Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

abodes of intelligent beings, whose numbers swell beyond the reach of all finite computation. Well might the Evangelist say, And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Rev. 19, 6. This earth, I have endeavoured to prove, shall be cast into the great lake of fire at the judgment day; but what shall become of the other globes of the system, after having been dissolved by fire, we cannot tell. It is the opinion of Dr. Clark, that at the judgment day they will be decomposed, but not destroyed; consequently, he thinks they may enter again into the composition of a new system. See comment on 2 Pet. 3, 11.

The globes of this system may indeed (except the earth) be arranged, and newly modified into another system, and be placed somewhere in the field of interminable space, which now is void; but the space which they now occupy must be the site of a new creation.

Annihilation is abhorrent to the views of many relative to matter, who contend that it is altogether indestructible; from which the conclusion is drawn, that the earth, and all the other globes, shall only be refined by fire, and shall then be renewed again, and thus they make out the new creation. But to me, this opinion appears opposed to the very idea of a new creation,. by substituting in its place a renovation, or a new modulation, which cannot, with the proper and original sense of the word, be made to agree.

If we believe that God at first created the worlds out of nothing, then we may not suppose the pre-existence. of any particles of matter. out of which he might have

formed them. This is what we understand by creation, when we apply it to the making of the worlds in the first instance; and therefore, by the strictest rules of reasoning, ought to adopt the same sentiment in reference to the new creation.

I know of no data whereon to build the supposition, that God cannot, or that he will not annihilate matter, if he please. The fact that he can bring entity out of monentity, is sufficient proof that he can, if he please, annihilate the same; for it is equally above our reason to have any conceptions of a power sufficient to make something out of nothing, as it is to conceive how something can be changed to nothing. If the globes of the system, except the earth, are not to be annihilated, it follows that they must be removed to some place in the great field of interminable space, where God has not yet built a system of worlds, to make room for the promised new creation; for it is reasonable to suppose, the same space which now embraces the location of this system, shall also embrace the new creation; because if the first is to be removed, that a second may arise, it strongly implies that the latter shall occupy the place of the former-wherefore, according to his promise, we look for new heavens, i. e. a new system of worlds, and a new earth; for the first heaven (which surrounds this globe) and the first earth are passed away. Rev.

21, 1.

[ocr errors]

Then when that glorious frame shall into being rise
Adorn'd with more than fill'd earth's ancient Paradise;
Then in those world's of love, O! let my spirit rest,
Among the righteous there-among the blest.

FINIS

1

« ÎnapoiContinuă »