ng in the mean time existed
apart from body, it will be, with all its imperfections, on the day of
its resurrection. It has already been maintained that, because of
imperfection, it is necessary that even the elect should be judged, to
the end that by this means their spirits may be made perfect. But our
concern now is with the effect of judgment on those who are not of the
number of the elect. For the purpose of illustrating what I am about
to say on this head, I shall begin with making an application of the
argument in a particular instance.

{52}

I have recently seen it stated, among the news of the day, that it is
the practice of a barbarous African king to cut off the heads of twelve
or more of his subjects, merely to pay a compliment to a distinguished
visitor. Are we to think that this transaction both begins and ends
here? Although we have no ground for asserting that the victims in
this case are to be counted among God's elect, inasmuch as they must be
supposed to be devoid of the faith and righteousness which are
necessary to constitute a title to that high privilege, we may yet
believe that the bodily suffering they endured was contributory to the
formation of their spirits for their future destiny. If even those who
have "understanding"--elect saints--have undergone sufferings and been
"beheaded" in order that thus they might be "purified and made white,"
(compare Dan. xi. 33-35, and xii. 10, with Rev. xx. 4), why should we
not believe that the sufferings of those poor Africans, who are equally
children of God, had like effect? That suffering is in this manner
efficacious is proved by the sacrifice of the Son of God on the cross,
who, after having proved by his miracles that he had all human ills
under control, _voluntarily_ submitted to be made perfect by enduring
shame and pain, that thus he might both exemplify and justify the ways
of God in the creation of immortal spirits. This sacrifice is a full
and sufficient explanation of all the evil in the world. When,
therefore, in the time of the {53} resurrection of the unjust the
slayer and the slain, in this instance, appear before the judgment-seat
of God, and are condemned, as not being among those who are saved in
the first resurrection, to undergo the second death, is it not
reasonable to conclude that the tribulation and pain of that event will
fall much more heavily on the murderer than on those he slew, and that
the punishment and sufferin