Restitution Of All Things (added to website on 02/19/2004)

BY ANDREW JUKES
March 25, 1867

"Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee? Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? Or thy faithfulness in destruction?"—Psalm lxxxviii, 10,11

Preface
A thought conceived but not expressed is at best only an unborn child, not only without any influence on the world, but of whose very existence the world may be unconscious; but once brought forth it becomes part of the living working universe, to work there its appointed season, and possibly to leave its mark for good or evil on all successive time.

The thought which is now expressed in these pages has long been growing in the writer's heart. Hidden at first and unconfessed, during the last few years it has from time to time been brought forth in conversation with trusted Christian friends. But the time seems come to give it a wider circulation. Men's hearts, now perhaps more than in any former age, are everywhere moved to enquire into the nature and inspiration of Holy Scripture, and the destiny of the human race, more especially the future state of sinners, as taught in Holy Scripture. Many are perplexed, hesitating to receive as perfect and divine a revelation, which, they are told, in the name of God consigns a large proportion of those who in some sense at least are His offspring to everlasting misery. And while the conclusion, uttered or unuttered, in many hearts is, either that this doctrine cannot really be a part of Holy Scripture, or else that what is called Holy Scripture cannot be a perfect exposition or revelation of the mind of God our Saviour, few even of those who receive the Bible as divine seem able to solve the difficulty, or throw much light on those portions of the "oracles of God," which confessedly are "dark sayings" and "hard to be understood."

A friend, whose mind had been unsettled by this subject, lately expressed to the writer of these pages some part of his perplexity. The following letter was the result. The writer feels the solemn responsibility of dissenting on such a question from the current creed of Christendom; and nothing but his most assured conviction that the popular notion of never-ending punishment is as thorough a misunderstanding of God's Word as the doctrine of Transubstantiation, and that the one as much as the other conduces directly to infidelity, though both equally claim to stand on the express words of Holy Scripture, would had led him to moot a subject which cannot even be questioned in some quarters without provoking the charge of heresy. Truth is worth all this, and much more. The writer has felt more the force of the consideration, how far, granting its truth, the doctrine of the Restitution of All Things is one to be proclaimed generally. Truth spoken before its time may be not hurtful only, but even most unlawful. The Christian truth, that "there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek," and that "circumcision is nothing," would surely have been unlawful, because untimely, in the Jewish age. So even now there may be many eternal verities which are beyond what St. Peter calls "the present truth," and which may therefore "not be lawful for a man to utter." But the fact that God Himself is ever opening out His truth seems a sufficient reason for making it know as far as He opens it. Is not His opening it to His servants an intimation to them that His will is that they should declare and publish it? Age after age the day arrives to utter something which till the appointed day is come has been "a secret hid in God." The very gospel which we all believe once jarred on many minds as a doctrine directly opposed to and subversive of the law given by God to Moses.

The doctrine here stated, therefore, though it runs like a golden thread through Holy Scripture, may, because as yet it has been hidden from many of God's children, be condemned by them as contrary to God's mind, just as Paul's gospel, when first proclaimed, was charged with being opposed to that old law of which it was but the fulfilment. In every age the man of faith can only say, "We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak."

Truth may, and indeed must, vary in form as time goes on,--Christ Himself, the Truth, at different stages appears differently,--for God has stooped to this, to give us truth as we can bear it; stooped therefore to be judged as inconsistent; becaus e He is Love, and waits to reveal Himself till we are prepared for the revelation. But the end will justify all His ways; and some of His children can even now justify Him.

The night is far spent, the day is at hand. And as in early dawn the starts grow dim, because the day is coming, so now the lesser lights which have been guides in darker days are paling before the coming Sun of Righteousness. And though those who go up to the hill-tops and watch the east may see more of the light than those who are buried in the valleys or sleep with close shutter, all who look out at the glowing firmament may see signs of coming day. Men must be fast asleep indeed, if they do not perceive that a new age is even now upon us.

The writer would only add that he will be thankful for any suggestions or corrections on the subject of the following pages. Any letter addressed to him, to the care of the Publishers, will be duly forwarded and acknowledged.


March 25, 1867

THE RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS, &c.

MY DEAR C-----

The account you give of your perplexity, and of the answers with which it has been met by some around you, reminds me, (if one may refer to it in such a connection,) of what happened some months ago in a Sunday-school. The boys in one of the classes were reading the chapter which records how David, as he walked on the roof of his house, saw Bathsheba. One of the boys, looking up through the school-room window at the steep roofs of the houses opposite, after a pause, said,--"But, Teacher, how could David walk on the roof of his house?" The teacher, on this point as ignorant as his scholar, at once checked all enquiry by saying, "Dont grumble at the Bible, boy." Meanwhile the teacher of an adjoining class had overheard the conversation. Leaning over to his fellow-teacher he whispered, "The answer to the difficulty is, With men it is impossible, but not with God, for with God all things are possible." Such was the solution of "the difficulty;" too true a sample, I fear, of the way in which on the one hand honest doubts are often met, as though all enquiry into what is perplexing in Scripture must be criminal; and on the other, of the absurdities which are confidently put forth as true expositions of Gods mind and word.

Your difficulty is, how are we, as believers in Scripture, to reconcile its prophetic declarations as to the final restitution of all things, with those other statements of the same Scripture, which are so often quoted to prove eternal punishment. Scripture, you say, affirms that God our Father is a Saviour, full of pity towards the lost, seeking their restoration; so loving that He has given for man His Only-Begotten Son, in and by whom the curse shall be overcome, and all the kindreds of the earth be blessed; and yet that some shall go away into everlasting punishment, where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. How is it possible, you ask, to reconcile all this? Are not the statements directly inconsistent? And if so, must not the statements of the Bible, as of other books, be corrected by that light of reason and conscience, which is naturally or divinely implanted in every one of us?

Now I grant at once that there is a difficulty here, and further that the question how it is to be solved is one deserving our most attentive consideration. I entirely agree with you also, that "though indifference or devout timidity, calling itself submission, may set aside such enquiries as unpractical or even dangerous, though indolence under the guise of humility may refuse to look at them, and spiritual selfishness, wrapt in the mantle of its own supposed security, may forbid such investigations as presumptuous, Christ-like souls can no more be unconcerned as to what may or may not be Gods mind as to the mass of humanity, than they can stand by unaffected when the destitute perish from hunger, or the dying agonize in pain." All this to me seems self-evident.

But agreeing with you in this, I cannot grant that the difficulty you urge is unanswerable, or that, even if it were, you would be wise for such a reason to reject the Scriptures.

Is there any revelation which God has given free from difficulties? Are there not even difficulties as to the present facts of life which are quite inexplicable? Is it not a fact that man comes into this world a fallen creature; and yet that God who made man is just, holy, and merciful? But how do you reconcile the facts? You think that man is not a sinner only because he does evil. You rather believe that he does evil because he is a sinner, and that, guard and train him as you will, evil will come out of him because it is already in him; that in the best there is an inability to do the good they would; that in all there is a self-will and self-love, the pregnant root of sin of every kind. And yet you say that God is good. Say that the evil came through Adams disobedience; yet how is it just to make us suffer for a trespass committed thousands of years before we were born? That there is a difficulty here is evident from the many attempts which have been made to solve it. Yet you and I believe both sides of the mystery. We believe that man by nature is corrupt, his heart wrong from his mothers womb, a dying sinful creature, who cannot change or save himself, utterly hopeless but for Gods redeeming mercy; and yet that God is good, and that He does not mock us when He declares that not He, but we are blameable.

Why then, see in that life is such a mystery, and that there are contradictions in it which seem irreconcilable, and for the true answer to which we have often to wait, should you take the one difficulty you urge as a sufficient reason for hastily rejecting those Scriptures, which you have often found to be as a light in a dark place? Rather look again and again more carefully into them. Then you will see, as I think I see, how these Scriptures, rightly divided open out far more exalted and glorious hopes for man than his own unaided imagination or understanding has ever yet dared to guess or been able to argue out.

I. The Nature of Scripture
But before I come to the testimony of Scripture, let me clear my way by a few words as to its nature and inspiration. The mystery of the Incarnate Word, I am assured, is the key, and the only sufficient one, to the mystery of the Written Word; the letter, that is the outward and human form, of which answers to the flesh of Christ, and is but a part of the mystery of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word. The Incarnation, instead of being, as some have said, different in principle to the other revelations of Himself which God has given us, is exactly in accordance with, and indeed the key to, all of them, in one and all the unseen and invisible God being manifested in or through His creatures, or in some creature-form; and this because thus only could God be revealed to creatures like us. Whether in Nature, or Scripture, or Christs flesh, the law is one. The divine is revealed under a veil, and that veil a creature-form.

(1) Let me express what I can on this subject, though in these days what I have to say may lie open to the charge of mysticism. The blessed fact, which we confess as Christians, is that the Word of God has been made flesh,--has come forth in human form from human nature. Jesus of Nazareth is Son of God; not partly man and partly God, but true man born of a woman, yet with all the fullness of the God-head bodily. So exactly is Holy Scripture the Word of God; not half human and half divine, but thoroughly human, yet no less thoroughly divine, with all treasures of wisdom and knowledge revealed yet hidden in it. And just as He, the Incarnate Word, was born of a woman, out of the order of nature, without the operation of man, by the power of Gods Spirit; so exactly as the Written Word come out of the human heart, not by the operation of the human understanding, that is the man in us, but by the power of the Spirit of God directly acting upon the heart, that is, the feminine part of our present fallen and divided human nature. It is of course easy to say this is mere mysticism. God manifest in the flesh is a great mystery. And the manifestation of Gods truth out of mans heart in human form is of course the same, and no less a mystery. And those who do not see how our nature like our race is both male and female, may here find some difficulty. But the fact remains the same, that our nature is double, male and female, head and heart, intellect and affection. And it is out of the latter of these, that is the heart, that the letter of Scripture has been brought forth, the human form of the Divine Word, exactly as Christ was conceived and born of the Virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Ghost, without an earthly father. In no other way could Gods Word come in human form. In no other way could it come out of human nature. But it has humbled itself so to come for us, out of the heart of prophets and apostles; in its human form, like Christs flesh, subject to all those infirmities and limitations which Christs flesh was subject to thoroughly human as He was; yet in spirit, like Him, thoroughly divine, and full of the unfathomed depths of Gods almighty love and wisdom.

Now just as the fact that Jesus was man, and as such grew by degrees in wisdom and stature here, and lived our life, which is a process of corruption, and had our members of shame, and was made sin for us, by no means disproves that He was also Son of God, but is only a witness of the love which brought Him here in human form; so the fact that Holy Scripture is human proves nothing against its being divine also, exactly as Christ was. I would that those who are now dissecting Scripture, and finding it under their hands to be, what indeed it is, thoroughly and truly human, would but pause and ask themselves, what they could have found in Christs flesh, had they tortured it as they now are torturing the letter. Had it been possible for them to have dissected that Body,--I must say it when I see what men are doing now,--would they have found, with the eye of sense at least, anything there which was not purely human? The scourge, the nails, the spear, the bitter cry, and death at last, proved that that wounded form was indeed most truly human. The Bishop of Natal has dissected the letter of Scripture till it is to him as the flesh of Christ would have been to a mere anatomist. It is not to him a living thing to teach him, but a dead thing to be dissected and criticized. He has proof that it is human; he has proof that it has grown; he has proof that death works in it, or at least touches it; he has seen its shameful members; he does not wish to lead any to despise the true teachings given by this human form; for he says it has been the channel through which he has received much blessing; he only wishes men to see that it is really human, which of course it must be, seeing it came out of the heart of man; but, consciously or unconsciously, he is leading men, not from the letter to the spirit, which would be well, but merely to reject and judge the letter, not seeing how that letter, like Christs flesh, is incorruptible and shall be glorified. After all, this too perhaps must be done: it was needful that Christ should suffer and be put to death; but woe to him who rejects and slays the human form, in which, for us, Gods truth has been manifested. Yet for this, too, mercy is in store, for they do it ignorantly in unbelief.

The Bible then resembles, yet differs from, other books, just as the flesh of Christ, resembles and yet differs from the flesh of other men. All the utterances of good and true men are in their measure aspects of the mystery of the Incarnation, being partial revelations in human form of Gods eternal Truth and Wisdom; even as every good and true man also in his measure is another aspect of the same mystery, for God has said, "I will dwell and walk in them," and so human forms and flesh and blood are by grace Gods tabernacles. But the Incarnation and Manifestation of the Divine Word in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ was pre-eminent, and infinitely beyond what the indwelling of the Word is in other good men, though Christ took our flesh and infirmities, and we may be filled with all the fullness of God. In like manner the Incarnation and Manifestation of the Word of God in the letter of Scripture is pre-eminent, and differs from other books exactly as the flesh of Christ differs from the flesh of other men. Instead of believing therefore, that, because Scripture is human, and has grown with men, and has marks of our weakness and shame and death upon it, therefore it must perish and see corruption, I believe it can never perish or see corruption. I see it is human; I see that it has grown; I see it can be judged and wounded. I believe too that it has in its composition exactly so much of perishableness as Christs flesh had when He walked here with His apostles. But it is like Christs body, the peculiar tabernacle of Gods truth. And those who walk by it day and night know this, for they have seen, as all shall one day see, it transfigured.

(2) I proceed to shew that like Christs flesh, and indeed like every other revelation which God has made of Himself, the letter of Scripture is a veil quite as much as a revelation, hiding while it reveals, and yet revealing while it hides; presenting to the eye something very different from that which is within, even as the veil of the Tabernacle, with its inwoven cherubim, hid the glory within the veil, of which nevertheless it was the witness; and that therefore, as seen by sense, it is and must be apparently inconsistent and self-contradictory. Both these points are important; for if Gods revelations of Himself are veils, even while they are also manifestations; and if therefore they are and must be open to the charge of inconsistency and contradiction; this fact will help us to understand, not only why Scripture is what it is, but also how to interpret its varied truths and doctrines.

And here, that we may see how all Gods revelations are alike, let us look for a moment at those other revelations of Himself, the books of Nature and Providence, which God has given us. Are they not both veils as well as revelations, the first sense-readings of which are never to be relied on?

First, as to Nature, which has been called Gods formed word, and which beyond all question is a revelation of God. Yet how does it reveal Him? Is it not also a veil, hiding quite as much as it reveals of Him? Is it not a fact that our sense-readings, even of the clearest physical phenomena, such as the rising and setting of the sun, are opposed to the truth, and need to be corrected by a higher faculty? Is it not further a fact that Nature hides almost more than it reveals of God our Saviour? Does it not seem even to misrepresent Him? Does it not seem also to contradict itself, with force against force, heat against cold, darkness against light, death against life, its very elements in ceaseless strife everywhere? On one side shewing a preserver, on the other a destroyer: here boundless provision for the support of life; there death reigning. We know that this contradiction has been so strongly felt by some, that on the ground of it they have denied that the world is the work of one superintending mind, and have argued that it must be either the result of chance or the work of eternally opposing powers. Are there not here exactly the same contradictions and the same difficulties which we find in Scripture? Either therefore we must say, Nature is an inconsistent and lying book, and therefore we will not believe the testimony either of its barren rocks or smiling cornfields; or else we must confess some veil or riddle here. It is precisely the same riddle which we find in every other revelation.

For the book of Providence, which I may call Gods wrought word, has the very same peculiarity. Providence surely is a revelation of God; and yet is it not, like Nature, a veil quite as much as a revelation? Look not only at those things which David speaks of, that Gods servants suffer, while the wicked are in great prosperity and not plagued like other men; but look at born cripples and idiots, the deaf and dumb and blind, who, as far as we know, cannot be suffering for their own sake;--look at the fact that in one instance crime is punished, in another unpunished, here. Is not this inconsistent? Where is the justice of it; and where, as judged by sense, is the love of sending souls into the world whose life throughout is one of suffering? Certainly here is a text in Gods providential book of rule, (which I may say answers to the books of Kings, or Rule, in Scripture,) quite as hard as any of those texts in the book of Kings, which some would cut out of Scripture, as presenting us with false and unworthy views of Him. But can these critics blot the selfsame text out of Gods book of rule in Providence? There it stands, just as it stands in the book of Nature also. Shall we therefore say that the revelation of God in Providence is an inconsistent one? No the fact is, it is a veil as well as a revelation, and all its apparent inconsistencies and contradictions can be cleared up, if not to sense, yet to faith, in the light of Gods sanctuary (Psa. lxxiii. 3-17).

Even so it is with those two other revelations, which, much as they have been gainsaid, the Church has received and yet believes in, I mean the flesh of Christ and Holy Scripture. The flesh of Christ, the Incarnate Word, is beyond all question a veil (Heb. x. 20). How much did it hid, even while to some it revealed God. How few knew what He was: how many misunderstood Him. And how inconsistent did that feeble form appear with the truth that it was Gods chosen dwelling-place. The apparent inconsistency may be gathered from the fact that those to whom He came stumbled at it.

And from that day to this that human form, that birth of a woman, that growth in years and stature, those tears, that sweat, that weariness, those bitter cries, those members of shame, that dying life, all this, or part of this, has to the eye of sense seemed so inconsistent with divinity, that thousands have denied that that Form was or could be a revelation of God, even while they allow that it has done what mere humanity never did. The fact is, it was, and was intended to be, a veil as well as a revelation: and as such there could not but be apparent contradiction.

The same is true of Scripture, that is, the written word, which like Nature has gone through six days of change, and like Christs flesh has grown in wisdom and stature. Throughout it is a veil while it is a revelation; and therefore, like Nature, Providence, and the flesh of Christ, it is and must be open to the same reproach, not only of inconsistency, but of setting forth unworthy and even untrue statements of God. For indeed Scripture is a veil, which when taken in the letter, that is, as it appears to sense, makes out God to be just as far from what He really is as Nature and Providence seem to make Him; and yet all the while it reveals Him also, as nothing else has ever revealed Him. For though in Christs flesh the revelation is complete spite of the veil, its very completeness and compactness keep us from seeing the various parts, which are set before us in Holy Scripture piecemeal (Heb. i. 1.), and in a way that neither Nature nor Providence at present shew Him to us. For the law and the prophets tell us more of God and of His purposes, as to the restitution of all things and the promised times of rest and Sabbath, than Nature yet declares to our present understanding; though indeed Nature may be, and probably is, saying far more to us than any mere human eye or ear has yet apprehended.

Now if Nature and Providence, Christs flesh and Scripture, have all this same characteristic peculiarity of being veils as well as revelations, and are therefore open to the charge of inconsistency, as read by sense, seeming to declare what is opposed to fact, may we not conclude that they have all come from the same Hand, especially when it is seen that the apparent contradictions, which are found in any of these revelations, like the tabernacle veil, invariably cover some deeper truth, which cannot safely be expressed, to fallen men at least, in any other way.

(3) The deeper question, why God has thus revealed Himself should not be passed by; for it opens the heart of God. God alone of all teachers has had two methods, law and gospel, flesh and spirit,--one working where we are, the other to bring us in rest where He is,--one to be done away, the other to abide (2 Cor. iii. 11),--which at least looks like inconsistency. The reason is that God is love, and that in no other way could He ever have reached us where we were, or brought us where He is. God therefore was willing to seem inconsistent, and for awhile to come into mans likeness, to bring man back to His likeness. Here is the reason for law before gospel, for Christs flesh before His Spirit, for all the different dispensations, and for all the types and shadows which for awhile veiled while they revealed Gods living Word. Here is the reason for the human form of the Divine Word in Scripture. Had that Word come to us as it is in itself, we should no more have apprehended or seen it than we see God. Had it come to us even in angelic form, only a very few, the pure and thoughtful ever could have received it.
But it stooped to reveal itself to creatures through a creature, and to come to us out of the heart of man in truly human form, so that all men, Gentile or Jew, polished or savage, might through its perfect humanity be able to receive it. God more than any of His most loving servants has become a Jew to gain the Jews, and weak to gain the weak, and under law to gain those under law; because He is love, and love must sacrifice itself, if by any means it can save and bless others. If therefore men are in the flesh, God comes to them in flesh; if they are in darkness and shadows, God comes for them into the shadows; because they cannot comprehend the light, and because the darkness and light are both alike to Him (Psa. cxxxix 12.).

If this is not the way of His revelation, how, I ask, has He ever revealed Himself? Will any dare to say that He has not revealed Himself? Has God who is love been content to leave poor man in perfect ignorance? Or if He has told man what He is, as most surely He has, how has He done so? Did He, does He, can He, plainly tell out to all what He is? And if He did not, why did He not? Why have men always heard God first speaking in law before a gospel dawned on them? Why must it be so, or at least why does He allow it? Is it a mistake of His, which we must avoid, when we attempt to make Him known; or shall we be wise, if, in doing what He is doing, that is, in revealing Him, we imitate His way of revelation? Surely from the days of Adam, seeing what man is, and our delusions about Him, God must have desired, and we know has desired, to make Himself known; and being Almighty, All-wise, and All-loving, surely He has taken the best method of doing it. Again I ask, how has He done it, how must He do it, man being what He is? Could God consistently with our salvation have done it otherwise than it has been done? To shew Himself as He is would to man be no shewing of Him. It was needful that He should shew Himself under the forms and limitations of that creature in and to whom He sought to reveal Himself, that is by shadows before light, by law before gospel, by a letter before a quickening spirit, in a word, by the humiliation of His eternal Word stooping to come out of mans heart and in human form.

And yet this could not be done without the Truth by its very humanity laying itself open to the charge of being merely human and not divine, and to the humiliation of being rejected for having our infirmities upon it. Love can bear all this, and God is love, and the truth can bear it, for truth must conquer all things. And therefore while it submits to take a human form, in which it can be judged and die, (for it must die, and to some of us has died, in the form we first apprehended it,--a trial of faith sooner or later to be known by all disciples, who, like apostles of old in the same strait, are sorely perplexed at this dying, for they have trusted that this is He which should have redeemed Israel,--) it must also live and rise again, and glorify that human form for ever. But because it has stooped to come in human form, out of the heart of man, even as Christ came forth from Mary, for us, therefore like Him it shall be stripped and mocked. But those who are stripping it know not what they do.

II. The Testimony of Scripture
I pass on now from the nature of Scripture to its teachings as to the destiny of the human race, and more especially of those who here either reject or never hear the gospel. I feel how solemn the enquiry is, not only because no subject can be of greater moment, but because what appears to me to be the truth differs from those conclusions which have been received by the majority of Christians. Believing, however, that the Holy Scriptures, under God and His Spirits teaching, is the final appeal in all controversies,--regarding it as the unexhausted mine from whence the unsearchable riches of Christ have yet still more to be dug out,--acknowledging no authority against its conclusions, and with the deepest conviction that one jot and one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled,--I turn to it on this as on every other point, to listen and bow to its decisions. And knowing, for by grace this Word is no stranger to me, that like Christs flesh it is a veil as well as a revelation,--knowing that it has many things to say which we cannot bear at first, and that, if taken partially or in the letter, it may appear to teach what is directly opposed to Christs mind and to its true meaning;--in this like not a few of Christs own words, as when He said, "He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one;" (S. Luke xxii.36.) and again, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up;" (S. John ii.19.) and again, "He that eateth me shall live by me;" (S. John vi.57.) and again, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth;" (S. John xi.11.) all of which were misunderstood by not a few of those who first heard these words from Christs own mouth; --knowing too that the words of Holy Scripture, in many places where they seem contradictory, and in its "dark sayings," (Psalm lxxviii, 2; Prov. i.6.) and "things hard to be understood," (2 S. Pet. iii.16.) ever cover some deep and blessed mystery, I see that the question is, not what this or that text, taken by itself or in the letter, seems to say at first sight, but rather what is the mind of God, and what the real meaning in His Word of any apparent inconsistency. If I err in attempting to answer this, my error will, I trust, provoke some better exposition of Gods truth. If what I see is truth, like His coming who was the Truth, it must bring glory to God on high and on earth peace and goodwill to men.

What then does Scripture say on this subject? Its testimony appears at first sight contradictory. Not only is there on the one hand law, condemning all, while on the other hand there is the gospel, with good news for every one; but further there are direct statements as to the results of these, which at first sight are apparently irreconcilable. First our Lord calls His flock "a little flock," (S. Luke xii.32.) and states distinctly that "many are called, but few are chosen;" (S. Matt. xx.16, and xxii.14.) that "strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it;" (S. Matt. vii.14.) that "many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able;" (S. Luke xiii.24.) that while "he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him;" (S. John iii. 36) that "the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment," (S. Matt. xxv. 46) "prepared for the devil and his angels;" (S. Matt. xxv. 41.) "the resurrection of damnation;" (S. John v. 29.) "the damnation of hell," (S. Matt. xxiii. 33.) "where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched;" (S. Mark ix. 44.) that though "every word against the Son of Man may be forgiven, the sin against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come;" (S. Matt. xii. 32.) and that of one at least it is true, that "good had it been for that man if he had not been born." (S. Matt. xxvi. 24.)

These are the words of Christ Himself, and they are in substance repeated just as strongly by His Apostles. St. Paul declares that while some are "saved" by the gospel, others "perish;" (2 Cor. ii. 15.) that "many walk whose end is destruction;" (Phil. iii. 19.) that "the Lord Jesus shall be revealed, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe in that day." (2 Thess. i. 8-10) To the Hebrews he says, "If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries;" (Heb. x. 26,27.) that "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," (Heb. x. 31.) for "our God is a consuming fire." (Heb. xii. 29.) St. Peter repeats the same doctrine, that "judgment must begin at the house of God, and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God; for if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" (1 St. Pet. iv. 17,18) He further says of "false teachers," who "deny the Lord that bought them," that they "shall bring upon themselves swift destruction," and, like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha, "shall utterly perish in their own corruption." (2 S. Pet. ii. 1,3,6,12.) St. Johns words are at least as strong, that "the fearful, and unbelieving, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their place in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death;" (Rev. xxi. 8.) and that "those who worship the beast, and his image, shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and the presence of the Lamb, and they have no rest day and night, and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever." (Rev. xiv.9,10,11.)

Words could not well be stronger. The difficulty is that all this is but one side of Scripture, which in other places seems to teach a very different doctrine. For instance, there are first the words of God Himself, repeated again and again by those same Apostles whom I have just quoted, that "in Abrahams seed all the kindreds of the earth shall be blessed;" (Gen. xii. 3; xxii. 18; Acts iii.25; Gal. iii. 8.) words which St. Peter expounds to mean that there shall be "a restitution of all things," adding that "God hath spoken of this by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." (Acts iii. 21.) St. Paul further declares this wondrous "mystery of Gods will, that He hath purposed in Himself, according to His good pleasure, to rehead and reconcile unto Himself, in and by Christ, all things, whether they be things in heaven," that is the spirit-world, where the conflict with Satan yet is, (Rev. xii. 7.) "or things on earth," that is this outward world, where death now reigns, and where even Gods elect are by nature children of wrath, even as other men. (Eph. i. 9,10; Col. i. 20; Eph. ii. 3.) Further St. Paul asserts that "all creation, which now groans, shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God." (Rom. viii. 19-23.)

In another place he declares, that "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself," (2 Cor. v. 19.) and that Christ "took our flesh and blood, through death to destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;" (Heb. ii. 14.) that "if by the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift of grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many:" (Rom. v. 15.) that "therefore as by the offence of one, or by one offence, judgment came on all to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, or by one righteousness, the free gift should come on all unto justification of life," while "they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ;" (Rom. v. 17,18) that "as sin hath reigned unto death, so grace might reign unto eternal life," yea, that "where sin abounded, grace did yet much more abound." (Rom. v. 20,21.) To another church he states the same doctrine, that "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive;" (2 Cor. xv. 22.) and that "the end" shall not come "till all are subject to Him," that "God may be," not all in some, but "all in all; for He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet; the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." (1 Cor. xv. 24-28.) So he says again, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, . . . that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth, even in Him." (Eph. i. 3-10.) To the same purpose he writes in another epistle, "that at, [or in, (S. John xiv. 13,14; and xvi. 23,24.)] the name of Jesus, (that is Saviour,) every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father;" (Phil. ii. 10,11.) "for to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living." (Rom. xiv. 9.) He further declares that "for this sake he suffers reproach, because he hopes in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those who believe;" (1 Tim. iv. 10.) that this God "will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth;" that therefore "thanksgivings as well as prayers should be made for all," because there is "a ransom for all, to be testified in due time;" (1 Tim. ii. 1-6.) and lastly that "God hath concluded all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all." (Rom. xi. 32.) The beloved Apostle St. John repeats the same doctrine, that "the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world;" (1 S. John iv. 14.) for God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world by Him might be saved;" (S. John iii. 17.) further he teaches that the Only-Begotten Son "is the propitiation, not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world:" (1 S. John ii. 2.) that He is "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world," (S. John i. 29.) and "was revealed for this very purpose that He might destroy the works of the devil," (1 S. John iii. 8.) and that, as a result, "there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor pain, because all things are made new, and the former things are passed away." (Rev. xxi. 4, 5; and see Rev. v. 13.) For "the Father loveth the son, and hath given all things into His hand:" (S. John iii. 35.) and the Son Himself declares, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Fathers will, which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up on the last day." (S. John vi. 37-39.) And again He says, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." (S. John xii. 32.)

Now is not this apparent contradiction,--few finding the way of life, and yet in Christ all made alive,--Gods elect a little flock, and yet all the kindreds of the earth blessed in Abrahams seed,--mercy upon all, and yet eternal punishment,--the restitution of all things, and yet eternal destruction,--the wrath of God for ever, and yet all things reconciled to Him,--eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, and yet the destruction through death, not of the works of the devil only, but of him who has the power of death, that is the devil,--the second death and the lake which burneth with fire, and yet no more death or curse, but all things subdued by Christ, and God all in all. What can this contradiction mean? Is there any key, and if so, what is it, to this mystery?

The common answer is, that these opposing words only mean, that some are saved and some are lost for ever; that the saved are the elect of this and other dispensations, who as compared with the world have hitherto been but a little flock; but that, though as yet few have found the strait and narrow way, all nations shall be saved in the Millennium; further that though we read, "There shall be no more death," yet, since the wrath of God is for ever, there must be eternal death, (words by the way not to be found in all Scripture,) and that this death consists in never ending torments, so endless that after the lapse of the ages on ages the punishment of the wicked shall be no nearer its end than when it first commenced; that therefore the words, "In Christ shall all be made alive," only mean that all who are here in Christ shall be made alive; that the Lamb of God, though willing to be, is not really the Saviour of the world, but only of those who are not of the world, but chosen out of it; that instead of taking away the sin of the world, He only takes away the sin of those who here believe in Him; that all things therefore shall not be reconciled to God, and that "the restitution of all things," whatever it may mean, does not mean the reconciliation to God of all men.

This is the approved teaching of Christendom; this is the orthodox solution of the mystery; the simple objection to which is, that in asserting one side of Scripture, it is obliged, not only to ignore and deny the other side, but to represent God in a character absolutely opposed to that in which the gospel exhibits Him. Nor does it meet the difficulty to say, as some have said, that though a large proportion of mankind are lost for ever, the greater part will probably be saved, inasmuch as at least one-half of the race die in infancy, whose sin is perfectly atoned for by Christs sacrifice. What is this but saying, that, if evil has fair play, it will overmatch all that God can do to meet and remedy it? Is this indeed the glad tidings of great joy? Is this the glorious gospel of the blessed God? Is it not simply a misapprehension of Gods purpose, arising out of some mystery connected with the method of our redemption? But "the Scripture cannot be broken" thus. (S. John x. 35.) Not a few therefore have confessed that there is some difficulty here, which as yet they cannot solve or reconcile. Is the mystery beyond our present light? Or is there any, and if so, what is the key to it?

The truth which solves the riddle is to be found in those same Scriptures which seem to raise the difficulty, and lies in the mystery of the will of our ever blessed God as to the process and stages of redemption:--

(1) First, His will by some to bless and save others; by a first-born seed, "the first born from the dead," (Col. i. 18.) to save and bless the later-born:--

(2) His will therefore to work out the redemption of the lost by successive ages or dispensations, or, to use the language of St. Paul, "according to the purpose of the ages:" (Eph. iii. 11.) and

(3) Lastly, His will (thus meeting the nature of our fall,) to make death, judgment, and destruction, the means and way to life, acquittal, and salvation; in other words, "through death to destroy him that has the power of death, that is the devil, and to deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Heb. ii. 14.)

These truths throw a flood of light on Scripture, and enable us at once to see order and agreement, where without this light there seems perplexing inconsistency. We should of course get deeper views, if, instead of starting from the fall, and merely asking what is declared as to its results and remedy, we began with God, and enquired what He has revealed as to His end in making man, and how far, if at all, His purpose in creation is or has been frustrated in any way. Did the entrance of sin change or affect Gods plan? Was redemption only an after-thought to meet an undersigned or undesired difficulty? What was the object of the Incarnation? On what grounds, and for what end, is judgment committed to the Son of Man? What was intended to be accomplished by the first and second death? These are questions which must meet us, if we think of God and of His thoughts, and give Him credit for having had a purpose in creation. Christ is the answer to them all; and His Word contains, though under a veil, the perfect key to these and all mysteries; though in His Word, as in His works, the open secret is unseen, and His wisdom, as in the wondrous laws of light, may be all around us and yet for ages undiscovered. For Gods sons still think it strange and even unbecoming to enquire "what is the breadth and length and depth and height" of their heavenly Fathers purpose. But for our present object we need not ask all this. It is enough to begin with ourselves as fallen, and to enquire what Scripture reveals as to the results of our fall, and of the remedy. We shall see how Gods will, as witnessed, first in the "law of the first-fruits" and "first-born," then in the "purpose of the ages," and lastly in the mystery of "death" and "judgment," as it is opened by Christs cross and resurrection, clears away all that looks like contradiction between "mercy upon all" and yet "eternal judgment." By this light we see more fully Gods purpose in Christ, and how He is "Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe;" (1 Tim. iv. 10.) how "to those who overcome He will grant to sit with Him on His throne," (Rev. iii. 21.) and make them partakers of the first resurrection, are only brought to God by the resurrection of judgment, that is by the judgments of the coming age or ages. But till God opens, all is shut. A man can receive nothing except it be given him from above. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear hear, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For who knoweth the things of man but the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God." (1 Cor. ii. 9-11.)

Let us look then in order at each of these three points:--

(1) First, the purpose of God by the first-fruits or first-born to save and bless the later born.

This, which is in fact the substance of the gospel, like all Gods secrets, comes out by degrees. Scarcely to be discerned, though contained, in the first promise of the Womans Seed, (Gen. iii. 15.) it shines out brightly in the covenant made with Abraham:--"In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed;" (Gen. xxii. 18.) for the seed, in whom all the kindreds of the earth are blessed, must be distinct from, and blessed prior to, those nations to whom according to Gods purpose in due time it becomes a blessing. This purpose is then revealed with fuller detail in the law of the first-fruits and the first-born, (Rom. xi. 16.) though here the veil of type and shadow hides from most the face of Moses. But in Christ the purpose is unveiled for ever, and the mystery, by the first-born to save others, is by the Holy Ghost made fully manifest. Christ, says the Apostle, is the promised Seed, (Gal. iii. 16.) the First-born, (Col. i. 18.) and in and through Him endless blessing shall flow down on the later-born.

Now Christ, as Paul shews, is first-born in a double sense. He is first-born from above, first out of life, for He is the Only-Begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; "for by Him were all tings created, which are in heaven and which are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." (Col i. 15-17.) But He is more than this, for He is also "first-born from the dead," first out of death, "that in all things He might have the pre-eminence;" (Col i. 18.) and it is in this relation, as first-born from the dead, that He is the head of the Church, and first-fruits of the creature. All things are indeed of God, but it is no less true also that all things are by man; as it is written, "Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." (1 Cor. xv. 21.) Therefore as by one first-born death came into this world, so by another first-born shall it be for ever overthrown. Herein is love indeed, that the whole remedy for sin shall come through one man, even as the sin did. Thus not only is there salvation for man, but by man, for the Eternal Son is Son of Man also; who by a birth in the flesh has come into our lot, that by another birth out of the grave He might also be the first-born from the dead; and it is in virtue of this relation that He fulfils for us all those offices which are included in the word Redeemer. The law of Moses is most instructive here: for while it is true that the letter of that law cannot be explained but by the gospel, it is no less true that the gospel in its breadth and depth cannot be set forth save by the figures of the law, each jot of which covers some blessed mystery.

What then does the law teach us of this First-born from the dead; for be it observed it is ever the first-born from the grave that the law speaks of,--therefore the womans, not the mans, first-born, "the male which first openeth the womb," (Exod. xiii.12; xxxiv.19; Numb. iii.12,13.) who might, though not necessarily, be also the fathers first-born. For the law, as made for sinners only, (1 Tim. i. 9.) needed not to speak of the First-born as proceeding out of God, but only of the First-born as raised up by Him out of the grave and barren womb of this present fallen and unclean nature. According to the law, the First-born had the right, though it might be lost, of being priest and king, that is of interceding for and ruling over their younger brethren; (Exod. xiii. 2; xxiv. 5; Numb. iii.12,13; viii 16; 1 Chron. v. 1, 2.) on him devolved the duty of Goel or Redeemer, to redeem a brother who had waxen poor, and sold himself unto a stranger; to avenge his blood, to raise up seed to the dead, and to redeem the inheritance, if at any time it were lost or alienated. (Lev. xxv. 47,48; Deut. xix. 4-12; Gen. xxxviii. 8; Deut. xxv. 5-10; Ruth iv. 6-10; Lev. xxv. 25; Ruth ii. 20.) To sustain these duties God gave him a double portion. (Deut. xxi. 17.) Need I point out how Christ fulfils these particulars; how as first out of the grave, that "barren womb, which cries, Give, give," (Prov. xxx. 15,16.) He is the First-born through whom the blessing reaches us? In this sense no Christian doubts that Gods purpose is by the First-born from the dead to save and bless the later-born.

But the truth goes further still, for there are others beside the Lord who are both "first-born" and "Abrahams seed," who must therefore in their measure share this same honour with and under Christ, and in whom, as "joint-heirs with Him," (Rom. viii. 17.) the promise must be fulfilled, that in them "all the kindreds of the earth shall be blessed." (Gen. xxii. 18.) This glorious truth, though of the very essence of the gospel, which announces salvation to the world through the promised seed of Abraham, is even yet so little seen by many of Abrahams seed, that not a few of the children of the promise speak and act as if Christ and His body only should be saved, instead of rejoicing that they are also the appointed means of saving others. Even of the elect, few see that they are elect to the birthright, not to be blessed only, but to be a blessing; as first-born with Christ to share the glory of kingship and priesthood with Him, not only to rule and intercede for their younger and later-born brethren, but to avenge their blood, to raise up seed to the dead, and in and through Christ, their life and head, to redeem their lost inheritance. Thank God, if the elect know not their double portion, God knows and keeps it for them, and will in due time, spite of their blindness, fulfill His purpose in and by them. But surely it is a reproach to the heirs, that they know not their Fathers purpose, and that through not knowing it they bear so imperfect a testimony as to His good-will to all His fallen creatures.

The whole old law beams with light upon this point, not only in its ordinances and appointments as to the first-born and their double portion, but also in the details of the oblation of the first-fruits, which is only another aspect and presentation of the same mystery. The seed of nature figures the seed of grace, and the first-fruits of the one are but the shadow of the other, that "seed of the kingdom" which is first ripe for heaven, ripened by the true Sun (Psa. lxxxiv. 11.) and Light (S. John viii. 12.) and Air, (S. John iii. 8.) of which the sun and light and air of present nature in all their wondrous workings are the silent but ceaseless witnesses. The type is very full and striking here; for the law, which required the first-fruits, speaks of a double first-fruits. (Lev. xxiii. 10, 17.) The first, the sheaf or handful of unleavened ears, the first to spring up out of the dark and cold earth, which lay the shortest time under its darkness, soonest ripe to be a sacrifice on Gods altar, was offered at the first great feast of the year, the feast of unleavened bread, which is the Passover. (Lev. xxiii. 10, 11; S. Luke xxii. 1.) The other, which are also called "first-fruits," were offered in the form of leavened cakes, fifty days later at Pentecost. (Lev. xxiii. 17.) Both in the law are distinctly called "first-fruits," though they are distinguished by a separate name, the ears at Passover being called Rashith, the leavened cakes at Pentecost, Bicourim; (NOTE: Rashith, or "the beginning," the title given in the law to the Paschal first-fruits, is the very word used by St. Paul of Christ in the passage already quoted,--"He is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead," &c.Col. i. 18. ) to which the gospel exactly agrees, saying, "Christ the First-fruits," (1 Cor. xv. 23.) and "we a kind of first-fruits:" (S. James i. 18. See also Rev. xiv. 4.) Christ "the First-born," (Col. i. 18.) and we "the church of the first-born;" (Heb. xii. 23.) words which carry with them blessings unspeakable, "for if the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy," (Rom. xi. 16.) the offering of the first-fruits to God being accepted as the sanctification and consecration of the whole coming harvest.

Need I say Christ is the Paschal first-fruits and first-born. The day of His resurrection was the very day of the offering of the first first-fruits. (NOTE: These first first-fruits were offered "on the morrow after the Sabbath" after the Passover, (Lev xxiii. 11,) that is the very day "the first day of the week," on which Christ rose from the dead. I may, perhaps, add here, for it is most noteworthy, that in 2 Sam. xxi. 9, we are told that "all the seven sons of Saul fell together in the days of harvest, in the first day, in the beginning of barley harvest;" that is they fell on the day of the first first-fruits. The books of Kings, where this is recorded, are the books of Rule shewing out in mystery all the forms of Rule under which Gods elect have been either in bondage or liberty. The first form of rule is Saul, whose name means Death or Hell. He is the figure of the rule under which we are at first, while "death reigns" by Gods appointment. (Rom. v. 14, 17.) All his seven sons, that is, the fruits of death, fall in one day, under the reign of David, that is the Beloved; that one day being the sacred day of the Paschal first-fruits, the day of Christs resurrection.) But who are those, who, as leavened bread, share the honour with and under Him of being the Pentecostal first-fruits? Who with Christ and through Christ are Abrahams seed? First, the Jew is Abrahams seed,--"the people that dwell alone, and are not reckoned among the nations;" (Numb. xxiii. 9.) and though "all are not Israel who are of Israel," (Rom. ix. 6.) Scripture will indeed be broken, if Israel is not again grafted in; when, if the casting away of them has been the riches of the world, the receiving of them, as St. Paul says, shall be life from the dead. (Rom. xi. 15.) "Israel is my son, my first-born, saith the Lord." (Exod. iv. 22.) All nations, therefore, shall yet be blessed in them. They are indeed only the earthly first-born, but as first-born, though of the least-loved wife, they must in their own sphere possess the double blessing; (Deut. xxi. 15, 16.) being not blessed only, but made blessings to the nations, whose conversion the Church is rightly looking for, but whom the Church shall not convert; for the conversion of the nations is already promised to Israel, who, dwellers among all nations, yet not of them, are even now being trained and prepared for this, and who at their conversion, converted like Paul, who is their type, (NOTE: 1 Tim. i. 16; literally, "for a type of those who shall hereafter believe." Paul is not a type of "the first trusters in Christ," (see Eph. i. 12,) that is of believers now, but of "those who shall hereafter believe," when Christ reveals Himself in glory; and his peculiar experience, for he was "as one born out of due time," (1 Cor. xv. 8,) as well as his conversion in an extraordinary way by a sight of Christs glory, were earnests and figures of what should be wrought in Israel, who shall be converted to Christ in a similar and no less sudden manner. Isa. lxvi. 8, 12, 18, 19.) not by the knowledge of Christ in humiliation, but by the revelation of His heavenly glory, shall like Paul become apostles to the Gentiles, "priests to the Lord and ministers to our God," (Exod. xix. 6; Isa. lxi. 6.) to all upon the earth. (NOTE: Very wonderful is the statement in the Song of Moses, (Deut. xxxii. 8,) addressed both to the heavens and earth, which declares that, "when the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel." Now the number of the children of Israel, when they went down to Egypt, was seventy; (Gen. xlvi. 27; Exod. i. 5; Deut. x. 22;) and, answering to this, in Gen. x., which gives the account of the peoples to whom the earth was divided after the flood, we read of seventy heads of nations. Surely there is a secret here, connected with Christs mission of the Seventy, which was distinct from and followed the mission of the Apostolic Twelve, by whom and under whom the Church is gathered out. See S. Luke x. 1.

But (and this concerns us) the Church is also Abraham's seed; for, as St. Paul says, "If you be Christ's you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Gal. iii. 29) To the Church therefore belongs the same promise, as first-fruits with Christ, not to be blessed only, but to be a blessing, in its own heavenly and spiritual sphere. For if the Jew on earth shall be a "kingdom of priests," what is our hope but to be heavenly "kings and priests," (Rev. i. 6,10) as "kings," for the Lord shall say, "Be thou over five cities," to rule and order in the coming age what requires order; not only with Christ to "judge the world," (1 Cor. vi. 2.) but to be "equal unto the angels" and to "judge angels;" as "priests," for a priest is "for those out of the way," (Heb. v. 2.) to minister to those who yet are out of the way. This is the Church's calling, to do Christ's works, as He said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also;" with Him to be both prophet, priest and king, and this, not here only in these bodies of humiliation, but when changed in His presence to bear His image and do His works with Him. Christ barely entered on His priestly work till He had passed through death and judgment; (Heb. iv. 14; vii. 15-17; viii. 4, 6.) so with those who are Christ's, their death and resurrection shall only introduce them to fuller and wider service to lost ones, over whom the Lord shall set them as priests and kings, until all things are restored and reconciled unto Him. It is, alas, too true that of the Church's sons, some like Esau shall sell their birthright for some present good thing, and that in this age as in the last some of the children of the kingdom shall be cast out, while others from the east and from the west press in and win the crown and kingdom; yet an elect first-born shall surely be preserved, who are sealed to this pre-eminence, to be priests to God and rulers of their brethren. To whom, I ask, shall the Church after death be priests? Shall it be to that great mass of our fellow men, who have departed hence in ignorance? Shall it be to "spirits in prison," such as those to whom after His death Christ Himself once preached? (NOTE: 1 S. Pet. iii. 18-20. This passage, I know, is called "difficult," that is, it is one which it is hard and even impossible fairly to reconcile with the views called Orthodox. The words, however, are not difficult. They distinctly assert that our Lord went and preached to the spirits in prison, who once had been disobedient in the days of Noah. The "difficulty" is the Protestant orthodoxy has decided that there can be no message of mercy to any after death. Protestant commentators therefore have attempted to evade the plain statements of this Scripture, and their forced and unnatural interpretations shew how very strong the passage is against them. Any one who wishes to see a summary of these interpretations may find them collected in Alfred's Greek Testament, in loco. His own comment is as follows;--"I understand these words to say, that our Lord, in his disembodied state, did go to the place of detention of departed spirits, and did there announce His work of redemption, preach salvation, in fact, to the disembodied spirits of those who refused to obey the voice of God, when the judgment of the flood was hanging over them." The fact, that in the Prayer-book these verses are appointed to be read as the Epistle for Easter Even, that is for the day after the crucifixion, and before the resurrection of our Lord, shews plainly enough the judgment of the English Church as to the true sense and interpretation of this passage. The Early Fathers, almost without exception, understand it to speak of Christ's descent into Hades.) Shall not His saints, made like Him, do the same works, still following Him, and with Him being priests to God? Will not their glory be to rule and feed and enlighten and clothe those who are committed to them, even as Christ has fed and clothed them? For He is "King of kings and Lord of lords," (1 Tim. vi.15.) words which indicate the many kings and rulers under Him, of whom He is head, and whom He makes heads to others.

I should perhaps be going beyond my measure were I to follow in detail all that the law says further as to the first-fruits and the first-born; but I may add here, that this same truth, that the first-blessed must save others, is set forth, though in a slightly different form, in the kindred law of redemption touching the firstlings of beasts, whether clean or unclean. The lamb redeems the ass. (Exod. viii. 12,13.) So it must be. The clean are called, and content, to be sacrifices. For the law of redemption, which is the law of love, if this, that they who are first redeemed and blessed must bless others. And this is their joy, to be like Christ, that is to be channels of blessing to viler, weaker souls. For all higher and elder beings serve the lower and younger. The first-born therefore must serve and save others. Their calling is to be, like Christ, channels of blessing and life to thousands of later-born.

Such glories are in store, to be revealed when the two leavened cakes of first-fruits, then completed, shall together be offered up, in that great coming Pentecost, of which the fiery tongues of old, and the rushing wind, in the upper room were but the type and earnest; when the elect, Christ's mystic body, being raised with Him, the Head not born alone, but all the members with it, the Spirit shall be poured out upon all flesh, and, the first-fruits being safe, the harvest, already sanctified by the first-fruits, shall all begin to be gathered in. Oh glorious day, when our Lord and Head shall give of His treasure to His first-born, that they may with Him redeem all lands and all brethren; (Lev. xxv. 25, 47, 48) when with Him they shall judge their captive brethren, who through their unbelief have lost their own inheritance. Then shall the laver be multiplied into "ten lavers," (compare Exod. xxx.18, which speaks of the wilderness, with 1 Kings vii. 38,39 which describes the far larger provision made for cleansing in the glorious reign of the Man of Peace, the true Son of David.) till the water of life become a "sea of crystal," large enough even for Babylon the great to sink into it, and to be found no more at all for ever. Then shall the elect "run to and fro as sparks among the stubble;" (Wisdom iii. 7, 8) and as all sparks or seeds of light, though they may come forth at long intervals from one another, are yet congenial, if they have come out of a common root,--as they can not only mingle rays with rays and embrace each other, but in virtue of a common nature have the same power of consuming and purifying that they come in contact with,--so shall Christ's members judge the world with Him, and consume the evil with that same fire which Christ came to cast into the earth, and with which He is yet pledged to baptize all nations. For our Lord, who gave Himself, with Himself will give us all things, grudging His children nothing of that inheritance He has obtained for them.

Here then is the key to one part of the apparent contradiction between "mercy for all," and yet "the election" of a "little flock;" between "all the kindreds of the earth blessed in Christ," and yet a "strait and narrow way" and "few finding it." Here is the answer to the question, "Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee? Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark, and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?" (Psa. lxxxviii. 1-12.) The first-born and first-fruits are the "few" and "little flock;" but these, though first delivered from the curse, have a relation to the whole creation, which shall be saved in the appointed times by the first-born seed, that is by Christ and His body, through those appointed baptisms, whether by fire or water, which are required to bring about "the restitution of all things." St. Paul expressly declares this when He says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,...that in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in the earth, even in Him." (Eph. i. 3-10...the same doctrine is stated in almost the same words in Eph. ii. 4-7) The Church, like Christ its Head, is itself a great sacrament; "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto men; ordained by God Himself, as a means whereby they may receive the same, and a pledge to assure them thereof;" and "blessing" of the elect, "with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ," is but the means and pledge, as the Apostle says, of wider blessing; the means by which "in the dispensation of the fulness of times" God designs to "gather together in one all things in Christ, whether they be things which are in heaven or which are in earth, even in Him;" and the pledge that He both can and will do it, as He has already done it in some of the weakest and worst; for "God hath chosen the base things of the world, yea and things which are not;" (1 Cor. i. 27, 28.) to shew to all that there are none so weak but He can save, and none so vile, but He can change and cleanse them. Thus when "He comes with ten thousands of His saints," He will not only by them "convince all ungodly sinners of all their hard speeches, which they have spoken against Him;" (S. Jude 14,15)--for if the thief be saved, and the Magdalene changed, who shall dare to say that the lost are uncared for or beyond the reach of God's salvation;--but He will by them also, as His royal priests, joint-heirs with Christ, fulfill all that priestly work of judgment and purification by fire, which must be accomplished that all may be "subdued" (1 Cor. xv. 28) and "reconciled." (Col. i. 20) To say that God saves only the first-born would be, if it may be said, to make Him worse than even Moloch, whose slaves devoted only their first-born to the flames, founding this dreadful rite upon the true tradition that the sacrifice of a first-born should redeem the rest; a requirement, tender, as compared with that which some ascribe to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, who, according to their view, accepts the elect or first-born only, and leaves the rest to torments endless and most agonizing. The gospel of God tells us of better things, of a sacrifice indeed, even of God's Only-Begotten Son, who because we were dead, came into our death to quicken us, who took on Him the darkness, and death, and curse, which bound and would have forever held us, and broke through it in the power of His eternal life, not only reconciling us by His blood, but also shewing us by His death the way out of the bondage of sin and this world, and who having thus in His own person, as Man, broken through death, gives Himself now to as many as will receive and follow Him, that in and by His life they also in the same path may come forth as first-fruits and first-born from the dead with Him. But Scripture never says that these only shall be saved, but rather that "in this seed," whose portion as the first-born is double, (Deut. xxi. 17) "all kindreds of the earth shall be blessed."

I fear that the elect, instead of bearing this witness, have too often ignored and even contradicted it. And yet the fact, that the Church for many hundred years has had an All-Souls Day as well as an All-Saints Day in her calendar is itself a witness that she may have been teaching far more than some of her sons as yet have learnt from her. For why did the Church ordain a celebration for All-Souls as well as for All-Saints, but because, spite of her children's contradictions, she believed that like her Lord she is truly linked to all, and with Him is ordained at last to gather all. And why does All-Souls Day follow All-Saints, (November 1st is All-Saints Day: November. 2nd, All-Souls.) but to declare that All-Saints should reach All-Souls, going before them indeed, yet going before to be a blessing to them. For indeed All Saints are to All Souls as the first-born to their younger brethren, elect to be both kings and priests to them; or as the first-fruits to the harvest, the pledge of what is to come, if not also the means to bring it about in due season. I know of course, that, through the abuse of masses for the dead, All-Souls Day has since the Reformation been dropped out of the calendar of our English Church. I neither judge nor defend our Reformers for what they did in a time of very great difficulty. I only say that the truth once taught by All-Souls Day, if ever a truth, must be a truth for all generations. And I thank God that the Church had, and yet has, such a day; and that, if not with English saints now living, yet "with all saints," as the Apostle says, "we may be able to comprehend the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that we may be filled with (or into) all the fulness of God." (Eph. iii. 19.) And in faith of that love and fulness I look for the day when All-Souls shall become the inheritance and prize and glory of All-Saints, who by grace have gone before them.

Our knowledge however of this or any other mystery will serve us nothing, yea be far worse than nothing, if, instead of running for the prize which the Gospel sets before us, we sit down content merely to understand how the apparent contradictions of Scripture can be reconciled. Not so do the first-born win the prize. Christ has shewn the way, and there is no other. He died to live--He suffered to reign--He humbled Himself; therefore God hath greatly exalted Him. (Phil. ii. 8, 9) If we be dead with Him, we shall live with Him,--if we suffer, we shall reign with Him, (2 Tim. ii. 11, 12.)--joint-heirs with Christ, if so be we suffer with Him, that we may be glorified together. (Rom. viii. 17.) Only by the cross can the change be wrought in us, which conforms us to Christ and His image,--which makes us, like Him, lambs for the slaughter, (Rom. viii. 36.) and as such fitted to bless and serve others. And as corn does not grow by any thinking of the process; as gold is not melted by any speculation of the nature of the fire, but by being cast into it; so the change required is only wrought in us through the baptism of fire, which is so sharp that even the blessed Paul could say, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable," (1 Cor. xv. 19) a trial very different from that of the mass of professors, who suffer no more than the common lot of humanity. And indeed so narrow is the way, and so strait is the gate, that leadeth to the life and glory of the first-born, who "follow the Lamb withersover He goeth; (Rev. xiv. 4) so entire is the loss and renunciation of the things dear to the old man, whose will is entranced by the things that are seen and temporal; so bitter is the cross that few can bear it, and pass willingly through the fires which must be passed to win that "high calling." (Phil. iii. 8-14) Here is the patience of the saints, to bear that fire in and by which the old Adam is dissolved and slain, out of which they rise, through "blood and fire and pillars of smoke," that is the Pentecostal offering, (Acts ii. 19) as sacrifices to God, to stand as kings and priests before Him.

(2) I pass on to shew that God's purpose, by the first-born from the dead to bless the later-born,--as it is written, "So in Christ shall all be made alive,"--is fulfilled in successive worlds or ages, or to use the language of St. Paul, "according to the purpose of the ages," (Eph. iii. 11.) so that the dead are raised, not all together, but "Every man in his own order--Christ the first-fruits--afterwards they that are Christ's at His coming;" (1 Cor. xv. 23) which latter resurrection, though after Christ's, is yet called "the resurrection from among the dead," (Phil. iii. 11.), or "the first resurrection." (Rev. xx. 5).

Now it is simply a matter of fact, that Christ, the first of the first-fruits, through whom all blessing reaches us, rose from the dead eighteen hundred years ago, while the Church of the first-born, who are also called first-fruits, (James i. 18; Rev. xiv. 4) will not be gathered till the great Pentecost. Some are therefore freed from death before others; and even of the first-fruits, the Head of the body, as in every proper birth, is freed before the other members. So far it is clear that this purpose of God is wrought, not at once, but through successive ages. But this fact gives a hint of further mysteries, and some key to the "ages of ages," which we read of in the New Testament, during which the lost are yet held by or under death and judgment, while the saints share Christ's glory, as heirs of God, in subduing all things unto Him. The fall here gives us some shadow of the restoration. For just as in Adam, all do not come out of him or die at once, but descend from or through each other, and die generation after generation, though all fell and died, as part of him, and therefore partakers of his sad inheritance; so in Christ, though all have been made alive in Him by His resurrection, all are not personally brought into His life and light at once, but one after another, and the first-born before the later-born, according to God's good pleasure and eternal purpose.

The key here as elsewhere is to be found in the details of that law, of which "no jot or tittle shall pass till all be fulfilled;" (Matt. v. 18) the appointed "times and seasons" of which, one and all, are the types or figures of the "ages" of the New Testament; for there is nothing in the gospel, the figure of which is not in the law, nor anything in the law, the substance of which may not be found under the gospel; God's once oppressed and captive Israel being the vessel, in and by which He would shew out His purpose of grace and truth to other lost ones.

Observe, then, not only that the first-fruits are gathered, some at the feast of the Passover, and others not till Pentecost, while the "feast of ingathering," is not held until the seventh month, "in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field;" (Exod. xxiii. 16; Lev. xxiii. 39; Deut. xvi. 13.) but how no less distinctly both cleansing and redemption are ordained to take effect at different times and seasons. I refer to those mystic periods of "seven days," (Lev. xii. 2; xiii. 5, 21, 26; xiv. 8, &c.) "seven weeks," (Lev. xxiii. 15.) "seven months," (Lev. xvi. 29; xxiii. 24; Numb. xxix. 1.) "seven years," (Lev. xxv. 4; Deut. xv. 9, 12.) and the "seven times seven years," (Lev. xxv. 8, 9.) which last complete the Jubilee, which are all different times for cleansing and blessing men,--the former of which are figures of "the ages," the last, of "the ages of ages," in the New Testament; under which last blessed appointment all those who had lost their inheritance, and could not go free, as some did, at the Sabbatic year of rest, might at length, after the "times of times," that is the "seven times seven years," regain what had been lost, and find full deliverance. For in the Sabbatic year the release was for Israel only, not for foreigners; (Deut. xv. 1, 3) while in the Jubilee, liberty was to be proclaimed to all the inhabitants of the land. (Lev. xxv. 10.) What is there in the ordinary gospel of this day, which in the least explains or fulfills these various periods, in and through which were wrought successive cleansings and redemptions, not of persons only, but of their lost inheritance? And if in the gospel, as now preached, no truth is found corresponding with these figures of the Law, is it not a proof that something is at least overlooked? God knows how much is overlooked from neglect of those Scriptures, which Saint Paul tells us are needed, "to make the man of God perfect," (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17) but which by others are openly despised, and by others are neglected, as the useless shadows of a by-gone dispensation. In them is the key, under a veil perhaps, of those "ages" and "ages of ages," during which so many are debtors and bondsmen under judgment, without their true inheritance. And though indeed it is true, that "it is not for us to know the times and the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power," (Acts i. 7.) it is yet given us to know that there are such times and seasons, and in knowing it to gain still wider views of the "manifold wisdom of God," and of the "unsearchable riches of Christ," our Lord and Saviour.

It would far exceed my measure to attempt to shew how the law in all its "times" figured the gospel "ages." But I may give one more example to prove, that in cleansing, as in giving deliverance, Gods method is to accomplish the end through appointed seasons, which vary according to a fixed rule,--I refer to the different periods prescribed for the purification of a woman on the birth of a male or a female child. (Lev. xii. 1-5. A similar distinction of times is to be seen in the cleansing of the leper; Lev. xiv. 7, 8, 9, 10, 20; and of those who were unclean by the dead; Numb. xix. 12.) If a son is born, she is unclean in the blood of her separation seven days, after which she is in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days, making in all forty days; but if she bear a maid child, she is unclean for twice seven days, and in the blood of her purifying six and sixty days, in all eighty days; that is double the time she is unclean for a man child. For the woman is our nature, which if it receive seed, that is the word of truth, may bring forth a son, that is "the new man;" in which case nature, or the mother, which brings it forth, is only unclean during the seven days of this first creation, and then in the blood of purifying till the end of the forty days, which always figure this dispensation; (The number "forty," wherever found in Scripture, always points to the period of this dispensation, as the time of trial or temptation; e.g. Gen. vii. 1; Exod. xxiv. 18; Ezek. iv. 6; Deut. xxv. 2, 3; S. Mark i. 13; Exod. xvi. 35; Numb. xiv. 33; 2 Sam. v. 4; 1 Kings xi. 42; Acts i. 3; and xiii. 21, &c.) for wherever Christ is formed in us, there is the hope that even "our vile body" shall be cleansed, when we reach the end of this present dispensation. But if, instead of bearing this "new man," our nature only bear its like, a female child, that is fruits merely natural, then it is unclean for a double period, till twice seven days and twice forty pass over it. Here as elsewhere the veil will I fear hide from some what is yet revealed as to the varying times when cleansing may be looked for; but even the natural eye can see that two different times are here described; and those who receive this as the Word of God will perhaps believe that there is some teaching here, even if they cannot understand it. Those too, who believe that the Church was divinely guided in the order and appointment of the Christian Year, ought surely to consider what is involved in the fact that the purification of the woman after forty days is kept as one of the Churchs holy days, under the title of "The Purification of St. Mary." (Forty days after Christmas, that is on Feb. 2.) The Church of course reckons among her greatest days the conception and birth of that New and Anointed Man, who by almighty grace and power is brought forth out of our fallen human nature; but she does not forget to mark also the cleansing according to law, at the end of the mystic forty days, of that weak nature into which the Eternal Word has come, and out of which the New Man springs. There is like teaching in every time and season of the law, and its days and years figure the "ages" of the New Testament.

The prophets repeat the same teaching, still further opening out this part of Gods purpose, in a later age to visit those who are rejected in an earlier one, and so to work through successive worlds or ages. Thus though at the time they wrote Moab and Ammon were under a special curse, and cut off from the congregation of Israel, according to the words, "Thou shalt not seek their peace or prosperity for ever," and again, "Even to the tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever; (Deut. xxiii. 3, 6.) in obedience to which law both Ezra and Nehemiah put away, not only the wives which some Israelites had
taken from these nations, but also the children born of them; (Ezra. x. 2, 3, 44; Neh. xiii. 1, 23, 25, 30.) though the prophets further declare the judgment of these nations, that "Moab shall be destroyed," (Jer. xlviii. 42.) and "Ammon shall be fuel for fire, and be no more remembered;" (Ezek. xxi. 28, 32.) yet they declare also that "in the latter days the Lord shall bring again the captivity of Moab and of the children of Ammon." (Jer. xlviii. 47, and xlix. 6.) Similar predictions are made respecting Egypt and Assyria, (Isa. xix. 21, 25.) Elam, (Jer. xlix. 39.) Sodom and her daughters, (NOTE: Ezek. xvi. 53, 55. Compare with this S. Jude 7, where we are told that Sodom is "suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." And yet of this very "Sodom and her daughters" the prophet declares, that they shall "return to their former estate.") and other nations, who in the age of the prophets were "strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in this world," who yet are called to "rejoice with Gods people," (Deut. xxxii. 43; Rom. xv. 10.) and of whom even now an election, "though sometime far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ." (Eph. ii. 12, 13.) These nations in the flesh were enemies, and as such received the doom of old Adam; yet for them also must there be hope in the new creation, according to the promise, "Behold, I make all things new." (Rev. xxi. 5.) For Christ, who, "being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in spirit, went in spirit and preached to the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah," (1 S. Pet. iii. 18-20.) is "Jesus Christ, (that is Anointed Saviour,) the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." (NOTE: Heb. xiii. 8. I may perhaps add here, that to me the scene recorded in S. Matt. viii. 28-34, and in the parallel passages of the other Evangelists, is most significant. Our Lord calls His disciples to "pass over to the other side," and there heals "the man possessed with devils, who had his dwelling among the tombs, exceeding fierce, whom no man could bind, no, not with chains." Christ not only heals all forms of disease in Israel, but casts out devils also on the other side of the deep waters.)

Such is the light which the law and prophets give us as to Gods purpose of salvation through successive ages. But even creation and regeneration, both works of the same God, tell no less clearly, though more secretly, the same mystery. God in each shews how he works, not in one act, but by degrees, through successive days or seasons. In creation each day had its own work, to bring back some part of the creature, and one part before another, from emptiness and confusion, to light and form and order. All things do not appear at once. Much is unchanged, even after "light" and a "heaven" are formed upon the first and second days. (Gen. i. 4-8.) But these first works act on all the rest, for by Gods will this "heaven" is a fellow-worker with Gods Word in all the change which follows, till the whole is "very good." (NOTE: The firmament was called "heaven," or "the arrangers," because it is an agent in arranging things on earth. "This appellation was first given by God to the celestial fluid or air, when it began to act in disposing or arranging the earth and waters. And since that time the heavens have been the great agents in disposing all material things in their places and orders, and thereby producing all those wonderful effects which are attributed to them in Scripture, but which it has been of late years the fashion to ascribe to attraction, gravitation, &c."Parkhurst, sub voce.) What is this but the very truth of the first-born serving the later-born?
So in the process of our regeneration, there is a quickening, first of our spirits, then of our bodies, the quickening of our spirits being the pledge and earnest that the body also shall be delivered in its season. (Eph. i. 13, 14; Rom. viii. 11.) What a witness to Gods most blessed purpose; for our spirit is to our body what the spiritual are to this world. And just as the quickening of our spirit must in due time bring about a quickening even of our dead and vile bodies; so surely shall the quickening and manifestation of the sons of God end in saving those earthly souls who are not here quickened. Thus does the microcosm foretell the fate of the macrocosm, even as the macrocosm is full of lessons for the microcosm.

But even had we not this key, the language of the New Testament, in its use of the word which our Translators have rendered "for ever" and "for ever and ever," but which is literally "for the age," or "for the ages of ages," points not uncertainly to the same solution of the great riddle, though as yet the glad tidings of the "ages to come" have been but little opened out. The epistles of St. Paul will prove that the "ages" are periods, in which God is gradually working out a purpose of grace, which was ordained in Christ before the fall, and before those "age-times," (2 Tim. i. 9; Tit. i. 2.) in and through which the fall is being remedied. So we read, that "Gods wisdom was ordained before the ages to our glory," (1 Cor. ii. 7.) that is, that God had a purpose before the ages out of the very fall to bring greater glory both to Himself and to His fallen creature; then we are told distinctly of the "purpose of the ages," (Eph. iii. 11; translated, in our Authorized Version, "the eternal purpose.") shewing that the work of renewal would only be accomplished through successive ages. Then we read, that "by the Son, God made the ages," (Heb. i. 2; and xi. 3.) for it was by what the Eternal Word uttered and revealed of Gods mind in each successive age that each such age became what it distinctly was; each age, like each day of creation, being different from another by the form and measure in which the Word of God was uttered or revealed in it, and therefore also by the work effected in it, the work in each successive age, as in different days of creation, being wrought first in one measure, then in another, first in one part, then in another, of the lapsed creation. Then again we read of the "mystery which has been hidden from the ages," (Eph. iii. 9.) and again that "the mystery," (for he repeats the words,) "which hath been hid from ages and generations, is now made manifest to the saints, to whom God hath willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery; which is, Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Col. i. 26.) In another place the Apostle speaks of "glory to God in the church by Christ Jesus, unto all generations of the age of ages." (Eph. iii. 21.) He further says, that Christ is set "far above all principality, and power, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but in the coming one;" (Eph. i. 21.) and again, that "now once in the end of the ages He hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself;" (Heb. ix. 26.) and that on us "the ends of the ages are met;" (1 Cor. x. 11.) words which plainly speak of some of the ages as past, and seem to imply that other ages are approaching their consummation. Lastly, he speaks of "the ages to come," in which God will "shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus." (NOTE: Eph. ii. 4-7. I may add here that in all the following passages aion is used for this present or some other limited age or dispensation:--S. Matt. xii. 32; xiii. 39, 40; xxiv. 3; S. Luke xvi. 8; xx. 34, 35; Rom. xii. 2; 1 Cor. i. 20; ii. 6, 8; iii. 18; 2 Cor. iv. 4; Gal. i. 4; Eph. i. 21; ii. 2; vi. 12; 1 Tim. vi. 17; 2 Tim. iv. 10; Tit. ii. 12.)

Now what is this "purpose of the ages," which St. Paul speaks of, but of which the Church in these days seems to know, or at least says, next to nothing? I have already anticipated the answer. The "ages" are the fulfillment or substance of the "times and seasons" of the Sabbatic year and Jubilee under the old law. They are those "times of refreshment from the presence of the Lord, when He shall send Jesus Christ, who before was preached;" (Acts iii. 19.) and when, in due order, liberty and cleansing will be obtained by those who now are without their rightful inheritance. In the "ages," and in no other mystery of the gospel, do we find those "good things to come," of which the legal times and seasons were the shadow." (Heb. x. 1.) Of course, as some of these "ages" are "to come," being indeed the "times and seasons which the Father hath put in His own power," (Acts i. 7.) we can as yet know little of their distinctive character, except that, as being the ages in which God is fulfilling His purpose in Christ, we may be assured their issue must be glorious. Yet they are constantly referred to in the New Testament, and the book of the Revelation more than any other speaks of them, (Rev. i. 6, 18; iv. 9, 10; v. 13, 14; vii. 12; x. 6; xi, 15; xiv. 11; xv. 7; xix. 3; xx. 10; xxii. 5.) for this book opens out the processes and stages of the great redemption, which make up the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gives Him; and this Revelation is not accomplished in one act, but through the "ages" and "ages of ages," foreshadowed by the "times" and "times of times" of the old law, the "age-times," again to use the language of St. Paul, in which the Lord is revealed as meeting the ruin of the creature. And the reason why we sometimes read of "ages," and sometimes of "the age," when both seem to refer and speak of the same one great consummation, is, that the various "ages" are but the component parts of a still greater "age," as the seven Sabbatic years only made up one Jubilee. But because the mind of the Spirit is above them, men speak as if the varied and very unusual language of Scripture, as to the "ages" or the "age of ages," contained no special mystery. They will see one day that the subject is dark, not because Scripture is silent, but only because mens eyes are holden. (NOTE: Every scholar knows that the expressions, "ages," "to the ages," "age of the ages," and "ages of the ages," are unlike anything which occurs in the heathen Greek writers. The reason is, that the inspired writers, and they alone, understood the mystery and purpose of the "ages." They, or at least the Spirit which spake by them, saw that there would be a succession of "ages," a certain number of which constituted another greater "age." It seems to me that when they simply intended a duration of many "ages," they wrote "to the ages." When they had in view a greater and more comprehensive "age," including in it many other subordinate "ages," they wrote "to the age of ages." When they intended the longer "age" alone, without regard to its constituent parts, they wrote "to an aeonial age"; this form of expression being a Hebraism, exactly equivalent to "age of the ages:" like "liberty of glory," for "glorious liberty," (Rom. viii. 21,) and "body of our vileness," for "our vile body." (Phil. iii. 21.) When they intended the several comprehensive "ages" collectively, they wrote "to the ages of ages." Each varying form is used with a distinct purpose and meaning.)

At any rate, and whatever the future "ages" may be, those past (and St. Paul speaks of "the ends" of some,) are clearly not endless; and the language of Scripture as to those to come seems to teach that they are limited, since Christs mediatorial kingdom, which is "for the ages of ages," must yet be "delivered up to the Father, that God may be all in all." (Compare Rev. xi. 15, and 1 Cor. xv. 24.) And the fact that in Johns vision, which describes the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gives Him, our Lord is called "Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending," (Rev. xxi. 6.) seems to imply an end to the peculiar manifestation of Him as King and Priest, under which special offices the Revelation shews Him, offices which, as they involve lost ones to be saved and rebels ruled over, may not be needed when the lost are saved and reconciled. Would it not have been better therefore, and more respectful to the Word of God, had our Translators been content in every place to give the exact meaning of the words, which they render "for ever," or "for ever and ever," but which are simply "for the age," or "for the ages of ages;" and ought they not in other passages, where the form of expression in reference to these "ages" is marked and peculiar, to have adhered to the precise words of Holy Scripture? I have already referred to the passage of St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, which in our Version is rendered "throughout all ages, world without end," but which is literally, "to all generations of the age of ages." (Eph. iii. 21.) But even more remarkable are the words, in St. Peters Second Epistle, which our Version translates "for ever;" but which are literally "for the day of the age;" (NOTE: 2 Pet. iii. 18; this phrase, which, I may add here, is an exact literal translation of the words in Micah v. 2, and which in our Authorized Version are translated "from everlasting.") the key to which may perhaps be found in a preceding verse of the same chapter, where the Apostle says, that "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (Verse 8.) These and other similar forms of expression cannot have been used without a purpose. It is, therefore, a matter of regret that our Translators should not have rendered them exactly and literally; for surely the words which Divine Wisdom has chosen must have a reason, even where readers and translators lack the light to apprehend it.

The "ages," therefore, are periods in which God works, because there is evil and His rest is broken by it, but which have an end and pass away, when the work appointed to be done in them has been accomplished. The "ages," like the "days" of creation, speak of a prior fall: they are the "times" in which God works, because He cannot rest in sin and misery. His perfect rest is not in the "ages," but beyond them, when the mediatorial kingdom, which is "for the ages of ages," (Rev. xi. 15.) is "delivered up," (1 Cor. xv. 24.) and Christ, by whom all things are wrought in the ages, goes back to the glory which He had "before the age-times," (NOTE: 2 Tim. i. 9; and Tit. i. 2; translated, in our Version, "before the world began." The Vulgate translation here is, "Ante saecularia tempora," which is as literal a rendering as possible.) "that God may be all in all." (1 Cor. xv. 28.) The words "Jesus Christ, (that is, Anointed Saviour,) the same yesterday, to-day, and for the ages," (Heb. xiii. 8.) imply that through these "ages" a Saviour is needed, and will be found, as much as "to-day" and "yesterday." It will I think too be found, that the adjective (aionios) founded on this word, whether applied to "life," "punishment," "redemption," "covenant," "times," or even "God" Himself, is always connected with remedial labour, and with the idea of "ages" as periods in which God is working to meet and correct some awful fall. Thus the "aeonial covenant," (Heb. xiii. 20.) (I must coin a word, to shew what is the term used in the original,) is that which comprehends "the ages," during which "Jesus Christ is the same," that is, a Saviour; an office only needed for the fallen, for "they that are whole need not a physician." The "aeonial God," language found but once in the New Testament, (NOTE: Rom. xvi. 25, 26. In this passage we read, first, of "the mystery kept secret from the aeonial times, (translated in our English version, "Since the world began,") and then of "the aeonial God," "by whose command this mystery is now made manifest." Is it not reasonable to conclude that the same word, twice used here in the same sentence, must in each case have the same sense. But as applied to "times," passing or past, aeonial cannot mean never-ending. In the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, the epithet aionios is only applied to God four times, in one of which the corresponding ____ of the Hebrew is not to be found; though in all the reference is direct, either to "the age of ages," or to Gods redeeming work as wrought through "the ages." The passages are Gen. xxi. 33, where after the birth of Isaac, the type of Christ, God is known by this name _____; then Isa. xxvi. 4, and xl. 28, in both which the context shews the reason for the epithet; and lastly Job xxiii. 12, in which passage the LXX. have given us aionios for ____ or Elohim, in the original; which name, as we see from a comparison of Gen. i. and ii., (in the former of which God is always Elohim, in the latter Jehovah Elohim,) refers to One who is working through periods of labour to change a ruined world, until His image is seen ruling it; a title not lost when the day of rest is reached, but to which another name, shewing what God is in Himself, is then added. In Exod. iii. 15, we read of Gods __________, that is, His name as connected with deliverance. I believe the word is never used but in this connection. See further below, Note 1, page 66.) refers, as the context shews, to God as working His secret of grace through "aeonial times," that is, successive worlds or "ages," in some of which "the mystery has been hid, but now is made manifest by the commandment of the aeonial God," that is, (if I err not,) the God who works through these "ages." And so of the rest, whether "redemption," (Heb. ix. 12.) "salvation," (Heb. v. 9.) "spirit," (Heb. ix. 14.) "fire," (Jude 7.) or "inheritance," (Heb. ix. 15.) all of which in certain texts are called "aeonial," the epithet seems to refer to this in the well-known words, "This is life eternal, (that is, the life of the age or of the ages,) that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent"? (S. John xvii. 3.) Does He not say here, that to know the only true God, as the sender of His Son to be a Saviour, and to know the Son as a Saviour and Redeemer, mark and constitute the renewed life which is peculiar to the ages? Aeonial or eternal life therefore is not, as so many think, the living on and on for ever and ever. It is rather, as our Lord defines it, a life, the distinctive peculiarity of which is, that it has to do with a Saviour, and so is part of a remedial plan. This, as being our Lords own explanation of the word, is surely conclusive as to its meaning. But even had we not this key, the word carries with it in itself its own solution; for "aeonial" is simply "of the ages;" and the "ages," like the days of creation, as being periods in which God works, witness, not only that there is some fall to be remedied, but that God through these days or ages is working to remedy it. (NOTE: As to the Old Testament use of the word "age" or "ages," (translated "for ever" in the English Version,) a few words may be added here. We have first the unconditional promise of God, that "the seed of Abraham shall inherit the land for ever; Exod. xxxii. 13. The same words are used of the Aaronic priesthood; Exod. xl. 15; of the office of the Levites; 1 Chron. xv. 2; of the inheritance given to Caleb; Joshua xiv. 9; of Ai being a desolation; Joshua viii. 28; of the leprosy of Gehazi cleaving to his seed; 2 Kings v. 27; of the heathen bondsmen whom Israel possessed, of whom it is said, "They shall be their bondsmen for ever;" Lev. xxv. 46. The same words are also used of the curse to come on Israel for their disobedience:--"These curses shall come on thee, and pursue thee till thou be destroyed; and they shall be upon thee for a sign, and upon they children for ever;" Deut. xxviii. 45, 46. so of Ammon and Moab it is said:--"Thou shalt not seek their peace for ever;" Deut. xxiii. 6; and again, "They shall not come into the congregation of the Lord for ever;" Deut xxiii. 3. In all these and other similar instances, the Hebrew word Olam and its equivalent aion mean the age or dispensation. In Exod. xxi. 6, where the ear of the servant, who will not go free, is bored, and he becomes a "servant for ever," the sense must necessarily be much more limited; as also in 1 Sam. i. 22. It is to be observed also that not only the singular, as in 1 Kings ix. 3, and 2 Kings xxi. 7, but the plural is used in 1 Kings viii. 13, and 2 Chron. vi. 2, in reference to the temple at Jerusalem. The double expression is variously translated by the LXX.; sometimes ________ as in Dan. xii. 3, where it is used of those "that turn many to righteousness;" sometimes ________ as in Exod. xv. 18, where it is used of God; sometimes _________ as in Psalm xlv. 2, where it is used of Christ and His kingdom; while in Micah iv. 7, the same Hebrew words here are translated by the LXX., and here only, by the plural. More commonly, however, ________ is rendered simply _________ by the LXX., as in Gen. xiii. 15, Joshua iv. 7, and elsewhere. Lastly, in dan. vii. 18, we have both the singular and the plural form together. The adjective aionios is used continually by the LXX.,--in reference to the Passover, Exod. xii. 14, 17,--the tabernacle service, Exod. xxvii. 21,--the priestly office of the sons of Aaron, Exod. xxviii. 43,--the meat-offering, Lev. vi. 18,---and other things of the Jewish dispensation, all of which are called aionios. So in Jer. xxiii. 40, we have _____________ , and ______________, used of the corrective judgments on Israel, whose restoration is also foretold. I will only add that the very remarkable language of S. Paul, (2 Cor. iv. 17,) seems intended to add to the force of the word aionios, which could scarcely be, if aionios meant eternal. Bezas comment here is, _________________. See too Corn. A Lapide, in loco. Be this as it may, the adjective, "aeonial" or age-long, cannot carry a force or express a duration greater than that of the ages or "aeons" which it speaks of. If therefore these "ages" are limited periods, some of which are already past, while others, we know not how many, are yet to come, the word "aeonial" cannot mean strictly never-ending. Nor does this affect the true eternity of bliss of Gods elect, or of the redeemed who are brought back to live in God, and to be partakers of Christs "endless life," (NOTE: See Heb. vii. 16. The word here used of Christs resurrection-life, which we share with Him, is __________, translated in our Version "endless"; literally "indissoluble"; a word never used in Scripture respecting judgment or punishment, but only of that life which is beyond all dissolution.) of whom it is said, "Neither can they die any more, for they are equal to the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection;" (S. Luke xx. 36.) for this depends on a participation in the divine nature, and upon that power which can "change these vile bodies, that they may be fashioned like unto Christs glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able to subdue even all things unto Himself." (Phil. iii. 21. See also 1 Cor xv. 53; Rom. viii. 29; Heb. vii. 16; xii. 28; 1 S. Pet. i. 3, 4, 5; 1 S. John iii. 2.

(3) It yet remains to shew that this purpose of God, wrought by Him through successive worlds or ages, is only accomplished through death and dissolution, which in His wisdom He makes the means and way to life and higher glory; for it is "by death," and by death only, that He "destroys him that has the power of death, that is the devil, and delivers them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Heb. ii. 15.) Nature everywhere reveals this law, though the divine chemistry is often too subtle to allow us to see all the stages of the transformations and the passages or "pass-overs" from life to death and death to life, which are going on around us everywhere. But the great instance cited by our Lord, that "except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it brings forth much fruit," (S. John xii. 24.) forces the blindest to confess that all advance of life is through change, and death, and dissolution. The seed of the kingdom, which is above all kingdoms, and the seed of the Son, who is above all sons, does not, anymore than the seed of wheat or the seed of man, come to perfection in a moment or without many intermediate changes, but "goes from strength to strength," (Psa. lxxxiv. 7.) from the bursting of one shell of life to fuller life, from the opening of one seal to another, and "from glory to glory," (2 Cor. iii. 18.) till all is perfected. Christ has shewn us all the way, from "the lowest parts of the earth," (Psa. cxxxix. 15.) from the Virgin's womb, through birth, and infant swaddling clothes, to opened heavens, through temptation, and strong crying and tears, and the cross, and grave, and resurrection, and ascension, till He sits down at God's right hand to judge all things. And the elect yield themselves to the same great law of progress through death, and "faint not though the outward man perish, that their inward man may be renewed day by day." (2 Cor. iv. 16.) Others may think they will be saved in another way than that Christ trod. His living members know it is impossible. To them, as the Apostle says, "to live is Christ;" (Phil. i. 21.) and they cannot live His life without being "partakers of His sufferings. (2 Cor. i. 5; Phil iii. 10; Col. i. 24.) Therefore "we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh." (2 Cor. iv. 11.) Because this is so little seen, -- because so many take or mistake Christ's cross as a reprieve to nature, rather than a pledge that nature and sin must be judged and die, seeming to think that Christ died that they should not die, and that their calling is to be delivered from death, instead of by and out of it; (NOTE: Our translators have sometimes rendered the Greek words here by the English words "from death;" as in Heb. 5:7; but the force of the original is always "out of death.") --because in a word the meaning of Christ's cross is not understood, but rather perverted and therefore death is shrunk from, instead of being welcomed as the appointed means by which alone we can be delivered from him that has the power of death, who more or less rules us till we are dead, for "sin reigns unto death," (Rom. v. 21.) and only "he that is dead is freed from sin;" (Rom. vi. 7.)--because this, which is indeed the gospel, is not received, or if received in word is not really understood, even Christians misunderstand what is said of that destruction and judgment, which is the only way for delivering fallen creatures from their bondage, and bringing them back in God's life to his kingdom.

As this is a point of all importance, lying at the very root of the cross of Christ and of His members, and giving the clue to all the judgments of Him, who "killeth and maketh alive," who "bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up," (1 Sam. ii. 6; Deut. xxxii. 39.) I would shew, not the fact and truth only, that for fallen creatures the way of life is and must be through death, but also the reason for it, why it must be thus, and cannot be otherwise. For the cross is not a fact or truth only, but power and wisdom also, even God's power and wisdom; (1 Cor. i. 18-24.) as power, meeting the craving of our hearts for deliverance; as wisdom, answering every question which our understanding can ask as to the mystery of this life. For both to head and heart life is indeed a riddle, which neither the Greek nor Jew, the head and heart of old humanity, could ever fully solve, though each people by its special craving shewed its wants; the Jew, as St. Paul says, requiring signs of power, for the heart wants and must have something to lean upon; the Greek, man's head or mind, seeking after wisdom, for it felt the darkness and asked for some enlightening. To both God's answer was the cross of Christ, which gave to each, to head and heart, what each was longing for; power to the one to escape from that which had tied and bound it, for by death with Christ we are freed from the bondage of corruption and from all that hinders the heart's best aspirations; wisdom to the other to see why we must die, and what is the reason for all present suffering.

As to the fact and doctrine, a few words may suffice, for in one form or another it is the creed of all Christendom, that for fallen man the way of life is and only can be through death and judgment. The cross the way to life--this is confessedly the special teaching of the gospel. But what is the cross? Does Christ's death save us unless by grace we die with him? Our Lord distinctly says, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me; for whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." (S. Matt. xvi. 25.) "This is a faithful saying, If we be dead with Him, we shall live with Him: If we deny Him, He also will deny us." (2 Tim. ii. 11, 12.) The saint must say, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." (Gal. ii 20.) "We are debtors, not to live after the flesh, for if we live after the flesh we shall die; but if we through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, we shall live." (Rom. viii 12-13.) In baptism therefore we profess our death with Christ, that dying with Him we may also live with Him. (Rom. vi. 3, 4.)

Such is the doctrine we all receive. But what is the reason for it? Why is the way of life for us through the cross, that is through death? Why cannot it be otherwise? If we see the way by which man got away from God, we shall see the way of his return, and why this must be through death; for indeed the way, by which we came away from God, must be retraced if by grace we come back to Him.

How then did man depart from God, and die to Him, and fall from His kingdom? By believing a lie. By the serpent's double lie,--a lie about God, that God grudges and is not true, and a lie about man, that in disobedience he shall be as God,--the divine life in man's soul was poisoned and destroyed, and man was separated from God, and died to God's world. (Gen. iii. 1-5.) And because to a being like man, made in God's image, death cannot be the end of existence, but is only a passing out of one world into another, by this death to God, man who is a spirit, lost the place which God had given him, the Paradise, called by Paul "the third heaven," (2 Cor. xii. 2, 4. Paradise is the word used by the LXX. in Gen. ii. 8, 9. Compare Rev. ii. 7.) and was driven out, and fell into the kingdom of darkness, his inward life of ceaseless aching restlessness; to escape which he turns to outward things, hating to come to himself even for a moment, unconsciously driven by his own inward dissatisfaction to seek diversion from himself in any outward care, pleasure, or vanity; while his body became like that of the beasts, subject to the elements of this world, and to all the change and toil which make up "the course of this world."

Such was the fall of man, and it explains why death is needful for our return to God. Death is the only way out of any world in which we are. It was by death to God we fell out of God's world. And it is by death with Christ to sin and to this world that we are delivered in spirit from sin, that is the dark world, and in body from the toil and changes of this outward world. For we are, as Scripture and our own hearts tell us, not only in body in this outward world, but in our spirits are living in a spiritual world, which surely is not heaven, for no soul of man till regenerate is at rest or satisfied; and being thus fallen, the only way out of these worlds is death: so long as we live their life, we must be in them. To get out of them, therefore, we must die: die to this elemental nature, to get out of the seen world, and die to sin, to get out of the dark world, called in Scripture "the power of darkness." (Col. i. 13.) And since the life of the one is toil and change, and the life of the other is dissatisfaction and inward restlessness, we must die to both if we would be free from the changes of this world, and from the restlessness and dissatisfaction in which by nature our spirits are. Christ died this double death for us, not only "to sin," (Rom. vi. 10.) but also "to the elements of this world." (Col. ii. 20.) And to be free, we also must die with Him to both. Only by such a death are we delivered.

In pressing this point however, that death is needful for the sinner's deliverance, I need scarcely add, that death, alone, and without another life, is not and cannot of itself be enough to bring us back to God's world. We need death to get out of this world and out of the power of darkness; but we also need and must have the life of God, which is only perfected in resurrection, to live in God's world. (S. John iii. 3, 5.) Just as without the life of this world, we could not enter this world, or without the life of hell, enter or live in hell; so without the life of heaven we cannot enter or live there; for we cannot live in any world without the life of it. And therefore as the serpent's lie kindled the life of hell in man, before he could fall into the power of darkness, so God's life must be quickened again in man, before he can live again in God's kingdom. And, blessed be God, as the life of hell was quickened by a lie, so the life of God is quickened by the truth, even by the Word of God, who came where man was to raise up God's life in man, in and by which through a death to sin and to this world man might be freed perfectly. (NOTE: Not without a deep and wondrous reason is _____ both Good-news and Flesh in the Hebrew; for by the one as by the other the captive creature is reached and quickened. Great indeed is the mystery of the flesh of Christ, touching which there are indeed many unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Yet the mystery is revealed from faith to faith.) In Christ the work has been acc