DEC. 1, 1868.

It is no light thing under any circumstances, even though the entire Church held it as an article of her creed, to teach that the Son of Godthe only Redeemer of men-the appointed Judge of quick and dead-in whose hand is the destiny of every human creature-may return from heaven at any hour, without further note of warning, and will return, most certainly, before even the dawn of the bright day of promise when the earth snall be filled with the knowledge of his glory as the waters cover the sea. But to teach this momentous doctrine when the voice of the pulpit in nine cases out of ten; almost all the standard commentaries which nourish, if they do not form, the religious beliefs of the age; the overwhelming majority of Christian books; and, consequently, the far greater number of professing Christians; are opposed to it, is no easy matter. We ask these brethren candidly to answer this question-Could we have chosen this line of labour without the deepest conviction that the premillennial coming of the Lord Jesus is clearly revealed in the Holy Scriptures?

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66 'Are you quite certain that you are right? Have you no misgivings at times that you may be wrong?" These serious questions, in these very words, were put to the writer the other evening by an excellent brother, who has been in the Christian ministry very many years. It was right to ask them, and we felt obliged to our friend for doing so; for it is well to have the foundations of one's faith occasionally tested by such direct appeals and it is written, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." Our reply, substantially, was, that, believing in the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, and accepting the prophetic word as meaning exactly what it says, our ground of certainty is sufficient to remove all misgivings, so far as the essential doctrine is concerned, whatever room there may be for honest difference of judgment respecting details; that the nature of very many unfulfilled predictions is such that their fulfilment necessitates a dispensation quite different from that under which we live; and that the failure of the Church, so far as the work popularly assigned to her is concerned, convince us that her vocation has been generally misunderstood, a conviction the correctness of which an unprejudiced examination of the New Testament renders clear as noonday.

Seeing that to this "confession of faith denial of our positions, we thought it fair to by putting him in the witness box.

our friend's reply was a bare reverse the order of procedure

"Are you quite certain," we asked, "that you are right in holding the opinion that the world will be converted to Christ by the preaching of the gospel during this dispensation ?"

"Yes, certainly I am; for we are commanded to preach the gospel to every creature."

"May not the command be obeyed without producing the result you

“Well,” we enquired, " have you no misgivings, at times, that you may be wrong?"

He had "none whatever."

"How do you reconcile this belief with the predicted apostacy of the last times?"

“Oh, there are different opinions respecting the meaning of that apostacy. At any rate, things will soon come right. In these days of advancing civilisation, and intelligence, and national liberty, one can't think of Christian Churches failing to do their duty."

"But you will remember that the apostacy, or falling away, immediately precedes the day of the Lord. This being so, I do not ask where is the conversion of the world if the assumed instrument of its conversion has made itself ready for the service of the Man of Sin, but where is the room for its conversion before the coming of Christ ?"

"The coming of Christ! It is there that you are wrong. He came at the destruction of Jerusalem, and he comes to his people at death. As to his reign, he is reigning now; and as to the Jews, God has dealt with them. The truth is, I can make nothing of your views. I think them altegether wrong, and wonder how anybody can entertain them."

Here our conversation ended, and here ends this paper-with the obvious reflection that the authentic specimen of Church opinion just given helps to prove that the disciples, in the absence of the MASTER, will most certainly fail to eject the foul spirit from the convulsed and tormented world. LORD must come down; and He will!

The

IF

THE LAST DISPENSATION.

F one were to reduce to a single sentence the cause of the prevalent misapprehension regarding the future of the Church and the world, that sentence would be, the belief that this is the last dispensation. In the majority of instances it is assumed, quietly taken for granted as something beyond dispute, that with the close of the present economy the earthly history of man will be absolutely closed for ever. This is the foundation thought in countless numbers of sermons; and it has been formally argued by theologians as a fact defying intelligent contradiction, and demanding universal credence. In condensed form, the argument takes some such

DEC. 1, 1868.

shape as this: God gave his word to Israel of old; it was predicted that
the Messiah would come to them; in the fulness of time, accordingly he
came, in exact fulfilment of the prophecies that went before; but his claims
were rejected by the rulers of Judea. He was cast out, and "by wicked
hands crucified and slain." God, however, in infinite mercy to the world,
and in accordance with the counsels of eternity, raised him from the dead.
Again the gospel was offered to the Jew, but contemptuously rejected.
Henceforth, therefore, it was to be preached "to all nations," without
respect to country or race. All believing it are saved; all refusing
to believe it shall be condemned. The distinction between Jew and
Gentile has ceased; and at the end of the world, when the Church shall
have accomplished her purpose, and realised her sublime mission, in bring-
ing all tribes and races into the Redeemer's fold, he will come to judgment,
raise the dead of all ages, place them before his great white throne, pro-
nounce the irrevocable sentence, take the righteous to heaven, cast the
wicked into hell, and wrap the world in that tremendous conflagration of
the last day, which shall blot out the scene of man's guilt and probation
from the fair universe of God!

That is the scheme, and we believe those who hold it will admit that we
have fairly and honestly represented it, as far, at least, as that could be
done in so few words. To misrepresent is not in our line of things.
Where even ordinary truth-truth, that is to say, about minor matters as
between man and man-is concerned, misrepresentation would be immoral;
but where the revealed purposes of God, not to say the interests of mil-
lions of human beings are involved, it would be sin of most flagrant type.
Besides, to put the matter on the low ground of polemical policy, tem-
porary triumph in an argument would be poor consolation for the dishonour
which speedily follows detected misrepresentation. We have no possible
advantage to gain by calling in question the stereotyped scheme of the
world; the facts of the case are all the other way; but if we can show
that God's revealed purpose is broader, grander, and in every sense more
worthy of his glorious character than that scheme, we shall, at least,
have the satisfaction of knowing that our humble service was willingly
rendered.

There is much truth, as well as error, in the cluster of doctrines intended to prove that this is the final dispensation; but this cluster entirely fails in its purpose, for the reason that it omits many doctrines which occupy a prominent place in revelation, and which prove, at least if they are to be understood as meaning what they say, that this is not the final dispen

sation.

I. "The times of the Gentiles" is a phrase found in Scripture. When the period so designated began, and when it will terminate, is a matter of

no consequence here. With the words themselves, and not with the wonderful things they embrace, have we to do at present. They clearly suggest a certain determined period which had a beginning and will have an end. Limitation is the idea suggested by the words, and, of course, limitation in time; that is to say, the period so defined begins somewhere in the world's history, and ends somewhere before the history of the world comes to a close. It is an era marked off by certain special peculiarities. It is in some way, no matter in what way, unlike the times that went before it, and unlike the times that are to follow it. All this being granted, just because it is impossible to dispute a thing so perfectly certain, the next step is to ascertain, if possible, when the times of the Gentiles come to an end. And about this there is no difficulty. The period so determined closes the present dispensation; therefore, the present dispensation. is not the final one. God has work to do in our world, great, wonderful, terrible, and glorious, when this dispensation shall have passed away for

ever.

"Jerusalem," said our Lord, "shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." The preposition until " marks the limit of the period spoken of, and the teaching of the text is, that when this limit is reached, the humiliation of Jerusalem shall come to an end. But, on this particular branch of the subject, we refer to a paper entitled, "The Times of the Gentiles," published in The Rainbow, for March, last year.

II. "The world to come" is a phrase found in Scripture. This expression makes it certain that the present is not the final dispensation. There could be no world to come if the end of this economy were the end of man upon earth. "Unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak." Heb. ii. 5. This is no intangible thing, or purely spiritual state; for the original strictly means the habitable world to come; the great population of the globe, under certain conditions of government different from those that now exist. Take in connection with this chapter vi. verse 5, where the phrase, “The world to come," means the age or dispensation to come. Thus we have both sides of the idea, a new "age," or dispensation, about "to come" to the "inhabitants" of the world; a new order of things for men in the flesh. It is certain, therefore, that the present dispensation does not close the earthly history of

man.

III. "Thy kingdom come" is a phrase found in Scripture. Now, unless it can be shown that the Church is meant by these words, the kingdom for which the disciples are to pray is yet future, and, if future, the dispensation under which we live is not the last intended for the human

race.

There are many things said about the era of the kingdom which are

DEC. 1, 1868.

totally inapplicable to the present age of grace and divine longsuffering. When the kingdom comes, God's "will" will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. It is painfully true that such is not the case now, notwithstanding the fact that there has been a Church in the world for many centuries. If anything can be learnt from silence, here is a remarkable instance of it; for it is a suggestive fact that our Lord does not describe the kingdom in the prayer which he taught his disciples, further than by intimating two results of it, namely, the hallowing of the Father's name, and the doing of his will. But why does he not tell his disciples what he meant? It was by no means necessary. They were Jews, and knew from the writings of their prophets much about the kingdom which was to be established when that long-looked-for King, the anointed of Jehovah, should ascend his throne. The visions of the seers of Judah respecting that kingdom were fondly treasured in their memories. They needed no information about the golden splendours of the Messianic reign. The coming of the predicted age was the grand object of their desire. The restoration of the kingdom to Israel, and, by consequence, the extension of the blessings of Messiah's government to all the nations, was the theme of their thoughts. So fully occupied were they with this, that the baptism of unparalleled sorrow that lay between their Lord and his promised throne of glory, was quite unnoticed. The beautiful haven was in sight, and on it their eye rested with such loving desire that they overlooked the stormy sea over which he and they must pass before it could be reached. The gilded mountain top was there in all its dazzling splendour, and it so gladdened their hearts that they had no dark forebodings of the valley of the shadow of death, through which the King must travel, on his way to universal dominion. They looked upon the sunny pinnacles of the city of the Great King, beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, and the flashing light suggested that the time of Israel's trouble was near its end, and that their ears would soon be charmed with the hosannas of the coronation.

Of the death of their Lord they would not hear; it was to them an unbearable, intolerable, impossible thought; and when Jesus foretold his resurrection," they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean,' "" for as yet they knew not the Scripture that he must rise from the dead." They should have known, for their prophets had told them so; and had they reflected on the fact that his reign was to be everlasting, the necessity of resurrection life would have become obvious, for of no mortal could such duration of authority be predicated. Afterwards they saw this fully, and spoke of it with irresistible force as the grand evidence of the Messiahship of Jesus. Acts ii. iii. But when the day comes for the Raised One, who dieth no more, to return to judge the world in righteousness (Acts xvii. 31)