Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/220

 important for us to know; nor can we believe that the treasures of its spiritual instruction will ever be exhausted. The Word is God in His revelation; and, not only will the prospect of its wonderful contents become wider as the mind of society advances, but the mistakes of our predecessors concerning it will be relinquished as piety becomes enlightened.

It is very manifest that the last judgment and the second coming of the Lord are events in the Divine Providence, described in a figurative style. This is a characteristic of all prophecy. But the doctrines commonly held upon those subjects, as indicated above, are founded upon what is supposed to be the literal sense of the predictions. The natural world is contemplated as the scene of those marvellous occurrences. The Lord coming as the Son of man, is not distinguished from His coming as the Son of God; and His coming into the natural world is insisted upon as an event referred to in the narrative, notwithstanding the many instances recorded in the Scriptures (of which we shall speak hereafter) in which a Divine coming is predicted, and in the fulfilment of which no personal appearance was displayed. The wars, pestilences, famines, and earthquakes, which are spoken of as the direct precursors of such an advent, are interpreted to mean physical calamities; but of these there have been a great many instances during the history of the Christian Church, and yet none have been immediately followed by the expected coming. Surely these facts are calculated to suggest some doubts as to the soundness of such interpretations. False prophets have risen up and deceived many, iniquity has abounded, and the love of many has waxed cold, and still the expected advent has been delayed. May not, then, the calamities predicted refer more directly to the tribulations of men's