Page:The Judgment Day.pdf/55

 hour until the ninth hour. But the darkness was not so great as to prevent the consummation of that infernal act, by which a perverted church gave an outward and full manifestation of its internal rejection of goodness and truth. In regard to natural light, there appears to have been nothing more than a temporary and partial withdrawal. The sun was not literally "turned into darkness," nor the "moon into blood." On the morning after that fatal day, on which "the heavens and the earth passed away," the natural sun no doubt shone forth in its usual splendor. The moon continued to look down, with the same quiet lustre, even upon Calvary itself. The stars held their places in the skies. The earth pursued its long travelled path in the heavens; and the whole machinery of nature moved on as if nothing had happened. But were the divine prophecies unfulfilled? Certainly not: But they were fulfilled in a spiritual sense. The former church "was made empty," it "was made waste," and "turned upside down," It was "utterly spoiled," "broken down" and "clean dissolved." It was "moved exceedingly," "reeled to and fro like a drunkard," was "without form and void; ' It was "burnt up" by evil lusts, and "darkened" by false doctrines. It will thus be seen that the transition from the literal to the spiritual sense is perfectly easy and natural; and that the latter is the true and only rational meaning: that it is in fact the only meaning which is consistent with a belief in the divine inspiration of the word. As in a literal sense the earth denotes that which is below or inferior to the natural heavens, so in a spiritual sense it denotes the church, which is inferior to the spiritual heavens. The term "earth" has the same spiritual meaning in such passages as the following; "God judgeth the earth;" "the Lord maketh the earth to tremble;" "the earth rejoices;" "shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord;" "shall be full of praise;" "shall worship the Lord;" shall "keep silence;" "truth shall spring out of the earth;" "good hath perished out of