fered a mighty army to come upon them, and lay the city in ruins, and destroy even the beautiful temple: while the poor Jews, who had rejected and crucified the Saviour, and persecuted and put to death many of his disciples, suffered greater distress than any people on earth ever suffered. Jesus could foresee all this when he said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! In Luke it is said he wept over the city as he uttered these words.

Think of the Saviour weeping over these wicked people to whom he came with a message of pardon and mercy, but they would not listen to him. He knew that there was an hour coming in which he himself had much to suffer, but for himself he did not weep. He wept for the impenitent Jews, who were not only bringing upon themselves dreadful sufferings in this life, but by their "hardness of heart and blindness of mind," were preparing themselves to receive everlasting punishment in the world where wicked spirits dwell. "How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not." See what a beautiful figure Jesus uses to show us how he would have protected the people of Jerusalem. You have seen the kind and careful hen call her helpless little ones, and spread out her wings to shelter them. If the storm beats heavily upon herself, she does not shrink from it if she can but protect those she loves. So Jesus called the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and would have sheltered them from the punishment they deserved, but they would not.

This shows you the boundless love and compassion of the Saviour. The same mercy which caused

him to weep over Jerusalem is now extended to you. Jesus calls you in many ways to seek the shelter of his protecting wings. He has given you pious friends to counsel and guide you; he has placed you where you can attend meeting and the Sabbath school; he has given you his holy word to read, which is "able to make you wise unto salvation." Will you not flee to him for shelter, as the defenceless chickens run to the covering of their mother's wings? He is able to protect you through all the storms of life; and when you come to its solemn close, the hour of death, Jesus, and none but Jesus, can shelter you from the punishment which your sins have deserved, and transport you safely to the abode of everlasting happiness. With what tender sadness did he lament over the children of Jerusalem! O, let him not say of you, "How often would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not."

CHAPTER XXI.

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.

MATT. XXV. 31-34: 41, 46.

31. When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

32. And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

33. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

34. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand,

Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

41. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

You have read of our Saviour's coming into the world in the form of the helpless babe of Bethlehem. You have seen that he was poor and despised, followed by the common people, but rejected by the rich, learned, and powerful ones of the earth. He came in this holy, quiet manner, because he chose at that time to make such an entrance on earth, and not because he was not able to make the whole earth tremble at his coming. In the last chapter you were told that Jesus, after leaving the world would visit it again, and the verses above will inform you in what manner he will come, and for what purpose.

Jesus says, "When the Son of man," meaning himself, "shall come in his glory," that is, with great power and authority, "and all the holy angels with him," attended by a vast number of those good and happy beings, called angels, who live with the Saviour, and constantly wait on him and do his pleasure: "then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory." A throne is the seat of a king or emperor, on which he sits while the people who obey him, gather around to receive his commands. By this you see that Jesus represents his second coming to be far different from the first. He will then come with awful majesty, not to be persecuted and crucified, but to be honored and obeyed. Every person on the earth will then

know that he is the Son of God. At his first coming, while he traveled over the mountains and valleys of Palestine; and healed the sick, and gave bread to the hungry; and chose for his most intimate friends some poor, ignorant fishermen; there were but few of the persons who saw him that really believed he was the Son of God; and thousands who have since read of him in the New Testament will not believe; but when he comes in his glory, we shall all believe, though it may be too late to repent.

"And before him shall be gathered all nations." The millions of people who have ever lived in this vast world are but one mighty family. God is the father of them all. The dwarfish Greenlander, the giant Hottentot, the swarthy Indian, the sable African, and the lighter race to which we belong, God has made of one blood, and they are all his children. Before him will all these nations be gathered. Every person who is then living on the earth, and all who have ever lived on it, from Adam, the first of men, down to the child whose birth is just before the Saviour's coming. In the fifth chapter of John, we are told that "the hour is coming in which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth." And in the fourteenth of Romans it is said, "We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ."

But for what purpose are the dead called from their graves, and all the nations of the earth collected before the Son of man? "And he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." In the coun

try where Jesus was teaching there were many shepherds, men whose business it was to take care of sheep, and that his disciples might understand him perfectly, he compared himself to a shepherd, and said he should separate the inhabitants of the earth in the same manner as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats. Sheep are more gentle and useful animals than goats, and these are made to represent the people who have loved and served God while on earth; and the goats, such as have been disobedient. The right hand is considered a place of honor and approbation, therefore this place was given to the righteous. "Then shall the king," which means the Saviour,

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say to those on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Blessed, you know, means highly favored, and to be blessed of God must be the most perfect happiness we can enjoy. "Inherit the kingdom," that is, take possession of the enjoyment which has long been waiting for you; go with me to heaven, the place of perfect purity and peace, which has long been prepared for such as loved and obeyed me on earth.

After this thirty-fourth verse to the forty-first, which I wish you to take your Testament and read, because it is too long to put in this little book, Jesus represents himself as saying to the righteous that they had been merciful and kind to the distressed, therefore they are now treated with mercy. You know he said in his sermon on the mount, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." In the forty-first verse, which you see above, we are told how the Son of man