Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/229

 The special surroundings of the narrative, the style, and the general structure of the whole book, may, indeed, in some measure account for this. We see no more reason for accepting the idea of the Lord's coming upon a natural cloud than we do for His coming upon a natural horse. Upon what reasonable ground can it be supposed that the angels who, in the one case, are spoken of as attending the Lord's advent, with a great sound of a trumpet, are to be literally thought of; and that the description of the armies of heaven, who, in the other case, are to attend His coming upon white horses, is not to be so understood? The questions cannot be satisfactorily replied to, and no distinctions can be drawn which are not of a purely arbitrary character. The fact is, that they are both symbolical narratives, and neither of them refers to events of which the natural world is to be the scene.

Although it is true that the Lord said "I will come again," the reflecting will see that this does not necessarily imply a personal coming, and a second sojourn amongst mankind in the world. By the work which He accomplished at His first advent. He can now come into the world with His benefits and blessings, in a way more influential than before. It must be admitted that He did for mankind at His first coming all that it was possible or necessary for Him to do by means of a personal appearing. If He did not, how can it be supposed that His work was completed? and, if it were completed, where is the necessity for another personal advent? He has come once in person, and He came also for judgment. This He has expressly told us; and, therefore, we conclude He must have accomplished all the work which came within the purpose of such an advent, and that another of the same kind is not