The Declensions of Christianity, an Argument of its Truth..
Luke xviii. 8.
When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but be that
believeth not shall be damned." So certified the risen Savior. Faith
is made a condition of salvation. But God requires only a reasonable
service. He must then have given evidence of the truth to which He
requires assent. He hath given it abundantly; Christians "are
compassed about with a cloud of witnesses."
The proofs of Christianity are of two kinds; external and internal.
Both are strong. United they leave infidelity without excuse.
Of external, the chief are miracles and prophecy. Miracles carried
conviction to beholders; and were designed to give credibility to
special messengers. Prophecy is a standing evidence, by which
testimony is borne to the truth of revelation; yea, it is a growing
evidence, which gains strength by every fulfillment.
Some may envy those who lived in this age of miracles supposing them
sufficient to banish every doubt. But the proof arising from the
fulfillment of prophecy, which we enjoy above them, is equal if not
superior to theirs.
The prophecies contain sketches of the history of man, and of the plan
of providence, from their respective dates to the end of the world.
Those which relate _to the declensions of religion, which were to take
place under the gospel dispensation_, will now only be considered.
From those declensions, arguments are drawn against the truth of
Christianity. Was Christianity from God, he would verify the
declaration made by him who claimed to be his Son. _The gates of Hell
shall not prevail against it_. But they do prevail. What was once said
of its author, _Behold the world is gone after him,_ will now apply to
its enemy. This religion is not therefore from God, but of man's
device. Propt up as it is, by human laws, and supported by "the powers
that be," it totters towards ruin. Left to itself, it would soon fall
and come to nought.
Such are the proud vauntings of infidelity, when "iniquity abounds and
the love of many waxeth cold." So when Christ hung on the cross, and
when he slept in the tomb, ignorant of consequences, his disciples
"wept and lamented, and the world rejoiced;" but the time was short.
Soon the world was confounded and the "sorrow of his disciples was
turned into joy." IF the declensions which we witness, are foretold in
scripture, they are no occasion of surprize.
Yea, instead of weakening our faith, they may reasonably increase it.
And when we consider the assurances given us, that these declensions
were to antecede the universal prevalence of true religion; they may
also serve to increase our hope.
To _shew that these declensions are foretold, and that we may expect
yet greater abominations, than have hitherto appeared_, is attempted
in the following discourse.
When _the son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth_?
That Christ is here intended by the Son of man; and that faith will
be rare among men at the coming of his, referred to, are not doubtful
matters. But what coming of Christ is here referred to? This is first
to be ascertained.
The coming of Christ refers in the scripture, to several events.
Sometimes to his incarnation; sometimes to the destruction of
Jerusalem, and the Jewish polity; sometimes to his coming to judgment;
and sometimes to the beginning of that universal dominion which he is
to exercise on earth in the latter days. Each of these is the subject
of several prophecies.
Christ's incarnation, or his coming to dwell with men, and to obey and
suffer for their redemption, was a principal subject of the old
testament prophecies. "To him gave all the prophets witness."
The divine justice executed on the Jews, in the destruction of their
chief city, and polity, is also termed Christ's coming. This was the
subject of several prophecies of old. It was foretold by Moses, and
sundry others who lived before the gospel day; but more particularly
by Christ, in person just before his sufferings. To this event the
desolations foretold in the twenty fourth of Matthew, and its
parallels in the other gospels, had a primary reference. The metaphors
used to describe it are strong. They have been supposed to refer to
the general judgment; and they have, no doubt an ultimate reference to
it. But they refer, more immediately to another coming of Christ; his
coming to render to the Jews according to their demerits as a people,
soon after they should have filled up the measure of their iniquity by
his crucifixion; which by the circumstances attending it, became a
national act.
That this coming of Christ was particularly intended in those
predictions, is, from several considerations apparent. That the
Christians of that age, who were conversant with the apostles, and
instructed by them, received this to be the meaning of those
prophecies, and that they fled at the approach of the Roman armies,
and escaped the destruction which came on the Jews, are matters of
notoriety. And that this was the primary meaning of those prophecies,
is further evident from an express declaration which they contain;
"_Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away till all
these things be fulfilled_." This closeth the prophecy. The whole
must therefore have received a primary accomplishment, "before that
generation did pass away." This was fulfilled in the destruction of
Jerusalem by Titus.
Christ's coming to judgment, is often foretold in every part of the
new testament, to pass over the intimations given of it in the old.
But none of these can be _the coming of the Son of man_, referred to
in the text. That it cannot refer to his incarnation is evident, from
the time in which the declaration in the text was made. His coming in
the flesh had been then accomplished.
Neither can it refer to his coming to punish Jewish apostasy and
ingratitude; or to his coming to judge the world in righteousness,
because the moral state of the world at neither to those periods,
answers to the description here given. _Shall he find faith on the
earth_?
The ruin of the Jews by the Roman armies, happened about thirty six
years after Christ's crucifixion. Long ere that time the spirit had
been poured out, and many had embraced the gospel. The apostles and
evangelists, had gone, not only to "the lost sheep of the house of
Israel, but also into the way of the Gentiles;" had called "those who
were afar off, as well as those who were near; their sound had gone
into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." Neither
had they labored among the Gentiles in vain. St. Paul spake by the
Spirit when he declared to the Jews that the salvation of God was sent
unto the Gentiles, and they would hear it. His word was verified.
"Many were added to the Lord, and the number of the disciples was
multiplied."
Such was the state of the world, at that _coming of the Son of man.
Faith was then to be found on the earth_, if not among Jews.
When Christ shall come to judgment, we have reason to believe, that
faith will also be found on earth; and more than at that period we
have now considered.
The scriptures of both testaments, abound with predictions of the
universal prevalence of religion, in the latter days; of the whole
worlds rejoicing under the auspicious government of the Prince of
Peace; of restraints laid on the powers of darkness, that they should
not deceive and seduce mankind. And though we are taught that "the old
serpent will afterwards be loosed, for a little season, and go forth
to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth,"
we have no intimation that the main body of the Church will be
corrupted by his influence, or injured by his power. His adherents may
"compass the camp of the saints, and the beloved city," but will make
no attack upon them. "Fire will come down from God out of heaven, and
destroy them." By some special, perhaps miraculous interpolation of
providence, the people of God will be protected and delivered.
St. john, who gives more particulars of the latter day glory, than
those who had gone before him, fixes the term Christ's reign on earth
a thousand years, which he represents to be those _next preceding_ the
judgment. And agreeably to the statement which he hath made, a
numerous body of saints will then be found to welcome their Lord, and
rejoice before him at his coming.
To this agree the other prophets who treat of this subject. No other
limits the term of Christ's reign; or mentions Satan's being enlarged
and permitted any measure of deceptive influence, after the restraints
laid upon him at the beginning Christ's reign. But others foretell the
happy day, and several seem to dwell delightfully upon it, and
represent it as continuing to the end of time; and none give the
remotest hint that it is to terminate, and iniquity again to become
universally prevalent.
Isaiah often mentions it, and dilates more largely upon it than any
other who lived before the gospel day. From his representations we
should expect it to terminate _only with time_. "I will make the an
_eternal_ excellency--violence shall _no more be heard_ in thy land;
wasting nor destruction within thy borders--the sun shall be _no more_
thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light
unto thee, but the Lord shall be unto thee _an everlasting light_, and
thy God thy glory--the days of thy mourning _shall be ended_--thy
people shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land _forever_."
By the little horn in Daniel's vision, Antichrist is doubtless
intended. When at his fall Christ is to take the kingdom; or it is to
be given to his people, it is to be an abiding kingdom. "And there was
given unto him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people,
nations and languages, should serve him; _his dominion is an
everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, an his kingdom that
which shall not be destroyed_."
This is a prophecy of the universal prevalence of true religion in the
last days, after the reign of Antichrist shall have come to an end. By
the explanation in the latter part of the chapter, the saints are from
that period to have the dominion. It is no more to be taken from them.
"The saints of the most high shall take the kingdom, and _possess the
kingdom for ever, even forever and ever_--and the kingdom and
dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven,
shall be given to the people of the saints of the most high, _whose
kingdom is an ever lasting kingdom_, and all dominion shall serve and
obey him."
These representations agree with that made to St. John, who saw the
church guarded and protected from infernal power and influence, at the
close of the millennium. The only difference consists in the mention
of a few particulars by the apostle, which were not communicated to
the prophets; such as the term of Christ's reign on earth; and some
fruitless attempts of the powers of darkness against his people, after
that term shall have expired.
The coming to judgment cannot therefore be intended in the text.
_There will then be faith on the earth_. But if we consider "that
which is noted in the scripture of truth," respecting the moral state
of the world before and at the time of Christ's coming to reign upon
it, we shall find it answering to this description.
We will therefore, first take a general view _of the prophecies
respecting the moral state of the world, under the gospel
dispensation? Then a more particular view of the great declensions
which were to take place, with a special reference to the state of
religion at the approach of the latter day glory_.
The Savior, in person, and by his Spirit, gave general intimations to
the apostles, of the times which were to pass over them, and over his
church. When they were ordered to preach the gospel in all the world,
beginning at Jerusalem, they were forewarned that the Jews would
reject their testimony, and persecute them, as they had persecuted
their Lord--that soon after "there would be great distress in that
land, and wrath upon that people--that they would fall by the sword;
be led captive into all nations, and that Jerusalem would be trodden
down of the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles should be
fulfilled."
The comforter which was to "teach them all things," not only
explaining the nature of Christianity, and causing them to understand
it, but also to unveil futurity before them, taught them, that after
the Jews had rejected the gospel, the Gentiles would receive it, and
the church grow and become great; that a falling away would afterwards
follow, which would spread wide, and continue for a longtime, till it
became nearly total; that when such was the state of the church,
Christ would come, take the kingdom, and reign on earth.
Such were the outlines of futurity, relative to Christianity, as
sketched out before the apostles. But if we descend to particulars,
and examine the prophecies with attention, we shall find that the
defections, which were to take place antecedent to the reign of the
Redeemer, were to be of two kinds--that they were to arise at
different times, and from different sources--that one was to be a
corruption of religion, the other a rejection of it--that the former
was to antecede and prepare the way for the latter.
This will be the subject: of another discourse.
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