The Jimplecute. (Jefferson, Tex.) 18??-1907, 1905-11-04

JEFFERSON TEXAS. SATURDAY NOVEMBER 4 1905
The Second Coming of Christ,

will come or the object of his coming,
there may be many different views. In
brief, 1 believe the Bible teaches. He
will not come again until the end of
his msdeaterisl reign; and the object of
his coming is: a. To be gloritied in
his saints. Thes. lilo. t2) Raise the
dead. 1 Tbss. Ale. And (3) And to
Judge the nations of the earth. Cor.
5:1O and Matt 25:31. There aae two
theories about his secoud coming l am
unable to accept.
FIRST, that when Christ comes again
he will fit up this old world and reign
on it for = thousand years. I have
heard many get quite poetical over this
subject, but when l looked for the
Scripture prosss they are not there.
This theory 10 based on the twentieth
chapter of Revelations which begins by
saying: And I saw an angel" &c.,
not Christ, bot an angel. The word
angel in Revelations never means
Christ, if so what do the expressions,
flour angels" and mighty angel"
mean? Rev III and i0:l. There is not
one thing in this chapter about Christ
reigning on the earth thousand years,
and those who place such construc.
tons upon it, wrest the scriptures to
to prove pet theory. In fact the sew
enth and sisth vsres prove to the con-
trary: "And when the thousand years
are expired, aAtan shall be loosed out
of his prison, sad shall 60 out to de.
ceive the nations which are in the four
quarters Of the earth, Cog and Magog,
to gather them togather to battle.''
This chaetsr teaches but two things.
Bishop Messill, of the Northern Meth
odist church, one of the greatest preach
ers of his age and one of the brightest
ex positors Of Scripture in Methodism,
in his comment on the three verses
says: "The Imprisonment of Satan de-
notes curtakment of his power and in
creased restraint upon his actions, pos
sibly to the extent of hindering his &C.
cess to nen in this world" And of
verse four, he ssyst cit is, not unrea-
senabls, ana certainly not unscriptur-
al to suppose that the Martyrs as a
class are fassIsd with some pre-emi-
nencs IN the heavenly state" The first.
1 aM persuaded is prophet
ical of the reformation when light and
liberty dawnsa upon the world.
Again We are told to pray "Thy king
dom soms." They ask, when will il
come, if not at the millennium? Is not
Chist's kingdom in the world today
and has it net been in existence fol
ages? If not, what did John mean by
"Repsnt ys fer the kingdom of heaven
, is at hand?" Matt. $50. And what die
Christ mean by the same expression
Matt All. When Christ sent out hit
disciples he said, "Preach the kingdom
, Of God.' Luke go. And again hi
Christi declared to the Phari
sees, "the kingdom Of God is within
you" Luke 1891. The fact is thu
church of Jesus Christ is his kingdom
And We say, thy kingdom come, W,
simply mean that it may come in al
enlarged portion in our own heaats ant
that it may take possession of other
the world over.
9 Christ no where teaches that he i
coming back to this world to reign il
person q Thousand years. He has de
clared POSITIVELY, Il go to prepare aplac
for yex." If he has gone to prepare
i, place for us why is it necessary for hin
4 to come back to earth and fit it up 70
bis reign, Again Christ said, "Heavel
and earth shall pass away" Matt 24:35
The heaven here mentioned is the firm
A ament above. He simply carties tn
idea that the whole thing shall pas
/ away. ,How7 "fhe heavens shall pas
away with great noise and the ele
ments melt with fervent heat; tn
] earth also, and works that are therein
shall be harmed up, Seeing then tina
all these things shall be dissolved wha
manner of persons ought ye to be il
all holy conversation and goodness
looking for and fastening unto tn
4 coming of the day of God when in tn
)! heavens being on fire, shall be dis
A solved and the elements shall mel
with fervent heat Pet. $40 and /:
b Here Peter plainly states this old worl
shall be destroyed by fire.
\ But even if this world was to renal
Christ says the Saints shall be caugl
up with him in the "air." Thes. Al
At the rapidity of thought Jesus wi
girt this old globe and the graves an