power, but evil itself, as it exists in the world, and evil men, continue to exercise their influence. The contest between the Spirit and the flesh is still maintained; the saints walk by faith, and not yet by sight, like strangers and pilgrims on the earth; man eats bread in the sweat of his brow; the creature is not delivered from the bondage of corruption (Rom. 8 : 21), and death persists in claiming his tribute. Nevertheless, the Spirit is poured out over the Church and believers in the largest measure; the contest of the Spirit with the flesh is less severe, and is, in general, successful, and the Church usually prevails over the enemies of salvation who still remain. Isaiah surpasses all others in portraying this period of peace and blessedness in glowing colors. While he employs the imagery of the prophets, an essential and close connection exists between the image and the reality; the splendor of the sun and the moon is increased (Isai. 30 26); the raging elements and ferocious animals are controlled by man, whose dominion has received an accession of strength, (ch. 11 : 6-9), and the power of death is diminished, for “there shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days, for the child shall die a hundred old" (ch. 65: 20).

years

OBS.-As the "thousand years" (millennium, Rev. 20 : 2–7), are a prophetic number, they are not necessarily to be understood in a literal sense. The Millennium presents two aspects with respect to its significance; in its relation to the development that belongs to the past, it is the period in which are concentrated all the blessings diffused by Christianity in silence and obscurity during the thousands of years that passed away, while it was veiled in lowliness and a servile form; in its relation to the development that belongs to the future, it is a period affording a foretaste of the joys to come, a period appropriated to the organic preparation for the time assigned to the final and perfect consummation. It is one of the laws of development that every essentially new form or condition, should be represented and prepared, previous to its complete and abiding manifestation, by means of transitory manifestations. Thus, the appearance of Christ was represented by the types of the Old Testament, his resurrection and ascension to heaven were shadowed in the transfiguration on Tabor, the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost was set forth in the previous communication to the disciples

of the Spirit, when the Lord breathed on them (John 20: 22), &c., &c. In the same manner, the millennium will afford indications of future events; the general resurrection is represented by the first resurrection the day of judgment by the reign of Christ and his saints-eternal blessedness by the peace of the thousand years—the transfiguration or renovation of heaven and earth by increased vigor in the life of nature, &c.

§ 197. The little Season of the last Contest.

1. Rev. 20: 3, 7-10.-Satan "must be loosed a little season -when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison" (ver. 3, 7). The power of evil had not been annihilated during the thousand years, but merely repressed and rendered innoxious. Evil has now regained a point of union and support in its prince, and once more attempts to gather all its resources; the longer and the more rigorously it had been bound and coerced, the more evidently such a reaction must follow, since these alternate movements of good and evil cannot cease, until the latter is completely sundered from the former and subdued. But this effort of evil is merely the last glimmering of a flame. that is on the point of extinction—it is its last convulsive writhing, in which the tenacity of its serpent's nature is betrayed — it is a final struggle, exhausting all its strength, and it dies in consequence of the deadly wound which it has already received. Then "there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders: insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect" (Matt. 24 : 24). "Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened" (ver. 21, 22). "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end; the same shall be saved" (ver. 12, 13). Wars and rebellions will rage among the nations, and pestilence, scarcity and earthquakes prevail in nature (ver. 6 : 7)

2. This extraordinary energy of ungodliness is derived from the union of all the elements and powers of darkness, which are

combined under one visible head. This ruler is Antichrist (1 John 2:18, 22), "the man of sin, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God - the Wicked one, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish" (2 Thess. 2: 3, 4, 9, 10). But this season of the most severe temptations and sorrows to which the children of God are exposed, and of the deepest humiliation and most cruel persecution which the Church of God can experience, is "a little season" only (Rev. 20:3), and is shortened for the elect's sake (Matt. 24: 22). When the man of sin is revealed in all his Satanic wickedness, "the Lord shall consume him with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy him with the brightness of his coming" (2 Thess. 2:8). "Fire shall come down from God out of heaven and devour" them- - that is, the fire in which "the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up" and from which "new heavens and a new earth" shall proceed (2 Pet. 3: 10, 13)—" and the devil that deceiveth them shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone" (Rev. 20: 9, 10).

OBS. The significance and necessity of this last season of affliction, may be perceived by viewing it in two different aspects. On the one hand, evil, which obstinately withdraws from salvation, claims a full development, as well as that which is good - indeed, "for this cause God" himself sends "strong delusion" (2 Thess. 2: 11). Even as Satan was bound during the millennium, in order that the way of salvation might be fully unfolded without hinderance or interruption, in this present world, so, too, after the expiration of the millennium, the power of the Holy Ghost which had hitherto opposed sin in the process of hardening itself, and prevented its complete development, now recedes for a season, in order that sin may be fully unfolded, revealed and exposed, for in this manner it ripens for judgment. But, on the other hand, the Church also, after receiving the abundant grace bestowed during the millennium, needs such a season, in which it may be tried and sifted, before it is fully approved and perfected. It is indispensable that those should be known, who not only were the friends of the Church in its prosperity, but who also remained faithful when it was in affliction and

distress (Matt. 24: 13). Indeed, the path of the Church to glory and joy leads through humiliation and affliction it cannot rise to the highest honor and blessedness, unless it ascends from the deepest shame and sorrow. Even as in the life of the Redeemer, the most severe indignities which Jews and Gentiles inflicted on him, his greatest agony in Gethsemane, and the most excruciating pains which he endured on the cross, immediately preceded the highest glory and honor which he received, so too, it is appointed that the Church, which is the body of Christ, should advance to its perfection, by proceeding in the same path.

§ 198. The Second Coming of Christ

1. The "coming" of the Lord, when he shall hold the judgment and perfect all things, is not an isolated event, but is, much rather, the culminating point of a coming which is felt throughout the entire history of the world. Every interposition of the omnipotent Ruler and Judge of the world who sits on the right hand of omnipotence, every progressive movement of his kingdom, every victory which he gains over his enemies, and every judgment which overtakes them is a "coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 1 : 7; 2 Pet. 1: 16, &c.). All that shall be completed by his coming on the day of judgment, is prepared and developed in the progress of the preceding centuries by his uninterrupted and continued coming. It began with his ascension to heaven; it closes on the day of judgment. The former or gradual coming is distinguished from this final coming by the peculiar mode of his appearance. The former is his invisible and hidden action, of which the eye of faith alone can obtain a glimpse or a full view, the latter is the action of the Lord which shall be revealed and be made visible to the whole world. The former merely designs to open the way, and is consequently often humble in its form, the second coming designs to fulfil and complete, and is consequently characterized by infinite glory and splendor, is preceded by startling and impressive signs, is full of majesty when it occurs, and is both unspeakably glorious and unspeakably terrible in its effects.

2. This day of the Lord will come suddenly and unexpectedly "as a thief in the night." (1 Thes. 5: 2.) "As the lightning

cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." (Matt. 24: 27.) Sudden and inevitable destruction will come upon all scorners, and they shall not escape. (1 Thes. 5: 3.) Fearful signs in heaven and on earth will announce that the appearance of the Judge of the world is at hand. The whole creation will be conscious of unutterable woe, The ungodly will be filled with terror and despair; even the righteous will fear and anxiously look after those things which are coming on the earth, and the whole creation, that "groaneth and travaileth in pain" (Rom. 8: 22), will be shaken to its foundations-for, in this sinful world, each birth which subsequently diffuses joy, is preceded by anxiety and pain. Such throes the travailing creation will experience: "upon the earth there shall be distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." (Luke 21 : 25, 26.) But "the Spirit and the bride (that is, the Church of Christ) say, Come! .... Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22: 17-20.) "The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (Matt. 24: 29-31.)

2. Then "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1 Thess. 4 : 16, 17.) "The day of the Lord will eome as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." (2 Pet. 3: 10.)—It was in an august vision that