lem, an enormus error-nothing less than a palpable denial of the plainest word that Christ ever spoke-and that word relating to the greatest of all the subjects of faith, viz. the day of Judgment. It is commonly believed that the church of the first century after the apostles, was nearly as pure as the primitive church; and that its damnable degeneracy did not commence until the fourth or fifth century. But we see that a strong delusion,' to say the least, commenced its work in the very first successors of the primitive church; and we are led at once to draw a very broad line of distinction between the church that lived before, and that which lived after the destruction of Jerusalem. How broad that line ought to be, we shall best learn by appealing 'to the law and to the testimony.' Let it be remembered that Christ and Paul repeatedly predicted a great falling away,' as one of the last signs of Christ's coming that the later writings of John record the fulfilment of those predictions-that Peter specially characterizes the apostates, as doubting and forsaking the promise of the second coming, (2 Pet. 3. 4,)-and on the other hand, the faithful in Christ are constantly characterized as 'waiting for the Lord. In the last hour, then, of the apostolic age, there were co-existing, a true church and an apostate church; and the prime difference between them was, that one of them was looking' for the coming of Christ, and the other was not.* Now the promise was, that to them that looked for him,' he would appear and take them away. So then they that were left after his appearing, were the apostates who looked not for him; and they therefore evidently constitute the first link of the chain which connects the Christianity of subsequent ages, with the Christianity of the apostles. Indeed this might be inferred from the likeness of their faith to that of their successors. As they deferred, and practically forsook the promise of the coming of the Lord, so has the church, commonly called Christian, done in all ages since. We say then, that church is a successor, not of the true primitive church, but of that apostate moiety which forsook the promise of the second coming, and was rejected of the Lord; and its pretense of authority inherited from Christ and his apostles, is proved to be an imposition. Thus, instead of impotently attempting to hew away such branches as Popery, Episcopacy, &c., we lay the ax at the root of that accursed tree of spurious Christianity, which has overshadowed and blasted the earth through these eighteen hundred years; -thus too, we break the arrows of the infidels, who have ever sought to pierce Christ by shooting at the church of the first centuries. Christ is in no way responsible for the church that has assumed his name since his second. 6 * The reader will observe that this is the very distinction between true believers and apostates, which Christ predicted in Matt. 24: 45-51. That parable was framed for the very purpose of forewarning the disciples of the danger of unbelief in relation to his second coming. The faithful servant is represented as watching and ready, while the evil servant says, 'My Lord delayeth his coming.' The moral consequences of 'looking' for the coming of the Lord on the one hand, and of forsaking the promise on the othermight easily be traced out, and shown to be such as would make the wide difference between the faithful and reprobates. Gibbon, in the note on our 283d page, suggests an idea that is undoubtedly true; and not the less valuable for the sneering sarcasm with which it is accompanied. The great secret of the vigorous faith and daring enterprise of the primitive church, unquestionably is to be found in their expectation of a speedy judgment. coming. The primitive and now heavenly church, has never laid aside or transferred its authority; and it never has had and never will have a successor.* 7. These views hold up in the sight of all nations, the ensign of the kingdom of God; and pointing to the destruction of Jerusalem as an index of the power and the policy of that kingdom, suggest a tremendous warning of the consequences of resisting the Lord's anointed. Instead of looking into the dim and distant future for the commencement of that dynasty which shall ultimately supersede all national combinations, we look backward, and behold the standard of the world's appointed Sovereign, already planted on the territory to be conquered, and waving in triumph over its first and bloodiest field of battle. The coming of the Son of man IN HIS KINGDOM,' like the gospel, was to the Jew first, but it will be also to the Gentile.' The same issue which, eighteen hundred years ago, was made between Jesus Christ and the Jews, on his title to the throne, and which was decided by the destruction of their capital city, and the extinction of their national existence, will, in due time, be made between him and every other nation under heaven. As the period appointed for the trial of that issue hastens onward, it will be well for the potentates and politicians of the world to look into the history of the trial that is already past, and count the cost' of a war with the kingdom of God. The destruction of Jerusalem, viewed as the sign of the coming of the Son of man to assume the government of the world, gives an awful emphasis to the admonition-Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye In these remarks we would not be understood as denying that there have been genuine believers in the world since the destruction of Jerusalem. But we bear in mind that the two witnesses' of Christ have been clothed in sackcloth,' not in priestly robes; and we look for the remnant of the seed' of the primitive church, not among those who claim authority inherited from the apostles, but among the heretics whom they have persecuted. Our ax is laid only at the root of that ostensible organized Chris tianity which pretends to be the lineal descendant of the primitive church, which in the sixth century took the name of Popery, and since the Reformation has branched off into Episcopacy, Methodism, &c. This kind of Christianity claims inheritance from the apostles, under a will which is said to be recorded in Church History. We dispute the will, first, on the ground that the party which is supposed to have made the will, is yet alive, and fully competent to manage its own property; and secondly, on the ground that even if it were dead, we find on the only record that is admissible in the case, viz., the Bible, another will, excluding the claimants in question from all inheritance. We might moreover deny the existence even of the will said to be recorded in Church History; for the only warrant we find for the common belief that the first generation of the Fathers were the commissioned or the commended successors of the apostles, is the conjecture of interested historiaus, founded on very obscure and suspicious traditions. Our conjecture, founded on the testimony of scripture, is that these men had no oil in their lamps' when the bridegroom came; and being left in outer darkness, became blind leaders of the blind. We find no trace of their commissions in the Bible. On the con trary, it is manifest, that all the provisions of Christ and of the apostles, for the earthly organization of the church, and appointment of its officers, terminated in the second coming. Christ's commission of his disciples, with the attendant promise, 'Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the [age,'] in consequence of a mistranslation of the last word, has come to be regarded as a general commission for all who choose to preach, even to the end of the world. But it evidently extends no farther than the second coming. perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. they who put their trust in him.' SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 6 Blessed are all For the convenience of those who may wish to investigate the subject of the preceding article, we have collected and arranged under several heads, references to most of the passages relating to it in the New Testament. A careful examination of them, we believe, will satisfy every candid mind1, that the expressions, the coming of the kingdom of God,' of 'the king. dom of heaven,' the coming of the Lord,' of Christ,' the coming of the great day,' of the day of God,' of that day,' &c., all refer to one event; 2, that the invisible spiritual world was the sphere of the manifestation of that event; 3, that it occurred within the lifetime of some who were cotemporaries with Christ in his first appearance; 4, that the precise time of its occurrence was not revealed in the predictions concerning it; 5, that it was preceded by a wide-spread announcement of its approach; 6, that it was preceded, and its near approach betokened, by the appearance of many antichrists, false prophets, apostasies and delusions; 7, that it introduced a new dispensation, far surpassing in grace and glory that which preceded it. I. The nature of the kingdom introduced by the second coming of Christ. Luke 17: 20-24; compare Matthew 24: 23-27, 2 Peter 3: 10, &c. Luke 20: 34-36; comp. Matt. 22: 30, Mark 12: 25, 1 Cor. 7: 29, Matt. 19: 12; also Luke 24: 31, Matt. 27: 52, 53, Phil. 3: 11. John 3: 3; comp. 1 Cor. 15: 50. John 14: 19, 18: 36, Acts 7: 55-56; comp. Acts 9: 3-5, 2 Kings 6: 17. 1Cor. 2: 9-14; comp. 1 Cor. 15: 44, &c. 1 Cor. 15: 50-53, II. The limitation of the time of the second coming of Christ. Matt. 16: 27, 28; comp. Mal. 3: 1-3, 17, 18, 4: 1-6, 2 Tim. 4: 1, 2, Matt. 24: 34, 35; comp. Matt. 24: 1-31, Mark 13: 30, Luke 21: 32, Luke 9: 27, 16: 16, 23: 28-30. The bearing of this last quotation will be seen by examining the references following: comp. Rev. 6: 12-17, with Rev. 1: 1-3, and 4: 2. John 21: 22; comp. Rev. 1: 10-18. Acts 17: 30-31; comp. Matt. 3: 2, &c. Rom. 13: 11-13; comp. Luke 1: 77-79, 21: 34, 1 Thess. 5: 4-8, 2 Pet. 1: 19, 1 John 2: 8, &c. Rom. 16: 20; comp. Gen. 3: 15, 1 Pet. 1: 13, Rev. 12: 7-11, 1 Cor. 10: 11; comp. Matt. 24: 3, Heb. 9: 26. Phil. 4: 5, Heb. 10: 24, 25; comp. Acts 17: 30, 31. Heb. 10: 36, 37; comp. James 5: 7-9, Luke 21: 19, James 5: 7-9; comp, Heb, 12: 22, 23. 1 Pet. 4: 4, 5, 7, 17, 2 Thess. 2: 8. Rev. 1: 1; comp. Rev. 1; 3, 7, 2: 5, 16, Note. In Rev. 1: 1, 3, we are expressly informed that the apocalypse is a prophetic record of events then nigh at hand. Bearing in mind this intimation, the character of the whole book, as a description of the events preceding, accompanying and following the second coming of Christ, will easily be discovered. The first and most frequently repeated prediction of the book is thus recorded in the 7th verse of the first chapter: Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.' See Rev. 2: 5, 16, 25, 3: 3-11, 22: 7, 12, 20. III. The uncertainty of the time. Mark 13: 32-37; comp. Matt. 24: 36-51, 25: 1--13, Luke 12: 35-40, 21: 34-36. Acts 1: 6, 7, 1 Thess. 5: 1-3; comp. Matt. 24: 37-39. 2 Pet. 3: 10, Rev. 3: 3. IV. The previous announcement of the kingdom. Matt. 24: 14; comp. Mark 13: 10. Matt. 28: 19, 20; comp. Mark 16: 15. Mark 16: 19, 20, Acts 1: 8, Rom. 15: 19, Col. 1: 5, 6, 23; comp. Mark 16: 15. V. Antichrists, false prophets, apostasies, delusions, Matt. 24: 4-12, 24; comp. Mark 13: 5, 6, 21, 22, Luke 18: 8, Acts 20: 28-30, 2 Thess. 2: 3-10, 2 Tim. 3: 1-5, 2 Tim. 4: 3-4, Titus 1: 10, 11, 16. 2 Pet. 2: 1-3; comp. 2 Thess. 2: 8. 2 Pet. 3: 3, 4, 1 John 2: 18, 26, 4: 1-3, 17-19, Rev. 2: 2-4, 20, 3: 1, 15. &c. Luke 21: 8, &c. 1 Tim. 4: 1, 2, 2John, 7, 8, Jude 4, VI. Intimations concerning the accompaniments, privileges, and glory of the new dispensation, anticipated by primitive believers, and introduced by the second coming of Christ. Matt. 11: 11; comp. Luke 7: 28. Matt. 19: 28; comp. Luke 22: 29, 30, 1 Cor. 6: 2, 3, Rev. 2: 26, 27, 3: 21, &c. Matt. 25: 31, 32; comp. Matt. 3: 10-12, Mal. 3: 18, 4: 1-6, 1Cor. 3: 13-15, &c. Matt. 24: 13; comp. Rom. 13: 11, Heb. 9: 28, 1 Pet. 1: 13, Rev. 2: 10-25, 3: 11, &c. Luke 21: 28, Acts 3: 19-21, Rom. 16: 20, 1 Cor. 1: 7, 8, 4: 4, 5, 15: 22, 23; comp. John 5: 25, 28, 29, &c. Phil. 1: 6-10; comp. 1 Thess. 3: 13. 1 Thess. 1: 9, 10, 4: 13-18, 5: 23, 2 Thess. 13-15, 2 Tim. 1: 12, 4: 1, 2, 8, Titus 2: 11-13, 3-7, 13, 5: 4, 2 Pet. 3: 11-14, 1 John 2: 28, 1: 6-10, 1 Tim. 6: Heb. 9: 28, 1 Pet. 1: 3: 2, Jude 24, 25. 3:2, §41. STUART ON ROMANS 13: 11. "It is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." Rom. 13: 11. "What is the salvation, which is nearer than when Christians at Rome first believed? Tholuck, and most of the late commentators in Germany, suppose that the apostle expected the speedy advent of Christ upon earth a second time, when the day of glory to the church would commence. Accordingly, they represent him, here and elsewhere, as exhorting Christians to be on the alert, constantly expecting the approach of such a day. In support of this view, Tholuck appeals to Phil. 4: 5, 1 Thess. 5: 2, 6, Rev. 22: 12. Such views, and such a mode of representation, seem at present to be widely diffused in Germany, and to be held even by those who are strenuous defenders of the inspiration of the apostles. But how the words of the apostles, when thus construed, can be made consistent with themselves, (not to speak of other difficulties arising from the consideration that they were inspired,) is more than I am able to see. The very passage referred to, in the first epistle to the church at Thessalonica, was understood by the Thessalonians in the same manner as Tholuck and others understand it; but this interpretation was formally and strenuously corrected in 2 Thess. II. Is it not enough that Paul has explained his own words? Who can safely venture to give them a meaning different from what he gives? Then as to Rev. 22: 12; how is it possible, that the writer, who had just made an end of predicting a long series of events, that should happen before the day of glory, one of which is to occupy a thousand years, can be supposed to have believed that all this was to take place during that very generation in which he lived? I only add here, (for this is not the place to enter into a long discussion,) that it is incredible that the apostles, if enlightened by supernatural influence, should not have been taught better than to lead the whole Christian church to a vain and false hope about the appearance of Christ; which, when frustrated by time and experience, would lead of course to general distrust in all their declarations. and hopes. As the usus loquendi does not demand such an exegesis; as the nature of the apostle's knowledge and mission does not allow it; and as Paul has expressly contradicted it in in 2 Thess. II.; so I cannot admit it here, without obtaining different views from those which I am now constrained to entertain. I must, therefore, refer soteria [salvation] to the spiritual salvation which believers were to experience when transferred to the world of everlasting light and glory. And so construed, the exhortation of Paul amounts to this :- Christian brethren, we have been brought out of darkness into marvelous light; let us act in a manner that corresponds with our condition. We are hastening to our retribution; every day brings us nearer to it; and in prospect of the reward which now appears in sight, as we approach the goal of human life, let us act with renewed effort as duty requires.' "Stuart's Commentary, p. 487. REMARKS. It is interesting to learn that the truth on the subject of the second coming, is forcing its way to general acknowledgment in Germany. That is the land where we might expect, that common sense and sound criticism would first triumph over tradition. There the Reformation broke forth; and there biblical research has been pursued to an extent altogether unparalleled in |