The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1877-12-26
FoR THE CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN.
THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.
II. When Christ comes, the earth puritie'
by fire, and made "new" will be the futur
} abode of the saints. For certain reasons,
have thought proper to consider this propo
sition next in order. The work which Got
has said He will perform on the earth II
called in the Scriptures, the regeneration,
restitution of all things" and creation
do not propose to speculate upon the form
of the new earth and the nature of it's ma
terials. When it is declared that "the world
being overAowed with water persisted" We
are not taught that it was annihilated, but
that the food of waters, by the operation oi
natural laws, wrought upon i, a great and
material change; change the full extent
of which has not yet been discovered. So,
the fire of the last day must materially change
the structure of the earth. And when we
interpret literally the language of Peter
where he speaks of the heavens and earth
that are now, it would be violation of the
laws Of language to suppose that the new
heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness, of which he next speaks, is
not material abode prepared for righteous
people, but an intangible, ethereal, inmate
rial, inconceivable something, which has some
thing to do, We know not what, with right.
eousness. In the same vision which st. John
had of the new heavens and new earth, he
had also vision of " the holy city, New Je-
rusalem coming down from God out of heav-
en-, prepared as a bride adorned for her hus-
hand" At the same time, he "hesrd great
voice out of heaven saying, behold the taber.
nacle of God is with men, and He will dwell
with them. Behold l make all
things new." Rev. xxi 1-5. Itshould be
noted that at this period Of the brides de-
scent, it is not said, the tabernacle of men is
with God, and they shall dwell with Him.,
but "the tabernacle of God is with men, and
He will dwell Nth them" And what are the
"aU things new" but the new heavens and
new earth which had just been alluded to :
The apostle Peter also speaks of the restitu-
tiOm of all things at the coming of Christ
:" He shall send Jesus Christ i. whom
the heavens must receive until the times Of
the restitution of all things" Acts iii /: 20,
81. John also saw the redeemed PROSTATE
"before the Lamb" and the song they sung
was, "Thou hast redeemed us to God by
Thy blood and We shall reign on the
EARTH" Rev. v: 9, 10.
By close examination of Rev. xi: 15-
18, it will be seen that the time when the
dead are judged, and the saints of God re.
warded, and the destroyers of the earth de.
stroyed, is the time when it is proclaim ed,
the kingdoms of this world are become the
kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ,
and He shall reign forever and ever.
We ought always to desire, hope, and pray
for the fuflment of promise which God
has made to US. The promise, "the meek
shall inherit the earth" 80 often made in the
37th Psalm, and repeated by our Saviour,
cannot have its ful6lment in this dispense
ton during which so many thousands of the
righteous haze been deprived Of the earth and
of life because of their meekness, and during
which God Himself forbids them to lay up
treasures on earth. When will the martyrs
receive that promise, which it was their; duty
and privilege to desire and expect? They
who are persuaded Of and "embrace" such
promises, confess that they are strangers
and pilgrims on this present. earth"
In the Lords prayer, we are taught to
pray, "Thy will be done in earth as it is in
heaven" Gods will must here mean His
commands: for He has always done accord.
ing to His will or purposes. But His com.
mands can never be obeyed on earth as they
are in heaven until the saints are made per-
feet in holiness, and their corruptibe bodies
have put on incorruption-that is, at the
coming of Christ. This petition in the Lords
prayer has been interpreted by some to mean
merely that the earth will resemble heaven
in holiness, while at the same time the saints
will not be sinless, and their bodies will be
corruptible, and there will be some persons in
an unconverted state. If this view is cor.
rect, the likeness of earth to heaven will not
be very striking. The earth did in the days
of Christ and does now resemble heaven to
some degree and it also resembles hell, and
must resemble hell to some degree during the
whole period of the present dispensation.-
Surely this petition cannot be fully answered
by dying sinners becoming more holy than
they we're when Christ offered the petition
Admitting that the word Gas" implies re-
Semblancs in certain things, and not equality
in every thing, still it is clear that the third
petition of the Lords prayer is that all peo
pie on earth may resemble the angels in
heaven in being perfectly obedient to Gods
revealed will. When God commands US tc
be "perfect as He is perfect" he surely re-
quires us to resemble Him in entire freedom
from all sin While "as" does not neces
sarily imply the perfect equality of two things
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