A SERMON
Preached on Lord's Day Morning May 22nd, 1859
By Mister JAMES WELLS
AT THE SURREY TABERNACLE, BOROUGH ROAD
Volume 1 Number 22
THIS morning, in this my last discourse, for the present at least, upon this subject, I will notice, first; that which appears to me to be the true meaning of this stone becoming a great mountain, and filling the whole earth; and then, secondly, I will give that which is the supposed meaning, and let that show for itself whether it be right or wrong; and then, thirdly, I will show how this mountain has been peopled, how it is still being peopled, and how it shall be peopled until all that are ordained to eternal life shall come into full possession of the inheritance there indicated.
First: I notice, first, what appears to me to be THE TRUE MEANING. But in order to get at the true meaning, we must try and realize as far as we can the vision as revealed to Daniel. We must remember that the ancients had no idea of the spherical form of the earth; they had no idea that this earth was a globe; they believed it to be an extended plan; that it had its limits, and that beyond those limits was a tremendous abyss. And, hence, you read again and again in the Scriptures, “The end of the earth;” “The uttermost parts of the earth;” And it was under this idea that Daniel saw it. He saw “this stone cut out of the mountain;” and he saw “The stone become a great mountain;” and covered the whole of this extended plain, the whole of the earth. And, therefore, this stone thus becoming a great mountain, would cover all the waste places, and wildernesses, and deserts; would cover all the mountains, and hills; and valleys; would cover all the seas; and would cover all the good things of this earth; and would put the earth under itself; so that the earth is entirely gone, it is dead and buried. It is not the church that covers the earth; it is this stone, this mountain, that covers the whole earth; so that nothing is to be seen but this mountain, this living stone. Now, then, what is the doctrine which this stone filling the whole earth brings before us? Why, the great doctrine of substitution. It was the substituting of this mountain for the earth that previously appeared; and this mountain, therefore, is spoken of as a new earth. I will presently read this out to you in detail; and then I think we shall see pretty clearly what the meaning is; that it is that new inheritance, that land, that world, to which the people of God are ordained. Before I enter into detail, just let me observe that as “This stone was cut out of the mountain without hands” for it is but a simile, and we must deal with it as such, “and covered the whole earth;” so the Lord Jesus Christ was cut out of the mountain, as we have seen, without hands, and he is all in all in that earth to which he belongs, Now, he does not belong to this earth; he has left this world, he does not belong to it, though it belongs to him; “His kingdom is not of this world.” Therefore, we have here an exchange of worlds; we have one world put away, and another put into its place. Now, I will try to read this out to you very carefully; showing as we go along that we must take this mountain now in the spiritual sense of the word. I observe, in the first place, that this stone, this mountain, should cover all the waste places, the wildernesses, and the deserts; and that there should not be a waste place, nor a wilderness, nor a desert left. Is it not so with the Lord Jesus Christ? Where are we by nature, but as in a waste place? where, but as in a wilderness? where, but as in a desert? But when the Lord Jesus Christ comes in by his obedient life, for that is the main idea of the extension of this living stone, when he comes in by his obedient life and his atoning death, then what becomes of the waste places? There is no waste place then; sin is taken away; the law of God is ended; Christ is the end of the law; there is no more sin, no more wrath, no more curse; no more waste places. Hear what the Lord says upon this matter, “For the Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden.” Eden was a sinless place; and so, the kingdom of Christ is a sinless place; therefore, it is where there is no sin; “He will make her wildness like Eden;” so that the wilderness is gone, the scene is changed; “And her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.” Now is it not so? Does not the Lord show to us that we are as sinners in a waste, a wilderness, a desert place? But the Lord Jesus Christ comes in and changes the scene entirely.
Again, this mountain will also cover all the mountains and hills upon the surface of the supposed extended plain that this earth was. Now, what say the Scriptures upon this? “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.” Wherein lies the glory of the Lord? Why, friends, in bringing down the mountains of your sins, in filling up the valleys of your necessities, in making those things straight for you that were crooked, and in taking you out of rough places; for there was nothing but that which was rugged between you and your Maker; and he would walk towards you only in wrath; but Christ has taken that wrath away; made rough places plain; and now everything is level, everything straight, everything smooth between you and the blessed God.
Again, this mountain would cover all the seas; it filled the whole earth, not a sea to be seen. Well, say you, what shall we have in place of it? I will tell you presently. John gives a kind of interpretation of this matter, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth” Well, John, how did it become new? was it the old earth renovated, regenerated, purified? Men tell us, that is to take place. But there is not a syllable of the kind, “The first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” Now what is meant by the sea? “Your breach is great like the sea.” It will mean there is no more breach between you and the blessed God; “The wicked are like the troubled sea;” and there shall be no more wicked there; there are none but the righteous can enter into this heavenly land. The sea also will mean tribulation. “They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits end.” But this heavenly land, this kingdom of Christ, is their desired haven; there there is an eternal quiet, not a dull quiet, but a social quiet, a living quiet, a delightful quiet; the adversary laid as far, as the people of God are concerned, in everlasting sleep. “And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Ah, say some, that will take place at the millennium. My dear sir, it has already taken place. What, are you so blind to divine things as not to see that? Do you mean to say that the heavenly Jerusalem did not come down on the day of Pentecost? Did not the church on that day come down from God? No, say you; I can't understand that it did. Let us explain it. John the Baptist was a man sent from God; that is, he derived his special mission from God, his salvation from God, all his dignity and glory from God. All that the church was on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost on that day converted three thousand souls and formed them into a church, all that the church was then, was from on high; she had nothing that was derived from man; her birth was from on high, her life was from on high, her salvation, the walls that surrounded her were from on high; her array, her dignity, her glory, her everything, was from on high. Thus, did the church come down in that spiritual sense from God. And John heard a voice saying, “Behold, the tabernacle,” that is, the dwelling, “of God is with men.” So, it has been from that day to this. Why there has been a new Jerusalem in the world ever since; and the peopling of it has gone on ever since; peopled by regeneration; it shall be said, “This and that man was born in her;” and that new Jerusalem shall go on until it realizes all that God has designed concerning it; that there shall be no more death, no more sorrow, no more pain, no more sea. Well, you have taken away the sea; what are you going to give us in the place of it? I will tell you, John saw, when the Lord revealed it, “a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street, and on either side of it, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it.” Do you mean to say that this is to be understood after the flesh, understood as a literal river? Understand it spiritually; and if you don't understand it spiritually, pray don't sing any more that hymn that you do sometimes sing,
“Beneath, the sacred throne of God,
I saw a river rise,” &c.
Give me this living stone; give me this mountain, that levels the hills, that fills up the valleys, that does away with the crookedness, makes everything straight, the rough places plain; give me this pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb; the people clear, Christ clear, the river clear, the way clear; all clear together; not a cloud to be seen. Christ is indeed as the light of the morning, even a morning without clouds, when the sun arises. But, say you, by your extending the mountain all over the earth, you have swept away our gardens, our farms, our houses; you are one of the most mischievous fellows possible this morning; you take everything away. Well, but I give you something better in the room of it. It is true we thus do away with your earthly gardens, but we give you a heavenly one. We do certainly thus do away with your earthly estates, out we give you heavenly estates. We certainly thus do away with your earthly, houses, but then we give you “Houses not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, in the room of them.” And therefore, not only is Christ a substitute for that which is tributary, but he is a substitute for that which is delightful, and lawfully delightful, to us as creatures. I must confess, it may perhaps be a weakness in me, but I cannot help it, I must confess I have something so natural about me, that the very thought of there being an endearment surpassing all the endearments of nature to be substituted in their place, that thought has often cheered my heart; that while the ties of nature must perish, and while the many bounties the Lord may bless us with in nature, in, our relationships in life, in his providence, and so on, while all these must die, the very thought of something better being put into their place, so that these endearments in one sense are not to die; they are to die as to their nature; now being mortal, but then immortal endearments, divine endearments, perfect endearments, are to take their place; we are to be perfect before him in love; I must confess that I am not yet monk enough, mis-anthropical enough, hermit enough, cynic enough, to have surmounted all the natural sympathies and relative endearments of nature; and therefore, I must confess that the love of God has for my soul a very great attraction; that the substituting of the high delights of a vast eternity for the affections of nature is a gospel truth that I am very fond of. I can get on very well with my subject, if I take it in a spiritual sense. It must be taken, you see, in this substitutional sense, Christ substituting supernal and eternal endearments in the place of the natural and the mortal.
But I have another idea; and that is this, that this new earth thus spoken of is indestructible; whereas the earth we inhabit is not indestructible; for “The earth and the works therein shall be burned up.” Well, let it be; we have another earth; and already we have entered upon it; we have another kingdom, and already we have entered upon it. It is true we see it at present through a glass darkly; we possess it at present by faith, and as little children, so we know comparatively little about it yet we are entered upon it, because regeneration brings a soul into the kingdom of Christ; and then let the world burst like a shell of combustibles, it cannot touch the soul thus vitally united to Christ, and having a place in that mountain which can never, no, never pass away. Now if you take it in that way; Christ the great Substitute, substituting one world for another, covering everything detrimental, substituting, as I have said, supernal and eternal endearments for the affections of nature, then the matter is clear enough.
Secondly; I will now notice the SUPPOSED MEANING. The supposed meaning is something like universal conversion. I will mention some Scriptures which are brought forward to uphold that idea; and before I do so, I must make this one remark, that I think it cannot be doubted but that there are ages to come; so far I agree with those that in other respects differ from me, that there are ages to come when the gospel certainly shall have a more extensive dominion in the world than it now has; when the Savior's name shall be known perhaps in every nation under the sun. There is something encouraging in this. May the Lord keep us alive in our day and generation; and when you shall depart, and I shall depart, we may leave a company of people here, and those with whom we have been connected, in possession of the pure truth; for this is the only means by which that great end can be brought about; it must be by the pure truth, the gospel of God. Now the Scriptures brought forward, then, which appear to me to be carnalized by men, I will mention just a few. The first is in Daniel 7; where the people of God are set forth as possessing the kingdom of Christ in the full liberty of it, in these words, “And the kingdom, and 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.” Some tell us this means the universal monarchy of the church. Well, have your way; and suppose the church should be the universal monarch; have we not bishops enough in the House of Lords already meddling with politics; we have political bishops enough now, and we should be all political bishops then; “The kingdom!” What kingdom? The kingdom of God; “and the greatness of the kingdom;” that is, they are to possess the whole truth. You recollect, friends, in the Old Testament age, the Israelites, their hearts not being above half with God, did not drive out the Canaanites, and have their liberty; but the church of God shall be alive to that at that day shall possess the gospel from ancient election to eternal glory; and all the intermediate parts of the land, the greatness of the kingdom, the whole kingdom, the truth shall be revealed in its fulness, in its greatness; and they shall possess the whole truth, and shall preach it in a way we poor dwarfs cannot. And that kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; not a thousand years kingdom, but an everlasting kingdom. Therefore, I can understand these words if I take them spiritually; but not if I take them carnally. Again, Revelation 11; the kingdoms of this world, under the seventh trumpet, are to become the kingdoms of God, and of his Christ. But then, it is one thing for the kingdoms of this world to become the kingdoms if our God and of his Christ subjection-ally, and another thing to become so Savingly. You will, I am sure recognize the difference between the two. What is Old England? Old England is a kingdom of Jesus Christ. England, is subjection-ally the kingdom of our God and of his Christ. He has taken possession of it providentially and dispensation-ally and a goodly sprinkling over the land he has taken possession of savingly. But that does not make them all Christians. You must distinguish, therefore between the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ subjection-ally, and nominally, and becoming so savingly. All, or individually, they never will. Universal conversion is a doctrine the Bible nowhere contains, but the reverse. I can understand, therefore, that as the Israelitish nation was God's nation subjection-ally and nominally, yet there were only some among them that were his in a saving way; so when all the kingdoms of this world shall become subjection-ally the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ, submitting to his dispensation, there shall be among them all a sprinkling, according to the eternal election of grace, that are his savingly. The apostle, in Romans 9, argues that out, with reference to the Jews; all the Israelites were God's subjection-ally; that is, they were subjected to his dealings with them in that dispensation; but does it follow that all the individuals of that nation were true Israelites? You know they were not; yet there was a remnant among them according to eternal election. The next Scripture, and a most potent and powerful one, they think, is this; that “Satan was bound for a thousand years.” Well, what takes place then? Ah, say they, and John says, “I saw thrones, and they sat upon them.” So, one shall be king George, and another king Charles, and another king James and another king something else. You had better take the thrones spiritually; you will never get better thrones than those spoken of in Ephesians 2; “Raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” These are the thrones that John saw; and he saw the saints occupying these thrones of glory. John saw that the Lord had lifted up the beggar from the dunghill, that he had raised up the poor out of the dust, and had made them to inherit thrones of glory. John saw this. Take it carnally, it's not worth having; but take it spiritually, and then there is no difficulty about the matter. And John doesn't say, I saw the bodies of them that were beheaded; but “I saw the souls of them that were beheaded.” It doesn't mean the identical souls of those that were beheaded; but it means souls like unto them. Elijah had great grace and power with God. So, had John the Baptist; and in consequence of this analogy between these two men, the one is called by the name of the other; John is called Elias, because he was a man of power with God. And so, the souls of that age, believers of that age, will be as conspicuous in overcoming their adversaries, as their prototypes the ancient martyrs were conspicuous in enduring all that their adversaries could inflict upon them; the power of the one was manifested in enduring all things; the power of the other is manifested in having such power with God as to overcome all things. And then John saw the souls of the martyrs, the same martyrs, as it were, rise, and saw the glorious state into which they shall be brought of fellowship with God. “This is the first resurrection;” that is, regeneration. Ah, but say some, I believe it means the resurrection of the body. Stop, do you know the consequence of that? If you contend for a literal resurrection there, I will tell you what you will do; you will just take those persons, to heaven that were beheaded for Christ's sake; and all the people of God that have died natural deaths, have not been beheaded, they will go to hell; because it says, “Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection, on such the second death has no power.” Then the man that does not partake in this first resurrection, the second death has power over him. Take it spiritually, then; “Blessed and holy is he that is born of God; born again of the incorruptible seed that lives and abides forever.”
That is the first resurrection. The second resurrection will be the resurrection of the body. Besides, if you take the first resurrection to mean the resurrection of the body, what would this earth be to a glorified body? Why, it would be altogether unsuited for it. Again, “the rest of the dead lived not again.” What dead, literally dead? No; ecclesiastically dead. Tyrants live to this day; Popery lives to this day; Russian-ism lives to this day; Mahometan-ism lives to this day; and tyrannize over the souls and bodies of our fellow-creatures. But when the kingdoms of this world shall become subjection-ally the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ, there shall be a people in all those nations that know his name, and then the Pope may go where he pleases, I was going to mention a particular place, but I must not say it, it is too awful; and all the rest of the tyrannical powers, they cannot live again. Why, where is the Pope? Dead. Where is Russian-ism? Dead. Not buried, mind you, only dead, like the witnesses when they were slain, they were not buried, only dead, officially dead, not vitally dead. These ecclesiastical powers are dead. By and bye, apostacy shall take place, towards the end of that period, there is a vast multitude that know not God, and they shall begin to apostatize towards the end of that period, and after the end of that period most of the Christians will have gone home. And as there were but few Christians in the world when the flood took place, and as there were but few comparatively in Judea when the destruction of Jerusalem took place, so, “When the Son of Man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?” Where is the universal conversion? At the end of the thousand years Satan goes out to deceive the nations. Before this millennium, he had succeeded in persuading the nations that Mahomet was God's prophet, that the Pope was God's vice-gerent, that the Czar was a sacred person, that Church of England-ism was of God; but the nations shall be undeceived upon these subjects and yet at the end of the thousand years they shall return to their old deception. Where then is your universal conversion? Where is your living stone now filling the whole of this earth? “When the Son of man comes shall he find faith on the earth?” You take a carnal meaning; you will never substantiate it. Beware of men that would lead you away after a mere mole hill, and thus carnalize the word of God. Take it spiritually; the matter comes straight. Is it not a remarkable thing, friends, it is not said the saints are as the sand of the sea, but their enemies, towards the end? Now, “Shall not God avenge his own elect? But when the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?” Is there not a secret here; something that demands your most solemn attention; that the Lord Jesus Christ should place apostacy side by side with the word elect? “Shall not God avenge his own elect?” But this elect people so hated, and such will be the universal hatred to it, that “When the Son of Man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?” No, not a particle, beyond that of which he himself is the author. I wish I could preach election ten times more than I do; there are heights, and depths, and lengths, and breadths in it that we have never yet seen.
But I now hasten to the last part. This new earth is indestructible. “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.” Ah, say some, those will be happy days. Why those days begun long ago; those days began ever since the first promise was made, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.” Well, say you, look at the martyrdom, at the sufferings of the saints. That has not hurt them; it hurt them in the flesh, but not in the spirit; it hurt them as to this life, but not as to that eternal life; it hurt them in their relations and liberties in this life, but it could not hurt them in Christ; It does not say, they shall not hurt nor destroy in all the world; but “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy, mountain.” What does it mean? Everything that is there is indestructible; Christ is indestructible, the saints are indestructible, the truth is indestructible; never can be destroyed. Ah, but then, say you, the bear and the lion are to be tamed. Well, has not that been done? Go to Acts 10, where Peter saw all manner of wild beasts made clean, and tamed. Ah, but then, “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Very true; allow me to bring one Scripture to explain another; the words I have just quoted are in Isaiah 11, “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Come to Isaiah 12; “The Lord has done excellent things; this is known in all the earth.” Now God, in Solomon's days, did excellent things; and that was known in all the land of Judea; and just as all the Israelites were brought by the knowledge of the true God to sit down every man under his vine and fig tree, and there was no adversary or evil occurrent; just so in this new heaven and new earth which I have referred to; “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” The Lord has a covenant people; and that covenant people shall all know him, from the least to the greatest; and they are to become the inhabitants of the new earth and the new heavens; and that new earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. But, however, a word about this indestructibility. “Violence shall no more be heard in your land.” Violence could get into the literal Jerusalem; but not in the spiritual. “Wasting nor destruction within your borders;” wasting and destruction got into Judea, but not into this heavenly land; “But you shall call your walls salvation, and your gates praise.” “The sun shall be no more your light by day.” You who tell us that old same earth is to be purified, I wish you would tell us what the sun is to be done with, and what the moon is to be done with. You don't say anything about them; I suppose you think the less said about that subject the better; so, I think. Hear then what the Lord says. “The sun shall be no more your light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto you; but the Lord shall be unto you an everlasting light, and your God your glory.” There is the new earth; there is the new heaven; Christ dies no more. “Your sun shall no more go down, neither shall the moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended. Your people also shall be all righteous they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation;” strong numerically; “a number that no man can number;” strong individually, in the Lord; “and the power of his might;” strong collectively, strong prospectively; so strong that nation shall live both individually and organically to all eternity; its king can neither die nor be dethroned; nothing unpleasant can ever arise; but this kingdom shall run on into eternity, its people, glorying in his holy name.
Thirdly. Now the PEOPLEING OF THIS NEW EARTH we must take, Isaiah's testimony, and then close. “In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek; and his rest shall be glorious.” Has not that begun? It has; and is going on; the Savior being the genealogical root, and the ensign of victory. He is the genealogical root by election.
“Christ be my first elect he said,
Then chose our souls in Christ our Head.”
“And his rest shall be glorious.” We may rest in the eternity and immutability of election; we may rest in the perfection and eternity of the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time, to recover the remnant of his people.” What was the first time? The first time was the old covenant time; the second time is the new covenant time; that is what is meant by the second time. If you have a doubt about it, go back to that chapter we read this morning: “He takes away the first covenant, the first dispensation, that he may establish the second.” “The Lord shall set his hand again the second time, to recover the remnant of his people:” remnant according to election; which shall be left, from Assyria and from Egypt, and from various parts. Now, go on from Isaiah 11 to Acts 2, and you will find that the very countries to which the promise there belongs, received, at the day of Pentecost, its fulfilment; the promise there began to be fulfilled; it has been fulfilling ever since; it is going on now, and will go on till the head stone shall be brought forth with shouting. Well, but say some, it is said, that “Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.” Certainly, that is brought about now. Ephraim, the ten tribes, are worshippers of the golden calf; Judah was the worshipper of the true God. There is a man worships the golden calf of duty-faith, or free-will, or some other golden calf; and he envies me; and then, when I tell him the truth, I vex him. Presently, the Lord opens that man's eyes: oh, he says, I feel what a wretch I am now: now I don't envy you, and you don't vex me when you tell me the truth; I love you now. And thus, the one shall not envy the other: and the other shall not vex the first. Ah, but then it is said, “They shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west.” Well, so they did. Who were the Philistines? The Gentiles by a poetic or a common custom in prophecy one name being substituted for another: the Philistines there will mean the Romans: Rome lay west of Judea: and in the apostolic age, through the ships of the Romans, and through the wars and victories of the Romans, the doings of the Romans were made subservient to the carrying of the gospel into Rome, and Italy, and those parts. They did fly towards the west. “They shall spoil them of the east together: (so they did,) they shall lay their hand upon Edom;” that is, the Idumeans, and Moab; and so they did: “and the children of Ammon shall obey them;” that is, the Arabians and Persians, and so they did. Then notice the conclusion, “And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea.” Why, it has been done; what was the tongue of the Egyptian sea? Why, the tongue of slander: it was the tongue of persecution, the tongue of oppression: and therefore, it means that the Lord shall utterly destroy the oppressor, as he destroyed the hosts of Pharaoh. “And with his mighty wind.” Can you forget the day of Pentecost? The Holy Ghost came as a mighty rushing wind: “With his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams.” I believe the streams there will mean the stream of sin and death, and the world, and the curse, running between you and God; and God comes in with his mighty wind, the Eternal Spirit; shakes his hand over these streams, and by what Christ has done they are dried up, the people go over dry shod into the promised land, this new earth, this new inheritance. But then, say you, it closes with saying, “There shall be a high way for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.” What do you say to that? Why, that as the people were brought out of Egypt then by the power of God, so they come out of Satan's kingdom now by the power of God. They came out in God's way: and we are brought out now by regeneration; and if the Israelites sang on the eastern side of the Red sea, “The Lord has triumphed gloriously;” how much more may the soul saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation rejoice that He has triumphed gloriously.
Thus then, friends, I take the earth to be the new earth: in other words, I take the Lord Jesus Christ, as here set forth, as the great Substitute for the world that now is in all the senses I have stated; I take the fulness of knowledge to mean that the people shall be brought so to know Christ that he shall be their all in all; I take the promises relating to the nations as encouraging to our prospects and hopes, and to our endeavors, as far as the Lord shall enable us, to spread the gospel; and I take the peopling of this new earth to be simply by the truth of God, by the Spirit of God, and by the living power of the blessed God.