The Coming
Prince
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Chapter
1 |
The Coming
Prince
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Chapter
1 |
by Sir Robert Anderson, K.C.B.,
LL.D.
"THE COMING PRINCE" on 8 html pages-
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTORY on page 1 (this
page)
CHAPTERS
2-3 on page 2
CHAPTERS
4-6 on page 3
CHAPTERS
7-9 on page 4
CHAPTERS
10-12 on page 5
CHAPTERS
13-15 on page 6
PREFACES
on page 7
APPENDICES
on page 8
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY
TO living men no time can be so solemn as "the living present," whatever its
characteristics; and that solemnity is immensely deepened in an age of progress
unparalleled in the history of the world. But the question arises whether these
days of ours are momentous beyond comparison, by reason of their being in the
strictest sense the last? Is the world's history about to close? The
sands of its destiny, are they almost run out, and is the crash of all things
near at hand?
Earnest thinkers will not allow the wild utterances of
alarmists, or the vagaries of prophecy-mongers, to divert them from an inquiry
at once so solemn and so reasonable. It is only the infidel who doubts that
there is a destined limit to the course of "this present evil world." That God
will one day put forth His power to ensure the triumph of the good, is in some
sense a matter of course. The mystery of revelation is not that He will
do this, but that He delays to do it. Judged by the public facts
around us, He is an indifferent spectator of the unequal struggle between good
and evil upon earth.
And how can such things be, if indeed the God who rules above is almighty and
all-good? Vice and godlessness and violence and wrong are rampant upon every
side, and yet the heavens above keep silence. The infidel appeals to the fact in
proof that the Christian's God is but a myth. [1]
The Christian
finds in it a further proof that the God he worships is patient and
longsuffering— "patient because He is eternal," longsuffering because He is
almighty, for wrath is a last resource with power. But the day is coming when
This is not a matter of opinion, but of faith. He who questions it has no
claim whatever to the name of Christian, for it is as essentially a truth of
Christianity as is the record of the life and death of the Son of God. The old
Scriptures teem with it, and of all the writers of the New Testament there is
not so much as one who does not expressly speak of it. It was the burden of the
first prophetic utterance which Holy Writ records; (Jude 14) and the closing
book of the sacred Canon, from the first chapter to the last, confirms and
amplifies the testimony.
The only inquiry, therefore, which concerns us
relates to the nature of the crisis and the time of its fulfillment. And the key
to this inquiry is the Prophet Daniel's vision of the seventy weeks. Not that a
right understanding of the prophecy will enable us to prophesy. That is not the
purpose for which it was given. [2]
But it will
prove a sufficient safeguard against error in the study. Notably it will save us
from the follies into which false systems of prophetic chronology inevitably
lead those who follow them. It is not in our time only that the end of the world
has been predicted. It was looked for far more confidently at the beginning of
the sixth century. All Europe rang with it in the days of Pope Gregory the
Great. And at the end of the tenth century the apprehension of it amounted to a
general panic. "It was then frequently preached on, and by breathless crowds
listened to; the subject of every one's thoughts, every one's conversation."
"Under this impression, multitudes innumerable," says Mosheim, "having given
their property to monasteries or churches, traveled to Palestine, where they
expected Christ to descend to judgment. Others bound themselves by solemn oaths
to be serfs to churches or to priests, in hopes of a milder sentence on them as
being servants of Christ's servants. In many places buildings were let go to
decay, as that of which there would be no need in future. And on occasions of
eclipses of sun or moon, the people fled in multitudes for refuge to the caverns
and the rocks." [3]
And so in recent
years, one date after another has been confidently named for the supreme crisis;
but still the world goes on. A.D. 581 was one of the first years fixed for the
event, [4] 1881 is among the last.
These pages are not designed to perpetuate the folly of such predictions, but to
endeavor in a humble way to elucidate the meaning of a prophecy which ought to
deliver us from all such errors and to rescue the study from the discredit they
bring upon it.
No words ought to be necessary to enforce the importance
of the subject, and yet the neglect of the prophetic Scriptures, by those even
who profess to believe all Scripture to be inspired, is proverbial. Putting the
matter on the lowest ground, it might be urged that if a knowledge of the past
be important, a knowledge of the future must be of far higher value still, in
enlarging the mind and raising it above the littlenesses produced by a narrow
and unenlightened contemplation of the present. If God has vouchsafed a
revelation to men, the study of it is surely fitted to excite enthusiastic
interest, and to command the exercise of every talent which can be brought to
bear upon it.
And this suggests another ground on which, in our own day
especially, prophetic study claims peculiar prominence; namely, the testimony it
affords to the Divine character and origin of the Scriptures. Though infidelity
was as open-mouthed in former times, it had its own banner and its own camp, and
it shocked the mass of mankind, who, though ignorant of the spiritual power of
religion, clung nevertheless with dull tenacity to its dogmas. But the special
feature of the present age — well fitted to cause anxiety and alarm to all
thoughtful men — is the growth of what may be termed religious skepticism, a
Christianity which denies revelation — a form of godliness which denies that
which is the power of godliness. (2 Timothy 3:5)
Faith is not the normal
attitude of the human mind towards things Divine, the earnest doubter,
therefore, is entitled to respect and sympathy. But what judgment shall be meted
out to those who delight to proclaim themselves doubters, while claiming to be
ministers of a religion of which FAITH is the essential
characteristic?
There are not a few in our day whose belief in the Bible
is all the more deep and unfaltering just because they have shared in the
general revolt against priestcraft and superstition; and such men are scarcely
prepared to take sides in the struggle between free thought and the thraldom of
creeds and clerics. But in the conflict between faith and skepticism within the
pale, their sympathies are less divided. On the one side there may be
narrowness, but at least there is honesty; and in such a case surely the moral
element is to be considered before a claim to mental vigor and independence can
be listened to. Moreover any claim of the kind needs looking into. The man who
asserts his freedom to receive and teach what he deems truth, howsoever reached,
and wheresoever found, is not to be lightly accused of vanity or self-will. His
motives may be true, and right, and praiseworthy. But if he has subscribed to a
creed, he ought to be careful in taking any such ground. It is not on the side
of vagueness that the creeds of our British Churches are in fault, and men who
boast of being freethinkers would deserve more respect if they showed their
independence by refusing to subscribe, than by undermining the doctrines they
are both pledged and subsidized to defend and teach.
But what concerns us
here is the indisputable fact that rationalism in this its most subtle phase is
leavening society. The universities are its chief seminaries. The pulpit is its
platform. Some of the most popular religious leaders are amongst its apostles.
No class is safe from its influence. And if even the present could be
stereotyped, it were well; but we are entered on a downward path, and they must
indeed be blind who cannot see where it is leading. If the authority of the
Scriptures be unshaken, vital truths may be lost by one generation, and
recovered by the next; but if that be touched, the foundation of all truth is
undermined, and all power of recovery is gone. The Christianized skeptic of
today will soon give place to the Christianized infidel, whose disciples and
successors in their turn will be infidels without any gloss of Christianity
about them. Some, doubtless, will escape; but as for the many, Rome will be the
only refuge for those who dread the goal to which society is hastening. Thus the
forces are marshaling for the great predicted struggle of the future between the
apostasy of a false religion and the apostasy of open infidelity. [5]
Is the Bible a
revelation from God? This is now become the greatest and most pressing of all
questions. We may at once dismiss the quibble that the Scriptures admittedly
contain a revelation. Is the sacred volume no better than a lottery bag
from which blanks and prizes are to be drawn at random, with no power of
distinguishing between them till the day when the discovery must come too late!
And in the present phase of the question it is no less a quibble to urge that
passages, and even books, may have been added in error to the Canon. We refuse
to surrender Holy Writ to the tender mercies of those who approach it with the
ignorance of pagans and the animus of apostates. But for the purpose of the
present controversy we might consent to strike out everything on which
enlightened criticism has cast the shadow of a doubt. This, however, would only
clear the way for the real question at issue, which is not as to the
authenticity of one portion or another, but as to the character and value of
what is admittedly authentic. We are now far beyond discussing rival theories of
inspiration; what concerns us is to consider whether the holy writings are what
they claim to be, "the oracles of God." [6]
In the midst of
error and confusion and uncertainty, increasing on every side, can earnest and
devout souls turn to an open Bible, and find there "words of eternal life"? "The
rational attitude of a thinking mind towards the supernatural is that of
skepticism." [7]
Reason may bow
before the shibboleths and tricks of priestcraft— "the voice of the Church," as
it is called; but this is sheer credulity. But if GOD speaks, then skepticism
gives place to faith. Nor is this a mere begging of the question. The
proof that the voice is really Divine must be absolute and conclusive. In such
circumstances, skepticism betokens mental or moral degradation, and faith is not
the abnegation of reason, but the highest act of reason. To maintain that such
proof is impossible, is equivalent to asserting that the God who made us cannot
so speak to us that the voice shall carry with it the conviction that it is from
Him; and this is not skepticism at all, but disbelief and atheism. "It pleased
God to reveal His Son in me," was St. Paul's account of his conversion. The
grounds of his faith were subjective, and could not be produced. In proof to
others of their reality he could only appeal to the facts of his life; though
these were entirely the result, and in no sense or degree the basis, of his
conviction. Nor was his case exceptional. St. Peter was one of the favored three
who witnessed every miracle, including the transfiguration, and yet his faith
was not the result of these, but sprang from a revelation to himself. In
response to his confession,
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God,"
the Lord declared,
Nor, again, was this a special grace accorded only to apostles.
was St. Peter's address to the faithful generally. He describes them as "born again by the Word of God." So also St. John speaks of such as
is the kindred statement of St. James. (James 1:18).
Whatever be the
meaning of such words, they must mean something more than arriving at a sound
conclusion from sufficient premises, or accepting facts upon sufficient
evidence. Nor will it avail to urge that this birth was merely the mental or
moral change naturally caused by the truth thus attained by natural means. The
language of the Scripture is unequivocal that the power of the testimony to
produce this change depended on the presence and. operation of God. Pages might
be filled with quotations to prove this, but two may surface. St. Peter declares
they preached the Gospel
and St. Paul's words are still more definite. "Our Gospel came not: unto you
in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost." [8]
And if the new
birth and the faith of Christianity were thus produced in the case of persons
who received the Gospel immediately from the Apostles, nothing less will avail
with us who are separated by eighteen centuries from the witnesses and their
testimony. God is with His people still. And He speaks to men's hearts, now, as
really as He did in early times; not indeed through inspired Apostles, and still
less by dreams or visions, but through the Holy Writings which He Himself
inspired; [9] and as the result
believers are "born of God," and obtain the knowledge of forgiveness of sins and
of eternal life. The phenomenon is not a natural one, resulting from the study
of the evidences; it is supernatural altogether. "Thinking minds,"
regarding it objectively, may, if they please, maintain towards it what they
deem "a rational attitude;" but at least let them own the fact that there are
thousands of credible people who can testify to the reality of the experience
here spoken of, and further let them recognize that it is entirely in accordance
with the teaching of the New Testament.
And such persons have
transcendental proof of the truth of Christianity. Their faith rests, not on the
phenomena of their own experience, but on the great objective truths of
revelation. Yet their primary conviction that these are Divine truths
does not depend on the "evidences" which skepticism delights to criticize, but
on something which skepticism takes no account of. [10]
"No book can be written in behalf of the
Bible like the Bible itself. Man's defenses are man's word; they may help to
beat off attacks, they may draw out some portion of its meaning. The Bible is
God's word, and through it God the Holy Ghost, who spake it, speaks to the soul
which closes not itself against it." [11]
But more than
this, the well-instructed believer will find within it inexhaustible stores of
proof that it is from God. The Bible is far more than a textbook of theology and
morals, or even than a guide to heaven. It is the record of the progressive
revelation God has vouchsafed to man, and the Divine history of our race in
connection with that revelation. Ignorance may fail to see in it anything more
than the religious literature of the Hebrew race, and of the Church in Apostolic
times; but the intelligent student who can read between the lines will find
there mapped out, sometimes in clear bold outline, sometimes dimly, but yet
always discernible by the patient and devout inquirer, the great scheme of God's
counsels and workings in and for this world of ours from eternity to
eternity.
And the study of prophecy, rightly understood, has a range no
narrower than this. Its chief value is not to bring us a knowledge of "things to
come," regarded as isolated events, important though this may be; but to enable
us to link the future with the past as part of God's great purpose and plan
revealed in Holy Writ. The facts of the life and death of Christ were an
overwhelming proof of the inspiration of the Old Testament. When, after His
resurrection, He sought to confirm the disciples' faith,
But many a promise had been given, and many a prophecy recorded, which seemed to be lost in the darkness of Israel's national extinction and Judah's apostasy. The fulfillment of them all depended on Messiah; but now Messiah was rejected, and His people were about to be cast away, that Gentiles might be taken up for blessing. Are we to conclude then that the past is wiped out for ever, and that God's great purposes for earth have collapsed through human sin? As men now judge of revelation, Christianity dwindles down to be nothing but a "plan of salvation" for individuals, and if St. John's Gospel and a few of the Epistles be left them they are content. How different was the attitude of mind and heart displayed by St. Paul! In the Apostle's view the crisis which seemed the catastrophe of everything the old prophets had foretold of God's purposes for earth, opened up a wider and more glorious purpose still, which should include the fulfillment of them all; and rapt in the contemplation, he exclaimed,
True prophetic study is an inquiry into these unsearchable counsels, these
deep riches of Divine wisdom and knowledge. Beneath the light it gives, the
Scriptures are no longer a heterogeneous compilation of religious books, but one
harmonious whole, from which no part could be omitted without destroying the
completeness of the revelation. And yet the study is disparaged in the Churches
as being of no practical importance. If the Churches are leavened with
skepticism at this moment, their neglect of prophetic study in this its true and
broader aspect has done more than all the rationalism of Germany to promote the
evil. Skeptics may boast of learned Professors and Doctors of Divinity among
their ranks, but we may challenge them to name a single one of the number who
has given proof that he knows anything whatever of these deeper mysteries of
revelation. The attempt to put back the rising tide of skepticism is hopeless.
Indeed the movement is but one of many phases of the intense mental activity
which marks the age. The reign of creeds is past. The days are gone for ever
when men will believe what their fathers believed, without a question. Rome, in
some phase of its development, has a strange charm for minds of a certain caste,
and rationalism is fascinating to not a few; but orthodoxy in the old sense is
dead, and if any are to be delivered it must be by a deeper and more thorough
knowledge of the Scriptures.
These pages are but a humble effort to this
end; but if they avail in any measure to promote the study of Holy Writ their
chief purpose will be fulfilled. The reader therefore may expect to find the
accuracy of the Bible vindicated on points which may seem of trifling value.
When David reached the throne of Israel and came to choose his generals, he
named for the chief commands the men who had made themselves conspicuous by
feats of prowess or of valor. Among the foremost three was one of whom the
record states that he defended a tract of lentiles, and drove away a troop of
the Philistines. (2 Samuel 23:11, 12)? To others it may have seemed little
better than a patch of weeds, and not worth fighting for, but it was precious to
the Israelite as a portion of the divinely-given inheritance, and moreover the
enemy might have used it as a rallying ground from which to capture strongholds.
So is it with the Bible. It is all of intrinsic value if indeed it be from God;
and moreover, the statement which is assailed, and which may seem of no
importance, may prove to be a link in the chain of truth on which we are
depending for eternal life.
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTORY on page 1
(this page)
CHAPTERS
2-3 on page 2
CHAPTERS
4-6 on page 3
CHAPTERS
7-9 on page 4
CHAPTERS
10-12 on page 5
CHAPTERS
13-15 on page 6 -
PREFACES
on page 7
APPENDICES
on page 8
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