ints above, who had died in his cause,
and who were to come with him. From the whole context, the conclusion
is irresistible that this change of the "vile body" was at the coming
of the Lord _then_ at hand, and not at the end of time, as some
imagine.

Another scripture commonly applied to the _general_ resurrection of
the dead, and a change of all the living is recorded in 1 Thess.
iv:15, 16, 17--"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that
we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not
_be before_ them that are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the
trump of God; and the _dead in Christ_ shall rise first. Then we which
are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in air, and so we shall be evermore with the
Lord." That Paul here refers to the coming of Christ in his kingdom to
establish his reign, and to elevate the Christians who were alive at
that period, the _preceding_ and _succeeding_ contexts fully justify.
And so I must understand his language, till some one can prove a third
coming of Christ, and an _eighth_ sounding trump at the end of time.
In the two preceding chapters, he dwells largely upon the persecutions
of the Christians, exhorts them to be faithful, expresses his desire
"to perfect that which is lacking in their faith," and concludes by
saying--"To the end he may establish your hearts unblamable in
holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ _with all his saints."_ No one will deny that this has
reference to his coming at the end of the Jewish age. Now would it not
be doing injustice to this powerful and cogent reasoner to say, that
he suddenly drops this subject without giving his brethren any
warning, and runs off to the end of time, speaks of another coming of'
Christ at which he is to raise, at the same instant, all the dead and
change the living to immortal beings? And that he should again, as
suddenly, drop this subject, and hasten right back to the coming of
Christ at the destruction of Jerusalem? To charge him with this is
certainly ungenerous.

After stating that Christ should descend with a shout, with the voice
of the archangel and the trump of God to exalt the dead and living, he
adds--"But of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I
write for yourselves perfectly know that the day of the Lord s