of Days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and lanshould serve him."

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The second coming of Christ is also referred to in such texts as these "Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him." He shall come as the lightning shineth from the east to the west." According to the theory that the millennium precedes Christ's advent, it ought to be, "as the light shineth from the east to the west;" but it is not the growing light, but, "the lightning flash," instant-unexpected. So shall it be with the coming of the Son of Man. In the prophet Zechariah, sixth chapter, we read - "Behold the man whose name is THE BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne: and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be upon them both." And again, in the fourteenth chapter of Zechariah, at the ninth verse-"And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day there shall be one Lord, and his name one." So also"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 in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the

Lord." But, some say, these predictions of the advent of Christ may be legitimately construed as purely spiritual. I would ask of those that think so, Is there a promise in the whole Bible that Christ will come personally? If you insist upon these prophecies being figurative only, or spiritual, and not literal, then there is not a text in the whole word of God that will satisfy you that Christ will personally come at all. Consequently, the texts I have read do not denote a spiritual, but a personal advent. The spiritual Christ is come. The spiritual Christ was present when John said-" Come, Lord Jesus;" the spiritual Christ was present when the Apostles said he would come, for his own promise is "Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." And another promise is "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world." Christ is spiritually present with his Church from the commencement of this dispensation, and, therefore, the promises and prayers and expectations which relate to his coming, not yet realized, must refer to his personal, not to the spiritual advent, which is already felt and experienced by us.

According to the theory that the millennium precedes Christ's advent, there is to be 1000 years of perfect joy, unstained and unclouded sunshine, and then at the end of the 1000 years Christ is to come; but, according to the Apostle, our Lord is to find the wheat mingled with the tares when he comes. He is to find the great apostasy stretching

over the earth; he is to punish the wicked whom he then finds on the earth with everlasting punishment.

To show still further what takes place when Christ comes, we are told by St. Peter, that "the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.” Some will say we fix dates, but I deny that we do so any more than Scripture does. Those that hold the post-millennial advent, fix dates; for when 500 years are passed of the 1000, they may say, in 500 years more Christ will come; and when 975 years will be elapsed, they will be able to say, in 25 years Christ will come. It is the post-millennial advocates who fix dates. I think, in the matter of dates, we can only have some incidental glimpses of the approaching glory, scattered as early sunbeams on the mountain tops, to make God's people gird up their loins for their Lord's glorious appearing, and to make them ready for his coming. St. Peter says "All things shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." And what then are believers to look for? "We, then, according to his promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." I gather from this I gather from this passage, that

the instant Christ comes to this world—and that coming is not far distant-the earth will melt with fervent heat, and the elements shall pass away, and be at once converted into a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. There is nothing improbable in this combustion and trans

formation. The most accomplished geologists have now come to the conclusion, that the globe on which we live is merely a hard crust, and that the interior of this globe is one rolling ocean of liquid fire; and that the volcanoes are the occasional safety valves that let out the superabundant pressure in the interior, and prevent a premature explosion. God has only to let loose the imprisoned fire, and the whole earth will become calcined by heat, and a new heaven and a new earth will take its place. I mention this only to show that there is nothing improbable in it.

Laplace, and other great astronomers, have watched worlds above, that have successively appeared in a state of combustion. Astronomers have seen stars begin first to burn with red heat, then reduced to a white heat, and they have watched until they have been calcined, and have entirely disappeared; the phenomena of burning worlds have been detected by the telescope before now, and, therefore, we have analogies to strengthen (if any strengthening be required) the prediction of the Apostle, that the earth will be burned up, and a new heaven and a new earth succeed. I do not believe that this earth will be annihilated. This globe was beautiful and fair when it came from the plastic hands of the Creator some 6000 years ago; and God has only to expunge that which mars and disfigures it,—namely, sin,—to make it again the same fair and beautiful globe, till its very deserts rejoice and blossom as the rose. I could take you

to the Highlands of Scotland, and to glens so beautiful, where, if I could be assured that no sin and no tears should come, I could consent to live for ever. I do not see why God should give up this earth as a hopeless thing. There is no reason for its being destroyed. Let sin be expunged, and it will close as it commenced, in Paradise and Eden, when all was blessedness and joy. This earth is, in all likelihood, to undergo the same process that our bodies undergo. Every body becomes a lifeless form; it must be laid in the grave, the worm must be its brother, and corruption must be its sister; but out of its disintegrated elements God will construct, not another body, but the same identical body without an atom of sin, or disease, or decay. So it will be with this world. God will not destroy it and substitute another in its place. He will rebaptize it with fire, and pass over it a new genesis, and that which is now groaning with the burden of sin, like a mother weeping at the sufferings of her offspring, will rise regenerated under the rays of the “Sun of Righteousness with healing in his wings." I was never made to die, we were never made to have grey hairs, or pain in the heart, or disease in the frame. Sin was introduced into the world, and death by sin. God made us at first holy, perfect, and happy, and till sin be removed, and not till then, can man be holy, beautiful, and happy again. If you take a man in full health, (though scarcely possible, for the instant a babe is born, that instant it begins to die,) at thirty or