The great peculiarity in the history of the human race took its rise in the apostasy of man, and is exhibited in the antagonism between the rightful Sovereign of the world and the instigator of that apostasy, and in the agency, relations and destiny of their respective followers. In the progress of the conflict between the righteous and the wicked, holiness and sin, happiness and misery, light and darkness, truth and falsehood, the desperate malevolence of the Evil One, and the guilt and ruin of his followers, are made manifest to all observers; and on the other hand, the infinite riches of the wisdom, goodness, righteousness and mercy of the great Deliverer towards his followers, in their renewed allegiance and recovery to holiness and happiness, are equally made public. In the announcements of his Word, and in the administration of his moral and providential government over them, the wrath of G.o.d is revealed against all unG.o.dliness and unrighteousness of man. The angels who kept not their first estate were reserved to an inevitable doom. The early descendants of the first human pair wholly corrupted their way and filled the earth with violence, and "the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished." The immediate successors of those who were preserved in the ark, when, from the works of creation, the teachings of Noah, and the inst.i.tutions of revealed religion, they knew G.o.d, glorified him not as G.o.d, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible G.o.d--misrepresented his invisible attributes, eternal power and G.o.dhead, and the glory of his perfections, visibly displayed in his works of creation and providence--by an image made like to corruptible men, and to birds, and four-footed beasts and creeping things; and changed the truth concerning G.o.d into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Therefore, even as they did not like to retain the true G.o.d in their knowledge, he gave them over, in his righteous judgment, to a reprobate mind, to the indulgence of their evil propensities under the instigation of their chosen leader, "the Devil, who deceiveth the whole world;" a.s.suming to be, and usurping the place of, G.o.d; leading his deluded followers "captive at his will," and foreshowing, by their condition and conduct on earth, their ultimate doom, as the final destiny of the angels who kept not their first estate is manifested by their conduct while under sentence of condemnation prior to the final judgment.

Throughout the history of this antagonism as recorded in the Old Testament, the great question was, Who is the true G.o.d, the Creator, Ruler, Benefactor, to whom all creatures owe allegiance--Jehovah or _the_ Baal? This question was specially and publicly tried on various occasions, as in the plagues of Egypt, in the controversy conducted by Elijah, in that relating to the image erected by Nebuchadnezzar, and many others of less notoriety. In several scores of instances it is the declared purpose of particular dispensations and events that those to whom they referred might be made to know that He, the true G.o.d, in opposition to _the_ Baal, was Jehovah. And such, at the final termination of the conflict, will be the resistless and universal conviction: "every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of G.o.d the Father." Having, in his official character and complex Person, maintained the conflict throughout all the periods and in all the forms of its exhibition, vanquished the great Adversary, redressed the consequences of the fall, and destroyed even death itself, his triumph is complete and final; vindicating all his offices and agency, establishing the facts and doctrines, prerogatives and rights upon which his government is founded, securing for ever the loyalty and bliss of the unfallen and ransomed portions of his empire, and filling the universe with the glory of his person and his name, and with the boundless riches of his wisdom, grace and love. Then will be displayed the vastness and grandeur of the scheme purposed in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world, and involving this conflict between the Divine Mediator and the Arch-rebel and his party, that through the redemption, resurrection, and final exaltation and glory of the Church, the Divine perfections might be made known to the unfallen, the princ.i.p.alities and powers in heavenly places.

The chief question which remains concerning this antagonism, relates to the manner of its termination--the means and agencies by which it is to be ended. That it is to end, there is no doubt. That it is to terminate in such a manner as to fill the universe with new and previously inconceivable demonstrations of the majesty, power, and glory of the Messiah, and his people with unprecedented exultation, joy, and praise, the Scriptures abundantly testify. But from a period shortly subsequent to that of his ascension, there has been a difference of opinion in the Church--more or less conspicuous at all times, but never, perhaps, more marked than at present--concerning this great question. That difference of opinion, on the part of the great majority even in the Protestant churches, is believed to be founded in the Rabbinical and figurative interpretations of the Old Testament, formerly referred to; and to include among its princ.i.p.al elements a very defective estimate of those sacred oracles, and an inadequate and erroneous view of their teachings concerning the Person, t.i.tles, prerogatives, manifestations, works and purposes of Christ.

On a point of this nature and importance, one might safely infer from the a.n.a.logy of the past, whether arguing from the history of the Jewish or that of the _nominally_ Christian Church, that the party composing the great majority were not in the right. It is presumed to be quite safe to say, that at every period of any considerable extent of the Jewish Church, after its establishment in Canaan, and more especially after the reign of Solomon, the majority, notwithstanding the writings of Moses and the instructions of the prophets, were under great delusion and error respecting the Messiah and his kingdom; and at the Advent, those who were in the right were few in number compared with the busy scribes, the ostentatious Pharisees, and those doctors of the law who, sitting in Moses' seat, taught the traditions and commandments of men.

And of what considerable division of the nominally Christian Church, from the second century to the Reformation, will any one affirm that a great majority were not under deep delusion and error in respect to important points of doctrine and practice? Or of the Romish Church before or since the Reformation, will any one, not a Papist, say that it has not held flagrant and astounding errors concerning the offices and prerogatives of Christ, as Prophet, Priest, and King, the one only Mediator, Lawgiver, and Head of his people?

Can it be presumptuous, then, to suppose that the great majority in the Protestant churches are in error in holding that this antagonism is to terminate without any further visible personal manifestations of Jehovah, the Messenger incarnate; that the usurping Adversary, whose domination over the race prior to the deluge was checked by that catastrophe only till fitting subjects of his delusions reappeared, and whose sway over the Pagan, Mohammedan and Roman world has, with occasional change of forms and names, continued substantially intact, is to be vanquished and driven from the scene solely by moral and spiritual influence; that the system of idolatry which has, from the call of Abraham to the present hour, subjected most of the race to all the evils and miseries of sin which are possible to human beings in the present life; which has been the organized medium and embodiment of rebellion against their rightful Sovereign, of denial of his claims, and of studied provocation and affront; and which has withstood so many public and visible shocks and terrors of his wrath and power, is at length to yield and quietly disappear without any further visible demonstrations of his supremacy, or public vindications of his righteousness?

Is there any thing more unlikely in the supposition that a misconstruction of the prophecies relating to the period and objects of the second advent should prevail and be pertinaciously adhered to by many, than in the historical fact that the Jews and Jewish doctors misconstrued those prophecies relating to the period and objects of the first advent, which, to the faithful in the Gentile Church, have ever appeared unmistakably plain and definitive?

If such misconstruction and error do not prevail with the generality of Protestants, it is the first time in the history of the world that the mult.i.tude, in opposition to the few on such a question, have held the true meaning of the Scriptures. If they do prevail, they will a.s.suredly be renounced at least by the true worshippers. Their teachers and guides will cease to be of those who regard the Old Testament as a shadowy myth, all figurative with reference to the future, all obsolete in relation to the past--creation resolved into primordial elements and physical laws, or superseded by the chronology of sediment and fossil bones--and miracles explained away as inconsistent with rationalism and with the course of nature. On the other hand, the descendants of Israel will recognize the Messiah in Jesus of Nazareth; the veil which, on their reading of Moses, is on their hearts, will be taken away, and the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down, will be reerected; and Jesus the Messiah, Adonai, Jehovah the Messenger, will come and reign as Priest and King upon his throne for ever and ever.

In their defection to idolatry, the Messiah, the Messenger Jehovah, became an offense to Israel. They ceased to seek salvation, righteousness, justification by faith in him, and trusted to the works of the law. They stumbled at him as a stumbling-stone and rock of offense. But have they so stumbled and fallen as to be utterly cut off? Far be it! Rather, through their fall salvation came to the Gentiles. And if their Fall was followed and counteracted by such benefits, what shall their recovery be but life from the dead? If on their stock, decayed and rejected through unbelief, the Gentiles as a wild olive were engrafted, G.o.d is able to engraft them again into their own olive tree. If blindness of heart hath befallen Israel, it is only till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; and then all Israel will be saved. "As it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away unG.o.dliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for the Gentiles' sake; but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. For the gifts and calling of G.o.d are without repentance. For as in times past [before the Messiah came] the Gentiles believed not, but on his coming obtained mercy because of the unbelief of Israel; so Israel now continues disobedient to the mercy shown to the Gentiles, that through their mercy Israel also may obtain mercy; that G.o.d may have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of G.o.d! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him are all things; to whom be glory for ever. Amen." Romans xi.

Behold then, descendants of Israel, the Lamb of G.o.d who taketh away the sin of the world! Behold in Jesus the Christ, the Messiah whom your fathers crucified and pierced! Look to the Messenger Jehovah, who, when the race in their primeval representative fell from the estate wherein they were created, yielding to the will of the great Adversary, renouncing their allegiance to G.o.d, and becoming heirs of his wrath and condemnation, took their place as their representative and subst.i.tute, entered the lists as their champion, a.s.sumed the responsibility of encountering, counteracting, and finally subduing, vanquishing, and triumphing over their destroyer, and by suffering in their stead, of rescuing, sanctifying, and raising from the dead all who by faith receive, trust, love, and obey him; the G.o.d-man, the only Mediator, to whom, as Prophet, Priest, and King of Zion, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, every knee must bow, and every tongue confess that He is Jehovah.

NOTE A--Relating to the Exposition of the Apocalypse, by D. N. Lord.

Instead of tracing the ill.u.s.trations thus furnished, or making the requisite citations, the writer can barely refer to them, and express, as far as may be fitting, his opinion of that work as an exposition, upon clear and indubitable principles, of a portion of the sacred oracles previously sealed and unintelligible, to the opening of which no clew had been discovered, and towards a reliable or satisfactory explanation of which, no progress had been made. And he cannot forbear to speak of it, even at the hazard of being supposed to have a motive inferior to that of impartial admiration of the work, as opening to the view a clear vision of the inner sanctuary, and vividly portraying the scenes, the agencies, and the events of the last great act of the drama begun in Eden; and as surpa.s.sing all other efforts towards an exposition of any portion of the prophetic oracles, in the scriptural authority of its principles, the loftiness and grandeur of its conceptions, the adequacy of its representations of the Person, t.i.tles, offices, prerogatives, agency, purposes, dominion and glory of Jehovah the Incarnate Word; the luminousness of its descriptions, the relevancy of its proofs and ill.u.s.trations, the clearness and brevity of its style, the absence of every thing not pertinent, and the exhibition of every thing requisite to an exposition of "The Revelation of Jesus Christ which G.o.d gave unto him to show unto his servants."

Such being the character of the work, it can occasion no surprise to those who consider the reigning notions and prejudices of the times concerning the import of some of the symbols, that it should be neglected by the many. It overturns prevailing theories and fixed opinions. Had it, with no settled rules of interpretation, followed the beaten track, in conformity with those theories and opinions; its accurate scholarship, its thorough acquaintance with preceding authors, with the records, inst.i.tutions, import, and bearings of the earlier dispensations, with ancient and modern history, with the Greek and Latin Fathers, and with collateral branches of literature and sources of ill.u.s.tration, would have insured it the ready suffrage of the learned and the public.

But it is from beginning to end an innovation. Instead of being an echo of prior expositions, it is wholly original. Instead of being a version of the conjectures and fancies of others, without settled and uniform principles of exposition, it differs from them very much as astronomy differs from astrology. It is based upon axioms and rules which are well defined, and of certain and universal application to the subjects to which they relate. It lays down what no prior exposition ever attempted, "The Laws of Symbolic Representation;" and by a rigid and consistent adherence to those laws, as by a process of inductive demonstration, brings out intelligibly to the reader the meaning of the successive symbols: in each instance ill.u.s.trating and confirming the exposition by references to history, and contrasting it with the views advanced by preceding writers. These laws of symbolic representation are neither less evidently founded in the nature of that mode of revelation, nor less essential as a clew to its meaning, than are the common rules of grammar in relation to ordinary literal language; and they are accordingly sanctioned, and their reality and truthfulness are demonstrated by numerous references to inspired expositions of prophetic symbols.

A revelation by symbol is not a statement or description in words of what is foreshown, but a representative exhibition in a visible form; as for example of a living agent, with certain known natural characteristics, and certain official insignia or other accompaniments, between which agent, so depicted in its appropriate att.i.tude and sphere of action, and the agent or cla.s.s of agents of a different nature and sphere of action which is represented and foreshown, there are such resemblances and a.n.a.logies as to render the first an expressive and fitting representative of the other.

Thus the beast described Rev. xiii. as emerging from the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the names of blasphemy; his body being like a leopard, his feet like those of a bear, and his mouth as that of a lion; is described chap. xvii. as representing by its seven heads, seven kings, dynasties, or forms of executive power in the Roman Empire prior to its division; and by its ten horns ten kings which as yet had received no kingdom; the ten kings, namely, between whom the western empire was to be divided, and who, with the relentless ferocity of lions, bears and leopards, were by persecution and otherwise to make war with the Lamb. So in the vision of Daniel, chap.

viii., the ram with two horns is declared to represent the Kings of Media and Persia; and the goat with one horn, the King of Grecia.

These examples ill.u.s.trate the laws of symbolic representation with reference to one cla.s.s of symbols; and with respect to those symbols of which there is no inspired explanation, the expositor, under the control and guidance of those laws, is liable to no mistake, unless it be in his inadequate discernment of a.n.a.logies and erroneous selection of agents, events, or other phenomena, instead of those intended to be foreshown, and in which congruity with the characteristics and adjuncts of the symbol, harmony with other Scriptures and predictions, and correspondence with historical events and testimonies are confidently to be expected.

If the reader can imagine any thing of the awe and wonder which overwhelmed the apostle in his visions, when, in his station on the apocalyptic earth or in the heavenly sanctuary, he beheld the glorified Person of his Lord in the effulgence of his Deity, seated on a throne, from which, as at Sinai, proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices, and around which were exhibited the representative and triumphant witnesses and trophies of his redemptive work; and beheld that Person symbolizing himself in his aspect and relations as incarnate, "a Lamb, standing as slain;" and saw, as on the revolving canvas of a panorama, when the seals were opened, the symbolic forms emerging into view one after another, each by its representative character revealing, as in cipher, the agents and events of its future appropriate and peculiar department; and witnessed the phenomena of revolutions, tempests, earthquakes, darkness, fire and blood, foreshown under the sounding of the trumpets; and successively the slaughter and resurrection of the witnesses, the war of Michael and the Dragon, the emergence of the ten-horned wild beast, the rise and career of the two-horned wild beast and false prophet, the harvest and vintage of the earth, the pouring out upon the earth of the plagues of the seven vials of the wrath of G.o.d, the fall and destruction of great Babylon, and the ensuing scenes of wonder and glory, retribution and judgment, thanksgiving and triumph, he may in some degree conceive the effect of converting the enigmatical portraitures of this panorama into intelligible literal language, a.s.signing each to its relative and historical position, and reflecting on the version the light of earlier revelations, that of ecclesiastical and secular history, and in a large degree, in respect to the past, that of unmistakable events.

It is in respect to the result, as compared with that of preceding efforts, like Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, compared with the fruitless endeavors of the magicians, astrologers, and Chaldeans of Babylon; or like the finally successful effort to read the hieroglyphics of Egypt, compared with the fruitless attempts, bewildering theories, and abortive labors of preceding ages.

Had this work been published at some transition-period, when the human mind was freeing itself from erroneous and long-cherished opinions; at the revival of learning in Europe, when there were Luthers and Calvins to welcome it; or in England, when there were Latimers and Ridleys, Boyles and Newtons, or Owens and Howes; or in this country at the period of Edwards, it would have superseded and prevented the expositions to which it is opposed, or else it would have been answered in the same way as were the doctrines of Galileo. Such men under their circ.u.mstances would not have been content to say, as many at present seem to be: "Though we consider the Apocalypse a part of the inspired Word of G.o.d, and though it evidently relates to the future of the Church, the conduct of the redeemed and the destruction of their enemies, and above all to the crowning, ultimate and eternal manifestation of the Person, prerogatives, supremacy, prophetical and sacerdotal works, and regal majesty, glory, triumph and reign of Jesus Christ; yet we neither understand it, nor believe it will be understood in advance of its issues; and therefore are not disposed to examine anything new upon the subject."

But the transition now going on is not against, but in favor of ancient and erroneous opinions. It is retrograde towards Pelagianism, Pantheism, Neology, Romanism, and among the best, to the omnivorous infection of infidel Germanism. The partisans of these errors desire no lights but such as are reflected from the satellites of their respective systems.

In those exclusive and dubious lights, each is secure alike against the arguments and examples of every other. They can controvert the doctrines of Scripture and those of each other upon all disputed points, without the slightest danger of extorting concessions or producing conviction; for no two of them see the same thing by the same light. All hope and expectation of defeating or silencing any party by the arguments or Scripture citations or interpretations of another, or of dislodging cherished and fixed opinions by any means short of a universal deluge, or an annihilation like that of the Egyptians by the Red Sea, or that of Sodom and Gomorrha by fire, is given up. And so long as they nominally agree in respect to certain future issues, towards which they think the onward course of things in the physical, intellectual, scientific, mechanical, social and religious world is wafting them, their theories and their relative positions will allow them fearlessly to float down with the current, without having in advance even the light of a moon.

There is a Millennium in prospect; a vast, undefinable Mediterranean of something better than the present, into which all the turbid streams of humanity are tending, and towards which the preaching of the gospel to all nations is but a tributary.

The aspect of things, accordingly, is much like that in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing; as if Satan were already bound, and no deluge of wrath or terrors of retribution were impending; and as if with science and art, ancient relics and now inventions, gold mines and traffic, steam and electricity, as pioneers, the Ethiopian were about to change his skin, and the leopard his spots, the wolf to lie down with the lamb, and the lion to eat straw like the ox. The more startling the events of Providence, the shattering of political fabrics, the excision and restoration of dynasties, the revival of Popish arrogations and intolerance, the pitched battle of despotism against liberty, the more sure they are to be construed as immediate signals of the universal prevalence and triumph of human hopes. The purple and scarlet robes of the Babylonish Sorceress are seemingly changed to vestal whiteness, as gazed at through the spectrum of discolored gla.s.s, or seen in the sepulchral, bewildering, superst.i.tious twilight of Baalistic tapers; while the murmurings of unearthly music, the chantings and mutterings of unintelligible words, and the spell of imputed and pretended mysteries, subdue the victim to whatever the spiritual operator may prescribe or denounce. The nations in the four quarters of the globe seem to many to be about to renounce their idolatries, and to be released without a struggle on the part of Satan, who has held them in bondage hitherto, and to be arranging to a.s.sume white robes and take their stations on the gla.s.s-like expanse before the throne. The partisans of such views neither realize nor believe that there is any thing to the contrary revealed in Scripture; or if there is, it is so concealed in symbol and figure as to preclude its being understood till all is over. And accordingly, like the Pharisees of old, who scrupulously paid t.i.thes of mint and all manner of herbs, and omitted the weightier matters of practical righteousness, faith, and the love of G.o.d, they resolve religion into outward action, the love of G.o.d into eclectic sympathy with his creatures, and faith into their theory of particular duties.

Formerly, in religious controversy, there was something positive on one side, against which an opposing negative was a.s.serted. In the great controversy recorded in the Bible, the supremacy of Jehovah and the authority of his Word were explicitly and constantly affirmed by one party, and as directly and perseveringly denied by the other; and the two parties were therefore broadly and unmistakably distinguished. But at present the case is widely different. No active partisan, theological or scientific, now denies the existence of a Supreme Being, or professes to disbelieve the Scriptures. All claim to be believers in G.o.d and in the Bible. What they differ about is as to what kind of Being that is whom they call G.o.d; whether personality is one of his attributes, and what works and purposes are to be ascribed to him: and as to what the Scriptures teach, how they are to be understood; whether they are inspired or not; whether they are all typical, or what portion or whether the whole of them is in some way figurative; whether miracles were ever wrought; whether the Mosaic account of the creation is to be understood literally, and the like. And if there is at this moment, in the compa.s.s of the world, or in the Protestant portion of it, one comprehensive error, conspicuous above all others, it is that of inadequate, partial, defective apprehensions, recognitions, and acknowledgments of what the Scriptures reveal concerning the Person, prerogatives, offices, works, dominion, triumph and glory of the Messiah, and concerning his yet unended conflict with the Arch-apostate.

NOTE B--The primary ground of Mediation, &c.

The primary ground or reason of that mediation, in the economy of the universe, which is affirmed of the one Mediator in all the relations of G.o.d to the World, is the infinite difference between the Deity and creatures in nature, attributes, and mode of existence and action. The relations implied in the existence and agency of creatures are such as cannot be conceived to subsist between beings so diverse in all respects as the infinite and finite, except through an intermediate agent, in the const.i.tution of whose person and office the opposite extremes are united. For in creating, upholding, and governing finite beings, the agency of the Creator and Ruler connects itself with the conditions and relations of time and s.p.a.ce; the conditions and relations of matter; of succession of thought, feeling, and action; of that which is external, visible, limited; that which begins and ends.

It may therefore be said, that in the nature of things such mediation, the interposition of such an official Person, is necessary; and accordingly the agency of the Mediator in those relations is presupposed, a.s.sumed, or expressly recognized, throughout the Scriptures.

In this system, the moral government which is administered by the Mediator is founded on the perfections, prerogatives and rights of the Deity as manifested by him in the works of creation, providence and grace, and applies to creatures in the relations which they sustain to him.

The whole is therefore a system of manifestation; on his part of the perfections and rights of the Deity, and on theirs of holiness and happiness, or of sin and misery, in the relations in which they exist.

In the progress of this system, all intelligent creatures will be instructed in all that is knowable by them concerning the Deity, and all that respects themselves, and the nature, tendency, and consequences of holiness on the one hand, and of apostasy and wickedness on the other.

The Deity thus made known will, by the holy, the unfallen and redeemed, be eternally reverenced, supremely loved, and exclusively worshipped and obeyed; his rights and prerogatives will be acknowledged, and his perfections and the boundless emanations of his goodness be regarded with ceaseless, adoring, grateful rapture and delight.

In the administration of his moral government over apostate creatures, and in their future punishment, the Mediator's sceptre is a sceptre of perfect righteousness.

The course of things eventually to be realized on earth will be such as would have taken place from the beginning, had no apostasy occurred. The apostasy and the curse on man and the earth will be overcome. The antagonism between the Mediator and the Adversary will cease. The earth, freed from the curse and from all enemies, renovated, restored to its original beauty, will be the perpetual scene of holiness and happiness.

Under the past and present dispensations, the object has been to do away the consequences of the fall of the first Adam as head of the race. When the second Adam, ("the Lord from heaven,") as head of his elect people, shall have accomplished this at his second advent, and destroyed all enemies, he will be thenceforth _the head of the race_ for ever.

The apostasy was a violation of preexisting relations between the Creator and creatures. The victory gained by Satan over the first Adam as head of his race made him as much master of that Adam and his descendants as he was of the angels who joined him in apostasy. By that victory he had the power of death. Doubtless it was his object to destroy, as to the purposes and mode of existence for which they were created, the race with which, by the const.i.tution of his official Person, the Mediator was connected; and thereby to defeat him.

The victory of the second Adam over Satan, utterly despoils him of all he had taken from the first Adam, destroys all his works, and ends in the destruction of himself and all enemies. As yet the results are but partially manifested. His victory as man--the victory of that nature in his official Person which had been overthrown in Adam--was achieved by his triumph over the direct personal temptation in the wilderness, and by his death, resurrection and ascension. The consummation of his triumph by the final overthrow and banishment of all enemies, in which his Divine attributes and prerogatives will be displayed, is yet future.

The administration of the Mediator in the government of this world, proceeds upon a definite and intelligible plan. It is one scheme, with which all agencies and events are connected, and of which the consummation is distinctly foretold. The Mediator is, from the beginning to the end, the Divine Actor and Revealer, the Alpha and Omega, first and last.

From the date of the apostasy this government relates to mankind as separated into two cla.s.ses or parties, the loyal and the rebellious. The result of the first prolonged trial was the destruction of the whole race as rebellious and incorrigible, Noah and his family excepted.

On the apostasy of the renewed race, shortly after the deluge, to the impious rival system of idolatry, Abraham was called to be the head of a separated race, who, by a system of external and visible rites, inst.i.tutions, teachings, services, benefits and discipline, were to be visibly--and as peculiarly dealt with, in contrast with the rest of the world--the loyal party. As such, the Mediator was personally to dwell with them and to exercise his offices, and rule them as Priest and King.

He accordingly, having brought the children of Israel into the wilderness of Sinai, entered, prior to the giving of the Law, into a formal covenant with them, as recorded in Exodus xix: "Jehovah called unto Moses out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, (for all the earth is mine;) and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation." Moses rehea.r.s.ed these terms to the people: "And all the people answered together, and said, All that Jehovah hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto Jehovah."

During the trial under this covenant, the other nations were governed and dealt with as in a state of total and avowed rebellion, under condemnation, and obnoxious to the demands of justice. Pursuant to this system, the nations of Canaan were first destroyed. After Egypt, a.s.syria was for a long time the head of the rebellious party; then Babylon, and subsequently the four empires predicted in Daniel.

All the nations and governments of that party were idolatrous. This was the leading feature in their character as apostates and rebels. And to this, by their relations to them, the Israelites.

The Messenger Jehovah, having executed judgment upon Egypt, and brought the children of Israel into the wilderness of Sinai, appeared on the top of the mount in the brightness of lightnings, and with the voice of a trumpet which shook the mountain. The people, who, after witnessing the wonders of Egypt and of the Red Sea, had exhibited a murmuring and rebellious spirit, were impressed and awed by this manifestation, while the Law of the Ten Commandments was announced. "They removed and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear, but let not Elohim speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not; for _the_ Elohim is come _to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not_. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where _the_ Elohim was. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Ye shall not make with me Elohe of silver, neither shall ye make unto you Elohe of gold. An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings ...

in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee." Exod. xx.

Thus, at the outset of this trial, under the most appalling tokens of his presence, Jehovah reiterates the prohibition expressed in the first two commandments against idolatry. Among the judicial laws prescribed at the same time with the moral, there is one making idolatry a civil offense, to be punished with death. "He that sacrificeth unto any Elohim, save unto Jehovah only, he shall be utterly destroyed." Exodus xxii. 20. Again (xxiii. 13) they are enjoined to "make no mention of the name of any other Elohim;" and subsequently in the same chapter they are commanded not to bow down to the Elohim of the nations of Canaan, but to overthrow them and break down their images.

Moses having written out the moral and judicial laws thus far prescribed, the people consented to them and promised obedience; and having built an altar, and "twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel," he offered sacrifices, read the book of the covenant, and ratified it by sprinkling blood on the people. Exod. xxiv.

After this proceeding, Moses with the elders ascended the mount, where, after an extraordinary personal manifestation of Jehovah, the Elohe of Israel, the ceremonial law was prescribed. Nearly forty days having elapsed, the people, impatient at Moses' absence, instigated Aaron to make them a molten image--a golden calf. This being done under pretense that the image represented Jehovah, "they said, This is thy Elohe, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." Aaron built an altar before it, and appointed "a feast to Jehovah; and upon the altar they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings." Exod. x.x.xii.