THE SECOND COMING OF THE LORD. BY THE LATE REV. J. HYDE. PRELIMINARY. "THE testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Rev. xix. 10). Does this mean that "all who testify of Jesus have the spirit of prophecy," or that "all who have the spirit of prophecy must bear testimony to Jesus," or that "the spirit of all prophecy as contained in the Scriptures bears testimony to Jesus"? The latter is presumably the correct meaning. If so, the angelic statement declares a most important fact;-the highest purpose of all the prophecies of the written Word are to bear witness concerning the "Word made flesh." Whatever may be the apparent and external subject of which prophecy treats, it contains, as its Divine significance, some reference, and bears some testimony, to Jesus Christ. If there exists such a relation between the prophetic Word and the "Word made flesh," the whole of prophecy would be divisible into two great chapters. The first chapter would have treated of the birth, nature, work, sufferings, resurrection, and ascension of the Saviour; the second chapter would treat of His Second Coming, the circumstances attending it, and the results flowing therefrom. Such a division of prophecy really exists; it is both suggested and justified by Scripture. The Gospels record and the Epistles declare the fulfilment of the first chapter of prophecy; a large portion of what we designate the second chapter remains yet to be accomplished. We propose in what follows to consider some of the chief statements of this second chapter of prophecy. Apart even from the predictions of Scripture, it is not difficult to see that the Second Coming of the Saviour is necessary in order to give completeness to His work. The earthly work of Christ was manifestly, so far as He Himself was concerned, a preparation for an even greater work. When on the cross He said, "It is finished," it is plain that Jesus could not have meant that the whole of His work was completed. Even the work of human redemption was not then fully wrought out. The regeneration of men by the operation of the Holy Spirit was not then even possible; for until Jesus was glorified the Holy Spirit could not be given, and indeed "was not yet" (John vii. 39). Before the work of human salvation could be effected, the saving men "from sin," the preparatory work of redemption, redeeming men from the power of hell, must needs be fulfilled; but it was not till after His resurrection and ascension that He declared that He held the keys of hell and of death (Rev. i. 18). It is therefore clear that "It is finished" could only refer to the completion of His personal conflict with the infernal hosts and with the men whom those infernal spirits incited to murder Him. That stage of His redeeming work was fulfilled; thenceforward only the glory of the triumph awaited Him. To this effect the Scripture teaches : "If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (Rom. v. 10). The death of the Redeemer reconciled us to God, called us back into union with God; but it is only because Jesus lives that men can be saved. A dead Christ could effect nothing; because He is "alive for evermore" we can hope to receive from Him the blessings He is so desirous to bestow! The Ever-living is the Ever-helpful; for "without Me ye can do nothing." The Ever-living alone can impart life: "Because I live ye shall live also." The resurrection and ascension of the Saviour were necessary parts of the process of preparation: they indicated a personal triumph so far as regards His Humanity, and were essential to His becoming the "Mediator of the New Covenant." This personal triumph was to be the prelude of a larger victory, the triumph of His work, the glorious establishment of His Church, the universal diffusion of His gospel, the reign of righteousness over all the earth, when all should know Him from the least to the greatest. These and many other circumstances are in the Word associated with the Second Coming of the Lord. The Gospels terminate with the account of the personal triumph of the Divine Man : He ascended into heaven; Luke tells us that while He blessed His disciples, "He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven." The apostles' work of preaching and baptiz ing had then to begin; it was to date from the Pentecost when the Saviour's promise was fulfilled, and they were "endued with power from on high." They were to carry forward the work which Jesus began ; whatever success followed their labours, or the labours of their successors, was the success of His work. Its triumph would not be complete till that success became universal. Inevitable limitations attended the appearing of the Saviour at His First Advent. The "Man Christ Jesus" needed to be "made perfect through suffering;" to be "glorified with all the glory of the Father;" to "suffer these things " and "enter into His glory." During this process He travelled not beyond the narrow boundaries of Palestine; He was seen and heard only by a few, and by those few only for a little while. Scarcely more than twenty appear to have had the privilege of a close intimacy with Him. Several of His most wondrous deeds were witnessed only by Peter, James, and John. After His resurrection He showed Himself to none save His disciples, beginning with Mary of Magdala, and ending, according to Paul's testimony, with "five hundred brethren at once" (1 Cor. xv. 6). His bodily presence was not and could not be either a universal or an abiding presence. order to secure such a universal and abiding presence with all His Church, to be "in the midst" wherever "two or three were gathered together" in His Name, it was "expedient" for His disciples' sakes, that He should "go away." But His going away would have been most inexpedient were it not for His promise to "come again." This promise of His coming again was to His immediate followers their continual consolation. They realized it in part in the gift of His Spirit, His presence with them as "the Comforter;" but they looked for a fuller realization of the promise. Their anticipation justifies our hopes. In A similar kind of limitation attends all faith in Him: the Christ of history has to precede the Christ of consciousness; belief in human testimony concerning Jesus is the only possible basis on which faith. in Him as the Creator, Redeemer, and Saviour of mankind has to be built up. We believe on Him through "the word" of his disciples, before ever He can reveal Himself in us as the Hope of glory." We believe in Him because we believe "Moses and the prophets. In order to compensate to some extent these limitations, and also in order to complete His work, it may therefore be seen that a Second Coming is necessary, when "every eye shall behold Him;" when He, the misunderstood and maligned, shall be known of all; when He, the despised and rejected, should be seen clothed with majesty and power; when He, "the crucified," should be recognized as "the glorified;" and He, the "Man of Sorrows," should "see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied," and reign as King of kings, Lord of lords, over all, God blessed for ever." Scripture would have been manifestly incomplete had nothing been therein said on such topics; prophecy would not then have covered the whole work of the Saviour. The second chapter of prophecy was necessary, and it is contained in the Word. Every believer in Christ is thus forced to be a student of prophecy. 66 SECTION I.-HOW IS PROPHECY TO BE UNDERSTOOD? The student of prophecy, however, cannot advance far in his study before he will be met by a question of pre-eminent importance :-How is prophecy to be understood? The first and most natural idea is that prophetic language, like other language, is to be understood literally, i.e. according to the obvious and natural meaning of the words employed, as explainable by ordinary rules of grammar and rhetoric. This method, doubt less, will be the mode which the student will at first adopt. He will attempt to translate into sober prose the abundant metaphors of the prophetic style; he will endeavour to attach to each prophetic symbol an external historic significance, and regard the results as the plain predictions of Scripture. But as he advances in the study he will find that very many passages of Scripture cannot be so explained; that while almost every prophecy contains some statements which can be literally understood, a literal interpretation of other statements in the same general prophecy will fail to furnish any intelligible meaning; that such a system of interpreting prophecy will evolve not only inconsistencies, but also contradictions; that, while some of the prophetic symbols cannot be so elucidated, the explanation of others will be of the most fanciful and arbitrary kind; that the attempt to carry out this system destroys all order and consecution in the prophecies, and produces a confused jumble as to the supposed dates at which fragments of prophecy were supposed to be fulfilled. What then? If the student does not abandon the subject in despair, he must seek refuge in what may be termed "the canon of ignorance," viz., that "the real meaning of prophecy is never understood until after the prophecy has been fulfilled; or he must most ardently desire a more enlightened and consistent method of interpretation. It is with the interpretation of prophecy as with all other things: "That is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual." Whether the prophecies are susceptible of such a "spiritual" interpretation, and whether the "spiritual" or the "natural" method of interpreting prophecy is the correct method, are questions which will reappear with every new prediction that the student considers. Hence it is imperative that, if possible, this question of interpretation shall be settled before beginning to examine the prophecies which refer to the Second Coming of the Lord. It is notorious that the system of interpreting prophecy which is now ordinarily adopted is the literal or "natural." Common usage and current authority have thus sanctioned the method. Hence it has come to pass that the prevalent idea as to the Second Coming is that it will be a "coming in person" to this world. The long series of predictions referring to the time of the Second Coming is, in like manner, interpreted literally: the Israelites are to be gathered to their own land; Canaan is to regain its fertility; when gathered, all the nations of the earth are to go up to besiege Jerusalem; wars and rumours of wars are to vex all mankind; great commotions are to take place in the earth, signs and wonders in the natural heavens; that then the Lord is to descend upon Mount Olivet, which is to be parted asunder, and become a great valley; that then, and not till then, shall the Jews believe in the Saviour; the Jews shall be delivered, the dead are to rise, judgment is to be held, Satan is to be bound, and, with Jerusalem as the capital of His kingdom, Jesus is to personally reign on earth for a thousand years. In the same spirit of naturalism it is customary to read the other prophecies: Satan is afterwards to be loosed, a great conflict is to be waged between the saints and the wicked, and a second judgment is to be held; the stars are to fall, the sun is to be darkened, the elements are to melt with fervent heat, the final consummation of the order and economy of nature is to take place, the end of time and the passing away of the natural universe altogether. If the prophecies are inspired (which we unhesitatingly believe), and if the literal method of interpreting prophecy is sound (which we unhesitatingly deny), it can be shown beyond dispute that the Bible teaches all the above, and much more to the same effect. Hence the greater importance of a serious effort being made by each believer in the Sacred Scriptures to determine the previous question, viz., "What is the right method of understanding prophecy?" (To be continued.) THE NORWICH TRACTS. THE tract entitled "The Son of God (in Matthew): a Word about Swedenborgians," is designed to establish the doctrine of the personality of the Son distinct from that of the Father and of the Holy Spirit. The writer proves the doctrine in this wise: "Every son is a person distinct from his father. Every son is of the same nature with his father." There is no difference, then, between the Creator and the creature! Theologians admit or maintain that while the human essence is divisible, the Divine essence is indivisible. Trinitarians say that three Divine Persons are one God, but none of them assert that three human persons are one man. But we need not go over the whole length and breadth of this subject, which has so often been discussed before, and on which the writer of the tract advances nothing new. The only novelty he treats his readers to in the way of argument is this: Swedenborg teaches that the Lord received his soul from His Divine Father, and His body from His human mother; so that the Lord's humanity consisted of a human body without a human soul. The writer evidently considers this a very palpable hit, for he tests it in various manners, and is evidently highly satisfied with the result. His conception, or misconception, of the subject, and the whole train of reasoning by which he refutes his |