Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/221

 spiritual life, and to their connection with the Church, than to their bodily sufferings and to their circumstances in the world? Such at least is our opinion.

It is written, that "immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken;" but who, remembering the prophecy of Joel, delivered in very similar language, with the apostle Peter's interpretation, and his application of it to the events of Pentecost, can for a moment regard the terms of this prophecy in any other than a figurative sense? The sun, moon, and stars referred to are not those natural lights which the terms commonly express, but those spiritual luminaries in the mind of the Church which refer to the Lord, to faith in Him, and knowledge concerning Him. "The Lord is a sun," and this sun is darkened when obscure doctrines prevail respecting Him. "The moon" is faith derived from Him; but this moon cannot give her light when that sun has ceased to shine. "The stars"' are spiritual knowledge of various kinds, and these are said to fall from heaven when they are separated from heavenly teaching. Hence those things which are "immediately" to follow the calamities related, are not to be understood of natural phenomena in the world, but of spiritual occurrences in the Church. This is a view of the prediction which we think is adapted to commend itself to the acceptance of all sober thought; while the literal fulfilment of it does not seem necessary to the purpose of the Divine coming, or possible in the nature of things. Of course, by this latter observation we do not mean to question the omnipotence of God, but as we believe the omnipotence of God to be an orderly activity of His wisdom, we