THE SECOND ADVENT***


Transcribed from the 1876 H. Colbran edition by David Price, email
ccx074@pglaf.org





                             ROME AND TURKEY
                            IN CONNEXION WITH
                            The Second Advent.


                                * * * * *

                                 SERMONS.

                            BY REV. E. HOARE,

                  VICAR OF TRINITY, TUNBRIDGE WELLS, AND
                        HON. CANON OF CANTERBURY.

                                * * * * *

                                 LONDON:
                          HATCHARDS, PICCADILLY.
               H. COLBRAN, CALVERLEY ROAD, TUNBRIDGE WELLS.
                                  1876.




PREFACE.


THE three lectures on Turkey are published at the request of several of
my parishioners; I have added two others respecting Rome, which were
written in 1873, because I consider that they strengthen the conclusion
derived from the present position of the Ottoman Empire.  I regard Rome
and Turkey as two great political witnesses to the near approach of the
glorious end.  If this be the case, it is clearly right that their two
testimonies should appear together and confirm each other.

                                                                     E. H.

_Tunbridge Wells_,
      _Jan._ 1876.




CONTENTS.

                              PAGE
ROME:—
   THE OUTLINE                   1
   THE CONSUMPTION              21
TURKEY:—
   THE EUPHRATES                42
   THE FROGS                    63
   THE ADVENT                   81




ROME.


I.
THE OUTLINE.


IT is impossible to imagine anything more delightful than the prospect of
the promised return of our most blessed Saviour.  How do the father and
the mother feel when they welcome their long-absent son from India?  How
will many an English wife feel when she welcomes her husband from the
Arctic Expedition?  And how must the Church of God feel when, after her
long night of toil and difficulty, she stands face to face before Him
whom her soul loveth, and enters into the full enjoyment of the promise,
‘So shall we ever be with the Lord.’  There will be no tears then, for
there will be no sorrow; no death then, for there will be no more curse;
no sin then, for we shall see Him as He is, and shall be like Him.  Then
will be the time of resurrection, when all the firstborn of God shall
awake to a life without decay and without corruption; and then the time
of reunion, when the whole company of God’s elect shall stand together
before the Lord, never again to shed a tear over each other’s grave; and
then will be the time when those who have loved and longed after Him, as
they have journeyed on alone in their pilgrimage, will find themselves on
the right hand of His throne, and hear His delightful words, ‘Come, ye
blessed children of my Father: inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world!’

No wonder then that the people of God are waiting with anxious hearts for
the advent; and no wonder that many are ready to say, ‘Lord, how long?’
and to ask, What hope is there of His quick return?  Have we, or have we
not, any reason to look out for it soon?  To this inquiry I would
endeavour to draw your attention this morning; and in doing so, I do not
intend to examine into what are usually called ‘the signs of the times,’
but to study the great prophetic sketch of the world’s history as given
to us by the prophet Daniel.  This may be termed the backbone of
prophecy, and almost all the great prophecies of Holy Scripture fit into
it at some point or other; so that, if we wish to understand them, we
must begin by studying it.  I fear I may not interest those who aim
simply to have their hearts warmed by the ministry.  But they must
remember that the real study of God’s Word requires work, and that work,
though it lays the best possible foundation for feeling, does not at the
time excite it.  To-day, then, we are to work, and I hope the Lord may so
bless His Word, that through work we may be led to feel.

Our business, then, is to endeavour to discover whether the great
prophetic sketch of history, given through the prophet Daniel, encourages
the blessed hope that the coming of the Lord may be near.  Daniel gives