NO MILLENNIUM TILL CHRIST COMES.  - PART 9

It would be useless, perhaps, to prolong the discussion of the particular topic that has occupied the last few chapters. If the Scriptures already cited are not sufficient to convince the reader that the common expectation of a Christless Millennium is a dangerous delusion, it is probable that he would not be persuaded, though scores upon scores of additional passages were quoted, all equally positive in their character and equally explicit in their testimony, as to the continued and ever deepening ruin that must prevail on the earth until the personal advent of our Lord. It only remains, therefore, to glance at the general drift of both the Old and the New Testaments touching the course and termination of the present dispensation, and the mode by which the new and millennial dispensation is to be introduced.

Upon this point. Dr. R. J. Breckinridge in “The Knowledge of God Subjectively Considered” writes as follows: “As a question of mere doctrine, no reason can be assigned which tends to limit the period of the struggle between good and evil in this world, or to determine any positive issue of it. It is only by express revelation we could know that the kingdom of God will triumph completely and possess the whole earth; and I have already said that the Scriptures seem to me to teach, that in order to this triumph that kingdom must assume a new form, and exist under a new dispensation. Whosoever will assert that the Church of God—independently of some divine change in the elements of the problem which it has been working out, under its gospel form, for more than eighteen centuries—can have a future very materially different from her past history; or that the human race can have a future spiritual history essentially variant from that which is past—without some further and marvellous interposition of God; will, in each instance as it appears to me, contradict the whole current of divine revelation, and disregard the absolute œconomy of the Plan of Salvation. The augmentation of the present saving operation of the divine Spirit—is not that supernatural change in the elements of the problem, is not that further interposition of God, which will extinguish sin and misery in this world, and give to the saints their Millennial glory and reign with Christ. It is the second  coming of the Son of Man, which is that change in the elements of the problem, that further interposition of God, which will give the victory, (p. 677).

For the sake of convenience, let us divide the dispensations of Jehovah’s dealings with man according to the view of Professor Bayne of McGill University, who calls the first, the Eden dispensation; the second, the Antediluvian dispensation; the third, the Patriarchal dispensation; the fourth, the Mosaic dispensation; the fifth, the Messianic dispensation; the sixth, the dispensation of the Holy Ghost, or as it is some times termed, the dispensation of the Gospel; and the seventh, the Millennial dispensation. The first terminated with the fall of Adam carrying down with him all his posterity, and carrying them out with him also into a sin-cursed earth. The second terminated with the universal prevalence of wickedness that brought forth the waters of the deluge, and that led to the destruction of the entire race with the exception of Noah and his family. The third terminated with fearful judgments upon Egypt, and with the hurried flight of the despised Israelites, who escaped the judgments only because sheltered by the blood of their appointed substitute. The fourth terminated in the total apostasy of God s ancient people, still clinging, it is true, to an empty form of godliness, but in reality an offensive carcass, fit only to be torn to pieces by the Roman eagles. The fifth terminated in the open rejection of Messiah, and in His brutal murder by execution upon the cross as a common malefactor.

Thus do we see that in each of the five preceding dispensations, man, tried under any and all circumstances, has proved to be a wretched failure; and each has closed amid increasing tokens of human depravity and divine wrath. Why will it not be so in the sixth dispensation? Most Christians will reply to this by saying that the present is the dispensation of the Holy Ghost, and therefore it dishonors Him to suppose that He will not gain a complete victory over evil by the agencies He now employs. But surely they forget that in an important sense all the preceding dispensations were no less truly dispensations of the Holy Ghost, than the one in which we live. There has never been a sinner regenerated and saved since Adam’s day without the presence and power of the Holy Ghost, and yet this did not prevent failure, as we would judge, in each succeeding dispensation. It is clear, therefore, that we can not argue concerning the future, except upon the ground of what is plainly revealed. The question is not, what the Holy Ghost might do, but what He will do; it is not what God could accomplish, if He chose to exert His Almighty power, but what He intends to accomplish in the performance of His own mysterious purpose, and in the demonstration of His own sovereign grace that will shine all the more brightly in contrast with man’s deep- seated depravity.

In order to know His purpose and plan, we must turn to His blessed word, instead of follow- ine the counsel of our own hearts, or of human reason; and passing by much that might be gathered from the earlier portions of the Bible, and the Psalms, let us notice what is revealed in the prophecies upon the question now before us. Many of these prophecies that are commonly understood as referring to the Christian Church really allude, as a glance at the context will prove, to the literal Israel and Jerusalem; but even admitting that the Church is intended, there are two remarks to which attention is specially invited. The first is that not a single prophecy can be adduced which predicts the conversion of the world by the gradual diffusion of the gospel; and the second is that every prophecy which foretells millennial glory connects the close of the present system and the introduction of a better age with dreadful judgments. Those who are determined not to be disturbed in long cherished opinions, received by tradition from their fathers, may dismiss this statement with a sneer; but all who truly desire to know the mind of the Spirit will at least give it a candid hearing.

In the first chapter of Isaiah we read, “Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies: and I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: and I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called. The city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.”

In the second chapter of Isaiah which tells us, “It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it,” we also learn that “He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears, into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. . . . And the idols he shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.” Here the Lord is represented as arising to shake terribly the earth, when millennial peace and righteousness are introduced; and if this means that people will be gradually and quietly converted, we may give over all efforts to understand the language of the Bible.

In the third chapter of Isaiah the daughter of Zion is threatened with the deepest humiliation and severest punishment, and it is said to her, “Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty men in the war. And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.” So great will be the slaughter of the men, that, as we learn from the fourth chapter which is immediately connected with the preceding words, “In that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach. In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.”

In the eleventh chapter of Isaiah we have the beautiful prediction, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fading together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” But how is the description of this happy period introduced? By the solemn statement, “He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked”; nor is there a word either before or after the passage that hints at the gradual and universal diffusion of the gospel.

At the close of the twenty-fourth, and in the twenty-fifth chapters of Isaiah, we have another beautiful prediction telling us that “Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously. . . . And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.” But what brings about this blessed time? The increasing success of the gospel, until all men are converted? By no means, for immediately preceding the sweet promise of millennial rest it is said, “Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.”

In the thirtieth chapter of Isaiah we are told of the time when “the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound,” But how is it brought about? “Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire; and his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err. . . . And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.”

In the thirty-third chapter of Isaiah we have touching assurance of the safety of the redeemed in the millennial age. “He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off. . . . Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. . . . And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.” But what follows in unbroken connection? “Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood,”

In the thirty-fifth chapter of Isaiah we are told, “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them: and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” But it is also written, as indicating the mode by which the millennial bliss revealed in the chapter is attained, ‘‘Say to them that are of a fearful heart. Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with recompense; he will come and save you.”

In the sixty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, we have a millennial scene when “There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat; for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.” But what ushers in the lovely scene? “Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not. Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed: behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.”

In the sixth-sixth chapter of Isaiah we have another glimpse of the Millennium, when “It shall come to pass, that 6'om one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” But what precedes it in the relation of cause to effect, of means to a determined end? “Behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many.”

So much space has been occupied with quotations from Isaiah, that only a hurried reference can be made to the other prophets. Jeremiah is first directed to write, “I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them. The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.”

Then in the thirtieth chapter he exclaims, “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: but they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king whom I will raise up unto them. Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee, but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished. . . . And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.” But in what immediate connection does the restoration of Israel stand, and by what agencies is it accomplished? “Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it.”

Ezekiel also, having predicted in the thirty-seventh chapter the full and final restoration of Israel, announces in the thirty-eighth and thirty- ninth chapters that it will be attended by the display of Jehovah’s wrath against the oppressor of His people, and by fearful judgments, “so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man’s sword shall be against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. . . . And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord. So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.” Then follows the description of a slaughter so terrible that the armor taken from the battle-field will supply fuel for seven years, and seven months will be employed by the house of Israel in burying the dead.

Daniel in the seventh chapter tells us he beheld, and the power symbolized by the little horn “made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. . . . But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.”

In the third chapter of Joel we find a summons to the nations; “Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.” In immediate connection with this, and following the judgment of the assembled nations, is the promise of millennial peace and plenty, for “it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.”

In the ninth chapter of Amos it is written, “Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. For lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say. The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.” But what follows the sifting and the sword? “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes, him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.”

At the close of the third chapter of Micah the word is, “Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest. But in the last days, it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say. Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off”; and then still further as indicating the judgment of many people, and the rebuke of strong nations afar off, it is said, “Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.”

In the third chapter of Zephaniah Jehovah says, “My determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent”; thus directly connecting universal judgments with the introduction of millennial glory.

In the second chapter of Haggai He says, “Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and. the dry land; and I will shake the nations, and the desire of all nations shall come”; and again, “I will shake the heavens and the earth; and I will overthrow the throne of the kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen,” or of the nations, as the word really means.

Zechariah contains many predictions of judgments growing darker and heavier, until we find in the thirteenth chapter, that two parts in all the land shall be cut off and die; while in the fourteenth chapter, we learn that the assembled nations shall be gathered against Jerusalem to battle, and in the midst of sore distress and trouble, the Lord Himself shall come, and all the saints with Him.

In the third chapter of Malachi, it is said, “But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” Then in the fourth chapter it is written, “Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall he stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteo]sness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.”

Turning now to the New Testament, we are at once struck with the total absence of all reference to the triumph of the Church during the present dispensation. If the common doctrine is correct, that the agencies we see in use among us will result in “the universal reception of the true religion,” it must be established by a process of human reasoning; for no intelligent person will affirm that it is distinctly proclaimed in the teachings of Christ and His Apostles. It may be inferred that when our Lord commanded the disciples to preach the gospel to every creature, and promised to be with them even unto the end of the world, and to send the Holy Spirit to abide with them forever. He intimated that His cause would win a complete victory on the earth, long before His second coming; and it may be strenuously argued that the pre-millennial view is Jewish in its origin, that it is carnal in its character, that it disparages the gospel, and that it is open to a thousand objections; but after all, no one will assert that a single verse can be found, from the first of Matthew to the last of Revelation, which declares “unlimited subjection to the sceptre of Christ” previous to His personal advent at the end of this age.

Indeed just the reverse is shadowed forth, for everywhere the children of God are represented as comparatively few, separated from the world, hated by the world, exposed to persecution, sorrow, and manifold trials; nor is there a hint that this cross-bearing and pain will cease until our gathering together unto Jesus. For example, at the beginning of His teachings, the Beatitudes which certainly apply to the entire dispensation, are pronounced upon the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, those who are reviled, and against whom all manner of evil is said falsely for His sake. So He leads His disciples to expect opposition and violence, but bids them, if smitten on one cheek, to turn the other also, and if sued at law to take it patiently and quietly, returning love for hate, blessing for cursing, prayer for persecution; and closing the discourse with the solemn statement, “Many,” not few, but “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity,” (Matt, vii: 22, 23).

Still later He said, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it,” (Matt, x: 34-39).

On another occasion He said, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. . . . I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you. Nay; but rather division: for from henceforth there shall he five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,” (Luke xi: 49-53).

Again He said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you. The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep your’s also,” (John xv: 18-20). “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me [not in any thing or any one else] ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world,” (John xvi: 33). “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. . . . I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world,” (John xvii: 14-16).

Such is the direction of all our Lord’s teachings, nor is there an intimation that the cross-bearing, and conflict, and persecution, and tribulation will cease up to the very close of the present age, when He will return to gather us unto Himself. If we who are His disciples were more faithful to Him we would know better in our own experience the meaning and truth of His statements, when He declares that the world will hate us; and if the world no longer hates us, it does not prove that the character of the world has changed, or that the mind of the flesh is no longer enmity against God, but only that we have departed from the doctrine and example of Christ, and are conformed to the world. Let a Christian now determine, as Paul did, not to know any thing but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, walking in simple obedience to the word, with his eye singly fixed upon the risen Lord, in separation from the aims, customs, opinions of society, refusing to substitute human authority or ecclesiastical ordinances in place of the Saviour’s finished work, and he will soon discover that the offense of the cross has not yet ceased. Let a Christian now, especially a Christian minister, utter his earnest protest against the intense worldliness that prevails in the Church, not sparing the lich and fashionable, and let him rebuke the spirit of sectarianism that rules in his own denomination, and let him proclaim, as the Bible does, the utter ruin of human nature and the absolute need of the regenerating and sovereign power of the Holy Ghost, and let him preach, not the flimsy and maudlin stuff called the “gospel of manhood,” but the gospel of the Son of God, and he will speedily find himself pursuing a lonely path, so narrow that there will probably be room for only one other, and that One an invisible friend. The real followers of the Lamb have always been a “little flock,” nor does our Lord even hint that they will ever be a large flock until He shall come.

Glancing in the last place at the testimony of the Spirit through the Apostles, we find them “confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter Into the kingdom of God,” (Acts xiv: 22). Was it true only then that believers must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom? Let the history of the Church for eighteen hundred years answer the question. But if true then, and true since, and true still, there is no reason to say that it will be otherwise in the future, unless some clear, explicit statement of Scripture can be adduced for the assertion, and no such statement can be furnished. But if it will remain true to the close of the dispensation, that through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom, millennial joy can not be the portion of the saints till Christ comes.

In the chapter following the testimony concerning the necessity of tribulation as belonging to entrance into the kingdom, we are told that “God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name,” (Acts xv: 14). It is not said that God did visit the Gentiles to make all, or nearly all of them His people, but to take out of them a people for His name. In other words the gospel age is no less marked by election, sovereign, eternal election, than the preceding age under the law. In that a single nation was chosen from all other nations to be God’s witnesses on the earth; in this the choice extends to some, not all of the Gentiles, and none of them can come to Christ, except the Father who sent Him draw them. Here, too, the facts agree with the doctrine, for a very small proportion of the Gentiles during the Gospel dispensation have received salvation; and if any are disposed to wonder and cavil at what all are compelled to admit, a good answer may be found in the language of Augustine who exclaimed, when brought face to face with the profound truth of foreordination, “Oh, the depth! oh, the depth! or a still better answer may be found in the language of the Holy Ghost who illustrates this truth by the case of Esau and Jacob, when “the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth,” it was said to the mother, “the elder shall serve the younger,” and then meets the objection of partiality or unfairness with this pointed and searching question, “Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it. Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?” (Rom. ix). Men may quarrel with the doctrine of election, but they can not deny the fact that it has pleased God, during these past eighteen centuries, to bring comparatively a small number to the saving knowledge of the truth; and if there is a word of promise that it will be otherwise until the end, let the word be presented.

In connection with this the Gentiles are reminded that they have no cause of boasting because Israel had been rejected, and the branches broken off, that they themselves might be graffed in. “Well,” says the Spirit, “because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off,” (Rom. xi: 20-22). In view of this solemn passage it is, of course, a question of deep interest whether the Gentile Church has continued in His goodness, and of this every intelligent observer must judge for himself. While gladly and gratefully acknowledging the reality of much that passes under the name of Christian, and the presence of a vast amount of good wrought by grace, he will also be compelled to acknowledge that brotherly love has almost disappeared, that a cruel bigotry has rent the visible unity of the people of God, that separation from the world is no longer characteristic of the immense majority who profess to be crucified unto the world, that infidelity has not only invaded the pew but the pulpit, or rather descended from the pulpit where it is proclaiming its impious denials of divine truth to find ready acceptance in the pew, that lifeless formality abounds, that baptism, or the Church, or some outward observance is exalted to the place of the one atoning sacrifice upon the cross, and that human machinery in carrying on the work of the Lord has superseded to a fearful extent the power of the Holy Ghost. The reply that it has always been so is very far from proving that there will be a Millennium before Christ comes, and surely, whatever may have been true in the past, the professing body of the present day, instead of rejoicing that it is rich, and increased with goods, and has need of nothing, would be wise to see that it is wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, fit only to be spued out of the mouth of our insulted Lord; and instead of claiming that it is about to convert the world, it would be wise to fear lest God is about to cut it off, as He did apostate Israel.

Looking a little further, the Holy Ghost tells us in Romans, that we are “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together,” (Rom. viii: 17). In writing to the Corinthians He says, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable,” (1 Cor. xv: 19); “for we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life,” (2 Cor. v: 4). In writing to the Galatians He says, “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye can not [or may not] do the things that ye would,” (Gal. v: 19). In writing to the Ephesians He says, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places,” (Eph. vi: ii, 12). In writing to the Philippians He says, “Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake,” (Phil, i: 29). In writing to the Colossians He says, “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry,” (Col. iii: 5). In writing to the Thessalonians He says, “To you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,” (2 Thess. i: 7). In writing to Timothy He says, “If we suffer, we also shall reign with him,” (2 Tim. ii: 12). In writing to the Hebrews He says, “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it, (Heb. iv: i); for ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise,” (Heb. x: 36). In writing by James He says, “Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh,” (James v: 8). In writing by Peter He says, “The God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you,” (1 Pet. v: 10). In writing by John He says, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness” [or the wicked one], while the whole book of Revelation down to the manifestation of Jesus Christ is crowded with the symbols of sorrows and trials and dreadful judgments.

Thus the teachings of the New Testament everywhere imply the existence of evil within and around us, and sore conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil; nor is there a line intimating the cessation of the conflict according to the teachings of the Old Testament millennial scriptures, where it is written, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” (Isa. xi: 9); “but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid,” (Mic. iv: 4). If, therefore, these Old Testament predictions of rest must be fulfilled, and these New Testament predictions of sorrow and suffering as the portion of Christ’s disciples during the present dispensation must also be fulfilled, it is obvious that millennial blessedness can not be our lot before His coming. It is true that many ignorant Christians have been led to give up a large part, and some the larger part, of the New Testament, on the foolish supposition that it was designed only for the times of the Apostles; forgetting that the Apostles had nothing more to do in preparing the New Testament than the pen of the writer has to do in giving us the production of the author’s brain, and that this God-inspired book is intended for all times. But alas! the denial of our Lord’s pre-millennial advent has driven many to a denial of the inspiration of His word. They agree with Prof. Fisher in his recent work on the “Beginnings of Christianity,” in which he admits that the Apostles expected the return of Christ, and then affirms that they were in error. He says their teachings on this subject were biased by their mistaken expectations; and if this is believed, infidelity must follow. It is sad to see the professed friends of our Saviour going over to the ranks of the enemy; but their example is not more dangerous than is the common habit of referring the constant allusions to the coming of Christ that are found in the New Testament only to the wants of the first disciples.

In like manner, all the testimony which has been quoted to prove that the disciples of Jesus must expect hatred and suffering and persecution, and therefore that they need not expect millennial rest and glory and victory until Christ comes, will be quietly set aside as having reference merely to the early days of the Church. Many ministers will say, and do say, that if they did not believe they will succeed in converting men, and if they did not believe that their fellow- ministers and their successors will succeed in converting the world, they would never preach again; thereby showing that they ought not to preach at all; for if success is the measure of their duty, the sooner they retire into silence, the better it will be, probably, for the truth. So far from universal success following the efforts of God’s servants, the New Testament is clear in asserting that in the last days perilous times shall come, that evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, until the boasted progress of the race shall head up in the Antichrist, and all the world shall wonder after the beast. It seems ‘to have been the purpose of the Holy Ghost in the second Epistles to apply the truth taught in the first Epistles with special reference to these last days; and it is remarkable that in all of them the saints are put on their guard against false teachers. All believers, therefore, are under responsibility to test every doctrine by the written word, and although the men and women who preach may appear to be very devout, and may use the most splendid diction adorned with the most impressive elocution, we dare not bid them God-speed unless they bring the doctrine of Christ, and are in obedience to His revealed will. If that word alone is left to form our opinions, apart from the influence of early training, and the control of human authority, it is not rash, perhaps, to say that we will begin to “watch” for our Lord, “looking for that blessed hope,” with the profound conviction that there can be NO Millennium till Christ comes.