“That Christ will ever thus return was denied by Prof. Stuart and Prof. Bush. The former said that he had ‘a deeper conviction than ever of the difficulties which attend the supposition of a _personal_, _actual_, and _visible_ descent of Christ and the glorified saints to the earth.’—_Hints_, 2d ed., p. 153. Again: ‘All the prophecies respecting the Messiah are invested with the costume of figurative language.’—_Ib._, p. 183. And again: ‘Christ himself assumed a visible appearance,’ at his first advent, ‘only that he might take on him our nature and die for sin. When he appears a second time, there is no necessity for assuming such a nature.’—_Ib._, p. 185. “Prof. Bush gave as his opinion, that ‘the second advent of the Saviour is not affirmed to be _personal_, but _spiritual_ and _providential_; and that the event so denominated is to be considered as having entered upon its incipient fulfillment at a very early period of the Christian dispensation.’—_Anastasis_, p. 9. “Mr. Dowling and others, who admitted the personal coming of Christ at the _close_ of the millennium, claimed that the predicted reign of Christ on earth during that period is to be _spiritual_. “But Mr. Shimeal sustained Mr. Miller in his belief that the advent will be personal and pre-millennial. And Bishop Hopkins, of Vermont (Two Discourses on the Advent), while he claimed that the time was not revealed, said, nevertheless, ‘we would admonish you, with still greater earnestness, to keep your souls in constant readiness for your Lord’s advent, and in a state of sacred desire to behold him in his glory.’—p. 29. “9. _The Return of the Jews._—Mr. Miller looked for no return of the Jews previous to the resurrection of the just; and the righteous of that nation, who have died in the faith of Abraham, with all Gentile believers of like precious faith, he regarded as the subjects of all unfulfilled promises to Israel—the fulfillment of which will be in the new earth, and in the resurrection out from among the dead. “That the promise to Abraham has reference to the resurrection state, is no novel or unscriptural view. “Rabbi Eliezer the Great, supposed to have lived just after the second temple was built, applied Hosea 14:8 to the pious Jews, who seemed likely to die without seeing the glory of Israel, saying: ‘As I live, saith Jehovah, I will raise you up in the resurrection of the dead; and I will gather you with all Israel.’ “The Sadducees are reported to have asked Rabbi Gamaliel, the preceptor of Paul, whence he would prove that God would raise the dead; who quoted Deut. 9:21: ‘Which land the Lord sware that he would give to your _fathers_.’ He argued, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had it not, and as God cannot lie, that they must be raised from the dead to inherit it.