continuing city, but we seek one to come." Heb. 13: 14. "For he hath prepared for them a city." Heb. 11:16. All these scriptures point us away from this earth to "another country"-yes, to a "better country,' ""an heavenly." We are only sojourners here for a time. We are traveling to another clime, another sphere of existence, a brighter realm. Our short pilgrimage upon earth is compared to a handbreadth, an eagle hastening to his prey, a swift post, a dream, a shadow, a vapor. Time with gigantic footsteps is bearing us to the future. Life is soon cut down; "and we fly away." "Because man goeth to his long home." Eccl. 12:5. "To his eternal home."-LXX.

That “eternal home" is not this earth as the worldly minded vainly hope, but is "a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 2 Cor. 5: 1. Yes, in heaven, the place of God's throne and home of the angels. There is an eternal heaven above, which Paul terms the "third heaven." 2 Cor. 12: 2-4.

First, the church is now raised up on the plane of Heaven's purity, and all its members are made to "sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Then again, the atmosphere which surrounds this earth is frequently in Scripture called "the heavens." These will pass away with this earth. But there is a third heaven, a place where God now dwells. "The Lord he is God in heaven above." Deut. 4:39. "The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven." Psa. 11: 4.

Heaven is also the home of the angels. "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.' Mat. 22:30. "So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God." Mark 16: 19. "Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him." 1 Pet. 3: 22. "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Heb. 9:24.

All these texts, with many others, clearly teach that there is a place called heaven. There can be no appeal from this fact. We shall now prove that the same I will be the eternal home of the church.

"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Cor. 4:18. Paul here speaks of things which are "temporal" (proskaros), for a season or time only; and then he speaks of things "eternal" (aionios), without end, as the eternal Spirit. Heb. 9:14. Those things we see with our natural eyes are only temporal. They are things which have a short duration, and must have an end. "The things which are seen are temporal," temporary, for a time only. That includes this earth and all that pertains to it. All nature teaches this fact.

The green grass covers this earth with a beautiful and verdant carpet, but the time comes when it withereth and the lovely flowers fade away. The leaves which come forth and cheer our hearts in springtime turn to a golden hue when the autumn. winds blow, and fall to mother earth, and decay away. The sturdy oak, in whose branches the fowls of the air lodge, soon decays and is no more. The lofty pyramids, and the monuments, in time crumble to dust.

The same lesson is taught in the animal kingdom. Our mortal bodies return to dust, to mother earth. All nature, and everything around us teaches us "the end of all things" pertaining to earth. The earth itself is one of the things which we see, and Paul positively declares that all we see is temporal, must have an end. This earth will pass away. Both the Old and New Testaments teach this fact.

"Of old thou hast laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure." Psa. 102: 25, 26. "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment.” Isa. 51:6. "The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; it shall fall, and not rise again." Isa. 24:19, 20. In these texts is foretold the "end of this world." This planet called the earth shall "wax old" and "shall

perish."

It shall be "clean dissolved," "and shall be removed like a cottage;" "it shall fall and not rise again." So positively teaches the Word of God.

When we come over into the New Testament we have this same fact taught, if anything, more clearly than in the Old. Jesus said, "Till heaven and earth pass." Mat. 5:18. In the very commencement of his ministry, Jesus Christ teaches the instability of all visible things. The heavens which you see, and which are so glorious, and the earth which you inhabit shall pass away; "for the things which are seen are temporal." From the lips of Jesus we hear the solemn words, "Heaven and earth shall pass away." Mat. 24:35. "The end of all things is at hand." 1 Pet. 4:7.

From the beginning God has meted out this world's career. One long age has succeeded another, until we now have reached the "last days" of its history. A small step before us is the end of "all things" pertaining to earth.

But when will all this take place? Answer, "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it. from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered

up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Rev. 20:11-15.

This is very clear. The coming of Christ upon the great white throne (the throne of his glory. Mat. 24: 31), the coming forth of all the dead from land and sea, the same being judged, and the wicked cast into the lake of fire, will be the time when this earth will pass away and "no place be found for it.' Let all our readers prepare for such a catastrophe; for as truly as God has spoken, it will come. The "heavens" in these texts refer to aerial heavens. We will next consider the manner of its passing away.

"But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing