CHAPTER XIX.

Conclusion.

THERE are times in the history of every thoughtful Christian, when he is tempted to question the presidency of God in the affairs of the Church, and even to doubt the existence of a particular Providence. All things within and around us are so much opposed to faith, that the latter is frequently overcome by the current of adverse influences. In the heat of the battle of life, we lose sight of the Commander; the issue of the conflict seems to be doubtful: but we look again, and perceive unmistakeable proofs of His superintendence, and the victory which from the chaos around us, appeared to be lost, is already crowning the distant heights. So, the contemplation of the true history of God's cause on earth, is calculated to restore our fading confidence, and reassure our fainting hearts. If we analyze it, and first separate all that may be attributed to the working of natural laws, the residuum is the direct influence of God the Holy Spirit acting through revealed truth. There have ever been men, who, contrary to the tendencies of society, have truly professed to feel their own sinfulness and helplessness in the sight of God, who in this extremity have heartily sought pardon and aid

on the ground of the Redeemer's merits, have realized spiritual communion with God, and have hence derived strength to resist evil and follow that which is good. These are the Christians, and their history is the history of Christianity. Those who blame the Gospel for the follies and vices displayed in ecclesiastical history, show their ignorance of the nature of true religion; for, as Joseph Milner said half a century ago, "the scenes which fill Mosheim's book have no more to do with Christianity than robbers and assassins have to do with good government."

It has been usual to class the religious revivals which have placed our country at the head of the evangelical action of the world, with the great events well known in its secular history, such as the Crusades, the invention of printing, the introduction of Greek literature, the discovery of America, the commencement of inductive philosophy, and the rise of the middle classes. But the origin and succession of spiritual life in England had a source paramount to all these occurrences. It was evidently the product of revealed truth, acting through the quickened consciences of men who sought and obtained Divine guid

ance.

The Word of God and prayer, have been the beginning and continuance of the work throughout.

Formal scholastic theology has a history of its own. The Augustinism of the early converts here, was assailed by Pelagianism: the latter was vanquished, and the former compacted into an artificially complete system. Aristotelian methods prevailed from the time of Alcuin in 736; John Scotus taught it at Oxford in the ninth century, and the

great Anselm instructed the whole world in the eleventh. John of Salisbury was a master of the logic current in the next century; and the renowned schoolman Duns Scotus, a Northumbrian, born in 1275, was his successor in the same line. After this, Roger Bacon vainly endeavoured to get rid of the obscurities which had become classical. William Ockham, about 1300, distinguished himself by similar efforts; and then Bradwardine, and his successor John Wycliffe, saw that the soul of theology was better than the body, and by unlocking the Bible opened the way for a flood of light.*

The Church, as a human institution, also has ample records of its own. The ponderous volumes of ecclesiastical history are full of its fierce political struggles.

tions.

Piety has a history of its own, written in the endowment-charters and stately fabrics of numberless instituThe lawyer and the architect are its historians. But, none or all of these constitute the history of true religious life.

We have attempted to show, that, independently of all surrounding circumstances, there have always been, in our country, persons who have lived in habitual realization of the Divine love through our Lord Jesus Christ; in earnest prosecution of Divine knowledge; in diligent endeavours for its diffusion; in newness of life towards God and man; in hearty enjoyment of Divine favour; in firm hope of the Divine inheritance. We leave to others the grateful task of demonstrating the secondary

* See Tennemann, "Manual of the History of Philosophy, Second Period."

blessings of spiritual life, in its effect on society. We claim for it, on the ground of recorded facts, the character of being true to its profession: "To be spiritually-minded, is life and peace."

The history of religion, too, bears internal proof of its relation to time. It had a beginning, and is developing a progress towards a consummation. Its earthly career is evidently limited to the partial accomplishment of its glorious mission. In its present phase it is not intended to be the perpetual condition of a permanent commonwealth heaven is the home of its complete unfolding.

We see the direction in which things are tending, the constellation in the skies towards which the whole system is travelling. We can prove that the progress is not by natural selection, nor by the mere outworking of implanted properties.

But the rate of progress is not for us to know, the dial-plate of eternity is not legible from our present platform. Yet, there are some waymarks. We may usefully learn what stations we have left behind, and lawfully inquire what others are still to come. We ask with the prophet, "O Lord, what shall the end of these things be?" The coming voices announce to us the consolation vouchsafed in former days to the same question: "Go thou thy way till the end be; for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days."

It is the known, and not the unknown, that is to guide our conduct and be the ground of our peace. Nor let the never-ending, still-beginning character of the work * Daniel xii. 5.

appal us. So long as the field is the world, there will always be stony ground, and always an enemy to sow tares among the wheat. The condition of spiritual life, is the same as that of natural and commercial life, in so far as it is a competition for existence and progression. The struggle is necessitated by the present constitution of things. Doubtless, it is the best possible discipline for us, in both our degenerate and regenerate state on earth. We know that continuous powerful help is promised,-"Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world,”—and, that ultimate success is guaranteed,-"Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

But will it always be, that the cry of the godly on earth, shall partake more of the plaintive than of the triumphant ? This is, at least, the experience of the past. At first their complaint was, that the world would not receive the Divine message; next, that the people would not heed it; then, that the adversaries raged; afterwards, that unspiritualism prevailed. Yet the kingdom extends, spiritualism spreads more and more. The number of evangelical men is augmented every year. Each generation surpasses in some respects its predecessor. True it is, that sanguine Christians do not find their fond anticipations realized, and often retire from the scene at the end of their career with the air of defeat; but in other quarters the cause is advancing amidst songs of victory.

The fifteenth century was the age of the undergrowth of evangelical doctrine; the sixteenth, that of its manifestation the seventeenth century witnessed a similar undergrowth of sentiment concerning the constitution and