by His coming, and His kingdom." 1 These words, as we have already observed, do not bear a mere mystical signification, that Christ will judge the good and the bad, but they have a true literal meaning, namely, that Christ at His coming will truly and really judge such persons as shall then be living upon earth in their mortal flesh.

But here a question arises as to the signification of this judgment of the living. What does this judgment mean? The Millenarians give the following explanation: -The words kingdom and judgment, or king and judge, in the scriptural phrase, and also in the common acceptation of men, are often used to signify one and the same thing. A sovereign or king, in respect to his subjects, is their supreme judge, and his kingdom is the supreme judgment. "Thou hast chosen me," says Solomon to the Lord, "king to Thy people, and judge of Thy children." And in the following chapter, speaking of all the kings of the earth, he promiscuously calls them by the names of kings and judges: "Hear, therefore, O kings, and understand; learn ye, O judges of the ends of the earth." Holy David teaches the same things in his psalms: "And now," says he, "O ye kings, understand; receive instruction, ye that judge the earth." 3

This being presupposed, they say that the words of the apostle, that Christ "shall come to judge the living," mean that Christ at His coming will reign over all who shall then be living upon earth, ruling and judging them as their supreme Lord and Judge.

3rdly. In the nineteenth chapter of the Gospel

12 Tim. iv. 1.

3 Psalm ii. 10.

2 Wis. ix. 7.

of St. Luke, it is related, that our Blessed Saviour, being on the point of entering into Jerusalem, proposed to His disciples the following parable : "A certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And calling his ten servants, he gave them ten pounds, and said to them: Trade till I come. But his citizens hated him, and they sent an embassage after him, saying: We will not have this man to rule over us. And it came to pass that he returned, having received the kingdom: and he commanded his servants to be called, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by his trading." 1

The object of this.parable is manifest from the words of the Evangelist, who expressly declares that Christ spoke this parable, "because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately be manifested."? Namely, Christ spoke this parable to His disciples to teach them, that although He was going into Jerusalem, which, according to the instructions He had given them, was to be the seat of His kingdom upon earth, yet the time for the manifestation of this king

Luke xix, 12-15.

2 Christ's kingdom upon earth is the Church in its militant state; and it commenced on the day of Pentecost, when the promulgation of the Gospel began, and the Church was esta blished. Yet the full manifestation of this kingdom, namely, its complete and greatest triumph upon earth, seems reserved to the second coming of Christ, when he shall personally reign over all the tribes and nations of the earth. It is in this latter sense that we here speak of the kingdom of Christ upon earth; and we mean an especial manifestation and triumph of this kingdom, over which the incarnate Son of God, after His coming in majesty and glory, shall rule together with His saints.

dom was not as yet come; that before this manifestation it was requisite for Him to depart from them for awhile, withdrawing Himself from this earth by His ascension, and to return again. And that after His returning again to this earth by His second coming, the kingdom which they thought should be immediately manifested, would truly and really be exhibited in that fulness of glory which it can attain upon earth.1

4thly. In the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles we read, that whilst our Blessed Lord was on the point of ascending into heaven, they who were come together asked Him, saying; "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? But he said to them: It is not for you to know the times or moments, which the Father has put in his own power. Here we must observe-1. That the apostles speak of the restoration of the kingdom of Israel as a certain fact, and confine their question only to the time in which it was to take place.

2. That the apostles put the above question to Jesus after they had been instructed by Him for

The evangelist, after saying that "the Lord returned, having received a kingdom, and commanded his servants to be called, to whom He had given the money, that He might know how much every man had gained by trading," continues thus: "And the first came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds; and he said to him, Well done, thou good servant, because thou hast been faithful in a little, thou shalt have power over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds; and he said to him, Be thou also over five cities." (Luke xix. 16, 17, 18, 19.) This part of the parable is explained by the Millenarians as signifying that our blessed Lord, when He shall come in glory, and His kingdom shall be manifested upon earth, will associate the saints to Himself in the administration of His kingdom, and will reign with them over all the tribes and nations of the earth.

2 Acts i. 6, 7.

X

forty days concerning the kingdom of God; for it is said, in the same chapter, that our Lord Jesus "showed Himself alive after His passion by many proofs, for forty days appearing to them and speaking of the kingdom of God."

3. That Jesus did not say a word to imply that they were mistaken in their opinion respecting the restoration of the kingdom of Israel, but confined his answer merely to the time in which such an event was to take place. He did not condemn their idea that the kingdom will be restored; He did not say that they must not look for such a thing; but He assumes that the kingdom will be restored; and merely says that it is not for them to know the times and the moments appointed by His Divine Father for the fulfilment of this event; He refuses to tell them the time, but tacitly sanctions their opinion as far as it concerned the fact itself. Then He adds, "You will receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you; and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth." By which words he seems to insinuate, that before the fulfilment of what they had so much at heart respecting the establishment of the kingdom of Israel, it was necessary that they and their successors should accomplish their sublime mission of preaching the Gospel through the whole world as a testimony to all nations. 2

1 Acts i. 8.

2 Christ is represented by the prophet Micheas as the ruler of Israel; and holy David declares that the Father has given to His Incarnate Son the Gentiles for His inheritance, and the utmost part of the earth for His possession, adding, that He "shall rule them with a rod of iron" (Psalm ii. 8, 9), namely, as it is generally explained, "with firmness and solidity." The Millenarians ask,

It is also remarkable that the answer given by Christ on this occasion to His apostles accords most perfectly with the one which He gave them, when they questioned Him on the signs of His coming; "Of that day or hour," said He, "no one knoweth, not even the angels of heaven, but the Father alone." 1 This perfect accordance between the two answers shows that the restoration of the kingdom of Israel was regarded by Him as a fact immediately connected with His coming.2

When Christ shall come and establish the kingdom of Israel, then will be literally fulfilled the prophecy of Amos, where he says: "In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, that is fallen; and I will close up the breaches of the walls thereof, and repair what was fallen." This prophecy was quoted by the apostle St. James,

whether this prophecy has been already fully accomplished? Can it be said that the actual ruling of Israel, as well as the governing of all nations over the whole earth on the part of Christ, has already taken place in the full extent predicted by the prophets? No doubt that the prophecy has already had some fulfilment in the conversion of several of the children of Israel to Christ, and still more in the spread of the Christian Church through the whole world, but it seems that its perfect and complete realization is reserved to the second coming of Christ, when Jews and Gentiles will form but one flock, over which the King of Glory, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, shall actually preside and rule. Then, they say, will also be entirely fulfilled another prophecy of holy David, where he says, "The ends of the earth shall remember, and shall be converted to the Lord, and all the kindred of the Gentiles shall adore in His sight, for the kingdom is the Lord's, and He shall reign over the nations." (Psalm xxi. 28, 29.)

1 Matt. xxiv. 36.

The Church thus prays in the office for the first Sunday in Advent:-Aspiciens a longe, ecce video Dei potentiam venientem et nebulam totam terram tegentem. Ite obviam ei et dicite Nuntia nobis si tu es ipse qui regnaturus es in populo Israel. (Noct. i. Reg. i.)

3 Amos ix. 11.