at death to a higher life iD Christ, which will be con• [IWD.Dll8ted at the general resurrection when the thousand years have expired. To quit ;the 'body-to be with Jesus? l11 it bard to see why this ill called the first reaurrectiora? ,Na:,, verily. You saw t.bat friend of yours, breathing his last. He passed away. Your ;he&l'J aa~ "He ia not here; be ia risen." He ia a priest and king to God, and he is gone·a.pwanl. to reign wit.h Jesus. · IT. 8J.El!IIEJ> JIVJIX llf THIS J'JR&T REIIURBECTION, '1'1111 8A.INT8 AWA.IT Df HOPE TH■ OOlllimou.'l'ION OY TBEia BLI88. The blessedness indieat.ed here extend8 over t.be thousand. yean. While the Church on ~rth is enjoying its millennial calm, believellS abore, are reiguing in life with Jesus Christ. Knowing the blessedness of their fi.rst resurnction, tuy can look oorward with joyful hope to their second. Ther9 ie w reuau to doubt that from their heavenly rest they watch the progress of the kingdom of Christ on earth (of. John viii. 56, Greek). 'l'hey see Sa.tan restrained, the saiut1 Jl611811118iug the kingdom, the wicked subduee, and righteousness advancing. They await wich-ealm delight ihe revolutions of ages, for on them the second death will have no powar; cycles on cycles of years can only bring new blessedness w· them. " ffll!lllei aotl boly is he that bath part in this first resurrection." V. THEIR GLOBY WILL )I.E OONSUllllATBD AT THE RBSUKRJl:CTJON 01' THB BODY. For tnil,. as the ultimate outlook, the apostle says, believers are wa.i-ting (Rom. Yiii. 23). The first resurrection is that. to a higher state of spiritual being. The second .will (,e to tlte completed state of glorified life of both body and spirit. Then "all tiiat are in their graves shall hear bis voiee, and shall eome forth." Then there naU be a..resur• rection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust. "Then, when the Son of God shall be manifested, will his saint■ also be manifested with him iD glory." 'I'his will be the fulnesa or their bliss. _~ VI.. FoB THE WICKED TilEllB 18 NO sucH FIBST BESUl\RECTIOl!f. "The rest of the dl!ad lived not again (A,,l(.,,,,.,.,,) till the thousand yoors were expired." For the wicked, death brings nothing which can be called a resurrection at all. "The. wicked is driven away in bir:r wickedness." After death they are not extinct. They exist. They are ia Hades. But their life in the invisible realm is no" resurrection." No such reward i6 theirs. 'l'hey chOBe the paths of sin and selfishness, and they can hut reap mt they haft sown. The statement of the text is, however, only negative, "They lived not again till,• ete. What their state is, positively, we are not told. And where Scripture is llilent, so must we be. 13ut at the far end of the thousand years the outlook is gloomy eruiugh. When we are told that on those who know the first resurrection " the second deaih bath no power," we see at a glance that just in proportion to the brightness of the light on one side is the depth of the shade on the other. They who are the Lord's ris, twice, and die but once. They who are not the Lord's rise but once, and die twice. N.ote: 1. We have rea.son for abundant joy over thoae friends iD Christ who ban 0
ll&Eed onward and upward to be with the Saviour. What glorious accumulations of life are being garnered for us ready for the great harvest-day T The true continuity of Bpiritual being is only manifested to us in revelation. 2. Bow loud should our praise be io the great Son of God, thJt through his 1'811urreetion we h&'fe c«re I If il had no& CJt' u. 1-15.] THE REVELATION OF ST. JOUN THE DIVlNE. 461•
been for his,- then,. ,those who ·ha.ve fallen asleep in Christ would hav!l peri11hed." B"\ thoso who know him, and s!lare his life, know also" the power of Mi! l'el!Urrection." 3. H•>•'V immeasurably does the issue of a godly life repay any amount of ~µtferiug. t.h♦t fidelity has incurred I !].'hose whotn the apostle saw had, in some cases, been: "beheadeij for the Word of God." But when the beheaded ones passed away"~ reign wUh Christ," what a change I 'l'hougli'lc counted as· sheep for the slauglifer," tliey '\Vera"· llfoi'@,Wan~· conquerors." 4. How awful the penalty of ungodliness, even if reckoned only by its losal "'!'hey lived not," ete. No. There is and can .be in the unseen state nothing like "life " or "resurrection" oo those who are godless. Being " without God," they are also "without hope," How completely the symbolism of the .AIJOll"9 Job,n, aocordil with all the rest of Scripture as to the state 9f tht: dead I