There is nothing more beautiful than holy union. It is beautiful in a family, beautiful in a parish, beautiful in a nation, and above all beautiful in a church. That such a union ought to exist amongst the people of God on earth none can deny; that it is the joy of heaven, and is about to fill the coming kingdom with overflowing peace, is the happy conviction of every student of the Scriptures. Nor can we be surprised that men of vivid imagination and ardent minds should be powerfully attracted by the idea of a visible oneness in the church of Christ. There is something so truly grand and heavenly in the thought of a holy succession of devoted men, combining apostolical authority with an apostolical spirit, and handing down from age to age, untainted and undiminished, a complete system of apostolical truth, that it is only natural for men to look with reverence on such a picture.
But, before we are caught gazing on the imagination, we are bound to pause awhile to examine into facts; and, before we allow the mind to become unsettled in the ardent pursuit of a lovely theory, it is the imperative duty of all sober-minded, truth-seeking, men to look first at the word of God and learn whether, in the present dispensation, there is any hope that the vision will be realized.
To decide this point, we have to examine into the predicted condition of the visible church of Christ. The question is, are we warned of a state of division, or are we not? Does prophecy represent the visible church of the latter days as giving an undivided and unerring witness to the truth; as dwelling harmoniously “in the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life,” and so prepared to welcome Christ with a united hymn of thankful joy? or does it foretell a state of things the exact opposite, viz. division, seduction, and vice, amongst professors? If the former be the state predicted, we may well sink into despair from its plain contrast with present facts: vice, heresy, and schism, are rampant in the body of baptized professors; whatever men think of the cause or remedy, all are agreed as to the fact. If the latter, we may look away from present anxieties and, falling back on God’s revealed purpose, may learn, even from the distractions of the church, the wisdom, the knowledge, and the unfathomable counsel of its Head.
May God the Holy Ghost guide us into the path of truth.
There are two ways in which we might profitably pursue our investigation. We might either take a wide range of Scriptural evidence, and give a cursory notice of many texts; or we might take one single passage and sift it thoroughly. We will adopt the latter method, and confine our attention almost exclusively to the third and fourth chapters of the second Epistle to Timothy. Three subjects will naturally arise in our examination of this prophecy.
I. The period to which it refers.
II. The persons to whom it refers, i.e. whether it speaks of men within or without the visible church.
III. The state of things which it foretells.
I. The period to which the prophecy refers is described distinctly (iii. 1) as “the last days:” “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come;” or, as it is said, 1 Tim. iv. i., where a similar apostacy is foretold, “the latter days:” “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.” The exact extent of the period expressed by “the last,” or “latter days,” it may be difficult to determine; but one thing is plain; they must reach up to the advent of our Lord. There is nothing else to follow them before his coming. They may cover a longer or shorter period, but that period is the last of the present dispensation. They may commence earlier or later, but they must end with the advent. The prophecy carries us, therefore, right on to the coming of the Lord: it contains a picture of the visible church as Christ shall then find it; it is not a description of its early days alone, the first efforts of its infancy; but rather of its old age, when man shall have done his all, when churches have been established, bibles circulated, and all done that can be done through man’s instrumentality; then—at the very end—will the church be surprised in the exact condition foretold in this chapter of the Apostle.
II. The persons to whom it refers.