SERMON XLII.

THE GENERAL RESURRECTION.

I COR. XV. 51, 52.

Behold, I fhew you a mystery. We shall not all fleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the laft trump, for the trumpet shall found, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

AN

N object in itself great, and which we know to be fo, will appear fmall to us, if we view it from a distance. Theftars, for example, in our view, are but as little specks or points of light; and the tip of a finger, if held very near to the eye, is sufficient to hide from us the whole body of the

fun. Distance of time, has an effect upon

us, in its kind, fimilar to distance of space. It diminishes in our mind the idea of what, we are affured, is, in its own nature, of great magnitude and importance. If any of us were informed that we fhould certainly die before this day clofes, what a sudden and powerful change would take place in our thoughts? That we all must die, is a truth, of which we are no lefs certain, than that we are now alive. But because it is poffible that we may not die to-day, or to-morrow, or this year, or for feveral years to come, we are often little more affected by the thoughts of death, than if we expected to live here for ever. In like manner, if you receive the fcripture, as a divine revelation, I need offer you no other proof, that there is a day, a great day, approaching, which will put an end to the present state of things, and introduce a ftate, unchangeable, and eternal. Then the Lord will defcend with a fhout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trump of God. The earth, and all its works, will be burnt up. The great Judge will appear, the tribunal be fixed, the books opened, and all the human race muft give an account of

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them

themselves to God, and, according to his righteous award, be happy, or miserable, in a degree beyond expreffion, or conception, and that for ever.

If we were infallibly affured, that this tremendous scene would open upon us tomorrow; or if, while I am speaking, we fhould be ftartled with the figns of our Lord's coming in the air, what confufion and alarm would overfpread the congregation? Yet, if the fcripture be true, the hour is approaching, when we must all be fpectators of this folemn event, and parties nearly interested in it. But because it is at a distance, we can hear of it, speak of it, and profefs to expect it, with a coolness, almost equal to indifference. May the Lord give us that faith, which is the evidence of things not feen, that while I aim to lead your meditations to the fubject of my text, we may be duly impreffed by it: and that we may carry from hence fuch a confideration of our latter end, as may incline our hearts to that which is our true wisdom!

Many curious enquiries and fpeculations might be started from this paffage, but which, because I judge them to be more

curious

curious than ufeful, it is my intention to wave. I fhall confine myself to what is plainly expreffed, because I wish rather to profit than to amuse my hearers. The principal fubject before us, is the refurrection of the dead, in the most pleafing view of it; for my text fpeaks only of thofe, who shall change the mortal and corruptible, for incorruption and immortality.

I. The introduction, Behold I fhew you a mystery.

In a

II. What we are taught to expect. We Shall not all fleep, but we shall all be changed. III. The fuddennefs of the event. moment, in the twinkling of an eye. IV. The grand preceding fignal. The trumpet fhall found.

I. The apostle apprizes the Corinthians, that he is about to fhew them a mystery. As the word mystery has been treated with no fmall contempt, I fhall embrace this occafion of offering you a fhort explanation of it, as it is used in the fcriptures. We are allowed to say, that there are mysteries in nature, and, perhaps, we may be allowed to fpeak of myfteries in providence; but though an apostle affures us, that Great is the mystery

of

of godliness, many perfons will fcarcely bear the application of the word to religion.. And a late ingenious writer, who has many admirers in the present day, has ventured to affirm, in print, that where mystery begins, religion ends. If the frequency of the cafe did not, in fome degree, abate our wonder, this might feem almost a mystery, that any perfons, who profess to believe the fcripture, fhould fo openly and flatly contradict, what the fcripture exprefsly and repeatedly declares. Or that while, as men of reafon and philophy, they are forced to acknowledge a myftery in every part of creation, and must confess it beyond their ability, to explain the growth of a blade of grafs; they should, in oppofition to all the rules of analogy, conclude, that the gofpel, the most important concern of man, and which is commended to us, as the most eminent difplay of the wisdom and power of God, is the only fubject fo level to our apprehenfions, as to be obvious, at first fight, to the most careless and fuperficial obfervers. That great numbers of people are very far from being accurate and diligent in their religious enquiries,

* 1 Tim. iii. 16.