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; [eis anastasin, unto a resurrection,] and they that have done evil, unto the [a] resurrection of damnation."

On this passage I remark, First-Jesus was very careful to prevent error, by a misunderstanding of his parabola; that is, from mistaking the correct signification, and proper application of the terms he used. When speaking of a literal resurrection of the dead, (See Sermon No. 6, p. 185, and John vi. 39, 40; xii. 48,) Jesus used a quite different phraseology. Then he affirmed of the time of the resurrection, that it should be iv Tn coxárn hμépa, at the last day; not, as in the verse above quoted, (John v. 28,) öri ëoxetat pa, rendered "for the hour is coming." The translators have taken an unwarrantable liberty, of inserting the English definite article the, whenever they so pleased; and wherever it suited their purpose; which evidently was according to a design, viz: to translate the original Greek to express their own peculiar dogmas, as nearly as possible. I affirm, that the above Greek phrase, oti erchetai ora, literally signifies, because an hour is coming. Therefore, the passage should read, "Marvel not at this; because an hour is coming," &c. The English indefinite, and, as grammarians have called it, euphonic article an, is implied. If Jesus had affirmed positively, as in John vi. 39, 40, Marvel not at this, because the last day is coming; which he would have done, had he referred to that day, and intended to signify a literal resurrection of the dead, the case would be very different from what it is.

Second-The imagery used by Jesus, now demands our attention: The question, therefore, comes up, Did the Lord Jesus Christ introduce a new subject, when he cautioned the Jews not to marvel at what he had just told them? For it was to the unbelieving Jews, (in the temple at Jerusalem, on the sabbath, or seventh day of the week,) that Jesus addressed his discourse. And he spoke to them in parables; as affirmed, (Matt. xiii. 34, 35.) "All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the proph

this present resurrection of the dead sinner to the everlasting life of my Gospel, for I have more, and greater things to tell you.

et, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world." And as related by John, (chap. xvi. 2426.) a short time before the crucifixion of Jesus, he referred his disciples to a future day, and in reference to that day, said, "Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name; ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs; but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father." We have here evidence, that, previous to the resurrection of Jesus, he even used a mode of expres sion to address his disciples, which he construed to sig nify the reverse of speaking plainly. And Mark testifies of the motive assigned by Jesus, for speaking in parables to the Jews, saying, "That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them." The imagery used, which conveys the idea of the literal death and burial of men in Hades the grave, is the imagery of the parabola. As a matter of course, in a parable, certain of the terms used are merely adjuncts of form, rather than expressive of the sense of the major of the proposition, and have little or no connexion with the main subject of the parable; any farther than as being part and parcel of the whole; as pins, or bolts and screws, are adjuncts of machinery; and necessary to keep the parts of the machinery in proper place, etc.; but do not constitute the essential parts of the machine, which, more especially, answer the intentions of the Mechanician. Now in the case of the intention of Jesus, we have seen it fully ex pressed by him, (John xii. 46,) as follows: "I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness." And, in the present case, in John v., Jesus is represented as affirming the objects of his mission to the judicially blinded Jews, in the tem ple; and, as we have seen, has declared the conse quences to those who should believe on Him that sent him, Jesus into the world; that they should not be the subjects of condemnation, but should pass from death to life-which he used as figures, signifying that they should pass from the darkness of moral death, to the light of Spiritual life in his Gospel; which is the everlasting life of the believer. And Jesus then, immediately, affirmed,

of this parabolic resurrection, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, [Jews,] The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live." The imagery here is very obvious. The dead, are those that are in darkness or unbelief. And the life they are raised to, is the knowledge of the truth.

The imagery, therefore, which represents moral death, or being in the darkness of unbelief, which is a state; metonymically as a place, is of the true parabolic type. The original term mnemeiois, rendered graves, is the plural of mnematos, from mnao; to suggest, or recal any thing to mind; and is used to signify a memorial, monument, a sepulchre. But recollect, the parabolic form, was made by Jesus to conform to real fact, so far, as not to mislead the sincere inquirer for truth; for instead of the last day, Jesus says, "an hour is coming ;" an intermediate period of time, as I shall presently show, that marked the ending of the second day, age, or aionos, and the beginning of the third, or last day, age, or aionos; which was the grand event that signalized the ending of the Mosaical, and the ushering in of the Gospel Dispensation.

There is another important thing, that demands our serious attention, as part and parcel of the imagery of the parable: It is pantes, all that are in the graves, at the time specified or designated by the phrase, an hour cometh. It would be puerile to quibble, as certain orthodox men do, when they find panta in a connexion that interferes with their preconceived opinions or dogmas. I shall contend, that this term means all, every one of the patients, that, according to the imagery, were in the graves at the hour designated in the parabola. The question, therefore, comes with emphasis, Who were in the graves, at the time specified?

I answer, first, and confining the time to one solar day, after the ending of that aionos, and the commencing of the third aionos, or last day, or Gospel Dispensation, that none of Adam's race, were, literally, in the graves at that period. I am desirous of correcting a monstrous error, that has come down to our time, from pagan Egypt; the land of heathenism; of darkness; of catacombs; and immortal Mummies!* The precise moment or hour in

* Orthodoxy teaches, not only the pagan doctrine of the immortality

question, fixes the mind on the dreadful epoch, when the carcass was shut up in Jerusalem; when the Roman eagles appeared at every avenue, and escape was impossible. Then, every eye, or pantes all the Jews, who were asleep in the dust of the earth, literally, their bodies of corruption and mortality, the flesh, awoke from their dream of safety; their sleep of blindness; so far as to see their horrible condition, of being condemned to destruction, and all hope perished. Eleven hundred thousand perished in that parabolic hour; they descended from the parabolic graves, in which they had slept in blind security, to the literal Hades of aionion destruction. This was their parabolic anastasin kriseos; or resurrection of judgment; that consigned them to real graves; or rather to the state of Hades; for the flames, in which was revealed the truth of Christ's predictions, consumed the greater number in the unparalleled destruction and conflagration of their city and temple, by the Roman army under Titus.

The dark sayings of the prophet Daniel, that were sealed to that prophet, (Dan. xii. 1-3; see also, x. 14,) are here applied by Jesus to the destruction of the unbeliev ing Jews; and the resurrection that was predicted by the prophet, in the dark saying of prophecy, is here illustrated by Jesus in his parabola to the Jews; and the full accomplishment of the prophecy shewn to be near at hand. The prophet was told by the Divine messenger, who came to Daniel in a vision, when he was beside the great river Hiddekel, in Persia, "Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days; for the vision is for days." The account given to Daniel by the Divine messenger, closed with the 4th verse of the 12th chapter. The Jews, or Daniel's people, were to be the recipients of the things predicted; and the latter days, or the closing of the second aionos, was the time for the completion of the prophecy. The phraseology of the prophet varies from the phraseology of Jeof the soul, but, the incongruous adjunct, that the saints rest in their graves until the resurrection! According to Dr. A. Clarke, the doctrine of the immateriality and immortality of the soul, is a very ancient doctrine! No doubt of this fact; it is as old as paganism; and was an old story when the Lord Jesus Christ brought life and immortality to light; about 1800 years since. But, remember, Christ never pretended to bring to light the pagan hypothesis, of "the immateriality, and immortality," of mortal souls, or psuchens in mortal bodies! Dr. C. & Co., and his heathen prototypes, have all the honour of this discovery!

sus, in just such particulars, as exhibit Jesus' application of the prediction to the Jews, with a minuteness that was kept sealed from the prophet. Daniel affirms, that the Divine messenger informed him as follows:-That "At that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. 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. And they that be wise, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."

Now it is beyond all dispute, that Jesus quoted from this very prophecy, on several occasions, and applied it to the destruction of Jerusalem; the temple; the Levitical priesthood; and to the end of the second aionos. (See Matt. xxiv. 15, 21; Mark xiii. 14; compare these with Dan. xii. 11.) But if any thing in the shape of a remarkable coincidence were needed, as collateral proof, we have it here, in the singular fact, that the phrase everlasting life, occurs but once in the whole Old Testament, and then in Dan. xii. 2, as I have quoted; and is the precise term used by Jesus, to designate those, who, at that time, in the hour spoken of, were raised from the moral death, or darkness of unbelief, to the light and life of his Gospel. This fact, with the collateral testimony referred to, is final. For it is in the same latter days, when many shall awake from their sleep of darkness in the dust of the earth, some to everlasting life, that the antithesis, viz: some shall awake to shame, and everlasting contempt, shall appear, and appear as an effect of the same resurrection-viz: a parabolic, or moral resurrection of men, in the flesh; described in the parabola, as asleep in the dust of the earth. We, therefore, see the reason, why Jesus confined himself to the figures in question. The prophet Daniel was astounded, when the Divine messenger informed him of the children of his people, in the latter days, awaking from their sleep in the dust of the earth, some of them to everlasting life. He had no conception of what the metaphor signified. Jesus took the figure, and gave it an exclusive signification, to define the life of believers, who should experience a moral resur