torily, and in such a way as to give to all their terms their legitimate meaning, on the supposition that heaven will be the eternal abode of man, they are all capable of a ready and perfectly satisfactory explanation, if we only assume that earth will be the locality of that abode. The following may be specified as examples:-Jer. xxiii. 5; Isai. lx. 21; Gen. xvii. 8. which must be There are two more remarks made- or rather there are two more facts to be noticed, in addition to all that has gone before, and they are these:— 1 First. The Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament, abound in passages which declare that the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, shall come again "from heaven," BUT IN NO ONE SINGLE INSTANCE DO THEY EVER SPEAK OF HIS RETURNING THITHER. How has it come to pass that men have ventured to make such an extraordinary addition to the Word of God as to say, notwithstanding this, that He will return there? This, however, they necessarily do when, though they admit as they are compelled to do, that He will "come 1 "And to wait for His Son from heaven." "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout." (1 Thess. i. 10, and iv. 16.) from heaven," they yet speak of His reigning for ever in heaven. NOT IN HEAVEN. Second. THE SCRIPTURES CLOSE WITH THE DESCRIPTION OF A STATE OF THINGS UPON EARTH, or certainly, Whatever be our views, we must admit that the last two chapters of Revelation give us the last particulars respecting the future, foretold in the Word of God. The last great subject is that of the "New Jerusalem," the great object of the believer's hope1; and with regard to it we read as follows:"And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." (Rev. xxi. 2.) If the Scriptures tell us it will "come down" "out of heaven," and if they never give us the slightest intimation that it will ever return thither, does it not seem astonishing that we should have gone on for so long speaking of it as if it were to be in heaven, and to continue there, and in short, to be heaven itself? CONCLUSION.-It would be scarcely right to close this essay without noticing, as a corollary from the 1 66 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." (Heb. xi. 10.) - whole, the bearing of its topics upon the following important point, -The inspiration of Scripture, as seen in the wonderful harmony of its teaching. Let it be remembered that the Bible, though now one volume, yet consists of many books, written by different men in widely-different conditions of life'; -written at periods widely separated the one from the other,—a period of more than fifteen hundred years having transpired between the composition of the first and the last, and the others having appeared at various intervening periods;-written in different styles, which exhibit the natural cast of mind of the several writers; some are simply historical, others prophetical, some devotional, others didactic, and others again epistolary :-and yet amidst this great diversity, we find the most exact and wonderful harmony in the truths these writings teach, and the things they lead us to expect. And this is found to be the case, moreover, though the particular subject which may be undergoing examination may be distinctly and broadly announced in one place, and but very 1 e. g. By the exalted Legislator, the warrior King, - the Herdsman of Tekoa, the obscure Fisherman of Galilee, - and the accomplished Scholar and early-trained Controversialist of Tarsus. incidentally alluded to in another; and though the passages which refer to it may not be specifically treating of it, nor of the same, or of any kindred. subject, when they introduce it, but of totally different subjects, which have, perhaps, not the slightest connection the one with the other;-yet notwithstanding all this, we find, amidst much apparent confusion, the most substantial and essential harmony pervading the whole. The truth which is eventually arrived at, after much careful examination and collation— after much 66 comparing of spiritual things with spiritual "—does not lie on the surface, nor is it even readily discovered; but when discovered, it is found that it forms a key to the whole, that it runs like a golden thread throughout the entire texture of many colours, and that, applied deductively, it serves to explain, in the most satisfactory manner, various expressions which before seemed obscure and inexplicable, and even to involve the most serious contradictions. To give examples of all these things would carry us far beyond our assigned limits; but, as an illustration of them, I may specify the subject of the Messiah's Kingdom, which has occupied so large a share in our reflections. This, as we have seen, ranges through well nigh all, if not literally all, the books of Scripture. It meets us on every hand, sometimes in large proportions, at others in small. Sometimes one of its phases comes before us, and then a totally different one. The Messiah Himself appears under the most opposite characters,-sometimes, and frequently, simply as man; but at others, as clothed with all the attributes of the Godhead. (Isai. ix. 6.) He is seen to "reign," but the locality of His reign appears at first sight to be involved in confusion and contradiction,—at one time, he is reigning in heaven, at another upon earth. Suppose a person, altogether unacquainted with the subject—an intelligent heathen, say, to sit down to examine it for the first time,would he find it an easy task so to arrange its different parts as to make of them one great and consistent whole? Far from it. The probability is, that he would utterly fail; and it is certain he would make great mistakes and fall into serious errors, for we have all done so, and we have all yet much to correct and much to learn; but yet we are now upon the whole accurately acquainted with the great outlines of the subject, both as regards the person and attributes of the King, the character of His Kingdom, and lastly, |