Tremble who may under a sense of responsibility, "upon us the ends of the world are come." Our very position consecrates us to the loftiest service, loads us with the weightiest obligation, surrounds us with anxious eyes and cries of solicitude from every quarter of the divine dominions. For the church to be faithful now, is to save the world. Now, if ever, "the weak should be as David, and David as an angel of the Lord." Now, if ever, prayer should wrestle - liberality should bring forth its richest offering, its final mite— the church should unite and clothe itself with zeal. For now, if ever, crowns may be gained, and kingdoms won, and a world, in the crisis of its danger, be saved crowns to be

cast at the feet of Christ, kingdoms of which he is rightful Lord; and a world from which he is destined to derive his richest revenue of praise forever.

CHAPTER III.

CHRISTIAN INSTRUMENTALITY FOR THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD ILLUSTRATED AND ENFORCED FROM PROPHECY.

if its

If such be the theory of Christian instrumentality place in the divine administration be so definite its obligations so solemn - and its capabilities, under God, so great, we may reasonably expect that in a book so abounding with prophetic disclosures as the Bible, some glimpses, at least, will be afforded us of its ultimate results.

That the kingdom of Christ is not to be always limited and depressed, is clearly affirmed and universally admitted. For, as it has been justly remarked, "The prophecies respecting the kingdom of the Messiah, its extension and duration, and the happiness of his innumerable subjects, are in a much greater proportion than those which describe his humiliation to sufferings, and his dreadful death." * The isles are to wait for his law -the ends of the earth are to fear him

* Rev. J. P. Smith, D. D.

all na

tions are to be blessed in him—the heathen are to become his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth his possession; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Inspired by the kindling influence of such a prospect, the Christian church has, in every age, sung of a millennium, — a period during which all the authorities of earth are to take law and life from the lips of Christ; all nations to be enrolled among his subjects; all flesh to come before him; and all his enemies to be placed beneath his feet.

But if the Bible be thus the prophet of hope, and if the loftiest strains of those who believe it be of a glory yet to come, it becomes proportionably important to inquire whether it deigns any disclosures concerning the means which are to lead to it; whether the universal triumph of the gospel is to be achieved, for example, by the noiseless and gradually augmented instrumentality of the Christian church, accompanied by the energizing influence of the Holy Spirit; whether it is to be effected in a manner quite irrespective of such instrumentality, and calculated to disparage it before the eyes of the universe as misplaced and officious; or whether the grand consummation shall be realized by a middle course, which, while it will be always demanding, employing, and absorbing all the sanctified resources of the Christian church, will yet leave room for the marked, and frequent, and direct interference of Heaven, and which will render such interposition indispensable to final and complete

success.

This, indeed, has been a subject of the deepest interest to the church in every age. For as her heralds have gone forth to proclaim the gospel, and her martyrs have poured out their blood to seal its truth, which of their bosoms did not swell with the ennobling thought which fired the bosom of Latimer in Smithfield - that they were assisting to enkindle a light which should never be extinguished that their devotedness would be in some way connected with the eventual triumph of the cross, and be made subservient to it? In proportion, however, as the time of the end approaches, the question as to the relation which sanctified human instrumentality bears to it, acquires additional interest. A thousand signs are supposed to prognosticate that the end draweth nigh; and each of them awakens the inquiry anew, "What is the relation which the sanctified agency of Christians sustains to it? Is their benevolent activity essential, in the order

of means, to the latter-day glory? or does the tenor of prophecy indicate that, so far from contributing aught to its arrival and its splendor, they should rather "stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord""?

Still more important does this inquiry become in proportion as Christians, awaking to what they regard as the voice of duty, multiply their institutions, and enlarge the sphere of their activity, animated by the hope that their humble endeavors shall certainly be crowned with success. Who that surveys the wide field of missionary effort in the present day, and marks the "note of preparation" for still greater activity, can feel indifferent to the inquiry, whether or not it is to lead to any valuable result? Who does not perceive that on the answer to this inquiry depends, if not the very continuance of our activity, much, at least, of the cheerfulness of our ɔbedience, and the degree of our devotedness? And who does not perceive that if the glory of the millennium is to burst on the world quite irrespective of Christian instrumentality, to urge such instrumentality as the appointed means of hastening that period is to indulge in delusion for the present, and to prepare mortification for the future?

But should there be those in the church of any consideration or influence, whose views of prophecy induce them to depreciate, if not even to deprecate, the high attempt which aims at the conversion of the world, it becomes a step of the first importance to inquire into the authority of such views, and, if found unscriptural, to obviate their paralyzing effect. We are aware, indeed, that among those who, for the sake of distinction, are called millenarians, there are to be found divines of considerable reputation, and Christians of the highest sanctity. And equally aware are we that under the generic name of millenarianism is included a great diversity of opinions as to the order of the events immediately preceding the millennium, and the kind of means which will be made contributory to it-that it does not necessarily disparage the benevolent endeavors of the present day, nor seek to discourage them by constantly harping on their ultimate failure but that many of those who hold it profess to derive from it motives to increased diligence in the cause of God. And, accordingly, some of them, we are aware, number among the liberal and active supporters of our religious institutions. Still, however, we cannot but suspect that in many of such instances, we are indebted for what they do, rather to the

very natural desire of recommending their peculiar views to others than to the views themselves - that their conduct is, in this particular, better than their creed that it is the triumph of their piety over their opinions and that, as a vehicle put into rapid motion will continue to advance for a while, by its own momentum, after the power which first propelled it is withdrawn, their present activity is the result of principles which date anterior to their peculiar views of prophecy. Our warrant for this fear is to be found in the fact that of those who, prior to their adoption of millenarianism, "did run well," and who even subsequently continued for a while to move in the same direction, a very large proportion are now acting, in reference to the diffusion of the gospel, as if a prophet had been deputed to say to them, "Your strength is to sit still.”

That such must be the necessary effect of all views of the future which tend to show that the endeavors of the present will prove abortive, is evident. Hope is the parent of all activity. We ourselves "are saved by hope; " and we shall attempt instrumentally to save others only as we are animated by the same principle. To be doomed to labor without hope, has been mythologically represented as one of the punishments of the lost. To expect, then, that the same efforts will be made where failure is certain, as where success is anticipated, is to overlook a fundamental principle of human nature.

To say that "duty is ours and events are God's," and that therefore we are to advance whatever the result may be, is to forget the important fact, that, in the case before us, the " events," according to the millenarian, are no longer God's, for he is supposed to have clearly foretold them. This proverbial saying, therefore, has no application here. As long as the result of a course of duty is doubtful only, hope and fear alternate; nor would it be possible for fear entirely to prevail without bringing the mind to the full and fatal pause of despair. But in the question under consideration, we are not supposed to be left in a state of uncertainty as to the issue of our endeavors, but to be distinctly apprized that they will end in defeat. And the known and inevitable tendency of such a state of mind is (with certain exceptions of the kind we have noticed) to produce relative inaction. For if the members of the Christian church were to be now divided into those who are strenuous in the cause of missions, and

those who are comparatively inert, where should we expect to find the latter but among those who are postponing the moral improvement of the world to the second coming of Christ; and who, relying on the sufficiency of that future miracle, anticipate little or no advantage from the use of present means? Nor would our expectation, it is to be feared, be disappointed.

On a question, then, involving nothing less than the movements and hopes of the Christian church in relation to the world, and the practical aspect of prophecy towards each, it is important that we should distinctly state what it is we object to in others, and what are the views and expectations which, from a consideration of prophecy, we ourselves are led to entertain.

With the minor points of controversy in the pre-millennial creed, we have at present nothing to do; nor even with the great question of the "personal advent." From more than a cursory survey of prophecy, the writer is free to admit that the hope of those who anticipate that the happy reign of piety on earth will be attained by the peaceful and uninterrupted progress of the means at present employed, and by these alone, is unwarranted by Scripture.

The cause of Christ, as now conducted, is no doubt destined to sustain many a severe encounter and disheartening reverse. And even his coming * - the advent of his power, in strange providences, and at critical junctures— may again and again be necessary in order to turn the battle at the gate, and to crown it with success. But that which we strenuously oppose is the practical inference too generally drawn from the pre-millennial creed, and which operates, as we think, both to the dishonor of the prophetic Scriptures, and to the discouragement of Christian activity — namely, that because a mighty conflict may await the Christian church, and because the marked interposition of Christ may be necessary to terminate that struggle, and to take actual and entire possession of the earth, therefore but little real good is to be expected from the most devoted endeavors of the church at present. And that which we hope to substantiate is, first, that such an inference is at variance with some of the admitted principles

The nagovola, or "coming of Christ," is referred to various providential events, by some of those, even, who believe that it relates reeminently to a personal pre-millennial advent.