Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/173

 the earth is ninety-five millions of miles: if, therefore, this be multiplied by twenty thousand two hundred and fifty, we shall have a result which will require upwards of six hundred thousand years for the star Arcturus to reach this earth, supposing it to fall at the rate of a mile a second. There are also other stars situated much more deeply in space than this; this is gathered from the difference of their apparent magnitudes; how unreasonable then is it to suppose that the falling of the stars, in the prediction which has been cited, can have any reference whatever to such a natural occurrence. It is evident, therefore, that the Lord's statements were never intended to convey any such idea as that of the destruction of the universe. What they refer to is some spiritual catastrophe affecting the Church. Hence, John, in the Revelation, states that he saw the occurrence of such phenomena in the spiritual world; thus he said, "I beheld, and, lo, the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth:" and again, "the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened." Every one knows that these descriptions do not refer to mundane things: they are images of the judgment that follows the corruption of the Church. And so it is with those which are mentioned in the Lord's prediction. By the sun being darkened, is meant the perversion of love; by the moon not giving her light, is denoted the obscuration of faith; and by the stars falling from heaven, is signified the separation of knowledge from spiritual life; and by the powers of heaven being shaken, is denoted that all the principles of goodness would be endangered: for goodness is the power of heaven, and this is