rment heat, the stars fall, and the sky pass away like
a scroll that is rolled together. On these and similar passages is
based the belief of Christendom in the destined destruction of the
world by fire and in the scenic judgment of the dead and the
living gathered before the visible tribunal of Christ. This belief
was once general and intense. It is still common, though more
vague and feeble than formerly. In whatever degree it is held, it
is a doctrine of terror. We hope by tracing its origin, and
showing how mistaken it is, to help dispel its sway, free men from
the further oppression of its fearfulness, and put in its place
the just and wholesome authority of the truth. The true doctrine
of the divine government of the world, the correct explanation of
the course and sequel of history, must be more honorable to God,
more useful to men, of better working and omen in the life of
society, than any error can be. Let us then, as far as we are
able, displace by the truth the errors prevalent around us in
regard to the end of the world and the day of judgment.

It will help us in our proposed investigation, if we first notice
that the ecclesiastical doctrine as to an impending destruction of
the world is not solitary, but has prototypes and parallels in the
faiths of other nations and ages. Almost every people, every
tribe, has its cosmogony or theory of the creation, in which there
are accounts, more or less rude or refined, general or minute, of
the supposed beginning and of the imagined end of nature. All
early literatures from the philosophic treatises of the Hindus to
the oral traditions of the Polynesians are found to contain either
sublime dreams or obscure prophecies or awful pictures of the
final doom and destruction of earth and man. The Hebrew symbols
and the Christian beliefs in relation to this subject therefore
stand not alone, but in connection with a multitude of others,
each one plainly reflecting the degree of knowledge and stage of
development attained by the minds which originated it. Before
proceeding to examine the familiar doctrine so enveloped in our
prejudices, a brief examination of some kindred doctrines, less
familiar to us and quite detached from our prejudices, will be of
service.

The sacred books of the Hindus describe certain enormous periods
of time in which the universe successively begins and ends,
springs into being and sinks into nothing. These periods are
called kalpas, and each o