the righteous to earth, for in dying without living again, what would become of the kingdom of God, of which earth, not some remote place above the clouds, home of Jehovah and the angels, was to be the purified seat? Banishing as foreign to the mind of Jesus his reported sayings about the signs ushering in the last day, and about his judgment of the nations, all "of the earth, earthy," there are too many passages left in the "synoptics" to allow us to ignore the fact that he instilled into his disciples his belief that he would return to them; that though he might lay down his life he would take it again. When this might be was known to the Father only, in whose hands were "times and seasons;" enough for them in view of such uncertainty, to make it their care to note the signs of the age, and their duty, like faithful servants, to watch with loins girt about and lamps burning as men who wait for their lord.

Vague as our knowledge of the precise ideas of Jesus on this matter must remain, the belief

in his “second advent,” as it is termed, was most vivid and all-absorbing among his followers.1 The earlier epistles of the New Testament teem with proofs that the event of which they felt most sure, which no twisting of words can explain as referring to a later time, and concerning which they and all who came after them were utterly mistaken, was the speedy return of the Master whose loss they so keenly mourned. The belief was at fever-heat in the minds of Paul and other writers, and was harmful to the extent that it absorbed attention upon a shadowy

1 The belief in the second coming of Jesus to reign with the saints for a thousand years upon the earth, from which evil should then be banished, known as the Millennium (Lat. mille, a thousand, and annus, a year), passed into the Christian religion, and survives in more or less vigour among many to this day. The subject attracted men, burning with desire to peer into the future, yet forgetful that "the Spirit which is holy is reserved and deals in laws," to search the writings which seemed to hide the precious secret; and ever and anon the minds of people have been panic-stricken and progress checked by announcements from prophecy-mongers that the world would come to an end at such and such a time, and stating the year when Jesus would appear. The delusion will die out only when the "immense misunderstanding of the Bible" is corrected, and the teaching of science about the earth's past and future accepted by SecondAdventists.

future to the neglect of improvement of the present. For the early Christians, regarding the earth as soon to vanish away, gave their sole concern to, and set their affections upon, an unseen world which was enduring; feeling that the present state of things might cease at any moment, they bestowed small care upon its passing wants and held lightly even the ties of home and kindred which might be snapped suddenly. The loss of property could be suffered without repining, and wrong pass unredressed by those to whom Jesus, "judge of quick and dead," would open the kingdom "prepared from the foundation of the world." Art and learning were vain compared to the knowledge "making wise unto salvation," and the heavens were watched, not for the glory of the sunlight and the stars, but that the chosen might catch the first glimpse of their coming Lord, whom they would be caught up in the air to meet, and so be ever with him.1 Out of this illusion there grew a terrible misconception by Christians of

1 I Thess. iv. 13-18; v. I, 2; etc., etc.

their relation to the earth and human kind, which still too largely separates reason and feeling, and sustains false divisions in our life. God's beautiful world, whose flowers and children's faces were so dear to Jesus, was called a “waste, howling wilderness," through which we are doomed to pass to a heavenly Canaan; the love of it and interest in its affairs were said to ill comport with setting the heart on things above, and to arouse the jealousy of God; life upon it was to be endured only as a preparing for eternal life elsewhere. All this is not only false, but wicked. The earth is no place of exile, but our fatherland, calling forth our reverence and our best service. Here, or nowhere, is our sphere of duty, where a zest and sacredness is given to work in aiding to clear away all that hinders the advance of man in everything that is of good report, and in the slaying of selfishness-the root of all that chokes the growth of charity. And to play well our part in this great struggle, doing nought to retard the issue, is a nobler task than to pine for a land of

dreamless ease, where no spur is given to effort, and to pass our days fretfully wondering what is to become of our poor selves, each one of which is in the hands of God. 'Tis the

"Glory of virtue to fight, to struggle, to right the wrongShe desires no isles of the blest, no quiet seats of the just, To rest in a golden grove, or to bask in a summer sky; Give her the wages of going on and not to die." 1

IX.

Jesus in Jerusalem.

ON returning to Galilee, Jesus made a short stay at Capernaum, but did not resume his public teaching there. The news of his intended visit to Jerusalem spread, however, in the neighbourhood, and when he set out on that most eventful journey, a goodly number, among whom were a few faithful women, followed him. Moreover, the season for keeping the Passover was drawing nigh, and many were wending their way to the city for that purpose. At various