Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously," Isaiah xxiv. 33. From the wonderfully arranged birth in Bethlehem, Micah v. 2; Matt. ii. 4-6; Luke i., down to the riding upon an ass's colt, Matt. xxi. 4, 5, and thence onward to the closing scene of "making his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death," Is. liii. 9-12; Mark xv. 28, all is literal, all is real; but after that all is elusive figure.

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Thy kingdom come!"—a kingdom, in which no departed saint has any share ;--in which the Jewish people inherit no peculiar privileges;--in which God's dwelling with men means only His spiritual presence with them just as now-a time of "joy in the whole earth,” which is yet a time when the days of "fasting and mourning" because the Bridegroom remains "taken away from us," are continued ;—while to look for anything else,―to expect the return and personal presence of Jesus, is esteemed a carnal view.

This is the kingdom for which we pray, and labor, and wait; a kingdom, perhaps

near indeed, but which, if it come at all, comes far on this side of the advent of our Lord, and leaves the church under the assurance that the appearance of the “Son of Man in the clouds of heaven" need not be anticipated for certainly a thousand years.

Such, brethren, is the prayer on one side; and I need not add, that whether right or wrong, it is practically the meaning of that prayer in this age of the church, with two thirds of Christendom, and in our own 'country with even a larger proportion.

Now turn to the other view. Here you have the kingdom and the second coming of Christ strictly associated together. This is insisted upon as indispensable to a right understanding of the subject. The coming of the King ("who has gone to receive for Himself a kingdom and to return," Luke xix. 11, 12) and the setting up of the kingdom, are contemporaneous. To pray for the kingdom is really to pray also for the coming of our Lord. It is contended that the

Scriptures present this as the object of the church's faith and hope. We are to "wait for God's Son from heaven," 1 Thess. i. 10; and it is to those who look for Him, that He shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Heb. ix. 28. To dissociate the "coming" from the "kingdom," it is said, is to reduce you unavoidably to a single alternative. You either destroy the predicted kingdom, or you practically expel from the church the prominent gospel motive, of patient "looking for and hasting unto that day of God." (NOTE B.)

Again, these men consider that as the words respecting Christ's humiliation are literal, so they see not why the words respecting the glory are not literal. If "God manifest in the flesh" must be born in Bethlehem, because thus it is written by the prophet, "And thou, Bethlehem, art not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall He come who is to be the Ruler of Israel," Micah v. 2,-why is not God manifest in the flesh, even the Lord of hosts, to reign in Mount Zion and dwell in Jerusalem, because

thus it is written by the same prophet: "And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation; and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth even for ever ?" Micah iv. 6-8. As the " man Christ Jesus" was literally "despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," they see not why the Lord God shall not literally give unto Him the

throne of his father David, and his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and justice, from henceforth even for ever?" Is. ix. 7.

They give hints also thus: The Jew says, "We have heard out of the law, that Christ abideth for ever, and how sayest thou, the Son of Man must be lifted up? (signifying, of course, what death he has died.) Who is this Son of Man?" John xii. 33, 34. But the Jew was wrong. He stumbled at a crucified Christ by metaphorizing away the sufferings. The Gentile answers: We have heard out

of the gospel that Christ having suffered hath ascended into the heavens, and sitteth on

the right hand of God." Seeing then that "He ever liveth to make intercession," Rom. viii. 34; Heb. vii. 25, how sayest thou that “the Son of Man shall return, having received for himself a kingdom, and shall appoint unto one servant ten cities and to another five? shall we have this man to reign over us?" Luke xix. 11-28. But may not the Gentile be wrong, and stumble by metaphorizing away the glory?

In fine, these men associate the coming of Christ and the kingdom, thus:

"I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and dead, at his appearing and kingdom," 1 Tim.

v. 21.

And again—

"I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: which in his times He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, King of