NOTHING is written more plainly or more deeply in human affairs than the fact of Christ's appearance among men some 1,900 years ago. The record is written everywhere in a language that requires no learning to decipher.
And nothing was asserted more plainly by Christ when upon the earth than the fact that "after a long time" (to use his own expression) he would " come again". He has been away the long time he said he would be away. Many things combine to tell us that the" long time" is near its end, and that we may look for the happy event of his re-appearing at no very distant date.
The question we propose to consider is the effect that his re-appearing will produce among men; the state of things he will establish on the earth; and the position and relation he will sustain to the state of things so established.
There is great dimness and uncertainty in the popular mind on these topics. This dimness need not exist if the teaching of the Scriptures is accepted on the subject; and surely no one can refuse to accept the Scriptures who accepts Christ, who said

His first appearing was the subject of prophecy; and his second appearing is the subject of prophecy. We know what his first appearing was like. We have it in our power to compare the facts of his first appearing with the language of the prophecy foretelling it, and this ought to enable us rightly to understand the language foretelling his second appearing.
We all know that the first appearing of Christ was as literal and personal as that of any man, and that his participation in the transactions of his life was as actual and practical as the deeds of any man's life. He was born an actual baby; grew up through all the stages of an actual boyhood; lived and walked and talked an actual man; died an actual death; received an actual burial; was the subject of an actual resurrection; and of an actual removal from the earth.
he had come to fulfil them (Matt. 5: 17; Luke 24 : 44).

4
and my feet"; "He was cut off out of the land of the living. . . He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death." HIS RESURRECTION: "Thou shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth"; "Thou wilt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." HIS ASCENSION: " Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive"; "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool"; "I will wait upon the Lord, who hideth his face from the house of Jacob ; " "I shall be glorious in the eyes (presence) of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength."
When, therefore, we read, "He shall come" ; "He shall reign"; "He shall execute judgment in the earth"; He shall sit on "the throne of his father David "; "He shall be one king to all Israel on the mountains of Israel"; "He shall reign on Mount Zion "; "The rod of his strength shall go forth from Zion "; "He shall be a priest on his throne " ; " All peoples, nations, and languages shall serve him" -what can we' reasonably conclude but that the life of his kingly glory upon earth will be as actual and literal and practical and visible as we know the life of his humiliation to have been?
We are compelled to accept such a view by the terms that expressly affirm the visibility of the affairs that will appertain to his glory. Thus: "Every eye shall SEE him" (Rev. 1 : 7). "The kings shall shut their mouths at him, for that which had not been told them shall they SEE" (Isa. 52: 15). "Thine eyes shall SEE the King in his beauty" (Isa. 33 : 17). "Ye shall not see me UNTIL the time come ..." (Luke 13: 35). " They shall LOOK UPON me whom they have pierced" (Zech. 12: 10). " Ye shall SEE Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom" (Luke 13: 28). "All that SEE them shall acJrnowledge that they (the comforted of the Lord) are the seed which the Lord hath blessed" (Isa. 61: 9).
5
"He shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously" (Isa. 24 : 23). "He shall judge among many people" (Mic. 4 : 3). "When ye see this, your heart shall rejoice" (Isa. 66: 14). "Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not" (Mal. 3: 18). "Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye (that serve not God) shall be hungry. Behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty. Behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed. Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit" (Isa. 65 : 13).
Christ was "despised and rejected" in no concealed sense. He was "bruised" and "put to grief" in a very open, visible, and practical manner: is his glory to be less real? less open? less apparent? Will his honour be less actual than his shame? Will he occupy the throne in a less real and manifest sense than when he hung on the cross in the presence of jeering multitudes? Will not "every eye" see his glory as actually as the eyes that saw his humiliation and his blood? Christ has promised that his brethren shall receive glory and honour: of what does" glory and honour" consist but in the deference and renown which rulers receive at the hands of those who are subject to them? He promises that "they shall laugh" (Luke 6: 21); that "they shall be filled" (6: 21); that" they shall inherit the earth " (Matt. 5 : 5) ; that" they shall be confessed before his Father" (Matt. 10: 32); that" they shall be comforted " (Matt. 5 : 4); and that their enemies" shall come and worship before their feet" (Rev. 3: 9) ; that "they shall have power over the nations" (Rev. 2: 26). How are these promises to be fulfilled except by the saints "reigning with" Christ possessing the earth with him, and exercising the authority with him God has given him over all
6
peoples, nations, and languages? Jesus has prospectively enthroned the twelve apostles there over the tribes of Israel (Luke 22 : 29, 30; Matt. 19: 28). He has, in advance, placed Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob there as conspicuous, visible figures among all the prophets (Luke 13: 28; Matt. 8: 11). The Lord, by Isaiah, has planted his accepted servants of all past ages there (Isa. 66: 13, 14; 25: 6, 9; 26: 1, 2, 19), saying :-" Ye shall be comforted in
Jerusalem"; " In this mountain . . .he will swallow up death in victory."