18. Of the Resurrection of the Dead, and the Last Judgment

Finally, concerning the resurrection of the dead, we confess with the mouth, and believe with the heart, according to Scripture, that on the last day all people who have died and fallen asleep will be awakened and made alive, and will rise again, through the incomprehensible power of God; and that they, together with those who will then still be alive, and who will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the last trumpet, will be set before the judgment seat of Christ, and the good separated from the wicked; that then everyone will receive in his own body according to what he has done, whether it be good or evil; and that the good or godly, as the blessed, will be taken up with Christ, and will enter into life eternal, and obtain that joy which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man, to reign and triumph with Christ forever and ever. Matthew 22, verses 30 and 31; Daniel 12, verse 12; Job 19, verses 26 and 27; Matthew 25, verse 31; John 5, verse 28; Second Corinthians 5, verse 10; First Corinthians 15; Revelation 20, verse 12; First Thessalonians 4, verse 15; First Corinthians 2, verse 9.

And that, on the other hand, the wicked or ungodly, as accursed, will be cast into outer darkness, indeed, into the everlasting pains of hell, where their worm will not die, nor their fire be quenched, and where, according to holy Scripture, they can never again expect any hope, comfort or redemption. Mark 9, verse 44; Revelation 14, verse 11.

May the Lord, through His grace, make us all worthy and fit, so that this may happen to none of us; but that we may so take heed to ourselves, and use all diligence, that on that day we may be found before Him unspotted and blameless in peace. Amen.

These, then, as has been briefly stated before, are the principal articles of our general Christian faith, as we teach and practice them throughout in our churches and among our people; which, in our judgment, is the only true Christian faith, which the apostles in their time believed and taught, indeed, testified to with their life, confirmed with their death, and, some of them, also sealed with their blood; in which we in our weakness, with them and all the godly, would gladly abide, live and die, so that we may afterwards obtain salvation with them through the grace of the Lord.

Thus done and finished in our united churches, in the city of Dortrecht, the 21st of April, 1632, new style.

And was signed by the mutually united

Besides the fact that the last mentioned confession was received by so many churches, and signed by their leaders, as has been shown, all the churches in Alsace and in the Palatinate, in Germany, afterwards unanimously adopted and signed it as well; therefore it was undertaken to translate it for their benefit and that of others, into French and into German. This is given as a remembrance. Here is the patience and faith of the saints. Revelation 13, verse 10.