296 CHAPTER XIII. 26. PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS. "So that, as a wise and faithful servant, giving to thy family their portion in due season, he may at last be received into everlasting joy."-Consecration of Bishops. James, iii. THAT which St. James says of faith generally, that without works it is dead, must be true with respect to the belief of any particular doctrine: there should be an especial practical result flowing from it; and it will follow, that the neglect of any truth would be visible, in a corresponding defect, in the practice of our life. But as we have seen, in the beginning of this work, that the waiting for Christ was, of all subjects, the one most prominently brought forward, then the losing sight of it must, of all things, be most detrimental to a devoted Christian walk. If I am now led to make any remarks of a practical bearing, it is not because I dare to judge others, far less to imitate the apostle, who made himself an example-my Phil. iii. 17. own walk is inconceivably too weak and low for such an idea to enter into my head-but because I conceive that the subject would be incomplete and useless, if the practical tendency of the different views were not brought forward. If we trace the evil which springs from the neglect of this doctrine to its source, it appears to me that those who substitute the expectation of a spiritual millennium for that of Christ's personal advent, in so doing suppose and contemplate a relation between the church and the world which is not justified by the written word. Scripture speaks of believers, in relation to the world, as few in number, weak, despised, persecuted sojourners, warring against principalities and powers; and the exhortations, warnings, encouragements, and consolations, are based upon the idea of the church being in such an aspect. But when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters do the sea, it is evident that the saints will be in a new and altered relation to the world. There is a very different practical effect flowing from the opposite views of the manner in which this result will be brought about. Those who are expecting the bodily presence of Christ believe, that the same relation between the church and the world will remain unaltered until the introduction of the new dispensation; and that, therefore, all the exhortations, warnings, and consolations, based upon that idea, will remain in their full force until the sudden and entire change takes place. But those who are looking for a spiritual millennium are not expecting that the transition will be sudden, by the introduction of a new age, but that the improved state of things will be brought about gradually during this dispensation, by the diffusion of the Gospel: hence, according to their view, all the relations between the church and the world will be gradually altered. The next step is to view them as now actually in the course of change: the spread of the Gospel will not only be universal, "as a witness," but it is expected that it will be universally, and is now, as they think, very generally esteemed. But this doctrine of the world's perfectibility, like the doctrine of individual perfectibility, too often lowers the standard of perfection, operating somewhat in the following manner :-It is supposed that there will no longer be few that find the path; hence that path has not so strait a gate-its rugged places are made smooth, and the narrow way widened. The saints will no longer be weak and despised, but in authority and power; hence is there now a thirsting for political power and influence; and the idea that the millennial blessedness is to be brought about by natural means, gives a feverish desire for change, and a reckless destruction of ancient barriers and institu * If we may judge from the Augsburg Confession, article xvii., Luther and the early reformers had not a good opinion of the doctrine of a spiritual millennium. . . "they condemn those who circulate the Judaising notion, that, prior to the resurrection of the dead, the pious will engross the government of the world, and the wicked be every where oppressed." tions. The saints will no longer be persecuted; hence do they now mix with the world, and are at ease, when they do not rouse its enmity. Conceiving that the kingdom, which cannot be moved, is already partly established, they no longer live as strangers and pilgrims; hence the whole life of the Christian is lowered and altered; and perhaps, with the exception of very few, we may say, that even those who maintain the doctrine of the kingdom have not emerged from the evil tendency of the opposite view. It, therefore, becomes very important to bear in mind the scriptural description of the character of this age. First of all, what was the end of Christ's death? He "gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us [take us out] from this present evil Rom. xii. 2. world," or "age." Hence the apostle urges the Romans not to be conformed to this world, or age, but to be transformed. When will this cease to be a precept? Surely not until the age ceases; when that day shall dawn which is spoken of in the following |