Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/53

 the Lord does not see, and it is only when the punishment breaks in upon him that he begins to discover that his criminality is known; and it is in reference to cases of this sort that the Lord is sometimes said to come to Judgment. It is written of Him that He is "on high," and "the Highest,"—not that those terms have reference to space, for they properly mean that He is exalted and inmost; and it is because all unfavourable judgments are experienced in conditions of life which are low and depraved, that He is said to descend, to come. Hence, in treating of the punishment which overtakes the wicked, it is said, "Bow Thy heavens, O Lord, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out Thine arrows, and destroy them." "The Lord of hosts (shall) come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof." "Behold, the Lord cometh forth out of His place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth."

But, from these general principles, we will pass on to the consideration of some particular instances of Divine judgments, and the Divine coming which each involves.

In the Bible, the religious history of the human race is arranged into four general epochs: from Adam to Noah; from Noah to Abraham; from Abraham to the establishment of Christianity; and from thence to the period when the Lord fulfils His promise to come again. In all these epochs there has existed a religious dispensation in the world. Each was a Divine institution, and it stood in a similar relation to the people who lived under it that Christianity does to us; and in each case the teachings vouchsafed to it were of similar authority. They may be de-