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(52-53) which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” With simple faith they all accepted these great promises. The authority appeared to them sufficient, the meaning transparent. The Lord had gone: the Lord would come. He had disappeared from view, but only for “a little while,” until the “times of restitution.” When these times came, he would appear again, and each one seemed to say, “Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.” This was to them the “one far-off divine event to which the whole creation moves.” IT WAS THE LODESTAR OF THEIR LIF, the goal and climax of their being, and round it their communion with each other, lke their testimony to the world, continually revolved. Even if men try, they cannot keep this subject out of sight, so long as the New Testament is read. The late beloved evangelist, D. L. Moody, made the admission that he was originally much opposed to this doctrine, “until,’ said he, “from constantly meeting with it in the reading of Scripture, T was constrained to become a believer in it; and now it is, to my mind, one of the most precious truths in the whole Bible.” One verse in every thirteen in the New Testament refers to it more or less directly; in the Epistles alone the proportion is much greater, being more like one in ten. In First Thessalonians it is fully one in seven, and in the Second Epistle nearly one in three. First Thessalonians is usually recognized as the earliest Epistle we possess. In our inquiry now it is of value, then, to note that the belief in Christ’s return was a conspicuous feature of the church to which 1t was addressed. In the opening chapter the apostle testifies, “Ye turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true Goud, and to wait for his Son from heaven.” The second chapter ends with a reference to the prospect of meeting “in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming.” At the close of chapter three the rayer is offered, “That he may stablish your hearts unblamaPie in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.” Chapter four finishes with the announcement, made by direct inspiration, that “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.” In chapter five the letter is brought to a conclusion with the prayer that they who received it may be “preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In Second Thessalonians there are but forty-seven verses, yet in no fewer than fifteen reference to the Lord’s return is made, The apostle declares “the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.” He beseeches the brethren to steadfastness “by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him.” He speaks of “the biightness of his coming,” and the “consolation and good hope” it brings; also he prays, “The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.” First. Corinthians is another of the older writings; and it proves that there at Corinth, as at Thessalonica, the church had taken up the hope of which we speak. “Ye come behind in no gift,” says the apostle, “waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He tells them not to sit in judgment upon one another, but to wait “until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the heart.” Above the table where they sit to celebrate the scene on Calvary, he writes the superscription, ‘TILL HE COME?’ and over all the tombs where sleep the silent saints, he carves the sentence, bringimg hupe and joy, “Christ the Firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.” Even when the apostle has to uttcr the dread word “Anathema,” he straightway softens it with “Maranatha,” “The Lord comes,” as though to let them know that, after all, judgment belongeth to another; men need not quickly curse their fellows. In the Epistle to Philippians the time of the Advent is repeatedly referred to as “The Day of Jesus Christ,” and for it they are taught to wait. “He which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” “That ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.” “That I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain.” It is clear that the Philippians shared the apostle’s hope, because he says, “Our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.” In the Epistle to Colossian s-‘.:ts, the same glad note is rung; “When Christ who is vr ufe shall appear, then shall ZION’S WATCH TOWER ALLEGHENY, Pa, ye also appear with him in glory.” Everything in the early church was made to hinge upon the coming of the Lord. To Timothy, the apostle Paul gives various charges, and he makes each binding “until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ.” In view of the same event he shows that he can hold death in contempt: “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” To Titus, too, he makes it clear that, hy this truth, not only is the fear of death removed, but life is made pure and beautiful, men “live soberly, righteously, and godly,” “locking for that blessed hope.” The Epistle to the Hebrews agrees with all the other apostolic writings. Repeatedly it speaks of the expected day. “UNTO THEM THAT LOOK FOR HIM shall he appear the second time, without sin unto salvation.” “Consider one another to provoke unto love ani! to good works .... and so much the more as ye see the day approaching.” “Cast not away therefore your confidence +... for yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” The apostle James adopts the same appeal; “Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, ihe husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long pati nce for it until he receive the early and latter rain, Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” The apostle Peter makes much use of second advent truth. It is the vermilion and the gold with which he illuminates his precious manuscripts. To saints in suffering he writes. and thus he seeks to cheer their hearts: “Ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith - ++. might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” “Hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation or Jesus Christ.” “When his glory shail be revealed, ye shall be glad with exceeding great joy.” “When the Chief Shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a crown of hfe that fadeth not away.” ‘There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying. Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation... . But, beloved, . . . . the Lord is not slack concerning his promises as some men count slackness, ... but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.” “What manner of persons ought ye to be,.... looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God?” “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” Saint John cherishes the same glad hope, and seeks by it to strengthen and to stimulate the church. ‘My little children, abide in him, that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.” “We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is; and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” As for the Book of the Revelation, it really is the “Revelation of Jesus Christ,” and is all about the second advent. In it we have the facts, circumstances and judgments connected with the Lord’s unveiling, or apocalypse. “Behold he cometh,” is the burden of the book; and there can be no understanding of the “words of this prophecy,” if the coming of the Lord be doubted, or be lost to view. Again and again, in the midst of its mysteries, the Master’s voice is heard crying, “Hold fast till I come!” “Behold I come as a, thief; BLESSED IS HE THAT WATCHETH’’ “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shal! be.” To this, the seer himself would have us all say, “Amen, Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” It is well for us to scan the Scriptures thus, in order that, by line on line, we may convince ourselves what was the hope that cheered and edified the early church. After a reading, such as this, there is no room for doubt regarding it. The hope they had was that of Jesus Christ’s return, and nothing else can be maintained as answering to the language they employed. It could not be a spirit blessing they were looking for—a coming of the Lord into their hearts, for quickening and enlightenment; for such sweet spiritual presence they had never lost. “Lo, J am with you alway,” he had said, “even, to the end of the world”; and evermore “Christ in the heart the hope of glory” was to them a living, grand reality. They did not need a coming of that kind. [2954]