reward."* But all is to be spontaneous; the dictate of love, and of felt but unconstrained obligation. The law for all the departments of Christian liberality is-"Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly or of necessity; for the Lord loveth a cheerful giver: ”—“If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." The motives presented to the minds of the disciples to stimulate their liberality are,-"the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, for their sakes he became poor, that they through his poverty might be made rich;" and the consideration of their future responsibility to their divine Master, and the proportion which their gracious reward should bear to their disinterested generosity to his cause and to his people: "This I say, he who soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he who soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully."§ With these passages before me, which are in accordance with the entire spirit and practice of the New Testament, and proceeding on the principle that the will of Christ is the surest criterion of expediency, I feel myself entitled, in reply to the reasonings, how plausibly soever they may be framed, of those who talk loftily about the benefits to the Church of an independent Clergy, to say, in one word, "He that reproveth God, let him answer it." For although an appeal both to principles and to facts would be decidedly in favour of the wisdom of the Church's Head and Lawgiver, yet, where his appointments are so express, we need no such appeal; and the reasonings by which an opposite system is maintained must be the dictate rather of "the spirit of the world,” than of "the spirit which is of God." I am not aware of any passage in the New Testament having been adduced in opposition to these general views, unless it be two expressions in the book of Revelation ;-the * 1 Tim. v. 17, 18. 2 Cor. ix. 7, and viii. 12. § 2 Cor. ix. 6. one is chap. xi. 15, where, upon the sounding of the trumpet of the seventh angel, voices are heard in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world are become our Lord's and his Christ's; and he shall reign for ever and ever:"-and the other in chap. xxi. 24, where in the description of the " Holy City, the New Jerusalem," it is said, "The kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it." There is a difficulty in meeting such passages, not arising from the strength of argument contained in them, but from their containing nothing of the kind that can be rendered at all distinctly tangible. To me, I confess, on our present subject, they appear proofs of nothing except the felt scantiness of materials for upholding the cause they have been brought to support: -for surely that cause must be "hard bestead," which is constrained to betake itself to the comparatively obscure and symbolical language of prophecy, for a rule of guidance in a positive duty!-The nature of the Redeemer's millennial reign, and the amount of glory and of gladness to be realized under it, when "the kingdoms of this world shall have become our Lord's and his Christ's, "we must leave to be ascertained in the blessed experience of future generations. The man is not to be reasoned with, who fancies he sees any thing resembling it in existing Ecclesiastical Establishments --and he who assumes that such Establishments are a part of the legitimate and efficient means of hastening it on, only begs the whole question in dispute. As to the second passage, it is, if possible, still more difficult to discover the point of its application. Even had it all belonged to the present condition of the Church, we should have felt the difficulty; the terms employed conferring no authority, far less specifying its nature and extent. But the words occur in a description which is, throughout, in the highest style of prophetic imagery. The city depicted has its twelve gates of pearl, each with its guardian angel; its twelve foundations of precious stones, inscribed with the names of the apostles of the Lamb; its streets of pure gold, with the transparency of crystal; and, flowing through the streets, the river of life, with the trees of life on its banks,-a river, issuing from beneath the throne of God and of the Lamb:-there is no night there; and yet there is no sun-for "the glory of God lightens it, and the Lamb is the light thereof:"there is no Temple in it; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it:"-nothing enters it that defileth-and there is no more curse. Of this magnificent and fascinating description, full of all that is grand, and pure, and lovely, and delightful, the words under consideration form a part"the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it." It surely is not incumbent on me to settle the question, by which interpreters are divided, whether the entire description relates to the millennial or to the heavenly state of the Church; or, supposing this were ascertained, to determine, in either case, the precise import of this particular portion of it, about which also there is diversity of judgment. I can say no more, than that I have tried, without success, to discern the connexion between the passage and our present subject; and that what I do not understand I am unable to confute. Those who can discover, in this figurative expression of a symbolical prophecy, the authority of civil magistrates to determine the true religion, and the legitimate forms of its service, to establish these by law, and to enforce the maintenance of them by assessments and civil penalties, I must leave in the undisturbed possession of both their premises and their conclusion ;- -a conclusion of much the same validity as if, from John's having seen "no Temple" in the heavenly city, we were to deduce the inference, that our places of worship should be swept away, and no accommodation provided for the public service of God!—I fear we shall be much nearer the truth, if we regard the connection subsisting in Ecclesiastical Establishments between the "kings of the earth" and the Church of God, as partaking of that spiritual adultery, which is so prominent a characteristic of the Anti-christian system. In what, indeed, if not in such incongruous alliances, is the spirit of such adulterous connection to be found? I must now briefly notice some of the distinguishing characteristics of the kingdom of Christ, as it stands in contrast with the kingdoms of this world; from which may be made apparent its incapability, according to its primitive constitution, of any kind of incorporation with them. First of all, then, this kingdom was peculiar in the manner of its introduction." The kingdom of God," said Jesus, in answer to a question of the Pharisees respecting the time of its coming," The kingdom of God cometh not with observation,"*-that is, according to the marginal rendering, "with outward show." It came not with the din and tumult of war, or with the pomp and pageantry and imposing splen dour of an earthly monarchy. Every thing of this kind would have been out of all congruity with its nature. It came, as our context intimates, with the exhibition and attestation of "truth;" with its mighty but silent energy or the minds of men; with "demonstration of the Spirit and of power." "Behold!" added the Saviour, "the kingdom of God is within you." It is spiritual; it is internal; it is the dominion of the God of love, and peace, and purity, over human hearts. It was peculiar, secondly, in regard to the character and principles, as described by the King himself, of those who should bear office in it, and conduct its affairs.-When there had arisen an unseemly strife among his disciples "which of them should be the greatest," "The kings of the Gentiles," said their Master, "exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth." It is remarkable, indeed, how uniformly, and with what vigilant jealousy, he discountenances and puts down every tendency that discovered * Luke xvii. 20, 21. Luke xxii. 25-27. itself to an ambitious and worldly spirit, as especially incompatible with the nature of his kingdom, and with the part which they were to act in it, as to his vicegerents, when he had himself sat down on his throne of mediatorial dominion. All is anti-secular; all humble, holy, heavenly; utterly dissociating the kingdom in which they were to exercise their functions from all the politics of this world. It is peculiar, in the third place, in its grand design. -What is that design? what the leading object in view in the establishment of this kingdom? It is nothing at all earthly; nothing relative to this world; nothing terminating on this side eternity. "It is a means," says an able writer, "of a purely spiritual character, having reference to objects as vastly transcending in importance every thing with which the speculations of politicians are conversant, as eternity is longer than time. It has one simple end, to which, as a means, it is perfectly and exclusively adapted; that end is the salvation of the soul. Its perfection consists in its simplicity and universality, while its efficiency depends upon the promised agency of the Spirit of God:-and, as these, its peculiar characteristics, were most strikingly displayed before it had any alliance with wealth or power, when it was employed in defiance of their utmost efforts of opposition, so it is incapable of being aided in its divine achievements; it cannot but be injured, by a combination with secular means of human invention." A fourth peculiarity consists in the character of its subjects. -What fits a man for being a subject of this kingdom? Nothing local, nothing secular, nothing connected with the temporalities of the present world. The King of Zion himself has solemnly affirmed-" Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."+ Its only genuine subjects, then, are renewed sinners. They are everywhere the same; -in every country under heaven, and amidst all diversities * Conder on Nonconformity, vol. ii. book 4, page 590. |