Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/332

 dition unparalleled for its advantages in the history of mankind; and this also must be accounted for upon the same principle, namely, the execution of a judgment upon the good, these advantages being a revelation of that event. Now as this judgment was to be executed by the Lord at His second coming into the spiritual world, and as the influences of that phenomena are being experienced in the world of men, it will follow that we are now living in the period of His second coming. There may be a reluctance to accept this view of the case, because mankind have been so long and so commonly taught to associate with the accomplishment of the prophecy the idea of the overthrow of the universe; but, as that is an evident mistake, it will be wise for them to put aside their hesitation, and seek for more reasonable interpretations. The materials for this they will find in the startling changes which, within the last century, have taken place in the whole round of human thought; changes which indicate the activity of a new intelligence in the world, and which prove, most decisively, that we are living in a new age of Christianity.

As His personal advent into the natural world was not intended by the Lord's Divine promise to come again, it will follow that He designed to realize that prediction by means of some beneficent influences in the world: this is the only alternative. Whatever be the nature of the Lord's