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Adam before ever they fell in the first. They that die in Adam die eternally, for he is not the spiritual head; and they that die in Christ live eternally, for he is their vital head: God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, Whichever head a man dies in, he will arise in the image and order of that head: "For, as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive: but every man in his own order," 1 Cor. xv. 23. When the Saviour says to the wicked, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels,” Matt. xxv. 41; will any man say that those are made alive in Christ? And yet upon a single particle the whole mystery of universal redemption is raised, and the salvation of all the world established. But does not the Judge of quick and dead handle the text as I have done? Does he not bless those that are in him, and curse those that are in Adam's fall? If such an universal doctrine could be preached in hell there is not a reprobate there but would give it the lie.

Ahimaaz. You have satisfied me, my brother, and I see the Saviour on the judgment-seat confirms your sense of the text; and, as the Saviour's decision justifies you, you cannot be wrong; let them put what construction they will upon a text, if the Saviour contradicts it at the day of judgment it is false.

But do let me hear a little more of Prodigalis; we left him, if you remember, dead in the valley of dry bones; and you promised to relate his spiritual resurrection, which I should be glad to hear, and whether there be any analogy between the first and second resurrection.

Cushi. There is a just analogy; I have shewn

you, from the prophecy of Ezekiel, that a sinner is spiritually dead and buried, even as the body is dead and buried in a grave of earth. An unbeliever, though a chosen vessel, is said to be asleep in his sins, as a dead body sleeps in the grave; and both must be awakened and raised. The Saviour speaks of both these, as it were, in one breath; of the spiritual resurrection he speaketh thus, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is (come), when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live," John v. 25. Of the resurrection of the body he speaks after this manner, "Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation," John v. 28, 29. The dead bodies are to be alarmed by the sound of the archangel's trumpet: "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God," 1 Thess. iv. 16. A gospel minister is called an angel, Rev. iii. 1. Preaching the alarming word of God is called sounding the trumpet: "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand," Joel. ii. 1.

This was the case with Prodigalis; there came a watchman into the valley of dry bones, and sounded the trumpet, which alarmed the conscience of the "He heard the sound of the trumpet," Ezek. xxxiii. 5. Thus the dead soul is alarmed by the angel's trumpet, as dead bodies are to be. Se

poor man:

condly, the sleeping body is not only to be alarmed, but it is to be awakened, and brought to judgment: "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt," Dan. xii. 2. Thus the sleeping body is awakened and brought to judgment; so in like manner is the sleeping sinner awakened and brought to the light, which is God, for God is light: "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light;" Eph. v. 14. Thirdly, the archangel's trumpet is to be attended with the powerful voice of the Saviour: "All that are in their graves shall hear his voice and come forth." The gospel trumpet is attended by the same voice: "The time is now come when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live,” John v. 25.

Thus you see that, as the departed body is said to be dead, to be asleep, and to be in the grave, so an unconverted soul is said to be dead, to be asleep, and to be in the grave also. In raising the body an angel is employed, Matt. xxiv. 31; a trumpet is sounded, 1 Cor. xv. 52; the Lord's voice is heard, John v. 28; the body is alarmed, awakened, Dan. xii. 2; raised up, 1 Cor. xv. 52; and brought to judgment, Eccl. xi. 9. So in raising a dead soul an angel by office is employed, Rev. iii. 1; the gospel trumpet is sounded, Isaiah xxvii. 13; the Lord's voice is heard, John v. 25; the soul is alarmed, Joel ii. 1; it is awakened, Eph. v. 14; raised, Eph. ii. 6; and brought forth to the light, (God is light) to be arraigned and chastened for his iniquity, that he may be justified here, and not condemned in

the great day: "But when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world," 1 Cor. xi. 32.

This was the case with Prodigalis; his conscience was alarmed, his understanding awakened, and the Lord's voice quickened his dead soul to feel his guilt: he was raised from his carnal security, and brought forth from a state of spiritual death and insensibility; and after this he took his trial as really as any will do in the day of judgment. And at the general judgment, when the Judge is seated, the books will be opened, Dan. vii. 10. And so poor Prodigalis found at his trial; for both law, gospel, and conscience, were point blank against him.

Ahimaaz. Then, according to your account, there is not only a first and second resurrection, but a first and last judgment also.

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Cushi. There certainly is; and the word justification implies a trial here; the elect are tried in this life, and justified by faith in the Saviour. Hence they are said to pass "from death unto life, and shall never come into condemnation; which implies that there was a ministration of death, under which they were arraigned and found dead, and a sentence which they escaped; else how could they pass from death to life by faith, and for ever escape condemnation ?

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Ahimaaz. I do not remember any passage of scripture that favours your opinion.

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Cushi. I think there are many scriptures that favour it "For the time is come that judgment. must begin at the house of God; and, if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not

the gospel of God? And, if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" 1 Pet. iv. 17, 18. 1 Pet. iv. 17, 18. In that text the destruction of Israel by the Romans may be implied, which was to begin at the temple or house of God; but Peter was no part of that, therefore more is intended by Peter's saying, that judgment begins at us. The destruction of the temple was a fulfilment of this prophecy: "Slay utterly old and young, both maids, little children, and women; and begin at my sanctuary," Ezek. ix. 5, 6. Secondly, the arraignment and martyrdom of the saints may be implied in that text; but the spiritual judgment of the elect in this world is not excluded; nor is it excluded in the following text: "For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit," 1 Pet. iv. 6.

The Lord hath often discovered himself as an angry judge to a sinner from the pulpit; and has spoken to his conscience by the preacher sufficiently to convince him of his awful state; even his inmost thoughts have been discovered and laid open, and he has found himself, in the powerful hand and at the very bar of God, convicted of all his crimes, the very sentence sounding in his ears, and his soul sinking into all the horrors of a condemned criminal; which has made him tremble no less than a condemned sinner will in the day of judgment; as it is written, "But, if ye prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all; and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so, falling down on his

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