Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/162

 things of spiritual life and duty are the Lord's; that the world in which these graces dwell and the fulness of it are founded by Him. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Of these truths it is important that the Church should be informed. Unless they be acknowledged, the heavens and the earth will pass away: i.e., all the good that is in love, and all the truth which is in faith, would perish. Such acknowledgment is essential to their creation and perpetuity. A multitude of other passages could be easily selected in proof of these positions, but as they would admit of a similar interpretation, we will regard these to be sufficient.

Every one knows that the "heaven" about which the Scriptures treat is a spiritual state of light and love, of joy, purity, and goodness. No man will enjoy its blessedness in the future life unless he has first possessed it here. The kingdom of God is within you. Hence it is that the term heaven is made use of in the Word to denote a state of blessedness in the spiritual man; and of course that state is proper to the spiritual life of the Church.

So with regard to the term "earth." This is the correlative of heaven; for, as heaven denotes the internal and spiritual life of the Church, so the earth denotes its external or natural life. This is the reason why those two terms occur so frequently together. The earth is called upon to hear the word of the Lord, which plainly means that the Church should obey. To hear signifies to obey; and obedience is an external act. It is said that the earth should be full of the goodness of the Lord; that the earth should be full of the knowledge of the Lord; and that the