THE SECOND ADVENT.

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cated that their point of view was wholly mistaken. The coming of the kingdom of God could not be ascertained by the kind of narrow and curious watching to which they were addicted. False Christs and mistaken Rabbis might cry "Lo here!" and "Lo there!" but that kingdom was already in the midst of them;2 nay, if they had the will and the wisdom to recognise and to embrace it, that kingdom was within them. That answer was sufficient to the Pharisees, but to His disciples He added words which implied the fuller explanation. Even they did not fully realise that the kingdom had already come. Their eyes were strained forward in intense and yearning eagerness to some glorious future; but in the future, glorious as it would be, they would still look backward with yet deeper yearning, not unmingled with regret, to this very past-to these days of the Son of Man, in which they were seeing and their hands handling the Word of Life. In those days, let them not be deceived by any "Lo there! Lo here!" nor let them waste in feverish and fruitless restlessness the calm and golden opportunities of life.3 For that coming of the Son of Man should be bright, sudden, terrible, universal, irresistible as the lightning flash; but before that day He must suffer and be rejected. Moreover, that gleam of His second advent would flame upon the midnight of a sensual, unexpectant world, as the flood rolled over the festive sensualism in the days of Noah, and the fire and brimstone streamed from

1 Luke xvii. 20, πаратhрnσis. Cf. xiv. 1.

2 That évròs iμŵv may have this meaning is proved by the passage of Xenophon (Anab. i. 10, 3) cited by Alford; but the other meaning is probably included. Cf. Rom. xiv. 17; John i. 26; xii. 35, &c.; and Deut. xxx. 14.

See 2 Thess. passim.

heaven upon the glittering rottenness of the Cities of the Plain. Woe to those who should in that day be casting regretful glances on a world destined to pass away in flame!

For though till then the business and companionships of life should continue, and all its various fellowships of toil or friendliness, that night would be one of fearful and of final separations!

The disciples were startled and terrified by words of such strange solemnity. Where, Lord ?" they ask in

alarm. But to the "where there could be as little

answer as to the " when," and the coming of God's kingdom is as little geographical as it is chronological.1 "Wheresoever the body is," He says, "thither will the vultures be gathered together." The mystic Armageddon is no place whose situation you may fix by latitude and longitude. Wherever there is individual wickedness, wherever there is social degeneracy, wherever there is deep national corruption, thither do the eagle-avengers of the Divine vengeance wing their flight from far: thither from the ends of the earth come nations of a fierce countenance, "swift as the eagle flieth," to rend and to devour. "Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she."3

1 See Stier, iv. 287.

2 The Jews, and indeed the ancients generally, classed the vulture with the eagle. I cannot believe the interpretation of Chrysostom, Theophylactus, &c., that the "body" is Christ, and the gathering eagles are His saints. All that can be said for this view may be seen in Bishop Wordsworth on Matt. xxiv. 28; but a reference to Job xxxix. 30, "Her young ones also suck up blood; and where the slain are, there is she," seems alone sufficient to refute it.

3 Deut. xxviii. 49; Job xxxix. 30. Cf. Hab. i. 8, "They shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat;" Hos. viii. 1, "Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall fly as an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law." In fact, the best commentary to the metaphor will be found in Rev. xix. 17-21.

THE GATHERING EAGLES.

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Jerusalem-nay, the whole Jewish nation-was falling rapidly into the dissolution rising from internal decay; and already the flap of avenging pinions was in the air. When the world too should lie in a state of morbid infamy, then should be heard once more the rushing of those "congregated wings."

Is not all history one long vast commentary on these great prophecies? In the destinies of nations and of races has not the Christ returned again and again to deliver or to judge?

What souls possess themselves so pure,

Or is there blessedness like theirs ?-TENNYSON.

NOWHERE, in all probability, did Jesus pass more restful and happy hours than in the quiet house of that little family at Bethany, which, as we are told by St. John, "He loved." The family, so far as we know, consisted only of Martha, Mary, and their brother Lazarus. That Martha was a widow-that her husband was, or had been, Simon the Leper-that Lazarus is identical with the gentle and holy Rabbi of that name mentioned in the Talmud-are conjectures that may or may not be true; but we see from the Gospels that they were a family in easy circumstances, and of sufficient dignity and position to excite considerable attention not only in their own little village of Bethany, but even in Jerusalem. The lonely little hamlet, lying among its peaceful uplands, near Jerusalem, and yet completely hidden from it by the summit of Olivet, and thus

"Not wholly in the busy world, nor quite

Beyond it,"

must always have had for the soul of Jesus an especial

1 Peah, f. 21, 2, quoted by Sepp, iii. 8.

MARTHA AND MARY.

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charm; and the more so because of the friends whose love and reverence always placed at His disposal their holy and happy home. It is there that we find Him on the eve of the Feast of the Dedication, which marked the close of that public journey designed for the full and final proclamation of His coming kingdom.1

It was natural that there should be some stir in the little household at the coming of such a Guest, and Martha, the busy, eager-hearted, affectionate hostess," on hospitable thoughts intent," hurried to and fro with excited energy to prepare for His proper entertainment. Her sister Mary, too, was anxious to receive Him fittingly, but her notions of the reverence due to Him. were of a different kind. Knowing that her sister was only too happy to do all that could be done for His material comfort, she, in deep humility, sat at His feet and listened to His words.

Mary was not to blame, for her sister evidently enjoyed the task which she had chosen of providing as best she could for the claims of hospitality, and was quite able, without any assistance, to do everything that was required. Nor was Martha to blame for her active service; her sole fault was that, in this outward activity, she lost the necessary equilibrium of an inward calm. As she toiled and planned to serve Him, a little touch of jealousy disturbed her peace as she saw her quiet sister sitting-"idly" she may have thought at the feet of their great Visitor, and leaving the trouble to fall on her.

1 St. Luke, as Stier observes, may have anticipated the true order of this anecdote in order to let it throw light on the question of the lawyer, "What must I do?" (See Luke x. 25, 38-42.) This, if correct, is a good illustration of the subjective considerations which seem to dominate in this episode of his Gospel.

* Luke x. 39, ἡ καὶ παρακαθίσασα . . . ἤκουεν.