MANNER OF CHRIST'S COMING.
By Uriah Smith
THE Bible furnishes a sufficient answer to every theological vagary that men can devise. One of the modern ideas is that the Lord has already come, and that Christians, or at least those who call themselves such, are already in the immortal state. This idea is not really new, for Paul had to combat it eighteen hundred years ago. Writing of profane and vain babblings he said: "And their word will eat as doth a canker; of whom is Hymeneus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some." 2 Tim. 2:17, 18. Indeed, if church history be diligently studied it will be seen that all the "new theology" of these days, is only a revamping of the musty ideas of the church "Fathers," who were really the "fathers" of all heresy. But there is no dogma of modern spiritualistic theology that is more directly contradicted by the Bible than is the one that Christ either has come the second time, or that he comes as often as a good man dies, or that in some way his second coming is a mysterious affair of which nothing can be known until it has taken place. In the chapter which contains the Sabbath-school lesson upon which comments are made in another column, we find the following plain and emphatic words of our Saviour himself:— "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth; behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24:23-27. This one text is sufficient to enable any one to determine the literalness of Christ's coming. First, false christs will arise; men will say to us, "Christ is out here in the desert;" the command is, "Go not forth;" others will say, "He has appeared in such and such a meeting;" the command is, "Believe it not." But why may we not believe some of these tales? Why should we not investigate all of them, lest perchance Christ should come and we not know of it? Simply because he will not come in a secret manner. "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." No one can fail to see the vivid lightning flash that covers the whole sky; even though the eyes be closed, that wonderful glare cannot be wholly shut out. And the coming of Christ will be like the lightning's flash, for brilliancy, because he "shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels" (Matt. 16:27); or, as Paul says, "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire." 2 Thess. 1:7, 8. We said that no one can avoid seeing the vivid7lightning flash. So no one can avoid seeing the Son of God when he comes. The apostle John says: "Behold he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him." Rev. 1:7. Although those who have rejected Christ will be loath to see him; although "they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth" (Isa. 2:19), and will cry to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb" (Rev. 6:16), they will not be able to escape his piercing gaze, nor to shut out from their eyes his terrible and overwhelming glory. In that day there will be no need of anybody's saying, "Lo, here is Christ, or lo, there." There will be no chance for mistake. "For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God." 1 Thess. 4:16. That trumpet's mighty sound will shake the earth; the graves will be opened; those who sleep in Jesus shall rise first, clothed in immortality, while the living righteous ones will be changed "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," and all together will be caught up to be forever with the Lord. These events are near at hand. The signs in the heavens, which Christ announced as indicating his coming near, have been fulfilled. And now that we are in the time when Satan may be expected to work with "all power and signs and lying wonders;" when as an angel of light he will profess to be Christ, it is needful that we indelibly fix in our minds those truths concerning Christ's second coming, which alone will keep even the elect from being deceived. If we store our minds with the simple truths of the Bible, we shall have wherewith to unveil the deceptions of Satan; and thus God's word will be a light to our feet and a lamp to our path.