The powers of the world to come, and the church's stewardship, as invested with them

Front matter

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Preface

The present work has its origin in a course of lectures on that mighty phrase adopted as its title, in the solemn passage of God's word in Hebrews, 6 : 4, 5, 6 — and have tasted the good Word of God, and the Powers of the World to come. It is, in fact, a practical survey of what is termed in some quarters the Eschatology of the Scriptures ; the realities which according to Divine Revelation we are to meet "beyond the grave. We are wholly dependent on Divine Revelation for the least knowledge of them ; and yet that Revelation has so long rendered them familiar, that they seem possessions of our intuitive experience, or gifts of our Natural Theology. Thousands walk beneath their light without thinking of them, and act by their light, without any acknowledgment of the source from whence it flows, as men walk beneath the stars without lifting up their faces to the heavens, and pursue their

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avocations by the conclusions of astronomy, without any study of the heavenly bodies.

To know Divine Truth, the object of the soul's pursuit and affections must be the Divine Author of it. This is distinctly declared in that striking passage in Ho sea, " Then shall we know, — if we follow on to know the Lord." Correspondent with this is that grand passage in the thirty-sixth Psalm, " With thee is the fountain of life ; in thy light shall we see light." And correspondent with both these passages, and illustrative of them, is the great declaration of Christ, " He that followeth me, shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." All true, all living knowledge, derives its life, its power from this personal, experimental, heart-knowledge of God in Christ Jesus. In proportion as communion with God increases, so will increase the knowledge of his Word ; while without that communion, though the world were filled with Lexicons, Grammars, and learned expository helps of every kind, and philosophical and theological speculations ever so acute and erudite, the Word would remain a sealed Book, a dead letter. The Word is written for believing hearts as in sympathetic ink ; communion with, God by the Spirit is that hidden sympathetic fire that makes the letter burn, and reveals its meaning. Therefore, according to Cowper's sweet picture,

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Yon cottager that weaves at her own door, Pillow and bobbins all her little store,

shall have, by the humble prayerful study of God's Word by the Spirit, a knowledge of heights and depths in the Divine intelligence, that the most learned minds have never reached, and cannot appreciate. " I thank thee O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid those things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight."

The truths of the Divine Word are like the revelations of the starry heavens in coming to us, and in their more and more perfect gradual discovery By the construction, in later years, of telescopic instruments with vastly-increased skill and power, many a spot of cloudy indefinite light in the heavens, once thought to be an incomplete nebulous mass in process of development, has been resolved into clusters of bright shining worlds, clear and unmistakable. So do the truths of Grod, when rightly examined, break upon the soul. The nebula of the Divine Word, or what were once thought to be such, shall continually be resolved into perfect and clear-shining stars. But the depths ! Infinite on infinite, beyond the possible reach of our vision, regions of truth roll off, filled as with suns and stars, region upon region, deep beyond deep,

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riches unfathomable of boundless wisdom and love, that as yet no man hath seen, nor forever, perhaps, can any created understanding fully comprehend !

And let us remember that for our knowledge of the Word, in the nearness and the life thereof, we are dependent more upon the Spirit of God, than on any external advantages ; dependent entirely, indeed, upon the Spirit of God. Without that, the veil is on the heart, whatever be the external facilities of knowledge ; but when it shall turn to the Lord, that veil shall be taken away.

We are said to be, known to be, nearer to the sun in Winter than in Summer. But the increased swiftness of the earth's motion in its orbit, together with the inclination of the axis in the same, prevents the increase of heat, that otherwise would be inevitable. The surface of the earth on this account is so much less time exposed to the sun's rays, and so obliquely that the heat is diminished by the nearness. Just so, the World may be nearer to God in position, by providential advantages, opportunities, and in speculative divine knowledge nearer, and yet, farther from God's love, less affected by his mercy, less warmed and quickened by his light. So it may be with an individual heart. One man may really be farther from God in posi-_ tion than another, and yet have a Summer season in his soul, while the other, though nearer in point of every ad-

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vantage and opportunity, may remain in the dead of Winter. The climate of the soul does not depend so much upon the nearness and abundance of the rays, if it is flying swiftly through them, and obliquely turned from them, but upon the steadiness and constancy with which they are received by a heart turned directly towards them. Looking steadily to Christ is the condition of light and life. Looking steadily to Christ, and thus only, can we see and know the Powers of the World to Come.