Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/273

 ject of the Divine teaching. Hence the whole ground upon which "the orthodox" have built their doctrine of the last judgment vanishes away. It is the spirits of men that are to be the subject of that judgment, and the world of spirits is to be the scene of it: the time of its execution is when the spirits there accumulated are of such a character as to hinder the influences of heaven from descending into the Church on earth, and when, consequently, the Church must cease to perform the uses for which it was originally established. When clouds interpose and prevent the sunshine from descending, the earth is brought into shadow and obscurity; and if those clouds were never to be dispersed, the result would certainly be unfavourable to its fruitfulness, and injurious to mankind. But of this we shall speak again.

In previous chapters it has been shown that the Lord has frequently come to His Church, in some peculiar way, and that all such comings have been attended with judgment and mercy; the judgment consisting in the removal of those hindrances to human regeneration, which errors in the religious teachings of men had created; and the mercy consisting in the restoration of Divine truth for the acceptance of the people. The judgment has always been indicated by the occurrence of some calamities amongst mankind; the mercy has always been shown by the appearance of reformations in society. The flood was the accomplishment of a judgment upon the most ancient Church, but that disaster was followed by a revival of spiritual life among mankind, and the consequent establishment of another dispensation; that new dispensation, however, in the process of time, sunk into a condition of depravity, and not only was a judgment executed upon it, but mercy was displayed in providing a successor. In the establishment of