doctrine themselves. The sealing of the tribes is almost universally
acknowledged to signify the preservation of the church, under those
heavy and forthcoming calamities represented by the effects of the seven
trumpets. And as this preservation, and these calamities, occur _after_
the darkening of the sun, and the falling of the stars, the latter event
is generally supposed to prefigure (not the destruction of visible
nature, but) some great change in the political or religious
constitution of the world. The precise period to which this change is to
be referred, has, however, divided the opinions of the learned. Some
apply it altogether to the Jews, and suppose that their destruction in
Judea and at Jerusalem was so dismal that it was represented to John as
the darkening of the sun, and the moon looking like blood, and the stars
falling. Others apply it to the overthrow of Paganism and the
destruction of the heathen emperors; and accordingly by the earth
quaking,--the sun becoming black,--the moon becoming blood, and the
stars falling from heaven to earth, is to be understood the great
changes that were made in the Roman empire by the overturning of the
Pagan state. Others again apply it to "the great and horrible confusion
of the Christian world under Antichrist, when Christ the Sun of
Righteousness began to be obscured; that is, his doctrine darkened,--the
moon or church turned into blood,--the stars or pastors fallen from
heavenly offices, the Scriptures, like the heavens rolled up, forbidden
to be read, the mountains, (king and princes) in jeopardy,--and the
islands brought under Antichrist's yoke and tyranny." Very few venture
to apply it to what is commonly called the "end of the world;" and none
can do it without charging the apostle with inconsistency, by affirming
that it shall take place at a definite period of time; and then speaking
of events that are to occur in the world _after_ that time, that is,
after the world shall have been destroyed!
On this passage the commentator whom we have already quoted observes,
"A great earthquake," that is, "a most stupendous change in the civil
and religious constitution of the world." "The _sun_"--the ancient Pagan
government of the Roman empire, "_was totally darkened_; and like a
black hair sackcloth, was degraded and humbled to the dust. The
_moon_--the ecclesiastical state of the same empire, _become as blood_,
was totally ruined; their sacred rites abrogated; their priests and
religious institutions desecrated; their altars cast down; their temples
destroyed, or turned into places of Christian worship. The _stars of
heaven_--the gods and goddesses, demi-gods and deified heroes, of their
poetical and _mythological heaven_, prostrated indiscriminately, and lay
as useless as the figs or fruit of a tree shaken down before ripe by a
tempestuous wind. _And the heaven departed as a scroll._ The whole
system of Pagan and idolatrous worship, with all its spiritual, secular,
and superstitious influence, blasted, shriveled up, and rendered null
and void as a parchment scroll when exposed to the action of a strong
fire. And every mountain--all the props, supports, and dependencies of
the empire; whether regal allies, tributary kings, dependent colonies,
or mercenary troops, were all moved out of their places, so as to stand
no longer in the same relation to that empire and its worship, support,
and maintenance, as they formerly did. And _island_:--The heathen
temples, with their precincts and inclosures, cut off from the common
people, may be here represented by _islands_."[9]
Like the former passage, therefore, this is rendered nugatory as a proof
of the dissolution of the universe; and rendered so, too, by the
admission of its friends. As that referred to the _Jewish heaven_ which
passed away at the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, so this is
affirmed to apply to the _mythological heaven_ of the Pagans, which was
dissolved at the conversion of Constantine to Christianity; and to have
no allusion to the system of material nature. Here are two of the
strongest passages thrown aside as useless in the controversy; and we
shall quickly perceive that, when closely examined, the advocates of the
doctrine equally cast off, if not the whole, at least the greater part,
of the remainder.
Indeed, as I have already remarked, the connexion of the passage is such
as will by no means admit of any literal burning of the earth; so that,
even though its inapplicability to the subject had _not_ been allowed,
yet would the inconsistency attendant on such a meaning, have pleaded
loudly for its rejection.
We pass now to consider the next proof, which occurs in the twentieth
chapter of the same book: "And I saw a great white throne and Him that
sat on it, from whose face the earth and the 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," etc. In connection with this
stands the first verse of the twenty-first chapter: "And 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."
Upon this passage we may repeat the remark which we applied to the
foregoing: that the events which follow this descent of the Saviour, and
which are stated as its consequences, are such as apply only to the
church of God on earth; and that, therefore, the words before us cannot
point to any dissolution of the universe. The immediate effects of the
passing away of the heaven and the earth, are the formation of a new
heaven and a new earth, and the descent of "the holy city New
Jerusalem." This latter event the celebrated Dr. Hammond declares cannot
refer to the state of glorified saints in heaven, but must signify some
peculiar benefit bestowed upon the church on earth. The expression
"descending out of heaven from God," at once determines its reference to
a state of things below; and it no doubt relates to the restoration of
Christianity to its primitive purity. In the very same manner does Dr.
Clarke explain the passage, though he evidently betrays a wish to find
within it a proof of the dissolution of all things. "The New Jerusalem,"
says he, "doubtless means the Christian church in a state of great
prosperity and purity:" and alluding to the description given of her, he
observes, that "it has been _most injudiciously_ applied to _heaven_."
If, then, the consequence of the passing away of the first heaven is to
usher in (not eternal glory, but) a prosperous state of the church on
earth, it must follow in course that such a passing away of the heavens
must refer to a change and alteration in the church, and not in the
natural world;--to the conclusion and departure of a state of darkness,
and the commencement of a new state of light and affection. As the
former _Jewish heaven_ of types and shadows departed at the first coming
of the SON OF GOD, and as the _mythological heaven of Paganism_ was
"shriveled up" at the triumph of the Gospel, so must the _modern
Christian heaven_ of ignorance and evil pass away at the Second Coming
of the SON OF MAN; and to it will succeed a _new heaven_ of purity and
peace.
In this application of the passage, we are supported by the explanation
of the above commentators. They agree in defining heaven and earth
figuratively, to mean the state of the world and of the church;--of the
Jewish world, when applied to the Jews;--of the Pagan world, when
applied to the Heathen: and by the self-same mode of interpretation, we
are justified in applying it to the _Christian world_ in its reference
to Christians. In no case can it be explained of the visible world of
matter; for the passages being acknowledged to be figurative, it must,
as in the other instances, bear the figurative meaning.
Having thus noticed the only two texts in the Revelations, which seem,
in the least, to bear upon the subject, I may be allowed again to repeat
my surprise, that persons should be found attempting to support a
doctrine by the literal sense of this book. Those among the advocates of
the popular belief, who have most carefully studied the prophecy,
protest their ignorance of its meaning and application. "I cannot
pretend to explain the book," says the writer above quoted; "I do not
understand it. I repeat it, I do not understand the book; and I am
satisfied, that not one who has written on the subject, knows anything
more of it than myself."--"What the prophecies mean, and when and _how_
they are to be fulfilled, God in heaven alone knows." It "is termed a
_Revelation_; but it is a revelation of _symbols_;--an exhibition of
_enigmas_, to which no particular solution is given; and to which God
alone can give the solution." "To pretend to say, (observes Calmet,)
what this new heaven and new earth mean, and what are their ornaments
and qualities, is, in my opinion, the greatest of all presumptions."
Yet, into this presumption do the generality of Christians fall, who,
amidst this candid confession of learned ignorance, bring forth with the
greatest confidence the literal sense of the book, to support a doctrine
which length of time has seemed to render sacred.
The words of the apostles now demand our attention; and with respect to
these we notice a fact which is necessary to the proper understanding of
their ideas; that is, that the apostles were themselves ignorant both of
the time when, and the manner how, the second coming of the Lord would
be accomplished; and that they have, therefore, when speaking upon this
subject, carefully abstained from giving any opinion of their own,
confining themselves entirely to the words of the Saviour, or
paraphrasing them without altering the symbolic images.
This circumstance in no degree detracts from that extraordinary
illumination with which the apostles were endowed. They were men raised
up by God, and filled with the Divine influence, in order that they
might propagate in the world, and among all nations, the religion of
Christ; but it does not appear that among the supernatural gifts which
they received, the gift of _prophecy_ was included, except in the case
of the apostle John. Yet, even if we allow, for the sake of argument,
that they did _possess_ this gift, it would by no means follow that they
perfectly understood their own predictions. It is the peculiar nature of
prophecy, that its proper meaning is not known until the time of its
fulfillment; and this was especially the case with the Jewish writers
who foretold the first advent of the Saviour. Although their predictions
seem now so clear and strong, yet both the prophets themselves and their
followers, were at the time ignorant of their precise meaning; and hence
arose the absurd notions which the Jews entertained of a temporal
salvation and an earthly Saviour. The gift of prophecy was, therefore,
except in very rare instances, accompanied by entire ignorance of the
manner of its fulfillment. It does not, however, appear that this gift
was bestowed in general upon the apostles; their knowledge of the second
coming of the Saviour was derived entirely from the words of the
Saviour; and of the express meaning of these words, as referring to a
future event, they were completely ignorant. In quoting his prediction
they, therefore, seem to have held a persuasion that this second coming
was very speedily to be accomplished. Thus they speak of the "day of the
Lord" as "at hand,"--of "the Judge standing at the door:" and Paul, in
particular, seems to have believed that some of the Christians of that
day, if not himself among them, would live to see its approach.
Whether this latter opinion be true or not, certain it is that the words
of the apostles had such an effect upon the first Christians, that they
were in momentary expectation of the appearance of the Lord. During the
first nine centuries after his ascension, a general idea prevailed that
his second coming would speedily take place; and when, after waiting
nine hundred years, they found their expectations disappointed, they
still looked to the one thousandth year to usher in this great event;
and so powerfully did this opinion operate upon the world, that rich and
poor flocked in great numbers to the Holy Land, there to await his
appearance. The wealthy sold their possessions, or gave them away to
charitable institutions; kings quitted their thrones, and subjects their
employment, under the impression that "the end of all things was at
hand," and that the world was of no further value. Such, then, was the
effect of a misapplication of prophetic language; and though nearly
nineteen hundred years have gone by, yet are the Christian churches
still following in the steps of their predecessors, holding the literal
sense of the Word in defiance of reason, and looking for the Lord's
personal appearance in the clouds of heaven, though common sense
proclaims its improbability.
But to return. From a comparison of the descriptions of the apostles
with the predictions of the Lord, it is easy to perceive whence they
quoted. In many instances the two accounts are almost word for word the
same; in others they are enlarged; but in none is the connexion of
events, or the prophetic symbols, disturbed. "The day of the Lord (says
Peter,) shall come as a _thief in the night_, in which the heavens shall
_pass away_ with a great noise." Here it is easy to perceive whence the
words of the apostle were drawn; for we have only to compare them with
those of our Lord, to be convinced that it was from these the
description is taken. "Heaven and earth (says the Saviour) shall _pass
away_, but my words shall not pass away." "Know this, that if the good
man of the house had known at what hour _the thief_ would come, he would
have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through."
Again, Paul declares, "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the _archangel_ and _the trump_ of God; and the
dead in Christ shall rise first." Here, too, the prophecy is quoted from
the Saviour's declaration: "He shall send his angels with a _great
sound_ of a _trumpet_, and they shall gather together his elect from the
four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Once more the Apostle
John says: "Behold, he cometh _with clouds_; and every eye shall _see_
him, even they that pierced Him; and all _the tribes of the earth_ shall
wail because of Him:" where the allusion is to these words: "Then shall
appear the sign of the coming of the Son of Man in _heaven_; and then
shall all the _tribes of the earth mourn_, when they _see_ the Son of
Man _coming in the clouds_ of heaven, with power and great glory."
"Behold, (says the Lord) I _stand at the door_ and knock;" "Behold,"
says the apostle, echoing the Saviour's words, "the Judge _standeth at
the door_."
It would exceed my present limits to enter fully into this subject.
Suffice to say, that in most passages the reference to our Lord's
predictions may be plainly discerned; and in all the prophetic
representatives are retained: The sun,--the moon,--the stars,--the
earth,--the heavens, darkness, dissolution, and fire--the very images
which are used by the Saviour, are likewise used by the apostles, and
used, too, with a reference to the _same period_--the last days of the
Christian church. If these images, when used by the prophets and by the
Redeemer, are figurative, then, as the same _images_ applied to the
_same period_, they are figurative when employed by the apostles. Or, if
the dissolution and burning of the earth described by the latter are
literal facts, then the burning of the earth and its dissolution
described by the former, are literal facts likewise; for the _same
images_ applied to the _same period_, must have the _same meaning_.
If, then, these observations be correct, and I see not how they can be
fairly controverted;--if the apostles did not, except in one instance,
possess the power of foretelling future events, and if their
descriptions of the second coming of the Lord are gathered from his own
words, or from the prophetic writings, then we must judge of their
meaning by that of the prophecies whence they are derived. This is a
plain and self-evident conclusion. If I quote the words of any writer,
the meaning of the quotation must be gathered from the works of that
writer; and more especially if I quote for a similar purpose, and
profess myself one of his disciples and admirers. The passages,
therefore, which occur in the apostolic writings, are by no means
decisive proofs of the doctrine in debate. As quotations and paraphrases
of the Lord's words and those of the prophets, they must, by every rule
of fair criticism, have a similar meaning. We have seen that the former
are, by the acknowledgment of the most learned writers, figurative and
correspondent; the just inference therefore is, that the latter, as
quotations and paraphrases of them, must be figurative also.
4. The last part of our proposition comes now before us, namely: that
the doctrine of the destruction of the universe is opposed to the end of
creation, and to the character of God as a Being of unbounded love and
infinite wisdom. I may here be told of the tendency of matter to
dissolution; of its mutability and constant change; of the elements of
destruction which nature herself engenders; and of all those by which
reason and science have sought to gloss over the popular tenet. But the
_mutability_ of nature is no proof of final dissolution. _Mutability_ is
liability to change, or a continual tendency to remove from one state to
another. Whatever is changeable, or whatever can experience alteration,
is, therefore, mutable. But this mutability attaches not to material
nature alone, but to all creation; the highest archangel in the highest
heaven, as well as every spirit embodied on earth, is a mutable
creature. The state of glory in the eternal world, as well as the state
of man below, is a state of _mutability_,--a state in which there are
continual changes either for the better or the worse. This will appear
plain if we consider that, whatever is immutable cannot be acted upon by
any higher power; for the action of such a superior cause supposes a
corresponding _effect_ and that effect supposes a _change_ in the object
acted upon, in one way or another; and, consequently, any object upon
which an effect can be produced, must be a mutable or changeable object.
Now, in the case of angelic beings, God, the First Cause of their
existence, is continually acting upon them by his love and wisdom, and
thus raising them eternally in the scale of blessedness: such alteration
of their state from glory to glory is a change,--an effect produced upon
them by an Almighty Cause; and this effect is at once a proof that
angels themselves are _mutable_ creatures, or liable to change. The same
may be said of the state of blessedness; it is continually receiving
fresh supplies of glory from the Fountain of life, and is thus
_changing_--becoming more and more blessed: and it equally applies to
the spirit of man. This, like the mind, is never "at one stay;" nor,
perhaps, does the state of the mind remain precisely the same for two
hours together. The angels of heaven, the state of the blessed, the
spirit of man, are all changeable. God is the _only immutable Being_;
for He alone cannot be acted upon or changed by any higher power; and
hence it is one of his exclusive prerogatives to be "without
variableness or shadow of turning." If, then, the angelic hosts, as well
as heaven itself, are mutable, while yet they endure for ever, the
mutability of nature is no proof at all that she, any more than the
former, is approaching dissolution.
"Nature herself," as one well observes, "effects her renovation from her
decay." Matter, though decomposed and subjected to ten thousand changes,
loses none of its essential properties; but continually assuming new
forms, gives variety to the world, without being at all altered from its
original nature. Indeed, it has been strongly asserted that there has
not been a particle of matter lost from the creation to the present
moment; changed every particle may have been, but still there is not one
wanting; and if this be the case, such continual change is no proof of
approaching destruction.
We are accustomed to look upon God as a Being of infinite Love; and,
perhaps, at this stage of the subject it may be well to inquire, what
motive induced the Lord first to create the visible universe; and what
was the end proposed in its creation. In the breast of the Divine Being
there could exist but one motive from which creation could spring; and
this was Love. But the Love of God being infinite, could only have
respect to an eternal work; hence the end of creation was to make as
many beings as possible happy, and this to all eternity. In order to
accomplish this, infinite _Love_ clothing or embodying itself in
_wisdom_, made the worlds. According to the words of the apostle, "By
the Word (or the wisdom of God,) were the heavens made;" intending these
as the habitations of rational beings, who after having passed through a
short state of probation, might finally enter upon a spiritual state and
enjoy perfect happiness. The wisdom of God, being the manifestation of
his love, in completing this work, arranged everything in the most
perfect order; and accordingly every part of the universe is formed in
the manner best fitted to promote the end of its existence,--the
everlasting happiness of man. In our own world, where evil has produced
a corresponding change in outward things, even that change itself is
good, since, while it reminds man of his corruption, it leads him to
seek a better habitation.
Thus far our assertions are easy of proof. GOD IS LOVE;--not merely
_loving_, but LOVE, the Spring and Fountain of all derived existence.
And love, even in its derivative form in the bosom of man, is an active
passion, continually seeking for objects on whom to bestow its
affection. As is the stream, then, so is the fountain: God being Love in
its Infinite Essence, must ever have sought to form creatures capable of
being rendered eternally happy; and hence the motive that led to
creation. But _love_ always manifests itself in the understanding or
thought; and by the thought is brought into outward action. It is the
thought or wisdom of man in which his love first takes a definite form;
this serves it for a guide, and directs its operations: and so again is
it with the Being in whose "image" we are formed. The manifestation of
infinite Love, is infinite Wisdom; and this brings the power into
outward act: by infinite Wisdom, therefore, as the acting form of
infinite Love, were rational beings and their varied habitations
created. But this perfect wisdom can never produce anything unlike
itself; for, as is the _cause_, so is the _effect_; hence the frame of
nature which that wisdom calls into being, must be like itself, the most
perfect and complete that could possibly exist. The _motive_, therefore,
which led to creation was _Love_; its _cause_, Wisdom; its _end_,
continued and eternal happiness.
And further, as the love and wisdom of God once operated in bringing the
universe into existence, so from that period have they been unceasingly
employed in preserving the creatures which they formed; for, as the
_end_ of creation was the "bringing of many souls into glory," so, to
the present, has that end been answered by the constant exercise of the
Divine protection over the universe of matter and its rational
inhabitants; that the one might continue a fit habitation for the
creatures of God; and that by the constant procreation of the human
race, a succession of men might be brought into being as candidates for
everlasting glory. But the expected dissolution of the universe, and the
end of human succession, will at once put a stop to this infinite
design. If, after a certain number of persons have been born into the
world, the procreation of man must end, then the purpose of creation
cannot be _infinite_; for that which has reference to a certain number
and a definite period of time, is not an _infinite_ purpose; and that
which is not an infinite purpose, is not the off-spring of _infinite
love_. Or, if the purpose of God in creation _did_ spring from infinite
love, then it must be an infinite purpose; and if the purpose of
creation be infinite, then it is not bounded by a few thousand years,
nor will it end with a few generations.