Notes on Scripture.

Perpetuity of the Earth.

SHALL this world be rolled up and laid aside? Does a speedy and eternal end await our globe? When something more than one thousand years shall have passed away, will the earth cease to be, and be as though it had not been?

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It is quite poetic to assign to all sublunary things, man alone excepted, a speedy and an eternal end-to have them pass away as the baseless fabric of a vision." Some would annihilate the earth-burn it into nothing. A minister recently informed us, "This world shall be rolled up and laid aside;" and then went on to say, that such a fate awaits the planets of our system. It was preaching, but was it true?

If no atonement had been made, such a thing might have been true of the earth. If sin has entered other worlds, and no form of atonement has been made for them, it may be true of them, or true in part. Or if the atonement had not extended as far as Adam's sin, then things irrational, having fallen under the curse, might remain under it-never be delivered from it. But if the atonement extends as far as Adam's sin, then all things earthly, except such as have the power of faith and repentance, and have remained unrepentant—all things except such as reject or neglect the atonement, will be more or less benefited by it. All irrational things which have suffered in consequence of Adam's sin, will be restored in consequence of Christ's death. The inference seems to be irresistible, that if the atonement is not defective, the earth, in consequence of it, will be delivered from the curse, and restored to its primal state.

If sin had not entered our world, certainly no one believes that utter destruction would have awaited the earth. If man had not fallen, perhaps, all believe he would eventually have become immortal, and the earth would have been eternal. But if the effects of the obedience and death of the second Adam extends as far as the disobedience of the first Adam, then why will not the immortality of all men who do not reject the atonement, and the eternity of the earth, be secured? That such will be the case, the Bible assures us. When this earth shall be a new earth, there shall be no more curse," or no more a curse (Rev.

xxii. 3).

Astronomy informs us that the earth, with our whole solar system, is a part, a very small part of a great sidereal system. It also informs us that our solar system will be about eighteen millions two hundred thousand years performing a single revolution in its great astral orbit. Is it probable that our guiltless earth, on which a most glorious atonement has been made, and our guiltless solar system, on many of whose orbs sin has not appeared, shall be annihilated many millions of years before they shall have performed a single revolution in their astral

orbit that they shall become "as the baseless fabric of a vision," comparatively, almost as soon as they have been set in motion ?—that a great jar shall be made in our sidereal system almost as soon as it has been formed, and made notwithstanding the glorious atonement?

It is estimated that our solar system has only passed over the one three-thousandth part of its orbit since the creation, and another thousand years will do very little more toward completing its mighty revolution. Shall our earth, which has been made conspicuous by the manifestation of the Son of God in the flesh upon it, and by, perhaps, the greatest display of the love, mercy, and the other attributes of God which any world has ever witnessed, so soon cease to exist? Everything seems positively to answer, No. Such a wonderful revolution certainly seems to bespeak for earth a protracted, if not an endless, period in the future.

Jesus was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, and not His own (1 John iii. 8). We have no possible warrant to believe Christ will destroy the earth. Will He permit Satan to do it?

But does the Bible speak positively on this subject? We are told, "Thou, Lord, in the beginning [Gr. in beginnings] hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thine hands; they shall perish, but Thou remainest; they shall wax old, as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed : but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail" (Heb. i. 10-12). This is quoted from Ps. cii. 25, 26: "Of old hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall b changed." From these and other passages we learn that the perishing of the earth is merely its present form, that it shall only wax old like a garment, and like a vesture be changed, not annihilated. Change does not imply utter destruction. The earth shall be made another; changed as the redeemed shall be. It will be a change that will fit it for their abode (Rev. v. 9, 10). Peter, speaking of the great conflagration which awaits the earth, when " the heavens being on fire," that is, the atmospheric heavens, "shall be dissolved," and the very "elements shall melt with fervent heat," adds, "Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness (2 Pet. iii. 13; Isa. lxv. 17; lxvi. 22, et al.) The most plain and positive account of the new earth is in Rev. 21st and 22d chapters.

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This earth is positively promised to the redeemed and glorified as their abode (Ps. xxxvii. 9, 11, 22, 29, 34; Isa. lvii. 13; Prov. ii. 21; Matt. v. 5). I might refer to a great many other passages which cannot possibly be explained on any other supposition. The trying to explain away their plain positive import, is one thing which has made many inexplicable mysteries in the Bible.

It is on the earth, and not in some distant unknown and unsubstantial world, the glorified are to reign. "And they sung a new song,

saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth" (Rev. v. 9, 10). How any one can make "on the earth" mean in some other world, is a mystery. Is it not doing violence to the plain import of God's Word? Is it not taking a liberty with God's book, which any one of us would be unwilling to have taken with ours? Is it not enough to make us tremble to think of such liberties being taken with a positive "Thus saith the Lord?" Many other passages of the same import might be quoted.

The earth is spoken of as stable and abiding. "One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth for ever (Eccles. i. 4). "Who laid the foundations of the earth, that should not be removed for ever” (Ps. cxix. 90). "For as the new heavens, and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord" (Isa. lxvi. 22, 23). Many other passages might be quoted, but I must forbear. There are great, sublime, grand figures which would seem to imply the utter destruction of the earth, but scarcely any of them are as strong as that used in 2d Peter, where we are assured of new heavens and a new earth. Peter compares the destruction by fire to that by the flood. At the flood the earth was

neither annihilated nor laid aside.

Isa. xxxiv. 4, 5, would seem to imply the utter dissolution of the heavens and the earth, yet from the context it is evident that it cannot even refer to the conflagration—that it will precede the millennium. So with many other passages.-Prophetic Times.

The Holy City.

REV. xxi. 23.

THE whole verse reads, "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it." I have often thought of the language used in the preface to Revelation: "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein" (Rev. i. 3). The Spirit of Inspiration uses no such language with reference to any other book. It pronounces a blessing on the reader, hearer, and doer. It appears that we cannot frequently read or hear read the words of this book without being blessed. The book has so much of the spirit of heaven that it seems we cannot even frequently hear it read without catching something of the spirit of that holy place. I know of nothing that is so heavenly— so soul enrapturing-as portions of this holy book. There are a great

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many passages in which there is not only the most touching, impassioned, heart-moving eloquence, but it is heavenly. There is nothing earthly about it. We seem to be brought near the throne, to be listening to their songs, and witnessing their heartfelt joys. Yet there is no book in the Bible that is so dark and mysterious-no book which is so little understood-no book the reading of which is so unpopular. This may be the reason why it is so little read. Many would seem to doubt the words of inspiration (Rev. i. 3), and to pronounce the book unprofitable reading. But if the book is so dark and mysterious, so little understood, why should it be profitable? Whether we can assign a reason or not, we have God's word for it, and that is sufficient.

Perhaps one great reason may be because we are so frequently brought very near the throne; we hear such glowing language, and are introduced into such blissful society, that hard and unfeeling, indeed, must be that heart that does not catch something of the spirit of the society-something of the inspiration of the place. Carefully read the 19th chapter, and I scarcely know what kind of a heart you have if you do not feel like joining with the four-and-twenty elders, and the four living creatures in saying, Amen, Alleluia." Or with the great multitude crying, “Alleluia, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth."

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Or turn to the 7th, 21st, and 22d chapters, and the Holy Spirit introduces you into the New Jerusalem, the city of indescribable glories, where even the sun is not needed, or where it grows pale before the unspeakable, the infinite glories of God and the Lamb. "The Lamb is the light of it." In every sense the Lamb is the light of it—in every sense the glory of it. In the most literal and natural sense, as well as in every figurative sense, the Lamb is the light of the New Jerusalem. There are senses in which the Lamb is the light of this and of all worlds. Jesus says, "I am the light of this world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John viii. 12). There is no doubt, but the word is usually to be interpreted figuratively; so I repeat it, in every figurative, and in every possible sense, Jesus is the light of the city of our God.

No one will doubt that He is figuratively, but is He literally the light of the Holy City? We read in the context, "And the city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it." By the sun and the moon here, we are to understand the sun and moon naturally and literally. The plain import of the language is, that the city will have no need of these natural sources of light. Why no need? The reason assigned is, "For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." His outshining glory will be light enough. The city does not, and will not, need any other source of light. All suns, moons, and stars might be blotted out of existence, but the light of the Holy City would not in the least be dimmed. I use the terms effulgence and effulgent because I can think of no better word. They mean shining out, diffusing a flood of light. There is, and there will be, a light and glory encircling the Lamb whose brightness does and will outshine the sun, and yet to immortal eyes it will

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not dazzle-it will not in the least be painful or unpleasant. mortal eyes would be unable to endure it. Before the full radiance of Jehovah's glory they would faint away-not merely become as dead men, but be dead. God told Moses that no man could see His face and live (Ex. xxxiii. 20). Paul says of Him, that no one hath seen Him, nor can see Him (1 Tim. vi. 16). The opinion seems to have been common among the Jews, that the glory of God was too great to be looked upon by mere mortal eyes.

This light is also as constant as it is effulgent and glorious. Hence we read, “And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever" (Rev. xxii. 5). There is such glory encircling the Lord God that it causes light surpassing the brightness of the sun, and so constant that there can be no night there. It is not a mere figure of speech which Isaiah uses when he says, "Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously" (Isa. xxiv. 23). The full radiance of His glory will eclipse and put to shame those great created lights. We learn that the earth was lightened by the unveiled glory of even an angel (Rev. xviii. 1). When a little of the glory of the Lord was permitted to shine on the plains of Bethlehem, the shepherds were sore afraid (Luke ii. 9). When a little of that glory appeared on Mount Sinai, "the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel" (Ex. xiv. 17).

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We have said there will a glory encircle the Lamb which will outshine the sun, but have we any evidence that such is now the factthat there is any such glory encircling the Holy One? The Psalmist says, "O Lord, my God, Thou art very great, Thou art clothed with honour and majesty. Who coverest Thyself with light as with a garment" (Ps. civ. 1, 2). Paul, speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, says, "Who only hath immortality dwelling in light, which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen nor can see; to whom be glory and power everlasting. Amen" (1 Tim. vi. 16). It may be rendered, dwelling in, or inhabiting unapproachable light. That is, mere mortals cannot approach it.

Such passages inform us that our adorable Redeemer is encircled with light or glory, as with a garment; and such is its effulgence that mere mortals cannot look upon it or approach it. When Jesus appeared to John on Patmos in a part of His glory, He fell at His feet as dead (Rev. i. 17). Had John not been in the ecstatic state, expressed in the original by "epneumati," and had the full glory of Jehovah Jesus been displayed, doubtless he would have fallen dead. So Ezekiel, though in the ecstatic state, at the appearance of some of the glory of God, fell on his face (Ezek. i. 2; iii. 23). So also we have mention of others falling prostrate.

When our Saviour was transfigured, there was seen a little of the