GENERAL REMARKS - STATE OF THE DISCUSSION - ON THE FUTURE DISPENSATION - ON THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH - MILLENNIUM - FALLING AWAY OR APOSTASY - THE CHURCH AS A SOCIETY
GENERAL REMARKS — STATE OF THE DISCUSSION — ON THE FUTURE DISPENSATION — ON THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH — MILLENNIUM — FALLING AWAY OR APOSTASY — THE CHURCH AS A SOCIETY
It is a most solemn thing for a servant of Christ to write on subjects which may stamp a certain character on the state of the church, or at least, act on the hearts and conduct of God’s children. Nevertheless, when one feels assured of the Lord’s [p. 239] will, all becomes a subject of joy; for the Christian ought only to feel happy while accomplishing in obedience His service here below. Moreover, although the subject I am treating be important, my task is now very simple.
I shall not revert to what has already been fully discussed, nor to what may be considered as more or less personal. I should not probably have answered, had I not seen that our discussion has made a very great advance, and that it might be profitable for all to state it fully. My wish also is to bring out what may act upon the conscience of those who seek the truth, and who have their heart open to receive it, without confining myself exclusively to answer the tract which has been the occasion of the present one. The pamphlet of our brother, Mr. Rochat, has afforded me, as regards the main points, matter for very much joy. I say, as regards the main points, because I cannot say that the spirit of it gave me pleasure — nevertheless, my intention is in no wise to dwell on that. If Mr. Rochat does not wish me to love him much (”A Thread,” etc., pages 5, 6), or at least to say that I love him, I must love him in spite of himself. If he thinks that to flatter him when I find him in error, or to appear to agree with him when I do not, is to shew love, after having reflected ever so little he will feel with me that such love would not bear any resemblance to Christ’s love. In this respect, I ever ask myself: If we were about to die together, is there any word among those I have uttered, which I should have to regret? After all, we are liable to be mistaken, whether on the score of judgment, or because we may also be lacking in watchfulness; although, on the other hand also, if the eye be single, the whole body will be full of light (Matthew 6:22).
I begin by stating the advance we have made, as it seems to me, in the discussion. Our brother acknowledges (page 73), that there is a future dispensation; that the present dispensation is to be followed by another. I cannot say how far he acknowledged this before; I merely seek to state the point to which we are arrived. If he was in error before, I would forget his error; if he was in the truth, to state the truth, as to which we are agreed, can only do good to us all. There is to be “another dispensation,” he says, “in which the Jewish people will act a principal part; where Jesus Christ, in Person, will reign over the earth, with the risen saints; and that [p. 240] dispensation will be preceded by the falling away of what is called Christendom, accompanied by the manifestation of the Antichrist” (page 71). Up to this word, I quite agree with the author. I cannot say there is no accidental error, when he goes on thus: “followed by severe judgments of God on the nations which have rebelled against Christ.” Of course, the dispensation will be “followed” by severe judgments. Yet I do not suppose that Mr. Rochat denies that it will be introduced also by severe judgments. Perhaps he meant to say that the falling away would be followed, etc., etc. However this may be, what I have quoted is sufficient. I shall point out, farther on, the points as to which I do not see that our brother has well understood as yet the character of the coming dispensation. At all events, there is to be another dispensation where Christ will be present, and which will be preceded by a general falling away and the manifestation of the Antichrist. This is evidently a most important truth for the church of God.+ We shall farther on call the attention of brethren to a few considerations connected with it. Let us come to the unity of the church.
“There is,” says Mr. Rochat (page 25), “the general assembly and the church of the firstborn,” and (page 27) there are churches. But in page 26, he gives us another idea of the church, which is very just, and very important practically: “The church on earth, at each successive period, is thus the aggregate of the elect which are then manifested.” It is in this sense, adds our brother, “that it is said that God has established in the church, first apostles,” etc., etc. That is just the sense which I meant to present, which I have pressed, and which appears to me most essential as regards our responsibility and the judgment which we form of the state in which we are. If the church on earth is the aggregate of the elect manifested at each period, in what state is this aggregate found at the present time? I have also some considerations which appear to me important to present on this point. I merely point out by the way this manner of looking at the church. Our brother owns that his views on the subject are modified; it matters little what instrument has produced this change, provided it be through the teaching of God (page 25, note).
+Also Mr. Rochat tells us elsewhere: “The signs of the times announce the approach of His glorious kingdom.” Therefore, the apostasy and the falling away are things which closely concern us, since they are to precede this glorious reign.
[p. 241] There is another thing as to which our brother admits a principle, which tells all that I could wish on the subject. “If I am a member of the whole body,” he says (page 41), “I am a member of the parts of that body.” I insist on this. A Christian does become a member of a local church (if, however, one can admit this expression of “member of a church,” for it is now owned to be unscriptural); he is a member of the parts of the body, if he is a member of the body.
Nothing more simple; we cannot become what we are already; and, according to Mr. Rochat, if I am a member of the whole body, I am a member of the parts of this body, which meet in divers places: it is not a question of becoming such — I am such already. This is the principle I have always maintained, and on which I have insisted and acted. By the very fact that I am a Christian, I have all the claims of a member of the body, wherever I may be found. It is not a right which I acquire by joining any particular body; it is a right which I possess as any member of the body of Christ. Let brethren weigh well this principle which Mr. Rochat asserts, and on which I insist. Practically, the whole question between us is thereby decided.
Mr. Rochat also admits that the expression of “a member of a church” is not scriptural. We know how much the habits of brethren have been formed from that expression, and how much it has guided their conduct; so that in many localities, if a person did not declare himself member of a church, he was not admitted among brethren to partake of the Lord’s supper. It was not enough to be a member of the body of Christ, a faithful Christian, owned of all.+
The whole of this system was wrong, according to the principle now owned as true by Mr. Rochat himself.
But our brother wishes, instead of the expression of “member of a church,” to substitute that of “forming a part (page 51) of a particular church,” or “being of such a church.” I have examined the list Mr. Rochat gives, in his “Simple Scriptural Views,” of the passages which contain the word church, and I find that these expressions are not more scriptural than the former. The idea of being a member of a particular body is
+I am somewhat surprised that Mr. Rochat says (page 21), that “the churches” [dissenting assemblies] received every Christian. It is well known that there were several which only admitted to the Supper those who formed part of an organised church.
[p. 242] not found in Scripture in any form whatever; the idea is not scriptural.
Finally, it is owned on both sides, that there will be another dispensation, in which Christ will reign personally over the earth; that, before that period, a general falling away will take place. The signs of the times announce the approach of the glorious reign of the Lord. The church on earth is the aggregate of the elect which are manifested there; if anyone is a member of that church, he is also a member of its parts, that is, of the churches. Our brother admits that a portion of the church is mixed up with Christendom, and he acknowledges that the description I gave of it is, for the most part, correct. That would suffice also to shew that the sum total of all the churches would not be the church; but I do not now insist on this.
I resume the first of the subjects mentioned above, in order to shew, I do not hesitate to say, in what respect our brother has not yet laid hold of the truth with respect to the doctrine of the millennium. “The consideration,” he says, “of the eternal glory (page 72) appears to me much more fruitful, in consequences of every kind; for what are the thousand years when compared with eternity? Moreover, the millennial glory is not that of heaven, where God will be all and in all.”
This phrase contains such confused ideas, that the best and indeed the only answer to make to it is to present the scriptural truths on this point. If Mr. Rochat takes the trouble to study the passage which he now applies to the coming dispensation, he will find that God purposes to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth, and that heaven is the place where the millennial glory will shine with greatest brightness. When Mr. Rochat speaks of heaven, and says that God will there be all and in all, he falls into complete confusion. Is not Christ in heaven? There is no connection between heaven and this declaration “That God may be all in all,” 1 Corinthians 15:28. The difference which there is between the time which precedes and God being all in all, is that the essentially mediatorial glory will be ended, and Christ will have given up the kingdom to God the Father. It is here a question of a period of time and not of a place. Christ will always be in heaven; the church will be in heaven always with the Lord, enjoying all the blessings in the heavenlies, before the time when God will be all in all. And even then [p. 243] the church will be essentially in its state of eternal glory. And so little is it true that there is any idea of heaven attached to the words, “God all in all,” that the only other passage which speaks of that post-millennial state rather presents the idea that men will be upon the earth, although heaven be mentioned, Revelation 21:1-8.
If I do not mistake, 1 Corinthians 15 and Revelation 21 are the only passages which speak of the time when God will be all in all — a time which indeed gives rise to thoughts that are full of blessing and deeply interesting. Nevertheless, God has thought fit to present much oftener, and with much more detail, the coming of Christ, and His glory to the conscience and heart of the faithful. Then we shall be like Him; then we shall see Him as He is. The object of God’s predestination will be accomplished as to us, and we shall be conformed to the image of His Son. The marriage of the Lamb will have taken place. His bride will have been presented to Himself, having no spot or wrinkle or any of such things. We shall be then in our Father’s house, Jesus having come for us in order to introduce us there, that where He is there we may be also. The desire of Christ’s heart will be accomplished: “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.”
I do not know whether our dear brother has postponed all this till the time when God will be all in all, or if he considers it as of small importance. However it may be, he is entirely mistaken when he says that the millennial glory is not that of heaven, for we shall see Christ as He is, we shall be like Him, and we shall be either raised or changed; we shall go to meet Him; we shall be ever with the Lord, and we shall reign for ever and ever. The difference is not that heaven does not form a part of this glory, but that it is the mediatorial glory of the Son of man; afterwards He will have given up the kingdom.
Before the time when God will be all in all, we have the house and love of the Father, the marriage of the Lamb, the Bridegroom and the Bride, a state of glory equal to that of the angels, which will never cease, and the seeing Christ as He is, we being like Him. The reign over the earth, however excellent and full of blessing, is only the inferior part of the glory of the saints who will dwell with the Lord in the heavenlies. If it [p. 244] be true that the word of God shews us in two passages the end of this state of things, considered as a dispensation, it is equally true that it acts upon our hopes, our hearts, and our consciences, by the thought of the joy of being with Christ in glory, of being with Him in the Father’s house, of being in the place where God Himself will be the temple, where God Himself and the Lamb will be the light. Such is the millennium, such is the heavenly Jerusalem, though God be not yet all in all.
As to the earthly part, I think that our brother (page 73) has wrongly applied these words: “He unites the Jews and the heathen into one body, establishes them heirs, and gives to both access by one Spirit unto the Father.” It is never said of the Gentiles that they will be one body with the Jews during the millennium. The contrary is the case. See, for instance, Isaiah 60, Isaiah 61, Isaiah 62. It is never said that they will be joint heirs, but the very contrary, and, indeed, not even a single passage can be shewn, where the last expression — “access by one Spirit unto the Father” is applied to the millennium. It is confounding the body of Christ, raised for the heavenly glory, with the state of the Jews, the elect people on earth, and with the state of the Gentiles, who, though blessed, are in a state of inferiority with respect to the Jews, as a multitude of passages proves.
Finally, the author does not believe that the millennium applies to heaven, although heaven be the most important part of the glory of that day of God; and he applied the passages which speak of the privileges of the body of Christ then in heaven, to the Jews and Gentiles who will be on earth, during the millennium, in a completely different state.
I would now present a few considerations on the falling away and the manifestation of the Antichrist. We have here, as I said, an extremely important practical truth, a truth admitted by Mr. Rochat’s tract. This dispensation will end by a general falling away (page 73), which the signs shew us to be near. Mark well that such is the doom of Christendom. And what is to terminate the falling away? The judgment of this world by the presence of Christ. Can one say then (page 78), that it is the same dispensation of the grace of God, which will last till the end of the world? Mr. Rochat consents to substitute in the room of the word phasis that of dispensation; but it is always, he says, the same dispensation of the grace of God.
[p. 245] Is then the judgment of this habitable earth of all the living (the church being raised and glorified), is that a continuation of the dispensation of grace? Why weaken the effect of such solemn truths, truths that God has revealed, that they may act upon the conscience? I repeat my question: Is then the judgment of the living on earth a continuation of the dispensation of grace? Or does Mr. Rochat think that it is not even necessary to point out, that this judgment interrupts the dispensation, although it requires the presence of Christ for its execution? Moreover, I think he will find that the coming dispensation is precisely a dispensation of judgment on the earth, which contrasts with grace, as a multitude of passages declares (Psalm 96, Psalm 97, Psalm 98, Psalm 99; Isaiah 32; Psalm 72), although it be always true that it is only grace which saves individuals in every dispensation.
What grieves me in our brother’s pamphlet is that, while disputing about words, he could remain silent as to the most solemn testimony God has given us on the state of things in which we are, and that he has sought to weaken the importance of the warnings which flow therefrom for the church. If the Lord be near, as Mr. Rochat tells us, and as I believe He is, is it not true that He comes to judge, because the present state of things demands and requires judgment? Is it then that the Lord comes to judge and to reap, before the tares and the wheat are ripe? And if Christendom is in a state which provokes this judgment, or if it is hastening to become such, is it the time for saying, that there are other things of greater importance? Is it right, while admitting with difficulty that it is another dispensation, to pass over the universal judgment of the living and the harvest of God, without saying a word on the subject, and even with the assertion, that what is to follow will be a continuation of the dispensation of grace?
One remark more. There will be, then, a general falling away, an apostasy. But the evil which characterises the last days had already begun in the days of the apostles; the mystery of lawlessness was already working; and it was already sufficiency developed before their death to enable one of them to inform us that many antichrists had already come, so that they knew that it was the last hour, 1 John 2:18. One may cry up the continuation of the churches; and yet there was evil enough in the days of the apostle John to point to the last hour as having already come. I beg leave to notice here that those [p. 246] who have not received the light, which has produced this conviction of the general ruin of the dispensation, and who believe that popery and the Pope are the accomplishment of 2 Thessalonians 2, etc. — that those, I say, cannot deny that the apostasy has already come. Such was the general belief before the introduction of those doctrines which are so much cried down. If the habit of speaking as all Christians have spoken until now has led to a vague application of a term, the use of which has been amply explained, it must be regretted, that people have followed others too much and conformed too much with custom.
In presence of such important truths, of judgments so awful as those which are soon about to fall on this rebellious world, I do not think fit to enter into further explanations of words, when things are so clear on the subject.+ It is admitted that in Christendom there will be a general falling away, that the principles of this falling away were sufficiently ripe in the
+I have consented to lay aside the word “apostasy,” because I do not attach myself to words, provided the truth be admitted. One has shouted victory, but it has been a mistake. I think that that expression is thoroughly applicable, according to its scriptural sense, to the state of things that we see around us. I consent to abandon it, in order to render more easy the discussion of these subjects with such as are sincere, because, in fact, the falling away which will take place at the end is a more open falling away, more undisguised. But the word of God applies this term to a moral and real abandonment of the true principles of Christianity and to the men who, while they call themselves Christians, act under the influence of Satan (1 Timothy 4), who corrupts everything which he cannot hinder. This abandonment of the true principles of Christianity, by the very persons who pretend never to have abandoned it, is called apostasy in the word; and it is most important that this should be understood, in order that the outward form of Christianity may no longer deceive the simple, but that they may fully know that the apostasy is none the less real for being hidden. Mr. Rochat says (page 22), that scripture places the moment of the apostasy at the time of the appearing of the Antichrist. He mistakes; scripture says nothing of the kind. The passage quoted only says, that the day of the Lord will not come unless the apostasy have first come and the man of sin have been revealed, etc. But the falling away may take place long before the revelation of the man of sin. In the “Abridged History of the Church of Christ,” the author of which I need not name, we find a chapter with this title: “Apostasy Consummated.” I quote a passage from it (volume 1, page 121): “what progress that unfortunate church had made, in the eighth century, in the path of error and perdition! After having for a long time followed the instructions of the Holy Ghost, such as it possessed in the epistle especially addressed to them, at length tired of watching, praying, combating, weary of bearing the yoke of the good Shepherd, it relaxed by degrees from its pristine faithfulness. At first it had neglected, then afterwards it had abandoned, the word of truth. Instead of remaining a particular church, as it originally was, it had wished to become generally catholic, and had insensibly exalted itself to that degree, that it aspired to universal dominion, drawing away with it all the West in its apostasy.” Is then the word “apostasy” more terrible under my pen than in that work? All the West has been drawn away into the apostasy. It is said, that the truth is only contested when it becomes important. Again, the author of the same work applies Romans 11 to the cutting off of that church. “The moment is approaching,” he adds in a note to volume 1, page 122,”when that adulterous church, which has become high minded, will be cut off for ever.” I would only add two remarks here. First, I have not made a wrong use of the word “apostasy,” since an author who well knows how to write his mother tongue, uses it in a more positive way than I do. The church of Rome acknowledges the Trinity; it owns that Christ is the Lord, that He is both God and Man, as well as other fundamental truths; and yet it is the consummated apostasy, because it has first neglected and afterwards abandoned the word of truth because it has become high minded, etc. Then next Romans 11 applies to this state of things, to all that has been led away by the church of Rome. Secondly, the author goes farther than I. I do not believe that the apostasy is consummated, as I have already said elsewhere. On the other hand, if the author extends the application of Romans 11 beyond individuals at Rome, or the church of Rome itself, then you must take the apostle according to his own expressions. “I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles.” Besides, I am persuaded that, ere long, the Romish church will put an end to this difficulty, at least within the limits of the fourth empire. At all events, the whole of the West has been drawn away. The author leads us to perceive the consequences of the unbelief by quoting Romans 11.
[p. 247] days of the apostles for John to say that there were already many antichrists, and that it was the last hour. It is allowed that a certain portion of Christians are confounded with the object of the judgment, which is about to be executed. Let those who choose dispute on the word “apostasy” and on the sense it has in the French dictionaries, provided the conscience of God’s children be reached by this truth, that we are in the last hour, that Christendom is at the eve of judgments. Besides, it is not merely a question here of a few branches in open unbelief, which are to be cut off; neither is it a question of a certain separation of the righteous; for it is now admitted by Mr. Rochat that the Christians who are manifested will be raised or changed, and will go to meet the Lord Jesus. As to those who have fallen away, they will be cut off, so that all that belongs to this dispensation will have come to an end. It is no longer a question of the saints or the apostates here below. Most certainly God will spare some of the Jews and some of the [p. 248] Gentiles for another dispensation: but He will make an end of all that is called church, as to this world, and this very soon.
Let us now turn to the church. The writer admits that the church is the aggregate of the elect manifested on earth. It is very evident that it is not the aggregate of the churches, because as Mr. Rochat himself acknowledges, a part of the elect manifested (and every one acknowledges that it is a great part) are not found in those churches. Mr. Rochat rejects the idea of unity, as the unity of a society of persons here below. I had borrowed the expression of a “society-church” from his pamphlet, only rejecting the idea of a confederation of churches. Let it be remembered, that I fully admit the existence of the local churches at the beginning, and the duty of meeting together outside the world which is about to be judged. Mr. Rochat admits that the passage, “God has set in the church; first, apostles: secondly, prophets,” etc., applies to the church on earth, as the aggregate of the manifested elect. Now, I ask if this body with its members, its joints of supply working according to the measure of each one part for its self-building up in love, formed a unity as the unity of a society?
Mr. Rochat says (page 34) that the passages I have quoted apply to the internal unity manifested, maintained, and developed by certain charges, but not a unity as of a society. He admits at the same time that one of these passages at least applies to the aggregate of the elect manifested at a certain period, in a word, to the church on earth. For my part, I cannot give a better definition of a society, than that of an aggregate of persons having an internal unity, manifested, maintained, and developed by certain charges.+ But whether it be called a society, or another name be given to it, it is admitted that there is an aggregate of elect persons, at a given period, or, if one will, an internal unity manifested, maintained, and developed by certain charges, and that unity is the aggregate of the elect at that period. It cannot be denied that the aggregate of Christians formed one body at the time of the apostles. That unity manifested, maintained, developed by these charges, existed then. Where is it now? Then it was a body working by its joints of supply on earth.
At the present time, a great part of the aggregate of the
+If any thing can be added, it is a sign or outward bond, which rendered them members and gave them officially a right in the society; that is what is found in baptism.
[p. 249] elect on earth is mixed up with that which is not the church; indeed, the greater part of the church is nowise holding the church position, but is to be found even where the falling away of Christendom is preparing, while Christendom is every day becoming more worthy of the judgments of God. The Christian society as a body, acting by the joints of supply, does no longer exist as it did exist; it has ceased to work; its unity has ceased to be visible on earth. Mr. Rochat contents himself with churches; but where is the aggregate of the elect in a manifested unity? And of all he can produce of these churches, where is the common action of the joints of the body in the aggregate of the elect — in the church? As to that state of things, the result of an evil which had made progress enough in the days of the apostle, for him to call those days “the last hour,”? for him to tell the faithful that there were many antichrists, I leave to our brother to characterise such a state of things by the name he may prefer. Does he deny that the church — the aggregate of the elect on earth — did constitute a society, whose members formed part of a body, which was working in its unity on earth — manifested unity? If he does not deny it, where is that unity now? Where is that unity of working in the aggregate of the elect? Was there not in the days of the apostles a constituted body, which contained all the elect which were manifested on earth? I ask the question, where is it to be found now?+
+I do not attach myself to the word “society” — it is an expression of Mr. Rochat; but the thing is most important, as may be seen in John 17. The Lord prays that those who believe may be one, that the world may believe. The inhabitants of the Canton de Vaud form a Society, because, being all born Vaudois (though there be different parishes), they are all attached to a common centre; they possess common rights; they have charges filled by men who work for the common interests of the country. They are all Vaudois. That unity is felt and known, although it might be difficult to present in a visible way the bond which unites one Vaudois to another Vaudois. Thus it was in the church at the beginning; all were Christians, born again, fellow-citizens of a heavenly country; there were charges by functions, which had their sphere of activity in the whole body, namely, apostles, prophets, teachers. Though there were churches, as in the Canton de Vaud there are parishes, Christians formed a society, as the Vaudois form one, because there was internal unity, manifested, maintained, and developed by charges. There were local charges; but there were also charges and gifts which were for the whole body (as the Council of State in the Canton de Vaud); and the apostles, the prophets, etc., did not any more belong to a local church, than the Council of State in the Canton de Vaud belongs to a particular parish.
[p. 250] Having made these remarks on the points where there has been some advance, I resume the different objects of the pamphlet. Mr. Rochat tells me (page 15) that the ordinances were not decreed only by the apostles and the elders. It is of the word of God he must complain, and not of me. It is true that in the address it is added the church. But when the Holy Spirit speaks of the ordinances which were decreed, He says in Acts 16:4 of the decrees “ordained by the apostles and elders”; and it was the apostles and elders who had “come together to consider of this matter.” Further, does our brother seriously believe that the brethren at Jerusalem, even supposing that their church was formed on his own principles, could have had the idea that a church in our day might have the right to send decrees to other churches? When it is said, “And to us” (Acts 15:28), did not this refer to men having some direct authority? Could any gathering, convinced that a doctrine is presented in the word, send a decree to other gatherings? No! There was then an authority and a capacity, which no longer exist.