surely die;"-was the penalty: "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures"-was the payment. "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin." That is fact the first. "But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." This is fact the second. But you have not got the full weight of the comparison yet. After man's spirit has been once on earth, has lived its time, and the body has died, the soul is to re-visit this earth again, for " after this the judgment." Every man will have two advents-the advent which he now enjoys or which he now misuses upon earth; and the advent which lies beyond the present course of probation. After he has descended to the tomb he shall come here again; his bones shall come together, bone to his bone; the flesh shall come upon the skeleton and the spirit shall return, either from the heaven where it rejoices, or from the hell where it howls, to inhabit the body once again and to stand upon the earth. We must all come here again. What though the place that now knows us shall know us no more for ever? Yet, somewhere upon this earth we shall stand. What though we should be unable to recognise any likeness between that and the place in which we lived, and unable to recognise any likeness between us and what we were? Yet, hither we must return to receive our appointed doom. Now, so is it with Christ. He has once died, and he is to come à second time. A second time is his body to be on earth. After death, the judgment ! only when we speak of Christ, he shall come, not to be judged but to be the Judge. After death comes the reward with us; after death the reward with him. After our death comes our resurrection; that has passed already upon Christ. As a resurrection shall come to saint and sinner, the final audit and pronunciation of the sentence; so Christ shall come to the final gathering together of his elect and the final overthrow of all his enemies, to the final crowning of his head, when he shall have put all things under his feet, and reign for ever and ever.

Having thus I think brought out the parallel of the text, I will leave it for you to think over. As it is appointed unto men to die once, and after this the judgment, so it was appointed unto Christ to die but once. That is achieved. The sequel is now pointed out. To them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. We will spend our time to-night, and God grant that we may spend it profitably, by observing, first, the likeness between the two

advents of Christ; secondly, the dissimilarity between them, which is a far more extensive subject, and then we shall make some few remarks concerning our personal interest in both advents.

I. The text asserts very plainly that as we are here twice-once in a life of probation, and a second time in the day of judgment; so Christ shall be here twice-once in his life of suffering, and then again in his hour of triumph, THE TWO COMINGS OF CHRIST HAVE SOME

DEGREE OF LIKENESS.

First, they are like each other in the fact that they are both of them personal comings. Christ came the first time, not as a spirit, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as he had. He was one who could be pressed to a woman's bosom ; one who could be borne in a father's arms. He was one who could afterwards walk in his own person to the temple; one who could bear our sins in his own body on the tree. We have done once for all with the foolish ideas of certain of the early heretics, that Christ's appearance upon earth was but a phantom. We know that he was really, personally, and physically here on earth. But it is not quite so clear to some persons that he is to come really, personally, and literally, the second time. I know there are some who are labouring to get rid of the fact of a personal reign, but as I take it, the coming and the reign are so connected together, that we must have a spiritual coming if we are to have a spiritual reign. Now we believe and hold that Christ shall come a second time suddenly, to raise his saints at the first resurrection; this shall be the commencement of the grand judgment, and they shall reign with him afterwards. The rest of the dead live not till after the thousand years are finished. Then shall they rise from their tombs at the sounding of the trumpet, and their judgment shall come and they shall receive the deeds which they have done in their bodies. Now, we believe that the Christ who shall sit on the throne of his father David, and whose feet shall stand upon Mount Olivet, is as much a personal Christ as the Christ who came to Bethlehem and wept in the manger. We do believe that the very Christ whose body did hang upon the tree shall sit upon the throne; that the very hand that felt the nail shall grasp the sceptre; that the very foot that was fastened to the cross shall tread upon the necks of his foes. We look for the personal advent, the personal reign, the personal session and assize of Christ.

Nor less shall the advents be like each other in the fact that they shall both be according to promise. The promise of the first coming of Christ

V

was that which made glad the early believers. "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, he saw it and was glad." The epitaph inscribed upon the slab which covers the sepulchre of the early saints has written upon it, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off." And to-day we believe that Christ is to come according to promise. We think we have abundant evidence in the words that were uttered by the lips of inspired prophets and seers, and more especially from the enraptured pen of John in Patmos. Do they not testify that Christ shall surely come? We now, like Abraham of old, do see his day; our eye catches the coming splendour; our soul is overwhelmed with the approaching glory. Did the Jew look for Messiah, the Prince? So do we. Did he expect him to reign? So do we. In fact, the very Prince for whom Israel now looks in all her hardness of heart, is he whom we expect. They doubt Messiah's first advent and they look for him to come as the fairest among ten thousand, the Prince of the Kings of the earth. Hail, Israel! in this thy Gentile sister is agreed. She looks for him to come in the selfsame form and fashion, and when his coming shall have removed the scales from the blind eyes of Israel's tribes, then the fulness of the Gentiles shall with Abraham's seed praise and magnify the Lamb once slain, who comes the second time as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. In both cases we think the advent of Christ fully promised.

But we must remark in the next place, that the second advent of Christ will be like the first in its being unexpected by the mass of people. When he came before, there were only a few looking for him. Simeon and Anna, and some humble souls of the sort knew that he was about to come. The others knew that the patriarchs and prophets of their nation had foretold his birth; but the vanity of their thoughts, and the conduct of their lives were at such entire variance with the creed to which they were trained, they cared nothing for him. The Magi might come from the distant East, and the shepherds from the adjacent plains, but how little sensation did they make in the streets of busy Jerusalem, in the halls of kings, or in the homes of business. The kingdom of God came not with observation. In such an hour as they thought not the Son of Man came. And now, though we have the words of Scripture to assure us that he will come quickly, and that his reward is with him and his work before him, yet how few expect him! The coming of some foreign Prince, the approach of some great event

is looked for and anticipated from the hour that the purpose is promulgated among the people. But thy coming, Jesu, thy glorious advent-where are they that strain their eyes to catch the first beams of the sun rising? There are a few of thy followers who wait for thine appearing. We meet with a few men who walk as those who know that time is short, and that the Master may come at cock-crowing, or at midnight, or at the day-watch. We know a few beloved disciples who with longing hearts beguile the weary hours, while they prepare songs to greet thee, O Immanuel!

"Strangers on earth, we wait for thee;

O leave the Father's throne,

Come with a shout of victory, Lord,
And claim us as thine own.

No resting place we seek on earth,
No loveliness we see,

Our eye is on the royal throne,
Prepared for us and thee."

Lord, increase the number of those who look for thee, and desire, and pray, and wait, and watch through the dreary hours of the night for the morning which thy coming shall usher in!

Yet, mark, when he shall come, there will be this to say about it, that he will come to bless those who do wait for him just as he did at the first. Blessed were the eyes that saw him; blessed were the hearts that loved him; blessed were the ears that heard him; blessed were the lips that kissed him; blessed were the hands that broke the tributary alabaster-box upon his glorious head. And blessed shall they be who are counted worthy of the resurrection and of the kingdom which he hath prepared. Blessed are they who, having been born of the Spirit can see the kingdom of God; but doubly blessed are they who, having been born of water as well as of the Spirit, shall enter into the kingdom of God. For unto all this is not given. There be some who see not yet the kingdom, and others who cannot enter because they will not obey the ordinance which makes them Christ's disciples. Thrice blessed shall they be who, with loins girt about, being obedient servants and having done his will, shall hear him say, "Come ye blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world." He comes to bless his people.

But then there is this further likeness, and with the mention of it, I close this first point: he comes, not only to bless his people, but to be a

stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to them that believe not upon him. When he came the first time he was like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. As the refiner's fire burns up the dross, so did he consume the Pharisees and Sadducees; and as the fuller's soap cleanses away the filth, so did he unto that generation when he condemned it, even as Jonah the prophet did unto the men of Nineveh and thereby condemned the men of Jerusalem because they repented not. Thus too, when he shall come the second time, while he shall bless his people, his fan will be in his hand and he will throughly purge his floor, and they who know him not and love him not, shall be driven away like the chaff into fire unquenchable. Long not for Christ's coming if thou lovest him not, for the day of the Lord will be unto thee darkness and not light. Ask not for the world's end; say not, "Come quickly, for his coming will be thy destruction; his advent will be the coming of thine eternal horror. God grant us to love the Saviour and put our trust in him; then, but not till then, we may say, "Come quickly, come quickly, Lord Jesus!"

II. Now we shall turn to the second part of our subject, THE UN

LIKENESS BETWEEN THE TWO ADVENTS.

In the prophecy of his coming the first and the second time there was disparity as well as correspondence. 'Tis true in both cases he will come attended by angels, and the song shall be, "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, goodwill towards men." It is true in both cases, shepherds who keep watch over their flocks even by night shall be among the first to hail him with their sleepless eyes-blessed shepherds who watch Christ's folds and therefore shall see the Great Shepherd when he cometh. Still, how different I say will be his coming. At first he came an infant of a span long; now he shall come

"In rainbow-wreath and clouds of storm,"

the glorious one. Then he entered into a manger, now he shall ascend his throne. Then he sat upon a woman's knees, and did hang upon a woman's breast, now earth shall be at his feet and the whole universe shall hang upon his everlasting shoulders. Then he appeared the infant, now the infinite. Then he was born to trouble as the sparks fly upward, now he comes to glory as the lightning from one end of heaven to the other. A stable received him then; now the high arches of earth and heaven shall be too little for him. Horned oxen were then