No. 43.
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. And.I John saw the holy
city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her hus-
band. Aud I heard a great voice out of heaven
saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His
people, and God Himself shall be with them, and
be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes; and there shall be no more death,
“The Redeemed Will Be Arrayed with Beauty.”
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be
any more pain, for the former things are passed
away.” Rev. 21:1-4.
It is a literal city, having streets, walls, and gates.
It is laid out in a perfect square (verse 16), and it is
twelve thousand furlongs around it. At eight fur-
longs to the mile, the entire distance around it
would be fifteen hundred miles. Three hundred
and seventy-five miles on a side, covering a larger
area of territory than England, Ireland, Scotland,
Wales, and the adjacent islands; larger than the
states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois combined,—acity
compared with which London, Paris, and New York
sink into utter insignificance. Truly it is a royal
city for the King of kings. So
The prophet, speaking further of the city, says:
“And the building of the wall of it was jasper, and
the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass, and
the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished"
with all manner of precious stones.” Rev, 21:
18, 19.
As the light that will emanate from the Father
and Son shines upon those transparent and trans-
lucent walls, which reflect and refract ‘its rays, there
will encircle and shine above the tarone a. beautiful
rainbow. Rev. 4:3. Prismatic colors. will: tinge
the verdure of the landscape, and every twig and
bud will be as brightly adorned as the rosebud en-
circled with dew.
The Passing of the Veil.
The sun and moon will exist to lighten the world
as when it was first created. In the change which
results in transforming this present world into a
glorious paradise, the very atmosphere will have be-
come so thoroughly purified that it will be clear as
crystal. The prophet Isaiah, in viewing the scene,
says: *“ Moreover the light of the moon shall be as
the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall
be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day
that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His peo-
ple, and healeth the stroke of their wound.” Isa.
30:26.
The rays of the sun are God's pencil, with which
He paints flower, field, and forest with their many-
hued colors; and, as the sun is to shine with seven-
fold more brilliancy, therefore every green leaf,
To gme———
- SERS
and every flower, and each blade of grass, will
greet the eye with sevenfold more beauty, grace,
and glory than in the present world.
No Funeral Trains.
Sickness, sorrow, pain, and death shall never in-
vade that city. In the words of another, “a city
never built with hands nor hoary with the. years of
time; a city whose inhabitants no census has num-
bered; a city through whose streets rushes no tide
of business, no black-robed hearse creeps slowly
with its burden to the tomb; a city without griefs or
graves, without sin or sorrows, without births or
burials, without marriages or mournings; a city
which glories in having Jesus for its King, angels for
its guards, saints for citizens; whose walls are salva-
tion, and whose gates are praise.”
The redeemed world will be arrayed with beauty
THE PURPOSE. OF THE LAW.
heavens; and His kingdom ruleth over all.”
Ps. 103:19. This inspired declaration is the
distinct statement of a great and fundamental truth,
namely, that God's ‘' kingdom rwleth over all.”
And this ‘““a//”’ is to be taken in its broadest sense,
meaning all intelligences, in all places and in all
ages. As the Supreme Being who has made all
things, and the One who upholds all things, He has
the supreme right to #ule in the throne of supreme
dominion. And it is always for the best and highest
g8od of all creatures possessing reason to recognize
this great truth, and to humbly acquiesce to the
claims of such recognition. And this is as important
for the mightiest of earthly rulers, and even more so,
if possible, as for the humblest of mortals.
Th Lord hath prepared His throne in the
Nebuchadnezzar, one of the greatest of earth’s
kings, failing to discern this great truth, was driven
from among men, and made to eat grass like as
oxen, for seven years, or until he learned the lesson
“that the heavens do rule; ‘“that the most High
ruleth in the kingdom of men.” Dan. 4:25, 26.
Hence it follows irresistibly, that God is the great
moral Governor of the universe, and that He has a
great moral law as the basis of His government; for -
a government is a system of laws maintained. It
also follows, just as inevitably, that we are within
the jurisdiction of His government, and hence am e-
nable to His law.
The Summary of His Law.
The Bible abounds in evidence that the supreme
moral law of God is summarily contained in the
Ten Commandments, that law which was once
spoken with a voice that sliook the earth, and after-
ward written by the finger of God, and committed to
men, the only instrument of God’s own writing ever
given to mankind.
Having found that God has a government, and a
law as the basis of that government, and that all
mankind are amenable to that ‘law, we are now
ready to consider—
The Purpose of That Law.
I think we may properly regard the purpose or
object of the law of God as threefold. First, a rev-
elation of God’s character; second, a revelation of
God's will; and. #hird, a revelation of God's glory.
We will briefly consider each separately.
1. A Revelation of God's Character.
The laws of any law-maker, or Jaw-making power
are always a revelation of character. God's law is
declared to be ‘holy, and just, and good.”” Rom.
such as language is inadequate to describe. No
scenery ever gazed upon in this world can be justly
compared with it. The gently-sloping hills ‘and
beautiful plains will be made joyous by the sound
of babbling brooks and rippling rivulets, while the
air will be richly freighted with the notes of merry
songsters. The wide-spreading plains will swell
into hills of beauty, and the. mountains rear their
lofty summits heavenward; and the ransomed of the
Lord shall worship where mountain, lake, and forest
meet. And in that beautiful world, God’s redeemed
people, so long pilgrims and strangers in this vale
of tears, will find an eternal home which will consti-
tute all that is most enduring and satisfying. Christ
your Saviour, your Redeemer, your Helper, your
Friend will be King. Will you be one of the
redeemed subjects?
She ROYAL LAW |
Such is the character of God's law in its req-
And such is the char-
7:12.
uisitions and prohibitions.
acter of God. His holiness, justice, and goodness
are everywhere manifest in His revelations, nowhere
more clearly than in His holy, just, and good law.
Other attributes of God, such as power, wisdom,
truth, mercy, and love, are all revealed in His law.
His power, in that He is to be worshiped as the one
God, supreme over all (see the first commandment);
His wisdom, in that ‘‘the testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple” (Ps. 19:7); His
truth, in that the Word of the Lord declares that
“Thy law is the truth.”” ** Thou art'near, O Lord; and
all Thy commandments are truth” (Ps. 119:142,
151); His mercy and love, in that the law itself says,
““shewing mercy unto thousands of them that Jove
Me, and keep My commandments’ (Ex. 20:6). It
is because the love of God permeates His law that
Julfilling that law is the love of God revealed.
Rom. 13: 10,
2. A Revelation of God’s Will.
Where should we expect to find the will of a
ruler, or law-making power?—In the laws of such
power only. The good pleasure, the will, of every
government, is to be learned from the laws of such
government. And God’s will and good pleasure
concerning all His subjects, is to be found in His
law. When Jesus came into the world, He came
not to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent
Him. John 5:30. He said, *‘ Lo, I come; in the
volume of the Book it is written of Me, I delight to
do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My
heart.” Ps. 40:7,8. ‘Not every one. that saith
unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father
which is in heaven.” Matt. 7:21. And that blessed,
holy, and sweet will is revealed in the law of God.
3. A Revelation of God’s Glory.
Ancient Israel understood that the glory of God
was associated with His law; for when the ark was
taken by the Philistines, one of the tribe of Levi ex.
claimed, ““ The glory is departed from Israel; for the
ark of God is taken.” 1 Sam. 4:22. Thus the
Lord ‘delivered His strength into captivity, and His
glory into the enemy's hand.” Ps. 78:61. The
apostle Paul declares that ‘‘ all have sinned, and
come short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:23. As
sin, the transgression of the law, detracts from the
glory of God, does it not follow that perfect obe-
dience to God's law reflects His glory? Hence we
“see that one purpose of the law of God has ever been
to furnish mankind with the opportunity of revealing
the glory of God,—a glory hidden in the law until
" (Continued on page 14.)