INETEEN centuries ago the Son of God was on earth.
He came as the Saviour of men and of the world.
By his sacrifice on Calvary he made a way of escape
from death for every human being.

At his first advent he remained on earth for thirty-
three and a half years. The last three and a half years
of
his life were spent in public ministry. During this time
he not only taught the principles of the gospel himself,
but he made provision, by calling and ordaining the
disciples, for the gospel to be preached to the very end
of the world.

He told his disciples repeatedly while with them that he was soon to depart and return to the place whence he had come into the world. They heard him say to the Pharisees, "Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me." John 7:33. But like the Pharisees they were dull of hearing, and did not understand. He said plainly to them, "Now I go my way

81-05

އއ

I go to the Father." John 16: 16. But when he went away they were not ready for his departure.

But before he returned to the heavens from which he had

come he accomplished the great work which he

came to do. He laid down his life for the salvation of men. Alone in Gethsemane, with none to help or comfort, he drained the last scalding drop of the fiery cup, the cup that none other could drain. From Gethsemane he was taken by the mob; priests and rulers insulted and jeered him; the whole nation taunted and gibed him; but not one cry was forced from his pale lips by pain, or thirst, or glaring noon-day sun, or thorns, or nails, or smitings of dirty, sin-stained hands. As a sheep before its shearers, so was he dumb.

The World's Redeemer

They hurried him before Annas and Caiaphas, and then before Pilate, and on to Herod, and back again to Pilate, always in the midst of the vociferating crowd, who buffeted him, and smote him with the palms of their hands, and spit in his face, speaking sneeringly of the shame of his birth, and demanding that he perform for them a miracle. Coming the last time from Pilate's judgment hall after the sentence of crucifixion had been pronounced, they crushed down upon the weary head the cruel crown of thorns and bowed the knee in mockery, and cried, "Hail, King of the Jews." With no rest through the long night, he was hurried from one proud ruler to another, weary, foot-sore, bruised and lacerated with the cruel scourging he had received. In addition to it all he is laden with the

weight of the heavy cross, and, with no covering on his head from the mid-day sun but the crown of thorns which had torn his brow in heavy gashes, he staggers on, the world's Redeemer, through taunts and jeers and mocking words. Reaching the place of Calvary they stretched him upon the cross and drove the nails through his quivering

ING FLESH"

flesh. Then they raised the cross and let it drop with a dull thud into the hole prepared for it, tearing wider the wounds of the hands and feet where the nails had pierced. With jeers and mockery they watched his dying agonies. And thus the Son of God gave up his life for us.

"He Was Taken Up"

But he was brought up from death, and for forty days he walked and talked with his disciples concerning the great work they were commissioned to do. They were to preach the gospel to all the world, and Jesus promised that his Spirit would be with them to the end.

Later, on an early summer morning, as many were gathered on the slopes of Mount Olivet listening to his instruction regarding their work, he was taken away from them into heaven. Even while they were looking at him, "he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight." Acts 1:9.

Jesus Is Alive

But Jesus is alive and at the right hand of God in the heavens. And through all the centuries since he ascended to his Father, his followers, in their trials, their afflictions, their hardships, their hunger, their persecutions, their martyrdom, and their death, have been cheered and sustained by that word which he spoke before he departed from this world, "Let not your heart be troubled: I will come again, and receive you unto myself." John 14:1-3.

Through the ages of the past God's people have looked with eager longing for the fulfilment of that glorious promise. They have been able to endure their hardships and wrongs, because they have believed with profound and implicit confidence that Jesus is coming to make all things right. On that event their hearts have been fixed. All their hopes have been centered in that time when Jesus will come again. The second coming of Christ is the consummation of the hopes of the Christian Church.

HOSE who in all ages have believed in the literal, personal, visible coming of Jesus Christ the second time to this earth have not followed cunningly devised fables. This doctrine is one of the fundamental doctrines of Holy Scripture. It finds a larger place in the pages of Holy Writ than any other doctrine of the church, this glorious event being mentioned more than three hundred times in the New Testament alone. To the devout believer in the Bible there can be no doubt that Jesus will come again.

The faith of the believer in this doctrine is founded not on any theory of his own, but upon the clear and convincing testimony of the Sacred Writings, and especially upon the testimony of Jesus himself, who repeated again and again to his disciples the teaching that he would come the second time. An examination of the teach