400 On the Mosaic account of the Creation. 



sarily follow that this our present, must be the second earth ; 

 how, therefore, does St. John in the 21st chapter of the book 

 of Revelations say, " And I 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 ?" This was the record of 

 a vision of future events, and yet there is no distinction made 

 between the antediluvian and the present earth, from which 

 a traditional sense of its total destruction can be gathered ; 

 and yet had such an event occurred, St. John could not have 

 failed to know it, and to consider " the earth which now is" 

 as a second earth, and therefore in recording his vision, he 

 would not have told the Jews, what Mr. Penn affirms they 

 were already well aware of, namely, that the first earth had 

 passed away. But from his coupling the "first heaven" 

 (of which as yet there has been no destruction,) with the 

 "first earth" it becomes evident that St. John considered 

 our present to be identical with the antediluvian earth ; 

 and again from his saying that on the destruction of the 

 "first earth" there " was no more sea" we at once perceive 

 that the first earth has not yet passed away ; consequently 

 the Mosaic geologist is again in error, and the destruction 

 caused by the deluge, must be limited to the extent to which 

 I have alone received it. 



" And I 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" 



a 



And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming 

 down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned 

 for her husband. " 



" And 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 



a 



