Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord." Ezek. xxxvii. 11-14.

It is here asserted, that the graves should be opened and men should be brought up out of their graves, and made to live; and yet nobody supposes the prophet to mean a resurrection to immortality. It is so evident that merely a happy change in the temporal affairs of the Israelites is intended, that no one pretends to dispute it. It follows, that the use of the word, graves, by the Evangelist, cannot prove that Jesus speaks of the resurrection, properly so called. ·

Indeed, the use of this word would lead to a contrary conclusion. So far as I recollect, the immortal resurrection is nowhere mentioned in connexion with the graves, in any manner whatever. It is certain, that the two words are not so connected in any other place in the New Testament. A resurrection to immortality is never described as a resurrection from the graves (urnusia); but whenever any adjunct of this kind is used, the phrase is, invariably, the resurrection of the dead, (avάotais tāv vexgãr.) Since, then, a coming forth from the graves is used to denote a change in the temporal affairs of men, but never to denote a resurrection to immortality, unless this text be a solitary exception, we may properly conclude, that the word graves, here, instead of proving that the immortal resurrection is intended, rather furnishes proof to the contrary.

The passage in Matt. xxvii. 52, 53, is no exception to the foregoing remark, however it might appear at first sight. Although the word rendered graves. (unut) is the same which is used by John, yet the arising (y), and coming forth (9órtes), are expressed by terms very different from that by which John describes the resurrection, (arάurauis.) And the word which Matthew uses here to denote the resurrection of Jesus, (yoor,) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, and is very different from that which John uses in the text.

2. It is alleged, that Jesus speaks of a separation between those who have done good, and those who have done evil; consequently, he must refer to the future life, since no such separation is made in this world. In other words, he speaks of the recompense both of good and evil works, while no such recompense is rendered in the present life.

This circumstance, ought, however, to lead to a different conclusion. For in the first place, the Scriptures plainly testify, that men are rewarded and punished in this life. Thus the wise man says, "Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth, much more the wicked and the sinner." Prov. xi. 31. And our Saviour declares, "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; verily I say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." Matt. xvi. 27, 28. These are plain declarations, that a just retribution is administered on the earth.

In the next place, there is not a single instance in the New Testament, besides this place in John, in which a resurrection and a retribution for good and evil, are mentioned in connexion. Take for example, Luke xx. 35, 36, and 1 Cor. xv. 42-57. These are evidently descriptions of a resurrection to immortality; but do you find, in either place, any thing concerning a retribution for good and evil? Not one word. And the same holds true in respect to every passage where this resurrection is mentioned..

True, there are passages which speak of a retribution, which many suppose to belong to the future life. Such, for instance, is Matt. xxv. 46; "These shall

go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." But nothing is said here of a resurrection, nothing of men having been dead, or having been raised from the dead. And thus it is, in regard to all other passages which describe a retribu

tion. Whenever the sacred writers mention a retribution, they are silent in regard to a resurrection. And whenever they mention a resurrection, they are silent in regard to a retribution.*

The circumstance, therefore, that John, in this passage, mentions a retribution for good and evil, instead of proving that he intended to describe a resurrection to immortality, in fact furnishes proof to the contrary. Because such a retribution is declared to be administered in this life, but it is never associated by the sacred writers, with the resurrection of the dead. If we interpret this passage, therefore, to mean a resurrection of mankind from natural death, some to happiness and some to misery, we must do so in defiance of the invariable usages of the New Testament writers. We must suppose that John joined together those things which all the others were very cautious to keep asunder.

Hence it appears, that the interpretation given of this passage by Universalists, is confirmed by the very circumstances which others have alleged to discredit it. And, on the other hand, the interpretation given by some of our brethren is shown to be false by the very circumstances which they have alleged for its confirmation.

LVIII. "Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come." John viii. 21. See also vii. 34.

This was spoken to the unbelieving Jews. It did not refer to their natural, but to their national dissolution. Our view is, that the Saviour intended to say to them, that their iniquities should be their ruin and destruction. They should die, perish, and, as a nation, be dissolved, in their sin of rejecting the Messiah. We all know that the dispersed, broken, and captive state of the Jews, was represented by the prophets under the figure of death. Ezekiel describes them as

*These are very weighty facts, which we do most seriously commend to the reader's attention. 1 am indebted for the above article on John v. 28, 29, to the kindness of Rev. L. R. Paige.

dead, and, in their graves, and their bones as being dry; and their return from captivity he describes as the reanimation of these dry bones, which live again, and stand upon their feet, a great army. It will be seen,

then, that this was a national death, and was not intended to apply to individuals that the common interpretation is wide off from the truth.

Should it be asked if the words of our text do not naturally imply, that the Jews would never go where Christ was going, we answer no. Our Saviour only spake of present time. He did not say that those Jews never would be able to come to him. It might have been impossible for them to come at that time; at some future time it may be possible for them to come. Jesus used the same language to his apostles that he had addressed to the Jews. "Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me; and as I said unto the Jews, whither I go ye cannot come, so now I say to you.' John xiii. 33. When Simon Peter said unto Jesus, "Lord, whither goest thou?" Jesus answered him, "Whither I go thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards." John xiii. 36. The same word may be applied to the Jews. They could not follow Christ then, but they would at another time. Our Saviour predicted, that there will be a time when they shall say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord;" and Paul says, "that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." Here we are certified, that, although Israel was then blind, and would remain blind, "until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in," yet "all Israel shall be saved." "For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all." Rom. xi. 25, 26, 32.

Although it may seem needless to add any thing more in confirmation of our reasoning, we may consid

er what more the Scripture says upon this subject. When our Saviour told his disciples that he was soon to leave them, and that whither he went they could not go, it undoubtedly troubled them, for we find our Saviour immediately after giving them comfort. "Let not your hearts be troubled," says he; "ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many mansions ; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." John xiv. 1, 2. It is worthy of notice, that if our Saviour went to prepare a place for those to whom he had said, "whither I go ye cannot come," he could not have meant, that they never would come whither he was then going. There would be no propriety in his preparing a place for them, unless they were to inhabit it. But our Saviour's plainness precludes the necessity of our argument. He says, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because, I said, I go unto the Father; for my Father is greater than I." John xiv. 3, 27, 28.

LIX. "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." John xii. 48.

Jesus

To what day is it likely Jesus referred in the text under consideration? By a careful attention to the context, we shall at once see that the subject, of which Jesus was speaking, regarded the Jews only. came to that people with the Gospel of Divine Grace, with what he called the kingdom of God; the word which he preached to that people was the word of the kingdom. As a people, the Jews rejected Jesus, and did not receive his words. And what did he tell them would be the consequence of their rejecting him? Now, when we get the right answer to this question, it