"The grace of God our Saviour," says the apostle St. Paul, "hath appeared to all men, instructing us, that denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly, and justly, and godly in this world, looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and might cleanse to Himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works."1 And writing to the Ephesians, he says: "Christ loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for it, that he might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life, that he might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish." Hence, when the time of His ascension into heaven came, our blessed Saviour commissioned His apostles to spread through the whole world the tidings of salvation, and to make holiness and justice, by the perfect observance of his law, flourish everywhere. "Going, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." 3 Ever since the preaching of the Gospel, the earth has yielded copious fruits of virtue; yet it seems that the greatest triumph of justice here upon earth is reserved for a time in which the God of holiness and justice shall personally reign together with His saints, over all people, tribes, and tongues. For although men will then continue to be clothed with a weak and mortal flesh, yet the 2 Ephes. v. 25-27. 1 Titus ii. 11-14. 3 Matt. xxviii. 19, 20. absence of all diabolical agency, and the beneficial influence of the presence of Christ, and of His saints, will make the fruits of holiness and justice spring up and flourish everywhere. "the "In that day," says the prophet Isaias, bud of the Lord shall be in magnificence and glory, and the fruit of the earth shall be high, and a great joy to them that have escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass that every one that shall be left in Sion and that shall remain in Jerusalem shall be called holy, every one that is written in life in Jerusalem." And again: "The Lord is magnified; He hath dwelt on high: He hath filled Sion with judgment and justice. And there shall be faith in Thy times: riches of salvation, wisdom and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is His treasure." 2 Amongst the various exalted properties which the prophets assign to Christ, one of the principal is, that" He is the expected of the nations," and that "all kindred and people and tribes are to be blessed in Him," and, moreover, that " all nations and people will have to bless, adore, and magnify Him." "In Him," said our Lord to Abraham, "all the nations of the earth shall be blessed." 3 "In Him," says holy David, "all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed." 4 "The ends of the earth," continues the prophet," shall remember, and shall be converted to the Lord. And all the kindreds of the Gentiles shall adore in His sight. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and He shall reign over the nations." 5 And again : All the nations which Thou hast made shall come and adore before 1 Isa. iv. 2, 3. 3 Gen. xviii. 18. Ib. xxi. 28, 29. 66 2 Ib. xxxiii. 5, 6. Thee, O Lord: and they shall glorify Thy name."1 And the prophet Daniel says, that God gave to His incarnate Son "power, and honour, and a kingdom, and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve Him... And all the kings of the earth shall serve and obey Him." In these and other similar passages of Holy Scripture, we must observe I. That they speak in general of all the ends of the earth, of all the peoples, nations, and tribes of the earth without any exception. II. That those passages do not merely declare that all the inhabitants of the earth will believe in Christ, but besides predicting a universal faith, they also predict a universal justice, a justice, the like of which was never seen or heard upon earth. This is clear from the words of the prophets. For these expressions, "All the kindred of the earth shall adore-shall praise-shall magnify Him— the whole day they shall bless Him—all shall serve and obey Him," are most appropriate to signify a universal justice. This great triumph of justice with which the whole earth must be filled "as the covering waters of the sea," has not as yet been fully realized. It seems, therefore, that the entire fufilment of this great event, which will change the earth as it were into an earthly paradise, is reserved for the second coming of Christ, when, together with His saints, He shall rule over the peoples and nations of the earth. Then "as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth her seed to shoot forth, so shall the Lord make justice to spring forth, and praise before all nations." 3 "Let us picture to ourselves," Psalm lxxxv. 9. * Isa. 1xi. 11. remarks a 2 Dan. vii. 6 learned writer, "either the whole or nearly the whole of mankind, as being Christians not in word only, but in deed; and we may perhaps form some conception of the specific nature of the Millennium. What the primitive Church was in spirit and in practice, the immense millennian Church would likewise be. Behold how these Christians love each other,' would again become a true remark. Where universal charity prevailed, where selfishness was as much extinguished, and where evil passions were as much subdued, as among the first believers, wars and dissensions, both public and private, would be no more; where holiness of conversation, springing from grateful love to God through Christ, was predominant, the various miseries, arising from vice and immorality, would be unheard of. The world, in a degree, would be brought back to a paradisiacal state; and when the minds of men cease to be agitated by bad dispositions, and their bodily strength to be undermined by excess, it is natural to suppose that their lives would be extended to a much longer period than they are at present. "But some, perhaps, may ask, How can these things be? To such a question it is not very difficult to give an answer. It was by an abundant effusion of the Holy Spirit, not by any natural inherent goodness of their own, that the primitive Christians were made to differ from others. It is by the agency of the same Spirit (I speak of His ordinary operations) that every faithful Christian of the present day thankfully acknowledges, with Scripture and the Church, that a new heart is created in him. And it is by a yet more abundant effusion of the Holy Ghost, both on Jews and on Gentiles, as we are expressly taught in Y prophecy, that the great mass of mankind will truly and effectually be gathered into the fold of Christ in the days of the Millennium. There is no difficulty in conceiving, had it been agreeable to the purposes of the Most High, that all men in the apostolic age might have been like-minded with the primitive believers, and that the Gospel might have been universally received, instead of being universally opposed. Consequently, there is no difficulty in conceiving that the Holy Spirit, who was pleased only to operate to a certain extent in the days of the apostles, may hereafter operate so generally as to render nearly the whole of mankind similar, perhaps even superior, to the first Christians, in true holiness and in genuine piety. All this, I repeat it, may easily be conceived; for let no man presume to limit the extent of God's operations; and, accordingly (what requires not the intervention of anything strictly and properly miraculous), we are certainly from prophecy led to believe, that some such general diffusion of holiness will assuredly take place, and with it (what is indeed its natural consequence) a general diffusion of happiness." 1 SECTION III. Third Characteristic. Continual peace.-Peace, which the Scripture declares to be the fruit of justice, is an especial mark which the prophets assign to Christ and to His kingdom. "A child is born to us," says the prophet Isaias, "and a Son is given to us, and the government is upon His shoulder; and 1 The Sacred Calendar of Prophecy, vol. iii. pp. 337, 338. |