4.

4 But ye, brethren, are not Ὑμεις δε, αδελφοι, οικ in darkness, that that day εςε εν σκοτει, ἵνα ἡ ἡμερα

them, is everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, 2 Thess. i. 8, 9.

Though the apostle Paul hath often spoken of Christ's return from heaven, and of the resurrection of the dead, the judgment of the world, and the state of the righteous and of the wicked after the judgment, this is the only passage in which he hath professedly given an account of these great events. Yet, as he has not introduced all the particulars relating to them, which he himself, his Master, and the other apostles have occasionally mentioned, it will not be unprofitable if in this place, taking 1 Thess. iv. 14. and V. 1, 2, 3. as the groundwork of the description, I shall insert in their order, the farther discoveries concerning the judgment of the world, and the final issues of things, which are made to us in other parts of the scripture.

Before the coming of Christ to put an end to the world, all those events included in the mystery of God, which he bath declared to his servants the prophets, must be finished, Rev. x. 7. But, as many of these events have not yet taken place, the coming of Christ may still be at a great distance. Accordingly, the apostle Peter hath foretold, 2 Epist. iii. 3, 4. that in the last days there will be scoffers, who, because his coming is delayed for a long time, will ridicule the promise of his coming, and affirm, that the world never shall have an end. For the same reason also, as Paul informs us, these men immediately before the coming of Christ, will promise to one another peace and safety for a great length of years. But while the last generation of the wicked are thus living in a state of absolute security, the Lord himself will descend from heaven, to their unspeakable astonishment. And their consternation will be augmented by the visible majesty in which he will appear. For he will come in his own glory, Luke ix. 26. and in the glory of his Father, with his angels. Matt. xvi. 27. He will come, not in the weak fleshly body in which he was crucified, but in that glorious body wherein he now lives: He will come, surrounded with that bright light, whereby the Father manifests himself to the angelical hosts, and whose shining far surpassing that of the sun, will give notice of his approach; on which account he is called the Day Star, 2 Pet. i. 19. and the Morning Star, Rev. xxii. 16. which is to usher in the day of judgment. He will come attended, not with a few poor disciples, but with an innumerable host of angels, the ministers of his justice, and who shall announce his arrival by a great shout, expressive of their joy, that the judgment of the world is come, that the righteous are to be rewarded and the wicked punished, and that all the powers of darkness are to be utterly destroyed.—And now, the Lord appearing in the air, surrounded with myriads of angels, the voice of an archangel shall be heard, proclaiming that he is come to judge the living and the dead. And the trumpet shall sound, as the signal for the dead to come forth from their graves. But they shall not all revive at once. Every man is to rise in his, proper band. Christ, the first-fruit hath risen long

4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, (Iva, 197.)

4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness; ye are not in a state of

ago, and will now shew himself risen; afterward they who are Christ's at his coming, 1 Cor. xv. 23. The dead in Christ, therefore, being first raised, shall appear with spiritual, incorruptible, and immortal bodies, fashioned like to Christ's glorious body, and shining as the brightness of the firmament. After they are raised, such of the righteous as, at the coming of Christ, are alive on the earth, shall be changed; for they shall not anticipate them who are asleep in Christ, 1 Thess. iv. 15. This change, by which the bodies of the living shall be transformed like to Christ's glorious body, will be produced in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, during the sounding of the last trumpet, 1 Cor. xv. 52. It seems the trumpet shall sound twice.— The righteous who sleep in Jesus being thus raised, and those who are alive at his coming being changed, the wicked who are in their graves, shall then awake to everlasting shame and contempt, Dan. xii. 2. They shall not rise with glorious bodies, like the children of God, but with fleshly, corruptible, mortal bodies, like those in which they died; because they are not to inherit the kingdom of God. For the same reason, no change shall pass on the bodies of such of the wicked as remain on earth at the coming of Christ. In the change of the living, as well as in the resurrection of the dead, due regard being had to the real character of each, a most accurate and just discrimination will be made, between the righteous and the wicked, by the kind of body which Christ will allot to them. So that every one's character being thus made visible to himself and to his fellows, and to the angels, and in short, to the whole universe, there will be no need of any particular inquiry into the actions of individuals; but the whole process of the judgment will be completed and declared at once, in the righteous sentences of the Judge fixing the doom of every man irreversibly. For the whole human race, from the beginning of the world to the end of time, being gathered together, shall stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, so raised in the air, as every eye may see him, and every ear hear him. And being revealed in their true characters, each shall receive according to his works. To the righteous Christ will say, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, Matt. xxv. 34. After which, they shall be caught up in clouds, by the ministry of the angels, to join the Lord in the air.—And now the righteous being gathered together around Christ, 2 Thess. ii. 1. he will say to the wicked, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. This spoken, flaming fire shall issue from his presence, and from the glory of his power, 2 Thess. i. 8. that is, from the luminous cloud with which he is surrounded, and by which his presence and power shall be manifested. And that fire shall burn the earth, 2 Pet. iii. 10. 12. and the wicked left thereon; both them who were alive at the coming of Christ, and them who were raised from the dead; and none of them shall escape: for their numbers, when assembled, shall not protect them from the indignation and power

5 Παντες ύμεις διοι φω τος εςε και διοι ἡμερας· ουκ εσμεν νυκτος, ουδε σκοτους.

6 Αρα ουν μη καθευδο

sleep, as do others; but μεν, ὡς και οι λοιποι αλλα

let us watch and be sober.

7 For they that sleep,

sleep in the night; and they that be drunken, are drunken in the night.

of their Judge. This punishment by fire these wicked men shall suffer, because formerly preferring the pleasures of the body to the pleasures of the mind, they lived only for the body. And as this fire is said to be prepared for the devil and his angels, it is reasonable to think that they also shall be punished in the conflagration.-But while all the enemies of God are thus suffering condign punishment for their crimes, the righteous, along with the angels, shall accompany Christ in his return to heaven, and so they shall be for ever with the Lord.

From the burning of the wicked in the general conflagration, it does not follow that the thinking principle in them shall then be extinguished. Their souls may survive this second death of the body, just as it survived the first, Matt. x. 28. Yet how long it will survive this second death, depends wholly on the pleasure of God, who may prolong their existence, or put a period to it, as he sees fit. Only while they exist, being excluded from all enjoyment, and even from the hope of enjoyment, because they are to have no second resurrection, they must suffer a melancholy, the bitterness of which it is not possible to describe. This comfortless, most miserable state, is, perhaps, what in scripture is called outer darkness, and the blackness of darkness reserved for the wicked for ever, 2 Pet. ii. 17. See 2 Thess. i. 9. note 1.

Such will be the process of the judgment; and such the state of the righteous and the wicked, after it is finished. May the belief of these great discoveries made by the inspired writers, be deeply fixed in our hearts, and may the frequent recollection of them animate us to live in such a manner, that we may be of the number of the righteous in that great and terrible day!

Ver. 4.-1. Should like a thief come. Karanaby, literally, lay hold on. The apostle means, that although the coming of Christ will be unexpected to the righteous, as well as to the wicked, because unforeseen by both, yet it will not overwhelm the righteous with terror, nor bring destruction to them,

a thief, come on you.

1

so as that they should, like ignorance and security, like the heathen, so as the day of Christ should, like a thief in the night, come on you unexpectedly, and fill you with ter

ror.

5 All ye are sons of light, 5 All ye who believe are enlightenand sons of day: we are ed persons, and persons for whose benenot sons of night, neither fit the day of judgment is appointed. of darkness.2

6 Therefore, let us not sleep, even as the others: but let us watch, and be sober.

7 For they who sleep, sleep in the night, and they who get drunk,' are drunken in the night.

We are not persons living in the night of heathenish ignorance, neither persons for whom the darkness of eternal death is designed.

6 Therefore, as persons enlightened, let us not stupify ourselves with sensuality, even as the heathens ; but let us keep ourselves azvake, and preserve the right use of reason, by habitual temperance.

7 For they who sleep, sleep in the night, and they who get drunk, do it in the night; that is, the stupidity and sensuality in which the heathens live, are suitable to the darkness of ignorance in which they live.

as it will do to the wicked.-The commendation in this verse, though addressed to the Thessalonians in general, does not by any means imply, that all of them were of such a character, that if the day of Christ had come upon them, it would have found them prepared. Among so great a number, there were doubtless some, whom that day would have surprised; particularly the disorderly persons mentioned in the second epistle. But the apostle speaks in this general manner, because the greatest part of them were living as it became the disciples of Christ to do.

Ver. 5.-1. All ye are sons of light, and sons of day. This, as addressed to the whole of the Thessalonian brethren, means that they were all so enlightened by the gospel, as to merit the appellation of sons of day; and that, if they improved their knowledge, they would be of the number of those for whom the day of judgment was made. See Rom. xiii. 12. 1 John i. 5.

notes.

2. We are not sons of night, neither of darkness. These are characters of the heathens, importing that they were living in utter ignorance of spiritual things.

Ver. 7.-1. They who get drunk are drunken in the night. 'O μedvonoμEVOS,

8 But let us who are of 8 Ημεις δε, ἡμερας οντες,

the day be sober, putting on the breast-plate of faith

and loye; and for an helmet the hope of salvation.

9 For God hath not ap

pointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

10 Who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

11 Wherefore, comfort yourselves together, and

νηφωμεν, ενδυσάμενοι θωρακα πίςεως και αγαπης και περικεφαλαίαν, ελπιδα σωτη

ρίας

9 Ότι ουκ επετο ἡμας ὁ Θεος εις οργην. αλλ' εις περιποιησιν σωτηρίας δια του Κυρίου ἡμων, Ιησου Χριςου

10 Του αποθανοντος ὑπερ ἡμων, ἵνα, ει τε γρηγορωμεν, ει τε καθευδωμεν, ἅμα συν αυτῷ ζησωμεν.

11 Διο παρακαλείτε αλ

νυκσ( μεθυσσι. Μεθυσκομαι, denotes the act of getting drunk, μεθυω, the state.-See Raphelius, who has quoted a passage from Polybius, shewing that drunkenness in the day-time was reckoned highly indecent, even by the heathens themselves.

Ver. 8.-1. Putting on the breast-plate. The breast and head being particularly exposed in battle, and wounds in these parts being extremely dangerous, the ancients carefully defended the breast and the head of their soldiers by armour, to which the apostle here compares the Christian virtues of faith and love. In the parallel passage, Ephes. vi. 14. the expression is, the breast-plate of righteousness ; to shew, as Estius says, that the righteousness of a Christian consists in faith and love. Yet as the shield of faith is likewise mentioned in that passage, the observation perhaps is too refined. The breast-plate of faith and love, being made of more precious materials than any metal, and being of a truly heavenly fabric, will render the heart, the seat of the affections, invulnerable. The apostle's meaning, stripped of the metaphor, is this; that to defend our affections against the impression of outward and sensible objects, nothing is so effectual as faith in the promises of Christ, and love to God and man.

2. And for an helmet, the hope of salvation. The head being the seat of those thoughts and imaginations, on which the affections and passions in a great measure depend, it must be of importance to defend the head against the entrance of such thoughts and imaginations, as have any tendency to excite bad affections, or carnal desires. But for that purpose, nothing is better, than to have the head so filled with the glorious hope of the salvation offered to us in the gospel, as to exclude all vain thoughts and imaginations whatever. This hope, therefore, is most elegantly termed, the Christian's