Hence, according to the teachings of Jesus, he who would become his disciple must rise above the plane of sensualism. The new law under which he was to come demanded that the law of force should be discontinued. If he would have the benefits of the kingdom of heaven, that is, of the government pertaining to the moral and spiritual plane, he must not resist evil by force; he must not smite back when smitten; he must not indulge in feelings of hatred or unkindness toward any one; he must love his enemies; bless them in the midst of their cursings. He must be pure in heart; he must hunger and thirst after righteousness; he must, in all things, be under the dominion of a love, pure, holy, and unselfish. Such a one would be freed from the law of sin and death; such a one would cease to be a debtor to the law of the first dispensation, and would be born into liberty, not into a liberty to do wrong, but a liberty which had respects to his purified affections.
This will be understood by contrasting the principles of the two dispensations. The first governed by a force external to the subject, constraining him as a selfish being to do things not agreeable to him, thus bringing his will into subjection. The second governed by implanting the true affection within the subject, so that his delight was in the law, according to the inward man. Hence the new kingdom was to be “within.” The first was over man with force and fear; the second was to be within man with charity and love.
From this it will be seen, that the first government, or covenant, as it is called, necessarily required external institutions to beget and direct its force to compel obedience to its enactments and edicts. And these institutions were necessarily authoritative; and persons belonging to their plane of administration were compelled to submit to them, as to the authority of God.
The second government or covenant which ignored force, and governed by love, had no use for such institutions, and hence returned the sword to its sheath. Under its administration, swords were to be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning-hooks. Men were to “call no man master.” But it must be noticed that this second government pertained only to those who had come under the rule of charity and love, and thus had put off the old man and his deeds. So long as the individual, in his affections and lusts, continued in bondage to the impulses of his animal nature, he belonged to the first dispensation, and must be continued under tutors and governors until the coming into him of Christ.
Here, then, we see the two classes of errors into which mankind have fallen, the first by supposing that the laws of selfishness and force were applicable to all planes, and that the Christian could find authority under Moses. The second, by supposing that the laws of selfishness and force were to be abolished in every plane, not thinking that such law is just as necessary at one time as another, so long as man continues under that plane of impulse. Herein we can see the wisdom of Jesus in his teachings. He came not to destroy the law, or take it away from man, but his mission was to take man away from the law, and thus to fulfill or consummate the uses of the law. He condemned not the law of force as applicable to those who, in their selfishness and lusts, were under its dominion. And he did not propose to emancipate them by destroying the law. But he did propose to redeem them from under it, by calling them to a higher plane of impulse and action. He proposed to lead them out of Egypt, not take Egypt away from them.
Herein is to be found one of the fundamental errors of Christendom, in not perceiving the true meaning of the first and second covenants; that is, in not perceiving the true sphere of the Mosaic and Christian governments. Each are of divine appointment in their respective spheres; and neither have respect to time or place of administration, but to condition. The Mosaic, which is a figure representing the governments of force addressed to man as a selfish being, will never be at an end so long as society is in a condition to require that kind of administration. It will not be at an end in the individual until his moral nature is in the ascendant, until he keeps that new commandment of “Love one another.” And the Mosaic dispensation will not be at an end in society until the kingdom of heaven is established in the hearts of the members thereof.
The theologian has committed a great error in making the kingdom of heaven a historic affair, supposing that the death of Jesus terminated the first, and introduced the second dispensation, not seeming to understand that the character of the government determined to which dispensation it belonged irrespective of time or place. That government which is instituted with respect to, and is administered upon the principles of selfishness and force, is Mosaic, no matter in what age or by whom administered. All civil and ecclesiastical governments which are external and forceful belong to the Mosaic, no matter by what names they may be called. A moment’s reflection will demonstrate to a mind of ordinary intelligence and information, that all external human governments are of this character. We have no Christian governments exercising power and compelling external obedience to law. The very supposition is an absurdity. The very moment a government is organized, and clothes itself with external force, its Christian character is destroyed.
Christianity, in its true spiritual and saving character, acts only from within the individual. It is not a government over men or among men. It is a government in man. It cleanses the inside of the cup and the platter, and thence makes clean the outside. Christians have no need of governments to keep them in the right way. Understand me—real Christians, not professing ones. They have no uses for institutions, for each obeys the right, and takes upon himself the labor of all needful charities.
Thus it will be found to be a truth of universal applicability, that wherever institutions, and especially legal institutions, are found necessary, the people are not Christians, no matter what creed they profess. Christianity pertains to character, not creed. External institutions are incompatible with true Christianity. Both can not live and act together in the same individual. Men have been conscious of this, and hence have been involved in doubt and difficulty as to their duties. But there need be no difficulty on this point. Let it be understood, that the man who feels the needs of outward restraint belongs to the Mosaic government, and by it he must be governed; that all men who are under the dominion of their selfish natures have not put on Christ, and hence are under Moses. Such are under the law, and must be continued under “tutors and governors.”
External institutions, then, belong to the first dispensation, and will continue to be necessary so long as man continues to live under the dominion of his selfishness and lusts. When he shall be redeemed from such nature in himself, he will be redeemed from bondage to external institutions, and he can not properly be before. The evil, then, is not in the institution, but in that condition of the individual and society which makes the institution necessary; and the remedy is not in destroying the institution, but in elevating man, and thereby dispensing with its need; and until that is done, the law and the prophets must continue.