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AUTHOR: 
 
 JONES, WILLIAM BASIL 
 
 TITLE: 
 
 MYSTERY OF INIQUITY 
 
 PLACE: 
 
 OXFORD 
 
 DA TE : 
 
 1867 
 
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 CHURCH OF ST. MARY-THE-VIRGIN. 
 
 ON THE 
 
 TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY, NOV. 17, 1867, 
 
 BY 
 
 / WILLIAM BASIL JONES, M.A, 
 
 ARCHDEACON OF YORK. 
 
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 ?3ublig!)£ti bg Eequejst 
 
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 JAMES PARKER AND CO. 
 
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 a sermon, kt 
 
 
 
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 \ 
 
 2 THESS. ii. 7. 
 Ti^e mystery of iniquity doth already work 
 
 THE text, as I need hardly remind you, belongs to 
 one of the very few directly predictive passages 
 to be found in the writings of St. Paul. An expecta- 
 tion of the immediate return of the Lord, grounded 
 in part upon a misinterpretation of the Apostle's teach- 
 ing, and partly, as it would appear, on forged com- 
 munications which purported to proceed from him, 
 had so unsettled the minds of the Christians of 
 Thessalonica, that some of them were induced even 
 to forsake their daily avocations. St. Paul assures his 
 readers that the Day of the Lord must be preceded 
 by certain events, of which he has already forewarned 
 them. The nature of those events can only be ga- 
 thered from this obscure passage, illustrated by such 
 other places of the New Testament as may be thought 
 to bear upon the subject. As the Apostle is here 
 alluding to previous teaching of which we possess 
 no other record, his language, though doubtless in- 
 telligible to those who had formerly been instructed 
 by him, is extremely difficult of interpretation at the 
 present time. You will not suppose that I intend to 
 examine in detail a passage of unfulfilled prophecy. 
 
 b2 
 
1. 
 
 The Mystery of Iniquity, 
 
 This would scarcely be the place for such a discus- 
 sion. Neither does it seem to me that such matters, 
 treated as we ordinarily find them treated, tend very 
 largely to edification. Yet I think I may point out 
 some of the leading features of St. Paul's representa- 
 tion of the mystery of iniquity in such a manner as 
 may not be unpractical at the present time. Let me 
 first recite the entire passage. 
 
 " Now we beseech you (brethren) for the coming of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto 
 Him ; that ye be not soon shaken out of your mind, 
 or be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter 
 as by us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is come. 
 Let no man deceive you in any manner: for [that 
 shall not be] except there first come the apostasy, 
 and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, 
 the opposer and exalter of himself above every one 
 called God, or that is an object of worship, so as to 
 take his seat in the temple of God, shewing himself 
 that he is God. Kemember ye not, that while I was 
 yet with you, I was telling you these things ? And 
 now ye know what restraineth, in order that he may 
 be revealed in his own season. For the mystery of 
 lawlessness worketh already, only until he that now 
 restraineth shall be out of the way. And then shall 
 be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus 
 shall consume with the breath of His mouth, and 
 bring to nought with the appearance of His coming : 
 whose coming is according to the working of Satan 
 in every sort of mighty work, and signs and miracles 
 of falsehood, and in every deceit of unrighteousness, 
 
 The Mystery of Iniquity. 
 
 for those who are perishing, because they received not 
 the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And 
 for this reason God sendeth them a working of error, 
 so that they may believe the falsehood, that they 
 may all be condemned who believed not the truth, 
 but took pleasure in unrighteousness *." 
 
 I have already said that it is beyond my present 
 scope to attempt a complete examination of this diffi- 
 cult passage. I will merely call your attention to 
 a few of the more salient points. 
 
 First, let us ask what we are to understand by the 
 word ^^ mystery," which, be it observed, is the em- 
 phatic term in the text^. The careful reader of 
 St. Paul's Epistles must be aware that it is frequently 
 used by that Apostle, and, as a rule, in an altogether 
 peculiar sense. This is not the modern popular use 
 of the term, still less is it its ecclesiastical use. It 
 simply means an unknown fact or truth, and generally 
 something which, having for a while been hidden 
 from the world, has been or is to be revealed to it 
 in the fulness of time. Thus, I conceive, the word 
 is here used. The mystery of iniquity is a latent 
 principle of iniquity suffered by God's wisdom to 
 work unobserved for a season, which is at length to 
 break loose and manifest its full proportions. 
 
 And then we must consider the meaning of the 
 word translated ^^ iniquity." I need not tell you that 
 
 * 2 Thess, ii. 1—12. 
 
 ^ ITotice the collocation: To '^h.p fiva-rripiov rjSr} cVepyeirai rrjs 
 avofiiaSi fxovov 6 KaT4xo>v apri cas ex fiecrov yivqrav Koi totc airoKokv- 
 <^6r](T(rai, 6 avonosy k.t.X. 
 
 I 
 
 jL 
 
The Mystery of Iniquity. 
 
 1. 
 
 The Mystery . of Iniquity. 
 
 it would have been more exactly rendered " lawless- 
 ness," even as " that wicked," spoken of in the fol- 
 lowing verse as the incarnation of this evil principle, 
 is really "the lawless" one. The "iniquity," then, 
 of the text is not simply moral evil as such, but moral 
 evil regarded as acting in defiance of every rule and 
 of every restraining power ; it is not simply sin, it is 
 rebellion. And with this agrees that singular and 
 most obscure representation of the hindrance to the 
 full development of evil which existed in the Apostle's 
 day. It is " that which restraineth," or, as it is after- 
 wards expressed in a more personal and concrete 
 shape, " he that restraineth." There was some power 
 which checked the full growth of lawlessness, and 
 prevented it from breaking forth into overt acts of 
 rebellion against God. 
 
 One or two more points are necessary to be observed. 
 This mystery of lawlessness, this latent principle of 
 iniquity, which was working secretly even in the Apo- 
 stle's time, was to manifest itself to the world after the 
 withdrawal of the unknown impediment to which the 
 Apostle refers. And it would then appear in a per- 
 sonal form, concentrated in one who is pre-eminently 
 " the lawless one." We cannot doubt that this " law- 
 less one," the " opposer," as he is here called, is to be 
 identified both with the Antichrist of whom St. John 
 speaks, (adding a remarkable illustration of our text 
 in the words " even now are there many Antichrists '',") 
 and with that fearful picture in the Book of Daniel 
 with which such of St. Paul's readers as were ac- 
 
 c 1 Johaii. 18. 
 
 \ ^ ^ 
 
 I 
 
 quainted with the Old Testament would be perfectly 
 familiar ^. Three things in the description of the Anti- 
 christ which is here given are especially worthy of 
 notice. First, he is represented, like the Wilful King 
 of Daniel, as proceeding to the utmost acts of the most 
 audacious impiety. He invades the very sanctuary 
 of God, and arrogates to himself Divine honours. 
 Then he is (so to speak) a parody and a mockery of 
 Christ. His revelation and his coming are set over 
 against the revelation and coming of the Lord, with 
 a minute exactness of correspondence which is per- 
 haps not quite apparent to the English reader. And 
 he is so far an imitator of the true Messiah, as to re- 
 sort to miracles for the authentication of his mission. 
 Indeed, the imitation is so complete, that the very 
 terms which the Evangelists apply to the miracles of 
 Christ are here applied to the miracles of Antichrist. 
 Lastly, it seems evident that this fearful personage 
 was expected by the Apostle to arrive immediately 
 before the Second Coming of Christ, which was to be 
 the signal for his discomfiture and destruction. 
 
 These are the chief points which any man whose 
 mind has not been warped into controversial leanings 
 can scarcely fail to see in this prediction. But we 
 must recollect that the fulfilment of prophecy is 
 shewn by experience to be but rarely in exact ac- 
 Kjordance with the mind of the prophet. The Virgin's 
 Child and the Man of Sorrows have found a realiza- 
 tion far beyond any possible expectation of the in- 
 spired writer by whom their appearance was originally 
 
 «» Dan. vii. 24, 25. 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
8 
 
 The Mystery of Iniquity, 
 
 The Mystery of Iniquity, 
 
 announced. And therefore when we say that St. Paul's 
 conception of Antichrist was such as has now been 
 described, we cannot be certain in what exact par- 
 ticulars his anticipations are to be fulfilled. That 
 they will be fulfilled we do not doubt ; but how, we 
 dare not say. 
 
 Keither shall I now enquire in what manner they 
 are to be fulfilled. I only wish to call your attention 
 to the especial characteristic of the Antichristian prin- 
 ciple, to which the language of the text most par- 
 ticularly points. It tells us, as we have seen, of the 
 secret working of the mystery, the latent principle, of 
 lawlessness, and the rest of the passage intimates that 
 this principle of lawlessness will receive a final and 
 tremendous development before the consummation of 
 all things. Whatever else may be intended by the 
 various details of the prophecy, this is certainly clear. 
 There is at work in the world an evil principle, of 
 which the very signature is contempt for law and 
 order. This is to be kept in check for a while, and 
 then to break out into open rebellion against God 
 and against all which represents Him upon earth. 
 The powers of evil are, as it were, to gather to 
 a head, and then to be destroyed at one blow ; and 
 the way has been prepared for this terrific consum- 
 mation from the days of the Apostle, and even from 
 earlier times. 
 
 Now, my brethren, it is interesting to compare this 
 prophetic representation both with the actual pheno- 
 mena of the world, and with certain theories of the 
 progress of human society which have gained a large 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 acceptance in modern times. Unquestionably the prin- 
 ciple of order, law, rule, obedience, reverence, is gra- 
 dually relaxing its hold upon men's minds. Com- 
 pare the existing condition of society in this country, 
 and still more in certain other countries in which 
 modern ideas have had a fuller and more uncontrolled 
 development than in our own, with its condition even 
 within the memory of living men, and the fact of 
 which I speak, whether we welcome it with satisfac- 
 tion or accept it with regret, will be equally apparent. 
 Extend your survey over the three centuries of that 
 which may be called distinctively modern history, 
 and we shall see the same tendency at work on an 
 even larger scale. You tell me that the laws are 
 better observed than within your own memory or in 
 the days of our fathers. No doubt the laws are 
 administered with greater promptitude. No doubt 
 a more important section of the population find it to 
 be to their interest to observe and support them. But 
 observance of the law for its own sake, and as a duty- 
 obedience not only for wrath but also for conscience' 
 sake— is that as active a principle as it was in past 
 times? I fear that it is not; while reverence for 
 authority, as for that which bears the stamp of the 
 Divine sanction, is all but unknown. Such loyalty 
 as still exists among us is a sentiment rather than 
 a principle. Compare it with the loyalty of the Caro- 
 line period, and we shall see at a glance that it diff'ers 
 not only in degree but in kind. The loyalty of that 
 age was narrow-minded, tinged with superstition, and 
 blended with much from which we should justly 
 
 b3 
 
10 
 
 The Mystery of Iniquity. 
 
 The Mystery of Iniquity, 
 
 11 
 
 shrink, but it was at least a powerful motive to 
 action. Mediaeval society, again, was rude and rest- 
 less like a troubled ocean. Yet it had a fixed basis 
 in the system of personal dependence which was the 
 very essence of feudalism, and the orderly principles 
 of government, under which it is our lot to live, were 
 evolved out of it as by a natural process. Alas, my 
 brethren, where is that sentiment of obedience now ? 
 The anarchical spirit has shewn itself of late in various 
 places and in novel forms, not without encouragement 
 from those of whom we might have hoped better 
 things. It seems as if that good old-fashioned expo- 
 sition of the Fifth Commandment which the Church 
 of England, acting on the principle of interpretation 
 laid down in the Sermon on the Mount, puts into the 
 mouths of her catechumens, were fairly out of date. 
 Indeed, we are tokl that the Fifth Commandment 
 itself has a weak and failing hold on the conscience 
 of the young, perhaps in this and certainly in some 
 foreign countries. There is one startling change which 
 we must all have noticed. Discipline has nearly 
 ceased to be an important element in education. In 
 the Oxford of twenty years ago it played an im- 
 portant part. There were many evils in the place, 
 of which (thank God) we see less now; but there 
 was an active and visible discipline, and one which 
 in the main was cheerfully obeyed, but which seems, 
 I know not how, to have slipped through our fingers. 
 Its partial failure is only part of a general law. The 
 relation between instructor and pupil, ruler and sub- 
 ject, master and servant, parent and child, have 
 
 ^ 
 
 .* 
 
 changed within the memory of men even of middle life. 
 This unruly spirit has also attacked us in a quarter 
 where we were least prepared to expect it. Priests 
 of the English Church, sworn to canonical obedience 
 in all things lawful, have manifested a most unedify- 
 ing contempt for the authoritative admonitions of 
 their ecclesiastical superiors. Were they Puritans? 
 Had they Presbyterian theories of the perfect equality 
 of Christian ministers, or Congregationalist theories 
 of the perfect independence of Christian Churches ? 
 By no means. They called themselves (perhaps a little 
 invidiously) Catholics, and doubtless professed great 
 reverence for the patristic axiom, avev eincrKoirov 
 firjSev. My brethren, a deep and genuine respect 
 even for adverse authority drove out of the English 
 Church a man the very echoes of whose voice appear 
 to those who once heard it still to linger within these 
 walls. By the absence of respect for authority, by 
 disobedience and self-will, the English Church is now 
 in danger of being torn in pieces. Believe me, I am 
 not coming forward like the poet's ideal old man, or 
 like the Aristophanic impersonation of conservatism, 
 merely to praise the temper and manners of past 
 times. I simply give you the results of my own 
 observation and of that of others who probably look 
 with less disfavour on the changes which are taking 
 place before our eyes. The general fact of the gradual 
 failure of obedience and reverence is one which, how- 
 ever we may regard it, we cannot gainsay. 
 
 The fact being admitted, it may be viewed from 
 two wholly opposite points of view. It may be said 
 
12 
 
 The Mystery of Iniquity. 
 
 that the world is growing daily more mature, and 
 that the childish motives of reverence and obedience 
 are gradually giving way to the more manly prin- 
 ciple of reason. The human race, we are told, under- 
 goes a process of education analogous to that which 
 forms the mind and character of the individual. We 
 learn first to obey, and then to reason and act for 
 ourselves. Thus does the child grow into the man ; 
 thus does the constrained order of an imperfect age 
 pass into the full-grown civilization of the modern 
 world. An elegant and symmetrical theory this, and 
 of about equal argumentative value with most simi- 
 litudes and parallels ! Mankind, we are reminded, 
 has made a beneficial progress in other things. Our 
 country presents a spectacle of external order and 
 material civilization far exceeding the most sanguine 
 anticipations of the most sagacious among our fore- 
 fathers. The well-to-do labourer of the nineteenth 
 century regards as necessaries objects which were 
 luxuries, or were unknown, to the nobleman of the 
 thirteenth. The change of sentiment of which we 
 speak, is only one example of the general advance- 
 ment of the human race. In this, as in other things, 
 we have got beyond our forefathers. To act with 
 reason and with conscious choice is a nobler thing 
 than to obey. Obedience is a mere training, designed 
 to lead men upwards to this result. Bold speculators 
 are not content with drawing comparisons between 
 the present and the past ; they look forward with 
 complacency to the future. They prophecy a social 
 millennium, in which the material condition of hu- 
 
 t 
 
 The Mystery of Iniquity. 
 
 13 
 
 i >. 1 
 
 manity will have been perfected by the appliances 
 of physical science, while its moral and spiritual 
 state will have been brought to a like perfection by 
 its final emancipation from the bondage in which it 
 has been so long held by dynasties, aristocracies, and 
 priesthoods. The phenomena of which we have lately 
 spoken, are but the dawning of this blessed state. 
 We need not look forward to any convulsive struggle 
 between the evil and the good. Social, political, and 
 mental liberty, will soon overcome and eliminate 
 its opposites, and will be as a light shining more and 
 more unto the perfect day. Christianity itself, as it 
 is more than hinted, is to expire in an euthanasia of 
 the purest and most exalted philosophy. 
 
 A comfortable doctrine truly, but one which is 
 at present very far from being universally accepted. 
 For others will not fail to see in the failure of order 
 and obedience the beginning of a very different end. 
 They will apprehend the dissolution of the existing 
 framework of society as its necessary consequence, 
 and will look forward with dismay into the unknown 
 future which is beginning to unfold itself. Old 
 powers, laws, institutions, creeds, tjie strong founda- 
 tions on which our social order is built, seem to such 
 persons to be threatened with imminent destruction ; 
 and the entire fabric of the modern political world 
 seems to them about to resolve itself into a chaos 
 out of which new and strange combinations may be 
 expected shortly to arise. They will look forward 
 not to a reign of order, law, and morality, but rather 
 to that unnatural union of anarchy and despotism to 
 
14 
 
 The Mystery of Iniquity, 
 
 which a worn-out political system regularly gravitates, 
 and to the destruction or obliteration of moral prin- 
 ciples out of the hearts of the mass of men. In 
 a word, they will be inclined to look upon the change 
 of which we have now been speaking, as a symptom 
 not of gi'owth but of decay. 
 
 And it cannot be denied that they have a strong 
 argument in their favour which has been much over- 
 looked. A great part of that change in the mental 
 condition of mankind on which many are disposed 
 to look with favour as an emancipation from the 
 thraldom of a servile superstition, has really taken 
 the shape of an attack not merely on loyal obedience 
 and orthodox belief, but upon both natural and re- 
 vealed religion, and on the common principles of 
 universal morality. Men are unwilling either to be- 
 lieve or to act upon authority, and are ready to push 
 this principle to its logical consequences. In religion, 
 they apply their critical tests not only to creeds and 
 dogmas, but to the ultimate foundations on which 
 they rest; and in matters of practice the self-same 
 spirit which tends at one moment to resolve all Chris- 
 tianity into morality, at another moment saps the very 
 foundation of morality by denying to man a spirit, 
 a conscience, or a free-will. It makes its onslaughts 
 not merely on the artificial relations of political so- 
 ciety, but on the natural relations of domestic life. 
 The sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of parental 
 authority, and the reverence due to age, are not 
 exempt from its destructive criticism. The horrible 
 revelations of organized crime which served but the 
 
 i 
 
 The Mystery of Iniquity. 
 
 15 
 
 other day to shew us on what combustible and explo- 
 sive materials the very foundations of the social fabric 
 rest, teach us that this modern disregard of law in- 
 volves a like disregard of common morality ; and the 
 deliberate palliation of such crimes by men of educa- 
 tion and influence, cannot fail to inspire the at- 
 tentive observer with serious alarm for the future. 
 All these things point in the same direction. A re- 
 straining influence of some kind seems to be gradually 
 withdrawn to make way for a reign of license and 
 
 self-will. 
 
 Apply to the competing explanations of this change 
 the prophetic declarations of St. Paul, and it is not 
 difficult to say to which of them the mind of the 
 Christian believer ought to incline. He will accept 
 with gratitude the large measure of external civiliza- 
 tion in the midst of which his lot is cast. He will 
 shrink from the obscurantism which looks upon every 
 change as evil. He will have no sympathy with 
 a Papal non possumus. He will recognise a growth, 
 a progress, and an increasing purpose in the slow 
 development of human culture. But he will not fail 
 to see that, in the course of this development, destruc- 
 tive elements have been evolved, charged with the 
 most perilous consequences to the social fabric; and 
 he will recognise the mystery of iniquity, the lawless 
 tendency which worked underground in the Apostolic 
 age, in that abnegation of every principle of obe- 
 dience which has reached an unexampled height in 
 our own. Neither will he shrink from this conclu- 
 sion, even when he observes that this sentiment of 
 
16 
 
 The Mystery of Iniquity. 
 
 The Mystery of Iniquity. 
 
 17 
 
 independence is blended with much that is noble, 
 virtuous, and beneficial, or that we owe to it in part, 
 by God's goodness, some of the choicest blessings 
 which we enjoy. The most dangerous elements in 
 our nature may be transmuted by a divine alchemy 
 into the source of much that is good, and so long as 
 this spirit is controlled by any sense of reverence it 
 is capable of producing positive excellence. But it 
 appears at length to have emancipated itself from 
 control, and to be displaying itself, not as the mys- 
 tery, but as the open spirit of lawlessness. The 
 Christian believer will see in this altered aspect of 
 the world at least a partial fulfilment of the word 
 of prophecy. He will not necessarily conclude that 
 it betokens even the beginning of the end, for it is 
 not for him "to know the times and the seasons, 
 which the Father has put in His own power ^" But 
 he will regard it, if not as the actual commencement, 
 at least as a type and a shadow of that Antichristian 
 empire of evil which '^ the Lord shall consume with 
 the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the 
 brightness of His coming ^" And he will be prepared 
 to meet the time of trial which God seems about to 
 bring upon the earth, by the full assurance which the 
 Apostle gives us of the final victory of righteousness. 
 He will expect a partial and temporary triumph of 
 the powers of evil, neither will such a triumph cause 
 his faith to fail : nay, it will confirm it, simply be- 
 cause it has been foretold. Once it was Athanasius 
 against the world. The time may come when it shall 
 
 • Acts i. 7. ^2 Thess. ii. 8. 
 
 ( 
 
 be the Christian against the world. Why not ? The 
 symbolical language of the Apocalypse speaks of the 
 Church as at one time to be reduced to two witnesses 
 prophesying in sackcloth^. I do not pretend to say 
 what the figure means, or even whether it belongs to 
 the past or to the future; but it suggests the idea 
 of a great and general apostasy, and of the con- 
 tinuance of the golden thread of living tradition in 
 the persons of a very scanty remnant. This may 
 well be. God knows. But we have the happy as- 
 surance that when things are at the worst there will 
 be a sudden and unexpected deliverance, and that 
 the powers of evil will be overthrown when they 
 appear to have reached the climax of their success. 
 And this, I think, is the great lesson of prophecy. 
 It is given for comfort and encouragement in times 
 of trial to the Church. We hear its key-note in these 
 words, " Here is the patience and the faith of the 
 
 saints ^." 
 
 A very few words more. The Church which reads 
 this lesson in the prophetic declarations of the New 
 Testament clings with a divine instinct to all that 
 can stay the progress of this development of evil. 
 Without pretending exactly to determine what St. 
 Paul intended by that restraining power of which he 
 informed his Thessalonian converts, she sees such 
 a restraining power in the organized constitution of 
 political society. The State is the natural ally of the 
 Church, and not, as fanatics of more kinds than one 
 appear to think, her natural enemy. The Church re- 
 
 g Eev. xi. 3 — 12. 
 
 h Ibid., xiii. 10. 
 
18 
 
 The Mystery of Iniquity, 
 
 fuses to abandon the vantage-ground which her con- 
 nection with the State affords her^ till she is driven 
 from it by force, because she feels that it enables her 
 to present a firmer front to ihe powers of evil. For 
 the same reason she clings to an outward and visible 
 unity. Without denying that unity is less precious 
 than truth, and without refusing to recognize the 
 services of those who (she thinks unwisely) have 
 separated themselves from her, she feels bound to 
 enter a standing protest against what she considers 
 a groundless schism, as a weakening of her hands in 
 the great contest against sin and unbelief. The time 
 will come when these and other restraining influences 
 will have been taken out of the way. And the course 
 of events seems to be tending towards such a result. 
 It may not happen in our time, although it is im- 
 possible in days of rapid and general change to fore- 
 cast the future. Meanwhile, it is our duty, by every 
 means short of a sacrifice of principle, to maintain 
 our present position. 
 
 For, my brethren, we have only to lift up our 
 heads and look around us to be assured that a great 
 crisis in the history of the Church and of the world 
 is drawing near. Not in England only, but elsewhere, 
 men's hearts are failing them for fear : not in Eng- 
 land only, but everywhere, we see the tokens of peril- 
 ous times. Only the other day the eagles of this 
 world's power were fluttering and screaming over the 
 carcase of ecclesiastical sovereignty, and the conflict, 
 though postponed for a while, may be renewed at any 
 time. If so, the ancient centre of empire and of 
 
 \e Mystery of Iniquity. 
 
 19 
 
 Christendom will be the theatre of a contest most 
 momentous in its consequences to civilization and to 
 Christianity. No blow will be struck there, but will 
 make its vibrations felt in every quarter of the world. 
 Meanwhile, throughout Europe and throughout every 
 settlement of Europeans, we observe the same phe- 
 nomena; — the political and the religious world in a 
 stage of extreme tension ; bitter antagonism between 
 race and race, or between class and class ; respect for 
 authority everywhere giving way; belief of every 
 sort, either dissolving into mere scepticism, or as- 
 suming the form of positive disbelief; and finally, 
 a seeming preparation for some great conflict, of 
 which men do not know the ground or principle, and 
 much less foresee the issue. In all this, our duty is 
 plain. It may be summed up in a single word, if we 
 take it in its literal meaning and in its widest appli- 
 cation, — it is Loyalty. "For God is not the author 
 of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the 
 saints '." 
 
 i 1 Cor. xiv. 33. 
 
 jprinttb bg lames ^arher anb Co., Cwtoit-ijarb, ^dorb. 
 
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