The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated/Chapter 7
CHAPTER VII.
THE PERPETUITY OF THE HUMAN RACE, AND THE DIVINE PURPOSE IN THEIR CREATION.
In the preceding chapter we have endeavoured to show from the Word, and from considerations in relation to the Divine character, that the earth will endure for ever. We now proceed to follow up that conclusion with evidence and argument to show that the human race will never cease. The two points are intimately connected, and necessary to be understood before we can form a right estimate of what is written concerning the last judgment and the second coming of the Lord.
The non-cessation of mankind is, no doubt, a new position to ordinary theology, but is an old one in the catalogue of truth. If it be a fact that the earth is to remain for ever, there must be a Divine purpose for it; and what purpose is so worthy of a wise and merciful God as that of continuing the existence of a race whom He has created to be an image and likeness of Himself. The two points are closely associated. If the earth were dissolved, mankind must certainly perish; but if the earth is to be preserved, it is reasonable to conclude that their existence will be continued. An examination of the Word, and wisdom which is implied in the merciful attentions of God to that which He has created, will aid us in establishing this view upon no uncertain basis.
It will be useful at the outset to observe that those who affirm the world will pass away, are compelled to admit that a new earth will be created; but there is not the slightest intimation that this new earth will be destroyed. This, then, may be taken as evidence of God's intention to perpetuate our race; for why continue a new earth if it were not for such a purpose? But this is not left to inference merely: Peter plainly said, we look for a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness:[1] this implies the continuation of mankind; for how is righteousness to dwell upon the earth, if they are to be taken away from it? About this there is no information. But the Lord has expressly said, "As the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, so shall your seed and your name remain."[2] The notion then that the human race will some day cease, receives no countenance from the Scriptures; it breaks down in the hands of those who expect the destruction of the old earth; because we find that man's duration is to be co-extensive with the new one; and about the destruction of this new earth no one will pretend to find any evidence in the Scriptures.
It is written, "Thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited."[3] From this we learn that the Lord would have regarded the earth as a vain thing if it had not been created as a dwelling-place for the human race. That being the end for which it was created, must also be the end for which it is to "abide for ever." Whether those terms be understood of the natural earth or of the Church, it amounts to the same thing; for the existence of the Church requires the existence of the earth, and the continuation of the Church involves the continuation of man.
The Lord said, "The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool."[4] The heaven here referred to is not the blue expanse above us, but the habitation of the angels; His throne is His government among them; and the earth spoken of as His footstool is not the physical world in which we live, but the Lord's Church among mankind; and this natural heaven and natural earth cannot cease unless He were pleased to thrust away His footstool, and so destroy that lowest plane of responsible life to which His government descends. This passage reveals some of the grandest truths of the Word: it informs us that the Church is the basis of heaven; that heaven rests upon it as a house upon its foundation; and, consequently, if the foundation were to give way, the house would be destroyed. The earth is the seminary in which mankind are to be educated and prepared for heaven; the Lord's Word is as it were the school-book out of which they are to be taught, and all the inhabitants of the kingdom of heaven are from the regenerated of the human race: those who dwell in the opposite kingdom are from the faithless and disobedient portion of mankind.
It is well known that the common belief concerning the origin of angels, is, that they were created such at once; and that the devil, with his crew, arose out of a rebellion in heaven, from which they were expelled, and who then founded the kingdom of darkness. But these are fictions of the poets, not the teachings of revelation. We are aware that there are some passages to which persons resort in order to support those imaginations; but all who will examine them with any discrimination may know that they were never written to propagate such a view; and that so to apply them is either to mistake their meaning or to pervert their sense.
The Scriptures represent to us that man is not only the first but the highest object of responsible creation. They record nothing about angels or devils until after man had been brought upon the scene of existence; and the angels who are mentioned present no other characteristics than those which may reasonably be supposed to belong to the beatified spirits of departed men. Hence the poet has beautifully said—
"Angels are men of a superior kind;
Angels are men in lighter habit clad.
*****
And men are angels, loaded for an hour."
Surely they are the spirits of just men made perfect. God has nowhere told us that He has created two different races of accountable creatures. All the angels of whom the Scriptures speak appeared as human beings. The wings with which they are sometimes depicted are the inventions of poets and painters: they have no such appendages assigned to them in the Word.
Man, we are told, was created in the image and likeness of God, and he was declared to be very good. That which is an image of God is a recipient of His wisdom; and that which is a likeness of God is a recipient of His love. The goodness of man arose out of his reception of those quallities. He must then have been the highest object of Divine creation. What can be higher than that which is an image and likeness of the Highest? They who possess those excellences during their lifetime in the world are emphatically described as men; and when they pass with this high condition into heaven, they do not lose their characteristics as men; and though, from their new condition and superior dwelling-place they are called angels, yet they are also designated men. Thus they who have been good and wise in the world become angels in heaven. These two different titles arise out of two distinctive conditions of life. The state of an angel is superior to the condition of a man, because man, during his lifetime in the world, is in the process of being regenerated, and is confined to a material body, in which his spiritual mind can only think of spiritual things after a natural manner; but when the mind is liberated from its mortal covering, it then begins to think spiritually of spiritual things: and when this is the case, man becomes an angel, and understands things which were not comprehended by him in his previous condition as a man. Thus an angel is a holy man raised into a purer and higher stage of being.
Nor can it be shown from the Scriptures that there is, or ever was, an angel in heaven who had not first been a human inhabitant of the natural world. This world was created for man to dwell on, and there to receive that education which is necessary to form the angelic disposition. Holy discipline of the mind and heart is the means by which, according to the Scriptures, the Lord forms angelic principles and character in man. And what evidence is there that He provides inhabitants for His kingdom in any other manner? Whatsoever He does is done by Him in the best and wisest way; no other would consort with the perfection of His purposes, and, therefore the angels of His kingdom must have been gathered from the good and faithful of the human race. How else can the fact be accounted for, that the angels, who are stated in the Word to have appeared to favoured individuals, are spoken of as men? The three angels who appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre are afterwards called three men; so likewise are those who were seen by Lot. Jacob is described to have wrestled with an angel, who is also called a man. The angel seen by Joshua is stated to have been a man; and so is he who appeared to Manoah and his wife. The angel Gabriel is expressly called the man Gabriel. The two angels who were seen at the sepulchre after the resurrection of the Lord are said to have been two men; and John, in the Revelation, speaking of the measure of a man says, "that is the angel;" he also states that when he fell down to worship at the feet of the angel, the angel said unto him, See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets;[5] a passage which expressly affirms an angel to have been of the human race.
Indeed, the end for which man was created was, that by the reception of holy influences from the Lord, he might be happy throughout eternity. What other end could the Divine love propose by such a creation; and what else could the Divine wisdom produce? It is plain that the Divine love is unceasingly engaged in efforts to make men sensible of the blessings it has to bestow. And who can reasonably doubt that the intention of God in the creation of humanity, was that He might have a rational object on whom to confer His blessings? And as these cannot be confined to this world only, but must be carried on to that which is eternal, it is obvious that the final intention of God in the creation of man must have been the formation of an angelic heaven from the good of the human race. This indeed is the reason why, from the very beginning, His image and likeness were implanted in them.
All things that are orderly in men are received from the Lord, and the natural tendency of every grace is towards its source. Like good and obedient children clinging to the protection afforded by their father's house, regenerated men acknowledge the Divine blessings, and hope to become residents in the Lord's kingdom. The Lord gives the graces by which they are led into its enjoyments; by those graces He attracts them on to heaven; and, doubtless. He intends that the faithful shall be the inheritors of His glory. The regenerate love what God loves, and as both love the beatitudes of heaven, it is plain that its population is derived from the faithful among mankind. It is the obvious consequence of a good man's life, that he should find a place in heaven; to bring about this result, there is a connection from first principles to last—from the Lord as the first, with every good that can be found in man as the last—wherefore it is written, "If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come and make our abode with him."[6] In such a case there is a uniting together, nor can the connection be broken, for it is as a cause and its effect. Hence the angelic heaven is closely associated with regenerated men: the angels communicating their influences, and men receiving them. The one subsists from the other: men without heaven, would be as a foundation without a superstructure; and heaven without mankind, would be like a house without a foundation. Thus heaven is connected with man, and man with heaven; if, therefore, a separation were to be effected, the end would be destroyed for which the connection is made, and God would depart from the purposes of His order and the designs of His mercy. This, however, is impossible; for addressing mankind He has said, "I have loved you with an everlasting love:"[7] "I have created man for my glory."[8] The connection subsisting between heaven and the world is clearly pointed out by the Lord's declaration, "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool." As mankind furnish the inhabitants of heaven, they are the bases upon which that kingdom rests; and, therefore, if their existence were to be brought to an end, it would be like removing the Divine footstool, and leaving heaven without its resting-place; this, too, would put a stop to that government, of "the increase" of which it is said there shall be no end.[9] Moreover it is written that "the righteous is an everlasting foundation;"[10] how then shall the foundation be destroyed?
These considerations, then, point very decidedly towards the conclusion at which we aim. We learn from them not only that the Divine purpose in the creation of humanity was to provide inhabitants for heaven, but they also show us that mankind must be perpetuated, or that heaven would lose its basis; and, consequently, its inhabitants would be deprived of those enjoyments which arise out of their contributing to the spiritual necessities of men. "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation?"'[11] What affliction is experienced by a united household when one who has been beloved is snatched away, and towards whom, therefore, no further affection can be displayed: one of the employments of love is thus interrupted; and so heaven would be brought into distress if mankind were to cease; an object of love would be taken from the angels, and so their uses and delights would be diminished; but as this cannot be imagined, it is clear that the preservation of men is requisite for the continuation of angelic enjoyment.
All that God has created is with a view to the existence of spiritual life; who cannot see that such an immense provision of means must be proportionate to some suitable end? And what end is more conformable to the Divine character than that of providing for the creation of an unlimited number of human beings, to be impressed with the love and knowledge of their Maker?
Every one who believes in the existence of heaven, also believes that it exists as a habitation for the good of the human race. As God began the creation of such good among men and laid down laws for their enjoyment of it, who can reasonably think of its termination? Such an idea would be limiting the activity of infinite love. But the Divine Word, which contains the law for the cultivation of this good, is not to pass away; and, therefore, it is evident that the people for whose use it is designed must remain.
Every one who will carefully consider that heaven is the residence of the Infinite, must at once see that its immensity is such that it cannot be filled to eternity. Who can think of it as a place of limited dimensions? Who can believe that its doors must be closed, and the human race be discontinued, either for the want of love, or the want of room" But if there be both room and love, doubtless the Divine Being will provide inhabitants on whom to bestow them. The room in heaven, however, is like that of the human mind, the more that enters into it the more extensive it becomes. Hence it never can be filled, because the good by which men obtain admission is infinite in its origin and unbounded in its operations, and therefore the creation of subjects for its reception can never cease.
Besides, the perfection and happiness of that kingdom are promoted by numerical increase. A human mind, which is principled in goodness, retains that goodness when its possessor enters into heaven: it is not only the means for procuring access, but it is necessary for maintaining in that kingdom a permanent abode. Every one who enters carries with him some specific form of goodness; this constitutes his individuality, and, therefore, it is a form of good, and consequently a means for happiness which did not before exist. "One star differeth from another star in glory," and every one contributes something by which to increase the general happiness and light. The state of heaven is like that of the human mind when in an orderly condition, and as the perfection of the mind is increased by successive receptions of intelligence and wisdom, so the felicities of heaven are augmented by continued accessions to the number of its inhabitants. Thus, to be admitted into heaven is not simply to receive a blessing, it is also to carry into it some graces which we have been enabled to cultivate and love; its felicities arise out of the mutual and reciprocal action of purity and virtue. The Lord tells us that there is joy in heaven over the sinner who repents; the reason is because when a man is repenting, good is being implanted; that good is from heaven; it brings the individual who receives it nearer to the Lord's kingdom, and it provides occasion for a joy that did not previously exist. Heaven, in the abstract, is wisdom and virtue with all their uses; in the concrete it is those excellences implanted in the human soul. These things, in their essence and their origin, are the Lord's, and are, therefore, infinite; but they are capable of indefinite modifications and development in the finite recipient: each one receives them differently, and they become a peculiarity in the individual; consequently, every additional variety must contribute something to the perfection of the whole. A society whose only object is to do good, must, by every addition to its numbers, have its power to do good increased, and thereby the enlargement of its excellence and happiness will be promoted. Now the inhabitants of heaven are such a society, and this in a pre-eminent degree; therefore, every one who is added to their number will carry with him something by which to increase the happiness of all. Can anything which is capable of promoting such a purpose have a termination? or can any conceivable means be considered too great for its accomplishment? Here, then, we reach a great principle, which demands for its realization the perpetuity of the human race; without this, a time must arrive in which one of the means for increasing the felicities of heaven will be taken away, and the number of its inhabitants will have reached a limit; but neither of these results is compatible with the infinite nature of the Divine love. The design for which the world was created was that men should live upon it. The preservation of the means involves the perpetuation of the end. The earth is to remain for ever, just because it is the Divine intention that it should be for ever a residence for men, in order that, from the good among them, provision may be made for increasing the inhabitants of heaven, the immensity of which is such that it will admit of accessions throughout eternity.
Every Divine work has respect to infinity and eternity. The reason why there is such an immense variety in all and everything of creation is, because they derive their origin from the Divine principles, which are infinite, and, therefore, a sort of image of infinity is everywhere displayed, to the end that all may be viewed by the Supreme Being as His own work; and, also, that they may have respect to Him as the Supreme Cause. This fact may be illustrated by what is known to be the results of seeds, which are susceptible of increase without end. From a grain of wheat may be raised, in the course of a hundred years, a sufficient quantity to cover the surface of the whole earth; and, consequently, the produce of a succeeding year would be enough for twenty earths with similar magnitude. This sufficiently shows that the Divine works contain within them an image of infinity.
But man is the chief of God's works; he is the masterpiece of the Supreme Workman, and the purpose for which he has been created is that he may become an inhabitant of heaven. He, however, cannot enter into that kingdom unless he become a recipient of the principles of goodness and truth; and these, because they are Divine, are perpetually expanding in the human mind, and they will go on for ever increasing in their purity and loveliness. In this we may perceive another image of the Divine infinity and eternity; but heaven itself is this image in a pre-eminent degree. As the Divine residence, it is infinite, and, therefore, it must be adapted for the reception of an indefinite number of inhabitants; and because it is so adapted, it is reasonable to conclude that the purpose will be realized. All the adaptations of God are with a view to special ends; and, doubtless, He has given immensity to heaven in order to provide for the reception and happiness of an immense population. How plain is it that all things of heaven must have respect to what is infinite and eternal, and thus to multiplications without end! This result is consequent upon the fact of heaven being the essential dwelling-place of God. If, then, the human race were to cease, the Divine work would be limited to a certain number, and thus all proof of the Lord's having respect to infinity would be absent.
This earth is inhabited by some hundreds of millions of the human family, and it is well known that many thousands are born into it and are removed from it every day. Births and deaths are momentary occurrences. This evidence of increase and mortality has being going on from the earliest times. Indeed, a whole generation of mankind passes into the spiritual world in somewhat less than fifty years: and surely, from amongst these, during every fifty years, a vast number will find a place in the heavenly kingdom. How immense must be the number thus accumulating. John expressly tells us that he "beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne."[12] From this it may be reasonably supposed that the procreation of the human race will never cease. For, if we were to calculate on some given data, the number who have departed from this earth since the beginning of creation, and assign to each a definite extent for his habitation, we should find that the space required— which could be easily measured—would be as nothing in comparison with the infinite. It seems, therefore, as if the supply of inhabitants which heaven obtains from this earth alone would not be sufficient for the occupation of that immensity by which it is distinguished. How futile, then, is the imagination that the human race will have an end.
But if we look abroad into the universe what do we see?—stars and planets. Science tells us that the stars are suns like that of our universe, and that each has a system of corresponding worlds: it demonstrates that the planets are earths similar to this which we inhabit. When seen through a telescope, planets no longer appear as stars, shining by virtue of a flame, but as earths, reflecting the light of the sun. Many of them very much exceed in magnitude the globe on which we live; some are smaller, and they all are subject to similar vicissitudes. Somewhere about fifty of these belong to our own solar system; they are carried round the sun, make their progress in the zodiac, and thus have their seasons and years. The winter of Mars has been most carefully observed and marked. Bäel and Mädler, two Prussian astronomers, have not only prepared maps of the geography of that planet, but they have watched and recorded the progress of winter at its poles by the accumulation of its ice and snows. They have seen them gradually depart from the north as that pole advanced into summer by plunging into light; while the opposite pole became subject to similar phenomena as it passed into obscurity. These observations prove most decidedly that the geographical regions of Mars are fac-similes of those of our own planet. And who can doubt that something similar distinguishes every other planet in the universe? They all rotate upon their own axes, and thus experience the vicissitudes of day and night: some of them have satellites which revolve around them in stated times, as the moon circulates round the earth. These facts are as clearly known to science as any subject connected with the physical condition of our own world. Who, then, being acquainted with these things, and rationally reflecting upon their teachings, can suppose that all these bodies, so vast and numerous, are without inhabitants? Such an immense provision of means must be with the view of promoting some adequate end: that end cannot be merely the use of the inhabitants of this earth; and how reasonable is the conclusion that the other worlds must be for the residence of other races of humanity, as responsible to God for their existence and conduct as ourselves. The Lord said of this earth, that "He created it not it vain, He formed it to be inhabited." Thus we have Divine authority for stating that this earth would have been a vain thing without inhabitants. That, then, which would have been true of this earth, if it had not been inhabited, would be equally true of every other earth, if it were without inhabitants. Hence it may be evident that all other earths have been brought into existence for a purpose similar to this. With this idea before us, how untenable is the thought which supposes that the human race will have an end!
What, indeed, could be the use of such enormous bodies, if they were not intended for the residence of men? If man builds a house, he intends that it should be inhabited; and when God creates a world, He designs it for a similar purpose; He has expressly said so. All that God has created in outward nature is with a view to the ultimate manifestations of human life. He said, "Because I live, ye shall live also." All nature lives though each department of it lives by a condition of life regulated by its distinctive forms. Minerals grow; vegetables live and grow; animals feel, live, and grow. The design for creating the lower is that it may contribute something to the advantage of the higher; and the highest, which is man, is designed to receive the wisdom of God: hence He said, "I have created man for my glory." This is the end for the sake of which the former exist. Man was the last object of the Divine creation, all that preceded was for his sake, that he might acknowledge the Lord and enjoy the privileges conferred upon him. These facts, which are so peculiarly visible in reference to the end for which this earth was created, must be conceded to have equal force in reference to every other planet; hence they exist as the very basis for human habitations. Without this we must imagine that those enormous earths, some of which would make a number of worlds greater than our own, are mere wandering solitudes in the great expanse, and that they exhibit little else but the frightful aspects of desolation, stillness, and death. But this is utterly inconsistent with what we know of the order, activity, and manifestations of the Divine wisdom. Doubtless that wisdom brought them into being that rational life might exist upon them; and the munificent end of all such ercation is the rearing of an indefinite number of human beings in the possession of intelligence and virtue, that thereby provision may be made for adding to the population of the kingdom of heaven, the immensity of which is such that it can never be filled. The circumstance of those worlds being inhabited may suggest a vast idea; so also may the purpose for which they are inhabited; but what are they to Him who made them all, and whose understanding is infinite? As a thousand years in His sight are but as yesterday, so a thousand worlds in His presence may be considered as a unit; and surely a never-ceasing population must be conformable to His love. If it be true that the other earths of the universe are inhabited, and we think that the conclusion is established by evidence little short of demonstration, then it will follow that the inhabitants of this earth never could be numerically adequate to supply the purposes of the Divine love. Therefore the idea of their cessation is utterly dispersed.
But why should they be discontinued? Some, indeed, assert that men were originally created merely to supply the vacancies which had occurred in heaven by the expulsion of rebel angels. This being accomplished, it is supposed that the Divine purpose in their creation will be fulfilled, and, as a consequence, the human race will have an end. This, however, is mere fiction, which owes its prevalence and popularity more to poetry than to history or to fact.[13] Moses, in his description of the origin of the world, gives no account of the creation of angels before the existence of man; he does not furnish the slightest hint respecting the apostasy supposed, nor is anything of the kind related in any other portion of the Scriptures. This conceit, then, affords no answer to our question. Besides, it forces its abettors into the most difficult conclusions. It implies that the creation of man was not originally the design of the Omnipotent, but that it was planned and executed in consequence of pride and disobedience having grown up among an order of beings superior to man; so that, according to this view, mankind are indebted for their existence to an incident in heaven, to rebellion among its inhabitants, and to an after-thought on the part of the Almighty, by which He intended to avenge the wickedness of certain angels, and to repair the numbers of which His kingdom had been deprived by their expulsion. It also supposes that men, who are acknowledged to be less perfect in their constitution than the angels, are, by that imperfection, more capable of carrying out the Divine purpose, and that the places of the angels are to be supplied by a race of beings totally different both in their nature and their origin. All this, of course, is sufficiently perplexing, and need not occupy our time with a view to its refutation. It certainly furnishes no reasonable answer to the inquiry we have before us.
If all mankind are to be swept from the earth, there must be some reason for it, and this must have its ground in some Divine purpose, concerning which it is natural to expect something would be said in the Word; but we find that the Word is silent upon the subject. What it does say leads to a directly opposite conclusion. Righteousness is to dwell in the new earth which is to be created; and as that earth is to remain for ever, the inference is clear that mankind are to be equally enduring. It cannot be rationally imagined that God will destroy those beings whom He has created to be the manifestations of those virtues of which He is Himself the Author; and, supposing the people were to become apostates, it can hardly be concluded that He will turn aside His face, and so permit them to pass away. That would be contrary to all that is written of His love. He has said, "I have loved you with an everlasting love:" does not this imply that there will always be men who can be made sensible of that love?
Mankind have fallen into the lowest possible degradation, but God during that process did not withhold His love, and refuse to save them. In every stage of that catastrophe God watched over them with an unabated love. Jesus said, "How often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not."[14] The Divine love cannot be diminished by human wickedness; the creature cannot so act upon the Creator; that which is infinite cannot be decreased. From the first symptom of human degeneracy, God made efforts to arrest its progress. He could not see His people straying from His fold like lost sheep, and refuse to put forth His hand to stay and save them; He followed them to the very verge of ruin, and snatched them from the precipice. Love is the essential characteristic of the Divine Being. "God," says the Apostle, "is Love." This does not simply mean that God is a being who loves, but it is a sentence declaratory of His very nature: "God is love." Thus it is a principle of Divine life perpetually active in all creation. Everything that God has created must be an object of His love; that is the principle out of which they originated, and their preservation is an evidence that its intensity has never been diminished. Man being the only subject of responsible creation, and a finite resemblance of his Maker, it is clear that He must have a superlative regard for him. How then can it be said that He will terminate the duration of a creature for whose preservation He has displayed so many mercies, and towards whom He has manifested so profound a love?
The essential nature of the Divine love is such that it is not willing to be the property of itself; its unceasing activity is to love others out of itself, and make them happy. Mutual love among mankind is a blessing communicated to them from the Lord; it is a living principle, manifested by the individual, and having as its tendency the transferring of its blessings to others. "Behold how good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Mutual love is the amiable source of all that is wise and holy, beautiful and happy, in the human character; its reign is the administration of peace and blessedness. The Divine love is the primary source of all those blessings, and, therefore, it must contain within itself all their essential qualities. It desires nothing so intensely as the happiness of mankind. It is as a sun from which issue the heat and light that are shed abroad in the intellectual universe, and from which all things derive their life and blessedness. It is as a Divine magnet, acting, without intermission, upon every variety and condition of human character, to the end that men may be finally crowned with honour and glory. The salvation of mankind is, as it were, the consolation of the Lord, because this is the purpose of all His mercies and of every providence. "He maketh His sun to shine upon the evil and the good, and sendeth His rain upon the just and the unjust." And who can reasonably think of all the mercies which love confers, and not see that they involve the perpetuity of the beings on whom they are bestowed? Surely the displays of an attribute that is Divine are not for a day and for a few; that which is infinite must have respect to all time, and be for the enjoyment of an unceasing people.
It is because the Divine love is such as to love others out of itself, that mankind were created, and gifted with capacities for its reception: thereby an object of love has been provided: and will God deprive Himself of that which He has created for such a purpose? He has preserved mankind, notwithstanding the enormities of which they have been guilty; with what propriety, then, can it be said that He will cause the race to cease; and what reason can be assigned for such a cessation? As the iniquity into which they fell did not bring about that terrible disaster, and as the Divine mercy promised to tide them over a period of which it is said, "except those days should be shortened there should no flesh be saved," it seems plain that their perpetuity is intended; and we can discover no cause why it should be otherwise. Transgression has not produced their extermination; has not the worst been done that can be done in that respect? may we not therefore rest assured that the destruction of rational creatures cannot be intended by Him who made them.
It must be admitted that love was a motive in the creation of mankind, and that it has been continually active in their preservation; indeed, preservation may be considered as a continual creation: this being so, the human race cannot terminate unless that motive were to cease; and can anything that has once existed in the Divine character cease its activity? If the principles remain by which man was originally brought upon the scene of life, it follows that he must also be continued: they are as cause and effect; the activity of the one perpetuates the other. The idea of putting a period to their existence for no discoverable reason, but in the face of every argument which pleads for their continuance; the idea that rational creatures are to be extirpated; that God will stop that flow of rational life of which He is the Author, and refuse it ultimation; that He will no longer permit wisdom to be learned, nor virtue to be cultivated; that there shall be no more candidates for His kingdom, but that heaven will be shut, and creation become a blank,—these ideas are so many crudities, which no reasonable faith can accept, and which all sensible reflection rejects. Men are spiritual subjects of the Divine creation; they occupy a position apart, and are distinguished from every other existence by the gift of immortality: this, like light from the sun, is a communication from God, and to this something of a natural origin has been added, that they may at the same time become matured and fixed; and this with a view to unlimited procreation as the first end; the second being that of for ever providing inhabitants for heaven.
Are not those purposes worthy of the Divine Being? What can be conceived more in consonance with all that He has been pleased to make known concerning His wisdom and benevolence? To us it seems amazing that any other idea should ever have obtained any credence in the Church. He has created man an image, and thus a finite exponent of Himself, with capabilities to know, love, and acknowledge Him; will He then break a vessel which He has created for such a purpose? "Know ye not," said the Apostle, "that ye are the temple of God?"[15] will He then destroy His temple? Surely the notion must be abandoned. God has taken care of man's existence under circumstances which seemed to threaten his extirpation, conducted him safely through the deepest dangers, and, in the redemption which He accomplished, provided against the possibility of their recurrence. Do not these merciful providences show that humanity will for ever have a place in nature? And is not the same lesson taught in the great fact of our immortality? He who has once began to live can never die, and why may not this be applied to the whole human race? Surely the immortality of the individual may be taken as a revelation of the perpetuity of his species. Other objects of animated nature have died out,[16] because they have not had this principle; but as man possesses it, he cannot be the subject of a similar extinction. He was redeemed to the end that he might be continued: about this there can be no dispute. Some, indeed, may say that this continuance is to last only up to that period when the number of the elect shall be accomplished;[17] but that is no teaching of the Scriptures, and the statement is sufficiently met by the arguments we have used. We feel assured that the ultimate design of that merciful work was to perpetuate human life in the world, and thus for ever to contiuue the existence of the human race which He has formed to love and serve Him.
The Lord, in treating of the last judgment and of His second coming (from which narratives it has been inferred that all things will have an end), admonishes those who are in Judea to flee into the mountains, and him that is in the field not to return for his clothes. By this He doubtless intended to provide for the continuation and safety of the people who obeyed; if not, there could be no advantage in such a flight, nor any benefit; by remaining in the field; for if the time for the dissolution of all had then arrived, the place of the disaster could be of but little consequence.
But notwithstanding the appalling events by which His judgment is to be distinguished, the Lord proceeded to declare that "His Word should not pass away." Does not this clearly prove that mankind will remain upon the earth after that judgment has been executed? The Word is for the special edification of men, but the circumstance of its being continued in the world would be of no use if there were no men to be edified. Indeed it is not easy to see how the Word could remain without them; for as unto them have been committed the oracles of God,[18] to whom else are they to be entrusted? If men are to cease, then the purposes for which the Word has been provided in the world will have been accomplished; but the Word is not to pass away; hence those purposes are not to terminate, and therefore we conclude that the perpetuity of mankind is evident and certain.
Again: the Lord said, "Two shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left."[19] This very clearly shows that the last judgment is not intended to put an end to the human race. The circumstance that some people are to be left in the pursuit of their respective occupations after the event in which it is commonly supposed all will be swept away, not only proves the error of that opinion, but strongly intimates that mankind will always be preserved.
It may be said that those passages have reference to the invasion of Judea and the terrible destruction of Jerusalem. No doubt this is one aspect of the case: but every student of this prophecy is aware that it has a double signification; one relating to the disasters which were about to overtake the Jewish people, and the other to events which properly belong to the last judgment. There is, therefore, nothing gained by this suggestion, since the passages equally apply to both occurrences; and, consequently, the force of our argument remains.
Daniel, in reference to the same eventful period, has written of the Lord that "His dominion is from generation to generation;" that it is an "everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."[20] It is manifest that those statements refer to the Divine government, not only in heaven, but also upon the earth. As, then, His dominion is not to pass away, mankind must be continued; and as His kingdom is not to be destroyed, it is plain that the human race will be preserved. If they were to cease, over whom would He reign, and what would be the use of maintaining a kingdom in which there are no people to accept His laws nor to be benefited by His government? It is wonderful to see under what a variety of circumstances evidences appear to show that it is no part of the Divine economy to put an end to the human race. To us those evidences which have been adduced seem conclusive. There is, however, one other fact which has a special bearing upon the subject, and to this we will now advert.
To redeem mankind from the overwhelming power of those wicked influences which had set in upon them from the infernal world, the Lord was pleased to assume a manhood and to become a man among men. It is written that "He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren;;"[21] "made of a woman, made under the law."[22] In the manhood thus assumed the Lord fought against the spiritual enemies of our race, and by conquering them has consecrated for us a new and living way,[23] whereby "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him."[24] As the Captain of our saivation, He was made "perfect through suffering;"[25] and He said, "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?"[26] The glory into which He entered by these means was the Deification of His Humanity, by which He became the Saviour forevermore. It was the humanity so distinguished which appeared at the Transfiguration, the Resurrection, and the Ascension, and of which the Apostle speaks as the Lord's "glorious body."[27] In this "He ever liveth to make intercession for us,"[28] and "is alive for evermore."[29] Now is it reasonable to suppose that this Humanity would have been assumed to accomplish redemption, to become the object of this glory, and to be ever living to make intercession for us, if it had been intended, at any time, to stop the continuance of the human race, and when, of course, there would be no one for whom to intercede? Is it probable that the Divine would have assumed a medium by which to redeem mankind, and to become a Saviour for evermore, if a time is to come when there will be no more men for whom to intercede, and no more people to save? The idea strikes us as being without any foundation in truth, and as incapable of any reasonable defence. Surely God has not made provision to continue for ever a Divine Humanity which a contingency in the history of our race is to render superfluous![30] He is alive for evermore, and therefore there will always be people for the reception of His blessings. He said, "Because I live, ye shall live also:"[31] as the existence of His life is given as a Divine reason why we live; so the perpetuity of that life is a Divine reason why mankind should be continued. The Lord most plainly came into the world to provide for the continuance of mankind; and how reasonable is the conclusion that He then glorified His humanity to the end that there always should be a people to instruct and save. The circumstance, then, of God having become flesh and dwelt among us, ought to be accepted as affording one of the most distinguished arguments in proof of the Divine intention to maintain for ever in the world a race of rational beings, with whom He has mercifully associated Himself, by the assumption and glorification of their nature.
- ↑ 2 Pet. iii. 13.
- ↑ Isa. lxvi. 22.
- ↑ Isa. xlv. 18.
- ↑ Isa. lxvi. 1.
- ↑ See Gen. xviii. 2; xix. 5-8; xxxii. 24; Josh. v. 13, 14; Jud. xiii. 6, 10, 11; Dan. ix. 21; Luke xxiv. 4; Rev. xxi. 17; xix. 10.
- ↑ John xiv. 23.
- ↑ Jer. xxxi. 3.
- ↑ Isa. xliii. 7.
- ↑ Isa. ix. 7.
- ↑ Prov. x. 25.
- ↑ Heb. i. 14.
- ↑ Rev. vii. 9.
- ↑
"He, to be avenged,
And to repair His numbers thus impaired,
Whether such virtues spent of old now failed
More angels to create (if they at least
Are His created), or to smite us more,
Determined to advance into our room
A creature formed of earth, and him endow
With heavenly spoils (our spoils)."
Milton. - ↑ Matt. xxiii. 37.
- ↑ 1 Cor. iii. 16.
- ↑ Most works on geology give some account of the extinct species.
- ↑ See prayer in the "Book of Common Prayer:" "The order for the Burial of the Dead."
- ↑ Rom. iii. 2.
- ↑ Matt. xxiv. 40, 41.
- ↑ Dan. iv. 3; vii. 14.
- ↑ Heb. ii. 16, 17.
- ↑ Gal. iv. 4.
- ↑ Heb. x. 20.
- ↑ Heb. vii. 25.
- ↑ Heb. ii. 10.
- ↑ Luke xxiv. 26.
- ↑ Phil. iii. 21.
- ↑ Heb. vii. 25.
- ↑ Rev. i. 18.
- ↑ A notion, indeed, prevails in the professing Church, which supposes that the mediatory office of the Lord will cease. This view is expressed in the commentaries: it is drawn from a statement of the Apostle's, namely, "Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to the Father,—then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him, that God may be all in all" (1 Cor. xv. 24-28). However this passage may appear to teach such a doctrine, that certainly could not have been the Apostle's meaning. Peter has told us that Paul said some things hard to be understood (2 Pet. iii. 16), but the suggestion of a difficulty does not mean an impossibility. He who said of the Lord, "He ever liveth to make intercession for us," could never have intended to teach that the kingdom and power of Jesus were to continue only for a limited time. Those who so interpret the above passage make him inconsistent with himself, for of two opposite statements one only can be true. Besides, such a view supposes that the Saviour, after having saved the human race, is to be deprived of the glory belonging to His work, and made to retire from His connection with the Godhead! What is to be His position when so separated, no one professes to know. Well may Dr. A. Clarke, in summing up his strange remarks upon the passage, say, "How this shall be we cannot tell, nor know." Certainly not: but the difficulty is created by an untenable doctrine, and not by a correct interpretation of the Apostle's meaning. Speaking of the Lord, he said, "This Man for ever sat down at the right hand of God" (Heb. x. 12); that is, His manhood is for ever endowed with omnipotence to save. No man goeth to the Father but by Him; He is the Way, He has all power both in heaven and in earth. The Apostle was too wise to indicate so strange a thought as that of subduing the Omnipotent. The "end" of which the Apostle speaks is the Divine purpose of the Lord towards mankind; this end is their salvation; the means to it are truth and goodness. The Lord, as the Son, is the Truth, and as the Father, He is the good: He and the Father are one (John x. 30). In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Col. ii. 9). Men at first receive the truth, and submit to its direction; but in the process of their regeneration, the truth which they receive leads them on to goodness, until goodness is established in its full dominion. Thus the Son delivers up the kingdom to the Father;—truth delivers up its rule to the government of goodness, that goodness, or the Father, may be all in all. These are some of the ideas which underlie the Apostle's teachings in the above passage, and not the marvellous imagination of the Saviour's ceasing to be a Saviour, which is obviously involved in the notion that His mediatorial office is to cease.
- ↑ John xiv. 19.