2 Pet. ii.

20.

13, 14, 16.

to Christ's second advent, after having escaped the pollutions of the world, through the acknowledgment of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, will again be entangled therein and overcome. The patriarchs are held up for our imitation, they having sojourned in the land of promise, dwelling in tabernacles; for they looked for the city which hath foundations. They confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth

[or the land], declaring plainly that they Heb. xi. 9, sought a country; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God. And St. Peter, when contrasting the present state of the believer with his future uncorruptible, undefiled, unfading inheritance, calls it a 1 Pet. i. 18. sojourning, saying, "Pass the time of your sojourning in fear." But who does now,

by his conduct, plainly declare that he is looking for Christ?

A second and somewhat similar evil, necessarily flowing from this idea of a spiritual millennium, is the manner in which a large portion of the word of God is treated. Those who are looking for the bodily ap

9, 10.

pearing of Jesus Christ, look at revelation as belonging to this dispensation of imperfection, and not necessary when all shall know even as they are known. The apostle says, "partially we know, and partially we 1 Cor. xiii. prophesy; but when the perfect state shall have come, the partial shall be abolished." So St. Peter notes that prophecy is until the time of "the day-dawn;" but until that 2 Pet. i. 19. time all Scripture is profitable; and no period or state of the church is contemplated, to which the written word is not suitable for doctrine, reproof, instruction, consolation, and support. But, as we have already observed, the theory of a spiritual millennium, supposing a relation between the church and the world not contemplated in the precepts, encouragements, and warnings of the word, it follows that as this is conceived to be gradually coming about, so in the same gradual manner and similar degrees the Scripture must become a dead letter.

An admirable writer, though for a somewhat different end, says, "Look at the

6

accounts which [the Gospel] gives concerning the number of its votaries—“ many are called, and few chosen ;' strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it;' 'fear not, little flock.' If ever there come a period, during this dispensation, when these descriptions are not applicable, what are we to do with these Scriptures? Jesus could not be mistaken.

"Consider the promises of the Gospel— promises of support, deliverance, and victory, suited only to those who were in a suffering, tempted, afflicted state.

"Consider its precepts. Come out from among them, and be ye separate.' 'Love not the world.' If all fear God, from whom are we to come out? If the world be changed, we must love it. In short, upon the supposition that the Gospel had a universal reception, that Satan was shut up, and there was no world to persecute, a great part of the Bible would be of little use; its descriptions would not be right, its warnings would not be necessary.

"Further, consider the directions given. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand in the evil day,' &c."*

Again, if the view here given be correct,. the spiritualising system absolutely perverts the large portion of Scripture which composes the prophecies; saying, that the descending of the bride means the ascending of the saints, and the coming of the Lord means our going to him; and that Ephraim and Judah do not mean Ephraim and Judah, but the different sects of Christians; and similar expositions.

Another class totally neglect the prophecies as such, gleaning from them the promises irrespective of the context, and leaving the threatenings to the literal Israel. Either of these views virtually sets aside Scripture; and if we in this manner pervert or neglect the predictions, dilute the precepts, misapply the promises, and make the directions of Scripture unnecessary, are we not in the

* Cox on the Coming and Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, p. 15: an excellent work upon Christ's reign for a thousand years.

condition of the foolish virgins, having the word indeed as "a light to our feet, and a lamp to our paths," but having no oil in our lamps? We have not the unction from the Holy One, the teaching of the Spirit, without whom the letter of the Scripture will be profitless.

It appears not a little remarkable, that the prayer in "the order of consecrating bishops," which I have put at the head of this chapter, should refer to those parts of Scripture which, when viewed with their contexts, seem calculated directly to preserve us from those errors above mentioned, which are likely to spring from the rejection of the doctrine respecting Messiah's speedy advent. The first passage is Luke, xii. Luke, xii. 42, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom [his] lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?" Our Lord

42.

Ver. 22-31. having, in the preceding context, addressed his disciples in language which is applicable to all the followers of Jesus, in distinction from the nations of the world, next gives