Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/313

 horse are symbols representing the various ways in which the Divine displays Himself to the differing necessities and conditions of mankind.

None of the Divine predictions concerning the second coming of the Lord were ever intended to teach us that He would again personally come into the natural world. Every one may see that He did for man, at His first advent, all that it was possible for Him to do by means of such a coming. There were, at that time, circumstances in man's spiritual condition which required the assumption of humanity and the consequent presence of the Lord in the natural world, in order to remove the evils with which they were associated. He thereby made provision against the possibility of their recurrence: and, therefore, the necessity for a personal coming could no more arise. Every case which is recorded of the Divine appearing is different, because, at the time of its occurrence, there has always been something different in the condition of the world which has required it. On this principle it is plain that His promise to "come again" will be fulfilled in a manner different from that of any previous coming. Indeed, the Lord expressly said that the occasion for this second coming would be such as had not been from the beginning of the world. If, then, the characteristics which are to distinguish mankind at the Lord's second coming are to be so different from all those which have marked previous comings, it seems plain that the mode in which that coming will be effected must be different from all the rest. This, indeed, follows from the statement that His second coming is to take place under a title different from that by which He was distinguished at His first advent. He then came as the Son of God; it was as such that He was received by