Further: At what juncture, in the progress of the great plan of salvation, would this agency be most powerfully exerted? We answer, at the time when the whole moral machinery of the dispensation through which the effect was to be produced was completed. Whatever is designed and adapted to produce a definite result as an instrument must be completed before it is put into operation, otherwise it will not produce the definite effect required. An imperfect system put into operation would produce an imperfect result. Here a special effect was to be produced; it was necessary, therefore, that the truth should be revealed, and the manifestations all made, before the power was imparted to give them effect.
Under the new dispensation the greatest and most imposing manifestations were the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus: had the system been put into operation before these crowning manifestations were made, the great end of the gospel would not have been accomplished. It follows, then, that the material would be first prepared, the manifestations made and adapted to the material, the appropriate means ordained, and then the agency of the Spirit would be introduced to guide the dispensation to its ultimate triumphs, and to give efficiency to its operations.
These deductions harmonise with the teachings of the Scriptures.
First, they expressly teach that without the agency of God no perfect result is accomplished.
Secondly, they everywhere represent that the Divine agency is exerted through the truth upon the soul, or exerted to awaken the soul to apprehend and receive the truth.
Thirdly, the Spirit was not fully communicated until the whole economy of the gospel dispensation was completed. The apostles were instructed to assemble at Jerusalem after the ascension, and wait till they were endued with power from on high. On the day of Pentecost the promised Spirit descended. The apostles at once perceived the spiritual nature of Christ’s kingdom. They spoke in demonstration of the Spirit, and with power. Men were convicted of sin in their hearts. Sinners were converted to Christ by repentance and faith; and under the guidance of that Divine Spirit, the plan of salvation moves on to its high and glorious consummation when ‘the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.’ ‘Amen: even so, come Lord Jesus.’
CHAPTER XIX.
CONCERNING THE PRACTICAL EFFECTS OF THE SYSTEM.
The evidence which the Lord Jesus Christ proposed as proof of the Divinity of the gospel system was its practical effect upon individuals who receive and obey the truth. ‘If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God.’ If a sick man calls a physician, who prescribes a certain medicine, which, by his receiving it according to the directions, cures him, he then knows both the efficacy of the medicine and the skill of the physician. Experience is evidence to the saints of the Divinity of the system; and its effects, in restoring the soul to moral health, is evidence to the world of the Divine efficacy and power of its doctrines: ‘By their fruits ye shall know them.’ In closing our volume, therefore, we have now only briefly to inquire what are the ascertained practical effects of faith in Christ?
We shall not refer to the moral condition of man in countries under the influence of the gospel, compared with his condition in pagan lands. We will not dwell upon the fact which, of itself, is sufficient to establish at once and for ever the Divine origin of evangelical religion, and the truth of the distinctive views developed in the preceding chapters—that the most holy men and woman that have ever lived have been those who exercised most constant and implicit faith in Christ. Passing these facts, important in themselves, we will close our volume by a statement of facts concerning the present influence of faith in Christ upon individuals now living, and subject to the examination of any one who might be sceptical upon the subject.