any one of you) ye shall receive the crown of glory that fadeth not away" (v, 4). Other statements of like character are made in 1 John i, 2; ii, 28; iii, 2. The noun pavépwois, manifestation, occurs only in 1 Cor. xii, 7, and 2 Cor. iv, 2. In the first passage mention is made of "the manifestation of the Spirit" through divers gifts, and in the second a commending of one's self to every man's conscience in the sight of God "by the manifestation of the truth." The one thing we here emphasize in all these scriptures is the obvious fact that the appearing, the revelation, and the manifestation of Christ are not to be understood as spectacular physical phenomena visible at one moment of time to all men. This fact being shown, there is left no solid ground for the exegesis of the literalist who insists that the coming of Christ and of his kingdom can be only a public event, once for all manifest to the whole world.

14. The Statement in Acts i, 11. In the first eleven verses of the Acts of the apostles we are told that Jesus showed himself as still living after his passion and death, and during forty days he spoke to his chosen apostles of "the things concerning the kingdom of God." To their question about the time of his "restoring the kingdom to Israel" he replied that it was not for them to know times and seasons which the heavenly Father kept within his own authority. He did not then say, as in Mark xiii, 32, that he did not know the time, but he turned their thoughts to something of more importance, the mighty coming upon them of the Holy Spirit not many days thereafter, and of their becoming his witnesses "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." All this was profoundly significant that his "restoring the kingdom" was to be a very much greater thing than their narrow Jewish concept of the kingdom contemplated. But "while they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they were looking stedfastly into heaven as he went, behold two men stood by them in white apparel; who also said, This Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven." Peter was doubtless one of the witnesses of this event, and we recognize an allusion to it when he speaks, in Acts iii, 21, of the Lord Jesus, "whom the heaven must receive until the times of the restoration of all things." His coming again from heaven, whatever its manner (тρÓяог), is doubtless the same "coming in his own glory" which he speaks of in Luke ix, 26, and parallel passages. Whatever essential fact or truth is expressed in his "coming on the clouds of heaven," whether written in Isa. xix, 1; Dan. vii, 13; Mark xiii, 26; Matt. xxvi, 64, or Rev. i, 7,

the same is included in the statement of Acts i, 11. But the phrase ov тρóжоν, translated in like manner as, does not warrant all that the literalistic interpreter is wont to read into it. Such a specific construction is seen to be misleading when applied to this phrase in Acts vii, 28; 2 Tim. iii, 8; Matt. xxiii, 37 (and the parallel in Luke xiii, 34)-the only other places where it occurs in the New Testament, and where, in each case, it is commonly translated simply as, or even as. It is not the specific manner in which Moses killed the Egyptian (Acts vii, 28), or in which Jannes withstood Moses (2 Tim. iii, 8), or in which a hen gathers her brood under her wings (Matt. xxiii, 37), but rather a general resemblance or likeness in the point of fact referred to. A proper translation of the phrase in all these texts would be simply even as. Jesus would often have gathered the children of Jerusalem under his protection, even as a mother bird protects her young. And so the psalmist would fain take refuge in the shadow of God's wings (Psa. lvii, 1). But neither the psalmist's metaphor nor the simile of Jesus would be helped by a literalistic interpretation which exhausts itself in looking into the particular manner in which the wings of God and of Christ cover those who trust in him.' The angels did not even say to those who saw Jesus ascend that they should behold his return; but they simply assured them that, as surely as Jesus had gone into heaven, even so he should again come from heaven. This coming from heaven is accordingly to be explained in the light of all parallel scriptures.

15. Doctrine of John's Apocalypse. This book of "the revelation of Jesus Christ" is most positive in its declarations that the great events of which it treats "must shortly come to pass" (i, 1, 3; xxii, 6, 7, 10), and there can be no reasonable denial or doubt of the fact that the main subject of the revelation is the kingdom and coming of the Christ. The language of xi, 1-3, 8, implies that the Jewish temple and courts, and the city where the Lord was crucified were yet standing, but nigh unto destruction when this book was written. The mystic riddles of xiii, 18, and xvii, 9-11, are best explained by the supposition that the book was written in the time of Nero, during whose reign the war was begun which ended in the overthrow of the Jewish temple and its local cult. The modern criticism, which essays to point out internal evidences of compilation in the book as we now have it, admits that the

1 Is it, or is it not, true that the interpretation of Acts i, 11, which insists that the ov roórov must be the salient point of the passage, and can only mean a literal, visible coming in clouds just above the heads of those who "look for his coming and his kingdom," loses sight of the real kingdom and glory of Christ amid the clouds? It seems to put far more stress on the clouds than on the kingdom.

passages referred to must have been written in the time of Nero, and belonged to a smaller apocalypse which the compiler appropriated and wrought into his own larger work. Whatever theory of the date and composition one may prefer, it would seem that the exposition which best explains and harmonizes the contents of this remarkable prophecy is that which sees in the Babylonian harlot of chapter xvii another symbol of the corrupt and murderous city "which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt" in xi, 8. The old Jerusalem became a harlot (comp. Isa. i, 21), and miserably fell; but that fall was followed by the coming down out of heaven from God of the New Jerusalem, the pure and glorious bride of Christ. We believe the New Testament Apocalypse of John to be a genuine product of earliest Christian doctrine, and a work remarkable for its symmetrical structure. The great theme is announced in true apocalyptic style in the language of i, 7: "Behold he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they who pierced him, and all the tribes of the land shall mourn over him." This language is characteristic of apocalyptic writing and is in substance identical with that of Matt. xxiv, 30, and also with Zech. xii, 10, from which, in fact, it may well be supposed to have been appropriated. And the entire book appears upon analysis and exposition to be virtually an expansion of our Lord's discourse concerning the end of the age as reported in all the synoptic gospels.'

(1) The First Part, i-xi. The book is divisible into two nearly equal parts, which seem, like the double dreams of Joseph and of Pharaoh, to represent the same great events under different sets of symbols. The first part, which ends with chapter xi, portrays the terrible vengeance of the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God upon his enemies, as if the author contemplated the ruin of Jerusalem and of those who pierced him and cried, "His blood be upon us and upon our children," in the light of the parable of the king "who sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned their city" (Matt. xxii, 7). This part contains three series of revelations, the seven churches, the seven seals, and the seven trumpets, and the final catastrophe is reached at the sounding of the last trumpet, which also signals the triumph of the heavenly king; for "there followed great voices in heaven, and they said, The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom (or possession) of our Lord and of his Christ: and he shall reign for ever and ever" (xi, 15). Thus the blood of Christian martyrs (comp. vi, 10) is avenged, the old temple disappears from view, and there opens "the new temple of God which is in heaven, and there was

See all these points amply detailed and maintained in my Biblical Apocalyptics, in the sections on the Gospel Apocalypse, and the Apocalypse of John.

seen in his temple the ark of the covenant," which, according to Heb. ix, 8, could not be made manifest while the first tabernacle was yet standing.

(2) The Second Part, xii-xxii. The second part (xii-xxii) contains another series of apocalyptic visions which present other aspects of the same time of trouble, and other pictures of the coming and kingdom of Christ. There are the divers revelations of Antichrist and of the workings of the mystery of lawlessness. The dragon, the beast, and the false prophet appear, each in his own order. The seven last plagues are seen to correspond remarkably to the seven trumpets of doom. But most conspicuous of all is the detailed portrayal of Babylon the harlot, a symbol of the apostate Jewish Church, upon which Jesus charged the guilt of "all the righteous blood shed on the land" (comp. Matt. xxiii, 35-37). More lamentably than in Isaiah's time had the once faithful city become a harlot (Isa. i, 21; comp. Jer. ii, 20; iii, 1). But immediately after the fall of this great Babylon, the mother of harlots and of abominations, many glad voices in the heavens say: "Halleluiah; for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigneth"; the heavens open, and one, who bears the threefold title of "Faithful and True, the Word of God, and King of kings," goes forth leading the heavenly armies to the ultimate overthrow of beast, false prophet, and dragon. Thereupon the holy city, new' Jerusalem, is seen "coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband." The details given of the appearance of Jerusalem the Bride are in notable contrast with those of Babylon the harlot, and the crowning glory of the holy city is that "the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein: and his servants shall serve him . . . and they shall reign for ever and ever" (xxii, 3-5).

(3) New Jerusalem a Symbol of the Kingdom of Heaven. We understand this graphic picture of the heavenly Jerusalem to be an apocalyptic symbol of the kingdom of heaven. Its coming down from heaven to earth is the answer to the universal prayer, "Thy kingdom come: thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth." The vision of John descries it in bold and glorious outline, filling the ages and covering the world with its blessedness. When "he that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new" (xxi, 5), he expressed in a word the work which is to occupy the whole period of the Messianic reign. He who declares himself the beginning and the end portrays the true and faithful words of these prophecies as already come to pass (xxi, 6), even though they

'The use of Kaih here suggests the idea of a new kind of Jerusalem. Comp. also verse 5.

contemplate a "reign unto the ages of the ages." Other scriptures explain to us that his reign begins with the regeneration of the individual heart, and thence works outward and onward to the renovation of all things. "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old things are passed away; behold they are become new" (2 Cor. v, 17). But when these separate new creations in Christ become multiplied by millions of millions, they prove that the kingdom of heaven is like the mustard seed and the leaven. Such divine growths go on night and day, one knows not how (comp. Mark iv, 27), but the kingdom and city which cometh down out of heaven is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ himself being the chief corner stone, and the sublime structure groweth into a holy temple in the Lord (comp. Rev. xxi, 14, and Eph. ii, 20-22). Like the stone which became a great mountain and filled the world (Dan. ii, 35), the kingdom of heaven is destined to possess both earth and heaven, and to make all things new. A collation of all these scriptures and an analysis and comparison of their metaphors, symbols, and statements would seem sufficient to show with unmistakable certainty the spiritual manner of the coming and kingdom of Christ.

16. Biblical Doctrine of Antichrist. A full discussion of the doctrine of Christ's second coming must not ignore those scriptures which speak of the coming, the manifestation, and the destruction of the great enemy of God and man who is variously designated as the Devil, Satan, and Antichrist. The subject belongs to the peculiar concepts of angelology and apocalyptics, but takes cognizance of the facts of evil which force themselves upon the attention of mankind. These stern facts are made prominent in the theology of dualism which affirms two eternal principles or powers of light and darkness, good and evil. There can be no question that our Scriptures recognize the existence of a kingdom of darkness opposed to the kingdom of light, and the spiritual hosts of wickedness are conceived as organized and led on by a prince of demons, who is spoken of in Eph. ii, 2; vi, 12, as "the prince of the powers of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience." This great enemy of truth and righteousness is destined to certain overthrow by the coming and manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ. The concept has its elements of sublimity and opens into an inviting field of imaginative speculation. An extensive literature has grown up around the subject, and the Antichrist has been identified with Nero, the pope of Rome, Mohammed, and Martin Luther. A study of the biblical doctrine may well exclude the conflicting opinions of post-apostolic times and the whole mass of later speculations.