"Behold! I make all things new;"
could they have contemplated eternal worlds, of matter in all its elements and forms of animal life, indissoluble and everlasting; could they have beheld eternal man, moving in the majesty of a God, amid the planetary systems, grasping the knowledge of universal nature, and with an intellect enlightened by the experience and observations of thousands and even millions of years; could they have had a glimpse of all this, and heard the promise—
"There shall be no more death,"
issuing from the fountain of truth, prompted by infinite benevolence and charity, re-echoing amid the starry worlds, reaching down to earth, vibrating, with a thrill of joy, all the myriads of animated nature, penetrating the gloomy vaults of death, and the prisons of the spirit world, with a ray of hope, and causing to spring afresh, the well-springs of life, and joy, and love, even in the lonely dungeons of despair! O! how would their bosoms have reverberated with unutterable joy and triumph, in view of changing worlds.
Could the rulers of this world have beheld, or even formed a conception of, such riches, such nobility, such an eternal and exceeding weight of glory, they would have accounted the wealth, pleasures, honours, titles, dignities, glories, thrones, principalities and crowns of this world as mere toys—the play-things of a day, dross, not worth the strife and toil of acquiring, or the trouble of maintaining, except as a duty, or troublesome responsibility.
With this view of the subject, what man so base, so grovelling, so blind to his own interests, as to neglect those duties, self-denials, sacrifices, which are necessary in order to secure a part in the first resurrection, and a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory in that life which never ends?
CHAPTER VIII.
KEY OF KNOWLEDGE, POWER, AND GOVERNMENT.
Heaven's Nobility, whom worlds obey,
Clad in the brightness of eternal day,
Enthroned in majesty, as "Priests and Kings,"
To whom the universe its incense brings!
Angels, its ministers! Heaven is its throne!
The stores of infinitude are all its own!
Having given a general view of the powers, operations and effects of Theology, as developed amongst the nations of antiquity, the mysteries of the Godhead, the law of nature, and the origin and destiny of the universe, the subject next in order is the KEY of knowledge, power and government, as developed in the heavens and on the earth, for the organization, order, peace, happiness, education, improvement, and exaltation of intelligences in the image of God—His sons and daughters.