and to all "the dead in Christ," who, on account of their
faithfulness, had a part in the first resurrection--when he came in
the clouds of heaven to establish his kingdom. It has nothing to do
with the immortal resurrection of the dead, for that is not the reward
of merit, but the gift of God. To _that_ all shall attain who die in
Adam. But in the _first_ resurrection none had a part except those who
died in the cause of Christ, and the living who continued faithful to
the day of his appearing. On them and _them only_ devolved the honor
of establishing the truth of Christianity for the happiness of future
generations, by not only testifying that they had seen Jesus alive
from the dead, but by cheerfully submitting to death, and showing
themselves miracles of suffering in his cause. Both the departed and
those that remained alive, attained to the first resurrection, were
glorified together, and their crowns shall shine in the gospel heavens
with undiminished splendor long after those of kings and tyrants shall
be dimmed and lost in the vortex of revolutions.

He concludes the chapter by noticing the change of the "vile body"
which we have explained. Here then is no evidence of a general
resurrection, nor of the end of time. The _context_, the _silence_ of
Jesus about the change of the living into immortal beings, and the
_whole tenor_ of revelation combine to set it at defiance. Of one
thing I am satisfied; that no man ever _has_, and I believe, no man
ever _can reconcile_ the change of the living and the resurrection of
the dead recorded in Philippians and 1 Thessalonians with their
respective contexts, so as to prove a general and immortal
resurrection at the end of time. As I have traveled in an untrodden
path, I do not know but that I may have erred in some minor points,
but am satisfied that my general positions are sound and tenable.

[To be continued.]

SERMON XXIV

"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1
Cor. xv:20.

We have now come to that point in our subject where it will be
necessary to cite a few passages to prove that the immortal
resurrection is _successive, not general_, and will conclude by
considering some of the principal texts, which may be urged as
objections.

We have already shown that the resurrection of the dead was to be at
the sound of the last trump. And as that trump commenced sounding at
the end of the Jewish age, when Christ came in his kingdom, I d