Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/327

 have prevailed respecting the teaching of the Word. The appearances of truth were mistaken for realities; the difficulties which this created led to disputations, until, at length, the Church drifted into darkness; and then she pronounced the most eminent of her doctrines to be a mystery. That, however, which is spiritual in its nature, such as the Divine Word is declared to be, cannot be presented to men in its native brightness during their lifetime in the world; therefore, God has been mercifully pleased to exhibit it in various degrees of shade, so that men may be enabled to see something of its glory.

The Lord not only told His disciples that He would be seen coming in the clouds of heaven: He made a similar statement to the high-priest, who had said unto Him, "Tell us whether Thou be the Christ, the Son of God." His reply was, "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." No doubt the high-priest understood this statement in a natural sense; and therefore he rent his clothes, and declared it to be blasphemy. That, however, was not the sense in which the words were spoken; and this every one may see who will carefully reflect upon them. The whole sentence is couched in figurative terms, and referred to His revelation of Himself at some future time in the letter of His Word, when even the ignorant should see Him.

That the clouds of heaven do not mean the clouds of the air may also be evident from this circumstance, that Daniel said, "I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven." In this passage, an event is stated to have occurred very similar to that which we are considering; it was not, however, in the plane of nature, but above, for it is declared to have