so favourable, as to have the appearance of, as it is thus denominated, a new creation, and which shall be so delightsome, that "the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind." They are expressive, too, alike of the spiritual and of the temporal enjoyments that await the inhabitants of the world when this change shall come to pass. For "then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures. The oxen likewise, and the young asses that ear the ground, shall eat clean provender which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan." (Is. xxx. 23, 24.) And this new heaven and new earth will be contemporary with the general conversion of literal Israel; consequently, all the prophetic blessings will be enjoyed before the destruction of the world. "For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places, and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody." (Is. li. 3.)

Thus it is said, in Acts iii. 21: "Whom the heaven must receive until the times of the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." (Read also to the 26th verse.) That the prophecies of these prophets do not contemplate more than the establishment of the kingdom of Christ upon this earth, is shown by the Revelator, who says, "In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets." (Rev. x. 7.) The summit, therefore, of their prophecies appears to be, the glory of the church in a time state, as is shown in

Is. lx. and Jer. xxxi. The prophet Isaiah, indeed, in his glowing description, uses the words, "He will swallow up death in victory;" but that even these words apply to the Gospel day is obvious from their context, which reads thus: "And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God," &c. (Is. xxv. 6-9.) The words "destroy the vail," "swallow up death," "wipe away tears," and "take away the rebuke," are and must ever remain inseparably connected. And the words "wipe away tears from off all faces" are of the same import as those contained in Is. xxxv. 10: li. 11: lxv. 19 and Jer. xxxi. 12; none of which have any immediate or direct relation to a future state, but to the state of general happiness during the spiritual reign of Christ upon the earth. The words are as follows: "And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." "Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away." "And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying," &c. 'Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and

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shall flow together for the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock, and of the herd; and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow any more at all," &c.

But the prophecy, "he will swallow up death in victory," is in a measure already accomplished, in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ; for he is "the first fruits of them that slept." (1 Cor. xv. 20.) And it will be further accomplished when death and the grave shall be deprived of their prey until the sons of men have attained to the usual age of the antediluvians, instead of preying on the infant of a day old, or the man of three-score years and ten, as now. But it will not be fully accomplished until the time spoken of by the apostle Paul, in the 53d and 54th verses of the chapter last referred to.

Again, viewing the prophecy in another light, it may, scripturally speaking, be said, There is now to the believer, the true follower of the Lamb, no more death (save "the common death"); this is shown by Rev. xx. 6: "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power." Compare this passage with the passages following: "They which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: neither can they die any more." (Luke xx. 35, 36.) "Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him." (Rom. vi. 9.) These texts of Scripture prove, then, that the passage above quoted from the Revelation, as well as many other parts of the chapter which contains it, is not, as many suppose, symbolical, but undeniable scriptural fact. And

to this "second death" our Lord no doubt alluded, when he said, “If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die." (John viii. 51: xi. 26.) That he could not refer to "the common death" is obvious; for, referring to his own death, he said, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die," &c. (John xii. 24.) So, in like manner, the apostle Paul, writing to Timothy, says, "Our Saviour Jesus Christ . . . . hath abolished death." (2 Tim. i. 10.) Here he also alludes to the second death: for he said in another place, "As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Cor. xv. 22.) According to these sayings of our Lord and his apostle, therefore, it may be said, that when all shall know the Lord, "there shall be no more death," (Rev. xxi. 4;) i. e., no more "second death." As our Lord said to the Jews, "not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead," (implying that they were subject to the second death.) And hence the contrast, "he that eateth of this bread (his flesh) shall live for ever." (John vi. 58.) And thus he "will swallow up death in victory, and wipe away tears from off all faces;" a further proof that, in the latter day, the inhabitants of the earth "shall be all righteous." (Is. lx. 21.)

From the prophetic writings it may be inferred, that the original promise made to our first parents, and the denunciations pronounced against the serpent, in Gen. iii. 15, should in a great measure be fulfilled, and witnessed, during the time in which the greatest number of the children of the descendants of Adam should continue, and multiply, and spread over the face of the whole earth; seeing that " the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil." (1 John iii. 8.) If these works be not destroyed here below, Satan will

continue to reign, as he is now reigning, preeminently the "God of this world;" but this cannot be. According

to the Scriptures, Christ must reign, both here (see Dan. vii. 14) and hereafter, hath put all enemies He has already passed

'till he

under his feet." (1 Cor. xv. 25.) judgment on the great adversary (see John xii. 31), and the sentence has been in partial execution; but, according to the various prophecies, the time is approaching when Satan's reign in this world shall cease for want of subjects (see Zeph. ii. 11: John xii. 32); and as he was the ruin of the first man, so by the second man shall he himself be ruined, and his kingdom be utterly destroyed. (See Dan. vii. 26.) After which, according to the 35th and 40th chapters of Isaiah, "sorrow and sighing shall flee away," and "the glory of the Lord be revealed." And at the last day, when the Lord shall descend in person, to meet his saints in the air, every soul that shall then be living on the earth shall be changed; not only shall not one of them descend into the grave, but the grave shall deliver up every believer which it has held in bondage from the foundation of the world, thereafter to die no more. Then shall be the unanimous, the joyful shout, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" (1 Cor. xv. 55.)

The 11th and 65th chapters of Isaiah give a clear and particular account of the restitution of all things, and they speak of it as a new creation. So also the Apostle says, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold all things are become new." (2 Cor. v. 17.) Then men's minds and habits will be entirely changed, and their pursuits be different; their souls will no longer "cleave to the dust," but all will then walk "in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." The