presence of the Bridegroom in glory in some extra-mundane locality, why is it carnal to desire His presence in glory upon this renewed earth? Mere locality, in this matter, is nothing. There is every element of spirituality in the latter case that can be really conceived in the former.

But come to facts. Leave the living out of the question. Hear such men as Rutherford, and Welsh, and Alleine, longing for the visible appearing of the Son of Man. Were they carnal? (NOTE F.) Think of "the most of the chief divines in the Westminster Assembly, not only Independents, but others, such as Twisse, Marshall, Palmer, and many more who are express Chiliasts." Were these men carnal?

Yonder are four martyrs in prison. They are "these famous men: Mr. Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury; Mr. Ridley, bishop of London; that holy man Mr. Bradford; and I, old Hugh Latimer; who were imprisoned in the Tower of London for Christ's Gospel preaching; but where, to our great joy and comfort, we did together read over the

New Testament with great deliberation and painful study." One of them is writing a letter. It is "holy Mr. Bradford." He is relating to a friend, his own and “the cogitation of one who was my father in the Lord," respecting "the earnest expectation of the creature." Rom. viii. 19-23. He does it, moreover" because this morning I had some knowledge more than I had before, that my life stood in great danger, and that even this week;" and hence "I thought good, my right dearly beloved in the Lord, to go about something which might be on my behalf a swan's song, and towards you, both a monument of my love, and also a help, or at least an occasion for you to profit in that which I bear you record you most desireI mean everlasting life, and the state thereof.” Now step to his side and look over his shoulder as he writes.- "I therefore take the

*Martin Bucer.

"That is, which might be a special comfort to him, being then ready to be burned, as the swan's song is said to be sweetest a little before his death."-Letters of the Martyrs.

apostle to mean by 'every creature' simply, even the whole shape and creatures in the world,” * * * * * * * and, “that as every thing and all things were made for man, so by the man Christ all and every thing, both earthly and heavenly, shall be restored." "These things will I think upon, these things will I pause upon; herein will I, as it were, drown myself; being careless of this point, I mean as to what parts of the world the Lord Christ will restore unto мE, or how He will do it, or what state or condition He will give it. It is enough, and enough for me, that I and all the world like me shall be much more happy than I ever can by any means conceive." "This renovation of all things the prophets seem to promise when they promise new heavens and a new earth." * * "Therefore, methinks it is the duty of a godly mind to acknowledge, and thereof to glory in the Lord, that in our resurrection all things shall be repaired for eternity, as from our sin they were made subject to corruption."*

"" * *

* Bradford's Letters (83). Read the whole letter, and

Now, here were holy men who had no idea of any glorious kingdom before the second advent of our Lord, and were thereby carnal ?"

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they

No, brethren, I have, tried this panacea, and I here unhesitatingly pronounce it a nostrum. (NOTE G.)

Shall I use against them what has been well termed "that mighty solvent," by which all the special promises to Israel are liquefied into confused and uncertain promises to the Church in general? Shall I make Jerusalem mean the Church, and Zion mean the Church, and Judah mean the Church, and Israel mean the Church, at my own will?

Well, I have tried this too. But the difficulty is that there are hard stones in this polished temple of God which the powers of this "mighty

note his quotation from Augustine. See also his fellowsufferer, Latimer's sermon on "The Day of Judgment," and his "Third Sermon on the Lord's Prayer." It would be hard to discover in these old witnesses for the truth, the expectation of a day of peace before Christ's advent, such as the Church now looks for.

**

solvent" will not reach. Let any man cast in, for example, the sixty-first and following chapters of Isaiah, or the thirty-seventh and closing chapters of Ezekiel, and what will he have? A residuum, I grant you; a shapeless mass-"rudis, indigestaque moles,”but not, I think, the symmetrical city of God, whose name is, "THE Lord is there.” (NOTE H.)

Can I put these men down by the too common, empty cry, that these views endanger the progress of missions?

But these men point to the fact that this view of the "coming and kingdom" is the very life of missions; since there is scarcely a duty enjoined in the whole gospel which is not enforced by the consideration of Christ's second coming. I say it unhesitatingly: This is emphatically the gospel motive, to both saint and sinner, and in every stage of their several conditions. Take a few examples :

REPENTANCE. "Repent ye, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Mark i. 15.