' '■ ■ J.T The olo g PF 1 i « BS 2545 Hoffmann ,S', 1873. i n The prop and Jiis B R ^^ RY ^■■^. ical Seminary INCETON, N. J. . P7 H6 . Wilhelm, 1806- cies of our Lord Apostles THE PROPHECIES OF OUR LORD AND HIS APOSTLES. THE PROPHECIES OF OUR LORD AND HIS APOSTLES. DELIVERED IN THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH, BERLIN, By W. HOFFMANN, D.D., CHAPLAIN IN ORDINARY TO THE KING. 5^ranslatib, fcit^ i^z ^andion of i^t ^nt^or, BY MAURICE J. EVANS, B.A. LONDON : HODDER & STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCLXIX. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. The central thought of these discourses Is the great hope of the Apostolic Church, the glorious coming of the Lord for the completion of His Kingdom. The reviving of this hope in the hearts of so many believers of different lands is one of the most con- solatory signs of the present day. Indeed, it may almost be said to constitute a new era in the history of the Church. Of the practical importance of the Apostle's admonition, i Thess. v. 19 — 21, not to repress the Spirit's work by attaching too light a value to the prophetic element in the New Testa- ment, I cannot better speak than in the words of the Author, "All prophecy which we are not to despise falls necessarily within the broad outline and main lineaments with which the word of Apostolic prophecy vi Translator's Preface, supplies us. We know — and, thanks be to God, it is powerfully proclaimed — that our righteousness is through faith ; because all depends upon our appre- hending God in Christ through faith. Faith is, there- fore, clearly witnessed to, wherever the Word of God is preached in its purity, as the centre of the Christian life, and consequently also of the life of the Christian Church. Nor is it less insisted on that faith must work by love — that the love of God and of our neighbour is the sum of all the commandments of God, and, because God is love, we, who are loved of Him, must love in return. Less, however, is spoken of hope, the third in the Trinity of Graces. We are, indeed, at particular times, directed to this subject ; but then, it is ever the hope of everlast- ing life, the hope whose fulfilment lies beyond the grave. That hope, on the other hand, which is given to the Church as a whole for her time on earth, before she has reached the end, and goes forth with joy and rejoicing to meet the Lord coming to judg- ment in the clouds of heaven, seldom receives its due share of attention. It is true it is not needful to speak so very frequently of this, but the Holy Spirit is a spirit of hope, and desires that the Christian hope should be living within us ; that hope, also, which has Translator s Preface. vii respect to the Church, the Kingdom of God as a whole. For the more we contemplate ourselves as those for whom are designed all the great institutions of God, which are completed in the long course of the world's history ; the more each individual has the joyful and blessed consciousness of being reckoned in this great and mighty plan of God's gracious comple- tion, and of having his place therein, the more our confidence increases of vanquishing Satan and sin, and flesh and blood, which ever seek to draw us within the sphere of their lower interests." Of the New Testament prophecies Dr. Hoffmann is a reverent and loving expositor, and even those who may not in all points agree with his interpretation — whether they regard it as too spiritual, or too realistic — will feel that he has brought to his subject the result of profound research, and that he is ever ready to bow before the majesty of Scripture. All that we can yet know is, however, at best, only fragmentary. We know in part, and we prophesy in part ; and only when that which is perfect is come shall that which is fragmentary be done away. It was within the original design of the author to deliver, at some future time, a series of discourses on the Apocalypse of John — a design which I hope may yet be carried into effect. viii Translator s Preface. In any case I cannot but rejoice to have the privilege of introducing this series of discourses to the English public, regarding, as I do, the growing spirit of Christian catholicity represented by men like Dr. W. Hoffmann in Germany, Dean Alford in England, and Professor Islay Burns in Scotland, as one of the happiest auguries for the future of the Church of Christ. Commending the work in its English garb to the rich blessing of God, I pray that Author, Translator, and Reader, may meet where prophecy shall cease, because we shall see face to face. M. J. E. Stratford-on-Avon, October^ 1 869. *#* For the Footnotes the Translator is responsible. CONTENTS. FIRST PART. %\z f rop^cnts of 6ttr f orb. PAGE THE FINAL PROSPECT OF THE CHURCH . . . . .1 THE FIRST CONFLICT 15 THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN 34 SIGNS OF THE COMING OF CHRIST 4^ THE SUFFERING-PATH OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST . . 6o THE POWER OF ERROR 8l FALSE SECURITY 9^ THE UNIVERSAL PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL . . . II4 THE DAYS OF THE SON OF MAN 13 ^ X Contents. SECOND PART. Vc^t gwpljmes of \\t gipostles. PAGE THE APOSTASY 149 THE ANTICHRISTS 164 THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY 1 82 THE MAN OF SIN 20I THE JUDGMENT OF THE WICKED ONE 220 THE GLORIOUS COMING OF JESUS CHRIST . . . . 24I THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL 257 THE NEARNESS OF THE LORD 275 THE CROSS OF CHRIST THE GUIDE AMIDST THE ERROR OF THE LAST TIME . . . ■ 29O THE LAST JUDGMENT 308 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE VISIBLE WORLD .... 325 THE NEW WORLD OF THE REDEEMED 347 FIRST PART. THE PROPHECIES OF OUR LORD AND HIS APOSTLES. ^^t Jfinal ^r0spert 0f il^it C^itrrJj. **If apy man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha." — i Cor. xvi. 22. Be not surprised, beloved in Christ Jesus, that on my return to you after a somewhat lengthened absence I choose for my salutation a text of Scripture which breathes a curse — Anathema! For the curse in this instance is relieved by a background which, for the believing heart, speaks only of light and life, of peace and joy. Our text concludes with the watchword Mara7i-atha, " The Lord comes," with the watchword of the Church of Christ, which in her times of peace she has raised with thousand and million voices, and which, in her hours of suffering, she has sighed forth out of the depths. I return to you to-day after visiting a great number of Evangelical congregations, and inquiring after the life of faith and love in their B i 2 The Prophecies of Otir Lord and His Apostles. members. The impression most deeply left upon my mind at the conclusion of my visitation was that which the Apostle expresses in his closing words to his beloved Corinthian Church — "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema," and " the Lord comes." Only His coming, and the certain hope and expectation of it, is able to support us in these times of depression and spiritual poverty ; and to enable us, in the assurance of that which His grace shall yet effect, to look with hopefulness on the Church to which we belong, while at the same time this trumpet-call of the Apostle exhorts us earnestly to inquire, " Wheft He comes will He find me watch- ing ? " There is yet another reason for my choice of this text. You followed me with affection and in- terest, when during the past year we meditated on the prophecies and types of the Old Testament, listened to the voices of the watchmen which sounded forth so consolingly, but also with such stirring power, through the world's deep night and dawn. And now I am impelled to begin a new series of discourses on the prophecies of Holy Writ, but this time on the prophecies of the New Testament from the mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of His Apostles, so that we now occupy ourselves with that blessed hope which here below, in affliction and dark- ness, in distress and death, must ever, as a whole, be held forth before the Church of Christ. To-day let us inquire as to the FINAL PROSPECT OF THE TJic Final Prospect of the Church. 3 CHURCH ON EARTH, and contemplate this prospect first on its SEVERE AND AWAKENING SIDE, and then on its GRACIOUS AND CONSOLING SIDE. Lord Jesus, Thou Great Prophet and Instructor of the simple. Thou didst receive the Spirit of prophecy without measure of Thy Father in the days of Thy flesh ; Thou didst shed forth this Spirit upon Thy disciples, and didst give Him to speak to all genera- tions of Thy Church, and even to-day in Thy word and Thy disciples' word. Help us to understand this word, that we may not be merely wondering hearers of that which Thou hast before spoken, but that when the Spirit testifies "the Lord comes," we may be able to say, " Even so ; come quickly !" Amen. Beloved in the Lord, — You may, perhaps, feel in- clined to ask — Why, then, again prophecy f Is there in the New Testament, as well as in the Old, a distant goal set before us .^ Must we still look for that which is future .^ Does not one important distinction between the Old Covenant and the New consist in this, that under the one salvation has to be waited for and hoped for, and under the other it has already appeared .? Do not the Apostles of our Lord even speak of facts which have taken place, of the word of the cross, of the risen Saviour } Does not John say, " That which we have seen and heard, which our hands have touched of the word of life, declare we unto you .?" And does he not add, " The life was manifested .?" 4 TJie Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. True; and on this account the New Testament pro- phecies are not of the same all-decisive importance to believers under the New Covenant as were the Old Testament prophecies for believers under the Old Covenant. But who can say, This is important, that is unimportant, in the whole domain of Divine revela- tion ? Who of us would be so rash as to assert that what Christ has spoken of the future of His Church — so far as it has not yet become past or present — does not concern us, has nothing to do with our spiritual life ? And how could such a one withstand that warning of the Holy Spirit recorded at the close of the whole Bible, *' I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book : and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things that are written in this book ?" Thus does the Holy Spirit attach great importance to the right relation of faith to prophecy, even where the im- port of prophecy is not yet perfectly understood. It is a duty, then, for us, following the prophetic word, to contemplate the final prospect of the Church on earth, and all that is prophesied of the future of that Church. And this final prospect the Apostle opens before us in the solemn expression of the Aramcxan language, Maraji-atha, "The Lord comes!" The Final Prospect of the Church. 5 This expression has first a terribk and awakening side. You must confess that nothing renders us more sluggish, weary, and indifferent than when one year after another passes as before ; all remains as it was ; the minuter changes and alternations of affairs being scarcely perceived, and every succeeding decade of years, save that it finds us older, bears in the spiritual domain essentially the same character as the pre- ceding. It is a matter of experience that nothing more depresses us in the life of faith, than when the enervating impression prevails, there is nothing new under the sun ; everything moves in constant rotation — moves according to an unknown law of necessity, but ever the old returns, in a new and slightly altered form, yet in inner life and essence the same as it has always been ; and when we meet with such ques- tions as those which the Second Epistle of Peter describes as then current in the Christian community, " Where is the promise of His coming ? for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." This languid, enervating, and enervated wisdom of the natural understanding, which compares only that which Is present, affords to the Church of Christ no hopeful prospect. Into the midst of this feeble and paralysed Christianity, no longer capable of any aspiration In the power of the Divine word, must ring the trumpet- note " Maran-atha, the Lord comes !" Whether thou wilt believe it or not ; whether the expectation of thy 6 The PropJiccies of Our Lord and His Apostles. Lord Jesus Christ to judgment, upon the clouds with great power and glory, should disappear from Christendom, and appear, so far as thy life is con- cerned, only an insignificant and worthless appendix to the scheme of Christian doctrine ; or whether thou shouldst day by day, and hour by hour, meditate on the Lord in the parable who findeth His servants watching or sleeping ; or on the bridegroom whom the virgins were to go forth to meet, but who found five with trimmed and burning lamps, and five in darkness — the Lord comes, altogether irrespective of thy preparedness. And now, my brethren, wherefore does he come ? We confess with all Christians, "He shall come again to judge the quick and the dead." And how will he come } The answer is received at the lips of the two men in white apparel, " He shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven." So, m His glorified humanity, as the High Priest, tempted in all points, yet without sin ; as the Saviour who has descended into the deepest grief, into the sorrows of death ; and in answer to whom thou canst not open thy mouth. He comes not in the lowly servant form, but in the clouds of Heaven, with great power and glory. He comes for those who believe in Him, who love His appearing, who so look for the great God and Saviour Jesus Christ from Heaven, as to go forth to meet Him with the cry — Come quickly ! We have now gained a point of contact with the The Final Prospect of the CliurcJi. 7 individual conscience. The question shapes itself thus — Is the thought of the return of Christ from Heaven for thee one inspiring terror ? Bring the thought again before you. It may be to-day that our Lord Jesus Christ, the perfected Prince of our salvation, will descend from Heaven, and before His throne all will be made manifest who have walked on earth (from the first of the human race), who have not entered into salvation through faith. If, then, all outward form, which only veils the true man, shall disappear ; if every secret of wickedness, creeping in darkness, shall be brought to the light of eternity ; if the thoughts of thy heart, and all the dark passions and the intricate web of thy inner life shall be dis- closed before the eyes of all men, is not the thought one of terror.? Therefore does the Apostle employ so severe a word in regard to those who love not the Lord Jesus Christ, the word " Anathema " — rejection — curse — banishment — exclusion ; exclusion not only here on earth from the Church, but exclusion from the communion of those who possess in Christ Jesus their only, their perfect life ; exclusion from the peace and joy of the Holy Ghost, in which the kingdom of God consists ; exclusion from the hope which remains to every believer, even when he trembles and sighs in the darkest nights of suffering ; exclusion from all the heavenly glory which shall follow ; exclusion from the assembly of just men made perfect, and from the host of glorious beings who, from eternity to eternity, 8 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. sing the praises of redemption, of creation, of the whole work of God, And whither banished ? Given up to thyself, to thine own darkness, and to the fellowship of those who, like thee, loved not our Lord Jesus Christ — to the world of hatred, of everlasting death. It is a word of earnest warning which the Apostle directs to every heart in the cry — The Lord comes ! And therefore it is needful we should ask, How shall I stand in the great day of His coming ? In this respect I testify to you again, from the impressions I have received in the words, and with- out words from the hearts, of many thousands of members of our National Church within the last few weeks, that where love to the Lord Jesus Christ has not become the first and only dominant affection of the heart, there is no standing either now against the temptations of the world and the devil, or amidst the last trials, and before the judgment-seat. Only per- sonal communion with thy Saviour is the all-victorious power which shall here render thee superior to thy foes, and there sustain thee before His judgment-seat. He that loves the Lord Jesus Christ is not perplexed, or if perplexed, is not in despair. But unto him that loves Him not, the premonitions of Christ's appear- ing — the signs of which He has spoken as presented in Heaven and earth, in the sun and moon, will be a source of surprise and dread. Then " all kindreds of the earth shall wail." Therefore, my brethren, in proportion as the words The Final Prospect of tJie Church. 9 I have read to you are terrible, do they urge upon you to seek after that which is no longer terrible, but that which is most precious — the treasure of our heart, the pearl of our whole being — the love of Christ. But our Lord Jesus Christ can no one truly love who knows not how much he has been loved of Him ; and the Apostle might therefore have said, '' If any man believe not on the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema !" He is evidently speaking of those to whom Christ has been proclaimed, who profess him, and not of the heathen who are without, and to whom the word of the cross is unknown. TJiou hast in baptism received the seal of the Three-one God, hast heard throughout thy life the footsteps of the faithful Shepherd, and must confess, " Oft-times in sorrow, oft-times in joy, has the Lord my God drawn near to me." Hast thou, then, experienced the love of Christ.'' Hast thou at least a blissful feeling that the Lord Jesus Christ has consecrated for thee, a wretched sinner, His life and sufferings, and the powers of His soul ; that He loves thee with a love of which all the most tender, ardent, intense, and powerful on earth is yet but a feeble reflection } If thou knowest this, thou canst not but love Him again ; for He has sued for thy heart until He could say, " Thou art mine, and I am thine." If, on the other hand, thou hast not experienced it, knowest not that thou art so greatly loved, and speakest only of the general fatherly love of God, in 10 The Prophecies of Our Lord mid His Apostles. which He causes His sun to shine upon the evil and the good, then thou knowest nothing of love towards our Lord Jesus Christ, and the cry of " Maran-atha " sounds in thy conscience as a trumpet-note of judg- ment, and the voice of self-condemnation is awakened within thee : " I have hitherto loved nothing but my own miserable self ; I have seemed to love others, but all the love which I showed to them was only another form of my self-love ; I know not yet what love is, for I have not known an earthly love which is a reflex of the eternal love, much less that eternal love itself." This is the severe and alarming side in the final pros- pect of the Church of Christ on earth. We have already, in the foregoing pages, cast a rapid glance at the GRACIOUS AND CONSOLING SIDE. To those especially who love our Lord Jesus Christ is the salutation addressed. At what does love aim t What is its goal ? Union — blending — oneness with the beloved. A child of God who loves the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be fully satisfied until that has been fulfilled to him which John expresses in the words, " It doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." Or as Paul expresses it, '' He shall change the body of our humiliation, that it may be fashioned like unto the body of His glory, according to the power whereby He is able also to subdue all things to Himself" A true Christian is not perfectly satisfied until he is with Jesus Christ, glorified with the glorified Saviour ; as The Final Prospect of the Church. 1 1 spirit with Him who is the Spirit, bodily with Him who in glorified humanity has ascended into Heaven. Then is peace and holy delight. And all the expres- sions which human language has for joy and enlarge- ment of heart remain far short of the feelings of the soul — poor and unsuccessful attempts to represent this glory and blessedness. On earth, the Christian — his love never perfectly satisfied here below — stands in need of consolation, and this consolation is " Maran- atha, the Lord comes!" By this is not merely said that you must die, that you will not need to remain here ; by this the hope is not merely given, that one day, when the hour of your God has come, you will be permitted to lay aside this body of mor- tality, of death, and of sin ; and purified through the blood of Jesus Christ, to enter into the blessed communion with all who have been before glorified. Something yet higher is expressed in this word. It proclaims that not only does the Lord stand in a saving relation of grace towards the individuals who know in faith how they have been loved of Him, and who love Him in return ; but also that this is a condi- tion of His kingdom, that the Lord shall once more come, and we behold Him ; and then, as it is written in the Epistle to the Corinthians, the Son "shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father" — shall trans- plant and raise the earthly kingdom into the heavenly. The consolatory import of this word constitutes a hope of the kingdom — a universal one — not for thee 1 2 TJic Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. alone, but for all who believe — a final prospect for the Church. And yet more, this hope is given unto thee. It is said, " If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema !" — for him the Lord comes to judgment ; but if any man, it is tacitly asserted, love the Lord Jesus Christ, for him the Lord comes, not to judgment, but to his delight and joy. Beloved friends, this is the fair and consolatory side in the future of the kingdom of God. That which we begin to-day will consequently ever be a meditation, inspiring terror for him who loves not the Lord Jesus Christ ; but at the same time, a meditation affording consolation, strengthening, and joy for him who does love Christ. What, then, is demanded and expected of thee that thou mayest have a part among them that are saved in the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ ; that it may be for thee the close of all sufferings, of all tribulation, of all affliction, of all seeking and striving ; and the beginning of all enlargement and fulness of the heart, of all joy and glory .? Nothing but this, that thou lovest the Lord Jesus Christ. It is true I have before said, and with good reason, that no one can do this who is not himself loved of Christ. But though only a spark of this love to Jesus Christ is present, the Maran-atha loses its terrible force ; it becomes consolatory. And where this spark burns only dimly, the Lord has given His gracious promise TJic Final Prospect of the Church. 1 3 that He will not quench the smoking flax — will not leave unfinished the work begun. Oh, search yourselves, make it your earnest business while it is called to-day, to examine whether you have in your heart love to the Saviour, this Son of God and Son of man — this Priest, and King, and Victim ! Ask yourselves whether life would be for you blank and desolate if He were only, as in the blindness of our time He is often represented, a lofty model of human perfection, but not the Heaven- descended one, the Son of Man who is in Heaven ! Would this doctrine of fools, if it were true, blot out the sum of your life ! Be of good cheer ; if this be so, love for the Saviour is present in your heart, though as a feeble spark. And if this love be present, He will Himself prepare them who wait for His appearing — ever anew will fan to a flame the spark which threatens to die. In this way we shall grow to that power of love in which we can make the watchword of the Church of Christ on earth "Maran-atha" (the Lord cometh!) our cry of joy ; and in the midst of all tribulations and all conflicts, as well as in all deep feeling of our own want and insufficiency, can console ourselves with the thought, '' I have a glorious goal: my Lord comes f' From this arises gradually a joyful waiting and long- ing, a certain confident hoping for the coming of the Lord, so that at length the cry ever more resounds, " Come quickly !" And where such longing and sighing 14 Tlie Prophecies of Our Lord and His Aposth es. for His coming is found, there hearts unite, so that it is no longer here and there a single one who with trembling raises the cry, but it becomes ever louder and more powerful m swelling chorus, the watch- word of believers of the true Church of God on earth — "Come, Lord Jesus!" Amen. ^t Jfirst Conflid. " Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves : be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men : for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues ; And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak ; for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child : and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake ; but he that endure th to the end shall be saved." — Matt. x. i6 — 22. We have now entered upon the sacred domain of New Testament Prophecy, and have before us to-day the foundation prophecy of Our Lord Jesus Christ as to the course of His Kingdom through all the ages of the world. For it will be understood that we do not make those Prophecies of the Lord the object of our meditation in which He predicts His sufferings, His resurrection, His ascension, and which long ago 1 6 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. have passed Into complete and glorious fulfilment ; but that we have to do with those of His discourses in which He depicts before the eyes of His disciples the progress of His kingdom upon earth unto its earthly and heavenly completion ; that we are con- sequently led with especial care to examine those of His discourses in which, beginning with His own entering upon everlasting perfection and glory, now step by step, He gives us to see what shall afterwards take place, until at length the moment bursts upon us in which the word shall be perfectly fulfilled, ** Behold, I make all things new." I have called that the foundation-prophecy of our Lord, which is contained in the words of our text ; but, at the same time, to designate its import, I call it the Prophecy of the P'IRST Conflict. Our Lord, however, predicts this conflict as not once only to be fought, but as one which, beginning for His disciples, soon after His ascension, would continue through the time of their life, and would be repeated through all the ages of His Church unto the final victory. We shall, therefore, have to speak of a conflict which lies not only in the past, but is to be looked for with yet greater intensity in the future, and which, in a lesser degree, characterizes the present also. The first conflict is set before our eyes, and we see here three forms of it — first, the DiSCIPLE AND THE World ; then, the WITNESS AND HIS WORD ; and lastly, the COMBATANT AND HIS WORK. The First Conflict, 1 7 Lord Jesus, thou bidst us look upon the conflict which Thy disciples must wage to their latest breath, which Thou wilt give Thy Church again to wage when Thine hour comes — a conflict now hidden from us, but which we also, if we are Thy true disciples, must join in. Give us, then, only with joy to look to Thee, the Beginner and Finisher of our faith, the Captain of our salvation, that we may not alone look upon the conflict, but courageously perform our part in the same, assured that under Thy banner we shall be victorious. Amen. Beloved in the Lord, in the right understanding of New Testament Prophecy, very much depends upon observing the distinction of periods, oftentimes difficult to recognise, but which, nevertheless, exists in the Sacred Scriptures. It is not even to this hour fully determined what finer references in the prophetic discourses of Our Lord relate only to a judgment already accomplished — the destruction of Jerusalem — which relate to a completion of His kingdom upon earth, and which relate to the last judgment, the second coming of our Lord. And so it is with other prophecies. Under the old covenant also, nothing was more difficult to understand than the transition from one goal of prophecy to another. Here, in this foundation-prophecy, one thing at least is clear, that the Lord speaks of things which the disciples who heard him should live speedily to witness. In this respect we have before us a prophecy already fulfilled. C 1 8 The Prophecies of Our Lo7'd and His Apostles. But then, also, this prophecy has its appHcation to the whole form of the Kingdom of Christ on earth during by far the longest period of its existence ; speaks not of things which take place once for all, and afterwards become the substratum upon which the future is built, but of things which constantly repeat them- selves. A fundamental law of the Kingdom of God is here expressed, namely, that a disciple of Christ and the world stand in antagonism to each other ; that the witness of Christ, with his word, turns to this hostile world ; and that the soldier of Christ suffers defeat, and, nevertheless, triumphs. Therefore, we must bring into prominence these three forms. Let us then proceed to particulars. " I send you forth," says the Lord to His disciples, "as sheep in the midst of wolves ;" and almost immediately adds, "But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to their councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues, and you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake." All of which clearly said to the disciples, " As you come forth from the quiet circle in which you are now gathered around me, when my earthly course is finished, and your first preparation is completed, and you begin to show yourselves as the disciples of the Crucified, you will become conscious of a new life, a power entirely unknown to the world before, which affects the Jev/ish world immediately surrounding you, as well as the distant heathen world — a power which awakens TJic First Conflict. 19 opposition rising to avowed hostility, to hatred, and, at last, to the works of hatred." Thus the Lord pro- claims beforehand a severe and exhausting conflict ; and not without design does He afford them a detailed view of that which should happen. It is true, He says in general, " Beware of men," and implies thereby that humanity would be hostile to them, at their first appearance they would be an object of aversion for all. But then He gives them — what they before little thought of — a view of council houses and assemblies of those who have judicial power, and even of princes' palaces and courts of kings, and says, " Thither will you be brought, my poor disciples, and there will you be called upon to confess me." Evidently, the Lord will thereby make known to them beforehand that it is the nature of His kingdom not only to affect unfavourably one here and there who displays an especial aversion for the truth, but to have whole masses, yea, even spiritual communities, as its foes ; for He speaks of the syna- gogues in which they would be scourged, where their presence would be unendurable, and where it would be thought right to put them to death. Behold, my friends, the expression of a fixed law. The Kingdom of Christ comes to the world as some- thing strange to it, as something adverse ; and this because the world knows not its own truest, deepest, and best life ; because it comprehends not the light which has long been shining in it ; because it will not 20 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. receive the appeasing of that longing which has im- pelled it into the ways of idolatry ; because it would rather continue to drink of the bitter and brackish water, and, therefore, remains incapable of relishing the God-sent Water of Life. That is how it has happened in the history of the Christian Church. The disciples of Jesus have been delivered by the Jews into the hands of the Gentiles, and the Gentiles have hated and persecuted them at once as those who came forth from the detested nation of the Jews, and as those who brought a new doctrine and worship, and threatened to overthrow the thrones and altars of the ancient gods. We know, by a multitude of testimonies both Christian and heathen, that against no one the most dissimilar superstitions, the most cold and haughty unbelief, conspired so ardently as against the lowly men who came forth from the obscurity of Galilee and proclaimed the Crucified. We know, from the letters of the Apostle Paul, how the word of the Cross was to the Jews an offence, to the Greeks foolishness ; how, consequently, the message which formed the centre of all the apostolic proclamations — that the Son of God is come in the flesh as the Paschal Lamb, has died upon the cross for the sin of the w^orld — became the great and universal stumbling-block. You will say, Thanks be to God, this first conflict is 4eft behind us. You will, at most, cast your eyes -upon distant lands, where an overpowering idolatry ijtill confronts the solitary Ijcrald of the Cross, and TJi£ First Confiict. 2 1 exhausts him with toil and anxieties, if it does not at all times imperil his life or liberty. But this is an error. The Lord spoke these words to His disciples, precisely as he speaks to them all those other words which we do not hesitate to apply to believers of every age. We also must have our share in these words ; not only as regards the future which yet awaits the Church, but as regards the present life of the dis- ciples of Jesus. The world to-day stands in the same antagonism towards Christ as it did then. It is true we have no longer to seek around us that world to which a Peter, a John, a Paul, must oppose a front courageous through faith. But, we ask, are there in our days, and in the midst of the Christian Church, those who, by their own doing and abstaining, by their speech and silence, show the Cross of Jesus Christ beaming forth in them as the sacred sign of their redemption — are they, in the Christian society of the present day, the most welcome guests } Is it not common to find fault with them, and that which they proclaim, and to seek occasion to evade the force of the testimony they give } Must we not confess that now in the Christian world the distinc- tion meets us again between the living and true Christians and the world } It is true that the two divisions are not separated by a sharply-drawn line perceptible to every one, and under all circumstances. It was not even so in the Apostles' time ; for in Israel there were many persecutors of the disciples 22 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. of Jesus, who afterwards became their warmest friends, their brethren and companions in faith. Saul is the most towering form among these, but he certainly did not stand alone ; and even among the heathen there were earnest souls who did not seek after truth entirely in vain, who cherished a desire after salvation and peace with God, and, at first, hoped to satisfy this longing nowhere so little as in the proclamation of the Cross of Jesus of Nazareth, the Galilean put to death in Jerusalem at the command of the Roman Procurator. And yet a good number of them after- wards became teachers and lights in the Church of Christ. Then, also, there were certain border-lands and transitory states between the world and the children of God. Such there are now. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore nor close our eyes to the fact that Judaism and heathenism, superstition and unbelief — in spite of all the Divine revelation enclosed in the husk of Judaism, and notwithstanding the higher yearnings of heathen philosophy — opposed to the apostolic message a decided hatred. So it is still ; and in many a soul which speaks of Christian things with interest, yea, even with a kind of inspiration, and in thousands of minds which speak little or nothing of it, there is an aversion for the living power of true Christianity, a genuine discipleship ; and should such disciple of Christ only present himself, this aversion would be revealed in words or, at least, in mien, and, where the occasion occurs, in more than The First Conflict. 23 word or mien. Let each one examine carefully whether, when — what, perhaps, seldom happens — he meets one who, in quiet simplicity, in uprightness of heart, without many words, with patience, meek- ness, and long suffering, confesses Jesus Christ the Crucified alone as the light, the power, and the joy of his life — whether he is well pleased, whether he feels himself drawn to such an one, and his heart goes towards him ; or whether the desire arises to find a weak side to his religious life, or a stain in his character ; or whether he even feels as though he must flee the presence, the intercourse, and the in- fluence of this man ? In this is seen the hatred of the world for the disciples of Christ ; for the dis- ciples of Jesus Christ are known, not by their bearing no traces of sins, faults, and infirmities, and certainly not by their testifying of Jesus in words, by their speaking fluently of Him, but by this, that everyone must secretly confess, "what He is we can become only when some miraculous change has passed over us — some change from on high. That which He speaks of the word and Cross of Christ is the result of deep and heartfelt conviction." When such an one is recognised, the world at first at least regards him wdth little friendship, with dis- like, or even with hostility ; for the disciple passes through the world not simply as a disciple, but he testifies: HE IS A WITNESS, AND HIS WORD IS A TESTIMONY. 24 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. It is written in our text, ''Ye shall be brought before governors and kings for My sake, for a testi- mony against them and the Gentiles." That is not merely as though he should say, the fact that you are treated with hostility, and that they will bring you as transgressors before principalities and powers, would be in itself a witness in regard to them ; but it is predicted to the Apostles that they will have an opportunity in the synagogues, council-houses, and palaces, to testify in word of Him their Saviour. Accordingly, he presently adds, " Take no thought how or what ye shall speak." It is this to which we naturally pass from the consideration of the disciple, and his position in regard to the world. So they went forth, these despised and unpretend- ing men, these organs of the Holy Spirit. Even their first appearance commanded, often against the will of those to whom they came, certain reverence ; some- thing beamed from the eyes of these lowly men which was not read in the eye of heathen philosophers, or of Jewish Scribes ; a sacred fire, a sacred light, a sacred love beamed forth from them. They were precisely such as were most unendurable to the heart resisting the truth, because they rendered a silent testimony; they stood there as men in whom something of the primaeval glory of the Divine likeness was to be recognised — something of the confidence and assu- rance of faith, which overcomes the world — something of the love which is stronger than death — something The First Co7ifiict. 25 of the living hope which no bloodshed, no shame on earth is able to quench. For this reason, those among the Gentiles and Jews who were not laid hold of by their testimony became their most decided foes. For it is ever true that a man who wishes to con- tinue in sin, to whom a lie is dearer than truth, because truth condemns him before it makes him free, can abide no one less than Him who, through God's grace, has become a partaker of light and life and Divine truth. The words of Jesus — " Be not anxious how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your Father which speaketh in you " — bring us into the very heart of our subject. It is no longer a question of man's testi- mony, but of God's testimony through men ; and no longer of man's word, but of God's word in the mouth of man. God speaks ; the Crucified Saviour, raised and seated at the right hand of the Majesty of His Father, speaks in the Holy Ghost through His disciples. And the testimonies of the disciples of Jesus we now possess, under the name of the New Testament, as the well-spring and Divine standard of all our spiritual life, knowledge, and action. They stand now before the world, and that not before the great undistinguished mass, but before the princes of the world, the wise and learned of the world, the conscious defenders of the world and its principles ; they stand not only as individual persons 26 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. who bring a doctrine, but as organs of everlasting truth ; and their testimony comes to the hearts of these princes, these rulers, and these scribes, and invites them to the Lamb of God, who beareth the sin of the world. Their first testimony ever remains, that the life has appeared, and that the longing for life which breathes through the world needs no more to seek its satisfaction in broken cisterns, but that now the spring of life is flowing, and every one that thirsts may drink the water of life without price. Such testimony, when it came to the heathen and their great ones, found also — according to the promise of the Lord, that the Gospel should be preached to the poor — its way to the lowly among the people. This testimony from the mouth of God, of the Holy Ghost, it is which has given birth to the Church of Christ, has overthrown the glory and power of the heathen world, and has transformed the seats of heathen dominion into thrones of Christian govern- ment. It brought its recipients at first nothing but the bitter cup to drink, which their Master Himself had drunk. We know that of the Apostles, no one, so far as our acquaintance extends, passed through life without severe trials ; and scarcely any one entered eternity by what is termed a natural death. And we know, further, that they were only the first followers after Christ, the first fruits ; that they were succeeded by a long succession of martyrs, who were called to lay down their life for the testimony of Jesus. TJie First Conflict. 27 This conflict is continued through all ages of the Christian Church. There have, indeed, been quieter times, when the authorities did not rise up against the Lord, and against His anointed, to bring those who confessed Him before their tribunal, cast them into prison, and to lead them to the scaffold. But there have also been other times, which have often recurred since the time of the Apostles, and will, perhaps, return again. I may even leave out the word " perhaps," and say, they will return again, according to the word of prophecy. This conflict will yet be prolonged, and the world, which calls itself Christian, will yet once more be drawn up in battle array against those who bear the testimony of Jesus ; and the occasion will yet arise for showing who belongs to the Saviour for life and death, and who accompa- nies His hosts only so long as it is a time of peace. Remember, dear friends, that the word of the tes- timony which produces such effects, which becomes a witness to whole nations, either for judgment or for life — that word is not the word of man ; and, there- fore, if we should be, each one in his measure, witnesses of Jesus Christ, and if this prophecy, in its alarming and its consohng aspect, is to belong to us, the word of the Holy Ghost, the word of the Heavenly Father, must also be in us, and we must have some- thing to speak which is not of ourselves, but of Him who speaketh in us. A witness of Jesus is only he who, like the Apostles, speaks, because he cannot but 28 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. speak, of this Jesus of Nazareth ; and this from his innermost experience, because he has received forgive- ness of sins, Hfe, and blessedness, through Jesus Christ. The witness of Christ is he who, in the sphere in which God has placed him, invites and urges those who are yet far from Jesus to taste the goodness of the Lord. Such an one is a witness for Christ, be he ever so unlearned, poor, and in every way inferior, according to human judgment ; let him only know the simple foundation- truths by living faith — livings that is, as the Holy Spirit speaks them in him. Such witnesses of Jesus Christ will experience in our time the same fate as the Apostles ; not exactly the cross and the sword, but scorn, contempt, repulses, mis- representation, and even persecution. In their case will be seen that neither the advanced culture of our European nations, nor the Christian culture of our Evangelical Church, will be able to repress the enmity against the Cross of Christ, and against the pure and simple testimony concerning it. The hour appointed in God's hidden counsel for removing the barriers which restrain the passion and hatred of men against Christ has not yet struck, nor will it in the immediate future. We know not, it is true, whether any of us may live to behold such a time ; but this we know, that then only shall wc have our part in the victory and blessing of Jesus Christ, if we in this our time are witnesses as we have been called to be. A nation of witnesses, a Church of The First Conflict. 29 witnesses will the Lord make of us, if we have in us the word of the Holy Ghost as an irresistible, all- subjecting power. Consequently, the witness has become a COM- BATANT ; and it is of this which our text last speaks. The disciple shall be a witness ; the witness a com- batant. How, then, does he become a combatant t In this, that through the rejection of his testimony, he is not prevented from further testifying that he regards the hatred and bitterness which meets him, as the Apostle Peter exhorts the believers to do in his first Epistle : " Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you ; for the time is come that judgment must begin at the House of God." He becomes a combatant because he sees opposed to him a hostile power, and that not in men. The combatant of Christ, though he has also to do with men, has not regard simply to men ; just as he himself does not come forward and bear witness, simply in his human character. As he is the organ of the Holy Ghost, so are they also, if they steadfastly resist the Word of God and return hatred for love, organs of the Prince of Darkness, the Prince of this World ; and, therefore, the witness of Christ knows and experiences, again and again, that his warfare is with principalities and powers, who rule in the darkness of this world — that is to say, that he has to do with the evil spirits under licaven, with the kingdom of Satan. 30 TJie PropJiccics of Our Lord and His Apostles. It is written in our text, "And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child ; and the children shall rise up against the parents, and cause them to be put to death." Shall, indeed, the most sacred bonds which God himself has knitted between father and mother, husband and wife, be dissolved, through the testimony of the dis- ciples of Jesus ? And yet, so it is ; there is no other bond so sacred and so endearing as to be compared with that which binds the human heart to its Saviour. If a human being is once united to Christ, has once entered into living communion with Him through His grace, draws daily and hourly all his light and all his strength from this one heart, then the world feels it — even that world united with us in closest bonds — the husband of the wife, the wife of the husband, father and mother of the children, and the children of each other, friends formerly most intimate — feels that a higher communion has come between. If, then, they are not drawn to Him by the same gracious power which took hold of the first in their circle, but resist Him, the member of their circle who has become a believer, who has become spiritually new, is so much more hated of them, so much the more an object of aversion as he was before near to them. For wherever a regenerate man enters into the circle of others, even upright, honourable men, he is a witness. They read, without his speaking a word, in his whole bearing, " You also ought to be as I am." Then TJic First Conflict. 31 there Is ever felt a Divine admonition, which says, *' Behold, it is possible to become on earth, in the midst of this poor, sinful world, a possession of God in Christ Jesus." Where such a witness is borne, there is strife and conflict ; there arises even that which the Lord has predicted in such w^ords of power — the tearing asunder of the most sacred and noblest bonds. The Word of God brings at first, as our Saviour himself has said, not peace, but the sword. It separates, in the individual man, joint and marrow, soul and spirit ; and in the community of men, everything which is of the truth from that which is not. We cannot remain neutral in the presence of the living witness of Christ ; we must either submit to Him, to receive therefrom peace, and blessing, and everlasting life, or we must resist Thus, the witness of Christ is exposed to continual conflict, and must be reproached, as the Gospel itself is often reproached, w^ith bringing disturbance and dispeace, with marring the beauty of life, with destroying the charm and grace of social intercourse, with demanding of us that which is impossible, and thus depriving life of its cheerfulness. These are modes of expression heard in our own time ; we hear every day such language as this — " This is a superhuman demand ; we are so weak, and God will not require of us above our power." But, beloved, all this, since Christ's ascension, is no longer admis- sible. It is not said. Thou sJialt restore in tJiyselJ j-^ The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. ike image of God ; but, He will do it. If It were necessary that you should do it, if it were even possible to lift up your head proudly and boldly, and to press forward in the strength of your own virtue, you would feel less to repel you. But because it is necessary, as a sinner, to be accepted through grace— to be judged in grace, but also to be justified through grace — there is an offence ; and thus every disciple of Jesus, so long as the Church of Christ shall remain the Church militant, will be exposed to conflict. " But he that endureth to the end shall be saved." These are words of very serious import ; and we shall have, in our after meditations, more fully to examine them. *' He that endureth to the end shall be saved." What powerful temptations, what assaults of the world, what weakness of faith, what lukewarmness, what cooling of affection, and what dejection arise ! And yet it is said, "He that endureth to the end shall be saved." In this promise lies the greatest wonder of Divine grace. There is, properly, only One who can be regarded by God as having endured to the end — the Prince of our Salvation. And yet the Lord speaks of poor men who will persevere. This is grace upon grace. Here there must be an intervention of Divine help, and a Divine imputation through grace. And so it is. The nearer the end comes to each, and to Christians in general on earth, so much the more deeply and painfully will each one, and believers as a The First Cotiflict. 33 whole, feel the spiritual poverty in which they have walked, the sin they have wrought, the indolence of which they have to accuse themselves, the failures they have to repair ; and will wonder, can only wonder, that God remembers not these their sins, but regards them only as such as have endured to the end. Oh, my friends, are we disciples ? are we witnesses ? are we combatants ? Then, be of good cheer ; the Lord is He who will enable us to endure unto the end. And, then, the blessedness ! Yea, not then first, for we already taste from time to time a drop out of the full cup of Eternity. Already, amidst the bitterest tears, we are enabled to experience to some extent that the Lord knows His own, that He crowns them and satisfies them with heavenly good. But what will this be, compared with the joy and blessedness contained in the words, "Ye are they which have continued with Me in My tempta- tion." Oh, that then none of us may be wanting ! Amen. D t €ammQ oi i\it Son 0f glan» ** Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom." — Matt. xvi. 28. Beloved in Christ Jesus, — In the first of the medi- tations, whose series we follow, I called to you, in the words of the Apostle Paul, " The Lord cojnes !'' In the second, supported by a word of the Saviour, we glanced at the characteristics of His kingdom as a whole, and found it was a kingdom of conflict here on earth. To-day the outstretched finger of the Lord Jesus Christ points us again to the Coming OF THE Son of man ; and he brings before our eye two points, in that he once says to us. He COMES IN His KINGDOM, and then adds. He COMES QUICKLY. Lord, Thou didst come, Thou comest still, and Thou wilt yet come. Oh, help us by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may love Thine appearing ; that, as He who has come, Thou maycst ever be our salvation and life, that we may daily experience Thy coming, and may joyfully await Thy advent in glory. Amen. Our meditation has once more the same founda- tion thought. The Lord comes. We meditate on TJu Coming of the Son of Man. 35 the coming of the Lord ; but this time we have not to show in general that He comes, and that in all ages of the Church, until the last of the days, this hope and supporting expectation of His coming must continue ; but we have to receive instructions from Him concerning the way and manner in which the Son of man comes, namely, in zuhat character He comes, and ivhen He comes. As to the character in which He comes, our text is only one of many which speak of it ; for it is known to us all that He will not come a second time in humility and poverty, will not appear again to bear the burden of our sins and misery, but as King and Lord ; that He will not come again, afterwards to depart and to disappear from our eyes in the clouds of heaven, but will come to bring in the end ; after which all who have believed in Him will behold Him in unspeakable joy and blessedness, and all who have rejected Him will receive the reward of their works from everlasting to everlasting. He will come IN His kingdom ; and since this kingdom is a kingdom on earth, and is called a kingdom of heaven because it was founded — or, I would rather say, born — from above, and because its highest peak soars again into heaven, into the sunlight of ever- lasting glory, there is, on this account, need for a closer examination of that which our Lord says : "Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the 2,6 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. Son of man coming in His kingdom." Did He by this mean to imply that the last visible manifestation of the Son of man in glory, to judge the Vv'orld, would take place during the lifetime of some who were then surrounding him ? He could not mean this, since He himself has said, "The times and the seasons the Father hath put in His own power. The day and the hour know not the angels which are in heaven ; not even the Son." But were there not some among His disciples who, in their lifetime, had occa- sion to think of these words from their Master's lips, who received so truly the fulfilment of them, that no more doubt could remain as to their meaning 1 Of what event have we first to think t of what coming of the Lord } Of that which He proclaimed to Jeru- salem ; that He would come and judge the city of God and the chosen people. Nevertheless, in those discourses in which He speaks of the future and the last earthly goal of His kingdom, he gathers together, in one picture, in one contemplation, more than once, the judgment which came upon Israel, and the destruction of Jerusalem, and events which should take place centuries afterwards, and, finally, His appearing amidst the flames of the last judgment ; so that wc are not in a position sharply to separate between the one and the other, but must say, all belongs to one great Divine whole. His kingdom began when the Holy Ghost descended, gathered souls together, and made them His subjects, so that TJlc Coming of the Son of Man. IJ they could no more leave Him — that no powers of the world and no powers of hell were able to tear them from Him. But not of this manifestation of His kingdom does He speak when He says, " The Son of man will come in His kingdom." He speaks of His majestic victory, of His kingly sway, and of the important moments in the history of the world, when this kingly sway of the crucified Son of man, from the throne of eternity, becomes manifest for all who know anything whatever of Him. To such periods belongs, first, the destruction of the Jewish state, of the Jewish national life, and, above all, of the temple and its sacrifices. That is the first mighty coming of the Lord in His kingdom. For how came about the destruction of Jerusalem, viewed in relation to His kingdom } Looking back, we must answer. For a chastisement — for a judgment upon the unfaith- ful nation. Looking forward, that the Gospel might be preached in all the world. So long as Jerusalem remained, this magnet placed there by the hand of God himself, all apostolic labour turned upon its centre, all eyes were directed to this one city of God's revelation ; and never, humanly speaking, would the kingdom of God, the preaching of Jesus Christ and faith in the Crucified, have been able to reach all the nations of the earth, if Jerusalem had remained in its ancient importance ; for it was the place distin- guished by God, by its association with the greatest turning points in the whole history of God's king- ^S The Prophecies of Otir Lord and His Apostles. dom. In Jerusalem happened all, or at least the greater part, of that which exerted the deepest influence on the spiritual destinies of mankind, from the offering of Isaac upon Moriah, and from the appearing of Melchisedec at Salem, to the ascension of the Son of God and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. Therefore, the chosen Apostle to the heathen, Paul, who testified of Christ in the most illustrious cities of the Gentile world, was not able to remain far distant from this centre. Ever and again we see this Apostle also journeying up to Jerusalem, and there holding brotherly intercourse with those who were pillars of the Church of Christ, and who had remained in the Holy City. Yea, the Lord himself had at first said, " Tarry in Jerusalem ;" and this so penetrated the hearts of the first Church, even of many Gentile Christians, that in the gathering of the Roman armies around Jerusalem, and their knocking at the doors of the Holy City, and in the coming of the abomination of desolation which left not one stone upon another, there became manifest to them a doctrine, a revelation, a fact of God's kingdom, which no one but the Lord, in prophetic spirit, had before rightly understood. Brethren, it thus became evident that Jesus Christ is not only a Saviour for the nation of Israel, and through them for the other nations of the earth, but that He is the Saviour for all that is called man, and that we should no longer worship in this or that place, but The Coming of tlie Son of Man. 39 that everywhere, in spirit and in truth, the Father is to be honoured in the Son. From this moment it was clear that the Gospel is not bound to one place or one time, but, as a testimony of the kingdom, must be preached in all the world before the end can come. The destruction of Jerusalem is, therefore, not, as might easily be supposed, merely the first fulfilment of the prophecy of our Lord Jesus Christ, in so far as Jerusalem was a place loved for the Father's sake, but it is the revelation of His kingdom extending over all the world. And the destruction of the vessel with which, until then, even Paul had supposed all the revelation and all the history of God's kingdom to be bound up, leaves deep its impression upon the character of the Church of God under the new covenant. Therefore, when the Lord comes in His kingdom, it takes place in such a way that everyone who has an open heart for His coming, and to whom has been proclaimed something of Him as the ever- lasting High Priest and King, must recognise that this coming itself is again a starting point of a newly- beginning life. When He came against Jerusalem, destroying and judging, there appeared in this judg- ment, for the eyes of those who knew Him, the majestic form of the glorious King. When the captive people were scattered into all lands, where thousands already believed in Him, these believers became aware that God had not only brought about an ending, but also had created a new beginning. 40 The PropJtecies of Onr Lord and His Apostles. The destruction of Jerusalem is a beginning in the kingdom of God, and only after this event was it possible to speak as some of the apostolic epistles afterwards speak, when they give us a view afar off into the kingdom of Christ, and lead us, after a variety of experiences and countless agitations therein, to expect the glorious and blessed end. By this, I do not mean to say all the apostles must await the actual overthrow of Jerusalem in order to understand this ; but the approach of this overthrow they must have begun to learn by experience. They must have seen that it was not God's will, as they had hitherto thought, to use for all times the same precious depo- sitory of revelation. When the new beginning had come, the coming of the kingdom of Christ extended even more widely ; and through the whole Gentile world Christ drew near, knocked in the preaching of His word at the door of the heart, formed nations afresh, and there came into the life on earth, which had fallen into decay and was ready to perish, heavenly refreshing strength, and the tempests of nations approached — tempests which must spend themselves ere the nations would receive the life- power of the Gospel. In this the Son of man came in His kingdom. It was another kingdom than the world had hitherto seen, when at length millions and millions received, although it may be in the midst of much error and rudeness of manners, the crucified Son of God and Son of man as the only one in whom The Cojuing of the Son of Man. 41 a human soul can become blessed and glorified. There sounded in the midst of blood and tears, in the midst of the most revolting devastations which the world has experienced, in the midst of the most tremendous conflicts which human pride has ever waged, a song of praise, in which was heard some- thing of the angel notes which burst upon the plains of Bethlehem. Behold, such a coming of the Lord has ever a wider and wider extent ; and how can we any longer ask whether the Lord comes to us, whether the Son of man gives us to-day to recognise such a coming in His kingdom ? I do not now mean merely that approach which John described in the Book of Revelation, in the words, " Behold, I stand at the door and knock : if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me ;" but I mean the great victorious coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Has this been experienced in this our time } Not long ago in our history the kingdom of Jesus Christ was as good as disappearing amongst us, and there might as easily, according to human judgment of Divine things, have come a judicial dispensation for us, as it came for Jerusalem ; the Lord might have broken the old vessel and have chosen Himself a new one, if that had been in His gracious purpose. But no. He has not done it. He has begun to purify the vessel, and we can truly say we have now once 42 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles, more a manifestation of the kingdom of our Lord. It has begun, but will it also attain the goal ? Will a general far-extending awakening of our people — will a renewing of those who preach and teach, and of those who hear, be the immediate result of this period ? Then it is a manifestation of God's kingdom unto our blessing and life. But if not, the time may not be far distant when from us also the candlestick shall be removed and placed elsewhere ; when we shall perhaps remain in the enjoyment of earthly prosperity, but have failed in the task which was imposed upon our land. We shall then, through indolence, unbelief, worldly-mindedness, and regard- ing only the earthly, have failed of the goal which was appointed us. But let us rather each one direct the question to his own heart. Has there been for thee in this thy time a manifestation of Christ 1 Has He been too strong for thee, and hast thou felt thyself called by thy King 1 Dost thou fall at His feet, and knowest nothing more except His grace 1 That, you will quickly and easily be able to see, if we pass over to the second point : He COMES QUICKLY. Thus it is said, in the introduction to the last great apostolic prophecy, " The Revelation of Jesus Christ, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass;" and at the close, ** Behold, I come quickly." What, then, does this mean } The Lord speaks in our text : " There be some standing The Coming of the Son oj Man. 43 here, which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom." We have seen how perfectly this promise has been fulfilled. But nevertheless, there was felt throughout the whole apostolic church a longing expectation of the coming of the Lord. We hear the apostles everywhere exhort, urge, and invite believers to prepare ; and even in external things, so to order their lives as expecting the time of this w^earisome conflict would not much longer last, but quickly the time of the Lord's victorious appearing and majestic sway be come. And does not this expectation extend also beyond the time of the apostles, after they had already received the crown of the Conqueror ? There has been no century in the history of the Christian Church in which single voices have not been heard loudly proclaiming, that, according to the signs of the times, we must expect the Lord will come quickly — within the next few years. These were not the voices of those to whom the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in His kingdom was terrible ; but the voices of the children of God who rejoiced in the prospect of enjoying on earth a redemption which was indeed assured to them in heaven. Beloved, in this word quickly lies a touchstone for our hearts. If there is no joy for us in this word — if when our Lord calls to us, " I will not suffer you much longer to wait," there is not a door open for us through which light and life streams into the dark 44 The Prophecies of Our Lord ajid His Apostles. chamber of our earthly being — then are we not of the number of those who love the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ But if it is a joy and delight to us that the Lord comes quickly, then even if this quickly means not " while you are a pilgrim here below," if for us the coming of the Lord shall be changed into our going to Him, we, like all those who have finished in the joy of hope their course upon earth, shall, with child-like resignation, enter into our last joy ; but the Church, the true communion of Jesus Christ, will, after our departure, cherish and proclaim the same expectation. Yet this remains a touchstone for each heart. For the Lord may come every day, even for the last judgment. His times are not our times. He may call suddenly into appearance all which we read of as the signs of His coming in His word and the word of His apostles ; can bring to maturity in a decade of years, yea, in a year, what at other times in the history of the world has required a century, or even ten centuries, for its accomplishment. But on the other hand, when we suppose we have surmounted the last height, beyond which the glorious prospect opens up before us, there may yet extend for us a wide level, beyond which is another mountain range to be ascended. You know not His day and hour. If such a thought inspires you with regret that all your plans, enjoyments, and delights, or even all your labour and toil must be suddenly interrupted, if you move in other circles than those of which He is the centre, The Coining of the Son of Man. 45 His coming is for you no redemption, but a destruc- tion. Your Jerusalem perishes when He comes. But if there is a soul which, notwithstanding all earthly enjoyments, notwithstanding all that which it has here obtained, yet cherishes only the one dominant thought, " Oh, that the Lord Jesus Christ were come, that this life of sin in me and all others were at an end, that perfect glorification were attained, and we walked in joy and peace before His face ; that this earth, laden with the curse, were delivered and brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of God," for such an one the word quickly is a glorious addition to the promise. "There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom." To wait, to long for His coming, belongs to the life of apostolic Christianity. For this they ever looked, those faithful men of God, the pillars of the Church in all ages, and inquired either after His coming from heaven, or after their departure to Him. Oh, that such asking in the Church, within our own circle, were a common one ; that we stretched forth our hands to the Lord Jesus, and in spirit exclaimed, " Even so, come Lord Jesus !" Amen. Sips of tlj^ Coming of Cljrist. ** And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars : see that ye be not troubled : for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." — Matt. xxiv. 4-6. Beloved in Christ Jesus, — We have, in our last meditations on the coming of the Lord in His king- dom, laid down some general principles as to His coming, some of the main characteristics thereof, as they are learnt from the mouth of our Lord in different places of the Gospel narrative. But in our previous meditations, there must have arisen, in the mind of many a hearer, the question which the disciples of Jesus put to Him, and to which the words of our text are an answer : " What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world ?" This question is fully warranted, if we have before us prophecies of a coming of the Lord, which, in the kingdom of God, ever receive their more perfect fulfilment. We might put the question more fully. Signs of the Coining of Christ. 47 thus : How shall we distinguish the different kinds of His coming, and what are the infallible signs that another such oft- repeated coming of the Lord is before us, or that at length His final coming is near ? Of the Signs of the Coming of Christ we must, therefore, speak in the meditations which immediately follow ; and since a whole succession of them are mentioned by the Lord, we will now take up the first sign of His coming, so emphatically and repeat- edly expressed by Him, namely, The Hours OF Temptation in His kingdom. We will then, at present, speak of the hours of temptation in His kingdom — TEMPTATION TO ERROR, TEMPTATION TO APOSTASY, and TEMPTATION TO DESPAIR. Thy Church, O Lord, has been exposed to severe assaults. Thousands and thousands have, through Thy Divine power, been enabled to stand, and have been preserved in temptation ; but millions, also, have not stood, but have sunk upon the field of battle. Lord, help us, that we may not perish in the hours of temptation, which belong to our time ; that we may recognise them, and that we may then be strengthened through Thy Divine power, and armed for the conflict, that we may also obtain the victory. Amen. It is true, my friends, and a matter of experience with you all, that there are hours of temptation every day, that our flesh and blood, the world around us, 48 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles, and the kingdom of darkness, are unceasingly active to tempt and to seduce us from the simplicity which is in Christ. We know, not only from our own ex- perience, but also from a thousand confessions of believers in every age of the Christian Church, that our life here is a constant warfare, and that we fall into divers temptations as soon as we are tried. But it is also a fact, which each one is not alike able to learn from his own life, but which the contem- plation of the history of Christ's kingdom upon earth irresistibly proves, that at certain times more conflicts are necessary if we would stand fast in the truth and purity of the Gospel, and follow Jesus Christ, than at other times. We will not enter upon the question whether, in such times of trial, the Lord does not afford especial strength ; we will not either raise the question whether it is just that to one generation a severer conflict should be appointed than to another. What we propose at this time is more closely to look at these hours of temptation as signs of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We read that the disciples of Jesus asked for such signs, and that the Lord gave them the answer, ** Take heed that no man deceiv^e you." A strange answer to such a question. They wish to know how they may recognise that His coming is near. What are the heralds on earth of His coming.? In reply. He directs their regard to themselves with the warning, "Take heed that no man deceive you." Signs of the Coining of Christ. 49 There is, my friends, such a thing as a looking about after the signs of the times, which cannot be acceptable to the Lord ; a spirit of curious research, in which watchfulness over self is forgotten, and one supposes himself distinguished by special wisdom because he is able to interpret the signs of the times. In answer to the questioning of such an one, the Lord replies, " Take heed that no man deceive you ;" "for," He adds, "many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many," — as though he should say, a merely curious looking after any striking phenomena will not secure the recog- nition of my coming. On the contrary, you are only so much the more exposed to the danger of mistaking a supposed coming of your Lord for the true one, and so falling into error. We must measure the temptations which come upon the Church of Christ by a sure standard, and this is the life of our Lord himself If the Church is the body of Christ, if He is the head, and we who believe on Him are the members, then He is also our forerunner in all things ; as in His course through sufferings to glory, so also in His being tempted in all points. The great body of Christ on earth, the Church of God, must consequently pass by the same way of suffering, and experience essentially the same stages of temptation, which He had to pass through. You will answer, A temptation to error, how would that be possible with Him } To which I reply, that He E 50 The Prophecies of Oicr Lord and His Apostles. did not indeed fail under it, and that we must main- tain that He, being such as we know Him, could not fail under it. But that does not prevent us from per- ceiving that yet, in many places, the temptation to error presented itself to Him. You will, perhaps, think that temptation to error is not conceivable for Him who could say, " No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven ;" and who, speaking of heavenly things, could say, "We testify that we have seen." How could He be led into any error, who, by an eternal Divine intuition, knew Divine things .-* My brethren, that were all perfectly true, if our Lord had not taken upon him flesh and blood ; had He not voluntarily, from an impulse of an eternal love, laid aside His glory, humbled Himself, and entered into our servant-form, in which He must even assure us that He knew not the hour of the full mani- festation of His kingdom, " which the Father hath put in His own power." Had our Saviour been only the Son of the eternal God, and not also the true Son of man, such objections were unanswerable. But since we know that He learned here on earth, and drew His knowledge from the law and the prophets, and from the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit which was shed upon Him in full measure. His knowledge was, so long as He remained here below, a human knowledge ; though, truly, tJiat human knowledge which, without error and without defect, became Signs of the Coming of Christ 5 r henceforth the fountain of all knowledge in Divine things. He, also, was tempted to error, when the enemy came to Him, and said, *' If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." He was tempted to error, when they came and would make Him a king ; He was tempted to error, when the people praised Him as a prophet, like whom none before had appeared — when the Pharisees and Scribes were reduced, to silence before Him ; and it was His victory that He did not depart from the way of humiliation which His heavenly Father had appointed Him, but testified, "I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." Yea, the temptation to error was ever present in the highest moments of His mediatorial life, namely, the error, that, because He was descended from above, He should transcend the narrow, human limits within which His life on earth was placed ; that He should rise above suffering and trial, above conflict, and labour, and toil, above wearisome wrestling and seek- ing, and quickly attain the highest goal of Divine revelation to men, and be able to express what could be expressed only to heavenly spirits. He did not allow Himself to be seduced into this error. He was tempted, but remained victorious. And what is the tendency of all and every tempta- tion in the world } Ever to raise the Christian above the limits of humility. Even those errors which deeply affected the Church, because it appeared that their 5 2 The Propliecies of Our Lord and His Apostles, advocates were more lowly than the Apostles, had this tendency. If their nature was perfectly ta annihilate the God-created human power, and to allow man no spark of susceptibility for Divine things ; if the central point of their doctrine was to regard man in his nature only as bad, and to expect only his perdition without the miracle of an entirely new creation ; if they explained the redemption of man through the work of Divine grace as an arbi- trary act ; — all this bore indeed the appearance of humbling the pride of human power, but bore not within itself true humility : for even errors which seem entirely to annihilate the human, and to glorify the power of God alone, tended in their innermost nature to divorce human life from its responsibility before the Lord, to raise it out of the state of depen- dence in which it continually stands before God, in which it must esteem itself as nothing, and yet employ all its powers to be found well pleasing to the Lord. Under the guise of humility is concealed the pride of the human life, confounding itself with God and His almighty operation. If, on the other hand, it has been taught that man must indeed first be brought into communion with God through Christ before he can live the life of Christ — but, then, his own power is sufficient to work out his path to glory and blessedness — it is clear in this case, that as Christ, according to the will of the tempter, should not in patience and humility Signs of the Coniing of Christ. :).> tread the way of suffering to reach the crown of victory, so also the individual Cliristian and the Church, forsaking the tedious and lowly path of growth which the Lord has appointed, should aspire in the proud sense of self-sufficiency to the crown, and seek to wear it here on earth. Into such error many thousands of Christians have been led ; and we cannot say that it has become rare in our own time. Though it were nothing more than that we should make our Christianity — the precious pos- session of the soul given to us in grace — an external means, that through it we might have a claim upon the world and its possessions ; and if (as it was then said to the Lord, " If thou be the Son of God, com- mand these stones that they be made bread," or, "If thou canst not do this, distrust thy Divine Sonship,") we should be met with the question. What avails you your Christianity? — do you not live poorly on earth ? — can your poverty be God's gift and grace ? — what is the worth of a gift for the inner life, which does not in some way reflect itself in the improve- ment of the earthly condition ? — or if we think we may boldly ask of the Lord that, as His chosen ones, we should be led by more pleasant paths ; — all this is^ one and the same error, old and yet ever new, which has become by no means alien to our own times. Yea, I maintain that in our days the temptation to seek worldly ends by means of spiritual and Divine things is especially prevalent ; and if it should mere 54 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles, than ever before spread over the whole Church of Christ, we must conclude a special hour of temptation has come. My brethren, error ever contains within it a mea- sure of truth. There is no error which is not a per- version — at first sight, one would even say an excess — of the truth. But through error is the way to APOS- TASY ; and this also has from the beginning been the case with great numbers of those who called them- selves after Jesus Christ. It is an apostasy from Christ as soon as an individual or a community does not daily and hourly stand in need of the Saviour ; as soon as He is no longer your Saviour, as soon as, without Him, you can escape the burden of sin, your heart apart from Him can find peace. It is^ then, in fact and reality present, even although it has not yet become a principle and a doctrine with you. Many do not proceed so far : they have no need to raise apostasy to a principle, to an explicit formula ; they are satisfied to cherish it in their lives, to be called Christians and to serve Satan, but in case of necessity to be able to have recourse to Christ ; whilst their life and actions through long years show no concern about this Saviour and the way of access to Him. This apostasy will first become open and declared when men have joined the standard of another. " Many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ." We may reply, that no longer any danger can arise SigJis of the Coming of Christ. 5 5 from such fanatics. If any one came and said that he was Christ, we should treat him as one demented, and none would follow him. But, my friends, if an}- preaches a gospel through which man's self-righteous- ness remains unbroken and unlimited ; if one pro- claims a wisdom which is for every one easily com- prehended and attractive, and which dispenses with the inconvenient thoughts of death and judgment, of hell and everlasting chastisement, which even at last resolves the distinction between good and evil into the necessities of the physical organization ; — if men have the audacity to proclaim this from the pulpits of a Christian state, is apostasy from Christ far off.? Our Saviour himself was tempted to apostasy when Satan approached Him with the words, "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." It was naturally not a question of acknowledging the dark seducer as His God, but only of appointing himself by human power as king, and opening to himself the way to the throne by false and Satanic means. Our Lord rejected the tempta- tion with the words of victory, " Get thee behind Me, Satan !" Are we also following His example .-* Upon this hangs the fate of thousands in the Church of Christ, namely, whether they are going forward to apostasy or backward to truth ; for the opinions and works of Satanic imagination, and of gross and material thought of men, are not foreign the one to the other, but spring from one root — from the root, 56 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles, " We will not have this Man to reign over us " — from the natural pride which will not be corrected by the word of God, and will know nothing of the serious background which the Bible gives to our life. My brethren, we have here the great temptation of the present day — temptation to apostasy. Even though it were not produced by false doctrines, it would be the result of the coldness and unspiritual aims of our times. Is it not, for example, an apos- tasy from our Lord Jesus Christ, if in Christian families prayer is no longer heard, the word of God remains a closed book, and Sunday is devoted to the common toil of life or to worldly pleasures 1 Enough, to remind you that the temptation to apostasy is present, that in our days and in our city thousands and thousands have fallen under it. With sadness we must confess that, so far as this sign of the times is concerned, we are not far from a coming of Christ. Finally, there is yet a TEMPTATION TO DESPAIR. This also our Lord has passed through ; not only in the conflict which He endured in the wilderness, but also in that severer one which He endured in Geth- semane. There all turned upon the great question, Is our Lord the Redeemer, the Mediator between God and men t Will He be able to carry through the great, sacred, bitter work of redemption, or not t There He breathes forth the prayer, " If it be pos- sible, let this cup pass from me." There He sinks Sig7is of the Coming of Christ. 57 down exhausted, in bloody sweat, unable with human strength any longer to endure ; and an angel from heaven comes to strengthen him. But there also He pronounces the words of victory, reverberating through all time and through all eternity : " Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done." He trembles, but He despairs not. And therefore can His disciples and heralds say after Him, " We are perplexed, but not in despair." And when our Lord immediately after prophesies, "Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars : see that ye be not troubled : for all these things must first come to pass, but the end is not yet," He has before Him temptation to despair. We are, thanks and praise be to God, not now as a whole, in a position to be exposed to this hour of temptation. We have peace and times of repose ; we bear our burdens, and they often seem to us to be too heavy, but the Lord continues to help us from day to day and from year to year. We have no need, therefore, to give especial prominence to this temptation. But beloved, in the quiet hidden life are there not temptations to despair } And do not many hearts actually despair } Is it not so when we enter into the homes of the poor, and would touch their hearts to lead them to the Saviour } Do they not answer, "Why, then, have I no bread .^ Why am I sick.? Why am I and mine so poor, and others so prosperous } Can the compassionate God do this, whom you pro- 58 TJie Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. claim from your pulpits ? Can the Saviour do it, who receives poor sinners?" Is not this to cast away the hope of God's gracious help ? This, however, is a cold, God-forgetting, heartless form of despair. There is yet another form of despair, terrible enough, but not so hopeless as this — the despair of deepest sorrow, despair of Divine grace and help at the sight of one's own guilt. We have them — these despairing ones — in our community. And if there are souls among us who despair of God, they are what they are greatly through our neglect. And now for ourselves. Hast thou never stood on the verge of despairing of thy Lord and Saviour } If not, thank Him, and pray Him to preserve to thee the power of faith, and to bestow upon thee the power of love, that thou also mayest protect others from despair with spiritual, and, where it is needful, with material help. Where, however, this despair comes upon a whole, a nation, a church — where this becomes the temptation of the day — there we must say : " The Lord must be very near with His coming ; for, unless He be at hand, all will be lost." The chosen ones of God may be brought through suffering and tribula- tion ; they may come to experience trembling and shuddering, as their Lord trembled and shuddered ; but if in child-like faith they hold fast to Him, their Lord and Head, they will not be reduced to despair ; their tribulation will have its end in joy, an end of victory and reward. These are, then, hours in which Signs of the Coining of Christ. 59 the Lord comes ; He comes victoriously once more, and before His face the dark clouds flee away which till then had covered the heavens. So will it also one day be when the last end comes. Then many thousands will despair in regard to Him, and only a few chosen ones w^U be found waiting for Him. Then will the signal-shout of the archangel be heard, and the trumpet will sound, and the Lord will appear upon the clouds of heaven with great power and glory. His chosen ones will then be caught up to meet Him in bliss, and to rejoice with Him in His glory. Therefore, my beloved, since we know not how quickly the hour of temptation may come upon 7is also — for we were not far from it at a time lately passed through — since we know not when the hour of the Lord shall strike and He shall come, oh let us be careful that He find us as His servants watching, watching in His peace, consoled and joyful in hope ; and when we pass under the trial, let us lift up our heads, and above all, and in all, become one with Him — in child-like faith embrace the Saviour. So may the judgment hasten upon us ; so may the flames which herald His appearing flash before our eyes ; so may the thunder of His coming sound forth ! Amen. %^^ Sxtffmng-||at^ oiil^t Cfjurr^ oi Christ, ** For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom ; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you : and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." — Matt. xxiv. 7-13. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, — In the series of meditations upon the Lord's prophecies concerning His coming in His kingdom, the thought has often presented itself, that the progress of the kingdom of Christ upon earth and the path of His Church is not a merely triumphal procession, but a path of suffering. On this account we spoke of conflict, of temptation, of danger to body and to soul, to which they are exposed, who will be bearers of the name of Jesus among the nations of the earth. We must, however, unceasingly return to this point, because we cannot understand the glorious triumph of the coming TJic Sicjfering-Fath of the Church of Christ, 6 1 Lord, without first having taken deeper and enduring glances at the state of suffering of all that on earth descends or proceeds from Him. It is a universal law of God's kingdom, that after once the only begotten Son has come in human flesh and blood, and because of this humanity, yea, with this humanity has been made perfect through sufferings, and has entered into glory, henceforth all his members must go by the same way, and not indi- viduals alone, but also the whole Church. The community of His members must enter through tribulation and patience into the kingdom and glory. As often as we take up one of the prophetic dis- courses of our Lord, we find in every case that He speaks, though somewhat varying the form in which He presents the truth, of the sufferings and tribula- tion through which they pass who follow, and are in communion with Him. We have in our present text not only a repetition of that to which we have devoted earlier meditations, but at the same time a new proclamation. THE Way OF Suffering of THE Church of Christ is first under the Judg- ments OF God, then under the POWERS OF THE World, and finally UNDER THE Powers of Dark- ness ; and yet, as a goal, is set before us blessedness and glory. We hear how our Lord, on beholding the city of Jerusalem, yet radiant in all its beauty and greatness, and looking upon the resplendent marble temple 62 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. upon Moriah, speaks these words : " Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom ; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earth- quakes in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows."* He casts a glance beyond the circle which His bodily eyes at this moment command, far out upon Jerusalem, and upon the nations of the world. When He said, " Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom," his hearers un derstoodthat He had before Him the wide domain of nations unto the Euphrates, yea, to the farthest Asia, and to the remotest boundaries of the West ; that already He saw in prophetic spirit His Church extending among the nations of the ancient world. And now, of what things does He speak } Of things which since man has once fallen — has become blind, darkened, and ungodly — could not but happen ; which from century to century must ever be called forth afresh — of wars and rumours of wars, of seditions, of hatred and bitterness, of bloodshed and death. He speaks of things which we are accustomed to desig- nate visitations and judgments of God, even when men are the scourge and rod in the hand of the Almighty and Holy One. Such Divine judgments, however, come not merely through men, but also through the powers of Nature. Pestilence, famine, earthquake, are mentioned. These extend through * nSiVey, birth-pangs ; the end of Avhich (v. 14) will be contem- poraneous with the appearing of the Redeemer's glorious kingdom. The Sujfcring'Tatli of the CJiurcJi of Christ. 63 all time, and no one has lived on earth long enough to come to an extensive acquaintance with mankind, without either himself making the bitter experience of such judgments, or at least receiving intelligence of them out of other lands and nations. In our time, also, during the memory of those living, the judg- ments of God have rolled over us in mighty waves, and have, in all sorts of ways, precipitated thousands, yea, millions, out of time into eternity; and have left behind devastated lands, desolated families, poverty and distress, sorrow and tears ; and have compelled the one class to lift up their eyes with sighing to the hills, from whence help cometh, while they have goaded the others to curse their existence, or blindly to rush into the excitement and intoxication of the flesh. We are here speaking of occurrences which indeed are not strange to us. But you will ask, how this can be a prophecy of the coming of Christ .? Does He not speak merely of phenomena which happen quite naturally, whose appearance at this or that time has its necessity in the constitution of our earth, and which, from the way in which all transitory and material being moves, are inevitable "^ My friends, you know yourselves that when such chastisements break in upon the life of men, they, like all Divine acts, have not only one aim and cause, or two, but thousands of Divine aims are attained thereby, and thousands of causes contribute thereto. 64 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles, You know well that these things have another appear- ance for the worldling, who goes forth in the pride of his own power, and desires nothing of the earth but some years of comfort, of indulgence, and of pleasant life, from that which they have for the thoughtful man, who in all things has regard to his soul and its everlasting destinies, but entirely with- draws from the things of the earthly present ; and quite another aspect for him who, while he walks on earth already lives in heaven, the citizen of the ever- lasting city of God. That which the Lord here primarily will say is, that the judgments of God in history and in natural events, in the mighty tempests, which, according to the Divine will, have their neces- sity, but nevertheless, in the hand of the com- passionate and holy God, are the instruments for saving souls, or, on the other hand, to bring to their merited destruction those who have chosen to perish ; that these things very intimately affect the Church of Christ, the people of God of the New Testament. The Lord by no means says, " Under the weight of these judgments you will sink down ;" by no means does He present them as the most painful element in that which the suffering-time of His Church shall bring with it, but rather as the easiest to endure. It is the beginning of the suffering of the Church of Christ, and so also of the suffering of every believer, when the thunders of the Divine judgments roll in upon his life; even, as Peter says, "It is time that judgment The Suffering- Path of the CJiurch of Christ, 65 should begin at the house of God!' The members of this house see in these judgments the mighty hand of God, who supports them, who has had compassion on them in His only Son ; they recognise the Almighty and creative power of their God, and know at the same time that it is the heart of the Father in heaven with whom they have to do, who pities all things that He has made, and rejects none who cast themselves upon Him, and will suffer no hair to fall from the head of those who are His children in Christ Jesus. Therefore, these Divine judgments in the history of the world, and these convulsions of Nature, are suffer- ings indeed, but at the same time gracious revelations of the chastening compassion of their Father in heaven. The Church of Christ is of good courage when all around her is tempest and storm, when the earth is full of lamentation, when mighty empires collapse and sink in ruins, when the foundations of the earth tremble, when pestilence carries away thousands on the right hand and on the left, when the pale, hollow countenance of famine and want encounters her ; she consoles herself with falling into the hand of her God, and not into the hands of men. The Church of Christ and her members stand forth in these hours of judgment as those who lift up their heads, because they know that according to the word of the Saviour, every great judgment which passes over the nations is one of the trumpets of the arch- angel which call to the human race — The Lord comes ! F 66 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. At all times of the Christian Church, therefore, many have confessed the Lord when such events occurred, and when it became thus clear that human power and help could avail nothing ; when all human strength bent and brake like a slender reed. Then also those, who before would know nothing of God and Divine things, have begun with fear and trembling to acknowledge that God judges the world. Then ran through the nations a questioning whether the last day might not be near, and whether the Lord might not come in His glory ; and in the hearts of those who loved the appearing of their Lord Jesus arose a joyful longing and glad expectation, and as they looked up to Him they cried, " Come quickly !" Especially in her fairest, most precious, time of youth — the first centuries of her existence upon earth — she stood like a flower of God, or rather like a tree covered with heavenly bloom, whilst around her the sinking of nations offered an awe-inspiring spectacle of the transitoriness of all flesh. She stood there like a giant tree, beneath which souls could find a shelter, whilst the most powerful nations met in shock of battle and perished ; so that only fragments of once mighty peoples have reached us, and our present life has been built upon their ruins. There stood the Church, wide extending her mighty branches ; and in the glow and heat of affliction millions gathered to her, and were tefreshed in her shadow. The Siiffcring-PatJi of tJic Church of Christ. 6j My brethren ! This is contained in the prophecy of our Lord concerning His coming, and is true not only for that time and for later times, but also for the last preparations for His glorious coming in His kingdom. Therefore, when judgments are abroad in the world, when the angel of vengeance passes through our towns and villages, or famine glares upon us with its repulsive visage ; or when our hearts begin to tremble at the rending of the bonds which hold Christendom in peace and order ; — then is it a time when we ask, "Will the Lord come?" and that we prepare our hearts for His coming, and learn to cry, " Come quickly ; even so, come Lord Jesus !" But this is " the beginning of sorrows." Such national visitations, such judgments of God in the history of the world, are not yet the distress itself, only the beginning of the distress. It is only a premonitory judgment of the Lord, as a work of sifting and separation. A believing heart sings in the midst of it all : — Give to the winds thy fears ; Hope, and be undismayed : God hears thy sighs, and counts thy tears : God shall lift up thy head. Through waves, through clouds, and storms, He gently clears thy way. Wait thou His time ; so shall the night Soon end in joyous day. But when it is the POWERS OF THE WORLD, under which the Church passes in its way of suffer- ing, the trial becomes more severe. Even in war, 6S The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. tumult, and sedition, and in the wild battle cry of barbarous nations against each other, the Church of itself is not assailed ; it only suffers in common with others, because it is a member of sinful, fallen humanity. But there come darker nights of suffer- ing, when the Church is the object against which all the powers of the world direct their hatred. The Lord predicts this in our text : " Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you : and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." Frequently, indeed, the heavy judgments of God are an occasion to those who know not God's holy will, even as revealed in the law and the prophets, or over whose eyes the veil is drawn when they read the law, so that they are not able to discover 'Him who is the end of the law — to seek for the offenders, the flagitious transgressors, who have brought upon the world the wrath of God. Thus it was not a rare thing in former times to point to the Christians, the lowly children of God, who in seclusion served the Lord Jesus, the people who followed the thorn- crowned leader. " Behold," it was said, " these are the odious ones who will no longer recognise and worship our Gods ; on their account such trouble is come upon us." But in later times also — when no longer a little company of believers were opposed to a heathen empire, but a great Christian world existed, embracing millions of subjects — the hardened mind of the great multitude sought the guilty ones in those The Suffering-Path of the Church of Christ. 69 pure souls washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. For nothing is more pleasing to the world than to ascribe all the evil that oppresses and tortures them to those whose presence is a judgment to the world, and who are, therefore, unendurable. This is the case with those truly living in Christ Jesus — burning and shining lights in the darkness of this world — who no longer are able to be yoked together with unbelievers, and no longer can be conformed to the world. The more such believers are found to have a truly spiritual walk after the example of Christ, and in His strength — in a community such as the Church or Christian society now is — the more certainly will they become exposed to this hatred. I anticipate your thoughts. This was no doubt the case in earlier ages, when men were in this respect uncultivated, without the principles of toleration ; but who now asks whether you seriously believe in God and everlasting life, in Christ as the Son of God, or indeed in the supernatural at all "■ Men were then heathen, cramped in mind by the national religions, averse to all that is new and strange ; but with us a general wide-spread hatred for believers is scarcely possible. Oh, my dear friends, he who thus judges knows neither the later and inner history of the Church of Christ, nor his own heart ! This hatred is not only possible, it is present ; and we need not look far beyond our own city to discover something of it amongst those who, without penitence and faith, /o The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. claim to be advanced Christians — who think that with a mixture of a Httle devotion, a Httle morahty, a little liberality, and a little Christian phraseology, they will pass muster with the Lord. They often bear this hatred for every true child of God long con- cealed ; and when the opportunity occurs — when the barriers of order, of society, and of decorum, which the hand of God has until now maintained for the protection of His children and for the restraining of bitter hatred, are withdrawn — then it breaks forth most unmistakably. Do you not remember how a few years ago the cry arose throughout Germany for power, liberty, and whatever other name may have been given to that which was desired ; and how at that time a bitter hatred, a dark hostility, was manifested against those who confessed Jesus Christ in purity and simplicity, and for His sake would not take part v/ith the sedi- tious, not sit in the seat of the scorner t Do you not remember that this liberty, unity, and power in poli- tical life, was for many only a pretext, at any rate, not properly the goad which set them in movement } Did it not become manifest that they were opposed to the Church of Christ, and to all that which is living in it t Therefore, I say that this hatred is not strange to our time, and to our society ; and it will once more rise, and before the Lord comes and His kingdom attains its glorious goal on earth, Christen- dom will once more make the experience that a The Siifferiug-Path of the Church of Christ. 7 1 "hating and killing for Jesus' name's sake" can pro- ceed not merely here and there from a narrow, corrupt, and degenerate Christianity, but from all nations. To this our Lord points us beforehand. If, therefore, once more, beloved, in our days or in the lifetime of anyone of you, such a hatred should break forth against those who in full reality call Jesus their Lord and Saviour, and desire to act accordingly ; believe that the preparation for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ has entered a new phase — that this coming is near — and then ask, above all, your own heart, on which side you yourself stand. Ask, Am I also drawn with others to hatred against the children of God, or would I gladly place myself in simplicity, love, and humility, in the little company of those who are surrounded by raging foes } The latter will be possible only for him who is already living in personal communion with his Lord and Saviour. My beloved ! We read such words of the Scrip- ture so easily, '' Be hated of all nations." And yet we cannot sufficiently realize the sad condition of a human heart — and all human hearts stand in need of love — which, surrounded only by hatred, stands alone, misunderstood ; yea, as soon as its inner life is mani- fested, instantly rejected, hated, scorned, calumniated, perhaps dragged forth to death. In this condition were all Christians shortly after the apostolic age, and in this condition may all true believers yet again be. Where there are children of God, there are the J 2 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. powers of the world against them, there there is a separation ; and there come different times of separa- tion, which are repeated, until at last that hour of separation strikes which no more shall be repeated. Think not, if such a time once more arises, I will speedily join the side of those who belong to Jesus Christ. That will not be possible, for we shall not even recognise this important time, if we do not already stand on His side. Such times of separation have already passed unobserved for thousands of pro- fessed Christians ; they did not intend to be the enemies of Christ, and yet became so, and were insensibly drawn down into the stream of universal hatred, and then with terror have descended to eternity. So much concerning the path of suffering of the Church from the powers of the world. When it is said, " Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you : and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake," it is clear that here persecutions are predicted of the Christian Church, such as have already taken place, and such as will return. We must for the present not anticipate ; for we are speaking immediately only of the prophecies of our Lord himself, and not yet of those of the Holy Spirit through His apostles. I only point forward, therefore, to the apostolic writings, especially the Revelation of John, which speak more clearly of these things. The Sufferi7ig-Path of tJie Church of Christ. 73 But even this is not yet the severest and bitterest trial. It is already, properly speaking, distress ; but the uttermost distress in the path of suffering for the Church of Christ, is that which proceeds from the Powers of Darkness. By the powers of darkness I understand the kingdom and power of the devil and all his servants ; so that the powers of the world and the powers of darkness cannot be separated by a sharply-drawn line. For who but Satan is it that stirs up the hatred of the world, in order to turn it against the confessors of the pure doctrines of the Cross .-* Who is it whose deceptive impulses thousands and thousands follow as though under a charm, but this very prince of the world, who ruleth in the dark- ness of this world, and works lying wonders on the earth } Yet these powers of darkness are something quite distinct, if we view them in their inner and spiritual effects upon the Church of Christ. It is said, " Then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another." In these words the most terrible affliction which can ever come upon the Church of Christ is expressed, namely, that no longer alone the hand of the Almighty God is stretched forth in judgment — no longer only the powers of the world, impelled by the prince of dark- ness, rage against the little flock. In regard to this, the consolation is given us, " The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." But when, within the Church of Christ itself, offence, treachery, hatred, the one 74 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. against the other, arise ; when, within the fortress itself, separate parties break out and war against each other, and forget that they are soldiers of the one Chief, children of one Father in heaven, who has redeemed them with a price through Jesus Christ ; — then desolate indeed must be the state of the Church. It is not so called, my brethren ; men do not speak of treaeJiery, but give the thing more specious names. The professed Church has at times, in guilty error, betrayed, sold, slain, children of God, on account of their faith and confession of Jesus, and believed they were doing it — or at least pretended to do it — in the name of love, and to the glory of God — to save the soul, while the body suffered. But what are the names with which men deck their actions } Let us look into the matter and contemplate it in its true aspect. " Many shall be offended." How, then, does the offence arise in many } How does it arise in the midst of the Church before our own eyes } When the Cross of Christ in its rude form, so unacceptable to the flesh, is presented as the great centre around which all must gather who will come to God through Jesus Christ ; when it is seen that mere repetition of Christian phraseology, and the putting on of deceptive garments, avails nothing — but only a new creature, and the one qualification of having as a sinner re- ceived of God grace and forgiveness of sin, and of being clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ — against this the proud heart rebels, will escape from TJic Stiff cring- Path of tJic Church of Christ. 75 this way of humiliation, and to this end, in expres- sions derived from the language of faith, hurls con- tempt and scorn upon the simple ones in Christ ; and thus arises the offence. The name which it bears is Disunion. It always arises from a growing coldness of love in Christ, from a failing to recognise the love wherewith we are loved, and, therefore, also from the want of the love wherewith we should love others. If once the offence has arisen — that is to say, if many who maintain that they are the representatives of the true faith, will know nothing of what they call fanatical, gloomy, and pietistic Christianity ; if a worldly Christianity, that will admit of anything, is opposed to this, and if they rebel against becoming true and faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ in com- munion with His sufferings — then the offence becomes general ; it becomes the spirit of the age and of the community. From this offence, however, springs up a spirit of bitter separation, of treachery, and hatred. The true root, from which the original growth was made, is forgotten ; all that is now thought of is the human branches and offshoots which have grown thereupon ; and because the one has not grown exactly like the other, the one is scorned and con- demned by the other. For the present, this is con- fined to speaking and preaching ; but what for a considerable time has been practised in this spiritual domain, will be done, when the opportunity occurs, also bodily. First, there is a disputing and separation 76 The Prophecies of Qu^ Lord and His Apostles. on account of the different forms which time and events have given to Church Hfe ; there is a rejection as unchristian of that which is only unwonted and unfamiHar ; love is lost sight of ; there is no longer any regard to the innermost germ of all Christian life and all Church life ; there is a judging merely according to the outward form ; and Christ himself is thus lost sight of, rejected, in the humble form of the children of God — that is the betrayal. From this grows hatred properly so called, if hatred is not rather the cause of betrayal. He who has betrayed Christ in His children, and has not, like Peter, turned bitterly weeping to Christ himself, such an one will hate Christ much more than one who has never known anything of Him ; for nothing does the proud heart less willingly forgive than that it has once been seen in its weakness and helplessness, that its inner wretchedness and unworthiness has been known by those who truly witness in the name of Jesus. We know well, from the history of persecu- tions, that the bitterest enemies of the Church were apostate Christians ; the most relentless persecutors, those who had once felt some traces of the grace of God in their heart. And we know that in the present day, and amongst us, those who most scorn all Divine things, are the very persons in whose heart once the arrow of truth was rankling. Where this is the case, the powers of darkness have found an entrance into the Church ; and there the path of suffering, for those The Suffering-Pat J I of the Church of Christ, yy who will yet walk in fealty to Christ, becomes a very rugged one. But even this is not all. There arise " many false prophets and shall deceive many," saith the Lord. This is the extreme of trial. The sufferings of the Church of Christ would be lighter to bear, even if its unfaithful members became its open foes ; if they came out and said, " I will have nothing more to do with you, nothing more with the ordinances of God's house, nothing more with the communion of believers." But no, that which they have received of the light of God, is turned to the service of darkness, until the light itself has become darkness, and the lie is decked out with the appearance of Divine truth, and is mingled with it. Then arise doctrines of the lie,* which gives itself out as the true law of God, as the heaven- descended truth, as a new revelation, or as the highest product of the Spirit. Beloved hearers ! The false prophets who seduce many have already appeared, and ever reappear, in the history of the Church of Christ. Of false doctrines and false principles, so many have spread through the world, that we must wonder with thanksgiving and adoration that the true doctrine — the word of the Cross — has survived. God be thanked, it is yet pre- sent, this pure doctrine. But how great a multitude * The lie, rh \|/eD5os, Satanic perversion of the truth ; referred to in John viii. 44, 2 Thess. ii. II, I John ii. 22. In each case the article is used in the Greek. y8 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. of false prophets proclaim to the people freedom from all want which oppresses them, and from all fear which troubles them, even from that of judgment and of eternity ! How many writings appear with the lying boast that everything is in man's own power, and that he is the author of his own salvation ; or with the wretched delusion that the soul of men is not destined for eternity, is only a physical and material thing ; and that consequently there can be no longer any question about eternity, about heaven and hell, about redemption and forgiveness of sins ! Finally, it is also written, that because iniquity shall abound, "the love of many shall wax cold." If all that has hitherto been said shows that a trying path of suffering awaits the Church of Christ, that which is most trying is here brought before us. Is it not the worst form of evil, if, at a time when outward things are calm and smooth, waiting for the Lord's coming, longing for Him, intercourse with Him, life in Him grows faint ; if iniquity silently makes progress within the Church, and even lays hold of those who have hitherto stood firm in the righteous- ness of Jesus Christ ; if even the most believing of believers, if the stewards of God's mysteries become weak in the faith, and things human and Divine are so mingled that thousands believe they need not give up the world to gain heaven ; if, through this, the feel- ing that we are unspeakably loved by the eternal God in Christ Jesus more rarely finds utterance, and TJic Suffering- P at Ji of the CJmrch of Christ. 79 while this one jewel of our existence for us shines less brightly, other things wear for us a brighter lustre ; if, unhappily, because so few hearts who are joyous in the consciousness of the love of God in Christ Jesus are to be found in our communion, so little love flows forth from it, and no one experiences or enkindles a true enthusiasm for the kingdom of God ; — then has the love of many waxed cold, and then, my brethren, the kingdom of God upon earth must perish, so far as in man lies ; then the Church, so far as it must draw its living power from us, must die. But the Lord says, " He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." He yet holds forth to us the goal ; the prize at the end of the course yet sheds its light back through all the steps of the Church's suffering ; and though many, very many, see nothing of its brightness — though thousands dazzled by the false lights of the world have no longer an eye for it — it yet remains for the few. There is yet a little chosen company which fights the good fight, does not grow cold in love, casts itself, when it perceives a growing coldness, at the feet of its Saviour, and prays anew to be penetrated with the fire of His holy love. It places itself before the Cross of its Saviour, sees Him out of pure love faint and die upon the tree of the curse, rests upon the resurrection of the Lord, and sees Him ascend to heaven, with new power of love, to shed forth the So The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. Holy Ghost. This little company continues on its heavenward way, suffers with patience, and looks with joyful heart and uplifted head towards its Saviour, and raises as its watchword the cry with which we began our series of meditations — Maran- atha ! Amen. C^^ f 0tor 0f ®rr0r. "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there ; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders ; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before." — Matt, xxiv., 23 — 25. Beloved in Christ Jesus our Lord, — After a somewhat lengthy interruption we resume the course of our meditations upon New Testament Prophecy. We have spoken of the Signs of the Coming of Christ in several of our consecutive meditations ; and saw persecution, temptation, seduction, to be the dark powers which herald the glorious King ; and our hearts trembled at the retrospect of that which these powers have accomplished in bygone ages of the Church, and in the feeling that their shadow is cast upon the present time also. But we all felt that the last word was not spoken of this dark and gloomy side to the preparations for the glorious kingdom of Jesus Christ. The words of our text speak of some- G 82 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. thing more than persecution, temptation, seduction : they bring us into the presence of falsehood, and give us to see how this power begins with the CORRUPTION OF THE Truth, advances to the Supplanting of THE Gospel, and ends in the Fascination of the Lie. Lord Jesus, we also know these gloomy powers ; but we hold fast to Thee ; we will not leave Thee ; we apprehend Thee ever afresh in faith, and desire to be Thy disciples. And Thou, our everlasting Head, dost not leave any of Thy children to perish, who desire not to be separated from Thee. Thou boldest us fast, and wilt bring us safely through, though all the powers of hell should assail us with a view to de- priving us of our faith, taking away our crown, and tearing from our hearts the precious deposit of Thy gospel. Help us. Lord ; and may our meditations be blessed, that we may this day also apprehend Thee afresh, and be afresh apprehended of Thee. Lord, grant that we may endure to the end ! Amen. The words of our text stand as. part of a wider context. They belong to one of the last discourses of our Saviour, the prophetic discourse which begins with Jerusalem, and closes by proclaiming the return of the Son of man from heaven in great power and glory. The words immediately preceding them are words which clearly refer to the affliction near at hand in the destruction of Jerusalem, the ancient sacred City of God. TJie Poivcr of Error. 83 They read, " For there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be. And except these days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved : but for the elects' sake those days shall be shortened." And then the Lord continues : *' If any man shall say unto you," &c. We might, therefore, easily suppose that all which is further spoken relates only to that great and impressive event, the destruction of Jeru- salem. But if we read on through the words of our text, and continue our study of the Lord's prophecy, we stand at once on a wider plain, and behold to a much greater distance than that to which the time before this event extended. Before we are aware, we find ourselves to have reached that point in the dis- course where the earth trembles, where sun and moon lose their brightness, and where even the stars fall from heaven, and where the trumpet of the archangel sounds, and the elect are gathered out of all the ends of the earth to stand before the Son of man. Then it becomes clear to us that the Lord proclaims not only that which is at hand and near, but also that which is distant and wide-extending ; and that we must regard the one as a type, yea, as a beginning of the other. It is true the power of error was exhibited in the chosen, but blinded and hardened nation of Israel, in such a way as it was nowhere else in the history of the world. It is an instance without a parallel that the chosen covenant nation of the living God, over- 84 The Prophecies of Our Lord a7id His Apostles. whelmed through so many centuries with gracious visitations, not only do not understand, but crucify the Son and Lord ; and can afterwards boast as victors over him, and can go their way proud and rebellious : a people who have been so greatly loved, and from the earliest childhood cherished by the hand of Almighty God. But all this is written for our ensample, and we also, if we repent not, shall all like- v/ise perish. That which has happened in the king- dom of God in a narrower circle, and on a lower scale, repeats itself in ever wider circles, and upon an ever higher scale, until all that the mouth of God has spoken is fulfilled, and that in humanity as a whole. The power of error which prevailed for a time in Jerusalem and the Promised Land, when God delivered His people into the hands of the Gentiles, and allowed the abomination of desolation to stand in the Holy Place, has not disappeared from actual life ; but has ever afresh proclaimed itself in the history of the Church — now more, now less powerfully — and is still present. Yea, things have since been done in Christendom, in point of responsibility much more criminal than the acts of the Pharisees and Scribes, and the whole people of Israel. Has not the cor- ruption of the truth, within the Christian Church itself, arisen, not very long after the ascension of the Lord ; yea, even shortly before the terrible judgment inflicted on Jerusalem, and during that judgment itself.-* Do we not hear the apostles speak earnest The Power of Error. 85 words of the deceivers who had crept into the Churches, who would not endure the sincere milk of the gospel, who brought into the Churches doctrines which made void the cross of Christ ? We see, if we proceed down beyond the time of the apostles, errors of the most alarming and destructive kind arise in the different ages of the Church, with such power that those who yet held firmly to the pure truth of the gospel, became a terrified and persecuted flock. And can we deny that up to our own days corruptions of the truth have proceeded from high ecclesiastical authorities ? Have we to seek them only beyond the pale of our Protestant Church ? Have they not made their attacks in the very heart of the Church, and do they not continue thus to make them ? The things, then, of which the Lord speaks in our text are not so very far removed from us, but deeply affect us now — our life, our children, the members of our communion, the future of our Church. On this account, let us well observe the power of error — as one of the signs of the coming of the Son of man — in its commencement as a corruption of the truth. You know well that no lie presents itself at once in its most undisguised and boldest form ; but that at first it usually introduces itself as a harmless opinion, or a more profound thought, or as the result of a broader induction from facts — a wisdom not accessible to all, but which yields its secret sweetness to the more gifted minds and select spirits. It usually relies for S6 The Prophecies of Ottr Lord and His Apostles. support upon the truth, into which it appears to strike all its roots. It is only when, in the course of time, the rank growth springs up, that it becomes manifest it has its roots in a widely different soil. We know from the experience of our own lives, each one for himself, that there is something in pure Christian truth which remains very unacceptable to the flesh — for it has its crucifying, humbling, and deadening power. The natural man perceives not the things of the Spirit of God ; but not only does he remain insensible to them, he arms himself against that which has its origin in the Spirit of God. The flesh lusteth against the Spirit : man in his unrenewed condition, as a fallen sinner, as an enemy of God, cannot feel the whole sharpness of Christian truth, and at once be in accord with it. The battle between the human heart and the Divine love, ever afresh bringing the power of the truth to bear upon it, often surges to and fro, long undecided ; until at length the Lord proves too strong for the sinner, and he sinks down vanquished at the feet of his Saviour. But not in every case, unhappily, does the work proceed thus far; in thousands and thousands of instances the man shrinks from the trouble, the toil of this conflict ; and his heart refusing to be chastened for the works of darkness, which it secretly cherishes, raises a firm bulwark against the truth. And especially it is the bulwark of self-righteous- ness which the heart raises — the wide-spread lie that The Power of Error. %'j we are such as can be acceptable to God — just persons, whose imperfections He will regard with leniency, who are not deserving of hell ; need not to be delivered through Divine mercy ; need not, as transgressors, to be acquitted through grace, for the sake of the crucified Son of God. Where this bitter root is concealed in the heart, where this bulwark rises undemolished between thee and Divine grace, there already is a mingling of truth and error, and the foundation is laid for the perversion of the truth. So not merely in the completed form of error, frequently rather in its concealed form, attaching itself to truly Christian thought, must we seek that corruption of the truth which we regard as a Sign of the Coming of Christ. It meets us in our daily life. But then especially it is to be looked upon as a sign of the coming of our Lord in His kingdom, when it becomes identified in great measure with public opinion ; when the greater number can no longer endure the simple gospel of Jesus Christ the crucified, but call for a doctrine in harmony with the lust of the flesh, with self-love, and pride in human strength. Whether they be doctrines and views which relate to the sphere of thought, and hold up to men the prospect of a deeper wisdom, and a knowledge extending far beyond the simple words of the Bible ; or whether they be such as flatter the proud will of man, and represent him as the author of his own destiny, as the hero of his own life ; it is always a S8 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles,. corruption of the truth, because it is no longer Jesus Christ the crucified alone who is presented as He on whom all in Christianity rests, and to whom all tends. All call themselves Christians, and the most decided enemies of the Lord will, in the last bitter conflict of the Church of Christ, still call themselves Christians. This is, indeed, the most fearful power of falsehood that it does not even leave unused and unabused the pure, eternal truth of God, incarnate in His only begotten Son. As Satan employs God's world for his perverted ends, so does he also employ, in the hearts of those who desire not to live in obedience to the truth, Christianity itself — God's word and revela- tion — to corrupt and pervert the understanding and heart. It reads, " They will say : Lo, here is Christ, or there." It will not, therefore, be said openly and clearly, " We have done with the notion of a Christ ; it is only the delusion of a past age, that man needs a Saviour, an incarnate Son of God." Not this, but, " Here is Christ, or there ; " in other words, they willy in the 7iame of Christianity, deny the Lord. How, then, shall we protect ourselves' against this ? For it avails nothing, that we merely investigate and recognise the signs of the times. It is a question, also, for us how, when we discover these signs, we shall prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord. The answer is simple. If the corruption of Christi- anity is the power of a lie, one thing only can avail The Power of Error. 89 against this lie — the pure Gospel. You have, con- sequently, no more to do than to deny yourself, and no longer to wish to pass for wise and prudent, strong and just ; but only in your poverty to come to the Lord, to read His word with prayer for enlighten- ment ; to submit to the admonitions it addresses to you ; to allow yourself to be convinced, by this word, of your sin — not merely your imperfection, your guilt, your entire corruption, your lost estate. You have nothing more to do, but in a child-like spirit to accept the grace so often proclaimed and promised you in this word ; and to rejoice that you, also, are included in the eternal counsel of mercy ; and thus, with weak or strong faith, to remain in communion with Christ the God-man until the last breath. Then let the coming of the Lord be near or distant, then let the watchmen on the walls of Zion sound their trumpets to announce the victorious approach of the King in judgment ; you have nothing to fear, but will lift up your head, for your redemption draweth nigh ; you will rejoice to meet Him. He among us, my brethren, who should be so unhappy as to be involved in this beginning of the power of a lie, the corruption of the truth, would not be able to stop at this point. He, on the other hand, who begins to take part in Christian truth, and does not consciously mingle with it his own foolish thoughts and heart's desires, but surrenders himself to the convincing power of the truth, as it silently 90 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles, and in secret exerts this power in all its disciples, such an one, also, makes progress ; for progress — one of the watchwords of our time — may be upwards or downwards. We have now to regard the latter, pro- gress towards perdition. This consists in passing from the Corruption of the Truth to the SUPPLANT- ING OF THE Gospel. For a while, they, who are thus upon the way of declension, will not admit that they have passed beyond the limits of Christianity, even after they have long been building upon human strength and righteousness, upon human wisdom and prudence. In former times the Church, to secure herself against the corruptions of Christianity which crept in, was obliged to define boundaries between herself and the champions of falsehood, and to declare : " He who does not thus believe and declare this Gospel in unambiguous words is no Christian ; and we cannot stand in any relationship of eccle- siastical or brotherly communion towards him." This was formerly the case ; but these well-meant limits and boundaries have long been overflowed, and we cannot but admit that one may live unassailed within the communion of the Church, and hold and teach the greatest errors in regard to Christ as the true God and true Man ; may deny His deeds of miracle and grace, may deny the virtue of His atoning death, may deny the reality of His resurrection and ascen- sion, may deny all the powers and foundations of Christianity. Crowds of false doctrines — which not The Power of Error. g i only place Christ In the background, but formally reject Him, rob Him of His kingly crown, and even tear from Him His high-priestly robe — are greeted by thousands with delight ; are lauded as the expres- sion of unprejudiced judgment, enlightened insight, and true liberality of sentiment — and that in the Church of Christ. Does not this deserve the name of a " Supplanting of the Gospel ?" Is it not the power of the lie, a Satanic hostility against the only One before whom every attempt of the kind should recoil with awe ? I will not say that this movement makes itself felt in the immediate present, and within our own sphere, with boldness. A moment of repose has intervened, and many circumstances lead us rather to the opposite experience, that many persons who, in their deepest heart, are strangers to the truth con- cerning the Cross of Christ, yet confess Him with the mouth. But beneath this momentarily calm sur- face lurks the enemy; and without, in any special manner, wishing to predict the future, I cannot but feel that we must assuredly look forward to a conflict with the supplanters of the Gospel — a conflict in which it must become manifest what the true Christ is, and what is meant by the prophecy, " There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets." The blas- phemous audacity of man's pretended wisdom has not, in our days, soared so high as boastfully to pro- claim itself the true God-man on earth. Hints, that as yet awaken astonishment, have not been wanting 92 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. in this direction. The time, however, is yet before us, in the preparation for the Lord's coming, when the corrupters of the truth will claim to supersede it, and make themselves known as the redeemers and saviours of humanity. Those on that side now speak softly and with bated breath, and point us to the wisdom of the State ; to the capacities of science and art ; or to that which human intellect has discovered in the way of overcoming the difficulties of time and space ; and call these the true redeem- ing miracles of God. They promise even greater things than these, and hold forth the prospect, that could all men be brought into a closer connection, and their united energy be wisely directed to a common object, the time of Paradise — expected and longed for — would be come; and the glorious king- dom of God would be perfectly established upon earth. My brethren, do you know the danger of these presumptuous thoughts } Does not that danger the more threaten us, because there is a measure of truth in them } The combination of human power is able to do much for the accomplishment of earthly things ; and the kingdom of God requires and demands this power, and employs it as a means. But not all the united powers of the human race, from the first sinner to the last, who shall witness the return of Christ upon the clouds, would avail, to express myself figuratively, to raise even one withered leaf from The Power of Error. 93 the abyss whither the storm of sin has swept it ; to bring even one human being, laden with the curse of condemnation, a single step nearer to God. There- fore it is a superseding of the Gospel, and a decided hostility against Christ to cherish the delusion that there is any redeeming power freeing human life from its burden and distress, which does not flow from Christ ; from that Jesus of Nazareth who was cruci- fied in Israel, who was buried, who rose, and is ascended into heaven. In this hostility, all corrup- tions of the Christian truth will certainly issue. Their innermost thought is always this redemption without the Cross ; and that such is the case will one day be clearly seen. Do not think the present culture, the present wide-spread intelligence, is a security against this wretched end of many ; or, at least, against the guilty delusion of saying, " I am Christ, the true Saviour," or against turning in thousands to one who thus proclaims himself. Shall I show you a picture taken from the life of the present day t If not as yet here in Berlin, yet in other lands of Christendom, which fairly compete with us — perhaps might shame us — in regard to a wide-spread knowledge of the Gospel, there has arisen a sect of persons who still wish to be called Christians, but who acknowledge an unprincipled man as their Redeemer and Restorer, or at least as the Comforter, the Holy Ghost descended in person upon earth ; and have the shamelessness, on account of this pretension, to call themselves the 94 TJie Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. "■ Latter Day Saints."* What is possible with thou- sands in Christendom, on either side the Atlantic, shall this be impossible with us ? No ; when the hour comes and the power of darkness is set free, then, indeed, will be needed a firm clinging to Jesus Christ, not to be seduced into error. When the lie becomes the prevailing spirit of the age, where shall the un- happy man find security, who is yet a feeble reed in the faith t Let us once have miracles able to satisfy the desires of the flesh, and they will straightway be accepted as the miracles longed for and sought after. But the kingdom of darkness appeals not to the curiosity alone, it appeals, also, to the spirit of gain. Will this be less the case in the age immediately preceding the coming of the Lord 1 And will not the flesh then, also, find that which ministers to it, and cry out about the miracles and brilliant deeds which eclipse even the works of the Lord and His Apostles .'* But we have said enough to make the supplanting of the Gospel, as one of the signs of the coming of Christ, clear and intelligible. Only one word as to that which is the final and extreme manifestation of error. Where error becomes a power, in that it opens up pathways to the flesh, and presents to man's vision fair hopes, and promises golden mountains, there gathers about the captive man a charm — The FASCI- NATION OF THE Lie — from which he cannot escape, and which the hand of God rarely breaks. You will * A later and more imposing form of the same delusion is the Spiritualism now so prevalent in the United States. The Power of Error. 95 be ready to ask, as the disciples asked the Lord, *' Who then can be saved?" Who can be delivered in the time of error's seductive sway ? The question intimately concerns us. The full strength of this power may yet assail us in our lifetime. And the same answer must be given to us : " With men this is impossible ; but with God all things are possible." The chosen ones are only on this account not seduced, because it is " not possible." And the sign of their being thus chosen is, that they unceas- ingly hear the voice of Jesus Christ in their heart, that — conscious of their weak faith and coldness of love, of their many sins and acts of disobedience — they are nevertheless rich, and strong, and power- ful, because they know the Lord will not allow His sheep to be plucked out of His hand. This is the glorious power which is victorious over the Satanic power of falsehood. With Him, exclaims the believer, I am safe. If Christ be with me, and I am His, the enemy may exert all his force ; millions may fall beneath the seduction of error, and tread the path which leads to destruction, I cannot forsake my Saviour. That is the mystery of this impossibility. Therefore, may our glance at this sign of the times draw our hearts nearer to Him ; more powerfully than before may they be attracted to this Jesus, that we may say, " Without Thee, Lord, can I do nothing ; without Thee, I cannot exist ;" yea, that when we are called to endurance in the conflict of death, the last sigh may declare, "My Jesus I cannot forsake." Amen. Jfals^ S^tuiitg. * ' But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." — Matt. xxiv. 37—39- My beloved in Christ Jesus, — We have to-day* entered into the house of God with joyous feeUngs of thanksgiving; inasmuch as the present day calls us to offer to the Lord praise and thanksgiving for the rich blessing which He has granted us in the harvest of the year. And this praise must so much the more readily spring forth from our hearts, since we have looked forward to this harvest with feelings of anxiety and dread, and have asked. Will the Lord further chasten us ^ and what will become of us if He take not His hand off from us, but further cause us to * Delivered on Sunday, October 19, 1856, the day appointed for the harvest thanksgiving. False Security. 97 experience a time of scarcity and want, with the prospect of famine before us ? But, my brethren, such thanksgiving festivals return every year ; and if from individual hearts, before oppressed and after- wards relieved, joyful songs of praise ascend to the Throne of Grace, yet we cannot assert that a festive spirit of thanksgiving is the prevailing tone amongst all classes of our population. Cares remain ever rife ; the questioning of unbelief is heard ever anew ; and if the full sufficiency of the harvest blessing is not at once perceived on all hands, men's predictions of future ill are ever on the increase, and the heart trembles, becomes despondent, turns away from the Lord who alone gives help, and has recourse hastily and fitfully to this and the other expedient ; and if this fails, abandons all in despair. Be not surprised, therefore, if in presence of this fact, which none of you will attempt to deny is a characteristic of our time, I read the text you have just heard. It is, at the same time, the word from the mouth of the Lord which must come before us in the order of our meditations on Christ's coming in His kingdom, as presented in the prophecies of the New Testament. For we have to-day to consider a very important and easily-recognised sign of the coming of Christ, namely, THE FALSE SECURITY GENERALLY PREVALENT AMONG CHRISTIANS. It is one of the clearest signs of the coming of Christ — and our text presents it to us as such — and bids us H 98 The Prophecies of Otir Lord and His Apostles. seek to discover the DEEPER CAUSE OF THIS SECU- RITY, more closely examine ITS MANIFESTATION, and then also fix our attention upon the JUDGMENT WHICH SHALL SUCCEED IT. Enter not into judgment with us, O Lord ! Behold our festivals of thanksgiving become days of confes- sion : for we must confess before Thee that we are an ungrateful, unbelieving, dissatisfied people ; yet, with all our complaining and sighing, unconcerned ; and this because we do not regard the signs of Thy coming — because we do not look deeply into the wondrous working of Thy holy counsel. Lord God, heavenly Father, forgive us, and arouse us out of our sense of security! Behold us in Christ Jesus, Thy dear Son, and give unto us, through the Holy Spirit, new hearts, which shall be able to render songs of thanksgiving, because they know something of Thy gracious deliverance — of the manifestation of Thy glory towards us sinners in great things, and univer- sally as well as in small things, and on particular occasions. Bless us, Lord, at this hour. Amen. My friends, the gospel for the present day* also points in the same direction as our text, to the gracious invitations of the faithful and compassionate God, as they have been given ever afresh from the beginning ,first within narrower circles, and then more and more widely, unto all people ; and at the same time to the dulness, indifference, and false security * Matt. xxii. i — 14. 22nd Sunday after Trinity, False Security. 99 of those to whom they came. Both arc texts which refer to the last time — to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in His kingdom, and to the conduct of those for whom the wedding feast is prepared, and who are called as guests thereto, to behold the King's Son in His radiant glory, and to rejoice in His feast. " But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." We need not here inquire which coming of the Son of man is more especially intended ; whether that which is repeatedly and clearly indicated in the Scripture section to which the words of our text belong — His judicial coming to the ancient covenant nation ; or His coming with great power and wonders for the completion of His kingdom on earth, and for the vanquishing of its enemies ; or the last coming of the Lord with the trumpet of the archangel, and the flames of the world's judgment. Enough, it is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in His kingdom ; and this is yet before us, belongs for us still to the things of the future. Wherefore we are called to an earnest consi- deration — especially on such days as the present, when, as a Christian people, as a company assembled for thanksgiving and supplication, we come into the presence of our God — a consideration of the prevail- ing fase security as a sigji of His coming. I have remarked that we must in our text first look to the deeper cause of the present state of security. I might begin by showing you that it is present ; that 100 TJic Prophecies of Otir Loj-d and His Apostles. it is found not merely here and there in an individual, but manifests itself as the prevailing spirit of the age. But I should think I was doing something of a very superfluous nature if I were to set about proving this. For who is waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus ? How few they are who go forth with joy and hope to meet Him, and have no more ardent wish than that He should come rather to-day than to-morrow ! How few are there also who think with fear and trembling of His coming ! The majority banish such things from their minds, and consider that all which belongs to the prophetic word of the New Testament is a secondary matter ; not calling for our attention, pro- vided only we do not lose sight of the fundamental truths, or at any rate of the moral teaching of the Gospel It is, however, precisely of these things that the Lord says, with much emphasis, ** Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Precisely upon these words of New Testa- ment prophecy does He (Matt, xiii, 43) impress so mighty a seal of His majesty as the God-man, say- ing, " Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." I enter, therefore, upon the CAUSE OF THIS FALSE SECURITY, which is a sign of the coming of Christ. It is written in the text, "And they knew (perceived) not, until the flood came;" and before, "Until the day that Noe entered into the ark." They did not regard the sign that was before their eyes, the building of the ark ; the command which Noah had — as he proclaimed to False Security. loi them — received of God ; the space of one hundred and twenty years which was granted them for repent- ance. And when we open the Book of Genesis we find another thing they did not regard ; for the Almighty God says, " Men will no more be chastened by my Spirit;"* or in other words, They receive no more conviction of apostasy, by the sacred memory of all which the fathers have transmitted to them from the time of Paradise. The Divine arrangements for deliverance, the Divine means of salvation were set forth visibly in the person of Noah before the eyes of this dark, rebellious race ; and the Spirit of God, who was yet working in their hearts, said to them, " This is the work of God : there is need for repentance and conversion from evil works ; there is need to attach ourselves to this despised and ridiculed man, this Noah, the preacher of righteousness." But this they regarded not. They were well pleased with the fair, God-created earth, and they rejoiced in the fruitful harvests which every year brought them ; in the abundance of every kind which the heart of man could desire, which the yet fresh and virgin soil, in the spring-time of its existence, bare to them ; they re- joiced in their own power and strength, and, as we read, also in their own arts and inventions ; they boasted, without doubt, of being a race which in its light of understanding, its force of w^ill, and in its consciousness of its own strength — in a word, in * Luther's version of Genesis vi. 3. 102 TJie Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. its whole personal life — stood there as a power as contradistinguished from God, a power which even the Godhead must learn to respect. It is true it was the race of Cain the fratricide, upon whose forehead was set a brand of evil ; the restless, inconstant, fugitive race. This race, however, had formed combinations, waged wars, put forth force, fought its way with the sword, and at last united with the nobler and more spiritual race of Seth, and drawn them also, for the most part, into the stream of corruption; at the same time gain- ing from contact with the nobler race an augmentation of its own self-confidence and pride, so that at last the house of Noah alone remained unperverted. If the cause of the false security in the days of the flood is to be sought in the fact, that they rejected the admonitions of God, and opposed to the humiliating testimonies of the Spirit of God their own conscious- ness of power ; if they lived in the delusion, " a race like ourselves, possessed of all the gifts and powers of the earthly life, can never become extinct ;" if they regarded the words of a solitary Noah — as opposed to the million voices which resounded with the praise of their own power — as the talk of a headstrong and foolish old man, we at once perceive that the centuries between that time and the present have made no such great difference as to render the same ground of false security an impossibility in our day, and perhaps in a no distant future. Yea, it seems, in speaking of those primeval days, as though we were False Security. 103 speaking of our own'timc. I ask, Is the work of the Holy Spirit, who chastens the world for the sin of unbelief, no longer disregarded ? Have all become prepared to bow to the authority of the Holy Spirit, and to justify Him when He says, " Thou art a child of death ; if God deals with thee after thy works, thou art for ever lost ; and if thou shouldst be placed, with all thy doing and willing, in the righteous balance of God, it must be said — too light, too light?" Does not the sign of salvation stand before us also in the Cross of Christ ? Have we not also the man who is the preacher of righteousness, yea, righteousness itself, the Lord Jesus Christ ? Are, then, our eyes, our hearts, our hands, uplifted to the Cross of Christ ? What do we hear when we take up our newspapers, these organs of public opinion ; or listen to the orations pronounced by its living representatives ? What do they speak forth ? Is it the confession that we have sinned, we and our fathers ? Is it a sense of humilia- tion before the Lord our God ? Or do we not, for the most part, hear the praises either of the nation, or of the age of culture in which we live ; how discovery follows discovery, one means of diminishing labour is succeeded by another? Or we hear the praises which individuals bestow upon themselves, or upon each other, for the services they have rendered in regard to these things. You must confess the voices of human praise are more frequently heard than the voices of humiliation and the confession of sin. And what is 104 ^-^^^ Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. said in regard to the future ? I know well that, now this, now that, of a favourable or unfavourable nature, is predicted of the outward progress of our Church, according as its momentary position inclines to the one or to the other, or according as the inclinations and wishes of the speaker determine. I do not, how- ever, mean this ; but. What is said of our Christian social life as a whole? Are many looking for the intervention of a Pentecostal life, a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit, whereby our life — even that which is best in it — may be transformed, renewed, sanctified ? Are they beseeching the Lord to grant this ? Is it not rather the commonly-expressed opinion, that if only more prosperous times were granted us, and greater alleviation was found for the burdens of life, it were tolerable enough on earth, even in its present condition ? Whether the burden of sin, which is every year more heavily pressing upon individuals, and upon whole nations, is removed or not, is a matter of little concern. Now and then, indeed, people look with terror on the increase in the number and magnitude of crimes, and exclaim with dismay, that our houses of correction are too small to hold all the criminals committed to them, and that those who return therefrom remain a pest to society. Through such single rifts in the clouds, if I may so speak, people look into the future, and shrink back in alarm. But it goes no further, because the chastening of the Holy Spirit is not yet regarded, and the question is False Security. 105 not entertained, How shall we become the children of God, and free from the curse of the reigning power of sin, of the devil, and of death? In this is manifest the cause of the false security prevailing on every hand. Such it was formerly, such it is still, and such it will be, when once again (as in the time of the Flood) the sleep of the world shall be almost universal. Then there were only eight whose eyes were opened ; and among these eight even, not all were pure. Oh, how many families among us, and how many single individuals, pass for Christians, who have never yet, in true repentance, received the absolution of their sins ; who know, properly speaking, nothing of this absolution, except as it is pronounced by the minister before any can become partakers of the Lord's Supper ! This is a false security, in the midst of Christian truth. If you know not that your sins are forgiven you, you are yet living in this state ; and it is not in any degree owing to you if this important sign of the speedy Coming of the Lord is not already present. I cannot, and do not wish, to assert tJiat our age is the last, the ground on which we tread the immediate thresJiold to our entering into the kingdom of tJie Lord in its completion ; but no one, on the other hand, can maintain aud prove the contrary ; and no onCy above all, can say that a transition inigJit not be suddenly made from our present condition to one of universal false security. I will only suppose the case that the Lord had removed the present distress. io6 TJie Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. which He has imposed upon us ; that glorious, gracious harvests should be given us one after another, and all that is necessary to a life of indulgence on earth should be conferred upon us richly. What would be the probable consequence thereof? If through such Divine goodness many an occasion for seeking God would for thousands cease to exist, is it to be supposed that this would lead our people to repentance ? My brethren, let us first look at the MANIFESTATION OF THIS FALSE SECURITY, to which our course of thought leads us, and the answer to this question will be plain. The text describes this manifestation in the words, " They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage." In another place, it is further said, " They did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded." ' Singular language ! Are not these, then, things which have their ground in the divinely appointed order of society .!* The Lord will not, surely, forbid these things, and form an inactive, indolent race } He will not recommend merely out- ward abstinence as the true preparation for His coming.? Certainly not. But the guilt of these ante- diluvians consisted in this : they ate, they drank, they married and were given in marriage, not according to the order of God, and within the sacred limits im- posed by Him — made these things an obstacle to their hearing God's voice ; and amidst the ordinary enjoy- ments and engagements of life, left themselves no False Security. 1 07 time for quiet self-examination, or for joyful approach unto their God. And in these words is one of the most terrible dangers of the present time described. Would it were only the extraordinary and rapidly- passing events of our lives which made it difficult for us to listen to the voice of the Spirit of God ! But such inroads has the spirit of the world made, that earthly cares and pleasures consume the whole of life. I appeal to the testimony of every father, every mother, every one in responsible office, every labourer, every merchant, each in his sphere. To such an extent is this the case, that the ordinary business of our vocation — or what we consider, and make such — leaves us, as is commonly said, no time for the things of eternity, and prevents our thinking of that which is necessary for our souls. If we could see the hidden things of the heart, how many should we find now present, who, in answer to the question, When do you pray with your family 1 when do you read the Word of God with them } would reply, " I have not time. Under my circumstances, it is impossible." The great dangers of the present day, my brethren, is lest the ordinary duties of our calling, devolving upon us in the order of God's providence, should prove a hindrance to us in the service of God, in the enjoy- ment of His word, and in the reception of those heavenly blessings without Avhich man is not designed to live in this world. And if many of us who are here to-day must give such testimony, what must be io8 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. the testimony of the hundreds of thousands who never enter the House of God ? " Marrying and giving in marriage" is also enumerated among the hindrances to preparation for His kingdom. We cannot in this, as before, in " eating and drinking," confine ourselves to ordinary occurrences, the affairs of daily life. We are led by this allusion to think of the festivities of life, the assembling for the purpose of enjoying the fair gifts of the earth. Is this, then, forbidden } Has not the Lord given, in the Son, all things unto His children } Shall they not rejoice to be born men, because Christ is not ashamed to be called their brother, because they are called to His glory t And shall not this joy be a common one } Shall it not be associated with particular days and hours, as well in the home as in the church t And can earthly enjoy- ment be entirely divorced from spiritual joy .-* Is not the receiving of the gifts of God with thanksgiving — consequently, eating and drinking — a lawful enjoy- ment } Questions like these may also be raised. Shall not man and woman be united in marriage ? Shall not, when hearts have found each other, festive joy accompany their bond of union in God ? Shall no voice of rejoicing be heard where the most joyous event in a family causes earth to appear the outer court of Paradise ? None of these questions call for an answer in the negative. And yet, have not these social enjoyments — social obligations, as they are now termed — become hindrances, in a very high False Security, 109 degree, and especially in our larger towns, to our regarding the voice of the Holy Spirit ? Do they not leave the heart exhausted, listless, incapable of prayer, disinclined for the Word of God ? Does not vanity play its part in them, and the lust of the flesh in a more lawless or a more refined manner, pride, self-admiration, mutual flattery, and falsehood ? Beloved hearers, into what a domain we are glanc- ing. I will not further depict it, for you know it all. You will answer, / 7mist ; my position requires it ; my social relations demand it ; I cannot withdraw. Very good. But your social relations for eternity "i You are called to the company of just men made perfect, to the many thousands of angels, and to the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Will you rather go where only the fire is prepared for the devil and his angels } Beloved, one sign of the speedy coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in His kingdom is certainly not wanting among us. And this calls us to earnest self-examina- tion in regard to that coming. Have you a joyful longing for it } Does He come to you as the bride- groom to the bride } Do you call to Him, " Come, Lord Jesus .^" Or do you put from you the thought of this coming, with a contemptuous epithet, as the hope of enthusiasm or of religious weakliness } If the latter, the cold hand of false security is pressing upon you. I implore you, awake ! awake ! for a JUDGMENT IS PASSING OVER THE EARTH. The 1 10 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. mouth of the Lord says, " They knew not until the flood came, and took them all away." They thought so many centuries have already passed away, and we have not acted worse than our fathers, who lived such prolonged lives on earth, and saw so much. It is true they also had witnessed terrible natural pheno- mena — inundations, and such like — but none, as yet, which swept away the whole human race, covering the whole earth, so far as it was inhabited by man. On this account they mocked and laughed at the foolish faith of Noah. To men of their physical knowledge and wide experience, faith in God seemed narrow and weak. Dear friends ! However true it is that we must immediately explain the things of earth by the powers which God has created, and implanted in matter ; however much it is our duty to obtain an intelligent insight, and to deal with the connected whole of earthly things in the order of cause and effect ; it is yet incontestably certain, that the word and eternal power of God in Christ Jesus refuses to submit itself to the formulas of our poor intellect ; that, on the contrary, by its manifestations, light from Eternity bursts upon us, and the stream of everlasting life rolls in upon the earthly state. At this point the natural explanation ends ; and it is folly to make the laws of created life the standard of the deeds of the Creator. And he who, spite of this limitation, will attempt to apply human laws as the standard of the False Security. 1 1 1 Divine conduct, may win for himself a high reputa- tion for wisdom amongst men, but remains a fool in the eyes of God, and of those who are able to judge spiritually that which is of the Spirit of God. If we can fall in with the talk of our age, which sounds almost like a repetition of the mockery of the Cainites directed against Noah, namely, that what happens, happens by necessity — that every cause has its effect — and, therefore, a miraculous, supernatural interven- tion of the God-man in the history of the world, an eventual completion of the kingdom of God on earth, a coming of the Lord, is not conceivable ; then we have advanced very far in this security, because we not only live in it, but declare living in it to be true wisdom, raise it to a principle, and close for ourselves by a logical system the way of exit therefrom. Jitdg- iiient is then, so far as we are concerned, very near. If we adopt as our own the inconsiderate language of the poet, "The World's history is the World's judgment," and put from us, w^ith a little worldly prudence, the unwelcome thought that the Lord Jesus will come in the clouds of heaven, and will judge the quick and the dead, whilst not a span of the world's history is rightly understood by us all, since it is known in its secret springs of action only by Him who tries the hearts and reins ; if we banish, with such high-sounding words, the fear of judgment from our souls, or even persuade ourselves that earnest thoughts of judgment are to be dismissed as 112 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. secondary questions, suitable only for pious women, but of which an enlightened mind must be ashamed ; then are we so deeply sunk in this false security that even the awakening call sounds for us in vain. It will be heard indeed again, but then too late ; for it awakens no more to save, but to chasten. As the flood burst forth — as the waves rolled over the earth — as they rose from hour to hour — as the heights were gradually covered, and the poor, pallid beings sought deliverance in vain — oh, how gladly would they have clung to that sign of grace, the ark of Noah ! How many a one also will wish on the last day, **' Oh, had I but believed in this Jesus Christ ! But now it is too late." Even now it may become " too late." The judgment is begun already. The world's judgment runs through the world's history, but has not yet found its final and majestic revela- tion. My brethren, do you suppose that at our last hour the hammer of death will first knock lightly at the careless heart, and then gradually louder, in order that it may receive the awakening note "> Yes, there viayh^ such a note, and sometimes there will be called forth from a soul, even at the last, the cry, *' Lord, save me, I perish." But what if the heart is no longer a resounding bell — if it has become dulled and deadened by the thoughts, phrases, and systems to which I have before adverted ! In this case no response will be heard from the breaking heart. False Security. 1 1 3 And on this account, listen to the warning cry ! The judgment is near at hand ; and no one of you knows whether the angel of judgment is not even now standing behind him with uplifted sword. What, then, is to be done ? We must give heed to the signs of the coming of the Son of man, not as a matter of idle curiosity, in order to be able to calculate the world's history beforehand, but that we may know how it stands with us, and may be brought into the true position in regard to the Saviour ; that as wise virgins, whose lamps are trimmed, we may at mid- night hour hear with joy the cry, "■ The bridegroom Cometh !" — may go forth to meet Him, and enter with Him into the wedding chamber, and there celebrate the harvest-feast of souls — the harvest-feast in which we shall praise the Lord in new tongues for all the temporal and spiritual harvests He has granted us here on earth. May the word spoken in weakness, beloved, pro- duce this effect in all of you who have hitherto lived in false security ! May the Holy Spirit chasten, correct, renew, console you, and finally give testi- mony to your spirits, that you are the children of God ! Amen. t Wimbtxsnl '§xothmvitxon oi ih ^oni^tl " And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come." — Matt. xxiv. 14. We have, beloved in Christ Jesus, already spoken during several Sundays, of the signs of the coming of Jesus Christ in His kingdom. They were precisely those signs which call for the courage of faith and patience in believers, that when these signs appear they may be upheld and endure unto the end. We spoke of temptation, seduction, persecution, and days of anguish, which should come upon the earth, of mighty convulsions which should herald the King of Glory. To-day we have before us a proclamation by the Saviour of one of the signs of His advent, which is essentially different from all we have hitherto con- templated, in that it is one only welcome and gladden- ing to the heart of a true Christian. After all the other signs have appeared, it may yet remain un- TJic Universal Proclamation of the Gospel. 1 1 5 certain whether the coming of the Lord is near. For who will say whether the evil, the power of darkness, may not yet become greater than it is at a particular time ? Who will maintain that the powers of tempta- tion may not show themselves stronger, the errors more seductive, the lie more black, than has hitherto been the case ? The coming of the Lord in His kingdom, the culmination, completion of this coming, has often been falsely supposed to be near, because it was thought things could not become worse ; and experience has shown that this expecta- tion was premature. Every age has the feeling inherent in it that evil has reached a degree, a power, which it cannot surpass. But the Lord only knows how powerful, how terrible, how destructive, how deadening, the power of Satanic falsehood may become upon earth. And, though w^e compare the many monsters of sin which meet us in life, or which we know from history, with Judas Iscariot, we are not able to deny that in this traitor to his Lord, a dark form meets us, compared with which most others have still some trace of light. But there may come a time in which humanity will separate itself into two divisions — the one, of decided friends, confessors, and witnesses, martyrs of the Lord Jesus ; the other, of decided foes, entirely ruled and blinded by Satan, as the arch-traitor was. There may come a Judas-age on the side of unbelievers and haters of the Lord. We do not, therefore, share in such hasty judgment, 1 1 6 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. and are unable to infer with certainty, from all of a painful, dark, and terrible nature which precedes the coming of the Lord, that this coming is at hand. But here we have a sign which enables us to judge infallibly, clearly, and plainly, whether the coming of the Lord is near, or still distant. In contemplating this sign, THE UNIVERSAL PROCLAMATION OF THE Gospel, we cannot but consider first the fact REGARDED IN ITSELF ; and then, IN ITS RESULTS. The Lord says, " And this gospel shall be preached." He connects, therefore, that which He here speaks with the preceding words concerning the great distress, the wars and rumours of wars, false Christs and false pro- phets, sedition of nations and families, and wide-spread offence and treachery. After all this follow the words : '' And this gospel shall be preached." This certainly does not mean that, as soon as all these things are past, the Gospel shall be preached in all the world ; but this preaching of the Gospel runs through the midst of all these terrible things. The gist of the prophecy lies in the words, " The Gospel of the king- dom shall be preached in all the worlds Now for THE FACT. Could the Apostles, the first disciples of the Lord — could the Apostolic Church — believe the coming of the Lord to be so very near } Could they do so, fully understanding this prophecy of the Lord } When we consider, beloved, in what a short time the tidings of salvation through the incar- nate and crucified Son of God sped like a fire through The Universal Proclamation of the Gospel. 1 17 the lands oi the then known world ; how that which was spoken in Jerusalem with closed doors, within a few years made itself heard even on the imperial throne at Rome, and the sound thereof went forth even to the distant Babylon ; how, within fifty years, hundreds of thousands of confessors of Jesus, the crucified Saviour, were dwelling in all the countries of the civilized world, we cannot be surprised if the first Christians expected a speedy advent of the Saviour, because they might expect an equally rapid illumination of the lands and nations yet remaining in darkness. But we now know that the Gospel of the kingdom did pass beyond, and must needs pass beyond, the world then known to the inhabitants of Palestine ; that on every side the ancient civilized world was bounded by mighty masses of nations, upon whom here and there a faint glimmer of the old heathen culture fell ; and that these nations required centuries of time before the Gospel had shone upon them all. I mean the nations of whose existence the Apostles themselves had a knowledge. And before this had taken place new hordes of barbarians burst into the old world, and circumstances within the Church itself hindered the outpouring of the gracious light upon the dark nations. But even though the Gospel of the kingdom had been brought to all the barbarous hordes which were beating at the gates and the frontiers of the Roman empire, and had they all been equally irradiated with the golden light of free- 1 18 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. dom in Jesus — as, for instance, Italy, Greece, and Egypt were — yet, with all this, only a small part of the Avork would have been accomplished ; and through other strata of nations — deep into farthest Asia, down into the interior of Africa, up to the frozen regions of Northern Europe — the foot of the messenger must wander before it could be said that the Gospel was proclaimed to all the then known and accessible nations of the earth. And even then, there were whole nations shut out from the knowledge of that age by the intervening ocean, and more than ten centuries must elapse before they came into contact with the Christian world. You will admit, from this rapid survey, that from the stand-point of our knowledge of the world, we might easily say the coming of the Lord in His kingdom must tJien be a very distant event, even though the progress of the Gospel should be such as the Apostles and their communions hoped. But what really took place t Was, properly speaking, " the Gospel of the kingdom " preached to all the peoples of the ancient world of civilization, and to the nations bordering on them t Did it not happen that only too soon Christianity, both within and without the Roman empire, entered into unhappy combinations with that which was present in the old heathen world, and which had grown up with the ancient life of nature in the nations, with their heathen mode of thought } Must not a Christianity arise from this admixture TJic Universal Proclamation of the Gospel. 1 19 such as no apostle would have recognised as a genuine copy of Him who was Christianity in person — our Lord Jesus Christ ? And in place of the kingdom of the Son of God from heaven — the dominion of the lowly Lamb of God, the Crucified Victor — has there not been founded a worldly kingdom of the Church, and with it a Christianity of the flesh ? Therefore, the pure Gospel of the kingdom was not proclaimed, even in those circles where it would have been pos- sible, in such a manner that we could say there was no one who had not heard the voice of the Good Shep- herd. It is true, there lay hidden under the earthly admixtures and obscurings the noble living germs of Divine and regenerating truth ; and here and there these fell upon prepared hearts, upon whole hosts of waiting souls, and wrought the work of true conver- sion. This, however, was not the rule, but the excep- tion. More than ten centuries passed amidst these dim and glimmering lights, and the pure bright sun- shine of the grace of Jesus Christ, of the only salva- tion in the name of Jesus, appeared only to a few chosen souls. Therefore, my beloved, even where the banner of the Cross has been planted, and where it has been surrounded with the pomp and splendour, the pro- tection and power of ecclesiastical display, there is need of the preaching of the Gospel "of the king- dom," i.e., that the Lord is King alone. He alone High Priest ; there is need of the preaching which 120 The Prophecies of Otir Lord and His Apostles. turns the eye from the word and glory of man, and turns it only to the Lamb without blemish and without spot, through whom we have been redeemed from our vain conservation after the manner of our fathers. To this end the Gospel has not yet been carried through all lands. Yet, a glance at ourselves and at the communions who — if they wish it — can have the light of pure truth, before we have concluded our remarks on the universal proclamation of the Gospel. Whilst we praise the Lord, that He has given the clear light to shine forth out of the twilight, and that the primitive form of the kingdom of Christ has again, in the Reformation, burst through the human coverings which concealed it, must we not, at the same time, confess that, through the Reformation, only a brief flash of light, a momentary irradiance, took place ; transitory in this respect, at least, that only too soon the same human and earth-born darkness returned, even though in a lesser degree than a thousand years before } On this account, let it be clearly understood that even within the Protestant community the Gospel of the kingdom in many cases needs preaching for the first time. How many individuals and congregations, even among ourselves, are professedly Protestant Christians, who have never heard the word of the Cross preached simply, powerfully, pure and free from human invention } There must, therefore — since we cannot expect heralds to come to us from without TJie Universal Proclamatmi of the Gospel. 1 2 1 — be the awakening of a new life in our Church ; and the preachers and teachers, yea, and the fathers and mothers, who have also a stewardship to fulfil in the mysteries of God, must learn to fulfil the duties of their office very differently from what they have hitherto done. There must yet be power and move- ment again in the Church, before it can be said that even in our lands the Gospel of the kingdom has been preached to all. And then you know how the thick shadows of night yet rest upon wide-spread portions of the earth ; and how the messengers go forth, in the hand of God, to the east and to the west, to the south and to the north, to give effect to the treasure which they bear in earthen vessels, where this treasure has been hitherto unknown, and to bring nigh those that are afar off. And if a great number of these messengers have already gone forth, and are found by thousands in their places of labour, and already hundreds of thousands from among the heathen praise the Lord Jesus Christ as their only Lord and Saviour ; and if the preaching of the kingdom has made a new begin- ning in the distant islands and remote countries of the heathen, yet we cannot deny that there is ground for the question — What is that among so many } What, then, if after all this, taking a general view of that which concerns the fact of preaching, we must come to the conviction that the final coming of our Lord is not yet at hand ? Shall we on this 1 22 The Prophecies of Our Lord mid His Apostles. account set about reckoning, and draw the dishearten- ing conclusion — It has required eighteen centuries for humanity to become penetrated to the present im- perfect extent with the Hght of the Gospel ; it will therefore require at least another eighteen centuries before the pure light of the Gospel extends over the whole earth ? This would be a deceptive and un- warranted conclusion. We shall rather consider that in the apostolic age as much was accomplished in half a century — yea, spiritually regarded, infinitely more — than in five centuries of the subsequent period of twilight. The Lord is not bound to our calcula- tions, or to our standard of time. He has, as our old proverb says, His hastening and His delaying. The history of the kingdom of God seems often to drag itself slowly along, and after decades of years, yea, half-centuries, have passed, it seems to stand at the same point, and we are hardly able to trace any progress ; while at another time, a few years suffice to give to the spiritual world an entirely new aspect. As in our winter months the movement and activity of Nature is scarcely perceivable, and yet, when spring- time bursts in, often in a night all is covered with fresh verdure, so is there also in the kingdom of the Lord winter and spring ; and we might almost venture to assert that we hve in the dawning of a time of spring. The reasons are not far to seek. That which has been done during the past fifty years, and still more during the past thirty years, for the extension of The Universal Proclamation of the Gospel. 123 the Gospel without, and for the purer proclamation of the same within our own land, is to be compared only with the time of the Reformation, or with the earliest and apostolic age of the Church. I must, however, yet once more say that our spring has only dawned, and that it depends in great measure upon the life of faith, upon the self-surrender, the love, the fidelity of the evangelical churches, whether the Lord's will be now accomplished, and His kingdom soon come. It is one of the most glorious privileges of believers that they may, so to speak, advance onwards the chariot of Divine judgments; that they are not merely spectators of the fact that the ways of God issue in glor>% but also themselves help to break up those paths which end in eternal light. Beloved in Christ Jesus ! If it is now clear that the kingdom of God in its completion is — according to merely human understanding — yet far distant, it is at the same time evident that it may be far nearer to us than we imagine. But what arises for us out of this contemplation } It bids us ask for ourselves, and each one for his house, Are you familiar with the Gospel of the kingdom 1 Does Jesus Christ rule amongst you, and in you, with unlimited power, sub- duing all things under His feet t Is His glory the first concern in your families, in your vocation ? These questions may be summed up in this : Has the Gospel of the kingdom among us not been preached in vain ? For I must once more return to my asser- 124 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. tion, that many congregations have not yet heard the Gospel sound forth clearly from the mouth of the preacher — at least during the memory of those living. But, among Protestants, the Bible lies open in the houses, and is epitomized in the catechisms used in the schools ; and there is scarcely one among Protes- tants in our town, or in our land, who has not, or might not have if he wished, a knowledge of Jesus Christ sufficient for his salvation. When, therefore, we ask if the Gospel of the kingdom has been pro- claimed, we do not confine ourselves to the faithfulness or unfaithfulness of those engaged in its public pro- clamation, but speak of the fidelity with which this duty has been fulfilled by each one in his sphere. Yet once more. What does this contemplation sug- gest to our hearts 1 It is at least a solemn exhortation, not slothfully to look on, or still less to remain in ignorance and unconcern, when, from one and another body of Evangelical Christians, missionaries are sent forth into the lands of the heathen. We must either be shamefully and sinfully negligent of our duty as Christians, and therefore be called to a stern account for such neglect, or we must take an active part in labour for the conversion unto life of those that are afar ofT, and of those that are nigh. Thus far does the contemplation of the fact lead us. But now as to the designed results of this procla- mation of the Gospel. The thought may present itself to you, that there is little hope of ever attaining The Universal Proclamation of the Gospel. 125 to that condition to which the preceding part of our discourse seems to point. It seems to say there will one day be a time when all will have heard and re- ceived the Gospel ; when there will be no more heathen, no more Jews or Mahommedans, or even a Romish or a Greek Church ; when the human race will form one living Christian Church, in which no dead members can be found. At the same time, you will recall to mind that the Lord has not promised this, but has said, " Let both — the tares and the wheat, on the field of the world — grow together until the harvest ;" and has after^vards told us, *' The har- vest is the end of the world." Accordingly, unto the end of the world there will ever be tares in the field — ever a mixture of believers and unbelievers in the Church itself. Your objection may go even further, and lead you to conclude that the coming of the Lord will be His appearing at tne final judgment, and not in the beginning of a period of triumph for the Gospel upon earth. That were a perfectly just conclusion, had the aim of our discourse been to show that there would be a time in which all had not only heard, but also lovingly accepted the Gospel, and had made it the supreme power of heart and life. But this was not my meaning, and could not be so, since it stands otherwise written in my text, " This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations." 126 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. " For a testimony concerning them."* A testimony for the nations, and a testimony against them, A testimony / And the third, the most important for us, WHO WILL SHARE THIS JUDGMENT WITH HIM ? Everlasting God and Lord, by every word of Thy prophecy, and the prophecy of thine Apostles, we are compelled to sink before Thee in the dust, because we ever see our flesh and blood, our natural life, implicated, when the clear light of Thy Holy Spirit falls upon the dark future, upon the wider unfolding of Thy kingdom, and especially upon the last and extreme form of that sin and corruption which is already in the world. But every such word impels us at the same time to a filial, believing, prayerful looking to Thyself; for Thou art our help, our deliverance, our salvation. Thus do we bend before Thee this day, and look forth from our humiliation to Thee in Thy glory, and pray Thee have mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, and leave us not to perish with the world, but deliver 222 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. us, and forsake not, but rather complete the good work begun in us. Lord, help us, and bless our meditation in this hour consecrated to Thyself. Amen. Is it not, my beloved, an idle question of curiosity which would gladly raise the veil which lies upon the more distant future of the kingdom of God upon earth, if we allow ourselves to ask the question, When will the man of sin be judged.? It may be said, We must be content with knowing nothing about this matter, and with confessing that the Lord had His wise reasons for concealing it, to lead us in all our ways to seek warning, awakening and strengthening, that whenever the man of sin appears, and his judgment overtakes him, we may not be surprised hy the event. But here it is clearly and distinctly indicated in the Apostle's words ; and a definite answer is given us to the question when the man of sin will be judged. Where the word of God affords us such indications or revelations, there we imtst ask ; there we are called upon to regard the matter as serious and important enough for us to devote to it other interest than that of curiosity. There is nothing in the whole of Holy Writ, and more especially in the words of the Apostles, which does not intimately concern our whole life before God and for God — our everlasting weal or woe — and to this our question and its answer forms no exception. TJic Judgment of the Wicked One. 223 We shall discover the time in the more careful analysis of the answer itself. For there it is written by the Apostle's hand, " TJien shall that wicked one be revealed ;" and immediately after he is described as the one whose coming is according to the working of Satan, with all kinds of lying powers, and signs, and wonders. Here we have a description of the condition in which judgment will overtake the man of sin, and consequently, also, of the time, in his working and being, at which this judgment will overtake him — certainly not the time in the sense of our being able even approximately to determine the year of our Christian era in which this great event will happen. This, also, is entirely superfluous, since, even though it were written in the word of God in distinct numbers, in what year the man of sin would appear and exercise his influence within Christendom, and to what year his perilous, and destructive work would extend, this description would not prevent a single soul from falling into his snare. So much has already been written in the Holy Scripture, and so clearly, that if this might avail to warn men against the ways of everlasting perdition, things would long ago have worn another aspect in Christendom. But what we are told is, that the final judgment upon the man of sin and his work cannot take place until he has been revealed. And you now know well, my beloved, from the word of prophecy as a whole, that when the 224 T^J^^ Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. coming of the Lord is spoken of, either His personal manifestation and appearing is meant, or that victory, the dawn of the day and of life, which cannot be brought about except by the Lord himself When, therefore, it speaks of the coming of the man of sin, the wicked one, it is clear that not merely that spirit is meant which is already present, and has its work in the children of disobedience — the spirit of enmity against the word of God, and His pure truth — of distrust in regard to the things of God, of becoming steeped in earthly, vain, transitory, and material interests, of opposition towards that which is spoken from heaven by the Holy Ghost. In this case, judgment against the man of sin would pervade the whole history of the Christian Church. In a certain sense and degree this has, indeed, been the case, and we might point out in history a long succession of judgment days of the Holy Spirit — now upon great communities of men, now upon single individuals. But in all this there was only a prelude of that which one day will happen. Wc have already seen in a former meditation that when the Apostle speaks of the man of sin, the son of perdition, he means a definite human person, who shall yet appear in the future, the same in whom all which is written of Antichristian principle, of enmity against Christ within the Christian circle, will find its summary, its incorporation, its mightiest representation and realization. Such an one will be, TJie Judgment of tJic Wicked One. 225 who is adored as a god of this world on account of his powers — the force of mind and will with which he carries out that for which the mystery of iniquity, creeping in darkness everywhere, prepares the way. And now it is said, Only when he has come forth out of the darkness of time, when he is no longer merely a spirit of wickedness and of enmity against Christ, but a man who opposes himself to the Lord of all lords, the King of all kings, and denies His word, and makes it a lie, and with an authority which is to outweigh that of Christ, comes forth against Him and His, then will his judgment appear. At the same time, it is further said in what way the coming of this wicked one will be manifested. On the one hand, we have a hint of the dark back- ground from which he shall come forth, in the words, " after the working of Satan ;" and on the other hand, the proclaiming of his revelation is described in the words, "with all power, and signs, and lying wonders." Might we not say, my beloved, that this is spoken in exceedingly general language } For in a certain sense, we may assert of all that is evil and Anti- christian, that it is a working of Satan, inasmuch as Satan was a murderer and a liar from the beginning ; and this first seducer stands to this hour in a certain connection with all that is done of sin and ungodliness in the obscurity and darkness of this world. But here the Apostle is speaking of a coming, of manifestations according to the working Q 226 TJie PropJiccies of Our Lord and His Apostles. of Satan, and of a power of evil which can be ex- plained only by being traced back to the immediate operation of that world which belongs to the power of darkness — to sin. It has been said, the Antichrist or man of sin is, properly speaking, not a man in the strict sense of the word, but an incarnation of the devil ; Satan mimicking the great work of grace and redemption — the incarnation of God in Christ Jesus — will himself also appear in a human form. God preserve us from this horrible and perverted thought ! Satan is a created spirit, however deeply fallen and corrupt. Satan cannot be anything else than what he is — a created, finite being; he cannot pass beyond the limits imposed on him. Only the infinite God, only the Almighty himself, the Creator of all things, can become man and be truly man, whilst He, at the same time, remains that which he is — the everlasting God. Only He works this wonder of wonders. The incarnation of God cannot be imitated by any being who is not God ; and, therefore, however gladly Satan would have the creative power of becoming man, and of acting as man,, he has it not, and will never have it. There- fore, the wicked one will be an actual mere man. An actual man can never be Satan ; but only one more than others penetrated with Satanic power, and swayed by the power of seduction. How far this may be permitted, no word can indicate before- hand. No one of us is in a position to conceive of The Judgment of the Wieked One. 227 all the possibilities of evil, and of surrender to Satanic power, and to sum them up in a personal form. This can be only in some measure learnt from the experience of those who shall dwell upon earth during this terrible period. This much, however, is clear from his words, that the Apostle recognises as already present a dominion and power of this evil and gloomy spirit of Satan, active in the measure in w^hich man within the Christian Church turns from Christ, or turns not to Him. However far the age, in its wisdom, may have advanced beyond faith in the actual existence of this personal power of darkness ; however many forms of expression it may have coined to cover this unwel- come and gloomy doctrine of the Word of God, the Apostle tears away every such veil with the words. This coming is after the working of Satan. Here, dear hearers, it becomes clear that we have not to do with a question of curiosity and of interest- ing investigation in regard to the future, but with a. question very closely and deeply affecting our life. If Satan can rule and fill man with his powers, we also are then exposed to these influences, and, con- sequently, an earnest watchfulness and prayer is demanded of us, that we fall not into the snares of this tempter and seducer, and gradually become his involuntary instruments. At first, indeed, the man plays with sin, and with the thought of being at the will of the Prince of Darkness. But he is not. 228 The PropJiccics of Our Lord and His Apostles. long able to continue this play ; instead of the player he becomes gradually the plaything, and finally is given up, without his choice, to the powers of corruption and perdition. This comes forth to us very clearly in the " signs, and powers, and wonders." They are called, indeed, powers, and signs, and wonders of a lie. This also they must be ; for whatever else the man of sin will do, to awaken astonishment, whatever he may produce out of the fulness of his evil nature before the eyes of men, a creative spirit he will never be, for Satan is able only to destroy the creature of God ; he is, as a creature, not in a position himself to create. The evil is able only to pervert that which God has made pure and good ; itself to produce anything abiding, vigorous, fruitful, lies beyond its power. So the man of sin also will by no means have *' power," in the sense in which the Apostles else- where use this word, when they speak of Christ's work of grace, of God's wonders in human history, and in the inner life. These are creations instinct with life, through the intervention of the eternal, invisible world in this poor world, which is, never- theless, an image of the eternal, and, on this account, able to receive its impressions. Here, however, the Apostle is speaking of the " powers of a lie," which cast their spell over life, whilst in themselves they bear only death and destruction. Ah, beloved, may we not perceive; in many a single TJic Judgment of the Wieked One. 229 human heart, and even in ourselves, if we look deep into our hearts, that there are such powers of a lie ? Is it not often, as by fascination, that one and the same sin, whose painful issue we have already often experienced, is able afresh to ensnare us in its net and to present to us an attractive, bewitching form ? Is not sin — even where it exerts the greatest ascendancy — ^just such a supernatural power of fascination ; and do we not hear it said, hundreds and thousands of times, as a sort of excuse for one's own sin, that one cannot resist this mighty stream — that evil, like a power of nature, bursts irresistibly upon us ? These are lying powers, and these powers rise to signs, and these "signs" become "wonders." Signs: what is the meaning of this word as it is used by Christ ? It always implies that a new life, a new world, is arising within the old, and is renewing and glorifying it. Christ our Lord arises with signs among the people of Israel, all which express only the one thought which was afterward summed up by the Apostolic proclama- tion in the words, " The Life is manifested." Even so will the spirit of falsehood endow his most powerful instrument among men — the man of sin — with the capacity to blind the minds of men already under the dominion of the flesh, that they should recognise in that which is only the outcome of everlasting death, a tree of life, at whose fruit they greedily snatch. I have already indicated what danger there would be, even in our days — when we have not reached this 230 TJie Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. extreme point in the history of the kingdom — if a man should arise who could promise full satisfaction and gratification for all the ten thousand wishes and desires of the natural heart ; if one should come forth among us with power of intellect and of will, and should be able at once to heal all the gaping wounds of our natural life, the interruptions of our quiet ; to fill up all the blanks and dreary voids of the pleasure- loving heart, so that he could say, Eat, drink, and be merry ! — if any one by his smooth discourse and sparkling thoughts could dispel the anguish and fear of death, the dread of eternity, the quailing before the judgment, and could furnish us with a religion in which we could allow our life's vessel to drift plea- santly upon a smooth, sun-lit lake, dreading no evil issue — how great a danger, even for our age, and for our present Evangelical Church, would such an one bring ! But if, in addition, he should arise with even lying signs, and should produce the impression that that which he does is right, even though he should cherish the extreme of enmity against Christ, the lowly and despised Saviour of sinners ; if he should produce the appearance of his work being the com- pletion of Christianity — as though hitherto the gloomy and severe side of Christianity only had been pre- sented — in an over-spiritual conception of it, and too low an estimate of the present earthly condition of the human life ; the attractive, pleasing side, on the other hand, had been kept in the background — if, TJic Jiid^jficfit of the Wicked One. 231 consequently, in the name of truth, and in the name of God, as visibly present, a full satisfaction for the morbid desires of our natural life is afforded us ; if, upon every wound which the Word of God, the testi- mony of the law, the accusations of the conscience, and the operations of the Holy Ghost, had made, a healing plaister is laid, how great, my beloved, must be the fascinating power of darkness in this case ! And " wonders " will then be — truly lying wonders ; for thousands and thousands will say : We have long in vain sought, toiled, struggled, and made research, but nowhere have we succeeded ; here with a stroke, as by a touch of a Divine hand, our life is satisfied, and for us there is no toil and labour more. Do I need, after that which has been said, any fur- ther to prove that the question as to the time of the judgment which is to be passed upon the man of sin very closely concerns us ? I may now pass to the manner : the one question leads naturally to the other. How, then, AND BY WHOM WILL THE JUDGMENT UPON THE MAN OF SIN BE ACCOMPLISHED .? It is written in very simple words : " Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the first appearing of His coming." Then, indeed, will be rendered apparent that all the seductive powers, signs, and wonders, were only lying powers, signs, and won- ders, when the true man of wonders shall be revealed 232 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. in the clouds of heaven with great power and glory ;* when He who doeth wonders both in heaven and on earth, shall work the last great sign — which, however, will be only a prelude of the transformation of heaven and earth — in destroying the wicked one with the breath of His mouth. Then will it be seen that this glory and dominion, derived entirely from the flesh and its out-growth, and this power of intellect, based entirely upon a lie, can avail nothing against the word which proceeds out of the mouth of the Son of God. Christ's word, that is, the spirit of His mouth : the Holy Ghost is embodied, so to speak, in the word of Christ. His word, then : and what a word ! He will again say, as He once said in Gethsemane, I am He. But He will no more speak as the Lamb who was led to the slaughter, but as the King of eternity ; as He who sits at the right hand of the Majesty of his Father. He it is in whom alone a human soul can be saved ; He, the Crucified, with pierced hands and side, who shall one day so come as Judge, that all the nations of the earth may behold Him, from the rising to the setting of the sun. ThiLS will the judguient 7ipoji tJie man of sin be an ajtticipation of the last general judgment ; no longer, however, such an one as noiv extends through the ivorld-period of Jiumanity ; for out * Upon the events connected with this appearing of the sign of the Son of man in the clouds, see Matt. xxiv. 29—31. Further light is shed l)y the vision of the Apostle John. — Rev. xix. 1 1 — 2 1. TJic Judgiiicnt of the Wicked One. 233 of this judgment there will be no other issue than perdition for those upon whom it falls. Then will become manifest that the wicked one is the son of perdition ; that his destruction is written on his brow, legible for every divinely enlightened eye, but not understood by his blinded ones. " The Lord shall destroy him ;" that is, not merely physically slay him, although, no doubt, with the full revelation of the inner corruption of wickedness and lies, of abandon- ment to Satan and his kingdom, the earthly life can no longer continue. Sin and death consumes the bodily life : it has an end. But He will destroy him — slay him — not merely bodily, but consign him to everlasting death. That is judgment, that whoever has hardened himself, and has rendered himself gra- dually inaccessible and unimpressionable for the influ- ences of grace which have been brought to bear on him, have touched him, aroused him, often again have exhorted him ; he who could make such gigantic pro- gress in sin, and could finally become the conscious antagonist of Christ ; he who could exalt himself above all that is called God or is an object of worship, and pretend that he is a God, should be shut up to his own darkness and wickedness, and consigned to that torment which is in himself, which he has created for himself. This is the beginning of hell. He shall destroy him with the spirit of His mouth, and " shall bring him to nought (Karapydv)." Then will every appearance of might, power, and dominion, of influ- 234 TJie PropJiccics of Ojir Lord and His Ai)o sties. ence and importance, be effaced, and iniquity, sin, Satan and his kingdom, as well as the man of sin, appear in their wretchedness ; and all that here on earth has been so great and high, and has been adorned with such fair names — so much that has been called noble and fair — will be seen in the shame of its nakedness, and no one any more will have the least desire for it. Here the power of seduction ends. Oh, if we would only look upon the odious form of sin — we can do so — we should no more be led captive by it, and drawn away to perdition ! By the " spirit of His mouth," by the "revelation of His coming," will the man of sin be judged. When Christ arises in His glory, the gloomy forms of sin flee away, and hide themselves in their own darkness from the presence of Him who sitteth upon the throne. You will again confess, my dear friends, that it is no question of curiosity if we inquire after tJie manner i?i ivJiich the man of sin will be judged. It is cer- tainly not a remote question, whether Jesus of Naza- reth, who has hundreds of times invited and allured me, during my life on earth, to become His, shall one day come as He before whose mere appearing and bare word every covering will fall, every mask dis- appear, every appearance be done away, and also my state of heart be manifest before all the world. Nay verily, it is a life-question daily pressed upon you, How do you stand in relation to this Jesus of Naza- reth .'' How if He should appear to-day in the bright- TJic Jiidgincnt of the Wicked One. 235 ness of His coming ? Will you be among those who rejoice to meet Him, because the longing of their life is now satisfied ? Will you stretch forth the arms to Him as to the One whom you expect with joy, that He may graciously receive you, in spite of all your unworthiness, for the merit of His sacrifice, into His everlasting kingdom ? Or will you be among those who must say, Ye mountains, fall upon us ! and ye hills, cover us ? As is your position in regard to the last judgment, so is it also to the anticipatory judg- ment upon the " wicked one." The question inti- mately affects us. Even if we should not live to see this mighty event of the kingdom of Christ — the vic- tory of the Lord over the man of sin — yet even now our own everlasting portion is decided in the same manner. If the man of sin should arise, were now in the world, all those who belong in heart to Christ would range themselves on His side, and this would be seen, not merely in words, but in spirit and life. All others bear in themselves, more or less clearly, the sign of belonging to the man of sin, and falling under the same judgment with him. For, finally, it is written that this judgment shall not overtake him alone, but others also with him. This, namely, is taught where it is said. He shall arise with all lying powers and signs and wonders, and with all seduction unto unrighteousness, among *' them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." 236 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. Here, my beloved, is the last, but most pressing question — of which I said it was the most important for us — Who will share in the judgment of THE MAN OF SIN ? You will say, Wicked, degraded, godless men, of whom there are many in our own as well as in every other age. You will bid us descend into the depths of corruption, into the dark hiding places of sin, in which it conceals itself from the eyes of man. Is it so } Must we there seek those who fall into the condemnation of Antichrist, or who are types of those who will one day have a terrible part in this judgment } For the present we might easily think so, for we are not yet living in the time of the final decision, but in a very important transition period ; of which no one is able to say how near it is to the end. At such a time, much in the life of man is only half developed. There are many who are still able, after their manner, to serve at the same time God and Mammon ; who hold alternately Avith Christ and Belial, and believe they can be at once devout and can give loose reins to the flesh and its lusts. These, however, are times in which — besides the seductive influences of the lawless one, though not yet in his human form — the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit are still in" operation ; that point of deci- sion not yet being reached, after which there will be no one who does not, either living or dying, belong manifestly to Christ, or take his stand as a decided opponent and enemy of Christ. This decision is not TJie Judgment of the Wicked One. 237 yet characteristic of our days, and therefore we easily imagine that the connection with the man of sin is to be sought in that which our present Christian society regards the extreme of wickedness — in the most re- pulsive manifestations of vice and transgression ; and that here are to be found those who will fall under the judgment of Antichrist. Not thus, however, does the Apostle speak : he speaks of the Antichrist as the wicked, or rather, lawless one, and his deception as a seduction to ''lawlessness" — to the tendency to free one's self from God's law and the holy order of His word, either by quietly putting it on one side, or by bold rebellion against it. Lawlessness, how^ever, cha- racterises all those who will not be held within the limits of God's order ; who therefore explain away, out of the Bible, all that which is disagreeable to them ; or, if they cannot do this, cast aside the whole Bible and its obligation upon us. Are such not to be found amongst us, or to be found only where the defilement of sin betrays its inner repulsiveness .'' I must even afresh remind you that sin in no one begins in its highest degree, but that its course is a gradual or more rapid descent, until it becomes a result, a product of much opposition and resistance against the admonitions of God — a mani- fold grieving of the Holy Spirit. The wricked one seduces men to lawlessness, to self-glorying and self- idolatry, as Satan seduced the first human beings. Thither, also, tends in the present day all seduction 238 TJie Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. of the kingdom of darkness. It is, however, yet further indicated that they obeyed not the truth to sal- vation. Beloved, the truth unto salvation is well known unto us. It produces upon us its inner impressions, alarming or gracious, ever precious ; it remains not strange to us ; it touches our heart, and we cannot escape its contact with our innermost life. Thanks be to God, this is His work of grace : He has not yet given us up. But to be obedie7it to the truth is some- thing far more than all this. Are we, then, obedient to the truth in such a way that, let the world say what it will, we walk in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus .? This must be seen ; for nothing is more difficult to conceal in a community of men than obedience to the truth. If we, who are present in this Church, walked resolutely in obedience to the truth, bowed in daily contrition, surrendered ourselves as the weary and heavy laden to the open arms of our Saviour, to be refreshed of Him, to appropriate all the fruit of His redemption, to have peace with God through the blood of the Cross, to bear within us a certain hope of everlasting life, and to tread the works of the flesh under our feet, how great must be the effect produced upon the society in the midst of which the God of our life has placed us ! What life must proceed from us ! This has not been the case. But even on this day we cannot deny that, besides much that is good, devout, fair. Christian ; besides an increase and growth in The Judgment of the Wicked One. 239 spiritual and Divine things, the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life — has exercised a fearful dominion over our life ; and obe- dience to the truth, if present at all, is present only in its weak beginnings. If, however, all those who have not received the truth in the love of it will be seduced into unrighteousness by the man of sin in the time of his appearing, this must alarm us in regard to our whole position ; for the man of sin is in so far pre- sent in our days, as there are in a lower degree already many "men of sin ;" yea, in a certain degree the natural man must be so named. Therefore, I implore you and myself, let us be awakened to a salutary dread by these prophecies ; for if we are not walking in obedience to the truth — if Christian evangelical truth in all its fulness, without any exception, has not become to us power, life, deed, and witness — we are at least involved partly in the unrighteousness of which the Apostle here speaks, and the judgment of the man of sin will assuredly overtake us in eternity, since we belong to him. Only if w^e have been saved by Jesus Christ, the only Saviour — have peace with God through His righteous- ness appropriated to faith ; in His strength, which the Holy Spirit daily communicates to us, humbly and joyfully walk ; tread down Satan under our feet ; look fonvard in glad hope to the prize of our high calling — shall we escape the judgment, for we are in Christ ; and when He shall one day come with ten thousand 240 TJic Prophecies of Qiir Lord and His Apostles. of His saints, we also shall triumphantly accord in His sentence ; for we ourselves shall no more enter into judgment, but have passed from death unto life. The choice between these two issues will not be difficult for any one. But this choice is not to be at- tained merely by a passive acquiescence in the call to the Lord, or by a brief " I will," not proceeding out of the depth of the whole life ; to attain to this choice is the work of a life. On earth you must make it : now, every day, every hour, unto the last breath. Oh, make this choice ! and so make it, that in eter- nity you may have to praise the God of all grace that by His Holy Spirit he has led your heart to choose aright. Amen. t ©Icrbus Cnmmg d ^tBm ®brbt. " For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the tmmp of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first." — i Thess. iv. i6. Beloved in Christ Jesus our Lord, — The Advent-tide,* upon which we, through the grace of God, enter again at the beginning of another Christian year, has a remarkable twofold character. It carries us back, on the one hand, into the Old Testament centuries of hope and longing for the coming of the promised Saviour, and places us thus in the outer court of the Gospel down to the time of John the Baptist as the last forerunner of Christ; on the other hand, it raises us to the mountains of vision, clad with the light of eternity, and bids us look forth to the glorious coming of our Lord Jesus * Preached on the 29th Nov., 1S57, 1st Svmday in Advent. R 242 The PropJiccics of Our Lord and His Apostles. Christ. It recalls to our minds the word of our Lord, in which he says, "They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory ;" and gives us to hear afresh those words of the men in white raiment : " He shall so come as ye have seen Him go up into heaven." There is crowded, then, such a fulness and multi- plicity of Divine thoughts and of God's acts in relation to His kingdom into this time of Advent and its meditation, that it becomes difficult to select a single point, and impossible, in treating of all at one time, to allot to each particular its due prominence. On the present occasion, however, it is not difficult for me to make the choice, since my series of meditations upon the Apostolic prophecies lead me in due course to that point where, after observing all the mighty precursors and signs which herald the coming of Christ, we have to fix our eye upon the glorious coming of the Lord himself. On this account I have chosen as my text for the present day the words of the Apostle I have just read to you. We purpose to-day to meditate on THE GLORIOUS COMING OF OUR LORD JESUS CiiRIST ; and in doing so we cannot but regard it on its two sides — first, IN ITS JUDICIAL SIGNIFICANCE, and then in its COMPLETION OF THE KINGDOM. And Thou thyself, everlasting Lord and God, Saviour Jesus Christ, who hast ascended and hast TJic Glorious Coming of Jesus Christ. 243 sat down at the right hand of majesty in power, who wilt come again to judge the quick and the dead, who, through thy Apostles in the Holy Ghost, hast gradually and step by step revealed to us the future mystery of Thy return, help us through this same Spirit that we may understand this mystery, so far as is needful for our peace and salvation. Bless us also, and let us aright celebrate Thy coming, that we may look forward thereto with contrite hearts as poor sinners, but also with joyous hearts as Thy redeemed ones. My beloved in Christ Jesus ! from the general impression of the text we have read, you will at first think of nothing else but the last judgment, the last great day of revelation of Jesus Christ on earth, before the whole human race, and in presence of all the holy angels. And yet there is something in our text that will not properly allow us to limit our thoughts to this last, most glorious, visible descent of our Lord Jesus Christ. You have, of course, observed that I laid a certain emphasis upon the last word of our text. That word is first — " and the dead in Christ shall rise first." If now we think of the last judgment, it is clear that, according to the testimony of all Holy Scripture, when the Lord comes to judge the quick and the dead, and when the earth gives forth its dead, and the sea gives forth its dead, and Hades gives forth its dead, and both small and great appear before the face of Him who sitteth upon 244 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. the throne, there will not be a resurrection merely of the righteous, but also a resurrection of the ungodly to shame and everlasting contempt ; and that if we were to suppose the righteous would first leave their graves, and then immediately after them the ungodly also — supposing this were all — astonishingly little would be said by the Apostle's words. For what is in such a case first and last ? They are moments of Divine revelations, in which time to a high degree disappears — the consciousness thereof falls into the background ; and especially is this the case for those who have fallen asleep in Christ, and have become henceforth blessed, who, consequently, already rest in peace, and have no ungratified wish or desire, because they are at home with the Lord. If they rise '' first," what importance has this for them, since time has an insignificant value, and one not to be brought into account } We must, therefore, adopt another course, and listen to a later prophecy* of the same Apostle, as it is contained in the fifteenth chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, when the Spirit, who guides into all truth, had already led him somewhat further than before. There he is speaking of the resurrection of the dead — not at the last day, but in the Avhole history of the world — as following in a certain order and appointed succession. "Every man," it is there written, "in * Date of writing First Thessalonians, the earliest Apostolic letter, about end of A. D. 52. First Corinthians, Passover, a.d. 57. Wieseler. TJic Glorious Coming of Jesus CJirist. 245 his own order : Christ the first-fruits ; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming. Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father ; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power." Thus you behold, my beloved, that the last judgment is tlie end, when all earthly rule and authority and power ceases ; in the Son's coming from heaven, the earthly kingdom of God, the kingdom of His only Son, has its end, and passes over into the kingdom of the Father, into the heavenly kingdom.* Therefore, by the end is unquestionably meant the last judgment. But, besides this, it is said. The dead who are fallen asleep in Christ shall rise at His coming. If, then, we allow the light of this later Apostolic prophecy to fall back upon the earlier, it becomes clear to us that he is speaking of another coming of the Lord, at this period of the "resurrec- tion of the just." When, therefore, it is said in our text, "The Lord shall descend from heaven with a signal cry, with the voice of the archangel, and with tlie trump of God," it is here the last concluding return, the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ as judge of the quick and the dead, which is meant ; and yet to this description something is appended which belongs not to the last coming of the Lord. * Between the coming of Christ for the completion of His kingdom, and the time of the final judgment, must, consequently, intervene that period of millenial glory described by the Apostle John, Rev. xx. 246 The Prophecies of Oitr Lord and His Apostles. Two great steps in the revelation of the Lord's kingdom are comprised in one. This is an important peculiarity of Divine prophecy through a human medium. There are other such condensed repre- sentations in Holy Scripture, and we have in each case to separate that which the word of God in its wider prophetic course compels us to separate. On this account I have, from the beginning, distinguished the judicial appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ from His coming to complete His kingdom. Do not say, But then the coming of Christ to complete His kingdom must be considered first, and His judicial coming afterwards, for in this order do they follow each other. For it is not my design to speak to you on the last judgment,* but to show you that even that coming of our Lord Jesus Christ — to be distinguished from the last judgment — in which the dead in Christ alone arise, is a judicial one. We have already seen that the Lord at His coming will destroy that wicked one by the spirit of His mouth ; that consequently he will, by the Holy Spirit, over- whelm with His judgments all which has, during the world-period, raised itself against Him, and at last has found its culmination and most terrible form in the man of sin. A judgment we have consequently to expect before the last judgment, and that unlike the judgments which pervade all the centuries of * The sermon by the author, on the Last Judgment, was inserted in this series at the request of the translator. TJie Glorious Coming of Jesus Christ. 247 history ; not a continuation merely of the judicial sway of God in all the deeds and days of men, but an especially prominent, mighty, and unmistakeable judgment. It is true our Lord and Saviour appeared first as the King of peace. Before our eyes it stands written in the Gospel of this day how He, full of peace and compassion, enters into the city which shall crucify Him. He is present before the soul of us all as the Just One and the Saviour, who comes to Zion to bring her consolation in her misery ; and so also is He re- vealed ever afresh through the history of the Church as the only One in whom help, consolation, and peace is to be found ; and millions of anxious souls have already rested on his heart, and found that peace which the world could not give. Ever does He remain the same. But to those who will not seek salvation of Him — will not call upon His name, and sink before Him in the dust ; who, when He is presented to them, now, as at Calvary, shake their heads at Him and scornfully turn away ; who, when He is proclaimed, and they, in the distress of their hearts, feel their need of Him, are too proud to receive grace, salvation, life, and glory from a crucified Saviour, He cannot unto the end of the days come only as the Saviour ; but at last, in the course of God's kingdom here on earth, there must come a sharp line of demarcation between those who cling to Him and those who have given themselves up to Satan and his kingdom. This dis- 248 The Prophecies of Our Lord mid His Apostles. tinct separation is itself, however, an act of judgment, since, as on the last day, there is a dividing to the right and to the left. There lies in this a hidden power of judgment of the perverted heart and mind, and of the deeds and words of the individual, which have become for him binding powers : these separate the two classes, and place them opposite each other. This happens, indeed, already to a greater or less extent. In later meditations we shall perceive that single judgments are predicted by the spirit of prophecy — judgments which prepare the way for His coming, and which introduce at last a mighty, decisive, mira- culous visitation, which can no longer pass unrecog- nised, but which still is distinct from the last judgment. You will ask. Will He then twice visibly appear } At His first coming in the flesh, when the Son of God became man. He was visible, but not glorified ; in innocence and righteousness, but not in glory. The second coming with which we are acquainted, and of which we express our hope in our confession of faith, will be that glorious and visible coming as a lightning flash from heaven, which will be seen from the rising to the setting of the sun. Is, then, a third visible ap- pearing of the Lord predicted — an appearing as yet concealed in the future } I answer. We might let this question rest, without deciding whether this coming is visible or invisible ; for this is one of the distinctions which, for the The Glorious Coming of Jesus Christ. 249 spiritual man, have very little importance. We call visible that which we perceive with the bodily eye : invisible that which we only inwardly. feel or recog- nise to be present. Ordinarily, we ascribe to visible things a more definite and undeniably essential cha- racter than to the invisible. We assert that the visible — because men's eyes and minds are in their principles everywhere the same — will appear to all in nearly the same manner ; that the invisible, belonging to the inner world, mingles at once with the especial incli- nations, modes of conception, and peculiar thoughts of the individual, which greatly differ, and that there- fore each one regards the invisible somewhat differ- ently. However true this is in many respects, yet another judgment may be opposed to it. We shall not doubt that the consciousness of good and evil is essentially the same in all men, and that that is regarded as good which is in accordance with the higher powers, whose existence — whether acknow- ledged or not — is ever felt by man ; and that as evil, which is not in accordance with them. What is good and evil, this question of the conscience, may in its application to single cases in life, be differently an- swered ; but is, as a whole, answered in the same manner by the whole humanity of all ages and peoples, since all say that the good is pleasing to the Divine Being, and the evil is displeasing to Him. This is an agreement, which we cannot but recognise, in the conceptions of men, having relation to the inner and 250 The Prophecies of Our Lord aitd His Apostles. spiritual world. Yet more, however, does this agree- ment appear in the simple primary feeling- which everyone has who has not entirely stifled it, — I am a sinner : I am in myself nothing which can please a Holy God ; neither can I save myself, make myself sinless. Whatever unspeakable labour many may impose upon themselves, all in reality know that a truly sufficient help for their inner need — for that which tortures them in the most trying hours of their life, in the most painful conditions of their soul — is to be found only outside themselves, only above them in a Divine world. Here, consequently, again, the same first principles in the spiritual and invisible world. Now I pass straight to my object. Will you be able to doubt that a prevailing movement in the domain of the Spirit may, and often does, at the same time exert essentially the same impression upon one man or two, and upon millions } Will you regard it as inconceivable that an entirely new manifestation of Jesus Christ, the eternal King and Lord of this world — a manifestation proceeding from such an inner movement of the Spirit as has never yet taken place in like manner — may produce, as by a lightning flash, one and the same effect upon the whole of humanity } Will you deny it, when you know how the spirit of the age, within the space of a few years, exercises a magic power ; that men can scarcely help believing in it, and seeing things in its light ; and that, on the other hand, often in a time of excitement and suspense, a TJic Glorious Coining of Jesus Christ. 251 word, a deed, of a gifted man, qualified for this pur- pose by God, appears for the salvation of millions, and passes as with lightning flash through whole nations ? If this is true as a matter of experience, we cannot wonder if one day a revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ shall be made, as mighty in its results, and as powerfully afl"ecting His enemies and His friends, as though He had visibly presented Himself before their eyes. When this miracle of revelation one day hap- pens, will it be less great than though the Lord should visibly appear ; than though He should be manifest to all the world in the clouds of heaven, and should shine forth in His glory? I know not whether the question of visible or invisible is for us of very great importance ; for all that comes upon our souls with true spiritual and overwhelming power, is, I might almost say, more than visible, and certainly easily becomes visible* We will not, consequently, occupy longer time with this question. Only thus much shall I permit myself to remark by way of anticipating our future meditation, that, according to my conviction. Holy Scripture predicts a second coming of Jesus Christ before His coming to the last judgment, but not an outwardly visible one ; that the Holy Scrip- ture does not promise that the Lord will come again in humility as at the first time, or appear before- * The question as to the visible nature of our Saviour's coming must depend greatly on the interpretation of such scriptures as Matt. 252 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. hand in the glory with which He shall visibly descend from heaven to earth for the last time to judgment, — not thus, but He will come in judgment, and that is for us enough. One judgment after another will pass upon all souls who do not stand fast in the grace of God in Christ Jesus. All those who, now undecided, are carried hither and thither, and do not well know whether they wholly belong to Christ or the world — who seek as yet to conceal from themselves the im- possibility of remaining unto eternity in this wavering condition — will fall on the side of the world, unless the heavy judgments which precede and prepare the way for the Lord's coming, the heralds of those which go before His face, so prostrate their earthly life that they call forth out of the depths unto God, and thus, while there is time, are saved amongst the number of those who look forth with desire unto Christ's coming. And now let us consider THE COMING OF THE Lord for the completion of His kingdom. For what else but a great epoch in God's kingdom is indi- cated by the words, "the dead in Christ shall rise first .'* " The Scripture says : " Every man in his own order ; " and three divisions are then made : Christ the first-fruits ; afterwards the dead in Christ ; and then the last day — the last general resurrection. We have, some years ago, expressed ourselves more fully on the first resurrection, of which it is said, in the Revelation of John : " Blessed and holy is he that TJie Glorious Coming of Jesus Christ. 253 hath part in the first resurrection ; on such the second death hath no power ;" — and then ventured on the supposition, favoured by much in Holy Scripture, that this first resurrection of those who have departed in Christ has been taking- place through the whole Christian period, and will only find its close — for those who have before departed — when the Lord comes to complete His kingdom on earth.* This resurrection, however, remains invisible ; and the coming to complete the kingdom, for which believers wait with longing, designates a great epoch. And what will this epoch be } This is clear, that it will not again be one of those preparatory events, as, for instance, the conversion of the German nations ; will not be such a period in the history of the king- dom of Christ on earth as the Reformation was, and as perhaps our own day is, but the last, the victorious period of the Christian Church. Every human heart feels the need of hoping that one day the powers of the Gospel will hold sway, in a very different degree than has ever yet been the case, in the wide family of nations ; and it is also again a natural reflection that all manifestations and powers in this world, gradually advancing and receding, ascend until they have * May it not rather have its beginning, properly speaking, at this time? The resurrection of saints at Jerusalem, between our Lord's resurrection and ascension, can hardly indicate what is passing during the ages intervening between His ascension and His return. 254 '^^^^ Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. reached their highest point, beyond which, owing to the imperfection of human Hfe, they are unable to pass. That the highest stage of the dominion of Christ over the whole life of man, in all his doing and suffering, has been already attained, or passed, were a melancholy and saddening reflection. We can, in- deed, point back to the Apostolic Churches, with the well-grounded assertion that nothing like it has ever since been. In the Reformation a beginning of the same kind was made, but it did not rise to the same height : sin immediately began to corrupt, and divi- sions to stifle, the work. But is it not to return } Will it never come again } Is the Apostolic Church merely an earthly type of the eternal communion in heaven with Christ ; or is it also a type of the Church, the triumph of the kingdom of Jesus Christ upon earth, which must one day be won through conflict } I can return no answer to this question, but that the Holy Scriptures compel us in many, many of its texts to think of such a coming of the Lord — an invisible but glorious coming for the completion of His king- dom on earth ; and this completion of the kingdom is assuredly an object of longing to all those who feel in themselves so much misery and weakness, insincerity and indolence, and cry for a richer outpouring of the Holy Spirit — a mightier working of power from on high. And when we look from ourselves upon the great whole, and see how few nations of the earth — TJlc Glorious Coming of Jesiis Christ. 255 how small a part of the human race — as yet call upon the name of Christ ; when we consider that Christen- dom itself is so greatly held back, by human tradi- tions and all kinds of obscurity, from standing in the light of the pure truth of the Gospel ; when we fur- ther reflect that within the sound of the Gospel itself so many remain entire strangers to the life of God, and to that which leads to it ; when we yet further think of the manifold conflicts of opinion within the Church of Christ itself, and of the hatred and bitter- ness displayed therein, we must truly exclaim, Oh, that help were come out of Zion ! — that the Lord were come, a Just One and a Saviour ; that He would now make His entry as the King of Peace, that our misery might be relieved, and the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ might become on all sides powerful and victorious ! This we desire, and therefore it is permitted us to strengthen ourselves with the sunny prospect that the Lord will yet come to complete His kingdom, and that this completion will be even here below a union of heaven and earth, an intervention of the invisible kingdom of glory in our world of con- flict, and an ascending of our prayers and sighs, made in the name of Jesus, unto the throne of God ; that then a mind more open for the eternal and heavenly will be ours, and a richer revelation of the powers of light and life which reign above. This is implied in the resurrection from the dead, which as a sign indi- 256 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles cates the dawn of the completion period of the king- dom of our Lord Jesus Christ * So then, my beloved, not merely of the voice of the archangel awakening the nations, not merely of the trumpet-notes which pierce the grave, have we to think when we look upon the glorious coming of our Lord Jesus Christ ; but we can also, thanks be to God, think of the completion of all that which has been prophesied by the Old Testament and the New, of a dwelling of the God of peace with and in the sons of men, not merely in a small company, but in the mul- titude of the nations. Not that at any time all will be in Christ, and all will have become new creatures ; but the time will yet come — yea, it will come, my beloved ! — that the Lord will be one and His name one upon earth, and that in the name of Jesus Christ, in a manner very different from what has hitherto prevailed, will bow the knees of all who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father ! This is our joyful, blessed Advent-hope. Oh, that it may be quickly fulfilled ! Amen. * Goodwin, so early as the first half of the seventeenth century, believed that the condition of the bodies of risen believers on earth at this period, has its analogy in the condition of our Lord's body during the forty days of His resurrection-life. This receives confirmation from the account given in Matt, xxvii. 52, 53. tin "^tdoxKimx oi |sra^L *' For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits ; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved : as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob : for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." — Romans xi. 25-27. Beloved in Jesus Christ, — The words of our text belong to the Apostolic prophecies concerning the kingdom of God. They form one feature in the whole of the sacred picture, which, through the Holy Ghost, was reflected in fair colours before the opened eyes of the Apostles, but of which we know only such single traits as the Apostles felt themselves under the necessity of adverting to. Nowhere, except in the last book of Holy Writ, is there given us a connected prophecy in regard to the whole Divine economy on earth ; but out of the mouth of the Lord himself, as out of the mouth of s 258 TJie PropJiecics of Oitr Lord and His Apostles. His Apostles, we have occasional glimpses afforded us into the wider distance of the kingdom of Christ on earth. Last time, we had the joy of contem- plating the sunlit scenes of the kingdom — irradiated, as they are, by the splendour of our glorious and everlasting King and Saviour — which yet lie before us in the future ; whether near or distant we know not. We spoke of the coming of the Lord in majesty, and learned to recognise some of the main features which make up the glorious picture of His coming. To-day the finger of the Apostle points us to the future of Israel, leads our thoughts to an isolated, but, at the same time, privileged member of the commonwealth of nations, but without saying that that which he predicts stands in any immediate connection with the conflicts or triumphs of the kingdom, and does so in addressing the Gentile Christians, because he had demolished all glorying in the law which the Jews might be disposed to bring with them to the preaching of the Gospel, and had proclaimed the righteousness which comes through the blood of Jesus Christ, and is imputed to faith alone. Then it became time to say to the Gentile Christians, "Brethren, be not high-minded. Do not think the inheritance of promise has passed over entirely and exclusively to you. It is true it is lost to Israel, but only for a time ; another time is coming, in which the original heir will be reinstated in his ancient rights." TJic Restoration of Israel 259 We are not yet able, in virtue of any vantage- ground we have gained in the course of our previous inquiries, to decide whether this restoration of the original heir, this grafting again, as the Apostle afterwards expresses it (in the figure, Rom. xi., of the branch plucked out of the olive tree, into the ancient and Divinely-planted stem,) will take place before the coming of the Lord, or after it, and by means of it. Different thoughts and views have always prevailed in the Christian Church in regard to this question ; and we will leave this conflict of human opinion undecided, for we have to do only with the great central truth, which forms an im- portant trait in delineating as a whole the com- pletion of the kingdom of God upon earth — namely, t/u: restoration of Israel. And here, again, two dis- tinct landmarks are given us, each of which forbids our passing further — each of which bids us stand still and reflect. The first is indicated by the words, "The fulness of the Gentiles must first COME IN ;" and the second by the words, " THAT ALL Israel may be saved." Let us more closely consider the restoration of Israel from these two important points of view. The Apostle says, " Blindness in part is happened to Israel." He does not speak of that blindness which is immediately the fault of the blind one, the work of his will in closing the eye to the light; but of a blindness which has "happened" to him, which was 26o TJic Prophecies of Our Lord mid His Apostles. imposed upon him — Imposed by God ; consequently, since moral blindness is always an evil which is con- nected with sin, a judicial correction — blindness, occa- sioned by previous guilt The Apostle, in the Epistle to the Romans, enters largely upon the work of clearing up a difficulty which. In presence of the Old Testament prophecies, had seemed inexplicable, viz., that Israel as a whole, although the chosen people of God, had not been reached by the Gospel ; that the Gospel, which had been first preached among them, had passed over to the Gentiles. This was, in fact, at the time of the Apostles, a thought so difficult to comprehend, that It cost the Apostles themselves and their immediate associates many prayers and sighs and tears, before they clearly understood that not Israel In Its earthly and natural descent from Abra- ham, but that the spiritual Israel is Abraham's poste- rity, and Inherits the promises. It was an entirely new truth in the Christian Church — reminding, in- deed, of some isolated words of the Lord himself, not understood at the time, out of which it grew as a development — that It had never been the teaching of the ancient prophets, that every one who Is called a Jew, whatever his position in regard to the law and ])romise, possesses the first claim on the Saviour of the world ; and that salvation, life, and peace through tlie Redeemer are his portion ; but that the prophets distinguished between Israel and Israel — between the Israel of the flesh and the Israel of the Spirit — TJic Rcstoratmi of Israel. 261 between the Israel of the multitude who were exter- nally interested in the blessings of God's house, and the remnant, the hidden ones of Israel, the meek of the earth, those who were longing for salvation and life, Avho, distressed because of their own sins and the sins of their nation, waited for the consolation of Israel. This unfamiliar truth the Apostle had proclaimed ; and now he says, " But yet the fulness of the Gentiles will at last, one day, at an hour reserved for the om- niscience and wisdom of God, be come in." If we wish to understand his meaning, we have first to explain something that is a httle obscure in this lan- guage. What is meant by saying that, according to the will of God, the judicially-imposed blindness of Israel will cease only when the FULNESS OF THE GEN- TILES is come in ?_ Here, again, our first task is to determine what is the meaning of the words, " fulness of the Gentiles." We might understand by it the whole of the individuals composing all the Gentile nations. The term " fulness " does not prevent our supposing the whole of the Gentiles may first have entered into the kingdom of God, have become be- lievers in Jesus Christ, before Israel — the whole nation, not simply the elected number — can come to its promised inheritance. But here, again, a question arises. Will all who dwell on earth, who are not of Israelitish descent, ever have become true disciples of Jesus Christ, living Christians } We cannot accept a 262 The Prophecies of Otir Lord and His Apostles. diminution of the force of the words, " be come in," which would make the meaning almost equivalent to saying, A door shall be opened to them. It must, therefore, for us, have the significance of our incorpo- ration into the host of those who assemble round the Lord of Glory ; an insertion as members in the living body, whose head is Christ. Were not this the case, the figure of the tree and its branches were an ill- chosen one, and what is opened up to Israel by the Apostle as its final prospect could not, after all, imply much more than that the Gospel should be preached to Israel. Let us for a moment suppose the Apostle to say, "' Only then will Israel come to the inheritance of promise, to faith in Christ, to salvation and bless- edness, when all men who live upon earth, except the descendants of Israel, have received in the crucified Saviour the powers of the nev/ life, the forgiveness of their sins, and the certain hope of everlasting life." "Alas !" we must sigh, " Israel will, then, never attain to it." For other words of Holy Writ are unfavourable to the supposition of the conversion at some time of all upon earth. It is nowhere written that a time will come when no one will any more be opposed to God and to His anointed ; rather it is said, in all that we have yet become acquainted with of prophecy, that humanity — yea, even Christianity — will divide itself into two camps — the mass of those who are indifferent through ignorance will disappear, and everyone will TJic Restoration of Israel. 263 stand either for Christ or against Him, and his tem- poral and everlasting portion will be decided accord- ingly. The enemies of Christ will be shattered by judgments, and will go into their own place. Even in the last judgment there will be found, among those living on the earth, the " cursed." Consequently, the word of God does not promise us a time when there shall be none, except Israel, who are unconverted ; on the contrary, we read of Antichrist, the man of sin, and his followers, the hosts who will continue in their adhesion to him, until the moment when the Lord, by His miraculous and glorious intervention and coming, shall put an end to him, and gather His own from all the ends of the world, to triumph with Him in His kingdom on earth. But even though all who were His foes had been snatched away by the judgments which precede His coming, we nevertheless learn that during the glorious kingdom of Christ on earth, in the time of its completion here below, there will yet be distinctions in humanity, and that from the mass of the nations will come those dark, godless powers, designated by the typical Gentile names, " Gog and Magog," who, seduced by Satan, will arise at last — after the completion of the kingdom on earth — against God and against His Anointed, and will bring about the final judgment — the last day. The Scrip- ture accordingly does not teach that the " coming in of the fulness of the Gentiles" signifies the inner, living conversion of all men except Israel. The 264 TJie PropJiecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. nations will only enter within the enlightening influence of the Gospel ; notwithstanding which, indi- viduals composing these nations may always harden themselves against the power of the Cross of Christ, and so become Antichrists. We have before seen that the Antichrists grow up out of the midst of the Christian community. We are, therefore, inevitably led to seek another signification for the word " fulness." It signifies not necessarily the total number composing the nations ; but rather a "fiUing up"— so Matt. ix. 16— that which fills up the place made empty through the unbelief of Israel. God, from the beginning, de- signed His people to be countless as the sand on the sea-shore, and as the stars of heaven in number. He further promised that this people should spring, not only from the loins of Abraham, but that He would prepare Himself a people who, until then, were not His people. He will give the Servant of Jehovah for " a light unto the Gentiles ;" not merely to raise up the tribe of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel, but to be His salvation unto the end of the earth. By this He declares the Gentiles shall enter into the place of unfaithful, disobedient Israel, blinded through its own lust and folly, and thenceforth more and more deeply blinded in God's judicial visitation. And now it is asked whether we may suppose the number of the Gentiles who will be gathered to the people of God — to the spiritual TJie Restoration of Israel. 265 New Testament Israel — is to be determined by the number of those who became unbelieving in Israel, from the time when the word of the Cross was preached amongst them ; or whether it is reckoned from the time when the promise of the fathers, and the prediction in the m.outh of the prophets, was made known to them. Nothing of all this, my beloved. We have no right and no occasion to apply such minute, mecha- nical, and external modes of calculation in measuring the fulness of God's gracious promises. When the Lord speaks to us by His Holy Spirit in the mouth of the Apostle, of the "filling up of the Gentiles," which must first come in before Israel is saved, it remains for us short-sighted men entirely unde- termined how great will be the number of those who belong to this " fulness ;" and we have not the most distant hint towards explaining the mystery. But a very important thought in relation to our own life lies in this statement of the Apostle. The question is sug- gested — Do I belong practically to this number } We can recognise only those as "filling up" the spiritual Israel, who take the place which the historical Israel has vacated, who have truly entered into the "heri- tage of promise." Is the promise for you a matter of indifference .'* Have you never felt your life would lose its highest significance if you could be satisfied with that which satisfies the world ; or if you could attain this and the other object of desire, but only of 266 TJie Pi'opJiccies of Our Lord and His Apostles. an earthly and transitory kind, which would gladden you only for the short days of your earthly pilgrim- age, and render more agreeable to you the flight of time ? The inheritance of promise which Israel has lost until the fulness of the Gentiles is come in, and into which we, through the grace of God, may enter in, is the reception of the peace of God, through the blood of the Cross. He who knows not this peace in his life, to whom is wanting a secret, quiet, blessed communion with God in Christ, to whom is not granted an enduring calm amidst all storms and trials of the earthly pilgrimage, who does not yet possess the inheritance and does not seek it, has no part in this " fulness." Our question is thus, instead of being directed to the future, turned back upon ourselves. Feeling con- scious of its force, we are the less disposed to devote much time to the consideration, When will the fulness of the Gentiles be come in } How many centuries may pass away before that time } How many millions of Gentiles will compose the "fulness .'*" We are con- cerned rather with the question, whether ive ourselves shall be found among this blessed number. The before-mentioned questions are, no doubt, such as might well engage our earnest attention ; but yet more important for us is the other. Hast thou entered, as one of the chosen number, into the inheritance which the Everlasting God has appointed for His nation of priests and kings ? Only to this end do we TJic Restoration of Israel 267 contemplate the prophecies, and occupy ourselves with things future, that in the midst of the present, in the midst of our daily life, the foundation may be laid for our everlasting salvation, our unspeakable joy and blessedness. Now it is written, that what is properly renewed for Israel is this : " There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." And again : " This is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." Thus, redemption, taking away of sin, turning away of ungodliness, is the promised inheritance. Thus the question becomes for us one of self-examination — Art thou reconciled to God } Sighs, complaints, and tones of sadness we hear on all sides ; these any one may hear, who will know the secrets of hearts ; and, for the most part, we only need to set free the tongue to hear one lamentation after another on the misery, the want, and the difficulties of this earthly life. But how seldom is the undertone, in all this complaint, a weariness of that sin from which all earthly trials spring ! And yet, only where this undertone is heard is there any knowledge of the inheritance to which the Apostle refers. Then, again, when the Scripture speaks of the taking away of sin, it treats of a daily-renewed act of God's grace. God desires ever afresh to impart to you the righteousness of Christ ; and your whole Christianity, from beginning to end, must, if it is 268 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. sound, consist In nothing but this, that you come daily as a helpless sinner to your Saviour in peni- tence and hearty desire, and receive, through the Holy Ghost, the healing word, Thy sins be forgiven thee. Yet one thought more : the " turning away of ungodliness." When we examine ourselves, as to how far ungodliness has been turned away from us, or is yet cherished by us — hov/ far at least we stand idle and without conflict in presence of it, how far we are involuntarily carried away by it — we must all confess, '' I am not worthy to be reckoned among that fulness of the Gentiles which enters into Israel's place ; I have not yet truly entered into this inheri- tance, or have often again lost sight of it." This, my brethren, is an essential and indispensable part of our daily self-examination. Thus has the question of the completion of the kingdom, in the history of the world, become for us a personal question for heart and life, which must receive from us its decided and ever new answer. But let us proceed in the examination of our text. We behold the second boundary-stone which the Lord has appointed us, when we look upon the future Restoration of Israel. "And so all Israel shall be saved." This sounds as though an exception were made, in the case of Israel, to that which we have before recognised as the preaching of the Gospel. But we found that Holy Scripture TJie Restoration of Israel. 269 knows nothing of a true Christianity, a genuine hfe of faith conterminate in extent with the nation itself, that it does not promise that whole peoples, as peoples, in their national unity, shall become living members in the body of Christ. We saw rather that in all ages, and among all nations who are enlight- ened by the grace and truth of the Gospel, there will be those who will not be won, but become Antichrists, enemies of Christ * Will it be otherwise in the case of Israel ? Certainly not. That all Israel will be saved, is by no means equivalent to saying that not a single one will remain who has not become a child of God and an heir of glory. Of the salva- tion of Israel as " a whole," the Scripture speaks only in the sense that no longer, as in the time of the Apostle, and as in our own day, here and there an Israelite (as an exceptional case) comes forth from his darkness to the true light of life, w^hile the others have still the covering of Moses before their face ; but that, clear as the day, the truth w^ill stand revealed before their eyes, that there is no other Messiah and Saviour to be looked for than the Jesus of Nazareth who has appeared, whom our fathers pierced, whom we have cursed. He is the Saviour of the world, whom the prophets and the fathers looked for. We know, indeed, that in our own day Israel * In the time of our Lord's glorious appearing, however, and during the time of Satan's being bound, the influence of the enemies of Christ will be small indeed. 2/0 The Propliecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. does not to the same extent as formerly continue in the faith and expectation of the fathers. How many- thousands of Israehtes have entirely lost the ardent desire for the lost Paradise, for the destroyed temple and its glory, for all the gifts and blessings of the Old Testament ; and there is no longer a yearning in their hearts which leads them with uplifted hands and heartfelt sighing to pray that Messiah may come. There are many of them who have entered into the worldly possessions of the Gentile nations, who have their whole being in trade and commerce, in interchange, gain, and enjoyment. Not a few, also, are there who have expressly abandoned the faith of their fathers, as no longer tenable, and, nevertheless, see not the fulfilment which has already appeared. So, beloved, will there also certainly, even at last, be such in Israel as the unbelieving, unconverted Gentiles. How could it be otherwise } Consider what a God-fearing Israelite, who is still waiting with strong desire for the coming of Messiah, must think of us who assert Messiah is already come. Where does he find among us that joy and exultation, not to be restrained by any want and distress, a joy that He is come, that sins are forgiven, the transgression is covered, and that life, salvation, and peace is ob- tained } Here and there we find one in a company of professed Christians who manifest such joy ; but the majority do not even afford to Israel a pattern to TJic Restoration of Israel. 271 which it could be strongly drawn. You see, then, brethren and sisters, that this question, however greatly it may concern the history of the world, ever returns and seeks an answer of our own hearts. How shall Israel be restored through a crucified Saviour, if we are its seducers — if the blessing and gain which the faith we profess, the fundamental truth we ac- knowledge, sheds upon our public, our social, and our hidden life, appears so small ? Israel cannot be saved unless there arises among professing Christians a very different life of faith ; unless it is drawn, by the fulness of Divine life which is in us, to regard the blessings which we possess. Christians, however, act as though they had no other blessings than Israel. Many among us, whose voice has weight in the community, speak of Christian things as doubtful, as uncertain, merely because they have never made it the serious problem of their heart and life how they may become con- vinced of these things ; because they have never yet given their own heart to Christ, have become believers in Him, and have afterwards in the spirit of faith learnt to understand Him. Oh, my beloved, how greatly is guilt heaped on guilt, when we look back upon this Advent Sunday,* upon all the Advent seasons which have been observed in the Church since the lifetime of the Apostles — when we reflect that Israel, in its dispersion among the nations, and among us also, stands as a continual * Delivered on the third Sunday in Advent, 1857. 272 TJie Prophecies of Onr Lord and His Apostles, Advent preacher, proclaiming that the fathers, who desired to see it, have not seen that which was re- vealed to the simple disciples ! How is guilt heaped on guilt when we reflect that Christians do not make manifest to the Jews who may happen to live amongst them the power, the joy, and the blessedness of the Christian life and character, but rather show to them the way to perdition, or are themselves taught it by the descendants of Israel ! For how much of Jewish corruption has penetrated into the whole social life of the present day is evident to everyone who will observe a little closely. We know (and each one knows something of it from the experience of his own life) that a good number among us have either once been inclined, or are still inclined, to regard Christianity as an outer court, as a preparation for something more perfect ; as though in Scripture and in the faith of the Church we could at pleasure reject one point and receive another, could subject the whole to doubt, to critical investigation ; as though human opinions could stand side by side with the doctrines of revelation, could be compared with them, in order that, now from this, now from the other, more satis- faction and enjoyment might be derived ; whilst, in truth, in Christianity the question is only of one great fact, namely, whether you have received the forgive- ness for all your sins, and bear in your heart the seal of the Holy Spirit, by which the fear of death, of judgment, and of hell, is taken away. TJie Restoration of Israel. 273 If, then, the lesson from the second landmark which met us has been applied to our own hearts, we can boldly assert that the completion of the kingdom will not turn out to the joy, blessing, and salvation of those who do not make use of the whole inheritance which was promised to Israel, and which Israel in its former blindness lightly esteemed and rejected ; who do not so portion it out, and turn it to good purpose, that the lustre of its treasures may be apparent even to the eyes of those who have hitherto cast them aside as worthless stones. But then, how great will be the joy, what a gracious rejoicing will be on earth, when once Christians are powerfully awakened to this living faith ; and when with them, and from them, Israel catches the sacred flame, and the fire of a love receiving and embracing the Crucified glows in the hearts of those who till then had only words of curse for Him ; and when at length the priestly kingdom, the royalty and priesthood of Israel, shall stand forth in the same dignity and freshness of spiritual life which was originally promised to it, but which Israel, on account of its unbelief, could never yet in full measure receive ! Then shall we perceive in what the precedence of Israel consists. With them we shall praise and adore the Lord, and our mouth will join in the songs of praise which shall arise from Israel. Let us, then, to-day, retiring with prayer and peni- tence within ourselves, seek the accomplishment of this end. May God in His grace not delay the fulfil- T 2/4 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. merit of the promise ; may He bring in quickly the fulness of the Gentiles, and make us meet, even in the present day — but yet more fully and joyfully in the time of the completion, if we are permitted to see it — to contribute by our labours to the salvation of Israel ! And in this sense we conclude with the wish of the benediction : Peace be upon Israel. Amen. "^mxmBB oi ilit ^^nrb^. "The Lord is at hand. "— Philippians iv. 5. Congregation beloved in Jesus Christ,— After a pause* which the Lord, the God of Hfe, has enjoined upon me, to testify to me, as an individual, His near- ness in every manifestation of His holy severity and of His kindness, I this day proceed in the series of meditations on the Apostolic word of prophecy which have engaged us for some months past. We had spoken at different times of the Coming, of the glorious Appearing of the Lord, and of the precursors of this great event, from the words of Apostolic pro- phecy, and have ever repressed the question, as often as it arose in our hearts, " But iv/ie^t will the Lord come?" We find in the words of the Apostle no answer to this question ; and because we find none, • A severe illness laid aside the author some months from his mini- sterial work. 276 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. we were obliged to lay it aside as a question for us unwarranted. Our present text, also, furnishes no answer that could satisfy the inquiring mind of man, which would so gladly penetrate into the future ; but an answer it gives nevertheless, for this text is the expression of an expectation, in which the Apostolic Church constantly lived, and without which its whole being and life would be inexplicable. The writings of the Apostle are full of testimonies that they silently cherished in their hearts the hope of living to see a glorious completed coming of their Lord and Master, whom they had seen ascend into heaven, and at whose ascension they had heard from heavenly lips the words, " He shall come again." They not only believed the Lord would come, but were convinced He would come quickly. And much in their dis- courses and writings rests upon this conviction, or turns around it. If we now ask about the NEARNESS OF THE LORD, after eighteen centuries have passed away — during which there has not been a single century in which the glorious coming of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven with great power and majesty, has not been hoped for and looked for, by those then living, within their time — I know well, we are only too much inclined, after this long and as it might seem vain expectation, to apply the words which I have read to you, from the mouth of the Apostle, only to that presence of the Lord which certainly is experienced The Nearness of the Lord. 277 by His people, and on their behalf, according to His Word : " Lo / am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." But no Apostolic Christian, when he heard the epistle to the Philippians read, understood these brief words, " The Lord is at hand," otherwise than of the nearness of His glorious coming. When, thererefore, we, in order to attain a right understand- ing of these words of the Apostle, make the NEAR- NESS OF THE Lord the subject of our present medi- tation, we cannot but first transport ourselves to the STAND-POINT OF THE APOSTOLIC ChURCH in the time of the Apostles, and afterwards, from OUR PRESENT STAND-POINT, look forward into the future to the near coming of the Lord ! Lord Jesus ! How blessed a consolation has it been for Thy Church unto the present day, and remains also for all future time, that Thou comest ; that Thou art not alone invisibly present with Thy whole Divine power, and all Thine influences of grace, but that Thou wilt yet come and appear in Thy glory ! May this also remain our consolation. But as it was always also a trumpet-voice which awoke those sleeping in security, when it was said, "The Lord comes quickly!" so may it also be a trumpet-voice in our days in our Church. And at this time help us so to understand and meditate on Thy coming, that we may have the full blessing therefrom — that it may make Thee known to us as the Saviour and King, who receives His own unto Himself, and who at last will crown 2^]% The Prophecies of Ottr Lord and His Apostles, this silent and hidden work, as well as His manifest work in them with His glorious appearing. Amen. We find, my beloved, the words of our text like a golden fruit upon a luxuriant, foliage-covered tree. They do not present themselves as the principal theme upon which the Apostle has to speak to the Philippians ; they occur only in the fourth chapter — consequently towards the end of the epistle — when the Apostle, after he had before displayed the riches of Divine teaching, and the knowledge of the truth unto godliness, comes to the application in daily life, to the exhortation to a pure Christian walk in the sight of God ; and even then the section does not begin with the words of our text, but reads thus : " Rejoice in the Lord alway : and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing ; but in everything by prayer and suppli- cation with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." And then the epistle proceeds further in precious words of Apostolic exhor- tation. If, therefore, we isolate this text, and draw it forth from the fulness of foliage in which we find the fruit concealed, we cannot, properly speak- ing, pluck it from its surrounding ; the remainder, which is closely connected with it, comes away with it. TJic Nearness of the Lord. 279 As I have already said before, we should not understand and be able to explain the Apostolic Church in its nature and life, without the expectation of the Apostles and of the members of the Churches, that the Lord would quickly, would perhaps in their lifetime, descend from heaven in glory ; I must, therefore, regard the words immediately surrounding our text as the planets, which revolve around it as their central sun. The certain hope of the speedy coming of the Lord in the heart of the Apostle is that very thing which enables him, with such boldness and decision, to call to a Church like that at Philippi, " Rejoice in the Lord alway : and again I say. Rejoice." It is this hope which enables him so fear- lessly to exclaim, " Be careful for nothing ! " and which also forces to his lips the exhortation, "Let your kindliness be known unto all men ;" and those other words, " In all things by prayer and supplica- tion with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." We see, therefore, faith in the speedy coming of the Lord shows itself active here on two sides : first, on the consoling and gladdening side ; then also on the side of admonition. This applies to the Apostolic age, and this we shall afterwards see applies also to our own age. Whence, otherwise, would the Apostles, and all those who were gathered around them in the wild, strange, heathen world, and in the hostile Jewish 28o The Prophecies of Otir Lord and His Apostles. world, have been able to derive the joy of victory, the confidence that they were walking as those who saw but days or hours intervening between their present state of suffering and the trial which must neces- sarily follow if they had not felt, The Lord comes ! Either we shall first go to Him, as those who have fallen asleep in Christ, and then shall arise at His coming ; or else He will appear and we shall be changed, and caught up to meet Him in the air. And again, whence would the Apostolic Christians have derived this unwearying power of labour in the service of the Lord, and the ever new and fresh desire thereto, had it not been for the wish that the Lord, if He should come speedily, should not find His servants sleeping, but waiting and working; not indolent, but active ; not the hands in the bosom, but the hands to the plough ? Let us look more closely into this feature of Apostolic life. We know that, quickly as the sacred fire of the Gospel sped from land to land, and over the islands and seas into far distant countries, the first Churches were, and remained during the lifetime of the Apostles themselves, unnoticed, despised, and persecuted flocks. For what does it amount to, if, as has been approximately calculated, at the death of the Apostle John, who outlived all the others, there were on earth about half a million believing members of Jesus Christ, spread abroad in all lands, from Babylon to Spain, and from Egypt to the confines TJic Nearness of the Lord. 281 of Germany. The Churches were, as we clearly see from the ApostoHc letters, only single stars in the night, scattered lights which shone in the darkness ; and round about them were their enemies, so nume- rous that, according to human calculation, their long continuance was out of the question. There they stood ; but they stood not with a hope of that which has since happened — with a thought that gradually the whole Roman empire, then ever wider circles of peoples and nations, would be drawn into the en- lightenment of the saving word of the Cross ; and that finally a time would come, which even now has not yet arrived, when this gracious light should beam over all lands of the earth, and would shed back its light from all lands of the earth. They rather thought the Lord would come quickly ; and only after He had appeared in glory, would the masses of the nations behold who alone can deliver and save ; then would He establish his kingdom, not with a few, but would establish a kingdom which should embrace ten thousand times ten thousand subjects. Clear and unmistakeable lay the prophecies of the Old Testament touching the glory of the kingdom of God upon earth, touching His return, and the last judgment, when heaven and earth shall pass away, and a new heaven and a new earth appear before the eyes of the Apostolic Christians, and that in such a way that they must conceive of this glorious completion in close connection with the incarnation 282 The Proi)hecies of Otir Lord and His Apostles. of the Son of God, and with His victory in His resurrection and ascension. Only gradually through the leading of the Holy Spirit into all truth was re- vealed to one Apostle one fact, to another another, concerning the future course of the kingdom of grace on earth. One truth, however, shed its light into every soul : He will come, will come quickly, to deliver His captive people, and to set free those who have not yet become His enemies from the bonds of death, and will gather around His little flock hosts of those who believe in Him and receive Him with joy. In this hope the Apostolic Christians, those models for all time, could truly repeat with joyful response the words. Rejoice in the Lord ! And this joy might well be so strong, that it failed not in toil and weariness, or in persecution and imprison- ment ; yea, that it flowed forth in songs of gladness, and afforded to the world a testimony that Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Saviour, can fill a human heart, even in a state of hope, with a joy which no power of the world is able to diminish. In like manner could they witness the destruction of their property, the destitution which threatened them on all sides, the solitude to which they were not seldom reduced, either with a spirit of joy, or at least of calm submission. Be careful for nothing ! Yea, free from care does a true Christian become when he knows that yet a little and the hour of joy will be here for which he The Nearness of the Lord. 283 has been waiting all his life, and then all that he has suffered is forgotten as a dream of the morning, and all that he possessed, or that he may have surrendered, is as nothing compared with the riches of that which is prepared for him. So stood the Apostolic Christians ; but for this very reason, they laid not the hand in the bosom. Nothing is so common with the unregenerate human heart as to misapply and abuse to worldly ends even spiritual blessings. Man willingly indulges in indolence, and finds an excuse for doing nothing in the fact that all depends on God's compassion, that no one is justified by his works, but through grace alone, that all, from beginning to end, is pure grace, and that the Lord, at the appointed hour, will assuredly come to the help of his people. Then will the foolish heart sleep, and quietly wait, and rejoice that the Lord comes without further care. So does the flesh act, and thereby destroys all ; it takes away joy, because there is no more rejoicing in the Lord. Yea, even the freedom of care and confidence of heart which has been falsely assumed, disappears so soon as work in the Lord ceases. Therefore, the exhortation is given, " Let your kindliness be known unto all men." There lie the nations around the little Churches of the Apostles, like a great Lazarus ; and the children of God, whose inner eye has been opened to them- selves and to the world, who know what it is to die in one's sins, because they have been delivered from 284 TJie Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. the terrible death in sin, do not hesitate a single moment to say, Here is our field of labour ; here we must redeem every moment ; here we must put forth every exertion, to testify of the power of re- demption which is in Christ Jesus, to enlighten the darkened hearts, and to draw them to Him. And when, as must inevitably be the case, that by their own power nothing would be effected, what could they do but sink down in humility and sense of unworthiness, and pray for forgiveness of their sins, which hindered their activity, and even there closed the source, where, according to the promise of the Lord, streams of living water should flow forth ; and to pray for a new enduing "with power from on high, for a filling with all the fulness of God, for an enrich- ing with all heavenly riches. In prayer, therefore, in con- stant prayer, the Apostolic Christians laboured; and therefore were the Apostles also so strongly upheld by their Churches, and therefore the Gospel extended from them unto the distant lands of the earth. Thus, my beloved, did the Apostolic Churches avail themselves of the nearness, the speedy coming of their Lord and Saviour as a triumphant king ; thus did they regard His coming. But HOW HAVE WE LOOKED FOR IT.? Some of us are not far from asking, " Of what use is it, if I should fancy the Lord will soon come ? I should only rank myself with the great number of those The Nearness of the Lord. 285 who, for the past two or three hundred years, or even longer, have cherished this expectation without its receiving its fulfilment/' This worldly wisdom or prudence is exceedingly natural, and we are therefore disinclined beforehand to take the words, "The Lord is at hand" in their full Apostolic meaning. We easily say within ourselves, What does it concern us, after all, how soon the Lord comes ? That He will come, we all believe ; that He will come in glory, there is no doubt. Of the things which will accompany His coming, the pro- phecies of the Apostles have instructed us ; but whether I shall live to see it, or whether my immediate descendants will live to see it, remains uncertain — on this point the word of Apostolic prophecy gives no answer. I must rest content with thinking of the continual presence of the Lord, and never forget that He sees and knows the secrets of my heart. In His presence all things are open and manifest ; He knows my wants and weaknesses ; He will not leave me nor forsake me. I will not say that a Christian should put from him this consolation, derived from the continual presence of the Lord ; but let no one assert that he who knows this presence of the Lord, and does not ask concerning the near or distant future coming of the Lord, may, nevertheless, be one of those friends of the Saviour, who, with all their heart, desire to see Him, to behold 286 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. Him present, without further conflict in abiding victory. Where there is a fulness of life from Christ and in Christ, there dwells also a longing to be with Him. Whether this longing expresses itself in the same form as with the Apostle Paul, " I have a desire to depart, and to be with Christ;" or whether it ex- presses itself in the form, " Lord, how long?" or, as at the close of the Apostolic prophecies it is said in the Book of Revelation, of the bride of Christ on earth, " The Spirit and the bride say. Come !" is not in itself important. Whether we wish rather to be with Him in the land of peace, or we desire to see Him come again victoriously, is of little importance, because the longing in either case has reference only to the moment of perfect union with Him. But, my brethren, whence comes the great want of joy in the Lord in the Christianity of the present day } Why can we for the most part not send forth a response like the Apostolic Churches to the ex- hortation, "Rejoice in the Lord alway.?" Because the words, " The Lord is at hand," are no longer for us such a gladdening sound, no longer such music of Heaven. We cannot, indeed, thanks be to God, deny that here and there some lowly spirit is waiting with desire for the coming of the Lord, and finds within itself this echo. But we must also confess, the pecu- liar characteristic of our present Christianity, even among those who build themselves up in their most TJie Nearness of tlie Lord, 287 holy faith, Is not that all hearts thrill and all eyes beam with joy at the words, *' The Lord is at hand." So, however, it was In the Apostolic time ; and therefore, my beloved, it is needful that we again seriously place before ourselves the nearness of the Lord. This truth Is proclaimed to us for our con- solation, that we may rejoice in the Lord ; because we know the weariness of our Christian pilgrimage, the conflict, trials, and distress will at length come to an end. The hour of redemption Is coming, either because we shall go to Him or because He will come to us ; and, in this prospect, the cares from which we all more or less suffer will disappear. We will not deny that a spirit of care pervades society — for how timid and trembling we become In presence of the great events of the world or of life ; how concerned for our life, our health, the well-being of those dear to us — from the daily cares about food and raiment up to our care about the future of the kingdom of God. What an infinite host of cares, of gloomy anxiety, of thoughts of sadness, extends before our eyes ! "Be careful for nothing: the Lord is at hand!" If we seriously believe that the Lord Is near, and we have to do with the fact that He Is near, and that our perfect union with Him Is at hand, then cares will lose their weight, and we shall no longer go about fainting beneath their burden. Joy and confidence will make us able to accomplish deeds by which our 288 TJie Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. kindliness will be made known unto all men. We hear the question in our day, What can the small number of those benevolent persons who are able to help, effect among such a multitude of poor ? If you thus reckon, you may well give up the matter as lost. There is no doubt, if God left it in our hands to save the poor, nothing would be effected by us. Only the kindliness which springs from joy in the Lord is able here to do anything. If we have not with us the oil and the wine of the good Samaritan for him who has fallen among thieves, he will die. But to those who know that the Lord is at hand, and who therefore are not concerned for the preservation or the increase of their earthly possessions, yea, who feel that it is almost better to reject much ballast and much luggage when they are going forth to meet the Lord, is there a hope, quiet indeed, but daily renewed, and mighty to call forth deeds of kindness. What we do, what we give, what we accomplish, what can be measured by human standard, is a secondary question ; the main question is our inner communion with the Lord, con- stant prayer, thanksgiving with joy, humiliation of spirit, confession of sin, and a child-like, confident asking and receiving. Beloved, if in our days the words, '' The Lord is at hand," came to our hearts as a drop out of the cup of everlasting salvation, as a seal of God's gracious pro- mise — if we thus received this word, how great would be the change ! What a joy thus to await the glorious TJic Nearness of the Lord. 289 coming of our Lord with uplifted head, courageous, with our hands to the plough, and, where needful, also with our hand to the sword ! Grant us, Lord, powerfully to feel that Thou art near. Let us feel it to-day, that we may put from us all that clouds our mind, and darkens our view of Thee and Thy glorious coming. Help us, and call to us by Thy Holy Spirit, "Behold, I come quickly!" Amen. i^ln €xoB% of Cljrbt tin (Suitr^ antitrst tlje (Srrnr nf tin i^a;st Cimc. "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils ; speaking lies in hypocrisy ; having their conscience seared with a hot iron ; forbidding to marry, and comm.anding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth." — i Timothy iv. 1-3. My beloved in Christ Jesus, — We assemble at the present season of the Christian year,* to gather around the Cross of our dear Saviour. We look from the depths of our misery and our need up to Him who is uplifted on the tree of the curse, hereafter to be uplifted above the heaven of heavens. But we return ever afresh from the Cross to our daily life, to our present time, to the future of our Church and of humanity as a whole, and to our own future ; * Preached during the season of Lent, 1S58. TJlc Cross of Christ. 291 and in the light of the Cross, the prophetic words of Holy Writ, and especially the prophecies of the Apostles of our Lord, become truly intelligible and important. We have before us on the present day, as the text of our meditation, a word of prophecy, which at the first glance seems to have nothing to dc with the Cross of Jesus Christ, until we read that which immediately precedes these words of the Apostle. The Apostle there exclaims, " Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness : God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory!" There we behold the word of the Cross — of the incarnation, the suffer- ings and death, and the resurrection and ascension of our Lord — as the solid foundation of rock upon which the Apostle stands ; while in the spirit of prophecy he directs the glance oi Timothy, and, through him, our glance also, to the perils of the last times. As he, so are we also, called to learn the connection of the Cross of Christ and our meditation on His passion, with the prophecy concerning the last times ; and in order that to-day, with God's gracious help, we may come to understand this, we meditate on THE Cross of Christ as the best guide amidst THE ERROR OF THE LAST TiME. Our text, fully understood, shows, first, HOW THE CROSS OF Christ points to the ultimate source OF ERROR ; then, HOW THE Cross of Christ condemns the 292 TJic Prophecies of Otir Lord and His Apostles. AUTHORS OF ERROR, THE FALSE TEACHERS ; and finally, for onr consolation, HOW THE CROSS OF Christ affords to the children of God a firm stand against error. Grant, Lord, that Thy Name and Cross alone may be the source of all our joy ; that Thy death may be to us Divine wisdom, heavenly light, giving us to see clearly and distinctly, amidst all error which already su»rrounds us, and which may hereafter break in upon us. Help us in this, and bless to this end our meditation. Amen. With us, brethren, it is necessary expressly to state what, with the Apostles and their immediate disciples, was at once understood, that the Cross of Jesus Christ and the word of the Cross stand in close connection with all Apostolic teaching, be it a relating of the mighty works of God, or a deeper development of doctrine from these facts, or a pointing forth into the future destinies of the kingdom of God upon earth ; for they, the Apostles and their disciples, were wont to lie daily — and not once only, but almost constantly — at the foot of the Cross. And the same Apostle from whose later epistles our text of to-day is taken, says, in one of his earlier epistles, that he determined not to know anything save Jesus Christ the crucified ; and that the word of the Cross was that which alone he proclaimed, both to Jews and Greeks, although it was to the one a stumbling- block, and to the other foolishness. We, unhappily, The Cross of Christ. 293 do not lie thus constantly at the foot of the Cross of Jesus, and yet our passion-tide, every year, renews the earnest and powerful call to descend from our exalted position in true humiliation, to fall upon our face, and to seek and apprehend, as our only righteousness. Him who died for us. On this account it must be expressly said, that the Cross of Christ is the best guide, even in the midst of the errors which, according to the prediction of the Apostle Paul, yea, of the whole Word of God, shall arise in the last time. " He shall," it is written, " send them strong de- lusions," such as come with a power irresistible for the natural life, and are to be vanquished only by that life which is born at the foot of the Cross. The Apostle speaks, at the same time, of the nature and character of these errors, and understands by them not any false views and doctrines, only future and as yet unintelligible, springing out of a long preparation and development of the Christian Church, but errors which, in his time, already existed within the circle of the Apostolic Church — errors which, in a slightly altered garb, in all ages rise afresh, and which have accompanied Christianity, the pure doctrine of the Saviour, from the beginning until this hour, and will accompany it to the last judgment. We are called, therefore, by the warning of our text, not to an expression of wonder at the new and terrible forms of error which shall one day arise, 294 TJic PropJiccics of Our Lord and His Apostles. and which we, or our immediate descendants, may Hve to witness, but we are called upon to guard against errors which are ever close enough at hand to draw us into their eddy, and to deprive us of the prize which is set before us. It is not our purpose, however, at present, more closely to define them. First, to follow the Apostolic words, we must inquire into the final source of these errors. The Apostle says, "The Spirit speaketh expressly that, in the latter days, some shall depart from the faith — the apostasy which he elsewhere predicts — giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils." The Spirit of prophecy which wrought in the Apostolic Church, and now here, now there, selected an in- strument, an organ — the Spirit possessed by all the Apostles — spoke distinct, intelligible words, all having immediate reference to the present, and more re- motely, also, to an important and decisive future. A direct contradiction is thus given by the Apostle to our ordinary conceptions, to the prevalent views of the age, in his asserting that the final source of the errors of the last time, as of all times, is, in reality, to be found in the influence of seductive spirits and of Satan. The last age will produce no substantially new errors ; but the one old error will raise its head anew, and will do so at last with fearful and irre- sistible power, just as ever the same enemy of God and of mankind, Satan, seeks to destroy the works of God. The final source is he whom our Lord and TJic Cross of Christ. 295 Master himself designates as the *'liar from the beginning," as the deceiver, and, therefore, the author of sin in men, and, as a necessary consequence, since sin and error are inseparable, as the author of all error. He is, without regard to the denial of hearers or readers, called by his name. Not as though every individual had, during his life, had such experiences as to confirm for him this statement of the simple word of the Cross touching the final source of all errors in Christendom. Yet, in the course of the unfolding of the kingdom of Christ, many a one has borne distinct and powerful testimony that the prince of this world, the lord of the dark kingdom of false- hood, and the lying spirits sent forth by him, exert a power far and wide, and that the hearts of men, far more than they think or imagine, receive influences from a kingdom which continually with- draws itself from our grosser means of perception. But it is not of especial assaults and temptations, on the part of the Prince of Darkness, to which at particular and very important and critical times in the history of the Church, the bearers of Divine messages and the instruments of Divine deeds have been exposed, that the Apostle speaks, but of the final source even of those errors which have a purely human and natural form, and of which we say, with a certain amount of justice, they are the expressions and outcome of the natural human heart. JN'ow, what is the main prevailing error which has 296 TJic Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. shown itself ever afresh throughout the whole history of the Church ? It is the self-confidence and despair of the natural heart expressed in thoughts, and re- duced to doctrines and systems. The natural man who is led by passion into error, who, out of the evil treasure of a will directed only to fleshly ends, derives all kinds of excuses and palliations, yea, even justifi- cations and encomiums of that which he wishes to do, is the immediate human author of error. But behind him lies the ever-active enemy of our salvation, who, by his fascinating influence, continually insinuates a lie into the human heart. In our days it is not diffi- cult to recognise this, when we consider that many now are no longer satisfied with deriving error from the human authority of those who have lived before them — from great names to which they attach the favourite opinions and principles of themselves and their age — but that the " spirits " are consulted in every kind of deceptive and foolish manner which can excite the curiosity ; that they think of bringing forth the departed, or the powers of darkness, out of the kingdom of evil, into an intercourse, yea, into a conversation, with men. And what, when all the utterances from these dark sources, charged as they are with self-deception and falsehood, are summed up in short sentences, is the substance of this revelation t Nothing else than the justification of men by their own wretched works, which, for the most part, are not even deeds, living works, but only disjointed, external TJic Cross of Christ. 297 work, depending on a thousand accidents. Con- sequently, it is the old foundation-error, the old primeval lie, for the proclaiming of which no such elaborate machinery was necessary. Or the opposite error is brought out, namely, of the indifferent cha- racter of human actions, since an inevitable necessity, firm as a well-knit chain of brass, winds around the life of man, and renders all our efforts, toils, and struofeles in the end fruitless. The self-confident heart will be the author of his own destiny, and win his salvation by his own acts ; the desponding heart gives up all hope, because his natural power is unable to do anything against sin. Weariness of useless efforts causes all acting and working, all earnestness and application of the powers given us by God, to appear indifferent, and everything to sink in the dark whirlpool of an inevitable destiny. Thus one falsehood ever passes over to another, and out of this circle of corruption no one emerges of his own power. j\Iy brethren, these errors were present even in the first age, were present in the time of the Apostles ; and it is these which the Apostle, or, rather, the Spirit of prophecy through him, designates as the work of seductive spirits, the invisible powers of the kingdom of darkness. If we have referred to one of the favourite prac- tices of our time, to a kind of curious pastime which is instituted on the boundary-line of the human 298 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. spirit-life with non-human spiritual natures, it has not been to say, " This, and this alone is the sin, the error of the last time," but to indicate how exceed- ingly unwilling the human heart is and has ever been to rest satisfied with that precious truth which the Word of God has to open up to man if he only desires it. The word of the Cross, of reconciliation through the death of the incarnate God — the word of justification through faith in Him, and of peace through Him and of Him, and of the power for sanctification in putting on this Lord and Saviour — suffices for every human heart that thirsts for sal- vation, fills it for all time, even for the last hour of death, endures throughout the judgment, and will be through all eternity that on which the glorious songs of the redeemed are raised. But the fountain of all error and darkness, such as will break forth mightily in the last time, and will fascinate the minds of men ; such as already lays hold of many thou- sands, beyond hope of release from its seductive influence, and renders for them tedious, dry, and insignificant, suitable only for those who are children in intellectual life, the ordinary truths of the Christian faith, and institutions of the Christian Church ; — the fountain of this error we must learn to recognise, lest we deceive ourselves. For the Apostle James speaks of a wisdom from beneath, which is of the earth, of the flesh, yea, of the devil ; and, in thus speaking, expresses the same truth as the Apostle Paul in our TJic Cross of CJirist. 299 text, namely, that the ultimate source of error Is the Prince of Darkness. As soon as we recognise this, it is no longer a matter of indifference whether or not we stand in the acknowledgment of pure truth, in the simplicity of Christ ; whether we are governed by the word of the Cross alone, and whether this word of the Cross is the living source of all our knowledge and desire in regard to Divine things. Therefore, be it once more said, that the Cross of Jesus Christ, for him who understands it, reveals our natural wisdom of the flesh, the error into which the natural man is brought by his own passions, as Satanic in its origin. If this be so, my dear hearers, then must the teachers of errors receive A SENTENCE from the Cross of Christ. It is written in our text, that these doctrines of demons are diffused and circulated by those who are " speaking lies in hypocrisy, having a brand upon their conscience." Behold, how in a moment the mask is torn from them ; their appear- ance of greater sanctity, of deeper thought, and of a purer life, is annihilated by a word. Branded, and branded where no human art is able to remove the brand — in the conscience — are, according to the Spirit of prophecy, all those who consciously and indus- triously circulate error, its instruments and heralds, who seek their glory and pride in it as in a new wisdom, and regard themselves as much wiser than the simple children of God, who cling to their Bible and catechism, and to the experiences of the fathers 300 Tlic PropJiccics of Our Lord and His Apostles. In the faith. These tempters, on the other hand, say, that which the Reformation has brought, or which the first centuries of the Church have afforded, is only a beginning ; its true development for the future lies in us ; we crown the work of the Holy Ghost by our teaching. The false teachers of the Apostles' time laid claim to the possession of special and mysterious treasures of wisdom, accessible only to advanced Christians, in opposition to those who held fast to the simple words of the Cross, who knew only of the one righteousness in Christ Jesus. They assumed an air of superior wisdom, to be communicated only to the maturer minds ; and he who attached himself to them supposed he thereby attained a higher rank, that of the theosophic and initiated. The Apostle, however, with rude hand, tears away the mask from the countenance of the deceivers, in that he defines their true character, "Men speaking lies in hypocrisy." Not, consequently, persons who are deceived, who, while engaged in seeking for truth, have had the misfortune, through taking a wrong track, to be led into superstition, instead of apprehending the true faith. No ; these ministers of error pursue their special aims, and proclaim their Satanic doctrines only in order to gratify the flesh. Not the honour of God, not the salvation of souls, however much they may speak of the one and the other, is their motive, but their own profit, whether in honour and glory. TJic Cross of Christ. 301 or power and influence^ or even wealth and posses- sions. Such are these dissemblers. They speak of Divine things, yea, they are the "excessively holy ones," as the Apostle terms them in another place (2 Cor. xi. 5 ; compare v. 13), who profess to be much more strict and earnest in their devotions than the Apostles themselves, or at least than Paul, but within are corrupt and poisonous, full only of putrefaction and death. Yet more distinctly does the Apostle say, " They have a brand upon the conscience." Again, an indication as to whence error springs. The majority of errors arise from a diseased con- science, injured by sin, and not healed by the blood of Jesus Christ. If one who is pained in conscience, instead of going to cast himself at the feet of Him who has made a sufficient atonement for the sins of the whole world, seeks rather to discover a way in which he may be able to continue in sin, without being chastened by his conscience, he enters upon the pathways of error. I have before indicated that there are excuses, palliations, even laudations of the evil deed, which are reduced to a doctrine, yea, to a system. This is the greatest triumph of error. It has now become conscious falsehood, and has manifested its Satanic nature. As a thought of the day, flashing through the souls of men, it is, in any case, dangerous ; but it becomes absolutely formi- dable when, attracting to itself, and blending with itself, as much as possible of truth, it comes forth 302 TJie Propliccics of Our Lord and His Apostles. as a complete system, upon which a whole community has laboured with a view to its becoming a common possession, a fortress inaccessible to any weapons. To this the brands upon the conscience lead. Why do many smile approvingly, or loudly express their satisfaction, when the old doctrine of everlasting perdition, of Satan, of the universal and entire corruption of the natural man, of righteousness through the blood and sacrifice of the Son of God alone, is assailed with much ability, with admirable force, and with considerable success, and is set aside as an antiquated mode of conception, belonging to figures long ago exploded and rendered ridiculous .-* Why is this } Because they have a branded con- science, which feels the need of healing, and yet would avoid the pain of this healing, on which account they prefer going over to the side of those who say their disease does not exist — is an invention of those who would wish to heal it. And now, brethren and sisters, ask yourselves. Do I not generally feel my heart lighter, as though a load were taken off me, when I see these doctrines — which belong to the word of the Cross, yea, neces- sarily grow forth therefrom — assailed with skill and apparent success } Does it not seem to mc as though the atmosphere of the new proclamation of a more cheerful Christianity, without sin, the curse, death, and hell, were a finer ether, more easily to be breathed t This is ever a proof, my beloved, that it is not well TJic Cross of Christ. 303 with the conscience ; in other words, that we have committed sin and our conscience chastises us, and we will not yet apply to the true source of help, and find through the true Physician healing for our wounds. But you know, further, what gradually comes to pass with the conscience-brand. At first the wound is painful ; at first one seeks help here and there, to lessen its pain ; but gradually the place becomes hard and unsusceptible of feeling. Those who have the brand upon the conscience are not, therefore, always like those I have described, who feel unhappy, and rather glide into error than avail themselves of painful truth for thorough healing. There may be those, also, who have become already hardened, and who, the more unsusceptible they become of feeling, the more practise hypocrisy and falsehood in moral sayings and maxims for an excellent walk in the world, yea, in legal injunctions which they impose upon others, so that they may appear to be zealous and earnestly concerned about the kingdom of God. There ever, again, is the mighty Apostolic hand, which comes in and tears away the mask from the face, with the words, " Thou hast a brand upon the conscience, therefore dost thou join in proclaiming the error which arises from presumption or from despair." Finally, the Cross of Christ is not only d, judge : for the children of God it affords A POWER TO STAND AGAINST ERROR. It aftords them a firm basis ; and 304 TJic Prophecies of Oilv Lord and His Apostles. this is what is impHed in the third verse of our text, after the Apostle has adduced — by way of example of the excessive devotion of these people — the enjoin- ing of celibacy and absence from food which God has created, and the condemning of much which the Apostle regards as right, and well-ordered, and in accordance with the will of God. The Apostolic doc- trine does not say, " Abstain from marriage ;" but it does say to the affianced, " Join hands on the day of your betrothal, on the day of your union, and every day afterwards, at the Cross of Jesus Christ." The Apostolic proclamation will have the whole life, as well the family life as the individual life, sanctified through the Cross of Christ — through the forgiveness of sins for Jesus Christ's sake — through the peace of God, which thence flows for families, and passes from the parents to the children, from masters to servants, from employers to employed, yea, from house to house and from heart to heart. The Apostolic doc- trine does not say, ** This food you may eat, and that you must avoid ;" but It says, " Consecrate and sanc- tify your eating and drinking and every enjoyment by the Word of God and by prayer, and only that which will not admit of this consecration — that which contradicts the Word of God, whether It be enjoy- ment or labour — all that will not admit of prayer, and shuns the spirit of prayer, avoid : this is forbidden you by the Holy Spirit himself" The hypocritical speakers of lies arise, therefore, with a sanctity in Tlie Cross of CJirist. 0^3 presence of which the Apostles appear lax and in- difterent men of the world. They say, with a devout appearance, God has forbidden to eat certain kinds of food, and direct us back to the Old Testament to obtain for their falsehood the appearance of truth ; and then they speak as though the sin of unchastity had not its seat and home in the heart of every one ; as though the unmarried were not, equally with the married, to be rejected before God; and therefore forbid to marry. Against this whole appearance of sanctity, this mask of hypocrisy, w^oven out of human precepts, the child of God has need to take a firm stand. If these false teachers came forth at once as the avowed deniers of God and of Christ ; if they rejected all that is sacred for us, our position would be clear. But error clothes itself in the garb of truth and sanctity. Against this it is written, " The chil- dren of God, believers, and those who know the truth, receive with thanksgiving that which God has created." And whence arises the thanksgiving of a Christian 1 He looks back indeed upon creation, and receives with thankfulness that which the wisdom of God has from the beginning allotted to him ; but since his poverty and guilt is daily before his eyes, he looks still more upon redemption, upon the Cross of Jesus Christ, and through this redemption upon creation, through the Son into the heart of the Father. His thanksgiving arises principally from this, that he can say, " I thank Thee that Thou hast X 3o6 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. not cast me away on account of my wretchedness, and hast not suffered me to continue in my sins. I thank Thee that Thou wast for me smitten on the Cross, and for me didst die. I thank Thee that I was not counted unworthy of Thee, but that even in my misery Thou didst turn to me Thy faithful Saviour-heart." In this thanksgiving is veiled all other thanksgiving, including that for the blessings of the earthly being ; through the Cross is sanctified all the thanksgiving, as well as all the enjoyment of a child of God. And because he has need of this thanksgiving, and is therein so joyous and blessed, he stands armed against the excessively holy speakers of lies — supra-human in their devotion — who arise in every age, and especially in the last age, to tempt those who will live godly in Christ Jesus. From this simple relation of hearty filial receiving out of the fulness of grace obtained upon the Cross, grows the daily new recognition of the truth ; and he who ever humbly and in a filial spirit thus receives, who goes not forth in a spirit of pride and self-sufficiency, but ever draws afresh through prayer from the gracious treasures of God, as revealed in the Scripture, will grow evermore in that truth which, on the one hand, chastens and humbles, but on the other raises and exalts him, and at last brings him into the land of glory. Thus, one who grows in the knowledge of the truth is daily making progress in the same, has a The Cross of Christ. 307 firm and sure standing-place in life — even though the power of error should become in his lifetime that which Scripture tells us it will become in the last time — because the Cross is the support on which he rests, in not departing from this Word, but conse- crating and sanctifying all things through the Atone- ment of Christ. And now, beloved in the Lord, may the Holy Spirit afford us such a firm stand, through the word of the Cross, and through the experience of the sufficient righteousness given us in the crucified Saviour — a stand in the severest temptations of our life, and finally in the hour of departure also, when the enemy assails our life! And should it be our lot on earth to witness the coming of this last time, may we at last lift up our heads with joy, and go forth to meet the Lord Jesus when He comes, humbly as unworthy sinners, but joyfully as accepted ones ! Amen. &^t fast lubgmenf. " And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away ; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the Dook of life : and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." — Rev. xx. ii, 12. Beloved in Christ Jesus, — Be not surprised at the choice of this text for the present day.* It is chosen not only because in our series of Meditations on the Last Things we have come to the contem- plation of the last judgment, but also because we celebrate to day the festival of the Reformation. The last judgment also is a world-festival, the greatest of any, except that other in which God rested from His works. As this was the beginning of all festive life in the creatures of God; as the rest of God from creating, and in the creation of His hands, * Anniversary of the Reformation, 1854. TJlc Last Jiidginciit. 309 was the consecration of Nature's being, which alone made possible the rest of the creature in God, so, for the world of completion, the last judgment is a high and glorious world-festival of the revelation of the truth and righteousness, the grace and com- passion of the Three-one God. For only when all the judgments of God in the history of the world have found their close and final seal, will it become manifest for all who are in heaven and on earth, and under the earth— incontestably, and beyond the possibility of an objection— that Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, to whom the Father has committed all judgment, is the Lord, in whose name all knees must bow. This great world- festival has, like the first, the rest of God in His works, relation to all our festivals ; yea, these Divine festivals give to our human ones their basis, and are pre-celebrations and after-celebrations of them. For all our festivals are at the same time days of judgment, days of separation ; and in them is made manifest who belongs to the number of those who love the bless- ings of God's house, the children who have their sweetest possession therein ; and in them is separated that which is yet unfilial, and alien to the Father's house. In them is seen whether our souls are wholly upHfted in festive thanksgiving, in joy, blessing, and peace ; or whether we painfully snatch from the world and its engagements a brief pause of sacred repose. This applies especially to our present fes- 310 The Prophecies of Oily Lord and His Apostles. tival — the festival of the Reformation. It is allied to the judgment of the last day, and in close con- nection therewith, and yet is related to the primitive festival of God's rest. On the present day we commemorate the sharply-defined beginning of the Reformation, when, on the 31st of October, 15 17, Dr. Martin Luther affixed the ninety-five theses against the Papal indulgence to the door of the Electoral Church of Wittenberg. In these ninety- five theses is contained nothing but the Scriptural doctrine of the works of men in relation to God's free grace, of the forgiveness of sins on account of the sacrificial death and all-sufficient merits of Jesus Christ, and not for the merits of our fellow-men, be they ever so pious, or, as the world calls them, saintly ; they assert that man cannot merit heaven, but that it is pure grace whereby a sinful creature is enabled here on earth to enter into the rest of God, and may become assured through faith of the perfect rest of the glorified. The festival of the Reformation is a day of judgment, and separates those in the Evan- gelical Church who are satisfied with their own works and merits, or even cherish the presumptuous opinion that God himself must be satisfied with these, from those who, in humility and poverty of spirit, know they are unprofitable servants, not worthy of all the compassion and faithfulness which God has shown to them, and unworthy in themselves of everlasting life, but who yet can make their boast, " By grace am I TJic Last Judgment. 311 saved !" There is separated also in ourselves on this day that which inclines to the side of self-righteous- ness and human merit, and which, growing up from the root of our old fleshly nature, would ever gladly again entwine itself around us and overrun us, all seeking of salvation and peace in our own strength; from that which places itself, lowly and broken, at the feet of the Lamb. I do not, therefore, hesitate to choose as the subject of our festive meditation the Last Judgment, as a Judgment of Grace, and a Judgment according to Works. Lord, Thou everlasting God and Saviour, Thou wilt come again to judge the living and the dead — Thou who hast ascended to Heaven, Thou who didst rise from the dead. Thou who wast crucified, didst die, and wast buried, for our sins ! O let us, through Thy Holy Spirit, contemplate Thy return to the last judgment with feelings of deep solemnity, with hearts thirsting for Thy grace ! Amen. Grace and Works, these have become watch- words in Christendom. Not merely has conscious and deliberate error ever raised the standard of works, but ignorance, blindness, want of acquaint- ance with the ways of God, want of familiarity with Holy Scripture, has gathered thousands around it ; and not merely another Church ranges its thousands around this banner, but also in our Evangelical Church has the doctrine of works gained so much ground, which it has retained unto this hour, that 3 1 2 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. we have no cause to look down as from higher ground upon our Reformation festivals, or even to look with hostile glance into the opposite camp, but rather the greatest cause to look closely around us, and, still more, to look within ourselves. Grace and Works. In what relation do they stand to each other in our case ? This will decide our portion at last. The last judgment is a judgment upon every soul that is yet liable to judgment, which has not already, through faith in the Son of God, passed from death unto life. It is, therefore, with serious and earnest purpose we set before us the last judgment. First, as a Judgment of Graee. It is written, " Books were opened, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." "Another book," however, was also opened ; that is the " book of life," and whoever was not found written in this book was cast into the lake of fire. The Book of Life, beloved, is grace. Works ha\'e no place here ; they stand written in the other books. Here we have only to do with the names, which are written in heaven. There appear before the judg- ment-seat souls who, while on earth, lived in un- conscious union with the Lord in heaven, who earnestly sought Him without ever coming truly to know him here. They now see themselves known of Him even in their most hidden life, and in the actions forgotten by themselves, and find themselves TJic Last Judgment. 313 acknowledo-cd bv Him as blessed of the Father. Not before the last judgment does Jesus become mani- fest to them as the Saviour, towards whom the dim longing of their souls had been directed. He is alto- gether the same Saviour for them as for those who, by the ordinances of God's love, by the well-known word of the Old and the New Testament, by all the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit, had been consciously and willingly united to Him. It is not, however, these. His faithful ones on earth, of whom it is said, their names are at the Last Judgment found written in the Book of Life. They are already at home with the Lord ;* and as many of them as are upon the earth when the trumpet of the archangel sounds, will be caught up to meet Him in the air, and changed, that they may be ever with the Lord. The others are the dead who did not rise again in the first resurrection, but come forth from their graves at the trumpet-call to stand before His countenance. For them is there yet a Book of Life ; and for them He sits upon the throne, whom they know not, but whom in their ignorance they sought ; and for them the Lord pronounces that unspeakably precious word of compassionate love, which sounds forth to us from His own description of the last judgment, '* Inas- * There has been for believers a prior manifestation before the judg- ment scat of Christ, and an awarding of their position in the kingdom of glory, proportioned to their faithfulness in the service of the Saviour during their hfe on earth. Compare 2 Cor. v. 10, Rom. xiv. 10. 314 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me." This is GRACE. He who, according to the teaching of the New Testament prophets, will sit on the judgment-throne, is the same who on the Cross bore upon His mighty soul the burden and guilt, the death and condemnation due to sin, and endured unto perfect victory. It is He who has borne the wrath of God, and the severity of His holy righteous- ness, enduring unto the last drop of the bitter cup, and coming forth Victor over death, the devil, and hell. The person of the Judge in itself proclaims that it is a judgment of grace, through which those standing at the right-hand enter into salvation. Christ, the God-man, of whom the men in white raiment said, " He shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven'*; the God-man it is who takes His seat on the great white throne ; and His face, the face of the King of Eternity it is, before which heaven and earth shall flee away, so that no longer shall room be found for them. Grace upon those who even in their ignorance and blindness stretched forth towards Him the arms of longing — free grace is proclaimed in that great, majestic, and terrible moment, when all the bridges are broken behind those of the human race v/ho are still unsaved, and they can only advance towards the throne of judgment. Then these blessed ones take their place at the right-hand, for He leads them thither. How The Last Judgmoit. 315 comes this to pass ? Do they understand wherefore they are placed at the right-hand ? Do they see in it already an indication of their deliverance ? Oh, no ! but it is the wondrous and mysterious attraction of fellowship, which even on earth rested not in their hearts, though they did not yet possess a living knowledge of Christ, that so irresistibly urges them to take their place on that side on which the Lord will have them ; they take their place on the right- hand. I have, on a former occasion, spoken of the Resur- rection of the Just, but have there said nothing of the resurrection of the ungodly. The day of judgment is the last day of the resurrection, and on this day some appear unto everlasting life, some to shame and ever- lasting contempt. The resurrection form of those whom Jesus calls the blessed, already proclaims, beyond a doubt, to whom they belong. The resurrection of the ungodly is an act of judgment, and forms part of the last judgment ; since all who have not fallen asleep in Jesus will not rise otherwise, or earlier, than at the last day of judgment. At the same time also arise those who have already lived in a hidden and unconscious communion with Him, the All-present Saviour, and who, therefore, in their bodies, are not forms of darkness, but of dawning light. Their standing at the right-hand is in itself an object of wonder and astonishment for these lowly souls. And now the books are opened : the Book of Life is 3 1 6 TJie Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. unrolled, and in it stand written their names — their names, but not their sins, for these have been forgiven and blotted out through the blood of the Lamb. It is this, my brethren, which we must bring into such prominence on the day of the Reformation : the grace of God in Jesus Christ. The grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men, and comes effectually, either in this world or in the next, to all who do not reject it. But all who do not lay hold of the grace of God presented in Christ Jesus, do not experience it, and know not what grace is. All who stand at the left-hand on the great day of judgment are rejecters of grace, are out of Christ, have themselves with guilty hand severed the gracious bonds with which during their earthly life the Lord would unite them to himself, have chosen to effect their own salvation, or have even desired no salvation at all. Those, however, who are saved by grace, know right well that their life, their blessedness, their de- liverance, depends entirely and alone upon the word of Him who sits upon the throne ; they know it well, with trembling, in the feeling of their own poverty and sin ; but they see shining in His countenance the everlasting light, of which a beam has fallen into their heart, and on this account there is present already a gladdening hope within their soul, before the judge opens His mouth. And when He does speak. His first word is a proof that their names are written in the Book of Life ; for He acknowledges The Last Judgment. 317 all the g-ood they have done, and knows not their sins. He, the righteous judge, who discerns so exactly the presence of sin, even under its most refined forms, speaks nothing of their sins, but ad- dresses them at once as the blessed of His Father, as the heirs of the kingdom founded from the be- ginning of the world. This melts the heart, this incomprehensible love towards poor sinners, who did not even belong consciously to Jesus on earth. In this fervour of heavenly love is dissolved the last trace of the heart's coldness ; tJieir hearts flow forth like the hearts of all who have here on earth repented in the dust, and have found their peace in the blood of Calvary. Untrue and unworthy, therefore, is the doctrine which some would have our Lord to have taught in His description of the judgment, namely, that man is saved by his works. No ; all those who are saved in the judgment know nothing of their own works. When He says to them, " What ye have done unto one of the least, ye have done unto me," and when He calls them the blessed of His Father, they have no words in which to reply, but the heart sinks before Him in silent wonder and joy at such compassion and glory, reserv^ed for the most unworthy. Let us hear, then, my beloved in the Lord, the doctrine of the Reformation proclaimed from the throne of the world's judgment. This is the banner which our own Luther has raised, and around which 3i8 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles, we rally against all foes without and within. Grace, free grace for the sake of Christ, proclaimed and communicated by the Son of God, even though it should only be manifested at the last day — free grace alone it is which saves. Amongst the countless hosts above who sing the victorious song of their deliverance, there is not one who knows of any works which have been able to form for him a flight of steps leading up to Heaven ; not one who does not rejoice in salvation through Christ alone, and join in the confession : — " Mine, mine was the transgression j But Thine the deadly pain. " Wherefore, my brethren, rejoice if your names are written in the Book of Life, if your guilt is blotted out ; rejoice and be glad all you who can feel the merits of the Saviour yours, even while you are on earth. But then must you also venture, because the word of God demands it, to draw nigh with me, and contemplate the gloomy and awe-inspiring picture of JUDGMENT ACCORDING TO WORKS. I return to the resurrection of judgment. " To shame and ever- lasting contempt," says the prophet Daniel, "will many arise." But not Daniel alone, even many heathen sages have had some foreboding of this ; when they taught that those who were here on earth, ungodly and wicked, dcspisers of God and violators of sacred ordinances, would, in the world Tlie Last jfudgvicnt. 319 to come, appear in frightful forms, as wolves and other ravenous beasts. In this teaching there is some conception of that which the Godless man spiritually becomes. We, however, on the authority of Holy Scripture, proceed further, and consider how the man of the world, in his tumultuous passage through life, has marred and defaced the image of God in which he was created. What terrible forms must at last become the expression of the inner hatefulness of a soul alienated from God! The image of God in its perversion can produce only that which is most terrible and revolting, just because it is in itself so glorious and noble. And now conceive of the resurrection of those who have Christ only as an inexorable judge, because they have rejected Him as a Saviour and Mediator ! Is it any wonder that they cry, " Mountains, fall upon us ; hills, cover us from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne V* They have risen in the body, and their bodies are the visible image of their souls. All the desolation, perversion, corruption, in the life of a Godless and Christless man, will find its corresponding manifes- tation before the eyes of all the world. They will appear in the shame of their nakedness, for the whole inner and concealed sinfulness of their cha- racter is apparent ; they appear what they are. Thus the irresistible power of guilt of itself drags them to the left-hand ; thither must they go, and every arbitrary wish to place themselves at the right-hand 320 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. were as the resistance of a straw to the raging of a hurricane. The force of inner conviction ranges them on the side of those upon whom the sentence of the judge is pronounced, "Depart, ye cursed, into ever- lasting fire !" *' The books were opened, and they were judged according to their works." In these their works arc described with minuteness — every word ; for " by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned ;" and " every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment." With minuteness are described the thoughts of the heart — the emotions of which they are scarcely conscious — thoughts of hatred to God and of opposition to Christ. Before them will lie depicted, with unspeakable clearness and fidelity, the image of their past life ; and each one will be already judged by the contemplation of this image. For each, a glance from this picture to the counte- nance of Christ — that countenance which beams with a grace and compassion intolerable to those who have refused to humble themselves before Him — reveals only thunder-clouds and consuming flames ; and He, the righteous judge, will render unto every man precisely as his work shall be. I might almost say, it is already rendered to them according to their works when they appear, and every one outwardly manifests what he has inwardly be- come. In this is his melancholy destiny already The Last Judgment. 321 expressed before the eyes of the world. But no! There yet Hves in the soul of the man— until he is judged— the last trace of the image of God. As yet, the ser\'ant called to give an account has in hand the pound which was entrusted to him ; as yet, the gifts^ talents, natural capacity with which the man was born into this world, are present, however horribly defaced by sin ; as yet, there are to be perceived traces of those things which were conferred upon him without his contributing thereto — through education, society, the Church, the State, art and science — certain purer, nobler traces ; not his own work, but things he has inherited. The judgment,* however, this great separating process, separates not merely the good ones from the bad, but also that which is inwardly good from the inwardly bad. From the wicked servant is taken the one pound which he has hidden in a napkin. From those on the left is all natural good taken away ; the flame of higher life is quenched, which till then, occasionally at least, shed some light on the dark inner nature of the man ; nothing remains but the piercing light of the thought, " There is a God, an eternal God, and thou art His creature." Taken away is all that of which men here on earth have so much that is beautiful to say — natural goodness, softness of heart, kindly feeling, nobleness of character ; taken away, also, is all know- * Compare the Greek word /cp'ciy, "separation," which corresponds in use with our \ford Jttdgvteni. Y 322 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. ledge and recognition of truth. The man is thrown back upon that which he has become by his own actions. He is the creator of his own state, and as such is consigned for eternity to his wretched poverty, emptiness, bhndness, and perversion. Consequently, only the work of your own perver- sion and marring will you become-poor, poor sinners, who deny and reject the Saviour — then to hear the word of condemnation, " Ye cursed;" that thereby from you the blessing of God may be taken away — the blessing of grace, descending from the first day of rest, in which God rested from His work, and caused His blessing to descend on the yet unfallen creation. This is the only curse which is entirely without a blessing ; for all the curses of God pronounced upon the sins of men were, until the judgment, accom- panied with a blessing. Then, finally, curse without blessing, a shutting up of the soul to its own dark and dreadful form, this is JUDGMENT ACCORDING TO WORKS. For not the isolated deed alone, not the sum of these evil deeds, but the whole conformation of life, the whole acting, doing and becoming of the man, the expression of his sinful, corrupt nature, stands written in the books. " Every man shall bear his own burden ;" and no one will be able to doubt that his condition of misery, his everlasting destruc- tion, is the fruit of his own work alone, clung to by him with all his power, in opposition to the urgent importunities of God's grace in Christ. The Last Judgment. 323 The doctrine of the Reformation is this, that man Can be saved only through the one ever-avaiHng sacrifice of Jesus Christ, imputed unto faith, even though that imputation be made first on the day of judgment. But the Reformation has also something to say of works, for it preaches a living faith. Works, true works of love, self-sacrificing deeds of help done to the least of the brethren from love to Jesus, are the signs of faith. So the Evangelical Church teaches from the Apostolic word ; insisting that that faith which is merely a conviction of the intellect, a thought of the mind, is dead, and is properly no faith. She teaches, indeed, that man shall be judged by his works, but that all evil works proceed from unbelief. It is, therefore, unbelief which condemns, as it is faith which lays hold of saving grace. My brethren, look forsvard to the end. God grant that not one of us may stand before the Judge, but that, having all passed from death unto life, we may enter safely into the Master's joy, and may appear among the many thousand saints who will come with Christ to hold the judgment. But look forward. It were possible that one or another soul among us should be snatched away into eternity ere it had made its calling and election sure in Christ Jesus. Oh, I pray you, to-day, now, let no hour, no moment pass without having embraced your Saviour who offers to you His everlasting grace, with forgive- ness of sins, to the end that you may triumph over 324 The PropJiecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. death, the grave and judgment, and your resurrection be a resurrection unto life, and your name be written in the book of Hfe, and you may receive a new name, which is promised to those who overcome in Jesus Christ ! May this be our Reformation ! Amen. g^stettbtt 0f 11^^ !3^isibk Wioxlh* " Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water : whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished : but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness ; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night ; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godli- ness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?" — 2 Peter iii. 3—12. Beloved in Jesus Christ, — It is one of the last epistles of the New Testament from which we have 326 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. just read this terrible word of prophecy. Yea, there is even reason for the supposition that these words were read by those to whom they were addressed, only after the writer — the Apostle Peter — had already glorified God by a martyr's death. They sound, therefore, like a legacy from one for whom the earth has already passed away like a dream, and who has an eye only for the everlasting future, the home in heaven. These words take their place for us in the succession of those texts of the New Testament which we have been now a long time studying together, in following the Apostolic prophecies which are able to set before our eyes more clearly and fully than the prophets of the Old Covenant, the history and growth of the kingdom, as it proceeds from Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and makes progress unto its final goal. We have already, on several occasions, spoken of a coming of the Lord — a glorious period of His king- dom on earth — which will intervene partly as a judicial coming, a terrible anticipation of the last judgment, partly also as the longed-for and prayed- for goal of all Christian hope for this earth. Already with our text of the present day we have passed beyond this goal, near to the last goal, the con- summation of all New Testament prophecies. This lies no longer here in this old earth, but extends into the period of the new earth, into the new creation of that which now exists. First, however, we must speak of THE PERISHING OF THAT WHICH The Dcstniction of the Visible World. 327 EXISTS— THE WHOLE VISIBLE CREATED WORLD; and this perishing of the visible world the Apostle Peter sets before our eyes to-day. To meditate thereupon with prayer and supplication is our task; and in order, by the help of our text, to fulfil it, we must first speak a word AGAINST THE UNBELIEF WHICH REJECTS THIS TRUTH, then seek to EXPLAIN THE APPARENT DELAY, and finally STRENGTHEN EACH OTHER UNTO A RIGHT EXPECTATION OF IT. Lord God, Thou perfected Prince of our salvation, Thou givest us in grace to look forward into that future which, before Thee, is present; and biddest us meditate upon that which Thou hast given Thine Apostles to speak and write through the Holy Spirit, that we may receive into our hearts the impressions Thou didst design by these prophecies. Help us, that this may now be realized, that unbelief in us may be vanquished, that we may at least approxi- mately understand Thy triumph, and that we also may expect and hasten unto Thy coming. Amen. That we first of all speak a word against unbelief with regard to this whole visible world being destroyed in judgment, will not surprise you, brethren, quite apart from the fact that the words of our text compel us to do so. For nothing is further from the greater part of the human race now living than to regard the solid ground — undisturbed for many thousand years — on which they tread as insecure, and to think of a breaking up of all the supports which, only 328 The Pj'ophecies of Our Lord a?id His Apostles. through the death of the individual, lose their signi- ficance for him, but seem to remain unchanged and unweakened for all succeeding races. It is true, every one knows and confesses that in this world all is exposed to chance and change, that nothing endures for a moment ; the present, scarcely ex- pressed, becomes already past, and again is made the basis and home of the new-born future. But, nevertheless, the ground form of our earthly life and being during thousands of years, and in respect of the main phenomena — that the vault of heaven spreads itself over the earth and brings forth its stars above our heads, that the sun rises and sets, day and night alternate, and spring, summer, autumn, and winter are dissolved into each other ; that life and death, growth and decay, pass before our eyes or are ex- perienced in ourselves — has been the same as with long past generations, of whom only faint and dim traditions have reached us. Therefore, we also easily repeat the word of many a one known to the Christian Church in the time of the Apostles, and having to do with that church : *' Since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." We might almost say, that ever similar changes and the unchanging ground-tone of all created life have for men — created for and called to eternity, the invisible world — an almost somniferous and depressing effect, because they give so greatly the impression of the The Destruction of the Visible World. 329 abiding and unchanging. We even derive all our figures of the intransitory from our earth. We speak of a foundation of rock which never yields, of en- during as the mountains of God ; we speak of the mighty pillars which He has raised, and which no finite power is able to cast down, and express thereby our view of the intransitory character of earthly things ; and when we look forth, and by the help of science, spiritually enter upon the great paths of the universe, and its movements and alternations, and think of the countless years during which It has thus proceeded, it seems to us almost impossible that it should ever become otherwise. The Apostle, however, calls those who thus speak, " Scoffers." He says : " Knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming .?" and they appeal to the fact that "all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." Against them the Apostle speaks an earnest word in giving them the name of " scoffers." He designates them enemies of the truth, servants of falsehood, those who scorn the word of God and the eternal counsel of His Majesty. And the scoffing lies in this, that they regard the stedfastness and unchangeableness as we call it — the deep-laid order of God's creation — as an argument against God's word, which describes all these things as finite, as having an end as they have had a beginning. The word of 330 TJie Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. God itself also is applied in like manner by the scoffers ; and all those are scoffers who, in order to take away the force of a prophecy of God's word which is unacceptable and troublesome to them, or to render it doubtful, adduce other texts and thoughts of Holy Scripture in opposition. The most complete refutation lies in this very desig- nation of them ; for once you have driven home to a man's conscience the thought. That which you speak is not spoken in the service of truth, but because you would gladly walk after your own lusts, and because that which you combat in the Divine word forbids your doing so, the man is vanquished, even though he does not acknowledge it. Yea, if he even becomes harder, more resolute in his false assertions, more hostile in his assaults upon the word of God, he is, nevertheless, vanquished ; and the great day of the Lord will make manifest many who here on earth have passed for mighty heroes in the knowledge of the truth, but who had received the testimony of the Spirit of God in their hearts that they are scoffers, who for their own pleasure declare the word of the Lord to be folly, or at least veiled in human weakness, and therefore unintelligible, or not simply and clearly intelligible in its sense. The Apostle goes further, and more clearly defines the language of these scoffers. He represents them as saying, "Where is the promise of His coming.!* TJic D est met ion of the Visible World. 331 for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were." The world goes its way, and no man can alter anything in it — no one can accelerate anything, no one delay it. They, therefore, mani- festly deny — as is shown by the subsequent appeal of the Apostle to the flood — the destruction of the visible world, and with it also the judgment. They exclaim, It has long been said that Christ will return in His majesty to hold judgment ; but there is no appearance of His coming ; things are ever, on the whole, the same as they have always been. Will you always await such a coming of your Lord to judge the quick and the dead } Can the reason be for us doubtful why they wish to set before us in such beautiful language, or with such convincing arguments, the unchangeableness of Nature and its course, and in like manner the laws of history, which are placed under the spell of the same iron necessity } Is it any other than that the coming of the Lord is unacceptable to them .? I do not here mean those who in honest, well-meant error cannot understand what the Lord speaks of His coming ; not those who, merely in the interest of the knowledge of natural things, are too much shut up by the fulness and greatness of the objects which here tower around them, to be able to look forth to the final goal ; but I speak of those to whom the promise of the coming of Jesus Christ is a very disagreeable thought, as it were a break in all their 332 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. calculations, and especially in those calculations which arise not from the intellect but from the passions, and would gladly avoid the final account. That such unbelief existed in the Apostolic age may afford us some consolation. Thus, at least we are not compelled to regard its presence in our days as a sign that the power of God's word, the distinctness of Evangelical knowledge, and the blessing of com- munion with the Lord has vanished and disappeared. The Apostolic Churches had power, light, and communion in a high degree; notwithstanding such scoffers arose partly around them, partly even in them and from them. We, therefore, in the midst of salutary terror, may remain consoled that the Lord is yet within the City of God, and that we are, or can be, still the people of His possession, although we have to bewail such dark and gloomy manifestations within the circle of Christendom, and even of the Evangelical Church. Yet more, they say, The fathers are fallen asleep, and all things remain as before. In this they naturally could not be thinking of the fathers of the Old Testament ; for the coming of the Lord which was there promised had indisputably taken place ; He had appeared, and His disciples had seen His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth. The fathers, to whose falling asleep the scorners made their appeal, are the Apostles. Of these the most distinguished ones had. The Desf Junction of the Visible World. 333 at the time when this epistle was read, passed to their Lord. They existed no longer, who had so often expressed the hope — as we can even now read in their letters — that they should perhaps behold His face with joy when He should come in judgment to establish His kingdom. The completion of His kingdom on earth, and His final coming to judgment at the end of this world, was not yet so clearly distinguished by them as we see it distinguished in the last book of Holy Scripture, the Revelation of John. They had fallen asleep and had not been partakers in the fulfilment of that earthly hope of the kingdom of Christ, which had often raised their hearts so high, although through the everlasting home and glory they had received a much greater fulfilment, and one leaving far behind it all that has been realized or hoped for on earth ; and now men pointed scofhngly to their death. And do not men also in our days point to those witnesses of the Gospel who — especially for our nation, for our Church — ^were privileged to begin a new life, but who have long since died; and say to us, You would call up that which has long vanished and deservedly passed away ; you would bring back old times with their forms and ways, in that you would have the old truths of the faith still recognised, confessed, and proclaimed, and applied in our whole life, in all their fulness and power } Is it not also said to us, Luther has long been dead ; it is lonof since 334 TJie Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. Calvin fell asleep ; it is now long since Spener's head was laid to rest ; and Francke and Zinzendorf, and all the great living pillars of the Evangelical Church, and the men whose hymns we sing, are men of past generations, and only a few have continued to our time — another culture has succeeded to the former, other aims are chosen, other conflicts are to be endured than they endured ; therefore the work is to be done in another way than by restoring the past ? This is said, indeed, not merely in regard to those tendencies which may be justly charged with hanging to that which is past, with an exaggeration of forms belonging to bygone times ; but it is urged in opposition to those who say. So long as we have not again amongst us the full, living, operative faith which our fathers — the Reformers and their succes- sors — had and testified, so long is our Church, our society, and our whole life, afilicted with a grievous sickness, so long we shall not be saved from our misery. Now, in opposition to all this, the out- stretched finger of the Apostle points back to the flood, with the words, The mountains then stood as firm as now, and the course of Nature was as much regulated by law as now, and yet the waters burst in, and fell as a judgment upon the ungodly generation of that time. Yea, he refutes them most completely in the single sentence, "The heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and TJlc Destruction of the Visible Woyld. 335 perdition of ungodly men." It is not a case for scientific discussion as to whether the visible world, heaven and earth, can pass away, or whether there is already to be discovered in them a tendency to decay ; but it is proclaimed that a destruction by judgment will take place at the command of Him who made heaven and earth. This alone refutes all the words of unbelief as to the eventual destruction of the present world. It will not be destroyed merely by the process of Nature and in a natural manner, but its destruction will take place by a judicial act of the same Divine omnipotence by which it was made. My beloved, the unbelief against which we speak is not to be found merely amongst those who merit, in the full sense of the word, the name of scoffers and ungodly men, but it insmuates itself also into the mind of believers, and we have to combat it con- tinually in one form or another. For this cause it is needful to speak a word against it. Let us, however, no longer dwell on this, but fix our attention upon something that may have much greater importance for our hearts ; for, after all, we are able to oppose to unbelief the simple reply, I rest my faith upon the Word of God, and in this it is written, that one day heaven and earth shall pass away, and a new heaven and a new earth shall take their place. What you speak — however many arguments it may seem to have in its favour — is, as 33^ The Prophecies of Our Lord mid His Apostles. opposed to this Word, entirely vain, and I hold sted- fastly to that which the mouth of revelation speaks. But when it is objected to you. Behold the Apostles in their day hoped to live to witness the glorious appearing of Christ to complete His kingdom on earth ; and after the Apostles each successive gene- ration of those who have longed for His appearing have cherished the same hope. No century of the Christian Church has passed without some voice being heard to proclaim that the end of all things was at hand, and that every one had cause to prepare for an appearing of the Lord to judgment probably within his own lifetime. They have all fallen asleep, and one century has followed another without the last having arrived. And how will it be in the future .'' Will it not be the same over again, and will not our expectation, which receives its character from the Word of God, be again disappointed } Will not the sun of life have set for our whole generation before the coming of the Lord } And how long will it thus continue } The Lord delays His coming, so that it almost appears as though the words of His mouth, which so clearly speak of a coming in the clouds of heaven, with great power and glory, to be seen of all the tribes of earth, were not spoken in all earnestness. Yea, this doubt steals more frequently than the one we have just mentioned over believers themselves, so that at last it is said. Yes, it is written in the Word of God. But these are things which properly do not TJie Dcstrtiction of the Visible World. 337 greatly concern us ; we have at the present time too much to do every day, in working out our salvation with fear and trembling, to admit of our devoting time and energy to looking beyond the bounds of the present — I will not say that every one who thus speaks in his heart belongs to the scoffers, but he diminishes the power of the whole Word of God for him, so soon as he excepts anything out of this Word from his earnest and thorough study as a matter of duty, and draws for himself an arbitrary line within which he has to do with the contents of the Word of God, and outside of which all must remain an un- known land. The Word of God is for him no longer a whole, no longer that whole of which no single word can fall without meaning to the earth, without all the rest being assailed with it. Therefore, my beloved, it is very necessary that we more closely examine the Apostle's words on the APPARENT DELAYING OF GOD, and receive from him the explanation thereof It is said : " The heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." These words of the Apostle shed some light upon this point. The Apostle says, They are preserved ; God has His times, and where He will not hasten — where the deve- lopment of His kingdom seems to be slow — He has His causes for this delay. He has His causes in His eternal compassion, in order that time and space z 338 TJie PropJiccics of Oiir Lord and His Apostles. for repentance may not be shortened here on earth for ungodly men who will at last be condemned. This principal cause is afterwards more clearly ex- pressed : " The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some men count slackness, but is long- suffering to us-ward, not willing that any shall perish, but that all should come to repentance." You may perhaps object, God allows men to die ; our life lasts but seventy years, or at the most but eighty years, and many die without repentance, many without the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus, and consequently without a sure hope of everlasting life ; and in like manner God may suddenly cut off and bring to an end any race now living. But, beloved, not thus upon the surface does the matter lie ; on the contrary, we must ask in what the long-suffering of God, which is our salvation, is revealed in the life of an individual. Is it in the length of that life, the long period that is granted to the man to come to the living God } Assuredly not ; but rather in the inner history of the life, in that which God does for every man to bring him to a knowledge of his state, and by this to conversion — a turning away from the world, and a turning to eternity. Thus it is also with humanity as a whole. He is long-suffering to us-ward ; He will not that any should perish, and on this account He causes to arise, stratum upon stratum, so long a history — a history of many nations and of many million hearts, who, TJie Destruction of the Visible World. 339 one after another, have exhausted, experienced, and called forth all the possibilities of Divine help and deliverance — so that we may obtain upon the founda- tion of the perfect revelation in Christ Jesus, a structure many thousands ijf years in completion, as we have already one of many hundreds of years. How long this will be in growing no human thought can determine ; but that its long duration is a constant act of God's long-suffering and patience, is clear to every one who reflects how many years of his life have passed in darkness or obscurity, before he recognised and apprehended the Lord Jesus as his Saviour. If he has now truly recognised and appre- hended Him, he finds that the years of his ignorance and darkness were not entirely without light and devoid of the gracious operations and influences of the Holy Spirit ; yea, he discovers on deeper reflection, even in this world, and will yet more discover in eternity, that from the very beginning there has been in his life a concurrence of Divine operations for his salvation. So, also, is it with humanity. It has need of its own history and experience ; and this serves us and our posterity in the same manner as the miracles of the Lord and His Apostles served those who lived in the time of the Saviour. It shows- us the Lord as the deliverer of those who need salvation ; how He, in His gracious preventing compassion, and in His holy power, overcomes all hindrances that oppose 340 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. our salvation, if only we do not ourselves place in the way unbelief as the greatest hindrance. This history, which exists for every one of us, forms a root-ground, whose fibres consist entirely of God's gracious wonders. If one begins by allowing them to influence himself, and takes a retrospect first of the history of his own life, he will then in like manner proceed to the history of his family, and then to that of the whole nation. By such a contemplation of the past, it becomes manifest to him that God's waiting is not a delay, an inactivity, a vacant interval, in which God's working for our salvation ceases ; but that He has His hour, in which He, as by a sudden impulse, urges forward the march of His kingdom, and others, again, in which it seems as though all things were arrested by His Almighty hand, and compelled to pass through a slow and wearisome course ; that both, however. His hastening and His delay, belong to one and the same general plan. Upon thyself, therefore, dear soul, must thou look, if thou wilt understand the apparent delay in God's promise ; for thy sake does this delay take place, that thou mayst have a so much richer work of God's grace and God's compassion as the ground beneath thy feet ; for the sake of those who live around thee and with thee, and who have not yet come to the knowledge that salvation can be theirs only and solely through faith in Jesus Christ the Crucified. TJic Destruction of the Visible World. 341 It is further said in our text, " The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ; the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." We are consequently told, my beloved, in what manner this destruction will take place. And if God, for our sake, seems to delay — if, in other words, His hour has not yet come, because many souls, either of those now living, or of those who shall yet be born, are to be brought to the knowledge of the truth- yet the stupendous goal is appointed for all things earthly. One day will the world sink in ruins as a house in the fiery glow ; one day will the Lord visit the earth, yea, the whole visible creation, with the same mighty creative power with which He called forth all things into being, and which we cannot grasp or comprehend, which remains for us ever an object of wonder and adoration. Naturally they are but feeble human images, when the Apostle speaks of a great crash and passing away of the elements, and a consuming with fire. No one is able on earth and in human language to give even an approximately accurate description of this most mighty and terrible event, but yet it will be ; and there shines, as it were, the lurid light of the last judgment in all the pro- phecies of the Apostles ; it shines forth in the Holy Scripture, and its beams fall from thence upon our faces. But if they fall upon our faces and hearts, it 342 TJie PropJiecies of Oitr Lord and His Apostles. is not merely that we may close our eyes in terror and turn away, or that we may cower before this light, but that we may be strengthened unto a wait- ing, a salutary watching for this event — for God's judicial dealing with the visible world. Unto this the Apostle earnestly exhorts us : " Seeing, then, that all these things shall be dis- solved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God.'* It is there written, beloved, in two words : Waiting and hastening. A contradiction in a breath. The one is a restraint, a waiting for the coming of the Lord ; the other is a hastening, a pressing forward, an applying of power, an exertion. Both are indispensable to be prepared, in holy conversation and godliness, for the appearing of the Lord. Wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ will every one who knows how greatly he stands in need of the long-suffering of God ; hasten towards this coming will every one whose longing for that which is perfect is not satisfied here below. My dear hearers, if we not merely recognise, in relation to the past of our life and to the days of pre- venting grace, the long-suffering of God, which has wrought yi^r us and in us, and in this recognition fall down, and adoringly exclaim, " Lord, Thy long- suffering I account my salvation!" but also observe how greatly we are still dependent on Divine com- The Dcstrjiction of the Visible World. 343 passion, and with our manifold sins, ever afresh stand in need of God's gracious forgiveness, we shall not then be so impatient for the coming of the day of the Lord. We would then gladly yet live a long life upon earth, to become prepared by a deeper expe- rience of our own character, by a more thorough examination of our hearts, so difficult to understand, and in a more complete penitence before the Lord, and in an ever-fresh and more powerful apprehension of His merits. We should then gladly seek prepara- tion, by maintaining a truly holy conversation and godhness of life, and in no longer finding around us and in us so much weakness, misery, and sin, we should be really new men, and as such walk in deep humility and poverty of spirit. Then should we also willingly end our course in His righteousness, whether we are caught up to meet Him in the air, or we lay aside the earthly house of this tabernacle, and go home to the everlasting house, to the building not made with hands, in Heaven. This is waiting. Such waiting does not exclaim, " Oh, it will always be soon enough for me !" The world declines it ; the natural man will know nothing of this promised end. Wait- ing, however, is a continual, stedfast looking forward to this end, with the fervent pra}'er, Lord, first pre- pare me for it ; and the more we seek this prepared- ness, the more clearly shall we perceive all that belongs thereto, and that is yet wanting to us. But, with the waiting, hastening is also united. We 344 I^Ji^ Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. are called not only to wait, but also to hasten. We might, perhaps, from mere waiting, fall into a certain fearfulness and despondency, and think, I must first become in my ozun eyes a man of God. Ah, poor soul ! on the day in which thou hadst become that — in which thou hadst been so greatly the victim of self-deception that thou couldst regard thyself as fit for heaven — the coming of the Lord would indeed be for thee as the breaking in of a thief in the night, as the surprise of a robber. We must hasten by virtue of our longing for the Lord, after perfect intercourse and unhindered and unbroken communion with Him. This longing must grow here upon earth. I know well we have from time to time, in days of suffering, a longing after heaven : when life with us is sad, when earth is embittered for us, or when the dearest ones, who have become almost inseparably one with our heart, are snatched away from our arms by death ; or when we become old and weak, and can accomplish nothing more on earth, and feel ourselves rather a burden upon others, and earth a burden for us, we long for heaven. All this is right, and nottobe condemned; but it is not this longing of which I speak, but the longing of a heart bound to the Lord Jesus by the holiest, tenderest, and most enduring ties, for whom He is the pole around which life ever revolves — the centre towards which the heart is drawn with all its powers. The longing for the Lord, which the Apostle expresses in the words, " I The Dcsiniction of the Visible World. 345 have a desire to depart and be with Christ, this makes us hasten. He who has such a longing hastens to meet the Lord Jesus, and asks day and night after His coming, with all those mighty and terrible events and perturbations of the vain and earthly existence which accompany it. Yet more, he for whom this worldly existence — for whom this creation, spoiled and dominated by sin, and by it brought into the bondage ot corruption — becomes ever more clearly understood ; he who ever- more distinctly perceives and experiences that there is nothing here that can calm and satisfy him — that rather, as the body, so also the whole earthly life has become subject to death as the wages of sin ; he for whom visible Nature itself, in its fairest and most majestic manifestations, in which it proclaims the Creator, His goodness, and faithfulness, and glory, yet ever awakens a melancholy feeling of an alien state, a pilgrimage, a strancrer-life on earth, and whose spirit can, on this account, never be entirely at home on earth, — he, at the same time, both waits and hastens. Where is now the contradiction between waiting and hastening.'* Both are at the same time enjoined upon you. The coming of the Lord with all its judicial manifestations, is, for a child of God, only his final and complete redemption. We are waiting here on earth, not for the fire and destruction, but beyond this, for the new heaven and the new earth. 34^ TJie Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. wherein dwelleth righteousness. We wait also, and hasten in this waiting, for the redemption of our body. Oh, let us, beloved, in faith full often look forth into this future, and become ever more consoled by the reflection that this oppressive earthly burden, and also the body of this death, will be for us done away; and we are hastening towards a day — whether it be the day of death or the day of the Lord's coming — which will set us free into the perfect glorious liberty of the sons of God. Amen. e ITtlB Morfo 0f lljc Pfbctrntb. ** Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless." — 2 Peter iii. 13, 14. My beloved in Jesus Christ, — The period of the Christian year in which we now stand,* we may call the time of the Holy Spirit, although Pentecost lies yet before us. For as our Lord before He ascended to heaven breathed upon His disciples and said, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost," and only after He had gone to the Father, shed forth upon them the Holy Ghost and constituted them Apostles, so also may we regard the Sundays which lie between Passover and Pentecost, and especially the Sunday which comes between the Ascension and Pentecost, as a time of the Holy Spirit in an especial sense. * Preached on the 1 6th May, 1858, Sunday after Ascension-day. 34^ TJie Prophecies of Oitr Lord and His Apostles. He is already breathed upon us before He is shed forth. It is the Holy Ghost who, through the word, makes all things in us, and around us, and through us, new. He works a renewing in our inner hidden man, a renewing of our whole doing and avoiding, a renewing of the family, of the church, of society. This work of the Holy Spirit is already present in prophecy ; and precisely because the final goal of all the operations of the Holy Spirit is a perfect renewal, we have in our meditation — based upon the text chosen for the present day — come to the highest round of the heavenly ladder on which prophecy rises to its highest fulfilment, a fulfilment surpassing all human thoughts and all human wishes. We have hitherto followed the Apostolic prophecies — so far as they stand forth and may be singly presented, apart from the whole of the Apostolic doctrine — step by step, and cannot now do otherwise, when we have the highest summit thereof before us, than to dwell with adoration thereupon, and to open our hearts to the thoughts of eternity. This we do in fixing our eye upon THE NEW WORLD OF THE REDEEMED, and Icarn from the words of the Apostle first, WHAT THE REDEEMED EXPECT FROM AND IN THIS NEW WORLD, and then take to heart HOW WE HAVE TO WAIT FOR THIS NEW WORLD. O Lord, Thou everlasting Head, in whom all things are comprehended and gathered up, which are in heaven and upon earth, in whom all past and all The New World of the Redeemed. 349 future unites in an eternal glorious present, Thou everlasting Saviour, help us to meditate upon the word which Thou hast spoken to us in the Holy Spirit, through Thine Apostles, with deep earnestness and with the concentration of our whole inner man — the closed doors of our hearts being opened — as is needful, that it may manifest its living power in us, and prepare us for the great future towards which we are hastening. Amen. Of THE NEW WORLD OF THE REDEEMED we are about to speak, as it is pointed out to us in the words of our text, "We look for new heavens and a new earth." For the first word of revelation from the mouth of God in Holy Scripture reads, " In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," and the last word of prophecy is that we have just read. Consequently, between the first arising of heaven and earth, and the last ever-abiding state of heaven and earth, is wrought out all the Divine economy, so far as we are able to understand it here on earth. And that not merely a new and better understanding, but that also a new sway and dominion is necessary. Holy Scripture makes known to us from beginning to end, in giving us to recognise in the mirror of God's truth, how greatly the old life of this present creation is involved in the darkness and wretchedness of sin and death. There is no Christian heart that has not many times in its life sighed over the old creation — over the whole present 350 TJic Prophecies of Otir Lord and His Apostles. state of things — and has longed for a new. There arises in every believer, at least at times, a fervent longing that at length all things might become entirely new, and that he himself might be able entirely to put away from himself all that belongs to the old. This longing, however, is met by the promise. We LOOK FOR SOMETHING IN AND FROM THE NEW WORLD, just because we are the redeemed of Jesus Christ. He who is not this, or who knows nothing of this redemption, can have no hope. He may, indeed, long, and be wearied of life — of the taber- nacle in which he dwells, and of the wider dwelling- place in which he moves ; but hope and look forward can no one unless a Divine promise has been given him. Let us, however, well understand : it is not said that that which God has created — the whole great, fair, glorious, faultless world of God — is in itself rejected ; but it is said that as sin through man came into the world, and passed upon all men, so the curse was imposed upon man and upon humanity, and from thence upon all human relations, and therefore the bond of union with the earth, our common mother, has ceased to be merely a bond of blessing. God, indeed, blessed men and said, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it," and thereby proclaimed His eternal pur- pose of love, that the blessing — the ever-enduring powers of life — which He breathed into man, should TJie New World of the Redeemed. 351 flow forth from man again, and become scattered and diffused over the whole creation, so that man — man created after God's image, and developing himself in God's image, and ripening after the image now given us, unto the perfect standard of the manhood of Christ — might be the renewer of the earth. In this completion through man the whole visible world would reveal the image of God on a wide scale, as man originally revealed it on a narrow scale and in the individual. The impress of blessing, and, as it were, the countenance of God, was to be reflected from the whole creation. But into this scene, Satan, through the fall, has introduced a dark, sinister, and marred expression ; into this harmony, origi- nally designed by God, has come, through man, the discordant note of death, and from being a home of blessing — a mother in whose bosom the children peacefully sleep — the earth has become an all- devouring abyss, into which, by an inexorable law, every one must sink. " Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." But not this only. Not merely physical death, and the struggle of life therewith — the whole toil and weariness by which we are worn away, and from which, sooner or later, we fall victims to the grave and corruption — but also the passionate conflict within, the struggle of passion and aversion, earthly love and earthly hatred, which more or less strongly runs through our whole life by way of attraction or 352 TJie Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. repulsion, has placed the life of earth under a curse. The curse, I say, is not laid upon the creation of God ; but through man, who, on account of his sin and guilt, is accursed, it has passed so greatly upon all earthly conditions of life, that there is no tender, fine, or even appreciable relation between man and the earth — between the individual and the whole in the visible world — in which there is not a trace of this curse and a testimony of decay and death. Therefore, the whole world, when we regard it in the light of God's word, everywhere gives us to recognise that we are by nature the children of wrath and of death. Even the sweetest, loveliest inspira- tions of the natural life, and the fairest, noblest, and loftiest feelings derived from the contemplation of the beauty of that which God has made, are con- tinually disturbed by the thought of the disquiet which makes its abode in this wide earthly domain ; by the blood-spots, the dark stains, with which the earth has been marked in the history of humanity ; yea, still more by the disquiet in our own hearts, by awakening out of that sweet dream of Nature to the sad reality of our life unreconciled to God, of our unforgiven sin, and, therefore, of the last judgment and the everlasting death which threatens us. There- fore, my beloved, can only the redeemed — who know that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Word by whom all things were made, has marked and con- secrated this earth with His atoning blood ; and. The New World of the Redeemed. 353 above all, has removed our guilt, and has delivered us from everlasting death — look forward with confi- dence to a new heaven and a new earth, which, according to the promise, are reserved for us. Our text speaks not of some disconnected promise, some dark oracle which, scarcely intelligible, utters only uncertain tones, which point forward to renewal of some kind ; but this promise stands in connection with the fact that God from the beginning — by the curse which He has imposed on human life, and therewith upon man's whole relation to the earth and to the world — has not removed the original blessing, but that He caused the blessing to continue under the curse and beside the curse ; yea, ever afresh ratified it in the blessing of Noah, of Isaac, of Jacob, in the high-priestly benediction upon Israel, yea, perfectly and incontrovertibly, and with universal efficacy, in the appearing and incarnation of His only Son. In the life of our Lord Jesus himself — from His humiliation in the form of a servant, through His suffering upon the cross, and sinking into the gloomy depths of death, into the grave, but also through His resurrection and His being glorified until the Ascension — is the way given by which henceforth all those who have become one with Him in faith must also pass, and by which the kingdom of God, which embraces earth and heaven, must pass in its degree, and whose end is a renewing even unto the glorifying of this physical A A 354 ^^^^ Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. nature which is now subject to vanity. Believers will arise in the power of Jesus Christ with fair and glorious bodies, like unto His body ; and the Holy Spirit will and must work renewingly in all those who seek first the purifying and glorifying of the inner man, will work the deliverance of that spirit in them which is allied to God, from the power of the flesh ; and from thence, through the soul, upon the body, and from thence upon that which surrounds them and upon the whole of Nature, so that the way which the curse has taken will be afresh for us pursued in Christ through the Holy Spirit When, therefore, we now read that which the Apostle presents as the object of this expectation, it is not only that which is new, not only something more perfect, a higher degree of that which is already present, but he describes the new world as that " wherein dwelleth righteousness." Here, beloved, have you at once the key to the whole contemplation of the new world. Righteous- ness is its characteristic. But why does he not say, Glory } Wherefore not perfect innocence, sincerity, purity ? All this dwelt upon earth before the fall ; dwells, in a certain sense, still upon earth, where man does not come with his torment, or rather with his inner corruption. Where God's creation reigns alone, there is still in the present day innocence, purity, wc might even say glory, in which no human judgment can find anything to censure. But is righteousness - TJie Neiv World of the Redeemed, 355 that is to say, the condition upon earth according to God, fully corresponding with the holy will of God, presenting and expressing the image of God — any- where to be found in the present visible world ? Alas ! if that were so, whence comes all the wretched- ness, whence the many thousands who pass through life inwardly troubled and restless through sin, and — in order only to possess something — cling to Mammon, or to the enjoyment of the earthly nature, or to pride and the visionary glory of their renown for the present and the future ? Whence comes it that so many thousands shudder at the thought of death and judgment, whenever the thought thereof in unguarded moments steals over the soul ? Whence comes it that an undertone of sorrow is heard throughout the whole conscious creation ? And if we look upon the outward fruits of the inward con- dition, alas 1 my beloved, whence comes it that so many thousands in Christendom are impelled to the last fruits of sin, to crime ; that our prisons are over- flowing, and the arm of Justice is well nigh wearied in doing that which devolves upon it? Whence comes it, that when help is sought for their deliverance, some hearts indeed beat with this desire and many hands are offered for this work, but the people as a whole, with coldness and indifference, go on their accustomed way, pursue their labour, their repose, their pleasure, and their enjoyments, and. revolving as in a circle, desire and seek for nothing 35^ The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. new ? All this can only arise from the fact that here upon earth the new lives only in its first beginnings, in miniature, hidden for the majority, and the old — that which is laden with sin and the curse — enor- mously preponderates. But righteousness will fill the new heaven and the new earth. Then, consequently, will there be no more sin ; for whoever has here lived to sin, and has died in it, will have gone to his own place. Upon the new earth and in the new heaven, however, will righteous- ness dwell, will be fulfilled the decree which has gone forth from the heart of the Three-one God which — realized in the earthly history of man, through the incarnation, the suffering, death, and resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ — is now translated into deed and life. Then it will be the impress every- where prevailing ; and in all which the new heaven and the new earth contains, will everywhere be the one penetrating light of the righteousness of God — a righteousness which avails with God, and which God has created. Then will they live free from the sin which here ever cleaves to us and im- pedes us, from the fearful power of corruption ; free, therefore, also from the continual approach of death, free from all bondage ; as the frcedmen of Jesus Christ, dearly purchased, and as the children who have been brought through sin and suffering to the glory of the Father. This is expected by a redeemed one of the Lord TJie New World of the Redeemed. 357 from and in the new world to which he is hastening. And, therefore, also he waits for the same ; and IN WHAT MANNER DOES HE WAIT FOR IT ? This the Apostle tells us in clear language. It is also to be understood from the nature of that which he expects ; for if righteousness adorns, fills, and dwells through- out the new heaven and the new earth, yea, forms the true foundation of their newness, it is manifest, my beloved, that the unrighteous cannot enter into this new life. And unrighteous are all those who do not stand before the holy eyes of God, " pure and free, and perfectly moulded after the most perfect image." Unrighteous, therefore, are we all and each in our natural life, the noblest amons^ us, as well the most degraded ; unrighteous is all that bears the name of man upon earth, because all that bears the name of man bears also the name of sinner. Therefore must every one who looks for the new heaven and the new earth be already delivered from sin and its guilt, its death, its everlasting curse, and, therefore, also from its power. This was already expressed in the first general announcement of our subject. We spoke of the new world of the Redeemed. If thou art not yet assured of thy redemption through Jesus Christ ; if thou hast not yet the testimony of the Holy Spirit that thou art a child of God ; if thy sins still trouble the conscience, and thou dost shrink from the contact of death, and from the grasp of the powers of the second death, and of judgment, then 358 The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. dost thou not yet wait for the kingdom of God, the kingdom of perfection beyond, the new heaven, and the new earth. For thou livest still in that which is old : the old surrounds thee, crushes thee still. But hast thou this assurance of redemption ; art thou truly a child of God, made free from the former world of sin and death } Then hast thou peace within thyself; and of it the Apostle says, in this very text, "Be diligent, that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless." To the question. How does the redeemed one wait for his new world } the Apostle gives the answer, He waits for it in peace. If man has not peace — peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and from this the peace of God which passeth all under- standing — there is with him no true waiting for the new heaven and the new earth ; but he waits for some other thing, perhaps only that the earthly may again assume for him a fairer, more agreeable, and less troublesome and straightening form. Alas ! many are waiting for that which is new, but not for the new world ; yea, many speak of a new world which must soon appear, and understand thereby only a new disposition of earthly things, in regard to themselves — not a world in which the peace of God reigns, but a world in which full satisfaction is granted in a grosser or more refined manner to the flesh and its desires. How often do we hear it said, we are on the eve of great events ; something very The New World of the Redeemed. 359 different must succeed. And the majority desire this new state ; but it is, when more closely looked upon, nothing but the old. That which is truly new is attained only when one is himself made new in the peace of God, and, consequently, has recognised flesh and blood as that which cannot inherit the kingdom of God ; when one has trodden under his feet pride, avarice, pleasure of the world ; when one has given himself up to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, and has experienced that there is nothing here on earth more blessed than with Him to be hated by the world, to bear reproach, with Him to suffer, that we may also with Him be glorified. This peace is not a repose, a quiet seclusion from the world, a passive and pleasant gliding at the impulse of Nature. At the same time, it is not the intention of the Apostle, and not our design, that we should occupy ourselves merely with the glorious future, with that which will one day be, the great and blessed renewal of all things ; and thus to rise above all which we have to do and to learn. Waiting is rather a duty, and not always an easy task, but often an exceedingly diffi- cult one ; for the problem is, while surrounded by all the daily claims of the present, while the heart is entwined with the sweetest and Divinely-consecrated bonds, yet to live in spirit beyond these things, and ever to await that which is new ; and yet again to live in the present, and even here to seek the comple- tion in us of the work of renewal, and so far as our 360 The Prophecies of Our Lord mid His Apostles. powers suffice, to help to complete it. This apparent contradiction is comprehended in the words in which we are called to '' give diligence." Not to a pleasant and luxurious seclusion within ourselves does the Apostle call us, or within a chosen circle of those who do not cross us in our way of thinking, who rather render the way smooth and plain for us, but to a labour, in doing which we must give diligence, a labour directed to the end that we " may be found of Him in peace." We know not at any moment when the Lord may come ; and no one, therefore, can be found of Him in peace, for whom this peace is not daily renewed. He who has once possessed it, and will live on the memory of it all his life, he who makes it a weakly thing of sentiment, and not an object of his daily seeking and apprehending, will hardly be found in peace. The Apostle on this account adds the words, "Without spot and blameless before Him." To be found without spot ; how shall I attain to this } Thus much is clear, that if we are, as redeemed, ones looking in faith for the new heaven and the new earth, we shall find everything hateful and terrible for us which is not in harmony with this new world, and will not be meetened for the new world ; that we consequently shall make our own daily renewal the great object of life. Only make the attempt, dear Christian, to set before thee as the one object of life thy daily renewal after the image of God — daily to The New World of the Redeemed. 361 experience the forgiveness of sin, and daily, in return for this forgiveness, to present as a sacrifice to thy Lord Jesus, every drop of blood that flows in thy veins — and thou wilt find that there is no danger of forgetting the present, and living merely in longing desire for the glory of the new world. Thou wilt, in this way, find the Prince of Darkness thine enemy, and wilt have to combat thine own flesh and blood, and the present will truly give thee enough to do. In this case thou wilt come to perceive and experience that after once thy sins have been taken away through Jesus Christ, henceforth it is thy work daily to cast thyself afresh, with all that thou wiliest and doest, at the feet of the Lord, that thou mayest appear before Him without spot. Only this one thing suffices : daily anew to be clad in His innocence, holiness, and righteousness. Thus dost thou become blameless, so that even the law of God, the Word which is sharper than any two-edged sword, and the ever- active enemy of souls with his charges against us, and all those with whom we live or have lived on earth, and for whom our acts have been a cause of hindrance or of destruction, will not be able to take up against us a breath of accusation. Venture for a moment to think of accomplishing this in your own strength ! If even from this day you were able perfectly to renew your life, what power have you over the words you have spoken in the course of your life .^ Who knows whether 362 TJie Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles. one of them was not the spark which has enkindled a forest ; whether by one thoughtless or unguarded expression you may not have led many to destruc- tion ? What power have you over your past deeds, of which not one has remained without influence upon others ? My dear friends, so to stand before the Lord, that no accusation may be taken up against us, when one day all things shall become manifest, and the hidden currents of influence which pass from one man to another — all the connected relations between our own state of heart and that of persons far removed from us — shall come to light : this is no human work. Only if Thou, Lord Jesus, Thy- self dost purify, every day and hour, my life, past as well as present, unconscious as well as conscious, through Thy redemption and atonement, only if Thou coverest me with the robe of Thy righteousness, can no power in the world — none in heaven, none in hell — venture to open the mouth against me. Beloved, thus indeed does the looking for the new world very seriously and powerfully lead our thoughts back to this present world. Oh, that we may follow this leading, and already begin our renewing through the blood of Jesus Christ, and continue therein, through following in His footsteps with unceasing prayer, and with the ruling desire, which shall control or uproot all other desires in us — the desire of becoming perfectly like our Lord Jesus Christ ! The New World of tJic Redeejued. 363 This were the beginning of the new world in the old ; and only he who has already on earth received the renewing of the Holy Spirit, will be at home in the new world, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Thither, Lord, draw our hearts ! Amen, LONDON : B. PARDON AND SON, FKINTER-S, PATERNOS'JKR R01 2 7, Paternoster Row, London, E.G. Aot'emba; 1869. HODDER & STOUGHTON'S ^VORKS IN Cljtologi) aitti (Onural Hitciaturr* Eccl esia Or, Church Problems Considered by Various Writers. Edited by H. R. REYNOLDS, D.D., President of Cheshunt College. [In the Press. The Education of the Heart : Woman's Best Work. 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