We long to figure to ourselves how they feel and how we shall feel, and what we shall do; and often, while we are trying to imagine how they feel, our feelings become more heavenly; and sometimes God is pleased to open to us a door in heaven, so that we get a glimpse of what is doing there; and this fills us so full of impatience, that we scarcely wait till death comes to carry us home. If we cannot get together before tea, for this purpose, we take a little time after prayers, before separating for the night; and I assure you, it proves an excellent preparative for sweet sleep. ALIX. ON THE NATURE AND THE SIGNS OF OUR LORD'S From the Christian Observer. (Concluded from page 117.) II. Our second inquiry was, What will then take place? Our Lord says (Matt. xxiv. 30,) "Then they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory." The application of these words, which many, most I believe, refer to the appearance of Christ for the last judgment, to his second advent, will perhaps surprise some persons; but if it can be shewn that an intervention of his power, much less great than that which will take place for the establishment of his reign among all the people and nations of the world, is here intended by our Lord, as being an advent or coming of himself, their surprise, I trust, will be removed. Now, we all know that the ruin of Jerusalem is represented as an advent of Christ in many passages of Scripture; in Luke xxi. and especially in the part of our Lord's address to Peter, concerning John, AFTER his resurrection: "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" (John xxi. 22,) John was the only Apostle who survived the destruction of Jerusalem. I presume not to enter into the nature of Christ's coming; but whatever that may be, we clearly cannot be surprised that our Lord, in order to convey an idea of the advent of his universal reign upon earth, here makes use of an expression, which he employed when he was speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem, in a comparison doubtless less important. And how will the advent of the Lord be? He tells us, "With power and great glory:" with power against his enemies; with great glory in his people. Of the precise order in which his enemies will be destroyed, it were presumptuous to conjecture. Of those enemies there are three described. The first enemy whom the Lord will destroy by his great power, at the advent of his reign, will be the reign and false prophet of the imposter of the East (Rev. xvi. 12.) “The sixth angel has poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up." And have we not seen in our days the most formidable blows struck at Mohammedanism? Look at its tottering state in the East. See what the pacha of Egypt is doing, in opposition to all the prejudices of the Moslems. The progress of information, through the medium of the journal he has established, will contribute still further to shake the prejudices of the followers of the Arabian impostor. Then again, see what a shake to its very centre the Ottomon empire received in the recent war with Russia, and the dismemberment of Greece. It is true, there is much ignorance and superstition among the many thousands of nominal Christians who are under the Turkish sceptre; but what may we not expect, in addition to the political commotions-I had almost said subversion-from the increasing facilities given to faithful missionaries, to carry the pure Gospel of Christ into every country where Mohammedanism is prevalent. The second enemy whom the Lord will destroy at the advent of his reign, is that man of sin, the son of perdition (2 Thess. ii. 3, 4.) as St. Paul terms him, who "opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God;" deciding in an infallible manner upon all truth: so that, Bellarmine tells us, if the pope decree vice to be virtue, and virtue vice, we are bound to believe it. Who further pretends, as God himself, to reign over the kings of the earth, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders,—rather miracles of falsehood; (2 Thess. ii. 9.) "Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe.” (1 Tim. iv. 3.) Need I add that this second enemy of all righteousness, is the papal antichrist? But hear the sentence which the Holy Spirit has denounced against him, after having described his rise and his reign: "The Lord shall consume him with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy him with the brightness of his coming." (2 Thess. ii. 8.) Already, what formidable attacks have been made in our time against his political and usurped sphere of power. It is true, that the hurt of the beast was healed; at the peace of 1815, by the restoration of the bishop of Rome to those dominions which his predecessors had acquired by fraud, or by pretended donations; and there are (or at least there were not long since) at Rome, professing Protestant diplomatic ministers, who were of opinion, that this man of sin, as being the spiritual head of so large a portion of Christendom, ought, therefore, to be an independent prince: so that it is probable that the nominal reign of the Roman pontiff may be protracted a little longer. But, if we may credit the accounts which appear from time to time in the journals, his power is tottering to its very centre; and, were it not for the dread of Austrian bayonets, the popes, in all probability, would have been shorn of all their ill-gotten dominions. So much for the attacks on the political power of the man of sin. Now for his spiritual tyranny. Though Popery is increasing in some parts of North America, it is principally by the emigration thither of Romanists from Europe, and principally from Ireland and Scotland. It is also increasing most fearfully in various parts of England; through whose neglect or want of watchfulness, I presume not to say. But increasing it is; and I fully expect, that we shall have to fight over again the battles of the Reformation. But while Popery is flourishing in some parts of the world from peculiarly favourable circumstances, on the continent it is tottering. In Italy, almost every man of education is unhappily an infidel. He may, from dread of inquisition, externally conform; but internally he hates Christianity, which he confounds with the abominations of Popery. In Spain, Blanco White has told us how widely infidelity prevails; and his testimony is strikingly confirmed, by the involuntary testimony of an apostate to Romanism, M. de Haller, who, in his German work entitled "Spain and the Revolution," says, "Spain has always been a country where there have been numerous atheists." In Germany, numerous conversions have taken place from Popery to true religion; and the Romish clergy have made repeated reclamations against the constrained celibacy of their clergy: and of the general com motion that exists there, the treatise on Catholicism in Silesia contains numerous very important details. Then, for France, I scarcely need say how small a depth of root Popery has in the soil of that country. Infidelity, contempt of superstition, weariness of the yoke, or thirst for that truth which is still unknown, meet our view, according to the various minds of men. But, with the exception of such men as the Abbé de la Mennais and his adherents, who are zealous sticklers for Romanism, scarcely any where in France do we observe any attachment or veneration towards the corrupt system of Popery, or sincere faith in its doctrines, or obedience to the arbitary observances imposed by it. These are some of the more prominent features among the various signs of the times, which lead me to think that the reign of the second enemy to Christ's universal and spiritual reign, the papal antichrist, is drawing to a close; and we know, from the sure word of prophecy, that it shall be destroyed,utterly annihilated by the glorious spiritual advent of our Lord. "The kings of the earth," says the prophet and evangelist John, "shall bewail her, and lament for her, standing afar off, and saying, Alas! alas! that great city Babylon, that mighty city for in one hour is thy judgment come." (Rev. xviii. 9, 10.) The third and last enemy which the Lord will destroy at the coming of his spiritual reign, is Infidelity; that anti-christian spirit which under the names of neologism, rationalism, antisupernaturalism, utilitarianism, or the new era of society, as the followers of Robert Owen term it is now dispersed, I might say is rampant, among all the nations which bear the name of Christ. "When the Son of Man' cometh," says our Lord, "shall he find faith on the earth?" St. Peter (2 Eph. ii. iii.) and Jude have predicted the infidel antichrist at great length, and in terms too precise to allow us to hesitate a mo ment as to the application of their predictions. And how has this anti-christian infidelity spread through every rank of society, from the highest to the lowest! It has undermined society, and threatens the subversion of thrones and nations. Ultimately we know that this enemy shall be subdued; for Christ must reign till he hath put all enemies (and infidelity among them) under his feet. But, if the Lord, at the coming of his spiritual kingdom, will thus destroy all his enemies by his power, he will on the other hand, establish his people with "great glory." The gradual, and now extensive diffusion of the Gospel, from the rising to the setting sun, from the northern to the southern polethe multitudes which are going to and fro, and increasing the knowledge of the Lord-are all so many proofs of the fulfilment of those predictions which announce the ultimate triumph of the Redeemer's kingdom.—I have already occupied so much space that I can only, for brevity's sake, refer my readers to the writings of the divinely-inspired Prophets, for a full dis play of the splendour of that spiritual reign of Christ which I consider is at hand. There are, however, two or three charac ters of that spiritual kingdom, which claim to be noticed first. In this reign of God, the knowledge of the truth shall be diffused over the whole habitable globe. "It shall come to pass," says Isaiah, "in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established upon the tops of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it." (Isa. ii. 2.) "All flesh shall see the salvation of God;" "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord;" "All they that go down to the dust shall bow before him." (Psalm xxii. 27, 29.) "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." (Is. xi. 9.) -Secondly, It will further be a reign of universal righteousness and peace. "The wolf shall lie down with the lamb," &c. (Is. xi. 6. lxv. 25.) "They shall break their swords into ploughshares, and neither shall they learn war any more." (Isaiah ii. 4. Micah iv. 3.)-Lastly, This spiritual advent of our Lord will, to all his believing people, be a reign of joy and glory. For thus saith Jehovah himself, when announcing this reign, “Behold I create new heavens and a new earth. Behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy," (Isaiah lxv. 17, 18.) "Behold I extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the gentiles like a flowing stream,” (lxvi. 12.) Jesus SHALL reign, where'er the sun His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, Even so come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly. H. |