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Deut. xxviii. I—14), the obedience of the Church brings persecution and outward trial (2 Tim. iii. 12). It is plain that in a national church, as that of Israel, the profession would raise no opposition if all were faithful: but, on the contrary, where the church is an election that is gathered out of a nation, as in the present dispensation, there will be opposition, if all are faithful to their calling. Hence the continual instruction of the Lord and His apostles-the prospect of tribulation and persecution always set before the disciples of Christ-the marked contrast always drawn between them and the world.

In the history of the Church we shall find this difference and the consequent persecution continue, till it so far declines as to have fellowship with the world, and to exchange its frowns for its smiles.

In tracing this decline, we shall again learn the often repeated lesson of the failure of the creature under all circumstances: and we must also observe, that the greater the blessing, the more striking is the failure under it. It might have been supposed that, even if man failed to walk uprightly in the very presence of the Lord upon earth, and the darkness was made more manifest by the bright shining of the Light from above, yet when the Holy Ghost came down from heaven, and the bodies of the believers in Jesus became his temple (John xiv. 17; 1 Cor. vi. 15-19), as the members of Christ, there could have been no failure. But this supposition is fully disproved by the whole history of the Church. Paul, who knew more, perhaps, of the power of the in-dwelling Spirit and of union with the risen Lord than any one besides, plainly says, "I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." This, rightly understood, will explain all that would otherwise appear unaccountable in the history of the Church of God; and it is this that makes the believer in Jesus look forward with such joy to that day when he shall enjoy the redemption of his body as well as that of his soul (Rom. viii. 23), when he shall be like Jesus, seeing him as he is (1 John iii. 2).

In considering the two dispensations, we must also remember that the Jews were to be the witnesses, or representatives of God upon earth, according to the manner in which he had at that time revealed himself in the Law; and Christians, on the other hand, were to be the witnesses or representatives of Him as he revealed himself in the Gospel.

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In order to bring one example of this, and the most simple that occurs to me, I refer you to Luke ix. 54-56. Christ had been rejected by some of the Samaritans; and his disciples asked if they should command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, as Elijah did; but he rebuked them, saying, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives but to save them. And they went to another village." Thus, that which was according to the spirit of the Jewish dispensation, when God was trying by the law whether man would obey or not, was not according to the spirit of the Christian dispensation; in other terms, the spirit of the grace of God. And as the spirit was different so would be the position and the circumstances. The witnesses of Jehovah, as He manifested himself upon the mount in thunderings and lightnings, in great power and glory, might, if they were faithful, execute His judgments and be a powerful and glorious people upon earth: but His witnesses, as he manifested himself on the cross, would, if they were faithful, show forth his grace, and be a weak, despised, and rejected people upon earth. But, alas! as we traced the unfaithfulness of the former, so we shall have to trace that of the latter through the whole course of the dispensation; though not so apparently in either case at the commencement.

As there is no church history which can be entirely depended on, beyond that given in the New Testament, it will be more important to dwell a little upon that, as the only safe guide.*

The Lord himself, in his parable of the wheat and the tares (Matth. xiii.) gave his people no room to expect that the world would be filled with the children of God, or that the things which offend and the evil-doers would be rooted out before the end of the world (literally, the age). On the contrary, he tells us that the children of the kingdom and the children of the wicked one will be scattered through the world till the end. The serpent who had wrought such mischief in the garden of Eden, was equally busy in the Lord's spiritual garden among the children of God. The enemy introduced his children and his doctrines whilst men slept : there was a want of watchfulness in

* Whilst preparing this for the press, a pamphlet has been put into my hands, entitled, "The First Five Centuries of the Church, or the Early Fathers no Safe Guides." By Baptist W. Noel, M.A. Of this I have taken advantage in the following pages.

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EPISTLES TO THE THESSALONIANS.

the church, or, as Jude expresses it, "there are certain men crept in unawares :" and after the apostles passed away, there was not the same power to arouse the slothful, or to correct that which was evil. I shall here add a short sketch of the books of the New Testament, according to the order of time in which they were written, as far as it can be ascertained by those who have most closely examined the evidence. About A. D. 38, Matthew, by the direction of the Holy Spirit, wrote the history of what he had heard and seen. It is supposed that his Gospel was originally written in Hebrew; but translated into Greek at a very early period.

In A. D. 54, Paul wrote, by the same inspiration, his epistle to the church of the Thessalonians, whom he had, a little while before, been the happy instrument of turning from the power of Satan to God. He rejoices over them with great joy, and is confident about their election of God; because they had received the gospel, not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; and became such faithful followers of the Lord, that they were examples to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. They had turned from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, with the happy confidence that he had delivered them from the wrath to come. Their state was a testimony to the comfort arising from this blessed hope, when in lively exercise. From the second epistle, we find their faith grew exceedingly, and their love abounded: but in the midst of all their joy they were taught this solemn truth, "The mystery of iniquity doth already work ;" and prophecies concerning events still before us were committed to their faithful keeping. But even in this blessed church some of the brethren were walking in a disorderly manner, and the rest were commanded to withdraw from them. The fault among them seemed to be, that they were not quietly going on with their daily work, earning their bread by the labour of their hands; and for such a fault a man was not to be accounted as an enemy, but admonished as a brother. In A.D. 56, the first epistle to the Corinthians was written; and here it is that we have such a humiliating view of the failure of man, even as the temple of the Holy Ghost: it is the most lively picture of the lusting or warring of the flesh against the Spirit. The enemy too had been very busy in this part of the field, for the

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natural soil was a favourable one for him to work upon and as the husbandman sows the seed most likely to prosper in certain ground, so the subtle adversary did here. The philosophical spirit and habits of the Greeks, whereby they were divided into various schools, some preferring one master and some another, led to serious evil in the church gathered out of this learned and highly polished people. There were divisions or factions among the saints, some admiring the teaching of Paul, some that of Apollos, and so on. A worldly spirit was also among them; and Paul contrasts their condition with his own. They were full and rich, and reigned as kings (forgetting that one body of saints could not be rightly reigning before the rest, or while Christ was still rejected by the world): they were accounted wise, and strong, and honourable, but the exact reverse of all this was the state of the Lord's faithful servants, and he entreats them to follow him. Their republican spirit was also stirred up by the devil; and there were some who were puffed up, and ready to despise the rule of the Holy Ghost through the apostle. And so, all through the epistle, there is nothing but exposure of evil, and the remedy of it all by the energy of the Spirit of God. In fact, in this short epistle, there seems to be a summing up of all the evils that can afflict the church of God internally. There was backwardness to judge the evil within the church; brother going to law with brother, disorder in the common relationships of life, offending weak brethren, questioning even Paul's apostleship, abuse of the Lord's supper and of the Pentecostal gifts, denial of the resurrection, or foolish reasoning about it, &c. But there was apostolical power to meet all this; and Paul's letter was to serve as lasting instruction for the Church throughout all ages. He sends with it Timothy, to remind them of his ways and of his teaching; and in order that he may spare them, he delays to go in person to Corinth. Such power was lodged in the apostles' hands as was never lodged any where else (1 Cor. v. 5; 2 Cor. i. 23: xiii. 1, 3, 10): and if such were the manifestations of evil in their days, we cannot be astonished at any that have taken place since. In A.D. 57, the second epistle to the Corinthians was written. It is as the pouring in of oil and wine after the salutary wounds made by the sword of the Spirit: it is the binding up of the broken-hearted and the comforting of them that mourn. It is full of consolation, mingled with the

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EPISTLES TO THE ROMANS AND EPHESIANS.

most powerful exhortations and warnings: and from subsequent church history, we have reason to believe that the health of the church of Corinth was preserved as long as that of other churches. In A.D. 58, the seventh year of Nero's reign, the epistle to the Romans was written. The character of it is instruction and rebuke. It is possible the lion without kept the sheep clinging more closely to their shepherd, and more united in the fold but all the precepts and warnings at the close showed that there was a danger of their going astray, and that there were precipices down which they might fall. Conformity to the world, self-esteem, neglect of their right places in the body, want of love, pride, insubjection, and all other evils might creep in amongst them and cause them to stumble by the way. Difference of judgment about things immaterial, and condemnation of one another on that account, had already sprung up; and the growth of these evils, we shall afterwards see, occasioned the most grievous sin among the Roman Christians.

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In A. D. 61, the epistle to the church of Ephesus was written. The year before, on his way to Jerusalem, Paul had made a farewell address to the elders or overseers of this blessed flock, which it is most important to consider in these days when so much stress is laid upon apostolical succession (Acts xx. 17-38). Before he takes his leave of them he says, I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also, of your own selves, shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch," &c. With this perilous prospect of evil from without and evil from within, he would surely have spoken of his appointed successors, if the safety of the church depended on them: but looking forwards rather to a succession of grievous wolves, and men speaking perverse things, he says, with the greatest distinctness and simplicity, "I commend you to God and to the word of his grace." And in writing the next year to all the believers at Ephesus, it is still God and the word of his grace" that he sets before them, and not even the twelve that had received the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost (Acts xix. 6—7); or those who had been made overseers by the Holy Ghost (Acts xx. 28). This epistle is instruction for all ages. Chap. i.—What the church is, as the body of Christ. Chap. ii. The way in which they formed a part of it; quickened with Christ-by grace-through faith-builded together for an

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