day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works therein shall be burned up."-2 Peter.

"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.

"And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the book, according to their works.

"And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works.

"And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire.

"And the first heaven and the first earth passed away."

Most plainly herein, as foreseen by them, have the prophets physically described the final collapse of our terraqueous orb, and its departure from its present circular path.

At the destined hour, when the loud trumpet sounds, it suddenly becomes a globe of liquid fire, melted with fervent heat; a fiery lake, into which are cast all the enemies of the Prince of Peace, the last of whom are Death and Hell. The heavens are clean dissolved, and the sun no longer reigns. Then our

earth, an incandescent mass, with its oceans, lakes and rivers changed to steam, all its atmosphere and gases glaring with effulgent light, with a great noise breaks from her long accustomed rounds, and flees away from before the throne, to the distant realms of space; to that cemetery to which all "wandering stars" do go, where the blackness of darkness dwells forever. Jude, ch. 13.

Thus clearly is it seen, that as at first she came, so at last she goes, "A Comet," a little burning star, with a train of glowing light streaming through the heavens.

Perhaps she burns again to refine and purify the earthly dross away; perhaps she roams the eternal wastes to cool, and darken, and again become a chaotic mass, without form and void.

And he said unto me, "It is done, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end."

The conclusion thus attained, when properly considered, is not in the least marvelous or wonderful, for such is the uniform course of nature in all her ways. Man's first stage in life is helpless infancy, unconscious of surrounding things, and his last stage is like it, a state of drivelling dottage and imbecility. Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return, is the Creator's law, and applies not to man alone, but to all terrestrial things. The tender herb, the towering tree, and the giant mammoth, arise from dust, and in their appointed times return to dust again. Nations and empires, too, come and go, but whence and whither, none may know. Even "the wind goeth toward the south and turneth about unto the north;

and it whirleth about continually; and the wind re

turneth again according to his circuits." "All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again." "The sun, also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose." The earth itself is but a creature of the same Creator, and can be no exception to the law that rules in all its parts and members. It, too, must end as it began, to accomplish its appointed circuit. We cannot too deeply consider, nor too well comprehend, the full force of the trite scriptural maxim, so often and emphatically rung into our ears, "the first shall be last, and the last shall be first." I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, is a significant truth, descriptive not of Him, who is without end or beginning, but of the works of his Almighty hands. The first is but a type of the last, and the last a reflection of the first; and if we can but discern the one, we may readily anticipate the other. Our earth, in the beginning, we found to be a glowing ball of chaotic matter, melted with fervent heat, with all things in it burned up, roaming wildly through the regions of infinite space, without a sun to bind her to her course. With truly parallel features do we foresee, that such will be her end. Six different days, or stages, at the first, mark the progress of the creation; so at the last are six different angels seen successively engaged in tearing down the work prior to its complete destruction. Following the six days of labor in the beginning, a seventh announces "that the heavens and the earth are finished." So in the end, the six laboring angels are followed by a seventh, who sounds, "that the mystery of God is finished; it is done."

The first Adam came to give physical life to a myriad host; the last, who is to come, will give perpetual life to all those who are His at His appearing; the first Adam was a natural being of the earth, earthy, and all his children partook of his infirmity; the last Adam will be a quickening spirit, and impart his spiritual gifts to all the members of his family. The first Adamland, in all its parts and members, was a true antetype of the last. That perished beneath a purifying flood of waters; this is doomed to expire in the midst of a still more purifying flood of fire. Even in this brief way is unfolded the significant import of the scriptural adage, “the first shall be last, and the last first."

When we say, however, that these things are not marvelous or wonderful, we can only use those terms as ordinarily applied, for truly and really they are wonderful in the highest degree. Yet not more so than all other matters which cease to be wonderful only because they have become familiar; not more so than that a little seed cast into the ground should swell and burst, and grow into an overshadowing tree; not more so than that an egg, by incubation, should become a bird, and soar aloft into the light and subtile air; not more so than that the grass, which to-day clothes the fields, may to-morrow, in the form of a sheep, walk and graze in the self-same pasture, and perhaps the next, as a monarch upon the throne, or a general in the field, be sealing the destiny of empires. Yea all things, even the smallest, are wonderful; and happily says the Psalmist, "I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are thy works, and that my soul

knoweth right well." And with equal force the Prophet, "His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.'

To elucidate the page of prophecy relative to the present earth, revelations are made touching that which is to come hereafter. It is but little, yet allsufficient for the purpose:

"For behold," says Isaiah, "I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into the mind.”

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Nevertheless," says St. Peter, "we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.'

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And," says St. John, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

"And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride for her husband.

"And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, The tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God.

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death; neither sorrow nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.

"And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord giv- · eth them light."

The brief and limited descriptions of that new world, or earth, sufficiently teach that it will so greatly differ from the present that the prophetic scenes and visions will be, even in metaphor, wholly inapplicable to its nature; that for the physical, perishable forms, there will be no place at all. No deserts will there exist,