Christian Witness: Volume 1

ALL additional clearing up of scripture must tend to the affording more effectual witness to the Church; and it will not, I am persuaded, be beside the object of this collection, to allude to anything which may bring the force of the word into light, though It may not be of great depth, or of any special importance as to learning. With this purpose, I would notice the second chapter of the first epistle of John. The term “Little children,” is the English rendering both for τεκνια and παιδια, and this much obscures the division and the application of the Apostle’s instruction, the beauty of which appears to me to be exceedingly great. The 12th verse is addressed to the whole of those to whom the Apostle is writing, as in the 1st verse of the chapter, and also again in the 28th; both of which are addressed. to all ‘to whom he is writing. It was common to them all to have their sins forgiven, as it was to be warned to abide in Him. Then in the 13th verse, begins the distinctive address— “I write unto you fathers, young men, little children,” παιδια. In the 14th again— “I have written unto you fathers, young men.” He then follows out in instruction exactly what young men are liable to, in the strong hope of the vigor of their natural energy, in the which they were the rather to do the will of God, and that did not fade, as the lusts of the world, but abode forever; and then he turns to little children παιδια which, as with the utmost parental anxiety, He warns of their liability to be seduced by deception, and while with the utmost consideration and holy honor done to Him whom they loved, he gives them credit for all that the communion of the Spirit could afford them; yet he presents many things before them on which that intelligence could exercise itself, Nothing can be more beautiful than the perfect care with which he parentally provides for their security, strengthening them with reference to Him in whom their strength was, and exquisitely avoiding, what might turn them from the use of his care, the suggestion that they could not do without it. He could not indeed, intimate this without assuming what no man could assume because of the common in-dwelling of the Spirit in the saints, the same Spirit which dwelt in him. Yet in what wisdom does he bring forth the greater and more deep apprehensions which the Spirit afforded him, that the same Spirit leading them, might receive these and inform their souls by them. As it is, indeed, most exquisitely beautiful in its fitness of address, coming immediately from the Spirit of God, so is it also most instructive to us, of the mariner of profit in the operation of the Holy Ghost amongst us at any time.

The second series then, is fathers, to the middle of verse 14; young men, to the end of verse 17; and little children, to the end of verse 27 and then the Apostle resumes the general thread of his discourse. I have merely thrown this out, but the detail of instruction will, I think, there be found to be appropriated with the most exquisite perfection, and to open out the mind and relationship, whether of old or young men, or little children in Christ, in a way which gives us the advantage of all. May His saints abound in the Spirit, which will give them simplicity of children and the energy of young men, with that acquaintance with Him that is from the beginning—the full purpose of God in Christ, and humble us all in the sense of our weakness. I would only remark in addition, that the full fact of having the forgiveness of sins, is no attainment after previous probation, but the common portion of all the τεκνια; and that παιδια, babes in Christ, are owned as having this blessing, even the knowledge of the Father, which is the full spirit of personal liberty and joy, though not that full assurance of understanding, which in the knowledge of τόν ὰπ΄ άρχῆς could baffle the snares and wiles of Satan, the spirit of antichrist. The Lord give us to know much of His glory and keep His Church, continually looking to it, for His name’s sake. Amen.

The Apostolic Fathers

The preceding Extracts on the identity of the offices of Bishop and Elder, have been made in consequence of the importance which this question is beginning to assume, from the high authority which is again being claimed for the episcopal office; and in order also that the language of scripture may be placed in contrast with the passages from the apostolic fathers which will now be given. The scriptural evidence upon the subject is perfectly simple and uncomplicated, and clearly proves that the assumption of a third order above that of Elders, was made subsequently to the original order settled by the Apostles. They themselves were of an order peculiar and incommunicable. Their gifts were peculiar; (1 Cor. 12:28.) their “signs” were peculiar: (2 Cor. 12:28.) and they derived their authority only by the direct appointment of the Lord Himself, or the express revelation of the Spirit, as in the case of Barnabas; and it appears also to have been needful that they should have seen the Lord, in order to be witnesses to His resurrection. (see Acts 1 and 1 Cor. 9:1) But since it is extensively affirmed that they transmitted their own peculiar office to others, that an individual as their representative was appointed to take the supreme charge of ecclesiastical affairs in each Church, and that Timothy and Titus were thus appointed to Ephesus and Crete, the reader is referred to the Note, (Page 910) where it is shown that they were simply fellow helpers of the Apostle Paul in the several p arts through which he traveled without any special designation to a particular and limited district. This will more plainly appear from the following passages.—

(Acts 19:22.) “So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus.”

(1 Cor. 4:17.) “I have sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, &c., who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways, which be in Christ, as I teach every where and in every Church.”

(1 Cor. 16:10.) “Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear: for he worketh the work of the Lord as also I do.”

(2 Cor. 1:19.) “The Son of God, Jesus Christ who was preached among you by us, even by me, and Sylvanus, and Timotheus.”

(Phil. 2:19.) “But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you.”

(1 Thess. 3:2.) “We sent Timotheus our brother, and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and to comfort you.”

(2 Tim. 4:5.) “Do the work of an EVANGELIST. Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me.” (at Rome)

(Heb. 13:23) “Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty, with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you.”

(2 Cor. 2:12.) “When I came to Troas,” “I had no rest in my spirit because I found not Titus my brother.”

(2 Cor. 7:6) “God comforted us by the coming of Titus.” (2 Cor. 8:6.) “We desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also.”

(2 Cor. 8:16.) “Thanks be to God who hath put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you.”

(Gal. 2:1.) “I went up again to Jerusalem and took Titus with me.” (2 Tim. 4:10.) “Titus is departed for Dalmatia.”

Thus, then, neither Timothy nor Titus received any particular charge, but were commissioned as need required, to the different Churches, without being permanently stationary in any place. The argument therefore which is brought forward to support the pretensions of modern episcopacy, by asserting Timothy and Titus to be the precursors of diocesan Bishops, is not supported by scripture. And as it has been before shown that in all the different passages of scripture, where Bishops or Elders are spoken of, the titles are indiscriminately used, (a fact allowed by many even of the supporters of episcopal claims) the distinction, if persisted in, must be grounded upon other evidence than that of the New Testament. Accordingly we find in the present day, much use beginning again to be made of the authority of the apostolical Fathers; an authority which would have less weight with many, if their writings were more generally known. They are triumphantly quoted by the defenders of the present state of things, in the Christian Church; and those who have not inquired beyond the passages which they may incidentally have seen, are not unfrequently disposed to attach more than usual importance to the testimony of the immediate successors of the apostles, who are supposed to have drank immediately from the streams of the instruction of God’s Spirit through them. But how is the reader surprised, not only at the grievous lack of spiritual power, but the puerilities, and in some cases, inconceivable absurdities which are to be met with in these writings. It seems as if God had stamped at once the difference between his own Word, and the productions of weak and erring man, by showing us immediately the deficiency of that which His own Spirit did not dictate, even in the works of those who lived immediately after, or even within the times of the Apostles. Far less of edification indeed is to be derived from them, than from many of the Fathers of much later date. It has been truly said “Primitive Christianity discovers its character only in the scriptures of the New Testament, for no sooner do we sink into the writings of what are called the apostolical fathers, than we begin to feel the poverty of uninspired theology, and the early efforts of the secondary Church to gain an undue and worldly authority.” It is remarkable indeed to observe from the following passages, how soon, in default of the real moral power possessed by the Apostles, the tone of assumption and claim of prescribed reverence arose in the Church. The passages are given, because it is on these that the maintainers of episcopal succession lay the principal stress of their arguments, whenever doubts are raised respecting the validity of their assertions that the distinction between Bishop and Elder is actually to be found in scripture, and that Timothy and Titus were such Bishops. The comparison of the extracts with the scriptures, may be safely left to all, who look upon the word of God alone, to be in itself the ultimate and sufficient standard of decision.

Ignatius to the Ephesians. 4.— “For even Jesus Christ, our inseparable life, is sent by the will of the Father, as the Bishops appointed to the utmost bounds of the earth, are by the will of Jesus Christ. Wherefore it will become you to run together according to the will of your Bishop, as also ye do. For your famous Presbytery (worthy of God) is fitted as exactly to the Bishop as the strings are to the harp.”

VI. “It is therefore evident that we ought to look upon the Bishop even as we would do upon the Lord Himself.”

To the Magnes. VI— “Your Bishop presiding in the place of God; your Presbyters in the place of the council of the Apostles; and your Deacons being intrusted with the ministry of Jesus Christ. &c.”

VII. “As therefore the Lord did nothing without the Father, being united to Him, &c. so neither do ye anything without your Bishop and Presbyters.”

XIII..— “Be subject to your Bishop, and to one another, as Jesus Christ to the Father according to the flesh; and the Apostles, both to Christ and to the Father, and to the Holy Ghost”

To the Trall.— “Let all reverence the Deacons as Jesus Christ; and the Bishop as the Father; and the Presbyters as the Sanhedrim of God and College of the Apostles —Without these there is no Church.”

To the Rom.— “Ye may give thanks to the Father through Jesus Christ, that He has vouchsafed to bring a Bishop of Syria, (Ignatius) unto you, being called from the East unto the West.”

To the Philad.— “I cried whilst I was among you, I spake with a lone voice; —Attend to the Bishop, and to the Presbytery, and to the Deacons. He is my witness, for whose sake I am in bonds, that I know nothing from any man; but the Spirit spake, saying on this wise, do nothing without the Bishop.”

To the Smyrn.— “ See that ye all follow your Bishop, as Jesus Christ the Father, and the Presbyters as the Apostles; and reverence the Deacons as the command of God. Let that Eucharist be looked upon as well established which is either offered by the Bishop, or by him to whom the Bishop has given his consent. It is not lawful without the Bishop, neither to baptize, nor to celebrate the Holy Communion.”

Such is the character of the testimony, on which (in opposition it may be affirmed to all the witness of scripture itself) is grounded the main support which the question is considered to receive from the apostolical Fathers; for the appeal is principally made to the epistles of Ignatius; and it is remarkable that the tone of authority assumed in the passages above quoted, is not at all to be found in any of the other Fathers of the same date. Indeed it is remarkable that Clement, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, clearly supports the scriptural view that there were only two offices in the Church— “The Apostles appointed the first fruits of their conversions to be Bishops and Ministers over such as should afterward believe, having first proved them by the Spirit. Nor was this anything; seeing that long before, it was written concerning Bishops and Deacons. For thus saith the scripture, in a certain place, ‘I will appoint their Overseers in righteousness and their Ministers in faith.’ We need not stop here to notice Mosheim’s opinion of the writings of Ignatius—that he esteems “the authenticity of the epistle to Polycarp to be extremely dubious;” and declares “the question concerning all his epistles to labor under much obscurity, and to be embarrassed with many difficulties:” for, granting them all required credit, it needs only to place them by the side of the holy scriptures to be convinced of the entire difference of the state of things therein upheld, with that which ap. pears in the writings of the Apostles; and we are constrained to refer to the Bible alone as the sole arbitrator of this and every other question concerning Christ’s order for His Church. It is one of the sad proofs how soon the Spirit of the Apostles passed away from the Church after their decease, and at what an early period the way was prepared for receiving human authority in the place of the government of the Spirit, by which the seeds of the general declension, which so soon defaced the Church’s true and spiritual glory, were sown too effectually ever to be extirpated. Thus much is evident upon the face of the argument, that the government of the Churches, in the days of the Apostles themselves, was under the care of several Bishops in each; as in the case of the Church at Ephesus before mentioned; and that they were appointed Bishops by the Holy Ghost— This was therefore the Lord’s own ordering. But if a change was subsequently introduced, it was a change of a divine institution, not to be sanctioned even by the authority of the apostolical Fathers themselves.

The following citations from the Fathers, (quoted by Dwight) will show how conflicting and uncertain all the testimony posterior to that of scripture has ever been.

Jerome says that “A Presbyter is the same as a Bishop; and that originally the Churches were governed by the joint council of the Presbyters.” Again, “Let the Bishops know that they are greater than Presbyters, rather by custom than by the real appointment of the Lord.”

And again, “Among the ancients, Presbyters and Bishops were the same.”

Firmillian, Bishop of Caesarea, says “that in Elders is vested the power of baptizing, imposition of hands, and ordinations.”

Hilary says “the Presbyters were at first called Bishops.”

Theodoret says “Of old, they called the same men both Bishops and Presbyters.”

Not to omit any part of scripture whence proofs of episcopacy are supposed to be derived, the argument sometimes drawn from Rev. 2 and 3 may be noticed. But it would be difficult to prove that the angels therein addressed, mean an individual minister in each, superior to the rest. The addresses are applicable not to an individual, but to a collective body, as is manifest from their whole character; and it is observable, that in the first four of them, the singular pronoun thou is changed into the plural you, while the same person is addressed. Thus Christ says to the angel of the Church in Thyatira, “but unto you I say (υμιν δε λεγω) and unto the rest in Thyatira.” αγγελοι have been explained to denote either the ministering spirits employed in the invisible government of these Churches, or their visible governors as a whole who presided over them. But, however this may be, on a foundation so uncertain, nothing can be rested for the confirmation of a question like the present.

A few extracts are added from the epistles of the fathers, with the view of showing how little trust is to be placed in names of note or antiquity; although Archbishop Wake in his preliminary discourse concludes, “that they were not only not mistaken in what they deliver to us as the gospel of Christ, but in all the necessary parts of it were so assisted by the Holy Ghost, as hardly to have been capable of being mistaken in it.”

St. Clement. 1 Ep. to the Cor. 15. “Let us consider that wonderful type of the resurrection, which is seen in the eastern countries; that is to say in Arabia. There is a certain bird called the Phoenix; of this there is never but one at a time, and that lives five hundred years; and when the time of its dissolution draws near that it must die, it makes itself a nest of frankincense and myrrh, and other spices, into which when its time is fulfilled, it enters and dies. But its flesh putrifying, it breeds a certain worm, which being nourished with the juice of the dead bird, brings forth feathers; and when it is grown to a. perfect state, it takes up the nest in which the bones of its parent He, and carries it from Arabia to Egypt, to a city called Heliopolis; and flying in open day, in sight of all men, lays it upon the altar of the Sun; and so returns from whence it came. The priests then search into the records of the time, and find that it returned precisely at the end of five hundred years.”

Ignatius to the Eph. 8 “My soul be for yours, and myself the expiatory offering for your Church of Ephesus, so famous throughout the world.” xviii. Jesus Christ was born and baptized, that through His passion He might purify water to the washing away of sin.

Catholic Epistle of Barnabas. 9. “Abraham who was the first that brought in circumcision, looking forward in the Spirit to Jesus, circumcised, having received the mystery of three letters. For the scripture says, that Abraham ‘circumcised three hundred and eighteen men of his house.’ but what, therefore, was the mystery that was made known unto him? Mark, first the eighteen, and next the three hundred. For the numeral letters of ten and eight are I. H. And these denote Jesus; and because the cross was that by which we were to find grace, therefore he adds three hundred, the note of which is T. [the figure of His cross.] Wherefore by two letters, he signified Jesus; and by the third His cross. He who put the engrafted gift of His doctrine within us, knows that I never taught to any one a more certain truth, but I trust ye are worthy of it.”

From the shepherd of Hermas, it is difficult to quote, on account of the incredible absurdities of which it is composed, and it is with much reluctance that the following passages are added.

Com. 6:2. “There are two angels with man, one of righteousness, the other of iniquity. And I said to him, “Sir, how shall I know that there are two such angels with man,” “Hear” says he “and understand; the angel of righteousness is mild and modest, and gentle, and quiet; when, therefore, he gets into the heart, know then that the angel of righteousness is with thee. Wherefore hearken to this angel and to his works, &c.”

Com. 11:2. “When therefore a man who hath the Spirit of God, shall come into the Church of the righteous, who hath the faith of God, and they pray unto the Lord, then the holy angel of God fills that man with the blessed Spirit, and he speaks in the congregation as he is moved of God.”

Simil. ix. 28. “As to the eleventh mountain, in which were trees loaded, with several sorts of fruit, they are such as have believed and suffered death, for the name of the Lord, and have endured with a ready mind, and have given up their lives with all their hearts.” And I said, “why then Sir, have all these fruit indeed, but yet some fairer than others?” “Hearken,” said he “whosoever have suffered for the name of the Lord, are esteemed honorable—by the Lord; and all their offenses are blotted out because they have suffered death for the name of the Son of God.”

It is needless to multiply quotations. We have shown that the testimony of the scripture is plain as to the existence of two and only two offices in the permanent arrangement of the Church but the fathers recognize another office and labor to invest it with the full authority of Christ. The value of their testimony may be estimated from the extracts that have been given, which do indeed prove their writings to have been emphatically the word of man.

But the time is come when we have to make our choice between the word of man, and the word of the living God. The Papal system has made its choice and is practically consistent therewith, How many will be retaken in its tempting snare, is known only to Him who seeth the end from the beginning. The two master principles of men’s minds, dominion and insubjection, are working in great energy, and they will bring to pass the strange exhibition of the latter day. All who are giving away to their lust for authoritative rule will cling to the seducing doctrines of apostolical authority, whilst those who lust for liberty in the flesh, will take the opposite of political dissent.

But the flock of Christ shall not perish, neither shall any duck them out of His hand. They will be taught the value of His plain and simple word, and they shall be kept from that hour of temptation which is coming to try all the dwellers upon earth. Blessed are they who keep us commandments.

"Appel Aux Chretiens De France, Et De L'etranger, En Faveur De L'englise Evangelique De Lyon; Par Adolphe Monod." Paris, 1833.

IN giving the following papers, containing information of what is passing out of England, we confine ourselves to that which appears to witness any general movement, or grace in the Church of Christ. We do not agree necessarily with all the views, as may be supposed, for they often differ one from another, nor do we give them as affording the particular views of the parties. These are to us comparatively immaterial. When they are mixed up with the information contained they are necessarily brought forward, and thence alone, come to be inserted. The evidence of the movements of God’s Spirit is that which we seek. The writer of the appeal from which these extracts are made, was pastor of the reformed National Church at Lyons, He is one, who to spirituality of purpose, unites, in the estimate of the religious French, very eminent abilities. At the time of a late vacancy of the theological chair, at Montauban, upon the effort of the Christian part of the reformed Church, to have a Christian put into the chair instead of an unbeliever and Neologian, the eyes of the Christians of France were, we believe, universally turned to this Mr. Monod, as the one who would sustain the part. This makes the position in which he now stands, more interesting, and his evidence, as probably well acquainted with the prevailing feeling, of greater force. It may perhaps, be an actual hindrance to the rapidity of his personal progress, though of this, we do not presume to judge. He has two brothers, one, Pasteur adjoint in the Oratoire, at Paris, also a Christian; the other, late pastor at St. Quentin, whom, we believe his flock has excluded; but of whom, though ill when we last heard of him, we would speak with all the affection and respect which the gentlest and sweetest spirituality of mind gave birth to, when we had the privilege of seeing him. We trust Christians may become interested in what is passing abroad, since, as affording evidence of the movements of God’s Spirit, and giving it a larger character, it immediately and equally affects us here. The movement is far more extensive than people generally suppose. At Geneva, where the great body of the ministers were socinian, and had been progressively settling into it, till, in 1817, they forbad the preaching of fundamental truths; a distinct seminary for Christian ministers has been established, and there are Christian bodies formed, under circumstances very similar to that at Lyons, with more or less decision on the part of those who were previously ministers; to the piety and spirituality of some of whom, the writer of this can speak. In other parts of Switzerland, a similar work has taken place. In the Canton de Vaud, it was extensively the case; some there, united themselves to the reformed National Church, when the power of Christianity prevailed in it, others not. We have added at the close, an account from Neufchatel and its neighborhood, of a similar work which has, since the date of this, increased in extent—four little bodies being formed. The extracts are as follows:—

My dismissal had two causes, or, in language more exact, a cause and an occasion. The cause, was my attachment to the evangelical doctrine contained in the word of God, and received by all protestant Churches. The occasion, was my adherence to this order, that it is not proper to admit to communion any body indiscriminately, without any reference to possession or life.

By different means, a considerable number of persons were drawn to the faith. When I was deprived, they were divided into two congregations; one, pursuing a line of conduct similar to my own, had not departed from the Church; the larger, only attended the worship when the truth was preached. Many had ceased to receive the communion, even before I ceased to administer it, their scruples preceding mine; and their departure, which I had not observed, was unknown to me, until after I had myself acted thus in my pastoral character. In opposing, therefore, the disorder of the communion, I did no more than express the general feeling, and this feeling was not in them, the result of the spirit of separation, since they had refused to separate. It flowed quite from the Spirit of Christ, a spirit of gentleness and patience, but also of order and faithfulness.

The other congregation nearly equal in number to the first, consisted of Christians, who in the winter of 1830, had separated from the Establishment, and under the direction of a lay member, a former deacon of the Consistory, formed a dissenting Church. They had neither a pastor nor a regular administration of the sacraments. Though these two congregations differed in the views of the Establishment, yet they were united in the bonds of Christ and regarded one another in the spirit of love and not of Condemnation.

Having resolved to remain at Lyons, the next question was, What has God given me to do there? The most immediately pressing, thought I, is to establish the preaching of the truth. I will open a chapel, in which all who desire it, may hear the doctrine of salvation. But shall the work of preaching limit my exertions, or shall I join to it that of pastor, and shall I administer the sacraments? In the first position I avoided many difficulties, and personally, I should have preferred it; but when considered the hunger and thirst Christians had for communion, the desire of many to present their children to baptism, and the importance of uniting the two congregations, which might never again occur—the example of the Apostles pressed upon me. They established Churches wherever the truth had been preached effectually, and for several years this had been done in Lyons. Urged by these considerations, I determined to connect the administration of the sacraments with the preaching of the gospel; in other words to found a Church and to commit myself to God —for deliverance from surrounding difficulties.

To found a Church, and of what character? One placed by its origin in a new position, and which from the world, and even many Christians must encounter all these prejudices associated with the single word separation, whether well or ill applied. And in what circumstances? When protestant opposition triumphed in my suspension, and when perhaps, I was on the point of exciting a Roman Catholic opposition. And in what times? When questions about the constitution of Churches were more than ever agitated, explained, or shall I say obscured by discussion. And with what assistance? Alone, with little experience in the pastoral office; still more so the formation of a Church, surrounded by friends, who in this point, not better informed then myself, confided in me for direction. At one moment, I thought of preparing the base of a constitution of a Church, which I should look for in the Acts of the Apostles, studied for this special purpose. But I soon found in this step that I could not find any peace.

With what prudence and attention soever these first foundations should have been laid, yet if I deceived myself, that deception would perhaps, have been in some point of consequence. If in a matter so little cleared up in the scripture, since it is so controverted among Christians I should, which might easily happen, either be wholly at a loss, or make false steps in the commence merit, on which all hung, I might endanger at once, the future existence of the Church which I desired to establish. I could never proceed with confidence in this way. But it occurred to me, there is a way in which I shall find peace, and the Establishment security. I will wait; I will follow the Lord step after step, day after day, doing according to need what shall be marked out by Him by circumstances and necessity, allowing myself to be conducted by Slim, where He will, as He will, when He will.

Those Christians at Lyons, as before-mentioned, having se ceded in December, 1830, and formed a dissenting Church without a pastor, would have desired after my suspension, that I should have put myself at the head of their Church. The Christians that followed me from the Establishment, might if they chose, enter it as members, and the Church to be founded would have assumed the name and character of the dissenting Church. To speak more properly, there was nothing to be founded, all was ready; a Church formed, fixed in constitution, a line marked out and precedent into which I and the Christians who followed me had only to enter. Adopting thus particular views, all Christians could not agree with me. I could not therefore, accept this position. I took my stand on a point, elevated above controverted questions. My desire was, to see in Lyons, Christians neither distinguished by the epithet, national or dissenting, but bearing as one man the single name of Christ. After preaching, the most important thing was the communion, But to whom should I give it? Should I administer it indiscriminately to all who might present themselves, at the moment of the ceremony?

No: since my experience in the Church has convinced me of the evil of this line of conduct. Further, as I was suspended partly for having denounced indiscriminate communion, I should now to avoid it, make use of my liberty. This was also the general desire, even of those Christian friends who had not left the National Church till I did.

I have not given a poetical description of the evangelical Church at Lyons. The beginning is small, but encourages the greatest hopes; supported not by the calculation of man, but the promises of God. This work has the marks which give the assurance of blessings from on high. Above all it is a work of faith, its origin was in faith, and during its progress we have walked and lived by faith. This is also a work of love. The children of God in Lyons, as at Jerusalem, unite in the same place. Here they all unite after having with various degrees of promptitude, gradually thrown off the fetters of prejudice; Protestants or Roman Catholics, Paedobaptists or Baptists, national or dissenting Christians. What support for love, for holiness, for preaching, for the extension of God’s kingdom! My brethren of Lyons and I have much reason to be humbled, in not deriving greater improvement from an advantage so valuable.

This is an evangelical work, yes truly evangelical. Its object is to raise the standard of Christ, unmingled with the trifles of human invention. It desires to know nothing but Christ, and Him crucified, and avoids as much as possible, secondary and controversial questions. Should any person inquire, ‘Is it national or dissenting?’ that is a point about which we do not trouble ourselves, Our position is too strong a one to involve this controversy. For the question here is not between the constitution of one Church, and that of another, but between truth and error. Also we have seen unite in this Church, Christians decidedly of the Establishment, and as decidedly dissenting, and this it appears to me, is an excellent aspect of our position, and by which the blessing of God is assured to it. Neither is our position anti-catholic, nor have we affected to do a protestant work. Our desire is to avoid all human barriers, and to make our establishment as open as possible to all who seek the Savior.

This is also an important and extended work, I may appear to advance a paradox when I say, that I believe my ministry has never had so great a field as at present. To me however, it seems the exact truth. While a minister in the Establishment, a barrier was raised between the Roman Catholic population and my preaching. I preach now for all, and the work now is progressively extending among the Catholics. When on April 29, we communicated for the first time, we were two-thirds protestants, and one-third catholics; of the thirty persons who presented themselves at Christmas for communion, one-third were protestants and two-thirds catholics, an inverse proportion of the first. Thus it is that the work is at once encouraging and extended, because it must be admitted, that generally the opposition to the truth is less among catholics than the protestants, and the immense majority of the French is catholic. The truth is more evident, when we consider that the gospel begins to be preached in country places, and the country is almost exclusively catholic. But in another point of view, it acquires new importance, and on you, brethren of France, has a peculiar claim of interest. It is that its influence is not merely local and Lyonese, but concerns the whole of Christian France. Something similar to that at Lyons, seems to pervade all France.

I imagine to myself a Christian saying, In the reformed Church of France, two spirits face each other, and are more and more in conflict; the Spirit of God and that of the world hence deplorable disorder in the Church, and intolerable fault in our religious course. This cannot always continue. After some time, when God only knows, these two spirits will take their respective sides. How shall this be accomplished? Will it be by the deprivation of evangelical pastors? The means are only in God’s power, but in some manner or other we are tending to a general separation between truth and error. Then, Christians will be able to unite more closely together, raise themselves above secondary and assemble as One body as they are but one spirit. I foresee a new organization, of which the two great traits will be, the separation of the children of God from the world, and their union with one another. God is sufficient to sustain the preaching of His word, and to provide for His servants. I am much mistaken, or a Christian speaking thus, would represent the majority, nay, almost the whole body of French Christians. Even among those who are without, especially the Roman Catholic population, there appears to me to be a movement of mind towards the truth.

This feeling is not to protestantism, but to the word of God as such, and of which the accomplishment will be the more easy and happy, in proportion as nothing shall be presented to it but this word. if these remarks have any foundation, have we not reason to believe that this movement in France, perceptible in our days, which I call an evangelical movement, will produce Churches similar in different degrees to that at Lyons, arising from the force of circumstances, founded in faith, conceived in principles of the largest charity, at the same time conducted with order, and addressing itself to large masses of people,

After stating the writer’s views of a Church and the Church, he adds— “Dissenting Christians, (He speaks of themselves, there being no dissent as such in the country) after having compared the national Church, its doctrine, its government, as a whole, and in detail, with the word of God, and the Churches established by the Apostles, have found in effect, the Church of the nation, and not the Church of Christ—and that they should separate from it, (John 10:4-5.) to form Churches, constituted according to the word of God. In the Church of Christ, discipline is exercised according to the commandment of the Lord. In the Church of Christ, pastors are not considered such, but with the characters which the word of God demands,” He then states many distinctions between his and the national Church; we proceed therefore to the facts he states as to themselves.

“The dissenting Christians have no public edifice for worship, neither do they think of having such hereafter. The Lord’s flock unite in a private house, selecting, as far as they can, a sufficiently, large place to hold conveniently the members of the Church, and others who are attracted by the preaching of the gospel. These little flocks were formed successively. The first was at Coffrane, ten years since, afterward, that at Neuchatel, at Bole, Dombressom, and Val de Travers; the number of the members can hardly be determined with exactness. The Church at Coffrane, consists of forty-five members; that of Neuchatel is more numerous; Bole, less. The principles and regulations of these Churches are such as the word of God teaches, to which they seek to be conformed more and more, through the grace of their supreme head—their great pastor, the bishop of their souls, who wishes that there should be in every Church one or more pastors, who will preach the word, and feed the flock of Christ; deacons and deaconesses, to visit the poor, to administer to their necessary help, as also to procure their edification on all occasions.”

“The pastors, deacons, deaconesses, receive the laying on of hands, from one or several other ministers from other Churches, and are thus consecrated to the Lord’s work, in the presence of the Churches. They do not receive a new member, without having carefully examined him with regard to his faith and walk; after having recognized him as faithful, they receive him in the Church, and implore for him the Lord’s blessing.”

“The service opens with prayer—they sing a hymn—they read a portion of the holy scriptures, which they explain; the women do not speak in the Church, but the privilege of speaking is allowed to any brother, gifted with the power of instruction or edification, provided everything is done in the order which the word requires. The service or worship thus offered to the Eternal, closes with singing and prayer. He who prays, prays from his heart, according as the Lord gives him to do it in simplicity. The Churches have meetings, called Church meetings, to treat of their private affairs; and public assemblies for all those who seek the truth as it is in Jesus.”

Appendix

The restoration of the kingdom of Israel, under the Son of David, is the special fruit of the resurrection of Jesus; the ascension serves the uses of this present dispensation. (Eph. 4:8.) Accordingly Peter takes a distinction between these things, telling us that the resurrection was required because of the promise made to David’s throne; and that the ascension was required because of the promise of the Holy Ghost to the Church. (Acts 2) The Prophets, in accordance with this, commonly present the hopes and revival of Israel under the figure of resurrection; (Isa. 26; Ezek. 37, Hos. 6:2) and it appears that the Jews regarded the Messiah, the resurrection, and the kingdom, as one and the same thing. (See John 11:25-27, Luke 23:42.)

Resurrection, in these observations, I advisedly distinguish front ascension. In many senses I know they are treated in scripture as the same. But here, by resurrection, I mean our blessed Lord’s return from the grave to the earth; and, by ascension, His return from earth to heaven. It would have served the purposes of this dispensation had the Lord at once gone from the grave to heaven; for it is in Him, as in heaven, that the Church finds her direct and immediate interest. (Rom. 5:10, 2 Cor. 4:10, Eph. 4:8, Col. 3:1, Heb. 3:1, 4:14, 7:25, 10:12, 1 John 3:1.) She is maintained and is to come to her full stature by the virtues of the ascended Jesus; for as such, He is the Head of life, and dispenser of the Spirit to His members; but it is the kingdom of Israel which is to manifest the direct fruit of the resurrection, in• as much as it is to witness Christ on earth again, the head of the nations, the restorer of the earthly human system—Son of David.

Our Lord Jesus clearly recognized Himself as Son of David, for He answered every appeal made to Him in that character. But He was more than David’s Son, He was also David’s Lord. Into this condition, however, He did not formally enter as to dispensation, till He ascended and was glorified at the right hand of God. (Matt. 22) But then He did; and the saints having, association with Him, as thus ascended, sit with Him in His glory as David’s Lord; and will therefore judge the world, and the tribes of Israel.

There is such a proceeding of God as the profanation of His own ordinance. This is a judicial visitation upon His unfaithful stewards. Thus the throne of David, which was God’s ordinance of earthly government, was profaned. The Lord was wrath with His anointed—He made void the covenant of His servant—He profaned His crown by casting it to the ground. (Psa. 89:38, 39.) So admitting that an apostolically appointed body is the Lord’s ordinance for witnessing the truth and ministering the Spirit, yet it may in like manner be profaned, The way of doing this in the two cases must differ, because the purpose of the ordinances themselves differ. Thus God profaned the throne of David when He took earthly dominion from it, allowing it to pass over into Gentile hands for that throne was to be the holder of earthly dominion. But he profanes the apostolically appointed body (ordained, as we admit, for the ministry of the Spirit,) by withdrawing this grace from it, and allowing the fullness that is in the blessed glorified head, to pass through a new channel. Has He done so? or has He continued to dispense His truth and grace through the Romish and Established clergy of these lands, who are this apostolically appointed body, to the denial or rejection of every other agency? The truth and life of God are I have granted and do thankfully acknowledge in multitudes both of men and women in the Established Church; but this is a very different thing from that which I am considering. For I will repeat it, that where the rules of these apostolically appointed bodies are most rigidly enforced, there the energy of the Spirit is not found, as he that runs may read. And are we to be moved, though a voice break from a pile of ruins, dead, not living stones, crying “the temple of the Lord are these?”

On the Cause, Means, Mode, & Characteristics of the Present Apostasy

All the blessedness of the saints flows into them immediately out of Jehovah, being nothing but the appropriation to themselves of His fullness by the Spirit. Thus the character of each is to be the counterpart of that of Jesus, and depends for its strength and energy, upon the simplicity of our faith in the character of God, as set forth in the work and person of Immanuel. The development in action of this inward character is regulated by the revealed will of God: but in order that the souls of His beloved may not be disturbed by the allowed contrariety in a world of evil, between His will and His purpose, the oracles of God open to us what, notwithstanding every effort of good and evil agencies, the ending of each section of time will be. Hope also is the power of salvation; the things hoped for being the very mold of character. These considerations sufficiently show the importance of a full entry into the termination of this dispensation. That apostasy and then judgment are fore-ordained to the present times of the Gentiles, we take to be acknowledged by those to whom we write.

1st.— “THE CAUSE.” As apostasy is the marring of a work of God, it is evil and like all evil, (which glorifies God by its essential contrariety to His own character,) its cause is Satan; Satan acting in the energy of his own principles of hatred and unholiness, yet in deed and in truth, under the restraint of the counsel of’ God. For as we are assured that of good, seen or unseen, there is but one primary cause—even God; so as certainly we do know that though the streams of evil may be innumerable, they all flow from the one fountain-head—that old serpent, the devil. Not that our minds are to rest even there, for though in contemplating the progress of that which is good, its source ends our search, and all benefit to be derived from after occupation with a subject must be found in the rest of admiration at the glorious character of our God, as found therein; yet the case is different with respect to evil. Having traced the course of any stream to its true and only head, we are not (blessed he God) left to rest in awe and disgust at the origin, but are called again to advance and forget the hideousness of sin in meditating upon the wondrous combination of love, power, and holiness, which has ever displayed itself even in connection with Satan, limiting the extent of power by a line not to be passed over, restraining his energy within prescribed bounds, and then turning his malice and evil working to the glory of Jesus, and the salvation of the saints. The one sole cause, however, of any departure from God, past, present, or future, is Satan.

2nd.— “OR THE MEANS.” One monitory word of the Lord will be the opening— “Whilst men slept,” The Lord’s husbandry when opened to the Gentiles, was one capable of bearing abundant fruit; He who held the office of chief husbandman, was not likely to fail either in understanding or ability. His object in bringing them in, to have a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. The seed also was good, both in character and quality: the soil well prepared, and the sunshine and dew of heaven not lacking to give confirmation to hope. Through what means then came the evil? Through the fellow laborers (1 Cor. 3:9) in the work, and through them alone. “Whilst men slept (as though there were DO fear of birds rooting up, thorns choking, or an adversary sowing tares amid the wheat,) an enemy came and did this.”

3rd.— “THE MODE.” “As the repose of the saints, as well as their strength, is found in the fullness. inherent in Christ Himself and not in any measure of grace put forth by His own hand out of Himself, there seems to be a needs be that every dispensation, save perhaps that in which His personal glory is seen, should fall away on its immediate establishment, and although it might be continued as the witness of God, would only stand in His forbearance. Thus the Israelites made a calf, or ever the law was given, and the Gentile Church knew its glory only whilst Jewish, i.e., under the immediate administration of the Apostles. Whereby the boundless expanse of God’s own character and glory, becomes the treasure and joy of each saint, instead of a limited measure of them embodied in the dispensation. A distinct analogy is declared by Paul, to exist between the conduct of the Jewish nation and that of the Gentile Church. (1 Cor. 10:6.) These things were our ensamples (or types of us τυποι ημων;) and ver.- 11, these things happened unto them for examples, (types) and they are written for our admonition. On this ground the Apostle distinctly warns, and that, standing at the outset of the coming departure from God and consequent judgment. Let the faithful trace out in the many particular evils to which he alludes, the more definite features of correspondence in character; we stand at the close, and shall content ourselves with noticing remarkable analogy. 1st.—In the conduct of the two histories; and 2ndly—in the principles of the two departures from God.

In the histories. After much pressure in vain from external adversaries, both, as is ever the case with that which is taken into ostensible connection with God, were betrayed from within. Coveting conformity to the glory of that which was seen around them, each asked a king. Thus provoking God to anger, they were chastened again and again, till through their want of repentance their respective temples were polluted, and Babylonish captivity established. At length a remnant, but oh! how wretched a remnant brought forth, after repentance, from under the cruel hand of the adversary. A second temple built, the great body of the nation still in captivity, and misery, and apostasy: the temple a boast indeed to the young and ignorant, but a lamentation and sorrow to those who by reason of age, could understand the former glory. The sudden blaze of heaven which burst forth in these times of reformation, seemed indeed the presage of better times and things; but the meteor blaze passed, and appeared to have been allowed, but to make men conscious of the character and presence of the prevailing darkness; and in termination, when tried by the testimony of Jesus, the alienation from God of the whole is shown, and a remnant left, “whose spirit is willing, but whose flesh is weak,” to follow their Lord through His rejection in the house of His friends. The gospel of Matthew presents Jesus as the touchstone of trial, and proof to the Jewish nation, and in a peculiar way demands our attentive study, as revealing what is proper for our present position. For whilst there is a striking resemblance between the modern high Churchman and the ancient Pharisees, the Evangelical and Sadducee, the Dissenter and the Herodian, we are called to be a people, leaving all, to follow the Lord whithersoever He goeth, and standing in conscious weakness indeed, by His principles and truth, in their now rapidly approaching open and last rejection by His professed people.

The gospel thus sets forth the alienation—1st—of the nation as a whole; 2ndly— of all the Religionists of the day; 3rdly —or the Instructors and Officers, Scribes and Lawyers, Elders, Priests, and High Priest; and lastly—of the people as persuaded by them. And this we say, with all confidence, that they who have not proved in their own persons, the very same among the professors of our day, either have not the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, or have the guilt of burying its light within their own bosoms. But enough, —we pass on, 2ndly, to the two apostasies, as corresponding.

The Headship of Jesus, as the glory of the Father upon earth, has been revealed in the three kingdoms of nature, of providence and of the spirit. The brightness of the day of the Son of God will consist in the simultaneous, manifest, and full tribute to Him from each and all of them. Foreshadowing that day, the revelations of His glory have as yet at no given time attempted to embrace more than one of these. In Adam according to the sovereignty of His own good pleasure, was displayed The glory of nature, though it all crumbled away through Satan, in the hand even of unfallen man, because not standing in God Himself. On the Israelitish nation He caused to shine the glory of providence; but it likewise failed of permanency, no flesh being able to stand, but the Spirit of the living God alone. And lastly, in the Gentile Church, were unveiled the glories of the Spirit; but, alas! where are even they, save as the broken fragments are seen yet abiding through the election of grace? For there is no stability or power of abiding in any creature apart from God, nor of the return of any creature to God, save by the indwelling of God Himself. That the revelation be of God’s own character—that the revealer of it should be the Son of God with power—that our apprehension of it should be in the Spirit of God—are indeed indispensable requisites; yet unless there be the indwelling of God also, all will fall short of blessing to ourselves, terminating in the proof of the creature’s weakness. It may be well to consider severally of the

Three Kingdoms

Of Nature

Of Providence

Of The Spirit

The Elements

A God of goodness. Man upright and uncorrupt.

A God of forbearance dispensing righteousness. Man fallen and unconscious of it.

A God of grace. Man fallen shown to be at enmity in the flesh and alienated.

Blessings

The dominion of the earth.

Temporal and earthly. The exaltation of the nation above all around.

Spiritual and Eternal in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Condition Of Man

Obedience.

Recognition of, and obedience to God as their King.

Faith.

The whole power and strength of truth depends upon its being received in its native purity; so conscious is Satan of this, that he never fights save by truth—truth, however, either distorted or misapplied; whereby, to the unwary, he makes truth to be destruction. It was thus that he succeeded against Eve— “Ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil;” for God testified “He is become as one of us, knowing good and evil;” and it was thus that he was foiled in his attempts upon the second Adam in the wilderness, He being “The Truth” itself. Now what we maintain is, that both of the apostasies in question, originated in a departure from the truths of an existing, into those of a former dispensation. Instead therefore of discerning things that differ, and (whilst recognizing the truth and the application to Adam of that which was in nature) resting for guidance in duty on the things of the kingdom of providence, the Jews passed in thought into the former, and lost themselves through ignorance. So, likewise, has the Gentile Church made shipwreck, not by an intentional act of her own, but by want of discernment as to the difference of the standing of herself and Israel of old. The fall of the Jews whose glory was to have been in God as a God of providence, was by a blind cleaving to the things of NATURE; and we, whose call was to the glory of the Spirit alone, have fallen by a blind adherence to the things of PROVIDENCE. To enlarge upon this a little. In the kingdom of nature established by the goodness of God, in Adam, the necessary immutable law of the creatureship of man was — “thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and all thy mind, and all thy strength, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” When man made the truth of God to be a He, worshipping and serving the creature more than the creator, he did not alter the law of tribute and dependence of the creature towards the creator: the existing channels of communication he had indeed effectually closed, departing away from God, but the duties of the relationship remained in the nature of things just the same. God remained God still, the only fountain and center of blessedness; and His glory the certain end of every creature, either willingly, and so with enjoyment to themselves, or unwillingly (as in Satan) and so to their shame and anguish; man, at least, may rejoice that God remained God still; for, but for the proof of this in the gracious expulsion from Eden, he would have sealed irrecoverably his own doom in the eternal anguish of separation from God. The purpose of God however was answered; man’s power of standing in nature, and the possibility of God’s displaying His own glory in nature whilst standing out of Christ was disproved. The kingdom stood, but stood with a trophy erected upon it to mark the conquest and possession of Satan. Now man did not believe his own fall, and therefore when the time came for the manifestation of the fullness of the kingdom of providence, and God chose a nation to Himself to be their God, and their King, and to display the guardian power of His own love, these elements of nature were recognized though broken, (I might say as broken) in the law, which clearly was given that the offense might abound; not because they stood in the goodness of God, but with the express object of making them conscious that it was grace and undeserved mercy alone which could and did meet their necessities. But their thoughts were so monopolized with what should have been Adam’s care, that they forgot their God and King, revealing Himself as with a fostering band graciously waiting to do them good. And thus God was hindered displaying the glories of His providential care, because man stood as before in the flesh, and he again was proved a vessel, in himself, too weak to bear the divine glory.

The distinctive character of the present dispensation is the Spirit; for the secret of the whole kingdom is, that “the hour is come when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth: God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him, must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.” Accordingly Jesus not only declared before Pilate “my kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is my kingdom not from hence;” but He withdrew from the multitude when they came and sought to take Him by force, to make Him a King; (i.e., invest Him as under the Theocracy, with temporal authority,) and refused to interfere when applied to concerning civil rights, on the ground, not that it was beneath His dignity, but, that the case fell not within the range of His jurisdiction, “Who made me a judge or a divider over you?” His kingdom had reference to the invisible world; its strength was the sanctions of the rewards and punishments of a future state, and without connection, direct or indirect, with the kingdoms of this world. Its establishment was on the day of Pentecost, and the outpouring, and subsequently the indwelling of the Spirit of God with power. Its only KING, Himself the Lord of glory sitting at the right hand of the Father, until His enemies are made His footstool; yet present by faith, through the Spirit in the Churches. Its TEMPLE not made of brick and mortar, or stone hewn from the earth; “for the saints are the household of God, who are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets: Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, in whom the building fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” (Eph. 2:19) Its OFFICERS having their authority and power solely by, and in the Spirit; and all its GLORY spiritual, and hew transcendent that glory! For if there was a glory of that which was to be done away, as the ministration of death by Moses, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory; for even that which, was made glorious, had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which was done away, was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. “But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” The example of that glory in us, as individuals, is set forth in the person of our Lord, (for the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord,) according to the proportion of our faith, “the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head;” and what it should be, among the saints collectively, in the Church at Jerusalem, “where the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul, neither said any of them that ought of the things which He possessed was His own, but they had all things in common, And with great power gave the Apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all; neither was there any among them that lacked, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses, sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them at the Apostles’ feet, and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.”

The interference of Constantine (a king and a great one in that world in which Satan had been allowed to rear another and a second monument of victory over man, viz., in providence,) with the spiritual kingdom of our Lord Jesus, was no accidental unimportant circumstance, but the introduction of the very principle which has proved a root of bitterness, springing up and defiling many. It was like the forming of an opening in the embankment, which, though little, gives a course to those waters which, when the way is opened, have power in their very nature to destroy all they meet. In the kingdom of providence, whilst standing as the sphere of the manifestation of God, there was, from the first, always a manifestation of kingly power in the things of time: the sin of choosing a king was just that of putting a man like themselves in the place of God in His capacity of King. But the folly of the Gentiles has been greater, even the putting a man in the place of God, in His capacity of God. Then it was the substituting of an ordinance, inefficient and beggarly indeed, in a place of another, efficient and glorious; the power of both of which however was displayed in time; now it is the bringing in of an efficient ordinance of time, and out of a kingdom given as a whole to Satan, in the place of one efficient, of eternal things, and in the spiritual world of Christ’s present revelation. True, that though the sphere of manifestation is changed, and the power of the world passed as a whole into the hands of the prince of the power of the air, yet God so far now recognizes the duties of rulers (perhaps with the express object of rendering us without excuse) as to mention that they are for temporal punishment of all evil doers, and the temporal reward of them that do well.

The introduction of the principle having been made, its development was easy, and the progress in evil rapid. Worldliness and pride having dimmed the eye, so as to permit them to turn the kingdom of Jesus into a kingdom of this world, and to recognize a man as king in it, the next step was the assimilation of the form, &c., of worship. Buildings were reared with manifest reference to the model of the Jewish temple; and consecrated, as if to a peculiar (though altogether fancied) presence of God, each being called “the house of God:” the sabbath introduced in lieu of the Lord’s day; and an order of clergy formed after the ministry of the Mosaic economy; not according to the two classes of officers in the present, (elders or bishops, and deacons,) but according to the three of the former dispensation. The following extract from Collins’ Summary of Mosheim, will suffice on this subject. “The Christian doctors about the second century, were fortunate and artful enough to make the people believe that the Christian ministers had succeeded to the character, rights, and privileges, of the Jewish Priesthood: accordingly the bishops assumed to themselves a character similar to that of the High Priests; while the presbyters represented the Priests, and the deacons the Levites.” And what, we may ask, did the Romish Church do, but perfect the system? Surely a High Priest being established, there must be a sacrifice to offer; and an altar, and an absolution to pronounce; and vestments, and incense, &c. &c. Then comes the divine right of tithes, succession continued in the flesh, and periodical festivals, [all a loan from the Jewish ritual] as Easter for the Passover; Whitsuntide for Pentecost; &c.

Those things being granted, without question the law of Moses was rightly given a place; and then, having once forsaken the spiritual kingdom of Christ, where stood Jesus and the Spirit, for a kingdom of this world, it was as impossible to stop there, as for the millstone cast into the sea, to stay till it reaches the bottom; therefore man soon sunk down into the very dregs of Jewish apostasy, taking up with the law, and so getting a double condemnation. We do not hesitate to say that the guilt here referred to, applies to the whole Gentile Church; for though the Establishment and the sects dissenting from it, have filed off many of the more disgusting excrescences, not one has renewed God’s principle, through faith and repentance, turning from the evil of their way.

4—CHARACTERISTICS. The object of consideration is the Gentile Church. Let this be remembered; for if the thoughts of the party writing, be upon the Church as a whole, and the mind of those reading, upon individuals, misunderstanding will inevitably arise in treating upon the marks of apostasy, the essence of which differs according to its subject.

For the standing of the individual saint, is in the fullness, love, and glory found in God Himself; that of the Church as a whole cannot go beyond truth dispensed from and by God. Another, and a great difficulty seems to be, that the object at present proposed, is not the expression of private thought, but in love to bear, as extensively as may be, upon the hearts and minds of all those who love truth; thus making the consideration of apostasy a practical corrective to errant affections and thoughts wandering from God. To effect this we need accurate knowledge, not only of what actually is, but of what should be, as well as what measure of apprehension there is in others; which in recognized apostasy can never be supposed to exceed that which is connected with the very first principles of truth, for in apostasy of the Church, individual salvation alone is thought of. Let us compare then the Church as it is with the Church as it was in the times of the Apostles; endeavoring to detect the proofs and marks of departure from essential principles, as well as the introduction of others essentially opposed to them.

By the Gentile Church, we mean the corporate body, professedly the witness of God in the world, to whose care were committed the oracles of God; whose proper privilege was the indwelling of the Spirit, whereby it was made, in its component parts, in deed. and in truth, the body of Christ. Though time and space would not admit of our fully following up the idea in the present connection, we will state one thought in passing, that the existence and strength of all society, social or religious, is by and in God under some form or other; the character being dependent upon the truth or falsehood of the representation of God. Remove all that strength, even from the infidel faction against the Lord and His anointed, and but a mound of dust remains. Yet, alas how many a corporate body derives hourly strength from God, only to His dishonor. The same is true of individuals; for as no creature has existence but by God, so no strength but by receiving, often whilst denying, it out of His fullness. It is wonderful in this point of view, separating of course all the evil, which is only man’s, to contemplate acts of sin, the abuse of invested and sustained power. Look at the cross! Jesus not only originally nerved the arm which drives the nail, but it is His strength as sustainer which alone holds in existence the very life of him who thus rebels. And here is most clearly displayed, the greatness of the Church’s guilt, as well as the folly of her infidelity.

Let us proceed to examine the Church then, according to her bearings—And, 1st—the unsuitability of the descriptions given of the Church’s character in its original constitution, to anything now beheld, must have painfully struck the minds of most. Look to that most marked of all characteristics—love, as described. (Acts 4) Their hearts filled with the love of God, and their minds lost in the transcendent glory of the inheritance, whereunto all were brought, no longer did they seem able either to value the things of time, or to be subject to the spirit of separation, born and fostered in earthly possessions. “They had all things in common, and as many, as had lands, and houses, or possessions, sold them and brought the price, and laid it down at the Apostles’ feet.” Here was love, in practice so strong as to be incredible to the present generation, though indeed but a beggarly exhibition of the great things to which it pointed— “That all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me; and the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me.” All the proof of wretched contrast among ourselves is found in the way in which men make this fruit of a glorious entrance into the essential character of God to be the result of mere accident, of time, circumstance, &c.

Again, 2nd.—Let us look at the Church herself in her rightful connection with God. She was to stand forth as His witness, translating into the language of man the fullness of that glory of the Father, which was displayed is the Son. For as the saint reads the Father only as set forth in the Son, so is the Church the proper witness to the world. In her it should see the light of His glory embodied in action, and where the principle in God might not be understood by the world, there in its own language, of felt, though unacknowledged need and necessity, the Church should present the truth. And the transcript of the features of His truth were perfect—love, faithfulness, holiness, stability, power and blessedness, were seen in her, as though in His essential beauty, He had looked into a still lake. Alas! the reflection is as uncertain now as when one looketh into the troubled sea; every feature may be reflected at one moment, all lost at the next; and when reflected, out of all proportion, without harmony, the whole therefore without beauty. If the character of a body is confessed by the lives and conduct of its parts, we need only advert to the great difficulty of Missionary labors to show this; for what is it, but the ungodly wicked lives of the Christians, “who (say the heathen) know how to drink, to swear, to He, better than ourselves, whose objects are more cruel, whose means of effecting those objects less scrupulous.”

3rdly.— The means and objects of the Church were purely spiritual and holy; the means, earnest wrestling prayer with God, followed by a mighty outpouring of the Spirit, so that no flesh could glory in His presence: (see Acts 1 and 4) and in that most wonderful of all sermons, chap. 2 the only means of such great results, was a simple testimony concerning Jesus of Nazareth, and the Spirit sent down from heaven. Two things, which if not now forgotten, are so added to, as that if any results were to follow, these could not alone be admired; but the fact is, that such is the weakness of man, that you may as well take away God, as add other plausible means where He is; faith will never trust Him where the object is mixed, neither indeed will He ever act where the glory can go to another. The objects of the present day are so innumerable, that it will be best just simply to state “the one” then known, in its singleness, if not in its character so unlike the ends proposed in our days. “The glory of the holy child Jesus.”

4thly.—As to Satan. Whilst holiness was inscribed upon it, it was the aim of all his fiery darts, and if penetrated by a chance splint, it had life to work it out, and throw off the foreign substance; now it is the world, a cavern where he rolls in his filthiness, marking it with sins equal to, yea, worse than heathenism. The temple has become a den of thieves, and where holiness was, there are taught bribery and corruption openly, and unreprovedly. The worst spots however are those which proceed from the very partial and limited sway of the Spirit and the truth among us; whereby, even to the upright mind, there are often apparent divisions of God against God, and Satan against Satan, for good is prostituted to evil, and evil is sanctified to good, and dilemmas hence ensuing to the saints. How few but have felt the difficulty of seeing God in two opposite places, or duties at once. How many a nominal minister, emerging from some system of darkness, has been puzzled, “God has opened this sphere to me, thither I must go;” but God’s Spirit will not allow me to compromise my conscience in such or such a signature, or such a sanction of the evil connected with the system alluded to. How many a child has been puzzled between “Children obey your parents in all things,” and “He that leaveth not father and mother for my name’s sake, cannot be my disciple.” Again, how frequently is the mind paralyzed between the fear of the spirit of insubordination, and independence, or self-will, and the sanction of evil, by continuing in connection with it. These, as what follows, are but solitary cases out of a number innumerable; corresponding in character, though differing in the measure of complexity; some being simple in grace, or in nature, or in providence; some trebly complicated, either horn of the dilemma, a knot gleaned from the three. He that is unacquainted with the power of such things among the children of God, is yet ignorant of Satan’s devices. The religious machinery of the day, which proposes, out of gold and silver, honor, rank, and respectability, with a few soft speeches from a platform, to effect God’s work, is a fair illustration of evil sanctified to good. The glory of this world (and none of the raw materials of this machinery is aught else, however spiritual the semblance in the manufactured articles may be,) the glory of this world and of time, I say, can have no possible bearing upon the work of God, save in hindrance; and what HAVE they produced? anything but conversion and communion of SAINTS. On the other hand, all the beauteous machinery of God’s Church is oft (as in the Established Church) turned against the Spirit; so that God’s order of Pastors, Teachers, &c. is actually made the means of shutting up the truth; whilst among the dissenting, power, as of wisdom, ministry, &c. is set to the highest bidder.

5thly.—In regarding the saints, we get fresh marks of the same apostasy; not only in the complete absence of a fair manifestation of truth collectively, nor in want of individual conformity of heart and mind, and outward practice to the Spirit of the gospel, but even in the trips and falls they experience; either they remain asleep in ignorance of judgment at the door, the bridegroom at hand, no lamps prepared, no oil ready; or, else if they have arisen to follow God, too oft they get wide of the Spirit, or truth, or conduct of the gospel. We may, if we please, blame others (it is an easy task) or in self-complacency profess to pity; but in fact, most of the evil which has befallen the honest-minded, is but the proof of the apostasy of the spectators. A righteous and proper position in ourselves would check, as well as enable us to meet and bear with evil in others. Oh the wretched confusion of everything among the saints! Few see more than some fragment of truth, which is then distorted out of all proportion; and often, in action, made a sign-post to positive evil. One, perhaps, gets some insight into the primitive glory of the Gentile Church, and its simplicity; nothing will suffice but to remove and reform everything. Another understands what the means should be, and then, because they cannot be so now, DOES NOTHING.

Lastly, as to the world or rather worldliness, for the Church is the world, how fearfully is it met under every guise, in love and sympathy, instead of simple clear condemnation. The light of reformation seems to have sufficed for little more than the manifestation of evil. Among the unreformed Churches, the darkness is pure and unmixed. It is a blessed thing, looking at all this, to see the verity of God and His faithfulness in preserving a remnant, and limiting the extent of the flowings of sin. Satan would fain have everything perpetually his own way: but he has no power over that which stands in Christ, only over that which is dispensed out of him; and even his progress in its destruction is but his advance, according to God’s check, to the time of his own overthrow. Burdened and pressed at every point by the evil of that which is thus gone from God, we cannot but rejoice in such an intimation of the nearness of Christ’s glory; as those who having watched the live long night, joy at the increase of cold and darkness immediately preceding daybreak. And besides this, the very deceivableness of sin and its mighty power, does but call out the faithfulness and love of Him who is our shepherd, so that we find a tenfold perception of the blessedness of His love and faithfulness thereby.

Christian Liberty of Preaching and Teaching the Lord Jesus Christ

Acts 8:4

“ They that were scattered abroad went everywhere, preaching the word.” (Acts 8:4.)

That “the word of the Lord may have free course,” is a matter Which few will deny to be of ultimate concern to the glory of God; though it be one which has in many ways been let and hindered by human perverseness: and in nothing more than by confining the preaching of the everlasting gospel within arbitrary limits of place and person, prescribed by man, but sanctioned in no way by scripture. To a single mind which has known the value of God’s love, and which views things in the light in which they are put by that blessed knowledge; it would not seem that in the midst of a world lying under condemnation, yet visited by this love, aught beyond Spiritual qualification was needed for anyone to declare to those whom he sees around him ready to perish, the remedy, that Jesus has died for sinners. Man has been pleased to set up restrictions; but the point with the disciple is to know whether the Lord has done so, and what is the warrant for precluding, any from full liberty of preaching to whom He has given His Spirit for the purpose: seeing that if it had been so given, there is infinite loss in the hindrance, and the Spirit of God is grieved. The same faithfulness to Christ which will yield unqualified obedience to every jot and every tittle of His commands, will also lead us to search out every hindrance to His service, in order to its removal from ourselves or others. The present question is one of deep importance, for it is evident that if the restrictions be not verily and indeed ordered by the Lord Himself, or by His apostles, it comes to this, that in upholding them there is a loss on the one hand of munch comfort and edification to the Church by confining to the ministry of one, that which should flow from the Spirit, in many; and on the other, the gospel which was “to be preached to every creature” under heaven, is bound and fettered, and multitudes are shut out from the springs of life for want of the invitation which should be upon the lips of all, who themselves, have drank of the living waters.

The point to be proved by those who are opposed to the unrestricted preaching of the word, is this—either, that none who are not in prescribed office, have the Spirit of God in testimony, or, that having it, the sanction of man is necessary for its exercise, I do not purpose here a general investigation of the principles of the subject, but merely to inquire whether any of the Church of God are not entitled to preach if the Lord give them opportunity, or, whether there be any human sanction needful for their doing so. The following considerations are intended, by the Lord’s help to maintain that it is not needed; and that no such sanction can be proved to be necessary from scripture; and that no such sanction was therein afforded. The question is not whether all Christians are individually qualified, but whether they are disqualified unless they are what is commonly called ordained.—I say commonly, because the word, as used in scripture, does not, in the original, convey what it does to an English ear at present. I affirm that no such ordination was a qualification to preach in the days of scriptural statement. I do not despise order—I do not despise pastoral care, but love it where it really exists as that which savors in its place, of the sweetest of God’s services; seeing that though it may be exercised sometimes in a manner not to our present taste or thought, a good shepherd will seek the scattered sheep. But I confine myself to a simple question—the assertion that none of the Lord’s people ought to preach without episcopal or other analogous appointment. The thing here maintained in few words is, that they are entitled. —The scripture proves that they did so; that they were justified in doing so, God blessing them therein; and that the principles of scripture require it, assuming of course here, that they are qualified by God. For the question here is not competency to act, but title to act if competent. Neither do I despise herein, God forbid that I should do so, the holy setting apart according to godliness, to any office, such as are competent, by those that have authority to do so.

Let us then try the question by the light which the word affords us upon the subject. There are only two cases upon which the question can arise—namely, as to their speaking in the Church, or out of the Church; amongst the “congregation of faithful men,” for their common profit and building up in the faith; or as evangelists, declaring to the world, wheresoever God may direct them, the message of that “grace which has appeared unto all men.” If these are admitted, all anomalous cases will readily be agreed in. First then, as to the speaking of Christians in the Church. And here I remark that the directions in 1 Cor. 14 are entirely inconsistent with the necessity of ordination to speak. There is a line drawn there, but it is not between ordained or unordained. “Let your women keep silence in the Churches;” a direction which never could have place, were the speaking confined to a definitely ordained person, but takes quite another ground; and which implies directly, not that it is right for every man to speak, but that there was preclusion of none, because of their not being in any stated office. Women were the precluded class; there the line was drawn. If men had not the gift of speaking, of course they would be silent, if they followed the directions there given. The apostle says, “every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation.” Does he then say none ought to speak but one ordained? No, “let all things be done unto edifying.” That is the grand secret, the grand rule—in a tongue—by two or at the most by three, and by course, and interpret. —prophets let them speak two or three, &c. “For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted,” “for God,” &c. “Let your women keep silence in the Churches; for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience.” We have then distinction, not of ordained and unordained but of those, who from their character—women, are not permitted to speak, and the rest are; being also directed in what order to do so, and the ground of distinction, stated. And this is God’s plan of decency and order. For the rest they were all to speak, that all might learn, and all be comforted. Not all to speak at once, not all to speak every day, but all as God led them, according to the order there laid down, and as God was pleased to give them ability for the edifying of the Church. I apply all this simply and exclusively to the question of Christians in general, having God’s Spirit, using their respective gifts; and I assert that there was no such principle recognized as that they should note but the contrary. It may and will be said by many, that these were the times of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit. But this is a false view of the case, for do those who make this objection mean to argue that ordination did not begin as a distinctive title till after the departure of the Spirit of God? Moreover the Spirit of God does not justify by systematic rules, breaking through its own order; it would be most mischievous to say that it did. Bat the case, let it be observed, was not one of the prerogative of spiritual gifts, but of order; for women had spiritual gifts, as we read elsewhere, and directions are given for their exercise; but they were not to use them in the Church, because it was out of order—not comely. At the same time there was no hint that any or all the men were not: but the contrary, because it was not out of order. Aptness to teach may be a very important qualification for a bishop, but it cannot be said from scripture, to be disorderly for any member of the body to speak in the Church, if God have given him ability. Besides, though these extraordinary gifts may have ceased, I by no means admit that the ordinary gifts for the edification of the Church, of believers, have ceased. On the contrary, I believe they are the instruments, the only real instruments of edification; nor do I see why, on principle, they should not be exercised in the Church, or why the Church has not a title to the edification derived from them. If the presence of the indwelling Spirit be in the Church, it has that which renders it substantially competent to its own edification, and to worship God “in spirit and in truth.” If it he not there, nothing else can be recognized and it is a Church no longer, for no makeshift is warranted by scripture in default of the original constitutive character and endowments of a dispensation. But in thus upholding the common title of the saints, it may be supposed by some that the argument will be at once met, by referring to the orderly way in which Christ originally gave to His Church, “some, apostles, and some, prophets, pastors and teachers,” &c. Now, unless one man centers all these offices in one person by virtue of ordination, the objection will not apply; but on the contrary brings its own refutation. For we read, some were of one office, some of another—the head, Christ, “from whom the whole body fitly framed together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part; maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” We read also that the members are set in the body, one the eye, the other the foot, the other the ear, that there “might be no schism in the body.” And it is a thought which might well commend itself to our minds, that if we have indeed lost Many and ornamental members, it is no reason why we should summarily cut off the rest—the word of wisdom or the word of knowledge, and the like, of which there is assuredly some measure yet remaining in the Church. But if the attempt should be made to close the inquiry, by silencing all discussion with the startling assertion that it is useless, for the Spirit of God is utterly and altogether gone out of the Church; it at once brings on the question—If so, what are we, and where are we?—The Church of God without the Spirit! Verily if it be not there, all union between Christ and His members is cut off, and the promise “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world—;” is of none effect. But the word of God shall stand. “The world indeed cannot receive the Spirit of truth, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him,” but let the disciples of Jesus know that He is with them; and that “wheresoever two or three are gathered together in His name,” there, in proportion to their condition and necessities, His Spirit is with them, for every purpose of instruction and blessing.

Thus far then, on the first case, for speaking in the Church. I advocate no system. I mourn over the departure of many of the comely part or parts, however, on which God set comeliness. These passages of the word I take as scriptural evidence that the confining of the edification of the Church to nominal office alone, has not the scriptures to rest upon. I speak, not here of elders or appointed teachers, their value, or the contrary; observing only that grace, and grace alone should be our standard a valuation; that in the arrangements of the Holy Ghost it is only the gift of God which gives any title to office in the Church, or to its claims; nominal office merely as such, having no claim upon any one. I speak merely of the one point—the wrongness of a Christian speaking in the Church as such. One point—and that a most important one, in this part of the subject remains to be noticed. If we are reminded of the dangers arising from all teaching, it is admitted at once, for it is evident that here, if anywhere, mischief would spring up. But looking to Scripture, we are warned against it, not upon the ground of its being wrong as regards office—not because of its effect merely on others—but warning against it is given, as being, one of the things in which, as evil will more or less have a tendency to show itself, so the remedy is applied to the spirit from whence it flows. “My brethren, be not many teachers, for so shall ye heap to yourselves greater condemnation.” But again, the warning itself shows that there was no such restriction of office as is now supposed, for thus it would have been—you have no business to preach at all, for you are not ordained. But no, the correction was turned to moral profit, not to formal distinction of pre-eminent office.

But the question becomes more important when considered in the second case, Viz. as to speaking out of the Church, because it precludes the testimony of the gospel by a vast number of persons who may have faithfully borne it to others. Let us inquire into the scriptural facts. In the first place then, all the Christians preached— “They that were scattered abroad, went every where preaching the word;” (Acts 8:4.) and those who were scattered were all, except the apostles. Some critics have endeavored to elude this plain passage, by saying that it is only speaking, which one not in office may do. But a reference to the original at once disproves the assertion. It is ευαγγελιζόμενοι—evangelizing the word; and we read elsewhere that “the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.” (Acts 11:19,20.) Now, unless all the Church were ordained, (I think they are to preach as far as they have ability) here is the simplest case possible —the case in point. The first general preaching of the gospel which the Lord blessed beyond the walls of Jerusalem, knew no distinction between ordained and unordained. It had not entered into their minds then, that they who knew the glory of Christ were not to speak of it, where and how God enabled them. “And the hand of the Lord was with them.” Paul preached without any other mission than seeing the glory of the Lord and His word; in a synagogue too, and boasts of it. And he gives his reason for Christians preaching elsewhere —as it is written, “I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.”(2 Cor. 4.) Apollos preached; “he spake and taught, diligently taught the things of the Lord,” and of him it is said, that when Paul would have sent him from Ephesus to Corinth, he would not go. Yet so far from being ordained before beginning to preach, he knew only the baptism of John. And Aquilla and Priscilla took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of the Lord more perfectly. And then, continuing his labors as before, “he helped them much which had believed;” “and mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.” Again, at Rome, many of the brethren waxing bold by Paul’s bonds, preached the word without fear. And here let it be added, for the sake of those who have doubts respecting the passage, that the word is κηρὺσσουσιν—are heralds; which shows the character of the work.

The same habits of wandering preaching we find in the 2nd and 3rd epistles of John guarded, not by ordination, but by doctrine. Nor in truth, is there such a thing mentioned in scripture, as ordaining to preach the gospel. We have seen that Paul preached before he went out on his work from Antioch. Now if any plead his being set apart there, still the question is not met; for as before stated, I reason not against such setting apart, but against the assertion that Christians, as such, are incompetent to preach. But the case alleged, if it proves anything as to the question at issue, proves that the power of ordaining, as well as of preaching, was not specially connected with office—and nothing more. The only other passage which, though not commonly quoted, seems to me nearer the purpose, is the apostle’s command, “The same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” (2 Tim. 2:2.) But the thing committed here was the doctrine, and proves tradition, if anything —not ordination, for it does not appear that they were ordained for the purpose.

I have now produced ample evidence from scripture to a fair mind. My object has been simply to show the general liberty of Christian men to speak, whether in or out of the Church, according to the several gifts which God may bestow upon them, without need of the seal of human authority; and I say that the contrary assertion is a novelty in Christianity, I have abstained from diffusive discussions upon what has led to it, or the principles which are involved in it. I put the scriptural fact to any one’s conscience; and I call upon any one to produce any scripture, positively, or on principle, forbidding the liberty of preaching to Christians, or requiring episcopal or other analogous ordination for the purpose. And here I will advert to that which is commonly adduced upon the subject—the case of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. It is remarkable that those who rest upon it should pass by a ease immediately preceding; bearing upon this immediate subject; that of Eldad and Medad prophesying in the camp, though they had not come up to the door of the tabernacle, because the Spirit rested upon them. “Would God,” said the meek man of God, “that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them.” That which was here typically proposed, the pouring out of the Spirit upon all, was in principle fulfilled in the Christian dispensation. Then, subsequently, Korah, Mahan, and Abiram, acted not under the influence and energy of the Spirit in testifying to the people, but would have assumed authority—the kingship of Moses, and the priesthood of Aaron, This was their fault, which very outrage is committed by those who attempt to defend themselves by urging the case before us: seeing that they are taking to themselves that kingship and priesthood which are Christ’s alone, and setting up themselves as the only legitimate channels of blessing; and usurping His authority again on the other hand by excluding those who have the Spirit of God from exercising that which they have by the authority of God Himself. These things here spoken of were typical of our dispensation, as also the apostle states; and the conclusion is, that they make universal preaching desirable, and the assumption of priesthood a sin. To the same purpose is the argument of the apostle applied; (Heb. 5.) the exclusion from the office of priesthood, save by such call as Christ had; in which, in one sense, all believers are partakers—in another sense, He is alone, unaccompanied into the holy place. In a word, the claim of unrestricted liberty of preaching by Christians is right. The assumption of priesthood by any, save as all believers are priests, is wrong. This is the dispensation of the outpouring of the Spirit here, qualifying for preaching any here who can do so; in a word—for speaking of Jesus, (for the distinction between speaking and preaching is quite unsustainable by scripture, as any one may see if he takes the trouble) and in which Christ alone exercises the priesthood within the veil, in the presence of God for us. This, then, is the force of these passages. The type of the pouring out of the Spirit in the camp with the gracious wish of Moses, is the characteristic, the essential distinction of Christianity. Accordingly we find its primary presentation in the world, the Spirit poured out on the hundred and twenty who were assembled together, who therefore began to speak as the Spirit gave them utterance. And St. Peter standing up, explains to the Jews that they were not drunk, hot that it was the thing spoken of by Joel— the undistinguished pouring out of the Spirit upon men of all classes—servants and hand-maidens, their sons and their daughters prophesying—the pouring out of the Spirit upon all flesh. This was the characteristic of its agency, and this we have seen acted upon in the subsequent history; to deny this, is to mistake the power of the dispensation, and I will add, to lose it. And what is the consequence? Irregular action goes on, and cannot be restrained, for kingly power cannot be assumed to such purpose, or they are taking the part of Dathan and Abiram; but the power of the Spirit, in which God would give competency to restrain evil, has been slighted; and nominal office, which has been relied on, affords no remedy, unless the rights which the Roman Catholic system has assumed be attached to it, which is the assumption of power not given to the Church at all. It is not for me to assert what is the evil of the present day, I am sure it is not the overflowing boldness of testimony against evil; and if evil exists, the remedy is not in seeking to hinder or to reject, (for hindered it surely will not, and cannot. be,) the title of preaching the word which the Spirit of the Lord gives to whomsoever He listeth, but the cordial cooperation of those who hold the truth, by which the common energy (and common energy is infinite energy in this mailer) may be exercised against all which does not hold the truth, and for the “seeking out of Christ’s sheep in the midst of this naughty world.”

One important advantage from taking God’s order instead of man’s is at once seen; that men will have their place and agency, whether within or without the assembly of the by virtue, not of nominal official situations formally set up, but of the gifts which God has given them; a most important principle in the difference between Babylon and the divine economy, In truth, there are few things more important to remember, and especially in the present state of things, when human prescription regulates everything in matters of religion, that for anything but grace to be our criterion of station in the Church, save in the awful responsibility of the individual “these sinners against their own soul,” must be wrong. in the last dispensation there was externally appointed order independent of qualification; in the present the manifold grace and gifts of God in His Church, are the only means of adjusting and blending in true harmony, the various parts and offices of the body of Christ.

With regard to one part of the work—evangelizing: it is clear that a large portion of those who preach officially, are incapacitated for it by their own act, as being shut up within restricted limits, and universally without any reference whatever to their individual qualifications, whether teachers, pastors, or evangelists, &c. or to the particular necessities of the station in which they are to labor. To such it must be obvious, that the deficiency cannot be otherwise supplied than by those who may be willing to allow God to appoint the field of their operations, and to do the work of the Lord wheresoever they shall be led by Him to labor for His name’s sake, (3 John 7) and who will be owned by Him though a Diotrephes may reject them. Nothing argues greater want of submission to Christ—greater proof of preference of man’s authority to the Lord’s, than for any to discredit the free and unrestrained bearing forth of the gospel of the grace of God, who have placed themselves in circumstances where they are obliged to stop short of the work, for fear they should be discredited themselves; a work which they cannot do—which they have themselves put it out of their power to do, at least, without utter inconsistency; for in so doing, they would be acting in defiance of the authority which has placed them in their prescribed position. Such is their situation that in following the leading of the Spirit of God in their work, they would, in most cases, act unrighteously, for it would be against the authority which they recognize and act under. Take a case, by no means uncommon, which illustrates the dilemma in which they place themselves. A large tract of country is destitute of the gospel—One, in whose heart God has put the desire and whose mouth He has opened to speak of His love, goes—preaches there—and is blessed; gathers out of darkness into light many souls. The district is already full of persons professing to hold office in the Church of Christ, but who are not shepherds. What is the laborer to do—leave them for Socinians or enthusiasts to catch, or unheeded altogether?—There is no godly righteousness in this. But it becomes a matter of faithfulness to Christ that he should preach to those who are ready to perish; yea, it is — a necessity occasioned by the systems which sanction or have sanctioned the idle shepherds by whom he is surrounded. Now, which must an authorized minister, even though a Christian, recognize? He must recognize those idle shepherds, and he cannot recognize the faithful man of God: that is he must associate himself with ungodliness because it is in nominal office, and not with the Spirit of God because out of it. But he has placed himself in a position in which he must be wrong either way; for if he did not own those shepherds, he would be acting in dereliction to his own responsibilities to the system to whose authority he has voluntarily submitted himself. Hence, also, the answer to the question, “Why not take the nominal office?” Because the source is so vitiated, that many conscientious men cannot identify themselves with it; and a consideration which, to one who habitually waits on the Lord, is of no small moment, that the work and the scene of his operations is not regulated by the Lord’s guidance, and the varied exigencies of His service, exigencies which can be met only by entire and unfettered looking to the Spirit of the Lord, which is the Spirit of true order, for doing the Lord’s work according to His own time, place, and purpose, considerations without which His servants are but περιεργαζομενοι—busy out of place, whatever may be the apparent result of their labors, and which in many instances amount to the acquirement of a positive disability to fulfill the office to which God may have appointed the individual, as in the case of an evangelist.

I would make one farther observation, suggested by the present question. In observing the infinity of contending interests with which the Church is now filled, “the wars and fighting’s” amongst brethren—the restlessness of those who are spending their power and spirituality in defending one human system against another—the inquiry solemnly forces itself upon us whilst witnessing the surrounding scene of excitement. For what are we to contend? The apostle has answered the question— “contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints.” Let the inquiry then be calmly proposed to all our minds—for what are we contending? If it be for anything of secondary derivation, God cannot own it: the contention is for our own, and not for the things of Christ; for nothing since delivered is of His Spirit. The preceding considerations tend to show that opinions, supported by ever so fair an appearance of antiquity are worthless—are deeply injurious to the glory of God, unless based upon His word. The end in view will have been fully answered if but one servant of Christ should be added to the field of labor; or the doubts removed from the mind of but one brother who hesitates to acknowledge as his fellow-workers, those who have been called by the same Spirit. And let it he observed that in this, as in all things this liberty of the believer is not the spirit of insubordination, but of entire subjection to the Spirit and the Church of God. wheresoever they may be found; not the spirit of enthusiasm, but of a sound mind—of a mind at one with God, which alone gives righteous judgment. And let the people of God be waiting upon Him for His guidance. It is a time in which those who act with the simplest purpose will carry the work with them, (for it is a day in which God is separating realities from forms) as that which can alone stand the universal dislocation which every institution is undergoing, and which the Spirit of God shall, and can alone, go through unscathed, and that they are led by Him unmarred and unhurt.

May God pour down His Spirit abundantly. “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He will send forth laborers into His harvest.”

On Colossians 1:19

Every correction of scripture is of moment. I beg to suggest one, the occasion for which, it appears to me, exceedingly mars the sense. I refer to the expression “It pleased the Father, that in Him should all fullness dwell.” The English reader may see upon the face of it that the word Father, is put in by our translators: this is extremely bad theology, depriving us of the development of glory in the person of our most blessed Lord. “It pleased;” it was the good pleasure of the divine will, “that in Him should all fullness dwell.” In its present reading it is merely the pleasure of the Father about the Son, which I apprehend to be a mischievous derogation from the divine glory of the Son, to deprive us of the revelation of that in which to me, Christianity consists—a revelation of the trinity, known in the relationship in which we are brought, by faith, to it. “All the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him bodily;” that is, in the incarnation of the Son. While He was the Son in personal union with Jesus, there could be no separation of the Son from the Father or the Spirit, though most distinct in their relationship; therefore the Lord says, ever hiding the glory of His own person, “The Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the work;” and again, “if I by the spirit of God, cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come amongst you.” That He was the Son, however, is the direct object of faith; and therefore “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father;”—in a word, the fullness of the Godhead, as is declared by the Spirit, a few verses after, concerning Him, “dwelt in Him bodily.” These things may be difficult as to human explanation, but not as to communion, where the Spirit of God is; for He reveals in communion, according to the power of truth, and no way else; and I believe that while the human intellect will break itself to pieces, against the glory of the divine revelation, the fullness of our joy and hope, and the soundness of our Christianity, and consequently, Christian strength and energy chiefly depends upon the distinctness with which we are cognizant of the unity and trinity, withal made known to us in the incarnation, which is the revelation of it. “God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble.” I believe it to be a revelation, and known only where it can be known, in communion by those made partakers of the Spirit by faith in Christ Jesus; all else will stumble somewhere, and these too, if they be not humble.

Correspondence From the East

The following extracts from the letters of a brother in a distant land would not have been made public did they not bear so decidedly on a point of the utmost importance at present. Whilst they evidence the craving of a mind desirous of the communion of the saints, they so simply, yet clearly state the only principle on which it can subsist, that we cannot but look on it as another evidence of the movement of God’s Spirit in the hearts of His children to a common object. And this too is from one at so great a distance, and so little aware of what is passing in Europe, that the coincidence of testimony to the same principle, from so many quarters, is altogether remarkable. It affords the strongest proof that wheresoever, from circumstances or situation, the Spirit of God is Unhindered, He leads by the simple teaching of His own word, to conclusions practically the same. Of all situations, perhaps that of England is the least favorable for forming a righteous judgment on the important subject of the communion of saints. The real question is so completely lost sight of in the struggle for preeminence among the various religious parties, that the possibility and practibility as well as duty of such union is rarely presented to the mind.

It may be well to add, that as the extracts are made verbatim the thoughts are those of the writer, and as to any expectation of glory to be restored to the Church, it is to be considered solely his own.

The extracts are as follow:—

“Oh! there is a preciousness in Jesus, that if we saw it fully, would put our eyes out for discerning glory in external things; we should be unable to distinguish the great from the small, the bright from the dark. The remaining rays of Christ’s glory lingering on the eye balls, would extinguish the light of other things, that they would become to us a general confusion. Do you feel what I mean? that if Christ were apprehended, we should cease to know what the world calls little or great. The pursuit of an empire or of a butterfly, would be to us alike little.”

“How great a thing it is to have really felt that all the world has, is what a child of God may part from and yet be richer without; how many steps it frees the soul for the Lord, which no other principle could effect. I thought little of the world when I left England, but since I have more fully entered on a pilgrim’s life, the hope of my happy peaceful heaven alone affords rue a comfort. Had I known a thousand worlds instead of the portions I have, the Lord enables me to feel assured, I would give them for that cause, the glory and excellency of which He has enabled me to see. Oh! may I be as willing to crucify self in every other way; may every unsanctified temper and every unheavenly desire be laid as a victim at the foot of the cross, and Christ’s will alone be mine.”

“I do not regret any of the trials I have had. Pilgrims must expect trials in a long journey, we cannot expect either good roads or good weather all the way, but the Lord Jesus has sanctified it all—foul and fair, and made all to work together for our good. Whatever purposes are in your heart let them be high and heavenly ones for Christ and His kingdom: the world will soon pass away and all its glories, but that kingdom shall endure. Keep close to the simplicity of Christ; nothing will keep us from extravagancies but walking with Him. He always moved so seriously to the object He had in hand—the fulfillment of His Father’s will. I seem just setting out in the divine life; may the Lord take me by the hand and lead me, till by His grace upon me, I be a savor of His precious name. All my desire is to live with my heart fixed on Him—to be led of Him in His own right way. We have all one great work in hand, it is to glorify Jesus. It matters very little what face external things may wear, so that the Lord does but smile.”

“How hard it is to have the heart alive to all God’s truth equally; however let this be our aim, and as we advance in these blessed attainments, may the Spirit bless us with a spirit of meekness and forbearance towards those who exclude us, or embracing us would exclude others. Let us minister on all hands to the union of God’s dear family; not by keeping out of sight the value of any portion of truth, or ceasing to act for ourselves on what we know; but let them feel by our union with them, where ever we can, that in anything to differ is pain and grief to us.”

“I feel more and more convinced of the truth that we are only under that dispensation revealed to us by the Lord of life and glory. And I think there never will be an end to the confusion in the minds of professing Christians or in the true Church, until it be admitted that for us Christ is the only lawgiver, and His message from heaven the was rule. When I see the perplexity and difficulty which confuse the minds of many of the clearest heads, oh! how I bless God that He should have led me into a definite comprehensible path. May His goodness make us very thankful and very humble, lest some cloud of darkness envelope us, and we are led to grope about as blind men at noon-day; for it is by God the Spirit only, that we can see the sufficiency of Christ for all His offices.”

“We have been full of joy in our God, mingled with sorrowing recollections of our dear neglected Lord’s honor; and I think the Holy Ghost has given us very earnest prayer and supplications unto our glorious and gracious head, to heal these our backslidings, that henceforth self with all its low and hateful desires, may not have place to live. May we all have grace to cry mightily to the Lord for a single eye to His glory, that He may be able to use us in raising His beautiful lovely bride—the Church, from her present low estate; for indeed she is the chosen of the Lord, the queen in gold of Ophir, with raiment of needlework of divers colors; for believe me she is all beautiful within, and it is only that we have heaped defilement upon her by putting upon her as a garment, all the ungodly of the land, because they are named by the name of Christ, that really her golden feathers and silver wings are become dim by reason of the dust of the earth with which she is mingled. Have you faith to pray for her, and a heart to love her?”

“Oh that our dear brethren and sisters in England would unite with us in holding up holy hands without wrath against her, and without a doubt that she may arise and shake off the dust from her and put on her beautiful garments; let us do all we can to induce her to lay aside those false companions and false principles with which she is allied, and watch over herself as the espoused virgin of Christ. Oh! that with the most holy truth, we may in every action of our future lives, seek simply that the Lord be glorified; and oh! may we all have grace to pray that every service done to Jesus, may not be ascribed individually to us, but be named upon the name of the bride of the Lamb, that her glory may fill all the earth.”

“The more the sense of my Lord’s love presses upon me, the more does it make my heart mourn, to think He should have been served so much from cold principles, instead of that holy service of the heart He so desires and values. I have been taught that the Lord’s end to me in all my trials has been to empty me of self. He has shown us that without the utter abasement of self, it was impossible He could ever bless me. Of this we are all deeply convinced, and I think are willing (made so by His grace and love) to act on principle the most self-renouncing; only seeking that His espoused may have the glory, as being her whom it was the will of our Lord to adorn with beauty.”

“Oh! that every wish for individual glory may be crucified; that we may really pray to be willing to be ministers, servants to all, in the holiest, meekest, and simplest spirit; yea, though we be the offscouring of all things, and the refuse of the world for Christ; yet let it be with the holiest meekness, yea, I say, and the sweetest spirit that we bear it, that all may see it is not in wrath, but in simple obedience we both do and suffer.”

“I have learned much of the powerlessness of man to direct his own ways when in difficulty and perplexity, I know no resource, nor do I desire any except to throw off my trials upon God, leaving it with Him to bring light out of darkness, and awaiting His time to do it. It is not that our Father has pleasure in our being in straits and difficulties that He thus permits them to try us, but He knows that our real life is hid with Christ in Himself, and whatever makes us feel this connection with Jesus necessary to our comfort, and constrains us to more close intercourse with Him, and makes the hope of final deliverance and rest more precious, is clearly to the happiness of our spiritual life however mortifying it may be to the natural man.”

“In connection with these views, the state in which the Church is, is particularly affecting; for while the heart has individual experience of the need it has of these very trials of the cross, to pull it out of the snare of the world, it has to mourn over the Church, not only as fallen in the dust, but as being more than ever reluctant to be raised up; and instead of following the revelation of God in all doctrine and practice, she gets rid of her difficulties in carrying them out, by weaving to herself various little texts of doctrine suited to the various sects of the day, and puts zeal for them in the place of zeal for God’s holy and blessed truths, as His, without exception or innovation. Oh! who does not long that the warfare was accomplished, and the Church glorified together?”

“So few think with us where we are right, and of those few a remnant only walk uprightly, being hindered in various ways from carrying out their principles; but when we remember what the Lord has really done for many, we never can despair. While we expect nothing from man, let us expect much from God, O! how blessed a thing it is, that the soul is made willing to be subject to the will of Christ; but how much more blessed to seize upon that will as our very happiness and joy, glorying in tribulations, in afflictions and distresses, for His dear sake.”

“For myself, it is not sufferings that alarm me, for to these I think, we are appointed; but it is lest, in following out principle, we should in anything seek our own glory, and not that of our adorable Lord. May the Lord give us grace to bear meekly the honor of standing out, even in the simplest thing, for the will of our beloved Lord, that all may see it is not to gratify any secret spring of that many-headed monster-self, but simply as a part of our holy allegiance and fealty to our Lord and King.”

“Oh! may the Lord so abundantly pour down His Holy Spirit on those He has freed from the trammels of all systems, that they may be enabled to show forth the truth and power of the principles round which they rally, and that too without falling into any system.”

“We have an immense advantage at least, that if we are weak and low it soon must appear; and then those that are alive and strong, can go and pray for power on the weak; but, in England, routine and systems shut out this active help and sympathy from each other.”

“But after all, let our hearts and thoughts be directed to one simple end; following Christ, and living in the Spirit of His kingdom; this, I am sure, is our work here, and out of this spirit will arise as much external order as is really valuable; if we really seek the Lord’s glory, and serve Him, He will make use of us.”

“I feel the Church must be united into a body to be what Christ intended it; and we do not recommend the character of our mystic holy union, while alone as sparrows upon the housetop. ‘The body (the apostle says) is not one member, but many.’”

“We need, for our spiritual edification, as well as for the true manifestation of Christ’s body to the unbelievers, the continual uniting aid of the other various members of the body; for instance, Christ says— ‘By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another.’ How can this be shown if the body is separated? Whatever dangers there are, therefore, and whatever difficulties connected with uniting many together, still I feel it is the right way to proceed. I am strengthening in my purpose to know none but in Christ. Whatever their denominations are among men it matters little; if they have felt the power of Christ’s and are living under that power, we must bear all other things for His dear sake.”

“Let us not for a moment do otherwise than embrace them with all our hearts, and forget all but this—that they are Christ’s. In fact, I never wish to bear the designation of any man living again after the name of man, or any other term that tends to divide the mystical body of Christ into little portions of man’s fencing off. I assure you, I feel it one of the greatest privileges of my situation, that though exclusively joined to none, I am also separated from none, and feel free to take from all what appears to me to be the mind of Christ, and to leave what appears to me contrary. May the Lord make plain paths for your feet, so that amidst the quick sands of the world, and the still greater treacheries of the heart, you may run the bright and shining course with even steps, forgetting the things behind, and reaching forth to the things which are before.”

The Dispensation of the Kingdom of Heaven: Matthew 13

I would say a few words on this chapter or collection of parables, in the deep feeling of the imperfectness with which any of us understand “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven;” and this, not merely from personal feelings as to individual weakness, but from the scope and extent of the divine wisdom in them; a wisdom knit up with and developing the whole of the divine counsels: a wisdom therefore, not to be acquired in mere detached passages, but in the comprehension of the mind of God which flows from the abundance of the Spirit exercised in spiritual application to scripture, Nevertheless, I feel that our portion as believers, is to be given to know them—our blessed portion; and we may be allowed, in the confidence of His love, to breathe out, also, what we may have apprehended of the mind of the Spirit, and to present it to the judgment of our brethren. With this feeling of confidence in the Lord, I shall open out what appears to me to be the order and power of this collection of parables. Their detailed meaning may, perhaps, be the subject of some subsequent observations. I would remark, then, in the first place, that the phrase “kingdom of heaven,” and also, “kingdom of your or their Father,” is peculiar to Matthew, expressions manifestly not unimportant in force. The only exception at all, is the use of the latter expression, by implication in the instruction to pray, in Luke 11 an exception not without interest, but which I can dwell on here only to observe, that the kingdom in every instance, we are taught to pray for, is the Father’s kingdom. In these parables we have both—the term “kingdom of heaven” being common to all save the first; that of “kingdom of your Father” being found in the explanation of the second of the parables. The importance of the former expression is seen, not only in its being the positive subject of the parables, except the first, but from the emphatic declaration of our Lord; “every scribe instructed into the kingdom of heaven, will bring forth out of his treasure, things new and old.” The scribe being well taught in the law of Moses, who could therefore, bring forth the old things; and being “instructed into the kingdom of heaven,” could bring forth out of his treasures, therefore, new things. He was to have, indeed, new things, but he was not to give up the old; what he had learned as a scribe, they were treasures in the estimation of Christ, to be brought forth by the scribe “instructed into the kingdom of heaven.” I consider these parables, then, as a full prophetic statement of the character and detail of the circumstances in which the kingdom of heaven would be placed. There are seven parables in all—a circumstance of common perfectness in prophetic statements, as the attentive reader of Scripture cannot fail to observe; of these, six are similitudes of the kingdom of heaven—the first, not. The act described in the first, being art act as incidental to the Son of man before His ascension, and its results, also, such as might be exhibited in individuals before as well as after it. This parable declares the agency of the kingdom and its particular results; the others, the dispensation of the kingdom. To recur to things new and old, the fact of “the kingdom of heaven” might well be called an “old thing;” one conversant in Daniel, with the hopes of the old law, might well have looked for such a thing. The order of its development and position, “a new thing,” which was to be revealed consequent upon the manifestation, and we must add, though not here developed, the rejection and resurrection of Christ the Son. The fact absolutely revealed in prophetic testimony, was the giving of a kingdom to the Son of man. The learning that the heavens do rule, was a lesson to be taught in the expected suppression, and setting aside of Gentile domination. Yet an earthly dominion in the Jewish people was an expectation which every Jew, taking prophecy literally, as every Jew must, because he was a Jew, must have justly held upon belief in the prophetic declarations. In the midst of these, perhaps confused, yet just, and in one sense, believing apprehensions, our Lord came in with a definite declaration, that “the kingdom of heaven was at hand.” That “the kingdom of heaven” was merely the true invisible Church of God, is an explanation which cannot for a moment be maintained consistently with a single statement of these parables and of analogous ones. That it was merely the visible Church of God, is neither consistent with what we find in this chapter nor any adequate representation of the matter, as is manifest from the parables of the treasure and the pearls. The rule of heaven is the simple force of the expression “the kingdom of heaven.” Earthly dominion was exercised by the Gentiles unrighteously—earthly dominion was expected by the Jews, and expected, though true, unrighteously; as was shown by their rejection of the “the Holy One of God,” who came from heaven— “the Son of man” – “the King of the Jews.” Most important then, and a point of sustaining faith, to one who might think that it had been “He who should have redeemed Israel,” was it to recognize in this word “the kingdom of heaven,” that a resurrection Lord might hold its power; and anomalous and apparently failing as their position might have been to learn, not only new spiritual things, but that the kingdom of heaven was that which, even in dispensation, was the mind and order of God’s counsels. Hence we find it so especially referred to in Matthew, the gospel more particularly of dispensation and prophetic testimony. It would manifestly carry me into too large a subject here, to enter farther into this most interesting point of the distinct character of the gospels, the evidences of which, in three, are prominent; in the other arise from a number of minute particulars. I mention the distinction here, as showing the ground on which “the kingdom of heaven” and “the kingdom of their Father” appear to be used in Matthew’s gospel alone. It was a gentle unfolding, though full declaration, that the dispensation now coming in, was of its own character, maintaining the hope given as coming from God; one which in result, indeed, we know to be founded in the resurrection, but which in its testimony then claimed repentance only on the part of the Jew. The connection of which shall never find its manifested accomplishment, till the millennial glory in the risen saints, and the repentant Jew, gathered together in one, in Christ, sustaining in resurrection life and power, the blessings of the Jews on earth, and its consequences; at the same time being the companion and the servant too, of the joy of the saints, risen into fellowship with Him in His Father’s house, as sons. Our Lord, however, in this chapter, unfolds its actual characters, and we must endeavor to bring in “the new things” of “the kingdom,” to understand fully the ground on which the kingdom of heaven now stands. We have here two other kingdoms — “the kingdom of their Father,” i.e. of the righteous; and “the kingdom of the Son of man.” In neither of these, properly speaking, are we now. The Son of man shall do so and so, and “then shall the righteous,” &c.

These kingdoms are the full development of that which now rests in an anomalous and ambiguous state, (glorious and blessed, indeed, but still ambiguous as regards its manifested results,) to wit, “the kingdom of God’s dear Son,” the kingdom of the Son of God as sitting upon the Father’s throne. This is not the kingdom of the Son of man—it is not the kingdom of the Father—but the kingdom of the Son of God sitting on His Father’s throne; the Lamb rejected, slain, sitting in the midst of the throne. I believe this to be—“to him that overcometh will I grant to sit down with Me on My throne, even as I overcame, and am set down with My Father on His throne,” where no saint ever sat, none but He whose right it is.

This principle or glorious truth of the Son sitting on the Father’s throne, as the present subject of faith will be found to run through the whole of our Lord’s language in John, and give the character of the whole dispensation. Hence the Spirit is said to be sent down from the Father, because it was to bring us, not only into fellowship with Jesus, but into the understanding of sonship with the Father, in whose house and kingdom the righteous were to dwell and shine forth. Now these parables in Matthew, are just the showing forth of the planting and results of this kingdom of heaven, in the sitting of Jesus on the throne of God in power unseen, and ministration of the Spirit according to the Father’s will, “a Lamb as it had been slain,” yea, and in the midst of the throne, but in which He had not taken the earth as His actual portion.

There is another connection which will illustrate the language of these parables—I mean the development of the hope of Israel in Psa. 78, compared with the application of verse 2, with the 35th verse of this chapter. There was no riddle simply in historical facts, but there was a most important lesson and mystery in the total failure of Israel; the Israel of God in the earth totally failing in the midst of all deliverances and blessings, and then set up in stability in David their king, it was the kingdom of David connected with the Jew, But there were other riddles, (Psa. 78:1) חידוֺח מכּי קרס κεκρυμμενα άπὸ καταβολῆς κοσμου (Matt. 13:35.) κατα αποκαλυψιν μυστηριου χριονοις αἰωνοις σεσιγημἔνου, (Rom. 16:25,26; Col. 1. 26.; Eph. 3:5)the great riddle of the kingdom of heaven in its present dispensation— “things new,” (besides David’s reign of Christ over the Jews) to wit, that “the Gentiles should be fellow heirs.”

Our Lord as the prophet of Israel, and the kingdom and the Church of God takes two positions in these parables, or rather, string of prophecies, which are the two parts of prophecy filled up in Him in whom every office was fulfilled. The Church in order, Jewish or Gentile, required no prophecy. In disorder the prophetic testimony had two offices—the testimony of that disorder and the methods of God’s purposes as paramount to human disorder; judgment against the one, and the method of God’s plans of grace, the purposes of God in their moral character and wisdom of counsel. Both are assumed or recognized by the Spirit, as exhibited by our Lord in this chapter. The first we have exhibited in the great prophetic mission of Isaiah, 100:6 where the seeing the full revealed glory of Jehovah, necessarily involves those not seeing that glory being revealed in the consequences of judicial blindness. This was fulfilled in our Lord there was the full glory of Jehovah and the Spirit of revelation, and the word, therefore, of judicial blindness applied directly; and tie speaks this to them in parables. A comparison of the language both of Ezekiel and Zechariah, will much confirm this observation; “Then shalt thou know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee.” (Zech. 2:11.) “In that day thy mouth shall be opened to him that is escaped.” (Ezek. 24:27.) This prophetic character is attached to the parables in verse 13—the other prophetic character is opening out to the remnant by these very riddles, the mysteries of the kingdom, understood when the Spirit has revealed Christ according to the measure of that revelation. “Unto you it is given to know”—this declared in Psa. 78 is adverted to in v. 35. Note here, the Lord’s acts on the measure of blindness in judgment, as on the measure of light in giving more—a very awful consideration, yet sure.

Thus we see the character of the whole chapter—to wit, Christ’s prophetic testimony upon the rejection of His word by the Jews: the order of the divine kingdom during the absence of the Son of man consequent upon His rejection and assumption to the throne of the Father, until His assumption of His own throne—the ministration of power in the hands of the Son of man, with the closing scene of that order—the assumption of the righteous into the Father’s kingdom in the brightness “of the sun,” i.e. Christ Himself—the purging out the Son of man’s kingdom—the field in which the tares were—the declaration of the intrinsic excellence and value with the beauty of the kingdom, and the judgment of the visible Church—the net—full gathered out of the sea.

I would now follow a little, the order of the parables or prophetic declarations themselves. The first, I have observed, is no similitude of the kingdom at all; but the sowing of the seed, by which its ministration was carried into effect, a general parable—the general instrument—and, therefore, stated previously to the judicial blindness of the Jews, and not made a similitude of the kingdom of heaven, but the word of the kingdom, the details of the operation or hindrance of which, are most blessedly and beautifully marked.

The following six parables are similitudes of the kingdom of heaven, but there is a marked distinction in them; the explanation of the first, and the last three of these parables, are addressed to the disciples alone; the former three being addressed to them and the multitude at large. The first three contain the ostensible position and result of the kingdom in the world, of which men might be more or less cognizant, or which might be addressed to them. The latter three, and the explanation, are either the result in full development—the result in God’s hands—or the intrinsic character and value of it as in the mind of the Spirit, developing the mind of the Lord, and this was addressed to the disciples especially. Farther, I would remark, as the first three are the kingdom as seen in the world, and the last three as known in the mind of God, so is the contrast between them more definite still. The first is the sowing abroad in the world, the last is the separative process of the actual net—full (the quantum gathered out of the sea) now dragged to shore. The two intermediate ones of the first three are—one, the external organization into which the kingdom grows up into the world; the other—the diffusion of doctrine over the mass, which the Lord characterizes as leaven, the import of which is given elsewhere. The two intermediate ones of the latter three are, the first, the value of the hidden treasure in the field, the real glory of the Church, as known by the mind and discovery of the Lord, though not now brought out, for which he was content to buy the field—to take the world in its present worthless condition. The application of this is most important. And the second the moral beauty of its grace in the eye of God, meeting the mind of the merchantman seeking goodly pearls, the estimate of the grace in the Church by Christ, and the Spirit of Christ, I believe, also, the first of the former two, answers to or is the contrast of the first of the latter two, and the latter of the latter. The last parable manifestly discloses the judicial process on the body gathered to shore, a question quite distinct from his judgment of the world.

I have now, I believe, distinctly traced the order and structure of the parables; an attempt at their interpretation remains. shall only remark on those which are the likeness of the kingdom. of heaven, and only by way of heads. Of the first, we have our Lord’s own interpretation, in which I have only to direct the attention to the simple force of the terms upon which the Spirit of God must throw its light for our understanding “this word of the kingdom.” We have seen, generally, that the first three are its position or character in the world; so we have here, “the field is the world,” and nothing else; nor does the judicial process refer to the judgment of even the nominal Church, that is subsequently in the last parable. Christ sowed the good seed of the kingdom, in the world; and the devil sowed tares there with craft amongst it while men slept, “perverse men” “ordained to this condemnation.” The power of extermination was not given (to wit, out of the world) to the Church—the servants of the householder. They must “both grow together until the harvest.” It was no service of Christ then to kill a heretic; the rude hand of a servant might destroy a saint, in attempting to preserve the purity of the crop, by that which was reserved for other hands. The ripening of both was the present process, ripened together in the world. The Church would never become a system to purify or set right the world. The providential power of God in the ministration of the Son by His angels, would clear out of His kingdom into bundles, in the field—in the world—the tares to be burned; and thereupon the righteous would shine forth as the sun, not in the kingdom of the Son, not in the kingdom of the Son of man, but in the kingdom of the Father. In a word, we have the clearing of the world—the field, by providential interposition, by a judicial process in the hands of the Son of man sending His angels. The righteous of the kingdom, i. e, those who had been righteous while the world was evil, shall be as the sun. We know who “the sun of righteousness” is, and “when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is;” but it is in the kingdom of their Father. What followed in the kingdom of the Son of man we know not hence, only that He gathered all that offend out of it, and that the earthly “kingdom of our Lord and His Christ was come;” but this was not the subject of a similitude of the kingdom of heaven, This mixed and ambiguous system was closed, or, rather accomplished in the separation of the Father’s kingdom of glory (the righteous, as the sun of righteousness, being together in it, to the praise of the glory of His grace by what is passed, and of His glory then:—compare Eph. 1:6-12.) and the kingdom of the Son of man now purged judicially-the earthly kingdom being now brought in, of which we know from other sources, the Jews to be the imperial power in Christ. The second parable I have already spoken of as the external organization in the world, of the power and influence of the kingdom. The attentive reader of scripture must be most familiar with the symbol of a tree as external protective power and eminence, as in Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh, and many other passages, making the analogy most definite. This, then, was the worldly power of the system, Now when the kingdom of the Son of man comes in, there may be something analogous, though not tantamount to this; but such a system must be a system of sovereign righteousness, forbidden by the previous parable to the Church, or it will be an association or system of evil. The third is the spreading of nominal doctrine to whatever measured extent God had assigned or appointed. So also in another system this might have another character, but it cannot be recognized in grace properly here, for the whole is leavened, a thing again expressly negatived as a fact in grace, in the first parable. The explanation to the disciples of the First we have spoken of as fully as our limits allows us here. Of the fourth, it is evidently the purchase by Christ of the world, for the sake of the treasure—the Church, the treasure of God hidden in it, to be brought out in due time. The fifth is the positive discriminated beauty and excellency of the Church as ordained and set by God, and which the Spirit of Christ, the anointed one, recognizes and sees in its beauty, so as to “love the Church and give Himself for it,” as seen in the mind of God’s love. in proportion as we have the mind of Christ, we shall of course, enter into the mind of Him who is the head of the kingdom, whose Spirit is thus described, fulfilled in Him perfectly. In the last. we have evidence of the result that the nominal Church shall not gather in the world. There were many fishes in the sea—the mass of the unheeded world pursuing their own ways—not drawn into the net, but the net was filled, and there was gathered of every kind out of the sea, and there was also of bad and good. “The fullness of the Gentiles was come in,” and being full it was drawn to shore; and the judgment of the Church commenced, and the bad are cast away. The details of these parables I do not enter into further here. Depth of instruction may be gathered, but it forms a distinct subject of positive instruction, perhaps opportunity may be offered of entering into it. For the present, I close, trusting that He who spake them may cause our discussion of the order and structure of the parables, as referred to the Church of God, to be applied to the conscience of the Church in its present need, and bring it the rather into the mind of God.

I state synoptically what has been followed out as the subject arose. The kingdom of heaven we have as a state of things during the period when the Son is sitting on the Father’s throne. During this period the children are in the Son’s, but heirs of the Father’s kingdom—a period during which the world is not ordered according to the righteous judicial power of the Son of man’s kingdom—the interval between the rejection of the Son of man upon earth, and His reigning upon earth, in which the saints are sustained by the Spirit, in the midst of the world—by the Spirit sent of the Son by the Father, the witness of His exaltation there. Of this state of things, this chapter is the full prophetic announcement. The external character which it assumes in the world, being the first three, the real blessing and value and the judgment of its results, its internal character in God’s sight, the last three of the six parables. It closes in the setting up of the Son of man’s kingdom upon earth, and the assumption of the righteous during its continuance, to the Father’s kingdom in the heavenlies: The first parable is the word of the kingdom. The expositions and internal view of the Church or kingdom are given to the disciples—the judicial blindness of the Jews is declared, and the special privilege of the saints—and the parables are spoken distinctively as the “utterance of hidden things from the world,” which the Spirit reveals to those “who have ears to hear.”

" Dissent From the Church of England Shown to Be Unwarrantable

... in a Letter to a Clergyman,by the Rev. William Burgh, A.B. Chaplain to the Dublin Female Penitentiary.” rims, Dublin; Hatehard, London,

IT is very painful to the heart that would seek in the spirit of love to cover a brother’s infirmities, to meddle with what is usually called “a Review,” that is, if it is evil that calls for remonstrance and answer, and not the desire, which I am aware it sometimes may be, to give publicity to sentiments, received and rejoiced in. The character of Mr. B’s pamphlet puts me into the first-mentioned and truly sad position; it would be comparatively easy to meet him in person, and withstand him as an erring brother to the face, but this would not meet the evil; he has sent forth to the Church, nay he has done more, (for he cannot confine it to the Church) he has given forth to the world, sentiments pregnant with disastrous consequences as I believe, to those that receive them; and which are at the same time, charges of sin upon many who have followed, as they trust, the guidance of the Spirit of truth and holiness, in forsaking the system which he defends. And although I cannot think that the perilous and novel arguments he uses will have general reception, yet knowing how few think for themselves, and how many desire something to pacify the troubles an increasingly informed conscience may produce, I do feel that the position of Mr. B. with reference to the system he defends, will give great extrinsic weight to his reasoning, since he will appear in the view of those who only look to results, and not to principles of truth, to have met in honesty the claims of every other associate body and returned to that whence he went out as the fairest and truest of them all; and thus will an importance be attached to his pamphlet which it would not otherwise have possessed.

I also feel myself called upon to contend with what I believe to be the evil thus advocated, from some little knowledge of the struggle that is now going on in Ireland between light and darkness in the hearts of many of my beloved brethren, and in the hope that this may reach them, I would say at the outset of my brief remarks, that my desire is to write in the grace of that Spirit, which will ever call to our remembrance that we are yet in the flesh—in sadness and sorrow indeed, for I speak of evil, and yet in love, for my anxiety is about my brethren.

I would not, if I could help it, mention by name the system here defended; but the rather, if it were right to advocate evil because the evil of others is more flagrant, take part with Mr. B. in its defense—in unfeigned love and respect for many who have been and still are in it, if it were right before God, I would far rather share with them in its probable downfall and fall with them in it, than lay unholy hands on it for the sake of its gold and silver and worldly esteem; but it is because it possesses that which is the eagerly sought prey of the worldly minded, and which is therefore opposed to the spirit of heaven; and yet more because I believe in its constitution it is rejecting the Holy Ghost, that I not only leave it myself, but would warn all the saints of God, with earnest and importunate love to do the same. It is not indeed, mere contention about silly ceremonies that would make me raise one word of difference, but the confirmed conviction, as I believe in the light of God, that all who take part in its continuance, are sharing in that which is hurrying on almost the whole of christendom into the wine-press of God’s wrath; even a rejection of the present joy of the widowed Church, the abiding indwelling presence of the comforter, the angel guide of this dispensation, its cloud by day, and fire by night, and its Shekinah of glory.

The path of faithful love, is a very straight one, because it has always power to detect what is dishonoring to the name of its Lord; it judges everything by this test—it seeketh not its own; and all personal advantages are forgotten in its desire that honor and worship should be given by all to that name. It is this alone that can keep the Christian in integrity, and many a web of sophistry, and all the disingenuousness of uncertain love is put aside by its simplicity. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” “The light of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, the whole body shall be full of light; but if thine eye be evil, the whole body shall be full of darkness; if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness:” for “No man can serve two masters, for either he will love the one and hate the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other—ye cannot serve God and Mammon.”

It is true indeed, that we may all err; but what is it we should all seek? is it not the glory of Jesus? and it is in seeking this that I would boldly say, that it matters little whether the thing contended for be an Establishment declared to be based and built upon unrecorded tradition, or any other of the many lesser bodies, which divide the Church into endless parties, or whether their charter of order be the visionary tradition of an Apostle, or the more substantial tradition of a later day; if they live in anything, or act in anything but the presence of the Holy Ghost, they are more or less rejecting the blessing of God to them in this dispensation; and if their constitutions are not in every jot and tittle planned by the written word, or ordered through living men, by the Holy Ghost dwelling in them, according to their need and position, they are disregarding God and His faithful promise, and the glory of Him to whom they have pledged themselves in love and service. The whole question holds this important character to me, or I should have left it alone; and it is in this light I would entreat my dear brethren to consider it; I neither contend for the written word alone, nor against the traditional, as it is here called; the former is not enough, for it is always judged instead of obeyed, unless the Holy Spirit give humbleness and instruction; and as to the latter, I can only say where is it? what is it? there is no answer to what we need in either; but there is a full answer in the promise of the Father, that the Spirit of truth should abide always with the sorrowing saints in the wilderness of this dreary world; and this too with very distinct reference to the question agitated in this pamphlet—the Church’s constant need of government and order in its ministry and services. “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth; go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing, them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” (Matt. 28:18-20.) “If ye love me, keep my commandments; and I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever—even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you and shall be in you.” (John 14:15,17.) “These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you; but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things.” (v. 26.) “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak; and He shall show you things to come.” (John 16:l 3.)

And “unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ; wherefore He saith, when He ascended up on high, He led captivity, captive; and gave gifts unto men, and He gave some, Apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors, and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4:7-13.)

Now it is said, “first, Apostles;” (1 Cor. 12) and as they were specially gifted for the Church’s blessing then in their living instruction, so in their written instruction for its blessing always, till it comes to the measure of the stature to which it is destined; their full wisdom when living, was exercised in every present exigency, and met the need of the Church then, and passed away; that which was suited to it in every state, was left in enduring record. If the other had been left, (I would speak with reverence of God’s purposes,) would it not have produced the fearful effect this pamphlet seeks to give it, (though it is not merely supposed to be) of leading away the hearts of the saints from the joy of a present Comforter and counselor, the unfailing Urim and Thummim, which is to abide with them forever? The Apostles, and surely their verbal instructions too, are gone; but is the Holy Ghost gone? has He not wisdom, and knowledge, and power? I am not called to point to men as possessing His gifts, though truly they are to be discerned in many; but this I surely know, that if He were not grieved, and fettered, and disowned, whenever in love His gifts are put forth in any, by human prescriptions, I should be more able to show that there is no need to put tradition in His place: but our sin does not destroy that sure word of promise though unbelief rejects its blessing; Jesus has received gifts for men in the manifold operations of that one Spirit of truth, who is to abide forever, if we cease to grieve Him by our refusal to own His presence and His right to order God’s Church, and cast away all that would. impede His liberty to rule, and humbly seek His wisdom to guide us into all truth, our folly would soon be made manifest in the glory of His presence; but oh, this is the sin! H, in an effort of love, He shines forth in any, it is disregarded, unless certified by some human authority which is avowedly incompetent to judge. This is the flagrant unregarded sin—human order built on the expediency of self love—tradition somewhere in popery, but yet not of it—anything that is past of the Apostles and the prophets, which if not written, is only their sepulcher now—anything of the world and of the flesh is looked to for security and honor, rather than the wisdom, love, end power, of the Holy Ghost.

There are two divisions in the pamphlet, and I would follow them though very briefly, with the desire, not to exhibit in clearer light, the errors of my brother for the censure of others, God forbid; but with the desire that all the followers of Jesus, who may be interested in the question, should see in the strong light I do, of what importance it is. The first relates to “ordinances;” the second, “services, ministry, government;” and passing by in sorrow the apparent disregard of the written word, I would only use it as allowed in page 10, where it is said, “the epistles were written, for the most part, only as a departure from the previously prescribed order, called for animadversion, or further direction;” indeed, in this case, it is the only use of them required, for even if the traditions were forthcoming, to enter upon their merits would be vain and profitless; for if Mr. Burgh’s system is founded upon them, it would after all, stand in the position spoken of “as subjects of the animadversion and correction of the written word;” and if it is contrary to that in any way, it must be quite clear that its traditional foundation cannot be the unwritten word of the Apostle; and the question assumes its usual shape. I would also acknowledge the truth of the position, “that a thing may not be directly contrary to the word of God as not met there, and yet be good and true.” But while doing so, I would repeat, that nothing, can be good or true, which is not met in the written word, unless ordered by the present wisdom and instruction of the Holy Ghost, through competent men; and that neither tradition nor formal order, based on expediency, arising from His unregarded absence, can take His place, I would also acknowledge, though in a more limited way, the statement in page 8, “that there can be nothing indifferent or nonessential in the ordering of the Churches;” it is true indeed, that if there is a witness in everything, either of the Spirit of heaven, or the evil life of the natural man, it must be yet more forcibly marked in the character of that which assumes to be the expression of spiritual and true worship: but then the conviction of the importance of these things ought surely to urge us to seek some better pattern of order than that which unrecorded tradition or a worldly legislature can give; and where is it to be found, but in giving heed to His wisdom who dwells in the saints to that end, not who once dwelt with them and then ordered what might not be adapted to the necessities of after years, but who I believe graciously obliterated in all his immediate acts of government through the Apostles, that we might always be necessitated to look to Him for hourly care where the difficulty is not met at once in the word; and if Mr. Burgh, and our many other brethren really think all the ordering of a Christian Church to be of such importance as that nothing can be non-essential or indifferent, are they satisfied with the authority they lay claim to? Is it really sufficient for them, while holding such ground, to say, that complete as the fabric is, no one part rests on the written word? that while it assumes so much to itself, as to declare that those who leave it are committing the sin of schism, and disregarding God’s ordinances; it yet can only put forth as its authority what cannot be produced, and that on the ground where authority is owned by the spiritual man, it has none. The child of God asks for “Thus saith the Lord;” but Mr. Burgh’s answer is, “we are non-scriptural;” he asks then, for the Spirit in the rulers and ministers, and he is answered, “we are not anti-scriptural;” and surely he cannot expect any to be contented with this, nay, is he really contented himself? For if it were so, what would his argument avail to do, but to make what he defends merely “a nothing;” for what is the Christian? What is the Church without the word and spirit of truth? are they not their all in this world, both for comfort and for witness?

The pamphlet refers but to one service, namely, that of the Lord’s supper; and to that alone, therefore, would I refer; basing what I say on Mr. Burgh’s own assertion— “that the Christian Churches were at first perfectly constituted and set in order by the Apostles, and that nothing so ordered and regulated, was non-essential or indifferent;” and taking the Apostles’ animadversions and corrections on their departure from this order, both as the evidence of what the order itself was, and the proof how much more all existing institutions need correction, but above all that which Mr. Burgh defends.

As a service, I would first state what is on the very face of it as brought before us in 1 Cor. 11, that there is no order prescribed, which in any way impeded the invariable method of blessing, when the Church was gathered, that is, mutual edification; and the character of the meeting here, is in all its features, the same as that more fully detailed in chap. 14, though its object was in one part different; they equally give free power to the Holy Ghost in His presiding presence, and without which, I am ready to confess, it but little matters whether it be the sacrifice of the mass, the formal idleness of steps, priest, and altar; or the scene of confusion and disgrace at Corinth. The disorder however, acknowledged there, is full proof that they only looked for order to the presence of the Spirit; and if they had not that, it were better to be in disorder, that their nakedness might at once appear. The Apostle’s correction proves the same thing, it added nothing, neither did it in any way alter the character of the service which gave liberty to the disorder; but on the contrary sanctions and confirms it, though rebuking their carelessness; and “his further directions,” the utmost of the authoritative animadversion of this his written word is, “wherefore my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another;” it is true, he seeks to Correct it another way, which is the only true method of setting anything right; he presses on them the solemnity of the ordinance itself, teaches them its character—that by receiving it into their hearts and minds, they might express it outwardly, and not by making formal barriers, which would shut out the Spirit more than the outrage; he tells them as spiritual men to judge what they were about, and calls on them to remember his own instructions— “for I have received. of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread; and when He had given thanks, He brake it, &e.: wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink of this cup unworthily, is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.”

The manner of the service then, is very distinctly before us as shown in the evil corrected, that is, they came together to eat a social meal; and so completely was this its form, that it gave liberty to those who were carnally minded to turn it into a common supper, they came together hungry, to eat and drink there, as not discerning the Lord’s body, and regarding it in form only and not in Spirit, degraded it into the thing the form allowed; if its order had not been that of a common supper, they could not have made a common supper of it—and if it had no other meaning, it would have been valuable in this, that so completely divested was it of innate solemnity, that nothing but the apprehension of its meaning, in the Spirit, and the expression of the discernment of the fathomless love declared in it, in solemnity of act, could prevent its being a scene of disorder and shame; and this is the love and wisdom of our God, that all that He has ordered should throw us in necessity upon the Spirit, or it cannot be sustained.

The Corinthians then, made the Lord’s supper their own supper: not a supper for the soul, but the body; eating and drinking to satisfy the flesh; not the Lord’s body and blood in faith: and this the Spirit of wisdom corrected, by setting before them the love and blessing in that which it was intended to express, not altering its order but its character; acknowledging it to be a social feast, and as such, only to be kept in solemn and holy order by an apprehension of its meaning. And it is on this ground I would plead with my brethren in Ireland: what but such an order of service as this, can really express the mind. of the Spirit? No Christian service can be complete, though there may be truth in it, without its three distinctive features—communion with God, with His people, and a witness to the world of true worship; I would allow that a believer might have the first in the Church of England, but no pretension can be made to the other two; and they are as important as the first, looking at it as a service. Communion with God, in an understanding of His perfect love in the death of Jesus, is of course the basis of its blessing; but the life so received, is expressed in communion with those united in the same understanding; as it is written “for we being many, are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of one bread;” and wherever this life and union is, in the mutual discernment of the Lord’s body in the Spirit, there will be, of necessity, more or less an outward expression of it, as it is clearly written, “ye do show the Lord’s death till He come.” I am not contending for proprieties of form where the Spirit is not, but for the simple arrangement so easily gathered from God’s word, which if attended to, would either exhibit carnal mindedness and ignorance by disorder and confusion, or be the sure proof of the presence of the holy Ghost, and the reality of the blessing enjoyed, as well as a solemn and simple expression of His presence, and the meaning of this feast of worship, to those who might come into this assembly. And what is its meaning? Is it not a feast of love, the meeting of family of God, union together in an everlasting brotherhood, as having eternal life in Him who was once dead, but now liveth for evermore? joined together as members of God’s house and family, unconnected naturally, but in the Spirit, brethren and sisters, meeting round their Father’s table, not to eat the food which would but strengthen the life which separates them, but that “flesh which is meat indeed,” and “that blood which is drink indeed.” It is a witness, that those who so meet are united in a bond which endureth forever, and that no perishing family tie in the flesh is so strong or so sweet—the joyful feast, in which the common Father and brother are worshipped and acknowledged; in which their enduring union in faith, hope, and charity, is felt by themselves, and declared to the world— and where and how can this be? but where the liberty of this love is known, and everything that would give formality and., distance thrown away that love might have free course, and where the unholy disorder and revelry of the Corinthian Church is restrained and prevented by the remembrance of the sorrow and agony which has given the liberty and joy, that is, by spiritual discernment of the Lord’s broken and bruised body. And surely then, we should shrink with greater dismay from carnal arrangement of order, which would destroy every feature of the lovely character of this supper, than from any excess which a misuse of it might produce; there is nothing to prevent blessing in the latter, the presence of the Spirit would remedy the evil; but there is a formal hindrance in the other, and if the Spirit were present in power, he must break that down first or he could not bless collectively nor indeed individually save in feebleness. The manner in which it was at first instituted, is corroborative of all that I have said; the twelve were sitting with the

Lord at table, and without the slightest intimation of any change in their position, He took up the simple order of that sorrowful supper, and consecrated it, in all its unchanged circumstances to be His own remembrancer. And if our dear brethren do really think order so essential, how can they bear anything that mars the simple beauty of this service, comprehending as it does, every feature of the gospel of their master’s love? I know how, almost everywhere else, as well as in this pamphlet, the insufficiency of such an order as this is declared; but what is this but a declaration of disobedience and unbelief as to the power of the Holy Ghost to keep order in His house? Alas! we do not even distrust the power of worldly courtesy so much; men bid one another to feasts and assemblies, and look to “the ruler of the feast,” and the spirit of courtesy to keep order and harmony, and are but seldom disappointed; and yet in the assemblies of a holy people, the power of their ruler is doubted, and the spirit of love questioned, and, without some previous rule, all is expected to be disorder and uproar. And is it not that the spirit of the world is more practically reverenced than the Spirit of the Lord? surely this is the evil, I repeat, this is the unregarded evil; and of what is it the evidence, but real ignorance of the presence of the Spirit in blessing? “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Cor. 3,) “Ye are called to liberty, only use not your liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” (Gal. 5) Holy liberty and love is the only character of the gospel, and surely therefore of this service—bondage and formality, the spirit and character of all human ordinances.

The next subject is ordination or ministry:—and in this too is the charge seriously repeated, that because men reject the ministrations of the Church of England, they are rejecting God’s ordinances altogether. I would ask, is a more special care to arrange them according to the letter and spirit of the word, rejecting them? rejecting the order of the flesh, is not casting away order, but the flesh, and retaining God’s order in the Spirit— rejecting a perverted mode of communion service is not casting away the Lord’s command, but the perversion of it, that it may shine forth in its own true and bright character. Breaking bread every Lord’s day instead of four times a year is surely no evidence

of neglect of the ordinate, but rather of the insufficiency of so careless an appointment to satisfy those who have learned its value. And so also with ordination; who rejects it? Surely our brethren of the Church of England, little know the position they assume by this claim of the authority of God for their system, for the more boldly they make this claim, the more fearful is their responsibility, to exhibit God’s power and presence in that to which subjection is demanded; and if they have not that, their assumption is grievous sin, and dishonor to God; and their system nothing but a disastrous caricature of the beautiful thing it pretends to be. Ordination or laying on of hands, is marked in the scriptures in a twofold character: the 1st as the appointment of authority, attested by the transfer of absolute power from the person appointing, to the person appointed; and 2ndly, as a recognition on the part of the Church, of a previously possessed power, and merely a setting apart to service without any pretensions to any further gift, of which we have a special instance in Acts 13:1-4. Now the last in its general character, I do not doubt, ought to be used in the Church now; the former was claimed by the Church of Rome, calling it a “sacrament;” and now also by the Church of England as apostolic; and therefore the bishop in laying on his hands, says, “receive ye the Holy Ghost.” Now I do nor in the face of scripture quarrel with such ordination as this, for it was of God; but I do with the fearful fiction so constantly acted before God and the people, of asserting in word, the possession of the power, and with all solemnity pretending to transfer it, and yet have nothing to transfer. “The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power;” and the Spirit’s judgment must be now as it was in the Apostle, “I will know, not the speech of them which are pulled up, but the power.” (1 Cor. 6:19,20) Ignorance of this truth, and a false balance in judgment, are the causes of the abounding evil; the word is continued without the power, and many of God’s children, instead of being bowed to the dust, because of the absence of the power, are confederate with those who assume the full form of alacrity to the dishonor of God’s holy and omnipotent name, and so hasten on the last disastrous and most hateful form of wickedness—carnal Christianity—fiction and not present blessing—the mimicry of all the beautiful order of spiritual rule and service, or, in the simple but clear word of scripture— “the form without the power of godliness,” What is the ordination advocated by Mr. Burgh? is it not the very thing that in page 17, of his pamphlet, called forth his smile, though it is there referred to discipline – “an attempt made to assert power where there was none.”— does he not in those words mark its full character? for what is it but a public declaration, in the sight of God and the Church, of apostolic authority to commit a sacred trust (2 Tim. 1:6-11.) and in committing it, to bestow the Holy Ghost in power, (see ordering of priests)which is very seldom anything else but an external accrediting of ungodliness to the continual blame of the ministry, and alas that men who have received the grace of Jesus, not only bow to this, but defend it in word and practice. I repeat that the word of the Lord is clear about this, it gives a full account of it in 2 Tim. 3:1-9; fills up every part of the portrait by the solemn word, “having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof;” predicts its increase, and says, “FROM SUCH TURN AWAY.” “He that hath ears to hear let him hear.” Acknowledging form where there is no power, is the danger warned against; and, “God is not mocked; whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap.”

If less than this is claimed far Mr. B’s system, it really has nothing even to pretend to; for the second mode of ordination, as, gathered from scripture, is not an appointment to an order of ministry at all, but the appointment of place, for the exercise of possessed ministerial gifts; but if this only is claimed for it, the same principle is as directly applicable, and if used, would surely unveil the evil defended; for it is altogether a question of competency or power. And who are the judges? but, in almost every case, those whom our brethren who know the truth must, if they are honest, deny their pulpits to, and speak of as unconverted men; they cannot admit them to be their associates in private, they cannot receive them into what are called their religious parties, but they can gravely admit them, and subject themselves to them, hi the sacred things of God and his Church. The practical bearing of this is too manifest to need notice—the greater number of those so appointed, are men who make God’s holy name and service minister to their unholy lusts; the convenience of situation, or amount of carnal provision being the question considered, not the service of the house of God; and the few who are of God, and who subject His name in them to such dishonour, are sent in almost every instance, to fulfil duties they are not fitted for, and their gifts, in themselves good, lost by their self-willed subjection to that which is not of God. Oh! that my brethren would consider these things, and remember their responsibility is to God; and that if they own anything, and submit to anything which is not of the Spirit of God, they are owning and submitting to falsehood and error, though it may bear the name of truth. The Apostles were acknowledged only as possessing apostolic power and character; many assumed the name, and the Church of Ephesus was commended by him that is holy and true, because they had tried them, and found them to be liars; the authority was not in the name but in the power; it was not the man, but the Spirit of God dwelling in him. They tried the Apostle Paul, and how did he answer the trial? “He that wrought effectually in Peter to the Apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the gentiles; and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship.” (Gal. 2:8-9) “Am I not an Apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord? if I be not an Apostle unto others, doubtless I am unto you; for the seal of mine Apostleship are ye in the Lord.” “Mine answer to them that do examine me is this.” (1 Cor. 9:1-3) “Receive us, we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.” (2 Cor. 7:2) “In all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, &c.” (2 Cor. 6:1-10) The Spirit of truth must seek truth in everything, and will be dissatisfied where it has it not: and if any man owns in the Church, either form or office in which the Spirit of truth and holiness is not, he is disowning and resisting the Holy Ghost, and bowing down before a dumb idol, instead of the living God; and if he contends for the necessity of an order which is not constructed on scripture, he must be continually thrown into active opposition to the Spirit, as dwelling in those who refuse to be subjected to it, unless men can limit the working of God’s power and sovereignty within the bounds of their own systems.

With reference to the arrangements for ministry in Mr. B’s system, I must also say, that even if in themselves good, they are insufficient, as confined generally to one person. I do not now enlarge upon this as it will be probably, frequently done in this work, (if the Lord is pleased to grant it continuance) in the following numbers; but I quote the scriptures, observing that they are a very severe animadversion upon almost every Church I know. Rom. 12:4-8, 15:14, 1 Cor. 14.—and on this chapter I would remark, that the same correction is given here as in the 11th chap. that is, a rebuke for the misuse of the blessing entrusted to them: and it equally proves the mode of edifying in the Church, as this is not altered— to get rid of the evil, but order in its use commanded: they are desired here to speak by turns— “if anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace,” as they had been before desired to eat by turns— “tarry one for another;” and this is the order of Him “who is the author not of confusion, but of peace in all the Churches of the saints.” Col. 3:16., 1 Thess. 5:11-15., Heb. 10:24,25, 13:7.

The last subject advocated in the pamphlet is neglect of discipline, because of the absence of power to enforce it. “To exercise discipline,” Mr. Burgh says, “there must be power to enforce it, &c.; and to attempt it otherwise is has always happens where authority is assumed without power,) to bring all the authority of the Church into contempt.” (page 16). These few words are indeed the substance of almost all I have been seeking, though briefly to show; but alas! how sadly are they used. To give distinction to a particular order of men, most of whom are unconverted, Mr. B, and our brethren seek that men should give, as they do themselves, full credit to authority where there is not even pretense to spiritual power, and by which nothing but worldly distinction or authority is transferred from one ungodly man to another; and what is this but making Christ the minister of sin? and what is it further in the sight of wise men, but in Mr. B’s own words, “bringing all the authority into contempt, which always happens where authority is assumed without power?” Desire for the Lord’s glory, and love for my brethren, cannot but cause sorrow that the application of so simple a truth should be withheld, when it would throw down manifest evil; but alas! what can be said when the principle is upheld and used directly for the protection and continuance of acknowledged wickedness? assumed apostolic authority is owned and recognized, where there is neither apostolic power or character, though by it the door is opened for the entrance of all manner of evil; but when the door is to be shut, to check the torrent which is rushing in, then it is gravely said, “that to assume authority where there is no power,” can only cause a smile. Alas what is this but the championship of wickedness? (I dare not withhold the word.) It is against such a fearful position as this, that the whole burthen of the prophets is directed— “trust ye not in lying words saying, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these. Behold ye trust in lying words that cannot profit; will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not, and come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name, and say we are delivered to do all these abominations? Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it saith the Lord.” (Jer. 7:1-11.) “And they said, there is no hope; but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his own evil heart.” (Jer. 17:12.) “Ye have wearied the Lord with your words, yet ye say, wherein have we wearied Him, when ye say every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delighteth in them, or, where is the God of judgment?” (Mal. 2:17.)

The most important care of any Church are its channels of instruction and authority; they are most prominently marked as conveying life to the body. If they are ungodly, what will be the character of the body but ungodliness? and this God will judge. (Matt. 7:15-20, is in direct allusion to this.) Next to this, is the care to prevent evil men coming into the body, as they will impede, and eventually, if unchecked, destroy its righteous fruitfulness in another way; both are distinctly marked in Eph. 4 the first in verses 11, 12; “And He gave some, Apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:”—the last in the l6th verse; “edifying itself in love.” Mr. B’s system boldly destroys both, for in it the former are to be owned and submitted to without reference either to moral character or gifts, in direct disobedience to the Apostles’ epistles to Timothy and Titus; and of the latter he says, in the words of the children of Israel, “there is no hope.” It is also asserted, that the want of discipline in a Church does not authorize separation from it; and that this is proved by the epistles to the seven Churches. The same allowance of evil is elsewhere put in another way: “we need not be troubled about its wickedness, for we cannot expect to be better than the Church at Corinth, and that was very wicked.” I can only answer these remarks, by asking what a Church is; is it not an associate body of obedient children, formed so as to be enabled by their constitution to obey the word of the Lord, wherever it is addressed to them in their associate character? No body of Christians can be recognized of God. as a candlestick under the administrative care of the Son of man, if they are not ordered in a condition which empowers Him to act as their bishop and shepherd, that is, which enables them to obey His word to them in their collective or Church character.

There may be, and are, many parties of Christians gathered, even true Christians; but their association is even sinful unless it is in obedience, and their gathering only exhibits their disobedience, which would not have been manifest had they been separate; and they are looked to, in the Lord’s love, only as individuals, and not as a candlestick at all; which indeed they cannot be, except on the very terms of entire submission to His government by the word and Spirit. With reference to this, in passing, I would refer to the 18th of Matthew, which from beginning to end, develops the Lord’s principle of rule and order in His Church; it has been said that the directions in verses 15 to 17, could not, in any way, be obeyed now, for no one body of Christians in a place (and in most places there are many) could lay claim to the name of “the Church;” for the Church in reality, must consist of all the believers in the place. Now I think there is a grievous error in this; there may be a thousand collective bodies of Christians in a place, and yet if they are not formed so as to be able to obey, the Lord Jesus cannot rule them; and He therefore cannot recognize them as Churches, and the Christians belonging to them are only associate in disobedience, while two or three (the number marked by the Lord as sufficient to constitute a Church) formed in obedience and knowing obedience to be their only standing, are really God’s candlestick in that place, as alone giving power to the Son of man to rule, them by His word; and this will be clear to the conscience at least, of everyone who is forced into thoughtfulness about his true position as a Christian, as called to walk in love with others; ceasing to stand but in connection with others, he must at once find that there can be no continuance in union except in obedience, for every word of scripture relative to Church order, is a link to sustain the union, and by which indeed it is alone sustained; for the Spirit unites through the word. What is he to do then, if on looking round, he sees many Christians united by party names, party interests, separate from each other by the power of that which constitutes them distinct bodies, (and by this, proving the evil of that power,) all agreeing in one point only—the impracticability of obedience to the word of their worshipped Master. But if he can also see a few, if it be but two or three, acting in obedience, constituted on the ground of obedience only, the Spirit must carry him to them, for he has no where else freedom in Church fellowship to obey his Lord, and in withdrawing from the others in their associate character —he is but obeying the word of his Lord— “withdraw yourself from every brother that walketh disorderly;” for where any body of Christians refuse to obey, as saying, that their order is such, that obedience is impossible; they are setting their order against, or rather exalting it above God, and are living in sin, for all disobedience is sin; the disobedience of an individual is his sin; the disobedience of a Church is collective sin: and while there never can be separation between Christians in spirit, for they are united in Jesus, who is on the throne of the Father; yet must there be at once, separation in act, or the Lord’s authority and honor are sacrificed, it may be, to some plea of the slothful heart, which will ever prefer the carnal ease of a regulated system to the constant endeavor of the spirit of love to preserve unity in the bond of peace. But where the spirit of obedience is heeded, and God’s honor cared for, union in spirit with those who continue in disobedience, will evidence itself by sorrowful anxiety, intercession with God for them, remonstrance with them, and solemn warning both in word and act. Union in spirit indeed, nothing can sunder, for it is “in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Union in service on earth, nothing can keep but obedience to the word of the Lord, specially were spoken with reference to that union on the part of those that are called to exhibit, as God’s witnesses on earth, their union in heaven; as the light of the world, which is required to shine before men, that our God who is in heaven, and therefore unseen in His glory, may be known and glorified. The Church’s responsibility to exhibit its unity here, is distinctly marked: but it is the unity of holiness and love, or it is not light – “God is light; and if we walk in the light as He is in the light, then have we fellowship one with another.” Any unity but this, is but a confederacy of evil; and if it bears with it the holy name of the Lord, its evil is the more alarming; and if it has the letter of truth without the Spirit, and a well-ordered formulary, while in moral ruin, it is but the more like what the Lord calls “a whited sepulcher, full of rottenness and dead men’s bones.”

The Churches of Asia, to which reference has been made, were of course constituted in obedience; and while they so continued, the word of love and warning was addressed to them: when the power of disobedience, in disregard of evil, had overcome them, they ceased to be candlesticks, and they were moved out of their place; individual Christians remained in them, and as we well know, as far as the eye of man went, they increased both in numbers and external power: but holiness went, and then discipline, which is the necessary expression of holiness; and then the Lord went, not from the individuals but from the associate bodies. The Lord never leaves His people individually, but socially, (as Mr. B. puts it,) that is, if His word and Spirit are not submitted to, and His authority practically disowned, He must cease to give credit to the disorder which it becomes in His sight, or I would rather say, if there is no holy and spiritual order, God is not there as ruler of the Church, though still dwelling in many individuals composing it. If there is no discipline, the Son of man guards not the candlestick, for He bears the sharp two-edged sword, and the Church ceases to be one save in name, in which it assumes to live while it is dead; it is as a Church, apostate, having “the form but denying the power of godliness;” and “from such turn away,” said the Lord. And though many brethren may continue in ignorance or carelessness in the disobedient association, the command is in no way qualified by this, as though unity would be destroyed, for it had much better be so, nay, it must be so, if the unity Can only be kept by disobedience; and so the word of the Lord says— “Withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and if any man,” saith the Apostle, “obey not our word in this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed; yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.” (2 Thess. 3) And with reference to those who had the name, and perhaps assumed the office of teachers without character, he says, “now I beseech you brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, AND AVOID THEM; for they that are such, serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple; but your obedience is come abroad unto all men.” (Rom. 16:17-19.) The cause of division and offense was setting up something contrary to the word of scripture; by this they were to be judged, and as assumption without character was nothing, they were to be avoided, for they were in the sight of God, serving, not the Lord Jesus, but their own belly, though their words were good and their speech fair. Separation then, from brethren, whether true or false, is here commanded, if they are walking disobediently “withdraw yourselves,” “have no company with them,” “avoid them.” Separation from true brethren in spirit is not possible; for all are one in Christ Jesus—but on earth, and in the body, separation is ordered that the disobedient may be ashamed. Our hearts will sorrow over a disorderly brother, but we are to shame him by the separation of obedience, and this is true love; for his continuance in evil will be sore trouble to him, and nothing but service to the world or the wicked one.

Oh it is grief to see many truly beloved brethren going on in advocacy of evil, careless about their Lord’s glory; zealously contending for external order, while indifferent to the misrule and ruin within—saying they cannot obey their Lord, and yet requiring obedience by human prescriptions—busily occupied with the dead in burying the dead—bringing in and countenancing every unclean thing in that which should be holy to the Lord, and saying, “we are delivered to do these abominations; God has purposed it.” Alas! in the sight of Him who seeth the heart, and judgeth righteous judgment who is not deceived by good words and fair speeches, surely this is disorder, and he who continues allied to it must be reckless both of his Master’s name and word. Oh! dear brethren, ye are straitened in your own bowels; “be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, (in the labor of God’s husbandry,) for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? or what connection has light with darkness? and what concord has Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people; wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty; having therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (1 Cor. 6:1-18.).

Mr. B, asserts that his Church has no power to exercise discipline, and therefore it ought not to be attempted: surely then he stands as a stronger witness against it than any that has yet appeared, and at once condemns it as a Church by its own verdict; for in article 19, a Church is defined to be “a congregation of faithful men,” &c. Indeed anybody that does not separate the evil doer, stands as partaking of the evil deed; and this neglect, if continued, puts it into the place of judgment; a Church, to be God’s candlestick, must be a fold of holy and obedient people, dreading sin, and giving a witness of subjection to God’s will in the midst of a disobedient world; if it has lost this character it has lost everything, and stands only in the place of apostasy and judgment, and not in God’s favor and fellowship. “Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt hath lost its savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned? it is fit for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.” I do not know what Can be more hateful to God than that which takes the place of His witness on earth; and yet not only practically but confessedly sanctions evil-calling itself “a city set on a hill,” and yet “a harlot; its silver become dross, its wine mixed with water, its princes rebellions, and companions of thieves, every one loving gifts and following after reward.” (Isa. 1:21.) Declaring itself the light of the world; While its light is darkness; (and then how great is the darkness!)— “the salt of the earth,” and yet without savor; exalted to heaven in its own assumption, and therefore surely to be cast down the lower.

But there are two reasons given why discipline should not be used first; because the Church has no power to put in force its judgments; end the second, because it would be useless to do so, while there are so many other bodies that would receive the offender In allowing; and deeply deploring the evil of divisions as likely to produce what Mr. Burgh says, yet surely it almost all lies, in reality, at the door of his own system, at least, I have never heard of any body, lax as they are, that would receive an excommunicate offender as such, unless he had repented, and returned into the way of righteousness; except indeed the Church of England itself; which without questioning receives into its communion all alike, and therefore not only would, but of course constantly does, as far as it can, give countenance to the evil doer, rejected by others; and well indeed might others, more careful for their Lord’s glory, be aggrieved at this, were it not; that all must practically judge of it as no Church in God’s sight, and therefore in no way accrediting the offender, nay, not even doing so in the estimate of the world, which is equally cognizant of its latitudinarianism, though not aggrieved by it; but even if it were true that all other bodies were as licentious in principle and practice, and as little careful of God’s honor, it surely would not extenuate the evil Mr. B. defends; they would be alike reprehensible, and alike prove themselves to have lost their distinctive character before God, and indeed before man, for I repeat, a Church of God is set apart to be the light, to separate between holy and unholy, clean and unclean— to speak and act in trust for God; and if the body has lost the character, the name and form is merely its condemnation; and the more pretension it has, while without character, the more offensive it must be in the sight of God—if it has no power of discipliner it ceases to be even formally holy, its competency to fulfill its engagements to God is gone; it ceases to be before God, and therefore before those who have the mind of God, what it calls itself. The assumption of the name of “a Church of God,” is the assumption of power to witness for Him in separation from evil; and where this is not, as Mr. B. says, “it is only brought into contempt,” and, as the Lord says, “good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.” With reference to his assertion, that no part of the Church has power to use discipline, and that he has been forced to smile to see Christians gravely delivering an offender over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, I can only say, that this must be a rare occurrence, for I believe few in those days have ever heard of such a thing. Alas! while the Church of England on one side is using the full form Of apostolic authority, while altogether denying its power, the dissenters have cast away all thought of the power too, while they have rightly, cast away the words without it; where is the sorrow in either that the power is not? are not all alike “glorying, in their shame, and minding earthly things?” “denying the power of godliness” is indeed marked on the forehead of all Christendom. But, indeed discipline is not confined to the exercise of such a power as this, but universally charged on the Church in every instance, but more specially opened in 1 Cor. 5, in which the command is so clear that it can only be invalidated by disobedience; it is not merely the use of the apostolic power which he gives to them in the special ease before them, but always to keep the feast of unleavened bread, by purging out the evil leaven, because a little leaven if allowed to continue, will soon leaven the whole lump; and having thus spoken of the holy character of the fellowship of Christians, as sanctified by the blood of the Lamb, he refers to a previous epistle, and gives to them, and the whole Church, (unless scripture is of private interpretation, and the Corinthians were called to be saints and we are not,) direct instructions how they might be kept from leaven. “I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, OR COVETOUS, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such a one no not to eat. Do not ye judge them that are within? but them that are without God judgeth; therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.”

Surely there is no need of apostolic discernment to detect a railer, a drunkard, or an extortioner; or need of apostolic power to put away a wicked person from among themselves, or to refrain from keeping company with such a one. But can Mr. B. answer the Apostle’s question, “Do not ye judge them that are within?” if not, if his system has not this power of judgment, and all men alike are united in fellowship in it, is it not that which is without which God will judge? If it has given up the power of keeping out the leaven, God’s word is sure, the whole lump will be leavened. There is, alas! an individuality of standing among Christian now, which is most fearful: many there are who as knowing and loving the Lord, would shrink with terror from companionship with the character the Apostle describes, and would not admit them to their own tables on any account, and yet will unshrinkingly admit them to the holy table of the Lord, and thus give sanction to their wickedness; for instead of rebuke and warning, they countenance_ and strengthen their self-deceit, or it may be blasphemy; not this in the word of the prophet Malachi? “making the table the Lord contemptible,” and proving how ignorant they are of the sweetest fruit of God’s present love, “the communion of saints,”

The question is not, have we power to deliver to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, but have we power to keep our fold holy, by putting away the wicked person? Have we the power of judgment on open evil? or do we continue in Church fellowship, and. there is none other truly to the saint) or eating with such persons as these, and above all, eating with them the bread broken, to show in Jesus, God’s eternal hatred of sin?

I do intreat in affection, my brethren to consider the passages referred to here, and in the messages to the Churches of Asia, and see whether their being in a condition of competency to obey the warnings given to them, to exercise holy discipline, is not their Instinctive character, as marked in the word of the Lord to them; and the threatening, no other than that if they did not give heed to the warning and obey the command, they ceased to be—the candlestick was removed out of its place—the light ceased to burn there. A Church indeed, as at Corinth, might be in an evil condition and puffed up in it rather than mourning; but when the word of warning came, if it was heeded and produced godly sorrow, this worked salvation from the condition of evil, and this sorrow produced the exercise of discipline as its result; for carefulness is wrought, yea, and clearing of themselves; yea, and indignation and fear, and vehement desire, and zeal, and revenge; and this last, not against those who warn against the evil, but against the evil itself. But if the warning is unheeded and the answer given is, “we have no power to obey;” warning ceases, for it is useless; administration ceases; that is, the Lord ceases His care of it, and then what is it but a wicked thing that has the fate collectively, of the individuals that ought to have been put away; that is, it is put away from God as a Church—the leaven was not cast out, and it all becomes leaven?

I would in conclusion, say one word relative to one of the last paragraphs; as confirmatory of all I have said. There are two of association spoken of; one formed on what Mr. Burgh calls “The whole word of God,” traditional as well as written; which he says “May be right:” I confess I think this a very fearful passage, not only because of its treatment of the written word, (which I would pass by now, and indeed desire to cover it altogether, for it is too sorrowful a subject,) but because there is in it a careful and complete view of all the views usually held of the order and standing of Churches; that is the practical and meditated disregard and ignorance of that which is alone the power of life, order, and blessing—the entire putting aside of the present rule of the Holy Ghost in His own house; who, though never acting contrary to the written word, but always in correspondence with it, would fill up in present and active energy all that we may think deficient; again I would quote Eph. 4:11-12— “And He gave some, Apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:” which is the Lord’s account of His own constitution of order in the Church, the result of which must be union and edification in love and holiness; and I would pray Mr. B. and all my brethren far and near, to consider in connection with this, Ecc. 9:4— “A living dog is better than a dead lion.” There may be (I do not say there is in Mr. B’s system, though it is as sullied) external order—there may be worldly power, honor, and esteem, (and that I allow there is, though it is abomination in the sight of God, and only coveted by carnal men;) it may have all the apparent character of strength, energy, and value; but if the Spirit of holiness and love does not rule in it, it is but the carcass of the proud lion—while that which has no worldly pretension, and no worldly desires, disesteemed and discountenanced by man, nay, even weak in itself, in all things meriting little else but the name of “dog;” yet if it is living—if the Spirit of life and love is there, it is open for God’s blessing, as it must be seeking it; and if power is not given it to extend blessing to others, yet it will be kept in “its little strength;” and surely the Lord according to His promise, will make those who say they are Jews, and are not, but do He, come and worship before their feet and know that He has loved them, and because they through his grace, have kept the words of his patience, He will keep them from the hour of temptation, which is coming upon all the world, to try them that dwell on the earth; and to such He says, “Behold! I come quickly, hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” (Rev. 3:8-11.)

The Distinct Characters of the Several Writings of the New Testament

There are some subjects difficult to establish in mere ordinary statement, because their proof results not from palpable evidences of facts, or positive testimony cognizable by sense or intellect, but from characteristic exhibition; the apprehension of which implies both capacity for understanding its nature, and habitual exercise on the subject before us. The perception, however, of them, may be conducive to a fuller entering on the whole scope of truth and its order. It is the peculiar character of minds of power (communicative power) in natural subjects, to seize the prominent features which may act on the mind of others, in introducing the perception of or controlling the mind to subjection to these points, as manifested truth; associating their minds with the principles of truth. In spiritual objects, it is the object of much distinct converse in them, to be able so to present them primarily and vividly, as to lead the way to fuller investigation of the divine mind. The expression of one’s own thoughts, and the acting so as to awaken similar thoughts in others, I find by experience to be two very different things; and the latter to be a rarer and more self-denying attainment than the other. By God’s Spirit alone can it be done in power; I find myself utterly deficient in this power, and I feel that I must charge upon myself failure in spirituality in respect to this. I am led into this by an effort to present some thoughts, the result of habitual reference to the subject, and which have grown up in my mind, strengthened after their first suggestion, not by an elaborately attempted proof, but the continual development of them in subjects to which they refer—the best proof I find in scriptural subjects, and one to me the least communicable to others. But I shall state, as simply as I can, the thoughts, and leave, their development where chiefly they will be found of value in the daily course of Christian reading. I allude to this—I believe that the gospels are by no means mere concurrent and coincident testimonies to Christ, and valuable simply as corroborative one of the other. Of course they are so, nor do I despise this positive help to the acknowledgment of the instrument and standard of faith—the written word. But the believer acknowledging this as his foundation, seeks for the enlargement of heart which the fuller and more complete apprehension of that word may give him. I believe them to be (recognized as true and all bearing witness to the same great facts, and showing thus their unity) the testimony of the Holy Ghost to distinct characters, in which the one person they bear record of was revealed, and which He filled. All fullness dwelt in Him, not only of the Godhead bodily as to His person, but the accomplishment of every character in which He could meet the requisition of God from man, and man’s necessities, or satisfy the testimony of the Holy Ghost in the word of old, as exhibiting the divine glory. He came in “by the door,” so that to Him the porter should open: and thus He became “the door,” the only door in or out, to all else. Now the gospels generally fill up their peculiar place in their witness in this respect; they fill up the place of representing Jesus from His birth to the resurrection, sealed by His ascension into heaven, wherein He became properly the second Adam—the spring from which all the ministration of the living word flowed, and on which it was established—and the testimony of the righteousness of God set forth as His glory to be revealed; that is, all that Jesus was, is that which will be exhibited in glory: we see its substance, its texture, the beautiful order of all its filaments in His unglorified state; yet is He none of these things which He is meant to be, that is—save to faith. The glory exhibits it to the world. The artist skilled in the composition of the structure, can see the exquisiteness of its parts—the nicely adapted arrangement of the materials—the perfect wisdom with which it is composed—its presenting as a whole to the world, will give the whole result externally. He was the Son of man in all the varied moral truth which that name conveys; He will be the Son of man in glory. He was the Messiah in all the requisitions and gifts which had been appointed, and even recorded by prophets: He will be Messiah in the reign of His glory. He was the Son of God in His person, as conversant in the world; He will appear in His glory as Son. As the potter’s work goes in with all with which it will come out, yet would the eye unpracticed see nothing of its beauty—none but the potter could see it—so none but one eye, and those taught of Him, can see the exquisite beauty which was in all this fullness of Jesus, or understand the beauty and glory, and true majesty, in which He shall be revealed when every eye shall see Him. They “saw no beauty in Him that they should desire Him,” but He was but cast into the fire that He refight come forth to their astonishment, with all the beauty which God could set upon Him; “His Father’s glory and His own”—the glory of administered power, in the glory, the results of grace; “to be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe.” Nothing can exceed the delight and profit I apprehend, through perception and connection of this glory of what Jesus was, in the veiled, perhaps, but heightened and beauteous order of all His character in grace with the glory in which it shall be revealed in the day of His appearing to His saints and the excellency of His kingdom.

The testimony and ministrations founded on these great truths, as building the Church upon them, belong to the epistles and the subsequent contents of the New Testament, and not to the gospels, whose office it is to state the facts, and develop in conversations the universal truths on which it is founded. Now, there are three great characters besides His personal biography, in which the Lord is set forth—as the Messiah—as the New Man known in the moral character of the divine nature which God required—the second Adam, and which is the climax of them all, His personal glory from which all flows as Son of God; first—His character properly Jewish; secondly—, that in which it was co-extensive with the term man, and applied itself to that as coming from the hands of God; thirdly—that which it was paramount to either His personal association with the Father of glory as the Son of God, in which the value was attached to the others; and the power of quickening, in which alone they could have unity, was established had verified. This I say, as establishing promises, exhibiting grace, and founding the stability of both, in the person of Him in whom they were fulfilled; with the personal grace and graciousness of His conversation and ministry in the world, form the respective subjects, more especially of the four gospels. We find them exhibited in the 11th and 12th chapters of John’s gospel; that is, the Savior exercised or owned in them by His power and the ordering of the divine counsels on His rejection by the Jews. The 11th exhibits His resurrection power after that rejection; “for the glory of God, and that the Son of God should be glorified thereby.” The 12th, His kingship over the Jews as the Son of David; and secondly—His headship over Gentiles; His standard of conversion and attractive power is death, in that which took place in the desire of the Greeks to see Jesus. Of the first of these characters which I have mentioned—Messiah; the Lord’s connection with the Jews, Matthew is the appointed witness; of course, the same truths are recognized everywhere. Luke exhibits our Lord in His converting character, and detecting in moral principles the inconsistency of man’s estate with the divine character. John eminently presents Him in His person and Sonship. Matthew, as fulfilled the law and the promises, “the minister (as the apostle speaks) of the circumcision for the truth of God.” Luke, as a witness of what is in man, and of the openness of the Father’s house, and the love of the Father’s heart in them that return to the returning prodigal, “that the Gentiles should glorify God for His mercy.” John tells us that “in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and was God; and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” I believe the notice of this conduces exceedingly to the understanding of the different gospels.

The evidences of it are some of them obvious, others more from use. We have one immediate one in the genealogies traced up in Matthew, to the sources of Jewish dispensation, David and Abraham: in Luke, to Adam, the Son of God. Again—if anyone will compare the first two chapters of Matthew and Luke, they will see how completely the one is appropriately Jewish; the other presents us with the child, one who “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Another thing is remarkable; it will be found on examination, that, except in the positive necessary facts of His birth and death, Luke states circumstances, not according to their chronological order, but according to their moral connection; hence affording a most important link of interpretation. This is so, not merely in unconnected facts, where it is obvious, but even in the temptation in the wilderness. The sermon on the Mount, the character of the parables, of which the 13th of Matthew, and the 15th of Luke may be taken as the types, all confirm and illustrate the position I am taking; and this is the real interpretation of the different language used in parallel passages. In one, the Holy Ghost preserved what bore upon the subject of one gospel; in the other, what bore upon that of the other, and gave what the Church needed, and God pleased: if all had been given, “the world could not have contained the books.” The whole of the 7th and 8th chapters of Luke, illustrate in a string of circumstances the moral application of facts. A comparison of the closing scenes of our Lord’s intercourse with His disciples and the Jews, and the prophecies consequent thereupon, further remarkably illustrate the difference. In Matthew, is given the full development of Jewish dispensation, and this so much so, that I could not apply any of the statements in the 24th of Matt. or the like to Gentile circumstances; whereas Luke explicitly opens the door, and brings them into the scene, as may be seen in the close of chap 21. Whence also, I believe He introduces “all the trees” the fig tree being the specific emblem of the Jewish corporate nationality. The close of the gospel of John is equally distinct, or more evidently so in its character. But I do not feel in this synoptical view, that I need enter into any explanation of the gospel of John. It is evident upon the face of it, that the person of our Lord, as paramount to dispensation, though as coming subject to it, is its declaration. The gospel of Mark I believe to be the declaration of the personal ministry of our Lord— “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” and the circumstances of that ministry—to trace from circumstance to circumstance the character of minister in our Lord—His personal character, not in broad facts or prophecies—the Messiahship, the faithful and true witness, the Lord from heaven, the Son of God, one with the Father—but He who was all these, become the patient considerate servant, in actual ministry of those with whom He was conversant. Hence it commences with His ministry or baptism, giving no account of His birth. When I retrace at all the enjoyment which I have had through the spirit of grace, and of God, in that from which these observations are drawn, the studying our Lord in them, I am doubly conscious how little they can in any sort, convey to another, the resources of that enjoyment, nor indeed can this be. All I can hope is, that they may be the instruments of leading the minds of other; into the same sources or streams, in which the infinitude, the unspeakable infinitude of divine grace flows from, and in Him in whom they all are concentrated, and concentrated for us, even Jesus the Lord, in whom “dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” It is in communion with Him in the word, that these blessings are found; and communion whose depth, whose height, is never reached, but the fullness is ours, and that in the very peaceful strength in which He has adapted Himself to us. May He open our mouths in the understanding of His praise. It is this, after the establishment of our faith in the great truths of the Epistles, explanatory truths, that leads us back to the Gospels, to enter into and dwell upon the blessedness and fullness of Him in whom all the truths have their center and accomplishment.

While my own mind rests specially on the gospels in this view, as illustrating the person of our Lord, I add at the wish of some, a short synoptical view of the books of the whole New Testament., which will, at the same time strengthen and confirm the remarks I have made upon the gospels. It appears to me, to be a presenting of Christ, the subject natter of the faith which is in Christ Jesus, from His incarnation, which associates Him with David, and Abraham, and Adam, and presents Him as the substantiation of the mind of God, of which they are but prefigurements, though real ones, to the time when He shall return) again—His second coming, when He shall illustrate all that He is, in power. Hence, in the gospels, we have all that He was, traced to Adam, David, Abraham, the Word of God, and shown forth in ministry with the great facts on which the testimony of the gospel was founded.

In the Acts, we have the founding of the Church of Christ, stating His resurrection and ascension, on which the Jewish and Gentile Church is built, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit—the Acts not of the apostles, but of the apostles Peter and Paul, (though recognizing of course, the others, particularly those who seemed to be pillars,) that is, of the apostles of the circumcision and uncircumcision, the ordering of the Church by the deacons; the subministration by evangelists, deacons “who have purchased to themselves a good degree and great boldness in Christ Jesus,” and the general diffusion of the word of the gospel by all the faithful preaching; (Acts 8:4) the foundation of the Gentile church, more peculiarly so called, on the ascended glory of Christ, that it might be “Christ in them the hope of glory,” with the ordering by the Spirit of all their labours.

We have, then, in the epistles, the ordering and care of the Church and Churches of Christ thus planted, in their various necessities, arising from the weakness of men, and permitted thus to arise that we, “upon whom the ends of the world are come,” might have the answer, the rescript of God upon the case. In the epistle to the Galatians, we have the great basis laid of justification by faith, and its connected doctrines, to the exclusion of all Judaizing to such an end. In the Romans, we have a whole body of divinity in the way of dispensation, justly coming first, to the 8th chapter, developing all that was short of “no condemnation”—stating the whole of the Christian position in the 8th, on the basis of thanksgiving for Christ; and from the 9th out, tracing the positive dispensations of God ordered beforehand, and resulting there from, closing with practice and a resume of the whole dispensation. In the two epistles to the Corinthians, we have the internal order and management of a Church by the Spirit of God in the apostle. It would appear as if there had been no elders, that we might have direct from the apostle, the arrangements necessary and pleasing to God, for the purposes of the divine order; at least, they do not at all appear throughout the books, but the directions are immediate to the Church. I think this a remarkable and singular providence; to us at least it is so, and worthy of notice: for surely no goodness and provision for our weakness and folly is singular—with God; boundlessly — multiplied have they been. There are some who would despise it, as of little or no profit for the. purpose for which it is given. What else is it for? I can conceive nothing more base than, having by perverseness disabled one’s self from the use of means which God has provided, to turn round and say the means are deficient, without a symptom of humiliation for the real cause.

The Ephesians and Colossians bear many stamps of identity of purpose, but they are very beautifully distinct. They both follow up the dispensation into its fullness, but the Ephesians views it in the glory, the conferred or predestinated glory of the body—the Son’s. The Colossians looks at the fullness of the Head of the body, as constituting that, through which the whole is brought into this order in and by the Head. The Phil. 1 would give as depicting the affectionate interchange of love in the intercourse between the parental apostle and his beloved and attached Churches. Thus he unfolds his hopes, for in this way does the doctrine come out, and leads them in the same healthful train, opening the blessed truths to them, and so of his estate and thoughts of theirs. The two to the Thessalonians, are the building of the Church in the great doctrine of the Lord’s second coming, as an immediate and protracted expectation and hope, and the result of this special apprehension of it in the very healthful state of the Church. These epistles afford very full doctrine on the subject, and guard against the only prejudices which the vanity or wit of man could form out of it or abuse. I need hardly say, that Timothy and Titus are the ordering of the Church, as to its government and management by those set over it in the Lord, (justly coming last with others first) the character of those appointed, and the use and service of such a ministry specially in guarding against evil, with all the absolute or external arrangements of the ministry and its dependencies, and the manner of using it. Its importance will be fully noticed by the service it is applied to, and its abuse at the present day. Its uniformity of character is given by adding the epistle to Titus, and variety of use according to the circumstances in which it is placed. In Philemon, we have the evidence of that minuteness of care, apostolic care, which recognizes the ordering of an individual’s concerns, and what would now be so multifariously despised—the Church in a house.

The epistle to the Hebrews, is an instruction to the Church, not an apostolic address to a Church as such, of the way in which the types of the Old Testament were fulfilled in Christ, and how He was the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, answering to Moses and Aaron, but after another order; and how, consequently in this also (as with the saints of old) it was a dispensation of faith, and we must consequently go “forth without the camp,” as well as be strangers in the world, while Christ is on high. I should feel gratified at some other occasion, to enter more in detail into the structure of this beautiful and instructive epistle, but would not do it now. Thus we see how the Church, being built and ordered by a wise master builder under Jesus, closed by this important testimony to the Hebrews, carrying forth the principle of faith to them and bringing in all the value of their ministrations to us in Jesus as that principle of faith.

We have, however, some further developments of the mind of God before we close, but by other hands, that these pillars might all prop up the beauteous arc of God’s canopy of heaven over the Church, the shield of order and of beauty. The epistle of James, is the order of righteousness, the test of Church order as a moral-question, the statement of practical wisdom and righteousness, with a “show me.” This is the Church’s part. “The Lord knoweth them that are His.”— The other side of the seal, not the sovereign claim and authority, but the order and recognition of His power and character. “Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” This latter part James the just, administer in its principles; and the principle of its application, “show me,” first—in purity; secondly—in goodness or mercy; while the sovereignty of the Lord is fully recognized and declared. It is then Church righteousness and order, I mean in its principles. This fully explains the reasoning of the epistle, and the comparison with the reasoning of the apostle Paul, one giving the root, the other, the manifestation. If taken not as acts of faith, the works of James refers to, were bad works the one slaying a man’s son, the other betraying a person’s country.

Peter’s epistles, or to speak more properly, the instruction of the Holy Ghost by him, gives us further light. They show, though there is but one body in glory, the continuing care in ministration of the gracious and unchanging God over the Jews, the strangers scattered, for such are the persons addressed in the first epistle, the parepidhmoiw diasporaw among the Gentiles, where they thought our Lord spoke of going and losing Himself. His great thesis is the resurrection, and leading the believing Jews in this, to their right place in faith, and showing the appearing again of Jesus, to be the great time of bringing in the promises by it; that the remnant were the chosen people who had not stumbled at the stumbling stone, but had, according to the word of the Lord, testifying of His own resurrection in the 34th Psalm, “tasted that the Lord is gracious;” identifying Jesus and Jehovah the stone of stumbling, but of preservation אחו צכאוח יהוח but למקדש the Lord of Hosts Himself but for a sanctuary. The whole of the epistle is addressed to the Jews, or rather, to the two houses of Israel or their remnant, and pleads the resurrection and patience. The order and dispensation and the parenthetical character of this are very distinctly drawn in from ver. 10 to 13, inclusive, of chap. 1. The second Epistle though savoring of that character of ministry in all its motives and arguments, is general — in its address “to them that have obtained like precious faith with us,” more particularly, however, embracing Israel in the apostle’s mind, as we may see. (chap. 3:1) It declares the judgment on apostasy, stating the adequacy of supply—the means of preservation in the memorial of the written word, founded on the faith of the seen and coming Jesus, and the instruments of that apostasy, false prophets and teachers—the character of it, and the remedy in that great subject which he had presented before them—the coming of the Lord, which is here presented to the apostates in the character of judgment, “the day of the Lord;” and he exhorts them to diligence, that they may be found of Him coming, to be in that day without spot and blameless.

In the deeply interesting epistle of John, we have the intrinsic evidences of the power of Christianity as flowing from God; its essential and internal abiding character: our strength in it, as giving fellowship with the Father and with His Son Christ Jesus; and hence in the knowledge of His love, or rather of love, by that which has brought us into this fellowship, security against the haughty assumption of anti-Christian seduction, in that assurance which flows from that fellowship, and is conscious that it is already in that which is falsely assumed to be presented, or which we may charged with being without; while this, characteristically presented in it necessary fruits, guards against deception on the one side and the other. This is effected (first declaring its source in chap. 1) by the two personal evidences—He laid down His life—“by His Spirit dwelling in us”—and external, as a guard against the assumption of others, and the denial of our own righteousness, keeping His commandments, and loving brethren. The unity of the testimony to Christ’s glory in the Spirit, the water and the blood is there stated, and the internal and external witness distinguished. One, the blessing of the believer; the other, the condemnation of the world; closing with the general contrast “we are of God, and the whole world lieth εν τω πονηρω.” “We know that the Son of God is come, and He hath given us an understanding;” the next point, “to know Him that is true;” and the next, “we are in Him that is true, even His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” He is the “true God and eternal life.” Amen. All else is but “little children keep yourselves from idols.” How blessed is the testimony that in Jesus we are in the true God, and which is our interest, and blessing, and everlasting comfort in it—eternal life in Him. In which we have eternal life, and in association with Him and thus capacitated for understanding and enjoying all that is in Him the Lord and true God. In the second and third epistles, we have the individual, living, and faithful care of the Spirit in the apostle, against any falling into the seductions of losing the true doctrines of Christ; whoever fails here, that is— abides not here, has not God; and direction for the uncompromising boldness in rejection of such as partake of evil deeds; the direction being, in the first, not to receive seducers, or we are partakers of them; in the other, to receive faithful witnesses of troth, because in them we are partakers in the truth: both rest on this— “walking in the truth;” they are the details of Christianity, such as develop themselves in service.

Jude returns to the apostasy, but in a more generic character, that is, in its principle, tracing it as developed from Cain; its address, therefore, is universal. Further, all ungodliness is shown to be apostasy in character; while the force of it through false teachers is shown in the second Peter. The epistle though short, is full of depth and beauty of moral power, though severe as needing it in its character. Nevertheless, nothing can be more full of gracious beauty than the directions for our portion, till the mercy comes which holiness is taught to expect; for as the Lord’s first coming is grace to sinners; so His second is glory to saints, and destruction to all those who have heard and known not His name. The Lord hasten it in its day, and us to it.

How fitly the Revelations fills up this and closes this book, I need hardly say. The apostasy has been shown previously to have come in. The tares sown among the wheat. This closed the care of apostolic ministry, and fitted in, as it were, to the great final apostasy. The Lord is therefore shown at once judging in the midst of the Churches; and in His own immortality of glory and holiness, on His Father’s throne, in the intermediate time, governing till He conies forth in His power, and ordering all things for His Church; “making all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose;” ending with the perfection of the blissful State, the heavenly Jerusalem come down, and the joy of the whole earth, thus blessed in communion with it, sorrow gone from before the presence of God, where it never can abide, when He comes forth in power; and in power He does then come forth, and no evil remains before him. Meanwhile, the Church is comforted with seeing the Lord cognizant of all the troubles and circumstances through which she is to pass, and is ready to join in the cry of the apostle with which he closes the book of God’s testimony, “even, so, come Lord Jesus.” The first part of the book gives the care of the Lord; the second, the character of the apostasy, and of course how it resulted in judgment; then the blessing begins with judgment at the house of God, and ends with judgment on the ungodly and sinners—two distinct classes — and then blessing from Him from whom the book, the testimony came. I do feel, in writing thus rapidly, (I trust, for the profit of the Church) the extreme solemnity of the truths, thus by the mercy of our God brought before us, that we might enjoy the blessings which are their result. To Him whose it is, be all the glory and praise, and may He keep us, adding of His grace in our ways, “that an abundant entrance may be administered to us into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

There are one or two remarks I would make in addition to this brief and hasty review of the bearings of the parts of this blessed book. I have given it because I believe it shows its perfectness and its adequacy, in answer to the lies and blasphemies which would denounce its imperfection; though I am well assured, it will be understood and rested on by none who are not taught by the Spirit of God. I would remark then, first—the circumstance of the distinction between the epistles to individuals and to Churches, “mercy” being always added in the address to individuals. The Church is set in mercy, for it is looked at and known only as so addressed in the mercy of God. The individual is the daily subject of mercy to all his imperfectness and weakness, and is kept only by it. Further, it will be found that the title given to the Churches, when Churches are addressed, is accordant to the subject of the epistle, and the aspect in which it presents the Church. Thus, to the Thessalonians, it is, the Church “in God the Father,” because it is addressed in the full liberty and hope of sons, as waiting for the glory, in the coming of the Son of God—of the Father’s house as sons. The Ephesians and Colossians— “The saints and faithful in Christ Jesus,” as rightly holding the head, and united to Him in one body, and in the hope of the glory of Him the head—their head; therefore in Christ Jesus especially, whence all their fullness flowed, as all fullness dwelt in Him; nor are they therefore called the Church, but viewed as saints, and faithful in that position or common connection with all the saints, as the head of all, and parts of one body which should form the whole mystical man over all things, even as “all the fullness of the Godhead was in Him bodily.” In Philippians, we find “Paul and Timotheus to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons;” the comprehensiveness of that general affection which we have shown therein. In the reproving epistle to the Galatians, we have simply “the Churches of Galatia.” In the epistles to the Corinthians, when the order and conduct which became the Church as a “Church of God,” is entered into at large—this is the title given to it; and I must remark here that the Church is never called in Scripture, the Church of Christ. I am not questioning παντα τα εμα σα, και τα σα εμα, but the only passage in which it is at all so spoken of, is “on this rock I will build my Church,” which is clearly outward profession and Confession of the truth; and hence, though it may be in given times pure, the Church of Christ is known by its profession of Christianity, that is, of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God; but this has nothing to do with the Church of God. The Church of God will be within that confession, but the Church of God is that for which the Lord Christ, the Lamb of God gave Himself, purchased with His own blood, and shall be presented faultless in the presence of His glory. Now this may be encumbered with many outward circumstances, but judgment is applied to it as to the Church of God; and hence the address I believe in the Corinthians; nor can spiritual judgment apply itself to any else, when the Church is so mixed up as to render the separation of them impossible. Where there is not energy of the Spirit, bird spiritual life to throw off the evil as a distinct thing, judgment is impossible; it cannot be addressed as being, nor is it at all a Church of God; it may come under the general designation as a part of the Church of Christ, which is the subject of judgment in other sort, and excision in its external character; though the gates of Hades shall never prevail against it, as they did not against that on which it is founded, because the living resurrection Lord shall catch the children out of the judgment which He shall then exercise on him that hath the power of death and his companions, into the glory that shall appear in Him and with Him, and their life shall be the rather in glory—life indeed. Then it is the Church lives indeed in resurrection, proving more abundantly than ever, that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against the children of the living God—believers in Christ the Son of the living God. The opening of the epistle to the Romans, opens itself in the fullest manner, and indeed is a remarkable and beautiful illustration of that on which we are speaking; for every part and order of the dispensation is brought out and fixed in its resulting and proper power, on those addressed in the opening part of this epistle. The truth of Jewish, and power of Gentile or resurrection character, is addressed to, and finds its application in all at Rome “called,” &c. I have been, perhaps, too long on this, as I only throw it out as a hint. Though I do not say that the order of the epistles is divine, I do not mean to break it by speaking of the Galatians first, for I believe it to be most providentially perfect: I merely alluded to it as containing a first principle. In order, Romans and Corinthians most suitably come first,

Elder and Bishop the Same Office

Extract from Dwight.

1.— “THE Elders which are among you, I exhort; who am also an Elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a par, taker of the glory which shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples, to the flock.” (1 Peter 5:3.).

“These Elders are exhorted to feed (ποιμαινω) i.e. to teach, edify, and rule the flock of God; they are also directed to oversee it—the word επισκοπουντες is exactly rendered overseeing or exercising the office of an overseer or bishop.”

2.— “And from Miletus He sent to Ephesus, and called the ELDERS of the Church. A part of the directions which He gave to these Elders, is recited thus, ‘Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you BISHOPS, επισκοπους, to feed the Church of God which He hath purchased with His own blood.’” (Acts 20:17-2.8.)

“From which two verses it appears 1st—that in Ephesus there were several Elders of the Church: end—that all these Elders were Bishops: 3rd—that the Holy Ghost constituted or made, these several Elders, Bishops. The original is εθετο, constituted.”

4th— “That in Ephesus all the Elders of the Church were Bishops: 6th—that therefore, there was no one Bishop of superior authority, or holding an office or character which distinguished him from other Bishops in that city: 6th—that Timothy could not be the sole Bishop or Diocesan of the Church in that city, because other men were Bishops in that Church.”

“The Elders to whom Peter wrote, were all who dwelt in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia proper, and Bithynia; provinces constituting more than two-thirds of the Lesser Asia; at that time full of Churches and Christians. All the Elders of these Churches, he exhorts to exercise the office of a Bishop in the Church.”

“All the Elders in Ephesus, the chief city in the same country, Paul declares to be ‘constituted Bishops by the Holy Ghost.’ Both Apostles speak the same language to the same persons, language which has obviously but one meaning.”

3.— “Paul and Timotheus, servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, who are in Philippi, with the Bishops and Deacons.” (Phil. 1)

“Here the saints with the Bishops and Deacons, are expressly mentioned, but frothing is said of there being Elders in this Church distinct from the Bishops. Had the Epistle been addressed to Bishops, Elders, and Deacons, it would have been thought, by an advocate for prelatical episcopacy, absolutely decisive in favor of three orders of ecclesiastical officers. As it now stands, and as it is uncontradicted by any other passage of Scripture, I think it is equally decisive that there were but two. The same passage proves that there was not at Philippi, a single Bishop presiding over a number of subordinate ministers; nor is there any reason to conclude that this Church was in this respect differently constituted from other Churches.”

4.— “No mention is made of Bishops by way of address (except the text just quoted from Phil. 1) or direction, or salutation.”

“The word επἴσκοπος (Bishop or Overseer) occurs in the New Testament five times; once it is applied to Christ, (1 Peter 2:25.) and four times denotes officers in the Church. The word επισκοπη is once used to denote the office of an overseer or Bishop; (1 Tim. 3:1.) in two instances to denote visitation; (Luke 19:44. and 1 Peter 2:12.) and once is quoted from Psa. 109:8 to denote by way of accommodation, the employment of Judas as an Apostle. σπισκοπεν to oversee, or exercise the office of an overseer or Bishop, is used once with that meaning, (1 Peter 5:2) and once (Heb. 12:15) where it is exactly translated looking diligently.’ In all the addresses of their several letters by the Apostles to the several Churches, there is not, except in that first mentioned, a single allusion to Bishops as a peculiar order of men. In the numerous salutations with which the Epistles are concluded, and in the several directions given to the Churches, there is not the least mention made, nor the least hint given concerning this class of officers.”

“The passages concerning ruling the Church are the following.”—

“A Bishop must be one that ruleth well in his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God?” (1 Tim. 3:2-5)

“Let the Elders who rule well, be accounted worthy of double honor; especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.”

“He that ruleth, is required to do this duty with diligence.” (Rom. 12:8.) “Remember them who have the rule over you, who have spoken to you the word of life, Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls as they that must give account. Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints,” (Heb. 13:7, 17, 24.)

“From these passages it appears, 1st.—that ruling is as extensively ascribed to Elders as to Bishops; 2nd—that the rule over the Churches was committed to many hands.”

5.— “Another proof is drawn from the fact, that wherever the officers of the Church are mentioned together, no more than two classes are ever mentioned.”

“In Tim. 3 Paul instructs him at large in the qualifications of ecclesiastical officers, and more fully than we find done in any other part of the scriptures. But even here we find no other officers mentioned besides the επισκοπος Bishop or Overseer, and the διακονος, Deacon. Had there been an intermediate office distinguished both from the Bishop and the Deacon, and known by the name of Elder, it is strange that it should not be mentioned here.”

“The account given in Acts 15 of the first council at Jerusalem, proves also that there was no one vested with modern episcopal authority, or who took upon him the supreme rule in that Church. The Apostles and Elders came together to ‘consider this matter,’ the decision is returned in the ‘name of the Apostles and Elders, and brethren. It seemed good unto the Holy Ghost and to us.’ In this assembly there was no Bishop in the modern sense; James, whatever was the fact afterward, was not now such a Bishop. The letter does not go in his name, nor with any authority whatever attributed to him, except as an Apostle, and as a member of that deliberative body; and in neither character any farther, than that he had one voice in the decision of that assembly. And neither at Jerusalem, nor in the Church at Antioch, nor in those of Syria and Cilicia, is there any evidence that such Bishops were established. The brethren of the Church at Antioch sent the messengers, the letter was addressed to the brethren of the Churches in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. Thus I think it clear that there was not a single such Bishop in the Christian Church at this period.”

“The same truth is illustrated from the manner in which ministers are spoken of in Titus 1:5-7 where the reason given by Paul, why Titus should constitute Elders in every city, who should be blameless, is that a Bishop must be blameless.”

“I have now mentioned every passage in scripture where Bishops are even glanced at, or the existence of such an order of ministers, as distinguished from Elders, is directly countenanced even in the opinion of its advocates. If the distinction between Bishops and Elders can be found in the language of Scripture, it is found here. But here no distinction of this kind can be found.” Dwight’s Theology. 150, 151.

Dwight next brings forward a number of acknowledgments from different supporters of episcopacy, that this distinction is not capable of proof from the scriptures; of which one will suffice. In a celebrated work called the “Institution of a Christian man,” approved expressly by Archbishop Cranmer, Bishops Jewell, Willer, and Stillingfleet, and the main body of the English Clergy, together with the King and Parliament is this declaration— “In the New Testament, there is no other mention of any other degrees, but of Deacons or Ministers, and of Presbyters or Bishops.”

We have made the preceding extracts, as giving, in a compendious manner, the evidence of Scripture upon the subject; and where the scriptures alone, and not secondary or doubtful sources are relied upon, perhaps nothing more is needed to determine the question. The subsequent quotation also from one of the most early Protestant manuals in this country, alone sufficiently proves what were the original opinions of the English Reformers. The notion that subsequently arose in the Establishment, is further contradicted by two facts supplied by itself.

1st.—That “the Reformers admitted the ordination of foreign Churches by mere Presbyters, till towards the middle of the reign of Elizabeth, when their validity began to be disputed and denied.” (Neale.)

2nd.—The assumption is further disproved by the fact, that not even now has a Bishop alone power to ordain, but Presbyters are obliged to be joined with him in the exercise of the function.”

The sentiments of the Reformers, however, are but little inquired into by many who avail themselves of the support afforded by their names. It may be well to add a few extracts from Dr. M’Crie’s collection of their real opinions on ecclesiastical subjects.

Cranmer expressed his opinion formally in writing, that “the Bishops and Priests were at one time, and were no two things, but both one office in the beginning of Christ’s religion.” Thirteen Bishops, with a great number of other ecclesiastics, subscribed this proposition “that in the New Testament, there is no mention of any degrees or distinctions in orders, but only Deacons or Ministers, and of Priests or Bishops.” Cranmer says, “in the New Testament, he that is appointed a Bishop or Priest needeth not consecration by the scripture; for election or appointment thereto, is sufficient;” and of the same judgment was the Bishop of St. David’s; Latimer and Hooper maintained the identity of Bishops and Presbyters by divine institution, this also was the opinion of Pilkington, Bishop of Durham. Bishop Jewell assents to it in his answer to Harding. Cranmer expressed himself strongly respecting the glorious titles, styles, and pomps which were come into the Church, through the working of the spirit of Diotrephes; and professed his readiness to lay them aside. In fact, the title of Bishop was very generally disused in common speech during the reign of Edward VI. and that of superintendent substituted in its place, and this change of language was vindicated by Ponet, Bishop of Winchester, in an answer which he published to a Popish writer. All the Protestant Bishops and Divines in the reign of Edward

VI. were anxious for the introduction of ecclesiastical discipline. Dr. Cox, (Oct. 5, 1552) complains bitterly of the opposition of the courtiers to this measure, and says that if it was not adopted, “the kingdom of God would be taken away from them.” When Grindal was appointed to the Bishopric of London, he “remained under scruples of conscience about some things, especially, the habits and certain ceremonies required to be used of such as were Bishops.” For the reformed, says Strype, “generally went upon the ground, that, in order to the complete freeing of the Church of Christ from the errors and corruptions of Rome, every usage and custom practiced by that apostate and idolatrous Church, should be abolished, and that the service of God should be more simple, stript of all that show, pomp, and appearance that had been customarily and before; esteeming all that to be no better than superstitious and anti-Christian.” Jewell writes to Martyr, that be “wished the very slightest footsteps of Popery might be removed out of the Church and minds of men; but the Queen would at that time suffer no change in religion.” Grindal and Horn wrote to Zurich, that they did not approve of, but merely suffered kneeling at the Eucharist, and signing with the cross in baptism, with some other ceremonies, hoping that they would speedily obtain their abrogation. in the year 1562, the abrogation of the most offensive ceremonies, were, after long reasoning, put to the vote in the convocation, and carried by a majority of those present. But when the proxies were included, there was found a majority of one for retaining them. The arguments of Archbishop Parker’s chaplains. to prevail upon the house to agree to this, derived their chief force from their being understood to be the sentiments of the Queen. Peter Martyr gave it as his opinion, that “innumerable corruptions, infinite abuses, and immense superstition, could be reformed only by a simple recurrence to the pure fountain, and unadulterated original principles.” And the prudential advice, that as few changes as possible should be made, he called “a device of Satan to render the regress of Popery more easy.” Gaulter in a letter dated January 16, 1550, says, that such advises, though “according to a carnal judgment, full of modesty, and apparently conducive to the maintenance of concord,” were to be ascribed to “the public enemy of man’s salvation;” and he prophetically warns those who suffered such abuses to remain and strengthen themselves in England, that “afterward they would scarcely be able to eradicate them by all their efforts and struggles.”

Such are the recorded opinions of the Reformers. Why their own views were not carried into effect, is too easily explained. The Reformation instead of being conducted solely by disciples of Christ, and amongst His followers, fell into the hands of those who had to reconcile their own political purposes with the changes wrought in matters of religion; and beyond their will, those who desired better things could not go, however clear and scriptural their own principles might have been

Isaiah 52:13-15; 53

ISA 52:13-53:12

Until we discover the distinctness and order of the parts of any piece of writing, we are not in a position for interpreting it in detail. All careful readers of the scriptures must have found that the arrangement of the several books into chapters and verses, as adopted in the authorized version, does not serve the most important end of arrangement at all, rather the reverse; that they appear to have been designed more for the convenience of occasional readings or of reference, than to assist in the exposition of the scriptures; but to assist in the exposition of the book itself is surely the most important end of arrangement and division.

In the historical books of the bible for instance—the order clearly evinces itself. We there at once perceive where a narrative begins and where it closes, and the connection of all its parts; but in the prophets it is not so. In them there are no clear and decisive marks given to us, at least very generally, we must therefore be at some pains to discover the order and make the arrangement ourselves. It will then be inquired, how are we to do this? Generally, I would say, let the prophets he read throughout and in order, as entire pieces, and then let attention be given and judgment exercised upon them, as on any book, to discover their distinct interruption and periods. And surely these holy and beauteous oracles of our God are worthy thus to be entertained, and surely an indolent and careless reading of them will be rebuked of Him by leaving us in contracted and indistinct apprehensions of His glory to which they all testify.

While, however, I would urge upon the consciences of my fellow disciples, the duty of bestowing labors such as these, on the oracles of God, I would clearly recognize that knowledge of God Himself such as he who is spiritual alone can have is our best help in studying the details of His holy book. The friendship of the Lord Jesus lets us into His secrets—into the divine counsels. “I have called you friends,” says the Savior, “for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” Communion with Him makes us clear and able witnesses to Him, for He further says, “Ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.” Human learning has its uses, I deny not; but as it is an attractive thing, and imposes much on our poor hearts, which ever naturally relish that which is of man, and not that which is of God; we must be careful that we do not over-value it. It is the Church which is made the pillar and ground of the truth, and not the schools of science and literature; and the Church is thus the witness and upholder of truth, not as being endowed with human learning, but as having the mind of Christ, and an “unction from the Holy One.”

It was not because there was in them a lack of intellectual power or of literary attainments, that the apostle rebuked the disciples for being still but learners, when they ought to have been teachers of divine mysteries. The failure was of a moral character, or he would not have rebuked it, They were dull of hearing, because their souls had not taken that interest in the glory of the Lord Jesus, which had they loved Him better, they would have taken; and therefore it is, that He presents this failure in knowledge as the first step of fearful apostasy, and of final curse and rejection. (see Heb. 5:11-6:8.)

On the principle, then, of ascertaining the limits of the distinct strains of the prophets, before we attempt to interpret them in detail, looking at the 52nd, 53rd, and 54th, of Isaiah, we perceive at once that the prophet is introduced to a new subject at the 13th verse of the 52nd chapter; that the same subject is continued throughout the 53rd chapter, but that it does not occupy him in the 54th chapter. We therefore conclude that 52:1 is one distinct strain of prophecy, and thus we are in a position for interpreting this portion in detail.

In beginning to do this, we must inquire what form it takes, into what subordinate parts it naturally distributes itself, and what title the whole subject will properly bear.

Doing this, by reading it from the beginning to the end, (ever remembering with reverence, and yet to our unspeakable comfort, that it is the word of the living God—our God, in the sure mercies of His dear Son) it at once presents itself to us in the following character:— it exhibits the Father and the Church alternately or interchangeably contemplating the suffering Messiah, and passing their several judgments upon that mysterious blessed object, and we may entitle it— “Messiah in His sufferings.”

Isa. 52:13-15 “Behold my servant shall deal prudently, he shalt be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonished at thee; His visage was so marred more than any man and His form more than the sons of men: so shall He sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at Him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.”

The Father, in those verses, looking at Jesus’ smitten form, and affectingly presenting it to our view, celebrates that glory to which all this humiliation and suffering were to conduct Him, according as it is written of Him, (Phil. 2:19) “And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” For this was the role of Messiah’s glory, as He said, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit;” and so all scripture teaches, that glory now must take as it were a resurrection form just as life must do; for as the life and inheritance of those whom Jesus represented, and for whom Jesus gave Himself up, according to the everlasting covenant, had been both forfeited, and death and the curse been induced upon them; Jesus in regaining both, must pass meritoriously through death and get for Himself and for His Church, a life and also a kingdom and glory, only by destroying thus, through death, “him who had the power of death:” and this He did to secure to all who believe on Him, a life that shall prove itself stronger than death, and “a kingdom that cannot be moved.” (John 11:25, 26; 12:28.)

The day of the Lord Christ, when He shall take to Himself the “heathen for His inheritance,” and be exalted as “king of kings” is here anticipated by the Father, “When to Him whom man despised, to Him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, kings shall see and arise, princes shall also worship,” — when “the kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents, the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts, yea, all kings shall fall down before Him, all nations shall serve Him.”

Isa. 53:1-6 “Who hath believed our report, or to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised and we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

The Church here addressing herself to the same blessed object points at once, not to the result of Messiah’s sufferings, as the Father had done, but to their cause, her own deep iniquity and many transgressions. She begins by rehearsing the common unbelief, and intimates this to arise from the resistance which the pride of fallen man naturally offered to the despised form of Jesus of Nazareth to the humiliating and rebuking sign of the carpenter’s son. (see Matt. 13:55.) And she confesses that she had naturally partaken of the same spirit of unbelief. (Eph. 2:2.) In the progress of her meditations she utters the memory of her Lord’s wondrous love; and after again taking shame to herself for her unbelief, she at length, in the sweet assurance of faith confesses her sin on the head of this precious worthy Lamb of God, finding peace in His blood. (Eph. 2:16; Heb. 12:21)

Before we proceed with our subject, we may here observe the suitableness of those respective judgments of the Father and of the Church while looking, by turns, upon the Messiah’s griefs. The Father looks at them as intimating the glory into which they were all to result; for the covenant between the Father and the Christ was surely on this wise, (but O! for the spirit of unshod worshippers while standing here)—the Son emptied Himself of all, not acting as for Himself, but as the Father’s servant, and as such endured the cross; and then by the covenant He took back all, and therefore was it fitting that the Father then pledged in covenant promises to the suffering Christ, looking at His sufferings, should celebrate the day of those promises when they shall be manifested in the kingdom and glory of Christ, and HE shall be declared the heir of all things. So was it alike suitable to the Church, in looking on these sufferings, to be reminded of her many stains and wrinkles, for to purge them away, and to give her beauty and acceptance in the eyes of her Lord, were all those sorrows borne. “He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

Isa. 53:7-9. “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare His generation? for He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of my people was He stricken.”

Here the Father resumes the subject. He justifies Messiah in His conduct throughout all His bitter agony; that He had therein conducted Himself, as towards God, without one rebellious murmur; (Mark 14:26) as towards man, without a returning threat. (1 Peter 2:23). But the Father rehearses, that though He was thus worthy of all justification, yet (being made sin) He was treated as unworthy left without righteous judgment, none of all who had been taught by Him in the synagogue and in the temple, or who had ever heard Him, though they knew what He said unto them, would now stand for Him. (John 18:20 -22.) As against Him, oppression and wrong were in the place of judgment, and He was hurried to the grave as numbered with the transgressors.

I would observe that the propriety of interpreting these verses as the words of the Father, is warranted by two clear considerations; first—the passage “for the transgressions of my people was He smitten,” affords literal evidence that they are so; and secondly—the justification of Messiah which this passage contains is, as I may say, a moral evidence of the same; for judgment, and consequent justification is in this connection the province of God, and not of the Church. Accordingly we find in the 49th chapter of this prophet, that Messiah says, “my judgment is with my God;” and again, in the gospel of John 8:50. “I seek not mine own glory; there is one that seeketh and judgeth.” And an apostle, filled with this Spirit of his Lord, would say, (1 Cor. 4:4.) “For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified; but He that judgeth me is the Lord.”

Isa. 53:10. “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief; when thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in hand.”

Here the Church again, as in her turn, looks at Jesus.

Before interpreting her meditations, we may pause for a moment’s reflection on that which here meets the soul—that it is, as touching Jesus, that the heavenly Father, and the Church of once ruined and helpless sinners, in judgment and affection meet; that it is Jesus who draws and detains and fixes the regards both of heaven and earth, the Father counting Him as His elect, whom He delighteth to honor; (Isa. 42:1.) the Church esteeming Him “all her salvation and all her desire.” And O! the treasures of divine wisdom and goodness! that with the full maintenance of all the holy honors of God’s throne, He who sits thereon and they who had sold themselves for Him, who sought to overturn it, should yet meet in such fellowship as this.

In the verse which we are now considering, the Church again rehearses Messiah’s sufferings, as He endured them at the hand of the Father. The passage reads as if the Church had just caught the preceding words of the Father, wherein He had vindicated His holy child and righteous servant, and wondered therefore that in spite of this, “it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;” but soon recovering as it were from her surprise, through a fresh apprehension of the purpose and necessity of these sufferings, she anticipates and celebrates that three-fold blessed fruit of them which in due time her Lord was to gather. First— “He shall see His seed”— that He should have His household about Him like a flock of sheep, should gather the great congregation, should be encircled by the ten thousand times ten thousand, and the thousands of thousands who should understand and magnify the grace of these His sufferings, and say “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.” (Rev. 5:11, 12.) Secondly – “He shall prolong His days” —that He should enter manifestly upon the power of an endless life, that “having died unto sin once, He should live unto God,” that “He that was dead should be alive for evermore.” And here we observe that this promise embraces all the seed which He was to see and gather, according to the first promise; for He should take them with Himself into this life, having Him, the Son, they were with Him to have life eternal; (1 John 5:12.) death, as touching them, was to be swallowed up in victory. Thirdly— “the pleasure of the Lord. shall prosper in His hand,” that He should have dominion; and that in His hand dominion should not again be abused and forfeited as it had been of old, but that the pleasure of the Father should be fully answered, and a scepter of righteousness order in peace all things throughout the reconciled heavens and earth; shedding there “the light of the morning when the sun riseth, even of a morning without clouds.” And here we, in like manner observe, that this promise embraces also the seed which He was to see and gather, for if sons with him as partakers of one life, so shall they he heirs with Him, as of one kingdom, as it is written, “when Christ, who is our life shall appear, ye shall also appear with Him in glory.” (Col. 3:4.)

Isa. 53:11, 12. “He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied; by His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great; and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He hath poured out His soul unto death; and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.”

The heavenly Father again takes up, as it were, the wondrous tale in these verses which. close the prophet’s strain. As with zealous desire for Messiah’s exaltation, he confirms, and also in brighter and fuller light presents all the prospect of glory just anticipated by the Church— “He shall see of the travail of His soul,” confirming the words, “He shall see His seed,” and then presents the character of this seed—a seed made righteous through Messiah’s meritorious righteousness and sufferings, and that this seed should be His fullness and joy— “He shall divide the spoil with the strong,” confirming the Church’s hope of “the redemption of the purchased possession,” the recaption of the long lost dominion out of the hand of the usurper, and then presents this honor and dominion, as all scripture presents it, as the reward of His precious and most worthy sufferings.

Thus the Father delighteth to honor the suffering Son of man, and so with desire should we desire the day when this honor shall all he prepared for Him. “To wait for the Son from heaven,” is as much of the character of a renewed soul, as is the turning “from idols to serve the living God.” And there should be a sense of patience accompanying this waiting the waiting being for an object so longed for, that the heart should be sensible of its “need of patience.” But alas how much have other delights than to see the Lord Jesus honored, which is thus alone in sympathy with the Father, divided the hearts of most of us, and made it no occasion or exercise of patience to wait for His day.

I would here add, that while I thus treat the alternate parts of this beautiful and affecting prophecy as the language of the Church, the language indeed of every renewed soul, that cleaves, as it must, in all desire to her once crucified and soon to be exalted Lord—I would distinctly avow this—that I believe such will be the faith, and such the confession of the children of Israel in that day, when receiving the Spirit of grace and supplication they look on Him whom they pierced and mourn for Him, and find in Him and by Him a fountain opened for their sin and their uncleanness.” (Zech. 12; 13) Then, but not till then, will the connection between this 53rd and the following chapter of our prophet be really and livingly developed, for then “shall the barren sing and the woman that travailed not with child break forth into singing because of the multitude of her children, the enlargement or the place of her tent, and her seed’s inheritance of the Gentiles.” For even our own apostle testifies to us, that though blindness in part is now happening to Israel, yet Israel shall all be saved, and the receiving of them shall be to the world as life from the dead. (Rom. 11) And we, the present election out of the world, only serve as a sample of that mercy by which Israel shall then be saved; (Rom. 11:31.) and as an occasion for the provoking of them —the covenant people of God, by us who are no people, a foolish alienated nation. (see Deut. 32:21. Rom. 10:19; 11:11.) But now, Christ crucified, is for Jew and Gentile; all are equally one in Him. Let us then “behold the man,” — His sorrows have gone too much out of mind; the chastened tone which they should give to the, spirits of all the worshipping household of our God is too feebly expressed among us. But with what tenderness will they be traced, with what power, as in the language of Isaiah, will they be rehearsed by the awakened tribes of Israel! May the Lord the Spirit quicken our sense of them and also give us to anticipate that joy and fullness of glory into which they shall, ere long, conduct the blessed sufferer Himself at the head of the great congregation.

Jehovah-Jesus-Son of David and Son of God

In reading the holy scriptures, we should remember that they do not simply contain a rule of life and conduct, but that they are a revelation of God, so as to lead us into the knowledge of Him in Jesus Christ, and thus into eternal life. He that was “in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him,” “I have manifested thy name,” says the Lord, “unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world.” They do assuredly exhibit a rule of life; and as such, not a jot or tittle of them is to be disregarded: (Matt. 5:19.) but if they be received merely as such, our souls will not come into contact with the great purpose of God in giving them forth. We are renewed in knowledge—knowledge of God in Christ, through the Spirit; and therefore the effort of the god of this world is to hinder the light of the gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, from shining into us; and, on the other hand, the prayer of the Apostle, for the Church is, that they might receive the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ, and that they might increase in the knowledge of God. (Eph. 1:17. Col. 1:10.) 0! that all saints may find their happiest occupation in searching out the ways of their covenant God, redeeming their time from the vain pursuits of the world thus to converse with Him; remembering, however, that it is the willing and obedient heart, and not the acute intellect, that makes safe and profitable progress in this knowledge. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” (Psa. 25:14.) “The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.” (Psa. 111:2)

The sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow, form as we are told, the great burthen of the scriptures. The Spirit in the prophets testified of these; and surely they do constitute the center of the blessed, wondrous, and gracious mystery or plan of our God in His dealings with us.

Concerning this glory which was thus to follow the sufferings of Christ, I desire to trace two portions or characters of it signified to us by two of His many titles— SON OF DAVID, SON OF GOD.

And oh for more of the mind of Christ —more too of the sweet power of friendship with Jesus, that we all may thus he more apt to learn from Him the things which He has heard from the Father. (John 15:15.)

The purpose of God in His election of Israel as His nation, was the assertion of His own right to all power on earth; or, in other words, for the manifestation of Christ, as the heir and holder of all earthly glory and dominion.

His dispensation, by means of Israel, no doubt was made to answer other purposes; as for instance—it answered the purpose of drawing out in still broader and clearer lines, the evidences of man’s weakness and degradation through the fall; that though favored, as man was in the Jews, in the most special ways of providence, yet was he found to be as without strength, unable to stand unrebukeable before God; and thus it gave us further to know, that God Himself must sustain us, and work in and for us. And then it answered the other purpose of witnessing that God could in grace thus sustain us, and thus work in and for us Himself; for it presented shadows of good things to come; the law, as well as the prophets of Israel, prophesied of Jesus (Matt. 11:13.) But the characteristic purpose of God in the dispensation of Israel, appears to have been to vindicate His own name— “the name of Jehovah as the only God of the whole earth, the only Lord of the lower parts of the earth.” For in Israel, Christ or Jehovah was economically or virtually on the throne. A Theocracy, as it is commonly admitted, was established among them; and the history of Israel was to have shown, and, but for their unbelief and rebellion, would have shown, that “blessed were the people who had the Lord for their God.” Jehovah had redeemed them out of Egypt, and brought them to Himself. They were entitled to make their boast in God as their God. They were “set on high above all nations of the earth.” “What nation is there,” said Moses, “so great, that hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all that we call upon Him for?” (Deut. 4:7.) And so Joshua could afterward stand before Israel, and witness in like manner, the mercy of Jehovah to them as His nation: “the Lord hath driven out from before you great nations and strong; but as for you no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.” (Josh. 23:9.)

Thus was Israel established to be God’s witness on earth: they were His people, politically united with Him as their king. And being thus the earthly people of God, their blessings were blessings of the earth, blessings of providence, as it is written— “all these blessings shall come upon them.” (Deut. 28:1-14.)

And they should have continued thus to flourish as God’s nation, “their time should have remained forever.” (Psa. 81:15.) But the children of Israel revolted from their king, they rejected Jehovah Christ, that He should not reign over them. (1 Sam. 8:7.)

When Israel, thus with revolted heart, would have a king, after the Lord had made trial of the son of Cis, the mystical import of whose reign, though deeply interesting and instructive, I need not here consider; He gave them David to be their king, a man after His own heart. By the arms of David, the enemies of God and of His Israel, were all reduced; and then full of honor and as established to the furthest limits of the promised land, the throne and kingdom of David are delivered over to his son Solomon, that he might hold them as glorious in the eyes of the nations; and thus was the throne of David constituted a second witness of God’s authority and power on earth. But the house of David, like Israel before, speedily corrupted itself, and after long patience, God removed them from their place, took power from them, and allowed it to pass over to the heathen who were not His people; and there it has been ever since, passing from one to another of the four beasts of the prophets, and thus has the Lord been left without a due or appointed witness to His glory as Lord of the earth. But scripture very largely tells us that Israel is to revive as from their present state of death, and be established by Christ and under Christ, (who is the faithful witness to the glory of the Father,) in the person and with all the rights of “Son of David” and to His hand earthly power and glory shall be found to be securely committed, to the glory of God the Father.

I have thus anticipated what I understand from scripture to be the special characteristic glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, as “Son of David;” it presents Him to us as the restorer and holder of power on earth. This name or title appears to have its origin in the words of Nathan, the prophet of God, to David. (See 2 Sam. 7:8-16.)

This word of Nathan distinctly appoints the Son of David to be the head of that house and kingdom which the Lord would Himself establish in the earth forever. Psa. 89 celebrates the same grace of God to David’s seed. Now a comparative view of 1 Sam. 7:14. with Heb. 1:5 of Psa. 132:11. with Acts 2:30, and of Isa. 55:3. with Acts 13:34. will at once assure us that Christ, and not Solomon, is really and substantially the Son of David; both in the oracle of Nathan and in the Psa. 1 have referred to. And I would add just this —that our Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of David, not as head of His mystical body—the Church, but as head of the restored tribes of Israel; for the Church never has been, and indeed never could be forsaken of her God, as the prophet there threatens, and the Psalmist there complains; (Psa. 89) but Zion is now really the forsaken, and her land the desolate. (Isa. 62:4.) Besides, the Lord Jesus often admitted His claim to this title, and when He stood before the Roman governor, confessed Himself to be the king of the Jews. And the angel, announcing His birth, spake of David as His Father, and David’s throne as His. In this character as the Son of David, the Lord offered Himself to Israel at his first coming; but Israel cast Him out then, as they had done before, in the days of Samuel. We learn this from the parable of the wicked husbandmen. For we are there distinctly taught that the mission of the Son of God to earth, was designed, among its many blessed purposes, to prove whether Israel could still be continued in possession of the vineyard under the care and government of Him who was the heir of it, for the disallowing of whose title to which, was the vineyard taken from them.

So the Lord’s last solemn entry into Jerusalem was in the character of Son of David, and therefore He was accompanied on that occasion with the suitable acclamation—Hosanna to the Son of David—God save the king. But the rulers and representatives of the people being then offended in Him, not discerning the glory of the kingdom in the person of the lowly Jesus of Nazareth, He left them as ripe for present judgment, (and which judgment they have ever since been suffering) giving them to know that they should not see Him till in the spirit of repentance and faith they had learned to welcome Him, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” (see Matt. 21; 23) These words of welcome the Lord advisedly takes from Psa. 118 that being the song of Israel in the joyous and triumphant day, when they shall bring in Jesus as the head stone with shootings of “Grace, grace,” to Him; and the shout of a king, according to the prophecy, shall be eminently among them. (Num. 23:21.)

So that beautiful prophecy contained in Isa. 7-9 instructs us in the same truth. When that prophecy was delivered, Syria and Ephraim were confederated against Judah, and Isaiah was commissioned to sustain the courage of the house of David, by an assurance to it that the confederacy should not prevail; and by more than that, for the discomfiture of the then present confederacy, was made a pledge of the discomfiture of all succeeding confederacies, at least so as to secure to the house of David, in the end, rest and glory, though for a season it might He in ruins and dishonor; and that “a child” in due time should be “born,” and “a son be given,” whose right it was, and whose right should be asserted, on that throne of David to sit, and his kingdom and government to order and establish forever. And how splendidly do the hopes of Israel sparkle on that page of scripture— “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace: of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end; upon the throne of David and upon His kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment, and with justice from henceforth forever and ever.”

Psa. 72 is another beautiful exhibition of the doings and glories of Christ in the character of the Son of David; and Isa. 35 presents us, as it were, with a sample of the peaceable fruit of the reign of His scepter of righteousness.

This title of “Son of David” was indeed the highest in which Christ was made known to the faith of the Jews, merely as Jews; (see Matt. 22:42.) and therefore, as we have already seen, it was as the Son of David that the multitude congratulated Him, on His royal visit to Jerusalem. (Matt. 21) So we may observe that Bartimaeus manifested his faith in contrast with the ignorance of the multitude, for while Jesus was known to them merely as “Jesus of Nazareth,” being thus distinguished, just as all men are by a specified place, parentage, or other circumstance; He was known to Bartimaeus as “Son of David” and appealed to as such for mercy; and justly so, for according to the Jews themselves, the Son of David was to bring the mercy which Bartimaeus needed; (Matt. 12:23.) and also according to the prophets; for as Son of David, the restorer of the human earthly system, He is to come with a recompense, He is to come and save the people, and the eyes of the blind are to be opened, and the ears of the deaf to be unstopped. (Isa. 35:3, 4) In like manner the woman who came to Jesus from the coasts of Tire and Sidon, appealed to Him for mercy, as the Son of David. Now she presents to us a sample of the faith in which the nations are to stand, in the day when the tabernacle of David, which is now in ruins, shall be set up, and the residue of men shall seek after the Lord; for the Gentiles will then acknowledge Israel as the “children,” the “natural branches,” and will acquiesce in God’s appointment of the “first dominion” to the daughter of Sion; in the Lord’s settling of everything in favor of the Jew lust. So this woman commends her faith to the Son of David, in the same spirit; readily taking a place under the children’s table. (Matt. 15:28.)

Now Peter’s faith apprehended the person of the blessed Jesus in a character different from that of the Son of David; he was taught by the Spirit to discern in Him a glory beyond a mere Jewish or earthly glory. He made confession to Him “as the Son of the living God:” and therefore, and at once the Lord committed to him not the keys of the house of David, but the keys of the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 16:16.) Because, as I believe, while Jesus as Son of David is the head of earthly power and glory, as Son of God He is the head of all power in heaven, the dispenser of those which are in the επουρανια or heavenlies. And this leads me to consider, as I proposed to do, the second title of our blessed and adorable Savior— “Son of God.”

In a divine sense, I assuredly believe our Lord Jesus bears this title; He is called Son of God, when His full, unqualified, eternal Deity is expressed, when revealed as one with the Father and the Holy Ghost; three persons in one God. For John says, “therefore the Jews sought to kill Him, because He had not only broken the sabbath, but said also that God was His Father; making Himself equal with God.” (Isa. 5:18.) And again, after speaking largely of Himself as Son of God, He closes with assuming full divine glory, saying, “before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58.) And the divine dignity of this title, clearly appears from John 10:30-39 (and from 1 John 1, 2). Indeed on the truth, that there is Father and Son in the Godhead, the very life of the Church seems to depend; for that life is fellowship with God in love; which will be found to be fellowship with the Father and the Son, “whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father.” (1 John 2:23) “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God; he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.” (2 John 9.)

But still in another sense, the holy scriptures speak of Him as Son of God; and that is in immediate connection in result with us as incarnate, as the eldest of the family in heaven; the first-born among many brethren. Now let us look for the origin of this title, as we did before, that of “Son of David.”

As our blessed Lord walked on earth, He was a circumcised man, debtor to do the whole law. He was made, as we read, “under the law;” and to the utmost title of it was obedient to it, so that He presented a righteousness in flesh to God; and died on the cross a Lamb without blemish. But by resurrection He entered into another condition, being then declared to be the Son of God, with power, having thereby proved that He, a Son of Man, had life of God in Him; life superior to the power of death. And we must ever remember, for it is a doctrine insisted on most fully, I might say in all parts of the apostolic scriptures, that it is with the Lord in His resurrection, that the saints have their union. It is as first-born from the dead, that He is the head of His body the Church. (Col. 1:18.) The life in His members is not, if I may call it, legal or Jewish life, life of circumcised flesh, but life through the Spirit; a circumcision made without hands, divine life eternal life, life of the risen Head. “They have become sons of God, being born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Now when Jesus left this world, He went to the Father; into the Father’s house, there to prepare places for His brethren. (John 14:1.) “He ascended to His Father and our Father, to His God and our God; and has gained for us sinners (blessed be His name for such riches of grace, such everlasting and satisfying consolations) that we should be loved of the Father, with the same love wherewith He Himself is loved.” (Isaiah 17:26.)

Being thus the brethren of the ascended Jesus, Son of God, the saints having the Spirit and life of their Head, sit even now in Him in heavenly places; the citizenship is in heaven, by Him they have access to God, as a Father through the Spirit. They are married to Him, that is, raised from the dead, and thus bring forth fruit unto God. And being now the sons of God the world knows them not, even as it knew not Christ; for they are not of the world even as He was not of the world. And as He is, so are they in this world, they have in spirit followed Him out of this world into heaven. The blessings therefore, wherewith they are blest, are blessings not of this world, or of the earth, as we have seen the Jews’ were, but “spiritual blessings in the heavenlies;” as it is written, “blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings, in the heavenlies in Christ; according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved.” (Eph. 1:3-6.)

And as children, now in the Father’s house, they are waiting for the inheritance of the children, for “if children then heirs;” they are hoping for the grace which is to be brought to them at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And as Jesus Himself is now crowned with glory and seated at the right hand of God, as a kind of pledge of His future dominion, (Ps. 110:1., Heb. 2:8,9.) so His brethren here, His members still suffering on earth, have received the Holy Ghost, the fruit of this His glory and exaltation to heaven, as the earnest or pledge of their inheritance with Him. (2 Cor. 1:22, v. 5., Eph. 1:13,14.)

Now of what are the sons of God to be the heirs? surely of the same glory of which the first-born among them is heir, as it is written— “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ;” and again— “for our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior—the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile bodies info the likeness of His glorious body;” and again— “when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory.” So that the kingdom prepared by the Father for the Son, is to be the scene of the common glory and joy of the whole “family in heaven,” the portion of the children of whom He is the first-born all are to be in the Father’s house and seated on the Son’s throne. (John 14:2, Rev. 3:2) Their inheritance is heavenly; “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy, hath begotten us unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.” Therein will be the glory of the celestial, which is one, inasmuch as they shall be presented in the likeness of the risen and glorified body of Jesus, and have their place manifestly there where now in Spirit they dwell, that is, the Father’s house in the heavenlies, the place of the children; while the glory of the restored Israel will be there, that of the terrestrial which is another, inasmuch as in bodies of flesh and blood they shall occupy the earth, the place of the servants, the footstool and not the throne, the place of subjects under Christ, and not the seat of government with Christ. And thus in the manifestation of the sons of God, in the dispensation of the fullness of times when all things in heaven and in earth shall be gathered together in one, even in Christ, He who once descended into the lower parts of the earth. and then ascended up far above all heavens, shall according to the decree of the everlasting covenant, fill all things, shall be brought forth in the earthly glory of the Son of David, and in the heavenly glory of the Son of God: His risen saints and restored nation, having their several unions with Him, “of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,” and “every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

This His glory as filling all things in heaven and earth, the Lord appears to anticipate in a very early stage of His ministry, as we read in the 1st chap. of John’s gospel. When Nathaniel believed, he made a large and blessed confession to the glory of Christ, “Rabbi,” says he, “thou art the Son of God, thou art the king of Israel; Jesus answered and said unto him, because I said unto thee I saw thee under the fig-tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. And He saith unto him, verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” From this confession to Him as Son of God and king of Israel, the Lord catches, as it were, the glimpse of His then far distant glory, as the center, the mediator, and life of all things in heaven and in earth, in whom all things are to consist, and be gathered, though they are still to be distinct as things heavenly, and things earthly.

Thus, then, there does appear to me to be most clearly recognized in scripture, a distinct purpose with God in His dispensation of Israel and of the Church; in other words, in the manifestation of the Christ (who is God’s ordinance for all His purposes, and to whom be glory forever,) as Son of David and as Son of God. But as I judge that a practical conclusion on a subject interesting to us all, who desire to know and do the will of our gracious God and Savior, very much rests on a just apprehension of this distinction, I desire to add a little more upon it. And I do it in much subjection to my brethren in the Lord, knowing indeed but in small part, and therefore able to speak but as so knowing. However, I speak according to clear conclusions of my own mind. In the Jewish dispensation, Christ spake on earth, but now He is speaking from heaven. (Heb. 12:25) The position of the Head being thus changed, the position of His elect, as those who are gathered to Him, and who are to witness to Him, must be also changed. And so I judge, we shall find from the word of God that it has changed, As for instance—Israel was to go forth as on earth, with “a two-edged sword in their hand,” utterly to destroy city after city; the Church, “with power from on high” to subdue sinners to the God of the spirits of all flesh. The characteristic action of Israel may be read in such passage as this — “So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs, and all their kings, he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded,” Israel being made the witness of God’s glory among the nations—and the rod of His anger. But the characteristic action of the Church or saints, on the contrary, may be read in these words— “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the whiles of the devil; for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places;” their conflict being with a world that lies in the wicked one, with him that has the power of death, and their strength lying only in the Spirit and in the name of the Lord, in the name of Him who is not now on earth as He was when in the ark of Israel, He arose and His enemies were scattered, and they who hated Him fled before Him, or as when He headed the Lord’s host as their captain before the walls of Jericho.

So the characteristic confession of Israel before God was this— “a Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation great, mighty, and populous; and the Egyptians evil entreated us and afflicted us, and laid upon us bard bondage; and when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression; and the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness;” this being a confession that they who were bond-slaves in a strange land, had been blest with the fullness of all earthly good. But the confession of the saints is expressed by the cry “Abba Father;” a confession that they who had been alienated from the life of God, were now brought nigh, and made sons, and had the life and spirit of sons sent forth into their hearts.

So the characteristic glory of Israel may be seen in such a chapter as 2 Chron. 9, where king Solomon is admired in the eyes of all the nations, passing all the kings of the earth, as he then did, in riches and wisdom, all of them seeking his presence, and bringing him offerings; while that of the Church may be seen (far, far, different) in the description thus given of the early saints at Jerusalem. “And the multitude of them that believed, were of one heart and of one soul; neither said any of them that aught of the things that he possessed was his own, but they had all things common; and with great power gave the Apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.”

I do confess that this view of the divers glories of our Lord Jesus Christ, as Son of David and Son of God, thus distinguishing the proper characteristic purpose of each dispensation, Jewish and Christian, leads me very distinctly to the conclusion, that the Church of the New Testament saints is not to concern itself with the regulation of the earth; that it comes down from its only due position, as ascended into heaven with its head, when it links itself with the powers and authorities of the world for the purpose of managing the world’s interests, or preserving its good order. For her Head, to whom and to whose position she is to witness, we must still repeat it, is not on earth, but in heaven; and is not directly under taking for the present, the management of a kingdom which is of this world. Nor will He, until He regain dominion in Israel, and be seated on the throne of David, His only recognized organ of earthly power and rule. But He is not in this position yet, “now is my kingdom not from hence.” “He came to His own but His own received Him not.” He was offered to Israel as their king; for that word of the prophet was fulfilled — “Tell ye the daughter of Zion, behold thy king cometh unto thee.” But Israel cast the heir of the vineyard out, saying, “come let us kill Him.” Then die God the Father exalt this rejected stone, taking Him up far above all heavens. Jesus by the Jewish enmity was chased, as it were, from earth to heaven; but the Father has made this wrath of man to praise Him, and has by occasion of it, constituted Jesus the Head of all things in heaven; for now the rejected stone, the descended and ascended Savior, shall in due time be manifested as the head of the corner, the filler of all things in heaven as well as in earth. Israel gave up their testimony to their Head on earth, by losing their separate place as God’s nation, acknowledging other lords than Jehovah, and selling themselves to the kingdoms of the Gentiles; the Church gives up her testimony to her head in heaven, by settling herself down in the earth, and combining with the powers and principles of the world, too ungraciously forgetful that her blessed suffering Lord was cast out by the world, and given no place on earth.

Many, “beloved of the Lord,” are found in a system which professedly makes the Church the minister of civil order; the state, in return, the patron of the Church. This is clearly in my judgment, an unwarranted condition for the Church to be found in; and thus, as far as the influence of this judgment extends, I am necessarily separated from them. I might speak of much in the details of the same system, from which I feel constrained to withdraw myself, being, as I judge, anti-scriptural, and not merely non-scriptural; such as the Church requiring her ministers to recognize all her baptized children as dying equally in the true hope of eternal life; but it is not my wish or purpose to go into any such details, but to state simply this one foundation principle. But then how am I to view this separation? how am I to be affected by it? When I say, as unfeignedly I do, that hi many things they honor their Lord and love Him with a constant and fervent love, how dare I view it or how can I be affected by it, but as a cause of much humiliation before our common Lord and master, and with great sorrow of heart? With many of them, if they will let me thus claim with them sympathy in Jesus, I take constant and most sweet counsel. and do confess that their Christian spirit and deportment will at times make me pause and ask myself, could I be right in formally withdrawing from public recognized communion with such saints of God? But then the scripture of truth, which is to be the rule —rather than the suggestions of our affections never brings me to this pause, or awakens a doubt of the untenableness of their position, and therefore though we have many brethren to love, we have but one Lord to obey.

I grant we have to listen to the Church, as a brother has lately, I think well insisted on. I do not deny the discretionary power which he has in a very interesting and instructive manner advocated; but the Church’s discretion must ever be regulated by the written mind of her great Head; the wife is subject to the law of her husband; and the Establishment, not to speak here of many of her ordinances, which clearly appear to me to be much more than merely non-scriptural, as I have submitted, takes a position not only unwarranted by the scriptures, but plainly opposed to the views which they present of the Church of Christ. But if I do thus honor these brethren, who are still in the Establishment, as among the Lord’s dearest and most honored servants in this day of ours, can I allow myself in anything that may appear to be a rejoicing in, or exulting because of this separation? Can I say of any given communion, to the exclusion of these brethren, “the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these?” assuredly I could not do so. I could not adopt any judgment that would thus have them on the outside. But I must at the same time say, that I do not feel indebted to the system with which these brethren are connected for the Christian zeal and temper which grace them, I am very far from being able to see, as is commonly observed among us, and urged too as a strong persuasive for continuing in the Establishment, that the Lord is thus marking it with His approbation, and honoring it by having such servants of His in it. Were this so, we should naturally look for the brightest exhibitions of Christian zeal and temper in those who were most subject to the system, if by the system itself the Lord were working among us, and putting honor upon it as His own ordinance. But the contrary is glaringly the fact. It is in those who are, every day, in various ways, asserting a measure of independency, and working out of the recognized rule, that the energy of the Spirit chiefly manifests itself, while much of mere formality, and the substitution of respectability among men for the patience of Jesus, will be found there, where the system is most exactly enforced. I think I am conscious that I do not desire to be a judge, but some things are too plain not to be read by even those who run.

And while I thus clearly and thankfully acknowledge what is of the Lord’s Spirit in these brethren, I will also acknowledge, that, because the world in its spirit and practice, has been so much retained, while separation from it, in its religious services, has been so formally adopted, little of the blessing and power of God does now rest on those who are now called dissenters. We are all weak, by reason of much unfaithfulness; much individual personal unfaithfulness from all of us more or less, “seeking their own, and not the things that are Jesus Christ’s.” And O! will not these things, in the judgment of the Lord, overweigh correct ideas or clear views, as they are too often boasted to be, of the nature and government of a Christian Church? What are correct ideas and clear views, “being alone?” There is such a thing, as by the letter and circumcision, the transgressing of the law. What spirit can God recognize with His blessing in such a state of things as the present, of weakness as respects the saints individually, and of distraction as respects them together, but that of sighing and crying, that of sympathy with Jesus weeping over Jerusalem? Was it not comely in David to mourn for Saul, and to slay the Amalekite who brought him tidings of his death, thinking in the pride and naughtiness of his heart, that he should be rewarded for his misplaced zeal? and shall we instead of this mourning, glory in that which is enough, and more than the death of king Saul, to make the enemies of God rejoice, the daughters of the uncircumcised to triumph? for surely the beauty of our Israel is departed, and brethren, such as David and Jonathan, are kept asunder by the false and apostate principles that are corrupting us throughout. Let us judge the systems of the day to be as bad as they can be, the worse they are, the less proper objects are they for our exulting over. O let us not he against the truth; such zeal cometh not from above. Let us rather strengthen the things that remain among us by humbleness of mind and confession before our God, knowing that our present distractions arise rather by reason of the worldliness and unbelief that are in the hearts of us, the professed servants of God, than from any external causes. Let us learn our individual responsibility to do what we can for a speedy recovery of some of that goodliness which has been lost to us: or at least, that the little that remains perish not.

Let us embrace all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, lest we he keeping ourselves out of the scope and range of the fullness of the blessing of the gospel, for peace is pronounced on all such. Let us cease from judging one another, and rather set ourselves to exhort one another to love and to good works, reminding one another that if we sow bountifully, we shall also reap bountifully. Let our hope enter into that within the vail, let us cast our anchor there, and wish for the day, the day of the Lord, remembering that unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time, without sin unto salvation. And therefore let each ask himself, am I ever in spirit saying, “come Lord Jesus,” as a faithful soul that has given itself to the Lord; am I looking for His return with those longing desires; “make haste my beloved, be thou like a roe or to a young hart on the mountains of spices.”

I would desire, with one heart and voice, to join my beloved brethren in the Establishment, and say “Almighty God, may it please thee of thy gracious goodness shortly to accomplish the number of thine elect, and to hasten thy kingdom that we, with all those who are departed in the true faith of thy holy name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in thine eternal and everlasting glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Observations on Matthew 21, 22, 23

THAT the Lord came to deliver the house of Israel out of the hand of their enemies, and then to reign over them, appears from the promises, generally, of God to His people by the prophets; but most especially and distinctly is this the subject of that noble strain of prophecy which commences with the 7th chapter, and closes with the 7th verse of the 9th chapter of Isaiah. At the time when that prophecy was delivered, Syria and Ephraim were confederated against Judah; and Isaiah was commissioned to sustain the courage of the house of David, by an assurance that the confederacy should not prevail. In token of this, the prophet’s two children, as well as the promised Immanuel are set up as signs, and the discomfiture of the then present confederacy was the pledge of the discomfiture of every confederacy that might be formed against the house and throne of David, so as to secure to it, in the end, (though for a long dreary and dark season it might He in ruins and dishonor,) rest and glory, when “the child” should be “born” and the “son given” whose right it was on that throne to sit, and to “order and establish it forever.” The parable of “the wicked husbandmen,” in like manner, distinctly instructs us in the same doctrine—that the mission of the Son of God, was, as to one of its purposes, to keep the Jewish nation still in the possession of the vineyard, under the care and government of Him whose inheritance it was; and for disallowing whose title to which, and for this only, it has been taken from them.

Thus the day of the redemption and kingdom of Israel has been delayed because of their unbelief, because they could not discern the glory of the kingdom in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

Before however, the Lord Jesus would formally pronounce upon their present loss of the kingdom, it appears to me that He would call forth from the nations of Israel, a formal rejection of Him in the fully manifested character of their king, so that they might be left without excuse. From hence arises the scene of His last solemn entry into their city which was transacted, as we shall see, in the style and with the actions of the true Son of David, rightful king of Israel. In connection with this solemn entry, will be found all the scenes recorded in Matt. 21-23, which I distribute and interpret as follows

The Royal Visitation -Mat. 21:1-14.

We learn, that in the purest days of the Jewish government, the principle men in Israel used no animals but asses, (Judg. 5:10., x. 4., xii. 14.) horses not being introduced till the corrupt tunes of Solomon. The Lord, then, when assuming the style of “King of Israel,” of course took every feature, however minute, Which belonged to the only pure and true form of such a character, and therefore orders His disciples to bring an ass’s colt to Him. And besides, this was Messiah exhibiting himself as king, just as the prophet had before-presented Him; (Zech. 9:9.) and His being “meek and lowly,” was as kingly a feature as any other, for Moses had provided, that the king who should hereafter be appointed to rule over Israel, should not surround himself with such circumstances and pomp as might lift up his head in pride above his brethren; and Christ, the king, would doubtless conform Himself to the model thus furnished by Moses. (Deut. 17:14.)

The action of spreading their garments and strewing branches of trees in the way, were expressive of the honor in which the multitude held Him, and the joy with which they saluted Him, His garments were now as it were, smelling of myrrh, aloes, and cassia. The people hailed Him as king, (Luke 19:38.) called Him. “the Son of David;” and thus recognized His title to the throne of David. (Mark 11:10.) The palmy multitude as it were, was keeping the feast of tabernacle. They took their triumphant acclamations from Psa. 118, that place of the scriptures which represents the nation of Israel, bringing into His glory, the head stone which had been previously rejected by the builders; so were they doing now, welcoming Messiah to His kingdom, and as said by the prophet, “the shout of a king was among them.” (Num. 23:21.) All this, it may be, they neither understood nor intended, but they were divinely moved to take the part which they did, in order that the whole scene might he the presentation of their king, in full form, to the city and nation of the Jews, in the person of Him who was just coming among them. On the Lord’s entry into the city, Jerusalem was moved with wonder at the sight, saying, “who is this?” But when they learned that this was “Jesus the prophet of Nazareth, of Galilee;” we may suppose that many began to despise the Galilean king. The Lord at once goes up to the temple, and there performs a solemn action, strikingly characteristic of “king of Israel,”—He purifies the house of God.

Such had been one of the functions, and was properly alone within the due exercise of the royal authority. We find the best kings of Judah reforming the religion of the people in their days; witness Hezekiah and Josiah: and here, in virtue of the same kingly authority, the Lord takes upon Him the same action.

There too, in the temple, He heals the lame and the blind; thus giving further evidence that He was exhibiting, in His person, the virtues which the prophet had pointed at as belonging to Messiah, and to Messiah in His kingdom. (Isa. 35:5. 6.) Nothing then, was now wanting, the decisive moment was come, and inquisition was now in making, “would they reverence the Son?”

Israel’s Rejection of Their King. Mat. 21:15-22

The enmity of the principal men, who were the organs and representatives of the people, now declared itself; and they formally disallow their rightful Lord and king —they were “sore displeased” in the Son of David, and cast out the heir of the vineyard. Thus they counted themselves unworthy of the kingdom. The Lord rebuked them by a passage taken from the 8th Psalm, which on this occasion was mast seasonable, being calculated both to rebuke the Jews, by giving them, for the present, the place of the enemy and the avenger; and also to present Him, the Messiah, in His full and proper glories before them. (See Heb. 2:8)

Having then, shut them up under the rebuke and condemnation of this Psalm, the Lord “left them and went out of the city;” thus formally disclaiming it, at least for the present, as the place of His throne.

On His return the next morning, by a very significant symbolical action, He warns His disciples of the judgment, which was now in consequence of His own having thus refused to receive Him, soon to be executed on the Jewish Church and nation. He performs the act of the Lord of the vineyard, described before by Isaiah, which clearly was designed to represent the judgment of the apostate Jewish system under the hand of Messiah. He then further instructs His disciples in the important truth, that the Jewish system was about to be superseded by a dispensation among them as His disciples, the characteristic energy or virtue of which, was to be faith, to which, and not to the temple, was to be committed to the exercise of God’s power upon earth. The mountain of the Lord’s house was now to be cast into a troubled sea, the kingdom to be taken from the Jews of that day and given to a nation, (the holy nation of that elect remnant of the last days who shall have faith in Him. the rejected stone; 1 Peter 2:6-9) bringing forth the fruits thereof.

The Conviction of the House of Israel. Mat. 21:22-22:46

The insolence of the chief priests and elders increasing, and their enmity being set more on work, they came forward, and make their first challenge of the Lord. They call upon Him to produce His credentials— “By what authority,” say they, “doest thou these things?” In reply, He puts it upon them to decide as to the authority of John’s baptism; whether it was “from heaven, or of men.” This He did, not so much with the design of hazarding their safety with the multitude, as their evil hearts suggested; but of leading them, in God’s own appointed way, to the answer of their own inquiry: for as they ought to have felt no hesitation in deciding John’s baptism to have been “from heaven,” this would have at once shown them by what authority He was acting: for John’s ministry was God’s testimony to Him, the Christ; and then in order to show them that they should have no hesitation in deciding that John’s baptism was from heaven, He constructs the parable of “the two sons;” the purpose of which most plainly was, to show them on their own principles of righteousness, which John practiced and taught, that it had been “from heaven,” and thus to convict them of sin in rejecting this counsel of God against themselves.

In the parable of “The wicked husbandmen,” the Lord after this presents to them a view of their transgressions as a nation, the full measure of which they were now awfully filling up; and according to a similar parable in their prophet, He leads these “inhabitants of Jerusalem,” these “men of Judah,” to judge themselves in the controversy between Him, the householder, and His vineyard. He then confirms the fact of their being ripe for judgment, by citing two passages, one from Psa. 118, and another from Isa. 8, which together sheaved them that they had rejected Him—the sure foundation stone, and must therefore suffer the judgment written. The enmity of the Pharisees was now worked up to a still greater height, and they were only hindered by their fear of the multitude, from seizing on Him, and killing this blessed heir of the vineyard.

The Lord then delivers the parable of “The marriage of the king’s son,” which in drawing out the character and history of the kingdom of heaven, pointedly and advisedly (as did the former parable) exhibits the refusal of the Jews, though bidden again and again to enter into that kingdom, and also their awful destruction which followed thereon.

The Pharisees now took solemn counsel, and laid their plans for ensnaring the Lord. Finding, as they had just done, that because of the multitude they had no hope of getting Him into their power, simply as a Jew; they took occasion against Him as a subject of Caesar, in order to deliver Him over into the authority and power of the Romans. Thus minded, they formally enter upon their second challenge of the blessed Jesus. They send a few of their disciples with certain Herodians, a political sect of Jews who were slaves to the Roman interests, who insidiously ask Him, “is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not?” The Lord knowing their hypocrisy, so prepared His reply, as not only to prove that “before the king innocency should be found in Him,” but also to show them that they were now slaves to Caesar, a heathen oppressor, only because they had not rendered due service to their God, their only rightful and gracious king. Thus He designed again to convict their consciences, and prove to them that as a nation or political body, they were now lost, that there was no life in them, and that they were ready to be dissolved. The arrow appears to be sharp in the hearts of the king’s enemies, for “they marveled and left Him and went their way.”

The nation being thus judged, the Church advances to the controversy. It was at this time distracted between the two principal sects of the Pharisees and the Sadducees; the former having departed from the truth, in the way of false religion, the latter in the way of infidelity. Representatives from each of these parties now present themselves successively before the Lord, with separate inquiries suitable to their respective errors; and these thus constitute the third and fourth challenge by this deeply revolted nation, of Him who was their rightful king, and whom they should have rather reverenced and received as the heir of all their nation’s glory. The Sadducees hoped to disprove certain divine doctrines by insinuating their apparent absurdity; The Pharisees designed to magnify the law, of which they were the teachers. The former He convicts by showing them their ignorance of that word which they were blaspheming, the latter, by evincing the end of the law, and thus intimating, that while they desired to be teachers of it, they understood neither what they said nor whereof they affirmed.

He then, at the end, having answered all their challenges, makes an inquiry of them touching the person of the Messiah, but they had no word of wisdom or of knowledge among them, night was upon the prophets; and thus, as a Church, or ecclesiastical body, they were found to have become apostate from the truth, and no light to be remaining in them.

Thus then, as a nation and a Church, they were adjudged to be as reprobate silver.

The Judgment—Matthew 23

The pleadings were now closed—the Jews convicted and silenced —there was no counselor among them, who, when asked, could answer a word—as a Church and a nation, they stood condemned. The Lord, then, as in the place of judgment, proceeds to array the matters which were in evidence against them, and to pronounce the solemn sentence.

He takes occasion, however, by the way, to instruct both His disciples, and those of the multitude who still apparently heard Him gladly, in their respective duties in this state of apostasy. He then pronounces the Church and nation to be guilty of oppression and pride—of having awfully corrupted the truth of God—of having substituted religiousness for righteousness—of deep hypocrisy—of pretending veneration for the prophets of old, and yet doing the deeds of those who persecuted and killed them. He then warns them that they were soon to fill up the measure of their sins, and then the long-suffering of their much offended God, having been continued through the appointed day of grace, they should answer to Him, and the penalty of all the righteous blood which had been shed on the earth be required of this generation.

The Lord closes this sentence with a lamentation over His long and well-beloved Jerusalem. He remembered how He had, at first, chosen it for His rest, and would so often have repaired it with goodly pleasant stones; but He now sees it as lost to Him, and soon to be laid even with the ground, because she had not known this the time of her visitation. The holy and beautiful house where the fathers had praised Him, was to be left unto their apostate children desolate; nor should the people again see Him thus among them—thus again offering Himself as their king, until by repentance and faith they learned to join with His disciples in calling Him “Blessed;” and thus taking up the words which the prophet has prepared for that glorious and triumphant day, that day of all days for Israel, when the head stone is to be brought in with shoutings of the restored and obedient people. (See Psa. 118)

Here the Lord’s public ministry ended. He now went out and departed from the temple, (Matt. 24:1.) nor did He return to the city, save in the character of a Lamb prepared for the slaughter

The Melchisedec Priesthood of Christ

The blessing of Abram, by Melchisedec, runs thus— “Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thine hand. “

It is familiar to every reader that the Apostle uses this as the type of Christ, according to the word of the oath— “Thou art a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.”

We would say a few words on this Melchisedec Priesthood of Christ—its extent and blessing. And first, it is not that which Christ the Lord, now exercises; not that He is not a Priest after—that order—we know fully that He is, by the epistle to the Hebrews—as from the 110th Psalm, and not of any other. But the exercise of it is according to the typical character of Aaron’s Priesthood on the day of atonement, as the same epistle shows. The whole of this dispensation is as the day of atonement—is typified by it. The High Priest is gone within the veil, with the blood of the sacrifice even of Himself—His own blood. So there, as yet, He is; whom the heavens must receive till the time of the restitution of all things; which God hath promised by the mouth of all His holy prophets, since the world began. This, then, is the time during which the Lord, though a Priest after the order of Melchisedec, after the power of an endless life, made with an oath forever, εις το διηνεκες, a continuous, not a successional Priesthood; yet exercises it practically for us according to the type of Aaron, though not according to the order, as within the veil, on the great day of atonement. Accordingly the Apostle, after declaring the order of His Priesthood, enters upon and dwells exclusively in detail upon the Aaronic Priesthood, as characteristic of that which the Lord Christ now exercises. He shows him to exercise it anti-typically, within the veil, the Priesthood being in its exercise, now one entirely of a heavenly character. He is gone within, not the typical veil, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. The blood is not of bulls and goats, with which the patterns of things in the heavens were purified, but His own blood; those better sacrifices by which the heavenly things themselves could be purified. The very glory with which Jesus is said to be crowned, is spoken of in the words in which the consecration garments of Aaron and his sons after him, are described in Exodus. (Compare Heb. 2:7, and Ex. 28:2 in LXX) The whole of the 8th and 9th chapters show the present exercise of the Lord Christ’s Priesthood to be after the Aaronical pattern, though He be in no sort after the Aaronical order. It is the very reasoning and subject of the epistle; and in the 9th chapter the analogy is entered into in detail, so as to enable us to apply the details of the priestly services of the Levitical order to our present condition; as, however imperfectly, is commonly known in the Christian Church. It is manifest, then, that the type of Melchisedec here presented to us, as indicative of the Priesthood of Christ, in its exercise leads us to further results and wider exhibition than that in which He now so graciously, and blessedly for us, secures the life, and blessing, and salvation of His people in heavenly places; Himself far above all heavens, at the right hand of the majesty on high, having by Himself purged our sins. The Priesthood of Christ is clearly after the order of Melchisedec, and solely so; its exercise now is as clearly after the type of the order of Aaron solely; and that as exhibited on the great day of atonement within the veil. Not but that there is a great deal exhibited now not therein seen for the veil is now rent behind Him, and we are enabled to follow Him within, and see where He is set down, to our comfort and everlasting joy. But there is a glory besides, not yet fulfilled; a glory of its own character— a glory properly Christ’s, and taught us in this type of Melchisedec, the exercise of which we find yet to come; and all that develops Christ’s glory is precious to the saints it is the Lord’s glory, the glory of the Son of the Father, His own glory as well as the Lord’s glory. On this I would speak a little.

The Priesthood of Melchisedec is, then, that royal dominion of Priesthood in which, as representing the Most High God, and speaking for man to Him, He blesses from Him (as now in His possession) heaven and the uttermost parts of the earth, through and in the seed of God. We find even in the case of Nebuchadnezzar, the first great type of earthly and Gentile dominion but opening out its corruption, His greatness reached unto heaven, and his dominion to the end of the earth: and this is put in such a strong light, that the Adamic dominion is (Dan. 2:38.) in a remarkable manner attributed to him, He may have been guilty, and the First exhibition of Gentile apostate dominion, still this characteristic of universal dominion is attached to him. He was the man (in whatever pride of character) set in power. The mystery was to be brought out in him of his non-acknowledgment of God in it; and the seven times of a beast’s heart in this selfish and proud dominion; the man of the earth, not the Lord from heaven acting as man in the power of righteousness; the king of Babylon, not the Son of David—the Lord from heaven ruling in Jerusalem as witnessing the true God; but it was a dominion given, and typically exhibiting this dominion over the earth, though to illustrate its abuse in man’s hand; hence the seed of God even brought into captivity, not blessed as in power and deliverers; a dominion given in connection with that αιων in which administrative power was put into the hand of man, in the commission to kill whoever killed, which was given to Noah. The other characteristic of the evil and apostasy of it was the setting up a false God an image; the result was that God was owned by the king “the Most High God:” God is acknowledged in this character, and the seven times punishment comes, till he knows that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. Thus much for all short of dominion in heaven—though his greatness reaches to that earthly dominion.

But there is another portion corrupted and debased, the scene of power, however, and blessing. His greatness reached to the heavens; but what do the revelations of God show us to be in the heavenlies? “The saints of the Most High that is of the heavenlies In עליונין shall take the kingdom;” but we find that we are wrestling with principalities and powers, with spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies; (Eph. 6:12.) that is power apostate from God, holding the earth; exceeding great power, and spiritual wickedness, principalities and powers, holding the heavenlies; the earth, and the heavenlies alike, possessed by evil in present power. We find the saints of the heavenlies, (Dan. 7:8.) taking the kingdom, and the people of the saints of the עליונין given the kingdom, and dominion, and greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, ver. 27. In this it is that God has His title, as may be seen in Daniel, of Most High; (the second word Most High in ver. 25 being different in the original from the first given above,) that Most High whom Nebuchadnezzar was obliged and made willing to acknowledge, thus the earthlies and heavenlies, under the name of the Most High, will be set in blessing. But we have more definite statements on the subject, “In the day of the full glory of the Lamb, there shall be one Lord, and His name One; the God of the whole earth shall He be called: in that day shall Jerusalem be called the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered to it; and the Son of man appearing in His glory, King of the Jews, even Jesus of Nazareth, shall be on the throne, and not on the cross; and not in Hebrew only, but in Greek and Latin, and every language of power which despised Him, shall join in the inscription of the Lord of glory, even Jesus of Nazareth, “This is the King of the Jews;” when the earthly kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ is come. But this is not the limit of His glory, though it be much to have destroyed them that destroyed the earth, and fill it with blessing. The mountain of the Lord’s house, established in the top of the mountains, blessing especially to the seed of God, under His righteous reign; all power is given Him in heaven and thus we find the blessing identified with the person of Jesus. Accordingly we find in the promise, the purpose of His will in the Ephesians, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, “He should gather together, in one, all things in Christ; both which are in heaven and which are upon the earth.” Now the mystery which belongs to us is not merely that we should have the sure mercies of David by virtue of His resurrection; that will be made sure to the Jews, Acts 13:32, 33, 34. in the day when He shall see them, even the believing remnant, and He shall sit upon the throne of David His Father, and reign over the house of Jacob forever; all nations serving Him, and the nation and kingdom which will not serve Jerusalem, shall perish: yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted, but Jerusalem shall be called the city of the Lord; the Zion of the Holy One of Israel shall be an eternal excellency; its gun no more go down, but the Gentiles come to the brightness of its rising. This will be the portion of the despised ones, in all whose affliction He has been afflicted, over whose apostasy and rejection of Himself, He could but weep. Those tears are not shed in vain, but mark a reaping in joy, when the joy shall be as the joy in harvest and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. But we have a yet better portion, not blessings, great as they are, secured in His resurrection, but to be raised together with Him, and to sit with Him in heavenly places. “He hath blessed us in heavenly places;” and the very purpose of that epistle to the Ephesians is to show, that, made sons with Him, we are to be with Him in heavenly places, the body of Him, the Head to the Church over all things; we have not merely the fruits, but the likeness of that exceeding great power, which was wrought in Him, when God raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. (see Eph. 1:19 to 2:7.) Thus when He gathers together in one, all things in Christ, we find as under the blessing of His throne, the Jews in the earthlies the center of blessing, and all nations blessed in them, (through Him) (see Acts 3:25.) and the saints in the heavenlies, sitting there as raised with Christ, and having overcome through grace, sitting down in His throne, as He overcame and sat down in His Father’s throne; and thus witnesses together of the universal dominion of Him, to whom all power is given in heaven and on earth, at once Son of God and Son of man; Lord over all, as well as God over all, blessed for evermore. But there is another character (for what of blessing does He not fill?) which we find the Lord here showing forth. He is a Priest upon His throne: and here we have the real full exercise of the Melchisedec Priesthood; and now see how all the things referred to are brought together in it; we speak of Christ as Priest after the order of Melchisedec, in the day of His power on His throne. He had sat on His Father’s till his foes were made His footstool, but now gathering all things in heaven and on earth into one—He sits on His own throne.

The first great evil was, that Satan, sitting in heavenly places, had made the poor inhabitants of earth worship for himself, gods many, and lords many; and earthly power was associated with false worship and apostasy, as we see typified in the great image set up by Nebuchadnezzar, in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Hence misery, also persecution and degradation of the children of God, the corrupter and murderer being in heavenly places, corruption was the portion of his subjects, death of those who were not so exempt. Now that which was specifically opposed to this, was this title of the Most High God; so Nebuchadnezzar is bound down to confess the Most High God. And this name we find in the passage we are considering— “Blessed he Abram of the most High God.” Now this remarkably concurs with what we find connected with the call of Abram— “Your Fathers,” says Joshua, (24) “served other gods beyond the flood.” The call of Abraham, therefore, was not the judgment upon unrighteousness against God alone known and owned, but the call and witness of the Most High God. When the perverseness of man made gods many, and lords many, He was then the Most High God. We have seen further there were the heavenlies and the earthlies united in one, in Christ; whose was all power in heaven and earth; and here, accordingly, He is blessed of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth; and as the title of the Most High God is given here and witnessed in the Priesthood of Melchisedec, who was Priest of the Most High God, so also shall the blessing run in this full and unhindered channel, Possessor of heaven and earth. Oh what blessing in that day when there shall not be principalities and powers in heavenly places to taint the very source of blessing in powers above: no scene of deceived corruption below to make evil what God had made good nor spirit of rebellion to bring the curse of opposition to God, the God of blessing, upon the wearied corrupters of their own mercy but one whose it is, Possessor of heaven and earth, when the Lord shall hear the heavens and the heavens shall hear the earth, all standing in the Priesthood, and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine and the oil; and the corn and the oil shall hear Jezreel. Oh! what Messing when the Most High takes (as ever in title) possession of heaven and earth, and our High Priest is His High Priest.

Thus we have total exclusion of all other gods but one, the only one; the world or heaven above knowing none but one; no creature above or on the earth taken to be a god but the Most High God, known as the possessor of heaven and earth. What rest in that! what rest and security! while Satan has the power, while those hold the possession subject to his power, sorrow, discord, and death, are the sad and unwelcome companions of man’s voyage; he is seduced to every folly, he is but as the convict in the ship, its guidance and its power is in other hands. Now the Most High is possessor, and where shall be the tempter then? not in heaven, the Most High possesses that; not on earth, the Most High reaches in His possession to that; and the very ends of the earth shall feel the blessing of His pervading comprehensive blessedness. But this Melchisedec, though Priest of the Most High God, had other characters: He was King of righteousness; (compare Isa. 32) for where righteousness is, there is blessing. He was King of Salem, which is King of peace; for the fruit of righteousness is peace; the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. The Melchisedec Priesthood is the security of the blessings of these from the Most High God; the union of heaven and earth in His person, and the mutual blessing of both known in Him, and the common recognition of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth. But we have also to look at the object of this blessing—Abram. Now naturally, Abram is the Father of the natural seed. “I know that ye are Abraham’s seed, saith the Lord to the Jews.” Here then he stood the Father of Israel, (and in them of the blessing of many nations) blessed from the fullness of the Most High God, by the King of peace and of righteousness; the representative of the natural seed of Israel, blessed from on high, in the earthlies, with all the fullness of blessings from God Most High, possessor, &c. But Abram stood, however, as we know, also as representative of the seed which inherit the heavenlies—Christ, in mystic sense, as the Church, “If ye are Christ’s, ye are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise;” “and they that are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham;” and thus (though by subsequent development, for it was hidden as yet) he stood as the representative of the heavenly seed also, and the blessing of the Most High found its actual scope; as possessor of the heavens, those who, in Jesus, had their place there, as well as the earth, being gathered together, in one, in Him. Thus, in the title of God—in the Priest himself—in the object of the blessing, we find the great character of universality according to the mystery of His will, His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself, “that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He should gather together, in one, all things in Christ.”—The Jews, being the objects and channels of earthly blessing; and we, sitting in heavenly blessings—Priests with Him—ministers of all blessings, and kings withal. In the character of the Priesthood, as exercised in the passage before us, we see the plain distinction from the Aaronical Priesthood that Priesthood was a Priesthood of intercession— “He ever liveth to make intercession for us,” the Church of the living God, in its weakness: here is the constant object of His sure and never failing care and intercession. He has appeared in the presence of God for us; and, I will add, the people of God (I mean the Jews), though under the cloud of His rejection, still waiting till the great high Priest shall come forth, the witness of the acceptance of the blood of the atonement, carried within the veil; and remaining a people blinded indeed, but sustained as the people of God, by virtue of that service of intercession, till he shall come forth and bless them in the name of the Lord. We know that He has sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high; we can see through the rent veil into the holiest of all, and see our Jesus there; and still, though longing and wearied for the time of His appearing, are content, because we know that Jesus is glorified, and His glory sure, waiting only till His enemies be made His footstool, and the long suffering of God is salvation, and that He will surely come—He will not tarry. But the priestly act of Melchisedec, was blessing not intercession; blessing from the Most High God—blessing the Most High God. Here then, is the exercise of the Priesthood in its Melchisedec character—the King of righteousness and peace blessing the seed of God’s acceptance, a blessed refreshing thought; evil removed, and blessing flowing gut through the great High Priest, the Priest of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, unhindered. How do our hearts long for that day, the coming forth of Him our souls long for, yet know, the universal blessing from the Most High God of heaven and earth; what a word shall be pronounced in that day; how shall heaven and earth ring with the welcome witness of the blessing of the heavenly; the earthly seed he unfettered in its praise; the bondage of corruption gone, whose rejoicing, though God was ever good and showed His goodness in it, was restrained till the heirs of the inheritance of God, joint-heirs with Jesus, were manifested to be sons of God; for, lest a cloud should rest on the brow of the heirs of God’s inheritance—the Church of the firstborn, the creation in bondage through them, must wait for their manifestation for its happiness; must be dependent on their deliverance for its joy, as suffering through their fault: for neither is the blessing of Abraham thus wide the only thing; but honor redounds and praise on high. Blessed be the Most High God who hath delivered thine enemies into thine hand. This blessing is after the full destruction of the enemies of the people of God, after the victory over the gathered kings and great ones of the earth, “the hosts of the high ones also, that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth;” for there is one Most High, who is possessor of both, and one King Melchisedec, King of Salem, where praise waits for the God of all the earth. Thus is the echo above and below in that center of both—one in Him; one with the Father, the Most High God; and who, Himself, took on Him Abraham’s seed, now come forth in His kingly glory to bless us from God Most High, and God from us. The man of blessing, the blessing man, the Lord Most High.

But we remark in interpretation, most definitely in connection with all we have said, that it is blessing and refreshment after, and consequent upon the destruction of all the enemies of those who are represented by Abraham, bringing down and destroying those who destroy the earth, but Himself the servant of refreshing; all victory then was but in some sort weariness, for victory if a time of joy is a time of weariness; if we had none to meet after it, it would be the sorrowful consciousness of destruction, we had waited and were left alone. Rut it is not so with us, but in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps, joy of deliverance. And who shall be there to refresh? even that one who cometh forth to bless, He brings forth bread and wine, the bread of Salem where the King dwelt, but now the servant of the victors, to give the joy of deliverance, and the refreshing of love; the vine of the kingdom drank new, great deliverance to their parched lips, that they may open in refreshment, and praise, and speak, and think of Him, how great soever, who brought it forth, their Melchisedec making them to sit down to meat and coming forth to serve them, even His joy being in blessing; the servant of that blessing always, though beyond controversy, the less is blessed of the greater.

Thus then we have in this little sentence the accomplished character of the Most High God; over, and as to, all things in heaven and earth. The one true God, known in blessing, universal blessing, and the unity of all things in Christ; the center of all this blessing, the benediction Priesthood of Melchisedec, the blessing by Him of all the redeemed of God. This consequent upon the victory of these, over all their confederate enemies, and the deliverance of every captive; and they all made partakers of the food and vine of the kingdom, brought forth for their joy, and His own rest and delight, by the King of Salem, of righteousness and peace, making them to sit down to meat and coming forth to serve them. It was the King (Luke 12) who did this on His return. The victory over, the refreshment, as the joy of it from the blessed source, the blessing from his own mouth, the blessing from the Most High possessor of heaven and earth, proved so in His redeemed, to whom He gives the joy and inheritance, the habitation of both.

May the blessing of Melchisedec, of Christ, the Lord, our King, dwell on our spirits; may we see it in spirit, and may it be our everlasting portion, now as the servant of intercession for us. The Head, the witness, and the leader of all our praise, in the ages of the fullness of blessing, (even when God shall be all in all,) as now in the poor congregation of His saints. How imperfectly all the joy of this could be declared, our own enjoyment of it must most surely tell, May the Spirit of our God teach a more skillful tune to those who may take the lesson into their hands, because the chord struck unskillfully has awakened the thoughts of praise in their hearts, and after all, our dying notes here, are but poor witnesses to that new song; which we shall sing in abiding notes of praise. And may the sweetness of the instrument itself, strike some heart as yet untuned. To hear or know how sweet is the melody of heaven, of Jesus’ praise, they and we have yet to learn, in the hope and glory of the blessing which rests not only on His head, but is in His heart toward the redeemed of God in full creation, for we are called to inherit a blessing.

On Acts 7

The analogy between the end of the last dispensation, and that which is prophetically declared to be the end of this, is so fully marked in the scriptures, that every feature of Israel’s condition, just previous to God’s judgments, becomes full of instruction and warning to us. Israel’s standing was that of “the servant” in God’s house. They were directed and instructed of God in this capacity; and their conduct with reference to God’s revelation of Himself to them in this character, is illustrative of man’s wickedness, while avowedly under the favor of God; and though only a partial illustration, because the revelation was partial, yet perfect as far as it could go. They were men under conditions of favor, and their history is not simply an expression of the evil of man’s heart in its savage and untutored ignorance, but of the rebellion and waywardness, self-deceit and hypocrisy of man brought out by the light of God’s countenance. So also is it with Christendom, with this fearful difference—that it stands under the responsibility of an enlarged revelation from God. Jehovah is not now revealed partially by Moses as a servant, (though a faithful one) but by the Lord Jesus, as the Son; and every one that assumes the name of that Son, assumes both the privilege and responsibility of a son or daughter of the Lord God Almighty. (2 Cor. 6) It is true, “all were not Israel that were of Israel;” but there was a remnant; so now, though the mass of professed Christians profess subjection to the testimony given by the Son, and say therefore, that they are children; yet is there but a remnant, and the rest become as Sodom and Gomorrah, and just according to the light revealed and acknowledged, so will be the darkness and wickedness. The remnant is the witness of the special grace and mercy of God—the apostasy, the witness of man’s wickedness under every form of trial; and both alike serving to produce the one great result, “glory to God,”—“that no man should glory in His presence,” but “that the Lord alone should be exalted, and man ceased from altogether, for his breath is in his nostrils, and wherein is he to be accounted of?”

The testimony of the Son is no more of necessity in power, than any other that has gone before it. I speak of the testimony itself—the presence of the life-giving Spirit is needed to give it power; and therefore it is “dispensatory,” and produces like every revelation, an external acquiescence, exhibiting in fuller outrage, because the responsibilities are so enlarged, all man’s wickedness.

Israel’s blessings are patterns of those declared to us, but they were but patterns; ours are greater, for they are heavenly. Israel’s sin is but the pattern of ours; but ours is greater, inasmuch as the favor and blessing are greater; and above all in its last form and character of evil, which is, in every feature, paralleled by the word of the Apostle in 2 Tim. 3. The analogy is only incomplete in one thing, and that is, the imperfectness of evil in the former as compared with the latter. The one attained, indeed, the corn in the ear, and that was gathered into the garner of sorrow; but the other grows in the full culture of unrestrained perverseness (unrestrained, because of God’s mercy; for it is the dispensation of the Son—of the cross—and of love,) till it attains to the full corn, bowed down with its weight, and is gathered even earlier than Satan himself, into the garner of everlasting wretchedness. (Rev. 19) The former was rebellion against a gracious master, who in righteousness, dismissed from his presence the unworthy servant: the other, the dishonor of the Father and the Son, the pollution of the very sanctuary itself. To the one, there is temporary absence from God’s house, and restoration; to the other, everlasting absence. “For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God; but that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to burned.” (Heb. 6:7,8.) “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace. For we know Him that saith, vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense saith the Lord;” and again—the Lord shall judge His people. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” (Heb. 10:29-31.)

It is with the solemn conviction of the practical power of this truth at such a time as this, that I would seek God’s blessing on what I believe to be the development of it, in Acts 7 where the powerful argument of Stephen is summed up by that which is the key to its whole meaning, “Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye; which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One, of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers.” The word of the Lord Jesus Himself was the same, “Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves that ye are not the children of them which killed the prophets; fill ye up the measure of your fathers, truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers; therefore behold I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, and some of them ye shall kill, and crucify, and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, that upon you may come all the righteous bloodshed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, the son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the porch and the altar.” And the yet more awful declaration regarding Babylon, in the day of her overthrow, applies the same, yet fuller, charge to the Apostasy of Christendom. “And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”

When the Lord was on the earth, there was every outward evidence of the knowledge of God. Moses and the prophets were continually and carefully read “every sabbath day” especially—they were also critically read, for there were many very learned comments. “They paid tithe of mint and cummin—they made clean the outside of the platter—they built the tombs of the prophets—they garnished the sepulchers of the righteous,”—they were also most zealous in the extension of their knowledge, “they compassed sea and land to make one, though it were but one, proselyte.” They were divided into different parties too—Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, &c. which was a proof that they were not externally asleep, but very busy in the consideration of religious matters. They separated too, with the most cautious judgment, between the altar and the gift—the temple and Him that dwelt in it, though they gave the value to what was theirs in both instances. There was so complete a semblance of what was good, that some deeper apprehension was needed than men’s natural judgment to discern that all this was wrong, nay, worse than wrong, that it was the only thing which could bring wrath out of the tender heart of Jesus, but which did bring it out in those awful words— “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”— “Ye say, and do not.” All their works they did to be seen of men, and what is of so much consequence to us, caused Him to mark the features of evil for our instruction and warning. And this is what I believe to have been done also by Stephen in full detail; the word of the Lord being the groundwork of Stephen’s exposition of their fathers’ wickedness as charged upon them; and the Spirit in Rev. 18 applying both to Christendom, in yet more aggravated responsibility and rebellion.

The word of both, though Stephen’s is in detail, is the history of the fate of righteousness on the earth. Marking the development of this unchanging principle of truth in all God’s witnesses, “the righteous Lord loveth righteousness,” and that wherever the Spirit of God was, whether in Abel, before any recorded word from God was given, or subsequently in the midst of an outward avowal of allegiance to the word given, it wrought the same results in a life of practical righteousness, which was separation from evil, even though it were under the mask of godliness as well as testimony against it in others, and resistance of it unto blood. The word of Jesus (Matt. 23:34,35.) begins with Abel, in whom the Spirit of God dwelt, as the first witness of righteousness, and its fate on earth; “From the blood of righteous Abel,” and “he obtained witness that he was righteous;” and his history is the type of all that had followed him in the same path, prophets—wise men—and scribes, are then spoken of, and at last, Zacharias: and the blood of all, marked “as righteous blood.” Their conduct might have been different, according to the character of evil —to be resisted; but all died “striving against sin.” It was the conflict of the Spirit of righteousness with overwhelming evil, not in righteous power, as shedding the blood of the guilty but the same righteousness in weakness, suffering and looking forward to exaltation “in the land of the upright;” and all this precious blood is charged upon them, not as having actually shed it, but because they exhibited the same evil in the rejection of righteousness which had ended in that guilt in others, and would in them. They were proving that they were begotten of the evil one—not of the righteous one; though not then killing, yet they allowed the deeds of their fathers; they were children of them that killed the prophets, and filling up the measure of their fathers; and so the blood of all—the witness of all—flowed into Jerusalem: and as the measure of the righteous testimony of the fathers was filled up in them. Both had run on in parallel testimony from Abel the righteous, to Jesus the Just One; —from Cain who was of the wicked one, and slew his brother; and why slew he him? because his own works were evil and his brother’s righteous; unto those who said “we be not born of fornication, we have one Father, even God;” but who sought to kill him who told them the truth which he had heard of God, and to whom therefore, Jesus said, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your fathers ye will do, which of you convinceth me of sin?” (John 8:33 to the end.)

The word of Stephen begins with Abraham, as the father of righteousness, and traces out very distinctly, the results of the profession of the true knowledge of God in this world, as well as the conduct of those, who though descendants of Abraham, (and therefore with the privileges and responsibilities of His people) did invariably reject and ill treat those who walked in righteousness. And there is, also, to be distinctly traced in it, the repeated acting out of those principles of truth, which in dispensation are developed on a larger scale; that is, their commencement in great blessing, and gradual decline into apostasy; and yet the continuance of a remnant throughout, walking in righteousness; the suffering of this remnant for righteousness sake, from those who bearing the same name, have not the same character; and then the cutting off of the apostasy and the exaltation of the sufferers, together with the special favor of God towards them in the revelation of Himself daring their rejection and suffering, The first expression of the divine life of righteousness in power, is in election, that is, the power of the voice that calls, imparting a principle which separates from that which is evil around, or election to God out of that which is contrary to Him. Thus “the God of glory appeared to Abraham.” The shining of that glory around him showed the wickedness of the idolatry of Mesopotamia, and separated him out of it. The light of God’s presence given to him delivered him from the darkness into the light; the knowledge of righteousness and the possession of it, delivered from unrighteousness into constant endurance for righteousness sake; not to persecution at once, but unto separation from that which was natural to him, breaking loose every earthly tie, and making him a child of hope, as looking to “the land of uprightness” as the only place where he could have rest or dwelling; however indistinctly the promise itself was before him, still his righteous soul could have no place here, and he, as we do, looked for “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” Israel, as a people, were elected in the same way, out of Egypt, and its darkness and wickedness. Their Exodus, when they were just espoused to God as a people, was a fuller representation of election. They came out to God and to the wilderness, that is, to snaring, and to be the children of hope in the promised land of righteousness and peace. The children of God are elected by a yet greater power of the same voice of righteousness, and quickened from their death of trespasses and sins, from the course of this world, from the bondage of sin, from the love of sin, to a present fellowship with God in their wilderness of separation; as dissociated from everything contrary to God, by the power of that Spirit of holiness by which Jesus was raised from the dead, and into “lively hope of an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.” In each case it is the revelation of “the God of glory;” and by the knowledge of His holiness and fellowship with Him in the glory revealed, the principles and life of separation from all that is contrary to God are given in power, and by that power is election established. I cannot follow this further here, but only repeat, that the principle of righteousness, in the true knowledge of God, is based here. Abraham as the pattern of election, is the groundwork of all future argument. The power of righteousness is put forth in him, and he is “called out” from the world to God, and to future glory. (see Heb. 11) It is after obedience to this separating word “Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred,” that he receives further revelations from “the God of glory,” according to that unfailing, word “he that hath, shall have more abundantly;” and these fuller evidences of God’s love were suited to the condition which obedience had brought him into; he could not have had them in Mesopotamia, they would have no meaning to any but an outcast for righteousness sake; they were the sustaining and repeated promises of future glory, and each revelation more large and more full, is the recompense of the trial of faith that he had been subjected to. There were seven periods of trials, and each brought the presence of the “God of glory” with the word of enlarged promise; and this is seen to be as invariable a proof of God’s watchful love, as that trial and suffering here, is the only path of the Spirit of righteousness.

The revelations of God to Abraham are merely mentioned by Stephen in the 6 and 7th verses, as taken from Genesis 15 and which is quoted in Rom. 4 as being the period specially marked when God owned his faith and counted it to him for righteousness; and a reference made to the covenant of circumcision from Gen. 22 and then a great and rapid stride is made to what I may fairly, I think, call apostasy, or at least the character of that which Stephen by the Spirit, seeks to exhibit. Men standing in the name and privileges of the righteous man whom God called from the east, (Isa. 49) but without His Spirit, and therefore persecutors. Abraham was the head of this brief dispensation: Isaac had followed him, dwelling in tents with him, as co-heir with him of the same reward of righteous separation. Apostasy soon however, appears in Esau, who is the great type of it, and Jacob becomes the righteous sufferer, an outcast for his faith and hope; but it is not fully seen, until the twelve patriarchs, among whom Joseph stands as the righteous remnant, sustained among false brethren, by the same Spirit that severed Abraham from Mesopotamia. The two points already stated in Abraham’s history, are here marked in one verse, “And the patriarchs moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him,” that is separation, and then God’s presence with the sufferer, but with this difference, the separation was not the calling out of a natural state, but casting off and rejection by those who had apostatized; yet it was the previous witness of personal separation from them that was the cause of the hatred and rejection; and this is very simply told in Joseph’s history in Gen. 37 the third verse of which, I think, probably marks deep declension in Jacob himself too, that he was seeking rest in the land, in which the spirit of his father had been a stranger. But, at all events, the eleven patriarchs were living in ungodliness, and this the righteous spirit of Joseph could not brook; so that he separates from them, and leaves his occupation, which is “feeding the flocks with his brethren, and brings unto his father their evil report;” that is, he testifies against their wickedness, and that not only in word but in act, by leaving them. He is owned by Jacob and loved; and this increases their hatred, but above all, he is owned and blessed of God—the special object of the care of the Holy One, who reveals to him his future glory; thus treading in the same steps of his father Abraham, he obtains the same blessing; he left sin and so drew near to God, who gladdened him not by present deliverance, but promise of future glory. This favor of God increased the enmity of the patriarchs “and they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words.” It was love, however, which gave the opportunity for his suffering and glory, though he had left his brethren and world have no fellowship with them because of their wickedness; he returned to them in love, not to renew his fellowship, but to carry the proof of his father’s care for them; and it was on this errand of love, saying, “I seek my brethren, tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks,” that he gave opportunity to those who sought “his righteous blood,” and who mocked the sure witness of God in promise to his righteous soul, “behold this dreamer cometh,” they, with stiff necks and uncircumcised ears and hearts, resisted the Holy Ghost in the feeble, though faithful witness of righteousness “but God was with him.” And in this the eleven patriarchs, “the fathers,” who stood in all the outward privileges of the election, failed in its spirit, which was righteousness, and used their privileges to strengthen their own wickedness and pride. It would not be well here, to follow out the typical character of Joseph’s glory in Egypt; I would only remark, that “God’s being with him,” secured to him wisdom and power in knowledge over future things, and the more he was persecuted for righteousness sake, the more blessed was he by God’s favor; though it is well to observe, that like Abraham, as an outcast, he was tried and tempted to turn from patient endurance in holiness, and having conquered, though again a sufferer from evil, the darkness of his dungeon was brightened by yet fuller enjoyment of the presence of “the God of glory.” The last and most striking principle of God’s government is then mentioned, his exaltation into the preeminence declared to him in suffering, and his becoming the channel of favor and blessing to his persecutors, who after his rejection, suffer God judgments as stated in ver. 11, “Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers found no sustenance.” The exaltation and eminence, though the gifts of God’s grace, are thus marked to be the reward of faithful and patient endurance in righteousness, the recompense of the just. The principle of righteous judgment is also strongly marked in Israel’s captivity in Egypt, for though they did not go down there as captives, yet were they brought into bondage, and entreated evil four hundred years. They sold Joseph into Egypt, and their necessities sold them into it— “they digged a pit for Joseph, and fell into it themselves.”

The next witness Stephen brings forward is Moses, and his history is yet the more fully illustrative of the same thing. The first part of it marks, as far as I need regard it here, the very especial claim he had upon Israel’s notice as “a child exceeding fair,” and miraculously preserved; the next, the very complete association he had with Egypt, how deep a root he had struck into it, as taught in its wisdom, and “mighty in its words and deeds.” But “the God of glory” appeared to him in the midst of all the brilliancy of Egypt’s court, with one foot on the step of its throne, and all the power of present glory in his grasp; and “he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.” Here there is the same thing taught as in the call of Abraham. Righteousness and its reward were revealed unto him, and this called him out of Pharaoh’s court, where the pleasures of sin were. If it had not been contrary to God, he might well have stayed there, and sought freedom for his people by its power, but the spirit of righteousness cannot “do evil that good may come;” it will separate from the tail, though at all present loss, because it is the revelation of Him who is eternally the recompense of that which he loses. Moses then, in the spirit of righteousness, turned away from the revelry, and wisdom, and power of the world’s splendor, for it was of the world, and sin was in it all, to the present portion of God’s favored ones, affliction, and endurance in hope; and so far he followed Abraham, and stood in the character and grace of God’s elect. Then in love he went to his brethren “it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel,” “he went out to his brethren and look upon their burdens,” and his first act among them was the proof of his love for them. “He spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren, and he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.” As the iniquity of those who reject God and His Spirit in his children, is shown in the value or that which they reject, so is the history of Moses, thus far, nothing but evidence of claim upon their affections. He had left earthly honors for their sakes, (as far as they were able to detect his reasons) to be their companion in affliction, and to seek their rescue; he had proved his love by his acts; and so far, therefore, they had no plea for rejection, though unable rightly to estimate his principles, reasoning doubtless on the usual grounds taken by unbelief, that if he had used the power of Pharaoh’s scepter, it would have been wiser love; and though not rejecting him then, yet showing that if he had come in the splendor he had left, he would have been a more welcome visitor; and not prizing the spirit that would have valued the condition of God’s children, because God was with them in it, above all that was of the world where God was not. It is now my object to follow out in the history of Jesus, the exhibition of the same principles of good and evil, but just to say how true it was of Him, that as far as he acted with His people in the days of His flesh, he was not rejected, though the love of His humiliation was neither known or valued. They, as well as their forefathers, thought it would have been truer love to have used power for their deliverance, though it would have only kept them in a condition of evil; but in this they were blinded. In this last act of Moses, however, the Spirit of God records the working of the same principle which brought his rejection; and although, as far as the Israelites were concerned, it was only in appearance to them mere brotherly love, yet it was not this only, but seeing one of them “suffer wrong,” he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian; his righteous spirit had risen against the “wrong” that was done, and it is in the same unswerving spirit that he turns upon his brethren, when oppression is out of sight, “and the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove and would have set them at one again, saying, sirs, ye are brethren, why do ye wrong one to another?” and again, he said to him that did the wrong, “wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?” The wrong in both cases was the cause of trouble to his righteous soul, and whether it was the Egyptian or his brother it mattered not, it spared neither. The peculiar unsuitableness, too, of oppression among brethren, who were altogether suffering, was that which called forth from the heart which had so proved its knowledge of love, “sirs, ye are brethren, why do ye wrong one another?” The love which had brought him among them—the righteousness which had smitten the Egyptian oppressors were both in exercise, though on an unworthy brother; and this it was, that roused the apostate’s anger—the charge brought home to his soul of evil—the sin proved to be lying at his door—the testimony against him that his deeds were evil, and the charge was the more irksome, because it was accompanied by an avowal of their condition as Israelites, and its more grievous wickedness, because so unsuited to their condition. And as it always will be, that the real offender is most troubled by the charge, and most indignant with the rebuke, though in the tenderest remonstrance— “sirs, ye are brethren”—so now “he that did his neighbor wrong,” thrust him away, saying, “who made thee a ruler and a judge over us, wilt thou kill me, as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday?” Here, then, we find the same charge repeated, “ye do always resist the Holy Ghost, as your fathers, did, so do ye,” the holy, and loving, and righteous, and self-denying spirit in Moses resisted and denied by an apostate people. No claim on them on his part could check this; evil was charged on them, and they hated and rejected him; “He that is of God, heareth God’s words;” through Moses, they were words or gentle warning, but they were not of God, though they had His name, and therefore heard them not, and proved how they “loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Moses became a sufferer for righteousness sake, not merely in leaving an unrighteous court, but fleeing from an unrighteous and apostate people, and like Abraham, and Joseph, became a stranger in the wilderness, but “God was with him;” and like his righteous fathers, doing as they did, he was the special object of Jehovah’s loving care. It was at Horeb, “the mount of God,” in the dreary wilderness, more suited and more dear to the Spirit of righteousness than Egypt’s jeweled crown and golden scepter, or the transient and evil power of Egypt’s crooked wisdom, that

God appeared to him in the burning-bush, fit emblem of that “Spirit of judgment, and of burning,” that will soon sweep away all man’s wood, hay, and stubble, and there crowned and anointed him “King in Jeshurun” Like his fathers, too, he had been tried and proved; and it was not till forty years had passed of righteous endurance, during which, doubtless, the tempting pleasures of sin, Pharaoh’s throne, or the companionship of his afflicted brethren, had pressed heavily upon his heart, to allure him back to them again, that “the God of glory” thus shone upon him. And I would rest here to ask, what could have sustained him? But one thing, I say, but one thing—fellowship with the righteous God in spirit, which associated him with the sterile and untainted wilderness, which man’s evil hands and feet had neither tilled or trod, and dissociated him from that, which was not only the world, but the Church of that day in name, as it was in the days of Jesus, whose righteous Spirit cried out in its sorrow, “Oh! that I had wings like a dove, I would fly away, and be at rest I would wander far off, and remain in the wilderness.” The rejection of man, though it be the Church, if it is for righteousness sake, is rejection to God; it was with Joseph, with Moses, and more than all, with Him who is the full exhibitor of the portion of righteousness; He was cast out of the world, into the arms of His Father—rejected by an apostate, though externally righteous people, to take his seat on the throne of God, to be crowned with glory and honor.

The revelation of the “God of glory” to Moses, was in another way, similar to the visions of Abraham and the dreams of Joseph it was the promise of preeminence where he had been rejected, the exaltation of the righteous sufferer. The principle which had caused his rejection, was to triumph, because it was of God, and therefore enduring; when in weakness he who held it, suffered; When in power, it was to put down all that opposed, and the sufferer, as before, to be the channel of blessing to others. “This Moses whom they refused, saying, who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer.” The gifts and callings of God being without repentance for their fathers’ sake, (Rom, 9) is marked also prophetically in blessing falling on the brethren, both of Joseph and Moses, through them, as to be seen in Jesus in the latter day, “whom God will send to be a deliverer to Israel, and to turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” (Isa. 59; Rom. 11)

I would remark here also, how very striking it is, without staying further to comment on it, that each continuous dispensation is formed, in the condition into which the righteous sufferer is cast; for instance—Joseph is sold into Egypt, and tried there, and blessed in all things, and made a blessing. Israel is with him cast into Egypt, and in Egypt tried too as Joseph was; Joseph dies, Israel fails and apostatizes in the same state of evil which caused the fathers to reject him, and they rejected Moses. Moses is cast into the wilderness, and into the wilderness where he sojourns, he delivers Israel, and they are tried as he had been, he conquered; but they, when put in the same condition, fail and apostatizes; and Moses dies before the beginning of another dispensation This is seen throughout; but I would at once assert that it is so now. Jesus was rejected from earth into the glory of heaven; and it is in this condition, that this dispensation assumes to be formed, as given in Matt. 13 yet like every other, it ends in apostasy; but those who have been in it, as tried and suffering with him, will shine forth in it as the sun, and be the channels of blessing in the kingdom for which they have suffered when it comes in power.

Caleb and Joshua were the righteous remnant in the wilderness dispensation, “they had followed the Lord fully,” and it was for their faithful witness against the unbelief and sin of Israel, as in Num. 14 that they were cast out and stoned by the people; but God made them the channels of blessing to another dispensation, all the rebels that came out of Egypt falling in the wilderness, and Joshua leads their children into the land for which he had testified and suffered. On his death they again forsook the Lord and served Baal and Ashtaroth, as fully opened in Judges 2:7-12. The history of the Judges in the end of this chapter and the following, is a more minute detail of the same thing.

The character of trial in the wilderness, is of course, different from those which preceded it, but riot less important in developing the sin of Israel in resisting the Holy Ghost, and therefore the more accumulated sin of this day.

Moses as the deliverer, is put forth with renewed claims, he was God’s representative to them, and therefore it is said, “he brought them out after he had showed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea.” “This is he that was in the Church in the wilderness with the Angel which spake to him in Mount Sinai, and with our fathers who received the lively oracles to give unto us;” and yet further, that as entrusted with the authority of God to teach, so marked were his powers, that the great promised Prophet was to be like, him; resistance therefore of this faithful servant of God, was resistance of God in him or of the Holy Ghost; and this is the sin that has been hitherto marked in the development of God’s character, in the love of righteousness in his true witnesses, but in the wilderness in a more extended and more fearful way, because of the position of increased favor in which the sinner stood.

The people of Israel were severed by power from bondage and from Egyptian wickedness to God, to be a special and a holy people unto God, to stand in the creatures’ most perfect blessing; that is dependence on God. All were their enemies on earth, but God was with them. Their past deliverance was the security to their faith of every other. The history of Pharaoh’s host was to faith, the history of every nation that opposed them. God had brought them out with the fullest demonstrations of power, to bring them into the land He had promised them. The earth was closed to them, for they were in a dry and barren wilderness in which there was neither water nor bread; but heaven was open to them, they were thrown by their condition in deliverance, of necessity, upon God. God’s vicegerent, in their rescue was with them. The rod in his hand had, already, not only plagued Egypt and divided the Red sea, but smitten the rock to give them abundance of water. His intercession had brought both quails and manna from heaven for their food, but yet what was Israel’s conduct towards him? “And the people murmured against Moses.” (Ex. 15;24.) “Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses.” (Ex. 16:20. “Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, and our children, and our cattle, with thirst? Is the Lord among us or not?” ( Ex. 17:1-7). “Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath He not also spoken by us?” (Numbers 12:2.) “And they gathered themselves against Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, ye take too much upon you.” (Num. 16:3.) “And the people chode with Moses, and spake saying, would to God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord.” (Num. 20:3.)

“And the people spake against God and Moses, wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light bread” (Num. 21:5.) But the 78th Psalm is a history of it all. “To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt;” but they did not turn back again in intention, though their hearts did, for in making gods, their object was to put them in the place of Moses, “to go before us.” This was their necessity— “a guide.” Moses was in the mount with God, receiving blessings for them, and their necessity was their excuse; “As for this Moses, which brought us up out the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him; and they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the work of their own hands.” It appears to be simply a rejection of God’s appointed guardianship of them: it was in this character Moses had gone up: he was a mediator for them: rejection of God, was rejecting Moses, in this absent service, and setting up a worship on earth, from which he was excluded. This is the direct sin of these days, and indeed of apostasy throughout this dispensation, Jesus, though absent, is absent for His Church, and the power of care is not less in the Comforter; nay, the present rule of the Comforter is Christ’s absent rule. Faith looks to this; and the eye of Israel ought to have been to the mount where Moses was. So the Church is in the direct commission of sin against Jesus, if in anything his presence is not acknowledged.

As the present dispensation is more especially analogous in its fullest features with that of Israel in the wilderness, it becomes a solemn question, how is the Holy Ghost resisted now, as it was with them? The Son is gone from us into the presence of the Father, but there to receive gifts for men, by which to guide His Church into the inheritance of glory to which they are destined. The presence of the Holy Ghost is the witness to where Christ is; and where the Spirit is not, the word if not heard, is uttered in acts on every side— “as for our Lord, we wot not what is become of Him;” and so in their distress for guidance and order—human schemes—golden calves—worldly systems—the work of men’s hands, over which they can rejoice, are set up. The sin of Israel was doubting God’s care, because neither He nor His servant were seen, and making something for present strength; and what are all the devices under the name of religion (for Israel sought gods to go before them) around us, but the same, yet more fearful sin of doubting God’s present care, and setting up something to lean upon—order in worship—order in ministry without Jesus. The presence of the Spirit denied and resisted, and men worshiping and rejoicing in the works of their own hands; Jesus in His office of teacher, guide, and governor, by His Spirit thrust away for some nearer and more apparent help. It was for this, God gave Israel up to worship the host of heaven; they did not cease to be a religious people, nay—outwardly they continued in the observance of all the rites of the tabernacle of witness; they followed too, the cloud of glory; but in their breasts, and in reality, during the rest of their sojourn in the wilderness, they were but taking “up the tabernacle of Moloch, and following the star of their god Remphan;” with their hands, and before men, they took up the beautiful tabernacle of God’s presence, and followed the angel-light, before God, and in their hearts, Moloch and Remphan were worshipped in both. This is a fearful thought, that men may be continuing for years in the most obedient and exact observance of every instituted act of worship, bowing before, and sacrificing to God, and yet not in spirit or truth of heart; ill murmuring, and chiding, and lusting after Egypt; but above all in the security of their own works in the absence of God’s Son, saying— “we wot not what is become of Him,” “where is the promise of His coming?” In the absence of the Lord Christ, (as with Moses) the presence of the Comforter is the only proof of being right before God, He was promised during that absence to be everything that Jesus was on earth to His disciples— “It is expedient for you that I go away,” “I will send the Comforter to you.” Setting aside the value of His presence is forgetfulness of the reason of Christ’s absence, for He is, of necessity, by His presence, the constant remembrancer of the reason of Christ’s absence, and the equally sure witness of His return in glory. The setting up in joy of the work men’s hands, is the rejection, at one and the same moment, of Him who is absent, and His guidance by Him who is present, and the hope of His return, of which both speak.

The parallel, awful as it is, between the tabernacles, is the next thing recorded as God’s judgment; and this is equally taught as bearing upon the same, though more enlarged, state of evil in Matt. 23; John 12; Acts 13 as to the last dispensation; 2 Thess. 2; Rev. 22 as to this. The tabernacle of witness was given after the end, of the law, for righteousness was seen in the blood sprinkled on the altar and people; (Ex. (Ex. 24; Heb. 9.) and “it was a testimony of things which should be hereafter;” (Heb. 3) it testified of communion with the Most High, and far nearer access to “the light that no man can approach unto,” than any with which they had been conversant; it spoke of entrance into God’s presence in heaven—of access into such excelling glory, that none but Israel’s high priest could know, and that but once a year.

It was but a tabernacle, because typifying a state of things, short of rest in that glorious presence; but it was the complete worship of the Most High imaged on earth: and this Israel, as a servant, was entrusted with. When in the land which was the type of an inheritance, suited to such worship as declared by the tabernacle, a temple or house was the more adapted to it, and the whole pattern was enlarged into further witness of further glory. But those who saw these things in the light of God’s truth, declared what they meant. He who gave the pattern of the tabernacle, died—He who gave the pattern of the Temple “having found favor with God,” said, “our days on earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding,” and died; and Solomon, in the dedication of that which was the earthly and beautiful pattern of the exceeding magnificent temple not made with hands, said in full accordance with the word of the prophet, “behold, the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house that I have built?” “Howbeit, the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands, as saith the prophet—heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool, what house wilt ye build for me, saith the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?” Where then was Israel’s resistance of the Holy Ghost in this, but that when in the full accuracy of detail of man’s constant sin, and its only answer—blood, as seen in the Levitical sacrifices, a superstructure of worship had been raised, declaring the closest access to God for the creature in heaven, which was God’s throne, and not on earth, which was but His footstool; and which the blood of the holy victim so typified, would give claim to, they proved that they saw neither the one nor the other in their true meaning: for a right understanding of our condition with reference to God, and knowledge of Him, would prevent the heart’s satisfaction with anything short of the nearest access to Him in favor, as well as the eternal continuance of that favor—in fact, life with God in the resurrection. The knowledge of this would throw us upon that which is our only claim to it, the blood of the Lamb of God, and the true knowledge of the value of that righteous blood, would give the most ample security to the heart, in entering into all the deep things of God’s love and glory. The Jews, while in satisfaction with earthly worship, though instituted of God, were in ignorance of their need, and of God’s gracious provision for it, and therefore used for their present glory that which ought, as a “testimony of things which should be hereafter,” to have led them to higher and heavenly things, even the things that the blood of the Just One would have given them access to; they used the temple—they boasted in it—but they knew not its meaning, and their boasting was their shame; and this is what Stephen tells them, that the Spirit of God was but foreshowing heavenly glory in all these things. To this, Solomon led them, and the prophets, and of this, the death of the fathers who had carried the tabernacle and built the temple spoke, for “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living;” and those who resisted the spirit of righteousness in Abraham, Joseph, and Moses, and of God’s love and care in the latter, resisted also the witness given by the Holy Ghost in the tabernacle and temple, (for they were made after His pattern, and men were endued by His power to make them) of the shiners’ union with the Father in heaven, when the veil would be rent, a new and living way consecrated, and a temple of living stones erected, to be eternally God’s habitation and the place of His rest.

All that he taught in these solemn words, did this first and greatest martyr, for the name of Jesus, prove in his own person in the following record of his happy death. With his father Abraham, he had been called “through the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ,” out of the darkness of death; “He was a man, full of faith, and, of the Holy Ghost, one in whom God dwelt and walked,” (2 Cor. 6) “sanctified unto honor. and made meet for the master’s use.” Thus “chosen out of the world” for God, he was sent into it like his great master, (“as my Father hath sent me into the world, so have I sent you into the world.”) And like Joseph, to testify against it that its deeds were evil; and though they were not able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which he “spoke,” yet they hated him, “for they loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil,” “they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.” It was thus, when separated from them to righteousness, and declaring their evil, and rejected of them, like Abraham, Joseph, and Moses, it was seen that “God was with him.” “The God of glory” shone upon him with yet fuller radiance, “he being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.” All he had declared in testimony, was repeated in this bright vision: the exaltation of the Just One whom they had slain; the power of His blood. in opening heaven, the transfer of earthly worship to heaven, in the presence of Jesus, there for man—indeed man seen there in the presence of God, as raised. from the dead in corruptibleness—the full communion opened between the highest glory of heaven, and man’s poor wayward heart, and yet more his own special part in it, as shining on him, and not on them. “Behold, I see the heavens open, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” I repeat, all his solemn warning was summed up in this; this was the witness of the Holy Ghost through him, the resurrection of Jesus; God’s owning Him they had cast out, sheaving where they had cast Him, what their rejection of Him had done for man—that their earthly worship was nothing, for the temple was opened in heaven, the true tabernacle, with its minister and priest, consecrated “in the power of an endless life.” All was transferred there, and if their hearts, and thoughts, and worship, were not there, they were in darkness. The one witness of the Holy Ghost, the exaltation of Jesus, the priesthood of Jesus, Jesus at God’s right hand, “far above angels, principalities, and powers, and every name that is named.” To apostate Israel, it was but the dream of Joseph, and the blasphemy of Jesus before the high priest; but it was the vision of triumph to the persecuted one; it opened the resting place of the sufferer for righteousness, and told him of exaltation with Him for whom he suffered; it was at this time, as it had been to Joseph, and to his Lord, (Matt. 27) “they hated him so much the more for his words and his dreams,” and “cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city;” but where? where did they cast him, but into the glory he had seen, with his rejected Lord in the throne of God? As Abraham, Joseph, and Moses, cast into fuller glory, fuller triumph, out of sin, out of the world, to Him who is separate from both forever. He fell asleep, but it was in Jesus and “those who sleep in Jesus, will God bring with Him,” “when He shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them who know not God, and obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,” “when He comes to be glorified in His saints, to be admired in all them that believed in that day;” “if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.”

There is one thing I would add, as showing how love, as well as righteousness, has ever marked the character of those in whom the Spirit of God dwelt, and who have suffered because of the possession of that Spirit, in a world contrary to it. Joseph went to see how his brethren fared, and wept with joy when restored to them in Egypt. Moses went to see how his brethren fared, and to spy their burdens, and bore all that people in after days, with unwearied love through the wilderness; the spirit of righteousness caused him to wax hot, when he saw the golden calf and to charge the Levites to consecrate themselves in the blood. of their idolatrous brethren; but his love pleaded with God— “Oh! this people have sinned a great sin and made them gods of gold, yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin— and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.” So, also, with Him who was the pattern of all good; He came in love—He bore all the sorrow, and grief, and infirmity, of those who received Him not; and when by their wickedness and cruelty, “numbered with the transgressors,” though to the last, a sufferer for righteousness sake: He turned to God, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do;” thus, too, with His servant and follower, faithful in the grace of His master, to those around Him, in the uncompromising spirit of righteousness, He declared their rebellion; “Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost, as your fathers did, so do ye.” Yet, when trampled to death by their power, the cry of love went forth from His heart, not in feebleness or carelessness, but in the strong prayer of importunate desire, “He cried with a loud voice, Lord lay not this in to their charge.”

The blood of Stephen was the first shed as a witness to this world’s condemnation in the resurrection of Jesus; since that, rivers have flowed over Christendom for the same witness; and before God, still flow in unavenged distinctness; and it is in Babylon that it all rests, there crying out for the coming in power of Him for whom it was shed; and there it will be found and amply avenged, when the shout is echoed and re-echoed, “Alleluia, salvation, and glory, and honor, and power unto the Lord our God; for true and righteous are His judgments, for He hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand, and again they said Alleluia! and her smoke rose up forever and ever.” “And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.” (Rev. 18:24; 19:1-4). It is not within my power now, to enter into the manifest application of this comprehensive name of Babylon, to that which is so fearful to my own heart in these days: I only solemnly ask the reader, to consider if Babylon is not generally marked in its broad features, as a constitution of religious observances formed in the name of the Lord Jesus, but having union and communion with the world which rejected Him, and so called by Him “a harlot and a corrupter?” I do not desire to apply it here to anything which men cling to, but the rather to ask them, in the grave consideration of the word of Stephen, in its connection with these terrible words in the Apocalypse, to seek wisdom, to apply it to themselves, that they may give heed to the word of their Angel guide— “Come out of her my people.”

The witness of Stephen, was to Him “who loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and whom therefore God has anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows.” The resurrection and crowning of Jesus with glory and honor, was the proof of God’s unchanging delight in departure from evil, Jesus resisted unto blood, striving against sin; “He then allows evil,” who has union with it avowedly and knowingly, “is stiff-necked and uncircumcised in ear and heart:” as to the invariable, but in Jesus, most fully declared truth, “that the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness as well as peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” The witness of Stephen was further to Him, who as raised from the dead by the Spirit of holiness, and declared to be the Son of God with power; does by union with Him, as much separate in heart and spirit from the world, as He is separate from it at the right hand of God. (Eph. 2; Col. 3:1; John 4) That union with Him on whom all God’s favor rests, is out of the world; and therefore, that if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him— “for the friendship of the world, is enmity with God.” But were Israel of the world? surely not, outwardly, they were separated to God in outward worship from the nations of the world, but as regarded heavenly glory, they were uncircumcised in ear and heart. And can avowed Christians be of the world? alas! like the Jew, they so closely copy, they may profess the name of Jesus, and yet be of it, and this is Babylon. What was the worldliness of the Jew to this? God had instituted their worship, and though they were ignorant of its typical meaning, yet they had some plea; God had been known in it, and it was true, till the thing it declared was come; but where is the formal worship God has instituted now Where is the earthly temple, into, which all may come as merely outwardly declaring heavenly things? heavenly things are Come, and worship which will admit the earthly minded now, is awful, for Jesus is in the heavens. Jesus is out of the world, and in worship and in spirit, the Christian must be so, too, as quickened together with Him.

The witness of Stephen, was to him who filled up the measure of righteousness, and suffered, and was exalted; who has taken the place of Moses, as the son over his own house, to teach, guide, order, by the presence of the Holy Ghost, and who would come again, to perfect the blessing his Spirit gave witness to, in his absence.

“Who by His own blood, had entered into the Holiest of all, having obtained eternal redemption for us” and as the Son, to build the temple of the Lord, was fulfilling the glorious purpose of God. And while it was to the exaltation, and glory, of the suffering Jesus, so was it putting the world into condemnation; but above all, marking as hateful, that which was called by His name, and was yet in communion with the world, while He was out of it, as rejected by it.

To be one with Christ, out of the world, and yet of it, is impossible. “If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are at God’s right hand,” and then you will see how the world is loved, now under His name, who never was of it, and is now cast out of it.

All that has this character of evil must be forsaken, it is the worst, it is the most hateful, it is dishonoring to God, and deceiving to the world. Remember the Lord’s words to the Jews while under the fairest appearance of religious zeal, and who yet loved the world, and hated film who told them of heavenly things, “ye are of the world, I am not of the world; ye are from beneath, I am from above.” (John 8.)

In conclusion, I would ask my readers to see the confirmation of this, in the message to the churches of Philadelphia and Laodicea, where the difference is so strongly marked between the judgment of God and man, that while men boast themselves, “they are rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing,” God marks them as “poor, blind, and naked, and miserable,” and because they are neither cold nor hot, half for the world, and half for Him, He declares them to be loathsome, far more so then the heathen, who know Him not; “I will spue thee out of my mouth;” but as to the faithful remnant, outcast for righteousness sake, being zealous and repenting, the Lord promises them, not only full triumph with him on his throne, but “those who say they are Jews, and are not, and do He, they shall come and worship before thy feet, and know that I have loved thee”

On Christian Ministry

THE high standing of believers in Christ Jesus, that they are “through Him that loved them, and washed them from their sins, in His own blood, made kings and priests unto God;” (Rev. 1:5,6.) is that which Satan’s crafty imitations, and man’s wisdom have tended equally to obscure. The end being kept out of view, which is the illustration of God’s grace; (Eph. 2:7.) man can discover nothing in himself corresponding to such a high calling, and therefore necessarily and naturally relapses into a spirit of bondage, serving God from a low principle and for a low end. The calling must be known before we can walk worthy of it; and as it is in this that God’s “thoughts are so far above our thoughts, and His ways above ours;” so the Apostle prays for the Ephesians, “that the eyes of their understanding may be enlightened, that they might know what is the hope of their calling.” (Eph. 1:18.) As the calling is to such, glory in prospect—so is it now to service; and what is said of the literal Israel in their yet future glory, may justly be said of Christians now: “ye shall be named the priests of the Lord; men shall call you the ministers of our God.” (Isa. 61:6.)

Men indeed, have confined Christian ministry to one branch of it; a branch most important indeed—that of the ministration of the word; but by no means the whole of it. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord; (1 Cor. 12:5.) and as the Lord, when upon earth, was not ministered unto, but as he that served; so has He left His people, relatively both to the Church and the world, in the same position, drawing a direct contrast between the world and His disciples in this very respect: “Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them; and they that are great, exercise authority upon them; but it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:26-28.) Every different ministry is honorable, because done unto the Lord; and there is no member of the body of Christ, who is not, in one way or another, put in the way of serving Him. “If any man serve me, (διακονη) let him follow me, and where I am there shall my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my father honor.” (John 12:26.) And this ministry or service might be either teaching, or exhorting, or giving to the poor, or preserving order. (Rom. 12:6-8) Great evil and inconvenience has arisen to the Church from not recognizing the variety and extent of Christian ministry. As Aaron was consecrated to God, and received the priest’s office—a service of gift; (Num. 18;7.) so the blessed standing of the Church puts her in the privileged station of serving Him: “I know thy service.” (διακονια) (Rev. 2:19.) To be a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, in any department of His house, is a sufficient honor. To be made of the household of God, is not a privilege sufficiently prized; and hence, instead of men esteeming it a wonder that the Lord will be served by them at all, there has been an undue coveting of serving in the word, as if that was exclusively ministry. Men have not been content to remain in the calling wherein they are called, to exhibit the manifold grace of God in it, and the beautiful arrangement of His house, in which the highest and the lowest had but one common object—the glory of their common master. The principle laid down by the Lord Jesus Christ is, “he that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much.” (Luke 16:16.) As a master, He gives to His servants one, five, or ten talents, according to their several ability; and the reckoning is, “well done good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things,” &c. (Matt. 25) It is the Lord’s talent, that is enough; it cometh to any only in the way of grace be that has ten talents is, after all, but a receiver; and he that has but one, is in a position to prove his devotedness to Him, as well as he that has ten. The Lord did not pray for His disciples that they might be taken out of the world, but that in it—in the midst of all the evil of it, they might glorify Him, as He, whilst in the same position, had glorified His Father. (John 17) How explicit is the statement of the Apostle, and what beautiful harmony does it present to us— “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth; that God in all things may be glorified, through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 4:10,11.) Thus it was with Jesus in the world, in temporal necessities as well as spiritual; wherever He served, it was that God might be glorified. How does this principle commend service to us! How important, in this view, are all our steps, the least as well as the greatest in this life! Specially in the last act of our blessed. Lord’s service to His disciples are we taught that nothing is really degrading which is done for Him:— “I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done unto you; verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord; neither is he that is sent, greater than he that sent him: if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them?” (John 13) And thus we find that the service which would commend widows to the bounty— of the Church, were these: “If she had brought up children, if she had lodged strangers, if she had washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.” (1 Tim. 5:10.) All are not qualified for teachers or Church office; but all are qualified. to minister to the Lord, in ministering one to another. There maybe those whose ministry will be, in being given to hospitality, (entertaining strangers,) and distributing to the necessities of the saints: there may be others whose ministry will be in being “obedient to them that are their masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as unto Christ; not with eye service as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart, with good will doing service, as to the Lord and not to men.” (Eph. 6:5-8.)

Whilst the extent and variety of Christian ministry have been overlooked, the dangers of that particular department, which is more ostensibly the Christian ministry, have not been duly estimated, It is a solemn word, “my brethren, be not many teachers; (διδασκαλοι) knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation, for in many things we offend all: if any man offend not in Word, the same is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.” (James 3:1, 2.) The spirit in the Apostle foresaw that the ministry of the word would be of reputation in the world; whilst the unobtrusive service of those who might not be qualified for it, would be proportionably disregarded; nor is it difficult to assign the reason for this. The spirit which showed itself in the Corinthian Church, of walking after man, in the forgetfulness that Paul and Apollos were only ministers of God, by whom they had believed, even as the Lord gave to each, (1 Cor. 3) in the progress of spiritual declension, issued in the division of the Christian Church into clergy and laity; the ministry of the gospel began to be looked upon as a learned profession, and was, in process of time, exalted into a PRIESTHOOD; as such, it had a strong hold on the natural heart of man, meeting both his natural admiration of that which is learned, and his natural dependence on something sensible between him and God. And let it not startle us, that so generally a received. division of the Church into clergy and laity should be questioned. We have a memorable instance of the rapidity with which man’s heart departs from God’s truth, in the case of Israel of old: with the voice of God. sounding in their ears, and their own answer scarcely escaped from their mouths, we find them, in the absence of Moses, making a calf; and it is most instructive to notice, that the end. of it was a sensible object between God and. themselves. The moment men began to sleep, (and how early was that in the records of the Church, “awake thou that sleepest;” Eph. 5:14.) the enemy sowed the tares. The seed of every corruption is to be found in the Apostles’ times, and hence the exceeding value of the written word. Let a thing rest on the highest antiquity, if it be not based on that word, no antiquity ought to make it venerable.

A distinct order of priesthood seems, from its very general prevalence, to be that which the very necessity of man craves. That such an order was established by God Himself, whose prerogative it is to appoint the channel by which He will be approached, (Heb. 5:4,5.) there needs no proof. They were ministers of the letter; (2 Cor. 3:6) their qualification was, that they were of a particular tribe and of a particular family. No stranger, no one, save of the family of Aaron, might approach the altar of the Lord or His sanctuary. (Num. 18:7)

It was in mercy to the people that it was so ordered; (Num. 17:12,13.) they could not, they dare not approach unto God, lest they should be consumed by His holiness; therefore the Lord said unto Aaron, “thou, and thy sons, and thy father’s house with thee, shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary.” The order of the priesthood tended to turn the people from themselves to the priest, as capable of bearing their iniquity. (Ex. 28) But while it gave them comfort in this way, it served to keep them at a distance from God; there was nearness of approach for the priest and Levite, but none for the people; this was the necessary effect of an ordered priesthood on the earth, to keep the people at a distance from God—to keep them without. (Luke 1:10.) The removal of this distance, is that which was effected by the change of the order of priesthood, which was not the change of one earthly order for another, but a change of an earthly for a heavenly priesthood. The great point which the Apostle presses on the Hebrews, was, “that now as holy brethren, (themselves now consecrated by the Holy Spirit, to God, as Aaron by the anointing oil,) partakers of the heavenly calling, they should turn away their thoughts from the earthly priesthood, to consider the Apostle and High Priest of their profession—Christ Jesus;” (Heb. 3:1.) and then by leading on their minds to His greatness and sympathy, to bring them boldly unto a throne of grace, without the intervention of any other. (Heb. 4:14-16.) After sheaving the inferiority of the Aaronic priesthood in many particulars, the Apostle points to Jesus, as the very High Priest who met our wants; not needing to offer up daily sacrifices, first for His own self and then for the people, for this He did once, when He offered up Himself; and then sums up the matter in this, “we have such an High Priest who is set on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens;” (Heb. 8:1.) and in verse 4, He turns our thoughts entirely away from an earthly to a heavenly priesthood. “If He were on earth He would not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law;” and further on, He shows the standing of believers, through the new order of priesthood, to be no longer without but within the vail, in the holiest of all. “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated. for us, through the vail, that is to say, His flesh; and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith.” (Heb. 10:19-22.) Here is the virtue and blessing of the change from an earthly to a heavenly priesthood in nearness to God, yen, even advanced beyond it. Aaron could only at a set time, and with many preliminaries, enter into the holiest through the vail that is now rent, the way laid open, and we at all times can come boldly. We need no such means as an earthly priesthood of approach to God. “The hour is come when the true worshippers worship the Father;” and the child needeth no usher into his father’s presence, save Him by whom the father is made known; “for through Him we both (Jews were in the distance of servants before) have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” (Eph. 2:18.) The highest in office in the Church of Christ, has not more liberty in this respect, than the merest babe; I write unto you little children (παιδια) because ye have known the Father. (1 John 2:13.) The necessary effect of the division contended against, is to obscure this blessed liberty, and to give pre-eminence in standing, as to nearness to God, to the clergy, and thereby setting at a distance the laity. It is the effort of God in the gospel to bring man into confidence with Himself; the end of redemption as to man is, that he is brought back to God. In the law, the priest was looked on as the reconciler of God to man; (Num. 16:46.) in the gospel, God is the reconciler of man to Himself; and its ministry the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Cor. 5) Whatever, therefore, tends to put anything between man and God, does thereby obscure the grace of the gospel. Nothing is too abject for the mind of man to submit to, if it be spared the irksomeness of continual dependence on God, by looking to a visible order, to think and act for it. (2 Cor. 11:19,20.) It is this, as well as the desire of man to lord it over God’s heritage, (1 Peter 5:2,3.) which has tended to exalt the Christian ministry into an order; it is this which our Lord would counteract when He says, “Be not ye called Rabbi for one is your master, and all ye are brethren.” (Matt. 23:7,8,) So again the Apostle, “Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus; there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:27,28.) The Church itself is God’s clergy, (κληροι) (1 Peter 5:3.) answering to the Levites, whom God had taken to Himself, from among the children of Israel, to minister unto Him instead of the first-born. (Num. 8:17,18., Deut. 10:8,9.) It is not said of the ministry or offices of the Church, but of the body, “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.” (1 Peter 2:9.) The Church bears the same relation to the world, that the Levites did. to the Jewish nation; and if we seek for anything analogous to the Levitical priesthood, it is not to be found in the ministry, but in the Church. The body now exercises on earth the function which the head exercises in heaven. It is the body which has the power of intercession, (1 Tim. 2) and not the minister of it, more than other individuals; it is the body that stands in the gap, is the light— is the salt of the earth: it is the body which is the pillar and ground of the truth, (1 Tim. 3:15.) which answers to the priest’s lips, that should keep knowledge: it is the body which offers up the sacrifice of praise to God continually, through Jesus Christ: (Heb. 13:15, 16.) it is the body which has the power of binding and absolving. (Matt. 18:17,18.) Let us therefore be very jealous of delegating that to select individuals, which is the portion of the Church at large, lest in any way we infringe on the blessed liberty of the children of God.

“The congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them,” (Num. 16:3.) may now be said without any arrogance; yea, it is only the assertion of the glory of those who are made kings and priests unto God. The presence of God’s Spirit constitutes the Church; and His gift to any individual, alone qualifies him for office in the Church. To own spiritual authority where the Spirit is not, is in fact, as much to disown God, as to refuse submission to any power that He has set up. It was to the praise of the Church of Ephesus, that she had tried them that said they were Apostles and were not, and had found them liars; (Rev. 2:2.) and yet order and office are continually confounded, and arguments and analogies drawn from one to the other, as legitimate and conclusive. Order is a separation of a number of men to certain outward privileges and distinctions, solely derived from a source without them. Office is the application, in a given sphere, of qualifications previously imparted for the one, the simple fiat of authority is all that is required; for the other, strict investigation as to the requisite qualification. As to order, its power is entirely extrinsical, and demanding to be recognized for its own authority, and that of the persons who bear it. Thus, in God’s appointment of an order, no moral, personal qualification was needful to fill it; it was sufficient that a man was lineally descended from Aaron, and the elder son naturally succeeded to the priesthood—as an heir to the title of a nobleman; in such a case to speak against the man, was to dishonor the appointment of God; (Acts 23:3-5.) but not so in office in the Church; no authority is competent to appoint any to it who is not qualified by the Spirit for filling it; and it were little short of blasphemy to affirm that the Holy Ghost does appoint those who have not the requisites He Himself has so minutely laid down; or that He first sets apart to an order and then qualifies for it. “If a man desireth the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work; a bishop then must be blameless,” &c. (1 Tim. 3:2.) What then must we gather from this special enumeration of the qualifications, but that where they were not, there the office was not. It is the ministry of the Spirit—God allows not of mockeries; and there is no such thing in the Church as respect for an office, apart from him that fills it. In the world, on the contrary, there is God’s order of civil government, and respect is due to it, totally independent of the character of the person; “The powers that be, are ordered of God.” (Rom. 13:1.)

The change in dispensation, is from the letter to the Spirit; and this is properly called a spiritual dispensation, because, that in it the Holy Spirit is sovereign, during the absence of Jesus, to glorify Him; He is the director of its ministries, as well as giver of joy: He is the other comforter, to perform all the functions of the one who was gone away. The great point is, that He shall not be hindered; but surely an ordered ministry, going back to the letter, does tend to hinder His functions and to obscure His glory. Of such a ministry, the world can take cognizance, such it will honor, and impute that to man’s abilities and eloquence which alone belongs to the Spirit. Of Him it is said, “whom the world cannot receive because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him.” (John 14:17.) And therefore that the Christian ministry should be of honor in the world, at once proves that its very character is forgotten; and just in proportion as it has become reputable, has it ceased to be powerful; whatever of real power there may be in it, has been given to man and not to God. Power must be owned because felt; and the question “by what authority doest thou these things, and who gave thee this authority?” (Matt. 21:23.) what is it, except the acknowledgment of power but refusal to own it without order, even the order of man, that is, the sanction of human appointment? The inconveniencies to be apprehended from giving freedom to the Spirit of God to act, are nothing to be compared to the positive evil of shutting Him out by a fleshly order; it may be, that people love to have it so, but it necessarily blinds to the real state of our spiritual destitution,

In the ministry of the Spirit there are two distinct departments, that which is within the Church and that without. It is indeed true, that the same individual may be, but it is not necessarily, qualified for both; but the ministry of the pastor would not be required in the world, nor that of the evangelist in the Church. The command is— “Go and preach the gospel to every creature”—here is the evangelist sent forth into the world; “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,”—here is the Church “come together in one place,” The first and necessary qualification of the evangelist is, for himself “to have been reconciled to God, and to have had put in him the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Cor. 5) “We believe, and therefore do we speak.” “Let him that heareth, say, come.” The office itself would legitimately lead from place to place, it would require one to endure hardship, to be instant in season and out of season; continually pressing God’s message on unwilling hearers; “whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.” Its end is answered in the ministry of an individual, though it was the Lord’s grace to send His disciples out by two and two, and the Apostles’ practice to follow, in this respect, His example. The evangelist sent into the world must necessarily need support, “for the laborer is worthy of his hire;” but this he is not to expect from the world, but from those who are worthy. (Matt. 10:11.) He is necessarily much cut off from a worldly occupation, in going from city to city, and place to place; and therefore it would be matter of wisdom, to determine how far he should be employed in the things of this life. It is the only office that is necessarily rendered dependent on the bounty of others, and if he can exercise his ministry freely, so much greater his blessing, so much is one stumbling stone removed out of the way The danger of the office is, that it has to do with the world; there is much room for carnal excitement, and the office itself, is in honor among men. Hence the reason that the character of the Christian ministry has much more tended to this than to that within the Church, which is more unobtrusive, and is not of honor among men, though highly honored in the sight of the Great Head of the Church. To the world the evangelist speaks with conscious authority; he delivers a message from God, the rejection of which is the rejection of God. He is God’s ambassador; and the consciousness of God in the ordinance of preaching, is its only real power. It is the “foolishness of preaching” which demonstrates the power and wisdom of God.

With respect to the ministry in the Church, it is not as that of the evangelist, migratory, but stationary. It does not necessarily prevent a man from exercising a worldly calling, because in fact, it does not depend upon the energy of an individual, but brethren meet together to edify one another, according to the power of the Spirit among them. Here it is that every one should be “swift to bear, slow to speak.” Here there is no direct assumption of authority; he who speaks, should speak as the oracles of God, throwing himself on the judgment of the spirit in the Church. “I speak as unto wise men, judge ye what I say.” The ministry will be of a more discriminating character, according to the state of the Church—at one time calling for exhortation with all long-suffering; at another, even sharpness of rebuke with all authority. Here is less room for excitement, and a continual call for self-denial in bearing one another’s burdens. It is here also, that any gift, the least as well as the greatest, may be exercised; the healthy state of the body depending on each member being in its right place, and performing its functions aright. There should be no hindrance to any to speak: “if any speak,” provided in the judgment of the Church it be in the Spirit, unto edification, and not in the flesh; many might be the seasonable words of a brother to others, who might by no means be qualified to go forth and preach the gospel. They are willing hearers waiting upon God to teach them: “Let one speak, and the others judge.” (1 Cor. 14:29.)

The very sphere of the ministry does not render a maintenance a matter of necessity, and there is no reason why the most highly gifted might not be the least advanced in the world. In a word, the ministry of the Church is in the hands of the Spirit in it; and the departure from the simplicity of Christ in this instance, has led the Church to look for its edification to a hired teacher without it; Church offices, Pastor, Teacher, Elder, ought not to be recognizable by the world, and give a man any standing in it, they are of the Spirit for the edifying of the body; rare indeed is the grace which qualifies for them. The character. in which the Lord delights to present Himself to His people, is that of the great and good shepherd— “the bishop and shepherd of our souls.” What a high office therefore, in the Church is the pastoral! truly it does command our esteem and honor. But how poor is our conception of its extent if we confine it to mere teaching; what watchfulness, what tenderness, what care, what largeness of heart, is necessarily comprised in the qualifications for this office. It is not those who are most ready to speak, but those who are marking the walk of the sheep, comforting the feeble-minded, repressing the forward, healing variances, bearing with the weak, qualities utterly beyond the world’s knowledge, who are most truly filling the office. This indeed would be the place of all, who, in the Church, are called to watch over one another; (1 Thess. 5:14.) but specially of those who took the oversight of the Church, not by constraint or filthy lucre, but as being examples of the flock. Who is sufficient for (his, but he who is living in constant self-denial, and has only one aim—the glory of the Lord? Oh that men would learn, that to be high in office under Christ, is to be nothing in the world: that their labor is not, and cannot, be appreciated by it, but “is not vain in the Lord.”

Among the evils which have arisen to the Church, from the attempt to unite the two departments of the ministry in one man, may be noticed first of all, the undervaluing of the pastoral office. Almost all systems that have been formed by men, have been looked upon as a more or less extensive sphere for preaching the gospel; and hence almost all stated ministry has become properly that of the evangelist. The Church is not fed; believers are not built up on their most holy faith, because the heart of a minister is more called forth in its sympathy to those who are dead in trespasses and sins, than to those who are converted. If indeed, there be a heart burning with love for souls, and God has given him wisdom to win them, let him take the large sphere that is set before him— “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.” But it must not be forgotten that, whilst the Lord Jesus would have the gospel preached to every creature, that He Himself “loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.” (Eph. 5:26.) Answerable to this, is the ministry in the Church; and in order to it, all the gifts severally directed, “as the Spirit listeth,” are needful. The Lord did not intend His Church to depend upon the gift of any one man, but gave her all the gifts for common profit. “All things are yours, Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas.” The Church is the school where believers are to be taught “how they ought to walk to please God.” The good shepherd first seeks out that which is lost, and then puts it into the fold to be guarded and fed. And whilst this is neglected, it cannot be expected, that even the work of the evangelist can be carried on in power, since he is not able to point to the Church as not of the world, and from the neglect of the means, there must be a want of that, which is of great power in commending the truth, the personal holiness of those who preach it. (1 Thess. 2:10.) Surely, after means have been multiplied, but with very little corresponding result, we ought to examine whether we be right in principle. And the question, whether departure from the simplicity of Christ in the work of the ministry, is not the cause of the present low state of Christianity, is one which ought to be gravely weighed.

Another evil which has resulted from confining the ministry to a single individual, and universally merging all offices in one, has been the positive hindrance to the Spirit. Whatever gifts he may have given in any congregation, are hidden or restrained, because they cannot be exercised, except in disorder. This has much tended to division; any gift restrained is, through the infirmity of the flesh, apt to be valued beyond its worth. Permission for its exercise, God has given in the Church; and where there is this liberty, occasion for the puffing up the flesh is taken away; man is taught his own ignorance by speaking before those who are wise.

To give room for the exercise of all gifts in the Church, is God’s plan for attaining unity, for establishment in truth, and for the edifying of the Church. (Eph. 4:12-26.) It is because this has been hindered, that we find so many running without being sent, and persons the least qualified, gathering a few around them, and taking to themselves the high name of pastor. Christians have been thus taught to “glory in men;” and instead of looking to the spirit within them, to look to a man without, for their edification. May the Lord humble us for our sinning against His order, in the pride of our own wisdom. May He give us grace to repent, by ceasing from man, and in all simplicity of mind, throwing ourselves on the teaching of His Spirit. It is His presence alone, that can give life and power to our prayers, and to our exhortations. It is true that there would be less speaking, and shorter prayers. It would be weakness in the judgment of the flesh, but it is in fact that little strength which the Lord honors. (Rev. 3:8.) It is really being in the truth, and presenting to the outward eye, that which we feel we are in the sight of God, poor, miserable, blind, and naked. Let us be but upright before God, and we shall find His strength made perfect in our weakness, and have the confidence that we love the truth, which is the only safeguard from delusion. “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God.” (John 8:17.)

On Conformity to the World

One principle purpose which the Lord had in view, by continuing for a season in their present state the people who should be gathered together in one, through His death, was, that a practical witness of the character of God might be given to the world; and this in the joint testimony of those, who by one Spirit were united together; and who, though not indeed taken out of the world, were to be delivered from the evil of it. Such was the Church, whilst continuing in holy separateness; it was a living warning to all around— “of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.” But where is that witness now? A long and dreary period has passed away since the Church stood as a burning and a shining light; and the very name of Christian was sufficient to brand its possessor as an enemy of the world: its failure is continually and painfully exhibited in the overwhelming mass of nominal profession, which now assumes its place, and the perplexity and inconsistency which tarnish the walk of many a child of God in the present day.

But though, as a collective body, the Church has lost the place of witness, still is each believer a temple of the Holy Ghost; and as such answerable for being led by the Spirit in all the circumstances in which he may be placed. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, THEY are the sons of God.” One thing is clear, that with the world, the Spirit of Christ can have no connection; for it must ever lead from the world to God. As professing therefore to be guided by that Spirit, it is a sure and safe criterion in every case of doubt and perplexity, to consider how far God has fellowship in that which we do. The present day is so peculiarly characterized by the inconsistent walking of believers, and the efforts of Satan to unite them with one or another of the manifold forms of worldliness, that it may be well to notice some of the prevailing evils, which have contributed in no small degree, to lower the standard of Christian practice; remembering that the word of God is clear— “All that is in the world. is not of the Father;” and that upon all the natural heart desires scripture passes one unqualified judgment— “That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”

There is one special snare to which believers are peculiarly liable in the present time; more perhaps than in any other since Paul warned Timothy against the αντιθέσεις της ωευδωνῦμου γνωσεως, “the oppositions of science falsely so called,”—words which so well describe the character of the antithetical philosophy of the present day—we speak of the seductions of the intellect, to which many who may be free from the grosser forms of self-seeking are peculiarly exposed. The expressions of scripture respecting the world and worldliness, are too often qualified by them to suit their own particular tastes and propensities; they easily profess to abjure that for which they have little or no natural inclination, whilst they strenuously contend for that which is only the world in its more refined state; but which is more dangerous, because more delusive than the temptations peculiarly addressed to the lower tendencies of human nature. The two are distinguished by the Apostle as the desires of the flesh and of the mind. (Eph. 2) And verily the spiritual idolatry, which is the sin of the present day, the consummation of all that man is capable of doing against God, is infinitely more dangerous from its subtlety, and the manifold phases which it assumes in the mind, than all the other depths into which a wayward heart and the devices of the enemy may beguile us. We argue not against the improvement of the mind. Most assuredly it is desirable that every faculty should be fully and healthfully developed; and Education, in the proper sense of the word, i.e. of opening all the powers of the mind, and directing them to God’s glory, is above all things to be looked to. But the error against which we fervently contend is that of making the means the end. The desire for the improvement of the mind, considered by itself, is but a refined selfishness if it stops there, and does not train every power of the intellect with a direct view to the service of God. All that tends not to this service, all that may not in some way be wielded as an instrument in this work, is for self alone; and in its results will invariably be found unprofitable, however splendid such acquirements may appear to the mind which judges of their value by the proportion of credit which they obtain amongst men. For let it be considered that life, whether natural or spiritual, is ACTION; and in the Christian, action constant and undivided for God’s glory. Nay more, the mind which is held to be the most informed and accomplished, is in fact but a wilderness, if it knows not the Only True Wisdom. It is grievous when we look, not merely to the pursuits of the natural man, following the wanderings of his own mind, and seeking a phantom which eludes his grasp, but to the objects which engage so much of the attention even of God’s children, to see such an infinity of labor bestowed on what is called truth, but is not so; and the practical denial of its only source—the knowledge never ending, never wearying of God—that knowledge which also opens a field for the richest and most varied application of every intellectual power, and maintains them all in true and healthful proportion. Anything short of this (from which it is manifest that the great mass of what is called the intelligence of the world is systematically and voluntarily alienated) is but the laborious idleness of the mind seeking happiness in something out of God, and the evidence that it has never yet acknowledged the full length and breadth of the Spirit’s testimony concerning Jesus — “that in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” It is well to realize how much God can do—how little man. All human aids indeed we take with thankfulness, as from Providence, who orders these things, as well as all others, to work together for His own glory, though men are little conscious of it; but they are still but aids; and one ray of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God has more real effect in expanding the mind, than all the combined instrumentality of human genius and learning besides. Things are not depreciated, as has been rightly said, when placed on their true level; the machinery in ordinary use is not undervalued by the assertion, that when it has raised man to its utmost reach, God can raise him infinitely higher. At a time when mere human power is rated so high, and the production of that which is purely man’s intellect, are gazed upon by many, as in no small degree approximating to a participation in the divine nature; it is well to remember the terms in which scripture speaks of all that descends to us from Adam, not merely in this body of death, but in the mind which dwells within it. “There is none that understandeth,” is God’s estimate of all the boasted light of human reason; though we know it not till informed by the Spirit. “Having the understanding darkened”—the universal character of man, however bright the array of natural powers with which he is gifted may appear. And let it not be forgotten, that the source of much of this power is the tree of knowledge of good and evil; so that men ignorantly pride themselves upon that knowledge which found an entrance into the mind only through the first act of disobedience against God; and which, as to all its diversified semblances, proves itself in every natural man to be the legitimate fruit of the tree from which it sprang, which was good indeed in itself, but was obtained by the subtlety of Satan, in disbelief of God’s sufficiency. It is instructive to observe that when Cain went forth from the presence of the Lord, the inventions and luxuries of life began; and doubtless power in the earth continued exclusively with his descendants, until the “sons of God”—the holy seed, united themselves with the children of men, and all trace of separation in the fear of God was lost in the indiscriminate exhibition of self-will and violence, which overspread the world.

The child of this world often professes to approach God by science and the study of nature. And here again the Christian is called upon to discriminate. In that which is truly and properly the work of God in creation, he cannot but rejoice; yea, and renders “glory, honor, and power” to Him “whose hand has made all these things;” for they are His, and are the expression of His wondrous mind, We see in them (what we cannot see in the works of fallen man) the evidence and expression of His eternal power and Godhead; and so far glory in them. But as the sons of God, we are called to know Him in a character far more excellent and blessed—even as THE FATHER. And this knowledge we do not gain from without; for it is the Spirit’s special office “to tell us plainly of the Father.” All other ways by which men may profess to approach Him, bring them no farther than the Gentile outer court of the holy of holies. An Israelite alone can enter in.

Let us learn by the example of one who had tried everything; and not only sought out and gathered to himself all earthly glory and pleasure, such as fell to the lot of none, before or after; “for what can the man do that cometh after the king?” but applied to the discovery such wisdom none ever had; and moreover exceeded all in knowledge: “for he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes; and there came of all people to hear of the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth which had heard of his wisdom.” Yet what is the end?— “I, the preacher, was king over Israel, in Jerusalem: and I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit. That which is crooked cannot be made straight; and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.”

The character of the intellect of the present day, by which so many, “professing themselves to be wise,” are led astray, is but one of the manifold forms of human perverseness setting itself up against God; with more refinement it may be, but with no less determinateness of opposition, than in those who impugn God’s declared will because He has not written a revelation in the skies. “The Greeks seek after wisdom.” Hence have arisen the philosophical expositions of Christianity, and “metaphysical projections” of the Christian scheme, peculiar to this age and to the second century; all only the attempts of man to penetrate by the mere subtlety of human reason, the mysterious doctrine of the cross; which is either never reached, or if seen, continues as ever— “foolishness.”

Take another view. The state of the world, as ignorant of God, is this— “Rejoicing in the work of their own hands.” (Acts 7:41) But are there not many whose lives should be a practical testimony against it all; who appear as though their hearts were as much in it as others? It is wisdom to learn from an enemy—let us hear the testimony of the sharp-sighted world against the inconsistencies of believers.

“As far as we are enabled to discover, they (the serious) testify no reluctance to follow the footsteps of the worldly in the road to wealth; we look in vain for any distinguishing mark in this respect, between the two classes of society; that which is ‘of the world,’ and that which is ‘not of the world.’ All appear to be actuated by the same common impulse to push their fortunes in life; all exhibit the same ardent, active, enterprising zeal in their respective pursuits.”

Again—

“They live in the common haunts of men, gratify their common desires, engage in their common pursuits, partake of their common indulgencies; they toil along with the worldly, through paths beset with temptation in various shapes. They run with all imaginable alacrity and cheerfulness in the race after fame, and honors, and emoluments, where the faith and principles of men are most severely tried; they acquiesce in all the devices of luxury, to pamper the children of prosperity, and manifest the same indifference with others, to the cost of human happiness and innocence, at which these may be supplied.” (Edinburgh Review.)

These answers come from no friend to God’s truth, yet they are but too true, and may serve to shame many a professed disciple, who is occupied by “the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things.” We may add one remark in reference to the children of religious parents. In too many instances the same anxiety for placing them in situations which the world counts honorable, is manifested as in worldly families; and for this end, many a believer will not hesitate to place his child in scenes of temptation, and in circumstances of exposure to evil, where it cannot be expected that the care of the Spirit of God will follow them. The result is, that we believe it will be found in numberless instances, that religious parents have been visited with a curse upon their children, just in proportion as they themselves have been involved in the world.

Is there not too little consistent exemplification of the Apostle’s command? “Let your moderation be known unto all men;” too little proof of our counting “all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ our Lord.” On the contrary, do not the deceitfulness of the heart, or carelessness of the Lord’s glory lead many to seek by various sophistries to satisfy themselves that the Christian may have fellowship with the world, at least in some things, if not in all? But if there be any truth in every scripture declaration respecting the world, this one thing is certain, that he who argues deliberately how far he may continue in the world, proves that his affections are in it altogether. The application of the expressions of scripture is often indeed sought to be evaded by the question—What is the world? But is it probable that the scripture would set forth so pregnant, so critical a principle, enforced by such fearful warnings, and then leave to every man’s notions what he was to avoid? The truth is that its language is infinitely more exact than is commonly supposed; and the every day conversation of men, in their common use of the term “the world,” invariably expresses the thing against which we are warned. But in fact they who ask this question are able full well to answer it themselves. When they speak of rising in the world, of getting credit and a name in it, they know precisely what “the world” means: but when anything is to be given up for Christ’s sake, a sudden indistinctness invests everything; and the unfaithful heart is allowed to draw its own line between what is, and what is not of the world. But in all the various appearances which it assumes, however fair and attractive to the mind and eye, it is exclusively spoken of in scripture as a thing to be overcome. God has laid down a broad principle, which he who runs may read; and love and faithfulness to Christ alone, can be the true guide in applying it. It is judging of things rather by our own thoughts concerning them, than by the plain statements of the word of God, which keeps men in it; in truth the great secret of conformity to the world, is taking for granted that things are as they should be. It has been truly said that “there are many saints, but very few Christians:” many who owe to Christ the unspeakable debt of forgiveness through His blood, few who are willing to follow Him who has so loved them, even to the renunciation of all things. And what was His distinct unqualified testimony against the world? That “the deeds thereof are evil;” and whilst Himself in it it was simply in witness for God and against them. A disciple could not remain in it, for the call was ever— “Follow me;” although like Jesus, he would be habitually there, as far as he was enabled to bring God’s testimony to bear upon the consciences of men by his own conversation in the world. And this is the true answer to the question— “how far may we mingle with the world?” Even as far and as often as we can witness for Jesus.

One consideration which at once overrules all others in a Christian’s mind, is this—that Christ’s mission, as regards His people, was for this sole object— “that He might deliver us from this present evil world;” and therefore in pleading for conformity to the world, we plead for conformity to that, deliverance from which cost nothing less than the death of the Son of God. The practical question for the believer is, can I have fellowship with that with which He had none? The example of others is often pleaded, but to our own master we stand or fall. If many Christians are mingled with it, this only renders it the more imperative on any who see the mischief which is thus occasioned in the Church of God, to give by their lives a more distinct protest; and thus it becomes not only a matter of faithfulness to God, but of love for the souls of others.

“My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work;” “I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened until it be accomplished.” Thus did Jesus speak of His own labor of love, and who that professes to be a follower of Him, can set a lower measure for his own life than his Master’s “who left us an example that we should follow His steps.” Not indeed that he has no natural fellowship with all that charms the senses or the mind of man, but the melody of the songs of heaven is heard above the voice of earthly music, and the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory seen by the eye of faith, outshines the transient sparkle of earthly splendor. “THE TIME IS SHORT.” Most blessed word, whether for the stirring up of our diligence in our Lord’s work, that when He cometh we may be found doing His will; or, for the gladdening of our souls in the prospect of the near approach of Him whose coming shall be “as the light of the morning, when the sun ariseth, even a morning without clouds.” (2 Sam. 23) Let us try everything that the world holds dear by the glory of that day, by the power and coming of Jesus, by the joy of His saints, in whom He will come to be glorified, and then let our hearts decide whether we are ready to count all as dung, that we may win Christ.

One thing more remains. If we are looking with anything of the mind of Christ, upon a world which lieth in wickedness, it cannot be with the desire to share in those things which bind down the hearts of those who are deceived by the god of this world; yea, which are the very objects that render it so hard even for Christians to leave it; nor in the unfaithful course which temporizes with the evil, but rather in the Spirit with which Jesus beheld Jerusalem and wept over it. True love for the souls of others, will lead to a clear and distinct disavowal of all connection with the world, that the testimony may lead those who are involved in it, to see their danger. But the charity, falsely so called, of the present day, is the most murderous principle of Satan, who first deceives, and then destroys.

The days are few and evil; the long-suffering of a God of love is waiting still, but we know not for how long. May He give us grace to do His work in the “little while.”

On the Extended Scope of Prophecy

IT appears to me, that the result of prophecy has been much obscured, and particular passages much more difficult of interpretation, by narrowing their scope, and applying them only to the anti-Christian character of the last primary evil. Hence, the subject being wrongly assumed, the application has been forced and unknown. The anti-Christian form of the Roman empire engrosses the mind, so that even when prophecy is applied to the Jews, nothing farther is seen. Hut this is a confined view; all the nations of the earth are engaged in this scene. Thus Gog the chief prince of Magog, and his army and followers, formed no part of the Roman empire. The Modes and Persians formed no part of that empire; yet all these do form a part of the great prophetic drama of the latter day. I purposely refrain from entering into details here; if I am permitted, I hope to open out my views upon it, at some future time. I merely now make these few remarks, in the hope of enlarging the sphere of observation. The immediate moral position in which we are, may involve us in direct concern with the last exhibition of power of the Roman beast, even antichrist, destined, I do not doubt, to close the scene and his career in Jerusalem; —the mountain of God, where he has, craftily and to his own destruction, set his seat. But this is but one out of many. He thus becomes one, the first I apprehend of those powers, who, round the great center of divine providence— the Jewish land, and are brought, as the inhabitants of the earth, under the judicial process of that righteous providence which shall set the Son of man on the throne of the kingdom of the earth, in the righteousness and peace of God’s own government in Him.

As regards the full moral responsibilities of the Christian Church, the apostasy and judgment of the anti-Christian power is clear and decided, as well as solemn and affecting to the believer; but deliverance and joy withal. But when we turn our eyes to the earth, to the dealings of God with its nations, we find, when He divided to the sons of Adam their inheritance, “He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.” (Deut. 32:8.) In this of course, the beast will take his part doubtless, he may lead in the career of evil, let us enlarge our view a little. Were all the nations of the image in the last beast? Clearly not The Euphrates, the Danube, the Rhine, and I suppose about the friths of Forth, and Clyde, and the Irish Sea, form the geographer real bounds of all that could ever be taken within the grasp of the last beast, unless perhaps part of Hungary, and Transylvania.

I am not saying that all this will be under antichrist, or how far it may be, but merely that the last beast extends no farther than this. But besides this, there is in the image, part of the subject of latter day judgment—the arms and the breast—the Medo-Persian power not included within these limits. This then, besides the actings of the first power, we must find scope for in the scenes of the latter day, as one of the nations that must act upon the Jews, and in the land. The omission of this may cause great confusion in the application of passages, which having the Jews and the land in view, must include the account of the vicissitudes arising from this also.

Further, Gog and Magog (who form, I imagine, no part, not only of the beast, but of the image, yet take a conspicuous part in the scenes of the latter day, as the witness of the power of God;) must be let into the scheme of prophecy, and till we have developed the sphere in which these take their parts, we cannot appropriate the special prophecies which may have their ultimate fulfillment in these very powers. I do not doubt we shall find much detail of movement within the territorial limits of the beast which are not the actions of its body, as immediately headed by antichrist, as well as the final suppression of smaller nation; within the limits of Israelitish territory, as given of God; but into these details it is not my purpose to enter. That which I would press upon your readers is this—that while the scene in which we are individually engaged leads us to contemplate directly, the growth and operations of antichrist—our most important concern; if we would interpret scripture fully, we must see that this is but conducive to a system and scene of which the land of Israel is the focus and center, and in which all the people of the earth are concerned and called in question. The length, the circumstance, the particulars of the great day of tribunal of judgment on the people and nations, beginning at Jerusalem, we may reserve to the Lord’s mercy granting us other opportunity, I believe antichrist to be the first of it, and of a character distinct from the rest. The close to be the clearing of the land and its limits with the exception perhaps, of Gag. But the fact surely seems indisputable and definite, and must widely affect the study and application of scriptural prophesies. To these I would next direct your attention,

On the Nature and Unity of the Church of Christ

“And ye, yourselves, like unto men that wait for the Lord.”-Luke 13:36.

I cannot doubt, that much of the moral truth, on which the following considerations depend, has been realized in the minds of many believers, who have sought into the divine word; but I have felt in the little communion, though great intercourse, which such have ordinarily with each other, that the expression of these thoughts might, by the blessing of God, direct the attention of believers; and from the divine word more explicitly manifest to the Church its just objects; and consequently, by the reception, determine its character and conduct; ensuring under God’s blessing, more consistency of operation; stablish, strengthen, settle it in its own hopes, and make it exhibit, with more clearness and power, the grace of God to the world; lead believers to more explicit reliance on the operations of the divine Spirit, and look less to the plans of men and human cooperation, or what will be found in the end to be—human interests. While the aims and purposes of believers are very mixed in their nature, and fall far below the standard for which God has gathered them, and which He purposes as the influential object of their faith, and consequently motive of their conduct; division and sectarianism are, even in the mercy of God’s providence, the necessary result, whether it assume the character of Establishment or Dissent.-I am supposing here, of course, that the great truths of the gospel are the professed faith of the Churches, as they are in all the genuine protestant Churches. For the just consequence of the reception of gospel facts by faith, and its end. in man, is the purification of the desires in love, a life to Him who died for us, and rose again, a life of hope in His glory. To suppose therefore, unity where the Church falls entirely short of the just consequences of its faith, is to suppose that the Spirit of God would acquiesce in the moral inconsistency of degenerate man, and God be satisfied that His Church should sink below the glory of the great Head of it, without even a testimony that He was dishonored by it. In truth it has ever been so: judgments from without for a good while marked His displeasure while it was sinking; and when it was utterly sunk in apostasy, He raised His witnesses, who should sigh and cry for the abominations that were done in it; who in much darkness of spiritual understanding, bore testimony against the moral corruption that had overwhelmed the Church; and in the acknowledgment of redemption by the Lord Jesus, out of this present evil world, testified the apostasy of the professing Church. When it pleased God to raise this testimony into the place of public sanction, while doctrinal truth (we may believe) was much developed for the foundation and edification of the faith of believers, it by no means followed that the Church, thereupon, emerged wholly in spirit and power from its depression, assuming the character which it has in the purpose of the author of it, and becoming an adequate and distinctive witness of His thoughts to the world. Such indeed, however blessed, as we are all bound most thankfully to acknowledge the reformation to have been, was not the case; it was much and manifestly united with what was merely human agency; and though the exhibition of the word, as that on which the soul rests itself, was graciously afforded, there was much of the old system which remained in the constitution of the Churches, and which was in no way the result of the development of the mind of Christ, by setting up the light and authority of the word. This gave to the general state and practice of the Church (whatever the excellence of individuals may have been,) a character which many discerned to be short of that which was acceptable to God; and the authority of the word having been recognized as the basis of the reformation, they sought to follow it, as they supposed, more perfectly. Hence arose all the branches of non-conformity and dissent, which prevailed when the spirit of God was poured out, in proportion to the secularity or alienation from God, of the body publicly recognized as the Church. For it must be observed, that since the time when popery prevailed over the nations, till lately, among those who have taken a share in the revival of religion, that has in general been called the Church, which the rulers of this world have received as such; not those who were delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son, who were come to the “general assembly and Church of the first born, whose names are written in heaven.” These observations are in some measure applicable to all the great national protestant bodies, since the outward form and constitution became so prominent a matter; which was not the case originally, while deliverance from Babylon was in question.

From all this has followed an anomalous and trying consequence; namely, that the true Church of God has no avowed communion at all. There are, I suppose, none of its members who would not now acknowledge, that individuals of the children of God are to be found in all the different denominations, professing the same pure faith; but where is their bond of union? It is not that unbelieving professors are mixed with the people of God in their communion, but that the bond of communion is not the unity of the people of God, but really in point of fact their differences.

The bonds of nominal union are such as separate the children of God from each other; so that instead of unbelievers being found mixed up with them, itself an imperfect state, the people of God are found as individuals, among bodies of professing Christians, joined in communion upon other and different grounds; not in fact as the people of God at all. The truth of this I think, cannot be denied; and surely it is a very extraordinary state for the Church to be in. I think the study of the history of the Church, bearing in mind what the true Church of God is, will enable us so account for it. Such is not my present purpose, writing merely on the principle of that inquiring, strengthening charity, in which they that feared the Lord, spake often one to another. But it must surely form a practical matter of great importance to the judgment of those, who partaking of the Spirit, and therefore identified however weakly, with the Lord Christ in His sympathies with the Church, grieve over its inconsistency with His love, and desire the order of the house as those who wait for their Lord. I do believe indeed, that there will be a gradual development of the children of God, by a separation from the world; of which many of them perhaps, little now think. The Lord will be present with His people in the hour of their temptation, and hide them secretly in the tabernacle of His presence, but neither is it my purpose to follow presumptuously my own thoughts about this. We may remark, that the people of God have found, since the increased outpouring of His Spirit, a sort of remedy for this disunion, (manifestly an imperfect though not an untrue one,) in the Bible Society, and in Missionary exertions; which gave the one a sort of vague unity, in the common acknowledgment of the word, which if investigated will be found to have partially inherent in it, the germ of true unity, though not recognized in its power: the other, an unity of desire and action, which tended in thought towards that kingdom, the want of the power of which was felt. And in this they found some relief for that sense of want, which the workings of the divine Spirit had produced in them. From the state of things I have spoken of, have resulted other efforts, either of the energies of knowledge, or the desires of spiritual life. The spirit and desire in which much of this was carried on, was doubtless in many instances, the cravings of a mind actuated by the Spirit of God, but it has often been defective in not practically waiting upon His will, nor has it been framed upon that largeness of mind and purpose of which it was the evidence; in many cases, assuming perhaps, the particular views of one by whom it was locally originated, and therefore merging in the mass of ordinary dissent, or becoming a special sect. This has arisen from so community of the Spirit in believers, and want of dependence upon, it, and I must be forgiven, if I add in faithfulness, that while the effects have been charged upon those who have thus acted, the cause is found. in the state of that which they have just left, where they have been habitually accustomed to lean on anything rather than on the Spirit. Hence, though these efforts have doubtless afforded so much of testimony to what the proper character of the Church is, as corresponded with the infirmity of our nature, and the actual position in which believers are, yet often, even when of the highest order as to personal religion, they have failed for the purposes of God, for the reasons mentioned, since in act, they ran before the general progress of the divine counsels, or did not by their largeness meet the exigency of the Church of God below. This painful sense of our immense distance from that genuine exhibition of the purpose of God in His Church, this looking after His power and glory, ought to lead us to thankfulness, that He still thus deals with us, and to receive it as the pledge of that faithfulness, which shall make the people of God in due time, shine in the glory of the Lord. It should lead us also assiduously to seek what is the mind of Christ, as to the path of believers in the present day, that it may be, though not exactly according to their own desires, yet perfectly according to what His present will concerning them is. We know that it was the purpose of God in Christ, to gather in one, all things in heaven and earth, reconciled unto Himself in Him: and that the Church should be, though necessarily imperfect in His absence, yet by the energy of the Spirit, the witness of this on earth, by gathering the children of God, which were scattered abroad. Believers know that all who are born of the Spirit, have substantial unity of mind, so as to know each other, and love each other as brethren. But this is not all, even if it were fulfilled in practice, which it is not, for they were so to be all one, as that the world might know, that Jesus was sent of God; in this we must confess our sad failure. I shall not attempt so much to propose measures here for the children of God, as to establish healthful principles, for it is manifest to me that it must flow from the growing influence of the Spirit of God, and His unseen suggestions, but we may observe what are positive hindrances, and in what that union consisted.

In the first place, it is not a formal union of the outward professing bodies that is desirable; indeed, it is surprising, that reflecting protestants should desire it; far from doing good, I conceive it would be impossible that such a body could at ail be recognized as the Church of Christ. It would be a counterpart of Romish unity—we should have the life of the Church, and the power of the word, lost, and the unity spiritual life utterly excluded. Whatever plans may be in the order of providence, we can act only upon the principles of grace: and true unity is the unity of His Spirit, and must be wrought by the operation of the Spirit. In the great darkness of the Church hitherto, outward division has been a main support, not only of zeal as is very generally admitted, but of the authority of the word, which is instrumentally the life of the Church; and the reformation consisted not, as has been commonly said, in the institution of a pure) form of Church, but in setting up the word, and the great Christian foundation and corner stone of justification by faith, in which believers might find life. But further, if the view that has been taken of the state of the Church be correct, we may adjudge that he is an enemy to the work of the Spirit of God, who seeks the interests of any particular denomination: and that those who believe in the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, ought carefully to keep from such a spirit; for it is drawing back the Church to a state, of which ignorance and non-subjection to the word have been the occasion, and waking a duty of its worst and most anti-Christian results. This is a most subtle and prevailing mental disease, “he followeth not us,” even when men are really Christians. Let the people of God see if they be not hindering the manifestation of the Church by this spirit. I believe there is scarcely a public act of Christian men, at any rate of the higher orders, or of those who are active in the nominal churches, which is not infected with this; but its tendency is manifestly hostile to the spiritual interests of the people of God, and the manifestation of the glory of Christ. It must grieve the Spirit of God. Christians are little aware how this prevails in their minds; bow they seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ; and how it dries up the springs of grace and spiritual communion; how it precludes that order to which blessing is attached, the gathering together in the Lord’s name. No meeting, which is not framed to embrace all the children of God in the full basis of the kingdom of the Son, can find the fullness of blessing, because it does not contemplate it; because its faith does not embrace it.

Where two or three are gathered together in His name, His name is recorded there for blessing; because they are met in the fullness of the power of the unchangeable interests of that everlasting kingdom, in which it has pleased the glorious Jehovah to glorify Himself, and make His name and saving health known in the person of the Son, by the power of the Spirit. In the name of Christ therefore, they enter, (in whatever measure of faith,) into the full counsels of God, and are συνεργοι Θεον. Thus whatever they ask is done, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. But the very foundation on which these promises rest, is broken up, and its consistency destroyed by bonds of communion, not formed on the scope of the purposes of God in Christ. I say not indeed, that they may not find a feeble measure of spiritual food, which, though generally partial in its character, may be suited to strengthen their personal hope of eternal life. But the glory of the Lord is very near the believing soul, and in proportion, as we seek it, will personal blessing be found. It puts me in mind indeed, (as all doubtless have some separate portion of the form of the Church,) of those who parted the Savior’s garments among them; while that inner vest, which could not be rended, which was inseparably one in its nature, was east lots for, whose it should be; but in the meanwhile, the name of Him, the presence of the power of whose life, would unite them all in appropriate order, is left exposed and dishonored. Indeed, I fear that these have fallen too much in the hands of those who care not for Him, and that the Lord will never clothe Himself with them again, viewed in their present state. Indeed, it could not be when He appears in His glory. I say it not in presumption or dislike, for the reproach of it is a grievous burden, it is an humbling-most afflicting thought; but that second temple, which had been raised by the mercy of God after the long Babylonish captivity, we have learned to trust in too much as “the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these;” we have been haughty because of the Lord’s holy mountain; we have looked at it as adorned with goodly stones and gifts; and have ceased to look to the Lord of the temple, have ceased almost to walk by faith, or to have communion in the hope of the return of the messenger of the covenant, to be the glory of this latter house. The unclean spirit of idolatry may have been purged out but the great question still remains, is there the effectual presence of the Spirit of the Lord, or is it merely empty, swept, and garnished? If we have been at all blessed, are we not disregarding Him from whom it came, by pride, and self-complacency, and seeking to turn it to our own, instead of going on to His glory?

Let us then pass, brethren beloved of the Lord—ye who love Him in sincerity, and would rejoice in His voice—to the practical exigency of our present situation. Let us weigh His mind concerning us. The Lord has made known His purposes in Him, and how those purposes are effected. “He hath made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He path purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He should gather together in one, all things in Christ, whether they be things in heaven, or things on the earth, even in Him, in whom we also have received an inheritance.”—In one, and in Christ. In Him alone therefore can we find this unity; but the blessed word (who can be thankful enough for it,) will inform us further. It is as to its earthly members members “gathering together in one, the children of God who are scattered abroad.” And how is this? “That one man should die for them.” As our Lord in the vision of the fruit of the travail of His soul declares, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me: this He said signifying what death He should die.” It is then, Christ who will draw, will draw to Himself; and nothing short of or less than this can produce unity. “He that gathereth not with Him, scattereth.” And draw to Himself by being lifted up from the earth. In a word, we find His death is the center of communion, till His coming again; and in this rests the whole power of truth, Accordingly, the outward symbol and instrument of unity, is the partaking of the Lord’s supper: “for we being many are one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread.” And what does Paul declare to be the true intent and testimony of that rite? That “whensoever we eat of that bread, and drink of that cup, we do show forth the Lord’s death till He come.” Here then are found the character and life of the Church, that into which it is called, that in which the truth of its existence subsists, and in which alone is true unity. It is “showing forth the Lord’s death,” by the efficacy of which, they were gathered, and which is the fruitful seed of the Lord’s own glory; which is indeed the gathering of His body, “the fullness of Him that filleth all in all;” and showing it forth in the assurance of His coming, “when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe!” Accordingly the essence and substance of unity which will appear in glory at His coming, is conformity to His death, by which that glory was all wrought. And it will be found in result, that conformity to His death will be our frame for glory with Him at His appearing; as the Apostle desires, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death, if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” Have we faith in these things? How shall we show it? By acting on those directions of our Lord, which are founded on His divine knowledge of the objects of faith, What follows upon our Lord’s declaration, in the view of His glory, that it must be by His death “He that loveth his life shalt lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me let him follow me; and where I am there shall also my servant be; if any man serve me, him will my father honor.” The servant is he who is to be honored. If we would be servants, we must be so in following Him who died for us. And in following Him, our honor will be to be with Him in His glory, and the glory of His Father, and of the holy angels. It is matter of great thankfulness, that notwithstanding the scattering of the Church, by its becoming of this world as a body, and its most imperfect revival by the discovery of the free hope of glory, believers have a way before them marked in the word; that if we are not given to see as yet the glory of the children of God, the path of that glory in the wilderness should be revealed to us. We are assured in doctrine, that the death of the Lord, in whom the free gift came, is the sole foundation on which a soul is built for eternal glory. In truth it is only to believers in this, that I address myself. Our duty as believers, is to be witnesses of that which we believe. “Ye,” says God, of the Jews, by the prophet Isaiah, “ye are any witnesses,” in his challenge to the false gods; and as Christ is the faithful and tree witness, such ought His Church to be. “Ye are a chosen generation—a royal priesthood—a holy nation—a peculiar people—that ye may show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness, into His marvelous light.”

Of what then is the Church to be a witness, against the idolatrous glory of the world? Witnesses of the glory into which Christ has risen, by their practical conformity to His death; of their true belief in the cross, by their being crucified to the world, and the world to them. Unity, the unity of the Church, to which “the Lord added daily such as should be saved,” was when none said anything was his own; and “their conversation was in heaven,” for they could not be divided in the common hope of that. It knits men’s hearts together by necessity. The Spirit of God has left it upon record, that division began about the goods of the Church, even in their best use, on the part of those interested in them; for there could be division, there could be selfish interests. Am I desiring believers to correct the Churches? — I am beseeching them to correct themselves, by living up in some measure to the hope of their calling. I beseech them to show their faith in the death of the Lord Jesus, and their boast in the glorious assurance which they have obtained by it, by conformity to it, their faith in His coming, and practical looking for it, by a life suitable to desires fixed upon it. Let them testify against the secularity and blindness of the Church, but let them be consistent in their own conduct. “Let their moderation be known unto all men.” While the spirit of the world prevails, (and how much it prevails, I am persuaded few believers are at all aware) spiritual union cannot subsist. Few believers are at all aware how the spirit, which gradually opened the door to the dominion of apostasy, still sheds its baneful influence over the professing Church. They think, because they were delivered from its secular dominion, That they are free from the practical spirit which gave rise to it; and because God has wrought much deliverance, therefore they are to be content. Nothing could be a testimony of greater alienation from the mind of the Spirit of promise, which having the prize of the high calling of God set before it, ever presses towards it, ever seeks conformity to death, that it may attain to the resurrection of the dead. It waits for the Lord; and beholding His glory in unveiled face, “is changed into the same image from glory to glory.” For let us recollect, is the Church of God as believers would have it? Do we not believe that it was as a body, utterly departed from Him? Is it restored so that He would be glorified in it at His appearing? Is the union of believers such as He marks to be their peculiar characteristic? Are there not unremoved hindrances? Is there not a practical spirit of worldliness in essential variance with the true termini of the gospel, the death and coming again of the Lord Jesus, the Savior? Can believers say they act on the precept of their “—moderation being known unto all men?” I do believe that God is working by means and in ways little thought of, “preparing the way of the Lord, and making His paths straight;” doing by a mixture of providence and testimony the work of Elias. I am persuaded that He will put men to shame exactly in the things they have boasted in; I am persuaded that He will stain the pride of human glory, “and the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of man shall be brought low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day; for the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low; and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up: and upon all the oaks of Bastian, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of man shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day, and the idols He shall utterly abolish; and they shall go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth, for the fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth. in that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for the fear of the Lord and of the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth. Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of?”

But there is a present part for believers to act, they can lay their hand upon many things in themselves practically inconsistent with the power of that day, things which show that their hope is not in it; conformity to the world, which shows, that the cross has not its proper glory in their eyes. These things let them weigh. These are but desultory suggestions; but are they the testimony of the Spirit or not? Let them he tried by the word. Let the Almighty doctrine of the cross be testified to all men, and let the eye of the believer be directed to the coming of the Lord. But let us not defraud our souls of all the glory which accompanied that hope, by setting our affections on things which will he proved to have had their origin in this world, and to end in it. Will they abide His coming?

Farther, unity is the glory of the Church; but unity to secure and promote our own interests is not the unity of the Church, but confederacy, and denial of the nature and hope of the Church. Unity, that is of the Church, is the unity of the Spirit, and can only be in the things of the Spirit, and therefore can be perfected only in spiritual persons. It is indeed the essential character of the Church, and this strongly testifies to the believer, its present state. But I ask, if the professing Church seek worldly interests, and if the spirit of God be amongst us, will it then be the minister of unity in such pursuits as these? If the various professing Churches seek it, each for themselves, no answer need be given. But if they unite in seeking a common interest, let us not be deceived; it is no better, if it be not the work of the Lord. There are two things which we have to consider: first—are our objects in our work exclusively the Lord’s objects, and nothing else? If they have not been such in bodies separate from each other, they will not be in any union of them together. Let the Lord’s people weigh this. Secondly—let our conduct be the witness of our objects. If we are not living in the power, we certainly shall not be consistent in seeking the ends of the Lord’s kingdom. Let it enter our minds, while we are all thinking what good thing we may do to inherit eternal life, to sell all that we have, take up our cross and follow Christ. Does not this go very close to the hearts of many? Let us bear in mind then strongly, the following truths, —that what are called communions are, as to the mind of the Lord about His Church, disunion; and in fact, a disavowal of Christ and the word, “Are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” Is Christ divided? Is He not, as far as our disobedient hearts are concerned? I ask believers, “whereas there are divisions among you, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?”

Yea, there is no professed unity among you at all. So far as men pride themselves on being Established, Presbyterian, Independent, Baptist, or anything else, they are anti-Christian. How then are we to be united? I answer, it must be the work of the Spirit of God. Do you follow the testimony of that Spirit in the word, as it is practically applicable to your consciences, lest that day take you unawares? “Whereunto we have already attained) let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing, and if in anything we be otherwise (i. e. differently) minded, God shall reveal this also unto us,” and shew us the right path. Let us rest on this promise of Him who cannot He. Let the strong bear the infirmity of the weak, and not please themselves. Professed Churches, especially those established, have sinned greatly in insisting on things indifferent, and hindering the union of believers.

Certainly order is necessary; but where they said, “the things are indifferent and nothing in themselves, therefore you must use them for our pleasure’s sake;” the word of the Spirit of Christ says, they are indifferent, therefore we will yield to your weakness, and not offend a brother for whom Christ died. Paul would have eaten no meat while the world endured, if it had hurt the conscience of a weak brother, though the weak brother was in the wrong. And why insisted on? Because they gave distinction and place in the world. If the pride of authority, and the pride of separation were dissolved, (neither of which are of the Spirit of Christ,) and the word of the Lord be taken as the sole practical guide, and sought to be acted up to by believers, we shall be spared much judgment, though we shall not perhaps, find altogether the glory of the Lord; and many a poor believer, on whom the eye of the Lord is set for blessing, would find rest and comfort; yet to each I say, fear not, you know in whom you have believed; and if judgments do come, dearest brethren, ye may lift up your heads, “for your redemption draweth nigh.” But for the Churches, if yet the Lord might have mercy, for sanction them in their present state He cannot, as they must own, let them judge themselves by the word. Let believers remove the hindrances to the Lord’s glory, which their own inconsistencies present, and by which they are joined to the world, and their judgments perverted. Let them commune one with another, seeking His will from the word, and see if a blessing do not attend it; at any rate it will attend themselves; they will meet the Lord as those that have waited for Him, and can rejoice unfeignedly in His salvation. Let them begin by studying the twelfth chapter of the epistle to the Romans, if they think they are partakers of the unspeakable redemption wrought by the cross.

Let me ask the professing Churches in all love, one question. They have often professed to the Roman Catholics, and truly too, their unity in doctrinal faith; why then is there not an actual unity? If they see error in each other, ought they not to be humbled for each other? Why not, as far as was attained, “mind the same rule, speak the same thing, and if in anything there was diversity of mind, instead of disputing on the footing of ignorance, wait in prayer, that God might reveal this also unto them.”

Ought not those who love the Lord amongst them, to see if they could not discern a cause? Yet I well know, that till the spirit of the world be purged from amongst them, unity cannot be, nor believers find safe rest. I fear lest it should be by the “spirit of judgment, and the spirit of burning.” The children of God can but follow one thing—the glory of the Lord’s name; and that according to the way marked in the word: if the professing Church be proud of itself, and neglect this, they are left nothing else, but as He, that He might sanctify the people, with His own blood, “suffered without the gate, to go forth to Him without the camp, bearing His reproach.” It were well to weigh deeply the second and third chapters of Zephaniah. What is going on in England at this moment? a moment of anxiety and distress of judgment among her political and thinking men. Why, we see the dissenting Churches using the advocacy of actual unbelievers, and the established Church of practical unbelievers, (I say it in no scorn to them,) to obtain a. share in, or keep to themselves the secular advantages and honors of that world, out of which the Lord came to redeem us. Is this like His peculiar people?—What have I to do with these things? nothing. But as there are brethren connected both with one and the other, every one who thinks of it, has to testify with his whole strength, that somehow or other they may keep themselves clear of it, that they be not ashamed in the day of the Lord’s coming. And many whom the people of God have trusted in and relied upon, as they that have understanding, go on in the train, and the simple, as they that followed Absalom, go on after them, not knowing where they are going.

For my own part, I cannot doubt the progress of events. That we are in the closing scene of revolution, moral as well as political, no person of any perception can doubt. Not closing as to judgment, that in God’s own time, but closing in its principles—in its moral character, the ripening of the tares and wheat for harvest. The question is as to the character of these events, and how they affect the real Christian—God’s servant. This is matter of spiritual discernment, and above all it shows the intrinsic value of prophecy—the light in a dark place, till the day dawn. The dissenters have sought, have joined the world: and if the Establishment has been amalgamated with it, the eagerness of actual pursuit has marked the steps of the dissenters. Both will be joined in it together; and the world is the sphere of judgment. Of the progress of popery, I have no doubt; and that while infidelity or mere secular power, unmindful of God, and not counting blessing to flow from Him, but itself, holds the reins, the false prophet will in result be the counselor and self-interested friend of its power. As far as high churchism remains, it will fall into this, and reckon the Pope as metropolitan, or some such thing. As far as the dwellers upon earth, those not the Lamb’s, have the name of religion, they will be the Pope’s, and little as they think it, the dissenters will be in a similar snare. They have sought the world and the world they will have—but the world in its infidel state. In a word, till the Lord be king, the saints cannot have, or desire, or seek it. Worship answering no worldly purpose and yet not spiritual, will soon be too foolish a thing; and a general attendance at present upon it, without any influence, only directly tends to this result. There is no one thing so neutralizes the power of Christianity, as a chapel or a church, where the individual is not brought to the Lord by it; it fits him for the heart indifference of leaving religion to the clergy, which is but popery; or the systematic indifference of leaving it to anybody that likes it, which is just the character of infidelity—. And when the principles are fully ripened, they will be manifest, and manifest in all that are not saints. And this will speedily have a full characteristic development, and then, coming under its proper head, (and developing itself in its details) will sink into its final corporate arrangement in evil, “for God hath put it into their hearts.” Meanwhile, what are the saints to do? I have no doubt at all in saying, that the present arrangements (ecclesiastical I mean,) of the country, will not last a year; and that the result of the arrangements which will follow, will be to put the country under the direct dominion of infidelity and popery, and of the Pope or Primate of Rome in the close—we have the present evidence in principle, in the worldliness of the established system, and the stronger eagerness of the dissenters after power and influence in the world. That many saints will be gathered out of all these, when they assume this evil character, I have not the least doubt. But I say farther, there are principles working which show moral revolution and dissatisfaction within these bodies with their own system, which are loosening their ties, while they will subject them to the more energetic agency of the great master principles over evil human nature—infidelity and popery; but this by-and-bye. But “a house divided against a house cannot stand;” and this will be found in dissent, as well as in the form of the Church Establishment, and in which case those who least expect it, will be themselves, I do not doubt. But if it be thus worldly, does anybody doubt they are seeking worldly power as others to keep it? The path of the saints is most simple; their portion is heavenly; to be not of the world, as Christ is not of the world: to be clear from all their plans, which will result only in the confusion of antichrist’s power, when they have lost all their principles, and know not where they are. If the saint knows his intrinsically, his path is very clear, to wit, the spirit of separation from the world, through the knowledge of the death, and power, and glory, and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if the Church so called, be mixed up with the world in its objects, it only closes in the last form of the truth: “vanity of vanities saith the preacher, all is vanity,” in the truth; “I looked in the place of judgment, and behold wickedness; and in the place of righteousness, and behold iniquity:” and hence growing positive separation from them all.

The only point besides which it is important to notice, is the direct and undoubted title of Christians (inasmuch as it then ceases to be schism, and is schism only from what is worldly, which is a Christian’s duty;) to meet together and break bread, if they wish it or feel its need; not leaning upon ministry or assuming anything, or pretending to set up Churches, but simply (upon the ground that “where two or three are gathered together, there is Christ in the midst of them;”) as individuals, merely separating from present evil. The charge of disorder and presumption will be easily bandied against such: the best refutation is holiness and meekness, with utter separation from the world; and it might very soon be proved (were it desirable) that there is more disorder, and if they please, presumption too, in the assumption of those who make the charge, than in the quiet deportment of those who seek godliness and flee from evil, which those who thus charge them, prevent their getting rid of. But Christ has provided in the gospel for such a case, and while evil has confessedly grown up in the corporate system of the Church, and ministry may be valued, where it is sound, and be nothing where its form or name may exist: “neither in this mountain nor at Jerusalem, do men worship the Father, but true worshippers worship the Father in Spirit and in truth,” in the liberty of sons. “The Father seeketh such to worship Him,” and where such are, His worship is; and “where two or three are gathered together in Jesus’ name, there His name is recorded to bless;” this is the essence of this dispensation, whatever arrangements may have resulted from other truths or ministrations. If schism be charged, schism from the world is always right; and above all, now a duty to Christ, and the dishonor of the Church, is the chief dishonor to Him. If pride be in them who do it, it will soon come to naught, and is evil wherever it is. The Father seeketh not such to worship Him.

On the other hand there is a warning to be noticed; it is just when the Lord had said it was a broad way, as the nominal Church is which leads to destruction, and charges them to “enter in at the strait gate,” that He, the Lord adds, “beware of false prophets.” If the sheep are led out of the fold where they were, because the glory of the Lord abideth not upon it, it is exactly then the enemy would wait to seize them alone, if he could. The sheep of Christ shall surely be finally kept; but humbleness of mind is a great means of being kept in the way, for it leans ever on the shepherd’s arm; we are not the more safe for staying where judgment is coming. Let a saint use the means God has provided, by which he may escape the snare, “let him prove all things, and hold fast that which is good;” let him delight in fellowship with other Christians in whom there is the same grace, who are seeking holiness for the sake of Christ: “he that believeth shall not make haste.” “Ye shall know them by their fruits,” not merely in themselves, but much more in their disciples; the fruits produced by their doctrines, not merely the form necessarily maintained by themselves: this is not the fruit of their doctrine, save as it is hypocrisy. So in desiring the Hebrews to follow the faith of their rulers, He refers them to the result of their conversation, above all remembering that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever:” so that they should not “be carried about with divers and strange doctrines.” Perfect liberty of heart from man, but perfect subjection of it to God, which will honor His grace wherever it is seen, and above all will hold fast, by its experimental knowledge of the Holy One of God, communion with whom, is the great safeguard against the snares of Satan in cur walk, and the instrument of that fellowship with saints, which in subjection to one another, ministers to the safeguard and security of all; and while having most perfect liberty, as the scriptures affirm, and indeed experience has abundantly proved in personal blessing, to hold full fellowship in communion one with another, let them take heed of building again the things they have destroyed, in forming Churches, in resting upon individual influence, which shall but pave the way for a result common to all that exist, though they may honor the grace which may be given to any to help. Individual leading, I believe to be the destruction of the Church now, because it is not the Spirit’s leading; (though if the Spirit be in the individual, there will be its measure of power)— whilst universal subjection to the Spirit, is our great, peculiar, and proposed safeguard and strength: in a word, the spirit of personal humbleness, holding fast by Christ, and proving all things by virtue of that communion, fed in knowledge by the word of God, and whose estimate of holiness will reach as far as the windings of the human intellect, or the vainer subtilties of human passions or affections if unsubdued. And let us remember, “if we walk in the light as God is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.” And if judgment is coming, as it surely is, though men shall not see it, till it does come, saying “peace and safety,” I warn with this word: “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth”—not the dwellers in heaven. And if they feel they have only a little strength, they will find that the Lord hath set before them an open door, which no man shuts, which the Lord has opened, and they adoring His hand have only to walk in, with this honor of blessing, (oh how undeservedly put upon us;)

“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience.”

The Lord give us grace to walk in His ways.

On the Propitiation of Christ

By the transgression of Adam, the whole of mankind were so entirely separated from God, that it was impossible for His love to justify any, (Rom. 3:25,26) or even to visit—them with temporal mercies, unless some satisfaction were made to His justice. This will be admitted by all who feel the entire holiness of God and the exceeding sinfulness of sin.

But the world was still the object of love:—Christ fulfilled the gracious purpose of the Father, in making the needful satisfaction; — and hereby “where sin abounded, grace did more abound.” Sent by the love of the Father, He removed the “sin of the world” (John 1) in such a sense, that the “riches of divine goodness, and forbearance and long-suffering,” (Rom. 2) were again open to man without any violation of the attributes of God. It is in this sense that the scriptures speak of an universal propitiation, (John 1:29., 1 John 2:2.) by means of which, all men are, in an important sense, objects of the direct favor of God, “for He is the Savior of all men, specially of those who believe.”

This favor is manifested in many ways; “He giveth to all men food from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14:17.) “He maketh His sun to rise upon the evil and upon the good, and sendeth His rain upon the just and upon the unjust.” He is kind to the unthankful and to the evil; but above all, He sends to all men the “report” (ακοη) concerning the salvation that is in Christ, and directs us to the gift of His Son for the proof of His love to the world.

“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believed in Him might not perish.”

“God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

“I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.”

“Look unto me and be saved all ye ends of the earth.”

It is on the ground of this universal love, that we are commanded to go unto all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature—to say, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself; that is, that God has in the greatness of His mercy, left the position where instant wrath must have met every sinner that approached, and has placed Himself on the level of sinners, ready to receive all who came, simply on the ground of their being the sinful descendants of Adam. He receives them, “not imputing to them their trespasses,” but through faith justifying the ungodly. We are not addressed in the gospel message as being Jew or Gentile, male or female, elect or non, elect, but simply and solely, as being ruined children of Adam, as being OF the world; and thus, through every turn of our life, our title to mercy is substantiated, the unpardonable sin alone excepted.

Such then is the position in which the world is placed. It is loved by God, addressed by Him, and though not pardoned, as Mr. Erskine unscripturally says, yet assured that a pardon is prepared and certain for all who come. “Therefore, let him who heareth, say, come; and let him that is athirst, say, come; and whosoever will, let him come and take of the fountain of the water of life freely,”

The barrier then, which the righteous holiness of God had necessarily raised, is altogether broken down, for the world as well as for the Church, by the propitiation of Christ Jesus, which is therefore, in this sense—universal. Nevertheless, mankind are not reconciled to God, for they continue to maintain THEIR barrier against Him.

“I have called, but ye have refused.” (Prov. 1:24.)

“Ye WILL not come unto me that ye might have life.” (John 5:40.)

And what was true of Jerusalem is now true of the world— “How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings) and ye would not.”

It is the rejection of love which is the world’s condemnation; it is this that will judge them at the last day. The light, even the light of God’s love hath shone upon them: “but they love darkness rather than light;” they strengthen their barrier against God, and make His word of life, a “savor of death unto death.” The barrier is man’s perverse will, strong enough to have prevented one single individual from being saved: strong enough to have frustrated the manifestation of love in Christ, if God did not interfere by a second act of special grace, whereby He removes the barrier from some, though not from all, and plucks the Church “like a brand from the burning.”

Accordingly, He chose the Church unto salvation in Christ. He identified them with Him, both in His death and in His resurrection. (Rom. 6) “Christ bore all their sins in His own body on the accursed tree.” (Gal. 3:13.) He sanctified them by the offering of His body on the cross; (Heb. 10:10-12., and Psa. 1. 5.) and as the result of this, the Spirit, as the earnest of their inheritance, is sent into their hearts, crying, Abba, Father. All these things are true of the Church only, and not of the world.

And here, we should remark the entire submission of the Son to the Father, as to the reward of His service. The Son does not choose those who should be saved, but the Father; no definite assignment as to the character or extent of the reward is determined, but all is left to the love of the Father who sent Him. Thus in Isa. 49 the Son is thus addressed by the Father: “Thou art my servant O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” Then said I, (since Israel has rejected me) “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for naught and in vain; yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.” Here is the entire consignment of all, into the hands of His Father; and His faith is not unanswered: “He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.” Even as respects the literal Israel, the work shall not utterly fail; “but it is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth.” In the days of His flesh also, when Jesus beheld the apparently total failure of His ministry among the Jews, the thought on which His soul rested, was this— “all that the Father giveth me shall come unto me.” “I thank thee O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.”

It is deeply important, not to despise either of these branches of truth. Our own souls, and the souls of others must suffer thereby. If we do not see the universal love of God to the world, we shall, in the first place, lose the mainspring of encouragement to preach the gospel, and contract an evil narrowness of mind, from which we ourselves shall surely suffer great loss; secondly, we shall obscure the view of the malignity of man’s aversion to God, as shown in the rejection of His free and costly love; and lastly, we shall inadequately appreciate the second act of God’s mercy, in the unmerited rescue of the Church, who like the world, condemn them. serves by the rejection of Christ.

The new responsibility under which man is placed, by the extent of the propitiation of Christ, cannot be marked too strongly. Man is now dealt with in grace, upon the acknowledged principle of having sinned and come short of the glory of God; and this on the ground of the work of Christ.

While therefore, through this work of God’s own graciousness He is enabled to present Himself to men in the blessed position of not imputing their trespasses unto them, yet, the fearful character of wrath to the unbeliever, immediately results from it; because he is judged, not merely as a rebel against God, for there are the means of reconciliation for that, but as a despiser of God’s goodness and love. “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation.”

On the other hand, if we do not see the peculiarity and perfectness of God’s love towards the Church, as detailed for example in the first two chapters of the Ephesians, we shall want that firm steadfastness in the faith, which is derived through the knowledge that Christ has purchased the Church to a sure and certain salvation, with everything that is necessary, as means or conditions, freely provided and freely given. “By grace ye are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works lest any man should boast; for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

On Zechariah 11

The eleventh chapter of Zechariah has generally been thought one of considerable difficulty; but there are some points in our Lord’s character, and the unfolding of the purposes of God in His actual ministry, which I think make comparatively easy what seems most difficult, and may, perhaps, lead the way to what is yet unexplained. The strong expression of our Lord’s mind in Spirit—the full representation of the moral force in the sight of God of what took place upon His presence on earth—the breaking up of all God’s purposes in their present ministration—the immense importance which we find consequently to be attached to what in the eye of reason might seem small circumstances, because the principles of God’s moral government are involved in them, and all brought out into relief in the person of the Lord Jesus; all contribute to attach the deepest interest to this morally comprehensive chapter, as God’s version of all that then passed. The glory of the house of Israel is laid low—its external strength and glory. The glory of the shepherds is spoiled—its rulers and guides. The pride of the river of Israel is spoiled—the national fullness and power.

This is the general statement. The command follows—

“Feed the flock of the slaughter.” Their possessors, (though I have doubted it,) I apprehend, must be the Gentiles. Their own people, those that sell them to them; Herod for example, and the preceding chief priests and princes, or any such characters; some one who owned Jehovah, but sold His people; the Lord does not think it necessary to say who they are, as He owns them not at all; they are possessed by those who slay them, and sold by persons more or less owning the Lord openly, but loving covetousness, — anything but the Lord’s care as to their present estate. This flock of the slaughter—their own shepherds, (who they are there can be no doubt) their own leaders and rulers pity them not. The 4th verse is the delivery of them, under these circumstances, into the Lord Christ’s hands to feed, or take charge of them. The next verse shows however, that the body of the nation then, who inhabited the land indeed, but were not God’s flock, (compare 1 Peter 5 and the corresponding charge to Peter in John 21 all of which is properly Jewish,) would not be spared. “I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land—Israel’s land, saith the Lord; but lo, I will deliver,” &c. When the care was delivered to Him, He would not spare but deliver them to the fruit of their own ways. Such would be the general state of the inhabitants of the land, and then, “I will feed the flock of the slaughter,” —the poor, despised people. “Blessed are the poor, and ye poor,” said the Lord, Himself the feeder of the flock of the slaughter: generally the nation was the flock of the slaughter; but in His hand a distinction was made, between those who were identified with the slayers, and the real flock of the slaughter, even the poor whom He saved. In judgment He had given up the inhabitants of the land, every man to his neighbor; He would not be a judge and a divider over them; and Herod and Caesar alike preyed upon the land, and they all preyed upon each other—now especially Caesar their king, “we have no king but Caesar.” But he took his two staves, of which words we shall see the force presently, and He fed them as a good shepherd, even them—the poor of the flock: as for their shepherds they were cut off; between them and the good shepherd there was nothing in common. His soul loathed them, and their soul abhorred Him. He had taken however two staves, one, Beauty; and the other, Bands; and fed the flock.

Then viewed as in connection with their shepherds as a nation which must abhor Him, He would not feed the flock; as such they were delivered up to the fruit of their own will and depravity as it came upon them. And He took His staff, Beauty, and cut it asunder, that He might break the covenant He had made with all the people, that is, all the peoples כּל־חעמּים. Now this was formally done at the destruction of Jerusalem, and in fact at the rejection or death of our Lord, when He refused the nation, or when the nation refused Him; in principle, when they rejected His word and works. To Him was the gathering of the עמים to be. All nations were to be gathered to the throne of the Lord, to Jerusalem; this was the great, wide, circling covenant, that was made by Christ—made with Christ. This gathering of the peoples to Jerusalem, clothing herself with them all, was the great gathering foretold; it was to be to Jerusalem, but it was of the peoples; but when Jerusalem rejected Him, to whom was it to be? So upon the rejection of Him, He broke the covenant made with the peoples, and the destruction and rejection of Jerusalem made the poor of the flock that waited upon Him know that it was the word of the Lord; they knew in faith upon His rejection. It was then manifested in result, for His rejection had proved the rejection of all their hopes, and they lost the gathering of the nations. The whole plan was not abandoned but frustrated, that is, in present ministration, (in the wisdom of God’s counsels) in the rejection of the Lord, who had shown and warned of all this, and Jesus was the Lord.

Nothing, I think, can be more simple, if the gathering of the nations (עמּיס) promised to Shiloh be seen, and that to Jerusalem, nor than the necessary results as testified by Him on His rejection, proving as to them who might be perplexed upon His rejection by the shepherds, who He was—that very Word of the Lord, and Himself the truth of all He said. His word in Zechariah was proved true—it was Himself in all that chapter. But there was another point incident to the acknowledgment of the Lord. Being thus refused, He says, “Well, what do you think me worth?” This would have been most strange, even after His rejection— “You have rejected me, I came for no other purpose, what do you think me worth? what is your judgment of the Lord?” Oh! what condemnation, while they thought they condemned Him. “If you think good, give me my price; if not, forbear.” — “I count myself nothing worth, I put no price upon myself, you can do what you please.” The fulfillment of this—our Lord indeed became as a servant—is too well, too little, known in its verity, to need or to be met by verbal explanation. The transition from all the expectations or titles of Shiloh in meek submission, when He would not have Israel, and He the Lord, is marvelous. It is here we learn what we can learn nowhere else—the strange meaning of that word, obedience—the marvelous mystery of the submission of the Lord. It is here in the contrast from Shiloh to a rejected slave not opening his mouth even for the price, (may we have grace to own Him in humiliation) discerned of us. But He was really the Lord in all this, which is the very revelation of this chapter, and it was the judicial process (yet saving to the remnant) of presenting the Lord to them.

There was another consequence connected with the acknowledgment of Shiloh, they were to be made one stick; the union of Israel and Judah was to be in His hand; the accompaniment of the same headship which involved the gathering of the Ammi, “then shall the children of Israel and the children of Judah be gathered together, and appoint unto themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel.” And though Jerusalem was to be the head—the Jehovah Shammai; yet they were to be no more two, but one in the land; and so the Lord always owned them. Zebulon and Naphtali saw a great tight, and the poor of the flock “the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” indiscriminately met His care, scattered though they might be, but that unity depended upon David their king—their one head. His rejection broke all this; He cut asunder His other staff, “Bands,” to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel; and this surely shall not be united again, till the king be owned again, and then indeed shall these things be according to the sure mercies of David; till then, even if in their land, they shall be a divided and a weakened people; and as I believe, “Ephraim against Manasseh, and they together against Judah t for all which, His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.” The 15th verse, and possibly also the 17th, but surely the 15th and 16th, I believe to belong to the presumptuous shepherd, the fool that says in his heart, “there is no God;” one who shall come in his own name, whom they will receive. Lord forgive them yet and deliver. The word is not merely “foolish,” though I have alluded to that word, but אולי which includes in connection with the Lord, impiety, folly against God, in a word—Antichrist. They are given up after Christ is rejected, the Gentile mystery coming in meanwhile. The idol shepherd does not seem to me to go quite so far, perhaps it applies to the Jews in that day, who desert the flock when evil comes. The shepherd who is nothing—emptiness. Yet Jerusalem shall be made a cup of trembling in that day, to the nations round about her, but this is the Lord’s mercy. Having then given what the leading principles of the chapter appear to me to be, I will not pursue that which follows, though the affording the leading principle of the whole of this prophecy would be of the deepest interest, and, I believe, afford much instruction in the testimony of God.

The following chapters are the results in the latter day, with which the prophet then is wholly occupied—the rejection of Christ, and giving up to Antichrist and the idol shepherds, being the basis on which it rests.

We have then in the chapter—the judgment in which the Lord found the Jews—Israel, and to which, in point of fact, they were given up—then the history of His assuming the pastorship—His rejecting, as He must, the exceeding evil state of them that dwelt in the land—His taking the poor of the flock, but the rejection by Him of the shepherds, and of Him by them. He had assumed necessarily in the pastorship, humble as He might seem, the double rod, not yet made one, of God’s government; but upon His rejection by the shepherds, He broke that which involved the gathering of the nations; and, so to speak, neither He nor Jerusalem were of any more avail as the then fulfillers of this counsel. It was left to the shepherds to count His price, and they gave thirty pieces of silver; but Jerusalem and they were comparatively then given up; He alone could or would gather them. “How often would I have gathered thy children together?” (Matt. 23:37.) Then what was the use of His other staff? He broke that also, even the bond of Israel itself, that also was gone in Him; they were then given up to the foolish shepherd, though this was left future, with a woe upon their own then faithless one. Subsequently comes the unfolding of God’s unaltered purpose concerning Jerusalem, and the sure glory of Him whom they had rejected in His real and gracious character, in spite of their iniquity.

Brethren, beloved of the Lord, how should we dwell upon the extent of gracious and marvelous humiliation of that word— “If ye think well, give me my price; and if not, forbear;” even for Him whose all the glory was, “which things angels desire to look into,” — “a goodly price” that He was prized at by them. Oh! what is man? and what is Jesus to us?—The Lord our God,

On Zechariah 11

In connection with a paper which appeared in the last number, we would make a few further remarks on this important chapter. It contains much practical instruction.

God has allowed man many times to struggle against, and apparently to defeat the counsels of His love; and this chapter describes the willful opposition of Israel to the tender care of their shepherd.

The character of His shepherd care is marked by the two staves “Beauty” and “Bands.” He was appointed to feed them with this view, that they might be so beautiful in moral comeliness, and so strong in the grace which He gave, and so united in holy fellowship, that all nations might call them blessed. It was for this end that they were separated from the nations, that they might be blessed and a blessing unto others: and while they continued to value the privilege of being separate, they were not rejected, though they often transgressed and were often punished; yet, when in their distress, they sought the Lord to lean upon His arm, they were not cast off; but when they ceased to value their privilege of being separate into identification with His strength, and when they professedly and openly acknowledged the king of Assyria as their hope, them the love of God obliged Him to disown them. For to pour grace and goodness upon those who were separate and leaning upon Him, would end in universal good; because it would lead to Him, who alone can satisfy every want: but to accredit that which was resting on the strength of man, would be to guide into sorrow and disappointment of spirit. It would encourage the leaning on a broken reed.

Accordingly He brake the staff Beauty, The visible token of His presence departed from the temple; the beauty of the Lord their God was no longer upon them, establishing their handiwork; and men could no longer say what had been said to Solomon “Happy are these thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdom.”

The staff of Beauty was broken. The Gentile image, as revealed to Daniel, was allowed to arise. The power and the glory were given to it, but it was the power of blessing no longer; for it was no longer administered by the shepherd of Israel; though it is His rightful possession, and soon He shall clothe Himself with it again.

The flock at large cared little about the breaking of Beauty, for they understood it not. But “the poor of the flock, the remnant according to the election of grace,” understood that it was the word of the Lord. They are marked as having been long the object of the shepherd’s care; for whose sakes He was content to wait upon the universal flock, even after they had become, in God’s sentence, the flock of slaughter; i.e. devoted to judgment. (verse 7) But “Bands” was allowed to remain, even after Beauty was broken. The holy union of the family of Jacob was, as it were, the platform of blessing, on which His goodness was to be known to all the peoples: and He was lothe to break it up; and therefore, though no longer professing to feed the universal flock, for He had now said, “I will not feed you,” yet He still fed the “poor of the flock,” and was still ready to feed all that should come and submit to the one staff which still remained unbroken. But they continued regardless both of what they had lost and of what they were losing; and instead of being humbled when He personally came to try them for the last time, they proudly said, “We are Abraham’s seed, we were never in bondage to any man,” and they valued the shepherd of Israel at thirty pieces of silver.

And then Bands was broken also. The holy union of those who should have been brethren in the common blessing of separation from the rest of the world, was broken up, and no vision of peace was seen in Jerusalem.

The “poor of the flock” were not forgotten. It was said to them, “Fear not little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” But as to the rest, they have passed and they will pass from shepherd to shepherd, until they shall come, as they speedily will, beneath the care of their last shepherd, even Antichrist, “who shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed him that standeth still, but he shall eat of the flesh of the fat and tear their claws in pieces.” (verse 16.)

But these things were written for our instruction. The Jewish branch was broken off from its own olive tree, but the Gentile was grafted in. The Jewish flock was displaced, but a Gentile flock was chosen; they were fed beneath the staff Beauty at first; and they answered to its care. “I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; that in everything ye are enriched by Him in all utterance and in all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you; so that ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And again— “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.” (Rom. 1) Such is the testimony of the Spirit to the early state of the Gentile Church.

But when did this Beauty depart? It soon began to wane and it was waning long, but when they professedly ceased to be Nazarites, separate unto the Lord, it departed altogether. Whilst they rejoiced in believing that they had no earthly head nor any earthly power but that their Head had passed into the heavens, and chat their power was the strength of His Spirit—then they were strong, though they were not untried by the enemy. They were tried first by the persecutions arising from without, and they were strong because they rested on the Lord; they were tried with heresies and persecutions arising from within, they sought refuge in the powers of earth and the Beauty departed like the Shechinah from the temple; and the Church, as formerly constituted upon earth to be the witness of Christ’s glory, ceased to be recognized in this character at all. The Church and the world were no longer distinguishable, and God could not give His glory to the world, The staff Beauty “was broken in that day, and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me, knew that it was the word of the Lord.”

But the others have not known it. The sentence, “I will not feed you” has been long pronounced, yet they still continue to say in careless thoughtlessness— “We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” Like the Jews who prided themselves in saying, “We are Abraham’s seed,” long after they had practically renounced every moral feature by which Abraham was characterized; so also do the Gentiles in apostasy continue to boast that they are the successors of the Apostles and the inheritors of their power, and the very thought of apostasy is a stranger to their minds.

But not only so, not only are they grasping a phantom, in entire unconsciousness of the reality which they have lost, but the blessing which yet remains is neglected or despised. There is yet one staff, under which He would feed whosoever comes, and that staff is Bands; but every system which they have constructed whilst clothing the world with the garments of the Church, has been such as to hinder true Christian brotherhood and the unity of the one Spirit, by constraining to uniformity, and thereby multiplying division.

Nor have “the poor of the flock” walked in wisdom. There are two things which become them; first—to testify against those who would speak and act as though Beauty had not been broken; i.e., as though there were no apostasy; and secondly—to remember that “Unity” is the one thing to which the voice of their shepherd continues to call. But even the poor of the flock have not regarded these things, and are losing both the privilege of testifying against the evil and the blessing of obedience to the good.

To what amount of blessing obedience might lead it is impossible for any to say. The Holy Spirit, though grieved, has not left the poor of the flock, but He abideth with them and will abide with them even to the end. And if we were seeking to be united in the bond of peace and to edify one another in love, we should find that He still gives in measure the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge, and enables to speak to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

These are gifts which “the poor of the flock” value even more than the gifts of healing or the working of miracles; but the rest would not recognize their preciousness, for they would give the Church no beauty or authority of testimony in the eyes of the world. They would only lead towards the meekness, and passiveness, and separateness of Christ; and such separateness the world is even now reprobating as folly, rather than recognizing as good.

But to those among the remnant, who are of single eye, it would carry a moral testimony of no trifling power. The example even of one believer who forsakes houses or lands for the kingdom of heaven’s sake, is not felt to be powerless; and if the testimony were the united testimony of many, there would doubtless be much result of blessing. Like the testimony of Christ, in humiliation, it might be despised and rejected of men, but it would work its work among the children of the kingdom.

I firmly believe that this chapter teaches us a lesson of infinite importance now; every one may see how all systems are being shaken and many are devising new plans. Let this be the touchstone; whether they meet the great present requirement of our shepherd—Unity; for if they impede the unity of the poor of the flock, they may at once be rejected as essentially evil. But oh! it is indeed very grievous, and if we had more of the Spirit, we should feel our hearts burthened, when we remember how little the children of the kingdom think of unity, though it is the great desire of the shepherd’s mind; the fruit of simple obedience to that plain command, “whereunto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.”

Such unity the Lord would bless: it is the necessary pre-requisite to mutual edification in love, without which the Church cannot flourish so as for fruit to abound. But such unity is not found. We are separated and divided, and never meet together at all.

The staff “Bands” is and may be despised, but it will he broken at an hour when men think not; and then both Jew and Gentile will pass together under the care of that wicked one, who is described in the latter part of this chapter, and of whom it is written, that all shall worship Him whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life; (Rev. 13) for God shall send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie. (2 Thess. 2)

Dear Christian brethren, if these principles be true, our path is clearly determined. We have to remember that “Beauty” is broken; and therefore we need not wonder that strength and comeliness have departed. We have to remember also that “Bands” remaineth, and that there is the point of our present obedience. And whilst we fully recognize the former standing and present responsibilities of the general flock, we must beware of treating them as though the Lo-ammi sentence, “I will not, feed you,” (Zech. 11) had not been pronounced against them. We must watchfully remember that that sentence is irreversibly past, and that the poor of the flock are alone to be recognized as those whom the Shepherd really feedeth with the staff BANDS.

May He add unto their number daily, for His own mercies’ sake.

Parable of the Sower-Matt. 13

Dear Sir,

There is so much instruction in the scripture, that I find it impossible, in giving a few hints on any portion of the text of it, to attempt to bring out the breadth and length of its various applications. Indeed, as flowing from God, and bearing continually the impress of the fullness of His character, I constantly find, in opening, under God’s mercy, any particular passage at different times and under different circumstances, that it presents itself in bearings so entirely different, that, although not in reality inconsistent, they could not be thought, by one untaught of God, to be drawn from the same passage. It is this which so strongly marks and contrasts the word of God with any human writings. While these are the expressions of a judgment formed on results, or the imperfect discussion of unascertained thought, the writing of God is the expression of the full perfectness of the divine mind, bearing upon that which diversified it, (while in itself intrinsically the same,) according to the infinitely various reflection of that on which it expresses itself. This leads us to remember how one ought to lean upon the Spirit for the right use of scripture, and also in speaking on it, for He alone knows its right and suitable application. We also learn why the best commentators must be so entirely imperfect, or I would say, we see the evil of the best commentators; for they cannot express the applicable power of the divine mind in the circumstances of the person reading, but merely what their mind has received out of it at the time of writing, which may not be at all what the individual or Church needs, or the Spirit would give at another time; and this too, on the supposition that every comment is right as far as it goes—is a part of the divine mind in the scripture. Hence the poverty of understanding, and the systems also into which men have fallen, and hence also partly, the divisions in the Church have been established as they are.

I have been led into this, by attempting to offer some thoughts on the parable of the Sower, given by our Lord in Matt. 13; a parable on which so many lectures have been given, differing perhaps in many important applications, yet all, where the mind of the Spirit was, acknowledging the same general truths, and not interpreting the parable inconsistently; nor is this by any means confined to this passage. The Lord has led me to speak of this, I am conscious with most different applications at different times, and perhaps in each, only bringing out small portions of the divine mind. In writing the following remarks, I am but doing the same thing, yet I think in a view neither unimportant or uninteresting as far as it goes. I could not attempt here to use it as I might in addressing others, but merely to afford the view itself, with any casual scripture confirmation of it.

It is most important for us to remember, that all that, which is the power of death in the unbeliever, is the hindrance and blight of the fruit bearing power of the believer’s life, to which the energies afforded us in the divine persons apply themselves. This is brought out into full light, with its specific remedy, in the graciousness of God in this parable. There is the case of the fowls of the air, the stony ground, the sowing among thorns, and in the good ground, thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold. The first of these we know is the power of Satan—the power of death. There is no life in the soul. When the word of it is sown in the unbroken heart, the devil takes it away as soon as it is sown. He holds it in unremoved death—the word is the power of life. “Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth, that we might be the first-fruits of his creatures.” It is indeed the He of the devil, by which be brought in death, and holds men in it, in which he is a murderer; so on the other hand, by the truth of God are we made alive. But there is one, (Himself indeed the WORD,) who is specifically the quickening power, even the Son of God. “The second Adam is the quickening Spirit.” He then who vindicates from this state of death, and makes alive, is the Son of God. The Son of man sows the seed, but it is the Son of God which quickens— “for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” It is the special, distinctive character of His Sonship, that He quickens with divine power, as indeed none else could. Compare John 5:21,24,26. This is most explicit, and no one acquainted with scripture can have failed to recognize this power of life in the Son of God as distinctly representing His power and character. He declares Himself, “I am the resurrection and the life;” and this by His word, “Lazarus come forth.” The results of this we shall not now follow, but we have the Son of God, by the word, destroying the works of the devil in the state and power of death. This is the first case of the parable. That which is in him, is the opposite power, which overcomes the evil case mentioned, and a man brings forth thirty fold, for being really alive be must increase and bring forth fruit.

But there is another case put, not so apparently desperate, but equally destructive—the receiving the word into shallow ground. There was no root. It was received superficially; speedily “sprang up because it had no deepness of earth;” it had no searching process of power in which it entered into the conscience and quickened the inner man. It rested in the natural affections and understanding which are after all—the flesh; it is received merely by the natural feelings, and therefore immediately acts, and with joy, since it reaches not the conscience; and the same natural feelings were of course as speedily acted on by trouble and persecution, and “immediately they are offended.” (Compare Mark 4) This, then, is all merely the flesh and comes to nothing. To this we know how uniformly the Spirit is opposed. “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other.” “They that are after the flesh, mind the things of the flesh; and they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” “If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds,” &c, It needs not to multiply passages of scripture to show the opposition of these two. But, we must observe that we have here in the Spirit the antagonist power which overcomes the flesh, and assuming a man to be alive, still does so. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit;” hence we know that this case is still the natural man, and that the things of the Spirit are what he has never received, though affections or intellect nay have been moved or delighted with the marvelous plan of redemption. But the same point holds good in a believer, that is, we find when men do not walk in the Spirit, of course they are profitless and low in their estate. It is in mortifying the flesh by the Spirit, that the fruits of the Spirit find comparatively free growth—it produces sixty fold. This, then, is the contrast here —the flesh and the Spirit; and we find in it, that the fairest form of the flesh, the apparently joyful reception of the word of the kingdom, whether it be in affection or intellect, comes to nothing; whatever it be occupied on, it is but “the desires of the flesh and of the mind.”

The third case, compared with other scriptures, is equally, I think, clear. The hindering power is declared directly, “the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things.” (Compare Mark 4, Luke 8) Now the world and the love of it, we continually find opposed to the Father. “All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world.” “Love not the world, neither the things of the world; if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” The hatred of the world to the Son, showed that it was not of the Father; and the children were not of this world any more than the Father, as allied to Him, even as Christ the Son was not of the world.

Every one familiarly and spiritually acquainted with the gospel of John, must have noticed the opposition between the world and the Sonship of Christ; one being associated with the Father, and the other directly opposed to the glory of the Father, in the great question of that Sonship in which alone it was known. Our Lord thus concludes the whole presenting of His work and His people to the Father— “Oh righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.” The whole chapter illustrates the question. Now we shall hence well understand the opposition between the two, and how “He who gave Himself for our sins, that tie might deliver us out of this present evil world,” closes that statement by saying— “and I have declared unto them thy name and I will declare it, that the love,” &c. But in the believer, even when not only quickened, but in the Spirit exercising himself to mortify the deeds of the body, who recognizes at once the evil of the flesh, (though we are little aware how subtilely and widely its beguiling and deceiving influence is spread, how fair a form inbred selfishness may assume,) and in whom, in an ordinary sense, the flesh is habitually in a measure mortified; how often do we find the world holding a prevailing power and recognized title over the judgment or habit, and the fruitfulness, comparatively speaking, utterly marred. “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples.” Let us then recognize a priori, that is, from scripture, (excluding the consideration of the circumstances in which the lie of this world has power over our mind,) that the world is a positive hinderer of fruitfulness, the much fruit in which the Father is glorified; and for this plain reason—that our sonship, our inheritance, the kingdom is not recognized. The devil as he acts on us by the flesh— “the lust of the flesh,” “good for food,” or “of the eyes,” and the like, is the god and prince of this world; and the Spirit in them that are quickened, where not dimmed and darkened by the spirit of this world, is not only the power of the difference of the carnal and spiritual nature, but bears witness that we are sons and heirs. Thus at liberty, we cry by it, Abba, Father; and the fruits are an hundred fold, where we are free from the system in which we are fettered. The energy of the kingdom is there, the Savior of the kingdom is there, the stamp of the Father of glory, and hence in deadness to the world, power over it. The whole stamp of nature is different, we are not of the world as Christ is not of the world. Accordingly as we find the Lord the true vine, so we find the Father the husbandman, purging the branches that they may bring forth more fruit. We may be isolated indeed, but isolated sons, upon whom the glory of the Father shines in hope and the power of inward association; the sons of God, though in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. In a word, the children of God, the God who hath called us to “His own kingdom and glory,” the living God, is our distinguishing title, and as the Jews were affianced to Jehovah, we are called to be “perfect as our Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

I cannot pursue this subject farther here, though I may touch on it, with the Lord’s permission, at a future time. As regards the explanation of the parable, I would say a very few words more. The inseparableness of the evils, as well as of the gracious agents of covenant remedy, is not in question; the devil, the world, and the flesh, are too intimately associated to need explanation of our distinct Consideration of them; and I believe more intimately than people are commonly aware of. Of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, I need not speak; but while we have spoken of them in operation as to profit, we must not forget their unity in every act, whether of creation, or anything else, they invariably act in one, and as invariably, as far as I see, in the same order, that is by the Son, through the energy of the Spirit. Another remark is necessary. Although we have looked at the love of the world, as hindering the full characteristic fruitfulness of the children of God, and the knowledge and love of the Father as the contrasted character, we must remember that this knowledge in principle, is the position of every believer. “I write unto you little children, because ye have known the Father;” nor could we otherwise put all believers under this responsibility. But I believe it will be found that the measure of the fruitfulness of the life that is in them, much depends on their exercise in the truths here noticed and dwelt on; and that the character of their fruitfulness also much depends on their fuller and deeper apprehension of the one or the other; and that the apprehension of the Father in the full development of the Sonship glory, attaches quite a new character on the whole course of the Christian’s life. This is our proper calling; and while we must watch against the neglect of distinct reference to the Son, as administering the power of the kingdom against the “wicked one”—to the Spirit, as overcoming or detecting the workings and deceitful power of the flesh— to the Father in contrast with the love of the world, a defective apprehension of the principle of heavenly glory, will somewhere or other break down the efficiency of our Christian service. The fullness of all was in our Lord.; the fullness of all help in them is our practical responsibility; the enjoyment of fellowship with them our privilege, Ill-proportioned Christianity, believe, continually springs from the power of Satan, through neglect of, or hindering the special power of one or another of the persons, while indulgence of any of the evils is apt to throw us into the hands of Satan; and here is the wisdom of ministering to sick souls, for the source of the evil may be one, its manifestation may be another. How blessed to be able to refer to covenant assurance of a three-fold Almighty help for the several difficulties one evil may bring. A believer will be healthful and strong against the enemy, in proportion as he has just reference to all. I do not say that a believer’s progress is from knowing the Son, to the Spirit and the Father, far from it; but I believe the manifestation of the power and glory of their work will gradually unfold itself, even as the quickening by the Son will make the believer discern well the operations of the Spirit against the flesh, and both of these find their full development in the manifestation of the Father’s glory, in the consciousness (if he grow healthfully) that His kingdom is not of this world, In some cases of unusual energy of divine life, we see by God’s calling, all these apprehensions promptly developed, and the man consequently abundantly exercised, and his service great, corresponding to the knowledge received of the Son in the kingdom, as in the Apostles Peter and Paul; but I must not outstep the practical part of the subject. I am quite conscious, indeed particularly so, of the imperfection of these remarks; but I feel the importance of the subject deeply, and the basis of the view has been given: they are open to the correction or fuller application of those more versed in divine life. The wondrous and blessed grace of a developed covenant, the bright witness of the Son, and of the Father, and of glory: the grace in which they minister to the necessities of those who have no help in themselves, while they are growingly understood and adored objects alike of communion and worship, separating from all that is not of themselves. I feel too, that in speaking thus, I am treading on holy ground, but ground which our God in His mercy, has opened to us, and on which we are set to walk; freed from every fear, unless of not justly estimating it, by the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; cleansed from all that could offend them, by His blood, and acquainted with the boundless love which has brought these by it, while never reaching it, never able to be filled with it, knowing that it has reached even to us and filled us into its own fullness.

Let us also remember, that in the indulgence in one of these seemingly remote evils, brings in the power of the others; for God is not there. Thus Solomon’s indulgence of the world brought in the indulgence of the flesh, and the consequence was, the direct power of Satan, in the idolatrous worship of his wives. We might mention similar instances, but I close for the present. Only one thing it is important to remark. It is not either by speculation or knowledge these things are obtained, though they may be ministered. “We are sanctified unto obedience.” The spirit of obedience is the great secret of all the present and practical blessings of the believer; for the Spirit is not grieved, and so becomes the minister of the grace and knowledge both of the Father and of the Son; and the poorest, simplest believer walking thus, enjoys the blessings of the covenant faithfulness both of the Father, and the Lord, and the Spirit, to the blessed purposes of love in which we stand, and of divine glory.

I remain,

DEAR SIR,

Yours faithfully,

Parochial Arrangement Destructive of Order in the Church

“God is not the author of confusion.” 1 Cor. 14

To treat with apparent lightness of spirit anything that concerns the Church of God I hold to be a great sin; and though there are a few occasions, very low, and those not connected with the humiliation of Jesus, in which the folly of evil may be brought before the eyes of the many, yet my present subject, although absurd to the moral mind leads me to no such feelings, nor do I desire to treat it in any such spirit. Looking upon it as a matter wherein the Holy Ghost is grieved. and dishonored, if I speak under the influence of that Spirit, I shall feel grieved also: and such is my feeling whilst observing how much of that which wears the fairest appearance, and ranks highest in ordinary estimation—nay, which is considered as the very triumph of Christian skill, and perfection of ecclesiastical arrangement, is actually at utter variance with the mind of God, and consequently with essential beauty and truth, which are only expressions of that mind.

It is often thought that the complaint of the present state of the Church is a wild feeling, taking the dissatisfaction of self-will for the freedom of God’s Spirit, and seeking licentiousness under the name of liberty, and in defiance of order. But, where principles are not assumed (which is often the unsuspected foundation of many a pile of well-connected reasoning,) it would not be difficult to prove that such a complaint is not necessarily fanatical or visionary, and that the plain and practical path of obedience is marked out on the other hand by nothing more than common spiritual discernment, and common honesty of heart towards God. Now it appears to me that the present circumstances of the Church have destroyed order, as well as liberty, which two things, at any rate while man is a sinner, must go together; and this is shortly proved. Take the existing state of things in its broad lines—it is not order—that all, or the majority of those called pastors, should be, instead of pastors, unconverted men. Yet this is admitted—even by many who acquiesce in the circumstances which have of necessity produced this fruit. It cannot be called order that they should be appointed by man—(men perhaps not members of God’s Church) and not by God; this is not order, nor does it produce order, but dissent, and schism, and confusion. But this is a fact not only in its results, but in its principles—namely, that in what is called order, the appointment of the pastors flows from men not members of God’s Church at all. Succession, in whatsoever degree it may be rested upon, comes not from Christ the minister of God’s power, but from the prime minister. In days of infidelity or indifference it must be immediately evident to any one, into what danger this at once throws the Church, as far as it depends on this succession. Nor is this a speculative apprehension, for this danger is even now in full operation, and by no means a mere probability, but in fact working in its worst possible form, namely—in showing itself as the instrument of evil principles, not of good. Where such a fact is evident, and that on all sides, it may seem superfluous to reason on the principle of the succession itself, for we have its legitimate results before us; but as many who are children of God, hold by it, and seek to defend it, it may be of some service to the truth to state it on their own principles.

The ordinary arguments against all objections are usually these: that in theory the appointers are members of the Church of God, that in this view only they can look at it, and that the actual evil is no ground to go upon. But, as will be seen, Christians will often find themselves in strange situations who disregard actual evil on the assumption that the system which produces it is theoretically correct; for in this manner there may be no limit to the measure of practical wickedness which will be tolerated, while conscience satisfies itself on the plea of an abstract excellence which may turn out to be a mere shadow, or worse. Such, however, is not the path of sound and Christian principle, which at once pronounces that the actual evil is the ground to go upon. God acts upon it, even though the system may be His own, as in the case of the Jews. “Thee only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore will I punish you for your iniquities:” and the Church is bound to act upon it, having the intelligence of God’s Spirit to discern the evil. The distinctive character of the Church—of the individual informed by the Holy Ghost, is this— “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity;” but the argument used admits the actual evil, yet, whilst avowing the name of Christ, does not depart from it. I ask high churchmen in particular, is it not iniquity that pastors, chief pastors, should be appointed, not by the Church, by Christ, but by men, be they what they may? Is not this the fact? and if so, do they then depart from it? Is it the Church that appoints them? If the predicament into which they are forced by this question is sought to be evaded upon the plea that the Conge d’ Elire saves them, (a drowning man will catch at a straw) the answer does but further prove the iniquity of this system, from which men should depart, for it assumes that the persons in ecclesiastical office have the power to elect, or the argument is null, and consequently shows only the uniform betrayal of the interests of Christ by them into other hands than those of the Church. They are thus driven to an extremity, where choice is to be had only between two conclusions; the last of which, i.e., the surrender of the power if possessed, exhibits the constant iniquity of the Church: whilst on the other hand, if not possessed, the Church is proved no longer to exist in the exercise of its habitual and necessary functions—indeed practically, it seems most honest and simple to say that the sovereign appoints to the bishopric. In Ireland even the poor excuse of the Congo Elire is taken away, for the bishops are appointed by letters patent openly by the crown. I have touched on this ground because refuge is sought in it by some who feel conscientiously upon the subject. Let us return to the plain facts of the case. The minister of the crown appoints the pastors to the flock of Christ, but churchmen defend themselves on the plea that it is still the Church that does it. The simple answer is this—It is not so now, even in theory. No religion is necessary to the prime minister, nor does it practically constitute part of the theory of the state at all. But even on the supposition that it did, and that all the persons appointing were churchmen and Christians, it is not as such that they have to act in the capacity of appointers. But supposing it still farther to be so, what at best is the state of things? We have Christians and laymen (I speak upon the Church theory) appointing to the highest ecclesiastical offices, the superior pastorships of the Church, because they have secular office which the Church, save in civil subjection, knows nothing about. Now I say this is disorder and not order—the real bishops of the Established Church are the king and ministers of the day; for there cannot be a more important function of the Church in its order, than the appointment of fit persons to feed the flock.

I can see nothing which seems to me Christian order in such appointments of bishops or chief pastors of God’s flock; it presents nothing but immense disorder. I cannot recognize the hand of the Church in the bishop of Exeter, or the archbishop of Armagh, though I do the Church’s responsibility. He may through God’s mercy, be a very good man, nay, he may have eminent qualities for the pastoral or episcopal office, but there is no order of God’s Church in it, but the order of the prime minister of England, or the lord. lieutenant of Ireland, who are not God’s constituted officers for the appointment of the bishops of His flock, in any Church order. In point of fact, the necessary consequences have resulted in confusion and discord in the Church of God; for while there was nominal order to which holy minds might desire to be subject, there was at the same time the complete amalgamation of the Church and the world, which the Spirit of God loudly testified against, and holy men must separate from, and the professed Church become the great author of schism.

And here we must note what is a great fallacy in the notion which the Church of England desires to give respecting her own constitution. It carries a falsehood on the face of it. We are referred to the articles, or canons, and prayer book for her constitution and order, but she has not said a word there about her constitution and order or what she has said is false. The constitution and order of the Church of England and Ireland. is, that the king and. his ministers, or other analogous persons, appoint to all the pastoral offices in the country. Where is this stated in these fair-spoken documents? Would churchmen who hold fast by these documents state and avow this, that laymen, it may be ungodly men, should appoint to all the pastoral offices in the country? Is this what they mean to plead as order—Church order? Yet Church order it is. They state indeed that they only ascribe to their princes to rule with the civil sword all estates of the realm, but they ascribe a great deal more. This was a most godly ascription; but if they have only ascribed this, their princes have ascribed a great deal more to themselves, (and they have acquiesced in it, though they have not put it in the book—though it constitutes the special difference of the system, and makes it the Church, or as some may say, not the Church of England;) and that is, that these individuals, who might be in excommunication, appoint nearly all the pastors in the country. I would ask if there is any order in all this? We have had an eminent instance of this system in principle and practice latterly, when, with one fell swoop, a minister, and not the king at all, but a House of Commons, (and who are they in the Church?) strikes off ten or twelve of the bishops of a country—that is, he not only is the appointer of the persons, but orders the whole internal arrangement of their superintendence, saying how much is a proper extent of episcopal care, and who shall exercise it. But the great point which strikes at the root of all the Church order and of which the documents state nothing, and therefore are a false witness for the Church, is, that the pastoral appointments have no connection at all with the Church. The succession is from the crown, from the world and its power, not from God at all; so that the great distinctive difference of the Church of England would not be found on the face of her own account of herself at all. But that distinctive difference destroys the principle of a Church.

But while the Church does not honestly state its character, the principle of disorder goes a great deal farther, and all real order is destroyed by the system. By virtue of this system, a number of persons are appointed as clergy or ministers of parishes. There is no reference whatever to the various offices flowing from specific gifts. The scripture indeed speaketh on this wise— “He ascended up on high and gave gifts unto men,” “and gave some, Apostles; some, prophets; some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:” —the beautifully ordered and united means by which the body is perfected and built up. But this is trampled under foot for a fancied succession which is denominated clergy, a body of men not appointed to offices in the Church, but to the exclusive government of a geographic district. That is, the offices of the Church, the legitimate channels for the exercise of the combined gifts by which Christ ministers to its edification and the perfecting of the saints, are thrown to the winds: so that even when the clergyman happens to be a godly man, the saints, if there be such in the place, are deprived of the ministration of their offices, by which Christ has provided for their edification, by virtue of the system which calls itself order, but the principle of which is to throw the appointment of even nominal pastors out of all order, into the hands of secular men. The same individual must be pastor, evangelist, teacher, and every other office necessary for the perfecting of the saints and edifying the body of Christ, or the ministry must be crippled and maimed, and the results accordant; and this is the principle of the system. Christ has ordered certain gifts for the edifying of the saints; men have ordered the placing of certain persons, who may not even be Christians, in a given place, with the sole ordering of the Church in that place. The argument then is brought to this point—either the system must assume the possession of every gift by all the individuals it pleases to appoint, and exclude all others from them, or it is proved that their system is at variance in principle with the right order of Christ’s Church. But they can assume no such thing, for the Spirit distributes to every man severally as He will. This is His prerogative. The system is proved, therefore, to be at variance with the order of Christ, and that in its vital object— “the perfecting of the saints,” it is at variance with the actual order in which He declares that He ministers it, for He gave some, pastors; some, teachers. But no! we must make all of them everything, or the system violates Christ’s order in its very objects; and this the apostle controverts, (how much more may we in these days)— “Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers?” But no! Christ gives gifts as He pleases, and man gives authority as he pleases, and then calls this order! It is the devil’s order, a turning of things upside down, and exhibits a state of things justly calling forth the expression of righteous indignation no less than of godly sorrow. Surely “it is yet a little while.” So that on the whole the principle of the system is not only at variance with the derivation of grace and knowledge, seeing that the selection is made by the crown and its ministers, not by the Church of God, but also necessarily with all office the Church, by which the body should be ministered to, according to the gift which Christ had given to every man for the effectual purpose of that ministry. I speak now of the theory, passing by all charges on the state of facts in parochial ministrations, and I affirm that the theory precludes the exercise of the offices which Christ has instituted for the perfecting of the saints. A man is appointed a deacon for the purpose, perhaps, of being an evangelist, and would justly, perhaps, refuse to attend to tables. God may have called out by the ministry of this individual, another eminently qualified to be an elder in the Church of God, for which, though gifted as an evangelist, the former may be eminently disqualified; nevertheless the same person now perhaps transferred to the order of a presbyter or priest, without the least change of gift, becomes elder there with no qualification, to the exclusion of one who is qualified, having, it may be, his usefulness as an evangelist quite destroyed by his being put in an office for which God never qualified him; but it must be so, because he is the clergyman. Thus again, we find in principle, that the offices of Christ’s Church, by which its order is kept, are altogether avoided by this system which is called order; yea, that the offices and the system are incompatible; for the notion of the individual who was called to it being presbyter, or of any one being presbyter whom God has qualified for it, is precluded, for someone is called the clergyman of the place. Again, reverse the case. A godly man well qualified to be the pastor and edifier, it may be, of saints, a terror of the ungodly, and healer of them that are wounded, a warrior against Satan’s entrance into the fold, is set in a place where, from neglect, there is scarcely any practical knowledge of Christ. God has not gifted the man as an evangelist—what is the consequence? he has no saints to edify, and his heart is discouraged at his utter uselessness; he might have been a signal blessing to the Church of God somewhere if such a system had never existed. But let us look a little farther. One whom God has gifted as an evangelist comes in and exercises his gift in the same locality, (it must not be a clergyman, that would be disorderly, nor is evangelizing properly a parochial ministration;) but he is irregular; the godly pastor without any flock is a bar, on the system of the Church of England, to any of God’s ministry being carried on; and if he be consistent with the system, he opposes God’s ministry in the place, and while perhaps a real saint himself, has none of the Church of God around him to which he might be useful. Thus a schism is created, or it may be, the other qualified to be an evangelist, is constituted by the people to be a pastor, to which God never called him at all; and he who would have been a blessing to them, is despised and neglected, because of the system of the Church of England, which necessarily involves the subversion of all the offices of the Church of Christ. Indeed it does not proceed on the recognition of them; the country has been secularly divided into districts, and the clergy appointed, without reference to the state of the people at all, in their respective districts; the effect of which is only to place any one besides who exercises the office which is necessary there, in the position of a schismatic. It is quite clear too, that in a vast number of instances, being a secular interest, the appointment is made by those who have no Church principles at all, fir temporal reasons and motives. And if we are then told “the Church is not to blame,” and the question is asked, “how can the bishops help it?” I answer not at all, and therefore the Church is fundamentally wrong in principle; it avows it cannot help evil, and how could it, since the heads of it are appointed on the same principle? But supposing the bishops godly pastors of Christ’s flock, and to appoint to offices according to Christ’s institution, evangelists, and teachers, and pastors, or to recognize any other office in the Church, they would at once be in schism as to the whole present constitution of parochial arrangement; that is, the system if recognized, is irretrievably at variance with the admission of offices in the Church of God, by which the saints are perfected, and the body edified—and the effect of it is to give the character of schism to all those who exercise the office to which God has ordained them. And this is called order—it is the most heinous— and wicked disorder—in God’s Church. Let me be ever such an evangelist, gifted like an apostle, I am disorderly in exercising it; nor would ordination in any way mend the matter, for my exercise of the gift would be disorderly because of a nominal pastor in a given place; all is pre-occupied—and evangelizing has no place, and becomes irregular.

The conclusion therefore which is forced upon our minds is, that the system is not only evil in the disastrous results of so many being called pastors who have no pastoral qualifications—a consequence flowing from the principle of appointment; not only mischievous as restraining the exercise of liberty in the people of God, (a restraint indeed which is often very right if done according to godliness,) but as being destructive of all offices in the Church of Christ, and subversive of the principle on which they rest; and moreover, that, under the parochial or rather clerical system, the offices of the Church of Christ cannot be exercised, at least in order. Nor does the system of dissenters appear in this respect at all different they equally confound the order of the Church, with the difference only of having no local limits, which so far prevents the notion of schism; a system of local limits having by the way no possible consistency or warrant from scriptural order of Churches. I am not entering now on the question of diocesan episcopacy, but it is quite clear that in its origin it went by Churches, not by geographical limits; that is, a bishop governed the Churches in such a limit, i.e., those who might be gathered out from heathenism—but that was all; and within such district, all the offices above mentioned might be exercised with gladness of heart and profit to those who were gathered; but parochial clericalism can not in any way combine with this. It is absolutely without consistency with any order in the Church. An individual is appointed at three or four and twenty, to a curacy or parish, and he alone may be the elder (an office for which it is clear that he is seldom qualified) teacher, pastor, evangelist, if needed. He is the shut-door to the exercise of any office in the Church, whether he himself have any gift or the contrary. If God’s Spirit is to work at all, then it must be a schismatic; and this is the hateful evil and disorder of such a system—it makes a schismatic of the Spirit of God.

The office of an evangelist is not a parochial office. It may in given instances be exercised within the limits of a parish, but the office knows no such limits, nor does the exercise of such an office imply qualification for being a pastor; nay, in its ordinary exercise it necessarily disqualifies for being an elder. But the notion of a clergyman, which is wholly unsupported by scripture, summarily settles the whole question, and removes all the offices at once; for it assumes all within the limit to be Christians, and decides that the person, (having the sphere of his service prescribed by men, though his ostensible commission is from the laying on of the bishop’s hands) who is thus considered as being over his flock, is to have the title to exclude the exercise of every office which he may not happen to possess, though it is evident, that even if a good man, (most frequently not the case) he may be gifted for no office at all, and clearly cannot be assumed in every instance to possess them all. And now suppose the Spirit thus grieved and dishonored should begin to work in sovereign mercy, will it be exclusively confined to the system which has dishonored it, and haughtily domineered over all its order and grace? It cannot be so, it works where it may work, blowing where it lists. Some of those who, unconscious of the evil, are in the system, may be quickened into energy by its influence; and though in extreme irregularity and disorder, (an evangelist exercising the office of a pastor here, and a pastor exercising the office of an evangelist there, and both unprofitably,) yet in some measure they may work within their respective limits. The system however itself is un-mended. Some of those who are without, may be raised up into energy; they at once see that the system is essentially wrong; they wish not to be schismatics in any sort: labor they must—yea, exercise pastoral care if God has committed it to them; but these individuals with the very same class of gifts are stamped at once dissenters and schismatics. And what is the meaning of this but that the system which gives the name of schism is such as to preclude the exercise of God’s gifts as far as it can.

Let us suppose for Luther exemplification of our argument, a large district without the gospel preached in it. An individual is raised up of God, a stranger to the place, who preaches there; a thousand souls are converted—what is to be done? Of the number thus awakened, five are specifically gifted of God for the office of pastor, or teacher, or elder. The question at once arises, are these thousand souls to be left shepherdless, because men have chosen to appoint persons called clergymen, who turn out not to be Christians at all, nay, who it may be, belie the gospel of Christ? I will suppose that to prevent heresies and confusion, a point surely of material import in these days, some or all of these five practically act as pastors. Ordained for it according to the Church system they cannot be, for the clergy are there already; but the love of Christ constrains them to do the best they can for the sheep. They are at once set down as causers of division, that is, the whole church of God as far as that place is concerned, is denounced as schismatic. In a word, the effect of the Church of England system, instead of being godly order, throws into schism in reputation nearly the whole Church of God. And this is anything rather than an imaginary case. Afterward, it may be, a saint becomes a clergyman in the district; he draws some back to Church, or is the instrument of converting others; and thus two systems are formed in which saints within one and the other are thrown into opposition; and of the whole of this part of the evil the Church of England system is the original cause; however it may be perpetuated by the other system which its evil may have generated. The mischievous results are endless; but while these are abundantly sufficient to act upon, the truth is that the principle of the system is irreconcilably at variance with the order, the discipline, or the efficiency of the Church of God; while it excludes the recognition of all offices in the Church, and infallibly perpetuates schism. And such has been its effect.

The point to which I now specifically allude is, that it has been the author of, or has at least perpetuated the destruction of all offices in the Church of God, by which the saints are to be perfected, and the body edified; which are absolutely incompatible with the notion of that scripturally unrecognized, and actually undefined office—a clergyman. By casualty it may have happened that one gifted for office, may have had a limited opportunity of its exercise, but in no case can it have been exercised according to the order of the Church of God. It does not appear to me that the dissenting body has at all emerged from this snare, office with them being equally confused. I will now give its effects even within the system, where there are godly ministers, under circumstances in which it is practically reduced to the limit of dissent as a system—the private choice of ministry, which is the common practice in large towns. I give it in the words of one who being a godly high churchman forms an unexceptionable witness to its practical effects.

“It is one of the sad consequences of our divisions and disunions, and of the neglect of pastoral superintendence, that the oneness of interest, which ought to prevail among the members of one Church, and especially of one flock, is very much weakened, if not lost sight of. Each man looks to his own things, his own edification, his own comfort, his own progress, so that a kind of selfishness has sprung up in our religion itself. The injury which this has done in the Church is incalculable. It leads to endless divisions. Each man is tempted to seek a ministry adapted to his own state. If he be only a little way advanced in his perception of divine truth, he will go where he can hear taught the early lessons of the school of Christ. If he be further advanced, he will go where he can hear deeper things; and the temptation arising from this to the ministry is, that it should be ever accommodated to the state of the hearers, thus checking all growth in grace, and destroying all symmetry in the body of Christ. Hence it arises, that we have some Congregations who are only babes in Christ, and content to remain if so; and others more exclusively strong men in Christ, who, forgetting their own former weakness, are apt to be filled with self-sufficiency and pride.”

The statements I have made are neither an exposition of abuses, though abundant room might have been afforded for it, nor indefinite, though I have reasoned on the principle, because the soundness of this is alleged when abuse is admitted. I say abundant room for exposing abuse, for the computation of the most sanguine evangelical ministers is, that two-thirds of the pastors so called of the Church, are not merely without specific gifts for given office, but do not preach the gospel at all. Surely a strange state of things, and one which flows from the system they are anxious to vindicate, whilst the perpetual use of this criterion of “preaching the gospel” shows the want of any apprehension of the difference of offices in the Church, which the habits of their system have generated—a system, I repeat it, subversive of all specific office in the Church of God.

Preface

In presenting the first Number of the “Christian Witness” to our brethren, we think it right to state the principles on which it is proposed to conduct it, should the Lord see fit to grant it continuance. We seek Christian profit, but would act under Christian responsibility. Responsibility to the Church of God, which is in effect to Christ also, has far too much been lost sight of in the proposing or denying human opinions in the present day. This point, holding it to be a cardinal one, we would anxiously keep in view.

We believe, with sorrow and humiliation, that the Church of God has fallen far short of the glory and joy which belonged to it, as the chaste virgin espoused to Christ. To use the words of Archbishop Leighton on a different subject: “O! quam profunda est et tenebrosa miseriae abyssus in quam plorabili suo lapsu demersa est (Ecclesia Del) cum veri sui boni non solum possessione, sed et cognitione excideret et nec quodnam illud sit, nec quae sit redeundi via, quaque gradum revocetperspectum habeat.” We therefore, desire in all humbleness of mind, to receive every light which the Spirit of God may afford us, whether as to the position we are in, or the means of extrication from it, and to be faithful to that light. The consequence of the long darkness in which the Church has been, is that it has deeply lost The sense of the position it is in, in the mind of God, and the holy character in which it should stand, and the principles on which it is based. How much these are in question is plain at least to every eye. Far from pretending to see all the wisdom of God to the Church, we desire that whatsoever of the principles of God’s truth on this important point are unseen by us at present, may be presented to us by any, however different their views may be from many things which may appear in this publication, provided they bear the stamp of holiness of purpose and subjection to God’s truth.

It is our anxious wish that this publication should not be considered as the depository of particular views, or as representing particular persons. The truth of God and holiness, we trust to be enabled to preserve untainted by that which may appear in it, and these secured, to receive all communications which may administer to the conscience of the Church of God.

Questions on the foundations of truth we do not wish to admit. All that may throw light upon it and build up the believer, or, discover inconsistencies with it, we desire to have fully brought out; trusting the Spirit of God sufficiently, to believe that He will guide us into truth, but valuing Christianity too much for ourselves to call into Question that on which our souls rest. But while this is preserved, for which we do feel responsible to God, the particular light which may be afforded in each paper, and the soundness of the views or judgment contained in it, must rest on the responsibility of the particular writer.

We desire this work to be made, at the same time feeling our unworthiness that it should be so, a witness to the Church of God; and trusting that while we are kept in humility, it will be made such]. But it must not be expected, that we should reject that which may be bold or decided. Where moral truth, where holiness is concerned, papers will not be rejected on account of their decided tone.

Having thus stated the principles, the character of the work must be gathered from its several numbers; and praying that the blessing of God may be upon the testimony of truth which may be in it, we commend it to His care.

Present Prospects

THE knowledge of the mind of God, is the Christian’s only security, both for determining his true position in the world, and his being preserved in it steadfast and immoveable. Where this is not ascertained, all must be doubt and perplexity; and his path must be uncertain, nay, inevitably wrong. Where it is known, he is, in a certain sense, omnipotent. This consideration has an especial application to the present state and prospects of the people of God. Many may say indeed, as to any inquiry beyond present things— what is truth? But the scripture sets before us the clear and definite counsels of Him who changeth not; marks out the distinct character of every principle, whether good or evil, in His view; traces their respective advances, and exhibits the great general results, to which they are severally progressing. And these things the Church is directed to observe. “We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shined in a dark place, until the day dawn,” And the same Apostle, after portraying the characters of evil in the last days, specifies this as the safeguard of the saints: “That they know these things before,” (2 Peter 1:19; 3:17.)

All our light then is darkness, unless our apprehension of the circumstances in which we are standing, accord with the revealed truth of God concerning them. To take a practical example. One principle anxiety of the believer, I mean of one who is accepted in the beloved, with regard to himself is, that his service be given wisely to the Lord. But it seems evident, that, unless the purposes of God for this dispensation, be gathered by Him, from the written word, his labors must be often misdirected, and possibly, as to their results, given more to the house of the stranger (Prov. 5:10.) than to God’s; for instead of ministering according to his ability in God’s husbandry, his powers may be diverted into channels, whence no enduring fruit is returned for the Lord’s glory, and where His Spirit would never have led him; and to all that is not done in that Spirit the word of Jesus applies, “He that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad.” Unless the unchanging distinction between the Church and the world, up to the “time of the end,” be seen, the expectation of a gradual diffusion of Christianity, must constantly operate to the consuming of our services upon that which will absorb into itself all the energy and power of the laborer, and still remain the WORLD. But the subject assumes an import even still more weighty, when considered with regard to the consummation, declared in that portion of the revelation of God’s will, which embraces the present age. For it must inevitably make a wide practical difference in the Christian’s position in the world, whether he considers it as going on to blessedness, or, on the contrary, to judgment; since on this must, to a great extent, depend the actual character in which it appears to his eyes, and consequently his own conduct and views with regard to it. The views of surrounding things, taken by two believers, one of whom considers them to be thus far in their progress to perfection, while the other sees, that sentence upon them is delayed, only because “the long-suffering of the Lord, is salvation;” (2 Peter 3) must be as different as light from darkness. Nor is it too much to say, that the character of their testimony will equally vary: for testimony is given in power, only in proportion as the truth of the circumstances in which he stands, is recognized by Him who has to give it; and if his mind is resting upon the hope of a progressive enlightening of the world, while it may be, that fearful darkness is fast closing in, all his wisdom will be folly. Most of the Lord’s people indeed, in common with others, feel that the aspect of the times is sufficiently awful; yet perhaps, the greater number are inclined to consider it as temporary, with the hope that it will subside. Let us, then, briefly try present things by the test of scripture, for to this will be our safest appeal. If we judge by sight in anything, we shall assuredly err; and therefore, it is only, by taking the word as our criterion, though appearances may seem ever so contradictory, that our judgment can be true, First then, how does scripture uniformly describe the character of the Church throughout the dispensation? And here we at once meet with the uncontrovertible fact, that the whole tenor of the commands and exhortations, throughout the gospels and epistles, to the people of God, are, from their very nature, applicable only to a comparatively small number, in the midst of a world lying in wickedness. The irreversible principle of the dispensation is, that “MANY are called, but FEW are chosen;” and with this, correspond all the practical addresses of our Lord and His Apostles. It is therefore, in absolute contrast to a dispensation, in which it is said, “The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.” The two can never become identical; for on the supposition that this dispensation should grow into one of universal truth, the whole character of the apostolic epistles, would gradually become inappropriate to the circumstances of the Church. The characters to whom they are addressed, are thus described: “The sons of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” (Phil. 2:15.) “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God; therefore, the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.” (1 John 3) “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in the wicked one, εν τῳ πονηρῳ.” (1 John 5:19.) “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.” (1 Peter 3:9.) But more especially is the nature of the dispensation, as regards His followers, described by the Lord: they are said to be “the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, the persecuted for righteousness sake; they are the salt of the earth, the light of the world, as sheep among the wolves, as the wheat amongst tares, which grow, increase, and ripen together, until in the end of this age, τόυ ἀιωνος τόυτου the Son of man shall send to gather out of His kingdom, all things that offend.” The present is a dispensation of witness, and of witness only; (Matt. 24:14.) and as such, essentially incongruous with one of universality. The insignia of God’s people throughout, are the cross and the reproach of Christ. In truth, the position of the Church in the world, if it were faithful, never could be any other; and in the present earthly glory of the professing Church, the light of scripture exhibits only the deceit of Satan, and apostasy.

The character of the world also is no less clearly and decisively given, as being ever in invariable opposition and enmity to God and to His Christ; and so characterized, not in a vague and generalizing way, but as a definite mass, in which the “prince of the power of the air rules, even the god of this world, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” Any supposed amelioration of the world as such, is only Satan’s lie to bring the children of God into contact with it in some way or other, by inducing the supposition, that the principles of God are working in it, to unite by degrees all in the truth. Yet is the Church’s state spoken of as being ever a suffering one till her Lord returns, and HE has spoken of no time of blessedness to her, or to the groaning creation, until then. “She that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.” But the sure word of prophecy does not fail us here. The last days are shown to terminate in the deepest shades of moral evil; and they have been written in the Church’s warning, if her eyes were but open to read them. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come: for men shall be lovers of their ownselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, HAVING A FORM OF GODLINESS, but denying the power thereof.” (2 Tim. 3) “There shall come in the last days, scoffers, walking after their own ways, and saying, where is the promise of His coming?” (2 Peter 3) “Little children, it is the last time, and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrists.” (1 John 2:18.) The whole of Jude is also an awaking testimony to the same effect. But above all, in the last book of prophecy, is the dispensation presented in its true aspect, both in progress and consummation. And here, whatever difference there may be as to details of interpretation, the principles exhibited in it are at least distinctly stated. Not a word is contained in it of progressive advance in the world, not one of the gradual spread of Christianity, but darkness, fearful darkness, is brought out in unvarying direct opposition to the light of life; for the conclusion is, that the earth and the whole world are gathered together in collective array against the Lamb. (16) We see presented in it, (and this excluding all theories of interpretation) the principles upon which the world is acting, and how they end; and God’s principles, their full and marked separation from the world, and their result; the progress and final development of the mysteries of godliness and iniquity; the separation of the powers of holiness and sin. The obvious practical application to all, even to the poor and unlearned; for “blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein,” is in the observing the characters of evil which are described in this hook, in order to avoid being in any way mingled with them, and with the final judgment in which they are indiscriminately involved. The principles on which the world proceeds must clearly end, not in peace, but in judgment. And whatever may be predicted from present appearances, of the moral elevation of the world, all things that the children of this generation esteem, the riches, the luxury, the magnificence, the pride of man come only to this— “Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come!” Let our hearts weigh this well, if we are looking for anything better from the strength and power of man, or are connected with that which gives place and distinction in the world. “The Lord alone will be exalted in that day.”

But is there nothing now corresponding to these dark features? I say nothing as to the time when the full consummation of these things shall take place, though we may believe it not to be afar off—but is not the mystery of iniquity now working, and are not all the principles already in operation, which as soon as the restraining hand of God upon evil is removed, will burst forth into the full manifestation of the power of darkness? Let us watch the present movement in this country—in Ireland—nay, over the whole of Europe, and we shall see that it is not a superficial modification of things which is now in progress, but an impulse arising from the very central springs of this world’s action; the mind of the age is working definitely and steadily to one object, which to the infidel and the philosophizing Christian may seem the commencement of the renovation of society; but it cannot but be seen, by one who looks below the surface, that the very foundations of the established constitution of things are breaking up under an irresistible influence, which may produce the explosion at any hour; and that the apparent approximation to unity is but the selfish principle of man’s nature, gathering together all which ministers to his senses or his intellect, for himself and against God; in a word—the unity of antichrist, For a season, indeed, there may be an appearance of calmness on the face of things, but this we are prepared to expect, for deceivableness is the special character of the last days; and therefore the Spirit of God is more than ever needed to detect the falsehood which surrounding circumstances ever convey to the eye of sense, and to enable the Christian to judge of ahem as they are in the estimate of God. The natural man judging according to sense, must necessarily err in all his conclusions, for they are drawn from external appearances. Reason may be correct enetigh in its deductions from natural facts, but reason does not recognize the one great fact that SIN is IN THE WORLD; and therefore all its conclusions are astray, because they are net based upon that which alone enables the spiritual man to account for all the apparent strangeness and contrariety of existing things. Man has not a thought in communion with God, except through His Spirit which dwells in those who believe and know the truth; and it is marvelous seeing that the fall brought utter disunion from God—that fallen nature, under every coloring that may be superinduced by the pride of civilized man, is still nature separated from God, and acting for itself, that the supposition should be entertained by any of our Christian brethren, of a state of universal peace and righteousness being established through the causes which are at present in operation. There is and can be no foundation for the reign of holiness, (setting aside all that prophecy teaches as to the introduction of this period) in a state of things built up by man, arising out of the necessity of his case; for the whole result of the energy and power of the world, is based upon a system of necessity, and that necessity springs from its alienation from God. Nay, such a reign as is looked for, would be nothing but the dominion of Satan, using for his own purposes, the folly and self-will of men, and bringing them into confederated union with every outward display of human glory, against the glory and truth of the King of kings and Lord of lords; and if this day be expected, it may not be far distant. The evident tendency of all the principles now at work in the world, is to bring men into organized association upon the ground of their common wants and pleasures; and the result, hastened as it will be by the resources afforded by modern inventions and facility of modern intercommunication, will be the acting upon a grander and more daring scale, the scene of gathering together against God, which has been prefigured at Babel; for “now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do;”—to be succeeded, indeed, by an outpouring of judgment, of which the scattering of the nations, the destruction of the old world, and the fires of Sodom, have been merely faint foreshadowings. “As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man: they did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark; and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also, as it was in the days of Lot: they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” (Luke 17:26.)

It may well be imagined, if these things are so, and the present dispensation ends in apostasy and consequent excision, that the whole policy of Satan, will be used to divert the minds of believers from the consideration of them; and thus in truth it is, and we may observe his power exercised, both in leading some into unholy and unscriptural speculations, and also in using these as instruments for bringing the study of the simple truth itself into discredit in the estimation of others. Either way his end is gained, for “if we know not these things before, there is no security against being led away by the error of the wicked.” (2 Peter 3.)

In the meantime, what is the Church doing, that which should be a light in the world, bearing a clear-shining testimony for God, and against all the deceivableness of unrighteousness, in separation from all evil? Even as it has ever done, seeking its own and not the things of Jesus Christ. We have one portion of the Establishment (in Ireland) defending its present position, on the lately discovered plea, that “The body that professes to be guided solely by the written word, is certain to be wrong in principle, and defective in practice,” and proposing tradition to be taken as the supplement of this deficiency in the means provided for the guidance and instruction of the Church of Christ. Another division, (at Oxford) having discovered the insufficiency of former vindications, have so far progressed towards Romanism, as to rest their claims upon Apostolical succession alone, and already speak of dispensing the sacrifice. In another quarter the dissenters are marshalling themselves in the ranks of the Infidel and the Socinian, and grasping at all the power and privilege that the world can give them; and the evangelical body, alas! more guilty and inconsistent than all, inasmuch as they profess a form of sound doctrine, seeking to unite the confession of Jesus, with the possession of credit and influence in the world, instead of being content to take the only true position of His followers here—even suffering for His name’s sake. Each party is contending for their own in present things, but in one they are all united—in closing their ears to the whole succession of fearful warnings which are pealing around them, and in soothing into slumber, themselves, and those to whom they should be as watchmen, in utter disregard of the clear and distinct announcements which, line upon line are given in scripture, of the manner in which this dispensation arrives at its close. “The vision of all, is become as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, read this I pray thee; and be saith, I cannot, for it is sealed: and the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, read this I pray thee; and he saith, I am not learned.” (Isa. 29:11.)

All these are indications of the latter days, which the scripture leads us to expect; but there is nothing in them which need for a moment move or perplex the mind that looks at them in the light of God’s word; nay, the rushing in of evil on all sides, even becomes, in mercy the means of establishing the Christian more firmly, because it has been spoken of before; and that which itself might disturb, does in reality only add to his confidence in the sure word of Him who has written it for his warning, and who will deliver those who have kept “the word of His patience,” “from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world, to try them which dwell upon the earth.” Yea, there is yet more, far more of comfort to be drawn from the evil day; one thought in which the believer may find rest, even in the hope of the coming and kingdom of Jesus, the period of resurrection glory to His saints, and of righteousness and peace to the earth; when the kingdoms of this world shall change their present rulers, even Satan, and wicked spirits in heavenly places, (Eph. 6:12.) and become the kingdoms of our LORD and of His Christ. “Ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice,” was the especial character of the period of His absence; but He has fixed. no interval to faith, and the point on which the eye of His disciple rests, is His coming; when the word of promise shall be fulfilled, “I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.”

In the present crisis, as ever, there is but one position for the Church to occupy, and this is in separation from “all that is in the world,” and in keeping the “testimony of Jesus;” a position of which the strength is in knowing that in it God is on our side, and against all sin. It is a day in which it well behooves believers to look to themselves, that on the one hand they may be found walking in the Spirit; and on the other, that they may not be connected with any form of evil, however accredited. “Judgment must begin at the house of God;” and since nothing of human might or device will stand in that day, it is of the deepest importance, if we look for it, to stand clear of all that will be swept away at His appearing. May the Lord enable us to abide in Him, and to walk in that simplicity which alone is wisdom, and which will remove every difficulty from our path.

Re-Translations in the New Testament

1.—(2 Peter 3:9.) “Not DESIRING that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

It is very important to distinguish between “will” and “desire.” The former denotes fixed and resolute purpose, and therefore the will of God can never be frustrated. “His counsel shall stand, and He will do all His pleasure.” It is expressed in the scripture by βουλη του θεληματος., (Eph. 1:11) or, ωῤσμενη βουλη, (Acts 2:23) or ευδοκια του θεληματος. (Eph. 1:5) or by βουλη alone, as in Acts 13:36. It is therefore unscriptural to say that He willeth that all should come to repentance, though it is most true that it is His desire; βουλεται, for “He is a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil.” Man has the responsibility of frustrating His desire, but he never will be able to frustrate or impede His will. He wills the salvation of His Church, and they are saved.

2.—(John 17:24.) “Father I DESIRE that those whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.”

The Lord Jesus was always one with the Father; but as Jesus of Nazareth, He was the “servant” doing His Father’s “will.”— Accordingly we never find any word of authority used by Him in His addresses to the Father, but words which fully recognize His position as having “taken upon Himself the form of a servant.” “Will” is a word of authority: He does not say “I will,” but “I desire.” (θελω) Father, with respect to those whom thou hast given me, I desire that where I am, there might they be also with me.

It seems to me that the word “desire” gives peculiar sweetness to the passage, as though He felt that the very circumstance of its being His desire, something that would give pleasure to Him would be more than a sufficient plea to the Father’s abundant love, and therefore He neither says “I will,” which is a word of authority, nor “I pray,” which implies more distance and less nearness of connection than the word which He uses simply to express the wishes of His heart. Although the Lord Jesus carefully disclaimed the exercise of all independent authority, yet He is always represented as the administrator of all the purposes of the Father. The 23rd of the 20th of Matthew, strikingly marks this— “To sit on my right and on my left is not mine to give, EXCEPT to those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” Toplady has noticed the mistranslation of these words in our version. They are there translated— “It is not mine to give, but it shall be given,” &c., as though Jesus were in no sense the giver.

3.—(2 Cor. 5:9.) “Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent we may be WELL PLEASING unto Him.”

According to our present Version, “We labor that we might be accepted of Him.” This is not true: for believers are “accepted in the beloved” (Eph. 1:6.) “without money and without price.” They labor only that they may be “well pleasing” unto their heavenly Father as dear children; and when the Lord comes, every one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. The same word is used in Col. 3:20, “Children obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.” See also Heb. 13:2;1,. and Titus 2:9. In all these places it is rendered rightly, as also in the Vulgate and French Versions.

4.—(Phil. 1:22) “To me to live is Christ, and to die, gain; but if life in the flesh is my portion, this is to me fruit of labor.”

This passage is very obscurely translated in our Version. It strikingly refers to the fruit which comes from faithful service. Under all circumstances death is gain to a believer; but there are different degrees of gain. “We wish to bring our sheaves with us.” The apostle says, increased days return increased fruit of labor. In this sense only can length of days be a blessing.

5.—(Heb. 4:3.) “We that have believed ARE ENTERING into rest!”

It is necessary to give the full force of the present tense of the verb in this passage. The whole force of the chapter depends on it. It is often quoted as if it meant, the rest as to salvation into which believers have already entered by faith, and so the chapter is headed in some bibles, “rest attained by faith.” But the very object of the chapter is to show that the position of believers is precisely analogous to that of the Israelites in the wilderness, viz., engaged in entering into their rest. The final rest was not the rest of the seventh day, as some Jew might be inclined to say; neither was it the rest of Canaan; for then David would not have spoken of a future rest: therefore there remaineth a still future rest to the people of God. If they had entered already into their rest, they would have ceased from their labors, as God did from His. But they have not ceased from their labors, for we have still to say to them “labor to enter,” therefore their rest is future.

6.—(2 Cor. 5:15.) “Because we thus judge that if one died on behalf of all then have the whole died (vicariously in Him.) And that He died for all with this object—that they who live (by virtue of this vicarious death and resurrection) might no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who died and rose again for them.”

This passage appears to refer entirely to the death and resurrection of the Church in Christ. They have died (απεθανον) in Him; they are “a new creation” (καινη κτισις) in Him. Therefore the responsibility rests on them, of living as those who have died and risen. It is I think, in reference to this “new creation” in Christ, that baptism is termed the laver of regeneration, because it is the sign of death and resurrection in Jesus.

7.—(Rom. 8:19.) “For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected it, in expectancy, because the creation also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now; and not only so, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”

This passage is most important as connecting the deliverance of creation, with the resurrection of the saints. Επ’ελπιδι (in expectancy) is a Hebraism, denoting the state in which the creation is now sustained, viz., a state of hope or expectancy. It answers to לבמח which occurs in Psa. 4:9, on which Bythner has the following note.

With the prefix ל this word becomes an adverb, signifying “confidently,” “in secure trust.” In the Targum it is rendered, “in hope,” in the Septuagint “επ’ελπιδι.” The use of the Hebrew prepositions ב, ל, מ often throws light upon the use of εν, επι, & εκ, in the New Testament.

8.—(Acts 3:19) “Repent and be converted, for the blotting out of your sins, that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Christ, whom the heavens must receive until the times of the restoring of all things.”

The correction in this passage is important. Οπως is never used in the New Testament to signify “when,” and not often in other writings. When it is so used, it is an adverb always followed by an Indicative Mood. When, as in the present passage, it is followed by an Optative or Subjunctive, it is a Conjunction, and uniformly signifies “that.” It is so used more than fifty times in the New Testament, and in every place except the present is rightly translated. The difficulty of attaching any intelligible meaning to the words, “repent in order that,” appears to have distressed the translators, and to have led them to violate the grammar. But the sense becomes quite plain, when we see the connection between the “deliverance of the Jews,” and the “deliverance of creation.”

It is said in Hosea, that the Lord has retired into His place till they (the Jews) shall acknowledge their offense. “In their affliction they will seek me early.” (Hos. 5:10.) When the priests, the ministers “shall (as they by and by will) weep between the porch and the altar, and say, spare thy people O Lord, and give not thy heritage to reproach; THEN will the Lord be jealous for His land and pity His people.” (Joel 2:17,18.) “He will send Jesus.” (Acts 3) “There shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” The receiving of them back will be life from the dead unto the world; (Rom. 11:15,26.) and so we find it written in the 67th Psalm, “Lord be merciful unto us (i.e., Israel) and bless us, (Israel) and cause thy face so shine upon us, THAT thy name may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.” “God shall bless us, (the Jews) and (as a consequence) all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.” Therefore “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”

Resurrection, Not Death, the Hope of the Believer

THE great truth which is opened to the heart of fallen man, when quickened by the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, is to know that the fullness of all blessing is in God. Self, under every form which it may assume, is the center of all the thoughts of man in disunion from God. He was separated from Him in knowledge, and with loss of the knowledge of the fountain of good, came the alienation of his affections; and thenceforth, under the rule of another Lord, the object of all his powers was to serve the body of death which became his dwelling. But redemption, while it is deliverance “from this present evil world,” is specially deliverance from ourselves, for being crucified with Christ, and raised up in Him, the presence of the Spirit is the continual death of the flesh. Where there was darkness and death, there is life, and light, and glory. Where there was shame and fear, “now because we are sons, God hath sent into our hearts the Spirit of His Son, crying Abba Father,” bearing witness in that single word of all that “manner of love” which He hath opened to us in Himself and which He hath shed abroad in those whom He hath justified. And thenceforth the heavenly calling of the Christian is to know God—to be brought in communion with Him into that “knowledge of the Holy Ones,” which is understanding—to have all thoughts and desires dwelling only upon Him in never-ceasing contemplation of the blessed and blessing One—even as He reveals Himself according to the riches of His glory.

And from the knowledge of God in the Church, all outward exhibition of His character in the life must flow. Where the apprehension of it is defective, there will necessarily be corresponding poverty of expression in everything which constitutes the essential loveliness of Christianity; for it is only in proportion as God is manifested—manifested in Jesus—that there can be any representation of His mind in His people. The word of God, received into the heart in power, is the word of life; and from its unhindered development flows the true and healthful character of the saints. The simple state of the believer is to know that there is life in Jesus, and that in Him he has eternal life, and thus to receive in communion with Him, the unmingled blessing which flows down from the Son of the living God. It is no longer a subject of doubtful questioning—uncertain feeling—but of undoubting peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. For who that lives doubts that he lives, or would seek to anatomize the hearing ear, or the seeing eye, to assure himself of the reality of that which is revealed to them? If the freedom of unconsciousness in natural health and life, is the best proof of the functions of mind or body being undisturbed, and a morbid state be indicated by sensitive uncertainty much more is the spiritual life, which makes us one with Christ, in full and healthful course, only as it turns us away from ourselves to forget—to lose ourselves in contemplation of Him, on whom all the mind of God is occupied—with whom all the thoughts of His saints Should be occupied. A child asks not about his life, but lives in actual enjoyment; and this a picture of the child of God. Whilst walking with Him, his children often make most advance when least conscious of the work of the Spirit upon their minds; for their eyes are fixed upon His glory in the face of Jesus Christ, and knowing that alone, they become changed into the same image. It is the part of faith to receive unquestioning, all that. God hath given in “the Son of His love;” and liberty of action will be proportionate—liberty because unquestioned...

The preceding thoughts have arisen out of others (painfully contrasted) regarding the present state of the Church. A fair inheritance and a bright earnest in present joy is its prerogative, but to one at all acquainted with the state of Christianity in general, the unhealthy character of the religion of the present day (I speak of God’s people) is but too evident. Instead of the simplicity, the forgetfulness of self, the single undivided looking to God’s glory which naturally flow from His free Spirit, the present isolated state of Christians (for they are scattered but as spots in masses of unbelief and worldliness) has naturally communicated to Christianity a character of individuality—nay, of selfishness. Each one is engrossed with his own stale, his own growth, his own fears and hopes; and individual progress is made a greater object than the glory of God—as tough there could be a separation between the two. Instead of the mind being opened to new and fresh discoveries of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge which are laid up in Christ, (Col. 2:2.) that which is now distinctive called experience, is the soul, stopping short of the full apprehension of redemption, occupied with itself not with God, discovering itself—not Him. The eye is turned inwards in profitless dissection of a heart which is “only evil,” and therefore prevented from looking upwards; a search profitable indeed for a while it may be, if it stops not there but leads to God as the end, and deliverance from all uncertainty. All experience of ourselves is only the experience of evil—experience of God alone gives rest, and acquirement of positive blessing.

It needs not to speak here of the proofs of this morbid state of religion, as seen in its external form. Never indeed might the stir and excitement seem to be greater, but the very pomp and circumstance with which she walks, “silver-slippered, through the streets,” proves, sadly proves, that the “Spirit of truth whom the world can not receive” is not there; that whilst she saith I am rich, she is poor, and having a name to live, is dead; whilst the principle office of the Church to be an exhibition to the world of the grace and truth which are in Christ, is well-nigh or altogether lost.

In sad truth the whole framework is in disorder, which is marked by the consequent want of healthy action in the members; and in the moral desolation which is around, remain only slight traces of former order and beauty. The Church being corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ has lost its glory, and with it its holy standing. The consequence to individuals (for all suffer in the failure of the body) has necessarily been a low and defective standard of holiness and much want of a true estimate of the believers right position in sonship with God.

A striking and lamentable proof of this tendency of the religion of the times to concentrate upon self the promises of scripture, is seen in the almost entire loss (practically) of the hope of the Church, and the substitution of that which Christians can look for only as individuals, namely that the resurrection glory, the only hope of which the witnesses, of which therefore the Spirit can witness, and in which the common interest of all the redeemed is centered, as being the manifestation of the glory of Jesus, is almost lost sight of, except in theory; whilst in its stead, death is proposed to all, at least generally, as the point which brings in the consummation of the Christian’s hope, and the fulfillment of all his desires. The principle is carried out in the whole course of popular interpretation of scripture; and in public discourses, and individual experience, little beyond this is spoken of or rested upon: the inevitable consequence is the separation, more or less, of the joy of the individual from the joy of Christ (which can only be fulfilled in the consummation of all) and the concentration of his feelings upon himself. True it is that “to depart and to be with Christ is far better:” the change is blessed whensoever any of God’s people are removed from a world of evil and sin,. and Satan can no longer harass them; but this is not the point to which the eye is directed by revelation—for if there be one thing which is witnessed by the death and the resurrection of Jesus, it is that death has been overcome. And His people look to resurrection and not death, because that in Christ the sentence has already passed upon them; they are crucified with Christ, therefore they know that the flesh is dead, and reckon themselves as dead—dead to sin—to the world. Their true standing is as being delivered out of a world lying in death, into the world of life. This is their present portion, by virtue of their union with Him who is the quickening Spirit. They are separated from the surrounding world of sin and death, by the cleansing power of His blood, by which they are sanctified; they are brought personally near to Him in communion by the light of life, which He sheds abroad in their souls. As far as faith is concerned, the crisis of death is passed by them, for they have died with Him (Rom. 6.) and His own word is— “if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” (John 8:51.) Henceforth they are privileged to have the mind of God—to have one object in view with Him whom they love, one common end (so to speak) with God and Christ, the accomplishment of all purpose in Him. The subject suggests a few considerations, though all would fall far short of its unspeakable import.

The great work effected by Satan in the fall of man, was the disorder and scattering of all things. The first Adam was the link between God and His creation, the medium by which all blessing was conveyed to everything which He had made, as the appointed king and lord of all. When he broke his allegiance to God, the communication was severed; and having sold himself to another master, the operation of God’s sentence was to bring himself and all his lost dominion into subjection to death. The fountain of life was cut off, and it is now a world where death is the witness of sin; the stamp and character passed upon all things as the clear evidence of what they now are in the sight of God, and marking entireness of separation from their original standing in his favor. Righteousness, life, kingly dominion are all gone. Yet it is a marvel, when we know by the light of revelation, the true character of all that is invested with the deceitful coloring of Satan—to see that all man glories in as his own, as the proof of his own wisdom and excellence, all that he does and rejoices in, is but remedy—remedy against himself. The proudest results of science and art are but devices—imperfect devices—necessitated by the devastating effects of his own sin, without which they had never been, and simple proofs of his being reduced to do without God, and to act for himself. Thus does he endeavor to hide the witnesses of evil, which rise up against him wheresoever he moves; and for death too, if it might be, he would find a remedy, but there is none; he would put it out of sight if it were possible; but still it remains, the last humbling evidence of his actual condition, the true value of himself, and of all his works. Yet there is remedy—remedy for all the disastrous work of Satan, and the breaking up of God’s order in His creation by the entrance of sin. The purpose of God, though apparently frustrated, was not so, for in that purpose Jesus was set up before the world began, to be head and Lord of all. The mystery of his will, which was aforetime hidden, and obscure in scripture, is now made known to us, “that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both those which are in the heavens, and those which are upon the earth, even in him,” (Eph. 1:10.) Of this gathering, the cross is the power of God in the fulfilment of this purpose. “Having made peace by the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.” (Col. 1:20.) The witness and seal on God’s part is in the resurrection of Jesus (who is manifested therein as the second Adam, the head of life and new creation) the great testimony of redemption, the declaration of the future re-uniting to God of all that had been separated from His love—man, and the groaning and travailing creation around him. It is on this that the mind of God is resting, even the full accomplishment of His own wondrous counsels, and everything has been directed by Him to this gathering, when the entire triumph of righteousness over sin—life over death, shall be seen in the full unfolding of that love which has risen above all man’s evil.

And as a witness upon the earth of the glory of the Father into which Christ is raised, and His own glory with which He shall come hereafter, (Luke 9:26.) the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead was sent down at His ascension into the hearts of His saints, the earnest of the resurrection power Of Christ, and beginning of God’s gathering. The place, therefore, of the Church, was to fulfill a two-fold evidence— to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places that to them now might be known, by it, the manifold wisdom of God, (Eph. 3:10.)—to the world as witness, the only witness, of redemption, convincing it thereby “of sin; of righteousness, and of judgment.” (John 16) The Spirit of the risen Jesus could testify but of one thing—resurrection, because it is the earnest of that; the revelation to the believer of a day when the sons of God shall be manifested, and everything which now bears the impress of death, in Himself and around Him, shall he swallowed up in life. The Church is the first fruits (James 1:18.) of God’s purpose, of Christ’s gathering, “in whom we also have obtained an inheritance.” The great HOPE of the Church, therefore, is in the consummation of the glory of her Lord. The Spirit of God, the uniting Spirit, gathers out of the dominion of Satan this earnest to the praise of His glory. For what is the condition of the Christian in the world? He is spiritually risen indeed with Christ, above the world of death, into the resurrection world—the kingdom of God’s dear Son; but he bears the record of death in his mortal body, and walks where it is yet swayed by Satan, where there is naught but ruin; and the more he has of the Spirit of God, the more must it testify of the godless anarchy and confusion which characterize the rule of evil. His members are upon the earth, though he counts them dead, and finds therein the secret of power over sin, in the contest between the flesh and Spirit. But the Spirit is life because of righteousness, and he overcomes incommunion with the strength of the risen Savior, Still death is to be overcome, though it be conquered indeed as to the conflict in which Jesus was the victor, but a victory of which the full blessing is yet to be conveyed to Himself, to the Church, and to Creation. But when? in dying?—that is but a circumstance in the way, touching his own individual case, in no way connected with Christ’s glory, save that its power is lost upon him who passes through it, in virtue of the word— “(whosoever liveth and believed) in me shall never die.” No, it is his privilege to have his eye removed from the thought and fear of the last enemy, in joyful earnest looking for that day which shall bring the realization of all his own hope, in the full entering of the Church into the joy of her Lord.

“When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” The contrast between the common state and lot of man, as descendants of Adam, and the blessed standing, and rightful hope of the believer in Jesus, is specially shown in Heb. 9:27, 28. Death, and beyond this only, judgment, are marked there as the general appointment passed upon men—their only prospect, But in the place of the one, the Church is directed to look to that one offering of Himself by which Christ has borne the sins of many, in which the power of death, which came into the World by sin, is taken away: for He has borne the penalty in being made sin; instead of the other, is the promise of His appearing, “to those who look for Him; the second time, without sin unto salvation.”: “He that heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent me, hath eternal life, and shall not come into judgment.” (εις κρισιν) The Christian is as sure of salvation, as that there will be a judgment: for the Son of God, for whom he “waits from heaven,” (1 Thess. 1:10) who “will judge the world in righteousness,” is the same Jesus “which delivered us from the wrath to come.”

The practical effects occasioned by this limitation of the true hope of the saints, are not the less to be lamented because unsuspected in the minds of many of God’s children. Looking short of resurrection implies an inadequate view of the world, in the hopeless misery of its present state of alienation from God, as having the full sentence of death already passed upon all around, and of the entireness and actual character of Christ’s redemption from it. It is also almost necessarily accompanied by a false view of the future prospects of the world; for whilst the individual indeed is separated from present things by his own departure, it brings to the mind no thought of interruption to the busy schemes and interests of the millions around, consequently the external aspect of things is unaltered, and may be supposed to continue for successive generations. But the scriptural truth is, that the expectation of any prospect for the world, save of judgment, is untrue, and leads immediately to wrong practical conclusions. The whole of the present state, fixed as it may seem, hangs but upon a hair, for He is “READY to judge the quick and the dead,” a word which at once sweeps away all stability from the constitution of things. This view implies endurance to the world, and therefore places the mind in a false position. But that which should be nearer than aught besides to the soul of the believer,, is that the glory of Jesus is obscured; for what is contentment in this hope only, but the severing of the thoughts of the individual from union in the common blessing, for which the Church and creation are looking in earnest expectation, in the appearing of Jesus to “take unto Him His great power and reign,” “to be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe”—and centering them upon a state in which though there is bliss, yet there is not glory, though there is communion with Christ by His Spirit, as it is written— “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit— If I make my bed in Hades, behold thou art there,” yet there is not full fruition, that can only be in the presence of His person; for it is together that His people shall see Him. and with the whole of His redeemed only that He will be glorified. There is of necessity therefore in looking no farther, little apprehension of the person of Jesus—of that glorious person to whom His members are predestinate, to be, not only morally, but corporeally transformed, for “He shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His own glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself;” and those who look not habitually to the glory of the resurrection will probably find on examination, that their thoughts dwell but little upon the personal presence of Jesus, and all that is implied in this; though they may have many of His spiritual blessings which they enjoy in common with others. And is there not much practical disbelief in this secret passing over the redemption of the body, as if the spirit had all its joy when separated from this tabernacle? But verily if the scripture speaks of joy—to the redeemed, it in full redemption; and everything in the gospels and epistles witnesses of this. Little is said beyond a passing word of the separate state, but the minds of the writers, or rather of the Spirit in the writers, rests upon the fulfillment of promise, (1 John 2) and every thought, every longing hope is strained towards this, and lives in its expectation, for the Spirit of God “calls the things which are not as though they were.” Time, present or future, is but a moment till the day when the word shall be verified— “Behold I make all things new.” Oh! the power and triumph of Jesus can be little estimated when we rest not on that which shall prove him King of kings, and Lord of lords, and in which the power of Satan and of sin, shall utterly be dissolved.

The grievous consequence is that the Church has lost its place in the world as the witness of redemption, for only as conformed in Spirit to its title as Church of the firstborn, can it testify of this. To the resurrection—to “the redemption of our body” little importance is attached, though believed in as a fact. The connection between the resurrection of Christ and that of His saints is little realized, though that same Spirit which raised him up, now dwelling in His people, shall quicken them into life— “If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” There is a general belief like Martha’s, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day,” but what saith the Lord?— “I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live, and he that liveth and believeth in me shall never die,” It is one of the saddest proofs of Satan’s power that this present bondage is so little felt, and the grand hope of release quenched in the bosom of the redeemed, by that which is so generally substituted. Truly it is looking to that wherein the hand of the enemy is seen, and away from the hand of the living God.

But viewing Jesus as the resurrection and the life, places us rightly and in full liberty of communion through the one Spirit which He hath sent into His Church, will and must give the true character to our desire and hope. Let us refer to a very few passages out of the whole burden of the Spirit’s testimony, in the epistles, to the deliverance of the Church and creation. Thus speaks the apostle Paul— “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation (κτισις) waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God; For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same—in hope—because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only so, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” (Rom. 8) Here is the practical position of the Church. Looking for death?—Nay, but looking for the glory which shall be revealed in us, sympathizing with the creation cursed for man’s sin—our sin; the Spirit witnessing to the world and body of death in which they dwell, and waiting for the redemption. And they themselves daily sustained and upheld in this HOPE which lifts them up within the veil, where is seen the surety of all— “We are saved by hope.” Again —what is the prospect opposed to present suffering? The “exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” In death? nay—the reverse; “We that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” (2 Cor. 5:4) Again, what is the strength against afflictions? their termination by death? nay—but “we have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God that raiseth the dead.”— “Bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus—delivered to death for Jesus’ sake—knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus, shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you”— “In heaviness through manifold temptations;” but “the trial of faith” is to be found “unto praise, and honor, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”— “Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” What is the consolation to those who sorrow over departed friends? Is it the hope of their own departure?—The wish for this would often be unfaithfulness and impatience; but a comfort far more rich is presented in the assurance “that if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.” What is the “HOPE of righteousness” but resurrection, for that is based on righteousness? What is the hope that maketh not ashamed, but in the unlimited glory of God, the necessary result of a righteousness which is the very righteousness of God, made ours through Him “who was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification?” It is the testifier of restoration in our hearts, for it comes of the love of God, witnessing within us that we are HEIRS of God—heirs of glory. Take the two epistles to the Thessalonians, one strain runs through them: the leading motive is— “waiting for His Son front heaven;” finishing in the last chapter with prayer that they may be directed into “patient waiting” for it, the “patience of Christ;” as John in Rev. 1, “your brother in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ” (υπομονη.)

The grand object of hope throughout, is—resurrection; for the appearing and presence of Jesus brings this to the living and the dead, those being raised by His coming, these changed in the twinkling of an eye. And here is the one hope of our calling, of which the apostle speaks; not indeed in death, “for we shall not all sleep,” but when “we which are alive and remain,” lose mortality in life, and they who have passed out of death before us, receive their glorified bodies. The great result of the work of Jesus, and the development of God’s purpose will then be manifested; for man will be set up again in Jesus—the second Adam; and present corruption, dishonor, and weakness, will be raised in incorruption, glory, and power. God’s word was— “Let us make man in our image after our likeness.” Behold its glorious accomplishment. Man has borne the image of the earthly Adam, he shall also bear the image of the heavenly Adam, of Him who is One with God—of Him “in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,”— “the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person,”—when “death is swallowed up in victory.” God’s word was— “Let them have dominion”: behold it verified in the “restitution of all things;” (Acts 3.) (for the work of Jesus is nothing less) and over the whole creation, redeemed into life and glory the second Adam and the Church “His bride,” are destined to hold their reign; for He is “heir of all things,” and His Church are “joint-heirs” with Him. What is God occupied with? For what is Christ waiting? The believer’s privilege is to have the mind of God, that must rest on the accomplishment: and we fall short of that mind when we rest not on it also. To rest on anything short of this, is unbelief; robs Christ of His glory, and proves that so far our hearts are not in it. The only thought which can gladden the heart that has an ear to hear the groaning of the creation that which has been subjected by man’s sin, is, that it shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption. The only joy for him who is pent up within this tabernacle of death, is the whisper to the mind by the Spirit of its bursting forth in immortality—the fervent craving of the heart, in a world which crucified the Lord of glory, is to see him triumphing where put to shame. The one hope which fills the soul, is—to “behold the man!”

And how near is that coming? “Surely it is yet a little while.” Even as the Spirit and the bride say, come; as we—as the Church travail for it in supplication, so is it in nearness; for it is the cry of the Spirit of Jesus in His people which He must know and answer, though if He be patient, they may well endure.

Well then might the apostles with great power give witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus—the one subject which they had to herald through the world—Ηe that was crucified is risen— and wherefore? but because their hope was in it. It was a testimony to the world that it was judged—to him that received the testimony, that there was life—escape out of the death in which he was dwelling, and both to be revealed in the appearing of Him whom God had raised up. Jesus had won resurrection. It was strange tidings to the world, as indeed the truth of God is of all things most strange to the natural man, (Acts 17:20) and well indeed now, if it be not strange (practically) to the Church also. But in the depth of evil nothing is so difficult for the mind to realize as glory. This, as all other knowledge, can flow only from that which is so hard to the flesh, a full and simple subjection to the Spirit of God. This delivers out of all which is of self; and draws the mind from feeding on the husks within, to the contemplation of the true object of living faith for the Spirit must glorify Jesus. (John 16)

One thing more to be pressed on our minds is, that the apprehension of the person of Jesus, and the looking for the resurrection, to be raised up in His likeness, is the secret of practical holiness, For in it the mind is directed to the true standard to which it is to be conformed, and beholding it by faith is proportionally changed into its image. Nothing less was the aim of Paul— “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death, if by any means Ι might attain unto the resurrection (εξανάσταπις,) of the dead.” Many are the objects of others, “but this one thing I do,” saith Paul. Nothing less than resurrection holiness can satisfy the mind which knows of Christ’s glory; “I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness”—for here only is perfection attained. The hope of resurrection is the stamp of the Spirit upon all a believer’s walk; to be conformed to it, his aim; and verily if he rests short of the one in desire, he must also of the other. The criterion of his spiritual state is as he is resting upon the thought, the soul-purifying thought, of resurrection. To this the energy of the Spirit draws, for it gathers into Christ; and even as it unites with Him, as believers live in the glory, they will be proportionally separated from the world. The full manifestation of death on all sides is shown by it, with which God can have no fellowship; the veil with which Satan had covered the charnel house is removed; the whole aspect of things, with all its many-colored diversities of human passion and interest, is placed in its true light—is proved to be but the LIE of “the devil which deceiveth the whole world.” (Rev. 12:9.) But above, and only above, are truth and life. Let us be carried forward by the Spirit into the inheritance, which is our hope, laid up for us in heaven, and see what all that is of earth will seem when looked back upon.

A strange sight is the Church of God now-divided, scattered abroad, (for the common hope which would unite them is merged in other interests, though individuals may earnestly look for it) instead of rejoicing in the truth, confined by systems of theology from discovery of God, and contending for doctrines, which may be done where vital godliness is not; minding earthly things, looking for blessing to the earth before the resurrection comes, and practically evincing their belief “that it might be a tolerable world if all would agree to make the best of it.” And what is this but, as St. Augustine saith, “Beatαm vitam queerere in regione mortis?” Believers have need to cry for the Spirit of God to raise up the hearts of His people into their true position—the apprehension of “the heavenly calling”— “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints”— “the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe,” a power no other than that “which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead.” But the eye that is not dimmed by fellowship with unrighteousness, may see that the Lord is working even now. The division for the final gatherings is going on. He is separating to Himself on the one side, and Satan is concentrating his own strength on the other. The conflict is between holiness and sin: and the hour is fast coming which will irrevocably fix the side taken by each individual. The Lord keep His servants unmixed with the world, and simply looking to His glory, for even as they who of old waited in this hope lost not their labor, for they were in the position of obedience, and consequently of blessing; it shall surely be so now. They may mourn and weep now, but they shall be comforted. For the day is rapidly hastening which shall bring together the revelations of judgment and of glory. (2 Thess. 1). The reign of death and sin shall be put down forever, and they who have been washed from their sins in the blood of the Savior shall be presented faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. The ransomed Church and creation shall praise the Lamb that was slain, and the Lamb shall offer up all to the Father. “Unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”

Retrospect and Present State of Prophetic Inquiry

We are very little conscious of the rapidity with which any principles, when once set in action, are carried on to their respective results. Few indeed trouble themselves about principles, they follow on with the stream, and it is only when they desire to stop, or are thrown out of the engrossing circumstances of their time, that they have been able calmly to judge the principle on which they have been acting, Hence cotemporary historians however they may furnish the materials, have not been the best historians, because not in circumstances to see clearly the real spring of action, It is therefore often profitable to take a retrospective view, to recur to some certain point of influence in the moral or political history of man, and to trace the consequences which have emanated therefrom. Very few, perhaps, have dared honestly to do this with respect to this country; and yet the man who would calmly estimate the public character of the nation in 1829 and 1834, would find that there has been a great and decided moral as well as political revolution accomplished—the legitimate fruit of principles which in the former period first received an impulse.

This however is not intended to be followed out in this paper, being only referred to in the way of illustration. Very few Christians are really aware of the principles which were set in action by the revival of prophetic study; and it is here proposed to take a retrospect of that inquiry, both for the purpose of demonstrating its importance as well as showing its effects. We cannot but trace it up to Him who is the Father of lights, in having according to the good pleasure of His will, led many of His servants to regard the sure word of prophecy as the only light in a dark place, that the feet of His saints might be made to walk on high places, just at the very time when those principles of evil which are to end in the revelation of the wicked or lawless one, (2 Thess. 2) began to work with a ten-fold increase of vigor both in the moral and political world. Of one thing may we be confident, that as everything is being sifted, it is only truth which will be security. The Lord’s people have now need of the girdle of truth. The Spirit and the word will be the only security in that hour of temptation which is coming to try all those that dwell on the earth.

It is not pretended here to fix any precise era for the revival of prophetic inquiry; or to deny that there have always been in the Church those who had given heed to the testimony of the Spirit to the glory of Christ, as well as to His sufferings. Modern research has brought out of their hiding place many neglected and valuable treatises on prophetic subjects; which, however they might have excited an ephemeral interest, were never thought worthy of a place in standard divinity; in fact, it appears that such productions were looked upon rather as speculations emanating from the imagination of man than the truth of God’s testimony; speculations which might be tolerated for the sake of a good man, have their day, and fall into obscurity. And only about ten years ago, when prophetic inquiry was again forced on Christians, it was considered almost too superficial a thing even to provoke controversy; so completely had the great bulk of Christians—real Christians, received for doctrines the commandments of men, that the authority of a great name was thought a sufficient answer to that which was asserted on the authority of God’s word. The inquiry was looked upon as theoretical—it might or might not be true; but it was in no wise considered as part of the glad tidings of God. Those who searched the prophecies were thus thrown entirely on the word, which they received as the word of God, and marvelously were they led into the discovery of its unbroken unity. The pressing of the simple testimony of God’s word on men’s minds, had the effect of leading to the discovery that the word was made of no affect by the tradition of man. A most vicious method of allegorizing scripture had been resorted to, pleasing the imagination, but leading to most unwarrantable expectations, and tending to puff up the Church rather than to humble her. The inspiration of the scriptures was thus discovered to be held very loosely indeed, and the insidious encroachments of German Neology to have taken the place of sound criticism; and this too at the time of extensive effort towards the circulation of the scriptures, and the assertion, in word at least, of their sufficiency. The practical refusal to look to the Spirit of God in making translations, and to direction from the word as to the conduct of the society for its distribution, were a virtual denial of the authority of the word, even on the part of those who were acting on the principle of its all-sufficiency. One very blessed result of prophetic study has been the assertion that the bible is the word of God, i.e., verbally inspired— “Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” So long as the study of prophecy therefore shall continue a subject of interest to the Church, we have security for the plenary inspiration of scripture being held. But experience has proved that when the Church has slumbered in self-complacency, and ceased to search the records of her future hope, the definiteness of the word has been lost sight of.

Prophetic inquiry led necessarily into the question of the destiny of the earth in which we are, and of man originally constituted its Lord; and hence the large scriptural prospect of yet coming glory to Israel, and that glory connected with the Lord Jesus Christ as Son of man, sitting on the throne of David. This naturally tended to the question of the Lord’s proper humanity; and as many of reputation had been found unsound on the subject of the inspiration of the scriptures, the result of the controversy proved them not to hold the orthodox faith, touching the person of the Lord Christ. True indeed it is that many of the assertors of the proper humanity of the Lord Christ were first driven into unguarded statements, and then into fearful heresy. Such is the subtlety of Satan that he watches with a jealous eye every approach towards the truth, and when they are beginning to throw off the doctrines of men in order to get at it, his aim has been to drive them into extremes, as if the opposite to error was truth. This was clearly the case in the controversy raised on the humanity; the assertors of it were urged into such fearful statements as to speak of “the law of sin” (Rom. 7) in the human nature of the Son of God, and to say that He was only sustained in holiness by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost; from which others drew the necessary conclusions of the denial of the vicarious sacrifice, and the assertion of holiness in the flesh. Redemption was spoken of as the result not of blood shedding but of incarnation; the hypostatical union was virtually forgotten, and the warning of scripture “No man knoweth the Son but the Father,” was neglected. We need not wonder at any result from such fearful errors. Yet whilst we have to lament over our common weakness in seeing the fall of our brethren, and are afresh instructed in the necessity of child-like simplicity and meekness of wisdom, some profit has been mercifully afforded from the controversy, because it has exposed the error on the other side touching the person of the Lord. It proves that the humanity of the Lord was a truth greatly lost sight of by the majority of teachers, and in many instances not distinctly held at formed not a topic in teaching the Lord Jesus Christ. The value of His atoning blood as resulting from His real and proper divinity was almost exclusively regarded. But the way in which He also glorified the Father as the obedient man, the real glory of His humiliation, His presenting everything in man perfect unto God in His own person, and learning obedience through sufferings—this, in which all the moral glory of the Son of God was displayed, in a manner to be apprehended by us, had no prominence given to it. And yet how important are the consequences of soundness in the faith respecting the humanity of the Lord. As man He left us an example that we should follow His steps. In Him, as the holy and Just One, we see suffering to be the portion of righteousness in this world. In Him as the obedient man, we are taught that subjection of will to the will of God is the only true blessing now or hereafter, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me.” But what is of most importance is, that it is in reference to Him as man, that we learn what the Church is—what its glory—what its present portion. We learn too the world’s standing and its portion; because “He humbled Himself and became obedient to death even the death of the cross, therefore God hath highly exalted Rim and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth,” &c. Now His name as the eternal Word, as the Son of God, was not given, it was His rightful name; nor the honor due unto it; it was the glory which He had with the Father before the world was. As Lord too, He was always the Jehovah—the I AM. The name therefore was given to Him as the Son of man —even the name, Jesus—His proper name as man. It was the subject of sense to those who were conversant with Jesus in the days of His flesh, that He was very man. Faith saw in Him, whilst manifested as the Son of man, the SON OF GOD. This was the matter of divine revelation, which flesh and blood could not attain unto— “that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Now in the habit of our minds it is a matter of history that Christ is ascended, that He sitteth at the right hand of God; but faith sees in Him so highly exalted, the man Jesus. It is no hard thing, even intellectually, to comprehend that He who sitteth on God’s throne is the Son of God; but the object of faith is always the complex person as the Son, the great mystery of godliness — “God manifested in the flesh;”— “the Word made flesh.” So again the Son is not made Lord (as Peter says, He was made Lord and Christ) in respect of His divine nature, for in that He was always. Jehovah—Lord—but in His human. The mind which was in Christ Jesus, was that He emptied Himself (εαυτον εκενωσε) so as to bring Himself into the capacity of a recipient; and thus in obedience did He receive power from God as man. “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him.” But it was not until His resurrection that He said— “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth;” and this was given as the reward of His obedience. “He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him.” Now it is the yet to be revealed glory of the SON OF MAN that prophecy is conversant with, and we may mainly account for the misapprehension of the human nature of the Lord, from the fact of prophetic study having been so long in disrepute, Much as we are called upon to lament the fearful departure from soundness in the faith, and the spirit in which the controversy has been conducted, we have by it, learned anew the lesson, that there is nothing new under the sun, and that old heresies with new names have been revived, by Satan working on our fleshly mind. The moment the thoughts of God’s Children were being turned from dry doctrines to the person of the Son of God—fairer than the children of men, “in whom is fullness of grace as well as all treasures of wisdom and knowledge;” abiding in whom is the only security of the saints—the subtlety of the enemy tried to bring in the old heresies respecting His person, that thus he might drive them back into meager doctrines and dry systems of divinity. Allowing most fully the evil of these heresies, it has been clearly proved that among the majority of modern teachers, considered to hold the truth, the person of the Lord is not a favorite theme, and that His humanity is not dwelt on in that prominence which the word of God warrants, and which, it may he soberly asserted, soundness in the faith demands.

Our little minds are apt to be content with a truth instead of the truth, and disjointed truth serves the purpose of Satan well. And so little is the reality of our Savior’s proper humanity considered and urged, that it would be a question whether the assertion of His having had as man “a finite understanding and directed will,” would not on the poor authority of the writer of this, call forth the easy cry of heresy from those who are impatient of investigating truth. But when we have seen a champion of orthodoxy come forward and boldly declare that εμαθεν (Heb. 5:8.) means “taught” and not “learned,” as our translators have invariably rendered the word, one feels disposed to say— “full well ye reject the word of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.” And thus are we furnished at once with an instance of the deceitful manner in which the word of God is handled, and of the virtual denial of the humanity of the Lord. But it is right to observe the prominence our blessed Lord Himself gives to His own humanity, and how entirely He had knit Himself up with the interests of man. When He had witnessed to His own Godhead in answer to the high priest, He immediately added— “Moreover I say unto you, henceforth ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” (Matt. 26:64.) True, indeed, blessedly true it is, that He finished the work the Father had given Him to do in His humiliation, even the putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Here, indeed, we can never sufficiently admire the greatness of Film who was bruised, and poured out His soul unto death. It is the whole sustainment of an awakened soul, to know that He who came to save sinners was the same “by whom all things were made.” The Creator and Redeemer are one and the same person—He is over all—God—blessed forever. And if there were nothing else to be effected through the agency of the Son, we might readily account for the dividing of His person, and losing the memory of His manhood in the adoration of His Godhead. “But there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” As our high priest He was made like unto us in all points, sin only excepted, that He might be able to sympathize with us. The Father hath given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man. God hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world (οικουμενην) in righteousness by that man whom He Hath ordained. It is thus, both in His present mediation and future actings, He is still to be regarded by us as the Son of man. This truth Satan would hinder if he could, because it is the seed of the woman which is to bruise his head; this truth is distasteful to the world, because it involves its judgment. As Jesus has been known as the “poor man” (Psa. 41:1, and 34:6) “whose visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men; so shall He sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their months at Him:” “every knee shall bow and confess to the name of Jesus,” the once despised man, In fact, the prophetic testimony is to man’s glory in connection with the Emmanuel—God manifest in the flesh—man made lower than the angels—set over all God’s world. And how so, save by union with Him who is the link between God and man, as uniting both in His mysterious person, being God and man in one person? And to what are the saints to be conformed, but to the risen and glorified manhood of Jesus?—That He may be the firstborn among many brethren, as He is the first-born from the dead—the first fruits of the resurrection— “for since by man came death, so by man came also the resurrection of the dead.” How necessarily therefore, does it appear, that obstinate refusal to look into the destinies of man and of the world in which we are, will lead more or less into unsoundness in the faith. And it should be added, that any infringement on the integrity of either of the natures of the Lord Jesus Christ, necessarily leads into error, so marvelously interwoven are all the doctrines of Christianity with the incarnation of the Son of God. It was at the incarnation that angels sang “glory to God in the highest,” as well as “ευδοκια εν ανθρωποις”—the last note being the result of that mysterious fact. Now God’s ευδοκια is in His beloved Son, (Matt. 3:17.) and in those who now love Him as one with Him. But the time shall he when God shall “rest in His love,” and take complacency in His creation, and in man as its lord, and man no less take complacency in God. And all this the worthy result of the incarnation. To Him be the praise.

One of the defenders of the Church of England has urged as an argument for its being the pillar of truth, its several festivals, as giving prominence to the great mysteries of our faith; in that these subjects are forced upon her ministers to bring before their people. Let the writer have all the advantage of this innocent argument. But is it really only once a year that we need have the mystery of the incarnation brought before us, as on Christmas day? as well might one made partaker of the divine life consider that one meal would sustain his body for a year. He knows that “the flesh of Christ is meat indeed, and His blood drink indeed:” and to one given up to the guidance of God’s word, and teaching of God’s Spirit, how continually is the fact brought before him, as it is also in the Lord’s supper; the neglect of which is another proof of the light esteem in which the humiliation of the Son of God has been held. Here again has been a most beneficial effect of prophetic inquiry, proving low far it is from being merely speculative—that it is the means by which the Spirit guides into all truth—even that Spirit whose testimony is to the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. To see either of these in their just proportion, they must be viewed together, and riot disjointedly, in strict accordance with the great lesson taught in the Lord’s supper, “To show forth His death till He come,” and thus to learn our true and proper place “of suffering with Him, that we may be glorified together.”

A further result of benefit to the Church arising from prophetic inquiry, has been the discrimination between the dispensations of God, the confusion of which leads to the most disastrous consequences. The peculiar character of that under which we are, as a dispensation simply of grace, contrasted with the former as a dispensation of law, involving as it does a variety of interesting particulars; when recognized, gives liberty in the statement of the gospel, which is, in fact, only the exhibition of God’s aspect to sinners, as such, in grace, love, and mercy. It is true that the fullness of the gospel had been preached, but then its statement was hampered, and the universal love of God in the gift of His Son disbelieved. Some doctrines were most clearly stated, but the work of Christ in reference to God, its real value in His sight, as opening an unhindered channel for His grace, was not regarded, but only the work of Christ for the Church. This indeed is a most blessed and soul-sustaining truth: but the enlarged view into which prophetic inquiry leads, shows the distinction between Christ’s substitution for the Church, and His being God’s mercy-seat (ελαστηριον Rom. 3:25) on which He is accessible by sinners. That the Lord Jesus Christ stood in the place of His people—bore their sins in His own body on the tree—that He was delivered for their offenses, and raised again for their justification—that He loved the Church—gave Himself for His sheep, according to the promise made before the world began, and in due time sealed by the blood of the great shepherd—is indeed a most precious truth. Who, that has been taught to know his own weakness, could rest in anything short of God’s electing love, as the fountain whence all His present blessing flows, and as the source of that glory to which he is predestinated. Holding therefore, most unequivocally, God’s sovereignty in election, in looking to the proper humanity of the Lord, we see Him in His perfectness and His work, as man, meeting all the perfect requisitions of God, so that there was a moral fitness on such a basis for God, (since He could be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus,) to set forth His “righteousness without law unto all;” and in this sense only is there a reconciliation of the world. (καταλλαγη κοςμου Rom. 11:15.) He hath exalted the name of Jesus above every name; the “Son of man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him.” God met in Jesus a man entirely answering to His requirements from man—inasmuch as He was man, He responded unto God in all the dependence of the creature upon the Creator; while as the Son He met and answered the perfect love of the Father. While He, Jesus, could say, “I have glorified thee on the earth,” the Father could say, “Behold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth.” Abstractedly considered, there was no needs-be that any should have been saved by the obedience unto death of Christ. The Father was glorified thereby— “Father, glorify thy name;” answerable to this is the statement— “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life;” the result is not stated, because that was not the point. But the Father’s love was set on the Son, because by His obedience unto death there was the groundwork for God’s manifesting His grace in consistency with all His glorious perfections. This is what the Apostle in the Romans states to be the “righteousness of God without law,” and afterward clearly he characterizes the dispensation (not its effects which man so naturally looks to) “as the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ unto all.” The blood of Jesus carried by Him within the vail has made heaven accessible to a sinner. Him hath God set forth as a mercy-seat (ιλαστηριον) where He communes peaceably with a sinner, through faith in His blood.

The question of numbers to be benefited, or the result at all to man, does not here enter into question. Had there only been one soul to be saved, God must vindicate His own character in saving a sinner, or disorder would be introduced into His moral government. And so of the work of Christ, had it been attended with no result of blessing to man through man’s perverseness—had all His humiliation been fruitless, as almost it seemed to be, yet God was glorified by it, “then I said I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught and in vain, yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.”—Yes, let it he told fir and wide, that the work has been finished, the will of God has been done by Jesus, blood has been shed, the precious blood of the Lamb of God, atonement has been made, and thereby is a channel opened for God’s most free love, and the loving arms of God are stretched out to a gainsaying and rebellious people. In fact there has ever been a double action, (if the expression be lawful) God in dispensation, and God in sovereignty. Dispensation has failed because left to the responsibility of the creature, but the counsel of the Lord it shall stand. And while each dispensation has tended to show more fearfully the apostasy of man, God’s purpose of election receives additional confirmation, and in regarding Him by whose substitution the elect are saved, we not only look at that which stamps its value on the price paid, viz., the Godhead of Him who suffered, but we are also led to that in which the moral glory of Jesus shines forth, His humbling Himself to suffering as the obedient Son.

But the most important result of prophetic inquiry remains yet to be noticed, even that which is the great burthen of prophetic testimony—the glory of Jesus yet to be revealed—His glory as the SON of MAN. (Dan. 7) Till that period he is an expectant— “expecting until His enemies be made His footstool.” This present period is to the world the period of God’s long-suffering, and at the same time “the gathering out a people for the praise of His glory from the Gentiles,” which is “the mystery hidden from ages and generations.” As to earthly glory, that of Jesus is identified with the Jews, “of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, the seed of David and the on of David, to sit on His throne.” But His associates in the heavenly glory are the saints, they are now “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things.” Here is their portion; and the revealer of this, and the pledge of it is the presence of the Comforter. As to the acting of Christ now, it is in and through the Church. That is His witness until every eye shall see Him. As soon as the true portion of the Church was discovered, and its proper function as the body of Him who filleth all in all, then its leanness and poverty, as well as madness in having gone to the world for help, was made manifest. It was seen that nothing but its own portion—the abiding presence of the Comforter would suffice its need. The continuousness of the promise— “He shall abide with you forever”—made way for seeing that the distinction between ordinary and extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, was not warranted by scripture; and that while men had been content with the influence of the Spirit, instead of the presence of the Spirit, though there had been an awakened energy for individual salvation, the proper function of the Church as the light of the world, (Matt. 10)— “Ye are the light of the world,” had been forgotten.

Five and twenty years also of trial had tended in a measure to sober the expectations from human exertions, however multiplied and energetic; and the mighty impulse which has been given to the Christian mind by religious institutions, meeting with no corresponding result, led to the belief that something was wrong, something deficient. Prayer began to be made for the outpouring of God’s Spirit; and this with increasing light from God’s word awakened many to the conviction of the present degraded state of the Church of God—that whilst saying from her multiplied means “I am rich and increased with goods,” she was “poor, and blind, and miserable, and naked.” In a word, there could not be power in testimony unless the Church had its proper portion—the Spirit of God. This awakening of the Church from her long sleep, was the opportunity for Satan to try to discredit not only the Church, but prophetic inquiry also, and to settle men on their lees. It was the recovery of a most valuable principle to have learned again, that the Church’s portion is the abiding presence of the Holy Ghost, and that the promise is His personal presence as the Comforter. The question as to the revival of His gifts was not fairly met by an artificial distinction which the word of God did not warrant, and on which the Church unhappily acted. If we allow His personality, we ca mot deny that He can invest the Church with the glory which Jesus gave it, that the same powers might be recognized in the body which had been in the head. But when awakening to her sins, should the Church immediately have expected these gifts? True, they are her portion; but has she not so irretrievably fallen from her high standing, that instead of revival, her awakening ought to have been only to a sense of judgment? Her lost strength now felt and discovered, ought to have led to humiliation and repentance. Let it be allowed that God’s arm is not shortened, nor His ear heavy, but the Church has failed; and have we any promise of the revival of the Church out of apostasy, or is it at all according to the analogy of past dealings, that He should mend that which man has marred? and have not the promises of the full out-pouring of the Spirit, of which we have only the first-fruits, manifest reference to another dispensation? As to modern spiritual gifts, it was most natural, that when men had adopted a right principle, and were earnestly asking for them, any pretensions arising among devoted Christians should have immediately been hailed as genuine. But the very pretension served to show that the Church had so completely fallen from its high standing of the pillar and ground of truth, as not to know her office, that the spirits were to be tried by the Spirit in the Church. It is not to be taken on his own authority, that any one is speaking by the Spirit, but “let the others judge.” So weak then was the Church, that she knew not her own power, and consequently many blindly subjected themselves to a power without them, instead of judging all things by the power within them. (1 John 2:20-27.) But not to dwell on this further, it must be noticed, that up to this, prophetic inquiry had been pursued smoothly—it had indeed to check the great swelling words of vanity of missionary orators, and to question the worldly principles of many religious societies, but it had led to nothing very marked and decisive. The most eminent of God’s servants might meet together for a period to discuss prophetic questions, and then return to their respective livings and chapels refreshed and at ease. But not so when the condition of the Church came to be discovered, and her destitution of the Spirit. A principle was then forced upon men’s consciences, and has been more than once practically exhibited—that every existing establishment goes on the principle that the Spirit of God has suspended His functions, save in quickening sinners, This is the principle of an establishment of order in the flesh—man’s order; so that if we allow the Spirit’s abiding presence in the Church as that which makes it the Church, if we allow that He is a sovereign, distributing to every man severally as He will, we must also allow, that in an establishment the Spirit of God cannot exercise His ministry save in disorder. There is no stopping short of truth without direct disobedience to God. The question which has arisen from prophetic inquiry now, is not the principle of scriptural interpretation—it is not the Second Advent of Christ; on these points we have hundreds of witnesses; these are now as much axioms of Christianity in the minds of many, as simple faith in the blood of the Lamb. The field of controversy we may fairly say has been left in possession of the students of prophecy. Many it is true, impatient of inquiry, confess they have never turned their thoughts to the question—many think nothing safe or worth knowing but the five points of calvinism—many read some of the crude writings which have been published, and attack a phantom of their own making. Again, the differences of interpretation among the students of prophecy on some points of detail, are loudly urged as a reason for the neglect of the subject altogether. But there is one great principle in which they are agreed—judgment, not glory, for the professing Church. The next acting of God on the Church, is casting the vine of the earth into the winepress of the wrath of Almighty God.

But the present practical question is the duty arising from the light vouchsafed to us, in the discovery in the state of the Church. And here comes the cross and the trial; here the word is piercing even to the dividing asunder the joints and marrow. Many would say, here we will stop; to pursue truth further breaks in upon all our associations, and would upset every goodly fabric the wisdom of man has devised for disseminating the truth of God. Such is the point to which we are now arrived; it is not the comparison of the Church of England and dissent, but the question whether both are not resisting and rejecting the Holy Ghost the Comforter. The light has been gradually increasing, leading us on in great gentleness step by step, bringing everything into contact with itself, so as to make us judge things that differ. Wrongness in practice has been traced to deficiency in principle; want of success to the use of carnal weapons. The Spirit of God which has led on the way in this inquiry, now claims our simple dependence on Him as our only strength. Our sin has been, that we have grieved Him, and what is repentance but permitting Him to act? it is not for us to say how He may please to act, but to disconnect ourselves from that with which He cannot act. Here is the great value of the recovery of the principle of the Spirit’s presence being the abiding portion of the Church. It is not that He has withdrawn entirely, but that He has been hindered in His operations; it is not that He will come in the plenitude of His gifts, but whether we, after this discovery, will yet hinder Him, and do as we may by supplying His ministrations from other resources, or own Him entirely, whatever measure of power He may please to exercise. This is the point to which we are brought, whether we can alone trust in God for our guidance and edification, or have so completely lost the sense of our proper portion, as for safety-sake to walk after men. Many of the most prominent in the prophetic question have now come down from their high standing as leaders of others into truth, to mere apologists for a system. We may fairly say, that never have the Christian portion of the Church of England been obliged to act so completely on the defensive, (the political movement against her is not here alluded to,) but she is challenged to defend herself against the charge of schism and of rejecting the Holy Ghost, by establishing order in the flesh; and in fairness, the Church of England must either claim a monopoly of the Spirit, or own herself a schismatic and hinderer of the Spirit. One duty is clear on discovery of the state of the Church, and that is humiliation. “Be zealous and repent, remember from whence thou art fallen.” But the natural effect of trying to prop up a system, an establishment, is to conceal from our own eyes, the real state of destitution in which we are. It is in default of our own proper and only strength to go for aid to that which is foreign. Few of the Lord’s people know their real lack of spiritual power, by being encompassed with so many things which can attract the flesh. Nothing is so hard as to be made to feel that we have but little strength, and yet it is the place of safety, it is that which the Lord will look to, and asserted as it may be on the truth of God’s word, it has been proved, and still is being proved, that where the Spirit of God has liberty of teaching, there has invariably followed blessing. The word of God has been brought before men’s minds instead of the doctrines of men, and there is confidence in giving an answer to any one that asketh a reason of the hope that is in one, in meekness and fear. Christians so taught, feel they are resting on that which abideth, though heaven and earth pass away. They receive the word, not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually Works in them that believe.

One thing is clear, that so far as prophetic inquiry is concerned, it cannot be pursued further by members of the Church of England. They must retrograde, or go whither the truth they have brought out will lead them. All that light bears upon one point—God’s speedy judgment on evil, whatever shape it assumes; and no man in the Church of England can consistently separate from all, and that especially with which he is connected in the establishment, It is not now the time to plead for the Church of England as the best among the many, which may readily be granted, but to defend her in the light of that very truth which so many of her sons have been so instrumental in bringing before us. The controversy is not one in which the world can be appealed to, it cannot be the umpire, for it know eth not the Spirit of God. Whilst it was merely the comparative claim of rival sects, this claim of comparative excellence might do, nor will it be permitted now to say, “let us alone and we will let you alone.” Truth is always aggressive, and will not let error alone. Sad indeed is it to witness all Christian energy expended in maintaining that which is not Christ’s. Sad the apology of a minister of the everlasting gospel to leave his high office as an ambassador of God, to defend a ritual. Nothing proves more our common lack of the Spirit’s power than this— “all seek their own.” Let our brethren in the Church of England weigh this solemnly, if they have been awakened to the low degree of spirituality in the Church at large, to the little measure of knowledge and less of grace— if nothing but the Spirit can effectually work, and He only in holy separation from the world, are they not contending for, and supporting, and propping up that which is the real hindrance to His putting forth His energy—that in which he could not work save in disorder, that in which ungodliness may and does work in order. Blessed be God, He is sovereign; but let no one take credit to himself for his system, because God does raise up His own witnesses in it, notwithstanding the evil. Let us not mistake the riches of His grace for the approval of our sin. If God blessed Israel during the reign of Hezekiah, and others, it was of His grace rising above their sin. It was still their sin that they had rejected God in asking for a king; though God granted their request. “I will call unto the Lord, and He shall send thunder and rain, that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking you a king.” (1 Sam. 12:17. compare v. 12, 13, 14, 15, 19.) God gave way to man’s perverseness to show His own wisdom; and the result was, “I gave them a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.” (Hos. 13:11.) The parallel is most instructive, the Lord gave up man to his own waywardness, and we may say that the experiment of the union of the Church and world has been fairly tried. God has in His sovereignty blessed His own in it, yea, and. the system too, so far as He could own it. But the result is complete failure; the attempt of putting the new piece to the old garment has signally failed; and the forcing the world into the profession of Christianity, has made a most a fearful rent, and introduced that which is fast hastening to its crisis in manifestation—lawlessness. The Church of England is the author of confusion, by sanctioning the calling things Christian which are not Christian; she has sacrificed everything to uniformity; and now, as an ill compacted body, she is without defense. As it was with Israel the only remedy for God to say, “I will be thy king,” (Hos. 13:10.) so is it for the Church to give liberty to God’s Spirit; and this is the real question at issue, not whether many of her ministers are not godly, and her doctrinal articles sound; but whether the very spirit of the establishment is not this— “we saw one casting out devils in thy name and we forbade him because he followeth not with us?”

On looking back now on the prophetic question, we find that we have been insensibly led on to the discovery that a great revolution has and is taking place in the minds of many of the Lord’s people. That there is a craving awakened both for spirituality and communion of the saints, which existing systems, whether from their worldliness or exclusiveness, cannot meet. That there is a growing cleaving to the word of God, as the word of God, and only balance of the sanctuary. That there is a felt power of truth on the part of these, a very small portion indeed of the Lord’s people, and a conscious weakness on the part of those who defend systems, so much so, as to be forced to abandon the word. That the high standing of God’s elect Church, as the light of the world, is being practically asserted in separation from the world, and that a Christian can only be a Christian in any time, place, or circumstance. In a word, it may truly be said, that the controversy is again renewed between Christ and the world; it is not doctrines but practical holiness which the world hates. It has been fearfully made manifest, that doctrines may be held, and the world served; but Christ cannot be loved and the world served, “if ye love me keep my commandments;” “if any man will serve me, let him follow me.”

One word to those who have separated from any existing establishment; let them remember that obedience is their only security, even keeping the word of the patience of the Lord; let them be content to remain weak and learn what it is by patient continuance in well doing, to seek for glory, honor and immortality. If any have acted on impulse and not principle, the trial of their faith will soon force them back to the leaning on men. It is most important to know that separation from evil is separation into felt and acknowledged weakness, that which is so contrary to the flesh. But their little strength is real strength, because of the Spirit. Let all then count the cost, whether they are content to leave even the Lord’s people ostensibly for the Lord’s sake. It is from the Lord’s people leaning upon man that they must expect the hardest trial, so that only cleaving to the Lord with purpose of heart will really avail, and much need will they have of the Lord’s grace in sending them those who may confirm their souls and exhort them to continue in the faith, and that they “must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”

Scriptural Criticisms

Dear Sir,

I would renew my purpose to take notice of any passages in which it would appear to me, more light might be thrown on the word, as read in English; which I conceive would be a valuable thing to many interested in the study of the scriptures. Often on an isolated expression much chain of argument depends; and again, a single expression often contains a head of argument which clears and satisfies the mind as to its bearings, I do not attach any extraordinary importance to the observations, only I feel that whatever clears scripture to the ordinary reader is of importance. I will add, of importance to God in His loving-kindness to us. I will, trusting the Lord’s guidance, advert to one or two passages in the epistle to the Romans.

1st—Rom. 1:18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” It appears to me, that the ordinary stopping of this mars the sense. I is force, (apprehend, is this “all ungodliness; and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness;” and this is a most important distinction, for it brings in the whole Gentile world guilty—as the apostle afterward proves. God having been revealed in Christ, wrath is revealed against all ungodliness without exception, because it is such, and as ungodliness, ασεωειαυ. Your Greek readers will remember that worshipping Gentiles are called by the opposite word to this, i.e., σεωομενους, or “devout.” Hence we have two great classes—ungodliness universal, and the unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. I would add another remarkably beautiful circumstance of the most accurate word of God in this Passage—wrath is not revealed in Him—in Him, or therein the righteousness of God is revealed; but there is no “therein” or, “In Him,” when the wrath is spoken of, it is universally revealed.

What we have revealed in Christ is, “that He died for the ungodly;” the same word, and of God, that in and by the gospel He justifieth the ungodly. There is another expression which often puzzles the reader, which seems to me very plain by attention to the use of the words of the original “revealed from faith to faith;” εκ τιςτεως εις πιςτιν. Now I believe that “εκ,” the word here translated “from” always, when thus used with an abstract word, to mean the character, or order, or manner, of the thing which is spoken of. Thus salvation, is εκ πιςεως here “from faith,” as we should say, “faith-wise,” (a form retained in many common words,) this is its manner, order, the dispensation according to which salvation comes; the literal meaning is its source— “out of,” which very readily in an abstract word is used in the sense of its order or dispensation.—Even in English, the expression is not unusual, “e. g.” “it is out of kindness he does it,” as we might in similar sense add, “not through severity.” Now I believe this to be the uniform sense of the preposition “εκ” used abstractedly, or in its moral sense, and hence also especially when it is used without the definite article (in Greek) following it. Applying this to this sentence, of which I will give further instances explanatory of passages in this book. “The righteousness of God” is revealed from faith—that is, according to the principle of faith or a dispensation of faith, in this order or manner— “to faith,” therefore which is the recipient power consequently in man. The statement is a most perfect abstract of the character of the dispensation—a revelation—the subject of that “the righteousness of God,” the character of the dispensation by which it is revealed, “εκ πιςεως,” and consequently that to which it is so revealed— “faith.”

The following may be taken as instances:—ακροωυστια εκ φυσεως “uncircumcision by nature;” and in the 29th verse, we have an instance of the remark as to the leaving out of the article, επαινος εξ ανθρωπων, that is, human praise; that is, the character of their praise; expressions in this instance, adequately represented by the English of them. Again—3:29, διοτι εξ εργων νομου, “by the works of the law,” i.e., in this way. And hence we have the plain sense of another passage in this book, which has perplexed English readers— “justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith;” εκ πιςτεως, διατης πιςεεως. The circumcision had been seeking justification, but they had been seeking it, εξ εργων νομου, in that way, the wrong way, by works of law. God would now justify them not in that way but in another way, that is, εκ πιςεως, by faith, according to that principle or dispensation; but inasmuch as it was upon this principle, the same God would justify, must justify him who had the principle; and therefore a Gentile who had this faith (God’s gift) would be justified through or by it, δια της πιςεως; the former being the principle of the dispensation, which involved justification; when the thing existed, the person who had it was justified necessarily upon this principle; and therefore by the same God the believing Gentile was necessarily admitted. It was therefore εις υπακοην πιςεως, for the obedience of faith to all nations for His (Christ’s) name; the object and subject matter of faith, in whom the Lord requiring the obedience was revealed.

So in chap. 4:2, εξ εργων εδικαιωθη justified by works, i.e., in that way. So οι εκ περιτομης -οι εκ νομου -εξ εριθειας. I have given instances sufficient, I believe, to explain what I mean; were I to adduce all the proof, I should quote every place where “εκ,” is used without the article. I would only remark, sir, that it is not a hasty observation, though of course liable to correction, for I have held it in the use of scriptures these nine years, but had not the opportunity of your Journal to express it thus.

I have alluded to the use of the article or its omission; and it seems to me a most important point in the use of the Greek Testament. My observation has led me, and in these things we are as dependent on the Lord’s guidance, and as much debtors to His mercy as in anything, to this conclusion, that whenever the article is used it denotes a or the substantive object of the sentence; and where it is not used, the word is always characteristic; and that this rule holds good in all circumstances though more difficult of discovery, to a mind not accustomed to abstract, in some cases than in others Granville Sharpe and bishop Middleton have elaborately treated the article, and with great value in many respects; but I believe the above simple rule involves the true decision of every case. Bishop Middleton makes all prepositions an exception—I believe them none. The principle is recognized distinctly in a formal proposition—that is, the subject has, the predicate has not the article; so much so, that if it has, the proposition becomes what is called reciprocal—that is, the terms are so identical in extent, that either could be affirmed of the other. I would note, before I pass on, an instance of this, the mistranslation of which I believe to have been a cause of as much error in the Church as any one other thing η άμαρτια εςιν η ανομια, “Sin is the transgression of the law.” The apostle states no such thing, sin is lawlessness—or lawlessness or insubordination is sin; disobedience is sin. This may be proved in breaking the law in a given instance, that is, transgression of the law is sin but sin is not the transgression of the law, for, αχρι γαρ νομου αμαρτια ην εν τω κοσμω.Yet I suppose upon this false translation, half the formal judgment of the Church, upon what sin is, has been founded; but it is not my business to reason upon this here. It is exceedingly interesting from its connection with 2 Thess. 2:3, 7, 8 where we have the man της αμαρτιας of sin; and then the mystery της ανομιας of iniquity; the two terms of the reciprocal proposition above, concluding with ο ανομος the wicked one; and I believe it to assist much in the solution or understanding of that passage. I believe there is a much higher characteristic of sin than the breach of a commandment—the spirit of disobedience.

The rule destroys the folly of many Socinian comments, easily else destroyed, such as Wakefield’s and the like. “In the beginning was the word,” &c. και θεος ην ο λογος. θεος here is the predicate of λογος, and if it had had the article, it would have proved that there was naught else at all God but the word; that the extent of Godhead was equivalent to ο λογος. It has nothing whatever to do with any emphatic sense of θεος, a sense which I believe θεος never can be proved to have. Take another illustrative instance Rom. 1:21, διοτι γνοντες τον θεον ουκ ως θεον εδοξασαν — not clearly as a subordinate God; the apostles’ argument is directly the other way—but when they knew God, the person, the one God, the object of reverence, they glorified Him not in that character. Had the other notion been right or in any instance true, this passage would have no force, unless it were ως τον θεον. I believe then in every instance where the article is omitted, the noun is characteristic, adjectival in its character; where inserted, it presents the substantive object of thought. The observations of W. G. Sharpe, quite fall in with this, but are only an instance of it, thus τον μονον δεσποτην θεον και κυριον ημων Ιησουν Χριστον, the τον belongs to Ιησουν Χριστον—all the rest is characteristic of Jesus Christ, “the only (master) God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” The rule has been drawn of old from the reading of the New Testament; if any student of it would take the first seven verses of the epistle to the Romans, a book in which the observation has peculiar value from the character of the reasoning, I think he will find the light it throws on the subject, and be recompensed through the whole of the rest of scripture for his trouble. I am aware it may be found to militate against many reasonings of individuals whose results at the same time I may fully agree with. I have no doubt myself of its universal applicability and use. The undoubted truth of it in the case of a proposition, is a strong argument for the truth of the principle—to take a single example, Rom. 1:3, περι του υιου αυτου, that is the substantive object of that sentence. In the next, His identification as Jesus (whom we have known as man) is so. Hence we have του i.e., Ιῆσου Χριςου του Κυρτου ημων -ορισθεντος υιου θεου εν δυναμει, that is what He is; again, εξ αναςασεως νεκρων, now this might perhaps, with almost equal, I do not say equal force, be διατης though it would then be αυτου; but it states here the manner of the determination, not the fact by which it is declared, therefore it is simply εξ αναςασεως; so in English we might say “by resurrection,” or again, by the resurrection; both would be true, their force would be different. The application of this rule is of most extensive, and consequently immense importance, remembering it is applicable to scripture; I have myself no doubt of its universal truth, but I should feel obliged by any of your correspondents suggesting any passage, if there be any, which falsifies it. One instance destroys a principle, not a human custom; where there is only one distinct act, the insertion or omission makes no difference in sense, only in force; and hence some apparent difficulty which for this reason alone I notice. Thus in an instance I take casually, πολλακις παθειν απο καταβολης κοςμοι νυν δεαπάξὲπί συντελειαυτων αιωνων. (Heb. 9:26.) The point was His often suffering, the other was a necessary, not the substantive part of the sentence; on the matter it would have been equally true αποτης καταβολης του κοτμου, but the sentence would not have carried the same quantity of moral truth; it gives the characteristic of the period, not the period itself, as in vulgar English often more pregnant with force than what is accounted refined grammatical language, we say “in kingdom come,” it would be much less expressive to say, which is all I am now concerned in, “the kingdom to come” it would state the same fact but would not in the same way apply the character of it to the subject of conversation; so again επι συντελείά; here again the whole force of it arose from this being one of the characteristics of the suffering, indeed that suffering had an essential characteristic from it, whereas if it had been put merely αιωνων it would have lost much of its force, for there were specific ages, the closing of which as definite things, constituted the object which characterized the appearing of the Lord. Thus we shall find the apparent difficulty highly illustrative of the principle. I believe many an effort at a various reading has arisen from a want of understanding of the sense, and I confess that learned criticisms have often proved to me children playing with toys; I do not despise their value in their place, but no one unspiritual, no one untaught of God is fit to be a judge, he may be a servant, in the interpretation of the divine word. I would instance in this Bps. Horsley and Lowth, because of their eminence; men, masters in criticism confessedly, and to be used as such it may be, but in interpretation founded on it by using it alone by intellect, the well taught reader of a mere English Bible, would be more to be trusted in all the sense of the scripture writers than they are. I am well aware of the opinion which would be formed of such an assertion, but I do not make it lightly; and while I would be thankful for their service, as for a grammar, or a dictionary, or for their intellect as God’s gift, judgment and deference to it I believe to be so far ruin to the Church. I do not say they were in nothing taught of the spirit, so far as they were, they will be blessed—so far as not, they will be confusion and bad guides to others, so that both would fall into the ditch. I am quite willing, and desire any remark I make to be subject to the same rule; need not say that as mere grammatical critics, though not bound by, I should be content to learn from them, or those far indeed below them.

I add another passage of which the mistranslation is apparent, and its application mischievous in the study of the divine mind. It is one of the very few passages in the wonderful, though human, translation we have of the New Testament, in which I confess I believe the translators judged of the translation from the sense, which I am perfectly satisfied they, if it be so, mistook. It is Rom. 11:31, ουτω και ουτοι νυν ηπειθησαν τω υμετερω ελεει ινα και αυτοι ελεηθωσι. So these have now disbelieved your mercy i.e., the mercy to the Church and Gentiles, that they might be objects of mercy—that is, Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, and that the Gentiles should glorify God for His mercy; but they having rejected Christ as mercy to the Gentiles, forbidding to preach to the Gentiles that they might be saved, have now lost this ground, and stand upon mercy themselves; and yet God’s faith abounding over their He shall make His promise good; yet so as it shall be mercy. This marvelous wisdom of order and dealing it was which made the apostle cry out “O the depths of the wisdom,” &c. The present English translation destroys all this, and mistakes the purposes of God. His mercy they will have—but it is indeed mercy to them now ἔν απειθεια. where the Gentiles otherwise once were, now they ενα και ελεηθωσι, And thus ignorant of this mystery, the Gentiles—the Church has become wise in its own conceits, subject, in the true judgment of God, to be cut off.

I add, in Hebrew, one which is to me of great interest in the 89th Psalm. The Holy One of Israel, and the Holy One, are both spoken of, but the words in the original are quite different; in the 19th verse it is ולקדש ישראל in the 20th it is לחסידךּ a word which I believe will be acknowledged ordinarily to mean goodness or mercy. What makes it interesting here is, that it is the same word as is used in the 1st verse, “I will sing of the mercies of Jehovah forever.” It is a concentration of the mercies of Jehovah, in the person of the man chosen out of the people—David His servant, one able to sustain all the attributes of Jehovah, spoken of before as the medium of, and making them all mercy towards His people. It is the same word in verses 23, 24, 28. The whole seems to be the presenting Christ as the sustaining person of “Chased,” and the consequences towards them with whom He is united; the same word is used in the 16th Psalm, when the resurrection of our Lord is spoken of. I have a strong conviction that the words abstractedly might be applied to either; yet that when they have definite formal application Chasidim applies to the Jewish; Kedoshim to the Gentile or Church saints; but the thing cannot be taken as a simple general rule without more understanding of the subject.

I remain, Dear Sir,

Yours faithfully

Scriptural Criticisms. No. 2.

Dear Sir,

I would renew my attempt to clear the interpretation of the New Testament by some very simple criticisms.

I would here first take notice of the difference of its and in, the use of either of which distinctly, is intimately connected with the question of God’s love to the world, and the absolute salvation of the Church. To which, important as it is, I refer here only in connection with the texts I take notice of (Rom. 3:22.) “The righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all, and upon all them that believe;” not unto and upon all them that believe, but the righteousness of God unto all, and upon all them that believe; δικαιοσυνη θες εις παντας, και επι παντας τες πιςευοντας. The Jews had been convinced of sin; the Gentiles had been convinced of sin; they had no righteousness in which to stand with God. Whether Jew or Gentile, they had no hope in themselves; but the righteousness of God through faith of Jesus Christ, was not towards Jew or Gentile, but towards all, εις παντας. Moreover it was upon all (επι τες πιςευοντας) those that believe; they stood in that righteousness.

We have another most important instance in the 18th verse of the 5th chapter. “Therefore as by one offense towards (εις) all men, to (εις) condemnation.” This was the aspect of the result of the offense, (intercepted as regards them that believe, by the death of Christ,) so by one righteousness towards (εις) all men, to (εις) justification of life; if as in the English translation, it had had been upon, for which the scriptures use επι, all would have been justified, We know it is not so, nor does the scripture say so. The aspect of the act is as wide as the aspect of the act of the first Adam; the effect is quite another and a distinct question, We have in the former passage, seen it to be pronounced upon them that believe. These remarks make, I believe, quite clear what the English translation renders very difficult toe apprehend. The word translated Rom. 5:18 upon all, is the same as unto all, in Rom. 3:22. not as upon all them that believe. It shows that the free gift was unto, i.e. towards all in its aspect; but that its effect, and the acceptance of people under it, is quite a distinct question. The accuracy and perfectness of scripture, is additionally illustrated—as seems to exhibit the natural consequence, the effect of anything looked at in itself: it may or may not involve the coming to the result; taken in itself it has the effect, for the tendency of anything, is that which per se, or left to itself, it would produce or arrive at. The word may be seen in many passages of the 6th chap. so used.

I would add a few words on the 7th of Romans.—

The expression γενηται ανδρι ετερω, is translated “married to,” which seems to be more than its force; as in the third verse, “if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man.” It seems a more general phrase, though in an honest sense, it may of course have this force. But while it may be said in a certain way, that the soul is married to the risen Christ: the Church I believe, as such, is never said to be married to Christ. It is said, as to a particular body, that I have espoused you as a chaste virgin unto Christ. In the 19th chap. of Revelation we have the joyful celebration, “Hallelujah for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth; let us be glad and rejoice, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and Hits wife hath made herself ready.” This is after the judgment of Babylon, and again in chap. xxi. 9, “I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” Here we have then the Church confessedly not married to the Lamb; and I believe this to be a most important difference; error as to which has produced as much mistake as any other at all concerning scripture. It may be said to be espoused or destined for Him, but the marriage is not yet come; this takes place on being united to Him in that day when He shall appeal in His glory, when He calls them up into the air, then shall “He present it to Himself a glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.” The Jewish body was so married, “for I am married unto you saith the Lord.” (Jer. 3:14; Isa. 54:4-6.) “Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed, neither be thou confounded, for thou shah not be put to shame; for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shall not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more, for thy Maker is thine husband; for the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth when thou watt refused, saith thy God.” And we shall find this remarkably maintained throughout. Thus the Jewish body is ever called, an adulteress, as in Hosea chap. iii. the Church as corrupt, but not breaking covenant. “Thou hast judged the great whore,” and fornication is the sin of the Church. Now this difference affects the whole position we are set in. The Church has never yet been brought into the position with God, in which the whole argument of the great body of comments on scripture suppose it to be placed, (and this is another instance of the evil of applying Old Testament statements to New Testament subjects, as if they belonged to them,) though faith, by the spirit, sees that place to belong to it, and therefore keeps itself for it. It is the part of Babylon to corrupt itself with all the kings of the earth; but we, though with long protracted affections, know the faithfulness of the Redeemer’s’ love; and remain in solitude till He who has loved us shall appear. For we are “espoused to one husband,” and this shall be in the resurrection, for the second Adam is known to us in the resurrection; we were taken out of Him in death; He is dead to all but faith now, and the Church is therefore still taken out of Him; and in resurrection we shall be one with Him, married into Him. We are indeed one spirit with Him now, and therefore know the blessing; but the whole body of the Church, shall be finally united to Him in the joy of its Lord. I think it will be found, that all the scriptures will bear out this difference, and clearly it strongly affects our position, while we learn distinctly the aspect of faithfulness, which the Church should present, its utter separation from the world, and all secular help in its character, a chaste virgin unto Christ; γενομενη ανδρι έτερω, it has lost all its character as well as relationship. When the spirit of the risen Savior is in me, I am so far united unto Him, and so ought I to keep myself, I am vitally and everlastingly one with Him; but the Church corporate is not so married unto Him, for indeed it is not yet formed. To assume the privileges of a wife, does not become her position, not to have more than the modesty of one in her deportment, as ill suits her state; she shall reign queen over all her lord’s goods, and rule in his house with him; fidelity of hope to one long absent from his pledged love, as a stranger therefore in the midst of all that knows him not—her present portion. Whether receiving the tokens of his love to her from on high or not, faithfulness to him is her clear part; the world may count her case foolish and hopeless, but she knows in whom she has believed, and she may be content to abide the jest of them who know it not, because she has the secret of his love by his spirit dwelling in her, and will rejoice in that day when he makes good his faithfulness and celebrates hers, before them that have despised her. (Comp. Rev. 3:8,9.) I am daily more and more convinced that this is the real, the only position of the Church; it may have the desolateness of widowhood, but the keenness and poignancy of affection of one a widow before she was a wife. Babylon has no need to be sorrowfully and separately waiting, she has wasted her affections upon ten thousand lovers who shall hate her in the end; but the true hearted believer as partaker of the spirit of the Church, will as separate from the world, wait for Him in whom his hope is, in the spirit of holy separation. I would also add, that we find I think a remarkably beautiful association of the act of God and of man, in the person of the Lord, in the connection of Gen. 2:22 and Eph. 5:27. Let me add a suggestion —first; the force of δωσει τοις or ταις in the Revelation, appears to me to have the force of making effectual the thing spoken of, making them to be what they are as, but could not be effectually without this interference. We have instances of this in chap. 8:3. and chap. 9:3.

I would desire to make some use of the remarks I made on the Greek Article in your last number, as they intimately open out the proper deity of our Lord, connected both with His relationship as the incarnate Son with the Father, and with us therein; points which, with that presence of the Spirit by which they are known, form the great scope of Christianity; and it is of great importance in the present day, to give the full scope of Christianity. For occupation in the fullness of that, is that which preserves the mind under grace, and meets that wandering into things not taught of God—questions of no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers, to which the mere reasoning of the mind is the complete slave, the creatures of intellectual reasonings or imaginings; things which if not our hands, our intellects have made. No one not acquainted with the extent to which the Gnostic heretics went, could imagine how far the subtle creations of the human intellect misled, could go, and from which it can find no retreat, but utter humbling. May we be led of the Spirit, and kept fast by the word. There is intellectual idolatry as well as physical, quite as subtle, quite as dangerous, and if the imagination be less vivid in our days or regions, in external or mental objects, there is not the less departure in its duller movements from God, wherever anything but Himself, as taught by the Spirit, is the object of our minds, instead of our being subject to Him thus known in Christ. But to turn to my Criticisms. Substantially they made the Article the person of the sentence; and the words without it, the character of or what that person was when it is used. This often gives much blessed instruction; thus we have in Gal. 1:4. Του θες και πατρος ημων, He who is God and our Father.

Phil. 4:20. Τω δε θεω και πατρι ημων. To Him who is God and our Father.

Col. 3:17. Τω θεω και πατρι who is God and Father: showing here Father to be a distinct characteristic, just as Son might be.

1 Thess. 1;2. τω θεω και πατρος ῆμων, both again denominations of τe. 1 Thess. 3:11. Αυτος δε ο θεος και παρηο ημων, that very one who is God and Father.

James 1:27. Τω θεω και πατρι, Him who is God and Father.

We have a remarkable instance of this construction, in which it was possible to give this in English, from. an ordinary participle intervening.

Jude 24. Τωδε δυναμενω, &c. μονω σοφω θεω &c. The structure is just the same as the former, it is translated as the others ought, in sense, if the English could bear it. To him who is able, &e. the only wise God; the particle to in verse 25, alone mars the English.

We have another remarkable instance in which it is not rightly given in English.

1 Tim. 1:17. Τωδε βασιλει των ὰφθαρτω, αορατω, μονω σοφω θεω, to Him who is the king eternal, the incorruptible, invisible, only wise God, honor and glory, &c.

I would now mention some others which have been noticed before, but I bring them in juxtaposition with those previously mentioned, as showing the usage of the language; passages in which our Lord is spoken of as God, in the same way, adding some other characteristic than Father.

Titus 2:13. Του μεγαλ, θες και σωιηρος ημων Ιησε Χριστου, Him who is the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, compare τε θες και πατρός ημων.

Jude 4. Του μονον δεσποτην θεον και κύριον ημων I. X. The structure here is the same, He who is the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ: I will not adduce other passages to this point, as I stated, it as been already done. These show the identity of construction of both, while God is the common or one name of both and the other titles distinctive to each, or common as Savior; we have another instance in l Tim. v. 21 of distinctive title annexed.

I now advert to some other passages, which further illustrate the principle and show this unity with us, so as to magnify our blessing, by the same uniform construction. There is an intermediate form in (Rev. 1:7.) kings and priests τω θεω και πατρι αυτε —to Him who is God and His Father. This is the person to whom he has made us priests.

In (Eph. 1:2.) God is called our Father. Then because all fullness dwelt in Him, fullness of relationship as the incarnate object of love, in ver. 3, we have this blessed association. Ο θεος και πατηρ τε κυριε ημων Ιησε Χρισε. He who is God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The great object of this epistle specially here, is to show the identity in Sonship given us in Jesus. So precisely in (Col. 1:2,3.) we have first our Father ver. 2, then ο Θεος και πατηρ τε κυρις κ τ λ.

In 1 Peter 1:3, we have the same title given to the holy One ο θεος και πατηρ τε κυρις κ τ λ X. Thus we have on one hand the use of it as to the Father, identifying that name with God. Then with the Lord identifying His name with God: and then identifying Him with us, so as to give us all the blessing which he held with God as man, His God and our God, His Father and our Father. Ο θεος και πατηρ. Θεος και σωτηρ. Θεος και πατηρ τε Κυρις ὴμων. Θεος και πατηρ ημων, kings and priests, τω θεω και Πατρι αυτε. What a blessed chain. It is extremely sweet to see the blessed truths, in which our whole hope stands, shining out in all their gracious beauty combined into their places by the same hand which has given the same link of assurance (wonderful mystery) to one and the other, and the closest criticism, as it appears to me, alike establishing both on the same ground instead of invalidating them, which superficial assertion would sometimes say that it did.

There are two other passages the force of which is opened out by these remarks. “This is the true God and eternal life.”— Ουτος He; i.e. υιος αυτε I. X—is the true God, ο αληθινος θεος και η ζων αιωνίος. Now this, placed as an affirmation concerning ουτος, is affirming the identity of predicate and subject in extent. Now if we compare ver. 3rd of John 17th, we shall see the amazing force of that expression and the meaning of this, “This is life eternal, that they should know thee, the only true God, (that is the Father) and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” That they may know thee τον—that one, or Him, who is the only true God, contrasted with gods many and false gods, and Him whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ. How does He give them this eternal life —this knowledge? I answer by their being planted in Himself; “he that hath the Son hath life:” but they are in Him that is true, thus, and consequently being in Him that is true—that is, in His Son, they dwell in God and God in them. They know the Father, who Himself is the only true God; and they know Jesus Christ whom the Father hath sent, and none else can know Him. Being in Christ and knowing His love, we are in the true God, and so know the Father as being in the Son, and we know Jesus Christ. I would remark that this passage (John 17:3.) seems to me to embrace true religion as referable to Jews and Gentiles. Unless known as the Father, there was no knowing Him at all; and this by knowing Him in the Son; if they know not Jesus Christ whom He had sent, they knew nothing of that ministration in which, as Messiah, He had fulfilled the purposes of God, and manifested eternal life in Sonship. This was eternal life, for He was the living God. Therefore He says “power over all flesh” in the epistle written, as the Gospel was written, to show them what eternal life was, to prove to them that they had it already. He sums up all from first to last, against all the ramifications of intellectual imaginations, in which, men, creating trouble for their own minds, were apt to wander, in the person of Jesus Christ, putting everything in its place in and round that center.. Whoever studies the three closing “οιδαμεν” of John’s epistle, will at once see the amazing arid stern comprehensiveness of the passages, and in the last especially; the closing of all cavil in the person of Jesus Christ— “Him that is true” — “the true God and eternal life.” If the object of the two books, as stated John 20:31, and 1 John 5:13, be observed, the meaning and combined power of these passages will be most apparent. Simplicity of faith is the real secret—the kernel of all knowledge.

I would make further a few remarks on 1 Cor. 15:24. et seq. I do not think it is sufficiently observed, that there are two very distinct, though closely connected passages, referred to there; and I think a little attention will make it plain, The two distinct things are His “putting His enemies,” and putting “all things under His feet.” There is also a direct distinction between putting them under Him and His subjecting them. I would first remark that the supremacy of man is the point in question, man in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ; as a little further on, “the second Adam is the Lord from heaven.” The whole chapter is the power of the resurrection; the progressive steps of this resurrection occupy the apostle’s attention. The putting all things under man’s feet, is the express subject on which the apostle dwells from the 8th Psalm. The union of the other with it, being Lord as well as Son of David, is that which must always puzzle the unbeliever, as the Lord did the Jews with it; it is the strength and comfort of faith. It is the same Jesus who was made Lord and Christ, whose coming to take His kingdom is here celebrated. The whole subject then, is the kingdom of man (in resurrection) as a given kingdom, contrasted with God. Hence the Father never becoming incarnate, and remaining in office (I speak after the manner of men) Supreme Deity; the kingdom is delivered up to Him; to God, even the Father τω θεω και πατρι. —that God as contrasted with man may be all in all, instead of Christ the man being all in all. This is clearly the subject; the contrast of God and the given kingdom of (the risen) man, the head of the new world. With this personal supremacy of Christ, the Lord from heaven, there are two things connected; “the putting His enemies” and “putting all things under His feet;” being quotations from the 110th and 8th Psalms. Now under the risen man, as entitled in every sense thereto, by glorifying God, by purchase, at His life’s cost, back again, by overcoming all His enemies personally, God on His resurrection and glorifying, put all things under Him, not in actual subjugation, but title of subjection; they were His by victory; by purchase, by worth in the purpose of the divine glory. Quite otherwise as to the other. There Jehovah says “sit thou at my right hand till I make thy foes thy footstool.” He is to sit there till it is done. Ruling “in His enemies” and “over all,” are quite distinct things; as to both, the gift of dominion, by the Father, is distinct from subjugation by the Son. In this latter, i.e. subjugation by the Son, the two become coincident. The reign of the 25th verse, I take to be the direct assertion of what is consequent upon His receiving the power (of rule among his enemies) till the time when He delivers it up; the last enemy being destroyed, which is death. Further, “sit thou at my right hand till I make” Here is the Father making His enemies His footstool, consequent on which He rules in the midst of His enemies. Now this act of the Father’s, the Apostle does not speak of; because after speaking of the resurrection of Christ’s people at His coming, the time of this kingdom, he goes on to the end when he delivers up the kingdom; “for,” says the Apostle, “He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet.” This is the Son’s, by His actings in power, as the risen Man. The Father having put His enemies under His feet, or made them His footstool when He came, having till then sat at God’s right hand; “for He hath put all things under His feet.” This is another great truth; and here the general act of the Father is spoken of, viz. putting all things under Christ’s feet; but as a thing already done—God hath put all things under His feet. This is His enjoyed power: a power the results of which we by no means see accomplished. When they are, when all things are subjected, then He, the man, will deliver up the kingdom, that God may be all in all. The same truth, as to all things being not subjected by Christ, when all things are put under His feet by the Father, is stated Heb. 2 where quoting the same, 8th Psalm, the Spirit of God adds for us, “Howbeit we see not yet all things put under Him, but we see Jesus exalted.” Here then we find the title of all in inheritance (in Christ determined the Son of God with power) in the resurrection. He waits for the time when the subjugation of His enemies shall make all things His; His enemies not yet being made His footstool. The saints are gathered out, meanwhile, to reign with Him; He acting by His Spirit, and controlling also thereby through the world, they are raised at His coming. For His enemies are now put under His feet, and He takes the inheritance, subjecting His enemies; and, they having been destroying the inheritance, as well as injuring the heirs in it, vindicates the inheritance, and we see all things put under Him. For the putting His enemies, and all things under His feet, are two distinct acts; yet the subjugation of the one is the vindication of the other. But we (by faith) must own that all things are put under Him, Glory, and honor, power and title His, though we do not see it here; for He sits at God’s right hand till His enemies are made His footstool—we being tried therefore meanwhile. We believe, therefore, that His enemies are not made His footstool, for He yet sits; we waiting, longingly delighting in His glory at the right hand of Jehovah. When He comes, His enemies being made His footstool, we coming with Him or meeting Him, shall know this also; and see all things put under His feet. All things are put under Him because of His title there. His enemies are made His footstool, when He leaves it and comes here into these lower regions of Earth and Heaven, where His enemies are. There He has none; all adore Him. Oh for the time when it shall be so; and the Father’s will done on earth as it is in heaven, all men honoring Him as they honor the Father. We see the same thing taught us in Rev. 11:17, 18; but I here dwell upon the passage rather than teach or interpret the doctrine. The distinction between the Father’s act in putting, and the fact of their subjection, by the Lord Christ, is manifest in ver. 27, 28, as it is also Heb. 2.

The end of Christ’s given kingdom, is stated ver. 24. The way in which the subjection of His enemies by Him is connected with His power in ver. 23; in ver. 27, the extent and character of the dominion is given, but not the state of things under it, because resurrection is the subject, and they, though under it in blessing, are not in it; so neither the intermediate state of Psa. 110:1; for it is of the exhibited resurrection state that the Apostle is speaking in Christ and in us, and this in full, consequent upon his leaving the right hand of the Majesty on high; his enemies now made his footstool.

The Secret of God

“The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.” Psa. 25:14.

Among other means by which the word of God, the only standard of truth, has been effectually hindered by man, in the office assigned to it by God, one has been the habit of generalizing God’s truth and presenting to the mind certain propositions, as if they contained the whole of His revealed will. Hence has arisen a great impatience of searching the scriptures; we presume very soon that we are in possession of all necessary truth which the word of God contains, because we confine all necessary truth to that which respects individual salvation, and we revere the Bible, rather because it administers to our necessities as fallen sinners, than because it reveals God and His glory. It is for this reason that we find so many real Christians in deplorable ignorance of the word; it has not been searched into as containing in every part of its revelation, some object of faith and hope, intended to be morally influential upon their souls. They have not sought to it as those whose privilege it is to be interested in all the counsels of their heavenly Father; and they have often read it as if all the truths contained in it, were necessarily to be comprehended under those which have occupied their own minds.

It is indeed very sorrowful to witness how often the most important conclusions, ark attempted to be supported by scripture, wrested from its context in the most violent manner, so that a threatening of judgment is sometimes produced as a promise of mercy. It is not my object to expose this, but to point out two evils which have resulted from it. 1st.—The inability in most Christians, of meeting error which Satan always mingles with much truth, from their being “unskillful in the word of righteousness.” 2nd. —That our present very low state in a great measure arises from the want of that definite apprehension of the glory of our calling, which the word of God presents to our view. In fact, whilst in the language of ordinary life, most words convey to the mind some distinct idea, those of scripture are held so vaguely and loosely, as often to convey no real meaning at all. It is thus that Satan has fearfully succeeded in lulling men into security, when the most express declarations of God fail of touching the conscience, even of His own people. It is thus that the great and fearful crisis is hastening on by him “with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of truth, that they might be saved: and for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a He; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

It is by the Word, through the Spirit, that we can alone become acquainted with, or established in the truth. And as God has magnified His Word, above all His name, and called it the “sword of the Spirit,” (Psa. 138:2.) it is in implicit subjection to that authority, that I would attempt to develop that secret which was in the mind of God from all eternity; which was first in His mind, and of which He gave the earliest typical intimation, but which was not made known till after the death, resurrection, and ascension, of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the coming of the Holy Ghost, who leadeth into all truth. It is nothing less than “all truth” which is our portion. God is light, the brightness of His glory has been expressed to us in Jesus; there remains nothing more of revelation by the Word, although nearly everything of actual manifestation is yet to be. Moses truly was commissioned to declare much, but yet he knew he had not declared all, there were secrets in the divine mind which himself and others of the worthies, holy men of old, “desired to see and saw not, and to hear and heard not;” but it was the prophet like unto Moses that was to be received, as he into whose mouth God would put His words, that he might speak unto them all that He should command. He alone was able to declare God, (John 1:18.) Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Hence the difference of the language of Moses and Paul, the former led to look into a long vista in the fortunes of his people, lost in the contemplation of the fearful judgment coming upon them, says, “the secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed, belong unto us and to our children.” (Deut. 29:29.) But that which He had kept secret from Moses, He revealed by His Spirit unto Paul, “for the Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God.” “I would not brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened unto Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved.” (Rom. 11:25, 26.) Whilst Moses was indeed taught that his people which had corrupted themselves, would be brought into a condition of such estrangement from God, that He would move them to jealousy with those which are not a people, that He would provoke them to anger with a foolish nation, (Deut. 32:21.) the Holy Ghost, Paul, shows the purpose of God in their temporary rejection; even that by their fall, might be the “riches of the world;” by their diminishing “the riches of the Gentiles;” by their casting away “the reconciling of the world;” in other words, the introduction of that dispensation of marvelous grace under which we are. True it is that both its grace and glory are little considered by us “sinners of the Gentiles.” In order to see either distinctly, we must place ourselves in the situation of the favored people of God; we must judge through their reasonable prejudices instead of our own fearful high-mindedness and self-complacency. The introduction of “the eternal purpose of God,” even the making known unto principalities and powers in heavenly places, by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God, was an event for which the minds of God’s people were not prepared. It was a something entirely new as to revelation, although first of all in the mind of God: it had been figured in Eden, in the giving to Adam for a help meet for him—the woman taken from his side whilst he slept; “this is a (or the) great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and His Church.” This great mystery was very gradually unfolded indeed. The personal ministry of the Lord, was with very few exceptions confined to Israel, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel;” but His ministry to them was chiefly in testimony against evil, and all the While he was testifying unto them as the sent of God, and last witness to them, He treated the nation as Apostate; and frequently intimated the change in dispensation which was about to be introduced.

Among the first notices of this, we may remark the sermon on the Mount; every line of which went against a strictly Jewish feeling. I mean the feeling of one who considered Himself as under the law, and therefore that law, i.e. the assertion of right, was the rule between Himself and others. Law properly speaking knows nothing of mercy; the asserter of it must necessarily take the place of one who has not swerved from the rule of right, himself, and therefore has the title to deal with others who have transgressed that rule, in the way of retributive justice. “The people were astonished at His doctrine, for He taught them as one having authority.” It was His own authority as the Lawgiver, set against that which was said to them of old, and unless even now we see distinctly, how completely the genius of the present dispensation is diverse from the former, we are necessitated to charge God foolishly, and to set God speaking by Moses, against God speaking by His Son; or to do that which is now so commonly done, to confound, and therefore to neutralize both. The principle is the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. (Heb. 7:12.) So now the kingdom being changed from an earthly to a heavenly one, the law of necessity is changed also. Whilst God dealt with a people under a dispensation of righteousness of law, that is—that their earthly blessing (and the law as given by Moses knew no other,) depended on their obedience to it, “for he who despised it died without mercy;” whilst the tenure of their blessing “if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then shall ye be a peculiar treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is mine, and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation;” whilst this was the case, God made His own principle of conduct applicable to His people, He was dealing with them ostensibly in law, and therefore He sanctioned that same principle, even law as between man and man. But when God changed His principle of dealing with man from law to grace, then was a new principle of man’s conduct to man necessarily introduced also. “The law was, given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ:” and He by whom grace came, could say, not as disannulling or falsifying what went before, (for surely not one jot or tittle shall pass away, till all be fulfilled,) but as introducing this great mystery of the grace of God, It was said to them of old, but I say unto you. Our calling is not now to prospective blessing, or continuance of blessing under conditions to be performed, “but God hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace; which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” And therefore our conduct to others, must be regulated by the principle of God’s conduct to us. The principle of God’s own kingdom, even the kingdom of heaven, which is grace, is the only one allowed to the children of the kingdom; so that which might be right and fitting to those of old, would be wrong and sinful in a disciple of Him who is only to be called Master. Hence we discover the reason why Christians so naturally cling to law as their principle of action, since it allows their dealing towards others on a principle which went to secure earthly blessing, whilst grace applies only to heavenly.

The next notice of this in the Lord’s ministry is that remarkable one in the case of the Centurion— “Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel, and I say unto you many shall come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham, &c. in the kingdom of heaven, but the children of the Kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness.” Again the surprising statement the Lord made respecting John, his own forerunner, filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb, greater than any born of woman, that the least in the kingdom of heaven was greater than he, closed with the solemn warning, “He that hath ears to hear let him hear,” was a plain intimation of the introduction of something widely different from that in which they stood. The declaration of the blessing that rested upon them, (Matt. 13:6.) because that unto them “it was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,” which was not made known to others—was a succeeding step in leading their expectations onward. A subsequent mark of approval of the faith of another Gentile (Matt. 15:22-28) on an occasion which most significantly marked the transfer of that which the Children despised and loathed, to others who would gladly receive it, must have raised in their minds the question, “Is He the God of the Jews only?” Is He not also of the Gentiles? These and many such like hints tended to prepare their minds, for that which they could not then bear, because the groundwork on which it was based—His own suffering and death, was at that time only prophetically stated, and had not actually taken place. It was when the Gentiles came to inquire concerning Him (John 12:21.) that Jesus Himself says, “the hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified;” —and then “I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all unto me; this He said signifying what death He should die.” So long as He was personally ministering on earth, He would be only exposed to rejection. Now the Messiah on the earth was strictly and properly the Jewish expectation. But here is one very different held up to them. The Son of Man must be lifted up! who is this Son of Man? It was the complete subversion of every fondly cherished hope on their part, as Jews, but it is the only ground of blessing to us as Gentiles. It is in the cross that God is shown as no respecter of persons. The cross is the attractive point to all, because all are brought in guilty before God, both Jew and Gentile. The introduction of this dispensation of grace is on the avowed principle of the universal ruin of the human race. Moral qualification is out of the question: “there is no difference, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Take the highest supposed qualification, national or moral, the principle of grace is nullified, if it is attempted to approach God, otherwise than as lost: and the lowest comes in on the same plea. God, by the Cross, has set aside the barrier of His own erecting, of access to Him. “And the law is not of faith, but the man doeth them shall live by them.” Christ hath redeemed us (Jews) from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, as it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we (Jews) might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. The difficulty in the mind of the Jew, was, did not the rejection implicate the faithfulness of God? was not the word of God of none effect? Not in any wise; the Messiah, as concerning the flesh was theirs, He fulfilled in His person and work, all His Jewish responsibilities. He died for that nation. He underwent the curse of the law for them, but not for that nation only but that He also should gather together in one (even in the Cross) the children of God that were scattered abroad. Here is the Gentile dispensation: but let not the Gentile deny the proper Jewish expectation, and the work of Christ for them, pre-eminently as the Redeemer of their forfeited possession, lest he invalidate the faithfulness of God which is the alone security for his own blessing. Faith “sets to its seal that God is true;” but if God fulfills not His earthly promises to the literal Israel in Messiah, then the gifts and callings of God can be repented of. In fact God’s dealing with the Jew, is the great outward palpable demonstration of His sovereignty and of His election.

The commission given to the Apostles before His death, and that after His resurrection, is widely different. “Go not into the way of the Gentiles (nations;) and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But when all power in heaven and earth was given to Him, then the commission takes in the universal range— “Go ye therefore and teach all nations,”—It was no longer matter of testimony to Israel. Jesus “was made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises of God unto the Fathers; and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy,” it was now grace to sinners. But this large commission was not then acted on. Even after His resurrection, those who were conversant with Him during His sojourn on earth, “to whom He showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God,” even then their minds were only opened to a Jewish hope. “Lord wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” This was their proper hope as Israelites, that all the promises of earthly glory should be made good to Israel in the resurrection of Messiah. The everlasting covenant, “even the sure mercies of David,” was secured by the resurrection, as the Apostle testifies; and as concerning that He raised Him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, He said on this wise, “I will give you the sure mercies of David.” (Acts 13:34) He had now shown His power over death and the world; and so far as earthly glory was concerned, it might then have been asserted. In order to that, there was no need for Jesus to have ascended into heaven. He could have called for Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, from their grave, and made good the promises of God to them, in faith of which they had died.

In their expectation the disciples were not wrong; but they had not yet entered into the intermediate dispensation— “the hidden mystery of God.” They had forgotten that it was expedient for them that He should go away; for all power in heaven as well as in earth, was given to Him, and this was to be proved by His Ascension. Not even on the descent of the Holy Ghost, although they were “endued with power from on high,” and were thus brought into the understanding of the mystery of the kingdom of heaven in their own personal experience of union with the risen Jesus, as man having all power in heaven as well as earth, were they led to the discovery “that the Gentiles were fellow-heirs with them in this.” In order to this, a fresh revelation was needed; another “opening of heaven,” and direct communication to Him who had had the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and had opened it to the Sews, (Acts 2) now likewise to open it to the Gentiles. The vision recorded Acts 10 is the display of God’s cleansing, in a sovereign manner, and taking up into heaven that which Peter called unclean. “What God hath cleansed, that call thou not common.” And this was his vindication for going unto the Gentiles. “Forasmuch as God gave them the like gift as He did unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand God?” (Acts 11:17) “The mystery of Godliness,” therefore, in this part at least, was now clearly revealed, “preached unto the Gentiles.”

But the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, (Col. 1:27) was not yet fully developed. For this another Agent was specially raised up, not merely as the witness of resurrection life, but of ascension glory—even the Apostle of the Gentiles,

He received no commission from Jesus on the earth, but from Jesus “received up into glory.” The thing to which he was specially to witness, was the glory into which Jesus had risen, and into which the saints quickened by the Spirit were also brought. The other Apostles “bear witness because they had been with him from the beginning.” (John 15:27.) “Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John unto that same day that He was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of His Resurrection.” They were witnesses to the fact of the resurrection of Jesus. But Paul was witness to something beyond this fact. “The God of our Fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know His will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of His mouth; for thou shalt be His witness of what thou hast seen and heard.” (Acts 22:14,15.) And when He would assert the authority of His commission in the strongest way, he notices its distinction from that of the others. Paul an Apostle (not of men, nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and the Father who raised Him from the dead.) It was Jesus who appeared to him in the way; and there shined round about Him “a light from Heaven above the brightness of the sun,” so that he fell to the earth. Peter, James, and John, were eye witnesses of His Majesty at the transfiguration; but Paul, as subsequently John, of His Majesty after His ascension. This was what he had seen, and of which he was to witness; according to the word of the Lord, who raised him from the earth to which he had fallen. “Rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee.” (Acts 26:16.)

“Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world” God has never adopted any remedies, but His works have been all arranged according to the counsel of His own wisdom. True, His works may appear to our short-sightedness remedial, because He will show that His purpose alone can stand, by the failure of the creature under the highest possible advantages. But there is a fullness of time for the development of that which is in His mind, and His own eternal counsel is the last in manifestation. All the blessing and glory was planned and secured in Christ Jesus before the world began. First of all, earthly blessing fails, and then those who are outwardly called into the kingdom of heaven fail; but in the end the stability of both in Christ Jesus is to be shown. Hence the Apostle speaks of himself and others. “Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God;” not the one without the other; not simply preachers of the gospel, but those who would be able to set forth the bearing of the previous dispensations of God. It is remarkable how men may be misguided by a word. It is a just rule that the meaning of a word is not to be judged of by its currency in any time, but by the sense in which the writer used it. Now the word Mystery conveys to our natural minds an idea quite distinct from that in which the Spirit of God uses it. The mysteries of God are not the secrets known in His own breast, but His secrets disclosed. What was known unto him from the foundation of the world is now made known to us. For example, it was a secret in God’s own bosom, from the beginning of the world, that all His earthly arrangements were made in reference to Israel. But that mystery was revealed to and by Moses. “When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance when he separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.” (Deut. 32:8.) True, such a statement may appear mysterious to the world, in the popular sense, but to faith it is the announcement of a wonderful fact, involving the whole history of the world. True, most true, that there are mysteries in God (for we know but in part) but it is not with these that we have to do, but with those which He has revealed. It is because so few have been faithful Stewards of the mysteries of God, that the Church is in the state in which it is, having confounded things that differ; and instead of being guided into all truth, is quite content to think that a single truth is enough for it to know, that all God’s truth is necessarily crowded into that which ministers to its self-complacency.

Whilst the grace of the Gentile dispensation was a secret only made known on the work of Christ being finished, its unparalleled glory was that “which eye had not seen, nor ear heard, neither had entered into the heart of man to conceive,” till God revealed it by His Spirit. It was not that glory which forms the chief subject of direct prophetic testimony, for that is earthly glory; it may glance at the other allusively, but Jewish expectation was not very wrong. It is not by violently wresting language, and giving it a meaning quite diverse from the literal, which would necessarily be general and vague, that we shall be most fully enabled to enter into the glory into which the faithful are now brought by the resurrection of Jesus, but by learning that the subject was entirely new, unthought of, unheard of, before.

The scriptural testimony to this is very abundant; and it appears to me so important, in every point of view, to see that the present dispensation is completely sni generis—not an improvement of the preceding, or an introduction to the coming one; but so entirely isolated, that its directory of conduct would only apply to itself, that I would note some of the most striking scriptures on this most interesting point.

The language of our Lord (Matt. 13) has already been alluded to; but it is important on this point, as showing that the things which were secret before, were now revealed. “It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; for verily I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them.” In Mark 4:11. there is a little variation, interesting in this point, as pointing to the kingdom itself as having been heretofore a secret thing— “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God.” But as the Lord Himself intimated to His disciples that they were not in the capacity of entering into the things of which He was both the subject and the communicator— “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now; howbeit when He the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth; and He will show you things to come.” We must therefore look to the testimony of the Spirit through the Apostles. And here I would notice that very remarkable testimony to the novelty and distinctness of this present dispensation (Rom. 16:25,26) “Now to Him that is of power to establish you according to my Gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith, to God, only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ, forever, Amen.”

Again, (1 Cor. 2:6-10.) “ We speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world; but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him, But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God!” “Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God: that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” It would be necessary to transcribe the whole of 3, 4, and 5 chapters of the 2nd epistle to the Corinthians, as bearing on the point. It will be sufficient at present to notice the marked contrast between the former and present dispensation. The ministration of death, written and engraven on stones was glorious, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? “If the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.” “Even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.” This is sufficient to show that there is no analogy whatever between the former and the present dispensations—that they are, in fact, as opposite as death and life.

I would now state the more direct testimony of the same Apostle in the Epistle to the Ephesians and Colossians. “Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together, in one, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth.” The preceding verses most clearly state what God’s good pleasure had been, even the secret of God in His mind from all eternity, not only to have a people on the earth in whom He would be glorified, but sons in heaven; joint-heirs with the Son of His love, of all the glory He had given Him. The stability both of that in heaven as well of that on earth, could only be in Christ. But the great wonder was that in the introducing of this novel and transcendent glory, it was not confined to those “whose were the promises,” but coming in a way of direct sovereignty on the part of God, and for the express purpose of displaying in the ages to come the exceeding riches of his grace, “that the Gentiles might praise God for His mercy.” The Apostle therefore places Jews and Gentiles entirely on the same level as to this— “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will, that we (Jews) should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ: in whom ye also (Gentiles) after that ye had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance (as common to both) until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.”

There was a twofold secret of God now made known. That any should have been chosen to be blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, was a thing quite novel to those whose proper expectation was Messiah over them, as the Son of David in earthly glory. But there was this besides, that this was to be preached unto the Gentiles and that they were called into participation of it. Accordingly we find the Apostle resuming the subject c. If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward, (Gentiles,) how that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ,) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto the holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel, that I should preach among the Gentiles, the untraceable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God; who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent, that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God.”

And here the mischief of confounding all things, and limiting God to that which occupies our mind, is very apparent. The Church has at the same time forgotten her distinctive glory, and learned to be high-minded: to judge from the thoughts of most Christians, one would think that the Jews were kept distinct, and in their present state to afford them evidence of God’s favor to themselves. How little is it remembered, that the mystery made known, was, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ; but there is this, most important to be noticed, that the mystery then revealed to the Apostles by the Spirit, had not in other ages been made known to the sons of men, but from the beginning of the world had been hid in Christ. Now “the restitution of all things,” God had spoken of by the mouth of all His holy Prophets, “since the world began;” so that it cannot be the same with the mystery now made known, and clearly proves that this mystery had not been the subject of Prophetic testimony. Restitution necessarily implies a previous state, even that in which God had pronounced all things to be very good; and again shall God rest in them when brought back by Him, the Redeemer, even Christ Jesus. But the subject of this mystery had no previous existence, except in the purpose of God, and hence it is always dated by the Holy Spirit, as anterior to creation? “according as He hath chosen us in Him, before the foundation of the world;” (Eph. 1:4.) “according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ: who hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2 Tim. 1:9.) “In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot He, promised before the world began; but hath in due time manifested His word through preaching.” (Titus 1:2,) This proves its complete independence of, and distinctness from anything that had been known since the world began; things might have been types of it, or as the fullness of time approached there might have been intimations of it, but it was not connected at all in character with those things. It is not a speculative matter, but one of great practical importance; as surely the bulk of scriptural testimony fully demonstrates. In this epistle for instance, wherein we find the fullness of the Church set forth, we find the Spirit in the Apostle so speaking as to show us that this was the great mystery now made known. This is distinctly expressed in chap. 5 “this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church,” and again (chap. 6:19) “and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel.” This great mystery then, or secret in the divine mind, now divulged, is the Church, the body of Christ, “the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.” “It is the Church of the first-born, which are written in, heaven.” Now unless its distinct glory, as blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, is seen, its character and service cannot be known. Heavenly glory was that which was not revealed to the saints of old; how could it be until His appearance? even the Son of Man which is in heaven? “The heaven even the heavens are the Lord’s, but the earth hath He given to the children of men.” True, the Patriarchs looked for a heavenly city, and confessed themselves, strangers and pilgrims on the earth; so likewise David, but whatever the Spirit of Christ in them did testify, was but obscurely; “they searched what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory which should follow, unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you, by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into.” (1 Peter 1:10.) Abraham the father of us all, had promises of seed numerous as the stars of heaven, and as the dust of the earth, and doubtless the one to be highly exalted above the other. But the Church, the oneness of Spirit and of glory with the risen Lord, into which the saints are now brought, was not known till Jesus was glorified and the Holy Ghost had come. Hence we find the almost universal tenor of prophetic testimony is to earthly glory, which could be apprehended before Jesus was glorified, although only secured in and by Him. Now the effect of taking promises of earthly glory, and applying them to heavenly, has been to lose sight of the great purpose of God both “to reconcile all things to Himself, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, by the blood of the cross:” (Col. 1:20.) and “to gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth,” (Eph. 1:10.) thus placing the stability of both on a sure basis. But this is not all, for the Church taking that to herself which does not distinctly belong to her, has lost sight of what does, and hence has been exhibiting a Jewish character, rather than exhibiting the fullness of Christ. But before entering into this, there are a few more testimonies to the point before us to be noticed. “Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God; the mystery which path been hid from ages and generations, but now is made manifest to His saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of Glory.” (Col. 1:25-27) Again, (Col. 2:2-4) “That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father and of Christ; wherein (i. e.) in the mystery (margin) are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Now here we have first the originality of that which was in the mystery, that it had been previously hidden from ages and generations. 2.—That there are riches of glory in it the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are laid up in it. Well therefore might he ask the Colossians to pray that God would open a door of utterance for him, “to speak the mystery of Christ,” The passage in 1 Tim. 3:16. has been referred to; but I would again notice that the fact of the incarnation was not a Jewish expectation, however the promise of Immanuel may appear to us to have properly raised it; yet we find that it was a matter of distinct revelation to Peter— “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God; flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” “God manifested in the flesh” was the great secret; He had spoken to them in divers ways before, but now He comes so near as to speak by His Son. This is the basis of everything: the moment the mystery of Christ is revealed, then, as led by the Spirit, are we capable of looking backward or forward into the counsels of God. With the soul resting on the great fact of God manifested in the flesh, as spiritual we may judge all things, see the several bearings of God’s previous manifestations, and learn the important truth of the instability of every creature out of God., —in a word, learn “Christ the power of God and wisdom of God.”

I would now briefly advert to the distinctness of the glory, into fellowship with which the saints are brought, having nothing at all analogous to it previous to its revelation. It appears to me of importance to remark that the glory of the Church is distinctive and characteristic; that it was not directly revealed, previously to the coming down of the Holy Ghost. “None of the princes of this world knew it;” it was what “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither had entered into the heart of man to conceive.” It is best seen by contrasting it with the proper Jewish expectation of Messiah. Now it is most clear that they looked upon their Messiah as the Redeemer to deliver them and their land; to restore it to fruitfulness, to make them glorious as a people in the eyes of all among whom they had been despised; to make them also the channel of blessings to others; and all this when Jehovah should be their King. “Then the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously.” (Isa. 24:23.) Besides all this, there was the real moral glory, “thy people shall be all righteous,” a people in whose hearts the Spirit of God dwelt. “A new heart also will I give unto you, and a new Spirit will I put within you, and I will give you an heart of flesh and I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and to do them, and ye shall dwell in Me land that I gave to your Fathers.” (Ezek. 36:26-28.) Now both in this place and in Jer. 31 where the new covenant with the house of Israel is stated at large, its connection with earthly blessing, and the glory of Jerusalem, and the land is most definitely marked; and it is only because we have read those accounts with preoccupied minds that their strict application to Israel should ever have been questioned. Our Lord evidently alludes to this in His conversation with Nicodemus— “Marvel not that I said unto you, ye (Jews) must be born again;” their earthly blessing was only to be secured by God giving them His Spirit. And when Zacharias, under the Holy Ghost, prophesied, it was evidently to the glory of Israel under Messiah. “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spake by the mouth of His prophets which have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which he swore to our father Abraham, that He would grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.” (Luke 1)

Now the mystery revealed of the Church is its oneness with Christ. The Messiah, though of, was distinct from Israel: the nation was not to be brought into oneness with Him, but He was to be over the nation, to fulfill the good pleasure of God to it. A king and a people are distinct, though they have a common interest, for a king is over his people: not so the Church, Christ is never said to be king over His Church, but the Head of it as His own body, “Head to His Church, over all things;” the Bridegroom, and the Church His Bride; the tree, and the Church the branches; language which while it implies identity, at the same time expresses that distinctness which gives Him the preeminence. But the essential characteristic of the Church is that its glory is heavenly; those who believe in Jesus are made one with Him, not as “the Son of David after the flesh,” “but as declared the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead.” “The hope set before them is that which entereth into that within the vail, whither the forerunner is for us entered.” Heaven is now opened, and in it is the resting place of the Church in Christ Jesus.

“To be accepted in the beloved,” to be brought into that complete oneness with Him, so that the love wherewith the Father loved Him with the same He loves those who by His Spirit are thus made one with Him. To have everything which could be predicated of Him, predicated of the Church, this was the mystery, the revelation of which made all old things to pass away, all the long cherished hopes of an Israelite were immediately given up by one who was this brought into fellowship with the Father and the Son. What a word is that— “Fellowship” between the Creator and the creature, that they should have a common interest the one in the other! It would indeed have remained a hidden mystery, but the incarnation of the only-begotten, shows how this can be; “behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God;” “now are we the sons of God, though what we shall be hath not yet been manifested.” It could never have entered into the mind of an Israelite, that such a glory was contemplated, as that any should be so completely identified with Jehovah Jesus, the God-man, as to have their vile body fashioned like unto His glorious body. But this was the eternal purpose of God, this was in His mind from before the foundation of the world; “whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren.” The Father not only prepared a body for Jesus to suffer in, but likewise a body mystical, in which He should be glorified; for He is to be glorified in His saints. His glory is not only personally to be exhibited, but to be exhibited in and through them; He is not only to bless by His personal presence, but His saints are the channel of blessing to others, as was originally promised to Abraham, “thou shalt be a blessing:” so now the Church is the channel of blessing, even in its wilderness state; out of it alone go the living waters, “He that believeth on me as the scripture has said, out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water.” Jesus is the well of life, but the stream is dispensed through the Church, and what blessedness shall there be when the world to Come is no longer under angels, but under Jesus and His saints; the stream of life immediately flowing from Jesus, through them, in an unhindered course to others. They shall be a blessing, as they are called to inherit a blessing; they shall be kings and priests unto God, and they shall reign over the earth as kings, and make known (and who so well able as those who know what grace is,) God to others.

“God hath called us into His own kingdom and glory;” “He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is said to Israel, “arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee;” not that they obtain the glory of the Lord, in a word, their glory is distinct from the Lord’s glory; that glory is something without them, but the glory of the Church is identical with that of the Lord; the Church is the vessel filled with glory, the fullness of Him who tilled] all in all. This was a something so far beyond thought, that well might the apprehension of it make old things pass away.

Again, be it remembered, that the present blessing and glory of the Church is distinctly heavenly; Jesus is now in heaven, and His people can only be in Spirit where He is. It seems nothing novel to us to talk of heaven as our place, and of being in heaven, as our glory yet what does this mean in the mouths of most but that heaven is to be enjoyed after earthly enjoyment has failed. That earth is the place for the enjoyment of the body, and that heaven will receive our departed spirits; “but Jesus is the Savior of the body,” “the body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” It was the brightness. of the glory of Jesus the Son of Man, which filled Stephen with holy rapture; it was unto that likeness he looked to awake and be satisfied. But the calling of the Church is now heavenly, its place now of rest is “in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus,” believers now let pass old things, because “their citizenship is in heaven;” “they are no more of the world, even as Jesus is no more of the world.” “As He is, so are they in this world,” as He is the heavenly man, so are they heavenly men; as He is the beloved Son, so are they sons beloved; as He is heir of all things, so are they heirs of all things. This is their standing, though they be locally in this world; this is indeed the new creation unheard of, unknown before, which places the least in the kingdom of heaven, in such preeminence; they are heavenly—one with Jesus the quickening Spirit, one with Him who sits at the right hand of the majesty on high. Here has been the mistake and confusion, heaven has been male the future instead of present blessing of the Church; hence believers have been Christians in hope, but Jews in practice; all hope of earthly blessing ceased with the rejection of Him in whom alone the earth could be blessed, by those through whom the blessing was to be communicated— “the earth shall hear Jezreel.” From that moment, as was most significantly taught in darkness overspreading the earth, and the vail of the temple being rent, earth was closed as to blessing from it and “heaven opened.” Those who will be blessed now, must follow Jesus the only giver of blessing into heaven “whither the forerunner is for us entered;” until He comes from the right hand of the Father, blessing from the earth is barred. What an interesting moment is the present, “the kingdom of heaven opened:” oh if men knew but the gift of God, and the present blessing held out to them, how would they “press into it,” “how would they take it by force.” Testimony might be multiplied as to the distinct character and glory of the present dispensation, as being entirely novel, and in no measure corresponding with anything that had preceded it; in a word, Christ and the Church was the hidden mystery, the secret of God: until revealed by the Spirit coming down from Jesus glorified; not only to testify of it, but also to constitute it. As to what remains, I would apply the truth practically.

1.—It appears that the attempt to make all scriptural declarations of glory to concentrate in one, has left the Church with a very vague and undefined hope of its real glory and almost entirely annihilated that which is its present glory. “There are bodies celestial and terrestrial.” True that all glory radiates from Jesus who is the Head of earthly as well as heavenly glory. But to understand the Church’s present portion and conduct, it is necessary to distinguish as to what her real calling is. Now as the Church is called unto the glory of God, so is she called to be an imitator of God. (Eph. 5:1) “To live godly in this present world” is to exhibit the character of God in it, not as that character was displayed heretofore, but as it is now displayed in grace—God is dealing with the world in grace and the Church is to do the same. The only place where God is exercising judgment is among His own people. Alas! how completely is everything subverted—grace to the world, righteousness to the Church is God’s plan. His saints have reversed the order; harsh judgment on the world and smooth speaking among themselves, has been a stumbling block in the way of the world, and settled the Church in a state of self-complacency.

2.—I would remark that the only rationality of Christian ethics is that they are the practice of those who are in the world but not of the world, in other words of heavenly men on the earth. Wherefore says the Apostle to the Colossians, “if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why as though living in the world, &c.”

He would not have them so forgetful of their calling that “Jesus Christ had given Himself for their sins, that He might deliver them out of this present evil world, according to the will of God their Father,” as to think for a moment that they were dying in the world. Their calling was to conformity with Jesus; He lived by the living Father and was dead to the world. Nothing indeed more simplifies Christian practice than realizing our proper portion as not of the world but of God. And there is no precept, however hard to the flesh, but what we shall find to exhibit to us the lineaments of the divine character towards ourselves, the measure we are required to mete to others is that which God hath measured to us, “How is the gold become dim? How is the fine gold changed?” To what has not the name of Christian been prostituted? for surely it is a prostitution of its dignity to apply it to the world’s service in any other way than grace. “I speak unto wise men, judge ye what I say.” Is it fitting for heaven-born men to be worldly legislators and politicians? Does this prove that they are of God, or of the world? If the world bear them, is it not because “they are of the world and speak of the world?”

3.—It is most important to perceive the distinct character of the present dispensation, that it is not an improvement of the old—a new piece put on an old garment, but the mystery hidden from previous ages and generations, now brought to light, in reference to the many predictions of the world’s blessing. Discrimination here is most needful, because the discovery of the peculiarity of this dispensation immediately shows that the world’s blessing cannot be brought about under it. Righteousness, not grace is the principle to order the world. “A king shall reign in righteousness;” and He that reigns says, “I will not know a wicked person; whose privily slandereth his neighbor him will I cut off; him that hath a high look and a proud heart will I not safer. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house; he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight; I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut of all wicked doers from the city of the Lord.” (Psa. 101) It is therefore morally impossible that general earthly blessing can be secured under the present dispensation, which is one of bearing with evil instead of punishing it; and therefore so long as the gospel continues to be preached as the testimony to God’s grace, the earth’s blessing must be deferred. That blessing will not, cannot be, till God’s “judgments are made manifest.” Contempt cast on “the riches of God’s goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering,” ushers in “the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”

4.— I would notice the fallacy of drawing any argument for the union of Church and state, from analogy to Israel of old. Let it be admitted for a moment, that, the principle of such a union was to be found there, there was only one principle in action, i.e. righteousness: God was then showing His wrath, and making His power known; He had taken unto Himself “a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors.” (Deut. 4:34.) Such a union therefore was then possible, because God’s avowed principle of dealing with man, was righteousness; and His people were then ostensibly under the righteousness of law; His own people were the instruments of vengeance on his enemies, and their enemies round about them. But surely it is not so now. God’s principle toward the world is changed, He is not making “His power and His wrath known,” but “the riches of His goodness and forbearance.” And His own people are called upon to exhibit His own character, “put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, long. suffering, forbearance,” &c. qualifications by no means suited to order the world; that can only be done by Him who is a “Revenger to execute wrath upon Him that doeth evil.” The attempt has been made to apply Christianity to rule, and the end has been corruption in the Church, and insubordination in the State: “the rent is become worse!”

Lastly, I would apply what has been said to one branch of Christian conduct, in which, for lack of discrimination, we have lamentably failed— I mean subjection to the powers that be. To these the Christian is required to yield implicit subjection; and when it comes to the alternative, to obey them or God, then his obedience to God will throw him into suffering from them. Obedience and suffering are the portion of the heavenly man while in this world. Now it has been assumed, hastily assumed, that because obedience to the powers that be, is so strictly charged upon Christians, and that those powers are “ordained of God,” that they must necessarily be Christian. Hence Christian privileges have been mixed up with civil rights, and Christians have been looking to the powers to reciprocate to them protection and support for their obedience. There is hardly a more glaring instance of the way in which self-love and a desire of ease will make us forget the simplest facts than in the case before us. The powers to which the Christians were called on to show implicit obedience were heathen emperors and magistrates, their most hitter persecutors, and yet they were ordained of God. Nebuchadnezzar into whose hands God committed such largeness of power, was as much ordained of God as our Edward VI. and a Christian’s obedience to a Nero, was on the same principle as to Justinian. In fact we have limited God to our notions of propriety; we will hardly permit Him to use the instruments He chooses for holding the world in some degree of order, even now; and therefore take the ordering of it into our own hands. God paid Nebuchadnezzar for his service that he served against Tire, by giving him the land of Egypt; (Ezek. 29:18-20.) and so God now honors those civil rulers in His providence who honor Him, but this has nothing to do with grace. Cyrus was God’s shepherd, (Isa. 44:28.) yet for a widely different purpose and a widely different reward, from a Pastor of His Church. The principle of obedience to the civil magistrate is one which is entirely independent of their character and of circumstances. In the powers that be, the Christian recognizes God’s ordering, and yields subjection not because he is a citizen of this or that country, but because he is a citizen of heaven. Old things have passed away from him, what things he accounted gain before, be now esteems loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Savior; and it may safely be affirmed that a Christian born as to the flesh in this country, but carried by circumstances into Turkey, would as implicitly and as to God, obey the ruling power in that country as he would the king here. He is brought into subjection to God, and therefore owns God in all His ordinances; nor is it unimportant to notice, that it is not said the powers that be, are ordained of Christ, but of God; not of Christ as the anointed Man. The time shall be when they will be so ordained. When that shall be made known in act, to which Jesus has now the title, as it is written, “I will make him my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth.” (Psa. 89:27.) “Prince of the kings of the earth,”— “Lord of lords, and King of kings;” “then shall He, a King, reign in righteousness; and Princes shall rule in judgment.” But till He, as the anointed man, reigns, His people cannot be called to rule—their calling is to suffer.

Beloved brethren, “avenge not yourselves,” “be patient till the coming of the Lord.” True, the world is in a dark and fearful confusion, but we cannot right it by intermeddling with it. But we may remove one of the stumbling blocks out of its way, by showing that through faith in Him who overcame it, we overcome it also. And that we are not in fear now as others, but with that before us which makes our flesh to tremble, and rottenness to enter into our bones— “seeing on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming to pass on the earth,” “we can rest in the day of trouble, we can lift up our heads, because our redemption draweth nigh.”

Separation From Apostasy Not Schism

In observing the different forms which error may assume, it is well to remember, that in every case, it is the combined result of many influences; often indeed dissimilar, and apparently opposed to one another, yet each tending to the same point, and slowly and silently it may be, though surely, working towards the same end. In the individual it is the product more or less of the special circumstances and principles of the period in which he lives; so that the character of an age is stamped in its general features, with whatsoever diversity of detail, upon those who are born in it. Instances of peculiar aberration unconnected with the general spirit of the time are of comparatively rare occurrence. In like manner, the errors which belong to any given period of the history of the Church or of the world, date their origin from causes which do not immediately meet the eye, but may be traced back through a long series of circumstances which have gradually conspired to produce the final consummation. Each generation, in its principle and character, is the moral result of the whole succession of those which have flowed onward, gathering fresh additions from the succeeding epochs, until the entire exhibition of the mystery, which has been working unsuspectedly, is visible in the completeness of manifested evil. And when it is remembered from whom all error emanates, even the father of lies—his power of deceiving is placed in a fearful light, by the consideration that it extends not only to individuals but to generations; and that in the prosecution of his destructive schemes (limited of course by God’s overruling power,) he can cause each successive age of the world, as it passes onward to converge gradually towards the same point; and in such a manner, that the degree in which each era is contributing to the future evil, shall be unnoted at the time from its apparent insignificance.

The declension from original truth has always been so gradually effected by the silent operation of centuries, that the actual movement is almost imperceptible to the eye of an individual, which can only comprehend within its view a very limited portion of time; and it is only by putting out of sight the intervening facts, which have been the progressive evidences of departure from God, and by a direct and plain comparison of the state of things at any period with the original source of truth, that the magnitude of the deviation from it can be estimated. It was the slow work of the agency of evil, which, in the case of the apostasy of the nations,. gradually obliterated from man’s mind the knowledge of the living and true God; each generation, as it arose, became heir to the waywardness and perverse imaginations of the preceding, and transmitted them together with its own to its successors; until one after another the fragments of revelation were entirely dissolved, or altogether lost sight of, under the power of the dark and fearful alchemy which “changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things,” Under a form more unsuspected, because not characterized by the grossness of pagan abominations, the apostasy of the last dispensation is presented to us, in a nation delivered from the idolatry which had polluted their ancestors, and distinguished by every outward circumstance which could mark purity of religious observance—in short a religious world. Yet the word of the Just One declared that they were, even then, filling up in themselves the measure of the guilt of the whole line of mankind from the beginning; and therefore were to be visited for their own deeds and for their fathers’ also. “That the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation.” The apostasy had been gradually progressing from the day their fathers came out of Egypt; the enmity against God had been working throughout the whole mass, and wanted but the occasion to be exhibited—an occasion which was afforded by the presence of God Himself on earth, whose light made their evil manifest. Most instructive is it also to observe that, as a nation, they were departed from God, notwithstanding the several partial and temporary reformations in different reigns. The burden of the denunciation of Jehovah against their apostasy is not the less directed against them in the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah, when apparently almost an entire purgation was wrought; nor did their second temple remove the character branded upon them. They were apostates—and a dispensation which has once apostatized is ever regarded as such, whatever may be the revivals of religion at any given place or time; not because God has precluded return, for He has continually sent the warning “by His messengers, rising up betimes and sending;” but because of the continued operation of the same unhindered evil which brought it into apostasy.

The connection of these remarks with the present state of things in the professing Church, is sufficiently obvious. One dispensation indeed never learns by the experience of the past; or the perfect analogy which exists between the circumstances of the present and the preceding, would be more generally acknowledged. Thus much however is undeniable, that there is the historical fact of a general apostasy from the principles of this dispensation, and the certainty, from the precedent of the Jewish, that any partial return to truth does not a whit rescue the Gentile body from the general charge, The Spirit of God has indeed been poured out in a measure here and there, with different degrees of power; followed in each instance by speedy declension, as in the Jewish revivals. But as with them, so with us—the full tide of apostasy has been setting in from the beginning. Israel “served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the Lord which He had done for Israel;” and when their testimony was removed, followed after idols. In the same manner, during the watchful care of the elders that had known the true Joshua, the Church as a whole, was maintained in its position of obedience; though the latter writings of the apostles give clear intimations that the mystery of iniquity was already working, which after their departure gradually corrupted the Church from its purity. The progress of evil has been so slow and deceitful, that each century in its ease and carelessness, forgot to note the gradual descent of the stream which was carrying the Church further and further from its original position; and thus the present age manifests the result of all the destructive influences which have been in operation from the days of the apostles downward. The deceitfulness of the human mind will indeed discover various ways of defense and explanation, such as difference of circumstances, and accommodation of scriptural principles to the present state of the Church; but the startling width of separation by which we are removed from the primitive exhibition of truth in the Church, is only seen by simply bringing the oracles of God—the charter, as it were, and statutes of the dispensation, to bear upon the circumstances of the day— “Remember how thou hast received and heard,” and “repent and do the first works.” is the only message from the Lord; He can take no lower standard, nor can we if we would form a right judgment.

But it has been rightly said, “When truth becomes important, it begins to be questioned;” and the accuracy of the remark is forcibly seen at the present period, when the necessity so extensively beginning to be felt, of recurring to the scripture alone for everything relating to the ordering of the Church of God, is met sometimes by denying that we are in possession of the whole word of God at others by the assertion that we can have nothing to do With regulations dependent upon the presence of the Spirit, and by every possible attempt to sustain their present position, by maintaining the authority of things appointed since the apostolic age, and which therefore whether good or evil in themselves, are little more than way-marks in the road, down which the professing Church has been receding from its appointed standing, each indicating a farther progress in declension. This is simple matter of history, for none but the apostles were ever authorized to make enactments for the Church of Christ; and all that was ever entrusted to the Church itself, was to carry into effect those already made — the actual ministry of present order, according to the principles, and by the enactments laid down by them. Every step beyond this is necessarily evil; for either it is the virtual assertion that the provision made by the Lord and His apostles is insufficient—that is, that the word and Spirit of God are not enough; or, it is the proof that the Church is no longer in circumstances to be governed by Christ. But the fearful truth is, that the declension of the professing Church is such, that if it were possible for one who had known it in its first estate, at once to be set down in the midst of the present anomalous state of things, He would scarcely recognize a vestige of the character which formerly belonged to it; and would see only an entire perversion of its constitution, ministry, ordinances, and practice, but above all, of its position in the world; yea, a perversion so strange, that even now, upon a recurrence to scripture, it is at once seen that the apostolic addresses have no collective application to anything now called a Church. We look through the various exhortations in the epistles, and wonder how they cannot in the present day be acted upon, except in limiting them entirely to individual practice, which of course affords but a partial representation, and takes away almost all the force of their application. And the inquiry naturally arises—how came the Church into a position where she cannot exercise in any corporate shape the functions of the body of Christ? A question to which the history of the last seventeen centuries must supply the answer. The idea of an inspired epistle to any of the bodies of the present day, in the terms and character of addresses of those which were of old written in the Churches of God, would strike any one as an absurdity. Whether addressed to the Church of England or to the Church of Rome, they would he equally disregarded, because equally inapplicable to either—equally useless, for neither could act upon the commands. But there is no need to make a supposition, for the actual case is, that the Church is not in a state to be ruled by the apostolic directions which it has, and by the Spirit of God which is the only true and rightful sovereign. It is not governed by Christ as the bend of the Church. God indeed rules in it by His providence, as He does in any earthly system, as He does in the world at large, but the Holy Ghost does not order it; a distinction riot sufficiently adverted to by many who would affirm a system to be of God, because He has allowed it to continue. There is order indeed, if an order in the flesh may he so called, which continually produces the greatest disorder in the things of the Spirit; and of which all the arrangements are but contrivances to sustain the system without his presence. A special proof of this has been seen in the Church of England, when, for the greater part of the period since the reformation, according to the acknowledgment of many of her own spiritual members, the doctrines of grace were preached in scarcely a single pulpit; and the awakening which had taken place had subsided into a general spirit of slumber. And yet there are perhaps, not a few, who glory in their own shame, because the system itself was maintained— that is, it did not fall, although the Spirit of God, by their own confession, had altogether gone from it. A roman catholic might, with more show of justice, argue for God’s approval of popery, because the true and apostolical Church had stood its ground for so many centuries. According to such reasoning, if the system of the Church of England had been suggested to the apostles, there never could have been an apostasy. All the Churches might have slumbered and slept, and dead works have taken the place of living faith— every kind of secularity and worldly corruption might have flowed in—ungodliness might have borne the chief rule in the ordering of the body, and the Spirit of God have been utterly shut out; but still they could not be held apostate, but “pure and scriptural,” because they had framed certain confessions of faith to which, on any criminating charge, they had only to point in proof of their soundness. But Christ has made this point clear to His followers. It was not the doctrine, but the confession of the doctrine, that He was “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” which was the foundation of the Church, and the proof of its being His; the confession in the heart and life, not in dead writings, which evidenced it to be builded upon Him. Would the Church of Rome be otherwise than apostate, were all the decrees of councils and popes committed to the flames, and the formularies of the Church of England adopted in their stead, or, all the confessions of faith which have ever been composed? Nay, verily, no more than the Jews were not apostate, when the idols had been purged from amongst them, and they to all appearance, were serving the God of their fathers, in all the strictness and formality of the most devout worshippers. For what is apostasy? Not merely the maintenance of false doctrines, or superstitious and heathen observances: these may all be wanting, and yet a Church be apostate. Apostasy is in the Church, what it is in an individual, a turning back from Christ, and losing the special characteristics of His holy calling, by being again mixed up with the world out of which it was taken to be a peculiar people, a witness for His name. It is in short as to its result, identity with the world. Corruption, in doctrine may more or less abound in such a state of things, or there may be a perfect form of orthodoxy; but where this one character is found, there is the irretrievable mark of apostasy.

For what is a Church—the Church of God? Scripture testifies of what it once was—a gathering together of believers upon the ground of the common salvation, (for this was the simple bond of union which knit them together,) and ordered by the power of the Holy Ghost. The Churches at Corinth, Thessalonica, and in Asia, whatsoever the special need of rebuke might have been for each, were thus distinct from the ungodliness around them; and were in a position where Christ could exercise His administrative power. The only signification of a “Church” in scripture, is a union of Christians; it is not represented as composed of written documents, but of living individuals—and, as a whole, a union of believers as such; and in this manner the pillar and ground of the truth, a speaking, acting testimony for God. To this corresponds the Church of England’s own definition of the visible Church, (often urged and as often disregarded,) as “a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure word of God is preached,” &c., a definition by which she utterly destroys her own title to be considered a Church; and by her own words her members must of course abide. For the common benefit of believers in every nation, doctrines most important were rescued from the rubbish of the papal system, by individuals of different countries, views, and characters; but there was nothing framed in England corresponding to the preceding definition. The removal of a part of the abuse of popery, and the exhibition in her documents of certain truths of scripture, did not clear her from the apostasy, for the essence of that was preserved in the fact of identity with the world; nor could anything have redeemed her from it, for a body which has become apostate, cant not restore itself, for the plain reason that the world has gained the majority And whatever may he alleged respecting corruptions elsewhere, or in times past, there is all the difference imaginable between a body, as in the primitive Churches, proceeding upon the principle of recognizing as its members, Christians only, gathering the Church out of the world; and a state of things which systematically and designedly includes, without the slightest attempt at discrimination, all sorts and degrees—godly and ungodly; in short which is framed, theoretically and practically to include THE WORLD. She is not A Church according to her own rule. In THE Church she can only be included as a part of the apostate Church of christendom.

For a Christian mind therefore, not taking for granted that things are as they should be, but judging by the plain truth of God, there is but one course, and that is to separate from the evil. And such separation is not schism, on the contrary, it is nothing more than is due to God’s glory, to Christ’s honor, to purity of conscience, and to the fairness of the Christian name.

It has been sometimes said by unshrinking apologists, that whatever be the corruptions of a Church, yet if it be a Church, it is a sin to leave it. But this argument, if good for anything, would prove that we ought to have remained until this day in the bosom of the Romish Church; for as far as nominal order and constitution go, she has a much more ostensible title to obedience than the Church of England; for it is at least derived from a purely ecclesiastical source, whatever that might be; whereas the Church of England receives the whole of her power at the hands of the state; by which she was actually organized at the reformation, and which appoints all her hierarchy, and has otherwise a large share in directing her.

Nor is the argument drawn from the Jewish dispensation more sound—that an individual is bound to the national Church now, in the same manner as of old the Jew to his own. For let it be considered, that the Jews were a single family chosen out of the earth. But what family is called now by the principles of the dispensation? They were a nation taken out of the world not to be mixed with other nations; but what nation or people is now recognized by scripture, but the “holy nation,” the “peculiar people,” composed “out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation?” The points on which the last dispensation and its covenant rested were, a land and a people. But that which was the leading principle of the constitution of the last, when acted upon now, destroys the principle of the present; for the Jewish was the precise representation in outward carnal order, (see Hebrews) of what the Christian one is now spiritually. The two dispensations correspond by analogy, but are not coincident; and to copy the last dispensation, is to mistake the character of the present, and necessarily to lose sight of it. For the Church now to be identified with the nation or the world, is the same sin as it was for the Jews to give up their separate standing, and to mix with the surrounding nations. It is apostasy in both cases. The Church as such, in its present identification with the world, comes indeed under God’s administration. But how? Not for ordering through his Spirit, that cannot be—but simply for judgment. It has all the responsibilities of the Church of God, without one of its rights or claims. Doubtless the rending of Christ’s body is a deep sin; but where is that body now, so as to be recognized? They who maintain the charge of schism, must first prove that they are the true Church, and the onus probandi lies upon them. The command is to keep the unity of the Spirit. But where is this spiritual union, where is the union of believers, as such, that it can claim the title of the only true and apostolic Church. transmitted to them from the apostles? Such a body alone, ruled by the Holy Spirit, would have a claim on Christian men; for in spiritual things God has appointed obedience to be rendered only to Luis own Spirit; entire subjection to that, whether in individuals, or in many, is imperative but to this alone. It is the distinctive character of the dispensation, because it is the dispensation of the Spirit; and to godliness alone is any one requited to render clue and loyal fealty. But this may be in testimony or in office—that office being the exercise of spiritual energy in the sphere which God has appointed for His Spirit, for the individual so endued by the Spirit for that purpose.

There would be schism in separation from “a congregation of faithful men,” to which the nominal Church does not answer; the visible Church has been broken up or blended with the world. But schism from the world is always right; for a system thus associated and organized is but the world, though the people of God may many of them he connected with it. The word of God is clear— “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God, &c.; wherefore come out from among, them,” &c., (2 Cor. 6) But it is sometimes said, you may separate from what is worldly and ungodly in the Church scripture however contemplates nothing of this kind, nor gives any command about it. It is for the Church “to withdraw themselves” “to put away that wicked person” “to purge out the old leaven.” But, it is replied, how can we do this, when those who are merely nominal Christians, are the ruling number? Assuredly it is an impossibility; but then you prove your own guilt, you confess yourself placed in a position where you cannot help doing wrong, or tolerating iniquity. Is a disciple then to follow the multitude because the multitude cannot but do the evil? The command is, “avoid such.” Does the command therefore cease to be binding on those who see the evil, because the Church cannot help herself, and those who have light persist in having fellowship with it? The first command to a Christian is, “Be not partakers of other Men’s sins, keep thyself pure.” That which the apostle so often urges on Timothy must be of equal obligation upon all Christians; “From such withdraw thyself.” (1 Tim. 6:5.) “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use,” &c. (2 Tim. 2:19-21.) The apostasy, though its germ was already visible, had not then manifested itself, and therefore there was no command to leave that which had not sank into the world; but it is anticipated, and the Christian’s course provided in that anticipation, so that whatever may be the fair appearance of rituals and confessions, he is not left in any delusion as to his own duty. The description given of the future evil is thus summed up, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof,” —the command consequent upon it, “from such turn away.” (2 Tim. 3:5.) I would add one further warning from scripture. The last command to the followers of the Lamb, and given in reference to that mystery of evil which includes everything connected with the world, is “come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (Rev. 18) —Yea, though the world and the visible Church be identified with each other, it is “come out of her.” So far from being schism, thus to act is the imperative duty of a Christian; and to advocate an alliance which brings him into direct fellowship with the world and forces him to recognize nominal Christianity, is both to manifest a practical contempt of all that scripture testifies concerning the world, and a disregard for the souls of the multitude who, as every day’s experience shows, are deceived into a belief of their own Christianity by the system which calls them Christians, and unreservedly admits them into the privileges of such. That cannot be right which prevents, a distinct disclaimer of worldliness. There is indeed such a thing as schism, but it is not in a Christian’s refusing his sanction to that which is the world, and which is governed by the world’s rulers.

What then is schism? This is a question which must needs bring a crowd of painful thoughts into the mind of any one who has learned from scripture what the Church once was: when all were of one heart and of one soul. So fearfully different are our present circumstances that the possibility of such an union is now, so to speak, scarcely credible. Time was when it could be said of the visible Church, standing as it did, as God’s witness in world—the first fruits to His name— “There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all, and in you all:”—a sevenfold unity which appertains indeed to all the children of God scattered throughout the world, in virtue of their union in the heavenly places in Christ, a unity which was not hidden as it now is, but visible and open union, manifested in meeting as members of that body, into which they were all baptized by one; a fellowship of which no forms of outward union can make us partakers. But this was speedily lost as soon as the interests of Christians were separated from the one object wherein their desires met, whilst they forgot that their “citizenship was in heaven;” worldliness produced division, until all, with the exception of the remnant, sunk back into the world again, to be built together by Satan into a fitly framed union of his own.

The external unity of Romanism was perfect as far as outward conformity would go so perfect as to shame believers, for the “children of this world” are much more single-eyed in their common desire and therefore more strongly knit together than the “children of the kingdom;” but such conformity and fellowship was but the “friendship of the world,” and therefore “enmity against God.” It did the works of its father the devil, and perverted all the truths of God.

This, at the reformation, was shivered into a number of smaller masses; but the separate fragments of the Church owned by God were never reunited. And now the very idea of unity seems altogether lost. If ever it is inquired for, the answer sometimes is, that all believers are one in heart; at others, that it means conformity to whatsoever the ruling powers are pleased to make the Church which is no other than the principle of Romanism. And on all sides the perverted use of the right of private judgment has split the union of believers, and severed them from each other, in a hundred different ways, each asserting its own claim to pre-eminence, and denying its own share in the charge of schism.

The only way then of deciding the question, what is schism? is to refer at once to that which is given in the scriptures of the principles and character of the Churches. And these, by the evidence of all the apostolic scriptures, were each, as before said, simply a union of believers upon the ground of the common salvation; “congregations of faithful men,” ordered by the Spirit of God. Nor does it appear that anything, beyond the mere ascertaining, as far as it was possible, that they were believers, was necessary to make them partakers of this fellowship. The whole tenor of the accounts given for our instruction prove this, and that the terms required were none other than those which make a man a member of the body of Christ, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” I repeat that this ground of the common salvation is the only one which is sanctioned by Christ; that it is meeting as believers only which is a spiritual union, or which can be owned by Him. The question is not now as to whether evil may or may not exist among them, but as to the principle on which, as the preliminary to obedience, Christians are bound to be united, and that is as Christians, and Christians only. Any union which has not this principle as its basis, which is brought together upon a point of secondary importance, (and all else is secondary) or which enjoins anything which might prove a stumbling-block to the conscience of the weak, is contrary to the mind of Christ, and is inevitably schism, because the unity of the Spirit, the only one which scripture contemplates, can only exist when those who confess Christ are brought together upon this simple ground. Nay, it is a paramount and immutable obligation upon believers so to meet, and it only proves how little of the Spirit is now in the Church, that the children of God are content to be divided from each other, and seek not union. The power of the Spirit, if greater, would necessarily draw together all who are partakers of it, as to a common center, in the common joy. “The glory thou hast given me, I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one:” but they meet not in the glory, therefore are they divided. It is the sad proof that the Church has lost its glory. “Whereas there are divisions among you, are ye not carnal and walk as men?”

And since it cannot be gainsayed that this was the actual standing of the Church, it is manifest that any addition to the requirements of Christ, which may in the smallest degree affect the conscience of another, is a deep sin against the Spirit of God. Nor has the power to frame such enactments ever been given to the Church, and therefore she has not the slightest claim upon others with regard to them. And when tried by the true and actual simplicity of Christian union, it will appear that the Church of England, setting aside the fact of apostasy, has been more guilty of the sin of schism than any other communion since the days of the apostles. Let us consider a very few points which amply prove it. She is guilty then of schism—

1st.—In acting with invariable contempt of the apostle’s command “Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.” (Rom. 14) Her assumption on the contrary has been, that in things indifferent the Church hath power to frame requirements, and to make them binding upon her members—a power never given to the Church; for in things indifferent, no one has any power from God to make laws ecclesiastical, or to enforce those things which He hath declared to be immaterial. The apostle’s statement is most distinct, he enjoins “that no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.” And wherefore? The thing in itself may be indifferent, but one man’s conscience cannot be the rule of another’s, “to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.” (see Rom. 14:14.) To disregard this is to walk “not according to charity,” and the consequence must be disunion. “We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” It is a strict command and a fearful warning. “Take heed that ye offend not one of these little ones.” But the Church of England has made them submit, for her own pleasure, to an endless list of additions to the word of God, in things wholly indifferent. As for example—all those ceremonies which in the reign of Elizabeth were imposed by her on the Church, (not by the Church, be it observed, but by the civil power alone,) as of equal authority with the ordinances of Christ. The consequence of which was, that the consciences of the weak, and even of the greater number of the most spiritual, were disquieted, whilst the careless and ungodly found no difficulties. The real schismatic was doubtless the Church of England, which thus disjoined many of her most spiritual members; and both then and at other periods, she has been the cause of all the schism which from time to time her unscriptural requirements have necessitated; for each sect, as it separated itself, was a testimony against some error which she would not, or could not alter.

But the Church’s own manifesto is unequivocally set forth in her canons, which prove her to be more bitterly schismatical than any other collective body. Nor let it be said that some of them are virtually obsolete, and not now enforced, and that therefore it is not fair to judge of her spirit by them in the present day; for the argument might admit of a destructive application. If the charge of corruption in practice is answered by pointing to the purity of her articles, with equal justice may the assertion of her mild and tolerant spirit be met by a reference to her canons. Both stand together as her statements, and the one is no less accredited by her than the other. The assertions made by the anti-catholic party, in the debates of late years, that popery had changed its character in modern days, were always met, and justly too, by a reference to the unrepealed decrees of the council of Trent. Now it is not possible to conceive of a set of regulations more opposed to the spirit of Christianity than these canons; they are full of the severest penalties against conscientious objections to mere human inventions, and exalt the enactments of men into equal importance with the ordinances of Christ. As for instance – “whosoever shall hereafter affirm that any one of the nine and thirty articles are in any part superstitious or erroneous, or such as he may not with a good conscience subscribe unto, let him be excommunicate, ipso facto, &c.,” so that, strange as it may seem, a large portion of the Church of England is probably excommunicated, as there is perhaps not a single individual who assents to every statement in the articles, and every one who affirms that any article is in part erroneous, is IPSO FACTO excommunicate.

A word may be said here upon the subject of formularies and creeds. Of these it may be truly affirmed—converted men do not want them; unconverted men break through them. The question is not whether they may be good in themselves, but whether their ostensible purpose is effectually answered by them. It may be fearlessly asserted then, that on the one hand they have disturbed the conscience of many a godly mind, as being utterly unsanctioned as requirements by the word; whilst on the other, they do not hinder shoals of unconverted men from pressing into the ministry every year. It is not intended to undervalue the intrinsic value of creeds, as expressions of Christian belief. I may be very thankful that the early Church did compose these confessions, and fully allow the value of the exhibition of Christian doctrine comprehended in them. But they are not depreciated by being placed in their true scale of importance; and that which is here maintained is, simply that they are no security for godliness; and that on the other hand an individual may be a Christian, and give evident proofs of it in his life, who yet may not be prepared to sign confessions of faith which he may not understand, or the mode of expression of which he cannot agree to, though he will make a similar confession in other words. For example—I acknowledge the full worth of the Athanasian creed, and the value of the astonishing strictness and accuracy of terms, far above the power of the present day, in which the most profound and important essentials of the Christian faith are conveyed, every proposition of which strikes at the root of a heresy. But all which is there stated in metaphysical language and exactness of position, an unlearned believer in the gospel apprehends as to its vital truth, by the intuition of faith. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are practically everything to him which they are there stated to be but it is obvious that he may be unable to assent to the creed, and his faith be not a whit less sound. Moreover it is a fact that man; conscientious men have been excluded because of their objection to signing anything, and as it is not required by the word of God, the requisition of signature becomes schism. The real evil is, that the principle of union becomes merely one of knowledge, an assent of the understanding to certain propositions, which may be utterly unconnected with vital godliness, and which requirement therefore is unscriptural, and tends only to divide the true body of Christ.

The actual duty of a Church, is to ascertain, as far as it can, that its members have the Spirit of Christ, that their belief and life are Christian; but this the Church of England has never done, and could not; and yet these feeble safeguards are vaunted of as her strength, and the proof of her apostolicity. It has been said that they secure from heresies, but they did not hinder the Church of England, with scarcely an exception, from preaching the popish heresy of justification by human merit, for nearly two centuries; and persecuting those who declared salvation by the righteousness of Christ. For a long and dreary period the stillness of death reigned throughout the Establishment, for there was no blessing in lifeless forms and ceremonies. And when the truth was revived, was it through her articles, or was it not that the Spirit of God was poured out, proving that it was the Spirit alone which could work? Every day’s experience exemplifies this. If there is a godly man who gives his whole soul to the ministry, good is more or less affected through him—he is blessed there, as he would be blessed any where; if a false teacher or idle shepherd, the forms are but the shelter for formality and worldliness. Nor have these devices produced the slightest approximation to the conformity which they profess to aim at. All indeed subscribe to them, but no where is there more discordance or division, than within the walls of the Establishment. Every variety and shade of doctrine is preached by those who profess to “speak the same thing.” Thus within herself, and this of necessity, she is full of schism, in the true sense of the word, whilst according to the strewing of many of her spiritual members, nay, by the testimony of the world itself, she comprehends in her ministry a vast majority of those who are Christians but in name.

2nd.—She is guilty of schism in her requirements for her ministers. The principle of the Christian ministry was, “as every man hath received the gift (χαρισμα; see 1 Cor. 12) even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” (1 Peter 4:10) The Spirit of God, in the variety of his distributions, alone gave authority, and He “bloweth where He listeth,” “dividing to every man severally as He will,” without respect of persons. But the practice of the Establishment, is a proof of the manner, in which the most direct and open violation of scripture and rejection of the Spirit of God, is received without questioning, because it has been ordered and settled by those who have had authority in the world. If it were the rule of an insignificant sect, that none should be considered as competent to minister among them, but those who were found to have answered such qualifications as the following—to belong to a certain rank in society—to be possessed of means sufficient to go through a routine of expensive requirements —to be placed for several years immediately preceding their entering upon the ministry, in circumstances where they would be actually exposed to temptations more in number, and more perilous, than could be found in any other, and where the preparation for the sacred work in which they were to be engaged should consist almost entirely of science and profane learning—such a system would be universally regarded as the result of the absurdest and narrowest sectarianism. Yet this on the whole, is the unrebuked practice of the Establishment; the ministry of which acts in two ways. It is accredited as a profession for a gentleman, and therefore occupied by the higher classes. It is open to talent and learning, and many a one makes a gain of godliness by getting a step in society from being So accredited. Moreover the preparation, for it is mainly human learning, acquired in circumstances necessarily of a character the most unfavorable to spirituality. And what is this but to assume that God hath given His Spirit, for the instruction of His people, to the rich and learned alone; and that, reversing the principles of the dispensation, the mighty things of the world are now chosen to confound the weak; and the wise things of the world to confound the foolish. Surely such a system could not have been named in the days of the primitive Church. In truth, it is an utter rejection of the Spirit of God; for whilst the ungifted, it may be, ungodly individual, who has answered these requisitions, is accredited hereafter as a minister of Christ; the Spirit of God in Paul or Apollos would find no admission, unless it had passed through these purely human requirements. Is this indeed God’s order for His Church, or is it not, however sanctioned by numbers and authority, altogether schismatical, and a grieving of the Holy Ghost?

3rd.—She is guilty again of schism, in excluding from the liberty of speaking and preaching all who are not in nominal office. Now, without entering into any question upon the nature of the offices mentioned in the epistles, it does not appear that there is any warrant from scripture for so confining the liberty of preaching; for though individuals might be set apart for the purpose of exercising the offices of elder or deacon, yet it by no means appears that the ministry of the word was confined to them alone, any more than there was a necessity for its invariably forming a part of their own work. Of a deacon’s office it clearly was not an essential part. The elders or rulers are distinguished, as those “who labored in the word and doctrine,” and those who did not. But the testimony of the word proves that many preached the gospel without being set apart for it; the gift being the only needful qualification. And in the only account given of a Church assembly, but given in that epistle which is left to us as a model of ecclesiastical order and usage, the line of distinction is drawn, not between ordained and unordained, but between men and women. In truth the Spirit’s power, subject to the judgment of those who were themselves gifted, was the only title to speak. It is therefore of the essence of schism, a fresh hindering of the Spirit, to preclude the exercise of the gift of God, in those who have received authority from the supreme source, even Christ Himself; and consequently either to quench the Spirit in those so precluded, or to drive them into schism; for as good stewards they cannot but exercise the grace of God which they have received. Yet the entire office of ministering, perhaps to many thousands, is frequently confined to me person, which is virtually to affirm that the whole of the Spirit’s power, for edification, and the exercise of every function of Christ’s Church, resides in the single individual thus authorized.

4th.—And hence the ground of another charge of schism. By confining the ministry to one individual, and by a fixed form of worship, entirely without warrant or precedent from the New Testament, the free manifestation of the Spirit is hindered in every assembly. Indeed the very purpose to which it serves, is to enable men to do without the Spirit of God. There may be an apparent order, pleasing to the natural mind, but this can present naught but confusion before Him who desires to be approached in spirit and in truth, and whose Spirit is sent forth into the hearts of His children to this end. But the presence of the Holy Ghost now, acting in others besides the minister, or in external gifts, would break up the entire system; a striking consideration to those who would extol merely human order. Yet so it is, the ritual is irreconcilable with the supposition of the Spirit of God being present. It is remarkable, that in the only place where the word “schism” occurs in the authorized version, the apostle is speaking of the interdependency of the members of the body, and their reciprocal communication of gifts exercised by all who had their, as being the means by which it is tempered together in order that this evil may be avoided — “that there should be no schism in the body.” (1 Cor. 12) It is perfectly true, that, in assemblies like those of the Church of England, the Lord’s order could find no place—could not be exercised; for we should have the world assuming the place of teachers to the Church of God; but this does but prove the desperate state of things. Schism however it is affirmed by the apostle to be, when the body is not thus tempered; and schism is the result: the body of Christ is disunited and broken; and yet men triumph in the show of so called order, and form, which is but a trophy of the exclusion of the insulted and grieved Spirit of God. The Establishment therefore is proved to be schismatical—

1st.—In offending the consciences of the weak, by assuming an unscriptural right of enforcing things not enjoined by the Lord.

2nd.—In imposing unscriptural requirements upon those who enter its ministry, and making these the test of their competency to be ministers of Christ.

3rd.—In exclusively setting up its own ordination as the sole title for preaching and teaching, nay, for addressing in prayer the one God and Father of all.

4th.—In services unwarranted by scripture, and which directly shut out the order of the Church of God—in each and all of these particulars, and others connected with them (for into the practical results we need not enter) is seen, most deeply marked, the sin of this dispensation, the rejection of the Holy Ghost. And thus, continuance in her communion not only identifies an individual with apostasy, but involves him in the guilt of schism in the Church of God.

Such being the character of the Church of England, she has of necessity, become herself the fruitful source of all the innumerable divisions, into which those who profess the name of Christ are separated; for God could not maintain the entireness of a system which presents so little of the features of His Church. But in the view of these results there is nothing for a Christian mind to glory, for by one who has in any measure entered in spirit into the once beautiful unity of God’s children, the present state of things can be looked upon only with feelings of the deepest shame and humiliation. No return to the principle of Christ’s Church is to be seen. Christian assemblies of old met for edification, communion, and mutual exhortation —but each sect now sets up an individual, and comes to be preached to by him—surely the fulfillment of the apostolic prediction, “they shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;” a state of things which has grown worse and worse:—Ecclesiastical democracies Ministers, so called by the people, as in many cases to be inevitably controlled by them to such a degree, that if they preached the convictions of their souls, they would be left destitute. But I must hasten to a conclusion. Of the modern dissenting bodies it may be said, that their systems are on the whole more scriptural than the Church of England, but their practice worse, It is clear also that (speaking of them as a body) the same fact which gives the character of apostasy to the Establishment, —union with the world—stamps the same features upon modern dissent; and in a form more fearful, because, with infinitely less of spirituality among individuals, it is more connected with the irreligion and ungodliness of popular feeling. But passing by all the painful circumstances which in these days have changed the descendants of Howe, Baxter, and Owen, into a political body; let us return to the question before us. The nonconformists were not schismatical in the point of their separation from the Establishment, it being in general upon just and Christian grounds, though the succession was, for the most part, upon certain subjects of difference, of deep import indeed, but by no means comprehending the length and breadth of her actual dereliction of the true standing of the Church of Christ. But the character of schism has been acquired by the nature of the unions subsequently formed. The principles upon which the different Churches have been respectively gathered, have never been such as would comprehend all the children of God upon the great essentials of Christian belief; but some special point has been made the ensign of each party, and they who have gathered round it, have proved only their preference of the object in question, to the general unity of God’s people. In truth they are now united, not simply as children of God, but upon the particular sections of Christian doctrine, which give the names to their several divisions.

Is Christ then divided? Was it as baptists, independents, or quakers, that the Churches were originally united, when in union they bore a witness to the world? Surely there is little conformity in these things to the mind of Him, who has given one simple mark by which His followers were to be recognized— “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

They have greatly sinned also, in requiring from their members assent to terms of communion which the Lord never enjoined—thus shutting out many of the weaker brethren; and by raising things of secondary consequence into the same virtual importance with faith in the atoning blood of the Lamb, each of which has been a stumbling-block. The case is not altered in the circumstance of individual congregations professing to admit others besides themselves to their communion, since the real question is, whether they themselves are united solely upon the ground of being Christians—for nothing short of this is a full recognition of the principle of Christian unity; and the point to be pressed again and again, is, whether believers are joined simply as members of the body of Christ? Nor can they escape the charge of rending that body, who place the slightest hindrance to Christians thus meeting together; and these bonds of union are all hindrances.

All the devices of man, while he has been exulting in fancied strength, have only shown his own helplessness and folly. “But the foolishness of God is wiser than men.” The Lord who knoweth whereof we are made, and the tendency of the natural mind to make every point a subject of difference among brethren, has left the cross alone as the center of union amongst His people—the one thing in which all true believers are agreed; and made that, which alone will make them one hereafter, the means of their union here. Where other or additional bonds are found, there is the spirit of sectarianism, there is schism in act, for the inevitable effect is to sever from each other those for whom Christ died. Again I ask was it not thus that Christians once met? Therefore if there were now but two individuals who met only in the name of their common Lord, these would be acting in obedience to the command to keep “the unity of the Spirit,” while the whole multitude besides who were gathered together, because called by this or that name—because they had assented to this creed or that confession, would be the causers of division, and be acting in disobedience; for it is evident that the question is not decided by numbers or accredited authority in the world—the principle alone must be kept in view.

To act on any other principle, is but to add another to the hundred sects which are around; and better, far better would it be with the prophet “to sit alone” (Jer. 15:17.) than to exhibit that, which, keeping the word of promise to the ear, is but a mockery of the desires of those who seek Christian communion. A gathering of believers should be nothing less than an available point for all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity; and when it ceases to be this, it ceases to have any value as a witness for Christian unity.

I have written plainly, it may be thought harshly, on these matters; but if they are true it cannot be possible to speak too strongly upon a state of things which must be most grievous to the Spirit of God It is indeed a dark sign of the state of the Church when we hear of vindications and apologies for non-continuance in union with anything which is contrary to God; but, if a judgment may be formed from the aspect of the times, a period is rapidly approaching when every conceivable degree of iniquity will be tolerated to enforce an external union, and all godly turning away from it denounced as schism. The consciences of many are becoming gradually seared. so that they are driven for consistency’s sake to vindicate many abominations in doctrine and practice, which were at one time a grief of mind to them; and not content with continuing it in themselves, they would hinder others from denying ungodliness. It is therefore the part of Christian love in all who know these things, if they seek the welfare of the brethren, not to withhold their protest against the overflowing evil, especially when the inconceivably rapid progress of false principles is considered, and the manner in which in the present day misapplied truth is made an effectual engine in the hands of Satan, to confirm multitudes, even of God’s children, in sanctioning iniquity. May they be warned in season.

In the meanwhile those who desire simply to act as disciples have a path before them in which they cannot err. There can be no pleasure in speaking of iniquity; the present broken and disordered state of the Church of God is the common shame of all His people. Nothing but sorrow and abasement of heart becomes them; and the more they have of His Spirit the more will it be their feeling. “Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation; our holy and beautiful house where our fathers praised thee is burnt up with fire, and all our pleasant things are laid waste.” But for the sake of others, faithfulness in testimony is required. To look for a restoration of that symmetry which has been so entirely destroyed—for the return of that Spirit which alone sustained it in power—would be a vain hope. But believers may still walk in obedience to such measure of the Spirit as they have, always indeed seeking increased grace and endeavoring to exemplify every principle of Christian doctrine. The word still remains, “these things I command you, that ye love one another;” and they who are sanctified by the same precious blood, may meet in the common hope of the same kingdom of glory. The power of the Spirit wheresoever it is found, if not hindered, will draw together those who seek communion; Satan will indeed endeavor to seduce them by the spirit of self-will and insubjection, (and this is the very spirit of Antichrist) but God is faithful—and the knowledge of real weakness is strength, when it brings His children into more simple dependence upon His unchanging love.

Thoughts on System in Religion

A tendency to desire, form, and maintain systematic views of religion, is deeply rooted in the human heart. A variety of circumstances will account for the prevalence of the same disposition in men of very different tempers, and very different degrees of piety; evincing that the error, dishonorable to God though it be, is by no means confined to those who are living without God in the world.

The operation of this tendency is generally shown in a readiness to limit that which God has not limited—to foreclose the scheme of scripture doctrine—and to assume, not that there is system in scripture, which it would be absurd to deny, but that we have found its center, and become acquainted with the bearings of all its parts. If any think this error all harmless one, let him follow it into some of its practical workings. As we are only acquainted with the things of God through the medium of the written word; of course our notions, not only of practical holiness, but of all and each of the doctrines of the Christian faith, will be correct or incorrect according to our lawful or unlawful use of the oracles of God. This love of system, as is seen by its practical effects around us, will affect, and that perhaps in a nearly equal degree, our notions of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility—of the communion of saints and the general doctrines of Church order and discipline: we shall have an opinion about these things, but it will be only an opinion; and that too one, which is awkwardly and artificially referred to the bible as its origin, rather than really based upon it. Many are awake to the operation of this principle so far as it seems to condemn others rather than themselves. While one is endeavoring to regulate the sense of scripture by canons of his own composing—another is embodying his own systematic notions of a Church, and uniting, or rather professing to unite believers in some way, without either the sanction of God’s word, or the presence of God’s Spirit. And this last attempt will frequently evince its unscriptural character by the adoption of a name. This alone would be enough to condemn many out of their own mouths. They readily protest against being the servants of men— the followers of Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas; but, if it be so, why are they thus called? The name sanctioned in the word of God is one— “Christian.” “If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed.” Indeed the term “saint,” blessed as it is, and fraught with thoughts of comfort and communion to the people of God, is rather a watchword among themselves, than that name whereby they should he known, distinguished, and, if it be for God’s glory, persecuted in the midst of a wicked world. Indeed it is needed for the very testimony of the Church, that she should wear some badge, that the world may know that her character, as of God, and not of the world, should be recognized; while at the same time, her privileges, her high birth, and most glorious destination, are far above out of their sight. What it is to live a life hidden with Christ in God, they cannot understand; but whereas there be that are called gods many, and lords many, the world can understand that they serve one Jesus, and it remains for them to discover, as they may, who this Lord is.

But this tendency to the erection of a system is not confined to the haters of God. And if it be an error to which, at times, God’s children are even chiefly liable, there may be somewhat more of indiscretion in it than deliberate fault; a false humility, and remaining unbelief have precipitated many into what they are pleased to term “the error on the safe tide,” forgetting that in the things of God no error is safe, but all dishonorable to God, and mainly so, if persisted in. But independently of particular mistakes, into which such persons are sure to fall, and difficulties with which they cannot but be embarrassed, the tone of mind thus contracted is also much to be deprecated. A disposition to reconcile everything, to systematize everything too soon, must lead to failure. Like premature ossification in the animal frame, the defect will be diminished powers, stunted growth, and false proportion. In the bible, in the Church, in the dispensations of the whole of God’s providence, there are things to be joined, but God must join them; there are difficulties to be reconciled, but we cannot solve the problem. Inattention to this fact is the secret of that abortive process by which man stepping out of his own line would forestall his maker. A few instances, and those taken from the simplest and most obvious facts will serve instead of many. Alas! that such instances should be so easily found! When man would invent means of reconciling the world unto God, how gross the failure! When man would form a Church, (neither the phrase nor the attempt are without precedent) what is it but the building of Babel? When man would come forth for the instruction of his brethren, with his ponderous commentaries, professing to have scanned the bulk, and exhausted the treasures of scripture, what self-convicted clumsiness of operation. To cite the words of one of these laborers, who has applied to others language perhaps too suitable to them all— “They give you a bucket of water, and then speak as if they had emptied the well.” But, it will be asked, is this to preclude the searching of the scriptures, the hope of the spirit for our guide, nay, the very fulfillment of the promise that He shall guide us? And if the only line for our direction he a thread so exquisitely fine that no eye can see it, why not give up the attempt at once as vain, and regard the scripture as a sealed book.

The preceding remarks, however, are not directed against searching the scriptures, (God forbid,) but against the assuming too soon that we have searched them sufficiently; not against tracing out, as far as God may enable us, all the features of the divine will, but the taking it for granted that there is no more to be learned. If I mistake not, the acknowledgment of the considerations brings much liberty to the soul. We shall thus receive from God, in our ownselves, a practical, and therefore efficient testimony that we are not the servants of men. The very consciousness that there are doctrines, embodied in the most specious systems, held by the most honored servants of the Lord, or by our most valued friends, to which for the Lord’s sake, we never could subscribe, this may secretly, but effectually wean us yet more from human authority, and teach us that lesson, seldom learned but by experience, “Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of?”

Thoughts on the Spiritual Nature of the Present Dispensation

It has been the invariable method of God to take occasion from every successive failure of the creature, more clearly to manifest His own perfections; and while in so doing, He has brought Himself nearer to man, He has at the same time progressively increased man’s responsibility. The failure has ever been from man’s waywardness; the glory of getting good out of evil, God’s sole prerogative. “Where sin abounded grace much more abounded,” while true in individual blessing to God’s elect, is specially true in each successive dispensation, from the fall to “the fullness of time in which God sent forth His Son,” and even yet awaits a fuller development “in the dispensation of the fullness of times, when He shall gather together in one, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth.” (Eph. 1:10.) The progress of the divine dispensations is thus summarily stated by the apostle, in the epistle to the Hebrews: “God, who at sundry times (πσλυμερως) and in divers manners, (πολυτροπωε) spake in time past unto the fathers, by the prophets; hath in these last days spoken to us by His Son.” (Heb. 1: 1, 2.) The contrast here is not utterly between the prophets and the Son, but also between the fullness of the manifestation of God in the Son compared with the partial character of previous manifestations. They were but piecemeal. At one time there was a revelation of love, at another of power, at another of faithfulness; and in ways too sufficiently indicative of their obscurity—in a vision, in a dream. But in Jesus the whole effulgence of the divine character shone forth. He was the “brightness of glory.” “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also.” And so entirely divested of obscurity was the manifestation, that one could say, “That which was from the beginning, which we have seen with our eyes, Which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life,” in a word—“God manifested in the flesh.” This progress has been to greater intimacy (if the expression may reverently be used) between God and man. He was known to the fathers by the name of “God Almighty.” (Ex. 6:3.) To the Israelites He was made known by His name “Jehovah,” a hear God, and “very present help in time of trouble,” as well as a holy and jealous God. This was the burthen of the testimony of God’s servants the prophets, whom He sent, “rising early and sending until there was no remedy.” Israel had not only failed to manifest Jehovah, but the end was, “that the name of God was blasphemed through them among the heathen.” (Ezek. 36:23. Rom, ii. 24.)

The latest testimony to them was that of John, he came in the Way of righteousness; and then another dispensation was announced — “The law and the prophets were until John; since that time; the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.” (Luke 16: 16.) But the dispensation might not pass without the vindication of God’s wisdom in it, that it was holy, just, and good; until “God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.” (Gal. 4:3,4.) He took it up, and what had failed in man, in Him was fulfilled. No jot, or title of the law passed till all was fulfilled. Every one of its requirements was met by the Lord, and God was with Him. (Acts 10: 30.) In Him—the “righteous servant,” was exhibited God’s power, (Christ the power of God) acknowledged and felt—reasoned against indeed as to its source, “whence has this man this power? what manner of man is this?” but too palpable to be gainsayed. Having established His claim to “the just One,” “which of you convinceth me of sin?”— “The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me.” He further vindicated God in the law by undergoing its awful curse; and thus set it aside. “He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,” and declared to be the righteous One by His resurrection; and not only so, but exalted as such, and declared to be “worthy to receive power, and riches, and glory, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and blessing.” It is important to remark that the old dispensation was completely set aside, not renovated or altered; and that before the kingdom of God which was announced, was set up in power, an opportunity was afforded by the death of Christ and the fulfillment of the law, for a further display of the character of God previous to the exercise of active power and retributive justice in His kingdom by Him who was worthy to receive power. This intermediate dispensation is that in which we are. “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” In order to the public manifestation of God’s grace, not Only was it needful for man to be exhibited in his utter helplessness and apostasy, but likewise for the law to be set aside, or it would stand as a barrier of God’s own raising against it. Instead, therefore, of God manifested through Israel by the exercise of His power in and through them, and showing His holy character through their reflection of it be ye holy for I am holy;” and thus proving what a great and terrible God He was— how inaccessible by man, because of His holiness—with the preservation of every previously manifested perfection of God—we now have seen Him set forth in Christ as “reconciling the world unto Himself;” and instead of keeping sinners at a distance from Him, “preaching peace by Jesus Christ.” But while God is thus set forth in all this nearness to sinners, as was exhibited on the part of Jesus, being conversant with them, those who were drawn by God’s grace into His presence, were to become the means of exhibiting the presence of God in the world. How now is God manifested in nearness to man? In Israel He was manifested to be near them by His protection, and the confession of His presence was extorted from the mouth of His enemies by His judgments; but it is not so now—the dispensation is changed from active righteousness to grace; God is letting men alone, by not interfering now in vengeance on sinners; they see it not, and therefore “despise the riches of His goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering,” and are “treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath.” God in all the nearness of grace, is actually less acknowledged than in all the distance the law had made between Him and man.

The reason is obvious—God’s presence was then manifest to sense, but now in the power of deliverance from the world; and not only did the one more readily address itself naturally to man than the other, but the failure has been more decided. So long as Jesus remained on earth, the presence of God was felt if not acknowledged, “God was manifest in the flesh.” It was, however, expedient for His disciples that He should go away; expedient for them—it is marvelous that it should have been so; His presence, which was the joy of their heart and only stability, was to be lost to them, in order to increase their blessing. Was it, therefore, possible for them to have God nearer to them than to have His presence, whose name was “Immanuel, God with us?” yes, this was even possible; and therefore, it was expedient that Jesus should ascend. He had the power of life on earth—He could have so sustained it, as He showed in Lazarus, as to prevent death. But this after all, would have been but the Adam life prolonged. It was at His ascension that Jesus was proved to be the quickening Spirit— “Because I live, ye shall live also”—live out of death—triumph over death— “Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory;” it was resurrection life with God. What then do we see, but the same Jesus that was crucified, at the right hand. of the throne of the Majesty on high. We see God’s perfect complacency in a man—even the man Christ Jesus; so that we have not only the great principle of God’s love in the incarnation of the Son of God, but we have the result of that in the glory to which man is to be exalted; because He humbled Himself He was exalted: and this exaltation was in that which alone was capable of exaltation—even the nature He had taken into union with Himself; but this also was in order to further nearness of God to man; having had God with Him, He was now to have God in Him; “He being exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear.” There was the word. made good, “I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you and shall be in you.” Here, then, is the progress in God’s manifestation, marked indeed, not only by outward power, but more by His presence pressing itself on the conscience of men. (Acts 4:33; 1 Cor. 14:24,25.) Here, then, in the saints, by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. (1 Cor. 6:19. 3:16; 2 Cor. 6:16.) it is manifested that there is a God of judgment, and that by Him actions are weighed. This is the very end of the people of God being left here, the Spirit (whom the world cannot receive) in and through them, being to convince the world of sin. (John 16:7-11). Here we have brought out clearly the marvel of God’s dealing with the world in grace, and yet showing Himself in His saints as “the righteous God that loveth righteousness.” If God be not here, where is He? and hence the deep and solemn importance of soundness in the faith in the deity, and personality of the Holy Ghost. “The Holy Ghost was not yet, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” Surely it would be destructive to His deity, and blasphemy against His person, ever to assert that He was not as to being, as it would be destructive to the existence of the saints under former dispensations, to say He had not been given. The gravamen of Israel’s apostasy as summed up by Stephen, “Ye stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye;” and again we read— “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”—— “Whereof the Holy Ghost is a witness to us, for after that He had said before”—are testimonies amply sufficient to show that the blessed agent in testimony and in grace, has ever been the Holy Spirit. The expression of our Lord, as commented on by John, must therefore have another meaning; and the understanding of it unfolds the character and blessing of the present dispensation.

We see the wonderful, and to us most blessed union of God and man, in the person of our adorable Lord, the object of faith and rest of the soul. In virtue of this union, those who believe and abide in Him, have the constant indwelling of the Holy Ghost with them, according to that word— “He that believeth in me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”—This is, in fact, the real constitution of the Church. To assert the interruption of the Spirit’s presence, save as to our unbelief, or to assert his influence and not his person, is to make a gap in that which the Lord declares to be continuous: “He shall abide with you forever;” yea is it not to take up the language of infidelity of old, “The Lord Hath forsaken the earth.” (Ezek. 9: 9; 8:12.) Unless therefore it be asserted that believers are not one with Jesus, the presence of the Spirit cannot be denied to be their portion, because it is in virtue of that union that the Spirit dwells among them— “I am with yet always.” This blessed assertion could only have been the portion of the few immediately favored with our Lord’s presence on the earth, had He remained. How expedient therefore that He should go away; and whilst as the “Lamb in the midst of the throne, with seven horns,” He gives the assurance that His power in providence is ever over them; the seven eyes show His presence even by the Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and the Son, whom He would send, to be abidingly with them as the other Comforter. The one who would fulfill in all ages, to those who would confide in Him the gracious part of teacher, reprover, adviser, and tender soother of all their fears, which Jesus had done while personally conversant with them on earth. The expression “the Holy Ghost was not yet, because that Jesus was not yet glorified,” compared with the declaration of the Lord, (John 16:7.) “it is expedient for you that I go away,” opens out to us most blessedly the peculiar character of the dispensation in which we are, and its distinguishing blessing to those who abide in Christ. Jesus is glorified, the Spirit is, and the portion of the Church one with him as risen; “as He is so are we in this world.” This is what the apostle styles “the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory.” “Will God indeed dwell on the earth?” is not now answered by the glory of God filling the house which Solomon built, but in the perpetual testimony of the Spirit to the fact of man dwelling with God, “the only begotten in the bosom of the Father;” even he “that humbled Himself to death, even the death of the cross,” being exalted as man unto that glory which He had before the world was. How “expedient therefore that He should go away,” that we might know God’s condescension to man. The Spirit in the children of God is the testimony of this to the world now, and shall be fully demonstrated at the period to which, now groaning, they look forward, “the manifestation of the sons of God,” when Jesus shall be manifested as “the first-born among many brethren.” It is most important to notice how necessarily the dispensation of the Spirit flows from the fact of the incarnation and ascension. The man Jesus must be glorified ere the Spirit’s dispensation was. And as Jesus, the Son of God, had glorified His Father, and not sought His own glory, and as it is the Father’s will “that all should honor the Son even as they honor the Father,”—so the Spirit seeketh not his own glory; but says Jesus, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now; howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He shall show you things to come; He shall glory me for He shall receive of mine and show it unto you.” The two great branches of the Spirit’s testimony are to the sufferings of Christ and His glory. And these are truths, yea, the only truths, that is, the only things that have intrinsic and therefore unfailing excellence in them. Jesus is the truth. “He came by water and by blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood; and it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.” History may make us acquainted with the fact of the crucifixion; but the Spirit alone can teach its wondrous result, in leading the conscience to the blood of the Lamb, opening therein God’s counsel of peace to sinners, with the preservation and illustration of every previously manifested perfection of God. — “A just God and a Savior.” So again the assent of the understanding may be given to the fact of the ascension and consequent glory of Jesus; but it is the Spirit’s province to direct the eye of the believer to his portion in it, resulting again from the fact of the incarnation of the Son of God. “Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him; but God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit,” “for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God.” Now in all this we find “God’s thoughts not as ours” in that man is entirely turned away from Himself, to an object without Him for present comfort and future glory, “look unto Him and be ye saved,” “He shall take of mine and show it unto you.” It is the rightful glory of Jesus to which He points—and the believers share in it, from the love which brought Him down into our sad necessities. Disconnect the two, the sufferings and the glory, and there must needs be vagueness in peace and hope—the power of both, applied by the Spirit to faith—is our victory over the world.

In connection with these, there is also another thing. Jesus to establish the mind of His disciples on leaving them, comforts them with the words recorded, John 14:29; 15:15; 16:12. It is by the Spirit who searcheth all things, &c. that as friends, “believers are admitted into the counsels of God.” (1 Cor. 2:16.) It is thus that without new revelations, the Spirit by opening and applying His own writings according to the exigencies of the Church, guides into all truth—“Lo! I have told you beforehand.” This is their safeguard against surprise—He is “the Spirit of counsel and wisdom,” not by setting man’s will to work on his own materials, but by turning the thoughts to Jesus who is our wisdom; and it is only as things bear on Him and are connected with Him, that they are the truth. It is thus that “those who have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil,” are enabled to judge righteous judgment. Everything by the Spirit is brought to Jesus as the light, and there is reality is discovered. Hence it is that when the influence of the Spirit, apart from His real presence and guidance, has been looked to, the mind of man has been accustomed to reason on the things of God; and instead of the judgment of the Spirit, to have only that of man, and the way has been opened for departure from the groundwork of personal acceptance or even to the wildest fanaticism. This has been the case whenever the peculiar characteristic of this as the spiritual dispensation, i.e. the dispensation in which the Holy Ghost is the blessed agent, glorifying not Himself but Jesus, has been lost sight of. Forgetfulness of this has tended to place even the Lord’s people in a false position looking only to spiritual agency within them, (so far undoubtedly right) they have been led into an unmeaning vagueness of hope, and have almost practically dissociated the hope of glory from the resurrection state, and connected it with that of the separate Spirit. Hence has arisen the sad. mistake of a believer’s real position in the world, and the vain attempt of regenerating it, save by the intervention of Him who says, “Behold, I create all things new.” The world has been looked on as a scene of possible enjoyment, the full tide of evil and polder of death in it, only being recognized by those who “have passed from death to life,” who know that they “are of God, and that the whole world lieth in wickedness.” The spiritual man, he that is quickened together with Christ, one with the risen and ascended Jesus in Spirit, ceases from the vain attempt to improve the world. The real liberty into which he is brought by truth, is the perception of things as they actually are in the sight of God. The world and its lusts are known as not of the Father, and therefore pass away, and hence joy in victory over it, and not being of it, through Him “who gave Himself for us that He might deliver us out of this present evil world.” How momentous to know our real character as Christians, specially in the present day, so remarkable for many anxious attempts at bettering the condition of man, and yet all failing, all falling before the power of evil, because there is no power or wisdom against it but in Him who is “the power of God and wisdom of God.” Every advance that man has been able to make, has left him short of life. This, then, is the portion of a spiritual man—he stands in the power of life ever surrounded. by death, and is therefore enabled to judge righteous judgment, because he can judge not according to appearances but according to realities. It is true that being quickened by the Spirit of God, he is able “to see the kingdom of God;” and his mind being necessarily versed in realities, and these realities being God and His Christ, whilst he learns the vanity of all that is in the world, he acquires a refinement and delicacy of mind which converse with God never fails to give. But there is exceeding great danger lest we mistake intellectual refinement for spirituality. The Spirit of God. is the Spirit of truth—he that is born of the Spirit is of the truth, and is versed in the realities of all things. It is not the abstraction of the mind from the scene of evil to an imaginary scene of good, but it is being in the evil, recognizing it in all its fearful extent, detecting it under the fairest outside, rising above it personally through Him who was in it and felt its full pressure, in the blessed confidence that He overcame it all. In the world, not of the world, and therefore capacitated not only to see its misery, but to minister to it; and hence “the spiritual man judgeth all things.” He is enabled to bring forth the judgment of God upon circumstances apparently trivial. This is much opened to us in 1 Cor. 7 we find the apostle giving his judgment, not by immediate revelation from God, but as one who had obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful, and had the Spirit of God: (δοκω δε καγω πνευμα θεὁυ εχείν) he applies the judgment of the Spirit in Him to circumstances of the most domestic character— It is thus he judges all things, being himself only a looker on, and therefore enabled in all calmness to see what those who are themselves engaged in it, cannot, “Man looks on the outside,” he may view a thing everywhere, but the Spirit gets at the principle, i.e. what is before God. In a very little matter, a great principle may be at stake, and hence the short coming even of worldly wisdom in worldly things— “The Lord taketh the wise in their own craftiness.” (1 Cor. 3:19)

It is the exercise of the Spirit of a sound mind, not that which would judge from results on the probable bearing of anything in given circumstances—not that which is its counterfeit and mere unbelief—the keeping out of God, but bringing him in, as the one in whose hand are results, as paramount to the circumstances of human infirmity. Soundness of mind, must necessarily appear folly in the estimation of the world, “but wisdom is justified of her children.” It is a subject of deep humiliation in us all to see how far we come short of this soundness of mind, by conferring with flesh and blood; acting it may be on a right motive at first, but with a wrong expectation, which leads to the employment of means not justified, and disappointment. Nothing can be more contrary to soundness of mind than the results which have been and are, perhaps, by many expected from modern missionary exertions. The conduct of them and expectations from them has brought about a most morbid state of religious excitement, mistaken spirituality, and has tended to conceal the real destitution of the Church, and to make her say, “I am rich and increased with goods,” when her very necessity which has driven her to seek help from the world is the saddest proof of decrepitude.

It will not be out of place to notice here the expressions, Rom. 8 “To be carnally minded is death, to be spiritually minded is life and peace;” v. 6. φρὸνημα της σαρκος φρονηματου πνευματος. The words of the preceding verse οι κατα σαρκα τα της σαρκος φρονουσιν, &c. plainly show that a spiritual mind is not an improvement of the natural mind; let that be cultivated to any extent of intellectual attainment, it still only fulfills “the desires of the flesh and of the mind.” (Eph. 2) It is the portion alone of those who are κατα πνἐυμα. The things of the Spirit are not only out of the province of the natural mind, but foolishness unto it. (1 Cor. 2:14.) Hence when Christianity has been treated as a science, and made the subject of mere intellect, being judged by those who are κατα σαρκα it has lost its real character. It is not that it may not call into exercise the highest intellect, for surely it well may; but when it is made the subject matter of intellect, instead of intellect being subject unto it; men are “always learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” They are ever exercising their art to establish it on evidence on which the flesh can rest, or else take up some of the deductions of esteemed theologians, instead of searching the scriptures themselves. From this most profitless state the Spirit delivers— “as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God.” It is the Spirit of liberty; the children free in their Father’s house, have no longer the inquiry to make, “what is truth?” they have the witness in themselves, and desire to be guided into all truth. But the flesh would ever draw false inferences from revealed truth, even truth brought by the Spirit to the mind. We have a memorable instance of this in Peter, (Matt. 16,) drawing his own conclusion from the confession be had just made; but, says the Lord, ου φρονεις τα του θεου, αλλα τα των ανθρωπων. A spiritual mind is that which at once perceives the bearing of anything on the glory of the Lord, this characteristically distinguishes it from refinement of sentiment. Thus it was in Jesus; He was of quick understanding (scent) in the fear of the Lord; by this He immediately saw the gist of Satan’s temptations. They appear to the mere natural man as those which are morally harmless—yea even as those which would have demonstrated His power, and turned to Satan’s own confusion; but Jesus looked to them as bearing on His Father’s honor. We shall see this more strongly by contrast. There could not have been a more legitimate conclusion for the Church to come to than that, when learning, rank, talent, influence, all of which had been united against her, fell before her, and were become her allies, she should then fill the world with blessing but this was “savoring not God, but of man.” The Spirit invariably leads to where Christ is— “if ye then be risen with Christ” τα ανωφρονειτε, &c. It is ever the effort of the prince of this world to make us forget that the world is under the power of death, because it has rejected the prince of life, that its judgment is only respited for the purpose of manifesting God’s long-suffering, that all that is in the world, is not of the Father, and therefore He cannot be served by it. Hence οι τα επιγεία φρονουντες are enemies of the cross of Christ. To be spiritually minded is life, is to have risen up out of all this death, to know them as death, and to know Christ as the power of life. Nothing has had a more hurtful tendency in hindering present blessing and encouraging unwarrantable expectations, than the separation of the work of the Spirit from the glory of Christ, to whom he invariably points. Hence in a great measure has arisen the notion that the personal reign of Christ during the millennium is returning to the flesh from the Spirit, and retrograding instead of advancing in blessing. But what is real blessing? one who is at all quickened by the Spirit, knows it to consist in the knowledge and consequent enjoyment of God, and that every advance in the manifestation of God is an accession of blessing to those really in communion with Him. It is true that now to faith is revealed the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ— “but the Son of man shalt come in his own glory and in the glory of His Father,” &c. And His triumph is theirs— “every knee shall bow at the name of Jesus, and every tongue confess Him.” While then the joy of the saints will be full, “I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness”—how is this to be effected but by fresh energy of the Spirit?— “If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jews from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” And while there is this display of the Spirit’s power in the bodies of those who have received the first fruits of the Spirit, the great out-pouring of the Spirit is coincident with this—the exhaustion of the promise in Joel, “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;” and the fulfillment of the new covenant in all its largeness to the Jew, in the very explicit language of Jer. 31 and Ezek. 36. It seems much to have been forgotten that we have only had as yet the first fruits of the Spirit; the full out-pouring is for another dispensation, which as contrasted with this is not fleshly as opposed to spiritual; but one of righteousness as opposed to grace. It is the manifestation of God’s power in Christ over evil, so longed for by the still groaning creation. Here the evil in man’s nature is restrained from fully developing itself in all, by the secret power of God, and in the saints kept under by the indwelling of God’s Spirit; God’s judicial power being only now revealed against it, (Rom. 2) but not yet actually in exercise against it; then a king reigns in righteousness, having taken His power and bound Satan, the evil one, and “the way of iniquity shall perish,” Now liberty is given to evil, i.e. man is left to himself in dispensation at least, save that He who is over all orders all, and makes “the wrath of man to praise flint;” but then God in the revealed power of the Son will not suffer it— “the soul that sinneth it shall surely die:” “He shall destroy the works of the devil.” In a word—the millennial dispensation is at least, as to the Jews upon earth, the combination of that in which both they have failed in theirs, and Christians in this—the full display of the Spirit on the heart and of earthly blessing in righteousness; So far from being unspiritual, the end of the millennial dispensation to which we are permitted to look, (and surely it is written for our instruction) affords a fresh proof that man under every advantage of nearness to God—outward blessing—testimony of the word and past experience too, will assuredly fail, unless dwelt in by the Spirit of God. Then will be demonstrated, publicly, that which the believer now knows experimentally, “that all flesh is grass”—that there is no real communion with God but by His Spirit—that security is not “by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord.” Those therefore, who resist the testimony of God to the pre-millennial advent of Christ, and His reign with His saints perfectly conformed to His image in resurrection over the earth, are necessarily deprived of the instruction in a great moral truth respecting God, who will thus be demonstrated to be the only one with whom there is “no variableness neither shadow of turning;” by having proved the changeableness of the creature under every circumstance of blessing short of new creation. Nor is it uninstructive to notice that in thus connecting the present with the dispensation which is on the eve of being introduced, we are carried on in the fullness of personal security and blessing, to learn in it more of God—yea, of the riches of His grace, in being the witnesses of another apostasy, under circumstances the most favorable for the creature to have stood. The Lord give us to know the exceeding great blessing of being brought to “stand in grace.” Amen.

The Threshing Floor of Ornan the Jebusite

It is an affecting and solemn truth presented to us by scripture, to which we desire that our thoughts may ever be fully subject, that our God has, through our transgression, been separated from His due place, as over the work of His own hands; that this world which is all His handy work, has acknowledged another god and prince. (John 14:30., 1 Cor. 4.) Since the day when the Lord God walked with Adam in paradise, he has had no abiding place among us. He has visited the earth in divers manners, to bring mercies to His chosen in the midst of it, but when His errand of love has been finished, He has, as is said, “gone His way”) again. (Gen. 18:33.) He would, it is true, have found a place among His chosen Israel, but He was even by them too speedily disowned, and His tarrying there proved to be but as that of a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night. (Jer. 14:8.) “The ox knoweth his owner,” said the God of Israel by His prophet, “and the ass his master’s crib, but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.” (Isa. 1:3.)

But the Lord’s title to the earth of course stands unimpeachable; “the cattle on a thousand hills are His, the earth, and the fullness thereof;” and accordingly in one way or another, He has been making continual claim to it in the face of the usurper, so as to express his purpose of finally taking it into full possession again. This indeed was so clearly intimated by the first promise, that the whole creation is represented as hoping and waiting for it. (Gen. 3:15, Rom. 8:19-21.) And so in the day of the kingdom of our God, these hopes of the creation shall not be ashamed, for the “heavens shall then rejoice, and the earth be glad, the sea and the fullness thereof; the field shall then be joyful and all that is therein: the floods, and the hills, and the trees of the wood shall rejoice before the Lord.”

By tracing for a while, the dealings of the Lord with this world of ours, we may discern the ways in which the has been pleased since the day when man sold himself and his inheritance into the hand of a strange lord, thus to claim the earth as His. When the giants of old had finished the antediluvian apostasy, corrupting the earth and filling it with violence, doing with it as if it were their own; the Lord asserted His right by judging that generation as oppressors and wrong-doers. (Gen. 6:1-13)

Then in the new world He witnessed His title to the earth by making man the tenant of it under Himself, delivering it into the hand of Noah, under express condition imposed according to His own good pleasure. (Gen. 9:1-7.) And again, when these children of men, doing the deeds of their fathers, affected independency of God their rightful Lord, as they did in the matter of Babel, He again asserted His right in the way of judgment, scattering the confederates over the face of the earth. (Gen. 11:1-9)

But the Lord in His fruitful sovereign wisdom had now another mode of continuing His claim to the earth. This scattering of the nations from Babel, He so orders as to have respect to His setting up one of them as the future witness of His name and rights. (Deut. 32:8, 9) And in the meantime He separates the father of this nation to Himself, (Gen. 12:1) making him also personally the witness of the same truth—that let the people imagine what vain things they might, Jehovah, and He alone, was “possessor of heaven and earth.” (Gen. 14:18-22)

Accordingly then, when in due course of providence Abraham’s nation was manifested, the Lord who had chosen them to be His witnesses, puts them into possession of a portion of the earth, to hold it under Him their Lord; thus showing that He who took what portion He pleased, had title to the whole; as He says, “Ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine.” (Ex. 19:5.) And Israel thus established as God’s people should have continued in the midst of, but separated formally from the nations, reflecting the light of God’s glory as king of all the earth. But again and again they revolted, and rejected Jehovah Christ, from being king over them. The nation first, (1 Sam. 8:7.) then the house of David, (Isa. 8:13, Jer. 21:12) give up their testimony to God, and at length the wicked husband-men cast the heir himself out of the vineyard, and slew him. (Matt. 21:39)

Abraham’s seed thus refused to do the works of Abraham, and then Abraham’s God abandoned their laud, leaving the boar out of the wood to waste it, and the wild beast of the field to devour it. But the Lord has had pity for His holy name, which the house of Israel and profaned among the heathen, and has called forth another witness to the glory of it. By the voice of heralds He is publishing “Jesus and the resurrection,” opening the kingdom or heaven and the Father’s house to all believers, and letting all men know, that the kingdoms of the world are become His, and that all things are to be put under His feet again. (Heb. 2:8, Rev. 11:15)

But how is the kingdom of the world to become the Lord’s? and how is His presence to be preserved among us? We can prepare Him no habitation or dominion, for we have been found unable even to retain that which in His love He once committed to us. The Lord then must, and so He will, prepare Himself a place over and among the children of men, so as to secure His presence and authority (O blessed expectation) from ever being clouded or denied again.

When the Lord took Israel of old, as we have seen, to be His peculiar people, of course He prepared Himself a place among them —the tabernacle first, and then the temple. The tabernacle was but a moveable pavilion; there Jehovah dwelt as between curtains, and walked as in a tent, refusing with infinite grace to enter into His rest while His Israel sojourned from one nation to another people. (2 Sam. 7:5-8.), But the temple was fixed; for when Israel was brought into the land of their covenant, and all their enemies had been reduced, then the Lord would enter into rest among them. In their affliction, having been afflicted, He would now rejoice in their joy; (Isa. 63:9.) and He whom the heaven cannot contain, seated Himself in the midst of His chosen nation.

But where was the honored spot? Who of us that clings with all desire, as, if we be saints, we at least should, to the hope of God’s restored presence and kingdom in this world, that would not but know something of it? I speak not of what travelers have told us of it, but how the oracles of God mark it out. And from them we ‘learn this simple story’ of it, that it had been the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite; and was the place where the angel of God stayed his destructive course through the city of Jerusalem, whither he had been summoned by the sin of the king and the people. It was this spot which became the place of the temple, and most fitly so, as we shall see, if we can a little more narrowly survey the ground as it is spread out before us by the Spirit of God, in 1 Chron. 21:1-6. “And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. And David said unto Joab and the elders of the people, go number Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, and bring the number of them to me that I may know it And Joab answered, the Lord make this people an hundred times so many more than they be; but my Lord the king, an they not all my Lord’s servants? why then doth my Lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel? Nevertheless the king’s hand prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem. And Joab gave the sum of the number unto David; and all they of Israel were a thousand thousand, and an hundred thousand men that drew sword; and Judah was four hundred threescore, and ten thousand men that drew sword. But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them, for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.”

At the time when this scene opens, the sword of David and of Israel had been victorious over all their enemies. The Philistines had been subdued—Moab had brought gifts—garrisons were put in Damascus, and the Syrians, as also the Edomites, had become David’s servants. With all promised blessings the house of God’s servant had been blest, and naught of the goodness of which the Lord had spoken to him had failed. “The fame of David went out into all lands, and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations.”

But Satan, we here read, too soon serves himself of all this; and Israel proves again, that man utterly without strength, is unable even to hold a blessing. The gifts with which their gracious Lord had thus endowed Israel, and which had been ordained for their comfort and His praise, became, through the craft and subtlety of the devil, an occasion to them of self-congratulation and pride, as to Adam of old. (Gen. 3:1-8) For David’s heart in all this was moved by the old He – “ye shall be as gods.” Anything for poor

fallen man but the living God!— “Nay, but we will have a king to reign over us,” said Israel to Samuel of old, rejecting Jehovah Christ, “that we also may be like all the nations.” (1 Sam. 8:19, 20.) But the Lord will not give His glory to another—none have ever forsaken Him and prospered, as it is written, — “Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord.” (Isa. 31:1) “The Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose.” (Isa. 30:7.) David here, like Hezekiah afterward, in the pride of his heart, would exhibit his magnificence, and like a child of this world, in the unbelief of self-confidence, would survey his resources.

The infatuation in which David was sunk, is marked by the fact of Joab expostulating with him; for though a man of blood and eminently one of the children of this world, as all his policy bespeaks him, yet wiser far in his generation, locking riot to the ungodliness so much as to the impolicy of this purposed wickedness of the king, Joab at once discovers that which his master refuses to see.

The whole system of Israel by this national transgression, was now defiled and tainted, and ripe for severity or judgment; this pride was the giving up of God, and God would have been dealing righteously, had He at once laid Israel aside, as He did Adam in such a case— “dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

1Ch. 21:7-14. “And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel. And David said unto God I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing: but now I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done foolishly. And the Lord spoke unto Gad, David’s seer, saying, go and tell David, saying, thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them that I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David and said unto him, thus saith the Lord, choose thee either three years famine; nr three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait; let me fall now into the hand of the Lord, for very great are His mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man. So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel, and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.”

For nine long months the pride of the king’s heart deceived him; (2 Sam. 24:8) as alas! lust had before dimmed his eye for the same time. He had too long walked in the ways of his heart and in the sight of his eyes; but after his hardness and impenitency was but treasuring up unto himself wrath against the day of the righteous judgment of God now about to be revealed. Sinners should be stopped in their course by the remembrance that God, though He suffers long, “has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness.”

But David, as a child of God, might be tempted, overtaken in a fault, and thus brought to shame and grief, but could not be left impenitent. (Luke 22:32.) And so Israel as God’s nation, could not be consumed, because God’s gifts and calling are without repentance, (Rom. 11:29.) because His compassion towards them could not fail. (Lam. 3:22.) Their transgressions were to be visited with a rod, and their iniquity with stripes, but the divine loving-kindness was not to be utterly taken from David and his nation. (Psa. 89:33.) Correction is ever in covenant love. “You only have I known of all the families of the earth, and therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” (Amos 3:2.) To walk comfortably and without interruption as in an even path, we must walk watchfully as with the Lord. Had David walked still in his integrity, and humbly with his God, he would have been spared this discipline; but now “he must hear the rod,” And he is required to choose the rod; by this, much grace might be exercised in his soul; he would by this be brought to consider well the fruit of his transgressions, and thus be more humbled and broken in spirit, and he would also have occasion to encourage himself afresh in the Lord who was slaying him, as we find he did.

But corrected he must be, and that too, just in the place of his transgression; having boasted of his thousands, his thousands must be diminished. God would now number to the sword whom David had numbered to his pride. And so, the day of the Lord is to be upon every one that is proud and lifted up. (Isa. 2;12.)

1Ch. 21:15. “And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it and as he was destroying, the Lord beheld; and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, it is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.”

In this verse we have the threshing-floor of Ornan first brought within view, a mean spot in itself, but destined of the Lord to be the joy of the whole earth; the place of the glory, the rest of God and His Israel. It presents itself to us at once, as the witness of that blessed precious truth, which is the sure ground of all our hopes, that with our God “mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” (Jam. 2:13.) The whole system of Israel had, as we have observed, exposed itself to the severity or displacing judgment of the Lord; He might have broken it at once as a vessel wherein was no pleasure, He might have taken away His vineyard from His unthankful and wicked husbandmen; but “mercy rejoiceth against judgment” in the bosom of their God: He repents Him of the evil with which His people “because of their transgressions and because of their iniquity were now afflicted,” and He commands the destroying angel to stay his hand by this threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Here the same mercy displays itself as that which shone out on ruined condemned Adam in the garden. He had there no plea to plead with the Lord, all that remained for him was to fly and be concealed, if that were possible; when in the bosom of the Lord mercy rises over judgment; and He decrees that “the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head.” (Gen. 3:15.) Often do the scriptures as here, present our covenant God and Father, opening as it were, His own heart, and showing His thoughts to His people how kind they are; as he says within Himself concerning the husbandmen of His vineyard, “what shall I do—I will send my beloved son.” (see also Jer. 3:19) O that we may drink at this fountain of Israel, the love of the Father—the spring head of all the healing waters that visit us.

1Ch. 21:16-17. “And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces; and David said unto God, is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? —even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand I pray thee, O Lord my God be on me and on my father’s house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued.”

David as yet was not given to read the secrets of his God and Savior; the grace that was rejoicing in the bosom of his covenant God over him, was not as yet opened to him; all that he saw was the fearful agent of death and ruin hanging over his city and people. And O how often an afflicted soul is thus reduced, how often does the eye fix itself on the cloud that darkens all around, without a single glimpse of the bright and peaceful heavens that He beyond it, not knowing or refusing to know

“The clouds they so much dread,

Are big with mercy, and shall break

In blessings on their head.”

1 Ch. 21:18. “Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the Lorain the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

“If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9.) The relief for David in this dark hour is announced by the angel of destruction: the eater himself yields meat, the strong man sweetness: the law itself prophesied of Jesus who was to displace it, as here the altar was to displace the angel who directed it.

An altar needs a priest or an accepted worshipper; the Lord would not have directed the one, if he had not provided the other, “The Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering.” (Gen. 4:4) His person was first accepted, and then his sacrifice; and here the Lord’s readiness to receive an offering at the hand of David, was the pledge that David himself, through mercy rejoicing against judgment, had been received, and his iniquity put away. If the Lord had been pleased to kill him, he would not have received a burnt-offering or a meat-offering at his hand. (Judg. 13:23.)

1 Ch. 21:19-26. “And David went up at the saying of Gad which he spake in the name of the Lord. And Ornan turned back and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat, and as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David and went out of the threshing floor; and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground. Then David said to Ornan, grant me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar therein unto the Lord; thou shalt grant. it me for the full price, that the plague may be stayed from the people; and Ornan said unto David, take it to thee and let my Lord the king do that which is good in his eyes; lo, I give thee the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering. I give it all. And king David said to Ornan, nay but I will verily buy it for the full price; for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost. So David gave to Ornan for the place, six hundred shekels of gold by weight: and David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and called upon the Lord; and He answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt-offerings.”

These verses present to us David’s thankful believing acceptance of the mercy revealed to him. He received not the grace of God in vain. He at once went up at the saying of the prophet, while Ornan and his sons hid themselves from the angel. Here we may observe, that while no flesh can stand naked, as in its own resources, before the Lord, yet that sinners may come fully up to His heavenly presence in the power of simply believing in His grace. Ornan and David here illustrate this; Ornan had not the grace of the Lord revealed to him, he knew nothing of the altar that was to be set up in his threshing-floor, and therefore as nakedly a creature in the sight of God, like Adam before in such a case—he hid himself. But David knew the remedy which mercy rejoicing against judgment had provided, and therefore he dares to stand, though shamed and humbled; without distraction he fulfills his appointed service, he purchases the threshing-floor, prepares the altar, offers his offering, and calls upon the Lord. The sword still unsheathed has no alarms for him now; believing, he is not ashamed or confounded; he stands to see God’s salvation; his soul is brought simply to be a receiver of grace which God Himself brings nigh to him. Hence we see in all his action, no disturbance or motion of the flesh, but all is the assurance and quietness of faith resting in the word of the Lord. And the Lord gives him his answer before he calls, and hears him while he is yet speaking. (Isa. 65:24.)

1 Ch. 21:27. “And the Lord commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof.”

The reconciliation was complete; being justified by faith there was peace for David with God. As the accusings of the adversary, the demands of the law, the complaints and howlings of conscience, are all and forever to be silenced by the voice of the blood of sprinkling, which tells us that with our God “mercy rejoiceth against judgment;” so, as soon as David had trusted in this grace, as soon as he had built his altar in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, where mercy had thus rejoiced, the angel of destruction puts up his sword again into the sheath thereof, at the commandment of the Lord.

1 Ch. 21:28-30 “At that time when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there, For the tabernacle of the Lord which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt-offering, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon. But David could not go before it to inquire of God; for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord.”

David was given grace to interpret the writing on the Jebusite’s floor. That mystic sacred plan had brightly reflected the glory of forgiving love; there he had seen that with his God, “mercy rejoiceth against judgment”—the oft repeated but ever sweet and blessed truth. Close therefore by this floor he keeps. The corn which his faith had trodden out there was the finest wheat, the very fat of the kidneys of wheat; and having tasted it, he dared not to forsake his own mercy; having fed at an altar whereon had been spread for him the dainties of a Father’s love, he could not return to serve the tabernacle. (Heb. 13:10.) He had not feared to prepare his altar in the angel’s presence, but he does fear now to return by the way of the angel’s sword. “This is the house of the Lord God,” said he of Ornan’s floor, “and this is the altar of the burnt offering of Israel.” (1 Chron. 22:1.) His heart, by the Spirit, who ever witnesses to grace, was knit to this spot; and he proceeds at once to make preparation to link the name of the God of Israel inseparably with it also. What Moses had given them should be no more remembered or sought unto: in grace the system should be set and confirmed; and Israel and their God should meet forever where mercy had rejoiced against judgment.

Here, with David we also meditate for awhile, and trace our interest in all this precious truth. Our souls, if we are saints of God, will breathe, “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand? but there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared,” —or worshipped. (Psa. 130:3.) All service of the name of our God comes of this; and our thankful acceptance of forgiveness, sealed as it is to all who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, is our entrance into His temple, our assumption of that character in which alone we can do service in the heavenly temple, that is, of pardoned sinners. We are to know no affection at variance with such a character. None else gives full glory to God. We stand in presence of a mercy-seat, before a throne of largest richest grace, and yet of brightest untainted righteousness, because blood in which God smells a savor of rest is upon it, through which He can be just, and yet let mercy rejoice against judgment. (Gen. 8:21, Rom. 3:26, Eph. 5:2) “The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb” are the temple in our heavens— “salvation to our God,” is the burden of our worship there, “blessing, and honor, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.”

And as mercy through the Lord our righteousness has thus “raised us up, and made us sit in heavenly places,” (Eph. 2:6.) so in the day when “all Israel shall be saved,” mercy shall in like manner rejoice in the lower parts of the earth. As the Church is now set in grace, so will the people then be. That covenant, and that alone, which takes away sin through the deliverer, shall establish them as it now establishes the saints; “for all are included in unbelief, that God may have mercy upon all.” (Rom. 11:20-32.) Ex. 32;34, exhibits this truth, and most interestingly presents Israel as drawn forth from their standing under Mount Sinai, to take their stand in the last days in and under Christ. And their last tenure of the land by grace, will be the accomplishment of the promises made of old to their father Abraham; for the land and its accompanying blessings were given to him and to his seed, not as through the works of the law, but by promise or grace. The closing scene of that lovely portion of the divine word gives us the same truth in mystery. Moses veiled typifies Israel as they now are, and the flesh under law, or in blindness of heart. (Isa. 6:10.) Moses unveiled typifies Israel as they shall be; in the spirit under Christ, or in the light of liberty of the new covenant; (Rom. 11:27, 2 Cor. 3:26.) and when the heart of the Jewish people shall thus “turn to the Lord,” and the nail shall be taken away, this turning of Israel to Jesus shall be followed by the unveiling of the nations, or the life of the world. (Isa. 25:6, Rom. 11:15)

Thus in the end shall all be established alike by grace, not only the children of the resurrection in the Father’s house in the heavens, but Israel and the nations, “from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same,” on earth.

“Mercy shall be built up forever.” (Psa. 89:2.) “With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, (Zion) saith the Lord thy redeemer;” and then shall Zion’s children be many, and her seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and the redeemer of Israel shall be called the God of the whole earth. (Isa. 54:1-8.) The Gentiles shall be embraced in the same mercy, for as it is written, “In thee shall all nations be blessed;” as it is written again, “Rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people.” (Rom. 15:10.) Thus shall the whole earth be the extended floor of Ornan the Jebusite, and he the altar and dwelling place of Him with whom mercy has rejoiced against judgment. Thus shall our God show the rich fullness of His wisdom, providing a way whereby He can be just and yet the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus—whereby He can preserve the righteousness of His throne in all its brightest glory, and yet allow mercy to rejoice against judgment, seat Himself again in the earth as in His temple and kingdom; mercy with righteousness, peace with truth shall rear that temple, and uphold the kingdom; His shall all things then be, not only by title, by creation, but by purchase—His “peculiar treasure,” His “purchased possession.” Thus will the Lord fully repossess Himself of the kingdom of this world, and walk again among the children of men; the saints who have acknowledged Him while absent, shall be acknowledged in His glory; “the righteous shall see it and rejoice, and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.” (Psa. 107:42)

The Vision of the Glory of God

In the trust that the Lord will, for His own name’s sake, give me much reverence of spirit, while treading upon such holy ground, I would give forth to the Church what I believe to be a true, though feeble and imperfect interpretation of the awful yet beautiful vision described by the prophet Ezekiel, (chaps. 1 & 10) and its connection with every other revelation of visible glory recorded in scripture. It is not however, with the desire of producing a skillful interpretation, by which the mind might be amused or interested, that I do so, but because it is clear to me that it involves most important principles both of judgment and conduct; and, if rightly understood, would enable many a saint to detect error and darkness in his path, and to turn from that which is set aside by the verdict of God for dishonor and death, “to see this great sight,” so often partially, but so soon to be completely and perfectly revealed, as it is written— “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” (Isa. 40:5.)

The renewed, and therefore emboldened spirit of the saint is called into present intimacy with this glory; not only the moral glory made known to us in the face of the Lord Jesus, but the grandeur, holiness, and majesty soon to be revealed to sight, for “God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God;” (1 Cor. 2:10-12.) and it is indeed one of the special acts of “the Comforter,” to take of the things of Christ, (the things concerning His glory, for He saith “all things that the Father hath are mine,”) and show them unto us, to show us things to come. (John 16:13-15.)

All serious thought of God’s glory is painful to the flesh; for “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all;” whereas the flesh is but darkness, and in it is no light at all, and light and darkness cannot meet in fellowship. “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,” is His name and character; whereas we “are carnal and sold under sin.” Might, power, and majesty, belong unto God: but “all flesh is grass, and the glory of it as the flower of the field:” “for the sun of God’s glory is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth.” (James 1:11.) The new creature in Christ Jesus can alone have fellowship with it—the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus can alone enable us to gaze on it with an undimmed eye, and with a happy and fearless heart.

Thus the glory of the Lord was made known to Daniel (Dan. 10) “His body was like beryl, and His face as the appearance of lightning, and His eyes as lamps of fire, and His arms and His feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of His words like the voice of a multitude;” and the effect on him is thus described by himself— “There remained no strength in me, for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength.” The hand of the Lord then touches him, and he is set first upon his knees, and then upright, but still “he stood trembling, and set his face toward the ground and stood dumb;” but when the voice of the Lord was heard. in grace, saying— “O man! greatly-beloved, fear not, be strong, peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, he strong:” the ready answer is— “let my Lord speak, for thou has strengthened me.”

In the vision of similar glory given to Isaiah, (Isa. 6) we see the same results. “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple; above it stood the Seraphims: each one had six wings, with twain he covered his face, with twain he covered his feet, and with twain He did fly; and one cried to another and said, holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of Hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory;” then he said— “woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of Hosts;” but when the living coal from the altar had touched his lips with the blessed word— “thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged,” he was prompt to answer the Lord’s call of “whom shall I send and who will go for us?” by “here am I, send me.”

At mount Tabor, when the glory of the kingdom was revealed in the person of its king, who was transfigured before His disciples, and that “visage which was marred more than that of any man,” did shine as the sun, and His raiment became white as the light, and the majesty of the voice of God was heard, “they fell on their faces and were sore afraid;” and in after days when the glory of the same Lord was revealed yet more distinctly to one of those very disciples, “he fell at His feet as dead.” (Rev. 1:3-18) But as at Tabor, Jesus had touched them and said— “arise, be not afraid;” so also at Patmos, He laid His right hand on John, saying, “fear not, I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore, Amen, and have the keys of death and of hell:” and thus strengthened, he could give. heed to the voice “as the sound of many waters,” in collectedness and joy of spirit, and bear away the messages of love and warning to the Churches; and yet more, when the voice of the trumpet called him up to heaven, “immediately he was in the Spirit,” and so could stand beside the dazzling throne before which the elders bowed, either to weep or to rejoice in fellowship of heart with all that was revealed there. He was in the Spirit, and that glory is the Spirit’s home.

In the vision before us (Ezek. 1) this is repeated. “This,” says the prophet, “was the appearance of the likeness of the Lord, and when I saw it I fell upon my face,” but the voice that, spake to him said— “stand upon thy feet and I will speak to thee, and the Spirit entered into me when He spoke unto me, and set me upon my feet.”

The knowledge of God’s glory then, is answered thus by man. All he may have boasted in as comeliness in the flesh is turned to corruption; he learns by it his own weakness, poverty, and uncleanness; he is cast into the dust, and can only say with a trembling heart, “I have heard of thee with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore, I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes,” (Job 42:6.) But herein may we rejoice, that grace can then come with its message of joy, “to fill the hungry and empty with good things,” to set us upon our feet, that we may have fellowship with the glory which has humbled us, and even to make it communicable by us to others.

The visions made to Isaiah and Ezekiel, which cast them to the dust as men, and taught them to know in power, the solemn truth “all flesh is grass,” became graven within them, and out of their trembling yet strengthened hearts came forth those mighty utterances of everlasting truth, which were the bringing in of all they had seen to bear in destruction upon the pride of Israel and the nations, and the declaration of the triumphs of the grace they had known; “for as truly as I live, saith the Lord, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” (Num. 14:21.)

Daniel was strengthened to tell the burthen of sorrow, and then of joy which remained to His own people; and John (the Church’s Daniel) was the messenger of all that eventful tale of woe, and yet of surpassing triumph, which was to be the history of the bride of the Lamb, from the day of His absence till they are crowned together “in the day of His espousals, and the day of the gladness of His heart.”

If therefore the flesh has still vigor for its own pursuits, if the world has still power to charm us, defiled as it is, is it not because we have not yet seen, or that we abide not in the glory of God’s presence? When the prophets saw these wonders, surely they needed nothing else, except as they could use it in service to the glory they had seen. When John had seen the throne and Him that sat on it, and had heard the harpers and the new song of the Lamb’s exaltation, what was earth to him? surely nothing, save as the place of his tribulation and patience: and this is the privilege of every saint to know that glory in spirit, and by judging all present things in the light of its permanent and surpassing excellence, to be enabled “to count them but dung;” so that not only flesh should lose its comeliness in our eyes, however naturally attractive, but all that is adapted to it— “the lust of the eye and the pride of life;” all that the “god of this world” has to give, to keep the heart away from God, should be turned into corruption before us; for this is the sure portion of it all—all, all that is of man, when the glory of the throne of the Lamb breaks in upon this sinful world, when its utmost beauty, “the grace of the fashion of it,” will wither and fade before the burning radiance of the light of God’s glory in the face of His Son—then shining as the sun in its strength.

In the unfeigned hope that many will enter into the truth of these prefatory remarks, by having communion with the revelations themselves, through the Spirit; I would go on to the explanation of that in Ezekiel, as the representation of the presence of God in administrative government on earth, and therefore never revealed, indeed never existing till a fit place had been raised for His presence among His own separated people.

Jehovah had called Abraham to Himself and watched over him with tender care; He was equally the God of Isaac and Jacob, and His eye was never removed from their circumcised children; but until His arm was raised in power for their rescue out of Egypt, He had never been openly declared to the heathen as their guardian. As far as the world could discern it, there was no evidence of God’s direct interference with anything on earth till then, except in judgment. It was true that the cry of Israel in their bondage had risen up unto Him, and He had not ceased to remember His covenant with their fathers, and “He looked upon them and had respect unto them,” but the world cared not for that; it knows God only in His acts; and until they were seen in judgments upon Egypt, neither His love for Israel, nor His faithfulness to His promises, were known or regarded. Israel’s deliverance was, however, to make God known; and so “that ye may know that I am the Lord,” was the message to Pharaoh; and further, they were delivered into a condition, in which, as separate to Him, God might exhibit Himself, through them, to the world; and so they were led forth by the glory of the Lord into liberty in the wilderness, that the glory might eventually dwell among them in the nearest fellowship. The cloud and fire went before them to the mount of God in the wilderness; and there Jehovah came near unto them and spoke unto them, but they could not then bear Him so near unto them; and they said unto Moses— “speak thou with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us lest we die,”—for they were dismayed by the glory of His presence. But God answered their weakness in mercy; “and the law was ordained in the hands of a mediator.” (Gal. 3:19.) The sacrifices were also immediately appointed, as typically foreshowing the love of God in setting apart a sinless substitute for man’s sin, and the holiness of God finding no answer in man, but in his death. The tabernacle erected for God’s dwelling-place, was sanctified for Him also by the sprinkling of blood; and then it is said, “there will I meet you to speak there unto thee, and there will I meet the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory, and I will dwell among the children of Israel, and be their God.” (Ex. 29:42-45.) The gradual approach of man to his God to be blessed, and God to man to make him a blessing, may be distinctly traced in what follows, in accordance with this declared intention of the Lord.

The presence or visible glory of Jehovah was either accompanied or surrounded by a cloud, and this cloud was the sure token of His presence, enfolded, as it were, within it, or very near it. It was first made visible to Israel as guiding them on to the Red Sea, and through it, (Ex. 13:20-22, 14:10, 20, 24) as their reward, also in their danger, and out of which it is declared the Lord looked when He troubled the host of the Egyptians. The glory itself is noted as first made visible to them when the manna was given, (Ex. 16:10.) yet still afar off; though hovering around them and leading them on: but it was not until the event before stated had taken place, where the cloud rests on the mountain, and the people are led to the foot of it, that they learn what man is slow to learn, “that our God is a consuming fire,” and that all flesh must be destroyed by His presence; the scene described there is man’s humiliation before the holiness of God, as I have before briefly shown in the history of the prophets, and man’s only answer to that holiness in God’s own gift of love—the blood of the holy victim, (Ex. 24:6-8, Heb. 9:18,19.) and then as sanctified by that blood, boldness of access to the glory which had but just caused them “exceedingly to fear and quake.” Before the shedding of the blood sprinkled upon the altar and the people, none dare touch the mountain; (Heb. 12:20,21) but after this “went up Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and they saw the God of Israel, and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in clearness,” and as the evidence of their boldness in His presence, it is said— “and upon the nobles of the children of Israel He laid not His hand, also they saw God and did eat and drink.” And into yet nearer access was the typical mediator called, for he was folded up in the cloud with the glory of the Lord as it abode upon Mount Sinai, which the cloud covered six days, “and the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the children of Israel.” It was this glory thus for the first time described to us, that afterward came yet nearer to all the people, dwelling in the midst of the camp of Israel; at times visible to all Israel, but always, until grieved away by their sin, dwelling between the cherubim in the most holy place in the golden tabernacle, to be consulted by the anointed high priest as the channel of God’s wisdom and love to Israel. The cloud was always visible to all Israel, as hovering over the camp by day and by night in the wilderness, as the sign of God’s presence within the tabernacle; but when the glory was grieved away, as though it were the chariot of the Lord, it enfolded the glory and hid it, and rolled away at the bidding of Him who was within it. Its first entrance into the camp of Israel as its dwelling-place is recorded in Ex. 40:33-35. After the golden mercy-seat or propitiatory is set up, the priests cleansed and anointed “according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, and so Moses had finished the work,” the cloud then covers the tent of the congregation— “And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, and Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation;” and then again, after the cleansing of the people, (Lev. 9:23,24.) when “the glory of the Lord. appeared unto all the people. and there came a fire from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt-offering and the fat, which when all the people saw, they shouted and fell upon their faces.”

In this consisted. the strength and value of Israel, that they were thus made as a people, a vessel unto honor, sanctified to contain the treasure of God’s glory; their high and holy prerogative was the fulfillment of the promise— “I will dwell among you and walk among you; and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people.” And it was in the understanding of this that Moses pleaded so earnestly— “if thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence; for wherein shall it be known here, that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not that thou goest with us, so shall we be separated I and thy people from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.” (Ex. 33) When Abraham was called out to receive the promises of God, it was said to him by the Lord, “I will bless thee, and make thy name great;” but to this was added, “and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed;” this has clearly never been fulfilled in Abraham personally, nor indeed in his seed whether natural or spiritual; but surely it will be (for the gifts and callings of God are without repentance) when they are able to sustain the glory of God’s abiding presence, that He may act through them in blessing to others; to this was Israel called in the manner I have shown—they were chosen out of the nations and set on high, not only to be blessed by their own happiness in the favor of God, but to carry about with them in the wilderness the golden tabernacle and its holy and gracious inhabitant; and afterward in the land of their rest, to have His presence ever with them in the “exceeding magnifical temple,” and so to exhibit the blessing of His presence to the world, that all nations might turn to Him from their gods of wood and stone, as it is written— “My house shall be a house of prayer for all nations;” and in this they failed, for they sinned, and the glory departed, and the vessel was broken. To the same place though in a far higher sense, is the mysterious and spiritual Israel called. (1 Cor. 3:16, 17, 2 Cor. 6:16) And the day is not far distant when it will be seen to be true in both, in the triumph of God’s grace and power, for “the scripture cannot be broken.”

After the Lord had thus taken His place in the midst of His people Israel, His name and character were of course developed according to the circumstances that called them forth. In their journeying through the wilderness, He was known as their guide and shepherd, though oftentimes smiting them in righteousness, and turning away from them in sorrow. All the glory afterward unfolded, and yet to be more fully so, was doubtless always in the cloud which declared His presence, for “He is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.” “The I AM.”— “The Lord God Almighty, which is, which was, and which is to come.” But every event in Israel’s history brought forth in broader and more distinct features His attributes and His purposes. Thus in tracing Israel’s perplexing history of that day, we see Him as their shepherd opening heaven for their food, when earth was barren, and bearing them on eagles’ wings in His love; yet we shall see too how often He hid His face from them in wrath, and how constantly He was thrown upon the remembrance of His own covenant, though for the father’s sakes He never left them, but always went before them, The glory however soon departed from the tabernacle to the cloud; and in every instance, I believe, where He exercises wrath against them, the glory is seen coming, not from the tabernacle, but the cloud, as though He had been previously grieved, and driven from the place He desired to dwell in, by their sin: and only continued with them in long suffering till He was provoked by their rebellion to vindicate His holy name, as still present with them, by chastisement and judgment. “But He being full of compassion destroyed them not; yea, many a time turned He His anger away and did not stir up all His wrath; He remembered that they were but dust, a wind that passeth away and cometh not again,” (Psa. 78:38,39)

When coming into the land, the glory of the Lord takes the part seen soon after by Joshua, and made known to him in these words “Nay, but as captain of the Lord’s host am I come;” (Josh. 5:14.) the changed circumstances of Israel revealed the Lord, not any longer as the tender and vigilant shepherd only, but as the “Lord mighty in battle.” Having “rolled away the reproach” of His people in circumcision by the banks of the Jordan, having sealed in this sign His own gracious forgetfulness of the forty years’ sin and shame, He leads them on to victory. The overflowing waters of Jordan stand up in a heap, and are still till the glory moves on—the proud walls of Jericho fall before it, “for the ark of the Lord compassed the city;” and though grieved and driven away by the sin of Achan, as promptly returns at the cry of repentant Israel; and all the might of Canaan is quickly subdued in righteousness by the power of the glory of the Lord, dwelling in the midst of His consecrated people.

After the death of Joshua, they served the gods of the nations and though in remembrance of His covenant, the glory still continued among them in long-suffering and sorrow, yet was Israel subjected for their sin, to the nations which had been so easily subdued by them while they were walking in obedience; but as the glory still “dwelt among them,” whenever they cried unto the Lord in penitence, He arose in their behalf, and “delivered them out of the hand of all their enemies.” It was not till the iniquity of the priesthood had polluted the sanctuary, and that even this was unregarded by Israel, except as oppressive to themselves, (1 Sam. 2.) and little cared for even by those who feared, Him, that “He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which He placed among men, and delivered His strength into captivity, and His glory into the enemy’s hand.” (Psa. 78:60, 61) and “Ichabod” was written upon Israel. (1 Sam. 4:21, 22.)

It was during the continuance of their distress and bondage to the Philistines, consequent on the loss of their strength and glory, that they were tempted in forgetfulness and disregard of the cause of their calamity, to cry out to Samuel, “give us a king to judge us.” (1 Sam. 8:5, 6.) They turned not in sorrow to their God, they did not look for the return of the glory on which alone their strength depended, but they sought by complying with the customs of other nations, to gain equality with them at least in worldly strength. They did not reject Samuel personally, but his mode of government; thinking that a kingly rule, in its pomp and apparent energy, would obtain for them the prosperity they needed. In this they rejected God; they cared not, in their unbelief, for that glory, the presence of which was their only real security, but gave up the pre-eminence of blessing it always ensured to them, and were content to be as others. The Lord in His mercy endured this too, and brought (as He always must, or evil would overcome Him,) good out of their rebellion, and fulfilled. His own purpose in setting up that royal throne, on which His own KING will surely sit to rule in righteousness in that day, which will be as the “morning without clouds, as the clear shining after rain.” (2 Sam. 23)

When the ark of the Lord was fully restored to its place in Israel, it was to be the glory of a kingdom. The Lord had chosen and anointed their king: His grace had triumphed over their rebellion, and David, as a type of the true “beloved,” brings back the ark, to accredit and set forth Israel as God’s kingdom; and therefore the next chapter to that which describes the return of the ark, (2 Sam. 6.) is the prophetic announcement of “the offspring of David” (Rev. 22:16.) to sit upon that throne forever, as it is quoted by the apostle, (Heb. 1:5., see also 2 Sam. 7:14.) “I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a son:” and from henceforth the glory revealed that which was seen by the prophet on the hills of Moab, and which is yet to be seen by all in its alone worthy fulfillment— “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel, THE LORD HIS GOD IS WITH HIM, AND THE SHOUT OF A KING IS AMONG THEM.” (Num. 23:21.)

The throne however in its true glory was not established even typically in David, but in Solomon his offspring; his wisdom, and prosperity, and reign of peace, were the partial exhibition of the blessings yet to be revealed on earth, as declared in the 72nd Psalm: and not only so, but as building the beautiful temple, he stood to foreshow the great Solomon or “Man of rest,” of whom it is said, “even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and He shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule upon His throne.” (Zech. 6:12,13.) The throne of Solomon is also called “the throne of the Lord,”— “Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father, and prospered, and all Israel obeyed hire.” (1 Chron. 29:23.)

Though the ark therefore had been restored, and the Lord was with Israel again, and had given them rest from all their enemies; yet it was not till it was brought in solemn triumph and placed in the beautiful habitation prepared for it by Solomon, that the full favor of God is marked to Israel’s throne, as it had been before to the wandering camp of His flock in the wilderness, “for it came to pass as the trumpeters and singers were as one to make one sound, to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, saying, For He is good for His mercy endureth forever; that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God” (2 Chron. 5:13.)

The glory thus revealed, I believe to have been seen in full vision by Ezekiel—the kingly glory of Jehovah. The same attributes of God were of course always in the glory, for it was His presence, and He is from everlasting to everlasting; yet the blessing of kingly government, as that in which God could, and will therefore yet more fully manifest Himself in the day of the Son of man, had not been previously known; but from the moment the glory of the Lord sanctioned the throne of Judah, that kingdom became the care of Jehovah. But every gracious intention toward man on the part of God failed in man’s failure, till the Son of man came as claimant of every blessing, and by never failing, secured for himself and for others, every place of authority and blessing delegated to man, and among others this last revealed to us—that of KING; and as Son of man, the offspring of David, and the lion of the tribe of Judah, He will one day prove that nothing that God has ever sanctioned can be set aside, except by a higher and further gift, and that if earth is ever to be blessed, it will be by the righteous dominion of His Son, “who will bear the glory and sit upon His throne,” “for the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” (Luke 1:32, 33.)

From this period of the return of the glory till the scattering of Judah under the judgments of that sad word— “Lo-ammi,” no further or fuller revelation of God was made to them. As directly dealing with Israel, though it were in wrath, it must have been in this character, and therefore it is plain that the vision of Ezekiel is the revelation of His kingly glory: —the glory of the throne which will one day be revealed in the sight of all, as it is written— “and the Lord shall be king over all the earth, and in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one.” (Zech. 14:9.)

From the days of Solomon, as in every other instance, Israel gradually fell away from its privileges and blessings. Sin had grieved the Lord, and He ceased to stand forth actively in their behalf, or He would have justified their sin in the sight of the world. The glory doubtless soon left the temple, but not Israel. In the cloud it still hovered over the throne and land of Judah, and was ready to answer every cry of penitence, putting forth instant power to destroy or discomfit the enemies of His people. Though the staff, Beauty, was probably soon broken, yet Bands was not till Judah was dispersed, (Zech. 11) and around the remnant still the glory spread its covering wing in sorrow, destroying the Assyrian in answer to the cry of Hezekiah—making a wall of chariots and horsemen between the hosts of Syria and the prophet—following the weary Elijah to Horeb, and at last the companion of the mournful captive by the river Chebar; for earth and an earthly throne were its care, till heaven was opened and a further glory revealed there.

It is in this place the vision is brought before us. We have traced the glory from its first appearance to Israel as a nation on the plains of Succoth, going forward in triumph to lead that oppressed people to the beautiful inheritance promised to their fathers, down to its faithful and gracious companionship with the captive prophet, sitting and weeping by the rivers of Babylon. Ample are the details of man’s sin and God’s mercy to be collected from this long course of time and events; and rich is the profit to be gathered by him that hath ears to hear; but I can only now seek in humbleness to interpret the features of the vision itself, and then to follow it in its future course; and both are replete with instruction and interest.

The characteristic form of each living creature was that of a man, (Ezek. 1:5.) “and this was their appearance, they had the likeness of a man,” as at the outset marking the whole vision to represent the essential attributes of God, as revealed in the Son, in whose form or likeness man had been created; and therefore of necessity the only form in which perfection could be expressed. The wings, feet, and different faces, mark, I believe, in detail, the attributes of Jehovah in action or manifestation, but all under the control of the master form—that of a man, as showing it to be the glory of “the only begotten of the Father, who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature, who is before all things, and by whom all things consist.” (Col. 1:15 -17.)

The faces are first noted in detail (v. 6.); and “the face of a man” (v. 10.) has the pre-eminence given to it, not as confirmatory of what is previously shown, but as marking all the distinctive features of this last and best of God’s creatures to be in the glory, not imperfect, limited, and broken, as we judge of it, but perfect and unrestrained in exercise, and is thus a symbol of mind, reason, intellect, knowledge, discernment, &c. &c., and in the exercise of which when subject to the Spirit of the Lord, we have that communion with God to which no other creature can be called, “for who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him? but we have the mind of Christ;” (1 Cor. 2:16) and the character of the little horn with “eyes like the eyes of a man,” probably has the same meaning, although it is descriptive of great wickedness. (Dan. 7:8.) The face is always expressive of the character; and thus “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God” is made known to us “in the face of Jesus Christ,” as declaring while manifest in the flesh, all the unseen moral glory of the Father. Action is expressed, as it is in this vision, by symbolic members of a body, such as hands, feet, &c., but character only by the face; and this is too simple a truth to need more proof.

The second face is that of “a lion,” which denotes majesty, terribleness, strength, dignity, as it is written— “a lion which is strongest amongst beasts, and turneth not away from any.” (Prov. 30:30) “The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion.” (Prov. 19:12, 20:2) It is said of David, “and he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion.” (2 Sam. 17:10.) Of the Gadites that they were men of war, that they were fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains. (1 Chron. 12:8, Amos 3:8)

Lions were the emblems of the strength and dignity of Judah’s throne, (2 Chron. 9:17-19) the sign in its standard, and the name and title of its only true king— “the lion of the tribe of Judah.” (Rev. 5:5)

The third is the face of “an ox,” which equally expresses power, but used in patient and persevering labor, strength subjected to bear burdens: when spoken of God, it is expressive of long-suffering, or continued and patient exercise of power in subjection to love; “much increase is by the strength of the ox,” (Prov. 14:4) “able to bear burdens,” (Psa. 144:14. marginal reading,) “used to tread out the corn.” (Deut. 25:4, Hos. 10:11.) Like every other attribute of God, as exercised among His people, it is used in their behalf when obedient, and for their trial and chastisement when disobedient; thus His patient love is subject to all their infirmities, and is exercised in bearing the burdens of care and sorrow, when those burdens are cast upon his love in humbleness; for it is written, “cast thy burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee, He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” (Psa. 55:22.) But the same power is used in separating the chaff from the wheat, as in treading out the corn; and therefore there is doubtless direct connection between the feet and this attribute of God, as the hands are in connection with the man’s face; the hand being able as a skilful member to give expression by its cunning, in a thousand ways, to the varied thoughts and intelligence of man’s mind; but not so the feet, though they are as useful in diligent and laborious service.

The fourth is “the face of an eagle,” marking quickness and power of sight, and almost equal rapidity of action, and with which the wings are connected, as the hands with the man, and the feet with the ox. With reference to quickness of sight, the symbol of the eagle cannot be doubted; and I would only quote the scriptures descriptive of this attribute in our God. “His eyes were as a flame of fire.” — “I, the Lord, search the heart, I try the reins.”— “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” — “yea the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day, the darkness and the light are both alike unto thee.” — “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth, to show themselves strong in behalf of those whose hearts are perfect toward him.” The rapidity of the eagle’s flight is noted in its emphatic history in Job— “She seeketh the prey and her eyes behold afar off, and where the slain are, there is she:” (Job 39:29-30.) and when David would describe the power of Jonathan and Saul, he says “they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.” (2 Sam. 1:23; also Deut. 28:49; Job 9:26; Obad. 1:4; Prov. 30:19.)

The feet express judgment on the earth, whether in the Church, which is now the only place of judgment, (as separating the chaff from the wheat,) or in the world in the latter day, when the Son of man cometh to tread the winepress of the wrath of Almighty God; as it is written, “I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me, for I will tread them in my anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.” (Isa. 63:3.) And when the remnant of the Jewish people have power given them against the nations gathered round Jerusalem, it is said— “Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make thine horn iron, and thy hoofs brass, and thou shalt beat in pieces many people;” (Mic. 4:10-13.) and again, “For behold! the day cometh that it shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch; but unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall, and ye shall tread down the wicked in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.” (Mal. 4:1-3., Psa. 108:13.) That “they sparkled like the color of burnished brass,” probably denotes imperviousness to defilement while treading on that which is defiled and defiling, and is a strong corroborative proof of the whole vision being but a symbolic description of the essential glory of the Lord, as the feet of the man appearing to Daniel, (Dan. 10) and of the Lord Jesus to John, (Rev. 1) are described nearly in the same words; in the one, “His arms and His feet like in color to polished brass;”—in the other, “His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace.”

Wings are invariably mentioned in every description of the cherubim, and declare, I believe, rapidity of action, or I may perhaps say, wherever connected with the cherubim, that they describe the instantaneous action in heaven, consequent on the will of Jehovah. They are further symbols of the standing of everything in heaven, as having power to do the will of God, and thus a difference is marked between them and the wheels, inasmuch as one expresses the character of heavenly speed, the other of earthly; and this the careful reader will see in the evident division made in the chapter at the end of the 14th verse. The wings only are described till then, as exhibiting the swiftness of obedience on the instant expression of God’s will, as “the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning;”—and the wheels are then spoken of as distinct from the body of the vision, and yet in unity with it; “for the Spirit of the living creature was in the wheels;” now as the wings denote rapidity of obedience in heaven, so do the wheels on earth, being severally the emblems of speed in air or earth, and the difference is probably distinctly marked in 19th verse where it is said, “when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.” The wings were doubtless used to lift up the living creatures, and then the wheels became useless and were lifted up too; but when they moved on the earth, that is, “when the living creatures went, the wheels went on their four sides and turned not when they went.”

There are several visions of the glory of God, but in one other only are the wheels mentioned; viz.—that of the throne of the Ancient of days. “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool; His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire.” (Dan. 7:9.) Now their being so specially noted here is strongly confirmatory of this interpretation of their meaning; for the whole previous prophecy is a description of the dominion exercised on earth by the four empires included in the image, during the casting of the throne of Judah down to the ground; (Psa. 89:44.) and the vision describes, as I believe, the judgment of God, in which He declares all men unfit to rule but Him “who loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and whom He therefore anoints with the oil of gladness above His fellows,” saying, “thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter;” (Psa. 45) and having delivered the throne to Him as alone worthy the trust, all power and glory is brought into the world by the Son, to execute the Father’s judgments, “for He has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man;” (John 5) and the thrones of the world, (Assyria, Persia, Greece, Rome, &c.,) are cast down, “and the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ;” (Rev. 11:15, Psa. 89:20-27., Psa. 110, -&c. &c.;) in a word, it is the same glory as that seen by Ezekiel, which in following its course we shall see has now left the earth, returning to it again, to abide forever, it will be seen, that, though the throne described by Ezekiel is above the firmament, its action is below it, that is, on the earth, for the unity is not broken by the firmament. The Spirit of life, is coming from Him that sat on the throne, filled the living creatures and then the wheels, “for the Spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.”—The whole vision is constituted in this unity, and on it depends its energy and rapidity of action, the instant and unimpeded answer to the will of Him, whose life was in it all as the spring and power of its movements; and the completeness of unity between the will and act, is thus beautifully stated, “and they went every one straight forward: —whither the Spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went,” which doubtless describes analogously the unity of that mysterious body, instinct with but one life, which will be the “fullness of Him that filleth all in all,” and will perhaps yet further teach us indirectly what we pray for when we say “thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.”

The color of amber “with the fire and brightness round about it,” (v. 27.) as being the appearance of Him that sat on the throne, again identifies that appearance which was in the throne above the firmament, with the living creatures below it; for the same description is given of them in the 4th verse. Again, the moving of the wings and wheels (ver. 24. and 3:12, l 3.) is described as “the voice of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the voice of an host.” In the 43rd chapter of this prophet, 2nd verse, this is said to be “His voice.” In the vision in Daniel, (Dan. 10) “the noise of His words like the voice of a multitude.” In the Apocalypse, (Rev. 1) “His voice was as the sound of many waters,” thus clearly marking the action of the living creatures and wheels to be descriptive of power consequent on, or coincident with, the utterance of Him who sat on the throne. “The voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of glory thundereth, the Lord is upon many waters, the voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is full of majesty;” (Psa. 29) and in Rev. 19 where a voice from the throne calls for praise, as I understand it, to the Almighty Father who has given the Son both His throne, and His bride, the instant and universal answer, the responsive chorus, is described in its power to be as the voice of the Lord of glory— “as the voice of a multitude—as the voice of many waters—as the voice of many thunderings;” and is but the proof how fully in that day the Church of God will be informed with the life of its Head, and their innumerable voices will be but one voice, and their innumerable thoughts and deeds but one; and that the mind, and will, and consequent act of Him “who sitteth upon the flood, yea, who sitteth king forever.”

The voice from the throne as heard by the prophet, (ver. 25.) was in mercy and grace, and not in power, the voice of God in communion with the weakness of the creature; and so when He was thus speaking— “the living creatures stood, and let down their wings;” and this is more distinctly seen in the 3rd and 10th chapters. In the 3rd, while the Lord is giving the burthen to the prophet, all is still; but when He ceases, it is said, “I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord from this place; I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures, that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing;” (chap. 3:12, 13.) and in the 10th, where the humiliation of the Lord is denoted, the living creatures are again seen standing with their wings let down.

The throne, being “in appearance as the sapphire stone,” (ver. 26.) identifies it with the glory seen on Mount Sinai— “And they saw the God of Israel, and there was under His feet as it were the paved work of a sapphire stone.” (Ex. 24:10.)

“The brightness, as the appearance of the how that is in the cloud in the day of rain,” is another symbol which connects the whole vision with the earth’s destiny; but as it is also seen in the vision when transferred to heaven, it will be better briefly to speak of it when considering it there.

“The likeness, as the appearance of a man on the throne,” will not be doubted by any, I believe, to be the likeness of the only begotten Son, ever manifested thus as the pattern of man’s beautiful form, and into perfect conformity with which the Church is predestinated to be changed in the resurrection; (Rom. 8:29.) “for the our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body; according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.” (Phil. 3:20, 21.)

And having thus briefly, and doubtless very imperfectly, stated What I conceive to be the meaning of the varied features of the vision, which in its completeness is the representation of the glory of Jehovah, ruling on earth as king, I proceed to follow it in its course, from which the instruction that I seek to give may be easily gathered.

It is seen by the river Chebar, as appearing to Ezekiel for the remnant’s sake that were in sorrow and captivity, and thus showing the care of God over Israel to the last. “Thy holy cities are a wilderness—Zion is a wilderness—Jerusalem a desolation—our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised thee is burned up with fire—and all our pleasant things are laid waste,” was the mournful song in their bondage: but in all their affliction the angel of the covenant was afflicted too, and the throne of God followed the course of the captive to the plains of Babylon; but alas! before the word of the Lord proclaimed the future triumph and blessing of Israel, it revealed further iniquity and more grievous desolation. The sin of His people is shown to the prophet in the light of the glory—he is led by it step by step, and the darkness is gradually opened before him, from national wickedness to the idolatry of the priesthood in the courts of the Lord’s house, and even to the very recesses of the sanctuary, that He might see “the wicked abominations done there,” and learn the reason why the glory should altogether depart from Israel, “that I, saith the Lord, should go far off from my sanctuary.”

The return, but ultimate departure of the glory altogether, is that which is predicted and described most carefully up to the end of the 11th chapter.

The promises of God were made to Abraham and his seed; and the children of Abraham could not cease from being God’s people till that seed came, in whom all promises were secured.

The promises of God, as detailing the glory of the house of Judah, were made to David’s offspring; and David’s lineage therefore could not be broken, nor the national standing of Judah, as sufficient to bear witness of this, destroyed, till that offspring had come.

In the fullness of time He did come, and His title to both are carefully traced in His genealogy in Matt. 1, but as the last promise revealed had distinctive reference to David’s throne, He is marked from this chapter onward very constantly in this character. Truly He was “Immanuel, God with us;” but when first worshipped in the manger as God, (and it would have been idolatry had not that helpless babe been Jehovah,) the wise men from the east came, saying, “Where is He that is born king of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.” He publicly laid claim to His throne when He entered Jerusalem, according to the word of the prophet Zechariah; and over His blessed head, in death, was written His accusation—His declared. but rejected claim— “THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” (Matt. 27:37.)

It is not stated in the scriptures when the Shekinah left the temple after it had entered it to sanction the throne of Solomon; it is, however, probable that it did so in the reign of Uzziah, and I judge thus from the vision in Isa. 6, which is so evidently a vision of the throne of God over the mercy-seat in the temple, and the message given to the prophet, announcing its definitive departure on the rejection of the Lord Jesus which is stated in the latter verses of John 12th as parallel with that quoted only in the other gospels. “Behold your house is left unto you desolate.” It still, however as I have before shown, hovered round the throne and land of promise, but did not return at the building of the temple after the captivity. That temple had not the Shekinah, and indeed Israel saw it no more till its last return in the person of the king, when they were lost in blindness, “for the veil was over their hearts,” and “they saw no beauty in Him that they should desire Him.”

In the 9th and 10th chapters, we have, as I believe, a simple statement of this last return of the glory to Jerusalem and the temple, before it leaves the earth altogether. The throne, the living creatures, the wings, and the wheels are seen motionless by the side of the temple— “They stood on the right side of the house;” but the throne is vacant, for the glory of the God of Israel leaves its place over the cherubim and goes to the threshold of the house of the Lord; it never, however, goes further; the cloud fills the house, as it had done in the days of Solomon, but the court only is filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord. (chap. 10:4.) Now this could only have been fulfilled when the Lord of glory left His place on that throne; humbled Himself to learn the sin and sorrow of Israel by going Himself through the midst of the city, coming in grace to speak a “word in season to him that was weary;” coming to the threshold, and then to the inner court of His own house, but never entering within the veil, for He could Only have entered there to be worshipped as God, and when He declared Himself so, they said He blasphemed—never sitting upon the throne, for though He declared Himself their king, they said “we will not have this man to reign over us,”—The one Son, the Heir came to the Father’s vineyard, but was cast out and slain. The glory is then described as returning from the inner court to the threshold, and lingering there, as did the Lord when rejected, weeping over the devoted city and temple, and saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thee unto myself, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not;” and “then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims, and the cherubims lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight,” (ver. 18, 19.) as the Lord then said, “behold your house is left unto you desolate; for I say unto you ye shall not see me henceforth, until ye shall say, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” (Matt. 23.) The glory is then seen by the east gate, with the king enthroned again; (ver. 19.) and in chap. 11:23., on the mountain which is on the east side of the city—that is, Mount Olivet, where the Lord retires immediately He passes sentence on Jerusalem, and whence He afterward ascends in the cloud, for “a cloud received Him out of their sight” as that which had always enfolded the glory. In our first number this scene is opened progressively in a paper on the last chapters of Matthew’s gospel, to which I would refer. It appears to me that the scene described in the 24th of Matthew, is that which is specially noticed here—the Lord’s leaving Jerusalem by the east gate, taking with Him the little flock—the sealed remnant, who had sighed and cried with Him over Judah’s abominations, and on Mount Olivet describing to them the approaching desolations of the beautiful city and temple—the fire or judgment of God, coming forth from between the cherubim—the sword, the relentless hand of man to be let loose on them by the command of Him who sat on the throne, who was the executor of righteous judgment, as well as the guardian of His people; and giving them also a full prophetic statement of the trouble and sorrow of which the earth was to be the victim, as consequent on the departure of the throne of God, and its being left to misrule; till the return of that throne, —the rebuilding of “the city of the great king,”—and His sovereignty of righteousness and peace.

When the wings are spread and the vision of glory mounts up from the earth, it is written, as for the wheels it was cried unto them in my hearing, O WHEEL! They were perfect in place, beauty, and speed, in unity also, for though four wheels, yet it was said of them, O wheel!—filled also with the Spirit of the living creature, for “to the place whither the head looked, they followed it;” but their use had ceased; for the throne was mounting up from the earth, on which they had run in swift and happy obedience; and in sorrowful lamentation that any part of that exquisite chariot of glory should be laid aside as useless, and as though the full history of disaster that earth would be subject to, as thus forsaken, was seen and known by the voice that spoke—it was said in the hearing of the wondering prophet—O WHEEL!

The prophets sing only of earthly sorrow and earthly glory; and when Ezekiel’s harp had told in saddest strain the departure of the throne, (as Zechariah also the breaking of the staff, Bands) it bursts forth in continued prediction of woe on Judah and every nation to the end, with only occasional interruptions of joyful hope, till Gog and Magog are slain on the mountains of Israel, and the city and temple rebuilt; and then breaking forth into full triumph, it bears witness to the return of the glory, the departure of which had been not only the first theme of its sorrow, but the cause of all the judgments that follow. Thus he tells of Israel’s and earth’s sad loss. “Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house and stood over the cherubims, and the cherubims lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight.” (chap. 10:18, 19.) And thus he tells of Israel’s joy and the earth’s blessing. “Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east, and behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and His voice was like a noise of many waters, and the earth shined with ills glory, and the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate, whose prospect is toward the east, and He said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. (Ezek. 43:1-7.) The burthen of every prophet closes in similar triumph—the return of the glory of God in the person of the Lord Jesus to earth—the consequent deliverance of the travailing creation and creature into the glorious liberty of the children of God, and His universal sovereignty of peace and blessing.

But where is the glory now? where is the throne now? It is set in heaven; and the interval between its departure from the earth and its return, contains the history of the dominion of misrule on earth, for earth is forsaken of its rightful Lord. Earthly blessing was once the portion of righteousness, it was the gift of God to those He loved, for the presence of God sanctioned it to His favored Israel. But even then as the special gift of God, it was limited to Canaan and its oliveyards and vineyards; and Canaan now is sterile and barren, and earth has no other land of promise. We have traced the glory leading the hosts of Israel to that fair land of milk and honey—we have seen the glory established there; and then the early and latter rain duly fell, and it abounded with its fat pastures and luxuriant crops. Where are the rains from heaven, and the fatness from Judah’s hills and valleys now? they are gone, and earth has ceased to be the place where righteousness is rewarded; for the gospel of Jesus Christ reveals no earthly glory as the prophets do. There is a land of promise now—there is a Canaan now—but it is not on earth, but heaven: and the place of the Church now with reference to this inheritance of reward is analogous with that of Israel in the wilderness. The glory has forsaken the earth, and while earth is thus left in the power of the enemy, and used by him to alienate the saints from their home, the Apocalypse reveals it to us in heaven, and there we must follow it in its course. That which is seen below the firmament by Ezekiel mounts up above it, and the 4th chapter of the Revelations describes it as “set in heaven.” The very distinct agreement in almost every feature is too plain to be misunderstood. The vision is indeed the same, only under different circumstances, and in a different place. The throne is filled by Him who had become incarnate, and who in His resurrection and exaltation to the right hand of the Father, had carried into that glory the nature that He had rescued from the Lord of death, as triumphantly declared by Stephen. “He being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.”

There are, however, some differences in the features of the vision, and as they confirm the previous interpretation, I mention them. There are no wheels, and the life which had been extended to them, is limited to the living creatures, While the glory was on earth, the wheels had symbolized its speed there, and “the Spirit of the living creature was in the wheels:” but it has ceased to exhibit the sovereignty of God as exercised on earth, and therefore there are no wheels in the heavenly vision, as not needed there.

Again, the wheels were full of eyes: but here the living creatures only are marked as containing the eyes— “they were full of eyes before and behind,” as though the quickness of God’s sight and His universal cognizance of all things had been in the wheels or outworks of the glory when it was on earth, but were now gathered back as ceasing to rule there. The four faces of the living creatures instead of sixteen, probably mark a similar truth, that is, less ample manifestation, because it was no longer on earth.

The rainbow is the only feature of similitude between the two visions that I would notice, because it is the sign of earth’s destined blessing under the sway of Him who has redeemed it, and who is now revealed as sitting on the throne of the Father. (Rev. 4) The earth was linked to man’s destiny, and therefore cursed for man’s sake when he fell into sin, and both alike were thrown under the dominion of Satan, as it is written, “cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.” (Gen. 3:1;7.)

God had created it for His pleasure, and pronounced it good, and gave it into man’s care, but sin separated man from God, and with him the earth, and as Satan obtained the ascendancy and lordship over the man, so also over the earth which was man’s. In redeeming, the one, the Lord Jesus of necessity redeemed the other, for if God’s creation was implicated in man’s curse, surely also in his blessing. As the second Adam—the Head and Lord of the new creation, He is now bringing into the possession of endless life with Himself the Church or second Eve; and when she is presented to Him as “faultless before the presence of His glory,” as fully conformed to Him in the resurrection, so will their dominion over the earth be renewed as the dwelling-place of righteousness. “For he that sitteth on the throne,” will say, “Behold, I make all things new.” (Rev. 21:5.) Now I would say with reverence, that Satan’s claim over man and over the earth, God could not gainsay, for it was but in the execution of the sentence against sin that Satan obtained his awful power, and that none but He who has taken away that power by receiving to the full the wages of sin, could stand in the place of the world’s restorer. The beauty and blessedness of the creation of God was spoiled by sin, and it passed over as it came out of the hand of God, with its order, constitution, law of life, &c. &c., unbroken into the hands of Satan, with this difference only, that death interrupted. the individual course both of man, beast, and green herb; but the order of creation was not broken by this, for others lived in their place; and this is in fact the standing of creation still. Everything that lives naturally, is under the curse and lordship of Satan—man beast, and herb, with all the harmony and beauty of their creation state, as described in Gen. 1 and ii.—all are delivered by sin into Satan’s hand. The resurrection of Jesus is the assurance to the believer that the power of Satan is broken; and while His death is the acknowledgment of Satan’s right and His submission to it, and the necessary end of all that is from Adam, His resurrection is the assurance that man is again set up as lord of a new creation, on which Satan cannot put his hand; and what then is the full evidence of this, but that as the second Adam, the quickening Spirit, He does now give eternal life to those who are given Him of the Father? and therefore “if any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature,”—the spirit is renewed in righteousness; and thus having the first fruits of the spirit, he will groan for “the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body, together with the travailing creation, as waiting for the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Rom. 8:19-23.) The power of the quickening Spirit renews into a lively hope, breaking thus into the old creation, which is under death, and therefore gives assurance that it will soon come in yet greater power to rescue the body also from its present subjection to sorrow and death, and then to “make all things new,” as altogether rescued into life and blessing from the dominion of Satan. The present power of the second Adam is however only exercised on the soul that is brought into life; all that is of the old creation is still under the active rule of Satan, and will be till the “coming of the Son of man,” whether it be the bodies of the saints in sickness, weariness, or death, (which is his greatest triumph) or the natural beauty and order of the world around us. Now the deluge or destruction of earth by water, is but ft type of the reality of the cleansing it will yet undergo; it went into death, and came forth into newness of life and “then Noah built an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings on the altar,” and the Lord smelled a sweet savor; and it was this which brought from God all the blessings of the subsequent promises, of the surety of which the rainbow was the sign. “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a token of a covenant between me and the earth, and the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” (Gen. 9:13-16.)

I need hardly say that the burnt offering could only have been of value as representing that which was indeed of sweet smelling savor unto God, (Eph. 5:2.) and in answer to which all blessing comes; and that the rainbow which circles the throne of God, is the token of earth’s blessing and the renewal of all things, in answer to that blessed sacrifice. The sign of the redemption of all things from the hand of their present cruel lord. The death of Christ in the sight of all was the apparent end of the creation’s hope of restoration—His resurrection, the security of it; and thus the rainbow is revealed as a part of the glory of the throne of God, on which now sits the Redeemer both of man and the creation, and therefore the assurance to faith that all things are given into the hands of the Lord Jesus: and that when the throne seen by the saint now as set in heaven is revealed to all, and comes into the world, all that is now for a little season of long-suffering under the iron hand of Satan, will be delivered. The 4th and 5th chapters of the Revelations reveal, I believe, the glory of the Father, and Jesus sitting on the throne of the Father—the glory of the Son, as lion of the tribe of Judah, and bridegroom and redeemer of the Church, and the glory of the holy angels. All that will be hereafter in full exercise, shown now in heaven to those who are called in the Spirit to hear and understand the words of that blessed book; not now in exercise, but seen as secured in Him who sitteth on the throne—Jesus receiving from the Father glory and honor, constituted Head over all things, sitting at the Father’s right hand, expecting till His enemies are made His footstool, (Psa. 110)—as the lion of the tribe of Judah, and lawful king over all the earth, yet, “crouching down, laying down as a lion, as a great lion, and who shall stir Him up?” (Num. 24:9.)

All this is now hidden; it is the province of faith to be guided by it; by-and-by it will be revealed to sight; but oh! woe, woe to those who have received this book and know not these things; they are called to be guided by faith in that which is so revealed, and if they are not, they must live in error, and its revelation to sight will be terrible to them. The life of the saint, the joy and the hope of the saint must be hidden too; for is it not with Christ in God, out of the world, where Christ is, and in the new creation not yet established in power? If Jesus were exercising universal rule as the second Adam, all things would be restored—if He were exercising His authority as king, He would put on His many crowns and tread down all rebellion. Oh! how strange that saints should speak of earthly kings and rulers, and other powers of this world, holding their authority from the new creation’s Lord and earth’s king, carrying us back to the Jewish state which has ended in death, for their proof of this. Many have ruled on Judah’s throne as foreshowing in type the anti-type of all things that have been appointed of God, but “they continued not by reason of death.” There were kings and priests thus ordained of God to declare the coming of the great king and priest; but he has come now, and all things have ended in death, though so appointed: and now there is no other king to sit on God’s throne, and no other priest to minister in God’s temple. Oh! the saints are returning to Judaism, and the flesh, and the world, which God has set aside in death, and dishonoring the resurrection of Jesus. There are no mimic representations of realities now, there are no patterns now; the Lord of life is the dispenser of realities; when He gives, He gives life and power and acts perfectly in every office; He is the minister of life, and does not set His name to anything now but His Church, and therefore the only power from Him now reaching the earth is thus noted in this vision, as the seven eyes of the Lamb that had been slain, sent forth into all the earth. (Rev. 5:6.)

In the Apocalypse, “the things which are,” alone mark the character of the power now exercised by the Lord Jesus, and they have exclusive reference to the Church. The first three chapters open this to us; in the first He is seen as the High Priest, not within the veil, appearing before the Father as intercessor, but without, as ministering in the holy place; walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, and trimming the lights that they may burn continually; and those seven candlesticks represent, I believe, not the Churches of Asia only, but the complete Church as under the guidance of the High Priest, under every aspect in which His ministry can be exercised unto the end. The world has nothing to do with that ministry, but the Church only. The High Priest carries the miter, the ephod, and Urim and Thummim, and they are for the Church; in this vision He has no crown, but subsequently He puts on His many crowns, and then He will rule the world—first in judgment, and then in peace and blessedness.

“The things which must be hereafter” bear upon the world as well as the Church; they represent that which will be revealed to all, the dominion of the Lord Jesus over the world when He comes “in the Father’s glory, His own glory, and the glory of the holy angels.” These things are now hidden from the world, and revealed only by the Spirit to the Church. “The things which are,” are on earth, and that which is done in the Church can be seen by the world; but “the things which shall be hereafter” are now in heaven, and known only to those who can enter within the veil in Spirit, as “hearing the words of this prophecy, and keeping those things that are written therein.” The seven sealed book is indeed the world’s history, opened. to heaven and the Church by the Lamb; it strikingly denotes His interest in the world, but not His dominion over it; indeed it is not in any way the exercise of the Lamb’s power, but rather a revelation from the Father in gift to the Son and His saints, of the way in which the Father would bring to pass His own purpose of giving all things into the hands of the Son of His love in reward for His service, as it is written, “Sit thou at my right hand till I wake thine enemies thy footstool;” and therefore the book is wound up by showing the manner and certainty of this subjection of all things to the Son when He comes forth in His glory.

The vision is thus descriptive of the glory of the Father, with the Son of man as the world’s Redeemer enthroned in it; the acknowledgment by the Father of His title to all things, for “the lion of the tribe of Judah prevailed to open the book,” and the consequent joy of the saints and angels and the whole creation; and then the book thus opened, with the following visions, detail the world’s evil, the Church’s apostasy, and the sorrow and travail of the chosen and faithful bride; terminating in the joy and triumph of the Lamb coming forth as King of kings, with His delivered saints following Him in their unspotted bridal garments. And then will the vision of most ample glory come again into this world to scatter away all evil by its brightness. The heavens will be opened in the sight of all, and that which is now known only by those who are taken out of the world into heaven to see it, will be seen by every eye, “for the Son of man shall come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory;” and then will “the Lord reign and the earth rejoice, clouds and darkness are round about Him, righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne, a fire goeth before Him and burneth up His enemies round about; His lightnings enlightened the world, the earth saw and trembled, the hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth; the heavens declare His righteousness, and all the people see His glory.” (Psa. 96; 97; 98; and 99)

The instruction to the saints to be gathered from this is in accordance with the whole New Testament, for it invariably identifies them in Spirit with Him, rejoicing with their Lord as glorified “in the glory which He had with the Father before the world was,” and while in the flesh and in the world as suffering with Him in His outcast and sorrowful condition, putting them into the place of sorrow as saying, “avenge me of mine adversary.”

It testifies of their identity with Him in the Father’s presence, as raised with Him— “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God; set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead and your life hid with Christ in God,” — and thus reveals the glory, which has left the earth and is set in heaven, as their present home, and its future return in the sight of all as their hope. “When Christ our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” (Col. 3:1-3)

This is the mystery of this dispensation, the interval when God’s king is absent from the earth, and evil exercises its royalty in his dominion, when the Lord Jesus sits not on His own throne but the Father’s and when earth would be left entirely to misrule, were it not that God is pleased to grant it continuance of some measure of order for His saints’ sake. The government of the Lord Christ, is now exclusively that of “shepherd and bishop of our souls.” (1 Peter 2) As priest, He is ministering that Spirit of life and glory which calls us to groan and travail in hope—that Spirit of promise which is but the earnest of the incorruptible inheritance pure teased but not redeemed. in power; (Eph. 1:14.) and there is no other allowed. standing to a saint, but as a child of hope, having no place in this world, but in the world to come; and never to have his joy fulfilled, till the Lord with whom he is identified in God’s abundant mercy, (both in present rejection and suffering and future glory,) possesses His; now a stranger in a strange land—living in a world of death—a new creature in the old and doomed creation.

I desire to speak carefully and advisedly, and well sure I am that no earthly honor, power, desire, or hope will stand as allowed by the word of God to the saint; it is all directly contrary to the glory which the Spirit reveals, for that is the throne on which the Lamb sits in His rejection by the world. As far as the world is concerned it is the tittle of his rejection. And where are His saints now? are they rejected too, as in Spirit entering into fellowship with Him in His glory? or are they rather justifying present power and honor in the world as Christ’s, and as held in submission to Him? All know how calamitously these questions must be answered; what do we see but on the one side reeds shaken by every wind, and on the other those who live delicately in gorgeous apparel and in king’s courts? and why is this? is it not that the high calling of a saint is unknown and unregarded, and the flesh left to its own natural and necessary preference of present things to future; but alas! alas! this evil state is argued for and not lamented, and the garments of almost all are defiled and spotted by the world and by the flesh. (James 1:27, Jude 23.)

I would ask those who are “the elect of God, holy and beloved,” to weigh well what is asserted in the scriptures as to the position in which the Son of God has stood, and is standing for the purpose of showing forth the Father, and blessing the helpless creature. He is both God and Man. To man He reveals God; and to God He stands as taking the creature’s most pitiable place, and in it giving a full answer at all times to the will of God. When He became incarnate He stood as the winner back of all the creature’s forfeited blessings from the hand and power of Satan. He has won them back, He has bound the strong man armed, and taken away the armor wherein he trusted. He has taken away “sin by the sacrifice of Himself,” and as all forfeiture was because of sin, the creature in Him stands as the inheritor of blessing. In this place the Lord Jesus as Son of man now stands, He is admitted to the glory which He had with the Father before the world was, and into the same glory He carries His Church (John 17:22-24). He claims earth’s dominion, the fair land of Israel, and Judah’s throne, and receives it all from the Father in reward of righteousness, as the holy man in whom God can, and will fulfill all His richest purposes of blessing. The Lord Jesus is not now God only, but God and man in one person, revealed in the resurrection as receiving “long life even forever and ever” from the Father, and every other blessing which the scriptures declare to be the purpose of Him who is love, to bestow. Therefore it is that the Father is regarding all things with reference to this. He has glorified the Father and the Father’s work is now to glorify Him. He therefore looks at the world now as the place out of which the bride of His beloved Son is to be gathered, and He will by His spirit gather that bride out from among the living and the dead, and give her to His Son, to be the Eve in His paradise, the queen on His throne, the richest and brightest glory of the inheritance He has won. In calling any out of the world, He affiances them to His Son, to be one with Him in thought, desire, and hope now, and eventually to be glorified together with Him in His glory.

God orders the world now with reference to the gathering out and perfecting of the saints, and to make all things tend to the showing forth of the Son’s glory, whom it is His delight to glorify in recompense for His sorrowful service to Him. Kings, magistrates, states, and principalities, are ordered by Him (the Father) directly where He is owned, indirectly where He is not, for the furtherance of this one object; holding the world by them in a measure of order till its iniquity is full, and the bride of the Lamb perfected both in number and suffering. And it is this the Apocalypse opens. The Father giving to the Son a revelation of His purpose concerning the earth, and the exercise of His power in it, till the time comes when it is given to the Son as its only rightful ruler; and this revelation the Son sends to His bride to cheer and comfort her in her tribulation, and to show her how sure the inheritance is. The Father has not yet given the world to the Son for government. Day by day He gathers the members of His bride out of it, and gives them to the Son for His tender care and guidance, (and the method of His government is taught in 2nd and 3rd chaps.) The time however is hastening on when He will give the world to the Son too, as that which He has won; and then will He come with the bride which has been given to Him in this mysterious interval of long-suffering, to cleanse His inheritance of its iniquity; He will put His many crowns on His head, and tread down all His enemies under His feet, set up His throne in righteousness, and “gather out of His kingdom all that offend and all that do iniquity.” Can any gainsay this? Where then are the saints? Are they holding the world, and saying they hold it of God? Surely He holds it but to deliver it to the Son for judgment—He orders it for this. It is His purpose to put it all under the Son’s feet. To receive anything from the Father now in real blessing, cannot be short of deliverance out of the world to the Son’s care, that tee may not have part with that which He will speedily deliver to the Son for judgment.

The only place of blessing now on earth is the Church, where the Lamb governs and leads as a shepherd by His Spirit, till the day of His appearing as king; and the Church’s home is the city of the living God. As having come to that city, “and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and the general assembly and Church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant,” what ought to be the saints’ course and conduct on earth? surely “to keep himself unspotted from the world,”—to “lay up treasure in heaven,” — “to forsake all and follow Jesus,”— “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer,” — “waiting for the hope laid up for him in heaven,”—(Col. 1:5.) “reserved in heaven for those who are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time,” — “when the Lord Himself, shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God;” and “then those who are troubled will have rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels.”

“For the heaven must receive Him until the times of the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.”

For this “the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth,” because “the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” For this “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now;” and not only so, but for this “ourselves also which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body.” (Rom. 8:19-23.)

The revelation of the glory in heaven is closed in promise that it will quickly be seen by all, and fully realized by the saints. “He which testifies these things saith—surely I come quickly,”—the only true answer to which in the faithful bride is, “Amen, even so come Lord Jesus;” for then will the full promise of the Father be received, then will the saint “apprehend that for which he is apprehended of God in Christ Jesus,”—then “will he know even as he is known,” seeing not through a glass darkly, as now, but “face to face;”—made like unto the Lord of heaven, “bearing the image of the heavenly,” for “he shall see Him as He is.” (1 Cor. 15:49, 1 John 3:1,2.)

Then will the long absent glory return from the east to the earth and to the temple. (Ezek. 43:2.) Then will that temple be the house of prayer for all nations; (Isa. 56:7.) and then will the throne be seen with its wheels again, as the sign of earthly power and dominion. (Dan. 7:9-14.) “The lion of the tribe of Judah,” will roar and spring to his prey. (Isa. 31:4.) “The tabernacle of God will be with men, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Rev. 21:2, 3.) The purpose of Jehovah fulfilled, “as I live, all the earth shall be filled with my glory,” (Num. 14:21,) “the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.” (Rev. 11:15.) And the marriage of the Lamb will come and His wife be ready; (Rev. 19:7) for it will be “the day of His espousals and the day of the gladness of His heart.”

Heaven will be glad, and rejoice, and sing— “ALLELUIA, FOR THE LORD GOD OMNIPOTENT REIGNETH AMEN—ALLELUIA!”

Earth will echo back its answer of joy. “The LORD REIGNETH, let the earth rejoice, let the sea roar and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein; let the floods clap their hands, let the hills be joyful together before the Lord, for He cometh to judge the earth; with righteousness shall He judge the world, and the people with equity.” (Psa. 98)

The Father will then commit all judgment unto the Son, and “all men will honor the Son, even as they honor the Father;” (John 5:22,23.) and then shall “every knee bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and EVERY TONGUE WILL CONFESS THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER.” (Phil. 2:9-11)

The Warning of the Lord

Eternity, with its abundant harvest of joy or of sorrow, is the end of every man’s course in this world, whether that course be crooked or straight, and few deny this, however careless they may be about it. But then they as surely think that the grave is the only gate of entrance into it, and that before they have to do directly with “the king of eternity,” (Jer. 10:10.) they must leave this world altogether; and thus God’s interest in every thing, and interference in everything around us is seldom thought of. We may go to Him into another world, but that He should interfere with the events, course, or, as they are called, politics of this world, is seldom fully believed, and therefore the word of the Lord is not often consulted about them; and it is a painful fact, that the generality of Christians confirm, both by word and conduct, these vain thoughts; and though they interest themselves about the politics of this world, which they ought not, for they are citizens of heaven, yet in doing so, they do but look to the wisdom and skill of man, as men of this world do, and not to the sure word of prophecy. What is prophecy? is it not God’s merciful revelation of the future to man’s ignorance, who never can know of himself what tomorrow may bring forth? It is God’s exclusive prerogative to know what the morrow will bring forth. “Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods,” saith the Lord: (Isa. 41:23)— “I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” (Isa. 46:10.)

And is not prophecy in its detail the opening of almost all great future events concerning the earth we tread on?—the knowledge of that which will shortly come to pass even here?

In a declared Christian land like this, however, where men have been taught to reverence the word of God in a certain way, we are little aware, I believe, how far the tone and. color of men’s prospects are confirmed or varied by what is said to be written in that book.

Hence arises the responsibility of the Church of Christ and its teachers; for if that word is falsely interpreted, where is the world’s beacon light? and what will become of those who, unaccustomed to seek out of the book of the Lord for themselves, trust to those who say they do? Men do not sufficiently reverence it, and learn from it, as to judge of all things around them and before them by its simple and yet sure word; but they are just enough influenced by it to allow it to confirm and strengthen their hopes, if it speaks in accordance with those hopes, Now, I believe it to be falsely interpreted by the Church generally; and I would prove this sad conviction neither by analogy nor argument, but by quoting the word itself.

I do not enter into the minute details of prophecy, showing how God has and will interfere with the politics of this earth, but would gather from the New Testament only, and give forth, as it is written, the way in which the world’s present busy and eventful career will be interrupted by the direct interference of God’s power, as well as the character of the times when it will be so interrupted.

The usual, nay, almost universal belief is, that religion will increase—that the cross, as far as it bears upon a Christian’s suffering, will cease to have its plain scriptural meaning—that the gate of entrance into glory will become wide, and the way broad, and that in course of time, the other will be shut up altogether—that the confession of the name of Christ will not be needed, for that all men will own that name—that there will be universal peace on earth, and that it will be brought about by the gentle influences of the Spirit, (as they are called,) that the world’s course will be broken by no rude hand of power, but that it will flow on evenly and smoothly—gently turned by the Spirit of the Lord, working through the enlightened wisdom of man, till it is turned quite round into the ocean of blessing. And this lullaby, which sets at rest many a thoughtful heart, troubled by the contradictory appearances which sometimes break forth, is sung in the sweet strains of the prophets, gathered in a hundred detached passages from the scriptures of God, and sent forth as His message to sooth the sleeping world into yet deeper sleep.

But whence are these passages taken? Exclusively from the Old Testament. They are wrested from their context, and an isolated meaning given to them which they do not bear in their place, for they are there, without exception, connected with preceding judgments on “the nations,” and restored favor to the outcast Jew. I will only quote one striking passage from Zephaniah— “Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. THEN will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent.” And this is the uniform testimony of the Old Testament prophets. The New Testament also abounds with predictions; but not one can be found which does not destroy altogether such expectations as those which have been just described; nor do they who maintain them, attempt to support their view by one single quotation from it. They may well think it strange that none coincide with their interpretation of the Old Testament scriptures. Surely such a fact as this might well cause us to ascertain whether we had received the true meaning of the passages quoted, and not the worldly hope of its interpreter; or a fearful deception industriously circulated by the “father of lies.”

There are three things plainly predicted in the New Testament. 1st.—Judgments upon christendom. 2nd—The suddenness of those judgments. And 3rd—The outwardly religious and apparently prosperous state of the world at the time, as well as the general cry of “peace, peace.”

But I quote the prophecies as they are given:—

Predictions of the Lord Jesus Christ

1st.— “Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate and narrow the way which leadeth unto life, and few there he that find it. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”

“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name have done many wonderful works? and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me ye that work iniquity.” (Matt. 7:13-23,)

2nd.— “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field, but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way; but when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then the tares appeared also; so the servants of the householder came, and said unto him, sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, an enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? but he said, nay; lest while ye gather up the tares ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, gather ye together first, the tares, and bind. them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

“He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man, the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tare are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end. of the world, and the reapers are the angels: as therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world (or age.) The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth; then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear,” (Matt. 13:37-43.)

3rd.— “And many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many and because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold; But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved; and his gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a holiness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.” (Matt. 24:11-14) The sorrow and tribulation of the Jew, from the desolation of Jerusalem by the Romans unto the end, then is predicted; as it is written— “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled;” (Luke 21:24.) and then—

4th. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, end then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matt. 24:29-31.)

Character of the Times at His Return Thus in Glory

5th. “But of that day and hour knoweth no man; no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood—they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them away, SO shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken and the other left; two grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken and the other left.” (Matt. 24:36-41.)

Warning to the Church

“Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when He cometh, shall find so doing; verily I say unto you that He shall make him ruler over all His goods. But, and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delayeth His coming, and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 24:42-51.)

6th. “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom; and five of them were wise, and five foolish; they that were foolish, took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept, and at midnight there was a cry made—behold! the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him; then all those

Virgins arose and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish said unto the wise, give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out; but the wise answered saying, not so, lest there be not enough for us and you, but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves; and while. they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was sheet; afterward came the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us; but He answered and said, verily I say unto you, I know you not. WATCH THEREFORE, FOR YE KNOW NEITHER THE DAY NOR THE HOUR WHEREIN THE SON OF MAN COMETH.” (Matt. 25:1-13.)

7th. “And He said unto the disciples, the days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall. not see it, and they shall say to you, see here, or see there, go not after them nor follow them; for as the lightening that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven shineth unto the other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of man be in His day; but first must M suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation: and as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed thorn all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” (Luke 17:22 to the end.)

8th.— “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares; for as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” (Luke 21:34-36.)

These are the most simple and striking predictions of the Lord; there are a few others, but they tell the same tale of warning; and what may we gather from them? do not they all describe a period apparently religious, and certainly civilized? Gross vice, such as murder, gross sensuality or profligacy, though it may exist, does not mark its character; but the rather refinement and activity, but about the would only, and indifference to that which the gospel of Jesus Christ really reveals—the kingdom of heaven and the resurrection; and upon this smooth and seemingly prosperous course of things will the glory of the Son of man break suddenly “as a thief in the night,” to deliver those who are waiting for His kingdom. “One shall be taken,” and to leave the others to be gathered into bundles to be burned, “and the other left;” though they will be saying— “Lord, Lord, open unto us.”

Predictions of the Apostles

1st.— “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall torn away ungodliness from Jacob.” The previous parts of this chapter show that the Gentiles, as a body, though wild by nature, are grafted into the olive tree of God’s favor during the rejection of the Jews, “who are broken off, because of unbelief,” but that not continuing in God’s goodness, they will be broken off and the Jew received in again; and this the apostle, speaks of as “the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God,” and declares the ignorance of this mystery is the proof only of our being wise in our own conceits; the prophecy is paralleled by that in Luke 21— “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles till the fullness of the Gentiles be come in,” followed as it is by judgment on the Gentiles, as declared here in their being cut off. (Rom. 11:17-26.)

2nd.—In revealing the full glory to the saint waiting to be clothed upon with his house from heaven, it is said— “Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump,” &c. (1 Cor. 15:51.) “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep; for the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God,” &c. (1 Thess. 4:15, 16.)

Thus, as declared by the Lord Himself, will be the sudden breaking into the world and the grave, of the power of the Son of God, to change the living and raise the dead, that have believed on Him, leaving others in both, (the world and the grave) and this without sign, without forewarning, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” “One taken, and the other left,” &c.

3rd.—This suddenness of interruption is connected with the character of the times: thus, “For yourselves, know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night,”— “For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child,” (1 Thess. 5:1-7.) and this is paralleled by all the Lord’s prophecies, they shall be saying, “My Lord delayeth His coming,” and “they knew not till the flood came,” &c.

4th.—Is a distinct prophecy, not of the increase of good, or of the knowledge of the truth till it covers the earth, but directly the contrary; a plain straightforward prediction of the increase of evil from the very first, when “the falling away” began, until it comes to a full stature, when it will be destroyed, but not by the influence of the Spirit, but by the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. “And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.”(2 Thess. 2:8.)

5th.—Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that “in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” (1 Tim. 4:1, 2, 3.) Whether this has been fulfilled or not, still apostasy and evil is the only thing of which the Spirit does speak expressly as to the Church’s earthly state.

6th— “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their ownselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, but they shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men.” (2 Tim. 3:l-9).

Surely this prediction is too plain to need comment; but as many are turned aside from these truths by the difficulty of believing that an outwardly moral or religious state is the fittest for judgments, I would remark how distinctly this is stated here, “having a form, but denying the power of godliness,” and how well it corresponds with the state described by the Lord, in Matt. 24, and Luke 17, where there is no token of open and notorious wickedness, but a smooth and even course of worldliness, to which the name of Christianity may be easily added.

7th.— “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and they shall turn away their tears from the truth, and be turned unto fables.”

8th.— “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction, and many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of and through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandize of you, whose judgment now for a long time lingereth not; and their damnation slumbereth not,” &c. (2 Peter 2 the whole of the chapter.)

9th.— “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying where is the promise of His coming, for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”

“The heavens and the earth which are now, are kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (2 Peter 3 throughout.)

10th.— “But beloved, remember ye the words spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts; these be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit, &c., &c. For Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints.” (Epistle of Jude throughout.)

Here then is the prophetic word of the apostles, in which there is no hint, even of anything but apostasy and judgment; and the statement throughout, that this is to be brought about by false prophets or teachers, who would say “peace and safety,” and induce others to do so, and by which many that had “escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, are again entangled therein and overcome, and the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.” (2 Pet. 2:20-22.)

But there is one other book—a complete book of prophecy, and given to the Lord Jesus on His ascension, and sent by Him to His Church, for the express purpose of “shewing unto His servants the things which were shortly to come to pass,” and of which therefore it is said, “blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein; for the time is at hand;” (Rev. 1:3) and it equally excludes any hope of increasing good; but the contrary.

The Apocalypse: The Special Voice of Prophecy to the Church

The seven sealed book is the opening, seal after seal, of trouble and sorrow on the earth to the end; “and I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo! there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind; and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places, and the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Rev. 6 throughout.)

The seven trumpets give blast after blast, the same solemn message—sorrow upon sorrow to all that is earthly; the last three being emphatically called “woe trumpets.” There is an awful pause between the second and third woe trumpets, and at the last blast “there were great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever:” and how was this? was the character of this trumpet altered? while all the others carried judgment and terror, was this the messenger of peace, or the gentle outpouring of the Spirit, upon all flesh? nay, what else do the voices in heaven say on its blast? “We give thee thanks O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and has reigned; and the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets and to the saints and them that fear thy name small and great, and shouldest destroy them which corrupt the earth.” (Rev 8-9, see also 15:1-4).

The seven vials previously filled with the prayers of saints, are at last “full of the wrath of God who liveth forever and ever;” and I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. (Rev. 16 throughout.)

But is this all? no, the 14th chap. tells us of the earth or part of it, being the winepress of God’s wrath, before it is the theater of His government. (Rev. 14)

The 19th describes a perfect constitution of earthly glory—arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, yet called a harlot and saying in her heart, “I sit a queen and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow,” (or peace and safety, as predicted before,) all apparently prosperous, but “therefore shall her plagues come in one hour; death, and mourning, and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.”

Alas! alas! that great city wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea, by reason of her costliness; for in the hour is she made desolate. (Rev. 18 throughout.) The judgment of this harlot and the reward of the faithful bride are coincident, the one committed fornication with earth, its pleasures and honors—the heart of the other was in heaven with her Lord, and heaven rejoices that her endurance is past, and the false one judged; the end of the 18th chap. is the harlot’s judgment, and earth’s sorrow; the beginning of the 19th, the bride’s reward and heaven’s joy. “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of many thunderings, saying, Alleluia! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth! let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready;” (Rev. 19:6,7.) and then follows the scene yet to be revealed before the earth can be blessed. The opening of heaven to bring forth the “King of kings and Lord of lords,” coming to execute judgment because He is the Son of man; to smite the nations with a sharp sword; to rule them with a rod of iron, and to tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, to cast the beast and false prophet into the lake of fire burning with brimstone—to slay their deluded armies gathered together against Him, that the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven might be filled with their flesh. Oh! there is no peace, peace in this—it is the clarion of judgment to worldly Christianity, the interference of the Son of man with the politics of the earth, He to whom all power is given in heaven and in earth, putting out of His kingdom “all that offend and all that do iniquity.”

“Yea, in the way of thy judgments O Lord have we waited for thee, for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness; Lord when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see, but they shall see and be ashamed for their envy at the people.” (Isa. 24:8-11.) But are these things really at hand? I assert that they are, for the Lord saith “surely I come quickly,” and on the very ground that the many would take to say, “it is not near, let us build houses,” (Ezek. 11:3.) do I repeat that it is near—even that there is worldly prosperity, though with many a merciful distrust of its continuance—that the name of God and His Christ is brought to sanction this prosperity, and as the result of this, there is a very extensive “form, but without the power of godliness;” and because there is this apparent prosperity under the name of Christianity, Christians are deceived and add their voices to the false predictions which have become as proverbs among men, and so instead of crying as they ought in the fellowship of Christ’s Spirit, “I am pained at my very heart, my heart maketh a noise in me, I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.” (Jer. 4:19.) Alas! alas! light hearted indifference to God’s word and the world’s woe, is all men can hear and see,

But it is written “these sayings are faithful and true,” “behold I come quickly; blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book; for the time is at hand.” “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” He which testifieth those things, saith surely I come quickly; Amen, even so come Lord Jesus.

“A Letter by John William Peter, Late Incumbent of Langford, Berks, on His Resignation of His Living and Secession From the Established Church.”

H. Smith, Cirencester; sold also by E. Palmer, IS., Paternoster Row, London.

“I have no greater joy than to see my children walking in the truth.” We trust that it is in a measure of this spirit, that we have read the pamphlet before us, and now commend it to the consciences of our brethren,

We are wholly unacquainted with the author, and are not, perhaps, prepared wholly to unite in every sentiment. But we recognize in him a brother beloved, whose heart the Lord has made tender, and inclined to fear Him, and keep His commandments. We earnestly desire that he may be preserved patient in well-doing, in the spirit of love and of a sound mind. And we rejoice to witness, that in writing this pamphlet, he has been kept from that unholy and sometimes arrogant elation of heart, into which Satan tempts us when we have resigned anything for the Lord’s sake, as though we had done some great thing in relinquishing what it was our sin ever to have possessed.

In looking back over the path which the Church of Christ has trodden, we briefly give its history in saying that the departure from the simplicity of the faith of Christ was soon followed by internal disunion, and this was speedily succeeded or rather accompanied by union with the world. Within a few years after the death of the apostles the Gentile Churches began to value the traditions of men, and the rudiments of vain philosophy; they lost their steadfastness in the comfort of the truth, and therefore soon ceased to be “knit together in love,” increased fellowship with the world quickly followed; and the Holy Spirit, who can only strengthen the hand of union around those who love one another for the truth’s sake, (for else He would sanction evil) withdrew His gracious power, and man was left to construct his own systems.

Accordingly system has been multiplied upon system. Some, like the Churches of Rome and England have embraced the unbelieving, and called them “regenerate:” some have not only recognized the unbelieving, but have also, from their first formation, been grounded on a basis of false doctrine; whilst others, who have been more sound in doctrine and select in communion, have made adherence to themselves instead of adherence to Christ, the test of brotherhood, and so opened the inlet for countless evils.

It is true indeed, that in every division, in which the foundations of Christian faith have not been utterly cast down, some have been chosen unto salvation; and we would thankfully acknowledge the loving-kindness of our Lord herein, whose grace is greater than our sin, and whose mercy endureth forever. But we desire that our brethren should not be saved only, but that they should SERVE; that they should be “dear children,” walking in the truth, that so “an abundant entrance might be administered unto them into the everlasting kingdom.” Like Anselm and Bernard, a believer might be saved, yea and preach the gospel of salvation in communion with the Church of Rome: and he who only thought of salvation, might probably remain throughout his life unacquainted with the surrounding evils, while the wants of his own soul were not felt to be unsupplied. But as soon as we see the blessed privilege of service, a new channel is opened to our thoughts: our eye becomes quick in its search after evil, for we feel that discovery of avoidable evil is great gain.

Always, perhaps, but more especially at such a time as the present, the most important step towards service is the relinquishment of evil; inasmuch as we all find ourselves born and educated in systems which are all more or less opposed to the mind of Christ. In what is called the High Church, we find the resolute assertion of apostolic authority. And for what?—For an anomalous body which, drawn from a half-recognized apostasy, was nominally united by secular authority; but which never was “an assembly of faithful men,” and therefore was never really a Church at all. The recent writings of many of its supporters contain most precious principles of truth respecting the nature and blessing of Church authority; but the application of these principles is made as truly by the Romanists as by them. Yet, doubtless, they have their effect. Many a youth is decoyed by the specious claim, and thinks he may safely trust the decisions of a body which has authority to say, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” “I feel my unfitness,” said a young man at Oxford to a friend, “but after my ordination I expect strength.”

“I never imagined,” says Mr. Peter, in the pamphlet before us, “that in performing the duties attached to the ministry of the Church in England, I could be incurring the guilt [of lying unto God by mental reservation.] I placed the fullest confidence in the scriptural character of the Church; in fact, though I might have hesitated to apply to it the term, I considered it infallible; and that it could not lay any commands upon its ministers which were not in strict accordance with the will of the great Head of the Church, as made known through His apostles, and which therefore they ought unhesitatingly, with alacrity and unquestioning confidence, to comply with. I had therefore paid a ready and sincere, though certainly not a reasonable deference to the authority of that book which contained all I thought it necessary should be known of the office of a minister of the Church of England. There, I conceived, I had full authority from God for all I was required to do, regarding the Book of Common Prayer as a commentary dictated by the same Holy Spirit under whose influence the sacred text was indited. But in spite of all these pre-disposing causes to rest satisfied with the plea that it is so enjoined of the Church, I could not but feel,” &c.

To testify against these fearful pretensions of the Churches of Rome and England we consider no unimportant part of Christian service. We fear that many of their ministers, even now, are together laboring to open a path which Satan is preparing for the latter day. If there was no abstract truth in what they say respecting the unity of the Church, its office “as the pillar and ground of the truth,” and the duty and privilege of foregoing the uncontrolled exercise of our own judgment, there would be little to fear as to the effect of their arguments. But abstractedly, these principles are true; they might rightly be applied to the Church as it once existed at Jerusalem or Antioch, when they walked in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Ghost; and there are few who sufficiently recognize the apostasy to detect the awful fallacy of their application to any body now.

But shall we say that the sin of those who have the high and blessed title of “evangelicals” is less? We do not upbraid them, for we have sinned with them; but we earnestly exhort them to repent. Their principles are utterly opposed to those on which the Establishment is formed as a Church. Their hearts do not acknowledge as brethren those whom they are constrained to receive in breaking the one bread—nor those whom they are constrained to pronounce “regenerate”—they do not believe that the bishop has really the power to confer the Holy Ghost—nor that all the children who have made the ordinary confession at confirmation have really received “forgiveness of all their sins;” at least, they do not believe it until their consciences are hardened by habitual transgression.

“I could not but feel,” says Mr. Peter, “that every appointed office I administered, convicted me to my own heart of insincerity; and had not my mouth been very easily brought to make my flesh to sin by uttering anything before God, I should often have stood mute at the font or at the table. My conscience, however, was not so complying—while I was speaking to God, it was reproaching me; and if any of you, my dear friends, have ever realized the searching eye of God fixed upon your hearts while your lips have belied them, you may know something of what I experienced.”

“I found myself in my sermons warning men as unconverted—discriminating between the regenerate and those who had never known the Spirit’s influence in the new birth; and addressing this language to those whom I had myself pronounced ‘regenerate,’ or diligently taught that they were in their baptizing made ‘members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven.’ I knew too that ‘whatever is not of faith is sin,’ and as the use of the office and the style of preaching I was led into, could not possibly be both of ‘faith’ in one I must of necessity be sinning against God; I tried to find in the word of God a solution of the difficulty, but I failed.”

“I was quite at a loss how to give account for the solemn assurances I was wont to make, that every infant born within certain limits, of parents making an outward profession of a certain form of religion was ‘regenerate’ and grafted into the body of Christ’s Church. We know that ‘regeneration’ must be the foundation of Church union; the members of a Church are bound to perform duties one to another as belonging to one family, to love as brethren—as children of one God and Father; and they must believe each other to be so or they cannot perform these duties in faith. The members of every Church must be considered ‘regenerate’ or the name of ‘Church’ is a vain and empty mockery, they cannot perform the duties which constitute the substance and life of a Church. It is on this principle that the Church of England is constructed; and its language throughout its services proves that it does recognize as ‘regenerate’ all without exception, who have been baptized according to its form. And it must be thus with a national Church, comprehending as its members, all the subjects of the state, which the Church of England by profession does. It must hence bring all within its pale, and it can only do this by pronouncing them in a mass ‘regenerate.’ Nor will it avail anything to say that ‘regeneration’ as that term is applied in the baptismal service, has some qualified meaning, short of the new birth spoken of in the scriptures. For it must mean this and nothing else; or, the baptized. cannot be accounted members of a Church, for they can neither claim nor perform the reciprocal duties of brethren in Christ. Now if we apply what I have observed to the sentiments, the preaching, and the practice of the evangelical clergy in the Church of England, we shall see who are dissenters from that Church, and that this name ought not to be confined to those only who like myself have withdrawn from her communion. An evangelical minister does not in his heart believe that every infant he baptizes is regenerate, though in compliance with the prescribed form, he declares each and every one to be so, and returns “hearty thanks to God that it hath pleased Him to regenerate each with His Holy Spirit—to receive each for His own child by adoption and to incorporate each into His holy Church.” Is he not in thought a dissenter? The evangelical minister in the surplice and the desk, addresses all the baptized persons in the Church as ‘dearly beloved brethren,’ he speaks to them all in the language of acknowledgment and love; wherein he acts as the minister of the Church of England, and utters as in duty bound, her sentiments in her own words; but with his vestments and his place, He changes his voice too, and in the pulpit he testifies to his dissent; he then separates the precious from the vile—he utters warnings and declares the terrors of the Lord to the unconverted—urges the necessity of regeneration—calls on the Lord’s people to come out of the world among whom they are dwelling, and to show in their lives and conversations, the peculiar ‘spot of God’s children.’ And all this discrimination is used, these distinctions made in the face of his own declarations as the mouth of his Church in direct inconsistency with, if not contradiction to the principles upon which the Church to which he is united is built. Surely he is then in word a dissenter, nor is he less so in deed. To be a true member of the Church of England, he must love all whom he acknowledges to be so with him, ‘not in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth;’ so long as he acknowledges himself to be of the same household with them, they are entitled to the marks of his love; and can the evangelical minister not in the love of pity as for an unconverted sinner, but in a love of membership, can he in faith show deeds of love towards all he calls his ‘brethren?’ He cannot; he sees many among them of whom he does not believe that they love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, to whom he cannot say in his heart ‘grace be with you,’ or bid them ‘God speed,’ though his lips by compulsion, utter words expressive of their co-union with him in the Lord: and he dissents from the Church of England by non-compliance with those injunctions of fellowship with her baptized members, which in spirit and in letter she lays upon him.”

These are the words of Mr. Peter. We ask our brethren to lay them solemnly to heart. A wounded conscience, such as Mr. Peter describes, is but a poor preparation for usefulness in the ministry; and a hardened one is worse. Men are quick to discern inconsistency and error in those who profess to be the messengers of God’s truth, and gladly avail themselves of the moral vantage ground which is thereby afforded. The authority of one who selfishly tolerates evil, will be little valued; for his judgment will be impugned, even if the uprightness of his heart should he allowed. He will find himself little able to “commend the truth to every man’s conscience in the fear of God;” and, even if his efforts should partially succeed, vet surely his joy should be allayed by the reflection, that the system to which he has given the full weight of his personal sanction, is spreading its baneful influence over thousands, while he is rescuing a few.

If then, “cease to do evil,” is the unchanging commandment of the Lord, and if obedience is acceptable service unto Him, we cannot but rejoice to see any of our brethren thus seeking to serve. The relinquishment of positive evil in practice— the separation from acknowledged fellowship with the world—the standing in a situation where we are only subject to the word and Spirit of Christ is no trifling gain. “Look to yourselves,” says the apostle, “that ye lose not those things which ye have wrought, but that ye receive a full reward.” (2nd Epist. John.) And how might it be lost? “By receiving into your house, or bidding God speed to any one that continued not in the doctrine of Christ;” by acknowledging as brethren, or perhaps as overseers in Christ’s Church, those who abide not in the truth, for thereby we are made partakers of their evil deeds. But departure from evil is deliverance into free liberty of positive service. He who is no longer constrained to receive the unbeliever, is placed in a situation in which he may receive all who abide in the truth, and so become in God’s sight “a fellow helper thereunto.” (3rd Epist. John.) “He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet’s reward: and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man’s reward.”

It is true indeed, that they who have freed themselves from the evils of established systems, may narrow themselves into a position in which they can have free fellowship with none except those who follow with themselves, even though they see that they are baptized by the one Spirit. We earnestly desire that Mr. Peter, and all our brethren who separate from the establishment, may be preserved from this snare into which the dissenting bodies have fallen. In refusing to receive their brethren because they are brethren, they have shut themselves out from the blessed privilege of seeking to follow the mind of Christ, as to His desires for the unity of the one body; and have assumed to themselves a power, which Christ never delegated to His Church, of legislating terms of communion. “He that believeth hath life:” this was the one term which He established, and which in the case of the eunuch was applied and acted on; a credible profession of faith in the Lamb, and a consistent conversation is all that we have a right to require; if we demand more we are guilty of the sin of schism; we divide those whom Christ has united on purpose that they might strengthen and edify one another. The effect of this exclusion falls principally upon the weak, who are the very persons that chiefly need the safeguard and comfort of Christian fellowship; and thus the command of the apostle, not to wait for “like-mindedness in all things,” (Phil. 3:16.) “but to receive the weak,” (Rom. 14:1.) is utterly disregarded; the unity of the body is impaired and its strength for service proportionally enfeebled. “If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.” (1 Cor. 12:26)

And when we speak of fellowship, we mean the full, free, open fellowship of Christian love — manifested in actual communion amongst those who are locally together—manifested in acknowledgment amongst these who are locally apart. The fellowship which is enjoined upon believers, is not as some would pretend, a secret fellowship in spirit; we have secret union with those who sleep in Jesus, and (through the mercy of the Lord in not leaving it in the bands of man) with the whole mystical body of Christ; for the indissoluble bond which unites them to their head, unites them also indissolubly with each other.

But this is not that living spirit of brotherhood which is needed. by a militant and afflicted Church, “laboring in the wilderness that she might enter into her rest.” It must be known, manifested. fellowship, having one definite present end—even the strengthening of the whole body for service here by the mutual offices of love; and exactly in proportion as this fellowship is hindered, strength in service will be found to fail.

And how unutterably important is Christian service? It affects the glory of God now. “The administration of this service, not only supplieth the wants of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God.” It is connected with His glory in the day of Christ’s coming. “Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evil doers, they may by your good works which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”

It is connected with the saints’ future blessing, for, “he that soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly; and he that soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully.”

If these principles be true, it necessarily follows that the dissenting systems are essentially evil, inasmuch as they are utterly destructive of that in which the strength of the Church consists, viz., unity — the pearl which apostasy has lost, but which it should be the anxious effort of our lives to recover. It is possible indeed that our labor may seem to be altogether in vain but it is well to remember that he who, in the present day, forms his judgment upon results will soon be discouraged, but that faith will cling to the principles of God’s truth and leave the consequences to Him.

But this is not all. Principle can never be sacrificed without wandering, we know not how far, into practical error. The dissenter sets out by rejecting God’s principle of union, and forms a body upon some point in which he disagrees with the Church at large. But the same spirit of self-will which has led to the rejection of their brethren, is again manifested in the earnestness with which they contend for the democratic principle of elective and controlling power being vested in those who should be the governed. The meaning of “elders who labor in the word and doctrine,” (1 Tim. 5:17.) is forgotten in the pre-eminence of THE minister whom the people choose that they may be secure against being taught anything beyond what they have already approved; and from this results the necessity of the minister’s being paid (for all duties center in him:) and thus a pecuniary motive is superadded for maintaining the distinctiveness of the body and shutting it out from the communion and ministry of others; a motive, with which Satan can work and secretly warp the judgment even of the most upright in heart.

It is obvious that a minister on whom every duty is thus devolved, ought to possess every gift which is needful for the edification of the body. But this we know from scripture to be impossible: all are not prophets, all are not teachers, all do not interpret. But God hath set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him, dividing to each severally as He will. (see 1 Cor. 12.) A congregation therefore which is formed upon the model of an individual’s mind must suffer loss, just in proportion as that individual’s mind falls short of the whole compass of truth. But again, even if the minister thus chosen, and the most spiritual of his congregation have been brought to see the desirableness of any change, it cannot be effected unless the majority concur; which practically negatives the Spirit’s governance, inasmuch as the least spiritual will surely be the most numerous. And where is the sanction in the New Testament for this inversion of the order of God? We read not of a minister, but of “elders who labor in the word and doctrine.” We read of elders “who rule,” (1 Tim. 5:17) but never of Churches which govern themselves. We read of elders “ordained by apostles,” (Acts 14:23) but never of Churches who choose their own governors.

We are earnestly anxious that our brethren who have been freed from the evils of one system, may never find themselves in the entanglements of another. The increased desire for union on the simple ground of Christian brotherhood, which has been lately manifested in so many places—accompanied as it often is by a fixed desire to renounce all recognized evil at much personal sacrifice, leads us to believe that we shall not be disappointed. It bears the evidence of being the Spirit’s work. We pray that it may be continued—that all who desire the welfare of the Church of Christ, may labor to see themselves and others so circumstanced as not only to love, but to receive into the appointed fellowship of breaking bread, all whom they believe to be brethren in Christ Jesus; not requiring uniformity nor oneness of understanding, but only the possession of the one Spirit.

And let us beware of expecting either to find or to form an ordered Church. We have no apostle, nor any messenger from an apostle, either to “ordain elders” or “to set things in order.” Apostasy has broken the chain of blessing; and therefore the authority of appointed office must not be assumed by any poor remnant which may be gathered out of the scattered multitudes.

Yet the Spirit is sovereign—and greater than all circumstances of man’s evil. Although the blessing of appointed office is withdrawn, He can and will preserve order among those who look to Him, by subjecting them one to another in the fear of God, and causing them to esteem very highly in love, for their work’s sake, those who labor among them as servants in the Lord’s heritage.

The World to Come

“ Unto Angels hath He not put in subjection the world (οικουμευη) to come whereof we speak?” (Heb. 2:5.)

Amidst all the disorder and disappointment which is and will be produced by the willful opposition of man to the gracious purposes of God, it is profitable to remember that there is a Church chosen unto salvation, which He “who loved it and washed it from its sins in His own blood” will surely present unto himself in glory. There is nothing more dangerous than carnal presumption, but while this is unequivocally condemned, the scriptures as plainly recognize and encourage that meek and humble confidence which is peace and strength, because it rests with holy self-renunciation upon the love of one whose name is “Faithful and true” — “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord: He also shall confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless, in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 1:8, 9.) Accordingly, the gracious command of our Savior is— “Let not your hearts be troubled;” and He presently after adds, “Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends, for whatsoever I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” This then, is the right position of believers—to have their hearts fixed, trusting in the Lord, that so they might be at leisure to interest themselves in those things which concern the glory of the Lord, and which have been revealed for their comfort and instruction.

In the former dispensation, they who were best enabled to understand “the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow,” were best prepared to estimate the real character of the dispensation in which they lived; and so at present, they only who have profited by the light which scripture sheds on “the world to come,” (Heb. 2.) will form a right judgment on the things which ARE. “Prophecy is a light shining in a dark place, whereunto ye do well to take heed.”— “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that understand the words of this prophecy.” (Rev. 1)

And when we consider what prophecy is, that it developer, with an exactness which few anticipate, the future prospects of the world and of the Church, the character and nature of the reign of peace, and the final overthrow of Satan’s power, it is no wonder that He whose bruising is made the subject of the first prophecy of scripture, is anxious to cast a veil over the future, and to throw stumbling blocks in the way of those who inquire. He endeavored to discredit the reformation by the fanaticism and licentiousness of wicked men. He has now endeavored to drive us back from the future, and make us lock up again what we have seen, by pushing forward the rash and carnal speculations of some, as if they were the legitimate fruits of every attempt to examine the things “that are to be.” Nevertheless “the things that are revealed belong to us and our children;” and they who are wise will not accredit the lie of Satan, nor believe that God has given us anything but “what is profitable for growth and instruction in righteousness.”

Now it is written in three different places, that there shall be a time of blessedness, “when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the seas.” (Isa. 11:9; Heb. 2:14; Num. 14:21.) We will endeavor to trace the characteristic circumstances of this period, and show that they mark it as a dispensation entirely new. But before we proceed, we would briefly state two things:—

1.—That scripture is its own interpreter, and supplies its own links of connection by verbal or moral correspondences.

2.—That by recording the fulfillment of past prophecies, it teaches us the mode of fulfillment to be expected in future. For example:— the Messiah was to be the seed of the woman, (Gen. 3:15)—The seed of Abraham, (Gen. 12:3) of the tribe of Judah, of the family of David, (2 Sam. 7:13-16; Isa. 9; 6; 7.) and to be born of a virgin, (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23) All these prophecies have been literally fulfilled. So also with respect to the following things:— His birth-place—Bethlehem, (Mic. 5:2; with Luke 2:15,10.)— His flight into Egypt, (Hos. 11:1 with Matt. 2:15)—His mean appearance and poverty, (Isa. 53:2, 3; Matt. 2:23)—the scene of His ministry, (Isa. 9:1, 2; Matt. 4:13-16)—His parabolic language, (Psa. 78:2; Matt. 13:3)—His miracles. (Isa. 53:4; Matt. 8:1.)—His quiet deportment, (Isa. 42:2; Matt. 12:17) His entrance into Jerusalem, and the beast on which he rode, (Zech. 9:9; Matt. 21:4) and especially the circumstances of His crucifixion—that He should be betrayed by one of His companions, (Psa. 55:13)—sold for thirty pieces of silver, and the use to which the money should be applied (Zech. 11:12, 13; Matt. 27:3-9)— His being smitten upon His trial, (Mic. 5:1; Matt. 27:30)—the vinegar and gall given Him to drink, (Psa. 69:21; John 19:27)—His dying words, (Psa. 22:1; Matt. 27:46)—that they should pierce His hands and His feet, (Psa. 22:16)—and that not a bone of Him should be broken, (Ex. 12:46; Psa. 34:20 with John 19:36)—His being numbered with transgressors, (Isa. 53:12; Luke 22:37)—the casting lots upon His vesture, (Psa. 22:18; John 19:24)—His grave with the rich, (Isa. 53:9; Matt. 27:57) and the resurrection of His body, (Psa. 16:10; Matt. 28:7) All these things, and many others which God hath showed by the mouth of His holy prophets, He hath so fulfilled; (Acts 3:8) that is, literally fulfilled. (See Tyso’s inquiry into prophetic truth, p. 25) But if they were still presented to us as unfulfilled, and we were to interpret in conformity with our recent principles, we should nullify the greater part by figurative explanations. We should say that Egypt meant the Egypt of sin, and that Zechariah’s prophecy respecting the ass, was merely a figurative description of the lowliness of the Messiah’s character. The fulfillment, however, was minutely literal, and so in every recorded instance; whether the prophecy has been symbolical, as in Dan. 7 figurative, as in Isa. 53:2 or simple, as in Isa. 53:6 the event predicted has been literally fulfilled.

The “time of the restitution of all things,” (Acts 3) hath been spoken of by the mouth of all the holy prophets, which have been since the world began, for it involves the happiness of creation, the blessedness of the Church, and the glory of Christ. It is variously termed “the times of restitution,” (Acts 3) “the kingdom of heaven,” the “regeneration,” (Matt. 19:28) “the world to come,” &c. (Heb. 2) The vision of Jacob marks the character of its blessedness to be the renewal of holy and blessed intercourse between earth and heaven, and the words of our Lord connect this blessedness with his own personal manifestation, when he says, “Hereafter shall ye see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” It is called by the Apostle Paul, “the world to come,” οικουμενη μελλουσα as contrasted with the age that now is. The present age commenced at the flood, for the “last days of the age” commenced when “God spoke to us by His Son.” (Heb. 1) “On us the ends of the age are come.” (1 Cor. 10:2.) In this age or dispensation, the history of the children of Israel has afforded the constituted proof of the long-suffering, love of God, and of the baseness and ingratitude of man. When the covenant God of their fathers came to them saving, “Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more,” they received Him not, but said “away with such a follow from the earth, for it is not fit that He should live.” But, as has been already said, the last days of the age commenced with his mission, and that of His forerunner, And they both preached, saying “repent, for the kingdom of heaven draweth nigh.” (Matt. 3 & 4.)

If there could have been a law given which could have given life, righteousness should have been by the law; and so also if Jerusalem had known the time of her visitation, and if it had not been needful that one man should die for the people—the kingdom of heaven would have commenced then. Enough had been done by God. The kingdom of God in the person of Jesus was come upon them—and they had the full responsibility of rejecting it. “But His own received Him not.” The glory of the kingdom was shown only to three, of whom it was said, “they should not taste of death until they saw the Son of man coming in His kingdom.” (Luke 9:27 compared with 2 Peter 1:16) it was then withdrawn again, and He taught His disciples to wait, saying “the Son of man is as a man going into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom and to return;” (Mark 13:34) referring, perhaps, as he did explicitly afterward, when standing before the High Priest, to the passage in Daniel, which describes Him as being brought to the “Ancient of days,” to receive his kingdom.

During His absence, be left the Church, that it might through the Spirit, witness by separation from the world, to the truth of the world’s condemnation, and their own translation into “a kingdom which cannot be moved.”—Need we say that now it has failed. The splendor of secular greatness and the love of present influence, or to speak scripturally, the allurements of Babylon, have drawn the Church aside, and it has grieved the Spirit—.the result has been darkness; and I do not know that any more fearful proof can be given, than the disposition which still prevails to deny the distinctness of the present and future age, which is in reality to deny that there is any “world (οικουμευη) to come.” Hence too has resulted an inability “rightly to divide the word of truth,” and the awful warnings of future judgment have not infrequently been interpreted as declarations of fulfilled mercy.

And yet what dispensations can he more definitely marked with distinctness?

1.—In the present, “the children of Israel are abiding without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without teraphim.” (Hos. 3:4) “They are sifted in a sieve;” (Amos 9:9) “they are made a hissing and a reproach among all nations.” In the next— “Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited;” (Zech. 14:11) “the manifested glory of the Lord shall return;” (Ezek. 43) “the name of the city shall be, from that time forth, the Lord is there;” (Ezek. 48:35) “He will plant them in their own land, with his whole heart and with his own soul;” (Jer. 32:4.) and thus they who have hitherto witnessed to His righteousness, will hereafter witness to His grace and faithfulness, and show that “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” (Rom. 11) “The children of Judah AND the children of Israel shall be gathered together and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land, and great shall he the day of Jezreel.” “In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground; and I will break the bow, and the sword, and the battle out of’ the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. And I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord.” (Hos. 1 & 2)

2. — The “whole creation is now groaning and travailing in pain together.” (Rom. 8:22) “The earth languisheth.” (Isa. 24:4) In the next, “it shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Rom. 8) “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein; then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord, for He cometh, for He cometh to rule the earth; He shall rule the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth.” (Psa. 96:11) “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose.” (Isa. 35:1) Moreover, in this dispensation, “nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there shall be wars and rumors of wars.” (Matt. 24:7.) In the next, “nation shall not rise up against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isa. 2:4. Mic. 4:1.) In the present it is said to the Gentiles, “beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears.” (Joel 3:10.) In the next, “the sword shall be beaten into the plowshare.” (Mic. 4) “Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations He hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth; He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariot in the fire.” (Psa. 46:7.)

3. —In this dispensation, Satan is not only the god of this world, but he is also the prince of the power of the air—working or energizing (ενεργωυ) “in the children of disobedience,” (Eph. 2:2) and he is in heavenly places, (Eph. 6:12. επουραυιοις.) The last two descriptions plainly show that his power is not limited to this earth, and is I believe, exercised over the whole of those things whose creation is described in Genesis, and of which Adam was constituted the federal head. In the next dispensation, this power shall be taken from him. “In the day when the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the world for their iniquity, He will punish with His great sore and strong sword, Leviathan the piercing serpent, even Leviathan that crooked serpent.” (Isa. 27) “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand; and he laid hold on the dragon that old serpent which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up.”

4.—The Lord Christ is at present crowned with glory and honor, (Heb. 2) but He has not yet received the kingdom. He has sat down on His Father’s throne, but has not sat down on His own throne. (Rev. 3:21.) This is a thing of which the world is careless, and the Church have not recognized it as they ought; but it is true. The world to come (οικουμενη μελλουσα) which is referred to in the 8th Psalm, shall be put under Him; but by the testimony of the apostle himself, it is not put under Him yet. The same remark may be applied to Psa. 97, 98 and 50; Isa. 24, 25 and numerous other passages. But it is observable that in all these chapters, destroying judgments are spoken of, as preceding or accompanying the introduction of the kingdom of the Son of man. Indeed, Christ can exercise no authority except in strict righteousness. He can, as He has done, divest Himself of authority, and appear in the form of a servant, so as to say, “I come not to judge;” and it is the blessedness of the believer to know Him thus, in love without judgment. But the very characteristic of His reign is repeatedly declared to be His “ruling the world in righteousness, and the people with equity,” and hence arises the necessity for destroying judgment upon all evil. He knows this, and His love has long delayed the assumption of His mighty power, “for He is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance:” and His long-suffering is salvation to many. But the day is coming when the cup of the world’s iniquity shall be full, and because of “the great words against God, and the blasphemies,” “the ancient of days shall sit, and the Son of man shall be brought nigh before Him. And there shall be given unto Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” (Dan. 7:9-27.)

Surely, if any event can mark the introduction of a new age, it must be such event as this. And the saints also, whose portion it is to suffer now, shall share this authority of blessing; for it is likewise said, that “the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom, even forever and ever.” And this is the promise of our Lord to him that overcometh— “he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I received of my Father.” (Rev. 2:26, 27) 149th Psalm is similar.

The saints, therefore, must be raised, in order that they may share this glory; and accordingly it is written, that they who have been faithful to the witness of Jesus, “shall live and reign with Christ a thousand years but the rest of the dead shall not live again until the thousand years are finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death shall have no power; but they shall he priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” (Rev. 20:6.)—Here then is the last great distinction which I shall now notice between the present and the future dispensation. At present, the living saints are called to suffer, and the bodies of the saints who sleep are mingled with the dust, and Christ only has been “raised the first fruits of them that slept,” that in this sense also He might be “the beginning of the (new) creation of God.” But, at the introduction (see Isa. 25:8) of the “World to come,” they will be “raised in bodies incorruptible,” at to inhabit the heavenly places, and from the heavenly Jerusalem shall rule over the earthly Jerusalem and the whole earth. The type of Jacob’s ladder has been already referred to, and if it is no unworthy office for the holy angels now to visit this sinful world as ministering to the heirs of salvation, surely it will be altogether worthy of the risen saints to be the channels through which Christ’s blessed power is extended over a “restored” and “regenerated” earth, for they are taught to delight in seeing others blessed, and in seeing the will of their heavenly Father done in earth as it is done in heaven.

But now does the present dispensation end? If our replies are grounded on our own short-sighted estimate of passing facts, we may answer in a hundred different ways, and each will walk by his own judgment at last. But there is one plain intelligible answer returned by the scripture of truth—It shall end first, in the full development of Babylon arrayed in all the glory of her haughty power: and next, in the kings of the earth with their armies being gathered together to fight against the Lord. (Rev. 19:19.) Allow what we may for figurative language—differ as we may in the detail of interpretation—yet still this one plain awful fact remains unchangeably written in language which none but the willful can misunderstand. This is the point to which the moral and physical energies of the world are tending—the completion of a fabric, glorious and excellent in human sight, but grounded upon the might and power of men and not resting upon the Spirit of the Lord. It was this glory which he Lord refused, but Satan lied not in saying that it was committed unto him, for what is worldly glory but the result of the concentrated energies of men? and that wicked one “in whom the world lieth,” “the Spirit which worketh in the children of disobedience,” can cause them to concentrate their energies upon “whatsoever he pleaseth.”

We do not here stop to inquire into the nature of that providential control which the Lord exercises over the agency of Satan. It appears to be sometimes administered by angels, as in Dan. 10:13 and 23, and it is probably some such minister of God’s restraining power that is referred to by the apostle in the 2nd of the 2 Thess. as still impeding the last great effort of Satan in the manifestation of the man of sin—“He that hindereth will hinder until he be taken out of the way, and then shall the Wicked One be revealed, whose coming is after the working of Satan.” But not to pursue this further, it is manifest that this secret controlling agency is something very different from that manifested power of government which God formally exercised among the Jews, but which He has now withdrawn altogether from the earth. This suspension of government is many times referred to in the scriptures. The Lord is said to have gone that He may consider in His place, (Isa. 18:4.) to have retired into His place, (Hosea 5:15.) to be asleep (Psa. 78:65.) until the day when He cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. (Isa. 26:21.) The resumption of His government in the person of His Son will be marked by the immediate exercise of righteous judgment on the iniquity which shall then abound: “for as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when the Son of man is revealed.” (Matt. 24:37.)

Until that time, the Church is the only sphere in which the Lord Jesus as the Son of man, exercises the direct authority of government. He stands in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, clothed in the priestly garments which He assumed at His ascension, and tries the Churches “with eyes as a flame of fire searching the reins and the hearts.” In this character He judges and disciplines not the world, but the Church, in order that they who have the blessed privilege of this judgment may not be condemned with the world, but that they may be purged, (John 15:2.) and bring forth fruit, and “have an abundant entrance administered unto them into His kingdom,” instead of being “saved as by fire.” (1 Cor. 3:15.) And hence results the blessing of being brought into a position in which the Lord can so-far acknowledge us as to exercise over us this authority. It would be an interesting and important question to consider how far the Church, as a body, have irrevocably thrown themselves off from this ground of present blessing. Whatever the answer may be, one thing is certain, that so far as we identify ourselves with the world, we surrender our claim to the peculiar and distinctive privilege of the Church, we lose the present discipline and the future reward, and plant ourselves in a world which, though not neglected, but often visited with goodness, remains still a barren field in the sight of God, and necessarily inherits judgment at the last. “For the day is coming when the Son of man shall be revealed as king of kings and lord of lords.” “His eyes will be as a flame of fire,” They will be fixed upon the world then, which He will visit, not in the administration of corrective chastisement, but “with fire and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire.” (Isa. 66:15.) It is true, that they who have really built upon the one foundation shall be delivered but their works may be burned, they may lose their reward and be saved only as by fire. Like Lot, who chose the fair and watered plain of Sodom, they will escape with loss and discomfiture of spirit, whilst others, like Abraham, who was content to be a pilgrim any where, will only behold the destruction afar off.

But to return. We have shown from scripture, that the present circumstances,

1.—Of the Jews,

2.—Of the Creation,

3.—Of Satan,

4.—Of the Church,

5.—Of the Lord Christ,

are not only altered, but, in the first four instances, reversed in the next dispensation; that its introduction is a time of unequaled judgment, so that it is continually termed the day of the Lord. (Isa. 2:1-2) The day of the Lord’s recompence, and these judgments are administered by the Son of man Himself. (Isa. 63; Rev. 19:11.) These things have been proved by scripture, and we therefore again repeat that such changes, effected by such means, do mark it as a dispensation entirely new.

If it be asked what practical advantage is derived from attention to these things, it would be sufficient to reply that they are the revealed instructions of God; but we will farther say, that they who have neglected them, will be found to have fallen, not only into loose and vague interpretations as well as false applications of scripture, but there will also be found in them an imperfect apprehension of the relation in which the Church and the world stand towards each other and towards God; a total blindness as to the coming judgments— which are the great subjects of scripture warning; and an indifference with respect to the coming of the Lord, which is the wee prescribed object of hope, We shall find arguments drawn from the state of the Jews when God was their king, applied to the state of the nations now, who have not God for their king; and we shall hear descriptions of blessedness which belong to Jerusalem in her future glory, perverted to flatter and deceive the Gentiles who are to be cut off. (Rom. 11)

We trust that these things are not written in a spirit of harshness or self-complacency. We see plainly that the members of the Church of Christ have wedded themselves to the world, and disunited themselves from each other: and we believe that a more clear apprehension of the quickening objects of the faith, and a habit of interpreting the scriptures more simply, may tend to lead them back in unity of understanding and unity of hope towards their lost position. It should be a position of testimony. Instead of the scripture being gradually exhausted by advancing time, its light is daily converging and becoming more and more concentrated as we approach nearer the latter day; a light, which like the fiery pillar of the Israelites, will be in the last times, security and joy to those who have it for their own; but confusion, and darkness, and error, to all besides. On those who have this light now, the responsible privilege is devolved of witnessing against everything that is inconsistent with the coming kingdom of heaven. It should cause us to feed on the paschal Lamb in haste, “with our shoes on our feet and our staves in our hands,” remembering that by deliverance we lose the supplies of Egypt, and for the present gain a wilderness.

Blessed are they who are preserved from coveting the goodliness of the land of their bondage—who prefer to fight with the pebble from the brook, rather than with the armor and sword of Saul. Let the Church learn from the type of Sampson. While Sampson retained the sign of his Nazarite separation to the Lord, he was strong —he relinquished it, and He became not weak only, but BLIND.

Christian Witness: Volume 1

Table of Contents

1 John 2

The Apostolic Fathers

"Appel Aux Chretiens De France, Et De L'etranger, En Faveur De L'englise Evangelique De Lyon; Par Adolphe Monod." Paris, 1833.

Appendix

On the Cause, Means, Mode, & Characteristics of the Present Apostasy

Christian Liberty of Preaching and Teaching the Lord Jesus Christ

On Colossians 1:19

Correspondence From the East

The Dispensation of the Kingdom of Heaven: Matthew 13

" Dissent From the Church of England Shown to Be Unwarrantable

The Distinct Characters of the Several Writings of the New Testament

Elder and Bishop the Same Office

Isaiah 52:13-15; 53

Jehovah-Jesus-Son of David and Son of God

Observations on Matthew 21, 22, 23

The Melchisedec Priesthood of Christ

On Acts 7

On Christian Ministry

On Conformity to the World

On the Extended Scope of Prophecy

On the Nature and Unity of the Church of Christ

On the Propitiation of Christ

On Zechariah 11

On Zechariah 11

Parable of the Sower-Matt. 13

Parochial Arrangement Destructive of Order in the Church

Preface

Present Prospects

Re-Translations in the New Testament

Resurrection, Not Death, the Hope of the Believer

Retrospect and Present State of Prophetic Inquiry

Scriptural Criticisms

Scriptural Criticisms. No. 2.

The Secret of God

Separation From Apostasy Not Schism

Thoughts on System in Religion

Thoughts on the Spiritual Nature of the Present Dispensation

The Threshing Floor of Ornan the Jebusite

The Vision of the Glory of God

The Warning of the Lord

The World to Come