THE world has ever judged that it can do well without God’s interference in its course—that it has enough in itself, if faithfully and skillfully used, for its own present joy; and a moral power, which, if duly heeded, will give a full title to everlasting life and blessing. The experience of ages has not destroyed this delusion; the stream of past time, strown as it is with the wreck of man’s diligent folly, flows on unregarded. History tells one simple, though varied tale of sorrow, crime, and death: we read it from our childhood, and only think that our generation is a wiser one, and do not see in all that is past and present, the mere expression of an evil condition, which man’s wisdom can never remedy or improve. It was God’s abounding mercy, in the knowledge of the blessings that his shortsighted, and perverse creatures were casting away (even while extolling their own wisdom to one another), to reveal the truth to them, telling them that separation from Him left them the prey of all evil; that nearness to Him, and knowledge of His will, secured to all, wisdom and happiness: that they were afar off from him, and therefore, the victims of sorrow and crime; but showing also, as the fruit of His own marvelous grace, a way of return, and therefore, a sure remedy for all the evil of their condition.
The Deluge—the discomfiture of man’s pride at Babel, and the subsequent universal idolatry, soon proved how incredulous the heart was to so humbling a revelation of what cannot be changed by that incredulity, for it is truth. The revelation was, doubtless, universally known, though promulgated orally, and kept in trust by the succession of the Sons of God. At the birth of Noah, several of the fathers were living, all of whom must have conversed with Adam, Methusaleh and Lamech dying but a little before the deluge. Noah was the last witness for truth, or preacher of righteousness in the old world, and the declarer of the same unerring truth in the new: and from his family instruction, the truth must have been universally known in the new world; for all were his family.
God thus gave to the world the light of truth; He gave it to some in trust for others, not a written rev elation indeed, which is a far greater mercy, for that is ever consistent and perfect; but by speaking the truth through living men, and enabling them in action to live the truth they spoke. The children of Seth were the election of God in the antediluvian world: and while they were personally happy and blessed in God’s favor; they were to fulfill another purpose in election, to bear witness to the world of what they had more than others—the knowledge of God, “holding forth the word of life,” in life or death. Abel spoke in his death, and “yet speaketh;” Seth, in his life, but yet more fully Enoch—for “he walked with God, and was not;” and he spoke too, in the triumph of His translation, of resurrection-glory, the portion of righteous Abel as well, when “the Lord cometh with His ten thousand saints” (Jude 1414And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, (Jude 14)). In the days of Enos, “men began to call upon the name of the Lord,” or, “to call themselves by the native of the Lord;” purporting either way an union in truth. This associate body, or the Church, was then the light of the world; and while consistent in separation unto God from the evil practices of the Cain world, God’s desire in them of mercy to others was answered: but, alas I it is written, that, “when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” There ceased to be a living revelation of truth, light was mingled with the darkness, and God unknown, except in the faithful remnant Noah, who “found grace in the eyes of the LORD,” and of whom it is emphatically said, “According to all that God commanded him, so did he.” The earth was soon “filled with violence, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth;” and how could it do otherwise? The light to God’s way had been almost quenched, at least was too feeble in Noah to give light to the multiplied world; the Church, the world’s moral teacher, had become corrupt; and what was to save an ignorant world from corruption? for that was its own way. The darkness quenched the light—Belial overcame the truth—Idols were set up in God’s temple—the world was wedded to the Church—the daughters of men to the sons of God; and so the Lord destroyed man, whom He had created, from off the face of the earth (Gen. 614Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. (Genesis 6:14)).
In the rapid and complete departure from the ways of God into idolatry, of Noah’s descendants, we have another signal proof of the indifference of man to the wisdom of God: the “deep calling unto deep,” the roar of the destroying waves, and cries of the lost, were so recent, that it would be thought impossible men could be so madly rebellious, were it not on record. The grace of God, however, shone the brighter, like The light of the pillar of glory over the darkness of Egypt’s fate, when He called Abraham from the land of the Chaldees, and put him and his descendants in trust with “the oracles of God,” that they might teach them, by word and act, to the world. I do not say that all the meaning of the election of God is declared in this; far from it; but I do say, that there is no right understanding of God’s act of grace in election, whether with reference to one or many, unless we see that while the blessing is direct and special to the elected, it is mediate to the world; that the possession of blessing is a trust committed to them to exhibit to the world.
Israel thus, when brought out of Egypt (then first recognized as God’s people, Ex. 3), was an election from among the nations of the world unto Jehovah, to declare to the world out of which they were taken, the blessings they realized, in a fellowship of which the uncircumcised knew nothing.
They were to be God’s living revelation to the world; they alone had “the oracles of God,” and by careful and obedient conformity to them, they were called to show a compact and living image of the truth, formed in that mold. It was as though God had said to all the nations of the world, “I have told you what was true wisdom, but you would have none of my counsel; but I cannot let you perish. I will prove your folly to you: I will form a people for myself; and in my dealings with them, and their consequent joy, might, glory, and abundant prosperity, you will see and learn what you have lost and are losing.” To this end did Jehovah separate a people unto Himself: “Marvelous things did he in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan” (Psa. 78:1212Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. (Psalm 78:12)). “He showed His signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham” (Psa. 105:2727They showed his signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. (Psalm 105:27)): “and turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink” (Psa. 78:4444And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink. (Psalm 78:44)). “Go,” said the Lord to Moses, “stand before Pharaoh, and say, Let my people go, that they may serve me: for I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth... And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth” (Ex. 9:14-1614For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. 15For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. 16And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. (Exodus 9:14‑16)).
“He made a way to His anger; He spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence: and smote all the first-born in Egypt; the chief of strength in the tabernacles of Ham; but made His own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. And He led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies” (Psa. 78:50- 5350He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence; 51And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham: 52But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. 53And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. (Psalm 78:50‑53)). And yet it is written, as to Israel, “Our fathers understood not Thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of Thy mercies;...nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake, that He might make His mighty power to be known” (Psa. 106:7,87Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea. 8Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. (Psalm 106:7‑8)).
Was it possible, after such signal proof of the blessing attendant on being the Lord’s, who had so used His power in behalf of the people of His love, that any should prefer trusting in the chariots of Egypt to “the arm of Jehovah, that cut Rahab and wounded the dragon,... which dried the sea, the waters of the great deep, and made the depths of the sea a way for His ransomed to pass over?” (Isa. 51:9,109Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? 10Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? (Isaiah 51:9‑10)). Yet so it was; for not only did the nations of the Amalekites, Amorites, Moabites, &c., rise up against the people who had “the shout of this mighty King among them;” but the very people who had learned the strength of that arm in their own deliverance, left it in after-days for the chariots of Egypt that it had overthrown (Isa. 3010Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: (Isaiah 30:10)). Oh! marvelous folly! why were not all subject to this King of kings! The history of the Rechabites, and the crafty Gibeonites too, is proof to us, that all might have flocked around the camp of Jehovah, and been blessed with His favored people.
But the revelation was but partial in the deliverance. It asserted the sure exercise of a power that nothing could withstand, in behalf of His chosen people: but how became they His people? We answer, that the cause which originated their blessing was the choice of His own will; for none had the slightest title to any favor—all were alike mad and wicked: but this too, though a true part of revelation, is not all; for how were they brought nigh? I answer, by blood. The people of His love were not absolved from guilt by any arbitrary act of emancipation; but the blood of the Paschal Lamb was their title, and their gracious Father’s “power unto their salvation” (Rom. 1:1616For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)). The blood of the Lamb, and the waves of the Red Sea, were the significant witnesses to the world of God’s only method of bringing any people info fellowship with Himself. Circumcision also, and the perpetual stream of blood that flowed in Israel’s camp, told broadly and in living characters, the same solemn truth, that “without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.” Every Israelite, therefore, personally by circumcision,— Jerusalem and the priesthood, in the holy ceremony of the “daily sacrifice,”—and all Israel, in its yearly gathering to the feast of the Passover, proclaimed the necessity of cleansing, before any could draw nigh unto God; and in this they were “the light of the world.”
But in more than this; for when the Lord had brought them to Himself in the wilderness, He revealed to them His will; and, in obedience, they were to exhibit that will to the world, showing the world’s disobedience by their obedience—the world’s ignorance by their knowledge. And thus Jehovah speaks to them: “Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation” (Ex. 19:5,65Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. (Exodus 19:5‑6)). So also Moses: “Behold I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me: keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and shall say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?” (Deut. 4:5-85Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 6Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? (Deuteronomy 4:5‑8)). A reference to the 14th of Numbers, in which the intercession of Moses for the people is recorded, will show how the glory of God in His actings with that people, as witnessed by surrounding nations, was the subject nearest his heart, who was the great type of the coming Mediator; and the answer of the Lord will show too how nothing can defeat His purpose to manifest Himself in and through a people, before the face of all men: “As truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.”
The wilderness-state, however, was in itself the witness of the support that would ever be given to those who trusted in God, though surrounded by enemies, and without sustenance from earth. Jehovah was their leader—their covert from the storm—the glory in the midst of them; and heaven opened its rich store to feed them where the earth was barren; and Israel’s undiminished strength, unworn clothing, and unswollen feet, as they came to Jordan’s banks from their forty years’ toilsome course, said to the world, “I will never leave nor forsake the people of my love;” and it should have met but one answer, “Blessed is the man who putteth his trust in the Lord; in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.” In this they were the “light of the world;” and Rahab is a solitary instance of the shining—of that light into a heathen’s heart, as she came, like Ruth in other days, to put her trust in the Lord God of Israel, and to shelter herself under His wings.
But the completeness of Israel’s distinct witness was in the Land, the typical reward of righteousness. “A good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass” (Deut. 8:7-97For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; 8A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; 9A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. (Deuteronomy 8:7‑9)).
Its gift to them was the witness to the world of the happiness of “that people whose God is the Lord: yea happy is that people that is in such a case” (Psa. 144:1515Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord. (Psalm 144:15));—the destruction of its previous wicked inhabitants, a proof of the certainty of righteous judgment on iniquity; in both “a light to the world:” and in all that followed while Israel walked in obedience—the sure periodical rains from heaven, independent of all natural chances; the consequent abounding fertility of their hills and valleys, with their stores and streams of honey and milk; the security of the homes of the people during the feasts of worship, when all the males were gone to Jerusalem, leaving all that was dear to them apparently unprotected; the supernatural abundance of the sixth year, making provision for the two following; the sabbatical day, month, year, and sabbath of sabbaths or Jubilee, in which the God of revelation was declared as Creator of all things in the face of the world; the armies of chariots and horses from heaven, that ever shielded or went forth with the armies of Israel against their enemies (2 Kings 6:1717And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. (2 Kings 6:17)), when they trusted in God; superiority indeed in all things, and in all circumstances while they owned their own inherent weakness, and used their privilege of leaning upon the arm of Jehovah, and that superiority not the effect of human skill or diligence, but entirely arising from the direct interference of God, irrespective altogether of human calculation, and oftentimes by the setting aside of the order of His own creation—in all and far more than this, were Israel’s people, Israel’s laws, Israel’s abundant riches and wondrous prowess “a city set on an hill”—a voice to the whole world, saying, “Happy is the people whose God is the Lord: come, and put your trust under the shadow of His wing.”
In this place of high and holy trust, Israel failed; all outward prosperity was but the result of obedience to the holy will of their God; if they had prospered in iniquity, it would have been encouragement to the world’s abominations; and it could not be, for God is holy; and His word to Israel was, “And ye shall be holy unto me, for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine” (Lev. 20:2626And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine. (Leviticus 20:26)); but they failed in this, according to the word of the Apostle: “For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written” (Rom. 2:2424For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. (Romans 2:24)). That there was a remnant, as in the antediluvian world, ever true to their trust, the 11th of Hebrews is proof to us; but Israel collectively walked according to the deceit of its heart, “as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke;” and the fearful word of judgment was pronounced by their rejected Prophet and Messias “Behold your house is left unto you desolate.”
The city of solemnities, the central point of gathering for all obedient worshippers, was razed to its foundations, and not one stone left upon another; the people sifted as corn through a sieve into all the nations from which they had been visibly separate hitherto; the former and latter rain ceased to fall, the milk and honey to flow; and the heart of Israel and the land of glory became alike withered and sterile. Thus the city the Lord had set on an hill, became first a Babel, and then was sowed with salt; the light He had lifted up to give light to the nations, became fainter and fainter, flickering in its socket till it was finally quenched; and the candlestick was removed out of its place; and no voice spoke from Israel except in sorrow and mourning, as though it had said (as it still speaks)! Woe! woe! to the Apostate. “If the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.”
“I am the light of the world” was the title assumed by the blessed Son of God, as bringing, in His own humbled person, all the brightness of the Father’s moral glory into this dark world. Dim was all light before: it is true, that it had shone in the darkness from the very first; but, as in creation, three days had passed away ere the scattered radiance was gathered into one body of light (Gen. 1), so as to moral light, it had shone but obscurely, even where it was true. All that God had thought about us, all that He was Himself, He had been telling little by little from the beginning; but so untutored was the fallen world, it was but the milk of the babe at first; all was partial till Jesus came; and then all truth, all that the unknown unseen Father was, stood in the face of Israel and the world embodied: and He said, (O gracious word!), “I am the light of the world.” He had come to shine in all that pure and holy light upon this dark and tainted world: and it has shone and is shining still in that faithful record which the Holy Ghost has dictated; but how few are entranced by its brightness! alas! how few think of the charity of that living revelation of the Father. Men know that ignorance shuts up nearly all the channels of natural joy, and they strive to be wise; but God’s wisdom, God’s truth, God’s heart and will have been personified before them, and they love darkness rather than that light, for it is holy and pure, and their deeds are evil; and we who say and know that we love it, through the imparted grace of our God, are ever seeking that it should not shine so brightly, but will rather turn back to some obscurer and dimmer light, and think that bright enough. I believe there should ever be a living transcript of the inspired record. It is true, if this fails, the record stands; but the record is rather (I would say this very humbly) the pattern by which the living thing is formed by the Spirit; if anything is contrary to that, it is darkness: but the Church is called into the place of the “true light,” informed by His Spirit, to stand in charity to the world by living to truths the record teaches; the Word, I should say, was for the Church,—the Church for the World. Is not this what, the Lord means when promising to send them the Comforter; viz. that he was to be directly their Teacher and Comforter; and that through them He was to act upon the world? “When He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged” (John 16:8-118And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. (John 16:8‑11)).
“Ye are the light of the world: a city that is set on an hill cannot be hid,” said the Lord Jesus to the little flock gathered around Him out of the apostate and stiff-necked Israel, to those who were to bear witness of Him far and wide, when He had ascended into His glory, and to hold His blessed and life-giving words in trust for others; the representatives and teachers of His Church: and thus surely in them did he address the whole Church, and place them by that brief emphatic charter on the highest eminence of holy privilege, confirmed in the words of the Apostles, in after-days, “Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom shine ye [margin] as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life” (Phil. 2:1515That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; (Philippians 2:15)). “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the virtues [margin] of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:99But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: (1 Peter 2:9)). “Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth); proving what is acceptable unto the Lord” (Eph. 5:8-108For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 10Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. (Ephesians 5:8‑10)).
“Ye are the light of the world; let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Shall we cavil at these simple and solemn words? do they not assert the condition of the elect Church, holy and beloved, to be that of a revelation of their unseen Father to the world, who are in darkness and ignorance? or, in the language of the Apostle, the Epistle of Christ to the world, saying, “Ye will not come to me that ye might have life,” written with the Spirit of the living God on the fleshy tables of their hearts, and uttered to the world in language more emphatic and eloquent than any other, their lives of holy charity. It is not my object here to express the sorrow of my heart, by any comparison between the words of Jesus and the Church’s actual condition; but I will quote the words which mark what the light should be, as placed so near, and clearly leading to the Church’s title, “ye are the light of the world,” and let my readers judge: “Blessed are the poor in spirit—blessed are they that mourn—blessed are the meek—blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness—blessed are the merciful—blessed are the pure in heart—blessed are the peacemakers—blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake—blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake: rejoice and be exceeding glad;—ye are the salt of the earth —ye are the light of the world.”
I say unto you, “Swear not at all—resist not evil—give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away—love your enemies—bless them that curse you—do good to them that hate you—and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.” — “What do ye more than, others?”
“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5).
There is in every way a distinction between the light revealed through Moses and the Prophets, as to conduct, and that taught by the Lord Jesus, which is the Church’s rule. The way of salvation must ever have been the same, though only typically and prophetically declared till Jesus came: but every principle of conduct became amplified almost into contrast: so also the character of the testimony to the world in external things; there ceased to be any present recompence, and the Church stood in suffering, as its Lord, to declare God’s entire alienation from the world that had rejected His Son, and to declare in its separation that it was saved by hope, that its recompence was future, that a time of surpassing glory was coming, and that those who suffered with Him would be glorified together with Him. There ceased to be any witness in earthly prosperity, that it was well with the righteous; but the Church was called to declare that it was begotten again to an inheritance reserved in heaven, incorruptible, and undefiled, and that would not fade away. It was to declare the brightness of its reward, and the glory of that inheritance, by a steadfast refusal to be tainted with anything that was esteemed by man; its place was another world—its principles those of another world—they could not suit this—they left a man a prey to all wickedness in this, and therefore made him a constant sufferer in some way—the child of hope and promise—the antitype of the destitute fathers, and not of prosperous Israel—strangers in a strange land—walking in a course so contrary to the course of this world, that every breath must strike some note of discord on the heart attuned only to heaven and the glory there—risen with Christ—setting their affections on things above, and called to live the principles of heaven on earth, the charter and rule of the house of God in the midst of a world in all things ignorant of aught so morally bright and beautiful.
The abundant riches of Israel were the present proof to the world of God’s favor to them, and a foreshowing of the riches of heavenly glory,—not yet given to the saint,—but future. All that Israel was in this world, the Church will be in immortality in the world to come; and any who use Israel’s condition as a title to present earthly prosperity are not saved by hope (Rom. 8:2424For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? (Romans 8:24)); are not witnesses of future glory; but are ignorant of the Church’s place, to show by its present poverty (though it may be God’s almoner of plenty to others) the full revealed light as to the world’s judgment and resurrection-glory.
But where would not this strain lead me? Alas! far and wide, into all that at times passes as a dark and heavy cloud, muttering its thunders around my heart—the false and perilous condition of almost all things around, “deceiving and being deceived;” fearful words “In such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.” “When they shall say, Peace and safety! then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.” “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.”
If we judge by the sight of our eyes, and by the hearing of our ears (and this Jesus did not ever), we may hear the music of rejoicing in the Church, and see their banners floating for conquest; but if we say, as He did, “As I hear I judge,” and do give heed to the holy and searching word of the Lord, this will not shut from us His solemn assurance, “If ye continue in His goodness, if not ye shall be cut off;” — “as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth;” and we shall take up our parable and say in sorrow of heart, “Alas! who shall live when God doeth this?” (Num. 24:2323And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this! (Numbers 24:23)); going forth from the proud city with Jesus to Mount Olivet, as ready to ascend after Him to glory, weeping over it as knowing its coming desolations, though many as dear to Him as we are may be saying, “See what manner of stones, and what buildings are here” (Mark 13:11And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! (Mark 13:1)).
But the purposes of God cannot be frustrated— “As I live, all the earth shall be filled with my glory;” and the time, I believe, is rapidly hastening on, when the elect out of each dispensation, in the full glory that they have figured on earth, gathered together from the depths of the sea and the heart of the earth; wherever their dust has been—burnt to ashes—scattered to the winds—lost in the rapid tide; all will be gathered together, when “the Lord shall descend with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and the trump of God;” and when caught up to meet Him, they shall descend with Him, conformed to His likeness in all things—living stones of a living city—the new Jerusalem—the habitation of Jehovah—the bride of the Lamb—the assembled choirs to utter Jehovah’s praises on their harps of gold—warriors on white horses—kings and priests unto God— “The light of the world; a city set on an hill which cannot be hid.”
Thus it is written, “God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved).... that in the ages to come He might skew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Jesus Christ.” Here then is the end of election, that the saints in their high and exalted state, in their preeminence of glory, raised far above angels, principalities, and powers, proving in their own joy, that the Father hath loved them, even as He loved the Lord Jesus, should show, in all they had attained to, the happiness of that people whose God is the Lord! their moral conformity to God—their visible conformity to Jesus in the resurrection—their far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, seen and known by a peopled world, in the ages to come—as kings to rule in righteousness (and how kings without subjects?); as priests to minister (and to whom except those in dependence?); as joint inheritors with their Lord of mediatorial glory (and a mediator is not of one, but God is one; therefore it has reference to others): and thus it is revealed in the book of the prophecy of the Church, “I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God, out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her, husband; and I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it: and the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it [the city, the Church]; and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the gory and honor of the nations into it.” “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 21 & 22).
The elect body in glory are here described bearing the light: the nations, all the nations that are saved from the judgments described in the 19th chapter, walk in the light of it, and are blessed; for they see the Lamb’s glory and the glory of His bride. In the midst of the saints is the tree of life (surely the Lord Himself), and its leaves are for the healing of the nations. Is there not, then, a peopled world, blessed remotely, or blessed through the dominion, not of the King of kings only, but the kings His fellows? Oh! most wondrous calling! “the kingdom and glory of God;” surely “the sufferings of this present moment are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us;” and for this “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth until now,” and never will be delivered from the bondage of corruption to which it has been unwillingly subjected, until this manifestation of the sons and heirs of God, joint heirs with the First-born among many brethren (Rom. 8 throughout): but then it will be delivered, and the creature too, into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Surely it is most true that the world shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest; and through the Church too, but when? when the Church has attained its stature, and will give unfailing witness, in the luster of its inherited glory in the resurrection, to the mortal world beneath, to that truth which the life and resurrection of the Lord Jesus declared, and which their feeble faith now, and their possessed reward then, will forever declare, “Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud nor such as turn aside to lies” (Psa. 40:44Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. (Psalm 40:4). the new song of the Lord in His resurrection).
The beautiful and comprehensive prayer of the Lord Jesus in John 17, opens to us the same result;—the world had rejected Him: “O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee;” but He presents the election as the immediate objects of His anxiety and love— “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine.” And what does He pray for? their security in the world in the knowledge of the Father, separation from the evil of the world, and their eventual unity when the number out of every nation, people, and tongue, are called; for they, cannot be one, as a numbered body, till then; and the Lord surely prayed not for less than this: and further, He prayed for their unity in the possession of the glory; the ultimate desire of His heart in them, their possession of all they were destined to—unity in life and glory. And I would say, that a knowledge of this, or the prayer of Jesus imprinted on our hearts, would cause us to strive for unity now, and hasten to the glory.
After He has expressed the desire of His heart for His Church, He prays for the world, but mediately, or through the Church, “that they (the Church) all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (ver. 21). To believe that He was sent of the Father, was and is the ground on which the elect stand:— “And they have believed that thou hast sent me” (ver. 8). Then does Jesus pray that after the election is completed, or they are all one, by seeing and knowing that unity, “the world may be saved, or believe that He was sent of the Father.” Further, He says: “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one (the perfection in unity being in the glory only); and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me” (ver. 23).
How distinctly may the purpose of God be traced in this wonderful prayer I first, the whole election (“I pray not for them only, but for all who shall believe on me through their word”), out of every nation, kindred, people and tongue, as seen in Rev. 7; and then the world blessed through them; but not blessed till the Church is taken from suffering and trial to the glory prepared for it; “The firstfruits of God’s creatures” (James 1:1818Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1:18)) waved before Him, as gathered from the north, south, east and west; the hundred and forty-four thousand sealed ones, redeemed from among men, the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb (Rev. 1418And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. (Revelation 14:18)); and then, after judgments upon Christendom (as so fully detailed in the Apocalypse), universality of subject blessing. The second Adam and His favored Eve having dominion over the works of God’s hands, and a peopled and happy World; saying, “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, who hast set thy glory above the heavens” (Psa. 89The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. (Psalm 9:9)).
The mighty and royal conqueror, having subdued His enemies under His feet, with His queen in gold of Ophir, and raiment of needlework, by His side (Psa. 45); judging the people with righteousness, and the poor with equity (Psa. 72 throughout); those who have been faithful in His grace over a few things, made rulers over many, and partaking all their Lord’s joy (Matt. 25:2121His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (Matthew 25:21)). Having overcome, and therefore sitting with Jesus on His throne, even as He overcame, and is now with the Father on His throne; (Rev. 2:26,27;326And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 27And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. (Revelation 2:26‑27)
5And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. (Revelation 4:5). 21); “glorified together” (Rom. 827And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:27)) and coming with Him into the world, “when He comes in flaming fire, glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe in that day;” coming to judge, first in destroying the sinners out of the earth, and then to rule in equity and love; so that that coming shall be as the rain upon the mown grass; men shall be blessed in Him, and all nations shall call Him blessed. Israel shall say, “Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things;” and all nations shall say, “Blessed be His glorious name forever, and let the whole earth be filled with His glory” (Psa. 727Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish. (Psalm 73:7)). “O clap your hands, all ye people, shout unto God with the voice of triumph; for the Lord most high is terrible, He is a great King over all the earth; Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding. God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness” (Psa. 474I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp. (Psalm 49:4)). The city of God will come down from heaven, prepared as a bride for her husband, the true city of the great King; this tabernacle of God will be with men; and He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God (Rev. 2127And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. (Revelation 21:27)). “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness; beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King; God is known in her palaces for a refuge” (Psa. 4813This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah. (Psalm 49:13)). “Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God” (Psa. 872For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. (Psalm 89:2)). “Behold the tabernacle of God is with men;” “ The Light of the World; A CITY SET ON AN HILL, THAT CANNOT BE HID;” SET ON HIGH, TO GIVE LIGHT TO ALL THAT ARE IN THE WORLD.—Amen and Amen.