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the place of his nativity. "And thou Bethlehem of Judah art not the
least of the cantons of Israel; for out of thee shall he come-or in thee
shall he be born, who shall become Governor of my people Israel."
"The Word that was in the beginning with God, that was God," "by
whom all things were made," became human flesh in the city of
David, and was born of a daughter of Eve, in Asia, 1836 years ago.
It is human to love the place of one's nativity. And especially is it
pleasant for one who has been raised to great honor and authority, and
who has been long unknown to the place where first he saw the light
of heaven, to revisit the scenes of his childhood, and re-survey the
humble horizon which once bounded his views of the universe, and in
which he first learned to know himself. No wonder, then, should
our Lord delight to stand at "the latter day upon this earth," not far
from the Mount of Olives, whence to heaven his earthly friends and
relatives saw him triumphantly ascend.

But there is a second fact that adds much to the probability of his All things in it, on it, and return: He has much property in this earth. "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness connected with it, are his. thereof"—"All things were made by him and for him, and he is before all things," and by him all things are preserved, for he upholds all things by his all-powerful word. "The Lord has created all things for himself" "For thy pleasure they are and were created." Where the treasure is the heart is, Where one has much property he has much thought and much attachment. Our Lord has much property here. The earth, the sea, the air-the kingdoms, animal, vegetable, mineral, are his. The Devil will not for ever usurp the territory of Christ's present kingdom; nor retain the field, the theatre of war, on which he and our Messiah in single combat fought the first battle, when first Satan felt the sharp two-edged sword that proceeded out of his mouth. He will take the field and drive the usurper down to eternal ruin. The earth is, moreover, dear to the Lord; because the ashes of all his saints, a few only excepted, are in it. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, &c. have their sepulchres with us to this day. From such considerations and facts we infer the probability of his return. But to the 2d point, the certainty of his return:

The Jewish 1st. The types under the law indicate his return. High Priest entered the most holy place once a year. He presented his sacrifice there before Him that dwells between the cherubim. Meantime, the people anxiously expected his return after he had for them made an offering and prepared a place. He ultimately returned to the door of the tabernacle and blessed them that looked for his So says Paul; Christ was once offered to bear the sin of

return.

many, and to them that look for him (as the Jews looked for the return of the High Priest) shall he appear the second time, without a sinoffering, to salvation, having made his offering within the vail.

2d. He promised to return. Matth. xvi. 27. "The Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works." So also speaks the parable of the Sheep and the Goats, Matth. xxv. 31.; so also the parable of the Nobleman going into a far country to receive a kingdom and return, Luke xix. 11-23. And, without a figure, in his valedictory he says, "I go to prepare a place for you, and will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am there you may also be." Jot n xiv. 3. This is excelled only by Acts i. 11. "Men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up to heaven? This same Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven, shall come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven." The certainty of his return being now as definite and plain as our language can make it, we shall now hear something of

3d. The manner of his returning. In one word, we are informed, Luke ix. 26., that he will come in his own glory, his father's glory, and in that of the holy angels. Well did Paul say, "Looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." In awful majesty God as lawgiver descended on Mount Sinai. Ex. xix. "On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that was in the camp trembled." "And all the people saw the thunders and lightnings and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, and the fire blazing up into the midst of heaven; and they removed and stood afar off." Such was the glory of the Lawgiver. But when he appears as a Judge, "a fiery stream issues and goes before him, thousand thousands of angels minister to him, ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him, and the books are opened. Earth and heaven shall flee away, and there is found no place for them. Our God shall come, and shall no more be silent, but speak out. A fire shall go before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall summon earth and heaven. The Lord shall descend with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. His voice shall be heard by every ear, dead and alive, in the whole universe-all that are in their graves shall hear it and come forth." But we hasten to the four great events attendant on his coming:— 1. He will raise all the saints.

Some Millennarians say only some of the saints, and quote Daniel

and John in proof of it. Daniel, alluding, as they think, to the second or pre-millennial coming of the Lord, says, "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake-some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame and contempt." And John says, "I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." From these two Prophets some infer that there will be only a portion of the saints, as described by John, who shall share in the first resurrection, and that the remainder will sleep a thousand years to the second resurrection. In opposition to this view we assert that all the saints will be raised whenever the Lord appears in person. Some of our proof will be found in the following scriptures:-1 Thess. iv. 16. "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"-not a part of the dead, but the dead in Christ, shall rise first. We are here definitely assured that when the Lord himself (or in person) descends, the dead in Christ shall rise. The import of the term first, in its proper place, shall appear. A second proof we have from the same source. 1 Cor. xv. 23. "All shall be made alive-they that are Christ's, at his coming." Not some of them, but "they that are Christ's," shall be made alive-not before nor after, but at his coming. This does not look like a part, a thousand years before another part. A third proof we have in the 52d verse of the same chapter: "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump the dead [saints] shall be raised incorruptible." If these which are but a sample, will not demonstrate that all the saints shal be raised not before, nor after, but at the coming of the Lord, a thousand repetitions of them in various forms would not. But in the second place,

The living saints shall be changed immediately upon the raising of the dead saints.

Our proofs are found in the passages already quoted, 1 Thess. iv. 15. "We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not anticipate them that are asleep. The dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." From this statement we learn that the dead in Christ shall rise at the sound

of the trumpet; and while it yet sounds, the living saints shall be changed in a twinkling, and shall with them ascend to meet the Lord. From the 15th of Corinthians we learn this mystery: "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment-the dead shall be raised, and the living shall be changed." Again, to the Philippians he says, "Our citizenship is in heaven, whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus, who shall change our humbled body into a form like to his own glorious body, according to the working by which he is able to subdue all things to himself." The transformation of the living saints is, then, as evident and certain as the resurrection of the dead, at the coming of the Lord.

A third event that shall accompany the coming of the Lord, will be, the judgment and final separation of the righteous and the wicked.

Hitherto we have spoken only of the resurrection and transformation of the saints at the coming of the Lord. But we might have also connected with these two grand events the resurrection of all the wicked. Our Lord himself is first witness here. He says, John v. 39., "Marvel not at this-for the hour cometh in the which all that are in their graves shall come forth: they that have done good, to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation." Then cometh the general judgment; for this is connected with the second coming, Matth. xvi. 27. "For the Son o Man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his holy angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his actions." The rewarding of all mankind is here connected with the coming of the Lord in glory. Again, Matth. xxv. 31. "When the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father, with all his holy angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them as a shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats," &c. Rev. xxi. 12. “Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me, to give to every man as his works shall be." Indeed, the general and final judgment of the human race is almost universally spoken of in conjunction with the coming of the Lord in person. There yet remains a fourth grand event:

The structure of the material universe shall be changed, and new heavens and a new earth created.

In the 102d Psalm we have this promise: "The heavens shall perish-they all shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture thou shall change them." Therefore, according to the promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth: for, says Peter, quoting from an old Prophet, "The heavens and the earth that are now are reserved unto fire, against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men."

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In the day of the Lord "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up." But He that sits upon the throne says, "Behold I create all things new," Rev. xxi. 5.; and accordingly John saw new heavens and a new earth. And from that point in the heavens where the saints of the Lord assembled around their Master during the general conflagration, John saw the New Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride for her husband, to locate in the new earth, the everlas'ing home of man; for the tabernacle of God is to be there forever.

On this point I do not now amplify. My object is simply to produce scriptural evidence that when the Lord appears a second time these four events will certainly follow in quick succession:-1st. All, the dead saints shall be raised. 2d. All the living saints shall be changed. 3d. All nations shall be judged and a final separation between the good and the bad shall take place. 4th. New heavens and a new earth shall be created, and the earth shall then be the dwelling place of Jehovah, the centre of the universe, the throne of the Eternal, and all things shall be subdued to him. These points being established, not by reason or argument. but by clear and unequivocal testimony, we shall in the sequel argue from them as established points.— Meanwhile, we offer the following question to the consideration of our brethren:-If our Lord personally appear before the Millennium, what will the Millennium be, and where shall it be found? And if, according to Mr. Miller and some others, more imaginative than learned in prophecy, this event shall be within a few years; how shall all the promises and prophecies concerning Jew and Gentile be fulfilled? Do they all simply mean the resurrection and the glorification of the saints at the coming of the Lord!! A hint is enough at present. We have many such to offer in their proper season. A. C.

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DIFFICULTIES IN CHURCHES-No. VI.
RIGHT OF APPEAL.

THE right of prayer is not more natural, nor necessary, nor expedient, than the right of appeal. There is no government, or state, or family, that can subsist without it. It was a part of every religious institution before the Christian; and if it be no part of it, it is a perfect anomaly in all social institutions.

The first great difficulty in the Christian church was settled in this