paratively unnoticed: many have read them through and through, and the knowledge of them has been increased.

Such are the Lord's appeals, which, however, He addresses no longer to the whole Church, but only to individual members of it." If any man," He says, "hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." A few there may be who will listen to these words, but the great multitude of the Laodiceans have no desire to sup with the Lord. They are feasting with the dwellers upon earth, nourishing their hearts in a day of slaughter, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage; and so they will go on, until the day that the Master of the house rises and shuts to the door. Then, at the sound of the closing portals, their indifference will be changed to feverish anxiety; they will shudder as they perceive that the hour of judgment is come.

In these days of luxury too many believers, like the spouse in the Song of songs, have left the work of tending their flocks in the wilderness, and gone into the city of the world: they are slumbering at ease, and stifling conscience with the weak excuse, "I sleep, but my heart waketh;" I make no outward show of work or labour of love, but am right and true within. And so they permit the fear of any slight inconvenience to deter them from rising to open unto their Lord, until at last His hand is seen through the hole of the door, until He manifests His presence by the rapture of those who are looking for Him. Then

the careless ones awake to consciousness: they are smitten to the heart with remorse and returning love they spring from the sinful couch, and hasten to unbar the door. But no fair and glorious Form is waiting in the darkness of night; the Beloved has withdrawn Himself, and is gone: they seek Him, but cannot find Him: they call Him, but no answer peals back through the gloom. They have neglected the warnings too long: at last the threat has become a reality; the Master has knocked, they were not ready to open to Him immediately, and He has departed and left them alone in the midnight of woe.

But if any of the lukewarm Laodiceans can be roused before it is too late, these will be strengthened to overcome, and will yet attain to the dignity of sitting with Christ on the throne of glory from which He will judge the Millennial world. Those who pass through the tribulation, provided they refuse to worship the Beast or his image, or to receive his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands, will also reign with Christ; but, as we shall presently see, only as subordinates, and not on the throne.

We have now considered the seven messages of the Lord to His people concerning the things that are. Who is wise that he may understand these solemn warnings, and find grace to act upon them while there is yet time? In his account of Christ's entry into Jerusalem, John remarks: "These things understood not His disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these

things were written of Him.” How great suspense and anxiety would they have been spared if they had studied and applied the Scriptures before the death of their Master, had recognized every incident as it occurred, and known that He must first suffer those things and then enter into His glory! But they did not apprehend until the great crisis, with its days of perplexity and terror, had passed by. Shall we not learn wisdom from their error, and avoid the far more calamitous consequences of a similar mistake at the close of this age? It is toward evening, and the day is now far spent. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.

THE PRESENCE AND THE APPEARING.

We have already, in discussing the Jewish prophecies, commented upon the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew up to the paragraph in which the Lord speaks of His appearing and the deliverance of His Jewish elect. In the sentences immediately following, He teaches the latter how they may know that He is near at hand, and declares the certainty of His predictions. And then, in the thirty-sixth verse, He proceeds to answer the second question of His disciples: "What shall be the sign of Thy Presence?"

But before we consider this solemn subject, it will be necessary to avoid confusion by briefly investigating the meaning of the terms "Presence" and "Appearing."

The Greek word Tapovσía is usually translated

'coming'; but we render it 'presence,' because the latter is its strict and literal meaning; while the former is derived, subordinate, and never absolutely necessary. For the sense is much the same whether we say of an absent person-"we shall be glad of your presence," or, "of your coming." Moreover, it is most important to retain the literal signification, because the word is used, not merely of the descent of Christ from the high heavens, but of the whole period of His sojourn in the air, which will, it seems, occupy at least seven years. During this time His people will be caught up to Him; some immediately upon His descent, others later. But all are included in Paul's description, "they that are Christ's at His Presence."

The taking up of the first company will, as we shall presently see, be the sign that He has come, and that the judgments of the Apocalypse are about to commence. We may thus understand Paul's appeal to the Thessalonians: "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter pretending to come from us, as that the Day of the Lord is now present.' The Thessalonians had been in much affliction, and, supposing that no sorrow could be greater than theirs, rashly concluded that they were in the last times, and that the Day of the Lord had come. But Paul reminds

2 Thess. ii. 1, 2.

them that that Day will be brought about by the Presence of Christ in the air, and that the sign of His Presence, namely, the gathering together of His people to Him, had not then been given.

The second term, éπidáveia, signifies "appearing," or, "manifestation," and is used in connection with the first in a passage which should be rendered: "Whom the Lord shall slay with the breath of His mouth, and bring to nought by the Appearing of His Presence."* Here it is used of the manifestation of Christ to the world, of the flashing forth of His glory when the time of the unseen Presence is ended. But it may also be applied to the revelation of this Presence to those who are caught up to Him; so that the reference, in each case of its occurrence, can only be decided by the context.

We will now return to our Lord's discourse on the Mount of Olives. After an admonition, especially designed for the Jewish converts of the last days, to remember that the fulfilment of the things which He had been predicting would show that He was near at hand-just as the budding of the fig-tree proclaims the approach of summer-He proceeds to speak of His Presence, during which the events mentioned in vers. 7-28 will happen. The precise time of His descent cannot be revealed; for neither men, nor yet angels, may know it. Like other great judgments of God, it is announced again and again; but, were its appointed season declared, it could not become the test which He intends it to be. For those who 2 Thess. ii. 8.