Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/260

 see generally, and in a small compass, both the occasion and purpose of the Divine advent which is predicted. And we have seen, in a former part of this work, that principles of this kind are involved in all the predicted comings of the Lord. The Divine comings in all cases are specialities in the Divine Providence, having, for their occasion, some disorders on the part of the Church, and for their purpose some beneficence for the human race.

But how are men to know when this advent shall be brought about? It will not be announced by the destruction of the earth, for that abideth for ever; it will not be proclaimed by putting a stop to the procreation of the human race, for that will never cease; it will not be indicated by the resuscitating of dead bodies from the earth, the air, and the gases with which they have been mingled; for no such phenomena are predicted. None of the signs which have been commonly associated with that event, and regarded as evidences of its accomplishment, are taught in the Scriptures; they are simply the results of misinterpretation. The true answer to our inquiry is not to be found, as before observed, in the occurrences of physical nature, but in certain states and requirements of the Church. Whenever its perversions are such as to answer to a just interpretation of the terms in which the narrative describes the occasion for the Lord's coming, then the fulfilment of that prediction may be reasonably expected. The manner of the fulfilment may be very different to that which is commonly expected—a mistake upon that point may be among the corruptions of the times: still we may rest assured that one of its evidences will be an increased interest in the teachings of the Divine Word, and also some improved information concerning its inspiration and structure.

It is an admitted canon of interpretation that the true