referred to) in the subsequent history of the Church from that date to the present,-a history not, alas ! of continued triumph and progress, but of declension and corruption in doctrine and practice, witnessed, after an interval of fifteen centuries, by the abounding of heresies, schisms, and false profession, in our own times, the place in the Apocalyptic vision where that prophecy occurs, which the learned prelate rightly parallels with our text, would show that it is not so to be fulfilled: not as the result of the preaching of the Gospel, or a "harvest" to be reaped in this dispensation, but at its end," the end of this age," on the sounding of the seventh and last trumpet which ushers in the second Advent, "the appearing and kingdom," of the Lord Jesus Christ; and as the result, in the first instance, of the judgments of that "last woe" on the kingdom of Him by whom the throne of Christ is now, and will be then even more palpably, usurped: "The second woe is past; and behold, the third woe cometh quickly. "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever. "And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, "Saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned. “And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.”—Rev. xi. 14–18. Which prophecy, moreover (it is not a little remarkable), is identified with that before us by another passage of that same book (ch. v. 5), where,—in the opening vision, which represents the institution of Christ into this kingdom, and His receiving (so to speak) the title-deed of that inheritance which confers the right which He here (in ch. xi.) asserts-the titles under which He claims are, "The Lion of the tribe of Judah," and "The Root of David;" the former an evident allusion to the blessing of Judah, which shall be so fulfilled. And this, then, is the consummation to which the ancient oracle before us points. Like those that went before, a prophecy of both Advents of the Saviour, but of both in the distant vision seen as one; and that most prominent,-not which is first and nearest, but that which is last, as being "the end of our faith" and the great object of hope,-the revelation of the Saviour's GLORY, the crisis and completion of Redemption. This was the dying patriarch's hope when, in the view of the latter-day glory thus opened to him, he exclaims (as at verse 18), "I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord." And for this we also still wait. We, indeed, can each say with another aged believer of a later time, who saw the Saviour born, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." But still, do we wait for it (though, with him, possessing this additional earnest of our hope), in that accomplishment which he goes on to anticipate : "which (he adds) Thou hast prepared before the face of all the peoples; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel." For, this we see not yet. In part the first is realized; the latter not at all. Nor till the latter-Israel's glory-come, will the former-the Gentile's light-be more than partial. These purposes are united in the revealed counsel of God: may they be united in our hopes and prayers! When we pray for the conversion of the world, let us also " pray for the for the peace of Jerusalem;" and in order to both, earnestly desire that event which the last considered of these ancient oracles has taught us is the hope of the nations, and this now before us as, in addition, the hope of Israel, the coming of the Lord again to earth: the event which the Church anticipates in the season on which we are about to enter, and celebrated in the words of the well-chosen Anthem for the day:* when "all the kindreds of the peoples" shall unite to "ascribe unto the Lord glory and power;" and the joyful proclamation shall go forth into all the world—" Tell it out among the heathen [the nations] that the Lord is King, and that He shall judge [govern] the Let the heavens rejoice, peoples righteously. * This Lecture was delivered on the Sunday before Advent; the Anthem, Ps. xcvi., "Ascribe unto the Lord” (Travers). judge the world, and the peoples with His Truth." A coming, and kingdom, and conversion of the nations, which another Psalm, of which the chorus is the same (xcviii.), connects with the Lord's " remembering His mercy and truth towards the house. of Israel:" 66 "O sing unto the LORD a new song, for He hath done marvellous things: His right hand, and His holy arm, hath gotten Him the victory. The LORD hath made known His salvation: His righteousness hath He openly showed in the sight of the heathen [the nations]. He hath remembered His mercy and truth toward the house of Israel: and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God." [Appendix P.] |