Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/61

 Sodom and Gomorrah are plain revelations of this fact. Surely the catastrophe which befel those cities may be taken as an outer revelation that an inner judgment had swept off, to their final destiny, those abandoned spirits by whom such wickedness had been induced. The presence of the angels just before this occurrence proves that there was a special Divine coming in connection with it: and the circumstance of that presence being known to the men of the city shows that they were made aware of their connection with influences from the spiritual world. And who will say that even wicked spirits cannot convey such information for evil purposes to wicked men? Who will say that the destruction of the cities did not reveal the condemnation of such spirits? How marvellous was this coming: how terrible this judgment!

The dispersion of the Noetic Church was followed by preparations for the commencing and establishing of another. It seems essential to the merciful designs of the Divine providence that a Church, in which the Lord would be acknowledged, should always exist: it is the orderly channel through which the blessings of His kingdom can descend to men. That which succeeded the Noetic Church was the Israelitish. This had its beginning in the time of Abram. The call of that patriarch was by a Divine coming; the Lord said unto him, "Get thee out of thy country," and "I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing." By this Divine coming, a covenant was established with Abram; and it is well known that the Israelitish dispensation was formed among the descendants of his grandson, Jacob. This dispensation came into special prominence as the representative of a Church during the sojourn of the