usual proceedings of Him with whom "one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." "He seeth the end from the beginning," and frequently the end does not appear until ages after that beginning took place. Who can doubt, for instance, but that in the substance of our fossil fuel, namely, coal, and in the relative position in which it is now found, so different to what it was originally, the superintending hand of the Creator is to be seen making provision for man's convenience and man's necessities ages before he was brought into being.' But the end designed was a great and beneficial one, and it is now in course of accomplishment. And so the long series of events of every kind, natural and moral, which will have transpired from the first creation of the world until "the new heavens and the new earth will be intro

duced, may be regarded as a vast preparation for the glories of that state. And again I ask, will not that state, with its "exceeding weight of glory," be a fitting climax even for such a series, and for such a vast and mighty preparation?

1 See Dr. Buckland's two admirable chapters (xix., xx.) on this subject in his Bridgewater Treatise.

CONCLUSION.-I may be permitted, in conclusion, to submit, that a distinct answer has, to some extent at least, been now given to the inquiries that have been often raised as to THE FUTURE of man and of the earth. Many have been the speculations, and especially of late days, which have been made upon this subject, and approximations to the truth, more or less correct, have been arrived at by one and another; but there has been a great want of clearness and consistency in the views put forth; and this, I conceive, has arisen entirely from the authors of them not being acquainted with the great truth which it was the object of the first of these Essays to establish, viz. that this earth, in a renewed and glorified state, will be the locality of man's eternal inheritance. Most of the writers referred to have partaken in the prevailing opinion, that Scripture holds out Heaven, not Earth, as the place where the righteous will for ever dwell; but this they have found to but ill accord with their philosophical speculations respecting the Future, in which they have been in a great measure guided, it may be, by the analogies of the Past and the Present, and which, therefore, have been far more correct than have been the views which have formed part of their

religious belief, and which they have vainly endeavoured to make harmonize with them. The obscurity which has, in a great measure, rested on this subject, has been, I trust, to some extent now removed. It has, I would fain hope, been clearly shown, that the Future, both of man and of the earth, will be intimately connected with the Present and the Past, and will be marked by the same principles; in a word, that the condition both of man and of his domicile hereafter, will resemble the present, in that it will be essentially physical in its nature, though immensely in advance of it, and though, so far as man's moral nature is concerned, an amazing change will have been wrought. We may now see, therefore, that the Past, the Present, and the Future will form One great series, all the parts of which will be essentially connected, and which will alike be marked by a principle of UNITY, both of nature and of plan! They will not be isolated, nor broken and disjointed fragments, without any link of connection between them, and therefore needing to be treated separately and on different principles; they will be parts of one great whole, one scheme, one building in which the power, wisdom, and goodness of the DIVINE ARCHITECT will be everywhere seen.

THE fact announced in the heading of this section is one that relates, as I believe, to the last, or postmillennial period. The relative times, however, in which the various events we have to consider will occur, are matters on which, as I have so frequently stated, I always fear to speak with confidence; but, whatever the period will be in which it will occur, the fact itself is one of the greatest moment, and one which should be examined on its own grounds apart from any particular time. It is declared in the following terms: "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." (Rev. xxi. 1.)1

It would seem certain that there will be sea during the Millennial period; and this is most important, as pointing out one great distinction and difference between the condition of the earth during that period, and its state during the eternal one. I cannot but believe that the last four chapters of the Book of Revelation are designed to give us

The first question to be asked with regard to these words is this-In what light are we to understand

the true order of the events recorded in them. According to this view, ch. xix. gives us the Advent, ch. xx. relates to the Millennial period; and the general judgment, which is described at the end of it (ver. 11-15), takes place at the close of that period. But the sea is seen to be then in existence, as appears from ver. 13, "And the SEA gave up the dead which was in it." Yet the "new heaven and new earth are not formed till after this, ch. xxi. 1.

This I conceive to be well-nigh decisive of the question; and it is most important in its bearing upon our subject generally. It shows us, for example, that whatever changes may be wrought in the state of the earth, and in the animal and vegetable world, at the Advent of the Redeemer, and therefore at the commencement of the Millennium, (and it would seem probable, if not certain, that great changes will be wrought at that time), the great and final change which will mark the introduction of the "new heavens and the new earth" will not take place at that period; and therefore the conflagration described by St. Peter (2 Epist. iii.) will not take place until the close of the Millennial period. Much has been said upon this important question, and many are of opinion that the language of St. Peter should lead us to expect that the conflagration described by him will occur at the commencement of the Millennium, indeed immediately on the Advent. The facts noticed above, however, and a comparison of Rev. xx. 11 with Rev. xxi. 1, clearly prove, in my opinion, the contrary. And there is nothing in St. Peter's account which should lead us to hesitate in acknowledging this. At first sight, indeed, it might seem to be otherwise; but we well know that there is really no more striking peculiarity in the inspired writings than the way in which they frequently omit the mention of facts which are not essential to the subject in hand, and bring into close affinity and connection matters which are widely separated in point of time and in the order of their occurrence. To give all the examples of this which those writings afford would be endless. They occur alike in the Old and New Testament. A striking instance, however, may be seen in the account which Moses has given us of his own birth; and it will be sufficient to illustrate the subject. "And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi; And the woman conceived and bare a son; and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months." (Ex. ii. 1, 2.) It would be difficult to find a passage in any author more consecutive than this appears to be; and, if other portions of Scripture history did not instruct us to the contrary, who would hesitate to assert from these verses that Moses was the first-born child of his parents? The marriage of the parents, and the birth of the child, are two facts which seem to be placed before us in direct and