chaos through the agency of fire. In reference to that grand
catastrophe we find it recorded in II. Peter iii. 10, that "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."

After the organization of a new heaven and a new earth it was taught
that upon the latter would descend a beautiful city, with pearly gates
and golden streets, called the City of God, the Kingdom of God, the
Kingdom of Heaven or New Jerusalem, in which the host of the redeemed
would, with their Lord and Saviour, enjoy the Millennium, or thousand
years of happiness unalloyed with evil; and such was the Kingdom for
the speedy coming of which the votaries of Astral worship were taught
to pray in what is known as the Lord's Prayer.

According to the teachings of the Allegories, there were to be no sun,
moon or stars during the Millennium, their authors having arranged it
so that the light of those luminaries would not be needed, as we find
recorded in Rev. xxi. 23, and xxii. 5: "The city had no need of the
sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God did
lighten it," and "there shall be no night there; and they need no
candle, neither the light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them
light." It must be remembered, when reading the fanciful ideas relative
to the City of God, that they were composed by men who, living in a
very ignorant age, gave free rein to fervid imaginations.



JEWISH OR ANCIENT CHRISTIANITY.