(1.) It is manifest that all things belong to (Jod to deal with as he may think proper: there is no known law by which he binds himself to preserve as it now stands either the creation of his own hands or the handiwork of the race that he has created.
(2.) The infinite power of an Almighty Creator, that can call forth a new creation at his will, makes the destruction of many worlds a matter of no importance in the vast scheme of his general purposes and his eter- nal existence. " Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance : behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering. All nations be- fore him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity" (Isa. xl, 15-17). Or, to use a homely simile, as we often see portions of beauti- ful columns, moiddings, and carvings built into the rub- ble of mediajval churches as if they were common stones of no value, and are aware that this was done by build- ers who knew that thej' could produce better work than that which they were concealing or partially destroj'- ing — so we know the great Architect of the universe can replace all that he causes or suffers to be destroyed with a new creation of still greater beauty, glor^% mag- nitude, and use, without effort and at anj* moment.
(3.) This seems to lead up to the object of so wide a destruction as that implied by the words of Holy Script- ure, the " whole creation groaneth and travaileth to- gether," fallen with fallen man, even in Christ's dispen- sation degenerating age by age, and removing furtlier and further from the high standard of perfection in which it first came forth from the hands of the Creator. It is to make room for a perfect creation that this de- generated one is to pass away — to make room for one in which there will be no capacity for degeneration, no trace of imperfection, no stain of a will adverse to the will of God.
By the consideration of truths such as these we may fortify our faith in the word which God has four times spoken by his prophets; and believing that we can see some reason \vhy there should be a new heaven and a new earth, believe also that there are many others which are beyond our knowledge, and that therefore our safest course is to take the divine proclamation simidj' and literally as it stands. Whether by an utter de- struction and an entirely new creation, or whether (as is more probable) by a regeneration and purification effected by fire, in some way or other God will cause the heavens and earth that now are to pass away ; and will fulfil his own words, " Behold, I make all things new," in the sense of a material renovation. See Confla- gration, General.
II. Material Renovation. — Theory as to the State. — Although it would be venturesome to pursue this idea of a new creation into details, by speculating as to the new features that will characterize the abode of man- kind and its celestial surroundings, we are fully justified in following it up as regards our own nature. Kespect-
NEW CREATION"
NEW CREATION
ing human nature, there is no room whatev* for doubt. It will be taken into the presence of its Creator after having passed again under his creating hand, renovated into a perfectness of condition even greater than that which belonged to it in its most perfect temporal con- dition.
(1.) First it is to be considered that there will be a new creation of the body. " Flesh and blood cannot in- herit the kingdom of heaven; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption" (1 Cor. xv, 20). Such is the truth which St. Paul declares to us when he is dealing theo- logically with the question of the resurrection. Such also is the truth that we are taught by the very instinct of self-consciousness. It is not bodies such as we are provided with for the work of this world that will be suited to inhabit a new earth, or to stand in the imme- diate presence-chamber of the all-glorious and all-holy God. Such bodies as these can never be dissociated from imperfection and degeneration, disease, decay, and dissolution. They are endowed with functions that are evidently incompatible with a never-ending immor- tality ; and we cannot imagine hunger, thirst, and the capacities and desires which are most characteristic of bodih' life as it now is to have any place in heaven. They exist under laws that involve the loss of strength, vigor, and beauty after the lapse of a few score years ; and we cannot imagine the wrinkles or weakness or de- crepitude of old age to have any consistency with the perpetual youth of a renovated creation.
Hence the same inspired teacher tells us that the body which is sown in corruption is raised in incorrup- tion, that which is sown in dishonor is raised in glory, that -(vhich is sown in weakness is raised in power, that which is sown a natural body is raised a spiritual body ; . . . this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. These are most wonderful statements ; but can we gain from them, from other light of Holy Scripture, or from the light of our own experiences, observations, and reasonings, any defi- nite ideas on the subject of this renovated body which is to find itself fit for making a home of a renovated world? It is almost impossible to do so except by a series of negatives. For the spiritual body of the resurrection a3ra there will be no hunger nor thirst, no marrying nor giving in marriage, no pain, no suffering, no decay, no dissolution. It will answer to the great Catholic dog- ma, " I believe in the resurrection of the body," " the resurrection of the fiesh," in such a manner that every one will have a ready consciousness of identity, as of something restored which had long been lost, and yet it will be "a spiritual body," one of which, if we can positively say " it is the same," we must also say with equal certainty " it is not the same." Perhaps the ver}' phrase "spiritual body," which sounds like a contradic- tion of terms, contains the real explanation as far as we can now reach it. That which we think of in this life as the human body is a complex structure of substances and organs whose principal purposes are those of sense ; but even as it now exists we can discover traces of a lower organization and a higher organization. There is that which seems at once to be of the earth earthly — that which the Scripture calls " flesh and blood" — the grosser organization associated with the maintenance of animal life and action; and there is also that which we find little difficulty in associating with spiritual life and action — the nervous system, or that portion of it which is connected with the organs and faculties where- by the mind works and communicates with the world around. The one seems to belong to our bodies in com- mon with the bodies of creatures lower than ourselves in the scale of creation, the other to belong to those bodies in common with beings higher than ourselves. We easily believe of angels that they speak and think and reason; that they see and hear; that they remem- ber and increase in knowledge ; that they love and adore; and some of these properties which belong to men and angels we dare to think of as belonging even