Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/331

 quirements of the Church; and they maintain throughout a rational dignity concerning spiritual things never before attained.

As then we are now aware of the meaning of the prophecy, and made acquainted with the medium through whom the explanation is obtained, our next step is to inquire concerning the evidences of its fulfilment. We see that the Lord's second coming is an occurrence by which the minds of men are to be affected, and through which the Church and society are to experience renovation. Every one who will fairly consider what is written above upon the subject, must see that this occurrence is designed to be the precursor of a new dispensation of religious teaching, and thus to establish a new condition of the Church and society in the world. Now are there any evidences of such remarkable changes taking place? If so, they may most reasonably be attributed to the accomplishment of the prophecy we are considering. Let us then look abroad, and observe what is transpiring.

It was seen in the chapter on the last judgment, that the Church, about the middle of the last century, had passed into such a state of corruption as to require, for the spiritual safety of mankind, a Divine interposition by means of a judgment. The nature of that judgment was explained; and it was shown that soon afterwards a variety of circumstances transpired which were of so extraordinary a nature, and the cause of so many calamities to the whole Christian world, that they could only be accounted for by considering them to be the results of a remarkable judgment executed upon the wicked. Those calamities were, as it were, the out-births of this event. But that state of things has now in a great measure passed away, and an entirely new condition of society has been established, a con-