That is to say, learning their faith from a certain book, and from being taught to comprehend the entire contents of it,—and finding in that book, that though there are “some things in it hard to be understood,” it is yet in its entireness the property of the people; it will come to pass, that all the people will claim to possess it,—will stand to their claim,—and will enforce and carry it, until there shall be none that shall dare to deny or to resist. Then, again, a whole world of intelligent and earnest men, with the Bible in their hands, as Divine thought,—studying the book “till the word of Christ dwells in them richly, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,”—“having the form of knowledge and of truth” there;—marking and comprehending “the things that differ,” and spiritually taught to distinguish between that, which, however glorious when in its proper place, came, at last, to have “no glory, because of the glory that excelleth;”—“waxed old and vanished away as a thing that was done with,” in consequence of that coming in its stead, which was never to be moved—never to be surpassed, and never supplanted by any further or superior dispensation;—men, understanding all this, and understanding, too, that, in consequence of it all, they have the knowledge of a sacrifice which could never be repeated,—and “a great High Priest of their profession, who has entered into heaven, and appears in the presence of God for them,”—and that themselves are “a holy priesthood,” and that spiritual acts, affections, and duties, are the incense and sacrifices of the Christian church, “with which ‘alone’ God is well pleased;”—such men—and we are supposing the whole world to be such—would cleanse Christendom of the corruptions of the faith, just as Christianity, generally considered, would, by its active and universal diffusion, subvert and extinguish the idolatries of Heathenism.—Human priesthood, visible altars, the sacrifice of the mass, literal incense, the “lifting-up of the soul unto vanity,” in the sense of the adoration of saints and martyrs, the worship of a woman, of pictures, images, and relics of the dead,—ecclesiastical tyrannies, popular superstitions, and popular serfdom,—with everything else that is incompatible with a vital and diffused Christian intelligence,—all these would pass away;—the one offering of the one Priest—and the exclusive intercession of the “one Mediator between God and men,”—would be the only things before the mind of the churches;—while they would meet habitually, and meet everywhere, to worship in simplicity,—“in spirit and in truth,”—undeceived by empty ritualisms,—regaled and refreshed by “a rational service,” and edified and established by a ministry of instruction. Christ will be understood to be “a priest upon a throne;” to be the Head of the church, and the superior and “Prince of the kings of the earth,” and to hold in his hands “the keys of death and of the invisible world,”—“to open so that no man can shut, and to shut that no man can open;”—and when all this is apprehended by the nations, it will not be endured that there shall be a sort of blasphemous mimicry of it all in the pretensions and claims of the Man of Sin. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein;”—when this is understood, in its Christian acceptation, and all men are aware that for all equally “Christ died,”—that they are his property, and that none are to interfere between him and his,—that He alone is “Lord” alike, “of the dead and of the living,” and that by “setting his love” on all, he makes each individual spiritually “great,” and stamps a dignity on the nature he redeemed,—when these things are known and felt, there will be none who will “lord it over God’s heritage,” or none to submit to the attempted usurpation.
IV.
Universal Virtue.
In the next place,—in consistency with the principles previously expounded, of the character that God demands in his worshippers,—the necessity to their acceptance, in divine service, of their possession and culture of universal virtue,—and the manner by which, in Christian worshippers, virtue expands and developes into holiness;—in consistency with this, we have next to remark, that when men have become what we have sketched as to religion, there will be the prevalence among them of an elevated morality. It is not denied that there may be virtue and morals without faith;—and that the honourable, and the true, and the lovely, and the beautiful, in habit and behaviour, may exist in the man who is destitute of religion. It is quite possible that an individual who denies that “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof,” by denying that there is any Lord to whom it can belong;—who, therefore, has no sense of religious reverence,—no idea of Divine authority,—no thought of a future account,—who never worships, never acts from spiritual motives, or as “seeing Him who is invisible,”—it is quite possible for such a man to find reasons in the present, visible constitution of things, for making the best of the life that now is, by living purely, uprightly, and honestly in the world. We admit this. But we are now supposing that all men have risen into a higher sphere, through the reception and power of religious faith,—and that their virtue, instead of being a thing that has its roots in the earth, and is nourished by mere mundane influences, is a thing which flows down upon them from heaven, and is quickened and invigorated by intercourse with God. The religious man, if he be true to his privileges and profession, will have all the virtues of the man of the world, besides some others which the latter has not;—and still further, as those that they have in common, are, in him, fed and sustained from a far higher and diviner source than what nourishes those of the man of the world, they ought to be seen to be both more pure and more elevated than his, in simple correspondence with that circumstance. Future society, then, being supposed to have come under the influence of religious truth,—to be reconciled to God through the death of his son, and to be regenerated and renewed by the sanctifying Spirit, and, as such, habitually “to ascend into the hill of the Lord,” and to worship acceptably “in his holy place,” it is to be expected, as the result of this, that it will “increase and abound in all holy conversation and godliness.” Now, there is no personal or social virtue that the New Testament does not inculcate, or that the spirit of the gospel is not adapted to nourish and expand. If the nations of the world were each to possess a national religion in the sense of the whole nation being religious, then, every individual would be chaste and temperate, upright and truthful, fortified by the strength and softened and adorned by the beauties of holiness. Every family would be loving and harmonious; parents wise and worthy of respect; children obedient; brethren living “together in unity.” All business would be conducted justly; commercial transactions would be all clean, and capable of being touched with “clean hands;” trade and handicrafts would be noble and dignified, by being pervaded by the great idea of “duty,” and attended to on principles which would be the very same as those that control the doings of an angel, or direct and inspire a seraph in his songs! Nowhere would be seen drunkenness, or seduction;—robbery and murder would be things of the past. There would be no oppression on the part of the rich; no pride or tyranny in the powerful; no injustice between class and class; no envy in the less favoured of God’s children, prompting them to harsh or petulant judgments of their more distinguished or opulent brothers. There never can be literal and absolute equality of station or circumstance;—there never can be a uniformity of rank or possessions. In the most perfect condition of the world and man, there must still of necessity be master and servant, the employer and the employed;—the head of one, the hand of another, the capital of a third, the back for a burden, and the feet for toil; all these will always be required, and must be furnished, and must act, in any improved state of society. But they may act harmoniously. There need be no fraud, oppression, or injustice. There may be everywhere given “the fair day’s wages for the fair day’s work;”—and there may be everywhere rendered “the fair day’s work for the fair day’s wages.” Society, like the church, is a body with its members. It has its head and feet, its ear and eye, its mouth and hands;—the health of the body, or its physical perfection, does not consist in every member having the same office; but in all fulfilling their respective functions, without disturbance,—each being thus in unity with the rest. The perfect and healthful development of society consists in a condition analogous to this. Christian communism, and Christian socialism, if anything of the sort shall hereafter be, will be found to consist, not in society’s ceasing to be a body by becoming entirely but one member—a huge head, or a gigantic foot, or a great, swinging, muscular arm,—but in all the members acting healthily in their own place; and, while doing so, each having the same care of the other. In this way, and in this way alone, can society be preserved from opposite dangers;—from becoming a monster without parts, that must of necessity perish from the want of organic or functional vitality—or being torn by intestine schisms and dissensions that must tear it to pieces or make it explode!
It is not possible to enlarge on these and kindred matters, that might be introduced under the present illustration. Enough has been said to make manifest the general principle, that, on the supposition of the diffusion in the world of an intelligent, vital, and uncorrupted Christianity, there would result from it the fruits of a universal righteousness. Every family would be “a church in the house;” children would be trained in the way they should go; and conversion from outward, practical wickedness, would be seldom needed in adult age. Education would be universal. Learning and knowledge would be “the stability of these times”—with the fear of God, and the hope of salvation. Science would be devout, and literature pure. The universe would be explored with reverence and humility; discoveries announced without boasting; and improvements and inventions received with gratitude. No books would be written to demoralize and corrupt,—nor the arts be allowed to minister to licentiousness. Industry would be cheerful, and labour honoured; the fruits of the earth would be taken and used as a Divine gift; and the productions of skill would be connected with thoughts of the Maker of the mind. In that day, there would be on every object “holiness to the Lord,” for all men would act in consistency with the belief, that “the earth is His, and the fulness thereof.”
V.
Nationalities.
In the last place: it only remains to be remarked, that this universality of religion and righteousness, in each nation of the earth respectively, would come to have an effect on the relations and intercourse of each with the rest, and on its own internal constitution and action. If all nations were really to believe that “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof,” and especially to connect with this the next clause,—“the world, and they that dwell therein;”—and if they were honestly to carry such a creed fairly out, into all its great practical results,—it would be found to be the charter of peace and freedom, order and liberty, in all lands. Let men get the idea that the earth is God’s, not theirs,—and that all the race are alike his,—his, at once, as created by his goodness and redeemed by his mercy;—and especially let it be imagined, that all habitually mingled in his worship, and that all felt inspired by a desire to live in constant, practical harmony with his will;—why, there could be neither war, nor slavery, nor anarchy, nor despotisms;—men could not be brought, on the supposition suggested, to be trained and taught to slaughter one another!—or to steal one another!—or to buy, and sell, and fetter, and lash those who were the exclusive property of God, and who, whatever their colour, were each of them as much a man as themselves! No monarch could be seduced into the belief that a whole people was made for him;—or that power was not a trust;—or that it could be used for any purpose but the good of the nation, and according to the eternal principles of right on which God himself governs his own. Nor would a people imagine that any new institutions would benefit them, or any change or revolution be an improvement, if they were not each of them a king over himself.—We do not mean to say that one form of political government may not be intrinsically better than another;—but we do mean to say that the Future of the world will no more be distinguished by the same form of political government being universal, than by the universal prevalence of one mode of ecclesiastical polity;—and we further mean to say, that the diffusion of an intelligent and instructed Christianity would carry into the bosoms of all men the Scriptural principles, that government is the institution of God;—that God, in this respect, is the God of order;—and that reverence for authority and submission to law are as much Christian duties as anything else.—Authority may be abused, and law may be unjust; but he who acts in the fear of God, will suffer much, and think more, before he will be persuaded that political rebellion and disobedience are virtues. We do not say that there are not occasions when the one may be patriotic and the other right;—but there is a time coming when none in the places of trust and power will so act as for this to be the case,—and when none in those of submission and obedience will feel that a dignified and manly loyalty has become either an impossibility or a burden. Governors, nowhere, will fear discussion; or fetter the press; or refuse reforms; or cripple independence;—and people, nowhere, will abuse their rights; or desire, or demand, the unreasonable or unjust. The aggregate of families, which make up a nation, living in unity, like each of the families that constitute or compose it, the aggregate of nations will dwell together in the same spirit, and with the same results. Commerce will bring, more and more, the whole earth into friendly intercourse;—the sea that would seem to divide the nations, shall be as a chain to bind people to people, and land to land. Instead of meeting for hostile purposes, there will be the interchange of visits to promote science, to perfect literature, to spread art, to cultivate religion—or to honour God in the results of industry, by the circulation round the world of an Exhibition like that which is just at hand. If, in all these ways to which we have adverted, the lessons of our Royal Exchange were to be learned, and we ourselves, and our expected visitors, to carry them out, in the full development of individual, social, and national life,—many of the pictures of the prophets would be realized; the kingdom of heaven would be established on the earth; and the tabernacle of God would be universally with man. Evils might remain, but everything would tend to mitigate or diminish them. The world would be a temple,—the nations a church;—all work would be a daily worship, while daily worship, strictly so called, would hallow and sanctify all work. The day of rest would be welcomed as it came,—but welcomed for its devotion, as well as its repose. From all hearts, from all hands, from palace and cottage—from the mine and the market-place—from the field and the factory—the forge and the loom—the city and the sea, from all nations and from all men,—there would be going up constantly to heaven, that which is required when Christians are exhorted in language like this—“Dearly beloved, I beseech you, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Were this ever to be universally realized, the final cause of the creation of the world, might, without a figure, be said to be attained. God’s great idea would be seen to be complete; and He himself, if we might so speak, after being grieved by the wickedness of the race, would return again to the unruffled, deep, and ineffable satisfaction with which he was filled before the world was, when, anticipating the results of his creative energy, “he rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth, AND HIS DELIGHTS WERE WITH THE SONS OF MEN.”
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.
Having thus filled up our originally projected outline of thought, we shall rapidly conclude and consummate the argument by two or three practical suggestions.
1. In the first place, a few hints may not be inappropriate as to the spirit with which Christians should contemplate the Exhibition. There are some prophets, of these our times, whose “scrolls” in relation to the great event, are filled with “lamentation, mourning, and woe.” They can see nothing, in the thing itself, but a gigantic display of pride and vain glory,—and they apprehend nothing, from the meeting of the nations, but mutual corruption, prolonged riot, and perhaps blood. Their favourite analogies are the Tower of Babel, Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image, or the Devil tempting Christ by revealing on the mount “all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them,” or some such human or diabolical atrocities! Now it is a pity to give way to these dark imaginings;—to see nothing in our fellow-man but what is bad, and to expect nothing from the hand of God but the thunderbolt of vengeance, or the “vials of wrath!” It is far better, far more becoming, especially in those that believe that “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein,” to take healthy, cheerful, and hopeful views, of the great event,—whose origin, it is at least possible, may have been good, and whose influence and results may be useful. It ought by no means to be thought a self-evident thing, that there is nothing in the multitude of minds and hearts, which have all been engaged in perfecting the Exhibition, but selfish vanity and godless pride. In many there may have been frequent and great thoughts of God, devout humility, and earnest prayer for that blessing without which nothing can be successful. Supplications may have gone up, in various languages and from many lands, that God would direct and crown the work, and cause it to promote his kingdom and glory; and, though the numbers may have been small, who have thus sought to hallow and sanctify the project by prayer, in comparison with those who are interested in it without devotion and without reference to the Divine blessing, Christians should remember, that, in a world like ours, living under mercy, the very principle of the Divine government is, to bless one man through the medium of another, and even to bless the many for the sake of the few;—just as ten men of righteousness and of faith might have saved the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and as those that were saved, were saved on account of one such man,—for “when the Lord destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and—sent Lot out from the midst of the overthrow.” Let Christians, therefore, have faith in one another. Let them believe that many as good as themselves are engaged in the Exhibition, and have devoutly sought for it the blessing of the Most High. Let others learn to do likewise. Instead of indulging in forebodings and prophecies which, being uttered, might fulfil themselves, they should rather exercise trust in Providence, indulge hope for the church and the world, and earnestly endeavour to serve both, by hearty, honest, and sincere intercession for all nations, and for all men,—that that God, who can make even “the wrath of man to praise him,” would educe praise and glory to Himself, and much that shall be productive of happiness to men, from what brings them together in peaceful intercourse, and reminds them of their common relation to himself. The “crisis” of the world occurred when there was a gathering of strangers and foreigners in one place;—they were brought together at the time of the crucifixion,—they were assembled again at the wonders of Pentecost,—and there can be no doubt that there was a designed coincidence on both occasions. God has sanctified the meeting of numbers, of “men of every nation under heaven,”—“Parthians and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judæa, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya, about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians,”—God has sanctified a gathering like this to his own purposes,—to the establishment of his kingdom and the spread of his truth; and what he has done before he may do again; and he will do it, if Christians devoutly and earnestly seek it, by such a spirit of prayer, as, “loving all things, and believing all things, and hoping all things,” will crave at his hand a blessing for their brothers, and crave it so that it cannot be denied.