ugh it, not
to hush it up by being unfaithful to the plain language of our Lord.

Nor does it exist here only. Our Lord Himself has given us one great
description of the final day of judgment, in His own discourses; and
another by the pen of His beloved apostle. We will take the latter
first, as being, for our present purpose, the fuller of the two: and
we will show in what remarkable point the two agree. In Rev. xx. 4, a
passage to which we made reference last Sunday, we find the first
resurrection taking place, and the faithful dead rising to reign with
Christ during a period known as a thousand years. And it is expressly
said, "_The rest of the dead lived not till the thousand years were
finished_." Now, I am not here taking upon me to explain the meaning
of this, but merely to insist on the fact that, whatever may be the
precise import, it is so stated. Well, and what then? When the
thousand years are expired, and when the last great victory of the
cause of God over evil has been gained, then we read, "_And I saw a
great white throne, and Him that sat on it; and I saw the dead, small
and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another
book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged
out of those things which were written in the books, according to
their works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death
and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged
every man according to his works_." So far the description in the
Revelation. Now, in that given us by our Lord in Matt. xxv. we find
the Son of man coming in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him,
and sitting on the throne of His glory, and all the nations gathered
before Him. But there is this singular coincidence with the other
account, that when the King comes to address those on the right hand
and those on the left, He says, "_Inasmuch as ye did it_ (or _did it
not_) _unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it_ (or _did
it not_) _unto Me_." Now "_these My brethren_" cannot of course mean
the angels; therefore there must be some with Christ to whom the words
must refer. In other words, we have here also the risen saints in
glory with the Lord, as in that other account.

But we may go even further yet, and may discover more from Scripture
respecting the position and employment of these the saints who are
with the Lord. When St. Paul in 1 Cor. vi. is dissuading the
Corinthians from t