Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/166

 Apostle spoke of them as "the heavens and the earth, which were of old," because that is the prophetic style; but by the heavens he meant the internal things of love and peace, and by the earth the external things of faith and duty; these he immediately combines, and speaks of as "the world." The world, then, which was overflowed with water, was the Adamic Church overwhelmed with perversity and falsehood,—falsehood being represented by a flood; this is evident, for the Adamic Church has passed away; but the natural heavens above us are as pure and bright as they ever were, and the natural earth remains as solid and enduring as it ever was.

We will now turn our attention to other considerations. It is well known that a great variety of passages occur in connection with the Israelitish history, which speak of commotions in the heavens and convulsions in the earth; and it may be plain to the ordinary reader that such statements were never intended to be understood in their literal sense. For instance, the prophet says, "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine." "'The moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion." The Lord turneth the earth upside down. "The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved." Every one may, on consideration, see that these prophetical passages were representative and significant of