the sight of the whole world. The sun shall be darkened; the moon shall refuse to give her light; the powers of the heavens shall be moved; the stars shall fall from the sky; fire shall precede the coming of the Judge and destroy everything on earth. How great must be the might of God in thus reducing the world to ashes! And the same might shall appear just as great in the restoration of so many creatures in the general resurrection. Imagine, my dear brethren, if you can, each and every human being who has ever lived from the time of our forefather Adam to the present day; imagine the countless millions who have lived till now in the four quarters of the globe, those who are still actually living, and those who are still to live on earth till the last day, in all countries and nations; imagine that vast number of human beings without a single exception rising from their graves in a moment, as the Apostle St. Paul says: “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, the dead shall rise again incorruptible,”[1] and they shall all assemble in the valley of Josaphat when the angel shall sound his trumpet and call out: Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment. How many men shall be amongst them whose bodies have been devoured by wild beasts! How many who have been drowned and eaten by fishes! How many whose remains have decayed in the earth! And all that shall remain over of their bodies shall be burned up by fire; and yet those same bodies shall rise again in their former stature, such as they were in this life, and thus come again to life. Thus the same God who shall show His power by the destruction of creatures shall give still clearer proof of it in their resurrection, and publicly show that He is absolute Lord and Master over His whole creation; for He can create and destroy it when, where, and how He pleases.
And His justice. Moreover, on that day the justice of God, which is now so often overlooked and frequently despised by men, shall be most gloriously proved before the whole world. Then shall all see how bitter is the hatred. God has against sin and the sinner, and how He will not allow the smallest transgression to go unpunished; for He will demand an account even of an idle word or thought; nay, He will judge the justices and holiest works of men, and put them to the proof to see if they are according to His will and pleasure. All shall then see that God has no respect for
- ↑ In momento, inictu oculi, in novissima tuba, mortui resurgent incorrupti.—I. Cor. xv. 52.
