Of course we are aware that these will be regarded as extraordinary statements; we concede that they are so; but who can prove that they are not true? That those two uncommon events should have occurred without raising some preternatural commotion in the world, will no doubt be felt by many as contrary to the prejudices which error has created upon those subjects. When, however, it is remembered that the Lord has told us He will come with all the quietude of a thief entering a house, and that in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh,[1] it will be seen that there is some reason to pause before rejecting the view we have now suggested, and about which we shall produce additional evidence in another chapter. Men have been so long taught to expect that those occurrences would be associated with the raising of dead bodies from their graves, the rolling away of the heavens, and setting fire to the earth, that they almost instinctively turn away from any other exposition. But if it is remembered, as we have endeavoured to show, that those are mistaken views of the subjects, that the second coming of the Lord is not to be a personal advent to the natural world, and that the last judgment is a phenomenon of which the spirits of men are to be the subjects, and the world of spirits the scene, the whole matter will put on a more serious aspect, and commend itself to the careful consideration of those who, with a wise heart, are anxious to know what is the true meaning of the Scriptures upon those very sublime and important subjects.
