Year: 1867

the fullress of bliss, that they did
not observe,,when He departed from
them; and, while they stood thus
entranced and gazing up into
Heaven, an angel said to them !:
"Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye
here, gazing up into Heaven q This
same Jesus which is taken up from
you into Heaven shall so come in
like manner as We have seen Him
go into Heaven" Now the Judg-
ment rests upon the fulfillment Of
this declaration ; and the Apostle
Paul tells US exactly how it will be
fulfilled-that the Lord Jesus
Christ shall descend from Heaven,
with the voice of the archangeps
trump. The dead in Christ shall
rise first. This is not figurative.
You will find it a stern reality. Tie
Lord Jesus shall descend from
Heaven with a shout and the voice
of the archangel's trump, indica-
tive of his divine authority. There
is one circumstance connected
with this descent of the Judge, to
which few have given attention.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is represent.
ed as coming from Heaven, and
approaching the earth but he
stops IN mid-heavens. o st. Paul
says the dead in Christ shall rise
first, and We shall be caught up in
to the air to meet our Lord. These
words can not be figuratiye. They
are literal Sand so shall ever be
with the Lord" a. .,t1 war., n.


The next circumstance of the
Judgment, after the descent of the
Lord Jesus, is the resurrection of
the dead. The dead in Christ shall
rise first. The Apostle Paul tells
US that the dead shall be raised
and the living changed This
change will only be necessary for
the living. The dead will have un-
dergone the change in their graves.
Thus the whole human family will
stand before the Judgment seat.
We can not fully comprehend why
the dead in Christ shall be raised
first, bat this we can understand,
"the dead shall be raised, they that
have done good to the resurrection
of life, and they that have done
evil to the resurrection of damnas
tion." While the destiny of the
goods made plain, we are not inform
ed as to the condition and destiny
of the wicked. Their Immortality,
condemnation and future misery
are made clear, but under what
conditions is not explained.


The last circumstance connected
with the Judgment, to which we
call attention, is the destruction of
our earth by confagration. In re-
gard to the doctrine of a general
confagration of the earth, there
has been a wonderful change in the
minds of philosophers during the
past few years. Fifty years ago
we would hardly have found one of
these wise men, who call them
selves natural philosophers, that
would have adlnittedfor moment
the possibility of a confagration
of the earth. do not speak ir-
reverently of natural philosophers,
for when such a man is a Christian
he makes the best kind of a Chris
tian; but as general thing, fifty
years ago, to have spoken to one
of these wise men of the world be.
ing burned up, would have elected
smile of incredulity, if not pity.
He would have answered, ''that
will do very wei to terrify men,
but the idea is absurd" But what
of their opinions to-day / may
say in the language of one OF them,
and a very prominent one, too,
"That instead of the doctrine of a
general conflagration being alb
surd, the great mystery is that the
world is not burned up every hour;
and the tact of its not occurring
can only be attributed to the inter-
position of Divine government"
What, I ask, is the earthquake 2 1t
is nothing more nor less than the
violent agitation produced by the
escape OF gas and steam thrown
out by the intense internal heat of
the earth. Have you ever stood
by a steam boiler and observed the
agitation produced by the escape
of steam through the safety-valve


This. is only a faint type of the
the terrible agitation produced in
the earth by the escape of heated
gases and steam through its apper-
lures. gItis now demonstrated to
the satisfaction of the scientific
world, that the center of the earth
is in the highest state of ignition.