operate in many ways, will finally accomplish the work for which. it is sent.

CHAPTER III.

The second manifestation of Christ not instantly universal, but gradual and progressive, like the rising of the sun.

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It has long been maintained that Christ is to come in the clouds of heaven, and that all shall see him. In a spiritual sense, this is true, and accords with his own testimony: "They shall see the "Son of man coming in the clouds of Heaven, with power and great glory." Again, when questioned before the Jewish council, he said, "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of Power, and coming in the clouds of Heaven," And again; "Behold he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of "the earth shall wail because of him."* These and other similar passages are often advanced as evidences that Christ is not only to come openly, in the clouds, but that he will suddenly appear in the most public manner, so as to be seen at once, by all mankind, the wicked as well as the righteous, who have lived in all ages, and in all quarters of the world.

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But it ought to be considered in the first place, that these clouds are not the common clouds of the atmosphere, but the clouds of Heaven; therefore they must be heavenly clouds-clouds of faithful witnesses of God, who are ready and willing to embrace the testimony of Christ, whenever and wherever it shall appear; and to declare it to the world without restraint and without disguise. "Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their win"dows?-Seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud " of witnesses."* Thus cloud is used in scripture as a figure to express a multitude; and in this sense it was often used by ancient writers, both sacred and profane.

Secondly. As Christ, the anointed of God, is a Spirit, and can only be seen and known in the spirit; therefore his Kingdom must be spiritual and divine; not natural and sensual. Hence, as before stated, his appearance must be in the spirit; and the clouds in which he appears must be spiritual clouds, pertaining to the spiritual heavens; and these things must be discerned by spiritual light for, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the "Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him; neither can he "know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Yet the natural man looks for Christ to come in a bodily appearance,

* See Matt. xxiv. 30. chap. xxvi 64 and Rev. i. 7. + 1 Cor. ii. 14.

Isa. lx. 8. & Heb xii. 1.

through the clouds of the natural heavens, and expects, with his natural eyes, to behold in him a supernatural being, magnificently great and transcendantly glorious; and supposes that his appearance will be so universally visible that every eye in heaven, earth and hell shall see him at once.

But a little reflection will show the inconsistency of this opinion. For if Christ should descend in person, from the starry regions to this earth, and appear in our hemisphere, tho in ever so great splendor, he could not be seen at the same time, by those who live on the opposite side of the globe. But in order to be seen by them, in the same manner, he must descend in their hemisphere. And to be seen in both hemispheres at once, he must descend in two opposite directions at the same time. But if Christ is to make a bodily appearance, as a personal or material being, as many suppose, it must be impossible for him to descend in this manner. For it is a selfevident truth, as every person of sense will acknowledge, that no material substance or local being, can descend from two opposite directions in the heavens, and appear in two opposite hemispheres, and on two opposite sides of the earth, at one and the same time. Thus the natural man's plan destroys itself. But if we consider Christ as the elemental spirit of eternal life, the difficulty is at once removed; because upon this principle, that Spirit can appear in many places at the same time, however distant or differently situated.

Thirdly. It appears evident, not only from the testimony of the scriptures, but from the very nature of God, who is Spirit, that the work of Christ in the new creation, pertaining to the salvation and redemption of man, is a spiritual work. This none can deny. Therefore the things relating to Christ's second coming, and the finishing of the mystery of God, must be of a spiritual nature. How then should the natural man be able to conceive of these things in their true light, seeing he receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God?

The ideas formed in the mind of man, concerning the coming of Christ in the natural clouds, and appearing visible to the natural eye, are merely natural conceptions; natural enough indeed to the natural man, and therefore, if the forecited testimony of the apostle be true, they must be false conceptions. It is true that, in the progress of his work, "every eye shall see him;" for he will be made manifest to all, either to their everlasting joy or sorrow; but they will see him with the eyes of the soul, not of the body. Those who accept the invitation, and come when called, and faithfully obey the testimony of the gospel, will see him to their joy and salvation; but those who reject it, to their condemnation and sorrow. To the former it will prove "the savor of life unto life;" but to the latter, "the savor of death unto death."

But it may be objected that Jesus Christ himself has said, "As "the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the "west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." This passage of scripture is generally quoted as an evidence of the instantaneous and universal manifestation of Christ in his second appearing. But we apprehend that when the passage is duly considered, and its real import rightly understood, the objection founded upon it will appear groundless. It is well known that our Savior often made use of natural things, and natural occurrences, as similitudes to represent and illustrate things of a spiritual nature. In the above quoted passage, he alluded to the dawning of the day, and the breaking forth of the morning light in the east, as a clear and striking similitude of the commencement of that period, so often represented in scripture, as the day of gospel light and liberty, or thousand years of Christ's reign upon earth. This appears evident from the following considerations.

1. It is not the peculiar nature of lightning "to come out of the east and shine even unto the west;" its flashes, tho often seen in every direction, are known, in this country, to come out of the west much oftener than out of the east; and they never extend so as to be seen but a few miles distant, in any direction. If therefore Christ intended, by the similitude of lightning, to represent an instantaneous and universal display of his second appearance, the similitude is quite imperfect, the comparison falls very short.

2. The Greek word asgann, tho sometimes properly translated lightning, signifies any vivid brightness or shining light, as that of the sun, or of a star, a lamp or candle, as the same word is used in other places.* It is sometimes used to signify the breaking forth of light, as the dawning of the day, or the rising of the sun, which is evidently the meaning in the text quoted above. The light breaks forth in the east, "and shineth even unto the west," still progressing on in its western direction, till it enlightens the whole earth; and this it will effectually do in the space of twentyfour hours, so that all nations, even every eye, may see the light thereof; unless it be those who through blindness or some other cause, are deprived of that privilege.

We also find the same testimony in Luke, but a little differently expressed: "As the lightning that lighteneth," or more properly, "As the shining light that shineth forth from the one part under "heaven, and giveth light unto the other part under heaven; so "shall also the Son of man be in his day." This plainly implies that, as the light of the natural day (alluding to the sun as before) proceeds in its course, enlightening the earth from place to place;

*The same original word which in Matthew xxiv. 27, is translated lightning, is in Luke xi. 36, translated bright shining; in Luke xxiv. 4, sen adjective, it is translated shining ; and in Acts ix 3, used as a verb, it is translated shined; as the veader may see.

† Luke xvii. 24.

so in the progressive increase of divine light, in the millennial day, it will continue to shine from one place to another, unto all the earth or every part under heaven, shall be fully illuminated. Not that all will receive the light and profit by it; for many will undoubtedly hate and shun it to their condemnation; according to the testimony of our Savior: "And this is the condemnation, that "light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than "light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds "should be reproved."*

The same ideas concerning an instantaneously universal display of the coming of Christ, in the clouds of the sky, which so generally prevail at the present day, were doubtless entertained by the translators of the Bible. Hence it is easy to account for the translation of so many passages in a manner most favorable to their preconceived notions; and especially where the words in the original would admit of such a translation.

As to the expressions, "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump," and such like, nothing can be proved from them to confirm the opinion of an instantaneous and, at the same time, a universal display of Christ's second coming to judge the world. Nor are those expressions, even in their most literal sense, by any means inconsistent with the idea of the event's having begun to take place in this country more than forty years ago; but is perfectly consistent with the belief of its having taken place suddenly, with respect to thousands, during that period of time; and also with the belief that it may take place as suddenly, with respect to many thousands more, within forty years to come. For altho the increase of the light of the gospel in the soul, is gradual and progressive, from its dawn to the perfect day; yet the conviction of sin, and also the first rays of light, are often sudden and instantaneous; and so also are the judgments of God on the wicked, and many other changes which both the righteous and the wicked will find to pass through, before God shall have finished his work in them, and with them.

But it will be necessary to illustrate, more particularly, the progress of the work of God, in Christ's second coming, by the similitude of the breaking forth of light in the east: for as before observed, our Savior, in this similitude, evidently alluded to the sun, the light of the natural day, and not to the lightning. It is well known that the day first commences by the dawning of light in the east. The twilight succeeds; and the morning light gradually increases till the rising of the sun. The sun however, does not shine over the face of the whole earth at one and the same time; but appears rising from one degree of longitude to another still further west,

*John iii. 19, 20. The word here translated reproved signifies discovered or exposed.

until, in the space of twenty-four hours, it is seen rising and enlightening the whole habitable globe. So that it necessarily happens, that while the eastern nations are enjoying the cheering rays of the morning sun, the western world is wrapped in midnight darkness.

Agreeable to this comparison, if we consider the great length of the millennial day, we may readily perceive that, in its progress through its whole course, there must be a great difference in the period of its commencement, in different parts of the world. The labors and employments of the natural day are as various as the times of their commencement. The act of waking from sleep, of rising, dressing and performing the duties of the morning, or of making preparation for the more important work of the day, is very different from the general labors of the day; yet this morning labor is really necessary, and preparatory to that which appears more important. But it must be considered that this preparatory or morning labor cannot take place all over the earth at once; and so it is also with regard to the general labors of the day. For while the labors of the morning are going on in one part of the earth, the midday labors are progressing in another part, and the evening labors in another. Thus the morning, midday, afternoon and evening labors are all in actual operation at one and the same time, but in different and distant parts of the earth.

"So also shall the coming of the Son of man be." The light of the millennial day is as gradual and various, in its commencement and progress, as the light of the natural day; and, like this, cannot possibly take place throughout the world at once, any more than the light of the sun can be seen at once over the face of the whole earth. It appears to be the prevailing opinion among those who are looking for the millennium, that the preparation for that day is to be finished over the whole world first; and that the second coming of Christ is to take place in a similar manner, and become at once universal. This idea is wholly inconsistent with reason, and has no foundation in truth.

Among the many providential events which are evidently preparatory to the introduction of this new era to the world, we may remark,

1. The extensive and increasing prevalence of the spirit of religious toleration among mankind. This is absolutely necessary in order to check and bind the spirit of persecution, which would otherwise rage beyond control, at the introduction of a new religion which must and will be contrary to every feeling of the carnal nature of man.

2. The increasing sense of the importance of peace and' good will among mankind, as absolutely essential to christianity; and the many exertions in various places to promote this desirable ob