cases is in fact true; but is not, cannot be, so in all cases." (Diss. ii. p. 36, 41.)

Thus we may conclude, that things which are enigmatically described, though seen and understood by the wise, are nevertheless "seen in an enigma darkly." And whatever question may arise, as to the plainness and literal distinctness of prophecy, one thing at least is evident from experience, that some portions of the prophetic word never have been clearly seen, or the signification generally agreed in. It matters not indeed, as regards the practical result, that things might have been known: if God has even suffered the prejudices of men to prevail, so that they have proved as a veil to the understanding, they have operated as effectually in obscuring prophecy, as if he had mystified the word itself. Take, for example, the number of the beast. The early church never pronounced upon it with any confidence. The interpretation given to it by Irenæus was advanced only as a modest suggestion in company with two other words; and the multitude of interpretations which have arisen since, some of them not wanting in plausibility, have prepared the way, even if a better interpretation is hereafter to arise, to induce good men to ponder it well before they decide as to its merits.

CHAPTER V.

ON THE SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST.

It may already have been concluded, from the testimonies adduced in the third chapter, drawn from the writings of the early Fathers and the Reformers, that the second advent of Christ was a doctrine held very prominently by them, and urged as the great object of hope and expectation on the believer. the present chapter it is proposed to bring this topic more expressly before the reader, and afterwards to disabuse him of certain modern prejudices and misapprehensions respecting the Judgment of the Kingdom of Christ, which, if he be under their influence, will very greatly embarrass the right apprehension of the Prophecies.

1. No doubt will, it is assumed, arise in the mind of the Christian, in regard to the hope of the Jewish Church: it is well known that prior to the first advent of the Lord, the coming of the Messiah formed the chief and almost only

ground of expectation to the pious Israelite, which expectation had indeed extended beyond the people of Israel, and prevailed among many of the Gentiles. So intimately was the advent of the Christ bound up with the important events which he was to accomplish, that it became difficult for the Jewish mind to separate the one from the other, and some of the very names which he familiarly bore among them when they spake of him, were indicative of the importance which they attached to that event, and the intensity with which they expected it, as np the one waited for, san and exoμeos, he that cometh.*

While however it will be conceded, that this was the grand object of hope to the church prior to the first advent, many are disposed to conclude, that, that advent having taken place, the coming of Christ ceases to be an object of such pre-eminent importance and interest, excepting in the retrospect; and some are even inclined to place the second advent among the nonessential truths of Christianity, which they presume may be neglected or lightly esteemed, without danger or detriment to the believer. Owing to this, and to the opinion that a long and indefinite period is to elapse before that advent can under any circumstances take place, it has come to pass, that it is not by the generality of pious men now pressed upon the notice of their hearers with any earnestness, but is, comparatively. speaking, thrown into the back ground. A reference however to scripture will show, that, in thus doing, the church has departed from the apostolical mode of treating the subject.

To cite passages from the Old Testament, in proof of this, may appear to some inconclusive, arising from the impression that they were all fulfilled at the first advent of Christ. I shall waive therefore the mass of evidence to be derived from this source; excepting to observe,-that it would be very difficult to select any one entire prophecy from the Old Testament, supposed to relate to this event, which was in all its principal particulars accomplished at our Lord's first coming. So far indeed as any importance may be attached to the general expectation of the Israelitish church before that period, scarcely any of the things which they looked for and mused upon were fulfilled at the first advent;-the events which then came to pass, though declared beforehand in the scriptures, were not expected by the generality, but took even the most pious of them by surprise; whilst the apostles themselves do constantly carry forward and sustain the expectations previously entertained, directing the mind of the Christian church to the second

* See Dr. Lamb, on the Hebrew Hieroglyphics.

advent, as the great event which was to be the consummation of the believer's hope.

In the first epistle to the Thessalonians, chap. iv., the apostle brings a very interesting subject before their notice; viz. the special consolation with which he would have them comfort one another, when afflicted by the bereavement of dear friends and relatives in Christ. He declares that he would not have them ignorant concerning the state of such, and sorrow for their departure as those persons sorrow who never hope to see their deceased friends again. (v. 13.) Now would be the time, if it were consistent with the mind of the Holy Spirit, for the apostle, who here speaks expressly "by the word of the Lord," (v. 15.) to dwell upon the blessedness of those that sleep in Jesus in the separate state; to comfort their friends with the assurance that they are now in glory; and to encourage the survivors to hope, that they shall presently be with their friends in heaven. But there is not a word of the kind! He teaches them, that they shall again see their friends here;he reminds them that the resurrection of Jesus is the pledge of theirs; and he tells them that when the Lord comes he will bring them with him.-"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout," &c. Thus he brings the second advent to bear upon events of such common occurrence and touching interest to the Christian; and I am persuaded, that, where it is thus realized and practically applied in such cases, the consolation it affords is far superior to that which can be derived from any other consideration which the wisdom and ingenuity of man can substitute in its place.*

We are favoured in the New Testament with the hope entertained by two of the apostles, personally and individually, in the prospect of death; constituting what may be termed their experience on the occasion; and it is remarkably to the point in hand. St. Paul says, "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day." (2 Tim. iv. 6-8.) St. Peter, when admonished by the Lord, "that he must shortly put off his fleshly tabernacle," thinks it proper to write an epistle to the faithful, the whole burden of which

* It will not be denied by the writer of these pages that there is an intermediate state, in which the separate spirits of believers are in a condition of blessed rest and consciousness; enjoying also the presence of Christ, as declared in 2 Cor. v. 8, and Phil. i. 23. This point he has endeavoured to vindicate from the errors of some modern Millenarians in the work called "Abdiel's Essays," where he has also set forth the doctrine of the Resurrection. See the note likewise at page 52 of this volume.

is to confirm them in the expectation, that these present heavens and earth shall be dissolved, as those in the days of Noah were, and again be succeeded by new heavens and a new earth; that he had followed no cunningly devised fables, when he made known to them the power and coming of the Lord; but had had a visible specimen of it, when he beheld the transfiguration on the mount; and that apostate men would arise in the last days, treating the promise of his coming with scoff. He finally confirms all by the testimony of St. Paul, who (he says) in all his epistles makes mention of these things.

In like manner St. Peter, in his first epistle had directed the hope of believers in general to the same object of expectation: "When the Chief Shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." (chap. v. 4.) And so, in like manner, do the other apostles. St. James encourages not those to whom he writes with the hope of reward at death; but exhorts them to be patient until the coming of the Lord. (James v. 7.) And St. John declares, "We know that when he shall appear we shall be like him." (1 John iii. 2.)

Now these things are consistent, if the great hope of deliverance and salvation were deferred, as insisted on, till the second appearing of Jesus; and if that were the object chiefly held out to view. We shall in that case not only perceive it laid down in the New Testament as a doctrine of the apostles, but we shall find the primitive church in general impressed with this view of the subject; and either speaking, or spoken of, as looking forward with eagerness to this event. Other marks of grace will be discernible; but this mark in particular, at a time when it is presumed the hopes of the church were bound up in the doctrine of the second advent of Christ, and not in the rest entered into immediately after death, would then be an essential one. The want of it would imply either very gross ignorance of the prevailing tenets of the church, or very great unbelief of those which were perceived. This feature, however, pre-eminently marks the character of the scripture saints, as shall now be evinced by a few passages from the epistles of St. Paul.

In Romans viii. 19, the earnest expectation of the creature is said by him to be waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God; and those, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, are groaning within themselves and waiting for the redemption of the body. (verse 23.) He thanks God for the Corinthians, because they came behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; (1 Cor. i. 7:) which words are so connected as to shew, that the proper and practical tendency of those gifts, and the best evidence of completeness in the Spirit, con

sisted in the mind's being led to be habitually looking for the Lord Jesus from heaven. So of the Thessalonians therefore the apostle writes, "that they turned from idols to serve the living and the true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven." (1 Thess. i. 9, 10.) To the Philippians he writes: "For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself." (chap. iii. 20, 21.) And as the hope of a glorious resurrection is here declared to be the great benefit that he looked for from his Redeemer's coming, so he declares, that the whole powers of his mind and heart were placed on this one thing; viz. to know Christ, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death, if by any means he might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." In his second Epistle to Timothy the apostle makes the loving the appearance of Christ so decidedly a mark of grace, that he appears to limit the reward of righteousness to those only who partake of this desire: "A crown (he says) which the Lord shall give me at that day; and not to me only; but unto all them also that love his appearing." (chap. iv. 8.) Hebrews ix. 28 seems to make the same distinction and limitation: "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation. Finally, "the Spirit and the Bride say, Come;" (Rev. xxii. 17,) that is, the Church of Christ, which is the Lamb's Wife, moved by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in her, longs for the presence of her absent Lord; the ardent desire of her soul being summed up in that single and emphatic expression-COME.

*

2. But however clearly apparent it may be, that the doctrine of the Second Advent is prominently set forth in scripture and pressed upon the believer, yet do many Christian ministers prefer to urge the uncertainty of life, and the probability of death, as being in their estimation better calculated to excite the believer to watchfulness, and to arouse the ungodly to calling upon the Lord. Now it will commonly be found, where truth is in the abstract thus assented to, and yet is practically set aside, either that it is not, after all, cordially believed, or that there is something erroneous mixed up with it, which neutralizes it, and deprives it of its power. That defect is believed to be, in the present instance, a mistake in regard to

*Other instances will be found in Col. iii. 4; 1 Thess. ii. 19; iii. 13; 2 Thess. i. 4-7; 1 Tim. vi. 13, 14; 2 Tim. iv. 1, 2; Titus ii. 11-13; Heb. x. 36, 37; 1 Peter i. 13, and 1 John ii. 28.