While you, therefore, contribute according to your ability to the needful expense, be earnest, persevering, and united in your supplication to the God of all grace, that he may prosper his work, and send showers of blessings upon the minister and the people, without which all will be vain. "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it." MILLENARIANISM. No. III. THERE is a class of passages in the Gospels resembling those from the Epistles, on which we commented in our last paper, which we shall now proceed briefly to consider. Millenarians are accustomed to adduce them as proving the pre-millennial advent. We think that a candid examination of them will show that they have no bearing whatever on the subject. We refer to those passages in which Christ's disciples are exhorted to watchfulness, because of their ignorance of the time of his coming. As a specimen of the whole, we shall quote that contained in Luke xii. 35-40. "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. And this know, that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not." On this passage the Rev. Mr. Birks gives the following comment:--" The attitude of continual expectation, here enjoined by our Lord himself, is consistent with the fact of a prolonged delay, such as experience has shown to have been really decreed in the counsels of God. But it is not consistent with the hypothesis, that a delay of many generations was expressly announced in the word of God, from the beginning of the gospel. As soon as a future Millennium was revealed, the church of Christ was bound, by the command of Christ, in these words, to place it after his own return, or it would have been absolutely impossible for them to obey their Master's solemn admonitions." It is here taken for granted by Mr. Birks, that the coming referred to by our Saviour in the verses quoted, is his second advent. We shall not dispute. the point, though, we believe, many would do so. Freely conceding it, however, let us consider whither his argument conducts him. Mr. Birks then, in effect, here says to us,-"You are required by Christ to maintain the attitude of continual expectation of His personal advent. But this you could not do, if you knew certainly from the word of God that many generations would intervene before it. As a necessary consequence of your possessing such knowledge, you would be looking, not for the advent of Christ, but for the lapse of the period of time that was to precede it. It is not possible therefore that the word of God should reveal such a period of time, as this would render impracti*Outlines of Unfulfilled Prophecy, p. 66. the Saviour's coming. The Thessalonican Christians were placed by him in a similar position, by the discoveries regarding the future which he made to them in his second epistle. And the Apostle John was made to occupy this position by the sublime revelations of the Apocalypse. If Mr. Birks' reasoning be sound, then, it is undeniable that in these cases the people of Christ were placed by the Spirit of revelation in the possession of such knowledge regarding the future, that obedience to this injunction of Christ was a thing impossible to them. cable obedience to the Saviour's command." This is his argument, which we have endeavoured to state as forcibly as we can. It must be evident to any one who considers it, that the principle it proceeds on peremptorily requires, in order to our obeying Christ's admonition, that we should be entirely ignorant that any period of time whatever, whether longer or shorter, or any events requiring a lapse of time, however brief, for their fulfilment, shall intervene before the second advent. Why should Mr. Birks specify a revealed period of many generations as rendering obedience impracticable? Would not a revealed period of a few generations, or even a few years, have equally the same effect? His argument, if applicable to the case before us at all, is capable of a much more extensive application than he gives it. On his principle, in order to obedience to the command in question, it would be necessary we should have the impression that, for aught we know, we may see the Saviour coming on the clouds of heaven to-morrow, nay, within the next hour. In short, we ought to be in the same posture of expectation with reference to his "glorious appearing," that we should be in with reference to the appearing of a friend, from whom we have just heard that he is on the way to visit us, is coming with all speed, and will make no delay. This is what Mr. Birks must mean, if he means anything at all to the purpose. So that, if the word of God teaches us that important events are to precede the Saviour's appearing, then, according to him, it renders impracticable compliance with the Saviour's injunctions to watchful-filled with terror. . . and suddenly ness. In this case, "the attitude of continual expectation" enjoined on us by our Lord, is a thing impossible! Yet not only the early Christians, but we ourselves also, are placed by the word of God in this very position. The Apostle Paul occupied this position, for he knew that the development and reign of the Man of Sin were to precede Nay, Mr. Birks himself, with his Millenarian brethren, occupies precisely the same position. His work before us shows that he expects, prior to the Saviour's advent, the occurrence of a variety of events, which, if they should not require the lapse of "many generations" for their accomplishment, will require at length the lapse of years. He believes, of course, that the events predicted under the seventh vial shall be accomplished prior to the Saviour's advent. He expects previously to it, the tripartite division of the great city, the great hail, and the destruction of the spiritual Babylon. He expects previously to it, that the Jewish people shall be restored to their own land, and that a mighty confederation of nations, headed by the prophetic "Gog," shall be led against them. "The beast and his armies," he says, "make war against Christ, both by open blasphemies, and by seeking to blot out and destroy the chosen people Israel, and to establish an anti-Christian kingdom; but in the height of their cruelty and blasphemy they are destroyed by the manifested presence of the glory of the Lord." "The Son of God," he says again, "miraculously manifests his presence, to execute judgment upon a mighty confederation of enemies in the land of Israel."* But Israel must be restored prior to this * Outlines of Unfulfilled Prophecy, pp. 91-93. confederation being formed. We do not know whether or not he holds the sentiment entertained by the late Mr. Bickersteth, and by many Millenarians, as to the non-appearance, up to the present time, of "the man of sin," "the Antichrist," predicted by the Apostles Paul and John. "The growth of this spirit of infidelity," says Mr. Bickersteth,.. ..."will probably issue in the PARTICULAR or PERSONAL ANTICHRIST, an avowed and open opposition to the Lord; the Man of Sin in his fulness, and gathering under his banner all that wickedness which has hitherto been working in secret.” * Whether or not Mr. Birks adopts this view, there are at least stupendous events expected by him, to intervene before the Saviour's coming. These events will require for their accomplishment a considerable interval of time. It cannot be within a very brief period that the predictions of the seventh vial shall be accomplished: Israel restored to Palestine, and dwelling there "at rest" and safely," "without walls, and having neither bars nor gates," and that Gog shall form a mighty confederation of nations for their destruction. There are, as yet, no clear signs of these events even looming upon the horizon. On Mr. Birks' own showing, therefore, the coming of Christ must be delayed till these events take place, and therefore delayed for years to come. 66 is now daily looking out, not for the personal advent of Christ, but for those events which, he tells us, the word of God teaches him shall precede it. After those events have occurred, then he may maintain "the attitude of continual expectation." It is impossible he should before their occurrence. On the supposition, then, that Mr. Birks' exposition of the passage quoted from the Gospel of Luke is sound, and on his own principles as given in that exposition, he is placed by the word of God in a position in which it is "absolutely impossible for him to obey his Master's solemn admonition!" He cannot get out of this dilemma by pleading that there is a great difference between the delay of a brief term of years, and the delay of a whole millennium. In principle, we reply, there is no difference whatever. If a known "delay of many generations," or of a millennium in the Saviour's coming, renders it impossible for us to maintain "the attitude of continual expectation," so also does the known delay of any term of years, however brief the term may be. Besides, why should Mr. Birks take it for granted, (as on his own principles he must do,) that the inspired writers of the New Testament were ignorant that the periods of time required for the accomplishment of their predictions would be of great length, and that the events foretold by them would fill up, as we see they have done, at least eighteen centuries of years? Was the Apostle Paul necessarily ignorant of this? Was it necessary that the Apostle John should not know that the 1260 days of which he prophesied, meant 1260 years? On Mr. Birks' hypothesis, it was absolutely necessary they should be ignorant of these things! Knowledge on these points would have rendered obedience to Christ's admonition impracticable! The more fully they understood the revelations with which the Spirit of Christ inspired them, the more impracticable would it have been for them to obey Christ! In short, so far as this subject is concerned, on Mr. Birks' principles, and those of millenarians generally, the Bible is a book which, the more clearly it is understood, the less possible is it to live in harmony with its precepts! If, according to Romanists, "ignorance is the mother of devotion," here, according to Millenarians, ignorance is essential to obedience!! tically, the Saviour's coming in the We have no reason to imagine, more- It is evident, then, that Mr. Birks must have entirely misunderstood and misinterpreted the language of our Saviour in the passage in question. We cannot for a moment imagine that Christ gives an injunction in one chapter of Luke, to which the predictions he delivers in another chapter render obedience impossible. Mr. Birks, in short, has fallen into the usual error of bringing the element of time into connexion with a doctrine which should be regarded altogether independently of it. Christians are to view the coming of Christ as a bright and glorious certainty. However far off in point of time, it is to be regarded by them as nigh at hand. Like Abraham, who, at the distance of nearly 2000 years, saw the day of Christ's first coming, and was glad; so should they, however far off in the future it may be, see the day of his second coming, and rejoice in prospect of it. It was no obstacle to the Apostle Paul in looking for "thesarily a speculative one, but we regard blessed hope," that he knew the revelation and reign of "the man of sin" were to precede its realization. The Apostle John could see Christ coming, and coming quickly, though he knew that the predictions of the Apocalypse must be previously accomplished. So should it be with us. With the eye of faith we should be always looking for Him who is ὁ ερχομενος, the coming one. It should be no obstacle to our living daily in believing hope of his "glorious appearing," that we are at the same time persuaded, from the word of God, that his spiritual reign over the whole earth is to precede it. In connexion with this subject, it should be remembered that to us, prac these observations as very important. * Works, vol. viii. p. 57. ་ be derived from the actual equableness of his thoughts and emotions; and if these at some seasons, as in fact they do, followed one the other with incalculable rapidity, whilst at another season a single idea or emotion remained fixed in the mind, there would be no pos great clock of the natural world, may be very brief on that of the spiritual world. Thus, it may be the case, when Christ at length comes to recover his people from the grave, however lengthened the period of delay would have seemed to their consciousness in the body, it shall have been almost as no-sible means of his ascertaining whether, thing to their consciousness out of the body. If so, the issue will prove that the language of inspiration was the language of one who knew man's spiritual nature, as well as his material mould. since a certain mental state or epoch, he had existed an hour, a day, a year, a century, or a thousand years. Thus, insulated from equable motion, we should not be able to correct our individual consciousness of duration by comparing it with that of others under like circumstances; for while one, by the peculiar constitution of his mind, would tell us an eternity had elapsed since we last conferred with him; another, either more inert, or more addicted to dwell upon abstractions, would say it was only yesterday when we compared eras.” The following passage, bearing on this subject, from the writings of one of the most eminent Christian philosophers of the present day, will be read with interest.-"Familiar as we are, and have always been, with the equal periods that are marked for us by the celestial and telluric revolutions, we think it only natural, and a matter of course, that our individual consciousness of duration should flow on equably, and that this consciousness of time in one mind should pretty nearly keep pace with the same feeling in other minds. But a little attention to some familiar facts, as well as to the reason of the thing, will convince us that, for this equable consciousness or perception of the steady flow of time, we are wholly indebted to external and artificial means, deprived of which, our notion of duration, and our recollection of the successive parts of it, would be the most variable and illusory of all the conditions of our existence; nay, utterly irregular and unfixed, so that, according to the ever-varying velocity of our mental states, a minute might seem a century, or a century a minute. . . . . Let the reader, by a little effort, imagine himself to be totally cut off from all connexion with the clock-work of the material universe. .... He must very soon, or as soon as the previously acquired habit of the mind had become indistinct, cease to be conscious of any other difference between a long period *Physical Theory of Another Life. and a short one, than that which might | 3rd edition, pp. 25-27. ..... Our argument, however, is perfectly independent of this metaphysical speculation. It is not on this ground, but on the fair and open field of Scripture interpretation, that we wish to meet our Millenarian friends. But we leave them for the present, requesting those of them who may read this paper, to consider whether we have not fully proved the point we have been seeking to establish: viz., that if Mr. Birks' exposition of our Saviour's injunction to watchfulness for his coming be sound, then he, and those who think along with him, are placed, by the word of God, in such a position of knowledge with reference to events which must precede that coming, that obedience to this injunction is a thing impossible. If convinced of this, they will feel the necessity of seeking some other exposition of the passage, and will see, more over, that such language has no bearing whatever on the question we are considering:-Will the advent of Christ introduce the Millennium, or will it be a subsequent event? |