Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/308

 296 THE LAST JUDGMENT, AND

and knowledge.—The source of this new activity—The Lord's Church, through His Word, more or less directly the source of all man's advantages.—Tbke new freedom with which men think and speak on spiritual things.—A characteristic of the second advent to make all things new.—Illustration of this, in philanthropic pursuits, moral observance, religious influences, and in all departments of science and philosophy.—Appeal to the reflecting.

now come to treat of the second coming of the Lord. Much that has been said, in preceding chapters, will have prepared the reader for an interpretation of the prophecies concerning it, somewhat different from that to which he may have been accustomed. The phrase, "second coming of the Lord," like that of "the last judgment," is not a scriptural, but a popular method of speaking of that event. It is quite clear from what is written upon the subject that the second advent of the Lord is an occurrence intimately associated with the last judgment. Doubtless the Lord came to effect a judgment; but the execution of that phenomenon in the world of spirits was to be followed by a manifestation of the Divine glory in the world of men. That judgment, as we have attempted to show, consisted in testing the lives of all those who were in the world of Spirits with the requirements of the Divine Word, in raising into heaven those whose characters were in conformity with the demands of truth, and in removing into the opposite kingdom those whose characters were contrary to its teachings. By these means Divine order was restored, especially in the intermediate region of the spiritual world; and so the way was cleared by which the influences of heaven were enabled to reach mankind without interruption from the hindrances which had previously existed. The clouds which had long been gathering were finally removed, and the sunshine which had been obstructed