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THINGS OF THE KINGDOM, 
 
 A SEEIES OF ESSAYS. 
 
 BY 
 
 V 
 
 GEOKGE ALBREE. 
 
 A MEMORIAL VOLUME. 
 
 PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 
 1881. 
 
Copyright, 1880, by Joseph Albree. 
 
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n JMemoriam* 
 
 GEOEGE ALBEEE. 
 
 Born in Salem, Massacliusetts, February 1st, 1803. 
 
 Came to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, December 25tli, 1825. 
 
 Married to Martha Curling, March 27th, 1828. 
 
 Lost his beloved wife, October 1st, 1867. 
 
 Died suddenly in Pittsburgh, February 20th, 1880. 
 
PEEFAOE. 
 
 As this volume is intended for private circulation among 
 our father's personal friends, it seems proper that we, his 
 children, should briefly state the reason for its publication. 
 
 During the last fifteen years of our father's life, a gradual 
 but very perceptible change took place in his speculative; 
 theological opinions and in his views of religious truth. 
 This divergence from the ordinarily received belief of the 
 Presbyterian Church, in which he had been an elder for 
 forty years, while not affecting his hearty acceptance of the 
 main points of the Calvinistic faith, was nevertheless so 
 positive and distinct in character, that it was not possible 
 for him to manifest the energy, activity, and heartiness 
 which had marked his life in earlier years. He was so 
 conscious of this change in his views, and of the anomalous 
 position in which it placed him towards his Christian breth- 
 ren, that he was, at times, almost determined to sever his 
 official connection with the visible church organization, 
 and, in the method most in accord with his own theory, 
 devote his energies to the welfare of the criminal classes, 
 with whom he had providentially been placed in contact 
 as one of the directors of the Allegheny County Work- 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 House, and whose confidence and affection he seemed to 
 gain so easily. 
 
 Being firmly convinced by years of careful study of 
 the Bible, and by the results of his own experience, that 
 the views of religious truth he held so tenaciously were 
 clearly taught in Scripture, and that their prevalence among 
 Christians would be followed by the greater triumph of 
 Gospel principles, it was impossible for him to retain them 
 in his own mind as themes of quiet meditation. Finding 
 in them, as he thought, the key that would open many a 
 dark and mysterious problem of human existence, springs 
 of enjoyment in every j)hase of spiritual experience, and 
 sources of consolation in times of trouble and affliction, 
 he was always ready and anxious to make them known 
 to all, and urge their acceptance by those to whom they 
 might seem scriptural. Being to a certain extent mystical, 
 although eminently practical when applied to every-day 
 life, these views Avere often misapprehended and their 
 proclaimer regarded as one who, having departed from 
 what were usually accepted as the old and the safe paths, 
 would preach another Gospel. Pained by repeated mani- 
 festations of this feeling, and to correct, if possible, the 
 misconception of the truths he loved so dearly, as well as 
 in the hope of leading some of his friends to see the truths 
 of the Gospel of Grace as they appeared to his own mind 
 he concluded to give expression to his views in a volume 
 composed of a series of essays, that he might offer to any 
 who would be sufficiently interested to read it. 
 
PRE FA CE. 9 
 
 In the midst of his work, and before his pnrpose was 
 completed, he was suddenly called home, leaving these 
 essays in their present shape, some of them only partially 
 finished and awaiting further additions. Two of them — 
 those on "Prayer'^ and '^The Sabbath" — had been published 
 as pamphlets, but are now presented in condensed form. 
 
 Knowing well how thoroughly our father enjoyed the 
 preparation of this volume, and the pleasure with which 
 he anticipated its publication, his children determined, after 
 his death, to carry out his purpose, as far as it was in their 
 power, by placing his manuscript in the form of a memorial 
 volume for distribution among his friends. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 God's Manifestations of Himself 
 
 The Gospel not to Conyekt the World . 
 
 Characteristics of the Jewish Dispensation 
 
 The Jewish Nation and its Future Destiny 
 
 The Coming of Christ . 
 
 Perversions of Scripture 
 
 Organization . 
 
 Pardon of Sin . 
 
 The Abiding Comforter 
 
 Prayer .... 
 
 A Dark Problem 
 
 Aphorisms and Eeflections 
 
 The Sabbath 
 
 Suffering .... 
 
 Criminals and Prison Reform 
 
 PAGE 
 
 13 
 
 23 
 
 47 
 
 63 
 
 93 
 
 116 
 
 133 
 
 153 
 
 164 
 
 174 
 
 200 
 
 210 
 
 225 
 
 250 
 
 261 
 
 11 
 
THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 GOD'S MANIFESTATIONS OF HIMSELF. 
 
 " Of Him, and through Him. and to Him are all things : to whom 
 be gloi'y forever." — Romans xi. 36. 
 
 " All things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing 
 made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of 
 men." — John i. 3,4. 
 
 "God hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom 
 He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the 
 world."— Heb. i. 2. 
 
 " And when all things shall be subdued unto Him then shall the 
 Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, 
 that God may be all in all."— 1 Cor. xv. 28. 
 
 The general facts gathered from these passages are, the 
 statement of creation by Divine power ; the object of crea- 
 tion, — God's glory ; the agency by which all is accomplished 
 — His Son. God's glory in the creation of the world and 
 the race of men is the theme of revelation. God's purpose 
 in the creation of men, as it has been unfolded in revelation, 
 is a purpose of Love. By the development of this pur- 
 pose of Love to His creatures, God has connected human 
 life and destiny with His own glory. His love has been 
 so deep and wide that it has made the existence of man an 
 essential part of His glory. That entire union of Him- 
 
 2 13 
 
24 TniNGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 self witli the race He had called into conscious life and 
 being, — that transcendent manifestation of love and honor 
 in the assumption of human form,— have inseparably con- 
 nected the race with its Creator. 
 
 The manifestations of this purpose of love, while con- 
 stant and progressive, have assumed conditions and forms 
 ^grouping themselves in classes and extending through fixed 
 definite periods of time. They may be designated as peri- 
 ods of Liberti/, Law, Grace, and Glory. Through two the 
 race has passed ; in the third, and probably near its close, it 
 is now living; the last is still before it. Through all of 
 these periods two facts have become evident, — the constant, 
 unchanging love of God, the constant and ever-increasing 
 sin of man. The results of liberty— that period when man 
 was left to work out to their proper end all the impulses of 
 his natural heart — were, that " the wickedness of man was 
 great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts 
 of his heart only evil continually." In the second period 
 we may discover clearer manifestations of love in the Law 
 of God, which, being a revelation of His own nature and 
 will, is by virtue of its source holy, just, and perfect, given 
 to a chosen people for a special purpose of good to them, 
 and through them to all people. We take the designs of 
 the law to be, — first, a revelation to man of the sin of his 
 heart; and second, a disciplinary process by which men 
 would be prepared for the reception and appreciation of 
 the infinite love of God in His Son. In the third period, 
 called by Paul "the dispensation of the Grace of God," we 
 have a revelation of the kingdom of Heaven as the final 
 result of the great redemptive work of Christ, — the remis- 
 sion of sin by faith in the Son of God, — the gift of the 
 Holy Ghost, with all it implies, — with "life and immortal- 
 ity made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus 
 
GOD'S MANIFESTATIONS OF HIMSELF. I5 
 
 Christ." The fourth and future period, called by Paul 
 " the dispensation of the fulness of times," is an object of 
 lively hope and earnest expectation to all who look for 
 Christ's appearing. It is the dispensation to which all 
 others are preparatory, — the fulfilment of all prophecy. 
 It will be the time of "the restitution of all things, of 
 which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy 
 prophets since the world began," — when the redemptive 
 work of Christ shall have extended so far and wide " that 
 at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven, 
 and in earth and under the earth, and every tongue should 
 confess that Jesus Christ is God, to the glory of God the 
 Father." The "dispensations" of the love of God, which 
 we have thus briefly indicated, although intimately con- 
 nected with each other, and incomplete when separated and 
 viewed alone, are distinct and different in manifestation 
 and circumstances. Having one main purpose, the glory 
 of God, united with the welfare of His creatures, they are 
 various developments of the Divine plan forming one 
 harmonious combination. As liberty w^as followed by law, 
 and law in turn completed and fulfilled by grace, so will 
 grace be swallowed up by glory. In the first, God selected 
 a man and his family, and in the second a nation, through 
 whom He would bless the race ; so in the third has He a 
 chosen company, standing in close and peculiar relations to 
 Himself through Christ the Son, upon whom and through 
 whom He will display the infinite riches of His love, who 
 will be the inheritors of all he hath promised, and who will 
 in a wider and truer sense than Israel under the law " make 
 known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious 
 majesty of His kingdom." 
 
 A retrospect of God's providential dealings with man- 
 kind as a race since the creation may make more evident 
 
l(j THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 the plan which, to our iniiid, has been revealed in Scripture 
 fur the restoration of His flillen creatures to })urity and 
 happiness by tiie impartation to the human soul of God's 
 own life and holiness. Adam, as he came from the hand 
 of his Creator, was neither a holy nor a sinful man, but 
 was simply an innocent being. Voluntarily transgressing 
 the single restriction laid upon him, he departed from God, 
 •thus exchano-incy for himself and his descendants the original 
 estate of peace and enjoyment for one of pain and misery. 
 The knowledge of sin came by the breach of the one law, 
 and the law worked out its own result, — wrath. Alan's 
 deliverance could only be accomplished by the power against 
 which he had rebelled. Scarcely had death — through our 
 mother Eve — entered into the world than the promise of 
 life through her seed was given, and the means of restora- 
 tion called into operation. Scarcely had man involved him- 
 self in trouble ere the anxious cry of a loving parent was 
 heard calling, "Adam, where art thou?" A God of love 
 could not rescue the child that Satan had seduced from 
 loyalty and obedience, for justice demanded satisfaction for 
 the broken law. Thus early in the history of man ap- 
 peared the apparently irreconcilable conflict between love 
 and justice. But while man Avas led captive by Satan, a 
 ho])e of deliverance was imparted by the promise that 
 " the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head," a 
 foundation was laid for his faith, an assurance was giv^en 
 that the just Avould justify tlie ungodly. The germ of the 
 I)lan for restoring man to more than pristine glory was 
 already unfolding. The process of redemption leading 
 through liberty, law, and grace to glory was already in 
 course of development. Man, free from the restraint of 
 any law, was at full liberty to choose his own course, could 
 come back to God or depart still farther from Him. Not 
 
GOD'S MANIFESTATIONS OF HIMSELF. 17 
 
 willingly, it may be, but nevertheless constantly and surely, 
 he was becoming enslaved by Satau and led farther from 
 the Source of life and light, until sin had well nigh obliter- 
 ated all traces of his Divine origin, and both body and soul 
 bore the deep brands of his captor. After the catastrophe 
 of the flood, God came nearer to man, in the selection of 
 Abraham as a source of blessing to the race, and, after a 
 trial of his faith, gave the more specific promise that in 
 "his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed." 
 Moses records God's dealings with His chosen ])eople in 
 Deut. xxxii. 9, 10: " For the Lord's portion is His people : 
 Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. He found him in the 
 desert land and in the waste howling wilderness; He led 
 him about. He instructed him. He kept him as the apple of 
 His eye." From among the idolatrous nations God selected 
 the Hebrews as the channel through which He would mani- 
 fest Himself to the race, with the design of establishing a 
 kingdom of righteousness on the earth, making that nation 
 the teacher of all nations, placing it as a city on a hill that 
 cannot be hid. He made known His glory and power to 
 them in a peculiar manner, associated His own life with 
 them, gave them a code of laws perfectly adapted to their 
 circumstances, — obedience to which would result in their 
 happiness, — placed them under a course of training and 
 discipline by which they might be fully prepared for the 
 more complete revelation of Himself in the promised 
 Messiah and an active participation in His purpose of love 
 to all the earth. The more God did for them as a nation 
 the more hardened and rebellious were the Jews, until by 
 the mouth of Isaiah He exclaims, " What could have been 
 done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? 
 wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, 
 brought it forth wild grapes ?" Notwithstanding this and 
 
13 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 otiier expressions of the apparent failure of the Jews in the 
 fulfihnent of their high destiny, the declarations of the 
 Jewish prophets confidently point to a time in the future 
 when their nation will be missionaries to "the isles afar off 
 that have not heard my fame neither have seen my glory, 
 and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles." 
 (Isa. Ixvi. 19.) The ''great day of the Lord" will not 
 <;ome until Elijah has prepared the way and the heart of 
 the people. While there is some resemblance between the 
 position offered to the Jews and that of the Church of 
 Christ, there is a marked difference between the boon placed 
 before them and the high glory reserved for the Gospel 
 Grace Church as it is presented in Rev. v. 10 and xxi. 24. 
 
 John came in the power and spirit of Elias to prepare 
 the way for the coming of Messiah, but his testimony was 
 rejected, and he was cut off. The Messiah, long promised 
 and hoped for, appeared, was rejected, and crucified by 
 "His brethren according to the flesh." The stream of 
 blessing which would have followed His acceptance by His 
 own nation was diverted from its proper channel and was 
 turned upon the Gentiles; the way was opened for the 
 descent of the Holy Ghost into the hearts of all believers 
 at the Pentecostal season, and by its indwelling in human 
 hearts the Redeemed Church was established on the earth. 
 
 As tlie Gospel of Grace was not manifested until after 
 the death of Christ, His mission on earth was preaching 
 the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, an earthly, sancti- 
 fied kingdom. After His resurrection the Son of God was 
 never seen by mortid eyes as He had been when He was the 
 Son of man. He spoke only to His own disciples of the 
 Kingdom of God and of the Holy Ghost that was to come 
 upon them. Matthew, a Jew in heart and feelings, pre- 
 sents Christ as tiie Son of David and the Son of man who 
 
GOD'S MANIFESTATIONS OF HIMSELF. 19 
 
 would deliver Israel from the Roman bondage and make it 
 the leading nation of the earth. Although a believer in 
 Christ's Divine mission, he evidently looked for its fulfil- 
 ment in a temporal and carnal sense. Mark, the faithful 
 recorder, presents Christ as the Son of man and the friend 
 of humanity. Luke, the learned Gentile, presents Him as 
 the Son of man and the Son of God. In these three Gospels 
 may be traced the gradual transition from the Jewish to the 
 Gospel Grace system, the latter still retaining many of the 
 legal characteristics of the former, from which it was so 
 soon to be separated. As Christ came to the lost sheep of 
 the house of Israel, He neither preached Himself nor sent 
 His disciples to preach to the Samaritans or Gentiles. 
 When He healed He made no attempt to proselyte, but 
 told the Jew to make an offering according to the law, but 
 the Gentile to " go and sin no more." The barriers had 
 not yet been broken down, the gate had not yet been swung 
 open. 
 
 John, who seemed by nature to have had a fuller and 
 more complete apprehension of Christ's mission, presents 
 Him as the Son of God. John was pre-eminently the 
 Christian evangelist. In his Gospel he does not refer to 
 that vision of the latter-day Jewish glory — the Transfig- 
 uration — of which he was a witness. In all he wrote, 
 while not forgetting that he was a Jew, and that the prom- 
 ises were the inheritance of his nation, John addresses both 
 saints and sinners, Jews and Gentiles. Passing all boun- 
 daries in his Revelation, — the history of time and eternity, 
 — he concentrates the life and essence of the Old and New 
 Testaments, closing with the prayer of the universal Church, 
 " Even so, come, Lord Jesus." 
 
 The object of the present essays is to present God as a 
 Being of infinite Justice and Love, whose heart is yearn- 
 
20 THIXGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 ing for tlie happiness of His creatures, and who would have 
 all men come to the knowledge of the truth as it is in 
 Jesus, but without the least infringement on their moral 
 free-agency ; to attempt to make evident that, moral free- 
 afjencv beinji^ a constituent of God's own character, He has 
 granted to men the power and privilege of exercising the 
 same, and given them the liberty of choosing life or death ; 
 that salvation is from God, condemnation from ourselves, 
 our good from necessity, our evil from our own voluntary 
 choice; that God's plan began in perfection, and will end 
 in perfection ; that God's will will be done in earth as it is 
 in heaven ; that the prayer of the Church, as expressed in 
 the ninety-seventh Psalm, will be fulfilled, and it can be 
 said truly, ^' The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice," and 
 the saints can with joy "say among the nations. The Lord 
 reigneth." 
 
 While it would seem impossible to have a conception of 
 an all-wise and all-powerful personal Creator and God 
 which does not involve the possession and exercise of pi^e- 
 destination and foreordination absolutely free from any in- 
 fluence or restraint beyond God's own choice, consistency 
 with the law of His own Being, and the revelation He has 
 made of His nature and purpose, it is equally important, in 
 our conception, that we should as firmly settle in our minds 
 the truth — as fully declared in Scripture, and just as im- 
 portant in its bearing on human faith and action — that man, 
 by the constitution of his nature, Avas made, and continues 
 to be, a mom^/ree-cr^e?i^, capable of making in all things an 
 intelligent, voluntary choice, and of experiencing through- 
 out his whole conscious existence the good or evil results 
 consequent upon such choice. Destitute of the divinely- 
 given power, the restoration and salvation of man would 
 reflect no glory on the Infinite love of God ; without it, the 
 
GOD'S MANIFESTATIONS OF HIMSELF. 21 
 
 conditions of man's immortality would be only the results 
 of an external constraining influence whicli he had been 
 powerless to resist. 
 
 Our conception of God, of His character, and the whole 
 course of His providential dealings with men, depends in 
 some degree upon the ideas we entertain concerning man as 
 a sinful being. If sin, which has entered into and so fully 
 possessed the race, be only a malady like a bodily disease 
 caused by certain fixed conditions for the resistance and 
 overcoming of which there are lodged within our human 
 nature germs of self-purification and correction, by whose 
 development the cause and its effects may be removed, the 
 process is only a question of time and industry on our part. 
 As in the case of bodily disease strict attention to wise and 
 familiar sanitary laws and avoidance of that which causes 
 or aggravates it w^ill in time sweep the disease from the 
 earth, so may faithful, constant observance of moral law 
 relieve us from the malady of sin. If any such idea holds 
 sway in the mind, there can be seen no absolute necessity of 
 a Plan of Salvation involving a long process of preparation 
 on the Divine part, an incarnation of God, a Divine-human 
 life and death of suffering, a constant, ever-present influence 
 of the Holy Spirit for the restoration of man to purity and 
 holiness. Just in proportion as we have a true idea of the 
 "exceeding sinfulness of sin," of its inborn and all-pervad- 
 ing power and awful results, of the immeasurable distance 
 to which it removes the soul from its Divine source of life 
 and love, so do we have the more exalted views of the in- 
 finite love and wisdom of the Father as manifested in His 
 efforts to restore man to purity and happiness by a [)rocess 
 attended with the highest glory to Himself and most per- 
 fect satisfaction to man, — a plan which, while fully satisfy- 
 ing the attribute of justice, comes into full accord with the 
 
22 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 deepest wants and feelings of the human soul. A salvation 
 from sin is manifested to man, wherein, by the reception of 
 a Divine principle, he will be guided by truth under all cir- 
 cumstances, and yet be in possession of perfect liberty, in 
 which his power of free choice will not be infringed on or 
 a particle of his individuality be destroyed, while at the 
 same time he will be led in a path that will yield to him 
 tbe highest and purest satisfaction of which his nature may 
 be capable. 
 
THE GOSPEL NOT TO CONVERT THE WORLD. 
 
 The phrase "kingdom of God'' occurs in the New Tes- 
 tament seventy times; " kingdom of heaven/' twenty times. 
 There are besides about thirty references to either. In many 
 places where the phrase is used by Christ or the Apostles it 
 is in connection with or a synonym of the "Gospel" or 
 " glad tidings." This is specially marked in the passage 
 from Isaiah read by Christ in the synagogue at Nazareth, 
 and made the basis of His declaration, " This day is this 
 scripture fulfilled in your ears." Matthew records the fact 
 that Jesus went about all Galilee " preaching the gospel of 
 the kingdom." Mark, in still clearer terms, Avrites of 
 Christ " preaching the gospel of the kingdom," quoting his 
 words, " The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at 
 hand ; repent ye and believe the gospeV^ The proclamation 
 to be made by the twelve was simply, " The kingdom of 
 heaven is at hand ;" the seventy were instructed to say, 
 " The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you." To Nico- 
 demus " the kingdom of God" was presented as a state into 
 which he might enter on certain conditions. It formed the 
 theme of many of the discourses of our Lord, was illus- 
 trated by many parables, and was an object of indefinite 
 desire and hope to those whose minds were at all influenced 
 by the Divine teachings. Christ and the disciples after the 
 resurrection talked of "things pertaining to the kingdom 
 of God." That the disciples did not clearly comprehend 
 the nature and object of the " kingdom" is evident from 
 their last recorded question before the Master ascended, 
 
 23 
 
24 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 ^^Wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom of 
 Israel?" 
 
 In the ordinary Jewish mind tlie advent of the " king- 
 dom," as spoken of by Christ, called up the long-cherished 
 ideas, gathered from the inspired utterances of the Prophets 
 and the traditions intertwined with the predictions, that 
 Messiah would insure the triumph of Israel over all his 
 ^emies, would re-establish the throne of David and make 
 Jerusalem the metropolis of the nations; that the approach 
 of the Messianic period would be marked by some miracu- 
 lous phenomenon similar to that at Mount Sinai; that peace 
 would reign over all the earth, and the name of Jehovah 
 be universally adored. Whatever may have been the dif- 
 ference of interpretation of the Messianic predictions among 
 the Jews, — whether they were to be fulfilled by one person 
 of the House of David, a King, Deliverer, and Pro})het, or 
 by the children of Israel as a race, — it was the inwrought 
 and immovable conviction of the national mind that an 
 "everlasting dominion," an " everlasting kingdom," would 
 be " given to the people of the saints of the Most High," 
 an honor and glory of which all of the ancient chosen 
 people would be partakers. It is not strange that these 
 high aspirations should almost exclude an equally impor- 
 tant part of the same predictions, — the humiliation and 
 suffering which were to precede the glory and majesty. 
 Cherishing most deeply the temporal and material ideas 
 involving the triumph and exaltation of their nation, pre- 
 vented by the fatness of heart, blindness of eyes, and deaf- 
 ness of ears, predicted by Isaiah, from any spiritual ap- 
 preciation of the Divine salvation placed within their reach, 
 the Jews failed to recognize the Founder of the " kingdom" 
 in Him who "had no form nor comeliness," who was 
 " despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and acquainted 
 
THE GOSPEL NOT TO CONVERT THE WORLD. 25 
 
 witli grief," "oppressed and afflicted/' "taken from prison 
 and jndgment, brought as a lamb to the slaughter, cut oif 
 out of the land of the living," and having " His grave with 
 the wicked." We may, perhaps, in reading the Messianic 
 prophecies in the light of history, wonder how it was possi- 
 ble that the Jews, Avith the Books of the Prophets in their 
 hands and read daily in their synagogues, should have failed 
 to see in the Avords and the life of Christ a literal fulfil-* 
 ment of those predictions on which their hopes were based 
 and which had sustained their faith during long periods of 
 captivity, and yet is it not possible, we might go further 
 and ask, Is it not pj^obable, that Christendom of this age 
 entertains ideas of the origin, nature, and object of the 
 " kingdom" as far removed from the reality as those held 
 by the Jews who listened to the gracious words of the 
 Master ? 
 
 It will scarcely be denied that the general expectation of 
 Christians of the present age is that a wide diffusion of the 
 gospel by the preaching of the word, by the efforts of mis- 
 sionaries, by the distribution of tracts and Bibles, and by 
 the operations of those human agencies of aggression on 
 the domains of Satan which have been multiplied during 
 this century, will insure a visible triumph of pure religion, 
 and that now, without any new or serious pause, truth and 
 piety shall steadily advance, shall conquer larger and still 
 larger portions of the human race, " until all the earth is 
 filled with the knowledge of the Lord." It is fondly be- 
 lieved that all forms of civil and religious despotism, all 
 gigantic political and ecclesiastical corruptions, will surely, 
 though gradually, be disintegrated and swept from the 
 earth by the prevalence and potency of the principles taught 
 by Christ; that righteousness and truth universally prevail- 
 ing will usher in the long-predicted and hoped-for " king- 
 
26 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 dom of God;" that the petition, "Thy will be done on 
 eaiih as it is in heaven," will soon be literally and abun- 
 dantly fulfilled. AVhile believing firmly that God's purpose 
 of mercy to the race will surely be accomplished, we must 
 say frankly that we do not share in the bright hopes which 
 seem to be cherished by the Church. We cannot accept the 
 prevalent idea, or see that its truth can be sustained either 
 by Scripture or the facts of history. 
 
 It is the object of this essay to make evident, 1st, nega- 
 tively, that the primary design of the "kingdom" or Gos- 
 pel of Grace, as introduced into the world by the teachings 
 of Christ and his Apostles, was not the conversion of the 
 icorkl ; that the world from the period immediately succeed- 
 ino; the Ascension of our Lord has not advanced in true 
 knowledge of God, or made substantial increase in spiritual 
 holiness ; that there will be no general progress in true holi- 
 ness during the continuance of the present Grace Dispen- 
 sation on the earth. 2d, positively, that the Gospel of 
 Grace is a xcitness to be preached in all the world to all 
 people, to call out from the world all those who will believe 
 in the Lord Jesus Christ ; that the world, as distinguished 
 from God's people, is constantly developing increasing dis- 
 loyalty to God, and will continue in the same course until 
 the close of the Grace Dispensation ; that at the future 
 period of time when God's purpose of love to His people 
 shall have been completed, the Church, composed of all those 
 who by faith have been made one with the Lord Jesus, 
 will be withdrawn from the world and taken to the enjoy- 
 ment of its Lord in heaven ; that God, in the person of 
 Jesus Christ, will then, by power and judgment, not by 
 the Gospel of Grace, begin to subdue the world to Him- 
 self, and Christ will receive the fulfilment of the promise of 
 '' the heathen for an inheritance and the uttermost parts of 
 
THE GOSPEL NOT TO CONVERT THE WORLD. 27 
 
 the earth for a possession ;'' and that by the coming of 
 Christ with His saints the Millennium will be ushered in. 
 
 I have endeavored to state these propositions so broadly 
 and fully that they may not be misapprehended. While 
 this truth may, as many other deep truths of Revelation, 
 be involved in some obscurity, and some difficulties may 
 seem to cluster about it, yet it may claim acceptance not 
 only because it has a substantial scriptural basis, but for 
 the reason that the experience of the Church and the world 
 for nearly two thousand years gives positive testimony in 
 its favor. Well aware of the fact that it is a doctrine di- 
 rectly opposed to the cherished hopes of the large majority 
 of Christians, and that its prevalence would result in an 
 entire change in the present mode of Christian activity, I 
 w^ould hesitate to advance it were I not so fully convinced 
 in my own mind that it is deeply imbedded in Revelation 
 and is one of the hidden treasures of God's word that will 
 in its proper time shine out clearly. 
 
 The general purpose of God in the earthly mission of 
 Christ was the conquering of death, the destruction of the 
 works of the devil, and by one offering to forever perfect 
 them that are sanctified. One special purpose was "to 
 take out from the Gentiles a people for His name" (Acts 
 XV. 14-19), an elect Church, foreordained before the foun- 
 dation of the world, — a selected people, " called, chosen, and 
 faithful,'' through and by whom He would manifest His 
 final glory. All who compose this elect Church were 
 " chosen in Him, before the foundation of the world, that 
 they should be holy and without blame before Him in love," 
 " predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus 
 Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His 
 will." (Eph. i. 4.) " His workmanship, created in Christ 
 Jesus unto good works" (Eph. ii. 10), " saved and called 
 
28 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 with a holy calling, not according to works, but according 
 to His purpose and grace given in Christ Jesus, before the 
 world began/' (2 Tim. i. 9.) 
 
 Christ declares it is the Father's will that ^' of all which 
 He hath given me, He should lose nothing, but raise it up 
 at the last day" (John vi. 39) ; and again says positively, 
 " All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me." These 
 •re but a few of the many passages which plainly declare 
 God's purpose to form for Himself a Church, — the " one 
 Body," composed of all who should be " heirs of God, and 
 joint-heirs with Christ," of whom (/hrist Himself, risen 
 and glorified, would be the Head. To this chosen company 
 God in a measure intrusts His glory. To them in a pecu- 
 liar manner He reveals His will. To them He grants His 
 Spirit to lead them into all truth. On earth they are to 
 be "a city set upon a hill" that cannot be hid — a " light 
 of the world" — the faithful shining representatives and 
 witnesses, showing forth the praises of their absent Lord, 
 who has gone to prepare a place for them, who will return 
 and take them to Himself. On the earth they are educated 
 and prepared by the Holy Ghost for the high destiny 
 awaiting them when, clothed in glorified spiritual bodies, 
 they shall sit with Christ on the Throne judging the nations 
 of the earth. 
 
 The Gospel of Grace is to call out from the world all 
 who will come, all who will accept Christ, and those who 
 by coming and accepting make evident that they are part 
 of that chosen company through whom the Father will 
 manifest His love and mercy, and upon whom He will con- 
 fer the high glories of His everlasting kingdom. The Dis- 
 pensation of Grace, perfected in the Eternal Mind before 
 the foundation of the world, but revealed on the earth and 
 made potential for mankind by the Incarnation of the Lord, 
 
THE GOSPEL NOT TO CONVERT THE WORLD. 29 
 
 is an indej3endent system, complete in itself, and while in 
 harmony with, and in one sense developed from, all that 
 had preceded, it has a distinct and definite purpose. Al- 
 though complete and perfect in itself, the Gospel of Grace 
 must be considered as a parenthesis between the apparent 
 failure of the first earthly material dispensation and that 
 " latter-day" judicial dispensation which was the burden of 
 the ancient prophecies, and which will be the consumma- 
 tion of the glory of God on the earth. Rising, it may be, in 
 the material economy, its course is like that of a rapid river, 
 passing through the stagnant waters of a morass without 
 mino-linff, JBowino; on throusfh its destined channel. Beino; 
 a manifestation of a reconciled God to a rebel world, it 
 gives to all, both Jew and Gentile, tlie invitation to come, 
 — let him that will, come and drink of the waters of life 
 freely ; but as only those who realize their need of life will 
 come, it can scarcely be claimed that its purpose is the 
 arbitrary conversion of the world. As the magnet passing 
 over a mingled mass of iron and sand surely attracts to 
 itself all the particles of metal, so the Gospel of Grace 
 passing through the world draws and holds to itself all. 
 those who will be sharers wdth Christ in His final glory. . 
 Its purpose and intent are revealed by Christ and the 
 Apostles, its means are fixed and definite, and, being ener- 
 gized by the power of the Holy Ghost, there is no place 
 for contingencies, nothing can prevent its consummation. 
 The proclamation of reconciliation " that all things are 
 ready," that there is no obstacle in the way of any soul, is 
 to be made to all creatures. If any have no desire to come, 
 or if any by a perverted will transform light into dark- 
 ness, and choose death rather than life, tlie responsibility 
 for the result must rest on the creature, not on the Creator. 
 The development and progress of the Grace system are 
 
 3 
 
oQ THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 above and beyond any dependence on liuman wisdom or 
 pliiloso^^hy, for it is the peculiar province of the Holy 
 Spirit to bring under its power every redeemed soul. 
 Human effort cannot add one to the number, neither can 
 all the powers of hell pluck one from the Shepherd's hand. 
 
 The Gospel of Grace is the Life and Righteousness of 
 God manifested or proposed, but not offered (for an offer 
 , would involve conditions), through Jesus Christ, to all the 
 fallen children of Adam who realize need of deliverance 
 from spiritual death. It neither implores nor solicits ac- 
 ceptance of the provided Salvation. If a soul chooses to 
 remain in death, the act is one of free choice. The Salva- 
 tion manifested is worthy of reception, not only from the 
 infinite character of its Author, but from its intrinsic 
 worth and value and its j)erfect adaptation to the eternal 
 welfare of the soul. By its acceptance only can the soul 
 come into accord with the source of its own true life and 
 become a partaker of the life, love, and holiness of God. 
 Pure acceptance of so rich a blessing can only result from 
 willing choice by the exercise of that free-agency with 
 which the Creator has endowed every reasonable creature. 
 The slightest command or threat, the least constraint of 
 legality, would be a stain on the character of the Giver. 
 The whole spirit of the Gospel of Grace is concentrated in 
 its only solicitation, "Come unto me that ye may have 
 life.'' 
 
 The selection by God of a portion of the human race, 
 and the formation of a Church in the world by the Gospel 
 of Grace, are in harmony with His recorded dealings Avith 
 the Hebrew nation. When Moses called all Israel together 
 in Horeb and repeated to them the Law, he declared God's 
 choice of them in the clearest and most emphatic manner : 
 " For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God ; 
 
THE GOSPEL NOT TO CONVERT THE WORLD. 31 
 
 the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people 
 unto Himself, above all people that are upon the face of 
 the earth. The Lord did not set His love upon yon, nor 
 choose you, becanse ye were more in number than any 
 people, — for ye were the fewest of people, — but because 
 the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath 
 which He had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord 
 brought you out with a mighty hand/^ (Dent. vii. 6-8.) 
 They were to be a " special people" unto the Lord for 
 purposes plainly declared to them by Moses during their 
 journey, and subsequently affirmed by the holy men and 
 prophets of the nation. They were to be teachers of the 
 Divine unity, the declarers of the great truth of Mono- 
 theism among idolatrous nations. In the w^ords of Isaiah 
 (xliv. 8), "Ye are even my witnesses." They were to 
 " make known to the sons of men His mighty acts and 
 the glorious majesty of His kingdom" (Ps. cxlv. 10-12); 
 they were to be the channel through which mercy should 
 be conveyed to all nations. (Gen. xxvi. 3, 4 ; xlix. 10 ; Isa. 
 xiix. 6.) While many other purposes are revealed, not 
 only by prediction but by the facts of Jewish history, the 
 most remarkable statement concerning the " special people" 
 is connected with their " final restoration." The apj)lication 
 is the same regardless of any peculiar interpretation that 
 may be attached to the words. Without throwing any 
 clear light on the future mysterious mission of the Hebrew 
 nation, the prophet Ezekiel in the words, ^^ Not for your 
 sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto 
 you ; be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, 
 House of Israel" (chap, xxxvi. 32), reveals, yet carefully 
 conceals, the fact that God's dealings with the ancient 
 people had a higher and more glorious purpose than their 
 individual happiness, national glory, or final salvation, — 
 
32 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 a purpose of good to them having at the same time an 
 intimate relation to God's glory. 
 
 In many points the closest analogy and most perfect 
 correspondence may be traced between the choice of the 
 " special people" of the old dispensation and the Church 
 of the new ; while in other points it fails to hold. The 
 choice of either was simply the exercise of Divine Sover- 
 *eignty ; the objects chosen were the subjects of peculiar 
 love and solicitude: all that was essential to the prosecu- 
 tion of the purpose for which they were chosen came to 
 them directly from God, frequently in a manner that might 
 be regarded as supernatural. The high destiny to which 
 both were called was active service for God and the mani- 
 festation of His glory and honor. In either the choice 
 is limitedj — one by birth, the other by sovereign pleasure. 
 In either it is absolute, — in one case as a nation, in the 
 other as the individual. Up to a certain point the Jewish 
 nation, despite its rebellion, folly, and sin, perfectly fulfilled 
 the purpose for which it was chosen. The ancient people 
 were the rulers and teachers of the nations, they were the 
 depository of Divine truth, they were the source from 
 which salvation for the Gentiles came through the Person 
 of Jesus Christ. But still, as a nation, they have thrown 
 away their birthright by refusing to recognize their predicted 
 Messiah; turning away from their traditional idea and 
 hope, they failed to take that high position for which 
 centuries of discipline and training under God's Provi- 
 dence had been designed to prepare them. Their glory 
 has for a time been transferred to others, but the day of 
 ingathering and rejoicing, when the Jews shall be hailed 
 as messengers of light to the nations of the earth, will 
 surely come. 
 
 There are now, and have been in the world ever since 
 
THE GOSPEL NOT TO CONVERT THE WORLD. 33 
 
 the earliest days of the Christian era, two Messianic mis- 
 sions based upon the same revelations of Divine truth, 
 claiming as their own the same prophetic utterances, 
 cherishing hopes of the same ultimate glory. The Supreme 
 law — the strength and hope of the Hebrew nation, the 
 unalterable faith of Israel, the basis of its social and 
 religious existence — is the absolute unity and invisibility 
 of God. They have lived for it and by it; for this they 
 have never ceased to struggle and suffer. Accepting with 
 an approving mind and a loving heart the fact that the 
 saving Messiah became a Divine Incarnation, the God 
 who assumed the form and lived the life of men, all 
 Christians believe and assert tliat the Messianic prophecies 
 were accomplished by the birth, life, death, and resurrec- 
 tion of Jesus Christ. Claiming as their own, in the most 
 definite and exclusive sense, the bulk of the prophecies 
 of the Old Testament, — a heritage the right to which 
 the most rigorous biblical criticism rather confirms than 
 weakens, — the Jews are waiting with imperturbable pa- 
 tience the fulfilment of the Divine promises. They are 
 hoping for the day when the universal proclamation of 
 peace and good-will will re-establish the fraternity of all 
 nations and the reign of God be inaugurated on the earth. 
 Their theory will not admit the "advent of Messiah until 
 universal peace shall be coincident with His era, and until 
 those laws of justice and love shall prevail which are de- 
 clared to be the providential signs of the lledeemer of 
 mankind." From the more remote period of its historical 
 existence the aspirations of Judaism have not been limited 
 to the developmentof its internal and individual life. Among 
 the most profound thinkers and writers of the Jews in 
 later centuries, we frequently meet the idea that the whole 
 world is to be their domain and future empire, — not, per- 
 
34 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 haps, SO much under a material but a moral sway. Cer- 
 tain it is that this long and firmJy cherished hope has left 
 a deep impress on all the principle and all the events of 
 their history. 
 
 Having in another essay enlarged more fully on the great 
 difference in spirit and result between the Legal and Grace 
 Dispensations, we have touched on the two Messianic the- 
 *ories in the hope of bringing out more clearly the facts 
 that in the future development of truth on the earth and 
 the prevalence of the kingdom of Christ the Jews, as the 
 "chosen people," are destined to take an important part, and 
 that the mission they are to perform has been regarded by 
 Christendom too exclusively as the portion of those who are 
 called by the Gospel of Grace. While the Christian Church 
 has properly appropriated to herself all the Messianic 
 prophecies of the Old Testament, she has also strangely 
 and without reason taken possession of truths and declara- 
 tions to which she has no just claim and which were not 
 intended for her. By a spiritualizing of certain textual 
 expressions, and, indeed, of whole passages, in the books 
 of the Prophets, exclusively addressed to and intended for 
 the Jews, the primary meaning is utterly destroyed and a 
 mode of interpretation introduced which is confusing and 
 misleading to all but those who study the Bible critically. 
 Take as an illustration such phrases as " Israel," " the 
 House of Jacob," " the cities of Judah," " the streets of 
 Jerusalem," very frequently recurring in Isaiah and Jere- 
 miah, and almost without exception bearing a strictly literal 
 meaning. In the ordinary usage among the churches these 
 expressions are symbolically given to the elect Church and 
 the Heavenly Jerusalem. The " Throne of David" is used 
 as synonymous with the "kingdom of Christ." The pas- 
 sage in the first part of the second chapter of Isaiah and the 
 
THE GOSPEL NOT TO CONVERT THE WORLD. 35 
 
 greater part of the thirty-third chapter of Jeremiali, — 
 passages which biblical critics agree have direct and special 
 application to the Restoration of the Jews, — explained in 
 this symbolizing method, are accepted as references to the 
 Christian Church, and believed to be predictions of the 
 triumph of the Gospel of Grace. The fact is, we cannot 
 find in the Prophets any predictions concerning the dispen- 
 sation under which the Church is now living, this period of 
 delay in the visible exaltation of the Messiah. There is no 
 hint of a, to us, long lapse of time intervening between the 
 humiliation and the exaltation of the ^^ Branch of Ritrhteous- 
 ness." His appearance is to be immediately followed by 
 " righteousness and judgment in the land." The primi- 
 tive Christians, finding nothing in the old Scriptures con- 
 trary to their hopes, waited with patient eagerness for the 
 reappearing of Him whom they had seen taken up in the 
 clouds. It seems to be a strange perversion of language to 
 apply that which Isaiah expressly says is written " concern- 
 ing Jicclah and Jerusalem^^ to the Christian Church of the 
 present parenthetical dispensation. The little practical 
 benefit that may possibly be derived from these erroneous 
 interpretations is gained only at the expense of the definite 
 truth which forms so large a part of the prophecies. Let 
 all the passages of the described import in the prophetic 
 writings be shorn of that mystical, spiritualistic meaning 
 which has been thrust upon them, and it will be found that 
 the prophets give us no substantial basis on which to rest a 
 hope that this world is to be converted to God by the pres- 
 ent Gospel of Grace. It will, of course, be understood that 
 I speak only of the statements concerning the Jewish na- 
 tion, its restoration and future mission. The predictions 
 referring to the person and Avork of the Messiah, the proc- 
 lamation of salvation to the Gentiles, are of an altogether 
 
36 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 different character, and their partial fulfihnent serves as a 
 guide to tlie j^roper interpretation of those yet unfulfilled. 
 These are so full, so free, and so rich, that the Church of 
 Christ may find entire satisfaction in them Avithout the 
 wrongful appropriation of the large portion of Scripture 
 that is the heritage of the Jew. 
 
 I have claimed that the preaching of the Gospel between 
 the time of the Ascension of Christ and His next appearing 
 in the world was not designed to convert the world to right- 
 eousness, or to result in that period of comparatively blessed 
 holiness which has been so abundantly predicted and for 
 the advent of which all Christians so ardently hope. Of 
 the ultimate prevalence of righteousness to be enjoyed on 
 the earth under the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ there 
 can be no doubt, unless the Bible be resolved into a collec- 
 tion of myths. But of the means by which this result 
 shall be accomplished or of the time when it shall be fully 
 manifested there have always been widely divergent beliefs 
 taking practical form in correspondingly divergent courses. 
 It is patent that the belief on this vital point — the design 
 of the Gospel of Grace as it is to be gathered from Scrip- 
 ture and as it may appear from a consideration of Divine 
 Providence — is one that will powerfully aifect and influence 
 both the interior Christian life and its development in out- 
 ward activity. Whether our impulses, thoughts, aspira- 
 tions, and efforts are to flow in harmony with the Divine 
 purpose and thus yield the full measure of satisfaction 
 and success, or whether our whole Christian course shall 
 be one of discord with inexorable law, depends upon the 
 correct apprehension of revealed truth. 
 
 On this, as on many other points of Christian doctrine, 
 the negative argument presses with great power. Among 
 the many motives for perseverance in labor and encourage- 
 
THE GOSPEL NOT TO CONVERT THE WORLD. 37 
 
 ment to steadfastness in duty given to the primitive Chris- 
 tians by the Apostles, we fail to find any assurance that the 
 preaching of the Gospel would convert the world to the 
 service of the Master whom they loved and served. The 
 obstacles they should meet, tlie persecution they must en- 
 counter, the sufferings and martyrdom they should endure, 
 were plainly foretold, but the ultimate success of that Gos- 
 pel to which their labors and lives were devoted was no- 
 where assured either by Christ or the Apostles. In the 
 New Testament no promise of success was granted to be- 
 lievers corresponding in any degree with that given by the 
 Lord to the Israelites when leaving Egypt, that they should 
 enter upon and possess a land flowing with milk and honey, 
 the doubting of which caused the death of a generation or 
 the postponement of the fruition of the promise until the 
 sceptics had passed away. We cannot find any such promise 
 of the success of the Gospel in the Old Testament, for that 
 belongs to the Jews. Excepting where its teachings are 
 connected with morality, and by reason of a common ori- 
 gin aj)ply to all mankind, the revealed truths belong in a 
 special manner to the Jews, and are inseparably joined with 
 the ceremonial system of which they formed a part. This 
 system was not universal or general, but national and pecu- 
 liar. Gentiles as nations had no part in these truths. Indi- 
 vidually, any benefit or virtue to be derived from them was 
 preceded by acceptance of rites which marked the believer 
 as a Jew and separated him from his former kindred. But 
 the Gospel of Grace is a new dispensation having a design 
 and purpose altogether different from that of law, — a new 
 revelation of God to mankind, a manifestation of the infi- 
 nite love of God under dissimilar conditions having refer- 
 ence to the future glory of God, pointing to a culmination 
 above and beyond earth and time, spiritual and eternal in 
 
38 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 nature, working out a Divine plan of which no intimations 
 had been given in the prophecies of a nation, and follow- 
 ing a course indicated by inspiration of the Holy Spirit 
 only when the old JNIosaic Law, local, material, and tem- 
 poral in character, intended for and adapted to one peculiar 
 nation, had been rendered nugatory and vain and its effi- 
 cacy destroyed by the fulfilment of the purpose for which 
 ifrhad existed. When Christ came — the event to which all 
 the sacrifices, ceremonies, and ritual of the Mosaic economy 
 pointed forward — the virtue of the Law departed, or rather 
 the grace of which it had hitherto been the channel gather- 
 ered itself in its source and culmination, the man Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
 Kejected by the Jews as a nation, refused by those whose 
 whole training would seem to have prepared them for the 
 reception and enjoyment of so great a blessing, Grace, in 
 the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, was manifested to the 
 Gentiles. Then began the Gospel of Grace, that new pro- 
 cess of Divine Love of which w^e find no indications in 
 Jewish prophecy ; then appeared the development of the 
 Church of God chosen and perfected before the world began. 
 
 Very soon after the Apostles began preaching the "Gospel 
 of the Kingdom," we meet an authoritative statement of 
 its purpose in Acts xv. 14: "Simeon hath declared how 
 God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them 
 a people for His name," followed by the declaration from 
 the prophet Amos, "J/i5er this I will return, and will build 
 again the tabernacle of David," etc. Here we have some- 
 thing definite and positive in nature. Moreover, it was 
 given in the first general council of the Christian Church 
 gathered at Jerusalem by James, one in authority, and in 
 itself was made the basis of his decision in the important 
 matter then threatening the peace of the infant Church, 
 
THE GOSPEL NOT TO CONVERT THE WORLD. 09 
 
 and wliich, decided otherwise, would have laid the heavy 
 yoke of the Jewish law upon all Gentile Christians. To 
 all those who attach more importance to Divine truth be- 
 cause it has been announced and formulated by the highest 
 authorities or office-bearers of the " visible Church," this 
 whole statement of the council at Jerusalem should be of 
 great value. From it we learn that while the blessings of 
 the Gospel Dispensation are universal in the sense of mani- 
 festation to all men, — Gentiles as well as Jews, — yet the 
 purpose of the Gospel is essentially one of selection, — a 
 gathering from the Gentiles '^a people for His name." 
 Peter also, on the day of Pentecost, states its universal 
 purpose when he declares, "The promise is unto you, and 
 to your children, and to all that are afar off," but defines 
 its specific purpose of selection in the succeeding words, 
 "As many as the Lord our God shall call." (Acts ii. 39.) 
 The same strongly marked purpose is plainly revealed in 
 Acts xiii. 48. When Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and 
 preached to the Jews, as the Lord had commanded them, 
 that Christ should " be for salvation unto the ends of the 
 earth," they announced the universal character of the 
 Gospel, but the ulterior purpose is very prominently 
 brought into view by the record of the results following 
 their preaching : " And as many as were ordained to eternal 
 life believed." The same general truth may also be found 
 in Acts ii. 47 : " And the Lord added to the Church 
 daily such as should be saved." With these, and many 
 other passages of similar meaning and import scattered 
 through the New Testament, it can scarcely be said that 
 the members of the primitive Church cherished the pleasant 
 delusion, so prevalent in the Church of modern centuries, 
 that their labors and sufferings were to be productive of an 
 era of universal triumph of the faith they professed. Their 
 
40 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 hopes ran forward to the reappearing of Him whom they 
 liad seen ascend into heaven, and their trust was based on 
 the promise of His coming. 
 
 The same general principle of selection becomes ap- 
 parent, in a wider sense, after a careful consideration of 
 John's vision of the marriage of the Lamb, in Rev. xix. 
 When the voice of the great multitude is heard announcing 
 iii»gladness and joy, " The marriage of the Lamb is come, 
 and the wife hath made herself ready," it is evident that 
 many others are present than those who compose the Church, 
 — the Lamb's wife. The angel immediately says, " Write, 
 Blessed are they wdiich are called unto the marriage supper 
 of the Lamb,'' and enforces attention to the fact by de- 
 claring, " These are the true sayings of God." The Church 
 has occupied a peculiar position in the world. It has been 
 formed of those who, by the marvellous and irresistible 
 power of the Holy Ghost, have been united to Christ, who, 
 by virtue of Divine and Sovereign Grace, have been chosen 
 to be the companions of the Son in His heavenly glory, 
 who, having been truly identified with Him, have been 
 His faithful witnesses during His absence from the earth, 
 and have waited patiently, but trustfully, for His glorious 
 appearing. They have been selected to fill the highest place 
 of honor Avhich the infinite love of God could give to any 
 of the human race. 
 
 But besides the highly-favored saints, there are many 
 others enjoying so richly the favor of God that they are 
 called "Blessed," and are invited to participate in '^the 
 marriage supper of the Lamb." Who they are, and whence 
 they come, are not within the present purpose to inquire. 
 They may be the saints of other dispensations. They cer- 
 tainly will be the recipients of Divine favor, but they are 
 not of the Church, — the Bride. By no process can all of 
 
THE GOSPEL NOT TO CONVERT THE WORLD. 41 
 
 those who sit down to the " marriage supper" be considered 
 as identical with, or a part of, the Bride. The principle of 
 selection seems to make evident that all those who have 
 believed in and accepted Christ, between the time of His 
 ascension to the Father and the time of His reappearance 
 on the earth, will be the Lamb's wife. The fact that these 
 have been selected to high privilege, and called to places of 
 honor and service, does not in any way militate against the 
 truth that God by revelations of himself, and by the ope- 
 rations of His Holy Spirit, has gathered many Saints, to 
 whom will be accorded the privilege of participation in 
 the full manifestation of Divine love to men, and in the 
 completion of His purpose, so far as it is declared in His 
 word. 
 
 Of higher authority than any yet quoted are the words 
 of Christ in that wonderful discourse recorded by Matthew 
 (xxiv. 14): "And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be 
 preached in all the world for a witness, and then shall the 
 end come." Whatever may be the truth contained in these 
 words, whatever may be the interpretation placed upon the 
 word "witness," Christ evidently did not intend to assure 
 His disciples of success — final, universal success — in pro- 
 claiming the Gospel. Granting the constant fulfilment of 
 the promise, " Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of 
 the world," and resting in the assurance that Divine power 
 is always present to energize and make potential the procla- 
 mation of the Gospel which Christ commanded, yet, with 
 Christ's own declaration of the purpose of that Gospel 
 before us, can we draw from any of His utterances, or 
 from all combined, that which will warrant a reasonable 
 hope for the conversion of the world before He comes? 
 Shall we confess that devotion to Christ is not a sufficient 
 motive and impulse to sustain us in Christian life and ef- 
 
42 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 fort? May we not consistently affirm that, had the ulti- 
 mate success of the preaching of the Gospel been a purpose 
 in the Divine mind, Christ would not only have declared 
 it, but have presented it as an encouragement to His 
 disciples? 
 
 But it is claimed, and indeed asserted, by many as an 
 almost self-evident proposition that the proclamation of 
 the Gospel as commanded by Christ, the bearing witness 
 to all nations, will be followed by the conversion of all 
 nations. While freely admitting the truth that the faith- 
 ful performance of duty in proclaiming the Gospel and 
 bearing witness to the Grace of God on the part of those 
 who are called and chosen, with the attendant supernat- 
 ural power of the Holy Ghost operating on the hearts of 
 men, are the means, and the only revealed means, by which 
 souls may attain a new spiritual life, yet the emphatic and 
 repeated declarations of Scripture do not warrant the cher- 
 ishing of a hope that the labors of the Church are to be 
 followed by the universal diffusion of the Grace of God. 
 
 The consummation of God's eternal purpose relating to 
 time, to be manifested in the coming of Christ, are two- 
 fold, — the withdrawal from the world of His own Church, 
 and the conquering of the world by the exercise of 
 power in the person of His Son. In the first aspect the 
 coming of Christ will be the fulfilment of the promise 
 made just before His ascension, — a going away, the prepa- 
 ration of a place, the coming again, and the reception into 
 that place of those who had been called. By this reception 
 into the place provided for His saints, Christ preserves His 
 people from the perilous times which are to come upon the 
 earth. The assurance to them is, " Because thou hast kept 
 the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the 
 hour of temptation which shall come upon the world, to 
 
THE GOSPEL NOT TO CONVERT THE WORLD. 43 
 
 try tliem that dwell upon the earth." The promise is not 
 that they shall be sustained in or carried safely through 
 the ordeal, hut they shall be kept /rom that trial, the terror 
 and rigor of which we can have but little comprehension. 
 Whatever it may be, believers in Christ may have the 
 assurance that by the coming of the Lord and their pres- 
 ence with Him, they will have no part or share in that 
 ■which is to be the portion of those upon the earth. 
 
 But it must be marked that this Coming of Christ is 
 His coming for His people,— the time they long and wait 
 for, wdien they shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the 
 air ; when, in company with the blessed dead who have died 
 in the Lord, they shall enter upon the fruition of hope. 
 The Church, composed of all those, and only those, who 
 moved by the Holy Ghost have exercised faith on the 
 Lord Jesus, as distinguished from those who were saved 
 during the continuance of the former Jewish Dispensation, 
 or who may be saved after the coming of Christ for His 
 people, Avill then be in reality and in very truth the " Body 
 of Christ" and '' the Bride of Christ." Whatever may be 
 their happiness, or whatever may be their blessed employ- 
 ments, we know that they ^^ shall ever be with the Lord." 
 With the taking up of the Church, this present Dispensa- 
 tion of the Grace of God in Jesus Christ ends. Its pur- 
 pose, the gathering of a people for His name, shall have 
 been consummated. 
 
 In the second aspect, as far as the Coming of the Lord 
 for His Church is concerned, its influence on the world will 
 be rather negative than positive. The world may be utterly 
 unconscious of the great phenomenon, and altogether igno- 
 rant of the time when it may be taking place. But the neg- 
 ative results of the withdrawal of the Church, and with it 
 the Grace of God as it had been made effectual by the 
 
44 THIXGS OF THE KIXGDOM. 
 
 Holy Gliost, will soon be made apparent in the great 
 "Apostasy," "the falling away," and the appearance of 
 "Antichrist." While the Holy Ghost was present on the 
 earth, working with power in the lives of the Saints, and 
 daily bringing into spiritual life those whom it was calling, 
 the ordinary means of grace, the proclamation of the 
 Gospel, the preaching of the Word, and the power and 
 example of Christians, were all influences which restrained 
 and modified the manifestations of evil. The reflective 
 influences of Gospel truth, while powerless to produce any 
 genuine change of heart or life, were yet effective in re- 
 straining the outbreakings of sin. The mind of man cannot 
 conceive the wickedness and sin which will be developed 
 when the depraved human heart is left to follow its own 
 inclinations. Indeed, the light and truth of the Gospel 
 despised and rejected will, like every good thing perverted, 
 be only the means of promoting evil. 
 
 There is a period, clearly marked in Scripture, inter- 
 vening between the time when the Church is taken away 
 and the return of the Lord with His Saints, — that " Comins: 
 of Christ'^ in which the world will be most deeply con- 
 cerned, for it will be the time of the consummation and 
 fulfilment of all the prophecies of judgment and the ex- 
 ercise of kingly power. How long it may continue has 
 not been revealed. It is not important that we should 
 know, and it might be presumptuous to endeavor to deter- 
 mine, its time or duration. The order of events is clear, 
 but of the time no man knoweth. But this interval, be it 
 long or short, is the time of tribulation, " such as was not 
 since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever 
 shall be," the time when " that wicked shall be revealed," 
 when the nominal Church left on the earth shall become 
 more corrupt than ever, — the time when "the God of 
 
THE GOSPEL NOT TO CONVERT THE WORLD. 45 
 
 Heaven^' begins to ''set up a kingdom which shall never be 
 destroyed," and which by its continued progress and power 
 "shall break in pieces and consume all" other kingdoms. 
 The revealed truth that Christ will withdraw His Church 
 from the world at a future time, and the prophecy and 
 statement of the events which will tlien occur, make it 
 evident that the conversion of the w^orld by the Gospel 
 which Christ preached on the earth was not its design. 
 In addition to the entire absence of any statement upon 
 which a hope could be based, we have the clear prophecy 
 of the existence and intense activity of evil, the develop- 
 ment of which will carry the world deeper and deeper into 
 sin and misery. 
 
 When this dark and doleful period of the world's history 
 shall have ended, Christ will come to rule as the Son of 
 David, to take possession of the promised inheritance, to 
 rule on earth as he has ruled in Heaven. Then will the 
 promised Millennium begin. Having returned to earth 
 and bound Satan, Christ will take possession of His earthly 
 throne. " All things that offend and them that do iniquity" 
 shall be gathered out. " The righteous shall shine forth as 
 the sun." All those marvellous forces by which evil in man, 
 in the beasts, and in the material universe is subdued will 
 be in full and constant operation, and the final result will 
 be that " the whole earth will be filled with His glory." 
 
 A very brief sketch of what I believe to be the revealed 
 purpose of God w^ll close the consideration of this most 
 important question, upon which so much depends, — not a 
 statement of chronology, attempting to fix dates or seasons, 
 but simply the order of times and events as foreshadowed 
 or clearly stated in Scripture and confirmed by history. 
 
 First The period of liberty, extending from the fall of 
 man to God's calling of Abraham. 
 
 4 
 
46 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 Second. The period embracing the history of the Jews 
 from the calling of Abraham up to the advent and rejec- 
 tion of Christ, when men were under a process of Law. 
 
 Third. The Dispensation of Grace, in which w^e are now 
 living, the period in which the Holy Ghost is gathering 
 out from the world those who will compose the Church, — 
 the Body and Bride of Christ. 
 
 ^Fourth. That period, be it long or short, intervening be- 
 tween the coming of Christ for His Church and His coming 
 to reign upon the earth, — the time of judgment betwixt the 
 Grace Dispensation and the Millennium. 
 
 Fifth. The Millennium, that period of universal peace and 
 happiness which it is ordinarily supposed is to continue for 
 one thousand years on the earth. 
 
 Sixth. The little time when Satan shall be loosed for a 
 season. 
 
 Seventh. "Then cometh the end, when He shall have 
 delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father,'^ — that 
 Dispensation of Ages of which we have no revelation, that 
 period of which it may be said " God is all in all.'' 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE JEWISH DISPEN- 
 SATION. 
 
 The Old Testament is not a sealed book, the importance 
 of which passed away when Christ ascended to heaven. 
 Those Christians are in error who think that the princi- 
 ples which governed the Jewish nation and the remarkable 
 events which crowded its history, can have but little interest 
 or practical benefit for those who are supposed to be in full 
 possession of the promised inheritance. The Church of the 
 present Dispensation accepts the fact that it is in the enjoy- 
 ment of invaluable blessings because of unbelief on the 
 part of the Jews, but the Church has never fully accepted 
 in its inner consciousness the equally important truths that 
 it is not in the line of direct succession ; that it has but 
 slight, if any, portion or lot in the Old Testament prophe- 
 cies; that the exact and literal fulfilment of all the prom- 
 ises to the Jews is only temporarily suspended; and that the 
 time will come when the Star of Jacob will be in the as- 
 cendant and the kingdom be restored to Israel. Vastly 
 important to ourselves and intimately connected with the 
 final destiny of the human race as is the Church of God, its 
 birth, progress, and culmination are not embraced in the 
 general scope of Hebrew prophecy. We deceive ourselves 
 with false hopes if we appropriate to the Church of this 
 Dispensation the promises upon which the ancient Jews 
 based their faith of a future earthly reign of their Messiah. 
 The redemption of the Avorld would have been effected by 
 
 47 
 
48 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 Christ at His first coming had He been accepted by His 
 brethren. Tlieir cordial reception of Him and complete 
 recognition of His divine character would have been the 
 prelude to their highest national glory. All that had been 
 promised would have been in immediate process of fulfil- 
 ment. The conditions would indeed have been altogether 
 different : the race of men would not for eighteen hundred 
 v^rs have borne the awful burden of guilt arising from 
 the crucifixion of its Lord ; there would have been the 
 universal and probably sudden manifestation of that "' king- 
 dom" which John declared was " at hand." Whatever the- 
 ories we may entertain on this subject, we may rest assured 
 of the fact that the infinite resources of the Eternal God 
 would then and there have accomplished His designs of 
 love to men had the Jews joyfully accepted instead of 
 bitterly rejecting His Son. 
 
 Although the Church of the present was not revealed 
 to the gaze of the prophets, Christ and the Apostles have 
 given us two general truths concerning it. On earth it is 
 to be the faithful witness of its absent Lord. When He 
 comes to take it to Himself, it will be an active participant 
 in His purpose of love and mercy, and a sharer with Him 
 in His glory. Beyond these we have but little of its duties 
 or rewards. We are confident that the grace and love of 
 the Lord are so infinite and His resources so inexhaustible 
 that the blessings granted to the Gentiles will in no way 
 detract from the future glory of the Jews, neither will their 
 possession of the earth and the glorious earthly kingdom 
 of the Jews interfere with or in any way aifect the close 
 union between Christ and His chosen Church. 
 
 It is impossible to have any correct understanding of the 
 relation in which the Old and New Testaments stand to 
 each other, or to have any true conception of God's great 
 
THE JEWISH DISPENSATION. 49 
 
 plan of good to the human race, ordered from the begin- 
 ning of time and extending onward to its close, unless we 
 first gain some distinct idea of His revealed purpose to and 
 with the Jews. The basis upon which rests the whole Jew- 
 ish economy is found in God's covenant with and promise 
 to Abraham. It was essential to the fulfilment of this 
 promise that God should select from the people of the 
 earth, then sunk in idolatry and sin, a nation that would 
 be a " peculiar people," upon whom He would lavish His 
 favor, and to whom He would make special and definite 
 revelations of Himself and His will. 
 
 He would make them not only the prophets of good 
 things for all nations, but also the active participants in 
 accomplishing that which they foretold. That they were 
 called to be the witnesses and teachers of the fundamental 
 truth of Monotheism, is apparent in all the Jewish records. 
 The eternal existence, the Personality, and the Unity of 
 God were indelibly impressed upon tJjeir minds and wrought 
 into their hearts. By the revelations God made of Him- 
 self to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by the deliverance of 
 their descendants from Egyptian bondage and His guidance 
 of them through the wilderness, by the giving of the Law 
 from Sinai, and the foundation of a new order of religious 
 ceremonials, sacrifices, and worship), — symbolical of still 
 greater blessings in store, — they were taught that all was 
 for their restoration to purity and holiness by the closest 
 possible alliance of humanity with the everlasting God, and 
 that, under certain conditions, Jehovah would establish an 
 assured communion between Himself and the chosen people 
 that would be for their peace and happiness. A loving 
 Father, yearning for His rebellious children, would absorb 
 them into His own life and holiness by placing them under 
 the guidance of His own hand, subjecting them to a Law 
 
50 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 of absolute purity, with an ultimate design of dwelling 
 within their hearts and establishing a kingdom of Right- 
 eousness upon the earth. Leaving out of view, for the time, 
 the symbolism of the ancient worship, we find that these 
 principles give continuity to the whole record of God's 
 dealing with His chosen people and evidence of the wonder- 
 ful ada})tation of the process to accomplish the proposed 
 ei>^. Take, for example, that portion of Jewish history 
 embracing their rebellion and consequent forty years' so- 
 journ in the wilderness. The generation which had been 
 intimately familiar with and constantly tempted by the 
 idolatry of Egyj)t was cut off and its place supplied by one 
 formed and moulded by God's own hand. Their religious 
 conceptions had been created and fixed, their moral con- 
 sciousness awakened and deepened, by the authority of the 
 moral law and by the constant influence of the Tabernacle 
 service. The enjoined necessity for and frequent recurrence 
 of the bloody sacrifices assured them of an ever-present 
 sinfulness and corruption, from which forgiveness, at least, 
 might be obtained. Their repeated deliverances from im- 
 pending dangers by displays of miraculous power had 
 wrought into their souls a feeling of dependence upon that 
 " Jehovah" whose new name had been given to tliem in 
 their '^ anguish of spirit" and " deep bondage." They came 
 to the borders of Canaan a strong people, young in years, 
 prepared to take and hold possession of tlie land promised 
 to their fathers. Their theology was pure, their principles 
 of domestic and social economy were the best in the world, 
 and to-day form the basis of civilized life, and their wor- 
 ship and religious belief had been interwoven into their 
 individual and national life. They were in every way 
 prepared for the work they were to do. The purpose of 
 God in choosing a people, and the successful result of the 
 
THE JEWISH DISPENSATION. 51 
 
 discipline and training, became evident when they entered 
 into possession of Caanan. 
 
 One of the most remarkable characteristics of the Jewish 
 nation, always present with them, and continually finding 
 expression in their prayers, psalms, and prophecies, is their 
 firm belief in a happy state of being on the earth for all 
 its inhabitants, a condition of peace, joy, and prosperity, 
 of which they were to be the channel. As Isaac Taylor 
 says, ^'It is greatly this steadfast confidence in a bright 
 future for all nations that gives unity and coherence to 
 Hebrew prophecy, and which blends into a mass the vari- 
 ous materials of which it consists. It is this hope for the 
 world that has welded into one the succession of the Old 
 Testament writers. The Patriarch of the race received this 
 very promise, that in him should all nations henceforth be 
 made happy." David and the Ps:il mists take up this same 
 large assurance and say, "All nations whom Thou hast 
 made shall come, and worship before Thee." Isaiah rests 
 often upon this theme, and kindles as he expands it ; and 
 one of the last of this company foresees the setting up of a 
 kingdom which should have no end, and which should 
 embrace " all people, nations, and languages." It is true 
 that Palestine was always the Hebrew Prophet's foreground 
 and the Holy City his resting-place; but he looked out 
 beyond these near objects, and with the remoteness of place 
 he connected the remoteness of time, and dwelt, with fer- 
 vent aspirations, upon the promise of an age when "from 
 the rising of the sun to the going down of the same" the 
 anthems of a universal worshij) shall ascend from earth to 
 heaven. Singular it is that a people so intensely national 
 and exclusive in thought and feeling, so isolated by the 
 circumstances of their Divine training, should so confidently 
 anticipate and clearly predict a time of peace, justice, and 
 
52 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 truth for all nations. The dreams and imaginings of the 
 poets of other nations will not compare, for far-reaching 
 extent, with the vision of these ancient seers. Strange as 
 it seems, the Jew, whose high privilege came from birth 
 and blood, who regarded all others with contempt, preached 
 a philanthropy through his prophets that was absolutely 
 unrestricted, embracing an area wide as the world and 
 reaching forward into ages yet to come. The genuine 
 philanthropy of the world bases itself ii})on and is cher- 
 ished by the principles of the prophets. In them, rather 
 than in the words of Christ, do we find any warrant for a 
 hope of the ultimate triumph on the earth of justice and 
 benevolence. To them seems to have been revealed with 
 Divine precision what God was to do on the earth with 
 Israel and the nations. In striking contrast with the ful- 
 ness of their visions is the remarkable silence of the New 
 Testament concerning the destiny of nations, and of the 
 progress and universal diffusion of the Gospel. What we 
 gather from the words of Christ and the Epistles of the 
 Apostles (the Eevelation of John only excepted, for that 
 is inextricably combined with the Jewish prophecies) assures 
 us of waning faith, continued and successful aggressions 
 of evil powers, the depredations of "grievous wolves," of 
 "perverse men" drawing disciples after them, and of peril- 
 ous times for men. Instead of peace, Christ's advent is 
 followed by the sword. The Xew Testament has no prom- 
 ises of earthly comfort or prosperity as the rew^ard of per- 
 sonal piety. The Christian is to be content with food and 
 shelter, trusting in the continued presence of Christ in the 
 soul, and solacing himself with the thought that "the 
 coming of the Lord draweth nigh" and " hoping unto the 
 end for the grace that is to be brought unto them at the 
 revelation of Jesus Christ." 
 
THE JEWISH DISPENSATION. 53 
 
 Aside from the all-pervading influence of inspiration 
 which made these predictions absolute truth, a natural 
 reasoii for this marked peculiarity may be discerned in the 
 fact that the whole Jewish economy and legal dispensation 
 were national in character, tempoi^al in duration, and (apart 
 from figurative intent and symbolical design) thoroughly 
 materialistic in spirit. They were national by the circum- 
 stances of Divine choice, — from tiie selection of the seed 
 of one man through whom the blessing nmst flow, a God- 
 given birth which came only by heredity. They are purely 
 national because the burden of the prophecies is the latter- 
 day glory of the Jewish people, when they shall have found 
 and accepted the Messiah, when the Gentile nations have 
 been brought to the knowledge of the truth and the curse 
 removed from the face of the earth. 
 
 They were temporal, because they were to have their 
 consummation on the earth, and to fulfil a purpose among 
 the nations regarded in the mass. Except, therefore, as an 
 underlying and assumed principle springing from the eter- 
 nity of God, a future immortality was not an essential ])art 
 of the Jewish system as such. A promise of individual 
 immortality was very dimly, if at all, revealed, and we 
 search in vain for any definite declaration which can be 
 regarded as confirmatory of the glorious hope. Now, in 
 the authentic announcement of immortality and the incon- 
 testable evidence given by Christ, the yearnings and aspira- 
 tions of the Psalmists and pro{)hets may be regarded as 
 only the gropings and reachings forward of those to 
 whom no clear revelations had been vouchsafed. 
 
 In nothing, perhaps, is the diflerence between the Jewish 
 and Christian systems more clearly marked than in the 
 feelings awakened in pious hearts by the contemplation of 
 the natural death of the body. The Psalmist pleadingly 
 
54 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 cries out, " What profit is there in my blood when I go 
 clown to the pit? shall the dust praise Thee? shall it declare 
 Thy truth ?" and again he affirms " that the dead praise 
 not the Lord, neither any that go down in silence/^ Again 
 he asks the questions, " Wilt Thou show wonders to the 
 dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? shall Thy loving- 
 kindness be declared in the grave, or Thy faithfulness in 
 destruction ? shall Thy wonders be known in the dark and 
 Thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness ?'' He clings 
 closely to life because " in death there is no remembrance 
 of Thee. In the grave, who shall give Thee thanks?" 
 When he was afflicted and poured out his complaint before 
 the Lord, he said, "O my God, take me not away in the 
 midst of my days." Solomon gives utterance to the same 
 idea when he declares, " There is no work, nor device, nor 
 knowledge, nor Avisdom in the grave W'hither thou goest." 
 
 Hezekiah doubtless expressed the feelings of the pious 
 Jew on his recovery from sickness and deliverance from 
 death : " I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to 
 the gates of the grave : I am deprived of the residue of my 
 days. . . . For the grave cannot praise Thee, death cannot 
 celebrate Thee, they that go down into the pit cannot hope 
 for Thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise Thee 
 as I do this day : the father to the children shall make 
 known Thy truth." 
 
 The natural shrinking from death, either as an entrance 
 upon a new condition of being or a ceasing to be, did not 
 arise in the breast of the Jewish saints from any slavish 
 fear of God or from visions of a dread future called up by 
 a guilty conscience. It was because they believed death to 
 be the end of their usefulness. They desired to remain on 
 the earth to serve and honor the Lord, to enjoy the bounties 
 of His hand, to receive, even to a good old age, the bless- 
 
THE JEWISH DISPENSATION. 55 
 
 iiigs which He had jonied to the faithful performance of 
 duty. The future being shrouded in darkness, the earth 
 was their portion, and they would gain from it all the satis- 
 faction it could afford. 
 
 To Cliristians all is different. For them death has no 
 terrors, for it has been conquered for them by Christ. 
 Deatli is only the servant to usher them into the presence 
 of their Lord. The real object of the Christian's hope is 
 not his individual happiness after the life on earth, but the 
 comino; of Christ and the resurrection of the saints. To meet 
 death is not the object of a saint: it is merely the entrance 
 upon that eternity of glory which Christ has assured. 
 
 '' When the Most High divided to the nations their in- 
 heritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the 
 bounds of the people according to the number of the chil- 
 dren of Israel.'' The division and separation were not 
 from any inherent goodness in the Hebrews exceeding that 
 of the surrounding idolatrous nations. It was the first step 
 in the process by which God, who is a Spirit, would mani- 
 fest Himself in a spiritual manner as a reconciled God to 
 every son and daughter of Adam, and raise them from a 
 position of degradation to one of glory and honor far above 
 that forfeited by their progenitor. The Jews w^ere simply 
 the material through which He would reveal Himself and 
 His plan of mercy culminating in the Incarnation of His 
 Son. Descending from the lieights of His own glory and 
 meeting the race of men at their lowest point. He would 
 redeem them from sin and lead them by a gradual and long- 
 continued process to the point where He Avould give them 
 all He had to give, — Himself in the Person of His Divine 
 Son. As the word of the Lord said unto Jeremiah, i\\Q 
 whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah were 
 to be unto the Lord " for a people, and for a name, and for 
 
56 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 a praise, and for a glory;" they were to form an earthly 
 kingdom of Righteousness, to be a light unto all nations. 
 
 The discipline and training of this chosen nation was in 
 accordance with the nature of man, was perfectly adapted 
 to its purposed result, but nevertheless its apparent failure 
 for a time may be expressed in the words of Isaiah : ^' What 
 could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not 
 ^one in it ? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring 
 forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes ?" The more Je- 
 hovah would favor the chosen people the more rel^ellious 
 they became, the more He did for them, the harder ap- 
 peared to grow their hearts, until that inborn depravity, 
 increasing continually by a natural course of events, came 
 to a full development in the highest crime it was within the 
 power of man to commit, — the death of Him who came 
 to be their Prince and Saviour. At the cross on Calvary 
 God's infinite love and man's bitterest hatred met. There 
 a reconciled God was manifested to sinful, rebellious men. 
 There the middle-wall of partition which had so long stood 
 between the Jew and the Gentile was broken dowji, and a 
 way of access to the Holy of Holies, which had hitherto 
 been approached by an earthly High Priest, and that only 
 once a year, was opened fully to every human soul. Par- 
 don, with all it involved, was open and free to those who 
 w^ould accept it. Christ, living and dying in the flesh as 
 the Son of man, proclaimed a common salvation for all the 
 sons of Adam, and abolished forever both the enmity and 
 power of the law over those who received Him. Bv uniting 
 them to Himself, and making them in a special sense the 
 sons of God, He wrought out for them an elective or per- 
 sonal salvation different in nature, extent, and privilege 
 from that which resulted to the entire race from His as- 
 sumption of human form. The enmity of the law having 
 
THE JEWISH DISPENSATION. 57 
 
 been taken away by pardon, there remained nothing that 
 would prevent the acceptance of a full and finished sal- 
 vation by any human soul. Law had been conquered by 
 Grace. Men were free to choose either, but must abide by 
 their choice. Those who would live by the Law might 
 gather what advantage they could from it, but judgment 
 by that Law must be the consequent of their election. 
 
 Without any present consideration of the causes by 
 which the chosen people were led, in spite of their long- 
 continued course of discipline and preparation, to refuse 
 the promised Messiah, who would at that time immediately 
 have entered upon the fulfilment of the prophecies relating 
 to their nation, we accept the fact that the Jews rejected 
 Christ, and thus opened at once a way of salvation for the 
 Gentiles, and rest in the faith that, as God in His infinite 
 wisdom has made the wrath of man to praise Him, He will 
 in the future latter days establish an Earthly Kingdom of 
 Heaven, leaving to His Church the blessed work of witness- 
 ing for Him during the long interval existing between the 
 apparent failure of the Legal Jewish Dispensation and the 
 manifestation of His glory at the appearing of Christ. 
 
 As Law in all its power of restraint and penalty was the 
 spirit of the old economy, and Grace with its absolute 
 freedom and its happy results following from their proper 
 cause is the moving impulse of the new economy, it is evi- 
 dent that the Christian dispensation must be in every re- 
 spect different from that which had preceded it. The objects 
 and motives in each being dissimilar, the process by which 
 the end of either can be attained will have but little in 
 common. The Jew and the Christian cannot travel on the 
 same highw^ay. They may indeed observe the same code 
 of morals and be governed to a certain extent by the same 
 eternal laws of right and wrong in all their relations with 
 
58 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 their fellow-men, but they can never stand in the same 
 relation to God, the Father of all, until they are full par- 
 ticipants in a common faith. The ceremonial worship, 
 which had served so good a purpose in pointing the faith 
 of Jewish believers to Christ, was shorn of its strength and 
 beauty, and could no longer be of any efficiency to the wor- 
 shipper, for it was displaced by that heart-worship "in 
 ^spirit and in truth'' of which Christ had spoken. The 
 bloody sacrifices wTre unavailing, for Christ had by His 
 own death deprived them of all power. An examination 
 of some points in which the difference between the Law 
 and Gospe], or the Jewish and the Christian dispensations, 
 is strongly marked, may be of practical benefit to some 
 Christians who are tempted to rest their hopes more on 
 "the works of the law'' than on the finished salvation 
 througli Christ so freely manifested for their acceptance 
 in the Gospel. 
 
 The whole legal system was a result of the covenant be- 
 tween God and Abraham and his descendants. A cove- 
 nant continues in force during a specified time or until the 
 death of either of the parties. All the blessing and mercy 
 promised in this covenant culminated in the gift of Jesus 
 Christ, who, coming from the Eternal Father, stood ready 
 to give to the chosen people just what they had long hoped 
 for, and which would have been the fruition of all their 
 desires. With Christ's death the covenant of works be- 
 came null and void by the act of those for whose benefit 
 it had been instituted, or rather its provisions were held in 
 abeyance and temporarily suspended. What, then, is the 
 position of a believer in Christ ? He, by faith, becomes a 
 participant in the blessing resulting and flowing from the 
 Covenant of Grace between God the Father and Christ 
 the Son of Man. Christ, by His death, becomes a Testa- 
 
THE JEWISH DISPENSATION. 59 
 
 tor, and bequeaths to all believers the infinite riches of His 
 love and grace in the New Testament of His blood. By 
 it all believers become the sons of God and partakers of 
 Eternal Life. They form a new creation in Christ Jesus, 
 different in origin, in spirit, and in result from any life 
 that had previously been in the world. 
 
 Under the Law, God was worshipped more acceptably 
 in certain places than in others. Access to Jehovah was 
 through the ])riesthood. The priests could venture to ap- 
 proach the Holy Place only after a process of purification 
 and clothed in a prescribed dress. The magnificent earthly 
 temple at Jerusalem was the one spot where the Lord was 
 most fully manifested to those who would seek Him. An 
 offering or a sacrifice of the best he possessed must be pre- 
 sented by him who would enjoy the Divine favor. The 
 entire service was national in character, adapted to an 
 earthly people, and restricted to localities. Gospel-worship 
 is universal in character, spiritual in nature, reaching be- 
 yond the temporal, and finding its consummation in the 
 eternal. Its participants serve in the newness of the Spirit, 
 being fully delivered from the oldness of the letter. The 
 old material worship, visible to the outward eye, brought 
 with it no peace to the conscience, no blessed assurance of 
 pardoned sin, but the invisible spiritual, eternal Gospel- 
 worship brings with it the j)eace of God by uniting the 
 soul to God. While it is universal, it is also individual 
 by virtue of this union. While Christians are not a nation 
 in the proper sense, and do not worship in a worldly tem- 
 ple, yet they do form a holy nation, a peculiar people, 
 having citizenship in heaven, and a Great High Priest, 
 who, having risen from the dead, offers up continually 
 spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. Christianity is in 
 one sense a religion without a temple, an altar, or a sacri- 
 
(JO THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 ficing ])riest. All who are drawn by the power of the 
 Holy Ghost become the subjects of that faith by which 
 they receive Christ in all His fulness as their Saviour, and 
 thus are made members of the redeemed Church, saved 
 from the power of sin, delivered from the bondage of the 
 law, and made i)artakers of the liberty of the children of 
 God. 
 
 Of these, and these only, is the Church of Christ com- 
 posed. The Church is formed of sanctified souls called 
 from the world, made members of Christ, and members 
 one of another. Tliey are the members of the " one Body," 
 of which Christ is the Head, — they are all new creatures 
 in Christ Jesus. The Church is formed of those who, in 
 the truest and deepest sense, are the people of God, and are 
 such because, as Simeon declared, '^ God at the first visited 
 the Gentiles, to take out of them a people unto His name." 
 (Acts XV. 14.) It is the result of Christ's life-work and 
 death, by w^hich He hath broken down the middle-wall of 
 partition, and made in Himself of twain one neio man, — a 
 new creation, different from all that had preceded it. The 
 perfect manifestation of a reconciled God, in the person of 
 Jesus Christ, forever abolished the Jewish Law, the Jewish 
 temple and sacrifices, everything that was material and ex- 
 ternal, and made the faith of the individual soul the means 
 by which the new relation between God and man was begun 
 and continued. The religion of Jesus Christ, being spiritual 
 in essence, swept away all that was visible save that which 
 sprang legitimately from His own sacrifice, an outward 
 sign for an inward grace. 
 
 A logical inference may be drawn from this scriptural 
 view of the constitution of the Church that would relegate 
 to their proper place among the typical ceremonies of the 
 Jewish economy many of the practices of modern Chris- 
 
THE JEWISH DISPENSATION. 61 
 
 tendom whi(;h have a tendency to make the Churcli notliing 
 more than a refined Judaism. They are the result of a 
 human mingb'ng of what God hatli forever separated, — 
 Law and Grace. The spirit prompting them is dishonor- 
 ing to God ; for, denying the truth that " Christ is the end 
 of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth,'' 
 it would establish a righteousness of human effort and 
 would cover the simple truth of the Gospel with the misty 
 clouds of a human and false theology. It would transform 
 the Gospel of glad tidings of great joy to all people into a 
 system of intellectual philosophy, finding its proper home 
 in a visible organization claiming to exercise by a Divine 
 right the same spirit and legal force which were un- 
 doubtedly lodged with the priesthood of the ancient people 
 while under the reign of law. The sad results are seen in 
 the multitudes of the professed followers of Christ who 
 are "almost, but not altogether," Christians; struggling 
 between law and grace ; having too much light to find all 
 their satisfaction in the world, but not enough confidence in 
 grace to come out and be separated from the world ; striving 
 to believe that they are at peace with God, but not having 
 the peace of God dwelling in their hearts; working that 
 they may obtain life instead of manifesting by their work 
 the Divine life which has been implanted in their hearts. 
 
 In endeavoring to get some idea of the characteristics 
 which mark the Jewish Dispensation, the great contrast 
 which they offer to those of the Gospel Dispensation, as 
 they are presented in the Old Testament and in the New, 
 in Law and in Grace, may make them more evident. It 
 has been truly said that " the New Testament is hidden in 
 the Old, and the Old is opened in the New." Adam is 
 the head of a fallen creation, Christ is the Head of a new 
 spiritual creation. In the old creation, man belonged to 
 
62 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 death; in the new, death belongs to man. (1 Cor. iii. 22, 
 23.) In the old, death takes everything from man; in the 
 new, death gives ns all things. In one, death was a master, 
 in the other, a servant, — in one, an officer to drag to justice, 
 in the other, a messenger to carry us home to glory. To 
 the humble saint death is not an end either to be avoided 
 or to be desired, for when the time comes it is simply a 
 bridge to carry him over the Jordan. 
 
 The Old Testament is temporal, literal, and national; 
 the New is eternal, spiritual, and individual, — the law of 
 God stamped upon the heart of each saint. The Old was 
 a bondage in which no rest, joy, and peace could be found. 
 It was a revelation of death involving man in a curse. (2 
 Cor. iii.) The New opened up to man all the blessings 
 that his soul could long for, and is to him an instrument 
 of life and delivery from the curse. The Old was a min- 
 istry of condemnation ; the New, a ministry of righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 The Old constrained to action by external force; the 
 New incited to action by spontaneous love in perfect free- 
 dom, love, and delight, at the same time imparting the 
 Grace by which the soul is sustained. The Law was to 
 educe from man what he was to God; Grace was to 
 manifest what God is to man. 
 
THE JEWISH NATION AND ITS FUTURE DESTINY. 
 
 Aside from the great interest connected with the Hebrew 
 nation as the source through which we have received a 
 Divine Revelation, its history has a strong fascination 
 arising from an antiquity extending farther back in the 
 remote ages than that of any other people. In reading, 
 we feel assured that it is an authentic history, whose records 
 are based on substantial foundations. We have a conscious- 
 ness, dear to every Christian heart, that the religion of 
 Jesus Christ rested upon and was developed from Jew- 
 ish history. This consciousness is assured not only by 
 the indisputable facts of Revelation, but by the continued 
 existence of the Jewish nation, — not, indeed, in the ordinary 
 form of a nation possessing an objective government, but in 
 the form and under the exact conditions which had been 
 plainly revealed to the Jews by their own inspired })rophets 
 while they were inheriting their own promised land. Since 
 the destruction of their Holy City they have lived in the 
 world and among other nations separate and alone. At 
 various periods of their history they have come into close 
 contact with other nations, have mixed with them, and have 
 lived with them in bondage, but have never become iden- 
 tified with them and never allowed their history to be so 
 blended with that of their conquerors that they could not 
 at the appointed time be again entirely separated, and by 
 some inherent principle or power of cohesion at once form 
 again a homogeneous nation, carrying with them it may be 
 
64 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 some of the ideas, or perhaps the vices, of their oppressors, 
 but never to such an extent tluit the peculiar characteristics 
 of their nationality were materially changed. Their prin- 
 ciples, hopes, and faith are as strongly and apparently as 
 unchangeably fixed in their minds as the peculiar features 
 of countenance are marked upon their faces. Living as they 
 do in every part of the civilized world, holding constant 
 business communication with the people among whom they 
 dwell, having nothing that can be recognized as a national 
 or ecclesiastical head, apparently nothing that could cherish 
 or maintain State and Church politics, adapting themselves, 
 as far as may be necessary, to the laws and customs of the 
 country where they sojourn, they do still, to-day, maintain 
 in greater or less purity the distinctive principles of their 
 faith and practice, and do still draw strength, comfort, and 
 consolation from the inspired words of Isaiah and Jeremiah, 
 and still look forward with unshaken faith to the full and 
 literal fulfilment of the covenant which Jehovah made with 
 their progenitor Abraham. Their continued separate ex- 
 istence, despite of political and national annihilation and a 
 continuous persecution such as no other people on earth ever 
 suffered for so long a period and in such varied, far-reach- 
 ing forms, is unparalleled in human history. Other nations 
 conquered by superior force have under similar circum- 
 stances maintained their primitive character for a few gen- 
 erations at most and then gradually faded away, leaving 
 some names and words as the only memorials of their ex- 
 istence ; but the Jews of the present age, having lived for 
 nineteen hundred years " without a king, and without a 
 prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and 
 without an ephod, and without teraphim,'' or any of the 
 essentials of a nation and Church, do to-day stand in a posi- 
 tion to respond to the call of any leader whose credentials 
 
THE JEWISH NATION AND ITS DESTINY. 65 
 
 would assure them of a Divnue commission. Let us not sny 
 tliat the " age of miracles'' is past, for the continued ex- 
 istence of the Jewish nation is an ever-present miracle. 
 Its past, present, and future history has formed, and will 
 continue to form, one of the most wonderful and far-ex- 
 tending displays of supernatural power that has ever been 
 manifested on the earth. 
 
 Instructive and interesting as would be the consideration 
 of the causes which led to and produced the dispersion of 
 the Jews among the nations of the earth as they are recorded 
 in the Old Testament and abundantly confirmed by the 
 actual facts of history, the whole subject must take its place 
 among the fulfilled prophecies of Scripture, and the atten- 
 tion be directed to their future destiny as it is predicted by 
 the same prophets who so truly announced their degradation 
 and suffering. The more carefully the passages of Scripture 
 relating to the restoration of the Jews are studied, the more 
 apparent will be the truth that the hope of the Church — the 
 glorious appearing of the Saviour — is closely united with 
 God's purpose of good to His ancient people, and that in 
 the latter days when by His love they shall be turned from 
 sin and unbelief to righteousness and faith and established 
 in honor and glory in their own land, with Christ as their 
 personal King, this royal people, now too generally re- 
 garded as the offscouring of the earth, wall be, as was 
 promised, a blessing to all the families of the earth, and 
 inheritors of a glory and dignity far surpassing that of any 
 Gentile potentates. While the declarations of Jehovah 
 "of the things which must shortly come to pass" have 
 great significance to the Christian who believes that the 
 promised Messiah has once lived on the earth, to the pious 
 Jew they must have an intensity and force of meaning far 
 beyond our conception. They are part of his inner life. 
 
66 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 the basis of all his hopes, the consummation of all his devout 
 desires. They may be regarded by us as types and symbols, 
 or as records of that with which we have no personal con- 
 cern, but to the Jew they are still the ^^ oracles of God/' 
 instinct and throbbing with life, a sacred trust committed 
 to him by the great Jehovah. 
 
 It is not the present purpose to quote all or even a large 
 portion of the many chapters of the Old Testament which 
 ?o clearly predict the future glory and happiness of the chil- 
 dren of Israel, but to select from the many, some that more 
 definitely than others declare the manifest intent of God. 
 
 As it is a fact that the descendants of Abraham are now 
 scattered over all the earth, so it is plain that they shall be 
 gathered from all lands and restored to their own country. 
 Isaiah declares: " And it shall come to pass in that day, 
 that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to 
 recover the remnant of his people which shall be left from 
 Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Gush, 
 and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and 
 from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign 
 for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, 
 and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four 
 corners of the earth J^ (Chap. xi. 11, 12.) Jeremiah says: 
 **At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the 
 Lord, In those days the house of Judah shall walk with 
 the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the 
 land of the North to the land that I have given for an in- 
 heritance unto your father s.^^ (Chap. iii. 17, 18.) And again 
 it shall be said : " The Lord liveth, that brought up the 
 children of Israel from the land of the North, and /rom all 
 the lands whither he had driven them : and I will bring 
 them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.'' 
 (Chap. xvi. 15.) ^' And I will gather the remnant of my 
 
THE JEWISH NATION AND ITS DESTINY, 67 
 
 flock Old of all countries whither I have driven them, and 
 will bring them again to their folds, and they shall be fruit- 
 ful and increase.'^ (Chap, xxiii. 3.) ^' Hear the word of the 
 Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar oif, and 
 say. He that scattered Israel will gather him and keep him 
 as a shepherd his flock." (Chap. xxxl. 10.) In Zechariah 
 we read : "And when I shall have scattered them among 
 the people, they will remember me among the far-ofl* coun- 
 tries : therefore shall they live with their children and re- 
 turn again, and I will bring them out of the land of Egypt, 
 and out of Assyria will I gather them : and into the land 
 of Gilead and Lebanon will I bring them, and it shall not 
 be sufficient for them."* (Chap. x. 9, 10.) In these and in 
 many other passages three facts are prominent, — that by 
 Divine purpose and power the Jews have been scattered in 
 all lands ; that by the same power they shall again be 
 gathered ; and that they shall dwell in the land given to 
 their fathers, Palestine. The statements are clear, plain, 
 and literal. Any process which would spiritualize such 
 declarations must conflict with the ordinary rules of bib- 
 lical interpretation and result in disastrous confusion. In 
 the study of this as of any other line of scriptural truth, 
 the intent of any particular passage becomes more evident 
 by the reading of the whole paragraph, or even book, in 
 which the text occurs. 
 
 Strange as it may appear, those who have despised the 
 Jews shall, at the time of their restoration, treat them with 
 respect and bear a willing part in advancing the purpose 
 of God. Isaiah says, " Thus saitli the Lord Eternal, Be- 
 
 ^ Some of the passages are quoted from Isaac Leeser's *' Twenty- 
 four Books of the Holy Scriptures, according to the Massoretic text, 
 after the best Jewish Authorities." This fact accounts for some 
 slight variations from our accepted English version. 
 
g3 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 hold, I will lift up to the nation my hand, and to the peo- 
 ple will I raise up high my standard : and they shall 
 bring thy sons in [their] arms, and thy daughters shall be 
 carried upon shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing 
 fathers, and princesses thy nursing mothers: with the face 
 toward the earth shall they bow down to thee, and the dust 
 of thy feet shall they lick up.'' (Chap. xlix. 22, 23.) 
 When the day shall come, many will gladly share in their 
 blessing : " For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and 
 will again make choice of Israel, and replace them in their 
 own land : and the strangers shall be joined unto them, 
 and they shall attach themselves to the house of Jacob." 
 (Isaiah xiv. 1.) "And it shall come to pass in the last 
 days . . . many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let 
 us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the 
 God of Jacob ; that He may teach us of His ways, and we 
 may walk in His paths." (Isaiah ii. 3.) "And many peo- 
 ple and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts 
 in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord." (Zech. viii. 
 22.) 
 
 While the restoration of the Jews may be in one sense 
 the result of the natural laws of God's providential deal- 
 ings with mankind, there are many passages warranting 
 the belief that it will be attended with unusual and miracu- 
 lous displays of Divine power; for Michah, in speaking of 
 the " flock of God's heritage" feeding " in Bashan and 
 Gilead, as in the days of old," says, " As in the days of 
 thy coming out of the land of Egypt, ivill I let them see 
 marvellous thingsJ' (Chap. vii. 15.) Isaiah declares that 
 " the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian 
 sea; and He will swing His hand over the river with His 
 mighty wind, and will smite it into the seven streams, and 
 render it passable with shoes ; and there shall be a highway 
 
THE JEWISH NATION AND ITS DESTINF. 69 
 
 for the remnant of His people, which shall remain from 
 Asshur; like as it was to Israel on the day that they came 
 up from the land of Egypt." (Chap. xi. 15, 16.) They 
 shall have a leader divinely commissioned : " Behold I send 
 unto you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the day 
 of the Lord, the great and the dreadful : and he shall turn 
 back the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the 
 hearts of the children to their fathers." (Mai. iii. 23, 24.) 
 Isaiah gives us a record of miracles that will be coincident 
 with the return of the ransomed to Zion : " The blind eyes 
 shall be opened, the deaf ears unstopped, the lame leap, 
 the dumb sing: waters break out in the wilderness, and 
 brooks in the desert, sandy wastes be changed into pools, 
 and thirsty lands into springs of water : all ravenous beasts 
 will disappear; joy and gladness shall be the portion of 
 His people, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." (Chap. 
 
 XXXV.) 
 
 A civil polity resembling' the ancient regime^ with coun- 
 sellors and judges, will be established, with Christ as their 
 personal King. In the first chapter of Isaiah, the Eternal 
 of hosts declares that, after having taken satisfaction on 
 their enemies and purged His people from dross. He 
 "will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors 
 as at the beginning" (verse 26) ; and in the twenty-third 
 chapter, " And I will raise up over them shepherds who 
 shall feed them : and they shall fear no more, nor be dis- 
 mayed, and none of them shall be missing. Behold, days 
 are coming, saith the Lord, wlien I will raise up unto David 
 a righteous sprout, and he shall reign as King, and prosper, 
 and he shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth." 
 (Verses 4, 5.) " And they shall serve the Lord their God, 
 and David their King, whom I will raise up unto them." 
 (Jer. XXX. 9.) In that sublime and glowing prediction of 
 
70 THI^'GS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 the future glory of his nation written in chap. Ix. 16, 
 Isaiah reaches the highest point in the declaration : "And 
 thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour, and 
 thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." Ezekiel, too, 
 gives clear testimony on this point: "And my serv^ant 
 David sliall be King over them ; and one Shepherd shall be 
 for them all : . . . and David my servant shall be Prince 
 ^nto them forever.'' (Chap, xxxvii. 24, 25.) Hosea, also, 
 declares that after the many days of dispersion and desola- 
 tion " will the children of Israel return, and seek for the 
 Lord their God, and David their King; and fearing will 
 they hasten to the Lord, and to His goodness in the latter 
 days." (iii. 5.) 
 
 If the passages already quoted do clearly set forth the 
 facts that the Lord by His mighty power will gather the 
 Jews again into their own land and re-establish a Theocracy 
 of wdiich Christ will be the head, it must follow as a nat- 
 ural consequence that the position of the nation among 
 other nations of the earth w^ill be unique and peculiar, re- 
 sembling in some respects the position held by it in the 
 ancient days, with, however, this great difference, — that in 
 the future or " latter days" it will be the source of blessing 
 to all people, and thus in the most complete sense fulfil 
 God's promise to Abraham. All their high privileges of 
 their former days shall be enjoyed again, " for I will have 
 mercy upon them, and they shall be as though I had never 
 cast them o^." (Zech. x. 6.) A remarkable passage worthy 
 of careful study is found in Zechariah (xii. 7, 8) : " The 
 Lord also will save the tents of Judah first, in order that 
 the glory of the house of David and the glory of the 
 inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become boastful over 
 Judah. On that day will the Lord be a shield around the 
 inhabitants of Jerusalem; and the feeblest among them shall 
 
THE JEWISH NATION AND ITS DESTINY. 71 
 
 be on that day like David ; and the house of David shall be 
 like divine beings, like an angel of the Lord before themJ^ 
 The privilege of an Israelite being hereditary, a divinely- 
 conferred birtliright, all will enjoy it. It will be not only 
 national, but individual and particular. 
 
 In the full favor of Jehovah they " shall be in the midst 
 of many people like dew from the Lord, like showers upon 
 the herbs that wait not for man, nor hope for the sons of 
 man.'' Their enemies shall not be able to stand against 
 them, for they "shall be among the nations in the midst of 
 many people like a lion among the beasts of the forest, 
 like a young lion among flocks of sheep : who, if he break 
 in, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, while none 
 can deliver" (Michah v. 6, 7), and even more emphatically 
 in the succeeding verse : " High shall thy hand be lifted 
 up above thy adversaries, and all thy enemies shall be cut 
 off." In the day when the Lord shall save them as the 
 flock of His people, " like the stones of a crown will they 
 elevate themselves over His land. For how great will be 
 the happiness of that generation and how great its beauty ! 
 Corn shall make the young men sing joyfully, and new 
 wine the virgins." (Zech. ix. 16, 17.) "No weapon that 
 is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that 
 will rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn." 
 (Isaiah liv. 17.) 
 
 As the land on which the Jews once lived has been a 
 partaker of the curse pronounced on its inhabitants, it will 
 also participate in the blessing; its fertility shall return 
 and its abundant harvests yield food to the thronging mul- 
 titudes : " Lo, but yet a very little while more, and Leba- 
 non shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful 
 field shall be esteemed as a forest." (Isaiah xxix. 17.) 
 " And I will make them [the wilderness and the forests] 
 
72 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 and tlie environs of my hill a blessing; and I will cause 
 the rain to come down in its season ; rains of blessing shall 
 they be. And the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and 
 the earth shall yield her products, and they shall be on 
 their land in safety." (Ezek. xxxiv. 26, 27.) ^'Then 
 shall they say. This land, that was desolate, is become like 
 the garden of Eden, and the cities that were ruined and 
 desolate and broken down, are become fortified and in- 
 habited." (xxxvi. 35.) Amos gives us a graphic picture of 
 the fertility and abundance of the land in the day when 
 the tabernacle of David shall be raised up and rebuilt 
 as in days of old: "Behold, days are coming, saith the 
 Lord, when the ploughman shall come close up to the har- 
 vester, and the treader of the grapes to the one that scat- 
 tereth the seed; and the mountains shall drop with new 
 sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt away. And I 
 will bring back the captivity of my people Israel, and they 
 shall build the wasted cities, and dwell therein ; and they 
 shall plant vineyards, and drink their wine ; and they shall 
 lay out gardens, and eat their fruit. And I will plant 
 them upon their own soil, and they shall not be pulled 
 up any more out of their land which I have given unto 
 them, saith the Lord thy God." (Chap. ix. 13-15.) Joel 
 also says, " Fear not, O land ; be glad and rejoice; for the 
 pastures of the wilderness have become green ; for the tree 
 beareth its fruit, and the fig-tree and the vine yield their 
 strength. And the threshing-floors are full of corn, and 
 the vats overflow with young wine and oil." (ii. 21, 22, 
 24.) 
 
 It may be claimed that as these prophecies are essentially 
 Jewish in character, referring to and embracing only the 
 descendants of Abraham, they are not of general interest to 
 the Church of Christ or the w^orld at large. To the Church 
 
THE JEWISH NATION AND ITS DESTINY. 73 
 
 the fulfilment of tliese prophecies will be the fruition of all 
 her hopes, — the coming of tlie Lord. To the nations of 
 the world their fulfilment will be the beginning of the 
 terrible things that are to come upon the earth in the latter 
 days. Everywhere in the Old Testament the conversion 
 of the Jews and their restoration to their own land are 
 closely connected with great wars and confusion among the 
 nations, and widespread desolation through all the earth. 
 Read carefully the thirty-fourth chapter of Isaiah, with its 
 parallel passages in both the Old and New Testaments, and 
 learn what is involved in ^' the day of vengeance unto the 
 Lord, and the year of recompense for the controversy of 
 Zion. . . . Inquire out of the book of the Lord and read" 
 what will take place when He calls all nations and people 
 and the earth itself to hearken and hear. Joel, too, is clear 
 and explicit in his declarations of what shall take place 'Mn 
 those days and in that time when I will cause to return the 
 captivity of Judah and Jerusalem," when the Lord " will 
 assemble all nations, and hold judgment with them because 
 of my people and my heritage Israel, wdiom they have 
 scattered among the nations, and for my land wdiich they 
 have divided out." (iv. 1, 2.) Zephaniah also reveals 
 the Divine purpose : " Therefore wait but for me, saitli 
 the Lord, for the day that I rise up to the prey, for my 
 judgment cometh to gather the nations, for me to assemble 
 the kingdoms, to pour over them my indignation, all the 
 fierceness of my anger; for through the fire of my jealousy 
 shall all the earth be devoured." (Chap. iii. 8.) The restora- 
 tion of the Jews will be an evident and public fact, claim- 
 ing the attention of other nations, and attended with pun- 
 ishment on those who have oppressed them : " Thus saith 
 the Lord Eternal, AVhen I gather the house of Israel from 
 the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be 
 
74 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 sanctified on them before the eyes of the nations, then shall 
 they dwell in the land that I have given to my servant 
 Jacob; they shall dwell thereupon in safety . . . w^hen I 
 execute judgments on all those that despoiled them." (Ezek. 
 xxviii. 25, 26.) 
 
 The bright picture of peace, prosperity, and happiness 
 which the prophets present of the future of the chosen 
 people is not without dark and ominous clouds. It does 
 i!ot fully appear that their restoration to their own land and 
 their conversion are either synonymous or identical. On 
 the otlier hand, some of the prophetic declarations seem to 
 refer to a period between the return, or at least a partial 
 restoration and their conversion, during which they will 
 undergo a process of discipline and purification resembling 
 in its severity the refining of gold and silver. While in 
 many cases the promises of the regathering of Israel would 
 at first glance seem to be wholly for their comfort and peace, 
 yet in others the context seems to connect it closely with a 
 time of dreadful distress, corresponding in some respects 
 with the terrors which are to come on other and less-favored 
 nations of the earth. In the thirtieth cha})ter of Jeremiah, 
 so full of rich promises to the Jews, and of threaten in gs to 
 their oppressors, after a statement of bringing "again the 
 captivity of my people Israel and Judah" to the land of 
 their fathers, the Lord speaks concerning them : " A voice 
 of terror have we heard, dread, and no peace. Ask ye 
 now, and see whether a male doth give birth to a child ? 
 wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, 
 as a woman in giving birth ? and why are all faces turned 
 pale ? Alas ! for that day is great, there is none like it ; 
 and a time of distress it is unto Jacob; yet out of it shall 
 he be saved." Of similar import is the passage in the 
 twenty-second chapter of Ezekiel w^iere God speaks of the 
 
THE JEWISH NATION AND ITS DESTINY. 75 
 
 nation as "copper and tin and iron and lead in the midst 
 of the furnace; the dross of silver are they become;" and 
 declares, ^'Because ye are all become dross, therefore will I 
 gather you into the midst of Jerusalem, and blow upon 
 them with the fire of His wrath, will melt them there as 
 silver is melted in a furnace, and they shall know that 
 the Lord has poured out His fury upon them.'^ But even 
 more remarkable is the passage in the fourth chapter of 
 Michah, where, after the beautiful picture of " the mountain 
 of the Lord's house firmly established on the top of the 
 mountains," the nations joining restored Israel, the preva- 
 lence of universal peace, when " they shall sit every man 
 under his own vine and fig-tree, with none to make them 
 afraid," the dark cloud, the time of Jacob's trouble, sud- 
 denly appears, and we read, " Now why dost thou cry 
 aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor lost? 
 that pangs have seized on thee as on a woman with child? 
 Be in pain and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, 
 like a woman in travail : for now shalt thou go forth out of 
 the town, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt 
 go as far as Babylon ; there shalt thou be delivered." An- 
 other direct reference to the same time of trouble is found 
 in Zech. xiii. 8, 9 : " And it shall come to pass that in all 
 the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off, 
 shall perish ; but the third part shall be left therein. And 
 I will bring the third part into the fire, and I will refine 
 them as one refineth silver, and will probe them as gold is 
 probed." On this very important part of Israel's future 
 destiny the reader is advised to read Isaiah li. 17-23; lix. 
 1-18 ; Ezek. xx. 32-37 ; Joel ii.; Zeph. i. It would ap- 
 pear that this trial of Israel will be sharp, fearful, and de- 
 cisive, an infliction of a terrible and final judgment before 
 their acceptance of Christ. In the same connection a care- 
 
76 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 ful study of one of the most comprehensive discourses of 
 Christ, as it is given by ^latthew (xxiv. 1-44), may tlirow 
 some light on propliecies that otherwise might be obscure. 
 If, as Lightl'oot says, the New Testament was written 
 "among Jews, by Jews, fo^* Jews/' and therefore cannot 
 but speak tb.e language of the time, both as to form and 
 to contents, let it be borne in mind that Matthew, above all 
 his fellow-apostles, was the Jew of Jcavs, having a mind that 
 seemed not to possess the pow^r of receiving, comprehend- 
 ing, or imparting truth unless it was closely related to the 
 destiny of his nation. It must also be remembered that 
 while this wonderful discourse takes in the destiny of the 
 Jewish remnant, the general history of Christendom, and 
 the judgment of the nations, it does not include or refer 
 to the Church. The great trnth of a Divine Church — one 
 body com})ose(l of Jews and Gentiles — could not have been 
 and was not announced at this time, because the Messiah 
 had not yet left the earth, and God, in the Person of the 
 Holy Ghost, without whose presence there could be no 
 Church, had not descended upon the earth. If, therefore, 
 we attempt to apply the teaching of our Loixl to the Church 
 of the present dispensation, we fail to grasp the truth He 
 intended to convey, and introduce an element of confusion 
 that Avill make its reconcilement with many other passages 
 difficult, and with some impossible. The Gospel Dispensa- 
 tion, with its resulting Church, finds no place in the pro- 
 phetic records, for it is an interval, a break, a parenthesis, 
 between the rejection of Christ and His Second Coming to 
 the earth to receive His people to Himself. The time for 
 the development of the Christian Church had not yet ar- 
 rived, neither was its existence essential or in any way 
 necessary to the full accomplishment of all that Christ here 
 revealed. An examination of the teachintrs of Christ in 
 
THE JEWISH NATION AND ITS DESTINY. 77 
 
 the context — tlie record of which is greatly marred by the 
 unfortunate division into chapters — may make evident the 
 fact that in answer to the question of His disciples, " Tell 
 us when these things shall be ?" Christ sketched for them 
 in outline the future history of the Jews ; or, to state it more 
 particularly, the experience, the trials and destiny, of the 
 faithful remnant of Israel that will be left on the earth 
 during the interval between the departure of the Church 
 from the world and the final consummation of all things. 
 Having made His final appeal to the apostate nation of 
 Israel, He " went out and departed from the temple,'^ never 
 again to enter it, and, withdrawing to the Blount of Olives 
 with His disciples, left the chosen people to that long period 
 of darkness and desolation just about to close in upon them. 
 Away from the multitudes, in confidential discourse with 
 the disciples. He foretold the trials coming upon them, and 
 taught them that although He would be rejected by the 
 Jews as a nation, yet He would in the last times gather 
 about Him a portion of His " brethren according to the 
 flesh,^^ who would be the successors and representatives of 
 the few faithful ones who listened to His words on the 
 mountain. They listened to His words, but they did not 
 comprehend them. They came to Jesus " for to show Him 
 the buildings of the temple." Their minds were filled with 
 what was dear to every Jewish heart, and occupied with 
 hopes of an immediate restoration of the earthly kingdom. 
 The warnings they had already received that their leader 
 should be delivered to the Gentiles, should be mocked, 
 scourged, and crucified, had been unheeded because they 
 had been incomprehensible. The quotation from Daniel, 
 in the fifteenth verse, with which they were familiar, is very 
 specific, and makes it clear that His reference was not to 
 the destination of their holy city, but to the time of the 
 
 6 
 
78 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 end, when, as Daniel declares, " Thy people shall be deliv- 
 ered, every one that shall be found written in the book." 
 (Chap. xii. 1.) The persons, therefore, addressed were Jew- 
 ish believers, those who accepted Christ when He was with 
 them in personal form on the earth, and those who in the 
 long years after — the pious remnant of Israel — should ac- 
 cept the Messiah whom their fathers had rejected. To 
 these only could the words of Christ have any possible ap- 
 plication. Believers under the Grace dispensation have no 
 part in this discourse. '^ This Gospel of the Kingdom," to 
 be " preached in all the world for a witness to all nations," 
 is something very diiferent from " the Glorious Gospel of 
 the Grace of God," which the apostles preached after Christ 
 had ascended to heaven and the Holy Ghost had taken up 
 its abode in human hearts. This distinction must be made 
 or confusion is inevitable. 
 
 After this digressive examination of our Lord's statement 
 of the future history of the faithful portion of the Jewish 
 people, corresponding so exactly with the words of the an- 
 cient prophets, it would be well to learn what the Old 
 Testament declares with reference to Christ and the resto- 
 ration of the Jews. Take the eleventh chapter of Isaiah 
 (still quoting from the accepted English translation of the 
 Hebrew by Isaac Leeser), beginning, ^' And there shall come 
 forth a shoot out of the stem of Jesse, and a sprout shall 
 spring out of his roots : and there shall rest upon him the 
 spirit of the Lord," etc., and the tenth verse, ^' And it 
 shall happen on that day, that He of the root of Jesse, who 
 shall stand as an ensign of the people, to Him shall nations 
 come to inquire : and His resting-place shall be glorious," — 
 and we have a description of Christ as He was on the 
 earth, and of what He shall be when He " puts forth His 
 hand again the second time to acquire the remnant of His 
 
THE JEWISH NATION AND ITS DESTINY. 79 
 
 people." Consult also Zech. xiv. 1-21, Ezek. xxxvii., 
 and Zech. xii., and the passages already quoted, with their 
 parallel texts, and there will be found abundant evidence 
 that Christ will come to His own i)Cople to deliver them 
 from all oppressors, lead them into paths of truth and 
 righteousness, unite and establish all the tribes in their 
 own land, make the city of Jerusalem the seat of univer- 
 sal empire, in which He will rule as their Personal King, 
 and make the Jews to be a blessing to all the nations of 
 the earth. 
 
 While basing the restoration of the Jews to their own 
 land on the fact that it will be the result of special Divine 
 agency attended with miraculous power, it is yet germane 
 to the question to examine the present situation of the Jews 
 Avith reference to their return to Palestine, and discover the 
 causes, should any exist, wdiich may tend to the fulfilment 
 of prophecy by the ordinary and natural operations of God\s 
 providence. Believing firmly in and insisting strongly on 
 the truth that the dispersion of the Jews, their wonderful 
 preservation during a long interval, and their ultimate res- 
 toration are only the separate parts of a revealed purpose 
 and plan of Jehovah, carried on in a manner different 
 from His general overruling and guidance of the nations, 
 it may yet be profitable to consider some events which have 
 transpired during the last ten years that have beyond a 
 doubt influenced the return of many Jews from all parts 
 of the w^orld, but more especially from the great empire of 
 Russia. 
 
 llev. James Neil, whose residence for some years as in- 
 cumbent of Christ Church in the city of Jerusalem gave 
 him an intimate acquaintance with what has happened in 
 the Holy Land and grounds for an intelligent opinion, de- 
 clares in the most positive terms that there are now to be 
 
80 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 discerned very definite signs of the beginning of this mo- 
 mentous movement in the return of the Jews before tlieir 
 conversion in very considerable numbers to their own land. 
 He gives as his opinion, based not only upon his own ob- 
 servations on the spot, but also upon the result of careful 
 inquiries made of many unprejudiced Jews, that the Hebrew 
 population of Palestine proper, one-half of which resides 
 jn Jerusalem, now numbers thirty thousand, to which must 
 be added seven to eight thousand in Sidon, Beyrout, and 
 Damascus, — all cities within the Land of Promise. If 
 this be a correct calculation, there are at present in the 
 Holy Land a considerably larger number of Jews than of 
 any other civilized nation. The three causes which Mr. 
 Neil believes " have in the providence of God mainly con- 
 tributed to bring about this marked return to the Land of 
 Promise are, first, a new land law affecting Palestine ; 
 secondly, new laws of military service in Russia; thirdly, 
 new civilization throughout the East." Until very recently 
 a Jew, or indeed any foreigner, could not have a valid title 
 to Real Estate unless he became a Turkish subject. Above 
 all things such a course would be repugnant to the Jews. 
 In June, 18G7, an Imperial Rescript gave to any subjects 
 of foreign powers the liberty of purchasing and holding 
 landed property in their own names. As a natural result 
 of this new and liberal legislation, many Jews availed 
 themselves of the privilege, and purchased land in and 
 about the larger cities. In a short time there sprang up 
 numerous little villages or communities composed exclu- 
 sively of Jews. Their remarkable industry, thrift, and 
 economy, combined with consular protection, soon placed 
 these people in positions of considerable importance in the 
 districts where they settled. The great bulk of the resident 
 inhabitants of Palestine being Moslem Arabs, ignorant and 
 
THE JEWISH NATION AND ITS DESTINY. gl 
 
 in every way unfitted to be the dominant power in a province, 
 must inevitably yield to the superior intelligence and patient 
 persistence of the former possessors of the land. Every 
 year the increase of wealth and the constant additions to 
 their numbers add to their power. It is, therefore, not an 
 extravagant hope — it may, indeed, be regarded as an in- 
 evitable fact resulting from the operations of simple natural 
 laws — that within a few years the Jewish inhabitants of 
 Palestine will have attained such wealth and power that the 
 province will be virtually, if not in name, in their full 
 possession, and so within their control that they may be 
 able to dictate terms to the nominal owners. 
 
 It is said by those who have made the most careful com- 
 j)utations that at least one-third of the Jewish nation (sup- 
 posed to number in all about eight millions) lives within 
 the Russian dominions. For many years, although the 
 constant victims of oppression and persecution, the Jews 
 have been practically exempt from militjiry service in 
 Russia, the number impressed having been only five to 
 each thousand. In 1874, Russia adopted the German 
 system, and all Jews throughout the empire were required 
 to be enrolled and drilled in the army at the age of twenty- 
 one. Whatever may be the reason, it is a fact that the 
 Jews in all parts of the world are singularly averse to mil- 
 itary service. With a vivid recollection of the many griev- 
 ous Avrongs they had suffered at the hands of Russia, it is 
 not surprising that they should manifest a strong reluctance 
 to fight on the side of their oppressors, or that they should 
 take immediate steps to leave the country in spite of the 
 most despotic laws to prevent such departure. 
 
 In addition to the facilities for acquiring land in Pales- 
 tine and the dread of enforced military service in Russia, 
 the movement of a new civilization in Syria presents some 
 
82 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 attractions that will exert some influence on European Jews. 
 Mr. Neil regards the labors of missionaries from England, 
 Germany, and the United States, with the presence of their 
 wives and families, as a potent element in ameliorating the 
 condition of the people, and thus making it possible for 
 the Jews to share in the religious toleration and freedom 
 which have from time to time been conceded by the Turk- 
 ish government. He also claims that the establishment of 
 good schools and the promotion of education among all 
 classes by the missionaries have compelled the bigoted 
 Jews to open and maintain schools for Jewish girls in order 
 to keep the young people away from the missionary insti- 
 tutions, and thus the younger generation is being prepared 
 for the great work before it. 
 
 The establishment in Syria of Consulates of various 
 civilized nations, whose representatives are intrusted with 
 important powers, while extending protection to their own 
 people, has also prevented those outbreaks of Moslem fa- 
 naticism and cruelty to which the Jews had been so long 
 exposed ; for a Jew residing in Palestine who is or has 
 been a subject of any foreign power now has the privilege 
 of demanding trial before the consul of the country where 
 he had lived. 
 
 Another civilizing element worthy of notice is the large 
 and constantly-increasing number of visitors travelling in 
 Palestine during the pleasant six months of the year, for 
 whose comfort, convenience, and safety the various Euro- 
 pean governments have made ample arrangements. These 
 tourists expend large amounts of money, so that their pres- 
 ence is regarded as a favor, not an intrusion, as formerly. 
 All of these influences combined have compelled the aban- 
 donment of many annoying regulations formerly rigidly en- 
 forced by the Turks, so that the whole character of life in 
 
THE JJuWJSH NATION AND ITS DESTINV. 83 
 
 Palestine lias been greatly modified, the })opiilacc brought 
 more directly under refining measures, and the country 
 rendered more tolerable, — at least as a place of residence for 
 Europeans. All the advantages resulting from the power 
 and influences of the leading nations of Europe are open 
 to and participated in by Jews. 
 
 One remarkable circumstance mentioned by Sir Moses 
 Montefiore in his "Narrative of a Sojourn in the Holy 
 Land," in 1875, would seem to indicate a steady and grow- 
 ing demand for dwelling-places by Jews. He states that 
 while at Jerusalem he received from the Building Commit- 
 tee of a little colony called Meah Shearim (Hundred Gates) 
 an invitation to participate in the ceremony of laying the 
 corner-stone of a row of houses. The object of the asso- 
 ciation, numbering one hundred and twenty members, is to- 
 build each year not less than ten dwelling-houses, which, 
 on completion, are allotted to ten members. On inquiry, 
 he learned that there were then among the Jews at Jerusa- 
 lem two other similar Building Associations, the practical 
 combined result of which would be, that " in a very few 
 years two hundred and thirty-five Hebrew families would 
 be the owners of most comfortable houses in a very salu- 
 brious locality outside the city limits." 
 
 Even more significant is the fact that the Governments 
 of England and the United States have, within a few years, 
 sent expeditions to explore the Holy Land and obtain de- 
 tailed and authentic information of its topography and 
 present condition. Such expenditures of money on the 
 part of associations of private individuals would seem to 
 offer some return in definitely fixing the localities of the 
 Sacred Text, and gaining the information that would enable 
 reverent seekers to enjoy the results of scientific search. 
 But an Ordnance Survey, largely assisted by governmental 
 
84 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 aiclj is an unusual proceeding, for which a very clear reason 
 cannot be assigned. These things are all evidences of a 
 great and revived interest in tlie Holy Land and the 
 eTews, that at present seems to be pervading the minds 
 of many in all Christian lands, and, taking, as it does, 
 a practical form, may with great reason be accepted as 
 the precursor of the restoration, so far as this extraordi- 
 nary prophetic event may be the result of natural causes. 
 As has been said, " those who assent to the true laws of 
 language and symbols will no more deny or doubt that the 
 prophecies teach that the Israelites are to be restored, than 
 those who assent to the definitions and axioms of geometry 
 will deny the demonstrations that are founded upon them. 
 There is not a proposition in the w^hole circle of human 
 knowledge of more perfect certainty than that God has re- 
 vealed the purpose of regathering that scattered nation, es- 
 tablishing them as His chosen people, and reappointing a 
 temple-worship at Jerusalem that is to embrace some of 
 their ancient rites. It is not merely certain, but is taught 
 Avith a frequency, an emphasis, and an amplitude, and in- 
 vested with a dignity and grandeur, that are proportionable 
 to the vastness and wonderfulness of the measure in the 
 great scheme of His administration over the world.'' 
 
 Even though the prophets had been silent concerning 
 the future of their nation, the consideration of Jewish his- 
 tory during the last nineteen centuries, an examination of 
 the indestructible and unsurmountable barriers which have 
 so completely separated the Jews from all other people 
 on the earth, the fact that they have retained all of their 
 original characteristics wherever they have been scattered 
 through the world, and have, under all circumstances, 
 maintained the spirit of a religion that was local in its 
 character, the rites of which could only be properly cele- 
 
THE JEWISH NATION AND ITS DESTINY. 85 
 
 brated in the city of Jerusalem, — all combine to give reasons 
 for the belief that in God's providential dealings with the 
 nations the Jews are reserved to take a place and perform 
 a high duty, worthy, in all respects, of the people of whom, 
 "according to the flesh,^^ Christ came. The natural prin- 
 ciples which have attended the development and decay of 
 other nations utterly fail to account for their wonderful 
 continuance. The factors of destruction in the history of 
 another nation, which would have destroyed every trace of 
 national existence in a very few centuries, — conquest, abro- 
 gation of civil and ecclesiastical government, slavery, forci- 
 ble removal from their native land, dispersion through the en- 
 tire world, bitter and relentless persecution, — all have failed 
 to accomplish the results which to human view seemed both 
 natural and inevitable. The causes which have disinte- 
 grated other nations and in time scattered the fragments 
 beyond a possibility of recognition, seem only to have 
 strengthened the invisible but potent influence binding the 
 Jews in one compact, homogeneous mass. On simply nat- 
 ural grounds the mysteries and problems clustering around 
 Jewish history are beyond solution. Accepting what we 
 believe to be a scripturally-demonstrated conclusion, that 
 from the time of Abraham, the Jews have been the chosen 
 people of the Lord, — the subjects of a miraculous guidance 
 and care so steady and uniform in manifestation that they 
 seem to take a place among the ordinary operations or de- 
 velopments of a natural law, — we find the principle which 
 underlies all Jewish history, and explains what would oth- 
 erwise be so perplexing. Accepting this fact, with all its 
 involved consequences, we can confidently look to that 
 bright future of the nation on which their own inspired 
 men have so delighted to dwell. We look for a literal, 
 personal, and national restoration of the ancient people, a 
 
SQ THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 re-establisliraent of their former glory, an exact fulfilment of 
 ))romises of peace, plenty, and earthly prosperity, — in short, 
 the full culmination of the earthly kingdom of Heaven pre- 
 dicted by the prophets and assured by the words of Christ. 
 It is passing strange that so many Christians will read 
 the Divine declarations of a complete dispersion of the 
 Jews in their literal sense, will even find in the history of 
 the race facts strengthening their faith in the authenticity 
 ot the Old Testament, but yet, at the same time, put a 
 spiritual interpretation upon the connected promises imme- 
 diately following in terms no less literal. This singular 
 and most unreasonable perversion of Scripture truth, has 
 not escaped the notice of that acute critic and profound 
 Jewish theologian, J. Cohen, of Paris, who says, "And 
 when Christianity, at a later period, abandoning Judea and 
 Jerusalem for the Rome of the Caesars, became the con- 
 queror over ancient society, and assumed the organization 
 and development which seemed unto it fit, — when Chris- 
 tianity was no longer able to apply literally to the new re- 
 ligion the predictions of the prophets, the promises of the 
 Holy Book, and the textual expressions of the Old Testa- 
 ment, — it nevertheless preserved and combined them in its 
 dogmatic phraseology and was content to set them forth in 
 symbols. Thus, though the throne of David, Jerusalem, 
 and the nationality of Israel were engulphed by the w^ars 
 of Roman invasion and have totally disappeared, the 
 Christian Church maintains that they still exist, but trans- 
 figured and raised to the dignity of a supernatural myth. 
 The name of Israel has been symbolically given to the as- 
 sembly of the faithful of the new creed ; a heavenly Jeru- 
 salem has replaced, in the hopes of Christians, the earthly 
 Jerusalem, which, according to the Jewish fidth, is yet to 
 become the centre of the moral world, and the throne of 
 
THE JEWISH NATION AND ITS DESTINY. 87 
 
 David has become idealized in the universal empire of 
 Christianity/' He then forcibly remarks, " But, whether 
 symbol or reality, it is not the less true that the whole 
 world has existed subject to the influence of these ideas 
 and words of essentially Jewish origin." While willingly 
 admitting his claims that the entire domain of religion has 
 been much influenced by Judaism, that Christianity has 
 made known to the world and everywhere taught the ad- 
 mirable Psalms of his nation, that Christian ritual has been 
 largely borrowed from the Old Testament, that the names 
 of the patriarchs, Moses and Aaron, and of the great He- 
 brew prophets, are everywhere cited amid the rites and 
 services of the Christian Church, and that all these facts do 
 inseparably connect modern times with the imperishable 
 remembrance of ihQ exodus from Egypt, yet we cannot 
 allow the inference based upon them, that the Christian 
 Church owes "its splendor, its power, and universal do- 
 minion to Judaism." Believers in Christ have appro- 
 priated much that is eternal and true in Judaism, and 
 rightfully, for it is our common inheritance through the 
 promised Messiah, who hath broken down the wall of par- 
 tition and given us a just title to the inestimable privileges 
 and truths which hitherto had been the peculiar possession 
 of the favored nation. Surely the Jews will not complain 
 because Christians have taken hold of the sublime truths 
 and great moral principles revealed to them by Jehovah, 
 and made them means of blessing to all nations. The day 
 will come when they themselves will be the missionaries to 
 " the isles afar off* which have not heard my name," and 
 shall preach these same truths with a power and success 
 probably far exceeding any that has hitherto been granted 
 to the Christian Church. The Christian Church has taken 
 from Judaism some features and ideas not in accordance 
 
«8 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 with the fuller revelation of truth received from its 
 Founder and Head. It has so accepted the Law given to 
 the Jews while under tutorage and training, that it has 
 failed to appreciate the blessing, the freedom, the full justi- 
 fication, belonging and extended to all who by faith in 
 Christ would ^^ be partakers of the Divine nature." Its 
 devotion to the Law has been so constant that its " whole 
 life has been enwrapped in a network of prescriptions gov- 
 erning every moment, every impulse, every action." It 
 has substituted the Law, a series of mechanical commands 
 and prohibitions, lifeless and useless in themselves, for that 
 love of Christ and indwelling of the Holy Spirit constrain- 
 ing us to crucify the flesh with its lusts and affections, and 
 thus, by a Divine power and ever-present impulse, not 
 only fulfilling the Law in its true meaning and broadest 
 scope, but going far beyond the requirements involved in a 
 fixed and arbitrary rule. For the Jews — those who rejected 
 Christ — the Mosaic Law has not been abrogated. To it 
 they still cling, and for them it may have rich blessings in 
 store. But it is their heritage, and there may be lodged in 
 it a hidden meaning and abundant excellence which will be 
 manifested only during the personal reign of the Messiah 
 on earth, when He shall have gathered His ow^n into their 
 Holy City. May there not be in the sacrifices and cere- 
 monials, which in former days so significantly pointed for- 
 ward to the life, sufferings, and death of the Messiah, a 
 secret spirit and reserved force, by which they may in the 
 future point back to the finished work, and thus equally 
 serve two purposes, — prophetic and commemorative? 
 While there will be no more offering for sin, yet the 
 words of Isaiah, " that all the flocks of Kedar shall be 
 assembled unto Thee, the rams of Nebaijoth shall min- 
 ister unto Thee : they shall come for a favorable accep- 
 
THE JEWISH NATION AND ITS DESTINY. 89 
 
 tance upon my altar, and the house of my glory will I 
 glorify" (Ix. 7), point directly both to a Temple and a 
 ritual of sacrifice akin to those of the former days, and 
 give abundant evidence that Christ will come to His own 
 people, be joyfully accepted as their King, and lead them 
 into the full possession of promised blessing. 
 
 Considering that the words of the prophets were almost 
 exclusively devoted to the future destiny of the Jewish 
 nation, — that anything relating to other nations came in 
 incidentally, as it were, — and divesting the mind of the 
 mistaken idea that these bright pictures have any reference 
 to the Ciiurch of Christ existing under the present Grace 
 dispensation, let us endeavor, even at the risk of repetition, 
 to gain some definite and literal idea of the future in store 
 for the chosen people. With these two principles in view, 
 the reader of the Old Testament may well be astonished at 
 the multiplicity of promises that are scattered on every 
 page, and amazed at the minuteness and exactness of detail 
 which characterize them. While there are many pointed 
 texts in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy declaring 
 God's love for and care over Israel, with intimations, more 
 or less clear, of the high position the nation will take '^ in 
 the latter days," the same truths are more fully devel- 
 oped by the Prophets and the authors of the first three 
 Gospels, and are abundantly confirmed and verified in all 
 their far-reaching influences in the Apocalypse. Although 
 the Apostles, after the resurrection and ascension of Christ, 
 wrote with special reference to the Church which He estab- 
 lished, yet in the Epistles we find hints of the close con- 
 nection between the future of Israel and the comino; of the 
 King, — that coming of the Lord for His saints previous 
 to those remarkable and stupendous events which are sub- 
 jects of prophecy. 
 
90 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 In St. Paul's clear and logical presentation of the condi- 
 tion and future of his brethren, as affected by the Gospel 
 which he preached, recorded in the tenth and eleventh 
 chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, the expression in 
 the fifteenth verse, " For if tlie casting away of them be 
 the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of 
 them be but life from the dead?'' is replete with vital 
 meaning, and opens up a resurrection which will be a cause 
 or rejoicing to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ. Look- 
 ing at the Jews as the " brethren'^ of the Lord, it may be a 
 question whether the love and devotion which the Christian 
 Church has professed for the Master have been genuine 
 when unaccompanied by a corresponding love and affection 
 for those to whom His heart went out with such tender 
 sympathy. It is surely a most favorable sign that within 
 the last twenty-five years many thoughtful men in all parts 
 of Christendom have awakened to the consciousness that 
 the fruition of the hope of the Church is closely related to 
 the future of the elect people of God. 
 
 The prophecies of Daniel, who, above all others, was the 
 prophet of the Jews, give the general outline of future 
 events on the earth as far as they relate to kingdoms and 
 nations, for to him the Lord declared, ^'Now I am come to 
 make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the 
 latter days,'' and, that it was not for the immediate time, 
 the statement is added, '' For the vision is yet for the coming 
 time." (Daniel x. 14.) 
 
 While the future was opened to him, he does not enter 
 upon the reign of glory of his people. He only comes, as 
 it were, to the threshold, to that time when " Michael the 
 great Prince shall stand forth for the children of His 
 people." He sees in vision the "time of distress, such as 
 hath never been since the existence of any nation, until 
 
THE JEWISH NATION AND ITS DESTINY. 91 
 
 that same time;" he has the assurance that ^'at that time 
 his people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found 
 written in the book;" he learns that some of his brethren 
 " shall awake to everlasting life and some to disgrace and 
 everlasting abhorrence;" and he catches some glimpses of 
 the glory that is to be their portion when "the intelligent 
 shall shine brilliantly like the brilliance of the expanse of 
 the sky," and of the mission in which they will be em- 
 ployed, for " they that bring many to righteousness shall be 
 like the stars for ever and ever." (Daniel, chap, xii.) 
 Seeing and learning so much of the future of his people, 
 the prophet naturally cries out, '^O my Lord, what shall 
 be the end of these things?" but the only response is, " Go 
 thy way, Daniel ! for the words are closed up and sealed till 
 the end of the time," with the final injunction and promise, 
 '^ But thou, go thy way toward the end ; and thou shalt 
 rest, and arise again for thy lot at the end of the days." 
 
 In whatever may have been revealed to Daniel and 
 Matthew of the future of their beloved nation, there is no 
 evidence that either had any conception of a future spiritual 
 Gospel dispensation. The range of their prophetic vision 
 passed over that elective dispensation of God's Grace dur- 
 ing which, for a specific purpose connected with His ulti- 
 mate glory, God would gather a people for His name, and 
 fixed upon that point when Messiah would rule over the 
 house of Jacob and the glory of their nation would be 
 manifested on the earth, when Israel would be central sun 
 of all nations. Everywere in the Old Testament we find 
 prophecies of the King who is to rule over the Jews, under 
 whose sway the nation shall prosper abundantly and bear 
 dominion over all the nations of the earth, but it was not 
 revealed to the Jews that during the long period of their 
 shame, following the advent of the Messiah and their re- 
 
92 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 jectlon of Him, that a people would be taken from among 
 the Gentiles who should reign with Christ in His spiritual 
 kingdom. This was the mystery hidden until the Spirit 
 revealed it by the Apostles. 
 
 While there can be no doubt of the fact that a glorious 
 future is in store for the Jews, it would not be the part of 
 wisdom to endeavor to fix the time when, as a nation, they 
 will enter upon it or, even with the specific details recorded 
 in Scripture, to attempt to forecast its conditions. The 
 book is sealed, and so it must remain until the time of the 
 end. But our faith in the future of the saints is not more 
 surely or more scripturally based, than our faith in the 
 future glory and happiness of God's chosen people, — the 
 Jews. 
 
THE COMING OF CHRIST. 
 
 In every system of religion, even in those which are the 
 products of unenb'ghtened human reason, there may be found 
 one grand central idea or truth, with which all the others 
 are so intimately connected, that its comprehension and 
 acceptance are essential to the understanding of the whole 
 philosophy. It is the pivotal point about which the sub- 
 ordinate truths revolve, the key which opens many con- 
 fusing mysteries, the foundation-principle without which 
 there can be no logical consistency. When it is firmly es- 
 tablished all the other dogmas, with their practical results, 
 rest securely upon it. If it be based upon the shifting 
 sands of falsehood, the superstructure, however fair and 
 substantial in appearance, must topple and fall into ruins. 
 
 Such a broad, wide-reaching, and well-defined principle 
 we find in the Gospel of Grace, in the simple fact plainly 
 stated by Christ, and fully expanded by His Apostles, that 
 the Lord Jesus Christ will come again, — that at some future 
 period He will leave the Father's Throne and come in the 
 clouds of heaven to receive His people to Himself, to ex- 
 ecute judgment on all evil, and to establish His own uni- 
 versal and everlastino; Kino^dom. 
 
 This coming of the Lord is placed before the Christian 
 as an object of faith and hope, closely bound up with and 
 powerfully influencing all that concerns his life on earth. 
 It is not placed before him as an idea with which he has 
 no personal practical interest, but it is constantly assumed 
 and referred to in Scripture as an encouragement to duty 
 
 7 93 
 
94 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 and an incentive to perseverance in tlie Christian life. 
 While the fact itself must take its place in unfulfilled 
 prophecy, our faith in the second coming of Christ rests 
 upon the same solid foundation that it has for accepting 
 the predictions and the accomplishment of His incarnation 
 and crucifixion, or for the descent and continued presence 
 of the Holy Ghost. The recorded facts of the life, death, 
 resurrection, and ascension of our Lord are not sustained 
 by more indubitable proofs, or more worthy of our hearty 
 acceptance than is the cognate fact that He will personally, 
 actually, and literally come from Heaven to earth, and take 
 to Himself the power and glory promised by the Father. 
 The testimony concerning it is so abundant that it may be 
 found on almost every page of the New Testament. It is 
 so clear and distinct, that the neglect or indifference with 
 which the blessed truth Is regarded at this present, is one of 
 the saddest signs of the times for Christendom. The great 
 importance and value of the truth which God has revealed 
 for the comfort and consolation of His chosen ones, and 
 which He has placed so prominently on the pages of His 
 word, can be evaded only by a criminal carelessness that 
 passes it by as a matter of little moment, or by a natural 
 perversity of heart and mind that wilfully refuses it. The 
 simple statement given to men by supernatural witnesses, 
 that "this same Jesus which is taken up from you into 
 heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him 
 go into heaven," followed by the universal prayer of the 
 Church, as spoken by the last surviving Apostle, " Even 
 so, come Lord Jesus," reveal a truth which was coincident 
 with the birth of the Church, closed the canon of inspiration, 
 and in its manifestation will be to the Church an entrance 
 to its highest glory. 
 
 A full belief in the appearing of Christ was so prevalent 
 
THE COMING OF CHRIST. 95 
 
 in the Primitive Church that Christians lived in almost 
 daily expectation of it. When the Apostle wrote of ^'icait- 
 ing for the coming of our Lord Jesus Chrlst,^^ or of "our con- 
 versation in heaven, /a'ohi whence also we look for the Saviour/' 
 or of ^' waiting for His So a from heaven/' or of 'Mooking for 
 that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great 
 God and our Saviour Jesus Christ/' they accepted the words 
 as a literal statement of a fact which would surely take 
 place and of which they hoped to he witnesses. Their 
 hope was not that they would go to Christ, but a belief 
 that He should one day come for them. They expected 
 the coming, they desired it, and waited for it. This belief 
 exerted more or less influence on the visible Church until 
 the ninth century, when it seemed to culminate and disap- 
 pear in the fanatical delusion that Christ would appear and 
 the world be suddenly destroyed. After the reaction fol- 
 lowing the dashing of that idea and the utter failure of the 
 many predictions concerning the dreaded catastrophe, traces 
 of a genuine belief in the scriptural declaration could be 
 found scattered through the Church up to the time of the 
 Reformation. While the Reformation yielded precious 
 fruits in the opening of a sealed Bible, and in the delivering 
 of the people from the tyranny of a corrupt Church, and a 
 cruel priesthood, it also resulted in the formation of many 
 belligerent sects, each one retaining the main elements of 
 the Jewish legal system, and struggling bitterly for the 
 possession and retention of temporal power, forgetful of the 
 fact that Christ's kingdom is not of this world. In the 
 strife thus engendered, the precious truth of Christ's ap- 
 pearance was either discarded or treated with indifference 
 as a mystical fancy of unpractical dreamers. The prevail- 
 ing belief came at last to be that when the world was con- 
 verted by the active labors of the Church, Christ would 
 
96 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 come and the earth enjoy its promised Millennium. It 
 must be confessed that since the Reformation to the present 
 time, the majority of those who compose the visible Church 
 have not been looking for the coming of Christ, and have 
 not, except in a general and crude manner, made the belief 
 in it an article in their theoretical and intellectual creeds. 
 Absolutely shut out as the Church of the present dispensa- 
 tiQp is from any participation in the prophecies of a glorious 
 future, except as they may be connected with or dependent 
 upon the appearance of Christ, the indifference and often 
 aversion which so many of her members manifest to this 
 truth, can only be accounted for by the prevalence of false 
 ideas concerning this period of God's dispensational deal- 
 ings with the Church, when its head is hidden in the 
 heavens, and the Holy Ghost is working in the hearts of 
 men forming that body which is to be the Heavenly Bride. 
 It is a lamentable fact, that the Church does not cherish a 
 lively hope that Christ will personally come to the earth to 
 remove the curse, to destroy the works of the devil, and to 
 rule as King of the Jews and King of nations. A consid- 
 eration of some of the causes producing this widespread 
 unbelief of one of the most vital Gospel facts, may place the 
 truth more definitely before the mind and make evident 
 the folly of its rejection. 
 
 A spirit of materialism resulting from the insidious temp- 
 tations of Satan, has so permeated the visible Church that 
 Christians have made their personal future safety a primary 
 object of solicitude, while their interest in that which relates 
 to Christ's future glory has become secondary. When the 
 peace and rest which the covenant of Grace has provided 
 and made sure for all who accept the gift of the Son of 
 God, has been allowed to usurp that place in the desires 
 and affections of the heart which should be occupied by 
 
THE COMING OF CHRIST. 97 
 
 earnest hopes for, and deep interest in, Christ's glory, both 
 in Heaven and on the earth, the fact is sad evidence of but 
 sliglit progress in the Divine life, and of a state of content- 
 ment with privileges far below those which are, or might 
 be, the present possession of every Christian. If by reason 
 of misty and uncertain views, springing from careless or 
 indifferent study of the truth God has revealed in His 
 word, our aspirations do not reach forward beyond the 
 changing and evanescent scenes of this mortal life, our re- 
 ligion, which, like its source, should be wide-reaching as the 
 universe, becomes contracted and narrow, and degenerates 
 into a species of selfishness, a form of self-righteousness 
 which accepts the results of a ^' life hid with Christ in 
 God" as a reward for service rendered, a merit for active 
 effort, or wages for labor performed. The " glorious lib- 
 erty'' vouchsafed by the Gospel is transformed into legal- 
 ism, and the infinite love of God is measured by the amount 
 of earthly good granted, or the delights of Heaven promised, 
 rather than by the glory to be manifested in His Son, at 
 whose coming all who are united to Him by faith, will be 
 made the full and honored participants. The almost irre- 
 sistible temptation to Christians, of the false ideas thus 
 formed, is to regard this present dispensation as the last, or 
 " the end of days," and to believe that the Church is to be 
 the means of the conversion of the world under this system 
 of Grace. Very naturally, then, more dependence is placed 
 on human effort for tlie accomplishment of the supposed 
 plans of God, than upon the influence and power of the 
 Holy Ghost, who leads into all truth and duty. An ac- 
 tivity springing from a voluntary act of the human will, 
 and a misdirected zeal prompted and guided by the forces 
 of human organization — elements which never can accord 
 with the supernatural influences of the Holy Spirit — have 
 
98 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 been fully developed in the history of Christendom, and 
 are still working out their disastrous results in the schisms, 
 disputes, and errors that so sorely afflict the visible Church, 
 and make her so often, and too universally, the weak and 
 feeble witness of her absent Lord. There are, certainly, 
 here and there many Christians who cherish a true though 
 cloudy view that Christ may come and reign on the earth ; 
 but the preaching of a worldly gospel paralyzes even that 
 dull hope, and deprives it of the little power it might 
 otherwise exert. 
 
 There is another error into which many fall that is 
 worthy of remark, viz., the confounding of two facts alto- 
 gether different in character and results, — the coming of 
 Christ and the death of the Christian. The statement is 
 often heard from the pulpit to the effect that the natural 
 death of the body is to the individual soul the coming of 
 Christ, and its immediate entrance into the conditions of its 
 final and everlasting destiny. Without entering upon any 
 discussion of that intermediate state of souls existing between 
 the death of the body and its resurrection, we would call 
 attention to the four passages of the New Testament refer- 
 ring to the natural death of the Christian, assured that their 
 examination will most conclusively prove that the coming 
 of Christ so explicitly foretold is not in any sense connected 
 with natural death. The words of Christ to the penitent 
 thief, " This day shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 
 xxiii. 43) ; the last words of the martyr Stephen, " Lord 
 Jesus, receive my spirit" (Acts vii. 59) ; Paul's expression of 
 willingness "rather to be absent from the body and to be 
 present with the Lord" (2 Cor. v. 8), and his " desire to 
 depart and to be with Christ" (Phil. i. 23), are all we 
 have. While these passages do most certainly teach that 
 the souls of believers will in some sense be present with 
 
Tilt: COMING OF CHRIST. \)S) 
 
 Christ in that ^^ })ara(Hse" into which Paul was cauglit up 
 and " heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for 
 man to utter/' yet they give no warrant for tlie idea that 
 Christ comes to us at death, or that His reception of our 
 souls is in any sense that coming of which the Apostles 
 speak. On the eve of His departure Christ plainly said to 
 the disciples, " I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go 
 and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive 
 you unto myself," — a promise that can have no reference to 
 the death of believers. Our going to Him, and His coming 
 for us, are different facts in every respect. In Scripture 
 they are never confounded, and it becomes us, if we would 
 fully comprehend the truth, to carefully observe tlie wide 
 space which separates them.* 
 
 Another fruitful source of confusion, existing in the 
 minds of Christians concerning the unfulfilled prophecies 
 of the New Testament, is the acceptance of the ^' coming of 
 Christ" and " the day of the Lord," as one and the same 
 thing. The times themselves are frequently regarded as 
 synonymous, and the events as identical. The one is, or 
 should be, the hope and expectation of the Church; the 
 other is the fulfilment of the words of prophecy contained in 
 the Old as well as the New Testament. The one has special 
 and direct reference to the Church only, those who are called 
 out from the world by the Grace of God ; the other embraces 
 the Jewish nation and all people that may be dwelling on 
 the face of the earth at the time of its manifestation. By an 
 examination of a few of the passages of frequent occurrence 
 in Scripture, we may arrive at some definite conclusion as 
 to what is involved in that terrible phrase, " the day of the 
 Lord." Joel says, in second chapter, "Let all the inhabi- 
 
 "^ See them contrasted, John xxi. 23. 
 
100 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 tants of the land tremble : for the day of the Lord cometli, for 
 it is nigh at hand ; a day of darkness and of gloominess, a 
 day of clouds and thick darkness, as the morning spread 
 upon the mountains ; . . . the earth shall quake before 
 them, the heavens shall tremble, the sun and the moon 
 shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining, 
 and the Lord shall utter His voice before His army, . . . 
 foF the day of the Lord is great and terrible, and who can 
 abide it? . . . And I will show wonders in the heavens and 
 in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun 
 shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, 
 before that great and terrible day of the Lord come." 
 Compare these words, spoken to and primarily intended 
 for Jews, with the Avords of Christ as recorded by Mat- 
 thew, the Jewish apostle, whose mind, more than that of 
 any other disciple, received and comprehended the utter- 
 ances of the Master that had the closest relation to the 
 national hope and destiny, in twenty-fourth chapter, twenty- 
 ninth verse : " 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, and then shall 
 appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then 
 shall all the tribes of the earth mourn." Isaiah says, in 
 the thirteenth chapter, " Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is 
 at hand : it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. 
 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart 
 shall melt, and they shall be afraid. . . . Behold the day 
 of the L^ord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce 
 anger." And again, in chapter thirty -fourth, after pre- 
 dicting great and fearful changes in the ordinary course of 
 the heavenly bodies, and the falling of the hosts of heaven 
 as the leaf falleth from the vine and the fig-tree, he says : 
 
THE COMING OF CHRIST. IQl 
 
 ^' For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of 
 recompense for the controversy of Zion." Compare these, 
 and many other similar predictions of all the Jewish 
 prophets, with the words of Christ, as given by Luke in 
 the twenty-first chapter of his Gospel: "And there shall be 
 signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars : and 
 upon the earth distress of nations, with per})lexity ; the sea 
 and the waves roaring ; men's hearts failing them for fear, 
 and for looking after those things which are coming upon 
 the earth ; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." 
 From all that is recorded of this great and terrible day of 
 the Lord, we learn, that while it will be a period of won- 
 derful changes in the course of nature, of terror and dis- 
 tress to all men, a time of judgment upon the world, a day 
 of reckoning with Gentiles and apostate Jews, it Avill not 
 be the day of the coming of Christ, — that it has nothing 
 in common with that day of peace and joy, that day of 
 rapture and glory, when Christ shall have been forever and 
 inseparably united with his people. 
 
 A study of the passages where " the day of the'^ Lord is 
 predicted by the Jewish prophets, and spoken of with still 
 greater emphasis by the Lord Himself, will divest the 
 mind of the reader of many false or confused ideas, and 
 assure him that "the day" and "the coming" are not one and 
 the same thing. While there may be an interval of time 
 between them, which cannot be fixed with precision, yet 
 Scripture teaches that they are not simultaneous. The 
 "coming of Christ'' will precede "the day of the Lord," 
 and, as a result, the deliverance of the Church from judg- 
 ment will have been manifested, for the Church, ere that 
 day arrives, will have been taken to Heaven, and made 
 joyful in the presence of the Lord. The four-and-twenty 
 crowned elders, representing the redeemed saints, shall be 
 
102 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 gathered ai'ound the Lamb in gloiy, before the seals shall 
 be broken, or the vials poured out, or any portion of the 
 terrible scenes which were opened to John's ])rophetic 
 vision shall take place. The one will be the fulfilment of 
 John's prophecies given to and intended for those who 
 have accepted Christ; the other is the culmination and 
 final completion of God's purpose with His chosen people, 
 and the entire race of men, those " that know not God, and 
 that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 The practical influence of a clear comprehension of this 
 important distinction can scarcely be overestimated. The 
 present comfort of a Christian is in some measure dependent 
 upon, and governed by, his hopes of the future, which spring 
 from, and are influenced by, true or false conceptions of re- 
 vealed truth. Not in possession of the key which only can 
 open the mystery, or failing to grasp the first principle of 
 truth on which all depends, the mind is filled with vague 
 or fearful ideas of the future, and the soul takes to itself 
 all the tribulations and anguish, the judgment and terrors, 
 which are so certainly to be the accompaniments of ^' the 
 day of the Lord," and loses sight of the heavenly glory, 
 the quiet peace and rich comfort that are the promised por- 
 tion of Christ's people when He shall come for them. The 
 utter failure to make the proper distinction between Christ's 
 descent into the air to receive all His people to Himself, 
 and His appearing in a glory visible to all, to set up His 
 Kingdom and to enter upon the inheritance promised by 
 the Father, takes away from the Christian any deep interest 
 in, and earnest desire for, participation in the answer to the 
 universal prayer of the Church, "Amen: even so, come 
 Lord Jesus." 
 
 An inference may properly be drawn from the very dif- 
 ferent manner in which the two great facts are always pre- 
 
THE COMING OF CHRIST. 103 
 
 sented to us in Scripture. With all the Apostles it is as- 
 sumed that believers are looking, and waiting for the coming 
 of Christ. It is placed before the heart and affections as a 
 bright and blessed hope that may be realized any moment. 
 There is no reason revealed, no cause given why it might 
 not take place this day. The coming is not awaiting the 
 fulfilment of any prophecy, is not dependent on any prepa- 
 ration that can be made, or any labor that can be performed. 
 We rest safely on the scriptural ground that when God's 
 purpose of love to His children in this world is completed, 
 when all who are the elect of God have been united to 
 Christ by faith, then '' He will come." The " day of the 
 Lord," its sudden coming with attendant darkness and de- 
 struction, are used by Paul as a strong argument to press 
 home upon the consciousness of the Thessalonians, the ne- 
 cessity of soberness, watchfulness, and the constant exercise 
 of faith, love, and hope in those who are to stand as wit- 
 nesses of their absent Lord. 
 
 There is present in the minds of many well-meaning and 
 intelligent Christians a lurking fear, based unfortunately 
 on reasons of certain force, that a belief in the second coming 
 of Christ is associated with and will inevitably lead to un- 
 authorized speculations and absurd conclusions which should 
 be reprobated rather than encouraged by thoughtful pious 
 men. It cannot be denied that some men have allowed 
 this truth to gain such exclusive possession of the mind 
 that it has produced in them and their followers, an extrav- 
 agance of language and conduct, a spirit of intolerance and 
 uncharitableness towards those who may not be able to agree 
 with them, a feeling of self-satisfaction and spiritual pride, 
 accompanied by vain imaginings and fanatical expectations, 
 that these obnoxious features have been regarded as the 
 legitimate fruits of the doctrine rather than as the results 
 
104 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 of intemperate zeal. There may be such an overwhelming 
 persuasion of the truth of any particular doctrine, especially 
 if it relates to something in the future, that the subject may 
 become oblivious to the claim of ordinary daily Christian 
 duty, and yield himself to the fascinating but useless labor 
 of reconciling the events of social or political life with the 
 details of his preconceived notions of prophecy. To all 
 such, an outbreak among the nations, or a treaty of peace, 
 tTie advent of a remarkable man, or the death of an earthly 
 potentate, or the thousand other facts of human history that 
 seem to have more than an ordinary importance, are claimed 
 as the immediate precursors of the coming of the Lord, and 
 made the foundation of the most absurd expectations. 
 These things may, or may not, have some connection with 
 the event ; they may appear very plausible or exceedingly 
 foolish; but they do not in the slightest degree aifect the 
 substantial evidence in our possession that the Lord will 
 return to the earth. They should not be permitted to 
 influence in any way the settled and practical hope cher- 
 ished by the Christian. It may also be remarked that a 
 true and genuine faith in the fact itself, may subsist in 
 company with gross errors that do not spring from it or 
 bear any relation to it. 
 
 The belief in, and expectation of the return of Christ, is 
 based wholly u])on a Divine revelation. It is a matter of 
 faith throughout, — faith in testimony abundantly sustained. 
 It rests on the declarations of Christ and His Apostles. 
 The fact that it has not been a lively hope in the conscious- 
 ness of the Church, and has occupied but a secondary posi- 
 tion in the formulated confessions of the various sects of 
 Christendom, is only an evidence of strange carelessness 
 and prevailing materialism. It is not the present purpose 
 to examine in detail the many plain declarations of the fact 
 
THE COMING OF CHRIST. 105 
 
 which meet the Christian whenever he opens the New 
 Testament, but simply, if it be possible, to remove a few 
 of the misconceptions that have gathered about the whole 
 subject, and endeavor to break up, in some measure, the 
 indifference which would pass by this important truth, as 
 something which could not have any immediate practical 
 connection with the individual life and destiny. 
 
 In the consideration of this, as of any other fact of reve- 
 lation, we must come to the record with an earnest and 
 sincere desire to learn just what the Holy Spirit has com- 
 municated through the medium of His servants, and what 
 the Lord Himself hath spoken. The ordinary rules gov- 
 erning transmitted records may be applied here with full 
 force. If the language of any particular passage is sym- 
 bolical in character, it must be interpreted in accordance 
 with the rules generally accepted in biblical exposition. 
 But, when the language is simple, plain, and literal, when it 
 is a strong declaration and prophecy of what shall be, it 
 should be accepted as the truth which the Lord God would 
 make known. Human reasoning and arguments may 
 remove some of the obstacles standing in the way of an 
 apprehension of Divine truth, but the revelation itself, 
 impressed on the heart and mind by the indwelling of the 
 Holy Spirit, alone can make the truth effective, and so 
 incorporate it into the very soul of the Christian that it 
 will become a living and constant impulse of the life. 
 Trusting that a careful study of the fact, as it is revealed 
 in Scriptures,* may bring it home to the heart and con- 
 
 * Texts referring generally to the coming of Christ : Psalms ii. 8, 
 9 ; Isaiah xxiv. 23 ; Jer. xxiii. 5-8 ; xxxiii. 14-17 ; Ezek. xxi. 26, 
 27 ; xliii. 4 -, Acts i. 11 ; Matt. xxiv. 27, 37, 39 ; xxvi. 64. 
 
 Texts referring specially to the appearing of Christ to meet the 
 Gospel Church for tlie purposes of completing their redemption, of 
 
106 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 science of believers, we would note some correlative facts, 
 inferences, and practical results, that seem to be associated 
 with the truth. 
 
 We have claimed that the second coming of Christ is a 
 central truth of Christian doctrine, that its importance is 
 manifested in the reconciliation it effects between points of 
 belief which would otherwise stand in direct opposition to 
 each other, as well as in the correct interpretation wliich it 
 places upon all related passages of Scripture. In it we may 
 
 calling the bodies of believers from the grave, and the changing 
 of those who may be living on the earth, and, finally, of receiving 
 them unto Himself, and fulfilling to them all promises of dominion, 
 povper, and glory : Luke xxi. 27. 28 ; Eph. iv. 30; Ileb. ix. 28 ; 1st 
 Cor. XV. 42-44, 51-54 ; 1st Thes. iv. 14-17 5 Phil, iii, 20, 21 ; John 
 xiv. 3 ; 1st John iii. 2 ; 1st Cor. iv. 5 ; vi. 2, 3 5 Rev. ii. 26, 27 ; 2d 
 Tim. iv. 8. 
 
 Texts referring to the influence which the belief in, and hope of 
 the coming of Christ should have on Christians : 1st Cor. i. 8 ; Phil. 
 vi. 1, 10 ; Ileb. x. 25 ; 1st Peter i. 7 ; 1st Thes. v. 23; 2d Thes. i. 
 10 ; 1st Tim. vi. 14 ; Heb. x. 25 ; 1st John ii. 28 ; James v. 7 ; Matt, 
 xxiv. 44; Mark xiii. 33, 3G ; Luke xii. 35, 36, 40; xxi. 34; Rom. 
 xiii. 11-14; Rev. xvi. 15. 
 
 Texts setting forth the appearing of Christ as the highest hope of 
 the Church : Titus ii. 13 ; 1st Peter i. 13 ; 2d Tim. iv. 8. 
 
 For many clear statements as to the relation between Christ's 
 coming and the restoration of the Jews, the reader is referred to the 
 passages, and tlieir contexts, quoted in essay on tlie Jewish nation, 
 pages 65-72. Nothing but careful study of the Scriptures setting forth 
 the manner in which Christ will come, first for His Church, and then 
 for judgment, with the attendent consequences to the Church, to His 
 ancient chosen people, to unbelievers, to Antichrist, and to the world 
 at large, will make evident to the mind the importance of that tre- 
 mendous event which has been regarded, even by believers, as a 
 matter of little moment, or as a revelation of that which could have 
 but slight connection with, or influence upon, the daily life of God's 
 children. 
 
THE COMING OF CHRIST. 107 
 
 see all the diverse lines of prophecy meeting, all the prom- 
 ises of good converging, all the Divine purposes of glory, 
 both for time and eternity, approaching culmination. Fol- 
 lowing out the idea as it has been reveded in Scripture, 
 we soon meet statements that bear very strongly against 
 the prevalent belief that there will be a promiscuous resur- 
 rection at the same time of all Avho have lived on the earth. 
 The belief is so prevalent and so apparently based on 
 scriptural authority, that many are startled, indeed, rather 
 shocked, by the claim that there will be two resurrections , 
 different in character and widely separated in ])oints of 
 time. But yet this fact of two resurrections, following 
 from and involved in the second coming of Christ, cannot 
 be classed among those which are but dimly foreshadowed. 
 John, in the fifth chapter of his Gospel, distinctly makes 
 mention of '' the resurrection of life" and " the resurrection 
 of evil." He does not, it is true, in this passage make the 
 distinction of time, but the difference in character of the 
 two resurrections is so emphatically marked, that there is 
 good ground for the conclusion that " the resurrection of 
 life" is the one which will take place when Christ shall 
 call the bodies of His sleeping saints to Himself. 
 
 The Apostle Paul, who cherished so deeply in his own 
 soul and so frequently and earnestly enforced the glorious 
 truth of the coming of Christ, when speaking out his own 
 feelings to the brethren at Philipi)i, ''if by any means I 
 may attain unto the resurrection from among the dead," 
 clearly and evidently refers to a resurrection of those who 
 had known Christ " and the power of His resurrection and 
 the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable 
 unto His death." His hope was not for a part in a general 
 awakening of the dead, but for a participation in an elective 
 special resurrection, like unto that of his Miister, based upon 
 
108 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 the revelation to him by the Holy Spirit of the future 
 coming of Christ. It was a hope in something above the 
 ordinary belief of the multitude gathered in the judgment- 
 hall of Felix, that there would be ^^ a resurrection of the 
 dead, both of the just and unjust.'^ 
 
 While we have ground for assurance that there will 
 be two resurrections, in the circumstances connected with 
 the second coming of Christ, and while they give logical 
 ?ind irresistible reasons that the '^coming" and the ^' first 
 resurrection'' will be simultaneous, we have positive testi- 
 mony of the fact in the twentieth chapter of Revelation. 
 Whatever difficulties may gather about the correct inter- 
 pretation of this most interesting chapter, the fifth verse, 
 *' but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand 
 years were finished. This is the first resurrection," should 
 remove any doubt that may have been felt by Christians 
 on this important truth. Two points are absolutely fixed, 
 — there will be two resurrections, and there will be an 
 interval between them. Let the term " thousand years" 
 be literal or mystical, it certainly denotes a period of time 
 extending from the occurrence of a stated fact until another 
 j)eriod when the fixed appointed time shall have been com- 
 pleted. This, being only a matter of degree and detail, 
 does not in any manner affect the general truth, that at the 
 comin^r of Christ the bodies of those who have believed on 
 Him ^' will arise from among the dead," be reunited with 
 their glorified souls, and in company with the saints who 
 may then be living on the earth, who have been suddenly 
 changed, enter upon their perfected eternal condition, ^^ be 
 priests of God and of Christ," ready " to reign with Him a 
 thousand years." 
 
 The fact of a first resurrection of the saints, dependent 
 as it is on the coming of Christ with Divine power to raise 
 
THE COMING OF CHRIST. 109 
 
 them from the sleep of death to meet Him in the air, is in 
 correspondence with the principle of God's plan of salva- 
 tion by Grace. Called to Christ by a special elective work 
 of the Holy Spirit, called out of the world to be the wit- 
 nesses of their absent Lord, separated from the world and 
 formed into that mystical Body which is to be the first 
 fruits of Christ's sacrifice, — a separation from among the 
 dead and a glorious uniting with Christ the Head, — would 
 seem to be in perfect accordance with God's plans with His 
 saints, as they have been revealed in Scripture ajid by 
 providence. 
 
 There is another of the generally received opinions of 
 Christendom that will be greatly modified, and, in many 
 individual cases, entirely changed, by the acceptance of the 
 fact of Clirist's second coming and a consequent first resur- 
 rection of the saints, — viz., a belief in a general judgment 
 at one time of all who have lived on the earth, and a final 
 decision of the eternal destiny of all. Aside from the state- 
 ment of Christ (John v. 24), that he who heareth His word 
 and believeth on Him that sent Him, " hath everlasting 
 life, and shall not come into condemnation," putting all 
 believers beyond the fact of judgment, their participation 
 in the first resurrection, the union with Christ, render it 
 impossible that the saints should have any part in a judg- 
 ment which includes rejecters of Christ. Whatever may 
 be involved in the fact, it is very evident from Scripture 
 that the *' saints" are not represented as being judged with 
 the world, but, on the contrary, will stand in the respon- 
 sible and honorable position of jiuJr/es of the world, rulers 
 in spiritual over the earth with Christ, — stations for which 
 they have been prepared by training and education on the 
 earth. In reading such statements as are found in 1 Cor. 
 vi. 2, 3; Jude 14, 15; Rev. ii. 26, 27; iii. 21; v. 10, it 
 
110 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 is difficult to understand or in any manner account for the 
 prevalent belief, that the saints who were redeemed to God 
 by the blood of Christ "out of every kindred, and tongue, 
 and people, and nation," and thus " made kings and priests/^ 
 and who are represented as saying in the "new song," "Tf^ 
 shall reign on the earth,^^ must, in some imagined future 
 day of judgment, take their place with those who had re- 
 j«ted the love of the Lord as it was manifested in Jesus 
 Christ. When they accepted Christ they " passed from 
 death into life." The burden of their sin had been borne 
 by Christ on the cross ; their guilt had been washed away 
 by His blood; there can be "no condemnation to them 
 which are in Christ Jesus." They are the " blessed and 
 holy" that will have " part in the first resurrection," upon 
 whom " the second death hath no power," who will have 
 been reigning w^ith Christ before the " dead, small and 
 great, stand before God," before the books are opened and 
 the dead "judged out of those things which were written 
 in the books, according to their works." 
 
 From among the many passages that abound in the New 
 Testament setting forth by statement, by exhortation and 
 encouragement, the practical results connected with a right 
 apprehension and hearty accej)tance of the fact of the Lord's 
 coming, it is a difficult task to select any one, or even a few, 
 that do perfectly and fully manifest the true position of the 
 waiting Church of the present dispensation, for there is no 
 special grace entering into a completely developed Christian 
 character that is not urged upon or presented to the believer 
 by the consideration of the appearing of his Saviour. In the 
 exhortation of James (chap. v. 7-8), " Be patient therefore, 
 brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the hus- 
 bandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and 
 hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and 
 
THE COMIXG OF CHRIST. HI 
 
 latter rain. Be ye also patient; establish your hearts, for 
 the coming of the Lord draweth nigh," perhaps more 
 clearly than many, exhibits two of the cliaracteristics 
 which spring from fiiith in the promise, — viz., patience and 
 steadfastness. Believers have been " turned from idols to 
 serve tlie living and true God, and to iraitfor His Son from, 
 heaven,'^ — they are to have "their loins girded about and 
 their lamps burning," because they are '' like unto men tiiat 
 wait for their Lord,''— they are to " come behind in no good 
 gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,'' by 
 whom they shall be '^confirmed unto the end, blameless in 
 the day of our Lord Jesus Christ,"— their conversation is in 
 heaven, "from whence also they look for the Saviour, — 
 "denying themselves ungodliness and worldly lusts," they 
 are to " live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present 
 world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appear- 
 ing of the great God,"— they are to be " sober and hope to 
 the end for the grace that is to be brought unto them at the 
 revelation of Jesus Christ,'' — they are to be so fully influ- 
 enced by this hope of His appearing, and their consequent 
 transformation into His likeness, that its result will be 
 purification, " even as He (Christ) is pure," — they are to 
 avoid indulgence in worldly pleasure that is so strong a 
 temptation when the idea creeps over the mind that " the 
 Lord delayeth His coming," — they are to be constantly in 
 the expectant attitude of those who are waiting for the cry, 
 " Behold, the Bridegroom cometh," — they are the subjects 
 of the prayer of Paul when he asks that their " whole spirit 
 and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ," — they are the "blessed and 
 holy," having " part in the first resurrection," upon whom 
 " the second death hath no power," — they are those who 
 shall be " accounted worthy to escape all those things that 
 
112 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." 
 Indeed, the second coming of Christ forms so large a por- 
 tion of Scripture, that holiness, purity, diligence, faith, 
 prayer, separation from the world, love for brethren, patience 
 under difficulties and suffering, courage, hopefulness, con- 
 tentment, firm assurance, and every Christian grace in this 
 life, as well as every future glory with which the saint is 
 to be crowned, is connected and closely bound up with it. 
 If the faith and hope of the Christians of the Apostolic age 
 were animated by the thought of the nearness of the Lord^s 
 coming, and if the literal coming of Christ Avas an impulse 
 of such mighty power in their souls, how much more power 
 and influence should the fact exert on us, who, by the lapse 
 of time, are brought so much nearer to the glorious culmi- 
 nation of the Divine purpose? Has not the Church lost 
 much of its power for '^ witnessing'^ by allowing a mere 
 hope of individual salvation immediately after natural 
 death, to take precedence of that glorious hope so clearly 
 held up to it in the Gospel of Grace ? 
 
 Aside from the practical influence exerted upon the daily 
 Christian life by a hearty belief in the second coming of 
 Christ, it is important as the fact which gives unity and 
 coherence to all the prophecies of Scripture, however diverse 
 and even opposite they may appear in character and result. 
 As Scripture is mainly a revelation of God's purposes 
 towards men, not only as to their final destiny as individ- 
 uals, but nations as Avell; and as God's own ultimate glory 
 is to be fully manifested in His procedure with the human 
 race, and the earth as its dwelling-place, we are not crossing 
 the boundaries which limit lawfully our investigations when 
 we search for that fact which gathers up in itself all the 
 lines of prophecy vouchsafed to us by Infinite Wisdom, and 
 are not rashly intruding on forbidden ground when we strive 
 
THE COMING OF CHRIST. 113 
 
 to find In that relation the point where all the Divine ])lans 
 will centre. Such a fact, fully comprehended and followed 
 out in all its proper relations, will reveal order and sym- 
 metry where all seemed to be confusion and perplexity. 
 The dark problems of human history and experience, if not 
 solved, will at least assume a very different appearance 
 when viewed in the clear light of God's revealed purpose. 
 
 Among the many comprehensive groupings of scriptural 
 truth which have been made by learned pious men, we are 
 indebted to Rev. Horatius Bonar, D.D., for one that com- 
 bines the merits of completeness and simplicity. He claims 
 that there are lines of prophetic truth running throughout 
 all Scripture, with more or less distinctness, for the most 
 part parallel to each other, sometimes coming into contact, 
 sometimes crossing, and at every short distance sending out 
 lateral branches partaking of the nature of the main one ; 
 that at no time are they wholly independent of each other, 
 yet they are separate and distinct, so that each may be 
 traced singly, while viewed at the same time in its relation 
 to kindred and collateral lines. He classifies these main 
 lines of prophecy under the following heads, leaving out 
 the subordinate ones under each : 
 
 1. ^'One takes up God's purpose regarding Creation, 
 — viz., the material globe, — tracing it from its first calling 
 out of nothing down through its present ruin to its final 
 restitution." 
 
 2. "Another exhibits God's purpose respecting His Son, 
 the Christ of God, from the first promise of the woman's 
 seed to the vision of His kingly glory." 
 
 3. " Another reveals to us God's purpose concerning the 
 Church, as the chosen of the Father and the Bride of the 
 Son, from her first beginnings to her glorious completion 
 and blessedness." 
 
114 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 4. " Anotlier follows out the history of Israel, from the 
 calling of Abraham to the time of their resettlement in 
 Canaan in the latter day." 
 
 5. '^Another is occupied with the history of ^the world/ 
 — that world that lieth in wickednesSj — making known to 
 us its true character as the Church's enemy, and its doom 
 because of its overflowing ungodliness." 
 
 6. '^ Another traces out Antichrist in all his varied 
 aspects of evil downwards to his last overwhelming ruin." 
 
 7. "Another fixes our eyes on Satan himself, the old 
 serpent, the great deceiver of the race, pointing him out to 
 us in Eden, and never losing sight of him till he is cast 
 into the lake of fire." 
 
 Placing, then, clearly before the mind these seven main 
 lines of prophecy, running through Scripture like the great 
 mountain ridges of a continent, — Creation, the Christ, the 
 Church, the selected nation, the world, the Antichrist, and 
 Satan, — the careful Bible student may find, in the many 
 passages announcing the second coming of Christ, state- 
 ments which connect the fact closely with each and every 
 one of them. Taking any of the single prophecies of the 
 Scriptures, under any or all of these general divisions, and 
 the second coming of Christ will be its perfect culmination 
 as a separate truth, its point of union with all other 
 revealed truths, and, we may even claim, the reason why, 
 and the purpose for which, the special truth was revealed. 
 We see the material world in its perfection and beauty ; 
 then as the dwelling ])lace of man, suffering the curse 
 which followed the advent of sin ; but when the Lord 
 comes the earth will partake of the gladness, its curse will 
 be replaced by blessing, and it will be an abode worthy 
 of its Creator. We trace Christ through all His period of 
 earthly humiliation, His death of suffering. His triumphant 
 
THE COMING OF CHRIST. ]15 
 
 resurrection, but only in His second coming do we see the 
 jiromises of His glory fulfilled in connection with the 
 Church, the chosen nation, Avith the earth itself, and in His 
 conquest of sin and Satan. We see the Church, the little 
 flock, the pilgrims and strangers on the earth, the faithful 
 witnesses of her Lord, passing through the long period of 
 shame, persecution and suffering, waiting patiently for the 
 time when the appearance of her Lord shall end her sor- 
 rows, begin her joys, and put her in possession of her 
 promised glory. We trace the history of Israel — as we can 
 trace the history of no other nation on the earth — from the 
 time of the promise to Abraham up to the present hour, 
 and can find no hope of the fulfilment of the promises of 
 peace, joy, and happiness, to the outcast people until her 
 Messiah "shall stand in that day upon the Mount of 
 Olives.'' In the history of the world — that portion of the 
 human race not included in iho. Jewish nation, or in the 
 Church of Christ — we can see nothing but increasing sin 
 and wickedness until the time when Christ will come and 
 introduce His own kingdom upon the earth. The Anti- 
 christ, be it a power or a person, the opposition to God and 
 His Christ, which was visible to Paul and to John, will 
 conduct his rebellion with greater power and larger success 
 until the destruction which shall result from the brightness 
 of the Lord's coming. We see Satan, the usurper, the 
 enemy of man, ruling with power until the time when the 
 Lord appears and binds him forever. The point, then, 
 where all the lines of truth embracing the life of men on the 
 earth meet and unite, is the arrival of Christ, the coming 
 of the Son of man, " the glorious appearing of the great 
 God." 
 
PERVERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 
 
 When it is remembered that the Bible, as we now 
 possess it, is a book made up of the writings of different 
 iften living sixteen hundred years apart, piepared without 
 concert, containing history, law, poetry, and personal ex- 
 perience, many things t>^pical, much that is prophetical, 
 and all relating to modes of life and conditions of society 
 entirely different from our own, it would seem at first sight 
 as though a full comprehension of its contents was beyond 
 the power of human attainment. Well might we shrink 
 from the attempt, were not the main purposes of the Bible 
 to be discerned on its own pages, and assured by our own 
 ■experience and that of those who have lived before us. 
 Briefly stated, the purposes of the Bible are to enlighten us 
 as to our true relation to our Creator ; as to our duties in 
 this world ; and as to our destiny in the world to come. 
 Filled as it is with unfathomable mysteries, and treating of 
 matters of which nothing can be known certainly by per- 
 sonal experience, as we are at present constituted, there are 
 two fundamental principles concerning its study, thus stated 
 by Ruskin : " That, without seeking, truth cannot be known 
 at all, and that, by seeking, it may be discovered by the 
 simplest. Without seeking it cannot be known at all. It 
 can neither be declared from pulpits, nor set down in Ar- 
 ticles, nor in any wise ^prepared and sold' in packages 
 ready for use. Truth must be ground for every man for 
 himself out of its husk, with such help as he can get, 
 indeed, but not without stern labor of his own. As surely 
 116 
 
PERVERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 117 
 
 as we live, this trutli of truths can only be so discerned : 
 to those who act on what they know, more shall be re- 
 vealed ; and thus, if any man will do His will, he shall 
 know of the doctrine whether it be of God. Any man,— 
 not the man who has the most means of knowing, who has 
 the subtlest brains, or sits under the most orthodox preaclier, 
 or who has his library fullest of orthodox books, but the 
 man who strives to know, who takes God at His word, and 
 sets himself to dig u}) the heavenly mystery, roots and all, 
 before sunset, and the night come, when no man can work. 
 Beside such a man, God stands in more and more visible 
 presence as he toils, and teaches him that which no preacher 
 can teach, — no earthly authority gainsay.'^ 
 
 It is of primary importance to the profitable reading of 
 the Scriptures, that any declaration of either fact or doctrine, 
 should be received and interpreted naturally in connection 
 with the context and free from the influence of any previ- 
 ously accepted system of theology or preconceived notions. 
 While it may be difficult to receive the Bible as a new 
 book, and read it with a mind absolutely free from associa- 
 tions and ideas springing from early education, or the influ- 
 ence which the prevailing thought and preaching of the 
 former or present time have thrown around it, yet a diligent 
 study of the Scriptures, with a constant reference to the 
 object of the writer, the circumstances of those to whom 
 the special writing was directed, and a definite idea of the 
 time or dispensation to which the particular truth under 
 consideration belonged, will save us from that ignorant 
 or wilful perversion of Eevelation which has so long been 
 the bane of the Church. Many of the carefully elaborated 
 inferences in the sermons of the present day, although 
 closely connected with, and perhaps essential to, the accepted 
 systems of theology, are not warranted by, and cannot be 
 
118 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 (letliiced from, the isolated passages upon which tliey are 
 based. While the Bible is a Revelation of fads and truths, 
 the inferences drawn from them have in many cases covered 
 the fact itself with the rubbish of luunan reason, and some- 
 times have so distorted the truth that to an unprejudiced 
 mind it appears as a hideous caricature. This use of fact 
 and truth is particularly marked in that preaching which 
 would use external constraint to aid the work of the Holy 
 Spirit, — that would supplant the glorious liberty of the 
 Gospel by the fetters of the ancient legalism, — that would 
 operate on the senses of the body and the fears of the mind 
 in the hope of saving the soul. The evil results of such 
 teaching may be found in the coldness and formality in the 
 visible Church, now so prevalent that the few Gospel Chris- 
 tians whose hearts are withdrawn from the world, and who 
 are patiently waiting for the coming of their Lord, are re- 
 garded as " righteous overmuch" and branded as fanatics. 
 
 Among the many detached texts from Scripture that 
 have thus been falsely construed, and made to do a service 
 for which they were never intended, is that expression of 
 the Psalmist, '' The wicked shall be turned into hell, and 
 all nations that forget God.'' (Psalm ix. 17.) In the long- 
 continued controversy whether or not the truths of a 
 future life and the immortality of the soul have been 
 revealed in the Old Testament, it has always been claimed 
 by one side that this text had direct reference to the final 
 doom of the ungodly, while it has nothing to do with the 
 doctrine, but simply refers to the fact that all are swept 
 from the earth by death. As tiiere are no " nations" in 
 the future world, the words can have no application to 
 the eternal condition of either of the two classes of men. 
 Those who are most competent to decide these philological 
 questions, upon which so much depends, assure us that the 
 
PERVERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 119 
 
 word wliich is here translated " hell" invariably means the 
 r/rave or the invisible state of spirits,— that intermediate 
 state of souls between the death and the final resurrection. 
 The word here rendered '' hell" is the very same used by 
 Jacob when he cried, " Then shall ye bring down my gray 
 hairs with sorrow to the grave'' (Gen. xlii. 38), and by 
 David again, in a passage subject to the same misconcep- 
 tion, when he was speaking of his enemies, ''Let death 
 SL'ize upon them, and let them go down quick into helJP 
 (Psalm Iv. 15), or, as it is correctly rendered in the mar- 
 ginal reading, '' the grave," or, as it is literally given in 
 Leaser's version, " Let them go down alive in the nether 
 world." The same word was also used by Jonah wiien he 
 spoke of his burial in the body of the fish, ''Out of the 
 belly of hell cried I," or, as it is literally translated in 
 Leeser's Jewish Bible, " Out of the depths of the grave 
 I have cried." The " hades" spoken of in these and many 
 other passages, is the place of disembodied spirits, which, 
 doing neither good nor evil, are awaiting the last judgment. 
 The Church, generally, teaches that sinners do immediately 
 after death enter into an eternal destiny of torment, and the 
 saints into their glory,— that is, before the time when Christ 
 will come to take His Church to Heaven, and His saints 
 shall receive their glorified bodies, — a doctrine which, 
 whether true or false, is certainly not established by texts 
 of this character. 
 
 There is a clause in the twelfth verse of the fourth 
 chapter of Amos, " Prepare to meet thy God," that is almost 
 invariably used in a wrong sense. The reading of the 
 whole chapter makes it apparent that the words were pri- 
 marily and only intended for God^s chosen people, Israel, 
 warning them that continued persistence in their course of 
 disobedience would cause Him to bring upon them, in a 
 
120 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 fatherly spirit, a course of discipline of a temporal nature, 
 in the destruction of crops and vineyards, that would insure 
 their return and submission to Him. This phrase is fre- 
 quently, if not always, used to intimidate sinners by awak- 
 ening a slavish fear of future eternal punishment at the 
 hands of an angry God, with the mistaken idea that the 
 emotions thus produced will be the means of leading them 
 to Christ and converting their souls. Such glaring per- 
 versions of the truth work only injury to the Church, and 
 have a tendency to make the ^'almost" but not "alto- 
 gether" Christians, such as are neither hot nor cold, and 
 who are no honor to Christ and His cause. 
 
 How often have we heard exhortations to immediate re- 
 pentance based upon, or enforced by, the words of Solo- 
 mon, 'Mnd if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the 
 north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall 
 be'' ! Torn from their connection, these words of the wise 
 man are used to prove the statement, that as death over- 
 takes you, so Avill judgment find you, — as though judgment 
 had not been passing on man since the fall of Adam, or as 
 though death was not the eifect following close upon the 
 cause. Solomon was not alluding to anything of a spiritual 
 or eternal nature, but was speaking of " the things done 
 under the sun,'' of the wisdom needed by men in the ordi- 
 nary transactions and social intercourse of human life on 
 the earth. If there be in the Old Testament any clear 
 declarations of the future life, this passage is not one of 
 them. At first sight the abrupt injection of this clause in 
 a short discourse concerning the duties of charity may be 
 slightly perplexing, but, following closely after a beautiful 
 example of bounteous giving taken from the course of 
 nature, — the clouds full of rain emptying upon the earth, — 
 the natural and most satisfactory interpretation is that 
 
PERVERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 121 
 
 which regards the words in question as a warning against 
 delay in the performance of those charitable duties which 
 seem to be imperative. What follows in the next and the 
 succeeding verses, is not only in harmony with this inter- 
 pretation, but seems to be strongly confirmatory. 
 
 In the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, at the thirty-first 
 verse, there is the thrilling description of the coming of the 
 Sou of man in His glory, when He will judge the Gentile 
 nations. The "sheep'^ and the "goats," the believers and 
 the unbelievers, ^' all nations,'' are gathered before Christ on 
 His throne. Careless readers of the Word infer from this 
 passage, that there are but two classes into which all men 
 are divided. But where are the Jews, — God's chosen, pe- 
 culiar people? Where are those of whom the Lord said by 
 the mouth of Balaam, "the people shall dioell alone, and 
 shall not be y^echoned among the nations, ^^ and are spoken of 
 by Hosea as '^abiding many days" without " King, sacrifice, 
 ephod, or teraphim," — all those strongly-marked character- 
 istics of national and church life which had been the glory 
 of the children of Israel, — but who would return to seek 
 and " fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days^' ? 
 They are not included among those gathered before the 
 throne; they are not 7^eckoned among "all nations;" but 
 they are the third party referred to by the words, "my 
 brethren.^^ In this connection it may be remarked that 
 scattered all through the prophecies, the first three Gospels, 
 and the Apocalypse are many statements of truths and 
 declarations of facts, closely related to and coinciding w^ith 
 each other, which do not concern the grace-saint in any 
 other than a typical sense, but have a direct reference to 
 the future perfected Jewish dispensation which is to find 
 place on the earth in " the latter days," the glory of which 
 is so graphically portrayed in the fourteenth chapter of 
 
122 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 Zecliariah, and in the sixtieth to the sixty-fifth chapters, 
 inclusive, of Isaiah. 
 
 One of the most unaccountable misapplications of Scrip- 
 ture truth may be found in the manner which many Chris- 
 tians and some commentators use certain passages in Isaiah. 
 That passage beginning at seventeenth verse of forty-second 
 ciiapter, ending with the chapter, is supposed to refer to 
 JTacob, — the Jews, — while the first eight verses of the suc- 
 ceeding chapter are appropriated to the Gospel Church ; 
 and, again, from the twenty-first verse of forty-third chap- 
 ter to the close, is applied to Jacob, while the first nine 
 verses of the forty-fourth chaj)ter are taken for the Gospel 
 Church. The absurdity of giving all the threatening and 
 reproofs to others, and appropriating to ourselves all their 
 comfort and blessing, becomes very evident on a consecutive 
 reading of the whole chapters. The entire portion is ex- 
 clusively intended for and addressed to the Jews, — one peo- 
 ple. Doubtless, in these instances, as in many others, the 
 confusion arising in the mind of tlie ordinary reader is 
 caused by the iintrustwortliy and often false headings of the 
 chapters by whicli many of our English Bibles are disfig- 
 ured. In both cases referred to the headline of the forty- 
 third and forty-fourth chapters reads, '' The Lord comfort- 
 eth the church with His promises.^' It is difficult, from 
 the force of habit, to read the Bible without regard to the 
 arbitrary divisions of chapters and uninfluenced by the 
 perverse headings; yet those who Avould seriously study 
 the Word, and gain its true meaning, must i)ass these by 
 as a human contrivance valuable only for convenience. 
 
 The seven parables of our Lord recorded in the thir- 
 teenth chapter of Matthew, exhibiting the entire develop- 
 ment of the Kingdom of God in its general outlines from 
 its beginning to its final consummation, have been the sub- 
 
PERVERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 123 
 
 jects of misconception, and have been strangely wrested 
 from their true purpose. It has been assumed that the 
 " grain of mustard-seed" grown into a tree represents the 
 true Church of God, when in fact it is only the outward 
 cliurch-form of the Kingdom in the branches of which 
 " the birds of the air" — the false doctrines and human in- 
 ventions of Christendom — find lodging. The beasts of the 
 field and the birds of the air, in the Old Testament and in 
 Revelation, are symbols of the masses of corru])t human 
 nature. Christ, in His explanation of the parable of the 
 sower, speaks of the devil as the bird of the air that takes 
 the AVord or good seed out of the heart. Isaiah speaks of 
 the way in which the " fowls of the mountain and beasts of 
 the earth" have fed upon and trodden down God's chosen 
 people. 
 
 In considering the meaning of these wonderful parables 
 of our Lord, it must be remembered that although spoken 
 about the same time, and referring to the same general sub- 
 ject, the first four were spoken to the multitudes from 
 the ship, but the last three to His own chosen disciples in 
 the house, so that the persons to whom they were addressed 
 must have an important bearing on the interpretation. In 
 the first parable, to the disciples alone ^^ the kingdom of 
 Heaven" is likened ^' unto treasure hid in the field; the 
 which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy 
 thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that 
 field." A popular interpretation of this parable among 
 Christians, frequently heard from the pulpit and met on 
 the pages of biblical exposition, but for which it is diffi- 
 cult to find any basis in the i^xi, is that Christ is the 
 " treasure," and that for *' joy" at this discovery the sinner 
 " goeth and selleth all that he hath" to buy the treasure, — 
 as thoujrh Christ or His truth ever were or could be ^Mn'd " 
 
124 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 or the unrenewed soul should, as it were, stumble on Christ 
 and joyfully give up all to gain Him. Of the many per- 
 versions of scriptural truth, this seems the most amazing. 
 The hid " treasure" is Christ's redeemed Church, — those for 
 whom He died, who in every age by faith accept Him. 
 He saw His ''treasure" covered with the rubbisli of a sin- 
 cursed world. He gave up all He possessed for it, ran- 
 somed it with His blood, He left His purchased possession 
 in the world, but wmII come again to claim it. In the 
 mean time its true life is "hid with Christ in God,'' and its 
 glory will not be fully manifested until He who is its " life 
 shall appear, when it shall also appear with Him in glory." 
 The " pearl of great price" is an emblem of the Church as 
 it appears to the Redeemer, pure, spotless, and entire. 
 The concluding parable of the net is one that to the Jews, 
 to whom so many kinds offish were an abomination by the 
 Mosaic law, had a peculiar force. The net is the drag-net 
 of the Gospel, passing through all nations, gathering within 
 its folds both good and bad. The fi.^h having neither fins 
 nor scales, living in the mire and filth at the bottom of the 
 sea, will, when the net is dragged to the shore, be separated 
 from the fish that by aid of fins live in the clear water in 
 the light of the sun. 
 
 There has been, and there now is, prevalent in the visible 
 Church an idea that it is in full possession of all the truth of 
 Revelation, — that the researches of great theologians and the 
 labors of men of mighty intellect have so thoroughly 
 explored the dark recesses of the deep mine, that there 
 remains but little to reward the diligent student of God's 
 Word. The strong temptation is to rely more for the eluci- 
 dation and understanding of the sacred text upon the archaeo- 
 logical, philological, and scientific discoveries of learned 
 men, which usually have more direct reference to the 
 
PERVERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 125 
 
 literal signification of the record, tlian to the revealed truth 
 of which it is simply the expression or means of commu- 
 nication, than upon the personal exhaustive study of the 
 truth itself, regarded as a revelation of God's eternal glory 
 and His will concerning man's life on earth and his future 
 destiny. These discoveries of science are of profound in- 
 terest and great value to all who will make the proper use 
 of them, and find in them the evidences of harmony and 
 agreement between the records of God as shown in Scrip- 
 ture, in the whole constitution of man, and in the realm 
 of nature, even though the scientist had prosecuted his 
 researches with other and far different purposes. But the 
 fiiith in and personal profit to be derived from searching 
 the Scriptures as for hid treasures are not dependent upon, 
 while they may be aided by, the results and discoveries of 
 human wnsdom. Neither are they the product of a special 
 illumination of the natural mind by the supernatural influ- 
 ence of the Holy Spirit, an enlightenment of defective 
 reason, or an enlargement of the mental faculties. There 
 is, however, as Henry Dunn remarks, "A blessed indwell- 
 ing of the Holy Spirit, — the only influence we are author- 
 ized to seek and pray for, — which is not intellectual, but 
 moral ; which is inseparable from candor, love of truth, 
 and obedience generally; which manifests itself in growing 
 sympathy with the Divine character; and which, therefore, 
 involves clearer perceptions of, and a deeper insight into, 
 the Divine mind and will, as exhibited in the Bible, than 
 can be obtained in any other way." This is a purely nat- 
 ural process, — natural in the sense that it works in perfect 
 accordance not only with the moral and mental powers of 
 humanity as a race, but with special adaptation to the par- 
 ticular individual. The influence of the revealed truth of 
 God, entering into human life from a supernatural point 
 
126 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 indeed, yet like any other force in human progress, ^vorks 
 organically and naturally in its development, first, in each 
 individual soul, and then, as a result, through the entire 
 Church. Accepted and yielded to by each soul, it becomes 
 a corrective of those pernicious delusions of enthusiastic 
 minds, which seem ever ready to break out in the Church 
 and make its record one of tyranny and violence. 
 
 By tiiis "indwelling of the Spirit" the revelation given 
 to an ancient people remains to us an ever new and vital 
 force, constantly enlarging the s})here of human thought 
 and bringing it into closer sympathy and union with its 
 Divine Source. The Scripture thus vitalized, is not and 
 cannot be a dead letter to the Church of the present or 
 the future age. AYe have all that was embraced in the 
 revelation to the prophets and apostles, and vastly more, 
 for we have seen the truth adapting itself not only to the 
 development of God's purposes, but to the increasing ex- 
 perience of Christian consciousness. While it is exceed- 
 ingly difficult to state clearly in words just what that 
 *' blessed indwelling of the Holy Spirit" is, or to accurately 
 define the modes of its operations in diverse hearts and 
 minds, yet it is an actual and real fact in the experience of 
 each Christian, a something which can be appealed to in 
 his own consciousness, the results of which are perfectly 
 satisfactory to his own mind, and the guidance and powers 
 of which in his daily life he frankly and gratefully ac- 
 knowledges. There are but few Christians who will not 
 say with S. T. Coleridge, after he had read all the books of 
 the Old and New Testaments, each book as a whole and 
 also as an integral part, that he has found everywhere 
 " copious sources of truth and power and purifying im- 
 pulses, — found words for my inmost thoughts, songs for 
 my joys, utterances for my hidden griefs, and pleadings for 
 
PERVERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 127 
 
 my shame and feebleness. In short, whatever finds me 
 bears witness for itself that it has prooeedetl from a Holy 
 Spirit, even from the samj Spirit which, remaining in 
 itself, yet regenerateth all other powers, and, in all ages 
 entering into holy souls, maketh them friends of God and 
 prophets." There have been those who claimed to be so 
 fully under the influence of the 'indwelling of the Spirit" 
 that they have received communications of Divine truth 
 separate from or even independent of the scriptural record. 
 This is a dangerous perversion of truth, a delusion of vain 
 human wisdom. 
 
 There is for some minds a peculiar fascination in the 
 study of the unfulfilled prophecies of the Bible, while 
 others regard the same portion of Scripture truth with a 
 feeling akin to fear. It cannot be denied that there is some 
 ground for fear, for, while there is probably in the knowl- 
 edge of every reader, instances where men and women have 
 been carried into insanity by exclusive devotion to some 
 form of prophetic interpretation, there are also periods in 
 the history of the Church when the wild fanaticism of dog- 
 matic and confident interpretation of mystic utterances, has 
 wellnigh destroyed, not only the common sense but the 
 piety of the multitudes infected by it. Admitting fully the 
 difficulties and the dangers that may beset the path, the 
 fact remains that the prophecies form a large part of the 
 Divine revelation, and are therefore proper subjects for 
 dilio-ent, careful studv. The benefits to be derived are of 
 great value. An assurance of faith, a fixity of purpose, 
 and an unwavering trust in the wisdom and power of God 
 may be gained from the study of the many prophecies 
 which have already been accomplished. We will lose a 
 part of our rightful portion if we neglect that " sure word 
 of prophecy to which we do ivell to take heed." AVe have 
 
128 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 a positive exhortation to the study of unfulfilled propliecy 
 in the words of John, when he would "show the things 
 which must shortly come to pass'' in the blessing promised 
 to him " that readeth, and they that hear the words of this 
 prophecy, and keep these things which are written therein." 
 Here, then, in the Apocalypse, w^here is prophetically re- 
 corded the history of the Church between the death and the 
 return of its Lord, may be found a region where believers 
 may study the Divine purposes with interest aifd profit. 
 The ingenious inventions and conflicting conclusions of 
 learned commentators greatly increase the difficulty of gain- 
 ing the real meaning of the symbolical language; but, read 
 in proper connection with parallel passages, and in humble 
 dependence upon "the blessed indwelling of the Holy 
 Spirit/' the Revelation of St. John will yield a rich harvest 
 to every Christian. 
 
 It would be impossible to note the many perversions that 
 cluster about the scriptural prophecies. One source, how- 
 ever, from which they spring is worthy of attention. Among 
 the unfulfilled prophecies of Scripture there may be found 
 a large class which, while having a direct reference to 
 events of the national Jewish life, do yet stretch forward to 
 a period in the future, reaching from the hour when they 
 were uttered to the time w^hen the purpose of Divine 
 Providence shall be completed. Abrupt transitions so 
 break up their continuity that the path cannot be clearly 
 traced,— ages of time intervene between events that to 
 human sight should follow^ each other in rapid succession. 
 Accurately and very definitely predicting events which 
 have happened to the nation, tlie prophecies are sometimes 
 expressed in language that, seeming to bear a double mean- 
 ing, connects them with other events still in the future. 
 In any endeavor to catch the truth which may be hidden 
 
PERVERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 129 
 
 under these symbolical and mystical words, the first ques- 
 tions, upon the answer to which depends our proper knowl- 
 edge, must be, — "To whom, and for what purpose, were 
 these prophecies of futurity given ?'' In reply, we would 
 make tlie general observation that the prophecies of the 
 Old Testament, including promises of good for well-doing, 
 threaten! ngs of evil for breach of moral law, and fierce de- 
 nunciations of wrath for departures from Jehovah, w^ere 
 spoken to the Jewish nation, with special and primary 
 application to it only, and that when the course and 
 destiny of any other nation come into view, it is by reason 
 of some immediate connection with the chosen people and 
 the declared purpose to be wrought out by them. Tlie 
 prerogatives divinely granted to the children of Abraham, 
 the fruitful land given to them for an inheritance by Jeho- 
 vah, the future happiness and welfare of the human race, 
 inseparably connected in some mysterious manner with the 
 life and continuance of their nation, are the subjects which 
 underlie and influence every prediction of future events. 
 Resting upon the secure foundation built for them, as they 
 believed, by the authoritative promises and declarations of 
 their God, the Hebrew Seers could not, without violence to 
 their faith, predict that which would be contrary to any 
 prior statements of Jehovah, or take any special cognizance 
 of matters distinct from their national history. I^rom the 
 remote period when the first promise was given to Abra- 
 ham, up to the hour when the whole series shall have cul- 
 minated in the covenanted ingathering and restoration of 
 the chosen people, there is not embraced in the Old-Testa- 
 ment prophecies a single one that did not find its source in 
 Jewish national or ecclesiastical life, having primary refer- 
 ence to the Jewish nation, and applying incidentally to 
 other nations only as they were in some measure connected 
 
130 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 with the Israelites. If this be the correct theory of the 
 ancient Jewish ])rophecies, their true purport can never be 
 gained by any mere compilation of detached proof passages, 
 or by deductions and inferences from scattered texts. It 
 must be reached, if at all, by a living and sympathetic 
 insight into the true S])irit and thought which were the 
 moving impulses in the mind and heart of the prophet at 
 tlie time of utterance. In pursuance of this idea, let an 
 examination be made of the Book of Isaiah, which has well 
 been said " to embrace and to comprehend and, in one sense, 
 at once to recapitulate the revelations of all preceding ages, 
 and to foreshow the revelations that were yet to come.'' 
 The canons of the moral law are clearly enunciated, and 
 with them is combined the essence of the Gospel of the 
 Messiah. The rules of morality governing the relations 
 of man with his fellow, find place in the earnest protests 
 for truth, justice, and mercy, in the scathing denunciations 
 of opi)ression and cruelty, and in the tender exhortations 
 to the care of the widows, the fatherless, and the afflicted. 
 The emotions and aspirations of the spiritual life, yearning 
 for the satisfaction springing only from communion with 
 the Infinite Father, are voiced more distinctly by Isaiah 
 than by any other writer of the Old Testament, excepting, 
 perliaps, the authors of some of the Psalms. A pure the- 
 ology, and a code of ethics unsurpassed by any other than 
 that announced by Christ, may be found in these pages. 
 These strongly-marked characteristics of the teachings of 
 Isaiali, in which more nearly than any other Jewish writer 
 he approaches the perfection of Christ, combined with the 
 fact that he has predicted a future state of earthly peace 
 and happiness for all men, perhaps give the reason why so 
 many Christians of this age, misled by an apparent coin- 
 cidence between that era predicted by the prophet, and that 
 
PERVERSIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 131 
 
 wliich they have fondly hoped would result from the proc- 
 lamation of the Gospel of Grace, have, with violence to the 
 whole spirit and import of the author, and with utter dis- 
 regard to the preceding causes and conditions of this future 
 happy condition of human affairs, wrested his words from 
 their proper connection with the nation for whom they were 
 intended, and ai)plied them to the Church of the present 
 Dispensation. Broad and catholic as Isaiah is in his decla- 
 rations, they are all limited by clear references to Jacob^ 
 Israel, Jerusalem, and Zion,— are qualified by the authori- 
 tative statement of Jehovah, " This people have I formed 
 for myself; they shall show forth my praise." Many of 
 the bright pictures of peaceful rural life, addressed to " Ja- 
 cob my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen," which 
 conveyed to the minds of the Jews very definite ideas of 
 the earthly prosperity and hai)piness which were always 
 associated with the prevalence and triumph of their religion, 
 have been torn from their appropriate position and accepted 
 as prophecies of a supposed condition of human affairs re- 
 sulting from the preaching of the Gospel and the diffusion 
 of the knowledge of Christ. So, indeed, they may be in a 
 certain restricted sense, but will become such only by and 
 through God's ancient people. The "singing of the heav- 
 ens" and the "breaking forth into singing" of the moun- 
 tains, the forests, and the trees, the gladness of the wilder- 
 ness and the solitary places, the rejoicing of the desert and 
 its blossoming as the rose, have been, and will be again, 
 " because the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and glorified Him- 
 self in Israel." The time when nations shall not "learn 
 war any more," when "swords shall be beaten into plough- 
 shares, and spears into pruning-hooks," will be when the 
 people shall say, " Let us go up to the house of the Lord, to 
 the house of the God of Jacob." Partly through ignorance 
 
132 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 and carelessness, sometimes from the misleading head-lines 
 of many editions of our Bibles, but oftener, perhaps, from 
 the unconscious belief that just what the prophet predicts 
 should, under ordinary circumstances, be the legitimate 
 fruits of Gosj)el truth, Christians read these prophecies of 
 future events that are to take place when Israel shall have 
 accepted her Messiah, as statements of that which relates to 
 the Christian Church of the present Dispensation. They 
 tal^e that which was given to an earthly Church, to which 
 immortality had not been clearly revealed, and by a spirit- 
 ualizing process, for which there is no scriptural warrant, 
 apply it to a Church redeemed by the blood of Christ, 
 spiritual in birth and life, — a body belonging not to time, 
 but to eternity ; not to earth, but to heaven. Forgetting 
 the truth that the Church of Christ has no part in the ways 
 of God with Israel and the earth, ignoring the fact that 
 tiiere is a great break, a long interval, between the rejection 
 and crucifixion of the Messiah by the Jews and His coming 
 to the earth for His redeemed saints, which is not referred 
 to by the Jewish prophets, — a ])eriod of time important as 
 it may be to both Jew and Gentile, but which yet does not 
 form any subject of prophecy, — Christians plunge them- 
 selves into inextricable confusion, and fail to enjoy that 
 calm confidence and firm assurance which they should have 
 in contemplating the unfolding of the plans of Divine 
 Providence, by appropriating to a spiritual and, while on 
 the earth, a subjective Church, that which was intended 
 for, and given to, a material and objective Church under a 
 legal economy. 
 
ORGANIZATION. 
 
 Wherea^er the word church is used in the New Testa- 
 ment, its primary meaning is an assembly or congregation 
 of men. At times it certainly signifies all of the human 
 race who have been, are, or will be the subjects of God's 
 special love,— the entire number of the elect, — those who at 
 the appearing of Christ will compose the Bride, the LamVs 
 wife. Again, it has a wider signification, including all 
 those who are professed believers in Christ. When thus 
 used it embraces good and bad, wheat and tares, sheep and 
 p-oats, clean fish and unclean. It is in this broad sense 
 that we now employ the term in considering the " organi- 
 zation,^^ which by reason of its close connection with the 
 C-hurch is too often supposed to be a part of it, and 
 regarded as essential to its existence. 
 
 If one would carefully study all the words of Christ and 
 the directions of the Apostles relative to the formation and 
 government of the congregations or assemblies of men, 
 and then endeavor to discover in them even the germs of 
 that stupendous organization commonly called the Church, 
 he Avould be forced to the conclusion that the Apostles had 
 no adequate idea of the importance of their mission, else 
 they would have given more specific directions concerning 
 the visible manifestation of the truth they were preaching, 
 or that the mind of man, gathering wisdom by the 
 experience of years, had devised and put into operation a 
 more excellent method of accomplishing the desired result. 
 A review of the history of the Church from the Apostolic 
 
 133 
 
134 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 age to the j)erIod of the Reformation, reveals a growth of 
 organization and an expansion of machinery for the con- 
 version of the world, but with these a constant increase of 
 error with a corresponding retrogression in morals. In the 
 early centuries of the Christian era, the Church had fallen 
 into a sad condition of ignorance, decay, and delusion. 
 Heart-sick with the contemplation of tiie Church record of 
 this period, we may w^ell say with Isaac Taylor, " The his- 
 tory of Christianity ! Alas, the ominous words, which sink 
 like a mortal chill into the heart! Christianity has abso- 
 lutely no difficulties, or none that ought for a moment to 
 stagger a sound and well-informed mind, — none excepting 
 such as attach to its history ; but these, although clearly 
 separable from the question of its own divine origin, yet 
 how serious and disheartening they are ! The Christian, if 
 he would enjoy any serenity, should either know nothing 
 of the history of his religion, or he should be acquainted 
 with it so profoundly as to have satisfied himself that the 
 dark surmises, which had tormented his solitary medita- 
 tions, have no substantial bearing upon the principles of 
 his faith." The character and specific quality of the course 
 of events in the ancient Church was the "perpetual super- 
 position of materials upon the apostolic foundation, at the 
 capricious bidding of superstition, enthusiasm, fanaticism, 
 spiritual tyranny, craft, and hypocrisy." A suspicion, 
 growing at times to a conviction, comes into the mind that 
 we of the modern Church are following in the course of the 
 ancient, employing the same methods and attaining similar 
 results, modified only by the circumstances of the age and 
 the progress of the sciences. 
 
 While we admit that the general aspect of the Gospel 
 economy might seem to warrant a condition of human 
 aflPairs far different from that which history has recorded. 
 
ORGANIZATIOy. 135 
 
 and that tliore would seem to be some substantial basis in 
 the predictions of the Jewish prophets for our hopes of the 
 prevalence of tliat era of peace, purity, and happiness that 
 was to succeed the advent of the Messiah, yet the Chris- 
 tian^s faith, in contem|>lating the seasons of deep darkness 
 that have j)assed, tiie coldness, depression, and formality, 
 which seem to envelop the Church of the present, or the 
 " perilous times" that must come on the earth in the future, 
 may be sustained by two facts of Revelation, — the repeated 
 announcements, made by Christ to His followers, of perse- 
 cution, universal hatred, and cruel death, as far as they 
 were personally concerned, and a widespread, deep-seated 
 corruption of the pure faith once delivered to the saints; 
 and, as the Jews waited long for the advent of the pre- 
 dicted Messiah, so, in the development of God's providen- 
 tial plans, may His oivn Churchy in its true sense, wait long 
 for His promised reappearance to receive it to Himself, 
 learning in the mean while by painful experience that with 
 her Lord '^ a thousand years is as one day.'' 
 
 A primitive Church, as we find it in Scripture and the 
 imperfect records of that age, was a simple association of 
 men and women having faith in Jesus Christ as the Son 
 of God, impelled by a desire to follow His precepts and to 
 obey His last words by "being witnesses unto Him unto 
 the uttermost parts of the earth." The strong personal love 
 which each had for a common Saviour formed a band of 
 union that persecution could not sever. By the word of 
 Christ no form of organization was declared. Those 
 present at the ascension of Christ were told " to wait for 
 the [)romise," the " power" which was to follow the 
 baptism of the Holy Ghost " not many days hence." 
 When this supernatural power — the gifts of tongues and 
 of healing — came upon the three thousand that gladly 
 
136 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 received the words of Peter, " they continued steadfastly 
 in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in breaking of 
 bread, and in prayers.'^ The primitive Church, under the 
 immediate ministry of the Apostles, and ])erhaps for a 
 short time after their death, enjoyed a ^' power" of the 
 Spirit far beyond and above that which has been granted 
 to the Church for many centuries. From the repeated 
 references in the Epistles to the " coming of Christ," and 
 ^e exhortations that abound to all to be in readiness for 
 that "coming," it is evident that there was in the minds of 
 the early Christians an expectation that " this same Jesus," 
 who had been so suddenly and supernaturally taken from 
 them, would " so come in like manner" again from the 
 clouds of heaven. The early records make apparent the 
 fact that the gradual disappearance of the supernatural 
 p )\ver conferred upon believers, was followed by the wan- 
 ing and beclouding of the hope of Christ's reappearance 
 to take full possession of the earth. It is very probable 
 that even before Peter died he had heard of some who 
 scoffingly asked, "Where is the promise of His coming?" 
 and sustained the scoff by appeals to the continuance of all 
 things as they were from the beginning. The faith of the 
 Church in the speedy advent of Christ on earth, which had 
 doubtless been a strong element in the success of the early 
 preaching, haviug been weakened by unexpected delay 
 and the dashing of many ardent hopes, was succeeded 
 by the idea that, as the supernatural powers hitherto exer- 
 cised were then but feebly manifested or entirely with- 
 drawn, it was possible that they had mistaken the purpose 
 of God concerning the Church and its mission in the 
 world. At all events, as early as the third century, the 
 fixed and settled conviction of the Church seemed to have 
 been that the world was to be converted from paganism 
 
ORG A NIZA no N. ] 3 7 
 
 and idolatry by what we would now term the ordinary 
 operations of the Holy S})irit upon the individual mind 
 and heart, in distinction from those wonderful Pentecostal 
 displays of supernatural power no longer vouchsafed. 
 
 It does not come within our present purjwse to consider 
 the cause of the withdrawal from the world of the miracu- 
 lous power which had been so effective on the hearts of 
 men, — whether the influence was phenomenal, essential to 
 a specific purpose for a limited time, or whether it was a 
 great blessing which might have been permanently retained, 
 but which was lost to men by their failure to appreciate its 
 value and depend upon its agency, — but rather the fact 
 that the Church lias not now in its possession, and has not 
 had for many centuries, the gift so largely exercised by the 
 early believers. The statement in Acts ii. 39, " For the 
 promise is unto you and your children, as many as the 
 Lord shall call," would seem to imply that this '^ power'' 
 might have been one of the ever-present forces in the mis- 
 sion of the Church, but, like many other divinely-proffered 
 blessings, lost by want of faith on the part of Christians. 
 In the results following the withdrawal of the '^ power" 
 we think we can discover some of the causes which led to 
 the formation of, and subsequent accretions to, that stupen- 
 dous form of 07'ganization which has so heavily burdened 
 the Church and made its efibrts for the eighteen hundred 
 years of comparatively so little avail. 
 
 That we have departed from the example of the Apos- 
 tolic Church is evident. That a return in all particulars 
 would be best, even if it were practicable, may well be 
 questioned. Living under a system of Church govern- 
 ment and procedure received by inheritance from the 
 fathers, it is exceedingly difficult to form any correct idea 
 of the primitive simplicity and unbounded liberty which 
 
138 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 characterized the A})ostolic assemblies. The fundamental 
 idea of our social economy — itself the })roduct of human 
 worldly selfishness — causes us to shrink in terror from the 
 ordinary custom of those who received the '^ power of the 
 Holy Ghost," of ^^ selling their possessions and goods/' 
 parting them to all as every man had need, and having all 
 things in common. While this practice is only incident- 
 ally referred to by Luke, as j)art of the ordinary routine of 
 their social life, yet it is spoken of in connection with the 
 " signs and wonders done by the Apostles," with the "■ glad- 
 ness and singleness of heart," and with "praising God." 
 It is possible that some of the conceptions of Christ and 
 His Gospel closely "allied to the spirituality of religion 
 held by these primitive saints, would be as shocking to 
 our modern theology as their ancient communism is to our 
 present political economy. But none of us would venture 
 to deny that these men were under a most specific and par- 
 ticular dispensation of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 If asked to state what we accepted as the underlying 
 idea of the vast organization termed '^ The Church," be- 
 lieved by so many to be the power of Christ present in 
 visible form in the world, we would say that the followers of 
 Christ, having given up as an active principle of their faith 
 and life the belief in, and hope of, the speedy coming of the 
 Lord Jesus, assumed that their obligations to Him involved, 
 as far as it could be accomplished by human means, the 
 conversion of the world to Christianity by active measures 
 and aggressive assaults. Forgetting that they were to be 
 " witnesses" for Christ, they were soon transformed into 
 violent propagandists. The assumption — for as such we 
 regard it — that the conversion of the world was dependent 
 on the Church, involved an aggregation of resources, a 
 combination of energy, and a massing of effort which 
 
OR GA NIZA TION. 1 3 9 
 
 took form first in a system of belief, and then in an organ- 
 ized government. The love and affection for a personal 
 Saviour, which had been the main-spring of Clnistian life, 
 was gradually displaced by a faith about Him, and dog- 
 matic conceptions concerning His teaching, which were made 
 the basis and tests of fellowship. The attracting and assimi- 
 lating influence of a perfect personal moral ideal manifested 
 in the life of Christ, made potential not only by the force of 
 its Divine origin, but by the peculiar energy of the Holy 
 Spirit, was thought to be of less importance in the progress 
 of Christianity than the inculcation of a logical system of 
 theology. Religion then took forms in Creeds and Sym- 
 bols. Acceptance of, and adherence to these creeds being 
 imperatively demanded, societies were at once formed dif- 
 ferent in their features from the Apostolic assemblies. 
 The guidance and direction of these bodies was slowdy, 
 perhaps, but surely taken from the Holy Spirit by the wis- 
 dom of men. In the fourth century, we find in the visible 
 organization of the Church those germs of evil whose 
 future development has so clearly manifested the depravity 
 of the human heart. This view is confirmed by the his- 
 tory of the Church. As an English layman remarks, 
 *' The errors and superstitions of ancient Christianity; the 
 crimes of ecclesiastics; the miseries of the Inquisition ; the 
 no less brutal superstitions and cruelties of Puritanism 
 towards persons suspected of witchcraft; the exaltation of 
 Satanic powers; the absence of all tenderness in religion ; the 
 ever-present terror; the moral element in Christianity super- 
 seded by the dogmatic ; doctrine taking the i)lace of recti- 
 tude; faith determined neither by Scripture nor by reason, 
 but by the intellectual influences of the time; improve- 
 ment produced only by advancing rationalism ; past errors 
 unatoned, and existing falsities still cherished and fought 
 
140 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 for, — all united, render it almost a mockery to speak of the 
 last eigliteen hundred years as the period of the dispensa- 
 tion of the Spirit/' 
 
 The sources from which the evils of organization flow 
 are, first, the natural depravity of the human heart, — that 
 disposition which prompts man to follow any path but that 
 marked out by Divine wisdom and love; second, tiie 
 exclusion of the Holy Spirit, — taking His position as the 
 Guide and Teacher of all believers, and thus placing some- 
 thing between God and the individual soul; third, a per- 
 version of Scripture, — which, ignoring its natural and 
 proper signification, employing the Word in sustaining a 
 worldly gospel, limited by time and in agreement with the 
 desires of the human heart, would establish a Church or 
 community where a line could not be drawn between a 
 professing Christian and an intelligent, cultivated, worldly 
 man ; fourth, that the majority of those constituting the 
 visible Church, being more under the influence of the 
 " letter" which is human, than of the " Spirit'' which is 
 Divine, will in life and action place confidence in measures 
 prompted by short-sighted human wisdom rather than in 
 the promised power of the Holy Ghost. The truth that 
 the Holy Ghost is ever present in the Church of Christ as a 
 reality to all believers — instructing in all truth, guiding in 
 all duty, uniting and binding in one those who have in 
 Christ died unto the law — seems to have been systemati- 
 cally ignored, and regarded as one of the elements of an 
 effete mysticism. 
 
 But leaving in the background the principles which 
 govern the questions involved, a cursory consideration of 
 some of the practical results of the organization to be seen 
 in every-day life, will give proof of departure from primi- 
 tive ideas, and consciousness of this may be a first step 
 
ORGANIZATION. 141 
 
 in reform. The doctrine that " Might makes Riglit," while 
 not openly professed by church organizations, or by gov- 
 ernments of those countries that are nominally Christian, 
 is often assumed and acted upon by either. Our treatment 
 of the Indians is sad evidence that, in si)ite of Bibles, 
 churches, and clergy, we have as a nation yielded to a 
 temptation arising from the possession of mere brute force, 
 — a power that we could exercise almost with impunity on 
 rational human beings, destitute of light and culture. The 
 forcible removal of the Indians from the land we now oc- 
 cupy cannot be indorsed by justice or equity, — the sanc- 
 tion of the Holy Spirit certainly cannot be claimed for a 
 course of action dictated solely by a spirit of coveteousness. 
 When they refused to give up their land, and relinquish 
 their natural rights for a trifling remuneration, we sur- 
 rounded them by emigration, introduced among them 
 the vices of our civilization, drove them off by main force, 
 and took their lands without any recompense. We have 
 broken solemn treaties, and when the oppressed have stood 
 up for their assured rights, we have called them " Indian 
 dogs,'' and wellnigh exterminated them. The day of 
 God's justice is steadily advancing, when as a nominally 
 Christian nation we must answer for our national sin. 
 
 England — the most enlightened nation on the earth — 
 acquired possession of India by might and in a way that 
 cannot be sanctioned by justice and equity. Having ob- 
 tained control of so vast a dominion, her whole procedure 
 in the political and commercial economy of its government 
 has not been influenced by Gospel principles. As a Chris- 
 tian nation, she has suffered, and must continue to suff*er, 
 from the evils that inevitably follow a breach of moral law. 
 In 1847 an eminent jurist of our own country, an elder 
 in a Presbyterian church, openly advanced the idea that 
 
 10 
 
142 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 the United States government would be right in entering 
 upon Mexico, and subduing it by force of arras, on the 
 ground that a people so richly favored with a beautiful 
 country and fertile soil had abused the gifts of God by 
 their gross superstition and wicked priestcraft. And this 
 theory found many bold and outspoken advocates within 
 the bounds of the visible organization. A Christian nation, 
 entering upon a war of conquest on a heathen nation, ap- 
 points by its civil and ecclesiastical authorities a day of 
 fasting and prayer, asking the Lord to prosper its arms 
 in a wicked enterprise. AVhen a bloody victory has been 
 obtained a day of thanksgiving and praise is proclaimed. 
 Such facts occurring among the most learned and enlight- 
 ened nations betray a most lamentable ignorance of the 
 true spirit of the Gospel. 
 
 There is pervading the entire country, in civil and eccle- 
 siastical societies, in corporations and associations of all 
 kinds, extending from the national government down to 
 the most inferior municipality, an abuse of power, spring- 
 ing from or aided by organization, that places heavy burdens 
 of taxation upon all, but which press most heavily on the 
 ignorant, the poor, and the laboring classes. It is not, 
 indeed, openly asserted that " might makes right," — phys- 
 ical external force is not employed, — but shrewd, calcula- 
 ting men, using the power of intellect, wealth, and position, 
 aided by the force of combination and organization, in a 
 delicate and refined, but none the less cruel manner, do ac- 
 complish ends that are grossly selfish and bitterly oppres- 
 sive to the community. By these schemes of combined 
 capital and cunning brains the power escapes from the 
 many to the few ; the rich are made richer and the poor 
 poorer. By this indirect but powerful o})pression many a 
 worthy and honest citizen feels that his means of livelihood 
 
ORGANIZATION. I40 
 
 are gradually being taken from him, and a fatal blow, from 
 a source of wliich he is ignorant, is being aimed at his pros- 
 perity. As the pressure bears more heavily upon him, he 
 comes to the consciousness that he must be crushed or take 
 part with the oppressor and in turn press down on those 
 below him. Occasionally the details of some such scheme 
 are providentially exposed to the public gaze. Could the 
 whole series of robbery, corruption, falsehood and crime, be 
 fully revealed, it would show a state of society unequalled 
 in deformity by that of a Mohammedan or heathen nation. 
 But the saddest fact of all, is that when these astounding 
 revelations burst upon us, many who have occupied higli 
 positions in government or associations, have been most 
 deeply engaged in these nefarious schemes, when at the 
 same time they held correspondingly high positions among 
 the sects of the visible Church. Yet the means employed 
 are not gross in nature, but on the contrary are plausible 
 in outward appearance, — indeed, but seldom require any- 
 thing that would be outwardly inconsistent with a "profes- 
 sion of religion" in any of the denominations. 
 
 This same spirit which is so prevalent in the government 
 and worldly corporations is plainly to be discerned in the 
 churches. Within the century a change has taken place 
 in the policy and usage of the Church which is not an im- 
 provement on the old ways. It is a change for which the 
 clergy are no more relieved from responsibility than are 
 the laymen. In the olden time of our fathers, a clergyman 
 would remain in one pastorate for a quarter of a century, 
 or during a lifetime, performing his duties with fidelity, 
 and seeking the reward of his labors in a happy and con- 
 tented society gathered about him. Now, worldly pros- 
 perity and a desire for ease and comfort tempt pastors to 
 such frequent changes that a ten years' settlement is rather 
 
144 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 remarkable. Some wealthy, influential city congregation 
 learns of a good man settled in a quiet, retired place. It 
 sends a committee to "feel" him, or, in plain words, to tempt 
 him, by the promise of increased salary and greater worldly 
 advantages, to desert the position assigned him by the Holy 
 Ghost. Loving his people, and in turn loved and respected 
 by them, reverenced by the children and indorsed by the 
 community, he at first gives no heed to the charmers who 
 place before him in such glowing colors the greater privi- 
 leges of a metropolitan residence, the advantages enjoyed 
 by the pastor of a cultivated, intelligent congregation, the 
 increased educational facilities within reach for his children. 
 They flatter his latent vanity by an intimation that " one 
 of the most important churches of the denomination, the 
 very stronghold of orthodoxy in the region," demands and 
 must have a pastor of just his peculiar fitness and qualifi- 
 cations, and skilfully sustain the plea by the presentation 
 of a far " wider field of usefulness in the vineyard of the 
 Lord," where his talent and ability will insure a tenfold 
 harvest of souls. The larger salary, the longer vacations 
 for rest, the occasional voyage to Europe or the Holy 
 Land, are quietly referred to, but of course not strongly 
 urged, as reasons for a change, for worldly prudence would 
 not thus defeat its own ends by too bald a statement. The 
 worldly temptation having entered into his soul, the shrink- 
 ing pastor begins to consider the case in his own mind, — 
 his i)resent circumstances shrink into nothing compared 
 with those he might obtain,— his wife's health assumes an 
 importance it never had before,— his limited locality never 
 seemed so small and confining or its disadvantages so ap- 
 parent,— and "the wider field of usefulness" opened before 
 him is accepted as an intimation of the will of the Holy 
 Spirit. Usually without consultation with his people, the 
 
ORGANIZATION. 145 
 
 call is accepted, a useful and pleasant relation is severed, 
 and a precious assembly of saints is robbed of a beloved 
 pastor by a sister organization professing to believe that 
 there is but " One Church" where the unity of the Spirit 
 is to be kept in the bonds of peace, and where all should 
 seek the edification of the Body of Christ. On the other 
 hand, the church seeking a minister, in its public and so- 
 cial services has been praying that the Spirit would guide 
 them in all their deliberations, that God would in His own 
 time send them a man after His own heart, while in their 
 own mind they have already determined to call one whose 
 eloquent preaching will fill the j)ews and draw into the 
 fold those learned and wealthy persons in the community 
 who will pay off the burdensome church-debt, increase the 
 contributions to the Boards, and thus make the particular 
 church popular in the denomination and the world. To 
 gain this end they are ready to pursue a course that in the 
 ordinary business transaction of life among worldly men, 
 would not only be considered an aggressive intrusion on 
 private interests, but a procedure that no honorable mer- 
 chant would approve or consent to adopt. This is not an 
 exceptional case occurring at long intervals, for its fre- 
 quency and its truth will at once be acknowledged by those 
 who have been connected with the inner machinery which 
 is supposed to be essential to the judicious management and 
 wise control of a church organization. 
 
 The question, " How shall ice secure a pastor?" asked by 
 a company of professed believers that may be without one, 
 and the means so often used to obtain one, are evidences 
 that the present form of organization is not from God, but 
 from men, and the consequent difficulties arising in the 
 case are the inherent evils of the system. When a congre- 
 gation regards the oratorical power, the intellectual ability. 
 
146 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 the scriptural knowledge, or the genuine piety of the min- 
 ister, as so many talents to be bid for and obtained by the 
 payment of so much money, and when the congregation is 
 regarded by the minister as a number of people gatliered 
 to listen to and enjoy his scientific, philosophical, or meta- 
 physical discourses, or the means by which he may acquire 
 reputation as a scholar, rather than a proclaimer of the Gos- 
 pel of his Master, then are we experiencing the most dead- 
 ening and fatal results of organization. 
 
 It is an undoubted proposition " that they which preach 
 the Gospel should live of the Gospel." (1 Cor. ix. 14.) It 
 is the duty of believers to contribute of their substance for 
 the support of those whom the Spirit of the Lord hath 
 called to instruct and edify saints, so that their minds, being 
 free from earthly cares, may be given entirely to the dis- 
 charge of the high and holy office. But this duty, which 
 should be regarded as a privilege, is often sadly neglected 
 by those who claim to regard the Gospel as above all price. 
 The true Gospel spirit does not solicit, imj^lore, or beg any- 
 thing spiritual or material. What is given for the support 
 of tiie Gospel must be the gift of a willing heart, must bear 
 the seal of Divine approbation and have God's blessing on 
 it, or it will accomplish no good. AVhile I would not solicit 
 anything from an unbeliever for the support of the Gospel, 
 and would have no right to refuse it if freely offered, yet I 
 cannot but believe that the oflPerings of Christian believers, 
 prompted by the Holy Ghost, are the most effective material 
 means of doing good. If the method used to support |)ub- 
 lic worship should be by j^ew-rent, — the propriety and wis- 
 dom of which may well be questioned, — the prompt meeting 
 of the obligation should never be neglected. Strange as it 
 may appear, many are derelict in this respect. There is 
 nothing sadder in the record of the organization than the 
 
ORG A XI Z A TION. 147 
 
 sufferings of worthy pastors and their families from tlie 
 faikire of their people to pay what had been promised. 
 
 No one whose soul is influenced by love to Christ will 
 fail in giving a due proportion of his means for the main- 
 tenance of the ordinances of the Gospel. There are, 
 however, associated with the Church organization many 
 schemes of human devising which have no essential rela- 
 tion to Gospel truth, and yet would make a claim for 
 support on the ground of religious obligation. These 
 schemes may not include that which is absolutely wrong, 
 the funds gathered by the eloquent appeals of agents may 
 be honestly appropriated to the specified object, but after 
 all they have no practical utility, effect nothing in the pre- 
 motion of vital personal piety, and are too often only the 
 devices by which some, who cannot dig and are ashamed 
 to beg, may have a comparatively easy means of subsist- 
 ence. There are some men who, regarding themselves as 
 stewards, responsible for a wise and proper use of the means 
 placed in their hands, will not encourage or contribute to 
 these multiplied organizations. Such must expect to be 
 stigmatized as miserly, and be prepared to meet the frowns 
 of many who cannot perceive, and are unable to believe, 
 that such action is governed by a well-settled and clearly- 
 defined sense of duty. 
 
 Similar feelings jjnd reproaches are often awakened by, 
 and manifested to, those who, from honest convictions, do 
 not care to participate in many forms of bustling church 
 activity upon which in these days so much dependence 
 seeius to be placed. There are doubtless in every con- 
 gregation many thoughtful p^en and women, who, fully 
 assured by Revelation and their own experience that the 
 presentation of Christ as a Saviour from sin and death, is 
 the one means by which men may be made Christians, 
 
148 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 cannot have synipathy with or take any part in those plans 
 of social entertainment and amu.sement, carried on with the 
 express purpose of promoting religion, which transform the 
 house of worship into a theatre, a concert-hall, or a restau- 
 rant, and change what should be an assembly of professed 
 followers of Christ, seeking each other's good by Christian 
 fellowship, into a gathering of frivolous triflers seeking the 
 pleasures which come from esthetical, intellectual, or animal 
 gratification. When the Church, as a Church, enters into 
 rivalry with the w^orld in providing entertainment and 
 amusement for its members, it will soon be discovered that 
 the world can furnish a better article at a lower price. The 
 world's amusements cost only time and money, but the 
 amusements of the Church — the phrase has a grating sound 
 on Christian ears — are provided at a cost that must be 
 measured by a widespread loss of spirituality, by the in- 
 crease of the worldliness so congenial to the human heart, 
 and too often by the contempt of the worldly, who justly 
 look for something higher and purer than mere frivolities 
 from those who profess to be intrusted with a message of life 
 to lost and condemned sinners. Were it not for the serious 
 results, it might be amusing to read the accounts, in the 
 daily papers, of the fairs and festivals, the dinners and tea- 
 parties, the musical and dramatic entertainments given by 
 church organizations for some avowedly religious object. 
 These are occasions where Christ may be taken as a visitor, 
 but not as a life — places where the conversation may per- 
 chance for a few moments be about and around Christ and 
 our Church, but not in Christ or His one Church. In 
 truth, it requires a stronger and more enlightened faith to 
 meet and resist the seductions of Satan when thus presented 
 in the guise of religious worldliness, than it did when he 
 brandisiied the fagot and fire. Only by constant and firm 
 
ORGANIZATION. 149 
 
 reliance on Divine power can the Christian keep liis heart 
 free from the entanglements of the world and his garments 
 unspotted. 
 
 But it may be asked whether these multiplied agencies 
 and all this complicated machinery of organization have not 
 resulted in good. While not denying that some good may 
 have been done by these means, it might still be shown 
 that the good results have been not gained by, but in spite 
 of, the system, and that had the Church called to her aid 
 the mighty powder of the Holy Ghost, submitting herself to 
 the Divine guidance promised by the Father, her history of 
 nearly two thousand years would not have been a record 
 of comparative failure. A pious English layman, after an 
 impartial survey of the meagre and unsatisfactory results 
 of active effort at home and abroad, says to his Christian 
 brethren that " Our call is to be, rather than to do; that being 
 what we ought to be, there will be little danger of our failing 
 to do what we are called upon to perform ; that truth rather 
 than triumph should be the great object of our ambition ; 
 that God loves His creatures far better than we can do ; 
 that acquiescence in His dispensations, founded on implicit 
 confidence in the revelation He has been pleased to make of 
 Himself to us, is far more acceptable than restless zeal for 
 the promotion of His kingdom ; that the simple acceptance 
 of that great body of facts which it has pleased Him to 
 give for our learning, is far better than any amount of 
 theological deduction that may be drawn therefrom ; that all 
 noise and clamor on behalf of One who when on earth did 
 neither strive nor cry, nor make His voice to be heard in 
 the streets, is out of place ; that all pandering to human 
 vanity, all love of notoriety, all planning and directing, and 
 governing of machinery, all greed of money for God's ser- 
 vice, all excitement and publicity, all faith in mere oratory, 
 
150 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 all silencing of witness lest it should interfere with our 
 projects, — everything^ in short, which is contrary to childlike 
 faith, to the silent and loving operations of the Spirit, — 4s 
 not of the Father, but of the world.' '' 
 
 No intelligent Christian doubts that the hearty recogni- 
 tion of these truths, and their persistent, quiet following on 
 the ])art of individuals, would do much to purify the 
 ^'hurch, to renovate society, and promote genuine heart- 
 pietv, and ])rove by blessed results that it was a plan in 
 accordance with the Divine method as given in the Word. 
 The following extract from an Epistle to Diognetus, writ- 
 ten at the beginning of the second century, only a few years 
 after the death of the Apostle John, by some primitive 
 Christian whose name has perished, presents so beautiful 
 and truthful a picture of the early Christians, and of the 
 manifestation of Christ in men, that we quote at length : 
 
 " Christians pass their days on earth, but they are citizens 
 of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same 
 time surpass the laws by their lives ; they love all men, and 
 are ])ersecuted by all; they are unknown and condemned; 
 they are put to death and restored to life ; they are poor, 
 yet make many rich ; they are in lack of all things, and 
 yet abound in all; they are dishonored, and yet in their 
 very dishonor are glorified ; they are evil spoken of, and 
 yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are 
 insulted, and repay the insult with honor; they do good, 
 yet are punished as evil-doers; when punished, they rejoice 
 as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as 
 foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks, yet those who 
 hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred. 
 T(j sum up all in one word, what the soul is in the body 
 that are Cln-istians in the world. The soul is dispersed 
 through all the members of the body, and Christians are 
 
ORGAMZA TION. 151 
 
 scattered through all the cities of tlie world. The soul 
 dwells in the body, yet is not of the body, and Christians 
 dwell in the world, yet are not of the world. The invisible 
 soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are 
 known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness re- 
 mains invisible. The flesh hates the soul and wars ajrainst 
 it, though itself suifering no injury, because it is prevented 
 from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Chris- 
 tians, though in nowise injured [by them], because they 
 abjure pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, 
 and also the members; Christians likewise love those that 
 hate them. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet pre- 
 serves that very body ; and Christians are confined in this 
 world as in a prison, and yet they are the preservers of the 
 world. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle, 
 and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible bodies, 
 looking for an incorruptible body in the heavens. The 
 soul, when but ill provided with food and drink, becomes 
 better; in like manner the Christians, though subjected 
 day by day to punishment, increase the more in number. 
 God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it 
 were unlawful for them to forsake. Do you not see that 
 the more of them that are punished, the greater becomes 
 the number of the rest? This does not seem to be the 
 work of man : this is the power of God, — these are the 
 evidences of His manifestations. 
 
 "How will you love Him who has first so loved you? 
 And if you love Him, you will be an imitator of His kind- 
 ness. And do not wonder that a man may become an 
 imitator of God. He can, if he is willing. For it is not 
 by ruling over his neighbors, or by seeking to hold the 
 supremacy over those that are weaker, or by being rich and 
 showing violence towards those that are inferior, that hap- 
 
152 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 piness is found; nor can any one by these things become 
 an imitator of God. But these things do not at all consti- 
 tute his majesty. On the contrary, he who takes upon 
 himself the burden of his neighbors; he who, in whatso- 
 ever respect he may be superior, is ready to benefit another 
 who is deficient; he who, whatsoever things lie has received 
 from God, by distributing these to the needy becomes a 
 god to those who receive his benefits, — he is an imitator of 
 God. Then thou shalt see, while still on earth, that God 
 in the heavens rules over the universe; then thou shalt 
 both love and admire those that suffer punishment because 
 they will not deny God ; then thou shalt begin to speak 
 the mysteries of God ; then shalt thou condemn the deceit 
 and error of the world when thou shalt know what it is to 
 live truly in heaven ; when thou shalt despise that which 
 is here esteemed to be death ; when thou shalt fear what is 
 truly death, which shall afflict those even to the end that 
 are committed to it.'^ 
 
PARDON OF SIN. 
 
 There is not, perhaps, witliin the entire range of human 
 emotions, any feeling more satisfactory in character or more 
 productive of peace, than the personal belief in and assu- 
 rance of pardon and forgiveness of sin through the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. No article in the Creed enters so fully into 
 our consciousness, or touches so closely our individual lives, 
 as that by which we express our faith in "the forgive- 
 ness of sin." Although to the natural mind the j^rocess by 
 which the righteousness of God is manifested, the ivay 
 in which '^He might be just" and at the same time *'the 
 Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus," may be an 
 inscrutable mystery, yet the simplicity of the Gospel is 
 such, that among the first experiences of a soul led by the 
 Holy Spirit, is a full persuasion of the power and willing- 
 ness of God to pardon all sin, and remove forever both its 
 pollution and its consequences. At the very entrance upon 
 the Divine life, the Christian finds a new and personal mean- 
 ing in the words of David, " Blessed is he whose trans- 
 gression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the 
 man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in 
 whose spirit there is no guile," that he had no conception 
 of before. After the consciousness of sin has entered into 
 the soul, after it has experienced the "sinfulness of sin," 
 there can be no peace without the assurance of pardon, — 
 there can be no sure and steady hope without the belief, 
 based on the word of Jehovah, that the awful debt has 
 been paid. AVe cannot conceive an idea of Christian life 
 
 153 
 
154 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 witlioiit faith in the promise of pardon, — not only for past 
 sin, but for that which intertwines itself with daily expe- 
 rience. It is the foundation of all hope, an essential 
 of peace, a requisite to union with God. It is a blessed 
 privilege granted to all who are led by the Spirit. The 
 promises of pardon in the Word are so full and free, the 
 conditions on which it is granted are so simple, the recorded 
 instances are so remarkable and clear, that there should not 
 only be no doubt of the general fact of pardon through 
 faith in Christ, but of its possible personal appropriation 
 by each individual by the exercise of faith. The instances 
 of pardon rendered in Scripture are not special or extra- 
 ordinary, but run in the ordinary course of human experi- 
 ence, and may therefore be accepted as general cases and 
 precedents given for our encouragement. Let it be marked 
 that the only condition of pardon for sinners is plainly 
 given by Peter: "That through His name, whosoever 
 belie veth in Him shall receive remission of sins." 
 
 There are, perhaps, few Christians who either doubt or 
 deny the truth that God, in His infinite mercy, through 
 the life and death of Christ, does pardon all the sins of 
 those who are truly united to His Son by the Holy Spirit. 
 As a dogma, an article in their creed, all accept it, but yet 
 there are but few who take it in all that it involves, mak- 
 ing it an essential part of their Christian experience, and 
 drawing from it the comfort and strength which follow its 
 possession. Pardon, being a prerogative of God only, — a 
 gift of grace, which no work or wealth of man can pur- 
 chase, — must be accepted as such. Its source is found in 
 the sovereign grace and mercy of God. On no other 
 foundation can any human hope be based. As a right, it 
 cannot be claimed. Christ has died, and we have the 
 promise that by faith in Him we shall receive remission 
 
PARDON OF SIN. 155 
 
 of sin. It may be that this gracious act far transcends 
 human comprehension, but Scripture assures us that in the 
 blood of Christ the justice of God is satisfied, and tiie sins 
 of all ^vho are united to Him are forgiven, blotted out, 
 taken away, covered up, imputed no more. It would seem 
 that God in His infinite mercy had taken special pains to 
 convince men that sin might be pardoned through faith in 
 His Son ; that remission of sin was a logical and necessary 
 result of faith in Christ; that a hearty and honest confes- 
 sion of sin would be immediately followed by pardon. 
 
 Now while the truth of pardon of sin may be accepted 
 theoretically by the majority of Christians, — may be insisted 
 upon as a cardinal axiom of faith, and in the heat of argu- 
 ment advanced as a pivotal 23oint, — we claim that the almost 
 universal custom of concluding a social or private prayer 
 with the plirase " Pardon all our sins" is a sad evidence 
 of ignorance of the spirituality of the Grace dispensation, 
 and a proof that many are striving to work out a righteous- 
 ness by the Law. This petition takes its place with others 
 of similar character. It is a request for a blessing which 
 has already been granted, — a prayer for that which the soul 
 has already in possession, if the promises of God are fully 
 accepted. It is a petition that will bear a very careful 
 examination by every Gospel saint, and, regarded in the 
 light thrown upon it by the Word, may seem to be one 
 that he would hesitate to offer. In that part of the New 
 Testament — from the beginning of John's Gospel to the 
 close of Revelation — which embraces all that God through 
 the Holy Spirit has revealed to men of His dispensation of 
 Grace in Jesus Christ, there is no injunction to j)ray for 
 the pardon of sin, or any recorded example that would 
 influence a child of God to offer such a petition. When 
 John declares that if ^' we confess our sins. He is faithful 
 
156 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 and just to fori^ive us our sins," he places before us the 
 condition on which pardon will be granted, and gives us 
 the warrant for believing that honest, hearty confession of 
 sin is the pardon of sin ; that, by the Grace of God, con- 
 fession of sin and pardon of sin are inse})arably connected; 
 that if any burdened soul, conscious of guilt, and realizing 
 the true nature of sin, sincerely and fully confesses the 
 ^ame, pardon is assured by tiie promise of God. 
 
 There are several motives and influences, always present 
 in the Church organization, giving impulse to the petition 
 for pardon of sin, none of which, however, can be surely 
 based on Scripture. The spirit of legalism, the force of 
 habit, tlie power of conscience separated from grace in the 
 heart, the absence of faith in plain promises of God, the 
 strange longing of the human heart to gain peace by works 
 of the law, all combine to lead Christians into a form of 
 prayer which, carefully analyzed, reveals the fact that they 
 who above all others should feel that in Christ they are 
 delivered from condemnation, and enjoy the liberty which 
 God has given to His children, are held in a bondage like 
 to that of Mount Sinai which enthralled the Israelites. 
 We are no longer children or slaves. We are heirs of 
 God, — can plead His promises, — can claini by the Avord of 
 the Father that by the death of Christ on the cross the sin 
 of all who trust in Him is washed away in the blood of 
 Calvary, and therefore there can be no condemnation. If 
 we cannot accept the clear scriptural declaration of God 
 concerning the free and absolute pardon of the sins of all 
 believers, we must give up all hope, for the promise of 
 pardon rests surely and entirely on the same foundation 
 upon which we base our hope of immortality. If, like the 
 Jews, we had no Divine warrant for immortality, — if that 
 blessed reality, assured to us by the resurrection of Christ, 
 
PARDON OF SIN. 157 
 
 took its place only as an object of hope and desire, — the 
 pardon of sin wonld not be a question of more than ordi- 
 nary import. The consequences involved would be of little 
 personal moment, for the human mind, with the rapidity 
 of a liffhtning-flash, would reach the conclusion that if 
 there is no immortality, — no conscious continuation of indi- 
 vidual existence, — sin, with all it involves, is an evil con- 
 nected only with the brief life on earth, the consequences 
 of which do not pass beyond our present knowledge and 
 experience. Without any desire to enter upon the discus- 
 sion of the influence of a belief in a future life, on the 
 morality of the present, we would yet endeavor to make 
 evident the fact that a belief in pardon rests upon, and, in 
 the mind of a believer, must be inseparably joined with, 
 the same scriptural promises and assurances which lead 
 him to think he is an "heir of immortality.'' Throwing 
 aside all controversy, giving no heed to the utterances of 
 human wisdom which would cloud faith, receiving the 
 Scripture and the results of the operation of the Holy 
 Spirit on the individual soul of the believer as the truth 
 God would reveal to men, no reason is apparent why a full 
 belief in the absolute pardon of sin should not be as heartily 
 embraced and thankfully rejoiced in, as the assurance that 
 the appearance of Christ '' hath brought life and immor- 
 tality to light tlirough the Gospel." 
 
 But the question remains. Why should a Christian who 
 has received the word of the Master, exercised faith on 
 Him, and based all hopes in Him, have the faintest desire 
 to pray for a blessing which the Father, the Son, and the 
 Holy Ghost have combined to assure him has been granted, 
 and is even now, and will be forever, in his own possession? 
 
 There are in Scripture — reference is made only to the 
 New Testament — a few isolated texts which, taken without 
 
 11 
 
158 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 regard to the time, place, and circumstances of their utter- 
 ance or record, might at first sight, to some minds, seem to 
 give a warrant for a prayer for pardon of sin. Prominent 
 among these, and one that is always placed in the front, — 
 not only as an example, but as an example which, consid- 
 ering its source, is claimed to be equivalent to a positive 
 injunction, — is the petition in the Lord's Prayer, "Forgive 
 \^ our debts as we forgive our debtors." Now this phrase 
 is so definite that taken alone it would appear like an au- 
 thoritative sanction the force of which none would deny. 
 But when we remember that those who received this formula 
 from the lips of the Blessed Master were Jewish believers 
 in the Messiah gaining the first intimations of the wealth 
 of blessing He was soon to lavish on them, — Avho were then 
 in a transition state, passing from a system of works into one 
 of Grace, in bondage to a legal dispensation and having no 
 clear ideas of the new freedom which was to be their portion 
 when redemption should have been completed by the sacri- 
 fice on Calvary, — having no conceptions of the spiritual 
 enlightenment and gracious power that would follow the 
 advent of the Holy Spirit, — estimating all truth that came 
 to them by the conditions of tutorage and discipline under 
 which they lived, and thus incapable by reason of ignorance 
 of any real comprehension of the spiritual import of Christ's 
 teachings, — giving to all these facts their due consideration, 
 it is not a matter of wonder that the Jews accepted the 
 petition in a strictly literal sense, and believed their " debts" 
 would be forgiven, because they had forgiven their debtors. 
 Such an idea was the natural result of Jewish legalism, 
 but cannot consistently find place where Grace reigns. It 
 is in direct opposition to the first principles of the Grace 
 system. The Gospel saint who believes in his own heart 
 that he has been taken out of the world by God's free and 
 
PARDON OF SIX. 159 
 
 sovereign Grace, who " walks not after the flesh, hut after 
 the Spirit/' because God's law has been written upon his 
 heart, who has been crucified with Christ, has been buried 
 and has risen with Him, been baptized by the Holy Ghost 
 and thus made an heir of all the blessed privileges of the 
 children of God, who knows that Christ has worked out a 
 full, perfect, and complete salvation for all who trust in 
 Him, has, or should have, an absolute assurance that all his 
 sin, past, present, and future, is borne by, and atoned for, by 
 his Substitute and Sin-bearer. He rests his faith on the 
 word of Paul, that the Son, before "taking His place on 
 the right hand of the Majesty on high," " had by Himself 
 purged our sins'^ (Heb. i. 3), and 'Hhat the worshippers 
 once purged should have had no more conscience of sins" 
 (Heb. X. 2) ; and recalling the reproof of Peter to those 
 who '* had forgotten that they were purged from all their 
 old sins" (2 Pet. i. 9), takes the comfort these declarations 
 of truth were certainly intended to give. By the Grace of 
 God being delivered from the conscience of all past sins 
 by the new life or the new creation in Christ Jesus, the 
 believer hates sin and cannot hold or cherish the least sin 
 in his own heart. The Holy Spirit dwelling within him, 
 he is inclined to and desires to be conformed to the image 
 of his Lord. He cannot sin, for he is born of God, and 
 the seed of God remaineth in him. He is sanctified through 
 the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, by 
 which he is perfectly sanctified. (Heb. x. 10 and 14.) 
 
 During the centuries that have passed since our Lord 
 was on the earth, myriads of redeemed souls, loving and 
 trusting Him, have found in these words an expression of 
 the inmost desire of their hearts, — an earnest desire for 
 deliverance from the power of sin. Few of these, with a 
 true consciousness of the inherent wickedness of the human 
 
160 THISGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 licart, would venture to say, " Forgive us our debts, as we 
 forgive our debtors." In the light poured upon early 
 Christians by the succeeding utterances of Christ, and by 
 the ins])ired revelations of the Apostles^ w^e can perhaps 
 discover that which has transfused a Jewish prayer with 
 the spirit of Grace and put into it a meaning far beyond 
 the comprehension of those who first heard it. The truth 
 ydden in this petition seenjs to be that a Christian, trusting 
 only to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, will always be in 
 such a state of mind and heart that he naturally and truly 
 forgives all his debtors, and like his Master loves those 
 who are his enemies. But this forgiveness which he so 
 freely extends, is the genuine fruit of the indwelling of the 
 Spirit in his heart, and is not, and cannot be the ground on 
 which he believes that his own sin has been pardoned. He 
 knows that in Christ sin has been condemned, justice satis- 
 fied, the law of God magnified, and believers saved from 
 the consequences of a departure from the source of light 
 and love. He cannot have the presumption or hardihood 
 to cherish the thought for a moment, that his own pardon 
 is dependent on or in any way the result of the forgiveness 
 he may extend to others. 
 
 Simple, plain, and clear as are the promises of God to 
 pardon sin on confession, the fact that so many prayers 
 include a i)etition for pardon, is an evidence that the pro- 
 fessed Christians of this age either do not believe the state- 
 ments of revelation or that they have failed to comprehend 
 their real meaning. Absence of faith or careless ignorance 
 must be the impulse of a prayer for which there is no war- 
 rant in the Grace dispensation. Holding fast to the decla- 
 rations of truth in the Old Testament,— perfectly adapted 
 and invaluable to those for whom they were intended and 
 to whom they were given,— many Christians, not appreci- 
 
PARDON OF SJy. ](Jl 
 
 ating tlie blessing of freedom and full justification extended 
 to them in Christ, are continually striving to do something 
 in the line of the law that will recommend them to God, — - 
 seeking for that which may be oflPered as an equivalent for 
 the blessing promised and given to them, — working out a 
 righteousness which they can oifer to God. Would it not 
 be more rational to follow the Divine injunction, "Believe 
 on the Lord Jesus Christ," — accept heartily that which 
 God, " faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse 
 us from all unrighteousness," offers to us, and yield our- 
 selves to the guidance and teaching of the Holy Spirit? 
 Believing that " Christ is the end of the law for righteous- 
 ness to every one that belie veth," accepting the declaration 
 that "He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of 
 the world that we should be holy and without blame before 
 Him in love," — assured that "we are His workmanship, 
 created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath 
 before ordained we should walk in," — satisfied that the 
 Father " hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, 
 that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him," 
 — having a consciousness of " the liberty wherewith Christ 
 hath made us free," — trusting in the word of St. John that 
 we " have an unction from the Holy One and know all 
 things" essential to salvation, — being " fully persuaded that 
 what God has promised He is able also to perform," — we 
 rest on the word of St. Paul that " if we believe on Him 
 that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was 
 delivered for our offences and was raised again for our 
 justification, therefore, being justified by faith, we have 
 peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom 
 also we have a(;cess by faith into this grace wherein we 
 stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Consider- 
 ing the richness and fulness of the promises of God to par- 
 
1^2 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 don sin, and the fact that "He is faithful and just to for- 
 give us our sins," is there any reason for doubting that all 
 tlie sins of all believers were laid upon and atoned for by 
 the Sin-bearer, — that Christ by His death on Calvary laid 
 an eternal fonndation for the pardon of sins, that any hu- 
 man soul feeling i\\Q burden and guilt of sin might surely 
 rest upon ? 
 
 • In the daily intercourse with the world, in the ordinary 
 walks of life, the Christian will fall into sin, and do that 
 which his own conscience tells him is contrary to the holi- 
 ness of the Law of God. With the confidence of a loving 
 child he confesses his sins, pours out his heart before the 
 Father in humble acknowledgment of his transgression, 
 trusting in the Great High Priest at the right hand of 
 God who intercedes for him, and thus throws off the bur- 
 den which human strength cannot bear. Knowing so well 
 by personal experience the weakness and infirmity of the 
 flesh, the evil dwelling in his natural heart, the power of 
 the temptations and blandishments of the world, and the 
 force of the fiery darts of Satan, the Christian is always 
 in a praying and confessing mood, and is continually 
 judging himself that he " should not be condemned with 
 the world." He does not approach a throne of grace with 
 any slavish fear, or with any desire to gain a reward for 
 obedience, or with the hope of avoiding an evil. His one 
 earnest wish is for deliverance from the power and guilt of 
 sin. Knowing that the Father has an infinite hatred of 
 sin, that for his sins Christ was crucified, he will not delib- 
 erately hold the least sin upon his conscience, would not 
 crucify his Lord afresh, or grieve the Holy Spirit, or prove 
 a stumbling-block in the pathway of other human souls; 
 he simply accepts God's word, humbly and penitently 
 confesses his sin, believes that true confession is pardon. 
 
PARDON OF SIN. 163 
 
 and trusts in the grace of God to deliver him from the 
 power and temptation of his spiritual enemies. Knowing 
 so well the weakness of his faith, conscious of the faint 
 appreciation he has of the infinite worth of the sacri^fice of 
 Christ, finding within himself a spirit of selfishness, and a 
 disposition to settle himself in a state of carnal ease, the 
 devoted saint will always be mourning over his sins and 
 humbly confessing them. 
 
THE ABIDING COMFORTER. 
 
 Among the most precious privileges given to believers 
 ]^- the Heavenly Father are the assurance of pardoned sin 
 and the consciousness of entire acceptance Avith God. The 
 lamentable fact that so many pass through their earthly 
 pilgrimage without experiencing the fulness of blessing to 
 be enjoyed by their possession, is no evidence against the 
 existence of a very definite, scripturally-based assurance of 
 pardon and salvation wrought into the soul by the Holy 
 Spirit. It is, however, a sad proof that many Christians, 
 from the want of a strict and prayerful examination of the 
 word of God, remain in doubt of that which would most 
 conduce to their happiness and usefulness, and fail to 
 appropriate the blessed privilege which has been provided 
 for every believer. On this most important point of 
 Christian experience, where there should be calm, settled 
 conviction, causing constant joy and peace in the soul, 
 there are too often uneasy questionings and chronic doubt- 
 ings which iiave in them all the essential elements of un- 
 belief. 
 
 Believing that this precious boon is one of the results of 
 
 faith wrought into the soul by the Holy Spirit, we think 
 
 the absence of assurance may be traced, in many cases, to 
 
 an ignorance or a misconception of the nature and offices 
 
 of the Abiding Comforter, or to a doubt of the indwelling 
 
 influence. Before Christ left His disciples He told them 
 
 He must go away or the Comforter could not come,— that 
 
 He would pray the Father to send the Comforter to "abide 
 1G4 
 
THE ABIDING COMFORTER. 1G5 
 
 with them forever," to dwell with them and be in them, 
 to teach them all things, and bring all things to their 
 remembrance that He had spoken unto them, to testify of 
 Him, to guide them unto all truth, and to shoAV them 
 things to come. Paul, in the clearest and most emphatic 
 manner, tells the Corinthian believers that they ''are the 
 temple of God," that " the Spirit of God dAvelleth in them," 
 even in their bodies. All the hopes, the desires, the very 
 life of a Christian are but the inspiration of the Holy 
 Ghost. God the Holy Spirit, doing the work of God the 
 Son on earth, silently and without observation takes up 
 His abode in the heart of every believer, and seals every 
 saint as an heir of salvation. Thus the Church is sus- 
 tained by one Divioe Life, Christ poured into each heart. 
 AVhere the unity of the Spirit is kept in the bonds of peace 
 there is one body, one temple. All are heirs of the same 
 blessing, all are influenced by the same Spirit. Partakers 
 of the one life, all who love Christ are one, and therefore 
 brethren, children of the One Heavenly Father. 
 
 How often do we hear in prayers the petition, '' Send 
 down the Holy Spirit into our hearts, and upon the 
 Church"! Although from frequent and almost constant 
 use this phrase has become so fixed and incorporated in 
 prayer that it is regarded as an expression of humble 
 dependence on the influence of the Third Person of the 
 Trinity, and an earnest desire that the soul may be led into 
 the right path by Divine direction, yet, in the face of the 
 many positive declarations of Scripture that the Spirit 
 dwells in the heart of every saint, does not the use of 
 such a petition immediately betray a want of faith in 
 God's promises that the soul is sealed forever? Does it 
 not manifest a doubt whether the personal salvation has 
 been secured ? Is it not an admission that the Spirit is not 
 
l(j(3 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 in possession of the licart? Is it not a confession that the 
 Spirit is recognized as an " influence" rather than as a 
 Person, equal with the Father and Son ? While nothing, 
 perhaps, could be farther from the minds of many who use 
 these and similar petitions, yet they do contain an element 
 of unbelief that is inconsistent with simple Christian faith. 
 No one of Christ's redeemed children, however sadly he 
 may have grieved and quenched it, is ever without the 
 Holy Spirit ; neither can he resist the Spirit as a finally 
 impenitent soul. If a Christian supposes he can think a 
 good thought, speak a good word, or do a good act by any 
 inherent or natural virtue, he is simply trusting to his own 
 righteousness. He prays for the gift of the Holy Spirit, 
 and negatively confesses that he has departed from and is 
 not walking in God's holy ways, and that he can retrace 
 his steps or regain the right road by asking for the Holy 
 Spirit. If one could be holy to-day and sinful to-morrow 
 there would be some propriety in praying for the '^ gift of 
 the Spirit" to be holy to-day, and on the morrow to follow 
 the flesh and the world. The influence of the Holy Spirit 
 upon the human heart is not like that of the sun upon 
 vegetation, or of. the moon upon the tides. It is a new 
 creation, beginning at the centre of man's being and work- 
 ing out to the circumference. The old heart remaining 
 in the old nature, grace does not change the character of a 
 man, but by the inworking power of the Spirit the man is 
 more and more conformed to the image of Christ, and 
 thus is changed. 
 
 When our Christian graces do not shine, when the soul 
 is discouraged and despondency hangs heavy over the 
 affections, it is natural, and proper that we should seek 
 relief and gain new strength from the Divine source, and 
 pray that the Spirit within us might awaken our dull 
 
THE ABIDING COMFORTER. 167 
 
 affections, quicken our desires, and open our spiritual eyes 
 that we may behold wondrous things in God's word. 
 Such a petition implies no doubt of \\\q gracious presence 
 of the Holy Spirit in the heart, according to the promise. 
 It may be said that one who has the Comforter constantly 
 abidino; in the soul oudit not to fall into such a condition, 
 which is certainly one of the forms by which the Spirit is 
 grieved. Granting tliis, the experience of the weakness of 
 our faith, and the appreciation of the power of our wicked 
 hearts, the temptations of the world, and the fiery darts of 
 the evil one by which we are so continually assailed, should 
 work in us the conviction that without the ever-abiding 
 presence of the Divine Spirit, exerting supernatural power, 
 the Christian faith and life are beyond our capacity of 
 retaining and manifesting. 
 
 We fear that the Church of the present age has a very 
 faint and inadequate conception of the mission and ofiice of 
 the Holy Ghost, and that individual Christians do not 
 realize the infinite worth and power of the indwelling 
 Spirit. Fighting against principalities, powers, and spir- 
 itual wickednesses in high places, and unable to contend 
 successfully against the least of his spiritual enemies, the 
 weakest Christian, by simply giving up his own strength 
 and fully opening the heart to the Holy Spirit, may draw^ 
 to his aid all the Divine powers of the Godhead, and find 
 ever within his own soul the Comforter who will guide 
 into all good, shield from all spiritual danger, strengthen 
 against all temptation, and protect from all enemies. When 
 no thought or purpose is permitted to take root in the heart, 
 and no design or act is allowed to find manifestation in the 
 outward life, unless fully convinced that they are sanctioned 
 by the Almighty Friend, Counsellor, and Guide, then is 
 the human soul being brought into union with God and 
 
168 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 Jesus Christ by the blessed influence of the Spirit. The 
 Christian cannot attain this liappy condition by effort. It 
 is the result of simple yielding to the operations of the 
 Holy Spirit as they manifest themselves in the soul. Car- 
 dinal Manning, in his book on ^'The Internal Mission of 
 the Holy Ghost/^ uses the following illustration of the grace 
 of God working upon the heart by the Spirit : '' You have 
 *een a lock in a river, and you have watched how, when 
 tlie lock is shut, the water rises against the gate. It presses 
 with its full weight against the gate until a hand — it may 
 be the hand of a child, with such facility is it accomplished 
 — opens the gate of the lock ; at once the flood pours in, 
 the level of the water rises, the stream runs strong and 
 carries forward those that float upon it without effort of 
 their own. The grace of God — that is, the power of the 
 Holy Ghost — is always pressing against our will, always in 
 contact with our heart, moving us onward tow^ards God, 
 impelling us to good. And this pressure of the Holy Ghost 
 against our will waits only for our will to open : ^ Behold, 
 I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear My voice, 
 and open the door, I will come in and sup with him and 
 he with Me.' The Holy Spirit of God is waiting at the 
 door all the day long; in every action we do He is pressing 
 upon our will to make us do good, and when we are doing 
 good, to make us do better. But He waits for our will to 
 correspond. He never forces it. The will must be willing. 
 If we only open the gate the full tide of His grace will 
 flow in, and uniting itself with our powers \w\\\ elevate our 
 personal will above itself, strengthen it with supernatural 
 force, and carry it onward with facility and speed.'' 
 
 Nothing is more certain and invariable in Christian ex- 
 perience than the fact that a man cannot attain this state of 
 union with God except by an entire renunciation and per- 
 
THE ABIDING COMFORTER. 169 
 
 feet denial of self, a casting out of all self-love, and such an 
 entire surrender and submission of his own will and whole 
 nature to tiie Holy Spirit that it would seem as if the Holy 
 Spirit Himself were the man's will and desire. The all- 
 pervading, powerful influence of the Holy Spirit in human 
 hearts by which the thought and life are guided, may to the 
 mind of the natural man seem unreal and mystical, a force 
 that cannot easily be distinguished or separated from the 
 inherent qualities of the soul, the guidance of which cannot 
 be intelligently discerned and therefore implicitly followed, 
 but in all ages and in every country there have been many 
 who could say with Tauler that '' what the Spirit works in 
 the souls of those with whom He holds direct converse none 
 can say, nor can any man give account of it to another, but 
 he only who has felt what it is ; an^ even he can tell thee 
 nothing of it, save only that God in very truth hath possessed 
 the ground of his souV But is it unreasonable that the 
 operations of the Divine Si)irit of God upon the heart and 
 soul of man should be mysterious? Is it surprising that a 
 process so supernatural in origin, so powerful in its influ- 
 ence, so widereaching and diverse in its developments, 
 should lie beyond the reach of finite limited human com- 
 prehension? But, thanks to the Father, who hath in all 
 ages manifested Himself by the Spirit, each soul has within 
 itself a faculty by which it may discern the leadings of the 
 Spirit, and recognize for itself the Divine truth wliich He 
 would open to the spiritual vision ; it can see what God 
 commands inwardly w^ithout means, as well as outwardly 
 by the help of means ; it can, with the confidence of assured 
 faith, submit itself to the direction of the Spirit to follow 
 any path along which the Lord may lead Avithout mur- 
 muring or questioning. Not only is it the privilege of a 
 Christian to always live in such a condition that he will at 
 
170 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 once accept the leadings of the Spirit in everything that 
 may be related to the outward life as well as in the inner 
 experience of his soul, — that interior life which is known 
 only to himself and his God, — but he may, by faith and 
 prayer and by entire renunciation of self, have such an in- 
 dwelling of the Holy Ghost, that all desires, emotions, and 
 affections, will seem to be but the constant and instantaneous 
 results of the Divine Will, working in such perfect harmony 
 with his own will, that the two cannot be separated or dis- 
 tinguished. He will not then be conscious of any disagree- 
 ment between his own desires, and the will of God as it is 
 revealed to his mind by the written Word and clearly mani- 
 fested to his soul by the Holy Spirit. Then will he be 
 receiving and enjoying, as far as it is possible to experience 
 in his earthly life, a full and abundant ansAver to that all- 
 embracing petition of the Lord's Prayer, "Thy will be 
 done on earth as it is in Heaven,^' — not, surely, in the 
 sense which connects the petition with the current events 
 of the " earth," but in that personal and real sense in which 
 the soul is given up in rightful allegiance and full trust to 
 the will of God, continually made evident by the supernat- 
 ural power of the Spirit, — a power and influence differing 
 only by reason of earthly and material conditions from that 
 which bears sway in Heaven. 
 
 It may be said that this phase of high Christian expe- 
 rience, which is claimed to be the result of the Holy 
 Ghost's abiding in human souls, is a condition far beyond 
 the attainment of the majority of those who believe them- 
 selves to be, and are recognized by others as, believers in 
 Christ and children of God. It may be regarded as a 
 point in the Christian course which can only be attained 
 when the soul shall have cast off its trammels of flesh and 
 blood,— the sources, surely, of the many temptations that 
 
THE ABIDING COMFORTER. 171 
 
 vex the spirit and throw such a blight over godly graces, 
 — a point from which the soul, after its deliverance from 
 the "natural body," may start exultingly forward on an 
 endless course of love and service under the immediate and 
 conscious inspiration of the heavenly life; but a careful 
 study of all the truth concerning the office and power of 
 the Holy Si)irit, given to men by Himself in the written 
 Word, accompanied by a careful examination of the opera- 
 tions of the same Spirit in his own soul, will convince a 
 Christian, beyond any doubt, that a surrender of his entire 
 nature to the overpowering influence, a constant watchful- 
 ness to receive and act upon any intimations of the Divine 
 Will that may come to his consciousness, will naturally 
 and inevitably lead his mind and soul, and therefore his 
 rebellious body, into more and more entire accord with the 
 Will of God. None would dare presumptuously to draw 
 a line and declare that beyond it no soul could pass in its 
 divine experience, when the Holy Ghost, dwelling within 
 it, is constantly impelling it to make wider attainments in 
 spiritual knowledge, to rise to a still closer union with its 
 source of spiritual life, which, at the same time, is sustain- 
 ing it in all that it has before acquired. Such a one acts 
 from pure grace, and not alone from conscience. The old 
 conscience from the law^ caused only a slavish fear and 
 dread, but the new^ conscience from the Spirit, assuring of 
 acceptance and pardon, is followed by ever-increasing joy 
 and peace. 
 
 It may seem anomalous and paradoxical, but neverthe- 
 less it is true, that if a Christian who has been made a 
 willing subject of the influence of the Holy Spirit, and 
 thus enabled to make progress far in advance of many, 
 was asked to relate some of his inner personal experience, 
 the first point would be grievous complaints of the great 
 
172 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM 
 
 power of his spiritual enemies, and of the constant tempta- 
 tion from the old heart to rest upon the works of the law, 
 rather than on the finished salvation of Christ, applied per- 
 sonally to his soul by the Holy Spirit. Conscious that he 
 should, like Christ, walk on the top of the water (the 
 world), he confesses that, owing to the weakness of faith, 
 he can scarcely keep his head above the waves. This tu- 
 4auilt of suffering and humiliation, springing from ever- 
 present fears within and assaults without, does not, how- 
 ever, in the least affect the constancy of his hope, break up 
 his confidence in the power and love of Gocl, disturb the 
 intimate communion subsisting between his own soul and 
 the gracious Spirit, or turn aside that overflowing flood of 
 richness and sweetness of grace always pouring into the 
 heart ready to receive it. With perfect assurance of faith, 
 he says, with Job, "I hnoio that my Redeemer liveth," and 
 with Paul, ^^I know whom I have believed, and am per- 
 suaded He is able to keep that which I have committed to 
 Him.'' Humility and self-renunciation mark every phase 
 of his inward experience and outward action. Not con- 
 scious of the fact himself, it is yet patent to every beholder 
 that he is being transformed into the image of Christ by 
 the Spirit of the Lord. 
 
 It is passing strange that ''the full assurance of faith," 
 the enjoyment of which is a precious privilege that may 
 and should be attained by every believer, should be so gen- 
 erally regarded as a special heritage of a favored few\ 
 There is nothing special or extraordinary about it, for all 
 may have it. It is a condition of heart and soul that in- 
 evitably follows the free and unrestricted operations of 
 God's Spirit. It is not presumption to believe clearly and 
 definitely on this point, but it is a false and spurious hu- 
 mility that would lead one to live in perpetual doubt and 
 
THE ABIDING COMFORTER. 173 
 
 hopeless perplexity. With the Bible in hand, opening so 
 clearly the work of the Holy Spirit, it would seem the 
 height of presumption to doubt that any Christian might 
 not live in the conscious enjoyment of the heavenly gift. 
 The soul has been quickened to a new life by the Spirit, 
 has passed from death unto life, has been made partaker of 
 a new creation, has received a new heart and a new spirit, 
 has been ^^ saved by the washing of regeneration and the 
 renewing of the Holy Ghost/' Every believer in Christ 
 has been made the subject of these operations of the Spirit. 
 The sanctifying grace of the Spirit has entered into and 
 pervaded the whole nature. If not resisted,— and the 
 power of a strong resistance dwells in every human breast, 
 — the Holy Ghost will enlighten the mind, revealing w^on- 
 drous things in the Word of God, will implant and sustain 
 a true faith in Christ, will lead the soul to an entire sub- 
 mission to the Avill of God, will strengthen for the perform- 
 ance of every duty and the patient endurance of all suffer- 
 ing that may lie along the pathway, will cherish and 
 brighten all Christian graces, — the outward evidence of the 
 hidden working, — and will, not as a result of what He 
 has already wrought, but at the same time, and in connec- 
 tion with it, give the blessedness of those whose sin is par- 
 doned, whose transgression is covered, and work in the 
 soul the humble yet confident assurance that "He which 
 hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the 
 day of Jesus Christ." Only when we can believe that the 
 Holy Spirit has ceased to strive with sinners, to create 
 souls anew, to intercede for saints, to comfort them and 
 guide them into all truth, to shed abroad the love of God, 
 and to seal souls unto the day of Redemption, can we 
 reasonably doubt the privilege of a blessed and full 
 
 assurance of faith. 
 
 12 
 
PRAYER. 
 
 " Praj'er is the simplest form of speech 
 That infant lips can try ; 
 * Prayer the sublimest strains that reach 
 
 The Majesty on High.'' 
 
 Peayer is simplicity itself, yet its exercise involves all 
 the powers Avhich God has granted to the human soul. On 
 the true and scriptural idea of Prayer, depends in a great 
 measure the whole course of the Christian life. Prayer is 
 the main channel through which the Infinite Father com- 
 municates His fulness of blessing to His dependent children, 
 — the medium by which they express to the Source of 
 life and blessing those feelings of dependence, emotions of 
 love and gratitude, which spring up in the soul when it is 
 in harmony with the Divine Will. From the depths of a 
 broken heart, possessed and influenced by the Holy Spirit, 
 our desires go up to God as the pleadings of that Spirit, 
 which God has promised to answer. 
 
 While it may not be within the power of the human 
 mind to form, or of human speech to express, the true idea 
 of Prayer, in all its characteristics and far-reaching influ- 
 ence, yet the child of God may consciously experience in 
 his own heart all the blessings flowing from the effectual 
 fervent prayer of faith. The effectual fervent prayer of 
 faith is not a mere act or position of the body, even though 
 it be in apparent accord with, or an expression of the 
 thoughts of the mind and emotions of the soul. It is not 
 a confession of sins, an expression of thanksgiving, or a 
 174 
 
PRAYER. 175 
 
 statement of our wants in a certain form, in a fixed time 
 and place. It is not a duty commanded ])y God, which we 
 dare not neglect for fear of consequences. It is not a 
 delight of the natural senses or a self-complacent pleasure 
 of the intellect. It is not pleading with heartfelt earnest- 
 ness and unusual solicitude in times of anticipated or 
 present disaster and fear, or when we are sorely touched 
 l)y the loss of some temporal good, or in deep distress at 
 the removal of dear friends. It is not calling earnestly on 
 the Creator and Dispenser of all events when the storm is 
 raging about us, and forgetting in the sunshine that the 
 Creator is ours only as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 It is not eloquent language, or appropriate, w^ell -adjusted 
 scriptural language spoken to God. While the effectual 
 fervent prayer of faith includes all this, it is something far 
 higher and deeper and purer. It is God's own prayer ; it 
 is the Holy Spirit holding communication with Himself 
 through the sanctified human soul. AVhen the Spirit has 
 entered into and taken full possession of the soul, that soul 
 is absorbed in God, and all its desires are in full accord with 
 the w^ill of God, for they spring from it and find their satis- 
 faction only in it. We pray, only when the Holy Spirit 
 takes such entire possession of the heart that the desires ex- 
 pressed are the " groanings that cannot be uttered ;" when 
 the deep longings for freedom from sin and the enjoyment 
 of God's love spring up spontaneously from the soul ; when, 
 without any human eflPort or design, we yield ourselves 
 to the influence of that gracious Guest whom the Father 
 ' grants to all His children ; when, guided by this mysterious, 
 yet real presence, w^e are so inwardly united w^ith God in 
 will and purpose, that our desires are simply the expressions 
 of the Divine will. We pray, when w^e feel that God is 
 our Father, that we are members of His family through 
 
176 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 Christ tlie Son, and prove our sonship by trusting the 
 promises God has given us in His AVord. We pray, when 
 our wills are so perfectly united to and lost in the will of 
 God that we give up all selfish love and can say in sincerity, 
 "Not my will, but Thine be done." 
 
 Let it be carefully noted that the prayer of faith cannot 
 be offered if any sin remains on the conscience. If there 
 ^iould be any guilt unrepented of, any darling sin cherished 
 in the heart, conscience, the inward monitor, asserting its 
 sway, will prove a barrier to the familiar intercourse which 
 should always exist between the Father and the child. It 
 must be removed by true confession, must be cast into that 
 flood from Calvary's cross, ere the soul can find peace. 
 Only when the soul is free from the alloy of unconfesscd 
 and unrepented sin can it find the blessed peace which is 
 the gift of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 It is of primary importance that the Christian should 
 know what are the prayers God has promised to answ^er, — 
 should gather from Revelation some definite idea of the 
 range of petitions which may be offered in the assurance of 
 faith. That there are certain limitations is evident, not 
 only from Scripture, but from the experience of each indi- 
 vidual Christian. While we w^ould not dare to assert that 
 it is wrong to ask for temporal good, or that prayers for 
 such gifts are not answered, yet a consideration of the 
 character of God and the whole plan of providence and re- 
 demption, as revealed in Scripture, and most clearly in the 
 person and work of Jesus Christ, has led us to the convic- 
 tion that it is not necessary for a redeemed child of God to 
 pray for temporal blessings in detail, and that in the New 
 Testament there is no encouragement to believe, or promise 
 given, that such petitions will be granted. Rich and full 
 as are the promises of God, infinite as are the blessings 
 
PRAYER. 177 
 
 revealed for our appropriation by faitli, both must be to a 
 certain degree limited by the general truth that an Omnis- 
 cient Father desiring the eternal welfare of His children, will 
 not grant those things which may be for their harm. Our 
 ignorance must be subject to His wisdom and love. 
 
 Traced to their source, prayers for temporal good and 
 worldly advantages are prompted by a covetous desire for 
 something not in possession that will supply an imaginary 
 want, or by an undefined fear of natural trouble or future 
 disaster from which Ave would shield ourselves by the 
 power which we imagine is connected with earthly posses- 
 sions. The one element of faith essential to true prayer 
 cannot govern such petitions, for it seems impossible for 
 an intelligent Christian to ask for these things and believe 
 as if he had them in possession. All that God requires of 
 those who are His children is faith in His love. If their 
 prayers spring from mistrust, it is not probable that, by 
 answering them, God would encourage such a feeling in 
 their hearts. 
 
 A promise to answer prayers prompted by the natural 
 heart would militate against that principle manifested by 
 God in creation and providence by which He brings to 
 pass all His divine purposes ; for such petitions, not being 
 indited by the Holy Ghost, and therefore not in accord- 
 ance with God's plans, could be answered only by a mira- 
 cle or by a change in His own great laws. 
 
 As often, perhaps, as from any other cause, prayers for 
 temporal good, spring from a desire to evade or escape from 
 suffering. In the present material, mental, and spiritual 
 worlds an ordeal of suffering must ordinarily be passed 
 before the highest good can be attained. The Captain of 
 our salvation was made perfect through sufiering, so that 
 none of His disciples may hope to attain unto salvation 
 
178 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 without nndero-oino; the same. The Christian believes 
 that, in God's plan of grace to his soul, all the trials and 
 afflictions that come to him in tin's life, are the means by 
 wliich he may be purified from sin, and prepared for the 
 glory placed before him. Theoretically he accepts the 
 apostolic declaration, that ^^all things work together for 
 good," but practically he ignores it by asking for deliver- 
 ance from some form of natural evil by which alone, per- 
 haps, that "good" embraced in the Divine purpose could 
 be received. Be thankful, rather, that as Christians we 
 are not required to pray directly for those temporal evils 
 which may be the channels through which only we may 
 gain the spiritual blessing. Is it not as reasonable to pray 
 for temporal evils as to pray for what we consider tem- 
 jDoral good ? Are not both the means to an end, and is not 
 that end "holiness"? We may quietly rest in the conclu- 
 sion that, as we may not pray for the temporal evil which 
 will result in our good, neither may we ask for that tem- 
 poral thino; which, although it may appear to be a present 
 good, will result in eternal spiritual injury to the soul. 
 
 In truth, what are usually termed evils become such in 
 reality by the rebellion and murmuring of the human 
 heart. In God's hands and under His direction they are 
 transformed into blessings, and become means of grace, 
 w^ithout which the soul would not be prepared and fully 
 equipped for entrance on its high destiny. God's eternal 
 laws are perfect, and by their full, completed operation 
 will bring those who are willingly exercised by them into 
 entire union with their Divine Source. The Christian, 
 fully trusting God, believes that no real evil can come 
 upon him, for all things, by promise, will work together 
 for his good, so that even "his enemies will be at peace 
 with him" when "his ways please the Lord." Assured 
 
PRAYER. 179 
 
 that God's ways are higher than man's ways, he is not 
 troubled by seeming mystery, but rests quietly in the faith 
 that all will be for the best and be fully manifested in the 
 proper time. His main idea is not to discover the easiest 
 and most comfortable route to the heavenly city, but to 
 find that path in which God would lead him. Believing 
 that holiness, not happiness, is the object placed before him, 
 worthy of the exercise of all his powers, he seeks not his 
 own life, but yields it up, and by the very act of self-re- 
 nunciation gains all that is promised. But, let it be 
 marked, this end is not obtained /or humility, but "by 
 humility;" just as the Israelites were saved, not /or the 
 looking, but by the looking at the brazen serpent. It 
 must be an act of the heart, and not the result of any 
 ascetic spirit that would perform a required duty. It 
 must spring from the influence of the Holy Spirit, and 
 thus caused will be in accordance with the will of God. 
 
 There are in the New Testament many ])assages which, 
 at first sight, taken from their true and proper connection, 
 would seem to give a warrant or encouragement for prayer 
 for temporal good. A careful examination of any or all of 
 them will show that these promises are general, not special 
 and particular. It will not be claimed by any Christian 
 that passages of this character have exclusive reference to 
 temporal things, but the claim may be justly made that if 
 the spiritual be the legitimate end of prayer, tliese promises 
 must have a close connection with that which is spiritual.* 
 
 Each and every one of the passages is qualified with be- 
 lieving, faith, and thanksgiving before the blessing craved 
 can be granted. This at once makes the prayer one of 
 
 * Matt. xvii. 20; xviii. 19; xxi. 22; Mark xi. 24; Luke xi. 24; 
 John xiv. 13 and 14 ; xvi. 23 and 24 ; xv. 7 ; Phil. iv. 6, 7 ; 1 John 
 V. 14 and 15; iii. 22. 
 
180 THI^'GS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 faitli indited by the Holy Spirit. This can only be for that 
 which will promote growth in Christian grace, or for pro- 
 tection from that which may impede the progress of the 
 soul in holiness. Tiiis, and this alone, can be a " good and 
 perfect gift/' even though it be opposed to the inherent, 
 selfish desires of the human heart, and should come only by 
 means of trial, trouble, and temporal afflictions. Such a 
 \siew limits the free construction that is often placed on the 
 words ^^ anything," "everything," and " whatsoever," for 
 it brings them all within a circle bounded by the words 
 *' according to His will." The saint would not be willing 
 to accept them in the literal sense, for he would pray only 
 for those things which would be for the highest good. He 
 prays in full faith that God who knows his heart, and 
 knoweth all things, will grant him just those mercies that 
 will result in his eternal good, although they should not be 
 exactly what he had asked for. 
 
 A careful reading of the first part of the eleventh chap- 
 ter of Luke will show that the point of the whole passage 
 has a clear reference to those spiritual graces or blessings 
 which the Father is always willing to grant " to those who 
 ask Him." They are, for our clearer comprehension of the 
 truth, pla(;ed under the figure of the temporal ; but Avhen 
 we read the conclusion of the whole passage, " How much 
 more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit?" 
 (verse 13), have we not ground for the belief that the '^ask- 
 ing," the " seeking," and the " knocking" have reference to 
 these higher and purer needs of man, which God only can 
 supply by the communication of His Spirit? Again, in the 
 eighteenth chapter of Matthew, from the fifteenth to twen- 
 tieth verses, it will be found that the whole matter refers 
 to the Church — the body of Christ— and to individuals, 
 only as they are connected with the Church. Kead the 
 
PRAYER. 181 
 
 context in 1 John iii. 18-24, and chapter v., fourteenth 
 verse to the hist, — passages just quoted, — and it will be seen 
 that all relates to spiritual blessings. In Phil. iv. 6, 7, the 
 reference is to Christian graces, and in particular to Paul's 
 gladness at their manifestation of Christian benevolence. 
 The sentence, *' Be careful for nothing," is an independent 
 one, a preface, a general exhortation, a sermon in itself, 
 inculcating entire freedom from any fear of the future, or 
 covetous desire for that which is not in possession. It is an 
 expression of full faith in God. It may, with the same 
 propriety, be used as a preface to such exhortations as "to 
 know God, whom to know aright is life eternal;" or ^' to 
 press forward to the mark ;" or " to lay aside every weight 
 and the sin that doth so easily beset us," and many others 
 of a similar import. 
 
 If we would have a simple and consistent plan of inter- 
 pretation of scriptural truth, it must necessarily be one that 
 will not come into conflict with other declarations that seem 
 apparently to teach truths contrary to these under examina- 
 tion. If the foregoing texts be accepted as exhortations to 
 prayer for the things that may be desirable for temporal 
 ease or comfort, we shall find great difficulty and confusion 
 when we meet the many plain and simple directions to 
 " take no thought for the morrow," and numerous other 
 texts teaching the same doctrine of trust in God for the 
 supply of such temporal good as may be best for us. The 
 principle announced by Christ is, that if you ask blessings 
 in faith, believing as though you had them in possession, 
 such blessings will be granted. Now, if you ask spiritual 
 prosperity will He give you earthly prosperity if it should 
 be the means of preventing your advancing in the divine 
 life? He certainly will not. If you ask any temporal 
 mercies in detail, severed from their connection with a 
 
182 TIIiyGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 higher spiritual good, you cannot, neither can any saint, 
 believe as though they were in actual possession, and with- 
 out this element the prayer is not one of faith. What we 
 term our wants are usually tlie imaginary desires of the old 
 natural heart, and are not those things that may be neces- 
 sary for us. The word " want" should not be used by the 
 Christian. It is a word destitute of comfort, for it supposes 
 » painful vacuum, and implies a fear that nothing will be 
 given to fill it. The saint may lack more grace to make 
 him perfect in Christ Jesus, but he has the conviction that 
 the covenant is well ordered and sure, and in it his bread and 
 his w^ater are included. God has never said He will give 
 wealth, honor, or pleasure, but He has bound Himself to 
 give grace and glory, — the best gifts, — and, in addition, has 
 said that no good thing shall be withheld from those who 
 walk uprightly. All things are yours, ye are Christ's, and 
 Christ is God's. Our Saviour has given us a perfect word 
 in " weecZ," which signifies all things that may be spiritual, 
 both for time present and time to come. You may, in your 
 heart, want wealth or honor, while in God's mind you may 
 need grace, although you may not feel it ; but when you 
 desire grace it is a need, and is immediately supplied. True 
 desire is love in motion, delight is love at rest. The desire 
 for a spiritual mercy is always in accordance with God's 
 plan, for it is a blessing that tends to make us more like 
 Himself. God has given us the privilege of praying for 
 spiritual blessings without bounds. Indeed, He declares 
 that He is honored by our large petitions. The more we 
 need the more He is ready to give. His free promises are 
 not given as conditions of rewards, but their fulfilment is 
 a result. If we had the promise that our petitions for tem- 
 poral good would be answered, our reception of the things 
 asked might rob others of what is really necessary to them, 
 
PRAYER. 183 
 
 SO that tlie imaginary wants of our hearts might be supplied. 
 This cannot be the case when we ask largely for spiritual 
 gifts, for all the children of God cannot exhaust the maga- 
 zine of God's rich grace. From this we may draw without 
 stint, but He reserves to Himself the prerogative to judge 
 and supply as may be best the temporal good needed, and 
 this He grants in answer to a petition for it, made in sub- 
 servience to and in connection with prayer for spiritual 
 things. As an example, we take the petition in the Lord's 
 Prayer, " Give us this day our daily bread." All Cliris- 
 tians, when using this form, believe that they are asking 
 for the spiritual food to nourish the soul, and witli tliat 
 greater good are asking that sustenance needful for the body. 
 The needs of the soul are primary, those of the body sec- 
 ondary; the lesser is included in the greater. How it 
 limits and confines the signification of that glorious petition 
 to make it refer specially to the bread that perishes ! How 
 much more consistent to regard it as a general petition for all 
 those things, either for the soul, the mind, or the body, that 
 may better enable us to glorify God by living a life of faith 
 in Him ! The qualifying words " this day'' make the peti- 
 tion parallel with the words of Christ, " Sufficient unto the 
 day is the evil thereof." 
 
 In the history of the earthly life of Christ we find 
 many incidents related from which we may draw logical 
 inferences, and, by careful study, gain a knowledge of the 
 doctrines he announced for the government of the lives 
 of all those who formed His kingdom. Among the many 
 instances where the disciples or others came to Christ ask- 
 ing for temporal good and were met with a gentle repri- 
 mand, or the words of stern rebuke, the following are 
 selected : The mother of Zebedee's children, who would 
 have her sons sit on the right and left hand of Christ in 
 
184 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 His kingdom ; the disciple who would first go and bury his 
 father; the disciples whose anticipation of future evil 
 awoke their Master in the storm ; the man who vfould 
 have Christ speak to his brother to divide the inheritance 
 with him; Peter when he was sinking in the waves; Mar- 
 tha when she was ^* encumbered about much serving ;" the 
 disciples when they " had forgotten to take bread ;" the 
 •postles who, just before Christ's ascension, asked Him, 
 ''Wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to 
 Israel?" — make evident Christ's method of treating all 
 desires for earthly good or avoidance of anticipated evil. 
 Another indirect rebuke — the more powerful because it 
 was indirect — may be found in Luke xii. 30. After Christ 
 had told His disciples what they should not care for — the 
 things that perish with the using, sucii as nourishment and 
 clothing for the body — He said, " For all these things do 
 tiie nations of the world seek after." He told His disciples 
 to take no thought for their lives or that which was neces- 
 sary for the body, because their heavenly Father, knowing 
 their need, would provide for them as He did for the fowls 
 of the air and lilies of the field. The language is plain 
 and unqualified, the figures bold, strong, and striking. 
 
 While the whole spirit of Christ's teaching seems to be 
 against petitions that betray a want of confidence in the 
 promises God has given to His children,* and a want of 
 faith in the assurance that He will provide all things 
 needful, the liberty He has given to His own children 
 is so great that if, in your heart, with full sincerity and 
 faith, you can offer a prayer to God for all temporal good, 
 for health, wealth, and honor, with the assurance that you 
 can, and the determination that you will, use all for the 
 glory of God, and in subservience to His grand design, 
 tliere can be no objection to such a prayer. The question 
 
PRAYER. 185 
 
 to be first settled by each individual Christian is, Avhether 
 he can meet the responsibility involved in the possession of 
 the good he prays for. 
 
 The teaching of Christ seems to be, that Ave are not to 
 be concerned for our lives, — for that which may make 
 them comfortable ; we are not to dread evils which may 
 befidl us ; but we are always to live in the simple faith 
 that since He has placed before us " eternal life," He will 
 certainly grant to us nourishment for the body, and will 
 preserve the health and life, so long as they may be for 
 His own glory and the good of the soul. What Christian 
 could ask for a greater promise than this? Grant that we 
 know not whence the bread and water for to-morrow's 
 sustenance is to come, can our care and thought produce 
 it? The Christian's faith is that his heavenly Father 
 will provide it if it is needful ; that He will guide into the 
 use of just those means that will bring it. But, even 
 though the morrow should come, and there should be no 
 bread, it does not prove that God is unfaithful, for the 
 absence of sustenance, and the pain resulting therefrom, 
 and even the death of the body, may be the means by 
 which God grants the greater good to the soul. Did not 
 Christ, by His teaching, intend to form in us just that trust 
 which is manifested by the birds of the air and the lilies 
 of the field ? They, unable to talk or think, trust His 
 kind providence. Why cannot we trust Him, with an in- 
 telliirent faith? This is not fatalism, but it is the fiiith of 
 a soul so fully absorbed in God and in His work that it 
 " takes no thought" of those things which the Father hath 
 promised to grant. 
 
 The words, " Take no thought for the morrow," are full 
 of meaning. Why should we be troubled about the things 
 of the morrow, when the great God, the Benefactor and 
 
136 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 Sovereign, lias given His promise that He will not leave or 
 forsake us? The duties of the present day are pressing 
 upon us, and their faithful performance makes such de- 
 mands on our time and energy, that we can spare none for 
 anxious care about what may be to-morrow. The present 
 moment is ours,— the next belongs to God. We have no 
 right to take hold of the future, except as it relates to our 
 •own souls and the interests of God's kingdom. 
 
 It is evident that any scheme of Christian doctrine must 
 inevitably hinge on Scripture testimony, — on the words of 
 the divine Founder of Christianity, or of those who, having 
 been under His teachings in life, were after His ascension 
 governed by His inspiration. If the teachings of Scripture 
 point a particular course of action, or reveal a certain path 
 of duty, we are bound to accept and follow it; if we do 
 not, we are false to the convictions of truth flashed upon 
 our minds by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 A careful study of all Christ has spoken, of all the ex- 
 perience of the apostles as it has been recorded, will not 
 reveal any warrant for special prayers for temporal bless- 
 ings, or any assurance that they will be answered. 
 
 It is probable that the prayer of Christ in the garden of 
 Gethsemane, ^^ Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup 
 from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done," 
 might be adduced as a prayer for deliverance from a 
 threatened danger. We would ask this one question: 
 Did Christ, knowing all that could occur, fully conscious 
 of all things, assured that the salvation of men could be 
 secured only by His drinking all of that cup, pray that He 
 might be delivered from that which was the one condition 
 by which men might be saved from wrath, and be made 
 subjects of the mercy of God ? May we not rather gather 
 from the passage, — the truth that sin was such an evil that 
 
PRAYER. 187 
 
 nothing but the blood of God could deliver us from it; 
 that sin was such an enormity, and its deserts so dreadful, 
 that nothing less than the life, sufferings, and death of God 
 Himself could deliver man from the punishment which 
 he had brought on himself? Where would have been our 
 hope if that cup of agony of our blessed Redeemer had 
 been a prayer for deliverance from those very sufferings 
 which He came to earth to endure? Legions of angels, 
 we know, would have gladly gone to His rescue; would 
 have, by their supernatural power, saved Him from the 
 evil designs of men ; but He did not ask this. His prayer 
 was, that He might, by the grace and strength of His Fa- 
 ther, fully accomplish that one purpose for which He be- 
 came incarnate, and by which He might save from the 
 power of the evil one, all those who would believe in Him. 
 The biographies of eminent saints, as they are recorded 
 by inspiration, are for our instruction and for our reproof. 
 The life of St. Paul is full of instruction to all who will 
 study it, and the lessons there taught must not be neglected. 
 After the conversion of Paul, he separated himself from 
 the world, renounced all that in which he had formerly 
 gloried, and consecrated himself and all his powers to 
 Christ and the glory of His kingdom; he lost sight of his 
 physical comfort and ease, and was only anxious to serve 
 his Master. Although, by the faithful performance of 
 duties placed before him, he was brought into great dan- 
 gers and Avas compelled to suffer, we do not find him pray- 
 ing to be delivered from persecution, or from those enemies 
 of Christ who would put him to death. His own hearty 
 desire, and that for which he would have the Church to 
 pray, was that he might preach the gospel ; that it might 
 run and have free course. His love for his brethren was 
 so great that he wished himself accursed if they might be 
 
183 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 saved. However difficult it might be to comprehend his 
 real meaning, we are assured that the desire for the salva- 
 tion of the Jews overpowered every selfish and personal 
 wish. That he was conscious of the evil desires dwelling 
 in his own heart, and his tendency to rest on earthly things, 
 is evident from 1 Cor. ix. 27: "But I keep under my 
 body, and bring it under subjection ; lest that by any 
 Cleans, when I have preached to others, I myself should 
 be a castaway.'' And while conscious of the power of the 
 old heart, he yet trusts in the grace of God ; for in the con- 
 text he says: "I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so 
 fight I, not as one that beateth the air." In another 
 Epistle he says: '^I am persuaded, that neither death, nor 
 life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things 
 present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any 
 other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of 
 God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'' (Kom. viii. 38, 
 39.) His confidence in God is so great that nothing can 
 disturb it. 
 
 This same faith was displayed when Agabus took Paul's 
 girdle and bound his hands and feet, and, moved by the 
 spirit of prophecy, said, "So shall the Jews at Jerusalem 
 bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver 
 him into the hands of the Gentiles," for Paul, when his 
 brethren besought him not to go up, answered, "What 
 mean ye, to weep, and break mine heart? for I am ready 
 not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem, for the 
 name of the Lord Jesus." When he went to Jerusalem, 
 and suffered all manner of persecution and imprisonment, 
 and was sent to Kome bound as a prisoner, and was "made 
 a spectacle unto the world, to angels and to men," we have 
 no record of any prayer for deliverance from the threaten- 
 ing dangers. In 1 Cor. iv. 9-14, 2 Cor. vi. 4-11, 2 Cor. 
 
PRAYER. 189 
 
 xi. 23 to the end, we have a record of liis sufferings, yet we 
 read no petition for temporal mercies. The experience of 
 St. Peter is of a similar character, yet we do not hear of 
 any such prayer from his lips. Now, the question comes 
 up to the mind. Did Paul and Peter, as a free gift, have 
 any more privileges to suffer for Christ than we now have? 
 Or have we greater privileges than they, so that we may 
 ask for temporal good, or deliverance from what we term 
 temporal evil? Is it not true that Paul, who gave him- 
 self wholly to Christ, courted not the things of this world, 
 did not desire the privilege of praying for them, and would 
 not have used them if granted ? Or is it that we have only 
 partly come out of the world ; have divided the heart be- 
 tween Christ and the world, and thus have need to petition 
 for those perishable things that carry with them inherent 
 evils and bring leanness to our souls ? St. Paul accepted 
 God's words, " My grace be sufficient for thee," as the truth, 
 and, sustained by this faith, could bear all that the malice 
 of his enemies could inflict. For him to die would have 
 been gain, but to live was to spend a life of toil and suffer- 
 ing, that Christ might have glory and His Church be ex- 
 tended. Have not we, who are born of God, the same 
 blessed privilege of suffering for His cause? Are we not 
 striving to find the easiest and most comfortable passage to 
 the heavenly Canaan, — yielding to the seductions of earthly 
 pleasure, even at t'he expense of neglected duties and 
 privileges? Are we willing that God should lead us in 
 His own good way, through joys and sorrows, pleasures and 
 pains, delights and disappointments, to the infinite happi- 
 ness at His right hand? If not, your prayers are only 
 the imaginations of the old heart. Jerusalem is not above 
 your chief joy, but your great desire is to reach the New 
 Jerusalem without trial and suffering. You would work 
 
 13 
 
190 TlliyOS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 out the way, and are not willing that God should ^' work 
 within you to will and to do of His good pleasure." You 
 may be saved, it is true, but it will be as by fire ; but your 
 education in the school of discipline on earth is not such 
 that you will, on your entrance, be prepared to appreciate 
 the glories of Heaven as you might. Will you be con- 
 tented with a place of safety just within the bounds of the 
 ►heavenly inheritance, when you might have gained the 
 power of running, without weariness, on the endless road 
 stretching out before you, and of making rapid progress 
 through the eternal glories that are to be your possession ? 
 These are solemn thoughts, — they may soon be to you 
 solemn realities. Are they not worthy of your careful 
 reflection ? 
 
 In the Lord's Prayer we have the most comprehensive 
 one ever uttered, — a prayer to be reverently used by all 
 men, of all ages, in all places, and in all times. Careful 
 reflection on its deep import should prevent that careless 
 and irreverent repetition which is too frequent with many. 
 The preface, "Our Father which art in Heaven," should 
 deeply impress the mind with a sense of the infinite per- 
 fections, truth, holiness, and justice of the great God, who 
 cannot look upon sin or insincerity w^ith any favor, so 
 that the heart may cast ofl:' every cherished evil desire, 
 and the conscience any secret sin, that would make these 
 petitions nothing "but idle words upon a thoughtless 
 tongue." 
 
 The main idea of the whole prayer is that of a deep 
 longing for the glory and kingdom of God, expressing in 
 the first three petitions God's relation to us, and in the 
 others our complete dependence on Him, closing with the 
 lull faith that God, who is the highest good in Himself, 
 will bring to pass the highest good, even His own king- 
 
PRAYER. 191 
 
 (lom. Let us examine the Prayer with a practical intent 
 and purpose. 
 
 "Hallowed be Thy name/' Is there in your heart an 
 all-pervading desire that this Name should be revered and 
 honored throughout the earth ? Until you have really and 
 truly hallowed it in your own heart, you cannot truly ask 
 that it may be honored by others. 
 
 " Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is 
 in Heaven." AVhat are you doing to prove that this peti- 
 tion is from a sincere heart? How much of your time, 
 labor, and wealth are you contributing to bring this glori- 
 ous time to pass? Are you aiding it by the covetousness, 
 ambition, and pride that would seek great things for your- 
 self, and make you indifferent to or careless of all these 
 interests of Christ's Church — the preaching of the Gospel, 
 the enlightening of the ignorant, the education of the 
 young, the providing for and protecting the widow and 
 orphan, the alleviation of the distress of humanity — that 
 are the divinely appointed means to the desired end? 
 Have you a care for the universal good, or only for that 
 which is local and selfish ? There is no faith or sincerity, 
 unless you are striving to perform the involved duties, and 
 the petition becomes a mere phantom, except that it leaves 
 your heart harder and more callous than before. Do not 
 these petitions teach us that all the peace and comfort of 
 our own spiritual life are to be found in entire self-surren- 
 der to God, and in seeking first that which will be for His 
 glory ? 
 
 "Give us this day our daily bread." As, in the first 
 revelation of truth, we are taught, "That in the beginning 
 God created the heaven and the earth," so at the introduc- 
 tion of the Gospel we are taught dependence on God for 
 the supply of all that is needful for soul and body. This 
 
292 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 petition is not for mercies in detail, but is broad and com- 
 prehensive, embracing all material and spiritual gifts that 
 may sustain the life of soul and body, and thus prepare us 
 for our part in God's great plans. It is for simple food 
 for this day only. We pray not for to-morrow's bread, 
 for on the morrow we may need no bread. And do we 
 not also pray that the material gifts of God's providence 
 ^may by His blessing be transformed into spiritual food, 
 and thus be made means of grace to us ? 
 
 "And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." 
 This inherently-balanced petition regulates itself. The 
 words "as we forgive" place upon us a responsibility from 
 which we may not draw back, and one which we too often 
 neglect. How can one who deliberately holds and cher- 
 ishes unfriendly feelings, or an unforgiving spirit towards 
 any fellow-mortal, take these words on his lips? As there 
 is in the New Testament no other exhortation to ask directly 
 for pardon of sin, except the words of the Publican, "God 
 be merciful to me a sinner," Divine Wisdom gives us in this 
 petition a direct warning against that unforgiving spirit 
 that would oppose the Gospel spirit of love ; and it is not 
 in its essence so much a petition for pardon for our own 
 sins, as a command to forgive the sins of others. As none 
 but those who believe can realize wdiat sin really is, only 
 they can make a true and hearty confession, which in itself 
 is pardon. 
 
 "Lead us not into temptation." In view of the declara- 
 tion of James, that God does not tempt any man, and of 
 other words of the same apostle, exhorting his brethren to 
 count it "all joy" to fall into divers temptation, and his 
 calling those blessed who endure temptation, this petition 
 seems beset with difficulties. We would thus construe it : 
 Leave us not to the power or allurements of our wicked 
 
PRAYER. 193 
 
 hearts, or to tlie power of our spiritual enemies, by which 
 we may fall into sin or be drawn away from the i)ath of 
 duty. AVe also pray God that, if the trying of our fiiith 
 be needful. He would with the 'temptation" (trial) grant 
 us a way of escape. 
 
 "Deliver us from evil," — not from natural troubles, 
 physical sufferings, or providential afflictions ; for these are 
 the secondary means by which Christ educates and disci- 
 plines all His children, that they may be co-workers with 
 Him in advancing the glory of His kingdom, — but from 
 those real evils w^hich are eternal in their results and ruin- 
 ous to our souls. Death should never be an evil to the 
 Christian, for it must be passed before he can enter on the 
 fruition of all his hopes. 
 
 "For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the 
 glory, forever. Amen." This doxology is the closing 
 strain of glory to God, teaching that the foundation, the 
 progress, and the final object of the whole prayer are God 
 and His kingdom. 
 
 Certain practical deductions may be drawn from the 
 whole subject. Every immortal being should realize the 
 great responsibility resting on him from two important 
 considerations : First, from the fact of his immortality, and, 
 second, that an infinitely holy and eternal being has conde- 
 scended to place a responsibility before him. We are not 
 conscious of what a power we may be in the hands of an 
 Infinite Sovereign, especially when we have fully opened 
 our hearts and admitted Him, that He may work within 
 us, to will and to do of His good pleasure. A thought, a 
 word, or an act, may be the means of changing your des- 
 tinv for time and eternity, or may alter the conditions of a 
 fiimily, community, or a nation. A rational being is 
 bound, in view of this responsibility, to appreciate and im- 
 
194 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 prove fully every privilege that may come before hira, — 
 not for any selfish ends, dictated by ambition or selfishness, 
 — but that, if he be in the path of duty, true peace, order, 
 and prosperity may result legitimately to himself and his 
 neighbor. Being, as we are, a part of a grand plan, the 
 government and decrees of God, as they are connected with 
 our various duties and relations in life, must be taken into 
 consideration, and our whole course of action be brought 
 into accordance with the perfect holiness which he has 
 placed before us as the aim of life. The happiness which 
 results from the holiness is its natural product; but if mere 
 happiness be placed before the soul, as an object to be ob- 
 tained, it will continually elude the grasp. 
 
 In the Eternal mind, our responsibilities are just in pro- 
 portion to the light we enjoy and the talents intrusted to 
 us; therefore, no one should imagine that he can be lost in 
 the throng, and thus escape the fulfilment of these responsi- 
 bilities. Neither should an imaginary sense of inferiority 
 or weakness stand in the way of the performance of known 
 duty. Let the thought take possession of the mind, that 
 if you were the only fallen immortal creature, in a state of 
 probation, in a school of discipline for a more perfect in- 
 heritance, your guilt is so great, and the love of Christ so 
 infinite, that nothing less than His whole life of suffering 
 and death of agony could make an atonement for you. 
 His love for you is as great as the love He bears for the 
 whole redeemed Church. Impressed with this truth, our 
 prayers could scarcely be for anything but those spiritual 
 blessings on the Church, and on the souls of Christ's re- 
 deemed ones, that would best promote the glory of God ; 
 for the whole economy of redemption involves the idea 
 that, while we are praying for all those whom Christ has 
 redeemed by His own blood, they are, at the same time. 
 
PR A VER. 1 95 
 
 asking for the same blessing for us. Love is the one bind- 
 ing chain. While we may not ask for temporal blessings 
 for ourselves, we have full liberty to ask for good, both 
 temporal and spiritual, for the brethren, and have the 
 assurance that all things needful will be granted. St. 
 Paul reminds us, "Let no man seek his own, but every 
 man the wealth of others ;" hence, all selfishness is shut 
 out from the soul of the saint, and he has neither heart nor 
 time to be anxious about the supply of his own perishing 
 wants, for God is faithful to grant what he needs. In 
 God's benevolent designs, and in the plan of creation, every 
 atom is called into being, not for its own special benefit, 
 but to support, cherish, and sustain all the other atoms. 
 It is so in the plan of redemption. If one member suffers 
 all suffer with it. The Church of Christ is one perfect 
 system, — a miniature of the universe. 
 
 The doctrine that the end sanctifies the means is a heresy 
 most disastrous in its effects on the mind that receives it, 
 when the motives to those means do not point to a })erfect 
 and holy end. In the moral world there is but the one per- 
 fect end, and that is the attainment of the holiness which is an 
 attribute of God. The motives or the means can only be 
 sanctified when in harmony with that universal principle, 
 and this truth at once places tlie whole duty of man in 
 harmony and symmetry with the holy will of God. Many 
 in theory acknowledge the truth of this statement when it 
 refers to religious matters, yet in that wdiich relates to tem- 
 poral matters often practically proceed on the contrary 
 opinion. If any man in his actions maintains a mental 
 reservation, or works secretly, or deliberately uses means 
 that are contrary to the glory of God and the welfare of 
 men, he is guilty of a breach of the great law of love, and 
 is doing that which does not spring from faith. The in- 
 
196 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 consistency lies in the fact that he would sanctify the end 
 for the means; he rejects an eternal for an evanescent good; 
 he aims to make the most of time, and loses hold of eternal 
 interests; he rejects eternal wisdom, and trusts to his own ; 
 he acts by sight, not by faith. 
 
 The Christian should not pray in detail for temporal 
 blessings, because there is no promise that such petitions 
 >^ill be answered. There is no rule given by w^hich it is 
 possible for finite beings to determine how much they may 
 need of perishing things, neither can they know how much 
 of what is termed temporal good would be best for their 
 souls. The anticipated trouble which the natural heart 
 cries out to be delivered from may be, and in many cases 
 is, the means by which God confers upon the soul His 
 choicest blessings, while the prayed-for good, if granted, 
 might prove an eternal curse to the soul. There is a path 
 clearly marked out waiting to be filled up by each rational 
 creature. It begins in time, but goes on through eternity. 
 The circumstances of each are different from those of any 
 other : no two paths can be alike. Scattered along each 
 path marked out by Heavenly Wisdom, everything needful 
 for the holiness and happiness of him who is to walk in 
 it will be found at the proper time. These blessings are 
 designed for, and adapted to, the particular individual, and 
 for no other one. Each person, in the exercise of his free 
 agency, can secure the path intended for him, and thus bring 
 his life into full harmony with the plan of God ; or he may 
 fail to find it, and thus introduce confusion and disorder 
 fatal to his happiness. The greater the good to be found, 
 the greater will be the evil, if you fail to secure it. 
 
 H* there was placed before you by revelation from God 
 a true history of your life, with all its joys and sorrows, its 
 pains and pleasures, from the cradle to the coffin, and you 
 
PRAYER. 197 
 
 believed it true, would you make any attempt to change it ? 
 Would you, in view of it, seeing the connection between the 
 circumstances and the final result, pray to be spared from 
 natural temporal evil, or would you ask for a larger supply 
 for the w^ants of time ? And yet, if you are a child of God, 
 your way is marked out, and it is just the path which will 
 surely result in the salvation of your wsoul from sin and 
 death. If you really believe that all God's dealings with 
 you are holy, just, and good, why not trust Him for all 
 things? Why not bring your actions and life into accord 
 with your creed ? Suppose that in order to experience the 
 good which comes from temporal evils you were required 
 to pray for them just as earnestly as you pray for spiritual 
 blessings, would you do it ? If you would not, where are 
 your faith and love ? Be thankful, then, that God, in the 
 economy of creation and redemption, does not require you 
 to pray for natural evils, even though they may be necessary 
 for the perfection of your Christian character. You do, in- 
 deed, pray indirectly for them, in asking for spiritual good, 
 which may sometimes be obtained only by them. Why 
 should you, then, pray in detail and in particular for imagi- 
 nary temporal good which, if granted, would be injurious 
 to the health of your soul ? It is a vain imagination of the 
 natural heart to suppose that mere external circumstances 
 can produce that happiness which is full satisfaction to an 
 immortal nature. Yet, when a Christian's prayers are for 
 earthly things, he confesses that from them he hopes to 
 have his pleasure. He says that the love of God and all 
 its fulness does not yield him what he wants ; he acts as 
 though there were sources of pleasures beyond God and 
 His service. 
 
 The habit of praying for temporal good will certainly 
 lower the tone of the Christian character. The Christian will 
 
198 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 be more influenced bv his natural heart than by the Holy 
 Spirit. His thoughts will be more concerned with the good 
 asked for, as an end, than a means to aid him in his spirit- 
 ual progress. Should his prayers be heard, as they may 
 be, and answered in wrath, he may receive a rod of chas- 
 tisement, or a curse, instead of tliat which he thought would 
 be a source of happiness. We say it is answered, but it is 
 a^^swered in this sense, — that God has left the soul to its own 
 vain imaginations, and to the delusion that God has heard 
 his request, while the thing wished for has brought with it 
 a train of inherent evils, and been transformed into a curse. 
 God may leave one of His dear saints to pray for something 
 which the natural heart desires, and may grant the desired 
 object only to show to that saint the pride of his own 
 heart, which, had it remained, would have caused spiritual 
 death. 
 
 Another reason why a Christian's prayers should not be 
 for temporal good may thus be stated : We know not the 
 general character of our future earthly lives ; but as all 
 those events that we may often regard as trivial do have an 
 important bearing on them and do often possess an import- 
 ance we do not always fully estimate, it is wiser to leave 
 them entirely to the disposal of Him who, to effect our 
 salvation, through holiness and likeness to His own Son, 
 delivered Him up to save us from our sins, — the only price 
 by which our redemption could be purchased. That love, 
 so pure and holy, should be met on our part by a love that 
 is disinterested and unselfish. If it be in our power, we 
 should exercise that affection which is free from all selfish 
 motives. We should trust that love, even though some 
 particular manifestations of it may in this present time and 
 to our finite senses appear to be evidences of its withdrawal. 
 Though clouds and darkness may surround our way, we 
 
PRAYER. 199 
 
 may always have the confidence that a Father's love is 
 guiding our course, and that the object of that love is our 
 deliverance from sin, and, as a result, our entrance into per- 
 fect holiness and happiness. Why not, then, like an un- 
 conscious infant in the arms of a loving mother, trust all 
 the events of our earthly life to the care of Him who hath in 
 the past given us not only evidences of affection, but of His 
 infinite wisdom that would choose only that which would 
 be for our ultimate good? If this childlike trust — which 
 is the precious heritage of every child of God — was in con- 
 stant exercise, our prayers ^vould be for deliverance from 
 sin, for increase in grace, and for high attainments in holi- 
 ness, and not for those things which, if obtained, woukl 
 only increase our pride and draw us away from the source 
 of true happiness. 
 
A DARK PROBLEM. 
 
 Among the dark problems that have fascinated the minds 
 of men for ages, none have been the subjects of more earnest 
 thought and deep research than the reconciling of God's 
 sovereignty and man's moral free agency, and the endeavors 
 to reach the origin of evil. Knowing that "secret things 
 belong to the Lord, but those revealed unto us and our 
 children forever," I would not attempt to solve the mys- 
 teries, but only endeavor to gather up from revelation and 
 experience some truths and facts bearing upon them. It 
 is true that God did take from the Gentiles a people for His 
 name. (Acts xv. 14-18.) He has also declared that He 
 makes "His people willing in the day of His power." 
 Christ clearly states the truth "All that the Father giveth 
 Me shall come to Me," coupling it with the cognate truth, 
 " And him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." 
 (John vi. 37.) In these and many other similar passages 
 the doctrines of election and free sovereign grace for every 
 sin-sick soul are plainly announced. There is no obstacle 
 in the way of any soul's coming to Christ, whatever may 
 be its merits or demerits. Speaking reverently, God, know- 
 ing that a rebellious race would not return to love and 
 loyalty, had a right to select a people for Himself without 
 infringing upon the moral free agency with which He had 
 endowed them. A Church, perfect and entire, was therefore 
 ordained before the foundation of the world, before the first 
 200 
 
A DARK PROBLEM. 201 
 
 law was proclaimed, or tlie first law-breaker hatl come into 
 being. The special mission of this divinelj-ordained Church 
 was to be as a city set on a hill, whose ligljt could not be 
 hid; to proclaim to a rebel world that God was reconciled 
 to man ; to show forth the praises of its Lord ; to call out 
 from the world every sin-sick soul that would accept life, 
 and to prepare it by a process of trials and purification for 
 a high state of glory and happiness. The peace and rest 
 manifested to every soul by the glad tidings of great joy 
 were open to all who would come. 
 
 In this is evident the trinity of doctrines, — predestina- 
 tion, foreordination, and election. As the Holy Ghost pro- 
 ceeds from the Father and the Son, so does election flow 
 forth from the first two doctrines. It is the only system 
 from which can logically proceed man's moral free agency, 
 by which he chooses eternal life or death. 
 
 To claim that God has decreed a soul to death, or that He 
 uses any external constraint upon any dependent and defec- 
 tive, though rational and responsible, creature of His hand, 
 is to destroy the very idea of a God, just as much as to say 
 that He is striving for victory against a power equal or 
 superior to Himself, or that He is subject to uncertainties 
 and contingencies. The dependent being must have a 
 liberty parallel with the responsibility placed upon him by 
 the Creator, who, in justice, is incapable of causing a moral 
 evil to fall upon the work of His own hand. 
 
 An Infinite, is the great First Cause, eternal in being, 
 omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, perfect in thought, 
 wisdom, and design. If there was an original " nothing" 
 it would be so now; nothing can come out of nothing. An 
 Infinite begins and ends in perfection, overruling what is 
 called evil for good, even sin, and making the very wrath of 
 man to praise Him. All life, thought, power, phenomena, 
 
202 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 emanate from Him, except sin, which is a coming short of, 
 or a breacli of law, an after-event. 
 
 Would Adam have been susceptible of eternal life if he 
 had not fallen ? The Jews committed the greatest sin the 
 world has ever witnessed, but from it resulted that which 
 is to be the salvation of the world. 
 
 Predestination required the Son of man to be perfected 
 through suffering, that He should become the Son of God, 
 a great High Priest and King. As Son of man he filled 
 the office of a prophet. Yet He was a High Priest with- 
 out a Temple, a King without a Kingdom. In heaven He 
 became a High Priest. When He comes again he will be 
 a King with a Kingdom, and perfectly fulfil all the offices 
 of Prophet, Priest, and King. 
 
 Predestination is fact fixed. Foreordination is order, 
 time, and limitation. Predestination is a straight and one- 
 sided principle, always tending to perfection. When you 
 place your hand in the fire it burns, but you do not say you 
 were necessitated to do it. You knew that by the laws of 
 fire and your own flesh pain and injury would be the result. 
 If in a thunder-storm you refuse to enter the open door, 
 you suffer the consequence. In ordinary life it is evident 
 that in some way or other we are the authors of our own 
 natural evils. Salvation is from God, condemnation from 
 ourselves. (John iii. 18; xii. 47, 48.) 
 
 An Infinite is a law in Himself and to Himself, and 
 cannot come into collision with what He has pronounced 
 holy, just, and good. He must keep justice whole, not only 
 for the good of the universe, but for the subject of punish- 
 ment, which is not an arbitrary infliction, but a manifesta- 
 tion of infinite love. There is but one real original evil in 
 the world, — sin, the parent of all evil. All natural evils, 
 of which we are the cause, are for our final good, if we only 
 
A DA UK PROBLEM. 203 
 
 believe and accept them as such. If your house is blown 
 down it is by the elements on their proper mission for the 
 universal good, and you suffer for others. In our govern- 
 ment we give up certain natural rights for the good of all. 
 
 While the gospel proclamation is in force there can be no 
 arbitrary judgments. The evils we now ex})erience are 
 from the breach of law or from the force of natural laws. 
 If God manifests His dying Son to you as the source of 
 life, and you, exercising free agency, reject Him, the 
 divine perfections and omnipotence cannot prevent you 
 from remaining in death. 
 
 To deny the misconstrued and much-abused doctrine of 
 predestination as contained in the Bible, is tacitly to deny 
 the existence of a great First Cause of all things, as well as 
 the law of compensation which is involved in the whole 
 system of creation and redemption, the consequences of 
 which cannot be evaded. It is this which makes a rational 
 being a responsible one, after the presentation of a simple 
 law, w^itli no promise of reward attached for observance, 
 but a warning if broken. By the law was the knowledge 
 of sin which worketh wrath. This law was to discover 
 what was in man, and to reveal to man not only his lost, 
 wretched condition, but that which he should be. While 
 it could give him no aid, it demanded death or a substitute. 
 
 Why, then, did man, in full possession of the AVord, 
 having all that heart could wish, voluntarily depart from 
 God ? Because it was predestinated that if man loved death 
 rather than life, an Omnipotent could not, consistently with 
 perfect law, prevent him from choosing it. Adam was not 
 obliged to eat the forbidden fruit, yet he did eat of it. 
 Here at once are manifested })redestination and free agency. 
 Man had taken the first step in the exercise of moral free 
 agency. 
 
204 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 From the Fall to the Flood, God left man without any 
 law, gospel, or restraint, with free liberty to improve or ruin 
 himself. In the latter course he was successful, but his 
 choice was not, as in the gospel, life or death. As a second 
 step in the process of restoration, God, in pity for man, 
 took him from the waste, howling wilderness and placed him 
 in a scliool of law to train and discipline him for a higher 
 1?iphere of glory. He sent holy men and prophets, who 
 were rejected and persecuted. The more He did for men 
 the worse and more wicked they became, until He said, 
 "What have I not done to My vineyard which I could have 
 done ?" and the race was released from probation as inca- 
 pable of returning to loyalty. Then God's love said, 
 "Perhaps they will reverence My Son." The forerunner, 
 John, came to prepare the way for the Messiah, but he was 
 cut off. The Messiah came, but was crucified, and thus was 
 prepared the way for the descent of the Holy Ghost, — God 
 with us, remaining to the present period. In this third 
 stage of the process the gospel of free and sovereign grace 
 is manifected without money or price: only believe and re- 
 ceive. Yet, notwithstanding the fulness and freeness of the 
 gospel plan, its blessings have been appropriated by a small 
 fraction of the human race, and there is no hope from reve- 
 lation that they will be the portion of the majority. The 
 fourth stage will be when the last sin-sick or redeemed 
 soul is brought home, when the proclamation of glad 
 tidings ceases, when the Holy Ghost and the Church shall 
 have left the world, and judgment, as naturally as by a law 
 of gravitation, not by an arbitrary decree, falls upon the 
 earth. AYhat more terrible judgment can befall man than 
 to be left to the imaginations of his deceitful heart, to be 
 led by Satan, captive at his will? 
 
 The first Adam and the fallen race with liberty, — Israel 
 
A DARK PROBLKM. 20 O 
 
 witli tlie law — and now grace for the Jew^ and Gentile, for 
 grace is simply the gospel; come and receive life whatever 
 may have been your sins. All have failed, excc})t for the 
 redeemed Church of God. The Infinite Father may say: 
 "When I gave my Son, I gave Myself; all I had to give. 
 At an infinite cost have I presented life, but ye have chosen 
 death. I would have incorporated you in my own life, 
 love, and holiness, but ye would not." This is predestina- 
 tion without any infringement on man\s moral free agency. 
 What human power can make a man believe that which he 
 does not believe? None. God only, by converting grace, 
 can do it. 
 
 One fruitful cause of disagreement between those hold- 
 ing what may seem to be radically different views on these 
 important questions, is the false conception of passages of 
 Scripture. As an example, take 1 John ii. 2: "And He 
 is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but 
 also for {the sins of) the whole world." While not presum- 
 ing to speak of the right or wisdom of the translators to 
 interpolate the three words in italics,— the sins of, — we ask 
 each one to read the declaration as it came from the pen of 
 the apostle, and judge for himself what a change is made 
 in the sense. Calvinists and Arminians have both rested 
 in the error that purchase and redemption were one and 
 the same thing. The Calvinist is right in the belief that 
 redemption is limited to the household of faith. The 
 Arminian is right in the belief that a purchase was made 
 for every lost soul. Thus they differ, because each holds to 
 a partial, one-sided idea of truth which the other denies. 
 
 The text in 2 Pet. ii. 1: "Even denying the Lord that 
 bought them," clearly shows purchase, and taken in con- 
 nection with Ps. ii. 8, John i. 3, Heb. i. 3, and Col. i. 16, 
 makes it evident that Christ, the Creator of the universe. 
 
206 THJyOS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 strengthened His right by purchasing with His blood. Take 
 an example that could be drawn from the now extinct laws 
 of a ])art of these United States. A slave-holder, owning 
 one hundred slaves, having an absolute right to them by 
 j)urchase, declares that all who will receive their freedom are 
 relieved from bondage by accepting his offer. Half of them 
 believe and accept, and are at once made free. The others, 
 t^y- declining to embrace the offer, are still his property and 
 remain slaves. Light is thrown on the subject by Rom. iii. 
 22, where the righteousness of God is ^'unto all and uj^on 
 all them that believe J^ Here are predestination, foreordi na- 
 tion, and election in perfect harmony with the exercise of 
 moral free agency on the part of man. 
 
 It must be freely admitted that there are connected with 
 Christianity many truths which the mind of man cannot 
 fathom witli its present capacities. They may be above 
 reason, but they are not in conflict with it. As there are 
 in the material world many influences and forces of the 
 sources of which we are ignorant, and the results of whicli 
 Ave have learned by experience, so there are in the spirit- 
 ual world truths, influences, and forces, the presence and 
 powers of which w^e nuist acknowledge and act upon in the 
 same way that we do in the material. However men may 
 theoretically deny the doctrine of predestination and assert 
 the presence and power of free will, yet in the every-day 
 affairs of life they practically admit the doctrine. The 
 farmer plants his seed, confident in the belief that it will 
 germinate and bring forth a crop, but he is just as certain 
 that all things requisite to that anticipated result must pre- 
 cede it; the law which governs natural production — that of 
 predestination — is so definite, so sure in its operations, that 
 no man looks for a crop of wheat unless he sows wheat, 
 neither does he expect wheat if he sows oats. There is no 
 
A DARK PROBLEM. 207 
 
 diversity of operations in the natural and spiritual worlds. 
 Inexorable law pervades both. The confusion and dis- 
 orders which j)revail among men are simply the moral 
 evils which spring from a breach of, or a coming short of, 
 those laws, which are themselves only the manifestations 
 of God's predestination. 
 
 In the mind of an Infinite all is fixed. These designs 
 take form by two simple instruments in creation and re- 
 demption. Law in the material and grace in the moral, 
 in proper time and order, manifest and fully develop the 
 design. A broken law was the first development of sin, — 
 an after-event in the history of man, — the first exercise of 
 his free agency. Law is the simple instrument to draw 
 the love of sin out of the heart of humanity. By it God 
 subdues the world to His will. It breaks up the fallow 
 ground of the heart, drives out self and the love of sin, so 
 that the seed of divine grace can enter. As air rushes into 
 a vessel when the water is poured out, so does grace come 
 into the heart when sin goes out. When Satan's door- 
 keeper, the will, is discharged, the Holy Ghost enters. 
 
 Before a watchmaker begins to work Avith his materials 
 he has in his mind a perfect idea of a watch, else he would 
 not attempt to construct one. He is finite, but God infinite. 
 This is predestination. Election proceeds from it, and 
 foreordination. "Make your calling and election sure," 
 is a general expression with reference to a final result. 
 Compare this with, "Work out your salvation with fear 
 and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you, both to 
 will and to do of His good pleasure," — both addressed to 
 saints under instruction in the school of God. If salvation 
 is not found in this school it cannot be worked out. As 
 these texts are sometimes expounded from the pulpit they 
 leave an impression upon the indifferent or awakened soul 
 
20« THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 that it can, by the exercise of some inherent power, or by 
 a vohmtary act of the will, fit itself to be more acceptable 
 to Christ, — an attempt as sure to end in failure as for a 
 sick man to refuse the service of a physician until he cures 
 himself. A soul conscious of its lost condition, convinced 
 of guilt, and fearful of the consequences, yet hesitates and 
 asks, ^' How can I know that I am one of the elect ?" 
 •Now surely such a question, which does not concern any 
 soul honestly seeking light, must spring from mistaken 
 conceptions of the doctrine. It awakens a doubt of its 
 lionesty, or at least betrays the fact that such a one has 
 no real conception, in the gospel sense, of his peril while 
 out of Christ. It is like a drowning man endeavoring to 
 reach the farthest of two ripples in the offing. Aiming to 
 be one of the elect as an object insures failure. It is a 
 nonentity. One who starts for the goal naked, hoping to 
 acquire the robe of Christ's righteousness will surely miss 
 it, but one who starts with sin forgiven is clothed in the 
 righteousness of God. One who asks, ^'How am I to 
 know that I am one of the elect ?" betrays the fact that he 
 has not realized his lost, helpless condition, without the 
 sense of which he cannot receive the grace of God. The 
 exhortation of Peter, "to make your calling and election 
 sure,'' is not a command in a legal spirit, but a kindly ex- 
 hortation to avoid that which might be an obstacle in the 
 way of receiving that grace which is granted, not for, but 
 by, God's appointed and revealed means. The process is, 
 come, believe, and receive life. The Holy Spirit enters 
 into and possesses the soul, assumes all the responsibility : 
 you yield to His leading, you obey, and are led into the 
 presence of God, where there is fulness of joy and your 
 election made sure. Law existed before grace ; therefore, 
 predestination is unchangeable, an inexorable law that no 
 
A DARK PROBLEM. 209 
 
 finite, rational creature can evade. Whatever theoretical 
 difficulties may cluster about the doctrine, it is clear that 
 the way of attainment of a state of peace and rest is plainly 
 marked out in the Scripture, and that any human soul 
 yielding to the divine influences exerted upon it will be 
 led into the path of eternal life. 
 
APHORISMS AND REFJ^ECTIONS. 
 
 The Gospel of Grace is not the Messianic or Judicial 
 Gospel preached by Christ, — it is not the dispensation of 
 the law in which works are a means to gain a good or 
 avoid an evil. The works of a Christian are only the 
 natural issue from, and fruits of, Grace. 
 
 Christ did not preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of 
 Heaven to the Gentiles, neither did He permit His disciples 
 to do so. The Messianic Gospel was preached by the Son 
 of man to Jews only, and has exclusive reference to Christ's 
 kingdom on earth. The Gospel of Grace was designed 
 by the Eternal Mind before the foundation of the world, 
 for a special purpose, separate from and independent of 
 all other systems. 
 
 The Gospel of Grace, which is heavenly and spiritual, 
 came by and through the Son of God. Crucified as the 
 Son of man. He arose from the grave as victor, assumed 
 His Divine character, — the Son of God, — and was visible 
 only to believers. 
 
 The Gospel preached by Christ was one of works : " In- 
 asmuch as ye have done it unto these (Jews) My brethren, 
 ye have done it unto Me." " Go sell all thou hast and 
 give to the poor, and come and follow Me." " Offer for 
 thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded." The Gos- 
 pel of Grace is life received by faith, and the works fol- 
 lowing are only the consequences or results. 
 
 It is not the faith tliat brings the life, — the blood of 
 210 
 
APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS. 211 
 
 Clirlst is the life given; faith is the channel througli 
 which the oil of Divine Grace flows. We are not to look 
 at the act of our faith, but to the object of it, Christ; not 
 to believe in our faith, but in that upon which it is fixed. 
 ^ye are not saved from sin /or believing, but by believing. 
 Nothing can be added to the work of Christ, for He did 
 all. When the soul has received life it is ready to enter 
 the school of God and be instructed how to live and walk 
 in the new creation. When it believes it comes into ever- 
 lasting life. It is not to be, or to come, but a present pos- 
 session. You are not told, as in the law, "Do and live," 
 but are instructed how to live. What is instruction to 
 saints is not Gospel for the unbelievers, for to such the 
 Gospel message is, Look, believe, receive life by faith. All 
 of the Epistles are directed to those who have been re- 
 deemed by Christ, and to them only. They only are cai)a- 
 ble of receiving and understanding them. 
 
 The Blessing of Grace is not given as a reward for what 
 we have done, or can do, in bringing the soul to a knowl- 
 edge of Christ, or for efforts to increase the numbers of the 
 visible Church, or for sufferings, afflictions, and martyrdom 
 for Christ's sake. These are only the fruits of obedience. 
 If any enter the Kingdom, it must be through much tribu- 
 lation. Neither is it for prompt and careful attendance on 
 public, social, and private worship, or for the exercise of 
 benevolence and charity. These may strengthen the soul 
 and edify the Church of Christ, and are the good works 
 springing from the renewed heart. 
 
 It is no fruit of the pure Gospel when a Christian to 
 whom has been given a large degree of tcm|)oral wealth 
 and prosperity, measured by a worldly standard, regards 
 himself as a special favorite of Heaven, and cherishes the 
 idea that he has not been so unfoithful as his brethren. 
 
212 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 He tliat would live godly in Christ Jesus must pass 
 through affliction. What a rule to apply to Christendom, 
 wliere the prevalence of legalism prompts the constant 
 looking for earthly prosperity as a reward for so-called re- 
 ligious service! 
 
 Neither is it a result of the pure Gospel when a saint, 
 who has reached a certain })oint in his Christian experience, 
 settles into a peculiar feeling of self-complacency that all is 
 right, that his salvation is fully secured, — a most dangerous 
 ground to rest upon, for it gives evidence that he is stand- 
 ing upon the law. There is no resting-place in an enemy's 
 country, for until the redemption of the body, we carry 
 within us wicked and deceitful hearts, against which, aided 
 by principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness, we 
 must be in perpetual conflict. 
 
 The Gospel is not salvation from punishment, but from 
 the bondage of sin and the law. It does not incite you to 
 aim for eternal existence, but for eternal life. Eternal life 
 is the incorporation of your own life into the love, holiness, 
 and life of God. 
 
 The Gospel does not merely bring the soul into a con- 
 dition of peace with God, but it brings the peace of God to 
 dwell within the soul. The saint is not simply to believe 
 the blessed fact that Christ was crucified, but he must be 
 crucified, buried, and risen with Christ if he would attain 
 the full stature of a man in Christ Jesus. He is not to aim 
 for the crown by evading the cross. He is not to deliber- 
 ately hold sin on the conscience unrepented of, or to believe 
 that sin does not dwell in him, but he is not to dwell in sin 
 that it should reign over him. It is not by a voluntary 
 act of the will that he can make himself perfect, but it is 
 by obedience and subserviency to the Divine Will that 
 the grace of God makes him perfect. 
 
APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS. 213 
 
 The Gospel docs not incite you to seek for happiness, a 
 carnal desire, but for holiness, a heavenly spiritual desire. 
 It does not encourage you to seek for peace outside of your- 
 self, but to seek it only where it can be found, in your own 
 heart. It does not influence you to live aright that you 
 may thus avoid the evils of wrong-doing, but that by uj)- 
 rightness your life may be in harmony with the perfect life 
 of Christ. It does not teach you to dread the evils of sin, 
 but to dread sin as the parent of all evils. A legalist does 
 good works to gain a reward and shun an evil. True re- 
 ligion begins with the forgiveness of sin, false religion 
 labors to secure it. 
 
 The Gospel does not teach that God's salvation is a pur- 
 chase to be made, wages to be earned, a work to be done, or 
 a summit to be climbed, but simply a gift to be received. 
 It teaches that if you are in grace it is of necessity, if in 
 unbelief, by your voluntary choice. It does not teach that 
 the visible Church on earth is a place of safety, but that the 
 Church is an assembly of souls redeemed by Christ, who 
 form and sanctify the Church. It does not teach that the 
 saint should find his home in the world where Christ was 
 crucified, but that those who possess the life of Christ should 
 find their home where He is. It does not incline you to 
 come to Christ by your own will, but by a realizing sense 
 of your need and helpless condition. It does not teach that 
 God can come and dwell in the heart before that heart is 
 emptied of itself: self-renunciation must precede purifica- 
 tion. It does not require you to be a believer before you 
 are a listener, or to be a worker before you area worshipper. 
 It gives no encouragement for any soul to say there is no 
 salvation for it. It gives no authority in the Epistles for a 
 saint to neglect his own personal piety that he may be in- 
 strumental in directing souls to Christ. It does not incline 
 
214 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 you to reform and elevate crude humanity, in which there is 
 nothing for God to admire, but to accept for yourself, and 
 induce others to receive, an entirely new creation in Christ 
 Jesus. It does not teach that doing is God's salvation, but 
 that ceasing to do and accepting what Christ has done, is 
 assured salvation for the soul. It teaches that the saints 
 who now sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus will in glory 
 9it with Him. 
 
 The Gospel does not present Christ as fulfilling the law 
 for us by His life. The sins of the believer are imputed 
 to Christ, who is holy. Kighteousness is imputed to us, 
 who are sinful. He is made all our sin as truly as He had 
 none of His own. We are made all His righteousness as 
 truly as we had none of our own. It is we, wholly and 
 completely, that are His sin ; and it is He, wholly and 
 completely, that is our righteousness. 
 
 It does not teach you to look into your own heart for 
 holiness, for there nothing but sin can be found ; but you 
 are to look to Christ for pardon. 
 
 It teaches the saint to be ever dissatisfied with himself, 
 but he is not doomed forever to be unsatisfied. 
 
 It declares that the saint is not a servant, but a freeman, 
 a child, an heir. It places faith before repentance, death 
 before life, receiving God's blessing before seeking it. To 
 seek for life proves that you have no life, for life is req- 
 uisite to acquire life. 
 
 The Gospel does not judge or condemn you for your 
 sins, — that is the province of the law, — but because you re- 
 ject the only medicine that can cure the disease, the end of 
 which is death. It gives you nothing for what you have, 
 but it will supply that which you realize you lack and need. 
 
 The Gospel does not insist upon external forms as essen- 
 tial to salvation. While recoo-nizino^ sacraments as a means 
 
APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS. 215 
 
 or channel of good, j)articipation in tliem is not an absolute 
 condition to tlie reception of the blessings they manifest. 
 Abraham, the Father of the Faithful, was not baptized. 
 The thief on tlie cross, an example of human depravity, 
 was never baptized, never partook of the Lord's Supper, 
 but, by Grace, was transformed into a saint without the 
 aid of ordinances. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is essen- 
 tial to salvation. 
 
 It does not incline you to make the Lord's Supper a 
 feast of bitter herbs, but encourages you to make it one of 
 peace, joy, and gratitude. It requires no season of legal 
 preparation, but it does form in each humble sincere saint 
 a condition of mind and heart that makes him always 
 ready for a hap})y and profitable participation. 
 
 The repentance of Jolin was simply a change of mind. 
 That of the Messianic Gospel, preached by Christ, was a 
 turning from the wrong to the right, — that shown by the 
 prodigal son. The repentance of a godly sorrow for sin, 
 which is not to be repented of, is a deep sense of sin against 
 God. This is the gift of God after you have become a be- 
 liever, and something that can be exercised only when you 
 have realized that you are a sinner. The repentance while 
 under conviction is sorrow for the evils of sin, rather than 
 a deep hatred of sin as the parent of all evil. 
 
 The Gospel does not require you first to do that you 
 may believe, but to believe so that you may be taught how 
 and what to do. 
 
 In the Gospel there are life-works, — God working 
 within the heart of the saint. These, however, are very 
 diiferent in source and development from the law-works 
 performed for wages or in an attempt to make one's self 
 more holy. Law-works may be wrought without grace or 
 love in the heart. 
 
216 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 The Grace saint starts for the goal clothed in Christ's 
 riirhteousness. The leo-alist starts naked for the otlier end 
 of the course, hoping to gain the garment of righteousness, 
 which he can never find or procure. 
 
 The Jews were not the Church, for every Jew, holy and 
 unholy, enjoyed all the riglits and privileges of the Theoc- 
 racy by reason of natural birth. In the Gospel the Church 
 ^ the Body of Christ, without spot or blemish. God dealt 
 with the Jews as men in and of the world, but in the Gos- 
 pel He deals with saints as jewels taken out of and separate 
 from the world. 
 
 In the Gospel the believer, by keeping his eye of faith on 
 Christ his life, is, hy — not for — looking, transformed into 
 the same image, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the 
 Lord, and thus unconsciously becomes conformed in moral 
 perfection to the image of Christ. 
 
 In the Gospel those who compose the Church, let their 
 light so shine that others are beneficially influenced. By 
 their imtient continuance in well-doing they put to silence 
 the ignorance of foolish men, and, showing forth the praises 
 of their Lord, become His faithful witnesses on earth. 
 They are such by living in Christ. 
 
 In the Gospel there is a " name to live," but not a name 
 to act or do. The believer, seeing his sins in the wounds 
 of the body of Christ on the cross, is more absorbed in the 
 '' finished work'' done /or him than in that carried on icithin 
 him by the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Law came by Moses; Grace and Truth by Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 The Law was not designed to make a man more holy, 
 but the end of the Gospel is to redeem man from sin, and 
 make him holy as God is holy. 
 
 The Law was not given to save the world, but to curse 
 
APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS. 217 
 
 it. The Gospel is to call out from the world all who desire 
 to leave it. (Rev. xviii. 4.) 
 
 The Law hath dominion over a man as long as he lives. 
 The Gospel takes him as dead to the Law, and through 
 Jesus Christ frees him from its dominion. 
 
 Under Law there is no moral liberty. In Grace is 
 moral liberty. 
 
 The Law demands perfect obedience, but gives no power 
 by which that obedience may be attained. The Gospel 
 holds out perfect liberty, love, joy, and peace in the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 If the Jew worked on the Sabbath, the penalty was death. 
 If the Christian does not perform spiritual work on the 
 Lord's Day, the fruit or result is spiritual death. 
 
 Law never can subdue the human heart. A view of 
 God's love by faith melts it into contrition. 
 
 The Law was proclaimed from a mountain's top amid 
 thunderings and lightnings. The Gospel came without 
 observation. 
 
 If the Jew went into the Holy of Holies while the High 
 Priest was there, the penalty was death. Under the Gospel 
 if one stays out of Christ it is spiritual and eternal death. 
 
 In the Law man was enjoined to love God, but the aim 
 of the Gospel is to manifest God's love to man. 
 
 The Law says : Make you a new heart and a new spirit. 
 The Gospel declares : A new heart I will give you, and a 
 right spirit I will put within you. 
 
 Law curses every one who contrives not in all things 
 written in the book of the Law to do them. Grace blesses 
 the man wdiose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are 
 covered. 
 
 Law tells what man is to do for God ; Grace what God 
 has done for man. 
 
218 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 Law : ^' Pay what thou owest." Grace : " I freely for- 
 give thee all.'' 
 
 Law : Do this and thou shalt live. Grace : Believe and 
 life will be given. 
 
 The Jew is looking for a Messiah and an earthly King- 
 dom of Righteousness. The Gospel gives a Saviour and 
 fixes us in heavenly places, our lives being hid in God. 
 • The law pronounces condemnation and death ; Grace 
 justification and life. 
 
 The Law addresses man's old nature ; the Gospel man's 
 new nature. 
 
 Under the Law man seeks an object to worship, but the 
 Gospel seeks worshippers. 
 
 Under the Law the worship made the worshipper ; under 
 Grace the worshipper makes the worship. 
 
 The Law can neither create nor remove sin, neither can it 
 form an aversion to it. The Gospel removes sin, creates a 
 hatred to it, and brings peace to the soul. 
 
 In the old creation man belonged to death ; in the new 
 death belongs to man. 
 
 By Eve came life, by Eve came death. By the new cre- 
 ation death gives us all we need. 
 
 Law is condemnation ; Grace is reconciliation. 
 
 Law reveals your danger, but points out no refuge ; the 
 Gospel holds out the sure refuge. 
 
 Under Law the Ten Commandments are a rule of life ; 
 to a Gospel saint they are a rule of death, for to him Christ 
 only is a Rule of Life. 
 
 The Law is a work to do ; the Gospel a word to be- 
 lieve. 
 
 The Law would induce you to avoid punishment ; the 
 Gospel delivers you from the guilt of sin by (but not for) 
 believing. 
 
APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS. 219 
 
 Law inclines you to act from slavish fear; the Gospel 
 from spontaneous grace and love. 
 
 Under Law one works /or life ; under Grace /ro?7i innate 
 life. 
 
 Under the I^aw the wages of sin is death ; Grace makes 
 the gift of God eternal life. 
 
 The Law claims everything and gives nothing ; Grace 
 gives all and claims nothing. 
 
 The Law worketh wrath, but Grace works blessing. 
 Under the Jewish Law life was to be attained; in the 
 Gospel life is acquired and enjoyed. 
 
 God does not require Jews to go out in love that others 
 might participate in their blessings, but Gospel saints can- 
 not refrain from inviting sinners to come to Christ. 
 
 The Jews, as an elect nation under tutorage, are dealt 
 with by discipline ; under Grace saints, being in the school 
 of God, are taught how to live and Avalk while there. 
 
 With Moses all is from man to God ; with Jesus Christ 
 it is all from God to man. Law is first, Grace second. 
 
 Christ, as Son of man in the flesh, addressed Himself to 
 Jews and Gentiles ; as the Son of God He reveals Himself 
 to saints through the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Daniel, the Jewish prophet, was told to seal up the book 
 to the time of the end ; John, the Christian prophet, was 
 told not to seal the book, for the time is at hand. 
 
 In Matt. iii. 3 we read that the Kingdom of Heaven is 
 at hand, but in Luke xvii. 20, and xxii. 16-18, that the 
 Kingdom of God cometh not by observation. 
 
 The first Sabbath was in commemoration of creation, was 
 nullified by sin ; the second Sabbath, that of the Law, on 
 the seventh day, has not been abrogated ; but the Gospel 
 Sabbath, or Lord's Day, is the first day of the week. 
 
 The expectations of the Jew who keeps the Law, and 
 
220 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 thus lives by it, are all of an eartlily, perishing nature ; the 
 hopes of the Gospel saint are fixed on that incorruptible 
 inheritance reserved in Heaven. 
 
 The foundation i)rinciples of the doctrines of Grace are 
 found in Romans, from the third to ninth chapters. The 
 doctrine of Justification is plainly recorded in the third 
 and fourth chapters, the privileges of the believer in the 
 •fifth, his character and duties in the sixth, his conflicts in 
 the seventh, and his glorious triumph in the eighth. 
 
 Some Christians flatter themselves that they have attained 
 the condition described in the eighth chapter, while their 
 true position is below the seventh. So deceitful are human 
 hearts, and so powerful are the temptations of Satan, that 
 many believers fall into a self-complacency which leads 
 them to suppose they are special favorites of Heaven, and 
 some are so far deluded as to imagine that they have passed 
 beyond the power of temptation or the possibility of sin. 
 They are, indeed, members of the one body, Christ, and re- 
 ceive a dividend of Grace according to their faith, but no 
 more. As far as the inclination of the heart goes, to be perfect 
 in spirit like Christ, the new man is perfect; but holding 
 within himself the two antagonistic natures of flesh and 
 spirit, he is subjected to a warfare continuing until the re- 
 demption of the body. Yet, he cannot hold unrepented 
 sin on his conscience ; if he does, it only proves that he was 
 never born of God. 
 
 The Son of man is heir of all things ; to Him all power 
 and judgment are given ; in Him are hid all the treasures 
 of wisdom and knowledge. 
 
 Life, in its true sense, is not, and cannot be, purchased 
 by man. Life is given to the believer as a free gift. God 
 sees nothing in man to admire, but, looking upon him, sees 
 what he lacks and what he needs in Himself. 
 
APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS. 221 
 
 No good or holy action cim precede life, which is im- 
 planted when the Holy Ghost makes the body its temple. 
 
 No salvation by works; no salvation without works. 
 
 First the gift, then the result; first the tree, then the 
 fruit; first the saint, then the service; first the life, then 
 the action ; first salvation, then the evidence. 
 
 Believing and receiving Christ require no preliminary 
 works. With the first sight is "the accej)ted time." 
 Christ has done all for you. Receive His testimony and 
 live. 
 
 If you are preparing to enter heaven, you will never be 
 ready. The Holy Spirit calls yon into life, that you may 
 be prepared and ready to enter into eternal life, — called 
 into earthly life that you may enter into heavenly places in 
 Christ Jesus, and be susceptible of enjoying eternal glories. 
 The closing of earthly life is no time to prepare for another 
 world, which, though certain, is unknown. 
 
 You say you cannot /eeZ as Christians say they do, or as 
 you think they ought; but feeling is not faith. Christ's 
 work has been done, independent of your feelings. Faith 
 comes first, feeling follows as a natural result. You pray, 
 but do not believe you will receive that which you ask for 
 because you do not feel. This is a carnal, legal spirit. 
 
 Faith is a fruit of believing and obeying God's Word 
 without cavilling, questioning, or waiting to prove that it 
 is true. There can be no preparation, dictation, calculating 
 of consequences, or any aiming for a future object. 
 
 A humble, resolute saint is not so much aiming for per- 
 fection and holiness, as he is fleeing from and resisting the 
 power and pollution of sin, and keeping his garments un- 
 spotted from the world. By striving to be unblamable 
 and without rebuke, he would be ready at the coming of 
 the Lord. AVhile keeping his heart with diligence and 
 
 15 
 
222 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 continually rooting out his imperfections, he is constantly 
 heading towards perfection, while not placing it before him 
 as an object. 
 
 AVe must be listeners before we can be believers, — wor- 
 shippers before we can be workers. 
 
 The saint's service is not that of an unwilling slave, but 
 that of a sincere lover. God is not an exactor, but a loving 
 •free giver. 
 
 To believe in Christ's body — the Church — as our life 
 and light is one thing, but to patronize the Church for 
 personal comfort or the well-being of our families in time 
 is quite another motive. 
 
 The Gospel of Grace touches many, but triumphs over 
 few. Many are called but few are chosen to holy service 
 and high reward. 
 
 One born of God may have sin dwelling in him, but he 
 does not dwell in sin. There is a great difference between 
 a soul struggling against sin which it hates, and one wallow- 
 ing in sin which it loves. 
 
 There are in God's Kingdom Abrahams and Lots, 
 Marys and Marthas; those whose hearts and affections 
 are fully engrossed in Christ's present and future glory, — 
 pilgrims and strangers, having no continuing city, — and 
 those who are struggling between law and grace, or con- 
 science and grace, heaven and earth, not having comfort, 
 joy, and peace in the Holy Ghost, but having too much 
 light to find satisfaction in thino-s of earth. 
 
 Soon after Pentecost, when Christendom was of one 
 mind and spirit, Christianity spread rapidly, and the num- 
 ber of souls converted was perhaps greater in proportion to 
 the population than at any time since. As soon as it be- 
 came popular and successful in a worldly sense, the Church 
 was made the theatre for the exercise of selfish ambition, 
 
APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS. 223 
 
 pride, and power. Errors of doctrine and practice crept 
 in, and that unlioly alliance between the Church and the 
 world was formed, which has continued ever since. The 
 Holy Spirit was grieved and departed. Since that time we 
 do not believe there has been such an outpouring of the 
 Spirit like that at Pentecost. There have been outpour- 
 ings of the Spirit in measure, for the Spirit will bring 
 home every soul redeemed by the blood of Christ. Judging 
 from the lives of the great mass of those who have joined 
 the visible Churcli, they might be called surface or gal- 
 vanized Christians. Christendom has not continued in the 
 goodness of her Lord, and must meet her doom (Rev. iii. 
 16 and xviii. 24), because she has left her first love. 
 
 A soul truly born of God will be kept by the power of 
 God through faith unto salvation, and for such there can 
 be no falling from grace. "He which hath begun a good 
 work in you, will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ." 
 But one, impressed by the apparent application of the 
 words, quotes 2 Chron. xv. 2 : " The Lord is with you 
 while you be with Him ; and if ye seek Him, He will be 
 found of you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake 
 you." This is consistent and true, for God is always ac- 
 cessible to, and may be approached by, the humble, sincere 
 soul. But it is a perversion of truth to apply this state- 
 ment to the Grace dispensation, for the passage in its con- 
 nection was addressed to Jews, man in the world and the 
 flesh, under law, and in a condition where he was being 
 disciplined and prepared for a higher sphere. The Gospel 
 saint is out of the world, dead to sin, the flesh, and the 
 law. As well quote Ezck. xviii. 24-26. While it is 
 good to be a subject of God's moral government, it is bet- 
 ter to be a possessor of eternal life, and a subject of God's 
 unchangeable grace. God makes the body of the saint the 
 
224 THINGS OF THE KIXGDOM. 
 
 temple of the Holy Ghost, who wills and works within to 
 do the whole work, and to give continual life to the soul. 
 The subject works as if all depended on working, and be- 
 liev^es as if all depended on faith in the blood of Christ. 
 Yet he realizes that he can do nothing of himself, for 
 Christ has done all. We are to discharge Satan's door- 
 keeper, the will ; then the Holy Spirit applies Christ's 
 finished salvation, the fruits of which are good works and 
 a holy life. 
 
 Having entered the school of God, the Holy Spirit being 
 our guide and teacher, we are exhorted to walk worthy of 
 our vocation as heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. 
 The saints do not perform good works to be made more 
 holy, but because they are holy, separate from the world, 
 and set apart by the Spirit for high service and holy duty. 
 They do not work for life, but because they have received 
 the life of Christ. The gracious encouragement to a saint 
 to progress in the divine life is found in the fifth chapter 
 of Hebrews, from eleventh verse to the close of the sixth 
 chapter. This portion of Scripture is a parenthesis through 
 which, by the Word and Spirit, we may be carried to un- 
 known heights. We may attempt to mark out God's plan 
 of salvation, may be able to argue logically on the doctrines 
 of Divine sovereignty, or of prophecy, or of the resurrec- 
 tion and union with Christ by the Spirit, yet all may 
 be simply an intellectual exercise that does not feed or 
 strengthen the soul, and is destitute of humility and self- 
 abasement, and not governed by perfect love to God and 
 man. To be content with a name to live, without the in- 
 dwelling of the life of Christ, is a sad dereliction of duty 
 and obedience. 
 
THE SABBATH. 
 
 An intelligent and scripturally-based appreciation of the 
 Day of Holy Rest, involving, as it does, important practical 
 results to both Church and State, is a subject worthy of 
 careful research and deep thought on the part of those who 
 are interested in the prosperity of either. To those who 
 are component parts of the Church and State the ^^ Sabbath 
 question" will have a twofold importance, for it has an in- 
 timate relation with all that God has revealed to the Church 
 in the Word, as well as a direct bearing on the temporal 
 happiness of the citizens of the State. 
 
 Any conception of the Sabbath, that would thrust upon 
 the freeman in Christ Jesus, the unyielding rigidity of the 
 Jewish law, is as far removed from the sjnrituality of the 
 Law of God written on the heart by the Holy Ghost, as is 
 that rationalistic indifference or opposition which would 
 make the day " an occasion to the flesh" and transform it 
 into a season of sensual or merely intellectual satisfaction. 
 
 After a true appreciation of the Blood of Atonement, 
 nothing in Revelation is more important to the Christian, 
 than a proper understanding of all that is represented by 
 the resurrection, the new creation, the descent of the Holy 
 Ghost, and the Lord's Day. 
 
 These lovely features of the Gospel have been so shrouded 
 by Judaistical legalism and human theology, that their pure 
 light has been intercepted, and the Church itself, by hold- 
 ing a rod over the masses in announcing commands ex- 
 
 225 
 
226 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 pressed by " you must" or ^' you shall," instead of presenting 
 a bleeding Saviour on the cross as the manifestation of the 
 love of God, has been a stumbling-block to the free course 
 of the Gospel. 
 
 From the earliest ae:es of Christianity there has been 
 ever present a strong disposition in the Church to rule 
 arbitrarily over the faith and practice, not only of those who 
 ►had yielded willing allegiance, but of those who were beyond 
 its pale. This feeling has taken shape in the various creeds 
 and confessions to which assent was demanded, and in those 
 more modern orpanizations of human wisdom that have so 
 frequently shown the same intolerance which Protestants 
 bitterly condemn in Romanism. The Church, by methods 
 resulting from these agencies, and by its course in pre- 
 sumptuously turning aside to do God's work instead of 
 learning to depend on His counsel and do His will, has 
 arrogated to itself the office of the Holy Ghost and assumed 
 an authority never granted to man. The result, as far as 
 the individual is concerned, has been an infringement on 
 the personal liberty of the Christian, which has in turn re- 
 acted disastrously on the best interest of the whole. 
 
 Springing naturally from the hidden seeds of Judaism, 
 this legal spirit has strengthened with the centuries, and 
 is to-day more blighting in its results to the Church than 
 positive opposition. 
 
 Among the dearest privileges which God has granted to 
 His children — a divinely-given right which none can take 
 from them — is that of being taught in all truth and guided 
 in all duty by the Holy Ghost. This Christian liberty, with 
 which all are endowed, and which Paul labors to make 
 clear and plain as their inalienable possession (Gal. v. 1, 
 and Col. ii. 16), is that perfect leading and guiding of the 
 Christian by grace — that simple following of the law of 
 
THE SABBATH. 227: 
 
 God written on the lieart — which makes it impossible for 
 any one to charge him witli sin in religious principle, or by 
 the flesh. It is beyond the judgment of another, it is an 
 individual possession, " for why is my liberty judged of 
 another man's conscience ?" (1 Cor. x. 29.) ^' It is a very 
 small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's 
 judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.'' (1 Cor. iv. 
 3.) But while Paul so clearly sets forth the individual re- 
 sponsibility of the saint, and his perfect freedom from the 
 restraints of external law, both in the spirit and the body, 
 he at the same time gives wise counsel and plain warnings 
 against the improper use of the liberty which he announces ; 
 and let it be marked that he does not write to Christians as 
 though he wonld exercise any authority over them, but as 
 one who would be a promoter and helper of their joys. 
 He assumes as a fundamental principle " that every man be 
 fully persuaded in his own mind," that there should not be 
 a trace of doubt as to the propriety and wisdom of any par- 
 ticular course. He declares there should be no judging of 
 a brother in any selfish spirit. He warns the Corinthians 
 (1 Cor. viii. 8-10) not to indulge in that which, although 
 in itself harmless and innocent, might yet be a stumbling- 
 block in the way of a weak brother ; and not, under any 
 circumstances, " to use their liberty for an occasion to the 
 flesh." Of similiar import are the directions of Peter, who, 
 while declaring the freedom of the saints, cautions them 
 against "using their liberty for a cloak of maliciousness,", 
 and tells them to use their high privilege " as the servants 
 of God." 
 
 We have, therefore, in the inspired writings of the Apos- 
 tles, two general principles clearly enunciated, — viz.. That 
 there is for all the children of God, a true Christian liberty, 
 founded on redemption through Christ, spiritual in its 
 
228 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 nature, tending to full deliverance from error and sin, and 
 uniting to God and His Word by bands of love ; and that 
 by the yielding of the whole nature, body, mind, and soul, 
 to the enlightening and guiding influence of the Holy 
 Ghost, accompanied by an earnest desire to know the will 
 of God as it is revealed in His Word and Providence, with 
 a constant exercise of fervent love towards God and man, 
 >the Christian is prevented from using his liberty in any 
 other way than that which the Father intended in the be- 
 stowal of the gift. 
 
 Assured of these truths, we wish to demonstrate by 
 Scripture that Christ is the end of the law for righteous- 
 ness to every one that believeth ; that His incarnation, 
 life on earth, death, resurrection, and ascension form the 
 sure foundation of the Christian's hope ; that love in the 
 heart, flowing spontaneously from divine grace, is the ful- 
 filling of the law ; and that, as a consequent, a soul re- 
 deemed by the blood of Christ is free from the constraint 
 and commands of any external law, and is subject only to 
 the law of God, written on his heart by the indwelling of 
 the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Governed by this ever-present divine influence, the out- 
 ward life of a believer must necessarily be the manifesta- 
 tion of the indwelling principle, and his conduct be always 
 in accord with the Divine Will ; any dependence upon 
 human strength or wisdom, involving, as it does, departure 
 from the source of all truth, must result in confusion and 
 failure. 
 
 From the time of the ascension of Christ, those who 
 were His disciples seemed to have been strongly tempted 
 to walk in the old beaten paths of Judaism. A brief re- 
 view of the history of the Church will make evident the 
 constant presence of legalism. While it is probable that 
 
THE SABBATH. 229 
 
 the legal spirit of the Jewish nation inflnenced in some 
 degree the primitive Christians of the first two centnries, 
 yet it appeared most prominently in the third and fourth 
 centuries, when Constantine took both the Christian and 
 Pagan religions under his fostering care, and made the 
 Church the channel through which he dispensed his patron- 
 age, and the theatre on which he dispkiyed his ambition. 
 Then it was that men, under the name of the Church, but 
 in the spirit of the old legalism, introduced those human 
 plans and measures, the apparent success of which was 
 measured by the quenching of the Holy Spirit's influence. 
 The Church, which claimed to be the possessor of the 
 truth, and, therefore, its most powerful ally, having de- 
 parted from the principles declared by Christ, was unable 
 to manifest them in its practice, and thus became an ob- 
 struction to the progress of the Gospel. Losing sight of 
 the fundamental principle of Love as an element of tran- 
 scendent power, it accepted and used in its stead a legal 
 arbitrary spirit, which naturally produced the two classes 
 of formalists and sceptics. The one believed that sal- 
 vation was the result of strict adherence to law, and the 
 scrupulous observance of ceremonies ; the other, convinced 
 that obedience was impossible, and that no virtue could be 
 lodged in a ritual, and failing to catch the truth on which 
 both were primarily based, rejected the whole as an effete 
 superstition. 
 
 These classes are represented to-day in every community ; 
 they stand side by side with those who have accepted 
 Christ as their deliverer from the Law, and yielded 
 themselves to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Nomi- 
 nally part of the same visible Church, their ideas of truth, 
 springing from different sources, are essentially different in 
 character, and must therefore so affect their conduct and 
 
230 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 lives, that union and harmony, even if desirable, would 
 seem impossible under such conditions. 
 
 It is important, in the discussion of any point of religious 
 truth, that the difference between the old dispensation of 
 law and tlie new dispensation of grace should be clearly 
 marked, although the contrast between their spirit and 
 method has been made evident by Paul. Christians of the 
 present age have sadly mingled both, so that it is no easy 
 task to separate them, and yet the Gospel of Free and Sov- 
 ereign Grace is as simple as Infinite Love could make it. 
 It is manifested to all, — all can see it without labor or 
 effort. It is salvation "6?/," not "/o?-;" it is looking, be- 
 lieving, and receiving eternal life, freely presented in the 
 Gospel. The soul may choose eternal life, — or refuse and 
 remain in eternal death. The soul that desires to be a 
 child of God is such, for desire means sincerity. He who 
 believes that God so loved him as to give His Son to atone 
 for his sins, is born of God. The Holy Ghost takes up His 
 abode in his heart and affections, and makes his body a 
 temple for His indwelling. According to the promise, the 
 Holy Ghost writes the law of God upon his heart ; God, 
 working within him, to will and do of His good pleas- 
 ure, so that he delights in the law of God, after the inner 
 man, and thus he is freed from the law of sin and death. 
 This is not the work of the subject, — it is all of God, be- 
 cause Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every 
 one that believeth, and love is the fulfilling of the law, 
 "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, 
 who walk not after the flesh [our own will], but after the 
 spirit.'^ (Rom. viii. 4.) It is not the righteousness by the 
 law which is fulfilled, but the righteousness of the law, 
 which, being holy, just, and good, can be fulfilled only by 
 a Gospel saint. No external moral law can have any bind- 
 
THE SABBATH. 231 
 
 iiig force on sucli a one, for he is a free man in Christ 
 Jesus, who, "walking by faith and not by sight," keeps 
 his eye of faith on Christ, his life and light, and beholding, 
 as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, is changed into the 
 same image from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the 
 Lord, and, although unconscious of it himself, is being 
 conformed to the image of his Lord and Master. It is 
 impossible for man to make men accept as truth that 
 which they do not believe; it is God's prerogative to effect 
 this work, not in the way of restraint, but by the presenta- 
 tion of His Son on the cross, by which the soul, being 
 drawn, subdued, and melted, is induced to yield a loving 
 and voluntary consent. As one of the redeemed, the soul 
 has died with Christ, — has been buried with Him, and, by 
 resurrection, made a subject of the new creation in Christ 
 Jesus. Having thus died unto sin, the flesh, and the law, 
 the saint has entered into the service of a new IMaster, and 
 is free from all that enchained him before. Having been 
 forever purified and sanctified, he has ceased from his own 
 works, and all his active efforts are from life, and are not 
 for life. The battle for life has been fought and won in 
 Christ, and now the saint lets his light so shine that he be- 
 comes a living preacher; absorbed in God's love, he forgets 
 himself, and thinks not of the light which is streaming 
 from him ; dependent upon God, he is independent of 
 the world, and lives the life of a pilgrim in the country 
 where his Lord was crucified. His course is accurately 
 marked out by Paul, in Heb. vi. 1-4, and in Philippians 
 iii. 9-15. 
 
 The first record we have in the Word of a period of rest 
 is in Genesis, after the history of Creation, in these words : 
 "And He rested on the seventh day from all the work 
 which He had made: and God blessed the seventh day and 
 
232 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 sanctified it, because that in it He had rested from all His 
 work/' 
 
 Tiiis is the substance of the record, — of its origin and 
 purpose. The Sabbath, as a period of time, was "blessed'^ 
 and "sanctified" because during it God "rested." There 
 is no intimation that it had any connection with man ; we 
 can discover no rule or appointment for its observance by 
 ■lan ; it is not made evident by the Scriptures that the pa- 
 triarchs ])aid the slightest regard to the day. The silence 
 of Scripture may justify the conclusion that the first Sab- 
 bath was connected with a purpose for God's glory, without 
 any reference to mankind. 
 
 The first Sabbath was commemorative of the creation of 
 the material world, at a time when man was in the Garden. 
 Very soon the curse came upon the world, and the signifi- 
 cance of the day — if any had been attached to it — was lost 
 under the new conditions of humanity. 
 
 While we may not add to or take from the Word, yet, 
 when we have the statement in Hebrews iv^ 15, "For where 
 no law is there is no transgression," and Hebrews v. 13, "Sin 
 is not imputed where there is no law," followed immediately 
 by the statement of the fact (verse 14) that, "nevertheless, 
 death reigned from Adam to Moses," we may with reason 
 infer that this Lord's Day of Rest had another and much 
 higher object than observance by man. Its spiritual sig- 
 nificance, in relation to God's jnirpose of grace to men, is 
 referred to by Paul in the fourth chapter of Hebrews, tenth 
 verse: "For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath 
 ceased from his own works, as God did from His." The 
 Sabbatarians — and by this general term we mean those 
 who believe that the Jewish Sabbath, either in spirit or 
 letter, is still binding on the Christian — narrow the mean- 
 ing of this "rest" to that supposed to be referred to in the 
 
THE SABBATH. 233 
 
 millennium in the future; but taken in connection with 
 the second verse, " For unto us was tlie Gospel preached, 
 as well as unto them/^ and verse third, "For we which 
 have believed do enter into rest," we prefer to regard this 
 Sabbath of Rest as a type of that Eternal Sabbath of Kest 
 experienced by the saint when he is made the subject of the 
 new creation in Christ Jesus, and enters upon a rest from 
 the power of sin and Satan and from the bondage of the 
 law. He has surely ceased from his own works, has left 
 the world, and has been made meet for the inheritance of 
 the saints in light. He is united with his great High 
 Priest in Heaven, and '' sits in Heavenly places in Christ 
 Jesus," and, although groaning within himself, is looking 
 for the redemption of the body, when he will be glorified. 
 It is the rest of the soul from the dominion of sin, which 
 is in him, but not on him ; sin indeed dwells in him, but he 
 does not divell in sin. 
 
 All saints will agree that the first text that introduces 
 the spirit of Grace (Matt. xi. 28-30), '^Come^unto me, all 
 ye that labor," etc., refers not only to the Jewish dispensa- 
 tion, but also to that of Grace. The latter is the conversion 
 of a soul by the Blood of Christ ; when the soul comes 
 Christ will give it rest ; when it takes the yoke, or is fully 
 initiated by the Spirit, it will find rest without seeking 
 for it. 
 
 The first intimation that we have in the Bible of a " Sab- 
 bath" in connection with men — the first use, indeed, of the 
 word Sabbath — is found in Exodus xvi. 23. When the 
 children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, 
 charging them with having brought the whole assembly 
 into the wilderness to kill them with hunger, the Lord gave 
 Moses directions for gathering the manna which was to be 
 rained from Heaven. A double portion was to be gathered 
 
234 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 and prepared on the sixth day, "and it came to pass that on 
 the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread : and all 
 the rulers of the congregation came and told 3Ioses,^' who re- 
 peated the words of the Lord : " To-morrow is the rest of 
 the holy Sabbath unto the Lord.'' Then Moses gave the 
 people special directions for the proper observance of the 
 Sabbath, which was evidently a new institution among 
 4;hem. 
 
 While the Mosaic Sabbath was in commemoration of the 
 deliverance of God's elect nation from physical bondage, it 
 had also a distinct reference to and was a type of that 
 Kingdom of Heaven which was to be established on earth. 
 This, while it was the fulfilment of all that was promised, 
 is the foreshadowing of that Grace or Heavenly Kingdom 
 which is prayed for in the petition, " Thy Kingdom come, 
 Thy will be done on earth," as it is in the spiritual king- 
 dom of Heaven, where Christ will be not only the King of 
 the Jews, but King of Nations. The curse will have been 
 removed from the earth and death destroyed. The Jewish 
 Sabbath will be restored, — the seventh day, not the first day, — 
 ^' and it shall come to pass that from one Sabbath to another 
 shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord." 
 (Isaiah Ixvi. 23.) The fourteenth chapter of Zechariah is 
 a statement of the same truth confirmed in Isaiah Ixvi. 
 19-20, and emphasized by Christ, as recorded in Acts i. 8. 
 This judicial Gospel will be preached throughout the world 
 by the returned elect remnant of the Jews after the Church 
 has been taken to Heaven. The Jewish Sabbath has never 
 been changed, abrogated, or abolished by any explicit 
 Divine command. It is the seventh day, and not one day 
 of the seven. Its object is stated in Revelation, and the 
 mode of its observance plainly set forth and enforced by 
 severe penalties. If the Sabbatarian admits that Christ, by 
 
THE SABBATH. 235 
 
 His obedience, fulfilled nine parts of the law for him, and 
 yet holds to the binding force of the one,— the Fourth 
 Commandment,— he tacitly assumes that Christ is not the 
 end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth; 
 that He did not make a finished salvation, and, therefore, 
 he nuist himself fill up the remainder. He will also admit 
 that no one can acquire rest or manifest true love for his 
 enemies by keeping the Ten Commandments. While the 
 law is thus powerless, we admit and are assured that no 
 redeemed soul can receive life under the Grace dispensation, 
 without being governed by the Spirit and imbued with the 
 essence of the law, which in itself is holy, just, and good. 
 The body of the saint being the temple of the Holy Ghost, 
 God's law is in the heart, and love is the fulfilling of that 
 law. 
 
 It may be noticed that all the passages of Scripture bear- 
 ing on the point (such as Rom. viii. 4; viii. 2 ; Gal. v. 18 ; 
 ii. 19 ; iii. 2, 12, and 21 ; Rom. iii. 21, 22; xiv. 23 ; Gal. 
 iii. 24 ; 2 Cor. v. 21 ; Rom. iii. 28-31 ; Gal. iv. 9 ; v. 1 ; 
 ii. 15, 16 ; Col. ii. 14, 16, 17, and 20 ; Rom. viii. 15) do 
 not refer to the righteousness by the law, but to the right- 
 eousness o/the law, which the Holy Ghost works in human 
 hearts. 
 
 It would seem to be evident from these texts, that the one 
 object the Apostle Paul had in writing was to convince and 
 assure the believers in Christ that they were absolutely free 
 from any and all restraints and demands of the Jewish law, 
 and entitled to the full liberty of the children of God. 
 
 The '' Lord's Day'' did not come from any Divine com- 
 mand or appointment. It was not ordained by Christ, — 
 its observance was not enjoined by the Apostles. It was 
 not a simple change of time for the performance of pre- 
 scribed duties from the seventh to the first day of the week, 
 
236 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 neither is it the continuance of the Mosaic Sabbath under 
 different circumstances and conditions. Its origin, progress, 
 and cuhnination are different from, and higher, holier, and 
 purer in every respect than, those of either God^s day of 
 holy rest or the Sabbath given to the Jews in the wilderness. 
 We accept the "Lord's Day" as the gift of the Holy Ghost, 
 a product of the Third Person of the Trinity working 
 •upon the hearts of believers in Christ, a result of the Gos- 
 ])el of glad tidings, an evidence of the death of the law, 
 a j)roof of the new creation in Christ, and the consequent 
 liberty of those who are united to Him. That the Holy 
 Ghost, moving upon the hearts and minds of believers in 
 the apostolic age, did lead them into the acceptance and 
 observance of a day of rest, different in spirit and significa- 
 tion from all that had preceded it ; and that the change 
 was not arbitrary, but fomided on events and examples 
 that would api)eal most strongly to the principle of love, 
 on which the Gospel is based, will be apparent from a care- 
 ful examination of the four Gospels and the Book of Acts. 
 The example of Christ, or rather His lying in the grave 
 until after the Jewish Sabbath had passed, was the death 
 of the old law, as far as its demands related to the new 
 spiritual creation. His resurrection from the grave — the 
 fact on which is based the Christian's assurance of immor- 
 talitv — on the first day of the week immediately marked 
 it as a memorable day for all His disciples. Christ's visit 
 to the Disciples on that day, the custom of the primitive 
 Christians of meeting together on that day, of one accord, 
 by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the preaching of Paul 
 and Peter, the collection of alms, the Revelation of Jesus 
 Christ given to John on the "Lord's Day," are all indica- 
 tions of the presence of a Divine influence on the hearts of 
 believers. Since the morninp; of the Resurrection until the 
 
THE SABBATH. 237 
 
 present time the Holy Ghost has preserved tliis Day of 
 Eest through and for His children, and yet we cannot find 
 in the New Testament any absolute or even implied com- 
 mand in relation to it. There is here, as in everything 
 connected with the Gospel of Glad Tidings, an absence of 
 that legal spirit expressed by '^must'^ and "shall." The 
 " Lord's Day," springing from love, is to the saint the Day 
 of days, when, free from the labor which is necessary for 
 the supply of temporal needs, he can refresh the soul with 
 spiritual food, and at the threshold of the week start out 
 with invio-orated ardor in his Lord's service. Its duties 
 and pleasures are anticipated with delight, and its services 
 strengthen and edify the soul. To one that observes it as 
 a form, or in obedience to an inexorable law, it is a fear 
 that bringeth torment, — a bodily labor that profiteth noth- 
 ing, — a service that brings leanness to the soul. Such an 
 one can have no clear and true conception of the spiritual- 
 ity of the law which God writes upon the heart, — of that 
 Divine influence which is the " unity of the Spirit," to be 
 kept in the bonds of peace, so often referred to as an ever- 
 present power in the hearts of the early believers, as in 
 Acts i. 14, ii. 1-46, iv. 24, v. 12, viii. 6, xv. 25, and Phil- 
 ippians ii. 2. Will that spirit of " accord,'^ which was the 
 characteristic mark of the undivided body of Christ in the 
 early ages, serve as a thermometer of Christendom of the 
 present century? If the Church will still hold to law and 
 grace, neither being complete law or full Gospel, it will 
 reach that point to which Laodicea, the last of the visible 
 organizations of x4.sia, came, " neither hot nor cold," and 
 be spued out of the mouth. That old spirit of Judaism, — 
 naturally the resort of the nnrenewed man, and too often 
 of the enlightened soul, — which Paul labored so hard in 
 the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians to induce the be- 
 
 16 
 
238 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 lieving Jews to throw off, is still prevalent in the Church, 
 in the face of the completed Scripture and the experience 
 of eighteen centuries. Had the Church yielded to the guid- 
 ance of the Holy Spirit, the resulting light and knowledge 
 would have freed it from the grievous bondage. 
 
 ^lanv of the provisions of the Jewish law may seem 
 trivial and useless to those who do not care to look into 
 4heir hidden significance. All who read of the paschal lamb 
 do not immediately connect it with the Christ of whom it 
 was the type and symbol. But while this particular feat- 
 ure, and others equally striking, are at once recognized as 
 component parts of one grand plan of love and mercy, there 
 are in the Jewish economy many minor details of much 
 moment that are passed by without thought. 
 
 The frequent reference made in Scripture to the eighth 
 day strengthens the conviction that it has an important 
 practical bearing on the time w^iich the Holy Ghost seemed 
 to have marked as the Day of E-est. 
 
 Believinir that all the ceremonial observances of the Jew- 
 ish law, as well as most of the historical events recorded of 
 God's ancient people, are connected with and receive their 
 great significance from the earthly human life of Christ, — 
 the ordinance of circumcision being divinely fixed on the 
 eighth day after birth, the " wave offering'^ on " the mor- 
 row after the seventh Sabbath," the '^ Feast of Taberna- 
 cles" continuing eight days, but culminating in solemnity 
 and interest on the eighth day in the Hosanna Rabbah, — 
 all have a spiritual meaning which ought not to be disre- 
 garded. The consummation of the vow of a Nazarite on the 
 eighth day ; the feast of seven days and the '' solemn as- 
 sembly" at the dedication of the Temple on the eighth day; 
 the purging of the altar during seven days and the conse- 
 cration of the priests on the eighth day; the sanctifying of 
 
THE SABBATH. 239 
 
 the House of the Lord in tlie reign of Hezekiali on the 
 "eighth day of the montli/' — these, with other instances 
 that might be cited where the eighth day was particularly 
 designated by Divine command for the performance of 
 duty, may justly be claimed to have a connection with that 
 eighth day which the peo})le of God have sanctified by their 
 holy worship. If the burnt offerings and sacrifices, the 
 tabernacle and all things therein, the priests and their gar- 
 ments, together with all the statutes and judgments of the 
 Jews, in their life and worship, were spiritually connected 
 with a promised and clearer revelation of God to men, the 
 special importance which seems to liave been attached to 
 the eighth day gives a strong, although not a direct or 
 authoritative, reason for its observance as a marked day 
 under the Gospel. 
 
 Although the Sabbath of the Jews, given to them by 
 Jehovah, w^as prominent in the law, and so closely asso- 
 ciated with the Temple service that its observance was 
 made a test of faithfulness and an infringement severely 
 punished ; although it was an ordinance of which the Jews 
 were peculiarly jealous as a national gift, — a mark that 
 distinguished them from all other nations, — its claims, 
 although so powerful to them, cannot be connected with 
 the Lord's Day of the Gospel in any other than a general 
 way. 
 
 Accepting the Sabbath — the seventh day — as one of the 
 ordinances of the law given by God to the Jews in com- 
 memoration of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, 
 and as a type of that Kingdom of Heaven to be mani- 
 fested on the earth, it may be regarded as the representative 
 of a large class. It must stand or be swept away with 
 other provisions of the law. The reasons for its mainte- 
 nance are no stronger, and can have no greater force, than 
 
240 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 those which might be urged for the continued observance 
 of the Passover, with its slain lamb and sprinkled blood. 
 Indeed, the Passover, regarded as commemorative and 
 typical, has claims to a binding force that equal, if they do 
 not outweigh, any arguments for the Sabbath. Both were 
 parts of Divine Revelation to the Jews, and to this day 
 are religiously observed by pious Israelites. 
 • By common consent, founded with good reason on the 
 declarations of the Apostles, Christians have always be- 
 lieved, and do still believe, that the Jewish Sabbath was 
 destroyed and abrogated for them by the resurrection of 
 the Lord and His after-appearance on another and a dif- 
 ferent day. They have connected it with a new creation, 
 have made it the beginning of a new life, thus involving 
 an entire change in everything relating to the external. 
 The Lord's Day, introduced by the Holy Ghost, is, in its 
 truest and deepest sense, the realization of all that had 
 preceded it. It is the spirit and life of the form, the sub- 
 stance of what had been foreshadowed. Having grasped 
 the substance, who will care for the shadow ? having taken 
 hold of the kernel, who will look after the husks ? 
 
 It is erroneous to suppose that the construction of the 
 law on which we insist will weaken the power of the Gos- 
 pel. Instead of making void the law, we would the more 
 firmly establish it on a surer, firmer basis than that of com- 
 mand, — would base it on the " righteousness of God," — the 
 very essence of the law, — which is conferred upon every 
 redeemed soul. By this divine gift each soul fulfils the 
 law, not by walking after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 
 
 The law was for the Jew, and is for every natural man. 
 Its restrictions and requirements had reference only to the 
 outer man, — they did not extend to the motives of the 
 heart. In the Gospel saint the fruits that appear are the 
 
THE SABBATH. 241 
 
 products of divine love working within him, the develop- 
 ment of a principle constant and uniform in its expansion. 
 It mav be urged by some good men that this sweeping 
 away of the law, which seems to be the object of Paul in 
 his Epistle to the Churches, has reference only to the "cere- 
 monial" law, — to that part of divine revelation intended 
 primarily for the Jews, — and can have no application to 
 the '^ moral'^ law, which, as they claim, is eternally binding 
 on all. The burden of proof must rest on those who make 
 the objection. With the broad, general declarations of the 
 Apostle before us, we simply ask that they make evident 
 from the '^ Word'^ that an external law has now any bind- 
 ing force on a soul that has accepted Christ by faith and 
 been made a partaker of His rightonsness. In God's hands 
 the law and Gospel are one, — the life and essence of the 
 former are perfectly manifested in the latter by the one 
 principle of love, through and by those whom Christ has 
 redeemed by His blood. The soul must die before it can 
 live unto Christ, — must die to the law before it can be 
 married to Christ, and, by virtue of union to Him, become 
 a participator of His righteousness. Its freedom must come 
 only from death. Christ — who in His being was beyond 
 and above the law, became obedient to it, perfectly fulfilled 
 it, gave His life for those whom the Father had given 
 Ilim — hath forever delivered them from bondage who 
 trust in Him. If the soul is under the Jewish law its life 
 must be one of fear, which bringeth torment, and its end 
 death. The attempt to gain happiness is futile, — the 
 earnest struggles only carry it farther from the haven; 
 for the law never contemplated satisfaction for man in 
 union with God. The best the law can produce and offer 
 to God is the righteousness of man. 
 
 If the Christian, who, by faith in and union with Christ, 
 
242 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 is made the recipient of full liberty and glorious privilege, 
 claims that he is still alive to the law, and therefore bound 
 by it, does he not thereby deny that he is a partaker of 
 that new and divine life which is hid in Christ? Failing 
 utterly to appreciate the value of his dearly-bought liberty, 
 and carelessly ignorant of the spirituality of the divine law 
 of love written by God on his heart, he turns to that ex- 
 ternal rule of conduct which God had given as a guide to 
 men before He made the full revelation of Himself in His 
 Son. Living in the bright light of noonday, he is' still 
 looking for the rush-lights of early morning. 
 
 The soul that is under grace, that has received the power 
 of Christ's righteousness, that has been made one with Him, 
 is at perfect peace with God and stands in Christ without 
 condemnation. 
 
 The birth of such a soul is a great mystery, an advent 
 of a new creation, a death to all that had preceded it, a 
 part of that plan by which God took out from the Gentiles 
 a people for His name. 
 
 The institutions and usages of the Gospel resulting from 
 the Grace Dispensation were in accord with its idea. Prom- 
 inent among these was that period of time scripturally 
 termed the ^' Lord's Day." This was new in its origin, 
 commemorating a new event, and was observed in a new 
 manner. It needed no appointment, command, or conse- 
 cration. It was simply the product of the Holy Ghost 
 moving upon the hearts of believers. We venture to say 
 that any command to observe the ^'Lord's Day'' would not 
 only not be in harmony with the Gospel Spirit, but would 
 present the basis for an argument for the binding force of 
 the law as a whole. The obseryance of the Jewish Sab- 
 bath and the " Lord's Day," springing from opposite mo- 
 tives, are attended with different results. Those who re- 
 
THE SABBATH. 243 
 
 membered the Sabbath obeyed a Divine command, and 
 received a blessing in fulfihiient of a promise. The day 
 was holy, and the soul became a partaker of all the good 
 which was involved in the day. Now, the soul that is 
 united to Christ makes the day holy by the observance 
 and enjoyment of it. As under the old economy the altar 
 sanctified the gift, so in the new dispensation the gift itself, 
 being inspired by the Holy Ghost, is holy and sanctifies the 
 altar. The contrast might be advanced one step and the 
 claim made that, while under the law, connection with the 
 Jewish Church made holy the soul, under the Gospel the 
 Church is made holy by the faith of the soul in Christ, its 
 Head. In the Jewish Church there was no room for the 
 exercise of personal faith. The law was absolute, the cere- 
 monial observance was strictly enjoined, the rewards for 
 obedience were promised. Incorporation with the Church 
 was essential to salvation. The Church was the only ark 
 of safety, — the only channel through which God conveyed 
 spiritual blessing to men. Light dwelt only within its 
 borders, — beyond its pale was deep darkness. 
 
 Under the Gospel all is new. Religion, holy life, salva- 
 tion, the conditions of immortality, are no longer the results 
 of a connection with a Church, its sacrifices and priesthood. 
 They spring from and are governed by the faith of the in- 
 dividual soul. Faith is the basis of an individual trans- 
 action between Christ and the soul. The Church — the body 
 of Christ, the company of those who have accepted Him — is 
 only the result of the faith of those who compose it. 
 
 The Sabbatarian claims that the Jewish Sabbath was 
 merged into the ^^ Lord's Day," — that the two uniting 
 have, like the different scenes of a dissolving view, formed 
 that which they term the Christian Sabbath. This we 
 conceive to be a mere human inference, without foundation 
 
244 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 in the Word, and in what we have written have endeavored 
 to show that the two days were altogether different in ori- 
 gin and character, that one was an essential part of law, 
 while the other was the product of grace, and that on e very- 
 soul out of Christ the old Sabbath still held its binding 
 requisitions. We believe that the Jewish Sabbath — the 
 seventh day — is now, and will be until the end of time, 
 binding on all out of Christ, and that the Lord's Day — the 
 first day — has been, and to the end of time will be, the day 
 of rest for Gospel saints, — that it has not been and will not 
 be changed. 
 
 It may be charged that we are erratic in theory, censo- 
 rious in disposition, and uncharitable in judgment. We 
 earnestly disclaim such charges in motive, and declare that 
 we are not opposed to persons or associations in any selfish 
 sense, even though we disapprove of any certain course of 
 action wdiich may make withdrawal from such seem an im- 
 perative duty, but would, as far as in us lies, endeavor, by 
 presentation of the truth as it has been apprehended by us, 
 to combat and weaken the erroneous principles which Satan 
 has injected even into the Church. We desire to suggest 
 the causes from which we believe the events of the age 
 spring, and the laws by which they are modified and gov- 
 erned. We lay no claim to the position of a brother's 
 keeper in any selfish spirit, but do sincerely wish that each 
 for himself would search the Scripture, and be fully satis- 
 fied in his own mind in regard to the truths on which we 
 have touched ; but especially do we hope that each Christian 
 may intelligently decide for himself whether he is a subject 
 of law — the law, undoubtedly of Divine origin, which gov- 
 erned the Jews — or a j)artaker of ^Hhat liberty wherewith 
 Christ makes His ])eople free," — a participant in the blessed 
 privilege which the Father hath granted to all who are 
 
THE SABBATH. 245 
 
 united by faith to His Son. While clear conceptions of 
 truth on this fundamental principle do have a most im- 
 portant bearing on all the relative duties of Christian life, 
 their significance seems to be vastly increased when con- 
 nected with a real and proper observance of a period of 
 rest, be it a '' Sabbath" or a " Lord's Day.'' Differing 
 widely in origin, constitution, and life, it would be wise for 
 the adherents of each to examine carefully the foundations 
 on which the observance of either is based, and the princi- 
 ples by which such observance is governed. AVe have the 
 greatest respect for the sanctified motives of either class of 
 Christians regarding the whole question of a Sabbath. Both 
 have the same object in view, — the keeping holy unto the 
 Lord one day in seven, as authorized by the Holy Spirit. 
 Both are equally zealous to have it strictly maintained, not 
 only on the lower utilitarian ground of good to the physi- 
 cal orscanization of man and beast, but that it is a means of 
 grace to the soul, and will be for the advancing of Christ's 
 Eternal Kingdom of Glory. The difference between them 
 must be found in the motives by which they are governed. 
 Li one it is command, in the other it is love. But those 
 who w^ould be guided by command — by some external law 
 explicitly laid down for their guidance — cannot find in the 
 New Testament any j^ositlve law enjoining observance of a 
 Sabbath, be it seventh or first day. They find the Sabbath, 
 with its typical significance and its dread penalties, in the 
 Old Testament, but no such institution is discovered in the 
 New Testament after Christ had ascended. If the days 
 were identical in all except the mere period of time, why 
 should the Sabbath be in the Old Testament but not in the 
 New? or why should the Lord's Day shine out from tlie 
 New and not appear in the Old ? Running through the 
 Decalogue, the ruling idea of prohibition, expressed by the 
 
246 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 words " Thou shalt not," presupposes a tendency, on the 
 part of those to whom it was addressed, to act in a manner 
 contrary to its teaching, — a disposition to run counter to it. 
 It surely will not be claimed, especially in reference to the 
 Lord's Day, that the children of God, redeemed by the 
 blood of Christ and enlightened by the Holy Ghost, are so 
 influenced by evil that they, having no earnest desire to 
 observe the ^^ Lord's Bay J'' will do so only when an abso- 
 lute law is presented to them. Sorry day, if this be so ! 
 God's chosen children are sanctified to an obedience spring- 
 ing from the love deeply implanted in their hearts, which 
 is not only in essence, but in practical results, far beyond 
 and above that which comes from an external law. 
 
 The radical and the biblical distinction seems to be that 
 Sabbath represents Creation and Law, while the ^^ Lords 
 Da]f' stands not only as the symbol, but the realization of 
 Hesurredion and Grace. When the idea of the Sabbath 
 rest — the Lord's Day — is brought into connection with the 
 ordinary routine of daily life, which involves an application 
 to specific action, reference must be made to that perfect lib- 
 erty which every Christian enjoys under the guidance of the 
 Holy Ghost. If he is under the law the Si)irit has no room 
 for exercise of His power. Liberty is only a myth, — a phan- 
 tom of imagination. But if he is under grace this liberty is 
 followed by a corollary of equal importance springing from 
 and governed by the demonstrated truth, — viz., that under 
 the Gospel no man 2:>ossesses the right to judge his brother. 
 
 And by- this corollary we simply mean to say that if any 
 brother, led by the Spirit, chooses to do that which is not 
 contrary to the revealed Word, even though it be opposed 
 to the practice we have followed for half a century, we have 
 no right to judge him. To his own Master he standeth or 
 falletii. 
 
THE SABBATH. 247 
 
 We are conscious that there may be those who will re- 
 gard any views that seem to come in conflict with the idea 
 of the Sabbath held so tenaciously by the majority of the 
 Church as the product of an infidelity which should be de- 
 precated by all Christians. We are fully aware tliat the 
 ground on which we are treading is at present beset with 
 peculiar difficulties, and that the words written are liable 
 to misconstruction. We are not ignorant of the fact that 
 some most worthy Christians, whose well-regulated lives 
 bear testimony to the presence of a divine power in their 
 souls, will class us with those who desire to cast down the 
 barriers which restrain the outbreaking of immorality. 
 We are prepared for the charge that the tendency of the 
 idea which we endeavor to present is the destruction of the 
 Day of Rest, the sweeping away of old landmarks, the abo- 
 lition of long-cherished and dearly-valued privileges. We 
 are sorry to difl'er from many who, recognizing the neces- 
 sity of Divine guidance, and earnestly seeking it, are yet led 
 to directly opposite conclusions as to the actual teachings 
 of Scripture on points that have a practical bearing on the 
 Christian life and character. It is our earnest desire, as far 
 as it may be in our power, to set forth what we conceive to 
 be a scriptural truth in two aspects: that Christ, by His 
 divine-human life, death, and resurrection, has, first, — neg- 
 ativelv, — delivered His children from the bondage of the 
 law, and, second, — positively, — perfected salvation for all 
 who accept Him by faitli. We are striving for that free- 
 dom given to the children of God, so clearly proclaimed by 
 Paul in his Epistles to the Romans and the Galatians. We 
 are advocating the spirituality of the law of God written 
 on the heart of the redeemed man, which, while delivering 
 the soul from bondage, is an active principle, leading the 
 subject far beyond and above all that could be achieved by 
 
248 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 obedience to any external law. We wonld, in short, sub- 
 stitute Love for Law, — urge the acceptance of a general 
 principle of universal application in the place of a rule 
 given to men as a preparation for the full revelation of 
 Divine Love and Wisdom in Jesus Christ. We would, if 
 it be possible, lead Christians from an attachment to a law 
 designed for a nation to a surrender to a living principle 
 that will bind the individual soul in close union with the 
 loving Father. This is high ground; these are principles 
 that may, by enthusiastic perversion, be made germs of 
 evil in individual cases. They are, however, carefully 
 guarded in Scripture by cautions against a wrong use of the 
 heavenly gift. If any w^oukl imagine that he is living 
 in a '' higher life'' than his brethren, and is therefore re- 
 moved from the sphere of temptation, that he is not de- 
 pendent on the truths of God's Word, that the indwelling 
 of the Spirit renders ])rayer useless, that the exercise of 
 faith and the enjoyment of spiritual ecstasy relieve him 
 from the performance of all the duties of ordinary morality, 
 he has forgotten the cardinal truth that he is a transgressor, 
 — a transgressor reconciled to God by mediation. He liath 
 need to ponder carefully Paul's exhortation, " Where- 
 fore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he 
 fall." 
 
 Knowing that some of the ideas in this essay — suggested 
 but not fully developed — may be regarded as foreign to the 
 Sabbath question, if not altogether irrelevant to the point 
 under discussion, but being well assured, we nevertheless 
 claim that the Christian view of the perfect life to be at- 
 tained, and the liberty enjoyed by those who have a proper 
 and scriptural appreciation of the spirituality of the law of 
 God as written on the hearts of His children by the Holy 
 Ghost, springs from and is governed by the individual con- 
 
THE SABBATH. 249 
 
 ception of the plan of redemption as set forth in the Gos- 
 pels and Epistles. 
 
 Two ideas only can find place, — viz., Law or Grace. On 
 one or the other the daily life nnist be based. Men are 
 forced to accept the Pentateuch or the Gospels; they must 
 either icork out their own salvation or accept that which 
 Chrid has worked out for them. If the first be accepted 
 the Old Testament must be the rule. If the latter, the New 
 Testament must be received as living truth. While one 
 supplements and completes the other, the underlying prin- 
 ciples of each are so different that a transfer is logically 
 impossible. In the Old men vow unto God ; in the New 
 God makes promises to men. In one man gives, in the 
 other he accepts. It would doubtless be more satisfactory 
 to the natural heart if something might be offered as equiv- 
 alent for salvation, but grace is grace, — that which is given 
 freely, but which cannot be purchased. 
 
 Two important facts of revelation must be borne in 
 mind, — viz., that God, in the manifestation of Himself and 
 the display of His glory, selected a peculiar people — the 
 children of Israel — as the medium of communication, to 
 whom He gave special privileges, and upon whom He 
 placed special obligations ; and, second, that corresponding 
 with this selection under the system of law. He has, under 
 the Dispensation of Grace, visited the Gentiles, " to take 
 out of them a people for His name," an elect people, re- 
 deemed by the blood of Christ, sanctified and enlightened 
 by the Spirit, unto whom He manifests Himself individ- 
 ually, and who, by His grace, are sustained and enabled 
 to hold out faithful to the end, when they will receive 
 the Crown of Life. ^' Against such there is no law." 
 
SUFFERING. 
 
 The past history of mankind, as well as the experience 
 T)f each individual soul, attests the truth of Paul's statement 
 that perfection is to be attained only through suifering. 
 In the natural as well as in the spiritual world suffering 
 seems to be requisite as an element of purification, a pro- 
 cess essential to the development of strength and power. 
 By death comes life is a principle in constant operation. 
 In the coal we are burning to-day we are consuming the 
 life and essence of the vegetable products which in past 
 ages clothed the earth with beauty. The rich stores of 
 knowledge of which all may be common partakers were 
 not gathered without toil and suffering. The liberty we 
 are enjoying is the good fruit springing from the seeds of 
 heroic suffering and painful death. Our hope of salvation 
 bases itself on the suffering of Him who died for us. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that suffering is all-prevalent, 
 universal, and unavoidable, there has been implanted in 
 each breast an instinctive dread by which we naturally 
 shrink from physical pain. We feel thankful for the pro- 
 vision by which a slight twinge of pain warns us of and 
 preserves us from a greater evil. But yet, in spite of this 
 shrinking and of this gracious premonition, how many rush 
 recklessly into moral evil, which not only causes the most 
 intense physical suffering in the life that now is, but awa- 
 kens in the soul a vivid consciousness of future retribution, 
 — that remorse which must be a foretaste of the misery to 
 follow ! 
 250 
 
SUFFEIUAG. 251 
 
 In the Divine Government of tlie universe, as it has been 
 revealed to us in Holy Writ and in the o])erations of law, 
 suffering seems to be a secondary, at least, if not an essential 
 means in the process by which fallen rational creatures can 
 be restored to the Life, Love, and Holiness of God lost by 
 sin. Man, having voluntarily departed from loyalty and 
 plunged into misery and woe, cannot claim that God is the 
 author of sin or the cause of the suffering that inevitably 
 follows the breach of law. But the love of God, which 
 never deserted man, has, by the wisdom of a self-adjusting 
 system, brought order from confusion, good from evil, and 
 praise from the wrath of misguided men. While unable 
 to comprehend this vast design of justice, love, and mercy 
 in all its height and depth, yet we know enough to enable 
 us to rest in the calm confidence that the ultimate purpose 
 of an Infinite Being will be one of perfect good, and that 
 by a wise overruling and governing, in strict accordance 
 with the laws made known to us in Scripture, all evil, as it 
 now appears to us, will be a means in accomplishing His 
 final ends. 
 
 But the present purpose is not to seek the cause of evil, 
 or even to trace its development, but rather to look at its 
 results, and discover in some degree the purpose and effect 
 of suffering as it is so intimately connected with human 
 existence. The history of the family and people of Jacob 
 is full of instruction on this point. In the hands of cruel 
 Egyptian task-masters, suffering all that could be inflicted 
 by a despotic tyrant, they were brought to a condition 
 when they were ready to accept help from any source. 
 When God took their part He did not at once by the exer- 
 cise of omnipotent power snatch them from the hands of 
 Pharaoh, but He placed a choice before the king in the 
 words, '^Let My people go, that they may serve Me." In 
 
252 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 the presentation of truth and right, there was an opportunity 
 for the exercise of moral free agency on the part of Pharaoh, 
 submission to God, and the avoidance of impending disaster. 
 By refusing the manifested truth, which like the sun hardens 
 or melts, the king's heart was hardened. By a natural 
 course of events God's designs were accomplished in either 
 direction,— the proud will of Pharaoh was broken, and a 
 ►Father's love was made evident to the Israelites. God's 
 omnipotence was displayed, and yet as far as men were 
 concerned it was made dependent upon the choice of a 
 human being. Released from bondage, Israel passed through 
 a long struggle in an enemy's country, undergoing a process 
 of discipline and trial resulting in the death of an entire 
 generation, ere the nation entered upon the promised land. 
 
 Although enjoying the Divine favor to a degree beyond 
 any other nation of the earth, the history of Israel is marked 
 by periods of discipline involving great and long-continued 
 suffering, — a process which resulted, for a time at least, in 
 purification from grievous sin into which the people had 
 fallen, and a means by which they were more fully pre- 
 pared for their predicted mission of blessing to the world. 
 At this point may be marked the great difference between 
 the Lord's dealing with Israel and other nations. Other 
 nations have rebelled or by perverseness stood in the Avay 
 of the progress of the Divine plan, and they have been 
 swept from the earth, for judgments on nations must be 
 executed in time. Israel, under greater light and under 
 more favorable circumstances, had frequently been guilty 
 of flagrant rebellion ; but the infinite love of a Father 
 made the evils wdiich came upon the nation a severe chas- 
 tisement working out a positive good. 
 
 Just as Ave may in their past history trace the process by 
 which God's declared purposes of making them His earthly 
 
SUFFERING. 253 
 
 portion and heritage, and their settlement in the j^romised 
 land were accomplished, so may we trace in prophecy, con- 
 nected with the facts of their national life, God's ulterior 
 purpose of making the Jews a blessing to the earth in the 
 latter days, — a blessing in a high and spiritual sense, as it 
 was clearly foretold in the Old Testament. But the fulfil- 
 ment of the promise made to Abraham, in its broadest 
 sense, is yet in reserve. Israel is now passing tlirough a 
 long-extended period of suiFering, which, bitter and con- 
 tinued as it is, would seem to be but a prelude to that 
 sharj), intense trial by fire through which they must pass, 
 and from which but a remnant will emerge, — a remnant 
 purged and purified, prepared not only to acknowledge the 
 Lord as their God, but to appreciate and fully enjoy that 
 Kingdom of God upon the earth which, but for their apos- 
 tasy, might have been their portion when the Messiah 
 appeared. This refining process by intense suffering is 
 explicitly stated in the following passages, with their con- 
 texts and parallels, — viz.: Isaiah xxiv. 15; xxvi. 8 and 9; 
 ix. 8 and 9; ix. 14 and 15; xxx. 11 and 24; xxxi. 2; 
 xxxiii. 14; xxxiv. 8; xlix. 3; Ivii. 16 to 18; Mai. iii. 2 
 and 3 ; Zech. xiii. 7-9. It will be evident from these that 
 judgments and suffering must precede the attainment of the 
 promised glory by the chosen people. 
 
 Every principle of Divine Government relating to men 
 is of universal application. The operations and results of 
 law are simply God's manifestations of Himself to men. 
 They are inexorable, and cannot be evaded by human wis- 
 dom or power. Although the revelation of Himself in 
 Jesus Christ and the proclamation of salvation by Grace 
 were a new development of the love of God, a simpler and 
 more effective method of bringing men into union with the 
 Divine nature, yet the process in no wise involved the 
 
 17 
 
254 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 elimination of suffering as one of the chief elements of 
 discipline and purification. 
 
 The inherent depravity of the human heart, the pride of 
 the human will, and the love of that which is contrary to 
 holiness, must be eradicated ere the Holy Spirit can im- 
 plant the positive seeds of righteousness, or enter into and 
 fully possess the soul with the feeling of absolute and un- 
 *conditional submission to the will of God. Any idea of a 
 Christian life separate and apart from suffering is contrary 
 not only to the individual experience of the Apostles, but 
 to the plain declarations of Christ, while it includes the 
 seeds of peace and joy, and carries within itself the elements 
 of highest and purest satisfaction, the rich fruits of which 
 are brought to maturity only by a course of tribulation 
 exercising every part of human nature, body, mind, and 
 soul. Were it possible, would any Christian ask to be 
 delivered from that which, however painful in itself, will 
 make him meet for the full enjoyment of his Lord ? or 
 ask to pass through this life, which in fact is nothing but a 
 preparation for eternity, without being subjected to the 
 discipline that will purge his soul from the love of sin, so 
 closely connected w^ith the flesh, which, continuing to bear 
 sway, would separate from the love of Christ ? 
 
 As suffering is a natural consequence of sin, a result in- 
 evitably following a cause, an evil flowing from a voluntary 
 departure from God, it cannot therefore come from any 
 arbitrary will of God, l)ut is in His loving hands a means 
 by which we are brought back to the bosom of His love 
 and favor. It is insanity to refuse it, ingratitude to reject 
 such a manifestation of love. Let us rather rejoice that 
 the Heavenly Father, far from willingly afflicting the chil- 
 dren of men, has provided and clearly opened the way by 
 which the very fall of man into sin and woe has been made 
 
SUFFERING. 255 
 
 the sanctified means of leading liini into eternal life and 
 glory. 
 
 AVe have no donbt that the most godly saints in heaven 
 are those whose snfferings on earth increased in the same 
 ratio as their faith, and whose graces were developed in 
 the furnace of affliction. It is a mistaken impression that 
 a life of faith is one of comfort in a carnal sense; that it 
 is to be honored in the Church and applauded by the world ; 
 that its possessor is to be blessed in earthly riches, and 
 that his children, following in the same path, are to be par- 
 takers of similar blessings. This temporal good, which 
 may at times be the })()rtion of God's children, is profitable 
 when sanctioned by the Holy Ghost, but is at the same 
 time a strong temptation to feelings of self-complacency 
 and self-satisfaction which are not conducive to humility 
 or edification of the soul. The very reception of these 
 benefits lays u})on the subject a burden of res[)onsibility 
 heavy to bear. 
 
 In addition to the never-ceasing conflict going on in the 
 heart, many a godly saint has an ever-present cause of ])aiu 
 and sorrow in the contemplation of humanity suffering 
 under the evil of sin, — of the Church apparently given up 
 to worldliness and living so far below its high vocation, — 
 a pain the more intense because it is pent u]) in his own 
 breast and cannot be shared by those about him, who think 
 they can see a bright future in store for the world before 
 the appearing of the Lord, and the times of trouble that 
 are to come upon the earth. Such an one, by his belief in 
 what he reads so clearly in Scripture, sees the dark cloud 
 impending not over the world, but over the visible organiza- 
 tion, which is too often regarded as the Church of the Liv- 
 ing God. He is in a great degree separated from those 
 who profess to be the followers of the Master, but who 
 
256 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 care not for His blessed appearing, and regard those who 
 hope and long for it as the victims of some strange halluci- 
 nation. It is an unspeakable pain to him to have that 
 "hope" which is so prominently held up to believers, treated 
 as a thing of little worth, — a mystical or fanatical idea, 
 havincr no relation to the Christian life or to the glory of 
 his I^ord and Master. 
 
 * There are certain principles of action applicable to suf- 
 fering. To avoid suffering at the sacrifice of obedience 
 and a conviction of duty is as absurd as to refuse to sub- 
 mit to an amputation of a limb that the life may be 
 saved. Any effort to avoid suffering which is plainly in 
 the way of duty, is indirectly to place your human will in 
 opposition to God's revealed will. It is duty to avoid 
 sufferino- ^vhen such a course will not come in conflict with 
 any known duty. To court, or to heedlessly run into suf- 
 fering, is an impulse of the flesh savoring of self-glorifica- 
 tion and self-righteousness. To experience suffering for 
 your neighbor's sake is noble ; but it may be prompted by 
 mere human sympathy and not by Grace. To court suffer- 
 ing to prove your love for Christ may be only a desire for 
 merit. To welcome and patiently bear suffering by, and 
 when in obedience, is from Grace in the heart,— a high and 
 holy privilege by which the purity of faith may be tested 
 and an opportunity given of rejoicing in the Lord. 
 
 While the infirmities of our physical nature cause us to 
 involuntarily shrink from approaching suffering, yet Grace 
 is promised by which the corrupt nature may be controlled 
 and brought into subjection to the Divine will. The 
 blessed consciousness and sure conviction that the sudden 
 withdrawal of earthly good, the powerful temptations of 
 the world, the fiery darts of the evil one, and all the other 
 multiplied trials which are so often the portion of the 
 
SUFFERING. 257 
 
 Christian in tliis world, — the secondary means by which 
 the soul may be prepared for glory, — spring only from the 
 seeds of Grace planted long before by the Holy Spirit, and 
 developed in a greater or less degree by the Divine in- 
 fluence. Without this inwrought conviction and assurance, 
 trials may harden rather than melt the heart. The faith 
 which will sustain in suffering, and enable the soul to 
 regard it as an evidence of love, is not the faith that can 
 be taken up into exercise or laid down in quiet rest by an 
 arbitrary choice of the will. To be eifective it must be 
 an ever-present abiding principle, an active controlling 
 power in the life. That soul only is ready for the death 
 which separates it from the body, when it has been pre- 
 viously prepared for a holy life by the power of the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 There can be no condition of human life so painful that 
 consolation cannot be drawn from the facts, that Christ by 
 His sufferings and death has forever delivered His brethren 
 from the bondage of sin, Satan, and the law, — that by those 
 sufferings Christ hath gained for us all temporal and spirit- 
 ual blessings that may be needful for us in this life, Avith a 
 clear title to all that the Father hath in reserve for them 
 that love Him, — that in the suffering, we are the com- 
 panions of Him who hath trodden the same path and of 
 whose glory we shall be partakers. 
 
 In looking closely and critically over his past life, we 
 suppose there is no Christian who will not acknowledge 
 to himself, if not to others, that many of the so-called 
 troubles of his course have been in some degree the results 
 of his own acts; or, if they have not been thus positively 
 produced, have been the correctives of some course of action 
 which, persistently followed, might have resulted in ruin. 
 In the light of after-events he can see that pride, covetous- 
 
258 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 ness, ambition, or love of the world had darkened his faith, 
 drawn off his affections from Christ, and brought him into 
 a state of careless indifference fatal to piety, from which 
 he was awakened only by some sharp, sudden affliction, 
 causing the more intense pain because the soul had been 
 living in a temporary separation from its source of life and 
 p^ace, and had thus been cut off from the channel through 
 which alone a true child of God could gain consolation. 
 Tlien he realized, perhaps as never before, his own weak- 
 ness when not living in close union with God, and could 
 see how he had been led through thorny paths of suffering 
 until he reached a steadfast dependence on Christ. He 
 can trace the method of suffering which mercifully pre- 
 served him from that which would have wrecked his hopes 
 and left him to despair. The result of such a retrospect 
 ought to be a feeling of calm assurance that God's way of 
 leading the soul is the best way, however dark it may 
 appear at the time. 
 
 In the Divine order of man's life, the saint must pass 
 through three stages before he enters upon the high glory 
 which is to be his eternal portion. In each he is subject to 
 the same law of suffering, and cannot escape from it until 
 he is taken home. Born of the earth, he is earthy. Born 
 of the Spirit and thus made a subject of Grace, he is purged, 
 purified, and educated, — is being prepared for his eternal 
 glory. Heavenly and earthly elements are conflicting within 
 his soul. But the time comes when the process, as far as 
 earth is concerned, is completed ; when the love of sin is 
 eradicated; when the affections are fixed on Christ, and 
 the desires placed on His glory ; when the will is brought 
 into sweet conformity to the Divine will. Then the conflict 
 is over, for Heaven has entered into the soul, and it is 
 heavenly, perfected, waiting for an abundant entrance to 
 
SUFFERING. 259 
 
 the glory of the Lord. By his own loving and volnn- 
 tary consent, the Holy Ghost has made his body a temple 
 and dwelling-place, so that his wliole nature lias been 
 transformed into the moral image of Christ, — not by any 
 act of the will ; not by any human effort ; not by striving 
 for any particular point or object in the future ; not by 
 vain and useless strugglings to attain to any imaginary 
 state or condition. It is by the simple yielding of the 
 whole nature to the influence and guidance of the Holy 
 Ghost, by steadfast reliance on the Divine promises, and by 
 absolute confidence in the eternal and infinite love of God 
 so fully manifested in Jesus Christ. The earthly trials 
 which often press thickly about his course, are not borne in 
 any stoical spirit, but are regarded — as what in truth they 
 are — as the instruments in a Father's hands of accomplish- 
 ing a purpose of love. He finds a solace in the faith, that 
 patient endurance of suffering is not only a purifying pro- 
 cess resultino; in increased fruitfulness in the earthlv life, 
 but that by constantly expanding his Christian experience 
 it makes him more capable of appreciating Infinite love, 
 prepares him for more rapid advance and higher service in 
 the future life. Such a soul has reached a very high point 
 in Christian experience when it can truly say with St. Paul, 
 " I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live ; yet not I, 
 but Christ liveth in me." Then is such a one, although 
 bereft of all that might seem to yield comfort in an earthly 
 sense, and filled with all that is an intolerable burden to 
 mere flesh and blood, manifesting in a spirit of self- 
 renunciation, the fruits of Divine holiness implanted and 
 cherished in the heart by God's grace and love. 
 
 While it is true that suffering docs come u})on the chil- 
 dren of God in consequence of sin, — or, to speak more accu- 
 rately, that Christians by departures from obedience and 
 
260 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 by actual violations of God's law do bring upon themselves 
 the evils which are inseparably connected with sin, and are 
 thus made subjects of suffering which as moral free agents 
 they might have avoided, — yet it is a blessed truth that 
 tliere often lies in the earthly pathway of some favored souls 
 a burden of suffering, which is a peculiar glory and honor, 
 for it is a portion of that bitter cup which the Master did 
 5ot refuse to drink. It may be that these highly- favored 
 souls are not conscious of the dignity which the Heavenly 
 Father hath bestowed upon them, for it has been their 
 highest happiness to yield lovingly to the Divine will as it 
 was revealed to them by the Holy Spirit, and to accept 
 gladly as the best way, the way in which God led them. 
 But when, in the light of eternity, the things of earth and 
 time shall assume their proper proportion, it will be made 
 evident that these are they who have been baptized with 
 Christ, and have been partakers with Him of that very 
 cup from which His human nature shrank in the Garden ; 
 then, and perhaps not until then, will be apparent the 
 blessedness of those whom God hath chosen to be partici- 
 pants in the suffering of His Son. 
 
CRIMINALS AND PRISON REFORM. 
 
 Among the many objects claiming the attention of the 
 Christian and philantliropist, none are assuming greater 
 importance than efforts to repress crime and to reform the 
 criminal. Aside from the love for men as immortal beings, 
 which is the moving impulse in a Christian heart, motives 
 of self-preservation should press the subject home on every 
 citizen. Indifference and carelessness on the j)art of those 
 whom Providence has favored with an abundance of worldly 
 goods, will be followed by evils wliich prompt and decided 
 action might have prevented or at least greatly mitigated. 
 The vast and constantly-increasing army of criminals is not 
 only making taxation more burdensome, but rendering life 
 and property more insecure. Too often the very methods 
 by which society punishes offences, become the means of 
 preparing the offenders for other and more serious crimes. 
 While there can be no doubt that society must inflict sum- 
 mary punishment on offenders, yet that right and power 
 involve a responsibility which does not end when tlie trans- 
 gressor is securely confined within stone walls and iron bars. 
 If, when his term of confinement has expired, the convict 
 comes out more hardened and desperate than when he went 
 in, society has gained nothing but a brief immunity from 
 violence. If, during his imprisonment, he has not been 
 subjected to moral influences and industrial training which 
 would awaken and cherish some princii)les of solf-respect 
 and right action, as well as habits of labor, placing it within 
 
 2G1 
 
262 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 his power to earn a subsistence, then his imprisonment has, 
 indirectly if not positively, been a failure both to convict 
 and society. There are no sadder or more hopeless persons 
 in the world than many released convicts as they leave the 
 prison-door. Shunned by those who have a knowledge of 
 his crime, regarded with indifference by all others, penni- 
 less and therefore unable to reach a place where a fresh 
 ■fetart may be made, the stigma of prison utterly shutting 
 out hope of employment, the former convict feels that he 
 must starve, or enter at once upon some new course of crime. 
 Almost by necessity he begins again to prey upon society. 
 These men are our brethren, having a claim upon our sym- 
 pathy and substantial assistance. If for no higher reason 
 than the promotion of our own peace and safety, assistance 
 should be freely granted to them. While some of them are 
 the children of worthy parents whose counsels have been 
 disregarded, the majority have not had the advantages of 
 education, good example, or moral influence, so that their 
 lives have been the unrestrained development of a depraved 
 human nature. But if we, by the mercy and restraining 
 grace of God, have been preserved from the contamination 
 of the same moral diseases, the fact places us under a solemn 
 obligation to exercise Christian benevolence and sympathy 
 towards those whose different circumstances have made it 
 so much easier to fall into crime, and incites us to put forth 
 active efforts to rescue them from degradation. It is a 
 sphere of Christian effort which must necessarily be attended 
 with comparatively small results and with much discourage- 
 ment from repeated failures ; but surely it is a labor of love 
 for which there is Divine warrant and promise of sustaining 
 grace. 
 
 It must be acknowledged that there are peculiar diffi- 
 culties surrounding effort in this direction, from the fact 
 
CRIMINALS AND PRISON REFORM. 263 
 
 that there are no institutions under the control of the State 
 where convicts after serving a term, or a j)art of a term of 
 imprisonment, may for a time be legally placed under a 
 system of training, where they may, by moral influences, 
 be prepared to re-enter the world, free from those tendencies 
 and circumstances which so almost irresistibly drive them 
 to the course of life which so many of them dread and, if 
 possible, would escape from. Such an intermediate home 
 would, perhaps, have to be established by individual action 
 and subscription, — the State only providing by legislative 
 enactment, for the legal detention for a time of those who 
 had been convicted of crime, thus j)lacing them under a 
 modified restraint for their own moral benefit. It is rather 
 anomalous that in a Republican government, all needful 
 measures may be taken for the prevention of physical dis- 
 ease, but any legal course for the prevention of moral evil 
 and crime against society, is opposed on the ground of a 
 tendency to union of Church and State. There are also dan- 
 gers that false and spurious humanitarian feelings may 
 place the criminal in the position of a martyr — a victim of 
 circumstances — to a great extent not res})onsible for the 
 evil he causes or falls into. Reformers of this class are 
 not true friends of either the community or the prisoner, 
 for they incline to measures that would rob Justice of her 
 due and take the sting from the penalty of the law. In 
 most cases the prisoner is suffering justly for breach of law, 
 and it would be wrong to endeavor to relieve him of the 
 penalty which he has drawn upon himself, but at the same 
 time the worst criminal is one that may be reformed by the 
 application of moral means. The only system that will be 
 of real advantao-e to society and the reformation of the 
 criminal, must be pervaded by Gospel principles, with truth 
 and love as weapons. The offender nuist be regarded as a 
 
264 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 rational, immortal being, capable of appreciating and re- 
 ceiving the love of Christ. The fact that he is susceptible 
 of transformation from the position of a law-breaker into 
 that of a law-abiding, peaceful citizen, must never be 
 weakened in the breast of any who would be the friend of 
 the prisoner. Kindness and love are the only effective 
 means. Let the worst man only be assured that you are 
 •his sincere friend, laboring for his good without any ulte- 
 rior or selfish motive, and you gain a firm hold upon his 
 heart. 
 
 The Gospel and the principles of sound philosophy 
 teach that, while yoii are following the right impulses of 
 the heart in striving to promote the present and eternal 
 happiness of all to whom your influence may extend, you 
 are taking the only effectual course to secure your own 
 present and ultimate happiness, and thus indirectly, and 
 Avithout any selfish design, attaining the true end of life. 
 The resulting happiness is the consequence, not the object. 
 Ko man has found, or ever will find, true happiness when 
 it is made the object of his search. The state of heart 
 which produces it results from faith in and reliance upon 
 the Almighty. Man is not of himself, and cannot be for 
 himself, but was placed upon earth for the glory of his 
 Creator and the good of the universe. If a man's plans 
 are made with reference only to material wealth and the 
 pleasures derived therefrom, he will discover — too late, per- 
 haps, to remedy the evil — that he has mistaken the intent of 
 life, and has utterly failed to gain its realities. The true 
 end of life can be found only in the path of wisdom. All 
 designs for temporal good are proper and legitimate when 
 they are made tributary to the proper primary design, and 
 when they include a purpose of good to all men. Wealth, 
 honor, and pleasure, the objects of devotion in the attain- 
 
CRIMINALS AND PRISON REFORM. 265 
 
 merit of which of all laws, except those of policy, have 
 been trampled on, will not only fail to yield the desired 
 satisfaction to those who seek them, but become sources of 
 evil to society by the very process by which they are gained. 
 Wealth, honor, or position gained by a strict adherence to 
 the laws of eternal wisdom will not injure the possessor or 
 any who may be his neighbors. In a word, when a large 
 part of any community is busily engaged in the prosecution 
 of purely selfish purposes, regardless of the best interests of 
 those who may be below them in intelligence and morality, 
 careless of any means for the prevention of evil, that por- 
 tion of the community is really preparing the crime which 
 the individual will commit. Their failure to properly 
 meet the responsibility resting upon them as component 
 parts of the state, whose individual interests are identified 
 with and affected by the welfare of all others, must suffer 
 the consequences arising from the presence of a constantly 
 increasing army of criminals. In this sense it is true 
 " that no man liveth unto himself,'^ for if he fails to meet 
 the obligation resting upon him he must meet the evil. 
 As the moral sense and moral activity of the community 
 is only the aggregated moral sense and activity of its in- 
 dividual members, each individual in the community must 
 bear his proportion of the responsibility ; and that respon- 
 sibility will be just in proportion to the education, talent, 
 or wealth of which he may be the possessor. 
 
 Those who have made the growth and repression of crime 
 and pauperism a study, have marked the fact that both evils 
 have increased in times of unusual worldly prosperity. 
 With increasing wealth come corresponding pride and 
 indifference to those about us. The lines of separation 
 between the richer and poorer classes become more strongly 
 marked. Wealth assumes still greater importance to the 
 
266 2'HIXGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 minds of all. Many are tempted to attain it by some other 
 methods than those of industry and economy, and unsus- 
 tained by moral principle are led on to a course ending in 
 forgery, embezzlement, or kindred crime. In a small com- 
 munity \vhere good order and morality prevail, and where 
 there is but a shade of difference in the social position of 
 those who compose it, there will be found but little poverty, 
 • and but seldom any outbreaking crime, because there is in 
 the breast of each a benevolent and sympathetic feeling for 
 the best interest of the whole. If one suffers by loss or 
 affliction, all suffer with him, for all are mutual helpers of 
 each other's good. If one member of such a community 
 suddenly acquires great wealth, and for that reason imagines 
 he is a better man by reason of its possession, or entitled to 
 more respect and deference than before, he places a false 
 estimate on the value of material objects, and is taking the 
 first step that will certainly cut off the sympathy and con- 
 fidence which had existed between himself and those whom 
 he now considers below him in social rank. As he rises in 
 this false position, he either despises or becomes indifferent 
 to those with whom his social interests were once so haj^pily 
 identified, and gradually, but surely, feelings of envy, dis- 
 content, and open antagonism displace the love and sym- 
 pathy which formerly bouud them closely together. Let 
 these cases be multiplied, and such a community will pre- 
 sent a miniature picture of the process which seems to be 
 going on in all parts of our country, — a process which is 
 gradually loosening the foundations of the whole fabric, 
 generating antagonistic feelings between the richer and the 
 poorer classes which must in the end be fatal to the best 
 interests of all. The rich men becoming richer, the poor 
 becoming poorer, the aggregation of capital, and often the 
 oppressive measures which unscrupulous capitalists can eu- 
 
CRIMINALS AND PRISON REFORM. 2G7 
 
 force, making it more and more difficult for tlic laboring- 
 man to gain an honest subsistence, and thus producing the 
 almost inevitable conflict between capital and labor, are 
 bringing about a condition of society that will be most 
 prolific in pauperism and crime. If the strong, the edu- 
 cated, and wealthy part of the community will not learn 
 by experience and observation, that one who resolves to 
 injure another by that very act injures himself, and that if 
 they do not in all things regard the moral as well as the 
 temporal interests of the poor, the weak, and the ignorant, 
 they are forging chains which will bind on them and on 
 their children a most intolerable burden, and introduce a 
 turbulent element of anarchy and confusion, tlie full devel- 
 opment of which may sweep away their earthly wealth and 
 be attended by acts of murder and rapine before which even 
 the horrors of the French Revolution may seem insignifi- 
 cant. While unwise or evil acts of government may be the 
 cause of crime in the older and more complex civilizations 
 of Europe, the most prolific source of crime in this country is 
 the selfishness of the individual, the unjust combination of 
 capital, and the growing and all-prevalent indifference to 
 the public good. The wisest statesmen of England are 
 alarmed at the heavy burdens of crime and pauperism now 
 pressing on that country. The soil and territory of Eng- 
 land being limited, the crisis there may be reached within 
 the present century. The vast unoccupied territory of 
 America, affording an outlet for those in some ])arts of 
 our land where the pressure has become intolerable, acts as 
 a safety-valve, and may postpone for a time the culmination 
 of the evils which are now so evident to the observing eye. 
 But as surely as God has ordained and made known to 
 men good and perfect laws, unalterable and inexorable in 
 operation and penalty, just so surely will a breach of these 
 
268 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 laws, or a failure to come up to their requirements, work 
 out their own disastrous results and produce confusion in the 
 social economy. Any one who has read in the Old Testa- 
 ment the denunciations there written against the ancient 
 nations, and has followed the course of history, has wit- 
 nessed the fulfilment of the prophecies. The same laws 
 still operate, and the same penalties are attached to them. 
 •The oppression of the weak, the neglecting of duty to the 
 poor and ignorant, are everywhere mentioned as causes of 
 severe denunciation ; as an example, read eighth chapter of 
 Amos. AVisdom and prudence would suggest that the 
 most effectual method to overcome a p^rowino; evil would be 
 the destruction of its cause. Seal the fountain and the 
 stream will soon cease to flow ; kill the root and there will 
 be no more fruit or seed. All Avill airree that the most 
 effectual measures which can be adopted to check crime are 
 those of a preventive character, — taking hold of the young. 
 But the question now pressing for an answer is, How can 
 the criminal of adult age be transformed into an honest, 
 self-supporting member of society ? In the answer to this 
 important question, leaving out of view all the influences 
 that might or should have been brought to bear upon the 
 criminal in childhood and youth, accepting the facts that 
 the various complex bearings of our civilization and the 
 indifference of society to the interests of those who compose 
 it, have both indirectly and positively fostered the develop- 
 ment of open crime, we cannot forget that the army of 
 criminals is being daily recruited by the men and women 
 who are convicted in our courts and sentenced to periods of 
 imprisonment which place them, for the time at least, in a 
 position where good influences may be exerted, — influences 
 the more potent because the subjects are removed from the 
 temptations to crime which have hitherto been so powerful, 
 
CRIMINALS AND PRISON REFORM. 269 
 
 and are surrounded by the circumstances which may be 
 made favorable to the development of all that is good. 
 
 Evil and wicked as these 'criminals may be, ignorant of 
 all but that by which they may accomplish the sinful pur- 
 poses of their depraved hearts, they are by the very fact of 
 conviction of and sentence for crime, placed under the care 
 and guardianship of the community against Avhicli they 
 have sinned. What, then, shall be done with them? 
 Lock them up securely for two or three years, and by this 
 locking up accomplish two good ends, — protect society from 
 depredation and make the criminal feel the absolute justice 
 which follows an outraged law. These results are good as 
 far as they go, and their value must not be disregarded. 
 Iron bars and high walls have protected the comnuuiity 
 from the outbreakings of violence, — the narrow cell, the 
 scanty fare, the deprivation of liberty, and the constrained 
 labor ought to convince the prisoner that the way of trans- 
 gressors is hard. An incidental advantage from the pun- 
 ishment of an offender lies in the fact that imprisonment 
 deters others from evil-doing. But, granting the threeibld 
 benefits arising from the punishment of an offender against 
 good and wholesome laws, we still have the question staring 
 us in the face, " What shall be done with the convict?" If 
 during the period of his incarceration, the treatment and 
 discipline to which he has been subjected have been such 
 that the convict leaves the prison threshold more hardened 
 than when he came in, with a mind more fully determined 
 on evil, with a heart inflamed with hatred against the com- 
 munity which has inflicted a just punishment, with hands 
 ready to commit new crimes, with a conscience seared as 
 with a hot iron, we have utterly foiled in accomplishing 
 that which should be the essential purpose in the process of 
 punishment, — the reformation of the criminal, — and have 
 
 18 
 
270 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 by the imprisonment added an element to the increase and 
 development of crime. 
 
 Experience has conclusively proved, that merely external 
 appliances have but little effect in the process of reforma- 
 tion, and that the duties of enforced servitude of prison life, 
 however faithfully performed, do not inculcate habits of 
 industry which will sway the conduct when the outward 
 pressure is removed. It is therefore evident that we must 
 look for something better, for some impulse from a higher 
 source, for some principle which, implanted in the heart, 
 will be a seed producing good fruit, an element of continu- 
 ous power which will transform the heart, mind, and life. 
 The root and spring of all genuine reformation, be its place 
 of exercise the pleasant home or the criminal's cell, are the 
 consciousness of sin and the apprehension of the love of 
 God as manifested in Jesus Christ, — a consciousness of 
 individual sin which convinces the subject that he is not, 
 and under existing circumstances cannot be, a subject of 
 Divine favor, and at the same time an apprehension of 
 the infinite love of Jesus Christ, which assures the soul 
 that humble, honest confession of sin insures pardon for 
 past oifences and gives promise of grace for the future. 
 While it may be wisest and best to impress upon the mind 
 of the criminal that the penalty of the law must follow its 
 infraction, and to make clear to the community the fact 
 that the committing of crime will be certainly and promptly 
 followed by the threatened penalty, yet, if the criminal and 
 the public are both to be benefited by the infliction of a 
 penalty, the process and result of the punishment should be 
 of such a character that the subject of penalty will be re- 
 turned to the community, after its infliction, in a better 
 condition, physically, mentally, and morally, than he had 
 been when he entered the prison-door. It is easy to thus 
 
CRIMINALS AND PRISON REFORM. 271 
 
 state the proposition, the truth of which none will deny; 
 but the practical sohition of the problem demands careful 
 thought and persistent labor on the part of the community 
 by which and whom, for its own protection, some of its 
 members are placed within prison-bars. 
 
 It is evident that the process of discipline and labor 
 which tends to reform the criminal is that which will re- 
 duce crime, and therefore be of the highest good to the com- 
 munity. The benefits arising from any system producing 
 such results, will accrue to both convict and community. 
 If accepted by both, the problem would be easily solved ; 
 if the parties on either side were satisfied that tiie arrange- 
 ment would be of mutual benefit, the contract — if a term 
 of imprisonment can be so called — would be quickly rati- 
 fied. But unfortunately there is a great difference of senti- 
 ment at this point. The convict does not, and, perhaps, 
 will not, admit that his actions are deserving of punish- 
 ment, and, consequently, will not acknowledge the justice 
 of the penalty or the right by which it is inflicted. The 
 community, convinced by the results of injury they have 
 suffered from the acts of the convict, that breach of law 
 should be followed by penalty, cry out for justice, and, 
 ordinarily, are satisfied when sentence is pronounced and 
 judgment inflicted, regardless of the result of the penalty. 
 Now, in fact, if any good is to follow the infliction of 
 penalty, — any permanent results to be made evident in 
 the avoidance of evil and the following of good on the 
 part of the convict, — any acceptance of the fact that the 
 penalty has been inflicted by society, and acknowledgment 
 of the obligations thereby incurred on the part of the com- 
 munity, — such good fruits must come from the united 
 action of the parties concerned ; the convict and the com- 
 munity must be of one mind, must work together in 
 
272 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 harmony. In truth, there must be mutual confessions of 
 wrong-doing, — on the part of the convict, that he has 
 been guilty of breach of good laws ; on the part of the 
 coaimunity, that, by selfishness and by indifference to those 
 who are ignorant and weak, it had presented temptations 
 to the very crimes it is now punishing. There can be no 
 true reform without these mutual concessions, expressed or 
 knplied. The first step in the process, as far as the convict 
 and the community are concerned, is the removal of the 
 antagonism which, unfortunately for both, is so prevalent. 
 
 The community must take the first step. It is the 
 stronger party. The convict is comparatively powerless 
 when he becomes its prisoner. It has all the power spring- 
 ing from education, wealth, culture, and experience, as well 
 as the absolute control of legislative enactments. If, with 
 all these advantages, the community cannot devise some 
 system of punishment of crime which will combine the 
 elements of retribution for breach of law, and the inculca- 
 tion of some principle which will tend to deter from a 
 breach in the future, we must reluctantly confess that our 
 boasted civilization is not competent to remedy the evils 
 which it brings in its train, — that it is, in spite of all that 
 may be claimed for it, a failure when it comes into direct 
 conflict with that which it so often tends to nourish, and 
 which is so detrimental to its best interests. 
 
 Granting, as is claimed by those who have most care- 
 fully studied the matter of Prison Reform, that the pain 
 of imprisonment proves to the convict that the loss of 
 crime overbalances its gain, that such imprisonment de- 
 ters others from the commission of offences, that it protects 
 the community from the evils of crime by violently re- 
 straining those who would commit them, and that by im- 
 prisonment the desire on the part of the convict of com- 
 
CRIMINALS AND PRISON REFORM. 21 Z 
 
 mitting crime is lessened by the breaking up of })rcviously 
 formed evil habits, aided by the influence which steady 
 labor and submission to wise regulations tends to induce, 
 there yet remains to be considered a principle of tremendous 
 power, without the presence of which there can be no genuine 
 reformation. This principle, divested of all that may be 
 sectarian, may be thus stated, in its tiireefold aspect, — viz., 
 a consciousness that man is a sinner, — in a position where 
 he does not enjoy the favor of God, — a consciousness that 
 God in the person of Jesus Christ has manifested, a way 
 of escape from the evil of sin, and a consciousness that 
 by faitli in the Lord Jesus Christ the individual soul may 
 not only be delivered from the guilt and consequences of 
 past sin, but may receive the grace by which it may be enabled 
 to avoid sin in the future. Any genuine reform must be 
 preceded by a consciousness of sin, a faith in a way of 
 escape from its evil, and an acceptance of the Divine 
 power which alone can transform the heart and be an 
 ever-present impulse to good. 
 
 The transcendent power of the Grace of God to renew the 
 vilest heart will scarcely be denied. AV^ithout this there can 
 be no hope of permanent improvement among criminals; 
 and that they should be placed under the influences, con- 
 stant and unremittent, of the Gospel of Christ, seems to be 
 the duty of those called to control their punishment. 
 
 Into this wise system of control so many elements enter, 
 and so many principles of apparently conflicting purposes 
 seem to act, that their reconcilement and harmonious de- 
 velopment make penal reform one of the most difficult 
 spheres of philanthropic effort. The question of prison 
 labor, as an element of moral reform, as well as a matter 
 affectins: the interests of the community, is one demand- 
 ing careful consideration by those who are placed in the 
 
274 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 position of managers of prisons. It may seem just that 
 society should demand from the offender an equivalent for 
 the loss or injury sustained by those who have suffered 
 by the perpetration of crime, and, the criminal, having 
 nothing with which he can satisfy this demand, society has 
 an absolute right to so control his action that a repetition 
 of the same or a similar crime may be prevented. And 
 jiist here come in the questions. Should the offender, by 
 reason of his offence, be made a burden on those whom he 
 has injured? should the process of punishment be such 
 that the cost involved must be borne by those who have 
 committed no crime? While it may not yet be definitely 
 determined whether it is best for the interest of all con- 
 cerned that the labor of convicts should be made a source 
 of income to the State, and thus indirectly interfere, it may 
 be, with some form of labor outside prison-walls, it has 
 usually been conceded that any power or skill which the 
 convict possesses may be properly used in paying for the 
 cost of his own maintenance during imprisonment. Sim- 
 ple equity would seem to prove that honest labor ought 
 not to be taxed for the support of offenders. But, leaving 
 out of view the many difficulties connected with prison 
 labor as it may affect outside industry, there can be no 
 doubt of the fact that steady, persistent labor is a most 
 important element in any system of prison reform, — that 
 without it any hope of reformation by imprisonment is 
 absurd. Henry Cordier, Superintendent of the Allegheny 
 County, Pa., Work-House, in his report for 1873, makes 
 the following statement as the result of his own experience : 
 " The inmates of our penal institutions should under all 
 circumstances be treated with kindness and humanity, but 
 there is no reason why their labor should not be controlled 
 and utih'zed so as to prevent them from being a constant 
 
CRIMINALS AND PRISON REFORM. 275 
 
 and heavy burden to the tax-payers. Prisoners, if able- 
 bodied and healtliy, should at once be taught a wiiolesome 
 lesson of the value of industry by being obliged to pay 
 by honest hibor at least for their board and keeping. It 
 is true the reformation of the offender should be the prin- 
 cipal aim of imprisonment, but reformation, if permanent, 
 must be based upon a well-directed system of labor, — labor 
 profitable and remunerative. Make a man industrious, 
 and you make him virtuous.'^ He follows this opinion 
 with the statement that all self-sustaining prisons, of which 
 he names several, '^are also model institutions for good 
 discipline and reformatory success.'' Whether or not in- 
 dustry produces virtue, the testimony of ^Ir. Cordier is 
 clear as to the value of labor as an element of prison re- 
 form. It may be stated in this connection that the original 
 idea of the Allegheny County Work- House, was that it 
 should be made a reformatory institution, and that its su- 
 perintendent, appreciating the philanthropic intentions of 
 those with whom he was associated, devoted to the new 
 enterprise all the energies of his heart and brain, and by 
 his sagacity and experience soon placed it among the self- 
 sustaining prisons of the country. His success was so 
 remarkable, that Rev. E. C. Wines, D.D., the Secretary of 
 the International Prison Reform Congress, prepared a 
 statement of the results as far as they could be gathered 
 by his personal inspection, and published it for the infor- 
 mation of prison superintendents and managers in Europe 
 as well as in the United States. 
 
 The practical application of the principles of prison 
 reformation to convicts, may perhaps, be left to those who 
 have made penology a study and are in a position to carry 
 out their ideas. But the responsibility of the community 
 for the care and proper treatment of those who have trans- 
 
276 THINGS OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 gressed its laws cannot be placed entirely upon those who 
 inflict the penalty and have control of its conditions. By 
 the infliction of penalty, by the very process of imprison- 
 ment, society assumes a responsibility involving certain 
 duties. The fact that certain members of society have, for 
 perhaps good reasons, been selected to take especial charge 
 and care of all who may be convicted of crime, does not 
 •release the community from an interest in, and concern for, 
 those whom its laws have imprisoned. Each one who cares 
 for the general good, should use active effort to secure 
 the election or ap})ointinent of intelligent and worthy 
 men who will wisely use the power delegated to them, — 
 managers who will not permit the prison to be turned from 
 its legitimate reformatory intent, by being used for selfish 
 or political ends, or its positions of trust to be used as re- 
 wards for party services. The institutions which have 
 been most successful as reformatories, are those where the 
 public has extended sympathy and practical aid in the way 
 of personal visitation, and in generous benevolence, for 
 purposes which do not come within the scope of the law. 
 
 Surely, it is not too much to ask of the public, an interest 
 in and care for that which so deeply afl:ects its own material 
 welfare as the reformation, or at least the control, of its 
 criminals. We would rather base a claim lor the criminal 
 and all that concerns him on the ground that, depraved as 
 he may be, he is still a child of the Heavenly Father, 
 placed by his crime in circumstances where the blessed 
 influences of the Gospel of Jesus Christ may be thrown 
 around him with peculiar force, and which, entering into 
 his soul, may return him to society prepared to enter upon 
 an honest, useful life. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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