of the Apocalypse,"-in the sixth chapter of which book, v. 17, it is called μépa y peɣána Tãs opуñs, "the great day of the wrath" of THE LAMB. That this is the fact, is rendered more evident from the concluding words of the passage under consideration-δικαιοκρισίας τοῦ Θεοῦ, "of the righteous judgment of GOD"-in which words we have a very singular, but obvious, allusion to Rev. xix. 2.-"True and dinaras ai “ κρίσεις αὐτοῦ righteous his judgments;” for Paul actually forms a compound (Sixaixpioías) from the words díxaia and xpires, and for the pronoun αὐτοῦ puts the noun itself, τοῦ Θεοῦ : nor can his expression be taken otherwise than as such a direct allusion; for his next words,

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ὃς ἀποδώσει ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ, who will "render to every one according to his works," are evidently taken from these words in Rev. xxii. 12. “ ἀποδοῦναι ἑκάστῳ ὡς τὸ ἔργον αὐτοῦ ἔσται— "to give to every one according as his work shall "be." In Rev. xx. 12 we also meet with the words “ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν, according to their

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works;" and in v. 13, we find exaσтos xarà Tà pya auτæv, where it deserves perhaps to be noted, that several manuscripts for aurav have the singular pronoun aurou, as exhibited by Paul in the passage before us.

There is another passage in this Epistle (xiv. 10) which may possibly have allusion to the

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Apocalypse. I only say, possibly; for had I not met with the preceding passages, which appear plainly to have been derived from that prophecy, I should hardly have considered this as bearing on the question. In the passage referred to, the Apostle exhorts the believing Romans not to judge or set at nought a brother, “for,” adds he, "we shall all stand before the judgment"seat [or tribunal, r Býμari] of Christ."-Has this no allusion to the "great white seat” of Rev. xx. 11? It is true that there póvós is employed, and here Bμa: in the Apocalypse, however, the purpose of the seat or throne is explained in the context, but here the Apostle avoids that necessity by employing a word which includes its use in itself, and, by prefixing the article, he evidently alludes to something well known to the church. That the Apostle was in the habit of alluding to the Apocalypse, with reference to the day of judgment, we have seen already in this Epistle, in what he says respecting the day of wrath the day of the Apocalypse-the day of the righteous judgment of GOD; and we shall see other references of the same kind in the Epistles which we have yet to examine. If in these it shall be found that he uses similar expressions to that employed in this passage, but so amplified as to furnish strong evidence that he had the Apocalypse in his eye, then, I think, it will not

be unreasonable to consider as a certainty what I have only yet been stating as probable, namely, that when here speaking of the judgment-seat, he is expressly referring to the great white seat, before which the dead shall be judged, every man according to his works, as he does in 2 Cor. v. 10; of which in its place.

§ 8. Of Evidence furnished by the Epistles to the

Corinthians.

The first Epistle to the Corinthians, supposed by Critics to have been written in the year 56 or 57, exhibits, in the 15th Chapter, an evidence of its posteriority to the Apocalypse, so conclusive, that it must appear, when pointed out, very surprising that Critics could possibly have missed the sense of the Apostle.

In the Apocalypse the future time is divided into periods marked out by Trumpets, under the sounding of each of which, respectively, certain events are predicted. In Ch. x. 6. 7 we are taught that time shall continue only to the days of the voice of the seventh Angel, or the last of these seven trumpets: and, in Ch. xi. 15-18, that when the seventh angel sounds, then is come the time of the dead that they should be judged; and that the saints shall then be rewarded. In the

20th Chapter this reward is explained as being connected with a resurrection from the dead :"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first "resurrection."

Some of the Corinthians had misunderstood, and misapplied, the things thus taught respect ing "the Resurrection,"-probably taking the expression as something figurative, and saying, "there is no [real or literal] resurrection." The Apostle first corrects their mistaken views, showing that, at CHRIST's coming, the resurrection of believers shall be as true and real as was the resurrection of CHRIST himself, who was "the first fruits," and that, when this shall be, "then cometh the end," (as taught in the Apocalypse): after stating this he dwells on the subject, answers questions which some might put, respecting the manner of the resurrection, and the body to be given to the dead, and in ver. 51, 52 addresses them thus: "Behold I show you a "secret; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, "at THE LAST TRUMPET; for the trumpet shall sound; and the dead shall be raised incorruptible: and we shall be changed.".

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The Apostle, by the manner of his expression, when he introduces the Trumpet, shows that, so far as respects it, he was speaking of something with which they were already acquainted; for

he not only introduces the term “ last,” but also employs the article-τῇ ἐσχάτῃ σάλπιγγι, “THE "last trumpet ;" and no trumpet had previously been mentioned in the Epistle. The mystery then, or secret, of which he speaks, respects, not the trumpet, but the sudden change to be passed on the saints who shall be alive at Christ's second coming. They shall then undergo a change similar to that which the dead have experienced or shall experience, with this difference only, that it shall be, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. The mention of the trumpet is merely casual, to point out to the Corinthians the period at which this shall take place:-it shall be, at THE LAST TRUMPET. Had they not, before, heard of "the "last trumpet," Paul's reference to it, with the Article, would have been unintelligible: but I shall rather question the judgment of those persons who ascribe barbarisms to the inspired Apostle, than believe that he writes nonsense. The trumpet of which he speaks is THE LAST of the Apocalyptic trumpets; for in the text quoted, we have "the trumpet"-" the last trumpet" -"the sounding of the last trumpet”—an explanation of a secret respecting an event that is to take place" at the last trumpet." What farther identity would the most obtuse mind require, as de monstrative of the source whence the Apostle draws his argument as to the period of the