and nation, are 'the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb,' and being made perfect by suffering and judgment, farther on in the events of that age 'follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth,' and together with him execute the final judgment on the whole world (Rev. xix. 14), inclusive even of the judgment on Satan and his angels. This doctrine seems to have been generally taught in the days of the apostles, inasmuch as St. Paul writes to the Corinthians (1 Epist. vi. 2, 3), 'Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?' 'Know ye not that we shall judge angels?' Even in the Psalms we read, 'This honour have all His saints' (see Psalm cxlix. 6-9). "On these premises, it seems to me, the following argument may be founded relative to the interpretation of Matt. xxv. 46. In that chapter the _separation_ between the sheep and the goats is spoken of as initiatory to the general judgment, and the chapter closes with an exposition of the principles on which the judgment is conducted as regards both the one class and the other. The details and the processes of the judgment, together with its _results_, are to be sought for in the writings of the prophets and in the Book of Revelation. Now, when account is taken of all events of that future life, it may be said, I think, with truth, that the righteous who live and act in it throughout, when that life begins enter into 'eternal life,' the word 'eternal' being applicable because that age has a time-limit. _This_ eternal life, the mention of which was omitted in the former letter, merges into endless, or indissoluble, life, when time is no more, and words expressive of time cease to have application. In an analogous manner the unrighteous may be said to go into 'eternal punishment' when they enter upon the experience of the future age, the limit of the effects of the judgment and punishment which they are doomed to undergo being a 'second death.' However great and terrible may be the woe and tribulation attendant on that event, we know as matter of experience of life at present, that death, of itself, is but a passage into another state of existence. We have, {132} therefore, no right to affirm that after the effects of judgment and punishment are accomplished, the second death is not a transition into that state of things in the new heavens and new earth which is described in Rev. xxi. Rather, may we not conclude that eternal life and eternal punishment terminate alike with the end of time, and that in the consummation of all things both are merged in indissoluble life, that God may be all in all? This conclusion appears to meet the difficulty stated at the beginning of this letter.