arrangements and economy for the future; and so this animal organization was made and instituted by God specially to provide for what would be, but still for a state of which God himself was not the Author, and for which he is not responsible. Paradise was nature the present earth is not.

"It is done." The new heavens will take the place of the old: the new earth will emerge from its flood of flame-beautiful, pure, and holy: the desert will rejoice, and blossom as the rose: the creation shall be the consecrated floor of a sublime temple and this very orb itself shall be the high altar, amid the orbs of the universe, where God's glory shall be seen in far richer splendour than ever shone between the cherubim; and man's true greatness shall be realized, as it was when man was made in the image of God in Paradise-holy, and without spot, and without sin.

"It is done." The first resurrection from the dead will take place. At the commencement of the Millennial state, the dead in Christ rise first. This is the prophecy of every prophet; it was the expectation of apostles, evangelists, and saints; it was the prayer of Paul. "If by any means I may attain unto that resurrection, that one from among the dead." And when Christ shall say, "It is done," then the saints shall be raised; the dust of every silent urn shall be quickened, the remains that are scattered through the depths of the restless and the unfathomed sea—the dust that lies beneath the green hillock, and in marble mausolea, and

under monuments of brass-all, in the height and in the depth, in the land and in the sea-shall hear the voice of earth's great Creator and Redeemer, and come forth, and particle to particle rejoin each other, and clothe anew, beautiful, perfect, and holy, that soul that mourned over its imperfections on earth, but now rejoices in its recovered glory, and is holy and satisfied for ever.

At that era, the prophecy in the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians will be fulfilled. Many persons quote that prophecy of the resurrection as if it were already fulfilled. We read in the 54th verse, "So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" Now, that is not yet fulfilled. When the believer dies, he may sing that song as an anticipatory anthem, but not as a result actually done; for this triumphant song shall be sung only at that hour when, in the twinkling of an eye, the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed: "then shall be brought to pass the say-ing that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" In other words, death shall be cast with hell into the lake of fire. There shall be no more dying. Our triumph over the grave shall be unequivocal; our victory over death shall be entire; then we may begin our song of

All

triumph and defiance, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" graves are closed; the palm waves where the cypress grew; death is destroyed; all things are become new.

Then shall be fulfilled all the benedictions contained in the Gospel according to St. Matthew. "Blessed are the pure in heart;" that is their present joy, but their full reward is, "they shall see God." Blessed are they that mourn;" that is, there is a blessing in their tears, notwithstanding their tears, more than a compensation for their suffering; but in the future it is, "for they shall be comforted." "Blessed are the meek;" their meekness may be trodden down on earth, but there is a blessing even here in developing such a character, and "they shall inherit the earth.” These blessings are realized now; but the promises attached to the blessings will only be reaped when Christ shall pronounce, from the throne from which he makes all things new, "It is done." "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in this resurrection." "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

The whole earth will then be covered with his glory. Psalm lxxii., now written in the Bible, will then be visible and audible upon the length and breadth of God's created world. "All shall bless him, and all shall be blessed in him. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who only doeth

with his glory."

phecy of David.

wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever; and let the whole earth be filled That is the petition and the proWhen Christ shall say, "It is done," the last verse will be felt true: "The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are fulfilled." The prayers of the literal David are closed, and the praises of the children of the true David are begun. David says, My prayers shall only cease to be offered up when the whole earth shall be filled with Christ's glory. Christ will say, "It is done;" then, in the Millennial state, the prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. Now, the heathen are not yet Christ's actual inheritance; now, the uttermost parts of the earth are not his literal possession; then, they shall strictly and literally be so. Every thought in man's mind shall be light, every affection of man's heart shall be purity, every pulse in man's heart shall be music, every nerve in man's nature shall thrill with joy; the whole sky shall glow with ceaseless sunshine, and the whole earth be covered with the glory of Him whose glory makes pale the brightness of the sun, and dim the light of the moon, who is the Temple of the universe, wherein is no need of the sun nor of the moon; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the light thereof.

Then, also, when Christ shall say, "It is done," shall be fulfilled Christ's prayer, which never yet has been fulfilled: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for all that shall believe in me through their

preaching, that they all may be one, even as I am in thee, and thou in me, that the world may know that thou hast sent me." That prophecy will not be fulfilled till Christ says, "It is done." Then the Church of Christ shall be Catholic, not Romish; then she will have unity, not uniformity; then she will have apostolic truth in her creed, and apostolic holiness in her character; there will not be a single section, nor a single division or disunion in the New Jerusalem - the bride, the Lamb's wife, the company that constitute the Church and the people of God.

Then heaven and earth shall be reunited. Earth is a fragment broken off from the continent of eternity by sin. Severed from that great continent, it has remained—except by a bridge, a pathway, like Jacob's ladder, that unites them, and along which we can travel. But as long as the pathway isas long as a Mediator exists, discharging mediatorial functions-so long there is separation; but when this new state shall come, the earth, the broken-off island, shall be reknit to the great continent of heaven, and constitute together one great realm, bearing the traces of its past history, because the trophies of Christ's triumph, but yet part and parcel of the great realm and continent of glory, of light, of life.

We shall see the explanation and the solution of all the difficulties that perplex us. Many things we now read in the Bible, many providential Occurrences befall us, that we cannot now explain.