314 At length the earth would grow old, and the time would draw near when it must be destroyed. “Then,” said the angel, (Dan. xii. 2.) “ many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many. τό right cousness, as the stars for ever and ever. But thou O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end (when) many shall run to ånd fro; and knowledge shall be increased.” These last solemn words of the angel finished the prophecy. They refer to the end of this world, when the dead will be raised, and the Lord Jesus Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven with all his holy angels, to judgethem. (Matt. xxiv. 30.) Those who have loved and obeyed him here on earth, and repented of their sins, will then be “caught up to heaven,” to dwell there with God and with Jesus Christ, and with “an innumerable company of angels,and of the spirits of just men madeperfect.” (1Thes-iv. 16,17; Heb. xii.20-23.) All the good men who have lived, or who will yet live,
