20, "the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume, into smoke shall they consume away." That thus, according to Prov. ii. 22, "the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it."

III. What will Christ do with the world, when he shall have caught up the righteous to himself in the air, and burned up the wicked?

I believe, according to Peter, that then "the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up." 2 Pet. iii. 10. That, according to Isaiah xxxiv. 9, "the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch." I shall not cite other passages on this point, because all who profess to believe the Bible, admit that this earth is to be destroyed by fire.

IV. What are we to expect after the destruction of the earth by fire? Peter tells us, in his second epistle, (iii. 13,) what to expect: "Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." The promise to which Peter here refers, is in Isa. İxv. 17: "For behold I create new heavens, and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind." Also Isa. lxvi. 22: "For as the new heavens and

the new earth which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain."

I believe that in this new earth will be fulfilled the promises which God made respecting Christ. Luke i. 30--33: “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." God said to David, by Nathan, (2 Sam. 7-16,) "Thine house, and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee; thy throne shall be established forever." In Jer. xxxiii. 17, we read, "For thus saith the Lord, David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel." So also in Isa. ix. 6, 7: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." Christ cannot have an endless dominion

in this world, for it is to pass away. The throne of David cannot here be established forever-nor can the Son of David here sit on that throne forever. But in the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, all these promises of God may have a literal fulfilment. That they will then and there be fulfilled, I am perfectly assured.

Again; in the new earth, and there only, can the promises be fulfilled which God has made to the righteous. It was said to Daniel, (vii. 18,) "But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever." Verse 27: "And the kingdom, and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." Nothing is plainer than that the saints cannot "possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever," in this world. In the new earth they may, and most certainly will; as God is true. In that new earth will be fulfilled what is written in Ps. xxxvii.: "The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever." There "the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." There "those that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the earth." There "such as be blessed of Him shall inherit the earth." There "those

that wait on the Lord and keep his way, shall be exalted to inherit the land." There, according to Prov. ii. 21, "the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it." There, too, shall they enjoy the beatitude spoken of by Christ: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." It is the new earth which "the righteous, the meek, shall inherit, and dwell therein forever, and delight themselves in the abundance of peace. That is the kingdom of God, and there "the pure in heart shall see God." There "the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it." Prov. ii. 22. There, in that earth, shall be fulfilled Ps. xxxvii. 10: "For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be, yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place and it shall not be." There, while the Lord "forsaketh not his saints, but preserveth them forever, the seed of the wicked shall be cut off." Ps. xxxvii. 28. There, those who were (Heb. xi.) "as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea-shore innumerable; who all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pil

grims on the earth," will find all these promises fulfilled. They declared plainly, "that they sought a country, a better country, even a heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, and hath prepared for them a city." In that new earth they will have it. There the promise to Abraham, that he shall be heir of the world, will be fulfilled to him, and to all who are his seed through the righteousness of faith. There the father of the faithful will forever inherit the Canaan in which he has never yet possessed a place on which to set his foot.

V. I believe that the Bible places a great amount of clear and striking evidence before us, that the accomplishment of all these great and mighty things is near, even at the doors.

This evidence lies before my own mind in the following form:

I find that the prophecies of Daniel were given with the plain design, as it seems to me, of setting forth a connected chain of events from a given period to the end of this world, and the setting up of Christ's eternal kingdom of glory. This chain of events is first given us in Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. (Dan. ii.) He saw an image with head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet part of iron and part of clay with the ten toes. This vision was made known to